As we enter into a new Liturgical year (cycle B) I am going to be switching up things a bit on here. I usually have had a summary/reflection on the readings up on Sundays and a post about saints of the week on Fridays. This is going to change this year as I will have the readings up on Saturday and do the saints for the week on Sunday.
If you are looking for some saints for the next couple of days here they are.
Herman of Alaska (c. 1750s – 15 November 1836)
The dates here are off since this is the Julian calendar date as Russia had not switched over to the Gregorian calendar, so the 28th is the date of death by the Gregorian calendar. Herman was a Russian Orthodox monk who was a missionary to Alaska. Many Orthodox Christians consider Herman as patron of the United States. Herman was well respected by the Native Alaskans as well as the Russian colonists. There are some competing stories about his early life, if you want to find out Wikipedia has them both. When Herman arrived to Russia it was under the impression that the Russians and natives were getting along well. the Russians were taking advantage of the Americans. Modern scholars compare him with Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish Roman Catholic friar who defended the rights of the natives in South America. Herman rose to lead the mission in Alaska but he longed for the life of a hermit and sometime around 1811-17 Herman moved to Spruce Island and lived the rest of his life there as a hermit.
Cuthbert Mayne (1544–29 November 1577)
He was baptized on St. Cuthbert’s day which might be why his name is Cuthbert. His uncle was a priest in the Church of England and Cuthbert was expected to follow in his uncle’s footsteps. Cuthbert was ordained a minister and become a rector around the age of 19. He went to Oxford where he was Chaplain and eared his MA in 1570. Around 1570 he converted to Catholicism and escaped to France where he was ordained a priest and enter into school yet again and studied Theology for a year. After this year in school he traveled back to England, but not much had changed in the six year he was away and in 1577 Cuthbert was imprisoned. He was put on trial and eventually he was hung. Cuthbert is one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales during the Reformation\Counter-Reformation. There is a unique school in England named for Cuthbert Mayne that is a joint church school with both Catholic and Anglican ties.
Deep in the well 