Benedict. The name of one of today’s saints on the calendar, of some 16 popes, of Sir Cumberbatch (British actor perhaps best known for his television portrayal of Sherlock Holmes).

I’m not especially interested in the life of the saint for March 21 that is discussed by Butler, but I am in the name. “Benedict” means “to speak well” in the same way that “benefit” means “to do well.” That is, a benedict uses words to bring good things, to heal, to infuse wellness and goodness.

Today marks the birth of Kathy Skaggs, 3/21/1956. Kathy’s words–her poetry, her essays, her humor, her grant proposals to secure funding for the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic & Sexual Violence, her insights, her careful and caring responses to rural Kentuckians, her speaking truth to power, her expressions of friendship–testify that she too must needs be celebrated and remembered as a true benedict…as one who used her words to heal and to save lives, mine included.

[Also, and because Kathy would have appreciated this tidbit, come the 19th century, a “benedict”–perhaps because of the infamy of that turn-coat Benedict Arnold–came to mean “a newly married man who has long been a bachelor”! Just FYI.]