ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST
Saints celebrated on the 27th of August
HOSIUS, BISHOP OF CORDOBA
The bishop Hosius (Osius) of Cordova (Cordoba) is revered as a saint by the Greeks, but the western churches have not included his name in their martyrologies. For this reason the Bollandists* (Aug. VI. 2) place him among the Praetermissi regardless of his immortal services to the true faith.
The year and place of his birth and unknown; but he is thought to have been born in Cordoba around the year 260. At the end of the third century he became bishop of this See. His faithfulness and purity of conduct made him worthy of this dignity; he excelled also by his great learning and prudence.
When Maximianus Herculeus persecuted the Church of God in Spain, he shone before his flock as an example by steadfastness and courage in faith. Even prison and torture he endured with invincible firmness. In this way he gained the name and honour of a "confessor" in 303.
Soon afterwards he exerted his influence at the synod of Elvira (Illiberis) in 305, contributing to the strict resolutions passed there on church discipline. Hosius is second among the 19 bishops who signed. When Emperor Constantine the Great had embraced the Christian faith, Hosius held a prominent position among his councillors in ecclesiastical affairs. He followed his imperial patron to the Orient.
In the year 323 the emperor, who was then residing in Nicomedia, sent Hosius to Alexandria with a letter admonishing unity in matters of the Arian heresy, as well as in relation to the Easter question.
The Council of Nicaea was arranged in 325. There is no doubt that Emperor Constantine was persuaded by Hosius to recognise the resolutions of the council. Arius was banished, but unfortunately recalled in 328. Since Hosius did not agree with this, he had to put up with the imperial disfavour. This was even more the case when, after the death of the Emperor Constantine (in the year 337), his son Constans openly favoured Arianism.
At the Council of Sardica (in 347) Hosius presided and defended the Nicene resolutions with indomitable courage. The condemnation of the Arian heresy was renewed. He also supported Athanasius in all persecutions as a defender, both in word and in writing. Even Pope Liberius contacted Hosius about the afflictions of the church and lamented the almost universal apostasy at the synod at Arles in 353. But the evil had not yet reached its peak. Hosius was summoned to Milan, where he very seriously refused the request to condemn Athanasius and thereby to deny the Nicene principles.
Since Hosius did not bow down, he was exiled to Sirmium in 365. A synod was held here in 357, at which Hosius' steadfastness was unfortunately broken by intrigues and violence (according to Socrates, he was even tortured). He signed a creed. which veiled the Arian errors under ambiguous expressions. Thereupon he finally was allowed to return home, but he now suffered more from the memory of the weakness that had befallen him than the previous banishment and torture had ever been able to cause him.
Bowed down by age and disease, he came close to death. But before approaching the eternal judge, the sorely tried one rose from the depths of his fall, solemnly recanted the declarations he had been forced to sign at Sirmium, expressly condemned the Arian heresy, and then in 358 confidently surrendered his penitent soul to divine mercy.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, pp. 771-72)
*A hagiography source used by the authors
Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations
Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org
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