Exciting Holiness. Brother Tristram

Exciting Holiness - Brother Tristram


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Filwr (‘Gwynllyw the Warrior’). He married Gwladys, the daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog (having first abducted her, according to earliest version of his life). Their son was Cadoc, one of the greatest of the Welsh saints. Woolos built a church on the site in Newport where the cathedral bearing his name now stands. Legend has it that he chose that particular spot because he found a white ox with a black spot on its forehead there. Woolos and Gwladys are said to have settled in a nearby hill-fort, where they spent the rest of their days devoutly ‘enjoying the fruits of their labour, and taking nothing which belonged to other persons.’

      Collect

      King of kings and Lord of lords,

      from whom all authority on earth takes its name:

      grant that we who revere the memory of your servant Woolos

      may claim the crown of unfading glory;

      through Jesus Christ our Lord,

      to whom with you and the Holy Spirit

      be all honour and glory,

      now and for ever.

      29 March

      John Keble

      Priest, Tractarian, Poet

      Scotland: Commemoration

      See 14 July

      31 March

      John Donne

      Priest, Poet

      England: Commemoration

      25 November – Wales: V

      If celebrated otherwise, Common of Spiritual Writers

      John Donne was born in about the year 1571 and brought up as a Roman Catholic. He was a great-great nephew of Thomas More, although this seems to have had little influence on him because, as a youth, he was sceptical about all religion. He went up to Oxford when he was fourteen, studied further at Cambridge and perhaps on the Continent, and eventually discovered his Christian faith in the Church of England. After much heart-searching, he accepted ordination and later the post of Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. Much of his cynicism dissolved and he became a strong advocate for the discernment of Christian vocation, and in particular affirming his own vocation as a priest, loving and loved by the crucified Christ. The people of London flocked to his sermons. He died on this day in the year 1631. His love-poetry – addressed mainly to his wife – and religious poems took on a renewed life in the twentieth century and his place both as a patristic scholar and as a moral theologian are confirmed by his prolific writings and the publication of his sermons.

      Collect (Wales)

      Batter our hearts, three-personed God,

      that we, who have been overthrown by our sins,

      may at the last rise with your servant John [Donne]

      and sing with him the wonders of your love;

      where you live and reign,

      Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

      God for ever.

      April

      1 April

      Gilbert of Caithness

      Bishop

      Scotland: Commemoration

      If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops

      Gilbert de Moravia appears to have been a member of the family of the Lords of Duffus in Moray. He was for many years Archdeacon of Moray, and in 1223 was elected Bishop of Caithness. A devout churchman and able statesman, his great work was the erection of a new cathedral at Dornoch, but his long episcopate was beneficial to his diocese in every way. He died in 1245.

      1 April

      Frederick Denison Maurice

      Priest, Teacher of the Faith

      England: Commemoration

      If celebrated otherwise, Common of Teachers

      Born into a Unitarian family in 1805, Frederick Maurice became an Anglican in his twenties and was then ordained. He was one of the founders of the Christian Socialist Movement, in which his particular concern was providing education for working men. As a theologian, Maurice’s ideas on Anglican comprehensiveness have remained influential. His best-remembered book, The Kingdom of Christ, demonstrated his philosophical approach to theology. His radicalism was revealed in his attack on traditional concepts of hell in Theological Essays, which cost him his professorship at King’s College, London, in 1853. In 1866, however, he was given a Chair at Cambridge, which he held until his death on this day in 1872.

      7 April

      Brynach

      Abbot

      Wales: V

      If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious

      A hermit who settled in Pembrokeshire, Brynach was apparently of Irish origin. He was said to have visited Rome and Brittany before landing in Wales at Milford Haven. From there he travelled to Llanboidy, Cilmaenllwyd and Llanfrynach (all places with churches dedicated to him), eventually settling at Nevern. There he lived a life of extreme asceticism, spending many hours in prayer on Carn Ingli, the mountain above his cell. Local traditions about Brynach also mention his close relationship with the natural world, befriending and taming wild animals and being able to converse with the birds. He represents a strand of early Welsh Christianity that reflects similar ideas and ideals to those of Francis of Assisi.

      Collect

      Almighty and everliving God,

      who called Brynach the Irishman

      to lead a life of pilgrimage,

      and to bring the gospel to the people of Wales:

      grant to us, your pilgrim people,

      grace to know we have no abiding dwelling on earth

      but an everlasting homeland in heaven;

      through Jesus Christ our Lord,

      whom by the power of the Spirit

      you raised to live with you,

      his God and Father,

      for ever and ever.

      8 April

      Griffith Jones

      Priest, Teacher of the Faith

      Wales: V

      If celebrated otherwise, Common of Teachers

      A native of Pen-boyr in Carmarthenshire, Griffith Jones was born in 1683. He was a shepherd and, after attending the grammar school in Carmarthen, he was ordained in 1708. In 1711 he became rector of Llandeilo Abercywyn and five years later rector of Llanddowror. His reputation as a preacher drew large numbers of people from all over South Wales to hear him. An increasing awareness of widespread illiteracy in Wales led him to set up a system of circulating schools, held for three months at a time in churches, barns or private houses. People of all ages were taught to read with the Welsh prayer book and bible as their textbooks. By the time of Griffith Jones’s death in 1761 158,000 people had been taught to read in 3,495 of his schools. This astonishing achievement played a major part in the Welsh spiritual awakening of the eighteenth century.

      Collect

      Almighty God,

      who inspired your servant Griffith

      to promote the knowledge of the Christian faith

      and


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