MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANICETUS, POPE AND MARTYR; SAINT ROBERT OF MOLESMES, ABBOT; AND SAINT DONAN, MISSIONARY AND PRIEST – FEAST DAY: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Anicetus, Pope, Martyr; Saint Robert of Molesmes, Abbot and Saint Donan, Missionary and Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners and for Christians all over the world, especially during these incredibly challenging times.

O God, who open wide the gates of the heavenly Kingdom to those reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, pour out on your servants an increase of the grace you have bestowed, that, having been purged of all sins, they may lack nothing that in your kindness you have promised. 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 ANICETUS, POPE, MARTYR: St. Anicetus was a Syrian from Emesa (modern-day Homs). He became pope about 155 to his death in April 168. He was St. Peter’s tenth successor who defended the Church against the heresies of Valentine and Marcion, actively opposed Marcionism and Gnosticism. He suffered tribulations. His pontificate saw the appearance of the controversy between East and West over the date of Easter. St. Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of John, is reported to have visited him in Rome to discuss the Easter controversy. Polycarp and his Church of Smyrna celebrated the crucifixion on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which coincides with Pesach (or Passover) regardless of which day of the week upon this date fell, while the Roman Church celebrated Easter on Sunday—the weekday of Jesus’s resurrection. The two did not agree on a common date, but Anicetus conceded to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna the ability to retain the date to which they were accustomed. The controversy was to grow heated in the following centuries.

The Christian historian Hegesippus also visited Rome during Anicetus’s pontificate. This visit is often cited as a sign of the early importance of the Roman See. St. Anicetus actively opposed the Gnostics and Marcionism. The Liber Pontificalis records that Anicetus decreed that priests are not allowed to have long hair (perhaps because the Gnostics wore long hair). According to church tradition, Anicetus suffered martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Lucius Verus, but there are no historical grounds for this account. April 16, 17 and 20 April are all cited as the date of his death.  St. Anicetus died in April of 168 and he was buried in the cemetery of Callistus.

Saint Anicetus, Pope and Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏

SAINT ROBERT OF MOLESMES, ABBOT: St. Robert was born of noble parents in France about 1024, Robert became a Benedictine at Moutier-la-Celle when he was fifteen. Such was the religious dedication of the young man that when he had completed his novitiate, he was named Prior. Later, he was made Abbot of St. Michael of Tonnere. Yet something was missing in Robert’s life. He was desperately trying, but not succeeding, in promoting the observance of a stricter interpretation of the Benedictine Rule. Finally, about 1075, he established a monastery at Molesmes in Burgundy, but here too he did not succeed in his great quest—at least not initially.

In 1098, impelled by the love of God, and his great faith in the Rule of St. Benedict. Robert took St. Alberic, St. Stephen Harding, and others of his monks and traveled to the forest of Citeaux where he started over again. This time, he was successful—in eighteen months he was able to leave the rule of the monastery in the hands of Alberic and Stephen. This was the beginning of the Cistercian movement, and its greatest representative, St. Bernard, was in the near future to come to Citeaux and make it the center of the Christian world of that time. St. Robert was then able to return to Molesmes and be successful there too with his reform. This great lover of God and founder of a dedicated Order died on March 21, 1111, and was canonized in 1222.

PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. Robert the Abbot. Amen🙏 

SAINT DONAN, MISSIONARY AND PRIEST: St. Donan (d. 617 A.D.), also known as St. Donnán of Eigg, was a prominent Celtic missionary and Gaelic priest. Little is known of his life except that he was likely an Irishman who traveled as a missionary throughout Galloway and northward along the west coast of Scotland. He is thought to have been a contemporary of St. Columba. Donan formed a religious community on the tiny northwest island of Eigg in Scotland. The community grew to fifty-two men.

One year, after celebrating the Easter Vigil Mass, they were unexpectedly attacked and martyred either by pirates or a band of Viking raiders. Tradition holds that the community was gathered together and killed in the refectory on the night of April 17, 617. The martyrdom of Christian missionaries at this time was rare, leading many to suspect the attack was instigated by a malicious local queen who viewed St. Donan and his monks as a threat to her power. His feast day is April 17.

Saint Donan, Missionary and Priest ~ Pray for us🙏