ST SOSIUS OF MISENO, DEACON AND MARTYR - 23 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 23rd 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 SOSIUS OF MISENO, DEACON AND MARTYR 

St Sosius was a companion of St Januarius, Bishop. The other companions in martyrdom were: the deacons Festus and Proculus, the holy lector Desiderius, and the holy citizens Eutyches (Eutycheles) and Acutius.

The biography of Januarius, written by the deacon John of Naples, states that St Januarius and St Sosius (Sossius), the faithful deacon of the Church of Miseno (Misenum) not far from Naples, had been friends and that they paid each other regular visits. During those meetings they had sacred conversations with each other and also edified the believers with them. 

During one such visit, Bishop Januarius once saw above the head of St Sosius a shining flame, while the latter preached the gospel with joyful zeal in the church. It was then that the saintly Bishop announced to all those present that this flame signified that the holy deacon would soon be crowned with the diadem of martyrdom.

And this did indeed come to pass. The persecution of Christians had begun in 303 under the Emperor Diocletian; his governor Dracontius was implementing it in Campania. St Sosius had been accused of being a zealous preacher of the faith (he was about thirty years old at the time), and the governor had him summoned soon afterwards, demanding that Sosius sacrifice to the gods. When the latter steadfastly refused to do so, he was first savagely beaten, and then taken to a terrible dungeon in neighbouring Pozzuoli.

One by one, Januarius and the other companions were also locked up for the faith. The confessors praised God and encouraged one another in view of the coming battle. The next day they were presented to the wild animals in the amphitheatre in the presence of the governor and a large crowd. 

They stood there like rocks, blessing themselves with the Sign of the Cross. Thus they awaited the wild beasts, who rushed at them with great anger, but then, when they came near them, forgot their ferocity and lay down at the feet of the holy confessors.

Following this spectacular miracle, almost 5000 spectators in the amphitheater converted to Christianity,

St Januarius and the companions were quickly taken away and, according to the sources, beheaded "ad sulphuratoriam", i.e. at the sulfur spring. This happened in the year 305. 

The corpses of the holy martyrs were honoured there buried. St Sosius was buried on September 23.

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