Saints celebrated on the 27th of July
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.
BL. RUDOLPH AQUAVIVA, PRIEST AND MARTYR AND COMPANIONS
Rudolph Acquaviva's illustrious family was related to many of the noble houses of Italy. As a boy Rudolph was generous in almsgiving, even to the point of giving away the clothes he was wearing. As a youth, he pleaded with his uncle to have a word with his father, who had specific career plans for his son, to grant him permission to become a Jesuit. His father finally gave his consent when Rudolph convinced him that his decision was not a hasty one but one based on prayer and reflection.
THE MISSION IN INDIA
Rudolph entered the novitiate of San Andrea in 1568. He completed his philosophy and theology in Rome and was ordained in early 1578. He was accepted for the missions in India and set sail for Goa on March the same year. His first assignment in Goa was teaching philosophy to seminarians at St Paul’s College.
THE MOGUL WAS NOT PREPARED TO GIVE UP HIS HAREM
A year later, Akbar the Great Mogul invited the Jesuits to his court to instruct him in the Christian faith. Fr Acquaviva and another Jesuit arrived at his court in 1580 with a seven-volume copy of the Bible with the hope of converting the grand mogul. Akbar was greatly interested in Christianity and seemed convinced of its truth but was not prepared to give up his harem. Fr Acquaviva returned to Goa after three years, disappointed that Akbar would never be converted.
THE MISSION OF SALSETTE
Within days of his return to his Jesuit community, Fr Acquaviva was made superior of the mission in Salsette, a peninsula directly south of Goa where the inhabitants were mostly Hindus and fanatically anti-Christians. When Fr Acquaviva came to the mission in July 1583, the missionaries were planning to visit all its sixty-six villages. They decided to start at the south most village of Cuncolim but were stopped from entering by a local leader because of internal problems. After waiting futilely for a few hours and hearing increasingly frightening shouts from the village, the Jesuits decided just to plant a cross on the site of a future chapel and to leave.
HIS READINESS FOR MARTYRDOM
Unknown to them, the spot chosen was the spot where a temple had stood until it was destroyed the year before. When praying afterwards, Fr Aquaviva was attacked by angry locals. To show his readiness for martyrdom, Fr Acquaviva opened the collar of his cassock and exposed the left side of his neck. He was struck twice and the third blow hit his shoulder and his arm was nearly cut off. But it was an arrow in the breast that killed him. Fr Acquaviva’s last words were, “Forgive them, Lord. Francis Xavier, pray to God for me. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He was just thirty-three years old.
THE MASSACRE
The angry and blood-thirsty Hindus then attacked and killed in turn Bro Arunha and Fr Berno, then Frs Pacheco and Francisco. Fr Acquaviva and his four companions, the martyrs of Salsette were beatified by Pope Leo XIII on April 2, 1893.
[In some calendars Fr Aquaviva's feast day is February 4.]
(Source:
https://www.jesuit.org.sg/july-rudolph-aquaviva-sj/ )
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