Friday, November 3, 2023

It is the 3rd of November, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

With over 1500 shows, we have told some remarkable, sometimes even literally, unbelievable stories and characters. I don’t know where our subject for today’s show is, but I assure you we have never heard a similar story thus far in our journey across the church in time and space.

Our story comes from 11th-century English hagiography- a favorite Medieval pastime: telling the stories (sometimes embellished) of saints. Without further ado, our story purportedly takes place around the year 660. One identifiable figure is King Penda- the pagan king in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Despite being a pagan, according to Bede, this story has him baptized and married to a queen to whom he is given an unnamed daughter. She was pious and beautiful and attracted many suitors among the pagan nobility. She was married to a suitor who promised her father that he would allow her to practice Christianity. But she refused to consummate the marriage until he was baptized. He consented, and she soon became pregnant. The author tells us, “This is to fulfill what the apostle said: an unbelieving man will be saved by a believing woman.” (See 1 Cor. 7:14).

When she was about to give birth, her parents summoned her to their castle, but on the trip to them, the child birthing commenced. She was laid down in a field filled with lilies and roses amongst her servants and soldiers. Immediately after being birthed, the newborn left up and proclaimed three times, “I am a Christian!” Two priests gave praise to God, and the infant went on, "I worship God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” and then asked to be called Rumwold and to be baptized. The family called forth their chosen godparents, but the infant requested the two priests to be called instead: they were Widerin and Eadwald. Rumwold called for the servants to fetch a nearby hollowed-out stone for his baptism. When they couldn’t move it, he was going to be baptized from water in a small jar. He rebuked them for suggesting this (here we see some of the likely context of the story: the proper method of baptism) and sent Widerin and Eadwald to retrieve the hollow stone. We read, “The same meadow where St. Rumwold was baptized there never ceases to be the loveliest fragrance, and the grasses neither fade not wither but always remain green and are redolent of sweet nectar.”

Rumwold then goes into a sermon on the nature of the Trinity and the nature of God’s wisdom- that it would come from unlikely places (like out of the mouth of a literal babe). We read: “When St. Rumwold had said these things, everyone present gave thanks to God that such power of eloquence should be inspired by heavenly grace in so tiny a child.”

He then told them that he was not to live much longer- preached to them about the true nature of repentance and then requested upon his death that he stay in this field for a year, then be taken to Brackley for two years and then laid to rest in Buckingham (despite these places not yet being called by these names). And then, we read, “At the end of the third day, just as he foretold St. Rumwold gave up his spirit, dear to God, on the 3rd of November, taken up in the hands of angels”. Thus making today St. Rumwolds Day. The story was likely told as instruction in key matters of faith as heard in his sermon, in an illustration of God’s wisdom coming from unlikely places and, for less pious reasons as the field near King’s Sutton, Brackley, and Buckingham would become places of pilgrimage- bring status and money to the region.

To the modern, this seems amongst the most unlikely of all saint’s stories. We do well to note the intentions of the author to teach the faith- even if the manner of doing so with an almost ridiculous premise strikes us as unserious. There were certainly unscrupulous motives behind some of these for what we might call “pilgrim tourism dollars,” but the sermon material put in the words of the unlikely infant follows the early ecumenical creeds and could serve as an entertaining method of catechism. Today, we remember the 11th-century tale, set in the 7th century in Anglo-Saxon England- the curious story of St. Rumwold, a newborn preacher.

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- let’s keep rolling in the Psalms and the Metrical Psalter- this is from Psalm 43.

1  Judge me, O God, and plead my cause

         against th' ungodly nation;

      From the unjust and crafty man,

         O be thou my salvation.

   2  For thou the God art of my strength;

         why thrusts thou me thee fro'?

      For th' enemy's oppression

         why do I mourning go?

   3  O send thy light forth and thy truth;

         let them be guides to me,

      And bring me to thine holy hill,

         ev'n where thy dwellings be.

   4  Then will I to God's altar go,

         to God my chiefest joy:

      Yea, God, my God, thy name to praise

         my harp I will employ.

   5  Why art thou then cast down, my soul?

         what should discourage thee?

      And why with vexing thoughts art thou

         disquieted in me?

      Still trust in God; for him to praise

         good cause I yet shall have:

      He of my count'nance is the health,

         my God that doth me save.

  

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 3rd of November 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who, at three days old, was not preaching but already had his full, robust beard- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who read this story with the image of the dancing baby meme of the early internet in his head- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be OK.