ST SOPHIAS, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO - 24 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 24th 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 SOPHIAS, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO 

This holy bishop, also called Cadocus, died at Benevento in the 6th century as a martyr for the divinity of Jesus under the murderous hands of the Arians. 

HE WAS THE 24th BISHOP OF BENEVENTO

In the order of the bishops there he is counted as the 24th. He is said to have been the son of King Gundleus of Ostwallis, and on one of the many pilgrimages he made to Rome and to the Holy Land he is said to have travelled through Benevento, where he was asked to become bishop. 

THE PROOF OF HIS ZEAL AND PIETY

The hatred with which the heretics persecuted him is the clearest proof of his zeal and piety. They pierced him with spears at the altar while he offered the Holy Sacrifice. This is how he often is depicted in religious art - when he was martyred.

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