Martyr (d. First Century)
His life
+ According to tradition, Agabus was citizen of Jerusalem. He was one of the seventy-two disciples mentioned in Luke’s Gospel.
+ The same traditions relate that Agabus was one of those present in the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Eleven and their companions on the first Pentecost.
+ According to the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 11), Agabus was a prophet who traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch and predicted that severe famine would take place during the reign of the emperor Claudius.
+ Some Scripture scholars also propose that Agabus was also the same “prophet” who is mentioned in Acts 21 who predicted that Paul would be handed over to the Roman authorities.
+ Later traditions relate that Agabus traveled extensively proclaiming the Gospel and later died as a martyr in Antioch.
For prayer and reflection
“The disciples determined that, according to ability, each should send relief to the brothers.”—Acts 11:29
Spiritual bonus
On this day, we also remember Blessed Domingo Iturrate Zubero. A priest of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity (the Trinitarians), he had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Blessed Domingo died in 1927, at the age of twenty-six, and was beatified in 1983.
Prayer
O God, who have united the many nations
in confessing your name,
grant that those reborn in the font of Baptism
may be one in the faith of their hearts
and the homage of their deeds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal: Collect for Easter Thursday)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
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