Saints from the British Isles

As you may have noticed, The Inn has a special fondness for the out-of-the-way and little-known saints of the British Isles. They aren't in the general Roman calendar and aren't much known any more. There are a couple of them commemorated today.

St Ludan is a Scottish saint of the later part of the 12th century. This is what John J Delaney's Dictionary of the Saints has to say about him:

According to legend, he was the son of Scottish Prince Hiltebol and on the death of his father gave his inheritance to the poor and built a hospice for pilgrims and the ill. On the way back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, at a spot near Strasbourg, he dreamed of his death, was given communion by an angel when he awakened, and died; whereupon all the bells in the surrounding churches pealed his death.

The 8th century St Ethelwald is also remembered today. A "border" saint, he at times he was both Abbot of old Melrose in Scotland and Bishop of Lindisfarne. He was a disciple of St Cuthbert and was highly praised by the Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of England. You can read the relevant excerpt here.

Several English priests were martyred on this day in 1584. They are listed separately in various places on the web but all of them are mentioned together in the old Catholic Encyclopædia under the title "Ven George Haydock". In addition to Fr Haydock, they include Bl James Fenn, Bl John Nutter, Bl Thomas Hemerford, and Bl John Munden. I believe they've all been at least beatified, if not canonized, by now.