Tuesday 12 August 2008

St Alexander's Day

ALEXANDER THE CHARCOAL BURNER
Third Century

Dissatisfied with the nobly-born but unsuitable candidates for the vacant see of Comana in Pontus (northern Asia Minor), St Gregory the Wonder-worker turned to Alexander the Charcoal-Burner and, in spite of his rags and dirty face, chose him to be bishop. Alexander turned out to be a man of wisdom and is said to have eventually suffered martydom by fire.
August 11th

Had a missive from Peter Jameson today, who amongst other things is a charcoal burner, informing me that it was St Alexander's Day yesterday. Good luck to all the Charcoal Burners out there!


Going down to Berkshire this evening to give a demonstration to the
Kennet Valley Woodturners
there's a picture of a great little armadillow made from a Banksia nut on their front page.

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2 comments:

Rima Staines said...

Hello, thanks for your visit and glad you enjoyed your wander :)
I'm afraid my uncle who went to Rochester art school died some years ago, so I can't ask him if he remembers your father... :) Maybe my dad will tho, as he lived round there too...
All best wishes to you and the charcoal burners
Rima

rika said...

This is a saint I was not aware of! Unfortunately, there are a lot of them to learn . . . and I tried finding a good illustration of Alexander from a manuscript but I can't find anything with a shelf mark! Not a one! Very disappointing.