Saints celebrated on the 8th of July
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
ST GRIMBALD, ABBOT
(Native of St Omer, [France]) Saint Grimbald was a monk at St Bertin’s, and with his abbot entertained King Alfred in that abbey when that prince was going to Rome.
This king, afterwards, by the advice of Eldred archbishop of Canterbury, sent messengers to St Bertin’s to invite Grimbald over to England, where he arrived, Hugh being twelfth abbot of that monastery, in the year 885.
Asserius, a monk of Menevia or St David’s, whom king Alfred honoured with his particular esteem, and who was afterwards bishop of Shireburn, was one of these messengers.
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AT OXFORD
The Oxonian writers tell us that Grimbald was appointed first professor of divinity at Oxford, when he is said to have founded that university; and that Asserius, John Erigena, and St Neot taught there at the same time.
THE ANCIENT STRUCTURE IS STANDING TO THIS DAY
The learned Mr Hearne says not only that Grimbald built St Peter’s church in the East, but also that the eastern vault of his ancient structure is standing to this day, of which he gives a plan.
Upon the death of Eldred archbishop of Canterbury, King Alfred pressed Grimbald to accept that dignity; but was not able to extort his consent, and was obliged to allow him to retire to the church of Winchester.
HE APPOINTED ST GRIMBALD ABBOT
King Alfred’s son and successor Edward, in compliance with his father’s will, built the new Minstre close to the old, in which he placed secular canons, says Tanner, and appointed St Grimbald abbot over them; this title being then given to a superior of secular or regular priests.
About sixty years after, Bishop Ethelwolph brought in monks in place of those secular canons. King Henry I removed this monastery of New Minstre out of the walls of the city to the place called Hide, which still continued sometimes to be called St Grimbald’s monastery.
ST GRIMBALD'S MONASTERY
The body of the great King Alfred was removed by his son from the Old Minstre, and that of his queen, Alswithe, from the nunnery of Nunnaminstre, and deposited together in the New Minstre, afterwards in Hide Monastery.
Nunnaminstre was founded by King Alfred, or rather by his queen, Alswithe. St Edburge, a daughter of King Edward, was a nun, and, according to Leland, abbess there.
A HAPPY DEATH
St Grimbald in his last sickness, though extremely feeble, gathered strength when the sacred viaticum was brought, rose out of bed, and received it prostrate on the ground. After this he desired to be left alone for three days, which he spent in close union of his heart with God. On the fourth day the community was called into his chamber, and amidst their prayers the saint calmly breathed forth his happy soul on July 8, in the year 903, of his age eighty-three.
A SILVER SHRINE
His body was reposed in this church, and honoured amongst its most precious relics. It was taken up by St Elphegus, and exposed in a silver shrine.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 📷 An illustration from the Grimbald Gospels in the British Library, which are named after him)
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