MARTYRS OF NATAL - 3 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER 

Saints celebrated on the 3rd of October

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.

MARTYRS OF NATAL 

The Martyrs of Natal were a group of 30 Brazilian Roman Catholic individuals - two of them priests - killed in northern Brazil in massacres that a large group of Dutch Calvinists led. (Wikipedia) 

The 30 individuals were beatified in Saint Peter's Square on March 5, 2000. 

Not all names have been handed down to us; some of the martyrs are:

St Ambrosio Francisco Ferro

St André de Soveral

St Antônio Baracho

St Antônio Vilela

St Antônio Vilela Cid

St Diogo Pereira

St Domingos Carvalho

St Estêvão Machado de Miranda

St Francisco de Bastos

St Francisco Mendes Pereira

St João da Silveira

St João Lostau Navarro

St João Martins

St José do Porto

St Manuel Rodrigues de Moura

St Mateus Moreira

St Simão Correia

St Vicente de Souza Pereira 

(photo: a monument dedicated to the martyrs)

PRAYER:

Grant to your Church, we beseech you, O Lord, through the intercession of your holy Martyrs of Natal, not to think high-mindedly, but to grow in humility pleasing to you; that, despising what is base, she may with unbounded love diligently do whatever is right. 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.