Pope Linus was born at Volterra in Tuscany, and was the first to succeed Saint Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were so great that he not only cast out devils, but even raised the dead to life. He wrote the acts of blessed Peter, and in particular what he had done against Simon Magus. He decreed that no woman should enter a church with her head uncovered. On account of his constancy in confessing the Christian faith, this Pontiff was beheaded by command of Saturninus, a wicked and ungrateful ex-consul whose daughter he had delivered from the tyranny of the devils. He was buried on the Vatican, near the sepulchre of the prince of the apostles, on the ninth of the Calends of October. He governed the Church 11 years, 2 months and 23 days. In two ordinations in the month of December he consecrated 15 bishops and 18 priests.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The lives of the first Vicars of Christ are buried in a mysterious obscurity, just as the foundations of a monument built to defy the ravages of time are concealed from view. To be the supports of the everlasting Church is a sufficient glory: sufficient to justify our confidence in them, and to awaken our gratitude. As for ourselves, we will rejoice with the Church on this feast and pay our loving veneration to the humble and gentle Pontiff who was the first laid to rest beside Saint Peter in the Vatican crypts.
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Simon Bar-Jonah was invested with the sovereign pontificate by our Lord in person, and openly before all. You, O blessed Pontiff, received in secret, yet none the less directly from Jesus, the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. In your person began the reign of pure faith. Henceforth the bride, though she hears not the Man-God repeat His injunction to Peter: “feed my lambs,” nevertheless acknowledges the continuance of His authority in the lawfully appointed representative of her divine Spouse. Obtain by your prayers that the shadows of Earth may never cause us to waver in our obedience and that hereafter we may merit, with you, to contemplate our divine Head in the light of eternal day.
During the persecution of Christians under Diocletian and Maximian, Januarius, bishop of Beneventum (Benevento), was brought before Timothy, president of Campania, at Nola, for the profession of the Christian faith. There his constancy was tried in various ways. He was cast into a burning furnace, but escaped unhurt, not even his garments or a hair of his head being injured by the flames. This enraged the president who commanded the martyr’s body to be so stretched that all his joints and nerves were displaced. Meanwhile, Festus his deacon, and Desiderius a lector, were seized, loaded with chains and dragged, together with the bishop, before the president’s chariot to Pozzuolo. There they were cast into a dungeon where they found the deacons Sosius of Misenum and Proculus of Pozzuolo, with Eutyches and Acutius laymen all condemned to be thrown to wild beasts. The following day they were all exposed in the amphitheatre, but the animals forgetting their natural ferocity, crouched at the feet of Janarius. Timothy attributed this to magical arts and condemned the martyrs of Christ to be beheaded, but as he was pronouncing the sentence, he was suddenly struck blind. However, at the prayer of Januarius he soon recovered his sight, on account of which miracle about 5,000 men embraced the faith. The ungrateful judge was in no way softened by the benefit conferred on him. Rather, enraged by so many conversions and fearing the emperor’s edicts, he ordered the holy bishop and his companions to be beheaded.
Eager to secure, each for itself, a patron before God among these holy martyrs, the neighbouring towns provided burial places for their bodies. In obedience to a warning from Heaven, the Neapolitans took the body of Saint Januarius and placed it first at Beneventum, then in the monastery of Monte Vergine, and finally in the principal church at Naples where it became illustrious for many miracles. One of the most remarkable of these was the extinction of a fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius, when the terrible flames threatened with destruction not only the neighbourhood but even distant parts. Another remarkable miracle is seen even to the present day, namely: when the martyr’s blood, which is preserved congealed in a glass vial, is brought in presence of his head, it liquefies and boils up in a wonderful manner, as if it had been but recently shed. In Italy Saint Janarius is known as San Gennaro.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Janarius is ever preaching the Gospel to every creature, for his miraculous blood perpetuates the testimony he bore to Christ. Let those who say they cannot believe unless they see, go to Naples. There they will behold the martyr’s blood, when placed near his head which was cut off [seventeen] hundred years ago, to liquefy and boil as at the moment it escaped from his sacred veins. No, miracles are not lacking in the Church at the present day. True, God cannot subject Himself to the fanciful requirements of those proud men who would dictate to Him the conditions of the prodigies they must needs witness ere they will bow before His infinite Majesty. Nevertheless, His intervention in interrupting the laws of nature framed by Him and by Him alone to be suspended, has never yet failed the man of good faith in any period of history. At present there is less dearth than ever of such manifestations.
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O holy martyrs, and you especially, O Januarius, the leader no less by your courage than by your pontifical dignity, your present glory increases our longing for Heaven. Your past combats animate us to fight the good fight. Your continual miracles confirm us in the faith. Praise and gratitude are therefore due to you on this day of your triumph. And, we pay this our debt in the joy of our hearts. In return, extend to us the protection of which the fortunate cities placed under your powerful patronage are so justly proud. Defend those faithful towns against the assaults of the evil one. In compensation for the falling away of society at large, offer to Christ our King the growing faith of all who pay you honour.
Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Nocera, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix and Constantia who suffered under Nero.
In Palestine, the holy martyrs Peleus, Nilus and Elias, bishops in Egypt, who were, with many others of the clergy, consumed by fire for the sake of Christ during the persecution of Diocletian.
The same day, the holy martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon, senator, under the emperor Probus. By command of the governor Atticus, at Antioch, Sabbatius was scourged until he expired. Trophimus was sent to the governor Perennius at Synnada, where he and the senator Dorymedon consummated their martyrdom by decapitation after enduring many torments.
At Cordova, in the Arabian persecution, St. Pomposa, virgin and martyr.
At Canterbury, the holy bishop Theodore, who was sent to England by Pope Vitalian, and was renowned for learning and holiness.
At Tours, St. Eustochius, bishop, a man of great virtue.
In the diocese of Langres, St. Sequanus, priest and confessor.
At Barcelona in Spain, blessed Mary de Cervellione, virgin, of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom. She is commonly called Mary of Help on account of the prompt assistance she renders to those who invoke her.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
Dom Prosper Gueranger:
“How beautiful are your first steps, O prince’s daughter! Our eyes are never weary of contemplating in you the marvel of harmonious sweetness united to the strength of an army” (Canticles vii. 1, 2). Blessed child, continue to grow in grace. May your course be prosperous. May your thy royalty be strengthened and established. But the Church will not wait till you be grown up to sing to you her beautiful antiphon: ‘Rejoice O Virgin Mary. You alone have destroyed all heresies throughout the world.’
Heresy, Satan’s denial of what God affirms by His Christ, this is the great struggle, or rather the only one which sums up history. God having created the world for the sole purpose of uniting it to Himself by His Word made Flesh, the enemy of God and of the world, in order to break the bond of this mysterious love, attacks by turns the Divinity and the Humanity of Christ the Mediator. But all his lies are in vain: Jesus is Man, for He is born of a Mother, like every one of us. He is God, for He alone is born of a Virgin. The Man-God, who, according to Simeon’s prophecy, is a sign of contradiction to the sons of perdition, has Himself a sign, for unprejudiced eyes, viz: a Virgin-Mother: “The Lord Himself,” said the Prophet, “will give you a sign. Behold Virgin will conceive and bear a Son and His name will be called Emmanuel (Isaias vii. 14) God with us.”
In the second of the celebrated conferences held with Manes in 277 by the holy bishop Archelaus, the heresiarch having denied that Christ was born of Mary, Archelaus replied: “If such be the case, if He was not born, then obviously He did not suffer, for to suffer is impossible to one not born. If He did not suffer, no mention can be made of the cross. Do away with the cross, and Jesus cannot have risen from the dead. But if Jesus be not risen, no one else can rise again; and if there is no resurrection, there can be no judgement. In that case there is no use in keeping the commandments of God: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die’ (1 Corinthians xv. 32). Such is the corollary to your argument. Confess, on the other hand, that our Lord was born of Mary, and thence will follow the passion, the resurrection, and the judgment. Then the whole of Scripture is saved. No, this is no vain question for, as the whole Law and the Prophets are contained in the two precepts of charity, so all our hope depends on the motherhood of the blessed Virgin.”
On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Alexandria, the birthday of blessed Philip, father of the virgin St. Eugenia. Resigning the dignity of prefect of Egypt, he obtained the grace of baptism. His successor, the prefect Terentius, caused him to be pierced through the throat with a sword while he was praying.
Also the holy martyrs Macrobius and Julian, who suffered under Licinius.
The same day, St. Ligorius, martyr, who living in the desert, was murdered by Gentiles for the faith of Christ.
At Alexandria, St. Eulogius, a bishop, celebrated for learning and sanctity.
At Angers in France, St. Mauritius, a bishop, renowned for numberless miracles.
At Sens, St. Amatus, bishop and confessor.
The same day, St. Venerius, confessor, a man of admirable sanctity, who led an heremitical life in the island of Palmaria.
In the monastery of Remiremont in France, St. Amatus, priest and abbot, illustrious for the virtue of abstinence and the gift of miracles.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
