Today, 12 March, is the feast of ...
* Maximilian, martyr (295)
- in Numidia, he was martyred for refusing to be a soldier
* Peter, Gorgonius and Dorotheus, martyrs (303)
- officials in Diocletian's household, they were tortured and martyred
by their boss (and you think *you* have a terrible boss!)
* Paul Aurelian (c. 573)
- bishop of Leon, his feast is observed in Quimper and at the monastery
on Caldey
* Gregory the Great (604)
- pope, doctor of the church... an impressive resume
Famous story: when walking through the market, he asked the nationality
of some fair-skinned boys for sale. Told they were Angli, he said,
'They are well named, for they have angelic faces and it becomes such
to be companions with the angels in heaven.'
As Julia Bolton Holloway pointed out, "On the earliest life of St
Gregory the Great, written by a monk or nun at Whitby, A.D. 731, you
might look at the Juliansite
(http://members.aol.com/juliansite/Juliansite.htm). It was
first edited from a St Gall manuscript by Cardinal Aidan Gasquet. I
also have a hard-copy version of it giving reproductions of the
manuscript pages. Both versions give the Latin and the English. The
text precedes that of Bede and is likely his souce.
* Theophanes the Chronicler, abbot (817)
- after building two monasteries, he got into trouble due to his support
of the use and veneration of sacred images; scourged 300 times,
imprisoned for two years, he was finally banished to an island, where
he died shortly after his arrival there
* Alphege, bishop of Winchester (951)
- known as Alphege the Elder or the Bald, he lived before Alphege the
Martyr, and had less hair than him too
* Bernard of Capua, bishop of Caleno (1109)
- confessor to Duke Richard II, son of prince Jordan of Capua
* Fina or Serafina, virgin (1253)
- patron of San Gimignano, deemed a saint by locals for her perfect
resignation in accepting bodily suffering; in a vision, Gregory the
Great told her she would die on his feast day... and she did
- people in this area of Tuscany have named the white violets which
bloom at this time after their patron
* Giustina of Arezzo, virgin (1319)
- Benedictine nun, she later became a hermit near Arezzo
* Nicholas Owen, martyr (1606)
- noted for his skill in devising hiding places for priests (but
evidently not for himself)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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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