ST EUSTACHIUS, MARTYR - 20 SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 20th of September

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 EUSTACHIUS AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

Saint Eustachius (Eustace) [one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers] was a martyr under the Emperor Hadrian, in the year 188. His feast is on September 20; his emblems: a crucifix, a stag, an oven.

HE SAW A STAG COMING TOWARDS HIM

The legend relates that Eustachius (before baptism, Placidus), a Roman general under Trajan, while still a heathen, saw a stag coming towards him, with a crucifix between its horns; he heard a voice telling him that he was to suffer much for Christ’s sake.

HE HEARD A VOICE TELLING HIM THAT HE WAS TO SUFFER MUCH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE

He received baptism, together with his wife Tatiana (or Trajana, after baptism Theopista) and his sons, Agapius and Theopistus. The place of the vision is said to have been Guadagnolo, between Tibur and Praeneste (Tivoli and Palestrina), in the vicinity of Rome. Through adverse fortune the family was scattered, but later reunited.

THEY SUFFERED DEATH IN A HEATED BRAZEN BULL

For refusing to sacrifice to the idols after a victory, they suffered death in a heated brazen bull. Baronius would identify him with Placidus mentioned by Josephus Flavius as a general under Titus. (From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)

JESUS CHRIST'S RELIGION IS THE ONLY BASIS ON WHICH TRUE MAGNANIMITY AND COURAGE CAN STAND

Fr Butler adds this comment: "Religion is the only basis on which true magnanimity and courage can stand. It so enlightens the mind as to set a man above all human events, and to preserve him in all changes and trials steady and calm in himself... and under afflictions and sufferings a source of unalterable peace, and overflowing joy which spring from an assured confidence that God’s will is always most just and holy, and that he will be its protector and rewarder. Does religion exert this powerful influence in us? Does it appear in our hearts, in our actions and conduct? It is not enough to encounter dangers with resolution; we must with equal courage and constancy vanquish pleasure and the softer passions, or we possess not the virtue of true fortitude."

WELCOME

Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 February - Saints by date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 ...

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER Saints celebrated on the 19th of October WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR Laura, a widow and martyr of Cordoba in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters. After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor. After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October...

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus. And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright. HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mar...

SAINT FEAST DAY FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

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