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ST MUNGO (ST KENTIGERN) - JANUARY 13

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 13th of January

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ST MUNGO (ST KENTIGERN)

Kentigern (Kentigernus), memorial: January 13 or July 1, the first Bishop of Glasgow (Glascua) in Scotland, is also known as Kentegernus, Kintigernus, Kentegrinus, in Old British Kyndeyrn. Called Mungho or Monghu [Mungo] by the common people, he is one of the most famous saints of the ancient world Church of Northern Britain. This holy man descended from the royal family of the Picts, the oldest inhabitants of Scotland. His mother is said to have been Thames or Thamis [Theneva], a daughter of the Pict King Loth. According to Menzel* (Symb. I. 249), the impending birth of her son - which took place around the year 516 - was announced to her by angels. According to the Bollandists' biography (provided by Capgravius), St Kentigern's birth took place under wonderful and mysterious circumstances. Butler's* English and German editions, however, do not mention these. 

At a very tender age he was placed under the leadership of Bishop Servanus of Culross. This holy man baptised him along with his mother, giving the mother the name Tanea and the boy the name Kientier, i.e. "Main Lord". Under the leadership of St Servanus, he made such progress in all virtues that he earned the full love of his teacher and all who knew him, which is why he was given the nickname Mungho, i.e. in the local language "the dearly beloved." Through this favouritism, however, he aroused the envy of his classmates, who played many loose tricks on him, which he foiled by miracles. For example, St Servanus owned a very tame robin (rubisca), which he was very fond of. His classmates cut off the beloved bird's head and blamed this misdeed on the absent Kentigern, who, upon learning of its sad demise, brought the robin back to life through his prayer. Pope Benedict XIV makes particular mention of this incident in his work De Canoniz. (l. 4. p. 1. c. 21. no. 6)

But since his holiness continued to arouse the hostility of his envious mates, he decided, following the Lord's beckoning, to direct his steps elsewhere. A river parted in a miraculous way in the process.  In vain did St Servanus try to stop him from his plan. Referring to the will of God, Kentigern asked St Servanus for his blessing, which he then obtained. Soon afterwards St. Servanus died in good old age. 

St Kentigern arrived at a place called Glasghu, where he lived in great abstinence until finally the king and people of Cumberland (Cambria, Cumbria) elected him bishop, whereupon a bishop from Ireland consecrated him. Kentigern took his seat in Glasgow. Becoming a bishop at the age of 25, he continued his strict lifestyle: he only ate every three or four days and completely abstained from meat, wine and any intoxicating drink. His clothing corresponded to this diet, his crosier was a curved piece of wood. Immersing himself nakedly in cold water, he sang the entire Psalter. The sting of the flesh was completely dead in him. His wealth was entirely dedicated to the service of the poor. At the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries, miracles often happened to him, for example, a white dove was frequently seen sitting on his head or a shining cloud surrounded his head. During Lent he always withdrew into the desert and lived only on the roots of herbs. On Good Fridays he chastised himself day and night. His soul's zeal was burning. Like the apostles, he visited the various places in his diocese on foot. He sent several of his monks and students as Christian missionaries to the north of Scotland, especially to the Orkney Islands (Orcades), then to Norway (Norway) and Iceland.

His miracles are so numerous that it is impossible to mention them all. Some church art shows him with  deer pulling the plow for him when working in the fields, sometimes also a wolf among them. Another time he had given all his grain to the poor. He then decided to sow sand in the earth, which produced the most beautiful wheat at harvest time. Once he built a mill on which one could not grind stolen grain and nothing at all on Sundays, etc. 

In order to avoid powerful enemies who had conspired to bring about his death, Kentigern went to Wales (Cambria, Wallia, French Galles), first to Menevia, today's St. Davids, so called after Bishop David, with whom he lived for some time. A while later,  Cathwallain of Denbighshire (in the north of Wales) gave him land at the confluence of the rivers Elwy and Cluid, where Kentigern built a famous monastery, which was named Llan-Elwy. There, a large number of students soon came under his direction. All in all, 965 disciples came to live there, who served God day and night with strict discipline and well-distributed occupations in prayer and work. Among them was St Convallus; but the most excellent was St Asaphus [Asaph] whom, in 560, he appointed as his successor as head of the monastery and bishop of the city that gradually emerged here. The city St Asaph, which is named after him, is located near Bangor. It is believed that St Kentigern stayed in Wales between 543 and 560, particularly in Eigwy. Here he prophesied the death of Bishop David, which occurred in 544 or 546. Kentigern also revealed the great torments that would come to Britain in future. From here he also made several pilgrimages to Rome, where he paid tribute to Pope Gregory, the spiritual apostle of England, whom he told his entire life story. The pope thereupon confirmed Kentigern's consecration (which in itself had not been entirely canonical).

He later returned to Glasgow with a number of monks. According to Butler*, Kentigern died in 601, aged 85.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 3, Augsburg, 1869, pp. 602-604 - 🎨 Coat of Arms Glasgow, featuring Saint Mungo; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Glasgow)

*A hagiography source used by the authors 

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

 

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