Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen.
Martyr.
Feast Day 24 April.
Double.
Red Vestments.
English: Wall painting of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen,
the Church of Saint Venantius, Pfärrenbach, Horgenzell, Germany.
Deutsch: Filialkirche St. Venantius, Pfärrenbach, Gemeinde Horgenzell
Wandmalerei im Kirchenschiff: Hl. Fidelis von Sigmaringen.
Photo: 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Photo: Andreas Praefcke
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen, Swabia (or, Suabia), Germany, in 1577. He was at first a Magistrate and took so much interest in the Poor that he was called "the Advocate of the Poor". He entered the Seraphic Order of Saint Francis, intimately united to God in continual Prayer and work. He asked, and obtained from Him, to shed his blood for The Catholic Faith.
He was sent to the Country of the Grisons, where Protestant Soldiers, fearing his influence, stabbed him to death at Sévis in 1622 (Collect).
This Holy Martyr, who, in The Paschal Cycle, takes his place among the attendants of The Risen Lord, shares with Him the felicity of The Sons of God (Epistle).
The Gospel of The Martyr's Mass in Paschaltide is, like the Gospels after Easter, a passage from the last discourse pronounced by The Master on the eve of His Death.
On the symbolical vine, which is Jesus, there are two sorts of branches which receive different treatment. Those without fruit are cut off and thrown into the fire. Those that bear fruit are, on the contrary, "carefully pruned, in order that they may produce still more". That is why Saint Fidelis was persecuted and put to death.
Let us obtain by the merits of this Saint to be, like him, "so confirmed in Faith and Charity that we may be faithful in God's service unto death" (Collect).
Mass: Protexisti.
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