Widow – (d. 311)
Her life
+ Natalia was born in the third century. Although she was a Christian, she married a non-Christian imperial officer named Adrian.
+ Natalia’s husband was so impressed by the witness of the Christian martyrs that he declared himself a Christian, although he had never been baptized. Adrian was subsequently arrested and condemned to death.
+ Natalia visited him in prison and ministered to other prisoners. On September 8, 304, Natalia witnessed her husband’s martyrdom and her grief was so intense that she had to be restrained from throwing herself on the funeral pyre.
+ Natalia spent the rest of her life in prayer and service to her fellow Christians. She died on December 1, 311.
Spiritual bonus
On December 1, the Church also celebrates the memory of Blessed Charles de Foucuald. Born to a noble family in France in 1858, Charles drifted away from the faith before eventually becoming a soldier, and later, a Trappist monk, and priest. He spent the final years of his life among the Tuareg people of Algeria and was killed there in 1916. Charles had long hoped to establish a new religious community dedicated to imitating the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth. While this goal was never accomplished during his life, today, several communities of “Brothers” and “Sisters” of Jesus seek to imitate the life and witness of Blessed Charles.
Quote
“Wisdom builds her house, but Folly tears hers down with her own hands. The one who walks uprightly fears the Lord, but the one who is devious in their ways spurns him.”—Proverbs 14:1-2
Prayer
O God, the exaltation of the lowly, who willed that blessed Natalia should excel in the beauty of her charity and patience, grant, through her merits and intercession, that, carrying our cross each day, we may always persevere in love for you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For a Holy Woman)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
And today we celebrate...