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Ordinary Time: January 18th

Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Other Commemorations: St. Prisca, Virgin and Martyr (RM)

MASS READINGS

January 18, 2025 (Readings on USCCB website)

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COLLECT PRAYER

First Week in Ordinary Time: Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. 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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Today is Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time. The Roman Martyrology today commemorates St. Prisca, virgin and martyr (d. 275). Under Emperor Claudius II in about 270 she gained the crown of martyrdom. Prisca should not be confused with Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, mentioned in the Acts, whose feast dates to the earliest days of Christianity.

Today is Day One of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18-25. The theme for 2024 is: "You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself." —Luke 10:27.


St. Prisca
Prisca, also known as Priscilla, was a child martyr of the early Roman Church. Born to Christian parents of a noble family, Prisca was raised during the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius. While Claudius did not persecute Christians with the same fervor as other emperors, Christians still did not practice their faith openly. In fact, Prisca's parents went to great lengths to conceal their faith, so as not to be suspected of being Christians.

Prisca, however, did not feel the need to take precaution. The young girl openly professed her dedication to Christ, and eventually, she was reported to the emperor. Claudius had her arrested, and commanded her to make a sacrifice to Apollo, the pagan god of the sun.

According to the legend, Prisca refused and was tortured for disobeying. Then, suddenly, a bright, yellow light shone about her, and she appeared to be a little star.

Claudius ordered that Prisca be taken away to prison, in the hopes that she would abandon Christ. When all efforts to change her mind were unsuccessful, she was taken to an amphitheatre and thrown in with a lion.

As the crowd watched, Prisca stood fearless. According to legend, the lion walked toward the barefoot girl, and then gently licked her feet. Disgusted by his thwarted efforts to dissuade Prisca, Claudius had her beheaded.

Seventh-century accounts of the grave sites of Roman martyrs refer to the discovery of an epitaph of a Roman Christian named Priscilla in a large catacomb and identifies her place of interment on the Via Salaria as the Catacomb of Priscilla.
—Excerpted from Ordinary People Extraordinary Lives.

Symbols and Representation: young woman with a one or more lions, an eagle and a sword

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