Today, 1 January, is the feast of ...
* the Circumcision of Jesus Christ
- several churches have claimed the relic of the foreskin
of Jesus: see *Acta Sanctorum*, Jan., t. I
In regard to this, Clinton Atchley has asked:
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Didn't Catherine of Siena claim the foreskin as a wedding ring,
permanently placed on her finger by Christ but visible only to her? I
seem to remember that one of her mystical visions involved a marriage with
Christ with the BVM giving her son away to Catherine. Does anyone else
know this story or have a reference?
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I wonder if anyone can help with this very interesting story.
* Concordius, martyr (c. 178)
- a subdeacon, whose last act before being beheaded was to
spit on an idol
* Almachius or Telemachus, martyr (c. 400)
- an ascetic, he entered a stadium in Rome during
gladiatorial combat in order to stop it; although enraged
spectators stoned him to death, his martyrdom led to a
suspension of such games
* Euphrosyne, virgin (fifth century?)
- entered religious life disguised as a man named Smaragdus
On the list, Mark Moore has informed us of the following article:
"St. Euphrosyne: Holy Transvestite" by Paul E. Szarmach in
Paul E. Szarmach, Ed. _Holy Men and Holy Women: Old English
Prose Saints' Lives and Their Contexts_ Albany: SUNY P, 1996,
pages 353-365.
* Eugendus or Oyend, abbot (c. 510)
- head of the abbey of Condat, near Geneva, he was said to
be of joyful countenance, although he never smiled
* Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe (533)
- Ruspe is now a town called Kudiat Rosfa in Tunisia; his
relics were translated in the early eighth century to
Bourges
* Felix, bishop of Bourges (c. 580)
- according to Gregory of Tours, the body of Felix was
found to be incorrupt twelve years after his death
* Clarus, abbot (c. 660)
- abbot of monastery of St Marcellus at Vienne, he was
spiritual director of convent of St Blandina, where his
mother and other widows had taken the veil
* Peter of Atroa, abbot (837)
- born near Ephesus, this miracle worker eventually
established a monastery dedicated to St Zachary; effected
one of his cures by making sure the ill person had a good
wholesome meal
* William of Saint Benignus, abbot (1031)
- born near Novara, he became a monk and abbot of Cluniac
house of Saint-Sernin on the Rhone; helped the expansion of
the Cluniac reform
* Odilo, abbot (1049)
- became abbot of Cluny in 994; as discussed earlier on the
list, he is considered the one who instituted the annual
commemoration of All Souls on 2 November
* Zdislava, matron (1252)
- a Dominican mystic of Bohemia, she took communion almost
daily; once, she gave an ugly ill beggar a bed in her
house, and her husband angrily turned to kick him out of
the house when he saw that the beggar had been replaced by
a figure of the crucified Christ
* Ugolino da Gualdo (1260)
- late in his life, he became head of a house of
Augustinian Hermits in his native place, Gualdo (in Umbria)
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Happy new millennium, everyone!
George Ferzoco
University of Leicester
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