ST VENERIUS, ABBOT - 13 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 13th 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 VENERIUS, ABBOT 

Saint Venerius' feast day is variously given as September 13, September 11, November 1, and  November 3. 

This holy Abbot (hermit) saw the light of day on the island of Palmaria in the Gulf of Genoa. The name and status of his parents are not known. 

HE ENTERED THE ORDER OF ST BENEDICT

As a youth he entered the Order of St Benedict, in which he is said to have led a very strict and celibate hermit life on the lonely and deserted islet of Tino. Whether this is really the case cannot be seen from his otherwise very unreliable biography. 

According to Baronius (notae), he was the head of a monastery on the island of Valmaria, and therefore bears the title "Abbot". He lived in the first half of the 7th century. 

HIS RELICS

Because of the invasions of the Saracens in Louis the Elder's time, Bishop Appollinaris transferred his relics from Sarzana (Lunigiana) to Reggio to the local St Prosper monastery. In 1627 a solemn elevation took place there. His name is inserted into the Roman Martyrology on September 19, the other days mentioned above mark the various translations that have taken place. 

[St Venerius is the patron saint of lighthouse keepers.]

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