ST PETRONAX OF MONTE CASSINO, ABBOT - 6 MAY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 6th 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 PETRONAX OF MONTE CASSINO, ABBOT 

Saint Petronax is considered the second founder of Monte Cassino. He came from Brescia to Rome in 720 and, at the persuasion of Pope Gregory II, made a pilgrimage to the tomb of the holy father Benedict, where he met a few more monks who elected him their superior. 

HE REBUILT THE MONASTERY

Many other monks soon flocked to him, and with the help of the Benevento people and Pope Zechariah he rebuilt the monastery and the church. 

HIS FAMOUS CHARGES

Under him lived St Wilibald, later Bishop of Eichstätt, ten years as a monk at Cassino; also Carlmann, king Pepin's brother, Ratchisus, king of the Lombards, Sturmius, the first abbot of Fulda, and several other famous men. He headed the monastery for thirty-two years and died there on May 6, 752. 

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

PRAYER:

May the intercession of the blessed abbot Petronax 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.