ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 12th 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 ALBEUS [ST ELVIS], BISHOP AND CONFESSOR IN IRELAND
Saint Albeus [St Ailbe, whose name was often anglicised as 'Elvis'] who is honoured as chief patron of Munster, one of the four provinces of Ireland, was converted by certain Britons, and had travelled to Rome before the arrival of St Patrick among the Irish.
A CHIEF PATRON OF MUNSTER
After his return home, he became the disciple and fellow-labourer of that great apostle of his country, and being ordained by him first archbishop of Munster, fixed his see at Emly, which has been long since removed to Cashel.
HE INFUSED INTO MANY THE PERFECT SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL
With such a commanding authority did this apostolic man deliver the dictates of eternal wisdom to a rude and barbarous people, such was the force with which, both by words and example, he set forth the sanctity of the divine law, and so evident were the miracles with which he confirmed the heavenly truths which he preached, that the sacred doctrine easily made its way to the hearts of his hearers; and he not only brought over an incredible multitude to the faith of Christ, but infused into many the perfect spirit of the gospel, possessing a wonderful art of making men not only Christians but saints.
HE FOUNDED THE MONASTERY OF ARRAN
King Engus having bestowed on him the isle of Arran, he founded in it a great monastery, which was so famous for the sanctity of its inhabitants, that from them the island was long called Arran of Saints.
THE PURE LOVE OF HEAVENLY THINGS
The rule which St Albeus drew up for them is still extant in old Irish, as Bishop Usher testifies. Though zeal for the divine honour and charity for the souls of others fixed him in the world, he was always careful, by habitual recollection and frequent retreats, to nourish in his own soul the pure love of heavenly things, and to live always in a very familiar and intimate acquaintance with himself, and in the daily habitual practice of the most interior perfect virtues.
SEEKING HOLY SOLITUDE
In his old age it was his earnest desire to commit to others the care of his dear flock, that he might be allowed to prepare himself in the exercises of holy solitude for his great change.
HE WISHED TO RETIRE TO THULE
For this purpose he begged that he might be suffered to retire to Thule, the remotest country towards the northern pole that was known to the ancients, which seems to have been Shetland, or, according to some, Iceland, or some part of Greenland; but the king guarded the ports to prevent his flight, and the saint died amidst the labours of his charge in 525, as the Ulster and Inisfallen Annals testify.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
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