St Isaiah, the Prophet

One of the things I try to do with this blog is educate myself (and others) on the liturgical traditions of the Holy Church –East and West– and one of those traditions is the saints. Many people of the Eastern and Western Churches don’t know that some Old Testament figures are honored as saints with their own feast days. In part, a Catholic of the Latin Church may not realize this because they don’t celebrate the the OT people at the altar; sometimes the logic is: not celebrated at the altar there’s no feast day. That’s faulty logic. The Eastern Christians know that the OT prophets are saints because they are celebrated at the altar.

Today, we have as our saint, Isaiah the Prophet. He from the the 8th c. BC.

History reveals to us that the Holy Prophet Isaiah lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, who was of royal lineage. Isaiah’s father Amos raised him in the fear of God and in the law of the Lord. Having attained the age of maturity, the Prophet married a pious prophetess (Is 8:3) and had a son Jashub (Is 8:18).

The Martyrologium Romanum has this entry for him.

1. Commemoratio sancti Isaiae, prophetae, qui, in diebus Oziae, Iotham, Achaz et Ezechiae, regum Iudae, missus est ut populo infideli et peccatori Dominum fidelem et salvatorem revelaret, ad implementum promissionis David a Deo iuratae. Apud Iudaeos sub Manasse rege martyr occubuisse traditur.