Saint Romanus, Martyr
by VP
Posted on Friday August 09, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
COURAGEOUS FAITH.-How many Christians are there who will have to blush before God for their utter weakness in presence of the prejudices and maxims of the world, which they in their heart condemn, but to which they have with cowardly submission bowed down their souls! Let such craven spirits reflect on the following example:-St. Lawrence was in fetters; on seeing the hour approach wherein he was to suffer for Christ's sake, he could not refrain from manifesting his joy. One of the soldiers charged with his safe custody, by name Romanus, moved at the sight, entreated Lawrence to make known to him the truths of Christianity; the holy deacon instructed and baptized him. Romanus, having now become a Christian, displayed openly the happiness that pervaded his soul. Neither human respect nor fear of the torture to which he exposed himself, nor any other consideration, could restrain him; he proclaimed his faith, saying openly, "I am a Christian!" This was tantamount to pronouncing his own sentence of death, as he well knew. He was handed over to the executioner, tortured in many ways, and finally beheaded the day previous to that when St. Lawrence had to appear before the tribunal, and thus preceded his master in the glorious triumph of martyrdom, in the year 258.
MORAL REFLECTION.- "Neither height, nor depth, nor
any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Jesus Christ our Lord."-(Rom. viii. 39.)
Pictorial half hours with the saints. By Fr. Auguste François Lecanu 1865
