It is the feast day of Eric Liddell (in the US Episcopal Church), the Olympic gold medallist whose story of running and faith is celebrated in the film Chariots of Fire. Liddell ran in the Paris Olympics in 1924 and refused the chance to compete in the 100m race, his best distance, because a heat for it was held on a Sunday. Instead, he ran in the 400m race and won (as pictured above).
It is also the feast day of St Baradates, a 5th century saint of Syria, which bred the wildest and most hardcore saints. Baradates lived for years in a hut so cramped he couldn’t stand up straight in it. Later, he swopped the hut for a leather coat that completely covered him up, with just his mouth and nose showing. His reputation was so great that his advice was sought by Emperor Leo I for the Council of Chalcedon.
Born today in 1140 was Rashi (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki), a French rabbi whose commentaries on the Old Testament and the Jewish Talmud were highly influential, and are still important in Jewish biblical interpretation.
‘Even a blind man realises when he is naked. So why does it say, “And they realised they were naked”? They had one commandment and were now naked of it.’ Rashi, commenting on Adam and Eve
John of Fécamp, a forgotten spiritual writer whose books were hugely popular for 300 years until The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis eclipsed them, died today in 1079. His writings, including his best-known work, The Meditations of St Augustine, were rediscovered in the 20th century.
Image: Wikimedia Commons