Saint Alex/Alexis/San Alejo

Requesting petitions for the following:            

• Protection from enemies.
• Feast: 17-Jul
• Day: Sunday
• Candle/Emblem: Pink. Crucifix
• Matters Concerning: To keep enemies away and patron saint of Beggars and Alexian Brothers.
   

Background

The saint lived in the eastern part and then his veneration was moved to Rome. The movement to Rome was accelerated by the fact, in an ancient legend form Syria, there lived a holy man in Edessa which is a region in Mesopotamia who lived when Bishop Rabbula was administering the church in around 435 who used to beg and they shared whatever the well wishers gave with other poor people. On dying, the man’s origin was traced to Rome.
 

Veneration of Alexius

The cult in honor of St Alexius started in Syria and then advanced out to other areas which included the Roman Empire in which it really covered the eastern part of the Roman Empire greatly before the 9th Century. Then it took another century for him to make an appearance in any of the West’s liturgical books.

The fact hold that, long before the 8th century came by, a saint known as St. Boniface had a church in Rome dedicated to him. Back in the year 972, the then reigning Pope, Benedict VII moved his weakened church into the Greek Metropolitan know as serge’s of Damascus whose residents had moved out. The pope then built a place for the Latin and Greek monks that quickly gained fame as the inmates led austere life. St. Alexis name was then added to that of saint Benedict and the name of the monastery in the present time is santi bonifacio e Alessio..

Then, it has been proved beyond doubt that, the veneration of Saint Alexius was then brought into Rome by Sergius and the monks who resided in the monastery. This legend further highlight that, the eastern saint then acquired fame all over the city. The claim then holds that the church was built on the home of the Roman beggar in Edessa.

The Roman Catholic has always been observing the sainthood of Alexis but the feast was eliminated from the famous Roman Catholic calendar of saints back in the year 1969 and this meant that he could be celebrated universally be it at mass or even in the liturgy of hours that is found in the Roman rite. Then one may be wondering why such a beggar could get venerated to sainthood, an explanation for this is the legendary character that the man had, for instance, he could beg for himself and the other beggar. But looking at the catholic Encyclopedia we get the reason as being the possibility of some piou ascetic in Edessa which is the place that he used to beg in lived a beggar only to be venerated much later

In the Tridentine calendar, this feast has been ranked simple with ranking getting higher in 1962 where it was ranked a semi double but among the Romans it was ranked a double. The rank dropped to commemoration in 1962. The Roman Missal of these days allows celebration of the saint anywhere as long as it is his feast day but this is exceptional for the locality that may be assigned another mandatory celebration.