Today, 29 March, is the feast of ...
* Jonas and Barachisius, martyrs (327)
- under the reign of Persian king Sapor, the two underwent
many tortures and punishments; the one the worked on Jonas:
being squeezed in a wooden press until his veins burst;
Barachisius finally was killed by having hot pitch and
brimstone poured into his mouth
* Mark, bishop, and Cyril, martyr (c. 365)
- Mark was bishop of Arethusa, and tortured by being
covered in honey and placed in a cage suspended in the
midday sun, so that he would be covered with wasps and
gnats; he resisted so serenely that he was released; Cyril
wasn't so lucky, as his innards were ripped open and his
liver eaten.
* Armogastes, Archinimus and Saturus, martyrs (c. 455)
- victims of Vandal king Genseric
* Gundleus and Gwladys (sixth century)
- he was a chieftain of south-east Wales, she was his wife;
they were converted to Christianity by their son, St Cadoc,
and then lived as hermits
* Rupert, bishop (c. 710)
- after preaching throughout Germany, he was made bishop of
Salzburg, where he died on Easter Sunday
* Diemoda or Diemut, virgin (c. 1130)
- friend of the celebrated recluse, Herluka of Epfach, she
in turn lived as a solitary, in a cell adjoining an abbey
church; she passed her time as a scribe: in the monastery
library of Wessobrunn until its secularization, there were
over fifty volumes copied by her (I don't know where these
are now)
* Berthold (c. 1195)
- in Antioch while it was besieged, it is said that
Berthold had a vision in which Jesus told him that the city
was being punished for the sinful ways of its inhabitants;
when Berthold told others of this, they made penance and
were saved from the attackers
- more famously, he is regarded as an inspiring force
behind the Carmelite Order's establishment
* Ludolf, bishop of Ratzeburg (1250)
- a Premonstratensian, as bishop of Ratzeburg he came into
conflict with duke Albert of Sachsen-Lauenberg, who
imprisoned and finally banished him; venerated in Wismar
(in Mecklenburg)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|