ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY
Saints celebrated on the 12th of February
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. THOMAS HEMERFORD, PRIEST AND MARTYR
Blessed Thomas' feast day is February 12. He is also commemorated on December 1 as one of the Martyrs of Oxford University. A convert to Catholicism, he studied at St John's and Hart Hall, Oxford.
PREPARATION FOR THE ENGLISH MISSION
Afterwards Bl. Thomas went abroad for his priestly studies. He was ordained in 1583 at Reims prior to beginning his work in the English mission.
HE WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BEING A CATHOLIC PRIEST
Bl. Thomas was arrested the following year, and indicted on February 5, 1584. For being a Catholic priest, he was sentenced to death two days later. James Fenn, John Munden, John Nutter, and George Haydock suffered with him. All five were drawn on hurdles to Tyburn. Blessed Thomas, the second of the group to suffer, was hanged, but cut down and disemboweled while still alive.
Blessed Thomas, pray for us.
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