This Week's Feasts and Saints

Lent

Taking its name from the Middle-English “Lenten”, or “spring”, the origins of Lent itself are particularly obscure. It seems possible that in some parts of the early Church there was a commemoration of Christ’s forty day fast in the wilderness and which followed immediately on from the celebration of the Baptism of Christ. The forty days attached to Easter began to appear in Rome and elsewhere shortly after the Council of Nicea in 325 and although the records of the Council make no mention of the establishment of such a fast it is possible that it was ordered by the assembled bishops.

In the New Testament there is no mention of a determined period of fasting amongst the early Christian Community, although, in the Acts of the Apostles, in the account of the shipwreck of St. Paul, it states that, "A great deal of time had been lost, and navigation was already hazardous, since it was now well after the time for the Fast" (27: 9). In the immediate post-apostolic age there is a general sense of some sort of fast being observed in the period before Easter. The early Christian writer and apologist, Tertullian (c. 160 - c. 225) mentions a period of fasting to commemorate the period when the spouse, Jesus Christ, was taken away. Another early writer, Irenaeus, (c. 130 - c. 200) [right] in a letter to Victor, the Bishop of Rome from about 190 until 200, speaks of the fast before Easter and of the different methods of its observance in different places stating that the difference of observance was not a new thing but that it had arisen "even long before, in a past generation". It is clear from Tertullian that from very early times the Lenten fast, whatever its duration may have been, was considered obligatory and passages to the same effect are found in the later literature of the Church. The Council of Gangra, in the middle of the fourth century, anathemizes those who neglected to keep the fasts "observed by the Church". St. Jerome (c. 341 - 420) lays down strict obligations in the keeping of the Lenten fast. During the first three centuries of the history of the Church, most Christians prepared for Easter by only fasting for two or three days. In some places this "paschal fast" was extended to cover the entire week before Easter, the period now known as Holy Week. In Rome, this pascal fast may have lasted for as long as three weeks, but by the fourth century ad developed into the forty day Lent as it is observed today.

The Roman Lent, in its three week form, was linked to the pastoral and liturgical preparation of catechumens for baptism at the Easter Vigil and until recently this baptismal motif was thought to explain the origins of Lent, a practice restored by the Second Vatican Council.

Father, through our observance of Lent, help us to understand the meaning of your Son’s death and resurrection, and teach us to reflect it in our lives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent

23rd February - Commemoration of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

Born - AD 69

Died - AD 155, Smyrna, Asia, Roman Empire

Venerated in - Roman Catholic Church, Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church

Feast - February 23 (formerly January 26)

Attributes - Wearing the pallium, holding a book representing his Epistle to the Philippians

Influences - John the Apostle

Influenced - Irenaeus (?)

Major works - Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

A disciple of St. John the Apostle and the most important link between the time of the Apostles and the earliest Christian Fathers, Polycarp was born c. 69 and would become bishop of Smyrna and one of the most important Christians in Roman Asia in the mid-second century. He defended orthodox Christian belief against the heresies of Marcion and Valentinus, the most influential of the Gnostics. His letter to the Philippians was so influential that it was read in the churches of Asia during his lifetime. The Martyr St. Ignatius, who met Polycarp on his last journey to Rome, recommended to his care the church at Antioch. Polycarp was martyred in c. 155. He was arrested on a farm close to Smyrna, neither provoking nor avoiding martyrdom, but calmly waiting. He invited his captors to eat a meal while he prayed alone for an hour, at his interrogation neither threats nor promises would shake his constancy and when ordered to execrate Christ he answered: “For 86 years I have been his servant and he has never done me wrong, how can I blaspheme my king who saved me? “He was taken to the amphitheatre for execution and when the crowd was told that Polycarp had confessed to being a Christian they called for him to thrown to the lions, then for him to be burnt at the stake. He was bound and an official killed him with a sword. His body was then burnt. His bones were collected by fellow Christians for burial. The account of his martyrdom, written shortly after the event, is the earliest authentic example of its kind. In it Polycarp utters the following prayer during his martyrdom, "O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy blessed and beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have all been given knowledge of thyself; Thou art the God of angels and powers, of the whole creation, and of all the generations of the righteous who live in thy sight. I bless thee for granting me this day and hour, that I may be numbered amongst the martyrs, to share the cup of thine Anointed and to rise again unto life everlasting, both in body and soul, in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them this day in thy presence, a sacrifice rich and acceptable, even as thou didst appoint and foreshow, and dost now bring it to pass, for thou art the God of truth and in thee there is no falsehood. For this, and for all else besides, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee; through our eternal High Priest in Heaven, thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom by glory to thee and to the Holy Ghost, now and for all ages to come. Amen."

Almighty and ever living God, grant that through the intercession of your martyr, Saint Polycarp, we may rise through the Holy Spirit to the joys of eternal life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycarp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_of_Polycarp_to_the_Philippians

https://www.bunkertownchurch.org/docs/ce/polycarp-philippians.pdf

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/polycarp.html

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0102.htm

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-polycarp-of-smyrna/

https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2014/03/st-polycarp-of-smyrna.html

28th February - Commemoration of St. Oswald of Worcester, Bishop.

Born unknown. Died 992

Archbishop of York, d. on 29 February, 992. Of Danish parentage , Oswald was brought up by his uncle Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, and instructed by Fridegode. For some time he was dean of the house of the secular canons at Winchester, but led by the desire of a stricter life he entered the Benedictine Monastery of Fleury-sur-Loire, where Odo himself had received the monastic habit. He was ordained there and in 959 returned to England betaking himself to his kinsman Oskytel, then Archbishop of York. He took an active part in ecclesiastical affairs at York until St. Dunstan procured his appointment to the See of Worcester. He was consecrated by St. Dunstan in 962. Oswald was an ardent supporter of Dunstan in his efforts to purify the Church from abuses, and aided by King Edgar he carried out his policy of replacing by communities the canons who held monastic possessions. Edgar gave the monasteries of St. Albans, Ely, and Benfleet to Oswald , who established monks at Westbury-on-Trym (983), Pershore (984), at Winchelcumbe (985), and at Worcester, and re-established Ripon . But his most famous foundation was that of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire in 971, the church of which was dedicated in 974, and again after an accident in 991. In 972 by the joint action of St. Dunstan and Edgar, Oswald was made Archbishop of York, and journeyed to Rome to receive the pallium from John XIII. He retained, however, with the sanction of the pope, jurisdiction over the diocese of Worcester where he frequently resided in order to foster his monastic reforms. On Edgar's death in 975, his work, hitherto so successful, received a severe check at the hands of Elfhere, King of Mercia, who in an anti-monastic reaction broke up many communities. Ramsey, however, was spared, owing to the powerful patronage of Ethelwin, Earl of East Anglia. Whilst Archbishop of York, Oswald collected from the ruins of Ripon the relics of the saints, some of which were conveyed to Worcester. Oswald remained an influential diocesan bishop, administering two dioceses, building churches, acting as a judge and visiting his monasteries. In 991 he visited Ramsey for the last time to reopen the church which had been damaged by the fall of its tower. Both the Mass and the banquet that followed it were memorable and two days later there were mutual farewells which Oswald must have realised were final. He spent the winter at Worcester. It is reported that he died in the act of washing the feet of the poor, as was his daily custom during Lent. and was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Worcester. Oswald's memory and the example of his life at Worcester lived ahter him inspiring many of his successors especially Wulfstan who translated his relics to a new shrine in c. 1086. Oswald used a gentler policy than his colleague Ethelwold and always refrained from violent measures. He greatly valued and promoted learning amongst the clergy and induced many scholars to come from Fleury.

Saints and Feast Days this week.

Beginning Sunday, 22nd February 2026, The First Sunday of Lent, Day of Prayer for the Candidates for the Sacraments.