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| San Gregorio Taumaturgo, ora pro nobis |
November 17th is the Feast of San Gregorio Taumaturgo (St. Gregory the wonderworker), Confessor and Bishop of Neocaesarea. Invoked against earthquakes, floods and desperate causes, he is the patron saint of Laureana di Borrello (RC), San Gregorio (RC), and Stalettì (CZ) in Calabria. According to tradition, during the Iconoclastic Controversy of the eighth century the body of San Gregorio was cast into the Black Sea at Pontus in Asia Minor. Instead of sinking, the casket containing the saint’s relics miraculously crossed the sea, pushed by the hands of angels, to the sacred Grotta di San Gregorio on the shores of the Gulf of Squillace, an inlet of the Ionian Sea along the coast of Catanzaro. Renowned for his many miracles, the great Saint is venerated in both the Eastern and Western churches.
In celebration, I’m posting a prayer to St. Gregory the wonderworker. The accompanying photo of the 12th century Byzantine Icon, possibly from Constantinople, comes courtesy of the State Hermitage Museum, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Evviva San Gregorio Taumaturgo!
Prayer to St. Gregory the wonderworker
O holy Saint Gregory, confessor and priest of the Lord, I pray thee that thou wouldst intercede with our Lord God for me, that, being purified from all vice, I may please Him in all things, and that He will grant me the peace possessed by all His servants. Amen