Saints celebrated on the 1st 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.
ST CYBAR, RECLUSE
(Saint Cybar, a Recluse at Angouleme.) Eparcus, commonly called Cybar, quitted the world in spite of his parents, who would hinder him to follow his vocation; and retiring to the monastery of Sedaciac, in Perigord, he there served God some time under Abbot Martin, and soon became known and admired for his extraordinary virtues and miracles.
HE SHUT HIMSELF UP IN A CELL
Wherefore, in dread of the seduction of vain-glory, he left his monastery to hide himself in absolute solitude. It was near Angouleme, with the bishop of Perigeux’s and his abbot’s leave, he shut himself up in a cell. But his virtues were too striking for concealment, and the bishop of Angouleme obliged him to accept the priesthood.
FAITH NEVER FEARED HUNGER
Cybar was extremely austere in his food and apparel, especially during Lent. Although a recluse, he did not refuse to admit disciples; but he would not allow them manual labour, as, after his own example, he willed they should be constantly occupied in prayer. When any of them would complain for want of necessaries, he would tell them, with St. Jerome, that “Faith never feared hunger.” Nor was he deceived in his trust on Providence, as he always found abundance for himself and his disciples in the beneficence of the faithful; insomuch that he was even enabled to redeem a great number of captives.
HIS RELICS
He died on July 1, 581, having lived about forty years in his cell. His relics were kept in the abbey church of his name until 1568, when they were burnt by the Huguenots.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
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