December 20th - Saint Philogonius, Bishop of Antioch

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December 20th - Saint Philogonius, Bishop of Antioch
(d. 322)

Saint Philogonius, born in Antioch in the third century, was educated
for the law and appeared at the bar with great success. He was admired
for his eloquence, but still more for his integrity and the sanctity
of his life. This was considered a sufficient motive for dispensing
with the canons which require that time be spent as a priest, before a
layman can be placed in the higher echelons of the Church's hierarchy.
By this dispensation Saint Philogonius was chosen to be placed at the
head of the see of Antioch, following the death of its bishop in 318.

When Arius introduced his blasphemies in Alexandria in that same year
of 318, Saint Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, condemned him and
communicated the sentence in a synodal letter to Philogonius.
Afterwards the bishop of Antioch strenuously defended the Catholic
faith before the assembly of the Council of Nicea. In the storms which
raged against the Church, caused first by the Roman emperor Maximin II
and the Oriental emperor Licinius, Saint Philogonius earned the title
of Confessor by his sufferings. He died in the year 322, the fifth of
his episcopal dignity. We possess an excellent panegyric in his honor,
composed by Saint John Chrysostom.

Chrysostom speaks in moving terms of the peace which this saint now
enjoys in a state where there are no conflicts, no insurgent passions,
no more of "those icy words, 'mine ' and 'yours'," which fill the
world with wars, families with quarrels, and individuals with
disquiet, envy and malice. St. Philogonius had so renounced the world
that he received in this life the earnest of Christ's spirit in its
fullest degree. A soul must here learn that spirit and state of the
blessed if she hopes to reign with them hereafter: she must have some
acquaintance beforehand with the mysteries of grace and the works of
love and praise. People are not invited to consort even with a
temporal king, as St. Macarius says, until they have been instructed
in the manners and customs of a court, so that they may not come to it
in complete ignorance of its ways.

Here again all the information we possess comes from a single source,
a sermon of St. John Chrysostom. The text is printed in Migne, PG.,
vol. xlviii, pp. 747-756. On the degree of credit which attaches to
the evidence of such panegyrics see the warnings given by Delehaye in
his book Les Passions des Martyrs et les Genres littéraires (1921),
ch. ii, pp. 183-235.

Reflection: Saint Philogonius had so perfectly renounced the world and
crucified its inordinate desires in his heart, that he received in
this life the gage of Christ's Spirit, and was admitted to the sacred
council of the heavenly King with unhindered access to the Almighty.
Let us imitate his zeal for the glory of God and the Church, to share
his reward. (Rev. Alban Butler)

Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).


Saint Quote:
We must begin with a strong and constant resolution to give ourselves
wholly to God, professing to Him, in a tender, loving manner, from the
bottom of our hearts, that we intend to be His without any reserve,
and then we must often go back and renew this same resolution.
--St. Francis de Sales

Bible Quote
In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.
(Ecclesiasticus 7:40)


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Who abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.--1 John 4:16--
December: Union

19. When we have totally abandoned ourselves to the pleasure of God,
submitting without any reserve our will and affections to His
dominion, we shall see our souls so united to His Divine Majesty that
we shall be able to say with that perfect model of Christians, St.
Paul: "In myself I no longer live, but Jesus Christ in me."
--St. Francis de Sales

This Saint, according to the testimony of one who knew him intimately,
in the last years of his life had reached such a point that he
desired, loved, or regarded only God in all things. As a result, he
seemed always absorbed in God and said that there was nothing in the
world which could satisfy him except God. He frequently uttered with
ecstatic feeling these words of the Psalmist: "Lord, what is there in
Heaven for me, or what do I desire upon earth save Thee? Thou art my
portion and my inheritance forever." All that was not God was nothing
for him, and this was one of his principal maxims.

(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". December: Union)