11 October 2024 (MIA)

Macedonian Orthodox Church Calendar

Our Holy Father Chariton the Confessor

Chariton was an eminent and devout citizen of the city of Iconium. Imbued with the spirit of his compatriot, St. Thecla, Chariton openly confessed the name of Christ. When harsh persecution of Christians broke out under Emperor Aurelian, Chariton was immediately brought to trial before the governor. The judge ordered him to worship false gods, to which Chariton replied: “All your gods are furies, which were aforetime through pride cast out from heaven into the nethermost hell.” Chariton openly showed his faith in the one, living God, the Creator of all, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of humankind. Then the governor ordered that Chariton be so beaten and tortured that his whole body became covered with wounds until it was one great wound. After the death of Aurelian, whose evil doing caught up with him in the end, Chariton was released from torture and imprisonment. He traveled to Jerusalem and withdrew to the wilderness of Pharan, where he founded a community and gathered a group of monks together. The practice of tonsuring monks is attributed to St. Chariton.

Catholic Calendar

Alexander Sauli, also known as Apostle of Corsica; Alessandro Sauli; Alexander Mary Sauli

Priest. Baranabite. He taught philosophy and theology at the University of Pavia. Superior-General of the Congregation in 1565. Bishop of Aleria, Corsica, in 1571, where the faith was all but dead, and the clergy and people were in a state of deplorable ignorance. With three companions, he reclaimed the inhabitants, corrected abuses, rebuilt churches, founded colleges and seminaries, and returned the Church in Corsica to health. Bishop of Pavia in 1591. Left several catechetical works. Spiritual director of Saint Charles Borromeo. He was born in 1534 in Milan, Italy, and died on October 11, 1592, in Pavia, Italy. He was beatified on April 23, 1742, by Pope Benedict XIV and canonized 1904 by Pope Saint Pius X.