ST THEODORA, PENITENT - 11 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 11th 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 THEODORA, PENITENT 

Saint Theodora is commemorated on September 11; in the German Martyrology of Blessed Canisius she is entered on July 12, yet other sources state that her feast day is July 17.

She is listed as a penitent (according to others she was a virgin) at Alexandria, who lived under the name Theodorus in a male convent until her blissful passing. 

SHE IS LISTED AS A PENITENT

According to the judgement of the Bollandists the  alleged stories of her life are so far-fetched that nothing can be inferred from them that could lay claim to probability. 

Nonetheless, all oriental and occidental martyrologies contain her name, and she is called the "saintly mother."

"MAKE AN EFFORT TO ENTER THROUGH THE NARROW GATE!"

Cotelerius has recorded some sayings which are ascribed to a "mother" Theodora. Here is a sample:

“Make an effort to enter through the narrow gate! for just as the trees cannot bear fruit unless they endure downpours and storms, so this world is also a winter for us, and only through many tribulations and temptations can we become heirs to the kingdom of heaven." [St Theodora died around A.D. 490.]

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