ST ATTO, BISHOP OF PISTOIA - 22 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 22 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 ATTO, BISHOP OF PISTOIA

Saint Atto (Attho, Attus) was born in Badajoz (Pax Augusta) in Spain. According to others his birth place was the valley of Pescia in Etruria. He saw the light of day around the year 1070. 

RELIGIOUS PROFESSION

On a trip to Italy he was so attracted to the pious way of life of the monks of Vallumbrosa that he asked to be admitted into their order in the year 1100. 

HE WAS ELECTED ABBOT

After just five years he was made abbot and general of the order, and in 1133 (1134) the clergy and people unanimously elected him bishop of Pistoia. He died on May 22, 1155, and his name appears on May 22 both in the general Roman Martyrology and in that for the Order of Vallumbrosa.

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

PRAYER:

May the intercession of Atto, your blessed bishop, commend us to you, so that through his merits we may obtain that which we cannot accomplish by our own. 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.