I miss Telesphorus.
ETA: I know he's not banned anymore, or at least I don't think, since Matthew did a mass lifting of bans a while back. And maybe it's good he's not online anymore, maybe that means he found a nice girl and has lots of exciting "real life" stuff to tend to. But I still miss him.
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I TOTALLY agree!
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Speaking of Tele, are you aware that he took his name from the Roman martyr, St. Telesphorus, Pope, who hails from the days when popes were really
CATHOLIC?!?!
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You have to kind of look for his information, because his feast day (Jan 5) falls every year during that time when we're still in the Christmas season liturgically and so your missal will have a bit different arrangement for daily feast days, which you might expect to find in the Sunday Mass entries, as Christmas usually falls on a weekday, not Sunday. For example, the very next day after Christmas is St. Stephen, the protomartyr (this year Wednesday), followed by St. John (this year Thursday, who is considered a martyr inasmuch as on May 6th his being boiled alive in oil is commemorated, a process which he endured the pains thereof, however nonetheless miraculously survived), followed by the Holy Innocents on the 28th, this year Friday, shared by others including St. Francis de Sales, bishop in France, and Doctor of the Church, followed by St. Thomas of Canterbury, whom the wicked English murdered, this year Saturday -- yesterday. And so on. The Church doesn't dwell for long on the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior. Today, if not by Sunday's Mass, the
Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Felix I, p. m., St. Sabinus, St. Exuperantius and St. Marcellus [remember the St. Marcel Initiative??], St. Venustian, his wife and sons --- while their martyrdoms having occurred at different times, they are commemorated on the same day.
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The Martyrology gets specific here:
"Marcellus and Exuperantius were fist racked, then severely beaten with rods; afterwards being torn with iron hooks, and burned in the sides, they fulfilled their martyrdom. Not long after, Venustian was put to the sword with his wife and sons. St. Sabinus, after having his hands cut off, and being a long time confined in prison, was scourged to death." .[Note: if prison life wasn't already bad enough, try to imagine being there in those days, with bleeding stumps as forearms, etc...]
.The entry for St. Telesphorus is no less edifying, since we have already been informed regarding the general character of such tortures.
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"The Vigil of the Epiphany of Our Lord ... At Rome, in the time of Anotninus Pius,
St. Telesphorus, pope, who, after many sufferings for the confession of Christ, underwent a glorious martyrdom ..."
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Perhaps if we ask Tele to
"come on back, the water's fine," and that we'd like him to tell us about the specifics of his namesake's many sufferings, he would be enticed to do so.
Eh? (...as they say in Canada, which is closer to where he lives, last we heard.............)
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Furthermore, Jan 5 is shared with other martyrs whose feasts are of a lesser rank than Pope Telesphorus:St. Edward, King of England, whose feast was transferred to October 13th (the day Our Lady later chose for the Miracle of the Sun), known for illustrious CHASTITY and the gift of MIRACLES...Under Diocletian, in Egypt many holy martyrs were put to death in Thebais by various kinds of torments...St. Simeon, monk of Antioch, lived for many years standing on a pillar, wherefore he is called Stylites ... St. Emiliana, Roman virgin, was called to heaven by her sister Tharsilla, who had preceded her ...St. Syncletica of Alexandria, her noble deeds have been recorded by St Anthanasius [same as the "other creed" of the Church, attributed to him, while skeptics argue he didn't compose it!] ...St. Apollinaris, virgin in Egypt........................ [if "apollo" were really Catholic, he might have preferred "apollinaris" instead!!!!] .