March 26 Saint Ludger of Utrecht

St. Ludger was a priest in the Netherlands in the 700s. He traveled around starting monasteries, returning every Fall to Ultrect to teach in the local school. He is best known for two amazing facts.

1) He was reprimanded only once during his life as a priest. As bishop he was reprimanded and renounced for spending too much time on charity work rather than on building and decorating the cathedral.

2) On the day he died he celebrated Mass. Twice.

March 24 St. Caimin of Lough Derg

Any good Irishman and the followers of Veggie Tales know the stories of the Vikings raiding monasteries in Ireland. One of the Vikings favorite stops was the famous Irish island of Innismore (or Inishmore, Inis More, Árainn (Mhór), Inis Mór). It was the place St. Clement set up shop and created a community of scholar monks. St. Caimen added his monasteries and church in the 600s. They became two of the largest structures on the island. The massive tower and walls of the church still remain. The abbey was visited many times by the Vikings, including being completely plundered in  836 and again in 922. The great Brian Boru himself restored the church  1009.  A fragment of the “Psalter of Saint Caimin,” claimed by some to have been copied by St. Caimin’s own hand, still exists in the Franciscan library at Killiney, County Dublin. He is also credited with authorship of the “Commentary on the Hebrew Text of the Psalms”

March 19 Blessed Clement of Dunblane

Blesssed Clement was a Scotsman by birth who met St. Dominic while they were both studying in Paris. One of the first Dominicans, Clement’s energy  and zeal led him back to Scotland at the request of  the king, Alexander II. He made friends with war leaders and farmers alike. His small band of Dominicans were granted permission to use Robert Bruce’s private mill, but also stayed with village and farm folks during his unceasing travels throughout Scotland. He raised money to build monasteries, rebuild churches and cathedrals, served on papal commissions, moved the Bishops seat from often unreachable Isle of Iona to Dunblane,  and wrote three books. He received perhaps the highest praise for a Dominican from a Protestant historian of the time – “This man was an excellent preacher, learned above many of that time, and of singular integrity of conversation”.

His relics are reported to be in the choir of the Dunblane Cathedral. They can be found along the south wall, below the Great South Windows.  One of which is called the Chaos Window, showing fire, storms, cold and snow – at the bottom of which the five members of Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1912 are named. If you are interested in church architecture, stained glass windows or art, take a minute to check out the Cathedral’s website.