[252] Num 21:4-9;Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21; John 8:21-30.
Hours of the day.
[RM]
Traditionally on this day, we remember from Scripture St. Epaphroditus, disciple of Paul (cf. Phil. 2:25) [from the Roman Martyrology].
Anniversary:
196th anniversary of the death of P. Thomas Manning (38) d. 1893 at Grahamstown, RSA.
Anniversary:
172nd anniversary of the death of P. Carlos Friedrich (71) d. 1917 at St. Andrä, Austria.
Anniversary:
156th anniversary of the death of F. Angelo Dal Bosco (57) d. 1933 at Baturite, Brazil.
Anniversary:
134th anniversary of the death of P. John Kelly (52) d. 1955 at Salisbury, Rhodesia.
Anniversary:
87th anniversary of the death of P. Kenneth Spence (77) d. 2002 at Harare, Zimbabwe.
On this day in our Jesuit history...
1540
St. Francis Xavier, told by Ignatius to prepare to leave for the Indies, was ready the next day; he needed only sufficient time to have his poor soutane mended.
1585
In Rome, the three Japanese ambassadors were received by Fr. General with great solemnity in the Society's Church of the Gesu.
1594
Henry IV took possession of Paris after a prolonged siege. Fr. Possevino and other Jesuits worked at effecting a reconciliation of the king with Rome.
1643
At Nagasaki, Ven. Father Anthony Rubino, an Italian, after suffering for seven months under the "torture of water," was hanged by the feet in a pit with his head downwards, and so expired.
1655
Fr. Francis Perez died at Antwerp. He was born on Christmas Day and died on Good Friday. He followed his two sons into the Society of Jesus and they served his first Mass.
1980
Luis Espinal, S.J. journalist, beaten and machine- gunned, dies a martyr, in Bolivia, aged 48. He worked for the compesinos.
