Today, 15 January, is the feast of ...
* Paul the Hermit (342)
- known as 'the first hermit', he lived to the age of 113 years; for
the last seventy years of his life, he lived on bread brought to him
in the desert, daily, by a raven
* Macarius the Elder (390)
- he only lived to be ninety years old, after sixty years in the
desert
* Isidore of Alexandria (404)
- ANOTHER desert ascetic; denounced by Jerome, he ended his days by
taking refuge with John Chrysostom in Constantinople
* John Calybites (c. 450)
- after leaving his rich family's home for a few years, he returned
to live next to it in a hut, disguised as a beggar, until the point
of death; proved to his still-living mother that he was her son by
producing the gold-bound book of gospels she had given him as a boy
* Ita, virgin (c. 570)
- founded a school, attended by the later-to-be traveller, St Brendan
* Maurus, abbot (sixth century)
- assisted St Benedict at Subiaco; obeying his abbot's command, he
ran to save a drowning boy, named Placid; only after he had saved the
lad did he realize that he had run across the water to save him
* Bonitus or Bonet, bishop of Clermont (706)
- not sure that his election to the bishopric was licit, he resigned,
and became a hermit at Solignac
* Ceolwulf (760?)
- Bede dedicated his *Ecclesiastical History* to him
* Peter of Castelnau, martyr (1208)
- a Cistercian, sent by pope Innocent III to combat the Albigensians,
he was murdered by one of them
***************
Carolyn Muessig
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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