God for ever.
12 April
William Forbes
Bishop of Edinburgh
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops
Born in Aberdeen in 1585, William Forbes was for a time Professor of Logic in the university there. He ministered in Alford and Monyausk, then at St Nicholas’ Church, Aberdeen. A theologian of European rank, his strongly patristic, eucharistic theology led him into controversy. His work has been used in international talks between Anglicans and Roman Catholics in modern times. He was nominated by Charles I in 1633 to be first bishop of Edinburgh, but he died within two months of his consecration.
15 April
Padarn
Bishop
Wales: V
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Bishops
The Welsh Triads describe Padarn as one of the ‘three blessed visitors of the Island of Britain’, along with David and Teilo. There is a tradition that the three saints travelled together on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is said that Padarn was presented with a choral cope there and the saint has thus become regarded as a singer and musician. Padarn founded a major ecclesiastical centre at Llanbadarn Fawr in Ceredigion, of which he may have been the first bishop. Padarn’s churches may be linked to the network of Roman roads and this might suggest that this connects the saint with residual Romano-British Christianity in mid-Wales (Padarn being the Welsh version of the common Latin name Paternus). This could imply that his missionary work preceded that of his two fellow ‘blessed visitors’.
Collect
Almighty God,
by whose permission
Padarn was invested with the staff of pastoral authority
and called to govern the Church in our land:
grant to those who follow in his office
grace to be faithful shepherds of your flock,
healing the wounds of those entrusted to their care;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
whom by the power of the Spirit
you raised to live with you,
his God and Father,
for ever and ever.
16 April
Magnus of Orkney
Martyr
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Martyrs
At the end of the eleventh century, the Earldom of Orkney was divided between cousins Haakon Paulson and Magnus Erlingsson, one a war-like Viking chief, the other a man of peace. They ruled jointly but uneasily for some years, but eventually Haakon claimed sole sovereignty. A council was called for Easter 1116, but Haakon arrived with a large force and refused to allow Magnus the option of flight or exile. Magnus faced his death heroically and with faith. The shrine for his remains, Kirkwall Cathedral, was erected only twenty years after his murder.
16 April
Isabella Gilmore
Deaconess
England: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Pastors
Born in 1842, Isabella Gilmore, the sister of William Morris, was a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London and in 1886, was asked by Bishop Thorold of Rochester to pioneer deaconess work in his diocese. The bishop overcame Isabella’s initial reluctance and together they planned an Order of Deaconesses along the same lines as the ordained ministry. She was made a deaconess in 1887 and a training house developed on North Side, Clapham Common, later to be called Gilmore House in her memory. Isabella herself retired in 1906 and, during her nineteen years of service, she trained head deaconesses for at least seven other dioceses. At her memorial service, Dr Randall Davidson predicted that ‘Some day, those who know best will be able to trace much of the origin and root of the revival of the Deaconess Order to the life, work, example and words of Isabella Gilmore.’ She died on this day in 1923.
17 April
Donnan and his Companions
Martyrs
Scotland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Martyrs
Donnan (or Dounan) was an Irish missionary, roughly contemporary with Columba, who worked in Galloway, Argyll and the islands of the Inner Hebrides. He established a monastery on the island of Eigg, where he and fifty-two companions were massacred by Viking pirates around the year 617.
18 April
Laserian
Abbot of Leighlin
Ireland: Commemoration
If celebrated otherwise, Common of Religious
Laserian, often called affectionately Mo-laise, was abbot of Old Leighlin. The cathedral, sheltering among the hills of County Carlow in Ireland, is a place of peace and beauty. It is said that Laserian may have received his training in Iona. His name is honoured in Scotland (Arran) as well as in other parts of Ireland (Inishmurray, of the coast of County Sligo). He died on this day in the year 639.
Collect
God of peace and beauty
who called Laserian to minister in Scottish islands
and in the rolling land of Carlow:
bless the ministers of your church
wherever they are called to serve,
making them ministers of reconciliation and of peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
19 April
Alphege
Red
Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr
England: Lesser Festival
Alphege became a monk at Deerhurst near Gloucester and withdrew in later
