He was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate. St Valentine’s Day has
various traditions, Chaucer suggests this was the day birds chose their
mates, but it may have been a Christian takeover of the Roman feast of
Lupercalia. Some Relics were exhumed in 1836 and identified as St
Valentine’s, the casket was taken to Dublin.
‘Alleged relics’ also lie in France, in Vienna, in Malta and in the Blessed John
Duns Scotus Church in the Gorbals in Glasgow.
18 February St Colman (born ca 605, died 18 February 675)
He came from Western Ireland to Iona and became a disciple of St
Columba, was a contemporary of St Aidan and St Finan, and at St Finan’s
death in 661 he became the third abbot and bishop of Lindisfarne. He was
there only for 3 years, because his time there is memorable for intense
controversy in the Celtic Church, concerning the calculation of Easter dates
and the wearing of the tonsure. At the Synod of Whitby, he defended the
Celtic Church and resigned in protest of the King’s decision to follow the
Roman way. He went back to Iona and subsequently to Ireland, founding the
monasteries of Inishbofin and Mayo. He died and was buried at Inishbofin.
23 February St Milburga, Abbess of Wenloch in Shropshire (died 23
February 727)
She was the granddaughter of King Penda of Mercia who killed St Oswald,
she also was the daughter of a king and sister of St Mildred. Educated in
France, she became a nun at Wenloch under a French abbess and
succeeded her. Several miracles of hers are recorded that happened during
her lifetime.
She had healing powers and restored the sight of the blind, she also is said
to have raised a young boy from the dead.
She was credited with having power over
the birds and after her death was invoked
for the protection of the crops against their
ravages.
She organised the evangelisation and
pastoral care of South Shropshire.
The nunnery at Wenloch was destroyed by
the Danes, but later rebuilt by Cluniac monks. St Milburga is a patron saint
of Paisley Abbey.
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