MEMORIAL OF SAINTS EUTYCHIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE; SAINT JULIANA OF MOUNT CORNILLON, RELIGIOUS AND SAINT PHAOLO LE BAO TINH, PRIEST – FEAST DAY: As we continue to rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople; Saint Juliana of Mount Cornillon, Religious (Patron Saint of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament) and Saint Phaolo Le Bao Tinh, Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick, we particularly pray for those who are terminally ill, may God in His infinite grace and mercy grant them His divine healing and intervention. We pray for the conversion of sinners and for all Christians and for all those traveling during this season of Easter. Amen🙏
SAINT EUTYCHIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE: St. Eutychius (512 – 582) was the patriarch of Constantinople from 552 to 565, and from 577 to 582. He was born in Phrygia about 512 of pious and devout parents. His father was an officer. Once, as a child, when Eutychius was playing with his playmates, their game was that each of them would write their names on a wall and, beside their name, they would guess what rank each of them would attain in life. When it was Eutychius’ turn he wrote: Eutychius–Patriarch! In his thirtieth year he became abbot of the monastery in Amasea. At age forty, he was sent by the Metropolitan of Amasea to represent him at the Fifth Ecumenical Council [Constantinople, 553 A.D.]. At the Council, he glowed like a shining star among the Fathers of the Church both in learning as well as in his zealousness. When the debate began whether heretics could be anathematized after their deaths, he supported the opinion that they could be by calling upon the Third Book of Kings (in some translations, called The First Book of Kings 13: 1-8 and the Fourth Book of Kings (in some translations, called The Second Book of Kings 23:16).
St. Eutychius endeared himself greatly to Emperor Justinian and Patriarch Mennas. The emperor sought his advice on many occasions and Patriarch Mennas designated Eutychius as his successor and implored the emperor to carry this out in deed. And so it happened! St. Eutychius governed the Church in peace for twelve years. Then the devil raised up a tempest against him. This tempest reached Justinian himself. The emperor became deluded and succumbed to the Monophysite heresy (Aphtartodocetea) which falsely taught that the Lord Jesus, before His resurrection, had a divine and incorruptible body, without feeling, hunger, thirst or pain. St. Eutychius adamantly stood up against this heresy, for which the emperor banished him into exile to his original monastery. St. Eutychius remained there for twelve years and eight months and proved himself to be a great miracle-worker healing people of various illnesses through prayer and by anointing them with holy oil. Emperor Justinian repented and died. He was succeeded by Justin II, who then restored St. Eutychius in 577AD to the patriarchal throne where this saint remained, governing the Church of God in peace, until his death. On his deathbed, the holy Patriarch admitted his error. On April 5, 582 A.D., in his seventieth year, he took up habitation in the kingdom of Christ the Lord, Whom he faithfully and courageously served throughout his entire life.
PRAYER: You lived like an angel on earth, O Eutychius vessel of grace; Your words and deeds confirmed the divine gift bestowed on you. By your intercessions preserve the Church from all necessity. In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; your humility exalted you; your poverty enriched you. Hierarch Father Eutychius, entreat Christ our God that our souls may be saved. O God, You made St. Eutychius an outstanding exemplar of Divine love and the Faith that conquers the world, and added him to the roll of saintly pastors. Grant by his intercession that we may persevere in Faith and love and become sharers in his glory. Amen🙏
SAINT JULIANA OF MOUNT CORNILLON, RELIGIOUS: St. Juliana of Mount Cornillon, also known as Juliana of Liege (1193-1258) was born near Liege, Belgium. She was a medieval Norbertine canoness regular and mystic in what is now Belgium. Traditional scholarly sources have long recognized her as the promoter of the Feast of Corpus Christi, first celebrated in Liège in 1246, and later adopted for the Catholic Church in 1264. Bl. Juliana was orphaned at the age of five. She and her sister Agnes were raised by the nuns at the convent of Mount Cornillon near Liege. She made rapid progress in virtue and grew in love for the Passion of Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Blessed Sacrament. Bl. Juliana read the works of Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard while she was still very young. At the age of thirteen she became an Augustinian
nun at Liege, Belgium in 1206. She devoted herself to caring for the sick in the convent‘s hospital. She eventually became the Prioress of the convent at Mount Cornillon in 1225.
St. Juliana, received visions from our Lord Jesus Christ, who pointed out that there was no feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. Taught in repeated visions that Our Lord wanted a liturgical feast in honor of the Holy Eucharist to be established, she worked diligently to have the feast of Corpus Christi instituted for the Universal Church, a task for which she endured much opposition. She was forced to flee her convent after its general superior excited the populace against her and her visions. The messages she received led to being branded a visionary, and accused of mismanagement of hospital funds. An investigation by the bishop exonerrated her; she was returned to her position, and he introduced the feast of Corpus Christi in Liege in 1246. On the bishop‘s death in 1248, St. Juliana was driven from Mount Cornillon, ending her life in seclusion. St. Juliana was full of joy, to see her vision made real. She was eager to see the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament extended throughout the whole church! But she was not blessed to see this take place. She passed the last few years of her life in solitude and died on April 5, 1258 of natural causes at Fosses and buried at Villiers, France. She was canonized on 1869 by Pope Blessed Pius IX (cultus confirmed). She was a friend of Blessed Eva of Liege, who worked for the acceptance of the new feast. The feast of Corpus Christi was finally instituted six years after her death by Pope Urban IV, who also commissioned Saint Thomas Aquinas to prepare the magnificent texts for the feast’s Office and Mass and was sanctioned for the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. The feast became mandatory in the Roman Church in 1312. St. Juliana feast day is April 6 and she’s the Patron Saint of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Juliana of Mount Cornillon ~ Pray for us🙏
SAINT PHAOLO LE BAO TINH, PRIEST: St. Phaolo was born in 1793 at Trinh-Ha village, Thanh Hoa Province, now Vietnam, to wealthy parents. As a child he studied under a local Confucian scholar, until his parents sent him at twelve years of age to the Catholic seminary at Ke-Vinh.
The seminary described St. Phaolo as prayerful, ascetical and studious. He enjoyed reading the lives of saints and reminded everyone that they also were called to be saints. St. Phaolo felt called to live as a hermit and left the seminary to live in a cave, surviving on rice and fruit, passing his days in prayer and mortification. The local Bishop then asked St. Phaolo to help in the work of bringing missionary priests back to the area. After this, he settled down in the mountains of Laos, mixing missionary work with being a reclusive hermit. When persecution of Christians broke out in 1841, Phaolo was arrested by government officials and he spent the next seven years in prison at Hanoi. Shortly after receiving the death sentence he wrote to a seminarian describing his experience in prison:
“I, Paul, bound in chains for the sake of Christ, send to you from prison salutations which are many and final.… The prison is truly a living example of hell: to chains, shackles and manacles, are added anger, vengeance, lies, obscene conversations, brawls, evil acts, swearing, slander, plus boredom, sadness, mosquitoes and flies….I write these things so that your hearts might burst with desire to be martyrs, and that your prayers might strengthen me, who lives in the arena of combat.”
Emperor Thieu Tri in 1848, commuted St. Phaolo’s sentence from death to perpetual exile in Phu Yen Province. At the end of the same year the new Emperor, Tu Duc, granted an amnesty to all exiles. St. Phaolo then travelled to the seminary at Ke-Vinh, where he renewed his studies, later being ordained a priest. After exercising his priestly ministry until 1855, some mandarins complained to the governor about Christians and St. Phaolo was arrested again. For working as a priest, he was classed as a criminal and was sentenced to be decapitated. Early next day he was led to the place of execution. His last words were: “The religion of the Heavenly Master is perfectly true, even though our king and the sovereigns of other nations persecute it and wish to destroy it. But this religion will be victorious, and in the future it will count more adherents than it ever has had in the past.” The executioner then came with his sword and the death sentence was carried out. Overall, St Paul’s spirituality had centred on the Cross of Jesus and the practice of prayer and asceticism. St Paul Le-Boa Tinh was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
Saint Phaolo Le Bao Tinh ~ Pray for us🙏