ST AELIA FLACCILLA, EMPRESS

ST AELIA FLACCILLA, EMPRESS - 14 SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 14th 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.

ST AELIA FLACCILLA, EMPRESS

Saint Flaccilla, Empress, was wife of Theodosius the Great; she died 385 or 386. Like Theodosius himself, she was of Spanish descent. She may have been the daughter of Claudius Antonius, Prefect of Gaul, who was consul in 382.

A ZEALOUS SUPPORTER OF THE NICENE CREED

Her marriage with Theodosius probably took place in the year 376, for her eldest son, afterwards Emperor Arcadius, was born towards the end of the following year.

St Flaccilla was, like her husband, a zealous supporter of the Nicene Creed and prevented the conference between the emperor and the Arian Eunomius.

"A SOUL TRUE TO GOD"

On the throne she was a shining example of Christian virtue and ardent charity. St Ambrose describes her as "a soul true to God". St Gregory of Nyssa bestowed the highest praise on her virtuous life and pictured her as the helpmate of the emperor in all good works, an ornament of the empire, a leader of justice, an image of beneficence. He praises her as filled with zeal for the Faith, as a pillar of the Church. She personally tended the disabled, and said: "To distribute money belongs to the imperial dignity, but I offer up for the imperial dignity itself personal service to the Giver."

ST GREGORY OF NYSSA DELIVERED HER FUNERAL ORATION

Flaccilla was buried in Constantinople, St Gregory of Nyssa delivering her funeral oration. Her feast is kept on September 14.

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)

WELCOME

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BL. RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR Richard Newport, alias Smith , was born in Northamptonshire and performed his studies abroad, partly in the college of Rheims (if he be the Richard Smith whom I find in the Douay diary sent to Rome in 1586) and partly in that of Rome, where he was made priest. From thence he was sent upon the English mission, and behaved himself in such a manner as justly to acquire the character of a laborious missionary; being withal remarkably successful in bringing home many strayed sheep to the fold of Christ, to which his apostolical way of living did not a little contribute. He was several times apprehended and cast into prison, and twice banished. His name occurs amongst those who were transported in 1606; at which time, we are told, he took that opportunity of making a pilgrimage to Rome, there to pour forth his prayers at the tombs of the apostles, in behalf of thi...

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