Saints by Maria-Clare Lush

Many religions believe that Saints are people who are able to be in direct contact with God and at times displayed dramatic healing powers or other miracles.

How are Saints created in Catholicism?

This is just for one religion, there are many other ways that Saints are created or catagorised (see section below).

The process of saint making takes a really long time, sometimes it takes centuries. First of all, the person must be an honest and pure servant of God and they must also have set an example for others to follow in life.

The first step to becoming a Saint is to be declared venerable. This process takes place when the person in question has proved that they have performed a miracle. Usually the saint to be has passed away and performed the miracle through the belief and prayer of those still alive. Once the candidate has been declared venerable, the next step is to be declared beatified.

Beatification is a process that takes place when the cardinals of the church decide that the candidate has performed a true divine miracle. This is when the Pope proclaims that the servant of God is to be venerated as a blessed. After the candidate has been declared a blessed, it can take quite a while for the process of Sainthood to occur. The local Diocese performs a special prayer to the blessed and a mass in his or her honor is performed. Once this is finished the candidate has passed the hardest part of the process, and is just in waiting to become the next Saint.

The next step to becoming a Saint is called canonization. From this point on, the church must await the next miracles to occur, that God has worked a miracle through the intercession of the candidate. They saint to be usually has to perform up to 3 miracles. When the last required miracle has taken place and it has been declared real and accepted, the Pope sends out a bill of canonization stating that the candidate must be venerated as a Saint throughout the Universal Church. The Pope does the ceremony himself at St.Peter’s Basilica, to signify that the new Saint has the churches full authority The Pope then sums up the Saint’s life and explains what the Saint has done to be declared a Saint, how they performed heroic virtue by example and by message to the Church.

Saints in other religions

In the Cuban Religion of Santeria, the Roman Catholic Saints were often mixed in as the faces/representation of the original African Yoruban deities. This is true also for other religions such as Haitain Voodoo, Brazilian Umbanda and other ‘tribal’ belief systems, often being melded into the religion during the time of slavery and exuberant missionary work. This practice is condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

In other religions, there are those seen in similar status to Saints but there are differences in the definitions and requirements:

In Judaism, individuals who have reached a status of ‘enlightenment’ are called Tzadikkim, which could be comparable to the status of a saint. In Hinduism, ‘saints’ are given the title of Mahatma, Paramahamsa, Swami, or given the title of Sri. In Buddhism, Arhats and Arahants are seen as ‘Saints’. In Islam the Hadrat are comparable Saints. In Sikhism, the word ‘Sant’ is sometimes used to refer to those that are of a higher spiritual status.

(Image from the Catholic Church Conservation Webpage)

St Aidan of Lindisfarne

Also called ‘The Apostle of Northumbria’, St Aidan is credited in many sources as restoring Christianity to Northumbria, establishing the first monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and being appointed the first Bishop of the area.

Born in Ireland, Aidan went on to become a monk in the Scottish Isle of Iona where he stayed until he was sent as a replacement to Bishop Corman to help quash the pagan resurgence that was seen during the Roman Empire decline. When Oswald of Northumbria (a king in exile) also converted to Christianity (and was baptised), he was bestowed the crown of Northumbria and set about re-bringing Christianity to his people.

Aidan chose the island of Lindisfarne (far North East England, close to the Scottish Border and the royal Bamburgh Castle) as his seat to his diocese where King Oswald translated for Aidan and his monks until they learnt English. When Oswald died in 642, King Oswine of Deira was crowned and the two became good friends also.

Aidan spread the message of Christianity with politeness and patience, he would walk from village to town, engaging folk in friendly conversation, slowly increasing their interest in Christianity (There are legends that the King gave Aidan a horse to ride but that he gave it to a beggar). Through this ‘gentle’ way he and his twelve monks in training successfully (albeit slowly) restored the Christian faith in Northumbria.

Stories are told of a pagan attack on the city of Bamburgh in 651 where there was an attempt to fire the building. Aidan was said to of prayed for the city, prompting a change in the wind that blew the fire towards the pagans, driving them away.

Aidan died on the 31st August, 651AD after contracting an illness, it is said he was ‘leaning against the buttress of the church on the Royal Estate near Bamburgh’ when he passed away.

He is the Patron Saint of Northumbria and also Firefighters.

St Aidan’s feast day is the 31st August in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. In the Lutheran Church his feast day is June 9th.

St Christoper

Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers (Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian) and has many legends attached to his name. He is linked to travelers as a story tells of him carrying a "small, yet almost unbearably heavy child across a river" - later revealing the child to be Jesus Christ. He was said to be amazingly tall (18ft!) and had a fearsome face (in some cases even being referred to as having the head of a dog and a cannibal before his conversion to Christianity).

St Christopher then traveled to the city of Lycia where he comforted Christians who were being persecuted and martyred. When the King of the land could not convert him to his 'pagan gods' and Christopher converted women sent to tempt him, he sent out an order for him to be killed. After numerous attempts, he was finally decapitated in the reign of Roman Emperor Decius (249-251).

It is said that Christopher holds patronage of things related to travel and travelers: against lightning and pestilence, For archers, athletes, bachelors, boatmen, bookbinders, epilepsy, ferrymen, floods, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, for a holy death, mariners, market carriers, motorists and drivers, sailors, storms, surfers, toothache, and transportation workers.

His feast day is 9th May.

Image is "St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child" by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1485)

St Clare of Assisi

Saint Clare of Assisi was born in 1194 and baptized Chiara Offreduccio, she was born in Assisi and was the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana.

Ortolana was a very devout woman who had taken many pilgrimages all over the world. In later life she would enter her daughter’s monastery.

In 1210 Clare heard St Francis preaching in the streets of Assisi about his new order and was moved by his words.

In 1212 Clare’s parents decided she was to marry a wealthy man whom she did not like, but in desperation she left home

and sort refuge with St Francis who received her into religious life.

She lived at the Church of San Damiano, where she founded an order of Nuns. She had her hair cur short and out on rough tunics to indicate her acceptance of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Clare’s sister Agnes, left her parents and followed her to San Damiano, where they founded the order of the Poor Dames.

Saint Clare’s sisters lived in an enclosure and there their life consisted of manual labour and prayer.

In 1216, the order was directed by Saint Francis and in 1216 Clare accept the role of Abbess at San Damiano. This gave her order greater autonomy then the title of prioress, who had to follow the orders of the head priest.

Clare played a significant role in encouraging and aiding St Francis who she saw as a spiritual figure and took care of him during his illness at the end of his life until his death in 1226.

After his death she continued to promote and grow her order, writing letters to stop every successive Pope to impose a rule on her order which toned down the commitments to poverty she had originally embraces. She did this despite the fact that she had endured a long period of poor health until her death.

In 1253 Pope Innocence IV confirmed that Clare’s rule would serve as governing rule for the order of Poor Ladies, two days later on 11th August Clair died at the age of 59.

In 1255 Pope Alexander IV canonized Clare as Saint Clare of Assisi and in 1263, Pope Urban IV, officially changed the name of the order to the order of Saint Clare.

In February 1958 Pope Pius XII designated her as patron saint of television on the basis that she was to ill to attend mass she had miraculously able to see and hear it all on the wall of her room.

In 1970 her skeleton was found to be in perfect state if preservation and is still displayed in Assisi.

Saint Clare is the Patron Saint of Clairvoyance, eyes, goldsmiths, good weather, needlework, telephone and televisions.

Image is of St Clare by Simone Martini.

St David

Saint David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain.

David was a very gentle person who lived a frugal life. He ate mostly bread and herbs - probably watercress, which was widely used at the time. Despite this supposedly meagre diet, it is reported that he was tall and physically strong.

David was born near Capel Non (Non's chapel) on the South-West Wales coast near the present city of Saint David. His father, Sant, was the son of Ceredig, who was prince of Ceredigion, a region in South-West Wales. His mother, Non, was the daughter of a local chieftain. Legend has it that Non was also a niece of King Arthur.

When he was young he was educated in a monastery called Hen Fynyw, his teacher being Paulinus, a blind monk. David stayed there for some years before going forth with a party of followers on his missionary travels.

Dewi travelled far on his missionary journeys through Wales, where he established several churches. He also traveled to the south and west of England and Cornwall as well as Brittany. It is also possible that he visited Ireland. Two friends of his, Saints Padarn and Teilo, are said to have often accompanied him on his journeys, and they once went together on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to meet the Patriarch.

David is sometimes known, in Welsh, as 'Dewi Ddyfrwr' (David the Water Drinker) and, indeed, water was an important part of his life - he is said to have drunk nothing else. Sometimes, as a self-imposed penance, he would stand up to his neck in a lake of cold water, reciting Scripture.

He founded a monastery at Glyn Rhosyn (Rose Vale) on the banks of the small river Alun where the cathedral city of St. David stands today. The monastic brotherhood that Dewi founded was very strict, the brothers having to work very hard besides praying and celebrating masses. They had to get up very early in the morning for prayers and afterwards work very hard to help maintain life at the monastery, cultivating the land and even pulling the plough. Many crafts were followed - beekeeping, in particular, was very important. The monks had to keep themselves fed as well as the many pilgrims and travelers who needed lodgings. They also had to feed and clothe the poor and needy in their neighborhood.

There are many stories regarding Davids life. It is said that he once rose a youth from death, and milestones during his life were marked by the appearance of springs of water. These events are arguably more apocryphal than factual, but are so well known to Welsh-speaking schoolchildren that it is worth mentioning them here.

Perhaps the most well-known story regarding David's life is said to have taken place at the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi. They were to decide whether David was to be Archbishop. A great crowd gathered at the synod, and when David stood up to speak, one of the congregation shouted, 'We won't be able to see or hear him'. At that instant the ground rose till everyone could see and hear David. Unsurprisingly, it was decided, very shortly afterwards, that David would be the Archbishop...

It is claimed that David lived for over 100 years and he was buried in the grounds of his own monastery, where the Cathedral of St. David now stands. After his death, his influence spread far and wide - first through Britain, along what was left of the Roman roads, and by sea to Cornwall and Brittany.

St David's Day, is celebrated on March 1st. He is Parton of Vegetarians and Poets.

St Edmund of the East Angels

East Anglia was one of the great Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms; old Kings lived and were buried in the most spectacular splendour. It was also one of the most brutal times. This is the extraordinary story of a brave king called King Edmund. There were many early Christian martyrs who where will to die for their beliefs, not many however managed to inflict their revenge one hundred years after their murder.

The year is 855 and Edmund has become king of East Anglia. His kingdom is under constant threat of invasion and Edmund had to battle to keep his land and position. One day in 869 a Viking leader called Hunguar and his warriors invaded the Kingdome and destroyed one of the cities.

King Edmund summoned his army and went to war. The Saxons battled hard but the Viking had a larger force and soon defeated them. Kind Edmund was taken prisoner. Hunguar demanded that Edmund serve him and bow before all the Viking Gods, if he refused the penalty would be a gruesome death. Edmund was a religious man and bravely refused.

On a cold morning in November the Kind was lead out onto a field, the defeated soldiers looked on in horror as their king was thrashed, tied to a tree, shot full of arrows and while barely alive beheaded. The king’s head was then thrown into the bramble thickets at Haegelisdun Wood.

The Saxon soldier that had survived the battle search for the head of their king so they could give him a proper burial, but they couldn’t find it. Just as the sad and defeated soldiers were about to give up they hear the cry of an animal, in the undergrowth was a large grey wolf, who was standing guard over the head.

With the death of King Edmund, East Anglia was plunged into battle as both the Vikings and Danes attached. During this time Kind Edmund did not lie quiet .. a number of miraculous events began to occur. People starred seeing visions of the great kind and several sick people were cured of their illnesses. Local people (even some Viking settlers) would visit his grave for inspiration in times of trouble.

Word soon spread of the miracles connected with the martyred king, and his remains were soon brought to Bury St. Edmund and a shrine was dedicated to Saint Edmund. This is not the end of the story as the most miraculous even was still to come.

Saint Edmund had been dead over a hundred years, when in February of 1014 witnesses watched as a miracle took place. The monks recorded in their journal that they were joined by an imposing and unwelcome visitor – the new king Sweyn Forkbeard. He had just arrived from conquering England and was intent on plundering treasures from both the wealthy of the land and the shine of St. Edmund. However before he could begin a sudden vision of Saint Edmund appeared and began to scold him for this oppression of the English people.

While all around him here rendered speechless and a little scared by what was happening Sweyn Forkbeard remained calm. His arrogant reply was clearly not the kind of response the saint had expected and his lack of respect for English values made Edmund Furious. The saint stormed up to Sweyn raised his arm and struck him with such force that the invading king died on the spot.

So finally Edmund has achieve as a saint what he couldn’t when he was alive – the defeat of an invading king. Once hundred years after his death he was finally able to extract revenge for his earlier treatment at the hands of the Vikings.

Then defeat of Sweyn was just one of a number of miracles attributed to Edmund as his fame grew. In 1050 a dumb woman went on a pilgrimage to the Saints shrine, where she claimed to have miraculously recovered her speech. In gratitude she devoted her life to keeping the shrine tidy. Others saw visions or consulted the saint before going to war, as did many of the early Kings of England.

St Edmunds fame grew to such an extent that few would travel through the area without stopping to pay their respects at the shrine. To many Edmund was the first and true patron Stain of England.

Image from St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

St Francis of Assisi

  He was born in Pietro di Bernardone, and was one of seven children. While his father was away, his mother had him christened Giovanni di Bernardone in honour of Saint John the Baptist in the hopes that he would grow into a respected and great religious leader. When his father returned he was furious as he did not want his son to enter the church. His father then decided to call his Francis.

As he grew up Francis started to rebel against his fathers pursuit of wealth and spent most of his time lost in books and becoming fluent in reading several languages. He was also known for drinking and enjoying the company of his many friends, who were usually the sons of nobles. However his disillusion towards the world had already started which is shown in the story of the beggar. One day Francis was out with his friends and a beggar came along and asked for alms. While his friends ignored the beggar, Francis gave the man all he had in his pockets. His friends mocked him for his act of charity and when he got home his father scolded him.

In 1201 Francis joined an expedition against Perugia but was captured and taken prisoner, he spent a year as a captive in Collestrada. After his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis picked up his carefree life, but in 1204 a serious illness started his spiritual crisis. In 1205 Francis left for Puglia to enlist in the army of the Count of Brienne, however on his way he had a strange vision and returned to Assisi, here his spiritual crisis deepened.

When he returned home it is reported that he began to avoid his old friend and old pursuits, he spent a lot of time in lonely places asking God for enlightenment. He took to nursing lepers in Lazars House, near Assisi. After a pilgrimage to Rome where he begged at the church doors for the poor, he clamed to have a mystical experience in the church of San Damiano, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified came alive and said to him three time ‘Francis, go and repair my house which as you can see is falling into ruins.’ Francis thought this meant the very ruined church in which me was praying so he sold his horse together with some of this cloth from his fathers store to assist the priest for this purpose.

His father, angered but what is son had done tried to bring him to his senses, first with threats and then is corporal punishment. After an interview with is local Bishop, Francis renounced his father and family and left all his possessions and home behind him.

For the next few months he lived as a beggar in the areas surrounding Assisi, and returned to his town for two years and helped restore several ruined churches amongst these the little chapel of St Mary of the Angels which later became his favourite place.

In 1209 Francis heard a sermon that changed his life. This sermon told how Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven was upon them, they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stock or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired by this to devote himself to a life of poverty.

Having given up everything and clad in rough garments and walking barefoot, he began to preach repentance and was soon joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman called Bernardo di Quintavalle. Many others joined Francis, and by the end of the year had 11 followers. Francis chose never to become a priest, and he and his community lived as ‘fratres minores’ which is Latin for lesser brothers, they became known as Fransiscans.

The bothers lives a simple life in the deserted Lazar house of Rivo Torto near Assisi, but they spent much of their time wondering round the mountains of Umbria, always cheerful and full of song.

In 1209, Francis and his followers went to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order. The Pope however refused and it wasn’t until a dream the following night that the Pope saw the church was crumbling apart and a poor man holding it up. When he awoke he recalled the poor man he had refused the day before and he recognised him as the man he saw in his dream and decided to change his verdict the following day.

After this the order grew quickly and with new vocations. While hearing Francis preaching, Clair of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and she realised her calling. Her brother Rufino also joined the new order.

In 1211, he received Clare at the Proxiuncola and established the order of Poor Dames, later called the Poor Clare’s.

In 1213 he received the mountain of la Verna as a gift form Orlando di Chiusi. This mountain would become one for Francis’s favourite retreats of Prayer. Back in Assisi several nobleman and some well educated men joined his order.

In 1216 The new pop Honorius III sent Francis confirmation of the indulgence of the Porziuncola, now better known as the Pardon of Assisi, which the pope decreed to be a complete remission of their sins for all those who prayed there.

In 1217, his growing community was divided and sent out to France, Germany, Hungary and Spain, and to the East.

In 1219, Francis and come companions left on a non-violent pilgrimage to Egypt, here Francis challenged the Muslim scholars to a test of true religion by fire. Francis proposed to enter the fire first and if he left the fire unharmed the sultan would have to recognise Christ as the true God., he emerged from the fire unscathed and the Sultan was so impressed he allowed him to preach to his subjects, although he didn’t succeed in converting the Sultan or his subjects.

When receiving reports of five brothers in Morocco who had achieve Martyrdom, Francis returned to Italy. With problem arising in the order in 1220 Francis handed over the governance of the order for Brother Pietro Cattini, However he died a few months later and buried in Proziuncola, but when numerous miracles were attributed to the late Brother Cattini people started to flock to the church, disturbing the Franciscans daily life. Francis prayed to Pietro asking for the miracles to stop and to obey him in death as he had in life they stopped.

In 1224, Francis was on a 40 day fast on the mountain of Berna and he was said to received a vision, the result of which saw him receive the Stigmata.

Suffering from the Stigmata and an eye disease he was brought back to Porziuncola feeling that death was coming he spent the last few days dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of October 1226.

In 1228 he was pronounced a Saint by the next pope Gregory IX, a friend and protector of St. Francis. The next day he laid the foundations stone for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.

Many of the stories surrounding the life of Saint Francis deal with his love for animals. He would often go to his mountain and talk to the animals, and they would come and surround him. His attitude towards the natural world was conventionally Christian. He believed that the world was created good and beautiful, but suffered because of the sin of men. He preached to men and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature.

Legend has it that before he died St Francis thanks his donkey for carrying him throughout his life, and as he died the donkey cried.

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

His feast day is 4th October and he is the Patron Saint of Animals.

Image by Jose de Ribera

St Joan of Arc

Jeanne d’Arc was born in Champagne in January 1412. Her father was a peasant farmer, she was the youngest in the family of five.

It was at the age of thirteen and a half she first became conscious the ‘voices’. It was at first a simple voice a if someone had spoken to her quite close, but there was also a blaze of light that accompanied it. Her visions consisted of seeing and talking to St Michael (Archangel Michael), St Catherine and St Margaret amongst others. Joan was always reluctant to talk about her voices. Even at her trial she didn’t want to talk about them.

Although Joan never stated when the voices revealed her mission it is widely assumed that the call came from God gradually. In May 1948 she no longer doubted that she was bidden to help the King. She was told by the voice to go to Robert Baudricourt who was commander of the kings army. She arrived there a month later but Baudricurt disrespected her and her mission and sent her home.

In October 1428, the voices became urgent, even threatening, but all the while she resisted them saying that she was a poor girl who didn’t know how to fight. In January 1429 she gave in and again went to Vaucoulers. Baudricourt was still sceptical but Joan stayed in the village and gradually made an impression on him. In February she announces a great defeat which had befallen the French at the Battle of the Herrings, this statement was confirmed a few days later and this helped her cause.

In March she went to see the king, to test her the King disguised himself, but she saluted him without hesitation. The Royal court apposed her as a crazy visionary, but a secret sign, communicated to her by her voices, the King half heartedly came to believe in her mission. But before she was employed on any military operations she was sent to be examined by a committee of bishops and doctors, no-one know what really happened here, but her faith, simplicity and honesty made a favourable impression. The Bishops found nothing heretical in her claims to supernatural guidance.

Retuning to the king he offered her a sword for the campaign. She however refused and begged that a search might be made for an ancient sword buried behind an alter in the chapel of St Catherine. It was found in the very spot the voices indicated. At the same time a standard was made for her with a picture of kneeling presenting a fleur-de-lis.

On May 8th Joan was injured in Orleans, and was told in a vision that she would only have a year to live. The battle had started and Joan with her visions told the commanders what they should do. Once they had achieved many victories she asked to return home, but was kept in the army against her will.

There was several months of inactivity and the following May she was helping to defend Compiegne against a Burgundian attack, her tropes were driven back and by come mistake the castle drawbridge was raised before Joan and her troops could enter. She was pulled down from her horse and became a prisoner by Joan of Luxembourg, and sold to the English, with no attempt by the king made to rescue her.

There is no doubt that the English from fear of having a prisoners with superstitious terror, or ashamed of the dread she inspired were determined at all costs to take her life. They couldn’t put her to death for having beaten them in many fights but they could sentence her as a witch and heretic.

In February 1431, Joan appeared before the judges for the first time. She was not allowed an advocate was sent to a secular prison. She complained about this and asked to be put in a church prison where she could have female attendants. Before she was passed over to the English she tried to escape by throwing herself out a window, but was soon captured and taken to Rouen where she was kept in an iron cage and chained by the neck, hands and feet. She was also allowed no spiritual privileges like attending mass, on accounts of the charge of heresy.

The second time she appeared in front of the judges they questioned her about hr visions nut she refused to answer. Joan pressed about the secret sign given to the king declared that an angel brought him the gold crown, but on further questioning she seemed to become confused and contradict herself. The questioning continued until 17th March, 70 charges were at first drawn up against her, but these were then reduce to 12. With the summery of her misdeeds before them the 22 judges took part in deliberations declared that Joan’s visions and voices were false, and that if she refused to retract them she would be burned. From April to May she refused to submit and on May 9th she was threatened with torture, but she still held firm. In final deliberations the judges declared Joan a heretic on May 23rd a stake was erected in the cemetery of St-Ouen, in the presence of the crowed her courage seemed to fail her, and she consented to sign a retraction. She signed it but only on the condition that she retracted that it was gods will. She was then conducted back to her prison.

May 29th a council of 37 judges decided that Joan mist be treated as a relapsed heretic, and this sentence was carried out the next day, after her death her ashes were thrown into the Seine. Some reports say that when she was burned her heart was untouched.

She became a saint in 1920, her feast day is 30th May, and she is the patron of the French, Martyrs, captives, militants, rape victims, and soldiers

St Lawrence

Saint Lawrence is the patron saint of the poor, archivers, cooks, treasurers, librarians and tanners. He was ordained as a deacon in AD257 and placed at the head of Church goods and care for the poor by Bishop of Rome Sixtus.

Persecutions came in 258 where many bishops and priests were put to death and Christians had their good removed. Pope Sixtus II was beheaded on August 6th and a legend states that he met Lawrence on the way and prophesised that 'after three days you will follow me'. Lawrence was reported to of been martyred on a gridiron (a metal gate normally used for cooking fish) - cooked alive. His parting cry to the world was "Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca" ("This side's done, turn me over and have a bite"). Although there are reports he was beheaded, just like the Pope.

St Lawrence is one of the most widely venerated saints of the Roman Catholic Church.

His feast day is 10th August.

St Monica of Hippo

Saint Monica of Hippo was born in 332AD in modern day Algeria. She was bought up as a Christian and was married to a Pagan man named Patricius in an arranged marriage.

Patricious was a man with great energy that would bubble over into violent tempers and bouts of adultery, however, it is said that he never beat his wife because of her obedience to him. St Monica would attend the church each day and offer the advice of "If you can master your tongue, not only do you run less risk of being beaten, but perhaps you may even, one day, make your husband better." Her advice one day came true as she converted Patricious to Christianity and his temper calmed.

St Monica was the mother of Saint Augustine who had a pretty wild youth - he lived with a mistress and followed the Gnostic religion of Manichaeism. St Monica didn't approve but held her tongue as before and just prayed for her son - her prayers were answered when he turned 28 as he converted and was baptized as a Christian.

St Monica returned to Africa after her sons conversation and died at the age of 56 in 387AD

Saint Monica is the patron Saint of Wives and Abuse Victims and her day is celebrated on the 27th August.

(Image from Catholic Online)

St Neot

St Neot was born in Saxon times and lived for most of his life in Cornwall until his death around 870AD. He is said to of been a soldier at one point, later denouncing his material life for that of one of a monk. He spent time as a sacristan (an officer who is charged with the care of the sacristy (where religious items and documents are kept), the church, and their contents) at Glastonbury Abbey before living with a small group of monks near to Bodmin Moor.

St Neot is know as the "Pygamy Saint" and was said to be a mere 15 inches tall. The sotries tell of him standing in a well during much of his prayer time (a well that can still be visited at the local St Neot Church and is said to cure sick children, especially around Beltane). He was said to have a strange way with animals and birds and worked many miracles with them.

"Of all the vast company of saints peculiar to Cornwall, St. Neot is surely the strangest, for he was, so the old traditions have it, a pigmy, perfectly formed, yet only fifteen inches in height. There are very many stories told of this tiny holy man, and most of them seem to show that he wielded a great power over all animals.

One of the prettiest stories is of the time when St. Neot presided over his abbey and there came one night thieves to the monastic farm and stole all the monks' plough oxen. The poor brothers had not the money to purchase other beasts, and seed-time was upon them with their fields yet unploughed. Ruin seemed certain until the good little abbot appealed to the wild beasts to come to their aid. And then, to the amazement of the monks, there came from the surrounding forests wild stags, who docilely offered their necks to the yoke and drew the heavy ploughs.

Each night the stags were released, and they went off to the woods; but each succeeding morning they returned to continue their task.

The news of this miraculous happening spread rapidly abroad and came at last to the ears of the thieves. They were so deeply impressed by the story that they returned the stolen oxen at once and promised never again to pursue their evil ways. So the stags were released from their self-appointed labour, but ever after, they say, each bore a white ring like a yoke about its neck, and each enjoyed a charmed life, for no arrow or spear of a hunter could hurt it.

Another story that is told is that of St. Neot and the hunted doe. While the good saint was seated in contemplation by his well, there burst from the woods a doe pursued by hounds and huntsmen. The poor beast was exhausted and sank down by the saint as if imploring his protection.

The tiny saint rose and faced the oncoming pack, which instantly turned and dashed back into the forest. Presently the huntsmen approached with drawn bows, prepared to dispatch the frightened quarry. But they too, at the sight of the saint, desisted, and the chief of them, falling upon his knees, cast away his quiver and besought the Holy Neot to receive him into the Church.

This man, they say, became a monk at the monastery of St. Petroc at Bodmin, and the hunting-horn which he carried on the day of his conversion was hung for many years in St. Neot's church."