ST EXUPERIUS, ZOE, CYRIACUS, AND THEODOLUS, MARTYRS - 2 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 2nd 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 EXUPERIUS, ZOE, CYRIACUS, AND THEODOLUS, MARTYRS 

The saintly slave Exuperius (Hesperus) suffered with his wife Zoe and his sons Cyriacus and Theodulus in the city of Attalia (now Antalia) in Pamphylia. 

The latter, brought up in the Christian faith by his caring parents, let slip to their heathen slave-master that he, his brother and his parents were Christians.

THE SLAVE-MASTER WAS LIVID

Enraged by this, their slave-master (who was called Catalus, and his wife's name was Tetradia or also Tertia), had the whole family beaten and tortured.  Moreover, since they continued to refuse to consume the wine and meat supposedly sacrificed to the gods, they were finally burned alive. 

THE MIRACLE

But they were found intact. When the fire had finally gone out, the martyrs looked asleep, untouched by fire, facing east. According to the Passio preserved in the Vatican and printed by the Bollandists, they were all from Phrygia. The reign of Emperor Hadrian (from the year 117 to 138) is given as the time of their martyrdom. 

THEIR RELICS

All four of them were very zealous in practicing their faith.Their relics were transferred to Clermont, where their feast is observed on the above day.

(From Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints)

THEIR ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

Also the holy martyrs Exuperius and Zoe, his wife, with their sons, Cyriacus and Theodulus, who suffered under the emperor Adrian.

PRAYER:

Grant to your Church, we beseech you, O Lord, through the intercession of your holy martyrs Exuperius, Zoë, Cyriacus and Theodulus, not to think high-mindedly, but to grow in humility pleasing to you; that, despising what is base, she may with unbounded love diligently do whatever is right. 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.