Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Danger of torture, assassination, lootings, floods, famines and epidemics… life in France in the 6th century was as turbulent and violent as many of the world’s hot spots are today.  In the midst of all this Gregory (539 – 94) was born into a senatorial family who lived in the Auvergne.  He grew up seeing...

Hilda played a key role in the early English Christian church, and she may even have been the first to encourage the writing of Christian poetry. She was born a princess, into the Deiran (Northumbrian) dynasty, and her sister became Queen of the East Angles, with whom the Deiran had connections. In those days East...

If you are going to any concerts before Christmas, spare a thought for St Cecilia (2nd century) – the patron saint of musicians. Cecilia is one of the most famous of the Roman martyrs of the 2nd century.  As far as is known, she was born a noble lady of Rome who, despite her vow...

Catherine is thought to have been a noble girl who lived in the 4th century.  She was persecuted for her Christianity, and despised marriage with the Emperor because she was a ‘bride of Christ’.  According to the legend, Catherine was no push-over intellectually, either:  she disputed successfully with 50 philosophers who were called in to...

The apostle Andrew (d. c.60) is patron saint of Scotland.  According to the gospel of Matthew,   Andrew and his brother Simon Peter were the very first two disciples whom Jesus called.   ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’  (Matt 4:18,19) Without more ado, they obeyed.  ‘At once they left their nets...

Andrew, whose feast day ends the Christian year on 30th November, is probably best known to us as the patron saint of Scotland, though his only connection with the country is that some of his bones were reputedly transported in the 8th century to Fife and preserved at a church in a place now named...

Editor:  As saints don’t go away, we add to them each year rather than start afresh.  The saints with an asterisk appear on this site for the first time… 1          Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury – the Poor Man’s Earl 1          Remigius 1           Theresa of Lisieux 2          Your Guardian Angel 3          Hewald the Black...

Think of Piccadilly Circus, and that small statue of the angel poised with bow and arrow. Most people think it stands for Eros.  It does not. It stands for Anteros, his brother, the god of selfless love.  It is a memorial to the greatest Christian Victorian philanthropist, politician and social reformer of his generation –...

Theresa of Lisieux (1873-97) should be the patron saint of teenage girls and young women who want to make the most of their lives, despite being constrained by family and school or work. Theresa grew up in a strict, devout Roman Catholic middle-class family in France, one of four sisters.  Her father was a watch-maker. ...

If you’ve ever prayed for the ill children of non-Christian friends, then you are following in the steps of Remigius (d.533). Remigius was bishop of Reims late in the 5th century, and the king’s son was ill.  The queen, Clotild, was a Christian, but the king of the Franks, Clovis I, was not.  Then Remigius...

The teaching of Jesus encourages us to believe in guardian angels.  He once said, ‘See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.’  (Matthew 18:10) The existence of angels was suggested in various...

With Islamic State’s current savage persecution of Iraqi Christians in mind, here are two saints for this autumn:  Hewald the Black and Hewald the White (d.c. 695).  These 7th century Anglo-Saxon priests were living peacefully in Frisia among the Old Saxons, worshipping the Christian God by daily Mass on a portable altar, and reverently devoting...