Feast of St. Petroc (June 4)

Above:  St. Petroc’s Church, Bodmin, Cornwall, England

Image Source = Google Earth

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SAINT PETROC (DIED CIRCA 564)

Welsh Prince, Abbot, and Missionary

St. Petroc comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the calendars of the Roman Catholic Church and The Church of England.

St. Petroc was originally a saint of the Celtic Church.  He died prior to the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury et al. (597) and the Synod of Whitby (664).  His feast transferred into the Roman Catholic Church then into The Church of England.  Many legends about him developed then repeated in hagiographies.  I have chosen to disregard these.

St. Petroc was a Welsh prince who led a religious life.  His father was Glywys, the King of Glywysing, one of the Welsh kingdoms.  After King Glywys died, St. Petroc refused a crown and sailed to Ireland, to study and to begin life as a religious.  A few years later, St. Petroc returned to Great Britain and settled at Padstone, Cornwall.  There he founded a monastery and served as the abbot for at least three decades.  Our saint also founded churches, as well as a second monastery.  The location of the second monastery was in the Cornish countryside.  St. Petroc, furthermore, converted Constantine, the King of Dumnonia, to Christianity.  St. Petroc died in Pastow, Cornwall, circa 564.  He had laid the foundation of Christian faith in much of Cornwall.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 19, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALPHEGE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND MARTYR, 1012

THE FEAST OF DAVID BRAINERD, AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY AND MINISTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT EMMA OF LESUM, BENEFACTOR

THE FEAST OF MARY C. COLLINS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MISSIONARY AND MINISTER

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS PETRI, SWEDISH LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN, HISTORIAN, LITURGIST, MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND “FATHER OF SWEDISH LITERATURE;” AND HIS BROTHER, LAURENTIUS PETRI, SWEDISH LUTHERAN ARCHBISHOP OF UPPSALA, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND “FATHER OF SWEDISH HYMNODY”

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Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Saint Petroc,

whom you called to preach the Gospel to the people of Cornwall, England.

Raise up in this and every land evangelists and heralds of your kingdom,

that your Church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 52:7-10

Psalm 96 or 96:1-7

Acts 1:1-9

Luke 10:1-9

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 716

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