Today, 23 January, is the feast of ...
* Asclas, martyr (third century?)
- a native of the Thebaid being tortured in prison, he prayed that
the governor declare in writing that the God of the Christians was
the sole God; this did in fact come to pass, but Asclas may not have
counted on the governor to return to his vicious ways: Asclas was
ordered to be burnt in the ribs with torches, then to have a stone
tied around his neck and thrown into the Nile
* Emerentiana, virgin and martyr (c. 304?)
- foster sister of St Agnes, she was stoned two days after Agnes's
martyrdom when found praying at her grave
* Clement and Agathangelus, martyrs (308?)
- Clement was a bishop (from the age of twenty), Agathangelus a
deacon; both were martyred at Ancyra in Galatia
* John the Almsgiver, patriarch of Alexandria (619?)
- took great care of the poor, by ordering the use of just weights
and measures, and forbidding his officers and servants from accept
accepting gifts
* Ildephonsus, archbishop of Toledo (667)
- known for his great piety toward the Virgin Mary, witnessed in his
*De virginitate perpetua sanctae Mariae*
* Bernard, archbishop of Vienne (842)
- after serving in Charlemagne's court, he founded the abbey of
Ambronay and became a monk there; as bishop, he founded the abbey of
Romans, where he was buried
* Lufthildis, virgin (c. 850?)
- suffered under an evil stepmother before becoming a hermit
* Maimbod, martyr (880?)
- an Irishman, he was killed while preaching near Kaltenbrunn
(Alsace)
* Margaret of Ravenna, virgin (1505)
- although supposedly blind from birth, she could manage certain
things quite well, moving her hagiographer to declare: 'This induces
me to believe that, although blind, she saw what she wished to see.'
- inspired Girolamo Maluselli to found the order of Priests of Good
Jesus
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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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