According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Origen was...
Born in 185, Origen was barely seventeen when a bloody persecution of the Church ofAlexandrian broke out. His father Leonides, who admired his precocious genius and was charmed with his virtuous life, had given him an excellent literary education. When Leonides was cast into prison, Origen would fain have shared his lot, but being unable to carry out his resolution, as his mother had hidden his clothes, he wrote an ardent, enthusiastic letter to his father exhorting him to persevere courageously. When Leonides had won the martyr's crown and his fortune had been confiscated by the imperial authorities, the heroic child laboured to support himself, his mother, and his six younger brothers. This he successfully accomplished by becoming a teacher, selling his manuscripts, and by the generous aid of a certain rich lady, who admired his talents. He assumed, of his own accord, the direction of the catechetical school, on the withdrawal of Clement. Origen's school, which was frequented by pagans, soon became a nursery of neophytes, confessors, and martyrs.
Readings:
Origen says:
"Study first of all the divine Scriptures. Study them, I say. For we need to study the divine writings deeply, lest we should speak of them faster than we think; and while you study these divine works with a believing and God-pleasing intention, knock at that which is closed in them and it shall be opened to you by the porter, of whom Jesus says, 'to him the porter opens.' While you attend to this lectio divina, seek aright and with unwavering faith in God the hidden sense which is present in most passages of the divine Scriptures. And do not be content with knocking and seeking, for what is absolutely necessary for understanding divine things is oratio, and in urging us to this the Saviour says not only 'knock and it will be opened to you' and 'seek and you will find,' but also 'ask and it will be given you.'"
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