July 17th – St. Kenelm (Cynehelm)

[Weedy]

July 17th – St. Kenelm (Cynehelm)

In AD 821, King Cenwulf of Mercia died at Basingwerk, while
campaigning against the Welsh of Powys. He left two daughters,
Cwendreda and Burgenhilda, and a son, a child of seven years old,
named Kenelm or, more properly, Cenelm, who was chosen to succeed him.
Cwendreda envied her little brother and thought that, if he were
killed, she might reign as Queen. She therefore conspired with her
lover, Askbert, who was her brother's tutor and guardian, and gave him
money, saying, "Slay my brother for me, that I may reign." Burgenilda
was not privy to this wicked deed, however, for she loved her little
brother.

So Askbert took Kenelm out into the Forests of Worcestershire on a
hunting trip. After the exertions of the chase, the young lad soon
tired with the heat, and decided to lay down under a tree for a nap.
Askbert, meanwhile, began to dig a grave; but the boy suddenly awoke
and admonished him, "You think to kill me here in vain, for I shall be
slain in another spot. In token, thereof, see this rod blossom." And
he thrust a stick into the ground, which instantly took root and began
to flower. It grew, in years after, to be a great ash tree, which was
known as St. Kenelm's Ash. Unperturbed, Askbert took the little King
further into the forest and up to the Clent Hills, near Halesowen,
where the child began to sing the "Te Deum," the assassin smote his
head clean off; and then he buried him in the thicket.

Now, at the same time, a white dove is said to have flown into the
church of St. Peter in Rome, with a letter in its beak which it
deposited on the high altar. And men took the letter and tried to
read, but they could not make it out, for it was written in English.
At last, an Englishman was found, however, and he read the letter. It
stated that Kenelm, the little King of the Mercians, had been cruelly
murdered and his body hidden in a thicket.

So the Pope wrote letters to the kings of the English and told them
what an evil deed had been done in their land, and men went forth to
seek the body. As they went, they saw a pillar of light shining over a
thicket in Worcestershire and, there, they found the body of Kenelm.
They carried him to the Royal Mercian Abbey at Winchcombe, in
Gloucestershire, where he was buried with all honour and revered as a
martyr. But over the place where they found his body, they built a
little chapel. Today it is the Church of St. Kenelm at Romsley in the
Clent Hills.

The story of Kenelm appears to bear little relation to the known facts
about him. Somewhat older than seven, he signed a number of his
father's charters between 798 & 811, he owned land in Glastonbury
(Somerset) and is thought to have died, fighting the Welsh, in 812.
In an interesting twist, however, local historian, Roger Chambers,
suggests that there were two Kenelm half-brothers, one named after the
other, and that this may have been the elder of the two; Kenelm the
younger being the Saint of popular legend. His feast day is celebrated
on 17th July, the date of his translation to Winchcombe.

This Version Taken From:
http://www.britannia.com/bios/saints/kenelm.html


Saint Quote:
"A Christian is an imitator of Christ in thought, word and deed,
as far as this humanly possible, and he believes rightly and
blamelessly in the Holy Trinity."
--St. John Climacus.

Bible Quote:
"When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of
him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of
your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God,
your God." (Leviticus 19:33-34)


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O Sacred Heart of Jesus
By St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
living and quickening source of eternal life,
infinite treasure of the Divinity
and burning furnace of divine love.
You are my refuge and my sanctuary,
O my amiable Saviour.
Consume my heart with that burning fire
with which Your Heart is ever inflamed.
Pour down on my soul
those graces which flow from Your love
and let my heart be so united with Yours,
that our wills may be one
and mine in all things, be conformed to Yours.
May Your divine will be equally the standard
and rule of all my desires and of all my actions.
Amen