SS. ALEXANDER AND THEODORE, MARTYRS - 17 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 17th of March

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.

SS. ALEXANDER AND THEODORE, MARTYRS

 

Cardinal Baronius describes Saints Alexander and Theodore as Roman Martyrs, whose names he found in the ancient manuscripts he collated, together with a series of other names purporting to have been companions in martyrdom with Alexander and Theodore. 

A BISHOP AND A DEACON?

St Alexander is sometimes described as a Bishop, and St Theodore as his deacon. Their names, too, are sometimes found written Nicander and Theodulus. There is no trace discoverable nowadays anywhere of their history. In the middle of the ninth century, Pope Sergius II solemnly translated and enshrined their relics.

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)

PRAYER:

Grant to your Church, we beseech you, O Lord, through the intercession of your holy martyrs Alexander and Theodore, not to think high-mindedly, but to grow in humility pleasing to you; that, despising what is base, she may with unbounded love diligently do whatever is right. 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.

-