19 AUGUST – SAINT JOHN EUDES (Confessor)

John Eudes was born in Normandy, France, in 1601. At the age of 14 he took a vow of chastity, and after studying with the Jesuits he joined the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. He was ordained as a priest in 1625 but immediately afterwards became sick with an illness that kept him in bed for a year. During the great plagues of 1627 and 1631 John Eudes volunteered to care for the sick. At the age of 32 he became a parish missionary, preaching more than 100 missions in many parts of France. John Eudes founded the Congregation of the Priests of Jesus and Mary (Eudists) and the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, and wrote Propers for a Mass and Divine Office of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He died in Normandy in 1680, was beatified in 1909 and was canonised in 1925. Saint John Eudes is called the Apostle of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

O God, who wonderously inflamed blessed John your confessor to promote the public worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and through him willed to found new religious families in your Church, grant, we beseech you, that we who venerate his merits may also be taught by the example of his virtues. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, St. Julius, senator and martyr, who was delivered up to the judge Vitellius, and by him thrown into prison. By order of the emperor Commodus, he was beaten with rods until he expired. His body was buried in the cemetery of Calepodius on the Via Aurelia.

In Cilicia, the birthday of St. Andrew, tribune, and his military companions, who were converted to Christianity through a miraculous victory they had gained over the Persians. Being accused on this account, they were massacred in the defiles of Mount Taurus by the army of the governor Seleueus under the emperor Maximian.

In Palestine, St. Timothy, a martyr, in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Urbanus. After overcoming many torments, he was consumed with a slow fire. In the same country suffered also Thecla and Agapius. The former being exposed to the beasts, was torn to pieces by their teeth, and went to her spouse, but Agapius, after enduring many torments, was reserved for greater combats.

At Anagni, St. Magnus, bishop and martyr, who was put to death in the persecution of Decius.

At the castle of Brignoles in Provence, the demise of St. Louis, bishop of Toulouse, of the Order of Friars Minor, renowned for holiness of life and miracles. His body was taken then to Marseilles, and buried with due honours in the church of the Friars Minor.

In the neighbourhood of Sisteron in France, blessed Donatus, priest and confessor. Being from his very infancy endowed with the grace of God in an extraordinary manner, he lived the life of an anchoret for many years, and after having been renowned for glorious miracles, went to Christ.

In the territory of Bourges, St. Marian, confessor.

At Mantua, St. Rufinus, confessor.

At Rome, blessed Urban II, pope, who followed in the footsteps of Pope St. Gregory VII, in his zeal for learning and religion, and fired the Crusaders with enthusiasm for the recovery of the holy places in Palestine from the power of the infidels. The veneration paid to him from time immemorial Pope Leo XIII approved and confirmed.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.