For more information on writer Walt Garlington as well as resources on the Orthodox view on the departed, the meaning of a Saint and their veneration, explanation of old vs new calendar, and funeral hymns and prayers, click here.
By Walt Garlington
Dear friends, if you have time, please pray for these members of the Southern family on the day they reposed. Many thanks.
March 3rd
M.E. Bradford: one of the South’s best defenders in the latter half of the 20th hundredyear. [His photo is on left of the feature image at top.]
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/review/remembering-mel-bradford/
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/author/m-e-bradford
March 7th
Jean-Baptiste de Bienville: “Canadian naval officer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, served as three-time governor of the French colony of Louisiana intermittently from 1702 to 1743. Bienville and his older brother, Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, traveled on an expedition that arrived in Louisiana in 1699. Together they explored the lower Mississippi River valley and established a permanent French settlement in Louisiana, Fort Maurepas. Bienville proved particularly talented, though not always successful, as a negotiator with local Native Americans. In 1718, he chose the site where New Orleans, named for the French Duc d’Orléans, was built.”
https://64parishes.org/entry/jean-baptiste-le-moyne-sieur-de-bienville-2
March 13th
Elizabeth Madox Roberts: a gem of a writer from Kentucky.
http://emrsociety.com/Biography
March 19th
Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle: “French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, is perhaps best known for giving the region and ultimately the state its name: Louisiana. In 1682, while searching for a water route to the Gulf of Mexico, La Salle—accompanied by a small group of European and Native American explorers—arrived at the point where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. There, he planted a post and claimed the river and its basin for France, naming the territory La Louisiane in honor of King Louis XIV. In so doing, La Salle helped set the stage for the next eighty years of French rule in the new colony.”
https://64parishes.org/entry/rene-robert-cavelier-sieur-de-la-salle
March 20th
Lewis Grizzard: one of the many good comedians Southern culture has produced.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/its-a-trick-general-theres-two-of-them/
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/topics/lewis-grizzard/
March 25th
Philip Ludwell III: “He was born in 1716 in Virginia. After completing his education at the College of William & Mary and marrying, he sailed to London in 1738 in order to be received into the Orthodox Church. One of the largest landowners in the colonies, he remained true to the ancient Christian faith till the end of his days and earned the esteem of his peers, including many of the Founding Fathers of the future United States of America.” Interestingly, he reposed on the Feast Day of the Holy Annunciation.
https://www.ludwell.org/
https://southernorthodox.org/philip-ludwell-iii/
March 27th
General Richard Gano: a good example of the kind of Christian soldier who fought for Dixie in the War with the Yanks.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/gods-general/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9813/richard-montgomery-gano/photo
March 28th
Margaret Junkin Preston: sister-in-law to Stonewall Jackson and a great poetess and novelist.
https://civilwar.vt.edu/margaret-junkin-preston-poetess-of-the-south/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Junkin_Preston#Bibliography
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7737366/margaret-preston/photo
Earl Scruggs: “Earl Scruggs, once compared to violinist Niccolo Paganini, not only pioneered the three-finger banjo but played it to standards of taste and technique unmatched by thousands of disciples over seven decades. He was an important figure in the birth of the bluegrass genre, and also brought his artistry to the fields of country, folk, and rock, to college campuses, and to television and the movies.”
https://www.bluegrasshall.org/inductees/earl-scruggs/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJOIqmlI65Y
https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2020/03/happy-feast-for-saints-of-march.html
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are! Anathema to the Union!
♱ St. David, Patron Saint of Wales, 1/14 March
Our father among the saints David of Wales [whose icon is on right of the feature image at top], known in Welsh as Dewi Sant, is the patron saint of Wales and considered by many to be one of the most illustrious of the ancient British bishops. He is also known as the Dewi Ddyfrwr (David the Water Drinker) due to his habit of drinking only water and the creation of many holy wells associated with his life. Though there is no reliable Life extant, legend has it that St. David was born to noble parents in South Wales and educated by St. Paulinus (23rd November), the disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre (31st July).
He was a staunch opponent of the Pelagian heresy, and the founder of the See of St. David’s or Menevia. To which, when appointed to succeed St. Dubricius (14th November), he transferred the primary Welsh Bishopric from Caerleon. The foundation of a dozen monasteries and many miracles are attributed to St. David, and he is said to have been zealous in encouraging discipline among both clergy and laity, and to have presided over the Synod of Brefi circa 560. The date of his repose is listed as anywhere from the mid-sixth century to circa 601. His relics survive and are enshrined in St. David’s Cathedral, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
