ST HONESTUS OF NIMES, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 16 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

 Saints celebrated on the 16th 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 HONESTUS OF NIMES, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

Saint Honestus is considered the first faith preacher from Pamplona (Pompejopolis) in the Spanish Kingdom of Navarre. His place of birth was Nimes (Nemausus) in France. His father's name was Aemilius, his mother's name was Honesta. He was a student of St Saturninus, ordained by him and sent out as a messenger of faith. 

ST FIRMINUS OF AMIENS

At Pamplona he brought about the conversion of the local senator Firmus, who entrusted him his son for his education. This son later became Bishop St Firminus of Amiens, whom Honestus baptised there and taught him science and virtue for seven years. 

HIS DEATH

St Honestus died as a martyr in the second half of the 3rd century (around the year 270), whether in Pamplona, ​​or in Toulouse, or in Amiens, is uncertain. 

HIS RELICS

His head was formerly venerated in Toulouse and publicly exposed every year on July 12. Part of the remaining relics were transferred to a monastery in the diocese of Paris, another part is said to have come to Clivia, a fortress in the Spanish province of Catalonia. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 📷 Nimes Cathedral)