ST SITHNEY - 4 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 4th 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 SITHNEY 

Saint Sithney (Sezni, Sidney, Sidinus) lived in the sixth century. The legend of St Sithney states that God revealed to him that he was to be the patron of young girls. The alarmed saint begged God to spare him from such an onerous task because they would plague him for husbands, fine clothes, and numerous other things and never allow him any peace. 

HE WOULD RATHER LOOK AFTER MAD DOGS THAN WOMEN ANY DAY

He said that he would rather look after mad dogs than women any day. From that day, sick and mad dogs have been taken to Sithney's well to drink. He is the patron of Sithney near Helston in Cornwall, England, where William Worcester saw his tomb. His cultus is still alive at Guisseny (formerly Ploesezny) in Brittany.

HYMN OF ST SITHNEY

Thou wast clothed in humility,

patient in adversity and diligent in thy preaching, O Hierarch Sithney, 

and as a model of chastity and lover of austerity

teach us to reject the glamour of worldliness,

for love of Christ,

that at the last we may receive mercy for our souls.

(The above is based on information from: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm)

PRAYERS FOR SICK AND "MAD" DOGS

St Sithney's  prayers to God are asked for sick and "mad" dogs. His relics are at the monastery of Guic-Sezni in France.

There exists today also a St Sithney Animal Bite Centre in Bacoor, Philippines, which "provides quality anti-rabies vaccines against bites from dogs, cats, bats and other animals". 

(📷: St Sithney Church, Cornwall)