All Saints of Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire was once a hub of activity and holiness. There are at least 101 Saints closely associated with Lincolnshire. One could add many others who passed through (several of them giving their names to places on the way – for example St. Helen who found the Holy Cross and her son St. Constantine who passed this way having become Emperor in York). Here is a short list:

St. Oswald (d. 642); St. Ostrythe; St. Ailred (Ethelred) (d. 716); St. Werburgh Abbess (circa 785); St. Chad (d. 672); St. Botolph (d 680); St. Adulph (d. 680); St. Simon the Zealot; St. Guthlac (673- 714); St. Pega (Pea) (d. 719); St. Bertram (8th Century); St. Cissa (8th Century); St. Etheldritha (Alfreda) (d. 835); the Martyrs of Croyland: Sts. Theodore Abbot, Askega Prior, Swethin Subprior, Elfgete Deacon, Sabinus Subdeacon, Grimkell, Agamund Centenarians, Herbert Chanter, Egred, Ulric Servers, Egelred and the Seventy Companions (martyred 870); St. Thurketyl (887-975); St. Helen and St. Constantine; St. Hibald (d. 690); St. Paulinus (d. 644); St. Herefrid (d. 747); St. Aethelheard; St. Elwin (Aethelwine); St. Aldwyn (5th Century); St. Edilhun and St. Egbert; St. Erkenwald (d. 693); St. Werburgh (d. 700); St. Werburg of Mercia (d. 785).


Propers for All Saints of Lincolnshire - 15 December


The Collect.


O Almighty God, who hast compassed us about with so great a cloud of witnesses: Grant that we, encouraged by the good example of thy servants The Saints of Lincolnshire , may persevere in running the race that is set before us, until at length, through thy mercy, we may with him attain to thine eternal joy; through Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The Lesson - Micah 6:6-8.


Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?


The Holy Gospel - St. Matthew 25:31-40.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.


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