Today, 20 October, is the feast of ...
* Caprasius, martyr (third century?)
- first bishop of Agen; witnessed passion of Ste Foy (Faith), then
asked the prefect, Dacian, for her body; Dacian, impressed with the
bishop's good looks and youth, offered him rewards and favours if he
would apostatize; refusing, he and three others (including Foy's sister
Alberta) were beheaded
* Artemius, martyr (363)
- interesting case: imperial prefect of Egypt, on behalf of the
Arian emperor Constantius he attacked both the orthodox and the pagans;
when Julian the Apostate became emperor, the persecutor became the
persecuted, and was beheaded
* Acca, bishop of Hexham (740)
- according to Bede, Acca (in accompanying Wilfrid to Rome)
'learned many useful things about the government of Holy Church which he
could not have learned in his own country'; he formed a library, devoted
largely to lives of confessors (he also assiduously searched for their
relics); reputed to be a good singer
* Andrew of Crete, martyr (766)
- during the torture of some orthodox Christians, Andrew went up
to the emperor Constantine V and protested; Constantine called him an
idolater; Andrew called him a heretic; Constantine arranged for various
tortures until he died
* John of Kanti, confessor (1473)
- lecturer at University of Krakow, he once saw a beggar go by
while he was eating, and rushed out to give him his food, but when he
returned to his table he found his plate again full; this was
commemorated for many years in the university by a ritual involving the
feeding of a poor man
- at least until recently, was the only non-episcopal confessor
who had different hymns for Matins, Lauds and Vespers in the Roman
Breviary
**************
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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