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.
ST ELIJAH SPELAEOTES, ABBOT
Saint Elijah Spelaeotes was born between the years 860-870 in Rhegium in Calabria (the southwestern Italian peninsula) to rich parents, and at an early age felt a wonderful drive to live in a monastery.
HE TOOK THE BASILIAN HABIT UNDER ABBOT ARSENIUS
He took the Basilian habit under Abbot Arsenius, after whose death he and Daniel met, and at his persuasion St Elijah then went to join the latter's monastery.
Soon after, however, he established his quarters in a nearby cave, together with with the abbot Cosmas - hence his name "cave dweller" (Spelaeotes).
HE BUILT A CHURCH AND A MONASTERY
After a while they separated again, and St Elijah went about building a church and a monastery near Melicuccon (Melicoccha), in which he, as leader, instructed his subordinates in the godly life. St Elijah died around the year 960.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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