Skip to main content

ST ANSUERUS AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS - 15 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 15th of July

WELCOME!

SAINT ANSUERUS AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

Ansuerus (Answerus) is an Old German name meaning comrade-in-arms. 

Saint Ansuerus came from a noble family in Schleswig. Oswald, who was lord of Schleswig, was his father, and a certain Agneta (or Agnes) was his mother. At the age of 15 he left his father's house and joined the monastery of Saint George (Sankt Georg) in Ratzeburg in Mecklenburg, where he was so distinguished by his zeal in the sciences and his piety that he was elected abbot. 

But it was not enough for him to serve God in solitude; he also wanted to actively be of service to his fellow human beings. Therefore he went out with his brothers to preach the gospel in the same region, which was still deeply immersed in paganism. His efforts were met with great success, but aroused the anger of the idolaters, who instigated a terrible persecution of the Christians. The older historians, such as Adam of Bremen etc. report that in the 11th century many Christians were martyred and killed for the sake of their faith by the pagan peoples of the Slavs and Wends out of deadly hatred against Christianity in the Ratzeburg area. Among these were Saint Ansuerus and 30 (other sources state 28) monks. In 1066, he and his companions were seized and stoned to death. The body of Saint Ansuerus was first interred in the crypt at Saint George; but when a blind man was restored to sight at the tomb, Bishop Evermod had the martyr's remains translated to the cathedral of Ratzeburg. 

After he was canonised by Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg with the consent of the Pope, an arm of this saint was venerated at the Church of the Blessed Virgin in Stade, where it was kept for a long time. The relics perished during the Reformation. 

Ansuerus was included in the Schleswig and Ratzeburg Breviaries, but since the Reformation he is remembered only in monastic martyrologies. A cross near Ratzeburg and a painting in the cathedral there remind of him.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 1, Augsburg, 1858, p. 239)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Ansuerus and Companions 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

















Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29   March - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   April - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   May - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS   (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus.  And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright.  HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mary’s Assumption in 1

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

  WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR   Laura, a widow and martyr of Cordoba in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and  according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters.  After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor.  After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October 19, 864.   St Laura is of the 48 Martyrs of Cordoba. PRAYER: Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who