Celtic and Old English Saints 12 February =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Siadhal of Ireland * St. Ethelwald of Lindisfarne =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Siadhal (Sedulius, Seadhal, Siadal) ------------------------------------------------- 5th century. Sedulius (known in Irish as Siadhal, pronounced Shiel), was an Irish priest known as the Christian Virgil on the strength of his epic poem in five books "Carmen Paschale" . He left Ireland to found a school of poetry in Athens, proving that outstanding scholarship existed on the Emerald Isle prior to Saint Patrick. While he was still in Ireland, he may have been a disciple of Saint Ailbhe (f.d. September 12). In 494, a decree of the First Roman Council contained a phrase "honouring by signal praise the Paschal Work of the Venerable man, Sedulius" We know that the oldest manuscript from Siadhal was that recorded by the monks of Saint Columbanus at Bobbio (Montague). Text of Carmen Paschale: http://proto.oed.com/oe2.html Brief Explanation of Carmen Paschale: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13680a.htm "Open me the way that to the City bright Leads forth; let Thy Word's lamp be light To guide my footsteps through the narrow gate, Where the Good Shepherd feeds His sheep, elate: There first the Virgin's white lamb entered And all His fair flock followed where He led! With Thee how smooth the way: for Nature all Thine empire owns! Thou speakest, her fetters fall And all her wonted shows new forms assume: The frozen fields will into verdure bloom And winter gild with grain: if Thou but will 'Mid budding Spring the swelling grape shall fill, And sudden labor tread the bursting vine. All seasons answer to the call Divine!" (the above is an extract from his Carmen Paschale, or Easter Song) And from his Nativity Hymn "A solis ortu cardine" At both the confines of the earth, where suns arise again and set, Christ shall be sung, The Prince whose birth puts us in maiden Mary's debt. Blessed the Author of the world, who took a body like a slave: to save us through flesh from loss incurred the flesh He had made, His flesh He gave. Closed was His mother's womb before, still closed when Grace came through the door. Sweet virgin! She had not foreseen that Heaven in her to earth would lean. Down to her spotless ark God came, the very temple for His name. Did ever virgin have a son? This one God for her child had won. Egress she gave to Him at length Whose coming Gabriel had declared, Whose presence John's exultant strength adoring, with his mother shared. Freely He chose, possessing all, the hay-strewn bed the cattle stall; and He who gives the birds their bread Himself on meagre milk was fed. "Glory," Saints and Angels sang: heaven with their praises rang; while shepherds watched with wondering eyes the Shepherd Who had made the world. St. Ethelwald of Lindisfarne, Bishop (Aethelweald, Aedilauld) ------------------------------------------------ Born in Northumbria; died c. 740; second feast of the translation of his relics by King Edgar to Westminster on April 21. Ethelwald was one of Saint Cuthbert's (f.d. March 20) chief assistants. He was prior and then abbot of Old Melrose in Scotland. On the death of Saint Edfrith (f.d. June 4), Ethelwald succeeded to the see of Lindisfarne. His interest in Edfrith's work is demonstrated by his patronage of the hermit Saint Billfrith (f.d. March 6), who made at his request a binding for it of gold and precious stones (now lost). His relics were translated from Lindisfarne with those of Saint Cuthbert. A stone cross bearing his name went from Lindisfarne to Durham. A compilation by him called "Ymnarius Edilwald" may be the source of the "Book of Cerne" (Benedictines, Farmer). Sources: ======== Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Montague, H. P. (1981). The Saints and Martyrs of Ireland. Guildford: Billing & Sons. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm An Alphabetical Index of the Saints of the West http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/saintsa.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints ********************************* Suppliers of Icons of Celtic Saints for the church or the prayer corner at home. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/2875 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
