5 March
Non
Mother of David of Wales
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
According to Rhygyfarch’s Life of St David, Non (whom he assumes was a nun) was raped by Sant, King of Ceredigion. She gave birth to a son: Dewi Sant or St David. The Welsh version of her story says that he was her only child, but Irish tradition also makes her the mother of two daughters, Mor and Magna. She is said to have moved to Brittany, where her cult is centred on Dirinon. Her tomb can be seen there and her life was the subject of a Breton mystery play performed at Dirinon in her honour. In Brittany her protection during childbirth has long been invoked by pregnant women. Non’s holy well and the ruins of her chapel are just outside St Davids. She is also connected with Llannon (Ceredigion), Llannon (Carmarthenshire) and traditionally with Altarnon in Cornwall.
Collect
God our Father,
who entrusted your only begotten Son
to the care of an earthly mother
that she might guide his first steps in the paths of faith and love:
grant that we who revere the mother of our patron David
may work to bring up a new generation
in the fear and love of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory,
now and for ever.
5 March
Kieran of Seirkieran
Bishop and Monk
Ireland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
Kieran or Ciaran was both bishop and monk. Born in West Cork, but from an Ossory family, he appears to have travelled to Europe, where he was ordained. On his return to Ireland, he settled at Seir (Saighir) near Birr, first as a hermit and then as abbot of the large monastery there. He also had a hermitage on the island of Cape Clear, off West Cork. Fascinating tales of his life surrounded by the animals of his neighbouring woods have often been retold. He died on this day in about the year 545.
Collect
Lord God,
maker of all things wise and wonderful,
all creatures great and small,
we recall with thanksgiving your servant, Kieran,
who lived close to your creation:
make us mindful of our responsibility
for the good earth in which you have placed us,
and guide us to preserve that which you have given
for the well being of the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
6 March
Baldred
Hermit and Bishop
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Missionaries
Baldred, thought to have been a devoted disciple of Kentigern, whom he may have succeeded as Bishop of Glasgow, lived as a hermit on the Bass Rock, off the coast of East Lothian. However, he engaged in missionary work on the mainland and became known as the apostle of East Lothian. He died on this day in the year 608.
7 March
Perpetua, Felicity and their Companions
Red
Martyrs at Carthage
England: Lesser Festival – Scotland: Commemoration – Wales: V
The moving, contemporary account of these early third-century African martyrs proved to be of great significance in the life of the early Church. Vibia Perpetua was a young, married noblewoman of Carthage and Felicity was her personal slave. Saturus was possibly a priest and there were two other men, Saturninus and Revocatus, the latter also a slave. Felicity was pregnant. It seems most of them were catechumens when arrested and only baptized later in prison, where Perpetua had a vision in which she climbed a great ladder into paradise. They were condemned as Christians by the Roman authorities and dispatched to the public arena, there to be mauled by wild animals. They all survived and were then taken to be executed by the sword. Before this, they exchanged the Kiss of Peace and affirmed their faith in Christ, the Son of God. The account of their martyrdom was widely circulated in secret throughout the Christian congregations and proved both to give renown to their courage and to give encouragement to their fellow Christians in the face of adversity. They were martyred for their faith on this day in the year 203.
Collect
Holy God,
who gave great courage to Perpetua, Felicity and their companions:
grant that we may be worthy to climb the ladder of sacrifice
and be received into the garden of peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
A reading from the Song of Songs.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
This is the word of the Lord.
Song of Songs 8.6, 7
Responsorial
