William Byrd
Best known for his development of the English madrigal.
Byrd wrote extensively for every medium then available except, it seems, the lute.
He managed to remain on the payroll of Lincoln Cathedral for ten years after moving to London.
In 1923, the tercentenary of Byrd’s death, a commemorative tablet was placed in the wall of the church at Stondon.
There is only one known portrait of William Byrd, and that is not reliably authentic.
Byrd appears as a character in the novel English Music (1992) by Peter Ackroyd.
Byrd quotes
“The exercise of singing is delightful to nature, and good to preserve the health of man.”
“It is a knowledge easily taught, and quickly learned, where there is a good master, and an apt scholar.”
“Since singing is so good a thing,
I wish all men would learn to sing.”
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Gertrude the Great
Gertrude was born in the same town as Martin Luther.
She wrote a prayer that when said, releases 1,000 souls from Purgatory:
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.
Pope Benedict XIV gave her the title “the Great,” making her the only woman saint to be so named.
Gertrude is the patron of the West Indies.
Gertrude quotes
“Until the age of 25, I was a blind and insane woman… but you, Jesus, deigned to grant me the priceless familiarity of your friendship by opening to me in every way that most noble casket of your divinity, which is your divine Heart, and offering me in great abundance all your treasures contained in it”.
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