Catholic Culture Dedication
Catholic Culture Dedication
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Ordinary Time: November 12th

Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

MASS READINGS

November 12, 2022 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Memorial of St. Josaphat: Stir up in your Church, we pray, O Lord, the Spirit that filled Saint Josaphat as he laid down his life for the sheep, so that through his intercession we, too, may be strengthened by the same Spirit and not be afraid to lay down our life for others. 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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Entrance Antiphon:

Because of the Lord’s covenant and the ancestral laws, the Saints of God persevered in loving brotherhood, for there was always one spirit in them, and one faith.


Gospel Verse, Jn 15:9b, 5b:

Remain in my love, says the Lord; whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.


Communion Antiphon, Mt 10:39:

Whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it in eternity, says the Lord.


Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Josaphat (1580-1643), a Catholic of the Ruthenian rite. He was an apostle of the return of the Orthodox schismatics to the Church of Rome. Born in the then Polish region of Lithuania of Orthodox parents, he became a Catholic and a Ukrainian Basilian monk. Chosen bishop, he worked faithfully for the unity of the Church until he suffered martyrdom at the hands of an angry mob in Russia in 1623 at the age of forty-three. He is one of the patrons of Poland.


St. Josaphat
Josaphat Kuncewitcz was born about the year 1580 at Vladimir, Volhynia, [part of the Polish province of Lithuania at the time] and given the name John at baptism. While being instructed as a child on the sufferings of our Savior, his heart is said to have been wounded by an arrow from the sacred side of the Crucified. In 1604 he joined the Ukrainian Order of Saint Basil (Basilians), lived as a monk in a very mortified life, went barefoot even in winter, refrained from the use of wine and flesh-meat, and always wore a penitential garb. In 1614 he was appointed archimandrite of Vilna, Russia and four years later archbishop of Polotzk; in this position he worked untiringly for Church reunion. He was a great friend of the poor, once even pledged his archepiscopal omophorion (pallium) to support a poor widow. The foes of union decided to assassinate him. In a sermon, he himself spoke of his death as imminent. When he visited Vitebsk (now in Russia), his enemies attacked his lodging and murdered a number of his companions. Meekly the man of God hastened toward the mob and, full of love, cried, "My children, what are you doing? If you have something against me, see, here I am." With furious cries of "Kill the papist!", they rushed upon him with gun and sword. Josaphat's body was thrown into the river but emerged, surrounded by rays of light, and was recovered. His murderers, when sentenced to death, repented their crime and became Catholics.

—Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Ukraine; eparchy of Edmonton, Alberta; eparchy of Toronto, Ontario

Often Represented With: chalice; crown; winged deacon

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