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Today, 23 December, is the feast of ... * Theodulus, Saturninus and others, martyrs in Crete (c. 250) * Victoria, virgin and martyr (253) - following the exhortations of her friend St Anatolia, she refused to marry a pagan * Migdonius, Mardonius, and others, martyrs at Nicomedia (303) * Servulus, confessor (590) - a beggar afflicted with palsy from infancy, he lived in the porch of St Clement's church in Rome, where he would preach to passers-by; when people gathered around him at his death bed and sang hymns, he sang along with them until he said, 'Be quiet now, I hear sweet music from heaven!', at which point he died * Mazota or Mayota, virgin (seventh century) - a contemporary of St Columba, she lived in a church at Abernethy, where the Irish king and all his family were baptized * Ivo, confessor (1115) - bishop of Chartres, and great canonist * Thorlac, confessor (1193) - apparently, the remains of his body in Skalholt cathedral show his skeleton to be normal except for the skull; according to Baring-Gould, this is in fact a coconut * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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]