Today, 5 February, is the feast of ...
* Agatha, virgin and martyr (date unknown)
- a great Sicilian beauty who refused the advances of a
consul, who retaliated by ordering that her breasts be
removed; after a vision in which St Peter restored her to a
perfect condition, she was then rolled over hot coals
- co-patron of medieval-religion
* Felicia and Pupaquius (date unknown)
- Sardinian martyrs
* Agrippinus of Alexandria, bishop (180)
- ninth bishop of Alexandria; his cult is widespread among
Coptic Christians
* Fausta, Evilasius and Maximus, martyrs (third century?)
- martyred in the Hellespont, their tale was well known
throughout Christendom (Bede narrates their martyrdom); for a
great image of their martyrdom, see ms. Citta' del Vaticano,
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Gr. 1613, fol. 375
* Isidore of Chios, martyr (c. 251)
- the many different *vitae* and *passiones* of this saint
give witness to the great popularity of his cult throughout
the Mediterranean basin; protector of sailors, as well as an
intrepid soldier-martyr (like St George)
* Domitian (fourth century?)
- according to a legend of the twelfth or thirteenth century,
he was a duke who converted a pagan temple in Millstadt
(Austria) to a Christian church; object of popular regional
cult from the thirteenth to eighteenth centuries
* Theodosius of Rhosos (fourth century)
- after an eremitical youth (during which his hair grew so
long as to be wrapped around his body), he founded a
monastery which was so renowned and respected that even local
brigands asked him to move his community elsewhere, so that
no other bad people could try to pillage the place; he heeded
their advice, and moved his monks to his native city,
Antioch, where he died
* Abraham of Arbela, bishop and martyr (345)
- he succeeded his martyred predecessor John, and was himself
arrested and martyred in the village of Tell-Niaha during the
persecution of Sapor II
* Agricola of Maastricht, bishop (c. 420)
- eleventh bishop of his see, succeeding St Servasius
* Fuscina or Fuscinula (sixth century)
- sister of St Avitus, she lived in the monastery of Sts
Gervase and Protasius near Vienne; there, she was warned in a
vision by Christ the Judge that if she were not careful, she
would be attacked and raped, and thus lose her soul; although
she was attacked, nothing else untoward happened
* Audentia, Fuscina the Elder, Severiana and Aspida (sixth
century)
- like Fuscina the Younger, these were nuns and relatives of
St Avitus (Audentia was his mum)
* Avitus, bishop of Vienne (c. 525)
- succeeded his father to this position; he was famous for
his learning (especially his writing style, as opposed to
his theological acumen) and for his charity (especially to
the poor and to prisoners)
* Echtac, virgin (seventh century?)
- nothing is known of her except that she is listed in the
martyrologies of Tallaght and of Donegal
* Columb (or Colman) and Brandub (seventh century?)
- from Loch Muinremuir, the two were friends (the first a
bishop); mentioned in the martyrologies of Tallaght and of
Donegal, their cult could have been centred on the island of
Woodward
* Ingenuinus or Genuinus (c. 640)
- bishop in the Tyrol
* Calamanda of Calaf, virgin and martyr (eighth century?)
- although nothing is known of her life or death with
certainty, her cult is very popular in the diocese of Vich,
where she is invoked in times of drought
* John (eighth century?)
- venerated at Fragala', near Messina, as a wonderful doctor
* Modestus (eighth century)
- sent by St Virgil of Salzburg to preach in the valleys of
the Alps, he founded the Maria-Saal church, where his remains
are kept in a pre-romanesque tomb
* Bertulf or Bertoul (c. 705?)
- a model steward to a noble couple of Flanders, after his
patrons' death he retired to the monastery of Renty, where
he remained as a monk until he died
* Indractus and Dominica, martyrs (c. 710?)
- murdered as they were returning to Ireland from a
pilgrimage to Rome, the murderers hid the bodies, but they
were revealed by a shaft of light in the middle of the
night; they were eventually entombed at Glastonbury
* Vodalus or Voel of Soissons (c. 720)
- he was given by an angel the power to heal fevers and to
avert fires
* Dubtach Mac Dubhan (ninth century)
- this priest is mentioned in several Irish martyrologies,
but little is known of him (apart from his genealogy)
* Jerome of Nevers (815)
- a rich and popular bishop, he was famous for his charity
and for his ability to interpret dreams (including one that
Charlemagne had)
* Buus (c. 890)
- with Saint Ernulf, he was the first missionary of Iceland
* Polieutos the Younger, patriarch of Constantinople (970)
- known in his day as the 'new St John Chrysostom', he
defended the Church's privileges in the face of hostile
emperors
* Saba the Younger (995)
- born of a noble Byzantine Sicilian family, after some time
living as a monk and hermit he founded many monasteries
throughout southern mainland Italy
* Luke of Demenna or of Armento (995)
- fleeing from invading Saracens, this ascetic monk crossed
over from Sicily to Calabria and Lucania, where he founded
monasteries and hospitals, and worked a heap o' miracles
* Legontian and Domitian, martyrs (c. 1000)
- according to a seventeenth-century *vita*, these two were
brothers and sculptors, who were killed for refusing to make
images of false gods; they lived in present-day Pescara, and
are venerated in nearby Chieti
* Finghin the Virtuous (c. 1005)
- founded several monasteries, protected by Otto III
* Albinus or Albuinus (c. 1015)
- buried with another Tyrolean bishop, St Ingenuinus (see
above)
* Adelaide of Bellich, virgin (1015)
- as abbess of St Mary's in Cologne, she insisted her nuns
be proficient in Latin
* Agatha Hildegarde (1024)
- falsely accused of infidelity, she was thrown out of an
upper window by her husband, but she was unhurt and proceeded
to go to church and pray; the husband, stricken with remorse,
gouged out his own eyes, ordered a chapel to be built in
Mochlingen, and went on a seven-year pilgrimage, dying as he
was returning home
* Adelaide of Mu"nster (c. 1222)
- first abbess of the Cistercian abbey of St-Gilles, Mu"nster
Perhaps the longest feastday list of the year?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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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