FIVE MARTYRED LAYMEN
St. Chrysogonus: November 25th
St. Chrysogonus was a Greek, but spent his life in Rome. There is some evidence that he was the instructor of St. Anastasia, and befriended her when persecution struck her. During the reign of Diocletian he was imprisoned for two years, and then beheaded. His body was cast into the sea, but was afterwards recovered and buried at Zara in Dalmatia, where his relics are still venerated.
A portion of his head is preserved in the church of Chrysogonus in Rome. He is held in great veneration by the Romans and by the Greeks, who call him "the great martyr." [November 24th is now assigned to St. Andrew Dung Lac and his 116 martyr companions (priests, religious, and lay men and women) of Vietnam.]
Saints John and Paul; June 26th.
John and Paul were brothers. They were distinguished officers in the Roman army during the reign of Julian the Apostate, and were well liked in Rome where they were known as "men of mercy" for their charity. Julian, discovering that they were Christians gave them ten days to retract and offer sacrifice to Jove. The brothers spent the ten days distributing all their goods to the poor, but refused to offer sacrifice. Terentianus, the Roman prefect, had them beheaded in their own home and secretly buried, because he feared the people. He then spread the report that they had been sent into exile. They were martyred on June 26th, in the year 362.
The Roman church of Saints John and Paul, in which their relics lie under the high altar, is said to have been built on the site of their home. The Church of Saints John and Paul is served by the Passionists.
Saints Cosmas and Damian: September 26th.
Cosmas and Damian, brothers from a distinguished family in Arabia, were physicians who never accepted fees, and were known in Rome as "the holy moneyless workers," "the silverless physicians." Their learning, their skill in healing, and their devout life gained for the Christian religion many converts. They were arrested during the earliest persecutions of Diocletian, tortured by fire, water and the cross, and finally beheaded, probably in the year 287. The great Dominican artist, Blessed Fra Angelico, has painted scenes from the lives of these two martyred physicians, which may be seen in Florence.
In their Basilica the mosaics are the richest in Rome. The most ancient monument in their honour is an oratory adjacent to St. Mary Major, which was dedicated to them in the fifth century by Pope St. Symmachus. [September 27th is now the Feast day for St. Vincent de Paul.]
THE "NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS" LIST OF MARTYRS
The second prayer of remembrance after the Consecration commemorates by name fifteen martyrs with the petition that we shall be granted "some part and fellowship with Your holy Apostles and martyrs." At the head of the list is St. John the Baptist, then come seven men and seven women martyrs, whose memory Rome has honoured from the early centuries of the Church. Graphically the arrangement of the names might be shown thus 1 + 7 + 7.
The "Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus" Prayer.
"And to us sinners also, Your servants,
hoping in the multitude of Your mercies,
vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Your holy apostles and martyrs:
St. John the Baptist is first.
"with John,
Seven Men Martyrs.
"Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter,
Seven Women Martyrs.
"Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia,
and with all Your saints,
into whose company admit us, we beseech You
not considering our merits but pardoning our offences.
Through Christ our Lord."
COMMENTARY:
St. John the Baptist: 24th June and 29th August.
St. John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a High Priest of the Temple, and of St. Elizabeth, who was a cousin of Our Lady (Cf. Luke 1; 5-25). At an early age he retired to the desert to prepare himself for his mission as Precursor, that is, forerunner of Christ. He ate no bread, drank no wine, and spent the days in prayer and penance.
In the Advent Masses we see him silhouetted against the Arabian sky, a gaunt ascetic figure in a camel's skin and leather girdle with staff in hand as he comes from the desert into all Judea, and the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance:
"Prepare, all of you, the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." (Luke 3; 4).
One of the first incidents of Our Lord's public life was His baptism by St. John in the Jordan, when a voice from Heaven proclaimed the divinity of Christ:
"This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased:" (St. Matt. 3; 17). His mission is now accomplished and the "voice of one crying in the wilderness" is silent. In his own words he explains his life:
"He that has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens to him speak, and rejoices to hear his voice. The joy is mine in its fullness. He must increase, I must decrease." (St. John 3; 29-30),
What an inspiring ideal for us all! That He should increase within us, and we ourselves, with all our selfishness and pride, should decrease more and more each year so that there would be more room for Him within our hearts.
Nothing remains for the Baptist except to crown his life with the laurels of martyrdom.
St. Matthew narrates as follows:
"For Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother's wife.
For John said to him: 'It is not lawful for you to have her.'
And having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people; because they esteemed him a great prophet. But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them; and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she being instructed before by her mother, said: 'Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist.' And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given.
And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
And his head was brought in a dish: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother." (St. Matt. 14; 3-11).
June 24th is the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
August 29th commemorates his beheading.
SEVEN MEN MARTYRS
St. Stephen: December 26th.
St. Stephen leads the splendid host of Christian martyrs. He was one of the first seven deacons ordained by the Apostles to administer the funds of the Infant Church among the poor. St. Luke describes Stephen as "a man full of faith . . . . full of grace and fortitude, he did great wonders and signs among the people." (Acts 6; 8). But there were some jealous of his influence who bribed witnesses to swear falsely against him. Stephen did not temporize even though he felt that the Council was hardening against him. He reviewed the history of the Jewish people and incensed his hearers by accusing the Jews as murderers of the Just One. They rushed at him and in their anger they ran him outside the city, where picking up stones they beat him to death. Stephen continued to pray for those who were stoning him.
"And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul." (Acts 7; 57).
The grace of Christ for which Stephen prayed with his dying voice made that young man St. Paul.
St. Matthias: May 14th.
St. Matthias was chosen to fill the place of Judas.
St. Matthias preached the faith in Cappadocia and around the Caspian Sea. He was beheaded with an axe in Colchis. His head is preserved in the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome.
The Lord Himself showed that St. Matthias was the one to be chosen to join the eleven Apostles. (Cf. Epistle of his Mass: Acts 1; 15-26).
St. Barnabas: June 11th.
St. Barnabas had the honour of being a member of that band of seventy-two disciples sent out to seek souls. A native of the island of Cyprus, he sold all his land and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the Apostles. (Acts 4; 37), He was elected an Apostle and surnamed Barnabas, which means, "the son of consolation," as a compliment to his gift of speaking. It was this Joseph Barnabas who led Paul to the Apostles and convinced them of his sincerity. Barnabas accompanied St. Paul in his missionary journeys, and his name is frequently mentioned in the Acts. (Cf. chapters 9, 12, 13, 14).
He was present at the Council of Jerusalem in 49. (Acts 15; 4).
In his native Cyprus his apostolate was crowned with martyrdom during the reign of Nero. He was buried with a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which he had copied with his own hand.
St. Ignatius of Antioch: October 17th.
St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch for nearly forty years, was a pupil of the Apostles. Taken captive during the Trajan persecution, orders were given that he be sent immediately to Rome so that he would arrive there in time for the wild beast shows. On that journey to Rome he wrote seven letters which are highly prized. The Christians flocked around this grand old man, turning his journey into a triumphal progress.
At Rome the Christians knew of his coming and plans were made to rescue him before he reached the city. Ignatius heard of this and wrote to them pleading to let things be. Here are some of the glorious words he wrote to the Christians in Rome (he wrote them at night while his jailers slept, wrote them while he knew that every day he was drawing nearer to the arena where the wild beasts awaited him) :
"If you keep silence about me, I shall become a word of God, but if you love my flesh too much I shall again be a mere sound. Only allow me to be offered as a libation to God while the altar is still prepared. I am God's wheat and am to be ground by the beasts' teeth to become the spotless bread of Christ." (These words form the Communion in the proper of the Mass for St. Ignatius on October 17th {February 1st}).
"Agree with me. I know what is good for me. Now I begin to be a disciple. My birthday is at hand. Suffer me to come to the pure light. When I reach it I shall be man indeed. Permit me to imitate the passion of my God. If any man hears Him in himself he surely will understand my desire and sympathize with me.
"Fleshly love had been crucified in me and there is no longer fire of love for material things, but only a living water that speaks to me within my soul."
Speaking of the Blessed Eucharist which he calls "the medicine of immortality," he says:
"I desire the bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, and for drink, His Blood, which is incorruptible charity."
On December 20th in the year 107, the last day of the wild beast shows, Ignatius was thrown to the hungry lions in the Flavian amphitheatre. The animals tore and ate his body so that only the large bones remained. Those bones now await the last day in the Church of San Clemente, Rome.
What a heroic soul! Everything human in Ignatius of Antioch must have shuddered and shivered at the image of that arena upon which he will stand defenceless as the gates are raised to release the growling, savage, hungry animals upon him. The Christians everywhere along the route from Antioch to Rome were strengthened by the faith of Ignatius. And what was the source of that heroism? He tells us that it was the Blessed Eucharist.
Whenever we are asked to accept a cross, a sickness, a humiliation, or perhaps, some failure which hurts our pride, let us come to Mass with this martyred bishop, and seek courage where he found it.
St. Alexander: May 4th.
St. Alexander became Pope in the year 109. He made many converts in Rome. In 119, St. Alexander, with two priest companions, St. Eventius and St. Theodulus, was beheaded on the Via Nomentana under the Emperor Hadrian. There is a tradition that he was a son of St. Felicitas, the heroic mother who was martyred with her seven sons in Rome later in the middle of the second century. (This is a different St. Felicitas from the one noted below, from Carthage.)
His relics and those of his companions now rest in the Church of St. Sabina in Rome.
St. Alexander prescribed water to be mixed with wine at Mass on account of the blood and water that flowed from the side of Jesus. Whenever we say the prayer on the mingling of water with wine let us ask St. Alexander to teach us what it means. [May 3rd is the Feast of Saints Philip and James the Less, as noted earlier.]
Saints Marcellinus and Peter: June 2nd.
St. Marcellinus was a priest. St. Peter was an "exorcist," that means that he had received the second of the minor Orders, or steps to the priesthood. They were both arrested. Peter exorcised an evil spirit out of the daughter of the jailer, Artemius, and in gratitude the whole family were converted and baptized by Marcellinus. Hearing this, the judge, Serenus, sent for the saints and commanded them to renounce Christ. On their refusal they were put into separate cells, without light, without food, and the floor was strewn with broken glass. But this did not break them so they were led secretly into woods called the Black Forest in order that their burial place might be hidden from the Christians. They were ordered to dig their own graves, which they cheerfully did, and then they were beheaded. Their relics were discovered by the Christians who gathered up the bones and brought them to the Catacombs. The wood was afterwards called the White Forest.
Their bones were moved about from place to place until the Secretary of Charlemagne about 800 enshrined them in silver at Selingenstadt in Germany. There today they rest within a magnificent church built in their honour.
They suffered martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian, during the tenth persecution, about the year 303. Pope St. Damasus (366) wrote a brief account of their martyrdom which he obtained from their executioner.
SEVEN WOMEN MARTYRS
Saints Felicitas and Perpetua: March 7th.
These two young women suffered death for the faith in the Amphitheatre at Carthage during the fifth persecution of Christians. Septimus Severus was emperor.
Perpetua was of noble birth. Felicitas or Felicity was a slave, and not yet baptized. Both were married. Perpetua had an infant eight months old. Felicitas gave birth to a child while in prison. The father of Perpetua, a wealthy pagan, frequently visited his daughter in prison, promising her everything his wealth could buy, if she would only be sensible, and sacrifice to the gods. Her reply was to cheer up her prison companions. In the Acts of St. Perpetua, part of which is autobiographical, and part written by an eye-witness, we have detailed accounts of the prison life, and of the martyrdom.
Perpetua and Felicitas, with three companions, were first scourged, then a boar, a bear, and a leopard were set at the men, and a fierce cow at the women. Gored by the wild animals, they gave each other the kiss of peace and were put to the sword. The year was 203.
When the judge told them that they were to be thrown to the wild beasts, Perpetua, Felicitas, and their three companions began to sing with joy, that at such a price were they to purchase heaven. To accept crosses cheerfully, and to impose penances on oneself joyfully are never easy, but that is the spirit we must seek in our Masses, so that we may attain to that "perpetual felicity," which the names of these two saints suggest.
St. Agatha: February 5th.
Two cities of Sicily, Palermo and Catania, contest the honour of her birthplace. She was of noble parentage. Endowed with remarkable beauty, she had to resist the solicitations of the Consul Quintianus, who, unable to attain his end by persuasion, threw her into prison. Her breast was torn by his order, but was healed the following night by the apostle St. Peter, who appeared to her in prison. In the proper of her Mass, the Communion commemorates that miracle:
"I invoke Him the living God, who vouchsafed to cure me of every wound, and to restore my breast to my body."
The obvious miracle did not impress Quintianus, who could not understand why she continued to remain a Christian, for proud Rome considered the Christians as little better than slaves.
"I am the servant of Christ," she replied to her disappointed suitor. "The sovereign nobleness is to be the slave of Christ,"
He had her body rolled on pieces of broken pottery and on burning coals, and on being brought back to her cell she expired. This happened at Catania, in 251, during the seventh persecution. Decius was the Roman Emperor.
One year after her death the neighbouring volcano, Mt. Etna, erupted, and a river of burning lava moved towards Catania. Rushing to her tomb, the people of Catania seized her virginal veil, which was not burned, only crimsoned by the fire which had caused her death, and holding it up before the oncoming stream, changed its course to the ocean and the city was saved. This happened on February 5th, her feast day.
Let us invoke St. Agatha to preserve our homes from fire, and to extinguish within our bodies the impure flames of sensuality.
St. Lucy: December 13th.
St. Lucy was born at Syracuse, in Sicily, of wealthy parents. Her mother became ill and St. Lucy made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Agatha, who had lived in Sicily fifty-two years before her. Her mother was cured. In gratitude St Lucy sold her ornaments, her personal property, and distributed the proceeds among the poor.
During the tenth persecution she was imprisoned as a Christian. Commanded to offer sacrifice to the gods, she refused, saying to her judge, Paschasius: "Pure hearts are the temples of the Holy Ghost." Her accusers tried to drag her to a house of ill-fame, but she was rooted to the ground like a pillar, and to move her they failed.
In the Gradual of her Mass we pray:
"Your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness."
The "oil" gave St. Lucy suppleness and strength of soul which enabled her to face death rather than yield the treasure of her virginity.
Tradition says that her eyes were put out by her torturers before her death. The name, Lucy, means light, and it is probably on this account that her intercession is invoked by those with eye trouble.
She was martyred at Syracuse, in Sicily, about the year 304 during the reign of Diocletian as Roman Emperor.
St. Agnes: January 21st.
St. Agnes, a singularly beautiful character, was a daughter of one of Rome's noblest families. Her hand in marriage was sought by the son of the prefect t of Rome. She was imprisoned, and her virginity assailed by every means that might shake her resolution. A youth who attempted to do do her violence was struck dead, but through her prayers was restored to life. To her many suitors she spoke:
"Already has another Lover taken possession of my heart, who far surpasses you in nobility; with unrivalled treasures He has enriched me. His appearance the most, beautiful, His love the sweetest. The angels serve Him. Sun and moon admire His beauty. By the perfume of virtue that exhales from His person the dead are awakened, by His touch the sick are healed. He has prepared for me His bridal-chamber, where music and song resound: For Him I preserve fidelity, to Him I give myself entirely and without reserve."
St. Agnes is a special patroness of holy purity. To the present day, so great is the reverence of her name in Rome, that maidens cherish her example as if she were still dwelling among them. The name Agnes means "chaste" in Greek, and "lamb" in Latin. "She went to her place of execution," writes St. Ambrose of her, "more gladly than others to their wedding feast."
At the age of thirteen, about the year 304, this youthful martyr suffered torture and was beheaded. The executioner hesitated to bring his axe down on so young and so beautiful a head. Agnes encouraged him, saying: "Strike without fear for the bride does her spouse an injury if she makes him wait:"
Over her tomb, in the Via Nomentana, is one of the best known of Roman basilicas: St. Agnes Outside the Walls. There on January 21st each year during the singing of the Agnus Dei at High Mass, two white lambs are placed upon the altar to be blessed by the Abbot General of the Canons Regular of Lateran. They are then brought to the Vatican where the Pope blesses them again. They are handed over to the Benedictine nuns attached to the basilica of St. Agnes who rear them till Good Friday, and weave from their wool the pallium, the insignia of an Archbishop. Archbishops, on more solemn occasions, wear around their necks this narrow band of white wool in remembrance of the youthful saint who was deemed worthy to imitate the innocent Lamb of God.
St. Cecilia: November 22nd.
Cecilia was born at Rome of the illustrious family of the Coecilii. As a child she consecrated her virginity to God. Forced by her parents to marry Valerian, a pagan youth, she said to him on their wedding day: "Valerian, I am placed under the guardianship of an angel who protects my virginity." She pleaded with him so successfully that Valerian promised to become a Christian, were he allowed to see this angel. Cecilia assured him that this was impossible unless he was first baptized, and sent him to a holy confessor, Saint Urban, ( not to be confused with the holy Pope Saint Urban I, who ruled the church from 222 to 230), who lived hidden in the Catacombs on account of the persecutions. Urban baptized him. On his return he saw an angel brilliant with a bright light standing beside Cecilia. Doubtful whether he saw aright, he sent for his brother, Tiburtius, who also saw the heavenly visitor. He also was baptized. Shortly after this Valerian and Tiburtius were denounced as Christians and put to death.
Almachius, the prefect of Rome, arrested Cecilia, and hoping to make an example of this daughter of a senatorial family, ordered her to be suffocated in the Roman bath in her own home. Although the baths were specially heated she came through the terrible ordeal unharmed, singing right, through the night and day, the praises of the Lord. The prefect sent for the executioner who struck her three times and failed to sever the head from her body. Cecilia lived three days, during which the Christians came out of their hiding-holes to visit her, while she sang and prayed with them in sheer delight, giving them great consolation and new courage. She ordered that her magnificent mansion should serve as a Church. On the third day she died in her own home. The probable date of her death was about the year 171. during the persecution under Marcus Aurelius. She died in a reclining posture, and thus was laid in a cypress coffin which the faithful buried in the catacombs of St. Callistus.
In 1599 her body was discovered just as it was at her death, in a state of perfect preservation. The people of Rome were permitted to come in crowds to venerate the body. Stefano Maderno sculptured a reproduction of the reclining body, which is one of the glories of Rome, and may be seen under the High Altar of her Church.
The inscription of the artist reads:
"Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia, which I myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for you the very same saint in the very same posture of body."
St. Cecilia is the patroness of Church music. In her office the Church says:
"To the sound of musical instruments the virgin Cecilia sang to God in her heart." In her "Acts" we read that she sang continuously the praises of God.
What a song of joy the three must have sung as Valerian and Tiburtius, the fruits of her pledging, greeted her soul in Heaven. When we sing during Mass let us remember that St. Cecilia and her companions are singing with us.
St. Anastasia: December 25th or 29th.
On Christmas day, in the year 304, Anastasia, a widow, was visiting the faithful on an errand of mercy, on the island of Palmaria, when she was captured and put to death during the persecution under Diocletian. While her pagan husband, Publius, had lived, she suffered many cruelties. At his death she had given herself to works of mercy. Tradition holds that her tutor in the faith was St. Chrysogonus, who is mentioned in the first list of martyrs, the "Communicantes" list.
The Mass at dawn on Christmas day was said by the Popes in the very old Church of St. Anastasia, situated in the centre of Rome in the patrician quarters, and consequently, the Church of the great court functions.
It is a gracious tribute to her that her name, which means "resurrection," should be commemorated in the second Mass on Christmas day, which is said at dawn in Rome.
In Churches dedicated to her honour, Christmas week sees a series of Solemnities starting with Christmas on December 25th. Then comes St. Stephen on December 26th, followed by St. John the Apostle on December 27th. Next is the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28th, and then St Anastasia's own festal Mass on December 29th.
Some day may we meet all the saints named in this little booklet in the eternal joy of heaven!
St. Chrysogonus: November 25th
St. Chrysogonus was a Greek, but spent his life in Rome. There is some evidence that he was the instructor of St. Anastasia, and befriended her when persecution struck her. During the reign of Diocletian he was imprisoned for two years, and then beheaded. His body was cast into the sea, but was afterwards recovered and buried at Zara in Dalmatia, where his relics are still venerated.
A portion of his head is preserved in the church of Chrysogonus in Rome. He is held in great veneration by the Romans and by the Greeks, who call him "the great martyr." [November 24th is now assigned to St. Andrew Dung Lac and his 116 martyr companions (priests, religious, and lay men and women) of Vietnam.]
Saints John and Paul; June 26th.
John and Paul were brothers. They were distinguished officers in the Roman army during the reign of Julian the Apostate, and were well liked in Rome where they were known as "men of mercy" for their charity. Julian, discovering that they were Christians gave them ten days to retract and offer sacrifice to Jove. The brothers spent the ten days distributing all their goods to the poor, but refused to offer sacrifice. Terentianus, the Roman prefect, had them beheaded in their own home and secretly buried, because he feared the people. He then spread the report that they had been sent into exile. They were martyred on June 26th, in the year 362.
The Roman church of Saints John and Paul, in which their relics lie under the high altar, is said to have been built on the site of their home. The Church of Saints John and Paul is served by the Passionists.
Saints Cosmas and Damian: September 26th.
Cosmas and Damian, brothers from a distinguished family in Arabia, were physicians who never accepted fees, and were known in Rome as "the holy moneyless workers," "the silverless physicians." Their learning, their skill in healing, and their devout life gained for the Christian religion many converts. They were arrested during the earliest persecutions of Diocletian, tortured by fire, water and the cross, and finally beheaded, probably in the year 287. The great Dominican artist, Blessed Fra Angelico, has painted scenes from the lives of these two martyred physicians, which may be seen in Florence.
In their Basilica the mosaics are the richest in Rome. The most ancient monument in their honour is an oratory adjacent to St. Mary Major, which was dedicated to them in the fifth century by Pope St. Symmachus. [September 27th is now the Feast day for St. Vincent de Paul.]
THE "NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS" LIST OF MARTYRS
The second prayer of remembrance after the Consecration commemorates by name fifteen martyrs with the petition that we shall be granted "some part and fellowship with Your holy Apostles and martyrs." At the head of the list is St. John the Baptist, then come seven men and seven women martyrs, whose memory Rome has honoured from the early centuries of the Church. Graphically the arrangement of the names might be shown thus 1 + 7 + 7.
The "Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus" Prayer.
"And to us sinners also, Your servants,
hoping in the multitude of Your mercies,
vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Your holy apostles and martyrs:
St. John the Baptist is first.
"with John,
Seven Men Martyrs.
"Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter,
Seven Women Martyrs.
"Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia,
and with all Your saints,
into whose company admit us, we beseech You
not considering our merits but pardoning our offences.
Through Christ our Lord."
COMMENTARY:
St. John the Baptist: 24th June and 29th August.
St. John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a High Priest of the Temple, and of St. Elizabeth, who was a cousin of Our Lady (Cf. Luke 1; 5-25). At an early age he retired to the desert to prepare himself for his mission as Precursor, that is, forerunner of Christ. He ate no bread, drank no wine, and spent the days in prayer and penance.
In the Advent Masses we see him silhouetted against the Arabian sky, a gaunt ascetic figure in a camel's skin and leather girdle with staff in hand as he comes from the desert into all Judea, and the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance:
"Prepare, all of you, the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." (Luke 3; 4).
One of the first incidents of Our Lord's public life was His baptism by St. John in the Jordan, when a voice from Heaven proclaimed the divinity of Christ:
"This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased:" (St. Matt. 3; 17). His mission is now accomplished and the "voice of one crying in the wilderness" is silent. In his own words he explains his life:
"He that has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens to him speak, and rejoices to hear his voice. The joy is mine in its fullness. He must increase, I must decrease." (St. John 3; 29-30),
What an inspiring ideal for us all! That He should increase within us, and we ourselves, with all our selfishness and pride, should decrease more and more each year so that there would be more room for Him within our hearts.
Nothing remains for the Baptist except to crown his life with the laurels of martyrdom.
St. Matthew narrates as follows:
"For Herod had apprehended John and bound him, and put him into prison, because of Herodias, his brother's wife.
For John said to him: 'It is not lawful for you to have her.'
And having a mind to put him to death, he feared the people; because they esteemed him a great prophet. But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them; and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she being instructed before by her mother, said: 'Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist.' And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given.
And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
And his head was brought in a dish: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother." (St. Matt. 14; 3-11).
June 24th is the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
August 29th commemorates his beheading.
SEVEN MEN MARTYRS
St. Stephen: December 26th.
St. Stephen leads the splendid host of Christian martyrs. He was one of the first seven deacons ordained by the Apostles to administer the funds of the Infant Church among the poor. St. Luke describes Stephen as "a man full of faith . . . . full of grace and fortitude, he did great wonders and signs among the people." (Acts 6; 8). But there were some jealous of his influence who bribed witnesses to swear falsely against him. Stephen did not temporize even though he felt that the Council was hardening against him. He reviewed the history of the Jewish people and incensed his hearers by accusing the Jews as murderers of the Just One. They rushed at him and in their anger they ran him outside the city, where picking up stones they beat him to death. Stephen continued to pray for those who were stoning him.
"And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul." (Acts 7; 57).
The grace of Christ for which Stephen prayed with his dying voice made that young man St. Paul.
St. Matthias: May 14th.
St. Matthias was chosen to fill the place of Judas.
St. Matthias preached the faith in Cappadocia and around the Caspian Sea. He was beheaded with an axe in Colchis. His head is preserved in the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome.
The Lord Himself showed that St. Matthias was the one to be chosen to join the eleven Apostles. (Cf. Epistle of his Mass: Acts 1; 15-26).
St. Barnabas: June 11th.
St. Barnabas had the honour of being a member of that band of seventy-two disciples sent out to seek souls. A native of the island of Cyprus, he sold all his land and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the Apostles. (Acts 4; 37), He was elected an Apostle and surnamed Barnabas, which means, "the son of consolation," as a compliment to his gift of speaking. It was this Joseph Barnabas who led Paul to the Apostles and convinced them of his sincerity. Barnabas accompanied St. Paul in his missionary journeys, and his name is frequently mentioned in the Acts. (Cf. chapters 9, 12, 13, 14).
He was present at the Council of Jerusalem in 49. (Acts 15; 4).
In his native Cyprus his apostolate was crowned with martyrdom during the reign of Nero. He was buried with a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which he had copied with his own hand.
St. Ignatius of Antioch: October 17th.
St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch for nearly forty years, was a pupil of the Apostles. Taken captive during the Trajan persecution, orders were given that he be sent immediately to Rome so that he would arrive there in time for the wild beast shows. On that journey to Rome he wrote seven letters which are highly prized. The Christians flocked around this grand old man, turning his journey into a triumphal progress.
At Rome the Christians knew of his coming and plans were made to rescue him before he reached the city. Ignatius heard of this and wrote to them pleading to let things be. Here are some of the glorious words he wrote to the Christians in Rome (he wrote them at night while his jailers slept, wrote them while he knew that every day he was drawing nearer to the arena where the wild beasts awaited him) :
"If you keep silence about me, I shall become a word of God, but if you love my flesh too much I shall again be a mere sound. Only allow me to be offered as a libation to God while the altar is still prepared. I am God's wheat and am to be ground by the beasts' teeth to become the spotless bread of Christ." (These words form the Communion in the proper of the Mass for St. Ignatius on October 17th {February 1st}).
"Agree with me. I know what is good for me. Now I begin to be a disciple. My birthday is at hand. Suffer me to come to the pure light. When I reach it I shall be man indeed. Permit me to imitate the passion of my God. If any man hears Him in himself he surely will understand my desire and sympathize with me.
"Fleshly love had been crucified in me and there is no longer fire of love for material things, but only a living water that speaks to me within my soul."
Speaking of the Blessed Eucharist which he calls "the medicine of immortality," he says:
"I desire the bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ, and for drink, His Blood, which is incorruptible charity."
On December 20th in the year 107, the last day of the wild beast shows, Ignatius was thrown to the hungry lions in the Flavian amphitheatre. The animals tore and ate his body so that only the large bones remained. Those bones now await the last day in the Church of San Clemente, Rome.
What a heroic soul! Everything human in Ignatius of Antioch must have shuddered and shivered at the image of that arena upon which he will stand defenceless as the gates are raised to release the growling, savage, hungry animals upon him. The Christians everywhere along the route from Antioch to Rome were strengthened by the faith of Ignatius. And what was the source of that heroism? He tells us that it was the Blessed Eucharist.
Whenever we are asked to accept a cross, a sickness, a humiliation, or perhaps, some failure which hurts our pride, let us come to Mass with this martyred bishop, and seek courage where he found it.
St. Alexander: May 4th.
St. Alexander became Pope in the year 109. He made many converts in Rome. In 119, St. Alexander, with two priest companions, St. Eventius and St. Theodulus, was beheaded on the Via Nomentana under the Emperor Hadrian. There is a tradition that he was a son of St. Felicitas, the heroic mother who was martyred with her seven sons in Rome later in the middle of the second century. (This is a different St. Felicitas from the one noted below, from Carthage.)
His relics and those of his companions now rest in the Church of St. Sabina in Rome.
St. Alexander prescribed water to be mixed with wine at Mass on account of the blood and water that flowed from the side of Jesus. Whenever we say the prayer on the mingling of water with wine let us ask St. Alexander to teach us what it means. [May 3rd is the Feast of Saints Philip and James the Less, as noted earlier.]
Saints Marcellinus and Peter: June 2nd.
St. Marcellinus was a priest. St. Peter was an "exorcist," that means that he had received the second of the minor Orders, or steps to the priesthood. They were both arrested. Peter exorcised an evil spirit out of the daughter of the jailer, Artemius, and in gratitude the whole family were converted and baptized by Marcellinus. Hearing this, the judge, Serenus, sent for the saints and commanded them to renounce Christ. On their refusal they were put into separate cells, without light, without food, and the floor was strewn with broken glass. But this did not break them so they were led secretly into woods called the Black Forest in order that their burial place might be hidden from the Christians. They were ordered to dig their own graves, which they cheerfully did, and then they were beheaded. Their relics were discovered by the Christians who gathered up the bones and brought them to the Catacombs. The wood was afterwards called the White Forest.
Their bones were moved about from place to place until the Secretary of Charlemagne about 800 enshrined them in silver at Selingenstadt in Germany. There today they rest within a magnificent church built in their honour.
They suffered martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian, during the tenth persecution, about the year 303. Pope St. Damasus (366) wrote a brief account of their martyrdom which he obtained from their executioner.
SEVEN WOMEN MARTYRS
Saints Felicitas and Perpetua: March 7th.
These two young women suffered death for the faith in the Amphitheatre at Carthage during the fifth persecution of Christians. Septimus Severus was emperor.
Perpetua was of noble birth. Felicitas or Felicity was a slave, and not yet baptized. Both were married. Perpetua had an infant eight months old. Felicitas gave birth to a child while in prison. The father of Perpetua, a wealthy pagan, frequently visited his daughter in prison, promising her everything his wealth could buy, if she would only be sensible, and sacrifice to the gods. Her reply was to cheer up her prison companions. In the Acts of St. Perpetua, part of which is autobiographical, and part written by an eye-witness, we have detailed accounts of the prison life, and of the martyrdom.
Perpetua and Felicitas, with three companions, were first scourged, then a boar, a bear, and a leopard were set at the men, and a fierce cow at the women. Gored by the wild animals, they gave each other the kiss of peace and were put to the sword. The year was 203.
When the judge told them that they were to be thrown to the wild beasts, Perpetua, Felicitas, and their three companions began to sing with joy, that at such a price were they to purchase heaven. To accept crosses cheerfully, and to impose penances on oneself joyfully are never easy, but that is the spirit we must seek in our Masses, so that we may attain to that "perpetual felicity," which the names of these two saints suggest.
St. Agatha: February 5th.
Two cities of Sicily, Palermo and Catania, contest the honour of her birthplace. She was of noble parentage. Endowed with remarkable beauty, she had to resist the solicitations of the Consul Quintianus, who, unable to attain his end by persuasion, threw her into prison. Her breast was torn by his order, but was healed the following night by the apostle St. Peter, who appeared to her in prison. In the proper of her Mass, the Communion commemorates that miracle:
"I invoke Him the living God, who vouchsafed to cure me of every wound, and to restore my breast to my body."
The obvious miracle did not impress Quintianus, who could not understand why she continued to remain a Christian, for proud Rome considered the Christians as little better than slaves.
"I am the servant of Christ," she replied to her disappointed suitor. "The sovereign nobleness is to be the slave of Christ,"
He had her body rolled on pieces of broken pottery and on burning coals, and on being brought back to her cell she expired. This happened at Catania, in 251, during the seventh persecution. Decius was the Roman Emperor.
One year after her death the neighbouring volcano, Mt. Etna, erupted, and a river of burning lava moved towards Catania. Rushing to her tomb, the people of Catania seized her virginal veil, which was not burned, only crimsoned by the fire which had caused her death, and holding it up before the oncoming stream, changed its course to the ocean and the city was saved. This happened on February 5th, her feast day.
Let us invoke St. Agatha to preserve our homes from fire, and to extinguish within our bodies the impure flames of sensuality.
St. Lucy: December 13th.
St. Lucy was born at Syracuse, in Sicily, of wealthy parents. Her mother became ill and St. Lucy made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Agatha, who had lived in Sicily fifty-two years before her. Her mother was cured. In gratitude St Lucy sold her ornaments, her personal property, and distributed the proceeds among the poor.
During the tenth persecution she was imprisoned as a Christian. Commanded to offer sacrifice to the gods, she refused, saying to her judge, Paschasius: "Pure hearts are the temples of the Holy Ghost." Her accusers tried to drag her to a house of ill-fame, but she was rooted to the ground like a pillar, and to move her they failed.
In the Gradual of her Mass we pray:
"Your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness."
The "oil" gave St. Lucy suppleness and strength of soul which enabled her to face death rather than yield the treasure of her virginity.
Tradition says that her eyes were put out by her torturers before her death. The name, Lucy, means light, and it is probably on this account that her intercession is invoked by those with eye trouble.
She was martyred at Syracuse, in Sicily, about the year 304 during the reign of Diocletian as Roman Emperor.
St. Agnes: January 21st.
St. Agnes, a singularly beautiful character, was a daughter of one of Rome's noblest families. Her hand in marriage was sought by the son of the prefect t of Rome. She was imprisoned, and her virginity assailed by every means that might shake her resolution. A youth who attempted to do do her violence was struck dead, but through her prayers was restored to life. To her many suitors she spoke:
"Already has another Lover taken possession of my heart, who far surpasses you in nobility; with unrivalled treasures He has enriched me. His appearance the most, beautiful, His love the sweetest. The angels serve Him. Sun and moon admire His beauty. By the perfume of virtue that exhales from His person the dead are awakened, by His touch the sick are healed. He has prepared for me His bridal-chamber, where music and song resound: For Him I preserve fidelity, to Him I give myself entirely and without reserve."
St. Agnes is a special patroness of holy purity. To the present day, so great is the reverence of her name in Rome, that maidens cherish her example as if she were still dwelling among them. The name Agnes means "chaste" in Greek, and "lamb" in Latin. "She went to her place of execution," writes St. Ambrose of her, "more gladly than others to their wedding feast."
At the age of thirteen, about the year 304, this youthful martyr suffered torture and was beheaded. The executioner hesitated to bring his axe down on so young and so beautiful a head. Agnes encouraged him, saying: "Strike without fear for the bride does her spouse an injury if she makes him wait:"
Over her tomb, in the Via Nomentana, is one of the best known of Roman basilicas: St. Agnes Outside the Walls. There on January 21st each year during the singing of the Agnus Dei at High Mass, two white lambs are placed upon the altar to be blessed by the Abbot General of the Canons Regular of Lateran. They are then brought to the Vatican where the Pope blesses them again. They are handed over to the Benedictine nuns attached to the basilica of St. Agnes who rear them till Good Friday, and weave from their wool the pallium, the insignia of an Archbishop. Archbishops, on more solemn occasions, wear around their necks this narrow band of white wool in remembrance of the youthful saint who was deemed worthy to imitate the innocent Lamb of God.
St. Cecilia: November 22nd.
Cecilia was born at Rome of the illustrious family of the Coecilii. As a child she consecrated her virginity to God. Forced by her parents to marry Valerian, a pagan youth, she said to him on their wedding day: "Valerian, I am placed under the guardianship of an angel who protects my virginity." She pleaded with him so successfully that Valerian promised to become a Christian, were he allowed to see this angel. Cecilia assured him that this was impossible unless he was first baptized, and sent him to a holy confessor, Saint Urban, ( not to be confused with the holy Pope Saint Urban I, who ruled the church from 222 to 230), who lived hidden in the Catacombs on account of the persecutions. Urban baptized him. On his return he saw an angel brilliant with a bright light standing beside Cecilia. Doubtful whether he saw aright, he sent for his brother, Tiburtius, who also saw the heavenly visitor. He also was baptized. Shortly after this Valerian and Tiburtius were denounced as Christians and put to death.
Almachius, the prefect of Rome, arrested Cecilia, and hoping to make an example of this daughter of a senatorial family, ordered her to be suffocated in the Roman bath in her own home. Although the baths were specially heated she came through the terrible ordeal unharmed, singing right, through the night and day, the praises of the Lord. The prefect sent for the executioner who struck her three times and failed to sever the head from her body. Cecilia lived three days, during which the Christians came out of their hiding-holes to visit her, while she sang and prayed with them in sheer delight, giving them great consolation and new courage. She ordered that her magnificent mansion should serve as a Church. On the third day she died in her own home. The probable date of her death was about the year 171. during the persecution under Marcus Aurelius. She died in a reclining posture, and thus was laid in a cypress coffin which the faithful buried in the catacombs of St. Callistus.
In 1599 her body was discovered just as it was at her death, in a state of perfect preservation. The people of Rome were permitted to come in crowds to venerate the body. Stefano Maderno sculptured a reproduction of the reclining body, which is one of the glories of Rome, and may be seen under the High Altar of her Church.
The inscription of the artist reads:
"Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia, which I myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for you the very same saint in the very same posture of body."
St. Cecilia is the patroness of Church music. In her office the Church says:
"To the sound of musical instruments the virgin Cecilia sang to God in her heart." In her "Acts" we read that she sang continuously the praises of God.
What a song of joy the three must have sung as Valerian and Tiburtius, the fruits of her pledging, greeted her soul in Heaven. When we sing during Mass let us remember that St. Cecilia and her companions are singing with us.
St. Anastasia: December 25th or 29th.
On Christmas day, in the year 304, Anastasia, a widow, was visiting the faithful on an errand of mercy, on the island of Palmaria, when she was captured and put to death during the persecution under Diocletian. While her pagan husband, Publius, had lived, she suffered many cruelties. At his death she had given herself to works of mercy. Tradition holds that her tutor in the faith was St. Chrysogonus, who is mentioned in the first list of martyrs, the "Communicantes" list.
The Mass at dawn on Christmas day was said by the Popes in the very old Church of St. Anastasia, situated in the centre of Rome in the patrician quarters, and consequently, the Church of the great court functions.
It is a gracious tribute to her that her name, which means "resurrection," should be commemorated in the second Mass on Christmas day, which is said at dawn in Rome.
In Churches dedicated to her honour, Christmas week sees a series of Solemnities starting with Christmas on December 25th. Then comes St. Stephen on December 26th, followed by St. John the Apostle on December 27th. Next is the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28th, and then St Anastasia's own festal Mass on December 29th.
Some day may we meet all the saints named in this little booklet in the eternal joy of heaven!
