Saturday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
Featured Saints
St. Vincent, deacon and martyr. Optional Memorial. He was the deacon of St. Valerius, Bishop of Zaragoza, and was martyred in Valencia in the year 304, becoming the protomartyr of Spain.
St. Valerius, Bishop (†305/315). He was expelled from his Diocese of Zaragoza, Spain, during the persecution of Diocletian and died in exile. He is honoured as the Patron of Zaragoza.
St. Gaudentius, bishop (†circa 418). Converted by St. Eusebius of Vercelli, he became his disciple and companion in exile. He returned to Italy and became Bishop of Novara.
St. Bernard, bishop (†842). He left the army of Charlemagne, distributed his goods among the poor, joined the militia of Christ and was named Bishop of Vienne, France. He built the monasteries of Ambronay and Romans.
St. Vincent Pallotti, priest (†1850). He founded the Society of Catholic Apostolate. Through his work and writings, he promoted the vocation of all the baptized to generously labour for the Church.
Sts. Francis Gil of Federich and Matthew Alphonse of Leziniana, priests and martyrs (†1745). Dominican priests put to death by sword in Vietnam, after a period of imprisonment, for preaching the Gospel.
Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, priest (†1850). Desirous of attracting the laity to devotion to Our Lady and promoting the missions, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Society of Mary, in Bordeaux, France.
St. Dominic of Sora, abbot(†1031). He founded and reformed many monasteries in the region of Latium, in central Italy.
Blessed Giuseppe Nascimbeni, priest (†1922). He founded the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in Castelletto del Garda, Italy.
Blessed Ladislaus Batthyány Strattmann, father of family (†1931). Doctor from a Hungarian noble family, he generously cared for the poor and indigent in the hospital he founded in Vienna, Austria.
Blessed Laura Vicuña, virgin (†1904). Chilean girl educated by the Salesian Sisters in Argentina. Of firm faith and ardent piety, she endured great moral sufferings and died at 13 years of age, after offering herself as a victim for the conversion of her mother.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27
David returned from his defeat of the Amalekites
and spent two days in Ziklag.
On the third day a man came from Saul’s camp,
with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
Going to David, he fell to the ground in homage.
David asked him, “Where do you come from?”
He replied, “I have escaped from the camp of the children of Israel.”
“Tell me what happened,” David bade him.
He answered that many of the soldiers had fled the battle
and that many of them had fallen and were dead,
among them Saul and his son Jonathan.
David seized his garments and rent them,
and all the men who were with him did likewise.
They mourned and wept and fasted until evening
for Saul and his son Jonathan,
and for the soldiers of the LORD of the clans of Israel,
because they had fallen by the sword.
“Alas! the glory of Israel, Saul,
slain upon your heights;
how can the warriors have fallen!
“Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished,
separated neither in life nor in death,
swifter than eagles, stronger than lions!
Women of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and in finery,
who decked your attire with ornaments of gold.
“How can the warriors have fallen–
in the thick of the battle,
slain upon your heights!
“I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother!
most dear have you been to me;
more precious have I held love for you than love for women.
“How can the warriors have fallen,
the weapons of war have perished!”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 80:2-3, 5-7 (R.4b)
R. Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
O guide of the flock of Joseph!
From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us. R.
O LORD of hosts, how long will you burn with anger
while your people pray?
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in ample measure.
You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us. R.
Gospel – Mk 3:20-21
Jesus came with his disciples into the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
