Jmj

Today, April 13, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints whose souls are now in heaven:

Pope St. Martin I (Italian, papal nuncio, elected to papacy in 649, condemned Monothelite heresy, arrested, tortured, and exiled to Crimea by emperor, martyred by starvation [last pope martyred] in 655)
Sts. Carpus, Papylus, Agathonica, and Agathodorus (from Asia Minor [Turkish] ... bishop, deacon, his sister, and their servant ... tortured and martyred [three burned, one scourged, to death] in 2nd or 3rd century)
Bl. Edward Catherick and Bl. John Lockwood (English, priests, martyred [drawn, hanged, quartered] in 1642 [beatified 1929])
St. Guinoc (Scottish, king's counselor, bishop, c. 838)
St. Hermenegild (Visigoth in Spain, prince, opposed his Arian father, tortured and martyred [axed to death] in 585)
Bl. Ida of Louvain (Belgian, Cistercian nun, c. 1300)
Bl. Ida of Boulogne (French, daughter of duke, wife of count, widow, Benedictine oblate, d. 1113)
Bl. James Guidi of Certaldo [Jacopo] (Italian, Camaldolese monk for over 60 years, parish priest, d. 1292)
Bl. Margaret of (Città di) Castello (Italian, blind, lame, hunchbacked midget, imprisoned and then abandoned by her parents, Dominican tertiary, virgin, d. 1320 [incorruptible])
St. Martius (French, hermit, abbot, c. 530)
Sts. Maximus, Dadas, and Quintilianus (Bulgarian, biological brothers, martyred by beheading in 303)
St. Ursus of Ravenna (Sicilian, nobleman, bishop in Italy, d. 396)

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron saint -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John


-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002

Answers

(1) Having seen St. Agathodorus scourged to death, St. Carpus told his pagan persecutors:
"I am a Christian, I worship Christ, the Son of God, who came in these latter times for our salvation and delivered us from the snares of the devil. I will not sacrifice to such idols. The living do not sacrifice to the dead ... (the gods) look like men, but they are unfeeling. Deprive them of your veneration ... and they will be defiled by dogs and crows."

(2) Bl. John Lockwood worked covertly in England, as an "illegal" Catholic priest, for 44 years until his arrest and martyrdom at age 81!

-- (_@_._), April 13, 2002.

Jmj

On April 13, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints and blesseds whose souls are now in heaven:

Pope St. Martin I of Todi (Italian, papal nuncio, elected to papacy in 649, condemned Monothelite heresy, arrested, tortured, and exiled to Crimea by emperor, martyred by starvation [last pope martyred] in 655)

St Carpus of Gordus and Sts. Papylus, Agathonica, and Agathodorus of Thyatira (from Asia Minor [Turkish] ... bishop, deacon, his sister, and their servant ... tortured and martyred [three burned, one scourged, to death] in 2nd or 3rd century)
Bl. Edward Catherick of Carlton and Bl. John Lockwood of Sowerby [alias Lascelles] (English, priests, martyred [drawn, hanged, quartered] under Charles I in 1642 [beatified 1929])
St. Guinoc (Scottish, king's counselor, bishop, c. 838)
St. Hermenegild of Seville (Visigoth in Spain, prince, opposed his Arian father, tortured and martyred [axed to death] in 585)
Bl. Ida of Louvain (Belgian, Cistercian nun, c. 1300)
Bl. Ida of Boulogne (French, daughter of duke, wife of count, widow, Benedictine oblate, d. 1113)
Bl. James Guidi of Certaldo [Jacomo] (Italian, Camaldolese monk for over 60 years, parish priest, d. 1292)
Bl. Margaret of (Città di) Castello [Margherita] (Italian, blind, lame, hunchbacked midget, imprisoned and then abandoned by her parents, Dominican tertiary, virgin, d. 1320 [incorruptible])
St. Martius of Auvergne (French, hermit, abbot, c. 530)
Sts. Maximus, Dadas, and Quintilianus, of Dorostorum (Bulgarian, biological brothers, martyred by beheading in 303)
Bl. Scubilionis Rousseau of Annay-la-Côte [baptized Jean-Baptiste Bernard (John Baptist Bernard)] (French, religious of the Christian Brothers in Reunion, d. 1867 [beatified 1989])
St. Ursus of Ravenna (Sicilian, nobleman, bishop in Italy, d. 396)

(1) Having seen St. Agathodorus scourged to death, St. Carpus told his pagan persecutors: "I am a Christian, I worship Christ, the Son of God, who came in these latter times for our salvation and delivered us from the snares of the devil. I will not sacrifice to such idols. The living do not sacrifice to the dead ... (the gods) look like men, but they are unfeeling. Deprive them of your veneration ... and they will be defiled by dogs and crows."

(2) Bl. John Lockwood worked covertly in England, as an "illegal" Catholic priest, for 44 years until his arrest and martyrdom at age 81!

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints or blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 13, 2003.