Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Joseph of Copertino (1603 – 63) should be the patron saint of all awkward people who mean well, but who drive those around them to distraction – especially their church leaders. Joseph began life in a garden shed, because his father had sold the house to pay debts.  Then he grew up wandering about open-mouthed...

Korea is known for its thriving Christian church.  But it was not always so – in fact no Korean was baptised until as late as 1784.  Christianity arrived in Korea through Christian books sent from China, and the Koreans responded warmly as soon as they heard the Good News.  A Chinese priest who visited in...

St Matthew was one of 12 apostles.  But he began as a publican i.e. a tax-collector of Jewish race who worked for the Romans, before he left all at the call of Christ.  From earliest times, he was regarded as the author of the first of the four Gospels.    The Gospel of Matthew is in...

23rd September is the autumnal equinox (if you live in the northern hemisphere) or the vernal (Spring) equinox (if you live in the southern hemisphere)  The equinoxes occur in March and September, when the Sun is ‘edgewise’ to the Earth’s axis of rotation, so that everywhere on earth has twelve hours of daylight and twelve...

It’s amazing how little some things change down the centuries.  Take the life of Gerard Sagredo, for instance.  He left his ‘comfort zone’ of home and church because he felt God’s calling on his life.  He travelled abroad and taught in order to earn his living in a non-Christian country.  In his spare time he...

St Ceolfrith is a good patron saint for anyone who has studied hard for their profession, is strong in the face of tragedy, and who can also offer some homely care to others in need. This well-loved abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow came from a noble Northumbrian family, and was ordained at Ripon when he...

Wilson Carlile was born in Brixton in 1847, and did not set out to become an evangelist. Instead, he was brilliant at both languages and music, and excelled as a businessman. That is, until an economic recession and serious illness brought him crashing down and finished his career, aged only 31. Not surprisingly, a serious...

Very few people stand out as being incredibly good, but Vincent de Paul was one of them.  His life touched thousands of people, who were helped and inspired by his love and kindness. Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 to a Gascon peasant family at Ranquine. Educated by the Franciscans and then at Toulouse...

What really gets a woman remembered?  Loved? Respected? Lioba the abbess of Bischofsheim is the patron saint for any woman who wants to make the most of her life. Lioba was born in Wessex early in the 8th century.  Her family was noble, her mother was a relative of the monk Boniface (the Billy Graham...

St Michael is an archangel, whose name means ‘who is like unto God?’  He makes various appearances throughout the Bible, from the book of Daniel to the Book of Revelation.  In Daniel, he is ‘one of the princes’ of the heavenly host, and the special guardian of Israel.  In Revelation, he is the principal fighter...

By Canon David Winter One of those surveys which some newspapers love to publish claimed recently that a large number of British people believe in angels – almost as many, in fact, as claimed to believe in God. They didn’t tell us what people meant by ‘angels’. I suspect quite a few were thinking of...

By Canon David Winter  What is an angel? Easy, people think: a shining figure with glorious wings, who appears from time to time to do some mighty work for God or bring a very special message from him. Well, that’s right in one sense (apart from the wings, which owe more to stained glass windows...