High Days and Holy Days 1
Brigid of 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. 8 St Kew
has nothing to do with gardens or the 'Q' of James Bond
fame. This Big
Brother was so shaken by this that he repented of his
superior attitude. When he then bothered to spend time
talking with young Perhaps
the moral of all this is that if you want to win over an
difficult older brother, you should first practise on
wild boars. 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 |