SS. CRISPUS AND CAIUS, MARTYRS - 4 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 4th 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.

SS. CRISPUS AND CAIUS, MARTYRS 

Saints Crispus and Caius were firstt century Martyrs. They are commemorated on October 4.

Saints of the Apostolic Age, they were the two whom alone St Paul baptised at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:13).

Crispus was ruler of the synagogue in that city (Acts 18:8). Caius in all likelihood is the same as the person whom the Apostle styles "my host" (Romans 16:23), and also (which is the opinion of Origen and of Venerable Bede) the "dearly beloved Gaius (Caius)" to whom St John addressed his Third Epistle. 

A well-supported tradition has it that Crispus became the first Bishop of the Island of Egina, and Caius similarly first Bishop of Thessalonica. [They are known to have been martyred together.]

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)