Yesterday's Mass was offered for the EMHCs and today's Mass was for the intentions of S. R. May they be blessed all, and be drawn nearer to the Sacred Heart every day.
While hunting for the Lady Mass in the book this morning, I discovered that, if not for the memorial of the Immaculate Heart, today would have been a memorial to three British Roman Saints, the most famous of whom is Saint Alban. You may learn about Saint Julius and Saint Aaron here. I just happened to be reading through the entry about Saint Alban by the Venerable Saint Bede in his English history. So, I was interested to see two other British Saints of the era. Quite simply, while the power of Imperial Rome began to totter and the legions began to be pulled back towards Italy, the British Romans, who had relied on their protection, began increasingly to be invaded from different sides, by Irish and Picts and Angles and Saxons. If I remember correctly, they eventually retreated into the West Country and maintained their society and culture under such leaders as the legendary King Arthur, until they gradually vanished into the Anglo-Saxon world of the future. Bede, writing from the middle of the Anglo-Saxon period could look back and marvel at the Roman period in Britain and the faithfulness of Christian martyrs during the persecutions of Roman emperors like Diocletian, when Alban and the others suffered. Bede's account may be read here; much of it he takes from the work of Gildas the Wise, another monk historian, who covered the period of the arrival of the Saxons in Britain.
It's all quite interesting. I fancy I'll go a little bit further into it, as I've just found an old primer of the Anglo-Saxon language, which should provide a useful insight into the intricacies of the English language. I should end this post with an old hymn for the Lady day:
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