St Alfred the Great

[Poche]

King of Wessex, scholar, and renowned Christian monarch. Alfred was born in 849, the fifth son of the Wessex king. During a journey to Rome in 853, he was accepted as a godson by Pope Leo IV . He was a great scholar, translating classics for his people, and early on seemed destined for a career in the Church. Instead, he became king and was forced to spend most of his reign in conflict with the Danes who were then threatening England. His work as a patron of the arts, literature, and especially the Church made him a beloved figure in England.

[Poche]

St. Leopold of Austria
Born at Melk, Austria, he was educated by Bishop Altman of Passau and succeeded his father as margrave of Austria when he was twenty-three. He married the daughter of Emperor Henry IV, by whom he had eighteen children, in 1106, founded the monasteries of Heiligenkreuz in the Wienerwald, Klosterneuburg, near Vienriazell in Styria, and was known for his piety and charity. He refused the imperial crown when his brother-in-law Henry V died in 1125. Leopold died after reigning as margrave for forty years at Klosterneuburg. He was surnamed "the Good" by his people and was canonized in 1486.

St. Leopold is the patron saint of Austria. This day is called Goose Day in Austria, another harvest festival that includes traditional menus of roast goose and the drinking of the new wine.


Patron: Austria (so named in 1663); death of children; large families; Lower Austria; step-parents; Upper Austria.

Symbols: Armed count with a cross on his coronet, a banner with three eagles, and a model of the church of Heiligenkreuz in his hand; before the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Anne; hunting with his courtiers, and finding his wife's veil near the monastery of Klosterneuburg; with Saint Jerome; with his building Klosterneuburg; with the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing to him while hunting and the veil nearby.

[Poche]

She was born in Hungary (1046), where her father was living in exile, and likewise spent her childhood there as an unusually devout and pious girl. In the course of time she went to England, when her father was called to high office in his fatherland by his uncle, King St. Edward III. Fortune, however, soon reversed itself again (Margaret's father died suddenly in 1057), and upon leaving England a mighty storm — or better, divine Providence — brought her to the shores of Scotland. Upon instructions from her mother, Margaret married Malcolm III, king of Scotland, in 1069. The country was blessed by her holy life and by her deeds of charity for the next thirty years. Her eight children she zealously trained in the practice of Christian virtues.

In the midst of royal splendor Margaret chastised her flesh by mortification and vigils and passed the greater part of the night in devout prayer. Her most remarkable virtue was love of neighbor, particularly love toward the poor. Her alms supported countless unfortunates; daily she provided food for three hundred and shared in the work of serving them personally, washing their feet and kissing their wounds.

[CyrilSebastian]

             Queen Victoria of England named her second son Alfred Ernest Albert.     
             What a nice honor that Prince Alfred was named after St. Alfred the Great.

[Poche]

This shows that holines is possible for anyone. If a politician can become a saint then anybody can.
 

[CyrilSebastian]

                                    Prince Alfred of England named his son Prince Alfred Alexander William Ernest Albert.   
                                    This Prince Alfred became Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

[CyrilSebastian]

Alfred won a victory in the Battle of Edington. He then pursued the Danes to their stronghold at Chippenham and starved them into submission.

[CyrilSebastian]

In 883, Pope Maximus exempted the Saxon quarter in Rome from taxation, probably in return for Alfred's promise to send alms annually to Rome.

[CyrilSebastian]

King Alfred personally translated Latin works by Boethius, Pope Gregory I, and St. Augustine of Hippo into Anglo-Saxon.