Saints celebrated on the 21st of July
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
ST ALBERIC CRESCITELLI, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Born in 1863 near Naples, Italy, Alberic joined the Milan Foreign Missionary Society. On completion of his studies and formation, he was consecrated a priest in 1887 in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. Fr Alberic was received by Pope Leo XIII and given the missionary crucifix. On April 2, 1888, he left Rome for Marseille where he boarded the steamship to China.
HIS ARRIVAL AT THE MISSION
He arrived at his mission in August 1888. The Vicariate of Hanzhong (which is now the diocese of Hanchung and the mission site of Fr Alberic) was almost all non-Christian at the time, with a myriad of problems, including opium smokers who also infected the pious Christian minority. Fr Alberic learned the language remarkably quickly and made a point of blending in with the locals in appearance.
FR ALBERIC'S MARTYRDOM
He worked in schools and missions along the Han River until the Boxer Rebellion brought chaos to China. In Beijing the decree of expulsion of all the missionaries and the invitation to Christians to apostasy in order to save their lives was issued. A group of boxers captured Alberic and hacked him to pieces in a most barbaric manner on July 21, 1900.
The process of canonisation began in 1910 in China. Beatified in 1951, he was canonised in 2000.
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