MEMORIAL OF SAINTS PRISCILLA (PRISCA) AND AQUILA, MARTYRS; SAINT EDGAR THE PEACEMAKER; SAINT KILIAN ( ST. CILLIAN), BISHOP AND MARTYR AND BLESSED PETER VIGNE, PRIEST ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 8TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Priscilla and Aquila, Martyrs; Saint Edgar, the Peacemaker; Saint Kilian (St. Cillian), Bishop and Martyr and Blessed Peter Vigne. 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 cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor and needy, 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.🙏🏽
SAINTS PRISCILLA (PRISCA) AND AQUILA, MARTYRS: Sts. Prisca and Aquila, were Coworkers of St. Paul. St. Aquila and his wife St. Priscilla (or Prisca) were 1st century Jewish couple from Pontus who settled in Rome, where they worked as tent-makers. When the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in 49-50, they moved to Corinth. In Corinth they hosted the Apostle Paul, who lived and worked with them for awhile (Acts 18:1-3). They worked diligently with the Apostle, traveled with him, and were considered worthy to bring Apollos (December 8) to a full knowledge of the Faith (Acts 18:26). Sts. Priscilla and Aquila returned to Rome around 58, and later went to Ephesus; they were living there when St Paul asked his disciple Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, to greet them (2 Tim. 4:19).
All that is known of this converted Jewish couple is from the New Testament. Aquila, a Jew from Pontus, and his wife Pricsa (Priscilla) were expelled from Rome by the edict of Emperor Claudius in 50 A.D. (Acts 18:1-3). They went to Corinth and opened a tent-making business. When Paul the Apostle was returning from Athens, he called on Prisca and Aquila and learned that they had the same occupation he did as well as the same faith, they hospitably received the Apostle in their home, where he remained for a year a half, preaching the Gospel to Jews and Greeks (Acts 18:4). Sts. Aquila and Prisca followed St. Paul to Ephesus (Acts 18:19), where they then instructed the outstanding preacher Apollos who was proclaiming the teaching of Jesus although knowing only the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-28). They had a church in their house, and during his third missionary journey St. Paul made his headquarters there also (1 Cor 16:19). At the outbreak of Nero’s persecution, the saintly couple were again in Rome but left for Ephesus (2 Tim 4:19). Later, they returned to Rome and had a church in their home. St. Paul called them his “coworkers in Christ” and declared: “They have risked their lives for me, and to them not only I am grateful but also all the Churches of the Gentiles” (Rom 16:3-4). According to tradition, it was in Ephesus, Asia Minor that they were martyred by the pagans, although there is a tradition that they achieved martyrdom in Rome on their return, probably around the same time as St. Paul.
PRAYER: Lord God, You taught the Gentiles through St. Paul’s coworkers in Christ, Sts. Prisca and Aquila. As we celebrate their feast, grant that, following their example, we may be witness to Your truth in this world. Amen 🙏🏽
SAINT EDGAR THE PEACEMAKER: St. Edgar the Peacemaker (AD 943-975) known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death. King Edgar was the youngest child of King Edmund the Magnificent and St. Aelfgith. His mother died the year after his birth and his father when he was only three. He was, therefore, fostered by Aethelstan Half-King, the Ealdorman of East Anglia, and his wife, Aelfwinn. The family were keen supporters of monastic reform and Edgar’s education was therefore placed in the hands of the movement’s mastermind, St. Aethelwold, Abbot of Abingdon. In AD 955, Edgar’s uncle, King Edred, died and his elder brother, the fourteen year old Edwig, became King. However, when Edgar reached the same age two years later, the kingdom was divided and he was given the Northern regions of Mercia and Northumbria, while Edwig retained Wessex. Edgar immediately recalled his uncle’s advisor, St. Dunstan, from exile and made him Bishop of Worcester, before his transfer to London. Edwig died in AD 959 and Edgar became King of all England. Dunstan was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and Edgar naturally associated himself with the prelate’s extension of monastic reforms. The establishment of English Benedictine monasteries across the country became the central policy of Edgar’s reign. Though hugely successful, it was not universally popular. Vast areas of land were arbitrarily put under Church control, provoking considerable resentment which was to destabilize his son’s reign.
Though a good king, Edgar was not overly religious. His sexual appetite was legendary and gave rise to a number of stories. Soon after ascending the throne, he is said to have fallen for the beautiful daughter of a nobleman of Andover (Hampshire). While visiting the town, he demanded that she enter his bed that night. Her parents were, understandably, shocked and sent a maidservant to join the King in her place. After a long night of unbridled passion, Edgar was disappointed to find that his new conquest hurried from his bed early the next morning. The deception was thus revealed, as the girl explained that she must start work before the rest of the household arose. In a mad fury, the King confiscated all his hosts’ lands and made his bed-fellow their mistress. About AD 960, he married Ethelflaed Eneda (White-Duck), the daughter of a Hertfordshire nobleman named Ordmaer. She seems to have been some relation of Edgar’s foster-father, Aethelstan of East Anglia. They had one son, Edward, before the lady died, around AD 963. During this marriage, the King was by no means monogamous and seduced a young nun, named Wulfthrith, from Wilton Abbey (Wiltshire), carrying her off to Kemsing in Kent where their extended affair led to the birth of a daughter. The following year, Edgar heard of another great beauty, Aelfthrith the daughter of the Devonshire Thegn, Ordgar. He sent his foster-brother, Ealdorman Aethelwold of East Anglia to check her out; but the young man found her so stunning that he secretly married her and settled in distant Devon. Hearing that his foster-brother had married, but not to whom, the King insisted the newly-weds visit him at Court. Discovering Aethelwold’s duplicitous nature, Edgar took him out hunting in Harewood Forest (Hampshire) and thrust a javelin through his back! After Ethelflaed’s death, Edgar tried to persuade his lover, Wulfthrith, to marry him but the relationship seems to have been somewhat one-sided and she fled back to the safety of the confines of Wilton. He turned to Aethelwold’s widow instead and the two were married in AD 964.
Though Edgar had almost certainly been crowned King of Wessex at Kingston-upon-Thames, early in his reign, by AD 973, he wished to mark a new stage in the development of Anglo-Saxon kingship with a great coronation ceremony on the Mercian-Wessex border at Bath. In this ancient Imperial city, he was officially declared King of the English. Then he showed his extensive and effective military power, by marching his army north – swelled with Viking warriors – in a great show of strength. His navy joined him in Chester where the kings of the north assembled to submit to his overlordship: King Kenneth of Scots, King Malcolm of the Cumbrians, King Magnus of Man and the Isles, King Donald of Strathclyde, King Hywel Dda of Deheubrath, King Iago of Gwynedd, King Idwallon of Morgannwg and King Sigefrith (possibly a deputy in Norse York). According to tradition, originating with Florence of Worcester, they rowed King Edgar up River Dee, from the Royal palace to the monastery of St. John the Baptist. King Edgar died on 8th July AD 975 and was buried in St. Dunstan’s abbey at Glastonbury (Somerset) where he was revered as a saint, presumably for his monastic reforms and the stability he brought to the country, rather than his sexual conquests. After his death he was succeeded by his son Edward, although the succession was disputed. He’s Patron Saint of kings and widows and widower.
Saint Edgar the Peacemaker ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽
SAINT KILIAN ( ST. CILLIAN), BISHOP AND MARTYR: ) St. Kilian (c. 640-689 A.D.), also known as St. Cillian, was born to a noble family in Ireland. As a child he was known for his piety and love of study, which led him to the priesthood. He became a traveling bishop on the island, and in 686 A.D. left Ireland with eleven companions to travel throughout Gaul (present day France and parts of Germany) to preach the Gospel. From there he traveled to Rome to get official sanction from the Pope to become a missionary. Once obtained, St. Kilian returned north and settled in Würzburg as his base of activity along with two of his original companions. He began his work evangelizing the pagans in large parts of Franconia and Thuringia (north and central Germany), earning the name ‘Apostle of Franconia.’ Saint Kilian converted the Duke of Würzburg and convinced him to end his unlawful marriage. This greatly angered the Duke’s wife, who resisted St. Kilian’s attempts to convert her. While her husband was away, she had St. Kilian and his two missionary companions beheaded as they were preaching. A cathedral was built on the spot of their martyrdom by the first bishop of Würzburg. On St. Kilian’s feast his relics, along with those of his two companions, are paraded through the streets and put on display in the Würzburg Cathedral, which is dedicated to him. St. Kilian’s feast day is July 8th.
BLESSED PETER VIGNE, PRIEST: Blessed Peter Vigne (1670-1740), was a French Roman Catholic Priest, who established the Blessed Sacrament Sisters of Valence. He born on August 20, 1670. He grew up in a united family. He was a bright child and already at the age of eleven, he undertook some small tasks in St. Thomas Parish. On the 18th of September 1694 he was ordained priest by the bishop of Viviers (Ardeche). At 24 he is appointed to St Agreve Parish. From the beginning of his priestly life, meditation on the Word of God and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament were the driving force of his life. He undertook his ministry with generosity and worked tirelessly to draw people to GOD and help them in any way he could. He truly was a missionary. He left St Agreve in 1700 and joined the Vincentian Fathers, missionaries in Lyon, acting as a missionary and a preacher. This congregation preached missions in parishes. After a period of in initiation, Bl. Peter Vigne was sent with other priests to many different places around Lyons. His preaching was much appreciated and people flocked to hear him. His talent was being applauded by many because he preached with such conviction. Bl. Peter left the Vincentians in 1706 and became known as a travelling priest for the next three decades. He would preach and celebrate Mass at the places he visited and also visited the sick and carried out confessions. In 1712, he first came to hear of Boucieu, which was later to become the place of two great achievements for him. The Way of the Cross which he erected and the foundation of the Blessed Sacrement Sisters of Valence on November 30th 1715 and following this established schools for children.
A long-standing tradition relates that as a teenager, Peter Vigne, of Privas, France, abandoned the Catholic faith and set out for Geneva, Switzerland with the intent of becoming a Protestant minister. Along the way, he passed a priest carrying Viaticum to an invalid. Peter’s refusal to acknowledge the Blessed Sacrament with any act of reverence did not sit well with his horse, for it reared itself and threw him to the ground. The young man suddenly found himself on his knees before the Eucharist. The remarkable incident brought about an immediate conversion, prompting Peter to re-direct his steps to the Catholic seminary of Viviers. After becoming a priest and a Vincentian religious, he obtained permission from his superiors to serve as an itinerant preacher in the French countryside. In and around the village of Boucieu-le-Roi, he erected a series of thirty-nine Stations of the Cross, for which he recruited several young women to assist pilgrims in praying at the outdoor shrines. From this apostolate arose a new congregation, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, devoted to perpetual Eucharistic adoration. Bl. Peter Vigne died on July 8, 1740. He was beatified on October 3, 2004 by Pope John Paul II and proposed to the universal Church as an example of a tireless missionary and apostle of the Most Holy Sacrament.
“Lord, give me a love which is ever eager to live as You would have me live. May I always wish to glorify You and never forget Your Presence.” ~ Blessed Peter Vigne
Blessed Peter Vigne, Priest ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽
Leave a Reply