Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Sundays of the Month Editor:  Continuing our new feature, as we thought you might find it helpful to know what the Sundays of each month are called…   3rd  December              1st  Sunday of Advent 10th December            2nd Sunday of Advent 17th December            3rd  Sunday of Advent 24th December            4th Sunday of Advent – Christmas...

It’s many years since Europe switched over to the Euro (January 2002).  So, this is a good time to remember Eloi, bishop of Noyon, who was born in Gaul, and started out as a goldsmith.  He entered the service of Bobon, the royal treasurer.  He went on to become master of the mint for King...

Ignatius Loyala sent his friend and follower Francis Xavier (born 1506) to the Orient as a missionary.  What a missionary!  Imagine David Livingstone, Billy Graham and the Alpha Courses rolled into one.  His mass conversions became legendary – he baptised 10,000 people in one month and in just ten years of work was credited with...

Thousands of our churches are currently involved in various mission initiatives across the UK.  If it is tough going at times, we should spare a thought for poor Birinus, a priest from Lombard, who was sent here on his own 14 centuries ago.  Pope Honorius 1 gave him the daunting task of being the apostle...

Osmond is the saint for you if you regret Brexit, and believe that immigrants can bring good to Britain. Osmond came to England from France back in the days before EU regulations.  It was shortly after 1066, and he was a Norman, following William the Conqueror. Osmond himself was no soldier, but a gifted and...

One account of how Father Christmas began tells of a man named Nicholas who was born in the third centre in the Greek village of Patara, on what is today the southern coast of Turkey.  His family were both devout and wealthy, and when his parents died in an epidemic, Nicholas decided to use his...

One person you are bound to run into this Christmas season is Father Christmas.  These days he seems to frequent shopping malls and garden centres.  If he looks tired, just remember that he has been around a long time and gone through a lot of transformations. Father Christmas wasn’t always the red-suited, white-bearded star of...

Do you know any odd Christians?   People with hearts of gold, who would never harm anyone… but who are nonetheless just plain ODD…. Well, Daniel the Stylite should be their patron saint.  Perhaps he is the proof that God can bless and use any one of us – no matter how batty some of our...

Lucy was a Christian girl who got caught up in the fierce and widespread Diocletian persecutions of 303-4. She refused to give up her Christian faith, and so was put to death. Her tomb can still be found in a Catacomb in Syracuse (Sicily), and there are early fourth-century inscriptions bearing her name (Euskia). Lucy’s...

Some people have near-death experiences…. Lazarus should be their patron saint.  Except that he went all the way, and died for four days.  He was quiet in his tomb and the mourners of Bethany were in full swing – before Jesus called him back to life.  (See John 11: 1 – 44.) What happened next...

A Midwinter festival has been a part of life since pre-Christian times. When the hours of daylight are fewest, the warmth of the sun weakest, and life itself seemingly at a standstill, our ancestors, the pagan peoples of Europe and Western Asia, kept festival by lighting bonfires and decorating their buildings with evergreens. Perhaps they...

For nearly four weeks leading up to Christmas Christians recognise a period called Advent.  It means ‘coming’.  It is a time of spiritual preparation.  ‘Coming’ refers to Jesus’ first coming as a baby, but it also looks forward to a day when Jesus is expected to return in triumph at his ‘second coming’ to establish...