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Today, 3 October, is the feast of... Hesychius, monk (fourth century): Faithful disciple of St Hilarion. Ewald and Ewald, martyrs (695): They were brothers, they were priests, they preached in Westphalia, they were killed by the locals, they are buried in the church of St Cunibert in Cologne, they are named in the Roman Martyrology, they are patrons of Westphalia. One could distinguish them by the colour of their hair (there was 'Dark Ewald' and there was 'Fair Ewald' - they had the same name. Gerard of Brogne, abbot (959): A native of county of Namur, had conversion experience in chapel on his country estate - acquired from monks of Saint-Denis in Paris the relics of St Eugenius (companion of Denis); when bishop of Liege doubted their authenticity, Eugenius himself made the bishop realize he was wrong - after establishing a monastery on his estate, he became abbot at Saint-Ghislain (near Mons); he disciplined monks who had been fundraising by travelling with founder's relics, and exposing them for a fee. He reformed monasteries in Normandy and Flanders; some monks didn't approve, and moved to the abbey of Bath. Froilan, bishop of Leon, and Attilianus, bishop of Zamora (tenth century): Starting out as hermits, they gathered followers into a monastic community at Moreruela in Old Castile - they were promoted to the episcopate together, and consecrated to adjoining sees - legend has it that when a wolf killed the donkey carrying Froilan's luggage, the bishop compelled the wolf to do penance by serving him for many years as a beast of burden. Thomas Cantelupe, bishop of Hereford (1282): He studied at Oxford, Paris and Orleans before being named as chancellor of Oxford in 1262 - tough times at Oxford: students were allowed to carry arms and were divided according to whether they were northerners or southerners; a tough disciplinarian, Thomas acquired a significant armoury by confiscating weapons that had been misused. Rose to be chancellor of the kingdom; dismissed after the death of Simon de Montfort at Evesham, he retired to Paris. Returning to England, he became bishop of Hereford in 1275. In a dispute with John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas was excommunicated; while travelling to see the pope to whom he had appealed. He died after Peckham received certificate of absolution from the pope, he allowed Thomas's body to be buried in Hereford cathedral, which became the most frequented shrine in the west of England - 429 miracles are attested in the process of canonization. Domenico Spadafora, Dominican (1521): Entered Dominican order in Palermo, studied at Padova, headed shrine of Madonna delle Grazie near Monte Cerignone. ********************************** Carolyn Muessig [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%