ST GORDIUS, MARTYR - 3 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 3rd 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 GORDIUS, MARTYR  

Saint Gordius, martyred at Caesarea, in Cappadocia, was a centurion in the army, but retired to the deserts when the persecution was first raised by Diocletian. 

HE WENT TO WHERE THE PEOPLE WERE ASSEMBLED

The desire of shedding his blood for Christ made him quit his solitude, whilst the people of that city were assembled in the Circus (a ring, or large place, wherein the people sat and watched the public games) to solemnize public games in honour of Mars.

HE LOUDLY CONFESSED HIS FAITH 

Loudly confessing his faith, he was condemned to be beheaded. Having fortified himself by the sign of the cross, he joyfully received the deadly blow. St Basil, on this festival, pronounced his panegyric at Caesarea, in which he says several of his audience had been eye-witnesses of the martyr’s triumph.  

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)