ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 18th of December
SAINTS PAUL MI AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
Paul (Paulus) (commemorated on December 18 and November 18), surnamed Mi, catechist in Tongking [North Vietnam], was strangled to death for his Christian faith. His companions Peter (Petrus) Duong and Petrus Truat [Pierre Duong, Pierre Truat] were martyred on the same occasion, on December 18, 1838.
Born in 1798 from a family of martyrs, Paul had served the Church as a catechist for 14 years. He was already hoping to be ordained a priest when he was taken prisoner on June 20, 1837. Shortly before his end, Peter wrote to the missionary Marette: "The happiness that awaits us, the thought of heaven, which we are already approaching, makes such an impression on my soul that it has no room for any other wish. Sinner as I am, I trust in the merits of my Saviour and in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the blessed martyrs who await me in the bosom of God." Paul Mi wrote to Marette: "Since you asked me to, I will speak of my sufferings, although, although these may be great, my sins are still much greater. There is no kind of misery that I have not endured. The only grace that I continually ask of God is constant conformity to the will of God. Oh, how did I, a poor sinner, deserve to be chosen for martyrdom?"
[These holy men were, along with other martyrs , canonised by Pope John Paul II on June 19, 1988.]
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 4, Augsburg, 1875, p. 752)
Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyrs Paul, Peter, and Peter confessed the faith, may experience their goodness as they intercede for us with you. 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
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