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The Lord is the king of martyrs: come, let us adore him.

Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Red.

St Edmund Arrowsmith (1585 - 1628)

He was born at Haydock in Lancashire. His father was a yeoman farmer and his mother was a member of an important Lancashire Catholic family. At the age of 20 he left England and went to the English College at Douai to study for the priesthood. He was ordained in Arras on 9 December 1612 and sent on the English mission a year later He ministered to the Catholics of Lancashire without incident until around 1622, when he was arrested and questioned by the Anglican Bishop of Chester. Edmund was released when King James I of England ordered all arrested priests to be freed. He joined the Jesuits in 1624.

In the summer of 1628, he was denounced to the authorities. He was put on trial, and sentenced to death for being a Roman Catholic priest in England. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Lancaster on 28 August 1628. His final confession was heard by Saint John Southworth, who was imprisoned along with Edmund.

In other years: Saint Louis (1214 - 1270)

He became King of France (as Louis IX) at the age of 12. He was married and had eleven children, to whom he gave an excellent upbringing. He was noted for his spirit of prayer and penitence and for his love for the poor. He ran his kingdom not only to give peace to the people and economic stability but also for their spiritual good. He founded the Sorbonne and was a friend of St Thomas Aquinas. He was a member of the Order of Penitents of St Francis of Assisi, which later became the Franciscan Third Order and is now known as the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).

Louis was trusted by his fellow-rulers in Europe and often asked to arbitrate in their disputes. He undertook two unsuccessful crusades to liberate Christ’s burial-place and on the second of these he died, near Carthage, in the year 1270.

See also the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.

In other years: Saint Joseph of Calasanz (1557 - 1648)

He was born in Aragón, received an excellent education and was ordained priest. After working in his own country for some time he went to Rome, where he worked for the education of the poor and founded a religious congregation for that purpose. His idea was that every child should receive an education. As one might expect, he was the object of much envy and calumny. He died in Rome in 1648.

See also the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.

Other saints: St Mary of Jesus Crucified Baouardy (1846-1878)

25 Aug (where celebrated)

St Mary of Jesus Crucified was born into a Greek-Catholic family of the Melkite Rite, at Ibellin, Galilee in 1846. Mary was orphaned at the age of two and raised by her uncle in Alexandria, Egypt. During that time, she was made to work as a house servant after refusing a marriage arranged by her uncle. After suffering violent abuse at the hands of another house servant, Mary escaped her uncle’s house and found work as a domestic servant elsewhere, working in Alexandria, Jerusalem and Beirut.

In 1862, she had moved to France with a family she was serving. In France, Mary discerned a vocation to the consecrated life. In 1867 she entered the Discalced Carmelites at Pau, France and was soon after sent with the founding group to the Carmel of Mangalore in India. She returned to France in 1872 and planned with her superiors to found a monastery in Bethlehem. In 1875 she went to the Holy Land where she built a monastery in Bethlehem and began planning for another at Nazareth. During the work of establishing the monasteries she fell and fractured her arm, which became gangrenous. Her health quickly declined and on the 26th August 1878, Mary died. She is noted for her supernatural gifts, especially for humility, for her devotion to the Holy Spirit, and her great love for the Church.

About the author of the Second Reading in today's Office of Readings:

Second Reading: St John Chrysostom (349 - 407)

John was born in Antioch. After a thorough education, he took up the ascetic life. He was ordained to the priesthood, and became a fruitful and effective preacher.

He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 397, and was energetic in reforming the ways of the clergy and the laity alike. He incurred the displeasure of the Emperor and was twice forced into exile. When the second exile, to Armenia, had lasted three years, it was decided that he should be sent still further away, but he died on the journey, worn out by his hardships.

His sermons and writings did much to explain the Catholic faith and to encourage the living of the Christian life: his eloquence earned him the surname “Chrystostom” (the Greek for “golden mouth”).

Liturgical colour: red

Red is the colour of fire and of blood. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit (for instance, at Pentecost) and the blood of the martyrs.