ST AMATUS OF NUSCO, BISHOP - 30 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 30th of September

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 AMATUS OF NUSCO, BISHOP 

Saint Amatus, Bishop of Nusco (Numestro) in the Kingdom of Naples, was born in 1104 in this city. 

Even from his youth he showed a very pious mind, inclined to everything good. 

When, in his fourteenth year, he lost his parents and thus became heir to the parental estate, after having given abundant sums to the poor, he proceeded to study and to become a priest. 

Following the call by St William of Monte-Vergine, who lived in the monastery of St  Saviour near Nusco, he and a certain John asked to be admitted as monks there.

When William died in 1142, Amatus built the Fontiliano monastery, where, among others, a mute youth entered, to whom St Amatus, by his prayers, procured the gift of speech. 

Since the episcopal seat of Nusco was vacant in 1152, the king, the clergy and the people coveted him as bishop, so that he could not refuse to accept the dignity. 

Amatus chose the monk for whom he had prayed for the gift of speech to succeed him in the monastery, and went to administer his new office with apostolic zeal. 

On August 31, 1193 Amatus had offered the Holy Sacrifice in the church, and, afterwards, whilst kneeling in prayer before God, he gave up his ghost in the Lord. Because of his many miracles the city chose him as patron. St Amatus is also mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)