ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER
Saints celebrated on the 17th 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.
THE URSULINE MARTYRS OF VALENCIENNES
The Martyrs of Valenciennes were seven Ursuline Sisters who were were executed during the French Revolution in the North of France.
The sisters were accused of reopening and running a girls' school, contrary to the revolutionary government's prohibition.
On October 17, 1794, five of the nuns were tried for treason, holding a school that was considered illegal, and wearing "prohibited clothing", where they freely admitted to giving Catholic religious instruction at the school.
Before the execution, the superior declared that the sisters were dying for the faith of the Catholic Church. The last sister, Jeanne Louise Barré, who was probably inadvertently ignored in the condemnation of the convent, joined her fellow sisters on the scaffold, where she was still singing the Lauretanian Litany.
(Information from SecondWiki - 🎨 J. Loridan, The Ursulines of Valenciennes, 1903)
The sisters were venerated on July 6, 1919 by Pope Benedict XV (decree of martyrdom), and they were beatified June 13, 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
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