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ON THIS DAY: SEPTEMBER
This month we remember, among others, a former general
secretary of the United Nations, a founder of the largest
child care organisation in Britain, a Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1943 and
a poet who gave his vision of hell.
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1 September: Giles
| Giles gives his name
to churches in Scotland from Edinburgh to Elgin.
He was not a Scot, nor did he ever visit Scotland,
but through comings and goings between continental
and Scottish monasteries, and through the stories
brought home by Scots fighting battles abroad, his
fame spread. Those who turned to him the most were
nursing mothers, lepers, cripples especially; he
was also the patron saint of blacksmiths. Greek
by birth (he has another name, Aegidius), he settled
as a hermit in Provence. |
Giles
|
One day, protecting a stag from the king's arrow, he was
shot in the arm. The king, ashamed, gave him some of his
land, on which later a Benedictine monastery was built.
He died on this day in 741.
4 September: Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer began his career as pastor and theologian,
publishing a book about Jesus Christ which caused a great
stir as Honest to God
did in the 1960s. In 1913 he shocked the academic world
by giving up a promising career to train as a doctor and
care for the sick in a monastery outpost at Lambarene
in Africa (what is now Gabon). His hospital was destroyed
in the First World War, he returned in 1924 to rebuild
it and continue his work. Through his autobiography, On
the Edge of the Primeval Forest, as well as through
his lectures back home, he caught the popular imagination
and became a hero figure to some, as well as an inspiration
for medical mission work. Part of the fascination was
in his ability to excel at many thing. For example, he
became well-known as an organ recitalist and expert on
the music of J. S. Bach. He was given the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1954 and died in 1965.
14 September: Cyprian of Carthage
Cyprian of Carthage was a lawyer convert to Christianity
who was 'fast - tracked' to become, within two years,
bishop of the important sea of Carthage. His time was
characterised by persecutions by the Roman Emperors Decius
and Valerian, as well as by local sectarian violence when
Christians were blamed for the outbreak of a devastating
plague. These various persecutions caused many Christians
to lapse, returning to the church in more peaceful times.
Where Cyprian differed from many contemporaries was in
insisting that the faith was not something that you could
drift in and out of at will, and that therefore such people
should only be allowed back after due penance. He also
took a hard line, against those at Rome, about the need
to rebaptism, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, Christians who had been first baptised in heretical
sects. He was a great upholder of the church, saying:
"He no longer has God for his father who does not
have the church for his mother." He also resisted
centralisation of episcopal authority at Rome, seeing
all bishops as equal. He himself was martyred in the Valerian
persecutions in 258.
Note: in some calendars,
Cyprian is remembered on 13 September or 16 September,
to avoid other festivals. This is also a good way of
avoiding multiple commemorations, and may be adopted
at will.
Dante
|
Also on this
day: Dante Alighieri
is remembered chiefly for his poetic work, Divina
Commedia ('The Divine Comedy'), a landmark
of literature, famous for its vision of hell ("Abandon
hope all ye who enter here"), purgatory and
heaven. It is not just the sublime, powerful language
of the poem that has made it memorable but the way
in which the author's vast knowledge of the science,
customs, morals and theology of his day are interwoven
with the text. |
According to some as a work, it was second to only the
Bible in influence it wielded. For Scots, the poem has
added interest in that he refers to the borderer Michael
Scott, known as the 'wondrous wizard', scholar and astrologer
who was as well known in Italy as in the British Isles.
Dante died in 1321.
Also on this day: A.
M. Hunter was born in Kilwinning and served as
minister at Comrie Old and Perth Kinnoull. He was appointed
professor of New Testament at Mansfield College, Oxford,
and then to a similar post at the University of Aberdeen.
He was also Master of Christ's College, which housed
the faculty of divinity where candidates for the ministry
were trained. Unusually, his academic posts alternated
with his parish ministries, and this may have had some
bearing on the fact that his books on various aspects
of the New Testament, e.g. Interpreting
the Parables, were so accessible to the ordinary
reader as much as to the serious student. His approach
to the New Testament as a unity was considered pioneering.
He followed scholars such as C. H. Dodd, T. W. Manson,
and Vincent Taylor, whose stance was described as 'critical
orthodoxy'. He died in 1991.
15 September: Mirren
Like many saints of the sixth and other early centuries,
Mirren came from Ireland to Scotland. He is said to have
been prior of the huge monastery at Irish Bangor. Some
give him a royal pedigree, but this was often done by
writers who wrote about the lives of saints to give it
realism. That these saints made their mark is shown in
the place names that have survived bearing their name.
Perhaps the liveliest survival of the saint is in the
Paisley football team, but there are many other references
in the streets of that town, as there are in Ayrshire,
the Stewartry, and Loch Lomond. He is said to have teamed
up with Constantine of Govan for some of his work. He
is said to have founded the monastery at Paisley and there
was a chapel dedicated to him in the ruins at Inch Muryn,
the largest island of Loch Lomond. The year of his death
is not known.
16 September: Ninian
Ninian is also known as Ringan. He is usually given the
distinction of being the first Christian missionary in
what is now Scotland, but traditional beliefs about his
role have been much challenged by recent scholarship.
The Venerable Bede is
a relatively early source (eighth century) and, although
there are problems with his account, it is worth mentioning
his belief that Ninian was a Briton, a bishop who studied
at Rome, knew and visited the famous St Martin of Tours
and was successful in converting whole tribes to Christianity.
Said to have been active in the fifth century, and thus
before Columba, he is associated with Whithorn in the
extreme south west of the country. There was probably
a revival of interest in him later centuries as many place
names testify. His date of death is put as c432.
17 September: Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard was a church leader of the twelfth century.
She was head of an abbey of nuns, a writer, visionary,
composer of music, playwright, diplomatic, supporter to
those with unpopular causes, theologian, scientist, prophet
(known as the 'Sybil of the Rhine'), and correspondent
of emperors and popes. Her musical style was revolutionary
for its day, as was the way she described the role of
music. She wrote: "Music arouses the sluggish soul
to watchfulness. It has power to soften even hard hearts,
and by rendering heats moist it ushers in the Holy Spirit.
Through the power of hearing, God opens to human beings
all the glorious sounds of the hidden mysteries and of
the choirs of angels by whom God is praised over and over
again." She died in 1179.
18 September: Dag Hammarskjold
Dag Hammarskjold was the son of a Swedish prime minister
who became the second secretary general of the United
Nations. His work for peace was helped by a strong moral
outlook, a subtle and effective statesmanship, and a Christian
faith, the latter expressed memorably in his much work
Markings, which he described
as: "a sort of white book concerning my negotiations
with myself and God." The United Nations under his
guidance gained greatly in prestige and influence, and
he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was killed in
an air crash in 1961.
19 September: Thomas Barnardo
Thomas Barnardo
|
Thomas Barnardo was of Spanish descent
but was born in Dublin. His first aim was to become
a medical missionary and while studying he founded,
in 1867, the East End Mission for Destitute Children
in Stepney. This was to be the first of some 90
Christian homes, which became known for the high
standards of care found therein. The name of this
great social pioneer has become synonymous with
child care, and today 'Barnardo's' is the largest
child care organisation in Britain. He died in 1905. |
23 September: Adamnan of Iona
Adamnan was a scholarly abbot and a kinsman of Columba,
whose Life of St. Columba
revealed a great deal about early monastic communities,
particularly that of Iona, information we would not otherwise
have. Under him the missioning of Scotland continued.
He was an ecumenical figure, being willing to accept a
unified date for Easter, giving up the one observed by
his branch of the church, a gesture in which his monks
did not follow him. Another valuable book was based on
the eye-witness account of a pilgrim returned from the
holy places of Palestine. Adamnan was renowned also for
his steps to protect non-combatants in war, particularly
women and children, and in the face of violations he would
use the symbolic ringing of a bell to declare this new
code of conduct. He died in 704.
26 September: Lancelot Andrewes
Lancelot Andrewes was an English scholar, master of 15
languages, vicar of St Giles' Cripplegate (see
1 September), and finally Bishop of Winchester. He
participated in the Hampton Court Conference (1604) which
led to the preparation of the authorized version or King
James Bible and in which he himself was involved. He was
a remarkable preacher, and it is for this for which he
is remembered in churches other than his own. He was much
involved in the affairs of the state as well as of the
church, and was a great supporter of King James VI and
I, whom he accompanied on his visit to persuade the Scots
to accept episcopacy. He was one of the principal influences
in the emerging distinctive Anglican theology, "reasonable
in outlook and Catholic in tone." He died in 1626.
29 September: George Buchanan
Was born at Killearn and became known throughout Europe
as a brilliant and exciting scholar and teacher. An early
reformer, he was a severe critic of the late medieval
church and was held in high regard by John Knox. After
suffering under the Inquisition in Portugal, he returned
to Scotland to become an early non-ministerial Moderator
of The General Assembly. Initially supportive of Mary,
he turned against her after her marriage with Darnley
and prepared evidence that eventually led to her execution.
Tutor to the young James VI he produced De
Jure legi apud Scotos, which argued that monarchs
ruled by the will of the people and for their good. He
died in 1582.
Also on this day: John
Baillie was a distinguished divinity professor
at Edinburgh and (like his brother, Donald, who held similar
chair at St Andrews) a renowned teacher. His books explored
theology, examples being Our
Knowledge of God and
John Baillie
|
The Sense
of the Presence of Godi, but he also explored
the world of the spirit, famously in A
Diary of Private Prayer. He was Moderator
of the General Assembly in 1943, chaired the significant
'Commission for the Interpretation of God's Will
in the Present Crisis' which helped the Church respond
to the war and its aftermath. He was created a Companion
of Honour and died in 1960. |
30 September: Jerome
Jerome was born in Dalmatia and educated in Greek and
Latin rhetoric in Rome where he was baptised. A great
scholar, numbered among the 'Doctors of the Church', he
was also a 'boney fetcher' and made enemies even of friends.
A turning point came when after a vision he renounced
his interest in the literature of the time and became
a hermit in the Syrian desert in penance. Later in Rome
he became secretary to Pope Damasus but his outspokenness
caused ill-will and he left with a female admirer to establish
a monastery in Bethlehem! He is remembered for continuing
of Eusebius' great history of the Christian church, but
especially for The Vulgate
- his revision of older Latin New Testament versions (c383)
and a translation of the Hebrew Septuagint (c405) - which
was to remain the essential authorised Roman Catholic
Bible until recently. He died in 420.
Also on this day: George
Whitfield was born in 1714 and became a Christian
in 1735 (partly due to reading the Scot Henry Scougal's
famous classic, The Life of
God in the Soul of Man). Like the Wesleys, through
an Anglican deacon, he was critical of church life and
belief of his day and was unwelcome in many congregations.
His response was to preach in the open air, often to
vast crowds both in America and England. The effective
founder of Calvinistic Methodism, as an evangelical
he was warmly welcomed by the evangelicals in the Church
of Scotland on his fourteenth visit to Scotland. He
was associated with movements known as the 'Cambuslang
Wark' (1742) and the 'Kilsyth Revival'. One of the world's
greatest preachers, loud and untiring, he said of Scotland
that it was: "a desirable place to go to heaven
from. I love, I love the dear people." He died
in 1770.
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