BL. MARIANO GARCÍA MÉNDEZ, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 23 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 23rd of August

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. MARIANO GARCÍA MÉNDEZ, PRIEST AND MARTYR 

Mariano García Méndez, born on September 25, 1891 in the Province of Ávila, Spain, was ordained a priest in this diocese in 1916, and became a Priest of the Sacred Heart, taking the name of John Mary of the Cross. [Juan María de la Cruz, S.C.I.]. He was martyred on August 23, 1936 during the anti-Catholic persecutions in Spain.

John Paul II beatified him on March 11, 2001 with other 232 victims of the Spanish Civil War.

Roman Martyrology: In the town of Silla in the same territory, Blessed John Mary of the Cross (Mariano) García Méndez, priest of the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and martyr, who always kept faith in Christ in the same religious persecution until death.

(Information from:

http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92167 - 📷 Wikimedia Commons)

PRAYER:

May the intercession of Blessed John Mary of the Cross 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.