BL. WALTER OF BRUGES, BISHOP OF POITIERS - 21 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 21st 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. WALTER OF BRUGES, BISHOP OF POITIERS

Blessed Gualterus Brugensis (Walter of Bruges), also Galterus and Galterius, from Bruges in Belgium, of the Order of the Friars Minor, later Bishop of Poitiers, is counted among the "Blessed" by many martyrologies. 

HIS HUMILITY

Such was his humility that he continued his reluctance to accept the episcopacy almost to the point of disobedience. 

But he had acquired such great fame as a teacher of theology in Tours that Pope Nicholas III, despite the fact that General Bonagratia also asked for him, insisted on accepting the bishopric of Poitiers (1260). 

HIS DILIGENCE IN INTERPRETING THE DIVINE WORD

According to the testimony of St Antoninus, "adorned with every virtue and useful in government." Trithemius particularly praises his diligence and skill in interpreting the divine word. His generosity to the poor often brought him into great debts, which were once paid without his knowing what was attributed to heavenly help. 

HIS PROTESTATION WAS ONLY DISCOVERED AFTER HIS DEATH

Pope Clement V, formerly Archbishop of Bordeaux, deposed him for opposing him in defence of the rights of his Church. Gualterus, it is true, silently protested against this deposition, appealing to the just judgements of God; but his protestation was only discovered after his death by a piece of paper which he held in his hand. 

In life he obeyed, resigned to the monastic cell, and died at Poitiers in 1307. His tomb was glorified by miracles and much frequented by pilgrims. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)