Memorials of Saints (February 5)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Agatha, virgin and martyr
• Avitus of Vienne, bishop
• Bertoul or Bertulf
• Indractus and Dominica, martyrs
• Vodalus or Voel
• Adelaide of Bellich, virgin
• The Martyrs of Japan
• Peter Baptist
• Martin de Aguirre
• Francis Blanco
• Francis-of-St.-Michael
• Philip de las Casas
• Gonsalo Garcia
• Paul Miki
• John Goto
• James Kisai
• Caius Francis
• Francis of Miako
• Leo Karasuma
• Louis Ibarki
• Antony Deynan
• Thomas Kasaki

Christian missionaries arrived with St. Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the 1540s A.D. and briefly flourished, with over 100,000 converts, including many daimyōs in Kyushu. At first, the Shogunate of Japan was amenable to their presence as they believed that this would reduce the power of the Buddhist monks over the people. However, when the Shogunate saw how colonialism took hold on the Philippines because of the conversion of the Filipinos to Catholicism, they became wary. Christianity eventually became a threat to the higher powers in the Japanese Shogunate and so was banned beginning in 1587 A.D. The repression took the lives of many Christian martyrs.

The Martyrs of Japan, Learn more at Wikipedia.org

Saints in the Roman Calendar - February 5 [Learn more]

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 5]

• St. Agatha, Martyr

St. Agatha (d. ca. 251 A.D.) is commemorated today, February 5, in both the Roman Calendar and the Byzantine Calendar. Although facts about her life and death are uncertain, devotion to her developed early in the history of the Church. Her name is included in the Martyrology of Jerome and on the liturgical calendar of Carthage (ca. 530 A.D.). St. Agatha is also mentioned in the Canon of the Roman Mass. Pope Damasus I composed a hymn in her honor, and two churches were dedicated to her in Rome during the sixth century A.D.

One story says that Agatha made a vow of virginity which a Roman consul attempted to violate. Upon her refusal, she was subjected to torture, including the cutting off of her breasts. However, her vision of the Apostle Peter healed her miraculously. Having suffered so much because of all the torture inflicted upon her, she died in prison. St. Agatha is invoked against diseases of the breast as well as against volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. She is also patron saints of nurses and firefighters. Her feast remains on the General Roman Calendar even after the revisions of Vatican II in the Church's liturgy in 1969 A.D. The Russian Orthodox Church also celebrates her feast on this day.

A Prayer to St. Agatha, @DivineMercyPrayer YouTube.com

Memorial of Saints (February 4)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Andrew Corsini, bishop and confessor
• Theophilus the Penitent
• Phileas, bishop and martyr
• Isidore of Pelusium, abbot
• Modan, abbot
• Nicholas Studites, abbot
• Rembert, bishop
• Joan of Valois, matron
• Joseph of Leonessa
• John de Britto, martyr
• Rabanus Maurus, abbot and bishop

St. Rabanus Maurus or Raban Maur (780-856 A.D.) is credited with composing the hymn "Veni, Creator Spiritus" (Latin for Come, Creator Spirit), and laying the foundation for another hymn, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords", both of which are still sung today.

Said to be born at Mainz, Germany, (or Ireland or probably Scotland), he was educated at the monastery at Fulda under Abbot Bangulf and at Tours under Alcuin. Under Alcuin, Rabanus became a part of the Carolingian renewal of biblical studies and liturgy.

Rabanus returned to Fulda and became master of its school in about 799 A.D. He was ordained in 815 A.D. and became abbot in 822 A.D. He resigned from this position to retire in 842 A.D. but then five years later, in 847 A.D., at the age of 71, he was elected archbishop of Mainz. He imposed strict discipline on his clergy which almost led to a conspiracy against him. But he is more known as the one who helped alleviate a famine by feeding the poor at his episcopal residence. Aside from the Veni Creator Spiritus, he also composed and wrote a martyrology, poetry, and about 64 extant homilies. He died at Winkel, near Mainz.

Veni, Creator Spiritus
by Rabanus Maurus

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator come,
From thy bright heavenly throne!
Come, take possession of our souls,
And make them all thine own!

Thou who art called the Paraclete,
Best gift of God above,
The living spring, the living fire,
Sweet unction, and true love!

Thou who are sevenfold in thy grace,
Finger of God's right hand,
His promise, teaching little ones
To speak and understand!

O guide our minds with thy blest light,
With love our hearts inflame,
And with thy strength which ne'er decays
Confirm our mortal frame.

Far from us drive our hellish foe,
True peace unto us bring,
And through all perils guide us safe
Beneath thy sacred wing.

Through thee may we the Father know,
Through thee the eternal Son,
And thee the Spirit of them both
Thrice-blessed three in one.

All glory to the Father be,
And to the risen Son;
The same to thee, O Paraclete,
While endless ages run. Amen.

Veni, Creator Spiritus, in Gregorian chant, YouTube.com (2:50 minutes)

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 4]

• Isidore of Pelusium
• St. Jador, Martyr

Memorial of Saints (February 3)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Blase, bishop and martyr
• Ansgar, bishop
• Laurence of Spoleto, bishop
• Ia, virgin
• Laurence of Canterbury, bishop
• Werburga, virgin
• Margaret of England, virgin
• Aelred of Rievaulx, abbot

St. Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167 A.D.) was born in Hexham, England. He became master of the household in the court of King David of Scotland where he was loved for his piety, gentleness and spirituality.

Desiring a more austere life, he left Scotland at 24 years of age to become a Cistercian monk at Rievaulx, Yorkshire, England. He became abbot, first at a new Cistercian monastery in Revesby in 1142 A.D., and then at Rievaulx five years later in 1147 A.D. Considered a saint in his own lifetime, he wrote on the spiritual life in "On Spiritual Friendship".

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 3]

• St. Simeon the Venerable-Senex and Theofer