October 26th
St. Rusticus
St. Rusticus was a bishop of Narbonne, France. He was a correspondent with St. Jerome and Pope Leo I. While not much is known of him, we do know that he attended the First Council at Ephesus and was a champion against the Arian heresy, a belief that Jesus was not God, and a point of debate during the Council of Nicaea.
One of the most interesting and inspiring aspects of St. Rusticus was his humanity and struggle against hopelessness. While he worked to put a stop to the spreading Arian beliefs in Gaul, he could not. An Arian bishop was even installed in Narbonne. Eventually Rusticus' disillusionment over the fighting between Catholics led to Rusticus wishing to step down from being a bishop. Pope Leo I convinced him to remain. Even though he was discouraged, St. Rusticus spent the rest of his life trying to consolidate the Catholics in Gaul.
Links of Interest:
An explanation of Arianism at wikipedia.
Information on the Nicene Creed
Gospel reading: Lk 13:18-21
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