Saint Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor
S. Athanasii Episcopi Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris
Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria and Doctor of the Church, was the great champion of the divinity of Christ in the fourth century. Through long years of trial and repeated exile he defended the Catholic Faith with unshaken constancy, and the Church honours him among her foremost teachers. He died at Alexandria in the year 373.
Saint Athanasius was born at Alexandria in Egypt about the year 296. While still a young deacon he accompanied his bishop to the great Council of Nicaea in 325, where the Church solemnly confessed that the Son of God is consubstantial with the Father, true God of true God. To the defence of this truth Athanasius would devote the whole of his long life. Not long after, he was raised to the see of Alexandria, one of the chief sees of Christendom, and entered upon an episcopate of more than forty years.
Champion of the divinity of Christ
The years of Saint Athanasius were marked by a great and prolonged controversy over the divinity of Christ, in which much of the world was for a time troubled by error. Athanasius stood firm where many wavered, contending without ceasing for the full and true divinity of the Son. So resolute was his fidelity, and so isolated did he often seem in the heat of the struggle, that later ages recalled his stand in the saying that Athanasius stood against the world. He set forth the Catholic Faith in learned and luminous writings, and is honoured among the great Doctors of the Church.
The exiles of a faithful bishop
For his constancy Saint Athanasius paid a heavy price. Five times in the course of his episcopate he was driven from his see and forced into exile, spending in all some seventeen years away from his people, now in the deserts among the monks, now in distant lands. Yet neither threats nor hardship could move him from the truth, and he always returned to his flock. He was a friend and biographer of Saint Antony the hermit, and a great promoter of the monastic life. Worn out by his labours, he died peacefully at Alexandria on the second of May, 373, having handed on the Faith of Nicaea unbroken to the generations that followed.
The Collect
Graciously hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers which we offer on the solemnity of blessed Athanasius, Thy Confessor and Bishop: and, since he was found worthy to serve Thee worthily, do Thou, by the pleading of his merits, absolve us from all our sins. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Exáudi, quǽsumus, Dómine, preces nostras, quas in beáti Athanásii Confessóris tui atque Pontíficis sollemnitáte deférimus: et, qui tibi digne méruit famulári, eius intercedéntibus méritis, ab ómnibus nos absólve peccátis. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Patronage
Saint Athanasius is venerated as a Doctor of the Church and a chief defender of the Catholic Faith, and is honoured especially in the Church of Alexandria.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar, this feast is kept on the same day, 2 May, with the rank of a memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Athanasius?
It is kept on 2 May in both the traditional 1962 calendar and the modern calendar.
Who was Saint Athanasius?
He was the Patriarch of Alexandria in the fourth century and a Doctor of the Church, renowned as the great defender of the divinity of Christ. He suffered repeated exile for the Faith and died at Alexandria in 373.
Why is he so honoured in the Church?
Through long years of trial he upheld the Catholic Faith confessed at the Council of Nicaea, that the Son of God is true God, when much of the world was troubled by error. For his learning and constancy the Church venerates him among her foremost Doctors.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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