Memorial of St. Agatha
Virgin martyred in the year 250. She was a young noblewoman from Catania, Sicily, where the Church suffered terrible persecution. St. Agatha has been greatly venerated by the Popes, and owes to St. Gregory Gregory the Great the inclusion of her name into the Roman Canon.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13
The elders of Israel and all the leaders of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the children of Israel, came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion. All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month). When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark; they carried the ark of the LORD and the meeting tent with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. (The priests and Levites carried them.) King Solomon and the entire community of Israel present for the occasion sacrificed before the ark sheep and oxen too many to number or count. The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the holy of holies of the temple. The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above. There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel at their departure from the land of Egypt. When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the LORD’s glory had filled the temple of the LORD. Then Solomon said, “The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud; I have truly built you a princely house, a dwelling where you may abide forever.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 132:6-7, 8-10 (R.8a)
R. Lord, go up to the place of Your rest!
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
Let us enter into His dwelling,
let us worship at His footstool. R.
Advance, O LORD, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your majesty.
May Your priests be clothed with justice;
let Your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.
For the sake of David Your servant,
reject not the plea of Your anointed. R.
Gospel – Mk 6:53-56
After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and His disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized Him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside He entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch only the tassel on His cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
Featured Saints
St. Sabas the younger, monk (†995). Together with his brother St. Macarius, he spread monastic life in Calabria and Lucania (Italy), during a time of devastation caused by the Saracens.
Blessed Elizabeth Canori Mora, housewife (†1825). She patiently and charitably endured her husband’s infidelity and abuse. She joined the Third Order of the Trinitarians in Rome, offering her life for the conversion of sinners, and was favoured with mystical gifts.
St. Luke of Lucania, abbot (†995). He lived a monastic life, initially in Sicily, and then in several other places, fleeing the Saracen incursions. He died in the monastery of Sts. Elias and Anastasius, which he had founded in Carbone (Italy).
St. Adelaide, abbess (†1015). Descendant of high nobility, she became a nun and was elected abbess of the Monastery of Villich, Germany. She adopted the Benedictine Rule and promoted the intellectual formation of the religious.
Blessed Françoise Mézière, virgin and martyr (+1794). A laywoman who dedicated herself to caring for the sick and teaching poor children. For her faith she was decapitated in Laval during the French Revolution.
St. Jesus Méndez Montoya, priest and martyr (†1928). Killed by firing squad in the Archdiocese of Morelia during the Mexican persecution.
St. Avitus, bishop (†518). Converted St. Sigismund, King of Burgundy, to Catholicism. He defended the Gauls from the Arian heresy and died in Vienne, France.
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