ST ABDIESUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR - 16 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 16th of May

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 ABDIESUS, BISHOP OF CASCAR, MARTYR 

Saint Abdiesus (Hebedjesus), Ep. M. (May 16). Abdiesus (also Audesius), Bishop of Cascar (Beth-Cascar) in Chaldea, died a martyr's death in Persia, under King Isdegard. God gave him 16 priests, 9 deacons, 6 monks and 7 virgins to share in his triumph. Abdiesus was imprisoned at the instigation of his cousin and tortured most cruelly with his fellow sufferers. Their legs were broken, and every several days they were pressed together seven times with such force that their limbs rattled and creaked. Finally they were beheaded, their death is believed to have occurred in the year 350.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)

FR BUTLER'S ACCOUNT OF ST ABDJESUS

(Saint Abdjesus, or Hebedjesus, Bishop and Martyr.)

The Greek Menology commemorates this holy bishop of Cascar, in Chaldæa, on May 16, on which day he suffered martyrdom under King Isdegerdes, with sixteen priests, nine deacons, six monks, and seven virgins. 

HIS ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

In Persia, the holy martyrs Audas, a bishop, seven priests, nine deacons and seven virgins, who endured various kinds of torments under king Isdegerdes, and thus gloriously consummated their martyrdom.

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Abdisho and Abda were two successive bishops of Kashkar who were martyred along with 38 companions in 376 during the Forty-Year Persecution in the Sasanian Empire.