Celtic and Old English Saints 20 February =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Bolcan of Derken * St. Colgan of Clonmacnoise * St. Mildred of Thanet =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Bolcan (Olcan) of Derken, Bishop ------------------------------------------------------------- Died after 480. Bolcan was baptized by Saint Patrick, who sent him to study in Gaul. Patrick later consecrated him bishop of Derkan in northern Ireland. Bolcan's school there was one of the best equipped in the island. Another Saint Bolcan (Olcan of Kilmoyle) is venerated in the diocese of Elphin (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia). Troparion of St Bolcan Tone 7 As thou didst encourage the virtue of learning, wise Hierarch Bolcan,/ teach us to have humility to follow our fathers in the Faith,/ and not the ways of our own devising/ that being faithful to Christ,/ we may be found worthy of His great mercy. Kontakion of St Bolcan Tone 8 >From thy lips pure streams of orthodox doctrine poured forth,/ O most noble teacher and gracious Hierarch Bolcan./ Revering thy memory, we pray for grace to follow thee, profiting by thy righteous example. St. Colgan of Clonmacnoise, Abbot (Colchu, Colgu) ------------------------------------------------------------- Died c. 796. Colgan, surnamed 'the Wise' and 'the Chief Scribe of the Scots,' was abbot of Clonmacnoise in Offaly. He was a friend and teacher of the Blessed Alcuin (f.d. May 19). Colgan is noted for the influence he exerted on the imperial schools in France, through his students (Benedictines, Montague). St. Mildred of Thanet, Abbess of Minster, England ---------------------------------------------------- Commemorated also July 13. The Minster in the Isle of Thanet about six miles from Sandwich was founded by St. Ermenburga the granddaughter of St. Ethelbert, the first Christian King of Kent. She had been married to a King of the Mercians, Merewald and by him had three daughters, Mildred, Nilburga and Mildgyth. When Ermenburga was widowed she returned to Kent, where her nephew Egbert was King, leaving Milburga at Wenlock, where she was established in the abbey built by her father and of which she later became abbess. On arrival with her two other daughters at her old home, she found that her younger brothers, Ethelred and Ethelbright, had been murdered by Thunor, one of Egbert's men, and she obtained land in compensation for their deaths, what was called "wergild", on which to build a monastery. The extent of the land ceded by Egbert was decided by the area round which Ermenburga's pet hind could run and amounted to about a thousand acres of fertile ground which would maintain those who joined the community. The present parish stands on the site of the first minster which was dedicated by St. Theodore, the Archbishop of Canterbury about 670. He also gave the veil to Ermenburga and installed her as the first abbess in the monastery, where she was known as Domna Eva. In the meantime Mildred had been sent to Chelles to be trained in the religious life and she must have been glad to receive the summons to return, once the abbey was built. While on the continent she had been pestered by one of the local princes, who tried to persuade her to renounce her vocation to be a nun, but her resolve remained unshaken and she was professed as soon as she got back to Kent. It was not long before her mother resigned the charge of the abbey to Mildred, who became one of the most famous and well loved of the Anglo Saxon saints. Although the government of the abbey was firm, she always preserved an easy temper and showed humility in dealing with those who came to her, particularly to the widows and orphans, the poor and the afflicted. Her sister Mildgylt also embraced the religious life and for a time was a nun at Eastry but probably joined St. Mildred later in the flourishing community at Minster and may have succeeded her as abbess on her death. Eventually the community grew to such a size that it became necessary to build a larger complex and this was sited a few hundred yards from the old one. Like most Christian churches on the coast Minster suffered from pillaging by raiders from the sea, and in 1035 King Canute agreed that St. Mildred's body should be moved to Canterbury where it was enshrined in the abbey of SS Peter and Paul. There is however another tradition that relics were taken to the abbey at Lyminge and from there translated by Archbishop Lanfranc to the Collegiate church of St Gregory which he built by the Northgate at Canterbury. At the dread time of the Dissolution the abbey buildings at Minster passed into secular hands and the conventual church was demolished. In 1937 a small group of Benedictine nuns from St. Walburga's Abbey at Eichstadt occupied the remains of the old abbey and a relic of St. Mildred from Derenter is preserved in the altar of the small chapel they have built. There were ten ancient dedications to St. Mildred, two in the City of London and six in Kent (Bowen). Troparion, in Tone IV Through constant prayer and frequent fasting, by ceaseless hymnody and great humility, the glorious Mildred forsook the allurements of her royal rank, trampling underfoot all worldly pride and presumption. Wherefore, let us imitate her virtues, that, free from all earthly attachments, we may join her at the wedding feast of Christ our Saviour. Service to Our Venerable Mother Mildred, Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, Wonderworker of Kent http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servmild.htm Icon of Saint Mildred http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/mildred.htm Sources: ======== Benedictine Monks of Saint Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Bowen, Paul. When We Were One: A Yearbook of the Saints of the British Isles Complied from Ancient Calendars. Encyclopaedia of Catholic Saints, February. (1966). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. 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 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
