 |
 |
Today, 25 December, is the feast of ... * the Nativity of Jesus - it is not until the reign of pope Liberius in the mid-fourth century that we hear of this feast being celebrated generally * Eugenia, virgin and martyr at Alexandria (258) * Martyrs at Nicomedia (303) - several thousand Christians were assembled on the feast of the Nativity when Diocletian ordered the doors of the church to be closed, and the building to be burned to the ground - but as the feast was not celebrated in this place until well after the time of Diocletian, we know this to be an inaccurate tale (yet it is told just the same) * Anastasia the Younger, martyr (304) - devoted to imprisoned Christians, she herself was deported with them to the island of Palmaria, where she was stretched to posts stuck in the earth, her hands and feet extended like a St Andrew's cross, and a fire lighted around her which soon consumed her * Adalsendis, virgin (c. 678) - youngest daughter of St Adalbald and St Rictudis, she entered the convent of Marchiennes in Hainault with her mother, and died soon afterward on 25 December; her mother restrained her tears for her beloved until the Feast of the Innocents, lest her sorrow mar the solemnity of the Nativity * Peter the Venerable, abbot (1156) - a venerable abbot named Peter, who headed the monastery of Cluny for thirty-four years * Fulk of Toulouse, confessor (1231) - born in Genova, he was a minstrel until he joined the Cistercians, and then was named bishop of Toulouse, becoming known as 'the minstrel bishop'; highly esteemed by contemporaries for his preaching * Jacopone da Todi (1306) - member of the Spiritual Franciscans, and author of many hymns and 'laude'; reputed to have written the *Stabat Mater dolorosa* and *Stabat Mater speciosa* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%