MEMORIAL OF SAINT PALLADIUS, BISHOP; SAINT PANTÆNUS, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND APOSTLE TO THE INDIES; BLESSED PETER TO ROT, CATECHIST AND MARTYR; BLESSED ROGER DICKENSON, PRIEST, BLESSED RALPH MILNER AND BLESSED LAWRENCE HUMPHREY, MARTYRS AND BLESSED POPE BENEDICT XI ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 7TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Palladius, Bishop; Saint Pantænus, Doctor of the Church and Apostle to the Indies; Blessed Peter To Rot; Blessed Roger Dickenson, Priest, Ralph Milner and Lawrence Humphrey, Martyrs and Blessed Pope Benedict XI. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the protection and safety of Christians all over the world and we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians and for the conversion of sinners. We also pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor, the needy and most marginalized, for peaceful marriages, for justice, peace and unity in our families and our world.🙏🏽
SAINT PALLADIUS, BISHOP: St. Saint Palladius (d. 450) was First Bishop and Apostle of the Scots. The first bishop of the Christian mission to Ireland, preceding Saint Patrick; the two were perhaps conflated in many later Irish traditions. The name Palladius marks Saint Palladius as a Roman; and a seventh century Irish biography of Saint Patrick identifies him as Archdeacon of the Roman Church under Pope Celestine. Saint Prosper of Aquitaine, his contemporary, informs us in his historical chronicle that when Agricola, a noted Pelagian, had corrupted the churches of Britain by introducing that pestilential heresy, Pope Celestine, at the instance of Palladius the deacon, in 429 sent there Saint Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, as his legate. He, after having ejected the heretics, brought back the Britons to the Catholic faith.
The same Pope sent St. Palladius to the Celts. The Irish writer of the life of Saint Patrick says that Palladius preached in Ireland some time before Saint Patrick, but that he was soon sent away by the King of Leinster and returned to North Britain, where he had opened his mission. Saint Prosper says that he was consecrated bishop by the same Pope Celestine, and then sent with relics of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, as first bishop to the nation of the Christian Scots. Several colonies of these had passed from Ireland into North Britain and taken possession of the part of the country since called Scotland. Later Saint Palladius also founded three churches in more hospitable regions of Ireland. St. Palladius was accompanied by four companions: Sylvester and Solinus, who remained after him in Ireland; and Augustinus and Benedictus, who followed him to Britain, but returned to their own country after his death. He preached to the Scots with great zeal, and formed a considerable church. The Scottish historians tell us that the Faith was first planted in North Britain about the year 200, in the time of King Donald, when Saint Victor I was Pope; but they all acknowledge that St. Palladius was the first bishop of that country, and they call him their first Apostle. Saint Palladius died at Fordun, fifteen miles from Aberdeen, about the year 450.
PRAYER: O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen🙏🏽
SAINT PANTÆNUS, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND APOSTLE TO THE INDIES: Saint Pantænus, Father of the Church (Died c 216) Theologian, Philosopher, Teacher, Confessor and Defender of the Faith, Writer and interpreter of the Bible, the Trinity, and Christology, Missionary. An apostolic man, filled with wisdom. He had such affection and love for the word of God, and was so inflamed with the ardor of faith and devotion, that he set out to preach the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles inhabiting the farthest recesses of the East. At length returning to Alexandria, he rested in peace, under Antoninus Caracalla. This learned Doctor and apostolic man flourished in the second century. Born in Sicily, he was a Hebrew Christian who had studied Holy Scripture and also Greek philosophy. His esteem for virtue had led him into an acquaintance with the Christians, and being charmed with the innocence and sanctity of their conversation, he opened his eyes to the truth. It was under the disciples of the Apostles that he studied Holy Scripture in the orient, before his thirst for sacred learning brought him to Alexandria in Egypt, where the disciples of Saint Mark had instituted a celebrated school of Christian doctrine.
St. Pantænus did not seek to display his talents in that center of literature and commerce; but his great progress in sacred learning was discovered, and he was drawn out of the obscurity in which his humility had sought to bury itself. He was placed at the head of the Christian school some time before the year 179. His learning and excellent manner of teaching raised the school’s reputation above all schools of the philosophers, whom he strove to win to Christianity. The lessons which he read and commented, gathered from the prophets and Apostles, conveyed light and knowledge into the minds of all his hearers. The Indian traders who came to Alexandria entreated Saint Pantænus to pay their country a visit and vanquish false philosophy by the true faith. He was advised by the bishop of Alexandria to consent, and therefore left the school and went to preach the Gospel to the eastern nations. In India he found some seeds of the faith already sown, and there he was shown the Gospel of Saint Matthew in Hebrew, which according to Eusebius’ account in his History of the Church, was taken there by Saint Bartholomew. He brought it back with him to Alexandria, where he returned after he had zealously employed several years in instructing the Indians in the faith. Saint Pantænus continued to teach privately until about the year 214, when he closed a noble and excellent life by a holy and happy death.
Saint Pantænus,, Doctor of the Church and Apostle to the Indies ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽
BLESSED PETER TO ROT, MARTYR: A beloved World War II Papuan catechist and martyr who died to defend marriage. A devoted husband and loving father, he fought to uphold the indissolubility of matrimony. Many wagered he would become a priest. Instead, he not only started a family but also lay down his life to defend marriage. He stood firm in the faith during the Japanese occupation of his homeland in World War II. He was arrested for his opposition to polygamy. He was poisoned and suffocated to death presumed to be on July 7, 1945 in a Japanese concentration camp at Rakunai. Bl. Peter To Rot was born in 1912 in Papua New Guinea, the city of Rakunai (near Rabual), a village on the Melanesian island of New Britain, today an eastern province of the independent nation of Papua, New Guinea. A place where His father, Angelo To Puia, an influential and charismatic chieftain who was among the first converts to Catholicism, played a pivotal role in spreading the Gospel in his land. Bl. Peter’s mother, Maria la Tumul, was a fervent Catholic who knew how to form the family as the first European missionaries had taught. Both parents were baptized as adults belonged to the region’s first generation of Catholics. From his father, Bl. Peter inherited the qualities of a leader; from his mother, a particular sensibility for religion. Perhaps it was this happy fusion of natural gifts, coupled with a wholly unique devotion and inclination toward study, which led the local missionary priest to believe he had identified the seeds of a priestly vocation in him, and to consider sending him to Europe for studies. It was his father (providentially, in hindsight) who decided Bl. Peter’s future course as a lay leader and catechist. Bl. Peter therefore prepared himself for this ministry, thus confirming everything others had seen in him: a surprising ability as a teacher, a keen knowledge of the Bible, the ability to relate to everyone, and a powerful influence over others, especially young people. In short, he was a born leader. At just 21 years of age, Bl. Peter was already an invaluable catechist and served as the missionary parish priest’s right hand man and collaborator. In 1936, at the age of 24, Peter married Paula la Varpit, a 16-year old who seemed to have been made just for him. For she shared his faith, his ideals, his aspirations and his commitment. Theirs was a union sustained by daily prayer and the reading of the Bible: their home was imbued with a lived faith that was first witnessed and then passed on to their three children.
Over the years Bl. Peter’s spirituality matured, his natural ability to relate to others was transformed into a kind and gracious availability to all, he increasingly took on a role as an undisputed leader: in addition to winning the esteem and appreciation of others, he also won their love. People realized that Peter lived what he taught and they admired his strength of character, his integrity and the generosity he showed toward others. In 1942, Japanese imperial forces attacked and occupied the entire region and immediately began targeting the religion that had been brought by Westerners: all European missionaries were captured and interned in concentration camps, and all Catholic chapels were destroyed. The only person left “in the field” was Bl. Peter: first, because he was a native and second, because he was a layman and therefore not held on the same par with the missionaries the Japanese wanted to strike. With great ease and simplicity, he took charge of the community, yet without a parish priest: he baptized, visited the sick and the dying, assisted at marriages, and protected and guarded the Holy Eucharist. He knew the risks, but he was utterly convinced of the need “to give primacy to the things of God.” The Japanese watched him closely, aware that he was the worst of enemies, the one reference point for Catholics in the area. Things turned very bad for Bl. Peter when he took a clear stance against the decision of Japanese authorities to introduce polygamy: unity and indissolubility are essential characteristics of Catholic marriage, and Bl. Peter repeatedly and forcefully proclaimed this truth with the power of John the Baptist, who from his prison cell had denounced Herod’s sin of adultery. Amid great suffering yet as constant as ever, he denounced even his own brother who had taken a second wife. Bl. Peter knew that in doing so he was irrevocably marking his fate, but with great serenity he told everyone: “It is beautiful to die for the faith.” On Christmas 1944, Japanese officials arrested and imprisoned him in a concentration camp. There, his serenity would only be disturbed at the thought of his community being without a leader. Every attempt to have him released failed, even one organized by Methodists in cooperation with several Catholics. The Japanese wanted quickly to rid themselves of this uncomfortable witness of the Gospel. One night, on July 7, 1945, a Japanese doctor accompanied by two officials killed him by lethal injection. A martyr for the faith and in defense of marriage, the catechist Bl. Peter To Rot, “a devoted husband, a loving father and a dedicated catechist,” was beatified by Pope John Paul II on January 17, 1995. He’s Patron Saint of Married couples; Catechists; Rakunai, World Youth Day 2008.
Blessed Peter To Rot, Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
BLESSED ROGER DICKENSON, PRIEST, BLESSED RALPH MILNER AND BLESSED LAWRENCE HUMPHREY, MARTYRS: These holy men were executed on July 7, 1591 in Winchester under Elizabeth I. Blessed Roger Dickenson was executed for being a Catholic priest present in England, Blessed Ralph Milner for being a Catholic layman who assisted a Catholic priest (Father Dickenson), and Blessed Lawrence Humphrey, like Milner a convert and layman. Blessed Ralph, a farmer and father of a family was rich in faith, was arrested and executed together with Father Dickenson.
BLESSED RALPH MILNER: Bl. Ralph Milner was an elderly and illiterate farmer from the district of Flacsted in Hampshire brought up as a Protestant. Influenced by the good lives led by his Catholic neighbors, he took instructions in the faith and was received into the Church. On the very day of his First Communion, this devout convert was seized and imprisoned. Though he remained in prison for a number of years, he was often granted parole. At such times he would obtain alms and spiritual succor for his fellow prisoners, and by utilizing his overall knowledge of the country he would help missionary priests move about and work more easily. It was in this way that he met and aided a secular priest named Roger Dickenson.
BLESSED ROGER DICKENSON: Bl. Roger Dickenson was a native of Lincoln and a priest of the College of Rheims who was sent on mission in 1583. He had already been arrested once but been able to escape when his guards got drink. The second time he was arrested with Ralph Milner and both were put on trial for the faith. The judge took especial pity on Milner who was getting old and had eight children. Seeking any pretext to set him free, he urged the saintly farmer to make a visit to the nearby parish church as a matter of form and he would be freed since this would be tantamount to reconciliation with the Church of England. However, the blessed Martyr, aided by God’s grace, stood firm and refused to make the least deceitful gesture, preferring to share the fate of his friend Father Dickenson. Accordingly, both of these servants of God were executed at Winchester on July 7, 1591. They were beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
BLESSED LAWRENCE HUMPHREY: Bl. Lawrence Humphrey was a convert and layman. Bl. Lawrence is commemorated on this day because the exact date of his death is uncertain. He was executed for a most unusual reason: he spoke against the Queen while delirious.
These holy men lived at a time in the history of England when Catholics of that country risked imprisonment and death to practice and spread of their faith. They faced persecution and death without fear, confident in the Lord and ready to die for their faith.
PRAYER: God, You surround and protect us by the glorious confession of Your holy Martyrs, Blessed Ralph and Roger. Help us to profit from their example and be supported by their prayer. Amen🙏🏽
BLESSED POPE BENEDICT XI: Bl. Pope Benedict XI (1240-1304) was born in Italy with the name Nicholas Boccasini. At the age of 14 he entered the Dominican Order, and went on to become a theology professor before being named Master General of the Order in 1296. As Master of the Dominicans, Bl. Boccasini defended Pope Boniface VIII when the hostility of secular rulers towards the Roman Pontiff grew, especially during the pope’s open conflict with the King of France. In reward for his loyalty, Bl. Boccasini was elevated to Cardinal and then Bishop of Ostia. When Hungary was torn with civil war, Bl. Boccasini was sent there by the Holy See to restore peace. When he returned to Rome, the Pope’s conflict with France reached its height; Pope Boniface VIII was seized, beaten, and driven from the Sacred Palace by his enemies, while Bl. Boccasini was one of only two cardinals who defended the Holy Father to the end. After Pope Boniface VIII died, Bl. Boccasini was elected in his place and took the name Pope Benedict XI. He excommunicated all those who had taken part in the seizure and abuse of his predecessor, while at the same time restoring peace with the French court. In this time of tumult he repaired the damage with leniency, yet without compromising the Holy See or the good memory of the previous pope. His reign was brief; he died suddenly of a suspected poisoning after only eight months in office. Bl. Pope Benedict XI was the author of a volume of sermons and commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Psalms, Job, and Revelation. His feast day is July 7th.
Bl. Pope Benedict XI ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽
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