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ST LEA OF ROME, WIDOW - 22 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 22nd of March

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SAINT LEA OF ROME, WIDOW

Saint Lea was a rich Roman lady. After the death of her husband she mortified her flesh by wearing rough sack-cloth, passed whole nights in prayer, and by humility seemed every one’s menial servant. 

She died in 384, and is honoured on this day in the Roman Martyrology. St Jerome makes an elegant comparison between her death and that of Praetextatus, a heathen, who was that year appointed consul, but snatched away by death at the same time.

From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints

SAINT LEA'S ENTRY IN STADLER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SAINTS:

Saint Lea [Leah] was a pious Roman widow who, after the death of her husband, distinguished herself by a high degree of humility and self-denial. She wore a hair-shirt, spent most of the night in prayer, and became the mother, as it were, of consecrated virgins who joined her. Her death took place around A.D. 383 in Rome.

St Jerome, In his 24th letter to St Marcella, draws a very nice comparison between the death of St Lea, and that of a heathen named Pretextatus, who departed from the world at the same time, having previously been elected consul. St Jerome calls her "prioress of the monastery" (monasterii princeps) and says that she taught her subjects more by example than by words. Now she is resting from her toils with poor Lazarus in Abraham's bosom and enjoying eternal glory, while the pagan consul Praetextatus, who ascended the Capitol in all splendour just a few days ago now lies there poor and abandoned and probably shares he fate of the rich man clad in purple and fine linen. 

Her name is found also in the Roman Martyrology on March 22.

PRAYER:

O God, who gladden us each year by the feast of blessed Lea, graciously grant that, as we rejoice in her merits, we may be inspired by her example. 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.

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