12 November
THE birthday of St. Martin, pope and martyr. Because he had convoked a council at Rome, and condemned the heretics Sergius, Paul and Pyrrhus, he was taken prisoner treacherously by order of the heretical emperor Constans, carried to Constantinople and banished to Chersonesus, where he ended his life, consumed with afflictions endured for the Catholic faith, and with a reputation for many miracles. His body was subsequently transferred to Rome, and deposited in the church of the Saints Silvester and Martin.—In Asia, the martyrdom of the Saints Aurelius and Publius, bishops.—In the diocese of Sens, St. Paternus, martyr.—At Ghent, St. Livinus, bishop and martyr.—In Poland, the holy martyrs Benedict, John, Matthew, Isaac and Christinus, hermits.—At Witebsk, in Poland, the martyrdom of St. Josaphat, of the Order of St. Basil, archbishop of Polotzk, who was cruelly murdered by the schismatics, through hatred of Catholic unity and truth. He was canonized by Pius IX. in 1867.—At Avignon, St. Rufus, first bishop of that city.—At Cologne, the decease of St. Cunibert, bishop.—At Tarazona, in Spain, blessed Æmilian, a priest who wrought numberless miracles, and whose wonderful life was written by St. Braulio, bishop of Saragossa.—At Constantinople, St. Nilus, abbot who resigned the office of governor of the city to become a monk, and was distinguished for learning and sanctity, in the time of Theodosius the Younger.—Also, at Constantinople, St. Theodore Studita, who became celebrated throughout the whole Catholic Church by his vigorous defence of the faith against the Iconoclasts.—At Alcala, in Spain, St. Didacus, confessor, of the Order of Minorites, who was renowned for his humility. Inscribed on the catalogue of the saints by Sixtus V., his feast is kept on the thirteenth of this month.
And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins.
Thanks be to God.