From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   September 6th - St. Bega   
      
   7th century;   
      
   According to legend, Saint Bega was an Irish princess, whom a Norwegian   
   prince   
   sought in marriage. She, however, had already pledged herself and her   
   virginity   
   to Jesus and been given a bracelet by an angel marked with a cross as a   
   token of   
   her heavenly betrothal. On the eve of her wedding, as her father and her   
   groom   
   were celebrating in the hall, she escaped with the help of the bracelet.   
   Seated   
   on a clod of earth, she was taken across the sea to the coast of Cumberland.   
      
   There she lived as an anchoress, who was fed by the wild birds and, if left   
   in   
   peace, would have continued in this fashion. After being attacked by   
   marauders,   
   King Saint Oswald of Northumbria advised her to enter a convent. She   
   therefore   
   received the veil from Saint Aidan and established a monastery at Saint Bees   
   (Copeland near Carlisle) which later became a cell of the Benedictine abbey   
   of   
   Saint Mary at York.   
      
   While the details may be legend, Saint Bega was venerated in Northumbria.   
   The   
   promontory on which she lived is named Saint Bee's Head, and she is the   
   patroness of the local people who were injured by the exactions of their   
   lords   
   and the invasions of the neighboring Scots. In her hermitage at Saint Bees   
   (Cumbria) was kept what is presumed to be her miraculous bracelet, which has   
   the   
   Old English name beag that so closely resembled her that it may have given   
   rise   
   to her cultus. The people treasured equally the stories of how Saint Bega in   
   her   
   earthly life had been devoted to the poor and oppressed and had cooked,   
   washed   
   and mended for the workmen who built her monastery. There is also a place in   
   Scotland called Kilbees, named after this saint (Benedictines, Farmer,   
   Delaney,   
   Husenbeth, Walsh).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   He who goes about to take the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass from the Church   
   plots   
   no less a calamity than if he tried to snatch the sun from the universe.   
   -St. John Fisher   
      
   Bible Quote   
   25 The Lord gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed his covenant   
   upon the head of Jacob. 26 He acknowledged him in his blessings, and gave   
   him an   
   inheritance, and divided him his portion in twelve tribes. 27 And he   
   preserved   
   for him men of mercy, that found grace in the eyes of all flesh.   
   (Ecclesiasticus 44:25-27)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   ORACIO AD SANCTAM BEGAM   
      
   O Bega, fair virgin; you were the noble offspring of a king, but you are   
   more   
   precious to us on account of your faith than of your fleshly descent.   
      
   Now make our sins hateful; spare us, gracious one, so that we shall sing   
   joyful   
   songs to Christ in this prose (sequence).   
      
   Hail, Bega, good virgin, who rejected your father's gifts, a kingdom and a   
   royal   
   marriage.   
      
   Hail to you, dedicated to Christ, marked out by receipt of his ring, casting   
   aside earthly things.   
      
   Hail to you, leaving the chamber without a key, by way of the locked doors,   
   rejecting Ireland.   
      
   Hail to you who crossed the sea without sailors and reached Britain alone.   
      
   Hail to you honoured with the veil of (everlasting) life crowned after your   
   labour, praising in sublime glory.   
      
   By your faith all our worship is now strengthened and finds comfort in our   
   tribulations.   
      
   Draw us to yourself from your seat in heaven where you shine without (the   
   aid   
   of) torchlight by showing favour to the weak. Bega, we beseech you to show   
   forth   
   the Father to your frail flock in this church, appeasing him with your   
   prayers.   
      
   Pray for us, blessed Bega That we may be made worthy of the promises of   
   Christ   
      
   Almighty and everlasting God, show thy mercy to suppliants; that we who are   
   in   
   despair by reason of the nature of our faults may by the intercession of thy   
   blessed Virgin Bega know not thy judgement but thy mercy through Christ our   
   Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)