Today, 19 May, is the feast of ... Pudentiana and Pudens, martyrs (first century?) Calocerus and Parthenius, martyrs (304) - Eunuchs. These two brothers worked in the household of the Emperor Decius. At the outbreak of the persecution, they suffered martyrdom rather than offer sacrifices to the gods. Alcuin, abbot (804) - Great educator. Born probably at York. In 767 he took charge of York's cathedral school. In 781 he accepted an invitation to take up residence at the court of Charlemagne whose educational and ecclesiastical adviser he became. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury (988) - Dunstan was King Edgar's chief adviser during the king's sixteen year reign. After the death of Edward the Martyr, Dunstan retired from political life and stayed in Canterbury passing his days teaching. Celestine V, pope (1296) - Butler writes: *In all papal history no figure is more pathetic than that of Peter of Morrone, the aged hermit who, after a pontificate of five short months, voluntarily abdicated, and died virtually a prisoner in the hands of his successor.* Do you agree with Butler's assessment of Celestine? Ivo of Kermartin, lawyer (1303) - Patron of lawyers. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Paris; before the end of ten years there he had gained great distinction in philosophy, theology, and canon law. He then went to Orleans to study civil law under Peter de la Chapelle. In his student days he began to practice austerities which he continued and increased throughout his life. He wore a hair shirt, abstained from meat and wine, fasted during Advent and Lent, and other times, on bread and water; he rarely slept. Once he got his law degree, he became known as 'the poor man's advocate'. Augustine Novello, Hermits of St Augustine, lawyer (1309) - Taught law in Bologna but gave it up to join a religious order. He eventually became prior general of his order, but resigned after only two years in order to live in a hermitage near Siena. Carolyn Muessig [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%