No Good Deed

Today March 2 is the Feast day of Charles the Good, or Charles I Count of Flanders (now Belgium).

In a manner reminiscent of or perhaps foreshadowing the ‘meddlesome priest’ Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles the Good was hacked to death by medieval knights as he knelt in prayer.  On March 2 1127 he was murdered in the church of St Donatian.  Oddly, the Good Count’s father had also been assassinated in church.

Perhaps it was more common than realized for leaders to meet their end in church back in the Middle Ages, at a place where they went in peace and without protection.  The evil and powerful Erembald family conspired to murder the Good Count because he saw to it the people had bread to eat and a fair price to pay for it.  The Erembald’s were losing profits and their family fortune and influence were threatened by the Good Count’s rulership.

If you see a parallel to current times, this is because history has a tendency to repeat itself.

The lambs continue to be slain in church to this day, and some unscrupulous rich families continue to profit off the poor.  The champions of the people continue to pay with their lives, and their character assassinated by the evil conspiracies.

As no good deed continues to go unpunished, it is a rare soul who would stand up for the underprivileged.

Raise your glass then in appreciation for all the saints on this Feast Day of Charles the Good who was formally beatified in 1882.