From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

September 29th - SS. Rhipsime, Gaiana, & Companions, Virgins, Martyrs
d. 312

ALTHOUGH these maidens, apparently the protomartyrs of the Armenian
church, are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on this date as
suffering under King Tiridates, nothing at all is known of their
history or the circumstances of their passion. They are referred to in
the legend of St. Gregory the Enlightener, and may have been put to
death during the persecution which preceded the baptism of Tiridates
and his family by Gregory, but more likely later.

These legends tell us that Rhipsime (Hrip'sime) was a maiden of nob=
le
birth, one of a community of consecrated virgins at Rome presided over
by Gaiana. The Emperor Diocletian, having made up his mind to marry,
sent a painter around Rome to paint the portraits of all those ladies
who seemed to him eligible, and he did his work with such thoroughness
that he penetrated into the house of Gaiana and made likenesses of
some of her Christian maidens. When Diocletian examined the portraits
his choice fell on Rhipsime, and she was informed of the honour that
had befallen her. It was not at all to her liking, and Gaiana was so
afraid of what the emperor might do that she summoned her charges at
once from Rome, went aboard ship, and proceeded to Alexandria. From
thence they made their way through the Holy Land to Armenia, where
they settled down at the royal capital, Varlarshapat, and earned their
living by weaving. The great beauty of Rhipsime soon attracted
attention, but the noise of it apparently reached back to Rome before
it came to the ears of King Tiridates, for Diocletian wrote asking him
to kill Gaiana and send Rhipsime back--unless he would like to keep
her for himself. Tiridates thereupon sent a deputation to fetch her to
his palace with great magnificence, but when it arrived at the convent
Rhipsime prayed for deliverance, and so fierce a thunderstorm at once
broke out that the horses of the courtiers and their riders were
scattered in confusion. When Tiridates heard this and that the girl
refused to come he ordered her to be brought by force, and when she
was led into his presence he was so attracted by her beauty that he at
once tried to embrace her. Rhipsime not only resisted but threw the
king ignominiously to the floor, so that in a rage he ordered her to
prison. But she escaped and returned to her companions during the
night.

At morning when they found her gone the king sent soldiers after her
with orders that she was to die, and all the other maidens with her.
St. Rhipsime was roasted alive and torn limb from limb, and St. Gaiana
and the others to the number of 35 likewise were brutally slain. St.
Mariamne was dragged to death from a bed of sickness, but one, St.
Nino, escaped and became the apostle of Georgia in the Caucasus. This
massacre took place on October 5, on which date the martyrs are named
in the Armenian menology. A week later retribution overtook the brutal Tiridates who, as he was setting out to hunt, was turned into a wild
boar. He was brought back to nature by St. Gregory the Enlightener,
who had been confined in a pit for 15 years. These martyrs figured in
the fabulous vision of St. Gregory at Etshmiadzin, and around the
great church there are three smaller churches on the alleged site of
the martyrdom of St. Rhipsime, of St. Gaiana and of the others.

Extravagant as the legend is, there can be no question that the cultus
of these martyrs meets us at an early date in Armenia, and that it was
very widely diffused. We find Rhipsime mentioned in Egypt under the
Coptic form Arepsima=E2=80=9D (see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlv (1927), p=
p.
157 and 395), as well as in Arabic texts and in the Syriac martyrology
of Rabban Sliba. =E2=80=A6.
Saint Quote:
Good example is the most efficacious apostolate. You must be as
lighted lanterns and shine like brilliant chandeliers among men. By
your good example and your words, animate others to know and love God
--St. Mary Joseph Rossello

Bible Quote:
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried[a] therefore with
him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
[Romans 6:3-4]=C2 RSVCE


<><><><>
A prayer to Saint Michael, for aid against the spiritual enemies of God:

Glorious St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who standest always
ready to give assistance to the people of God; who didst fight with the
dragon, the old serpent, and didst cast him out of heaven, and now
valiantly defendest the Church of God that the gates of hell may never
prevail against her, I earnestly entreat thee to assist me also, in the
painful and dangerous conflict which I have to sustain against the same formidable foe.

Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously fight and
wholly vanquish that proud spirit, whom thou hast by the Divine Power, so gloriously overthrown, and whom our powerful King, Jesus Christ, has, in
our nature, so completely overcome; to the end that having triumphed over
the enemy of my salvation, I may with thee and the holy angels, praise the clemency of God who, having refused mercy to the rebellious angels after
their fall, has granted repentance and forgiveness to fallen man. Amen.

--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)