ST EUDOCIA, MARTYR - 1 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH 

Saints celebrated on the 1st 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 EUDOCIA, MARTYR 

Saint Eudocia (Eudoxia, Eudokia) was born in Samaria during the reign of Emperor Trajan. She shone with a bright mind, possessed a cheerful disposition, and distinguished herself from the maidens of her native city by her physical beauty. 

SHE SANK LOWER AND LOWER

This brought her a lot of vain flatterers, with whom she finally fell and sank lower and lower. In order to be able to devote herself unhindered to a life of vice, she left home, parents and relatives and went to Heliopolis, a city in Phoenicia (Colesyria), and amassed great wealth through sin.

But it also pleased the merciful love of God to send her a saviour. Germanus, a monk, once travelling through Heliopolis, stayed with a relative whose house adjoined that of Eudocia. 

SHE HEARD THINGS NO ONE HAD EVER TOLD HER ABOUT

When the time for Matins came, Germanus got up, sang holy psalms and read out loud the description of the torment of hell and the joy of heaven. The monk's room was separated from Eudocia's bedchamber only by a thin wall; his praying and reading aloud awakened her; she could understand every word, and with astonishment she heard things that no one had ever told her about. 

SHE WAS DEEPLY MOVED

Eudocia was deeply moved, summoned a priest, showed him her willingness to do penance, and was instructed in the teachings of the faith. She then went to the bishop of the city, named Theodot, wearing penitential garb, and with tears begged him for the grace of holy baptism and admission to the Church. 

SHE BEGAN A NEW LIFE

As these saving acts were completed, she went home very happy. She distributed all her wealth among the poor and kept not the least of her treasures for herself. On the advice of Germanus, she left the city, withdrew into solitude and led an exemplary life of penitence.

HER WISH WAS FULFILLED

Eudocia persevered in her penance to the end of her life. Often the pious desire arose in her heart to be able to give up her body, to which she gave so many sinful pleasures, to torture. Lo and behold, her wish was fulfilled. A persecution of Christians broke out. The prefect Vincentius had Eudocia, greatly honoured by her holiness and miracles, summoned before him and, because of her staunch refusal to sacrifice to idols, he had her beheaded about the year 114. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)