diff --git a/README.textile b/README.textile
index 0ed13e8f..fe28d6e7 100644
--- a/README.textile
+++ b/README.textile
@@ -315,6 +315,12 @@ Convert an array into a sentence.
 becomes
 
   foo, bar, and baz
+  
+h3. Textilize
+
+Convert a Textile-formatted string into HTML, formatted via RedCloth
+
+  {{ page.excerpt | textilize }}
 
 h3. Include (Tag)
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/filters.rb b/lib/jekyll/filters.rb
index cb7c5d51..6bb08096 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/filters.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/filters.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 module Jekyll
   
   module Filters
+    def textilize(input)
+      RedCloth.new(input).to_html
+    end
+    
     def date_to_string(date)
       date.strftime("%d %b %Y")
     end
diff --git a/test/test_filters.rb b/test/test_filters.rb
index 9cd25f6d..e6700191 100644
--- a/test/test_filters.rb
+++ b/test/test_filters.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ class TestFilters < Test::Unit::TestCase
     @filter = JekyllFilter.new
   end
 
+  def test_textilize_with_simple_string
+    assert_equal "<p>something <strong>really</strong> simple</p>", @filter.textilize("something *really* simple")
+  end
+
   def test_array_to_sentence_string_with_no_args
     assert_equal "", @filter.array_to_sentence_string([])
   end