ST PAPHNUTIUS OF EGYPT AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS - 24 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 24th 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 PAPHNUTIUS OF EGYPT AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS 

The Roman Martyrology states of these saintly Martyrs: "In Egypt the suffering of SS. Paphnutius and his companions. When the latter heard that many Christians were being thrown into chains, he surrendered voluntarily to the prefect, driven by the spirit of God, and openly professed the Christian religion. 

He was first put in iron chains and tortured for a long time, finally sent to Diocletian with many others, on whose orders he was nailed to a palm tree, but the others were killed with the sword."

The Greek Acts of St Paphnutius are filled with many marvellous miracles. The Menol. Basil. tells us: 

The cruelty of the godless Emperor Diocletian made martyrs of many Christians, not only lay people but also monks. St Paphnutius, born in Egypt, had renounced the world, and passed the greater part of his life in the desert. But he combined active life with contemplative life, and made many conversions. 

When he learned that others were being imprisoned to suffer torture and death for believing in Jesus, he voluntarily surrendered to the pagan judge.

Immediately he was thrown into hard bonds and tortured so terribly that his entrails were driven from his body. But his holy guardian angel made him well again, so that new conversions of pagans took place. 

At last he was condemned to be nailed to a palm tree and thus brought to death. Under this agony he gave up the ghost. On the same day 547 martyrs are said to have been beheaded. The legend adds that this happened under the emperor Diocletian. 

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