ST JULIAN SABAS, HERMIT - 18 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 18th of October

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 JULIAN SABAS, HERMIT

[Saint Julian Sabas is also commemorated on January 14.] St Julian, for his wisdom and prudence, was surnamed Sabas, which signifies in Syriac, the Grey or Old Man. 

HE LIVED IN A DAMP CAVE

He flourished in the fourth age, living first in a damp cave near Edessa, afterwards on Mount Sinai in Arabia. 

AUSTERE PENANCE

Austere penance, manual labour, and assiduous prayer and contemplation were the means by which he sanctified his soul. 

HE SAW IN SPIRIT THE DEATH OF JULIAN THE APOSTATE

He saw in spirit the death of Julian the Apostate in Persia, by which God delivered his Church from the storm with which that persecutor then threatened it.  

The Arians under Valens abusing the authority of this saint’s name, he left his solitude, and coming to Antioch loudly confounded them, and wrought many miracles. When he had given an ample testimony to the true faith, he returned to his cell, where he instructed a great number of disciples, who edified the Church long after his death. 

"A WONDERFUL MAN"

St Chrysostom calls him a wonderful man, and describes the great honour with which he was received living, and his name venerated after his death. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

➡️ Saint Julian's entry in the Roman Martyrology