🛡️Vincent of Saragossa, a Spanish deacon of the 4th century, and Anastasius, a Persian monk of the 7th century, although separated by time and geography, are gloriously united in the martyrdom celebrated on this day, witnessing to the universality of the Church that breathes with two lungs, that of the West and that of the East. Vincent, born in Huesca and martyred in 304 under Diocletian, was subjected to atrocious torments, including the rack and red-hot grids, but his supernatural eloquence and joy amidst pain converted even his executioners, making him the protomartyr of Spain and patron of Lisbon and Valencia. Centuries later, Anastasius, born Magundat in Persia and a former soldier in the army of Khosrow II, abandoned magic arts and Zoroastrianism upon contemplating the Holy Cross stolen from Jerusalem; baptized in the Holy City, he became a monk and, burning with desire for martyrdom, was arrested, flogged, and finally strangled and beheaded in 628, leaving a legacy of monastic austerity crowned by blood. Both, one at the dawn of the Church's freedom and the other in the defense of the Cross against Persian paganism, perfectly fulfilled Christ's mandate not to fear those who kill the body, surrendering their lives as fertile seed for Christendom.
🕯️Introit (Ps 78, 11. 12 and 10 | ib., 1 )
Intret in conspectu tuo, Domine, gemitus compeditorum: redde vicinis nostris septuplum in sinu eorum: vindica sanguinem sanctorum tuorum, qui effusus est. Ps. Deus venerunt gentes in haereditatem tuam: polluerunt templum sanctum tuum: posuerunt Jerusalem in pomorum custodiam. ℣. Glória Patri.
Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before Thee, O Lord; render to our neighbors sevenfold in their bosom; avenge the blood of Thy Saints, which hath been shed. Ps. O God, the heathens are come into Thy inheritance, they have defiled Thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
📜Epistle (Wis 3, 1-8)
Justorum ánimæ in manu Dei sunt, et non tanget illos torméntum mortis. Visi sunt oculis insipiéntium mori: et æstimáta est afflíctio exitus illórum: et quod a nobis est iter, extermínium: illi autem sunt in pace. Et si coram homínibus torménta passi sunt, spes illórum immortalitáte plena est. In paucis vexáti, in multis bene disponéntur: quóniam Deus tentávit eos, et invenit illos dignos se. Tamquam aurum in fornáce probávit illos, et quasi holocáusti hóstiam accépit illos, et in témpore erit respéctus illorum. Fulgébunt justi, et tamquam scintíllæ in arundinéto discúrrent. Judicábunt natiónes, et dominabúntur pópulis, et regnábit Dóminus illórum in perpétuum.
The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: and their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
📖Gospel (Lk 21, 9-19)
In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Cum audieritis praélia et seditiónes, nolíte terréri: opórtet primum hæc fíeri, sed nondum statim finis. Tunc dicébat illis: Surget gens contra gentem, et regnum advérsus regnum. Et terræmótus magni erunt per loca, et pestiléntiæ, et fames, terrorésque de coelo, et signa magna erunt. Sed ante hæc ómnia injícient vobis manus suas, et persequéntur tradéntes in synagógas et custódias, trahéntes ad reges et prǽsides propter nomen meum: contínget autem vobis in testimónium. Pónite ergo in córdibus vestris non præmeditári, quemádmodum respondeátis. Ego enim dabo vobis os et sapiéntiam, cui non potérunt resístere et contradícere omnes adversárii vestri. Tradémini autem a paréntibus, et frátribus, et cognátis, et amícis, et morte affícient ex vobis: et éritis ódio ómnibus propter nomen meum: et capíllus de cápite vestro non períbit. In patiéntia vestra possidébitis ánimas vestras.
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: When you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified: these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet presently. Then He said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and pestilences, and famines, and terrors from heaven, and there shall be great signs. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, dragging you before kings and governors, for My Name's sake. And it shall happen unto you for a testimony. Lay it up therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before how you shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. And you shall be betrayed by your parents and brethren, and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death: and you shall be hated by all men for My Name's sake. But a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience you shall possess your souls.
🔥The possession of the soul through patience
🔥Today's liturgy places us before the deep mystery of Christian fortitude, illustrated magnificently in the figures of Saint Vincent and Saint Anastasius, who embody the promise of the Gospel: "by your perseverance you shall save your souls". The text of Wisdom (Wis 3, 1-8) offers us the hermeneutical key to understand the scandal of the suffering of the just, describing them as "gold in the furnace". This image is not merely poetic, but theological; gold, to be purified, needs to pass through fire, just as the virtue of the martyr needs the trial to become a holocaust pleasing to God. Saint Augustine, preaching specifically on Saint Vincent, highlights that such courage does not come from human strength, but from divine grace operating within the believer: "It was the body that suffered, but it was the Spirit that spoke" (Saint Augustine, Sermon 276). This reality fulfills Christ's promise in the Gospel of Luke: "I will give you words and wisdom". It was not Vincent, the deacon, nor Anastasius, the monk, who resisted the Roman and Persian empires by mere Stoic obstinacy, but it was Christ Himself suffering in His members and triumphing in them. The Lord's instruction "not to premeditate the defense" reveals that true apologetics in the moment of supreme crisis is a gift of the Holy Spirit, not a human rhetorical artifice. Furthermore, the final sentence of the Gospel - "In patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras" (In your patience you shall possess your souls) - is explained by Pope Saint Gregory the Great as the root and guard of all virtues, for "we possess our soul when, through patience, we are masters of ourselves; but if impatience masters us, we lose possession of our very being" (Saint Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 35). Therefore, today's celebration is not just a historical memory of past tortures, but a current invitation to trust that, even when "in the sight of the unwise they seem to die", those who remain faithful to the Truth are, in fact, safe in the hands of God, where no real torment - that is, eternal death - can touch them.
See English version of the critical articles here.
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