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Today, 3 September, is the feast of ... * Phoebe (first century) - at end of letter to the Romans, Paul says: 'And I commend you to Phoebe, our sister, who is in the ministry of the church that is in Cenchrae, that you receive her in the Lord as becometh saints and that you assist her in whatsoever business she shall have need of you' - the Bollandists refute the allegation that she had been Paul's wife * Macanisius or Aengus MacNisse, bishop (514) - for the convenience of his monks, he miraculously changed the course of the river Curi; he also saved the life of the child who was to become St Colman of Kilruaidh * Simeon Stylites the Younger (592) - from 'before he had lost his first teeth', Simeon lived on isolated rocks and pillars for almost all his life * Remaclus, bishop (c. 675) - directed the double abbey of Stavelot and Malmedy in Ardenne; had a wide cult in Belgium * Aigulf, martyr (c. 676) - when, as newly appointed abbot of Lerins, he tried to impose order on the less virtuous monks, they called on some local soldiers to kidnap Aigulf, whom they then murdered * Hildelitha or Hildilid, abbess of Barking, virgin (c. 717) - a young Anglo-Saxon princess, she went to France where she took the veil; she returned to aid her sister St Ethelburga in running the new convent at Barking (and succeeded her as abbess); St Aldhelm dedicated to her a metrical treatise on virginity, Bede clearly admired her, and St Boniface mentioned that she had confided to him a vision she had experienced * Cuthburga, abbess of Wimborne, widow (c. 725) - a novice under Hildelitha at Barking, she later founded (together with her sister St Quenburga) the abbey of Wimborne, where no men were allowed to set foot * Guala, bishop of Brescia (1244) - a disciple of Dominic, he had a vision of this leader's death at the very moment it took place; the third antiphon at Lauds in the office of Dominic refers to this: 'Scala caelo prominens fratri revelatur, per quam pater transiens sursum ferebatur' -- and when it was first sung, after Dominic's 1234 canonization, Guala himself precented this antiphon * Andrea da Borgo San Sepolcro (1315) - Andrea Dotti joined the Servites after hearing St Philip Benizi preach; himself a great preacher, he predicted the day of his death, when even though in good health, he was found dead where he had been praying on a rock where he would often preach to his brethren * * * * * * * * * * George Ferzoco %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%