MARTYRS OF POZZUOLI - 18 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 18th 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 POZZUOLI 

Saint Proculus of Pozzuoli was martyred around 304 A.D., at the same time as St Januarius. He was martyred with Sosius, deacon of Miseno, Festus, lector, Desiderius, lector, Acutius, layman, and Eutychius, layman; these seven martyrs are first mentioned in relation to the life of St Januarius.

They were seized during the persecution under Diocletian, imprisoned and beheaded (A.D. 304). 

The body of St Januarius (San Gennaro) was buried in the church of Naples, of which city he has become the Patron Saint. The yearly liquefaction of some of his blood preserved in a phial is a well-known miracle, and has resulted in the conversion of countless sinners to a better life.

(Information from The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate - 📷 Wall paintings in the catacombs of San Gennaro)