ST ALEXANDER SAULI - 11 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 11th 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.

ST ALEXANDER SAULI

He is known as the Apostle of Corsica, born at Milan, 1533, of an illustrious Lombard family; died at Pavia, October 11, 1592; declared Blessed by Benedict XIV on April 23, 1742. 

After some years of study under capable masters, he entered the Congregation of the Barnabites at an early age, and became teacher of philosophy and theology at the University of Pavia, and later Superior-General of the Congregation (1565). 

In 1571 he was appointed by Pius V to the ancient see of Aleria, Corsica, where faith was all but extinguished, and clergy and people were in a state of deplorable ignorance. 

With the aid of three companions, he reclaimed the inhabitants, corrected abuses, rebuilt churches, founded colleges and seminaries, and despite the depredations of corsairs, and the death of his comrades, he placed the Church in a flourishing condition. 

In 1591 he was made Bishop of Pavia, where he died the following year. He left a number of works chiefly catechetical.

(Text from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)

[He was subsequently canonised by Pope Pius X, December 11, 1904.]