Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Back in 1605 Guy Fawkes managed to stow a good few barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords without anybody noticing.  He was part of a Roman Catholic plot to murder James 1 of England and his parliament at the state opening.  Fortunately, Guy Fawkes was found – and stopped – in time.

Kea was an early Christian and a monk from a good family who left Glastonbury to work in Devon and Cornwall, where Landkey (Devon) and Kea (Cornwall) bear his name.  He founded several Christian centres in the area before going on to Brittany to become the saint known there as ‘Saint-Quay’.  It seems that Kea...

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill was Britain’s Prime Minister. At the same time, William Temple was Archbishop of Canterbury. While Churchill led the country against Germany, Temple encouraged the British people to trust the Lord for their deliverance and strength. Like Churchill, Temple was a great leader, a gifted orator and a prolific...

Not many people have heard of Illtud, but perhaps we should make him the patron saint of all Christian NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) who work in emergency and famine relief. Illtud did not set out to be an action hero – he was a gentle and learned abbot heading up a monastery in Glamorgan.  Illtud spent...

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”   The early Church Father Tertullian wrote that in the second century, but he could have been writing about Vietnam from 1745 onwards.  For, during the first 200 years of Christianity in Vietnam/Indo-China, a staggering 100,000 Christians are believed to have been martyred for their...

Did you know that the Netherlands first learned Christianity from a Yorkshireman?  Willibrord (658 – 739) was born to devout parents, and joined the Benedictines.  In 678 he went Ireland to study at the Abbey of Rathmelsigi (a centre of European learning in the 7th century).  12 years later, in 690, Willibrord felt God had...

Has your boss ever tried to get you to do something that is against your Christian faith?  If so, here are some saints for you.   They chose to make a Christian ‘stand’ at work, even though it really irritated their boss. Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronian and Castorius were simple stonemasons in early 4th century Rome.  They...

In late 1914, WW1 erupted across Northern France and Flanders. Great swathes of previously green fields and forests were blasted and bombed, leaving them bleak and barren, with seemingly every living thing destroyed. But then in the Spring of 1915, something beautiful began to come out of all the destruction. Tens of thousands of bright...

How do you think of Jesus? As the Lord of lords in glory? Or as a human baby soon to be born in Bethlehem? November brings the glorious climax of the church year with the Sunday of Christ the King at the end of November – only to begin a new ‘year’ a week later,...

Does this sound familiar?  An Archbishop of Canterbury tries to bring unity and calm to a Church split down the middle over seemingly irreconcilable differences, and all the while to promote the Gospel to the wider non-Christian society, in the face of widespread ignorance and even hostility towards Christianity. This isn’t Justin Welby, though. It...

This winter, when you next see someone who looks both poor and cold, think of Martin of Tours.  This monk bishop, born in Pannonia (now Hungary) became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages. Martin’s father was a pagan officer in the Roman Army, and Martin was intended for the army as...

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on America 20 years ago this autumn, many Americans were seen to be ‘saintly’ in their brave attempts to help save lives.  But Frances (1850 – 1917) was the first citizen of the United States to be officially canonised as a saint – by Pope Pius XII in...