Saint of the Day: St. Justin Martyr

Priest and Martyr (d. 165)

His life

+ Justin was born in Syrian Palestine and was trained as a philosopher.

+ Justin ultimately accepted the Christian Faith as the full expression of truth. He used his skills as a philosopher to defend Christian teachings and he holds an honored place among the Church’s earliest writers.

+ In his writings, Saint Justin reveals his love of the truth, understood as a way of life revealed by God’s own Incarnate Word.

+ The writings of Saint Justin contain some of the earliest teachings in the Eucharist: “And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist] ... For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word… is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”

+ Saint Justin was martyred in Rome around the year 165. He is honored as one of the patron saint of philosophers.

For prayer and reflection

“A pioneer of positive engagement with philosophical thinking—albeit with cautious discernment—was Saint Justin. Although he continued to hold Greek philosophy in high esteem after his conversion, Justin claimed with power and clarity that he had found in Christianity ‘the only sure and profitable philosophy.’”—Pope Saint John Paul II in Fides et Ratio, no. 38

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember the priest and founder Saint Hannibal Mary di Francia. Following his ordination in 1878, he established orphanages and, to help support and expand his work on behalf of the poor, he founded the Daughters of Divine Zeal and the Rogationist Fathers and Brothers, as well as lay movements dedicated to praying for vocations. Saint Hannibal Mary di Francia died in Messina, Italy, on June 1, 1927, and was canonized in 2004.

Prayer

O God, who through the folly of the Cross
wondrously taught Saint Justin the Martyr
the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,
grant us, through his intercession,
that, having rejected deception and error,
we may become steadfast in the faith.
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)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.