Today, 25 June, is the feast of ...
* Febronia, martyr (304?)
- as a young woman, she preached to the nuns of Nisibis (in
Mesopotamia) every Friday; when arrested following the edicts of
Diocletian, she was fastened to four posts over a slow fire, and scourged:
17 of her teeth were pulled out and her breasts were cut off, and then her
limbs were cut off, and then she was well and truly killed with more blows
from an ax(e)... a very famous *passio*
* Gallicanus, martyr (352?)
- a great general who converted to Christianity, settled in Ostia
but then went into exile in Egypt, where he lived as a hermit until he had
his head chopped off
* Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 465)
- known as 'the Aquitainian doctor', his writings (mostly defences
of Augustine on grace and free will) were quite popular; but little is
known of his life
* Prosper, bishop of Reggio (466?)
- as often happens, more than one saint with the smae name are
venerated on the same day; this Prosper is mistakenly identified with the
earlier Prosper in the Roman Martyrology
* Maximus, bishop of Turin (c. 467)
- several hundred extant sermons, along with several treatises,
have come down to us; in one work, he attacks 'heretics who sell the
pardon of sins'
* Moloc or Molluog or Murlach or Mortlach or Luan, bishop (572?)
- very popular saint in Scotland; king Malcolm II attributed his
victory over the Danes in 1010 to the intercession of Mary and Mortlach,
and in thanksgiving established in a place named after the saint an
episcopal see which was subsequently transferred to Aberdeen (Frederik
Pedersen, Dane of Aberdeen, beware of Mortlach!)
* Adalbert of Egmond (early eighth century)
- a deacon who assisted Willibrord; he evangelized the area around
Egmond
* Eurosia, virgin and martyr (eighth century?)
- devotion to her appears to have begun in the fifteenth century,
in Jaca, Spain, and in Lombardy; invoked against bad weather
* Gohard, bishop of Nantes, and companions, martyrs (843)
- with a group of monks, he was killed by marauding Northmen;
relics taken to Angers, his native town
* William of Vercelli, abbot of Monte Vergine (1142)
- at age 14 set out on pilgrimage to Compostela with two iron
bands fastened around his body, just to make the trip more of a challenge
- the monastery he founded at Monte Vergine (or Monte Virgiliano)
followed a very austere rule: on three days of the week, only vegetables
and dry bread could be eaten
* Henry Zdik, bishop of Olomuc (1150)
- during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he took the Premonstratensian
habit; a few years later, preached to convert the Prussians
* John the Spaniard (1160)
- compiled a constitution for Carthusian nuns
* Guido Maramaldi (1391)
- a Neapolitan Dominican, who became inquisitor general for the
kingdom of Naples
* * * * * * * *
George Ferzoco
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|