Feast of the Venerable St. Bede, May 26.

St. Bede writing in a scriptorium, and the shrine of St. Bede.

Bede entered into the monastery of Monkwearmouth, Northumbria as a young boy. He was educated from early on in the Benedictine, monastic tradition by the Abbot Benedict Biscop, so called for his patronage of the rule and lifestyle of St. Benedict, and later by Abbot Ceolfrith. He narrowly escaped death with Ceolfrith, as the only literate survivors of a plague that killed monks at his monastery in the late 7th century. Bede was ordained in A.D. 703 at age 30, as was the tradition (therefore he was born in 673). Bede is best known for his many written works, many of which are the soul sources for their time that have survived until now. His Lives of the Abbots follows the works of the abbots of Monkwearmouth, namely Benedict and Ceolfrith. He also wrote the Vita Sancti Cuthberti, which is a biography of St. Cuthbert and reveals much about the growing Northumbrian cult. The best known work is the Historia Ecclesiatica Gentis Anglorum, or the Ecclesiastical History of the English Peoples, which covers the geography of the island, and traces Christianity in Britain through St. Columba, St. Ninian and the Scottish and Welsh Churches, and the history of the Church among the Anglo-Saxons going all the way back to St. Augustine and Pope Gregory. Bede best covers the Anglo-Saxon Church, recounting the lives of many saints including St. Etheldreda, St. Chad, St. Hilda, St. Wilfrid, St. Theodore, St. Cuthbert, St. Aidan, St. Oswald and many others, as well as ecclesiastical events such as the synods of Hertford, and Whitby. He was so devoted to his writing and to his other monastic duties that he died singing the 'Gloria Patri.' His relics were enshrined at Jarrow, where he died, but later taken to Durham, where they lie still in the Galilee chapel. Bede is venerated as one of the great lights of the ancient Church of England, St. Boniface himself said "The candle of the Church, lit by the Holy Spirit, was extinguished."

Heavenly Father, who dist call thy servant Bede, while still a child, to devote his life to thy service in the disciplines of religion and scholarship; Grant that as he labored in the Spirit to bring riches of thy truth to his generations, so we, in our various vocations, may strive to make thee known in all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Sources...Oxford Dictionary of Saints, and 1979 BCP

Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury, first Archbishop of Canterbury, May 26.

Icon from Canterbury Cathedral with Pope Gregory presenting the pall to St. Augustine. And the 11th century Chair of St. Augustine, the throne of the Archbishops of Canterbury behind the high altar of the cathedral.

St. Augustine is best remembered as one of the Fathers of the Anglican Church as the founder of the Archbishopric of Canterbury. Although there were many other bishops in Britain, Augustine would be the first among the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine was originality the prior of St. Andrew's Abbey in Rome and a close friend of Pope Gregory the Great. At one time before Gregory had been elected to the papacy, he was in a Roman slave market where he encountered three Angle slaves from Britain. Noting that the slaves were pagans, Gregory would later send St. Augustine to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons. In 596 Augustine left Rome, arriving in Kent in 597. He went first to the King of Kent, Ethelbert and his wife, Bertha who was already a christian, baptized at Paris. Ethelbert was impressed with Augustine, but still took 3 years to decide weather or not to accept the Christian faith. Finally in 601, Ethelbert was baptized and allowed for many of his subjects to also be baptized. Augustine sent for more priests and monks from Rome, and built the first Cathedral at Canterbury. In the following few years he would establish St. Augustine's Abbey, outside the Canterbury city walls, an abbey at Reculver, and the dioceses of Rochester and London. Due to Ethelbert's overlordship of southern England and the strong and fast-growing presence of the archbishopric in Canterbury and the other bishoprics, Christianity never lapsed in that area and the city would be used as a base for all of the future missions to convert the Anglo-Saxons of neighboring kingdoms in the following century. Augustine died in 604 at the end of a short bu successful episcopate. His relics were the most prized of the many saints whose bones lay in the abbey of St. Augustine outside of Canterbury. As the apostle to the Anglo-Saxons, Augustine is rightly considered the 'church father' of all Anglicans, and is still widely venerated in all provinces of the Anglican Communion. It is right, as Anglicans that we thank God for giving Augustine the strength and perseverance to bring the faith to the English.

Holy God, who sent forth thy servant Augustine as the first Archbishop of Canterbury to bring the Gospels of thy Son Jesus Christ to the English people: strengthen all the bishops of our own time, to remember their holy gifts, and strengthen the Holy Church which has sprung from the chair of Augustine to righteously extend the same Gospels to all the world. Amen.

Feast of St. William of Rochester (Perth), May 23.

Stained glass from Rochester Cathedral depicting St. William as a pilgrim.

William grew up in Perth, Scotland in the 12th century. A pious man, he attended masses daily and as a fisherman and a baker and gave much of what he produced and earned to the poor of Perth. He was additionally involved in helping orphans, adopting the boy, David, as his son, and saving an infant, who had left at the door of a church, from the cold. In 1201 he set out from Scotland with his adopted son, David, to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, taking with him enough for he and his companion to survive and the rest to give to the poor along the way. But while in Rochester, David turned on him and murdered him for what little he had. A madwomen later found his body and adorned it with flowers and herbs, and who upon touching the body was healed of her madness. The monks of Rochester later brought the body to the Cathedral where it would attract pilgrims by the thousands until the Reformation. William was venerated for his charity, piety, pilgrimage, and martyrdom, and is typically depicted as a pilgrim with the scallop shell. His tomb survives Rochester and he has been re-incorporated into the chain of saints associated with Rochester.

Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer, May 15

Iglesia San Isidro el Real en Madrid

St. Isidore was born in Madrid in around 1070. Known for his piety, he was constantly attending masses at his local parish church in Madrid and late to work in the fields because of his deep and persistent prayer. It was often said that as he ploughed there were angels accompanying him on either side so that his work equaled that of three men. Upon the ground where he farmed the crops grew with ease and water welled up from the ground upon his command. His wife, St. Maria Torriba, was also known for miracles involving water, which would have been especially precious in the semi-arid landscape that surrounds Madrid. St. Isidore is a patron saint of farmers and of the city of Madrid as his relics are enshrined within the Church of San Isidro el Real. Both he and his wife were invoked in times of famine or drought.

Lady Julian of Norwich, 8 May... "All shall be well"

Little is known of the Lady Julian. But she was about 30 in 1373 when she experience a series of 16 visions all portraying a theme of Divine Love. Soon after her visions, she was miraculously healed of the deathly illness for which a priest had delivered last rites to her just a few days before. She later attached herself to the parish church of St. Julian of Le Mans in Norwich (where she gets her name) as an anchoress where she spent the rest of her live blessing pilgrims and writing her account and interpretation of the visions called The Revelations of Divine Love. Julian is notable for her book because of the low literacy rate and her stance on the theology of Divine Love as a women. Today the Church of St. Julian of Le Mans in Norwich is the site of the restored Anglican shrine of the Lady Julian, where her cell has been rebuilt as a chapel for modern day pilgrims. The Lady Julian in demonstrates, to the Anglican Church, the Divine Love that was and is extended to all people through the Passion. The persistence of the Lady Julian to show to us the intensity of Jesus' love sets the example for Anglican Church to be inspired by the love of Christ demonstrated in his sacrifice and to proclaim that love to all in the world who need it.

Some Quotes from Revelations of Divine Love...

"I desired in many ways to know what was our Lord's meaning. And fifteen years after and more, I was answered in spiritual understanding, and it was said: What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in this thing? Know it well, love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For love. Remain in this, and you will know more of the same. But you will never know different, without end."


"There were times when I wanted to lookaway from the Cross, but I dared not. For I knew that while I gazed on the Cross I was safe and sound, and I was not willingly going to imperil my soul."


"It behoved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Website for the Shrine of the Lady Julian. 

http://www.julianofnorwich.org/

Feast of the Annunciation, March 25

The Annunciation, by me, Max Woolley. The iPod replaces the more traditional book which Mary holds for a modern twist.

The Feast of the Annunciation celebrates the visitation of the Angel Gabriel to tell the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would bear the son of God and was to name him Jesus, meaning Savior. The feast is celebrated exactly nine months before Christmas illustrating the perfection of Christ even in birth. It was St. Luke the Evangelist who after the Resurrection and Pentecost interviewed Mary and recorded the Annunciation, the Nativity and the birth of John the Baptist in his Gospel. The Angelus,which goes over the Annunciation as a prayer is as follows:

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the power of Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to your Word.

Hail Mary...

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary...

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

And my favorite Annunciation hymn. Medieval Basque tune and words.

The angel Gabriel from Heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
“All hail,” said he, “thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

“For know a blessèd mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said,
“My soul shall laud and magnify His holy Name.”
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say—
“Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQIomtXXkc 

Restored Shrine of St. David of Wales

Here are the pictures from the dedication of the Shrine of St. David in his Welsh Cathedral. The procession began at the city cross, where the bishop blessed the City of St. Davids. The procession then moved to the Cathedral where a choral Eucharist was celebrated and the Shrine was dedicated. Celebrations continued for the next 5 days with shrine prayers and choral Eucharists everyday. The Cathedral also celebrated the feast of St. Non, St. David's mother, on Sunday, March 3.

Below is a link to the diocesan website with more pictures of the Shrine and celebrations, and the sermon delivered by the Canon Chancellor and Guardian of the Shrine, Dr. Patrick Thomas on St. Non's Day.
http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/david/std_english.php

The Pope of Alexandria, Shenouda III, died on Saturday.

Patriarch of Egypt and All Africa since 1971, Shenouda has lead the Coptic Church for 4 decades. He supported his people, about 10% of the population in Egypt, through several periods of sectarian violence, the latest being the burning of Coptic churches and military attacks on Coptic protesters. Shenouda died at age 88 on Saturday, March 17, and hundreds of Christians gathered in and around the Cathedral of St. Mark in Alexandria to mourn his death.

St. Cuthbert; 20 March

 Painting of St. Cuthbert found in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral.

The new "St. Cuthbert's Banner" to be dedicated this Tuesday.

St. Cuthbert is certainly one of Britain's greatest bishops. The stories of humility, love and compassion that he shared with his community, along with the many centuries of devotion paid to him after his death mark him both as one of the most loving and most loved leaders of English Christianity. Love is a reflexive act; the compassion, and trust shown of him by the Northern community is equally important to the care that he held for the people of his bishopric in the 7th century. His cult has survived war and peace; the Viking invasions beginning in 793, the danish invasions of the 10th century, the Norman Invasion, and it has even survived the impious destruction during the Reformation. His bones still lie at Durham where, on Tuesday, a restored Banner of St. Cuthbert, the latest addition to the treasures of his tomb, will be dedicated.
Cuthbert was born in 634, near Melrose. He was a shepherd until he saw a vision as a boy. It is one of the early chapters in the Vita Sancti Cuthberti by the Venerable Bede that is dedicated to this vision called Quomondo cum pastoribus positius animam Sancti Aidiani Episcopi ad coelum ab angelis ferri aspexerit (literally, how while he was posted with the shepherds, he witnessed the soul of the Holy Bishop Aidan being carried to heaven by angels). This is what prompted him to enter into the monastery of Melrose at an early age. Cuthbert did well as a monk in the eyes of the abbot, Boisil. He came to accept the Roman customs after the Synod of Whitby and was made prior of Melrose. When his new abbot, Eata, went to Lindisfarne, Cuthbert followed and became prior of Lindisfarne where he pursued missionary work in Northumberland and southern Scotland.  In 676 he decided to take monastic life a step further and live as a hermit on the Farne islands of the Northumbrian coast. there he remained for 9 years, living on a simple diet of onions and fish. He built himself an oratory and practiced the Celtic rite of saying the psalms in the cold sea water. It is recorded that when he came out from the water, the otters dried his feet and the birds brought him fish out of their own admiration. And while on the island he would bless those who came to seek his comfort.
In 685 Cuthbert was appointed the Bishop of Hexham, (which he swapped for Lindisfarne) by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus. He left the Farne and returned to his missionary work in the bishopric. During his short episcopate, he traveled through his diocese on foot, ministering to the poor and performing miracles. He brought many into the protection of the Church and has there after been called the "Fire of the North."
His humility, his sanctity, and his high love for his people make him a model bishop. He died on 20 March, 687 on the Farne islands, where he returned after he predicted his death two months before. He was buried in the church at Lindisfarne, and when the Vikings attacked in 793, the monks carried his body from the island, and embarked on a 200-year journey that brought them to Durham in 995. There they laid his body in the tomb where it rests today, still retaining the head of St. Oswald, vestments presented by King Ecgfrith, and his own pectoral cross and portable altar. He was the most popular saint in Northern England, and his shrine attracted pilgrims from all over the British isles, and continues to do so.
Hopefully the Anglican Church, and all Churches will continue to honor St. Cuthbert as the apostle of Christ in England, and a forbearer of Christ's love in the same land. The bishops of today's Church have the job of preserving the faith that Cuthbert broought to the people of Northumbria, and extending the love of Christ that he extended to his people. It is essential that the Church holds on to the traditions, to the image of Christ and his love in people, and the images and relics of those who spread his love, so that we never forget what our duty is: to spread the words of love of Christ. The "Fire in the North" can spread to set the whole world ablaze with the light of Christ.

St. Cuthbert's pectoral cross, found among the treasures of his tomb.

St. Chad of Lichfield, March 2

March 2nd was the feast day of the early English bishop Chad. Chad or Cedda lived in the seventh century before the middle angles of the Mercian kingdom had been converted. He was a student of St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, who has appeared in this blog so many times, and traveled to Ireland as a monk before returning, with Egbert, Finan, and Colman, to convert the Mercians. Practicing the Celtic version of monasticism, he lived a life with the people while strictly keeping to the rules of prayer and discipline. Bede is very careful to note his devotion repeatedly. While in Ireland his brother, Cedd founded the monastery of Lastingham in Northumbria under King Oswiu. The abbey was a success and Chad took over as abbot at his brother's death.
The Synod of Whitby in 663-664 had caused Northumbria's Celtic bishops to return into Scotland, leaving the North without episcopal oversight. After Tuda, Wilfrid, one of the supporters for the Roman Customs in the Synod, was appointed as bishop, but went to France to seek consecration because of a shortage of bishops in Britain and did not return for 2 years. Chad in the mean time was appointed bishop because it seemed that Wilfrid was going to stay in Gaul. But he returned and at this time Theodoric of Tarsus had been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by the Patriarch of Rome. Theodoric traveled to Northumbria quickly to settle the dispute between Wilfrid and his new Roman rites and observances and the Celtic, more orthodox ways of Chad and Oswiu. Chad was ordered to step down, which he did, but soon after, the king of a still pagan Mercia, Wulfhere asked for a bishop and Chad was appointed. He established his episcopal seat in Lichfield where he built a monastery dedicated to St. Mary. He spent the rest of his life establishing monasteries and churches all over Mercia until his death on 2 March 672. Chad was venerated as a saint immediately following his death, and a cult centered in Lichfield flourished through the Middle Ages.  The Cathedral at Lichfield marks his shrine with an Icon and continues to remember his feast.

Feast of St. David of Wales; 1 March

This print refers to one of David's miracles. When he was preaching to a crowd who could not hear him, the earth underneath his rose up into a hill and a dove landed on his shoulder...a sign of the Holy Spirit

Saint David is one of the greatest and best remembered bishops in Wales. Living in the sixth century he preached all over Wales and southern England (which at that time was heavily Welsh also) establishing many churches and monasteries. It is claimed that he founded the monastery of Glastonbury by his 11th century biographer, Rhygyfarch. But he certainly founded  a monastery at St. Davids in Pembrokeshire, Wales, choosing a patch of earth that was sunken among the coastal hills in order to hide any church buildings from raiders. Even as an abbot and a bishop, David lived an austere lifestyle in prayer, diet and general modesty, without the seclusion that other ascetetics. Instead of hermitage, a common Christian Celtic practice,  David emphasized the importance of the community. He made a pilgrimage to both Rome and Jerusalem and was made an archbishop by patriarch (pope) of Jerusalem (this is the basis for the claims of later medieval bishops of St. Davids that they should have archiepiscopal status, when Canterbury's power was extended over Wales after the Norman invasion). David held great influence in the Celtic church in Wales and abroad, a renowned scholar for his travels and elevation as archbishop, David also called together many synods to keep tight order within the church. He was always among the people, disregarding rank or any social or civil status, which was probably one of the main reasons for his popularity and veneration as a saint immediately following his death. The exact year of his death is disputed, traditionally believed to be in 589, though we do know that he died on march first, leaving his people with words “Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will wall the path that our fathers have trod before us.” Just this past March 1^st , St. David’s Cathedral in Wales dedicated his restored shrine, moving his relics from the trinity chapel, where they were discovered about a century ago, to the redecorated medieval shrine in the chancel. Celebrations are continuing until March 5^th with daily prayers at the shrine, Choral Eucharist’s and medieval monastic chants. The rebuilding of his shrine is a big step in restoring devotion to saints in the Anglican Church as a diocesan objective, where his tomb will become once again the greatest center of pilgrimage in Wales. Hopefully, other churches and cathedrals will follow in the footsteps of the people of St. David’s in retaining an important and beautiful piece of the Anglican tradition.

St. Blaise's Day; 3 February

 St. Blaise's day, Procession of his relics in Dubrovnik 

St. Blaise healing the choking boy with candles

St. Blase was the bishop of Sebastea in Armenia, now Turkey, who died a martyr in 316. Blaise was born into a wealthy family and was consecrated bishop a ta young age. Not long after his consecration, Christian persecutions reached Armenia, and Blaise was forced into the mountains with many other Christians to escape death. Little is known of him, apart from his eighth century Vita. He was known to Christians to have healed humans and animals alike; the most remembered cure being his healing of a boy with a fish-bone caught in his throat. After being healed, the boy often brought food and candles to the cave where Blaise was hiding and later to the jail where he would be held captive. This is why he is invoked against any kind of throat illnesses, and on St. Blaise's day, it is not uncommon for churches to bless peoples throats with two crossed candles. In 316, Blaise was captured by the Roman governor, recognized as a Christian bishop, and sentenced to death. Blaise was tortured with wool-combs before being beheaded, which is why he was patronized by the English wool industry. He is venerated as a Saint in the Anglican, Orthodox, Armenian, and Roman churches. Canterbury claimed relics in the Middle Ages, as well as St. Blaise Cathedral in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Candlemass; 2 Feburay, also the Presentation and Purification of the B.V.M.

Candlemass at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, NYC

Candlemass is a double feast and ranks with the Transfiguration and Ascension as a feast day. The feast celebrates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after we celebrate his birth. The tradition of blessing candles developed in the Middle Ages. and collects for the blessing can be found in such sources as the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold,a missal-like, tenth century book from Winchester. The Presentation celebrates when Mary and Joseph went to the Temple to have a common ritual in which Mary was purified after childbirth, and Jesus was subjected to the redemption of the first born, performed for them. Some Orthodox Jews still perform a similar ceremony, as it was a widespread tradition in Roman Judea. There were two special witnesses to the Presentation, one called Simeon, who had heard that he would not die until he saw the messiah, and the other Anna, a prophetess. Both spoke to the people in the Temple upon seeing Jesus on how he would bring about the redemption of Israel.
Candlemass, as it came to be called from the tradition of blessing beeswax candles, is the direct ancestor of what we call Groundhog day. Candlemass was a day for determining the weather for the coming months in several countries. Several Medieval poems link the patterns of the actual day of Candlemass to the coming weeks. According to this English poem;
"If Candlemass be fair and bright, 

Come, Winter, have another flight; 

If Candlemass brings clouds and rain, 

Go Winter, and come not again."

The situation is the same as Groundhog Day, being that if the day is sunny (so that the groundhog sees his shadow) then winter is not over, but if it is cloudy (so that he does not see his shadow) then spring is soon to come. 

January 30; Feast of St. Charles, King and Martyr

 Charles is often depicted praying for the Church, casting away his crown for a crown of thorns.

 The church calendar from a Book of Common Prayer

One of the 5 Churches in England dedicated to Charles (Suffolk)

Charles was born in 1600, son of King James VII of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. He became Prince of Wales in 1603 at the Union of the Crowns when James became James I of England also. It was during James's rein that the Church of England began to re-establish high-church elements within the Anglican tradition. But at the same time a low-church faction within the church, known as the Puritans. Succeeding Archbishops of Canterbury and other Church of England bishops re-emphasized liturgical ceremonies and the decorating of churches with religious iconography. Puritans however were opposed to any sort of decoration and even called for the re-organisation of the church hierarchy through dismissing the historic episcopate. Charles succeeded to the throne in 1625 and later appointed William Laud, previously a bishop of St. Davids, Wells and London, to the see of Canterbury. Laud had a reputation as a firm supporter of Arminianism, the high-church argument the Church, and as an opponent to Calvinism. Laud and Charles carried out a number of reforms in the church based on high-church traditions. Both men with much of England's support battled against Puritans and Presbyterians, insisting upon episcopacy, and the following of the Book of Common Prayer, which called for a high-church liturgy. Puritan vs. Royalist debate turned into civil war in 1642 and when it came to an end, King Charles was condemned by a puritan parliament. He was offered his life, and even his throne if he would consent to the destruction of the historic episcopate but refused. Destroying the Episcopate would have made the Church of England into a sect, rather than a part of apostolic succession and of Christ's Church. On January 30, 1649 Charles was beheaded, and since recognized as a martyr as he died for the survival of the Church of England, canonized, and added to the Book of Common Prayer as a major feast after the restoration. His cult has survived since his death, known as the Society of King Charles the Martyr.

Feast, January 12; St Aelred of Rievaulx

Aelred was born the son of a priest in 1110, in the Northumbrian town of Hexham. He was for a while a high-ranking official in the court of King David I of Scotland. David endorsed several monasteries in Scotland during his reign and is himself a saint. Aelred left Scotland in 1134 to join the Cistercian foundation at Rievaulx in northern Yorkshire. Rievaulx was one of the greatest Cistercian abbeys in England with many acres of farmland, used mainly for sheep, and several hundred brothers and lay brothers. Aelred went to Revesby Abbey in licolnshire to be abbot until 1147 when he was invited back to Rievaulx to be Abbot there. He is known for the many book he wrote, including several Lives of Saints. He wrote on the cult and life of St. Ninian, a Life of St. Edward the Confessor (his most famous), and of the Saints of the Church at Hexham. He is known both as a historian and a spiritual writer. St. Aelred died on 12 January 1167 and was buried in the chapter house of Rievaulx Abbey, from which he was later exhumed an enshrined in the church. He was never formally canonized as it was not really a custom at the time (as it is in the Orthodox churches) but was known in England and to many Cistercian communities as a saint.

November 17; St. Hugh of Lincoln

Icon of St. Hugh in Lincoln Cathedral with the swan that was known to follow him around.

St. Hugh was born at Avalon, France around 1140. A son of the Lord of Avalon, Hugh entered a Carthusian abbey at an early age. He made his way up in the order, eventually becoming a priest and the procurator of the Grand Chartreuse, the mother house of the order. In 1179, Hugh traveled to Dorset to fill the post as Prior of the first Carthusian House in England. Upon arriving at the newly chartered abbey in Witham, he found the land given by the king, Henry II unimproved. Hugh worked to get the Henry II to support the establishment. His relationship with Henry caused him to unveil problems with the English church. Henry had been keeping diocese vacant to draw the diosesan income into the royal treasuries. Hugh pushed for reform and Henry agreed to let elections proceed to fill the vacant sees. In 1186 the chapter of Lincoln Cathedral twice elected Hugh to be Bishop. After his consecration in Westminster he quickly established his own power separate from the king. Hugh was know n to be charitable to all in his diocese of which he kept constant supervision. He raised the standard of education at his own cathedral and protected the Jews from persecution. He rebuilt Lincoln Cathedral in the gothic style. He died in 1200 and was buried in the cathedral. he was canonized only 20 years later.

October 28, Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude

Le Martyre de Saint Simon et Saint Jude. French medieval illumination.

Jude, or Jude Thaddeus, was one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus. His mother, Mary, is known as as a sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the Pentecost, Jude brought the gospel to the Armenians along with St. Bartholomew after preaching in Judea and Syria. Simon, to be distinguished from Simon-Peter, but also one of the twelve, evangelized in Egypt and in other parts of northern and eastern Africa, where he became known to the Berbers. He then made his way back to Judea and into Syria. In A.D. 65 both St. Simon and St. Jude were martyred in the roman city of Beirut.

October 17; Feast of St. Etheldreda, Abbes of Ely

Stained Glass of Etheldreda holding her church at Ely

St. Etheldreda was born around the Fenlands in of Mercia and East Anglia in 636. She married King Tondberct of the Fens early on but remained chaste. He presented Etheldreda with the Isle of Ely, to which she retired after hi death. She was, however, remarried to Ecgfrith, King of the Northumbrians but soon ran away to become a nun. Ecgfrith was not going to let her get away, so he pursued her. But when Etheldreda heard of his intent, she quickly fled back to the Isle of Ely where she established a double monastery. When King Ecgfrith finally arrived the sea became rough and a storm came off the North Sea so that he was unable to cross to the isle. Etheldreda was left in peace and continued to expand an build up the Monastery at Ely. When she died she was remembered as a holy person, and she was buried in a white marble tomb. Ely Cathedral became a great center of pilgrimage in the middle ages as hundreds flocked to her shrine. She still lies in Ely although the shrine was destroyed and Ely Cathedral remains a holy place for this purpose.

October 15; St. Teresa of Avila

Bernini's St. Teresa in Ecstasy

St. Teresa was a Carmelite nun born in 1515 outside the Castilian city of Avila. Her Grandfather was a Jew making her family converts. As a child Teresa was inspired by the faith of the saints particularly martyrs and at age seven, trying to escape to the Moorish lands, was eager to display the same faith along with her older brother. She quickly returned to Avila, however, and became a nun in a Carmelite convent. There she came down with an illness which increased her faith and she became penitent. What followed was a series of visions culminating in an appearance of Christ him self. She recorded the experience writing,
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it..."

Teresa spent much of the rest of her life writing several books on theological subjects, including prayer, aestheticism, mysticism, and the soul, all in reaction to her visions. She also introduced reforms on the Carmelite Order, establishing the Order of the Displaced Carmelites in several convents around Castile. She died on October 15, 1582, was canonized in1622 by Gregory XV, and was later made a Doctor of the Church. She is revered as a Saint in both the Roman and Anglican Churches. 

October 13th; Feast of St. Edward the Confessor

Medieval manuscript showing pilgrims at St. Edward's shrine.

St. Edward lived from about 1005 to 1066 and was the last great Saxon King. He was the son of Ethelred Unread and Emma of Normandy distantly relating him to Duke William of Normandy. Growing up in the disruption of his father's turbulent reign and enduring the last stretch of viking attacks with the occupation by King Canute of Denmark, Edward grew up to be very faithful in belief and in his actions as king. He endowed and rebuilt an abbey at what was then called Thorny Island and called the church the "West Minster" because it was west of London. There are several miracles associated with Edward, the most famous being that he came across a beggar out side a church dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, Edward presented his ring to him after he asked for alms. Yet  later the ring was presented back to some pilgrims traveling in the Holy Land by a man claiming to be St. John. The man asked them to return the ring to Edward and to tell him that they would be meeting in 6-months time. Edward died 6 months later on January 5, 1066. He was buried in his church at Westminster where his relics remain enshrined the medieval tomb.

October 12th, Feast of St. Wilfrid of York

Stained glass in Chichester Cathedral, depicting St. Wilfrid

St. Wilfrid was born in the kingdom of Northumbria in 633. After becoming a monk at Lindisfarne, he traveled around studying in different ecclesiastical centers in England and the continent. He returned to Northumbria establishing  a monastery Ripon, now a Cathedral, and argued for the Roman rites and calculations of Easter at the controversial Synod of Whitby causing much distress among the Celtic Church which had been taken on in the north of the Kingdom and accepted by the royal family. Eventually the roman side won, and many of the Celtic monks at Lindisfarne returned to Iona from whence they had been called by King Oswald. Wilfrid was rewarded for his argument at the synod and appointed to the episcopal see of York. As the premier bishop of Northumbria he had jurisdiction over the other northern bishoprics. Wilfrid left to be consecrated in Gaul but did not return for several years and as a result St. Cedda of Lichfield was installed as the Bishop. He was more concerned about the state of the diocese, but when Wilfrid returned Cedda was deposed and returned to be bishop of Lichfield. Be for Wilfrid's death in 709, he established another monastery at Hexham, which became a bishopric under the supervision of St. Theodore of Canterbury. The holiness of Wilfrid is often disputed, many think that his argument during the Synod of Whitby was not genuine; that his reason for canceling the rites of the Celtic Church was really an impetus for power, which he later revived as Bishop of York. Even as Bishop, however, Wilfrid seemed to neglect his diocese and recognize it only as a title.

Feast, September 19; Theodore of Tarsus

St. Theodore of Canterbury.

St. Theodore, also known as Theodoric of Canterbury, was born an Asiatic Greek in 602. He studied as a scholar for part of his life in Athens and was known well in the church even though he was only a sub-deacon.
After meeting with the patriarch Vitalian in Rome he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Upon his arrival in 669 he made a whole tour of Anglo-Saxon England, after which he called together the synod of Hertford, one of the most important synods in English Church History. In this council the Church approved of particular reforms that applied to the division of diocese, the power of diocesan bishops, and the governing of the monastic settlements. Theodore greatly rearranged the Saxon church at this time adding, dividing, and defining diocese. He participated several other synods, including the controversial synod at Whitby. He established many monastic foundations and ecclisiastical schools, and died on 19 September, 690.

Feast, September 16; St. Ninian

     Pilgrim's cross, carved into rock inside St. Ninian's Cave.

Ninian often went there to pray alone in retreat.

   
     Saint Ninian, Known as the first apostle to the Picts, was born in the 360s in the Galloway area, just north of Hadrian's wall, and therefore outside of Roman jurisdiction. he was born the son of a minor British king, but devoted his time to reading and studying the scriptures, consistently educating himself. Christ's choosing of Peter as the "rock I will build my church" upon particularly grasped Ninian. and in an effort to continue his education he set out across Britain and Gaul where he came to Rome. There he pursued his education with the pope Damasus.
     But Damasus's successor to the papacy, Siricus after learning that Scotland had not yet been exposed to the gospel, consecrated Ninian, sending him to be their missionary and bishop. On his way back, Ninian stopped once again in Gaul where he met St. Martin of Tours. As he reached his missionary diocese he began building Scotland first stone church at Whithern. And upon the news of St. Martin's death, Ninian dedicated it in honor of Tours' great bishop. The Church was made of white stone and would be known as the Candida Casa or Whitehouse for centuries to come. Whitehouse came to be the center of ecclesiastical training for Scotland, northern England, and Ninian missions in Ireland, and remained so for a few centuries. But it's importance dwindled as missions in Ireland and Scotland came after Ninian. Ninian is attributed for the conversion of the southern Picts, Scotland's Britons, and some of Irish. He set up dioceses, establishing monasteries and churches and turned Whithern into a great center of Christian learning. Ninian died in the fifth century, and his relics were kept enshrined in the Candida Casa at Whithern until the reformation, when cathedrals were pulled down and art destroyed by Christian pretenders. His cult has been restored in the Anglican Communion and many contemporary churches have been dedicated to him.

References from St. Columba and Iona, the Early History of the Christian Church in Scotland, by Alphons Bellesheim.

Feast, September 14; Holy Cross Day

The feast of the Holy Cross is the designated day for the veneration of the True Cross. This feast was actually started because the consecration of the Emperor Constantine's great Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection (more widely known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) took place on this day in the year 335. The church is built over what is believed to be the Hill of Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher. Both of which were uncovered when St. Helen, the mother of Constantine, lead an excavation in Jerusalem and also found large fragment of the True Cross. Above is the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the dome  houses the garden tomb and high altar.

Feast, September 13; Cyprian of Carthage

St. Cyprian of Carthage.

St. Cyprian was born in Carthage around the year 200. In his early life he was a known aristocrat, and taught rhetoric until 245 when he converted to Christianity. Just two years later he was elected as the bishop of Carthage writing several treatises, books while continuing to preach the gospel. Some of his subjects included the Lord's Prayer where he says that we say 'Hallowed be thy Name' because we desire that his name be made holy within us and that we may continue what we have been made through baptism (Lesser Feasts and Fasts). He also wrote on the importance of episcopacy, and many of his works survive. He went into hiding during the persecutions under the Emperor Decius, but continued to rule his church in secret. It was during the second persecution that he endured, when he was captured in Carthage an put to death on September 14th, 258.

September 8th; Feasts of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Ethelburga of Kent

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated on this day since Pope Sergius I introduced it to the calendar in the 7th century. Daughter to Sts. Anne and Jochim, Mary birth was an omen of the coming of Christ, though no one knew it at the time. All that is written of it is strictly apocryphal, but it was told by one of the 12 disciples - possibly St. James the Greater.

 Birth of the Virgin Mary.

St. Mary and St. Ethelburga's church at Lyminge.

St. Ethelburga, who's feast is also celebrated today, was the daughter of the converted Christian king, St. Ethelbert of Kent. She originally was married to St. Edwin, King of Northumbria, but after his death resulting from the Mercian pagan attacks she fled with Paulinus, Archbishop of York, back to Kent. She then founded a convent at Lyminge, where she, as abbes, dedicated the rest of her life to the work of the Lord. Her relics were venerated until the dissolution of the monasteries in Canterbury.

Feast, September 3rd; Gregory the Great

St. Gregory blessing St. Ethelbert, King of Kent.

(He is often depicted with the dove and the book)

Gregory was born in Rome in the 540s, and his first career was actually the prefect of Rome in573, after-which he took vows and became a monk. He worked for Pope Pelagius, and it was during this time that he came across some slaves in the markets at Marseilles and was told they were angles from Britain, and were not Christians. He bought the slaves, hoping to lead a mission their himself. Instead he was elected pope, succeeding Pelagius to the papacy in the year 590. Soon after he became pope, however, he sent Augustine, a monk of his own monastery, other monks, and the freed Angle slaves, to convert the Anglo-Saxons invading Christian Britain. In doing this Christianity would be restored to what is now England. Bede credits St. Gregory as he does Augustine as an Apostle to the English.

August 31, St. Aidan of Lindisfarne

Statue of St. Aidan on Holy Island

The southern part of the kingdom of Northumbria in what is now northern England had been converted by 627 when Paulinus established a bishopric at York, but by 632 the Mercians had taken over and restored paganism under King Penda. When King Oswald of Northumbria came out of exile later on he decided to bring back a mission to his kingdom. So, as Oswald had spent his exile with the Celtic Christians of Iona, St. Aidan, a monk of Iona was sent to spread the gospel to the Northumbrians. He was consecrated bishop and established an Abbey-church at Lindisfarne or Holy Island to serve as the seat of his episcopal see. He spent much time evangelizing on foot to all people he came across and was revered as wise and holy. The Venerable Bede wrote "He neither sought nor lovedanything of this world, but delighted in distributing immediately to the poor whatever was given to him by kings or rich men of the world". In 651 Aidan died at Bamburgh, two miles south of Holy Island, and is credited for converting the peoples of Northumbria and even down into Mercia. His relics were taken with Cuthbert's and Oswald's* to Chester-Le-Street and then to Durham, where they now rest in St. Cuthbert's tomb. The establishment of Durham Cathedral is descended from Aidan's foundation at Lindisfarne.

Adirondack Churches

 Church of the Transfiguration, Blue Mountain Lake

 West window, Blue Mountain Lake

 Nave window, Blue Mountain Lake

 Nave, St. Luke's Saranac

 Nave window with loon, Saranac

 South transept window, St. Eustace, Lake Placid 

(with St. Eustace, stag, and ADK landscape)

 Chapel crucifix, Lake Placid

All Soul's Chapel, St Hubert's

As I spent a couple weeks in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York this summer, I visited Episcopal churches and missions in the west-central wilderness area and in the area around Lake Placid and Saranac. Many of them in reflection of their isolated and wild locality displayed characteristics in architecture and scenery associated with the Adirondacks. One, in Blue Mountain Lake, was built of logs and was complete with stained glass windows featuring lily pads, loon and beavers. As I continued viewing more churches I noticed that many of the stained glass windows continued to depict the sweeping Adirondack landscape which, in some cases, was tied in with the more usual ecclesiastical subjects. Often the Virgin Mary could be seen on a green mountainside with a view of a land covered in green hills, lakes and pine trees; I could not help remembering some dutch Altarpieces depicting the crucifixion and behind a landscape complete with Gothic Cathedrals, pinnicled castles, and an assortment of Flemish looking cities. This is similar but with Adirondack elements.

Feast, 5 August; Oswald of Northumbria

Oswald was the King of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria in the early seventh century. Convinced that Christianity was the true faith he called to the great abbey at Iona in the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada for an Apostle to come and preach the gospel to the Northumbrians. The first monk to come from Iona was unsuccessful with his manner of teaching to produce any new followers. So Oswald sent for another monk called Aidan, who established an Abbey at Lindisfarne, a few miles north of Oswald's residence at Bamburgh, from which he was successful in several missions to convert the locals. Here Aidan became bishop, and a close friend of Oswald's. At one point, after Oswald had given the food from his own table to the poor who waited outside the royal fortress, Aidan said to him that his hands were blessed and would not perish. The hands were preserved in a reliquary for hundreds of years, fulfiling the prophecy by remaining in-corrupted. Finally in 642 in the battle of Maserfield, between the Christian Northumbrians and the Pagan Mercians lead by the King Penda, Oswald was slain while praying for the souls of his soldiers. Afterward they laid his body (which had been mutilated by the pagans) in a nearby Church, where it was said to give off light in the night's darkness. His head was later buried with the body of St. Cuthbert where it remains in the tomb of that Saint at Durham Cathedral. Above is Cuthbert with the head of St. Oswald.

Feast, July 31; Germanus of Auxerre

Saint Germanus or Germain d'Auxerre was the Gaulish bishop of Auxerre in the late fourth to early fifth centuries. After serving for a while as the Bishop of Auxerre he was sent to Britain after the Romans had left to stamp out the pelagic views that some of the British bishops had adopted. He succeeded in this but stayed in Briton, establishing several churches, and to help battle against the invading Saxons and Picts, which he did without bloodshed. Later on he defended the cause of the rebelling Bretons to the Roman Emperor. He died on July 31 in 448 in Ravenna and is remembered for his holiness and for miracles he preformed. Buried in Auxerre, the Abbey there was a pilgrimage destination throughout the Middle Ages, and remains so. His cult was popular in Britain in France where there are numerous dedication to him. At top is the Abbey of St. Germans in Cornwall, which was originally an early medieval bishopric, and below that is the Cathedral of Auxerre in Burgundy, France.