Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

St Swithun is apparently the saint you can blame for rainy summers.  It is said that if it rains on his special day, 15th July, it will then rain for 40 days after that.  It all began when Swithun was made Bishop of Winchester in 852 by King Ethelwulf of Wessex. It was an important...

Take the book of Samuel in the Bible, add a bit of Luke Skywalker father/son conflict from Star Wars, stir in a dash of Pirates of the Caribbean, and you sort of have the story of St Helier – the first saint and martyr of Jersey. According to the legend, it all began in 6th...

Do you have a sister?  Is she ‘good news’ in your life?   Macrina the Younger (c. 327 -79) should be the patron saint of all ‘sisters’ whose generosity helps their siblings to succeed. Macrina the Younger was the eldest of 10 children.  Their father was Basil the Elder, a leader in the church in 4th...

As the traditional Easter story is remembered again this month, you may notice that there is one name that frequently occurs. It is that of the ‘other’ Mary – not the mother of Jesus but Mary of Magdala, who stood by her at the cross and became the first human being, male or female, actually...

Later this month Christians all over the world will commemorate probably the most unlikely saint in the Bible, Mary Magdalene. There was something in her background that has always fascinated people. All we are told about her ‘past’ is that Jesus had cast ‘seven devils’ out of her, but on that slender if intriguing evidence...

It is easy to understand the popularity of Mary Magdalene over the centuries: she is the patron saint both of repentant sinners and of the contemplative life. Jesus drove seven demons from Mary, who came from near Tiberius in Galilee.  She became His follower to the bitter end.  She followed Him to Jerusalem and was...

Fake news is not new. Perhaps one old example is the assertion that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Back in the 6th Century, Pope Gregory is said to have confused her with two other women in the Bible. Medieval Bible scholars also attempted to name an unidentified sinful woman who had washed and anointed the...

James and his brother John were sons of Zebedee and fishermen from Galilee – the ‘sons of thunder’, as the gospel writers describe their impetuous characters and fiery tempers. James stands out on three accounts: he was one of the three disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration of Christ.  Jesus took him, along with Peter and...

Jesus, fresh from His baptism and fired with His new calling, bursts into Galilee. Coming upon four fishermen working on the shore of the lake, He says to them, ‘Follow me’. Without further ado or even a second thought, they abandon what they’re doing (and in the case of two of them, James and John,...

The legend goes that St Christopher was a Canaanite who lived in the 3rd century.  He was a giant of a man, of fearsome appearance.  At first he decided to serve the devil, but when he discovered that the devil was afraid of Christ and His Cross, Christopher decided to serve Christ instead.  A nearby...

Do you tend to avoid conflict?  When you feel stressed, do you crave sleep?  Then the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus would be good patron saints for you.  But – you may find it hard to copy their successful method of avoiding trouble! Legend has it that The Seven Sleepers were third century Christians who lived...

If you led a wild life before your conversion, then Olaf is the saint for you. Indeed, anything you have done could hardly match him, for he was a brigand and pirate who roamed the Baltic and Normandy around 1015 AD, maiming and killing, stealing and destroying, feared by all. Then on one particular raid...