Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Jude the apostle and martyr (1st century) warns us in his epistle that not all ‘evil’ comes in the form of obvious ghosties and ghoulies.  He writes instead to warn the Christians of the greater danger of people who infect others with heresy and moral failure.  He writes that they are nothing more than …. ...

If you have done your best to live ‘right’, and still had nothing but trouble and heartache in your life, Alphonsus is the saint for you.   He was born in 1533, the son of a wool merchant in Segovia.  He followed his father into the profession, married, and had two children.   He was a responsible...

Modern Halloween celebrations have their roots with the Celtic peoples of pre-Christian times. In those long-ago days, on the last night of October, the Celts celebrated the Festival of Samhain, or ‘Summer’s End’.  The priests, or Druids, performed ceremonies to thank and honour the sun.  For there was a very dark side to all this:...

Editor:  As the saints don’t go away, we have added to them rather than start afresh.  The items with an asterisk appear on this site for the first time… 1st Sept            Drithelm – vision of the after-life 1st Sept            St Giles of Provence – helping those damaged by life 2nd Sept           The New Guinea Martyrs...

St Drithelm is the saint for you if you have ever wondered what lies beyond death, or have had a near-death experience.    He was married and living in Cunningham (now Ayrshire, then Northumbria) in the 7th century when he fell ill and apparently died.  When he revived a few hours later he caused panic among...

St Giles was an immensely popular saint in the Middle Ages, and no wonder:  he was the patron saint of cripples.  In those days, there were many people who, once injured, were never really whole again.  Even today, a serious injury – either physical or mental or emotional, can leave us damaged for months, years...

The Anglican Church in Australia still honours the New Guinea Martyrs of 1942.  These brave men and women, 10 Australians and two Papuans, refused to leave their missionary work on the island as the Japanese military forces advanced.  As one tribute to them put it: ‘They knowing full well the risk, elected to stay with...

Here is a saint for anyone who thinks Christian leaders should stand up for justice – even at the risk of angering secular powers. It all began when William was an English priest serving as chaplain to Canute, king of England, (1016-35), who decided to visit Scandinavia.  William went along, and was so shocked by...

Pope Gregory never called himself ‘the Great’, but instead ‘the Servant of the Servants of God’.  Nevertheless, Gregory was one of the most important popes and influential writers of the Middle Ages.  The son of a very rich Roman senator, he left the service of the State upon his conversion as a young man.  Gregory...

You are walking down the road when a beggar approaches you for money.  What do you do?   If, instead of giving money, you buy him/her coffee or a meal, then you are in good company:  you are following in the steps of the first ever Bishop of Venice. Laurence Giustiniani (1381 – 1455) was born...

In both eastern and western Churches, Mary has always been held as pre-eminent among all the saints. The unique, extraordinary privilege of being the mother of the One who was both God and Man, makes her worthy of special honour.  Thomas Aquinas believed she was due hyperdulia, or a veneration that exceeds that of other...

Here is a saint for anyone with a social conscience.  Claver was born in 1581 near Barcelona at Verdu, and at 20 became a Jesuit.  He went as a missionary to New Granada and worked to alleviate the terrible suffering of the slaves who arrived from West Africa, caged like animals.  (It was said that...