WORDS TO THE WHYS

The truth will make you odd. Flannery O’Connor

Saint Who? Alphege.

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Friday 19 April
St Alphege, Bishop & Martyr [Abstinence]
Saint John Henry's, Victoria, BC
Mattins 9 am | Terce 9.30 am
Confessions 9.30-9.45 am | Low Mass 10 am

Ælfheah (c.953 - 19 April 1012), or Alphege, was Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and eventually Archbishop of Canterbury. He became an anchorite before being chosen abbot of Bath Abbey. His reputation for piety and sanctity earned him an elevation to the episcopate and, finally, archbishop. Ælfheah promoted the intercession of Saint Dunstan while also encouraging education. He was kidnapped by Viking raiders in 1011 during the siege of Canterbury and executed the following year after refusing to be ransomed. Ælfheah was canonised as a (martyr) saint in 1078. In 1170, Thomas Becket, later Archbishop of Canterbury, prayed to Ælfheah before being murdered in Canterbury Cathedral.

Old English: Ælfhēah, "elf-tall"

Source: Rumble, "From Winchester to Canterbury" Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church.

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