Concerning the Life and Miracles of St. Winefred

As a follow-up to our 2025 saint's-life generating Advent Calendar game, we hear an actual medieval saint's life and discuss how we get some of our saintly terminology. You'll also find out where you can get a downloadable version of the Advent Calendar game! Today's Texts: "Life of St. Winefred." Lives of the Cambro British Saints, of the Fifth and Immediate Succeeding Centuries, from Ancient Welsh & Latin MSS. in the British Museum and Elsewhere, with English Translations, an Explanatory Notes, edited and translated by W. J. Rees, Welsh MSS. Society, 1853, pp. 515-529. Google Books. "The Miracles of St. Winifred's Well." The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 1762, 13 Oct. 1894, p. 829. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20230146 The Rule of St. Benedict. Translated by D. Oswald Hunter Blair, 2nd ed., Sands & Co,m 1907. Google Books. Music credit: "Ton y botel (Ebenezer)." Performed by the Wilkes-Barre Quartet, Victor, 1922. United States Library of Congress. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:18:01 Text: The Life and Miracles of St. Winefred 00:47:36 Commentary 00:53:55 Riddle 00:54:52 Journaling Game Now Downloadable 00:57:23 Outro

In this prelude appendix to our episode on saint's lives, we hear versions of the life of St. Valentine from three different medieval sources. Today's Texts: First English edition of the Nuremberg chronicle: being the Liber chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann Schedel. Edited and translated by Kosta Hadavas, U of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, 2023, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/3SXNV3NHBQLFQ8J [used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.] Jacobus de Voragine. "Life of S. Valentine." In The Golden Legend, or Lives of the Saints. Translated by William Caxton, edited by F.S. Ellis, vol. 3, J.M. Dent, 1900, pp. 42-45. Google Books. Bede. Martyrologium de Natalitiis Sanctorum. In Patrologia Latina, edited by J.-P. Migne, vol. 94, col. 840A-842B, 1862. Google Books. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:07:34 The Nuremberg Chronicle's account of the 8th Persecution 00:13:57 Commentary 00:15:28 "St. Valentine" from Caxton's Translation of the Golden Legend 00:19:02 Commentary 00:19:59 from Bede's Martyrology 00:21:20 Commentary 00:23:37 Outro

As we enter the season of elves and Christmas spirits, we follow up on our fairy theme from last episode with a look at the famous 16th-century German hausgeist, Hinzelmann the Kobold -- but don't call him that to his face! Today's Texts: Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. E.G. Bohn, 1850. Google Books. Der vielförmige Hintzelmann oder umbständliche und merckwürdige Erzehlung von einem Geist, so sich auf dem Hause Hudemühlen, und hernach zu Estrup im Lande Lüneburg unter vielfältigen Gestalten. Leipzig, 1704. Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen. Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsche Sagen. Berlin, 1816. Google Books. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:13:22 "Hinzelmann," translated by Thomas Keightley from the Brothers Grimm 00:48:03 Commentary 00:57:23 Mystery Word: kalamâr 00:58:52 2025 MDT Advent Calendar 01:02:33 Outro

For our eleventh anniversary episode, we follow the fairy path of the redcap, from recent cinema through tabletop gaming, into Victorian folklorists and Romantic balladeers, and finally hunting up their ancestry in medieval manuscripts. Today's Texts: "Redcap." Monster Manual III, edited by Greg Collins, John D. Rateliff, and Gary Sarli. Wizards of the Coast, 2004. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/monster-manual-iii/page/n137/mode/2up Henderson, William. Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders. W. Satchell, Peyton, & Co., 1879. Internet Archive. Leyden, John. "Lord Soulis." Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. 2, edited by Walter Scott, James Ballantyne, 1803, pp. 353-388. Google Books. Leland, Charles Godfrey. "Etrusco-Roman Remains in Modern Tuscan Tradition." Congrès International des Traditions Populaires, Première Session, Paris 1889, Société d'Èditions Scientifiques, 1891. Google Books. Gervase of Tilbury. Otia imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor. Edited and translated by S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns. Clarendon Press, 2002. Thomas of Walsingham. Historia Anglicana. Edited by Henry Thomas Riley, vol. 1, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863. Google Books. Croker, Thomas Crofton. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 2nd ed., John Murray, 1838. Google Books.

This episode we continue further with Bede as he relates two more afterlife visions of a more infernal nature, and then we hear Gregory the Great answer some questions about the nature of Hell. Today's Texts: Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The Complete Works of Venerable Bede. Edited and translated by J.A. Giles, vols. II & III, Whittaker and Co., 1843. Google Books. Gregory the Great. Dialogues. Translated by P.W. (1608), edited by Edmund G. Gardner, Philip G. Warner, 1911. Digital transcription and additional editing by Roger Pearse, 2004, https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Gregory_Dialogues Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:34 Text: Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, Ch. 13-14 00:10:53 Commentary 00:32:11 Text: from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Bk 4, Ch. 41-44 00:40:04 Commentary. cont. 00:40:35 Mystery Word: Jeffrey's-day 00:43:07 Outro

This episode we explore two glimpses of the afterlife presented by the Venerable Bede and consider how they relate to the modern conception of the near death experience. Today's Text: Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The Complete Works of Venerable Bede. Edited and translated by J.A. Giles, vols. II & III, Whittaker and Co., 1843. Google Books. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:12:37 Text: The Visions of Fursa from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica 00:24:05 Commentary 00:29:59 Text: The Vision of Dryhthelm from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica 00:43:34 Commentary. cont. 01:00:35 Riddle 01:02:09 Outro

This episode we finally enter the open ocean with the Uí Corra and their fellow pilgrims as they explore strange new lands, seek out new afterlives and new sects, and boldly go where many other saints and heroes of Irish legend have gone before. Today's Texts "The Voyage of the Hui Corra." Translated by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, vol. 14, 1893, pp. 22-69. Internet Archive. References Breatnach, Caoimhín. "The Transmission and Structure of Immram Curaig Ua Corra." Ériu, vol. 53, 2003, pp. 91-107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008353 Dumville, David. "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition." Ériu, vol. 27, 1976, pp. 73-94). JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30007669

In this episode, we embark on another Irish adventure with the first part (of two) of "The Voyage of the Uí Corra," in which we don't actually set sail until final paragraph. Today's Texts "The Voyage of the Hui Corra." Translated by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, vol. 14, 1893, pp. 22-69. Internet Archive. References "Book of Fermoy." Royal Irish Academy, www.ria.ie/collections/manuscripts/irish-language-manuscripts/book-of-fermoy/ Breatnach, Caoimhín. "The Transmission and Structure of Immram Curaig Ua Corra." Ériu, vol. 53, 2003, pp. 91-107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008353 Dumville, David. "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition." Ériu, vol. 27, 1976, pp. 73-94). JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30007669 McInerney, Luke. "Conchubhar Mac an Oirchinnigh and the Gaelic scribal tradition of County Clare." The Other Clare: Annual journal of The Shannon Archaeological & Historical Society, vol. 41, 2017, pp. 60-67. Clare Libraries. Shaw, John. "What Alexander Carmichael Did Not Print: The 'Cliar Sheanchain', 'Clanranald's Fool' and Related Traditions." Béaloideas, Iml. 70, 2002, pp. 99-126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20520795 Thompson, Chris, and Isolde Carmody. "Rowing Around Immráma 03: Immrám Uí Corra." Story Archaeology: Conversations on Irish Mythology, 5 July 2014, storyarchaeology.com/rowing-around-immrama-03-immram-ui-corra/

For this St. Patrick's Day, we finally present the last canonical text written by St. Patrick, his letter to Coroticus, completing the series we began in Episode 68 with the first half of Patrick's Confessio. Today's Texts Patrick. Epistola ad Coroticum. St. Patrick: His Writings and Life, edited and translated by Newport J.D. White, Macmillan, 1920, pp. 52-60. Google Books. References Kelly, David. "St Patrick's Writings: Confessio and Epistola." Saint Patrick's Confessio, Royal Irish Academy, 2011, www.confessio.ie/more/article_kelly#. Audio Credit: Father Ted, "The Old Grey Whistle Theft," season 2, episode 4, written by Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, 29 March 1996. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:08:10 Text: Patrick, Epistola ad Coroticum 00:21:00 Commentary 00:24:07 Mystery Word: húrla-hárla 00:25:11 Outro

This episode, we go into more depth with the legend of St. Kenelm (Cynehelm) and his jealous sister Quendrida (Cwenthryth). We also learn what it means to "crab the parson." Today's Text - "The Legend of St. Kenelm." Translated by John Amphlett in A Short History of Clent, Parker and Co., 1890, pp. 177-193. Google Books. References - Brand, John. Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions, edited, revised, and expanded by Henry Ellis, vol 1, Henry G. Bohn, 1859. Google Books. - Cross, Tom Peete. "Witchcraft in North Carolina." Studies in Philology, vol. 16, no. 3, Jul. 1919, pp. 217-287. Google Books. - Rollason, D. W. "The Cults of Murdered Royal Saints in Anglo-Saxon England." Anglo-Saxon England, vol. 11, 1983, pp. 1-22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44510759 - Weiskott, Eric. "Saint Kenelm, Illustrated." Erikweiskott.com, 21 Nov. 2016, ericweiskott.com/2016/11/21/saint-kenelm-illustrated/ - Whitelock, Dorothy, editor and translator. "From the Report of the Legates to Pope Hadrian (786)." English Historical Documents: ca. 500-1042, vol. 1, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1955, pp. 770-774. Archive.org. Image Credit: Detail of Kenelm with a bird at his ear from Bodleian Library, MS Douce 368 f. 80r (12th cent.). Audio Credit: "6 Morceaux, Op. 85 - 3. Cavatina." Composed by Joachim Raff, performed by Benjamin Intartaglia. Musopen. Used under CC-BY 3.0 license. Chapters 00:00:00: Introduction 00:09:01: Text: The Legend of St. Kenelm 00:24:03: Commentary 00:36:43: Brand and Ellis on "Crabbing the Parson" (1859) 00:42:21: Commentary 00:43:40: Riddle 00:44:53: Outro