Solemnities, Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials, and Traditional Dates of Commemoration
- Victorinus and Companions, martyrs
- Caesarius Nazianzen
- Ethelbert of Kent
- Walburga, virgin
- Tarasius, bishop
- Gerland, bishop
St. Ethelbert of Kent (d. ca. 616 A.D.) was the first Christian Anglo-Saxon king. His wife, Bertha, was the daughter of the king of Paris and was already a Christian when they got married. Since Ethelbert was not Christian, Bertha agreed to the marriage as long as she was permitted to practice her Christian faith. It was St. Augustine of Canterbury and his monks who, in 597 A.D., was instrumental in the conversion to the Christian faith of Ethelbert and the whole of Britain through Pope Gregory the Great. Although King Ethelbert did not accept Christianity at first, he allowed the missionaries to preach and make converts. But in ca. 601 A.D., Ethelbert himself was eventually baptized. His conversion was decisive for the Christianization of Kent and the whole of England.
Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 25]
- St. Tharasius, Archbishop of Constantinople
St. Tharasius or Tarasius of Constantinople (d. ca. 806 A.D.) was a layman serving as secretary to Emperor Constantine VI. He was named Patriarch of Constantinople by Empress Irene and was consecrated bishop in 784 A.D. He was able to restore the statues and images to the churches of his see after the decrees of the General Council of Nicaea. In his term of office in the see of Constantinople, there was political strife in the royal family. However, even with this turmoil, St. Tharasius was able to complete and finish his twenty-one year service under the next Emperor, Nicephorus.
St. Tarasius is commemorated today, February 25, in both the Catholic Church and in the Byzantine Calendar.
