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ON THIS DAY: FEBRUARY
This month we remember, among others, a famous cartoonist
whose characters included Charlie Brown; an Italian
renaissance artist; a scottish actor, and the founding
of two universities.
1 February: Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch
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Ignatius of Antioch of whose life
we know nothing until his journey from Antioch to
Rome where he was martyred, but the fact that Polycarp
of Smyrna, Eusebius
and many others recorded this event indicates
his great influence in the early church. On the
way to Rome, Ignatius wrote seven letters opposing
Docetism (the Docetists
believed the suffering of Jesus on earth to be virtual
rather than physical), which provides valuable information
on the early church. From such writings, and because
he was reputed to be a disciple of St John, some
say that he deservedly can be classified as an ‘apostolic
father’. He died circa 135. |
Also on this day: Bride
of Kildare. Bride of Kildare was also known as
St Mary of the Gael. As a young Irish woman she was
made maidservant to a Druid whom she won over to Christianity.
Resisting all attempts to marry her off, she entered
monastic life and ultimately rose to the top, as abbess
at Kildare. The story goes that a confused clergyman
read the wrong service at her setting apart ceremony
and made her a bishop by mistake! A title she was allowed
to keep because of the great regard with which she was
held. Many miracles were attributed to her and she was
known for her care of the poor. Though she never came
to Scotland herself, her name is found in many parts
of the country. The Pictish king Nechtan dedicated a
church to her at Abernethy in which he placed her relics.
She lived from circa 452 to 524.
4 February:
Modan
Modan was an Irish Celtic ascetic missionary ‘saint’
of the 6th century who began his work at Dryburgh. His
first settlement was at Loch Etive (later the site of
Ardchattan Priory). He also preached and did works around
Falkirk and Stirling, eventually retiring to Rosneath.
8 February:
Alexander Mackay
Alexander Mackay
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Alexander Mackay of Uganda was the
son of the Free Church manse of Rhynie in Aberdeenshire.
Stirred by the fervency of the Covenanting tradition,
he was also influenced by the approach of David
Livingstone who believed that missionaries should
also make a material difference to those they worked
among. He therefore studied engineering before joining
the Church Missionary Society in their first visits
to Uganda in 1876. His engineering skills were used
in the construction of a new major road from the
coast and his missionary skills resulted in the
formation of a Christian group at the court of the
Kind of Buganda. |
He strongly denounced paganism but unfortunately this
enthusiasm was also applied to Roman Catholic white fathers
who established a mission there in 1879. As pagans, Protestants,
Roman Catholics and Muslims jockeyed for political as
well as religious supremacy, leading the the persecution
of Christians, Mackay successfully persuaded the British
to intervene. In Mackay, the Christian message was spread,
and good done to the material infrastructure, but it has
to be admitted that he had a contrary influence too, in
that the civil unrest that has continued in that country
had its roots in these earlier tensions. He died in 1890.
To find out more about Alexander Mackay visit Wholesome
Words Christian Biography Resources website here.
Please note this link will take you out of the Church
of Scotland website and open a new browser window.
10 February:
Joseph Lister
| Joseph Lister, who died
in 1912, was an English-born surgeon with an influential
Quaker background and education. Studying under
James Syme at Edinburgh (whose daughter he married),
he was appointed Regius
professor of surgery at Glasgow (1856) and
practised at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (1861) where
his pioneering work on antisepsis was done. Later
he held chairmanships at Edinburgh and London. A
deeply religious man, he understood his work as
being "divinely directed". Though there
was at first resistance to his discovery, by the
time of his retirement in 1893 antisepsis was universally
accepted. |
Joseph Lister
|
He was the first medical man to be raised to the peerage
and among the first to be admitted to the Order of Merit.
Also on this day: Bishop
William Elphinstone. Founded Aberdeen University
in 1494. According to some it was distinguished by its
early establishment of a chairman of medicine, by the
excellence of its teaching, and by the strong emphasis
on Christian humanism learning led by its first principal
Hector Boece. Elphinstone himself was as much politician
and statesman (he was made Chancellor of Scotland in
1488 and keeper of the Privy Seal in 1492) as churchman.
In the latter category, he was known not only for his
reforming of the structures of the church but for is
liturgical innovation. He was the forerunner of calendars
of commemoration, such as this one, in his publication
of the renowned Aberdeen Breviary which included lists
of Scottish saints and notable feasts. He also was the
first to introduce printing to Scotland.
11 February:
Caedmon
Caedmon was, according to Bede, an illiterate herdsman
who, proving himself poetic in singing of the creation,
was welcomed by Hilda into her abbey at Whitby where
he turned portions of recited scripture into verse.
Only a fragment of his creation survives, sufficient
however to credit him as the earliest English (i.e.
Anglo-Saxon) poet. He died circa 680.
Also on this day: John
Buchan. John Buchan was the son of a Scottish
manse, educated at Glasgow and Oxford, who became in
time a barrister, publisher, historian, member of parliament
and a colonial administrator in Canada. Some believe
he is specially remembered for his fast moving popular
adventure stories of which The
39 Steps is the most famous. His writings often
contain deeper and Calvinist themes though sometimes
show a sense of white Anglo-Saxon superiority. A devout
Christian he became Lord High Commissioner to the General
Assembly in 1933 and 1934 and was raised to the peerage
as Lord Tweedsmuir. He died in 1940.
12 February:
Immanuel Kant
Born in 1724, Immanuel Kant was of Scots ancestry though
he never moved from his native Konigsberg, East Prussia.
Though originally a divinity student, he was attracted
to mathematics and physics, becoming an astronomer,
political writer, and, according to some, one of the
greatest and most influential philosophers of all time.
At first a family tutor, he became a lecturer and professor
at Konigsberg, attracting many students. A great enlightenment
figure, his fame grew immense by his books e.g. Critique
of Pure Reason. He outlined another approach
to the traditional metaphysical trio of God, freedom
and immortality, summarising his belief in these words:
"I had to remove knowledge to make room for faith."
He wrote famously of: "The starry heavens above
me and the moral law within me as inspiring new and
increasing wonder." He died in 1804.
Also on this day: Friedrich
Schleiermacher. Friedrich Schleiermacher who
died in 1834, was a German theologian noted for helping
to unite Reformed and Lutheran churches in Prussia (1817);
for his religion: Speeches
to its Cultured Despisers; and for an influential
life of Jesus. Schleiermacher’s great emphasis
on 'feeling' as a religious basis was something of a
reaction to the rationalism of his day. He is often
regarded as a founder of modern liberal Protestant theology.
| Also
on this day: Henry
Duncan. (1774 to 1846) Henry Duncan was a
minister in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, was something
of a scholar, especially gifted in literature and
science, who was to become the recognised founder
of the Savings Bank Movement. The author of works
such as Tales of the Scotch
Peasantry, he founded and edited the Dumfries
and Galloway Courier and was instrumental
in restoring the 8th century Anglian Ruthwell Cross.
He received a Doctorate in Divinity from St Andrews
University where, as at Glasgow and Edinburgh, he
had been educated, and was Moderator of the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1839. He walked
out of the Assembly at the disruption of 1843 to
become the Free Church minister in Ruthwell. |
Portrait of Henry Duncan
|
To find out more about Henry Duncan visit the Savings
Bank Museum
here. Please note this link will take you out of the
Church of Scotland website and open a new browser window.
Also on this day: Alexander
Duff. Alexander Duff died in 1878, he was the
first Scots missionary to India, where he was noted
as being a great and successful educator, combining
scripture, western science and literature. Duff College
became the prototype for missionary colleges. His address
Missions the Chief End of the
Christian Church was given at the Church of Scotland
General Assembly (1839) and widely printed. An author
and founder of The Calcutta
Review, Duff, who became Free Church Moderator,
remained passionate for missionary work and founded
the Chairmanship of Missions at New College in Edinburgh.
13 February:
Charles Schulz
Charles Schulz who died in 2000 was a popular
American strip-cartoonist best known for Peanuts
with its portrayals of the problems and perplexities
of life through the eyes of Charlie Brown and friends,
a character based on its creator. Schultz was also a
sunday school teacher.
Also on this day:
Priscilla, Dorcas
and Phoebe. According to some these women were
three of the most notable presences in the early church.
Priscilla, a tent maker like Paul, who was also wife
of Aquila, is mentioned six times in the New Testament.
Both were compelled to leave Rome by the decree of Emperor
Claudius. Dorcas (or Tabitha) was well known for her
charitable acts in Joppa (Acts
9:36). On her death Peter made a special journey
to be at her funeral. She is the only woman disciple
to be so called in the New Testament. Phoebe’s
name starts the roll call of prominent Christians in
the last chapter of Romans (16)
and is referred to as 'holding office' in the congregation.
14 February:
Valentine
| |
Valentine may have been a Roman Christian
priest or bishop of Turni, both of whom were martyred
in the late fourth century. Neither is in any way
connected with romantic love, but, as their day
falls on that associated with the supposed mating
of birds (some say), Valentine’s Day has been
related to the love theme! |
Others suggest that with the Roman festival of Lupercalia
coinciding with the day of commemoration, the customs
of the festival became confused with the memory of the
saints.
15 February:
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury (seventh Earl) Anthony Ashley Cooper was
an English evangelical and a social reformer largely
responsible for acts of parliament for limiting working
hours, prohibiting underground working of women and
children, providing lodging houses for the poor, improving
the care of lunatics, etc. He was prominent in support
of ragged schools and was a supporter of Florence Nightingale
and missions. He died on this day in 1885.
16 February:
James Renwick
James Renwick born in Moniaive, Dumfriess-shire,
and educated at Edinburgh and Groningen universities,
was the last of the covenanting martyrs. Witnessing
the execution of Donald Cargill and ‘converted’
to the covenanting cause, this kindly, sensitive man
of indifferent health but resolute spirit ultimately
came to lead the group often called the Cameronians,
but officially the United Societies, but after many
adventures was caught, declaring as he climbed to the
Grassmarket scaffold in Edinburgh (1688) that: "Each
step was a step nearer God." He was just 26, though
with a wisdom and maturity beyond his years.
18 February:
Martin Luther
Martin Luther died on this day in 1546 in Eisleben, the
place where he was born on 10 November 1483. A German
Augustinian monk and university teacher, his re-discovery
of the doctrine of justification by faith, and his revulsion
at the corruption in the church, led to his 95 theses
(31 October 1517) at Wittenberg which was critical of
the sale of indulgences (a system caricatured in the verse
when a coin into the coffer rings,
a soul from purgatory springs).
Martin Luther
|
Luther’s act, essentially calling
for academic debate, precipitated the Protestant
Reformation, with Luther going on to attack the
doctrinal system of Rome. He has been described
as a warm, down to earth, yet resolute man, he took
a biblical stand before an imperial council: "Here
I stand, I can do no other." Under the protection
of the elector of saxony he escaped the consequences
of an imperial ban and went to translate the scriptures-influencing
the German language. |
A powerful hymn writer, for example Ein’
feste Burg ist unser Gott (a safe stronghold is
our God), Luther was a very considerable scholar, writing
many commentaries which are still consulted. His lively
positive faith attracted many followers. Some saw him
as one of the greatest figures in church history, and
that his importance cannot be underestimated.
To find out more about the life of Martin Luther click
here. Please note this link will take you out of
the Church of Scotland website and open a new browser
window.
| Also
on this day: Michelangelo.
(1475 to 1564) Michealangelo was a famous
figure in Italian Renaissance art. Besides being
a considerable architect and poet, many regard him
as one of the world’s greatest sculptors (for
example his David, Moses
and Pietas) and painters (for example The
Sistine Chapel in Rome). Michelangelo had, according
to some, outstanding skill and imagination, prodigious
energy and devotion in and to his various tasks,
which were almost entirely commissioned by and for
the church. Regarded by some as an absolute genius
in his field, his work is breath-taking and inspirational.
|
Michelangelo: Holy family
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Also on this day: 'Pilgrim’s
Progress' by John Bunyan was published on this
day in 1678.
19 February:
Miles Coverdale
Miles Coverdale who died in 1568, was an English Augustinian
friar and then a secular priest embracing Protestantism.
In exile for his zealous belief he somewhat freely translated
the first English Bible from the Latin Vulgate. Though
Tyndale, with whom he had co-operated, was much better
and more influential in translation, Coverdale’s
work is evident in the King James Version and more so
in his melodious Psalter that has enriched Anglican
worship. A bishop of Exeter at the time of Edward VI,
he was again an exile during the reign of Mary Tudor
(Mary I, Queen of England). On his return under Elizabeth
I his Puritanism, of which movement he became a leader,
prevented the resumption of the post. He continued however
to serve in a London parish being especially acclaimed
for his sermons.
22 February:
Westminster Assembly
Westminster Assembly ended on this day in 1649, having
given rise to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the
Westminster Directory of Public Worship, and having
contributed substantially to a new metrication of the
Psalms. The first and the last are still part of Church
of Scotland life today, while the directory’s
influence is still in the background of its worship
practices.
23 February:
Boisil
Boisil (alternative date 7 July) was the seventh century
abbot of Melrose. He was acclaimed by some for his learning,
holiness, and prophetic abilities. He attracted and
influenced Cuthbert. He gave his name to St Boswell’s.
26 February:
John 'Rabbi' Duncan
John 'Rabbi' Duncan
|
John 'Rabbi' was an Aberdeen shoemaker’s
son who became a restless divinity student. After
an encounter in Geneva, he embraced Christianity
more wholeheartedly, describing himself as: "A
philosophical skeptic who has taken refuge in theology."
He established the Scottish Mission to Budapest
Jews (1840) and helped invigorate the Hungarian
Reformed Church. Later as Hebrew professor at New
College (he was one of those who formed the Free
Church at the Disruption) he was noted for his Talmudic
style aphorisms, his encyclopaedic knowledge and
thirst for it, his eloquence in the pulpit, his
considerable wisdom, and for his absentmindedness
and eccentricities. He died in 1870. |
27 February:
George Herbert
George Herbert (also commemorated on 1 March) who died
in 1633, seemed by his connections, education, and ability
to be set for a worldly career. However, he took holy
orders, under Archbishop Laud, and exercised a very
short but saintly ministry as rector of Bemerton, Wiltshire,
dying, a consumptive, at 39. According to some he is
noted as a fine metaphysical poet who described his
work as: "A picture of the many spiritual conflicts
passed between God and my soul before I could subject
mine to the will of Jesus my master, in whose service
I have now found perfect freedom." Many of his
poems have become hymns, for example numbers 361,
364 and 693 in
Church Hymnary: Third Edition.
Also on this day: John
McLeod Campbell. John McLeod Campbell was deposed
by the General Assembly in 1832 as minister of Row (modern
Rhu), Dunbartonshire, for his universalism (Christ’s
death has secured pardon for all in this life) but continued
to exercise a quiet independent ministry. A saintly
man, he is specially noted for his influential The
Nature of the Atonement (1856), where the atonement
is unconnected to law but in God the Father’s
will to reclaim his erring children-repentance being
the key to the new relationship. Campbell’s scholarship
was acknowledged in a doctorate from Glasgow and his
insights are now part of the doctrinal mainstream. McLeod
Campbell died in 1872.
Also on this day:
Rikki Fulton. Rikki Fulton
was one of Scotland’s most versatile recent
actors. He was also a playwrite and played the piano
to concert standard. Although taking serious roles on
stage and in film, it was as a comedy actor that many
know him best, not least as the spoof late caller the
Rev I. M. Jolly, in which he allowed and enabled the
church and its ministry to laugh at its worst absurdities.
Yet, as is so often the case, the comedian masks a person
of deep seriousness. Fulton might be commemorated not
just for his public achievements but as the ‘patron
saint’ of the many who ask questions of church
and faith or even hurl their anger at God with the vehemence
of the Psalmist. It was not until the age of 67 that
this questioning man was baptised. He died in 2004.
| 28
February: Wilfrid Grenfell
Wilfrid Grenfell who died in 1940, was
a physician and surgeon who also qualified as
a ship’s master. He is notable for pioneering
medical missionary work begun in 1892 in Labrador.
He established hospitals, and orphanages among
the Inuit, and also enabled ships of the fleets
in the fishing grounds to become equipped to cope
with medical problems. He was knighted in 1927. |
Wilfred Grenfell
|
Also on this day: Bishop
Wardlaw. Bishop Wardlaw founded the University
of St Andrews in 1410 to 1411 in response to French
universities becoming closed to Scottish scholars following
the withdrawal of France’s support for the anti-pope
Benedict XIII.
Also on this day: National
Covenant. The National Covenant was signed on
this day in 1638. The document was triggered in part
by the King’s attempt to force ‘Laud’s
Liturgy’ on the Scottish people and was intended
to appeal for wide support, an aim which was certainly
met, although it was some 50 years before its primary
demand was met, namely freedom for the Kirk from royal
or state control. In spite of its sound legal foundation
and respectful address to the King, Charles I condemned
its contents as: "impertinent and damnable demands."
Initially signed in the kirkyard of Greyfriars’
in Edinburgh, copies travelled the length and breadth
of the country.
Also on this day: Martin
Bucer. Martin Bucer began his adult life as a
member of the Dominican order but was released from
his vows after being persuaded by the views of Martin
Luther. After the death of Zwingli, he became the leader
of the reformed churches in Switzerland and South Germany.
He later became regius professor of Divinity at Cambridge
and had much influence on the development of Anglican
practice. He died in 1551.
29 February:
Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton was the first Scottish Protestant martyr.
A scholar and composer with royal connections, also holding
the title abbot of Fearn, he was exposed to the teachings
of Erasmus and Luther at the University of Paris where
(1520) he was a ‘magister’ i.e. master. He
returned to study and teach at St Andrews and possibly
became a priest.
St Andrews Castle
|
Beginning to show banned Lutheran
sympathies he went to Wittenberg and Marburg and
returned to preach the new doctrines and write short
theses, Patrick’s
Places, emphasising the doctrine of justification
by faith. Trial before archbishop James Beaton lead
to his condemnation –an earlier enquiry had
led to the conversion of Alexander Alane, his inquisitor
(as Alesius to become an able academic in Europe). |
He was burnt at the stake in St Andrews in 1528. It was
said by John Knox that: "The reek of Maister Patrik
Hammyltoun has infected as many as it blew upon."
One of his compositions, which does not survive, was a
Mass in nine voices.
Also this month
Sunday 3 February is
the last Sunday after Epiphany:
The Transfiguration.
Click here to find out
more about our Starters for Sunday page, with prayer
and worship material.
Wednesday 6 February is
Ash Wednesday. Click
here to find out more about the season of Lent.
Sunday 10 February is the first
Sunday in Lent. Click
here to find out more about the season of Lent.
Sunday 17 February is the
second Sunday in Lent. Click
here to find out more about the season of Lent.
Sunday 24 February is
the third Sunday in Lent.
Click here to find out
more about the season of Lent.
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