St. Edmund, November 20
Kathy Rabenstein
+ Edmund the Martyr, King (RM)
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Born 841; died at Hoxne, Suffolk, England, in 869 or 870. Feast day
formerly November 2.
On Christmas Day 855, 14-year-old Edmund was acclaimed king of
Norfolk by the ruling men and clergy of that county. The following year
the leaders of Suffolk also made him their king.
For 15 years Edmund ruled over the East Angles with what all
acknowledged as Christian dignity and justice. He himself seems to have
modelled his piety on that of King David in the Old Testament, becoming
especially proficient in reciting the Psalms in public worship.
From the year 866 his kingdom was increasingly threatened by Danish
invasions. For four years the East Angles managed to keep a shaky,
often broken peace with them. Then the invaders burned Thetford. King
Edmund's army attacked the Danes but could not defeat the marauders.
Edmund was taken prisoner and became the target for Danish bowmen.
In a later account in the _The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, reputedly derived
second-hand from an eyewitness, Abbo compared St. Edmund to St.
Sebastien, and so he also became a saint invoked against the plague.
The story goes that Edmund was captured at Hoxne. He refused to
share his Christian kingdom with the heathen invaders, whereupon he
was tied to a tree and shot with arrows, till his body was 'like a thistle
covered with prickles'; then his head was struck off. He died with the
name of Jesus on his lips.
The record continues that the Danes "killed the king and overcame all the
land . . . they destroyed all the churches that they came to, and at the
same time reaching Peterborough, killed the abbot and monks and burned
and broke everything they found there."
St. Edmund thus remains the only English sovereign until the time of King
Charles I to die for religious beliefs as well as the defense of his throne.
Edmund was quickly revered as a martyr and his cultus spread widely
during the middle ages (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Hervey,
Roeder).
King St. Edmund is generally depicted as a bearded king holding his
emblem--an arrow. Sometimes he is shown suspended from a tree and
shot, or his head between the paws of a wolf. He is sometimes
confused with St. Sebastien, who is never portrayed as a king (Roeder).
Venerated at Bury St. Edmunds (St. Edmund's borough), where his body
is enshrined and a great abbey arose in 1020.. Patron of Richard II.
Invoked against plague (Roeder).
Other Saints Honored November 20
=================================
+ = celebrated liturgically
Agapius of Caesarea M (RM)
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Died c. 306. Martyred at Caesarea in Palestine under Diocletian. He was
thrice imprisoned for the faith. Eusebius relates how Agapius was again
arrested, chained to a murderer and taken to the amphitheater to be
thrown to the wild beasts. His companion was pardoned, and liberty
was also offered to Agapius if he would renounce Christ. He refused,
and a bear was let loose upon him, which almost mauled him to death.
He was taken back to prison and the following day, weighted with heavy
stones, he was cast into the sea. He is also commemorated on August
19. Eusebius says that after he battled wild animals, he was beheaded
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Bl. Ambrose Traversari OSB Cam., Abbot (PC)
-------------------------------------------------
Born in Portico near Florence, Italy, in 1376; died in Florence, 1439. St.
Ambrose studied under the Greek humanist Chrysoloras in Venice, and
became a typical well-rounded Renaissance scholar. In 1400 he joined
the Camaldolese at Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence. Here he
continued his studies, wrote prolifically, chiefly in Greek, and collected a
large library. He was the soul of the Council of Florence for the reunion
of the Greeks. In 1431 he became abbot-general. He was both a great
churchman and a great scholar (Benedictines).
Ampelius and Caius MM (RM)
-------------------------------------------------
Died c. 302. They are presumed to have been Sicilians, martyred at
Messina under Diocletian. Actually nothing is known about them
(Benedictines).
Autbodus of Laon (AC)
-------------------------------------------------
Died 690. An Irish missionary who preached in Artois, Hainault, and
Picardy, and died as a hermit near Leon (Benedictines).
Bassius, Dionysius, Agapitus and Companions MM (RM)
-------------------------------------------------------
Date unknown. A band of 43 Christians put to death at Heraclea in
Thrace (Benedictines).
Benignus of Milan B (RM)
-------------------------------------------------
Died c. 477. Archbishop of Milan, during whose episcopate the Heruli,
under Odoacer, occupied the city (Benedictines).
+ Bernward (Berward) of Hildesheim OSB B (RM)
-------------------------------------------------
Born c. 960; died at Hildesheim, 1022; canonized 1193.
St. Bernward was ordained a priest by St. Willigis (f.d. February 23) in
Mainz, and after serving as tutor and chaplain to Emperor Otto III was
made bishop of Hildesheim in 993. His episcopate was disturbed by
political and ecclesiastical troubles, including a dispute with St. Willigis
about the nunnery at Gandersheim, which went on for seven years.
St. Bernward is one of the most attractive figures of medieval
Germany--a German St. Dunstan. He is primarily remembered as a
patron of the arts. He himself excelled as an architect, sculptor,
decorator, painter and metal-worker, and Hildesheim became famous for
its 'school' of sacred art: the Bernward bronze doors, cross, column,
and candlesticks are still there to testify to its achievements.
He was also responsible for building St. Michael's abbey church at
Hildesheim, which has been said to 'represent religious architecture in
the absolute.'
He died "after having assumed the habit of St. Benedict"
(Butler-Thurston). In the crypt of this church St. Bernward lies buried
(Attwater, Benedictines).
In art St. Bernward is a bishop making a chalice using a goldsmith's
hammer. Sometimes he also holds a short cross in his hand (Roeder).
He is the patron of architects, goldsmiths, painters, and sculptors
(Roeder).
+ Dasius of Dorostorum M (RM)
-------------------------------------------------
Died c. 303. A Roman soldier who was martyred in Dorostorum in Mysia,
Asia Minor, under Diocletian for refusing to participate in the heathen
orgies of the Saturnalia. The details of his martyrdom have been
questioned (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Eudo (Eudon, Eudes, Odo) of Cormery OSB, Abbot (AC)
--------------------------------------------------------
Died c. 760. Abbot-founder of the abbey at Cormery-en-Velay
(Charmillac, afterwards Saint-Chaffre). Before entering upon his duties
as abbot he went to Lerins to be instructed in the monastic observance
(Benedictines).
Eustace, Thespesius, and Anatolius MM (RM)
-------------------------------------------------
Died 235. Martyrs of Nicaea in Asia Minor under Emperor Maximius the
Thracian (Benedictines).
Eval of Cornwall B (AC)
-------------------------------------------------
6th century. A British bishop in Cornwall, from whom a village in that
county is named (Benedictines).
Sources:
========
Attwater, D. (1983). The penguin dictionary of saints, NY:
Penguin Books.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The
book of saints: A dictionary of servants of God canonized
by the Catholic Church extracted from the Roman and other
martyrologies. NY: Macmillan.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The
book of saints: A dictionary of persons canonized or
beatified by the Catholic Church. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Bentley, J. (1986). A calendar of saints: The lives of the
principal saints of the Christian year, NY: Facts on File.
Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket dictionary of saints, NY:
Doubleday Image.
Encyclopedia of Catholic saints, November. (1966).
Philadelphia: Chilton Books.
Hervey, F. (1929). History of King Eadmund the Martyr.
Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and their attributes, Chicago: Henry
Regnery.
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Kathy R.
krab...@ana.org