Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

September 21
Today we remember
Saint Matthew the Apostle
Among many other Saints

[Shin]

Good morning odhiambo! Happy St. Matthew's day to you! 

How are you doing?

[odhiambo]

Good morning odhiambo! Happy St. Matthew's day to you! 

How are you doing?

Good morning shin!
A really fine weather here this morning. I am seated at my desk on the 6th floor of a tall building at the city center and have a bird's eye view of a section of Nairobi.  All is well.
Happy Saint Matthew's day!

[odhiambo]

Saint Matthew.
Saint Mathew was one of the twelve Apostles. He was called Levi or Mathew the Levite. He was most likely born in Galilee. He worked as a tax collector in Capernaum. One day Jesus was passing by that way when he saw Mathew sitting at his customs post. He said to him, ‘Follow me’ and Mathew, got up and followed Jesus, leaving all behind.
Mathew’s response to Jesus‘s invitation to discipleship is an example to us of how we should respond to Grace.
Tax collectors were detested by Jews and more so, the pious Jews, as enemies of their country; they were also regarded as sinners who enriched themselves by extortion and fraud. No self respecting Pharisee would share a table with a tax collector. Jesus‘s willingness to include a tax collector among His disciples prepared the way for the acceptance of all kinds of people into the Church.
One day while Jesus was having a meal in Mathew’s house, many outcasts came and joined Jesus and His disciples at table. Some of the Pharisees saw this and asked His disciples,’ why does your teacher eat with such people?’ Jesus heard them and answered: “People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. Go and find out what is meant by the Scripture that says, ‘it is kindness that I want not animal sacrifice.’ I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts”
After The Ascension, Mathew remained for many years in Judea, preaching the Gospel to the Jewish Community. Later in his ministry, he travelled to gentile nations taking the Gospel to Ethiopians, Macedonians, Persians and Parthians.
Mathew is the author of the First Book of the New Testament. He wrote in Hebrew for Jewish Christians. It was translated into Greek.
The Gospel according to Mathew tells the good news that:
1: Jesus is the promised Messiah
2:Jesus is the one through whom God fulfilled the promises He made to His Chosen People in the Old Testament.
3: That this good news is not for the Jewish people alone but for the whole world.
Saint Mathew is venerated by the Church as a martyr, though the time, place and circumstances of his death is not known.
Saint Mathew,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Good morning odhiambo! Happy St. Matthew's day to you! 

How are you doing?

Good morning shin!
A really fine weather here this morning. I am seated at my desk on the 6th floor of a tall building at the city center and have a bird's eye view of a section of Nairobi.  All is well.
Happy Saint Matthew's day!

What a view it must be!  St. Matthew pray for us!

[odhiambo]

September 22
Let us remember today, the following:
1: Saint Thomas of Villanova
2: Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion

[odhiambo]

Saint Thomas of Villanova

Thomas was born in Fuenllana, Ciudad Real in the diocese of Toledo in Spain. His childhood was spent at home in Villanova . As a student he was very gifted and at the age of 15 years he entered the University of Alcala. He graduated with a degree in Theology in a very short time and was asked to join the faculty there which he did. He soon gained reputation as an excellent teacher. In 1516 he was offered a professorship by the then prestigious University of Salamanca. He refused the position, seeking instead admission into the Order of Saint Augustus. He was 28 years old when he was admitted to the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustus at Salamanca, becoming professor in 1517.
Three years later Thomas was ordained a priest. He continued his teaching of Theology but also began to preach; this he did so well that he was compared to Saint Paul.
Thomas became Prior of his Order in three cities. He was nominated archbishop of Valencia in 1544.
The new Archbishop was so poor that he was given money for furnishings as he routinely gave away his personal belongings.
In 1551 Thomas became ill. When his illness got worse, he gave away all of his remaining possessions such as his bed. He died on 8th September1555 in Valencia. His remains are preserved at the Cathedral there.
Saint Thomas of Villanova
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Saint Thomas was variously called The Beggar Bishop and at other times as the Father of the Poor.
While still young, Thomas was lucky in having a mother who was a Christian with an extraordinary love for the poor. It is recorded that God one day worked a miracle for her. She used to give to the poor what ever she had that they needed. One day her servants had given away all the flour they had and the storeroom was empty when another beggar came to their door. She told her servants to go back once more and look. They did, and the storeroom was filled with flour.
Her little son soaked it all up! He gave unceasingly to the needy; no wonder therefore that later in life he turned his home into a shelter for the poor

[odhiambo]

Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion

The Theban Legion was a legion, reportedly of 6666 solders. All these solders were Christians and they were all Egyptians.They were Egyptian Coptic Christians. They got their name from the fact that they were all conscripted from Thebias in Upper Egypt.
This was the period that Diocletian was acclaimed emperor by the army and he, Diocletian, appointed Augustus Maximium, a general with a large support in the army as co-emperor; a gesture of survival. It so happened that the Theban Legion was ordered by the emperor Maximium to march to Gaul to assist him against the rebels of Burgundy. It was the custom of the Romans to move troops from extreme parts of the empire to avoid Roman trained solders participating in uprisings.
The Theban Legion passed through the Alps into Gaul, present day France. The Legion was under the command of Mauritius, Candidus and Exupernis. Eventually they joined the emperor.
Maximian ordered that a sacrifice be made and that the whole army was to assist at the sacrifice. The emperor also commanded that they all take the oath of allegiance and swear to assist in the extirpation of Christianity in Gaul. These orders were alarming to the members of the Theban Legion and each and every one of them  refused to obey.
Maximian was so enraged that he ordered the Legion to be decimated, that is : one man in every 10 men was to be killed. This meant that 600 of them were to be killed to sway the remaining soldiers to obey the orders.
The first 600 men selected, embraced the others who not only encouraged them, but envied them their fate as well. The deed was done; the 600 men were put to the sword.
The survivors all refused to offer sacrifice to idols; they refused to take the oath of allegiance. 600 more men were killed and still the survivors were firm in their faith. The emperor finally ordered that the whole legion be put to death. This was carried out by the other troops on 22nd September 286
The massacre of these men took place in a small town known in Roman times as Aguanum.
The bodies of these martyrs of Aguanum were discovered by Saint Theodore, the Bishop of Octudurm. He built a Basilica in their honor at Aguanum, the remains of which are  reportedly visible today.
Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Today, let us remember the following two saints
1: Saint Linus
2: Saint Thecla
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Linus.
Bishop of Rome
Martyr
Linus was born  in Tuscany , Italy. He was a nobleman, but he renounced his inheritance and left home in order to practice the doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not much really is known about Saint Linus outside of these facts.
1: He was a companion of Saint Paul at one time. This is shown in 2 Timothy 4:21
“Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia send their greetings and so do all the other Christians.”
The Linus mentioned in this text is believed to be our Saint of the day, Saint Linus
2: Linus was consecrated bishop by Saint Paul.
3: He was once Bishop of Besancon in Gaul
4: He Succeeded Saint Peter as Bishop of Rome.
5: He is the’ Linus’ who is included in the First Eucharistic Prayer.
Saint Linus was Bishop of Rome for hardly a year before he was martyred in 76.
His body was buries in the Vatican near that of Saint Peter
Saint Linus.
Pray for us!

[James - a humble servant]

Let us also remember St. Pio of Pietrelcina ....


And Amen. St. Linus pray for us .....

[odhiambo]

Let us also remember St. Pio of Pietrelcina ....

Yes James. I have posted him at the same thread at CAF. I had Saint Linus and Saint Thecla all lined up for here. This time next year, with the Blessings of Our Lord, I hope to make Father Pio center stage here.
Saint Padre Pio
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Saint Thecla
Saint Thecla was the first woman Evangelist in the Church. She came from a very wealthy and honorable family in Iconium, Greece at the time but present day Turkey. She was well educated also. At the age of 18, her father arranged an engagement between her and a pagan prince called Thamyris.
When Saint Paul went to Iconium from Antioch and began evangelizing there, Thecla was among those converted to Christianity. She became one of his first students. She renounced marriage and devoted her life to Christ.
Thecla’s conversion did not go down well with both her family as well her former fiancé. In anger they reported her to the governor who ordered that she be burned at the stake.
When the fire was lit, Thecla walked resolutely toward it, making the Sign of the Cross.
Suddenly a strong wind blew and heavy rain poured down and extinguished the fire.
People were frightened and went home. Thecla was not harmed.
She was instead, sent to Antioch where the Roman judge there ordered that she be thrown to the lions. When they brought her into the arena, and everybody was watching, she made the Sign of the Cross and offered her spirit to the Lord. At once the lions came close and started licking her feet, so the judge ordered that she be imprisoned.
There were other attempts to kill her but each time she was miraculously saved from death.
After all attempts to kill her had failed, the judge is said to have asked Thecla
“Who are you that you are always saved?” Her answer was “I am a daughter of Christ, Son of the living God. He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life; He is the one who protects me. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.”
Then the judge set her free. Many people were converted because of her.
She went back to her own town Iconium to evangelize and from there to Seleucia of Isauria and spent the rest of her life there helping the poor and caring for the sick.
Thecla died in Seleucia at the ripe old age of 80. She was buried there and a church was built over her tomb and dedicated to her.
Many saints are said to have visited her tomb.
Saint Thecla
Pray for us!

[Patricia]

St Thecla reminds me of St. Philomena where many attempts were made on her life the difference being St. Philomena was finally beheaded at the age of 13

[odhiambo]

St Thecla reminds me of St. Philomena where many attempts were made on her life the difference being St. Philomena was finally beheaded at the age of 13

Yes, quite a number of early martyrs experienced miraculous escapes from one form of martyrdom or another only for the executioners to triumph in the end. God works in mysterious ways. His ways are definitely not ours. I wanted God to protect them from such deaths. Weak of me, huh