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Today, 9 January, is the feast of ... * Marciana, virgin and martyr (c. 303) - thrown into the amphitheatre of Caesarea in Mauritania, she was first beaten with clubs before a gladiator tried to have his way with her, but she not only remained chaste but converted the gladiator; eventually she was killed by a wild bull and a leopard * Julian and Basilissa and companions, martyrs (304?) - this couple lived a chaste marriage, and converted their house into a hospital * Peter, bishop of Sebastea (391) - son of St Basil the Elder and St Emmelia, grandson of Macrina the Elder, brother of St Basil the Great, St Gregory of Nyssa and St Macrina; much of his work as bishop was devoted to fighting Arianism in his diocese * Waningus or Vaneng (c. 683) - governor of the area of Normandy called Pays de Caux, he was converted to a religious life after a vision of St Eulalia of Barcelona telling him 'it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved' * Adrian, abbot of Canterbury (710) - an African by birth, he was abbot of Nerida (near Naples) before being sent by pope St Vitalian to Canterbury, where he taught Greek and Latin to students who came from all over the British isles * Berhtwald or Brithwald, archbishop of Canterbury (731) - bishop for thirty-seven years, a letter he received from Waldhere, bishop of London, is the first extant letter from one Englishman to another * Alix Le Clercq, virgin (1622) - co-founder of the Augustinian Canonesses Regular of the Congregation of Our Lady *************** Carolyn Muessig Department of Theology and Religious Studies University of Bristol 3 Woodland Road Bristol BS8 1TB UK fax: +44.117.929.7850 phone: +44.117.928.8168 [log in to unmask]