ST. ODO
he was a righteous and holy man who commanded the respect of all with whom he came in contact. His work in Canterbury has already been described, and his memory has been preserved by the observation of his Festival on June 2 as a Red Letter Day. It is noted in the Kalendar of Christ Church preserved in Register K,[1] also in the Canterbury Martyrology[2] and in that in Hollingbourne's Psalter,[3] and the sum of vd. was paid in 1273 by the Sacrist for extra music and bellringing (pro sonitu) as appears in the Sacrist's accounts for that year. I am indebted to the Rev. C. E. Woodruff for a note on the Collect used in the thirteenth century at Christ Church. It is found in a MS. with the Press Mark Y. 68, and is entitled
DE RELIQUIIS
Propiciare quesumus Domine nobis famulis tuis per sanctorum tuorum, Gregorii, Augustini, Wilfridi, Audoeni, Martini, Nicholai, Odonis et aliorum omnium quorum reliquie in ista continentur ecclesia merita gloriosa ut eorum piis intercessionibus ab omnibus semper protegamur adversis, per etc.
(Translation of above.)
O Lord, look graciously upon us Thy servants for the sake of the glorious merits of Thy saints, Gregory, Austin, Wilfrid, Audoen, Martin, Nicholas, Odo, and of all the other saints whose relics are contained in this Church, that by their pious intercessions we may be delivered from all adversities through, etc.[4]
The above Collect was probably used on the Feast Days of those saints mentioned, as the day called "The Feast of Relics" does not appear to have been observed at Canterbury. In the time of Prior William Molash (1427-1437) the image of Archbishop Odo, together with
- ↑ Ch. Ch., Cant., MSS., Case F.I.
- ↑ Brit. Mus., Arundel MS. 68.
- ↑ Lambeth MSS., 558.
- ↑ Relic Sunday was the third Sunday after Midsummer Day, and was therefore a movable Feast, see N. Harris Nicolas's Notitia Historica; but according to the Sarum Use, the Feast of Relics was celebrated on the first Sunday after the Feast of the Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury, i.e. after July 7.
This Feast was not generally observed in the Catholic Church, nor is it at the present time. It has been the custom to keep the Festival in certain particular dioceses, e.g. in the diocese of Arras in France, where it is observed on November 5 by the recital of a particular office, and relics are on that day exposed on or near the High Altar in every church in the diocese. (Kindly communicated by the Revd. Canon Delpiere of the Diocese of Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France.)
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