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On October 30, 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. Alphonse Rodriguez of Segovia [Alonso] (Spanish, widower, Jesuit brother, college doorkeeper for 46 years, mystic, died at age 85 in 1617 [beatified 1825, canonized 1887])
Bl. Angel of Acri [Angelo] (Italian, Capuchin Franciscan priest, died at about age 70 in 1739 [beatified 1825])
St. Arilda of Gloucestershire (British, virgin, martyr for chastity)
St. Artemas of Lystra (Greek, disciple of St. Paul [Titus 3:12], bishop, 1st century)
St. Asterius of Amasea (Turkish, bishop, c. 400)
Bl. Benvenuta Bojani of Cividale (Italian, virgin, visionary, Dominican tertiary, died at age 38 in 1292 [beatified 1763])
Bl. Bernard de la Tour of Portes (French, Carthusian superior general, d. 1258)
Sts. Claudius, Lupercus, and Victorius, of León (brothers, martyred in Spain c. 300)
Bl. Dorothy of Montau (German, peasant, mother of nine, widow, hermitess, mystic, died at age 47 in 1394 [beatified 1976])
St. Egelnoth the Good of Canterbury (British, Benedictine monk, archbishop, d. 1038)
St. Eutropia of Alexandria (Egyptian, martyred c. 253)
St. Gerard of Potenza [Gerardo] (Italian, bishop, d. 1119)
St. Germanus of Capua (Italian, bishop, c. 545)
St. Herbert of Tours (French, archbishop)
Bl. John Slade of Manston (English, schoolteacher, martyred [drawn, hanged, and quartered] under Elizabeth I in 1583 [beatified 1929])
St. Lucanus of Lagny (French, martyred in 5th century)
St. Marcellus of Rome (Italian, centurion, martyred in Tangiers [Africa] c. 298)
St. Maximus of Cumae (Italian, martyred in 304)
Bl. Nanterius of Saint-Mihiel (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 1044)
St. Saturnino of Cagliari (Italian, martyred by beheading in 303)
St. Serapion of Antioch (Syrian, bishop, d. 199)
St. Talarica (Scottish, bishop, 6th century)
St. Theonestus of Altino (Greek, missionary, bishop of Philippi in Macedonia, martyred in 425)
Sts. Zenobius and Zenobia of Aegae (Turkish, physician/bishop and his sister, c. 290)

[Here is a magnificent excerpt from a fourth-century sermon of St. Asterius of Amasea, on the holy martyrs. It shows that the practice of fervent requests for the intercession of saints is ancient. It shows that even the martyrs of pre-Constantinian times called upon still earlier martyrs for prayers.]

"We keep through every age their bodies decently enshrined, as most precious pledges; vessels of benediction, the organs of their blessed souls, the tabernacles of their holy minds. We put ourselves under their protection. The martyrs defend the church, as soldiers guard a citadel. The people flock in crowds from all quarters, and keep great festivals to honor their tombs.

"All who labor under the heavy load of afflictions fly to them for refuge. We employ them as intercessors in our prayers and suffrages. In these refuges the hardships of poverty are eased, diseases cured, the threats of princes appeased. A parent, taking a sick child in his arms, postpones physicians, and runs to one of the martyrs, offering by him his prayer to the Lord, and addressing him whom he employs for his mediator in such word as these.

"'You who have suffered for Christ, intercede for one who suffers by sickness. By that great power and confidence you have, offer a prayer on behalf of fellow-servants. Though you are now removed from us, you know what men on earth feel in their sufferings and diseases. You formerly prayed to martyrs, before you were yourself a martyr. You then obtained your request by asking; now you are possessed of what you asked, in your turn, assist me. By your crown ask what may be our advancement.'

"If another is going to be married, he begins his undertaking by soliciting the prayers of the martyrs. Who, putting to sea, weighs anchor before he has invoked the Lord of the sea through the martyrs?"

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. Additional 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), October 26, 2004

Answers

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), October 30, 2004.