A daily study of the Network’s diverse faiths
St Evodius (Euodias) (dc69). Catholic Church Feast Day for the Bishop of Antioch, one of the first identifiable Christians. When St Peter was Bishop of Antioch, his apostolic work led to the pagan Evodius being converted to Christianity and when Peter left for Rome, Evodius succeeded him. Antioch was an opulent and cosmopolitan city where both Hellenised Jews and pagans were influenced by monotheism. Some of the first evangelised communities were made up from these mainly Syrian and Greek Gentiles, and it was for them that the term Christian was coined. Catholic tradition says it is likely that Evodius died of natural causes but the Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that he was martyred under Emperor Nero. Evodius was succeeded by St Ignatius of Antioch. As one of the first pagans to come to the new Church, Evodius is venerated in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and in Oriental Orthodoxy including the Assyrian and the Ancient Churches of the East. Eastern Orthodox Church Feast Day 7 September. Image: catholicnewsagency.com.
San Domenico Savio (St Dominic Savio) (1842-57). Feast Day for poor Italian adolescent who at 5 learned to serve Mass, was permitted to make his First Communion at 7 rather than 12, would try to attend Mass every day and to go regularly to Confession. St John Bosco (Don Bosco) saw that Dominic had a great reverence for the Eucharist and noted his piety and devotion to the Catholic faith. As his spiritual mentor from 1854, Don Bosco agreed to take Dominic to Turin with him. In Rome, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was being defined and Dominic renewed his First Communion promises at the altar of Our Lady Help of Christians at the Oratory in Turin. At 14, Dominic was studying to be a priest when he became ill and was sent home, serenely and calmly anticipating his death, his last words being: “Oh, what wonderful things I see.” Don Bosco wrote a biography, The Life of Dominic Savio. Dominic is the only person of his age group to be declared a saint not on the basis of his having been a martyr but for having lived what was seen as a holy life. Venerated in Roman Catholic, Episcopal Churches. Major shrine Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Turin. Patron of choirboys, falsely accused people, juvenile delinquents. Image: colnect.com.
Prayer O Saint Dominic Savio, model of purity, piety, penance and apostolic zeal for youth, grant that through your intercession, we may serve God in our ordinary duties with fervent devotion and thus attain the grace of holy joy on earth so that we may one day love God forever in Heaven. Amen
St Eadbert (Edbert) (d698). Feast Day commemorating death of Abbot Bishop of Lindisfarne, successor to St Cuthbert in 687. Throughout his life, Eadbert set aside a one-tenth part of his goods for the poor. He was praised by St Bede for his learning and knowledge of the Scriptures. It was Eadbert’s custom twice a year, during Lent and during the 40 days before Christmas, to retire in abstinence and prayer to a solitary place surrounded by the waters of the sea. Eadbert covered with lead the church of Lindisfarne, which had been built after the Scottish fashion of oak boards and thatched with reeds. When he died at Lindisfarne, Eadbert’s body was laid under that of St Cuthbert and miracles here wrought from time to time, according to St Bede the curing of the sick bearing testimony to the merits of them both. In 875, the Danes took the monastery of Lindisfarne and the monks fled with the remains, a temporary timber wattle and daub White Church (Alba Ecclesia) being built on the site of the present Durham Cathedral in 995 for them to be enshrined until there 998, when a much larger church, the Ecclesia Major, was consecrated. Image: saint.smp.org.