ST URSUS OF SOLOTHURN, MARTYR - 30 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 30th 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.

SAINT URSUS OF SOLOTHURN, MARTYR 

He is Patron of the principal church of Solothurn (Soleure) in Switzerland, honoured from very early times, as a martyr of the Theban Legion, and recorded in the Roman Martyrology, with St Victor, on September 30.

Relics of him are shown in many churches of Switzerland, and since the twelfth century the baptismal name Ursus is very common in the neighbourhood of Solothurn. 

The legend, by St Eucher of Lyons, classed by Delehaye among the historical romances, says that Ursus, after many cruel torments suffered for his constancy in refusing to sacrifice to the idols, was beheaded c.286 under the Emperor Maximian Herculeus and the Governor Hyrtacus. 

Between the years 473 and 500 the body of St Victor was brought to Geneva by the Burgundian Queen Theudesinde; it is probably that about the same time a church was built over the remains of St Ursus. 

In 1519 the old coffin was found and the event was commemorated at Solothurn and Bern. The Roman urn containing the relics bears the inscription:

Conditus hoc sanctus Tumulo Thebaidus Ursus (Buried in this tomb is the holy Ursus the Theban.)

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 The Solothurn Madonna by Hans Holbein the Younger, Basel, 1522. It shows the Virgin Mary and Christ enthroned, and St Martin of Tours (shown as a bishop) and St Ursus (shown as a soldier in armour).