ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 8th 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 PETRUS THOMAS, CARMELITE AND BISHOP
Saint Petrus Thomas' Carmelite feast day is on January 8. Elsewhere, he is also commemorated on January 6 or January 28.
St Petrus Thomas was born in Perigord, France, in 1305 to parents so poor that they were unable even to support him and his only sister. Both had to meet their daily needs by begging. All the more, the boy driven to learn something useful, and he soon got so far that he could earn his living by teaching younger boys. From there he came to Agen, where he studied grammar, logic, and dialectics. In his twentieth year the local Carmelite prior sent him to Lectour in Gascony to teach grammar and logic to the youngsters there.
HE BECAME A CARMELITE
In 1354 he became bishop of Patti and Lipari in Sicily. As a papal legate, he strove for unity and peace with the Eastern Church. In 1363 he became Archbishop of Crete and a year later Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He died in Famagusta on Cyprus in 1366. The veneration of the saint was confirmed by Pope Paul V in 1609 and by Pope Urban VIII in 1628.
AN UNUSUAL WAY OF PREACHING
St Petrus Thomas, most of all, enjoyed eating, working and praying with his confreres. His sermons were so rich in content, well thought-out and moving that the corresponding effects were often visible immediately after he had left the pulpit. Nevertheless, according to the judgment of the experts, his lectures often lacked the proper dignity, namely when he made his audience laugh by means of humourous bits he inserted into his sermons. But usually the laughter was followed by bitter tears, which were only tempered by the gentle consolation which he poured into the hearts of the penitent. As a confessor, he led countless sinners on the path of repentance and improvement.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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