Today, 8 September, is the feast of ...
* the Birthday of Mary the Virgin
- feast first mentioned in the West c. 600, in the Auxerre
*Hieronymianum*; for legends of her birthplace, see *Analecta
Bollandiana* 62 (1944) 272-273
* Adrian and Natalia, martyrs (c. 304)
- Adrian was a pagan officer moved to convert when he witnessed
the torture of 23 Christians; his wife Natalia, to spare her husband
having to see others being killed, actually helped the executioners
carry out their task; she took away his severed hand as a relic, and
travelled to the Christian community in Argyropolis, where she died a
peaceful death.
* Eusebius, Nestabus, Zeno and Nestor, martyrs (c. 362)
- the first three were brothers, and Nestor was a fellow Christian
martyred in Gaza; all were made famous by the brothers' relative, also
named Zeno, when he eventually was made bishop in the reign of
Theodosius
* Disibod (c. 674)
- an Irish bishop, he went to Germany where he founded a monastery
on a hill near Bingen; his vita was written by St Hildegard, based on
her visions
* Sergius I, pope (701)
- after Sergius was elected as pope, the imperial exarch John
extorted a huge sum of money from him; as pope, he ordained that the
Roman church should observe the four feasts of Mary, including her
birthday (which is today -- coincidence?)
* Corbinian, bishop (725)
- early apostle of Bavaria; one day when he met a woman accused of
being a magician, he 'unsympathetically' stole her provisions and beat
her soundly with his own hands; no wonder his hagiographer Aribo says
that Corbinian was a man quick to anger
Last year Rozann Elder also reminded us of the following feast day:
8 September is also the anniversary of the death, and therefore the
liturgical commemoration, in those rare places where he is commemorated
(theoretically the archdiocese of Reims and the Cistercian Order) of
William of Saint Thierry, Benedictine abbot until 1135 and Cistercian
until his death in 1147/1148. This demonstrates the bad luck of dying on
a feast day.
*******************
Dr Carolyn Muessig
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
Bristol BS8 1TB
UK
phone: +44(0)117-928-8168
fax: +44(0)117-929-7850
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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