1st v. sister Sts Martha and Mary the righteous sisters were believers in Christ
even before He raised their brother St Lazarus (October 17)
from the dead
< Martha
Mary >
After the murder of the holy Archdeacon
Stephen a persecution against the Jerusalem Church broke out, and Righteous
Lazarus was cast out of Jerusalem.
The holy sisters then assisted
their brother in the proclaiming of the Gospel in various lands.
Sts Martha and Mary are also commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing
Women.
41-54 Sts. Frontasius,
Severinus, Severianus, and Silanus The Holy Martyrs suffered for Christ preach
the Word of God in southern Gaul (now France) by Bishop Frontonus of Petragorium
under the emperor Claudius (41-54). They had been sent to preach the Word
of God in southern Gaul (now France) by Bishop Frontonus of Petragorium.
The governor, a pagan named Squiridonus, arrested them and demanded that
they renounce Christ. But the martyrs firmly confessed their faith, saying
they had but one desire, to either live or die for Christ. The enraged Squiridonus
ordered that the saints be taken out before the city, tied to pillars, and
have nails thrust into their heads like a crown of thorns. After this they
were beheaded.
Tradition says that the holy martyrs continued to live by the
power of God. They picked up their heads and went to the church of the Mother
of God, where the holy bishop Frontonus, who had sent them preaching, was
at prayer. Placing their heads at the feet of the bishop, they crossed themselves
and died. |
64 St. Clateus Martyred bishop. He was one
of the earliest bishops of Brescia, Italy. He died in the persecution launched
by Emperor Nero
Medioláni, sancti Clatéi,
Epíscopi Brixiénsis et Mártyris, qui, sub Neróne
Imperatóre, jussu Præfécti urbis illíus tentus,
et, cum renuntiáre Christo nollet, multis verbéribus afflíctus
et cápite obtruncátus est.
At Milan,
in the reign of Emperor Nero, St. Clateus, bishop of Brescia and martyr.
By order of the prefect of the city he was arrested, and when he would not
deny Christ he was cruelly scourged and beheaded. |
98-117 Astius The
Hieromartyr was bishop of the city of Dyrrachium (Macedonia)
During the time of the emperor Trajan (98-117), a persecutor of
Christians. The saint once had a dream, a foreboding of his impending suffering
and death for Christ. He was arrested and beaten fiercely with leaden rods
and oxhide whips, but St Astius did not renounce Christ. They smeared his
body with honey, so as to increase his suffering with the stings of hornets
and flies, and crucified him. The martyr's body was reverently buried by
Christians. |
175 Concordius The
Holy Martyr son of the presbyter Gordian, was raised in piety and faith in
Christ, and therefore Bishop Pius of Rome made him a subdeacon generously
distributed alms to the needy
Together with his father, St Concordius fasted and prayed, and
he generously distributed alms to the needy. With the permission of his father
he settled not far from Rome with his kinsman Eutychius, spending his days
in prayer and good deeds. The report of his pious life reached Torquatus,
the head of the Tussa region. He summoned the saint and urged him to renounce
Christ, promising to make him a priest of the pagan gods.
St Concordius in turn urged Torquatus to turn to the true God,
Jesus Christ. They beat the martyr and threw him in prison. Bishop Anthimus,
a friend of Torquatus, asked him to release the prisoner to him. St Concordius
lived with him for a while and was ordained presbyter. When Torquatus again
summoned the saint and asked him what he thought about his life, the saint
replied that life, for him, is Christ. They bound him and locked him up in
prison, chaining him to the wall by his neck and hands.
Three days later Torquatus sent his assistant to the prison, ordering
the martyr to offer sacrifice to the gods, or be condemned to death. The
saint cried out, "Glory to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ," and spat on the idol
of Zeus carried by the soldiers. For this, he was beheaded around the year
175. His relics rest in Italy, not far from the city of Spoleto. |
270 St. Aretius Roman martyr with Dacian relics
of these martyrs were discovered in the catacombs along the Appian Way
Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Arétii
et Daciáni. At Rome, the holy martyrs Aretius and
Dacian.
Under Emperor
Aurelian (214-279 ad). The relics of these martyrs were discovered in the
catacombs along the Appian Way. |
308 St. Quirinus
Bishop and martyr of Siscia, Croatia
Sísciæ, in Illyrico,
sancti Quiríni Epíscopi, qui, sub Galério Præside,
pro fide Christi (ut Prudéntius scribit), molári saxo ad collum
ligáto, in flumen præcipitátus est; sed, lápide
supernatánte, cum circumstántes Christiános, ne ejus
terreréntur supplício neve titubárent in fide, diu fuísset
hortátus, ipse, ut martyrii glóriam assequerétur, précibus
a Deo, ut mergerétur, obtínuit.
At Sissek
in Illyria, in the time of Governor Galerius, St. Quirinus, bishop.
Prudentius relates that for the faith of Christ he was thrown into a river
with a millstone tied to his neck. But the stone floated, and he for
a long time exhorted the Christians who were present not to be terrified
by his punishment, nor to waver in the faith, and then obtained of God by
his prayers that he should be drowned in order to attain the glory of martyrdom.
308 ST QUIRINUS,
BISHOP OF SISCIA, MARTYR
OF the many martyrs who suffered in the Danubian provinces during the reign
of Diocletian, one of the most celebrated was Quirinus whose praises have
been sounded-by St Jerome, by Prudentius and by Fortunatus. The “acts" which
record his trial, sufferings and death are substantially genuine, although
they have undergone amplification and interpolations at the hands of later
copyists.
He was bishop of Siscia, now Sisak in Croatia. As he had been informed that
orders were out for his arrest, he left the city, but was pursued, captured
and brought before the magistrate Maximus. Questioned with regard to his
attempted escape he replied that he was only obeying his Master, Jesus Christ,
the true God, who had said: "When they persecute you in one city, fly to
another." "Do you not know that the emperor's orders would find you anywhere?”',
asked the magistrate. "He whom you call the true God cannot help you when
you are caught-as you must now realize to your cost." "God is always with
us and can help us," declared the bishop. "He was with me when I was taken
and He is with me now. He it is who strengthens me and speaks through my
lips." "You talk a great deal", observed Maximus," and by talking you postpone
obeying the commands of our sovereigns: read the edicts and do as they bid
you!” Quirinus protested that he could not consent to do what would be sacrilege:
"The gods whom you serve are nothing!" he exclaimed. "My God, whom I serve,
is in Heaven and earth, and in the sea and everywhere, but He is higher than
all, because He contains all things in Himself: all things were created by
Him, and; by Him alone they subsist," "You must be in your second childhood
to believe such fables!" declared the judge. "See, they are offering you
incense: sacrifice and you shall be well rewarded; refuse and you will be
tortured and put to a horrible death."
Quirinus replied that the threatened pains would be glory to him, and Maximus
ordered him to be beaten. Even while the sentence was being carried out,
he was urged to sacrifice and was told that if he did so he would be made
a priest of Jupiter. "I am exercising my priesthood here and now by offering
myself up to God", cried the martyr undaunted. "I am glad to be beaten; it
does not hurt me. I would willingly endure far worse treatment to encourage
those over whom I have presided to follow me by a short road to eternal life,"
As Maximus had not the authority to pronounce a death-sentence, he arranged
to send Quirinus to Amantius, the governor of Pannonia Prima. The bishop
was taken through various towns on the Danube until he reached the town of
Sabaria (now Szombathely in Hungary), destined a very few years later to
be the birthplace of St Martin. Here he was brought up before Amantius who,
after reading the report of the previous trial, asked him if it was correct.
The saint answered in the affirmative and said, "I have confessed the true
God at Siscia, I have never worshipped any other. Him I carry in my heart,
and no man on earth shall succeed in separating me from Him." Amantius declared
himself unwilling to torture and destroy one of his venerable age, and urged
him to fulfil the conditions which would enable him to end his days in peace.
Neither promises nor threats, however, could move the saint. The governor
therefore had no option but to condemn him,
Quirinus was sentenced to death, and thrown into the river Raab, with a stone
round his neck. He did not immediately sink and was heard to utter words
of prayer or of exhortation before he disappeared from sight. His body, carried
a little way down the stream, was rescued by Christians. In the early fifth
century, refugees driven from Pannonia by the barbarians bore the relics
to Rome, where they rested in the Catacomb of St Sebastian, until in 1140
they were translated to Santa Maria in Trastevere.
The text of the passio is printed by Ruinart, and in
the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i.
Much interest has been taken in this St Quirinus since the researches of
Mgr de Waal in the Platonia and its surroundings revealed the existence of
a fragment of a great inscription engraved there in honour of the saint.
See de Waal's monograph, Die Apostelgruft
"ad Catacumbas", printed as a "Supplementheft"
to the Römische Quartalschrift
(1894); and also Duchesne, "La Memoria Apostolorum de la Via Appia", in Memorie della pontificia Accademia romana di
Archeol., vol. i (1923), pp. 8-10; with CMH., p. 303.
He reportedly fled his see during the persecutions of Emperor Galerius but
was arrested and dragged back to Siscia. There he was ordered to make sacrifices
to the gods by Maximus, the Roman magistrate. Upon his refusal, he was tortured
and then given into the hands of Amantius, the governor of Pannonia Prima.
Stubborn in his refusal to become an apostate, he was tied to a millstone
and hurled into the Raab River, where he drowned at Sabaria. In the fifth
century and the invasion of the Danube Valley by Germanic hosts, the inhabitants
fled to Italy, taking the relics of Quirinus with them. They
were eventually carried to Rome and interred in the Church of St. Sebastian
on the Via Appia.
|
325 St. Metrophanes
Bishop of Byzantium first Patriarch of Constantinople nephew of Emperor
Probus, he was a convert and entered the Church studying for the priesthood
ordained by Bishop Titus of Byzantium whom he succeeded in 313.
His devotion to the faith as
bishop was so remarkable that Emperor Constantine the Great was supposedly
influenced by him in placing the new imperial capital at Byzantium, on the
Hellespont. The new city was named Constantinople
At Constantinople, St. Metrophanes, bishop and renowned confessor.
325 ST METROPHANES,
BISHOP OF BYZANTIUM
NEXT to nothing is actually known about St Metrophanes, who was bishop of
Byzantium in the days of Constantine; he was probably its first bishop, for
the town had previously been included in the diocese of Heraclea. He had
a great reputation for sanctity throughout eastern Christendom. A church
was built in his honour soon after the death of Constantine, and when it
was falling into ruin in the sixth century it was restored by Justinian.
The Greek Synaxaries and the Menaia-never a very reliable authority-give
his story as follows: Metrophanes was the son of Dometius, brother to the
Emperor Probus. Dometius was converted to Christianity and went to live at
Byzantium, where he contracted a close friendship with its Bishop Titus,
by whom he was ordained, being himself invested at his death with the same
dignity. Dometius in his turn was succeeded first by his two sons, Probus,
who ruled the see twelve years, and then Metrophanes. The holy life of Bishop
Metrophanes, it is alleged, weighed as much with Constantine in his choice
of Byzantium for his capital as did the exceptionally favourable position
of the city. Old age and infirmity prevented Metrophanes from attending the
Council of Nicaea, but he sent his chief presbyter Alexander to represent
him. Upon the return of the emperor and the clergy who had attended the council,
Metrophanes was inspired to announce to them that Alexander would be his
successor and that the boy reader Paul would eventually follow Alexander
as bishop. His death took place a few days later.
The text of a late and quite untrustworthy
life of Metrophanes has been printed by L. Gedeon, in vol. xx (1900)
and there is also another text noticed in BHG.
See, further, the notice in the Acta Sanctorum,
June, vol. i, and in Nilles, Kalendarium
Utriusque Ecclesiae, vol. i, p. 172. Cf. also Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. xxxi,
part 3 (1903), pp. 188 seq. Metrophanes is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology,
where he is described as confessor insignis.
Saint Metrophanes, Patriarch of Constantinople, was a contemporary
of St Constantine the Great (306-337). His father, Dometius, was a brother
of the Roman emperor Probus (276-282). Seeing the falseness of the pagan
religion, Dometius came to believe in Christ. During a time of terrible persecution
of Christians at Rome, St Dometius set off to Byzantium with two of his sons,
Probus and Metrophanes. They were instructed in the law of the Lord by Bishop
Titus, a man of holy life. Seeing the ardent desire of Dometius to labor
for the Lord, St Titus ordained him presbyter. After the death of Titus first
Dometius (272-303) was elevated to the bishop's throne, and thereafter his
sons, Probus (303-315) and in 316 St Metrophanes.
The emperor Constantine once came to Byzantium, and was delighted
by the beauty and comfortable setting of the city. And having seen the holiness
of life and sagacity of St Metrophanes, the emperor took him back to Rome.
Soon Constantine the Great transferred the capital from Rome to Byzantium
and he brought St Metrophanes there. The First Ecumenical Council was convened
in 325 to resolve the Arian heresy. Constantine the Great had the holy Fathers
of the Council bestow upon St Metrophanes the title of Patriarch. Thus, the
saint became the first Patriarch of Constantinople.
St Metrophanes was very old, and was not able to be present at
the Council, and he sent in his place the chorepiscopos (vicar bishop) Alexander.
At the close of the Council the emperor and the holy Fathers visited with
the ailing Patriarch. At the request of the emperor, the saint named a worthy
successor to himself, Bishop Alexander. He foretold that Paul (at that time
a Reader) would succeed to the patriarchal throne after Alexander. He also
revealed to Patriarch Alexander of Alexandria that his successor would be
the archdeacon St Athanasius.
St Metrophanes reposed in the year 326, at age 117. His relics
rest at Constantinople in a church dedicated to him.
It should be noted that the Canons to the Holy Trinity in the
Midnight Office in the Octoechos were not composed by this Metrophanes, but
by Bishop Metrophanes of Smyrna, who lived in the middle of the ninth century. |
St. Rutilius and Companions
group of martyrs put to death at Sabaria, in the province of Pannonia during
the Roman persecutions
In Pannónia sanctórum Mártyrum
Rútili et Sociórum. In Hungary, the holy
martyrs Rutilus and his companions. |
St. Quirinus A relatively
unknown martyr put to death at Tivoli, Italy, and mentioned in the Roman
Martyrology under the same feast day as the Quirinus of Pannonia
Tíbure sancti Quiríni Mártyris.
At Tivoli, St Quirinus, martyr.
|
Martyrs of Niculitsel graves of Saints
Zoticus, Atallus, Camisius and Philip were discovered in 1971.
Lesser Scythia (modern Romania),
between the Danube and the Black Sea in the northeastern territory of the
Roman Empire, was a place of exile or death for Christians who refused to
worship the pagan gods. During the persecutions of Decius (249-251), Diocletian
and Maximilian (284-305), and Licinius (308-324) thousands of people died
there from cold, hunger, or torture. The relics of those who endured martyrdom
because they openly proclaimed their faith in Christ were taken by Christians
and buried in secret places. Accounts of the lives and sufferings of these
holy martyrs were written and preserved so they would not be forgotten. When
the persecutions ended, the relics were moved from their temporary resting
places and placed in special crypts (martyria). Churches were built over
these crypts, and the ruins of some of them may be seen today in Dobrogea.
In September 1971 a creek overflowed
its banks near the village of Niculitsel in the county of Tulcea, revealing
one of the oldest of these martyria. The crypt, which is made of bricks,
is divided into two rooms, one on top of the other. In the upper room, the
relics of four martyrs were found in a single wooden coffin. All had been
decapitated. The heads of three martyrs were found atop their necks, while
the head of the fourth martyr was resting on his chest. An inscription on
the left wall reads: "Christ's martyrs." The names of the four martyrs (Zoticus,
Attalus, Camasius, and Philip) were scratched into the right wall.
According to the records which have been preserved, these martyrs
were tried by the Roman authorities of Noviodunum (modern Isaccea) and sentenced
to death. They were beheaded, then buried at Niculitsel. The exact date of
their martyrdom is not known. Some believe that they were slain early in
the fourth century during the persecutions of Diocletian or Licinius. Others,
however, think the four men may have been martyred north of the Danube during
the persecution of the Gothic king Athanaric (370-372) against the Christians.
About a hundred fragments of the bones of two men (aged between
45-50) were found in the lower crypt. It is thought that they died during
the persecution of Decius, and then their relics were reinterred at Niculitsel
around 370-380. The names of these martyrs are not known.
The Syrian Martyrologion and St Jerome's Martyrologion give June
4 as the date of the martyrs' execution. The Synaxaria list these four martyrs
along with six others: Eutychius, Quirinus, Julia, Saturninus, Ninita, Fortunio.
Twenty-five others were also beheaded with these martyrs, but are not named.
The relics of these holy martyrs were moved to the Cocosh Monastery in 1971,
where they are venerated by the faithful.
|
387 St. Optatus of Milevis
Bishop of Milevis, Numidia, in Africa a convert from paganism best known
for his opposition to the heresy of Donatism and his six treatises composed
against them
Milévi, in Numídia,
sancti Optáti Epíscopi, doctrína et sanctitáte
conspícui, quem sancti Ecclésiæ Patres Augustínus
et Fulgéntius suis láudibus celebrárunt.
At Milevi
in Numidia, St. Optatus, bishop, celebrated for his learning and holiness.
The holy Fathers of the Church, Augustine and Fulgentius, prasied him highly.
387 ST OPTATUS, Bishop
OF Milevis
ONE of the most illustrious champions of the Church during the fourth century
was St Optatus, a bishop of Milevis in Numidia. St Augustine styles him a
prelate of venerable memory who was by his virtue an ornament to the Catholic
Church, and in another passage he couples him with St Cyprian and St Hilary,
converts like Optatus from paganism. St Fulgentius not only honours him with
the title of saint, but places him in the same rank as St Ambrose and St
Augustine.
He was the first bishop to attempt in his writings to refute the errors of
the Donatists, who were rending the Church in Africa by their schism, setting
up a rival hierarchy, repudiating the validity of the orders as well as of
the sacraments of Catholics, and declaring that they alone were the true
Church of Christ. Their claims were set forth and published in a treatise
written by one of their bishops, a man of ability named Parmenian. To expose
the fallacy of these claims, St Optatus, about the year 370, brought out
a book, to which he added some fifteen years later, when he appears to have
revised his earlier work. The treatise of Parmenian has long since perished,
but that of St Optatus is extant. Written in vigorous and spirited terms,
it breathes a conciliatory spirit, for the bishop, though he denounces schism
as a greater sin than parricide, is primarily concerned with winning over
his opponents.
Throughout he makes a clear distinction between heretics, “ deserters or
falsifiers of the creed”, who have no true sacraments or worship, and schismatics,
rebellious Christians who have true sacraments derived from a common source.
Whilst agreeing with Parmenian that there is only one church, he points out
that one of its essential marks is universality, or catholicity in extension.
He asks how the Donatists can claim to be The Church—cooped up as they are
in one corner of Africa and in one very small colony in Rome. Another of
the Church’s prerogatives is the chair of Peter “which”, says he, “is ours”.
“Peter sat first in this chair and was succeeded by Linus.” He then gives
a list of popes (incorrect) from the earliest times to the reigning pontiff
Siricius, “with whom”, he says, “we and the world are united...It was to
Peter that Jesus Christ declared ‘I will give thee the keys of the kingdom
of Heaven and the gates of hell shall not prevail against thee.’ By what
right do you claim the keys—you who presume to contend against Peter’s chair?
You cannot deny that the episcopal chair was originally given to Peter in
the city of Rome that he sat there first as head of the Apostles that this
chair was one-—-unity being maintained through union with it that the other
apostles did not claim rival chairs and that only schismatics have ever ventured
to do so.”
In opposition to the teaching of the Donatists he sets forth the Catholic
doctrine that sacraments are holy in themselves and that their operation
is not dependent on the character of those who administer them.
As regards the connection between church and state, he declares that the
state is not in the Church, but the Church is in the state, i.e. the Roman
Empire. In treating of original sin and the necessity for baptismal regeneration,
he alludes to the exorcism and anointing which took place at baptisms. He
also describes the ceremonies used at Mass, which he speaks of as a sacrifice,
and he mentions the penances which the Church exacted in his day and the
veneration then paid to relics.
Nothing further is known of the history of St Optatus: he was living in 384,
but the date of his death is not recorded. His name was added to the Roman
Martyrology by Baronius.
There is a
short notice of St Optatus in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol.
i, but little information was obtainable regarding his personal history.
His writings, however, present many points of interest, which have been discussed
by scholars in recent times. See, for example, 0. R. Vassall-Phillips, The Work of St Optatus against the Donatists (1911); L. Duchesne,
in Mélanges d’Archéologie et d’Histoire (1890),
pp. 589—650; N. H. Baynes, in Journal of Theological Studies
(1924), pp. 37—44, and (1925), pp. 404—406 P. Monceaux, Histoire littéraire de l’Afrique chrétienne, vol.
v; and cf. A. Wilmart in Recherches (1922),
pp. 271—302, and in Revue Bénédictine, vol.
xli (1929), pp. 197—203; Gebhardt, Acta Martyrum Selecta
(1902), pp. 187 seq.; and Abbot Chapman in the
Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. xi.
One of them, Against Parmenian, is still extant, and was mentioned
by St. Jerome in his De Viris Illustribus as having been composed in six books.
The treatise stresses the need for unity and is conciliatory
in tone, but it criticizes Donatist teachings on Baptism, and stresses that
the Church cannot be limited to Africa but is “catholic.”
Optatus was much praised by such
contemporaries as Augustine and Fulgentius of Ruspe.
|
5th v. Saint
Zosimus, Bishop of Babylon, was born in Cilicia (Asia Minor) settled on Mount
Sinai, and later he withdrew to a more solitary place in Lebanon
While still a youth he left the world and settled on Mount Sinai,
and later he withdrew to a more solitary place in Lebanon. One time he encountered
an elderly ascetic, who foretold that he would be bishop in Babylon. When
Zosimus returned to Sinai, he was sent on an errand to Alexandria. The Patriarch
of Alexandria made him Bishop of Babylon, and into old age he wisely guided
his flock. Sensing the approach of death, he returned to Sinai and peacefully
fell asleep in the Lord . |
| 6th v. St. Buriana Irish
hermitess of Cornwall, known for penitential practices and holiness. She
is venerated at Buryan, opposite the Isles of Scilly. |
5th-6th v. St. Breaca Disciple
of St. Brigid went from Ireland to Cornwall, England, about 460 Breaca and
her companions settled on the bank of the Hoyle River.
also called Breque, Branca,
and Branka.
|
564 St. Petroc Welsh became
a monk and with some of his friends, went to Ireland to study pilgrimage to
Rome and Jerusalem known for his miracles
6th v. ST PETROC, ABBOT
THE numerous churches in Devon and several in Cornwall dedicated to God in
honour of St Petroc show in how great esteem this saint was formerly held
in Dumnonia. A Welshman by birth, he came south with some of his followers
during the sixth century, and made his headquarters in the monastic buildings
of Lanwethinoc, founded by the holy bishop Wethinoc. Afterwards, when the
cultus of St Petroc displaced that of Wethinoc, Lanwethinoc became Padristowe,
and ultimately Padstow. Some time before the eleventh century the monks moved
to Bodmin, taking St Petroc’s body with them, and the centre of his cultus
was hence-forward there. In 1177 the relics were stolen by one of the canons
of Bodmin priory, who gave them to the abbey of Saint-Méen in Brittany,
but King Henry II, to whom the prior of Bodmin appealed, obliged this community
to restore them. Thereupon, according to the Chronicles of Roger of Hoveden
and Benedict of Peterborough, “the above-named prior of Bodmin, returning
to England with joy, brought back the body of blessed Petroc in an ivory
shrine”.[ * The annual ‘‘riding” custom at Bodmin was apparently in commemoration
(If this restoration. See A. K. Hamilton Jenkin, Cornwall and Its People (1945), pp. 466—469.]
This shrine or reliquary was the gift of Walter of Coutances, and there were
put therein the skull and other adjacent bones, the rest being enclosed in
a wooden coffin. In the eighteenth century this reliquary was discovered
in the room over the south porch of Bodmin church, where it had been hidden
at the Reformation. It has now found a safe but incongruous resting-place
in a local bank. The medieval life of St Petroc written at Saint-Méen
seems to be simply a copy of one composed probably at Bodmin priory—a collection
of legends compiled from an earlier biography, embodying a certain amount
of Cornish folklore.
According to this composition St Petroc was the son of a Welsh “king”, the
grandfather of St Cadoc. He and some of his friends became monks and repaired
to Ireland, where they studied for some years. They then took ship to Cornwall,
to the estuary of the river Camel, where St Petroc proceeded to visit first
the holy hermit Samson (perhaps the St Samson) and then St Wethinoc, who
yielded up his residence to him and his companions. After living a most austere
life in that place for thirty years, St Petroc is said to have made a pilgrimage
to Rome and Jerusalem, and even to have reached the Indian ocean, where he
spent some time on a tiny island. After his return to Cornwall he spent his
time in prayer and in deeds of charity to man and beast. Thus we read that
he healed many sick persons, tamed a terrible and destructive monster, prescribed
successfully for a poor dragon which came to him with a splinter in its eye,
and not only saved the life of a stag, which took refuge with him from its
pursuers, but also converted the hunter and his attendants. Another story
tells that once when Petroc and Wethinoc were “conversing sweetly together
about heavenly things” a handsome cloak fell between them from Heaven. And
when, “‘eager to give one another precedence‘, each offered it to the other
and in holy contention piled reason upon reason why the other should have
it, straightway it was taken away before their eyes. And at once two cloaks
appeared, one for each”.
Further particulars, some of them more convincing, can he extracted from
a version of the Saint-Méen life made by a canon at Bodmin, included
in a fourteenth-century manuscript found at Gotha in Germany in 1937. According
to this, Petroc built a chapel and a mill at Little Petherick, near Padstow,
at a spot afterwards known as Nanceventon. After his return from the East
he established himself here with some of his brethren. Later he withdrew
to the recesses of Bodmin Moor, where a hermit named Wronus (Guron) gave
up his cell to him, and here he was again joined by some brethren. When he
foresaw his end was at hand, Petroc went to say farewell to the communities
at Nanceventon and Lanwethinoc; between the two places his strength failed
and he turned into the house of one Rovel, where he died. The present farmhouse
called Treravel must be close to the spot.
There
is a considerable literature connected with St Petroc, as the references
in DNB. (under Pedrog), DCB and LBS, alone suffice to show. By far the best
and most critical account of the unpromising materials is Canon Doble’s St
Petroc, the 3rd edition of which (1938) takes account of the vita
in the Gotha MS. See also “Grimspound, a Dartmoor Laura”, by Abbot Vonier,
in The Month, March, 1928, pp. 193—200, and “St Petroc’s Cell on Bodmin
Moor”, by Dom J. Stonor, in the Downside Review, no. 203 (1948), pp.
64—74. The medieval priory at Bodmin housed Austin canons
regular, so it is fitting that the same canons should have their English
novitiate there to-day. The Catholic churches at Padstow and Bodmin bear
St Petroc’s name. The long account in the Gotha MS. of the theft and return
of the saint’s relics is translated in G. H, Doble’s The Relics of St
Petroc, reprinted from Antiquity, December 1939, pp. 403—415.
The text is to be printed in Analecta Bollandiana.
Born
in 490 Petroc was born in Wales, possibly the son of a Welsh king. He became
a monk and with some of his friends, went to Ireland to study. They immigrated
to Cornwall in England and settled at Lanwethinoc (Padstow). After thirty
years there, he made a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, at which time he
is also reputed to have reached the Indian ocean where he lived for some
time as a hermit on an island. He then returned to Cornwall, built
a chapel at Little Petherick near Padstow, established a community of his
followers, and then became a hermit at Bodmir Moor, where he again attracted
followers and was known for his miracles. He died between Nanceventon and
Lanwethinoc while visiting some of his disciples there. |
| 6th
v. St. Croidan disciple of St. Petroc with St. Medan and Degan. |
| St. Nennoc British virgin.
She served as an abbess of a convent in Armorica, France, after following
St. Germanus of Auxerre there. |
8th v. St. Alexander Bishop
of Verona, Italy
Verónæ sancti Alexándri Epíscopi.
At Verona, St. Alexander, bishop.
|
Saint Sophia
was born in Aenus, Rhodope mother of six children occupied with worldly cares
and responsibilities still kept the commandments of God and lived a virtuous
life.
After her children died, she became a mother to orphans, and gave
assistance to widows. She sold her property and gave the money to the poor.
She led an austere life, eating bread and water. The Psalms of the Prophet-King
David were always on her lips, and tears flowed continuously from her eyes.
She would do without the necessities of life herself rather than allow a
poor person to leave her home with empty hands.
Because of her humility and her love for the poor, God blessed
her in the following way. In her home was a container of wine which she reserved
for the poor. She noticed that no matter how much she took from the container,
it remained full. However, as soon as she told someone about the miracle
and glorified God, the container became empty. St Sophia became sorrowful,
believing that the wine diminished because of her unworthiness. Therefore,
she increased her ascetical efforts until her health suffered. Sensing
that the end of her life was near, she received the monastic tonsure. St
Sophia fell asleep in the Lord at the age of fifty-three.
Saint Sophia {Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
of North America }
Every mother wins the “Mother of the Year” award in her own family,
but if a vote were taken for the “Mother of the Thousand Years of the Byzantine
Empire,” the unanimous choice would be a valiant woman named Sophia who turned
a personal tragedy into a triumph of the spirit in the name of the Lord and
so glorified His name in her every thought and deed that she was sainted
by popular acclaim. She symbolizes motherhood in the purest sense, sanctifying
the role all mothers play in the daily grind of raising a family, elevating
the mothers of the world to a sacred level in the eyes of God and giving
them their due recognition in the divine plan of the universe. A woman acquires
a spark of divine grace in bearing a child, and thereafter in caring for
it she labors not only for herself but for the property of the Almighty as
well, for we are the children of God.
The Noble Sophia came into the world with every advantage,
including wealth of beauty and intelligence, as well as an abiding faith
in Jesus Christ, and at maturity she left nothing to be desired as a model
wife. When she married, she took leave of her parents to make a home of her
own with the prayer that she would be blessed with children, a prayer which
was answered. She became the mother of six children, all of whom she loved
deeply and none of whom lacked the religious fervor of their mother.
It was in her thirty-fourth year, when her happiness knew no bounds,
that her greatest joy turned to stark tragedy. A plague swept over the land
and she watched helplessly as one by one her children died; and when the
pestilence had spent itself she had lost all of her loved ones, including
her husband. In numbing grief she yearned to be stricken and join her family
in death, but then her Christian faith asserted itself, reminding her that
there was much she could do, not only for the Lord but in memory of her family.
She returned to her empty house intent upon putting it to good use, and her
life thereafter came to be a total commitment to the glory of the Savior.
She lost no time in seeking out the clergy of the community and
announcing plans to dispense her wealth among the poor, keeping enough to
maintain her house, which she hoped would shelter underprivileged or orphaned
children. In a span of twenty years, Sophia’s house became a haven not only
for little wanderers but for the dispossessed on any age as well. She actually
adopted over one hundred children in this period, raising each of them as
though it were her own child and sending them out into the world full of
the love of Jesus Christ and quite prepared to make a useful place in society.
She came to be known as the “Mother of Orphans,” marveled at by other mothers
of the empire whose burdens were made lighter when they compared their cares
and worries to those of the woman who had the strength and grace to make
her life worthwhile after suffering a loss that would have overwhelmed the
average mother.
Many stories of tenderness and sacrifice are attached to Sophia
but the one that stands out as an example of her proximity to God is the
one concerning the bottomless wine pitcher, if it can be called that. Her
hospitality extended to all comers, and when adults sought refuge in her
house she customarily poured them a glass of rare vintage from a Grecian
urn. After she had first filled the urn, she noticed that no matter how much
she dispensed for her guests, the wine was always at the same level when
she went to use it again. At first she presumed that someone had surreptitiously
refilled the urn when she was otherwise engaged, but she soon realized that
it was a phenomenon that could not be explained. She mentioned it, however,
to no one.
|
Mary Mother
of GOD
Saint of the Day June 04 Prídie Nonas Júnii
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 
Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia,
the highest authority of the Orthodox Church. The Pope
remembered the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian genocide,
without explicitly mentioning it, and denounced the persecution of Christians
in modern times. Benedict XVI
As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct
before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by
so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It
is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our
television screens. 
