Saint Josaphat
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 12, 2023 at 11:00PM in Saints
Martyrdom of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych by Józef Simmler (1823–1868)
"The life of St. Josaphat is a lesson for all time. The two truths which he was charged by our Divine Lord to proclaim, and which he was to seal with his blood: the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff and the unity of the Church, are denied in our own day by the same sectaries, and all who maintain them assailed by the same fiendish cruelty." The Dublin Review, Part 1 page 46. 1877
"Stir up, O Lord, we beseech thee, in thy Church the Spirit wherewith
the blessed Josephat thy Martyr and Pontiff was filled." Thus prays our
Mother, today, and the Gospel likewise points to the desire of obtaining
pastors like to thee, O holy Bishop! The sacred text speaks of the
false shepherd, who flees at first sight of the wolf; but the Homily,
which explains it in the Night Office, brands equally with the title of
hireling the keeper who, though he does not flee, suffers the enemy
un-resisted to work havoc in the fold. May the divine Shepherd, whom
thou didst imitate unto the end, even unto laying down thy life for the
sheep, live again in all those whom he calls, like Peter, to exercise a
greater love." The Liturgical Year: Passiontide and holy week, 3d edition. 1901 Abbot Prosper Gueranger OSB
