Jmj

Today, January 9, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Adrian of Canterbury (African, Benedictine abbot in Italy and in England, teacher, d. 710 [incorruptible])
St. Berhtwald of Canterbury (British, Benedictine abbot, archbishop, d. 731)
Sts. Epictetus, Jucundus, Secundus, Vitalis, Felix, and seven companions (African, martyred c. 250)
Bl. Pope Gregory X [baptized Theobald Visconti] (Italian, deacon in France, accompanied crusaders to Palestine, elected to papacy in 1271, reigned until death in 1276)
St. Honorius of Buzancais (French, livestock dealer, married man, martyred in 1250)
Sts. Antony, Julian, Basilissa, Anastasius, Celsus, Marcionilla, and seven companions (priest and laity, martyred c. 304)
St. Marcellinus of Ancona (Italian, bishop, c. 566)
St. Marciana (Mauritanian, virgin, martyred [gored by a bull in amphitheater] c. 303)
St. Maurontius (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 700)
St. Paschasia of Dijon (French, virgin, martyred c. 178)
St. Peter of Sebastea (Cappadocian [Turkish], son of two saints, brother of St. Basil the Great and other saints, abbot, bishop, fought Arianism, c. 391)
St. Philip Berruyer of Bourges (French, archbishop, d. 1260)
Bl. Tommaso Reggio of Genoa (Italian, seminary rector, archbishop, founder of Sisters of St. Martha, built orphanages, sought justice for laborers, d. 1901 [canonized 2000])
Sts. Vitalis, Revocatus, and Fortunatus (Greek, bishop and deacons, martyred)
St. Waningus of Fécamp (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 686)

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron saint -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John


-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 09, 2002

Answers

[Excerpts from an interesting proclamation on the protection, treatment, and rights of Jewish people, by Blessed Pope Gregory X, October 7, 1272:]

"Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, extends greetings and the apostolic benediction to the beloved sons in Christ, the faithful Christians, to those here now and to those in the future. ... Although [the Jews] prefer ... [not] to recognize the words of their prophets and the mysteries of the Scriptures ..., and thus to arrive at a knowledge of Christian faith and salvation; nevertheless, inasmuch as they have made an appeal for our protection and help, we therefore admit their petition and offer them the shield of our protection through the clemency of Christian piety. In so doing we follow in the footsteps of our predecessors of blessed memory, the popes of Rome -- Calixtus, Eugene, Alexander, Clement, Innocent, and Honorius.

"We decree moreover that no Christian shall compel them or any one of their group to come to baptism unwillingly. But if any one of them shall take refuge of his own accord with Christians, because of conviction, then, after his intention will have been manifest, he shall be made a Christian without any intrigue. For, indeed, that person who is known to have come to Christian baptism not freely, but unwillingly, is not believed to posses the Christian faith.

"Moreover no Christian shall presume to seize, imprison, wound, torture, mutilate, kill or inflict violence on them; furthermore no one shall presume, except by judicial action of the authorities of the country, to change the good customs in the land where they live for the purpose of taking their money or goods from them or from others. "In addition, no one shall disturb them in any way during the celebration of their festivals, whether by day or by night, with clubs or stones or anything else. ...

"Since it happens occasionally that some Christians lose their children, the Jews are accused by their enemies of secretly carrying off and killing these same Christian children and of making sacrifices of the heart and blood of these very children. It happens, too, that the parents of these very children, or some other Christian enemies of these Jews, secretly hide these very children in order that they may be able to injure these Jews, and in order that they may be able to extort from them a certain amount of money by redeeming them from their straits. And most falsely do these Christians claim that the Jews have secretly and furtively carried away these children and killed them, and that the Jews offer sacrifices from the heart and the blood of these children, since their law in this matter precisely and expressly forbids Jews to sacrifice, eat, or drink the blood, or to eat the flesh of animals having claws. This has been demonstrated many times at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith: nevertheless very many Jews are often seized and detained unjustly because of this.

"We decree, therefore, that Christians need not be obeyed against Jews in a case or situation of this type, and we order that Jews seized under such a silly pretext be freed from imprisonment, and that they shall not be arrested henceforth on such a miserable pretext, unless -- which we do not believe -- they be caught in the commission of the crime. We decree that no Christian shall stir up anything new against them, but that they should be maintained in that status and position in which they were in the time of our predecessors, from antiquity till now.

"We decree in order to stop the wickedness and avarice of bad men, that no one shall dare to devastate or to destroy a cemetery of the Jews or to dig up human bodies for the sake of getting money. Moreover, if any one, after having known the content of this decree, should -- which we hope will not happen -- attempt audaciously to act contrary to it, then let him suffer punishment in his rank and position, or let him be punished by the penalty of excommunication, unless he makes amends for his boldness by proper recompense. ..."

-- (_@_._), January 09, 2002.

Jmj

On January 9, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints and blesseds whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Adrian of Canterbury (African, Benedictine abbot in Italy and in England, teacher, d. 710 [incorruptible])
Sts. Antony, Julian, Basilissa, Anastasius, Celsus, Marcionilla, and seven companions, of Antioch (Syrian, priest and laity, martyred c. 304)
St. Berhtwald of Canterbury (British, Benedictine abbot, archbishop, d. 731)
Sts. Epictetus, Jucundus, Secundus, Vitalis, Felix, and seven companions (African, martyred c. 250)
Bl. Pope Gregory X Visconti of Piacenza [Gregorio] [baptized Teobaldo (Theobald)] (Italian, deacon in France, accompanied crusaders to Palestine, elected to papacy in 1271, reigned until death in 1276)
St. Honorius of Buzancais (French, livestock dealer, married man, martyred in 1250)
St. Marcellinus of Ancona (Italian, bishop, c. 566)
St. Marciana of Caesarea (Mauritanian, virgin, martyred [gored by a bull in amphitheater] c. 303)
St. Maurontius of Anjou (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 700)
St. Paschasia of Dijon (French, virgin, martyred c. 178)
St. Peter of Sebastea (Cappadocian [Turkish], son of two saints, brother of St. Basil the Great and other saints, abbot, bishop, fought Arianism, c. 391)
St. Philip Berruyer of Bourges [Philippe] (French, archbishop, d. 1260)
Bl. Thomas Reggio of Genoa [Tommaso] (Italian, seminary rector, archbishop, founder of Sisters of St. Martha, built orphanages, sought justice for laborers, d. 1901 [beatified 2000])
Sts. Vitalicus, Revocatus, and Fortunatus, of Smyrna (Greek, bishop and deacons, martyred)
St. Waningus of Fécamp (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 686)

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints or blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 09, 2004.