Tag: Saints of the English Year

Saints of The English Year – St. Patrick

March 17th Saint Patrick (c.390-c461), the patron saint of Ireland, is enthusiastically celebrated wherever Irish people have settled. He was formally famous all over the English-speaking world for bringing Christianity to Ireland, although the heroic, almost single-handed nature of his ministry has been greatly exaggerated and his two most famous exploits - banning all snakes … Continue reading Saints of The English Year – St. Patrick →

Saints of The English Year – St. Gregory

March 12th Pope Gregory the Great (c.540-604) holds a key position in the history of Christianity in England, as it was he who sent St. Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons. His feast day was thus given a high profile and celebrated in the early English Church, but this popularity does not seem to have translated … Continue reading Saints of The English Year – St. Gregory →

Saints of The English Year – St. Constantine

March 9th Tradition has it that St Constantine was a Cornish chieftain, of uncertain date, who later became a monk, but the name is so common in early Britain that it is impossible to disentangle one figure from another. One legend told of him (and of others)is that he wa out stag-hunting when the chase … Continue reading Saints of The English Year – St. Constantine →

Saints of The English Year – St. Piran

March 5th One of Cornwall's most popular saints, and also known in Brittany and Wales, Piran (or Perran) probably originated from Ireland and died in Cornwall sometime around the year 480. Details of his life are decidedly sketchy, mainly because of the mistaken identification of him as Irish saint Ciaran, which has all but destroyed … Continue reading Saints of The English Year – St. Piran →

Saints of The English Year – St. Winwaloe

March 3rd A somewhat obscure Breton saint of the sixth century; so obscure in fact, that even the spelling of his name is uncertain: Winwaloe, Winneral, Winnold and Winnal are just some of the variations. His cult was quite popular in medieval England, particularly in Cornwall and East Anglia, and his day was regularly listed … Continue reading Saints of The English Year – St. Winwaloe →