ST HELLADIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO - 18 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

 Saints celebrated on the 18th 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.

ST HELLADIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO 

Saint Helladius, archbishop of Toledo in Spain, where he was also born of respectable parents, was first royal minister and as such attended the Council of Toledo in 589. 

HE ATTENDED THE COUNCIL OF TOLEDO

But since he disregarded worldly activities and preferred solitude, he entered the Benedictine monastery built by the Gothic king Athanagild in a suburb of Toledo, not far from the river Tajo (Tagus), in 597 or 601. This monastery had the name Agallia from a neighbouring villa. 

HE WAS ELECTED ABBOT IN A.D. 605

Here he was elected abbot in 605 and shone so much with his outstanding virtues that he had to become  successor of Archbishop Aurasius in 613, after the latter had died.

ILLUSTRIOUS STUDENTS

Helladius died in 632 and was buried in the church of St Leocadia. His successor was his deacon Justus, whose merits contribute to the Helladius' reputation, since Justus had, according to the Bollandists, been his student.

Another of his disciples was St Ildephons, who later became Bishop of Seville and who praised St Helladius' inexhaustible love for the poor. It is also said of St Helladius that he not only possessed extraordinary knowledge in the theological sciences, but was also well versed in the art of diplomacy. 

Besides, he was strict in his manners, loving and wise in his behaviour towards others, a pious servant of God and a zealous shepherd of the souls entrusted to him. We do not know whether it is true or not that the Jews were expelled from the kingdom by the Gothic king Sisebut on St Helladius' advice. His name can also be found in the Roman Martyrology on February 18.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 🎨 A detail of the painting "The Charity of St Helladius of Toledo" by Francisco Bayeu)