ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 3rd of December
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.
SS. POSSESSOR AND FIRMINUS, BISHOPS OF VERDUN
Possessor and Firminus, Bishops (December 3, May 4 [May 11]). The Bollandists mention Saint Possessor (the sixth bishop of Verdun) along with St Firminus, his successor, since the celebration of the translation of the relics of both is observed on May 4. Their main festival is on December 3.
THEIR EPISCOPACY
According to Migne, the relics of St Possessor originally rested in the church of St Vanne (formerly called St Peter and Paul), together with those of his saintly successor. Both were bishops in the later part of the 5th century. Vilonus, who succeeded Firminus as bishop died around the year 529, while St Pulchronius, who preceded both, died around A.D. 470 The holy bishops' terms of office fell into the troublesome period of the Semi-Gelagian quarrels, which at that time agitated parts of present-day France.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858 - 🎨 Verdun - a WWI poster)
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