SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 18TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT GREGORY BARBARIGO, BISHOP OF PADUA AND CARDINAL AND SAINTS MARK AND MARCELLIANUS, MARTYRS ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 18TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Gregory Barbarigo, Bishop of Padua and Cardinal and Saints Mark and Marcellianus, Martyrs. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the poor and the needy. We also pray for the sick and dying, particularly those who are sick with cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, with special intention for all Priests, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏🏽

SAINT GREGORY BARBARIGO, BISHOP OF PADUA AND CARDINAL: St. Gregory Barbarigo  (1625-1697) was the Bishop of Bergamo and of Padua. St. Gregory had all the skills for a successful life in politics, but instead dedicated himself to serving the Church. St. Gregory was noted as a distinguished churchman and leading citizen whose charities were on a princely scale. He worked for unity of the Latin and Orthodox Churches. St. Gregory was born on September 16, 1625, the son of a senator from Venice, Italy and of a very old and distinguished Venetian family and were held in high repute by the people there. He was the fourth son. He was a brilliant student and excelled in his studies at an early age. He became interested in diplomacy and statesmanship and embraced a diplomatic career with well-connected family. He knew Contarini, the Venetian ambassador, and accompanied him on ambassadorial mission and to several important negotiations and traveled extensively. He accompanied Contarini, to the Congress of Munster in 1648. After five years with the ambassador, he returned to Italy to continue his studies and to enter the world of politics. He soon became disillusioned by the political world, however, and sought advice from a cardinal he had met in his travels. St. Gregory was thinking of becoming a hermit, but the cardinal advised him to pursue his doctorate in law, then become a priest. Ten years later, St. Gregory had earned a doctorate in both civil and canon law and was ordained a priest.

After he was ordained a priest in 1655, he organized care for the plague-stricken people of Rome. His skills were valuable to the Church and he soon was named a bishop in 1657. Pope Alexander VII made him the first Bishop of Bergamo. He was a leader in promoting the reforms set forth by the Council of Trent, St. Gregory Barbarigo worked unceasingly in carrying out the reforms. St. Gregory was extremely interested in higher education and worked for the development of seminaries and libraries. He visited parishes, organizing the teaching of Christian doctrine and also worked with seminarians and clergy to raise their standards. Through his efforts the seminaries of both Bergamo and Padua were substantially enlarged. At Padua, he established a library and a printing press that printed pamphlets for Christians under Moslem rule. He was active in laboring to bring about a reunion with the Greek Church and worked hard to carry out the reforms that the Church was encouraging at the time. St. Gregory took part in five papal Conclaves (for the election of the Pope) and was a candidate in three of them. It is recorded that his congregation thought him to be a man filled with wisdom. His work was so respected that in 1660, he was elevated to the rank of Cardinal and also given authority over the diocese of Padua, Italy, and he guided his flock with pastoral wisdom and deep understanding. He died in 1697 and was canonized in 1960 by Pope St. John XXIII.

PRAYER: God, You willed that St. Gregory, Your Bishop, should shine forth with pastoral solicitude and compassion for the poor. Help us who celebrate his merits to imitate the example of his charity. Amen🙏🏽

SAINTS MARK AND MARCELLIANUS, MARTYRS: Sts. Mark (Marcus) and Marcellianus (d. 286 A.D.) were twin brothers who were martyred for their faith in Rome under Emperor Diocletian. Sts. Mark and Marcellianus were twin brothers from a noble Roman family born to Tranquillinus and Martia. They had converted to Christianity when they were young and were now deacons in the Roman Church. Although the boys had converted in their youth, their parents remained unconverted. Sts. Mark and Marcellianus were honorably married, each brother had a wife and children. When Diocletian ascended the imperial throne in 284, the pagans raised persecutions; the brothers were arrested and thrown into prison for being Christians. They were threatened with the loss of their lives, unless they offered sacrifices to the Roman gods and condemned to be beheaded. Their friends intervened and obtained a thirty-day reprieve, the delay of the execution was in the hope of being able to persuade the two brothers to renounce their faith and make the required sacrifices. Their wives and little children, along with their unconverted parents, begged them with tears and pleading, to make the sacrifices to the Roman gods so they could be saved. Although they had been released from the prison on a thirty-day reprieve, they were still kept under guard and basically prisoners in the home of the public registrar Nicostratus. At that same time, St. Sebastian was a Roman officer in the emperor’s household. St. Sebastian visited Mark and Marcellianus every day and gave them encouragement to persevere and stand strong in their faith. St. Sebastian’s exhortation was so persuasive that the parents of Sts. Marcellianus and Mark were converted, along with several friends who were present, as well as the other prisoners.

The issue of the conferences was the happy conversion of the father, mother, and wives, also of Nicostratus, the public stenographer, and soon afterwards of Chromatius, the judge, who set the Saints at liberty and abdicating the magistracy, retired into the country. All of these new Christian converts were eventually martyred alongside Sts. Mark and Marcellianus. Sts. Mark and Marcellianus were concealed by a Christian officer of the imperial household, in his apartments in the palace, but they were betrayed by an apostate and reimprisoned. Fabian, a judge who had succeeded Chromatius, condemned them to be bound to two pillars, their feet nailed to the wood  post. In this posture they remained a day and a night, and on the following day were stabbed with lances. Their martyrdom occurred in the year 286. Their tomb and that of their father, Saint Tranquillinus, was found in Rome, in 1782, in the church of Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, adjoining that of the martyred pope, Saint Felix II. They are honored particularly in Spain, where the city of Badajoz escaped destruction by their intercession. Their feast day is June 18th.

Saints Marcus and Marcellianus, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽