Celtic and Old English Saints 24 October =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Cadfarch of Wales * St. Fromundus of Coutances * St. Maglorius of Wales =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Cadfarch, Monk of Montgomery, Founder of Churches ----------------------- 6th century. A Welsh saint, disciple of Saint Illtyd (f.d.November 6), and member of a family of saints. He is said to have founded churches at Penegoes and Abererch (Benedictines). Troparion of St Cadfarch tone 8 Brother and companion of saints, O Father Cadfarch,/ thou art truly numbered among the Righteous of the Age of Saints./ Wherefore intercede for us, weak as we are,/ that Christ our God will grant us great mercy. St. Fromundus of Coutances, Bishop ----------------------------------------- Died c. 690. Irish monk, abbot, missionary, and then bishop of Coutances (Benedictines). He is depicted in art as an old man with a hat, cloak, and long cross of a missioner. Sometimes he appears in a cloud with a bag around his neck and glory surrounding him. Venerated at Bonfal (Roeder). St. Maglorius (Maelor, Magloire) of Wales, Bishop ------------------------------------------------- Died 586. Abbot Maglorius of Lammeur, Brittany, was born in south Wales and educated under Saint Illtyd (f.d. November 6). He was a cousin of Saint Samson (f.d. July 28), with whom he crossed over to Brittany, where they became abbots of two monasteries. Saint Samson became bishop of Dol, and on his death he is said to have been succeeded by Saint Maglorius, who finally retired to the Channel Islands and built an abbey on Sark, where he died (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia). He is represented in art giving Holy Communion to an angel and is sometimes shown with Saint Samson of Dol. Venerated at Sark (Roeder). More information about Saint Magloire: Saint Magloire was born in Brittany, or northwestern France, towards the end of the fifth century. His noble and pious parents placed him while young under the tutelage of Saint Samson, his first cousin, who had become an abbot in England, but had later returned to Brittany and become bishop for his monastery of Dol, south of Saint Malo in that region. Under this excellent master the young man made great progress in the various branches of learning and in virtue. Saint Magloire, after his ordination, was first made Abbot of a monastery at Lanmeur. He governed that monastery with prudence and holiness for fifty-two years. When Saint Samson died, he was elected to replace him at Dol as its Abbot. Despite his hesitation, based on his sentiments of unworthiness and incapacity, he accepted, but remained for only two or three years; he was already septuagenarian. Then, with the consent of his people, he retired to a desert, where he built a cell. But soon his solitude was interrupted by souls who came seeking his prayers for their cure or deliverance from evil spirits. A wealthy man cured of leprosy, which had afflicted him for seven years, gave him at first half, then the entirety of the Island of Jersey, which was his property. There Saint Magloire built a new monastery, in which sixty-two religious served God, and in their arms he died a few years later. In the church he received the Viaticum from the hand of an Angel, and refused afterwards to leave it, repeating constantly the words of David, the royal psalmist: "I have asked but one thing of the Lord, and will not cease to ask it of Him - that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life." Great miracles were effected at his tomb, placed in the same church. and ... Few traces are left of the Gallo-Roman period, apart from the reference in the Antonine Itinerary to the island Sargia - probably Sark. The name occurs again as insula Sargiensis in connection with St. Magloire in the Acta Sanctorum. Sark seems to have been uninhabited at the beginning of the middle ages. At least there is no mention of it in the chronicles. But perhaps it population of pirates and wreckers was too busily engaged in other matters to write down its exploits for posterity. The Cotentin Islands were under the jurisdiction of the Gallo Roman province of Coutances, and after the advent of Christianity formed part of the Diocese of Coutances. In the sixth century, Sark was to discover her religious vocation. For many years, in fact for as long as the raiders from the north were good enough to spare her, the island enjoyed considerable renowned among the Christian population of the Channel Islands and the Cotentin peninsula because of St Magloire. In 565, a Seigneur of Jersey, Count Lois Escon fell gravely ill and was miraculously cured by the Monk Magloire, a saintly man of Wales and nephew of St. Sampson. As reward the Count on his recovery authorized the monk to undertake the spiritual conquest of the archipelago in the Channel. Magloire embarked for Sark, where he landed with 62 disciples. Did he find the island uninhabited or did he have to perform another miracle to expel the pirate occupants from the caves? He built an oratory, cleared the land and sowed wheat. To grid the wheat he constructed a water mill and small dam. The mill is no more, but a stream flowed not far from the present la Moinerie (monastery) and contained by I'Ecluse (mill dam) falls in cascades down to the strand still known as le Port du Moulin (mill- Haven). St Magloire died towards the end of the century, but sons of noblemen continued to come to Sark from England and Neustria to study theology. In 850, the Breton "King" Nominoe promised some neighbouring Monks land on which to build a monastery, on condition that they brought back to Lehon the relics of a famous saint able to save the King's soul. So our monks set forth for Sark piously to steal the relics of the Saint. Legend has it that Magloire was so eager to face the last judgement on the banks of the River Rance that he lent a hand in his own kidnapping by reducing the weight of his sarcopagus. To bring the raid to a successful conclusion, a miraculous gust of wind drove the pursuers back to their island, allowing the abductors to continue unmolested on their way to St. Malo. For the incredulous who see no miracle in this, let me add the following: a few years earlier a brand of plunderers from the Kingdom of the Denmark, and pagans to boot, had already made an attempt on the coffin of St Magloire. They were not after relics, but through long experience of robbing sepulchres in Ireland and Scotland were expecting to make finds easier to dispose of than holy relics. Scarcely had the top of the sarcophagus been raised when the seven robbers standing next to it were blinded, and miraculously a dispute broke out among the other robbers, ending with them all killing each other. And so on Sark the time was spent in learning, tilling the soil and praying. Troparion of St Maelor tone 8 At the bidding of our Father Samson thou didst leave thy native Wales/ to serve God in Lammeur's Monastery, O Father Maelor./ Having pleased God with the sweet fragrance of monastic struggle,/ thou didst grace the island of Sark with thy godly repose./ Pray to God for us, O blessed one, that He will spare us/ from sudden and unprepared death and grant salvation to our souls. Lives kindly supplied by: For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm Orthodox Ireland Saints http://web.archive.org/web/20040810020519/www.orthodoxireland.com/saints/calendarofsaints Tiny Url: http://tinyurl.com/5kt36e These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
