Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Editor: This month includes the following special days.  As saints’ days do not change from year to year, these have appeared on this site before.  The one with the asterisk is new to the site this year. 1      Justin Martyr – first ever Christian philosopher 2      Erasmus – a good saint...

Justin Martyr (c. 100 – 165), is regarded as the first ever Christian philosopher.  He was born at Nablus, Samaria, to parents of Greek origin, and was well educated in rhetoric, poetry and history before he turned to philosophy.  He studied at Ephesus and Alexandria and tried the schools of the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, and...

Do you like messing about in boats?  If so, then you’ll have heard of St Elmo’s Fire. It is the light that is sometimes seen on mastheads of boats after storms at sea. St Elmo is another name for St Erasmus, a fourth century Syrian bishop who was not afraid of violent storms.  Legend has...

The Ugandan Church had dozens of martyrs within just ten years of Christianity arriving there.   At first, it had gone so well:  the first Anglican missionaries arriving in Uganda in 1877 were welcomed by the Kabaka (king) of Buganda, Mutesa.  Mutesa also welcomed the Roman Catholics and Muslim Arabs, and, being a natural diplomat, retained...

If you are going to Cornwall this summer in search of peace and quiet, Petroc is the saint for you.   Especially if you find Padstow a bit too crowded for your liking!  He would have sympathised. This 6th century abbot is Cornwall’s most famous saint.  Petroc set sail from South Wales, landed at Haylemouth, and...

If you choose Brittany for your holiday destination this summer, then spare a thought for Gudwal, because this obscure 6th century Celtic abbot got there before you did.  Indeed, Gudwal seems to have liked Brittany so much that he decided to stay on. When you visit Brittany today, you will find Catholic churches everywhere.  Not...

Have you ever been the victim of someone else’s malice and ambition?  Then William of York (d 1154) is the saint for you.  William Fitzherbert was born into a noble family, with royal connections.  He was also smart – appointed treasurer of York at a young age, and also as a chaplain to King Stephen. ...

By Canon David Winter We used to call it Whitsun – White Sunday because long ago children marched to church in white on that day. No processions nowadays, and we’ve even changed its name. It’s now ‘Pentecost’, which is more accurate but needs explaining. This year Whitsun/Pentecost is on Sunday June 9th. Pentecost marks a...

Pentecost took place on the well-established Jewish festival of Firstfruits, which was observed at the beginning of the wheat harvest. It was seven weeks after Easter, or 50 days including Easter. A feast day to celebrate the country’s wheat harvest does not sound exactly world-changing, but that year, it became one of the most important...

On that long ago first morning of Pentecost, Jerusalem was crowded with thousands of visitors, for it was one of the most popular feast-days in the Jewish calendar – the Feast of Firstfruits, looking forward to the wheat harvest. In one small room of that great city, a small group of people who had followed...

2013 marked the 1450th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the UK.  It was brought by St Columba from Ireland to Iona – a tiny island off Mull, in the Western Highlands. Columba (c. 521 -97) was born in Donegal of the royal Ui Neill clan, and trained as a monk.  He founded the...

Are you going to Cyprus on holiday this year?  If so, spare a thought for the Cypriot who played such a key role in the New Testament. He was Joseph, a Jewish Cypriot and a Levite, who is first mentioned in Acts 4:36, when the early church was sharing a communal lifestyle.  Joseph sold a...