Saints on parade . . .

I usually look at the ordo at the weekend to see what lies ahead in the way of Memorials, Feasts, Solemnities etc.

Some Saints are better known than others, at least to me. Quite often I find a Saint that I know very little about but I'm gradually improving my knowledge by 'googling' them and finding out a little more about their lives.

The week ahead is a good example . . . Tomorrow we have St Joachim and St Ann, the parents of Our Lady so quite important in the scheme of things, you could say!

Thursday is the turn of St Martha; again a saint who is well known to us and we have had the Gospel reading about Mary and Martha just last Sunday. We will all be familiar with that age-old question, 'am I more of a Mary or a Martha and what, if anything, should I do about it?'

Saturday is the Memorial of St Ignatius of Loyola, famous for founding the Society of Jesus or the order of Jesuits.

But Friday's Saint - St Peter Chrysologus, is this week's mystery guest for me!

I've vaguely heard of the name but that's about as far as it goes. I've probably heard the name before and confused it with the similarly sounding St Chrysogonus (a martyr under the persecution of Diocletian ) - it's all Greek to me (pun intended!).

For anyone who's interested who doesn't know much about this particular saint, here's a little of what I've discovered in my research:

Firstly, his name. Chrysologus, as all you Greek scholars will know, means 'golden-worded.' He earned this name apparently because he was an eloquent orator.

He was born at Imola in Italy in 406 and died there in 450. He was a Bishop and was made a Doctor of the Church in 1729 mainly due to his having written many outstanding homilies which have been passed down to us today.

One interesting note in his biography that I found might have a modern resonance - he got rid of the many of the last traces of paganism still practised by some of his flock, warning them especially against indecent dancing. "Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil," he remarked, "cannot rejoice with Christ.

I wonder what he would have thought of today's liturgical dance?

If you'd like to delve deeper into the subject you'll find an excellent resource at Catholic Online here and another at New Advent here.