Current Feasts, Saints and other Holy Days

St Vincent - January 22

Spanish Deacon and Martyr, Saragossa

Vincent was born at Saragossa in Aragon. Most of what we know about this saint comes from the poet Prudentius. His Acts have been rather freely colored by the imagination of their compiler.

Vincent was ordained deacon by Valerian, Bishop of Saragossa. According to the legend, Valerian suffered from a speech impediment and used Vincent to speak for him. The Roman emperors had published their edicts against the clergy in 303, and the following year against the laity. During the general persecution, Dacian, the governor of Spain, had both Valerian and Vincent arrested. He then gave them the opportunity to save their lives by denying Christ and sacrificing to the gods. Vincent replied for them both with a strong affirmation of faith. Valerian was sent into exile, and Dacian, the Roman governor, now turned the full force of his fury on Vincent. Tortures that sound very modern were tried. But their main effect was the progressive disintegration of Dacian himself. He had the torturers beaten because they failed. Finally Dacian suggested a compromise: Would Vincent at least give up the sacred books to be burned according to the emperor’s edict? He would not. Torture on the gridiron continued, Vincent remaining courageous, the torturer losing control of himself. Vincent was thrown into a filthy prison cell and converted the jailer. Dacian wept with rage, but strangely enough, ordered the prisoner to be given some rest.

Friends among the faithful came to visit Vincent, but he was to have no earthly rest. When they finally settled him on a comfortable bed, he went to his eternal rest.

Source: https://www.anglican.org.nz/Resources/Worship-Resources-Karakia-ANZPB-HKMOA/For-All-the-Saints-A-Resource-for-the-Commemorations-of-the-Calendar/For-All-the-Saints
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-vincent-of-zaragossa

St Agnes - January 21

Child Martyr at Rome

St Agnes was born about 291AD. As a girl she was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family so she was highly sought after as a bride by several high ranking young men. However Agnes felt called to dedicate herself to Christ to the point of preferring to face death to any violation of her consecrated virginity. Among those she refused, one reported her to the authorities for being a Christian. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. The legend continues that a man who looked upon her lustfully lost his sight and had it restored by her prayer. Nothing certain can be deduced as to the date or manner of Agnes’ death. It was traditionally thought to be about 304 during the Diocletian persecution, but more recent studies suggest a date about 350.

The earliest witness to her is the Depositio Martyrum of 354. About the same time, a shrine was built over her grave on the Via Nomentana in Rome.

Many legends and stories developed round Agnes, none of them of historical value. Agnes’ principal emblem is a lamb, probably because of the resemblance of her name to the agnus, Latin word for “lamb” . Pope Honorius (625-638) erected a basilica in place of the older shrine, and people still visit Agnes’ tomb and the surrounding catacomb beneath the basilica.

Source: https://www.anglican.org.nz/Resources/Worship-Resources-Karakia-ANZPB-HKMOA/For-All-the-Saints-A-Resource-for-the-Commemorations-of-the-Calendar/For-All-the-Saints

St Antony of Egypt - January 17

Abbot

Antony was one of the earliest leaders of the monastic movement in the Church, and did much to popularise this style of Christian discipleship in the third and fourth centuries.

Antony was born in 251 in Egypt. His parents died while he was young, and he and his younger sister inherited the family estates. Six months later, Antony listened to the Gospel passage, “Go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor” (Matthew 19-21), and he determined to do likewise. He made provision for his sister and then became an anchorite (a solitary ascetic). He withdrew to a desert area to live a life of strict prayer, labour, and fasting, providing for his needs by gardening and making mats.

Antony was not the first Christian ascetic, but his lifestyle had a great appeal in the late third and early fourth centuries as a model for the committed Christian. In a world which saw civilisation in terms of the cities, the desert was the haunt of demons. With the growing popularity of Christianity, the earnest zeal of some Christians, which had led to martyrdom under persecution, now found a new outlet in carrying the fight with evil into the desert. Such a movement was enhanced by the growing totalitarianism of society in the Roman Empire, battened down for survival; the desert offered a viable alternative. The ascetic movement also gained favour from the basic Platonism of the age, which valued things of the mind and spirit much more highly than the body. The body and its needs were to be subject to the soul. Athanasius greatly popularised the ascetic movement in his Life of Antony. In this work, he presents the anchorite as a hero of Christian life, in triumphant battle with evil and in the integration of life, brought about when the body is truly disciplined to serve the purposes of the soul devoted to God.

People began journeying out into the desert to see Antony. His first reaction was to go even further into the desert. His advice to people was simple yet profound, direct and to the point, refreshing in its brevity and full of commonsense. Once someone asked him, “What rules must I keep in order to please God?” Antony replied, “Carefully observe what I tell you: Wherever you go, have God always in your mind’s eye; whatever you do, do it after the example of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, be in no hurry to leave. If you keep these three rules, you will be saved.”

In 305 Antony agreed to leave his cave and established a “monastery”, a group of cells lived in by those who wished to follow his ascetic life. He wrote for them a basic set of rules for personal discipline and for community living. The community aspect lay almost solely in common worship. Antony was described as balanced, gentle, caring, and radiant with God’s love. Solitude made him compassionate and gave him a “serenity of manner”. “He was a man of grace and urbanity. His speech was seasoned with divine wisdom.” His own personal preference for the solitary life led him to withdraw from the community to the desert again from about 310.

Antony visited Alexandria to encourage those facing persecution at the beginning of the fourth century. Later, in the theological controversies over the Trinity, he again visited Alexandria at the age of ninety to give support to his friend Athanasius in his battle for the Nicene party again the Arians.

Antony died peacefully in 356. True to his solitary vocation, he asked to be buried in a place known to no-one.

Source: https://www.anglican.org.nz/Resources/Worship-Resources-Karakia-ANZPB-HKMOA/For-All-the-Saints-A-Resource-for-the-Commemorations-of-the-Calendar/For-All-the-Saints