ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 26th of January
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.
BL. HEMMA OF RATISBON, QUEEN
Hemma is also called Blessed Emma of Regensburg. Born in A.D. 808, she was the wife of Louis the German from A.D. 827.] She was the mother of Carloman, Louis the Younger, and Charles the Fat, descended of royal Frankish blood, and was adorned with excellent virtues. She brought up the royal children in all godliness and piety.
SHE EXPANDED THE OBERMÜNSTER MONASTERY
Hemma expanded the Obermünster monastery in Ratisbon and generously endowed it with land and other benefits. She had received it as a gift from her son Ludwig in 831, who got it from Bishop Baturich of Ratisbon in exchange for the monastery of Mondsee or Mansee (Lunae Lacus) in Austria.
AN ANNUAL DONATION TO THE POOR
The saintly queen was extremely charitable and made an annual donation to the poor, which until the time of secularisation was always distributed on the day of her death.
HER LAST ILLNESS
In the year 874 the pious Hemma suffered a nerve attack which kept her in bed for a long time and deprived her of speech until she departed into eternity on January 26, 876.
HER TOMBSTONE CAN STILL BE SEEN
Her body was taken to Obermünster, where the Clerical Seminary is located, and is buried in the church there, where her tombstone can still be viewed and was seen often by the writer of these lines.
HER ANNIVERSARY IS CELEBRATED WITH A REQUIEM
There, as in the days of the monastery, her anniversary is celebrated with a requiem on February 1 and November 3. Some writers claim that she was taken to St Emmeram, but this is incorrect - the stone found there probably indicates the tomb of Empress Uta.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Hemma may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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