ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 26th 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 CALLISTRATUS AND 49 COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
St Callistratus was a native of Chalcedon and the son of Christian parents. One of his ancestors, Neochorus, had served in Palestine under the command of Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea, and was a witness to the suffering on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When he became a soldier, Callistratus was an avid propagator of Christianity, and was accused of this by his superiors. Because he remained steadfast in his confession, Callistratus was cruelly beaten and thrown into the sea sown up in a sack, from which, however, by a miracle, he emerged unharmed.
This miracle made such an impression on the crowd of soldiers that 49 of them immediately converted to the Christian faith. Later, all of them were imprisoned and hacked to pieces. This happened towards the end of the 3rd century or, as other sources state, in the year 403.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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