Today, 16 February, is the feast of ...
* Onesimus, martyr (first century)
- a slave, he was converted by St Paul, and served him as a
letter bearer (including letters to Philemon and the
Colossians)
* Juliana, virgin and martyr (c. 305?)
- tortured by a prefect she had refused to marry, she was
imprisoned, had a debate with the Devil, and then was
burned and boiled before having her head cut off
-very popular medieval cult, especially in Campania
* Elias, Jeremy and companions, martyrs (309)
- Elias and four companions were killed after they visited
Christian prisoners in Cilicia; a servant named Porphyry
tried to bury their bodies and he was killed; a witness to
these proceedings, named Seleucus, applauded Porphyry's
fortitude, so he was killed
* Gilbert of Sempringham (1189)
- founder of the Gilbertine Order, the only order of
English origin; died at age of 106, and was canonized in
1202
* Filippa Mareri, virgin (1236)
- after a miracle-filled youth, she escaped marriage by
going into the mountains of Abruzzo and living with some
other women as solitaries, under a rule similar to that of
St Claire
* Verdiana or Viridiana, virgin (c. 1240)
- after returning from a pilgrimage to Compostela, she
lived for thirty-four years in a cell in the Val d'Elsa;
she was so famous that she was visited by St Francis of
Assisi
* Eustochium of Messina, virgin (1468)
- her mother, a countess, gave birth to her in a stable, on
a account of advice given her by a stranger; the young girl
was beautiful and pious, and grew up to become a Franciscan
nun and eventually founded, with her mother, a convent
* Bernardo Scammacca (1486)
- a Dominican wonder-worker, after his death he appeared to
his prior, telling him that he deserved to be buried in a
more honourable resting-place; when translated, his remains
were found to be incorrupt; later, when thieves tried to
steal his remains, they were incapable of lifting his body
from the ground
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Carolyn Muessig
Deparment of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
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