Day: December 26, 2025

Posted in MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on MARTYRDOM, QUOTES on SUFFERING, St PAUL!

Thought for the Day – 26 December – St Stephen, the First Martyr

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Thought for the Day – 26 December – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

St Stephen, the First Martyr

“Among the original seven Deacons nominated by the Apostles, there was one name Stephen, who was outstanding for his sanctity and extraordinary spiritual gifts.
Being enlightened by God, this young man dared to rebuke the Jews in public for their hardness of heart and openly defended the doctrine of Christ, Whom he proclaimed to be the Saviour and Redeemer of the world.
One day, when he was threatened by his foes, Stephen raised his eyes trustfully towards Heaven and said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
The Jews could no longer restrain their fury and proceeded to drag the young man outside the City.
There, they left their garments in the care of a youth named Saul, while they savagely stoned Stephen to death.
Stricken to his knees by the force of the missiles, the saintly young disciple continued to look towards Heaven.
“Lord Jesus,” he cried, “receive my spirit.”
Before he breathed his last, he forgave his enemies in the manner of his Divine Master.
“Lord,” he prayed, “do not lay this sin against them.”
And with these words he fell asleep (Cf Acts 7:51-60; 8:1-2).

Let us admire and imitate the courage of this Martyr.
We may never be called on, to endure a martyrdom of blood on behalf of our Faith but, we shall almost certainly be obliged to undergo the martyrdom of the assault of the passions on our purity of soul, or of severe physical or mental suffering…
If we accept these trials from God with perfect resignation and love, they will certainly prove as valuable to us, as real martyrdom.
If we endure them with the courage and fortitude of St Stephen, we shall be rewarded as he was, by seeing Jesus standing at the right hand of God and offering us the palm of victory!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in CHRIST the KING, The O ANTIPHONS

Quote/s of the Day – 26 December – “O Rex Gentium”

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Quote/s of the Day – 26 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

“O Rex Gentium”

“O King of the nations and desired of them
and the Cornerstone which maketh both one,
Come and save man, whom Thou didst form of dust.”

“Christ was desired by all nations, long before they knew Him Whom they desired.
The heathen world felt a craving want which it could not define but which was the desire for the Saviour, Who should free them from the bondage of sin.
So now, men of goodwill, outside the Church, feel something of the same strange longing.
Nothing will satisfy it save submission to their King by union with His Mystical Body, the Church of God.
Oh, how happy am I, whose desires are fulfilled, in that I am no alien but a servant of that King, Whom to serve, is my own desire!”

Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)

Posted in CHRIST the KING, CHRIST the LIGHT, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, GOD is LOVE, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on PERSECUTION, QUOTES on STRENGTH, SOLDIERS/ARMOUR of CHRIST, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 26 December – ‘… Now Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he enjoys the brightness of Christ; he exults with Stephen, he reigns with Stephen! …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 26 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – St Stephen the ProtoMartyr (c05-c34) – The Second Day in the Christmas Octave – Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59 –Matthew 23:34-39 –Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” – Acts 7:59

REFLECTION – “Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time, of our eternal King; today we celebrate the triumphant death of a soldier… Our King, although He is most high, came for our sake, in great humility but He could not come empty-handed. He brought with Him, as it were, a great bonus for His soldiers which not only made them abundantly rich but also gave them, strength to fight and conquer. The gift He brought was love, which brings men into fellowship with the Godhead …

The love, then, which brought Christ down from Heaven to earth, lifted Stephen from earth to Heaven … And Stephen, so as to deserve to win the crown— which is what his name means — had love as his weapon and by it was everywhere victorious. Through love of God, he did not yield to the raging of his enemies and through love of his neighbour, he prayed for those who were stoning him. Through love, he accused those, who were in the wrong that they might be corrected. Through love, he prayed for those stoning him, to save them from punishment. Trusting in the strength of love, he overcame the cruel raging of Saul and so, won for himself, as a companion in men, the man who had been his persecutor on earth , This holy and untiring love, ardently desired to acquire as converts by his prayers, those whom he had been unable to convert by argument.

Now Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he enjoys the brightness of Christ; he exults with Stephen, he reigns with Stephen! There, where Stephen arose, the first, stoned under Paul’s very eyes, there too, Paul has risen with the help of Stephen’s prayers.” – St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533) Bishop in North Africa (Sermon 3, 1-3, 5-6).

PRAYER – Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to imitate what we celebrate, so that we may learn to love, even our enemies; because we keep the anniversary of the invention of Him, Who knew how to plead even for His persecutors with our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who with |Thee. lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in CHRISTMAS Prayers & Hymns, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS to the DIVINE INFANT JESUS

Our Morning Offering – 26 December – Sleep, Holy Babe

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Our Morning Offering – 26 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”

Sleep, Holy Babe
By Fr Edward Caswell C.Orat. (1814-1878)

Sleep, holy Babe, Upon Thy Mother’s breast!
Great Lord of earth and sea and sky,
How sweet it is to see Thee lie
In such a place of rest!

Sleep, holy Babe, Thy Angels watch around,
All bending low with folded wings
Before th’incarnate King of kings
In rev’rent awe profound!

Sleep, holy Babe, While I with Mary gaze
In joy upon that Face awhile,
Upon the loving Infant smile
Which there divinely plays.

Sleep, holy Babe,
And take Thy brief repose;
Too quickly wilt Thy slumbers break
And Thou to lengthened pains awake,
That death alone shall close.
Amen

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 26 December – Saint Theodore the Sacristan (Died c560)

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Saint of the Day – 26 December – Saint Theodore the Sacristan (Died c560).
Also known as – Theodorus.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rome, St Theodore, Sacristan of St Peter’s Church, who is mentioned by the blessed Pope, St Gregory.”

St Peter

That which is known of Theodore’s life comes from St Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, where he appears in Book III, Chapter 24. There, St Gregory records that Theodore once rose very early in the morning in order to tend the lamps which hung at the door of the Basilica. He was upon a ladder refilling the oil, when Saint Peter appeared to him vested in a white stole. The saint asked him, “Theodore, why have you risen so early?” a nd immediately disappeared. Theodore was struck by great anxiety and in his shock was unable to arise from his bed for the next several days.

St Gregory goes on, saying that the apparition was a sign of Saint Peter’s favour towards Theodore: “The blessed Apostle wished to show those who served him that whatever they did for his honour, he always and unceasingly observed it, for the recompense of their reward.”

When the interlocutor of the Dialogues, Peter the Deacon, questions why Theodore would have been shocked by having seen Saint Peter, St Gregory replies with a citation from Scripture in which the Prophet Daniel is likewise shocked into illness by a troubling vision: “And I Daniel languished, and was sick for some days: […] and I was astonished at the vision and there was none that could interpret it” (Daniel 8:27).

St Gregory mentions Theodore alongside another saintly Sacristan of St Peter’s, St Abundius.

Theodore died in c560. His body is believed to have been laid to rest in the Basilica where he served, although the precise location is not known.

Posted in MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

St Stephen the ProtoMartyr, Madonna della Acheropita / Our Lady of Rossano, Italy (1140) and Feasts of the Saints – 26 December

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Within the Octave of Christmas

St Stephen the ProtoMartyr (c 05-c 34) The Second Day in the Christmas Octave
St Stephen’s Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/saint-of-the-day-st-stephen-the-first-martyr-26-december-the-second-day-in-the-octave-of-christmas/
AND:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/26/saint-of-the-day-26-december-st-stephen-the-protomartyr-c-05-c-34-26-december/

Madonna della Acheropita, Maria Santissima Acheropita / Our Lady of Acheropita, Rossano, Italy (1140) – 26 December:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/26/st-stephen-the-protomartyr-c-05-c-34-feast-the-second-day-in-the-christmas-octave-madonna-della-acheropita-maria-santissima-acheropita-our-lady-of-acheropita-rossano-italy-1140-and-memoria/

St Abadiu of Antinoë
St Amaethlu of Anglesey
St Archelaus of Mesopotamia
Bl Daniel of Villiers

St Pope Dionysius (Died 268) Bishop of Rome from 22 July 259 to his death on 26 December 268. According to early Church records, Dionysius was the first Pope not Martyred for his Faith.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/12/26/saint-of-the-day-26-december-st-pope-dionysius-died-268/

St Euthymius of Sardis
St Evaristo

Blessed Giovanni Orsini (1333-1411) Cardinal Archbishop of Turin for forty-seven year! Reformer both socially and within the Church, Apostle of the poor and needy, carer of Monasteries Convents and the Religious who inhabited them. No images of this holy man have been found. The Shrine pictured below, is described in the last paragraph and resides at the Cathedral in Turin.
The Life of a True Shepherd:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/26/saint-of-the-day-26-december-blessed-giovanni-orsini-1333-1411-cardinal-archbishop/

Bl Jean of Hainaut
St Margaret of Hohenfels
Bl Marinus of Rome
Bl Paganus of Lecco
Bl Pierre Boffet
St Tathai of Wales
St Theodore the Sacristan (Died c560)
St Zeno of Gaza

St Pope Zosimus (Died 418) Bishop of Rome from 18 March 417 to his death on 26 December 418, Confessor. Greek by birth, his short Pontificate was characterised by serious conflicts with the Bishops of Gaul and those of Africa.
St Zosimus’ Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/12/26/saint-of-the-day-saint-pope-zosimus-died-418/