| High Days and Holy Days in February 1st
- Brigid of Ireland d. c. 525 Brigid,
you could say, was the female Patrick of Ireland. Historical
facts about this first abbess of Kildare may be scarce,
but her Lives, written from the 7th century, tell many
anecdotes and miracles which over the centuries have
become deeply rooted in Irish folklore. Brigid came from
a village near Kildare, of parents of humble origin, and
is said to have been baptised by Patrick and become a nun
at an early age. She is credited with founding the
monastery of Kildare, a powerful influence for
Christianity in Ireland. The
miracles attributed to Brigid show her to have been a
woman of great compassion and generosity. There are
stories of how she could mulitiply food, especially
butter, for the poor. Other stories tell of her changing
her bath-water to beer, in order to satisfy the thirst of
unexpected visitors. Even her cows gave milk three times
the same day, to enable visiting bishops to have enough
to drink. Brigid's
cult grew rapidly in Ireland, where it became second only
to that of Patrick. In England, there were at least
nineteen ancient church dedications in her honour (the
most famous is St Bride's Fleet Street). There is also St
Bride's Bay, Dyfed, which underlines the strong
connection between Irish and Welsh Christianity. St
Brigid is patron of poets, blacksmiths, and healers. She
is usually depicted with a cow lying at her feet, which
recalls her phase as a nun-cowgirl. 2nd
- The Presentation of Christ in the Temple/ Candlemas In
bygone centuries, Christians said their last farewells to
the Christmas season on Candlemas, 2 February. This is
exactly 40 days after Christmas Day itself. In
New Testament times 40 days old was an important age for
a baby boy: it was when they made their first 'public
appearance'. Mary, like all good Jewish mothers, went to
the Temple with Jesus, her first male child - to
"present him to the Lord". At the same time,
she, as a new mother, was 'purified'. Thus we have the
Festival of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. So
where does the Candlemas bit come in? Jesus is described
in the New Testament as the Light of the World, and early
Christians developed the tradition of lighting many
candles in celebration of this day. The Church also fell
into the custom of blessing the year's supply of candles
for the church on this day - hence the name, Candlemas. The
story of how Candlemas began can be found in Luke
2:22-40. Simeon's great declaration of faith and
recognition of who Jesus was is of course found in the
Nunc Dimittis, which is embedded in the Office of Evening
Prayer in the West. But in medieval times, the Nunc
Dimittis was mostly used just on this day, during the
distribution of candles before the Eucharist. Only
gradually did it win a place in the daily prayer life of
the Church. 14th
- St Valentine's Day There
are two confusing things about this day of romance and
anonymous love-cards strewn with lace, cupids and ribbon:
firstly, there seems to have been two different
Valentines in the 4th century - one a priest martyred on
the Flaminian Way, under the emperor Claudius, the other
a bishop of Terni martyred at Rome. And neither seems to
have had any clear connection with lovers or courting
couples. So
why has Valentine become the patron saint of romantic
love? By Chaucer's time the link was assumed to be
because on these saints' day -14 February - the birds are
supposed to pair. Or perhaps the custom of seeking a
partner on St Valentine's Day is a surviving scrap of the
old Roman Lupercalia festival, which took place in the
middle of February. One of the Roman gods honoured during
this Festival was Pan, the god of nature. Another was
Juno, the goddess of women and marriage. During the
Lupercalia it was a popular custom for young men to draw
the name of a young unmarried woman from a name-box. The
two would then be partners or 'sweethearts' during the
time of the celebrations. Even modern Valentine
decorations bear an ancient symbol of love - Roman cupids
with their bows and love-arrows. There
are no churches in England dedicated to Valentine, but
since 1835 his relics have been claimed by the Carmelite
church in Dublin. The
very first Valentine card - a legend The
Roman Emperor Claudius II needed soldiers. He suspected
that marriage made men want to stay at home instead of
fighting wars, so he outlawed marriage. A
kind-hearted young priest named Valentine felt sorry for
all the couples who wanted to marry, but couldn't. So
secretly he married as many couples as he could - until
the Emperor found out and condemned him to death. While
he was in prison waiting execution, Valentine showed love
and compassion to everyone around him, including his
jailer. The jailer had a young daughter who was blind,
but through Valentine's prayers, she was healed. Just
before his death in Rome on 14 February, he wrote her a
farewell message signed 'From your Valentine.' So
the very first Valentine card was not between lovers, but
between a priest about to die, and a little girl, healed
through his prayers. 23rd
- Polycarp c. 69 - c.155 Polycarp
was one of the most important Christians in Roman Asia in
the mid-2nd century, because of his link between the time
of the Apostles and the earliest Christian Fathers. This
disciple of John the Apostle became bishop of Smyrna and
defended orthodox Christian belief against the heresies
of Marcion and Valentinus, the most influencial of the
Gnostics. Irenaeus of Lyons, who as a boy had known
Polycarp, praised his gravity, holiness and majesty of
countenance. Near
the end of his long life, Polycarp paid a visit to Rome
to discuss with the bishop there the possibility of
agreeing a uniform date of celebrating Easter. When they
found they could not agree, they amicably agreed to
differ, and parted in good faith. Polycarp
returned to Smyrna, where a riot broke out at a pagan
festival. The crowd suddenly turned on the Christians,
whom they called 'atheists'. Polycarp was on a farm
nearby, neither provoking nor fleeing martyrdom. When his
captors arrived, he invited them to eat a meal, while he
prayed alone for an hour. Then calmly, he agreed to go
with them to his interrogation. All
the pagans' threats and promises did nothing to shake
Polycarp. When ordered to execrate Christ, Polycarp gave
this dignified reply: "For 86 years I have been his
servant and He has never done me wrong; how can I
blaspheme my king who saved me?... I am a Christian: if
you wish to study the Christian doctrine, choose a day
and you will hear it." The
crowd were outraged, and cried first for the lions and
then for Polycarp to be burnt at the stake. He was bound,
but an official killed him with his sword before his body
was burnt. Later, grieving Christians collected his bones
and buried them. They also wrote an account of his trial
and martyrdom, which is the earliest authentic example of
its kind. In
England there are no ancient and only a few modern
churches dedicated to this deeply courageous saint of the
Christian Church. A
lovely heart-shaped box of chocolates was received on
Valentine's Day by a student from her newest date,
another student. On the enclosed card was the
inscription, 'To Helen - with all my savings.' |