9 June St Columba (born 7 Dec 521, died 9 June 597): Irish abbot and
missionary, he studied in Ireland under St Finnan, a dispute with him led to
war and exile, but he remained active in Irish politics, became a diplomat
among the tribes. He founded Iona as a base for the mission to the Picts,
but also Irish abbeys of Kells, Derry and Swords. He was a man of letters
and transcribed ca 300 Latin books, apparently the Book of Kells was
produced in Iona. 3 of his hymns survive among early Latin hymns. He died
and was buried in Iona, which became a place of pilgrimage, many Scottish
kings wanted to be buried there. When Vikings attacked in 794 his bones
were taken to safety, eventually they were divided between the Irish and the
Scots as Holy Relics. The Monymusk Reliquary from around 750 contained
a relic of St Columba. It became a powerful symbol of nationhood & was
carried before the Scots army in battle. The reliquary is thought to be the
Brechbannock, which was carried by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn
1314, now it is in the National Museum of Scotland
11 June St Barnabas (1 st century): His story is told in Acts ( 4: 34-35) He
was a Levite from Cyprus, originally named ‘Joseph’, but renamed Barnabas
= ‘son of encouragement’ by the apostles. Sent by them to Antioch to
instruct Greek converts, he went on to Tarsus to meet Paul and accompany
him back to Antioch. There he worked with Paul, taking the message to the
Gentiles and raising funds to relieve famine in Jerusalem. He went with Paul
on missionary voyages in Asia Minor and to Jerusalem for the ‘Council of
Jerusalem’, to persuade the church to accept un-circumcised members.
From there he went on a separate missionary journey with John Mark, his
cousin. He obviously played a major part in the missionary expansion of the
early church. A later apocryphal ‘Acts’, supposedly written by John Mark,
gives an account of his later life, but is not historical.
22 June St Alban, First Martyr of Britain (Third Century): There were
probably Christians in the British Isles already in the first century, but Alban
is the first recorded Martyr. The traditional date of his death is 304, under
Diocletian, but now many date it around 209 during persecutions under
Emperor Septimus Severus. Alban was a pagan soldier in the Roman army.
He sheltered a persecuted Christian priest and converted to Christianity. He
is said to have dressed up in the priest’s cloak and was arrested instead of
him, was tried and beheaded. He thus became the first Christian martyr in
Britain, the second was his executioner (who had converted on the spot), the
third was the priest who gave himself up. The place of their deaths is near
the site of St Alban’s Cathedral today.
24 June St John the Baptist (First Century): He is the only saint, whose
saint’s day is his birthday, not the day of his death, which is supposed to be
the 29 August. According to the Church’s calendar his birth marks the 6
months before Jesus’ birth. Thus the Church could take over a pagan
festival at Midsummer night. In Germany on that night fires are lit called
‘Johannisfeuer’, but were originally a pagan mark of summer solstice.
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