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Today, 29 March, is the feast of ... * Jonas and Barachisius, martyrs (327) - under the reign of Persian king Sapor, the two underwent many tortures and punishments; the one the worked on Jonas: being squeezed in a wooden press until his veins burst; Barachisius finally was killed by having hot pitch and brimstone poured into his mouth * Mark, bishop, and Cyril, martyr (c. 365) - Mark was bishop of Arethusa, and tortured by being covered in honey and placed in a cage suspended in the midday sun, so that he would be covered with wasps and gnats; he resisted so serenely that he was released; Cyril wasn't so lucky, as his innards were ripped open and his liver eaten. * Armogastes, Archinimus and Saturus, martyrs (c. 455) - victims of Vandal king Genseric * Gundleus and Gwladys (sixth century) - he was a chieftain of south-east Wales, she was his wife; they were converted to Christianity by their son, St Cadoc, and then lived as hermits * Rupert, bishop (c. 710) - after preaching throughout Germany, he was made bishop of Salzburg, where he died on Easter Sunday * Diemoda or Diemut, virgin (c. 1130) - friend of the celebrated recluse, Herluka of Epfach, she in turn lived as a solitary, in a cell adjoining an abbey church; she passed her time as a scribe: in the monastery library of Wessobrunn until its secularization, there were over fifty volumes copied by her (I don't know where these are now) * Berthold (c. 1195) - in Antioch while it was besieged, it is said that Berthold had a vision in which Jesus told him that the city was being punished for the sinful ways of its inhabitants; when Berthold told others of this, they made penance and were saved from the attackers - more famously, he is regarded as an inspiring force behind the Carmelite Order's establishment * Ludolf, bishop of Ratzeburg (1250) - a Premonstratensian, as bishop of Ratzeburg he came into conflict with duke Albert of Sachsen-Lauenberg, who imprisoned and finally banished him; venerated in Wismar (in Mecklenburg) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%