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
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