Saint of the Day: St. John Cassian

Monk (ca. 360-433)

His life

+ John Cassian was born in “Scythia Minor” (a part of the Roman Empire that now includes parts of modern-day Romania and Bulgaria). As a young man, he sought admission to a monastery near the Cave of the Nativity at Bethlehem and he lived there for nearly twenty-five years. Later, seeking to better understand the perfection of the Desert Fathers, he traveled to the Desert of Skete in Egypt.  

+ Around the year 404, he traveled to Rome where he formed a close friendship with Pope Saint Leo the Great and was ordained a priest.

+ Following the sack of Rome in the year 410, John went to Marseilles, France, where he founded two monasteries in which he presented and interpreted the ideals and way of life he had learned from the Egyptian hermits.  

+ The Institutes and Conferences of Saint John Cassian remain an invaluable source of monastic wisdom and tradition, and he is especially honored in the Eastern Church.   

For prayer and reflection

“The thief on the cross certainly did not receive

the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for his virtues

but as a grace and a mercy from God.

He can serve as an authentic witness

that our salvation is given to us

only by God's mercy and grace.

All the holy masters knew this

and unanimously taught that perfection in holiness

can be achieved only through humility.”—Saint John Cassian

Spiritual Bonus

On this day we also remember Saint Phocus. Known as “the Gardener,” he was an innkeeper who grew vegetables and herbs to help feed the poor. He was killed in Sinope, Pontus (in modern-day Turkey) around the year 303. 

Prayer

O God, who in your kindness called your servant blessed N. to the following of Christ, grant, we pray, through his intercession, that, denying ourselves, we may hold fast to you with all our heart. 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: Common of Holy Men and Women—For a Monk)
Saint profiles prepared by Fr. Silas Henderson, S.D.S.