Christmas: January 8th
Saturday after Epiphany
Other Commemorations: St. Laurence Justinian, Bishop and Confessor (RM); Our Lady of Prompt Succor
MASS READINGS
January 08, 2005 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
God our Father, through your Son you made us a new creation. He shared our nature and became one of us; with his help, may we become more like him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Today is the last day in the Christmas season when we focus on the feast of the Epiphany.
St. Lawrence Justinian
Lawrence, an illustrious example of humility, the "ornament and glory of bishops" (according to Pope Eugene IV), was the first patriarch of Venice. A very pious youth, he was favored in his nineteenth year with a vision of the Eternal Wisdom in the guise of a maiden encircled with light. She invited him to seek her with happiness, rather than satiate his baser lusts. He obeyed the invitation. Soon thereafter he became a clerk regular of St. George on the island of Alga, later bishop of Venice.
Some of St. Lawrence's special charisms were the gift of tears, power over devils, prophecy. One Christmas night the Christ-Child appeared to him. When an attempt was made during his last sickness to put him on a more comfortable bed, he refused this pleasure with the words, "My Savior died not on feathers but on the hard wood of the Cross," and requested to be laid on his usual couch. As he felt his last moments approaching, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, "I am coming, good Jesus, to You," and slept blessedly in the Lord (January 8, 1455). At the time Venice was at the zenith of its influence and wealth. But God made that proud city understand that her greatness resulted more from the sanctity of her poor patriarch Lawrence than from the diplomacy of her doges and the power of her galleys.
—Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Symbols: Bishop’s mitre; bishop’s crosier.
Things to Do:
- Learn more about St. Lawrence at St. Lawrence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice and at Catholicism Has the Answer.
- Read Two Great Saints on Prayer.
- Read this long account of St. Lawrence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice from Lives of the Saints by Weninger D.D., S.J.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor
Devotion to Our Lady of Prompt Succor dates back to 1802, when the Ursuline Order in New Orleans pleaded for help in sustaining the Order with new sisters from France. Their prayers were answered with papal permission for sisters to be transferred from France to New Orleans. In thanksgiving for this favor, the Ursulines dedicated a statue in their convent chapel to Our Lady of Prompt Succor in 1810.
In 1812, a terrible fire broke out in New Orleans, and the wind was blowing the flames toward the convent. Prayers before the statue of Our Lady were answered with a reversal of the wind direction and the convent was spared.
During the Battle of New Orleans, in 1815, the sisters again invoked the assistance of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. As the sound of guns and cannons thundered around the chapel during Mass, they vowed to have a Mass of Thanksgiving sung every year if the Americans were victorious. At Communion time, a messenger arrived with the news that Gen. Andrew Jackson's overmatched army had successfully driven the British from the city. Once again Our Lady had responded promptly.
In 1928, the Holy See approved the selection of Our Lady of Prompt Succor as the Patroness of the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The Mass of Thanksgiving is offered each January 8 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in New Orleans.
Patronage: State of Louisiana; the Archdiocese of New Orleans; City of New Orleans
Highlights and Things to Do:
- Visit virtually National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.
- Read more about Our Lady of Prompt Succor:
