The Shepherd, June 2004
Other Saints in June include:
Saint Odulph (12th / 25th) was a continental Saint, although he came to be loved in England, because a portion of his sacred relics were brought here, as we shall see later. He was born in Brabant and was renowned for his piety from his earliest years. In his native area he was ordained priest, but seeking to progress spiritually he wanted to take up the monastic life and to do so went to Utrecht and placed himself under the Bishop’s spiritual direction. In due time, the Bishop sent him to undertake missionary work among the Frisons, whose instability in the Faith was causing him concern. St Odulph’s ministry among these peoples was crowned with great success, but in old age he returned to Utrecht to spend his last days in quiet. When he died, c. 840 A.D., he was laid to rest in the oratory of St Vincent. Later his relics were taken to Staveren, to be among the peoples whom he had established in the Faith. Nearly two hundred years after his death, in 1034 A.D., a portion of his relics was captured along with other booty by raiders. Bishop Ælfward of London heard that the raiders had this treasure on board when they stopped over in London and he managed to redeem it. He had the sacred relics that he had thus saved taken to the monastery at Evesham and enshrined there. Thus it was that the saint came to be venerated in this country. Somewhat later, Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, who had a vast collection of relics, desired to have a portion of those of St Odulf. When visiting Evesham, she requested that the monks open the reliquary and give her a portion. However, this was displeasing to the Saint, and Edith was struck blind until she placed the portion given her back in the Evesham shrine.
Saint Mark of Lucera (14th / 27th) was one of the early saints in Italy. He lived in the late third and early fourth centuries, and was the son of well-to-do parents in Apulia. After his father had died, he was ordained to the priesthood. However, the enemy of our salvation sought to make trouble for him, and because he had two young girls serving as maids in his house, people spread scandals about him. This provoked the Bishop of Lucera to investigate the matter, and he sent two deacons to summon the priest Mark to come and explain his actions. Mark received the deacons into his house and offered them refreshment, but one of them, obviously feeling more self-righteous than a deacon ought, refused to sit and dine with a priest over whom such accusations were hanging. The saint and the other deacon more sensibly finished their meal. On their way to Lucera, the deacon who had not eaten grew faint and eventually collapsed. Showing the purity of his soul and the injustice of the accusations made against him, St Mark, seeing a deer standing nearby, called her over to them and had her suckle and revive the fallen deacon. Again the saint’s purity was manifest in a miraculous way, when he arrived at the episcopal residence. The Bishop received him coldly, and simply insisted that they go and pray together. While they were at prayer, St Mark heard the angels chanting and mentioned this to the Bishop, who could hear nothing. So St Mark suggested that they continue in prayer; at last, after some long time the Bishop also was granted to hear that celestial chant, and thus his heart was warmed and he was convinced of the saint’s innocence. After the death of that Bishop, St Mark was chosen by the citizens of Lucera to replace him, and he served the people there faithfully until the end of his days. He died at the age of seventy in 328 A.D.
The Venerable Leontius the Seer (18th June / 1st July) holds festival on the same day as his namesake, the Martyr Leontius, who had contested in the very first days of Christendom, in 73 A.D. The Seer was a Greek from the Peloponnese, who took up the monastic life in his youth and joined the sacred Monastery of Dionysiou on the Holy Mountain. There he lived for sixty years, and so resolutely did he apply himself to his monastic seclusion from the world that it was said of him that he entered the monastery when he first went to Dionysiou and only left it once - when they took out his body to lay him to rest in the cemetery. During his lifetime, he was granted the spiritual gifts of discernment of thoughts and of prophesy, from which he derives his title, and after his blessed repose, as a mark of his sanctity, his relics poured forth myron. He died in the year 1605.
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