Saint Angelus

Priest & Martyr

May 5: Celebrated as a Memorial with proper texts or from the Common of One Martyr.

Angelus was one of the first friars to come to Sicily from Mount Carmel. According to trustworthy sources he was killed by unbelievers in Licata during the first half of the thirteenth century. Acclaimed as a martyr his body was placed in a church built on the site of his death. It was only in 1632 that his relics were transferred to the Carmelite Church. Veneration of St. Angelus spread throughout the Carmelite Order as well as among the populace. He has been named patron of many places in Sicily where the people still honour him and invoke his intercession in their needs.

Prayer

God our Father,

strength of the faithful and crown of martyrs,

by your grace St. Angelus was called from Carmel

to triumph victorious over the torments of martyrdom.

By his prayers grant us

that faithfully following his example,

we may bear witness to your presence and goodness until death.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Scripture Readings

Romans 5:1-5; Gospel - Matthew 28:16-20.

Texts taken from the “Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,”

Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993

Image courtesy of the Carmelnet webmaster, USA.