Today, 14 January, is the feast of ...
* Felix of Nola (c. 260)
- survived the persecution of Decius with the help of an
angel; once, he escaped from enemies through a hole in a
wall, which was instantly closed up with spiders' webs
- one of the earliest non-martyr saints
* Macrina the Elder, widow (c. 340)
- mentioned several times in the letters of her grandson,
St Basil the Great
* Barbasymas and companions, martyrs (346)
- imprisoned for almost a year, they were executed by order
of king Sapor II
* Hilary of Poitiers, doctor of the Church (c. 368)
- born a pagan, he converted by meditating on the absurdity
of polytheism, and on the essence of the words 'I AM WHO
AM'
* Martyrs of Mount Sinai (fourth century)
- thirty-eight solitaries who were put to death by a troop
of Arabians
* Datius, bishop of Milan (552)
- bishop for 22 years, he is described by Gregory the Great
as expelling the devil from a house he was haunting (an
early exorcism?)
* Kentigern or Mungo, bishop in Strathclyde (603)
- patron of Glasgow, he died while taking a hot bath
* Odo of Novara (1200)
- a Carthusian monk, whose process of canonization did not
lead to a formal declaration of a universal cult to him;
referred to himself as 'a bag of putrid flesh'; not much
fun at parties
* Sava, archbishop of the Serbs (1237)
- a very gentle monk who translated books into Serbian, he
became archbishop in 1222; the patron of Serbia, he died
with a smile on his face
* Ruggiero da Todi (1237)
- entered the Order of Friars Minor at the hands of St
Francis; became spiritual director of a community of nuns
in Rieti
* Odoric of Pordenone (1331)
- after life as a hermit, he travelled to China, India and
Borneo as a missionary
* Giles of Lorenzana (1518)
- lived in solitude near a shrine to Mary, but due to
crowds of admirers he retreated back into society, first as
a farmer's helper, then as a Franciscan lay-brother
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Carolyn Muessig
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|