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Today, 26 January, is the feast of ... * Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, martyr (155?) - a disciple of John the Evangelist (a.k.a. the Divine), and teacher of St Irenaeus, he was a hater of heretics (example: on meeting the heretic Marcion in the streets of Rome, Polycarp ignored him; Marcion, offended, called out, 'Do you not know who I am?', to which Polycarp replied, 'Yes, I know you, the first-born of Satan') - the *acta* of his martyrdom were widely known throughout the Christian world * Paula, widow (404) - mother of St Blesilla (see FEAST 22 January), friend of St Marcella, she cared for material well-being of St Jerome: not an easy task, looking after the curmudgeon of the century! -- no wonder she's considered a saint :-) * Conan, bishop (seventh century?) - teacher of St Fiacre, preacher in Man and the Hebrides * Alberic, abbot of Citeaux (1109) - co-founder of the Cistercian Order, with Robert of Molesmes and Stephen Harding * Eystein Erlandsson, archbishop of Nidaros (Trondheim) (1188) - second archbishop of this see, he wrote a *vita* of St Olaf, and oversaw the first royal coronation in Norwegian history (that of the eight-year-old king Magnus) * Margaret of Hungary, virgin (1270) - daughter of king Bela IV of Hungary, she was consecrated at age twelve by Humbert of Romans, and moved into a convent on an island in the Danube near Buda; her fanatical penances and self-deprivations, as well as her ecstasies, brought her great fame * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%