Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop
St. Martin of Tours, Bishop of this city, appointed in 371. He was born in Hungary and abandoned a military career in order to become a religious. It was during his time as a soldier that the famous episode took place of his cutting his cloak in half to clothe a beggar suffering from the cold. He went on to found several monasteries, including that of Ligugé, o the oldest in Europe.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Ti 1:1-9
Paul, a slave of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God’s chosen ones and the recognition of religious truth, in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began, who indeed at the proper time revealed his word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted by the command of God our savior, to Titus, my true child in our common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. For this reason I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town, as I directed you, on condition that a man be blameless, married only once, with believing children who are not accused of licentiousness or rebellious. For a bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 (R. see6)
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers. R.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain. R.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. R.
Gospel – Lk 17:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
Featured Saints
St. Veranus, bishop (†fifth century). Governed the Diocese of Vence, France with wisdom and sanctity; he supported the letter of St. Leo the Great against monophysitism.
St. Theodore the Studite, abbot (†826). Abbot of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople; under his governance were formed saints and martyrs who died as victims of the iconoclast persecutions.
St. Bartholomew, abbot (†1055). Disciple of St. Nilus of Rossano, whom he helped found the Abbey of St. Mary of Grottaferrata, near Rome; he developed this monastery into a school of arts and sciences.
St. Marina de Omura, virgin and martyr (†1634). Dominican tertiary who was imprisoned and burned alive in Nagasaki, Japan, for her Christian Faith.
Blessed Vincent Eugene Bossilkov, bishop and martyr (†1952). Religious of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, he was tortured and shot by the Bolshevist regime in Bulgaria for refusing to renounce the Pope.
Blessed Vincenza Maria, virgin (†1855). With Blessed Charles Steeb, she founded the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona, Italy.
Blessed Alice Kotowska, virgin and martyr (†1939). Religious from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection, she was killed by a Nazi firing squad in Laski Piasnica, Poland.
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