It’s the Feast of Beheading of St. John the Baptist, 3rd Class, with the color of Red. In this episode: the meditation: “Prayer”, today’s news from the Church: “Bishops Consecrated Clandestinely to Ensure “The Survival of the Church””, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- “Prayer” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “Bishops Consecrated Clandestinely to Ensure “The Survival of the Church”” (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life— Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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Saint Sabina is one of those early Roman saints whose biography is difficult to separate from ancient tradition, but whose name has been preserved in a very tangible way.
You can still walk into her church in Rome.
According to tradition, Sabina was a wealthy Roman widow who lived sometime around the end of the first or beginning of the second century. She belonged to the upper levels of Roman society and lived on the Aventine Hill, one of the city’s most fashionable neighborhoods.
Her path to Christianity began through someone Roman society probably considered far less important: an enslaved woman named Serapia.
Serapia was a Christian.
Through her influence, Sabina became interested in the faith and eventually converted. It’s a fascinating little reversal of the social world of ancient Rome. The wealthy mistress possessed money, property, and status, but the enslaved woman possessed the one treasure Sabina didn’t have.
She introduced her to Christ.
Eventually Serapia was arrested for being a Christian and put to death. Sabina recovered her body and gave her an honorable burial.
That was dangerous.
In the Roman world, publicly caring for the body of an executed Christian could advertise your own allegiance. According to tradition, Sabina was soon denounced, arrested, and ordered to sacrifice to the pagan gods.
She refused.
Sabina was beheaded, probably sometime in the early second century, and Christians preserved her memory alongside that of Serapia.
But here’s where the story becomes especially tangible.
About three hundred years later, a magnificent basilica was built on the Aventine Hill, traditionally over or near Sabina’s home. The Basilica of Santa Sabina still stands today, and it is one of the best-preserved early Christian basilicas anywhere in Rome.
Even its wooden doors are extraordinary.
They date from the fifth century and contain some of the oldest surviving carved Christian scenes in the world, including what may be the earliest surviving public depiction of Christ’s Crucifixion.
Centuries later, Santa Sabina became closely connected with the Dominican Order. Dominic lived there, and the basilica eventually became the headquarters of the Dominicans. Saint Thomas Aquinas also taught there.
So the memory of an obscure Roman widow ended up attached to a church that has witnessed nearly sixteen centuries of Catholic history.
And perhaps the most interesting part of Sabina’s story is still where it began: with Serapia.
A woman with almost no social power helped convert a woman with enormous social privilege.
Together, they became saints.
Saint Sabina and Saint Serapia, courageous daughters of the early Roman Church, pray for us.
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The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
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The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
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