Week 2: Saints and Animals

Saints and Animals

Saint Kentigern and the Robin
Takes place in Scotland. The smallest kid in school, Kentigern, was the smartest and head of the class. This made the other students very jealous. The other students tried very hard to sabotage him. One night when it was Kentigern's turn to tend to the fire at night. The boys poured water on it so that he would get in trouble. But Kentigern restarted the fire and avoided trouble.

In order to sabotage him again, the boys came up with a cruel plan. The boys killed their teacher Saint Servan's Robin whom he was very fond of. They ripped off the Robin's head and tried to blame is on Kentigern. When Saint Servan approached Kentigern about the cruel deed, Kentigern brought the Robin back to life by praying to God as a sign that he did not slay the bird.

Saint Blaise and His Beasts
Saint Blaise was a friend to all of the animals in Turkey. Including the wild ones. A wolf stole a pig from a poor woman, and Saint Blaise had the wolf return it so that the woman would have her pig back. This was 316 years after Jesus was born, so tensions were high and Christians were persecuted.

Soldiers found him one day in his cave, praying, and surrounded by several large wild animals. They came back soon after to get him, and Saint Blaise went without making a scene. He was beheaded and killed for his faith after his imprisonment.


Saint Comgall and the Mice
Takes place in Ireland and Scotland in a place called Bangor. Three hundred years ago in a monastery built by Saint Comgall.

Comgall is an Irish word which means "the goodly pledge."

First animal story involves pupils of his trying to get swans to come to shore so they can play. The young boys couldn't get the swans to come but as soon as Comgall tried, they flocked to him. The swans knew he was a man that would be gentle and a friend to the animals.

Then a famine happens in Ireland and the only person who had food was a prince. The prince was so selfish that he wouldn't give anyone food but rather, let them starve. Prince was name Croadh and his evil mother was named Luch. Luch means Mouse in Irish.

Comgall tried to trade some silver for grain but the prince refused him. So Comgall sent all the mice in Bangor to eat the grain and prove a lesson to the prince.

The Wonders of Saint Berach
Takes place at Glendalough, Ireland (which I have been to). He brought a cow and a wolf together, after the wolf had eaten the cow's baby calf. Berach grew older and had his own monastery. However, a mean man wanted the land to himself.

Berach had special powers and was able to control heat and cold which he was able to use to his advantage to get food to eat, or heat when he was extremely cold. His powers helped him to gain peace with the King and to be clothes in riches when he retuned back to his monastery.

The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall
Saint Gudwall was a Welshman. He moved to the caves outside of Wales and the waves trembled in and swept his stuff and almost took him and his pupil with it. Then some fish came and built a wall to protect the two from the waves.

The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe
Ailbe was born into a terrible family who abandoned him in the wood to die. A nice mother wolf found him and took him back to her cave to live with her and her baby wolves. Ailbe grew up for two years with the family, and lived exactly like a wolf. One day, a prince found Ailbe acting like a wolf, picked him up, and whisked him away to his palace. The mother wolf and her babies were sad to see him leave, and fought to get him back but they could not keep up with the prince. So after that day, Ailbe grew up as a human, and lived in a palace and grew up to become a Bishop.

One day the Bishop's father the prince went hunting. The Bishop stayed behind and to his dismay the wolf-mother came running down the streets of the town where she spotted Ailbe and recognized him. Ailbe recognized that she was being hunted and let her take shelter with him. He declared that the people ought not to hunt her or her children. From that day on, the mother wolf and her children came to eat dinner with the Bishop and they were all happy!

The Ballad of Saint Athracta's Stags
Poem format.
Athracta was a princess that was taken with the wild. She lived in the wild with one other person.
I like this one because it is the first I have read about a woman, although I struggle in understanding poetry. She tamed some stags and rode them back to the King and even he was shocked. It was an overall interesting story, but hard for me to personally follow.

The Ballad of Saint Felix
Poem format.
Takes place in Italy. The Emperor was persecuting Christians for their faith. Saint Felix was a Bishop. Instead of wearing his dress, he wore a pilgrim outfit to blend in and hide so that way people wouldn't guess him to be the Bishop and capture him. People came looking for him, but his outfit was able to fool him for they didn't recognize him. He went into hiding then after because he knew they would figure it out.
When he was hiding, a spider appeared and made a web so that he could not be seen by the soldiers who were searching for him. After that, he went and hid in a well for a few months. Eventually the tension died down and he was able to come out of hiding, where he was welcomed back by many a happy folk.

The Ballad of Saint Giles and the Deer
Poem format.
Saint Giles befriends a deer. Hunters came about the cell and Saint Giles took an arrow to save the deer. The King saw what happened and over the course of several days, nursed Saint Giles back to health. In that time, the King became Christian and in the end ruled as a Christian King. This made not only Saint Giles but the deer free from fear of being killed ever again.

Saint Francis of Assisi
He was a poor beggar but people respected him and adored his smile. He lived as a poor man to mirror Jesus who was also poor. He had a special relationship with animals, especially bird, and he would preach to them. He had such a way with animals that he tamed a wolf that had been robbing and killing people of the town. Everyone loved him and when he returned to the wilderness to live, all the animals rejoiced.