Today, 1 September, is the feast of ...
* Aegidius or Giles, abbot (date unknown)
- according to the very popular legend (dating from the tenth
century), Giles was an Athenian by birth, who escaped the fame his
sanctity brought on him by fleeing to Marseilles; eventually, he became a
hermit who lived in a cave, at times in the company of a hind who would
hide from the King's huntsmen; the king eventually discovered this, and
induced Giles to found an abbey
- he died on a Sunday, 1 September, 'leaving the world sadder for
his bodily absence but giving joy in Heaven by his happy arrival'
* the Twelve Brothers, martyrs (date unknown)
- natives of Hadrumetum in proconsular Africa, children of saints
Boniface and Thecla (their feast was on 30 August), they were martyred
over four days in Puglia; relics translated to church of St Sophia in
Benevento
* Verena, virgin (date unknown)
- honoured throughout the Swiss Alps, where she spent her time
caring for the cleanliness of the area's peasants; she is portrayed
holding a comb and a bowl
* Lupus or Leu, bishop of Sens (623)
- one day, while singing Mass, a precious stone dropped
miraculously into the chalice; the Bobby Bittman of his times (now *there*
is an obscure reference for you), he lost a ring in the water, but it was
recovered in the belly of a fish
* Fiacre or Fiachra (670?)
- invoked against venereal diseases; patron of gardeners and of
Parisian taxi drivers; relics at Meaux are still visited (in fact the
shrine was particularly popular in the seventeenth century)
* Sebbe (c. 694)
- co-king of the East Saxons, he became a monk; buried in the
north wall of old St Paul's; named in the Roman Martyrology on 29 August,
but his feast is kept today in the diocese of Brentwood
* Drithelm (c. 700)
- was known to stand in the icy river Tweed reciting his office;
had mystical experiences
* John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato, martyrs (1231)
- sent by Francis of Assisi to preach in Valencia, where they were
beheaded while praying for the conversion of the emir; seven years later,
he not only converted but he gave his house to the Franciscans for use as
a friary (it is surely a coincidence that by that time, the emir was
subject to the king of Aragon, James I the Conqueror)
* Joan Soderini, virgin (1367)
- a Florentine noble who joined St Juliana Falconieri in the house
of the third order regular of the Servites; known for her gift of prophecy
and her predilection for performing the most distasteful tasks
* * * * * * * * * *
George Ferzoco
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