St. Abreha and Atzbeha (Aizan and Sazana)
Feastday: October 1
We are Christian kings of Abyssinia (the first, after Queen Candace).
We helped protect Frumentius (Aba Salamah), from Emperor Constantius
St. Abreha and Atzbeha (Aizan and Sazana)
Feastday: October 1
We are Christian kings of Abyssinia (the first, after Queen Candace).
We helped protect Frumentius (Aba Salamah), from Emperor Constantius
St. Aizan and Sazana (Abreha and Atzbeha)
Feastday: October 1
We are Christian kings of Abyssinia (the first, after Queen Candace). We helped protect Frumentius (Aba Salamah), from Emperor Constantius. 1 Oct. Ethiopian Coptic Calendar.
St. Aretas and Companions
Feastday: October 1
Death: unknown
St. Benedict Home Blessing Door Hanger BOGO 50% OFF
Martyrs, numbering 505, who suffered in Rome. They were listed in early martyrologies and were numbered by Usuardus.
St. Bavo
Feastday: October 1
Patron: of Ghent; Haarlem; Lauwe
Birth: 622
Death: 659
Image of St. Bavo
This famous hermit, also called Allowin, was a nobleman, and native of that part of Brabant called Hesbaye. After having led a very irregular life he was left a widower, and was moved to conversion to God by a sermon which he heard St. Amand preach at Ghent. Going home he distributed all his money among the poor, and went to the monastery at Ghent that was afterwards called by his name. Here Bavo received the tonsure at the hand of St. Amand and was animated to advance daily in the fervor of his penance and the practice of virtue. St. Bavo seemed to have accompanied St. Amand on his missionary journeys in France and Flanders, setting an example by the humiliation of his heart, the mortification of his will, and the rigor of his austerities. St. Amand after some time gave him leave to lead an eremitical life, and he is said first to have chosen for his abode a hollow trunk of a large tree, but afterward, built himself a cell at Mendonck, where vegetables and water were his chief subsistance. St. Bavo is said on one occasion to have done penance for selling a man into serfdom by making the man lead him by a chain to the common lockup. Bavo at length returned to the monastery at Ghent, where St. Amand had appointed St. Floribert Abbot; and with his approval Bavo built himself a new cell in a neighboring wood, where he lived a recluse until the end of his life. St. Amand and St. Floribert attended him on his death bed and his peaceful passage made a deep impression on all who were present. As in the diocese of Ghent so that in Haarlem in Holland, St. Bavo is titular of the Cathedral and patron of the diocese. His feast day is October 1.
Bl. Caspar Fisogiro
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1617
Martyr of Japan. A convert, he became a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. Arrested for befriending Blessed Alphonse Navarrete, O.P., Caspar was put to death at Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867.
St. Dodo
Feastday: October 1
Death: 750
Benedictine abbot trained by St. Ursmar. A monk at Lobbes, Belgium, he became abbot of Wallers-en-Faigne, France.
Bl. Edward James
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1588
English martyr. He was born near Breaston, and studied at Oxford, England. Converting to the faith, Edward studied at Reims, France, and Rome, and was ordained in 1583. Returning as a missionary to England, he was arrested and martyred at Chichester. He was beatified in 1929.
St. Fidharleus
Feastday: October 1
Death: 762
Irish abbot who restored Rathin Abbey, Iredland.
Bl. John Robinson
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1588
Martyr of England. He was from Ferrensby, Yorkshire, and a widower who went to Reims for ordination. Ordained in 1585, John went back to England and was executed at Ipswich, receiving beatification in 1929.
St. Melorius
Feastday: October 1
Death: unknown
Prince of Cornwall, England, who was murdered as a child. Also listed as Mylor, Melar, and Melorus, he was the victim of an uncle's ambitions. He was venerated in Amesbury, England, in Brittany, and in Cornwall. The tale has several versions, most dating to the Middle Ages.
St. Nicetius of Trier
Feastday: October 1
Birth: 513
Death: 566
Nicetius, of Auvergne, France, had been serving as abbot of a monastery in Limoges when he was nominated by the Frankish King Theodoric I to become bishop of Trier, Germany. While journeying to Trier to be consecrated, Nicetius did not hesitate to condemn the royal officials accompanying him when one evening these men released their horses into the wheat fields of the local peasants, ruining their crops. In response to Nicetius' threat to excommunicate the perpetrators, the officers laughed at him, but he continued: "The king has drawn me, a poor abbot, from my quiet cloister, to set me over this people, and by God's grace I will do my duty by them and protect them from wrong and robbery." Nicetius then went after the horses himself to drive them out of the peasants' fields. As bishop of Trier, Nicetius manifested great apostolic courage in excommunicating those who entered into incestuous marriages and in denouncing from the pulpit public officials guilty of grave evils. For a time he suffered banishment for condemning the crimes of King Clotaire I.
For other uses, see Nicetius (disambiguation).
Saint Nicetius (French: Saint Nizier) (c.525 - c.566) was a bishop of Trier, born in the latter part of the fifth century, exact date unknown; died in 563 or more probably 566.[2]
Nicetius was the most important bishop of the ancient see of Trier, in the era when, after the disorders of the Migrations, Frankish supremacy began in what had been Roman Gaul. Considerable detail of the life of this zealous bishop is known from various sources, from letters written either by or to him, from two poems of Venantius Fortunatus and above all from the statements of his pupil Aredius, later Abbot of Limoges, which have been preserved by Gregory of Tours.[3]
Life
Pastoral work
Nicetius came from a Gallo-Roman family; he was a native of Aquitaine.[4] From his youth he devoted himself to religious life and entered a monastery. Theuderic I (511-34) had encouraged clerics from Acquitaine to work in the Rhineland. The king came to esteem Nicetius despite his often remonstrating with him on his wrongdoing without, however, any loss of favour. After the death of Bishop Aprunculus of Trier, an embassy of the clergy and citizens of Trier came to the royal court to elect a new bishop. They desired Saint Gallus, but the king refused his consent. It was through Theuderic's patronage that Nicetius was confirmed as bishop. About 527 Nicetius set out as the new bishop for Trier, accompanied by an escort sent by the king, and while on the journey had opportunity to make known his firmness in the administration of his office.[3]
Trier had suffered terribly during the disorders of the Migrations. One of the first cares of the new bishop was to rebuild the cathedral church, the restoration of which is mentioned by the poet Venantius Fortunatus. He imported Italian craftmen to work on churches. Archæological research has shown, in the cathedral of Trier, the existence of mason-work belonging to the Frankish period which may belong to this reconstruction by Nicetius. A fortified castle (castellum) with a chapel built by him on the river Moselle is also mentioned by the same poet. Bishop Nicetius replanted vineyards on the slopes above the Moselle, to restore the area's wine business.[4]
The bishop devoted himself with great zeal to his pastoral duty. He preached daily, opposed vigorously the numerous evils in the moral life both of the higher classes and of the common people, and in so doing did not spare the king and his courtiers. Disregarding threats, he steadfastly fulfilled his duty. He excommunicated King Chlothar I (511-61), who for some time was sole ruler of the Frankish dominions, on account of his misdeeds; in return the king exiled the determined bishop in 560. The king died, however, in the following year, and his son and successor Sigebert I, the ruler of Austrasia (561-75), allowed Nicetius to return home. Nicetius took part in several synods of the Frankish bishops: the synod of Clermont (535), of Orléans (549), the second synod of Council of Clermont (549), the synod of Toul (550), at which he presided, and the synod of Paris (555).[3]
Correspondence and personal life
Nicetius corresponded with ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank in distant places. Letters are extant that were written to him by Abbot Florianus of Romain-Moûtier (Canton of Vaud, Switzerland), by Bishop Rufus of Octodurum (now Martigny, in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland), and by Archbishop Mappinius of Reims.
The general interests of the Church did not escape his watchful care. He wrote an urgent letter to Emperor Justinian of Constantinople in regard to the emperor's position in the controversies arising from Monophysitism. Another letter that has been preserved is to Chlothsind, wife of the Lombard King Alboin, in which he exhorts this princess to do everything possible to bring her husband over to the Catholic faith.
In his personal life Nicetius was very ascetic and self-mortifying; he fasted frequently, and while the priests and clerics who lived with him were at their evening meal he would go, concealed by a hooded cloak, to pray in the churches of the city. He founded a school of his own for the training of the clergy. The best known of his pupils is the later Abbot of Limoges, Aredius, who was the authority of Gregory of Tours for the latter's biographical account of Nicetius. Gregory of Tours, wrote the oldest Nicetius Vita, and praised the fearless advocacy of the Bishop.
Veneration
Nicetius was buried in the church of St. Maximin at Trier. In the diocese of Trier, he is revered as a saint. His feast day is celebrated at Trier on 1 October; in the Roman Martyrology his name is placed under 5 December.[5][6][7]
St. Nicetius
Feastday: October 1
Birth: 513
Death: 566
Also Nicetius of Trier, bishop of Trier, Germany. Born at Auvergne, he entered the monastic life, probably at Limoges, and became an abbot. Ordained in 532, he was the last Gallo Roman namedbi shop of Trier, his elevation coming through the influence of the Ostrogothic King Theodoric I. Nicetius endured the oppression of several Frankish kings and was exiled by King Clotaire after the bishop excommunicated the ruler. Recalled after Clotaire's death, he labored to improve ecclesiastical discipline and condemned all forms of vice and corruption. He also restored the city cathedral and founded a school for clerics.
For other uses, see Nicetius (disambiguation).
Saint Nicetius (French: Saint Nizier) (c.525 - c.566) was a bishop of Trier, born in the latter part of the fifth century, exact date unknown; died in 563 or more probably 566.[2]
Nicetius was the most important bishop of the ancient see of Trier, in the era when, after the disorders of the Migrations, Frankish supremacy began in what had been Roman Gaul. Considerable detail of the life of this zealous bishop is known from various sources, from letters written either by or to him, from two poems of Venantius Fortunatus and above all from the statements of his pupil Aredius, later Abbot of Limoges, which have been preserved by Gregory of Tours.[3]
Pastoral work
Nicetius came from a Gallo-Roman family; he was a native of Aquitaine.[4] From his youth he devoted himself to religious life and entered a monastery. Theuderic I (511-34) had encouraged clerics from Acquitaine to work in the Rhineland. The king came to esteem Nicetius despite his often remonstrating with him on his wrongdoing without, however, any loss of favour. After the death of Bishop Aprunculus of Trier, an embassy of the clergy and citizens of Trier came to the royal court to elect a new bishop. They desired Saint Gallus, but the king refused his consent. It was through Theuderic's patronage that Nicetius was confirmed as bishop. About 527 Nicetius set out as the new bishop for Trier, accompanied by an escort sent by the king, and while on the journey had opportunity to make known his firmness in the administration of his office.[3]
Trier had suffered terribly during the disorders of the Migrations. One of the first cares of the new bishop was to rebuild the cathedral church, the restoration of which is mentioned by the poet Venantius Fortunatus. He imported Italian craftmen to work on churches. Archæological research has shown, in the cathedral of Trier, the existence of mason-work belonging to the Frankish period which may belong to this reconstruction by Nicetius. A fortified castle (castellum) with a chapel built by him on the river Moselle is also mentioned by the same poet. Bishop Nicetius replanted vineyards on the slopes above the Moselle, to restore the area's wine business.[4]
The bishop devoted himself with great zeal to his pastoral duty. He preached daily, opposed vigorously the numerous evils in the moral life both of the higher classes and of the common people, and in so doing did not spare the king and his courtiers. Disregarding threats, he steadfastly fulfilled his duty. He excommunicated King Chlothar I (511-61), who for some time was sole ruler of the Frankish dominions, on account of his misdeeds; in return the king exiled the determined bishop in 560. The king died, however, in the following year, and his son and successor Sigebert I, the ruler of Austrasia (561-75), allowed Nicetius to return home. Nicetius took part in several synods of the Frankish bishops: the synod of Clermont (535), of Orléans (549), the second synod of Council of Clermont (549), the synod of Toul (550), at which he presided, and the synod of Paris (555).[3]
Correspondence and personal life
Nicetius corresponded with ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank in distant places. Letters are extant that were written to him by Abbot Florianus of Romain-Moûtier (Canton of Vaud, Switzerland), by Bishop Rufus of Octodurum (now Martigny, in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland), and by Archbishop Mappinius of Reims.
The general interests of the Church did not escape his watchful care. He wrote an urgent letter to Emperor Justinian of Constantinople in regard to the emperor's position in the controversies arising from Monophysitism. Another letter that has been preserved is to Chlothsind, wife of the Lombard King Alboin, in which he exhorts this princess to do everything possible to bring her husband over to the Catholic faith.
In his personal life Nicetius was very ascetic and self-mortifying; he fasted frequently, and while the priests and clerics who lived with him were at their evening meal he would go, concealed by a hooded cloak, to pray in the churches of the city. He founded a school of his own for the training of the clergy. The best known of his pupils is the later Abbot of Limoges, Aredius, who was the authority of Gregory of Tours for the latter's biographical account of Nicetius. Gregory of Tours, wrote the oldest Nicetius Vita, and praised the fearless advocacy of the Bishop.
Veneration
Nicetius was buried in the church of St. Maximin at Trier. In the diocese of Trier, he is revered as a saint. His feast day is celebrated at Trier on 1 October; in the Roman Martyrology his name is placed under 5 December.[5][6][7]
The genuineness of two treatises ascribed to him is doubtful: "De Vigiliis servorum Dei" and "De Psalmodiæ Bono
St. Piaton
Feastday: October 1
Death: 286
Image of St. Piaton
Martyr, also called Piat, supposedly responsible for evangelizing the regions of Gaul, in modem Tours, and Chartres. He was martyred at Toumai by Roman officials.
Redirect to:
St. Ralph Crockett
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1588
English martyr. Born at Barton on the Hill, in Cheshire, he was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, and Gloucester Hall, Oxford, and became a schoolmaster in Norfolk and Suffolk. Departing England, he went to Reims, France, and there studied for the priesthood, receiving ordination in 1586 . Returning home to undertake the hazardous work of reconverting the island, he was arrested with Blessed Edward James and was imprisoned for two and a half years in London before being taken to Chichester. Ralph was martyred at Chichester by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was beatified in 1929.
Blessed Ralph Crockett (b. at Barton, near Farndon, Cheshire 1522; executed at Chichester, 1 October 1588) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929.
Life
Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge,[1] he became a schoolmaster in Norfolk for a year before going to Gloucester Hall, Oxford. After a year, he went to Ipswich, where he was a schoolmaster for five years. In 1581, persecutions increased after the death of Edmund Campion, so he withdrew to Cheshire for about two years.[2]
In 1584, he left for France, and began studies at the English College then located at Rheims. He was ordained at Rheims in 1585, and continued his studies for a year, but his health being compromised, he asked to return to England. He and three other priests, Thomas Bramston, George Potter, and Edward James, left from Dieppe, but the ship ran ashore 19 April 1586 at Littlehampton, Sussex, a place aas carefully watched as any in the kingdom.[2] All were sent up to London and committed to the Marshalsea 27 April 1586.[3]
After the failure of the Spanish Armada, the English Government took severe measures against some of the Catholic priests in its custody. Crockett and James with two others, John Oven and Francis Edwardes, were selected for trial, which took place at Chichester on 30 September 1588. All were condemned to death, under 27 Eliz. c. 2, for being priests and coming into the realm; but Oven on taking the Oath of Supremacy was respited. The other three were drawn on one hurdle to Broyle Heath, near Chichester, where Edwardes recanted. Crockett ascended the scaffold and blessed the crowd in Latin which brought shouts of anger upon him, however he changed into praying in English whereupon the crowd cheered. James and Crockett faced their deaths without fear and were executed after absolving each other.
Blessed Ralph Crockett's father Adam, in his later years entered the Church on the Continent and his descendants remained recusant continued to practise their Catholic Faith in the face of continued persecution. In 1929 Ralph Crockett was beatified by Pope Pius XI. His feast day is 1 October.
Bl. Robert Widmerpool
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1588
English martyr. Originally from Nottingham, England, he studied at Oxford and worked as a tutor for the sons of the earl of Northumberland. He was arrested for giving aid to a Catholic priest. Robert was executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Canterbury with Blessed Robert Wilcox, and they share the same feast day.
Bl. Robert Wilcox
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1588
English martyr. Born at Chester, England, in 1558, he studied for the priesthood at Reims, France, and received ordination in 1585. Sent to England the following year, he worked in Kent. Robert was arrested in Marshsea. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered with Blessed Robert Widmerpool at Canterbury. with whom he shares a feast day.
St. Romanus the Melodist
Feastday: October 1
Patron: of church singers
Birth: 490
Death: 556
Image of St. Romanus the Melodist
The foremost Greek hymnographer, known as "the Melodist" because of the thousand compositions which are attributed to him. A native of Syria, he was of Jewish descent and became a deacon in the church at Berytus and then a priest in Constantinople. He soon acquired a reputation for his brilliant and eloquent compositions, although only about eighty hymns sermons, some of which may not even be are extant. Some of the kontakia are considered genuine master works of religious literature, including On the Nativity, On the Presentation in the Temple, and On the Resurrection.
For other people with the same name, see Romanus (disambiguation).
"Saint Roman" redirects here. For the French commune, see Saint-Roman.
Saint Romanos the Melodist or the Hymnographer (Greek: Ῥωμανὸς ὁ Μελωδός, often Latinized as Romanus or Anglicized as Roman) was a notable Syrio-Greek hymnographer, called "the Pindar of rhythmic poetry".[3] He flourished during the sixth century, which is considered to be the "Golden Age" of Byzantine hymnography.
Life
The main source of information about the life of Romanos comes from the Menaion for October. Beyond this, his name is mentioned by only two other ancient sources. once in the eighth-century poet St. Germanos and once in the Souda (s. v. anaklomenon) where he is called "Romanos the melodist". From this scanty evidence we learn that he was born to a Jewish family in either Emesa (modern-day Homs) or Damascus in Syria. He was baptized as a young boy (though whether or not his parents also converted is uncertain). Having moved to Berytus (Beirut), he was ordained a deacon in the Church of the Resurrection there.
He later moved to Constantinople during the reign of the emperor Anastasius—on the question whether Anastasius I (491-518) or Anastasius II (713-716) is meant, the renowned Byzantinologist Prof. Karl Krumbacher favours the earlier date.[4] There he served as sacristan in the "Great Church" (Hagia Sophia), residing to the end of his life at the Monastery of Kyros, where he was buried along with his disciple St. Ananias.
If those scholars who believe that he lived during the reign of the earlier Anastasius are correct, then he may have continued writing during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-65), who was himself a hymn-writer; this would make him a contemporary of two other famous Byzantine hymnographers, Anastasios and Kyriakos.
Legend
According to legend, Romanus was not at first considered to be either a talented reader or singer. He was, however, loved by the Patriarch of Constantinople because of his great humility. Once, around the year 518, while serving in the Church of the Panagia at Blachernae, during the All-Night Vigil for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, he was assigned to read the kathisma verses from the Psalter. He read so poorly that another reader had to take his place. Some of the lesser clergy ridiculed Romanus for this, and being humiliated he sat down in one of the choir stalls. Overcome by weariness and sorrow, he soon fell asleep. As he slept, the Theotokos (Mother of God) appeared to him with a scroll in her hand. She commanded him to eat the scroll, and as soon as he did so, he awoke. He immediately received a blessing from the Patriarch, mounted the ambo (pulpit), and chanted extemporaneously his famous Kontakion of the Nativity, "Today the Virgin gives birth to Him Who is above all being…." The emperor, the patriarch, the clergy, and the entire congregation were amazed at both the profound theology of the hymn and Romanos' clear, sonorous voice as he sang. According to tradition, this was the very first kontakion ever sung. The Greek word "kontakion" (κοντάκιον) refers to the shaft on which a scroll is wound, hence the significance of the Theotokos' command for him to swallow a scroll, indicating that his compositions were by divine inspiration. The scene of Romanos's first performance is often shown in the lower register of Pokrov icons (example above).[5]
Works
Romanos and Virgin Mary, Miniature from the Menologion of Basil II
Romanos wrote in an Atticized literary koine—i.e., he had a popular, but elevated style—and abundant Semiticisms support the view that he was of Jewish origin. Arresting imagery, sharp metaphors and similes, bold comparisons, antitheses, coining of successful maxims, and vivid dramatization characterize his style.
He is said to have composed more than 1,000 hymns or kontakia celebrating various festivals of the ecclesiastical year, the lives of the saints and other sacred subjects,[3] some 60 to 80 of which survive (though not all those attributed to him may be genuine).
Today, usually only the first strophe of each kontakion is chanted during the divine services, the full hymn having been replaced by the canon. A full kontakion was a poetic sermon composed of from 18 to 30 verses or ikoi, each with a refrain, and united by an acrostic. When it was sung to an original melody, it was called an idiomelon. Originally, Saint Romanos' works were known simply as "psalms", "odes", or "poems". It was only in the ninth century that the term kontakion came into use.
Among his known works are kontakia on:
The Nativity of Christ
The Martyrdom of St Stephen
The Death of a Monk
The Last Judgment
The Prodigal Son
The Raising of Lazarus (for Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday)
Adam's Lament (for Palm Sunday)
The Treachery of Judas
His Kontakion of the Nativity is still considered to be his masterpiece, and up until the twelfth century it was sung every year at the imperial banquet on that feast by the joint choirs of Hagia Sophia and of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Most of the poem takes the form of a dialogue between the Mother of God and the Magi, whose visit to the newborn Christ Child is celebrated in the Byzantine rite on 25 December, rather than on the 6th of January when Western Christians celebrate the visit (in the Orthodox Church, January 6, the Feast of the Theophany, celebrates the Baptism of Christ).
Of his other Kontakia, one of the most well-known is the hymn, "My soul, my soul, why sleepest thou..."[6] which is chanted as part of the service of the "Great Canon" of St. Andrew of Crete on the fifth Thursday of Great Lent.
Romanos is one of many persons who have been credited with composing the famous Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos, which is still sung during Great Lent. Most recent scholarship has asserted that he is not the author of the hymn, although there is significant dissent among scholars.[7]
Prof Krumbacher published in Munich several previously unpublished chants of Romanos and other hymnographers, from manuscripts discovered in the library of the Monastery of St John the Theologian in Patmos. There exists in the library of Moscow a Greek manuscript which contains kontakia and oikoi for the whole year, but does not include all compositions of Romanos.
St. Verissimus, Maxima, and Julia
Feastday: October 1
Death: 302
Image of St. Verissimus, Maxima, and Julia
Three martyrs executed at Lisbon, Portugal, during the persecutions of the Church under Emperor Diocletian (r. 305).
St. Virila
Feastday: October 1
Death: 1000
Benedictine abbot. Although known largely through legend, he was definitely abbot of the monastery of St. Saviour, Leyre, in Navarre, France. He was a miracle worker, and his life has been the subject of many traditions.