St. Irenaeus

St. Irenaeus of Lyons

St. Irenaeus was one of the most important people in the early Church to the point he was called one of the fathers of the Church.

He was born circa A.D.125 in a province in Asia Minor. There he   was influenced by another saint, Saint Polycarp. Sometime later he along with many priests and missionaries went to Gaul and formed a local church which would be the foundation of the church of Lyon. He served as a priest there under the bishop St. Pothinus. He was then sent in 177 to Rome. It is because of this that he avoided the persecutions in Lyons. When he got back, the persecution ended and he was sent to be the temporary bishopric.

During this time, Gnostic teachings had spread very far in Gaul. This prompted him to reveal the errors in these heresies. In five books he contrasted these heretical teachings vs. the true message passed on to the Apostles. Originally in Greek, once the writings spread, it was converted into Latin; this ultimately created the finishing blow to the teachings of Gnostics in that Gnosticism never again would be a serious threat to the Church.

It was assumed that his death year is 202 although it is not certain. The tomb/shrine that contained his bodily relics were destroyed by the Calvinists in 1562 making the relics seem to have perished. Although not considered a Doctor of the Church, he was still a pivotal saint that was the major contributor to defeating one of the great heresies of the time making him one of the most important saints in early Church history.

St. Cecilia

Well today I'm performing for a band concert at my school, and so I got the idea to write about the Patron Saint of music.

St. Cecilia-Patroness of Music

St. Cecilia lived between the 2nd and 3rd centuries in Rome. She was a very holy woman, who prayed to saints and angels alike to preserve her virginity. She was to be married by a young man named Valerian. She told her husband a secret which stated that there was an angel who kept her from harm. When asked if he could see it, she replied to become baptized.

After he was baptized by Pope S. Urban, he found his wife praying in a chamber guarded by an angel with flaming wings holding two crowns of roses and lilies.The angel placed the two crowns upon them and then vanished. Tibertius, Valerian's brother, saw these flowers during that season of the year, he too became baptized.

During this time Cecilia began converting 400 people whom Pope S. Urban baptized. Later, she was arrested and sent to be suffocated in a burning bath. Even though the fires burned their hottest, she would not perspire. After that a man was tasked with beheading her. After the man failed thrice, he left her to bleed to death. While she was bleeding, she converted many people whom also soaked up the blood with sponges or cloths. After that she died and was buried by Pope Urban.

Her feast day is November 22. The reason she is the patroness of music is that when she was compelled to marry her at the time pagan spouse Valerian, she heard heavenly music within her heart. This later grew and much music, art, and several festivals were made in honor of St. Cecilia.

The Church is Apostolic

As you probably know by now, there are four marks of the church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. I am going to talk about the church as Apostolic.

Pope Francis I riding bus in Buenos Aires, Argentina

The church is Apostolic in that it was founded by the apostles, led by the apostles, and taught by the apostles. Some might say that the apostles are not present today and therefore it is no longer apostolic, yet this is false. There's something called the apostolic succession. Every apostle before they died selected a successor. The apostle might have selected more than one successor. The pope is the successor of Peter the apostle. The Pope has the keys the kingdom and his infallible just asked St. Peter.  Today the successors of every apostle called bishops. Every bishop can follow his linage to one of the apostles.

There can only be a certain number of bishops under the age of 80 at any given time. Therefore they might be over 100 million bishops but there are only 200 under the age of eighty although that is highly unlikely. Bishops currently have the mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles which is to teach, baptize, sanctify, and make disciples of all nations. If a bishop is good with his duties, he might be selected to be a cardinal. A cardinal is a specific type of bishop that is in charge of selecting a new pope. In these reasons, the Church is apostolic.