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.

St Baldred and St Billfrith . . .

Who? I hear you ask. I have a calendar from the White Fathers and they obviously are not using the National Calendar for England and Wales.

Today is the Feast of St Baldred and St Billfrith.

First of all, I misread it and I thought it said . . . but no it wasn't St Baldrick - shame, that would have made my day!

I've always liked these Celtic and Old English Saints. I know very little about them but the names are just so appealing.

St Baldred of Glasgow was a Scottish bishop said to have succeeded St Kentigern (Mungo) at Glasgow. St Baldred died at Tyningham in 756 and was buried there but the monastery was destroyed by the Danes two hundred years later. His relics were lost until discovered by Elfrid, a priest from Durham and they were enshrined with those of St Billfrith (Bilfred).

St Billfrith was a contemporary of St Baldred, a monk hermit at Lindisfarne. He was an expert goldsmith. He was responsible for the cover of the Lindisfarne Gospels. Another great loss as the cover of gold, silver and gems was melted down at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

If parents nowadays are tired of the traditional saints' names and are looking for something different for their children, how about looking to these old Celtic and English saints for inspiration? How cool would it be to have a Baldred, an Elfrid or an Erconwald in your class!

Gwnewch y pethau bychain . . .

'Gwnewch y pethau bychain' - 'Do the little things'

Happy St David's Day to all my Welsh friends and readers.

Not being Welsh myself, I know very little about St David or 'Dewi' as he's often referred to in Welsh. After a little research, one of the things I discovered is that among his last words to his followers, in his final Sermon, he said,

'Be joyful and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about.'

That sounds pretty good advice to me, whether Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish or of any other nationality. In the same way that little or venial sins can lead to more serious sin, little acts of charity can gain momentum and bring great results. We all know about the ripple effect. I've decided I'm going to try and bear that in mind during Lent.

There was a lot going on this morning . . .

Today being the First Friday of the month, our PP celebrated Mass of the Sacred Heart concluding with that lovely old traditional hymn, 'Sweet Heart of Jesus'.

'Sweet heart of Jesus, we implore,

O make us love thee more and more.'

As it is also the Memorial of St Agatha, we also remembered her today. Although the note in the Missal tells us very little about this Virgin and Martyr (and probably just as well, when you read of the torture and mutilation she suffered for her faith!), she must have been very special to be the subject of such widespread devotion in the early Church, and to be mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass. St Agatha is now venerated as the patron saint of those suffering from diseases of the breast.

Well, I think we all did very well with our multi-tasking at Mass today - what with the Mass of the Sacred Heart, the Memorial of St Agatha and the readings of the day with the story of the Beheading of John the Baptist, we managed to cover quite a bit of ground in just over half an hour!

Hallowe'en, All Saints, All Souls etc. . . .

Happy Feast Day dear reader and to all would-be Saints.

It was interesting this morning listening to the children's responses as our PP spoke to them about today's Feast. Not all of them sounded too sure that they wanted to be Saints eventually!

I think a lot us of adults listening were much more interested in St Augustine's approach - 'Make me a Saint, Lord, but not yet'!

As a small child I always found these two successive feast days difficult to understand, and trying to make out where Hallowe'en fitted in as well was just too much for me.

I knew that Hallowe'en was really a celebration of the Eve of All Hallows as my mother had explained, but I just couldn't understand why we had a day celebrating witches (as I then saw it) and that this was somehow related to the following day when we remembered and celebrated all the saints! Add to this the idea that we could all be saints one day was just too much for me to grasp.

Now, as an adult, I'm finally beginning to see what it's all about - it's taken quite a while. Put simplistically, I like to think now that when I go to Mass on All Saints Day, my parents have already made it into that number and they in turn will be interceding for me. On All Souls Day, I'm praying for all the faithful departed including members of my own family who might not yet have made it to the Communion of Saints which could also include my parents. Either way, I'm remembering them especially at this time.

Father, All-Powerful and ever-living God,
today we rejoice in the holy men and women

of every time and place.
May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.