Today, 17 March, is the feast of ...
* Joseph of Arimathea (first century)
- supposedly made his way to England after helping out at
the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
* Martyrs of the Serapeum (390)
- commemorates those who died when non-Christians, enraged
by the news that their Alexandrian temple of Serapis was to
be destroyed, set out to kill local Christians in revenge
* Patrick (461)
- did you know he was born in Avonmouth, now a part of
Bristol? It's a Bristol Fact!
- also known for clearing snakes out of some island to the
west of his birthplace :-)
Bill East added this bit of information:
>Actually he tells us that he hailed from Bannavem Taberniae; the only
problem is that we don't know where Bannavem Taberniae is. Muirchu, who
wrote his life, proudly announces that 'we have discovered for certain
and beyond any doubt that this township is Ventre.' The only problem is,
we don't know where Ventre is either. I did an assembly at our
(Catholic) parish school yesterday, and asked what the children knew
about Patrick. They knew that he was the patron saint of Ireland; but
why, I asked, had the Irish made him their patron saint? One thought
that it was because he had a four-leaf clover; another, because he had
driven the snakes out of Ireland - false, actually, because the absence
of serpents in Ireland had been noted long before the time of Patrick.
Only with difficulty did we establish that he had converted the Irish to
the Christian faith.
* Agricola, bishop of Chalon-sur-Saone (580)
- his friend Gregory of Tours wrote that Agricola (or
Aregle) never dined, and only broke his fast in the
evening, when he ate (while standing) a small amount of
food
* Gertrude of Nivelles, virgin (659)
- patron of travellers, due to her care for pilgrims and to
a miraculous rescue at sea of some of her monks, who
invoked her name in a moment of great danger
* Paul of Cyprus (c. 760)
- given the choice of trampling on an image of Jesus or
being tortured and killed, Paul chose the latter
* John Sarkander (1620)
- killed by Hussites for not revealing secrets of the
confessional; he declared: 'I know nothing, and nothing has
been entrusted to me in the holy sacrament of penance.
Anything that may ever have been confided to me in that way
is not retained in my memory. I have buried it in oblivion
out of veneration for the inviolable seal of confession,
and I would choose, with God's help, rather to be torn in
pieces than sacrilegiously to violate the seal of
confession.'
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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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