Daily Prayer
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And today we celebrate...Thursday, January 2

Saint of the Day: Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen

Known for their teachings on the Most Holy Trinity

BASIL THE GREAT AND GREOGRY OF NAZIANZEN
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Bishops and Doctors of the Church (Fourth Century)

Their story

+ Basil was born to a saintly family in Cappadocia in 330. Known for his learning and virtue, he lived as a hermit for several years before being named bishop of Caesarea in 370.

+ As bishop, he fought against the Arian heresy and wrote many influential works on the Trinity and the Incarnation, as well as a rule of life for monks that is still used today. 

+ Saint Basil died on January 1, 379.

+ Gregory Nazianzen, like his friend Basil, was born in 300 to a family of saints. While traveling as a youth, he met Basil while studying in Caesarea.

+ In 381, Gregory reluctantly accepted the office of bishop of Constantinople. Because of rival factions that were dividing the Church, he returned to Nazianzen a short time later. He died there on January 25, 389 or 390. 

+ Saint Gregory is especially remembered for his outstanding and eloquent teachings about the Trinity.

+ Saint Basil and Saint Gregory Nazianzen were declared Doctors of the Church in 1568 and have been celebrated together on this day since 1969.

For prayer and reflection

“When, in the course of time, we acknowledged our friendship and recognized that our ambition was a life of true wisdom, we became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires, the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper… The same hope inspired us: the pursuit of learning.”—Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Spiritual bonus

On this day, we also remember Blessed Guillaume Repin and Laurent Brâbant, priests of the Diocese of Angers, France, who were martyred during the anti-Catholic persecutions of the French Revolution. These two priests were guillotined on January 2, 1794, and were beatified with other martyrs of the French Revolution in 1984. 

Prayer

O God, who were pleased to give light to your Church
by the example and teaching
of the Bishops Saints Basil and Gregory,
grant, we pray,
that in humility we may learn your truth
and practice it faithfully in charity.
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. 

(Prayer from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Father Silas Henderson, S.D.S.