SOME SAINTS COMMEMORATED IN NOVEMBER
11 November St Martin of Tours ( 336-397 )
H
e became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages through a life story written while he was still alive . Although somewhat idealised , it depicts a real person . His biographer saw him as the embodiment of an ideal Christian . He was born to pagan parents in the Roman province of Pannonia ( now Hungary ) and became a soldier like his father . He was posted to Amiens in France where the episode of the sharing of his coat with a beggar would have taken place . In a dream Christ told him that it had been him whom he covered . This led to Martin ’ s baptism and difficulties with his imperial guard . He was released from the army and joined St Hilary of Poitiers . After years of wandering he founded a monastery in Gaul , the first in that country . Martin was made bishop of Tours . After his death he was buried in Tours , which became one of the most popular destinations for pilgrimage . He became a popular subject in art , including a painting by Van Dyck in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle .
16 November St Margaret of Scotland ( about 1045 to 1093 )
Her biography was written by somebody who knew her well , commissioned by her daughter from her confessor , Turgot , prior of Durham and bishop of St Andrews . She was the youngest of 4 children of Edward , king of Wessex , who had taken refuge in Hungary from Danish invaders . In 1057 , Edward the confessor of England summoned her father back , but the Norman Conquest made life unsafe for Margaret and she followed her brother to Scotland . She married King Malcolm III Canmore in 1070 . She promoted adoption of Roman practices in matters of Lent and Easter . Revived the monastery of Iona and built shelters for pilgrims . She developed the priory of Dunfermline which became the royal burial place . When Dunfermline was sacked , her body was taken to the Escorial in Spain . She was made Patron Saint of Scotland in 1673
22 St Cecilia ( supposedly 3 rd century )
There is no historical evidence that she ever existed . The story derives from a Roman lady called Cecilia who founded a church . in the Roman district of Travesterre . It relates to a lady who was forced to marry but wanted to preserve her virginity , she was said to have ‘ sung in her heart ’ to distract from the goings on at her marriage . She is the Patron Saint of Music .
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