On this day…

1099 The Muslim citizens of Jerusalem surrendered their city to the armies of the First Crusade. The Crusaders then proceeded, through misguided religious zeal, to massacre thousands of unarmed men, women and children.
1779 Birth of Clement C. Moore, American Episcopal educator. His fame endures today,not as a theologian, but as the author of a completely mythical poem: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ (1823).
1814 Birth of Edward Caswall, English clergyman and hymn translator. Today we still sing Caswall’s English versions of the hymns ‘Jesus, The Very Thought of Thee’ and ‘When Morning Gilds the Skies.’
1823 In Rome, the church known as St Paul’s Outside the Walls was destroyed by a fire. Its original edifice was erected in AD 324 by the Roman emperor Constantine.
1904 1st Buddhist temple in US established, Los Angeles
1951 The First Southern Baptist Church to be constituted in the state of Wyoming was formed in Casper by a group of families principally related to the oil industry.

Religious Observances

Anglican : St Swithin’s Day

Muslim-Pakistan : Mohammed’s Ascension
RC : Commemoration of Bl Anne Mary Javouhey, French virgin
Luth : Commemor of Vladimir, 1st Christian ruler of Russia

Old Catholic : Feast of St Henry II, Holy Roman emperor (1014-24)
RC : Commemoration of St Bonaventure, bishop/confessor/doctor

July 15

On this day in 1779, Clement C. Moore was born. He taught Green and Hebrew Literature at General Theological Seminary for 28 years. He also authored “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…) in 1823.

Feast Day:

St. Plechelm, bishop and confessor, apostle of Gueiderland, 732;
St. Swithin or Swithun, confessor, bishop and patron of Winchester, 862;

St. Henry II., emperor of Germany, 1024.

July 15

Division of the Apostles
Benedict, bishop (of Angers), confessor [GTZ: Angers]
Bertin, monk (at Luxeuil) [PCP (Paris)]
Bonaventure, bishop, Doctor of the Church [MR]
Ciriaca and Juliata, martyrs [6082]
David, abbot [GTZ: Upsala only]
Quiricus and Julitta, martyrs [GTZ: Teutonic Knights, Genf, Trent, Italy, Russia; 6082]
Gumpert, confessor [GTZ: Würzburg]
Henry (II), emperor [BLS]
Margaret, virgin, martyr [GTZ: Basel, Chur, Constance, Strassburg]
Nine virgins [GTZ: Scotland]
Plechelm, bishop, confessor [BLS; GTZ: Utrecht]
Reginswindis, virgin, martyr [GTZ: Würzburg]
Rivalus, confessor [GTZ: Tréguier]
Swithun, bishop (of Winchester), confessor (Translation) [BLS; GTZ: England]

Vedast, bishop (of Arras) (Relatio) [GTZ: Cambrai]

On This Day

Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
Bonaventure,
Donald of Ogilvy,
Editha,
Plechelm,
Quiricus and Julitta,
Swithun,

Vladimir the Great (Eastern Orthodox; Roman Catholic)

In History

1207 - John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton

TRANSLATION OF ST. SWITHUN, 862

Swithun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Swithun

ST. SWITHIN’S DAY

The pranks played by tradition with the memory of various noted individuals, saintly and otherwise, display not unfrequently the most whimsical anomalies both as regards praise and blame. Whilst the sordid and heretical George of Cappadocia has been transformed into the gallant and chivalrous St. George, the patron saint of England, and the mirror of all knightly virtues, it has been the misfortune of the patriotic and virtuous St. Swithin to be associated in the popular mind with drunkenness and excess, and at best to enjoy only a mythical reputation as the hero of a well-known saying in connection with the state of the weather on the anniversary of his so-called translation.

The common adage regarding St. Swithin, as every one knows, is to the effect that, as it rains or is fair on St. Swithin’s Day, the 15th of July, there will be a continuous track of wet or dry weather for the forty days ensuing.

St Swithin’s Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain:
St. Swithin’s Day, if thou be fair,
For forty days ‘twill rain nae mair.’

The explanation given by Brand in his Popular Antiquities of this saying—an explanation which has been pretty currently received as correct—is as follows. St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, was a man equally noted for his uprightness and humility. So far did he carry the latter quality, that, on his death-bed, he requested to be buried, not within the church, but outside in the churchyard, on the north of the sacred building, where his corpse might receive the eaves-droppings from the roof, and his grave be trodden by the feet of the passers-by. His lowly request was complied with, and in this neglected spot his remains reposed till about a hundred years afterwards, when a fit of indignation seized the clergy at the body of so pious a member of their order being allowed to occupy such a position; and on an appointed day they all assembled to convey it with great pomp into the adjoining cathedral of Winchester. When they were about to commence the ceremony, a heavy rain burst forth, and continued without intermission for the forty succeeding days. The monks interpreted this tempest as a warning from Heaven of the blasphemous nature of their attempt to contravene the directions of St. Swithin, and, instead of disturbing his remains, they erected a chapel over his grave, at which many astounding miracles were performed. From this circumstance, it is stated, arose the popular belief of the anniversary of the attempted translation of St. Swithin being invested with a prophetic character in reference to the condition of the weather for the ensuing six weeks.

This statement is specious, but unfortunately rests on no authority whatever, and indeed has been traced by an annotator on Brand to no more trustworthy source than a cutting from an old newspaper. So far from the account of the repugnance of the saint to his transference from the churchyard to the church being borne out by the real facts of the case, these are diametrically the other way; and from what has been actually ascertained, the translation of St. Swithin was, instead of being a disastrous failure, accomplished with the utmost eclat and success. For the most recent history of this celebrated personage we are indebted to the Rev. John Earle, professor of Anglo-Saxon in the university of Oxford, who has published a facsimile and translation of a Saxon manuscript of the tenth century—the earliest fragment which we possess regarding St. Swithin—along with an ingenious essay, in which he has collected all the reliable data connected with the saint that can be obtained. These are far indeed from being either numerous or ample, but, such as they are, may be considered as exhaustive on this subject.

Swithin, or Swithun, was born in the neighbour-hood of Winchester, probably about the year 800. He became a monk of the Old Abbey of Winchester, and gradually rose to be prior of that community. He seems to have gained the favour of Egbert, king of Wessex, who intrusted him with the education of his son and successor, Ethelwulf. An authentic record of Swithin at this period is furnished by a charter granted by King Egbert in 838, and bearing the signatures of Elmstan, episcopus, and Swithunus, diaconus. Elmstan dying in 852, Swithin was appointed his successor in the see of Winchester, a situation which he filled with great credit and usefulness. Through his endeavours great improvements were effected on the city, including the erection of several churches, and the spanning of the Itchen by a fine stone bridge, the first of the kind which had been seen in these parts.

After the accession of Ethelwulf, he acted as that monarch’s counsellor in all matters relating to religion and the peaceful arts, whilst the charge of military and foreign affairs was assumed by Alstan, bishop of Sher-bourne. It has been imagined that he was chosen by Ethelwulf to accompany his son, the great Alfred, then a boy, on his visit to Rome, and also that he acted as mediator betwixt Ethelwulf and his eldest son, the rebellious Ethelbald. Swithin seems to have died about 862, leaving directions that he should be buried in a vile place, under the eaves-droppings on the north side of Winchester church. Mr. Earle conjectures that he may have chosen this locality for sepulture, to put a stop to the common superstitious prejudices against burial in that part of the churchyard. Whatever may have been his reasons, his request was acceded to, and there he would probably have been permitted to rest undisturbed, had it not suited the policy of Dunstan, more than a hundred years afterwards, to revive the popular veneration for Swithin, in furtherance of his own schemes for the establishment of monastic discipline, for Swithin appears to have been a maintainer of the stricter conventual rule, which Dunstan zealously sought to enforce; and he had, moreover, earned a most enduring mark of distinction, by being the first to get introduced the system of tithes as a provision for the clergy.

This was daring the reign of Ethelwulf, who was induced by Swithin to set apart a tenth of his lands for religious uses, though the payment of tithes as a legal obligation was not introduced till the time of Athelstan, nor finally established till under King Edgar. In addition to the reasons just detailed, the cathedral of Winchester was then rebuilding under Bishop Ethelwold, a confederate of Archbishop Dunstan; and the enrichment of the new temple by the possession of some distinguished relics was a most desirable object. The organised plan was now accordingly put into execution, and ingenious reports were circulated regarding certain miraculous appearances made by Swithin. The account of these forms the subject of the Saxon fragment above referred to, edited by Mr. Earle. According to this, Bishop Swithin appeared one night in a dream to a poor decrepit smith, and requested him to go to a certain priest, named Eadsige, who, with others, had been ejected for misconduct from the abbey of Old-Minster, and desire him, from Swithin, to repair to Bishop Ethelwold, and command him to open his (Swithin’s) grave, and bring his bones within the church. The smith, in reply to the orders of his ghostly visitant, stated that Eadsige would not believe him, whereupon Swithin rejoined that he would find the reality of the vision confirmed by going to his stone coffin, and pulling there from an iron ring, which would yield without the least diffuculty. The smith was still unconvinced, and Swithin had to repeat his visit twice; after which the smith went to the bishop’s tomb, and withdrew the ring from the coffin with the greatest ease, as had been foretold. He then delivered. Swithin’s message to Eadsige, who hesitated for a while, but at last communicated it to Bishop Ethelwold. Contemporaneously, various wonderful miracles took place at Bishop Swithin’s tomb, including the cure of a deformed man, who was relieved of his hump, in the most astonishing manner, by praying at the grave; and of another individual, who recovered by the same means from a grievous ailment in his eyes. These preternatural occurrences were all duly reported to King Edgar, who thereupon gave directions for the formal translation of the relics of St. Swithin from the grave in the churchyard to the interior of the cathedral, where they were enclosed in a magnificent shrine, and placed in a conspicuous position.

A few years afterwards, the church, which had previously been dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, changed these guardians for St. Swithin, who continued its patron saint till the time of Henry VIII., who ordered the name of the Holy Trinity to be substituted. A splendid ceremonial and feast accompanied the translation, which was effected on 15th July 971, 108 years after the death of Swithin. It ought to be remarked, that, though distinguished by the prefix of Saint, Swithin was never regularly canonised by the pope, a practice not introduced till nearly 200 years after his translation, which is the only ceremony on which he rests his claim to the title. He is thus emphatically what Mr. Earle calls ‘a home-made saint.’ It will be noticed that the above narrative completely contradicts Mr. Brand’s account of a supposed supernatural inter-position on the part of Swithin to prevent his translation.

No event or natural phenomenon, which could be construed into such, is alluded to by any of the various authors—Monk Wolstan and others—who subsequently wrote histories of St. Swithin. On the contrary, the weather seems to have been most propitious, whilst the community at large, so far from regarding these proceedings of their rulers as an unhallowed contravention of the wishes of the holy man, seemed rather to have rejoiced in the honours bestowed on his relics, and to have feasted and revelled to the utmost. How, then, did the popular notion about St. Swithin’s Day arise? Most probably, as Mr. Earle remarks, it was derived from some primeval pagan belief regarding the meteorologically prophetic character of some day about the same period of the year as St. Swithin’s. Such adaptations, it is well known, were very frequent on the supplanting throughout Europe of heathenism by Christianity. Many of our popular customs and beliefs can indeed be only satisfactorily explained by tracing them to such a source.

In further confirmation of this view, it is to be observed, that in various countries of the European continent the same belief prevails, though differences exist as to the period of the particular day in question. Thus, in France, St. Médard’s Day (June 8), and the day of Saints Gervais and Protais (June 19), have a similar character ascribed to them:

’S’il pleut le jour de Saint Médard,
Il pleut quarante jours plus tard;
S’il pleut le jour de Saint Gervais et de Saint Protais,
Il pleut quarante jours apre’s.’

It is a little curious that St. Médard should have the post of a rainy saint assigned him, as the celebrated fĕte at Salency, where the young maiden who has enjoyed the highest reputation during the preceding year for good-conduct receives a prize, and is crowned with a chaplet of roses, takes place on his day, and is said to have been instituted by him. A somewhat ludicrous account is given of the origin of the peculiar characteristic of St. Médard’s Day. It is said that, Médard being out with a large party one hot day in summer, a heavy fall of rain suddenly took place, by which all were thoroughly drenched, with the exception of the saint himself, round whose head an eagle kept continually fluttering; and by sheltering him with his wings till his return home, accomplished effectually the purposes of an umbrella. In Belgium they have a rainy saint, named St. Godeliève; whilst in Germany, among others, a character of this description is ascribed to the day of the Seven Sleepers.

The belief in the peculiar characteristics of St. Swithin’s Day is thus alluded to in Poor Robin’s Almanac for 1697:

‘In this month is St. Swithin’s Day,
On which, if that it rain, they say,
Full forty days after it will,
Or more or less, some rain distil.
This Swithin was a saint, I trow,
And Winchester’s bishop also,
Who in his time did many a feat,
As popish legends do repeat:
A woman having broke her eggs,
By stumbling at another’s legs,
For which she made a woful cry.
St. Swithin chanced for to come by,
Who made them all as sound or more,
Than ever that they were before.
But whether this were so or no,
‘Tis more than you or I do know.
Better it is to rise betime,
And to make hay while sun doth shine,
Than to believe in tales and lies,
Which idle monks and friars devise.’

In the next century, Gay remarks in his Trivia

‘Now if on Swithin’s feast the welkin lours,
And every penthouse streams with hasty showers,
Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain,
And wash the pavement with incessant rain.
Let not such vulgar tales debase thy mind;
Nor Paul nor Swithin rule the clouds and wind!’

The question now remains to be answered, whether the popular belief we have been considering has any foundation in fact, and here the observations at Greenwich for the 20 years preceding 1861, must be adduced to demonstrate its fallacy. From these we learn that St. Swithin’s Day was wet in 1841, and there were 23 rainy days up to the 24th of August; 1845, 26 rainy days; 1851, 13 rainy days;- 1853, 18 rainy days; 1854, 16 rainy days; and, in 1856, 14 rainy days. In 1842, and following years, St. Swithin’s Day was dry, and the result was in 1842, 12 rainy days; 1843, 22 rainy days; 1844, 20 rainy days; 1846, 21 rainy days; 1847, 17 rainy days; 1848, 31 rainy days; 1849, 20 rainy days; 1850, 17 rainy days; 1852, 19 rainy days; 1855, 18 rainy days; 1857, 14 rainy days; 1858, 14 rainy days; 1859, 13 rainy days; and, in 1860, 29 rainy days. It will thus be seen, by the average of the fore-going 20 years, that the greatest number of rainy days, after St. Swithin’s Day, had taken place when the 15th of July was dry. It is, indeed, likely enough that a track of wet weather, or the opposite, may occur at this period of the year, as a change generally takes place soon after midsummer, the character of which will depend much on the state of the previous spring. If this has been for the greater part dry, it is very probable that the weather may change to wet about the middle of July, and vice versa”. But that any critical meteorological influence resides in the 15th, seems wholly erroneous.

Hone, in his Everyday Book, quotes an amusing instance of a lady, a stanch believer in St. Swithin, who, on his day one year being fine, expressed her belief in an approaching term of fine weather, but, a few drops of rain having fallen in the evening, changed her tune, and maintained that the next six weeks would be wet. Her prediction was not accomplished, the weather having been remark-ably fine. ‘No matter,’ she would say, when pressed on the point, ‘if there has been no rain during the day, there certainly has been during the night.’ Her opinion of St. Swithin’s infallibility was in nowise to be shaken. The same author mentions a pretty saying current in some parts of the country when rain falls on St. Swithin’s bans: ‘St. Swithin is christening the apples.’

It is only to be remarked, in conclusion, that the epithet of the ‘drunken saint,’ sometimes applied to St. Swithin, is a base slander on the worthy bishop’s memory. True, the Saxons were rather noted for their convivial habits, and St. Swithin, doubtless, had no objection to a cheerful glass in moderation. But no aberrations whatever, on the score of temperance, are recorded of him. The charge belongs clearly to the same category as that veracious statement in the popular ditty, by which St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, is represented as a lover of potheen, and initiating his converts in the art of manufacturing that liquor.

15 Jul 1015
Olga and Vladimir, First Christian Rulers of Russia

Olga (or Helga), born in about 890, was the wife of Prince Igor of Russia, and after his death in 945 she was regent for their son. She appears to have ruled well by secular standards. In 957 she visited Constantinople and, either then or earlier, became a Christian. She did not succeed in converting her son, or a significant number of their countrymen. She died in 969, probably on 11 July.

Vladimir, great-grandson of Rurik (the traditional founder of the Russian state), grandson of Olga, and youngest of the three sons of Sviatoslav of Kiev, was born in 956 and was made Prince of Novgorod in 970. In 972 his father died, and the three sons fought for the crown. Yaropolk killed Oled, and Vladimir fled to his Viking kinsmen in Scandinavia. In 980 he returned with Viking support, killed Yaropolk, and took the throne. He expanded his empire by a series of conquests. In 988, he proposed a military alliance with the Byzantine emperor Basil II, and a marriage to the emperor’s sister Anna. In return, he agreed to convert to Christianity. The agreement was made, Vladimir was baptized, and when the emperor reneged on the marriage, Vladimir invaded the Crimea. The marriage duly took place and the alliance prospered.

Vladimir took his Christian commitment seriously, and under his rule the Christianization of Russia proceeded rapidly. He put away his former collection of pagan wives and mistresses, destroyed idols and pagan temples, built churches and monasteries and schools, brought in Greek missionaries to educate his people, abolished or greatly restricted capital punishment, and gave lavish alms to the poor. In converting his people, however, he was willing to resort to military methods (all his life he had survived by fighting), and some of his former pagan wives and their sons raised an armed rebellion against him, in the course of which he was killed near Kiev, 15 July 1015. He and his grandmother Olga are honored as the founders of Russian Christianity.

PRAYER (traditional language):

O God, who didst call thy servants Olga and her grandson Vladimir to an earthly throne that they might advance thy heavenly kingdom, and didst give them zeal for thy Church and love for thy people: Mercifully grant that we who commomorate them this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of thy saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language):

O God, who called your servants Olga and her grandson Vladimir To an earthly throne that they might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave them zeal for your Church and love for your people: Mercifully grant that we who commomorate them this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

VLADIMER OF KIEV, 1015

Vladimir I of Kiev

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_I_of_Kiev

July 15, 2010

ST. BONAVENTURE
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010

“Meditation on Christ in His humanity is corporeal in deed, in fact, but spiritual in mind… . By adopting this habit, you will steady your mind, be trained to virtues, and receive strength of soul….Let meditation of Christ’s life be your one and only aim, your rest, your food, your desire, your study.” - St. Bonaventure

Born in Bagnorea near Viterbo, Italy, in 1221; died at Lyons, France, in 1274; canonized in 1482; declared a Doctor (the “Seraphic Doctor”) of the Church in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V.

Saint Bonaventure (whose name means “good fortune”) was baptized John, but was given his name by St. Francis of Assissi, who cured him of an illness when he was an infant, and seeing the mission that God had prepared for him, exclaimed “O buona ventura!”

At the age of 14 Bonaventure went to study at the University of Paris under the English Franciscan theologian, Alexander of Hales, probably the influence that led him to join the order eight years later.

A fellow student who became a close lifelong friend of Bonaventure was St. Thomas Aquinas (“the Angelic Doctor”). Bonaventure taught scripture and theology at the University for some years after he was awarded his doctorate.

When he was thirty-five, Bonaventure was elected the minister general of the Franciscans and he served for 17 years. Bonaventure’s importance for the Franciscan order is so great that he is often referred to as the second founder of the Franciscans.

He laid down the constitutions of the order and definitvely decided that the study of philosophy and theology was an area in which the Franciscans could be of service to the Church, against those in the order who preferred to shun all kinds of higher learning on the grounds that it ran against the counsel of radical poverty so central to Franciscan spirituality.

Bonaventure is known for his great intellectual contribution to theology and philosophy, his greatest work being the Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, written when he was 27 years old. He is better known however for his mystical and ascetical treatises, most famously, The Soul’s Journey to God.

He was appointed cardinal archbishop of Albano in 1273 by Pope Gregory X and was a key figure of the Council of Lyons in 1274. He died suddenly during the council at the age of 53.

St. Bonaventure
(1221-1274)

Bonaventure, Franciscan, theologian, doctor of the Church, was both learned and holy. Because of the spirit that filled him and his writings, he was at first called the Devout Doctor; but in more recent centuries he has been known as the Seraphic Doctor after the “Seraphic Father” Francis because of the truly Franciscan spirit he possessed.
Born in Bagnoregio, a town in central Italy, he was cured of a serious illness as a boy through the prayers of Francis of Assisi. Later, he studied the liberal arts in Paris. Inspired by Francis and the example of the friars, especially of his master in theology, Alexander of Hales, he entered the Franciscan Order, and became in turn a teacher of theology in the university. Chosen as minister general of the Order in 1257, he was God’s instrument in bringing it back to a deeper love of the way of St. Francis, both through the life of Francis which he wrote at the behest of the brothers and through other works which defended the Order or explained its ideals and way of life.

Jul 15 - Holy Martyrs Cyricus And His Mother Julitta

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/saintoftheday/holy_martyrs_cyricus_and_his_mother_julitta#7796