ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 24th 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.
ST FELICIAN, BISHOP OF FOLIGNO
Saint Felician (Felicianus), bishop of Foligno (Fulginia) in Umbria, studied at Rome and was pupil of the holy Pope St Victor.
HE PREACHED THE GOSPEL WITH APOSTOLIC ZEAL
As bishop, he preached the gospel with apostolic zeal in many cities of his diocese, but he was therefore arrested under Emperor Decius, cruelly tortured, and then taken to prison, where he was sentenced. He received a pious visit by St Messalina.
HE WAS DRAGGED TO ROME
Soon after, he was dragged to Rome, but on the way surrendered his spirit into the hands of his Redeemer. His relics came to Metz in 969; a part of the same is also kept in Minden (Germany), where the festival of the transmission is celebrated on October 20.
HIS FEAST DAY
The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on January 24. St Felician is patron of Foligno and Piacenza (Placentia). Holy art often depicts him as a bishop, hands and feet pierced with tongs and pickaxes.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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