Bishop and Doctor of the Church (295-373)

His life

+ Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt and, as a young priest, accompanied Saint Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, to the Council of Nicaea. He eventually succeeded Alexander as bishop of the city.

+ Athanasius was an outspoken opponent of the Arian heresy (which denied the divinity of Jesus) and he suffered greatly for his defense of the Divine Nature of Christ.

+ Athanasius dedicated his life to teaching the faith in his preaching and writings and focused much of his teachings on the Incarnation, which he believed revealed the extent of God’s love for humanity.

+ Saint Athanasius died on the night of May 2-3, 373, after serving as bishop for 46 years. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1568 and he is one of the four great saints depicted at the “Altar of the Chair” in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

+ The biography of Saint Anthony the Abbot (who is also known as Saint Anthony of Egypt) is the best-known work by Saint Athanasius. Considered by some scholars to be the most widely read book of the Middle Ages, it inspired countless men and women to dedicate themselves to God as monks and nuns.

For prayer and reflection

“Athanasius says with an affirmation that has rightly become famous that the Word of God ‘was made man so that we might be made God; and he manifested himself through a body so that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and he endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality’ (De Incarnatione 54, 3). With his Resurrection, in fact, the Lord banished death from us like ‘straw from the fire’ (8, 4).

The fundamental idea of Athanasius' entire theological battle was precisely that God is accessible. He is not a secondary God, he is the true God and it is through our communion with Christ that we can truly be united to God. He has really become ‘God-with-us.’”—Pope Benedict XVI

Spiritual bonus

On this day, we also remember the religious sister and martyr Blessed Maria Acutina (Helena) Goldburg. A member of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, she served as a nurse in a sanatorium in Wlen, Poland, and in an orphanage in Lubiaz. Near the end of World War II, as the Soviet army entered Lubiaz, she fled with the girls from the orphanage to Krzdlina Wielka. When the soldiers eventually captured that city, as well, they found Sister Maria Acutina and the girls. She was martyred trying to protect the girls in her care. She was beatified in 2022.

Prayer

Almighty ever-living God,
who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding champion of your Son's divinity,
mercifully grant,
that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection,
we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you.
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.

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

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