ST FRIDIANUS, BISHOP OF LUCCA, CONFESSOR - 18 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 18th 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 FRIDIANUS, BISHOP OF LUCCA, CONFESSOR 

Saint Fridianus (Fridian, Frigdian) is said to have been son to a king of Ulster in Ireland, at least he is looked upon as of Irish extraction. 

HE IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN SON TO A KING OF ULSTER

Travelling into Italy, to improve himself in ecclesiastical learning and virtue, he made such progress that, upon the death of Germinian, bishop of Lucca, he was chosen bishop of that extensive diocese, the eleventh from St Paulinus, founder of that church, said to have been a disciple of St Peter. 

HE CHECKED AN IMPETUOUS FLOOD OF THE RIVER AUSER

St Gregory the Great assures us, that he miraculously checked an impetuous flood of the river Auser, now called the Serchio, when it threatened to drown a great part of the city. 

HIS HOLY DEATH

St Fridian died in 578, and was buried in a place where the church now stands which bears his name. Pope Alexander II sent for some regular canons from this church to establish that order in the churches of St John Lateran, and of the cross of Jerusalem, at Rome, but, in 1507, the congregation of St Frigdian was united to that of St John Lateran.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Fridianus, your blessed bishop, 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.

➡️ His entry in the Roman Martyrology