ST HYACINTH, MARTYR - 3 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 3rd 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 HYACINTH, MARTYR

According to tradition, he was a native of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a member of a Christian family. As a boy, he was appointed to serve as an assistant to the chamberlain to the Emperor Trajan. His failure to participate in the ceremonial sacrifices to the official Roman gods soon came to be noticed by other members of the Imperial household.

HE PROCLAIMED HIS FAITH

When he was denounced as a Christian, Hyacinth proclaimed his faith. As a result, he was imprisoned and underwent numerous scourgings and tortures. 

He was deliberately served only meat which had been blessed for sacrifice to the gods, the eating of which was banned by both Judaism and Christianity. Thus, he starved to death in A.D. 108, dying at the age of twelve. Just before his death, legend says, his jailers saw him being comforted by angels, who bestowed a crown on him.

Hyacinth died in the city of Rome. Later, the saint’s relics were transferred to Caesarea.

HIS BODY IS PRESERVED AND VENERATED

His body is preserved and venerated in the abbey church of the former Cistercian Abbey of Fürstenfeld, of which the church is the only surviving structure. He gives his name to the San Jacinto River in Texas, and many other sites in the U.S. are named "San Jacinto" from that.

He is not to be confused with the third-century martyr Hyacinth or the medieval Polish Dominican saint Hyacinth of Poland. 

(Information from Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_of_Caesarea)

➡️ Saint Hyacinth's entry in the Roman Martyrology