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Saint Oswald crowned, holding an orb and a martyr’s palm, painted by Jacopo de’ Barbari about 1500

Saint Oswald of Northumbria

King who raised a cross before battle and put Aidan’s preaching into his people’s words

Honoured as
King and martyr
Western calendar
5 August
Orthodox calendar
5 August, kept by the Orthodox Church in America

Oswald was a prince of Northumbria who grew up in exile among the monks of Iona, and before the battle at Heavenfield near the Roman Wall he set up a wooden cross with his own hands and had his army kneel and pray. As king he asked Iona for a bishop and was sent Aidan, and because Aidan was not yet fluent in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, Oswald walked beside him and put his preaching into the people's own words. He fell in battle against Penda at Maserfield on 5 August 642, and his last words were for his soldiers, whence the old proverb: "God have mercy on their souls, as said Oswald when he fell."

Sources

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It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

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