St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

At St. Paul’s Parish This Week:

In Church News:

News in the Episcopal Church this week includes the first ordination of a woman to the priesthood in the Diocese of San Joaquin: read about it here.

Find other news of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion at Episcopal Life Online.

The July issue of St. Paul’s Epistle, our monthly newsletter, is available on line as a .PDF file readable with Abobe Reader by PC users and with Preview by Mac users.

On the Calendar of Saints – St. Peblig:

Today is a feria in the American church. Since we will be commemorating Independence Day tomorrow, today we will make note of a Welsh saint whose feast day is July 4, St. Peblig. Exciting Holiness – 2007 tells us:

Tradition has it that Peblig was the son of the would-be Roman Emperor Macsen Wledig (Magnus Maximus) and his wife Elen or Helen. Macsen left Britain in 383 at the start of an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to seize the throne of the Western Empire. Sulpicius Severus describes Macsen’s wife as a devoted disciple of Martin, the ascetic Bishop of Tours. If Peblig was indeed her son he may have embraced some of Martin’s teachings and practices. Peblig (the Welsh form of Publicius) is remembered as the founder of the church of Llanbeblig, within the walls of the Roman settlement of Segontium near the later Caernarfon. He seems to have played an important part in ensuring the survival of Christianity in that area of Wales in the troubled period during and after the withdrawal of the Roman legions.

A prayer for today:

A prayer for commemorating St. Peblig is found in Exciting Holiness:

Almighty and ever-living God, who called Peblig to proclaim the gospel to the nation of Wales: give us, your servants, such faith and power of love, that, as we rejoice in his triumph, we may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit by all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.