ST SERGIUS AND ST BACCHUS, MARTYRS - 7 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER 

Saints celebrated on the 7th 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 SERGIUS AND ST BACCHUS, MARTYRS 

These two glorious martyrs are mentioned with great distinction by Theodoret, John Mosch in the Spiritual Meadow, Evagrius, St Gregory of Tours, Bede, and other ancient Martyrologists. 

They were illustrious officers in the army, and suffered with great constancy cruel torments and a glorious death under Maximian: the theatre of their triumph was Rasaphe in Syria, in the diocese of Hierapolis. 

Their tomb at Rasaphe was famous for miracles in the year 431, when Alexander, bishop of Hierapolis, built there a stately church in their honour. 

Out of respect for their relics, Justinian caused this town to be fortified, called it Sergiopolis, and made it the metropolis of the province. He also built many churches in their honour in several provinces of the East. 

They are the titular saints of a church in Rome, which has been famous at least ever since the seventh century, as appears from Anastasius; nevertheless no authentic acts of their martyrdom have reached us. 

Two other churches in Rome bear their name: one called ad montes belongs to the Russian college, and possesses a portion of their relics brought from Syria in the crusades: as does the cathedral of St Vitus at Prague, by the gift of the Emperor Charles IV, in 1354. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)