| The Story of Saint Chad | |
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Yes, indeed, Saint Chad. Like the chad of modern Florida fame, he became involved in one of the great controversies of his day and was ultimately hailed as a great bringer of unity.
The Catholic Church places the birth of Saint Chad, Apostle of Mercia, at around 623 near what is now Birmingham, England.
Ordained in 653, the young Saint Chad and his brother Cedd, who also want on to sainthood, became embroiled in a controversy that threatened to consumed the English Church of the time. At issue, was the calendar of choice. Should the Church follow the ancient Celtic method of determining the date of Easter other annual feasts, or the calendar of the Council of Nicaea, as followed by Rome? Saint Chad, as a Celtic Bishop played a large role in unifying the Church in 664 by accepting and recommending adoption of the Nicaean calendar.
In 669, Saint Chad was selected Bishop of Mercia by King Wulthere and served as a saintly and energetic pastor preaching through the land both on foot and from horseback
Saint Chad died of the plague in 672.
Perhaps the most ironic tie between the Celtic Saint Chad and the bedeviling bits of paper currently slapping a choke-hold on our presidential election is the following excerpt from the Prayer on the Feast of Saint Chad...
"...Keep us, we pray Thee, from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and ready at all times to step aside for others,..."
