Sai
nt Mary Magdalene – July 22
Many of us mention Mary Magdalene without realising the significance of her last name. It simply identified her as being a native of a Palestinian, Gentile settlement in Upper Galilee, called Magdala.
Her life was one of dramatic contrasts.
St. Luke reports that she had been a wicked sinner from whom seven devils had been expelled.
Yet this woman, who repented and became utterly devoted to Our Lord, was destined to be witness to a great and totally unique experience. She is recorded as being present at Christ’s crucifixion, but even more significantly, on the third day, she was the first person to whom he appeared after he had risen from the tomb.
How well we know that Gospel passage where she mistook Jesus for the gardener until he called her by her name ‘Mary’. How many paintings depict the famous scene, Noli me tangere!
Myths and legends concerning St Mary Magdalene abound, but there seems to be little written evidence or any historical support to give any of them credence. And in view of her importance to us they hardly seem worthwhile.
Andrew Jones
Saint Henry (Feast Day: July 13)
Henry was born in 972 AD, the son of Henry, Duke of Bavaria and his wife, Gisella, the daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy. He had the advantage of a saintly education at the hands of Wolfgang, Bishop of Ratisbon, who was also canonised. In 995 Henry succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria and, in 1002, upon the death of his cousin Otto III, was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually in 1014 he attended in Rome and was officially crowned by Pope Benedict VIII.
Henry was renowned as a devout man who ruled with humility and justice. He won several battles as Emperor but always applied clemency to his defeated enemies. He and his wife Cunegundes, also later canonised, entered a permanent state of chastity. He died, aged 52, in 1024. His patronage includes the handicapped, the childless, those rejected by religious orders and Dukes.
Andrew Jones
St Sexburga, Widow, Abbess of Ely (Died 699): Feast Day: 6 July
Contributor: Jim Fillery
St Sexburga was the daughter of Anna, Queen of the East Angles, sister of Saints Etheldreda, Ethelburga and Withburga, and half-sister of Saint Sethrida. She was given in marriage to Erconbert, King of Kent, a marriage she contributed to for the next 24 years with good counsel, devotion and humility. Her goodness and charity gained her the love, admiration and devotion of all who knew her. She was mother to two princes and two saints, Ercongota and Ermenilda. She had a longing to consecrate herself wholly to God in religious retirement, and so that others might attend divine service without impediment, she began, in her husband’s lifetime, to found a monastery at Minster in the Isle of Sheppey, which she finished after his death in 664.
Here she assembled 74 nuns, herself among them, and after some years appointed her daughter Ermenilda to rule the house. Wishing to live in greater obscurity, and to be more at liberty to employ her thoughts on Heaven, she left Kent and went to the abbey of Ely, where she was chosen to succeed her sister St Etheldreda. 16 years later she caused the body of that Saint to be taken up, when it was found to be incorrupt. It was then enshrined in a white marble coffin at Cambridge. Sexberga herself passed to bliss in a good old age on 6 July at the end of the seventh century.
Her monastery of Minster-in-Sheppey was destroyed by the Danes, but rebuilt in 1130, and consecrated in honour of Our Lady and St Sexburga, continuing to be occupied by Benedictine monks until the dissolution. She was also honoured in Sweden.
Saint
s Peter and Paul: 29 June
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour 1 Peter 5:8
It is very appropriate that the Parish’s newly made-over website 'went live’ on the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul. These are the two Saints of the first-century church most associated with the initial spread of Christ’s Gospel, still of course the primary function of the Church today.
St Peter’s mission was to evangelise the Jews and St Paul’s the Gentiles.
More information is probably available to us about Paul and Peter than any other saint of the early Church, as a result of the Gospels and the New Testament generally, particularly Paul’s and Peter’s own Epistles.
Peter is best known for his impetuosity and bigheartedness in following Christ (and denying Him three times); and by his steadfastness in following him after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He was the first of the Apostles to see the Risen Christ. Tradition has it that in about AD64 he was martyred upside-down in Rome during the reign of Nero.
It has often been pointed out that St Paul underwent his famous conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, from being a fanatical Jewish opponent of Christ and Christianity (and as such taking part in the stoning of St Stephen): ‘… and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’
On accepting Christ, he was baptised, retired to Arabia for three years for prayer and reflection, and then began his great evangelising ministry. He underwent three great missionary journeys: to Cyprus; to Asia Minor and eastern Greece, and thirdly to Ephesus. On voyaging to Rome he was shipwrecked at Malta and suffered house-arrest for two years.
Peter’s legacy lives on, formalised within the Roman Catholic Church in the continuation of the Papacy to the present day; Paul leaves us the greater part of the New Testament and the foundation of Christian thought on the teaching of Christ.
Saint Thomas More (1478–1535) Feast day: 22 June: Patron Saint of Lawyers
Contrib
utor: Branwen Jones
Several of this week’s saints share one grisly trait in common: Saints JohnFisher, Thomas More and John the Baptist all underwent the ignominy of literally ‘losing their heads’. So the next time you cross London or Tower Bridge spare a thought for the first two, both executed in 1535 for refusing to recognise Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church in England and thereafter having their heads exhibited for public admonishment/entertainment.
But history has the final say and perhaps Dr Samuel Johnson aptly sums up Saint Thomas More as ‘the person of the greatest virtue these islands ever produced.’ There is no doubt that Thomas is an attractive figure - witty, humorous, clever, well-known for his Utopia and immortalised in play and film as ‘A Man for All Seasons’.
Thomas initially studied law at Oxford and later, in 1504, entered Parliament. In the following year he married Jane Colt and they had four children before her death in 1511. He soon remarried one Alice Middleton, a widow who proved a good stepmother to the More children. Their home in Chelsea attracted many visitors. Unusually for the times, More’s daughters were well educated and More kept strange pets, including a monkey.
Henry VIII was swift to recognise Thomas More’s abilities and integrity and he was elected to many public offices. Despite his favour with the King, Thomas could not condone Henry’s desire to marry Anne Boleyn by having his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled – which Pope Clement VII refused to do.
Neither Thomas More nor John Fisher, then Bishop of Rochester, would comply with the Act of Succession, which demanded that the offspring of the union of Henry and Anne should succeed to the throne of England. Consequently, in 1534, both More and Fisher were imprisoned in the Tower of London for what was considered high treason.
The ‘crunch’ came with the Act of Supremacy by which Henry VIII elected himself Head of the Church in England, a title which both men again would not acknowledge. After being tried Fisher, More’s friend was executed on 22 June and More met the same fate on 6 July. But his warmth and wisdom never deserted him and his last courageous words were that he was ‘the king’s good servant, but God’s first.’
St Richard of Chichester: Feast Day: 16 June
Contributor: Mary Heady
Not many saints have left us prayerful words which have been incorporated into a pop song! This can give us an added interest in the life of Richard, born at Droitwich in 1197. He was apparently very academically inclined and studed at Oxford and various continental universities. He became Chancellor to St Edmundat Canterbury and went into exile with him. Richard was later ordained priest and, returning to England, was elected Bishop of Chichester, an appointment opposed by King Henry III. It took two years before he was allowed to take up the post, but he became renowned for the simplicity of his personal life, for his generosity and love of the poor. He was strict with his clergy and intolerant of any religious abuses. He died at the age of fifty-six, leaving us this beautiful prayer:
‘Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou has given us, for all the pains and insults which thou has borne for us.
‘O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may we know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly, for thine own sake.’
Anyone familiar with the musical Godspel may recognise the second half of this prayer in the song ‘Day by Day’.
St Richard of Chichester, pray for us
St Ep
hrem Feast Day – June 9
Ephrem was born in 4th century in Mesopotamia. His fame has travelled through the ages as St Ephrem the Syrian, placing his gift of poetry and music to serve the Church and fight in its defence.
He very effectively used his talents to counteract the polemic of leading adversaries of the Church often expressed in songs. Such was the poetical imagery of the hymns he composed, strengthening and spreading the faith, that his influence helped the Church to become aware of the powers of such tools not just for propaganda but also in worship.
Ephrem showed great courage in being a defensor of Christianity in times of war, not only with words but taking part in battle as well. His verses document his life’s troubled and dangerous times, such as when his town Nisibis was undergoing its 3rd siege from the king of Persia, Shapur II in the year 350. The ploy devised to flood the city by turning a river out of its course hampered the invading army. Epherm was then able to successfully ambush and drive it out. Alas eventually, 13 years on, Christians were forced to flee Nisibis.
Ephrem, by now 50 or 60 years old, retired to an ascetic solitary life on Mount Edessa. Soon after the town itself came under the threat by Emperor Valens of slaughtering all the Christian inhabitants if they did not surrender. Rallying round the holy man, they held out and were spared in acknowledgement of their courage. Later a great famine hit the city during which Ephrem was credited for taking over the organisation of food rations for the whole population so that the poor and helpless would be also be spared immediate starvation.
Giving thanks for the life and work of Saint Ephrem is also an opportunity to acknowledge the wonderful contribution of poetry and music in helping us to reach a more profound sense of worship, whether in a congregation or by ourselves.
Ugandan Martyrs:
Feast Day: 3 June
Contributor: Kate Plowman
There is such an explosion of vocations today in Africa that it comes as shock to realise how recently Christianity has come to Africa. It was only after 1877 that it reached the court of Uganda. and the king, Mutesa, refused to allow it to preached outside this inner royal circle. There is something of first-century Christianity in the Uganda of the 1880s. Like the Roman Emperor, the Ugandan king required a citizen's first loyalty to be paid to him; all else came second. When it spread outside to Mutesa's subjects, the loyalty of those first Christians was given to Christ.
Mutesa's successor, Mwanga, proved unable to stop the spread of the Gospel message, and widespread martyrdom very soon followed, but - as dictators throughout history have found - repression had repercussions entirely contrary to those intended. New Christians went to their death singing hymns in praise of God - thereby causing bystanders to become Christian themselves.
Those whom the Church has canonized as 'the Ugandan martyrs' - all boys or young men (under the age of 25) - were burned to death on 3 June 1886 for refusing to deny their faith. The two years 1885-87 were violent ones for Christians, because they dared challenge Mwanga's lifestyle - he was a pederast - and when, after a fruitless day's hunting, he found that his favourite boy was not around at court, he ordered the court to be sealed and separated the Christians from everyone else. These were force-marched the 30 km to their place of execution, imprisoned for seven days, and then placed on the pyre. They died praising the name of Jesus and declaring: 'You can burn our bodies but not harm our souls.' They were beatified in 1920 and canonized in 1964.
After this and other murders, the missionaries in Uganda, the White Fathers, retired across the lake to their mission. It was the new Christians who kept up and spread the faith and when the Fathers returned, a thriving Christian community was found. Within a very short time, then, the Gospel message had spread far beyond the court of Mwanga, and today, among the new nations of Africa, Uganda is the most widely Christian, and this assimilation has meant that Christianity can truly be described as a religion for Africa - not just a white man's importation.
Ref: www.geocities.com/brett_usher/Uganda.html
St. Augustine of Canterbury
Feast Day: 28th May
Cont
ributor: Maria Emery
Also known as Austin, Augustine was born in Rome in the sixth century. He was a monk and abbot of Saint Andrew’s Abbey in Rome. Pope St. Gregory the Great had lived under Augustine’s rule in that same monastery.
In AD597, Pope St. Gregory the Great chose Augustine and forty brother monks, including Lawrence of Canterbury to evangelize the British Isles. Terrified by the horrid tales of cruelty and barbarity of the Celts, Augustine and the monks went back to Rome before reaching the islands.
However, with the marriage of King Ethelbert of Kent to a Christian princess, Gregory persuaded Augustine that England was ready for Christianity and Augustine and the monks set off again to England.
Augustine established and spread the faith throughout England. King Ethelbert was one of his earliest converts and was baptized in 597.
Augustine was only in England for eight years. He died of natural causes in Canterbury in AD605.
SAINT ANDREW (ANDRZEJ) BOBOLA (1592-1657)
Fea
st Day 21st May Andrew Jones
At this time when so many Baltic countries have just joined the European community, it is interesting that St Andrew Bobola knew the area well. He was born in Sandomir, Poland, where he came from a wealthy Polish land owning family. In his home town he attended a Jesuit school and at the age of 20 committed himself to join the Jesuit order.
He studied for 2 years, specialising in philospohy. Then, at 22, he was ordained Priest at St Casimir’s Church in Vilna, Lithuania and at 25 was appointed parish Priest in the same church. In 1630 he was made the Superior of the Jesuit house of Bobruysk and, in that capacity, was suddenly called upon to serve the locality in the face of a terrifying plague. He showed exemplary conduct by ignoring the risk to himself and his fellow monks as they served the suffering.
From 1636 to 1656 he undertook the role of an evangelist, preaching the Gospel in the towns and villages of Lithuania. It was a difficult time for the Jesuits and the rest of the people, for they suffered repeated raids by Cossacks and Tartars. In 1652 Prince Radziwell donated a house in Pinsk as a refuge for the Jesuits. Alas, it was insufficient, for on May 10th 1657 Andrew Bobola was seized during a Cossack raid and suffered horrific torture. One acccount reported that he was skinned alive for being a Christian. His faith remained steadfast in his agony.
He was buried in the Jesuit school at Pinsk but was forgotten when the Jesuits abandoned the town. Over a period of nearly 350 years, it has been moved to Moscow, Rome and finally Krakow, where it lies in the Jesuit church.
Saint Matthias the Apostle - Feast Day 14 May
Contributor: Roger Missing
One of the first things the Apostles did after the Ascension of Jesus was to replace Judas Iscariot. Twelve was an important number at that time as it represented the twelve tribes of Israel, but choosing the new Apostle created a problem. Jesus had chosen the original twelve. What criteria would apply now?
Around 120 people met for prayer and reflection. Peter often took the initiative in speaking first and he declared that the new Apostle should be chosen from amongst them. He suggested just one criterion: that the new Apostle be a disciple from the very beginning and be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.
Two men “qualified”, Matthias and Joseph (called Barsabbas). Both were nominated and lots cast in order to discover God’s will. It was considered through this approach that Matthias was not “chosen” but “made known” as the new Apostle.
A new person joining an established group often has implications. In the context of a modern day Parish the story behind this Saint is a reminder to always welcome newcomers, to consider the Parish family incomplete without the newcomer – the newcomer chosen by God.
Sources:
www.catholic.org
www.catholic-forum.com
Saint Monica (c332-387): Feast Day: 4 May
Contr
ibutor: Kate Plowman
St Monica is most famous as the mother of St Augustine – and is credited with being responsible (under God) for leading her wayward son to salvation – which Augustine was deeply and movingly grateful in his Confessions.
She was born in North Africa, to a Christian family, but was married off unhappily to a pagan, Patricius. He was another of her close family who was converted to Christian faith by Monica’s prayers and example. There were two other children of the marriage apart from Augustine – Perpetua, who became a religious, and Navigius, who seems to have been an exemplary son from the first.
Monica was blessed with a vision regarding Augustine: when he returned from Carthage (where he had been pursuing his studies) full of wild, loose ways, she was deeply grieved, and at first refused to have him living with her. She was told to dry her tears, for her son was with her. Augustine’s response was that in that case she should give up her faith – the only obstacle to her remaining with him. She retorted that he was with her – not she with him. Augustine ignored God for nine long years, living with a mistress and having a son. Monica’s persistence in prayer and fasting for her son’s conversion is a very humbling lesson for us today, we who want instant solutions to everything. Like so many of us, Augustine tried to escape God by removing himself from the company of His representatives, but Monica chased him to Rome and then Milan (where both of them separately became friends of Bishop, later St, Ambrose).
On her son becoming a Christian, she seems to have sensed that God’s work for her earthly life had been accomplished, and she died serene in God’s love, for herself and Augustine.
Saint Catherine of Siena: Feast Day: 29 April
Contributor: Bill Smith
Siena is today a beautiful old city and centre for tourism in Tuscany, Northern Italy, but in the 14th Century it was at the heart of much religious and political turmoil. Saint Catherine was born there in 1347 and died there in 1380. Remarkably she and her twin sister had 22 older brothers and sisters although only half of the family survived into adulthood. From early childhood she professed to seeing apparitions and vowed to lead a life of perpetual virginity.
Latershe joined the Third Order of the Dominican Sisters of Penance. She continued throughout her life to experience religious apparitions and received the "stigmata" - the marks on her own body of the five wounds of Our Lord. Within the religious community she led a life of extreme frugality. At the age of 23 she heard a voice from God urging her to leave her confined cell and to go out in the world to spread his word. With her remarkable oratory and writing she attracted large audiences of ordinary people as well as the attention of academics and dignitaries. At this time the Papacy was established away from Rome in Avignon but it was largely through Catherine’s diplomatic influence and intervention that Pope Gregory X1 settled back in Rome.
As well as her outstanding doctrinal influence she was also noted for her great commitment to the sick and disadvantaged nursing those with quite horrible disease.
Her saintly life was recognised by canonisation in 1461 but it was only as recently as 1970 that she was declared a Doctor of the Church.
For a fuller account of her life look at http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/0429cath.htm
St. George: Feast day: April 23
Patron Saint of England and Catalonia
Cont
ributor: Maria Emery
George was born in Cappadocia of noble Christian parents. On the death of his father, he accompanied his mother to Palestine (her country of origin) where she had land and George was to run the estate. George held an important post in the Roman Army and was one of the Emperor's favourite soldiers during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (245-313). Diocletian persecuted Christians from about 302, and when the persecutions began George complained personally to the Emperor of the harshness of his decrees and the dreadful purges of Christians. For that George was imprisoned and tortured. On the following day he was dragged through the streets and beheaded. He died in c. 304 at Lydda, Palestine.
Pictures of St George usually show him killing a dragon to rescue a beautiful lady. The dragon represented Satan and the lady represented the Christian Church. St George rescued the pagans from evil by vanquishing it and saved the Church from being devoured by the insatiable forces of darkness.
St Bernadette: Feast Day: 16 April
Contributor: Kim Insley
Bernade
tte’s story was made very familiar by the film industry. I remember watching it and being struck, not by the visions or Bernadette’s saintliness, but by the real cruelty of one of her fellow nuns. It certainly put me off being a nun!
Bernadette, at the age of 14, had visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but this is not why she is honoured as a saint by the Church. Instead the Church valued her ‘total commitment in simplicity, integrity and trust’ (Farmer 1997) really shown up in that film by her fellow sister’s jealousy.
I was able to aspire to be like Bernadette, but knew I would find it very difficult to accept the hatred and jealousy of others.
In many ways Bernadette was much like Our Lord. She is often described as ‘simple’ – reference made to her intellect as well as her upbringing. She lived in poverty but saw the Blessed Virgin in a series of eighteen visions. She had little to do with the shrine at Lourdes after the visions, living for the rest of her life in a convent as a Sister of Notre-Dame of Nevers, dying at the age of 35. She was canonised in 1933.
One important fact I learnt as a child was about the Immaculate Conception. As a Catholic I know this applies to Mary, but talking to my non-Catholic friends recently they were adamant it applied to Jesus because he was born of a virgin. When I reminded them of the story of Bernadette and how Mary had said “I am the Immaculate Conception” in answer to Bernadette’s question from the priest “Who are you?” they still couldn’t believe it.
But we know that Mary, as the Immaculate Conception was born without original sin.
St John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719): Feast Day: 7 April:
Contributor: Kate Plowman
St John Baptist de la Salle is the patron saint of teachers, founding the famous teaching order of the Christian Brothers. Born into a pious family, he was fortunate enough to receive the very best education himself. He became a canon of Reims at only 16. He returned to Paris for final ordination to the priesthood.
However, his life’s work was to be educating the poor at a time when this was normally solely for the rich and noble. John said, "Not only is God so good as to have created us, but God desires all of us to come to the knowledge of the truth." His teachers were to "assert nothing without being positively certain of its truth, especially as regards facts, definitions and principles”.
It started undramatically. He was asked by a friend to open a free school in Reims; he did so, and then withdrew. He opened another one, at someone else’s request, and retired again – maintaining a ‘watching brief’ on both. In particular, he concentrated on motivating the teachers, whose interest had become fractured owing to lack of proper guidance. He fed them and housed them, and even to some extent paid them.
He lived completely dependent on the providence of God, when he resigned his canonry in 1683 and gave all his wealth to the poor during the winter of 1684, to devote himself fulltime to this work. The years 1694 to 1717 were critical years, when death swept the teaching staff, and he was beset by treachery, sometimes from those closest to him. After much prayer and meditation, he resolved that there should be no ordained staff on his teaching staff – as much as anything, he thought that teachers should not be diverted from their duties to take part in religious duties.
He introduced a number of ideas to the curriculum that we now take for granted: for instance the separation of pupils according to age, teaching conducted in the vernacular tongue and even use of the blackboard! The work expanded, taking in instruction for artisans, juvenile delinquents and even the adherents – mainly Irish – of the exiled James II of England!
The Christian Brother’s institute was recognised by Pope Benedict XIII, and God’s blessing on the Institute was seen by the fact that though, during the persecution of the Church in France at the end of the 1700s and early 1800s, it contracted to only 20 active members, it expanded immediately when Napoleon I lifted the ban.
Saint John Climacus: 30 March
also known as John Scholasticus; John the Sinaita; John of the Ladder
Contri
butor: Roger Missing
John Climacus is known as a writer born is Syria around 505. His works have influenced those seeking holy life for 15 centuries.
His most famous book is called "The Climax" or "The Ladder of Perfection". He had lived for many years as a hermit in Sinai and later, as a scriptural scholar, he wrote The Ladder of Perfection. This became a comprehensive statement on the ideal of Christian perfection and the virtues and vices of monastic life. It is composed of thirty chapters with extensive readings.
Just a few examples:
"Just as clouds hide the sun so bad thoughts cast shadows over the soul"
“The Christian is one who imitates Christ in thought, word and deed, as far as is possible for human beings, believing rightly and blamelessly in the Holy Trinity.”
“In all your undertakings and in every way of life, whether you are living in obedience, or are not submitting your work to anyone, whether in outward or in spiritual matters, let it be your rule and practice to ask yourself: Am I really doing this in accordance with God’s will?”
John became abbot of the monks of Mt. Sinai at the age of seventy. He died there on March 30.
St Catherine of Sweden (1330-81): Feast Day: 22 March
Contributo
r: Kate Plowman
She was the daughter of an even more famous woman saint, Birgitta of Sweden. She was sent at the age of seven to the abbess of the convent of Riseberg to be educated – which must have been an unusual priority in an age when Kings were often illiterate. She married a German noble, on her father’s instructions, despite having recognised a vocation to be a nun when very young. In 1348, she went to Rome to be with her mother, who had travelled there after the death of her husband, founding the convent of the Holy Saviour. Despite her love for her husband, she worked with her mother to spread the Gospel among the poor; from Rome they went on pilgrimages to a variety of places, including Jerusalem.
When Birgitta died, Catherine buried her in Sweden, and became the superior of the convent her mother had founded – the headquarters of the Brigittine Order. She gained confirmation of her order from two successive Popes, but she failed to gain the canonization of her mother, which she also desired, because of the schism that had split the Catholic church – this was the time of two Popes, one in Rome, the other in Avignon. Catherine unfailing supported the Roman candidate.
Catherine died in 1384 and was canonized by Pope Innocent III.
St Patrick (389-461): Feast Day – 17 March
Contributor: Kate Plowman
This week’s Saint could be none other than Ireland’s own Saint, Patrick. He is Irish by adoption: places as various as Cumberland, Dunbarton-on-the-Clyde and even Gaul have been suggested. However, he is known to have been half-British, half-Roman by birth.
He was born into a Christian family, and – in the days before celibacy was imposed on the Roman clergy - his grandfather was a priest; but he himself states in his Confessions that he was lukewarm in his Faith as a teenager, and at 15 committed some fault which caused him anguish for the rest of his life. He still came to practice the Faith with great fervour from the age of 16.
In that year he was, with others, captured by sea raiders and taken to Ireland into slavery. After six years, he was told in a dream to return to home. He ran away from his master and at length found a pagan shipmaster who was prepared to give him passage. In return, Patrick was able to lead these men to God, for the passage at sea lasted a stormy three days, and they reached land which was uninhabited with nothing to eat. Patrick told them to turn in faith to God, and all things would be supplied abundantly. When this came to pass, they gave thanks to God and Patrick became ‘honourable’ in their eyes.
Patrick returned to his family with great rejoicing, but he was not allowed to stay there. He is thought to have stayed for three years at Lerins, and then to have passed 15 years at the monastery of Auxerre, where he was ordained. He was sent to Ireland in 432 to combat heresies there. Details of his life in Ireland are vague, but we are told stories of trials of great strength and the Saint won over his pagan opponents. The powerful pagan King Laeghaire came to tolerate Patrick’s Christian preaching, and though seemingly not converted himself, his two daughters, his brother and his Chief Bard were.
One of Patrick's legendary victories was his overthrow of the idol of Crom Cruach in Leitrim, where he immediately built a church. He was a peripatetic evangelist, and when his ‘caravan’ stopped at a chosen site, the people gathered, converts were won, and before long a chapel or church and its outlying structures would be built and furnished.
Things began to be formalized in 442, when Patrick went to Rome and met Pope Leo the Great (who is said to have taken a great interest in the Church in Ireland). The Cathedral Church of Armagh was established as the primatial see of Ulster, and Latin was established as the language of the Church.
Towards the end of his life, when he was in more or less broken health, Patrick undertook a 40-day fast on Mount Agli, when it is said that God allowed all the saints of Erin – past, present and future – to go there to bless the tribes of Erin so that Patrick might see the fruits of his labours.
He himself must be allowed to have the last word: "It was not any grace in me, but God who conquereth in me, and He resisted them all, so that I came to the heathen of Ireland to preach the Gospel and to bear insults from unbelievers, to hear the reproach of my going abroad and to endure many persecutions even unto bonds, the while that I was surrendering my liberty as a man of free condition for the profit of others. And if I should be found worthy, I am ready to give even my life for His name's sake unfalteringly and gladly, and there (in Ireland) I desire to spend it until I die, if our Lord should grant it to me."
Saint of the Week: St John of God
Feast Day: 8 March
Contributor: Freda Brighton
Born in Portugal in 1495 of humble but devout parentage, he was a virtuous young man who spent his early years as a shepherd. In 1522 he enlisted as a soldier and served in the wars between the French and Spaniards, and also in Hungary against the Turks. During his time in the Army his spirit of piety declined and he neglected his practices of devotion. The troop he was with was disbanded in 1536 and he settled in Andalusia (Spain) where he again became a shepherd.
At around forty years of age he suffered remorse for past conduct while in the Army and resolved on a complete change of life. He spent much of his time in exercises of prayer and mortification and at one stage even sought martyrdom in Africa – his confessor persuaded in him to return to Spain!
He settled in Granada and rented a house where he could care for the sick; this was the foundation of a new Order, the Brothers Hospitallers of St John of God. He was outstanding in his love for the sick and needy, and served them with great devotion. Ten years later he also became ill and died kneeling before the altar.
Many miracles were attributed to him and he was beatified by Urban VIII in 1630 and canonised by Alexander VIII in 1690. His order of charity to serve the sick was approved by Pope Pius V.
St John often exhorted his followers to ‘Labour without intermission, to do all the good works in your power, whilst time is allowed you’.
Our own ‘Thought for the Day’, perhaps?
St David: 1st March (d 601 or 589)
Contributor: Kim Insley
I was delighted to find myself choosing a saint for this week because I grew up in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and have visited St David’s Cathedral, the shrine of St David at St Davids (sic), Pembrokeshire (and probably the smallest city in the world) many times. Having grown up in Wales though I knew little about the life of Dewi (the actual Welsh name of the Saint, David is the nearest English equivalent) and, although at my Catholic Primary School we always sang ‘Oh great St David, still we hear thee call us’ on 1st March, that is all I can remember of the hymn. So I had to turn to the available books on the saints for help.
Unfortunately, like many of the saints, little is known of David. It appears that much that is written about him by an 11th century biographer and son of the Bishop Julian, Rhygyfarch, is the Welsh Church’s propaganda, in order to establish claim to the See of Wales, against Canterbury’s claim. The writings of his early life are thus myth, but we believe his mother was St Non and his father a monk or abbot. The Times book of Saints suggests his father is named Sant hence Dewi Sant, but this is ridiculous as Dewi Sant is the Welsh for Saint David! In Wales our primary school visits were to St Non’s (a village near St Davids) and we tossed coins into her well. The legend goes that she, as an unmarried mother, gave birth to him on a cold slab of stone. The unmarried part, and information of David’s father, fits in with our knowledge of the Early Celtic Christian Church as monks and nuns were known to cohabit and produce children for the priesthood and religious life. In his later life however, David was known to establish a monastery at Mynyw (but this is the Welsh for Monmouth) or Menevia, now called St Davids. Menevia is the name today for the Catholic Diocese in Wales. David further founded eleven other monasteries around the south of the Principality and further into England – Glastonbury being the most famous. His monks were renowned for NOT drinking alcohol of any kind – including wine – and their main form of penance was total immersion in cold water. Indeed, David was known as ‘Aquaticus’ or ‘the Waterman’.
David was supposedly pronounced Bishop in Jerusalem but we are not clear by whom or even if he visited the Holy City. He was recognised as a Bishop at a synod in Brefi (in Cardigan, Wales), in early Irish writing about the Saints and is known as ‘Abbot-bishop’ in the liturgy of Saints. At the Synod he spoke so well about harmony he was supposedly proclaimed Archbishop! Even his dates are not clear, and carbon dating shows that the bones buried in his shrine at St David’s Cathedral are too young to be his. But he has been revered for centuries by the Welsh and English, and was canonised by the Church in 1120. It doesn’t really matter about his title as Bishop or our lack of information on him, for God works in mysterious ways his will to perform, and belief in David’s sainthood has worked miracles, with his cult spreading south and east into England and Brittany, and west into Ireland.
David is often depicted with a dove – a symbol of the speech he made at that meeting of Churches and Bishops, but there is no clear reason as to why the Welsh wear a daffodil or leek on 1st March. However, although I am not Welsh, I shall be wearing my daffodil.
Kim Insley
Sources
- Times Book of the Saints
- Oxford Dictionary of Saints
- Penguin Dictionary of Saints
- Collins Gem - Saints
St Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr: Feast Day: 23 February
Contributor: Freda Brighton
We know of St Polycarp from his ‘Acts’ composed by the Church of Smyrna and abridged by Eusebius. The Acts form an authentic document of Christian antiquity.
St Polycarp embraced Christianity about the year 80 while he was still very young. He became a disciple of St John the Evangelist who later appointed him Bishop of Smyrna. Among his followers was St Irenaeus, who has recorded that his master knew St John and others who had seen Jesus.
From Eusebius, St Irenaeus and St Jerome we learn that in about the year 158, St Polycarp went to Rome to consult Pope Anicetus regarding the date of the Easter celebration as there was a difference between the East and West – it was agreed that each could follow their own custom.
In the fourth general persecution St Polycarp was arrested and brought before the proconsul. Because he refused to deny Christ, he was condemned to be burned in the city stadium.
The authors of the Acts tell us that they witnessed that the flames did not touch him but formed an arch over his head. Because of this, he was pierced by a sword; so much blood gushed forth that it extinguished the fire. His body was then burned, but his bones were collected by the Christians and are still preserved in the Church of San Ambrozia in Massina, Rome.
PRAYER
God of all creation, You led St Polycarp into the company of Martyrs. Through his intercession, we ask that as we share in Christ’s cup of suffering, we may some day rise to eternal life.
AMEN
BD Claud la Columbiere: Feast Day 15 February
Contributor: Jim Fillery
BD Claud was born at Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon near Lyon in 1642; his family were ‘well-connected, pious and in easy circumstances’. He was sent to study at the Jesuit College at Lyons, and though he had a strong aversion to the idea of religious vocation, he ‘conquered himself’. When he applied to be received into the Society he was at once accepted. He was physically strong, of a lively disposition, with high ideals and in every way wise and gracious.
He made his novitiate in Avignon. He taught from 1661 to 1666, and it was at the canonization of St Francis de Sales that his gifts for oratory were displayed – his sermon was pronounced magnificent. He was sent to Paris to finish his studies, and taught there until 1670 when he returned to Avignon. After being appointed festival preacher in Avignon, and at the age of 33, he consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart and he took a private vow to practice exact obedience to the Society of Jesus in addition to his regular vows. This inspiration – at the same age at which Our Lord died – made him record ‘it seems right, dear Lord, that I should begin to live in thee and for thee alone’.
In 1675 he was made Superior to the College of Paray-le-Monial, meeting St Margaret Mary Alacoque, who was experiencing extraordinary revelations of the Sacred Heart – her prayers for help were answered by Our Lord in the person of Fr Columbiere: ‘without feeling any pain … he opened out my heart and showed me its depths, good and bad.’
In 1677 he was sent to England as preacher to the Duchess of York, and his love of the Sacred Heart was his favourite subject. He converted many Protestants. He was caught up in the events surrounding the Royal succession and the ‘Popish Plots’ of Titus Oates. He was imprisoned for ‘exercising his ministry’, but through the intervention of Louis XIV was banished from England to France in 1679. He was now to live the life of an invalid. He stayed at Paray, by direct counsel of St Margaret Mary, where he set ‘a great example of great humility and perfect patience.’
He died on the evening of 15 February 1682, and it seems ‘that the next morning St Margaret Mary was supernaturally assured that his soul was in Heaven and needed no prayers’.
BD Claud was beatified in 1629.