ST GRATA OF BERGAMO, WIDOW - 25 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 25th 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 GRATA OF BERGAMO, WIDOW 

Her name is derived from the Latin gratus = pleasant, grateful etc. - This holy lady, according to Migne, was a widow, a daughter of St Adelaidis. 

"THE HOLY WIDOW OF BERGAMO"

In the Roman Martyrology she is simply called "the holy widow of Bergamo". According to the older Bollandists she lived in the times of the Emperor Constantine the Great and is said to have buried the body of the holy martyr Alexander from the Theban Legion. 

Allegedly, after the church had been allowed to practice worship, she married Germanicus. A church over the tomb of St Alexander is attributed to her. 

A CHURCH OVER THE TOMB OF ST ALEXANDER IS DEDICATED TO HER

Her story, however, is so obscure and confused that it is not known whether any of these statements are entirely reliable. As she is called "a widow and, as some would like, a virgin" in the old "Saints' Encyclopedia", this does most likely mean that she was just engaged to Germanicus, and one does not know whether the marriage actually took place or not . 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)