May Saints

May 2 was the feast day of St. Athanasius. (I actually met a little boy named Athanasius once. He was Eastern Orthodox, and was born on Athanasius' day. Very cool!)

In order to break my streak of noting the saint days after they happen, here's a list of the ones coming up this month:

-happily situated near Mother's Day is the saint day of Monica, mother of Augusting of Hippo: May 4.
-the great mystic and writer, Julian of Norwich, has her feast day on May 8.
-another great writer, Gregory of Nazianzus, has his feast day on May 9.
-Dustan, Archbishop of Canterbury, is celebrated on May 19.
-May 20 is the feast day of Alcuin. Anyone know anything about him?
-Ditto for Jackson Kemper. He's listed in the BCP as "First Missionary Bishop in the United States", and is celebrated on May 24.
-Now here's a heavy hitter: the feast day of the Venerable Bede is celebrated on May 25. If you've never read any of his "Ecclesiastical History", well, you should. Especially the part about the Romans evangelising England from the south up, the Irish from the north down, and how they met in the middle and argued about the date of Easter.
-I mentioned him awhile back, when discussing one of the popes, but Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury (woo-hoo!) is celebrated on May 26.
-This one is in bold in the BCP, meaning that it's a major feast day: The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I assume that's when she went to see Elizabeth? This is the last day in May, the 31.

wow! A lot of important people to remember this month! Truth is, everyone on that list is someone to whom we all owe at least one great debt. They've improved our understanding of the incarnation (Athanasius), shown us the power of intercessory prayer (Monica), explained to us the great love of the Lord Jesus (Julian), introduced our ancestors (possibly! depending on where you're from! and if not yours, than probably the ancestors of friends of yours!) to Christ (Augustine) and much, much more. Indeed, our Lord is glorious in his saints. May we follow their example in serving Jesus.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica