Today, 12 March, is the feast of ...
* Maximilian, martyr (295)
- in Numidia, he was martyred for refusing to be a soldier
* Peter, Gorgonius and Dorotheus, martyrs (303)
- officials in Diocletian's household, they were tortured and martyred by their
boss (and you think *you* have a terrible boss!)
* Paul Aurelian (c. 573)
- bishop of Leon, his feast is observed in Quimper and at the monastery on Caldey
* Gregory the Great (604)
- pope, doctor of the church... an impressive resume
Famous story: when walking through the market, he asked the nationality of some
fair-skinned boys for sale. Told they were Angli, he said, 'They are well named,
for they have angelic faces and it becomes such to be companions with the angels
in heaven.'
As Julia Bolton Holloway pointed out, "On the earliest life of St Gregory the
Great, written by a monk or nun at Whitby, A.D. 731, you might look at the
Juliansite (http://members.aol.com/juliansite/Juliansite.htm). It was first
edited from a St Gall manuscript by Cardinal Aidan Gasquet. I also have a
hard-copy version of it giving reproductions of the manuscript pages. Boith
versions give the Latin and the English. The text precedes that of Bede and is
likely his souce.
* Theophanes the Chronicler, abbot (817)
- after building two monasteries, he got into trouble due to his support of the
use and veneration of sacred images; scourged 300 times, imprisoned for two
years, he was finally banished to an island, where he died shortly after
his arrival there
* Alphege, bishop of Winchester (951)
- known as Alphege the Elder or the Bald, he lived before Alphege the Martyr, and
had less hair than him too
* Bernard of Capua, bishop of Caleno (1109)
- confessor to Duke Richard II, son of prince Jordan of Capua
* Fina or Serafina, virgin (1253)
- patron of San Gimignano, deemed a saint by locals for her perfect resignation
in accepting bodily suffering; in a vision, Gregory the Great told her she would
die on his feast day... and she did
- people in this area of Tuscany have named the white violets which bloom at this
time after their patron
* Giustina of Arezzo, virgin (1319)
- Benedictine nun, she later became a hermit near Arezzo
* Nicholas Owen, martyr (1606)
- noted for his skill in devising hiding places for priests (but evidently not
for himself)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
George Ferzoco tel ++ 44 (0)116 252 2654
Director of Studies for Italian fax ++ 44 (0)116 252 3633
University of Leicester e-mail [log in to unmask]
School of Modern Languages
LEICESTER LE1 7RH UNITED KINGDOM
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