Saint Venantius. Martyr.

English: Saint Venantius is hung upside-down over a fire, 

and then thrown to the lions. Wall mural from Saint 

Venantius Church, Horgenzell, Germany.

Deutsch: Filialkirche St. Venantius, Pfärrenbach, 

Gemeinde Horgenzell. Wandgemälde im Kirchenschiff: Venantiuslegende.

Date: 18 April 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Andreas Praefcke

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
      Volume 8.
      Paschal Time.
      Book II.

The Martyr of today carries us back to the persecutions under the Roman Emperors. It was at Camerino, Italy, that Venantius bore his testimony to The True Faith; and the devotion wherewith he is honoured by the people of those parts has caused his Feast to be kept throughout The Church.

Let us, therefore, joyfully welcome this new champion, who fought so bravely for our Emmanuel.

Let us congratulate him upon his having the privilege of suffering Martyrdom during the Paschal season, all radiant as it is with the grand victory won by life over death.

The account given by the Liturgy of Saint Venantius is a tissue of Miracles. The omnipotence of God seemed, on this and many other like occasions, to resist the cruelty of the executioners in order to glorify the Martyr.

It served also as a means of converting the bystanders, who, on witnessing these almost lavish Miracles, were frequently heard to exclaim, that they, too, wished to be Christians, and embrace a Religion which was not only honoured by the superhuman patience of its Martyrs, but was so visibly protected and favoured by Heaven.