Interim Saints - June 14th
RUFFINUS and VALERIUS, martyrs (circ. A.D. 297)
In the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, Rictiovarus, of infamous
memory, was prefect of Gaul, and he carried out the exicts of the
emperors with ferocious zeal. Ruffinus Valerius were officers whose
duty it was to provide corn for the palace at Vidola, the modern
Bazoches . . . Rictiovarus ordered them to be hung on the little horse,
and beaten with leaded whips . . . in the morning the two martyrs were
brought before Rictiocarus again, and he ordered them to execution with
the sword.
MARK, bishop of Lucera (about A.D. 328)
S. Mark of Lucera was the son of a rich Christian of Ęcana, in Apulia .
. . On the death of John, the Christians of Lucera chose the same Mark
to be their bishop, and he ruled the see till he was aged seventy, when
he died in the odour of sanctity.
BASIL THE GREAT, bishop and doctor (A.D. 379)
"The ecclesiastical history of this time, so far as the East is
concerned, might be described as the history of the sufferings of S.
Basil. Seldom has any man of his personal and official eminence in the
Church been so heavily burdened by the trial of opposition,
misrepresentation, isolation and seeming failure."
ALDATE, bishop of Gloucester (about A.D. 500)
"Geoffrey of Monmouth is the most untrustworthy of historians, but from
him alone do we know anything of the events of the life of S. Eldad."
Need I say more! Some are of the opinion that "Aldate" is simply the
Old Gate canonised; but members of the list, I believe, have other
opinions. Let the arguements rage!
METHODIUS, patriarch of Constantinople (A.D. 847)
S. Methodius was born at Syracuse, in Sicily; forsaking the world, he
retired to the island of Chios, where he erected a monastery; but on
the breaking out of persecution under the Iconoclastic emperor, Leo the
Armenia, he escaped to Rome, where he remained till the "tyranny was
overpast" . . . He instituted the annual feast of thanksgiving for the
restoration of tranquility, and the triumph of the truth, called the
Festival of Orthodoxy.
Oriens.
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