Egwin of Worcester

Today is the Feast of Mary, the Blessed Mother, of Bethlehem. Remember also that January the first, New Year’s Day, is the Feast of Mary Mother of God, a Holy Day of Obligation, get up and sober up you need to get to Church this Friday morning. It is also:

Saint Egwin of Worcester
Also known as
Egwin of Evesham

memorial
30 December

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Our Saint today was descended from nobility and joined the Benedictine order at a very young age. He was elevated to become the Bishop of all of the Shire of Worchester….where the sauce comes from, here in America we pronounce it wooster-sheer sauce, use it when you make hamburgers…it adds a very nice flavor, it is also a principle ingredient in most cheese dishes, particularly Welsh Rabbit, which has no rabbit in it, but I digress….

The Diocese of Worchester needed cleaning up and Egwin did so, but the general opinion was he went a bit too far, and began alienating clergy and religious….he wouldn’t allow ordained deacons to wear appropriate collar and gray shirt at wake services and so forth plus other, less egregious disciplinary items. To give everyone a chance to cool off, and show his repentance for any harm done, he locked his feet in shackles and threw the key into the River Avon. All shackled up like that he made a penitential pilgrimage to Rome. Nice way to get a Roman Holiday on the diocese though, right? Anyhoo, when he got to Rome the key was miraculously found in the belly of a fish he bought in the market.

He founded a Benedictine monastery on the site where the Blessed Mother appeared to a local shepherd, in Evesham, England. I think She told the herdsman she didn’t like sharing her feast day like this……

Born
7th century England

Died
30 December 717 of natural causes