ST PROJECTUS, BISHOP OF CLERMONT, MARTYR - 25 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 25th 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.

SAINT PROJECTUS, BISHOP OF CLERMONT, MARTYR 

[St Prix.]  The episcopal see of Auvergne, which was founded by St Austremonius, in the middle of the third century, has been honoured with many holy bishops, of whom twenty-six are ranked among the saints. Of these the most eminent are St Alidius, called in French Allyre, the fourth bishop, in 380, St Sidonius Apollinaris in 482, St Gallus in 656, St Prix in 674, and St Bont in 710. 

THE TITLE WAS CHANGED

About the year 1160, the title of bishops of Auvergne was changed into that of Clermont, from the city of this name. St Prix was a native of Auvergne, and trained up in the service of the church, under the care of St Genesius, first archdeacon, afterwards bishop of Auvergne, and was well skilled in plain song, (which was esteemed in that age the first part of the science of a clergyman,) and in holy scriptures and church history. 

HE WAS WELL SKILLED IN PLAIN SONG

The parish of Issoire, and afterwards the nunnery of Candedin (now probably Chantoen, a convent of bare-footed Carmelites) were the chief theatres of his zeal, till about the year 666 he was called by the voice of the people, seconded by Childeric II king of Austrasia, to the episcopal dignity, upon the death of Felix, bishop of Auvergne. 

HE FOUNDED SEVERAL CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES

Partly by his own ample patrimony, and partly by the great liberalities of Genesius, the holy count of Auvergne, he was enabled to found several monasteries, churches, and hospitals; so that all distressed persons in his extensive diocese were provided for, and a spirit of fervour in the exercises of religion and all Christian virtues reigned in all parts. 

UNDAUNTED ZEAL

This was the fruit of the unwearied and undaunted zeal, assiduous sermons and exhortations, and the admirable example and sanctity of the holy prelate; whose learning, eloquence, and piety, are exceedingly extolled by the two historians of his life. 

A MIRACULOUS CURE

The saint, on his road to the court of King Childeric, whither he was going on the affairs of his diocese, restored to health St Damarin, or Amarin, a holy abbot of a monastery in the mountains of Voge, who was afterwards martyred with him. 

THE PERPETRATOR WHO WAS PUT TO DEATH FOR RAPE AND OTHER CRIMES

This king caused Hector, the patrician of Marseilles, whom the saint had severely rebuked for having ravished a young lady of Auvergne, a rich heiress, and having unjustly usurped considerable estates belonging to his church, to be put to death for this rape and other crimes. 

REVENGE

One Agritius, imputing his death to the complaints carried to the king by St Prix, in revenge stirred up many persons against the holy prelate, and with twenty armed men met the bishop as he returned from court, at Volvic, two leagues from Clermont, and first slew the abbot St Damarin, whom the ruffians mistook for the bishop. 

ST PRIX COURAGEOUSLY STEPPED FORWARD

St Prix, perceiving their design, courageously presented himself to them, and was stabbed in the body by a Saxon named Radbert. The saint, receiving this wound said: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, for they know not what they do.” 

Another of the assassins clove his head with a back-sword, and scattered his brains. This happened on January 25, 674. The veneration which the Gallican churches paid to the memory of this martyr, began from the time of his death. 

"LORD, LAY NOT THIS SIN TO THEIR CHARGE..."

His name was added to the calendar in the copies of the Sacramentary of St Gregory, which were transcribed in France, and churches were erected under his invocation in almost every province in that kingdom. The principal part of his relics remain in the abbey of Flavigny, whither they were carried about the year 760. Some portions are kept in the abbey of St Prix at St Quintin’s, of the congregation of Cluni; another in the priory of St Prix near Bethune, and in certain other places. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 📷 A locally produced cheese from the holy bishop's area, keeping him in people's hearts and his name on their lips)