ST ADRIAN OF MAY, BISHOP AND MARTYR - 4 MARCH

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 4th 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.

ST ADRIAN OF MAY, BISHOP AND MARTYR 

(St Adrian, Bishop of St Andrews in Scotland, Martyr. [Some calendars celebrate St Adrian on December 3.]

DANISH ATTACKS ON THE COAST OF SCOTLAND

When the Danes, in the ninth century, made frequent descents upon the coast of Scotland, plundered several provinces, and massacred great part of the inhabitants, this holy pastor [Saint Adrian, also sometimes called Magridin], often softened their fury, and converted several among them to Christ. 

THE ABERDEEN BREVIARY RECORD

In a most cruel invasion of these pirates, he withdrew into the isle of May, in the bay of the river Forth; but the barbarians plundering also that island, discovered him there, and slew him with another bishop named Stalbrand, and a great number of others: the Aberdeen Breviary says six thousand six hundred. 

THE MONASTERY

This massacre happened in the reign of Constantine II in the year 874. A great monastery was built of polished stone in honour of St Adrian, in the isle of May, the church of which, enriched with his relics, was a place of great devotion. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)