|
This
month we are blessed with eleven saints who are remembered or commemorated
and I thought readers might find it helpful if we looked at the English
Saints of whom there are five in June.
June
4th – Petroc, Abbot of Padstow (6th Century)
Petroc is
Cornwall’s most famous saint, although he came from
South Wales.
He first founded a monastery in Padstow (Petroc’s
Stow)
and thirty years later a second monastery at Little Petherick. He finally
lived as a hermit on Bodmin Moor where he built a cell for himself and a
monastery at a distance for the twelve disciples who had followed him. He
is buried at Padstow, which became the Cornish see but in c.1000 his relics
were translated to Bodmin. Apparently a malcontent stole the relics in 1177
and took them to Brittany but after the intervention of the bishop of Exeter
and King Henry II, all except one rib was returned to Bodmin.
June
5th – Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton (675–754)
Boniface was born in
Devon. He first became a monk at
Exeter,
and then an apostle of Frisia and Germany, and archbishop of
Mainz.
He had an eventful life leaving
England as a missionary, returning briefly to England and then moving to
Rome
in 718. His zeal for conversion was demonstrated by his felling of an oak
at Geismar, which was sacred to a cult, whose pagan gods failed to protect
their followers. This led to widespread conversions. Boniface became
archbishop with power to consecrate bishops for part of
Germany and was active in the reform of the church in France. He was
especially noted for his courage, affection, loyalty, foresight and
determination. He ended his life as a martyr.
June
16th - Richard, Bishop of
Chichester
(1197-1253)
Richard was born in Droitwich, the son of a yeoman farmer and proved to be a
studious boy. After refusing an advantageous offer of marriage he studied
at
Oxford,
Paris and Bologna where he gave seven years to canon law. However in 1235
he returned to
Oxford
and became Chancellor where he developed his ideals for clerical reform. At
the death of his former tutor, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1240 he
decided to become a priest. In 1244 Richard was elected bishop but King
Henry III and part of the chapter refused to accept him and an appeal went
to the Pope who accepted him and confirmed him bishop at Lyons in 1245.
Richard eventually returned to Chichester where he was reckoned by his
contemporaries to be a model diocesan bishop, charitable and accessible,
both stern and merciful to sinners and generous to those stricken by
famine. He was prominent in preaching the Crusade, which he saw as a call
to new life to reopen the Holy Land to pilgrims but not as a political
expedition. He is represented with a chalice at his feet having dropped the
chalice at Mass without spilling a drop. He is remembered especially by his
most famous prayer – ‘Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ for all the
benefits Thou hast given me, for all the pains and insults Thou hast borne
for me. O most merciful redeemer, friend, and brother, may I know thee more
clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly, day by day’
June
22nd - Alban, first martyr of
Britain
(3rd Century)
It
is said that Alban was a pagan soldier who sheltered a priest and was
converted and baptized by him. Soldiers in pursuit of the priest came to
his house and Alban enabled him to escape by dressing in the priest’s
clothes. Alban was arrested and refusing to offer sacrifice was condemned
to death. One executioner refused to behead him and was converted. Alban
was martyred in the amphitheatre outside the town and his relics were placed
in a martyrium around which the new town developed (St
Albans instead of Verulamium).
June
23rd – Ethelreda, Abbess of Ely (7th Century)
Aethelthryth, Ediltrudis, Audrey was born in
Suffolk,
the daughter of the King of East Anglia. She married at a young age but
remained a virgin. On her husband’s death she retired to the
Isle
of Ely.
For political reasons she married again – this time to the 15 year old king
of Northumbria. He agreed that she should remain a virgin but later changed
his mind. This resulted in separation and Ethelreda became a nun. She
founded a double monastery at Ely in 673. She led an austere life and died
of the plague but her body was found incorrupt 17 years later. Ethelreda is
usually represented in art as an abbess, crowned, with a pastoral staff and
two does, who were said to have supplied the Ely community with milk during
a famine. She is remembered for her chastity and devout life.
Top of page |
