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Today, 22 August, is the feast of ... Timothy, Hippolytus and Symphorian, martyrs (second to fourth centuries): These three martyrs are totally unconnected with one another. Timothy was a martyr under Diocletian and was buried on the Ostian Way at Rome. Hippolytus was a bishop of Porto and greatly renowned for his learning. Symphorian was martyred in Autun because he did not honour a statue of Cybele. Sigfrid, abbot of Wearmouth (690): Saintly but sickly. Bede writes: "He was a man well skilled in the knowledge of Holy Scripture, of admirable behaviour and perfect continence, but one in whom vigour of mind was somewhat depressed by bodily weakness and whose innocence of heart went along with a distressing and incurable infection of the lungs." Andrew of Fiesole, archdeacon (ninth century?): Andrew was a young Irishman who went on a pilgrimage to Rome with his teacher, St Donatus. On their way back they stopped at Fiesole, where the episcopal see was vacant, and Donatus was miraculously designated to fill it; he thereupon ordained Andrew deacon and made him his archdeacon. Andrew was very close to his sister Brigid. She is said to have followed him to Italy and lived as a hermit in the mountains of Tuscany. According to another legend, she was miraculously transplanted from Ireland, to her brother's bedside while he lay dying. ************************* Carolyn Muessig [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%