Saints Aug 25

St. Genesius, During a stage performance before Emperor Diocletian in Rome, the actor Genesius portrayed a catechumen about to be baptized in a play satirizing the Christian sacrament. In the midst of the ceremony he was suddenly converted to Christianity. When presented to the Emperor, he declared his Christianity. Enbraged, Diocletian had him turned over to Plautian, prefect of the praetorium, who tortured him in an effort to force him to sacrifice to the pagan gods. When Genesius persisted in his faith, he was beheaded. Genesius is the patron of actors. Feast day is Aug. 25. St. Patricia, fled to Italy to escape marriage and became a virgin consecrated to God in Rome. She returned to constantinople, distributed her wealth to the poor, and then went back to Italy;, where she died soon after, at Naples. She is a patron of Naples, and like St. Januarius there, a vial believed to be filled with her blood reportedly liquefies thirteen hundred years after her death. Feast Aug. 25 St. Louis IX, King of France. He was well known for protecting the French clergy from secular leaders and for strictly enforcing laws against blasphemy. He established the Sorbonne (1252) and the monasteries of Rayaumont, Vavert, and Maubuisson. Louis led two crusades, the Sixth and the Seventh Crusades.Feastday Aug 25 Bl. Louis Sotelo, Franciscan martyr of Japan. Louis Was a noble of Spain, who was ordained and sent to Manila, Philippines, in 1601. He went to Japan in 1603 but was exiled. Returning to Spain in 1613, he visited Rome in 1622, and then went again to Japan. He was arrested in Nagasaki and burned alive at Shimabara. Feastday Aug 25