Duncan Royale St. Basil

His family was quite wealthy and quite large. St. Basil had four brothers and five sisters. They were also a very religious family. Of the ten children, four were eventually canonized as saints, as were the father, mother and two grandmothers. They were quite a remarkable family. 

As a young man, St. Basil was well educated by tutors. At sixteen he was sent to Athens in Greece to complete his education, since Athens was the real center of learning at that time. St. Basil was a good student and often after a hard day of study, he liked to relax by taking a walk and singing hymns as he went along. One day he came across some boys who made fun of him because he was singing hymns in praise of God. They wanted to pick a fight with him, when suddenly the staff he was holding burst into bloom. Frightened and bewildered, the boys left him alone. The staff had bloomed into the Christmas Rose and the people of Greece remember this event every year on St. Basil’s feast day. 

St. Basil returned to Caesarea where he became a monk. Eventually a community of monks grew up around him. They founded orphanages and schools and the monks became good teachers to the young. 

After many years, St. Basil became Bishop of Caesarea and was a true shepherd to his flock. He established institutions for the sick and the needy, and for strangers and pilgrims. He provided training for unskilled workers and taught the rich to use their generosity to help the poor. St. Basil died, worn out by work, ill-health and the austerities of life, in 379 A.D., on January 1, when he was only 49 years old. The people of Greece never forgot him and his wonderful generosity and every year they commemorate his coming to Athens on a ship. In Athens itself, models of ships are carried around by carolers who make a collection of money in them for the poor. 

Children receive gifts from St. Basil on his feast day and traditional ‘Basil’ cakes are eaten to honor this patron saint of Greece.