MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY ZACCARIA, PRIEST; SAINT ATHANASIUS THE ATHONITE, ABBOT AND SAINT ZOE OF ROME, MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 5TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Priest; Saint Athanasius the Athonite, Abbot and
Saint Zoe of Rome, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancer and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor, the needy and most marginalized, for justice, peace and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏🏽
SAINT ANTHONY MARY ZACCARIA, PRIEST: St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502 – 1539) is a renowned Priest, preacher and promoter of Eucharistic adoration, he founded the order of priests now known as the Barnabites. St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria was born into an Italian family of nobility in Cremona during 1502. His father Lazzaro died shortly after Anthony’s birth, and his mother Antonietta – though only 18 years old – chose not to marry again, preferring to devote herself to charitable works and her son’s education. Antonietta succeeded in compensating for her son’s loss, and saw to it that he received a solid training, inculcating, in him compassion for the poor and afflicted. St. Anthony took after her in devotion to God and generosity toward the poor. He studied Latin and Greek with tutors in his youth, and was afterward sent to Pavia to study philosophy. He went on to study Medicine at University of Padua and returned home to Cremona at age of twenty-two as a full-fledged physician. Despite his noble background and secular profession, the young doctor had no intention of either marrying or accumulating wealth. But he quickly realized that his vocation consisted in healing souls as well as bodies. While caring for the physical conditions of his patients, he also encouraged them to find spiritual healing through repentance and the sacraments. At the same time, he assisted the dying spiritually, taught catechism to children, and went on to participate in the religious formation of young adults and placed himself completely at the service of everyone. Accordingly, the devoted young man studied Theology but continued to practice Medicine. He eventually decided to withdraw from the practice of medicine, and with the encouragement of his spiritual director he began to study for the priesthood and was ordained a priest at age 26 in 1528. St. Anthony is said to have experienced a miraculous occurrence during his first Mass, being surrounded by a supernatural light and a multitude of angels during the consecration of the Eucharist. Contemporary witnesses marveled at the event, and testified to it after his death.
Church life in Cremona had suffered decline in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The new priest encountered widespread ignorance and religious indifference among laypersons, while many of the clergy were either weak or corrupt. In these dire circumstances, St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria devoted his life to proclaiming the truths of the Gospel both clearly and charitably. Within two years, his eloquent preaching and tireless pastoral care is said to have changed the moral character of the city dramatically. St. Anthony was encouraged to go to Milan where there were greater opportunities for serving his fellowman. In 1530, St. Anthony moved to Milan, where a similar spirit of corruption and religious neglect prevailed. There, he joined the Confraternity of Eternal Wisdom whose purpose was to carry out various works of mercy, St. Anthony and two other zealous priests decided to form a priestly society, the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, a congregation of priests to help regenerate and revive the love of Divine worship and a proper Christian way of life by frequent preaching and faithful administration of the Sacraments. The early members of the Order of Clerks Regular of St. Paul banded with St. Anthony to minister night and day to the people of Milan, who were stricken by wars, plague, and neglect of the clergy. Inspired by the apostle’s life and writings, the order was founded on a vision of humility, asceticism, poverty, and preaching. After the founder’s death, they were entrusted with a prominent church named for St. Barnabas, and became commonly known as the “Barnabites.” The priest with help of Luigia Torelli, Countess of Guastella, founded a community of women religious order called the Angelicals, the Angelic Sisters of St. Paul; with the aim of rescuing fallen women and girls and those in danger of falling into sin; and an organization, the Laity of St. Paul, geared toward the sanctification of those outside the priesthood and religious life. He pioneered the “40 Hours” devotion, involving continuous prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Anthony was a zealous and untiring preacher and completely wore himself out at this work. In 1539, at length, after many labors, he fell grievously sick at Guastalla, and returned to his mother’s house in Cremona and died there amid the tears of his religious and in the embrace of his pious mother, whose approaching death he foretold. He died on July 5, 1539, during the liturgical octave of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul at thirty-seven, worn out by his many labors. At the hour of his death he was consoled by a vision of the apostles, and prophesied the future growth of his Society. The people began immediately to show their devotion to this saint on account of his great holiness and of his numerous miracles. Nearly three decades after his death, St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria’s body was found to be incorrupt. He was Beatified by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1849, and his cult was approved by Leo XIII, who solemnly Canonized him on Ascension Day, 1897.
St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria Quote: “We manifest our love for God in our observance of His commandments and in our readiness to obey, even His smallest decree.”
PRAYER: Lord, grant us, in the spirit of St. Paul the Apostle, to learn the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which surpasses all understanding. Taught by this knowledge, St. Anthony continually preached the word of salvation in Your Church. Amen 🙏🏽
SAINT ATHANASIUS THE ATHONITE, ABBOT: St. Athanasius the Athonite (c. 920 – c. 1003), was a Byzantine monk who in 963 founded the monastic community on the peninsula Mount Athos, which has since evolved into the greatest centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism – but only after he had overcome the opposition of the hermits who were there first. St. Athanasius, also called Athanasios of Trebizond, was born on c. 920; Trebizond, Byzantine Empire and his parents were from Antioch. He was patronized by Michael Maleinos, he studied at Constantinople and became famous there as Abraham, a fervent preacher who held great authority with Michael’s nephew, Nicephoros Phocas. By the time Phocas ascended the imperial throne, Abraham, ill at ease with the lax morals of the monks living in the capital, changed his name to Athanasios and joined the monks at Mount Kyminas in Bithynia. In 958, he relocated to Mount Athos. He helped defend the hermits, or sketes, there against the Saracens, and also started to incorporate the sketes already there into what would eventually become known as the Great Lavra, which Athanasios built with the financial assistance of Nicephoros. This monastery was dedicated in 963. It is still in use today, and is often referred to by people of the area simply as “Lavra”, or “The Monastery”. Three other foundations followed shortly thereafter, with all three of them remaining in place to the present. Athanasios met with considerable opposition from the hermits already at Mount Athos in the construction of his monasteries. They resented his intrusion and his attempts to bring order and discipline to their lives.
Upon Nicephoros’ death the enemies of Athanasios prevailed and he had to leave Athos for Cyprus, where he lived until the new emperor, John Tzimisces, resumed the patronage of the Great Lavra and bestowed upon the monastery its first charter in 971. Athanasios, spurred by a divine vision, returned at once to Athos as a hegumen (abbot) and introduced a typicon for cenobites, based on those compiled by Theodore Studites and Basil of Caesarea. In the words of Athanasius’s biographer, “Trebizonde witnessed his birth (about 920), Byzantium enabled him to grow spiritually, and Kyminas and Athos rendered him pleasing to God.” He died in c. 1003 at Mount Athos during an accident, killed by a falling masonry, when the cupola of his church collapsed. Upon his death, Athanasios was glorified as a saint. His feast day is July 5.
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. Athanasius. Amen🙏🏽
SAINT ZOE OF ROME, MARTYR: St. Zoe of Rome (d. 286 A.D.) lived during the early stages of Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians, around the 280s AD. She was a noble woman in the imperial court of Rome, married to a high Roman court official named Nicostratus during the reign of the infamous Emperor Diocletian. But even that status didn’t save her from Diocletian’s wrath. Something miraculous happened to St. Zoe, for an unknown reason, Zoe couldn’t speak for six years, she suffered from a condition that left her unable to speak; when she met St. Sebastian she fell at his feet so that he would heal her. St. Sebastian made the Sign of the Cross over her, and from that moment her speech miraculously returned, she began to speak and glorify God. As she was being healed she had a vision of an angel standing next to St. Sebastian holding a book in which was written everything that St. Sebastian preached. Her first words were ones of thanks and praise to God, and many witnesses of the miracle were brought to faith in Christ. St. Zoe and her husband then received baptism at the hands of St. Polycarp, along with many others who had come to believe in Christ through St. Sebastian’s miracles. Of this new group of Christians, St. Zoe was the first to be martyred for her faith.
She was also greatly devoted to St. Peter the Apostle. Diocletian’s henchmen found her praying at his tomb one day and arrested her. She was martyred by being hung from a tree branch by her hair, with a fire lit underneath her feet. St. Zoe died of asphyxiation (not by burning to death). After her death her body was thrown into the Tiber River. Apparently, the symbolism of the Tiber was lost on Diocletian and his henchmen as “swimming the Tiber” is an analogy for converting to Catholicism and being thrown in the Tiber is a symbol of baptism. St. Zoe then appeared in a vision to St. Sebastian, who was in prison awaiting his execution, to tell him of her martyrdom and subsequent glory. St. Zoe of Rome’s feast day is July 5th.
[Worthy of note: in Greek, zoë means life, as does bios. However! Bios refers to the biological life or physical and modal life. Zoë, on the other hand, refers to the spiritual life or a sense of transcendence. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” the word for life used was zoë.]
Saint Zoe of Rome, Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽
Leave a Reply