Today, 2 September, is the feast of ...
* Antoninus, martyr (fourth century)
- a Syrian stonemason, killed by angry pagans while he was
building a Christian church; his relics were translated to Palencia in
Spain, of which he is the patron
* Castor, bishop of Apt (c. 425)
- Cassian dedicated the *De institutis coenobiorum* to him
* Agricolus, bishop of Avignon (seventh century)
- cult began in the sixteenth century, he became patron of Avignon
in 1647; invoked there to bring changes in the weather
* Stephen of Hungary (1038)
- he would disguise himself before going among the poor to do good works;
pope Gregory VII ordered that his relics by translated to a chapel within
the Buda church dedicated to Mary
* William, bishop of Roskilde (c. 1070)
- chaplain to king Canute; named in Danish calendars, but has
never had a liturgical feast in his honour
* Margaret of Louvain, virgin and martyr (1225?)
- described by Caesarius of Heisterbach in the sixth book of his
*Dialogue on Miracles*; her murdered body was found with the help of a
supernatural light and angelic voices; buried in a special chapel in the
churchyard of St Peter's collegiate church at Louvain
* Brocard or Burchard (1231?)
- last year we asked list member Paul Chandler to tell us more about
Brocard who was head of the hermits of Mount Carmel at the time that pope
Honorius III confirmed their rule (thanks to a vision of the Virgin Mary)
in 1226
Paul kindly responded with the following informative profile:
Almost nothing is known of "Brocard" it's not much of an achievement.
"Brocard" is a later solution of the abbreviation "B." in the rule or
formula vitae which the Latin hermits on Mount Carmel requested from
Albert of Vercelli, patriarch of Jerusalem, sometime between 1206 and
1214: it is addressed to "dilectis in Christo filiis B. et ceteris
eremitis qui sub eius obedientia iuxta fontem in monte Carmeli morantur".
That's about it for what we know of "Brocard": his name started with B.
and in those years he was leader of the group of hermits which became the
Carmelite order. He was never considered its founder. It's not certain
that he was still around in 1226, _pace_ Butler, for Honorius III's
confirmation does not mention any names.
It's possible of course that the later works which give his name
preserve a genuine memory. Joachim Smet, author of the now standard
history of the Carmelites, seems to think so. However, his name doesn't
appear on the scene until the late 14th century (John Grossi, John of
Hildesheim, Catalogus sanctorum); his legend is developed only in the
second half of the 15th century (Thomas Bradley, Palaeonydorus, Arnold
Bostius). Medieval Carmelites had much experience of invention and are
probably not to be trusted even in so simple a matter as his name, not to
mention the like of his papal embassy to Damascus, the healing of the
vice-sultan of Egypt of leprosy and his baptism in the Jordan, etc.
His cult was not prescribed till 1564, removed again in 1585,
reintroduced in 1609, and has now again been suppressed.
Sometime I mean to send in an annotated bibliography on the
Carmelites, if anyone is interested, because so much of what is written is
either misleading or wrong. On Carmelite saints the most reliable source
is _Santi del Carmelo_, ed. Ludovico Saggi, Rome: Institutum Carmelitanum,
1972, (which draws largely from articles previously published in the
Bibliotheca Sanctorum, some of which are corrected or expanded). Saggi
also contributed a very important and unfortunately little-noticed
introduction, "Agiografia carmelitana", which is indispensable for studies
of the early Carmelites in general and Carmelite hagiography in
particular. (Yes, we are interested! An annotated bibliography would be
much appreciated!)
Carolyn Muessig
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