ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY
Saints celebrated on the 2nd 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 LAURENCE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Saint Laurence was one of those who accompanied St Austin [Augustine of Canterbury] into this island, about the year 597, and was his immediate successor in the see of Canterbury, in 608, in which he sat eleven years.
THE KING'S SUCCESSOR
When Eadbald, son and successor to the holy king Ethelbert, not only refused to follow his father’s example in embracing the faith, but gave into idolatry, and incestuously took to his bed his father’s widow. Laurence having laboured hard for his conversion to no purpose, and despairing of reclaiming him, thought of nothing but retiring into France, as some others had already done.
HE WAS SEVERELY SCOURGED BY ST PETER
But he was severely scourged by St Peter, in a dream, on the eve of his intended departure, with reproaches for designing to forsake that flock for which Christ had laid down his life.
THE KING WAS CONVERTED
This did not only prevent his going, but had such an effect upon the king, when he was shown the marks of the stripes he had received on this occasion, that he became a thorough convert, doing whatever was required of him, both for his own sanctification and the propagation of Christianity in his dominions.
HE IS MENTIONED IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY
St Laurence did not long survive this happy change, dying in the year 619. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Laurence may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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