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31st August - Memorial at choice of St. Aidan and the Saints of Lindisfarne. Born - Around 590, Ireland Died - 31 August 651, Parish Churchyard, Bamburgh, Northumberland Venerated in - Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism Major shrine - originally Lindisfarne Abbey, Northumberland; later disputed between Iona Abbey and Glastonbury Abbey (all destroyed). Feast - 31 August (Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Church, Anglican Communion), 9 June (Lutheran Church) Attributes - Monk holding a flaming torch; stag Patronage - Northumbria; Firefighters A monk of Iona and the first bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne almost all that we know about Aidan comes from the Venerable Bede. Born in Ireland he came to England in 635 when Oswald, who had become a Christian while in exile on Iona, regained control of Northumbria from Mercian invaders. Oswald gave Aidan Lindisfarne because it was better suited for evangelizing the kingdom of Bernica. Aidan founded churches and monasteries and encouraged monastic practices such as fasting and meditation on the Scriptures among the laity. He himself lived in poverty and detachment that allowed him to reprove the wealthy and powerful when necessary. He died on Inner Farne in 651. Lord God, who sent the gentle Bishop Saint Aidan to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ; grant us, by his prayers, to live as he taught in simplicity, humility and love for the poor. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01233d.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_of_Lindisfarne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindisfarne |
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3rd September - Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope. Doctor of the Church. Apostle of the English. Birth name - Gregorius Anicius Born - c. 540, Rome, Eastern Roman Empire Died - 12 March 604 (aged 64), Rome, Eastern Roman Empire Buried - St. Peter's Basilica (1606) Parents - Gordianus and Silvia Feast day - 3 September (Latin Church), 12 March (Latin Church pre-1969, Eastern Churches, Anglicanism, Lutheranism) Venerated in - Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglicanism, Lutheranism Attributes - Papal tiara, Papal vestments, Papal cross, book, quill Patronage - Musicians, singers, students, and teachers Only one of two popes to be styled “the great”, Pope Gregory is best known for sending St. Augustine of Canterbury to England to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons. Although there had been Christians in England during the Roman period and missionaries were being sent from Ireland, it was through Gregory’s action that the English church was brought under the authority of Rome. The story goes that Gregory (circa 540-604) was walking through a slave market in Rome when he spotted some Anglo-Saxon children that had been captured. When he asked where they came from and being told that they were Angles he is said to have replied, “Not Angles, but angels.” This moved him send Saint Augustine to convert the English. Pope Gregory was also responsible for reforms in the liturgy and for the introduction of Gregorian Chant. O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_I https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06780a.htm https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3602.htm https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3601.htm https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-gregory-the-great/ https://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/gregory.htm |
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4th September - Memorial at choice of St. Cuthbert, Bishop. Born - c. 634, Dunbar, Northumbria (now in Scotland) Died - 20 March 687, Inner Farne, Kingdom of Northumbria (now in England) Venerated in - Catholic Church; Anglicanism; Eastern Orthodox Church Major shrine - Durham Cathedral, England Feast - 20 March, Catholic Church; 4 September (Catholic Ordinariates); 31 August (Episcopal Church) Attributes - Bishop holding a second crowned head in his hands; sometimes accompanied by seabirds and animals Patronage - Kingdom of Northumbria Cuthbert was born c. 634 to a fairly well-to-do Anglo-Saxon family and became a monk at Melrose in 651 rising to become its prior about ten years later. During the following years he undertook missionary journeys for a week or a month at a time in the neighbourhood. After the Synod of Whitby in 663/4 he adopted Roman customs and became prior of Lindisfarne for a while living as a hermit on an adjacent island. In 676 he relinquished the office of prior and withdrew to Inner Farne where he lived in almost complete solitude. However, such was his holiness that he was chosen by King Egfirth and Archbishop Theodore to become Bishop of Hexham. He died on Farne in 687 and was buried on Lindisfarne. When, eleven years later, his body was elevated to a new shrine, it was found to be incorrupt. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04578a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthbert https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cuthbert-of-lindisfarne/ https://www.bartleby.com/210/3/201.html https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-cuthbert.html |