Saint John Damascene, Confessor & Doctor of the Church

March 27 Today is the feast day of Saint John Damascene.  Ora pro nobis. by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877   St. John received his name from Damascus, a city in Syria, where he was born and which at that period was under the Sceptre of the Saracens. His parents were greatly esteemed, not only for their nobility and wealth, but much more on account of their kindness to the poor and their great liberality. They devoted the greater part of their income to ransom the prisoners, and to assist the hermits in the Holy Land, who were at that time much persecuted. Among the prisoners whom they had liberated was a priest from Calabria, called Gosmas, who, being a man of great learning, instructed John, then a boy, with great care both in the liberal arts and in Theology. The father of John was Governor of Damascus, by special favor of the reigning prince, who was himseff a Pagan. After his father's death, John succeeded him in his high office, with permission to live according to the Christian religion, and he used his influence for the protection of the Christians. Meanwhile, Leo the Isaurian, Emperor of the East, was ...

The post Saint John Damascene, Confessor & Doctor of the Church appeared first on Regina Magazine.