Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Here is a saint for you, if you have ever been touched by the words of a song. Ephrem the Syriac was born 306AD in Nisibis, Turkey. Baptised in 324, he joined the cathedral school in Nisibis, where it was soon obvious that he had an outstanding gift for writing both music and lyrics. Ephrem...

Would you have liked to go to Cyprus on holiday this year? If so, spare a thought for the Cypriot who played such a key role in the New Testament. He was Joseph, a Jewish Cypriot and a Levite, who is first mentioned in Acts 4:36, when the Early Church was sharing a communal lifestyle....

Friend of St Francis of Assisi Antony of Padua knew St Francis of Assisi.  Both men were true followers of Christ in a time of great religious confusion and social turmoil. Like Francis, Antony (1193 – 1231) was born into a wealthy family. Antony’s father was a nobleman of Lisbon, Portugal, who sent his son...

English Puritan church leader If Richard Baxter were alive today, he would probably be contributing to the Thought for the Day on Radio 4, because he had a gift for the sound-bite. Try these memorable quotes:  Preaching a man a sermon with a broken head, and telling him to be right with God is equal...

Mystical writer of the 20th century For anyone interested in Christian mysticism, Evelyn Underhill may be a good place to begin. She died on 10th June 1941 after a life full of remarkable achievements: author of more than 30 books that explored the intersection between the spiritual and the physical, the first woman ever to...

Wanting God more clearly, dearly and nearly Ever wonder where the prayer … ‘May I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, day by day’ comes from?  Richard of Chichester, a bishop in the 13th century, wrote it. He began life as Richard de Wych of Droitwich, the son...

A time to celebrate male role models In the UK, USA and Canada, the third Sunday in June is Father’s Day. It’s usually a good time for sons and daughters to take their father to his favourite restaurant, or to watch a favoured sport, or whatever else he enjoys doing. How will you celebrate it...

June, of course is the month of the summer solstice, the month of the Sun.  Sol + stice come from two Latin words meaning ‘sun’ and ‘to stand still’.  As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky. The Summer Solstice results in the longest...

Helping a stranger in need Alban should be the patron saint of anyone who impulsively offers to help a stranger in need… and finds their own life turned upside down as a result. The story goes that Alban was a Roman citizen quietly living in England in the third century.  Then, miles away in Rome,...

Alban was the very first Christian martyr in Britain – or at least the first we know of. A ‘martyr’ is someone who has died for the faith – the word literally means ‘witness’. He was probably killed during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian in the early years of the fourth century, in the...

Preparing the way for the Messiah John the Baptist is famous for baptising Jesus, and for losing his head to a woman. He was born to Zechariah, a Temple priest, and Elizabeth, who was a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. John was born when his mother was advanced in years, and after the...

When many of us think of a ‘Maximus’, we remember the popular film Gladiator and Russell Crowe starring as a Roman general who ends up as a slave successfully defying the Emperor. But Maximus of Turin, the first Bishop of Turin, also led a tumultuous life in fighting evil. He had seen violence and suffering...