Lives of the Saints

After surviving a terrible storm, a crew-member on St Nicholas’s ship met with a tragic accident.

St Nicholas (d. 343), who became Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, is known as the patron of seamen, and it is a pity that a sea-faring nation such as Britain should have largely forgotten about him. Here is one of many miracles attributed to him.

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Elfric, Abbot of Eynsham in the reign of Æthelred the Unready, reflects on two appearances of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

Elfric was Abbot of Eynsham near Oxford during the reign of Æthelred the Unready. Here, he reflects on the Baptism of Christ and on Pentecost, explaining why the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as a dove, but on the Apostles as tongues of fire.

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The story of an unexpected escape through the heart of a hill.

This tale is not as far-fetched as it may sound. The hills about and the ground beneath the chapel of St John are riddled with spectacular caves and passages leading away from the church.

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How hard-pressed Christians on the Welsh border won a battle without bloodshed.

In the 5th century, the spread of Christianity was a growing threat to the pagans’ hold of fear and ignorance over ordinary people. The pagans’ answer was (as always) violence.

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A ‘Christian’ mob kidnapped and murdered a much-loved professor of mathematics - for her politics.

Hypatia was head of the Philosophical School in Alexandria. She was a very likeable mathematician and astronomer, who numbered pagans, Jews, and several Christian clergymen among her past and present students.

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Scotland’s association with the brother of Peter is down to an early 8th century Bishop of Hexham.

St Andrew the Apostle came to be the Patron Saint of Scotland through an early 8th century Bishop of Hexham. His feast day is the 30th of November, and he is patron also of Romania and Russia.

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