ST PETER THE ASCET, MARTYR - 12 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 12th 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 PETER THE ASCET, MARTYR 

A great many martyrologies mention this warrior of Christ - some on January 12, some on the 3rd, 4th, 11th, and 14th of the same month - but they do not agree either as to his name or as to the place and nature of his martyrdom. They call him Anselanus, Anselamus, Abselamus, Apselamus, Balsamus, Abesalamites, Abessalomites. 

THE PLACE OF HIS MARTYRDOM

Some let him go to Caesarea, although it remains undecided in which (while some call with all certainty Caesarea in Palestine), others at Aulana in Samaria, not far from Eleutheropolis. 

THE TIME OF HIS MARTYRDOM

Some say that he suffered under Emperor Maximinus, others that he suffered under Diocletian. The name of the governor who tormented him is now called Severus, now Firmilianus. 

THE GOVERNOR TRIED TO CONVINCE HIM OF THE "FOLLY" OF DYING FOR CHRIST

In vain, some add, he tried to convince him of the "folly" of preferring an embarrassing death for Jesus' sake to a long and happy life in the bloom of years. A true Christian, he preferred the folly and shame of the cross of Christ to the service of idols. 

HIS MARTYRDOM

Since he is called "Ascet" by the Greeks, he probably dedicated himself to the solitary life, dead to this world, having embraced voluntary poverty. According to some he was crucified; others mentioned he was burned to death. Bollandus gives the probable time of his martyrdom as the year 291; Migne states the year that the year was 309.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)