St. Clarus(es)

As I was doing my research for today, I realized I made a mistake when I was planning out the outfit! There are, apparently, 2 different St. Claruses (actually, more than that, but two in particular that I happened to confuse). One of them has his feast day today - Nov. 4, but the one I took my inspiration from has his feast day on Jan. 1. The particular details of their lives have not survived, though, for either of them, so I'm just going to write about them both today.

1) The St. Clarus whose life is celebrated on Nov. 4 was an Englishman who served as a missionary to Normandy in the late 9th century. He was assassinated by order of a noblewoman whose advances he had refused. That's a very interesting turn of events, I think, considering the number of female saints who died as a result of their potential suitors becoming angry and their chastity and killing them (St. Thecla, St. Winifred, etc.). St. Clarus is the first male I've come across who has suffered this kind of victimization.

2) The St. Clarus whose life is celebrated on Jan. 1 was a French monk. He lived an entirely monastic life and died as the abbot of St. Marcellus monastery in Vienne, France. He is, apparently, the patron saint of tailors, although I'm not sure why.

So, I chose for my outfit a skirt that I wore exactly one time to a conference and then never wore again because it made me feel like an old lady. It was just too long and not very flattering. So, this summer, I had it shortened by my tailor (see the connection?), and it's like having a new skirt. I never in my life thought I would ever say, "No, that skirt's too long. I need it to be shorter," because in general I don't like my legs and try to cover them as much as possible. But shortening this skirt was exactly what it needed:

Before and After

St. Winifred

St. Winifred is a very awesome Welsh saint from the 7th century. The story goes that Winifred was a Welsh nobleman's daughter. Her father gave a clergyman named Beuno a parcel of land on which to build a church in exchange for educating Winifred. Beuno agreed. Meanwhile, Caradog - the son of a neighboring chieftain - attempted to "force the chastity" of Winifred. She ran away down the hill toward the church which made Caradog so mad that he pulled out his sword and chopped off her head. Her head rolled all the way down the hill into the church where the whole town was attending mass. Her parents were there as well, and they of course panicked seeing their daughter's head. Beuno picked up the head, and walked outside to find Caradog still standing with Winifred's body. Beuno laid a curse upon Caradog who died on the spot (one source says he "melted" - !!!), and then the holy man placed Winifred's head next to her body. Beuno then urged the congregation to pray with him for the restoration of the young girl. The prayers worked! Winifred opened her eyes and got up. But she had a visible white scar around her neck for the rest of her life from where she had been decapitated.

Healing springs are said to have sprung up both in the place where her head originally fell and in the place where it stopped rolling. The floorboards of the church were cracked and water began to seep through. The second spring is said to have rocks around it which look as though they are covered in blood, but the water smells perfumed.

OK, so, for Winifred, I am wearing a choker. I don't have a white one, but I do have this red one which I have never worn before and which recalls the bloodiness of the stones at her well:

All Souls' Day

Yesterday was All Souls' Day which is the day in which many Western Christians commemorate the dead and also pray for the souls in purgatory. The practice of praying for the souls of the dead can be traced all the way back to a passage in Maccabees describing the actions of Judas Maccabeus after a battle:

"He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he had sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin." (2 Maccabees 43:46)


Since it is a rather somber feast day, I chose a somber color palette and added my memento mori earrings: