[celt-saints] 9 September #2
Celtic and Old English Saints 9 September =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (see #1) * St. Bettelin of Croyland * St. Osmanna of Brieuc * St. Wilfrida of Wilton * St. Wulfhilda of Barking =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= St. Bettelin of Croyland, Hermit -- (also known as Beccelin, Bertelin, Berthelm, Bertram, Bethlin, Bethelm) 8th century. Saint Bettelin, a disciple of Saint Guthlac, was a hermit who practised the most austere penances and lived a life of continual prayer in the forest near Stafford, England. He received counsel from his master on his deathbed and was present at his burial. After the death of Guthlac, Bettelin and his companions continued to live at Croyland under Kenulphus, its first abbot. There are unreliable legends about Bettelin, including a later one that he had to overcome temptation to cut Guthlac's throat while shaving him. They also say that Bettelin was the son of a local ruler who fell in love with a princess during a visit to Ireland. On their return to England, she died a terrible death. He left her in the forest when she was overcome by labour pains, while he had gone in search of a midwife. During his absence she was torn to pieces by ravenous wolves. Thereafter, Bettelin became a hermit. Another legends relates that Saint Bettelin left his hermitage to drive off invaders with the help of an angel, before returning to his cell to die. Some of his relics may have been translated to Stafford before the plunder and burning of Croyland by the Danes. He is the patron of Stafford, in which his relics were kept with great veneration (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth). St. Osmanna (Argariarga) of Brieuc, Virgin --- Died c. 650. Saint Osmanna was descended from an illustrious Irish family. She migrated to Brittany in northern France to live as a consecrated virgin and served God with fervour in solitude until her death near Saint Brieuc. Until the Reformation, her relics were enshrined in a chapel under her patronage in the abbatial church of Saint Denys near Paris; but some of them were dispersed by the Calvinists in 1567 (Benedictines, Husenbeth). St. Wilfrida of Wilton, Abbess (also known as Wulfritha, Wulfthryth) - Died c. 988. Saint Wilfrida was a novice at the convent of Wilton when she caught the eye of the King Saint Edgar the Peaceful, who had been rejected by her cousin, Saint Wulfhilda. She became his concubine and bore his daughter, Saint Edith of Wilton, out of wedlock. Shortly after Edith's birth, she returned to Wilton with her child. There she took the veil at the hands of Saint Ethelwold. As a nun, and later as abbess, Wilfrida did penance and made ample amends for the irregularity of her liaison with Edgar (Benedictines, Farmer). St. Wulfhilda of Barking, Abbess Died c. 980-1000; other feasts include that of her translation on September 2, c. 1030 (with the relics of Saints Hildelith and Ethelburga), as well as on March 7 and September 23 at Barking. Saint Wulfhilda was raised in the abbey of Wilton. When she was a novice, King Saint Edgar sought her hand in marriage, but she had a vocation that was irrevocable. Her aunt, Abbess Wenfleda of Wherwell, invited the young novice to become her successor, but it was just a ploy to lure her from Wilton. When she arrived at Wherwell, she found the king waiting for her and her aunt willing to allow him to seduce her. Wulfhilda escaped through the drains despite the chaperons inside and the guards outside the convent. The king pursued her back to Wilton and caught her in the cloister, but she escaped his grasp and took refuge in the sanctuary among the altars and relics. Thereafter Edgar renounced his claim on her and took her cousin Saint Wilfrida as his mistress instead. Wulfhilda went on to found and serve as the first abbess of the convent of Horton in Dorsetshire. Later she was appointed abbess of the convent of Barking, which had been restored by King Edgar and endowed with several churches in Wessex towns. During this period she was credited with several miracles, including the multiplication of drinks when King Edgar, Saint Ethelwold, and a naval officer from Sandwich visited the abbey. After Edgar's death, his widowed queen, Elfrida (Aelfthryth), conspired with some of Wulfhilda's nuns, to drive her out of Barking. She retired to Horton for the next 20 years until she was recalled to Barking by King Ethelred. For the last seven years of her life, Wulfhilda served as abbess of both Horton and Barking. Goscelin wrote her "vita" within 60 years of her death. (Benedictines, Farmer). Lives kindly supplied by: For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints
[celt-saints] 9 September #2
The Holy Monastery of Clonmacnoise This Tuesday (9 September) is the commemoration of one of Ireland's most beloved Saints, Ciaran (Kieran) of Clonmacnoise (+549). Here is a brief article about his remarkable monastery. Through his prayers, may God send peace upon Ireland. Amen. The Holy Monastery of Clonmacnoise Situated on the Shannon, about half way between Athlone and Banagher, King's County, Ireland, and the most remarkable of the ancient schools of Erin. Its founder was St. Ciaran, surnamed Mac an Tsair, or "Son of the Carpenter", and thus distinguished from his namesake, the patron saint of Ossory. He chose this rather uninviting region because he thought it a more suitable dwelling-place for disciples of the Cross than the luxuriant plains not far away. Ciaran was born at Fuerty, County Roscommon, in 512, and in his early years was committed to the care of a deacon named Justus, who had baptized him, and from whose hands he passed to the school of St. Finnian at Clonard. Here he met all those saintly youths who with himself were afterwards known as the "Twelve Apostles of Erin", and he quickly won their esteem. When Finnian had to absent himself from the monastery, it was to the youthful Ciaran that he deputed his authority to teach and "give out the prayers", and when Ciaran announced his intended departure, Finnian would fain resign to him his cathair, or chair, and keep him in Clonard. But Ciaran felt himself unripe for such responsibility, and he knew, moreover, he had work to do elsewhere. After leaving Clonard, Ciaran, like most of the contemporary Irish saints, went to Aran to commune with holy Enda. One night the two saints beheld the same vision, "of a great fruitful tree, beside a stream, in the middle of Ireland, and it protected the island of Ireland, and its fruit went forth over the sea that surrounded the island, and the birds of the world came to carry off somewhat of its fruit". And when Ciaran spoke of the vision to Enda, the latter said to him: "The great tree which thou beholdest is thou thyself, for thou art great in the eyes of God and men, and all Ireland will be full of thy honour. This island will be protected under the shadow of thy favour, and multitudes will be satisfied with the grace of thy fasting and prayer. Go then, with God's word, to a bank of a stream, and there found a church." Ciaran obeyed. On reaching the mainland he first paid a visit to St. Senan of Scattery and then proceeded towards the "middle of Ireland", founding on his way two monasteries, in one of which, on Inis Ainghin, he spent over three years. Going farther south he came to a lonely waste by the Shannon, and seeking out a beautiful grassy ridge, called Ard Tiprait, or the "Height of the Spring," he said to his companions: "Here then we will stay, for many souls will go to heaven hence, and there will be a visit from God and from men forever on this place". Thus, on 23 January, 544, Ciaran laid the foundation of his monastic school of Clonmacnoise, and on 9 May following he witnessed its completion. Diarmait, son of Cerball, afterwards High King of Ireland, aided and encouraged the saint in every way, promising him large grants of land as an endowment. Ciaran's government of his monastery was of short duration; he was seized by a plague which had already decimated the saints of Ireland, and died 9 September, 544. It is remarkable that a young saint dying before he was thirty-three, should have been the founder of a school whose fame was to endure for centuries. But Ciaran was a man of prayer and fasting and labour, trained in all the science and discipline of the saints, humble and full of faith, and so was a worthy instrument in the hands of Providence for the carrying out of a high design. St. Cummian of Clonfert calls him one of the Patres Priores of the Irish Church, and Alcuin, the most illustrious alumnus of Clonmacnoise, proclaims him the Gloria Gentis Scotorum. His festival is kept on 9 September, and his shrine is visited by many pilgrims. Ciaran left but little mark upon the literary annals of the famous school he founded. But in the character which he gave it of a seminary for a whole nation, and not for a particular tribe or district, is to be found the secret of its success. The masters were chosen simply for their learning and zeal; the abbots were elected almost in rotation from the different provinces; and the pupils thronged thither from all parts of Ireland, as well as from the remote quarters of France and England. >From the beginning it enjoyed the confidence of the Irish bishops and the favour of kings and princes who were happy to be buried in its shadow. In its sacred clay sleep Diarmait the High King, and his rival Guaire, King of Connaught; Turlough O'Conor, and his hapless son, Roderick, the last King of Ireland, and many other royal benefactors, who believed that the prayers of Ciaran would bring to heaven all those who were buried there. But
[celt-saints] 9 September #2
The Holy Monastery of Clonmacnoise This Tuesday (9 September) is the commemoration of one of Ireland's most beloved Saints, Ciaran (Kieran) of Clonmacnoise (+549). Here is a brief article about his remarkable monastery. Through his prayers, may God send peace upon Ireland. Amen. The Holy Monastery of Clonmacnoise Situated on the Shannon, about half way between Athlone and Banagher, King's County, Ireland, and the most remarkable of the ancient schools of Erin. Its founder was St. Ciaran, surnamed Mac an Tsair, or "Son of the Carpenter", and thus distinguished from his namesake, the patron saint of Ossory. He chose this rather uninviting region because he thought it a more suitable dwelling-place for disciples of the Cross than the luxuriant plains not far away. Ciaran was born at Fuerty, County Roscommon, in 512, and in his early years was committed to the care of a deacon named Justus, who had baptized him, and from whose hands he passed to the school of St. Finnian at Clonard. Here he met all those saintly youths who with himself were afterwards known as the "Twelve Apostles of Erin", and he quickly won their esteem. When Finnian had to absent himself from the monastery, it was to the youthful Ciaran that he deputed his authority to teach and "give out the prayers", and when Ciaran announced his intended departure, Finnian would fain resign to him his cathair, or chair, and keep him in Clonard. But Ciaran felt himself unripe for such responsibility, and he knew, moreover, he had work to do elsewhere. After leaving Clonard, Ciaran, like most of the contemporary Irish saints, went to Aran to commune with holy Enda. One night the two saints beheld the same vision, "of a great fruitful tree, beside a stream, in the middle of Ireland, and it protected the island of Ireland, and its fruit went forth over the sea that surrounded the island, and the birds of the world came to carry off somewhat of its fruit". And when Ciaran spoke of the vision to Enda, the latter said to him: "The great tree which thou beholdest is thou thyself, for thou art great in the eyes of God and men, and all Ireland will be full of thy honour. This island will be protected under the shadow of thy favour, and multitudes will be satisfied with the grace of thy fasting and prayer. Go then, with God's word, to a bank of a stream, and there found a church." Ciaran obeyed. On reaching the mainland he first paid a visit to St. Senan of Scattery and then proceeded towards the "middle of Ireland", founding on his way two monasteries, in one of which, on Inis Ainghin, he spent over three years. Going farther south he came to a lonely waste by the Shannon, and seeking out a beautiful grassy ridge, called Ard Tiprait, or the "Height of the Spring," he said to his companions: "Here then we will stay, for many souls will go to heaven hence, and there will be a visit from God and from men forever on this place". Thus, on 23 January, 544, Ciaran laid the foundation of his monastic school of Clonmacnoise, and on 9 May following he witnessed its completion. Diarmait, son of Cerball, afterwards High King of Ireland, aided and encouraged the saint in every way, promising him large grants of land as an endowment. Ciaran's government of his monastery was of short duration; he was seized by a plague which had already decimated the saints of Ireland, and died 9 September, 544. It is remarkable that a young saint dying before he was thirty-three, should have been the founder of a school whose fame was to endure for centuries. But Ciaran was a man of prayer and fasting and labour, trained in all the science and discipline of the saints, humble and full of faith, and so was a worthy instrument in the hands of Providence for the carrying out of a high design. St. Cummian of Clonfert calls him one of the Patres Priores of the Irish Church, and Alcuin, the most illustrious alumnus of Clonmacnoise, proclaims him the Gloria Gentis Scotorum. His festival is kept on 9 September, and his shrine is visited by many pilgrims. Ciaran left but little mark upon the literary annals of the famous school he founded. But in the character which he gave it of a seminary for a whole nation, and not for a particular tribe or district, is to be found the secret of its success. The masters were chosen simply for their learning and zeal; the abbots were elected almost in rotation from the different provinces; and the pupils thronged thither from all parts of Ireland, as well as from the remote quarters of France and England. >From the beginning it enjoyed the confidence of the Irish bishops and the favour of kings and princes who were happy to be buried in its shadow. In its sacred clay sleep Diarmait the High King, and his rival Guaire, King of Connaught; Turlough O'Conor, and his hapless son, Roderick, the last King of Ireland, and many other royal benefactors, who believed that the prayers of Ciaran would bring to heaven all those who were buried there. But
