20 NOVEMBER

. . . .is the traditional feast of St. Felix of Valois, co-founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity.

At the end of the 12th century there lived in a forest of Valois a hermit called Felix, who had been seen there as long as men could remember. He received one day a visit from a Paris doctor named John of Matha, who came to share his thoughts with him. God, he believed, had called him to succour the numerous Christians at that time being taken to Africa by the Mediterranean pirates. Felix confided to him that he himself had had the same inspiration from heaven. They resolved to found together, in the name of the Holy Trinity, an institution devoted to ransoming these unfortunates, and they left for Rome to obtain sanction of their project. Pope Innocent III accorded them his approval; thus the order of the Trinitarians was founded. A monastery of these monks was founded in Rome, of which John of Matha became superior, and another at Cerfroid (Aisne) which Felix ruled until his death.

And that – according to Omer Engelbert – is all that is known for certain about St. Felix. “Some authors have, however, composed a more extensive biography.” You can find some of it here.


St Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia, is honoured today in the old calendars. He was made prisoner by the invading Danes and put to death in 870. His body was found incorrupt 57 years after his burial. Bury St. Edmunds was the location of his shrine until its destruction under Henry VIII.