Patron Saints in Christendom and the South

Whatever good there was in paganism, the Church baptized it and made it her own.  This is true of the concept of patron deities of the cities and countries of pagan antiquity.  Athena, for instance, was considered the patroness of ancient Athens.¹  Christians, recognizing that there was something good and right in the practice, purified it and adapted it to their own use.  Thus, throughout Church history, we find nearly every Christian city and country with a patron saint, who protects his or her people from the evils that threaten them, whether spiritual or physical.  From St Agatha saving Sicily from the fires of Mt Etna,² to St Demetrios of Thessaloniki saving his city from barbarians, to St Genevieve of Paris saving her city from flood and famine – Christendom is replete with patron saints and their acts of protection and deliverance.

Which makes Dixie an outlier.  We boast that we are a Christian people, yet we have no patron saint.  We ought to remedy that.

A patron saint for the South should embody the main elements of Southern life, so that all Southrons would feel a kinship with him or her.  Now, the South, considered from the viewpoint of her deepest and oldest roots, is the offspring of English culture:

‘Gifted novelist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston underscored the common elements of white and black southern culture, calling the South as a whole “the purest English section of the United States”:

‘“What is actually the truth is, that the South, up until the 1930s was a relic of England… and you find the retention of old English beliefs and customs, songs and ballads and Elizabethan figures of speech.  They go for the simile and especially the metaphor.  As in the bloom of Elizabethan literature, they love speech for the sake of speech.  This is common to white and black.”’³

But the English culture Dixie received as her patrimony was not just any old generic English culture.  Part of it does indeed come from the borderlands with Scotland.  But Southern culture in the main springs from the areas associated with the Old English kingdom of Wessex in southwestern England.

Professor David Hackett Fischer speaks to this.  About the area from whence came the early settlers of Virginia – who were to stamp the South with her particular character – Prof Fischer says, ‘It more nearly resembled the ancient historical Wessex of Alfred and Athelred, which with its Mercian protectorate reached east as far as Canterbury, and north beyond Warwick and Northampton.’⁴  And again, ‘Its language and laws were those of the West Saxons [i.e., of Wessex, the short form of West Saxon–W.G.], rather than the Danes who settled East Anglia, or the Norse who colonized the north country, or the Celts who held Cornwall and Wales.’⁵

Dixie’s patron saint, then, ought to be the best representative of old Wessex culture.  Is there anyone who does that sufficiently?  There is, and Prof Fischer has actually already mentioned his name:  King Alfred the Great of Wessex, England’s Darling (849-899).  But his achievements were so momentous that their effects extended beyond Wessex, leavening all of English culture, as Father Andrew Phillips, a priest in England, reveals:

‘… all that has come to pass, in the eleven hundred years and more of England since Alfred, would never have come to pass without him. Nothing can be understood without him, nothing can be seen without his presence. Yes, it is true that after the silver age of the tenth century, England would sink again under the yoke of other Northmen, but even they would never be able to erase Alfred’s example, his memory and his achievements. Although the details of Alfred’s English Kingdom were later modified, its structure was lasting and has never been destroyed.

‘… And all the great moments of our history are Alfredian. His presence is a constant, haunting our history, a beneficent ghost down all the ages. Embodying Faith and Truth, Wisdom and the Law, Alfred is England’s Darling and England’s Shepherd, and his Christ is England’s only Greatness.’⁶

St Alfred’s influence on Southern culture is therefore quite inescapable.

Having established this much, let us look now more specifically at how King Alfred embodies some of the major aspects of Southern culture and history.

He was born into a large Christian family, not a rarity for the pre-modern South:

‘Alfred was the youngest of five children, four sons and one daughter, of Ethelwulf, King of Wessex and his wife Osburh. Both were reputed for their piety, it is even said that in his youth Ethelwulf had wanted to become a monk in Winchester. Osburh is recorded as ‘a most religious woman, noble in character and noble by birth’. Alfred was the youngest of all King Ethelwulf’s six children – the King had already had by a first union a son, Athelstan, who was to die relatively young.’⁷

He displayed good manners, and loved and recited poems:

‘Alfred was greatly loved by his parents and indeed by all who encountered him. He was brought up at the royal court and was “more comely in appearance than his other brothers, and more pleasing in manner, speech and behaviour”. From childhood his noble mind was characterized by the desire for wisdom, more than anything else. He was a careful listener and at that time he used to learn English poems by heart, memorizing them from recitals.

‘One day his mother, showing him and his brothers a book of English poetry, said: “I shall give this book to whichever one of you can learn it the fastest”. Then aged only five or six, Alfred, was attracted by the beauty of the first letter, which was illuminated. He at once took the book from her hand, went to his teacher, and learnt it by heart. Then he took it back to his mother and recited it, thus winning the book from his brothers, who though older, did not show the same abilities as Alfred.’⁸

King Alfred was a skilled rider and hunter, who saw nature as a wonderful mystery rather than as something evil or devoid of meaning (as Yankees tend to see it), and he had an intense love for God:

‘Alfred showed great practical ability, skill and success in every branch of hunting. Here he learnt something of the beauty and mysteries of nature, for Alfred was spiritually gifted too. Since he had to wait until the age of twelve before he began to learn how to read and write, he also learnt the daily services of the hours and many psalms and prayers by heart. These he collected in a single book, which he kept by him day and night, into adulthood.’⁹

An epic poem about St Alfred, Eþandun, gives us an idea of his riding prowess.  During a sudden attack by the Danes, he makes a narrow escape by skillfully grabbing hold of his horse as it races by:

Athelnoth galloped in with Smoke in tow,

the king’s hunter, a tall gray, uncut.

Shoving the sailors’ skipper in the slush,

the Saxon caught the saddle, leapt, and fled

according to the Frankish exercise

his brother’s men had taught him as a youth.¹⁰

Such attributes also helped him to become a fine warrior, a figure we have seen many times over the years in Dixie, including Washington, Lee, Hampton, Taylor, and many other Southern generals:

‘Here the English Christians were victorious in a skirmish at Englefield, but lost in attacking the Danes at Reading. On 8 January a major battle took place at “Ashdown” on the Berkshire hills and here too Alfred distinguished himself, and was shown to be a greater leader with more initiative and daring than his brother, King Ethelred. At Ashdown the heathen were routed by the English Christians.’¹¹

In his war against the pagan Viking Danes who overran England, he faced an enemy with numbers that exceeded his own, like the South against the Yankees in the War (the Yankees share some Scandinavian blood with the Northmen St Alfred and his men fought, making Dixie’s war against the Yanks in a real way a repeat of King Alfred’s war against the Danes).  The pillaging by the Danes is also mirrored by the Yankee ravaging of innocent Southern civilians:

‘However, in autumn 875, the heathen left their base in Cambridge and embarked on their second invasion of Wessex. They came to Wareham in Dorset and then went on to Exeter in Devon. Here they had gathered a fleet of 120 ships in order to finish off Wessex, but it was wrecked in a storm off Swanage. The heathen constantly broke their oaths to leave Wessex and slaughtered and ravaged everywhere they went. From here they crossed into Gloucester in the south of Mercia in 877 but just after Twelfth Night in January 878 they moved in a surprise attack to the royal estate in Chippenham in Wiltshire. As usual they pillaged the churches, destroyed opposition and the people of that area submitted to their authority. Wessex had all but collapsed.’¹²

At a difficult moment in his war with the Northmen, like Francis Marion and his army in South Carolina, St Alfred and his men hid amongst the swamps to regroup and fight the enemy anew:

‘After Easter, in late March 878, Alfred and his company retreated through the alder forests and reedy marshes to the strategic island of Athelney, meaning the “island of the princes”. This may have been a hunting-lodge of the princes of Wessex, or it may have taken its name from that time, when Alfred made it into a family stronghold for the princes of the Royal House. For on this island, a low hill of some thirty acres, surrounded by marsh and thicket with a well-protected causeway, Alfred built a fortress. This was to be the ark of salvation for Christian England.’¹³

Like Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, St Alfred did not wage total war against the Vikings, but fought as a Christian ought:

‘Alfred pursued the heathen to their stronghold at Chippenham and seized all that they had, horses and cattle, and then laid siege. After two weeks the heathen, cold, hungry and fearful, made a peace-treaty. They swore that they would leave the Kingdom at once. In victory Alfred now showed his true greatness. He did not slaughter his former enemy like the murderous Charlemagne, but he fed them. Wisdom took the place of the sword; Alfred had defeated his enemies, but did not make enemies. He had overcome barbarism without becoming barbaric. Showing true Christian virtue and statesmanship, Alfred knew that the only real conquest is the conquest of the heart. As Churchill, emulating Alfred, said over a thousand years later: “In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity; in peace, good will”.

‘Three weeks later at Aller in Somerset together with some thirty of his leading men, Guthrum, the Danish King, received baptism taking the noble English name “Athelstan”, with Alfred standing as his godfather. After eight days, as is the tradition, he had the holy oil or chrism removed at the nearby royal estate at Wedmore and King Alfred, his conqueror and godfather, feasted with him and honoured him with gifts.’¹⁴

As with many Southern gentlemen, so also with St Alfred – he learned a classical language; in his case, Latin:

‘Showing great curiosity in the acquisition of new religious knowledge, Alfred wished to restore learning in general. He set an example by personally learning Latin over a period of about five years between 887 and 892. This began on St Martin’s Day, 11 November 887. Then aged thirty-nine, Alfred was beginning an apprenticeship. As we shall see, eventually aided by his scholars, he was to become a translator from Latin into English of essential works from the early Church for the benefit of the faithful.’¹⁵

In the Southern aristoi were many lawyers; St Alfred also showed a deep interest in law:

‘Between 890 and 893 Alfred drew up a great law-code, which has led many to give him the title, “Alfred the Lawgiver”. He wished to restore the rule of law, enforcing justice, wherever law and order had broken down because of the heathen invasions and the breakdown of church and monastic life. His laws were based on the Ten Commandments of Hebrew Mosaic Law, on the best of the traditional English laws of Kent, Mercia and Wessex, and on Roman government. Much was based on the Ten Commandments, given to Moses, fulfilled and interpreted by the love and compassion of Christ, continued by the teachings of the Apostles and handed down through the ordinances of the Church Councils down the ages. In it Alfred emphasised the importance of the Golden Rule of St Matthew (Matt 7, 12): “Do as ye would be done by”, which he enshrined in his laws as: “Judge as ye would be judged”.’¹⁶

King Alfred recognized that there is a hierarchy among men, that they are not all the same, as modern theories of equality teach.  Southerners have likewise always abhorred an abstract, theoretical equality.  St Alfred, in his translation of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, describes the three basic classes of men in society as ‘praying men, fighting men and working men.’¹⁷

In order to know one’s place in the hierarchy, a man needs to have knowledge of his ancestors.  Such knowledge was once prized in Dixie, and St Alfred, as one of the nobility, would also have had a keen grasp of it.  Mr. Carpenter illustrates this cleverly in Eþandun, as King Alfred recites his lineage while he cuts firewood in the early morning while hiding in the forest from the Danes, thus keeping the memory of his ancestors strong in his heart:

 . . . he muttered “Aethelwulf” and swung the sledge.

The log cracked, uncovering its core,

while the shock jarred the marrow of his bones.

He set the wedge, acknowledged “Ecgbert,” swung,

“Ealhmund—Eafa—Eoppa,” he said,

for each name landing a ringing blow.

Dropping his torn cloak, he wiped his forehead.

Another eight concussions drove his count

to Cerdic, who, like Brutus come from Rome

or like Anchises’ scion out of Troy

or like the son of Nun escaping Egypt,

arrived, grappled, and planted a new people.¹⁸

There is more that could be said.  The reader will have to seek it out on his own, however, in the sources given below, and elsewhere.  But the significance of St Alfred for the South today cannot be overstated.  Fr Andrew assesses the situation of England – and by extension the South – quite well:

‘Let us say that if the question of Alfred’s holiness is coming up now, over a thousand years since he lived, it is no coincidence. It seems to us that at the present time Alfred’s England is going through a process of repaganization.  . . .

‘As a result of the assault on Christian values, English national identity is under threat. We cannot forget that England and the English only exist as a nation because of the Church which brought the light of Christ to our forebears, the early English, from 597 on, bringing to her people a single national organization and then unity of government. It was in the last half of the ninth century that Christendom was threatened by the heathen Vikings. England almost disappeared then. The same thing appears to be happening now – England as a Christian country is now disappearing. And heathenism is one and the same, in its old form or its new one. We believe that we need Alfred now. He was the first real King of the English and our only true “Defender of the Faith”. For this reason there are those who dare to call out:

‘“Holy and Righteous Alfred, pray to God for thy land and thy people!’”¹⁹

The South is experiencing this same retrograde shift away from Christianity and back toward paganism, and, because of that, toward disintegration as well.  We, like England, need the prayers of an intercessor before the Throne of God in Heaven.  We need a strong spiritual warrior to help us overcome our foes and enlighten them with the Christian Faith.

Many of the States are placing their hopes in politicians, some of whom are nominal Christians at best – Harris, Trump, Kennedy, etc.  Let us here in the South choose a different path.  Let us deepen our bonds with Christendom by at long last taking a patron saint for our land and people.  Let us seek help from a true Christian, from one of God’s friends, from one of our own ancient kinsmen, St Alfred the Great.  Thus will Dixie obtain deliverance from her woes from one who in his own life delivered England from many troubles – invaders, ignorance, lawlessness, impiety, etc.

May this October 26^th, the day of St Alfred’s joyful appearance before Christ in 899, and every year on that day hereafter, be amongst us Southrons a mighty celebration in honor of our fatherly Patron Saint, a day of unity for the South, blessed brotherly unity after so many decades of strife and division – ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!’ (Psalm 133:1) – praising him and the God Who made him great, and all together asking him to pray for us unworthy sinners, that we might live holy lives in imitation of his own and receive the bliss of God’s Grace.

To that end, we offer pages containing much additional information about King Alfred,²⁰ a service in his honor,²¹ and an icon²² that can be added to the pictures of the other honored dead in our homes and churches.

And finally, as we part, full of warmth towards one another and towards the All-Holy Trinity and His faithful servant Alfred, may this prayer uttered by our patron be always on the lips and ever-resounding in the hearts of all the faithful of Dixie, that this tender-hearted warmth would always remain amongst us:

‘O Lord God Almighty, Maker and Ruler of all creation, in the name of Thy mighty mercy, through the sign of the Holy Cross and the virginity of Holy Mary, the obedience of Holy Michael and the love and merits of all Thy Saints, I beseech Thee, guide me better than I have deserved of Thee; direct me according to Thy will and the needs of my soul better than I myself am able; strengthen my mind for Thy will and the needs of my soul; make me steadfast against the temptations of the devil; keep foul lust and all evil far from me; shield me from my enemies, seen and unseen; teach me to do Thy holy will, that I may inwardly love Thee above all things with clean thought and chaste body. For Thou art my Maker and my Redeemer, my life, my comfort, my trust and my hope. Praise and glory be to Thee now and forever and unto the endless ages. Amen.’²³

-By Walt Garlington

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Notes

¹ Thomas Martin, ‘The Characteristics of the City-state (Polis)’, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D1.

² Hieromonk Makarios, ‘The Life and Veneration of the Holy Virgin Martyr Agatha’, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/02/the-life-and-veneration-of-holy-virgin.html.

³ Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene Genovese, The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders’ Worldview, New York, NY, Cambridge UP, 2005, p. 6.

⁴ Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, New York, NY, Oxford UP, 1989, p. 241.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ ‘In Praise of the Great Alfred’, http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/athip.htm.

⁷ Fr Andrew Phillips, ‘The Life of the Holy and Righteous King of the English Alfred the Great’, http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/athlifea.htm

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ William Carpenter, Eþandun: Epic Poem, Saint Paul, Minn., Beaver Pond Press, 2021, p. 47.

¹¹ Fr Andrew, ‘The Life’.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Alfred the Great: Asser’s Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources, Keynes and Lapidge, translators, New York, NY, Penguin Books, 2004, p. 132.

¹⁸ Carpenter, p. 67

¹⁹ Fr Andrew, ‘The Life’.

²⁰ http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/zathelney.htm.

²¹ http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/pdf/servs/Alfred.pdf.

²² https://www.uncutmountainsupply.com/icons/of-saints/by-name/a/icon-of-st-alfred-the-great-1al15/.²³ ‘A Prayer of the Righteous Alfred, King of the English’, http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/athapray.htm.