Fremund, Hermit and Martyr

Saint Fremund also known as Freomund was a ninth century saint, Hermit and Martyr in Anglo-Saxon England. He is venerated at both the Village of Prescote, where he is patron saint and at Dunstable Priory.

The following summary of the legend as it runs in John of Tynemouth’s version is given by Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy:

‘Fremund was the son of a pagan king who reigned in England, named Offa, and his queen Botilda, his birth being foretold by a child, who died when three days old. He is baptized by Bishop Heswi, performs many miracles, and converts his parents. Offa resigns his kingdom to his son, who, after governing a year and a half, forsakes the throne to serve God in a desert place, accompanied by Burchard (who afterwards wrote his life) and another attendant. He then embarks in a vessel, sailing from Caerleon-on-Usk, and is driven to a small island called Ylefage, sometimes identified with Lundy, which is infested by demons. Here he lives seven years on fruits and roots. Hinguar and his brother, Hubba ravage England and put King Edmund to death. Offa sends twenty nobles to seek his son throughout England, and, finding him, they implore his aid, and he assents in consequence of a vision in which it is revealed that each of his companions shall appear a thousand to his enemies. He attacks and defeats 40,000 of the enemy with the twenty who have come to seek him, in addition to his two companions; in a great battle at Radford Semele and, while he is prostrate in thanksgiving for the victory, Oswi, formerly one of Offa’s commanders, but who had apostatized and joined the pagans, cuts off his head. Blood spurts over Oswi, who implores absolution and forgiveness, which the head pronounces. Fremund rises and carries his head some distance, when, a spring bursting forth, he washes his wound, falls prostrate and expires.’

The legend has a number of historical inconsistences. Offa’s wife was called Cynethryth not Botilda and the name is not mentioned in any charter or by any chronicler. Bishop Heswi, or Oswy as the name is written in John Lydgate’s Metrical Legend, cannot be identified. Offa died July 29, 796, and was succeeded by his son Ecgfrith, “who had been anointed king in his lifetime” according to William of Malmsbury and Æthelweard. Egferth died the same year as Offa and so none of the legend fits the history on these points. King Edmund was martyred in November 870, 74 years after Offa’s death. and therefore the connection with the Danish invasion seems more probable than that with Offa, and so Fremund, if he existed, should be dated to the mid 9th century.

After his death Fremund’s body was taken to Offchurch in Warwickshire where his tomb became a place of pilgrimage for those seeking healing. In about AD 931 his remains were taken to Cropredy in Oxfordshire. Later, around 1207-1210, some of his relics were removed from Cropredy to a new shrine at Dunstable Priory in Bedfordshire, but his shrine at Cropredy continued to be venerated until early in the 16th century. His shrines at both Cropredy and Dunstable were destroyed in the 1540s during the English Reformation.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Fremund

Saint Fremund is sometimes depicted as a king, but it is more likely that he was a noble man’s son, although he may have been related to St.Edmund, King of East Anglia. He was born in Warwickshire near Offchurch but at quite an early age he left home to lead a solitary life as a hermit on an island called Ylefagel, which may be Steep Holm or Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel.

At that time the English were constantly under threat from invasions by the Danes, and it seems that Fremund felt obliged to leave his hermitage to take up arms in defence of the Christian religion and the freedom of his people.

He died in battle at Harbury not far from his home, and it was believed that an apostate kinsman by the name of Oswi was responsible for his death, having allied himself to the heathen Danes in order to further his ambitions. Fremund’s body was taken to Offchurch for
burial, and the fact that the church was founded by King Offa may have been the reason that Fremund has been described as his son.

The Life by William of Ramsey and a later one by the monk John Lydgate of Burry say that his tomb was visited by many pilgrims in search of healing and that in 931 his relics were translated to Cropredy in Oxfordshire. Certainly there was a shrine containing his relics there in the Middle Ages, and there is a meadow by the River Cherwell called Freeman’s Holm. Richard, Prior of the new foundation at Dunstable, was visitor of the Lincoln Diocese in 1206 and found many pilgrims coming to the little church.

Dunstable was a Priory of Austin Canons founded by Henry I late in the twelfth century at the spot where Watling Street crosses the prehistoric Icknield Way. Presumably relics were needed for this church, and in 1210 at least some of St.Fremund’s remains were taken to Dunstable and an altar was dedicated to him.

The shrine was destroyed at the dissolution, but the magnificent nave and Norman doorway remain in what is now the parish church of St. Peter.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.christian.episcopal/QHxIHOPCBfM

For the Shrine at Cropredy see: http://www.cropredyvillage.info/Church%20at%20Cropredy.htm

Isidora, Fool-for-Christ

May 10 is the Commemoration of Saint Isidora, Fool-for-Christ.

“Saint Isidora, Fool-for-Christ, struggled in the Tabenna monastery in Egypt during the sixth century. Taking upon herself the feat of folly, she acted like one insane, and did not eat food with the other sisters of the monastery. Many of them regarded her with contempt, but Isidora bore all this with great patience and meekness, blessing God for everything.
She worked in the kitchen and fulfilled the dirtiest, most difficult tasks at the monastery, cleaning the monastery of every impurity. Isidora covered her head with a plain rag, and instead of cooked food she drank the dirty wash water from the pots and dishes. She never became angry, never insulted anyone with a word, never grumbled against God or the sisters, and was given to silence.
Once, a desert monk, St Pitirim, had a vision. An angel of God appeared to him and said, “Go to the Tabenna monastery. There you will see a sister wearing a rag on her head. She serves them all with love, and endures their contempt without complaint. Her heart and her thoughts rest always with God. You, on the other hand, sit in solitude, but your thoughts flit about all over the world.”

The Elder set out for the Tabenna monastery, but he did not see the one indicated to him in the vision among the sisters. Then they led Isidora to him, considering her a demoniac. Isidora fell down at the knees of the Elder, asking his blessing. St Pitirim bowed down to the ground to her and said, “Bless me first, venerable Mother!”
To the astonished questions of the sisters the Elder replied, “Before God, Isidora is higher than all of us!” Then the sisters began to repent, confessing their mistreatment of Isidora, and they asked her forgiveness. The saint, however, distressed over her fame, secretly hid herself away from the monastery, and her ultimate fate remained unknown. It is believed that she died around the year 365.”
http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/05/10/101345-blessed-isidora-the-fool-of-tabenna-in-egypt

“Saint Isidora or Isidore (Saint Isidora the Simple or Saint Isidora of Tabenna) was a Christian nun and saint of the 4th century AD. She is considered among the earliest fools for Christ. The Feast day of Isidora is celebrated by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church on May 1 and may also be on May 10.
Isidora lived in the Egyptian convent of Tabennisi. She veiled her head with an old dishrag and some time was treated with contempt by other nuns. One day, the hermit Saint Pitirim visited the convent after the vision of an angel, who had told him to “find an elect vessel full of the grace of God”… “by the crown that shines above her head”.
The aforesaid crown was reportedly seen above Saint Isidora. After that everyone in the monastery fell to the feet of Pitirim, confessing in repentance their disrespectful attitude to Isidora, who had suffered all insults and even beatings humbly, pretending to be mad.
Several days later Isidora, who could not bear the honors and apologies, secretly left the convent to spend the rest of her days in a desert hermitage. The following period of her life remained unknown. It is said that Isidora died no later than the year 365 AD.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Isidora

Cassian, Recluse and Faster

May 8 is the Commemoration of the Venerable Cassian, recluse and faster of the Kiev Caves (13th-14th centuries).

Julian of Norwich, English Anchoress

May 8 is the Commemoration of Julian of Norwich

“Julian of Norwich (ca. 8 November 1342 – ca. 1416) was an English anchoress who is regarded as one of the most important Christian mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Roman Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, although she is unofficially venerated in the Catholic Church, much as St. Hildegard of Bingen was before her de facto canonization by Pope Benedict XVI…
Very little is known about Julian’s life. Her personal name is unknown; the name “Julian” simply derives from the fact that her anchoress’s cell was built onto the wall of the church of St Julian in Norwich.

Her writings indicate that she was probably born around 1342 and died around 1416. She may have been from a privileged family that lived in Norwich, or nearby. Norwich was at the time the second largest city in England. Plague epidemics were rampant during the 14th century and, according to some scholars, Julian may have become an anchoress whilst still unmarried or, having lost her family in the Plague, as a widow. Becoming an anchoress may have served as a way to quarantine her from the rest of the population. There is scholarly debate as to whether Julian was a nun in a nearby convent or even a laywoman.

When she was 30 and living at home, Julian suffered from a severe illness. Whilst apparently on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions of Jesus Christ, which ended by the time she recovered from her illness on 13 May 1373. Julian wrote about her visions immediately after they had happened (although the text may not have been finished for some years), in a version of the Revelations of Divine Love now known as the Short Text; this narrative of 25 chapters is about 11,000 words long. It is believed to be the earliest surviving book written in the English language by a woman.

Twenty to thirty years later, perhaps in the early 1390s, Julian began to write a theological exploration of the meaning of the visions, known as The Long Text, which consists of 86 chapters and about 63,500 words. This work seems to have gone through many revisions before it was finished, perhaps in the first or even second decade of the fifteenth century.
Julian became well known throughout England as a spiritual authority: the English mystic Margery Kempe, who was the author of the first known autobiography written in England, mentioned going to Norwich to speak with her in around 1414.

The Norwich Benedictine and Cardinal, Adam Easton, may have been Julian of Norwich’s spiritual director and edited her Long Text Showing of Love. Birgitta of Sweden’s spiritual director, Alfonso Pecha, the Bishop Hermit of Jaen, edited her Revelationes. Catherine of Siena’s confessor and executor was William Flete, the Cambridge-educated Augustinian Hermit of Lecceto. Easton’s Defense of St Birgitta echoes Alfonso of Jaen’s Epistola Solitarii and William Flete’s Remedies against Temptations, all of which are referred to in Julian’s text.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich

For The Shrine and Cell of the Lady Julian of Norwich, see: http://www.julianofnorwich.org/index.shtml

See further: http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/julian.htm
http://www.lordsandladies.org/julian-of-norwich.htm

For the text of “Revelations of Divine Love” see: http://www.ccel.org/j/julian/revelations/

For The Order of Julian of Norwich, see: http://www.orderofjulian.org/julians_window/..%5C/home.html

Sts. Serenicus and Serenus of Spoleto

May 7th is the commemoration of Sts. Serenicus and Serenus of Spoleto

“Young patricians from Spoleto who abandoned their family and their possessions at the bidding, it is said, of an angel, and betook themselves to Rome. The tombs of the Apostles were at that time under the care of the Benedictines, with whom the two strangers were brought into contact and from whom they received the habit. For some time they lived the community life in Rome, edifying their brethren by their youthful piety, but before long they withdrew, still under angelic guidance, to seek a new home beyond the Alps in France.

On the site of the present town of Château Gontier, in the diocese of Angers, and subsequently in the forest of Charnie, near the village of Saulges in Maine, they led a life of extreme self-abnegation as solitaries. But, desirous though they were of remaining lost to the world, the fame of their sanctity began to attract visitors, who disturbed their solitude. So strongly did Serenicus feel the call to greater seclusion that he bade farewell to his brother, from whom he had never previously been parted, and struck out into the unknown region of Hyesmes, accompanied by a child whom he had baptized and who would not leave him. On a spot surrounded by boulders, situated over the river Sarthe and approached only by a narrow path, he determined to make his abode. He was soon to discover that solitude was not for him. Disciples gathered round, and he became the head of a large community of monks, whom he taught to recite the full psalmody, consisting of the complete Roman use in addition to all the Benedictine offices. He continued to rule over the monastery he had founded until his death which occurred when he was very old, about the year 669.
In the meantime his brother Serenus had remained in his hermitage at Saulges, his fasts and austerities winning for him many graces, including visions, ecstasies and miracles. When the countryside was stricken by pestilence, famine and drought, following on the horrors of the civil war, St. Berarius, bishop of Le Mans, besought the intercession of the recluse. The cleansing rain which cleared away the infection and refreshed the earth was attributed by the grateful people to the prayers of St. Serenus, whose reputation as a wonder-worker was greatly enhanced. Like St Serenicus, he lived to old age, and as he lay dying, sounds of celestial music are said to have been plainly heard by those who were near him at the time.
They were members of a noble family in Spoleto who entered the Benedictines and became hermits in France, in the Charnie Forest.

Serenus remained a hermit until his death and was known for his miracles, including ending a plague and a drought. Serenicus eventually served as head of the community of followers who had gathered under his spiritual guidance near the Sarthe River, following the Benedictine rule.”
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.apparitions/3tMjpPCP28s

“Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei, a village built on a rocky spur overlooking the river Sarthe near Alençon and the Alpes Mancelles, is one of the most beautiful in France. It was founded 1044 by William Giroie, who built a castle here. Unfortunately, little remains of the walls today. The place is named for Serenicus (Céneri), an Italian hermit who lived here in the 8th century. When he died, a monastery was built but later destroyed by the Normans in 903. Legends abound about the life of the monk Céneri. In his youth, accompanied by his brother Céneré, he moved to Rome to be in the Pope’s service where he entered the Benedictine order. Five years later, a vision ordered him to go west. The two brothers crossed the Alps in 659 and arrived in Saulges in the diocese of Le Mans.
There they stayed until 689 when Céneri and a disciple, Flavard undertook a journey through the Alpes Mancelles during summer. Upon arrival at the edge of a beautiful river skirting a rocky promontory they decided to rest. Exhausted and thirsty, Céneri asked God for aid. A miraculous spring suddenly appeared along the side of a hill. Since then, the spring has never stopped flowing and a stone fountain was built around it. The water is said to have healing properties and can cure certain eye diseases.

Fountain of Saint-Céneri

Another legend tells of a time when the river Sarthe was flooding and Céneri and some travellers wished to cross. Again, Céneri asked for God’s help. Suddenly, the river stopped flowing and everyone was able to cross the river. This section of the river was a favorite spot for Céneri and he built a small hut out of branches where he maintained a quiet existence as a hermit. As the reputation of Céneri’s holiness grew, disciples joined him and a thriving Benedictine community of 140 monks took hold. In 669, Céneri began construction of a wooden church at the top of the rocky promontory. He died on May 7, 670 before the completion of the church.

In the early 15th century La chapelle St-Céneri was built at the same location as his small hut. Its simple Gothic style fits perfectly into the pastoral landscape. ”
http://baguette.over-blog.net/article-saint-ceneri-le-gerei-56759603.html

Millius, The Ascetic

May 6 is the commemoration, in the Coptic Orthodox “Synaxarium”, of the Martyrdom of St.Millius, the Ascetic.

On this day, St. Milius, the ascetic, was martyred. This father was an ascetic and fighter all the days of his life. He dwelt in a cave with his two disciples in mount Khurasan. The two sons of the king of Khurasan went out to hunt wild animals and they set up their nets. This Saint fell in their net, and he was dressed in sackcloth made of hair, and his hair was exceedingly long. When they saw him they were afraid of him and asked him: “Are you a man or a demon?” He answered: “I am a sinful man and I dwell here in this mount to worship the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.” They told him: “There is no God except the sun and the fire, offer the sacrifices to them lest we kill you.” He answered them: “These things have been created by God. You are not aware of the truth. It is preferable for you to worship the true God, the creator of all these things.” They asked him: “Do you claim that he Whom the Jews crucified is God?” He said to them: “Yes, He Who was crucified for our sins, and Who was killed and died, is God indeed.” The two princes were raged of him. They seized his two disciples, tortured, and then slew them. As for St. Milius, they continued to torture him for two weeks. Finally, they made him stand up between them and shot arrows at him until he departed in peace. On the following day they went on hunting, followed a wild beast, and shot arrows at him, and God turned their arrows into their own hearts killing them.
May The prayers of this Saint be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
http://st-takla.org/zJ/index.php/component/katamaros/?sm=0-2&c=&iday=6&imonth=5&iyear=2011&dbl=en&task=synax_today

Sophia, The Ascetic of Kleisoura

May 6 is the Feast of Blessed Sophia of Kleisoura (Myrtidiotissa in Schema), the ascetic of Kleisoura, Fool-for-Christ

“The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved on October 4th [2011] the canonization of Eldress Sophia, the holy ascetic of Panagia Kleisoura Monastery which is dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos….In honor of this wonderful news, the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Kleisoura on Sunday 27 November 2011 celebrated by processing the holy relics and sacred icon of Saint Sophia during the Orthros Service and before the Divine Liturgy, where thousands were in attendance who came to venerate the newly-glorified Saint. Her feast day will be on May 6th annually, the day of her repose in 1974.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
O blessed mother Sophia, you became wise, and the adornment of the Mother of God, and you lived your life in the Monastery ascetically, from which have spread the praise of your struggles, striking the ranks of the demons. And as you stand as an intercessor before Christ, do not neglect those who honor you with fervor.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
You became a treasury of Divine wisdom and all-consuming fear [of God], O mother Sophia; through your motherly intercessions, O blessed one, you offer to all the richness of grace.

Megalynarion
Being made spiritually wise, O Mother, you passed the whole of your life in utter patience, and now you are made to dwell in the beauty of your Bridegroom, in His bridal chamber.”
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/11/eldress-sophia-ascetic-of-kleisoura.html

“Sophia Saoulidi, the “ascetic of the Panagia”, was born of Amanatiou and Maria Saoulidi in a village of Trebizond in Pontus of Asia Minor in 1883. She was also married there years later in 1907 to Jordan Hortokoridou, but after seven years her husband disappeared (likely not of his own will) in 1914 and she was left with a newborn son who soon thereafter died. These tragedies helped shape her piety and repentant spirit, making her rely solely upon God. Her asceticism began in Pontus on a mountain away from her relatives. It was there that one day Saint George appeared to her and warned her to notify the villagers of a coming persecution and to flee, and in this way she saved the village.

Her soul breathed Christ and the Panagia with her simple and humble love. “One is the Lord and one is the Lady”, she would say of Christ and the Panagia, “the rest of us are all siblings.”

She was a teacher of the simple, especially of women, and every word that came from her lips was spoken with humility and love. As with many “fools for Christ” of the past, the proud and the educated didn’t recognize her worth as much as those who possessed simple and humble hearts.

She came to Greece in 1919 as an exile. The name of the ship that carried her was Saint Nicholas, so when they arrived in Greece the Panagia appeared to her and said: “Come to my house.” Sophia asked: “Where are you and where is your house?” The Panagia responded: “I am in Kleisoura.” Therefore she went and settled at the Monastery of the Birth of the Theotokos in Kleisoura of Kastoria when she was 44 years old.

There the abbot of the Monastery was Gregorios Magdalis, an Athonite of great virtue. Sophia learned much from him and always spoke his name with the highest respect.

By the command of the Panagia, Sophia lived within the fireplace of the Monastery in the kitchen, which was also used to cook the food. She would sleep there two hours a night and the rest of the night pray on her knees. In the winter it was especially cold there, while during the rain water would drip on her. At times she would light a little fire, but this did not help much. At the window she would always have a candle lit before the fresco of the Panagia. This is where she ate and spent her time, and when visitors came to see her she would say their names before they even introduced themselves to her. People came from Thessaloniki and the surrounding areas, even as far as from Athens, just to see her. She would tell people their names and their family problems without being told beforehand. Among those who came was Fr. Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, who later became Metropolitan, and he would say: “You have a great treasure up there”.

She dressed poorly and had a blanket with holes. Her sandals had holes also. Visitors would see how she suffered in the cold and humidity and give her clothes, but she would take them with one hand and give them away to the poor with the other. She also always wore a black scarf, and since her days in Pontus never bathed. Her fasting was constant and only allowed herself oil on the weekends. She cared little for what she ate, eating only to survive, and cared less about cleanliness so that she would even eat food without washing them. And despite the germs and the worms, she always remained healthy.

Visitors would often give her money, which she would hide anywhere she could. And when someone had need, she would go and give the money immediately.

She saw many scandalous things done by priests and lay people, but never criticized anyone. “Cover things, so that God will cover you”, she would say.

Her popularity arose rapidly, so that people came not only from all over Greece, but even places like France and Israel to see her. Some villagers made fun of her however, calling her “Crazy-Sophia”. To many she looked like Saint Mary of Egypt, as thin as a bone and all dried up. Within however she contained the same beauty of Saint Mary.

Wondrous Events

Her love for God and humanity was powerful and she had impressive experiences with the Panagia and various Saints.

As the ship carried the passengers from Asia Minor to Greece in 1919 a storm hit that put the passengers at great risk. Eventually the storm ceased and everyone survived, but the captain said after making the sign of the cross: “You must have a righteous person among you that saved you”, and everyone looked at Sophia who was standing at the corner of the ship the entire journey praying. This incident actually exists on videotape, where she herself recounts what happened:

“The waves were filled with angels and the Panagia appeared, saying, ‘Humanity will be lost, because they are very sinful.’ And I said: ‘Panagia, let me be lost because I am a sinner, so let the world be saved.'”

In 1967 Sophia became very sick and was in great pain. Her stomach had open sores that smelled. She took the pain courageously, saying: “The Panagia will come to take away my pain. She promised me.” Some Athenians have her on videotape explaining what happened soon thereafter:

“The Panagia came with the Archangel Gabriel and Saint George, as well as other Saints. The Archangel said: ‘We will cut you now’. I said: ‘I am a sinner, I must confess, receive communion, then you can cut me’. ‘You will not die’, he said, ‘we are doing a surgery on you’, and he cut me open.”

As with many Saints, she had a special relationship with wild animals, especially with bears in the forest, but also with snakes and birds…

Eldress Sophia fell asleep in the Lord on May 6, 1974 and was buried on the grounds of the Monastery. She was well-known in Western Macedonia, and many who knew her come to pray at her tomb. Her relics are kept in the Monastery, and upon request to the nuns can be venerated by the faithful.”
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/06/eldress-sophia-ascetic-of-panagia.html

Echa of Crayke, Hermit and Monk

May 5 is the Feast of Saint Echa of Crayke, (Etha), Anglo-Saxon priest and monk-hermit at Crayke, near York, England.

“Today, 5 May 2012, is the memorial of St Echa (or Etha) of Crayke, which is in the North Riding area of Yorkshire, England. Since St Echa lived in the eighth century, dying in the year 767, most details about his holy life have been lost, but the important ones have survived almost 1250 years.

Most of what we know about St Echa is contained in a poem written by Alcuin in Latin about the Bishops and Saints of York. Putting it into verse would have made it easier for people to learn and retell to others. The translated segment about St Echa goes like this…
“Then flourished Echa, venerable man, A holy anchorite in wilderness; A secret life he sought, and in chaste zeal Fled from all earthly honours, that, with God His King, be might find honours at heaven’s court; Devoutly led on earth an angel’s life, And seem’d as if with prophetic pow’r inspired.”

Other gleanings say that he was ordained a priest, and spent most of his life as a hermit. Whether he was attached to a monastic community at Crayke, or whether he only settled with the monks at Crayke when his health deteriorated, is not known.

For certain, St Echa must have been under a powerful call from God to live a life similar to those of the Desert Fathers, and similar to those of St Cuthbert and other early hermits of Lindisfarne. From time to time God continues to call people to this ‘vocation within a vocation’. Normally it is felt by those who have already consecrated their lives to Him in religious life. Sometimes that call to ‘come away and be with Me alone’ is of a short duration for a special intercessory or ‘preparation for ministry’ purpose, and sometimes it is a call to enter into that state of spiritual warrior permanently. St Charbel would be a good modern example of a contemporary hermit. Most long established religious orders have remote places or separate dwellings for those who wish to respond to that particular call of God.”
http://catholicdaily.net/societyofsaints/tag/st-echa-of-crayke/

Crayke, St Cuthbert, Yorkshire

“In the Dark Ages, Crayke was home to Echa of Crayke, an eighth century Anglo-Saxon Saint, priest and monk-hermit, known for his holiness, healing and prophetic gifting. According to the York Annals, he died 767AD, and his feast day is 5 May. He is known from the Hagiography of the Secgan Manuscript, and the poem on the Saints of York by Saint Alcuin.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayke

Nicephorus, the Hesychast of Mount Athos

May 4 is the Feast of Saint Nicephorus (Nikiphoros )(the Solitary, the Hesychast) of Mount Athos, teacher of St. Gregory Palamas.

“Nikiphoros the Monk (also called Nikiphoros the Hesychast) was a 13th-century monk and spiritual writer of the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to Gregory Palamas, Nikiphoros was originally Roman Catholic but travelled to the Byzantine Empire where he converted to the Eastern Orthodox faith and became a monk at Mount Athos. Like Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Nikiphoros was a strong opponent of the union of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches which was agreed to at the Council of Lyons in 1274. Because of this, he was imprisoned and later wrote an account of his ordeal. The main theme of Nikiphoros’ spiritual writings in the Philokalia is ‘nepsis’ (Greek νήψις) which is usually translated as watchfulness or vigilance. For those inexperienced in prayer and spiritual self-control, the mind tends to wander and lapse into imagination. Nikiphoros described a method of breathing while praying to concentrate the mind within the heart in order to practice watchfulness.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikiphoros_the_Monk

“Saint Nicephorus was the teacher of St Gregory Palamas (November 14). He grew up as a Roman Catholic, but he journeyed to the Byzantine Empire and became Orthodox. St Nicephorus lived as an ascetic on Mount Athos, and died before the year 1300. His treatise “On Watchfulness and the Guarding of the Heart” is found in the fourth volume of the English PHILOKALIA.”
http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/05/04/101296-venerable-nicephorus-of-mt-athos-albania

“You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ that serves for this is the lungs that lie round the heart, so that the air passing through them thereby envelops the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart. And so, having collected your mind within you, lead it into the channel of breathing through which air reaches the heart and, together with this inhaled air, force your mind to descend into the heart and to remain there.”
Nicephorus the Solitary: http://blog.gaiam.com/quotes/authors/nicephorus-solitary/65963

Wiborada of St. Gall, Anchoress and Martyr

May 2 was the Feast of Wiborada of St. Gall, Anchoress and Martyr.

“Saint Wiborada of St. Gall (also Guiborat or Weibrath) (died 926) was a member of the Swabian nobility in what is present-day Switzerland. She was an anchoress, Benedictine nun, and martyr, as well as the first woman formally canonized by the Vatican. Her vita was written ca. 1075 by Herimannus, a monk of St Gall.

Wiborada was born to a wealthy noble family in Swabia. After the death of their parents, Wiborada joined her brother Hatto in becoming a Benedictine at the Abbey of St. Gall. There, she occupied herself by making Hatto’s clothes and helping to bind many of the books in the monastery library…

At this time, it appears that Wiborada was charged with some type of serious infraction or wrongdoing, and was subjected to the medieval practice of ordeal by fire to prove her innocence. Although she was exonerated, the embarrassment probably influenced her next decision: withdrawing from the world and becoming an ascetic.

When she petitioned to become an anchoress, Bishop Salomon of Constance asked her to accompany him to the Monastery of St. Gallen. He arranged for her to stay in a cell next to the church of St. Georgen near the monastery, where she remained for four years before relocating to a cell adjoining the church of St. Magnus.

She became renowned for her austerity, and was said to have a gift of prophecy, both of which drew admirers and hopeful students, one of which, a woman named Rachildis, whom Wiborada had cured of a disease, joined her as an anchoress…

The end of Wiborada’s life was violent and dramatic. In 925, she predicted a Hungarian invasion of her region. Her warning allowed the priests and religious of St. Gall and St. Magnus to hide the books and wine and escape into caves in nearby hills. The Abbot Engilbert urged Wiborada to escape to safety, but she insisted that it was her duty to remain and pray for the inhabitants of the city.

When the Magyar marauders reached St. Gall, they burned down St. Magnus and broke into the roof of Wiborada’s cell. Upon finding her kneeling in prayer, they clove her skull with a hatchet and left her to die. Her companion Rachildis was not killed, and lived another 21 years, during which her disease returned. She spent the rest of her life learning patience through suffering. Wiborada’s refusal to leave her cell and the part she played in saving the lives of the priests and religious of her convent have merited her the title of martyr.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiborada

‘KLINGNAU, in the Swiss canton of Aargau, was the birthplace of St. Wiborada, who is called in French Guiborat and in German Weibrath. Her parents belonged to the Swabian nobility, and she led a retired life in the house of her father and mother. After one of her brothers, Hatto by name, had decided to be a priest she made his clothes and also worked for the monastery of St. Gall, where he prosecuted his studies. Many of the books in the abbey library were covered by her.

Upon the death of her parents, Wiborada joined this brother, who had been made provost of the church of St. Magnus, and he taught her Latin so that she could join him in saying the offices. Their house became a kind of hospital to which Hatto would bring patients for Wiborada to tend. After the brother and sister had made a pilgrimage to Rome, Hatto resolved to take the habit at St. Gall, largely through Wiborada’s influence. She, on the other hand, remained for some years longer in the world, though not of it. It may have been at this period-but more probably, as certain writers have argued, after she became a recluse-that she came into touch with St. Ulric, who had been sent, as a delicate little lad of seven, to the monastic school of St. Gall. We read that she prophesied his future elevation to the episcopate, and in after years he regarded her as his spiritual mother.

According to some of the saint’s biographers-but not the earliest-she suffered so severely from calumnies against her character that she underwent trial by ordeal at Constance to clear herself of the charges. Whether the story be true or false, she decided to withdraw into solitude that she might serve God without distraction. At first she took up her abode in an anchorhold on a mountain not far from St. Gall, but in 915 she occupied a cell beside the church of St. Magnus; there she remained for the rest of her life, practising extraordinary mortifications. Many visitors came to see her, attracted by the fame of her miracles and prophecies. Other recluses settled near her, but only one of them was admitted to any sort of companionship.

This was a woman called Rachildis, a niece of St. Notker Balbulus. She was brought to St. Wiborada suffering from a disease which the doctors had pronounced incurable. Having apparently been cured by the ministrations of the recluse, she could never be induced to leave her benefactress. But after the death of the latter the malady returned with so many complications that she seemed a second Job, owing to the multiplicity of her diseases and the patience with which she bore them.

St. Wiborada foretold her own death at the hands of the invading Hungarians, adding that Rachildis would be left unmolested. Her warnings enabled the clergy of St. Magnus and the monks of St. Gall to escape in time, but she herself refused to leave her cell. The barbarians burnt the church and, having made an opening in the roof of the hermitage, entered it as she knelt in prayer. They struck her on the head with a hatchet and left her dying; Rachildis, however, remained unharmed and survived her friend for twenty-one years. St. Wiborada was canonized in 1047.”
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