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Dear Brothers & Sisters
Tomorrow we keep the feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross which was so important to St.Michael our founder. Sometimes described as a ‘feast of Good Friday in happy times’, it highlights the cruel and messy death by which Jesus gave life to the world.
Our Lady of Sorrows is the consequent feast the next day (Tuesday). Many families have a picture of the pieta at home and can identify with the pain of Mary when they go through bereavement themselves.
Wednesday is the feast of two early Christian heroes who helped shaped the early church in times of persecution. Cornelius was the pope in the mid 3rd century who insisted that those who had denied their faith under duress should be allowed back into the fold. He was backed against the ‘ultras’ (who wanted permanent condemnation) by Cyprian bishop of Carthage.
St.Ninian (also on Wednesday) is familiar to Christians from Scotland and Northern England as the apostle to Southern Scotland in 397 AD some 200 years before St.Columba.
St.Robert Bellarmine (Thursday) was a counter-reformation Jesuit theologian who tried (with little success!) to bring some moderation into the church's quarrel with Galileo.
St.Theodore of Tarsus (Saturday) is the only Archbishop of Canterbury to have come from Turkey. Born in 601 in St.Paul’s home town, he spent most of his life as a scholar-monk who spoke several languages. But at the age of 65 the pope picked him as Archbishop of Canterbury when the previous favourite unexpectedly died. In quick succession he has ordained deacon & priest & bishop. His 20 yr tenure as Archbishop in England was surprisingly successful, and he is remembered as a force for unity and a champion of the Synodal style of church government so important to Pope Francis today
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