ST VENANTIUS, MARTYR - 18 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 18th of May

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 VENANTIUS, MARTYR

Saint Venantius was born at Camerino, Italy. At the age of 15 he was seized as a Christian and carried before a judge. As it was found impossible to shake his constancy either by threats or promises, he was condemned to be scourged, but was miraculously saved by an angel. 

HE WAS MIRACULOUSLY SAVED BY AN ANGEL

He was then burnt with torches and hung over a low fire that he might be suffocated by the smoke. The judge's secretary, admiring the steadfastness of the saint, and seeing an angel robed in white, who  trampled out the fire and again set free the youthful martyr, proclaimed his faith in Christ, was baptised with his whole family, and shortly after won the martyr's crown himself. 

HE WAS AGAIN LED BEFORE THE JUDGE

Venantius was again led before the judge, who at sight of him fell headlong from his seat and expired, crying, "The God of Venantius is the true God; let us destroy our idols." This circumstance being told to the governor, he ordered Venantius to be thrown to the lions; but these brutes,forgetting their natural ferocity, crouched at his feet. 

Then, by order of the tyrant, the young martyr was dragged through a heap of brambles and thorns, but again God manifested the glory of His servant; the soldiers suffering from thirst, the saint knelt on a rock and made the Sign of the Cross over it, when immediately a jet of clear, cool water spurted up from the spot. 

This miracle converted many of those who beheld it, whereupon the governor had Venantius and his converts beheaded together in the year 250. The bodies of these martyrs are kept in the church at Camerino which bears the saint's name.

REFLECTION:

Love of suffering marks the most perfect degree in the love of God. Our Lord Himself was consumed with the desire to suffer, because He burnt with the love of God. We must begin with patience and detachment. At last we shall learn to love the sufferings which conform us to the Passion of our Redeemer. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)