Celtic and Old English Saints 10 November =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Aedh MacBricc of Meath * St. Elaeth of Anglesey * St. Just of Canterbury * St. John the Irish of Mecklemburg =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Aedh MacBricc, Bishop of Meath (Aod, Aedsind, Aidus) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Died 589. The Lives of Aedh are full of miraculous events of healing, bilocation, and other marvels. The son of Breece of the Hy Neill, Aedh worked on his father's farm. His conversion occurred when he was dissuaded by Bishop Saint Illathan of Rathlihen (f.d. June 10) from kidnapping a girl from his brother's household in retaliation for the refusal to give him his inheritance on his father's death. Instead he became the bishop's disciple. He founded a monastery at Cill-air and Rathugh in Westmeath and eventually became a bishop. He cured Saint Brigid (f.d. February 1) of a headache, so is often invoked to cure headaches (Benedictines, Delaney). Troparion of St Aedh MacBricc tone 1 Founder of churches, Wonderworker Hierarch and curer of headaches,/ thou art rightly praised for thy missionary labours,/ O Father Aedh Macbricc./ We celebrate thy memory, O Saint,/ praying that we may be given grace to emulate thee,/ for the re-establishment of Orthodoxy in these islands/ and for the salvation of our souls. St. Elaeth of Anglesey, King, Poet, Monk ------------------------------------------------------------------ Died 6th century. A Briton from the North driven into Wales by the Picts, Elaeth became a monk under Saint Seiriol (f.d. January 2) in Anglesey. Some poems of his are still extant (Benedictines). Troparion of St Eleath tone 8 Thou didst exchange armed combat with the heathen for the spiritual warfare of the monastic life, O Father Eleath./ Look on those who now hymn thee, O thou who didst praise God with thy poetic talents He gave thee,/ and intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved. St. Justus of Canterbury, Bishop ----------------------------------------------------------------- Died 627. Justus came to England with the second band of Roman priests sent by Saint Gregory the Great (f.d. September 3) in 601 to reinforce the mission to the Anglo-Saxons. In 604 Saint Augustine of Canterbury (f.d. May 27) consecrated him the first bishop of Rochester. He fled to Gaul with Saint Mellitus (f.d. April 24) during the heathen reaction after the death of King Ethelbert of Kent (f.d. February 25) in 616, but soon returned. In 624, Justus became the fourth archbishop of Canterbury, succeeding Saint Laurence (f.d. February 3). It was Justus who consecrated Saint Paulinus (f.d. October 10) when Paulinus accompanied Saint Ethelburga of Kent (f.d. April 5) to her marriage with King Saint Edwin (f.d. October 12) of Northumbria. When sending him the pallium, the badge of his new office, Pope Boniface V wrote of Justus's known constancy and vigilance in the cause of Christ's Gospel. The Saint Justus (f.d. October 18) or Just (f.d. August 12) whose name occurs in two Cornish parishes has not been adequately identified (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney). Another Life http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08586a.htm St. Justus Fourth Archbishop of Canterbury; died 627 (?). For the particulars of his life we are almost entirely dependent on Venerable Bede's "Historia Ecclesiastica", the additions of medieval writers, such as William of Malmesbury or Elmham, possessing no authority. Justus was one of the second band of missionaries sent by St. Gregory the Great, the company which arrived in 601 to reinforce St. Augustine and which conveyed the relics, books, sacred vessels, and other gifts sent by the pope. It is not certain whether he was a secular priest or a monk. St. Bede is silent on the point and only later monastic writers from Canterbury claim him as one of their own order. In 604 he was consecrated by St. Augustine as first Bishop of Rochester, on which occasion King Ethelbert bestowed on the new see, by charter, a territory called Priestfield and other lands. Other charters in which his name occurs are of dubious authenticity. After the death of Augustine, Justus joined with the new Archbishop, St Laurence, and with Mellitus of London in addressing letters to the recalcitrant British bishops, but without effect. During the heathen reaction which followed the death of Ethelbert, Justus was expelled from his see and took refuge in Gaul for a year, after which he was recalled by Eadbald who had been converted by St. Laurence. On the death of St. Mellitus (24 April, 624) who had succeeded St. Laurence as archbishop, St. Justus was elected to the vacant primacy. The letter which Pope Boniface addressed to him when sending him the pallium is preserved by Venerable Bede (H. F., II, 8). He was already an old man, and little is recorded of his pontificate except that he consecrated Romanus as Bishop of Rochester and St. Paulinus as Bishop for the North. His anniversary was kept at Canterbury on 10 November, but there is uncertainty as to the year of his death, though 627, the commonly received date, would appear to be correct, especially as it fits in with the period of three years usually assigned by the chroniclers to his archiepiscopate. He was buried with his predecessors at St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, and is commemorated in the English supplement to the Missal and Breviary on 10 November. St. John the Irish, Bishop and Martyr ------------------------------------------------------------------ In Mecklemburg (Germany), Saint John the Irish, bishop & martyr (1066). An Irish monk, John was consecrated a bishop and undertook missionary journeys, first to Iceland, in the middle of the 11th century, then to Germany, where Saint Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg, gave him the new diocese of Mecklemburg with the mission of converting the whole region. John met a martyr's end in the same year as the prince of the Obotrites, Gotescalc, who had given himself as a champion of the Gospel (1066). As with Gotescalc, John the Irish is present in the canon of the Saints but without having had any cult.. - Acta sanct., 10 November, t. 4, p. 564-566. - Cf. 7 june, t. 6, p. 132-133. Lives kindly supplied by: For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm Calendar of 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 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
