ST. ANTONIO MARIA PUCCI, PRIEST, ST. ARCADIUS, MARTYR Jan 12

ST. ANTONIO MARIA PUCCI, PRIEST

Servite priest born on April 16, 1819, at Poggiole, Italy, christened Eustace. He entered the Servites about 1837, taking the name Anthony Mary, and he was ordained in 1843. Assigned to Viareggio, Italy, Anthony became pastor of the parish in 1847. His entire life was spent instructing children, caring for the sick and poor, and pioneering the Holy Childhood Society. He was heroic during the epidemics of 1854 and Anthony Mary died on January 14, 1892, in Viareggio. He was canonized in 1962. Jan 12

ST. ARCADIUS, MARTYR

Arcadius, seeing his city in great confusion, left his estate and withdrew to a solitary place in the neighboring country, serving Jesus Christ in watching, prayer, and other exercises of a penitential life. His flight could not be long a secret; for his not appearing at the public sacrifices made the governor send soldiers to his house, who surrounded it, forced open the doors, and finding one of his relations in it, who said all he could to justify his kinsman's absence, they seized him, and the governor ordered him to be kept in close custody till Arcadius should be taken. The martyr, informed of his friend's danger, and burning with a desire to suffer for Christ, went into the city, and presenting himself to the judge Jan 12