Lenten Station At San Giorgio-In-Velabro. Thursday After Ash Wednesday.

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

Italic Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

Station at St. George's.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

San Giorgio-in-Velabro 
is a Minor Basilica Church 
in Rome, Italy, 

devoted to Saint George.

Photo: April 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: User: Zello

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Station is, since the time of Pope Gregory II (7th-Century A.D.), at Saint George's-in-Velabro. This Church is in the district called the Velabrum or Velum aureum, on account of a Relic kept in a Golden Veil. Saint George's is one of the twenty-five Parishes of Rome in the 5th-Century A.D., where, under The High Altar, is kept the Head of this Christian warrior, a victim of The Persecution of The Emperor Diocletian, and called by the Greeks "The Great Martyr".

The Liturgy of today inculcates in us the spirit of Prayer, which forms part of The Forty Days' Penance. It was by Prayer that Ezechias obtained a prolongation of his life (Epistle of today) and the Centurion the healing of his servant (Gospel), and it is by Prayer that we shall obtain from God the strength to mortify ourselves, in order that we may gain the pardon of our sins, and, with it, the healing of our Souls and Life Eternal.

Interior of San Giorgio-in-Velabro.

Photo: August 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Luc.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Gospel, in former times, reminded the Catechumens that, through Baptism, they were about to enter The Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember that, if sin offends God and draws upon us the scourge of His Righteous Anger, Penance, on the contrary, appeases Him and procures for us the effects of His Mercy (Collects).

Interior of San Giorgio-in-Velabro. 

Photo: March 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: sailko

(Wikimedia Commons)

San Giorgio-in-Velabro is a Minor Basilica Church in Rome, Italy, devoted to Saint George.

The Church is located in the ancient Roman Velabrum, near the Arch of Janus, in the rione of Ripa. Sited near the River Tiber, it is within a complex of Republican-era pagan temples associated with the port of Rome. The ancient Arcus Argentariorum is attached to the side of the Church's façade.

San Giorgio-in-Velabro is The Station Church for The First Thursday in Lent.

The first religious building attested, in the place of the current Basilica, is a diaconia, funded by Pope Gregory the Great.

The High Altar at San Giorgio-in-Velabro.

Photo: March 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: sailko

(Wikimedia Commons)

The current Basilica was built during the 7th-Century A.D., possibly by Pope Leo II, who Dedicated it to Saint Sebastian. A 482 word-inscription in the catacombs of Saint Callixtus probably refers to a Church in the same zone. Its plan is irregular, indeed slightly trapezoidal, as a result of the frequent additions to the building. The Interior Columns are almost randomly arranged, having been taken from sundry Roman temples.

The Basilica was inside the Greek Quarter of Rome, where Greek-speaking merchants, civil and military officers, and Monks, of the Byzantine Empire lived — the nearby Santa Maria in Cosmedin, for example, was known as Schola Graeca at the time. Pope Zachary (741 A.D. - 752 A.D.), who was of Greek origin, moved the Relic of Saint George to this Basilica from Cappadocia, so that this Saint had a Basilica Dedicated in The West, well before the spreading of his Devotion associated with the return of The Crusaders from The East.

After a restoration by Pope Gregory IV (9th-Century A.D.), the Basilica received the addition of the Portico and of the Bell-Tower in the first half of the 13th-Century. The Apsis was decorated with frescoes by Pietro Cavallini in the 13th-Century.

San Giorgio al Velabro e Arco di Giano.

Photo: April 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Lalupa

(Wikimedia Commons)

Between 1923 and 1926, the Superintendent of Monuments of Rome, Antonio Muñoz, completed a more radical restoration programme, with the aim of restoring the building's "Mediaeval character" and freeing it from later additions. This was done by returning the floor to its original level (and so exposing the Column bases), reopening the ancient windows that gave light to the Central Nave, restoring the Apsis, and generally removing numerous accretions from the other most recent restorations. During this process, fragments (now displayed on the Basilica's Internal walls) were found, indicating a schola cantorum on the site, attributed to the period of Pope Gregory IV.

The building, as we see it today, is largely a product of the 1920s restoration. However, five Years' further restoration followed the explosion of a car bomb, parked close to the Basilica's facade, at midnight on 27 July 1993. That explosion caused no fatalities but left the 12th-Century Portico almost totally collapsed and blew a large opening into the wall of the main Basilica, as well as doing serious damage to the residence of The Generalate of The Crosiers (Canons Regular of The Order of The Holy Cross), next door. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage researched and catalogued what was damaged or destroyed, placing the fragments in 1050 crates, with dates and locational references, before restoring the building with them, although some details, particularly in the Portico, were deliberately left un-restored as a memorial to the bombing.

Gianfranco Ravasi is, since November 2010, Cardinal-Deacon of the Church. Among the previous Titulars are: Oddone Colonna, who later became Pope Martin V; Raffaele Riario; Giacomo Stefaneschi; and John Henry Newman. Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler was Titular of San Giorgio, as a Cardinal Priest, until his death in 2007.

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Ash Wednesday. Lenten Station At The Basilica Of Santa Sabina.

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

Ash Wednesday.
Station at Saint Sabina's.

Indulgence of 15 Years and 15 Quarantines.

Privileged Feria.

Violet Vestments.

English: Santa Sabina, Rome.
Česky: Interiér baziliky Santa Sabina, Řím

Photo: February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Rumburak

(Wikimedia Commons)

Today's Station at Rome is at Saint Sabina's, on The Aventine, in a Sanctuary built on the former site of the Holy Martyr's house. Having been converted by her maid-servant, she was beheaded for The Faith and secretly buried. It is to this Church that, in former times, the Pope used to go barefoot "to begin, with Holy Fasts, the exercises of Christian warfare, that, as we do battle with the spirits of evil, we may be protected by the help of self-denial" [The Prayer at The Blessing of The Ashes]. In the 5th-Century A.D., this Church was one of the twenty-five Parishes of Rome.

Following the example of the Ninivites, who did Penance in Sackcloth and Ashes, The Church today, to humble our pride and remind us of the sentence of death, which, as a consequence of our sins we are bound to undergo, sprinkles Ashes on our heads with the words: "Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return". [Ashes are a symbol of Penance and, having become a Sacramental by The Church's Blessing, help to develop within us the spirit of humility and sacrifice.] We come from dust and unto dust we shall return ! Here, indeed, is a thought that should humble our pride.

In this custom, we have the remains of an ancient ceremony referred to in The Roman Pontifical. Those Christians who were guilty of grave faults had to undergo public Penance. Accordingly, on Ash Wednesday, the Bishop used to Bless the Sackcloth, which was to be worn by the Penitents during The Holy Forty Days, and place upon their heads Ashes made from Palms, used the previous Year, in The Palm Sunday Procession. Then, while The Faithful were singing The Seven Penitential Psalms, "the Penitents were expelled from The Holy Place on account of their sins, just as Adam was driven out of Paradise because of his disobedience". [Roman Pontifical.] They were not allowed to put off their Penitential garb or to re-enter the Church before Holy Thursday, after they had gained their reconciliation by toil and Penance, and by Sacramental Confession and Absolution.

English: Interior of Santa Sabina, Aventine, Rome.
Français: Interieur de l'église de Santa Sabina, Aventin, Rome.

Photo: 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ursus

(Wikimedia Commons)

At The Council of Beneventum (1091), Pope Urban VI commanded that the Ashes should be received by all The Faithful indiscriminately. Let us receive them in a spirit of humility and Penance, that, by this powerful Sacramental, we may obtain from Almighty God the Blessings which The Church implores in the act of Blessing them.

For truly, "God overlooks the sins of men for the sake of repentance" (Introit). He is "rich in mercy" to those who are "converted to Him with all their heart in Fasting and in weeping and in mourning" (Epistle). We must not indeed, like the Pharisees, rend our garments as a sign of grief, but, rather, our hearts" (ibid.), for it is not men who are to testify to our Fasting, but Our Father Who sees our innermost Souls and will repay us (Gospel), as Our Lord Himself tells us in The Sermon on The Mount. [According to Tradition, this Mount is Kurn Hattin.] Let us, then, draw from The Eucharist the help which we need (Postcommunion), so that, celebrating today the institution of this Sacred Fast (Secret), we may "perform it with a Devotion which nothing can disturb" (Collect).

THE BLESSING OF THE ASHES.

Before Mass, Ashes are Blessed. These Ashes are made from the Palms which were Blessed in the previous Year's Palm Sunday Procession. The formula used in the Blessing dates from about the 8th-Century A.D.

After The Office of None, the Priest, Vested in Alb and Violet Stole, with or without a Violet Cope, with Deacon and Sub-Deacon in Vestments of the same colour, goes up to The Altar, and The Choir begins singing.

After the appropriate Prayers have been said by the Priest, he sprinkles Holy Water on The Ashes and then Incenses them, three times. The Faithful then receive The Ashes on their foreheads.

Mass then commences.

Mass: Miseréris ómnium.
Benedicamus Domino: Like at any Mass without The Gloria.

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Saint Apollonia. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 9 February.

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

Saint Apollonia.
Virgin and Martyr.
Feast Day 9 February.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

English: Saint Apollonia.

Deutsch: Hl. Appolonia.

Magyar: Szent Apollónia.

Artist: Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664).

Date: 1636.

Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Source/Photographer: 

The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.

DVD-ROM, 2002. 

ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.

Web Gallery of Art:

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Apollonia, a Virgin of Alexandria, was arrested during a bloody Persecution of The Christians in 249 A.D. After having her teeth broken and torn out, she joyfully threw herself under the impulsion of The Spirit of God, into the fire prepared for her.

There, while her frail body was consumed on Earth, her very pure Soul was borne into Glory in Heaven (Collect).

Mass: Loquébar.

The Stained-Glass Window of Saint Apollonia,

Kingskerswell Church,

Devon, England.

Photo: 6 July 2010.

Source: Own work.

Artist: Smalljim.

(Wikimedia Commons)

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Saint Cyril Of Alexandria. Bishop. Confessor. Doctor Of The Church. Feast Day 9 February.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,

unless otherwise stated.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria.

Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of The Church.
Feast Day 9 February.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria.

The Twenty-Fourth Pope of Alexandria.

The Pillar of Faith.

Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of The Church.

(376 A.D.-444 A.D.)

Source: Own work.

Author: User:Erud.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Jesus must be a man to atone for man's sin, and a God to make reparation for the offence against God. The Cycle Celebrates on this day the Feast of the Doctor who raised his voice in The Church (Introit) to condemn, in the name of Pope Celestine, at The Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.), the heresy of Nestorius.

Crushing under foot, the salt which has lost its savour (Gospel), Saint Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, attacks the heresiarch, who, instead "of The True Doctrine, only teaches fables" (Epistle). He affirms that, in Jesus, there is only one Divine Person and that, consequently, The Saviour is at the same time God and Man and that His Mother is The Mother of God (Collect).

He died in 444 A.D.

Mass: In médio.

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What Have I Done To Thee ?

Illustration: VULTUS CHRISTI

Saved from DESERET NEWS

Illustration: PINTEREST

The following Article is taken from, and the Article can be read in full at, VULTUS CHRISTI

Answer Thou Me.

Today’s Feast of Reparation (Thursday, 4 February) for offenses committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love was instituted in the 17th-Century, when, particularly in a France ravaged by The Thirty Years War (1618—1648), Churches were Desecrated and burned, The Most Blessed Sacrament was thrown to the ground, trampled, and even fed to animals. Bands of mercenary soldiers descended from the Protestant Countries of Northern Europe to pillage and destroy everything that represented The Catholic Faith. Two things, in particular, became the object of their fanatical wrath: Images of The Blessed Virgin Mary and The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar.

At the same time, in certain ostensibly Catholic circles, there was a surge of interest in Black Magic and in engagement with The Powers of Darkness. Not infrequently, Sacred Hosts were stolen from Churches, or taken away surreptitiously after a Sacrilegious Communion. Too many Priests were seen to offer Holy Mass hurriedly and with scant reverence. Tabernacles were neglected. Churches were forsaken. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:16), the Thrice-Holy God, before Whom the Angels veil their faces and Adore, hidden beneath the fragile appearance of The Sacred Host, remained silent in a state of utter abjection, abandoned to the coldness, indifference, and carelessness of men. “O My people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee ? Answer thou Me” (Micheas 6:3).

Sorrowing Love.

A multitude of Souls, grieved by the offences committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love, sought to make up for the honour, reverence, Adoration, gratitude, and love that others refused Him. Believing Hearts were pierced through with a Sorrowing Love. The Holy Ghost inspired a vast Movement of Compunction and Reparation that came, over time, to find expression in The Sacred Liturgy, itself.

A special Mass and Office were composed, by which The Church approved this Movement of Compunction and Reparation. Mother Mectilde de Bar entered wholeheartedly into this Movement and, in some way, made its essential thrust so much her own that it came to be identified with The Benedictine Monasteries of Perpetual Adoration that she generated.

The True Body And Blood of Jesus Christ.

One might think that all of this belongs to the past, that things have changed since the dark and turbulent days of 17th-Century France, but this, alas, is not so. Remember recent events in Pamplona and in Fontainebleau. The Desecration of Churches and Sacrilegious Offenses against The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar proliferate.

The distribution of Holy Communion IN THE HAND [Editor: Emphasis is mine], notably, has led to every manner of irreverence. Sacred Hosts have been found on the floor of Churches, stuck into the pages of books, and lying on pews. The disappearance of The Communion Rail; the widespread practice of Priest and people facing each other during The Holy Sacrifice; the indiscriminate use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in ordinary circumstances — all of these things have contributed to a massive loss of Faith in The Real Presence of Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament and in Holy Mass as The Perfect Sacrifice of Calvary offered in unbloody manner.

Many of those who present themselves for Holy Communion have no notion of what The Church believes and teaches: that this is no mere bread of Holy Remembrance, but is The True Body and Blood [Editor: And Soul and Divinity] of Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim: The Very Body and Blood formed by The Holy Ghost in The Womb of The Virgin Mary, nailed to The Wood of The Cross, Gloriously Risen from The Tomb, Ascended into The Heavenly Sanctuary, and Coming in Majesty at The End of Time to Judge The Living and The Dead.

This Article can be read in full at VULTUS CHRISTI

Pope Francis Blesses Mobile Confessional. He Probably Got The Idea After Reading The Recent Post On Zephyrinus (See, Below).

Pope Francis has Blessed "The Mercy Bus".

(Possibly after reading the Mobile Confessional Post on Zephyrinus (see, below)).

Photo: Salford Diocese.

Illustration: BBC

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at, BBC

A Mobile "Confession Unit", on board a Double-Decker Bus, is to tour across Greater Manchester and Lancashire, England.

The "Mercy Bus" has been hired by The Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford to reach people who do not go to Church.

Starting at Salford Shopping Centre, it will visit shopping centres, prisons, homeless centres and housing estates, every Saturday, until Easter 2016.

The Bus received a Papal Blessing, recently, when one of its Priests, Fr Frankie Mulgrew, met the Pope in Rome.

Zephyrinus put up a Mobile Confessional Post, recently (see, below). No doubt, His Holiness Pope Francis (an avid Zephyrinus Reader) saw the Article and has developed the idea.

Thank You, Holy Father.

The Article (below) on Zephyrinus' Blog that, undoubtedly, The Holy Father was inspired by.

The Good Parish Priest will go out of his way to try and help . . .

The Flying Scotsman Is Back !!!

The Flying Scotsman is travelling from Carnforth, and into Carlisle,

with a return journey through Appleby and across The Ribblehead Viaduct to Farrington.

Photo: Captain Sparkle.

Illustration: BBC

Carnforth Railway Station appeared in the famous 1945 film "Brief Encounter",

starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.

One of the world's most famous Locomotives, The Flying Scotsman has returned to The West Coast Main Line.

Flying Scotsman is travelling from Carnforth, on The West Coast Main Line, following a £4.2 million restoration project, which has taken ten years.

The Locomotive, which was retired from service in 1963, has been restored, for York's National Railway Museum, by Riley and Son Ltd, based in Bury, Lancashire.

It will painted in its new Green Livery next week, after The Test Run

Jim Lowe, Head of Operations at The National Railway Museum, in York, said: "We have all been looking forward to the day when The Flying Scotsman is once again running on Britain's Railway Tracks."

Read the full story and see more photographs at BBC

Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard

in "Brief Encounter".

Photograph: ITV/Rex Shutterstock.

Illustration: THE GUARDIAN

Photo of The Flying Scotsman,

at the Doncaster (Yorkshire) Works Open day 2003,

the 150th Anniversary of the Plant Works.

The Flying Scotsman was built in Doncaster, so it had 'come home'.

Date: 2003.

Source: Own work.

Author: Rich@rd

(Wikimedia Commons)

London and North-East Railway (LNER) "Pacific" Locomotive.

Fitted with Corridor Tender for working non-stop"Flying Scotsman"

between London and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Date: 1928.

Source: Scan from Allen, Cecil J. (1928) The Steel Highway,

London: 

Longmans, Green & Co., pp. facing page. (II) 32.

Author: Andy Dingley (scanner).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Quinquagesima Sunday. 7 February 2016.

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

Quinquagesima Sunday.
      Station at Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Semi-Double.
      Privileged Sunday of The Second-Class.

Violet Vestments.

Jesus said to him: "Receive thy sight, thy Faith hath made thee whole".

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Artist: Rene de Cramer.

"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".

Used with Permission.

In the same way that the first three Prophecies of Holy Saturday, with their accompanying Prayers, are concerned with Adam, Noah and Abraham, so, during The Septuagesima Season, our attention is called in The Missal and The Breviary to these same Patriarchs, known respectively by The Church as The Father of The Human Race, The Father of Future Generations and The Father of Those Who Believe.

Adam, Noah and Abraham were types of Christ in The Paschal Mystery, a fact which we have already shown to be true in the case of the first two [Adam and Noah], in our notes on Septuagesima Sunday and Sexagesima Sunday. That it is true of Abraham, also, we shall see today.

In The Ambrosian Liturgy, Passion Sunday was called "Abraham's Sunday" and the "Response of Abraham" was read in The Divine Office for that day; in The Roman Liturgy, also, he is still the subject of the Gospel for Passion Sunday.

The Introit

for Quinquagesima Sunday.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/0dKhhRW1apw.

Esto mihi in Deum protectorem, et in locum refugii, 

ut salvum me facias: quoniam firmamentum meum, 

et refugium meum es tu: et propter nomen 

tuum dux mihi eris, 

et enutries me.

Ps. In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum: 

in iustitia tua libera me, et eripe me. 

V. Gloria Patri.

"Abraham, your father", says Our Lord, "rejoiced that he might see My day, he saw it and was glad

. . . Amen, Amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I AM". God had indeed promised Abraham that The Messias should descend from him, and he was overwhelmed with great joy, when, by Faith, he contemplated beforehand the day of The Redeemer's coming.

Again, when this was fulfilled, he still contemplated it with a fresh joy in Limbo, where he was waiting, with The Just Men of The Old Law, for Jesus to come and deliver them after His Passion. When the three weeks of The Septuagesima Season were added to Lent, Quinquagesima became The Sunday on which The Liturgy is devoted to Abraham, so that, in The Lessons and Responses for today, the whole history of the Patriarch is described.

The Offertory

for Quinquagesima Sunday.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/f3Mc6AssvoE.

Psalm CXVIII.12-13.

Bendictus es, Domine, 

doce me iustificationes tuas: 

in labiis meis pronuntiavi 

omnia iudicia oris tui.

With the desire of forming a people, who should be specially His own in the midst of the idolatrous Nations of the World (Gradual and Tract), Almighty God chose Abraham as its Head and gave him his name, which means "Father of Many Nations". "And He took him from Ur, in Chaldee, and kept him from harm in all his wanderings" [Prayers taken from The Rituale Romanum, for The Recommendation of a Soul, and before a journey].

The Communion

for Quinquagesima Sunday.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/2qKjDhVLNCE.

Psalm LXXVII. 29-30.

Manducaverunt, et saturati sunt nimis,

et desiderium eorum attulit eis Dominus:

non sunt fraudati a desidero suo.

A man is not saved by being a son of Abraham, according to the flesh, but by being Abraham's son by means of a Faith like his. So Saint Paul writes: "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision (to be a Jew) availeth anything, nor uncircumcision (to be a Gentile), but a new creature". "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness".

If the custom of allowing ourselves a little relaxation of spirit, before undertaking The Lenten Penance which binds us all, is of Liturgical origin, let us not forget that The Church condemns all excess. To atone, therefore, for those sins that are committed, let us make a Solemn Adoration of The Blessed Sacrament, besides saying this Prayer of Reconciliation known as The Forty Hours' Prayer, which was instituted, either, by Saint Anthony-Mary Zaccaria († 1539), or by The Capuchin Father, Joseph Piantanida da Fermo (about 1636), a Prayer richly-Indulgenced by Pope Clement XIII (1765).

The Forty Hours' Devotion originated from The Forty Hours that Jesus passed in the tomb. Exposition of The Blessed Sacrament was included, but at a later date, and regulated by Pope Clement XI, in 1705.

Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

Mass: Esto mihi.

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When The Pressures Of Modern Living Make Going To Confession Difficult, Especially For Parents With Young Families And People With Inconvenient Work Commitments . . .

The Good Parish Priest will go out of his way to try and help . . .

Saint Agatha. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 5 February.

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Agatha.

Attended in Prison by Saint Peter and an Angel.

Artist: Alessandro Turchi (1578–1649).

Medium: Oil on Slate.

According to an early Christian legend, when a 3rd-Century A.D. Roman official of Sicily desired
the Christian woman, Agatha, and she refused to yield to his advances, he had her tortured,
and even ordered her breasts cut off. At night, in prison, she was visited by a vision of
Saint Peter and an Angel, and her breasts were miraculously restored. The grey stone of
the prison wall was created by letting the slate show through, and it forms a background
for the night scene, illuminated by a torch. As opposed to canvas and wood, slate gave
a painting almost unlimited durability and the same kind of permanence as sculpture.

Date: 1640-1645 (Baroque).

Current location: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore,

Maryland, United States of America.

Credit line: Acquired by Henry Walters, before 1909.

Source/Photographer: Walters Art Museum.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The Parish Church of Saint Agatha of Sicily,

Bischofstetten, Austria.

Deutsch: Pfarrkirche Bischofstetten, Österreich.

Photo: 8 February 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: BSonne.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Agatha of Sicily is a Christian Saint. Feast Day 5 February. Agatha was born at Catania, Sicily, and Martyred circa 251 A.D. She is one of seven women, who, along with The Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in The Canon of The Mass.

She is The Patron Saint of: Catania, Sicily; Molise, Italy; Malta; San Marino; and Zamarramala, a municipality of the Province of Segovia, Spain. She is also The Patron Saint of breast cancer patients, Martyrs, wet nurses, Bell-Founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.

Agatha is buried at the Abbey Church of Saint Agatha (Badia di Sant'Agata), Catania. She is listed in the Late-6th-Century A.D. Martyrologium Hieronymianum, associated with Jerome, and the Synaxarion, The Calendar of The Church of Carthage, circa 530 A.D.

English: The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha.

Italiano: Martirio di Sant'Agata.

Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

This File: 17 April 2006.

User: Crux. This image was 

copied from wikipedia:de.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Agatha also appears in one of the carmina of Venantius Fortunatus. Two early Churches were Dedicated to her in Rome, notably the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti, in via Mazzarino, a Titular Church with Apse mosaics of circa 460 A.D., and traces of a fresco cycle, over-painted by Gismondo Cerrini, in 1630. In the 6th-Century A.D., the Church was adapted to Arian Christianity, hence its name, "Saint Agatha of Goths" (Sant'Agata dei Goti), and later re-Consecrated by Pope Gregory the Great, who confirmed her traditional Sainthood. 

Agatha is also depicted in the mosaics of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, where she appears, richly dressed, in the procession of female Martyrs along the North Wall. Her image forms an initial "I" in the Sacramentary of Gellone, from the end of the 8th-Century A.D.

Italiano: Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1702-1768), 

la Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata a Catania (1767).

English: Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (1702-1768),
was the Architect of the Abbey Church of Saint Agatha,
Catania, Sicily, Italy.

Photo: 4 July 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Giovanni Dall'Orto.

(Wikimedia Commons)

One of the most-highly-Venerated Virgin Martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the Persecution of Decius (250 A.D. - 253 A.D.) in Catania, Sicily, for her steadfast profession of Faith.

Her written legend comprises "straightforward accounts of interrogation, torture, resistance, and triumph, which constitute some of the earliest hagiographic literature", and are reflected in later recensions, the earliest surviving one being an illustrated Late-10th-Century passio, bound into a composite volume, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, originating, probably, in Autun, Burgundy; in its margin illustrations, Magdalena Carrasco detected Carolingian or Late-Antique iconographic traditions.

According to Jacobus de Voragine's, Legenda Aurea, of circa 1288, having dedicated her Virginity to God, fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble family, rejected the amorous advances of the low-born Roman Prefect, Quintianus, who then persecuted her for her Christian Faith. He sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel.

English: Church of Saint Agatha, Rabat, Malta.

Italiano: Chiesa di Sant'Agata, Rabat, Malta.

Photo: 31 August 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Cruccone.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Madam, finding her intractable, Quintianus sends for her, argues, threatens, and finally has her put in prison. Among the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts. After further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, represented in a sequence of dialogues in her passio that document her fortitude and steadfast devotion. Saint Agatha was then sentenced to be burned at the stake, but an earthquake saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where Saint Peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds. Saint Agatha died in prison, according to the Legenda Aurea, in "The Year of Our Lord two hundred and fifty-three, in the time of Decius, the Emperor of Rome." Osbern Bokenham, A Legend of Holy Women, written in the 1440s, offers some further detail.

English: Interior of Saint Agatha's Chapel, Mdina, Malta.

Italiano: Interno della cappella di Sant'Agata, Mdina, Malta.

Photo: 31 August 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Cruccone.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Agatha's Church, 

Yorkshire, England. 

The Church is next to Easby Abbey.

Photo: 15 June 2008.

Source: Own work by uploader.

Author: Greenjettaguy.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Saint Agatha.
Virgin and Martyr.
Feast Day 5 February.

Double.

Red Vestments.

English: Cathedral of Saint Agatha, Catania, Sicily, Italy.

Deutsch: Italien, Sizilien, Catania, Dom Sant' Agata.

Photo: 6 October 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Berthold Werner.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Collect), was born in Sicily of noble parentage, but she estimated that, for her, the highest nobility would be to belong to Jesus, Whom she took as her Spouse (Gospel).

Endowed with remarkable beauty, she had to resist the solicitations of the Roman Governor, Quintianus, who, unable to attain his end by persuasion, had recourse to violence. Her breast was torn by his order, but was healed on the following night, by the Apostle, Saint Peter, who appeared to her in prison (Communion).

Then, the body of the Saint was rolled on pieces of broken pottery and on burning coals, and, when she was brought back to her cell, she expired while Praying.

This happened at Catana (Catania), Sicily, in 251 A.D., during the Persecution of the Emperor, Decius. God Almighty, by granting the victory of Martyrdom to a feeble woman (Collect), wished to show that He alone is our Redeemer, for it is with this "end in view that He chooses what is weak, in the World, to confound with their nothingness those who trust in their own strength" (Epistle).

English: Interior of the Church of Saint Agatha, Hausleiten, Austria.

Deutsch: Innenansicht der katholischen Pfarrkirche hl. Agatha

in der niederösterreichischen Gemeinde Hausleiten.

Photo: 29 September 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bwag.

(Wikimedia Commons)

On several occasions, the virginal veil, which covered the tomb of Saint Agatha, held up the torrents of burning lava rushing down from Mount Etna and threatening to ruin the town. God thus honoured the resistance that her very pure Soul had shown to all the assaults of passion.

Her name is mentioned in The Canon of The Mass (Second List). Her Feast was already Celebrated at Rome in the 6th-Century A.D. The Church of Saint Agatha, in Rome, was made a Stational Church by Pope Pius XI in 1934 (Third Tuesday in Lent).

Let us invoke Saint Agatha to preserve our homes from fire and to extinguish, through the Spirit of Penitence, the impure flames that consume our bodies and our Souls.

Mass: Gaudeámus omnes in Domino.

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

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