BL. ODORIC OF PORDENONE, RELIGIOUS - 14 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 14th 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.

BL. ODORIC OF PORDENONE, RELIGIOUS 

Blessed Odoric (Odoricus, Odericus, Ordericus) was born in Pordenone (de Portu Naonis) and entered the order of the Minorites at an early age. Here he lived for a long time like a saint with many mortifications and constant spiritual exercises, fearfully fleeing all offices and honours of which he considered himself unworthy.

HE EMBARKED FROM THE BLACK SEA

He lived for a long time - with the permission of his superiors - in the desert. He gradually travelled the whole Orient, embarking from the Black Sea, in order to win souls for Christ. He saw Trebizond, Greater Armenia, the Persian Empire, Chaldea, India. He took with him the relics of four Minorites who had died a glorious martyrdom, visited most of the islands of the Indian Sea, where he tried to abolish the barbaric practice of cannibalism, and wandered through China, where he disproved the doctrine of transmigration of souls.

THE BLESSED VIRGIN APPEARED TO HIM

On his travels he also came to the great Khan and, after making numerous conversions, returned to Europe to send more brothers to India. Once he fell ill and lay under the open sky by a tree for a long time, until the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and refreshed him. As he moved on, he met the devil, whom he banished by the Sign of the Cross.

MIRACLES AT HIS TOMB

When Odoric fell ill on his way home from Pisa, St Francis appeared to him and admonished him to return to his monastery. He died in Udine in 1331. The Seraphic Roman Martyrology credits him with the conversion of many thousands of unbelievers. So many miracles took place at his tomb that he was publicly venerated throughout the Patriarchate. This devotion was approved by Pope Pius VI., confirmed and extended to the whole Order.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - 🎨 Odoric embarks on his travels)

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