23 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

In Africa, the holy martyrs Victorian, pro-consul of Carthage, and two brothers, of Aquaregia. Also two merchants, named Frementius, who, bishop Victor Africanus tells us, were subjected to most atrocious torments for their courageous confession of the Catholic faith, and gloriously crowned under the Arian king Hunneric, during the persecution of the Vandals.

Also in Africa, St. Fidelis, martyr.

In the same country, St. Felix, and twenty others.

At Caesarea in Palestine, the holy martyrs Nicon, and twenty-nine others.

Also the crowning of the holy martyrs Domitius, Pelagia, Aquila, Eparchius and Theodosia.

At Lima in Peru, the archbishop St. Turibius, through whose labours faith and ecclesiastical discipline were diffused through America.

At Antioch, St. Theodulus, priest.

At Caesarea, St. Julian, confessor.

In Campania, St. Benedict, a monk, who was shut up by the Goths in a burning furnace, but was the next day found uninjured.

At Barcelona, in Spain, St. Joseph Oriol, priest and beneficiary of the church of St. Mary of the Kings. He was remarkable for his love of poverty and his charity towards the needy and the infirm. Distinguished both in life and after death by the working of miracles, he was placed in the Martyrology by Pope St. Pius X.

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

Thanks be to God.

16 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the martyrdom of the deacon St. Cyriacus, who, after a long imprisonment, was covered with melted pitch and stretched on the rack to have his limbs distended with ropes, was beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded with Largus, Smaragdus and twenty others, by order of Maximian. Their feast, however, is kept on the eighth of August, the day on which their bodies were taken up by the blessed Pope Marcellus and reverently entombed.

At Aquileia, in the time of the emperor Numerian and the governor Beronius, the birthday of the holy bishop Hilary, and the deacon Tatian, who terminated their martyrdom with Felix, Largus and Denis, after being subjected to the rack and other tortures.

In Lycaonia, the holy martyr Papas, who was scourged for the Christian faith, torn with iron hooks, then compelled to walk with shoes pierced with nails, and finally bound to a barren tree. In leaving this world to go to God, he rendered the tree fruitful.

At Anazarbum in Cilicia, under the governor Marcian, the martyr St. Julian, who was a long time tortured, then put into a sack with serpents and cast into the sea.

At Ravenna, St. Agapitus, bishop and confessor.

At Cologne, St. Heribert, a bishop, celebrated for sanctity.

At Clermont in Auvergne, the demise of St. Patrick, bishop.

In Syria, St. Abraham, hermit, whose life has been written by the blessed deacon Ephrem.

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

Thanks be to God.

5 MARCH – FERIA OF LENT

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Antioch, the birthday of the martyr St. Phocas who triumphed over the old serpent after many injuries which he suffered for the name of the Redeemer. That triumph is still manifested to the people in our days, for if any one stung by a serpent touches with faith the door of the martyr’s basilica, the power of the venom disappears and he is immediately cured.

At Caesarea in Palestine, in the persecution of Diocletian, St. Adrian, martyr, who, being first exposed to a lion for the faith of Christ and then killed with the sword by order of the governor Firmilian, received the crown of martyrdom.

The same day, the passion of the holy martyrs Eusebius, officer of the imperial palace, and nine others.

At Caesarea in Palestine, in the time of the emperor Severus, St. Theophilus, bishop, who was conspicuous by his wisdom and the purity of his life.

Also in Palestine, on the banks of the Jordan, the anchoret St. Gerasimus, who lived in the time of the emperor Zeno.

At Naples, the decease of St. John Joseph of the Cross, Promoter and first Provincial of the Italian branch of the Order of Discalced Friars Minor of St. Peter of Alcantara, who, by emulating the virtues of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Peter of Alcantara, became a new ornament of the Seraphic Order. He was canonised by Pope Gregory XVI.

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

Thanks be to God.

2 MARCH – FERIA

On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, on the Via Latina, the holy martyrs Jovinus and Basileus, who suffered under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus.

Also at Rome, under the emperor Alexander and the prefect Ulpian, many holy martyrs, who were a long time tortured and then condemned to capital punishment.

At Porto, the holy martyrs Paul, Heraclius, Secundilla and Januaria.

At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the holy martyrs Lucius, bishop, Absalom and Lorgius.

In Campania, the commemoration of eighty holy martyrs who were barbarously killed by the Lombards because they would not eat meat which had been offered to the idols, nor adore a goat’s head.

At Rome, St. Simplicius, pope and confessor.

In England, St. Chad, bishop of Mercia and Lindisfarne, whose brilliant virtues are mentioned by the Venerable Bede.

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

Thanks be to God.