Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saints Marius, Martha, Audifax, Abachum.
Martyrs.
Feast Day 19 January.
Simple.
Red Vestments.
The Martyrdom of Saints Marius, Martha, Audifax, Abachum.
Even though these Holy Saints lived, and suffered Martyrdom, nearly 2,000 Years ago, we
would do well by recalling their Holiness each year on their Feast Day of 19 January.
It is a modern error to regard only the most recent Saints, or most recent events,
as applicable to us. We can learn from the lives of all of the Saints from all times.
Illustration: A CATHOLIC LIFE
Marius and Martha, his wife, were Persian nobles, who, with their two sons, Audifax and Abachum, came to Rome to Worship God in the Reign of Emperor Claudius II. There they visited Christians cast into prison for their Faith: "You had compassion on prisoners," says the Epistle.
They devoted themselves in many ways to the service of Religion; but, soon, they had, themselves, to suffer for The Faith: For "they were tortured and put to death" (Gospel).
"Without fearing the persecutors" (Communion), they underwent all these torments with Prayers of Thanksgiving on their lips, for, in them, they saw like "the sparrow liberated from the bird-catcher's net and who escapes towards Heaven" (Offertory), the means of going to enjoy God for evermore (Introit).
They were Martyred in 270 A.D.
Let us ask Jesus Christ "Who showed Himself so admirably in these Martyrs" (Alleluia) also to make manifest in our Souls the effects of His Divine Power, so that "enjoying Peace in this life, we may in the other receive the eternal reward" (Collect).
Mass: Justi epuléntur.
Commemoration: Of Saint Canute.
Epistle: Rememorámini.
Gospel: Sedénte Jesu.
