ST GILBERT, BISHOP OF CAITHNESS - 1 APRIL

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 1st of April

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 GILBERT, BISHOP OF CAITHNESS 

(Saint Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness, in Scotland)

Having administered that see with great sanctity for twenty years, he died April 1, 1240. See the Aberdeen Breviary.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

St Gilbert is also known as Gilbert of Moravia and Gilbert of Dornoch. It is believed that Gilbert was a cousin of William of Moravia, who became 1st Earl of Sutherland in 1230.

THE CATHEDRAL

St Gilbert built the cathedral at Dornoch (he insisted on physically participating in the building process), and established a number of hospices for the poor. He generally did much to relieve the poor, to organise his diocese, and to spread piety. He was known as a fine preacher.

HIS RELICS

Gilbert died in his palace at Scrabster. He was buried at Dornoch. Many miracles occured at his tomb  through his intercession. His relics were desecrated in the course of the Reformation. He is the last Scottish saint to appear in the Calendar of Saints. His canonisation date is uncertain. Historical records mention an annual St Gilbert's Fair, which lasted three days.