21st August 2026

I have a diary from some years ago bought in Switzerland where each date is dedicated to a saint – 365 of them. Our small dictionary of saints omits most of them. It does include some but many that are there are said to be probably mythological. The well-known ones are those we see in stained glass in old churches.

As Baptists we do not celebrate these accredited saints. Many of us have saints’ names but may never have explored who they were or what they did.

But I think that the hymn which starts ‘I sing a song of the saints of God…’  and talks about where to find them has a point.

You can find them in school or in lanes or at sea,
In church or in trains or in shops or at tea…

Surely, for us, saints are those whose lives have pointed us toward Christ and the Christian way and have shown us a light along the way. Your saint(s) will not be known to me, nor mine to you but I remember well those who I met and who were saints for me and by their lives shone a light for me. Mostly it was not what they said; it was how they were and how they lived. I would count my school maths teacher among this sort of saint. Who are/were yours?

As for exploring saints with your name, be careful. The ruined Cleeve Abbey has a wall painting of St. Margaret with her emblem. My sons would be delighted to tell you her emblem is a dragon.

Margaret Clements