ST PAUL, BISHOP OF NARBONNE, CONFESSOR - 22 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 22nd 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 PAUL, BISHOP OF NARBONNE, CONFESSOR

Saint Gregory of Tours informs us, that he was sent with other preachers from Rome to plant the faith in Gaul. 

THEY FOUNDED THE CHURCHES AMIDST MANY DANGERS

St Saturninus of Toulouse, and St Dionysius [Denis] of Paris, were crowned with martyrdom: but St Paul of Narbonne, St Trophimus of Arles, St Martial of Limoges, and St Gatian of Tours, after having founded those churches amidst many dangers, departed in peace. 

Prudentius says, that the name of Paul had rendered the city of Narbonne illustrious.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

HIS ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Narbonne, in France, the birthday of the bishop Saint Paul, a disciple of the Apostles. He is said to have been the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was baptised by the blessed Apostle Paul, and left at Narbonne, where he was raised to the Episcopal dignity when the Apostle went to Spain. Having zealously discharged the office of preaching and performed miracles, he departed for Heaven.

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Paul, 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.