Our Morning Offering – 4 May – “The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary”
O Mary, Mother of God By St Ephrem (306-373) Father and Doctor of the Church
O Virgin most pure, wholly unspotted, O Mary, Mother of God, Queen of the universe, thou art above all the saints, the hope of the elect and the joy of all the blessed. It is thou who hast reconciled us with God; thou art the only refuge of sinners and the safe harbour of those who are shipwrecked; thou art the consolation of the world, the ransom of captives, the health of the weak, the joy of the afflicted and the salvation of all. We have recourse to thee and we beseech thee to have pity on us. Amen.
Saint of the Day – 4 May – Saint Venerius (Died 408) Bishop of Milan, Italy from c400 until his death in 408. St Venerius had been a Deacon under St Ambrose. He followed St Simplician in the office of Bishop. He conducted his pastoral ministry with the greatest diligence and tireless zeal.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Milan, St Venerius, Bishop, whose virtues are attested by St John Chrysostom in the epistke which he wrote to St Venerius.”
Almost nothing is known about the life of St Venerius prior to his election as the Bishop of Milan. A late tradition, associates him with the noble Milanese family of the Oldrati. According to the 5th Century Historian and Biographer of St Ambrose, Paulinus, whose work is the only Life of St Ambrose based on a contemporary account and was written at the request of St Augustine. St Venerius was the Deacon assisting St Ambrose and he was present at the death of his beloved master in 397.
St Venerius was elected Bishop after the death of St Simplician in the winter between 400 and 401. He was already the Bishop of Milan when he received a request by a Council held on 18 June 401 at Carthage, to send Clerics from Milan to North Africa. One of the Clerics who was sent was actually our Paulinus mentioned above.
St Venerius is also known from a letter written to him by Pope Anastasius I concerning the condemnation of the heresy of the Origenists. Again, he is mentioned in a letter of the same Pope to St John II, Bishop of Jerusalem.
In 404 St Venerius, along with Pope Innocent I and St Chromatius, the Bishop of Aquileia, protested in support of St John Chrysostom who has been unjustly banned from Constantinople, writing in his favour to Honorius, the Western Emperor, who sent this letter to his brother, Arcadius, the Eastern Emperor. This intercession, however, availed nothing.
St Venerius died on 4 May 408 and was buried in the Church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus in Milan.
St Albian of Albée Bl Angela Bartolomea dei Ranzi Bl Angela Isabella dei Ranzi St Antonia of Constantinople St Antonina of Nicaea St Antonia of Nicomedia St Antonius of Rocher St Arbeo of Freising St Augustine Webster St Cunegund of Regensburg St Curcodomus of Auxerre St Cyriacus of Ancona St Enéour St Ethelred of Bardney St Florian of Lorch Bl Hilsindis
Blessed Jean-Martin Moyë (1730-1793) French Priest, Missionary to China, Founder of the Sisters of the Congregation of Divine Providence – the first expression of consecrated life among the women of China. Writer, Teacher, Innovator, Evangelist. Beatified on 21 November 1954 by Pope Pius XII. Biography: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/05/04/saint-of-the-day-4-may-blessed-jean-martin-moye-1730-1793/
St Judas Cyriacus
Blessed LadislasOFM Cap (c1440-1505) “The Apostle of Lithuania,” Priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, zealous and tireless Evangelist, renowned Preacher, Poet and Hymnist, disciple of St Bernardine of Siena and his Apostolate of the Most Holy Name of Jesus and a devotee of the Passio of Christ. Ladislas served his Order in various capacities which included both a Doorkeeper and as its Provincial! He travelled across Poland to evangelise and was a noted preacher. His Zealous Life: https://anastpaul.com/2021/05/04/saint-of-the-day-4-may-blessed-ladislas-of-gielniow-ofm-cap-c-1440-1505/
St Luca da Toro
Bl Marco Ongaro of Conegliano OFM Bl Margareta Kratz Bl Michal Giedroyc St Nepotian of Altino Bl Paolino Bigazzini St Paulinus of Cologne St Paulinus of Senigallia St Pelagia of Tarsus St Porphyrius of Camerino Rino
Carthusian Martyrs of England: A group of Carthusian Monks who were hanged, drawn and quartered between 19 June 1535 and 20 September 1537 for refusing to acknowledge the English royalty as head of the Church: • Blessed Humphrey Middlemore • Blessed James Walworth • Blessed John Davy • Blessed John Rochester • Blessed Richard Bere • Blessed Robert Salt • Blessed Sebastian Newdigate • Blessed Thomas Green • Blessed Thomas Johnson • Blessed Thomas Redyng • Blessed Thomas Scryven • Blessed Walter Pierson • Blessed William Exmew • Blessed William Greenwood • Blessed William Horne • Saint Augustine Webster • Saint John Houghton • Saint Robert Lawrence
Martyrs of Cirta: Also known as • Martyrs of Cirtha • Martyrs of Tzirta A group of clergy and laity Martyred together in Cirta, Numidia (in modern Tunisia) in the persecutions of Valerian. They were – Agapius, Antonia, Emilian, Secundinus and Tertula, along with a woman and her twin children whose names have not come down to us.
Martyrs of Novellara: A Bishop and several his flock who were Martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian and whose relics were kept and enshrined together. We know nothing else about them but the names – Apollo, Bono, Cassiano, Castoro, Damiano, Dionisio, Leonida, Lucilla, Poliano, Tecla, Teodora and Vespasiano. They were Martyred on 26 March 303. Their relics were enshrined in the parish of Saint Stephen in Novellara, Italy in 1603.
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