ST TERENCE, BISHOP OF TODI, MARTYR - 1 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 1st 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 TERENCE, BISHOP OF TODI, MARTYR 

(SS. Terentianus et Flaccus, M. M.) Saint Terence  (Terentianus) was bishop of Todi, where he died a martyr around 118. On the orders of the Emperor Hadrian he was imprisoned by the city prefect Latianus, put under torture, stripped of his clothes, scourged with scorpions, burned on ropes, and beaten on the mouth with stones. 

Finally the tyrant ordered for the Bishop's tongue to be cut off. Nonetheless, Terentianus continued to preach but, instead, Latianus became mute and could only indicate with signs that the bishop should be given his clothes back and allowed to get dressed once more. 

A BLIND MAN THREW HIMSELF AT HIS FEET

When St Terentianus was brought to the forum the next day, an idolater by the name of Flaccus met him, who was blind and threw himself at his feet, exclaiming: 

"I swear to the living God, whom you preach, that you should open my eyes; today in a dream I saw a man who asked me to go to you and be healed."

The saint replied: "Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is the true light, it is he that illuminates the darkness."

HE WAS ABLE TO SEE 

Flaccus, from then, was able to see and was baptised by him. For professing the Lord Jesus in word and deed both Bishop Terentianus and Flaccus ended up being beheaded. A priest named Exuperantius and a woman named Laurentia buried their bodies. 

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