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Today, 7 July, is the feast of ... * Pantaenus (c. 200) - once a Stoic philosopher, he became head of the Alexandria catechetical school; Eusebius says he had been a missionary to India, where he met Christians who had been converted thanks to the apostle Bartholomew; nicknamed 'the Sicilian bee' * Palladius, bishop (432) - persuaded St Germain d'Auxerre to preach in Britain against Pelagianism; was himself eventually sent by Pope Celestine I * Felix, bishop of Nantes (582) - this is actually the feast of the translation of his relics; he died on 6 January (note to Graham Jones: a six-month interval, almost) * Ethelburga, Ercongota and Sethrida, virgins (c. 664 and 660) - Ethelburga and Sethrida, half-sisters, were abbesses of abbey of Faremoutier, in the forest of Brie; niece Ercongota was divinely forewarned of her death by a vision of angels * Hedda, bishop of Winchester (705) - at his tomb, people would come to his tomb with dirt, mix it with water, and sprinkle the mixture on sick men and animals * Cyril and Methodius (869 and 884) - brothers, natives of Thessalonika, venerated as apostles of the southern Slavs and fathers of Slavonic literary culture * Benedict XI, pope (1304) - when his mother came to visit him at the papal court, he refused to welcome her until she changed out of her fancy clothes purchased for the occasion, into her everyday attire * * * * * * * * * George Ferzoco %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%