Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

By Canon David Winter  What is an angel? Easy, people think: a shining figure with glorious wings, who appears from time to time to do some mighty work for God or bring a very special message from him. Well, that’s right in one sense (apart from the wings, which owe more to stained glass windows...

Editor:   Kings and mystics, writers and martyrs – August does well with its feast days that remember outstanding Christians. 1          Ethelwold – Saint of Wessex 4          Sithney – mad dogs 5          Oswald – a king with faith, courage and humility 6          The Transfiguration of our Lord 7          Cajetan – pawnshops 8          Dominic – learning...

St Ethelwold (c.912 – 84) did great things for the church at Winchester, which in those days was the principle town of Wessex.   He began as a simple monk, eager to restore the Rule of Benedictine in England, a major reform for the church of the time.  So, after serving at the abbey in Glastonbury,...

You know how some men find women’s interest in romance and clothes hard to cope with?   Well, Sithney (or Sezni) should be the patron saint of all such men. According to a Breton folk legend, Sithney was a hermit of long ago, minding his own business, when one day God told him that he was...

Many Christians have dreamed of doing something spectacular for God, which would be remembered for centuries afterwards. Oswald, who lived from 605 to 642AD, was in a position to do so. He was a King, whose father, Aethelfrith, was a great warrior who laid the foundations of the great kingdom of Northumbria. But Aethelfrith was...

The story is told in Matthew (17:1-9), Mark (9:1-9) and Luke (9:28-36). It was a time when Jesus’ ministry was popular, when people were seeking Him out.  But on this day, He made time to take Peter, James and John, His closest disciples, up a high mountain.  In the fourth century, Cyrillic of Jerusalem identified...

Bit short of cash for your holiday this year?  Cajetan (1480 – 1547) should be the patron saint of anyone who needs some extra money – right now.  For it was he who founded the Monts de Piete – the pawnshops – in the 16th century.  They were first designed to help people through a...

If you enjoy reading the Bible and in encouraging others to have faith in God, then Dominic is the patron saint for you. His passion for helping Christians to learn and proclaim their faith led him to found the Order of Preachers, or Black Friars, because of the black cape they wore over white habits....

The Mothers’ Union is now more than 140 years old. It has accomplished a staggering amount in that time, and nowadays numbers more than four million members, doing good work in 83 countries.  That is a far cry from the modest circle of prayer for mothers who cared about family life, which is how it...

Laurence was a deacon of the Church in Rome who was martyred in 258.  His story is found in the very ancient Depositio Martyrum, which tells us that he was closely associated with Pope Sixtus II, who was martyred just a few days before him during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian.   We also know...

Assisi, a beautiful town in the Italian province of Umbria, was the birth-place in the twelfth century of two of that country’s greatest saints, Francis and Clare. Francis first, and then Clare, discovered the liberating effect of release from the burden of wealth. For them simplicity, a godly poverty, was the way to blessing. Their...

Clare (1194 – 1253) was the famous virgin foundress of the Minoresses or Poor Clares.  Born at Assisi of the Offreduccio family, Clare grew up to hear the teaching of St Francis of Assisi, and at 18 she renounced all her possessions and joined him at the Portiuncula, where she became a nun.  Soon Francis...