A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.
March 22
April 28
Bishop
Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 146 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.
This bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in his mission into Gaul. A foolish legend ( fabulosa narratio it is called by Henschenius) is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt at the time when S. Joseph and the B. Virgin went down thither with the Holy Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the young child's life.
Stay faithful when it costs you. This account is about holding firm under pressure.
Share your faith, in words and by example. Preaching and conversion are central here.
Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.
This bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in his mission into Gaul [roughly modern France and Belgium]. A foolish legend ( fabulosa narratio it is called by Henschenius) is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt at the time when S. Joseph and the B. Virgin went down thither with the Holy Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the young child's life. On the arrival of the child Jesus in Egypt all the idols fell, and Aphrodisius, recognising in Him his God, bowed before Him in adoration, and defended the Holy Family from the rage of the idolatrous priests. After the Ascension he laid down his prefectship and went to Antioch where he was baptized by S. Peter, and afterwards sent with S. Sergius Paulus into Gaul. S. Aphrodisius, however, certainly lived much later than he is represented to have done.
Feast: April 28
Traditional: March 22
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Aphrodisius of…'s story, and a nudge to keep going.
Image: Saint Aphrodisius.JPG · Unknown · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
Image: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.