SUNDAY When the Saints Go Marching In (ITV 6.25 pm). Michael Hordern examines the lives and travels of St Ursula and St Christopher. Both are surrounded by many legendary embellishments and few facts.
St Ursula is supposed to have travelled in a boat from England with between 11 and 11,000 virgin companions. Her journey through Europe ended in Cologne, where she and her companions were killed for their faith by Diocletian. Cologne Cathedral was dedicated to her.
Historical research has failed to support the story. Pope Benedict IV had planned to remove them from the Roman Martyrology, It has been suggested that the original story of an early Christian martyr
dom was distorted and swamped by the cult of the local mountain goddess Horsel, St Christopher has been dropped from the Calendar of Feasts in the Church's year but still features prominently on the dashboards of nervous car owners, According to the Roman Martyrology he was martyred under Decius at Lycia. He is best known as the gentle giant who carried the Christ child across a ford and was overcome by the weight of the world's worries carried by the child.
Cross Question (BBC I. 10.25 pm). Don Cupitt, Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, argues with Paul Johnson, the author of "A History of Christianity" about the Sonship of Christ. Don Cupitt
believes Christians must abandon their literal belief in Jesus as Son of God. Paul Johnson disagrees. MONDAY
Panorama (BBC 1, 8.10 pm) looks at Irish attitudes to the Partition between North and South.
Open Door: The Value of Life (BBC 2, 10.30 pm) is presented by the Human Rights Society which was formed in 1969 to plead the cause of the unwanted.
The society is particularly concerned about the threat of legalised euthanasia. A spokesman explains: THURSDAY
Israel: A Promised Land (BBC 2, 9.25 pm). James Cameron looks at the modern State of Israel and asks if it has lived up to the hopes and dreams of its founding fathers,