ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 15th 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 MELITINA, MARTYR
According to the tradition of the Greeks, this Saint Melitina suffered in the second century at Marcianopolis, a famous (later archbishopric) city in Lower Moesia, which was founded by Trajan (98-117).
SHE CALLED ON JESUS CHRIST WITHOUT FEAR
Under the emperor Antoninus she was summoned by the Preses Antiochus for spreading the Christian doctrine and brought in front of the panel. When she called Christ her Lord without fear, she was given violent lashes.
THEY WANTED TO FORCE HER TO SACRIFICE TO THE PAGAN IDOLS
Then they dragged her to a nearby temple and wanted to force her to sacrifice to the gods. She prayed, and suddenly there was a shaking of the earth, like a mini-earthquake, which caused all the idols to be overturned. Many Gentiles were converted to this miracle, among them the Preses' own wife.
THE HOLY MARTYR WAS BEHEADED
Then the holy Martyr was beheaded. Her relics are venerated in Lemnos. Pictures of St Melitina sometimes show the wonderfully overturned idols in her vicinity.
Some authors give her feast day as October 29 or 30.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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