SS. MAURA AND BRITTA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS - 15 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 15th of January

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SAINTS MAURA AND BRITTA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS 

Saints Maura and Britta (Brigida) are commemorated on January 15. These holy Virgins of Tours are identical with the Virgins of the same name at Beauvais, who died there to preserve their innocence and are venerated on July 13 and May 5. 

Although Bollandus* (Jan. I. 1018) lists them as separate groups of martyrs, his successors (Maji I. 3 and Jul. III. 471) revise this, having established their shared identity. Migne* also asserts that these martyrs are the same as those at Beauvais. 

They renounced the world to live solely for God and were given their resting place at Tours. On the very influential testimony of Saint Gregory of Tours, who had learned of their God-fearing lives and deaths from hearsay (fama ferebat etc.), they started to be venerated there as saints. Their remains were believed to have been rediscovered and raised under Saint Euphronicus [Saint Euphronius], who presided over the church of Tours in the second half of the 6th century (their relics were elevated on May 5). The Bollandists* state that these holy Virgins may have been contemporaries of Saint Martin of Tours lived, but add that this is said with reservations (liceat suspicari) (I. 1018).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, p. 325)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saints Maura and Britta may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org