Christian meals and/or foods linked to Jesus Christ in the New Testament and the saints?
- Conversion of St. Paul Fast
January 22-24 in preparation for the Feast of St. Paul (January 25)
After receiving Jesus’ instruction to continue to Damascus and wait to be told what to do next (Acts 9:6), Saul continued into the city and refused to eat or drink for three days (Acts 9:9) until Ananias came to him and Saul accepted Christ and received his sight, whereupon he resumed eating and drinking (Acts 9:17-19). This period of emotional and physical suffering coupled undoubtedly with prayer was critical to “crucify the old man” (Romans 6:5-7), that is, the fleshly and sinful desires, and prepare Saul to accept and dedicate his life to the Lord.
- St. Peter's fish (Galilean tilapia)
Feast of St. Peter and Paul (June 29)
As the glorious Apostle, St. Peter was a fisherman from the Sea of Galilee by trade, it would be fitting to eat some species of tilapia in honour of the Apostle St. Peter.
The tilapia species include the Galilean tilapia (Sarotherodon galilaeus), the blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus), and the redbelly tilapia (Tilapia zillii). Fish caught commercially include Tristramella simonis and the Galilean tilapia, locally called "St. Peter's fish". In 2005, 300 short tons (270 t) of tilapia were caught by local fishermen. This dropped to 8 short tons (7.3 t) in 2009 because of overfishing. - Sea of Galilee
A very simple way to remember St. Columba (aka St. Colmcille) on his feast day today (June 9) is by having a glass of milk. Readily available and easy to serve - no prep or fuss. One of the pious legends of St. Columba's life involved him casting a demon out of a pail of milk. So toast to the grand Irish saint with a frosty glass of milk today. - Refreshing Glass of Milk to Toast St. Columba
- Blessed butter on the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle (August 24)
Of Saint Bartholomew it is said in "The Golden Legend" that he went to India to convert the pagans, as is told also of another Apostle, Saint Thomas. He was later martyred in Armenia, after telling the king who ordered him to adore the idols, "I shall fritter thy gods and thou shalt believe in mine." And at his words, the image of Baldach, the god, fell to the earth in its own temple. According to some, Bartholomew was beheaded, others tell that he was flayed alive and then crucified. On account of this latter legend, we often see him represented in art, as in the Last Judgment of Michelangelo, holding in his hand his own skin. Bartholomew's remains, the story continues, were tossed into a casket and set afloat and came ashore in Sicily, and after many centuries they were brought to Rome and are thought to be preserved in the Church of Saint Bartholomew-on-the- Island.
According to an Austrian legend, many years after his death Saint Bartholomew was seen walking through a field where a woman was working on his feast day. He chided her for this, but the woman was so upset to see the saint bleeding profusely and with his flayed skin over his shoulder, that she ran into the house and brought back some butter to anoint Saint Bartholomew's skin. Since that day Saint Bartholomew's butter is blessed on his feast in Austria. - Feast Day Cookbook
Benediction Casei vel Butyri
V. Adjutórium nostrum in nómine Dómini.
R. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
V. Dóminus vobíscum. R. Et cum spíritu tuo.
Orémus. Oratio Dignáre, Dómine Deus omnípotens, bene + dícere, et sancti + ficáre hanc creatúram cásei (vel
butýri), quam ex ádipe animálium prodúcere dignátus es: ut, quicúmque ex pópulis tuis fidélibus de eo coméderint, omni benedictióne cælésti, et grátia tua saturáti, repleántur in bonis. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. R Amen.
Et aspergatur aqua benedicta.
Old Michaelmas Day (October 11)
Old Michaelmas Day falls on 11 October (10 October according to some sources – the dates are the result of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar so the gap widens by a day every century except the current one). It is said that the Devil fell out of Heaven on this date, and fell into a blackberry bush, cursing the fruit as he fell. According to an old legend, blackberries should not be picked after this date (see above). In Yorkshire, it is said that the devil spat on them. According to Morrell (1977), this old legend is well known in all parts of Great Britain, even as far north as the Orkney Islands. In Cornwall, a similar legend prevails; however, the saying goes that the devil urinated on them. - Michaelmas (September 29)
Third day of Holy Week in the Orthodox Church and the second day of Holy Week, Jesus curses a fig tree. Fig could be eaten on these days in memory of this event in the life of Jesus.
Holy Monday or Great and Holy Monday (also Holy and Great Monday) is a day of the Holy Week, which is the week before Easter. According to the gospels, on this day Jesus Christ cursed the fig tree (Matthew 21:18–22, Mark 11:20–26), cleansed the temple, and responded to the questioning of his authority (Matthew 21:23–27).
It is the third day of Holy Week in Eastern Christianity, after Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, and the second day of Holy Week in Western Christianity, after Palm Sunday. - Holy Monday
- Chutney in remembrance of the captured Mangalorean Christians (1784–1799).
February 24 (Ash Wednesday)
The captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam (1784–1799) was a 15-year imprisonment of Mangalorean Catholics and other Christians at Seringapatam, in the Carnataca region of India by Tippu Sultan, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. Estimates of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000, but the generally accepted figure is 60,000, as stated by Tipu in the Sultan-ul-Tawarikh. The captivity was the most disconsolate period in the community's history.
On 24 February 1784, (Ash Wednesday), in a secret and well planned move, Tipu arrested a large number of Christians across the province of Canara and other parts of his kingdom. Accounts of the number of captives range from 30,000 to 80,000. According to historian Kranti Farias, all arrests may not have been made on a single day, but instead carried out in stages.
When Tipu issued his orders to seize the Christians, the British, who had entered into a treaty with him on 11 March 1784, were helpless. Captives also included Malayali Christians, and Tamil Christians from the Tamil-countries. The Portuguese, guardians of the Christian faith in Canara, intervened and requested Tipu not to imprison the priests. They suggested that he let the Christians live peacefully as his father Hyder Ali had done. But Tipu paid no heed to their request. Estimates suggest that about 7,000 people remained in hiding. Many were actively assisted by the Hindus whilst the few Christians in Canara who escaped Tipu's initial captivity fled to Coorg and Malabar, where they were protected by the native rulers.
Fifteen-year captivity
On arrival at Seringapatam the Christian captives were forced to embrace Islam. All those who complied were freed. Those who refused were tied to the feet of the elephants to be dragged and trampled on Tipu's orders.
One English prisoner related that two risalas (regiments of soldiers) arrived daily in Seringapatam to select girls they could take as prizes to join their harems. Often when girls were seized, their young men would offer resistance and smash their dhoolies (palanquin). Officers would capture the attackers and administer five hundred strokes with whips and canes, from whose effects many men died.[88] Historian Lewin Bentham Bowring reports that, "Tipu demanded the surrender of the daughters of some of these Christians in order to have them placed in his seraglio, and that, on the refusal of their parents, the latter had their noses, ears and upper lips cut off, and were paraded through the streets on asses, with their faces towards the tails of the animals."
Such treatment of the Christians for refusals by the girls is also confirmed in the accounts of British officer James Scurry, who was held captive along with the Mangalorean Catholics. In his book The Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape of James Scurry, who was Detained a Prisoner During Ten Years, in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib (1824), Scurry also reports that Tipu relented on his demand for captive girls, after one captive fell from her beast and expired on the spot through loss of blood. About 200 young women, the prettiest and fairest, were selected for Tipu's seraglio. The rest of the women were distributed as wives to Muslim officers and favourites living there. The future Christian progeny of these young girls and women were lost, and their descendants are fully Islamic as of today.
As the food in the camp was sub-standard, Balthazar of Belthangadi, a Mangalorean Catholic nobleman, offered to make a chutney for the captured Mangalorean Catholics. This came to be known as the legendary "Balthazar Chutney". - Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam
The captivity ended 4 May 1799!
January 13th Feast Day of Saint Remigius
Beans are fitting here as there would be eaten at the time of St. Remigius.
Remigius (c. 437 – 13 January 533) was the Bishop of Reims and "Apostle of the Franks". On 25 December 496, he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks. The baptism, leading to about 3000 additional converts, was an important event in the Christianization of the Franks. Because of Clovis's efforts, a large number of churches were established in the formerly pagan lands of the Frankish empire, establishing a distinct Catholic variety of Christianity for the first time in Germanic lands, most of whom had been converted to Arian Christianity.
