For All the Saints

Pentecost

2009-05-31T20:52:00.003+01:00

Not a saints-related post, but a geeky language-related one. Today while listening to the second chapter of Acts, I wondered what had happened to all the languages that are mentioned in the passage. So here are the results of my research (almost all from Wikipedia, I'm afraid):

The Parthians were from NW Iran, and their language co-existed with, and was superseded by, a precursor of modern Persian. The word for "bread" seems to have been much the same as "naan" (as it also seems to be in modern Persian).

Median appears to have been an even older language from the same area - I'm not sure if this means it had been around for longer by the time it was noticed, or if the language of the Medes referred to is a language, other than Median, spoken in Media. Both of these languages, like Persian, are Indo-European.

Elamite, on the other hand, is not only not Indo-European but possibly has no other language relations; it may however have been related to the Dravidian languages spoken in southern India. Again it's possible Acts refers to another language spoken in the same area as it seems to have been extinct long before Acts; it was at one time a Persian Empire official language.

In Mesopotamia several languages, including Elamite, but also Akkadian and Sumerian (both extinct within a couple of hundred years of the date of Acts) were spoken. Also however Amaric was spoken which, essentially, is still spoken, though in several dialects, which differ widely depending in part on the religion of the speaker.

It seems a bit odd to say that Judeans were surprised to hear the disciples speaking their language, since they were Jewish, but being from Galilee, they likely also spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew like the Judeans. Interestingly modern Hebrew is a really fascinating case of a resurrected language; one of the pioneers, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, spoke to his son entirely in a language that wasn't his first language and wasn't spoken by anyone in the community - and it worked.

In Cappadocia, they spoke a dialect of Greek; it was almost extinct, but has undergone a small revival in recent years; this may have come too late to save it. In Pontus, they probably spoke another dialect of Greek; there are still a fairly large number of speakers today in Greece.

I believe that Biblical Asia really refers to Asia Minor, now known as Anatolia. Languages spoken there were mainly Indo-European languages and included Hittite, extinct long before Acts, and Lydian, which died out around 100BC; by New Testament times, it is possible Armenian was spoken here, but there is a lot of debate about whether a language like Modern Armenian existed yet.

Phrygian seems to have been related to Greek; like James V of Scotland, an Egyptian Pharoah tried raising children without being spoken to, and they were supposed to have come out with Phrygian as their first word (James V thought his experimental children spoke Hebrew). Pamphylian was another dialect of Greek; Cyrene in Libya was a Greek colony so Greek would also have been spoken.

In Egypt in Biblical times people probably spoke Coptic, which survived as an everyday language into the 17thC AD and is still a liturgical language in the Coptic church.

In Rome, as we know, Latin was spoken, which died out as a spoken language in the Middle Ages. Italian is closest to Latin in vocabulary but apparently Sardinian sounds most like Latin would have: so in Sardinian the word for "hundred" is pronounced with a /k/ instead of any of the soft C sounds that are found in other Romance languages (as in cent in French, cento in Italian and cien in Spanish).

In Crete again a dialect of Greek was spoken.

Assuming that the "Arabs" in the New Testament were in fact from Arabia, but other languages than Arabic were spoken there at this time. They were all Semitic languages too, like Arabic and Hebrew, but Arabic is not descended from them.

What has been interesting researching this is how many language became extinct around New Testament times (and there are others from the region that were false alarms, in that they were spoken in the right place but are thought to have become extinct just before this time). I wonder if this is something to do with occupation - when children are forced to learn in a language other than their home language, or when people need to use an occupation language day-to-day, their home language can become extinct. The Romans have a lot to answer for.

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, Reformation Martyr, 1556

2008-03-21T19:25:00.001Z

Today is of course, also, Good Friday, yesterday Maundy Thursday. With my husband, also an ex-low-church Anglo-Catholic convert, I was discussing the fact that we had never really seen the "point" of Maundy Thursday. Of course, in churches that do not emphasise the Eucharist, the very first Eucharist would not particularly be commemorated.

Cranmer, as well as some fairly devious, some would say, loophole-finding on behalf of our old friend Henry VIII, is particularly known for his work on the Book of Common Prayer. In this one can find two different approaches to the Eucharist - the approach that says this is the Body and Blood, and the approach that suggests we "do this in remembrance". At our church it seems to be the whim of the server on that particular day which form of words we get. I like that - it can challenge me or comfort me depending on my thinking on any particular day, as God wishes.

Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, c. 394

2008-03-09T21:07:00.002Z

There are at least two or three Gregorys and this one is a man after my own heart - scholarly, but bad at administration. He was very interested in Greek philosophy and used its ideas but ultimately argued that Christian philosophy was superior. One of his arguments was that since God is infinite he must be unknowable (I probably have got that wrong or oversimplified).

Like our Vicar's sermon today, in which he likened the resurrection to his computer. He has no idea how it works, but it does, and he gets the benefit.

David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601

2008-03-01T19:19:00.003Z

Dewi Sant is celebrated today in a festival of Welshness - leeks, daffodils, Welsh cakes, bara brith, stovepipe hats, choral singing, and rugby. We spotted Prince Charles wearing a baby leek in his buttonhole.

Stories about David include a miraculous healing at his baptism - similar to Simeon, a miraculous pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the phrase "Remember the little things", which he is said to have used in his last sermon. A forerunner of Schumacher and of the "Think Global - Act Local" movement. He founded a monastery on the west coast of Wales in what is now St. David's, the smallest city in Britain, and the cathedral followed. It is strange to build an important cathedral in a tiny, fairly inaccessible place, but for some reason this seems to me to be a very Christ-like thing to do - glorifying God even if not very many people will see the work.

Anna Julia Hayward Cooper, Educator, 1964

2008-02-28T21:05:00.002Z

Most of the saints in the lectionary seem to be somewhat mythical, priests, male, dead at least 1000 years, and mainly white (though there are exceptions on the latter point). Anna Julia Hayward Cooper was none of these. At a time when in many places women could not graduate from university, she headed one. Her mother was a slave and her father possibly her mother's owner. She insisted that African American students could do just as well as their white counterparts in school and university, and she was the fourth black woman ever to gain a PhD.

I recently attended the PhD examination and graduation ceremony of a friend and colleague in the Netherlands. Like Cooper, my colleague is a pioneer. She was the first ever PhD from her country to graduate from her university. She had to face many difficulties - mainly financial - during her studies, but was bolstered by the belief in herself that her parents had given her. Cooper is one of those people that hopefully can instill that kind of self-belief in women and minorities. If such pioneers can complete their education despite opposition and hardships, then it is an obligation in some senses on the rest of us not to let them down.

"The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity."

George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633

2008-02-27T19:19:00.002Z

George Herbert was younger than I am now, when he died of consumption. He nevertheless managed to fill his life with kind deeds and lovely, lovely poetry. I can't really say much that he couldn't say in his own words:

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

Martin Luther, 1546

2008-02-18T21:04:00.002Z

Being an Anglican is a bit odd. On the one hand we are Protestant - well, we certainly aren't Roman Catholic. On the other hand, unlike the vast majority of Protestant churches, our founding was not really a direct result of Martin Luther and you don't really hear much about him in Anglican circles.

However I imagine there are a lot of things we aren't acknowledging. For example, he was the first person to translate the Old Testament into a vernacular language direct from Hebrew (rather than via Greek as Wycliffe did). Interestingly, perhaps Henry VIII should have taken him on as a spiritual adviser since Luther decided polygamy was acceptable.

He does also seem to have been someone who had a finger in every pie and something to say on everything. A Renaissance man, though normally we associate that term with someone a bit less serious.

Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977

2008-02-17T19:18:00.002Z

Having recently visited Uganda (I've been a couple of times before as well) and also read the book and watched the film "The Last King of Scotland", I am really interested to read about Luwum. He sounds like a very holy man, not afraid to put his life at risk and firm in the belief that politics and poverty are things that the Church should speak about, and thoughtful about how Christ speaks in Africa and how Africans can speak about Christ.

Although Uganda is a beautiful country and is in many ways a success story - dramatic reduction in HIV infection, the South largely peaceful and prospering, it still has big problems, especially with conflict in Northern Uganda. Pray for the country and its people.

Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of the SPCK and the SPG, 1730

2008-02-15T19:17:00.009Z

The SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) has been in existence for over 300 years and still operates as a publisher. It was founded by Thomas Bray and colleagues who were concerned that his absence in America would call a halt to his good works in England. In fact although he did not spend very long in Maryland he still managed to reorganise Anglican education in the colony as well as founding libraries, championing slaves' rights on his return to England, and also founding the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts - now USPG, the more "high church" and liberal of the Anglican missionary societies. He was a very busy man.

SPCK has had a very stormy recent history, as blogged about by our own Dave. I don't currently have access to an SPCK bookshop but in the past I have been heartily grateful for the balance they have brought to the cheesy world of Christian bookselling.

Sigfrid, Bishop, Apostle of Sweden, 1045

2008-02-15T19:17:00.007Z

St Sigfrid seems to have been originally from York, though as the North-East of England has for a long time been heavily under Viking influence, it is of course possible that he was actually Scandinavian. Christianity was established relatively late in Scandanavia, compared to other parts of Europe, and even the earliest wooden churches are still in existence in some places. It is probably a rather romantic notion, but somehow I have felt close to the spirit of the early evangelists when I have been in these old wooden churches.

St Sigfrid is particularly associated with Växjö, where this rather nice cathedral is. This seems to be the third cathedral on this site.

Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 and 885

2008-02-14T19:15:00.003Z

These saints are important to many Slavic and Slavonic peoples, including Czechs, Bulgarians, and Macedonians. The brothers were originally Greek and served as missionaries in Russia, being responsible for, among other things, the Cyrillic alphabet.

I came across the concept of Orthodoxy - especially of preaching and worshipping in the language of the people - when I was also very into Celtic Christianity. The conflict here strikes me as very similar to that at the Synod of Whitby - Christianity of and for the people rather than Christianity of and for the Church. I realise that is a very simplistic distinction and that Roman Catholicism has an eremitical tradition, as well as a highly organised and established Church in Orthodoxy.

Scholastica, sister of Benedict, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543

2008-02-10T19:14:00.000Z

The most prominent stories about Scholastica seem to be that she was a very devout child and brought her brother to faith, and that one of her last acts was to try to prolong a religious discussion she was having with her brother. She seems therefore to be in the category of "Sister of the more famous...". I think my feminist roots are showing here, as I can't help feeling that if it hadn't been for her, Benedict wouldn't have been particularly famous, and I suspect some androcentric bias in the history books.

A very interesting and slightly related story (see link in title; more here) is of the St Scholastica Day Riots in Oxford. This was an early instance of Town vs. Gown, starting with a row over beer and ending up with nearly 100 dead. These days the row would still be over beer (or possibly alcopops) but the protagonists would be slightly less likely to be armed.

The Martyrs of Japan

2008-02-06T11:27:00.000Z

Although the link I have above suggests the date for this celebration is the 5th February, I have put this on the 6th as in the CofE lectionary.

This martyrdom was 410 years ago this year. It does appear to have been a very political execution, with one side first supporting and then banning Christianity. What is amazing to me is that Christians carried on worshipping in secret for 250 years. I know very little about Japan, or its religions, even though I have a good friend and colleague who is Japanese and attends our church. Her family were, I think, Presbyterian, and I get the impression her church was traditional but very un-ceremonial.

Incidentally there appears to be a very cute church in Jersey that is dedicated to these martyrs. And this book also looks very interesting.

Lent 2008

2008-02-05T11:00:00.000Z

Slightly late, but I have decided to make a bit of an effort on this blog for Lent this year. I have a lectionary list downloaded to my e-calendar which doesn't include a saint for every day, but I'm also going to be using the wikipedia calendar. Again, this doesn't include something for every day, but this may mean I'm a bit more likely to keep this up.

The Feast of St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church

2008-01-13T11:50:00.000Z

A favourite patron of mine! He converted to Christianity through learning gradually of the faith and realising its sense and meaning, especially the Prophets and Psalms.

He became Bishop of Poitiers around 350 AD and a staunch opponent of the various Arian factions – who denied the Divinity of Christ – who abounded at that time. The Arians had many powerful allies, including the Emperor Constantius, and Hilary was exiled to ‘the furthest coasts of Phrygia’. He took the opportunity to travel through the Eastern Empire, fighting heresy and completing many writings. He made such a nuisance of hisself that he was exiled back to Poitiers again, taking a splendidly indirect route that allowed him to continue his preaching. His disciples at Poitiers, where he ended his life, included St. Martin of Tours (of ‘cloak’ fame).

He is patron against snake bites, apparently (the reptiles rather than the cider-based drink, one imagines) and also wrote the earliest hymns of the Western church to have a known author. His supposed relics are housed at Puys.

"I must pray for [God's] merciful help so that when I spread the sails of our faith, you will fill them with the breath of your Spirit and carry us forward."

St. Bridget of Sweden (Holy Woman, 23rd July)

2007-07-23T21:23:00.000+01:00

1303 – 1373

The great saint of Scandinavia (Like many great saints, it seemed to run in the family – Bridget was a cousin of St. Ingrid and mother of St. Catherine of Sweden).

Of wealthy background, she was noted for her piety, visiting Compostella with her husband shortly before his death. She had eight children, but once widowed spent her life establishing a religious community, the Brigittines, who wear little stringy hat-things over their wimples marked with five red dots to indicate the wounds of the Passion. They persist in England at Syon Abbey. It is from this latter stage of her life that Bridget’s fame rests – and upon the same Passion. A devout contemplative, she received many visions of Christ speaking of His Passion. Her writings were massively influential upon other female visionaries of the Middle Ages, including more-or-less open mimics like Margery Kempe, and the Passion, together with devotion to our Lady, remains the great emphasis of the Brigittine nuns.

She subsequently moved to Rome and spent much of her spare time attempting to sort out the political machinations of the Papacy, then in exile in Avignon, by writing letters to leading churchmen telling them how wicked they were, a technique as laudable as it was, alas, doomed to failure. The Catholic Encyclopaedia claims that she effected a great moral improvement in the city, which probably wasn’t hard.

She was canonised shortly after her death, and was declared by John Paul II one of the Patron Saints of Europe (along with S. Benedict and SS. Cyril and Methodius).

Clement of Rome, P.M.

2006-11-29T11:52:00.000Z

“Out of love the Lord took us to himself; because he loved us and it was God's will, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his life's blood for us -- he gave his body for our body, his soul for our soul.”

So wrote Clement, accounted the fourth bishop of Rome, in a letter to the Corinthians. I’d like to think that if I’d been comprehensively harangued by St. Paul, I’d keep on my best behaviour for a bit, but the church in Corinth had still failed to learn its lesson. On this occasion, they seem to have lost their bishop, deposed their presbyters and collapsed into bickering groups. The bishop of Rome was obliged to write on behalf of his church to try and sort the problems out. Clement’s letter is rich in references to scripture (including Paul’s earlier epistles) and the doctrines of the Trinity and Christ’s priesthood.

As with many early Christians, where Clement came from and what became of Clement in the end is unclear, although he may have been a freed slave. Some say he died a natural death around 100 AD, but widespread tradition claims that he was tied to an anchor and drowned, but that the sea receded over the following centuries, revealing his relics still tied to their anchor. His disciples bore these back to Rome for burial in the Basilica of San Clemente. As he had so conspicuously withstood tide and current, he was taken as a patron of mariners, and British churches dedicated to him were often founded by Vikings, who came to hold him in great regard after their (eventual) conversion.

Appropriate hymns for St. Clement’s day include the Methodist fave ‘Will your anchor hold?’ and ‘The day though gavest’ which is set to a tune called ‘St. Clement despite having nothing to do with him – the fact that the composer was one Clement Scholefield may, however, be significant.

St Catherine of Alexandria, 4th Century

2006-11-25T13:16:00.000Z

There are two exciting facts about St Catherine. Okay, three. The third is she's my name saint, or whatever such a person is called. The first is - and I only just discovered this - on her day, women who are unmarried by the age of 25 (which I was, very much so) pray for husbands, and make each other bonnets.

St Catherine, St Catherine, O lend me thine aid
And grant that I never may die an old maid.

The second is that she lends her name to the Catherine Wheel, a fabulous kind of firework, named after her because she was sentenced to death on the wheel but the wheel broke.

She seems to have been a very feisty woman, not afraid to tell the Emperor that he was wrong. Not a shy and retiring saint.

2006-11-19T16:42:00.000Z

St. Hilda was a noblewoman who founded abbeys at Hartlepool and, later, Whitby. This latter was a double-monastery at which both men and women lived (separately) and worshipped (corporately).

In real life, Hilda is best remembered for hosting the Synod of Whitby at which she succesfully argued that the Church in Northumbria should follow the customs of the wider church in the interests of seeking better unity with other Christians. In a rather brilliant move, the modern church honours her on two separate occasions – in October, for Roman Catholics, and today, for Anglicans. In fable, she is best remembered for turning a plague of snakes into stone, a local attempt to explain the ammonites which abound on Whitby's beach. One wonders if St. Patrick tried the same trick!

Her monastery was destroyed by Vikings, but the religious life lived on in the area – as a Benedictine monastery in the Middle Ages, and in the Order of the Holy Paraclete, an order of Anglican female religious who now live in Whitby. I’ve noted their website below. Famed for her wisdom, she is a patron of culture, and especially of female learning: the Oxford college dedicated to Hilda also gave us our first female Prime Minister (whose middle name, coincidentally, is Hilda) although that probably shouldn’t be held against her… She continues an example of practical piety, wisdom and the quest for unity.

“Rooted and Grounded in Love”
The Order of the Holy Paraclete

2006-11-18T16:01:00.000Z

In Norwich there is a certain street in which are mixed redundant churches, half-timbered houses, pawn shops, office blocks and slums in a happy mix. Off this street runs an alleywall into a group of sixteenth century buildings called ‘Elizabeth of Hungary Yard’. This intrigued me for many years – I now know it was named after a quondam pub of that name which stood there. Today, the Church recalls the woman who gave her name and image to that forgotten drinking-house, S. Elizabeth, and the affection with which she has been regarded throughout Europe.

Born a princess, she spent her time working in the hospital she had founded; so, she in Patron of nursing homes. When famine struck Germany, she sent grain as a form of aid relief; so, she is Patron of bakers; when she declared her intention of nursing the poor, she was ill-treated by the courtiers who were presumably rather worried what the neighbouring potentates would think; so, she is Patron of those ridiculed for faith – not actively persecuted, but ridiculed… I think there’s enough of us in that category amongst the Anglican world, so she may be quite busy. The women of her family seem to have been noted for their piety – her aunt and niece are also regarded as saints, as his her husband, to whom she was betrothed at the age of four.

As might be expected from her work with the poor, she was a member of the Franciscan Third Order, newly established in Germany. After being widowed, she was expelled from her castle, and died at the age of just 24, exhausted by exile, her ceaseless ministration to the poor and the harsh spiritual disciplines of her confessor, which apparently involved corporal punishment. Buoyed by reports of healing miracles, her grave soon became a great shrine, and she swiftly became one of the best loved of the saints, her fame apparently reaching even the publicans of Norwich!

St. Hugh of Lincoln, BC, c1135-1200

2006-11-17T15:03:00.000Z

Bishop of Lincoln, famed for his sense of justice, for opposing the wrath of mobs and kings, and taking a swan as his best friend.

Hugh was born at a place with the unlikely name of Avalon (in Burgundy, and not, presumably, King Arthur’s). In his youth, he lived with his father in an Augustinian monastery, but harboured a desire for the austere life of a Carthusian. This seems to have caused a bit of a struggle between his respective superiors, both of whom wanted their Orders to keep hold of this palpably holy young man. After eventually becoming a Carthusian, he was brought to England by Henry II as prior of the Charterhouse at Witham in Somerset which Henry had founded to get out of having to go on a Crusade. Although he had founded it, he seems to have neglected to provide Witham with much in the way of funding, as both of Hugh’s predecessors had died from illness contracted due to living in a building without a roof.

Hugh made hisself a nuisance to Royal Authority, but King Henry seems to have grudgingly acknowledged that Hugh spoke justly, which may explain various contradictions in their relationship – as may Hugh’s famously sharp sense of humour. For example, Hugh was amongst those who denounced the King for failing to appoint bishops in good time (under the feudal system, the revenues from vacant bishoprics reverted to the Crown, and this led to monarchs who were strapped for cash – i.e., most of the – not appointing bishops for years, or even decades) – but when Henry finally resolved to make some appointments, Hugh was offered Lincoln.

In typical fashion, Hugh refused, on the grounds that the Canons of the Cathedral hadn’t elected him fairly (it was another mediaeval custom that the Crown would tell cathedral chapters what the results of their episcopal elections would be, well in advance). Eventually, the canons and his Carthusian superior were able to persuade him to take the post. He excelled in this, needless to say, remaining resident in his diocese and beginning the rebuilding of the Cathedral – medieaval cathedrals underwent continually rebuilding, largely as a result of fire, but on this occasion the damage had been caused by an earthquake, of all things. He travelled tirelessly around his vast diocese, not only carrying out his many duties but also tending to lepers and presiding over trials on behalf of the pope.

Both as a prior and as a bishop, Hugh was remarkable for opposing abuse of power. He railed against the unfair forest laws that left most English people forbidden from making use of land set aside for royal hunts. Even when supervising building works at Witham he was sure to ensure compensation for those whose lands the King had appropriated for the space.

Hugh also stood up to a mob who were attempting to lynch a local Jews, demanding that they let their vicim free. Lincoln had a significant Jewish population at the time who suffered serious persecution: in fact, some years after Hugh’s death, the city mob became convinced that their jewish neighbours had murdered a Christian boy for use in a blood rite, and drove them out, slaughtering many. In a post-script grisly for its irony, the murdered lad was installed in the cathedral as a saint – and given the name of ‘Hugh’.

However, the story with attaches most to the real Hugh is a far happier one – the curious tale of the Swan of Stowe. This excellent creature moved into his episcopal manor at the time of his appointment, and, evolving a great love for Hugh, lived there for the fourteen years of his prelature, even guarding him as he slept (swans are very loyal creatures, and physically very strong – as an alternative to the guard-dog, they present many admirable qualities, apart from their inability to bark or make any equivalent loud noise; they do not normally live longer than seven years in the wild, but ages of up to forty have been reported for well-treated specimens, so the age of Hugh’s friend is unremarkable).

He was canonised in 1220, and his shrine became a great centre for pilgrimage. His relics are now lost although his white stole is held at the Charterhouse at Parkminster, Sussex.

In short, a man who was unafraid in his holiness and one of the great adoptive saints of England. Not to mention an ornithologist.

St Willibrord of York

2006-11-07T12:25:00.000Z

I was a bit confused about whether Willibrord was Frisian and evangelised Yorkshire, or vice versa - but it seems he was from North Yorkshire. He has also been said to be "joyful of character and holy of life". I can think of a lot of people I've known who have been joyful, but not holy, and several who've been holy, but not joyful, but it is a real gift to be both.

Leonard, Hermit, 6th century

2006-11-06T16:07:00.000Z

It’s been hard to find out anything at all about this saint, beyond that he was a hermit, and lived in the 6th century. He was a French nobleman who “went bush”. I’ve always been attracted to the idea of being a hermit but I think the lack of shops would do it for me. I took a course on the Archaeology of Scotland in my first year as a student (completely unrelated to my course of study) and the lecturer, who was no fan of the church, suggested that the reason the Celtic church had taken hold in Scotland rather than the Catholic church was because of the hermit-monk model rather than the centralised-administration model, which was more appropriate for the dispersed population of Scotland at the time. So there you go. Hermits as post-modern evangelism.

St Martin of Porres, 1639

2006-11-03T16:57:00.000Z

Another very interesting person who I'd never heard of. A mixed-race friar from Peru, he is listed as "patronage African-Americans, against rats, barbers, bi-racial people, poor people, public education, public health." (I assume teh only one he's actually against is rats) I think this one might be a Guardian reader. This image is from Portland, Oregon.

Richard Hooker, priest, apologist, 1600

2006-11-03T12:24:00.000Z

My very first holy person was born in the same place as I was and attended the same university (though not the same college). I had never heard of him before, but he sounds like he was a good Independent reader type of person - much like myself.