Daily Martyrology for June 4

In 308, at Sisak in Croatia, Quirinus, bishop and martyr. After a spirited defense of his faith before a magistrate, Quirinus was beaten. According to contemporary accounts, he said: “I am exercising my priesthood here and now by offering myself up to God.” He was finally tossed into the Raab River with a millstone tied around his neck. His body is buried in Santa Maria in Trastevere.

In 387 in North Africa, St. Optatus of Milevis, bishop. He was an apologist for the Catholic church against the Donatists, who differed in their understanding of the sacraments, an argument which had its beginnings in what they regarded as infidelity and laxity among some clergy during the persecution of Diocletian. Optatus insisted on the catholicity of the church and the need to be in communion with the bishop of Rome.

In 1608, in Italy, St. Francis Caracciolo. When he was cured of a skin disease, he gave up his easygoing, aristocratic life and became a priest. A letter wrongly addressed to him invited him to help found a new religious group, the Order of Minor Clerks Regular. He did so and eventually became its leader.

In Spain, in 1940, Bishop Manuel González García. As a child he belonged to the seises, a group of choir boys at the Seville Cathedral who danced on the feasts of Corpus Christi and the Immaculate Conception. He became a priest, and served in an area of rundown churches and lukewarm faith. To revitalize the faith of his people, he founded several religious orders and confraternities, and wrote many books. When he was made bishop of Málaga in 1920, he gave a banquet for 3,000 poor children. His ministry there was met with stiff resistance from anticlerical Republicans who burned down his house. In 1935 he was appointed bishop of Palencia. His ministry centered on the Eucharist.

Previous Day   |   Next Day   |   Pick a Day...

Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.