JANUARY 24TH, SAINT TIMOTHY, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Month in honor of the Most Holy Name of OLJC.

Timothy was a native of Lystra in Lycaonia, born of a Gentile father and a Jewish mother. He embraced the Christian religion when the Apostle Paul came into those parts. The holy Apostle was so struck with the fame of Timothy's sanctity, that he chose him to be the companion of his journeys, and caused him to be circumcised, in order to remove a stumbling-block from the way of those Jews who felt drawn to Christianity. When they came together to Ephesus, the Apostle consecrated him Bishop of that Church. Two of the Apostle Paul's Epistles are addressed to this Saint, of which one was written from Laodicea, and the other from Rome. These sacred writings so stirred him up to the zealous discharge of his duties as a spiritual shepherd, that he strove to prevent the people of Ephesus from sacrificing to Artemis on her feastday, knowing that sacrifice is due to God alone. The heathens thereupon stoned him till he was well-nigh dead, and although he was rescued by the Christians, and carried to a mountain near the city, he then fell asleep in the Lord, on the 24th day of January.