Saint Eskill
Évêque
et martyr en Suède (✝ 1069)
Saint Anschaire de
Corbie avait été le premier évangélisateur de la Scandinavie,
principalement de la Suède, mais cette évangélisation restreinte surtout aux
environs de l'actuelle Stockholm et le Russland, fut recouverte par le
paganisme. La nouvelle évangélisation vint de la Grande-Bretagne avec saint Siegfrid qui a pour compagnon saint Eskill. Consacré évêque,
il exerce son ministère dans la province du Soedermanland, au sud-ouest de
Stockholm. Le prince qui le soutient est tué. Une fois de plus la réaction
païenne devient active et saint Eskill est lapidé par la foule.
En Suède, l’an 1038, saint Eskill, évêque et martyr. Anglais
d’origine, ordonné évêque par son maître saint Sigfrid, il se livra sans
compter à de multiples travaux pour le Christ dans la province au sud du pays
auprès des païens, qui le lapidèrent.
Martyrologe
romain
Eskil (Eskill) BM (AC)
Died c. 1080; feast day formerly June 13. Eskil is said to have been an Englishman and a relative of Saint Sigfrid, whom he accompanied on the latter's mission to reconvert Sweden, whose people had returned to paganism following the death of Saint Ansgar. Sigfrid consecrated him bishop of Strangnäss. Eskil preached the Gospel with some success in Södermanland, until the heathens reacted after the murder of the friendly king Inge. Then, because he had protested against an idolatrous festival and called down a violent storm that destroyed a pagan altar and its sacrifices, he was stoned to death by the people at Strangnäss. His body was buried on the spot where he died. Within a short time a church was built there in which his sacred remains were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and were honored with miracles. Prior to the Reformation, Saint Eskil was greatly honored in Sweden, and the place where he was buried, Eskilstuna, was named after him (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0612.shtml
June 12
St.
Eskill, Bishop and Martyr in Sweden
THIS saint was an
Englishman by birth; but so long as the Catholic religion flourished in the
northern kingdoms of Europe, was honoured in that part of the universe as one
of the most illustrious martyrs of the gospel of Christ. St. Anscharius,
archbishop of Bremen, having by his zealous labours laid the foundation of a
numerous church in Sweden, was obliged to return into Germany. After his
departure the Swedes returned to their paganish superstition, and expelled
Simon, whom St. Anscharius had left bishop of that church. The news of this
apostacy afflicted extremely the servants of God who inhabited the northern
provinces of England, and St. Sigefride, archbishop of York, resolved to
undertake a mission in person to rescue so many souls that were running upon the
very brink of perdition. Eskill, his kinsman, desirous to have a share in this
laborious and dangerous enterprise, accompanied him thither, and behaved in
that country with so much zeal and prudence that, at the request of the king
and people, St. Sigefride, before his return to England, consecrated him bishop
at a place called Nordhan’s Kogh. By his zealous labours, which were supported
by the example of his apostolic life, the church was exceedingly propagated,
till good King Ingon was slain by the infidels, and the wicked Sweno, surnamed
the Bloody, placed on the throne. Upon this revolution they revived their most
impious and barbarous superstitions, with which they celebrated a most solemn
festival at a place called Strengis. St. Eskill’s zeal was enkindled at such
abominations, and attended by several of his clergy and of the faithful, he
hastened to the place of the sacrilegious assembly. There he strongly exhorted
the idolaters to renounce their impious worship. Finding them deaf to his
remonstrances, he addressed his prayers to the Almighty, beseeching Him by some
visible sign to give evidence that He alone was the true God. Instantly a
violent storm of hail, thunder, and rain fell upon the spot, and destroyed the
altar and sacrifices. This prodigy the infidels ascribed to art or magic, with
which they charged the saint, and by the king’s orders they stoned him to
death. His sacred body was buried in the spot upon which he suffered martyrdom,
and soon after a church was there built, in which his sacred remains were
exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and were honoured with miracles. He
glorified God by martyrdom in the eleventh century. His festival was formerly
kept on this day in Sweden, Poland, and other northern countries. See his life
published by the Bollandists; Messenius, Seondia Illustrata, p. 31. and
Benzelius, Monum. Eccles. Suevogoth. ex MSS. Upsal.
1709, p. 29.
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume VI: June. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/6/123.html
Saint Eskil
Also known as
- Aeschilus
- Eskill
- Eskillo
- Eschillo
Profile
Missionary,
working in Sweden with Saint Ansgar. Bishop.
He converted
so many pagan
Swedes
to Christianity
that he was condemned to death
by King
Swerker the Bloody. Martyr.
Born
- in England