[celt-saints] 9 March
Celtic and Old English Saints 9 March =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Bosa of York * St. Constantine of Scotland =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= St. Bosa of York, Bishop -- Died 686. Saint Bosa was a monk at Whitby, England, under Saint Hilda (f.d. November 17). In 678, he was consecrated bishop of Deira (the southern half of Northumbria, now Yorkshire) by Saint Theodore (f.d. September 19), with his see at York, when Saint Wilfrid (f.d. October 12) was driven out by King Egfrid for refusing to accept the division of his see. Wilfrid returned in 686, but Bosa took over the diocese in 691 when Wilfrid was again exiled following a quarrel with King Aldfrid; Bosa ruled it with great holiness and ability until his death. Saint Bede praises Bosa as "a man beloved by God . . . of most unusual merit and sanctity." One of his disciples was Saint Acca (f.d. October 20), who later followed and succeeded Wilfrid at Hexham (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Farmer). St.Constantine (+575) of Govan, King of Cornwall, Monk, and in Kintyre, Proto-martyr of Scotland - Feast in Cornwall and Wales is March 9 Scotland - March 11 See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/1103 Troparion of St Constantine Tone 5 Grieving at the loss of thy young spouse,/ thou didst renounce the world, O Martyr Constantine,/ but seeing thy humility God called thee to leave thy solitude and serve Him as a priest./ Following thy example,/ we pray for grace to see that we must serve God as He wills/ and not as we desire,/ that we may be found worthy of His great mercy. Kontakion of St Constantine Tone 4 Thou wast born to be King of Cornwall,/ O Martyr Constantine,/ and who could have foreseen that thou wouldst become the first hieromartyr of Scotland./ As we sing thy praises, O Saint,/ we acknowledge the folly of preferring human plans to the will of our God. Sources: Benedictine Monks of Saint Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The Book of Saints. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell. Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY: Doubleday Image. Encyclopaedia of Catholic Saints, March. (1966). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm An Alphabetical Index of the Saints of the West http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/saintsa.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints
[celt-saints] 10 March
Celtic and Old English Saints 10 March =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Failbhe the Little * St. Kessog of Lennox * St. Emilian of Lagny * St. Attalas of Bobbio * St. Himelin of Vissenaeken =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= St. Failbhe the Little, Abbot - Died 754. Saint Failbhe was abbot of Iona for seven years before his death at age eighty (Benedictines). St. Kessog of Lennox, Bishop & Martyr (also known as Mackessog) Born in Cashel, Ulster, Ireland; died c. 560. Son of the king of Cashel (Munster), Saint Kessog is said to have worked miracles even as a child. He left Ireland to evangelize Scotland, where he was consecrated a missionary bishop. Using Monks' Island in Loch Lomond as his headquarters, he evangelized the surrounding area until he was martyred, though where is uncertain--some claim at Bandry where a heap of stones was known as St. Kessog's Cairn, and others abroad. Part of the cairn at Bandry was removed in the 18th century to clear the way for a road. At that time, a stone statue of Kessog was found inside it. Luss was the principal centre of his cultus with a sanctuary granted by Robert the Bruce. Many miracles were ascribed to Kessog, who is the patron of Lennox. A celebrated Scottish church still bears the title of St. Kessoge-Kirk. For a long time the Scots used his name for their cry in battle, but later changed it for that of Saint Andrew. They sometimes painted Kessog in a soldier's habit, holding a bow bent with an arrow in it (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth). Troparion of St Kessog Tone 6 Thy life was resplendent with miracles, O Hierarch Kessog,/ and as thou didst devote thy life to missionary labours,/ teach us the way to devote our lives to the service of the Church/ that Christ our God will have mercy on our souls. Kontakion of St Kessog Tone 4 That God is not served by idleness is the message of thy life, O Wonderworker Kessog./ For thy ceaseless efforts thou art rewarded in heaven/ and this day art praised by the Lord's lazy and most unprofitable servants. St. Emilian of Lagny, Abbot (also known as Eminian) Died 675. Saint Emilian was another of the Irish missionary-monks, who migrated to the Continent, where he became the abbot of a monastery in Lagny, France (Benedictines). St. Attalas of Bobbio, Abbot - Born in Burgundy, France; died 627. Saint Attalas was educated under Bishop Aregius of Gap, professed himself a monk at Lerins, but followed Saint Columbanus to Luxeuil in search of a stricter rule. When the Irish missionaries were expelled from France because Columbanus decried Austrasian King Theodoric for keeping concubines, Attalas went with the Irish saint to Bobbio, Italy. He helped Columbanus build the abbey in Bobbio on land granted them by the Lombard King Agilulf and succeeded him as abbot in 615. It was during Attalas's abbacy that most of the monks stood out against the severity of the Columbanian Rule. Attalas was, like Columbanus, a vigorous opponent of Arianism and was known for the miracles he performed. He died at Bobbio and was buried there in the same tomb as his predecessor (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Montague). Saint Attalas is portrayed in art as an abbot near a mill with his staff in hand. He may also have a chair near him or be shown with Saint Columbanus (Roeder). He is venerated at Lerins and Luxeuil (Roeder). St. Himelin of Vissenaeken (also known as Hymelin) --- Died c. 750. Saint Himelin, an Irish or Scottish priest, is said to have been the brother of Saint Rumold of Malines. He died and was buried at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, Belgium, on his return from a pilgrimage to Rome. His shrine, in turn, is a noted pilgrimage centre (Benedictines, Montague). Sources: Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY: Doubleday Image. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Husenbeth, Rev. F. C., DD, VG (ed.). (1928). Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints. London: Virtue & Co. Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and Their Attributes, Chicago: Henry Regnery. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm An Alphabetical Index of the Saints of the West http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/saintsa.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints
[celt-saints] 11 March
Celtic and Old English Saints 11 March =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Oengus the Culdee * St. Constantine of Scotland =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= St. Oengus (Aengus, Oengoba) the Culdee, Abbot & Bishop - Born in Ireland; died c. 830. The appellation "Culdee," Ceile De, or Kele-De means "worship of God," which became the name of a monastic movement otherwise known as the "Companions of God." Oengus was of the race of the Dalriadans, kings of Ulster. In his youth, renouncing all earthly pretensions, he chose Christ for his inheritance by embracing the religious life in the monastery of Cluain-Edneach (Clonenagh) in East Meath (County Laois). Here he became so great a proficient both in learning and sanctity, that no one in his time could be found in Ireland that equalled him in reputation for every kind of virtue, and for sacred knowledge. To shun the esteem of the world, he disguised himself and entered the monastery of Tamlacht (Tallaght Hill), three miles from Dublin, where he lived for seven years as an anonymous lay brother. There he performed all the drudgery of the house, appearing fit for nothing but the vilest tasks, while interiorly he was being perfected in love and contemplation absorbed in God. After his identity was discovered when he tried to coach an unsuccessful student, he returned to Cluain-Edneach, where the continual austerity of his life, and his constant application to God in prayer, may be more easily admired than imitated. For example, he would daily recite one-third of the Psalter (50 Psalms) while immersed in cold water. He was chosen abbot, and at length raised to the episcopal dignity: for it was usual then in Ireland for eminent abbots in the chief monasteries to be bishops. He was known for his devotion to the saints. He left both a longer and a shorter Irish Martyrology, and five other books concerning the saints of his country, contained in what the Irish call "Saltair-na-Rann." The short martyrology was a celebrated metrical hymn called "Felire" or "Festilogium." The longer, "Martyrology of Tallaght" was composed in collaboration with Saint Maelruain of Tallaght (f.d. July 7). He died at Disertbeagh (now Desert Aenguis or Dysert Enos), which became also a famous monastery, and took its name from him (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth, Montague). * * * Another Life: To Aengus many ascribe the reform of Irish monasticism and its emergence as an ordered ascetic and scholastic movement. He is called the Culdec because this reform produced the groups of monks in Ireland and Scotland, who were really anchorites but lived together in one place, usually thirteen in number after the example of Christ and His Apostles. The name Culdec probably comes from the Irish Ceile Dee (companion) rather than the Latin Cultores Dei (worshippers of God). The Culdees produced the highly decorated High Crosses and elaborately illuminated manuscripts which are the glory of the Irish monasteries. Aengus was born of the royal house of Ulster and was sent to the monastery of Clonenagh by his father Oengoba to study under the saintly abbot Maelaithgen. He made great advances in scholarship and sanctity but eventually felt he had to leave and become a hermit to escape the adulation of his peers. He chose a spot some seven miles away for his hermitage which is still called Dysert. He lived a life of rigid discipline, genuflecting three hundred times a day and reciting the whole of the Psalter daily part of it immersed in cold water, tied by the neck to a stake. At his dysert he found he got too many visitors and went to the famous monastery of Tallaght near Dublin, without revealing his identity, and was given the most menial of tasks. After seven years a boy sought refuge in the stable where Aengus was working because he was unable to learn his lessons. Aengus lulled him to sleep and when he awoke he had learnt his lesson perfectly. When the abbot of St. Maelruain heard of this monk's great teaching gifts he recognised in him the missing scholar from Clonenagh and the two became great friends. It was at Tallaght that Aengus began his great work on the calendar of the Irish saints known as the Felire Aengus Ceile De. As for himself he thought that he was the most contemptible of men and is said to have allowed his hair to grow long and his clothing to become unkempt so that he should be despised. Besides the Felire one of his prayers asking for forgiveness survives, pleading for mercy because of Christ's work and His grace in the saints. Like all the holy people of God, Aengus was industrious and had a supreme confidence in His power to heal and save. On one occasion when he was lopping trees in a wood he inadvertently cut off his left hand. The legend says that the sky filled with birds crying out at his injury, but St. Aengus calmly picked up the severed hand and replaced it. Inst
