THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

The Eighteenth Day of October

  1. In Bithynia, the birthday of St. Luke the Evangelist, who suffered much for the name of Christ and died filled with the Holy Spirit. His bones were translated to Constantinople and thence taken to Padua.
  2. At Rome, the birthday of St. Paul of the Cross, Priest, Confessor, and Founder of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, a man remarkable for his innocence and penance, and aflame with love for Christ crucified. Pope Pius IX enrolled him in the list of saints and appointed April 28 as the date for the celebration of his feast.
  3. At Arenas in Spain, the birthday of St. Peter of Alcantara, Priest of the Order of Friars Minor, and Confessor. Pope Clement IX added him to the number of the saints because of his wondrous penance and many miracles. His feast, however, is observed on the following day.
  4. At Antioch, St. Asclepiades, Bishop, who was one of that renowned band of martyrs who suffered gloriously under Macrinus.
  5. At Neocaesarea in Pontus, St. Athenodorus, Bishop; he was the brother of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, and, renowned for his learning, he was martyred in the persecution of Aurelian.
  6. At Saint-Just-en-Chausée, in the neighbourhood of Beauvais, St. Justus, who, while yet a boy, was beheaded in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Rictiovarus.
  7. At Rome, St. Tryphonia, sometime wife of the Emperor Decius, who was the mother of St. Cyrilla, Virgin and Martyr. Her body is buried in the crypt near that of St. Hippolytus.
  8. At Aurieville, in New York State, the holy Jesuit Martyrs Isaac Jogues (Priest) and John de La Lande (lay-brother), who on this and the following day were tortured to death by the Iroquois, in the same place where, a few years earlier, René Goupil — a lay-brother also -- had won the palm of martyrdom.
  9. In Mesopotamia in the borderland of Edessa, the commemoration of St. Julian the Hermit, surnamed Sabas, of whom there is also mention on January 17.

And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins. Thanks be to God.

Oct. 17 | Oct. 19
Return to Table of Contents
Return to Mater Dei Home Page