ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 28th 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 THIEMO, ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG
Thiemo, also called Tyemo, Diemo, Ditmar, Theodemar, came from the family of the Counts of Mödling and Frontenhausen. His father, who is said to have been called Raspo, had a reputation of being very hot tempered, but his mother Anna, the daughter of a Greek prince, was a pious and gentle woman. The son inherited the dispositions of both, which gave him a constant struggle throughout his life, but which he mustered with God's grace.
He received his education in the monastery at Niederaltaich, where he became a monk. St Thiemo felt that he was called to solitary life, though. One day he left the monastery to start life as a hermit, but he returned repentant at the persuasion of a priest whom he bumped into whilst escaping.
St Thiemo had an incredible talent in painting and carving. As time went on, his holiness became so great that he was unanimously elected abbot by the Benedictines of St Peter in Salzburg in 1079.
The holy Archbishop Gebhard solemnly introduced him to the new office and recommended him to the brothers as the "best father," and indeed, St Thiemo was found worthy of that title.
When St Gebhard was exiled, however, his protégé was also no longer allowed to stay in Salzburg. St Thiemo therefore went to the Hirschau monastery, where he lived under cover for three years. There - without his usual episcopal obligations - he had ample opportunity to dedicate himself exclusively to God and his own soul.
After this period he went via Salzburg, where he comforted and encouraged the brothers, to proceed to the Admont monastery, which he repopulated by monks from Hirschau and re-established after a period of desolation.
In 1090 he ascended the archbishopric of Salzburg, which he held until 1101. He received episcopal consecration from the bishops Altmann von Passau, Adalbero von Würzburg and Meginwart von Freysing.
In the following year he already inaugurated the St Paul Monastery in Carinthia, founded by Count Engelbert von Lavent, and in 1095 he attended the great Synod of Piacenza, which opened on March 1st.
Besides, his administration was full of suffering and affliction. Finally, he joined the crusade of Duke Welf I of Bavaria in the year 1100 to the Holy Land. Here he fell into the captivity of the Mahometans and was cruelly murdered by them. So he won the glorious crown of an invincible fighter and martyr who always fought for God and faith.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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