Surely it must have been a hot, bright day: it is hard to imagine it being cloudy and drizzly. From the sound of the story, it was just the twelve of them and Him. They had been travelling through the hills north of Capernaum and were now coming “into the district of Caesarea Phillipi,” which [...]
Archive for the ‘Saints’ Category
Rocky, Part One
Posted in Epiphany, Saints, tagged confession, Jesus, Peter on January 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Coming of the Light: Lucia, December 13
Posted in advent, Saints, tagged Lucia, Sweden on December 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Nicholas at Nicea: Nicholas of Myra, December 6
Posted in advent, Saints, tagged Nicea, Nicholas on December 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I often imagine attending the Council of Nicea. Don’t you? Well, not often, but I have, once or twice. It would be a splendid occasion, I’m sure. Everyone there from the Emperor Constantine on down looking just like their own Byzantine icon…all gold leaf with serene expressions, mitres, robes, and requisite accessories. And there in [...]
The Saint Who Wears Orange: Hubert, November 3
Posted in Saints, tagged forest, Hubert, hunting, medieval on November 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
From the sound of his vita, Hubert was pretty much your average member of the medieval nobility. Perhaps that is why, though mainly forgotten now, he was a popular saint in the Middle Ages, if not “The Popular Saint of the Middle Ages.” Hubert was the eldest son of the Duke of Aquitaine, which is [...]
For All the Saints: All Saints Day, November 1
Posted in Saints, tagged "For All the Saints", All Saints, All Souls, church triumphant on November 1, 2011 | 1 Comment »
For all the saints, who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia! Completing the Halloween run up and then decrescendoing tomorrow into the commemoration of All Souls is the feast of All Saints. In the medieval church, All Saints’ Day was [...]
Simon says, “Hey, Jude.”: October 28–Sts. Jude and Simon the Zealot.
Posted in Saints, tagged jude, simon, venn pieagram on October 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I don’t know a lot about Simon and Jude, but then nobody does. They seem to be the forgotten apostles, so forgotten that they have to share a feast day rather than each getting one of his own. The justification for “sharing” is that tradition asserts they served as a ministry team during their lives [...]
The Food of Love: Johann Heermann, Paul Gerhardt, and Phillip Nicolai, October 26
Posted in Saints, tagged Bach, Gerhardt, Heermann, Lutheran hymnody, Nicolai on October 26, 2011 | 3 Comments »
“Music I have always loved. He who knows music has a good nature… And before a young man is ordained into the ministry, he should practice music in school.” Martin Luther Lutherans like to receive their theology straight up with a shot of four-part harmony, which is why its hymnody is one of the great [...]
Well Up for a Ruck: Wilfrid, October 12
Posted in Saints, tagged Saint, Whtiby, Wilfra Apple Cake, Wilfred on October 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
If one doesn’t spend much time in the world of saints, I think one tends to see them as a plaster cast world. All these perfect, plaster people: they were so very, very good and so very, very holy and always did what is right under very, very difficult circumstances (and always with a beatific [...]
