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Ordinary Time: October 8th
Thursday of the Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
Other Commemorations: St. Bridget of Sweden, widow; Sts. Sergius, Bacchus, Marcellus and Apuleius, martyrs; Our Lady of Good Remedy (Hist); St. Demetrius (Hist)
MASS READINGS
October 08, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Bridget of Sweden, widow.
It is also the feast of Sts. Sergius, Bacchus, Marcellus and Apuleius, Roman martyrs. In the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, these martyrs, plus many others, are honored on June 30 and St. Bridget is celebrated on July 23.
Historically today is the feast of St. Demetrius of Sirmium who was both soldier and martyr; he suffered in the early 4th century under Maximian. He became immensely popular in the East, where he was called ‘The Great Martyr,’ and subsequently in the West.
St. Bridget of Sweden
St. Bridget received visions of Christ’s suffering many times throughout her life and went on to found the order of the Most Holy Savior.
Daughter of Birger Persson, the governor and provincial judge of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, Bridget was born in Sweden in 1303. From the time she was a child, she was greatly devoted to the passion of Jesus.
When she was only ten, it is recorded that she had a vision of Jesus on the cross and heard him say, “Look at me, my daughter."
"Who has treated you like this?" cried little Bridget.
Jesus answered, "Those who despise me and refuse my love for them.” From that moment on, Bridget tried to stop people from offending Jesus.
When she was 14, Bridget married an 18-year old man named Ulf. Like Bridget, Ulf had set his heart on serving God. They had eight children, of whom one was St. Catherine of Sweden. Bridget and Ulf also served the Swedish court, Bridget as the queen's personal maid. Bridget tried to help King Magnus and Queen Blanche lead better lives, however, for the most part, they did not listen to her.
All her life, Bridget had marvelous visions and received special messages from God. In obedience to them, she visited many rulers and important people in the Church. She explained humbly what God expected of them.
After her husband died, Bridget put away her rich clothes and lived as a poor nun. Later, in 1346, she began the order of the Most Holy Savior, also known as Bridgettines. She still kept up her own busy life, traveling about doing good everywhere she went. And through all this activity, Jesus continued to reveal many secrets to her, which she received without the least bit of pride.
Shortly before she died, the saint went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. At the shrines there, she had visions of what Jesus had said and done in each place.
All St. Bridget's revelations on the sufferings of Jesus were published after her death.
St. Bridget died in Rome on July 23, 1373. She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Boniface IX in 1391.
—Excerpted from the
Catholic News AgencyPatronage: Europe; Sweden; widows
Symbols: nun in Brigittine habit, cross on forehead with book, pilgrim's staff, sometimes shells sewn onto the habit; nun writing with angel over shoulder
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus
Sergius and Bacchus were martyrs under the Diocletian persecution around the year 303 A.D. Legend states that Sergius was an officer in the Roman army and Bacchus an officer under him, and both were friends of Emperor Maximian. When they did not enter a temple of Jupiter with the Emperor, he ordered them to do so. When they further refused his order that they sacrifice to pagan gods, they were humiliated by being led through the streets of Arabissus in women's garb. Maximian then sent them to Rosafa, Mesopotamia, where they were scourged so terribly that Bacchus died of the scourging. Sergius was then tortured further and beheaded.
Symbols: Former with cross; white shield with gold cross fleuree; scourges.
Things to Do:
Sts. Marcellus and Apuleius
At Rome, the holy martyrs Marcellus and Apuleius, who at first were followers of Simon Magus, but seeing the wonders performed through the Apostle Peter, they abandoned Simon and embraced the apostolic doctrine. After the death of the apostles, under the proconsul Aurelian, they won the crown of martyrdom and were buried near the City.
—
Roman Martyrology
St. Demetrius
Saint Demetrius was born to a wealthy, noble family and raised Christian. He was a soldier and a Deacon. He was raised to the rank of Duke of Thessaly by the Emperor Maximian. But when he was found to be a Christian he was arrested and imprisoned in a bath-house. He was run through with spears c.306 at Sirmium (in modern Serbia).
St. Demetrius was extremely popular in the Middle Ages and was reported to have appeared during a battle in 586, centuries after his death to help defend Thessalonica.
Over 200 churches in the Balkans are known to have been dedicated to him. His relics were said to emit holy oil.
—Excerpted from
Evangelizo.org 2001-2014
Demetrius was probably a deacon who was martyred sometime before the fifth century at Sirmium (Mitrovic in former Yugoslavia). During that century two churches were built in his honor, one at Sirmium and the other at Thessalonica. It may be that the cult of the saint migrated from Sirmium when Leontius, the prefect of Illyricum, moved the seat of civil suthority to Thessalonica–he is reputed to have built both churches. Certainly Demetrius was honored as a saint at Sirmium before the church at Thessalonica was built. Sirmium, however, was destroyed by the invading Huns in 441, and it was the second church that became the principal center for the cult of the martyr and attracted very large numbers of pilgrims. The church was destroyed by fire in 1917 but has since been rebuilt; it was obviously meant to hold a great number of people.
In time Demetrius became known as "the Great Martyr," and a legend grew up about his life. According to this he had been a citizen of Thessalonica who had been arrested for preaching the gospel and executed without trial in the local baths.The church was built over the baths and incorporated part of them as a kind of crypt. At a later date relics of the saint were said to exude a miraculous oil, but the arrangements whereby the pilgrims could collect some of this seem to have been quite fraudulent.
The earliest written account we have dates from the ninth century and says that the order for his execution came from the emperor Maximian himself. Later accounts make out that he was a proconsul (this is how the
Roman Martyrology described him) or a warrior-saint similar to St. George and second only to him in popularity. He as one of the saints adopted by the Crusaders as their patrons in battle. None of these later accounts can be trusted, though we can be sure of the existence of a martyr of that name. His feastday is kept with great solemnity throughout the Eastern Church on October 26, and he is named in the preparation of the Byzantine liturgy. The popular Slav name, Dmitry, comes from him. His cult was popular also in Ravenna in Italy, where the earliest chapel was dedicated in his honor.
The original basilica, destroyed in 1917, had important mosaics from the sixth to the ninth century; in these Demetrius was portrayed as a deacon. More often he was depicted as a soldier.
—Excerpted from
Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume 10Patron: Thessalonica, Greece; patron of soldiers; patron of the Crusades
