Blessed Father Noel Pinot, priest and martyr
by VP
Posted on Friday February 21, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
"The Church can be persecuted, she can
be weakened, but she cannot be destroyed. she will always come back with
a greater strength.
During the French Revolution: this is a rather remarkable blessed here,
he has not been canonized yet I think: Blessed Noel Pinot. Most people
have never heard of him! He was born in 1747, he became a priest, a
parish priest. In 1788, everything was still thought to be peaceful. The
revolution did not really happened overnight but no one thought of it
in 1788! Few people did! He was made an abbé, a pastor. In 1789, the
Revolution came. In 1790, there was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
which was directly attacking the Church. He, like other priests, had to
take the oath for which he was imprisoned, he was not allowed to
function at all, then there were a reaction, he was free for a while,
and then again under oppression. He went around saying Mass in private,
visiting the sick, anointing people, baptizing. But finally, he was
caught. He was betrayed, as so often happens, by someone to whom he had
shown great kindness. He was arrested in his Mass vestments, put in
prison for 12 days, roughly treated. At the end of the 12 days, he was
asked to take the oath again, he refused, and was sentenced to the
guillotine. He went to the guillotine still wearing his Mass vestments.
On the way, he said those words: the old beginning prayers said at the
foot of the altar, "Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad Deum qui laetificat
juventutem meam". (I will go to the altar of God. To God, the joy of my
youth!) He was going to offer his last sacrifice, the sacrifice of
himself." -- Msgr. Jeffrey Ingham: Fortnight for Freedom Homily (June 29, 2017)
- Biography of Blessed Noel Pinot: Saint Joseph de Clairval Abbaye,Letter of September 12, 2014
Prayer to Blessed Noel Pinot for Priests under Persecution:
Blessed Noel Pinot, who shared in the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus, the Sovereign Priest, deign to show us, your servants, the power of your intercession. Enlighten and strengthen priests; render them, like you, invincible in their defense of the Faith. Foster priestly and religious vocations in our parishes; fill those aspiring to the priesthood and the religious life with an ardent zeal. Obtain for the faithful the grace to better know and practice their religion. Ensure that families are faithful in carrying out their duties and grant that they be humble and respectful towards their pastors.
Preserve children and the youth from the many perils which threaten their beliefs and virtues; undo the plots of those who wish to tear them away from the maternal bosom of the Church. As you did during your life, aid the sick and the infirm; strengthen those who suffer and struggle. Finally, bless and crown with success the apostolic labors of the ministers of Christ and of all the Church militant, with the aim of restoring to our dear France the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Blessed Noel Pinot, pray for us. (General Vicar A. Oger, Angers, France (July 10th, 1944)
St. Severian of Scythopolis, Bishop and Martyr, A.D. 452.
by VP
Posted on Friday February 21, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
"He was bishop of Scythopolis, and a zealous assertor of the Catholic faith against the errors of Eutyches. Theodosius, an ignorant Eutychian monk, and a man of a most tyrannical temper, perverted many among the monks themselves, and obliged Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem, to withdraw. He then unjustly possessed himself of that important see, and in a cruel persecution which he raised, filled Jerusalem with blood. Then, at the head of a band of soldiers, he carried desolation over the country. Many however had the courage to stand their ground; but no one resisted him with greater zeal and resolution than St. Severianus, and his recompense was the crown of martyrdom. The furious soldiers seized him, dragged him out of the city, and put him to death.
The commendation of this prelate was his courage, at a time when heresy had so animated the people, that there needed no other crime than to own the truth, nor any other executioner than their rage. But this was no terror to him, who knew the victory
he had in dying for truth. Give thanks for that grace which
distinguished this pastor from so many others, at that time, who from the cloister and the desert
took part with error: and upon this prospect beg grace to establish you
against all such weakness. In their fall you may see what you are, and
how great your dependence ought to be on heavenly strength. But remember that there is as certain destruction in forsaking the commandments, as in denying the creed: and that your zeal for the one will be of no advantage, if you transgress the other. What then if your faith be sound, is your zeal for virtue so too? Both are equally the precepts of the gospel.
If you take part with vice, and give encouragement to it by your bad
example, you are at war with heaven; and what comfort will it be in
hell, if you are condemned for sin, and not for obstinacy in error? Let
him who stands beware, lest he fall. Hold fast what you have, lest
another bear away your crown." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
