Aidan Abbot, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary 651

Aidan is one of my favourites. Lindisfarne, aka Holy Island is situated off the coast of Northumbria, UK. It is still a place of pilgrimage. What is often termed a ‘thin place’.

Exciting Holiness

Along with Cuthbert, Columba and Ninian, Aidan was one of the greats of the Northern Celtic Church.

The story is that Oswald, King of Northumbria, asked St Columba of Iona to send him a missionary. Bede writes that a man of ‘a more austere disposition’ was sent first. This monk had no success and returned complaining of ‘uncivilised, obstinate, barbarous people’. Aidan said ‘Brother it seems to me that you were too severe on your ignorant hearers. You should have followed the practice of the Apostles, and begun by giving them the milk of simpler teaching, and gradually instructed them in the word of God until they were capable of greater perfection and able to follow the sublime precepts of Christ’.

So Aidan was given the job and sent to be made Bishop ‘since he was particularly endowed with the grace of discretion, the mother of virtues’.

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Paraphrased from ‘Bede A History of the English Church and People’ (Translated by Leo Shirley Price):

Aidan had a lifestyle of strict austerity himself, but did not force this on others. He led by example.

He got on very well with the King, who became his friend and interpreter. He walked everywhere and when the King gave him a fine horse he gave it away to a poor person. The King was not best pleased, asking ‘couldn’t you have given him a less valuable horse?’ Aiden replied ‘Is this foal of a mare more valuable to you than the Son of God?’ The King pondered this and then knelt at Aidan’s feet ‘I will not refer to this matter again, nor will I enquire how much of our money you give away to God’s children.’

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Here is an account of Aidan’s life by Revd Canon Kate Tristram. She is a respected academic with a specialist knowledge of the early Celtic church who lived and worked on Lindisfarne for many years. She may still be there, I think it may be her home.

I attended a study day led by her a few years ago. She told a remarkable story. She is not at all ‘flaky’. She is a well groomed elderly lady of the utmost respectability and professional gravitas. She offered this account as something that happened, that she has no explanation for, nevertheless it was real.

She was walking on Lindisfarne, thinking about Aidan and Cuthbert and she heard a voice:

‘We’re still here you know, we’re alive, you can talk to us.’

Clare, 1194-1253, founder of the ‘Poor Clares’.

Clare of Assisi was the first woman to write a religious rule for women. She founded the Order of Minoresses or ‘Poor Clares’ as they became known. Although inspired by St Francis of Assisi, she was more than just a follower. She became an interpreter and guardian of his vision and values and a saint of almost equal importance to ‘Il Poverello’ himself. They were lifelong soul friends. She was as important to him as he was to her.

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Exciting Holiness

Clare was another of those counter cultural women, refusing the normal respectable life of a woman of her class. She came from a wealthy family, members of the nobility. The phrase that has been in my mind in thinking about her, and indeed all the saints, is: “Sainthood is not for cissies.” At the start of her saintly career she could hardly have been called a woman. Her behaviour was completely scandalous by the standards of the times.

Even by today’s standards she would probably be thought very disturbed, a disgrace to her family, and St Francis a very suspect character. I doubt many parents would be too keen on their daughter abandoning her family, social status and any chances of a decent marriage in order to take up with a mendicant friar 13 years her senior, prone to giving away the very clothes he was wearing.

Hearing St Francis preach she was inspired by him and his example of the lifestyle of extreme poverty and ascetism, and was determined to follow him and embrace the same life of renunciation and poverty.

 

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Life of Clare

She was 18 when Francis helped her to escape from her parents house and cut off her hair to signify her vows. He then found her a place in a convent.

She founded her Order soon after although she refused to be Prioress till she had turned twenty-one.

“They devoted themselves to prayer, nursing the sick, and works of mercy for the poor and neglected.  They adopted a rule of life of extreme austerity (more so than of any other order of women up to that time) and of absolute poverty, both individually and collectively. They had no beds. They slept on twigs with patched hemp for blankets. Wind and rain seeped through cracks in the ceilings. They ate very little, with no meat at all. Whatever they ate was food they begged for. Clare made sure she fasted more than anyone else. Despite this way of life, or perhaps because of it, the followers of Clare were the most beautiful young girls from the best families of Assisi.”  justus anglican

The renunciation of all forms of property ownership or provision for their own needs was extremely controversial. It was felt by the church authorities that this was too difficult for women. Clare was determined and persistent.

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What was it about Clare and the life she offered that was so attractive to women of her class and time? Surely not just the opportunity to break out of the conventional roles and lifestyles allotted to women in that age. The life she offered was too hard for that to be the primary motive.

Whatever it was I think we find something like it in all the lives of all the saints. Something without which the message of our Lord ceases to be inspirational and transformational and becomes merely a matter of boring morality and even more boring theology. Is it that through them and the example of their lives we feel we are meeting Jesus? Sharing in their love affair with Jesus? Wanting that love for ourselves?

From a letter written to Blessed Agnes of Prague shortly before Clare’s death:

“I rejoice and exult with you in the joy of the Spirit, O bride of Christ,….Happy indeed is she to whom it is given to share this banquet, to cling with all her heart to him whose beauty all the heavenly hosts admire unceasingly, whose love inflames our love, whose contemplation is our refreshment, whose graciousness is our joy, whose gentleness fills us to overflowing…..” From ‘Celebrating the Saints’ by Robert Atwell

See here for the full text. It is strong stuff! And as with many of the greatest saints, male and female is heavy on the erotic imagery as a means to express the unspeakable delight of the love of Christ.

As far as we know she never left the confines of her convent until her death. Shortly before his death St Francis visited her and lived in a small hut in the convent grounds while convalescing. It is thought that it was here that he composed the ‘Canticle of the Sun’.

 

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The Order of Poor Clares continues today. They still do not own property. The community house of the Poor Clare I met was owned by the Diocese.

Patronage: embroiderers; eye disease; eyes; gilders; goldsmiths; gold workers; good weather; laundry workers; needle workers; Santa Clara Indian Pueblo; telegraphs; telephones; television; television writers.

Television? The answer is “Toward the end of her life, when she was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the service would display on the wall of her cell; thus her patronage of television.”

Brief Life of Clare

Founder of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.

There is so much that could be said about St Ignatius and the Jesuit Order that I am at a loss to know where to start. I found the focus always seemed to shift from Ignatius himself to his teachings on prayer as transmitted to us by his modern brethren and sistren. Perhaps this is also a clue to the man himself. His focus is all about God in Jesus, loving Jesus, introducing Jesus to us, not about himself. So this is a personal take. It leaves out much. Please explore Ignatius and the Jesuits for yourself.

Exciting Holiness doesn’t do him justice at all. Try reading his autobiography. During the introduction to the spiritual exercises course we listened to a tape with a reading from his biography, read in the first person. So powerful. I came away with the strong feeling that I had actually met him. A strange feeling which has faded a little but not entirely. The extraordinary charisma of his personality rolls over the centuries.

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I find Ignatius a paradoxical person. In life he was the ultimate macho 16th Century Spanish nobleman. Even after his conversion to Christianity he was very keen on acts of tremendous spiritual ascetism and derring-do. Very competitive, he wanted to outdo all the saints of history in acts of spiritual valour.

I didn’t expect to like him so much!

I have heard his Jesuit brothers today refer to him affectionately as ‘Ig’ or ‘Iggy’. I haven’t heard a Benedictine refer ‘Ben’ or ‘Benny’, or a Franciscan to ‘Fran’ or ‘Franny’.

Despite being emaciated and going about in rags a lot of the time and renouncing the desires of the flesh, he had a large female fan club and following. The ladies seemed to love him. He refused to allow a women’s society to be established. There still isn’t a female Jesuit order, although there are orders of nuns whose communities are established on Jesuit lines.

Jesuits, like all religious orders have had a troubled history. On my retreat they were at pains to point out that in the past perhaps there was an undue emphasis on certain unhelpful things. They have moved on and learnt a lot from their collective experience of living and teaching the spiritual exercises.

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Ignatian spirituality is gentle, nurturing, peaceful. kind, compassionate. Healing. Balm for the soul. A very feminine feel to things. But also very down to earth and practical. A paradox when you think about the founder.

Yes, it can also be challenging, but never destructive.

It is a very sensual approach to prayer. God is found and experienced in all created things and in the experience of our senses. On retreat you may well find yourself encouraged to draw, paint and make clay sculptures. To delight in the beauty of the natural world. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was a Jesuit. He trained at St Beuno’s in Wales.

I suppose Ignatius is most associated with a style of prayer involving an imaginative reconstruction of bible passages. Do not be put off if your experience of these type of led meditations has been disappointing. There is so much more to Ignatian spirituality than this.

Here is the St Beuno’s website.

Hover the mouse over the spirituality section for lots of useful information on prayer.

See a walking meditation
given to me by my spiritual director
on retreat at St Beuno’s.

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Ignatius invented the ‘Spiritual Exercises’. These are done under the guidance of a spiritual director and take 30 days. There are also many variations on this theme involving shorter periods of time and retreats in daily life.

The common themes of these prayer exercises are:

• The guidance of a spiritual director, whose role is better described as accompanying.
• Meditation on a bible passage with attention to its relevance for us now into us in our daily lives and spiritual journey. Entering into bible stories in our imagination.

Ignatian spiritual directors often focus on healing our image of God, so often negative. See Gerard Hughes SJ, ‘God of Surprises’ Chapter 3 ‘Inner Chaos and False Images of God’, and books by Dennis and Matthew Linn and Sheila Fabricant-Linn. In particular ‘Good Goats – healing our image of God’. You can read a bit of it here.

The Jesuits also pay a lot of attention to discerning God’s will for our lives, and a regular examination of our lives. They offer many good tools for discernment, which have been enthusiastically adopted in recent times by business management gurus and all sorts of therapies.

For a flavour of a retreat if you can’t get away, and for something you could do at home or with a group of friends, have a look at: soul spark It is an Anglican course on spirituality, but is very influenced by the Ignatian style. See particularly: session 4 linked to above on images of God. All the course talks and exercises are available online and can be downloaded for free.

An individually guided retreat is a profound experience. There are a number of first class Jesuit retreat houses in the UK. Do make a retreat if you can.

The Jesuits have a strong on line ministry, just Google. Sacred Space is a very popular site.

July 22nd is the commemoration day for St Mary Magdalene. Mary was a follower and close companion of Jesus. One of the inner circle of disciples. She was termed the ‘apostle to the apostles’ by the early Christians, as the Lord first appeared to her and commissioned her to carry the news of his resurrection to the disciples. The Gospels record her friendship with Jesus and this important first resurrection appearance.

There were other women, some mentioned by name in the Gospels, who followed Jesus and supported him financially, but (apart from Mary his mother), she is the only one who managed to overcome the restrictions placed on women’s lives and achieve almost iconic status. There are many legends associated with her. The idea took hold that she was a reformed prostitute or adulteress.

This is not now supported by modern scholarship or the Anglican, Roman Catholic or Orthodox churches.

It is now widely accepted that she had an important leadership role in the early church.

Such a role would have been so challenging in the male dominated society of the first century that it is no wonder there were scandalous rumours and efforts to discredit her.

There has been recent speculation that she is the ‘beloved disciple’ referred to in the Gospel of St John. See the Wiki link below.

Whatever the truth, her controversial personality continues to shine down the centuries.

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There is an apocryphal Gospel of Mary

The disciplines are disheartened and fearful about the Lord’s commands to preach the Gospel to the gentiles. Mary encourages them.

There follows an hilarious account of a row between her, Peter, and Andrew, where Peter asks her to tell them the things the Saviour said to her and then when she does the men get in a strop saying surely Jesus wouldn’t tell these things to a woman.

“Levi answered and said to Peter, ‘Peter you have always been hot tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Saviour knows her very well. That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Saviour said.’”

I have no opinion as the truth of this document, but it does make me smile, as I can quite imagine the scene!

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From Wikipedia:

The apocryphal Gospel of Philip records Mary Magdalene among Jesus’ female entourage, adding that she was his companion:

There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His aunt, his mother and his companion were each a Mary.

Others’ irritation from the love and affection presented by Jesus to Mary Magdalene is made evident (the text is badly fragmented, speculated additions are shown in grey):

And the companion of the saviour was Mary Magdalene. Christ loved Mary more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him “Why do you love her more than all of us?”  The Saviour answered and said to them, “Why do I not love you like her?“

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Mary is patron to a varied collection of people, places and causes:

apothecaries, druggists and pharmacists;  Atrani and Casamicciola, Italy;  contemplative life and contemplatives;  converts;  glove makers;  hairdressers and hairstylists;  penitent sinners and penitent women;  people ridiculed for their piety;  perfumeries and perfumers;  reformed prostitutes;  sexual temptation;  tanners;  and women.

 

The list makes me smile too. All the glitzy associations and yet she is also patron to comtemplatives, penitents and people ridiculed for their piety.

Somehow I suspect she was no ‘plaster’ saint but a very feisty lady.

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This poem was written by friend, whose special saint is Mary Magdalene.

Oh, Mary, Mary Magdalen
What have they done to you?
They’ve put you in a pigeon-hole
And hidden you from view.

They’ve diminished your extravagance
And cleared your life away,
Turned your passion into prudence
In a good housewifely way.

Of course, you are not married.
So to keep your idle hands
From devil’s work, they’ve busied you
With housekeeping demands.

You mustn’t terrify the men
By being strong and free,
But keep them safe and happy
By your conformity.

For churchmen like their ladies
To be nice and sweet and good,
And doing all the useful things
A proper lady should.

It doesn’t do to love so much
In polite society.
You have to be respectable
To suit the C of E.

But Mary, Mary Magdalen
We envy you your role;
Your liberated womanhood,
Your being, true and whole.

We don’t mind doing dishes
And serving how we can –
Not because we’re women
But because it’s Love’s demand.

For Christ restores us to our self
To be what we should be –
Apostle, lover, woman – all
Without man’s boundary.

HS (posted here with permission)

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Who was St George? His name appears on churches and pubs alike, and we probably all associate him with the dragon. But why is England’s patron saint a mythical character? The simple answer to that is – he isn’t! Read on…

Although he is the Patron Saint of England, George was actually born in Lydda in Palestine, of Turkish, or some say Roman/Palestinian parents.  George’s father was a high ranking, wealthy Imperial Officer who died when George was just a young boy.

Following in his father’s footsteps, he, too became a soldier at 17, achieving the rank of Tribune and was a personal favourite during the reign of Emporer Diocletian, who loved power and was very ruthless. He began to persecute Christians in what became known as The Diocletianic Persecution (303–11 AD).

Appalled at this, George left the army and returned to Lydda where he freed all of his own slaves and gave away what money he had before going to challenge the Emperor, even though he expected to be executed for this.

It was on his way to see the Emperor that legend takes up his story, when he came across a dragon that was terrorising a town.  The town had resorted to offering up in sacrifice animals and children under 15 in order to appease the dragon.

Even the King’s daughter was included, at which point George happened by.  He killed the dragon, so overwhelming the King and his subjects that he and all his people agreed to be baptised and they all became Christians.

Returning to the historical account of his life, George then continued his journey to Nicomedia and the Imperial Court, where he pleaded for the persecution of Christians to end.  He was imprisoned and tortured savagely but he refused to renounce his faith.

George was beheaded it is believed on 23rd April 303 and his body was returned to Lydda where Emporer Constantine (306-337) later built a church at the place of his burial.

The idea of rescuing a damsel in distress fitted in well with his reported reputation for chivalry, courtesy and courage, and his fearless and right-thinking character, which inspired young men, particularly in the Middle Ages.  His story became very popular among the Crusaders who brought it back to England, where he became Patron saint.

This – if true – would have been heroic indeed.  However, he is also remembered for the bravery and self sacrifice that he showed in his defence of Christianity, and he is Patron saint not just of England but of other countries too, and held in high regard within the Muslim faith as a healer of people with mental health problems … perhaps a different kind of dragon that needs to be fought with just as much strength.

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This prayer is often prayed to him:

 

St. George, heroic Catholic Soldier and defender of your faith,

you dared to criticize a tyrannical Emperor,

and were subjected to horrible torture.

 

You could have occupied a high military position,

but you preferred to die for your Lord.

 

Good St. George,

obtain for us the great grace of heroic Christian courage

that should mark all soldiers of Christ.

 

Amen.

St George’s Church at Lydda