ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 10th 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 PULCHERIA, VIRGIN AND EMPRESS
In this incomparable princess virtue shone forth on the imperial throne in the brightest lustre, and showed itself equally happy in itself, and equally invincible in the trials of adversity, and those (which are usually more dangerous) of flattering prosperity.
The Empress Pulcheria was granddaughter to Theodosius the Great, and daughter to Arcadius, emperor of the East, and his wife, Eudoxia. She was born in 399, and had three sisters. Flaccilla, who was the eldest, but died soon, and Arcadia and Marina, who were younger than Pulcheria.
SHE WAS DECLARED EMPRESS
Arcadius died in 408. He left a son eight years old. St Pulcheria was only five years old when she lost her mother, and nine when she lost her father; but for her prudence and piety she was, from her infancy, the miracle of the world. On July 14, 414, though only fifteen years old, she was declared, in the name of her young brother, Augusta and partner with him in the imperial dignity, and charged with the care of his instruction, though but two years older than him.
Her first concern was to instil into him sentiments of religion and piety, being sensible that all other qualifications are useless and often dangerous when not guided by these principles. She taught him to pray with great devotion, to love the places of divine worship, and to have a great zeal for the Catholic church and its holy doctrine.
A PUBLIC VOW OF VIRGINITY
At fifteen years of age she made a public vow of virginity, and induced her sisters to do the same. They had a share in all her employments except those that regarded the state; they ate together, were united in all acts of devotion and charity, and what time was not devoted to exercises of piety, and to useful studies, they employed in working tapestry or embroidery.
The imperial palace, under her direction, was as regular as a monastery. The imperial council was, through her discernment, composed of the wisest, most virtuous, and most experienced persons in the empire.
THEODOSIUS GOT MARRIED
Theodosius was twenty years old when it was thought proper for him to marry, and by the advice of Pulcheria, he pitched upon Athenais, the daughter of an Athenian philosopher, who had given her an excellent education, but had disinherited her. She was first baptised, for she had been brought up an idolater. Her name Athenais being derived from Athena or Minerva, she changed it into that of Eudocia, and Theodosius was married to her in 421.
INTRIGUES AT COURT
The eunuch Chrysaphius, a great favourite with the emperor, prepossessed Eudocia against her. The emperor, (whose misfortune was supine indolence, and weakness of understanding,) at length was so far worked upon as to give heartily into all that they said against her.
Pulcheria retired to a country seat in the plains of Hebdomon. This happened in the year 447. Pulcheria looked upon her retreat as a favour of heaven, and in it she consecrated all her time to God in prayer, contemplation, and the exercise of good works.
THE EMPEROR DIED REPENTANT
The emperor died repentant in the year 450; his widow Eudocia retired into Palestine, where she ended her days.
Saint Pulcheria, by the death of her brother, remained mistress of the Eastern empire. To strengthen her authority she chose a partner in the throne, who was an excellent general, a wise statesman, and very zealous for the Catholic faith. His name was Marcian; he was a native of Illyricum, and a widower.
SHE PRESERVED HER VOW OF VIRGINITY
Pulcheria married him on condition she should be at full liberty to preserve her vow of virginity. Marcian readily embraced the proposal; and these two great souls governed together like two friends who had in all things the same views and sentiments.
She passed from a temporal to an eternal crown in 453, on September 10, aged sixty-eight, being enriched with the treasure of devotion, almost boundless charities and good works, and Marcian followed her to immortal bliss on the in 457, aged threescore and five years.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
[Her prayers are asked against in-law-problems and by victims of betrayal.]
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