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 pri ory 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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