ST HERMAS OF ROME, MARTYR - 18 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 18th 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 HERMAS OF ROME, MARTYR 

The Roman Martyrology sets down for August 18 the feast of the holy martyrs Hermas, Serapion, and Polyaenus, with the statement that they suffered death in Rome for the Faith. 

THREE MEN SUFFERED DEATH IN ROME FOR THEIR FAITH

The Greek calendars note all three names for the same day; but there is nothing in the historical notices of the Menaea and Synaxaria from which any inference can be drawn either as to the circumstances or the time of their martyrdom. 

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum does not give these names under the above date. On the other hand, August 28 is the day set apart for the feast of the Roman martyr Hermes and of several others who were buried in the catacomb of Hermes and Basilla, and under the same date appear two Alexandrian martyrs, Polienus and Serapion. 

The writer surmises that the three martyrs August 18 are identical with those of the 28th of the same month, namely, with the Roman martyrs Hermes and the Alexandrians Polienus and Serapion. 

IT APPEARS THAT THEY HAD BEEN ORDAINED BY TITUS

Their appearance under the earlier date could have been the result of a mistake easily accounted for. The name Hermas also appears for Hermaeus (Hermaios), a priest mentioned in the Roman Martyrology and in the Greek Menaea as companion of Bishop Nicander of Myra in Lycia, and whose feast as a martyr is set down for November 4. It would seem from the Greek calendars that both saints had been ordained by St Titus, the disciple of St Paul. 

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)

THEY HAD BEEN LOCKED IN A DARK DUNGEON

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints (1858) adds that Hermas, Serapion, and Polyaenus are mentioned in the Latin and Greek martyrologies. It is known that they suffered in Rome. Reported to the prefect for being Christians, they were locked in a dark dungeon. Since this did not make them renounce the Faith, they were dragged through rough and stony streets until they gave up the ghost.