Tuesday 30 January 2018
Saint Martina. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 30 January.
Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Madonna and Child with Saint Martina and Saint Agnes.
Artist: El Greco (1541–1614).
Date: 1597-1599.
Current location: National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.,
United States of America.
Source: [1]
(Wikimedia Commons)
Martina of Rome was a Roman Martyr, under Emperor Alexander Severus. She is a Patron Saint of Rome.
She was Martyred in 226 A.D., according to some authorities, more probably in 228 A.D., under the Pontificate of Pope Urban I, according to others. The daughter of an ex-Consul, and orphaned at an early age, she so openly testified to her Christian Faith that she could not escape the Persecutions under Alexander Severus. Arrested and commanded to return to idolatry, she refused, whereupon she was subjected to various tortures and was finally beheaded.
The Relics of Martina were discovered on 25 October 1634, by the painter Pietro da Cortona, in a Crypt of Santi Luca e Martina, situated near The Mamertine Prison and Dedicated to the Saint.[1]
Pope Urban VIII, who occupied The Holy See at that time, had the Church repaired and, it would seem, composed the Hymns which are sung at her Office.
Her Feast Day is 30 January.
The Church of Santi Luca e Martina, Rome.
Photo: March 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Panairjdde (FlagUploader).
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from "The Liturgical Year",
by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Available from ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS
Christmas.
Book II.
Fourth Edition.
Volume 3.
A Fourth Roman Virgin, wearing on her brow a Martyr's Crown, comes today to share the honours given to Agnes, Emerentiana, and Prisca, and offer her Martyr's Palm to The Lamb.
Her name is Martina, which the pagans were wont to give to their daughters in honour of their god of war. Her Sacred Relics repose at the foot of The Capitoline Hill, in the ancient temple of Mars, which has now become the beautiful Church of Saint Martina.
The Holy Ambition to render herself worthy of Him, Whom she had chosen as her Divine Spouse, gave her courage to suffer torments and death for His sake; so that, of her, as of the rest of The Martyrs, we may say those words of The Liturgy, "she washed her robes in The Blood of The Lamb". Our Emmanuel is "the mighty God, the Lord that is mighty in war", not, like the Mars of the pagans, needing the sword to win his battles.
He vanquishes his enemies by meekness, patience, and innocence, as in the Martyrdom of today's Saint, whose victory was grander than was ever won by Rome's boasted warriors.
This illustrious Virgin, who is one of the Patrons of the City of Rome, is honoured by having her praises sung by one of the Popes. It was Pope Urban VIII who wrote the Hymns which are recited on her Feast, and which we subjoin to The Lessons which recount the glorious combats of our Saint.
English: Interior of the Church of Santi Luca e Martina, Rome.
Architect: Pietro da Cortona.
Italiano: Chiesa dei Santi Luca e Martina, Roma. Interno.
Architetto: Pietro da Cortona.
This File: 12 February 2006.
User: Torvindus.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Saint Martina.
Virgin and Martyr.
Feast Day 30 January.
Semi-Double.
Red Vestments.
The Sanctoral Cycle makes us honour today a Virgin, who, by her constancy in the midst of the most atrocious torments, bore witness before all (Introit) to The Divinity of Christ, her Spouse (Gospel). "I am a Christian," she declares to her executioners, "and I confess Jesus Christ."
The Epistle puts on her lips the words of Wisdom: "Lord, my Saviour, Thou hast become my help and protector." And she, herself, said, in the midst of her sufferings: "I love my Lord Jesus Christ, Who strengthens me."
Saint Martina was beheaded in 228 A.D., and joined in Heaven The Train of Virgins who surround The Divine King (Alleluia). Her Remains rest in a former temple of Mars, transformed into a Church, which bears the name of this Virgin, whose name recalls that of the god of war.
Let us arm ourselves, to defend The Divinity of Jesus, with love of Purity.
Mass: Loquébar.
Monday 29 January 2018
Saint Francis De Sales (1567-1622). Confessor. Bishop. Doctor Of The Church. Feast Day, Today, 29 January.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Francis of Sales.
Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of The Church.
Feast Day 29 January.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622).
Francis of Sales from de:Wikipedia.
From a painting in Heimsuchungskloster,
Oberroning, Bayern, Deutschland,
(Convent of The Visitation Sisters,
Oberroning, Bavaria, Germany).
This File: 18 April 2005.
User: Searobin.
(Wikimedia)
The Word Made Flesh makes known to us, by His teachings, the Mysteries of His Divine Wisdom, and, by His Miracles, His eternal love. Saint Francis of Sales (Saint Francis de Sales), a Doctor of the Church, had a share in the knowledge of the Incarnate Word (Gradual), and, like Him, by his gentle Charity (Collect) worked wonders of conversion.
Sent to "preach the word of God to the Calvinists of Chablais, he brought back sixty thousand to the Catholic Faith" (Breviary). Having become the father of the Church at Geneva, and founder of the Order of the Visitation, he shed over this double family (Communion) the rays of his Apostolic zeal and of his gentle holiness.
"May your light shine before men, so that, seeing your works, they may glorify your Father Who is in Heaven" (Gospel). It is especially God's goodness which this Saint revealed. "If we must fall into some excess," Saint Francis of Sales would say, "let it be on the side of gentleness".
Saint Francis de Sales.
Available on YouTube at
"I wish to love him so much, this dear neighbour, I wish to love him so much ! It has pleased God so to make my heart ! Oh !, when shall we be impregnated with gentleness and in Charity towards our neighbour ?"
Saint Francis of Sales died at Lyons, France, in 1622.
Let us remember this Saint's two sayings: "You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar." "What is good, makes no noise; noise does no good."
Mass: In médio.
Coat-of-Arms
of Saint Francis de Sales.
Date: 5 December 2013.
Source: Own work.
Reference: File:Franz von Sales Bischofswappen.jpg.
Commons Images Used: File:Template-Bishop.svg.
Author: Jayarathina.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
Francis de Sales, C.O., T.O.M., A.O.F.M. Cap. (French: François de Sales) (1567 – 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is honoured as a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep Faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God.
Francis de Sales was Beatified in 1661 by Pope Alexander VII, who then Canonised him four years later. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877.
The Roman Catholic Church currently celebrates Saint Francis de Sales' Feast Day on 24 January, the day of his burial in Annecy, France, in 1624. From the year 1666, when his Feast Day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar, until the reform of this Calendar in 1969, it was observed on 29 January, and this date is kept by those who celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Francis de Sales, C.O., T.O.M., A.O.F.M. Cap. (French: François de Sales) (1567 – 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is honoured as a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep Faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God.
Francis de Sales was Beatified in 1661 by Pope Alexander VII, who then Canonised him four years later. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877.
The Roman Catholic Church currently celebrates Saint Francis de Sales' Feast Day on 24 January, the day of his burial in Annecy, France, in 1624. From the year 1666, when his Feast Day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar, until the reform of this Calendar in 1969, it was observed on 29 January, and this date is kept by those who celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Sunday 28 January 2018
Septuagesima Sunday.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Septuagesima Sunday.
Station at Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls.
Semi-Double.
Privilege of The Second-Class.
Violet Vestments.
"Go you also into My Vineyard".
Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY
Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.
In order to understand fully the meaning of the Text of today's Mass, we must study it in connection with The Lessons of The Breviary, since, in The Church's mind, The Mass and The Divine Office form one whole.
The Lessons and Responses in The Night Office are taken this week from The Book of Genesis. In them is related the story of The Creation of the World and of man, of our first parents' fall and the promise of a Redeemer, followed by the murder of Abel and a record of the generations from Adam to Noah.
"In the beginning," we read, "God created Heaven and Earth and upon the Earth He made man . . . and He placed him in a garden of paradise to be mindful of it and tend it" (Third and Fourth Responses at Matins).
All this is a figure. Here is Saint Gregory's exposition. "The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to the proprietor who hires labourers to work in his vineyard. Who can be more justly represented as Head of a household than Our Creator, Who governs all creatures by His Providence and Who, just as a Master has servants in his house, has His Elect in this World, from the Just Abel to the last of His Chosen, destined to be born at the very end of time ?
De Profundis (Septuagesima Sunday, Tract).
Gregorian Chant notation from The Liber Usualis (1961), p. 499.
Latin lyrics sung by the Benedictine Monks
of Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain.
Available on YouTube at
The vineyard which He owns is His Church, while the labourers in this vineyard are all those who, with a true Faith, have set themselves, and urged others, to the task of doing good. By those who came at the first, as well as at the third, sixth and ninth hours, are meant the ancient people of the Hebrews, who, from the beginning of the World, striving in the persons of their Saints to serve God with a Right Faith, ceased not, as it were, to work in cultivation of the vineyard.
But, at the eleventh hour, the Gentiles are called and to them are spoken the words: "Why stand ye here all the day, idle ?" (Third Nocturn). Thus, all are called to work in The Lord's vineyard, by Sanctifying themselves and their neighbour in Glorifying God, since Sanctification consists in searching for our supreme happiness in Him, alone.
Adam failed in his task and God told him: "Because thou hast eaten of the tree, whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat, cursed is the Earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee . . . In the sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the Earth out of which thou was taken."
Being exiled from Eden," says Saint Augustine, "The First Man involved all his descendants in the penalty of death and reprobation, being corrupted in the person of him from whom they sprung. The whole mass of condemned humanity was, therefore, plunged in misery, enslaved and cast headlong from one evil to another" (Second Nocturn). "The sorrows of death surrounded me," says the Introit, and, as a matter of fact, it is in the Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls, close to the cemetery at Rome, that "The Station" for this Sunday is made.
The Collect adds that we are "justly afflicted for our sins". In the Epistle, the Christian life is represented by Saint Paul as an arena, where a man must take pains and strive to carry off the prize, while the Gospel bears witness that the reward of Eternal Life is only given to those who work in God's vineyard, where work is hard and painful since the entrance of sin.
"O God", prays The Church, "grant to Thy people, who are called by the name of vines and harvests, that they may root out all thorns and briars, and bring forth good fruit in abundance" (Prayer on Holy Saturday, after The Eighth Prophecy).
"In His wisdom", says Saint Gregory, "Almighty God preferred rather to bring good out of evil than never allow evil to occur". For God took pity on men and promised them a Second Adam, who, restoring the order disturbed by the First Adam, would allow them to regain Heaven, to which Adam had lost all right, when expelled from Eden, which was "the shadow of a better life" (Fourth Lesson). "Thou, O Lord, art our helper in time of tribulation" (Gradual); "with Thee, there is merciful forgiveness" (Tract).
"Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant and save me in Thy mercy" (Communion). "Show Thy face, O Lord, and we shall be saved", The Church cries similarly in The Season of Advent, when calling upon her Lord. The truth is that God, "Who has wonderfully created man, has more wonderfully redeemed him" (Prayer on Holy Saturday after The First Prophecy), for "The Creation of The World in the beginning was not a more excellent thing than The Immolation of Christ Our Passover at The End of Time" (Prayer on Holy Saturday after The Ninth Prophecy).
This Mass, when studied in the light of Adam's fall, prepares our mind for beginning the Season of Septuagesima, and understanding the sublime character of the Paschal Mystery for which this Season prepares our hearts.
In response to the call of The Master, Who comes to seek us even in the depths wherein we are plunged, through our first parents' sin (Tract), let us go and work in The Lord's vineyard, or enter the arena and take-up with courage the struggle which will intensify during Lent.
The "Gloria in excelsis" is not said from this Sunday until Maundy Thursday, except when the Mass of a Feast is said.
From Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday, the Tract is said only on Sundays and Feast Days. On Ferias, when The Mass of The Sunday is said, the Gradual is said, without the Tract.
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Circumdedérunt.
Preface: Of The Most Holy Trinity.
From this day until Holy Saturday, when the Gloria in excelsis is omitted, the Ite Missa est is replaced by Benedicamus Domino.
The following Text is taken from "The Liturgical Year"
by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 4.
Septuagesima.
Published by ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS
The Season of Septuagesima comprises the three weeks immediately preceding Lent. It forms one of the principal divisions of The Liturgical Year, and is, itself, divided into three parts, each part corresponding to a week: The first week is called Septuagesima; the second week is called Sexagesima; the third week is called Quinquagesima.
All three are named from their numerical reference to Lent, which, in the language of The Church, is called Quadragesima, that is, "Forty", because The Great Feast of Easter is prepared for by The Holy Exercises of Forty Days.
The words Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima, tells us of the same great Solemnity as looming in the distance, and as being the great object towards which The Church would have us now begin to turn all our thoughts, and desires, and devotion.
Now, The Feast of Easter must be prepared for by Forty Days of Recollectedness and Penance. Those Forty Days are one of the principal Seasons of The Liturgical Year, and one of the most powerful means employed by The Church for exciting, in the hearts of her children, the spirit of their Christian Vocation. It is of the utmost importance that such a Season of Grace should produce its work in our Souls — the Renovation of the whole Spiritual Life. The Church, therefore, has instituted a preparation for The Holy Time of Lent.
She gives us the three weeks of Septuagesima, during which she withdraws us, as much as may be, from the noisy distractions of the World, in order that our hearts may be more readily impressed by the solemn warning she is to give us at the commencement of Lent by marking our foreheads with Ashes.
This prelude to The Holy Season of Lent was not known in the early ages of Christianity: Its institution would seem to have originated in The Greek Church. Besides The Six Sundays of Lent, on which by universal custom The Faithful never Fasted, the practice of this Church prohibited Fasting on the Saturdays, likewise; consequently, their Lent was short by twelve days of the Forty Days spent by Our Saviour doing Penance in the desert. To make up the deficiency, they were obliged to begin their Lent so many days earlier.
Septuagesima, 2008.
Gradual and Tract.
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Available on YouTube at
Being exiled from Eden," says Saint Augustine, "The First Man involved all his descendants in the penalty of death and reprobation, being corrupted in the person of him from whom they sprung. The whole mass of condemned humanity was, therefore, plunged in misery, enslaved and cast headlong from one evil to another" (Second Nocturn). "The sorrows of death surrounded me," says the Introit, and, as a matter of fact, it is in the Basilica of Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls, close to the cemetery at Rome, that "The Station" for this Sunday is made.
The Collect adds that we are "justly afflicted for our sins". In the Epistle, the Christian life is represented by Saint Paul as an arena, where a man must take pains and strive to carry off the prize, while the Gospel bears witness that the reward of Eternal Life is only given to those who work in God's vineyard, where work is hard and painful since the entrance of sin.
"O God", prays The Church, "grant to Thy people, who are called by the name of vines and harvests, that they may root out all thorns and briars, and bring forth good fruit in abundance" (Prayer on Holy Saturday, after The Eighth Prophecy).
The Traditional Latin Mass.
Available on YouTube at
"In His wisdom", says Saint Gregory, "Almighty God preferred rather to bring good out of evil than never allow evil to occur". For God took pity on men and promised them a Second Adam, who, restoring the order disturbed by the First Adam, would allow them to regain Heaven, to which Adam had lost all right, when expelled from Eden, which was "the shadow of a better life" (Fourth Lesson). "Thou, O Lord, art our helper in time of tribulation" (Gradual); "with Thee, there is merciful forgiveness" (Tract).
"Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant and save me in Thy mercy" (Communion). "Show Thy face, O Lord, and we shall be saved", The Church cries similarly in The Season of Advent, when calling upon her Lord. The truth is that God, "Who has wonderfully created man, has more wonderfully redeemed him" (Prayer on Holy Saturday after The First Prophecy), for "The Creation of The World in the beginning was not a more excellent thing than The Immolation of Christ Our Passover at The End of Time" (Prayer on Holy Saturday after The Ninth Prophecy).
This Mass, when studied in the light of Adam's fall, prepares our mind for beginning the Season of Septuagesima, and understanding the sublime character of the Paschal Mystery for which this Season prepares our hearts.
In response to the call of The Master, Who comes to seek us even in the depths wherein we are plunged, through our first parents' sin (Tract), let us go and work in The Lord's vineyard, or enter the arena and take-up with courage the struggle which will intensify during Lent.
The "Gloria in excelsis" is not said from this Sunday until Maundy Thursday, except when the Mass of a Feast is said.
From Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday, the Tract is said only on Sundays and Feast Days. On Ferias, when The Mass of The Sunday is said, the Gradual is said, without the Tract.
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Circumdedérunt.
Preface: Of The Most Holy Trinity.
The Common Preface: During the week,
From this day until Holy Saturday, when the Gloria in excelsis is omitted, the Ite Missa est is replaced by Benedicamus Domino.
The following Text is taken from "The Liturgical Year"
by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 4.
Septuagesima.
Published by ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS
THE HISTORY OF SEPTUAGESIMA.
The Season of Septuagesima comprises the three weeks immediately preceding Lent. It forms one of the principal divisions of The Liturgical Year, and is, itself, divided into three parts, each part corresponding to a week: The first week is called Septuagesima; the second week is called Sexagesima; the third week is called Quinquagesima.
All three are named from their numerical reference to Lent, which, in the language of The Church, is called Quadragesima, that is, "Forty", because The Great Feast of Easter is prepared for by The Holy Exercises of Forty Days.
The words Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima, tells us of the same great Solemnity as looming in the distance, and as being the great object towards which The Church would have us now begin to turn all our thoughts, and desires, and devotion.
The Asperges, Introit, and Kyrie,
for Septuagesima Sunday.
2008.
Saint Andrew's Roman Catholic Church,
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Celebrant: Fr. Emerson, FSSP.
Available on YouTube at
Now, The Feast of Easter must be prepared for by Forty Days of Recollectedness and Penance. Those Forty Days are one of the principal Seasons of The Liturgical Year, and one of the most powerful means employed by The Church for exciting, in the hearts of her children, the spirit of their Christian Vocation. It is of the utmost importance that such a Season of Grace should produce its work in our Souls — the Renovation of the whole Spiritual Life. The Church, therefore, has instituted a preparation for The Holy Time of Lent.
She gives us the three weeks of Septuagesima, during which she withdraws us, as much as may be, from the noisy distractions of the World, in order that our hearts may be more readily impressed by the solemn warning she is to give us at the commencement of Lent by marking our foreheads with Ashes.
This prelude to The Holy Season of Lent was not known in the early ages of Christianity: Its institution would seem to have originated in The Greek Church. Besides The Six Sundays of Lent, on which by universal custom The Faithful never Fasted, the practice of this Church prohibited Fasting on the Saturdays, likewise; consequently, their Lent was short by twelve days of the Forty Days spent by Our Saviour doing Penance in the desert. To make up the deficiency, they were obliged to begin their Lent so many days earlier.
THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL
THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL
Available (in U.K.) from
Available (in U.S.A.) from
Saturday 27 January 2018
"Bring Him Home". Dedicated To Families Who Sacrifice To Preserve Freedom.
Illustration: TACTICAL
"Bring Him Home".
From "Les Misérables".
By: The Piano Guys.
Available on YouTube at
One Commenter on YouTube wrote:
I must add one further note - my husband and I speak ASL (American Sign Language) and this piece interprets so beautifully with the hands - it is just a lovely piece to sign and you play with such empathy and compassion - I cannot get all the way through the piece without crying - but, that's OK - tears are a universal language also, especially happy tears. Thank you again.
"Bring Him Home".
Original music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.
Arrangement produced by Jon Schmidt,
Steven Sharp Nelson and Al van der Beek.
Arrangement written by Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson.
Piano recorded by Chuck Myers and Jake Bowen at Big Idea Studio. Cello recorded by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios.
Piano: Jon Schmidt.
Cellos: Steven Sharp Nelson.
Mixed and Mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios.
Words to "Bring Him Home".
God on High
Hear my Prayer
In my need
You have always been there
He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven Blessed
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home
He's like the son I might have known
If God had granted me a son
The Summers die
One by one
How soon they fly
On and on
And I am old
And will be gone
Bring him Peace
Bring him Joy
He is young
He is only a boy
You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home
Words by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil.
Friday 26 January 2018
Saint Polycarp. Bishop And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 26 January.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Polycarp.
Bishop And Martyr.
Feast Day 26 January.
Double.
Red Vestments.
Saint Polycarp.
Date: 19 December 2006 (original upload date).
(Original Text : Circa. en:1685).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia
(Original Text : The Life of Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna).
Author: en:Michael Burghers.
Original uploader was Alekjds at en.wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Polycarp, a disciple of Saint John, was by him invested with full Sacerdotal powers (Introit) and made Bishop of Smyrna [Editor: Known, today, as Izmir, Turkey.]. In a Letter, that he writes to the Philippians, he quotes the first Epistle of his Master (Saint John, of which a passage is read in today's Liturgy.
"Whoever," he declares after Saint John, "does not confess that Christ has come in the flesh, is an Anti-Christ." He claims for Jesus the reality of His quality of Son of God against the heretics of his day, who affirmed that The Incarnation of The Word was only a semblance.
Saint Polycarp Church,
Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.
Photo: April 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mick Knapton.
(Wikimedia Commons)
One day, when the heretic Marcion asked him if he was known to him, the Holy Bishop replied: "That he knew him as the eldest son of Satan".
And today's Epistle enables us to distinguish "The Sons of God from those who are the sons of Satan". Those who, like Christ, love their brethren, and, like Him, give their lives for them, are of God. That is what Saint Polycarp will do.
Church of Saint Polycarp,
Holbeach Drove, Lincolnshire, England.
Photo: 30 May 2006.
Source: From geograph.org.uk
Author: David Prestidge
(Wikimedia Commons)
Martyred in the Persecution under Emperor Commodus, he bore testimony to Christ (Gospel). He was burned in the middle of the amphitheatre and then struck with the sword in the year 166 A.D. He was 86 years old.
Like Polycarp (which name signifies "much fruit"), let us produce much fruit by loving our neighbour for Jesus's sake.
Mass: Sacerdotes.
The Epistle of Saint Polycarp to The Philippians.
Available on YouTube at
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
Polycarp (Greek: Πολύκαρπος, Polýkarpos; Latin: Polycarpus; 69 A.D. – 155 A.D.) was a
2nd-Century A.D. Christian Bishop of Smyrna.
According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he died a Martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him. Polycarp is regarded as a Saint and Church Father in The Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Churches. His name 'Polycarp' means 'much fruit' in Greek.
It is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian, that he had been a disciple of Saint John the Apostle. Saint Jerome wrote that Polycarp was a disciple of Saint John and that Saint John had Ordained him Bishop of Smyrna.
Saint Polycarp of Smyrna.
Available on YouTube at
The early Tradition that expanded upon the Martyrdom to link Polycarp in competition and contrast with Saint John the Apostle, who, though many people had tried to kill him, was not Martyred but died of old age after being exiled to the island of Patmos, is embodied in The Coptic language fragmentary papyri (the "Harris fragments") dating to the 3rd- to 6th-Centuries A.D.
Frederick Weidmann, their editor, interprets the "Harris fragments" as Smyrnan hagiography addressing Smyrna–Ephesus Church rivalries, which "develops the association of Polycarp and Saint John to a degree unwitnessed, so far as we know, either before or since". The fragments echo The Martyrology, and diverge from it.
With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp is regarded as one of the three chief Apostolic Fathers. The sole surviving work attributed to his authorship is his Letter to The Philippians; it is first recorded by Irenaeus of Lyons.
Thursday 25 January 2018
The Conversion Of Saint Paul. Feast Day, Today, 25 January.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
The Conversion of Saint Paul.
Feast Day 25 January.
Greater-Double.
White Vestments.
The Conversion of Saint Paul.
Artist: Caravaggio (1571–1610).
Date: 1600.
Current location: Odescalchi Balbi Collection, Rome, Italy.
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Conversion of Saint Paul.
Artist: Caravaggio.
Available on YouTube at
Paul of Tarsus was a Jew of the Tribe of Benjamin. A most zealous Pharisee, he appears in the Epistle as full of hatred "for the Disciples of The Lord". He becomes a "Vessel of Election", so filled with The Holy Ghost (Epistle), "that all Nations shall drink of its fulness," says Saint Ambrose, and shall learn through him that "Jesus is The Son of God" (Epistle).
Saint Paul is, like The Twelve, an Apostle of Christ (Alleluia), "he shall sit in one of the twelve seats and shall judge the World when The Son of Man shall Himself be seated on The Throne which belongs to Him as Son of God" (Gradual and Gospel).
We owe it to today's Feast, which follows by a few days that of The Chair of Saint Peter at Rome, and which had for its origin a Translation of the body of Saint Paul, that we are enabled to see the whole Season after Epiphany represented in a picture [Editor: A Theoretical Picture], giving us an admirable vision of The Kingship of Jesus.
In the foreground [Editor: Of this Theoretical Picture] are the two witnesses of The Divinity of Christ, Saint Peter, more especially sent to the sons of Israel, and Saint Paul, to the Gentiles (Collect, Gradual).
In the background [Editor: Of this Theoretical Picture], is Galilee with its verdant hills, where we perceive Cana, the Synagogue of Nazareth, and the Lake of Genesareth, where Jesus, by His Miracles, proved that He was The Son of God.
Following the example of Saint Paul, let us show by our Faith, and by a new life, that Jesus is God and that He is our King.
Mass: Scio cui crëdidi.
Commemoration: Of Saint Peter.
Gospel: Ecce nos.
Creed: Is said.
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