Bishop and Doctor of the Church · Feast day May 2
St. Athanasius
The feast day of St. Athanasius is May 2, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Below: a short life and 3 sourced quotations in their own words.
| Feast day | May 2 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Bishop and Doctor of the Church |
| Died | c. 373 |
| In their own words | 3 sourced quotations |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
Deacon at Nicaea, then bishop of Alexandria for forty-five years — seventeen of them spent in five exiles for refusing to soften the divinity of Christ. Later ages summed him up as Athanasius against the world — and he won.
His On the Incarnation distilled the faith into one exchange: the Son of God became man so that humanity might share the life of God. His Life of Antony carried monasticism to the West.
In their own words
Each quotation names the work it comes from. Bless quotes these in the comments beside the verses listed under In Scripture.
He became man that we might become divine.
The Psalms are a mirror in which you see yourself and the movements of your own soul.
He took what is ours to give us what is His.
In Scripture
In Bless, St. Athanasius’s words appear in the comments beside these verses. This page’s labels say how each is linked: “on this verse” means the saint wrote about that very verse; “on this theme” means the quotation shares its theme. Scripture is quoted from the Catholic Public Domain Version.
On this verse
These things I have remembered; and my soul within me, I have poured out. For I will cross into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, all the way to the house of God, with a voice of exultation and confession, the sound of feasting.
Psalm 41:5 · CPDV Beside their words: “The Psalms are a mirror in which you see yourself and the movements of your own soul.”
On this verse
Examine me, O God, and know my heart. Question me, and know my paths.
Psalm 138:23 · CPDV Beside their words: “The Psalms are a mirror in which you see yourself and the movements of your own soul.”
On this theme
And the Word became flesh, and he lived among us, and we saw his glory, glory like that of an only-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 · CPDV Beside their words: “He became man that we might become divine.”
On this theme
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that through his poverty, you might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 · CPDV Beside their words: “He took what is ours to give us what is His.”
On this theme
Instead, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and accepting the state of a man.
Philippians 2:7 · CPDV Beside their words: “He took what is ours to give us what is His.”
On this theme
Through Christ, he has given us the greatest and most precious promises, so that by these things you may become sharers in the Divine Nature, fleeing from the corruption of that desire which is in the world.
2 Peter 1:4 · CPDV Beside their words: “He became man that we might become divine.”
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. Athanasius. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. Athanasius keeps May 2 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of May.
All the saints of May Born on May 2? A saint for every day
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