St. Marie Magdalen Desjardin
Feastday: October 17
Ursuline martyr of the French Revolution. She was guillotined in Valenciennes with Marie Louise Vanot. In religion, Marie Magdalen was called Marie-Augustine. Marie Louise was called Natalie. Both received beatification in 1920.
St. Nothlem
Feastday: October 17
Death: 739
Archbishop of Canterbury. Originally a priest in London, he was named archbishop in 734. Notheim conducted research on the history of Kent which was collected by Abbot Albinus and in turn utilized by the Venerable Bede in the writing of his Ecclesiastical History.
This article is about the Archbishop of Canterbury. For the King of Sussex, see Nothhelm of Sussex.
Nothhelm (sometimes Nothelm;[3] died 739) was a medieval Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury. A correspondent of both Bede and Boniface, it was Nothhelm who gathered materials from Canterbury for Bede's historical works. After his appointment to the archbishopric in 735, he attended to ecclesiastical matters, including holding church councils. Although later antiquaries felt that Nothhelm was the author of a number of works, later research has shown them to be authored by others. After his death he was considered a saint.
Early life
Nothhelm was a contemporary of Boniface and Bede, whom he supplied with correspondence from the papal library following a trip to Rome.[4] He also researched the history of Kent and the surrounding area for Bede, supplying the information through the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury.[5] Before his appointment to the archbishopric, he was the archpriest of the Saxon-built St Paul's Cathedral, London.[6]
Archbishop
Named to the see of Canterbury in 735, Nothhelm was consecrated the same year.[7] Pope Gregory III sent him a pallium in 736.[8] He may have been appointed by Æthelbald, King of Mercia, whose councilor he was.[4] Whether or not he owed his appointment to Æthelbald, Nothhelm was one of a number of Mercians who became Archbishop of Canterbury during the 730s and 740s, during a time of expanding Mercian influence.[9] He held a synod in 736 or 737, which drew nine bishops;[8] the meeting adjudicated a dispute over the ownership of a monastery located at Withington.[10][a] A significant feature of this synod was the fact that no king attended, but yet the synod still rendered judgement in the ownership even without secular oversight, which was more usual.[11]
Nothhelm oversaw the reorganisation of the Mercian dioceses which took place in 737. The archbishop consecrated Witta as Bishop of Lichfield and Totta as Bishop of Leicester.[8] The diocese of Leicester was firmly established by this action,[12] although earlier attempts had been made to establish a bishopric there.[13] In 738, Nothhelm was a witness on the charter of Eadberht I, the King of Kent.[8]
Bede addressed his work In regum librum XXX quaestiones to Nothhelm, who had asked the thirty questions on the biblical book of Kings that Bede answered.[8] Bede's work De VIII Quaestionibus may have been written for Nothhelm.[5] While he was archbishop, Boniface wrote to him, requesting a copy of the Libellus responsionum of Pope Gregory I for use in Boniface's missionary efforts.[14] Boniface also asked for information on when the Gregorian mission to England arrived in England.[5] This text of the Libellus responsionum has been the subject of some controversy, with the historian Suso Brechter arguing that the text was a forgery created by Nothhelm and a Roman archdeacon. The historian Paul Meyvaert has refuted this view, and most historians incline towards the belief that the text is genuine, although it is not considered conclusively proven.[8]
Death and legacy
Nothhelm died on 17 October 739[7] and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral.[8] He is considered a saint, and his feast day is 17 October.[1] The antiquaries and writers John Leland, John Bale, and Thomas Tanner all felt that Nothhelm was the author of various works, but later research has shown them to be authored by other writers. A verse eulogy for Nothhelm, of uncertain date, survives in a 16th-century manuscript now at the Lambeth Palace library.[8]
St. Regulus
Feastday: October 17
Death: 4th century
An abbot of Scotland. He is best known for bringing the relics of St. Andrew to Scotland from Greece.
Saint Regulus or Saint Rule (Old Irish: Riagal) was a legendary 4th century monk or bishop of Patras, Greece who in AD 345 is said to have fled to Scotland with the bones of Saint Andrew, and deposited them at St Andrews. His feast day in the Aberdeen Breviary is 17 October.
The details of Saint Regulus' life are unclear and differ in the several extant accounts. Saint Regulus was a monk or bishop of the city of Patras, in present-day Greece, then part of the Roman Empire. In AD 345 Regulus was told by an angel in a visionary dream that the Emperor Constantine had decided to remove Saint Andrew's relics from Patras to Constantinople, and in some retellings that Constantine was about to invade Patras. For safekeeping Regulus was to move as many bones as far away as he could to the western ends of the earth, where he should found a church dedicated to St Andrew. He was accompanied on his voyage by a number of consecrated virgins, among these Saint Triduana.[1]
According to the various accounts Regulus was either shipwrecked or told by an angel to stop intentionally on the shores of Fife at the spot called Kilrymont, a Pictish settlement which is now St. Andrews. Here he was welcomed by a Pictish king, Óengus I (who was actually of the eighth century). Regulus is claimed to have brought three fingers of the saint's right hand, the upper bone of an arm, one kneecap, and one of his teeth.
Legacy
In approximately 1070 Robert I, Prior of St Andrews built St Regulus Church in the town of St Andrews in order to house the relics of St Andrew that Regulus had supposedly brought to the town. It would serve as a landmark for the many pilgrims that would come to the area in the next few centuries. Its main architectural feature is its 33 metre tall tower, and the church itself is now principally known in the town as St Rule's tower.[2][3]
The legend of St Regulus came to have political significance in the later Middle Ages. It served to authenticate the apostle Andrew as patron saint of Scotland. The Regulus legend was publicised by Scottish kings, nobles and churchmen from the 12th century onwards. Scottish independence had come under threat from England since the late 11th century, and the Scottish church was contesting a claim to primacy by the archbishop of York. By promoting the story of Saint Andrew's choice of Scotland in the 4th century, the Scots acquired an important saint, a separate identity from England, and a date for the supposed foundation of the Scottish Church which predated the foundation of the English and Irish churches by several centuries. Furthermore, during the wars of Scottish independence the Scots used the legend to persuade Pope Boniface VIII to issue the papal bull of 1299 which demanded that Edward I of England end the war against Scotland. The legend would also lead to the adoption of the saltire on the Scottish flag and the importance of the archdiocese of St Andrews in the early Scottish Church.[4]
St Regulus Hall, the student hall of residence at the University of St Andrews is named after Saint Regulus.
St. Richard Gwyn
Feastday: October 17
Birth: 1537
Death: 1584
Image of St. Richard Gwyn
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Also called Richard White, he was born in Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1547, and studied at Cambridge University, England. Converted from Protestantism, he returned to Wales in 1562, married, had six children, and opened a school. Arrested in 1579, he spent four years in prison before his execution by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Wrexham on October 15, for being a Catholic. While jailed, he composed many religious poems in Welsh. He is considered the protomartyr of Wales and was included among the canonized martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
For the secondary schools, see St Richard Gwyn Roman Catholic High School (disambiguation).
For other people named Richard Gwyn, see Richard Gwyn (disambiguation).
Saint Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), also known by his anglicised name, Richard White, was a Welsh school teacher. He was martyred by being hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason in 1584. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His feast day is celebrated on 17 October.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Imprisonment and execution
3 Legacy, relics and feast day
4 References
Early life
Little is known of Richard Gwyn's early life. He was born about 1537 in Montgomeryshire, Wales and at the age of 20 he matriculated at Oxford University, but did not complete a degree. He then went to Cambridge University, where he lived on the charity of St John's College and its master, the Roman Catholic Dr. George Bullock.[1] In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth I, Bullock was forced to resign the mastership in July 1559;[2] this marked the end of Gwyn's university career in England, after just two years.
Gwyn returned to Wales and became a teacher in the Wrexham area, continuing his studies on his own. He married Catherine; they had six children, three of whom survived him.[1] His adherence to the old faith was noted by the Bishop of Chester, who brought pressure on him to conform to the Anglican faith. It is recorded in an early account of his life that:
[a]fter some troubles, he yielded to their desires, although greatly against his stomach ... and lo, by the Providence of God, he was no sooner come out of the church but a fearful company of crows and kites so persecuted him to his home that they put him in great fear of his life, the conceit whereof made him also sick in body as he was already in soul distressed; in which sickness he resolved himself (if God would spare his life) to return to a Catholic.[citation needed]
Imprisonment and execution
Owing to his recusancy he was arrested more than once. He often had to change his home and his school to avoid fines and imprisonment.[3] Finally in 1579 he was arrested by the Vicar of Wrexham, a former Catholic who had conformed to Anglicanism, and confined to prisoner in Ruthin gaol, where he was offered liberty if he would conform. He escaped and remained a fugitive for a year and a half, was recaptured, and spent the next four years in one prison after another.[1]
In May 1581 Gwyn was taken to church in Wrexham, carried around the font on the shoulders of six men and laid in heavy shackles in front of the pulpit. However, he "so stirred his legs that with the noise of his irons the preacher's voice could not be heard." He was placed in the stocks for this incident, and was taunted by a local Anglican priest who claimed that the keys of the Church were given no less to him than to St. Peter. "There is this difference", Gwyn replied, "namely, that whereas Peter received the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, the keys you received were obviously those of the beer cellar."
Gwyn was fined £280 for refusing to attend Anglican church services, and another £140 for "brawling" when they took him there.[3] When asked what payment he could make toward these huge sums, he answered, "Six-pence".
Gwyn and two other Catholic prisoners, John Hughes and Robert Morris, were ordered into court in the spring of 1582 where, instead of being tried for an offence, they were given a sermon by an Anglican minister. However, they started to heckle him (one in Welsh, one in Latin and one in English) to the extent that the exercise had to be abandoned. He was frequently brought to the bar at different assizes to undergo opprobrious treatment, but never obtaining his liberty. In May, 1583, he was removed to the Council of the Marches, and later in the year suffered torture at Bewdley and Bridgenorth before being sent back to Wrexham.[4]
Richard Gwyn, John Hughes and Robert Morris were indicted for high treason in October 1583 and were brought to trial before a panel headed by the Chief Justice of Chester, Sir George Bromley. Witnesses gave evidence that they retained their allegiance to the Catholic Church, including that Gwyn composed "certain rhymes of his own making against married priests and ministers" and "[T]hat he had heard him complain of this world; and secondly, that it would not last long, thirdly, that he hoped to see a better world [this was construed as plotting a revolution]; and, fourthly, that he confessed the Pope's supremacy." The three were also accused of trying to make converts.
Despite their defences and objections to the dubious practices of the court Gwyn and Hughes were found guilty. Again his life was offered him on condition that he acknowledge the queen as supreme head of the Church. His wife consoled and encouraged him to the last.[4] At the sentencing Hughes was reprieved and Gwyn condemned to death by hanging, drawing and quartering. This sentence was carried out in the Beast Market in Wrexham on 15 October 1584.
Just before Gwyn was hanged he turned to the crowd and said, "I have been a jesting fellow, and if I have offended any that way, or by my songs, I beseech them for God's sake to forgive me."[5] The hangman pulled on his leg irons hoping to put him out of his pain. When he appeared dead they cut him down, but he revived and remained conscious through the disembowelling, until his head was severed. His last words, in Welsh, were reportedly "Iesu, trugarha wrthyf" ("Jesus, have mercy on me").
Legacy, relics and feast day
Five carols and a funeral ode composed by Gwyn in Welsh have been discovered and published.[4]
Relics of St Richard Gwyn are to be found in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, seat of the Bishop of Wrexham and also in the Catholic Church of Our Lady and Saint Richard Gwyn, Llanidloes.
In addition, St Richard Gwyn Roman Catholic High School, Flintshire was renamed as St Richard Gwyn, having originally been named Blessed Richard Gwyn RC High School in 1954. There is also the St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Barry, WaleS
St. Victor
Feastday: October 17
Death: 554
Bishop of Capua, Italy, from 541 and an ecclesiastical writer, He authored several notable works, including the Codex Fuldensis , De cyclo paschali , and Capitula de Resurrectione Domine . He is perhaps to be identified with Victor, bishop of Capua of the same century. He is honored for his learning and historical concerns.
St. Francois Gagelin
Feastday: October 17
Birth: 1799
Death: 1833
Image of St. Francois GagelinDuring the French Revolution, priests that remained faithful to the pope found a refuge in the home of the Gagelin family of Montperreux, France. As a five-year-old son of this devout family, Francois Gagelin told his parents, "I want to be a priest." Years later, after joining the Paris-based Society for Foreign Missions, Francois embarked for the Asian missions and was ordained a priest at Quang Tri, Vietnam. As a missionary in Vietnam, he observed, "In these countries, we suffer from pains of body and of spirit...But we ought not to count for anything all that in comparison to the great glory that God prepares for those who serve faithfully." A renewal of persecution against Vietnam's Catholics prompted Father Gagelin to surrender himself to the pagan authorities in 1833 in order to give courage to the faithful. He was charged with "hiding religious pictures and statuettes." While in prison, he confided to a friend that he had longed for martyrdom since his childhood, and as a priest had asked God for this fate every time he elevated the Precious Blood during Mass. Father Gagelin was executed by beheading.
François-Isidore Gagelin (10 May 1799 – 17 October 1833) was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Vietnam. He died a martyr,[1] and became the first French martyr of the 19th century in Vietnam. He was born in Montperreux, Doubs.[2] He left for Vietnam in 1821. In 1826, when Emperor Minh Mạng ordered all missionaries to gather at the capital Huế, he fled to the south to Đồng Nai in Cochinchina. He was captured once and released.
On 6 January 1833, a new edict of prohibition was promulgated by Minh Mạng and immediately put in application. Churches were destroyed, and missionaries had to live in hiding. Gagelin surrendered in August 1833, and he was brought to Huế. He was killed by strangulation on 17 October 1833,[3] which is the date of his feast.[4]
He was beatified in 1900, and canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
St. Victor, Alexander, and Marianus
Feastday: October 17
Death: 303
Martyrs put to death at Nicomedia under Emperor Dioclctian.
St. Francis Isidore Gagelin
Feastday: October 17
Death: 1833
Canonized: Pope John Paul II
Martyr of Vietnam. Born in Montperreux, France, in 1799, he entered the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. He was sent to Vietnam in 1822, where he was ordained a priest. In 1833, Francis was seized by anti-Christian forces and was martyred by strangulation. He was canonized in 1988.
François-Isidore Gagelin (10 May 1799 – 17 October 1833) was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Vietnam. He died a martyr,[1] and became the first French martyr of the 19th century in Vietnam. He was born in Montperreux, Doubs.[2] He left for Vietnam in 1821. In 1826, when Emperor Minh Mạng ordered all missionaries to gather at the capital Huế, he fled to the south to Đồng Nai in Cochinchina. He was captured once and released.
On 6 January 1833, a new edict of prohibition was promulgated by Minh Mạng and immediately put in application. Churches were destroyed, and missionaries had to live in hiding. Gagelin surrendered in August 1833, and he was brought to Huế. He was killed by strangulation on 17 October 1833,[3] which is the date of his feast.[4]
He was beatified in 1900, and canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
St. Florentius
Feastday: October 17
Death: 526
Bishop of Orange, in France. He was known for his patronage of monastic scholarship and his personal sancity. Florentius defended his see against the heresies of the era.
St. Ethelbert and Etheired
Feastday: October 17
Death: 670
Martyred great grandsons of King Ethelbert of Kent, England (d. 616), at Eastery near Sandwich. Their shrine is at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire.
St. Berarius
Feastday: October 17
Death: 680
Bishop of Le Mans, France. He is remembered for translating the relics of St. Scholastica from Monte Cassino to Le Mans.
St. Anstrudis
Feastday: October 17
Death: 668
Benedictine abbess, also known as Astrude. She is believed to be the daughter of Sts. Salaberga and Blandinus. Anstrudis succeeded her mother as abbess of the abbey at Laon, France. When Anstrudis' brother, Baldwin, was murdered, Anstrudis opposed Ebroin, the mayor of the royal palace. Ebroin, a politically powerful man, sought many petty vengeances against Anstrudis and made her life difficult. Blessed Pepin of Landen entered the dispute and put a stop to Ebroin's harassment.
Saint Anstrudis (Anstrude, Austru, or Austrude) (b. unknown - 688). Anstrudis was the daughter of Saint Blandinus and Saint Sadalberga, the founder of the Abbey of St. John at Laon. She was also the sister of Saint Baldwin.
Background
In Merovingian Gaul, founding a monastery was a noble family's way of expressing and reinforcing its power. The founder gave the land, and retained the right to appoint the abbot or abbess, but also guaranteed its protection. Regine Le Jan describes it as part of the family's honor. The ruling abbot/abbess was frequently a family member and controlled access to the premises, a matter of some importance during a time of recurrent feuds and power struggles between neighboring families.[1] They served as a power base for families, and as such were not exempt from the political disturbances of the time.
Life
When St. Sadalberga withdrew from the world to become abbess at the convent, Anstrudis went with her. Sadalberga died in 655. Before her death, in order to ensure the stability of the abbey, Sadalberga determined to turn over its direction to her daughter as soon as Anstrudis reached the age of twenty. Anstrudis was then consecrated abbess.[2] She was noted for the care for her sisters, her all-night vigils, and her self-imposed austerities. Except on Sundays and on Christmas Day she never took any nourishment but one moderate refection at three o’clock in the afternoon, and on fast-days after sunset.[3]
Her tenure as abbess was marked by the unsettled political conditions of the period.[4] Anstrudis was caught up in the dynastic struggle between Dagobert II of Austrasia and Ebroin, mayor of the place of Neustria, who supported Theuderic III.[5]
Her brother Baldwin was treacherously assassinated while attempting to negotiate a settlement of some dispute regarding the convent. She herself was accused of wrongdoing by Ebroin. However, he was at length softened by her intrepid constancy and virtue and innocence, and from a persecutor became her patron and friend. Pepin, when Mayor of the palace, declared himself her strenuous protector.[3]
Anstrudis died in 688 of natural causes. Her feast day is celebrated on 17 October. Anstrudis is remembered in the Gallican and Benedictines calendars.[3]
The ten-petaled sunflower, which blooms in late summer or early fall is identified with Anstrudis.[6][7]
