December 9th St. Budoc
St Budoc is celebrated in both Brittany and Cornwall--his feast day in the former is today, so I am going with that. He was from a royal family around Brest. Like several Celtic saints, his birth history has an unusual "cast into the sea" quality about it.
His mother, Azenor, when pregnant with Budoc, was accused by her step-mother of infidelity. The outraged husband, had his wife put into a barrel and thrown out into the ocean. While in the barrel, Azenor went into labor. Fortunately, the spirit of St. Brigid of Kildare came to comfort and guide her through the labor, then piloted the barrel to the coast of Ireland where Budoc was educated near Waterford. When the step-mother was on her death bed, she recanted her fiction about Azenor, which allowed Budoc and his mother to return to Britanny. He became an abbott and evenutally bishop of Dol, where he is buried.
Sometime around 480 AD, a group of monks, either sent or led by Budoc, crossed the channel in an open boat sailing up the river Tamar in Cornwall and began establishing churches in that region over which Budoc continued to provide pastoral care.
The above stories made me start thinking about the sea. The Celts had an interesting relationship with the sea. It provided food, yet it was wild and dangerous. It was the only avenue of travel between the dispersed nations of the Celtic world. Then I began thinking about the prayers related to the sea in the Carmina Gadelica.
One of the wonderful aspects of the Celtic revival which began in the late 1800's was the work of Alexander Carmichael. A native Gaelic speaker, Carmichael travelled through the Gaelic speaking areas of the Western Scottish Islands, collecting sayings, songs, stories and prayers, which he translated and copied down into English...this was published gradually in 5 volumes, ending in 1976 (long after Carmichael's death) as the Carmina Gadalica, or Song of the Gael. Many modern students of Celtic Christianity, such as Esther de Waal or Raymond Simpson, see the songs and poetry in particular as a link to the mind-set of the Celts of the early Medieval times. Here is one example:
"O THOU who pervadest the heights,
Imprint on us Thy gracious blessing,
Carry us over the surface of the sea,
Carry us safely to a haven of peace,
Bless our boatmen and our boat,
Bless our anchors and our oars,
Each stay and halyard and traveller,
Our mainsails to our tall masts
Keep, O King of the elements, in their place
That we may return home in peace;
I myself will sit down at the helm,
It is God's own Son who will give me guidance,
As He gave to Columba the mild
What time he set stay to sails.
Mary, Bride, Michael, Paul,
Peter, Gabriel, John of love,
Pour ye down from above the dew
That would make our faith to grow,
Establish ye us in the Rock of rocks,
In every law that love exhibits,
That we may reach the land of glory,
Where peace and love and mercy reign,
All vouchsafed to us through grace;
Never shall the canker worm get near us,
We shall there be safe for ever,
We shall not be in the bonds of death
Though we are of the seed of Adam.
On the Feast Day of Michael, the Feast Day of Martin,
The Feast Day of Andrew, band of mercy,
The Feast Day of Bride, day of my choice,
Cast ye the serpent into the ocean,
So that the sea may swallow her up;
On the Feast Day of Patrick, day of power,
Reveal to us the storm from the north,
Quell its wrath and blunt its fury,
Lessen its fierceness, kill its cold.
On the Day of the Three Kings on high,
Subdue to us the crest of the waves,
On Beltane Day give us the dew,
On John's Day the gentle wind,
The Day of Mary the great of fame,
Ward off us the storm from the west;
Each day and night, storm and calm,
Be Thou with us, O Chief of chiefs,
Be Thou Thyself to us a compass-chart,
Be Thine hand on the helm of our rudder,
Thine own hand, Thou God of the elements,
Early and late as is becoming,
Early and late as is becoming."
In a prayer like this, there is a strong sense of the presence of the saints, both Biblical (John, Peter, Paul) and Celtic (Columba and Bride, the latter being another name for Brigid.) And there is an overwhelming sense of God's omnipresence and power. The mention of Brigid particularly tied in for me the story of Budoc, with Brigid coming to be midwife to Azenor. The Celt's had a strong sense of the power of the Saints to bypass space and time, sent by God to be with us as fellow pilgrims in our trials and journies.
There is no sea near me in the area just east of the Rockies, but I know that at one point in time it was one large sea bed across this area and the Great Plains. And, today, as most recent days, I have to drive...this time across frozen sheets of ice and snow. There is a tendency to be anxious and apprehensive. So...like Budoc and his mother...I am going to trust today in God and his Saints.
Lord as I travel today, out across the frozen waters, the moisture we need so much, send for my help the spirits of the Celtic saints, Brigid to calm me, Columba to guide me, and the patience and trust of Budoc to inspire me. And be Thou my "compass-chart", the hands upon my wheel..."early and late as becoming...early and late as becoming." Amen.
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