Today, 1 August, is the feast of ...
* the holy Machabees, martyrs (168 a.C.) - only widespread feast in the
West of Old Testament saints (notable exceptions: the Carmelites celebrate
Elias and Eliseus)
* Peter ad vincula - commemorates Peter's escape from prison; the church
built over the prison is on Rome's Esquiline Hill
* Faith, Hope, Charity and Wisdom, martyrs (?) - Wisdom was the mother of
the other three
* Aled, Eiluned or Almedha, virgin and martyr (sixth century) - Giraldus
Cambrensis said that on this feast, in a church near Brecon, people would
pantomime, as in a trance, work they had sinfully done on great feasts;
when these people were then led into the church and brought to the altar
with offerings, they would come to their senses again - any other feasts
out there with a tradition of trance?
* Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester (984) - malcontents found him to be
'terrible as a lion', but the good-willed considered him 'more gentle than
a dove'
Carolyn Muessig
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