11 DECEMBER

This is the old Irish feast of the two Emers. When St. Patrick returned to Ireland to begin his mission, he went first to see his old master, Miluic. But rather than suffer the disgrace of meeting on equal terms with a slave, Miluic locked himself in his house and set fire to it.

St. Patrick had better luck with Miluic’s family, converting all of them. One son became the first bishop of Granard in county Longford. And it is the feast of his two daughters, both named Emer, that is kept today. They both converted and became nuns, founding in the village of Ballinalee the first convent in Ireland. (The story is taken from D’Arcy’s “The Saints of Ireland”)

In both the traditional Roman and the Pauline calendar the feast of the 4th century Pope St. Damasus is kept today. He had to deal not only with Arius and schisms in Antioch, Constantinople, and Sardinia but with an anti-Pope named Ursicinus in Rome itself.

In the eastern Church one of the pillar saints is remembered today, the 5th century St. Daniel the Stylite. A monk from the year 421, he and his abbot made a visit to Antioch and St. Simeon Stylites. Having received the hermit’s blessing, Daniel established himself on a pillar surrounded by a wooden balustrade from 460 to 493 when he died. His advice was sought be the Emperors Leo the Thracian, Zeno the Isaurian, and Asastasius, as well as the Empress Eudocia.