Religion

The seven divine offices

Matins The first of the seven canonical hours of prayer, originally observed at night but now often recited with lauds at daybreak
Prime The second of the seven canonical hours of the divine office, originally fixed for the first hour of the day, at sunrise
Terce The third of the seven canonical hours of the divine office, originally fixed at the third hour of the day, about 9 a.m
Sext The fourth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office or the prayers prescribed for it: originally the sixth hour of the day (noon)
Nones The fifth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office, originally fixed at the ninth hour of the day, about 3 p.m
Vespers The sixth of the seven canonical hours of the divine office, originally fixed for the early evening and now often made a public service on Sundays and major feast days; also called Evensong.
Compline The last of the seven canonical hours of the divine office.

The 9 Daughters of the Devil = Simony was married to the secular clergy; Hypocrisy to the monks, Pillage to the knights; Sacrilege to the peasantry; Deceit to the judges; Usury to the burghers and Worldly Pomp to married women. One daughter remained unmarried - Lechery was offered to all like a common whore.

Church of St. Mary and St. Alkelda - Middleham (Dean and Canons' Stalls) In setting up the Collegiate Church, Richard III named each stall after his and Lady Anne Neville's favourite saints:

St. Alkelda [March 27] Patron invoked against eye trouble. Anglo-Saxon Princess, martyred by strangulation (a napkin twisted about her neck) by two Danish women (AD800).

St. George [April 23] Patron saint of England, Portugal, Germany, horses, equestrians, farmers, Boy Scouts, knights, archers and armourers; invoked against the plague, leprosy and syphilis. Palestinian soldier martyred for Christianity during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian (AD303). King Edward III made George the Patron Saint of England and King Henry V invoked him at the Battle of Agincourt. The story of George and the dragon - the triumph of good over evil - varies.

St. Ninian [September 16] First known apostle of Scotland; built a stone church at Whithorn on his native Solway; preached to the Picts. Invocation unknown.

St. Anthony [January 17] Patron of basket weavers, brush makers, butchers, domestic animals, grave diggers, swine; invoked against eczema and ergot poisoning, producing either burning pains and eventually gangrene in the limbs or itching skin and convulsions. Also called: 'Saint Anthony's fire' - i.e., ergotism. Hermit saint, usually portrayed surrounded by demons which legend says never ceased to torment him during his twenty-four years living in the wilderness attempting to live a life of sanctity. He is also shown with a pig - the runt of the litter - since it was a wild pig or boar which protected this saintly man through this trials and drove off the beasts sent by Satan. He was revered for the fact that he never bathed and rejected all the pleasures of the flesh, including women! His followers formed the nucleus of the first Christian monks. Died of old age at 105, AD356.

St. Barbara [December 4] Patroness of architects, artillery, firefighters, fireworks makers, miners, sailors; invoked against explosions, fire, lightning and sudden death. A beauty, St. Barbara was hidden by her father in a tower but, a Christian disguised as a physician gained access to her and instructed her in the Faith. Hauled before the pagan authorities, she refused to renounced her Faith although she was brutally tortured. Finally her father led her to the top of a mountain where he cut off her head. Immediately he was struck by lightning, his body reduced to ashes.

St. Cuthbert [March 20] Patron of sailors. North English monk who preferred a life of solitude on a barren island but served as bishop of Lindisfarne from 685-687. Said to be able to swim naked in the coldest of water where even the seals and otters would snuggle up to him for warmth! Able to work miracles such as restoring dead children to life and talking with sea fowl.

St. Catherine [of Alexandria] [November 25] Patroness of lawyers, librarians, millers, nurses, philosophers, rope makers, secretaries, schoolgirls, spinsters, students, wheelwrights and universities; invoked against diseases of the tongue and by single women seeking a husband. Egyptian queen who, despite her great beauty, preferred the study of philosphy to marriage to the Roman Emperor Maxentius. When she converted to the Christian faith, the emperor sent a team of fifty pagan philosophers to debate religion with her. She not only confounded them in arguments but converted them to the Faith. The emperor had them all slaughter but spared Catherine, offering marriage instead. When she refused, he ordered that she be chained to a spiked wheel. Before the torture commenced however, lightning-wielding angels appeared and shattered the device. She was then beheaded but, legend says that milk not blood flowed from her holy neck. (AD307)

St. Margaret [July 20] Patroness of childbirth, nurses and peasants. Margaret's father threw her and her nurse out of the house when he learned that they had become Christians. The two women became shepherdesses until Margaret came under the lustful eye of a prefect who imprisoned her when she refused his advances. In her cell she was visited by Satan who assumed the form of a dragon and swallowed her. The cross she carried grew to such enormous proportions that the dragon was split in two and she escaped, alive. She was eventually beheaded. It's her voice that Joan of Arc is said to have heard.