29 November

In the old Irish calendar this is the feast of St. Brendan of Birr. According to D’Arcy’s The Saints of Ireland he was descended from “the race of Fergus MacRoy, which was said to have produced more heroes and more saints than any other of the Celtic septs.” He was founder of the school of Birr which produced the beautifully ornamented “Irish book now in the Bodleian library, the Gospels of MacRegal (scribe and bishop, abbot of Birr, who died in 822).” quotes all from D’Arcy

One of the old  Irish calendars also gives  this day to St Fianait.  But  who was she?   The internet sayeth not.  All I have is  the name on the calendar.

In the Carmelite calendar this is the feast of Ss. Denis of the Nativity, O.C.D. and Bl Redemptus of the Cross, O.C.D.  Bl Denis had his throat slit and Bl Redemptus had his head split open by the natives of Sumatra when they refused to renounce Christ for Mohammedanism.

The Ancient Observance Carmelites have a  page in their honour here.

A collect from the old Carmelite breviary:

O God, Who in Thy wondrous providence, didst lead blessed Dionysius and Redemptus through the perils of the sea to the palm of martyrdom, grant through their intercession that in the midst of earthly vicissitudes and worldly desires we may remain steadfast even unto death in the confession of Thy name. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Otherwise, as we have mentioned before, the 29th of November is the  birthday of Vin Scully,  Archbishop Lefebvre, and Janet Napolitano.  And,  FWIW, Cary Grant and Cardinal Wolsey both died on this day, in their respective centuries,  of course.  Horoscope fans, make of that what you will.

And finally, I had  the third colonoscopy of  my life today and to the distress of a few, the relief  of my wife and me, and of no interest at all to most of humanity I do not have colon cancer.  Proving mostly, I suppose, that I should not compose blog posts when deprived of sleep and still under the influence of industrial strength sedatives.