Saint Venantius, Martyr

Saint Venantius, Martyr

　
The Book of the Acts of St. Venantius relateth that at the age of seventeen he came before the judge to pmartyred with him are believed to be buried under Church of Saint Venantius at Camerino, Italy.rofess himself a Christian. Whereupon he was scourged, seared with torches, and his teeth knocked out and his jaws broken, and then he was cast to the lions. But when they refused to touch his mangled body, he was thrown off a cliff, and finally beheaded. And because of his constancy under sufferings for his Master Christ, many were converted. And thus he hath come to be invoked by boys and young men in temptation. He and others martyred with him are believed to be buried under Church of Saint Venantius at Camerino, Italy.
 

Hymn.

 O Noble champion of the Lord,
No fear of death could hinder thee!
Thy youthful zeal doth thee afford,
Full armour ‘gainst idolatry!

They stripped thy naked body bear,
And bound with thongs thy hands and feet,
So thorns and rocks thy flesh could tear
When thou wast flung a-down the steep.

When, spent with toil, the savage crew,
Grew faint and weak from burning thirst,
Then thou didst sign the Cross, and lo!
From out the rock the waters burst.

O Christ’s brave warrior-youth who thus,
Thy persecutors could forgive,
Obtain the dew of grace for us,
That our faint spirits too may live.

We praise thee, three-fold Unity,
The Three in One and One in Three,
And beg, by grace of charity,
To share this Martyr’s sanctity. Amen. 

Collect:

O God, who hast consecrated this day with the triumph of thy blessed Martyr Venantius : mercifully hear the prayers of thy people ; and grant that we who venerate his righteousness, may imitate the constancy of his faith in thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.