An antiphon in honor of the holy Angels;
God hath given His angels charge of thee, that they keep thee in all thy
ways. Amen.
O Lord, open Thou my lips,
And my tongue shall declare Thy praise.
O God, incline unto my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be, etc... Alleluia.
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February 25th - Sts. Victorinus and Companions, Martyrs
Died February 25, 284. Victorinus, Victor, Nicephorus, Claudian,
Dioscorus,
Serapion and Papias were Corinthian who were exiled to Egypt after
confessing
their faith before the Proconsul Tertius. They were martyred at Diospolis
in
the
Thebaid during the reign of Decius (Numerian?), under the governor
Sabinus,
for
their Christian faith.
After various tortures, Victorinus was thrown into a great mortar
(according
to
the Greeks, of marble.) Then the executioners began by pounding his feet
and
legs, saying to him at every stroke: "Spare yourself, wretch. It depends
upon
you to escape this death, if you will only renounce your new God." The
prefect
grew furious at his constancy, and at length commanded his head to be beat
to
pieces. The sight of the atrocities committed against Victorinus
heightened
the
fervor of his fellows, rather than tempering it as the governor had
intended.
When the tyrant threatened Victor with the same death as Victorinus, he
only
desired him to hasten the execution; and, pointing to the mortar, said:
"In
that
is salvation and true felicity prepared for me!" He was immediately cast
into it
and beaten to death. Nicephorus, the third martyr, was impatient of delay,
and
leaped of his own accord into the bloody mortar. The judge, enraged at his
boldness, commanded not one, but many executioners at once to pound him in
the
same manner. He caused Claudian, the fourth, to be chopped in pieces, and
his
bleeding joints to be thrown at the feet of those that were yet living. He
expired after his feet, hands, arms, legs, and thighs were cut off.
At one point in the proceedings, after Victorinus, Victor, Nicephorus, and
Claudian had already been executed, the governor tried to reason with the
remaining prisoners to abjure their faith. "We would rather ask you to
inflict
on us any still more excruciating torment than you can devise," they
replied
in
unison. "We will never violate the fidelity we owe our God or deny Jesus
Christ
our Savior, for He is our God from whom we have our being and to whom
alone
we
aspire."
The enraged tyrant commanded Diodorus to be burned alive, Serapion to be
beheaded, and Papias to be drowned. These martyrs are named in the Roman
and
other western martyrologies on February 25; however, the Greek Menaea, and
the
Menology of the emperor Basil ****phyrogenitus honor them on January 21,
the
day
of their confession at Corinth (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
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Whoever humbleth himself shall be exalted. -Lk. 14:11
"In my opinion, we shall never acquire true humility unless we raise our
eyes to
behold God. Looking upon His greatness, the soul sees better her own
littleness;
beholding His purity, she is the more aware of her own uncleanness;
considering
His patience, she feels how far she is from being patient; in fine,
turning
her
glance upon the divine perfections, she discovers in herself so many
imperfections that she would gladly close her eyes to them"
-St. Teresa
This was, in truth, one of the principal fountains from which St.
Vincent
de Paul drew that humble opinion which he had of himself, as well as his
great
desire for humiliations. That is to say, he derived them from the profound
knowledge which he had of the infinite perfections of God, and of the
extreme
weakness and misery of creatures; so that he thought it a manifest
injustice
not
to humiliate himself always and in all things. In a conference one day
with
his
priests, he spoke thus: "In truth, if each of us will give his attention
to
knowing himself well before God, he will find it to be the most just and
reasonable thing to despise and humble himself. For, if we seriously
consider
the natural and continual inclination we have to evil, our natural
incapacity
for good, and the experience we all have had that even when we think we
have
succeeded well in something and that our plans are wise, the matter often
turns
out quite different from our anticipations, and God permits us to be
considered
wanting in judgment; and that, finally, in all we think, say, or do, both
in
substance and cir***stances, we are always filled and encompassed with
motives
for humiliation and confusion-how shall we not consider ourselves worthy
to
be
repulsed and despised in reflecting upon such things, and in seeing
ourselves so
far from the holiness and sublime perfections of God, and from the
marvelous
operations of His grace, and from the life of Christ our Lord?"
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". February - Humility)
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Dies Irę, dies illa
That Day Of Wrath, that dreadful day
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
Oh what fear man's bosom rendeth,
when from heaven the Judge descendeth,
on whose sentence all dependeth.
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;
through earth's sepulchers it ringeth;
all before the throne it bringeth.
Death is struck, and nature quaking,
all creation is awaking,
to its Judge an answer making.
Lo! the book, exactly worded,
wherein all hath been recorded:
thence shall judgment be awarded.
When the Judge his seat attaineth,
and each hidden deed arraigneth,
nothing unavenged remaineth.
What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
when the just are mercy needing?
King of Majesty tremendous,
who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!
Think, good Jesus, my salvation
cost thy wondrous Incarnation;
leave me not to reprobation!
Faint and weary, thou hast sought me,
on the cross of suffering bought me.
shall such grace be vainly brought me?
Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution
grant thy gift of absolution,
ere the day of retribution.
Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
all my shame with anguish owning;
spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning!
Thou the sinful woman savedst;
thou the dying thief forgavest;
and to me a hope vouchsafest.
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
rescue me from fires undying!
With thy favored sheep O place me;
nor among the goats abase me;
but to thy right hand upraise me.
While the wicked are confounded,
doomed to flames of woe unbounded
call me with thy saints surrounded.
Low I kneel, with heart submission,
see, like ashes, my contrition;
help me in my last condition.
Ah! that day of tears and mourning!
From the dust of earth returning
man for judgment must prepare him;
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!
Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest,
grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.
Words: Thomas of Celano, 13th cent.;
trans. William J. Irons, 1849
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