- December 3, 2023
2024 Spring On-Air Appeal – May 6-10 – Call 1-877-711-8500!
2024 Spring On-Air Appeal – May 6-10 – Call 1-877-711-8500!
Charlemagne was born in the 740s, the son of Pepin the Short, the first Carolingian King of the Franks. He succeeded his father in 768, and over the next several decades he expanded his realm east and south, carving his name and those of his knights, like the famous Roland, into history, legend and song. Charlemagne also dutifully defended the Pope against the Church’s enemies, and on Christmas Day in the year of Our Lord 800, at Holy Mass in Old St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope St. Leo III crowned Charlemagne and proclaimed him Imperator Romanorum: Emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne now ruled the revived Western Roman Empire, acknowledged by the Pope as the primary temporal protector of the Church and Papacy. As both king and emperor Charlemagne was devoted to the Church, charity, and learning. He promoted ecclesiastical reform, liturgical unity with Rome, and the development of what would become Gregorian chant. Charlemagne died in 814, with words of Christ on his lips, and though his original canonization was proclaimed by an antipope, his beatification was officially recognized by Pope Benedict XIV. His relics rest in the cathedral of his Imperial capital, Aachen.
AT Rome, the second feast of St. Agnes.
In the same place, St. Flavian, martyr, who suffered under Diocletian.
At Apollonia, the holy martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus, who were made to undergo various torments in the time of the emperor Decius. Thyrsus and Callinicus consummated their martyrdom by being beheaded; Leucius, being
called by a heavenly voice, yielded his soul to God.
In Thebais, the holy martyrs Leonides and his companions, who obtained the palm of martyrdom in the time of Diocletian.
At Alexandria, the commemoration of many holy martyrs, who, whilst they were at Mass in the church on this day, were put to death in various manners by the followers of Syrian, an Arian general.
Also, St. Cyril, bishop of the same city, a most celebrated defender of the Catholic faith, who rested in peace with a great reputation for learning and sanctity.
At Saragossa, St. Valerius, bishop.
At Cuenca, in Spain, the birthday of St. Julian, bishop, who went to his God with the reputation of working miracles, after bestowing the goods of the Church on the poor, and, like the Apostles, supporting himself by the work of his
hands.
In the monastery of Rheims, the demise of a holy priest named John, a man of God.
In Palestine, St. James, a hermit, who hid himself a long time in a sepulchre to do penance for a fault he had committed, and being celebrated for miracles, departed for heaven.
℣. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
℟. Thanks be to God.
