ST ANATOLIA OF THORA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR - 9 JULY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 9th 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 ANATOLIA OF THORA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR

Saint Anatolia, Virgin and Martyr in the time of Decius, was put to death in the city of Thyrum, or Thurium, or Thora. 

About the identity of the place there is considerable discussion among the critics. She was living in retirement with her sister when the persecution was raging, and was sought in marriage by a youth named Aurelius. That she was actually espoused, the Bollandists doubt. 

SHE WAS STRENGTHENED BY THE VISION OF AN ANGEL

On the point of yielding because of the solicitations of her sister Victoria, she was strengthened by the vision of an angel. 

Banished to Thora she was denounced as a Christian. The executioner Audax shut her up in a room with a venomous serpent, but seeing that no harm was clone to her he himself professed the faith and died a martyr. Anatolia was put to death by the sword. Her feast is kept July 9. 

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913) 

[Her prayers to God are invoked by people suffering from anxiety.]

➡️ Saint Anatolia's entry in the Roman Martyrology