A dazzling list

Mary O’Regan on the Saints of 23 September

Even though I spent eight years writing a book on Padre Pio, I must confess that before researching this piece, I was largely ignorant of the saints who share his feast day, 23 September. Now, my understanding is that a dazzling list of saints shares this day! Pio holds it because he died on this day.

The same day as Pope St Linus, who was our second Pope. He is mentioned by St Paul in 2nd Timothy 4. Reportedly, he was ordained by Pope St Peter, and they are buried next to each other.

Aspects of his biography are a matter of debate, but a certain fact is that he is listed among the Popes in the Canon of the Mass, and he was the Pope who decreed that all women have their hair veiled at the divine services. His charisms were extraordinary; he could raise the dead and drive out evil spirits. Here’s where he got into hot water. Linus exorcised the daughter of a devious consul, Saturnius, who instead of being thankful, had Linus’s head chopped off. But as I say, Linus is most remembered for ordering that women cover their heads, and perhaps us ladies who go under-cover might put our all head-coverings (be they hats or bonnets) under his protection.

If Linus came in for special mention by St Paul, St Thecla was actually converted and became a virgin for Christ after she heard Paul preach. She, too, went to her Spouse on 23 September, around the year 100, about 21 years after Linus had passed. So she was an immediate beneficiary of his papacy, and I bet she kept her locks covered at Mass, too. When she became a Christian, she was thrown out of home by her family. That’s not all – when she refused to marry the suitor they had in mind for her – they tried to burn her to death. Her family certainly don’t sound pleasant. The pyre, however, was put out by a sudden shower of rain just as Thecla was about to leap in with abandon as she made the sign of the Cross.

Miracles

She escaped to Antioch, and her faith got her in trouble again, but she also survived an attack of bulls with their fierce horns. And a sojourn in a deadly snake pit. When they witnessed these miracles, several were converted on the spot, even though they had seen with their own eyes that which could befall them. Then she became a hermit on the side of a hill where she lived out the rest of her days.

Thecla is considered a martyr because she was one in her conscience and in her intention to die. She is invoked in the rites for the dying and in the official prayer for a departing soul: ‘As Thou didst deliver the holy virgin and martyr Thecla from three most gruesome torments, so deliver the soul of this Thy servant; and let him/her enjoy with Thee the blessings of heaven. Amen.’

Blessed

Jumping ahead many centuries, in 1588 there is Blessed William Way who perished also on the 23rd. William was born in Exeter, but was a seminarian in France because the Faith was illegal on English soil. He returned to England where he was a recusant Catholic priest in the time of Elizabeth I; those details alone send a shiver down the spine and foreshadow his gruesome death. He was caught and ordered to be hanged, drawn and quartered. But he went to his death flooded with joy. His dead body was then drawn through the streets to howls and jeers.

Pio, I never knew until now you were in such good company! Ss Linus, Thecla, Blessed William Way, Pio, pray for us, and a happy feast everyone.