Christopher Whall works in Gloucester Cathedral

Lucy's name means "light". Legend tells us that Lucy was a Christian martyr during the Diocletian persecution. As with Agnes, Lucy was determined to devote herself to Christ and refused when her mother proposed her marriage to a pagan. In anger the spurned suitor denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily. She was imprisoned and her prison guards we are told were unable to move her or burn her and they ultimately took out her eyes with a fork before she was executed. Lucy is the patron saint of the blind [5]

Faith was another victim of Diocletian persecution of the Christians and she was tortured to death for her Christianity on a red-hot brazier.[2]

According to legend Agatha was another who dedicated her life to God and resisted any men who wanted to marry her or have sex with her. One of these men was Quintian who thought he could use his high position to force her to succumb to him. He had her arrested and when his further efforts failed he had her put into a brothel, then moved back to a prison and then tortured. It seems that people prayed to her during the eruption of Mount Etna and she is thus considered a protector against the outbreak of fire. She is also considered the patroness of Bellmakers perhaps because bells were used as fire alarms[4]

Aidan was also born in Ireland before becoming a monk at Iona. At the request of King Oswald of Northumbria, Aidan went to Lindisfarne as bishop. He founded a monastery at Lindisfarne that became known as the English Iona and was a centre for missionary activity for all of northern England. He died in 651 at the royal castle at Bamburgh.[7]

Hilda was a Benedictine abbess, the daughter of a Northumbrian king. She spent some time at Chelles Monastery in France but was asked by St Aidan to return to Northumbria. She did so and became the abbess of Hartlepool. Later she became the head of the double monastery of Streaneschalch, at Whitby.[8]

Cuthbert is also thought to be Irish though some regard him as a Scot. Orphaned when a young child, he was a shepherd for a time, is thought to have possibly fought against the Mercians and became a monk at Melrose Abbey. A period was spent at Ripon Abbey but Cuthbert then returned to Melrose where he became the Prior and then Prior of Lindisfarne when St Colman and others returned to Ireland after a row over liturgical matters. At Lindisfarne he was said to have attracted huge crowds when preaching. He then asked for permission to live as a hermit until against his will he was elected bishop of Hexham in 685, but arranged with St. Eata to swap Sees, and returned to Lindisfarne where he lived as bishop for the remaining two years of his life.[9]

Chad was an Irish archbishop and brother of St. Cedd, also called Ceadda. He was trained by St. Aidan in Lindisfarne and in England. Made the archbishop of York by King Oswy, Chad was disciplined by Theodore, the newly arrived archbishop of Canterbury in 669. Chad accepted Theodore's charges of impropriety with such humility and grace that Theodore regularized his consecration and appointed him the bishop of Mercia. He established a see at Lichfield. In liturgical art he is depicted as a bishop, holding a church.[10]

Bede spent his whole life in a monastery devoting himself to the study of scripture and to teaching and writing. He is considered one of the most learned men of his time and a major influence on English literature. His best-known work is HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, a history of the English Church and people, which he completed in 731. He was called "the Venerable" to acknowledge his wisdom and learning.[12]

Helen was a British princess who married a Roman General, Constantius Chlorus, and became the mother of Constantine the Great. In her embracing of Christianity she much influenced Constantine who was to become the first Christian emperor. In her eightieth year she made a famous pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the ardent desire of discovering the cross on which our Blessed Redeemer had suffered. Three crosses were found on Mount Calvary, together with the names and the inscription recorded by the Evangelists. The miraculous discovery and verification of the true Cross is still celebrated by the Church on 3 May. She also built a beautiful Basilica on Mount Calvary to receive these precious relics, sending portions of it also to Rome and Constantinople. She built two other famous churches in Palestine to honour the sacred sites of Our Lord's life, one at the site of His Ascension, and the other, known as the Basilica of the Nativity, in Bethlehem.[2]

Bridget had arrived in Ireland a few years after St. Patrick. As she grew up she became exceedingly pious and when her parents' thoughts turned to marriage she would not think of marrying anyone in view of her dedication to God. She learned that her beauty was the reason for the attentions of so many young men so she prayed fervently to God to take her good looks from her. God granted her wish and seeing that his daughter was no longer pretty, her father agreed when she asked to become a Nun and it was when she was consecrated that a miracle happened and her good looks returned.[13]

St. David was the son of King Sant of South Wales and St. Non. He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. He was much involved in missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. He is revered as the patron saint of Wales.[2]

St Alban was the first martyr of England. It is written that during the persecution of Christians, Alban, though a pagan, hid a priest. This priest made a great impression on Alban and he converted to Christianity. Soldiers were sent to take the priest prisoner but Alban passed himself off as the priest and it was he who was taken to prison. When his subterfuge was discovered, the judge who had ordered the arrest was furious and in spite of extreme pressure on Alban to deny his new religion he refused and was ultimately beheaded.[16]

George was a soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and he was one of the Emperor's favourite soldiers. Diocletian was a pagan and had put to death every Christian he could find. George was in fact a Christian and took Diocletian to task for his cruelty. He resigned from the Roman army and for this he was tortured and finally beheaded[17] Lawrence suffered from Valerian's persecution of Christians especially when Valerian ordered that all bishops, priests and deacons should be put to death. Lawrence was a deacon and a victim of Valerian's purge. According to most scholars Lawrence was burned to death on a gridiron[18]

Swithun was born in Wessex, England and was educated at the old monastery in Winchester, where he was ordained. He became chaplain to King Egbert of the West Saxons, who appointed him tutor of his son, Ethelwulf, and was one of the King's counselors. Swithun was named bishop of Winchester in 852 when Ethelwulf succeeded his father as king[20]

Edward or Edward the Confessor's reign as King of England was a peaceful one characterized by his good rule and remission of unfair taxes but it also saw the struggle, partly caused by his natural inclination to favor the Normans, between Godwin and his Saxon supporters and the Norman barons, including Robert of Jumieges, whom Edward had brought with him when he returned to England and whom he named Archbishop of Canterbury in 1051. In the same year, Edward banished Godwin, who took refuge in Flanders but returned the following year with a fleet ready to lead a rebellion. Armed revolt was avoided when the two men met and settled their differences; among them was who would be the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was resolved when Edward replaced Robert with Stigand, and Robert returned to Normandy. Edward's difficulties continued after Godwin's death in 1053 with Godwin's two sons: Harold who had his eye on the throne since Edward was childless, and Tostig, Earl of Northumbria. Tostig was driven from Northumbria by a revolt in 1065 and banished to Europe by Edward, who named Harold his successor. After this Edward became more interested in religious affairs and built St. Peter's Abbey at Westminster, the site of the present Abbey, where he is buried[21]

Oswald was the King of Northumbria . He was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile. After defeating the British ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira once again under a single ruler, and promoted the spread of Christianity in Northumbria. He was given a strongly positive assessment by the historian Bede, writing a little less than a century after Oswald's death, who regarded Oswald as a saintly king; it is also Bede who is the main source for present-day historical knowledge of Oswald. After eight years of rule, in which he was the most powerful ruler in Britain. Oswald was killed in the Battle of Maserfield

Frideswide was a Benedictine hermitess and nun, the daughter of Prince Didan of the Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda. When Prince Aelfgar of a neighbouring kingdom asked for her hand in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she became a hermitess. She subsequently founded the St. Mary's Convent in Oxford and is patroness of the university of that city.[22]

Hugh was a Carthusian bishop and missionary to England. Born in Avalon Castle in Burgundy, France, the son of William, Lord of Burgundy. Hugh was raised by monks at Villard Benoit after his mother died when he was eight. While groomed to enter the Augustinian Canons, he was instead drawn to the contemplative life and became a Carthusian in 1160, while visiting the Grande Chartreuse. In 1175, he was invited by King Henry II to found the first English Charterhouse of the Order at Witham, in Somerset. This foundation was part of the King's penances for the murder of St. Thomas Becket. Hugh then became bishop of Lincoln in 1181 at the command of the King, accepting the office only after he was duly and freely elected. Renowned for his goodness and deep learning, Hugh disagreed with Henry and King Richard the Lionhearted on many occasions, but he never lost their respect nor ceased attempting to wield his saintly influence for the good of the Church and the English people. He was also a fervent defender of the English Jews, protecting them from armed mobs. At his funeral, his bier was carried by notables, including the kings of England and Scotland. Hugh died in Lincoln on 16 November, after a journey to France, and his tomb was a popular pilgrim site until its despoilment at the command of King Henry VIII in the sixteenth century[24]

In his notes and the reference to Boniface, Whall refers us to his book on stained glass in particular Plate XI and pages 224-5 and the subject of "Staining" .[3]

The final saint is Winifred and in his depiction of her Whall includes the line of severance on her neck where she was beheaded and at the base water springing up on the site of her martyrdom.