EMBER SATURDAY; SAINTS ISAAC JOGUES, JOHN DE BREBEUF AND COMPANIONS; SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA

 

SAINTS ISAAC JOGUES, JOHN DE BREBEUF,
AND THEIR COMPANIONS
Martyrs

IN ALL DIOCESES OF THE UNITED STATES

[Commemoration]

SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA 
Martyrs

EMBER SATURDAY

DOUBLE, SECOND CLASS / RED 
These eight French Jesuit missioners, the first canonized saints of the North American continent, labored and died among the most barbaric of red men in the most impenetrable fastnesses of the 17th-century New World. After struggling with unbelievable privations and hardships, they were severely tortured and martyred by the Iroquois Indians between the years 1642 and 1649. Fathers Isaac Jogues and Anthony Daniel and the two lay oblates, John Lalande and Rene Goupil, gave their lives in what is now New York State; Fathers John de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier, and Noel Chabanel in central Canada.

INTROIT Apoc. 7:14
These are they who have come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
Ps. 116:1. Praise the Lord, all you nations; praise Him, all you peoples!
V. Glory be . . .

COLLECT
O God, You blessed the first fruits of the faith in the vast expanse of North America by the missionary labors and martyrdom of blessed Isaac, John, and their companions. May the harvest for Christ grow daily more abundant in the whole world through the intercession of these saints. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA
At Antioch the virtue of the virgin Justina converted Cyprian, a magician, to Christianity. Cyprian later became a priest and then a bishop. Both suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in the year 304, and their bodies were brought to Rome by some Christian mariners.

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


O God, You Who tempered the flames of fire for the three young men, mercifully grant that the flames of sin may not burn us, Your servants.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

EPISTLE II Cor. 12:11-15
Brethren: I ought to have been commended by you, For I have no way come short of them that are above measure apostles, although I be nothing. Yet the signs of my apostleship have been wrought on you, in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. For what is there that you have had less than the other churches but that I myself was not burthensome to you? Pardon me this injury. Behold now the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burthensome unto you. For I seek not the things that are yours, but you. For neither ought the children to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls: although loving you more, I be loved less.

GRADUAL Ps. 123:7-8
Our soul has been rescued as a bird from the snare of the hunters.
V. The snare has been broken and we are free. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Alleluia, alleluia! V. II Cor. 1:5
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does our comfort abound. Alleluia!

GOSPEL Luke 6:17-23
At that time, Jesus coming down from the mountain, stood in a plain place: and the company of his disciples and a very great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast, both of Tyre and Sidon, Who were come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the multitude sought to touch him: for virtue went out from him and healed all. 
And he, lifting up his eyes on his disciples, said: "Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for you shall laugh. Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Be glad in that day and rejoice: for behold, your reward is great in heaven."

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Sap. 3:6
As gold in the furnace the Lord has proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He received them.

SECRET 
O Lord, let us offer You with pure hearts this spotless Victim, in which Your holy martyrs found a food of unutterable sweetness, because of their own unsullied purity and their tireless zeal for mortification. Through our Lord . . . 

Commemoration of SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA

We offer these gifts to You in sacrifice, O Lord. May the honor we pay to Your saints please You, and may these offerings, through Your mercy, bring us closer to our salvation. 

Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that the gift in the sight of Your majesty may obtain for us the grace of reverent devotion and secure eternal happiness.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

COMMUNION ANTIPHONPhilipp. 1:20-21
Christ will be glorified in my body whether through life or death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

POSTCOMMUNION 
Almighty God, we are refreshed by the food of the valiant. When Your holy martyrs Isaac, John, and their companions were strengthened by this same Bread, they were able to lay down their own lives for their brothers; may we also bear one another's burdens and love our neighbors with an effective and sincere charity. Through our Lord . . .

Commemoration of SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA

May the intercession of Your holy martyrs Cyprian and Justina help us to cherish with pure hearts the Sacrament we have received upon our lips. 



May Your sacrament, we beseech You, O Lord, produce in us what it contains, and may we share in reality what we now perform as a sacramental rite.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.