Today 15 July is the feast of ...
James, bishop of Nisbis, (338)
Barhadbesaba, martyr (355): Martyr of the persecutions carried against
Christians in Persia. While being martyred his torturers continually
cried out to him: "Worship fire and water, and eat the blood of beasts,
and you shall be set at liberty."
Donald (eight century): All that is recorded about Donald is that he
lived at Ogilvy in Forfarshire, that his wife bore him nine daughters,
and that on her death they formed a sort of community who led the
religious life under his direction.
Swithun, bishop of Winchester (862): William of Malmesbury says that
this good bishop was treasury of all virtues, and those in which he took
most delight in were humility and charity to the poor.
In regard to Swithun, Deborah J. Shepherd wrote a few years ago:
When I was excavating in Winchester, I heard the story that Bishop
Swithun had asked to be buried out in the open so he could feel the sun
and rain on his grave, but the community couldn't bear it. They had to
bury him inside the cathedral. In his consternation, St. Swithun the
deceased caused it to rain for 40 days, and so, people say, if it rains
on St. Swithun's Day in Winchester, it will rain for 40 days. It did
rain the summer I was there, and we spent at least a week in the lab
cleaning artifacts and waiting for the weather to clear.
Athanasius, bishop of Naples (872)
Edith of Polesworth (tenth century?)
Vladimir of Kiev (1015): The circumstances of this prince's conversion
to Christianity have been debated; but converted he was, probably in the
year 989, when he was about thirty-two, and he then received in marriage
Anne, daughter of the emperor Basil II at Constantinople - the two
events were closely connected. And the conversion of the Russian people
is dated from then.
Henry the Emperor (1024): Henry II was son of Henry, Duke of Bavaria,
and Gisela of Burgundy, and was born in 972. He was canonized by Pope
Eugenius III in 1146, and Pope Pius X declared him the patron of
Benedictine oblates.
David of Munktorp, bishop (1080): An English monk who desired to be
martyred. When he heard about the death of St Sigfrid's three nephews,
he offered himself to the English mission in Sweden. David, however, was
not martyred, instead he lived a long life as an evangelizers in Sweden.
Bernard of Baden, 1458
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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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