Celtic and Old English Saints 29 April =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Endellion of Cornwall * St. Wilfrid of York * St. Fiachan of Lismore * St. Senan of North Wales * St. Dichu of Ulster =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Endellion (Endelient), Virgin, Nun, Recluse --------------------------------------------------- 6th century. Near Port Isaac, on the north coast of Cornwall, is the little village of Endellion, where the Roscarrock family made their home for four hundred years, and where Nicholas, to whom we owe so much information about the saints of Cornwall was born. He lived through the latter part of the sixteenth century and into the early years of the seventeenth, at a time when the veneration of the saints was being suppressed, and their shrines were being demolished. He had a great regard for the saint of his native village, and it is from his description that we are able to identify the original shrine of St. Endellion. St. Endelienta was one of the numerous children of Brychan, who settled at Trenkeny, where she lived a very austere life, sustained by the "milk of one cow only". This animal was killed by the lord of Tregony because it trespassed on his land. Her godfather, a great man, had the lord killed for this offence, but Endellion miraculously brought him back to life. When she perceived that the day of her death was drawing near, she asked her friend that her body should be laid on a bier and be buried where "certain young stots, bullocks and calves, should of their own accord draw her". The beasts drew the bier to the top of a hill, where there was a piece of waste mirey ground, and there she was buried and a church raised over the grave dedicated to her memory. The late Sir John Betjeman poet laureate wrote "Inside the church gives the impression that it goes on praying night and day, whether there are people in it or not". A modern carved angel in memory of Sir John Betjeman may be seen in the sanctuary above a slate tablet. Nicholas Roscarrock tells us that there was another church bearing her name on Lundy Island, which is opposite Hartland, where her brother St. Nectan is buried. He also mentions two wells called after her and says that the one more distant from Endellion Church is the one she used. The tomb, which is now in the south aisle, is evidence of the affection and reverence with which she was held in the middle ages, for it is fifteenth century workmanship, in Catacluse stone, with fine niches and moulding. It originally stood under the easternmost arch of the nave on the south side, and as the tomb is empty, the bones of the saint are probably buried under the floor in that place. In the fourteenth century the church was served by a college of priests. The parish revel was held on the Saturday after the Ascension but Nicholas Roscarrock gives her feast day as April 29th (Baring Gould and Fisher, Bowen). Troparion of St Endelienta tone 5 O holy Endelienta,/ when thy cow, thine only source of sustenance,/ was cruelly killed,/ thy heart was filled with forgiveness for the slaughterer./ Pray to Christ our God/ that we may ever forgive our enemies and ourselves find mercy. St. Wilfrid (Wilfrith) the Younger, Bishop ---------------------------------------------------- Died at Ripon in 744. Saint Wilfrid was one of the five future bishops who were educated by Saint Hilda (f.d. November 17) at Whitby. This indefatigable bishop of York was the favourite disciple of Saint John of Beverly (f.d. May 7) at Whitby. But first he was appointed abbot of the cathedral community at York, and shortly thereafter coadjutor of John of Beverly, whom he succeeded as bishop. Little is known of Wilfrid's episcopate except that he was zealous for education. Twelve years before his death at Ripon Abbey, Wilfrid retired to a monastery in order to be free to serve God with his whole soul. In the 10th century, two different groups claim to have taken the relics of Saint Wilfrid the Great (f.d. October 12) from Ripon; most likely one party took those of Wilfrid the Younger. This saint's feast is attested in the Calendar of Winchcombe and later martyrologies, though he does not seem to have had a widespread or popular cultus (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Farmer). St. Fiachan (Fiachina, Fianchne) of Lismore ---------------------------------------------------- Born in Desies, Munster, Ireland; 7th century. An Irish monk of Lismore, whose sterling quality was obedience, Saint Fiachan was the disciple of Saint Carthage the Younger (f.d. May 14). He is titular saint of the parish of Kill-Fiachna, in the diocese of Ardfert (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Husenbeth). St. Senan of North Wales, Hermit ---------------------------------------------------- 7th century. Senan was a hermit in northern Wales, but there is so much confusion in the records among the various saints of this name that it is impossible to give any precise history (Benedictines). St. Dichu of Ulster ---------------------------------------------------- 5th century. Dichu, son of an Ulster chieftain and a swineherd in his youth, succeeded to the kingdom of Lecale in County Down, Ireland, and bitterly opposed Saint Patrick (f.d. March 17) when he landed there in 432. He became Patrick's first Irish convert, gave Patrick a church in Saul, capital of Lecale, the first of Patrick's foundations in Ireland, and the two became close friends (Benedictines, Delaney). Sources: ======== Baring-Gould, S. & Fisher, J. (1907) The Lives of the British Saints. 4 volumes. Charles J Clarke. Benedictine Monks of St. 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. Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket Dictionary of Saints, NY: Doubleday Image. Encyclopaedia of Catholic saints, April. (1966). Philadelphia: Chilton Books. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Husenbeth, Rev. F. C., DD, VG (ed.). (1928). Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints. London: Virtue & Co. 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 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/join (Yahoo! 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