Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days
Featuring the Saints whose feast-day is this month
- Sundays of the Month 1st December – 1st Sunday of Advent 8th December – 2nd Sunday of Advent 15th December – 3rd Sunday of Advent 22nd December – 4th Sunday of Advent 29th December – 1st Sunday of...High Days & Holy Days (all) for December 2024
- It’s many years since Europe switched over to the Euro (January 2002). So, this is a good time to remember Eloi, bishop of Noyon, who was born in Gaul, and started out as a goldsmith. He entered the service of Bobon, the royal treasurer. He went on to become master of the mint for King...1st December – Eloi, a patron saint for the euro?
- Ignatius Loyala sent his friend and follower Francis Xavier (born 1506) to the Orient as a missionary. What a missionary! Imagine David Livingstone, Billy Graham and the Alpha Courses rolled into one. His mass conversions became legendary – he baptised 10,000 people in one month and in just ten years of work was credited with...3rd December – Francis Xavier, the seasick missionary
- Thousands of our churches are currently involved in various mission initiatives across the UK. If it is tough going at times, we should spare a thought for poor Birinus, a priest from Lombard, who was sent here on his own 14 centuries ago. Pope Honorius 1 gave him the daunting task of being the apostle...3rd December – Birinus, an apostle to the English
- Osmond is the saint for you if you regret Brexit, and believe that immigrants can bring good to Britain. Osmond came to England from France back in the days before EU regulations. It was shortly after 1066, and he was a Norman, following William the Conqueror. Osmond himself was no soldier, but a gifted and...4th December – Osmond, an immigrant before Brexit
- What do your family call him, that cheerful old man in a red robe and floppy hat who pops up everywhere at Christmas? Sometimes he’s Father Christmas, sometimes Santa Claus, and in parts of Europe he’s Saint Nicholas. That’s his real name, abbreviated to ‘Santa Claus’ by Brits and Americans who don’t like to follow...6th December – What’s in a (Christmas) Name?
- One account of how Father Christmas began tells of a man named Nicholas who was born in the third centre in the Greek village of Patara, on what is today the southern coast of Turkey. His family were both devout and wealthy, and when his parents died in an epidemic, Nicholas decided to use his...6th December – St Nicholas, another look at this much-loved saint
- One person you are bound to run into this Christmas season is Father Christmas. These days he seems to frequent shopping malls and garden centres. If he looks tired, just remember that he has been around a long time and gone through a lot of transformations. Father Christmas wasn’t always the red-suited, white-bearded star of...6th December – How Father Christmas got where he is today
- Do you know any odd Christians? People with hearts of gold, who would never harm anyone… but who are nonetheless just plain ODD…. Well, Daniel the Stylite should be their patron saint. Perhaps he is the proof that God can bless and use any one of us – no matter how batty some of our...11th December – Daniel the Stylite
- Lucy was a Christian girl who got caught up in the fierce and widespread Diocletian persecutions of 303-4. She refused to give up her Christian faith, and so was put to death. Her tomb can still be found in a Catacomb in Syracuse (Sicily), and there are early fourth-century inscriptions bearing her name (Euskia). Lucy’s...13th December – Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse
- Some people have near-death experiences…. Lazarus should be their patron saint. Except that he went all the way, and died for four days. He was quiet in his tomb and the mourners of Bethany were in full swing – before Jesus called him back to life. (See John 11: 1 – 44.) What happened next...17th December – Lazarus of Bethany, back from the tomb
- Here is a modern-day saint whose compassion and determination has saved literally millions of lives. Eglantyne Jebb did not begin as an obvious ‘mover and shaker’ of people. Born in Shropshire in 1876, she grew up in Ellesmere, studied history at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, taught at Marlborough, and then resigned as she was...17th December – Eglantyne Jebb, founder of ‘Save the Children’