Saints celebrated on the 4th 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 ODO, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Saint Odo [Oda, Odo the Good], Archbishop of Canterbury, died June 2, 959 (not in 958; recent researches showing that he was living on May 17, 959). According to the nearly contemporary account of him in the anonymous "Life of Saint Oswald" his father, a Dane, did not strive to serve God, even endeavouring to hinder his son’s constant presence at the church. Later writers represent Odo’s parents as pagans and the boy himself becoming a Christian despite his father’s anger.
HIS FATHER TRIED TO HINDER HIS SON'S CONSTANT PRESENCE AT THE CHURCH
Odo was adopted by Aethelhelm, a nobleman, who regarded him with paternal affection and educated him for the service of God. After his ordination he accompanied Aethelhelm to Rome and on the way cured him when he fell ill, by blessing a cup of wine and causing him to drink therefrom.
HE CURED AETHELHELM
On his return, according to the same writer, he was made bishop of a city in the province of Wilton, so that he has been described as the Bishop of Wilton, he consecration being placed in 920. There is no evidence for this date, and if he was consecrated by Archbishop Wulfhelm, as is stated, it could not have been before 923. There is a further difficulty as to his diocese, erroneously called Wilton.
In 927 he was Bishop of Ramsbury, which being in Wiltshire might loosely be described as the Diocese of Wilton. But Eadmer states he was appointed Bishop of Sherborne, and there is an extant document which lends some support to his statement. If it be true, he must have filled the See of Sherborne between Aethelbald and Sigehelm. As the latter was bishop in 925 this only allows two years for a possible episcopate of Odo.
HE WAS HIGHLY ESTEEMED AT COURT
At the court of Athelstan (925-940) he was highly esteemed, and the king chose him to accompany abroad his nephew Lewis, whom the Frankish nobles had recently elected as their king.
In 937 he accompanied Athelstan to the battle of Brunanburh, where the incident occurred of his miraculous restoration, at a critical moment, of the king’s lost sword. The story, given by Eadmer, is not mentioned by the earlier anonymous writer.
HE TOOK THE BENEDICTINE HABIT
When Archbishop Wulfhelm died in 942, King Eadmund wished Odo to succeed, but he refused, because he was not a monk as previous archbishops had been. Finally he accepted the election, but only after he had obtained the Benedictine habit from the Abbey of Fleury.
HE REPAIRED THE CATHEDRAL AT CANTERBURY
One of his first acts as archbishop was to repair his cathedral at Canterbury, and it is recorded that during the three years that the works were in progress, no storm of wind or rain made itself felt within the precincts. The constitutions which he published as archbishop relate to the immunities of the church, the respective duties of secular princes, bishops, priests, clerics, monks, the prohibition of unlawful marriages, the preservation of concord, the practice of fasting and almsdeeds, and the payments of tithes.
SOME LETTERS HAVE BEEN PRESERVED
A synodal letter to his sufragan bishops, and an introduction to the life of St Wilfred, written by him, have also been preserved.
Throughout the reign of Eadred (946-955) he supported St Dunstan, whom he consecrated as bishop of Worcester, prophetically hailing him as future Archbishop of Canterbury.
HE CROWNED EADWIG AS KING
On the death of Eadred he crowned Eadwig as king. Shortly after the archbishop insisted on Eadwig dissolving his incest connection with Aelgifu and obtained her banishment.
In 959 during the reign of Eadgar, whom he had consecrated king, realising the approach of death, he sent for his nephew, St Oswald, afterwards Bishop of York, but died before his arrival.
He was succeeded by the simoniacal Aelfsige who insulted his memory, and whose speedy death was regarded by the people as the judgement of God.
"ODO THE GOOD"
The next archbishop, St Dunstan, held St Odo in special veneration, would never pass his tomb without stopping to pray there, and first gave him the title of "the Good". The story which represents Odo as having in early manhood followed the profession of arms is only found in later writers such as William of Malmesbury. Even if it true that Odo served Edward the Elder under arms, there is no reason to suppose, with the writer in the "Dictionary of National Biography", that he did so after he became a cleric. God bore witness to his sanctity by miracles during his life and after his death.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
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