SAINTS DAYS IN JULY AND AUGUST
6 July St Palladius (born ca 408, died after 431, probably ca 450)
First Christian Bishop in Ireland, preceding St Patrick. His family were nobles
in Gaul (France), his father was Praetorian Prefect of Gaul Province.
Described as ‘Deacon’ of Rome, Palladius was married and had a daughter.
He left his family and went to Sicily; he was ordained priest by Pope
Celestine in 415. Possibly in 431 he was sent to Ireland as bishop, but was
banished and fled to Scotland, one of the early missionaries there. He died
there and possibly was buried in Auchenblae. There are dedications to him
in the ‘Mearns’. Under James V, royal funds were given to make a reliquary,
also a ‘Paldy Fair’ was held annually until the Reformation.
22 July St Mary Magdalene
. She is the second most
important woman in the New
Testament after the Virgin
Mary, mentioned 12 times in
the Gospels. She travelled
with Jesus and was present
at the 2 most important
events of his life, the
crucifixion and the
resurrection, as well at his
burial. She was described as
a courageous woman who
stood by Jesus when all the
apostles fled. .Luke says that
Jesus ‘cleansed her of 7
demons’, possibly various
illnesses, later interpreted as
‘7 vices’.
But not a shred of biblical or
non-biblical evidence
suggests that she was ‘harlot, wife, mother or secret lover of Jesus’, never a
repented prostitute, as Pope Gregory the Great suggested. She sometimes
is wrongly conflated with Mary of Bethany. She was the first to learn of the
resurrection and testified to it. That is why she was called ‘The Apostle of the
Apostles’ by St Augustine. .Eastern Orthodox Churches commemorate her
on the Sunday of the ‘Myrrhbearers’.
One of her attributes is a container of ointment, another a red egg (symbol
for the Resurrection). She is the patron saint of apothecaries, glove makers,
hairdressers (the name ‘Magdala’ in the Talmud means ‘plaiter of hair’) and
of women in general. .
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