Thursday, September 20, 2012

St Eustace and companions (EF); SS Andrew Tae-gon, Paul Chon Ha-sang and companions, Sept 20


Vision of St Eustace by Pisanello

Prior to his conversion, St Eustace was a Roman General under the Emperor Trajan.  While out hunting one day he had a vision of Jesus caught between the antler's of a stag.  He and his family immediately converted.  St Eustace was martyred in 118 AD. 

From the martyrology:

"At Rome, the holy martyrs Eustachius, and Theopistes, his wife, with their two sons, Agapitus and Theopistus. Under the emperor Adrian, they were condemned to be cast to the beasts, but through the power of God, being uninjured by them, they were shut up in a burning brazen ox, and thus terminated their martyrdom."

In the ordinary form today, the calendar remembers a number of Korean martyrs, including St Andrew Taegon (1821-46), the first Korean native priest, and Paul Chong Hasang (1794-1839), a lay apostle and married man.

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