ST SEXULPHUS, BISHOP - 28 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 28th 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 SEXULPHUS, BISHOP 

Saint Sexulphus is commemorated on January 28; some writers give February 27 as his feast day. 

The name of this saintly abbot and bishop, which is also spelled Sexolphus and Saxulphus, is found as such in the New English Martyrology. 

A WISE AND HOLY ABBOT

At first, he ruled the newly founded monastery of Peterborough in the (former) Kingdom of Mercia (Northampton) with all wisdom and the fear of God, the church of which is now an (Anglican) Cathedral. 

THE THIRD BISHOP OF TRENT

From here he came to Liechfield as the third bishop of Trent (Stafford), where he exercised his office with such restless and pious zeal that he was numbered among the saints. He must have flourished around the middle of the 12th century, since the oldest part of the abbey church mentioned dates from 1140.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Sexulphus, your blessed bishop and martyr, may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.