OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Eastern Saints

  • The Festival of Saint Julian, February 16

    It is worth remembering that our Irish calendars contain entries not only relating to the feast days of our homegrown saints, but also to those of the Universal Church. Following on from yesterday’s festival of martyrs, Canon O’Hanlon also notes the commemoration of another martyr on February 16, Saint Julian of Caesarea:

    Festival of St. Julian.

    The following stanza, extracted from the “Feilire,” in the “Leabhar Breac” copy, is thus translated by
    Professor O’Looney :—

    To the virgin Julian,
    The name [honoured] to the borders of the clouds;
    By the relation of the tidings of his adventures,
    The demon he completely extirpated (or fettered).

    There
    are no less than four female saints, venerated as virgins and martyrs,
    in the ancient Church Kalendars, at the 16th of February. These are :—

    Juliana,
    a virgin, of Nicomedia, and a martyr, venerated at Bruxelles, in
    Belgium; Juliana, virgin and martyr, at Verona, in Italy; Juliana, a
    Roman virgin and martyr, at Bononia, in Italy; as also, a Juliana, one
    of the companions of St. Ursula, a virgin and martyr, whose name is
    inscribed on the Kalendar, and whose relics are preserved in the
    Cathedral Church of Osnaburgh, in Westphalia. But, in addition to the
    foregoing, and at this same date, there was a St. Julian, a bishop, and a
    martyr, with a vast number of companions, martyrs, in Egypt as also, a
    St. Julian, a martyr, with many other martyr companions, at Caesarea, in
    Palestine. To the former of these latter saints, we believe the stanza
    in the “Feilire” has special reference, especially, as this holy man and
    his festival have been noticed in the ancient Martyrology, attributed
    to St. Jerome. It is said, that no less than five thousand shared his
    passion in Asia, while their memories are celebrated, both in the
    Eastern and Western Churches.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2020. All rights reserved.

  • A Feast of Saint Christopher on the Irish Calendars

    On April 28, the early Irish calendars commemorate a feast of Saint Christopher, the Martyr. His main feast is celebrated on July 25, although in the East he is commemorated on May 9. Canon O’Hanlon cites a medieval document which suggests that the April 28 date marks a feast of the translation of the martyr’s relics and helpfully notes the other early calendars which also record it. In the account below, taken from Volume IV of the Lives of the Irish Saints, I have inserted the verse in honour of St Christopher from the Martyrology of Aengus, quoted in the footnotes into the main text. The illustration of Saint Christopher on the left also has an Irish connection, it is taken from the personal collection of the nineteenth-century Belfast antiquarian, F. J. Bigger:

    Festival of St. Christopher, Martyr

    In the Leabhar Breac copy of St. Aengus’ Felire, a festival of St. Christopher is commemorated, at the 28th of April. In a scholion affixed to this account, he is set down as a martyr, who suffered under Decius, with no less than 10,403 martyrs. An Irish poem is quoted, containing the following eulogy, translated by Dr. Whitley Stokes:

    He was a cleric with purity:
    he was a pious Christian:
    before the call without reproach over sea
    his proper name was Christopher.

    In the genuine Martyrology of Bede, as also in the Martyrologies of St. Raban Maur, and in the Manuscripts at Monte Cassino, at St. Maximin’s and at St. Martin’s church of Treves, and in Ado’s Manuscript copy belonging to the Queen of Sweden, this feast has been recorded. However, in a certain document of the Carthusians, at Bruxelles, it is set down as the Translation of St. Christopher’s relics. The Natal day of this holy Martyr is thought to be the 25th of July. There is a beautiful allusion to this holy martyr, who is thought to have carried Christ on his shoulders, over a sea; although the allegorical meaning seems to be, that he carried our Redeemer in his breast, while wading through a sea of temporal tribulation.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Feast of St. Anthony of Egypt on the Irish Calendars, January 17

    Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878)

    In the first volume of his Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon O’Hanlon notes the commemoration on some of the earliest Irish calendars of the Feast of Saint Anthony of Egypt:

    Feast of St. Anthony, Monk and Apostle of the Thebaid in Egypt. [Third and Fourth Centuries.]
    Although this great monastic master had no particular connexion with Ireland, he was specially venerated there, as would appear from our most ancient calendars. At the 17th of January the following stanza occurs in the Leabhar Breac copy of the Felire of St. Oengus. The original Irish and the English translation have been supplied by Professor O’Looney :—
    C. xui. kl. We should often praise
    Though they are not in our conversation
    The band who were crucified without crime
    On the feast of the monk Anthony.
    The Franciscan copy of the Martyrology of Tallagh places him likewise among the native saints, at this date, although no less than twenty-seven foreign saints precede these, according to the generally observed plan in this ancient calendar. Hence we may infer, that the patriarch of eastern monasticism was greatly honoured in the early Irish Church, where his spirit of asceticism was wonderfully emulated by so many self-denying members.
    St. Anthony was born at Coma in Upper Egypt, A.D. 251; when still a very young man he retired to the desert; about the beginning of the fourth century he engaged in the work of founding monasteries; after great labours and mortifications his death took place A.D. 356. The great St. Athanasius has written his life.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.