Today, May 3, is the feast of:
Fumack, bishop (date uncertain) The well of the patron saint of Botriphnie, which is a very copious spring, is situated in the manse garden, and there Fumack bathed every morning, summer and winter, then dressed himself in green tartans, and crawled round the parish bounds on his hands and knees.
James the Less/ James the Just (d62) See May 1.
Philip the Apostle (d. c80) see May 1.
Alexander (I), Eventius, and Theodulus (d. c115) Alexander was the first pope of this name. He has a wholly legendary Passio, which exists in many versions. Eventius and Theodulus are his companions in martyrdom in some of these as well as in his entries in the Liber Pontificalis and the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology. As a result of their conversion work in the prisons, they were tortured and then beheaded. All three are said in the Passio to have been buried at their place of execution at the seventh milestone on the Via Nomentana. The LP and the (ps.-)HM repeat this location, where in the seventh century the Itinerarium Malmesburiense told readers they still reposed. Alexander became a saint of the Regno sometime between 1075 and 1102, the period during which his mausoleum was constructed at today's Corfinio in Abruzzo next to the cathedral of San Pelino.
Timothy and Maura (d. c286) Timothy was an Egyptian lector; Maura was his newly married wife. Timothy was arrested early in Diocletian's persecution and ordered to turn over his church's scriptures. He wouldn't reveal their whereabouts under torture, so his bride was brought in to win him over. Instead she encouraged him, so she was tortured, too. The two ended up nailed to a wall, where they died nine days later.
Juvenal/Giovenale of Narni (c376) is the legendary protobishop of Narni in southern Umbria. According to his imaginative Vita, he migrated to Italy from Africa and saved his city from North Italian invaders, descendants of previous occupants who had been driven out under Augustus. Their end is accomplished in truly spectacular fashion: not just rain, but also thunder and lots of lightning bolts, plus jets of water rising up from dry ground and, finally, the earth opening up and swallowing 3000 of them. One day, as he was passing a brazen bull in front of a temple dedicated to Bacchus, a pagan priest struck Juvenal in the mouth with the hilt of his sword because the saint refused to sacrifice to the gods. The bishop held the weapon with his teeth, and the pagan priest, in a violent effort to withdraw his blade, cut his own throat. This incident led to the immediate conversion of the pagan bystanders. Narni's originally twelfth-century cathedral is dedicated to him.
Narni's originally twelfth-century cathedral is dedicated to Juvenal and contains a (1470) panel painting of him:http://tinyurl.com/2astnw4
The San Giovenale Triptych (1422) in the pieve di San Pietro at Cascia di Reggello in Tuscany (Juvenal at right with St. Anthony of Egypt). Attributed to Masaccio and once housed in a neighboring chiesetta di San Giovenale, it is variously thought to have been commissioned either for that church or for Florence's chiesa di San Giovenale: http://tinyurl.com/35bl9b
The Finding of the Holy Cross. According to Ambrose and John Chrysostom, St Helen insisted on excavations which revealed three crosses. The one in the middle had the 'title' still attached and that is how Christ's cross was identified. In northern England was known as St Helen's Day in the spring. This feast was suppressed in 1969, after being established in 335.
Conleth/Conláed (Old Irish)/Conlaeth/Conlaid/Conlaith/Conlath/Conleat/Conlethus/Conlian (May 3, 519) His cult is attested in Irish martyrologies. He was a solitary on the Liffey at a place now thought to be Old Connell in today's County Kildare. St. Brigid of Kildare recruited him to serve as bishop and abbot of the monks at her dual monastery; he also exercised authority in external matters and is accounted the first bishop of Kildare. Said to have had the gift of prophecy and to have been a gifted artisan, he was remembered in particular for his skill in metalwork. According to Cogitosus, Conleth was the metalworker who made the altar vessels for Kildare; the crozier of St. Finbar is attributed to him. He is also known as 'St Bridgit's chief artificer'. We hear about him from Cogitosus' seventh-century Vita of St. Brigid (BHL 1457), from an anonymous early Vita of Brigid that's her Vita I in the Acta Sanctorum and Vita III in Colgan's collection (BHL 1456), and from other texts transmitting traditions of Kildare. A gloss in the Martyrology of St. Oengus has him attacked and devoured by wolves when he was going on pilgrimage to Rome against Brigid's wishes. Today is his dies natalis. Conleth is the patron saint of Droichead Nua (Newbridge), Co Kildare. Also celebrated on May 10.
Gluvias (Glywys) Cerniw (6th century) Legend says that Gluvias was a brother of St. Cadoc who founded a monastery in Cornwall and is supposed to have been martyred.
Philip of Zell (8th century) Philip was born in England. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and became a hermit near Worms, where he became famous for holiness, miracles, and good advice. Amongst those who sought out this hermit was Pepin, Charlemagne's father, who often visited Philip and conversed with him about holy things. The Benedictine monastery Zell developed from this hermit's cell, especially thanks to the many miracles performed at Philip's tomb.
Ansfried/Ansfrid/Latin: Ansfridus/Anfridus/Aufridus of Utrecht (d. c1008) According to his brief, nearly contemporary Vita by Alpert of Metz, Ansfried was a count in Brabant and a man of great rectitude who established the monastery of Heiligen, was made bishop of Utrecht, lived a holy life, operated a few miracles, suffered blindness late in life, and bore that affliction with equanimity. He resigned his see and retired back to Heiligen. He is credited with the founding of what became the imperial abbey of Thorn in today's Thorn (Limburg) as a retirement place for his wife.
Theodosius of Kiev/-of Pechersk/-of the Caves (1074) Abbot of the Kiev Far Caves Monastery, and Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism in Russia. He was the Father of monasticism in Russia. He was born at Vasilevo, not far from Kiev. Deeply religious from his early childhood, soon deprived of his father, and treated harshly by his mother, at the age of twenty-four he secretly left his parental home and St. Anthony at the Kiev Caves monastery blessed him to receive monastic tonsure with the name Theodosius. In 1054 St. Theodosius was ordained a hieromonk, and in 1057 he was chosen igumen. The fame of his deeds attracted a number of monks to the monastery, at which he built a new church and cells, and he introduced cenobitic rule of the Studion monastery, a copy of which he commissioned at Constantinople. During Great Lent the saint withdrew into a cave near the monastery, where he struggled unseen by anyone. His attire was a coarse hairshirt worn next to his body. He looked so much like a beggar that it was impossible to recognize in this old man the reknowned igumen, deeply respected by all who knew him. The Great Princes, and especially Izyaslav, loved to listen to the spiritual discourses of St. Theodosius. He was particularly concerned for the destitute. He built a special courtyard for them at the monastery where anyone in need could receive food and drink. Sensing the approach of death, St. Theodosius peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1074. He was buried in a cave which he dug, where he secluded himself during fasting periods. The relics of the ascetic were found incorrupt in the year 1091 and were translated by Nestor to the church of the Dormition. St. Theodosius was numbered among the saints in 1108. Of the written works of St. Theodosius six discourses, two letters to Great Prince Izyaslav, and a prayer for all Christians have survived to our time. The Life of St. Theodosius was written by St. Nestor the Chronicler (October 27), a disciple of the great Abba, only thirty years after his repose, and it was always one of the favorite readings of the Russians. We know about Theodosius from his Life by St. Nestor and from mentions in the Russian Primary Chronicle (begun by Nestor).
Theodosius is at right (Anthony at left) in this late thirteenth-century icon now in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow: http://www.icon-art.info/masterpiece.php?lng=en&mst_id=182
Aemilia Bicchieri (blessed) (d. 1314) was born in Vercelli (Italy) in 1238. She became a Dominican in Vercelli and served several times as prioress. Aemilia was famous for her mystical gifts, most notably receiving the paints of the crown of thorns. She was beatified in 1769.
Stanislaus Kazimierczyk (blessed) (d. 1489) was born near Cracow and became a canon regular there in 1456. He was an important preacher, who especially stressed the centrality of the eucharist.
Happy reading,
Terri Morgan
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From the Book of Kerric:
"It requires great strength to be kind, whereas even the very weak can be brutal. Likewise, to speak hard truths fearlessly is often the hallmark of greatness. Bring me one who is both gentle and truthful, ...and I will show you an iron oak among hawthorns, a blessing on all who know them."