11 June
THE birthday of the apostle St. Barnabas, born in Cyprus. By the disciples, he was ordained apostle of the Gentiles with St. Paul, and with him traversed many regions, fulfilling his commission to preach the Gospel. At length he went to Cyprus, where he ennobled his apostolate by a glorious martyrdom. Through his own revelation his body was found, in the time of the emperor Zeno, together with a copy of St. Matthew's gospel copied with his own hand.—At Aquileia, the martyrdom of the saints Feilx and Fortunatus, brothers. In the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, they were racked, and had flaming torches held against their sides. These being extinguished by the power of God, boiling oil was poured over them, and as they persevered in confessing Christ, they were decapitated.—At Bologna, St. Parisius, confessor, a monk of the Order of Camaldoli.—At Rome, the translation of St. Gregory Nazianzen, whose sacred body after having been brought from Constantinople to Rome, and kept a long time in the church of the Mother of God, was, by the Sovereign Pontiff, Gregory XIII., transferred with great solemnity to a chapel of the basilica of St. Peter, most sumptuously decorated by his Holiness, and the next day placed with due honor beneath the altar.
And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins.
Thanks be to God.