The Catholic Defender: Saint Oswald

(born c. 604—died 642, Maserfelth, Eng.; feast day August 5) Anglo-Saxon king of Northumbria from 633 to 642 who introduced Celtic Christian missionaries to his kingdom and gained ascendancy over most of England.

St. Oswald is the patron saint of soldiers. He always took a cross into battle with him and prayed at the foot of the cross to ask God to protect him and his soldiers.

Saint Oswald (born c. 604—died 642, Maserfelth, Eng.; feast day August 5) Anglo-Saxon king of Northumbria from 633 to 642 who introduced Celtic Christian missionaries to his kingdom and gained ascendancy over most of England.

It was a conflict with the pagan Mercians under Penda that proved to be Oswald's undoing. He was killed in 642, by the Mercians at the Battle of Maserfield, in Oswestry (although other candidates for the location of the battle have been suggested) and his body was dismembered.

Oswald was a man of prayer, and this must have been quite unusual among kings of his day. He used to get up very early in the morning to pray in the hour before dawn. Bede tells us he prayed so much that whenever he sat down his hands naturally rested on his knees in an upturned gesture of prayer and thanksgiving.