Blessed Charles the Good
Feastday: March 2
In 1086, St. Canute, King of Denmark and father of Blessed Charles the Good, was slain in St. Alban's Church, Odence. Charles who was only five years old was taken by his mother to the court of Robert, Count of Flanders, his maternal grandfather. When he grew up, he became a knight and accompanied Robert in a crusade to the Holy Land where he distinguished himself; on their return, Charles also fought against the English with his uncle. On Robert's death, his son Baldwin succeeded him and designated Charles as the heir. At the same time, he arranged for Charles' marriage to the daughter of the Count of Clermont. During Baldwin's rule, Charles was closely associated with him, and the people came to have a high regard for his wise and beneficent ways as well as his personal holiness. At Baldwin's death, in 1119, the people made his cousin their ruler. Charles ruled his people with wisdom, diligence, and compassion; he made sure that times of truce were respected and fought against black marketeers who horded food and were waiting to sell it at astronomical prices to the people. This encouraged their undying wrath and one day in 1127 as Charles was praying in the Church of St. Donatian they set upon him and killed him.Blessed Charles the Good feast day is March 2nd.
St. Chad
Feastday: March 2
673
Irish archbishop and brother of St. Cedd, also called Ceadda. He was trained by St. Aidan in Lindisfarne and in England. He also spent time with St. Egbert in Ireland. Made the archbishop of York by King Oswy, Chad was disciplined by Theodore, the newly arrived archbishop of Canterbury, in 669. Chad accepted Theodore’s charges of impropriety with such humility and grace that Theodore regularized his consecration and ap¬pointed him the bishop of Mercia. He established a see at Lichfield. His relics are en¬shrined in Birmingham. In litur¬gical art he is depicted as a bishop, holding a church.
St. Agnes of Boheinia
Feastday: March 2
1282
Called Agnes of Prague in some lists, a princess, abbess, and thaumaturgist or miracle worker. She was born in 1200 in Prague, the daughter of King Ottocar and Queen Constance of Hungary, a relative of St. Elizabeth. As a child she was educated in the Cistercian convent of Treinitz and was betrothed to Emperor Frederick II of Germany (r. 1215-1250). She refused this marriage, which angered Frederick, but in time he came to understand her decision, remarking: "If she had left me for a mortal man, I would have taken vengeance with the sword, but I cannot take offense because in preference to me she has chosen the King of Heaven." Agnes became a Poor Clare, the Franciscan cloistered order, entering the monastery of St. Savior in Prague,which she had founded. During her religious life, Agnes was gifted by miracles. She predicted the victory of her brother Wenceslaus over the duke of Austria. She was canonized in 1989 by Pope John Paul II.
St. Willeic
Feastday: March 2
726
Benedictine monk, a disciple of St. Swithbert. Willeic served as prior of Kaiserwerth Abbey. The town of Kaiserswerth grew up around this abbey near Dusseldorf, Germany, and it was a great spiritual center.
