ST CASSIAN, BISHOP OF AUTUN - 5 AUGUST

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 5th of August

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 CASSIAN, BISHOP OF AUTUN

Saint Cassian was a 4th-century bishop of Autun. He may have been an Egyptian by birth. He travelled to Autun and was a follower of St Reticius, bishop of Autun.

After the peace bought by Constantine he had a vision and decided to embark with some companions to evangelise the Britons. Getting as far as Autun, he became the assistant of St Reticius in Autun.

HE WAS SUCCESSOR OF ST RETICIUS

On the death of Reticius, he was elected bishop. He pursued the evangelisation of Eduens and held the office for twenty years of episcopate. He died c. 350 and was buried in St Peter. 

St Gregory of Tours, who came to Autun about two hundred years after his death, observed a great veneration on his tomb. The grave stone dust was reputed to cure all ills.

THE RELIQUARY 

The abbot of Saint-Quentin in Vermandois wishing to obtain the relics of the saint made this request to Modon, bishop of Autun. He obtained the precious relic, and the body was taken to his monastery around the year 820. 

Charles the Bald replaced the reliquary with a magnificent reliquary stored in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint-Quentin. 

(Information from Wikipedia - 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassian_of_Autun)