St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

At St. Paul’s Parish today,Monday, October 13, 2008:

• Vestry meeting at 7:00 p.m. (in the Parish Hall).

The October issue of St. Paul’s Sword of the Spirit, our monthly newsletter, is available on line, as is the calendar of parish events for October 2008.

Today’s news in the Episcopal Church - Episcopal Life Online.

On the calendar tomorrow, October 14, 2008:

• Morning Prayer at 9:30 a.m. (in the Worship Space);
• Women’s Book Discussion Group at 10:00 a.m. (in the Common Room);
• Al-Anon at 7:45 p.m. (in the Parish Hall).

Today is the commemoration of the last Saxon king of England, St. Edward the Confessor. Edward died without heirs and his throne was claimed by his brother-in-law Harold, whom Edward had named as heir; thus, some consider Edward penultimate Saxon king. However, Harold was never crowned and spent the entire time between Edward’s death on January 5, 1066, and the Battle of Hastings, at which Harold was killed on October 14, 1066, fighting the Norman claimant, William, who eventually took the throne. According to a biography at Britannia History:

There is some question as to what kind of person Edward was. After his death, he was the object of a religious cult and was canonized in 1161, but that could be viewed as a strictly political move. Some say, probably correctly, that he was a weak, but violent man and that his reputation for saintliness was overstated, possibly a sham perpetrated by the monks of Westminster in the twelfth century. Others seem to think that he was deeply religious man and a patient and peaceable ruler. (Read the entire Brittania History here; also, a hagiography by James Kiefer here.)

The following is the collect for Edward’s commemoration:

O God, who called your servant Edward to an an earthly throne that he might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave him zeal for your Church and love for your people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate him this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.