Today January 19

Today is the feast of St. Knut (Eleventh century), king of Denmark. He seems to have been regarded as a saint merely for being a murder victim, and a timely one at that. Had he not been killed -- rather alarmingly as he knelt before the altar of the church of St. Alban in Odense, Denmark -- he would have invaded England. And, in fact, it was English monks who first proclaimed him a saint. (I am reminded of the rabbi's prayer in "Fiddler on the Roof": "God bless and keep the czar . . . far away from us!") His own life was not a holy one. An illegitimate child, he lived as royally, sumptuously, and self-indulgently as he could (and after he became king, he certainly could.) He cared more about temporal than religious affairs. He made his subjects angry by extracting what they considered an excessive war tax. He ran from an angry mob to the aforementioned church, where he was killed. His name was given to a great Notre Dame football coach, Knute Rockne. St. Knut, pray for us.