SEVEN FRIARS MINORS, MARTYRS - 10 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 10th 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.

SEVEN FRIAR MINORS, MARTYRS 

Five Franciscan missionaries having glorified God by martyrdom in Morocco in 1220, on the 16th of January, as has been related on that day; seven other zealous priests of the same Order sailed to Africa the year following, with the same view of announcing Christ to the Mahometans. 

Their names were: Daniel, the provincial of Calabria; Samuel, Angelus, Donulus, Leo, Nicholas, and Hugolin. Arriving at Ceuta, they preached three days in the suburb of the city, which was inhabited by Christians; after which they went into the town, and preached Christ also to the infidels. 

The populace hearing them, immediately took fire, covered them with mire and filth, and carried them before their king, whose name was Mahomet. From their rough habits and shorn heads he took them for madmen; but sent them to the governor of the town. 

By him, after a long examination, they were remanded to the king, who condemned them to be beheaded. They suffered with great joy in the year 1221, on the 10th of October; but are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 13th. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)