Saint Athanasius. Bishop. Confessor. Doctor Of The Church. Feast Day 2 May.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Athanasius. 
   Bishop. Confessor. Doctor Of The Church. 
   Feast Day 2 May.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Athanasius.

Bishop of Alexandria.

This File: 4 March 2006.

User: Maksim.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church, still covered with the blood of her Martyrs, had, in the 5th-Century A.D., to sustain the dreadful assaults of heretics. Arius dared to despoil The Divine Redeemer of all His Glory as Son of God; to make of Him a simple creature only higher in Grace than others.

God then raised up Saint Athanasius: "He fills him with the Spirit of Wisdom" (Introit), and "anoints him as Bishop of Alexandria, with His Holy Oil" (Offertory), for, as an athlete off Christ, he had to Preach The Master's Truth, at the price of innumerable sacrifices (Epistle, Gospel).

In 325 A.D., Saint Athanasius was the herald of the illustrious assembly of the 318 Bishops who condemned Arius at The Council of Nices, proclaiming that Jesus was The Son consubstantial with The Father. That is why he is often represented with a symbol of The Trinity as an emblem.

He died in 373 A.D., and was proclaimed Doctor of The Church.

Let us, like Saint Athanasius, affirm The Divinity of Jesus Risen Again.

Mass: In médio Ecclésiae.