ST TOBIT THE PROPHET - 2 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of September

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SAINT TOBIT THE PROPHET

Tobit and his wife Anna by Rembrandt 

Saint Tobit [the Elder] (September 2), surnamed "the Prophet" because he foretold the end of the Assyrian captivity, the destruction of the city of Nineveh, and the return of the Israelites from captivity¹ - is listed in the German martyrology of Blessed Canisius* under this date, accompanied by an extended encomium drawn from the biblical narrative, which also makes mention of his God-fearing son. The Bollandists* mention him among their praetermissi.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 5, Augsburg, 1882, p.561)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

May the intercession of Saint Tobit commend us to you, so that through his merits we may obtain that which we cannot accomplish by our own. 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

¹In Tobit 14, the elderly Tobit gives a final dying prophecy predicting that the people of Israel will be scattered into exile, but God will eventually have mercy and bring them back to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple:

As he was dying, he summoned his son Tobias and Tobias' seven sons, and commanded him, "Son, take your children and flee into Media, for I believe God’s word that Nahum spoke against Nineveh. It will all happen and will overtake Assyria and Nineveh; indeed all that was said by Israel’s prophets whom God sent will come to pass. Not one of all their words will remain unfulfilled, but everything will take place in the time appointed for it. So it will be safer in Media than in Assyria or Babylon. For I know and believe that whatever God has said will be accomplished. It will happen, and not a single word of the prophecies will fail. As for our kindred who dwell in the land of Israel, they will all be scattered and taken into captivity from the good land. All the land of Israel will become a wilderness; even Samaria and Jerusalem will be a wilderness! For a time, the house of God will be desolate and will be burned. But God will again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land of Israel. They will build the house again, but it will not be like the first until the era when the appointed times will be completed. Afterward all of them will return from their captivity, and they will rebuild Jerusalem with due honour. In it the house of God will also be rebuilt, just as the prophets of Israel said of it. All the nations of the world will turn and reverence God in truth; all will cast away their idols, which have deceitfully led them into error. They will bless the God of the ages in righteousness. All the Israelites truly mindful of God, who are to be saved in those days, will be gathered together and will come to Jerusalem; in security will they dwell forever in the land of Abraham, which will be given to them. Those who love God sincerely will rejoice, but those who commit sin and wickedness will disappear completely from the land.

"Now, my children, I give you this command: serve God sincerely and do what is pleasing in his sight; you must instruct your children to do what is right and to give alms, to be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and with all their strength. Now, as for you, son, leave Nineveh; do not stay here. The day you bury your mother next to me, do not even stay overnight within the confines of the city. For I see that there is much wickedness in it, and much treachery is practiced in it..." (Tobit 14:3-10a)