St. Benjamin
St. Benjamin was a Martyr who was born during the year 329. Before the year 420, the Christians who lived in Persia had the ability to have 12 years of peace and freedom when King Isdegerd who was the son of Sapor lll was reigning.
After Abdas who was a Christian Bishop decided to burn down a temple which was a Persian sanctuary named the Temple of Fire, life for Christians during the fourth and fifth century became very tough and difficult.
King Isdegerd decided to make a threat after Abdas burned down the temple. King Isdegerd’s threat was that he was going to destroy every single Christian church that was present in Persia.
However, Abdas decided to not agree with the threats that King had posed on the Christian churches, therefore all the churches were destroyed. Abdas was later executed and a large persecution began and lasted for over 40 years.
During the year 421, King Isdegerd died and his son, Varanes decided to carry on the persecution that his father instilled and did so with great and strong fury. During this time the Christians were put to the most cruel and harsh torture possible at the time.
St. Benjamin, was one of the people who was greatly impacted by the persecution and suffered greatly. St. Benjamin was put in jail for a year due to his beliefs.
After, St. Benjamin was done with his jail time, the ambassador of the Emperor of Constantinople told St. Benjamin that he would be released, however he would never be allowed to speak to the courtiers about his beliefs.
St. Benjamin, made it clear that he would never stop preaching Christ and never be silenced by anyone. St. Benjamin said this to everyone even though he knew that he could be risking his life.
St. Benjamin was released due to an agreement that was made by the ambassador and other Persian authorities, which was that St. Benjamin could not preach his faith to anyone. However, St. Benjamin did not agree with this agreement and he used every chance that he was given to teach more people about the faith. St. Benjamin due to his preaching was able to convert many people and changed many peoples lives.
St. Benjamin was later taken before the King and trialed. It was ordered that he should suffer greatly and be killed. St. Benjamin had reeds placed in between his nails, his flesh and all of the tender parts of his body and then they were removed. After this torture he endured had ended, it was repeated a couple more times and then a knotted stake got inserted into his bowels and it was used to hurt him.
St. Benjamin died a martyr after suffering greatly due to his beliefs during the year 424 and he stood strong in his faith through all of his suffering. St. Benjamin’s feast day is celebrated on March 31. St. Benjamin is the patron saint of people who are named. Benjamin, and he tends to be shown and illustrated in Jail. During his time in jail, St. Benjamin stood strong in his faith.
Prayer to St. Benjamin:
St. Benjamin intercede that we may be able to have the strength, courage and patience we need to get over all of the obstacles that we may encounter during our spiritual journey. St. Benjamin help us to guide more people to Christ through our actions, words and charity towards others. St. Benjamin please protect all of those who are starting their spiritual journey and help them to be filled with the all the graces and gifts from the Holy Spirit. St. Benjamin help us to strengthen our devotion to Christ so that we may be stronger in our faith and stay close to God throughout all of our suffering and trials.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven
Amen
St. Benjamin pray for us
St. Joseph pray for us
May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.
Works cited:
Information (read from, not taken):
Catholic Online. “St. Benjamin.” St. Benjamin - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online. Accessed 31 March 2021.
Images:
St. Benjamin. March 31, 2021.
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