ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 4th 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 ULTAN OF ARDBRACCAN, ABBOT
Saint Ultan of Ardbraccan, Ireland, was the maternal uncle of St Brigid, and collected a life of that great Irish saint for his pupil, St Brogan Cloen of Rostuirc.
There seems to be some difficulty in his chronology inasmuch as the assumption of his relation to St Brigid must involve an extraordinary longevity, namely 180 years, because his death is not chronicled till 657.
THE MATERNAL UNCLE OF ST BRIGID
Windisch, however, explains away the seeming inconsistency.
The Irish Annals describe St Ultan as of the royal race of O’Connor, and he succeeded St Breccan as Abbot-Bishop of Ardbraccan about the year 570.
From O’Clery’s "Irish Calendar" we learn that he educated and fed thousands of poor students from all parts of Ireland.
A BEAUTIFUL HYMN
Of his literary powers there are several specimens, among others, lives of St Patrick and St Brigid. His exquisite Latin hymn of the latter saint, commencing "Christus in nostra insula", is incorporated in the Solesmes Chant books.
THE YEAR OF HIS DEATH IS UNCERTAIN
The exact year of his death is uncertain, the various annalists giving 653, 656, 657, and 662, but probably we are safe in following the "Annals of Ulster", wherein his obit is recorded under the year 657.
ST ULTAN'S WELL
He died on September 4, on which day his feast has always been celebrated. St Ultan’s Well is still at Ardbraccan.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 Ardbraccan Co. Meath, a famous early Christian monastery, founded by St Ultan)
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