# Prayer to the Holy Spirit for holy and wise priests
*2015-02-08*

> Bill Young reflects on the martyrdom of St. Apollonia and offers a prayer to the Holy Spirit for the vocation and sanctity of priests in the Church.

## The Witness of St. Apollonia

Today is the feast day of St. Apollonia of Alexandria. In the third century, she was well known in Alexandria for her good works and charity. During a period of mob rule, she was seized by a crowd that demanded she deny her God, Jesus Christ. She refused, and the mob beat her so severely that all of her teeth were knocked out. As they were building a fire to torture her further, rather than renouncing her faith, she threw herself into the flames.

## A Prayer for Our Priests

We continue our prayers to the Holy Spirit, specifically asking that He may raise up holy and wise priests in our Church. O Holy Spirit, you who in the scriptures are called Spirit of Truth, sanctity, and the field which produces good fruits, raise up in your church holy and wise priests. Through the ministry of the Word, accompanied by good examples and the administration of the sacraments instituted by Christ, may they produce abundant and eternal fruits of life in souls, in order to bring about the righteous renewal of the world which our Holy Father, Pope Francis, desires.

## Closing Prayers

We conclude our time together with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, asking for God's blessing upon all of us, as well as all our priests and bishops.

*We must pray to the Holy Spirit to provide the Church with holy and wise priests who can lead the world toward a righteous renewal.*