Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

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...

Sundays of the Month 6th October     19th Sunday after Trinity 13th October   20th Sunday after Trinity 20th October   21st Sunday after Trinity 27th October   22nd Sunday after Trinity / Bible Sunday 3rd November  4th Sunday before Advent   High Days & Holy Days Editor:  As saints don’t go away, we add to them each year...

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 –...

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...

St Francis (1181 – 1226) is surely one of the most attractive and best-loved of all the saints.  But he began by being anything but a saint.  Born the son of a wealthy cloth-merchant of Assisi, Francis’ youth was spent in fast-living, parties and on fast horses as a leader of the young society of...

This month is the 501th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, and so a good time to pay tribute to an outstanding English scholar, translator and martyr of the Reformation. William Tyndale (c. 1494 – 6th October 1536) was born near Gloucester, and studied at Oxford and Cambridge.  He could speak seven languages, and...

Do you want your life to make a difference – for the good – in this world?  Then Luis Bertran (1526-81) is the saint for you.   This fearless Dominican priest so inspired tens of thousands of people in Latin America that he was chosen as patron of Columbia. Luis Bertran was born at Valencia in...

Demetrius of Sirmium should be the patron saint of anyone who takes a stand for the right, despite knowing they will suffer for it. Demetrius was a soldier from Serbia in the fourth century.  He fought for the Roman Emperor, and that took courage.  Then Demetrius converted to Christianity – and took his stand with...

Have you ever held your head in your hands and felt that events were against you? Then Denys is the saint for you.  This Christian martyr knew all about holding his head in his hands when times got rough. According to Gregory of Tours, Denys was an Italian bishop who became the first bishop of...