medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (25. September) is the feast day of:
Cadoc (6th cent.) Cadoc was born in Wales in the fifth century, and later
became a leading monk in that region. A tradition reports that he went on
to Benevento and became a bishop there in the sixth century. Another
legend reports that he died a martyr. Sometimes he is mixed up with a
Scottish Cadoc whose feast day is on 24. January. (One of my saints' books
says that English pilgrims were forbidden to visit Cadoc's grave in
Benevento for fear of relic theft. (?))
Findbarr (Finbar, Bairre) (d. sometime between 610 and 633) Findbarr
founded the monastery of Cork, which became the nucleus of the modern city;
he is claimed as the first bishop of Cork. He was an early missionary to
the Scots, evangelizing in the western isles and Argyll. According to
tradition, he crossed the Irish Sea on horseback. Unlike most Irish
saints, according to later tradition Findbarr was not only not of noble
blood, but was illegitimate. The story tells that his parents were a
blacksmith and a royal slave. The king was so angry that his slave had
gotten pregnant that he tried to burn Findbarr's parents alive. In a
prenatal miracle, however, the future saint spoke from the womb, telling
the king to free them. When Findbarr died, the sun itself kept a wake over
his body, not setting for twelve days, until the formal period of mourning
had come to an end.
Ceolfrith (d. 716) Ceolfrith was born in c. 630/40. In 674 he became
prior of the monastery of Wearmouth (of which he was the co-founder), from
682 on was abbot of Jarrow (which he had also helped to found), and from
689 also abbot of Wearmouth. He brought the paired foundations to their
first flourishing, but resigned in 716. He then set out on a pilgrimage to
Rome, but died on the way there.
Nikolaus of Flue (Brother Klaus) (d. 1487) Veneration of Nikoaus is still
very active in central Switzerland. Nikolaus was born in 1417 at Flueli
near Sachseln. He married and produced ten children. In 1467, though, he
left his family to go on pilgrimage. After a short journey, a vision made
him turn around and become a hermit near his own home. He built a chapel,
where he lived for the last twenty years of his life. Veneration for him
grew as word spread that his sole means of sustenance was the eucharistic
elements. Many came to him seeking advice; his influence even preserved
the union of the Swiss cantons. He won strong folk veneration after his
death, and was also beatified in 1669 and canonized in 1947.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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