High
Days and Holy Days
1
Brigid of
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
The
miracles attributed to Brigid show her to have been a
woman of great compassion and generosity. There are
stories of how she could multiply 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
2
The Presentation of Christ in the
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
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.
14
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
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
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
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.
23
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
Near
the end of his long life, Polycarp paid a visit to
Polycarp
returned to
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
