SAINTS FELIX AND REGULA, MARTYRS - 11 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 11th of September

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.

SAINTS FELIX AND REGULA, MARTYRS 

On September 11 is the memorial of the third century martyrs Saints Felix and Regula of Zurich: A brother and sister who at the time of the famous martyrdom of St Maurice and his companions under Maximian Herculeus, took refuge in Switzerland.

THEY HAD TAKEN REFUGE IN SWITZERLAND

They were afterwards sought out and cruelly put to death in the neighbourhood of Zurich. 

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)

SAINT EXUPERANTIUS 

From the 13th century onwards, Saint Exuperantius has been mentioned along with Saints Felix and Regula, perhaps, as some suppose, because the body of this saint rested in the same church and tomb with them. According to Murer's Heiliges Schweizerland* (Holy Swiss Land), Exuperantius was the servant of the other two saints, who suffered death for the Christian truth at the same time as they did, and his whole body was subsequently donated to the city of Trier by Emperor Charles. – The saints are patrons of Zürich and are also included in the state sigil. They are represented in art as carrying their severed heads in their hands. – cf. “The Saints of the Valais.” Einsiedeln 1857. P. 26. (III. 763)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, pp. 187-88)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saints Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius 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.