Born in Ireland, Aidan came to England in the 7th century. Oswald, a member of the Northumbrian royal family, had lived in exile with the monks at Iona, during the Mercian invasion. While there he became a Christian, and when he regained his throne by defeating the Mercians in the Battle of Heavenfield, he invited his friends on Iona to send a monk to help him share his faith with his Northumbrian subjects. Aidan was not the first monk to come, but he got on well with Oswald, who would have welcomed Aidan to the the royal palace of Bamburgh, but he preferred instead the relative isolation of the island of Lindisfarne. With King Oswald initially assisting him as translator, Aidan was responsible for the conversion of many to the Christian faith. He founded churches and monasteries, liberated Anglo Saxon slaves and educated them. Aidan had a reputation for living very modestly. After Oswald's death, Aidan supported Oswald's brother King Oswin and the two became good friends. One day Oswin gave him a fine horse but almost immediately Aidan gave it away to a poor man. During Lent he went on retreat to the Inner Farne, from where in AD651, he saw Bamburgh being burnt by Fenda, another militant King of Mercia. He prayed successfully for the wind to change, but died later that year. The Vikings sacked Lindisfarne in AD793 and St Aidan was forgotten for a while, but in the 10th century the monks of Glastonbury obtained his supposed relics, reviving interest in him. The Venerable Bede praised him for his eloquence, his prayerfulness, peaceful nature, humility and care of the sick and poor.We acknowledge information provided by the Independent Catholic News and also by Chris Hudson, one of the original Brinkburn Lifepath team.
Revd Rich visits Longframlington - and challenges us to "Be the Change" to improve St Mary's and make us more welcoming to others. He describes some of his own experience from years ago - when he decided that if he wanted there to be something for families like his, then he could do something about it himself. And he also reminded me that the vision to establish the Community Room was all about being the church for the local communityClick here to see the video and here to visit the YouTube channel to check out all the videos.
Our Priest in Charge was among a group of newly appointed clergy entertained recently at Bishop's House by Bishop Helen-Ann.No prizes for guessing why he was in the back row for the photograph!
In May 2023 a group of St Mary's members, led by Michael and including Rev Rich with his phone to record the event, followed the ancient Spring-time Rogation custom of praying for bounty from the land. In days gone by they would have walked the bounds of the parish, to ensure all were still in place, but the practice always focused on praying that crops and animals would thrive to ensure sufficient food for the coming year. We did indeed do that, but since the walk also took place during Thy Kingdom Come, we also prayed more generally for the people of our village.We enjoyed a beautiful afternoon for our walk round the village, and while our walk did not cover the whole village, our prayers did, and the pictures clearly show scenes from as far east as the Running Fox and Carr's Corner and almost as far west as Villa Lane. Other larger places - one example is Berwick Upon Tweed - still have Beating the Bounds traditions at this time of year as a civic activityThe video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RB-Gn2_uoQ, or can be easily accessed on the YouTube channel we share with St Michael's.
