⛪ Saint of the Day : January 9
ST. JULIAN and St. Basilissa, though married, lived, by mutual consent,
in perpetual chastity; they sanctified themselves by the most perfect
exercises of an ascetic life, and employed their revenues in relieving
the poor and the sick. For this purpose they converted their house into
a kind of hospital, in which they sometimes entertained a thousand
poor people. Basilissa attended those of her sex, in separate lodgings
from the men; these were taken care of by Julian, who from his charity
is named the Hospitalarian. Egypt, where they lived, had then begun to
abound with examples of persons who, either in the cities or in the
deserts, devoted themselves to the most perfect exercises of charity,
penance, and mortification.
Basilissa, after having stood seven persecutions, died in peace; Julian
survived her many years and received the crown of a glorious
martyrdom, together with Celsus, a youth, Antony, a priest, Anastasius,
and Marcianilla, the mother of Celsus. Many churches and hospitals in
the East, and especially in the West, bear the name of one or other of
these martyrs. Four churches at Rome, and three out of five at Paris,
which bear the name of St. Julian, were originally dedicated under the
name of St. Julian, the Hospitalarian and martyr. In the time of St.
Gregory the Great, the skull of St. Julian was brought out of the East
into France, and given to Queen Brunehault; she gave it to the nunnery
which she founded at Γtampes; part of it is at present in the monastery
of Morigny, near Γtampes, and part in the church of the regular
canonesses of St. Basilissa at Paris.
⛪Reflection — God often rewards men for works that are pleasing in
His sight by giving them grace and opportunity to do other works
higher still. St. Augustine said, "have never seen a compassionate and
charitable man die a bad death"
Source : Lives Of The Saints By Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. Edition