Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

– the persuasive sister Scholastica (d.c. 543) should be the patron saint of any woman who can bend her brother to do her will – no matter how ‘powerful’ that brother might seem to other people. For Scholastica’s brother was no less than the great monk Benedict, who founded the famous Benedictine order and lived...

– the poetic shepherd Caedmon (d 680) should be the patron saint of all farmers who enjoy humming to themselves as they do the lambing this Spring. For Caedmon of Whitby was a bit like David in the Bible; he grew up as a simple herdsman out on the hills who enjoyed composing songs and...

There are two confusing things about this day of romance and anonymous love-cards strewn with lace, cupids and ribbon: firstly, there seems to have been two different Valentines in the 4th century – one a priest martyred on the Flaminian Way, under the emperor Claudius, the other a bishop of Terni martyred at Rome. And...

– a legend The Roman Emperor Claudius II needed soldiers. He suspected that marriage made men want to stay at home with their wives, instead of fighting wars, so he outlawed marriage. A kind-hearted young priest named Valentine felt sorry for all the couples who wanted to marry, but who couldn’t. So secretly he married...

– a poem St Valentine’s Day, many believe, was named after one or more Christian martyrs and was established by Pope Gelasius 1 in 496 AD. Valentine of Rome was martyred about 269, and this day usually ‘belongs’ to him. The first recorded association of Valentine Day with romantic love (1382) is from Geoffrey Chaucer....

– founder of SPCK Thomas Bray was once called a ‘Great Small Man’, with good reason. This diminutive 18th century English clergyman (1658 – 1730) not only helped to establish the Church of England in Maryland, but he was also founder of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) in 1698 and the...

– who’s for pancakes?     by David Winter Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, as we call it today? And what is Shrove Tuesday? And why do thousands of people feel it rewarding to race along a street somewhere tossing pancakes from their frying pans as they go? Well, the answer...

– Pancake Day Ever wonder why we eat pancakes just before Lent? The tradition dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when Christians spent Lent in repentance and severe fasting. So on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the church bell would summon them to confession, where they would be ‘shriven’, or absolved from their sins, which gives...

– in Jerusalem by David Winter Ash Wednesday introduces the Christian preparation for Easter, which normally coincides with Passover, the major Jewish celebration of the year. It’s near Easter because Jesus was crucified at Passover, having just shared this very meal with His disciples. Passover celebrates and recalls the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt....

–  you are sorry Have you done something which haunts you?  Which makes you feel restless and defensive, every time you think of it? Why not deal with it this month, and put it behind you? Whatever your mistake has been, consider what the Bible has to say to you: ‘I have not come to...

– our sins Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. But why ‘Ash’ Wednesday?  The reason has to do with getting things right between you and God, and the tradition goes right back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Israelites often sinned. When they finally came to their senses, and saw their evil ways as...

– Archbishop & martyr of Uganda The Most Reverend Janani Luwum (d 1977) was the Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and Boga Zaire when 35 years ago this month he was murdered by the dictator Idi Amin. At the time the Church in Uganda was on the verge of centennial celebrations of its birth...