Today, 25 March, is the feast of ...
* the Annunciation
- also known as Lady Day, the first known commemoration of
this feast is to be found in the statutes of Sonnatius,
bishop of Reims (c. 625)
Last year Rosanne Elder provided us with this informative information
regarding the feast of the Annunciation:
The feast of the Annunciation except when, as this year, it falls in
Holy Week and must be transferred to the first available open day, i.e.
7 April, beyond the octave of Easter. Life and calendars are sometimes
more complex than they seem.....
* The Good Thief (c. 29)
- much has been said about this figure, the first Christian
saint ('This day shalt thou be with me in paradise'),
recently on the list; thanks to Kathleen (for posing the
question, and being so nice), Martin, Karen, Shannon, Tom,
Jim, Dom Anselm, Otfried, Alasdair, Christoph, Gretchen,
Dennis, Clinton, and Daron: your contributions not only
were instructive and interesting in themselves, but led to
other great discussions, such as the mechanics and
representation of crucifixion, and the cult of St Joseph
* Barontius (c. 695?)
- after suffering a terrible vision (including being shown
the torments of Hell and waiting in Purgatory), he left his
abbey of Lonray in Berry, and went on pilgrimage to Rome;
settled as a hermit near Pistoia, with a companion named
Desiderius
* Hermenland, abbot (c. 720)
- as a child, he was cup-bearer to king Clotaire III; left
the court to become a monk, then led a community on the
island of Aindre in the Loire estuary
* Alfwold, bishop of Sherborne (c. 1058)
- succeeded his brother Bertwin as bishop; spread devotion
to St Swithun throughout Dorsetshire
* Thomasius (1337)
- a Camaldolese hermit, he found the life too easy for him,
so he got permission to live in a cave (once supposedly
inhabited by Jerome)
* Margaret Clitherow, martyr (1586)
- visitors to York can see the house in the Little Shambles
where she lived for some time, and the dormer window at the
Black Swan, which she hired as a mass-house; she was pressed to death
* James Bird, martyr (1593)
- died as a nineteen-year-old layman, hanged, drawn and
quartered in Winchester
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
