Ninth Sunday After Pentecost; Saints Tiburtius and Susanna (295 A.D.) Martyrs; Saint Philomena (304 A.D.) Virgin, Martyr

NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Tiburtius en Suzanna
Roma Crypte van de Santa Suzanna.

SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA Martyrs

SAINT PHILOMENA

Virgin and Martyr

[In some places]

DOUBLE / GREEN
Man did not make the world. He cannot totally reshape it to serve his desires. He cannot resolve its seeming contradictions. It is God's world. If man is to play a human part in it, he must first adore and obey the God who made the world and who settled its ways and rewards. Therein lies peace, the fullness of personality development, holiness of life, and heaven. That is Christian wisdom. Every zealous Christian can help other people to see that God is present and speaks and moves in all the events of life, even while everything humanly possible is done to relieve suffering and its causes.  

INTROIT Ps. 53:6-7
Behold, God is my helper, and the Lord is the support of my soul. Turn back the evils upon my enemies, and in Your faithfulness to us disperse them, O Lord my protector.
Ps. 53:3. O God, by Your name save me, and by Your might deliver me.
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O Lord, let mercy attune Your ear to the prayers of Your people calling upon You. May they ask only what is pleasing to You, so that their requests may always be heard. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA
 Tiburtius was the son of the prefect of Rome, a convert to the Faith. Shortly after being ordained subdeacon, the young man was betrayed to the persecutors by an apostate. Like St. Lawrence, Tiburtius was tortured by fire. He was then beheaded, about A.D. 288.
On the same day, a noble Christian virgin by the name of Susanna suffered a similar death. Because of her vow of virginity she had refused to marry the son of Emperor Diocletian; so she was beheaded in her own home by that ruler's orders.

Comfort us, O Lord, with the unfailing protection of Your holy martyrs Tiburtius and Susanna, for You are always merciful to those who are helped by Your saints.

Commemoration of SAINT PHILOMENA
Little is known of her life, and the information was received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church.

In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person.

In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury of Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena he was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be allowed to enshrine them in a chapel in Mugnano. After some disagreements, settled by the cure of Canon Francis following prayers to Philomena, he was allowed to translate the relics to Mugnano. Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer, healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom.

Pope Leo XII granted permission for the erection of altars and churches in her honor. Pope Gregory XVI authorized her public veneration, and named her patroness of the Living Rosary. The cure of Pope Pius IX, while archbishop of Imola, was attributed to Philomena; in 1849, he named her patroness of the Children of Mary. Pope Leo XIII approved the Confraternity of Saint Philomena, and raised it to an Archconfraternity. Pope Pius X raised the Archconfraternity to a Universal Archconfraternity, and named Saint John Vianney its patron. Saint John Vianney himself called Philomena the New Light of the Church Militant, and had a strong and well-known devotion to her. Others with known devotion to her include Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Saint Euphrasia Pelletier, Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Nepomucene Neumann, Saint Madeline Sophie Barat, Saint Peter Chanel, Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, and Venerable Pauline Jaricot.

Addition Info:

In 1802, the bones of a female between the ages of 13 and 15 were discovered in the catacomb of St. Priscilia. An inscription near her tomb read "Peace be with thee, Philomena", along with drawings of 2 anchors, 3 arrows and a palm. Near her bones was discovered a small glass vial, containing the remains of blood. Because it was a popular custom of the early martyrs to leave symbols and signs such as these, it was easily determined that St. Philomena was a virgin and a martyr. Her popularity soon became widespread, with her most memorable devotees being St. John Vianney, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, St. Peter Eymard, and St. Peter Chanel. After being miraculously cured, Ven. Pauline Jaricot insisted that Pope Gregory XVI begin an examination for the beatification of St. Philomena, who was to become known as the "wonder worker". After hundreds of other miraculous cures, she was beatified in 1837. St. Philomena, who the pope named as the Patroness of the Living Rosary and the Patroness of the Children of Mary, is the only person recognized as a saint solely on the basis of her powerful intercession, although pertinent revelations regarding her life have been recorded. Her relics are now preserved in Mugnano, Italy.

O God, who among the other marvels of Thy power, hast granted even to the weaker sex the victory of martyrdom, mercifully grant, that we who celebrate the heavenly birthday of blessed Philomena, Thy Virgin and Martyr, may by her example draw nearer to Thee. Through our Lord . . .
  
EPISTLE I Cor. 10:6-13
Brethren: These things were done in a figure of us, that we should not covet evil things, as they also coveted. Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them that committed fornication: and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and perished by the serpent. Neither do you murmur, as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.

GRADUAL Ps. 8:2
O Lord our Lord, how glorious is Your name over all the earth!
V. For Your splendor is exalted above the heavens.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. Ps. 58:2
Rescue me from my enemies, O my God, and defend me from my adversaries. Alleluia!

GOSPEL Luke 19:41-47
At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: "If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace: but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee: and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and straiten thee on every side, And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee. And they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation." And entering into the temple, he began to cast out them that sold therein and them that bought. Saying to them: "It is written: 'My house is the house of prayer.' But you have made it a den of thieves." And he was teaching daily in the temple.

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Ps. 18:9, 10, 11, 12
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart, and His judgments are sweeter than honey and the honeycomb; for Your servant observes them.

SECRET
May we celebrate these sacred rites worthily, O Lord, for each offering of this memorial Sacrifice carries on the work of our redemption. Through our Lord . . .


Commemoration of SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA
Hear the prayers of Your people and look kindly upon their gifts, O Lord. may the offering of these sacred mysteries please You through the intercession of Your saints. 
 
Commemoration of SAINT PHILOMENA
Receive, O Lord, the gifts which we bring Thee on the feast of blessed Philomena, Thy Virgin and Martyr, by whose patronage we hope to be delivered. Through our Lord . . . 

COMMUNION ANTIPHON John 6:57

"He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me and I in him," said the Lord.

POSTCOMMUNION 
O Lord, may the reception of Your Blessed Sacrament cleanse us from sin and unite us all in You. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA
We have received in Holy Communion the pledge of eternal salvation, O Lord. May it help us in this life and in the life to come through the prayers of Your holy martyrs. 
 
Commemoration of SAINT PHILOMENA
May the Mysteries which we have received, help us, O Lord; and by the intercession of blessed Philomena, Thy Virgin and Martyr, may we ever enjoy Thy protection. Through our Lord . . .