Christmas Every Day

St Scholastica’s Day

Scholastica (c.480-542) was the sister of St Benedict of Nursia, the founder of western monasticism, and was the first Benedictine nun. The story most frequently told about her concerns the yearly meeting that she would have with her brother. As her death drew near, she begged him to stay longer to discuss the joys of heaven. Not wishing to break his vows, Benedict refused but Scholastica prayed and a fierce storm erupted requiring Benedict to stay and talk longer. A few days later Scholastica died with her shroud, Benedict testified, ascending to heaven in the form of a dove. Scholastica is the patron saint of nuns and children suffering from seizures and is the go-to saint for prayers against storms.

“Havac! Havoc! Smyt fast, give gode knocks!” On St Scholatica’s Day in 1355 a riot broke out between the students of Oxford and townsmen after an incident in a pub over the quality of wine being served. The disorders claimed the lives of 63 students and 30 locals. On the 600th anniversary of the massacres a ceremony of reconciliation was held between the University and the town.

1846

The Mormon exodus west from Nauvoo begins.

The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints founded by their prophet Joseph Smith (1805-44), found it hard to establish themselves peaceably in the United States. Their heterodox ideas of revelation, the nature of God and polygamy were branded as heretical by American Christian leaders and violence was often visited upon them, violence which they often returned in kind. The Mormons, as they came to be called, were driven out of Missouri to Illinois where they established the city of Nauvoo as their headquarters. Again violence broke out and Smith was arrested in 1844 along with his brother and subsequently murdered by a lynch mob in jail.

Plans were then made for a mass migration of Mormons outside the USA, either to California (then occupied by Mexico) or a settlement on unclaimed land across the Rockies. In February 1846, groups of settlers began to move out of Nauvoo. Eventually thousands would trek to the Great Salt Lake Valley in what is now Utah and establish themselves in the security they sought.

1921

Death of Hannah Grier Coome

On this day the Anglican Church in Canada honours Hannah Grier Coome (1837-1921) or Mother Hannah who found the country’s first Anglican religious order for women.

Born thirty years before Confederation in what was then Upper Canada, Hannah Grier was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman. At age 22 she married an engineer, Thomas Coome, and moved with him to England until 1877 when they returned to North America. At the death of her husband Hannah resolved to return to England to join the order of the Sisters of St Mary but she was persuaded to set up a similar sisterhood in Canada instead. While funds were being raised to endow the order, Hannah worked with nuns in New York to gain experience in hospital and social work.

In 1884 Hannah made her vows and established the Sisterhood of St John the Divine in Toronto. With Sister Aimée Hare, she began to provide meals and clothing for the poor, teach Bible classes, visit the sick and sew for churches. The next year she volunteered for nursing duties during the Northwest Rebellion and helped set up a field hospital in Moose Jaw.

When she returned, the order established the first surgical hospital for women in Toronto and a home for the aged. Over the past century they have trained nurses, in convalescent care, and in rehabilitation; administered schools and an orphanage; worked with the mentally handicapped; ministered to the elderly; and worked with the poor in large cities and depressed rural areas. Today the sisterhood is best known for its rehabilitation hospital and retreat centres and for urging liturgical renewal.

For more on the Sisterhood of St John the Divine: http://www.ssjd.ca/history.html

1685

The accession of the last Catholic ruler of the United Kingdom.

James II of England (James VII of Scotland) (1633-1701) was born to King Charles I and his queen Henrietta Maria. He was captured by the forces of Parliament during the English civil war but escaped and fled to France where he joined his mother at the court of his uncle Louis XIV. Parliament had executed his father in 1649 which made his older brother Charles, the king of a throne he could not recover until 1660 and James became the heir presumptive — meaning that he would be displaced as heir as soon as his brother produced a child. However Charles II, though capable of siring any number of bastard sons and daughters (at least 14), remained in a childless marriage.

Though both had been brought up as Protestants (and the ruler of England was expected to be head of the Anglican church), both Charles and James converted to their mother’s Catholicism. While Charles concealed his conversion as long as he lived, James made no secret of it after 1679. This led many in England to call for his being barred from the throne but when his brother died in 1685, on this day James succeeded as king with little public opposition.

Within three years, however, James would be deposed from the throne in a Protestant coup. There were three main reasons for this: James’s attempts to win toleration for his Catholic subjects, his use of non-Parliamentary powers to do so, and the astonishing birth of a male son who would be the Catholic heir which the English political class dreaded. In 1688 politicians conspired with Mary, the daughter of James II and her husband, William of Orange, the Dutch prince. An Orange-led army invaded England causing James to flee; he returned with an army to invade Catholic Ireland where he hoped to build a base of support but he was defeated in 1689 at the Battle of the Boyne. James then went into permanent exile in France; by his flight he was deemed to have abdicated and William and Mary were installed as joint rulers.

The consequences of this “Glorious Revolution” were enormous. The two new monarchs had to accept a Bill of Rights and new laws that would result eventually in the supremacy of Parliament. Catholics were (and still are) barred from the throne but further religious toleration was granted to non-Anglican Protestants. James, his son (the Old Pretender) and grandson (Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender) kept up their claims to the throne, often backed by armed invasions. It was not until 1807 that the last Stuart claimant, a Catholic cardinal named Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart died.

Death of an apoplectic earl

Given the heated tenor of recent political exchanges, it seems worthwhile to remember that one may literally burst a blood vessel when arguing with one’s opponents. That was the case with James Stanhope, (1673-1721) the first Earl Stanhope, who was defending his conduct during the infamous Southsea Bubble scandal, a failed investment scheme in which many lost their fortunes and government finances took serious damage. Chamber’s Book of Days notes:

This eminent person carried arms under King William in Flanders; and his Majesty was so struck with his spirit and talent that he gave him a captain’s commission in the Foot Guards, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he being then in his 21^st year. He also served under the Duke of Schomberg and the Earl of Peterborough; and subsequently distinguished himself as Commander-in-chief of the British forces in Spain. At the close of his military career, he became an active Whig leader in Parliament; took office under Sunderland, and was soon after raised to the peerage. His death was very sudden. He was of constitutionally warm and sensitive temper, with the impetuous bearing of the camp, which he had never altogether shaken off. 

In the course of the discussion on the South Sea Company’s affairs, which so unhappily involved some of the leading members of the Government, the Duke of Wharton (Feb. 4^th, 1721) made some severe remarks in the House of Lords, comparing the conduct of ministers to that of Sejanus, who had made the reign of Tiberius hateful to the old Romans. Stanhope, in rising to reply, spoke with such vehemence in vindication of himself and his colleagues, that he burst a blood-vessel, and died the next day. 

‘May it be eternally remembered,’ says the British Merchant, ‘to the honour of Earl Stanhope, that he died poorer in the King’s service than he came into it. Walsingham, the great Walsingham, died poor; but the great Stanhope lived in the time of South Sea temptations.’

Candlemas

Since the sixth century, February 2 has been the day of the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary — now known as the Feast of the Presentation — marking the ritual in the Temple required by Jewish law law forty days after the birth of a male child.

When the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple, Simeon spoke of him as “a light to lighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32) and so light is the theme of the day. Believers bring a candle to the church to be blessed; these candles are thought to possess magical powers against sickness and thunder storms. Across many cultures it is the last day of the Christmas season when all ornaments must be taken down and greenery burnt. In England the Yule log for the next Christmas was selected and set to dry; in Mexico it is the Dia de Candelaria when the image of the baby Jesus is removed from the cradle. On Candlemas, Scottish school children used to bring money to their teacher to buy candles to light the school room, a practice that turned into simply bringing gifts to the master. The boy who brought the most money (the term for this gratuity was bleeze-money) was named Candlemas King whose reign lasted six weeks and who was allowed to remit punishments.

The custom of predicting the weather based on conditions on Candlemas has turned into Groundhog Day wherein North Americans watch the emergence of particular groundhogs from their hibernation — if they see their shadows on February 2, six more weeks of winter will follow. (Americans scrutinize the reaction of the Pennsylvania groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil while Canadians observe Ontario’s Wiarton Willie or Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam. Animal rights advocates have recently demanded that these animals be replaced by robot groundhogs.)

Candlemas was also believed to be a time when the soul of Judas is temporarily allowed out of Hell to ease his torment in the sea.