Today, 3 November, is the feast of ...
* Winifred or Gwenfrewi, virgin and martyr (c. 650)
- fleeing from a chieftan from Hawarden, he caught up to her and sliced
off her head; he was swallowed up by the earth on the spot, and where
her head fell there arose a stream with red-streaked pebbles (St
Winifred's Well); this site became extremely popular for pilgrims (as
late as 1774, Dr Johnson saw people bathing there)
Last Madeleine Gray provided the following information:
St Winifred's well (at Holywell in north-east Wales) claims to be the
only British shrine where public pilgrimage has continued uninterrupted since
the Reformation. Some of the Gunpowder conspirators went there on
pilgrimage, and James II went there to pray for a son. (Win some, lose
some ..) It is currently the nearest I have seen in Britain to the exuberance
of continental shrines like Lourdes and Fatima. Pilgrims arrive there in
coachloads and fling themselves into the water, and there are a number
of stories of miraculous cures.
And Bill East added:
That's very interesting. It depends, I suppose, how you define
'public'. Another shrine where pilgrimage continued would be the Lady
Chapel at Mount Grace, Osmotherley, N. Yorks. Catherine of Arragon
retired here after being put out to grass by Henry VIII, and it has
been in Catholic hands ever since. Owing to its remote location
(before the construction of the A19) it was difficult to police it, but
occasionally people were arrested for coming there on pilgrimage. When
John Wesley visited Osmotherley, he stayed with the Franciscan friars
who were then looking after the shrine; and apparently got on very
well with them. Incidentally Wesley also visited Walsingham, and
bewailed the neglect into which it had fallen, maintaining that this
was a sign of the decline of religion in England.
It happens that I was handed the other day some literature about a
Millenium [sic] Pilgrimage to the shrines of Our Lady and St Winefride.
Naturally, it includes Holy Well, of which it says:
"The very ancient Shrine of Saint Winefride who died as a martyr to
protect her virginity from Caradoc a local chieftain who, unable to
seduce her, cut off her head. St Beuno her uncle it is said by
tradition raised her to life again. Where her head fell a spring of
water came up and since then to this day we have ST WINEFRIDE'S WELL.
"So many people over the centuries have come to this well, many
miracles have been attributed to St Winefride. Many past Kings,
Queens, Bishops and Abbots, Religious and Laity have made pilgrimage to
Holywell. It is one of the most ancient of Shrines in England and
Wales. Guess who tried to destroy it? Yes, the dreaded Henry! The
Jesuits looked after the Shrine in Penal times through a Public house
in the village!"
* Rumwald (seventh century?)
- born to the royal house of Northumbria; when soon after his birth he
was baptized by a bishop, the baby pronounced his own profession of
faith, and died soon afterward (but not before preaching to his
parents)
* Hubert, bishop of Liege (727)
- founder of the city and diocese of Liege
- with St Eustace, he is the patron saint of hunters, and is invoked
against rabies
* Pirminus, bishop (753)
- traditionally regarded as founder of abbey of Reichenau, on an island
in Lake Constance -- the oldest Benedictine house in Germany
* Amicus (c. 1045)
- a secular priest of Camerino, he became a solitary in Abruzzo before
joining the monastery of Fonte Avellana (recently founded by St Dominic
of Sora)
* Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh (1148)
- a close friend of Bernard of Clairvaux, he died in the abbot's arms;
canonized by Clement III in 1190 (first canonized Irishman)
- supposed author of a hilariously bad set of prophecies regarding the
popes from his days to the end of time; according to the prophecies,
there are only two more popes to come
* Alpais, virgin (1211)
- born in diocese of Orleans, she was unable to move; yet, she was so
holy and fasted so much (drinking nothing and eating only the
Eucharist),
the archbishop William of Sens arranged for a church to be built next to
her lodging
- her hagiographer was a Cistercian monk who knew her personally
* Ida of Toggenburg, matron (1226)
- although the great Bollandist scholar Delehaye says that all we know
about Ida is that she was buried at Fischingen and her anniversary was
kept there on this day, she was the subject of an interesting 'romance'
with the 'happy ending' of her living in a cave for 17 years before
telling her husband she really did not want to see him, upon which she
joined a nunnery at Fischingen
* Simon of Rimini (1319)
- Dominican laybrother who acted as gardener; walked through the streets
of Rimini holding a cross and calling the children to catechism; big on
self-discipline with an iron chain
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
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]
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