Saint of the Day – 20 December – St Paul (Died c956) Abbot, Hermit on Mount Latrus near the City of Miletus in Caria (now western Turkey). Born in Pergamon in modern Turkey and died in Samos, Greece in 956 .
van Staveren, Jan Adriaensz.; A Hermit at Prayer
Paul spent most of his religious life as a Hermit on Mount Latrus. He later founded a Monastery there and became its Abbot. He is regarded as the spiritual father of many Monks.
Paul generally avoided the powerful and preferred the company of the humble and meek who sought him out for spiritual counsel but he received letters from Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria and wrote to the Emperor urging the removal of Manichaeans heretics from the territories.
Paul was indefatigable in the exercise of holy prayer and having no other desire than to gain Heaven, laboured seriously to subdue his body by mortification. He never lay himself down to sleep but only leaned his head against a stone or tree. No unprofitable word was ever heard from his mouth and the sight of the fire, which put him in mind of hell, drew tears from his eyes without intermission whenever he was employed in the kitchen.
Towards the end of his life he drew up rules for his Monastery. On the 6th of December in 956, foreseeing his death draw near, he came down from his cell, said Holy Mass earlier than usual, then took to his bed, being seized with a violent fever. He spent his last moments in prayer and in repeating tender instructions to his Monks until his happy death.
St Attala of Strasbourg St Bajulus of Rome St Crescentius of Africa St Damian of Padua St Dominic Bishop and Confessor of Brescia
St Dominic de Silos OSB (1000-1073) Abbot. He was a Spanish Monk, to whom the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, where he served as the Abbot, is dedicated. The mother of the better-known Saint Dominic de Guzmán, the Blessed Joan of Aza, prayed at his Shrine before she was able to conceive the son she named for him. That son would grow up to found the Dominican Order. Dominic’s special patronage thus became connected with pregnancy and until the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, his abbatial crozier was used to bless the queens of Spain and was placed by their beds when they were in labour. His Namesake is more Renowned than he is: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-st-dominic-de-silos-o-s-b-c1000-1073/
Bl John de Molina St Julius of Gelduba Bl Lorenzo Company St Liberatus of Rome St Macarius of Arabia St Malou Priest at Hautvillers, Marne, France. No other information has survived. St Paul (Died c956) Hermit of Latra, Greece Blessed Peter de la Cadireta
St Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne (c552-c625) Abbot, Hermit, disciple of St Columban (543-615). Born in c552 in either France or Ireland and died on 20 December in c625 near modern St-Ursanne, Jura, Switzerland of natural causes. Patronages – against stiff neck, Besançon in France, in Switzerland – Basel, Saint-Ursanne. A Saint Patron against a Stiff Neck!: https://anastpaul.com/2023/12/20/saint-of-the-day-20-december-saint-ursicinus-of-saint-ursanne-c552-c625-abbot/
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