St. Vincent of Saragossa & St. Anastasius the Persian

Semidouble (1955 Calendar): January 22
Optional Memorial (1969 Calendar): January 22

Today is a Day of Penance for all of the dioceses of the USA for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.

Liturgically, today the Church remembers St. Vincent of Saragossa, also called St. Vincent the Deacon or Vincent of Aragon. He is considered one of the three most illustrious deacons of the Church - the others being St. Stephen the First Martyr and St. Lawrence.

St. Vincent was born in Heusca and later died a martyr in c. 304 AD in Valencia. He was Martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian. The following is an account of his death:

Ordained deacon by Bishop Valerius of Saragossa, he was taken in chains to Valencia during the Diocletian persecution and put to death. From legend we have the following details of his martyrdom. After brutal scourging in the presence of many witnesses, he was stretched on the rack; but neither torture nor blandishments nor threats could undermine the strength and courage of his faith. Next, he was cast on a heated grating, lacerated with iron hooks, and seared with hot metal plates. Then he was returned to prison, where the floor was heavily strewn with pieces of broken glass. A heavenly brightness flooded the entire dungeon, filling all who saw it with greatest awe.

After this he was placed on a soft bed in the hope that lenient treatment would induce apostasy, since torture had proven ineffective. But strengthened by faith in Christ Jesus and the hope of everlasting life, Vincent maintained an invincible spirit and overcame all efforts, whether by fire, sword, rack, or torture to induce defection. He persevered to the end and gained the heavenly crown of martyrdom.

—The Church's Year of Grace, by Pius Parsch

Also celebrated along with St. Vincent is St. Anastasius.

More than three hundred years after the martyrdom of St. Vincent, Anastasius the Persian, a convert from the priestly caste of Magi, endured a similar martyrdom in distant Assyria. From the Traditional matins reading on the life of this saint:

Anastasius, a Persian by birth, had embraced the monastic life during the reign of Heraclius. After visiting the Holy Places in Jerusalem, he courageously endured at Cæsarea in Palestine both imprisonment and scourgings for the faith of Christ. Not long after, the Persians put him to several kinds of torture for the same reason. King Chosroes at last ordered him to be beheaded, together with seventy other Christians. His relics were at first carried to Jerusalem, to the Monastery where he had professed the monastic life; afterwards they were translated to Rome, and were deposited in the monastery near the Salvian Waters.

Dom Gueranger states why they are celebrated today together in the Church's Liturgy: "Two celebrated Churches of Rome, one in the City itself, and the other outside the walls, are dedicated in common to St Vincent and St.Anastasius, because these two great Martyrs suffered on the same day of the year, though in different centuries. This is the motive of the Church in uniting their two feasts into one. Let us pray to this new champion of the Faith, that he intercede for us to the Saviour, whose Cross was so dear to him."

Through all the Christian centuries, the various martyrs of the West and of the East have united their sacrifices to that of Calvary for the salvation of every man born into the world. May St. Vincent and St. Anastasius pray for us and for the end to abortion in the United States and throughout the entire world before the wrath of God strikes down whole nations. Lord have mercy!

Prayer:

O Lord, listen to our supplications: that we who acknowledge the guilt of our sins, may be delivered through the intercession of Thy blessed Martyrs Vincent and Anastasius. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal