Church Updates

Thursday in the Third Week of Lent March 16, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection takes the form of a lorica, or “breastplate” prayer, which in the monastic tradition of early medieval Ireland and Scotland is a type of prayer recited for protection (the word, lorica, is a...

Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent March 15, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection focuses on Saint Nectan, a Welsh hermit, evangelist and martyr of Hartland from the late fifth century. The eldest of 24 children of Brychan, the saintly king of Powys in Wales, Nectan sailed...

Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent March 14, 2023 Today’s online Lenten reflection comes from a prayer that was traditionally said by women in the morning in communities on the far Western coast of Scotland. The original language of this prayer would have been Scottish...

Friday in the Second Full Week of Lent March 10, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection takes the form of a prayer from medieval Scotland that involves the unlikely trope or theme of shape-shifting. Several early medieval Irish saints’ narratives feature the saint and his or...

Thursday in the Second Full Week of Lent March 9, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection focuses on Saint Armel, a holy man and monk of Brittany. Although located in France, Brittany is considered a “Celtic” territory because the native people there spoke a dialect of an...

Wednesday in the Second Full Week of Lent March 8, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection focuses on Saint David of Wales, an important sixth century bishop whose influence was essential for Welsh Christian history. He is also the patron saint of Wales. David was born on the...

Tuesday in the Second Full Week of Lent March 7, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection comes from medieval Wales. This prayer, one of the earliest works in the Welsh language, seems to speak from an established tradition of Christian literacy and learning which may have...

Monday in the Second Full Week of Lent March 6, 2023 Today’s reflection focuses on the life and witness of Saint Hilda, or Hild, of Whitby (d. 680). Hilda is known as a Mother of the Church in Britain, and she is popularly referred to as the “Jewel in the Darkness”...

Friday in the First Full Week of Lent March 3, 2023 Today’s Lenten reflection focuses on the life and witness of Saint Columbanus, an Irish missionary saint who founded monasteries in Luxeuil, France, and Bobbio, Italy. Not to be confused with Saint Columba, who...