ST PRINCIPIUS, BISHOP - 25 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 25th 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 PRINCIPIUS, BISHOP 

This holy Bishop of Soissons, twelfth in order, was an elder brother of Bishop St Remigius. The parents were called Aemilius and Celina. 

Principius was their firstborn. Another brother is unknown by name, and neither do we know anything about him save the fact that his son Lupus went on to be the successor of his uncle St Principius of Soissons. This is historically documented.

St Principius may have died towards the end of the 5th century. That he must have been adorned with all episcopal virtues to a very special degree is shown by the inconceivable veneration which he has received as saint. 

His contemporary Sidonius Apollinaris testifies that St Principius, in many ways, shared quite a few qualities with his brother, St Remigius, and that he resembled him in many ways. 

That St Principius attended the councils of Carmpentras and the first and second of Orange is also confirmed by Baronius. The latter adds that he blossomed around the year 460. The date of his death is usually given as 505. 

St Remigius buried St Principius' mortal remains in the chapel of St Thecla, which is situated outside the town of Soissons. His relics were later transferred to the cathedral church. 

St Principius' relics were eventually burned by the Calvinists in 1567. One arm of the saint has been preserved in the Church of St Amatus at Douai (Duacum). It had been translated there in A.D. 870 following the end of the Norman invasions. A portion of relics of SS. Amatus, Onesimus, and Gurdicellus had been transferred at the same time. 

St Principius' name is inserted in the Roman Martyrology on September 25. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - 🎨 St Remigius, St Principius' younger brother, replenishing the barrel of wine)