Old Stuff

The Eighteenth Day of August

At Savigliano in Piedmont, Blessed Aimo Taparelli confessor, of our Order. He was outstanding by the holiness of his life, his learning, and his prolonged and extraordinary labors for the preservation of the Catholic faith. He was taken to Heaven on the Feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, for whom he had an extraordinary devotion. A semi-duplex feast.

At Palestrina (in Italy), St. Agapitus, martyr. He was only fifteen years old but already fervent in the love of God when he was arrested by order of the Emperor Aurelian. He was savagely flogged with raw sinews. Later, under the governor Antiochus, he underwent more grievous sufferings. Then, by command of the Emperor, he was thrown to the lions. When these did not harm him, he was put to the sword and thus gained his crown. A memory.

At Rome, blessed John and Crispus, priests. In the persecution of Diocletian, they dutifully buried the bodies of many saints. Later, they themselves shared with them the merit of martyrdom and thus procured for themselves the joys of life eternal.

Also at Rome, the holy martyrs Hermas, Serapion, and Polyaenus, who were dragged through narrow, rocky, and rough places until they rendered up their souls to God.

In Illyria, the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus, stone-cutters. When their masters Proculus and Maximus had met their deaths by martyrdom under the governor Lician, they themselves were, after many sufferings, drowned in a deep well.

At Myra in Lycia, the holy martyrs Leo and Juliana.

At Metz in Gaul, St. Firminus, bishop and confessor.

At Rome, on the Via Lavicana, St. Helen, the mother of that religious emperor, Constantine the Great. He was the first to show to other princes an excellent example of the manner in which the Church should be protected and multiplied.

V. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

R. Thanks be to God.

Posted by billw at August 18, 2002 04:55 AM | TrackBack