ST SUSANNA OF PALESTINE, VIRGIN AND MARTYR - 20 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 20th of September

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 SUSANNA OF PALESTINE, VIRGIN AND MARTYR 

Saint Susanna, a converted Jew from Palestine, distributed her parental inheritance among the poor and entered a convent in Jerusalem as brother John.

Her father Arthemius had been an idol priest, her mother was also a converted Jew. 

When her gender was discovered, her bishop Cleophas gave her the veil and brought her to Eleutheropolis, where she became a deaconess. 

Under Julian the Apostate she was charged with overturning the idols and turning them to dust, and sentenced to death by the governor of Eleutheropolis around the year 362. (1)

Eleutheropolis is a titular see in Palestina Prima. The former name of this city seems to have been Beth Gabra, "the house of the strong men", which later became Beit Djibrin, "the house of Gabriel". Vespasian slaughtered almost all its inhabitants, according to Josephus, where its name is written Betaris. In A.D. 200 Septimius Severus, on his Syrian journey changed its name to Eleutheropolis, and it soon became one of the most important cities of Judea. Its special era, which figures on its coins and in many inscriptions, began January 1, A.D. 200. (2)

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1853; 2. Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 A coin from Eleutheropolis)