It’s the Feast of Sts. Vincent and Anastasius, 3rd Class, with the color of Red. In this episode: the meditation: “Marriage and the Eucharist”, today’s news from the Church: “How the Vatican Tried to Avert U.S. Intervention in Venezuela”, a preview of the Sermon: “Preparing for Matrimony: Three Pre-Requisites for Dating”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.

• “Marriage and the Eucharist” – From Epiphany to Lent
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• https://fsspx.news/en/news/how-vatican-tried-avert-us-intervention-venezuela-56590

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Saints Vincent and Anastasius are remembered together because their lives show how the witness of martyrdom can echo across centuries, cultures, and empires. Though separated by time and circumstance, they are united by a single truth: fidelity to Christ endured unto death leaves a lasting mark on the Church.

Saint Vincent of Saragossa lived during the brutal persecution under Emperor Diocletian. He served as a deacon in Spain under Bishop Valerius, who was gentle and hesitant in speech. Vincent, younger and eloquent, often spoke on the bishop’s behalf. When both were arrested, the Roman governor focused his cruelty on Vincent, believing that breaking the deacon would silence the Church. What followed was one of the most graphic martyrdoms recorded in antiquity. Vincent endured imprisonment, starvation, and savage tortures without surrender. Ancient writers emphasize not the violence itself, but Vincent’s calm endurance and even joy, which unsettled his persecutors. When he finally died in 304, his body was treated with contempt, yet Christians recovered it and honored him immediately. His martyrdom spread rapidly through the Christian world, making Vincent one of the most venerated martyrs of the West.

Saint Anastasius the Persian came from a very different world. He was a Persian soldier who converted to Christianity after encountering the relics of the True Cross. His conversion was deliberate and costly. Leaving military life behind, he became a monk and embraced ascetic discipline with seriousness. When Persian authorities learned of his faith, he was arrested and subjected to long imprisonment and interrogation. Unlike Vincent, Anastasius endured not a brief outburst of violence but years of pressure, humiliation, and suffering. He remained firm, refusing to return to pagan worship. In 628, he was executed along with companions, offering his life as a witness to Christ within a hostile empire.

The Church paired these two martyrs because together they reveal the breadth of Christian courage. Vincent shows the strength of the early Church standing openly against imperial violence. Anastasius shows the quiet endurance of faith lived under constant threat, far from Rome and its influence. One suffered swiftly and publicly, the other slowly and persistently. Both held fast.

Devotion to Saints Vincent and Anastasius grew early. Vincent became a patron of deacons, prisoners, and those facing injustice, while Anastasius was honored especially in the East as a model convert who embraced faith without compromise. Their shared feast on January 22 reminded the faithful that martyrdom is not bound to a single age or culture.

Together, Saints Vincent and Anastasius teach that the Church is built not only by preaching and governance, but by lives laid down in truth. Their witness assures us that faithfulness, whether tested in a moment or over years, is never forgotten by God.

Saints Vincent and Anastasius, steadfast martyrs of Christ, pray for us!

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