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ON THIS DAY: JANUARY
This month we remember, among others, the naming of
Jesus, Holocaust Memorial Day and the man who founded
the University of Glasgow.
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7 January: William Turnbull
William Turnbull founded the University of Glasgow around
1450 to 1452 who was at the time Bishop of Glasgow. Turnbull
was a much travelled scholar and churchman, studying abroad,
attending european conferences, and representing church
and king at Rome. Settling at home after 1439, he held
political office as well as being vicar of St Giles in
Edinburgh. As bishop he was known as a reformer and one
who cared about his clergy and about the wellbeing of
members of the religious orders who had settled in Scotland.
His own wide training and experience gave him an understanding
of the intellectual and cultural needs of the country,
and his founding of the university, with its faculties
of arts, divinity, medicine and law was in response to
this. He died in 1454.
9 January: Fillan
Fillan was the name given to as many as four saints believed
to have worked in Scotland. The one about which we know
most was the son of an Irish prince who came with members
of his family to the district of Lochalsh. His principal
association is with the area around Crianlarich where
the former church bears his name. The case believed to
be for the saint’s crook survived the reformation
(the keeper of a saint’s staff was the dewar, providing
a Scottish surname) and is said to have gone with the
migrating Macdonnells to Canada in the eighteenth century
where it was used in the consecration of the first Roman
Catholic bishop in Upper Canada. The saint’s bell
still survives, while another relic (said to contain his
hand and arm) played a part at the Battle of Bannockburn.
The saint lived and worked in the eighth century. The
Fillan whose name survives in St Fillans on Loch Earn
was a different saint and is commemorated in June.
12 January:
Ailred
Ailred or Aelred became Abbot of Rievaulx, one
of the earliest Cistercian foundations in England, and
one from which the community at Melrose in the Scottish
Borders was founded. Ailred was a writer and theologian,
according to some his writings being among the best
in mediaeval times, and because of this was often called
‘the Bernard of the North’, after the great
French writer St Bernard of Clairvaux. Reared at the
court of King David I of Scotland (Margaret’s
son), he had great influence in the growth of monks
and nuns in this country. His piety was focused on Christ
and his style of life was strictly self disciplined.
He died in 1167.
13 January: Robert Stirling
Robert Stirling
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Robert Stirling was born at Methven
in 1790 and became minister at Kilmarnock and then
Galston. At one point he was suspended, with others,
by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
for holding communion with the deposed ministers
of Strathbogie (one of the incidents which led to
the disruption). He received a doctor of divinity
degree from the University of St Andrews. It was
no surprise that the grandson of the inventor of
the rotary threshing machine should become known
for his hobby of mechanics and hammering was often
heard at midnight from his smithy adjoining the
manse. |
According to some, his major achievement was his invention
and patenting of a hot air engine that emitted no exhaust.
He also made experiments which anticipated the Siemens
process in the manufacture of steel. The possibilities
of the ‘Stirling Engine’ have very recently
been returned to by a group in the University of Glasgow,
which may come into its own as an answer to the problem
of pollution. Stirling died in 1878.
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Also on this day: Kentigern
(or Mungo) is said to have been born at
Culross in Fife after his pregnant mother Thenew
or Enoch, a victim of rape, had been set adrift
in a boot without oars by an angry father. He
grew up with Serf as his teacher and guardian
but was bullied so much that he ran away. Although
he is most strongly associated with Glasgow, there
is less historical evidence to link him with that
area than with Annandale and with Cumbria. However,
both the city and cathedral of Glasgow claim him,
and the former’s coat of arms contains depictions
of the legends and miracles surrounding his name,
including his pulling from the Clyde the salmon
with, in its mouth, the queen’s lost wedding
ring. He died around 612.
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Image of Kentigern/Mungo
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To find out more about Kentigern/Mungo, please visit the
Lochgilphead Catholic Church www.lochgilpheadcatholic.com.
Please note this link will take you out of the Church
of Scotland website and will open a new browser window.
Also on this day: Mary
Slessor was born in Aberdeen and worked as a
mill-weaver in Dundee but went as a teacher-missionary
under the United Presbyterian Church to Calabar in 1876.
Moving to Okoyong, experiencing at that time social
upheaval, she was recognised as a ‘chief’
and laboured to bring reforms to the economic, cultural
and religious life of the area. She was made a vice-consul
and is thought to be have been first woman magistrate
in the British empire. She was down to earth and rebarbative
in style, adopting an African style of life. She adopted
children rejected by African society and argued for
the education of girls. A musical about her life was
recently mounted by the Dundee Repertory Theatre. She
died in 1915.
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on this day: George
Fox was the founder of the Society of Friends
(the ‘Quakers’). For several years he
travelled, studying and seeking enlightenment, and
ultimately gave up ties with the church to advocate
reliance on the Inner Light
of the living Christ. Frequently imprisoned,
he attracted many followers, travelling the world
to spread his insights. He was regarded as having
an appealing personality and a person of great organising
ability. He died in 1691. |
George Fox
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20 January: John Howard
John Howard was a wealthy englishman who, having been
imprisoned in France during the Seven Years War, devoted
his life to prison reform. Instrumental in getting acts
passed (1774) ensuring the payment of gaolers and prison
cleanliness, he spent many years visiting prisons in Britain
and the continent seeking to improve conditions, eventually
dying in Russia from fever while attending to a prisoner.
The Howard League for Prison Reform is named after this
Christian philanthropist. He died in 1790.
23
January: Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an english clergyman who was a co-founder
of the Christian Socialist movement, and for a time a
Cambridge history professor. He has been described as
a prolific and influential author and novelist (Westward
Ho!, The Water-Babies), and he was critical of
sweated labour and among other things was a strong advocate
of the co-operative movement, of better sanitation, and
of improved adult education. He was passionately sympathetic
to the poor and did much to influence the upper classes
to their plight. A supporter of Darwin on evolution he
sought to reconcile science and Christianity. He died
in 1875.
24 January: William Barclay
William Barclay
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William Barclay was a minister at
Renfrew Trinity before his appointment in 1946 as
lecturer, and later professor, of new testament
language and literature. In his early years an editor
of The Scottish Sunday
School Teacher, he became prolific author
of popular and accessible books, of prayer, about
scripture, and about ethics, which still remain
best-sellers all over the world. |
He is remembered also for his use of television to communicate
the truths of the christian faith through the exposition
of scripture. His down-to-earth approach endeared him
to both students, church members and the general public
who watched his broadcasts. He died in 1978.
To find out more information on the life of William
Barclay click
here. Please note this link will take you out of
the Church of Scotland website and will open a new browser
window.
25 January: Conversion
of Paul the Apostle
On this day the Church commemorates Saul/Paul’s
conversion experience on the road to Damascus as it is
described in the New Testament book of Acts, chapter 9.
26 January: Polycarp
of Smyrna
Polycarp of Smyrna
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Polycarp of Smyrna was bishop of Smyrna,
said to have been taught by the apostles at Ephesus
and was himself the teacher of Irenaeus. His Epistle
to the Philippians is very relevant to the
formation of a canon of scripture (the books now
considered the best witnesses to the faith). His
other writings were also influential and he could
be said to be the crucial link between the apostles
themselves and the growing church. He opposed Marcionism
(Marcion rejected the Old Testament and the Law,
giving credence only to Love). He also opposed centralisation
in the church. |
He was arrested for his beliefs, tried and martyred. Refusing
to recant and curse Christ he said: "Eight and six
years I have served Him, and He hath done me no wrong;
how then can I blaspheme my king who saved me". He
died in circa 155.
Also on this day:
Gordon of Khartoum has been described by some
as a brave even foolhardy soldier. He was a Victorian
hero on account of his activity in the Crimean War and
for his exploits in China. Chinese
Gordon became more famous as a martyred warrior
saint by his death at Khartoum. A somewhat eccentric
but enthusiastic evangelical with a mystical bent, after
investigation he believed he had identified Golgotha
Gordon’s Calvary.
27 January:
Holocaust Memorial Day
On this day we do not only recall the victims of the holocaust
including Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, Russian Prisoners of War,
the physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah’s
Witnesses and members of other minority groups - but acknowledge
genocide which has taken place since: in Cambodia, Rwanda,
Bosnia, Darfur. It also enables us to renew our commitment
to combat racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, sectarianism,
and to work for an inclusive, caring and open society.
The reason for the date is that it is the anniversary
of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops.
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More information about Holocaust Memorial
Day is available from www.holocaustmemorialday.gov.uk
Please note this site will take you out of the Church
of Scotland website and open a new browser window. |
You can read our suggested worship material, including
prayers, hymns and readings, on our Starters
for Sunday feature.
Also on this day: Baron
Friedrich von Hugel was born in Austria but became
a naturalised British subject. He was a Roman Catholic
philosopher, geologist and theologian with wide Christian
sympathies and deep feeling. He was an advocate of a
critical approach to the text of scripture. His The
Mystical Element in Religion was influential
among reformed theologians, as was his Gifford lectures
at Edinburgh which, although he was unable to give them
in person through ill health, were published as The
Reality of God. His writings took themes from
the relationship of history to Christianity, the place
of human culture in the Christian life, the Christian
concept of time, and eschatology. He died in 1926.
28 January:
Devorgilla
Devorgilla was born of royal birth, and was the wife
of John Balliol, king of Scots from 1292 to 1296. After
his death she kept his heart embalmed in a silver casket.
She founded Sweetheart Abbey in Dumfries-shire (circa
1273) and endowed Balliol College, Oxford, in memory
of her husband. When she died, in 1290, she was buried
with her husband’s heart before the high altar
of the church at Sweetheart Abbey.
Also on this day: Alexander
Peden was a covenanting preacher who served as
schoolmaster, session clerk and led the singing and
prayers at Tarbolton before being ordained to New Luce
in Galloway. He refused to conform to episcopacy and
was rejected, earning the respected of preachers at
conventicles. He was arrested and confined to the Bass
Rock for four years and in Edinburgh’s Tolbooth.
He died in 1686.
30
January: John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom was initially a hermit-monk from
Syrian Antioch (one of four early church centres)
but grew in influence to become, according to some,
one of the most famous preachers of all time (the
second name by which he is known means the
golden-tongued. Later he became Patriarch
of Constantinople, although against his wish. An
earnest reformer, he did not always endear himself
to the rich and powerful nor to many colleagues
and he was deposed. Forced into excessive travelling
in poor health and poor conditions, he died in 407.
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John Chrysostom
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31 January:
C.H. Spurgeon
Spurgeon was regarded by some as a great Victorian
fundamentalist Baptist preacher who drew crowds in London
of more than 10,000. His sermons were often characterised
by considerable insight and also by humour. Many in
modern times have been enriched by the published sermons
as well as by his pithy sayings in, e.g., John Ploughman’s
Talk. He died in 1892.
Also this month
Monday January
1 is New Year's Day
2008 and the Naming of Jesus.
On this day the Church commemorates the baptism of Jesus
by John as described in the New Testament gospel of Matthew
chapter 3 verses 13 to 17. Click here to find out about
Starters for Sunday page,
with prayer and worship material, from the Panel of Worship.
Sunday 6 January
2008 is the Epiphany
of the Lord. Click here to find out more about
the festival of Epiphany
and other key festivals and dates in the Christian
calendar, from the Panel on Worship.
Sunday 13 January is the
first Sunday after the Epiphany.
Sunday 20 January is the
second Sunday after the Epiphany.
Sunday 27 January is the
third Sunday after the Epiphany.
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