Skip to main content

BLESSED HECHARD, PRIEST AND RELIGIOUS - 1 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 1st of July

BLESSED HECHARD, PRIEST AND RELIGIOUS


Hechard (Hechardus, Eckardus) - this name is derived from the old German Eck, Enk, meaning young man, and hard, denoting brave etc.

This god-fearing priest lived in the middle of the 12th century. It is uncertain whether he really belonged to the Order of the Premonstratensians, as some suppose, since his name is not found on the lists of the Order. We also have no reliable information about the circumstances of his life. 

The Scheida (Scheda) monastery near Unna in Westphalia was founded by Blessed Hechard. Archbishop Philipp Heinsberg von Cölo inaugurated it in A.D. 1170. Co-founders were the blessed Menrich and Berthold of Fröndenberg, as well as a widow named Wiltrudis, who donated her castle for this purpose. Sometimes Blessed Hechard is called her son. If so, he had a brother named Rathardus. Weissbacher* reckons that Hechard was descended from the noble family de Ardeja. 

Menrich and Berthold were canons; Hechard may have been one, too. In any case, all sources agree that he was "a priest distinguished by the integrity of his customs and his piety." His public veneration began soon after his death. According to the Bollandists* Hechard's relics were solemnly raised on June 23, 1628 by Johann Gelen, cathedral dean of Cologne. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 606)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Hechard may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29   March - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   April - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   May - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS   (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus.  And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright.  HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mary’s Assumption in 1

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

  WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR   Laura, a widow and martyr of Cordoba in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and  according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters.  After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor.  After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October 19, 864.   St Laura is of the 48 Martyrs of Cordoba. PRAYER: Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who