St. David
Feastday: March 1
According to tradition, St. David was the son of King Sant of South Wales and St. Non. He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. Later, he was involved in missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. The monastery he founded at Menevia in Southwestern Wales was noted for extreme asceticism. David and his monks drank neither wine nor beer - only water - while putting in a full day of heavy manual labor and intense study. Around the year 550, David attended a synod at Brevi in Cardiganshire. His contributions at the synod are said to have been the major cause for his election as primate of the Cambrian Church. He was reportedly consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on a visit to the Holy Land. He also is said to have invoked a council that ended the last vestiges of Pelagianism. David died at his monastery in Menevia around the year 589, and his cult was approved in 1120 by Pope Callistus II. He is revered as the patron of Wales. Undoubtedly, St. David was endowed with substantial qualities of spiritual leadership. What is more, many monasteries flourished as a result of his leadership and good example. His staunch adherence to monastic piety bespeaks a fine example for modern Christians seeking order and form in their prayer life.His feast day is March 1.
Saint Albinus
Bishop
(470-550)
Saint Albinus was of an ancient and noble family in Brittany, and from his childhood was fervent in every exercise of piety. He ardently sighed after the happiness which a devout soul finds in being disengaged from all earthly things. Having embraced the monastic state, despite his parents’ disapproval, he shone a perfect model of virtue, taking upon himself all the humblest offices and disciplining his flesh by every kind of mortification. In brief, he lived as if in all things he were without any will of his own; and his soul seemed so perfectly governed by the spirit of Christ as to live only for Him.
In 504, at the age of thirty-five Saint Albinus was chosen Abbot of his monastery; Saint Fortunatus, his first historian, compared the monastery at that time to a garden rendered beautiful by the most exquisite, most varied, most fragrant flowers. Twenty-five years later, divine Providence gave the Abbot to the entire region as Bishop of Angers. A day did not pass without his instructing his people, for he believed that the soul needs daily nourishment just as imperatively as does the flesh.
Many Christians of his diocese had fallen into slavery through the invasions of the barbarians, and Saint Albinus used every resource available to him for their redemption. To the graces of charity from which his people benefitted, were joined those deriving from his public miracles. He resurrected a young child; and when one of his servants died during his absence, those who carried the man to his grave were unable to lower him until the bishop arrived to give the final benediction. He established and restored measures of ecclesiastical discipline, through the third Council of Orleans, convened through his influence over King Childebert, son of Clovis, who greatly respected his opinions. In brief, he was inflamed with a holy zeal for the glory of God in all aspects of life. Honored by all, he was never affected with vanity.
Saint Albinus died after making a long journey which he undertook to consult Saint Cesarius, Bishop of Arles, concerning matters of episcopal government. He had been the benediction of his diocese for twenty-one years; he died on March 1, 549. He is often represented preaching in the episcopal pulpit or curing the sick, or holding chains while commanding prison doors to be opened.
St. Eudocia
Feastday: March 1
100
Penitent Samaritan martyr in the reign of Emperor Trajan. A native of Coele ¬ Syria, she repented her sinful life and lived in Heliopolis, a suburb of modem Cairo, Egypt, before being martyred by beheading.
St. Hermes and Adrian
Feastday: March 1
290
Martyrs with twenty four companions, probably the Massylitan martyrs praised by St. Augustine. They suffered in Massylis, or Marula, in Numidia
St. Monan
Feastday: March 1
Monan was a monk at St. Andrew's under St. Adrian. Monan worked as a missionary in the Firth of Forth area in Scotland until he and a large number of Christians were murdered by marauding Danes. His feast day is March 1.
St. Herculaflus
Feastday: March 1
549
Bishop of Perugia, Italy, beheaded by King Totila of the Ostrogoths. He is probably the same Herculanus sent to Perugia from Syria to evangelize the region.
St. Leo of Rouen
Feastday: March 1
900
Bishop of Rouen, France, who was martyred during a Saracen invasion. Pirates beheaded him near Bayonne, and he is honored as a patron saint of that city.
St. Lupercus
Feastday: March 1
300
Martyred bishop, venerated at Tarbes, near Lourdes, France. He was French or possibly Spanish and is also listed as Luperculus.
St. Rudesind
Feastday: March 1
977
Benedictine abbot and bishop, listed also as Rosendo. Born in Galicia, Spain, in 907 to a noble family, he was appointed bishop of Mondonedo at the age of eighteen and against his personal wishes. Soon after, he was given the duty of replacing the dissolute bishop of Compostela, his cousin Sisnand. He distinguished himselfwith his military skills by leading armies in the field against invading Norsemen and Moors. When Sisnand escaped from imprisonment, he drove Rudesind from his office as bishop under threat of murder. Rudesind retired to the monastery of St. John Caveiro which he had built, and founded the abbey of Celanova at Villar, where he lived as a monk. He built several other monastic communities, installing in each strict observance of the Benedictine rule. Elected abbot of Celanova to succeed the first abbot, Franquila, he became a leading figure of his time, receiving visits from Church leaders throughout Portugal who sought his spiritual advice. A relative of St. Senorina, Rudesind earned a reputation for performing miracles. He died at Celanova and was canonized in 1195.
St. Marnock
Feastday: October 25 & March 1
Irish bishop, a disciple of St. Columba. He resided on Jona, Scotland, and is also called Marnan, Marnanus, or Marnoc. He died at Annandale and is revered on the Scottish border. His name was given to Kilmarnock, Scotland.
