ST FAUSTINIAN, BISHOP OF BOLOGNA - 26 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

 All Saints celebrated on the 26th 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.

SAINT FAUSTINIAN, BISHOP OF BOLOGNA

Saint Faustinian was Bishop of Bologna in Italy, and is believed to have succeeded St Zama, either before the persecution of Diocletian, or around the year 312. 

HE ATTENDED THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA

Apparently he re-established the lapsed divine service, attend the Council of Nicaea, and that held by Pope Julius at Rome, and built the Church of SS. Peter and Paul - or at least started the edifice and left the expansion to his successor Basilius. 

HIS RELICS

In 1586, under Pope Sixtus V through Archbishop Paleot, his and St Zama's relics were solemnly translated from the churchyard of St Felix to the cathedral church. The Roman Martyrology also mentions his name on February 26.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)

HIS ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

"At Bologna, the bishop Saint Faustinian, whose preaching strengthened and multiplied the faithful of that Church, which had been much afflicted during the persecution of Diocletian."