ST EDWARD, KING AND CONFESSOR - 13 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 13th of October

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 EDWARD, KING AND CONFESSOR 

Edward, called the Confessor, nephew of St Edward, king and martyr, was he last of the Anglo-Saxon kings. When he was ten years old, the Danes, who were then devastating England, sought him out to kill him. He was forced to flee into exile to the court of his uncle, the Duke of Normandy, where his innocence of life won the admiration of all.

HE WAS FORCED TO FLEE INTO EXILE

The tyrants who robbed his brothers of their lives and their kingdom were eventually overthrown, and Edward was recalled to his country. There he devoted himself to removing all traces of havoc wrought by the enemy, beginning with the sacred temples of God.

HE FORESAW MUCH OF ENGLAND’S FUTURE HISTORY BY DIVINE INSPIRATION 

He was famous for the gift of prophecy and foresaw much of England’s future history by divine inspiration. He had a very special devotion to St John the Evangelist, and on the day predicted by that saint, he died a most holy death, namely on the Nones of January, in the year of salvation 1066. Pope Alexander III enrolled him among the saints.

PRAYER:

O God, who crowned blessed King Edward with the glory of eternity, grant us, we beseech you, so to venerate him on earth that we may be worthy to reign with him in heaven. Through our Lord…

(From: An Approved English Translation of the Breviarium Romanum, Burns & Oates, London, 1964 - 🎨 St Edward, King and Confessor, from the Bayeux Tapestry)