ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS AUGUST 01 St. Elined. Welsh virgin and martyr, St. Almedha, sixth century. Virgin and martyr,Bl. Thomas Welbourne, 1605 A.D. English martyr, St. Ethelwold. Bishop of Winchester, England, called “the Father of Monks.”St. Peregrinus, St. Rioch

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS AUGUST 01 St. Elined. Welsh virgin and martyr, also called Ellyw and Almedha. She is honored in Lianelly and Llanelieu. St. Almedha, sixth century. Virgin and martyr also called Aled or Filuned. The Welsh tradition reports that Almedha was the daughter of King Brychan. Having taken a vow of virginity and dedicated to Christ, Almedha fled from her father's royal residence to escape marriage to the prince of a neighboring kingdom. She went to three Welsh villages - Llandrew, Llanfillo, and Llechfaen - but the people turned her away, despite her promise warning that dreadful thing calamities would befall anyone who denied her sanctuary. Almedha reached Brecon, where she took up residence in a small hut, but the king arrived and demanded her return. When she refused him, he beheaded her. Tradition states that a spring of water appeared on the site of her murder. The three villages that refused her were visited by disasters. Bl. Thomas Welbourne, 1605 A.D. English martyr. Born in Hutton Bushel, Yorkshire, he worked as a schoolmaster until his arrest for preaching the Catholic faith. He was arrested and condemned with Blesseds John Fuithering and William Brown. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at York. St. Ethelwold. Bishop of Winchester, England, called “the Father of Monks.” Born in that city, he was ordained by St. Alphege the Bald. In 943, he joined the Benedictines at Glastonbury under St. Dunstan. He became the abbot of Abingdon in 955 and bishop in 963. Ethelwold worked with Sts. Dunstan and Oswald of York in bringing about a monastic revival after the Danish invasions. He also expelled the canons of Winchester, replacing them with monks. Ethelwold founded or restored the abbeys of Ely, Chertsey, Milton Abbas, Newminster, Peterborough, and Thorney. He authored Regularis Concordia, a monastic decree based on the Benedictine Rule, and his school of illumination at Winchester was famed. St. Peregrinus, 643 A.D. Irish or Scottish hermit. Peregrinus was originally a pilgrim who, on his way home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the holy places, chose to become a hermit in the area around Modena, Italy. He remained there for the rest of his life. St. Rioch, 480 A.D. Bishop Abbot of lnisboffin, Ireland. He was a nephew of St. Patrick and the brother of Sts. Mel and two others, Melchu and Muinis. They were the sons of Conis and St. Darerca. Rioch was a missionary bishop.