ST JULIANA, WIDOW - 7 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 7th 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 JULIANA, WIDOW 

Saint Juliana was a pious widow in Bologna. She saw the light of day about the year 360. The father of our St Juliana is said to have been called Julius Bancius, and her mother's name was Facunda. She was brought up in a godly manner by these Christian parents until she was 15 years old, when, according to their will, she married a rich and respected young man. 

HER FAMILY

Some sources state the her husband's name was Lucius. She bore him three daughters and finally a son, whom she called Laurentius (Laurence) because she believed to have given birth to him through St Laurentius' intercession. Having thus received the long-awaited male offspring, the parents abstained from marital union by mutual consent. 

SHE WAS LEFT A WIDOW

The father entered the clergy and received holy orders.  He died in the tenth year after entering into marriage and left our St Juliana a widow. She brought up her children in the fear of God, so that her son Laurentius also joined the clergy and her daughters vowed perpetual virginity to the Lord. 

A SHINING EXAMPLE OF ALL VIRTUES

St Juliana was to her daughters a shining example of all virtues. All of them lived in her own house, which was arranged like a convent. She devoted herself entirely to the service of Christ, praying and fasting, being a mother to the poor and spending much of her wealth on churches and convents. 

HER GENEROSITY

In Florence, for example, she had a church built which was dedicated to St Laurentius, which the great St. Bishop Ambrose inaugurated and where he deposited a part of the relics of the holy martyrs Vitalis and Agricola. In Bologna she contributed a large amount to the construction of the church of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. 

HER HOLY DEATH

St Ambrose is full of praise about St Juliana in his Hortatio ad virginitatem. The holy bishops Felix and Petronius of Bologna held her in very high esteem, too. She also had heavenly delights and revelations. Finally she died about the year 435 at the age of 75, and was buried in the Church of St Stephen. Her name is found in the Roman Martyrology on February 7.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)