Today, 11 February, is the feast of ...
* Saturninus, Dativus and companions, martyrs (304)
- arrested in Abitina, this group (including Saturninus the
priest and his family, and Dativus the senator) was sent to
Carthage, where they died in prison
* Lucius, bishop of Adrianople, martyr (350)
- exiled from his see by the more powerful Arians, he met
in Rome fellow exiles St Paul of Constantinople and St
Athanasius; the latter wrote on several occasions of
Lucius's constancy and courage before dying in prison
* Lazarus, bishop of Milan (c. 450)
- apparently, he was the first to introduce Rogationtide
litanies
* Severinus, abbot (507)
- on a trip to Paris from his monastery of Agaunum, he
healed of various ailments both Eulalius, bishop of Nevers,
and king Clovis; on way back home, he was recognized as a
holy man by people who had never seen him before
* Caedmon (c. 680)
- 'the father of English sacred poetry', his feast was
celebrated in the abbey of Whitby on this day
* Gregory II, pope (731)
- after rising through the ranks from subdeacon to the
pope's treasurer and librarian, he himself became pope in
715; he was involved in many building programmes, such as
the re-erection of a great part of Rome's walls, the
construction of a hospital for old men, and the conversion
of his late mother's house into the monastery of St Agatha
* Benedict of Aniane, abbot (821)
- as a youth he served king Pepin and his son Charlemagne
as cupbearer; after converted to the eremitical and
monastic life, he re-entered the royal sphere of influence
when he was obliged to live in monasteries close to where
lived the emperor Louis the Pious; did much textual work on
monastic rules
* Paschal I, pope (824)
- known for his attempts to fight iconoclasm, and for
translating the remains of many martyrs from the catacombs
into churches; a small portrait of him exists in a mosaic
in the Roman church of Santa Maria della Navicella
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Carolyn Muessig
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
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