St. Mark, April 25
Kathy Rabenstein
+ Mark, Evangelist (RM)
----------------------------------------------
Died 75. Among the younger figures of the New Testament is John Mark
(Acts 12:25), mentioned several times in the New Testament; and of the
four Gospels his is the most vivid and informal because it was probably
the first recorded (AD 60-70). Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, Asia Minor,
called him the interpreter of Peter, c. 130, and said that he preached the
gospel in Alexandria. An ancient tradition had the Gospel written down
in Rome for Gentile Christians.
He wrote down the story of Jesus as he heard it from the lips of St.
Peter (f.d. June 29). "For," according to Papias, "he had neither heard
the Lord, nor ever been his disciple, but later had attended Peter, who
composed his teachings to suit the needs of the moment, but did not
profess to make a regular collection of the Lord's sayings. And so Mark
made no mistakes; writing down the particulars just as he remembered
them."
Mark's Gospel is written in awkward Greek, full of Semitic turns of
phrases, cumbersome participles, and a lack of transitions. Yet Mark's
simple language, stripped of rhetorical flourishes, without oratorical
periods, without concern for syntax, is perhaps the clearest language
through which to see best the flesh and blood of Jesus. The miracles of
Jesus must have deeply affected Mark because his Gospel recounts
many of them. In order to demonstrate Jesus's divinity to the Romans
Mark skillfully shows Jesus as a worker of miracles rather than Jesus
fulfilling prophecies that would be unknown to his intended readers.
Mark's Gospel starkly sets out the demands of Jesus on his followers.
Jesus had suffered, says Mark. His followers will suffer similarly.
Indeed, Jesus had explicitly warned the disciples about this. But it is also
clear that those who can endure such sufferings will be greatly
rewarded, for what Mark claims to be bringing is 'good news,' 'the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,' as he states in the very first
verse of his Gospel.
Another early historian, Eusebius, says that St. Mark, a follower of St.
Peter, was asked by Roman tradesmen to compose a permanent
memorial of St. Peter's sermons, and so came to write, from his memory
of them, the Gospel which bears his name.
St. Mark was a cousin of Barnabas (f.d. June 11). His mother, Mary,
was evidently a person of some wealth and position in Jerusalem, for
her home was a center of hospitality to which the leaders of the early
Church naturally gravitated. When St. Peter escaped from prison, he
came "to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was
Mark; where many were gathered together praying," and it was a maid
of the house, called Rhoda, who answered the door.
Mark was probably a Levite and perhaps a minor minister in the
synagogue. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Antioch is AD 44
(Acts 12:25), then to Cyprus, and with Barnabas was on Paul's first
missionary journey (Acts 13:5), but left Paul at Perga in Pamphylia and
returned alone to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). For some reason he evidently
offended Paul, who did not take him on his second missionary journey,
which was the occasion of the disagreement and separation of Paul and
Barnabas (Acts 15:36-40).
Mark accompanied Barnabas to Cyprus (Acts 15:39) and then, evidently
back in Paul's good graces, was with him in Rome during his first
imprisonment (Col. 4:10), where he was apparently a disciple of Peter,
who affectionately called him "my son, Mark" (1 Peter 5:13).
An early uncertain tradition renders Mark the first bishop of Alexandria
and continues that he was martyred during the reign of Emperor Trajan.
Upon his arrival in Alexandria, like Paul arriving in Damascus, Mark found
lodging with an inhabitant, in this case with a shoemaker. The
shoemaker was also to become a saint, who feast is also celebrated
today--Anianus, and who is said to have succeeded Mark as bishop.
One Easter Sunday, the uncertain tradition continues, April 24, 68, Mark
was arrested. The long path of Jesus, from Gethsemani up to the palace
of Anna, which Mark had not had the courage to pursue in Jerusalem,
had been reserved for him, with a rope around his neck, from Alexandria
up to the little port of Bucoles. He fell several times along the way.
Finally, after having carried his rope all day and then for a night, and
feeling it sink into his flesh, in the end he no longer desired that it be
removed. He wanted to find this collar to his measure, this light
yoke--and died strangled.
In the East, John Mark is believed to be a separate person who became
bishop of Biblios and whose feast is celebrated on September 27.
It is speculated that the unknown youth (mentioned only in St. Mark's
Gospel 14:51-52) who appeared at the time of the Betrayal, wrapped in
a sheet, as if he had come straight from his bed, and who, when caught,
escaped into the night, was St. Mark himself (this has always been
curious to me). It is likely enough that St. Mark, as a boy, had been
drawn to the scene, but it is only a conjecture (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).
In art, St. Mark is an evangelist with a book or scroll and a winged lion.
At times he may be shown (1) with palm and book (sometimes _pax tibi
Marce_ is written on his book); (2) as a bishop with his throne decorated
with lions; (3) coming to the aid of Venetian sailors; or (4) rescuing
Christian slaves from the Saracens (Roeder). St. Mark is the patron of
Venice (which claims his relics), glaziers, and notaries. He is invoked by
captives (Roeder).
Other Saints Honored April 25
=================================
+ = celebrated liturgically
+ Anianus of Alexandria B (RM)
----------------------------------------------
1st century. According to Eusebius and the apocryphal _acta_ of St.
Mark, Anianus was a shoemaker by trade, who became a disciple and
immediate successor of St. Mark (below) as bishop of Alexandria. Other
sources have him a noble who was named bishop by Mark
(Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Blessed Boniface of Valperga B (PC)
----------------------------------------------
Died 1243. Boniface was a monk of the Benedictine abbey of Fruttuaria,
who was chosen prior of the Augustinian canons regular of St. Ursus at
Aosta (1212) and finally bishop of Aosta (1219-1243) (Benedictines).
Erminus (Ermin, Erminon) of Lobbes, OSB B (RM)
----------------------------------------------
Born in Laon; died 737. Erminus given the Benedictine habit in Laon by
St. Urmar after his ordination to the priesthood. Erminus followed in
Urmar's footsteps by practicing his apostolic zeal as abbot and regional
bishop of Lobbes (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Evodius, Hermogenes, and Callistus MM (RM)
----------------------------------------------
Date unknown. The Roman Martyrology mentions this group three times.
On August 2, they ar given as the three sons of Theodota, martyred at
Nicaea in Bithynia. On the other two dates their martyrdom is placed at
Syracuse, and in each of these places, the third name is given as
Callista, indicating a sister and not a third brother. There is no _passio_
of the martyrs of Syracuse, and it is possible that they suffered at
Nicaea (Benedictines).
+ Heribald of Auxerre, OSB B (AC)
----------------------------------------------
Died c. 857. First as a Benedictine monk and abbot of St. Germanus
Abbey in Auxerre, then as bishop there, St. Heribald demonstrated his
love of well regulated lives and ceremonies and well-built churches
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Macaille (Macculi) of Croghan B (AC)
----------------------------------------------
Died c. 489. Two bishops whose feasts fall on the same day are so
named. One was a disciple of St. Patrick (f.d. March 17), and the other
was only converted by him.
One was a disciple of St. Mel (f.d. February 6) who became bishop of
Croghan, Offaly. He assisted St. Mel in receiving the vow of St. Brigid
(f.d. February 1). The other, sometimes known as St. Maccai, was also
a disciple of St. Patrick and is venerated on the isle of Bute
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Mella of Doire-Melle, Abbess Widow (AC)
----------------------------------------------
Born at Connaught; died c. 780. St. Mella was the mother of SS.
Cannech (f.d. October 11) and Tigernach (f.d. April 4). After the death
of her husband, Mella embraced religious life and died as abbess of
Doire-Melle, Leitrim (Benedictines).
Phaebadius (Fiari, Phebade) of Agen B (AC)
----------------------------------------------
Died c. 392. Bishop Phaebadius of Agen, southern Gaul, worked with
St. Hilary of Poitiers (f.d. January 13) to successfully stamp out the Arian
heresy in Gaul. Phaebadius was one of the best known prelates of his
time and presided over several councils. St. Jerome mentions him among
"the illustrious men" of the Church (Benedictines).
Philo and Agathopodes (Agathopus) (RM)
----------------------------------------------
Died c. 150. Philo and Agathopodes were deacons of Antioch who
attended St. Ignatius (f.d. October 17) to his martyrdom in Rome c. 107.
They took back to Antioch such relics of the saint as they were able to
recover and are believed to have written the _acta_ of his trial and death
(Benedictines).
Robert of Syracuse, OSB Abbot (AC)
----------------------------------------------
Died c. 1000. Benedictine abbot of a monastery at Syracuse, Italy
(Benedictines).
Blessed Robert Anderton and William Marsden MM (AC)
----------------------------------------------
Died 1586; beatified in 1929. Both Robert Anderton and William Marsden
were born in Lincolnshire, England and educated at Oxford (Robert at
Brasenose College, William at St. Mary Hall). After Robert's conversion
to Catholicism he studied for the priesthood at Rheims and was ordained
in 1585, as did William. The following year they were martyred on the
Isle of Wight (Benedictines).
Stephen of Antioch BM (RM)
----------------------------------------------
Died 481. Patriarch Stephen of Antioch was the special target for the
fury of the Monophysite heretics. In the end they attacked him at the
altar, struck him down, and flung his body into the River Orontes
(Benedictines).
Sources:
========
Attwater, D. (1983). The penguin dictionary of saints, NY:
Penguin Books.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The
book of saints: A dictionary of servants of God canonized
by the Catholic Church extracted from the Roman and other
martyrologies. NY: Macmillan.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The
book of saints: A dictionary of persons canonized or
beatified by the Catholic Church. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Bentley, J. (1986). A calendar of saints: The lives of the
principal saints of the Christian year, NY: Facts on File.
Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket dictionary of saints, NY:
Doubleday Image.
Encyclopedia of Catholic saints, April. (1966).
Philadelphia: Chilton Books.
Gill, F. C. (1958). The glorious company: Lives of great
Christians for daily devotion, vol. I. London:
Epworth Press.
Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and their attributes, Chicago: Henry
Regnery.
-----
Kathy R.
krab...@ana.org