8 NOVEMBER

. . . .in the old rite is the feast of The Four Crowned Martyrs. The Roman Martyrology has this: “At Rome on the Via Lavicana the day of the death of four holy martyrs, the brothers Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, and Victorinus. Under Emperor Diocletian they were scourged to death with lead rods. Their names were first made known many years later through a divine revelation. As no one knew their names previously, the annual feast day to their honor was celebrated under the title: The Four Crowned Brothers. The designation was retained even after the revelation.”

Also honored today is the 13th century Franciscan, the Blessed John Duns Scotus. From Engelbert’s “Lives”: “(he) taught at Oxford, Paris, and finally at Cologne where he died in 1308, aged thirty-four. He built up a system in many respects opposed to that of St. Thomas and caused the triumph, in the schools, of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. His two master works are the Opus Oxoniensis and the Reportate Parisiana. The Scotists consider Duns Scotus, the “subtle Doctor,” to the greatest genius of scholastic theology, while the Thomists reserve this title for the “angelic Doctor,” St. Thomas Aquinas.”

More about Bl. John and his philosophy can be found here and here.

In the Carmelite Order this is the feast of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. The collect from the liturgy for her feast can be found here.
Another site with some good links regarding Bl. Elizabeth is here.