Saturday 16 November 2013 Saturday of week 32 of the year or Saint Margaret of Scotland or Saint Gertrude, Virgin or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary About Today Psalm week: 4. St Margaret of Scotland (1046 - 1093) She was born in Hungary of Anglo-Saxon and Hungarian parents. When William of Normandy conquered England she found refuge with King Malcolm III of Scotland, and they were married in 1070 and had eight children. She reformed the royal court, founded monasteries, and supported major reforms of Church life. She died in Edinburgh on 16 November 1093. She is remembered for the happiness of her marriage, for her devotion to prayer and learning, and especially for her generosity to the poor. St Gertrude (1256 - 1301/2) She was born at Eisleben in Thuringia. As a girl she was educated by the Benedictine nuns at Helfta and was particularly talented at literature and philosophy. She turned to God and became a nun herself. She was devoted to the mystery of the Incarnation, in particular to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Eucharist. She was the recipient of many mystical experiences, and her spiritual writings had great influence in later centuries and indirectly contributed to the establishment of the feast of the Sacred Heart. Saturday memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed. The memorial is a remembrance of the maternal example and discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, strengthened by faith and hope, on that great Saturday on which Our Lord lay in the tomb, was the only one of the disciples to hold vigil in expectation of the Lord’s resurrection; it is a prelude and introduction to the celebration of Sunday, the weekly memorial of the Resurrection of Christ; and it is a sign that the “Virgin Mary is continuously present and operative in the life of the Church”. Other saints: St Edmund of Abingdon (1175? - 1240) He was born in Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, and studied at both Paris and Oxford as well as at the cathedral school of Salisbury. Although he was attracted to the monastic life, he was appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 1233. He had frequent disputes with the King of England and he was on his way to Rome to ask for the Pope’s support when he died at Soissy in France on 16 November 1240: he was buried in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny. He is venerated as a vigorous and reforming bishop and as a peacemaker, as well as being a distinguished commentator on the Scriptures and an effective spiritual writer. Other saints: Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn Vilnius (Wilno in Polish) is the capital of Lithuania, which was part of the multi-ethnic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until this was destroyed in 1793 by the Prussian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. Lithuania was taken over by the Russian Empire; then, after a brief period of independence between the wars, it was illegally occupied by the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1989. In the Chapel of the Gate of Dawn there is a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary which has been venerated by the faithful since the 17th century, and which became a symbol of the national identity that the invaders sought to obliterate. Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn (Lithuanian: Aušros Vartų Dievo Motina, Polish: Matka Boska Ostrobramska, Belarusian: Маці Божая Вастрабрамская) is a major focus of pilgrimage from the successor states of the Commonwealth: Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Pope John Paul II visited the chapel in 1993.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 22:39:19 +0000