Today is the Feast of St. Aidan. In his commentary on the history of the English Church Venerable Bede commends as praiseworthy Aidan's virtues; that he did not attach himself to things of this world, he was concerned for the poor "wont to traverse both town and country on foot, never on horseback," never given to haughtiness, and always sought to bring into the faith or deeper into the faith those whom he encountered in his travel. Bede's stories of Aidan often recall these virtues. The following story described by Bede illustrates them well:
"He (King Oswald) had given an extraordinarily fine horse to Bishop Aidan, which he might either use in Crossing rivers, or in performing a journey upon any urgent necessity, though he was wont to travel ordinarily on foot. Some short time after, a poor man meeting him, and asking alms, he immediately dismounted, and ordered the horse, with all his royal furniture, to be given to the beggar; for he was very compassionate, a great friend to the poor, and, as is were, the father of the wretched. This being told to the king, when they were going in to dinner, he said to the bishop, "Why would you, my lord bishop, give the poor man that royal horse...
How hopeful I became when I saw that this past Saturday, September 10, 2011 Raymond Cardinal Burke presided at a Pontifical High Mas at the Shrine to Our Lady of Knock. Cardinal Burke's pilgrimage to the shrine included being the keynote speaker for a pro-life gathering. I can not think of a more fitting place than at the Knock shrine, the site of an apparition of the Holy Family, for these two events to coincide...
