Variety is the spice of life.

Above: Icon of St. Kassiani the Hymnographer

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT KASSIANI THE HYMNOGRAPHER (805/810-865)

Byzantine Abbess, Poet, Composer, Hymn Writer, and Defender of Icons

Also known as Saint Kassia and Saint Cassia

St. Kassiani the Hymnographer comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and The Episcopal Church.  As of Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018, St. Kassiani’s feast graces the calendar of The Episcopal Church.

An inescapable fact influences this, my Ecumenical Calendar:  most saints on it come from patriarchal societies.  This means that I have more sources for male saints than for female ones.  And I cannot write based on sources that do not exist.  I am sufficiently liberal to affirm the legal and social equality of men and women.  I also affirm that, as a cliché tells me,

Ergo, I welcome the opportunity to diversify this Ecumenical Calendar–in this case, regarding chromosomes.

The Byzantine Empire was patriarchal.  In that context, St. Kassiani was only one of two female authors known by her name.  The other one was Anna Comnenus (1083-1153/1154), a daughter of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (reigned 1081-1118), a sister of Emperor John II Comnenus (reigned 1118-1143), a sister-in-law of Blessed Irene of Hungary (1088-1134), and an aunt of Emperor Manuel I Comnenus (reigned 1143-1180).  Anna, a capable scholar, composed the Alexiad, about her father’s reign.  According to Paul Magdalino, the Alexiad was:

unique not only as a piece of Byzantine women’s literature, but also as an expression of frustrated ambition by a woman who felt that she had been born to imperial power.

–Quoted in Cyril Mango, editor, The Oxford History of Byzantium (2002), 206

St. Kassiani, born in Constantinople, between 805 and 810, came from a wealthy family.  She, according to ancient sources were well-educated, highly intelligent, and beautiful.  Her appearance attracted male attention, but her mind sometimes repelled such attention.  The dowager Empress Euphrosyne orchestrated a bride show–a beauty pageant–for her son, the bachelor Emperor Theophilus (reigned 829-842).  The Emperor selected St. Kassiani to become the Empress.  Then he told her:

Through a woman [came forth] the baser [things],

referring to Eve and the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.  St. Kassiani replied:

And through woman [came forth] the better [things],

a reference to St. Mary of Nazareth giving birth to Jesus.  With that, Theophilus chose another woman–Theodora–to be the Empress instead.

St. Kassiani was better off not being the Empress to Emperor Theophilus.  He was an Iconclast.  He was also

an arrogant, theologizing fanatic who promulgated a new edict againt idolaters (832) and pushed persecution to the limit.

–Peter N. Stearns, General Editor, The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth Edition (2001), 187

St. Kassiani had always been an astute person and a bright bulb.  When she was a young girl, her erudition had impressed St. Theodore Studites (759-826), the abbot of Studion Monastery, Constantinople.  He had liked her literary style, too.

St. Kassiani, rejected by the Emperor, turned to what she would have done anyway–enter monastic life.  By 843, our saint had founded and become the abbess of a convent on Xerólophos, the seventh hill of Constantinople.  This convent had a close relationship with the Studion Monastery.  Like the monks of Studion, our saint defended icons against the Iconoclasts.  Emperor Theophilus had her scourged with a lash for this.  Nevertheless, St. Kassiani wrote a short line of poetry, translated into English as:

I hate silence, when it is time to speak.

Empress Theodora, as the regent for her son, Emperor Michael III (reigned 842-867), ended official Byzantine Iconoclasm permanently, in 843.

St. Kassiani eventually moved to the island of Kasos, where she died in 865.

She left a rich legacy.  Hundreds of poems, fifty hymns, and many musical contributions survived.  She became the only woman whose works the Eastern Orthodox liturgy includes.  Twenty-three of her hymns have long graced the Eastern Orthodox liturgy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 19, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF NAZARETH, HUSBAND OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

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O God of boundless mercy, whose handmaiden Kassiani brought forth poetry and song:

Inspire in your church a new song,

that following her most excellent example,

we may boldly proclaim the truth of your Word,

even Jesus Christ, our Savior and Deliverer.  Amen.

Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 44:1-15

Psalm 150

Luke 24:44-53

—Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018

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Above:  Europe in 814

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT ADELARD OF CORBIE (CIRCA 752-JANUARY 2, 827)

Frankish Roman Catholic Monk and Abbot

Also known as Saint Adalard of Corbie, Saint Adalhard of Corbie, and Saint Adelhard of Corbie

His feast transferred from January 2

mentor of

SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS (CIRCA 790-CIRCA 860)

Frankish Roman Catholic Monk, Abbot, and Theologian

His feast = April 26

One of my critiques of ecclesiastical saints is that they frequently make understanding a particular saint’s life unduly difficult by not combining commemorations.  I understand that some choppiness is a virtue in ecclesiastical calendars of saints.  Consider these two saints, however, O reader.  Merging the Feast of St. Paschasius Radbertus with that of his mentor, St. Adelard of Corbie, improves comprehension of the former and the latter.  Observing two saints together is rarely excessive.

These two men were Frankish saints.  Monarchs of the Carolingian Dynasty influenced their lives greatly and defined their times and political realities.

St. Adelard of Corbie, born circa 752, came from a prominent family.  His grandfather was Charles Martel (circa 688-741) and his uncle was King Pepin III “the Short” (714-768; reigned 751-768).  Our saint grew up in the royal court in Aachen, mostly during the reign of Charles I/Charlemagne, King of the Franks (768-814) and Holy Roman Emperor (800-814).  St. Adelard left the royal court in 773, to become a Benedictine monk at Corbie Abbey in Picardy.  He, a student of St. Alcuin of York/Tours (circa 730-804), eventually became the Abbot of Corbie.  St. Adelard advised his kinsmen, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious/Fair/Debonair (reigned 813-840), and tutored another kinsman, Bernard (d. 818), nephew of Louis.  Bernard was the King of Italy (810-817) under Charlemagne and Louis.

Imperial politics led to St. Adelard’s brief exile.  Bernard, King of Italy, rebelled against his uncle.  The rebellion failed in 817, and Louis was directly responsible for Bernard’s death the following year.  Louis also sent St. Adelard, allegedly a supporter of the rebellion, into exile in 817.  More likely, St. Adelard was solely guilty to having been Bernard’s tutor.  Our saint found peace during his exile at Hére (now Noirmoutier-en-l’Île); the isolation provided solitude.  Eventually, Louis permitted St. Adelard to return to Corbie Abbey.

St. Paschasius Radbertus, born circa 790, grew up in the Church, literally.  Monks at Soissons raised him, left as a foundling, after nuns found him.  Our saint was an undisciplined youth, despite the best efforts of the monks.  He calmed down eventually, though.  By 822, St. Adelard had returned to Corbie Abbey.  That year, St. Paschasius Radbertus became a monk at Corbie Abbey.  Our two saints and Wala, who had become the Abbot of Corbie after St. Adelard had gone into exile, founded New Corvey Abbey in Saxony in 822.  St. Adelard taught and mentored St. Paschasius Radbertus for years.

St. Adelard died at Corbie Abbey on January 2, 827.  Pope John XIX canonized him in 1026.

St. Paschasius Radbertus made his mark on Corbie Abbey.  He transformed the abbey school into one of the best and most famous educational institutions in Europe.  Our saint also served as the novice master.  He, a deacon, succeeded to the abbotcy against his will in 844.  Seven years later, as part of the resolution of a dispute, our saint resigned.  He had already become a respected and famous peacemaker, traveling across Europe and resolving political and religious disputes.

While at Corbie Abbey, St. Paschasius Radbertus taught and mentored another eventually canonized saint, St. Ansgar/Anskar (801-865), Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen.

The former abbot happily became a hermit at St. Riquiet Monastery, Cenula.  He wrote then wrote then wrote some more.  St. Paschasius Radbertus wrote historical, theological, and philosophical works.  He wrote commentaries on Matthew, Lamentations, and Psalm 44.  Our saint composed a biography of St. Adelard of Corbie.  St. Paschasius Radbertus also wrote in defense of the perpetual virginity of St. Mary of Nazareth.

Most importantly, St. Paschasius Radbertus wrote The Body and Blood of Christ (831), about Transubstantiation.  He wrote it for a student, Placidus Varinus, Abbot of New Corvey, and for the monks there.  This text sparked a controversy that started in 844 and lasted for centuries.  Our saint stood in line with the Church Fathers regarding Transubstantiation; he was orthodox.  However, he chose some words poorly, hence the controversy.  Pope Sylvester II (circa 945-1003; in office 999-1003) defended St. Paschasius Radbertus.  The controversy eventually resulted in a precise definition of Transubstantiation.

St. Paschasius Radbertus died circa 860.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 12, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS TRASILLA AND EMILIANA; THEIR SISTER-IN-LAW, SAINT SYLVIA OF ROME; AND HER SON, SAINT GREGORY I “THE GREAT,” BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF JOHN H. CALDWELL, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND SOCIAL REFORMER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MAXIMILLIAN OF TREVESTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 295

THE FEAST OF RUTILIO GRANDE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1977

THE FEAST OF SAINT THEOPHANES THE CHRONICLER, DEFENDER OF ICONS

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O God, by whose grace your servants

Saints Adelard of Corbie and Paschasius Radbertus,

kindled with the flame of your love,

became a burning and a shining light in your Church:

Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline,

and walk before you as children of light;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Acts 2:42-47a

Psalm 133 or 34:108 or 119:161-168

2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Matthew 6:24-33

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 723

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Above:  St. Swithun

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT SWITHUN (CIRCA 800-JULY 2, 863)

Roman Catholic Bishop of Winchester

Also known as Saint Swithin

The two feast days of St. Swithun are July 2 and 15.  July 2 is the anniversary of his death.  July 15, his feast in The Church of England, is also the commemoration of the transfer of his relics to Canterbury in 1006 by St. Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury.

More legends than historical facts about St. Swithun exist.  Some of the legends might even be accurate.  But what can state with objective plausibility?

St. Swithun, born in Winchester, Kingdom of Wessex, circa 800, was a humble and influential man.  He was a counselor to King Egbert of Wessex (r. 802-839) and teacher of Egbert’s son, King Ethelwulf (r. 839-858).  In 853 King Ethelwulf appointed St. Swithun the Bishop of Winchester.  Our saint held that post for the rest of his life, until July 2, 863.

St. Swithun remained obscure in death (as he probably would have preferred, given his humility in life) until circa 964.  The cult of St. Swithun started then and kept going until the destruction of the final shrine in 1538.  Portmortem St. Swithun had a reputation as a miracle worker; pilgrims hoped for healing at his shrine.  There were, in fact, successive shrines, each one more elaborate than the previous one.

May we remember St. Swithun as the man he was–a royal advisor and tutor, a bishop, and a man who requested a humble grave, not an elaborate shrine.

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Holy God, in whom the first are last and the last are first:

we praise and thank you for the example you have given us in your faithful servant,

Saint Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, who built a shrine to you in his inner being.

May we likewise exalt Christ in our public and private lives, to the glory of your Name;

in the Name of God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Wisdom of Solomon 1:1-5

Psalm 115

1 Peter 5:1-11

Luke 6:43-45

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 17, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THOMAS BRADBURY CHANDLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST; HIS SON-IN-LAW, JOHN HENRY HOBART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM HOBART HARE, APOSTLE TO THE SIOUX AND EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF NIOBRARA THEN SOUTH DAKOTA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CATERINA VOLPICELLI, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE SACRED HEART; SAINT LUDOVICO DA CASORIA, FOUNDER OF THE GRAY FRIARS OF CHARITY AND COFOUNDER OF THE GRAY SISTERS OF SAINT ELIZABETH; AND SAINT GIULIA SALZANO, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CATECHETICAL SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART

THE FEAST OF CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON AND THURGOOD MARSHALL, ATTORNEYS AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

THE FEAST OF DONALD COGGAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

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Above:  Carolingian Imperial Partitions

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT ATHANASIUS I OF NAPLES (CIRCA 832-872)

Roman Catholic Bishop of Naples

The political realities of the time and place of St. Athanasius of Naples were different from the circumstances of those reading this post.  Greek colonists had founded the city of Naples, then called Neopolis (“new city”), in the southern part of the Italian peninsula, circa 600 B.C.E.  The area came under the control of the Roman Republic then folded into the Roman Empire.  After the demise of the Western Roman Empire (476 C.E.), Naples changed hands more than once, eventually coming under Byzantine (Eastern Roman) control in 552.  The independent Duchy of Naples existed from 763 to 1139, when it became part of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.  After the loss of Sicily in 1266 the Kingdom of Sicily became the Kingdom of Naples.  The merger of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, both of which shared the same monarch, in 1816 created the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with Naples as the capital.  Then, in 1860, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies gave way to the new Kingdom of Italy.

Church and state overlapped in the Duchy of Naples and the life of St. Athanasius I.  His father was Duke Sergius I (r. 840-864), founder of the Sergian Dynasty.  Our saint’s brother was Duke Gregory III (r. 850-870) and one of his nephews was Duke Sergius II (r. 870-877).  Dukes of Naples had to contend with various emirs and caliphs; Neopolitan foreign policy entailed both warfare and diplomacy, at different times.  Frequently the latter was the preferred policy of dukes.  St. Athanasius, aged 18 years, became the Bishop of Naples in 850, at the same time his brother Gregory III became co-ruler with Sergius I.  St. Athanasius I oversaw the rebuilding of the Church of St. Januarius, which Saracens had destroyed.  He also opposed simony, build a hospice for religious pilgrims, served as a papal legate, and advised the Carolingian Emperors Lothair I (r. 817-855) and Louis II (r. 855-875).

Sergius II was a bad character.  He incarcerated two uncles–St. Athanasius I and Admiral Caesar.  Both men had opposed Sergius II’s alliance with the Aghlabid Dynasty, based in northern Africa, and which controlled Sicily.  The Duke of Naples, instead of behaving decently, criminalized their dissent and permitted Caesar to die in prison.  Public pressure forced the release of St. Athanasius I, exiled by his nephew.  Louis II sent a rescue fleet, however.  St. Athanasius, en route to Rome, died at Veroli in 872.  Sergius II met his grisly fate.  His brother, Athanasius II, from 875/876 the Bishop of Naples, overthrew him and blinded him.  Athanasius II, still the Bishop of Naples, doubled as the Duke of Naples.  He died in 898.

How might one be a faithful Christian and leader in a cut-throat environment?  St. Athanasius I worked on that project.  Two nephews did not.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 17, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THOMAS BRADBURY CHANDLER, ANGLICAN PRIEST; HIS SON-IN-LAW, JOHN HENRY HOBART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM HOBART HARE, APOSTLE TO THE SIOUX AND EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF NIOBRARA THEN SOUTH DAKOTA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CATERINA VOLPICELLI, FOUNDRESS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE SACRED HEART; SAINT LUDOVICO DA CASORIA, FOUNDER OF THE GRAY FRIARS OF CHARITY AND COFOUNDER OF THE GRAY SISTERS OF SAINT ELIZABETH; AND SAINT GIULIA SALZANO, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE CATECHETICAL SISTERS OF THE SACRED HEART

THE FEAST OF CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON AND THURGOOD MARSHALL, ATTORNEYS AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

THE FEAST OF DONALD COGGAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

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Almighty God, you have raised up faithful bishops of your church,

including your servant Saint Athanasius I of Naples.

May the memory of his life be a source of joy for us and a bulwark of our faith,

so that we may confess your name before the world,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 34:11-16 or Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84

1 Peter 5:1-4 or Ephesians 3:14-21

John 21:15-17 or Matthew 24:42-47

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 60

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Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

Above:  The Expansion of Islam, 700-900

Scanned from Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (Philadelphia, PA:  The Publishers Agency, Inc., 1957), H-11

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SAINT METHODIUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE (LATE 700S-847)

Defender of Icons and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

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SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER (LATE 700S-886)

Defender of Icons and the “Sweet-Voiced Nightingale of the Church”

Alternative feast day = April 3

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–Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées

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A DUAL BIOGRAPHY OF ALMOST CERTAINLY THREE MEN

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On the Roman Catholic calendar Sts. Methodius I of Constantinople and Joseph the Hymnographer, contemporaries, share a feast day yet not a feast.  My process of preparing this post reveals that the fact they their stories contain many of the same background characters, however, so merging the feasts is efficient and feasible.

FROM SICILY TO ROME

Above:  St. Methodius I of Constantinople

Image in the Public Domain

St. Methodius I, born in Syracuse, Sicily, in the late 700s, came from a wealthy family.  He, educated in Syracuse, traveled to Constantinople for the purpose of seeking a position in the Byzantine imperial court.  He founded a monastery on the island of Chinos and supervised construction of that monastery instead.  St. Methodius I left Chinos soon after the the completion of the construction of that monastery, for St. Nicephorus I, from 806 to 815 the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, summoned him to the imperial capital and appointed him the apokrisiares, or church advocate, during the reign (813-820) of the Iconoclastic Emperor Leo V the Armenian.

Above:  St. Joseph the Hymnographer

Image in the Public Domain

St. Joseph the Hymnographer, frequently and perhaps hopelessly confused by many hagiographers with St. Joseph of Thessalonica, brother of St. Theodore Studites, also made his way to Constantinople.  St. Joseph the Hymnographer, born on the island of Sicily in the late 700s, came from a Christian family.  His parents were Plotinos and Agatha.  He moved to Thessalonica, where he became a monk.  There St. Gregory the Dekapolite, also a defender of icons, met our saint, whom he took to the imperial capital during the reign (813-820) of Leo V the Armenian.

IN ROME

St. Nicephorus I sent St. Methodius I on a mission to Rome.  During that time Leo the Armenian dismissed the Ecumenical Patriarch and exiled the absent St. Methodius I.

St. Gregory also sent St. Joseph to Rome, to deliver a message to Pope Leo III (in office 795-816).  St. Joseph remained in Rome for years.

BACK TO CONSTANTINOPLE

Both of our featured saints returned to Constantinople after Leo the Armenian died in 820 and during the reign (820-829) of Emperor Michael II the Stammerer.  Although Michael II initially halted the Iconclastic persecution and freed the political prisoners, he eventually resumed the persecution and imprisoned St. Methodius I, who had continued to resist Iconoclasm.  St. Joseph, a priest by this time, was back in the imperial capital also.  There he founded a church and an associated monastery.  In his absence St. Gregory had died.  St. Joseph transferred relics of his mentor to the new church.

THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR THEOPHILUS (829-842)

The next ruler was Theophilus (reigned 829-842), an Iconclast.  The Emperor freed St. Methodius I, who persisted in resisting Iconoclasm.  Theophilus tolerated this until he became convinced that leniency toward St. Methodius I angered God, who supposedly punished the empire with defeats to Arab armies.  So, in 835, the Emperor ordered the arrest and torture of St. Methodius I, who had retorted that God was angry not over the veneration of icons but the destruction of them.  Byzantine guards broke St. Methodius I’s jaw and permanently scarred his face.  They also kept him incarcerated with two robbers in a cave on the island of Antigonus for seven years.

St. Joseph also resisted the Iconclastic policy of Theophilus.  Our saint therefore spent eleven years in exile in the Cheronese, in Crimea.

EXIT SAINT METHODIUS I

The reign of Emperor Michael III the Drunkard spanned from 842 to 867.  Until 856, however, the regent was his mother, the Empress Theodora.  She ordered defenders of icons freed.  The Empress also elevated St. Methodius I to the office of Ecumenical Patriarch.  In that capacity he presided over the church council that restored the veneration of icons.  He lived peacefully during his final years, dying in 847.

St. Methodius I also wrote some hymns.

EXIT SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER

St. Joseph’s fortunes under Theodora were mixed.  In 842 she made him the keeper of the sacred vessels at the Church of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.  He had to go into exiles again, however, due to the political consequences of his condemnation of the cohabitation of Bardas, brother of Theodora.  St. Joseph returned from exile in 867, after the death of Bardas.

St. Joseph, back in Constantinople, ended his days as the Father-confessor for all priests in the city.  He died in 886.

St. Joseph wrote about 1000 hymns and liturgical poems of the Orthodox Church.  Some of them have come to exist in English-language translations, in hymnals of various denominations, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Moravian, and Presbyterian.

THE MATTER OF CHRONOLOGY; OR, PEOPLE LEAD THEIR LIVES FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD

I have endeavored to write as accurately as possible.  As I have mentioned, hagiographers have long confused St. Joseph the Hymnographer with St. Joseph of Thessalonica.  This fact has complicated my task.  Even Orthodox Church resources I have consulted have offered untrustworthy information.  I have discerned some of this via simple mathematics.  According to some sources, the birth of St. Joseph the Hymnographer occurred in 816 and his family fled Sicily when he was 15 years old (in 831), due to the Arab invasion.  Also according to these sources, some years later St. Joseph arrived in Constantinople and carried a message to the Pope during the reign of Emperor Leo V the Armenian.  The reign of Leo the Armenian was 813-820, however.  ST. JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER DID NOT MOVE BACKWARD IN TIME.  I have also read of mutually exclusive exiles of St. Joseph during the reign of the Emperor Theophilus.  I have utilized Ockham’s Razor when making decisions about what to write.

I acknowledge readily, O reader, that my biography of St. Joseph the Hymnographer almost certainly contains elements of the life of St. Joseph of Thessalonica instead, due to the sources available to me.

CONCLUSION

Sts. Methodius I of Constantinople and Joseph the Hymnographer were faithful servants of God who suffered for their faith, due to imperial politics.  Their legacies have survived, fortunately.  The Orthodox Church has continued to venerate icons.  Also, many Christians, in their successive generations, to the present day, have sung hymns by St. Joseph.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 23, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE ALMSGIVER, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIACH OF ALEXANDRIA

THE FEAST OF CASPAR NEUMANN, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF PHILLIPS BROOKS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MASSACHUSETTS

THE FEAST OF THOMAS A. DOOLEY, PHYSICIAN AND HUMANITARIAN

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Almighty God, we praise you for your servants

Saints Methodius I of Constantinople and Joseph the Hymnographer,

through whom you have called the church to its tasks and renewed its life.

Raise up in our won day teachers and prophets inspired by your Spirit,

whose voices will give strength to your church and proclaim the reality of your reign,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 46

1 Corinthians 3:11-23

Mark 10:35-45

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Above:  Coat of Arms of the Premyslid Dynasty

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT LUDMILLA OF BOHEMIA (CIRCA 860-SEPTEMBER 16, 921)

Duchess of Bohemia and Martyr

Her feast transferred from September 16

grandmother of

SAINT WENCESLAUS I OF BOHEMIA (907-SEPTEMBER 28, 929)

Duke of Bohemia and Martyr

His feast transferred from September 28

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SAINT AGNES OF PRAGUE (1205-MARCH 6, 1282)

Bohemian Princess and Nun

Also known as Saint Agnes of Bohemia

Her feast day = March 2

Alternative feast days = March 6 and June 8

corresponded with

SAINT CLARE OF ASSISI (JULY 16, 1194-AUGUST 11, 1253)

Foundress of the Poor Clares

Her feast transferred from August 11

Alternative feast days = August 12, September 23, and October 3

sister of

SAINT AGNES OF ASSISI (1197-NOVEMBER 16, 1253)

Abbess at Monticelli

Her feast transferred from November 16

daughter of

SAINT HORTULANA OF ASSISI (DIED CIRCA 1238)

Poor Clare Nun

Also known as Saint Ortulana of Assisi

Her feast transferred from January 2

Alternative feast days = January 5 and August 18

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One of my purposes in renovating my Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days is to emphasize influences and relationships.  This post, with family functioning as the connective tissue, is consistent with that goal.

St. Methodius (circa 815-885), a great missionary bishop, converted Duke Borivoj I of Bohemia (reigned 867-889) and his wife, St. Ludmilla of Bohemia (circa 860-921) to Christianity.  The sovereigns’ attempts to convert their subjects prompted much opposition, even an exile.  Their oldest son, Spythinev I (reigned 894-915), preceded his younger brother, Vratislaus I (reigned 915-921), who seems to have died during a pagan uprising, in power.  The Dukes of Bohemia at the time had to contend with the domestic policy issue of Christianity vs. paganism and the foreign policy issue of whether to align the duchy with the East or with the West.  These issues created much turmoil in Bohemia.  Vratislaus I’s widow was Drahomira (circa 877 or 890-died after 934), daughter of a pagan chief.  She had made baptismal vows on her wedding day yet did not take them seriously.

Two princes–both of them minors–stood to succeed to the throne.  St. Ludmilla, who supervised the education of St. Wenceslaus I (907-929), her grandson, served as regent for him briefly until Drahomira ordered her assassination and took over as regent.  Drahomira instituted a program of persecuting Christians.  The following year, however, St. Wenceslaus I reached the age of majority, assumed power, exiled his mother, and reversed her policies.  He also allied the Duchy of Bohemia with Germany, which sent enough priests to serve in long-vacant parishes.  Our saint’s reign was brief, for his brother, Boleslav I “the Cruel” (reigned 929-972), ordered and participated in his assassination at a church door in 929.

Centuries later, when the same dynasty still governed Bohemia, another Wenceslaus I (reigned 1230-1253) wielded power as the King (not Duke).  He was a kinsman of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231).  The king had a sister, St. Agnes of Prague (1205-1282), who avoided a series of arranged marriages and became a nun.  She built a Franciscan hospital on land her brother (the King of Bohemia) donated.  St. Agnes also founded the Confraternity of the Crusaders of the Red Star to staff the hospital and its clinics.  In 1234, with the help of St. Clare of Assisi, with whom she corresponded for about 20 years, St. Agnes founded the Convent of St. Saviour, Prague.  (St. Clare sent five nuns.)  St. Agnes became the abbess of that abbey.  The good works to which she devoted herself included cooking for other nuns and mending the clothes of lepers.

St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) also came from a privileged family and devoted her life to serving God in the poor.  She was a daughter of Count Favorino Sciffi of Sasso-Rosso and St. Hortulana of Assisi (died circa 1238) and a sister of St. Agnes of Assisi (1197-1253).  St. Clare also preferred monastic life to an arranged marriage.  In 1212 the 15-year-old saint made her vows before St. Francis of Assisi (circa 1182-1226) and founded the Poor Clares, who lived austerely and helped the poor.  A few weeks later, her younger sister, St. Agnes of Assisi, joined her.  Both monastic vocations prompted strong opposition in certain relatives, who eventually became resigned to the fact of their monastic lives.  St. Clare led the order, partially a family matter, for the rest of her life.  St. Agnes founded Poor Clare communities.  She also became the abbess at Monticelli in 1221.  The widowed St. Hortulana joined the order too.  St. Agnes also tended to the dying St. Clare, whom she followed in death shortly after her older sister’s demise.

Families are, when they function as they ought to do, nurseries of faith and kindness.  One might wonder what kind of man St. Wenceslaus I might have become without the positive influence of his grandmother.  One might also recognize that Sts. Clare and Agnes of Assisi learned their faith at home and in church, and that they influenced their mother in turn.  One might also wonder if St. Agnes of Prague would have been as successful in her vocation without the aid of her brother (the King of Bohemia) and St. Clare of Assisi.

May we support and encourage each other in our vocations from God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 1, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS:  THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS

WORLD DAY OF PEACE

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Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth:

Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by the fellowship of love and prayer,

and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy.

We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit,

and who lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen.

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 2:7-11

Psalm 1

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Matthew 25:1-13

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 726

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Above:  Sts. Cyril and Methodius

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT CYRIL (CIRCA 826-869)

Missionary in Moravia

Born as Constantine

brother of 

SAINT METHODIUS (CIRCA 815-885)

Missionary in Moravia and Archbishop of Sirmium

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APOSTLES TO THE SLAVS

FATHERS OF SLAVONIC LITERATURE

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Sts. Cyril (born as Constantine) and Methodius were brothers, influential missionaries, the Fathers of Slavonic Literature, and the Apostles to the Slavs.  The brothers were natives of Thessalonica, where their family was prominent.  Constantine taught philosophy at the Byzantine imperial university at Constantinople while St. Methodius was a provincial governor.  Sometime prior to 863 both saints became priests.  Circa 863, at the request of Duke St. Ratislav of Moravia (reigned 846-870), Emperor Michael III the Drunkard (reigned 842-867) dispatched the brothers to that duchy as missionaries.  They succeeded, due in large part to their linguistic skills, for which Michael III selected them.  Sts. Constantine/Cyril and Methodius preached in the vernacular language and developed the Cyrillic alphabet.  They also had to contend with the strong opposition of certain German missionaries.  The brothers returned to Rome by 868.  That year Constantine became a monk and took the name “Cyril,”  He died in the Eternal City the following year.

St. Methodius, the new Archbishop of Sirmium, with jurisdiction over Moravia, returned to that kingdom and resumed his missionary work.  Certain German bishops opposed him, of course.  Some of them went so far as to arrange for his incarceration for more than two years.  Eventually Pope John VIII (reigned 872-882) secured our saint’s release in exchange for withdrawing permission to use Slavonic as the main liturgical language.  Later some German bishops in Moravia arranged for Rome to recall St. Methodius on false allegations of heresy.  That matter resolved, our saint returned to that duchy, where he spent the rest of his life.  When St. Methodius returned he took with him papal permission to use the Slavonic language in the liturgy.

St. Methodius also translated the Bible and canon and civil law into Slavonic.

He died in 885.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 2, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN

THE FEAST OF ALICE FREEMAN PALMER, U.S. EDUCATOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Almighty and everlasting God, by the power of the Holy Spirit

you moved your servant Cyril and his brother Methodius

to bring the light of the Gospel to a hostile and divided people:

Overcome all bitterness and strife among us by the love of Christ,

and make us one unified family under the banner of the Prince of Peace;

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

Isaiah 2:2-4

Psalm 96:1-7

Ephesians 2:13-22

Luke 10:1-9

—A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  A Calendar of Commemorations (2016)

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Above:  St. Anskar

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINT ANSKAR (801-FEBRUARY 3, 865)

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen

Also known as Saint Ansgar

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SAINT RIMBERT (830-JUNE 11, 888)

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen

Also known as Saint Rembert

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These two saints were pioneering figures in Scandinavian Christianity.

St. Anskar, born at Amiens, Picardy, in 801, came from Gallic nobility.  Eventually he became a Benedictine monk in Picardy then (in 1822) at New Corbie, Westphalia.  Later St. Anskar became the first Archbishop of Hamburg (in 831), and therefore chief missionary to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.  In 832 he founded the first Christian church in Sweden.  As archbishop St. Anskar founded churches and schools, opposed slavery, and cared for the poor and the sick.  He also doubled as the Abbot of New Corbie (starting in 834) and as the Bishop of Bremen (from 848 to 865).  His episcopal title as leader of the two sees was Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen.  In his missionary work St. Anskar had the support of Danish kings Horik I (reigned 827-854) and Horik II (reigned 854-860s).  He also secured royal recognition of Christianity as a legal religion in Denmark.

St. Anskar died at Bremen on February 3, 865.

Among his fellow missionaries in Scandinavia was St. Rimbert (830-888), a monk, his friend, and immediate successor (865-888) as Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen.  St. Rimbert, St. Anskar’s biographer, helped to fight off Vikings.  In 884 the monk-archbishop led an army that drove Vikings out of East Frisia.

Sts. Anskar and Rimbert laid the foundations of the Church in Scandinavia.  Unfortunately, resurgent paganism reversed most of their accomplishments.  However, growth in Scandinavian Christianity finally began to take root a century after these saints’ efforts.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 28, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN THE YOUNGER, DEFENDER OF ICONS

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK COOK ATKINSON, ANGLICAN CHURCH ORGANIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH PIGNATELLI, RESTORER OF THE JESUITS

THE FEAST OF KAMEHAMEHA IV AND EMMA ROOKE, KING AND QUEEN OF HAWAII

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Almighty and everlasting God, you sent your servants Anskar and Rimbert

to sow the seeds of faith among  the people of Scandinavia:

Keep your Church from discouragement in the day of small things,

knowing that when you have begun a good work you will bring it to a fruitful conclusion;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 2:2-4

Psalm 96:1-7

Ephesians 2:13-22

Luke 10:1-9

–Adapted from A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  A Calendar of Commemorations (2016)

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Above:  Map of England in 878

Image in the Public Domain

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ALFRED THE GREAT (849-OCTOBER 26, 899)

King of the West Saxons

An old saying tells that power wears down those who do not have it.  That is certainly true in the Turkish Republic.  Even before the recent failed coup President (previously Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the judiciary to imprison journalists whose reporting was critical of him.  He thereby proved that he lacked respect for the freedom of the press.  Now, after the coup, he is targeting not only soldiers but journalists, judges, academics, and civil servants en masse.  It is a witch hunt.  The republic is really a dictatorship.  Erdogan’s power wears down those who do not have it.  Patriotism and law and order are the last refuges of a scoundrel, to paraphrase Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

Power need not wear down those who lack it, however.  If the right person uses power for proper purposes it builds up the nation–or, in the case, of King Alfred the Great, the only monarch in English history to be “the Great,” the kingdom as a whole.

Alfred the Great was the last King of the West Saxons (alternatively, the King of Wessex) and the first King of the Anglo-Saxons (from 878).  His mother was Osburh/Osburga (died in 854), a noblewoman.  Our saint’s father was King Aethelwulf (reigned 839-858).  Alfred, born in 849, was the youngest of five children who survived to adulthood.  Aethelwulf sent his four-year-old son to visit Rome, where Pope St. Leo IV (reigned April 10, 847-July 17, 855) sponsored the prince at his confirmation.  Two years later Alfred accompanied Aethelwulf on a pilgrimage to Rome.  The prince learned to read English prior to his twelfth birthday.  He did not learn to read Latin until 887, when he had been king for some time.  Aethelwulf’s three elder sons succeeded him, in order, prior to Alfred’s accession:

1. Aethelbald (reigned 858-860),
2. Aethelberht (reigned 860-865), and
3. Aethelred I (reigned 865-871).

Alfred’s public life spanned 866-899.  That public life began with Alfred assisting his elder brother, Aethelred I, resist Danish invaders, a persistent threat for generations.  In 868 the prince married Ealhswith/Ealswitha (died 902), from the Mercian royal family.  Alfred succeeded Aethelred I in 871, becoming the King of the West Saxons (alternatively, the King of Wessex).  The fight against Danish invaders continued throughout his reign.  One phase of that struggle ended in 878, when Alfred took the title “King of the Anglo-Saxons.”  In that year Alfred did not kill Guthrum, the leader of the Danish invaders; no the monarch forced Guthrum to convert to Christianity and stood as his godfather.  Another stage of that struggle ended in 896.  Alfred left behind a military legacy, including a naval fleet and reorganized militias.  He was, in fact, the “Father of the English Navy.”

Alfred did more than maintain the independence of his realm and became one of the greatest early English monarchs.  He also built up his realm and improved the lives of his subjects.  The monarch, for example, issued a law code, joining the ranks of Hammurabi (reigned 1792-1750 B.C.E.) and Justinian I (reigned 527-565 C.E.).  He also encouraged art, architecture, education, and monasticism.  Alfred recruited experts from the continent of Europe to revitalize learning.  He also ordered that children in his court learn both English and Latin.  Furthermore, the king, in 892, began to translate major Latin texts in theology and philosophy.  Other also translated major Latin texts.  Over time confusion regarding which of these Alfred translated has developed.  The monarch also founded a convent and a monastery.  His attempt to revive monasticism failed, however, due to a lack of public interest.  Alfred was ahead of his time in that regard.

Alfred died on October 26, 899.  He was about 50 years old.  His son, Edward the Elder (reigned 899-924), succeeded him.

George P. Knapp, late Professor of English at Columbia University, wrote:

It should be borne in mind, however, that it is not the magnitude of Alfred’s military achievements, nor the extent of the country which he governed, that lift him into the ranks of the world’s great men, but the beauty and moral grandeur of his character.  In him were combined the virtues of the scholar and the patriot, the efficiency of the man of affairs with the wisdom of the philosopher and the piety of the true Christian.  His character, public and private, is without a stain, and his whole life was one of enlightened and magnanimous service to his country.

–Quoted in The Encyclopedia Americana (1962), Volume 1, page 380

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 28, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FLORA MACDONALD, CANADIAN STATESWOMAN AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF NANCY BYRD TURNER, POET, EDITOR, AND HYMN EDITOR

THE FEAST OF THE PIONEERING FEMALE EPISCOPAL PRIESTS, 1974 AND 1975

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O Sovereign Lord, you brought your servant Alfred to a troubled throne that he might

establish peace in a ravaged land and revive learning and the arts among the people:

Awake in us also a keen desire to increase our understanding while we are in this world,

and an eager longing to reach that endless life where all will be made clear;

through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Wisdom 6:1-3, 9-12, 24-25

Psalm 21

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Luke 6:43-49

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 653

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Above:  Spain in 910 C.E.

Image in the Public Domain

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SAINTS RODERIC AND SOLOMON OF CABRA (DIED 857)

Roman Catholic Martyrs

857 was a time of persecution of Christianity in Cordoba, the Muslim-ruled part of the Iberian peninsula.  And apostasy is a death penalty offense under Islamic law.    St. Roderic was a priest at Cabra, in Cordoba.  One day St. Roderic witnesses an argument between two brothers, one a Muslim and the other an lapsed Roman Catholic.  The priest intervened to end the altercation, but the Muslim brother had St. Roderic arrested on the trumped-up charge of being an apostate.  The priest went to prison, where he remained faithful to Christ and met St. Solomon, also accused of apostasy.  Both men died of beheading on March 13, 857.

I have written and will continue to write of Christian martyrs.  Sometimes they die at the hands of adherents of other religions or no religion.  Frequently, however, they die by the orders and actions of other professing Christians:  Catholics vs. Orthodox, Orthodox vs Catholics, Iconoclasts vs. defenders of icons, Catholics vs. Protestants, Protestants vs. Catholics, Anglicans vs. Catholics, Catholics vs. Anglicans, Lutherans vs. Calvinists, Calvinists vs. Lutherans, and everybody else vs. the Anabaptists and the Quakers.  It is all wrong; we human beings ought not to martyr each other, regardless of how we justify our actions to ourselves.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 14, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT VENANTIUS HONORIUS CLEMENTIUS FORTUNATUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, COMPOSER

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Gracious God,

in every age you have sent men and women

who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth.

Inspire us with the memory of

Saint Roderic of Cabra and Saint Solomon of Cordoba,

whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross,

and give us courage to bear full witness with our lives

to your Son’s victory over sin and death,

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 59

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Revised on December 24, 2016

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