{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_48395/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_48395","id":"gutenberg_48395","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48395","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian saints"],"text":"THE\n\n Lives of the Saints\n\n REV. S. BARING-GOULD\n\n _SIXTEEN VOLUMES_\n\n VOLUME THE THIRD\n\n\n[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION. After Francia, in the Church of S.\nJohn Lateran, Rome. March.--Front.]\n\n\n The\n\n Lives of the Saints\n\n BY THE\n\n REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.\n\n New Edition in 16 Volumes\n\n Revised with Introduction and Additional Lives of\n English Martyrs, Cornish and Welsh Saints,\n and a full Index to the Entire Work\n\n _ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 400 ENGRAVINGS_\n\n VOLUME THE THIRD\n\n March\n\n\n LONDON\n JOHN C. NIMMO\n 14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND\n MDCCCXCVII\n\n\n _Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.\n\n _At the Ballantyne Press_\n\n\n[Illustration: Virgin and Child surrounded by a host of worshippers]\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n A\n PAGE\n\n SS. Abraham and Mary 275\n\n S. Adrian, B. of S. Andrews 59\n\n \" Adrian, M. at Wintershoven 333\n\n \" Agricola 285\n\n \" Alberta 212\n\n \" Albinus 16\n\n \" Alexander of Apamea 203\n\n \" Alexander of Jerusalem 312\n\n \" Alfwold 460\n\n \" Alkmund 334\n\n \" Amantius 333\n\n \" Ambrose of Sienna 369\n\n \" Angus of Keld 217\n\n \" Aninas 274\n\n Annunciation: B. V. Mary 450\n\n S. Ansewin 252\n\n \" Antonina 8\n\n \" Aphrodisius of Beziers 407\n\n \" Aphrodisius of Carthage 256\n\n \" Apollonius 156\n\n \" Aristobulus 266\n\n SS. Armogastes and comp. 496\n\n S. Asterius 42\n\n \" Augusta 483\n\n\n B\n\n S. Balbina 513\n\n SS. Balther and Bilfred 94\n\n S. Barachisius 491\n\n \" Basil of Ancyra 407\n\n SS. Basiliscus and comp. 44\n\n S. Basinus 59\n\n SS. Bathus, Verca, and children 468\n\n S. Benedict 388\n\n \" Benjamin 515\n\n \" Bilfrid 94\n\n \" Boniface Quiritine 279\n\n \" Bosa 175\n\n \" Braulio 468\n\n\n C\n\n SS. Caius and Alexander 203\n\n \" Caius the Palatine and comp. 57\n\n S. Camin of Iniskeltra 458\n\n \" Casimir, Prince 60\n\n \" Castulus 467\n\n \" Catherine of Bologna 182\n\n \" Chad 23\n\n B. Charles the Good 38\n\n S. Chelidonius 44\n\n \" Chrodegang 96\n\n \" Cleonicus 44\n\n SS. Codratus and comp. 203\n\n S. Colette 97\n\n \" Columba 274\n\n \" Constantine 214\n\n Crucifixion, Memorial of 254\n\n S. Cuthbert 337\n\n \" Cyril, Patr. of Jerusalem 314\n\n \" Cyril of Heliopolis 492\n\n SS. Cyril and Methodius 176\n\n\n D\n\n S. Daniel 517\n\n \" David 10\n\n \" Deogratias 411\n\n \" Dionysius of C\u00e6sarea 444\n\n \" Dionysius of Corinth 203\n\n \" Domangart 445\n\n \" Domnina 9\n\n \" Dorotheus 222\n\n \" Drausinus 74\n\n \" Droctoveus 209\n\n \" Dula 457\n\n \" Duthac 164\n\n\n E\n\n S. Edward 324\n\n B. Eelko Liaukaman 413\n\n SS. Emetherius and Chelidonius 44\n\n S. Enda 376\n\n \" Ethelwold 441\n\n \" Eubulus 114\n\n \" Eudocia 2\n\n \" Eulogius 218\n\n \" Euphrasia 241\n\n \" Eusebia 279\n\n \" Eustace 498\n\n \" Euthymius 216\n\n \" Eutropius 44\n\n\n F\n\n S. Felicitas 102\n\n \" Felix 163\n\n \" Fina 239\n\n SS. Fingar and Piala 437\n\n S. Finnian 321\n\n SS. Forty Martyrs of Sebaste 204\n\n S. Frances of Rome 185\n\n \" Fridolin 91\n\n \" Frigidian 321\n\n\n G\n\n S. Gabriel, Archangel 312\n\n \" Gerasimus 63\n\n \" Gertrude 306\n\n \" Gorgo 212\n\n \" Gorgonius 222\n\n \" Gregory the Great 226\n\n \" Gregory of Nyssa 172\n\n\n H\n\n S. Heribert 281\n\n \" Hesychius 1\n\n SS. Hilary and comp. 271\n\n S. Hildelitha 446\n\n B. Hugo 502\n\n S. Humbert 458\n\n \" Hymelin 210\n\n\n I\n\n S. Iren\u00e6us 457\n\n\n J\n\n S. Joachim 336\n\n \" Joavan 22\n\n \" John of Civita-di-Penne 329\n\n \" John Climacus 506\n\n \" John of Egypt 484\n\n \" John of God 165\n\n \" John-Joseph 87\n\n SS. Jonas and Barachisius 491\n\n S. Joseph, husband of B. V. Mary 327\n\n \" Joseph of Arimathea 283\n\n \" Julian of Anazarbus 273\n\n\n K\n\n S. Katharine of Sweden 421\n\n \" Kennocha 255\n\n \" Kessog 208\n\n \" Kieran 66\n\n \" Kunegund 52\n\n SS. Kyneburga and comp. 93\n\n S. Kyneswitha 93\n\n\n L\n\n S. Lactean 331\n\n \" Landoald 333\n\n \" Leo, Archb. Rouen 19\n\n \" Longinus 266\n\n \" Lubin 257\n\n \" Lucius 55\n\n \" Ludger 469\n\n \" Lupicinus 371\n\n \" Lydia 482\n\n\n M\n\n S. Macarius 208\n\n \" Mark of Arethusa 492\n\n SS. Marinus and Asterius 42\n\n \" Martyrs under Alexander 21\n\n \" Martyrs under the Lombards 23\n\n \" Martyrs under Nero 256\n\n \" Martyrs of Sebaste 256\n\n \" Martyrs in the Serapion 284\n\n S. Mathilda 260\n\n \" Matrona 268\n\n \" Matthew of Beauvais 488\n\n \" Maxima of Nicomedia 222\n\n \" Maxima of Sermium 467\n\n Memorial of the Crucifixion 454\n\n S. Methodius 176\n\n \" Mochoemog 245\n\n \" Monan 18\n\n SS. Montanus and Maxima 467\n\n S. Muran 238\n\n\n N\n\n S. Narcissus 313\n\n \" Nicander 267\n\n \" Nicephorus 249\n\n B. Nicholas von der Flue 421\n\n\n O\n\n S. Owen 57\n\n\n P\n\n S. Pacian 172\n\n \" Pancharius 328\n\n \" Papas 273\n\n \" Patrick 285\n\n \" Paul of Cyprus 311\n\n \" Paul of Leon 223\n\n \" Paul of Narbonne 406\n\n \" Paul the Simple 114\n\n Penitent Thief, the 456\n\n SS. Perpetua and comp. 102\n\n \" Peter and comp. of Carthage 256\n\n \" Peter and comp. of Nicomedia 222\n\n B. Peter of Castelnau 74\n\n S. Peter the Spaniard 221\n\n SS. Philemon and Apollonius 156\n\n \" Philetus and comp. 482\n\n S. Phocas 63\n\n \" Piala 437\n\n \" Piran or Kieran 66\n\n \" Proculus 435\n\n\n Q\n\n S. Quirinus of Rome 456\n\n \" Quirinus the Tribune 504\n\n\n R\n\n S. Regulus 504\n\n \" Renovatus 515\n\n SS. Ruderick and Salomon 254\n\n S. Rudesind 19\n\n\n S\n\n S. Salomon 254\n\n \" Secundus 503\n\n \" Senan of Iniscatthy 159\n\n \" Serapion 371\n\n \" Sezin 90\n\n \" Simon of Trent 447\n\n \" Simplicius 22\n \" Sixtus 489\n\n \" Sophronius 215\n\n \" Spes 489\n\n \" Swibert the elder 16\n\n\n T\n\n S. Tatian 271\n\n \" Tetricus 322\n\n \" Thomas Aquinas 116\n\n B. Thomas of Lancaster 414\n\n S. Tibba 93\n\n SS. Timolaus and comp. 444\n\n \" Twenty Monks at S. Sabas 365\n\n\n V\n\n S. Verca and children 468\n\n \" Victorian 439\n\n \" Vincent 213\n\n \" Vindician 215\n\n \" Virgilius 72\n\n\n W\n\n S. William of Norwich 461\n\n \" Winwaloe 49\n\n \" Withburga 309\n\n \" Wulfram 361\n\n\n X\n\n S. Xystus, Pope 489\n\n\n Z\n\n S. Zacharias 268\n\n \" Zosimus of Syracuse 508\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n THE ANNUNCIATION _Frontispiece_\n _After_ FRANCIA, _in the Church of S. John Lateran, Rome_.\n\n S. DAVID _to face p._ 10\n\n S. RUDESIND \" 18\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL (_see p._ 23) _on p._ 20\n\n S. CHAD _to face p._ 24\n\n S. KUNEGUND, EMPRESS OF GERMANY \" 52\n\n FORMS OF MITRE _on p._ 54\n\n S. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND _to face p._ 60\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n GROUP OF ANGELS _on p._ 62\n\n MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN \" 89\n _After a Bas-Relief by_ ORCAGNA.\n\n S. THOMAS AQUINAS _to face p._ 128\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n S. JOHN OF GOD \" 168\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n JESUS CHRIST, IN THE CHARACTER OF A PILGRIM, ACCEPTING\n THE HOSPITALITY OF TWO DOMINICANS _on p._ 171\n _From a Fresco by_ FRA ANGELICO _at Florence_.\n\n S. GREGORY OF NYSSA _to face p._ 172\n _After a Picture by_ DOMINICHINO _at Rome_.\n\n S. GREGORY OF NYSSA (WITH SQUARE NIMBUS) \" 174\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n CATHEDRAL--MODENA \" 182\n _From_ STOUGHTON'S \"_Italian Reformers_.\"\n\n HATRED AND MALICE _on p._ 202\n _Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._\n\n DECEITFULNESS AND VANITY \" 211\n _Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._\n\n S. GREGORY THE GREAT _to face p._ 226\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n MASS OF S. GREGORY \" 238\n\n PUSILLANIMITY _on p._ 240\n _Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._\n\n SLOTHFULNESS AND GLUTTONY \" 265\n _Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._\n\n SS. JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS ANOINTING THE BODY\n OF CHRIST _to face p._ 282\n _From an old Painting._\n\n S. PATRICK \" 288\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n S. GERTRUDE OF NIVELLES \" 306\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n PORTION OF A MONSTRANCE _on p._ 311\n\n MURDER OF S. EDWARD _to face p._ 324\n\n S. JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY \" 326\n _From the Vienna Missal._\n\n DEATH OF S. JOSEPH \" 328\n\n S. CUTHBERT REASONING WITH THE MONKS \" 342\n\n DEATH OF S. CUTHBERT \" 342\n\n S. CUTHBERT IN HIS HERMIT'S CELL \" 344\n\n S. BENEDICT \" 388\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n S. BENEDICT EXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT WHICH HAD INTERRUPTED\n THE WORKMEN EMPLOYED IN BUILDING A CHAPEL \" 392\n _From a Fresco, by_ SPINELLI D'AREZZO, _in the\n Church of San Miniato, near Florence_.\n\n S. BENEDICT REPROVING TOTILA, AND PREDICTING HIS\n DEATH \" 400\n _From a Fresco, painted by_ SPINELLI D'AREZZO, _in\n the Church of San Miniato, near Florence_.\n\n THE TWO THIEVES (_see p._ 456): S. DIMAS PENITENT, WITH\n ANGEL BEARING HIS HAPPY SOUL TO PARADISE; THE IMPENITENT,\n WITH DEMON DRAGGING FORTH HIS UNWILLING SOUL _on p._ 443\n\n THE HEAVENLY MESSENGER _to face p._ 450\n \"The Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee,\n named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name\n was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name\n was Mary.\"\n\n THE ANNUNCIATION _to face p._ 452\n _After_ ISRAEL VAN MECKEN, _in the Museum at Munich_.\n\n THE ANNUNCIATION \" 454\n _After a Picture in the Museum at Madrid_(?)\n\n MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION \" 456\n _After a Picture by_ ROGER VAN DER WEYDEN, _in the\n Museum at Madrid_.\n\n \"FORTITUDE\" _on p._ 481\n\n \"HOPE\" \" 490\n\n S. AMADEUS OF SAVOY _to face p._ 512\n _After_ CAHIER.\n\n\n\n\nLIVES OF THE SAINTS\n\n\n\n\nMarch 1.\n\n S. HESYCHIUS, _B.M. at Carteja, in Spain, 1st cent._\n S. EUDOCIA, _M. at Heliopolis, in Ph\u0153nicia, 2nd cent._\n S. ANTONINA, _M. at Nic\u00e6a, 4th cent._\n S. DOMNINA, _V.H. in Syria, circ._ A.D. 460.\n S. SIMPLICIUS, _Abp. of Bourges, circ._ A.D. 480.\n S. DAVID, _Abp. of Menevia, in Wales_, A.D. 544.\n S. HERCULANIUS, _B.M. at Perugia_, A.D. 547.\n S. ALBINUS, _B. of Angers, circ._ A.D. 549.\n S. MARNON, _B. in Scotland_.\n S. SIWARD, _Ab. of S. Calais, in France_, A.D. 687.\n S. SWIBERT, _B. Ap. of the Frisians_, A.D. 713.\n S. MONAN, _Archd. of S. Andrews, in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 874.\n S. LEO, _M. Abp. of Rouen and Ap. of Bayonne, circ._ A.D. 900.\n S. LEO LUKE, _Ab. of Muletta, in Calabria, circ._ A.D. 900.\n S. RUDESIND, _B. of Dumium, in Portugal_, A.D. 977.\n B. ROGER, _Abp. of Bourges_, A.D. 1368.\n B. BONAVITA, _C. Blacksmith of Lugo, in Italy_, A.D. 1375.\n\n\nS. HESYCHIUS, B.M.\n\n(1ST CENT.)\n\n[Spanish Martyrologies. Not in the Roman.]\n\nHesychius is traditionally said to have been one of seven apostles\nsent by S. Peter into Spain. He is supposed to have preached in the\nneighbourhood of Gibraltar, and to have made Carteja, or Carcesia, the\nmodern Algeziras, his head-quarters. Nothing authentic is known of this\nmission, or of his labours and martyrdom.\n\n\nS. EUDOCIA, M.\n\n(2ND[1] CENT.)\n\n[1] In the reign of Trajan, says the Life, but this is very\nquestionable. Monastic life was not developed then to the extent shown\nin this story.\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a, and Roman Martyrology. This saint does not occur in\n any of the ancient Latin Martyrologies. Her name was inserted in the\n Roman Martyrology by Baronius. She is called Eudoxia or Eudocia.\n Authority:--An ancient Greek Life which, however, from its using the\n word _homo-ousios_, and calling the Pr\u00e6tor, _Count_, proves to be\n later than the times of Constantine. The story has a foundation of\n fact, no doubt; but a large amount of addition to it has been made of\n fabulous matter, to convert it into a religious romance.]\n\nThere was a Samaritan woman named Eudocia, of great beauty, who lived\nas a harlot, in the city of Heliopolis, in Ph\u0153nicia. She had amassed\nmuch wealth by her shameful mode of life, and she thought only of how\nshe might gratify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the\npride of life. But the word of God is like a hammer that breaketh the\nrocks in pieces.\n\nThere was a monk, named Germanus, passing through the city, and he\nlodged with an acquaintance next door to the house of Eudocia. And\nin the middle of the night he arose, as was his wont, and sang his\nPsalms, and, opening a book began, by the light of his lamp, to read\na spiritual lecture with a loud voice. And this happened to be its\nsubject,--the coming of Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven to judge\nall men according to their works, when they that have done well shall\nenter into life, and they that have done evil shall be cast into\neternal fire. Now, it fell out that there was only a lath and plaster\nwall between the room where the monk was and that in which Eudocia lay.\nAnd when he began to sing she awoke, wondering, and listened, annoyed\nat first at the disturbance, but afterwards interested and alarmed.\nThen, when she heard him read the sentence of God on sinners, she\nwas filled with remorse for the past, present shame, and fear for the\nfuture. And when morning dawned, she sent for the monk, and she asked\nhim if that was true which he had read during the night. He answered\nthat it was so. Then looking round, and wondering at the costly\nfurniture and luxuries that abounded, he said simply, \"What a rich\nman thy husband must be!\" Then she reddened with shame, and said, in\na low voice, \"I have many lovers, but no husband.\" \"Oh, my daughter,\"\ncried Germanus, \"Would'st thou rather be poor now, and live in joy and\nglory hereafter, or be wealthy now and perish miserably in everlasting\ndeath?\" Then Eudocia said, \"How hard thy God must be to hate riches.\"\n\"God forbid,\" exclaimed the monk, \"it is not riches that He abhors, but\ngoods unjustly gotten.\" Then he declared to her in order what she must\ndo and believe to be saved. \"And first, send for a priest of the city\nwho may give thee proper instruction, that thou mayest be baptized,\nfor baptism is the beginning and the foundation of the whole Christian\nlife. And now, prepare thyself with fasting and prayer.\"\n\nSo Eudocia bade her servants close the house, as though she had gone\ninto her country villa, and should any one come to the door, refuse him\nadmission. And she sent for a priest, and when he came she said, \"Oh,\nsir! I am a grievous sinner, a sea of guilt.\" \"Be of good cheer, my\ndaughter,\" was his salutation. \"The sea of guilt may be changed into\na port of salvation, and the waves tossing with passion sink into an\nineffable calm.\" Then he instructed her on the nature of repentance,\nand bade her wear a mean dress, putting away her trinkets and silk\ngown, and fast for seven days; and he diligently taught her what she\nmust believe and do. And before he went on his way, Germanus visited\nher once again, to confirm the good work that was begun in her. Then\nshe asked him why he lived in the desert, and in the practice of\nsevere mortification. \"Oh, my daughter,\" he said; \"We monks labour\nincessantly to cleanse from every spot of sin the garments of our\nsouls.\" And she said, \"I have now fasted and eaten nothing for seven\ndays. And I will declare to thee what befel me last night. In my\nexhaustion I sank into a trance, and saw, and lo! an angel took me\nby the hand, and led me into Heaven, where was unspeakable light,\nand there I saw the blessed ones in white, with shining faces, and\nall their countenances lit up as I approached, and they came running\ntowards me, and greeted me, even _me_, as a sister. Then there came up\na shadow, horrible and black, and it shrieked, saying, 'This woman is\nmine. I have used her to destroy many, she has worked for me as a bond\nslave, and shall she be saved? I, for one little disobedience, was cast\nout of heaven, and here is this beast, steeped from head to foot in\npollution, admitted to the company of the elect! Have done with this;\ntake them all, scrape all the rascals and harlots on earth together,\nand admit them into your society. I will off into my Hell, and grovel\nthere in fire for ever.' And then I heard a voice from the ineffable\nlight answer and say, 'God willeth not the death of a sinner, but\nrather that he should be converted and live.' And after that the angel\ntook me by the hand and led me home again, and saying to me, 'There is\njoy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,' signed me thrice with\nthe cross, and vanished.\"\n\nThen Germanus rejoiced, and bade Eudocia be of good courage, and\ncontinue in the good path she had elected to walk in.\n\nNow, when the time of her preparation was over, Eudocia was baptized\nby the bishop, Theodotus, and when the sacrament of illumination had\nbeen administered, she went home and made an inventory of all that she\nhad, and sent it to the bishop. And when Theodotus had looked at it\nhe went to her house, and said, \"What is this little book that thou\nhast sent me?\" And she answered, \"This is the list of all my precious\nthings, which I pray thy holiness to order the steward of the Church to\nreceive of me, and distribute, as seemeth fitting, to those that have\nneed.\" Then the bishop did as he was desired, and the Church treasurer\ncame, and collected, and disposed of all her costly things. It may\ninterest some to know what these were. Besides money, and jewels, and\npearls, of which there was great store, he carried off two hundred and\nseventy-five boxes of silk dresses, and four hundred and ten chests\nof linen, one hundred and sixty boxes of gowns embroidered with gold,\none hundred and fifty cases of dresses with jewelled work, one hundred\nand twenty-three large chests of various garments, twelve boxes of\nmusk, thirty-three of Indian storax, a large number of silver vessels,\nseveral silk curtains ornamented with gold bullion, satin curtains, and\nmany other things too numerous to mention.[2]\n\n[2] The wealth of some of the harlots of olden times was enormous.\nPhryne offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes at her own cost if\nallowed to inscribe on them, \"What Alexander, the conqueror, pulled\ndown, Phryne, the harlot, set up.\"\n\nNow, as soon as all her valuables had been distributed to the most\nneedy, Eudocia, still in her white baptismal robe, departed into the\ndesert to a convent of thirty nuns directed by Germanus, the monk, who\nhad been the means of converting her. And never did she change the\ncolour or character of her garment till her dying day; only in winter\nshe put over it a sackcloth gown to her ankles, and a hooded cloak of\nthe same material.\n\nThirteen months after her admission, the superior of the convent died,\nand Germanus appointed the penitent Eudocia to be superior in her room.\n\nThere was a young man, who had been a lover of Eudocia, who was\ngreatly vexed at her conversion, and resolved, partly out of passion,\nand partly out of love of adventure, to seek her out in her seclusion,\nand entice her back into the world of pleasure. To accomplish his\nobject he assumed a monastic habit, and went to the convent, and\ntapped at the door. The portress partly opened the window, and,\npeeping through it, asked who was there. Then the man answered, after\nthe manner of monks, \"I am a sinner, and seek to communicate in your\nprayers and benedictions.\" Then the sister answered, \"Thou art mistaken\nin coming here. No men are admitted into the house. But go on thy way,\nand thou wilt find a monastery governed by the blessed Germanus; he\nwill take thee in.\" Then she shut the window in his face.\n\nThe young man, whose name was Philostratus, made his way to the\nmonastery of Germanus, and he found the old man sitting in the porch,\nreading. He fell at his feet, and declared himself a sinner, who\ndesired to amend his life. Germanus looked hard at him, and a certain\nwantonness of the eye made him hesitate about receiving him. \"We are\nall old men here,\" said he; \"and are not the proper advisers and\nguides of a hot-headed, fire-blooded youth. Go elsewhere my son, and\nget a director who is nearer thine age.\" \"My father!\" exclaimed the\ndissembler, \"How cans't thou reject me, after that thou hast received\nEudocia. She has passed through the fires of temptation such as assail\nyouth, and could well advise me. Let her give me some counsel, and I\nwill go my way strengthened thereby.\"\n\nGermanus had acted somewhat injudiciously in appointing a reclaimed\nharlot to be superior of a sisterhood after only thirteen months'\nprobation; he now committed another indiscretion in allowing the\nstrange monk ingress into the convent. But he was guileless himself,\nand thought no evil of another, so he listened to the petition of\nPhilostratus, and calling to him the monk who offered the incense\nin the convent, and was, therefore, allowed to enter it, bade him\ntake with him the stranger, and give him audience of the superior. So\nPhilostratus was led back to the convent, and the door was opened, and\nhe was admitted into the room of Eudocia, some of the sisters standing\nafar off, according to the rule of the house, to witness the meeting,\nthough out of hearing of the conversation. Then Philostratus looked at\nthe sordid room, and the horsehair cover thrown over the pallet bed,\nand the haggard cheeks and sunken eyes of his former mistress, and he\nburst forth into entreaties that she would leave this wretched life\nof constant self-watching and self-denial, and return to the gaiety\nof city life, smart gowns, and pearl necklaces, costly feasts, and\nobsequious admirers. \"All Heliopolis awaits thee,\" he urged, \"ready\nonce more to lavish on thee its gold and its adulation; return once\nmore to the raptures and liberty of a life of pleasure.\"\n\nBut she had chosen that better part which was not to be taken away from\nher, and she resisted all his persuasion, and dismissed him, startled,\nhumbled, and resolved to lead a better life.\n\nSo far the story of Eudocia is natural and devoid of improbabilities.\nBut the Greek writer was not content to leave it thus deficient in\nmarvels, and he has added several chapters of fanciful adventures, as\ninsipid as they are untrue; and the contrast they make with the earlier\nportion of the history, and of the final chapter, points them out as an\ninterpolation. In this interpolation Eudocia converts \"King\" Aurelian\nat Heliopolis, and appears before the governor, Diogenes, armed only\nwith a particle of the Holy Eucharist, which she bears in her bosom.\nThe king orders her to be stripped, and when she has been divested\nof her clothes, till the Host is exposed, then the B. Sacrament is\nsuddenly transmuted into a blazing fire, which consumes the governor\nand all the bystanders, and an angel veils modestly the naked shoulders\nand bosom of Eudocia.\n\nThe sudden extinction of a governor could hardly have been passed\nover by profane history had it really occurred, and, therefore, the\nfalsifier of the Acts found it advisable to revive him. Accordingly,\nEudocia is represented as taking the charred corpses by the hand and\nrestoring them instantly to perfect soundness.\n\nBut putting aside this absurd story, which is to be found repeated\n_ad nauseam_ in almost all the forged and falsified Greek Acts of\nmartyrdoms, with slight variations, we pass to the last chapter of the\nLife, which simply narrates the execution, by the sword, of Eudocia in\nher convent, by order of Valerius, the governor, without any sermons,\ninflated declamations, and theological disquisitions, such as usually\naccompany corrupted, interpolated acts, and are an invariable feature\nin forgeries.\n\n\nS. ANTONINA, M.\n\n(4TH CENT.)\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a, and Menologium of the Emperor Basil. Inserted in\n the Roman Martyrology by Baronius. Authority:--The account in the\n Menologium.]\n\nAntonina is said to have lived in the city of Nic\u00e6a, in the reign of\nMaxentius. On account of her refusal to offer incense to the gods she\nwas stripped of her clothes, hung up, and her sides torn with rakes.\nThen she was thrust into a sack, or earthen vessel (it is uncertain\nwhich), and was drowned in a lake near the city. A head and body are\nshown at Bologna as those of S. Antonina, \"but whether of this one or\nof another we are not able to divine,\" say the Bollandists. A curious\ninstance of the facility with which some forgeries may be detected is\nconnected with S. Antonina. Canisius published an edition of the Greek\nMenologium in the 16th century; in it occurred a mistake. S. Antonina\nwas stated to have suffered at C\u00e6a, a misprint for Nic\u00e6a. Shortly\nafter, the Jesuit, Hieronymus Romanus de Higuera, forged a chronicle of\nFlavius Dexter, Bishop of Barcelona, in the 4th century. He had seen\nthe Menologium of Canisius, and, as there was a Ceija in Spain, he\ninserted S. Antonina in his Spanish Chronicle as having suffered there,\nand this blunder was partly the means of the detection of the forgery.\n\n\nS. DOMNINA, V. H.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 460.)\n\n [Greek Menologium. Authority:--Theodoret.]\n\nTheodoret, after relating the virtues of S. Maro the hermit, (Feb.\n14th) goes on to tell of a holy virgin, named Domnina, who lived in\na small shed, and attended prayers in the Church at cock-crow. She\nwas emaciated with continuous fasting; she neither looked at any one,\nnor suffered her own face to be seen. Whenever she took the hand of\nTheodoret, the bishop, to kiss it, he drew it away moistened with her\ntears. She spent her time, when not engaged in prayer, in ministering\nto the necessities of travellers.\n\n\nS. DAVID, ABP. OF MENEVIA, AND PATRON OF WALES.\n\n(A.D. 544.)\n\n [Roman, Irish, Scotch, and ancient Anglican Martyrologies. His\n festival was celebrated in England with rulers of the choir, and nine\n lessons. Pope Callixtus II. ordered him to be venerated throughout the\n Christian world. There are no very ancient accounts of S. David, The\n oldest is a life existing in MS. at Utrecht, which was not known to\n Usher or Colgan. Usher cites Ricimer, Giraldus, and John of Tynemouth,\n a Durham priest, who collected the Acts of the English, Scottish,\n Welsh, and Irish Saints, and who lived in 1360. Ricimer was Bishop\n of S. David's about 1085, and died about 1096. His life of S. David\n seems to have been the foundation of all subsequent biographies of\n that saint. Several MSS. of this life are extant; and a portion of it\n containing matter not found in the life of the same saint by Giraldus\n Cambrensis, was printed by Wharton in the Anglia Sacra. Giraldus\n Cambrensis wrote his life of S. David about 1177. S. Kentigern (d.\n 590) mentions S. David, and there are numerous allusions to him in the\n lives of contemporary Welsh and Irish saints.]\n\nS. David, or Dewi, as the Welsh call him, was born about 446, at Mynyw,\nwhich was named S. David's after him. His father was Sandde, son of\nCeredig, who was the son of Cunedda, the great conqueror of N. Wales.\nHis mother's name was N\u00f4n; she was the daughter of Gynyr of Caergawch.\nGiraldus says he was baptized at Porth Clais by Alveas, Bishop of\nMunster, \"who by divine providence had arrived at that time from\nIreland.\" The same author says he was brought up at \"Henmenen,\" which\nis probably the Roman station Menapia.\n\nS. David was educated under Iltyt at Caerworgon. He was afterward\nordained priest, and studied the Scriptures for ten years with Paulinus\nat Ty-gwyn-ar D\u00e2f, or Whitland, in Caermarthenshire. He then retired\nfor prayer and study to the Vale of Ewias, where he raised a chapel,\nand a cell on the site now occupied by Llanthony Abbey. The river\nHonddu furnished him with drink, the mountain pastures with meadow-leek\nfor food. His legendary history states that he was advised by an\nangel to move from under the shadow of the Black Mountains to the vale\nof Rhos, and to found a monastery at Mynyw, his birth place.\n\n[Illustration: S. DAVID.\n March 1.]\n\nHe built a monastery on the boggy land which forms nearly the\nlowest point of that basin-shaped glen: on, or near its site stands\nthe present Cathedral of S. David. He practised the same rigorous\nausterities as before. Water was his only drink, and he rigorously\nabstained from animal food. He devoted himself wholly to prayer, study,\nand to the training of his disciples. He, like many other abbots at\nthat time, was promoted to the episcopate. A wild legend makes him\nto have started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to have received\nconsecration at the hands of the patriarch John III. This tale was\ninvented by some British monk to show that the Welsh bishops traced\ntheir succession to the oldest, if not the most powerful, of the\npatriarchates. Except when compelled by unavoidable necessity he kept\naloof from all temporal concerns. He was reluctant even to attend the\nSynod of Brefi. This was convened by Dubricius about 519 at Llandewi\nBrefi, in Cardiganshire, to suppress the Pelagian heresy, which was\nonce more raising its head. The synod was composed of bishops, abbots,\nand religious of different orders, together with princes and laymen.\nGiraldus says, \"When many discourses had been delivered in public,\nand were ineffectual to reclaim the Pelagians from their error, at\nlength Paulinus, a bishop with whom David had studied in his youth,\nvery earnestly entreated that the holy, discreet, and eloquent man\nmight be sent for. Messengers were therefore despatched to desire\nhis attendance: but their importunity was unavailing with the holy\nman, he being so fully and intently given up to contemplation, that\nurgent necessity alone could induce him to pay any regard to temporal\nor secular concerns. At last two holy men, Daniel and Dubricius,\npersuaded him to come. After his arrival, such was the grace and\neloquence with which he spoke, that he silenced the opponents, and they\nwere utterly vanquished. But Father David, by common consent of all,\nwhether clergy or laity, (Dubricius having resigned in his favour), was\nelected primate of the Cambrian Church.\" Dubricius retired to the Isle\nof Bardsey.\n\nA beautiful yet wild legend tells us:--\"While S. David's speech\ncontinued, a snow white dove descending from heaven sat upon his\nshoulders; and moreover the earth on which he stood raised itself under\nhim till it became a hill, from whence his voice was heard like a\ntrumpet, and was understood by all, both near and far off: on the top\nof which hill a church was afterwards built, and remains to this day.\"\n\nS. David at first strenuously declined the primacy; at last he\naccepted it on the condition that he was to be allowed to transfer the\narchiepiscopal chair from the busy city of Caerleon upon the Usk--the\nformer capital of Britannia Secunda--to the quiet retreat of Mynyw.\nArthur, the famous king, and Pendragon, who is said to have been a\nnephew of our saint, assented to this. Doubtless the advances westward\nwhich the heathen English were making, filled S. David with dread lest\nthe seat of the primacy should one day fall into their hands. So he\nthought it prudent to remove it to the iron-bound shores of Pembroke,\nwhere the English could not so easily land.\n\nAfter his elevation, S. David, in spite of his retiring disposition,\nproved a vigorous and hard-working prelate. He occasionally resided\nat Caerleon, and in 529 he convened a synod, which exterminated the\nPelagian heresy, and was in consequence named \"The Synod of Victory.\"\nIt ratified the canons and decrees of Brefi, as well as a code of rules\nwhich he had drawn up for the regulation of the British Church, a copy\nof which remained in the Cathedral of S. David's until it was lost in\nan incursion of pirates. Giraldus says, \"In his times, in Cambria,\nthe Church of God flourished exceedingly, and ripened with much fruit\nevery day. Monasteries were built everywhere; many congregations of the\nfaithful of various orders were collected to celebrate with fervent\ndevotion the Sacrifice of Christ. But to all of them Father David,\nas if placed on a lofty eminence, was a mirror and pattern of life.\nHe informed them by words, and he instructed them by example; as a\npreacher he was most powerful through his eloquence, but more so in his\nworks. He was a doctrine to his hearers, a guide to the religious, a\nlight to the poor, a support to the orphans, a protection to widows,\na father to the fatherless, a rule to monks, and a path to seculars,\nbeing made all things to all men that he might bring all to God.\"\n\nHe founded several churches and monasteries. It is also generally\nagreed that Wales was first divided into dioceses in his time.\n\nGeoffrey of Monmouth states that he died in his monastery at Mynyw\n_i.e._, S. David's, where he was honourably buried by order of Maelgwn\nGwynedd. This event is recorded by him as if it happened soon after\nthe death of Arthur, who died 542. According to the computations of\nArchbishop Usher, S. David died 544, aged 82. The Bollandists agree\nwith Usher on the date of his death, but they put his birth back as far\nas 446, so that according to their calculation he lived to the age of\n98.\n\nNumerous legends have gathered round the history of S. David. Thus an\nangel is said to have foretold his birth thirty years before to his\nfather in a dream. \"On the morrow, said the angelic voice, thou wilt\nslay a stag by a river side, and wild find three gifts there, to wit,\nthe stag, a fish, and a honeycomb. Thou shalt give part of these to\nthe son who shall be born thirty years hence. The honeycomb proclaims\nhis honied wisdom, the fish, his life on bread and water, the stag\nhis dominion over the old serpent.\" The mention of the stag doubtless\narose from the old fancy that that animal kills serpents by trampling\non them: thus did David trample the Pelagian heresy under foot. When S.\nPatrick settled in the vale of Rhos, a voice bade him depart, for it\nwas reserved for the abode of a child who should be born thirty years\nafter.\n\nAt his baptism, S. David splashed some water on to the blind eyes\nof the bishop who was baptizing him, and restored their power of\nsight. His schoolfellows at \"Henmenen\" saw a dove teaching him, and\nsinging hymns with him. After studying with Paulinus, he journeyed\nto Glastonbury. He was intending to dedicate afresh the church which\nhad been re-built, when the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and told\nhim that He had already dedicated it: as a sign that He had spoken\nunto him He pierced the saint's hand with His fingers. So our saint\ncontented himself with building a Lady Chapel at the east end. He is\nsaid to have founded twelve monasteries on this journey. He returned\nto Wales, and then established a monastery at Mynyw, which was soon\nfilled with monks and disciples. They worked hard with their own hands\nin the fields; they harnessed themselves to the plough instead of using\noxen for that purpose; they tended bees that they might have some honey\nto give to the sick and the poor. The bees became so attached to one\nmonk, Modemnoc, that they followed him on board ship when he was about\nto set sail for Ireland. He returned to the monastery and made several\nattempts to embark unobserved by his winged friends; but all his\nefforts failed. So at last he asked S. David's leave to take them with\nhim; the saint blessed the bees, and bade them depart in peace, and be\nfruitful and multiply in their new home. Thus Ireland, where bees had\nbeen hitherto unable to live, was enriched by their honey.\n\nHe opened many fountains in dry places, healed many brackish streams,\nraised many dead to life, and had many visions of God and of Angels. In\none of these visions he was warned that he should depart, March 1st.\nThenceforth he was more zealous in the discharge of his duty: on the\nSunday before his death he preached a sermon to the assembled people,\nand after consecrating and receiving the Lord's Body, he was seized\nwith a sudden pain: then turning to the people he said, \"Brethren,\npersevere in the things which ye have heard of me: on the third day\nhence I go the way of my fathers.\" On that day, while the clergy were\nsinging the Matin Office, he had a vision of his Lord; then, exulting\nin spirit, he exclaimed, \"Raise me after Thee.\" With these words he\nbreathed his last.\n\nHe was canonized by Pope Callixtus II., A.D. 1120; who is also said to\nhave granted an indulgence to all those who made a pilgrimage to his\nshrine. Three kings of England--William the Conqueror, Henry II., and\nEdward I.--are said to have undertaken the journey, which when twice\nrepeated was deemed equal to one pilgrimage to Rome; whence arose this\nsaying:--\n\n\"Roma semel quantum, dat bis Menevia tantum.\"\n\nA noble English matron, Elswida, in the reign of Edgar, transferred his\nrelics, probably in 964, from S. David's to Glastonbury.\n\nS. David's plain but empty shrine stands now in the choir of S. David's\nCathedral to the north of Edward Tudor's altar tomb.\n\n\nS. ALBINUS, B. OF ANGERS.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 549.)\n\n [S. Albinus seems to have enjoyed an amount of popularity as a\n saint which it is difficult to account for. Besides receiving great\n veneration at Angers, where his feast is a double, and in Brittany,\n where it is a semi-double, in Gnesen, in Poland, it was observed as a\n double. His name appears in most Martyrologies, as those of Usuardus,\n Hrabanus, Wandelbert, &c. Authority:--His life written by Fortunatus,\n a priest, his contemporary.]\n\nS. Albinus, or _S. Aubin_, as he is called in France, belonged to an\nancient family at Vannes, in Brittany. He embraced the religious life\nin the abbey of Cincillac, called afterwards Tintillant, near Angers.\nAt the age of thirty-five, in the year 504, he was chosen abbot, and\ntwenty-five years afterwards, bishop of Angers. In the 3rd Council\nof Orleans, in 538, he caused the thirtieth canon of the Epaone to\nbe revived, which declared excommunication to those who contracted\nmarriage within the first or second degree of consanguinity. His life\nis singularly devoid of incident which could mark it off from that of\nmany another abbot and bishop, and it is therefore difficult to account\nfor his undoubted popularity in France in ancient times.\n\n\nS. SWIBERT, THE ELDER, B., AP. OF THE FRISIANS.\n\n(A.D. 713.)\n\n [Ado, Usuardus, Molanus, Belgian, and Cologne Martyrologies, Gallican\n and Roman Martyrologies. Authorities:--Bede, lib. V. C. 12; and the\n life of S. Willibrod. There exists a forged life of S. Swibert, under\n the name of Marcellinus, which was composed in the 15th century, and\n which is undeserving of attention. S. Swibert is called the Elder\n to distinguish him from S. Swibert, B. of Verden, in Westphalia, in\n 807. (April 30); there was also another Swibert about 750, abbot in\n Cumberland, mentioned by Bede. Many writers have confounded together\n S. Swibert the Elder, and S. Swibert the Younger.]\n\nS. Swibert was a Northumbrian monk who had been trained under S.\nEgbert, whom he accompanied to Ireland. Egbert desired greatly the\nconversion of Friesland, but was unable himself to attempt it, and\nhis zeal communicated itself to his disciple Swibert, and when S.\nWillibrord sailed in 690 for that country, Swibert, at Egbert's desire,\naccompanied him. They landed at the mouth of the Rhine, at Katwyck, and\nWillibrord established his head quarters at Utrecht. Two years before,\nPepin l'Herstall had conquered Radbod, king of Frisia, and had obliged\nhim to ask peace, and abandon to the mayor of the palace his most\nimportant possessions, amongst others the whole basin between the Meuse\nand the Rhine, where stand now the town of Leyden, Delft, Gouda, Brill,\nand Dortrecht, as well as the city of Utrecht.\n\nFinding it difficult to make headway against the superstitions of\npaganism, Willibrord appealed to the authority of Pepin, who sent\nWillibrord to Rome to receive mission and benediction for his work\nfrom the Holy See. On his return, success declared for the apostles,\nand four years after, Pepin sent Willibrord again to Rome with letters\npraying the pope to ordain him bishop to the nation he had converted.\nPope Sergius consecrated him in 696, and Willibrord fixed his see at\nUtrecht, of which he was the first bishop. In the meantime, Swibert had\nbeen labouring in Hither Friesland, or the southern part of Holland,\nthe northern part of Brabant, and the counties of Guelders and Cleves,\nwith great success. In 697, Swibert was in England, probably in quest\nof fellow-helpers for the harvest, for the fields were white thereto,\nand he received episcopal consecration from the hands of S. Wilfred\nof York, then in banishment from his see. Swibert, invested with this\nsacred character, returned to his flock, and committing them to the\ncare of S. Willibrord, penetrated further up the Rhine, and preached to\nthe Boructarii, a people living below Cologne, with success. But the\nSaxons invading the country, swept away his work, and he retired into\nthe islet of Kaiserwerth in the Rhine, which Pepin had given him, where\nhe founded a monastery, which flourished for many ages, till it was\nconverted into a collegiate church of secular canons.\n\nHis relics were found in 1626, at Kaiserwerth, in a silver shrine, and\nthere are preserved and venerated.\n\n\nS. MONAN, ARCHD. AND C.\n\n(A.D. 874.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary.]\n\nS. Adrian, bishop of S. Andrews, trained the holy man from his\nchildhood, and appointed him to be his archdeacon. He afterwards sent\nhim to preach the Gospel in the island of May, at the mouth of the\nFrith of Forth; he then went into Fife. The Church suffered severely\nfrom the incursions of the Northmen who ravaged the coasts, burning\nchurches and monasteries, robbing them of their sacred vessels, and\ncarrying off the unfortunate people captive. S. Monan is said by Butler\nto have been martyred by these invaders, but this is inaccurate. There\nis no evidence that he died any other than a peaceful death. He was\nburied at Inverny.\n\n[Illustration: S. RUDESIND. After Cahier.\n March 1.]\n\n\nS. LEO, ABP. OF ROUEN, M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 900.)\n\n [Gallican Martyrology; on this day at Bayonne. By Saussaye and\n Ferrarius on March 3rd. Authority:--Two lives of no great antiquity,\n one written shortly after 1293.]\n\nLeo, Gervase, and Philip, were the three sons of pious parents in\nthe North of France; Leo was elected to be archbishop of Rouen, but\nresigned his government of the diocese into the hands of vicars, and\nbetook himself with his two brothers to Bayonne, where Christianity\nhad made but small progress, much heathen superstition remained, and a\ncolony of Moors had settled there. He was well received, and succeeded\nin making many converts, but was killed by some pirates who had lived\nin the town, but had been ejected by the citizens on account of their\nnefarious deeds. According to the legend, a spring of water bubbled up\nwhere S. Leo fell, and he arose and carried his head to the place where\nhe had last been preaching.\n\nHe is represented in Art, at Bayonne, where he is greatly venerated, as\na bishop, holding his head in his hands.\n\n\nS. RUDESIND, B. C.\n\n(A.D. 977.)\n\n [Spanish and Benedictine Martyrologies. Office with twelve lections\n in the Coimbra Breviary. His translation is observed on Sept. 1st.\n Authority:--A life by Brother Stephen of Cella-nuova, about 1180.]\n\nThe Blessed Rudesind was the son of a Count Gutierre da Mendenez, in\nGallicia. His mother is said to have had a foretoken of the sanctity\nof the child that was about to be given her, whilst praying in the\nChurch of S. Salvador on Mount Corduba. When the child was born, she\ndesired to have him baptised in the church, but as there was no font\nthere, one had to be brought up the hill in a cart. The cart broke\ndown, says the popular legend, however, the font continued its journey\nwithout it. The child grew up to be a good man, and he was appointed to\nthe bishopric of Dumium, a see which has ceased to exist. His kinsman,\nSisnand, bishop of Compostella, was a scandal to the Church, \"spending\nall his time in sports, excesses, and vanities, and paying no attention\nto his duties.\" Wherefore, at the request of the king, Sancho, and\nthe nobles and people, Rudesind undertook the government of it, and\nSancho put Sisnand in prison. During the absence of the king against\nthe Moors, the Normans invaded Gallicia, whereupon the bishop called\ntogether an army, marched against them, and drove them back to their\nships, and then turned his arms against the Moors, and routed them. On\nthe death of Sancho, Sisnand escaped from prison, attacked Rudesind on\nChristmas night, whilst engaged with the canons in the sacred offices,\nand threatened him, sword in hand, unless he resigned the see. Rudesind\nat once laid aside his office, and retired into a monastery, where he\nassumed the habit, and after some years was chosen abbot.\n\n[Illustration: Lichfield Cathedral. See page 23.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 2.\n\n SS. MARTYRS, _under the Emperor Alexander at Rome, circ._ A.D. 219.\n SS. JOVINUS AND BASILEUS, _MM. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 258.\n SS. DUCIUS, _B.M._, ABSALOM, LARGIUS, HEROLUS, PRIMITIUS, AND\n JANUARIUS, _MM. at C\u00e6sarea in Cappadocia_.\n SS. PAUL, HERACLIUS, SECUNDOLA, JANUARIA, AND LUCIOSA, _MM. in the\n Port of Rome_.\n S. SIMPLICIUS, _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 483.\n S. JOAVAN, _P. at S. Paul de Leon, 6th. cent._\n SS. MARTYRS, _under the Lombards, in Italy, circ._ A.D. 579.\n S. CEADDA, OR CHAD, _B. of Lichfield_, A.D. 672.\n S. WILLEICH, _P. at Keiser-werdt, on the Rhine, circ._ A.D. 726.\n B. CHARLES THE GOOD, _M., Count of Flanders_, A.D. 1127.\n\n\nSS. MARTYRS UNDER ALEXANDER.\n\n(CIRC. A.D. 219.)\n\nNearly all the Latin Martyrologies commemorate these martyrs, without\ngiving their names. Baronius added to the Roman Martyrology, that\nthey suffered under Ulpian the pr\u00e6fect; this was a conjecture of his,\nfor Ulpian was bitterly hostile to the Christians, and it was under\nhim that S. Martina (Jan. 1st) suffered. Alexander himself, only\nseventeen when he came to the throne, was of mild disposition, and the\nreins of government were in the hands of his mother Mam\u00e6a, who, with\nthe approbation of the senate, chose sixteen of the wisest and most\nvirtuous senators as a council of state, and at the head of this placed\nthe learned Ulpian, a prudent governor, and severe disciplinarian, who\ncould not brook that certain citizens should worship God in any way\nthan that of the established religion, and looked on Christianity as a\ndangerous political element in the state, which demanded extirpation.\n\n\nS. SIMPLICIUS, POPE.\n\n(A.D. 483.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Evagrius, Hist. Eccl., and his own\n letters.]\n\nS. Simplicius was born at Tivoli, and succeeded S. Hilary in the papal\nthrone, in 468. He strongly resisted the Emperor Leo, who desired to\nelevate the patriarch of Constantinople to the second rank in the\nChurch, above the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. He was also\nengaged in controversy with Acacius of Constantinople concerning the\nappointment of Peter Mongus to the see of Alexandria. After having\ngoverned the Church in most difficult and stormy times, Simplicius died\non March 2nd, in the year 483; and was buried in S. Peter's.\n\n\nS. JOAVAN, P. C.\n\n(6TH CENT.)\n\n [Venerated in Brittany. Authorities:--A Life by Albert Le Grand, and\n the lections of the Church of S. Paul de L\u00e9on. Albert Le Grand wrote\n his life in 1623, from old MSS. histories and legends preserved at\n L\u00e9on in his time.]\n\nThis saint was an Irishman by birth, and nephew of S. Paul de L\u00e9on.\nHe studied with his uncle in Britain, and then returned to Ireland,\nbut hearing that S. Paul had gone into Brittany, he departed for that\ncountry, and after having passed his noviciate in the monastery of\nLlanaterenecan, under S. Judulus, he departed to L\u00e9on, and received\npriest's orders from his uncle, who appointed him to the isle of Baz.\nHe is patron of two parishes in the diocese of S. Paul de L\u00e9on.\n\n\nSS. MARTYRS UNDER THE LOMBARDS.\n\n(CIRC. A.D. 579.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Dialogues of S. Gregory the Great,\n lib. iii.]\n\nThe Lombards in their ravages of the North of Italy put to death forty\nhusbandmen, who refused to eat meats they had offered to their idols,\nand about four hundred who refused to pay reverence to the head of a\ngoat, which they regarded with a peculiar veneration.\n\n\nS. CHAD, B. OF LICHFIELD.\n\n(A.D. 672.)\n\n [Roman, Anglican, Scottish, and Irish Martyrologies. Authorities:--A\n life is given by Bede, lib. 3, cap. 23, 24, 28; Lib. 4, cap. 2,\n 3, also in a MS. printed in the Monasticon, and a Metrical Life\n attributed to Robert of Gloucester.]\n\nS. Chad or Ceadda was, perhaps, the youngest of the four brothers,\nCedd, Cynebil, and Celin, all of whom were eminent priests. Our saint\nhas sometimes been confounded with his brother Cedd, bishop among the\nEast Saxons, whose life was related on January 7th. We know neither the\ndate nor the place of his birth. It is certain he was an Angle, and\na native of Northumbria, and that he flourished in the 7th century,\nthough Dempster wishes to claim him as a Scottish, and Colgan as an\nIrish, saint. The date 620 A.D. has been suggested as the probable time\nof Chad's birth.\n\nBede tells us that S. Chad was a pupil of Aidan. That bishop required\nthe young men who studied with him to spend much time in reading Holy\nWrit, and to learn by heart large portions of the Psalter, which they\nwould require in their devotions.\n\nAt the death of Aidan, in 651, he went to Ireland, which was then full\nof men of learning and piety. The ravages of the Teutonic hordes on\nthe continent had driven thither many illustrious foreigners. Then\nIreland was fulfilling the mission ascribed to the Celtic race, that of\nsupplying the link between Latin and Teutonic civilization. S. Chad,\nwhile in Ireland, made the acquaintance of Egbert, who was afterwards\nabbot of Iona.\n\nCedd had, at the request of Ethelwald, King of Deira, established a\nmonastery at Lastingham, in Yorkshire. It stood just on the edge of\nthat wide expanse of moorland which extends thirty miles inland from\nthe coast.\n\nBishop Cedd returned thither from his diocese of London many years\nafter, at a time when a plague was raging. He caught it, and whilst\nlying on his death-bed, bequeathed the care of the monastery to his\nbrother, Chad, who was still in Ireland.\n\nS. Chad, on his return, ruled the monastery with great care and\nprudence, and received all who sought his hospitality with kindness\nand humility. One day a stranger arrived at the gate, praying to be\nreceived into the brotherhood. This was Owini, lately steward of Queen\nEthelreda. Tradition relates that as he pursued his toilsome journey\nfrom the fens which surrounded the abbey of Ethelreda into Yorkshire,\nthe pilgrim erected crosses by the roadside to guide any burdened souls\nwho might hereafter seek the same haven of rest. While quietly keeping\nthe strict rule of S. Columba at Lastingham, our saint was summoned to\nthe episcopate by King Oswy, of Northumbria.\n\nBut we must go back a little in our history. When the decision of the\ncouncil or parliament, held at Whitby, in 664, was adverse to the\nKeltic rite, Cedd renounced the customs of Lindisfarne, but Colman,\nbishop of Lindisfarne, obstinately holding to them, withdrew from\nNorthumbria into Scotland with all those who were willing to follow\nhim. Tuda succeeded him in the pontificate of Northumbria, but died\nsoon after.\n\n[Illustration: S. CHAD.\nMarch 2.]\n\n\"In the meanwhile,\" says Bede, \"King Alchfrid (of Deira) sent Wilfrid\nthe priest to the king of the Gauls, to have him consecrated bishop for\nhimself and his subjects. Now he sent him to be ordained to Agilbert,\nof whom we said above that he left Britain, and was made bishop of\nthe city of Paris. Wilfrid was consecrated, A.D. 665, by him with\ngreat pomp; many bishops coming together for that purpose in a village\nbelonging to the king (Clothair III. of Neustria) called Compiegne.\nWhile he was still making some stay abroad, after his ordination,\nking Oswy, following the example of his son, sent to Kent a holy man\nof modest character, sufficiently well read in the Scriptures, and\ndiligently carrying out into practice what he had learnt from the\nScriptures, to be ordained bishop of the Church at York. Now this was\na priest named Ceadda (Chad), brother of the most reverend prelate\nCedd, of whom we have made frequent mention, and abbot of the monastery\ncalled Lastingham. The king also sent with him his own priest, Eadhed\nby name, who was afterwards, in the reign of Egfrid, made bishop of\nthe Church of Ripon. But when they arrived in Kent, they found that\nArchbishop Deusdedit had departed this life, and that no other prelate\nwas as yet appointed in his place. Whereupon they turned aside to the\nprovince of the West Saxons, where Wini was bishop, and by him the\nabove-mentioned person was consecrated bishop; two bishops of the\nBritish nation, who kept Easter Sunday according to canonical custom\nfrom the 14th to the 20th day of the moon, being associated with him;\nfor at that time there was no other bishop in all Britain canonically\nordained, except Wini.\n\n\"Chad then, being consecrated a bishop, began at once to devote\nhimself to ecclesiastical truth and to chastity; to apply himself to\nthe practice of humility, continence, and study; to travel about, not\non horseback, but after the manner of the apostles, on foot, to preach\nthe gospel in the towns, the open country, cottages, villages, and\ncastles; for he was one of the disciples of Aidan, and endeavoured to\ninstruct his hearers by the same actions and behaviour, according to\nhis master's example and that of his own brother Cedd. Wilfrid also,\nwho had already been made a bishop, coming into Britain, A.D. 666,\nin like manner by his doctrine brought into the English Church many\nrules of Catholic observance. Whence it came to pass that the Catholic\ninstitutions daily gained strength, and all the Scots that dwelt in\nEngland either conformed to these or returned into their own country.\"\n\nThis is Bede's account of the consecration of Wilfrid and Chad. At that\ntime the diocese of York comprised the whole of Northumbria, including\nthe south of Scotland. Under Oswald the see of Lindisfarne--the Iona\nof the Anglo-Saxons--was founded, containing within its jurisdiction\nthe kingdom of Bernicia, until the establishment by Theodore of\nanother see at Hexham. The writer of Wilfrid's life tells us that he\nobjected to being consecrated by the English bishops, inasmuch as they\nwere converts to the Scottish calculation regarding the celebration\nof Easter, or had received consecration from those who were of that\nopinion. Though Wini, who had been consecrated in Gaul, cannot be\nplaced in either of these classes, yet Wilfrid knew he would summon\nto assist him two bishops who belonged to one of them; hence his\npreference for Gaul. Wilfrid's delay in Gaul, perhaps, excited the\nKing's suspicions that he, like his friend Agilbert, was seeking a\nmitre there; or it may be that the king, influenced by the Scottish\nparty (who could not forgive Wilfrid for the victory he gained over\nthem at Whitby), consented to the election of Chad to the see.\n\nChad has been severely censured for accepting the bishopric under these\ncircumstances. It may be, however, that he, stirred by sorrow at seeing\nthe diocese left without a head, and doubting too, perhaps, whether\nWilfrid would return, adopted this course, which may be condemned as\nuncanonical.\n\nS. Chad is commemorated in some Breviaries as an archbishop. But he was\nonly a bishop, for that dignity had fallen into abeyance from the time\nthat Paulinus fled into Kent. But though no suffragans acknowledged\nChad as their superior, he had ample scope for the most abundant\nenergy. We have given above Bede's account of his untiring labours;\nlet us now hear that of the metrical Life attributed to Robert of\nGloucester.\n\n He endeavoured earnestly, night and day, when he had thither come,\n To guard well holy Church, and to uphold Christendom.\n He went into all his bishopric, and preacht full fast,\n Much of that folk, through his word, to God their hearts cast,\n All afoot he travelled about, nor kept he any state,\n Rich man though he was made he reckoned there of little great.\n The Archbishop of York had not him used to go\n To preach about on his feet, nor another none the mo,\n They ride upon their palfreys, lest they should spurn their toe,\n But riches and worldly state doth to holy Church woe.\n\nTheodore, the new archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in A.D.\n669. \"Soon after,\" says Bede, \"he visited the whole island, wherever\nthe tribes of the Angles dwelt, for he was willingly entertained and\nheard by all persons; and everywhere he taught the right rule of life,\nand the canonical custom of celebrating Easter. He was the first\narchbishop whom all the English Church obeyed.\n\nVisiting Northumbria, he charged Chad with not being duly consecrated.\nThe saint replied with great humility, \"If thou knowest that I have\nnot duly received the episcopate, I willingly resign the office, for I\nnever thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, I consented to\nundertake it for obedience sake.\" Theodore hearing his humble answer,\nsaid that he should not resign the episcopate, but he himself completed\nhis ordination again after the Roman manner. He probably advised\nChad to resign his see to Wilfrid, for we next hear of our saint in\nretirement at Lastingham.\n\nIn 669, Jaruman, bishop of the Mercians, died. King Wulfhere asked\nTheodore to send them a bishop. The archbishop did not wish to\nconsecrate a fresh one, so he begged King Oswy to let Chad, who was\nthen at Lastingham, be their bishop. Theodore knowing that it was\nChad's custom to go about the work of the gospel on foot, rather than\non horseback, bade our saint ride whenever he had a long journey to\nperform, but, finding Chad unwilling to comply, the archbishop with his\nown hands lifted him on horseback, for he thought him a holy man, and\nobliged him to ride wherever he had need to go.\n\nThough Chad was bishop of Lindisfarne for so short a time, he left\nhis mark on the affections of the people, for we find that at least\none chantry was dedicated in his name at York Minster. Soon after\nhis election to the bishopric of the Mercians, he set out for Repton\nin Derbyshire, where Diuma, the first bishop of the Mercians, had\nestablished his see.\n\nWhether our saint desired a more central position for the episcopal\nsee, or was influenced by the wish to do honour to a spot enriched with\nthe blood of martyrs, Bede does not tell us, but Chad established the\nMercian see at Lichfield, then called Licetfield, or the Field of the\nDead, where one thousand British Christians are said to have been put\nto death.\n\nHis new diocese was not much less in extent than that of Northumbria.\nIt comprised seventeen counties, and stretched from the banks of the\nSevern to the shores of the German Ocean. Theodore, years afterwards,\ndetached from it the sees of Worcester, Leicester, Lindesey (in\nLincolnshire), and Hereford. Though it was far beyond the power of one\nman to administer it effectually, yet Bede witnesses that \"Chad took\ncare to administer the same with great rectitude of life, according to\nthe example of the ancients. King Wulfhere also gave him land of fifty\nfamilies to build a monastery at the place called Ad Barve, _i.e._, 'At\nthe wood,' in the province of Lindesey, wherein monks of the regular\nlife instituted by him continue to this day.\" \"Ad Barve\" is conjectured\nby Smith, of Durham, to be Barton-on-Humber, where there is still\nstanding a very ancient church, admitted by Rickman to be partly Saxon,\ndedicated to S. Peter.\n\nAfter fixing his see at Lichfield, Bede tells us \"he built himself\na habitation not far from the Church, wherein he was wont to pray\nand read with seven or eight of the brethren, as often as he had any\nspare time from the labour and ministry of the Word. When he had most\ngloriously governed the Church in that province two years and a half,\nin the dispensation of the Most High Judge, there came round the time\nof which Ecclesiastes speaks. \"There is a time to cast stones, and a\ntime to gather them together,\" for a deadly sickness sent from heaven\ncame upon that place, to transfer, by the death of the flesh, the\nliving stones of the Church from their earthly abodes to the heavenly\nbuilding. And after many of the Church of that most reverend prelate\nhad been taken out of the flesh, his hour also drew near wherein he\nwas to pass out of this world to our Lord. It happened that one day,\nOwini, a monk of great merit, the same that left his worldly mistress\nto become a subject of the heavenly king, at Lastingham, was busy\nlabouring alone near the oratory, where the bishop was praying, the\nother monks having gone to the Church, this monk, I say, heard the\nvoice of persons singing most sweetly, and rejoicing, and appearing\nto descend from heaven. He heard the voice approaching from the\nsouth-east, till it came to the roof of the oratory, where the bishop\nwas, and entering therein, filled the same and all about it. After a\ntime he perceived the same song of joy ascend from the oratory, and\nreturn heavenwards the same way it came, with inexpressible sweetness.\nPresently the bishop opened the window of the oratory, and, making a\nnoise with his hand, ordered him to ask the seven brethren who were\nin the church, to come to him at once. When they were come, he first\nadmonished them to preserve the virtue of peace among themselves, and\ntowards all the faithful, also to practise indefatigably the rules of\nregular discipline, which they had either been taught by him or seen\nhim observe, or had noticed in the words or actions of the former\nfathers. Then he added that the day of his death was at hand: 'For,'\nsaid he, 'that amiable guest who was wont to visit our brethren, has\nvouchsafed to come to me also to-day, and to call me out of this world.\nReturn, therefore, to the church, and speak to the brethren, that they\nin their prayers recommend my passage to the Lord, and that they be\ncareful to provide for their own, the hour whereof is uncertain, by\nwatching, prayer, and good works.' When they, receiving his blessing,\nhad gone away in sorrow, Owini returned alone, and casting himself on\nthe ground prayed the bishop to tell him what that song of joy was\nwhich he heard coming to the oratory. The bishop, bidding him conceal\nwhat he had heard till after his death, said, 'They were angelic\nspirits, who came to call me to my heavenly reward, which I have always\nlonged after, and they promised they would return seven days' hence,\nand take me away with them.' His languishing sickness increasing daily,\non the seventh day, when he had prepared for death by receiving the\nBody and Blood of our Lord, his soul being delivered from the prison\nof the body, the angels, as may justly be believed, attending him, he\ndeparted to the joys of heaven.\n\n\"It is no wonder that he joyfully beheld the day of his death, or\nrather the day of our Lord, which he had always anxiously looked for\ntill it came; for notwithstanding his many merits of continence,\nhumility, teaching, prayer, voluntary poverty, and other virtues, he\nwas so full of the fear of God, so mindful of his last end in all his\nactions, that, as I was informed by one of the brothers, who instructed\nme in divinity, and who had been bred in his monastery, whose name\nwas Trumhere, if it happened that there blew a strong gust of wind,\nwhen he was reading or doing anything else, he at once called upon God\nfor mercy, and begged it might be extended to all mankind. If it blew\nstronger, he, prostrating himself, prayed more earnestly. But if it\nproved a violent storm of wind or rain, or of thunder and lightning,\nhe would pray and repeat Psalms in the church till the weather became\ncalm. Being asked by his followers why he did so, he answered, 'Have\nye not read,--'The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest\ngave forth His voice; yea, He sent out his arrows and scattered them,\nand he shot out lightnings and discomfited them.' For the Lord moves\nthe air, raises the winds, darts lightning, and thunders from heaven\nto excite the inhabitants of the earth to fear Him; to put them in\nmind of the future judgment; to dispel their pride and vanquish their\nboldness, by bringing into their thoughts that dreadful time when, the\nheavens and the earth being in a flame, He will come in the clouds with\ngreat power and majesty, to judge the quick and the dead. Wherefore it\nbehoves us to answer His heavenly admonition with due fear and love.'\n\n\"Chad died on the second of March, and was first buried by S. Mary's\nChurch, but afterwards, when the Church of the most Holy Prince of\nthe Apostles, Peter, was built, his bones were translated into it. In\nboth which places as a testimony of his virtue, frequent miraculous\ncures are wont to be wrought. The place of the sepulchre is a wooden\nmonument, made like a little house covered, having a hole in the wall,\nthrough which those that go thither for devotion usually put in their\nhand and take out some of the dust, which they put into water and give\nto sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are presently eased of\ntheir infirmity and restored to health.\"\n\nWe have told the life of S. Chad in the reverent language of Bede, who,\nas he says, had some of the details direct from those who had studied\nunder the saint. Though his episcopate was short, it was abundantly\nesteemed by the warm-hearted Mercians, for thirty-one churches are\ndedicated in his honour, all in the midland counties, and either in or\nnear the ancient diocese of Lichfield. The first church ever built in\nShrewsbury was named after him, and when the old building fell, in the\nyear 1788, an ancient wooden figure of the patron escaped destruction,\nwhich is still preserved in the new church. The carver has represented\nhim in his pontifical robes and a mitre, with a book in his right hand,\nand a pastoral staff in his left.\n\nHis well is shown at Lichfield. There was one in London called Chad's\nWell, the water of which was sold to valetudinarians at sixpence a\nglass. Doubtless, from the miracles alleged to have been wrought by\nmixing a little dust from his shrine with water, he got the character\nof patron saint of medicinal springs. At Chadshunt there was an\noratory and well bearing his name. The priest received as much as \u00a316\na-year from the offerings of pilgrims. Chadwell--one source of the New\nRiver--is, perhaps, a corruption for S. Chad's Well.\n\nNo writings of our saint have survived, but in Lichfield Cathedral\nlibrary there is a MS. of the 7th century in Anglo-Saxon character,\ncontaining the Gospels of S. Matthew, S. Mark, and part of S. Luke,\nwhich is known by the name of _Chad's Gospel_.\n\nAmong the Bodleian MSS. there is an Anglo-Saxon homily for S. Chad's\nday, written in the _Middle Anglian_ dialect, which stretched from\nLichfield to Peterborough.\n\nHis relics were translated from the wooden shrine to the cathedral,\nwhen it was rebuilt by Bishop Roger, in honour of SS. Mary and Chad. In\n1296, Walter Langton was raised to the see of Lichfield. He built the\nLady Chapel, and there erected a beautiful shrine, at the enormous cost\nof \u00a32,000, to receive the relics of S. Chad. This was spared by Henry\nVIII.\n\nHis emblem in the Clog Almanacks is a branch. Perhaps this was\nsuggested by the Gospel, viz., S. John v., formerly read on the Feast\nof his Translation, which speaks of the fruitful branches of the vine.\nThis translation was formerly celebrated with great pomp at Lichfield,\non August 2nd.\n\nAs long as the virtues of chastity, humility, and a forsaking all for\nChrist's sake are esteemed among men, the name of the apostle of the\nMercians ought not to be forgotten.\n\nA beautiful legend formerly inscribed beneath the cloister windows of\nPeterborough, recorded the conversion of King Wulfhere's sons, Wulfade\nand Rufine, by S. Chad, and their murder by their father, for he had\nturned heathen again in spite of the entreaties of Queen Ermenild:--\n\n By Queen Ermenild had King Wulfere\n These twey sons that ye see here.\n Wulfade rideth as he was wont,\n Into the forest the hart to hunt;\n Fore all his men Wulfade is gone,\n And sought, himself, the hart alone.\n The hart brought Wulfade to a well,\n That was beside Seynt Chaddy's cell.\n Wulfade asked of Seynt Chad,\n Where is the hart that me hath led?\n The hart that hither thee hath brought,\n Is sent by Christ, that thee hath bought.\n Wulfade prayed Chad, that ghostly Leech,\n The faith of Christ him for to teach.\n Seynt Chad teacheth Wulfade the feyth,\n And words of baptism over him seyth.\n Seynt Chad devoutly to mass him dight,\n And hoseled Wulfade Christy's knight.\n Wulfade wished Seynt Chad that day,\n For his brother Rufine to pray.\n\nThe legend goes on to say that Rufine was baptized also by the saint.\nThe king's steward, Werbode (who had been rebuked by the two princes\nfor seeking the hand of their sister, Werburga), told Wulfere of their\nbecoming Christians, and that they were then praying in S. Chad's\noratory. The king took horse thither at once, and slew them both with\nhis own hand. Stung with remorse, he fell ill, and was counselled by\nhis queen to ask Chad to shrive him. As a penance the saint told him to\nbuild several abbeys, and amongst the number he completed Peterborough\nMinster, which his father had begun. This legend is told with very full\nand touching details in a Latin version printed in the Monasticon.[3]\n\n[3] Many of these details of S. Chad's life are taken from Mr. Warner's\nexcellent life of S. Chad.\n\nThe Latin version is this. King Wulfere, son of Penda the Strenuous,\nhad been baptized many years before by B. Finan, and promised at the\nfont, and again when he wedded Ermenilda, of the royal house of Kent,\nto destroy all the idols in his realm. He neglected to do so, and let\nhis three sons, Wulfade, Rufine, and Kenred remain unbaptized. His\nbeauteous daughter, Werburga, had been dedicated to Christ as a virgin\nby the Queen; yet, when Werbode, his chief councillor, and the chief\nsupporter of idolatry in the realm, sought her hand in marriage, the\nking consented. The queen, Ermenilda, however, sharply rebuked him for\nhis presumption. The brothers threatened him with their sore vengeance\nif he again preferred his low-born suit to their sister. Their\ndisdainful words cost them dear.\n\nWhile Chad was praying by a fountain near his cell, a hart, with\nquivering limbs and panting breath, leaped into the cooling stream.\nPitying its distress, the saint covered him with boughs, then placing\na rope round its neck, he let it graze in the forest. Wulfade came up,\nheated in the chase, and asked where the beast had gone. The saint\nreplied, \"Am I keeper of the hart? Yet, through the ministry of the\nhart I have become the guide of thy salvation. The hart bathing in the\nfountain foreshoweth to thee the laver of baptism, as the text says: As\nthe hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee,\nO God.\"\n\nMany other things did the saint set forth about the ministry of dumb\nanimals to the faithful. The dove from the ark told that the waters\nwere dried up.\n\nThe young prince replied, \"The things you tell me would be more likely\nto work faith in me if the hart you have taught to wander in the\nforest with the rope round its neck were to appear in answer to your\nprayers.\" The saint prostrated himself in prayer, and lo! the hart\nburst from the thicket. The saint exclaimed, \"All things are possible\nto him that believeth. Hear then, and believe the faith of Christ.\"\nThe saint instructed him, and baptized him. The next day he received\nthe Eucharist, and went home, and told his brother Rufine that he had\nbecome a Christian. The other said, \"I have long wished for baptism; I\nwill seek holy Chad.\" The brothers set out together. Rufine espying the\nhart with the cord round its neck, gave hot chase; the animal made for\nthe saint's cell, and leaped into the fountain as before. Rufine saw a\nvenerable man praying near. He said, \"Art thou, my lord, father Chad,\nguide of my brother Wulfade to salvation?\" He answered, \"I am.\" The\nprince earnestly desiring baptism, Chad baptized him, Wulfade holding\nhim at the font, after the manner taught by holy Church.\n\nThen they departed, but returned daily to him. Werbode stealthily spied\ntheir ways and doings, and told their father that they had become\nChristians, and were then worshipping in Chad's oratory, adding that\ntheir conversion would alienate his subjects. The king set out in anger\nfor the cell, the queen sending Werbode before to tell the princes of\nhis approach, that they might hide. But Werbode only looked in at the\nwindow of the oratory, and saw them praying earnestly. He returned to\nthe king, and told him that his sons were obstinate in their purpose\nof worshipping Christ. The king, pale with anger, rushed towards the\noratory. He threatened them with his vengeance for breaking the laws\nof the land by becoming Christians, and bade them renounce Christ.\nWulfade replied, \"They did not want to break the laws, and that the\nking himself once professed the faith which now he renounced. They\nwished to retain his fatherly affection, but no tortures could turn\nthem from Christ.\" The king rushed furiously upon him, and cut off his\nhead. His brother, Rufine, fled, but his father pursued him, and gave\nhim a mortal wound. Thus these two departed to celestial glory. Werbode\nwas smitten with madness when they returned to the castle and told the\nmurder in the ears of all. The queen buried her sons honourably in one\nstone tomb, and withdrew with her daughter, Werburga, to the monastery\nat Sheppey, and then to that of Ely.\n\nThe king, overcome with remorse, fell dangerously ill. The queen\ncounselled him to seek out Chad, and confess to him. Wulfere took her\nadvice, and starting one morning with his thanes, as if to follow the\nchase, his attendants got scattered from him, and he was left alone.\nSoon he espied the meek hart with the rope round its neck; he followed\nits track gladly, till he came to Chad's cell. The king, approaching\nthe oratory, espied the saint saying mass; he dared not enter till he\nhad been shriven. When the canon began, so great a light shone through\nthe apertures in the wall, that priest and sacrifice were covered with\nsuch splendour that the king was nearly blinded by it, for it was\nbrighter than that of the natural sun.\n\nThe saint knew what the king wanted, so when the office was ended he\nhastily put off his vestments, and, thinking to lay them upon the\nappointed place, unwittingly hung them upon a sunbeam, for the natural\nsun was now streaming through the window. He found the king prostrate\nbefore the door; raising him up he heard the penitent's confession,\nand enjoined him as a penance, to root out idolatry, and to found\nmonasteries.[4] He then motioned to the king that he should enter the\noratory and pray. Wulfere, chancing to lift up his eyes, with wonder\nsaw the vestments hanging on the sunbeam. He rose from his knees, and,\ndrawing near, placed his own gloves and baldric upon the beam, but they\nimmediately fell to the ground. The king understood by this that Chad\nwas beloved by the Sun of Righteousness, since the natural sun paid him\nsuch homage.\n\n[4] The reader will here recall the account of Lancelot and the Sacring\nin the Tower by Joseph of Arimath\u00e6a, in the Morte d'Arthur.\n\n\nB. CHARLES THE GOOD, M., COUNT OF FLANDERS.\n\n(A.D. 1127.)\n\n [Hermann Greven and Molanus in their additions to Usuardus,\n Galesinius, Canisius, Saussaye, and the Belgian Martyrologies.\n Authorities:--A life by a contemporary, Walter, archdeacon of\n Th\u00e8rouanne, another life by Gualbert of Bruges, written about two\n years after the death of the count, and another by Suger, abbot of S.\n Denys, d. 1151.]\n\nCharles the Good, Count of Flanders, the son of S. Canute, King of\nDenmark, and Adelheid,[5] daughter of Robert the Frisian, was taken to\nBruges after the martyrdom of his father, (see Jan. 19th), and received\na careful education from Robert II., Count of Flanders, his uncle on\nhis mother's side, who trained him to be a good knight, 'without fear\nand without reproach,' and at the same time to be a good Christian.\nCharles distinguished himself by his bravery in the Holy Land, and in\nthe war carried on by his uncle against the English, and after the\ndeath of Baldwin VII., who succeeded his father, Robert II., in 1111,\nand died without issue, he was declared his successor by acclamation\nof the nobility and people, in accordance with the dying wish of his\nuncle. His elevation was not, however, acceptable to every party in\nthe state, and his government, which began in the midst of plots, was\nbrought to a close by one.\n\n[5] Aleidis or Alice.\n\nHe was married to Margaret de Clermont, sister of the Bishop of\nTournai, and of the royal blood of France.\n\nOn the sea-banks, in the midst of the sand-hills, living by piracy,\nand by fishing, were colonies of Flemings. Furnes is the centre of\nthis district. It was held by Cl\u00e9mence of Burgundy, the widow of\nCount Robert II., as her dowry. She had married one of her nieces to\nKing Louis VI., another to William de Loo, Viscount of Ypres, son of\nPhilip, her brother-in-law. Consequently there were several ambitious\nand powerful parties ready to lay claim to the County of Flanders, and\nwrest it from the hands of Charles.\n\nThe Flemings of the sea-coast rose, at the instigation of Cl\u00e9mence, and\nwere secretly favoured by the King of France; whilst, at the same time,\nWilliam de Loo asserted his claim.\n\nThe feudal nobles desired to profit by these circumstances, to\nincrease their own power. One of them, Godfrey of Louvain, married the\ndowager countess, Cl\u00e9mence. The Counts of Hainault, Boulogne, S. Pol,\nand Hesdin, took arms. Cl\u00e9mence took Audenarde, the Count of S. Pol\ninvaded West Flanders, but Charles fell suddenly on them with an army,\nsubjugated De Loo, deprived S. Pol of his castle, and the countess of\nher dowry, dispersed the armed men of Hainault, Boulogne, and Coucy,\nand as Walter of Th\u00e9rouanne says, \"The land held its tongue before\nhim.\" The king of France was the first to strike an alliance with him.\n\nThese successes excited the mistrust of the king of England and the\nemperor Henry V. The latter, under pretext of a war against the duke\nof Saxony, assembled an army in August 1124, crossed the Rhine, and\nmarched towards Metz, threatening to destroy Rheims, where pope\nCallixtus II. had lately excommunicated him. In this imminent peril,\nall the vassals of the king rallied around Louis VI. \"The noble Count\nof Flanders,\" says the abbot Suger, \"brought with him ten thousand\nbrave soldiers, and if there had been time, he would have brought\nthrice as many.\" In face of these preparations to resist his invasion\nthe emperor withdrew to Utrecht. On his death, all eyes turned to\nCharles, and the imperial crown was offered him. He refused it, as\nhe did also the crown of Jerusalem, offered him by the Christians in\nthe Holy Land. He now devoted himself to the administration of his\ncountry with great zeal. He enacted wise laws, and laboured to make\njustice prevail in all the courts of judicature. Nevertheless a vague\nuneasiness prevailed amongst his subjects. The sea had overleaped the\nsand-hills, fires had broken out and consumed certain monasteries,\nand an eclipse of the sun gave prognostication of further evils. The\nwinter of 1125 was of unparalleled severity; ice and snow prevailed\ntill the end of March, and no sooner had the fields and woods begun to\nresume their verdant tints, than furious gales and a deluge of rain\ndissipated the hopes of the farmers. A dreadful famine ensued. \"Some,\"\nsays Gualbert, \"perished before they could reach the towns and castles,\nwhere food was obtainable; others died in extending their hands for\nalms. In all our land the natural colour of the face had become\nexchanged for the pallor of death. Despair was general, for those who\nwere not themselves in want sickened with grief at the sight of such\nmiseries.\"\n\nIn these calamities the Count of Flanders exhibited more greatness than\nif he had reigned at Aachen, or at Jerusalem. He exempted the farmers\nfrom their taxes and rents, and required them to house and feed so many\npoor. At Ypres he distributed 1800 loaves in one day. He forbade the\nconsumption of barley for the manufacture of beer, that it might be\nused for bread, and he ordered the immediate sowing of such vegetables\nas are of rapid growth. The ensuing winter was also severe, but with\nthe spring the distress gave signs of alleviation, for the crops were\nabundant, and in the autumn plenty reigned once more. During the stress\nof famine, Charles learnt that Lambert, brother of Bertulf, dean of\nS. Donatus, at Bruges, had bought up all the grain of the monasteries\nof S. Winoc, S. Bertin, S. Peter, and S. Bavo, together with all the\nforeign corn that had been brought into the ports from the Baltic, and\nwas keeping it back so as to sell it at an enormous profit. Charles\nsent for Lambert and the dean, and bitterly reproached them. The\nCount sent one of his councillors, Tankmar van Straten, to examine\nthe granaries of these two men, and they were found to be filled to\noverflowing with stored-up grain. Tankmar offered a reasonable price\nfor the store, but it was indignantly refused by the avaricious men.\nHe, therefore, by the Count's orders, insisted on their receiving it,\nand opening the granaries, distributed the corn to the starving poor.\nThis aroused the wrath of the brothers, who had powerful friends among\nthe people of Furnes, and to avenge themselves, a project was formed\nto assassinate the prince. One day, as he was hearing mass in a chapel\nof the Cathedral of S. Donatus, at Bruges, one of the conspirators cut\noff his arm with a hatchet, and another clave his skull. His body was\nburied in the Church of S. Christopher, but was afterwards translated\nto the Cathedral of S. Donatus, where they remained till the period of\nthe French Revolution, when the cathedral was levelled with the ground.\nThe relics of the holy martyr were, however, preserved with respect,\nand on March 2nd, 1827, seven hundred years after the death of Charles,\nwere solemnly replaced above an altar in the Church of S. Sauveur,\nnow used as the cathedral. The day of his festival attracts a great\nconcourse of the faithful; those afflicted with fever especially come\nfrom all quarters to cure themselves by drinking out of the skull of\nthe Blessed Charles the Good.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative motif, snowdrops]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 3.\n\n SS. MARINUS, _M._, AND ASTERIUS, _C. at C\u00e6sarea, circ._ A.D. 260.\n SS. FELIX, CASTUS, LUCIOLUS, FLORIAN, JUSTUS, AND OTHERS, _MM.\n in Africa_.\n SS. EMETHERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS, _MM. at Calahorra, in Spain_.\n SS. BASILISCUS, EUTROPIUS, AND CLEONICUS, _MM. at Amasea and\n Comana, in Pontus, circ._ A.D. 308.\n S. CAMILLA, _V. R. at Ecoulives, near Auxerre_, A.D. 437.\n S. N\u00d4N, _W. in Wales, the Mother of S. David, circ._ A.D. 460.\n S. WINWALOE, _Ab. of Landevenec, in Brittany, 6th cent._\n S. TITIAN, _B. of Brescia, circ._ A.D. 526.\n S. CALUPANUS, _H. at Clermont_, A.D. 576.\n S. KUNEGUND, _Empss. V., Wife and Wid., at Bamberg, circ._ A.D. 1040.\n\n\nSS. MARINUS, M., AND ASTERIUS, C.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 260.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, Bede, Wandelbert, and Roman Martyrologies.\n Authority:--Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 15, 16.]\n\n\"Peace being restored to the Church,\" writes Eusebius, \"Marinus of\nC\u00e6sarea, in Palestine, who was one of the army, distinguished for\nhis military honours, and illustrious for his family and wealth, was\nbeheaded for his confession of Christ, on the following occasion. There\nis a certain honour among the Romans, called the vine, which they who\nobtain are said to be centurions. A place becoming vacant, Marinus, by\norder of succession, was called to be promoted, but another, advancing\nto the tribunal, objected, saying that he was a Christian, and refused\nto sacrifice to the emperor, and therefore legally could not share in\nRoman honours; but that the office devolved on himself, the objector,\nwho was second on the list. The judge, whose name was Ach\u00e6us, roused\nat this, began first to question Marinus on his opinions; and when he\nsaw that he was constant in affirming that he was a Christian, granted\nhim three hours for reflection. But as soon as he came out of the\njudgment hall, Theotecnus, bishop of that place, coming to him, took\nhim by the hand, and drawing him to the Church, placed him before the\naltar, raised his cloak a little, and pointing to the sword at his\nside, at the same time that he presented before him the book of the\nHoly Gospels, told him to choose which of the two he would retain.\nWithout hesitation, Marinus extended his hand and took the book. 'Hold\nfast, then, hold fast to God,' said Theotecnus, 'and strengthened by\nhim, mayest thou obtain what thou choosest. Go in peace.' Immediately\non his return thence, a crier proclaimed before the pr\u00e6torium that\nthe appointed time had elapsed. Marinus then was arraigned, and after\nexhibiting a still greater fervour for the faith, was led away and made\nperfect by martyrdom.\"\n\n\"Mention is also made of the confidence of Asterius, a man of\nsenatorial rank, in great favour with the emperors, and well known\nfor his nobility and wealth. As he was present at the death of\nthe above-mentioned martyr, taking up the corpse, he bore it on\nhis shoulder in a splendid and costly dress, and covering it in a\nmagnificent manner, gave it a decent burial.\"\n\nAsterius is venerated by the Greeks on August 7th as a martyr, who\nsuffered decollation, and Marinus is not mentioned by them. Eusebius\nsays nothing of the martyrdom of Asterius, as he certainly would have\ndone, had he died for Christ, for he says, \"Many other facts are\nstated of this man by his friends, who are alive at present,\" and then\nhe relates his counteracting by his prayers the drowning of a victim\nannually offered to the river Jordan. The Roman Martyrology, however,\naccepts the Greek tradition. \"Asterius received the honour he rendered\nto the martyr, becoming himself a martyr;\" but perhaps the word martyr\nis here to be taken in the sense frequently given to it anciently, of\na confessor, or witness to Christ, not necessarily by losing his life\nfor his testimony, but only by imperilling it.\n\n\nSS. EMETHERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS, MM.\n\n(UNCERTAIN DATE.)\n\n [Commemorated in the Mozarabic Missal and Breviary; the Evora and\n Toledo Breviaries, and as a double at Burgos and Leon; Martyrology of\n S. Jerome, those of Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and the Roman Martyrology.\n Authority:--A hymn of Prudentius, and Acts of no great antiquity,\n printed by Tamayus Salazar, and an Elogium by Gregory of Tours.]\n\nThese martyrs were put to death with the sword at Calahorra, in\nNavarre, on the Ebro. According to the hymn of Prudentius, and the\nstory of Gregory of Tours, on their execution, the ring of one martyr,\nand the stole (orarium) of the other, were caught up in a cloud, and\nascended into Heaven. Probably this legend contains a reminiscence of\nan incident such as the wind wafting away some of the martyrs' garments\nduring the execution.\n\nRelics at Calahorra.\n\n\nSS. BASILISCUS, EUTROPIUS, AND CLEONICUS, MM.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 308.)\n\n [By the Greeks on this day, but S. Basiliscus alone on May 22nd.\n Menologium of the Emperor Basil, Modern Roman Martyrology. Tamayus\n Salazar, trusting to the forged Flavius Dexter, claims them to be\n Spanish martyrs. This is a common trick of some Spanish hagiologists,\n who have appropriated all martyrs that are not, in Martyrologies,\n given a place of martyrdom, and the pseudo-Dexter simply mentioned\n these saints without saying that they were of Amasea and Comana;\n therefore Salazar audaciously says, \"In Caspetana (Sierra di\n Guadalupe) in Spain, SS. Felix, Luciolus, ... Cleontius, Eutropius,\n Basiliscus, who, in the persecution of Maximian, under Asclepiades,\n the Governor, endured torments, and the cross itself, and as martyrs\n ascended to Heaven.\" The forger of Flavius Dexter took the names from\n the modern Roman Martyrology, where the name of the place of martyrdom\n is not mentioned, and set them down as martyrs in some unknown city\n of Spain; Salazar improved on the Pseudo-Dexter by planting them in\n the Sierra di Guadalupe. The life of S. Basiliscus, if genuine, is by\n Eusignius, who knew the martyr, and was himself, probably, a martyr in\n the persecution afterwards, and is commemorated on August 5th. In the\n life are many passages which show that Eusignius was well acquainted\n with the facts he describes, such as \"Christ accompanied His martyr,\n as Basiliscus afterwards told me, Eusignius.\" He was eye-witness of\n the events; he says, \"As we approached the city, we heard, &c., ...\n we tasted ... and when we went in, we heard, ... we, to whom it was\n granted to see this terrible mystery ... we asked the speculator, and\n gave him thirty gold pieces, and he gave us the body, and we buried\n it, and we sowed vegetables ... and we went to rest.\" The Acts, if\n they are genuine, and not an impudent forgery, have undergone much\n interpolation. Some of these additions are apparent from a change of\n the \"we\" to \"they\" in the account of the journey to Comana.]\n\nIn the reign of Maximian and Maximin, Agrippa was sent into Pontus, to\nbe governor in the room of Asclepiades, with orders to constrain all\nChristians to sacrifice. Basiliscus, Eutropius, and Cleonicus, three\nChristians of Amasea, were seized and thrown into prison. And when\nEutropius and Cleonicus had suffered, the blessed Basiliscus with many\ntears prayed, saying, \"O Lord Jesus Christ, remember me, even unto the\nend, and make my calling manifest unto all, that I may not be separated\nfrom these holy men who have been taken with me, and who have suffered\nbefore me, and are crowned!\" Then the Lord appeared to him and said, \"I\nwill not forget thee. Thy name is written with those who have been with\nthee. But be not downcast because thou art last; for thou shalt precede\nmany. But go, bid farewell to thy mother and thy brethren, and when\nthou returnest, thou shalt receive thy crown. Fear not the torments\nprepared for thee, for I shall be at thy side.\"\n\nThen Basiliscus asked, and prevailed on, the jailor to let him go to\nthe village of Cumiala, near Amasea, where his mother lived, that he\nmight say farewell to her. Now it fell out that early in the morning\nAgrippa unexpectedly sent for Basiliscus, and when he heard of the\nindulgence that had been granted him--though soldiers had been sent as\nguards with the prisoner--he was filled with rage, and threatened the\njailor with capital punishment. Then he called to him a city officer\nnamed Magistrianus, a brutal fellow, implacable in his detestation\nof Christianity, and commissioned him to take a band of soldiers\nand convey Basiliscus to Comana, whither he himself was starting.\nMagistrianus mounted his ass, and ambled to Cumiala, and surrounded the\ndoors of the house, as Basiliscus was parting with his mother and three\nbrothers, before returning. Magistrianus ordered a pair of boots to be\nput on Basiliscus, with the nails in them protruding, and then bade him\nlimp along among the guards back to Amasea. The nails made his feet\nbleed, and as he walked through the street of Amasea a crowd gathered,\nmurmuring against the tyranny of the governor and his satellites.\nMagistrianus, in a rage, leaped off his ass, and cudgelled the mob with\nthe stick he had used to make the ass go, and the soldiers assisted\nhim to disperse the crowd. Basiliscus was then led along the road to\nComana, singing, \"Though an host of men be set against me, yet shall\nnot my heart be afraid; for thou, O Christ, art with me!\"\n\nAt mid-day the party, which consisted of fifteen, came to a little\nvillage, and a lady's villa. The lady very courteously invited the\nofficer and his men into the house to refresh themselves, and they\ntied Basiliscus with his hands behind his back to a plane tree in the\ncourt yard. A number of the villagers came up to stare at the martyr,\nwho stood under the dry tree, suffering intensely from the heat, and\nwith blood dribbling from his wounded feet, \"whilst Magistrianus and\nhis folk were feasting in Trojana's house, on all kinds of delicacies,\nmeats, and costly wines, served up in the cool summer dining hall,\"\nsays Eusignius, bitterly.\n\nBut God did not forget the poor martyr under the blazing mid-day sun,\nfor the plane tree put forth leaves, and overshadowed him, and a\nfountain bubbled at his feet, and cooled and laved his festering wounds.\n\nOn the party reaching Comana, Magistrianus led Basiliscus direct to the\ntemple of Apollo, where was the governor at the moment.\n\nThe governor at once ordered him to be brought in. Basiliscus smilingly\nentered. \"Why wilt thou not sacrifice, fellow?\" asked the governor.\n\"Who told thee that I will not sacrifice?\" answered Basiliscus. \"Ah!\nthe gods be praised! thou wilt sacrifice then.\"\n\n\"I will offer to God the sacrifice of praise.\" \"Offer to whom you\nplease,\" said the governor, sharply, \"only sacrifice and have done with\nthis folly.\"\n\n\"Who is that?\" asked Basiliscus, pointing to the image of Apollo.\n\"That is the god Apollo,\" answered Agrippa. \"The name is appropriate\nenough,\" said Basiliscus, \"for he brings to destruction all who trust\nin him.\"[6] Then he cried aloud to all in the temple, \"Hearken, all\nmen, to my prayer, to the Lord of Heaven and earth.\" And he prayed,\n\"God, who art alone and true, with thine only-begotten Son, and the\nHoly Spirit; who art invisible, incomprehensible, whom none can\ndescribe and include, who art good and merciful, and acceptest not the\nperson of man, who createst the things that are out of that which is\nnot, and enlightenest us who sat in darkness, and gavest us the bright\nknowledge of Thy deity: Thou art the helper of all them that trust in\nThee. God, who art alone holy, and dwellest in Thy saints, in me, thy\nhumble servant, exhibit Thy mercy, and confirm my prayer, for I pray\nto Thee of Thy great goodness, Thou who spreadest out the heavens as a\ncurtain, and by Thy command makest them fast, and adornest them with\nthe bright shining stars, and with the glory of the sun, and the moon\nwalking in brightness, and givest us the hours of day; Thou didst make\nThy sun a chamber, and gavest him everlasting limits, and didst set\nthe moon to rule the course of time, and didst divide the hours and\ndays and months; Thou didst found the earth by Thy command, that it\nshould be an habitation for man, and didst give to it an everlasting\nbound, and didst clothe it with trees and flowers; Thou didst lay the\nsea and bound it by Thy precept, and madest a way over it; and didst\nfashion man with Thine own holy hands after Thine image, and didst give\nhim wisdom and reason, and didst breathe into his face the breath of\nlife. Lord, who didst create the whole world, who from Adam till this\npresent, and hereafter till endless ages, keepest those that love Thee,\nand glorifiest those that fear Thee! Lord Jesus Christ! hear the prayer\nof Thy servant, and be present with me at this hour, and destroy this\ndeaf, and dumb, and blind, and senseless idol; break and dissolve this\ngod made with hands, and shew to these heathen the madness of their\nworship, and Whom we worship and adore as God. Why do the heathen rage,\nand the people imagine a vain thing against Thy saints? Look, O Lord,\nand keep not still silence, for thus behoves all honour and glory and\nmagnificence to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through ages of\nages. Amen.\"\n\n[6] A pun in the Greek, impossible to translate.\n\nAnd when he had said Amen, there was an earthquake, and a thunder\nunderground, and the temple shook to its foundations, and the image\nof Apollo fell and was broken. Then all who were in the temple fled,\nleaving Basiliscus alone with the broken idol at his feet. And when\nthe earthquake was past, the governor sent, and brought Basiliscus\nforth, and his head was struck off with the sword. The governor ordered\nthe body to be thrown into the river, but Eusignius bribed the soldier\nwho was carrying it away to let him have it, and he buried it in a\nfield, and sowed herbs over it. S. Basiliscus died on July 21st. He\nappeared in vision to S. Chrysostom the night before that aged saint\ndied; (see Jan 27th, p. 412.)\n\n\nS. WINWALOE, AB.\n\n(6TH CENT.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrologies; Saussaye, in his Gallican Martyrology, the\n Belgian Martyrologies. His translation from the old wooden church at\n Landevenec, to a stone one, is commemorated on April 28th, and to\n Montreuil-sur-Mer, on August 1st. Authorities:--Three Lives; the first\n by an anonymous writer, given by the Bollandists, is full of fable,\n and by no means early. The second is still less trustworthy, and is\n given by Surius. The third is by Gurdestin, Monk of Landevenec. The\n life by Albert le Grand is deserving of notice, but the historical\n particulars are not accurate. There is great difficulty about\n this saint. It is probable that there were two of his name, and\n only by this means can the very different accounts of his life be\n reconciled. One Winwaloe is a native of Brittany, and a disciple of\n S. Corentine, and was translated to Montreuil. Another Winwaloe is a\n native of Britain, a disciple of S. Sampson, of Dol, and afterwards\n of S. Similian, abbot of Tauriac; and his body lies at Ghent. M. Ch.\n Barthelemy, in his \"Annales Hagiologiques de la France,\" 5th cent.,\n claims for the first anonymous life to have been written by a disciple\n of Winwaloe. But this is more than improbable. It has none of the\n elements of a contemporary account. The writer says that the name\n of the mother of the saint was not known; and he does not name his\n master in the religious life, S. Corentine or S. Budock, but calls\n him \"a holy man,\" or \"that man of God\"; and the life, like all late\n compilations, gives scanty details of persons and places, but abounds\n in fables.[7]]\n\n[7] The following is a specimen of the stories told by this author:\nWinwaloe had a sister at home, who was one day playing with the geese\nbelonging to her father, when one of them flew at her, pecked out, and\nswallowed her eye. The parents were in despair. Then an angel appeared\nto the holy boy, Winwaloe, and told him of the trouble. Winwaloe at\nonce hastened home, singled out the guilty goose, sliced open its\nbelly, removed the eye of his sister from its crop, and replaced it\nin his sister's head, and she saw as well as before. The boy then\nmiraculously healed the goose, and dismissed it to rejoin the flock.\nAfter this he returned to his master and studies.\n\nWinwaloe was born about the year 455; his father was Fragan, related\nto Conan Meriadec. Fragan was governor of L\u00e9on (Lyoness) and\nCornonaille, under King Grallo, or Gradillon. Fragan married a noble\nand wealthy lady named Gwen, of the Three Breasts, and resided with\nher at Lesgwen, in the parish of Plonkin. By her he had a son, whom he\ncalled Gwenaloe,[8] or \"He that is white,\" on account of his beauty.\nWhen Winwaloe was about fifteen years old he was given to a holy man,\nS. Corentine, or S. Budock, it is uncertain which, together with his\nbrothers, Gwethenoc and Jacut, and they lived together, serving God in\nthe islet of Isle-vert.\n\n[8] He is called Guennole, or Vignevale, in French. At\nMontreuil-sur-Mer, of which place he is patron, he is called S. Valois.\nHis name has also been corrupted into Valvais and Vennole.\n\nOne day that Winwaloe was with his father, a fleet of pirates appeared\noff the coast, and hovered about the harbour of Guic Sezne, near\nLauvengat. S. Winwaloe is said in the popular tradition to have\nexclaimed on the occasion, _Me a vel mil Guern_, \"I see a thousand\nsails;\" and a cross which commemorates the spot is called therefrom\nto this day, _Croas al mil Guern_, \"the cross of the thousand sails.\"\nThe pirates landed, but Fragan, having gathered his retainers, fell\nupon them and utterly defeated them. Many were cut to pieces, and a\nfew escaped in their vessels. During the combat, Winwaloe, like a\nsecond Moses, prayed with fervour; and after the victory he exhorted\nhis father to employ the spoil they had taken in building a monastery\non the spot where the battle took place, in Isel-Vez, in the parish of\nPlou-Nevez. He did so, and the monastery was called Loc-Christ.\n\nAfter some years, Winwaloe left his master, and settled in the island\nof Sein, off the Point du Raz; but, finding it exposed to the full\nswell of the Atlantic, and to every gale, he was obliged to desert\nit, and found a more suitable place of settlement at Llandevenec, on\nthe opposite side of the harbour of Brest, where he established a\nmonastery, into which he gathered many disciples, and there, after many\nyears, he died, standing at the altar, after having bestowed the kiss\nof peace on the brethren, on Saturday, the 3rd of March, in the first\nweek in Lent; a date which may be either 507, 518, or 529.\n\nAnother version of the history of S. Winwaloe makes him to have been\nborn in Wales, and to have had S. Budock for his preceptor.\n\nThe body of S. Winwaloe is preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, whither\nit was translated through fear of the invasion of the Normans, after\nhaving first just found shelter at Ghent. The chasuble, alb and bell\nof S. Winwaloe, are preserved in the Jesuit Church of S. Charles, at\nAntwerp.\n\nAt the same time, the body of a S. Winwaloe is also at Blandinberg,\nnear Ghent; and the story told of this saint is in many particulars\nlike that of the S. Winwaloe at Montreuil, but it differs in others.\n\nS. Winwaloe is represented in art vested as an abbot, with staff in one\nhand and bell in the other, standing by the sea, with the fish rising\nout of the water as if obeying the summons of his bell.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative motif]\n\n\nS. KUNEGUND, EMPSS.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 1040.)\n\n [German, Cologne, Basle, and Roman Martyrologies; also in the\n Benedictine Martyrology of Wyon. Proper offices in the Brussels,\n Passau Ratisbon, Salzburg, Frisingen, Bamberg, Eichstadt, Vienna, and\n other Breviaries. Her translation is celebrated on September 9th; and\n her canonization on March 29th. At Bamberg she is again commemorated\n on August 1st. Her life was written after 1190. This life forms\n the Breviary lessons at Bamberg on March 3rd and August 1st. Other\n authorities are the historians of the time.]\n\nS. Kunegund, or Cunegundes, was the daughter of Sigfried, count of\nLuxemburg, and Hedewig, his pious wife. She was married to S. Henry,\nduke of Bavaria. Her sister was married to Gerard, Count of Alsace. Her\nbrothers were Henry, created, in 103, duke of Bavaria, when S. Henry\nwas emperor; Frederick, count of Luxemburg on the death of his father;\nDietrich, bishop of Metz; and others.\n\nOn the death of the emperor Otho III., S. Henry was elected king of\nthe Romans, and was crowned at Mentz on June 6th, 1002. Kunegund\nwas crowned empress at Paderborn, on August 10th, in the same year.\nImmediately on his coronation his cousin, the Margrave, Henry of\nSchwein-furt, demanded the dukedom of Bavaria, and his own brother,\nBruno, made a similar claim. But the emperor refused to give it to\neither, and bestowed it on Henry, Count of Luxemburg, his wife's\nbrother. The two disappointed competitors then conspired against him\nwith Boleslas II., of Bohemia, but they were defeated by the emperor\nnear Creusen, in 1003, and were pardoned. Adalbert, another brother of\nKunegund, then expelled Megingod, archbishop of Treves, and seized on\nthe diocese for himself, but the emperor deposed him, and restored the\nrightful archbishop.\n\n[Illustration: S. KUNEGUND, Empress of Germany.\nMarch 3.]\n\nIn 1013, Henry and Kunegund received the imperial crown at Rome,\nfrom the pope. It was on this occasion that the pope bestowed on the\nemperor the golden ball, the emblem of the globe over which he was\ndestined to rule. The imperial pair, it is said, had taken the vow of\nchastity, but of this there is no evidence. Kunegund's virtue, however,\ndid not escape slander, and she voluntarily underwent the ordeal by\nfire, and walked unharmed over glowing ploughshares to testify her\ninnocence.\n\nS. Henry founded the bishopric of Bamberg, partly at the instigation of\nS. Kunegund, who obtained for the city such privileges, that it became\na popular saying there, that Kunegund's silk threads defended Bamberg\nbetter than walls and towers. Pope Benedict VIII. visited Bamberg in\n1020, for the purpose of consecrating the new establishment. Kunegund\nalso built and endowed a Benedictine abbey for nuns, at Kaufungen,\nnear Cassel. Before it was finished, in 1024, S. Henry died. On the\nanniversary of his death, in 1025, she assembled a great number of\nprelates to the dedication of her church at Kaufungen; and after the\nsinging of the gospel, she offered on the altar a piece of the true\ncross, and then put off her imperial robes, and clothed herself with\na poor habit; her hair was cut off, and the bishop put on her a veil,\nand a ring as a pledge of her fidelity to her heavenly Spouse. After\nshe was consecrated to God in religion, she seemed entirely to forget\nthat she had been empress, and behaved as the last in the house, being\npersuaded that she was so before God. She feared nothing more than\nwhatever could bring to her mind the remembrance of her former dignity.\nShe prayed and read much, worked with her hands, and took a singular\npleasure in visiting and comforting the sick. Thus she passed the\nfifteen last years of her life, never suffering the least preference\nto be given her above any one in the community. Her mortifications\nat length reduced her to a very weak condition, and brought on\nher last sickness. Her monastery and the whole city of Cassel were\ngrievously afflicted at the thought of their approaching loss; she\nalone appeared without concern, lying on a coarse hair-cloth, ready\nto give up the ghost, whilst the prayers of the dying were read by\nher side. Perceiving they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to\ncover her corpse after her death, she ordered it to be taken away; nor\ncould she be at rest till it was promised that she should be buried\nas a religious in her habit. She died on the 3rd of March, 1040. Her\nbody was carried to Bamberg, and buried near that of her husband. The\ngreatest part of her relics still remains in the same church. She was\nsolemnly canonized by Innocent III. in 1200.\n\nShe is represented in art with the ploughshares at her feet\n\n[Illustration: Forms of Mitre.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 4.\n\n S. LUCIUS, _Pope, M. at Rome_, A.D. 253.\n SS. NINE HUNDRED MARTYRS _on the Appian Way, at Rome, circ._ A.D. 260.\n S. CAIUS _the Palatine_, AND XXVII. COMPANIONS, _MM. at Rome._\n S. OWEN, _Mk. at Lastingham, end of 7th cent._\n S. BASINUS, _B. of Treves, circ._ A.D. 672.\n SS. ADRIAN, _B. of S. Andrews_, AND COMP., _MM. in the Isle of\n May, circ._ A.D. 870.\n S. CASIMIR, _Prince of Poland_, A.D. 1484.\n\n\nS. LUCIUS, POPE, M.\n\n(A.D. 253.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, Wandelbert, and Roman Martyrologies.\n Authorities:--Eusebius, the letters of S. Cyprian, Anastasius\n Bibliothecarius, and a Life by Guaiserius, a monk, (11th cent.)]\n\nSaint Lucius was a Roman by birth, and one of the clergy of that\nchurch under SS. Fabian and Cornelius. This latter having been crowned\nwith martyrdom, in 252, S. Lucius succeeded him in the pontificate.\nThe emperor Gallus having renewed the persecution of his predecessor\nDecius, at least in Rome, this holy pope was no sooner placed in the\nchair of S. Peter, than he was banished, though to what place is\nuncertain. \"Thus,\" says S. Dionysius of Alexandria, \"did Gallus deprive\nhimself of the succour of heaven, by expelling those who every day\nprayed to God for his peace and prosperity.\" S. Cyprian wrote to S.\nLucius to congratulate him both on his promotion, and on having had\ngrace to suffer banishment for Christ. Our saint had been but a short\ntime in exile when he was recalled, to the great joy of his people,\nwho went out of Rome in crowds to meet him. S. Cyprian wrote to him a\nsecond letter of congratulation on this occasion. He says, \"He had not\nlost the dignity of martyrdom because he had the will, as the three\nchildren in the furnace, though preserved by God from death; this\nglory added a new dignity to his priesthood; so that he, a bishop,\nassisted at God's altar, who could exhort his flock to martyrdom by\nhis own example as well as by his words. By giving such graces to his\npastors, God showed where his true Church was: for he denied the like\nglory of suffering to the Novatian heretics. The enemy of Christ only\nattacks the soldiers of Christ: heretics he knows to be already his\nown, and passes them by. We supplicate God the Father and His Son, our\nLord, giving thanks and praying together, that He who perfects all may\nbring you to the glorious crown of your confession, who, perhaps, has\nonly recalled you that your glory might not be hidden; for the victim\nwho owes his brethren an example of virtue and faith, ought to be\nsacrificed before their eyes.\"\n\nEusebius says that Lucius did not occupy the pontifical throne for\nabove eight months. He seems to have died on March 4th, under Gallus,\nbut how we know not. His body was found in the Catacombs, and was laid\nin the church of S. Cecilia at Rome, where it is now exposed to the\nveneration of the faithful. Considerable portions of the body of S.\nLucius, M., are preserved at Bologna, and a head, purporting to be\nthat of S. Lucius, was anciently one of the great relics of Roeskilde\nCathedral. But these must be the remains of other saints of the same\nname, and it was an error of the clergy of Bologna and of Roeskilde\nto assert that these relics belonged to the martyred pope. That such\na mistake may easily have been made is seen from the fact that two\nmartyrs of the name of Lucius are commemorated on this day, the second\nbeing a companion of Caius the Palatine; and six in January, and as\nmany in February, not to mention those in the other months. In the\nSchleswig Breviary, published in 1512, the feast of S. Lucius, Pope,\nM., was observed on account of the presence of the head of a S. Lucius,\nM., at Roeskilde, with nine lessons at matins, of which the six first\nwere taken from the account of the Life and Translation of S. Lucius\nthe pope, made by pope Paschal in 812.\n\n\nS. CAIUS THE PALATINE, AND COMP., MM.\n\n(DATE UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Notker, Roman Martyrology. The names of the\n companions of S. Caius vary in the Martyrologies.]\n\nS. Caius, and twenty-seven fellow soldiers, suffered for the faith at\nRome. Caius was an officer of the palace, but under what emperor is not\nknown. He was drowned in the sea.\n\n\nS. OWEN, MK.\n\n(END OF 7TH CENT.)\n\n [Anglican and Benedictine Martyrologies. Authority:--Bede, Hist.\n Eccl., lib. iv. c. 3.]\n\nThe venerable Bede says, \"Owen was a monk of great merit, having\nforsaken the world with the pure intention of obtaining the heavenly\nreward; worthy in all respects to have the secrets of our Lord revealed\nto him, and worthy to have credit given by his hearers to what he\nsaid; for he came with Queen Etheldreda from the province of the East\nAngles, and was her prime minister, and governor of her household. As\nthe fervour of his faith increased, resolving to renounce the world,\nhe did not go about it slothfully, but quitting all he had, clad in a\nplain garment, and carrying an axe and hatchet in his hand, came to\nthe monastery of S. Chad, at Lastingham: denoting that he did not go\nto the monastery to live idly, as some do, but to labour, and this he\nconfirmed by his practice; for as he was less capable of meditating\non the Holy Scriptures, he the more earnestly applied himself to the\nlabour of his hands. In short, he was received by the bishop into the\nhouse aforesaid, and there entertained with the brethren, and whilst\nthey were engaged within in reading, he was without doing such things\nas were necessary.\n\n\"One day, when he was thus employed abroad, and his companions were\ngone to the church, the bishop was alone, reading or praying in the\noratory of that place, when, on a sudden, as he afterwards said, he\nheard voices singing most sweetly, and rejoicing, and appearing to\ndescend from heaven. And this sound seemed to come from the south-east,\nand it afterwards drew nigh him to the oratory, where the bishop then\nwas, and entering therein, filled the same and all around. He listened\nattentively to what he heard, and after about half an hour noticed the\nsame strain of joy ascend from the roof of the oratory, and return to\nheaven the same way it came, with inexpressible sweetness. When he had\nstood some time wondering, the bishop opened the window of the oratory,\nand, making a noise with his hand, ordered him to come in to him.\n\n\"Then the holy Chad told him that the day of his death was at hand, and\nthat the angelic spirits had told him that in seven days they would\nreturn and take him with them. And so it was: seven days after, S. Chad\nentered into his rest.\" Nothing more is known of Owen. A stone cross\nput up by Owen remains at Ely, and is preserved in that cathedral.\n\n\nS. BASINUS, B. OF TREVES.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 672.)\n\n [Treves and Cologne Martyrologies; Molanus and Greven. Authority:--His\n Life by Nizo, Abbot of Metloch (Mediolanum) on the Saar, 11th cent.,\n which is very untrustworthy.]\n\nBasinus, of the illustrious family of the Dukes of Austrasia, was\nreceived as monk into the monastery of S. Maximin, at Treves. He was\nafterwards made abbot, and later, when S. Numerian, bishop of Treves,\nwas dead, he was constrained to assume the mitre in his room. He held\nthe see in the reign of Childebert II., king of Austrasia. He was a\nfriend of S. Willibrord. After his death, his body was laid in the\nbasilica of S. Maximin, under the high altar. It was taken up in 1621,\nand placed in a more conspicuous position.\n\nHe was succeeded by his nephew, S. Lutwin.\n\n\nS. ADRIAN, M. B. OF S. ANDREWS.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 870.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--The Lections from the same.]\n\nS. Adrian, bishop of S. Andrews, in Scotland, was a native of Pannonia.\nHe laboured to spread the faith among the Picts, together with his\ncompanions, Clodian, Caius, Monan, and Stobrand. As they were in the\nisland of May, the Danish pirates landed in it, and put Adrian and\nClodian to death.\n\n\nS. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND.\n\n(A.D. 1484.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Zacharias Ferrier, Papal Legate in\n Poland, A.D. 1525.]\n\nS. Casimir was the second son of Casimir III., king of Poland, and\nof Elizabeth of Austria, daughter to the emperor Albert II., a most\nvirtuous woman, who died in 1505. He was born in 1458, on the 5th\nof October. From his childhood he was remarkably pious and devout.\nHis preceptor was John Dugloss, called Longinus, canon of Cracow, a\nman of extraordinary learning and piety, who constantly refused all\nbishoprics, and other dignities of the Church and state which were\npressed upon him. Vladislas, the eldest son, was elected king of\nBohemia in 1471, and became king of Hungary in 1490. Casimir was the\nsecond son; John Albert, the third son, succeeded his father in the\nkingdom of Poland in 1492; and Alexander, the fourth son, was called to\nthe same in 1501. Casimir and the other princes were warmly attached to\nthe holy man who was their preceptor; but Casimir profited most by his\npious maxims and example. He consecrated the flower of his age to the\nexercises of devotion and penance; his clothes were plain, and under\nthem he wore a hair shirt. He often slept upon the ground, and spent\na considerable part of the night in prayer and meditation, chiefly\non the passion of our Saviour. He was wont at times to go out in the\nnight to pray before the church-doors, and in the morning waited before\nthem till they were opened for matins. He was especially devout to the\npassion of our blessed Saviour, the very thought of which excited him\nto tears. He was no less piously affected towards the Sacrifice of the\naltar, at which he always assisted with such reverence and attention\nthat he seemed in raptures. And as a mark of his singular devotion to\nthe Blessed Virgin, he composed, or, at least, frequently recited, the\nlong hymn that bears his name, a copy of which was, by his desire,\nburied with him. His love for Jesus Christ showed itself in his regard\nfor the poor, who are His members, to whose relief he applied whatever\nhe had, and employed his credit with his father, and his brother,\nVladislas, king of Bohemia, to procure them succour.\n\n[Illustration: S. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND. After Cahier.\nMarch 4.]\n\nThe nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with Matthias Corvinus, their king,\nson of the great Huniades, begged the king of Poland to allow them to\nplace his son Casimir on the throne. The saint, then not quite fifteen\nyears of age, was very unwilling to consent; but in compliance with his\nfather's will, he went at the head of an army of twenty thousand men to\nthe frontiers in 1471. There hearing that Matthias had formed an army\nof sixteen thousand men to oppose him, and that pope Sixtus IV. had\nsent an embassy to divert his father from the expedition, and finding\nthat his soldiers were deserting him in great numbers, he joyfully\nreturned. However, his conduct gave such offence to his father, whose\nambition had been roused, that he was forbidden by him to enter Cracow,\nand ordered to take up his residence in the castle of Dobzki. After\nthis, nothing would again induce him to resume the attempt, though\nagain pressed by the Hungarians, and urged by his father. As the old\nRussian churches were falling out of repair, Casimir, with more zeal\nthan discretion, persuaded his father to pass an edict forbidding the\nrestoration and reconstruction of churches which did not belong to the\nLatin rite.\n\nFalling into a decline, the physicians recommended that he should relax\nhis rigid chastity, but the young prince indignantly refused to defile\nhis virgin body on the chance of thus prolonging his life a few months;\nand he died at the age of twenty-three, on March 4th, 1484, and was\nburied at Wilna, where his body is still preserved.\n\n[Illustration: Angels praying]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 5.\n\n S. THEOPHILUS, _B. of C\u00e6sarea, in Palestine, circ._ A.D. 200.\n S. ADRIAN, _M. at C\u00e6sarea, in Palestine_, A.D. 308 (_see S. Eubulus,\n March 7th_).\n S. PHOCAS, _M. at Antioch, in Syria, circ._ A.D. 320.\n S. GERASIMUS, _Ab. in Palestine_, A.D. 475.\n S. KIERAN OR PIRAN, _of Saigir, B. of Ossory, circ._ A.D. 552.\n S. VIRGILIUS, _Abp. of Arles, 7th cent._\n S DRAUSINUS, _B. of Soissons, after_ A.D. 675.\n S. PETER DE CASTELNAU, _Mk. M. at S. Gilles, in the Narbonnaise_,\n A.D. 1209.\n S. JOHN-JOSEPH OF THE CROSS, _C. at Naples_, A.D. 1734.\n\n\nS. PHOCAS, M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 320.)\n\n [All the Latin Martyrologies, from the mention in which all that is\n known of him is derived.]\n\nAt Antioch, after many sufferings endured for the name of Christ,\nPhocas triumphed over the Old Serpent, a victory which is testified,\nto this day, by a miracle. For whoever is bitten by a serpent, having\ntouched, full of faith, the door of the basilica of the martyr, is\nimmediately cured, the poison at once losing its power; so says the\nRoman Martyrology.\n\n\nS. GERASIMUS, AB. IN PALESTINE.\n\n(A.D. 475.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on March 4th and 20th.\n Authorities:--Mention in the lives of S. Euthymius and S. Quiriacus,\n by Cyril the Monk, fl. 548]\n\nS. Gerasimus embraced the monastic life in Lycia; he afterwards passed\ninto Palestine, at a time when Eutychianism prevailed, and he had\nthe misfortune to embrace the errors of that heresy; but S. Euthymius\n(Jan. 20th) visited him, and restored him to the unity of the faith.\nHe expiated his error by the most rigorous fasting. He became very\nintimate with S. Euthymius, S. John the Silentiary, S. Sabas, and S.\nTheoctistus.\n\nA great number of disciples placed themselves under his conduct, and he\nbuilt a laura near Jordan, consisting of seventy cells, amidst which\nwas a monastery for the lodging of those who were to live in community,\nand disciplined those who afterwards occupied the hermitages of the\nlaura. The anchorites assembled in the church on the Sabbath and the\nSunday to participate in the sacred mysteries, and on these two days\nthey ate common food that had been cooked, and drank a little wine; on\nother days they ate only bread and dates, and drank water. Fires were\nnever lighted in the cells, and the hermits slept on rush mats.\n\nS. Gerasimus carried his abstinence further than his brethren.\nThroughout Lent he took no other nourishment than the Divine Eucharist.\n\nOne day as the old abbot was walking on the banks of the Jordan, he saw\na lion limping, and roaring with pain. The lion, instead of attempting\nto escape, held up its paw, which was much swollen, and Gerasimus\ntaking it on his lap, examined it, and saw that a sharp splinter had\nentered the flesh. He withdrew the piece of reed, and bathed the paw.\nThe lion afterwards gratefully followed him to his cell, and never\nafter left him, but was fed by the abbot. There was an ass belonging to\nthe monastery which brought water from the Jordan, for the necessities\nof the brethren; and Gerasimus sent the ass out to pasture under the\nguardianship of the lion. One day the lion had gone away from his\ncharge, and an Arabian camel driver passing by, stole the ass. In the\nevening the lion returned depressed in spirits to the monastery,\nwithout the ass. Gerasimus naturally concluded that the lion had eaten\nthe animal, and he cried out, \"Sirrah, where is the ass?\" The lion\nstood still, and looked back over his shoulder. \"You have eaten him!\"\nsaid the abbot; \"Let us praise God. Well, what the ass did, you shall\ndo now.\" And thenceforth the lion carried the water for the brethren.\n\nNow one day a certain soldier came to the monastery, and seeing the\nlion toiling under the water bottles, he pitied the lordly beast, and\ngave some money to the abbot to buy an ass on the next opportunity,\nand release the lion from its office of water-carrier. Some days after\nthis, as the lion was near Jordan, there came by the driver who had\nstolen the ass, with three camels, and the stolen beast itself. The\nlion set up its mane and roared, and made towards the man, whereupon\nthe driver took to his heels. Then the lion caught the end of the ass's\nhalter, and drew it along with the camels to the door of the monastery.\nAnd thus the abbot learned that he was wrong in accusing his dumb\nfriend of having devoured his charge.\n\nFor five years the lion was the constant companion of the old abbot,\ngoing in and out among the monks; and at the expiration of that time\nGerasimus died. Now the lion was out when he departed to his rest;\nbut when the lion returned home, he went about searching for the old\nman. Then the abbot Sabbatius, a disciple of the dead saint, seeing\nthe uneasiness of the lion, said to him \"Jordan, (for by that name the\nlion was called), our old friend has gone away and left us orphans,\nand has migrated to the Lord; but here is food, take and eat.\" But the\nlion would not and paced to and fro seeking the dead man, and every now\nand then throwing up his head, and roaring. Then Sabbatius and some of\nthe other brethren came and rubbed his neck, and said, \"The old man\nis departed to the Lord, and has left us.\" But this did not appease\nthe lion; and the more they caressed him, and spake to him, the more\nagitated he became, and the louder he roared, \"showing with mouth and\neyes how great was his distress, because he saw not the old man.\"\n\nThen the abbot Sabbatius said to him, \"Come along with me, as you will\nnot believe me, and I will show you where our old friend is laid.\"\nAnd he led the lion to the place where Gerasimus was buried; and the\nabbot Sabbatius, standing at the tomb, said, \"See here is where he is\nburied.\" And then he knelt and wept upon the grave. So when the lion\nsaw this, he went, and stretched himself on the grave, with his head\non the sand, and moaned, and remained there, and would not leave the\nplace, but was found there dead, a few days after.\n\nIt is almost needless to say that this beautiful incident has given to\nthe abbot Gerasimus his symbol of a lion, in art.\n\n\nS. KIERAN OR PIRAN, AB. OF SAIGIR.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 552.)\n\n [Irish Hagiologies, and an addition of Usuardus published in 1490. A\n saint of this name was venerated on this day in the Dumblane Breviary,\n but it is uncertain if it was the same. The Life of S. Kieran,\n published by Colgan, and that given by the Bollandists, are of later\n date, and like so many of the Acts of Celtic Saints, abound in fables.]\n\nAccording to the Irish legendary lives, Kieran of Saigir was bishop\nin Ireland before the arrival of S. Patrick. After honouring him\nwith the title of the \"first-born of the saints of Ireland,\" these\nlives proceed to inform us that his father was Lugneus, a noble of\nOssory, and his mother Liadain, of Corcalaighde, (Carberry), in South\nMunster. S. Kieran was born in Cape Clear Island. Having spent thirty\nyears in Ireland still unbaptized, he heard of the Christian religion\nas flourishing at Rome, and went thither for the purpose of being\ninstructed. There he was baptized, and remained twenty years, studying\nthe Scriptures and canons, after which he was ordained bishop, and\nsent to preach in his own country. On his way to Ireland he met S.\nPatrick in Italy, who was not as yet a bishop, and who told Kieran\nthat he would follow him to Ireland in thirty years from the date of\ntheir meeting. This must have happened in 402, and accordingly Kieran,\nbeing then fifty years old, was born in 352. When arrived in Ireland\nhe was miraculously directed, as S. Patrick had told him he would, to\nthe place since called Saigir, (Seir-Kieran, in King's County), where\nhe erected a monastery. Having ordained an innumerable multitude of\nbishops and priests, he died at the age of 300!\n\nOther accounts state that Kieran's meeting with S. Patrick somewhere\nout of Ireland occurred several years after the latter had commenced\nhis apostolical labours in this country. Jocelin places it at a time\nwhen S. Patrick was returning from Britain, whither he had gone to\nobtain a supply of additional helpers for his mission, and tells us\nthat Kieran was then one of the six Irish priests who were proceeding\nto foreign countries for religious improvement, and all of whom\nafterwards became bishops in their own country. In the Tripartite\nhistory of S. Patrick the precise place of meeting is not given; but,\nwhat is more to the purpose, it is represented as having occurred at\nleast twelve years after S. Patrick had begun his mission in Ireland,\nand Kieran is stated to have then received directions from the saint\nconcerning the district in which he should erect his monastery.\n\nIt appears, however, that he was no disciple of S. Patrick at all,\nand did not live in his times. His name does not occur in Tirechan's\nlist, nor in any of the Lives of S. Patrick, except in those two just\nquoted, and his appearance in them is evidently due to the legends\nin circulation concerning the meeting. Had S. Kieran been a disciple\nof the apostle, how could he have become a scholar of S. Finnian of\nClonard, in the 6th century? For such he is stated to have been, not\nonly in the Life of S. Finnian, and in that of his illustrious namesake\nof Clonmacnois, but also in the tract which is called his first life,\nand which enters into more particulars than the other. S. Finnian's\nschool could not have become celebrated before 534. In both Kieran's\nlives his namesake of Clonmacnois, who died in 549, and the two\nBrendans, one of whom died in 577, and the other a few years earlier,\nare spoken of as having had transactions with him.\n\nWe may then safely conclude that he belonged to the sixth century,\nbecame distinguished towards the middle of it, and died during\nits latter half. As this was known to be the case, his blundering\nbiographers strove to reconcile their nonsense concerning the antiquity\nand privileges of Saigir, with the true date of his death, by making\nhim die at the age of about 300 years, although, had they calculated\nbetter, about 220 years might have sufficed.\n\nKieran, we may safely conclude, was made a bishop about the year 538.\nHaving retired to a lonesome spot, since called Saigir, he led at first\nthe life of a hermit, and after some time erected a monastery, around\nwhich a city gradually grew up. Next he established a nunnery in the\nneighbourhood for his mother Liadania, and some pious virgins, her\ncompanions, whence the church Killiadhuin got its name. Besides the\ncare of his monastery, Kieran was assiduously employed in preaching\nthe Gospel in Ossory, and he converted a great number of heathen. He\nis usually considered to have been the first bishop of Ossory, and\nfounder of that see. It is singular that, notwithstanding all that is\nsaid in the lives, in praise of Kieran, he is not much spoken of in\nthe accounts of contemporary saints, and that none of the Irish annals\nor hagiologies give the date of his death. Hence Colgan was inclined\nto think that he died in Cornwall, and is to be identified with S.\nPiran, of Peranzabulo. But the first life hints that he died at Saigir.\nAlthough the year of his death is unknown, there can be little doubt of\nhis having been alive after the year 550.\n\nIf S. Piran of Peranzabulo be the same as S. Kieran of Saigir, his\nbones have been discovered of late years, when the ancient oratory of\nPeranzabulo, near Padstowe, in Cornwall, was dug out of the sand. In\nfavour of this identification, Colgan points out that S. Piran was\ncommemorated at Padstow on the 5th March, the same day as S. Kieran in\nIreland; and John of Tynemouth asserts that S. Kieran did retire from\nIreland into Cornwall where he spent the latter part of his life, and\ndied. The Cornish, moreover, change the K. of Irish names into P.\n\nSome of the legends related of S. Kieran deserve to be recorded. He is\nsaid when a little boy to have been bitterly distressed at seeing a\nhawk carry off a little bird in its talons. Then he cried to God, and\nthe hawk dropped its prey.\n\nOne day a king or chief in the neighbourhood carried off one of the\nnuns of the convent governed by his mother. Kieran pursued him full of\nwrath, and coming to the castle, bade the chief restore the poor maiden\nto her cell. \"Not unless the cuckoo should rouse me to-morrow morning,\"\nanswered the chief. Now it was mid-winter. But that night no snow\nfell round the house where lodged the abbot, and at early dawn a bird\nperched on the roof under the window of the chief, and began to call\n\"Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!\" Then the ravisher, in alarm, started from\nhis bed, and restored the nun to her convent.\n\nOn an autumn day, Kieran noticed a magnificent bank of blackberries, so\nlarge and ripe, that he thought it a sad pity the winter should come\nand destroy them. Therefore he cast a cloak over the bramble. Now it\nfell out that the next ensuing April, Ethnea Vacha the wife of king\n\u00c6ngus was ill, and felt a craving for blackberries. She was then, with\nher husband, the guest of Concraidh, king of Ossory. Concraidh told\nS. Kieran of the strange wish of the lady, and instantly the saint\nremembered the hedge of blackberries covered by his cloak, and he went\nand plucked as many as he could carry, and brought them to the sick\nqueen, and she ate them and revived.\n\nOne day S. Kieran of Clonmacnois and the two Brendans visited the\nmonastery. The steward came to the abbot in dismay, and said, \"There\nis nothing to offer these distinguished guests except some scraps of\nbacon, and water.\"\n\n\"Then serve up the bacon and the water,\" said the saint. And when\nthey were brought on the table, the bacon tasted to every man better\nthan anything he had ever tasted before, and as for the water, the\nbenediction of the man of God had converted it into wine. But there\nwas at the table a lay-brother, and when he had some bacon put before\nhim, he thrust his platter away angrily, for he was tired of bacon,\nand had expected something better, when distinguished visitors were\npresent. \"Hah!\" said the abbot,--'not by way of condemnation, but of\nprophecy,'--\"The time will come when you, son of Comgall, shall eat\nass's flesh in Lent, and soon after you will lose your head.\"\n\nIt is also related that there was a boy came to Saigir called Crichidh\nof Clonmacnois, and remained for a while under the abbot Kieran. Now it\nwas the custom and rule of S. Kieran, that the blessed Paschal fire\nshould burn all the year. But out of mischief, as we moderns should\nsay, \"instigante diabolo,\" as the medi\u00e6val chronicler expresses it,\nthe boy put the fire out. Then S. Kieran said to the brethren, \"Look!\nour fire is extinguished by that confounded boy (a maledicto puero),\nCrichidh, purposely, for he is always up to mischief (sicut solet\nsemper nocere). And now we shall be without fire till next Easter,\nunless the Lord sends us some. As for that boy, he will come to a bad\nend shortly.\" And so it was, for on the morrow a wolf killed the boy.\n\nNow S. Kieran of Clonmacnois, to whom the boy belonged, hearing of\nthis, came to Saigir, and was courteously received by S. Kieran the\nElder. But there was no fire, and the snow fell in large flakes; and it\nwas bitterly cold, so that S. Kieran of Clonmacnois and his companions\nsat blue with frost, and their teeth chattering. Then S. Kieran of\nSaigir raised his hands to heaven, and prayed, and there fell a globe\nof fire into his hands, and he spread the lap of his chasuble (casula),\nand went with the fireball in it before his guests, and they warmed\nthemselves thereat. And after that, dinner was served. Then said S.\nKieran of Clonmacnois, \"I will not eat till my boy is restored to me.\"\n\"Brother,\" answered S. Kieran of Saigir, \"I knew wherefore thou didst\ncome; the boy is now on his way hither.\" And presently the door opened,\nand the boy that the wolf had eaten, walked in alive and well.\n\nKing \u00c6ngus of Munster had seven bards \"who were wont to sing before\nhim, harping, the deeds of heroes,\" but these seven men were murdered\nand drowned in a bog, and their harps were hung upon a tree by the side\nof the morass. S. Kieran, at the king's request, restored the seven\nharpers to life, after their having been steeped in bog-water for a\nwhole month.\n\nNow when he was dying, Kieran besought the Lord to bless all such as\nshould keep his festival. \"And,\" says his historian, \"on March 5th, God\nintroduced him into the lot of his inheritance in the vineyard, and\nplanted him in the mountain of his possession, even in the celestial\nJerusalem, which is the mother of us all. Wherefore, then, my brothers,\nlet us hold a most solemn feast to the most holy Kieran, and let the\nvoice of praise resound in the tabernacles of the righteous; for the\nright hand of the Lord made virtue to spring up in this man, which may\nJesus Christ for the merits of his servant Kieran cause to grow in us\npresent likewise, that we may be meet, He being our leader, to enter\ninto the courts of our eternal inheritance. Amen.\"\n\n\nS. VIRGILIUS, ABP. OF ARLES.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 618.)\n\n [Benedictine and Galican Martyrologies; but at Arles on October 10th,\n and Greven in his additions to Usuardus. Authority:--A life by an\n anonymous writer, long posterior, and very credulous. It contains much\n idle fable.]\n\nS. Virgilius, a native of Aquitania, retired in childhood to the\nmonastery of Lerins, where he distinguished himself by his virtues, and\nwas in time elected abbot. One night, says the historian of his life,\nwho deals somewhat largely in popular legend, as he was walking round\nthe island, as a good pastor keeping guard over his sheep-fold, he saw\na strange ship drawn up against the shore, and by the star light he saw\nthe sailors moving on the deck. Then two descended from the vessel, and\ncoming towards him, said, \"Reverend father, we know who thou art, and\ngreatly esteem thy incomparable virtue, the fame of which is spread\nabroad through the round world, and many there are of the faithful in\nfar-off lands who desire to see thy sanctity, and hear the words of\nwisdom that distil from thy lips. And now we are bound for Jerusalem,\ncome therefore with us and make this journey to the holy sites, and\nthy name will be praised by all men.\" But Virgilius mistrusted this\naddress, and he answered, \"Ye cannot thus deceive an old soldier of\nChrist!\" and he made the sign of the cross. Then the ship and the crew\nvanished, and he saw only the stars winking in the waves.\n\nFrom Lerins he was called, in 588, to take charge of the diocese of\nAries, by the unanimous voice of the people.\n\nHe is said to have been the consecrator of S. Augustine of Canterbury\nto his mission in England, by order of S. Gregory the Great, from whom\nhe received the pall. He built several churches in Aries; amongst\nothers, the cathedral, which he dedicated to S. Stephen, and the church\nof the Saviour and S. Honoratus. Whilst erecting this latter church,\nthe legend says that the people toiled ineffectually to move the\npillars to their destined place. At last they sent word to S. Virgil\nthat the truck was fast, and the pillars could neither be taken on nor\ncarried back. Then Virgil hurried to the spot, and saw a little devil,\nlike a negro boy, sitting under the truck, arresting the progress of\nthe wheels. Virgil drove him away, and then the columns were easily\nmoved. By his prayers he is also reported to have killed a monstrous\nserpent which infested the neighbourhood. He was buried in the church\nof SS. Saviour and Honoratus, which he had built.\n\n\nS. DRAUSINUS, B. OF SOISSONS.\n\n(A.D. 675.)\n\n [Venerated at Soissons. Mentioned in some of the additions to\n Usuardus, and later Martyrologies. Authority:--A Life by a native of\n Soissons shortly after his translation, four years after the death of\n the saint.]\n\nDrausinus or Drausius was a native of Soissons, and was the son of\npious parents of noble rank. He was educated by S. Anseric, bishop of\nSoissons, on whose death he was called to fill his place. His virtues\nand charity caused him to be venerated as a saint immediately after his\ndeath. S. Thomas-\u00e0-Becket had recourse to his intercession when he was\nin France, before returning to England.\n\nHis relics were dispersed at the French Revolution, but his tomb, a\nvery interesting specimen of Gallo-Roman art, is preserved in the\nLouvre. The Society of Antiquaries at Soissons has made many attempts\nto recover it for the cathedral at Soissons, but hitherto in vain.\n\n\nB. PETER OF CASTELNAU, MK. M.\n\n(A.D. 1209.)\n\n [Benedictine Martyrology, and Saussaye in his Gallican Martyrology.\n Authorities:--William of Puis-Laurent, and other contemporary\n historians of the Albigensian war, and the letters of Innocent III.]\n\nThe name of the Albigenses probably arose from the condemnation of\nthese heretics at the council of Albi, under the presidence of Gerard,\nbishop of that diocese, in the year 1176.\n\nUnder the name was included that vast body of heretics which agreed on\ncertain fundamental dogmas, but differed on minor particulars, as they\nborrowed more or less from Christianity. They inhabited the Duchy of\nNarbonne, the Marquisate of Toulouse, and the southern portion of the\nDuchy of Aquitaine, mixed with Catholics in some parts, in other parts\ncomprising the entire population.\n\nBefore their condemnation by the Council, they had been known as\nCathari, Patareni or Populicians, a corruption of Paulicians; and\nwere a branch of that great Manich\u00e6an inroad which entered Germany,\nHungary, Bulgaria, and Bohemia, where the name Cathari was corrupted\ninto Ketzer, and which spread from Northern Italy into the southern\nprovinces of France, where Manich\u00e6ism completely displaced Christianity\nover a wide area, and gained a head and strength it was unable to\nacquire elsewhere.\n\nThe fundamental principle of the new Manich\u00e6ans, from which, as from\na centre, the different sects radiated, was a Dualism of Good and\nEvil Principles equally matched, the Evil Principle, the origin of\nthe visible creation; the Good Principle, the author of that which is\ninvisible. This opposition of matter and spirit constituted the basis\nof their moral systems. These systems were diverse; some, regarding\neverything natural and carnal as pertaining to the Evil Principle,\nabstained from meat, cheese, and eggs, from marriage, and from whatever\nemployment attached them to the earth; whilst others, regarding the\nsoul as so distinct from the body as to be incapable of being soiled or\naffected by the actions of the fleshy envelope, gave themselves up to\nthe grossest licentiousness. Into the theology of these new Manich\u00e6ans,\ncontact with Christianity had introduced the person of Christ, but in\ntheir scheme He occupied no necessary place. He was held to be subject\nto God, and to have had but a phantom body; He neither suffered,\ndied, nor rose again, except in appearance. But in opposition to this\nDocetism, John de Lugio taught that Christ had a real body; and some of\nthe Cathari--the late Albigenses--held that the true body was born of\nMary and Joseph, and proceeded from the Evil Principle, and that this\nbody died on the Cross, but that the spiritual and good Christ was by\nno means to be confused with the historical Christ of the Gospels.[9]\n\n[9] The best account of the Manich\u00e6an tenets of the med\u00e6val heretics is\nin Hahn: Geschichte der Ketzer, vol. i.; the texts are given in notes,\nupon which he bases his opinion. See also Gieseler's Ecclesiastical\nHist., 3rd division, chap. vii.; but Gieseler is less full and\nimpartial than Hahn.\n\nWith the doctrines specially professed by the Albigenses it is possible\nfor any one, who chooses, to become thoroughly acquainted, as there\nis abundant material from which the requisite information can be\ndrawn. Such are the decrees of councils condemning categorically\ntheir errors; the bulls of popes and imperial ordinances denouncing\nthem; the letters of Innocent III.; the statutes of Raymond, Count of\nToulouse; the controversial treatises written against the heretics,\ntaking each of their doctrines in order, to refute them; and lastly,\nthe valuable transactions of the Inquisition at Toulouse, published\nby Limborch, containing a great number of cases, the interrogations,\nand confessions, and sentences; the archives of the Inquisition at\nCarcassonne, portions of which are published in Vaissette, and the\nInquisitorial formulary of questions put to Albigenses as to their\nfaith, in Ricchinus.\n\nThe doctrines peculiar to the Albigenses were these:--There were two\nCreators, the good God, who was the author of the New Testament, and\nwho made the world of good spirits; and the bad God, who was the author\nof the Old Testament, and Creator of the visible world, and of the\nevil spirits.[10] This latter God they called a liar, because he told\nthe first man: \"The day thou eatest of the tree thou shalt surely\ndie,\" and man did not die the same day that he broke the commandment;\nthey also called him a murderer because he slew Pharaoh and his host,\nand the inhabitants of the Plain. This bad God was either a fallen\nangel,[11] or the Son of the chief God and Creator, who had two sons,\nChrist and Satan.[12] Others held that the good God had two wives,\nColla and Coliba, by whom he begat many sons and daughters.[13] Others,\nthat the men made by the good God were good, but that through union\nwith women, whom they derived from the Evil Principle, they fell.[14]\nThe creation of men was veiled in the following myth by some of the\nAlbigenses. The devil made men out of clay, and bade God send into them\nsouls. God answered, that men thus constructed would be too strong,\n\"They would dethrone me.\" Whereupon Satan made man of the foam of the\nsea; and God said, \"That is good, he is a mixture of strength and\nfragility.\" And he sent a soul into the man thus made.[15] Generally\nthe Albigenses held that there were two Christs; one bad, who was born\nin Bethlehem of Mary, and who was crucified; and another good, who had\na phantom body and was purely spiritual, and who appeared on earth in\nthe body of the Apostle Paul. The good Christ neither ate nor drank,\nbut the bad Christ, the Son of Mary, lived as do other men, and had for\nconcubine, Mary Magdalene.[16]\n\n[10] \"H\u00e6reticus ponit duo principia, diabolum dicens creatorem omnium\nvisibilium.\" Pet. Vallium Sarnaii, apud _Bouquet_ xix. p. 5. Reiner in\nMax. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. \"Quorum finis est Manich\u00e6orum induere sectam et\nduos fateri Deos, quorum malignus, ut procaciter mentiuntur, creavit\nomnia visibilia.\"--Lucas Tudens. xvi., p. 240.\n\n[11] \"Sathanam magnum Luciferum qui propter elevationem et nequitiam\nsuam de throno bonorum cecidit angelorum, creatorem c\u0153li et terr\u00e6,\nomniumque rerum visibilium et invisiblium, spirituum malorum creatorem\net principem et Deum esse profitebantur ipsumque legem Moysi dedisse\nasseverant.\"--Chron. Gonfredi in _Bouquet_ xii., p. 448.\n\n[12] \"Erant alii h\u00e6retici qui dicebant quod unus est Creator; sed\nhabuit filios, Christum et diabolum.\" Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud _Bouquet_\nxix. p. 5.\n\n[13] Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib., c. 2.\n\n[14] Ibid., p. 5.\n\n[15] Arch. Inquisit. Carcass. in _Vaissette_ iii., p. 435.\n\n[16] \"Dicebant in secreto suo, quod Christus ille qui natus est in\nBethleem, terrestori et visibili, et in Hierusalem crucifixus, malus\nfuit; et quod Maria Magdalena fuit ejus concubina, et ipsa fuit muiler\nin adulterio deprehensa, de qua legitur in Evangelio. Bonus enim\nChristus ... nunquam comedit vel bibit, nec veram carnem assumpsit, nec\nunquam fuit in hoc mundo nisi spiritualiter in corpore Pauli.\" Petr.\nVall. Sarn. apud _Bouquet_ xix. p. 5 \"Quod Dei filius non assumpsit\nin beata et de beata Virgine carnem veram, sed fantasticam.\" Reg.\nInquisit. Carcass. apud _Vaissette_ ii. p. 372.\n\nThe Trinity was naturally rejected by the Albigenses, as incompatible\nwith their Dualism. They also rejected the Old Testament as the work of\nthe Evil Principle; and regarded Moses, the Prophet, and even John the\nBaptist, as possessed with evil demons.[17]\n\n[17] Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib. xix. p. 5; Reiner, in Mar. Bibl. xxv. p.\n263; Lucas Tudens. ib. p. 241; Acta Conc. Lumbar. _Bouquet_ xiv. p. 438.\n\nWith regard to the future, some of the Albigenses taught that the souls\nof men were the fallen angels condemned to spend seven lives in human\nbodies. Others denied the existence of the soul altogether.[18] With\nsuch disbelief in the immortality of the soul, or such notion of its\nbeing an angel in a state of purgation, the resurrection of the body,\nPurgatory and Hell were rejected; and with them, prayer for the dead\nand invocation of saints--for how pray for a soul which is annihilated,\nor how invoke an apostate angel?[19]\n\n[18] Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib. p. 5, 6. \"Dicunt quod anima hominis non est\nnisi purus sanguis,\" Reg. Inq. Carcass. _Vaissette_ p. 327.\n\n[19] Lucas Tud. in Max. Bibl. xxv. De altera vita, p. 193-212.\n\nThe idea of a visible Church, and the necessity of sacraments, could\nnot be entertained with such a creed; and the Albigenses repudiated\nbaptism, communion, and other rites. Marriage they denounced as\nfornication, and they condemned intercourse between man and woman as\nsin in the higher ranks of the elect.[20] Others, however, said that\nfornication was no sin.[21] But this refers to the lower order of the\nfaithful.\n\n[20] Reiner, in Max. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud\n_Bouquet_ xix. p. 5, etc. \"Sacrum matrimonium meretricium esse, nec\naliquem in ipso salvari posse pr\u00e6dicabant, filios et filias generando.\"\n\n[21] \"Dicunt quod simplex fornicatio non est peccatum aliquod.\" Reg.\nInq. Carcass. _Vaissette_ iii. p. 371.\n\nThe faithful were divided into two orders: the higher, or \"perfect,\"\nwho wore a black dress, abstained from marriage, the eating of\nflesh, eggs, and cheese; and the \"believers,\" who gave free scope to\ntheir lusts, and whose salvation was due to a certain ceremony being\nperformed over them by one of the \"perfect,\" which was called the\n\"consolation.\" If one of the perfect ate the least morsel of meat or\ncheese or egg, he sinned mortally, and all who had been consoled by him\nfell at the same time out of a state of grace, and it was necessary\nfor them to be re-consoled; and even those who were saved fell out of\nheaven for the sins of him who had consoled them. The sacrament of\nconsolation was performed by one of the \"perfect\" laying his hands\nupon one of the \"believers,\" who repeated a Pater Noster; and such act\nplaced the \"believer\" in a state of grace from which he could only fall\nby the fall of his consoler. This ceremony was performed at the point\nof death.\n\nThe ceremony of reception is thus described by Peter of Vaux-Cernaix:--\n\n\"When any one went over to the heretics, he who received him said,\n'Friend, if you wish to be one of us, it behoves you to renounce the\n_whole faith_ that is held by the Roman Church.' He must answer, 'I\nrenounce.' 'Then receive the Holy Spirit from the good men,' and then\nhe breathes seven times in his face. Also he says to him, 'You must\nrenounce that cross which the priest made on you in baptism, on your\nbreast, and on your shoulders, and on your head, with oil and chrism.'\nHe must answer, 'I renounce it.' 'Do you believe that water can work\nyour salvation?' He answers, 'I do not believe it.' 'You must renounce\nthat veil which the priest placed on your head when you were baptized.'\nHe must answer, 'I renounce it.' Thus he receives the baptism of the\nheretics, and denies the baptism of the Church. Then they all place\ntheir hands upon him, and kiss him, and clothe him with a black\ngarment, and from that hour he is as one of themselves.\"\n\nThe ceremony of consolation, or heretication, was only performed at the\npoint of death; but if the sick person should show signs of recovery,\nhe or she was required to abstain from food, or to open a vein, so as\nto prevent convalescence and precipitate death. I may as well give\na few instances which came under the notice of the inquisitors of\nToulouse, from Limborch:--\n\n\"This admission was believed to save the soul of the person admitted,\nand was called spiritual baptism, the consolation, the reception, and\nthe good end; and it was believed that those sanctified by it were\nbound from that moment to abstain from touching a person of another\nsex, and from food, or the soul fell from its state of purification.\nThus we read of the trial of a woman whose father had been received\namongst the Albigenses, 'that she was forbidden by her father to touch\nhim, because after his reception no woman ought to touch him, and from\nthat time she never did touch him.' (Fol. 49.) And in another woman's\ntrial, 'that it was unlawful for her to touch Peter Sancii, and that\nshe heard that it was reported amongst them that they neither touch\na woman, nor suffer themselves to be touched by one.' (Fol. 68.) But\ninasmuch as it was possible that the person received might return to\nhis former pollutions (says Limborch in his introduction to the Acts\nof the Inquisition), his reception was delayed to his last sickness,\nwhen there was no more hopes of recovery, that so he might not lose\nthe good he had received; for which reason some were not admitted,\nthough one of the Albigenses was present, because it was not believed\nthey would immediately die. Thus it is reported of Peter Sancii (fol.\n68) that having called 'to hereticate a certain sick woman, she was\nnot then hereticated, because he did not think it proper, upon account\nof her not being weak enough.' And afterwards, though the distemper\ngrew more violent, Peter Sancii did not hereticate her, because she\nrecovered. As for those who were received during their illness, they\nwere commanded to make use of the Endura, that is, fasting, and to\nhasten death by opening a vein and bathing. Thus it is related of a\ncertain woman, that 'she persevered in the abstinence which they call\nthe Endura many days, and hastened her bodily death by losing her\nblood, frequent bathing, and greedily taking a poisonous draught of the\njuice of wild cucumbers, mixing it with broken glass, that, by tearing\nher bowels, she might sooner die.' (Fol. 14-_b_.) Of another, it is\nsaid, 'that she was forbidden by her mother-in-law to give her little\ndaughter, who had been hereticated by Peter Sancii, any milk to drink,\nby which the child died.' (Fol. 46.) Another confesses, 'that she had\nnot seen her father since his heretication eating or drinking anything\nbut cold water.' (Fol. 49.) But one Hugo, who continued several days\nin the Endura, did afterwards, by his mother's persuasion, eat and\nrecover. (Fol. 63.) The same year, Peter Sancii invited him 'to enter\ninto the Endura, and so to make a good end; but he would not agree to\nit till he came to die.' The same Hugo saw 'that Sancii procured and\nhastened his own death by bleeding, bathing, and cold.' Peter Auterii\nis said to have received another woman, 'and after her reception to\nhave forbidden any meat being given to the said hereticated sick woman;\nand that there were two women who attended her, and watched that there\nshould be neither meat nor drink given her the whole night, nor the\nfollowing day, lest she should lose the good she had received, and\ncontradict the order of Peter Auterii; although the said sick woman\nbegged them to give her some food. But the third day after she did eat\nand grew well.' (Fol. 65-_b_.) In the sentence of Peter Raymund and of\nthe Hugos, we read these things concerning the Endura: 'You voluntarily\nshorten your own corporal life, and inflict death upon yourself;\nbecause you put yourself in that abstinence, which the heretics call\nEndura, in which Endura you have now remained six days without meat\nor drink, and would not eat, nor will, though often invited to do\nso.' (Fol. 82-_b_.) However, all would not subject themselves to so\nsevere a law. For we read of a certain woman 'that she suffered not\nher sick daughter, though near death, to be received; because then her\nsaid daughter must be put in the Endura.' (Fol. 71.) There is also\nan instance of a woman, who, for fear she should be taken up by the\nInquisitors, put herself in the Endura; and sending for a surgeon,\nordered him to open one of her veins in a bath, and after the surgeon\nwas gone, she unbound her arm in the bath, that so the blood running\nout more freely, she might sooner die. After this she bought poison\nin order to destroy herself. Afterwards she produced a cobbler's awl,\nwhich in that barbarous age they called alzena, intending to run it\ninto her side; but the women disputing among themselves, whether the\nheart was on the right side or the left, she at last drank up the\npoison, and died the day after. (Fol. 30-_b_).\"[22]\n\n[22] Historia Inquisitionis, Amst. 1692, c. 8.\n\nNow a great deal of abuse has been poured on the Inquisition, and\nits crimes have been vastly exaggerated. Gieseler speaks of the\nbloodthirsty Inquisition as a \"monster raging with most frightful fury\nin Southern France,\"--strong language for so calm an historian. But\nwe ask, was it not necessary that such a system, destructive of life,\nshould be put down? That the fautors of this atrocious self-murdering\nshould be summarily dealt with, when they persuaded mothers to let\ntheir children perish on their sick-beds, men to pine themselves to\ndeath, and women to swallow broken glass, to tear their bowels, when\ntheir health began to amend? We have got the Acts of the Inquisition\nat Toulouse during sixteen years that it \"raged with frightful fury,\"\n_i.e._, between 1307 and 1323. The whole number of cases reported is\n932; but it is obvious that the same individual might, and in fact\ndid, often reappear before the Inquisition more than once in the\ncourse of sixteen years. Having confessed some connection with heresy,\nhe was sentenced to wear a little cross, or tongue of red cloth, let\ninto the garments, or simply to wear a cross round the neck, or to\nmake a pilgrimage to a certain church, or to use certain prayers; of\nsuch sentences 174 are recorded. If the person condemned to do this\ndisobeyed, he was put in prison for a while; there were 218 such\ncases. If he escaped from prison, or ran away from the country, he was\ncondemned as a fugitive; there were 38 of these. Some of the leaders of\nthe heresy who had caused the death of many persons, and incorrigible\nheretics who had broken out of prison, were condemned to death; there\nwere 40 fautors of heresy sentenced--twenty-nine Albigenses, seven\nWaldenses, and four Beghards; thirty-two of these were men, and\neight were women. Among the sentences recorded are 113 remissions\nof penances, 139 discharges from prison, and 90 sentences of heresy\npronounced against persons deceased.[23]\n\n[23] A large number of the sentences--all the most important--are\ntranslated and published in Maitland's Tracts and Documents, together\nwith many of the letters, bulls, edicts, and controversial writings on\nthe Albigenses.\n\nNow when we consider what these Albigensian \"perfect\" men were, and how\ndangerous they were to the well-being of society, by their influence\nover superstitious and ignorant peasants, urging them to self-murder,\nand thus causing the death of very many persons, we do not think that\nthe Inquisition at Toulouse deserves all the odium that has been cast\nupon it. Many of those whom it condemned to death would probably have\nreceived a sentence of transportation for life in England at the\npresent day; and though the execution of from two to three persons\na year is certainly to be deplored, it is not just to denounce the\nInquisition as bloodthirsty, when it sentenced to death those who had\ncaused many innocent and ignorant persons to immolate themselves. We\ndo not for a moment pretend to justify the Albigensian war; but we\ncan understand the alarm caused to the Pope and to Christian France\nby the heathen reaction in Provence, Narbonne, and Toulouse. Nor were\nthe Albigenses free from blame in other particulars. They exhibited\ntheir contempt for Christian churches and sacraments in a peculiarly\noffensive manner, likely to exasperate Catholics to the uttermost. One\ninstance shall suffice, and that is so gross that it must be given in\nLatin:--\n\n\"Erat quidam pessimus h\u00e6reticus apud Tolosam, Hugo Faber nomine, qui\nquondam lapsus est in dementiam, quod juxta altare cujusdam ecclesi\u00e6\npurgavit ventrem, et in contemptum Dei, cum palla altaris tersit\nposteriora sua ... qu\u00e6 omnia cum vir venerabilis abbas Cistercii....\nComiti retulisset, et eum moneret ut puniret qui tantum faciens\nperpetrarat, respondit comes quod nullo modo propter hoc puniret in\naliquo cives suos.\"\n\nPeter of Castelnau, of whom we have now to speak, sprang from an\nillustrious family in the diocese of Montpellier, and was archdeacon of\nMaguelonne, when he was appointed by the Pope to be one of his legates\nin the southern provinces infected with heresy. But the desire of a\nhigher perfection led Peter to renounce the honours of the world, and\nin 1200, to receive the Cistercian habit in the abbey of Fontfroide.\n\nIn 1203, he was again obliged to resume his labours as legate, together\nwith Brother Raoul, his colleague, a Cistercian monk like himself.\nHe visited Toulouse, where his efforts to repress heresy met with\nindifferent success. In 1204, he met the leaders of the Albigenses in\nconference at Carcassonne.\n\nHopeless of effecting any good result, Peter of Castelnau implored the\nHoly Father to relieve him of the burden laid on him, which, he said,\nwas more than he could bear. But the Pope refused to permit him to\nresign his office, and Peter was obliged to revisit Toulouse in 1205,\nand exact of the Count of Toulouse an oath that he would suppress by\nfire and sword the heresy that pervaded his domains. He was ordered on\npain of excommunication to become the inquisitor and executioner of his\nown subjects.\n\nAt the same time Peter deposed Raymond, bishop of Toulouse, and thus\nprepared the way for the election of his friend Foulques, a fierce\nand bloodthirsty, if zealous soul.[24] Then the legate turned to the\nRhone, and traversed the provinces of Arles and Vienne. In 1206, he\nwas at Montpellier, deploring with his colleague, Raoul, the sterility\nof their united efforts. At this time of disappointment, God, who, to\nuse the words of William de Puylaurens, \"knows always how to hold in\nreserve His arrows in the quiver of His Providence,\" sent them out\nof Spain two holy and valiant athletes. In July, 1206, the venerable\nDiego di Azebes, bishop of Osma, accompanied by the sub-prior of his\nchurch, tapped at their door with his pilgrim's staff. They opened, and\nadmitted with the bishop that sub-prior, who was S. Dominic.\n\n[24] Foulques was famous as a troubadour for his licentious poetry. His\nbiography is given December 25: by an irony of fate, the commemoration\nof this firebrand is on Christmas Day, when \"Peace on earth\" was sung\nby angels.\n\nThe legates opened their hearts to the bishop, and told him of their\ndespair. The bishop gently reproved them, and bade them have a good\ncourage, and preach the Word in season and out of season, and be\ncareful to set a holy example. Let them go forth with neither scrip\nnor purse, like the apostles; and the success which had not attended\ntwo legates ambling over the country on their mules, would attend\ntwo apostles going barefoot. The advice of the bishop was approved;\nthe legates only asked of him to accompany them with his sub-prior.\nThe bishop consented, and the four set forth one morning out of\nMontpellier, without shoes on their feet, and no money in their pouch.\nAt once the difficulties melted away, and numerous conversions were\nmade. At Beziers and Carcassonne, they met with great success. The\nwhole town of Caraman, on the Lauraguais, abjured heresy. But their\nsuccess was not lasting: Peter saw that the only way in which he could\nhope to extinguish heresy was by a more persuasive weapon than the\ntongue.\n\nHowever, he returned into the heat of the battle shortly after, to\nattend the conference with the heretics, held at Montreal. After this\nthe four apostles separated to preach in different parts. Peter,\nfinding that Raymond, Count of Toulouse, hung back from using the sword\nto constrain his people to abjure their heresy, excommunicated him, and\nthe Count at once swore, as he had done before, that he would put down\nthe errors of Albigensianism. Peter of Castelnau felt that, to use his\nown words, \"The cause of Jesus Christ will not succeed in these lands,\ntill one of us who preach in His name shall die in defence of the\nfaith; may it please God that I shall be the first to feel the sword of\nthe persecutor.\"\n\nThe Count met the legate at S. Gilles, on the banks of the Rhone, for\nconference, which led to nothing. On January 15th, 1209, Peter had\nsaid Mass, and was preparing to cross the river, when two men ran up,\nand one of them pierced him through the sides with a lance. Peter fell\ndown, exclaiming, \"Lord, pardon him, as I forgive him!\" then he said a\nfew words to his fellows, and died, praying fervently. The Count seems\nto have been guiltless of ordering or approving the murder.\n\n\nS. JOHN-JOSEPH OF THE CROSS, C.\n\n(A.D. 1734.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His Life by the P. Diodati, published\n at Naples, in 1794. He was inscribed by Pius VI. among the number of\n the Beatified on May 15th, 1789; and he was canonized by Gregory XVI.\n on May 26th, 1839.]\n\nS. John-Joseph of the Cross, who must not be confounded with S. John\nof the Cross (Nov. 16th), was born in the island of Ischia, on the\nFeast of the Assumption, in the year 1654, of respectable parents,\nJoseph Calosirto and Laura Garguito, and was baptized under the name\nof Charles Cajetan, The family must have been one of singular piety,\nfor five of his brothers entered religion. The subject of our memoir,\nas a child, exhibited a precocious piety. He chose as his room a small\nchamber in the most retired portion of the house, where he erected a\nlittle altar to Our Lady, on whose great festival he had been born, and\ntowards whom, through life, he manifested a filial devotion. From the\nearliest age also he manifested a great repugnance from sin. His pure\nchildish soul shivered and shrank from the breath of evil, as a young\nspring flower from a frozen blast.\n\nThe knowledge of evil without bringing guilt to the soul, unless\nvoluntarily received and harboured with delight, leaves on it a\nmark, so that the soul knowing evil cannot have the freshness of a\nguiltless and ignorant soul. The little saintly boy, taught of God,\nseems unconsciously to have felt this, and he manifested none of that\ncuriosity after evil which is one of the tokens of our fallen nature,\nand which leads the young mind first to the knowledge of evil, and\nthen, it may be, to the perpetration of it.\n\nFeeling a great desire for the religious life, he entered the order\nof S. Francis, as reformed by S. Peter of Alcantara, in Naples, and\nassumed the habit at the age of sixteen, taking at the same time the\nname of John-Joseph of the Cross. This was in 1671. His noviciate\nlasted three years; and at the age of nineteen, his superior found him\nsufficiently perfect to be entrusted with the direction of the building\nof a convent at Piedimonte di Agila, and the organizing of discipline\ntherein.\n\nOn arriving at the proper age, he was ordained priest, and soon after\nretired into a forest, where he built himself a cell, and resided as\na hermit. Soon five little hermitages clustered around his cell, and\na church was built for the accommodation of the anchorites. But his\nsuperiors recalled him to the monastery to undertake the charge of the\nnovices, and somewhat later he was appointed superior of the house at\nPiedimonte di Agila, which had risen under his care. He suffered about\nthis time from extreme dryness. It was to him as though the face of God\nwere turned away from him, and he felt agonies of fear, thinking that\nthrough want of judgment or unbecoming example, he might have retarded\nthe advance, and perhaps lost some, of the souls of the novices who had\nbeen entrusted to his care. But one of the brethren who had lately died\nappeared to him in a vision, and comforted him, assuring him that his\nnovices were all leading an edifying life.\n\nHe was afterwards appointed Superior of the convent, an office in which\nhe displayed great judgment, but which withdrew him too much from\nspiritual meditation and reading to be congenial with his tastes.\n\nAt his request he was relieved of the office of Superior, and was again\nmade director of the novices, and fulfilled the duties of this office\nfor four years.\n\nHe died on March 5th, 1734, in the convent of S. Lucia, at Naples.\n\n[Illustration: MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN. After a bas-relief by Orcagna.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 6.\n\n S. MARCIAN, _B.M. at Tortona_, _circ._ A.D. 120.\n SS. VICTOR, VICTORINUS, CLAUDIAN AND BASSA, _MM. at Nicemedia and\n Apamea_, _3rd cent._\n S. QUIRIACUS, _P.C. at Treves_, _4th cent._\n S. EVAGRIUS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, _end of 4th cent._\n S. SEZIN, _Ab. in Brittany_, _6th cent._\n S. FRIDOLIN, _Ab. of Sickingen_, _end of 7th cent._\n SS. KYNEBURGA, KYNESWITHA AND TIBBA, _VV. at Peterborough_, _end of\n 7th cent._\n SS. BALTHER AND BILFRED, _HH. at Lindisfarne_, _circ._ A.D. 756.\n S. CHRODEGANG, _B. of Metz_, A.D. 766.\n SS. FORTY-TWO MARTYRS, _under the Saracens, in Syria_, _circ._ A.D. 841\n S. CADROE, _Ab. at Metz_, A.D. 988.\n B. OLDEGAR, _B. of Barcelona, and Archb. of Tarragona_, A.D. 1137.\n S. COLETTE, _V. at Ghent_, A.D. 1447.\n\n\nS. SEZIN, AB. IN BRITTANY.\n\n(6th cent.)\n\n [Venerated in Brittany, patron of the parish of Guic-Sezni, in the\n diocese of S. Pol-de-L\u00e9on.]\n\nOf this abbot nothing certain is known. Colgan attempted to identify\nhim with S. Isserninus, the companion of S. Patrick. According to\nAlbert le Grand, S. Sezin was born in Ulster, in 402, studied at Rome,\nbecame a bishop in Ireland, and passed into Brittany in 477, where he\ndied as late as 529, having lived 127 years. But the lections in the\nBreviary of S. Pol de L\u00e9on, from which Albert le Grand made up this\nhistory, are for the most part taken word for word from the Life of S.\nKieran. We may allow that the saint was an Irishman, and that he died\nat Guic-Sezni, in the beginning of the 6th century, but that is all we\ncan say of him.\n\n\nS. FRIDOLIN, AB. OF SICKINGEN.\n\n(END OF 7TH CENT.)\n\n [Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus. Canisius in\n his German Martyrology. Anglican and later Irish and Scottish\n Martyrologies. The Acts of Fridolin were preserved in a monastery\n on the Moselle, where they were found, and recast in a more ornate\n style, by a monk, Balther, in the beginning of the 12th cent. The\n story of this is rather curious. In the monastery of Sickingen there\n was no copy of the life of S. Fridolin, on account of the monastery\n having been destroyed by the Huns about 938. But Balther, a monk of\n Sickingen, happening to visit a monastery on the Moselle, which had\n been founded by S. Fridolin, found the life there. He asked for it,\n but the prior refused to give it him, so he learned it by heart, as\n well as he could, \"partly carrying it away word for word, and partly\n gathering the subject-matter,\" after which he set to work and re-wrote\n it, incorporating the portions he knew by heart with that portion\n which he wrote in his own words. He says that he was puzzled to find\n that in the MS. the saint was called Fridhold, whereas at Sickingen\n they were wont to call him Fridolin. Fridhold was undoubtedly\n the ancient and most correct form of the name, and Fridolin is a\n diminutive.]\n\nFridolin the Traveller was a native of Ireland, what his name there\nwas is not known, as we only hear of him by his Teutonic appellation,\nsignifying \"Gentle Peace.\" His birth was illustrious, and he is usually\nsaid to have been the son of a king, but Balther merely says he was\na person of distinguished piety. Having embraced the ecclesiastical\nstate, he was raised to the priesthood, and preached with great zeal\nfor some time in various parts of Ireland. Wishing to visit foreign\ncountries, he passed over to France, and after preaching there, became\na member of S. Hilary's monastery at Poitiers, where he remained for\na considerable time, and was so much esteemed by the community, and\nthe bishop and clergy, that he was elected abbot. He then completed an\nobject which he had greatly at heart, the rebuilding of S. Hilary's\nChurch, in which he was assisted by king Clovis, and by the bishop\nand the inhabitants; and he placed in it the remains of the saint,\nreserving a few portions of the relics for himself. During this time he\nwas visited by two priests, relatives of his, who had been labouring as\nmissionaries in Northumberland. Leaving them at Poitiers, and taking\nwith him some of the relics of S. Hilary, Fridolin went to the east of\nFrance, and erected a monastery on the banks of the Moselle, which he\ndedicated to S. Hilary, and which was called Helera. Having remained\nthere only as long as was necessary to complete that foundation, he\nbuilt a church amidst the Vosges, likewise in honour of S. Hilary,\nperhaps that which was named Hilariacum, the modern S. Avold, in the\nDepartment of Moselle. Thence he proceeded to Strassburg, where also he\nerected a church under the same invocation. Next we find him at Coire,\nin the Grisons, and there likewise founding a Church of S. Hilary.\nWhile there, he inquired of the inhabitants if there were any island\nin the Rhine as yet uninhabited, and was informed there was one, of\nwhich, however, they could not give him a precise account. He went in\nsearch of it, and at length found the island of Sickingen, a few miles\nabove Basle. When examining it for the purpose of discovering whether\nit were fit for the erection of a church, he was beaten and ill-treated\nby the inhabitants of the neighbouring district. But having obtained a\ngrant of the island from the king, he founded a church, and a religious\nhouse for women, towards the endowment of which he got some lands from\nUrso, a nobleman of Glarus. Thenceforth he spent the remainder of\nhis life at Sickingen, together with some disciples of his, of whom\nhe formed a community, prior, it is said, to his having established\nthe nunnery. He died there on the 6th of March, but in what year is\nnot known. There are great doubts even as to the century in which he\nflourished; but it is most probable that he belonged to the latter part\nof the 7th century. Some writings have been attributed to the saint,\nbut upon no sufficient authority. Many writers suppose that he arrived\nin France in the reign of Clovis I., but it is more probable that it\nwas in the reign of Clovis III. According to Balther, Christianity\nseems to have been completely established in Ireland at the time of\nFridolin's departure for France, and this representation does not suit\nthe religious state of Ireland at the period when Clovis I. reigned.\nThe holy expeditions of missionaries from Ireland to the continent, had\nnot begun as early as the 6th century. Next comes the very remarkable\ncircumstance of the priests, the nephews of Fridolin, coming from\nNorthumberland. There were no Irish priests in Northumberland until the\nyear 635.[25]\n\n[25] See Dr. Lanigan's Irish Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 483-6.\n\nS. Fridolin is regarded as the tutelar patron of the Canton of Glarus,\nwhich bears on its coat of arms a figure of the saint.\n\n\nSS. KYNEBURGA, ABSS., KYNESWITHA AND TIBBA, VV.\n\n(END OF 7TH CENT.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrologies. Authorities:--Bede, lib. iii. c. 21, Ingulf,\n and William of Malmesbury.]\n\nAn obstinate tradition found in the ancient English Chronicles asserts\nthat two daughters of the savage old heathen Penda, king of Mercia,\nKyneburga and Kyneswitha, both gave up the thought of marriage to\nconsecrate themselves to God. The eldest, who was married to Alcfrid,\nthe eldest son of king Oswy of Northumbria, is said to have left him\nwith his consent, after having lived with him some years in virginal\ncontinence, to end her life in the cloister. The youngest, sought in\nmarriage by Offa, king of the East Saxons, used her connection with him\nonly to persuade the young prince to embrace the monastic life as she\nherself desired to do. But it has been proved that the two daughters of\nthe bloody Penda contributed with their brothers to the establishment\nof the great abbey of Medehampstede, or Peterborough, that their names\nappear in the list of the national assembly which sanctioned this\nfoundation, and that it was not till after, that they retired to lead\na religious life at Dermundcaster, now Caister, near Peterborough, on\nthe confines of Huntingdon and Northampton. There Kyneburga became\nthe abbess of a community of nuns, when she was shortly joined by her\nsister Kyneswitha, and a kinswoman Tibba.\n\nAfter their death, they were buried at Peterborough. When the Danes\nwasted England, their bodies were carried to Thorney, but were brought\nback again in the days of king Henry I.\n\nCamden, in his account of Rutland, informs us that S. Tibba was held in\nparticular veneration at Ryall on the Wash.\n\n\nSS. BALTHER AND BILFRED, H. H.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 756.)\n\n [Anglican and Scottish Martyrologies. Authorities:--Aberdeen Breviary,\n Hector Boece, Hist. Scot. lib. ix. Matthew of Westminster under date\n 941; Turgot of Durham, &c.]\n\nS. Balther is supposed to be identical with S. Baldred, commemorated\nthe same day in the Scottish Martyrologies.\n\nS. Baldred is said to have lived a solitary life on the Bass-rock. At\nthe entrance of the Firth of Forth was a dangerous rock just above\nthe level of low tide which proved a cause of continual shipwreck.\nBaldred, says the lection in the Aberdeen Breviary, compassionating\nthe sailors, went to the rock, and standing on it, it swam away under\nhim \"like a boat,\" and he conducted it to a place where it could do no\nmischief, and there he rooted it again.\n\nHe died at Aldham (Alderstone), and his body was claimed by the\nneighbouring parishes of Tyningham and Preston. A contest arose between\nthe three parishes, and the story is told, which occurs also in that\nof S. Tyllo, that in the morning there were three precisely similar\nbodies, so that each parish was able to possess S. Baldred.\n\nIn 951, Anlaf the Dane burnt the church and monastery of Tyningham,\nand immediately after was struck with sudden sickness, and died. The\nbody of S. Balther was rediscovered by revelation, by a priest, Elfrid,\ntwo centuries later, whose mission seems to have been the recovery of\nlost relics, for he found also those of SS. Bilfred, Acca, Alkmund\nthe bishop, king Oswin, and the abbesses Ebba and Ethelgitha, being\ndirected to them all by visions. The bones of S. Balther and S. Bilfred\nwere put together with the body of S. Cuthbert in his shrine at Durham.\nBut they were removed from the shrine again in 1104, the head of S.\nOswald being alone left with S. Cuthbert, and were put in the shrine of\nthe Venerable Bede.\n\nS. Bilfred was a goldsmith, who is said to have chased a book of the\nGospels with gems in gold, which was long preserved at Durham, and is\nnow in the Cottonian library in the British Museum. On the cover is \"\u2720\nEadfrid, Oetilwald, Billfrith, Aldred hoc Evangelium Deo et Cuthberto\nuonstruxerunt et ornaverunt;\" above this in Saxon characters, and in\na Northumbrian dialect, \"And Billfrith, the anchorite, he fabricated\nthe curious works that are on the outside, and it adorned with gold\nand with gems, also with silver overgilded, a priceless treasure.\"\nBillfrith is supposed to be a local form of Bilfred.\n\n\nS. CHRODEGANG, B. OF METZ.\n\n(A.D. 766.)\n\n [Metz Martyrology, Molanus and Herimann Greven in their additions\n to Usuardus. Belgian Martyrologies, and Saussaye in his Gallia\n Christiana. Authority:--His life by Paulus Diaconus ([fl]. 790), and a\n larger one by John, abbot of Gorze, (d. 793), published in Pertz, Mon.\n Sacr. T. x. p. 552-572.]\n\nThis saint was a native of Hasbain, that portion of Brabant which\nsurrounds Louvain, and was educated in the abbey of S. Tron. On account\nof his learning and general talents he was made chancellor of France\nby Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, in 737. Soon after the death\nof Charles, he was elected bishop of Metz, in 742. In 754 he was sent\non an embassy by king Pepin to Astulph, king of the Lombards, who had\noverrun the North of Italy, praying him not to commit degradations in\nRome, nor to force the Romans to desert their faith. But the embassy\nproved fruitless. In 755 the saint organised a regular community to\nserve as chapter to his cathedral, requiring them to live together in\none house, and observe certain rules, which he drew up in thirty-four\narticles. Amongst other rules, he required his canons to confess at\nleast twice in the year to the bishop, before the beginning of Advent\nand Lent. He built and endowed the monasteries of S. Peter, of Gorze,\nand of Lorsch; and died on March 6th, 766. He was buried at Gorze. His\nrelics disappeared at the Revolution.\n\n\nS. COLETTE, V.\n\n(A.D. 1447.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Her festival was celebrated with proper office\n at her convent in Ghent, by permission of Clement VIII.; and Paul\n V. extended this privilege to all other convents of her order. She\n was canonized by Pius VII., in 1807. Her life was written by Peter \u00e0\n Vallisus, [or] de Rheims, for many years her confessor, in French, and\n it was translated by Etienne Julliac, a contemporary, into Latin; and\n an epitome of her life was written by Jodocus Clichthrove.]\n\nColette Boillet, a carpenter's daughter, was born at Corbie, in\nPicardy, on Jan. 13th, 1380. Her parents gave her at the font the name\nof Nicoletta, and this has been contracted into Colette, the name by\nwhich she is now usually known. From her earliest infancy she seems\nto have been singled out for a special work, and her young soul, from\nthe first, opened to divine grace, as a spring flower to the sun. At\nthe age of seven, she yearned for a retired life, and she fashioned\nfor herself a little oratory in the back premises of the carpenter's\nwood-yard, into which she retreated for prayer, and there spent many\nhours in communion with God. When her childish companions sought her\nthat they might draw her into their sports and pastimes, she hid under\nher bed; but when anything was really wanted of her, or any of her\ncompanions were in trouble, she was at once at hand to assist and\nconsole. If a poor person came to the door whilst the family was at\nmeals, she would rise and give him her share.\n\nIn 1402, at the age of twenty-two, Colette bade farewell to nature,\nto her friends, to all of life that was most lovely, and enclosed\nherself in an anchorite's cell, built against the walls of the church\nof Corbie. These voluntary recluses were common in the Middle Ages.\nThose who desired to live this life of seclusion, entered living into\nthese tombs, which were built up, leaving only a window open, through\nwhich they were fed and communicated. Throughout all Picardy the fame\nof the austerities of Colette spread, and many sought her counsel and\nprayers. Fearing that her humility would suffer, for three years she\nmaintained a complete silence, only opening her window to receive the\nHoly Sacrament. At length the call came, which it was impossible for\nher to resist. Henry de la Balm, her confessor, saw in a dream a vine\nfull of leaves, but fruitless; then came Colette and pruned the vine,\nand it began to yield abundantly. Shortly after this Colette saw, in\nvision, a great tree growing in her cell, laden with golden fruit, and\nnumerous saplings springing up about its roots. Fearing a deception of\nSatan, she tore up the young plants, but there appeared more in their\nplace. Then she thought God summoned her to reform the Order of the\nPoor Clares. But she still hesitated; whereupon she was struck blind\nfor three days, and after that for three days dumb. She hesitated no\nlonger, but came forth ready, in God's name, to undertake her mission.\nShe left her cell with regret; turning at the door, and kissing the\nthreshold, she sobbed forth, \"Oh, dear little home, farewell! farewell\nmy joy and repose! Oh, if men knew how much happiness I have enjoyed in\nthee, they would desert palaces to inhabit thy narrow walls.\"\n\nIt was the close of autumn in 1406. The vines were heavy with grapes,\nthe trees had put on their many-coloured autumnal tints, and the last\nshocks of yellow harvest were being gathered in. For four years, in\nher seclusion, she had seen nothing of all this, only the golden light\nplaying on the wall of her chamber, sometimes pale, and sometimes\nburning as flame, and the blue sky and the drifting clouds, now dark\ngrey with winter rains, and then white and fleecy in summer light.\n\nColette had written all that she had deemed expedient for the\nreformation of the Franciscan Order; she placed her writings in a\npouch attached to her girdle, and on foot she started for Nice, where\nBenedict XIII. resided, on account of the schism. The pope received\nColette with honour; she made profession of the rule of S. Clare at his\nfeet, and he appointed her superior-general of the whole order; naming\nHenry de la Balm, her confessor, as assistant for the reformation of\nthe Friars of S. Francis.\n\nThis young and feeble woman now set her hand with incredible energy to\nthe accomplishment of her task. She traversed France, Savoy, Germany,\nand Flanders, meeting in some places with violent opposition as a\ncrazy fanatic, but in other succeeding in establishing a reform. The\nprovinces of France were ravaged by war, and all the evil passions of\nwicked men were let loose; but Colette walked through all dangers,\nrelying on Divine protection, and never relying in vain. She was\naccused of heresy, and even of unchastity, but she was not crushed by\nslander, despising reproach as she had defied danger.\n\nIn 1410, she founded a convent at Besan\u00e7on; in 1415, she introduced a\nreform into the convent of the Cordeliers, at Dole, and in succession\ninto nearly all the convents in Lorraine, Champagne, and Picardy. In\n1416, she founded a house of her order at Poligny, at the foot of the\nJura, and another at Auxonne. \"I am dying of curiosity to see this\nwonderful Colette, who resuscitates the dead,\" wrote the Duchess of\nBourbon, about this time. For the fame of the miracles and labours of\nthe carpenter's daughter was in every mouth.\n\nIn 1422, Colette started for Moulins to meet the duchess, and to found\nthere a religious house. The Duchess of Nevers summoned her into her\nduchy, and she obeyed the summons. It was on her way to Moulins that\nshe met another maiden, also acting under a special call, though one\nof a very different nature. One maiden was called to wear cord and\nveil, the other to gird the sword and wear the casque. It was Joan of\nArc, then on her way with Dunois at the head of an army to besiege\nCharit\u00e9-sur-Loire. In Auvergne, Colette converted Isabeau de Bourbon,\nand at the age of nineteen the young princess exchanged her diamonds\nfor the knotted cord of S. Clare.\n\nAfter having founded the convent of Le Puy, at the request of Amadeus\nVII., Colette carried her reformation into Savoy. On the north shore\nof the Lake of Geneva, she found a still sweet spot, itself silent and\nsecluded as a monastery, its white walls reflected in the deep blue\nof the lake, and looking out on a range of snowy mountains. At Vevey\nshe rested to look around her, relax her weary soul, and breathe in\nthe soft air, sweet from the fields of narcissus. But God had not yet\ncalled her to rest. From all sides devotees came to her,--the Duchess\nof Valentinois, the unfortunate Jacques de Bourbon, in turn jailor and\nprisoner of his wife, Jeanne of Sicily, with his children, who, having\ntasted the life of the cloister, found it was so sweet, that they\nabandoned for it the pleasures and ambitions of the world.[26]\n\n[26] Jacques II. of Bourbon, Count of la Marche and de Castres, married\nto Jeanne Q. of Naples and Sicily, was imprisoned by his wife, but\nescaped, and becoming a third Order brother of S. Francis, at Besancon,\ndied there, Sept. 24, 1428.\n\nAfter having spent two years at Vevey, Colette went to Nozeroy, to the\nprincess of Orange, and remained with her till 1430. Philip the Good,\nDuke of Burgundy, recalled Colette to Flanders, where she founded\nseveral houses, and glorified God by many miracles. In the memoirs\nof Oliver de la Marche, a Burgundian gentleman of this time, occurs\nthe following notice of S. Colette; \"En celui temps, r\u00e9gnoit une\nmoult sainte et d\u00e9vote femme, religieuse de Sainte-Claire, au pays\nde Bourgoigne, nomm\u00e9e soeur Colette. Cette femme allait par toute la\nchr\u00e9tient\u00e9, menant moult sainte vie, et \u00e9difiant maisons et \u00e9glises de\nla religion de Saint Fran\u00e7ois et de Sainte Claire. Et ai \u00e9t\u00e9 acerten\u00e9,\nque, par son pourchas et par sa peine, elle avait \u00e9difi\u00e9 de son temps\ntrois cent quatre-vingts \u00e9glises.\"\n\nIt would seem almost as if Colette had a natural love for mountains, so\ngenerally do we find her returning to them, and laying at their feet\nthe foundations of her dearest homes. Perhaps the mystery of their\nblue-veined valleys, and the wondrous changes wrought by the sun and\nclouds on their sides, filled her with a sense of love and awe. But it\nwas not from among the mountains that she was summoned away. The call\nto the everlasting hills came to her on the flats of Flanders, in the\ncity of Ghent. There she died on March 6th, 1447, laying herself down\nto repose as gladly as the weary labourer in harvest time, who returns\nto his home and to sleep after a day of incessant toil.\n\nWhen the Emperor Joseph II. suppressed many religious houses in his\ndominions, in 1785, the Poor Clares of Ghent took up the body of S.\nColette, and traversing France, laid it beneath the mountain shadows\nat Poligny. The holy relics were secreted at the time of the French\nRevolution, and on the return of tranquillity, they were placed in the\nparish church; but the Poor Clares having re-established themselves at\nPoligny, the bones of the saint have been restored to them.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative motif]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 7.\n\n SS. PERPETUA, FELICITAS, SATURUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa_,\n A.D. 203.\n S. EUBULUS, _M. at C\u00e6sarea in Palestine_, A.D. 308.\n S. PAUL THE SIMPLE, _H. in the Thebaid_, _4th cent._\n S. GAUDIOSUS, _B. of Brescia_, _circ._ A.D. 445.\n S. EASTERWIN, _Ab. of Wearmouth_, A.D. 785. (_See S. Benedict\n Biscop, Jan. 12th; p. 172._)\n S. THOMAS AQUINAS, _Doct., O.P., at Fossa Nuova_, A.D. 1274.\n\n\nSS. PERPETUA, FELICITAS, AND COMP., MM.\n\n(A.D. 203.)\n\n [Roman and all Western Martyrologies on this day, but by the Greeks\n on March 1st. Authorities:--The genuine Acts of these martyrs, and a\n sermon by S. Augustine of Hippo on them. The names of Perpetua and\n Felicitas occur in the Canon of the Mass. The first part of the Acts\n was written by S. Perpetua herself, and reaches to the eve of her\n martyrdom. S. Saturus then took the pen, and added the account of his\n vision; and when he had gained his crown, an eye-witness of their\n passion closed the account. Tertullian quotes these Acts in his Book\n De Anima, c. 55; and S. Augustine in his Sermons, 280, 283, and 294.\n They were anciently read publicly in the churches of Africa.]\n\nA violent persecution broke out under the Emperor Severus, in 202.\nIt reached Africa the following year; when, by order of Minutius\nTiminianus, or Firminianus, five catechumens were apprehended at\nCarthage for the faith; namely, Revocatus, and his fellow-slave\nFelicitas, Saturninus, and Secundulus, and Vivia Perpetua. Felicitas\nwas expecting her confinement; and Perpetua had an infant at her\nbreast, was of a good family, twenty-two years of age, and married to\na person of quality in the city. She had a father, a mother, and two\nbrothers; the third, Dinocrates, died about seven years old. These\nfive martyrs were joined by Saturus, probably brother to Saturninus,\nand who seems to have been their instructor: he underwent a voluntary\nimprisonment, because he would not abandon them. The father of S.\nPerpetua, who was a Pagan, and advanced in years, loved her more than\nall his other children. Her mother was probably a Christian, as was one\nof her brothers, the other a catechumen. The martyrs, for some days\nbefore they were committed to prison, were kept under a strong guard\nin a private house: and the account Perpetua gives of their sufferings\nto the eve of their death, is as follows: \"We were in the hands of our\npersecutors, when my father, out of the affection he bore me, made new\nefforts to shake my resolution. I said to him, 'Can that vessel, which\nyou see, change its name?' He said, 'No.' I replied, 'Nor can I call\nmyself any other than I am, a Christian.' At that word my father in a\nrage fell upon me, as if he would have pulled out my eyes, and beat me;\nbut went away in confusion, seeing me invincible. After this we enjoyed\na little repose, and in that interval received baptism. The Holy Ghost,\non our coming out of the water, inspired me to pray for nothing but\npatience under bodily sufferings. A few days after this we were put\ninto prison; I was shocked at the horror and darkness of the place; for\ntill then I knew not what such sort of places were. We suffered much\nthat day, chiefly on account of the great heat caused by the crowd,\nand the ill-treatment we met with from the soldiers. I was, moreover,\ntortured with concern, because I had not my baby with me. But the\ndeacons, Tertius and Pomponius, who assisted us, obtained, by money,\nthat we might pass some hours in a more commodious part of the prison,\nto refresh ourselves. My infant was then brought to me almost famished,\nand I gave it the breast. I recommended him afterward carefully to\nmy mother, and encouraged my brother; but was much afflicted to see\ntheir concern for me. After a few days my sorrow was changed into\ncomfort, and my prison itself seemed agreeable. One day my brother\nsaid to me, 'Sister, I am persuaded that you are a special favourite\nof heaven; pray to God to reveal to you whether this imprisonment will\nend in martyrdom, or not.' I, knowing God gave me daily tokens of His\ngoodness, answered, full of confidence, that I would inform him on the\nmorrow. I therefore asked that favour of God, and had this vision. I\nsaw a golden ladder, which reached from earth to heaven; but so narrow\nthat only one could mount it at a time. To the two sides were fastened\nall sorts of iron instruments, swords, lances, hooks, and knives; so\nthat if any one went up carelessly, he was in great danger of having\nhis flesh torn. At the foot of the ladder lay a dragon of enormous\nsize, who kept guard to turn back and terrify those that endeavoured to\nmount it. The first that went up was Saturus, who was not apprehended\nwith us, but voluntarily surrendered himself afterward on our account:\nwhen he had reached the top of the ladder, he turned towards me, and\nsaid, 'Perpetua, I wait for you; but take care lest the dragon bite\nyou.' I answered, 'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, he shall\nnot hurt me.' Then the dragon, as if afraid of me, gently lifted his\nhead from under the ladder, and I, having got upon the first step,\nset my foot upon his head. Thus I mounted to the top, and there I saw\nan extensive garden, and in the middle of it a tall man sitting down\ndressed like a shepherd, having white hair. He was milking his sheep,\nsurrounded with many thousands of persons clad in white. He called me\nby my name, bid me welcome, and gave me some curds made of the milk\nwhich he had drawn: I put my hands together, and took and ate them;\nand all that were present said aloud, Amen. The noise awakened me,\nchewing something very sweet. As soon as I had related this vision to\nmy brother, we both concluded that we should suffer death.\n\n\"After some days, a rumour having got about that we were to be\nexamined, my father came from the city to the prison, overwhelmed with\ngrief. 'Daughter,' said he, 'have pity on my grey hairs, if I yet\ndeserve to be called your father; if I have brought you up. I pray\nyou consider that my love of you made me always prefer you to your\nbrothers, and make me not now a reproach to mankind. Have respect for\nyour mother and your aunt; have compassion on your child that cannot\nsurvive you; lay aside this obstinacy, lest you ruin us all; for not\none of us will dare open his lips any more if misfortune befall you.'\nHe took me by the hands at the same time, and kissed them; he threw\nhimself at my feet in tears. I confess, I was pierced with sorrow\nwhen I considered that my father was the only person of our family\nthat would not rejoice at my martyrdom. I endeavoured to comfort him,\nsaying, 'Father, grieve not; nothing will happen but what pleases God;\nfor we are not at our own disposal.' He then departed, much concerned.\nNext day, whilst we were at dinner, a person came in suddenly to summon\nus to examination. The report of this soon brought a vast crowd of\npeople into the audience chamber. We were placed on a sort of scaffold\nbefore the judge, Hilarian, procurator of the province, the proconsul\nhaving lately died. All who were questioned before me boldly confessed\nJesus Christ. When it came to my turn, my father stood forward, holding\nup my infant. He drew me a little aside, conjuring me in the most\ntender manner not to be insensible to the misery I should bring on that\ninnocent creature, to which I had given life. The president Hilarian\njoined with my father, and said, 'What! will neither the gray hairs of\na father, nor the tender innocence of a child, move you? Sacrifice for\nthe prosperity of the emperors.' I replied, 'I will not do it.' 'Are\nyou then a Christian,' said Hilarian. I answered, 'Yes, I am.' As my\nfather attempted to draw me from the scaffold, Hilarian commanded him\nto be beaten off, and he had a blow given him with a stick, which I\nfelt as much as if I had been struck myself, so much was I grieved to\nsee my father thus treated in his old age. Then the judge pronounced\nour sentence, by which we were all condemned to be exposed to wild\nbeasts. We then joyfully returned to our prison; and as my infant was\nnot yet weaned, I immediately sent Pomponius the deacon, to demand\nhim of my father, but he refused to send him. And God so ordered it,\nthat the child no longer required to suck, nor did my milk incommode\nme.\" Secundulus, being no more mentioned, seems to have died in prison\nbefore this interrogatory. Before Hilarian pronounced sentence, he had\ncaused Saturus, Saturninus, and Revocatus to be scourged; and Perpetua\nand Felicitas to be beaten on the face. They were reserved for the\nshows which were to be exhibited for the soldiers in the camp, on the\nfestival of Geta, who had been made C\u00e6sar four years before, by his\nfather Severus, when his brother Caracalla was created Augustus.\n\nS. Perpetua relates another vision with which she was favoured, as\nfollows: \"A few days after receiving sentence, when we were all\ntogether in prayer, I happened to name Dinocrates, at which I was\nastonished, because I had not before had him in my thoughts; and I that\nmoment knew that I ought to pray for him. This I began to do with great\nfervour before God; and the same night I had the following vision:\nI saw Dinocrates coming out of a dark place, where there were many\nothers, exceedingly hot and thirsty; his face was dirty, his complexion\npale, with the ulcer in his face of which he had died at seven years\nof age, and it was for him that I had prayed. There seemed a great\ndistance between him and me, so that it was impossible for us to come\nto each other. Near him stood a vessel full of water: he attempted to\ndrink, but could not reach it. This mightily grieved me, and I awoke.\nBy this I knew my brother was in pain, but I trusted I could relieve\nhim by prayer: so I began to pray for him, beseeching God with tears,\nday and night, that he would grant me my request; and I continued doing\nthis till we were removed to the camp prison: being destined for a\npublic show on the festival of the C\u00e6sar Geta. The day we were in the\nstocks[27] I had this vision; I saw the place, which I had beheld dark\nbefore, now luminous; and Dinocrates, with his body very clean and well\nclad, refreshing himself; and in the place of his wound was a scar\nonly. I awoke, and knew he was relieved from his pain.[28]\n\n[27] These stocks, called Nervus, were a wooden machine with many\nholes, in which the prisoners' feet were fastened and stretched to\ngreat distances, as to the fourth or fifth holes, for the increase of\ntheir torments. S. Perpetua remarks, they were chained, and also set in\nthis engine during their stay in the camp-prison, which seems to have\nbeen several days, in expectation of the day of the public shows.\n\n[28] It is evident from the visions S. Perpetua had of her little\nbrother, that the Church, at that early age, believed the doctrine of\nPurgatory, and prayed for the faithful departed.\n\n\"Some days after, Pudens, the officer who commanded the guards of the\nprison, seeing that God favoured us with many gifts, had a great esteem\nof us, and admitted many people to visit us, for our mutual comfort. On\nthe day of the public shows, my father came overwhelmed with sorrow. He\ntore his beard, threw himself on the ground, cursed his years, and said\nenough to move any creature; and I was ready to die with sorrow to see\nmy father in so deplorable a condition. On the eve of the shows I was\nfavoured with the following vision. The deacon Pomponius, methought,\nknocked very hard at the prison door, which I opened to him. He was\nclothed with a white robe, embroidered with innumerable pomegranates\nof gold. He said to me, 'Perpetua, we wait for thee, come along.' He\nthen took me by the hand and led me through very rough places into the\nmiddle of the amphitheatre, and said, 'Fear not.' And, leaving me, said\nagain, 'I will be with thee in a moment, and bear a part with thee in\nthy pains.' I was wondering the beasts were not let out against us,\nwhen there appeared a very ill-favoured negro, who came to encounter me\nwith others. But another beautiful troop of young men declared for me,\nand anointed me with oil for the combat. Then appeared a man of a great\nstature, in rich apparel, like the master of the gladiators, having a\nwand in one hand, and in the other a green bough on which hung golden\napples. Having ordered silence, he said that the bough should be my\nprize, if I vanquished the negro: but that if he conquered me, he would\nkill me with a sword. After a long and obstinate engagement, I threw\nthe negro on his face, and trod upon his head. The people applauded\nmy victory loudly. I then approached the master of the amphitheatre,\nwho gave me the bough with a kiss, and said, 'Peace be with thee, my\ndaughter.' After this I awoke, and found that I was not to combat with\nwild beasts so much as with devils.\" Here ends the relation of S.\nPerpetua.\n\nS. Saturus had also a vision, which he wrote down himself. He and his\ncompanions were conducted by a bright angel into a most delightful\ngarden, in which they met some holy martyrs lately dead, namely\nJocundus, Saturninus, and Artaxius, who had been burned alive for the\nfaith, and Quintus, who had died in prison. They inquired after other\nmartyrs of their acquaintance, and were conducted into a most stately\npalace, shining like the sun; and in it saw the king of this most\nglorious place surrounded by his happy subjects, and heard the voice\nof a great multitude crying, \"Holy, holy, holy.\" Saturus, turning to\nPerpetua, said, \"Thou hast here what thou didst desire.\" She replied,\n\"God be praised, I have more joy here than ever I had in the flesh.\"\nHe adds, that on going out of the garden they found before the gate,\non the right hand, the bishop of Carthage, Optatus, and on the left,\nAspasius, priest of the same church, both of them alone and sorrowful.\nThey fell at the martyrs' feet, and begged that they would reconcile\nthem together, for a dissension had happened between them. The martyrs\nembraced them, saying, \"Art not thou our bishop, and thou a priest of\nour Lord? It is our duty to prostrate ourselves before you.\" Perpetua\nwas discoursing with them; but certain angels came and drove away\nOptatus and Aspasius; and bade them not to disturb the martyrs, but\nbe reconciled to each other. The bishop, Optatus, was also charged to\nheal the divisions that reigned in his church. The angels after these\nreprimands seemed ready to shut the gates of the garden. \"Here,\" says\nhe, \"we saw many of our brethren and martyrs likewise. We were fed with\nan ineffable odour, which delighted and satisfied us.\" Such was the\nvision of Saturus. The rest of the Acts were added by an eye-witness.\nGod had called to himself Secundulus in prison. Felicitas was eight\nmonths gone with child, and as the day of the shows approached, she\nwas inconsolable lest she should not be confined before then; fearing\nthat her martyrdom would be deferred on that account, because women\nwith child were not allowed to be executed, before they were delivered:\nthe rest also were sensibly afflicted on their part to leave her\nbehind. Therefore they unanimously joined in prayer to obtain of God\nthat she might be delivered before the day of the shows. Scarce had\nthey finished their prayer, when Felicitas found herself in labour.\nShe cried out under the violence of her pain; then one of the guards\nasked her, if she could not bear the throes of childbirth without\ncrying out, what she would do when exposed to the wild beasts. She\nanswered, \"It is I myself that am enduring these pangs now; but then\nthere will be another with me who will suffer for me, because I shall\nsuffer for Him.\" She was then delivered of a daughter, which a certain\nChristian woman took care of, and brought up as her own child. Pudens,\nthe keeper of the prison, having been already converted, secretly did\nthem all the good offices in his power. The day before they suffered\nthey were given, according to custom, their last meal, which was\ncalled a free supper, and they ate in public. Their chamber was full\nof people, with whom they talked, threatening them with the judgments\nof God, and extolling the happiness of their own sufferings. Saturus,\nsmiling at the curiosity of those that came to see them, said to\nthem, \"Will not to-morrow suffice to satisfy your inhuman curiosity?\nHowever you may seem now to pity us, to-morrow you will clap your\nhands at our death, and applaud our murderers. But observe well our\nfaces, that you may know them again at that terrible day when all men\nshall be judged.\" They spoke with such courage and intrepidity that\nthey astonished the infidels, and occasioned the conversion of several\namong them. The day of their triumph having come, they went out of\nthe prison to the amphitheatre full of joy. Perpetua walked with a\ncomposed countenance and easy pace, with her eyes modestly cast down;\nFelicitas went with her, following the men, not able to contain her\njoy. When they came to the gate of the amphitheatre, the guards would\nhave given them, according to custom, the superstitious habits with\nwhich they adorned such as appeared at these sights. For the men, a\nred mantle, which was the habit of the priests of Saturn; for the\nwomen, a little fillet round the head, by which the priestesses of\nCeres were known. The martyrs rejected those idolatrous vestments;\nand, by the mouth of Perpetua, said they came thither of their own\naccord, on the promise made them that they should not be forced to\nanything contrary to their religion. The tribune then consented that\nthey should appear in the amphitheatre habited as they were. Perpetua\nsang, as being already victorious; Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus\nthreatened the people that beheld them with the judgments of God: and\nas they passed before the balcony of Hilarian, they said to him, \"Thou\njudgest us in this world, but God will judge thee in the next.\" The\npeople, enraged at their boldness, begged that they might be scourged,\nand this was granted. They accordingly passed before the Venatores,[29]\nor hunters, each of whom gave them a lash. They rejoiced exceedingly\nin being thought worthy to resemble our Saviour in his sufferings.\nGod granted to each of them the death they desired; for when they had\ndiscoursed together about what kind of martyrdom would be agreeable\nto each, Saturninus declared that he should prefer to be exposed\nto beasts of several sorts, in order that his sufferings might be\naggravated. Accordingly, he and Revocatus, after having been attacked\nby a leopard, were also assaulted by a bear. Saturus dreaded nothing\nso much as a bear, and therefore hoped a leopard would despatch him at\nonce with his teeth. He was then exposed to a wild boar, but the beast\nturned upon his keeper, who received such a wound from him, that he\ndied in a few days after, and Saturus was only dragged along by him.\nThen they tied the martyr near a bear, but that beast came not out of\nhis lodge, so that Saturus, being sound and not hurt, was called upon\nfor a second encounter. This gave him an opportunity of speaking to\nPudens, the gaoler that had been converted. The martyr encouraged him\nto constancy in the faith, and said to him, \"Thou seest I have not\nyet been hurt by any beast, as I desired and foretold: believe then\nstedfastly in Christ; I am going where thou wilt see a leopard with one\nbite take away my life.\" It happened so, for a leopard being let out\nupon him, sprang upon him, and in a moment he was deluged with blood,\nwhereupon the people jeering, cried out, \"He is well baptized.\" The\nmartyr said to Pudens, \"Go, remember my faith, and let our sufferings\nrather strengthen than trouble thee. Give me the ring thou hast on\nthy finger.\" Saturus, having dipped it in his wound gave it him back\nto keep as a pledge to animate him to steadfastness in his faith, and\nsoon after, fell down dead. Thus he went first to glory, to wait for\nPerpetua, according to her vision.\n\n[29] Pro ordine venatorum. Venatores is the name given to those that\nwere armed to encounter the beasts, who put themselves in ranks, with\nwhips in their hands, and each of them gave a lash to the Bestiarii, or\nthose condemned to the beasts, whom they obliged to pass naked before\nthem in the middle of the pit or arena.\n\nIn the mean time, Perpetua and Felicitas had been exposed to a wild\ncow; Perpetua and Felicitas were the first attacked, and the cow having\ntossed the former, she fell on her back. Then putting herself in a\nsitting posture, and perceiving her clothes were torn, she gathered\nthem about her in the best manner she could, to cover herself,\nthinking more of decency than her sufferings.[30] Getting up, not to\nseem disconsolate, she tied up her hair, which was fallen loose, and\nperceiving Felicitas on the ground much hurt by a toss of the cow, she\nhelped her to rise. They stood together, expecting another assault\nfrom the beasts, but the people crying out that it was enough, they\nwere led to the gate Sanevivaria, where those that were not killed by\nthe beasts were despatched at the end of the shows by the confectores.\nPerpetua was here received by Rusticus, a catechumen. She seemed as if\njust returning out of a long ecstasy, and asked when she was to fight\nthe wild cow. When told what had passed, she could not believe it till\nshe saw on her body and clothes the marks of what she had suffered. She\ncalled for her brother, and said to him and Rusticus, \"Continue firm in\nthe faith, love one another, and be not distressed at our sufferings.\"\nAll the martyrs were now brought to the place of their butchery. But\nthe people, not yet satisfied with beholding blood, cried out to have\nthem led into the middle of the amphitheatre, that they might have the\npleasure of seeing them receive the last blow. Upon this, some of the\nmartyrs rose up, and having given one another the kiss of peace, went\nof their own accord into the arena; others were despatched without\nspeaking, or stirring out of the places they were in. S. Perpetua fell\ninto the hands of a very timorous and unskilful apprentice of the\ngladiators, who, with a trembling hand, gave her many slight wounds,\nwhich made her languish a long time. Thus, says S. Augustine, did two\nwomen, amidst fierce beasts and the swords of gladiators, vanquish\nthe devil and all his fury. The day of their martyrdom was the 7th of\nMarch, as it is marked in the most ancient martyrologies, and in a\nRoman Martyrology as old as the year 554. S. Prosper says they suffered\nat Carthage, which agrees with all the circumstances. Their bodies\nwere preserved in the great church of Carthage, in the 5th century,\nas Victor of Utica relates. The body of S. Perpetua is said to be\npreserved at Bologna, in the Church of the Franciscans, but it is very\nquestionable whether it is that of the S. Perpetua of Carthage, whose\npassion has just been narrated.\n\n[30] Does not this remind the classic scholar of the description of the\ndeath of Polyxena, by Talthybius, in the Hecuba, \"She even in death\nshowed much care to fall decently.\"\n\n\nS. EUBULUS, M.\n\n(A.D. 308.)\n\n [By the Greeks on Feb. 3rd, in conjunction with S. Adrian; but by\n the Roman Martyrology on this day, and S. Adrian on March 5th.\n Authority:--Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. viii., c. 11.]\n\nIn the persecution in Palestine, carried out under the ferocious\ngovernor Firmilian, Adrian and Eubulus, natives of Mangan\u00e6a, suffered.\nThey came to C\u00e6sarea, and were asked the cause of their coming, as\nthey entered the gates of the city. They confessed that they had come\nto see and minister to the martyrs of Jesus Christ. They were at\nonce apprehended and brought before Firmilian. He ordered them to be\nscourged and torn with hooks, and then to be devoured by the beasts.\nAfter the lapse of two days, on the third of the nones of March, Adrian\nwas cast before a lion, and afterwards slain with the sword. Eubulus\nwas also reserved to the nones of March, and was then cast to the\nbeasts. He was the last to suffer for the faith at C\u00e6sarea in that\npersecution.\n\n\nS. PAUL THE SIMPLE, H.\n\n(4TH CENT.)\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a and Roman Martyrology on the same day. But\n some Latin Martyrologies on Dec. 18th, others on Jan. 11th.\n Authorities:--Palladius, in his Hist. Lausiaca; Ruffinus, in his Lives\n of the Fathers of the Desert; and Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., lib. i., c.\n 13.]\n\nPaul the Simple was one of the first disciples of S. Antony. He did\nnot embrace the religious life till he was sixty, and then it was in\nconsequence of the bad conduct of his wife. He had been a labourer in\na village of the Thebaid, and was very ignorant. He came to S. Antony,\nbut the patriarch of hermits refused to admit him, thinking him too\nold to adopt the monastic life. Paul, however, remained three days and\nnights outside the cell of Antony, and would not leave. Antony then\ncame forth, and found that the man had no food; he, therefore, received\nhim for a while, hoping to disgust him with the life of a hermit by the\nseverity of his discipline. He set Paul to pray outside his door, and\ntold him not to desist till he was released. The simple old labourer\nobeyed, and Antony observed him, unseen, praying with the blazing sun\nshining down on his head at noon-day, and the moon looking on him at\nnight, as rigid and immoveable as one of the date palms of the desert.\nHe then brought him into his cave, and gave him some platting to do.\nWhen it was accomplished he rebuked Paul for his having doing it badly,\nand bade him undo his work again. The postulant did as ordered without\na murmur. Then Antony brought bread, and set the table in order for\nsupper, and called the hungry Paul to it; then he said, \"Before we eat,\nlet us recite twelve psalms and twelve prayers,\" and he did so; and\nwhen the psalms and prayers were done, Antony said, \"We have looked on\nthe bread, that will suffice for supper; now let us retire to rest.\"\nYet Paul murmured not; so Antony saw that he was qualified to be a monk.\n\nOnce, as Antony and some of his guests were discoursing on spiritual\nmatters, Paul asked very simply, \"Were the prophets before Jesus\nChrist, or Jesus Christ before the prophets?\" Then Antony reddened,\nand bade him keep in the background, and hold his tongue. Now Paul at\nonce obeyed, and remained for some time silent, and out of sight, and\nthey told Antony of it. Then he said, \"Oh, my brethren! learn from this\nman what our obedience towards God ought to be. If I say anything, he\ndoes it instantly and cheerfully, and we--do we thus behave towards our\nGod?\"\n\n\nS. THOMAS AQUINAS, D., O.P.\n\n(A.D. 1274.)\n\n [The oldest notices of S. Thomas are found in Gerard de Fracheto;\n in Thos. Cantipratensis; Stephen de Salanacho; Tocco, a Dominican,\n who had seen S. Thomas, and heard him preach, left an account of\n his life and miracles, this work formed the basis of the labours of\n the Inquisition into our saint's miracles, held in 1319. This, and\n the bull of his canonization, issued by John XXII., in 1323, is the\n foundation of the first part of Guido's life and acts of S. Thomas;\n the latter part contains the miracles substantiated at the second\n Inquisition, or those told on trustworthy authority. There are many\n other lives, as also histories of the translations of his body. John\n XXII. ordered his festival to be kept as that of a confessor, on March\n 7th; Pius V., in 1567, ordered it to be honoured in the same manner as\n were the feasts of the Four Doctors of the Church.]\n\n\"The age of S. Thomas Aquinas,\" says Bareille, \"was that of Innocent\nIII., and of S. Louis, of Albert the Great, and of Roger Bacon, of\nGiotto, and of Dante. That age witnessed the birth of the cathedral\nof Cologne, and the Summa Theologi\u00e6, of the Divine Comedy, and La\nSainte Chapelle, of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, and the cathedral of\nAmiens. It was so fruitful in great men and great monuments, that it\nwould need an entire volume to give a complete list of both. When we\nwander amidst the marvels of the thirteenth century, we are astonished\nat the injustice done to it through the ignorance of mankind.\n\n\"This astonishment is increased when we consider more attentively\nthe vast movement which was then going on in the bosom of mankind.\nThis was the age in which the Universities of Oxford and Paris were\nfounded, in which S. Louis established his kingdom on a legitimate\nbasis; in which the barons wrung the Magna Charta from king John; in\nwhich the great religious orders of S. Dominic and S. Francis sprung\nup; in which gunpowder was invented, the telescope discovered, the\nlaws of gravitation recognized; in which the principles of political\nrepresentation and of parliamentary debate sprang into fresh life; in\nwhich, lastly, the great nationalities of modern times were settling\nthemselves decisively into their places. In the middle of this century\nS. Thomas appeared. This man sums up in his own person all that was\npurest and strongest in his age; he is a personification of that power\nwhich subjugates all other powers to its sway--the power of great ideas.\n\n\"Hitherto men have seen in S. Thomas nothing but the pious cenobite,\nor, at best, the saintly and profound theologian, who theorises in\nhis cloister, scarce deigning to bestow a glance on the age in which\nhe lives. But if we study the real facts of his history, if we put\nhis works in connection with his actions, we see in him one of those\nactive and impressionable minds which keep an anxious watch over the\nideas of their time, either to array against them all the fulness of\ntheir power, as a dam against their disorderly movements, or to dash\ninto their midst and to master them by guiding them. His was, indeed,\nan extraordinary genius, whose power contemporary minds were forced to\nrecognize, whether they came to bruise themselves against his logic, or\nwhether they came to submit themselves to his direction. He reigned in\nboth ways, but more by seconding, than by checking, the movements of\nhis age.\"\n\nS. Thomas, \"the most saintly of the learned, and the most learned\nof the saints,\" sprang from a noble race. His mother, Theodora, was\ndescended from the Caraccioli, a Norman family, and was countess of\nHano in her own right. Her ancestors had left Normandy 200 years\nbefore, and having driven the Saracens and Greeks out of the plains of\nSouthern Italy, had established themselves at Naples and Messina, and\nhaving made prisoner the Roman pontiff, had received the crown from his\ntrembling hands.\n\nLandulf, Theodora's husband, of the house of Sommacoli, otherwise\ncalled Counts of Loreto, Ditcerra, and Belcastro, belonged to one\nof the most remarkable families of middle Italy. His father, Thomas,\nachieved so high a military reputation, that the emperor, Frederick\nBarbarossa, nominated him Lieutenant-General of the Holy Roman empire,\nand gave him his sister, Frances of Suabia, to wife. His ancestors\nhad been Dukes of Capua, but when their inheritance was wrested from\nthem, they assumed the title of Aquino, and settled themselves between\nthe Volturno and the Garigliano. In the reign of Otto III., one of\nthese rough warriors took Rocca Sicca from the abbot of Monte Cassino,\nand levelled it with the ground (996). Thus S. Thomas was nephew of\nFrederick the First and Henry the Fourth, and cousin of Frederick the\nSecond, and could claim connection with the royal houses of Arragon,\nSicily, and France. Yet, noble and illustrious as he was by birth, he\nwas to be made nobler and more illustrious still by the brightness of\nhis virtues and by the splendour of his intellect.\n\nThe saint's father seems to have combined a martial spirit with a\nfirm devotion to the faith. Theodora, a woman of immense energy of\ncharacter, kept herself in control by severe fasts and frequent vigils.\nThe little town of Aquino occupies the centre of a vast and fertile\nplain, commonly called Campagna Felice. One of the rugged mountains\nwhich hem it in on all sides pushes forward a spur, called Rocca Sicca;\non the summit of this crag still stand the ruins of the castle of the\nAquinos. It was in a chamber of this castle that a Dominican friar\nappeared to Theodora, and exclaimed, \"Rejoice, O lady, for thou art\nwith child, and thou shalt bring forth a son, whom thou shalt call\nThomas; both thou and thy husband will think to make him a monk in the\nmonastery of Monte Cassino, where the body of blessed Benedict rests,\nhoping to obtain possession of the great income of that monastery\nby his elevation, but God has ordained otherwise concerning him,\nfor he will become a brother of the Order of Preachers, and famous\nfor his knowledge and the sanctity of his life.\"[31] She replied, \"I\nam not worthy to bear such a son; but may the will of God be done!\"\nIn due course Theodora gave birth to him, who was afterwards called\nthe Angelic Doctor, in the same year that S. Louis became king, and\nS. Francis of Assisi died. The date, however, is contested. Most\ntrustworthy authorities put it at the year 1227. Some say it took place\nat Rocca Sicca, some at Aquino, others at Belcastro. Theodora had two\nother boys, both of whom adopted a military life; and three daughters:\nthe eldest became a nun, and died an abbess; the second married Count\nSan Severino; the youngest, when an infant, was sleeping with Thomas\nand his nurse, when a fork of lightning shot through the castle window,\nburnt the little girl to death, but left S. Thomas uninjured in his\nnurse's arms.\n\n[31] Such is the legend, but possibly it may have been coined after the\ndeath of S. Thomas.\n\nAt the age of five, S. Thomas was sent to Monte Cassino, his parents\nhoping, in spite of the prophecy, if the prophecy had ever been really\nuttered, that he would eventually join the order, and become master of\nthose vast possessions which were under the dominion of its abbots. The\nmonastery in the early days of S. Thomas was the most distinguished\nschool of letters in the land. The little child was doubtless dedicated\nto God, as others were; he was brought into the sanctuary in the arms\nof his parents, he spoke by their mouth, as at the font, he put out\nhis tiny hand for the sacred corporal to be wrapped round it, and thus\nvowed himself to God. The education of the child was committed to a\nlarge-hearted and God-fearing man, whose chief object was to fill\nhis soul with God. As a result of this training it came to pass that\nS. Thomas's constant question to his teachers was, \"What is God?\"\nDoubtless, they answered him in the apostle's words, \"God is love.\"\nThe personal appearance of the young S. Thomas indicated the presence\nof a governing spirit; not the command of brute force, but the command\nof intellect. He possessed that rare class of spiritual beauty which\ntells of gentleness, purity, and power. His massive head betokened\nstrength; his broad tranquil brow, his meditative eyes, produced the\nimpression, not so much of quickness and vivacity, as of breadth and\ncommand. He seemed to live in a sort of spiritual light,--as the\nsunbeam striking upon a landscape naturally beautiful invests it with a\nkind of transfiguration. Though he seldom spoke, when he did speak, he\nset hearts beating faster; and often, whilst thus conversing with his\ncompanions, the monks would approach the little gathering by stealth,\nto listen to the precocious wisdom of this extraordinary child.\n\nAfter seven years quiet study, S. Thomas was forced to take refuge\nwith his family from the violence of the imperial soldiers, who had\nsacked the abbey, and made a prey of all its wealth in plate and gems,\nthe legacies of emperors, kings, and knights. The change to the feudal\ncastle of Loreto must have been a violent one for the young saint. The\ntramp of armed men, the free carousing, the shouts and songs of mirth,\nmust have been sources of temptation to a boy of twelve, whose life had\nhitherto been passed in the silence of the cloister, or amid the sacred\nsongs of the monks, but the holy impressions already made on his soul\nshielded it from corruption.\n\nAn anecdote is related of him at this period which shows how full his\nyoung heart was of charity. During his sojourn at Loreto, a terrible\nfamine ravaged Southern Italy. The Aquinos were extremely charitable to\nthe poor, and Thomas acted as his father's almoner. But not satisfied\nwith this, he sometimes stole secretly into the kitchen, filled his\ncloak with whatever came to hand, and hurried to the castle gate to\ndivide his spoils amongst the famishing people. Having been reprimanded\nfor doing so, he still persisted; but one day, as he was carrying his\ncloak full of provisions, he met his father unexpectedly, and was\ncommanded to show what he was hiding with so much care. The child let\nfall his burden, but in the place of bread, a shower of flowers hid\nthe feet of the boy, and the old man, Landulf, burst into tears, and,\nembracing his son, bade him follow at liberty the inspirations of his\ncharity.\n\nHis parents determined to send S. Thomas to the University of Naples,\nwhich was then at the height of its prosperity. Tasti states that\nhe commenced the study of theology under the profound Erasmus, the\nBenedictine professor of that science in the University. Tocco states,\nhowever, that the abbot of Monte Cassino advised his removal from Monte\nCassino, and his being placed at the University of Naples, where he\nstudied grammar and logic under Martin, and natural science under Peter\nde Hibernia.\n\nIt was the custom for the students, after the professor had delivered\nhis lecture, to present themselves at a stated time, and deliver what\nthey had heard before their companions in the schools. When it came\nto S. Thomas's turn, he repeated the lectures with greater depth of\nthought, and greater lucidity of method, than the learned professor\nhimself was able to command.\n\nA youth, who was a more brilliant expositor of truth than its\nprofessors, would surely, during his stay in the gay centre of Southern\nItaly, have observed with interest the various phases of the period in\nwhich he lived; he must have felt, too, that an organized power alone\ncould meet the world. He saw what an immense power monasticism had\nbeen in the age which was passing away. But he also perceived that the\nworld had changed. The efforts of the solitaries and contemplatives\nhad not been able to direct its course. Citeaux and Clairvaux had done\na work indeed, but it was not the work of directing the stream of\nhuman thought. They had not perceptibly affected the world. The old\nmethods seemed to have dropped out of use. Discovery, and travel, and\nenterprise excited the imagination of the men of that age; they loved\nactivity better than meditation. They congregated in towns, and the\nteaching of the monastery gave way to the excitement and uproar of\nuniversity life.\n\nWhat then? Thomas would ask himself, is the instrument, or the\norganization adapted to oppose the powers of the world?\n\nThe Order of S. Francis, and that of S. Dominic, were created by\nthe Church for resisting the mighty pressure. The former, in its\ncharacteristics of poverty and love, the latter, in its specialities\nof eloquence and learning, were designed to manifest the perfection of\nChristianity in a world full of the pomp of riches and the maddening\ninfluences of pantheistic mysticism. These two Orders had chairs at\nNaples. Probably young Aquino was struck by the devotedness and ability\nof the Dominican professors. The special scope of the Order, its\nlove for learning, its active ministrations to humanity, while still\nretaining the self-restraint of solitaries, and the humility of monks,\nmust have struck a new chord, or an old chord in a new fashion, in the\nheart of the saint. Anyhow, he soon became intimate with the Fathers of\nthe Order, and especially with his dear friend, John \u00e0 Sancto Facundo.\n\nIn the end, S. Thomas, who was then either sixteen or seventeen years\nold, petitioned for the habit of S. Dominic. The fathers determined\nto put his perseverance to the proof. They required him to make the\ndemand in public. On the day appointed, from a very early hour, the\nchurch was flooded by a great crowd, amongst which might be observed\npersons of the highest distinction in the city. The religious of the\nhouse ranged themselves in the choir. Thomas advanced into the midst\nof these two clouds of witnesses, and received from the Superior, Fra\nTomaso d'Agni di Lentino, the badges of penance and subjection. When S.\nThomas entered the order, John of Germany was general (1239-1254), and\na constellation of famous men shone with a steady light from the Corona\nFratrum. In Germany there was Albertus Magnus. Hugh of S. Caro edified\nall France by his sanctity; and Peter of Verona, and John of Vicenza,\nwere its ornaments in Italy.\n\nIt may be imagined that Theodora was not pleased when she heard of the\nceremony from the lamentations of some of her vassals, who had seen the\nyoung count dressed up as a Dominican friar. She forthwith hastened to\nNaples with a large retinue. No sooner did the Dominicans learn that\nshe was on her way, than they hurried the boy off,--some say at his own\nrequest--with several companions, to Rome, by a different route from\nthat usually followed by travellers.\n\nTheodora speedily followed him to Rome. In vain she tried to obtain a\nsight of him by entreaties the most imploring, and by threats the most\nindignant. She then bewailed her hard lot amongst the Roman nobility,\nand denounced to the pope the rapacity of the friars, who had robbed\nher of her boy.\n\nThe Dominicans, dreading her influence in the city, sent S. Thomas to\nParis. Theodora, hearing of his departure, sent off a courier to his\ntwo brothers, who were ravaging Lombardy with a band of Frederick's\nsoldiers, beseeching them to secure the fugitive. They set guards\nto watch the passes through which the Dominicans could escape. As\nthe friars lay resting under a tree, near Acquapendente, they were\nsurrounded by armed men, and Thomas found himself a prisoner in the\nhands of his brothers. The two young soldiers behaved with great\nbrutality to the saint, and forcing him on horseback, they carried him\nto San Giovanni.\n\nHis mother made use of every argument she could invent to turn him from\nhis purpose; she brought into play all the passions of her nature,\nher tears, her entreaties, her threats, her love; but without effect.\nPerceiving that he remained unmoveable, she threw him into prison, and\nset guards to watch outside. His sisters seconded their mother; they\nalone were allowed to wait on him, and they practised all their arts to\nturn him from his vocation. But in the end, his calm deportment, his\nresignation and tenderness, won them over. They put him in a position\nto communicate with the brethren. The saint procured a Bible, the Book\nof the \"Sentences,\" and some of the works of Aristotle, and learned\nthem by heart. Thus it was that he prepared himself for his mighty\nlabours in the future.\n\nHis brothers persevered in their attempts to force him from religion.\nThey were furious when they found that, far from being changed himself,\nThomas had converted both his sisters. They forbade the girls to\napproach him; and bursting in upon him, insulted him with brutal jests,\nand ended by tearing his habit, piece by piece, from off his back. Then\nBrother John of S. Giuliano brought another habit for him from Naples,\nwhich he had concealed beneath his own. This made his brothers more\nenraged than before. They formed the infamous expedient of hiring a\nprostitute, and shutting her up in the cell with Thomas. While waiting\nthe issue, a fearful shriek proceeding from the prison, summoned the\ntwo brothers; they arrived in time to see the girl rushing away in an\nagony of terror, and the young man chasing her with a blazing brand,\nwhich he had plucked out of the fire. Even the brutality of the young\nsoldiers was overcome by this; and from that day forth, they ceased\ntheir persecutions.\n\nBefore his death, the saint told his familiar friend, Rainald, that\nno sooner had the girl been driven out, than he made a cross with the\ncharred brand upon the wall, and casting himself upon his knees before\nit, made a vow of chastity for life. Whilst thus praying, he fell into\na calm sleep, and was vouchsafed a vision. He saw angels descending\nfrom the clouds, who bound his loins with the girdle of continence,\nand armed him for life as the warrior of Heaven. This girdle is said\nto have been given after his death to the Dominicans of Vercelli, who\nrefused to part with it at the command of a pope.\n\nStill his relations kept him in confinement, some say for two years,\nand would have detained him longer, had it not been for the influence\nof the Dominicans with the pope. The holy father was roused. He not\nonly brought the case before the emperor, but he ordered him to set the\nprisoner free, and threatened to visit the perpetrators of the outrage\nwith condign punishment. Frederick, having latterly been humiliated by\nthe _Viterbesi_, and having, in consequence, been abandoned by some\nof his supporters, was not sorry for an opportunity of gratifying the\npontiff. Orders were at once sent to Landolf and Rainald to set the\ncaptive free. Still these stubborn soldiers with their haughty mother\nwould take no active steps to give Thomas his liberty. However, his\nsisters informed John of S. Giuliano of the position of affairs, and\nhe at once hurried to the castle accompanied by one or two companions.\nAnd finally, the girls let their brother down, through the window, like\nanother S. Paul, into the hands of his delighted brethren below, who at\nonce hurried him off to Naples.\n\nTocco says that John of S. Giuliano, others that Tomaso d'Agni di\nLentino, was Superior of the Convent, and received our saint's\nprofession. Theodora, repenting that she had let him escape, applied\nto the pope to annul his vows. The holy father sent for S. Thomas,\nand questioned him in the presence of the court. He, with his natural\nmodesty, and yet with gentle firmness, told the pope how unmistakeable\nwas the voice which had called him to religion, and implored the holy\nfather to protect him. Innocent, and the prelates about him, could\nnot suppress their emotion. The pope acted with great benevolence.\nKnowing Theodora's weakness, he proposed to make Thomas abbot of Monte\nCassino, whilst still allowing him to wear the habit of S. Dominic,\nand to partake of the privileges of the friars. His mother and his\nbrothers implored Thomas to accept the tempting offering. But he was\ninexorable. He besought the pope to leave him to abide in his vocation.\nThenceforward his mother no longer worried him, and his brothers left\nhim alone to pursue his own course.\n\nFrom the first, the Dominicans seem to have had a kind of\nfore-knowledge of the great combat that would have to be waged in the\narena of human reason. From the first, with prudence, forethought,\nand wise economy, they prepared a system for turning the abilities of\ntheir members to the fullest account. With them no intellect was lost.\nPower was recognised, trained, and put in motion. Those who were less\ngifted, were set to less intellectual employments: those who had great\npowers were fitted to become lights of the world and ornaments of the\nOrder. With such an intellectual capital as our saint possessed, he\nmight fairly have been set to work in the active ministrations of his\nOrder. But, fortunately, his superiors were men who looked into the\nfuture, and knew how a present sacrifice would be repaid. Thus, instead\nof looking on S. Thomas's education as finished, they considered it as\nonly just begun. Who was to be his master to ripen his active mind?\n\nThis question John of Germany, 4th General of the Dominicans, must have\nasked himself. At last he set out with S. Thomas on foot, from Rome to\nParis, and from Paris to Cologne, where Albertus Magnus then was. It\nis related that as they descried the beauty of Paris in the distance,\nthe general turned to Thomas and said, \"What would you give to be king\nof that city?\" \"I would rather have S. Chrysostom's treatise on S.\nMatthew,\" replied the young man, \"than be king of the whole of France.\"\n\nS. Thomas met his match in Albertus Magnus. Nothing is a greater\nblessing for a master-mind than to come in contact with another\nmaster-mind, more highly educated, and with a more matured experience\nthan itself. Albert was born of noble family at Lavingen, in Suabia,\n(1193 A.D.) Some say that, like S. Isidore, he was dull as a boy. At\nPadua, where he was studying medicine and mathematics, he was drawn\nby Brother Jordan's eloquence to join the Dominicans. He was sent to\nBologna, then the second centre of the intellectual world. Next he\nbegan to teach. As a lecturer he was unrivalled: all classes thronged\ninto the hall of this extraordinary man. The logic, ethics, and physics\nof Aristotle, and portions of Holy Writ, were the subject matter of his\nlectures. After settling at Cologne, he was summoned to Paris in 1228,\nto put the studies on a footing to meet the requirements of the age.\nThen he returned to Cologne. It was at this period that he first met S.\nThomas, who became his favourite disciple, and to whom, in private, he\nopened the stores of his capacious mind.\n\nThe companions of S. Thomas in Albert's school, were men filled with\nthe impression that to exert the reasoning faculties in debating\nscholastic questions, was one of the principal ends of all philosophy.\nIt is not extraordinary that such men as these, when they saw young\nAquino so silent, should imagine that nothing occupied his thoughts;\nespecially when they perceived that he was equally reserved in school.\nThey soon came to the conclusion that he was a naturally obtuse lad.\nWhat is more strange is this,--that Albert at first held him to be\ndeficient. He was called by master and pupils, \"the great dumb Sicilian\nox.\" Once, when studying in his cell, he heard a voice crying to\nhim, \"Brother Thomas, here! quick, look at this flying ox!\" When S.\nThomas went to the window, he was received with shouts of derision. In\nexplanation he said incisively: \"I did not believe an ox could fly, nor\ndid I, till now, believe that a religious could tell a lie.\"\n\nA companion one day offered to assist him in his lesson. S. Thomas\nassented; presently his friend came to a hard passage, which was beyond\nhis depth, the saint took the book from him, and explained the passage\nwith great clearness. Albert had selected a difficult question from the\nwritings of Dionysius the Areopagite; this the scholars passed to S.\nThomas; he took it to his cell; and first stating all the objections\nthat could be made against it, he then answered them. A brother picked\nup this paper, and carried it to Albert. His master ordered him to\ndefend a thesis the next day before the whole school. Thomas spoke with\nsuch clearness, established his thesis with such dialectical skill, saw\nso far into the difficulties of the case, and handled the whole subject\nin so masterly a manner, that Albert exclaimed, \"Thou seemest to me not\nto be defending the case, but to be deciding it.\" \"Master,\" he replied,\n\"I know not how to treat the question otherwise.\" Albert, to test him\nfurther, started objections, but Thomas solved every difficulty so\nsuccessfully, that Albert cried out, \"We call this youth 'Dumb Ox,' but\nthe day will come when the whole world will resound with his bellowing.\"\n\n[Illustration: S. THOMAS AQUINAS. After Cahier.\n March 7.]\n\nIn 1245, it was determined by the Dominican Chapter that Albert\nshould leave Cologne for Paris, and that Thomas should finish his three\nyears under him there.\n\nThe one absorbing science of the middle ages was theology. Learning,\nin all its branches, pointed to the study of religion as the great\nterminus of the human mind, and the one right road from heaven to\nearth. The liberal arts were but a careful and laborious preparation\nfor philosophy or logic; logic, in turn, was only valuable inasmuch as\nit was an instrument for the ordering, defending, and proving the great\ntruths of revelation. The great object of life was to know God. Jacques\nde Vitry beautifully says, \"All science ought to be referred to the\nknowledge of Christ.\" It may be laid down roughly that the Scriptures,\nPeter Lombard's Book of Sentences, and Aristotle, were the three great\nbases on which the active intellect of the 13th century rested in its\ndevelopment and analysis of truth.\n\nThe students of the Paris University may be divided into three classes:\nthose who lived in seminaries, those who lived in monasteries, and\nthose who lived as best they could. Some were destitute, living\non charity, or in _hospitia_; others were rich and lordly, great\nspendthrifts and swaggerers, studying out of mere curiosity, or pure\nconceit.\n\nJohn of S. Alban had founded a _hospitium_ for pilgrims, with a\nchapel dedicated to S. James; this he handed over to the Dominicans,\nwhich gift the University confirmed on condition that mass was said\nfor its living and dead members twice a year. Thus the Dominicans\ncame in contact with the University. From the first they attended\nthe theological schools of the Church of Paris. S. Louis built them\na convent, and at his death left them a part of the library he had\ncollected at the Sainte Chapelle. Novices were taught Latin and logic;\nand disputations echoed in the cloister. Meditation was made to\ncounterbalance the excitement of study.\n\nThe lectures were given in large halls. In the middle stood the chair\nof the master, with another seat below, and in front of him a stool\nfor the bachelor who was going through his training. If there was not\nroom on the benches, the students sat on the straw which covered the\nfloor. The teaching was principally done by question and answer, by\nexposition, repetition, and disputation. No book was used, the teacher\nmight have the text before him, and sometimes the students took notes\nin shorthand, which they wrote out at their leisure.\n\nNothing has been handed down, of any moment, regarding the studies of\nS. Thomas at Paris during this period. Albert was at the height of his\nreputation. His lecture-hall was so crowded, that he was forced to\nlecture in a square, near Notre Dame, known as the Place Maubert.\n\nThe same year in which S. Thomas finished his studies (1248), a general\nchapter of Dominicans was held at Paris. Here it was ruled that four\nnew schools should be started on the model of that at Paris. Bologna\nfor Lombardy; Montpellier for Provence; Oxford for England; Cologne\nfor Germany. Albert was to take the chair at Cologne, re-arrange the\nstudies, and be regent; whilst Thomas, who was not twenty-three, was to\nbe second professor, and \"Magister Studentium.\" Albert's old reputation\nattracted crowds. Thomas was not long before he also acquired a\nbrilliant reputation.\n\nHis distinctions, even compared with those of Albert, were so new, his\narguments so ingenious, that all were dazzled at his great ability.\nIt was at Cologne that he first gave evidence as a teacher, of that\ndepth, balance, and expansion, which, in after life, made him the\nweightiest of authorities on the most momentous of religious questions.\nIn his treatment of the Scripture and of the Sentences, he had ample\nopportunity for displaying his many-sided gifts.\n\nNor did he confine himself to teaching in the schools. He preached and\nwrote. His first pieces were \"De Ente et Essentia,\" and \"De Principiis\nNatur\u00e6.\" These two works contain the germ of a future system, and were\nremarkable productions for a youth of twenty-two.\n\nThe saint's practice in teaching, and the accuracy he acquired by\nwriting, from an early age, were of great assistance to him in\ndeveloping his powers. He possessed, moreover, a gift--most valuable at\nall times--calmness and self-possession, which was the result, partly\nof education, greatly of character; partly of breadth of mind, and\nchiefly of grace. Under the most trying provocation he was never known\nto lose his self-control.\n\nHis humility and sweetness came out strikingly when arguing in the\nschools. Though his opponent, in the heat of disputation, might forget\nhimself, Thomas never did.\n\nOnce, when a young student arrogantly defended a thesis of which he\nknew the saint did not approve, he was suffered to proceed in silence.\nBut the next day, when he continued his argument with still greater\narrogance, the saint with infinite sweetness, but crushing power, put a\nfew questions, made a few distinctions, and upset the student with such\nease, first on one point, then on another, that the whole school was in\nan uproar of admiration. Both the youth and his fellows were taught a\nlesson which they did not easily forget. Again, while he was preaching\nat S. James's, an official of the University walked up the church, and\nbeckoned the saint to stop, and then read out an offensive document,\ndrawn up by the secular party, in opposition to the Friars' Preachers.\nWhen the congregation had somewhat recovered from their surprise, S.\nThomas proceeded with his sermon with undisturbed composure.\n\nConrad De Guessia, his intimate friend, declared him to be: \"A man of\nholy life and honest conversation, peaceful, sober, humble, quiet,\ndevout, contemplative, and chaste; so mortified that he cared not what\nhe ate or what he put on. Every day he celebrated with great devotion,\nor heard, one or two masses; and except in times proper for repose, he\nwas occupied in reading, writing, praying or preaching.\"\n\n\"His science, says Rainald, was not acquired by natural talent, but\nby the revelation and the infusion of the Holy Ghost, for he never\nset himself to write without having first prayed and wept. When he\nwas in doubt, he had recourse to prayer, and with tears he returned,\ninstructed and enlightened in his uncertainty.\"\n\nIt was about this time that S. Thomas was ordained priest. It is\nmortifying that no certain information can be procured regarding the\ntime at which it took place. All his biographers lay stress on his\ngreat devotion while celebrating. He was frequently rapt in spirit\nwhilst at mass, when the tears would spring to his eyes, and flow\ncopiously. After mass, he prepared his lectures, and then went to the\nschools. Next, he wrote or dictated to several scribes; then he dined,\nreturned to his cell, and occupied himself with Divine things till time\nfor rest; after which he wrote again, and thus ordered his life in the\nservice of his Master.\n\nThe duty of preaching also fell upon him. A man so filled with the\nSpirit of God would, almost of necessity, manifest the passion which\nruled supreme. His reputation even at this period was great enough to\ndraw a large congregation into the Dominican Church.\n\nThe language in which at this period sermons were preached was the\nvernacular. Even when written in Latin, and this was generally the\ncase, they were delivered to the people in the vernacular.\n\nThe biographers of S. Thomas speak of the simplicity of his sermons.\nOnce, in a discourse on the Passion, during Lent, he so vividly brought\nhome to the congregation the sufferings of the cross, and drew so\ntouching a picture of the compassion, mercy, and love of Christ, that\nhis words were interrupted by the passionate crying of the people. On\nEaster Day, his sermon on the Resurrection filled the congregation\nwith such jubilant triumph that they could scarcely be restrained from\ngiving public expression to their feelings.\n\nIn manner he was gentle, calm, self-possessed. Tocco says that\npreaching at Naples on the text, \"Hail, Mary!\" he was seen to keep his\neyes closed in the pulpit, and his head in a position as if he were\nlooking into heaven: he tells us also that the people reverenced his\nword as if it came from the mouth of God.\n\nIn the two hundred and twenty-five skeleton sermons which he has left,\nhe divides his subject into three or four grand divisions, which are\nagain sub-divided into three or four sections.\n\nAfter four years at Cologne our saint received orders to take his\ndegree at Paris, (1248.) The Dominicans wished to place their\nmost promising subjects there, that the Order might maintain its\ncredit. Albert and Cardinal Hugh of S. Charo were instrumental in\nhis removal: the former saw that the saint possessed all the needed\nqualifications for a professorship; a work requiring something more\nthan learning--tact and temper.\n\nThomas, when he heard of it, was much concerned. His distaste for\nhonour and position made him wish to be left alone. Nevertheless, in\nobedience to authority, he set out to beg his way to Paris. He passed\nthrough Brabant and Flanders, and preached before the Duchess Margaret.\nThe learned men of Paris had heard of his successes at Cologne, and he\nwas received by them with marks of unusual distinction.\n\nThe Dominican professors of theology at this time were Hugh of Metz\nand Elias Brunetus. It was as teacher in the school of Elias that the\nsaint began to expound Holy Writ, and the writings of Peter Lombard.\nHis influence over young men far surpassed that of any other master.\nThey were conscious that his teaching had something about it of another\nworld; and the feeling crept over all, and finally mastered them,\nthat he spoke as one \"having authority.\" The opinions he then formed,\nhe committed to writing, and held them and defended them with little\nchange in his maturer years. From his youth he had dedicated himself\nto Wisdom as his spouse. Only one thing he asked for--that was wisdom.\nRainald said, \"One thing I know of him, that it was not human talent,\nbut _prayer_, which was the secret of his great success. This was his\ndaily prayer: 'Grant me, I beseech Thee, O merciful God, prudently to\nstudy, rightly to understand, and perfectly to fulfil that which is\npleasing to Thee, to the praise and glory of Thy Name.'\" When a child,\nif conversation did not turn on God, or on matters which tended to\nedification, the Angelical Doctor would go away; he used to wonder how\nmen, especially religious men, could talk of anything but God or holy\nthings. He wept for the sins of others, as if they had been his own.\n\nThough ever dwelling in the unseen kingdom, he was keenly alive to the\ntendency of the intellectual world around him. His saintliness, and\nhis great ability, seem to have pointed him out as destined to sway\nthe philosophical and theological tendencies of an age in which the\nhuman mind was in a condition of flux. The corroding rationalism of\nthe school of Abelard, and the dissolving mysticism of the East, had\nto be faced, and to be withstood. Thomas fixed himself, therefore, on\nthe immoveable basis of authority, and grounded his teaching on the\nmonastic methods of the \"Sentences.\" Doubtless the surprise caused\nby his distinctions, and the admiration created by his novelty in\nargument, proceeded in great measure from his vivid apprehension of\nthe work he had to do, of the enemy he was contending with, and of\nthe powers by which alone that enemy could be overthrown. He followed\nAlbert, but his teaching was more incisive, more definite, more\nstrictly to the point.\n\nMany of his disciples became distinguished men. S. Thomas assisted\nothers beside his own pupils. Sovereigns, cardinals, bishops, superiors\nof orders, and professors, wrote to him for advice, and for solutions\nof their difficulties. The Opusculum on the difference between the\nDivine and human word; and the somewhat larger treatise, on the\nnature of the intellectual word, are full of close reasoning; and\nstate principles which are fundamental regarding the method of human\nknowledge.\n\nOne of the most important of his treatises is that addressed \"ad\nFratrem Rainaldum,\" on the nature of the Angels. It was begun during\nhis bachelorship, but he never got beyond the 30th chapter. It shows\nhis grasp of some of the cardinal questions of the day, and how\nmasterfully he dealt with errors of the most promising minds in the\nParis schools.\n\nBut whilst thus engaged upon the Scriptures and the Lombard, S. Thomas\nwas frequently in the pulpit, and he regularly delivered lectures\nto crowded halls. His versatility, his power of abstraction, his\nastonishing memory, his zealous husbanding of time, carried him with\nease through works which would have broken the spirit of any ordinary\nman. He possessed that marvellous gift which Origen and C\u00e6sar are said\nto have had, of being able to dictate to three or even four scribes\non different and difficult subjects at the same time, and that, too,\nwithout losing the thread of each argument.\n\nFrigerius says that, as Professor, he elucidated the Sentences with\nsuch sublimity of thought that he seemed rather the author of the work\nthan its expositor. Tocco, \"that he surpassed all the masters of the\nUniversity, and by the lucidity of his expositions drew, beyond all\nothers, the intelligences of his disciples towards a love of science.\"\nStudents from every part of Europe flocked around his chair.\n\nIn touching on S. Thomas's commentary on the \"Sentences,\" the influence\nof Alexander Hales must not be forgotten, but he far eclipsed the\nMinorite in his proofs of the non-eternity of the world--a question of\nmomentous importance in the Middle Ages, as well as in his discussion\nof the possibility and fitness of the Incarnation. Thomas carried his\nteaching on Grace to such perfection that in the Middle Ages it was\nalways received as a standard authority.\n\nIf judged by its bulk, this \"Commentary\" would seem sufficient to have\noccupied a life. It fills over 1250 pages of the large quarto Parma\nedition, printed in double columns. It is a monument of ceaseless\nlabour, great skill, and patient thought.\n\nThe work of the Lombard is a confusion compared with the lucid style\nand admirable arrangement of the saint. In place of the crabbed\ninverted language of Peter, we have the simple, logical, direct use of\nwords, which go straight to the point, and express the complete idea.\nHe has these weighty words on the subject of theology, \"Since the end\nof all philosophy is contained within the end of theology, and is\nsubservient to it, theology ought to command all other sciences, and\nturn to its use those things which they treat of.\" He adds, \"The more\nsublime knowledge is, so much greater is its unity, and so much wider\nthe circle of its expansion, whence the Divine intellect, which is the\nmost sublime of all, by the light, which is God Himself, possesses a\ndistinct knowledge of all things.\" He also shows how the intellect\nbecomes illuminated when led by faith, illustrating the motto of the\nmonastic school, \"Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis.\" And he shows\nthat theology is _deduction_, and philosophy _induction_; and that the\nbasis of theology must be authority, _i.e._, a Revelation.\n\nDuring the Lent of 1250 or 1253, the city patrol came in collision with\na party of students, killed one of them, wounded three others, and\ncarried them off to prison. The secular professors of the University\nrefused to lecture, until the beadles were punished, but the Dominican\nand Franciscan teachers went on with their lectures. When redress\nhad been granted to the University for the outrage, that body drew\nup an oath to observe all the laws of the University, which it was\nintended should be taken by all persons before taking the degree as\nmaster. The regulars refused to take it; then the University issued\na decree, declaring the friars excluded from its body, and deprived\nof their chairs. The latter appealed to Rome. The pope commissioned\nthe bishop of Evreux, and Luke, canon of Paris, to re-establish the\nfriars in their chairs, which was done. This pope dying, his successor\nissued a bull, binding all to stop teaching in case of insult, but\nre-establishing the friars. The king, returning home, stopped the\nexecution of the papal briefs. The pope issued another bull more\nstringent than the first. Since 1256, S. Thomas had been lecturing\nas licentiate. At the same time he was enjoying the friendship of S.\nBonaventura, who was lecturing under the Franciscan professor. Both\nmen exhibited, in a striking manner, the fundamental quality of the\norder to which they respectively belonged. Bonaventura loved to look\ninto the placid, earnest soul of Thomas, as into a deep sea, with its\nmarvellous transparency, and awful stillness; whilst Thomas was roused\nand brightened by the ardent gushing nature of his friend. S. Thomas\nwas angelical; S. Bonaventura was seraphic--the one, the deep thinker;\nthe other, the tender poet. Thomas was famous in the schools for the\nkeenness of his thought, and for his depth and clearness; Bonaventura\nfor his eloquence and vivacity in exposition; the former was a child\nof contemplation, the latter of activity. Once S. Thomas asked S.\nBonaventura to show him the books out of which he got his sublime\nthoughts. \"There is the book,\" replied S. Bonaventura, pointing to\nthe crucifix. During this time S. Thomas wrote his \"Exposition on the\nApostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, the Ten\nCommandments, and the Law of Love.\" Another work on the \"Articles of\nthe Faith and the Sacraments\" falls within this period, as well as a\ncommentary on Isaiah.\n\nMeanwhile, William of S. Amour, the celebrated philosopher and doctor\nof the University, was endeavouring to turn the mendicant Orders out of\nParis by getting people to withhold their alms, and by forbidding the\nmembers of these Orders to attend the secular lectures.\n\nHe also endeavoured to fix the authorship of an heretical work, called\n\"The Everlasting Gospel,\" on the Franciscans and Dominicans.\n\nBut he himself had written a book, called \"Perils of the last\ntimes.\" This the king sent by two doctors of theology for the pope's\nexamination. The University sent a deputation to make the Holy Father\nacquainted with \"The Everlasting Gospel.\" William was leader of this\ndeputation. S. Thomas was sent to defend his order; S. Bonaventura that\nof S. Francis. S. Thomas, after examining the \"Perils,\" reported to the\nDominican chapter that \"God had given him grace to discover whatever\nis false, captious, erroneous, impious in it, and that after the holy\nSee had pronounced judgment on it, the faithful would only notice it to\ncondemn it.\" In a few days the saint prepared his defence of the order,\nand his answer to the \"Perils.\" He pleaded before the pope and sacred\ncollege with such success as to gain their applause.\n\nWhen he had done, the four cardinals gave in their report on the\n\"Perils,\" which stated that it was full of false doctrine, injurious to\nthe authority of the pope and the bishops, and to the honour of several\nreligious orders approved by the holy See. After examining the report,\nthe pope condemned the \"Perils\" by a bull, dated October 5th, 1256,\nand ordered the book to be burnt. The deputation from the University\narrived after the work of their leader had been burnt. They endeavoured\nto obtain a revocation of the condemnation, but, instead, they were\ncompelled to take pen and themselves subscribe it. They swore,\nmoreover, to receive into the body of the University the Dominicans\nand Franciscans, especially SS. Thomas and Bonaventura. William of S.\nAmour refused to comply, and being forbidden to enter France, retired\nto his estate in Burgundy. A few years later he was allowed to return\nto Paris. He died in 1270. It was partly in reply to William's attack\non the religious orders, that S. Thomas wrote his Opusculum, \"Against\nthose who attack religion and the worship of God,\" and that \"Against\nthose who hinder men from entering religion,\" which are the best\ndefence and exaltation of monastic principles ever penned.[32]\n\n[32] For this part of the history of S. Thomas, treated at greater\nlength, see \"The Life and Labours of S. Thomas of Aquin,\" by the Very\nRev. R. B. Vaughan.\n\nS. Thomas having been recalled by his superiors before the winter of\nthe same year (1256), embarked on board a ship bound for France. The\nvessel was overtaken by a furious storm; the pilot and sailors tried\nevery artifice to escape the shoals, on which they were being driven by\nwind and wave. Thomas, like a second S. Paul, preserved his confidence,\nand prayed God to give him all the souls that were with him. His\nprayer was heard: the aspect of nature changed, and the ship pursued\nher course in safety.\n\nSeveral bulls followed the deputies to Paris. The prudence and kindness\nof S. Louis helped greatly to restore peace between the University and\nthe friars. The University seal was set to the summons addressed to\nSS. Thomas and Bonaventura to take their doctor's degrees, which had\nbeen delayed two years by the troubles. S. Thomas thought many other\nDominicans more deserving of the honour than himself. Whilst sadly\nmeditating on this, he thought an old man appeared to him, asking the\ncause of his sadness. He replied, \"It is not right that they should\nforce me to take rank among the doctors, a thing of which I am not\ncapable.\" The old man said, \"The order thou hast received is assurance\nenough; it destroys thy own will, and points to God's will in that\nof thy superiors. Take as the text of thy thesis: '_He watereth the\nhills from above: the earth is filled with the fruit of Thy works._\nPs. ciii. 13.'\" On the morrow, after a struggle between S. Bonaventura\nand himself for the last place, Thomas, as being the younger, gained\nit. He preached from the text given him, and it has been regarded as\na prophecy of the influence which the new doctor was to exercise over\nChristendom. The day on which he took his degree was the 23rd October,\n1257.\n\nThe epoch on which we have now entered is the most glorious period\nof our saint's life. The star of his genius mounted, without a cloud\nto obscure it, in the firmament of the Church. In spite of all the\neulogies of his contemporaries, it is difficult for us to comprehend\nnow-a-days the extent of the power which Aquinas exercised over the men\nand the ideas of his time.\n\nS. Thomas now drew up his famous \"Summa contra Gentiles.\" He begins\nthis treatise by stating that he will discuss all questions on the\nground of human reason, seeking therein a common ground on which to\ncombat his adversaries, or rather seeking in their natural intelligence\na point on which to rest that bridge which might lead them from human\nreason to the truth of God; then he establishes the necessity of faith;\nhe shows next that reason affords ground for expecting a supernatural\nrevelation; lastly, he cements together reason and faith. Then he makes\nhis general division: he considers God in Himself, in relation to men,\nand men in relation to God. To these three parts he joins a fourth,\nviz., revelation properly so-called; therein he expounds the Trinity,\nthe Incarnation, with all the dogmas which attach themselves to it,\nthe whole destiny of man in the plan of Christianity. This we may call\nthe theological evolution of his great work. In that which may be\ncalled its philosophical introduction he resolves all such difficult\nquestions; as the falsehood of pantheism, evil and its origin, its\nnature, and its effects, which he turns into a proof of God's existence\nin opposition to those unquiet spirits, who saw in it a reason for\ndoubting His existence.\n\nThis work was followed immediately by one upon all the Epistles of S.\nPaul.\n\nThe question of the Eucharistic accidents was then much mooted in\nthe schools, especially in those of Paris. The question was, whether\nthose accidents had anything real, or were only an appearance, in\nother words, whether the form under which Jesus hides Himself in the\nEucharist exists in the Sacrament itself, or in a false relation of the\nsenses? Wearied with a struggle to which they could foresee no end,\nall the doctors determined to refer the question to the decision of\nS. Thomas, and to accept that decision as conformable to the light of\nreason and faith. The saint braced himself to the contemplation of this\nsubject, and having prayed, he wrote as the Spirit inspired him. He was\nloth to take into the presence of the doctors and of the schools, the\nfruit of his science and his prayer, before he had consulted Him of\nWhom he was speaking, Whose aid he had implored.\n\nHe came to the altar, and placing before the tabernacle as before the\nMaster of masters, that which he had written on the subject of the\ncontroversy, he raised his hands towards the image of Jesus crucified,\nand prayed in this fashion: \"O Lord Jesu, Who dost verily dwell in\nthis wonderful Sacrament, Whose works are incomprehensible marvels, I\nhumbly beseech Thee, if what I have written about Thee is agreeable to\nthe truth, grant that I may teach it, and persuade my brethren of it on\nThy behalf; but if, on the contrary, there be anything in this writing\nwhich errs from the Catholic faith, make it impossible for me to bring\nit before their eyes.\"\n\nNow the doctor had been followed by his habitual companion and by\nseveral other religious of our order, and they saw Jesus Christ\nstanding on the leaves which had been written by the hand of Thomas,\nand saying to him, \"Thou hast written worthily, my son, of the\nSacrament of My Body.\" And the doctor's prayer still continuing, he was\nseen to raise himself nearly to the height of a cubit in the air.\n\nThe author who gives this account says he received it from a religious\nwho was at S. James's with S. Thomas. The members of the University\nsubmitted to the decision, though given by a young man of only\nthirty-two years of age.\n\nLouis IX. had forced our saint to enter his council chamber. Whenever\nan important affair was coming on for deliberation in the royal\ncouncil, the king caused brother Thomas to be instructed about it over\nnight, that he might reflect thereon in solitude, and might remember it\nat the Sacrifice. He was consulted by the king not so much as the man\nof genius, but as the man of God.\n\nThe saint, in spite of his earnest entreaties to be excused, was\nsometimes compelled, both by loyalty and courtesy, to appear at the\nroyal table. For a while he would join in the general conversation,\nsoon to be withdrawn by his inward thoughts. Once, at dinner, after\na long silence, he smote the table smartly, exclaiming, \"That is an\noverwhelming argument against the Manich\u00e6ans.\" His superior bade him\nremember that he was in the king's presence. Thomas apologised for his\nabsence of mind. But the king, smiling, requested him to dictate to one\nof his secretaries the argument which had engrossed his attention, that\nit might lose none of the force which marks the thoughts of genius at\ntheir first conception.\n\nThe Dominican Chapter, held at Valenciennes, in 1259, appointed Thomas,\nAlbertus Magnus, and Pierre de Tarentaise as a commission to establish\norder and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans.\n\nAlexander IV. died at Viterbo, on May 25th, 1261. Jacques Pantal\u00e8on,\nLatin patriarch of Jerusalem, who was at Viterbo imploring protection\nfor the Christians of the East, was, to his surprise, raised to the\npontifical throne, under the title of Urban IV. Wishing to unite into\none the divided portions of east and west Christianity, he summoned\nS. Thomas to Rome to help him in realising his project. It was in the\nsame year that S. Thomas came to Rome in answer to this appeal. His\ngeneral gave him at once a chair of theology in the Dominican college\nat Rome, where he obtained the like success that had gained at Cologne\nand Paris. Here he wrote his literal commentary on Job, and the Catena\nAurea. The chain of comments from the fathers is so perfect, the links\nof gold in it are so well rivetted to one another, that a biographer\nsays that, \"He speaks with all, and all speak and explain themselves by\nhim.\" It was dedicated to the Pope, at whose solicitation it had been\nundertaken.\n\nIn the midst of the toil these works must have cost him, he did not\nforget the purpose for which he was summoned. All the time he was\nthinking out and penning his treatise, \"Contra errores Gr\u00e6corum.\" In\nhis hands, and by the force of his irresistible logic, he showed that\nthe ancient Greek fathers unanimously agreed with those of the Latin\nChurch.[33]\n\n[33] It is necessary to point out here that S. Thomas was misled by\nforgeries in this treatise. A Latin theologian, who had resided among\nthe Greeks, composed a catena of spurious passages of Greek Councils\nand Fathers, and in 1261 it was laid before Urban IV., who, entirely\ndeceived thereby, sent it to S. Thomas, who also accepted it without\nthe least suspicion of its not being genuine.\n\nThis work was sent by the pope at once to Michael, emperor of\nConstantinople, as a message of peace. He had just returned to his\ncapital, which Latin princes had held for more than half a century. The\nobject of all his efforts was to reconstitute the power of the empire.\nTo this task he brought an energy, a perseverance, and talents hitherto\nunknown among the sovereigns of that nation. He turned his eyes for\nhelp towards the pope; but it was the politician, rather than the\nChristian, that solicited the re-establishment of Catholic unity.\n\nS. Thomas, at the request of an Eastern prince, wrote a treatise in\nrefutation of the errors that were rife in that part of the world.\nNothing could be more modest than the way in which he stated his\npurpose, nothing more grand than the way in which he worked it out.\n\nUrban wished to reward his distinguished services. The great wealth he\noffered, the saint directed should be given to the poor. He declined\nthe offer of the patriarchate of Jerusalem, and, shortly after, the\nhonour of a cardinal's hat, for Thomas had thoroughly realized both\nthe mysterious treasures of voluntary poverty and the hidden force of\nevangelical humility.\n\nThe pope, finding he could not attach our saint to his court by the\nties of honours or riches, bade him lecture at the various places where\nhe took up his abode, Viterbo, Orvieto, Perugia, Fondi. Everywhere a\nprodigious number of pupils pressed around his chair. The churches were\ntoo small to receive the numbers who flocked to hear him. Historians\nonly record one course of Lent sermons preached by him in Rome.\n\nOne Christmas-eve he held a disputation with two Jewish Rabbis at the\nvilla of a cardinal. After asking them to return in the morning, he\npassed the whole night in meditation and prayer. The Rabbis returned in\nthe morning, but it was to ask for baptism.\n\nIn 1263, Thomas was sent to the Dominican general chapter, held in\nLondon, as \"definitor,\" in the name of the Roman province.\n\nSoon after his return to Italy, S. Thomas proposed to Urban the\ninstitution of a special festival throughout the Catholic Church in\nhonour of the Holy Sacrament. When Urban was archdeacon of Li\u00e9ge, in\nthe convent of Mont Cornillon, near one of the gates of the city, a\npoor religious named Juliana (April 3rd), as she prayed had a vision\nof the moon shining in all its splendour, but disfigured by one little\nbreach. She desired to know its meaning, and an inner voice told her\nit was the Church, and that the breach represented the defect of a\nfestival in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. After a time, an office\nin honour of the Blessed Sacrament was drawn up by a young religious.\nRobert de Torote, bishop of Li\u00e9ge, in 1246, appointed Thursday, in the\noctave of Trinity, for this feast.\n\nHenry of Gueldres succeeded him as bishop, and treated the revelations\nof Juliana as folly. She died on 5th April, 1258, and left as a legacy\nto her friend Eve the duty of reviving this festival. Eve was a recluse\nbuilt up in a niche of a wall near the church of S. Martin, at Li\u00e9ge,\nand through the hole by which she received light, air, and alms,\nbesought the canons as they passed to seek out the bishop and entreat\nhim to write to the pope on the subject of the proposed festival. The\nbishop did not disdain this humble prayer, but transmitted her message\nto the pope, who received at the same time the petition of the first\ndoctor in the Church to the same effect. He wrote a letter to the poor\nrecluse of S. Martin, in 1264, telling her of the issuing of a bull in\nanswer to her prayer, and transmitting a copy of the office which the\nAngelical doctor had drawn up.\n\nClement IV. succeeded Urban on the 22nd of February, 1265. Shortly\nafter his elevation he issued a bull appointing S. Thomas archbishop of\nNaples, and conferring on him the revenues of the convent of S. Peter\nad Aram. But the pope was induced to recall it by the prayers and tears\nof our saint.\n\nIn this year we must place the first commencement of the \"Summa\nTheologi\u00e6.\" This was the greatest monument produced by that age.\n\nDisgusted, as S. Thomas says in his preface, at the exuberance, the\ndisorder, the obscurity of the scholastic treatises then extant, he had\nconceived the plan of a methodical and luminous summary, which should\ncontain the whole of Christianity from the existence of God to the\nleast precept of morality, all the speculative and practical points of\nrevealed truth following in natural and logical order.\n\nThe saying current at the time, that \"some proposition was true\naccording to the master, Aristotle, but false according to the Gospel,\"\nclearly shows the antagonistic attitude occupied by the two powers in\nthe opinion of the schools.\n\nThe \"Summa Theologi\u00e6\" is divided into three great but unequal parts;\nfor the second, much larger than the other two, is divided into two\ndistinct sections.\n\nThe first part is a complete treatise on all existences, and\nespecially on all intellectual existences, from that intelligence which\nis infinite in its nature as in its operations, to the intelligence\nwhich is bounded and severed by matter. It treats of God, of the Holy\nAngels, their qualities, and their abode, and of the Creation.\n\nThe first section of the second part contains a theory of man. It\ntreats of happiness, as man's final object, of the passions, and of\nhuman acts, of the virtues in general, of sins, in their origin,\nnature, and effects.\n\nThe second section is closely allied to the first. It treats of the\nconditions of happiness and the moral laws, the three great virtues,\nFaith, Hope, and Charity. The impulse given to the soul by these three\ntheological virtues communicates itself to the moral virtues as well;\nin treating of them afresh S. Thomas forms a universal theory of human\nduty.\n\nThe third part expounds the whole plan of Redemption. After having\nstudied the work of Redemption in itself, S. Thomas studies it in its\napplication to each individual. Thus he arrives at the theory of the\nSacraments. But death did not give him time to finish this part of the\nwork. It is interrupted where he treats on the fourth Sacrament, that\nof penance. An attempt has been made to complete it by various extracts\nfrom his other works, but one misses in this compilation the living\nhand of genius.\n\nBefore quitting this great subject, one word must be added on S.\nThomas's method. It may be defined as geometry applied to theology. S.\nThomas states, first of all, the theorem he is about to develop, or the\nproblem which he proposes to solve. Then he considers the difficulties\nand solves them. He follows this up with a train of sustentations\ndrawn from holy writ, tradition, and theological reason, and he ends\nby a categorical answer to all the objections which were made at the\nbeginning. This order is invariably observed in every part of the work.\n\nAt the Council of Trent, on a table set in the midst of the council\nchamber, was placed the \"Summa,\" alongside of the Holy Scriptures and\nthe decrees of the popes. Well might Dante declare that the doctor\ninhabits a sphere above the reach of praise, or, with Lacordaire,\nexclaim, that \"God alone can praise this great man in the eternal\ncouncil of the Saints.\"\n\nThe \"Summa Theologi\u00e6\" occupied the last nine years of our saint's\nlife. The world was ignorant of the monument which was being raised in\nsilence. Thomas preached, lectured, wrote as before.\n\nAbout this time William of S. Amour republished his attack upon the\nreligious orders, under the fresh title of \"Collectiones S. Scriptur\u00e6;\"\nour saint replied to it by issuing a fresh edition of his defence of\nthe religious orders, and this silenced his foe.\n\nDuring these nine years, Thomas visited several towns and convents of\nItaly. At Milan he wrote an epitaph on S. Peter Martyr. At Bologna he\nlectured with his usual success on theology.\n\nIn 1267, he published at Bologna a work on the duties of kings, but his\ntask was interrupted in the same year by the death of his royal pupil,\nHugo II., king of Cyprus.\n\nJean de Verceil had just sent to Thomas a famous tract in which the\nefficaciousness of the sacrament of penance was denied. He refuted it\nin a treatise called \"De forma Absolutionis,\" with so much force and\nclearness that the Council of Trent adopted his very words in framing\ntheir canon.\n\nAbout this time he was one day walking in the cloister of the convent\nat Bologna, plunged in deep meditation, when a lay brother, who did\nnot know him, came up to him and said that he was obliged to go out on\nsome matters of business, and that the superior had given him leave to\ntake with him the first religious he met. S. Thomas, without excusing\nhimself on the score of lameness from which he was then suffering, or\nof more serious engagements, went cheerfully with the lay brother;\nbut the latter walked so fast, that Thomas was often left behind. But\nhe was soon recognised, and the escort of citizens who respectfully\nfollowed the saint, opened the eyes of the lay brother. When they\nreturned to the convent, the lay brother threw himself at the feet\nof Thomas and begged his pardon. Thomas raised him from the ground,\nsaying, \"It is not your duty, but mine to make an apology; for I ought\nto have remembered that my sore leg would not let me walk as fast as\nyou wanted.\"\n\nIn 1269, Thomas was summoned to Paris, as \"definitor\" of the Roman\nprovince, to attend the general chapter of his order. S. Thomas\nprolonged his last sojourn in Paris for a year after the departure of\nS. Louis on his ill-fated crusade, in 1270, and during the whole time\nhe continued to lecture, and to write his Summa.\n\nS. Thomas was recalled to Bologna by his superiors early in 1271.\nShortly after his return thither, he brought the second part of his\nSumma to a conclusion.\n\nAt the beginning of the year 1272, the chapter general of the order\nreceived requests from nearly all the universities of Europe that S.\nThomas might lecture in them. The decision was in favour of Naples,\nfor which he started at once. He visited Rome on his way, and there he\nbegan the last part of the Summa, and wrote his commentaries on several\nbooks of Boetius. Whilst he was explaining that book which treats of\nthe Trinity, the candle which he held to light him, burnt down between\nhis fingers, and scorched them severely, before his attention was\naroused from his work.\n\nAfter leaving Rome, Thomas and his inseparable friend Rainald were\nentertained at the villa of Cardinal Richard, where the two Rabbis\nwere converted. Here Thomas fell ill, but the attack was slight, and\nquickly passed away.\n\nIn spite of all the precautions of Christian humility, his entry into\nNaples was a triumph. All classes, the lettered and the unlettered, the\ngreat and the small, hurried to welcome him. An excited yet respectful\ncrowd accompanied him as far as the gates of that Dominican convent,\nwhere he had embraced religion. What would Theodora have said if she\nhad seen her son entering in triumph that same house which she had\nregarded as the tomb of his glory?\n\nThe king, Charles I., assigned him a monthly pension, rather as a token\nof his royal favour, than as a reward for his services. The pilgrim\nwho visits the Dominican convent at Naples, sees at the entrance\nof the great hall a representation of S. Thomas, and beneath it an\ninscription, \"Before thou enterest, venerate this image and this chair,\nfrom which Thomas Aquinas uttered his oracles to a large number of\ndisciples for the glory and felicity of his age.\"\n\nThe cardinal-legate of the holy see, wished to have an interview with\nour saint, and invited the archbishop of Capua, an old pupil of S.\nThomas, to accompany him. The saint on being told of their arrival,\nwent down into the cloister, but happening to be absorbed in thought,\nhe forgot the object for which he had been summoned, and gravely\ncontinued his walk without taking any notice of them. The cardinal\nwas offended, but the archbishop explained the cause of the saint's\napparent rudeness. When Thomas woke from his reverie, he apologised,\nlaying the blame on his feebleness of mind, which had not allowed him\nto find the solution of a theological difficulty without trouble and\ndelay. The cardinal-legate withdrew, not knowing which to admire most,\nthe learning, or the humility, of the doctor.\n\nDuring the short space of a year and a half S. Thomas composed the 549\narticles, which are all that we have of the last part of his Summa.\nSome commentaries on divers passages of Holy Writ came from his pen at\nthe same time. The fleeting elements of this world faded gradually from\nhis thoughts; his eye was fixed on other horizons.\n\nThe transports which he had always experienced in prayer, became daily\nmore frequent.\n\nYielding to the entreaties of his friends, to the vow of obedience\nwhich he had taken, contrary to the inclination to which his natural\nhumility led him, he revealed some of the supernatural favours which\nHeaven had vouchsafed to him.\n\nWhilst praying in the church at Naples one day, we are told that\nRomanus, whom he had left in Paris as master of theology, stood before\nhim. S. Thomas approached his friend and said, \"Welcome here, when\ndidst thou come?\" \"I have passed from this life,\" replied the figure,\n\"and am permitted to appear on thine account.\" The Angelical exclaimed,\n\"I adjure thee then to answer me these questions. How do I stand? Are\nmy works pleasing to God?\" \"Thou art in a good state, and thy works do\nplease God,\" was the reply. \"Then what about thyself?\" enquired the\nAngelical. \"I am now in Eternal Bliss, but I have been in Purgatory.\"\n\"Tell me,\" continued Thomas, \"whether the habits which are acquired\nin this life remain to us in heaven?\" \"Brother Thomas,\" was the\nreply, \"I see God, and do not ask for more.\" \"How dost thou see God,\"\nrejoined the saint, \"dost thou see Him immediately, or by means of some\nsimilitude?\" The other answered, \"Like as we have heard, so have we\nseen in the city of the Lord of Hosts,\" Ps. xlvii. 9, (xlviii. 8,) and\nthen instantly vanished.\n\nWhile Thomas was writing his articles on the fourth Sacrament, he was\npraying one day in a chapel dedicated to S. Nicolas, when, as the story\ngoes, the figure on the crucifix turned towards him and said, \"Thomas,\nThou hast written well of Me; what reward desirest thou?\" \"Nought,\nsave Thyself, Lord,\" was the saint's spontaneous reply.\n\nAt length he became so absorbed in Divine things, that even the \"Summa\"\nitself failed to interest him. He ceased to write, after a marvellous\nrapture which seized him whilst celebrating mass in the chapel of S.\nNicolas. After this mass, he did not sit down to his desk, nor would\nhe consent to dictate anything. When Rainald urged him to finish the\n\"Summa,\" he replied, \"I cannot, for everything that I have written\nappears to me worthless compared with what I have seen, and what has\nbeen revealed to me.\"\n\nGregory X. wishing to carry out the union of the Greek and Latin\nchurches, summoned S. Thomas, by special bull, to the Second Council of\nLyons, and requested him to bring his famous treatise with him.\n\nOur saint set out with Rainald for Lyons, towards the end of January,\n1274. His health was feeble, and his mind was still fixed on the\nvisions of another world. They travelled by way of the Campagna, and\ncalled at the castle of Maienza, in the diocese of Terracina, where\nFrances, wife of Hannibal Ceccano, niece of the Angelic Doctor,\nresided. Here the saint became much weaker, and did not rally. He\nwholly lost his appetite. After a while he felt himself a little\nstronger. The rumour of his proximity reached the Benedictine Abbey of\nFossa Nuova, six miles from the castle. The monks came to invite him\nthither, and he gladly accepted the invitation, saying, \"If the Lord\nmeans to take me away, it were better that I should die in a religious\nhouse, than in the midst of seculars.\"\n\nHe rode in their midst to the abbey; the monks helped him to dismount,\nand sustained him to the Church, where he knelt in silent adoration.\nThen rising, the abbot conducted him through the church into the\ncloister. Then the whole past seemed to break in upon him like a burst\nof overpowering sunlight; the calm abbey, the meditative corridor,\nthe gentle Benedictine monks, recalled to him Monte Cassino, as in\nhis boyish days. Completely overcome by the memories of the past, he\nturned to the monks accompanying him, and exclaimed, \"_This_ is the\nplace where I shall find repose;\" and to Rainald he said, \"This shall\nbe my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have a delight\ntherein.\" (Ps. cxxxi. 14, A.V., cxxxii. 15.)\n\nHis fever increasing, he was conducted to the abbot's cell, which\nout of respect had been prepared for him. Here, during the whole of\nhis illness, which lasted about a month, the community watched over\nhim with the tenderness and reverence of sons towards a father. They\nexcluded all servants from waiting on him; even the wood to make his\nfire was cut down in the forest by the hands of the brethren, and\nborne on their willing shoulders to his hearth. They were overjoyed to\nreceive him into their home, and to minister to him of their choicest\nand best. He, patient as a child, knew that he was amongst his own, and\nyearned continually for his release, repeating continually the words\nof S. Augustine: \"So long as in me there is ought which is not wholly\nThine, O God, suffering and sorrow will be my lot. But when I shall\nbe Thine alone, then shall I be filled with Thee, and wholly set at\nliberty.\"\n\nKnowing how illumined this man of God was, concerning the union of the\nsoul with its Beloved, the monks, notwithstanding his feeble condition,\ncould not refrain from asking him to expound to them the Canticle of\ncanticles. Ever since his great vision, the saint had put aside his\npen. Still the monks implored him, reminding how blessed Bernard had\ndone the like. The Angelical Doctor looked at them with unutterable\ngentleness, and said, \"Get me Bernard's spirit, and I will do your\nbidding.\" Finally he yielded to them, and surrounding the bed on which\nhe lay, they heard from the lips of the dying theologian, his last\nlecture and sermon.\n\nGrowing still weaker, S. Thomas foresaw that his hour was drawing\nnigh. He sent for Rainald, and with deep contrition and many sighs\nmade a general confession. Having done this, he begged the brethren to\nbring him the Body of our Lord--that Lord, who from his infancy, had\nbeen the mainstay of his life, and the one desire of his heart. The\nabbot, accompanied by his community, came solemnly bearing the Blessed\nSacrament. Immediately the great Angelical perceived his Master's\npresence, with the help of the brethren, he rose from the pallet, and\nkneeling upon the floor, adored his King and Saviour; and amidst the\nsobs of the monks, he made his act of faith in the Real Presence of\nhis Lord. When he had made an end, and the abbot was on the point of\nadministering the Saving Host to him, he exclaimed, in the hearing of\nall the monks: \"I receive Thee, the price of my soul's redemption,\nfor love of Whom I have studied, watched, and laboured. Thee have I\npreached, Thee have I taught, against Thee never have I breathed a\nword, neither am I wedded to my own opinion. If I have held ought\nwhich is untrue regarding this blessed Sacrament, I subject it to the\njudgment of the Holy Roman Church, in whose obedience I now pass out\nof life.\" Then, as the abbot lifted up the spotless Host to administer\nto him, with a torrent of tears he uttered his favourite ejaculation:\n\"Thou, O Christ, art the King of Glory: Thou art the everlasting Son\nof the Father!\" and received upon his tongue the Bread of Heaven. As\nthe end was approaching, the abbot with the brethren watched about his\nbed; and those senses, which had served their Master with such generous\nloyalty, were one by one anointed with sacred unction by loving\nBenedictine hands at his request, whilst he, quite conscious of what\nwas going on, answered \"Amen\" to the prayers of the minister of God.\n\nThe brethren, with untold tenderness and reverence, followed his\ncountenance with their eyes, and watched life gradually ebbing away.\n\nHe was taken from exile in the early morning of the 7th of March, 1274,\nin the prime of manhood, being scarcely forty-eight years of age.\n\nThe religious of Fossa Nuova committed all that was mortal of S. Thomas\nto its resting place with the honour due to the remains of such a\nsaint, and such a genius. The whole country side followed him mourning.\nThe superior of the convent, a blind old man, was led to the side of\nthe corpse to pay it a last tribute of respect. Seized with a sudden\nimpulse of faith, he placed his sightless eyes to those of our saint,\nand the blind eyes of the dead restored the vision of the living monk.\nRainald with tears, and choked with emotion, pronounced a funeral elegy\nover his master and friend, before he was laid at rest in the convent\nchurch. Many other miracles were wrought by his body.\n\nOn Sunday, Jan. 28th, 1369, his relics were deposited with great pomp\nat Toulouse, where they still repose in the Church of S. Sernan.\nThe king, Charles V., wished his arm to be brought to Paris, and he\nreceived it on his knees in the chapel royal, which he had built for it\nat S. James's convent. This relic was at the French Revolution taken to\nItaly.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 8.\n\n S. PONTIUS, _D. at Carthage, circ._ A.D. 262.\n SS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, _MM. at Antinoe, in Egypt_, A.D. 305.\n SS. CYRIL, _B.M._, ROGATUS, FELIX, AND OTHERS, _MM. in Africa_.\n S. QUINTILLUS, _B.M. at Nicomedia_.\n S. SENAN, _of Iniscatthy, B. Ab. in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 546.\n S. FELIX, _B. among the East Saxons_, A.D. 654.\n S. JULIAN, _B. of Toledo_, A.D. 690.\n S. THEOPHYLACT, _B.C. at Nicomedia_, A.D. 845.\n S. HUMPHREY, _B. of Therouane_, A.D. 871.\n S. DUTHAC, _B. of Ross_, A.D. 1250.\n S. JOHN OF GOD, _C. at Granada_, A.D. 1550.\n\n\nSS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, MM.\n\n(A.D. 305.)\n\n [By the Greeks on December 14th. By the Latins on March 8th. Arian\n and Theotychus, who are included in the Roman Martyrology, are not\n mentioned in any ancient Martyrologies except that of Usuardus.\n Authority:--The Acts, which as they now exist, are very corrupt. The\n original Acts have apparently been made a foundation to which a later\n Greek writer has added a superstructure of fable. The conversion and\n the martyrdom of the governor Arian has all the appearance of being\n an addition by a later hand, to complete the story, for the fabulous\n Greek Acts generally wind up with the conversion or destruction of the\n judge. This seems to have been regarded as the proper conclusion of\n every martyrdom.]\n\nArianus the judge, who had condemned S. Asclas (Jan. 23rd) to a cruel\ndeath, at Antino\u00eb in Upper Egypt, did not leave the place till many\nother Christians had suffered by his orders. Now there was at Antino\u00eb\na deacon named Apollonius, who feared torture, being by nature of a\nhighly sensitive and timorous constitution, and when the governor\nhad given orders that every inhabitant should appear before him and\nsacrifice, he went to Philemon, a stage piper and dancer, and offered\nhim money if he would go and sacrifice in his name, and bring him a\nticket to the effect that Apollonius had sacrificed. Christians who\nthus acted were called libellatics; and on the return of tranquillity\nwere put to penance, but were not regarded in the same light as\napostates. Philemon asked Apollonius for one of his hooded cloaks,\nwhich would conceal his face, and then went before the judge.\n\nThen Arian said, \"Well, fellow, what art thou? A Christian perhaps,\nmuffled thus, as if thou fearedst to be seen.\"\n\nPhilemon, filled with the grace of God, answered gravely, \"Yes, my\nlord, I am a Christian.\"\n\n\"Thou knowest the choice that is set before thee, torture or\nsacrifice,\" said the magistrate.\n\n\"I will not sacrifice,\" answered the piper, \"I saw how, by the power of\nGod, Asclas held thee stationary in the midst of the river.\"\n\nThen Arian, leaning back in his seat, said to his officers, \"Send for\nPhilemon the piper; perchance his sweet melodies will drive away the\nfancies of this fool, and allure him to the worship of our gods.\" But\nPhilemon was not to be found; then his brother Theonas was brought in,\nand Arian asked him where was the piper Philemon. Theonas, looking\nintently at the prisoner, said, \"That is he.\" Then the hood was plucked\noff the face of Philemon, and the cloak drawn from his shoulders, and\nit was the merry piper shod with his gay buskins, and with the tuneful\nreeds in his hands. Arian laughed heartily, and exclaimed that this\nwas a rare joke. \"We make no account of all this, man!\" said he, \"for\nto this thou wast born, and to this bred, that thou shouldst shake our\nsides with laughter. Now sacrifice, and end the farce.\"\n\nBut Philemon steadfastly refused, and Arian saw that no jest was\nmeant, but that this was sober earnest. So putting on an angry look,\nhe said, \"It is foolery for thee to pass thyself off as a Christian,\npiper! for thou art not baptized.\" Then the poor man was filled with\ntribulation, and in his doubt and grief he cried to the Lord Jesus\nChrist to accept and baptize him. And as he prayed, there came down a\nsoft sparkling spring shower, and the piper, stretching his hands to\nheaven, cried joyously, \"He has heard me, and has baptized me in the\ncloud!\"[34] And he took his pipes and broke them up, and cast them\naway. Now the officer had taken the deacon Apollonius, and they brought\nhim before Arian, who reproached him for his cowardice; the deacon in\nshame admitted that he had done wrong. \"But now,\" said he, in a firm\nvoice, \"know that I will not sacrifice.\" Then the judge ordered him and\nPhilemon to be executed with the sword.\n\n[34] There are several versions of this event. According to one, the\njudge and assistants were blinded whilst Philemon was carried to the\nriver and baptized by a priest. But his prayer afterwards, \"Thou hast\nbaptized me in the cloud,\" proves this to have been an interpolation.\n\nSo far the Acts seem to be trustworthy, but what follows is fabulous;\nsome of these incidents shall however be given. Philemon before his\nexecution, bade the officers bring a brass pot, and put a baby in\nit, cover it, and take aim at it with their arrows. The pot was soon\ntransfixed; but when it was opened, the child within was found unhurt.\nThen Philemon said, \"Like that vessel is a Christian's body, riddled\nwith wounds, but the soul within, like that infant, is unharmed.\" And\nwhen the governor ordered a flight of arrows to be discharged at him,\nhe raised his hand, and the arrows remained stationary in the air, but\none returning put out the eye of Arian. Then Philemon said, \"When I am\ndead, go to my grave, and make clay of the dust there, and anoint thine\neye, and it will be restored whole.\"\n\nThis Arian does and is healed, and in consequence converted. Then\nDioclesian, hearing of his conversion, sends four officers to judge\nhim, and these in turn are converted, and finally Arian and the four\nofficers are sewn up in sacks and flung into the sea. All this may\nsafely be rejected as fabulous.\n\n\nS. SENAN OF INISCATTHY, AB. B.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 546.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies. He died on March 1st, but was buried on the 8th,\n on which day his festival is kept. His name occurs in the Festology of\n S. \u00c6ngus. Authorities:--A life written by S. Colman, versified by a\n later hand, and full of fables, also an Irish life written in the 12th\n cent.]\n\nSenan was a native of Corco-baskin, a district in the western part of\nThomond.[35] His parents were Christians and noble. Ercan, his father,\nis said to have been of the royal blood of Conary I., king of Ireland.\nCoemgalla, his mother, was likewise of an illustrious Munster family.\nAn odd legend of his childhood is told. His parents were moving house,\nand Senan remained immersed in prayer, lending no hand to the work.\nThen his mother, provoked, threw some water over him to wake him up,\nand scolded him soundly. Senan resumed his devotions, and instantly the\npots and pans of the domestic establishment came flying through the air\nfrom the kitchen of the old house into the kitchen of the new one.\n\n[35] In the county Clare.\n\nWhen arrived at a certain age, he was forced by the prince of\nCorco-baskin to join in an expedition undertaken against the territory\nof Corcomroe, for the purpose of carrying off plunder. This did not\nsuit the disposition of young Senan, and accordingly he contrived\nto avoid taking any share in the devastation of the country. He was\nrewarded for this, for, when the party to which he belonged was routed\nwith great loss, and he had fallen into the hands of their opponents,\nhe was allowed to depart without injury, and go whithersoever he\npleased. He therefore placed himself under the abbot Cassidan, and\nhaving received from him the monastic habit, became a proficient in\npiety and learning. Next he repaired to the monastery of S. Natalis,\nor Naal, with whom he spent some years. Several legends are connected\nwith this period. He had to keep cows, and one day seeing the calves\nsucking them, and dreading lest there should be a deficiency of milk\nfor the brethren, he put his stick between them, and neither could\napproach the other. Another story is to the effect that he read at\nnight using the fingers of his left hand as candles,--a story told also\nof S. Columba, S. Kentigern, and other Irish and Scottish saints. A\nmonk observed him; then Senan said, \"For peeping and prying, a stork\nshall peck out your eye.\" And as the monk left the place, a stork\nrushed at him, and had one of his eye balls out in a trice. But when S.\nNatalis heard of this, he ordered Senan to replace the eye, and cure\nit instantly, and this he did. After Senan had left the monastery of\nS. Naal, he is said to have gone into foreign parts, to have visited\nRome and Tours, and on his return to have tarried with S. David of\nMenevia, with whom he continued very intimate until his death. Senan's\nfirst establishment was at Inis-Carra, near the river Lee, about five\nmiles from Cork, in the barony of Barrets. While he was in that place,\na vessel arrived in Cork harbour, bringing fifty religious persons,\npassengers from the continent, who came to Ireland for the purpose of\nimproving themselves in monastic studies. Senan retained ten of them\nwith himself, the others were distributed in various establishments.\nHe was not long at Inis-Carra, before Lugadh, prince of that country,\ninsisted on his submitting to certain exactions, which Senan refused\nto comply with. The dispute was soon settled through the interference\nof two young noblemen, who were then at the court of Lugadh. Not\nlong after, Senan, having left eight of his disciples at Inis-Carra,\nwent to Inis-luinge, an island in the Shannon, where, having erected\na church, he gave the veil to the daughter of Brendan, the prince of\nthat country. Thence, setting out by water to Inis-mor, he was driven\nby adverse winds to an island called Inis-tuaiscert. Thinking that\nit was a special providence which had brought him there, he erected\na church, and left it to the care of some of his disciples. He then\nmade his way to Inis-mor,[36] and there founded a monastery, which he\ngoverned for some time. We afterwards find him settled in the island\nof Inis-cathaig, now Iniscatthy, at the mouth of the Shannon, where\nhe erected a monastery in spite of the opposition of Mactael, the\nprince of the country. One of his rules was that no females should be\nadmitted into the island. This regulation was observed even with regard\nto the most saintly virgins. S. Kannera, a nun of Bantry, wished to\nreceive the Holy Viaticum from the hands of Senan, and to be buried at\nIniscatthy. Accordingly she set out for the island, but, just as she\ndrew near, Senan met her,[37] and obstinately refused to allow her to\nland, and requested her to go to the house of his mother, who lived\nnot far distant, and was related to Kannera. The conversation given in\nthe metrical life between the abbot and the dying nun, is very quaint.\nThe abbot said, \"What have monks in common with women? We will not let\nyou step on to our island.\" She said, \"But if Christ will receive my\nspirit, why should you reject my body?\" \"That,\" answered the venerable\nSenan, \"is true; but for all that I will not suffer you to come here,\ngo back, and do not be a plague to us. You may be pure enough in soul,\nbut you are a woman, nevertheless.\" \"I will die, before I go back!\"\nsaid S. Kannera. Like many another woman, she gained her point, and,\ndying on the shore, was there buried.\n\n[36] Inchmore, or Deer Island, in the river Fergus, where this river\njoins the Shannon.\n\n[37] According to the legend, an angel brought her to Iniscatthy, and\nS. Senan ran out over the water, stick in hand, to arrest her.\n\nSenan was a bishop when he founded his monastery of Iniscatthy, but\nwhen, or by whom he was consecrated, we are not informed. It is related\nthat, perceiving the time of his departure draw nigh, he determined\nto go to the monastery of S. Cassidus, and to the nunnery of S.\nScotia, his paternal aunt, that he might apply himself more fervently\nto prayer in these retreats, and prepare himself for his wished-for\ndeparture. On his way thither he turned off a little towards the\nchurch of Kill-eochaille, for the purpose of visiting certain holy\nvirgins, the daughters of one Naereus, who had received the veil from\nhim. Having performed his devotions in the church of S. Cassidus,\nhe was returning to Iniscatthy, when, in a field near the church of\nKill-eochaille, he heard a voice announcing to him that he was to be\nremoved to heaven without delay. Accordingly, he died on that very day,\nand his body remained at Kill-eochaille until the next, when several of\nthe principal members of his monastery arrived, and had it brought to\nIniscatthy. Notice of his death was then sent to the prelates, clergy,\nand principal persons of the neighbouring churches, and his obsequies\nwere celebrated on the octave. A foolish story, incorporated in some\nof the martyrologies, relates that on the day of his burial, as he was\nbeing carried to the grave, he sat up and informed the assistants that\nhis anniversary was to be celebrated on the 8th March, instead of the\n1st. The year of his death is unknown; but there can be no doubt that\nit was later than 544, the date assigned to it by some writers. The\nreputation of S. Senan has not been confined to Ireland, and his Acts\nhave been published among those of the saints of Brittany, by Albert le\nGrand, as one of the chief patrons of the diocese of S. Pol de L\u00e9on;\nbut the S. San\u00e9 there venerated seems not to be the same, but some\nlocal saint of whom nothing is known.\n\n\nS. FELIX, B.\n\n(A.D. 654.)\n\n [Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Salisbury Breviary, and more modern\n Anglican Martyrologies. Also Molanus and Greven, in their addition to\n Usuardus. Authorities:--Bede and Malmesbury.]\n\nS. Felix was a native of Burgundy, where he made the acquaintance of\nSigebert, prince of the East Angles, who had been banished by Redwald.\nThis prince was instructed in the Christian faith, and was baptized\nby Felix, at that time a priest. Some time after this, upon the death\nof his half-brother, king Espenwald, the son of Redwald, who had been\nkilled at the instigation of the cruel Penda, king of Mercia, Sigebert\nwas called to England to succeed to the kingdom, and he made it his\ncare to introduce Christianity among the East Angles, who occupied\nNorfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. For this purpose he invited S.\nFelix to his court, and he, without demur, quitted country, friends,\nand home, to preach the faith to an uncivilized pagan people. But first\nhe visited Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, and from him he received\nhis mission to the East Angles, and, as some say, his episcopal\nconsecration. King Sigebert appointed Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast, as\nthe head-quarters of his mission. Felix went about, preaching, founding\nchurches and schools, and, through his exertions, the Christian faith\ntook deep root in the land. Some attribute to him the foundation of the\nfirst school at Cambridge.\n\nS. Felix lived till after the year 650, and having discharged the duty\nof a most zealous pastor of souls for the space of seventeen years,\nhe departed to the Lord, and was buried in his church of Dunwich, from\nwhich place his body was afterwards translated to Soham, near Ely, and\nthence to the abbey of Ramsey.\n\n\nS. DUTHAC, B. OF ROSS.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 1250.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities:--Leslie, Dempster, and the lections\n in the Aberdeen Breviary.]\n\nS. Duthac was a member of an illustrious Scottish family. Several\nlegends are told of his life in the Aberdeen Breviary, and little else\nis known of his acts. For instance, when a child, he was sent by his\nmother to bring fire from a forge, as all the fires in the house were\nextinguished. The blacksmith, in brutal jest, put some red-hot charcoal\nin the lap of the child, and Duthac brought the glowing embers thus to\nhis mother. He was afterwards in Ireland, where he studied, and on his\nreturn was appointed to the bishopric of Ross. One day he was dining\nwith a noble, and a guest becoming very drunk, gave his gold ring and\na slice of meat to one of Duthac's disciples, ordering him to take\nthem to his home. The disciple was on his way, when passing through a\nchurchyard, he laid down the meat and the ring, whilst he said a prayer\nfor the repose of the souls of those who lay there. At that moment a\nkite swooped down and carried off ring and meat. The young man ran to\nS. Duthac in dismay, and the bishop summoned the kite, which obeyed,\nand bringing the meat and the ring, deposited them at his feet. Duthac\ntook the ring and gave it to the young man, but allowed the kite to\nconsume the meat. On the feast of S. Finbar, a canon at Dornock slew a\nfat ox, roasted it, and distributed slices amongst the poor. \"Surely\nsome one will take Duthac his share of the beef,\" said the canon. Then\na man offered himself, and lo! as he travelled by night with the meat\nfor the bishop, a light like that of a lamp shone on his way, guiding\nhim; and thus the bishop received his share before it had lost its\nfreshness.\n\n\nS. JOHN OF GOD, C.\n\n(A.D. 1550.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His Life, written twenty-five years\n after his death.]\n\nS. John, surnamed of God, was born in Portugal, in 1495. His parents\nwere of the lowest rank, but good and pious people. John spent a\nconsiderable part of his youth in service, under the chief shepherd of\nthe count of Oropeusa, in Castile, and in great innocence and virtue.\nIn 1522, he enlisted himself in a company of foot soldiers, raised by\nthe count, and served in the wars between the French and Spaniards; and\nafterwards in Hungary, against the Turks, whilst the emperor Charles\nV. was king of Spain. By the licentiousness of his companions, he\nby degrees lost his fear of offending God, grew careless, and fell\ninto many grievous sins. The troop to which he belonged having been\ndisbanded, he went into Andalusia in 1536, where he entered the service\nof a rich lady near Seville, as a shepherd. He was now about forty\nyears of age, and being stung with remorse for his past misconduct, he\nresolved to amend his life and do penance for his sins. He accordingly\nemployed the greatest part of his time, both by day and night, in\nthe exercises of prayer and mortification; bewailing his ingratitude\ntowards God, and deliberating how he could best dedicate himself to\nHis service. His compassion for the distressed moved him to pass into\nAfrica, that he might there comfort and succour the slaves, not without\nhopes of meeting with the crown of martyrdom. At Gibraltar he met a\nPortuguese gentleman condemned to banishment, whose estate had been\nconfiscated by king John III. He was then in the hands of the king's\nofficers, together with his wife and children, and was on his way to\nCeuta in Barbary, the place of his exile. John, out of compassion,\nserved him without wages. At Ceuta the gentleman fell sick, and was\nreduced to dispose of the small remains of his shattered fortune for\nthe support of his wife and children, who were with him in exile.\nJohn, not content to sell what little stock he had to relieve them,\nhired himself as a day labourer at the public works to earn all he\ncould for their subsistence. The apostasy of one of his companions\nalarmed him, and his confessor telling him that his going in quest of\nmartyrdom was an illusion, he determined to return to Spain. Coming\nback to Gibraltar, his piety suggested to him to turn pedler, and sell\nlittle sacred pictures and books of devotion, which might furnish him\nwith opportunities of exhorting his customers to virtue. His stock\nincreasing considerably, he settled in Granada, where he opened a shop\nin 1538, being then forty-three years of age.\n\nThe great preacher and servant of God, John D'Avila, surnamed the\nApostle of Andalusia, preached that year at Granada, on S. Sebastian's\nday, which is there kept as a great festival. John having heard his\nsermon, was so affected with it, that, melting into tears, he filled\nthe whole church with his cries, beating his breast, and calling aloud\nfor mercy. Then, frenzied with compunction, he ran about the streets,\ntearing his hair, and behaving in such a manner that he was followed by\nthe rabble with sticks and stones, and came home besmeared with dirt\nand blood. He then gave away all that he had in the world, and having\nthus reduced himself to absolute poverty, continued his frantic racing\nabout the streets as before, till some had the charity to take him to\nthe venerable John D'Avila, covered with dirt and blood. The holy man\nspoke to him in private, heard his general confession, gave him proper\nadvice, and promised his assistance. John returned soon after to his\nextravagances. He was, thereupon, taken up and put into a madhouse, on\nsupposition of his being disordered in his senses, where, according to\nthe barbarous practice of the time, the severest methods were employed\nto bring him to himself. He underwent all the pains inflicted on him\nas an atonement for the sins of his past life. D'Avila being informed\nof his conduct, came to visit him, and found him reduced almost to\nthe grave by weakness; and his body covered with wounds and sores;\nbut his soul was still vigorous, and thirsting after new sufferings\nand humiliations. D'Avila, however, told him that being sufficiently\nexercised in so singular a method of penance and humiliation, he had\nbetter employ himself for the time to come in something more conducive\nto his own and the public good. His exhortation had its desired effect;\nand John became at once calm, to the great astonishment of his keepers.\nHe continued, however, some time longer in the hospital serving the\nsick, but left it entirely on S. Ursula's day, in 1539. He then thought\nof executing his design of doing something for the relief of the poor;\nand, after a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, to recommend himself\nand his undertaking to her intercession, he began to sell wood in\nthe market-place, and expend the proceeds in feeding the poor. Soon\nafter he hired a house in which to shelter poor sick persons, whom he\nserved and provided for with such ardour, prudence, and economy, that\nit surprised the whole city. This was the foundation of the Order of\nCharity, in 1540, which, by the benediction of heaven, has since been\nspread all over Christendom. John was occupied all day in serving his\npatients; in the night he went out to find new objects of charity,\nrather than to seek provisions for them; for people of their own accord\nbrought him in all necessaries for his little hospital. The archbishop\nof Granada, highly pleased with the discipline and order maintained in\nthe establishment, gave largely towards its support, and his example\nwas followed by others. Indeed, the charity, patience, and modesty of\nS. John, and his wonderful care and foresight, made every one admire\nand favour the institution. The bishop of Tuy, president of the royal\ncourt of judicature in Granada, having invited the holy man to dinner,\nput several questions to him, to all of which he answered in such a\nmanner, as gave the bishop the highest opinion of his prudence and\ngood sense. It was this prelate who gave him the name of John of God,\nand prescribed him a kind of habit, though S. John never thought of\nfounding a religious order; for the rules which bear his name were\ndrawn up only in 1556, six years after his death; and religious vows\nwere not introduced among his brethren before the year 1570.\n\n[Illustration: S. JOHN OF GOD. After Cahier.\n March 8.]\n\nTo make trial of the saint's disinterestedness, the marquis of Tarifa\ncame to him in disguise to beg an alms, on pretence of a necessary\nlaw-suit, and received from his hands twenty-five ducats, which was all\nhe had. The marquis was so much edified by his charity, that, besides\nreturning the sum, he bestowed on him one hundred and fifty crowns of\ngold, and sent to his hospital every day, during his stay at Granada,\none hundred and fifty loaves, four sheep, and six pullets. But the\nholy man gave a still more illustrious proof of his charity when the\nhospital was on fire; for he carried out most of the sick on his own\nback; and though he passed and repassed through the flames, and staid\nin the midst of them a considerable time, he received no hurt. But\nhis charity was not confined to his own hospital; he looked upon it\nas his own misfortune if the necessities of any distressed person in\nthe country remained unrelieved. He, therefore, made strict inquiry\ninto the wants of the poor over the whole province, relieved many in\ntheir own houses, found employment for those that were able to work,\nand with wonderful sagacity laid himself out in every way to comfort\nand assist the afflicted members of Christ. He was particularly active\nand vigilant in providing for young maidens in distress, to prevent\nthe dangers to which they are often exposed. He also reclaimed many\nwho were already leading a course of sin, seeking them out, crucifix\nin hand, and with many tears exhorting them to repentance. Though his\nlife seemed to be taken up in continual action, he accompanied it\nwith perpetual prayer and incredible corporal austerities. And his\ntears of devotion, his frequent raptures, and his eminent spirit of\ncontemplation, gave a lustre to his other virtues. But his sincere\nhumility appeared most admirable in all his actions, even amidst the\nhonours which he received at the court of Valladolid, whither business\ncalled him. The king and princes seemed to vie with each other who\nshould show him the greatest courtesy, or put the largest alms in his\nhands. Only the most tried virtue could stand the test of honours, but\nJohn remained the same retiring, modest man he was before, preferring\nhumiliation to honour. One day, when a woman called him a hypocrite,\nand loaded him with invectives, he gave her a piece of money, and\ndesired her to repeat all she had said in the market-place.\n\nWorn out at last by ten years' hard service in his hospital, he fell\nsick. The immediate occasion was excess of fatigue in saving wood\nand other such things for the poor, in a great flood. He at first\nconcealed his sickness, that he might not be obliged to diminish his\nlabours, but in the meantime he carefully went over the inventories of\nall things belonging to his hospital, and inspected all the accounts.\nHe also revised the rules he had made for its administration, the\ndistribution of time, and the exercises of piety to be observed in it.\nUpon a complaint that he harboured idle strollers and bad women, the\narchbishop sent for him. The man of God threw himself at his feet, and\nsaid, \"The Son of God came for sinners, and we are obliged to seek\ntheir conversion. I am unfaithful to my vocation because I neglect\nthis; and I confess that I know no other bad person in my hospital\nbut myself.\" This he spoke with go much humility that all present\nwere moved, and the archbishop dismissed him with respect, leaving\nall things to his discretion. His illness increasing, the news of it\nspread. The lady Anne Ossorio was no sooner informed of his condition,\nthan she came in her carriage to the hospital to see him. The servant\nof God lay in his habit in his little cell, covered with a piece of an\nold coat instead of a blanket, and having under his head the basket in\nwhich he was wont to collect alms for his hospital. The poor and sick\nstood weeping round him. The lady, moved with compassion, despatched\nsecretly a message to the archbishop, who sent immediately an order\nto S. John to obey her as he would himself, during his illness. By\nvirtue of this authority she obliged him to leave his hospital. In\ngoing out, he visited the Blessed Sacrament, and poured forth his heart\nbefore It with fervour; remaining there absorbed in his devotions so\nlong, that the lady Anne Ossorio caused him to be taken up and carried\ninto her carriage, in which she conveyed him to her own house. She\nherself prepared, with the help of her maids, and gave him with her\nown hands, broth and medicine, and often read to him the history of\nthe passion of our Divine Redeemer. The whole city was in tears; all\nthe nobility visited him; and the magistrates came to beg he would\ngive his benediction to the city. He answered, that his sins rendered\nhim the scandal and reproach of their country, but recommended to them\nhis brethren the poor, and his religious that served them. At last,\nby order of the archbishop, he gave the city his dying blessing. The\narchbishop said Mass in his chamber, heard his confession, gave him the\nviaticum and extreme unction, and promised to pay all his debts and to\nprovide for all his poor.\n\nThe saint expired on his knees, before the altar, on the 8th of March,\nin 1550, at the age of fifty-five. He was buried by the archbishop, and\nall the clergy, both secular and regular, accompanied by the court,\nthe nobles, and the whole city, with the utmost pomp. He was honoured\nby many miracles, beatified by Urban VIII., in 1630, and canonized by\nAlexander VIII., in 1690. His relics were translated into the church\nof his brethren in 1664. His Order of Charity to serve the sick was\napproved of by pope Pius V.\n\n[Illustration: Jesus Christ in the Character of a Pilgrim accepting\nthe Hospitality of two Dominicans. From a Fresco by Fra Angelico at\nFlorence.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 9.\n\n S. PACIAN, _B. of Barcelona, in Spain, before_ A.D. 390.\n S. GREGORY NYSSEN, _B.C. in Cappadocia, circ._A.D. 390.\n S. BOSA, _B. in Northumbria_, A.D. 705.\n SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS, _App. of the Sclaves, 9th cent._\n S. VITALIS OF SICILY, _Ab._, A.D. 994.\n S. CATHARINE OF BOLOGNA, _V. in Italy_, A.D. 1463.\n S. FRANCES OF ROME, _W._, A.D. 1440.\n\n\nS. PACIAN, B. OF BARCELONA.\n\n(BEFORE A.D. 390.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Notker, &c. Authority:--Mention\n by S. Jerome in his Ecclesiastical Writers, c. 106, 107, 132.]\n\nVery little is known of this Spanish bishop, except that he was the\nauthor of some short works, of which one, named Cerbus, is lost. His\n\"Epistles against the Novatians,\" his \"Call to Penitence,\" and \"Book\non Baptism,\" addressed to catechumens, are extant. His son, Flavius\nDexter, probably born before Pacian received episcopal orders, was an\nintimate friend of S. Jerome. Pacian died at an advanced old age in the\nreign of Theodosius.\n\n\nS. GREGORY, B. OF NYSSA.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 390.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Greek Men\u00e6a on Jan. 10th; the Coptic Church on\n Oct. 14th and Nov. 22nd. Authorities:--His own works; S. Gregory\n Nazianzen, in his letters; Socrates and Theodoret, in their\n Ecclesiastical Histories.]\n\n[Illustration: S. GREGORY OF NYSSA. After Dominichino.\n March 9.]\n\nS. Gregory was a younger brother of the great S. Basil, (June 14th,)\nand S. Macrina, (July 19th), and son of the holy Eusebius and\nEmmelia, who are commemorated on May 30th. Having lost his parents, he\ngrew to reverence his brother Basil as a father, and his sister was\nto him as a mother, the instructress of his youth. He was educated\nin every accomplishment of the age, and became a rhetorician. He was\nmarried to a virtuous wife, named Theosebia, who is highly praised by\nS. Gregory Nazianzen in his ninety-fifth epistle, in after years, as\n\"an honour to the church, an ornament of Christ, the utility of our\nage, the confidence of women, the fairest and most illustrious amidst\nthe beauty of the brethren, truly holy wife of a priest, his peer in\nhonour and worthy of the great mysteries.\" These expressions, though\nsomewhat exaggerated, at least point Theosebia out as having been\nheld in high honour by the great saint of Nazianzus. Gregory took the\norder of Reader, but instead of pressing forward to the diaconate and\npriesthood, showed an inclination to pursue a wholly secular avocation\nas a rhetorician, and this drew down on him a sharp reprimand from\nGregory Nazianzen. Moved by this admonition, Gregory now resolved to\nturn his back upon worldly ambition, and devote himself wholly to the\nservice of God. He was ordained bishop by his brother, S. Basil, in\n371, when he was aged about thirty-two; and it is supposed by Baronius\nthat Gregory lived with his wife in continence after his ordination,\nand that she was a deaconess. Nazianzen calls her his \"holy and blessed\nsister,\" but this is slender ground for the conjecture. It must be\nremembered that the celibacy of the clergy, which is now required by\nthe Western Church, with such advantage, was not a matter of rule\nfor some centuries, and never prevailed in the Oriental Church.\nThere cannot be much doubt as to the great benefit to the Church of\na celibate priesthood, but it is a mistake to endeavour to force\nthe facts of history to demonstrate that celibacy was of primitive\nobligation. It was always felt to be most seemly, and when Western\nChristendom became sufficiently organized to admit of the rule being\nmade, the popes and councils did what was evidently for the good of the\nKingdom of Christ in requiring the clergy to lead celibate lives.\n\nThe see of Gregory was Nyssa, a city of Cappadocia, of no great\nimportance, but the brilliant qualities of the bishop, and his\northodoxy, made him soon conspicuous as a leader of the Catholics, and\nan object of great dread to the Arians, who prevailed on Demosthesus,\nthe deputy-governor of the province, under the Arian Emperor Valens,\nto banish him. He spent eight years in exile, wandering from place\nto place, suffering everywhere persecution from the Arians. Shortly\nafter the accession of Gratian, Gregory was restored to his see, and\nassisted at the Synod of Antioch, in 379, where he received the charge\nof visiting the scattered churches in Arabia. To enable him to execute\nthis arduous work, the emperor Theodosius accorded to him the use of\nthe government post-horses and chariots.\n\nHe assisted at the council of Constantinople, in 381, when he was\nchosen to make the funeral oration upon S. Meletius, patriarch of\nAntioch, and was delegated to be one of the bishops to visit Pontus. In\n385, he preached at Constantinople the funeral oration of the empress\nFlacilla, and he was present at the dedication of the church of the\nRuffini, in Constantinople, in 394. The exact date of his death is not\nknown, but it is certain that he died at an advanced age.\n\nIt is unnecessary here to give a list of the writings of this eloquent\ndoctor, a large number of which have been preserved.\n\n[Illustration: S. GREGORY OF NYSSA (with square nimbus). After Cahier.\n March 9.]\n\n\nS. BOSA, B. C.\n\n(A.D. 705.)\n\n [Wilson, in his Anglican Martyrology. Authority:--Bede.]\n\nThe monastery of Streaneshalch, now Whitby, was founded and governed by\nS. Hilda, towards the middle of the seventh century. It was a double\ncommunity, under the rule of S. Columba, which S. Aidan had introduced\namong the Northumbrians. S. Hilda governed a congregation of men, as\nwell as one of women, who lived in separate dwellings; and such was her\ncare that no less than five bishops issued from this monastery, all of\nthem men of singular merit and sanctity.\n\nThe first of these saint-like prelates named by Bede, was Bosa, who,\nupon the removal of S. Wilfrid, was taken from the solitude of the\ncloister, and ordained bishop of York by S. Theodore, archbishop of\nCanterbury, in the year 678. He most worthily administered the see till\n700, when S. Wilfrid being recalled, he humbly resigned his charge, and\nreturned to his monastery.\n\nBut S. Wilfrid being again expelled, S. Bosa was once more called\nforth to the pastoral administration of the see of York, and this he\ndischarged till his death, which took place in the year 705. He was a\nman of great sanctity and humility, says Bede. He had for his successor\nS. John of Beverley, from the same monastery.\n\n\nSS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS, APP.\n\n(9TH CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. S. Cyril by the Greeks on Feb. 14th, and S.\n Methodius on May 11th. Authorities:--The Life of S. Clement, a pupil\n of Methodius, pub. by Pampereus, Vienna, 1802; the Pannonian Life\n of Methodius; notices in the Life of S. Ludmilla; the Chronicle of\n Nestor; Cosmas of Prague, &c. The chronology in this article is from\n the treatise on Cyril and Methodius by Philaret, B. of Rig\u00e1, Milan,\n 1847.]\n\nCyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Sclaves, were brothers, the\nsons of a man of rank in Thessalonica. Constantine, who afterwards in\nreligion assumed the name of Cyril, the younger, was educated at the\ncourt of Constantinople, along with the youthful emperor Michael, from\nthe year 842, by the illustrious Photius, who instructed him in logic,\nphilosophy, mathematics, and languages. His talents and accomplishments\nafforded him every prospect of a brilliant career in the world, but\nhe chose to lay them at the foot of the cross, and, receiving sacred\norders, was appointed librarian to the palace. Soon after, he retired\nto a little monastery, but was drawn from it again to give lectures on\nphilosophy.\n\nMethodius, his elder brother, as soon as his education was\naccomplished, entered the army, and was appointed to the government of\nthe Gr\u00e6co-Sclavonic province, which, according to the Pannonian legend,\nhe held for ten years.\n\nIn the year 851, Cyril retired to Mount Olympus, along with his\nbrother, who had also resolved to desert the world, and lived in\nseclusion and the practice of self-discipline. In 858, some dignitaries\nof the Chazars, a Hunnish race, besought the emperor to send them a\nlearned man to instruct them in the true faith, and Cyril and Methodius\nwere chosen for this purpose.\n\nHow long they spent on this mission is not known exactly. They\ntarried till they could organise the church among the Chazars, and\nthen retired to the Crimea where they worked together at making a\nSclavonic translation of the Holy Gospels. It was whilst there that\nthey discovered what they believed to be the relics of S. Clement of\nRome, lying together with the anchor, which had been attached to his\nneck, where the faithful had reverently laid him. They raised the holy\nremains, and translated them to Constantinople.\n\nIn 862, the Sclavonic princes of Pannonia, Rostislaw, Swaetopolk, and\nKotel requested the emperor Michael and the patriarch Photius, to send\nthem teachers, \"because they were without true instructors for the\npeople,\" and they desired to have instruction and divine worship in\ntheir own language. It appears that missionaries of the Latin Church\nhad already penetrated amongst them, but probably had been unable to\nmaster the Sclavonic tongue; at any rate, the Pannonians refused to\naccept them, and turned instead to the East.\n\nNone were better calculated to execute this mission than the brothers\nMethodius and Cyril, the former of whom had for some years governed\na Sclavonic province, and both had been born at Thessalonica, on the\nconfines of Sclavonic peoples, and where the language was familiar\nto the natives. The emperor and the patriarch felt this, and sent\nfor them, and laid before them the desire of these heathen princes\nfor the Gospel. The brothers at once undertook the mission, and set\nforth. On their way, Methodius was the means of converting the king of\nthe Bulgarians. Boris had a sister, who was a Christian, having been\nbrought up at Constantinople, whither she had been carried captive. The\nprince, who was passionately fond of hunting, desired the emperor to\nprocure him a picture, which should illustrate his favourite pursuit,\nand adorn the hall of a new palace he had erected. Methodius was\ncommissioned by the emperor to execute this task, and he appeared\nbefore king Boris, not as a missionary, but as a painter. \"Let it be\na good picture,\" said the prince, \"large and terrible.\" \"So shall it\nbe,\" answered Methodius, \"but one thing I demand,--that I may be left\nundisturbed here to complete my picture, that no one may see it till\nit is finished.\" The king reluctantly gave his consent, and day after\nday passed, and the painter was not seen. He remained closely shut up\nwithin the palace. Weeks rolled by, and Boris chafed with impatience\nand curiosity. At length the doors were thrown open, and the king\nentered. Methodius had painted the Last Judgment on the wall of the new\nhall. Above sat Christ on the great white throne, and below were men\nreceiving sentence, and the angels dividing them. An awe and wonder\nfell on the king's heart as he contemplated the picture. \"What meaneth\nthis?\" he asked. And Methodius seized the opportunity of preaching to\nhim righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. He explained to\nthe king the whole doctrine of the final judgment of men, their fate\ndepending on their works in this world, and the king trembled. He went\non to speak of the glories prepared for the baptized who keep the\nfaith. Great and purifying thoughts swelled the bosom of the prince,\nand going up to the painter, he said, with his head bowed, \"Take me,\nand teach me, that I too may pass to the beautiful side of the picture.\"\n\nAnd when Cyril and Methodius had preached the Word of God among the\nBulgarians, they journeyed on, bearing the bones of S. Clement,\nand their Sclavonic translation of the Holy Gospels, into Moravia,\nwhere they laboured about four and a half years with great success.\nThe bishops of the neighbouring German provinces, however, viewed\nthe mission of these Easterns with jealousy, and complained to pope\nNicolas I. of their performing the liturgy in the Sclavonic language.\nThe unsuccessful war waged by Rostislaw with the Germans, and the\ndeposition of Photius at Constantinople, who had commissioned the two\napostles, gave Nicolas the opportunity of summoning the two Greek\nmissionaries to Rome. On their journey (in 868) they were subjected\nto vexatious treatment at Venice, on account of their cause, but\npope Adrian II., who had succeeded Nicolas, dreading to lose Moravia\nand Pannonia, received them with great cordiality, permitted them\nto celebrate the divine mysteries in Sclavonic at the grave of the\nApostles, ordained their disciples, Formosus and Gonderik,[38] bishops,\nthree others priests, and two lectors. He also sanctioned the use of\nthe Sclavonic liturgy. The following account from the Lections of the\nOlmutz Breviary will not prove uninteresting. \"The blessed Cyril, by\nthe grace of God, after he had converted the Moravians, invented new\nalphabetical letters, and translated the Old and New Testaments, and\nmany other things from Greek or Latin, into the Sclavonic tongue;\nand he appointed to be sung Mass, and the other canonical hours in\nthe church. And to this day they are thus sung in Sclavonic parts,\nespecially in Bulgaria, and thereby many souls are drawn to Christ\nthe Lord. And when after some time the said Cyril went to Rome out\nof devotion, he was rebuked by the sovereign pontiff and the other\nrulers of the church, because, contrary to the canons, he had appointed\nthe holy Mass to be sung in the Sclavonic tongue. But he, humbly\nendeavouring to satisfy them, but not able to convince them wholly,\nsnatched up the Psalter, and read the words of the Psalmist, 'Let\neverything that hath breath praise the Lord.' _Omnis spiritus laudet\nDominum._ And he said, 'If every one that hath breath is to praise\nthe Lord, why, my fathers, do ye forbid me to perform the Mass in the\nSclavonic tongue, or to translate other things from Latin and Greek\ninto the vernacular? Finding the people simple and ignorant of the ways\nof the Lord, I, by the inspiration of God, found this means of drawing\nmany to God. Therefore, pardon me, my fathers, and, following the\nexample of S. Paul, the doctor of the Gentiles,--Forbid not to speak\nwith tongues. (I Cor. xiv. 39.)' And they, hearing him, and wondering\nat his sanctity and faith, gave him authority in those parts to say\nMass, and sing the Canonical Hours, in the aforesaid tongue.\"\n\n[38] Gonderik, bishop of Viliterni, was the author of the Life of S.\nClement, which contains much information on the life and acts of SS.\nCyril and Methodius.\n\nCyril died in Rome shortly after, Feb. 14th, 869, in a monastery into\nwhich he had retired; but Methodius, according to the entreaty of his\ndying brother, returned to Moravia, to find that the hostility of the\nGerman prelates and clergy was not allayed. Political disturbances,\nfomented by the Germans, broke out between 869 and 901, and Rostislaw\nwas reduced to ruin. Methodius held himself aloof from these contests,\nand in 870 went with his disciples into Pannonia, where the court\nreceived him and gave up to him the castle of Salava in Mosburg, as\na residence. Kotel now besought the pope to consecrate Methodius\narchbishop of Pannonia, and his request was complied with. But the\nGerman clergy, especially the archbishops of Salzburg and Mainz, who\nunfortunately were ambitious rather of extending their authority than\nof preaching the Gospel to the people, were exasperated by this to the\nhighest pitch, and they stirred up against him the German emperor and\nthe Moravian prince Swaetopolk, and brought matters so far that he was\ndriven into banishment for a year and a half or two years. Pope John\nVIII. restored to him his see in 874. At last the Moravian Sclaves saw\nthrough the ambition of the bishops his opponents, and expelled them\nthe country, at the same time writing to the pope to request him to\nappoint Methodius archbishop of Moravia. This John VIII. consented to,\nand \"from this time,\" says the contemporary writer of the Pannonian\nhistory of S. Methodius, \"the divine doctrine began to grow and\nspread rapidly, and heathenism and superstition to disappear.\" But\nthe archbishops of Salzburg and Mainz, who claimed jurisdiction over\nthe Sclavonic races, though not converted by them, could not forgive\nMethodius the loss of their power and position in the country. They\nhastened to Rome, and complained that Methodius was heretical on the\nsubject of the Double Procession, that he taught the independence of\nthe Moravian Church, and that he celebrated the Liturgy in the vulgar\ntongue. Pope John thereupon, in 878, forbade the performance of the\nLiturgy in Sclavonic, and in the following year summoned Methodius to\nappear before him in Rome. The German-Latin prelates triumphed; they\nappeared in Moravia, and declared that Methodius was deposed, and that\nhis authority had been transferred to them. But pope John, on the\nappearance of the apostle before him, was satisfied of his orthodoxy,\nand confirmed him in his position and authority over the Moravian\nChurch. Disappointed in their hope of ruining Methodius at Rome, the\nGerman prelates now spread the report that the archbishop had incurred\nthe displeasure of the emperor by his submission to the pope. Methodius\nwas therefore obliged to make a journey to Constantinople, where he\nwas cordially received by the emperor Basil, and then dismissed with\nmany presents. As soon as it was proved that the report of the anger\nof the imperial court was false, the enemies of Methodius endeavoured\nto dispose Swaetopolk, the prince, against him; and this they were the\nmore able to effect, because the prince was a man of immoral life, and\nhad incurred the reprimand of the archbishop on more than one occasion.\nGradually, influenced by these treacherous apostles of Mammon, rather\nthan of Jesus Christ, Swaetopolk became alienated from Methodius; but\nin spite of all their efforts, and the coldness of the prince, all the\nSclavonic races, from Croatia and Dalmatia to the confines of Poland,\nheard in their own tongue the celebration of the Divine mysteries,\nand looked to Methodius as their archbishop. Moreover he effected the\nconversion of the Bohemian Duke Borivoi, and introduced Christianity\ninto his lands. He founded at Prague the church of Our Lady, and\nanother dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul; and died on April 6th, 885.\n\nRelics of S. Cyril at Rome in S. Clemente, and at Brunn, in Moravia. In\nArt S. Cyril is represented in a philosopher's long habit, and bearded.\nS. Methodius as an archbishop with the pallium, holding in one hand a\npicture of the Last Judgment.\n\n\nS. CATHARINE OF BOLOGNA, V.\n\n(A.D. 1463.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Her name was inserted by Clement VIII., in 1592;\n and she was canonized by Benedict XIII., in 1724. Authority:--Her life\n written by F. Paleotti, about fifty years after her death.]\n\n[Illustration: CATHEDRAL MODENA. From Stoughton's \"Italian Reformers.\"\n March 9.]\n\nCatharine was the daughter of noble parents. Her father, John Vigri,\nwas high in favour with Nicholas d'Este, prince of Ferrara. She was\nborn on the Nativity of the B. Virgin, 1412, at Bologna, where she\nspent her childhood; but growing up to girlhood she removed with her\nparents to Ferrara, and became the associate of Margaret, daughter\nof the prince. At the age of eleven she joined the order of the Poor\nClares, and entered the convent of that society in Bologna, with\nthe consent of her parents. \"Thus withdrawn from all terrestral\noccupations,\" says her biographer, \"she began to serve God with such\nfervour of soul, that all began to marvel at her. So great was her\ngentleness, so great her reverence and obedience towards others, as\nlong as she lived, that she soon became beloved and pleasant to all,\nand almost venerable in her early girlhood. Wherever she was, and with\nwhomsoever she conversed, she spoke either of God or with God, so that,\nthough her body was on earth, her soul was ever in heaven. And although\nshe was tormented with grievous temptations which tried her almost\nout of measure, yet was she always of a glad countenance.\" She grew\ndaily more devoted to prayer; and her greatest delight was to spend\nmany hours in close communing with God. One Christmas Eve she obtained\npermission to spend the night in the church, having resolved to recite\na thousand times the Angelic Salutation in honour of her who that night\nbore the Saviour of the world. The hours glided away in the church in\nall stillness, save for the click of the beads in Catharine's fingers,\nand in all darkness, save for the glimmer of the red lamp before the\nBlessed Sacrament. Suddenly, a glory filled the church, and she saw\nbefore her the holy Mother bearing her infant Son in her bosom, and\nsmiling on the young religious, S. Mary laid the child Jesus in her\narms. It was a moment of supreme felicity, and one painters have loved\nto recall, as she held to her heart her Redeemer and God, and looked\ndown on His radiant face. Then, trembling between love and fear, she\nbent her lips to his mouth, and instantly all was dark; the vision had\nfled. When she returned to her cell she wrote down what she had seen on\nthe margin of her breviary, where it was found after her death.\n\nMargaret d'Este, her little friend in childhood, had grown up, and was\nmarried to a good man, Robert Malatesta,[39] who, however, died and\nleft her a disconsolate widow. The prince of Ferrara was desirous of\nmarrying his daughter again, but Margaret clung to the memory of her\nfirst husband, and besought her friend Catharine to assist her with her\nprayers. And it fell out that on the very day of the second marriage\nthe bridegroom died. Next night Margaret saw Robert come to her, and\nextending to her the wedding ring, say, \"Margaret, I marry thee again,\nthou must be mine alone!\" and she spent the rest of her days in a holy\nwidowhood. A convent of Poor Clares having been founded in Bologna, S.\nCatharine was appointed to be the first prioress, in spite of her tears\nand entreaties to be left to the calm seclusion of her cell, and the\nsubordinate duties of a sister. She dreaded lest the cares and business\nwhich fall to a superior should leave her less time for contemplation\nand prayer.\n\n[39] Robert was only eighteen when he married her, and she was much\nyounger.\n\nOn her way from Ferrara to her new home she sickened, but persevered in\nher journey, though carried on a litter to the boat, and when placed\nin it, was given a blessed candle to hold, as is usual with dying\npersons, in case she should die on the journey. She however recovered,\nsufficiently to set the new house in order, and to complete the\nconstruction of some of the buildings; and then after the flame of life\nhad again sunk, and once more flickered up, calmly entered into the joy\nof her Lord on March 9th, 1463, at the age of fifty-one.\n\nHer body, incorrupt, is shown in the church of her convent, through\nglass, sitting, richly habited, but with face, hands, and feet bare.\n\n\nS. FRANCES OF ROME, W.\n\n(A.D. 1440.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Canonized by Paul V., in 1608. Authorities:--Her\n life by her confessor, John Mattiotti, and another by Maria Magdalena\n d'Aguillar. The following life is condensed from that by Lady\n Georgiana Fullerton.]\n\nFrances of Rome was born in stormy days. War was raging all over\nEurope. Italy was torn by inward dissentions, and the Church was\nafflicted, not only by the outward persecutions which strengthens her\nvitality, though for a while they appear to cripple her action, but by\ntrials of a far deeper and more painful nature. Heresy had torn from\nher arms a great number of her children, and repeated schisms were\ndividing those who, in appearance, and even in intention, remained\nfaithful to the Holy See. The successors of S. Peter had removed the\nseat of their residence to Avignon, and the eternal city presented the\naspect of one vast battle-field, on which daily and hourly conflicts\nwere occurring. In the capital of Western Christendom ruins of recent\ndate lay side by side with the relics of past ages; the churches were\nsacked, burned, and destroyed, and the eyes of the people of Rome were\nturned beseechingly to Heaven to restore to them that tranquillity to\nwhich they had almost become strange.\n\nIt was at that time, during the pontificate of Urban VI., in the year\n1384, that Francesca was born at Rome; that \"she rose as a star in a\ndark night,\" according to the expression of the most ancient of her\nbiographers. Her father's name was Paul Russa; her mother's Jacobella\nde' Roffredeschi; they were both of noble descent. On the day of her\nbirth she was carried to the Church of S. Agnes, and there baptized.\n\nLittle could the worshippers who may have been praying there that day\nfor a blessing on their bereaved and distracted city, have guessed in\nwhat form that blessing was bestowed, and that that little babe, a few\nhours old, was to prove a most powerful instrument in the hands of God\nfor the extinction of schism, the revival of piety, and the return of\npeace.\n\nFrom her infancy, Francesca was not like other children. At two or\nthree years old she manifested a precocious intelligence and piety.\nInstead of playing, she loved to retire into a silent corner of her\nfather's palace, and kneeling down join her little hands in prayer.\n\nFrom the time that Francesca had understood the meaning of the words,\nher greatest desire had been to enter a convent; it was therefore\nwith profound grief that she received, at the age of twelve, the\nannouncement from her father that he had promised her hand to Lorenzo\nPonziano, a young nobleman of illustrious birth, and not less eminent\nfor his virtues and talents than from his fortune and position. She\nflew to her director and besought his advice. \"If your parents persist\nin their resolution,\" said he, \"take it, my child, as a sign that\nGod expects of you this sacrifice. Offer up to him in that case your\nearnest desire for the religious life. He will accept the will for\nthe deed; and you will attain at once the reward of that wish, and\nthe peculiar graces attached to the sacrament of marriage.\" Francesca\nsubmitted, and was married to Lorenzo Ponziano, and took up her abode\nin his palace in the heart of the Trastevere. It is a well-known spot;\nand on the 9th of March, the people of Rome flock to it in crowds. The\nmodern building erected on the foundations of the old palace is the\nCasa dei Esercizii Pii. On the day of her festival its rooms are thrown\nopen, every memorial of the gentle saint is exhibited, lights burn on\nnumerous altars, flowers deck the passages, leaves are strewn in the\nchapel, on the stairs, in the entrance court; figured tapestry and\ncrimson silks hang over the door, and crowds of people go in and out,\nand kneel before the relics and pictures of the dear saint of Rome, and\ngaze on each altar, and linger in these chambers, like kinsfolk met on\na birthday to rejoice together.\n\nFrancesca was received into her new home tenderly and joyfully by her\nfather-in-law Andrew, his wife Cecilia, and Vannozza, the wife of her\nhusband's brother, a holy and loving woman, in whom Francesca found a\nkindred spirit. The manner of Francesca was so gentle and kind, that\nit inspired affection in all who approached her; but there was also a\nprofound and awful purity in her aspect and in her demeanour, which\neffectually checked the utterance of a free or licentious word in her\npresence. Faithful to her early habits of piety, she continued every\nWednesday to visit the church of S. Maria Nuova; and after confessing\nto her director, Antonio Savelli, she communicated. Rising betimes in\nthe morning, Francesca devoutly said her prayers, made her meditations,\nand read attentively out of a spiritual book. In the course of the day,\nwhenever she had a moment's leisure, she withdrew into a church, or\ninto her own room, and gave herself up to prayer. At the same time, so\ndevout a life in a young person of twelve years old could not fail to\nattract the attention and draw down the censures of the worldly. Many\nsuch began to laugh at Francesca, and to turn her piety into ridicule.\nBut her husband was to her a shield, as far as in him lay, against\nspiteful tongues. His young wife was much too precious to him, much\ntoo perfect in his sight, her whole life bore too visibly the stamp\nof God's dealings with her, for him to dream of interfering with the\ncourse she had taken. On the contrary, he looked upon her with that\naffectionate veneration which the presence of true sanctity always\nawakens in a noble and religious mind.\n\nThere was not a single member, friend, or servant, of that noble family\ninto which she had been received, that did not love her. Paluzzo,\nLorenzo's brother, delighted in encouraging the intimacy that had\narisen between his young sister-in-law and his own wife Vannozza. Day\nby day her influence--her tender, noiseless, gentle influence--was felt\nsubduing, winning, drawing them all to God.\n\nThe happiness which the family of Ponziano had enjoyed since Lorenzo's\nmarriage was interrupted by the sudden and dangerous illness of his\nwife, which baffled all medical skill, and soon brought her to the\nverge of the grave. She endured excruciating pain, and was unable to\ntake nourishment. She declined rapidly, and all hope of her recovery\nwas abandoned, when, one night, as she was lying motionless on her\ncouch of suffering, listening to the breathing of her nurses who had\nfallen asleep, a sudden light filled the room, and she saw standing\nbefore her in pilgrim's robe, S. Alexis, the noble Roman penitent, who\nhad passed many years as a despised beggar at the door of his father's\npalace. Drawing near to Francesca's bed, he said \"I am Alexis, and\nam sent from God to enquire of thee if thou choosest to be healed?\"\n\"I have no choice but the good pleasure of God,\" she answered. \"Then\nlive,\" said he, \"for He choosest that thou shouldest remain in the\nworld to glorify His name.\" Then he drew his mantle over Francesca and\nvanished, leaving her perfectly recovered.\n\nConfounded at this extraordinary favour, she rose in haste, and\nslipping out of the room without awaking her nurses, she hurried to\nthe bedside of her sister-in-law. \"My dear Vannozza, my own Vannozza!\"\nshe exclaimed, putting her arm round her neck, and her cheek next\nhers. Vannozza suddenly awoke, and distrusting the evidence of her\nsenses, said, \"Who are you? Am I dreaming? It sounds like the voice of\nmy little Frances?\" \"Yes, it is your little sister who is speaking\nto you.\" \"What! I left you only an hour ago at the point of death!\"\n\"It is I, nevertheless, come to thank you, dear companion, for having\nnursed me so tenderly, and now help me to thank God for his wonderful\nmercy towards me.\" Then sitting on her bed, with the hands of her\nsister clasped in her own, she related to her the vision, and the\ninstantaneous recovery that had followed; and then, as the light began\nto break into the chamber, she added with eagerness, \"Now let us hasten\nto S. Maria Nuova, and then to the church of S. Alexis, that I may\nreturn him my thanks, before others learn what God has done for me.\"\n\nThe year 1400 opened under melancholy auspices. The wars for the\nsuccession of the kingdom of Naples between Louis of Anjou and Ladislas\nwere agitating the whole of Italy; and Rome was exposed to all the fury\nof the contending parties. Lorenzo Ponziano, from his rank and fidelity\nto the sovereign pontiff, was especially marked out as an enemy by the\nadverse faction. But while on every side the storm was brewing, and the\naspect of public affairs each day became more gloomy, a blessing was\ngranted him, which for the last five years he had ardently desired.\nFrancesca became the mother of a little son, who received at the font\nthe name of John Baptist, or, in Italian, Giovanni Baptista. It was not\nat that time the custom for ladies of rank to nurse their children; but\nFrancesca set aside all such considerations, and never consented to\nforego a mother's sacred privilege.\n\nIn obedience to her director, and guided by her own sense of duty,\nshe modified, for the time being her usual mode of life, and occupied\nherself with the care of her child in preference to all other\nobservances of charity or of devotion.\n\nAbout a year after, Lorenzo's mother died, and Francesca was called\nto take her place as head of the household, and to superintend all\nthe domestic affairs. Distressed at the proposal, she pleaded her\nyouth and inexperience, and urged that Vannozza, as the wife of the\neldest brother, was, as a matter of course, entitled to that position.\nVannozza, however, steadily refused it, and at length, overcome by the\ngeneral importunity, Francesca found herself obliged to comply. Now it\nwas that her merit shone conspicuously. Placed at the head of the most\nopulent house in Rome, no symptom of pride revealed itself in her looks\nor in her actions. She was never heard to speak a harsh or impatient\nword. Firm in requiring every person in her house to fulfil their\nduties, she did it in the gentlest manner. Always courteous to her\nservants, she watched over their souls as precious treasures entrusted\nto her custody by God.\n\nFrancesca had just attained the age of twenty when her second son was\nborn. He was baptized on the day of his birth, and received the name\nof John Evangelist. He might well have been termed his mother's own\nchild; for in his veriest infancy, he showed that he had inherited\nher sweetness and spirit of devotion. He was to her as one of God's\nown angels, and tears of joy filled her eyes as she mused on the\nextraordinary signs of grace which he daily evinced. Evangelista was\nnot quite three years old when his little sister Agnes was born, who in\nbeauty, heavenly sweetness of temper, and precocious piety, proved the\ncounterpart of her brother.\n\nIn the year 1409, when she was about twenty-seven years old,\nFrancesca's temporal calamities began. After Ladislas of Naples,\nbefriended by the enemies of the pope, had in 1498 gained possession\nof Rome, he left behind him as governor of the city the count of\nTroja, a rough and brutal soldier. In an engagement with the count's\nsoldiers Lorenzo Ponziano was stabbed, and taken up and carried home\nas if dead. Francesca however found that he still breathed, and by her\nunremitting attention, he was restored to health.\n\nMeanwhile the count of Troja, pressed on every side, began to foresee\nthe necessity of leaving Rome; but, in his exasperation, resolved\npreviously to wreak his vengeance on the families most devoted to the\npope, and especially on that of the Ponziani. He accordingly arrested\nPaluzzo, Vannozza's husband, and understanding that Lorenzo had a son\nof eight or nine years old, he commanded that he should be given up\ninto his hands as a hostage.\n\nThis was to Francesca a trial almost beyond endurance, as she trembled\nfor the soul of her little one about to be committed to unprincipled\nsoldiers. The report of the order had spread through Rome, and as she\npassed through the streets clasping the hand of her dear child whom she\nwas about to surrender, crowds of commiserating women pressed round\nher. She mounted the Capitol, walked straight to where the tyrant was\nstanding, and gave up her son to him, and then, without once looking\nback, she hastened to the church of Ara C\u0153li, and falling prostrate\nbefore the feet of the Mother of Mercy, poured out her soul in tears\nand supplication. In the mean time the count of Troja had ordered one\nof his officers to take little Baptista on his horse, and carry him\naway to a place he appointed; but from the instant the child was placed\non the saddle, no efforts could induce the animal to stir. Four of\nthe knights of Naples renewed the attempt with other horses, and the\nsame result. There is a strength greater than man's will; there is a\npower that defeats human malice. Struck with a secret terror by this\nevident prodigy, the count of Troja gave up the unequal contest, and\nordered the child to be restored to his mother. Before the altar of Ara\nC\u0153li, where in her anguish she had fallen, Francesca received back\ninto her arms the son of her love, and blessed the God who had given\nher strength to go through this the severest of her trials.\n\nThe States of the Church and Rome were again overrun by the troops\nof Ladislas, in 1410. The horrors of this invasion, and of the sack\nthat followed it, surpassed in atrocity almost all those that had\npreviously afflicted the capital of Western Christendom. Lorenzo,\nscarcely recovered from his long illness, fled into a distant province.\nIt had been impossible to remove his wife and children; and Francesca\nremained exposed to a succession of the most trying disasters. The\nwealth of the family chiefly consisted in their country possessions;\nand day after day intelligence was brought to her that one farmhouse\nor another was burnt or pillaged, the cattle dispersed or destroyed,\nand the peasants murdered by a ruthless soldiery. One fatal morning a\ntroop of savage ruffians, drunk with rage, broke into the palace, and\nafter pillaging, and all but destroying the time-honoured residence of\nthe Ponziani, carried off her son Baptista. In the space of a few hours\nthat gorgeous abode was turned into a heap of ruins. Bereft of her\nhusband, of her son, and of all the conveniences of life, Francesca,\nwith her two younger children, remained alone, and unprotected, for her\nbrother-in-law, Paluzzo, was still a prisoner in the tyrant's hands.\nHow Baptista escaped is not recorded, but by some means or other he was\nenabled to get away from Rome and rejoin his father.\n\nFrancesca took shelter in a corner of her ruined habitation; and there,\nwith Evangelista and Agnese, she managed to live in the most complete\nseclusion. These two children were now their mother's only comfort,\nas their education was her principal occupation. Evangelista, as he\nadvanced in age, in no way belied the promise of his infancy. He lived\nin spirit with the angels and saints, and seemed more fitted for their\nsociety than for any earthly companionship. \"To be with God,\" was his\nonly dream of bliss. The hour for another sacrifice was at hand. The\nsecond invasion of Rome was succeeded by a dreadful famine, which was\nfollowed in its turn by a severe pestilence. Evangelista sickened and\ndied of it. Francesca wept over the loss of her dearly-beloved child,\nbut did not grieve for him. It was not a time for indulgence of sorrow.\nWant and sickness were turning Rome into a charnel house. Wild voices\nwere screaming for bread on every side. The streets were encumbered by\nthe victims of the plague. The ruin of private property, the general\npenury occasioned by the extortion of Ladislas, and the sacking of\nRome by his soldiers, had cut off almost all the resources of private\ncharity. Francesca, bereaved of everything but her one little girl,\nand lodged with Vannozza in a corner of their dismantled house, had no\nlonger at her command the resources she had formerly possessed for the\nrelief of the poor. A little food from their ruined estates was now\nand then supplied to these lonely women; and they stinted themselves,\nthat they might bestow the greatest part on the sick and poor. There\nwas a large hall in the lower part of the palace; the sisters converted\nit into a temporary hospital; out of the shattered furniture that lay\nscattered about the house, they contrived to make up beds and covering,\nand to prepare some clothing for the wretched creatures they were about\nto receive. When all was ready they brought in sufferers, carrying\nthe weakest in their arms. They washed and dressed their wounds and\nsores, prepared both medicine and food, watched the sick by day and by\nnight; laboured incessantly for their bodies, and still more for their\nsouls. The example which the ruined and bereaved wives of the Ponziani\nhad given kindled a similar spirit among the hitherto apathetic\ninhabitants of Rome, and in several places hospitals were opened to\nthe perishing multitudes. Often Francesca and Vannozza were without\na morsel of food for themselves and their poor, then they went forth\nto beg, and gratefully accepted the broken bits that fell from the\ntable of the wealthy. Each remnant of food, each rag of clothing, they\nbrought home with joy; and the best was invariably bestowed on their\nguests.\n\nEvangelista had been dead about a year, when one morning as Francesca\nwas praying in her oratory, she became conscious that the little room\nwas suddenly and supernaturally illumined. She raised her eyes, and\nEvangelista stood before her; his familiar aspect unchanged, but his\nfeatures transfigured and beaming with ineffable splendour. By his\nside stood an angel of exquisite beauty. Evangelista smiling on his\nmother, told her of his present happiness, and then bade her prepare\nto surrender her little Agnese, for God called the child. But a\nconsolation was promised her. Thenceforth the angel who stood beside\nEvangelista was to be ever with her, as a visible companion. Having\nsaid this, Evangelista disappeared, but the angel remained, and to the\nday of her death was ever present to her sight.\n\nThe following is the description of the angel as given by Francesca to\nher confessor, and written down by her, at his order:--\n\n\"His stature is that of a child, of about nine years; his countenance\nfull of sweetness and majesty; his eyes generally turned towards\nheaven. Words cannot describe the divine purity of that gaze. His brow\nis always serene; his glances kindle in the soul the flame of ardent\ndevotion. When I look upon him, I understand the glory of the angelic\nnature, and the degraded condition of our own. He wears a long, shining\nrobe, and over it a tunic, either as white as the lilies of the field,\nor of the colour of a red rose, or of the hue of the sky, when it is\nmost deeply blue. When he walks at my side his feet are never soiled by\nthe mud of the streets, or the dust of the roads.\"\n\nThe presence of her heavenly guide was to her as a mirror, in which she\ncould see reflected every imperfection of her character. Much as she\nhad discerned, even from her earliest childhood, of the corruption of\nher heart, yet she often told her director that it was only since she\nhad been continually in the presence of an angelic companion that she\nhad realised its amount. So that this divine favour, far from exalting\nher in her own eyes, served to maintain her in the deepest humility.\nWhen she committed any fault, the angel faded away, and it was only\nwhen she had felt compunction and confessed her fault, that he shone\nout upon her once more in all his brilliancy.\n\nAnd now her little Agnes was taken from her, and was laid beside her\nbrother Evangelista.\n\nFour long years had elapsed, during which Rome had been given up to\nwar, famine, and pestilence. The exertions of Francesca told at last on\nher enfeebled frame, and she fell dangerously ill. Vannozza never left\nher bedside, and nursed her with such love and care that she restored\nher to health. It was during this illness that Francesca had a vision\nof Hell. And now, in 1414, Ladislas died, and peace was restored to\nthe States of the Church. The Ponziani were recalled from banishment,\nand their property was restored. Lorenzo and his son Baptista returned\nto their home, and to the wife and mother they had so longed to behold\nagain. But the cup of joy was mixed with sorrow. Lorenzo, who a few\nyears back was strong and active, was now broken by long sufferings,\naged more through exile and grief than through years. We are told that\nwhen he entered his palace and looked upon his wife, deep sobs shook\nhis breast, and he burst into tears. The two beautiful children whom\nhe had left by her side were gone, and Francesca herself, pale with\nrecent sickness, spent with ceaseless labour, was changed in form, and\nbloom, and brightness, by what she also had endured.\n\nThe household life was now to some extent restored. Francesca devoted\nall her leisure moments to prayer, but never allowed her spiritual\nexercises to interfere with her duty as a wife and mistress of a\nhousehold. Her attention to Lorenzo's slightest wants and wishes was\nunceasing. She never complained of any amount of interruption or of\ntrouble which his claims, or those of the house, or of her position\nin society, occasioned. One day that she was reciting in her room the\noffice of the Blessed Virgin, her husband sent for her. Instantly\nrising from her knees, she obeyed his summons. When she had performed\nthe trifling service he required, she returned to her prayers. Four\nsuccessive times, for the most insignificant of purposes, was she sent\nfor; each time with unwearied good humour she complied, and resumed her\ndevotions without a shadow of discontent or annoyance. On resuming her\nbook the last time that this occurred, great was her astonishment in\nfinding the antiphon which she had begun four times, and had four times\nleft unfinished, written in letters of gold. Vannozza, who was present,\nwitnessed the miracle, and the gilded letters remained in the book to\nthe day of her death.\n\nHer son, Baptista, had now arrived at the age of eighteen, and at his\nfather's advice he married a maiden, named Mobilia, of noble birth\nand singular beauty. Immediately upon her marriage, the bride came\nto reside under the same roof as her father and mother-in-law. She\nwas received as a beloved daughter by Francesca and Vannozza, but\nshe neither returned their affection nor appeared sensible to their\nkindness. Her head was completely turned at finding herself her own\nmistress, adored by her husband, and furnished with the most ample\nmeans of gratifying all her fancies. She gave no thought to anything\nbut her beauty, her dress, and all the amusements within her reach.\nWholly inexperienced, she declined to ask or to receive advice,\nand chose in every respect to be guided by her inclinations alone.\nImperious with her equals, haughty with her superiors, she treated her\nmother-in-law with the most supreme contempt. In the gay societies\nwhich she frequented, it was her favourite amusement to turn Francesca\ninto ridicule, and mimic her manners and style of conversation. \"How\ncan one feel respect,\" said she, \"for an old woman who thinks of\nnothing but the poor, dresses plainly, and goes about the streets\ncarrying bread and old clothes?\"\n\nIt was in vain that Baptista, seriously annoyed at the insults\noffered to his dearly-loved mother, remonstrated with his wife.\nMobilia persisted for long, till struck with sudden illness in the\nmidst of a sharp and bitter speech addressed to her mother-in-law,\nshe became alarmed lest God should punish her with greater severity,\nand she resolved to behave towards her with respect and love. And\nthis grew till the young wife became passionately fond of Francesca,\nand venerated her for her virtues, which she strove hard to imitate.\nFrancesca, with the most watchful love, nursed Mobilia in her\nconfinements, and bestowed on her grandchildren the same cares that\nshe had lavished on her own children. It was a great relief to her\nthat Mobilia was able to assume the management of the house, and\nthus enable her to devote herself more unreservedly to the service\nof the poor and of the hospitals. A new epoch was now at hand in her\ncareer. God had placed in her heart many years ago a hope, which she\nhad nursed in secret, and watered with tears, and fostered by prayer.\nNever impatient, never beforehand with God's providence, she waited.\nLorenzo's admiration and affection for his wife had gone on increasing\nwith advancing years; the perfection of her life, and the miracles he\nhad so often seen her perform, inspired him with unbounded reverence.\nTaking her aside one day, he offered to release her from all the\nobligations imposed by the state of marriage, to allow her the fullest\nliberty of action, and the most absolute control over her person, her\ntime, and her conduct, on one condition, that she would promise never\nto cease to inhabit his house. She accepted his proposal joyfully\nand gratefully, but she continued to devote herself to her excellent\nhusband, and with the most attentive solicitude to render him every\nservice in her power. He was now in very declining health, and she\nrendered him by day and by night all the cares of the tenderest nurse.\n\nSeeing the necessity of a religious society for women living in the\nworld, Francesca now formed a congregation of pious women, which was\naffiliated to the Olivetian monastery of S. Maria Nuova, and which\ncomprised about ten noble Roman ladies, devoted like herself and\nVannozza, to the service of God and the poor. She now lost her beloved\nsister Vannozza, and her director, Antonio Savelli, who had instructed\nher childhood, and guided her ever since with wisdom and faithfulness.\nShe chose as her director and that of her congregation, Giovanni\nMattiotti, curate of S. Maria in Trastevere, to whom she had already\nsometimes been to confession. He was a man of distinguished piety, but\nof an irresolute and vacillating disposition, easily disheartened. Her\nsociety, which was called the Congregation of Oblates of Mary, had\nlasted seven years, when Francesca decided that it would be advisable\nthat it should have a convent in which to dwell. She took a house\nadapted to the requirements of a religious community, on the spot where\nan old tower, named \"Tor di Specchi,\" used to stand. Various obstacles\narose to the purchase of this house, which disheartened Mattiotti;\nbut they were finally overcome, and the acquisition was completed\ntowards the end of the year 1432. This house, which was at first\nconsidered only as a temporary residence, was subsequently added to,\nand has remained to this day the central house of the order. It was,\ndoubtless, a trial to Francesca that whilst she was providing a home\nfor her disciples, she was unable to avail herself of it, but she never\nhesitated as to her line of duty. Lorenzo had released her from all\nobligations but one, that of residing in his house, and watching over\nhis old age. His infirmities were increasing, and her attentions were\nindispensable to his comfort. The rule adopted by the Oblates of Tor di\nSpecchi remains the same to this day. They are not, strictly speaking,\nnuns: they take no vows, and are bound by no obligations under pain of\nsin; they are not cloistered, and their dress is that which was worn at\nthe period of their establishment by the widows of the Roman nobles.\n\nIt was on the Feast of the Annunciation, 1433, that the Oblates, ten\nin number, met in the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, heard Mass,\nand communicated, then went in procession to the house they were\nthenceforth to inhabit. That house, which now-a-days is thrown open\nduring the Octave of the Feast of S. Frances, is no gloomy abode. The\nbeautiful chapel; the garden, with its magnificent orange trees; the\nopen galleries, with their little oratories, where a holy picture or\nfigure takes you by surprise, and meets you at every turn; the light,\nairy rooms, where religious prints and ornaments, with flowers, birds,\nand ingenious toys, testify that innocent enjoyments are encouraged\namong the children educated therein by the Oblates of S. Mary.\n\nBut on the day when Francesca's companions first entered these walls,\nthere was nothing very fair or beautiful to greet them, though they\ncarried thither, in their hearts, from the altar they had just left,\nthe source of all light and love. With delight they exchanged their\nordinary dress for that which the rule prescribed. Francesca alone\nstood among them no nun in her outward garb, but the truest nun of all,\nthrough the inward consecration of her whole being to God.\n\nFrancesca had been forty years married to Lorenzo Ponziano, and blessed\nhad that union been by the tender affection which had reigned between\nthe husband and the wife, and sanctified by the exercise of no common\nvirtues, by the pursuit of no transitory object. Francesca had led the\nway, in meekness, in humility, in subjection, but with a single aim\nand an unwavering purpose. Lorenzo's health had been breaking up for\nsome years past, and now it utterly failed, and his disease assumed an\nalarming character. Few men would have shown themselves as worthy as\nhe did of such a wife as Francesca. From the moment of his marriage\nhe had appreciated her virtues, rejoiced in her piety, encouraged her\ngood works, and to a great extent shared in them. He had his reward.\nFrancesca tended him to the last with indefatigable love. He had been a\njust man, and his death was the death of the righteous. Francesca was\nnow free to follow the bent of her desire. She took leave of Mobilia\nand her son, and went straight to Tor di Specchi. It was on the 21st\nof March, the feast of S. Benedict, that she entered its walls, not as\nthe foundress, but as a humble suppliant for admission. At the foot of\nthe stairs, having taken off her black gown, her veil, and her shoes,\nshe knelt down, and made her general confession in the presence of the\ncommunity, and then asked permission to dwell amongst the Oblates. The\nspiritual daughters of S. Frances hastened to raise and to embrace her,\nand clothing her with their habit, they led the way to the chapel,\nwhere they all returned thanks to God.\n\nAt the same moment, her angel guardian was changed; another, brighter\nand more beautiful, stood beside her, weaving a golden woof out of\nthreads, which he drew from a palm branch. And this angel, ever busy on\nthis mystic work, remained beside her till her death, in place of the\nother.\n\nAgnes de Lellis, the superior, then resigned her office, and the\nsisters with one accord insisted on Francesca assuming the direction\nof the house. She positively refused to do so, but her objections were\noverruled by the director, and unable to resist his orders, she assumed\nthe office on March 25th.\n\nWe have not space to give an account of the life of the blessed\nFrancesca as a superior, or to detail the miracles she was enabled to\nwork; for these we refer the English reader to the life of this saint\nby Lady Georgiana Fullerton. On March 3rd, 1440, when Francesca was\nfifty-six years old, she was sent for to see her son Baptista, who\nwas laid up with a sharp attack of fever. She instantly obeyed the\nsummons, and spent the day at the Ponziano palace; but towards evening\nshe grew so ill that she could scarcely stand. However, she persisted\nin returning to her convent. On her way she stopped at the church\nof S. Maria in Trastevere, and found there her confessor, Giovanni\nMattiotti, who, noticing her altered looks, ordered her at once to\nreturn to her son's house. The order was a trial to her, for she felt\nthat she would never again enter the hallowed walls of Tor di Specchi;\nbut, faithful to the spirit of perfect obedience, she went back to the\npalace. In the course of the night a virulent fever came on, and she\nbecame so seriously ill that all hopes of her recovery were abandoned.\nAnd now the angel had nearly done his mystic task, the golden web was\ncomplete, and he folded up the glistening tissue about the palm. The\nday of March 9th was far advanced. \"What are you saying?\" asked her\nconfessor, seeing her lips move. \"The vespers of the Blessed Virgin,\"\nshe answered, in a scarcely audible voice. As an infant she had begun\nthe practice; and on the eve of her death she had not omitted it.\n\nS. Francesca was canonized May 29th, 1608.\n\nRelics in S. Maria Nuova, at Rome.\n\nIn art she appears with an angel by her side, sometimes contemplating\nHell open.\n\n[Illustration: HATRED AND MALICE. Symbolic carving at the Abbey of S.\nDenis.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 10.\n\n SS. CAIUS AND ALEXANDER, _MM. at Apamea, in Phrygia, after_ A.D. 171.\n SS. CODRATUS, DIONYSIUS, CYPRIAN, ANECTUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at\n Corinth, circ._ A.D. 258.\n SS. FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE, _circ._ A.D. 320.\n S. MACARIUS, _B. of Jerusalem, circ._ A.D. 335.\n S. KESSOG, _B. in Scotland, 6th cent._\n S. ANASTASIUS THE PATRICIAN, _C. in Egypt_, A.D. 567.\n S. DROCTOVEUS, _Ab. at S. Germain, in Paris, circ._ A.D. 576.\n S. ATTALUS, _Ab. of Bobbio, in Italy_, A.D. 626.\n S. HYMELIN, _P. at Visenaeken, in Belgium, 8th cent._\n B. JOHN SARCANDER, _P.M. at Holleschan, in Upper Silesia_,\n A.D. 1620.[40]\n\n[40] Roman Martyrology. He was born at Skotsoehan, in 1576, then\nbecame priest of Holleschan, where he was put to death with the utmost\nbarbarity by Protestants, on March 10th, 1624, partly out of hatred to\nhis religion, partly because he would not disclose the secrets of the\nconfessional.\n\n\nSS. CAIUS AND ALEXANDER, MM.\n\n(AFTER A.D. 171.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Notker, &c.\n Authority:--Eusebius, lib. v. c. 16.]\n\nNothing more of these martyrs is known than the brief mention in\nEusebius, quoting from Apollinaris of Hierapolis, that they were\nnatives of Eumenia, and that they suffered at Apamea.\n\n\nSS. CODRATUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 258.)\n\n [Inserted in the Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogeneta,\n also in the Roman Martyrology. Authority:--A Greek life published by\n Bollandus, of uncertain date, and very questionable authority.]\n\nIn the persecution of Decius many Christians fled to the mountains and\ndeserts until the tyranny was overpast. Amongst these was a woman who\nwas expecting her confinement; she hid in a wild place amongst the\nrocks, and there brought forth a child whom she named Codratus. He was\nbrought up in the desert during his infancy, and growing to maturity,\nwas joined by other young men desirous of a retired life. They were\ntaken before the governor Jason, at Corinth, and were executed.\n\n\nTHE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 320.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Amongst the Greeks on March 9th; the ancient\n Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome on March 9th, as also that of\n Bede, and most ancient Martyrologies. In the Roman, it has been\n transferred to the 10th, because the feast of S. Frances is a double.\n Authorities:--The Ancient Latin and Greek Acts, the former a recension\n of more ancient Acts, made in 900; the latter of less antiquity, also\n the Armenian Acts. These saints are spoken of by S. Ephraem Syrus, (d.\n 378), and by S. Gregory Nyssen, (d. 396), and S. Basil has a sermon on\n them. There is also a homily upon them extant by S. Gaudentius, B. of\n Brescia, (375.) The invention of their relics is mentioned by Sozomen,\n Hist. Eccl. lib. ix. c. 2.]\n\n\nWhen the Emperor Licinius had broken with his brother-in-law\nConstantine, he threw off the mask of toleration he had worn, and\nopenly persecuted the Christians. When in Cappadocia, he published an\nedict commanding every Christian, on pain of death, to abandon his\nreligion. Agricola, governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, resided\nat Sebaste, where S. Blaise, bishop of that city, was one of the first\nvictims. In the army which was quartered there was the Thundering\nLegion. Its commanding officer was Lysias. Forty soldiers of that\nlegion, natives of different countries, but all young, brave, and\ndistinguished for their services, refused to sacrifice to the idols.\nWhen Agricola announced the imperial order to the army, these forty\nbrave men advanced to his tribunal, and announced themselves to be\nChristians. They were at once cast into prison, where they raised the\n90th (91st) psalm, in solemn chant, as the darkness closed upon them;\n\"Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High; shall abide under\nthe shadow of the Almighty.\" Our blessed Lord appeared to them, and\nbade them play the man, and win the crown of victory. Then Cyrio, one\nof the confessors, said to his brethren, \"It has pleased God to unite\nus forty brethren in one communion of faith and warfare, let us not\npart in life or in death. Let us ask of God to send us forty to our\ncrown together.\"\n\nSix or seven days after they were brought again before the governor,\nand were sentenced to be exposed naked through the bitter winter night\non the ice of a pond; but he ordered that a fire and warm bath should\nbe prepared in a small building opening on the pond, and that any of\nthe confessors who should take advantage of this should be regarded as\nhaving apostatized.\n\nNight closed in over the city. The shops were shut; the streets\nwere still. Men went not willingly forth into the bitter cold. No\nfriendly cloud hung in the sky--it was a clear, starry night;--the\nconstellations glowed in the intense frost. The citizens heaped up\ntheir fires, and gathered closer around them. The soldiers canvassed\nthe constancy of the sufferers. There, on the frozen pool, stood the\nmartyrs of Jesus Christ. From the open door of the hut, a bright\ncheerful gleam of fire-light shone; reflecting itself on the clear\ndark ice. Some presently fell, and slept that sleep which ends only in\ndeath; some walked hurriedly up and down, as if to keep in the heat\nof life; some stood with their arms folded, almost lost in prayer;\nsome consoled themselves and their brethren in the conflict. They\nprayed earnestly that He, who had in a special manner consecrated the\nnumber forty to Himself; who had bade Moses tarry in the mount forty\ndays, who had fed Elijah with that food, in the strength whereof he\nwent forty days and forty nights; who had given Nineveh forty days\nfor repentance; they called on Him who had Himself fasted forty days,\nand had lain forty hours in death, not to fail them then. \"Forty\nwrestlers,\" they said, \"O Lord, we have entered the arena; let forty\nvictors receive the prize!\"\n\nOne of the soldiers guarding the pond was waiting by the fire, and\nslept. And in his sleep he beheld this vision. He stood by the side of\nthe pool, and saw the martyrs in their conflict. As he gazed on them,\nan angel came down from the sky with a golden crown in his hands. Its\nbrightness was not of this world; it was most bright, most beautiful.\nHe brought another, and another, and another, till the dreamer\nperceived that he was charged with the everlasting diadems of the\nvictorious martyrs. Nine-and-thirty crowns he brought, but he came not\nwith the fortieth.\n\n\"What may this mean?\" he asked, as he awoke. As he was wondering, there\nwas a stir without, and the soldiers brought in one of the confessors.\nHe could endure it no more, he had come to the fire and the warm bath.\nHe who had dreamed went forth. Still the cloudless night; still the\nintense piercing blast from the range of the Caucasus. Most of the\nsufferers, on the frozen pool, had fallen where they stood. To them the\nbitterness of death was past; for they were in the last fatal sleep;\nand their diadem, though not yet attained, were certain. Others were\npraying, \"Forty wrestlers we have entered the arena; let forty victors\nreceive the prize.\"\n\nO wonderful power of prayer in all! but most wonderful virtue of\nintercession in Christ's martyrs! At that moment a thought rushed into\nthe mind of the soldier; a thought so sweet, so cheering, that the\nbitter Armenian night seemed to him as pleasant as the breath of a May\nmorning. \"One has fallen from his crown; I may attain to it.\"\n\nIn half-an-hour he had roused the governor from his sleep, and had\nprofessed himself a Christian. In half-an-hour more he stood himself\non the frozen pool, a confessor among the other confessors. And there\nwas yet life in some of the sufferers to hail this new brother in arms\nin the spiritual warfare. He, too, contending to the end, received the\nprize; the virtue of Baptism, as the Church has ever taught, being\nsupplied to him in this case by the grace of that martyrdom whereof he\nwas accounted worthy.\n\nMorning broke at last, and a few still lived, amongst others Melithon,\nthe youngest of the soldiers. Agricola ordered the legs and arms of\nthose who survived to be broken, and as the order was carried into\nexecution, they sang faintly with their frozen lips, \"Our soul hath\nescaped out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we\nare delivered.\" The mother of Melithon was present. She raised him in\nher arms, and laid him with the other bodies in the wagon which was to\nconvey them to a fire in which they were all to be consumed. Melithon\nstill lived, and smiled faintly upon her. \"Oh, son of my bosom, how\nglad am I to see thee offer to Christ the last remains of thy life.\nBlessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that thou hast\nsucked!\" And she followed the tumbril to the fire into which her yet\nbreathing son was cast, together with the frozen bodies of his comrades.\n\nA few fragments still remain of the church, which in after years was\nraised on the scene of the martyrdom. The names of these martyrs\nwere Quirio or Cyrio, Candidus, Domnus, Melitho, Domitian, Eunoicus,\nSisinius, Heraclius, Alexander, John, Claudius, Athanasius, Valens,\nHelianus, Ecditius, Acacius, Vivianus, Helias, Theodulus, Cyrillus,\nFlavius, Severian, Valerius, Chudio, Sacerdo Priscus, Eutychius,\nSmaragdus, Philoctimo, Aetius, Nicolas, Lysimachus, Theophilus,\nXantheas, Augias, Leontius, Hesychius, Caius and Gorgo.\n\n\nS. MACARIUS, B. OF JERUSALEM.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 335.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Eusebius, Theodoret Socrates.]\n\nS. Macarius was created bishop of Jerusalem in the year 314. He was\npresent at the great council of Nic\u00e6a, against Arius, whom he always\nopposed from the beginning of his heretical teaching. The historian\nSocrates has preserved for us a letter written to him by the Emperor\nConstantine. There was another Macarius, bishop of the same see, in\nthe reign of the Emperor Justinian, who was driven from his see for\ndefending the heresy of the Origenists; but having recanted, was\nrestored.\n\n\nS. KESSOG, B. C.\n\n(6TH CENT.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--David Camerarius, Thomas Dempster, and\n the Lections in the Breviary.]\n\nKessog or Makkessog, as he is otherwise called, an Irish prince by\nbirth, and an itinerary bishop in the province of Boyne, laboured for\nthe spread of the Gospel in Scotland. He is said to have settled in\nLennox; and Thomas Dempster says he was represented in art dressed as a\nsoldier with a bow in his hand and a quiver at his back.\n\n\nS. DROCTOVEUS, AB.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 576.)\n\n [Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Usuardus, and Maurolycus.\n Authority:--An ancient life written after the destruction of the\n original life by the Danes when they burnt the monastery of S.\n Germain.]\n\nS. Droctoveus, vulgarly called in France S. Drott\u00e9, was born in the\ndiocese of Autun, in Burgundy. In his youth he was placed with S.\nGermain, in the abbey of S. Symphorian, at Autun, of which he was\nabbot. He was formed there upon the most perfect model of virtue.\nS. Germain having been elevated to the bishopric of Paris, wished\nto continue to live as a monk. Wherefore he withdrew his disciple\nDroctoveus from the abbey of S. Symphorian, and brought him to Paris.\nKing Childebert having built a church in which to place the stole of S.\nVincent, which he had carried back with him from Saragossa in the year\n542, on his return from his Spanish expedition, and chosen this church\nas his place of sepulture, he was buried there in 558, and S. Germain\ndedicated the church on the same day as his burial, under the title\nSS. Cross and Vincent. He established a monastery adjoining it, over\nwhich he set S. Droctoveus, with whose virtues he was well acquainted.\nDroctoveus governed the monastery for twenty years, and established its\nfame. The monks afterwards embraced the rule of S. Benedict, and the\nhouse and church took the name of S. Germain after the body of that\nprelate had been transferred to it.\n\n\nS. HYMELIN, P.\n\n(8TH CENT.)\n\n [Belgian Martyrology of Molanus, Aberdeen Breviary, and Anglican\n Martyrology. Authority:--A life founded on notices in the\n Martyrologies and popular tradition, by John Gilleman, about 1480.]\n\nThe Blessed Hymelin, priest and confessor, was a near relative of\nS. Rumbold, and an Irishman. Of his early life nothing is known. He\nundertook a pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return was attacked by a\nvirulent fever at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, in Brabant. He sank\nexhausted on a bank, and a girl noticed his haggard looks and evident\nsickness as she was returning from the well with her pitcher. Hymelin\nextended his hands to her, and implored her to give him a draught of\nwater, but she had received strict orders from her master, the curate\nof the place, not to let any one touch the pitcher, as the plague was\nthen raging, and he feared infection. She therefore reluctantly refused\nthe draught.\n\n\"I am very sick, and perhaps dying,\" said the Irish pilgrim; \"I pray\nyou deny me not this little gift.\"\n\n\"My good friend,\" answered the maid, \"I would gladly refresh you, were\nit not that I am under orders. But come home to my master, and he will\ngive you food and drink of the very best.\" \"I cannot stir from this\nplace, I am far too ill,\" said Hymelin; \"I pray you let me taste the\ncool water. I am consumed with thirst.\" She looked at the man's ghastly\ncountenance with fiery spots on the cheek, and was unable to refuse any\nlonger, so she held her pitcher to his lips; he drank, thanked her, and\nshe went to her master with the vessel. The curate took the pitcher,\nset it to his lips, and drawing it suddenly away, exclaimed, \"Thou\nhast brought me wine, not water!\" And it was so. The water had been\nconverted into wine. Then she told him all that she had done; and he\nran and brought the wayfarer to his house, and laid him on his bed, and\nnursed him till he died. And as the soul of Hymelin fled, the chimes of\nthe church began to play sweetly in the air, though no man touched the\nbells. Hymelin was buried in the parish church of Vissenaeken, where\nhis body still remains, and every year, on March 10th, attracts a large\nconcourse of pilgrims.\n\n[Illustration: DECEITFULNESS AND VANITY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey\nof S. Denis.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 11.\n\n S. GORGO, _M. at Tours_.\n S. ALBERTA, _V.M. at Agen_, A.D. 286.\n SS. TROPHIMUS AND THALUS, _MM. at Laodicea, circ._ A.D. 300.\n S. VINCENT, _Ab., M. at Leon, in Spain, circ._ A.D. 555.\n S. CONSTANTINE, _K., Monk and M., in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 576.\n S. SOPHRONIUS, _Patr. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 638.\n S. VIGILIUS, _B.M. of Auxerre_, A.D. 689.\n S. VINDICIAN, _B. of Cambrai and Arras, circ._ A.D. 712.\n S. EUTHYMIUS,_ B.M. at Sardis, circ._ A.D. 827.\n S. ANGUS OF KELD, _B. and Ab. in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 824.\n S. EULOGIUS,_ P.M. at Cordova_, A.D. 859.\n S. PETER THE SPANIARD, _H. at Babuco, in the Campagna of Rome_.\n S. AURIA, _V. in Spain, circ._ A.D. 1100.\n\n\nS. GORGO, M.\n\n(DATE UNKNOWN.)\n\n [Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--An account of the Translation of\n his relics by an eye-witness in 847, published by Bollandus.]\n\nAt Tours, on this day is celebrated the festival of S. Gorgo the\nmartyr, whose body, found at Rome, on the Appian way, near that of S.\nCecilia, was transported to the great monastery of Tours in 847, and on\nthe way worked many miracles of healing. The Roman Martyrology names on\nthe same day another Gorgo, martyr at Antioch, of whom nothing further\nis known.\n\n\nS. ALBERTA, V. M.\n\n(A.D. 286.)\n\n [Venerated at Agen. Authority:--The Agen Breviary.]\n\nAlberta, the sister of S. Faith in blood and religion, and one of the\nfirst martyrs of the Agenois, earned the double crown of virginity\nand martyrdom. Her relics, long preserved at P\u00e9rigueux with those of\nS. Phebadas, were translated to the church of Benerque, on the Ari\u00e9ge,\nwhere they are preserved to this day.\n\n\nS. VINCENT, AB. M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 555.)\n\n [Benedictine Martyrology, and that of Leon, and other Spanish\n churches. Tamayus Salazar complains, \"The Acts of S. Vincent are shut\n up in the Spanish Benedictine Libraries, and are never shown by the\n most reverend fathers, possibly lest they should become too common,\n content rather that they should lie in bags and boxes, buried in\n dust and cobwebs, rather than exposed for the public benefit.\" We\n have, accordingly, in Bollandus, only a compendium of the Acts by\n the historian, Antonio Yepes, gathered from MSS., at Leon, and the\n lections of the monastic breviary of Coimbra.]\n\nWhen the Vandals overran Spain, in company with the Suevi and the\nAlani, the Suevi settled down in Gallicia and part of Portugal, whilst\nthe Vandals crossed into North Africa. They were Arians, and their\nking, Hermanrik, and his son, Richild, harassed the Catholics in every\nway possible, destroying or seizing on their churches. The Arians drew\nVincent, abbot of S. Claudius, before the prince, charging him with\ncontempt of the laws made against the Catholics. He boldly proclaimed\nthe divinity of Jesus Christ before the king, and was ordered to be\nbeaten and thrown into prison. Next day he was again brought before the\nking, and was condemned to death. The executioner struck at him with\nhis sword, and clave his skull. His martyrdom was followed by that of\nthe prior, Ramirus, and twelve of the monks of his house.\n\nRelics: the body of S. Vincent in the cathedral of Oviedo. The body of\nS. Ramirus was translated, April, 26th, 1596, to the monastery of S.\nClaudius, at Leon.\n\n\nS. CONSTANTINE, K. MONK AND M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 576.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary, Cologne and German Martyrologies. Not to be\n confused with Constantine, the successor of king Arthur, nor with\n Constantine, the Scottish king, who resigned his throne to live as a\n monk at S. Andrews, in 943. Authority:--The Aberdeen Breviary, John\n Fordun, John of Tynemouth, and mention in the Life of S. David.]\n\nConstantine, son of Padarn, king of Cornwall, was married to the\ndaughter of the king of Brittany, but had the misfortune to lose his\nwife by death shortly after. He was so deeply attached to her, that he\ncould find no rest in his loneliness. Therefore, resigning his crown,\nand bidding farewell to his subjects, he crossed over into Ireland, and\nentered a monastery, without declaring who he was, and whence he came.\nHe was ordered to grind the corn for the brothers; and for seven years\nhe filled this situation. But one day as he sat in the granary, working\nthe rude stone quern with his hands, and thinking himself alone, he\nlaughed, and said, \"Is this then, king Constantine of Cornwall, who\nwore helm and bore shield, who drudges thus at a hand-mill? It is the\nsame, and it is not the same.\"\n\nNow it happened that one of the brethren was in the granary and heard\nthis, therefore he stole off unperceived to the abbot, and told him who\nhis miller was. Then the abbot called the others, and all the brethren\nhasted to the mill, and drew Constantine therefrom, and made him one\nof themselves, instructed him in letters; and finally, by the grace of\nGod, he was ordained priest. And after that, he bade them all farewell,\nand crossed over into Scotland, and was with S. Columba and S.\nKentigern, who sent him to preach the Word in Galloway. And afterwards\nhe was made abbot, but of what monastery is not specified, though there\ncan be little doubt it was Glasgow. Now, when he was very old, he\nwent a mission into Kintyre, where he was assailed by the heathen, who\nknocked him down and cut off his right arm. Having called his brethren\nabout him, and blessed them, he gently bled to death. He is regarded as\nthe first martyr of Scotland.\n\n\nS. SOPHRONIUS, PATR. OF JERUSALEM.\n\n(A.D. 638.)\n\n [Greek Menologium and Men\u00e6a on this day, also the Roman Martyrology.\n Authorities:--His Life collected from various sources, by Bollandus,\n and an epitome of his life in the Greek Men\u00e6a.]\n\nSophronius, surnamed the Sophist, was the son of pious parents\nat Damascus. His learning and virtue caused his election to the\npatriarchal throne of Jerusalem. On the invasion and capture of\nJerusalem, by Chosroes, king of Persia, Sophronius fled to his friend,\nS. John the Almsgiver, (Jan. 23rd,) patriarch of Alexandria, who\nsupported him till he was able to return to his see. He held a synod at\nJerusalem, against the Monothelites, and drew up a synodal letter on\nthat occasion, which was sent to pope John IV.\n\n\nS. VINDICIAN, B. OF ARRAS.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 712.)\n\n [Arras Martyrology. Authority:--A Life by Balderic, bishop of Noyon.]\n\nThis saint was a disciple of S. Eligius. He was born at Bulcourt, in\nBapaume, about the year 620. He spent many years in seclusion on Mont\nS. Eloi, where S. Eligius lived with ten others, in the practice of\ngreat austerities. He was nominated by S. Aubert, bishop of Arras,\nhis vicargeneral. In 675, on the death of S. Aubert, he was elected\nbishop of Cambrai and Arras. He completed, in 691, the abbey of S.\nWaast, begun by his predecessor, dedicated the church of the monastery\nof Elnone, and that of the abbey of Hasnon. S. Leger, bishop of Autun,\nhaving been killed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace, and as the king,\nThierry III., was suspected of having connived at the deed, several\nbishops deemed it expedient to remonstrate with the king, through some\none of authority and renown for his sanctity. Vindician was chosen\nfor this dangerous task, and he executed the commission with such\nprudence and firmness, that he attracted the admiration of the court,\nand succeeded in bringing the king to repentance. On his return to his\ndiocese, he built the monastery of Honcourt; and at last, wearied with\nthe cares of his diocese, he laid them aside, and retired, to be alone\nwith God, and prepare for his passage, into a hermitage on Mont S.\nEloi, and died at the age of ninety-two. His relics are preserved in\nthe cathedral of Arras.\n\n\nS. EUTHYMIUS, M. B. OF SARDIS.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 827.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on Dec. 11th. Authorities:--The\n Greek Men\u00e6a, and the Acts of the second council of Nic\u00e6a, also the\n Chronography of Leo the Grammarian, Cedrenus, Zonaras, &c.]\n\nS. Euthymius, bishop of Sardis, was one of the most zealous defenders\nof images against the Iconoclastic emperors. He flourished under the\nempress Irene, and her son, Constantine VI., as abbot, but was then\ncreated bishop, and took a prominent part in the second council of\nNic\u00e6a. Under the emperor Nicephorus he was sent into exile, together\nwith other bishops, to Patalarea, for having admitted a virgin to the\nreligious life. For the next nine-and-twenty years he did not see\nhis diocese. When Leo the Armenian assumed the purple, he recalled\nEuthymius, but before restoring him to his see, he demanded of him\nwhether he venerated images. The saint boldly replied, \"O emperor, it\nbelongs not to thee to meddle with the affairs of the Church. To thee\nis given the care of the State and the government of the army. Attend\nto them, and suffer the Church to remain faithful.\" This answer so\nangered Leo, that he ordered him to be banished to Assos. On the death\nof Leo by assassination, his successor, Michael the Stammerer, recalled\nEuthymius, and again demanded whether he reverenced sacred images.\nAnd when Euthymius protested that he reverenced whatever represented\nor recalled Christ, the tyrant banished him to Acrita, where he was\ncast into a noisome dungeon, and afterwards, by the emperor's orders,\nwas brought out and stretched on the ground, with his hands and feet\nattached to posts, at the utmost distention possible, and then was cut\nand lashed with cow-hide scourges, till he died.\n\n\nS. ANGUS OF KELD, B. AB.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 824.)\n\n [Irish Martyrology. Authority:--Colgan.]\n\nAngus, surnamed Kel-Dhu, a man of great love and fervour in the service\nof God, was born in Ireland in the eighth century, of the race of the\nDalrhidians, kings of Ulster. In his youth, renouncing the pomp and\nvanities of the world and all earthly pretensions, he chose Christ\nfor his inheritance, and entered religion in the famous monastery of\nCluain-Edneach, in East Meath, under the holy abbot Malathgen. There\nhe became such a proficient in virtue and learning that he was thought\nto excel all others in Ireland. He is said to have sung a hundred and\nfifty psalms every day, fifty of which he recited standing up to his\nneck in water, in winter and summer; and three hundred times a day he\nadored God on his bended knees. Finding that his sanctity attracted\nattention, he privately withdrew from his monastery, and disguising\nhimself, took refuge in that of Tamlacht, three miles from Dublin,\nwhere he was received as an outside novice by the abbot Moelruan, and\nfor seven years was given the meanest drudgery of the monastery. At\nlength his great merit was discovered, and his name having been found\nout, the abbot apologised to him for having set him such degrading\ntasks, and brought him into the brotherhood. S. Angus became afterwards\nabbot of Desert-Aenguis and Cluain-Edneach, where he was raised to the\noffice of bishop, the abbots in the ancient Irish Church being very\ngenerally bishops as well, but without territorial jurisdiction.\n\nS. Angus is regarded as one of the most famous writers of Ireland. He\ncomposed a metrical martyrology, and five books of lives of the saints\nof Ireland, together with other treatises.\n\n\nS. EULOGIUS, P. M.\n\n(A.D. 859.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--An account of his life and martyrdom\n by his friend Alvar.]\n\nEulogius belonged to one of the principal families of Cordova, then\nin the hands of the Moors, who had constituted it their capital.\nThese Mohammedans, who had ruined the Gothic kingdom in Spain, had\nnot succeeded in trampling out Christianity. They did, indeed, suffer\nChristians to exercise their religion, and for this indulgence they\nobliged them to pay a heavy tax, but Christians were strictly\nforbidden, on pain of death, to make converts. Eulogius had a fellow\nscholar at Chute-Clar, a monastery on the north-west of Cordova, named\nAlvar, to whom he was warmly attached, and who became afterwards his\nbiographer. On reaching his maturity, Eulogius taught letters in\nCordova, and was ordained priest. In the year 850, the Moors began to\npersecute the Christians, and the metropolitan bishop of Andalusia,\nReccafred, instead of defending his flock against the wolves, basely\ntaking the part of the king, Abderahman, arrested all the clergy of\nCordova, together with their bishop, and threw them into prison. S.\nEulogius, from his dungeon, wrote an exhortation to two virgins, named\nFlora and Mary, exhorting them to stand fast in the faith. \"They\nthreaten to sell you as slaves, and dishonour you, my daughters, but\nknow that whatever infamy they may heap upon you, they cannot defile\nthe virginal purity of your souls.\" But these holy maidens were spared\nthis terrible humiliation, being executed with the sword.[41] S.\nEulogius and the other prisoners heard with joy of their triumph, and\ncelebrated a mass of thanksgiving to God in their dungeon.\n\n[41] It is not known what the occasion of the persecution was, and why\nthe metropolitan sided against the bishop of Cordova and his clergy,\nbut there is every probability that it was because they had attempted\nthe conversion of some of the Moors; and Reccafred, as a moderate man,\npreferred quiet and toleration to missionary efforts and persecution.\n\nSix days after, S. Eulogius and the other priests were released; and he\nat once composed a metrical account of the passion of the virgins Flora\nand Mary.\n\nUnder Mohammed, the successor of Abderahman, the persecution became\nstill more cruel, and S. Eulogius was constantly employed in\nencouraging timorous Christians, who, to escape death, or the irksome\ndisabilities and petty tyranny to which they were subjected, were\nprepared to desert Christ.\n\nThe number of martyrs at this time was very great, and Eulogius\ncollected all the acts of their passion into a history, in three\nbooks, entitled \"The Memorial,\" which still exists. He then composed\nan \"Apology\" against those who disputed their title, as martyrs,\nbecause, firstly, they wrought no miracles like the ancient martyrs;\nsecondly, they had offered themselves to death; thirdly, they had\ndied by a stroke of the sword instead of through lingering torture;\nfourthly, they had not been killed by idolators, but by Mohammedans,\nwho worshipped the One true God.\n\nAfter the death of the archbishop of Toledo, the clergy and people of\nthat city cast their eyes on Eulogius, as his successor. But God was\nabout to crown him with martyrdom. There was in Cordova a girl named\nLeocritia, who had been converted from Mohammedanism to Christianity.\nFor a Moslem to profess the religion of Christ was death. To save\nher, Eulogius hid her in the house of his sister, Annulona, and when\nthe officers of justice were in pursuit of her, he conveyed her from\none Christian house to another. But this could not last long. The\nplace of her concealment was discovered, and Leocritia was taken, and\nEulogius, for having secreted her, was also confined. He was ordered\nto execution, and was decapitated on Saturday, March 11th, 859, and\nLeocritia suffered the following Wednesday, and was buried in the\nchurch of S. Genes, at Cordova. Because March 11th usually falls in\nLent, the Church of Cordova transfers the feast of S. Eulogius to June\n1st, the day of the first translation of his body, and observes it with\nan Octave. The body was afterwards carried to Oviedo, together with\nthat of S. Leocritia, on Jan. 19th, 883, and a third translation took\nplace to Camarasanta, in 1300. For Flora and Mary, see November 24.\n\n\nS. PETER THE SPANIARD, H.\n\n(DATE UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--A Life from MS. of Babuco, published\n by Bollandus.]\n\nS. Peter was the son of noble parents in Spain, and was brought up in\nthe profession of arms. In the army he distinguished himself as much by\nhis zeal for souls and purity of life, as by his courage. His parents\nhaving insisted on his marriage, he yielded with great repugnance, for\nhis heart was drawn elsewhere, and he desired to live a virgin life to\nhis dear master Jesus. The marriage ceremony took place, and when the\nbanquet was over, he retired to the bridal chamber, where he saw the\nfair young girl who had given him her hand lying asleep on the bed.\nShe looked so pure and innocent in her slumber, that he gazed on her\nwith reverence, and kneeling at her feet, prayed long and earnestly;\nand then stealing away, left the house, and fled the country. Taking\nhis passage on a boat for Italy, he reached the eternal city, and going\nforth into the Campagna, found a place suitable for a cell, and there\nburied himself from the world.\n\n[Illustration: Holy Spirit]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 12.\n\n SS. PETER, GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, MAXIMA, AND OTHERS, _MM. at\n Nicomedia_, A.D. 302.\n S. PAUL OF LEON, _B.C. in Brittany_, A.D. 573.\n S. GREGORY THE GREAT, _Pope, D._, A.D. 604.\n S. PETER, _Deacon of S. Gregory, at Rome_, A.D. 605.\n S. MURAN, _Ab. of Fathinis, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 650.\n S. THEOPHANES, _Ab. C., at Constantinople_, A.D. 820.\n S. ALPHEGE THE BALD, _B. of Winchester_, A.D. 951. _See September 1._\n S. BERNARD, _B.C. at Capua_, A.D. 1109.\n S. FINA, _V. in Tuscany_, A.D. 1253.\n\n\nSS. PETER, GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, MAXIMA, AND OTHERS, MM.\n\n(A.D. 302.)\n\n [Usuardus, those of SS. Jerome, Bede, &c., the Irish Martyrology of\n Tamlach, and the Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Eusebius, lib. viii.\n c. 6, and the notices in the Martyrologies.]\n\nThe Emperor Diocletian having discovered that Peter, one of his\nofficers of the bed-chamber, was a Christian, ordered him to be\ntortured. Then Gorgonius and Dorotheus, two other officers, filled with\nindignation, exclaimed, \"Why, Sire, dost thou thus torment Peter for\nwhat we all profess in our hearts?\" The emperor at once ordered them to\nexecution, together with Migdo, a priest, and many other Christians of\nNicomedia. Eusebius says that Peter was scourged till his bones were\nlaid bare, and that then vinegar and salt was poured over the wounds;\nand as he bore this without showing anguish, Diocletian ordered him\nto be broiled on a gridiron slowly, and his flesh, as it roasted, to\nbe taken off slowly, so as to protract his torments. Gorgonius and\nDorotheus, after having been tortured, were hung.\n\n\nS. PAUL OF LEON, B. C.\n\n(A.D. 573.)\n\n [Venerated in Brittany, in the Churches of L\u00e9on, Nantes, &c., and\n introduced into later Martyrologies. Authority:--A life written by\n Worwonock, monk of Landevenec, in the 9th cent., but rewritten, or\n added to, in the following century by an anonymous monk of the abbey\n of Feury.]\n\nPaul, son of a Welsh prince, was a disciple of S. Iltut, along with\nS. Samson and Gildas. At the age of sixteen he left his master, and\nretired across the sea into a solitary place among his Brittany moors,\nwhere he erected an oratory and a cell. In course of time, other young\nmen, seeking like himself a better country than earth, congregated\nabout him, and he became their superior. He received priest's orders\nalong with twelve of his companions. Near his congregation lived a\nprince named Mark, who invited him to come into his territory, and\ninstruct his people in the Word of God. He accordingly went with his\ntwelve priests to Vannes, and was well received by the king. After\nhe had spent some time in that country, he felt a desire to go into\nsolitude once more. Therefore he went before the king and asked him to\nlet him depart, and to give him a bell; \"For at that time,\" says the\nchronicler, \"it was customary for kings to have seven bells rung before\nthey sat down to meat.\" Mark, however, refused to give him the bell,\nbeing vexed that Paul should leave him. So the holy man went his way\nwithout it. And before he took boat to depart, he visited his sister,\nwho lived in solitude with some other holy women on a little island in\nthe Morbihan. And when all was ready for his departure, and the boat\nwas on the shore, he said, \"Sister, I must depart.\" Then she wept, and\nentreated him to tarry four days. And as he saw her tears, he consented\nto remain three days. Then, when he was about to depart, she said, \"I\nknow, my brother, that thou art powerful with God. Therefore I pray\nthee grant me my request.\" And he said, \"Say on.\" Then she said, \"This\nisland is small and incommodious for landing, being violently beaten by\nthe angry surge. Pray to the Lord that he extend it a little, with a\ngentle shore, into the sea.\"\n\n\"Ah, my sister!\" exclaimed the holy man, \"thou hast asked what is\nbeyond my strength. But let us together beseech the Lord to be\ngracious, and grant thee thy desire.\" So they both kneeled down and\nprayed. Then the sea began to retreat, and leave smooth yellow sands,\nwhere all had been blue water before. So the nuns hasted and ran and\ntold the brother and sister, and they rose, and went down to the sea,\nand stepped on the newly recovered land. And now follows a part of the\nlegend which has evidently sprung up among the peasants of the Morbihan\nto explain the existence of the Druidical circles and avenues in the\nislet. The story goes on to tell that the sister gathered pebbles and\nlaid them round the land laid bare, and strewed them down the road she\nand her brother had taken. And lo! these pebbles grew into tall pillars\nof rude rock, and the avenue is to this day called the road of S. Paul.\n\nThen Paul stepped into his boat, followed by his disciples, and they\nrowed to the island of Ouessant, and the port where they disembarked\nwas called Portus-boum, and at the present day is Paimb\u0153uf. Then\nPaul tarried there many years till God called him to work again. And\nhe took boat and went ashore and travelled through Brittany, till he\ncame to Count Withur, a good man and lord of the country under king\nChildebert. And Paul settled in the island of Batz, which was off the\ncoast, near the small town encompassed with mud walls, which has since\ngone by his name. And there he found wild bees in a hollow tree, and\nthey were swarming, so he gathered the swarm and set them in a hive,\nand taught the people how to get honey. He also found a wild sow with\nits litter, and patted her gently, and she became tame. Her descendants\nremained at L\u00e9on for many generations, and were regarded as royal\nbeasts. Probably this legend points to S. Paul having taught the people\nto keep pigs.\n\nOne day Paul was with the count Withur, when a fisherman brought the\ncount a bell he had picked up on the shore; Withur gave it to S. Paul,\nwho smiled and said that though king Mark had refused him a bell, yet\nnow God had sent him one, after many years of waiting and wishing for\nit.\n\n\"That bell,\" says the historian, \"has received from the people a\nspecial name, on account of its colour and shape, for it is green and\noblong.\" S. Paul erected a church at L\u00e9on, and was appointed its first\nbishop. Withur could only obtain his consecration by having recourse\nto an artifice, for he knew that Paul could not be persuaded to accept\nthe dignity. He gave him a letter to king Childebert, and entreated\nhim to take it in person to the king, as it contained matter of urgent\nimportance. Paul, full of simplicity, and eager to oblige his friend,\nhasted to court. And when the king broke the seal and opened the\nletter, he read that Withur had sent Paul to be ordained bishop, and\ninvested with the see of L\u00e9on. Then Childebert caught a staff from a\nprelate who stood by him, and said, \"Receive the pastoral dignity, to\ndischarge thy office for the good of many souls,\" and he called three\nbishops to him to ordain Paul. Then the holy man wept, and implored the\nking to desist, but Childebert turned a deaf ear to his entreaties,\nand had him consecrated, and then sent him back to L\u00e9on, where he was\nreceived with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. He built a monastery\non the isle of Batz, and filled it with monks, and thither he retired\nwhenever he could escape from the business of his see. He lived to a\nvery advanced age, and laying aside his episcopal government, ordained\nthree of his disciples in succession to it, and survived two of them.\nHis body reposed in his cathedral church, but his relics were dispersed\nby the Huguenots in the religious wars of the 16th century.\n\nIn art he is represented either (1) with a bell, or (2) with a cruse of\nwater and a loaf of bread, as he lived on nothing else, or (3) driving\na dragon into the sea, to signify that he expelled the Druidical\nsuperstition out of Brittany.\n\n\nS. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE, D.\n\n(A.D. 604.)\n\n [Roman and all other Western Martyrologies; by the Greeks on March\n 11th. Authorities:--A life by Paulus Diaconus, another by Joannes\n Diaconus, 9th cent., the writings of S. Gregory, &c. The following is\n in part condensed from the elegant life of S. Gregory by the Count de\n Montalembert, in his Monks of the West.]\n\nS. Gregory the Great will be an everlasting honour to the Benedictine\nOrder and to the Papacy. By his genius, but especially by the charm\nand ascendancy of his virtue, he was destined to organise the\ntemporal power of the popes, to develop and regulate their spiritual\nsovereignty, to found their paternal supremacy over the new-born crowns\nand races which were to become the great nations of the future, and to\nbe called France, Spain, and England. It was he indeed, who inaugurated\nthe middle ages, modern society, and Christian civilisation.\n\n[Illustration: S. GREGORY THE GREAT. After Cahier.\n March 12.]\n\nIssued from one of the most illustrious races of ancient Rome, the son\nof a rich senator, and descendant of Pope Felix III., of the Anician\nfamily, Gregory was early called to fill a dignified place, which, in\nthe midst of the Rome of that day, the vassal of Byzantium, and subject\nto the ceaseless insults of the Barbarians, retained some shadow\nof ancient Roman grandeur. He was pr\u00e6tor of Rome during the first\ninvasion of the Lombards. In the exercise of this office he gained the\nhearts of the Romans, while habituating himself to the management of\npublic business, and while acquiring a taste for luxury and display\nof earthly grandeur, in which he still believed he might serve God\nwithout reproach. But God required him elsewhere. Gregory hesitated\nlong, inspired by the divine breath to seek religion, but was retained,\nled back and fascinated to the world, by the attractions and habits of\nsecular life. At last he yielded to the influence of his intimate and\nclose relations with the disciples of S. Benedict in Monte Cassino,\nand obeying the grace that enlightened him, he abruptly broke every\ntie, devoted his wealth to the endowment of six new monasteries in\nSicily, and established in his own palace in Rome, upon the C\u0153lian\nhill, a seventh, dedicated to S. Andrew, into which he introduced the\nBenedictine rule, and where he himself became a monk. He sold all\nthat remained of his patrimony, to distribute it to the poor; and\nRome, which had seen the young and wealthy patrician traverse its\nstreets in robes of silk covered with jewels, saw him now, in 575,\nwith admiration, clothed like a beggar, serving, in his own person the\nbeggars lodged in the hospital which he had built at the gate of his\npaternal house, now changed into a monastery.\n\nOnce a monk, he would be nothing less than a model of monks, and\npractised with the utmost rigour all the austerities sanctioned by\nthe rule, applying himself specially at the same time to the study\nof the Holy Scriptures. He ate only pulse, which his mother, who had\nbecome a nun since her widowhood, sent him, already soaked, in a\nsilver porringer. This porringer was the only remnant of his ancient\nsplendour, and did not long remain in his hands, for one day a\nshipwrecked sailor came several times to beg from him while he was\nwriting in his cell, and finding no money in his purse, the Saint gave\nhim that relic of his former wealth.\n\nContinually engaged in prayer, reading, writing, or dictation, he\npersisted in pushing the severity of his fasts to such an extent,\nthat his health succumbed. He fell so often into fainting fits, that\nmore than once he would have sunk under them had not his brethren\nsupported him with more substantial food. In consequence of having\nattempted to do more than others, he was soon obliged to relinquish\nthe most ordinary fasts, which everybody observed. He was in despair\nat not being able to fast even on Easter eve, a day on which even the\nlittle children abstain, says his biographer. He remained weak and\nsickly all his life, and when he left his monastery, it was with health\nirreparably ruined.\n\nPope Benedict I. drew him first from the cloister in 577, to raise\nhim to the dignity of one of the seven cardinal deacons, who presided\nover the seven principal divisions of Rome. Pelagius II., successor\nto Benedict I., chose S. Gregory to head an embassy to Constantinople\nto congratulate the Emperor Tiberius on his accession in A.D. 578.\nDuring his stay at the imperial court, S. Gregory refused to have\nany intercourse with the patriarch Eutychius, who had published an\nheretical treatise on the nature of the resurrection body. On his\ndeath-bed, however, Eutychius acknowledged his former errors. After six\nyears of this honourable and laborious exile, he returned to Rome, and\nregained the shelter of his monastery of S. Andrea, the monks of which\nelected him abbot soon after his return. He enjoyed there for some time\nlonger the delights of the life he had chosen. Tenderly cherished by\nhis brethren, he took a paternal share in their trials and spiritual\ncrosses, provided for their temporary and spiritual necessities, and\nspecially rejoiced in the holy deaths of several among them. He has\nrelated the details of these in his \"Dialogues,\" and seems to breathe\nin them the perfume of heaven.\n\nThe tender solicitude he bore to souls was on the point of separating\nhim from his dear monastery and from Rome. Seeing one day exhibited\nin the market some poor pagan children, of extraordinary beauty and\nfairness, who were said to be of the country of the Angles, \"Not\nAngles,\" said he, \"but Angels.\" Then hastening to the pope, he begged\nhim to send missionaries into that great island of Britain, where\nthe pagans sold such slaves; failing others, he offered himself for\nthis work, surprised the pontiff into consent, and prepared instantly\nfor his departure. But when the Romans understood his intention, the\nlove with which they had formerly regarded him was re-awakened. They\nsurrounded the pope as he went to S. Peter's, and intreated him to\nrecall Gregory. The astonished pope yielded to the popular voice. He\nsent messengers after Gregory, who overtook him at three days' journey\nfrom Rome; and led him back forcibly to his monastery. It was not as a\nmissionary, but as a pope, that he was to win England to the Church.\n\nIn 590, Pelagius II. died of the plague, which then depopulated Rome.\nGregory was immediately elected pope by the unanimous voice of the\nsenate, the people, and the clergy. It was in vain that he refused, and\nappealed to the emperor Maurice not to confirm his election. The Romans\nintercepted his letter; the imperial confirmation arrived. Then he\ndisguised himself, and fleeing from Rome to seek some unknown retreat,\nwandered three days in the woods. He was followed, discovered, and a\nsecond time led back to Rome, but this time to reign there. He bowed\nhis head, weeping, under the yoke imposed upon him by the Divine will\nand the unanimity of his fellow-citizens.\n\nIt was during the interval between his election and the imperial\nconfirmation that, filled with a paternal anxiety for the safety of the\npeople, he organized a great procession, with solemn litanies, to seek\nto avert the wrath of Almighty God. It proceeded from seven stations in\nthe city, in as many divisions, to the Church of S. Maria-Maggiore. The\nfirst company consisted of the secular clergy, the second of the abbots\nand their monks, the third of the abbesses and their nuns, the fourth\nof children, the fifth of laymen, the sixth of widows, and the seventh\nof matrons: each band was led by the priests of the quarter of the\ncity from which it came. While the procession lasted, eighty persons\nin it died of the plague; yet S. Gregory persevered, and the prayers\nof the city were heard. This was the origin of the \"Greater Litanies,\"\nwhich were afterwards held on S. Mark's Day, and which acquired the\npopular name of \"_The Black Crosses_,\" from the penitential hue of the\nvestments and banners used therein. While the procession defiled before\nGregory, he saw an angel appear upon the summit of the Mole of Hadrian,\nputting back his sword into its sheath, the image of which, standing\nupon the colossal mausoleum, has given its name to the castle of S.\nAngelo, and perpetuated to our day the recollection of S. Gregory's\nvision.\n\nThe supreme pontificate, perhaps, never fell upon a soul more disturbed\nand afflicted than that of this monk, who saw himself thus condemned to\nexchange the peace of the cloister for the cares of the government of\nthe Church, and the special defence of the interests of Italy. Not only\nthen, but during all his life, he did not cease to lament his fate. \"I\nhave lost,\" he wrote to the sister of the emperor, \"the profound joys\nof repose. I seem to have been elevated in external things, but in\nspiritual I have fallen.\" To the patrician Narses: \"I am so overcome\nwith melancholy, that I can scarcely speak. I cannot cease considering\nthe height of tranquillity from which I have fallen, and the height of\nembarrassment I have ascended.\" To his friend Leander: \"I am so beaten\nby the waves of this world, that I despair of being able to guide to\nport this rotten old vessel with which God has charged me. I weep when\nI recall the peaceful shore which I have left, and sigh in perceiving\nafar what I now cannot attain.\"\n\nThe poor monk who showed so much despair when he was thrown into the\npolitical whirlpool by the unanimous voice of the Romans, could yet\nperceive with a bold and clear glance the dangers of the situation, and\nadopt a line of conduct most suitable to the emergency of the times.\nFirst of all he concerned himself with the Lombards. After nine years'\nexertion, in overcoming Byzantine repugnance to acknowledge any right\nwhatever on the side of the Lombards, he concluded a peace between\nthe two powers, which made Italy, exhausted by thirty years of war\nand brigandage, thrill with joy. It was of short duration; but when\nhostilities recommenced, he entered into direct negociations with king\nAgilulf, and obtained from that prince a special truce for Rome and its\nsurrounding territory. He had besides found a powerful advocate with\nthe Lombard king in the person of the illustrious queen Theodelinda.\nThis princess, a Bavarian and Catholic by birth, had gained the hearts\nof the Lombards. The queen was always the faithful friend of the pope;\nshe served as a medium of communication between him and her husband.\nGregory, from the very beginning of his pontificate, had exhorted the\nItalian bishops to make special exertions for the conversion of these\nformidable heretics.\n\nHis constancy and courage were called forth in contest with the Greeks,\nwith that Eastern Empire which was represented by functionaries whose\nodious exactions had quite as great a share in the despair of the\npeople as the ravages of the Barbarians, and whose malice was more\ndreadful than the swords of the Lombards. His entire life was a\nstruggle with the patriarch of Constantinople, who aimed at supplanting\nthe Roman pontiff, as well as with the emperor, who would have\ndominated Italy without defending her, and ruled the Church as if she\nwere a department of the State. Among so many conflicts, we shall dwell\nonly on that one which arose between him and John the Faster, patriarch\nof Constantinople. Relying on the support of most of the Eastern\nbishops, this patriarch took to himself the title of Universal Bishop.\nGregory stood up with vigour against this pretension. He did not draw\nback before the emperor, who openly sided with the patriarch of his\ncapital, nor before the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria, who sided\nwith the Byzantine patriarch. \"What!\" wrote Gregory to the emperor, \"S.\nPeter, who received the keys of heaven and earth, the power of binding\nand loosing, the charge and primacy of the whole Church, was never\ncalled the Universal Apostle; and yet my pious brother John would name\nhimself Universal Bishop!\" For himself he says, \"I desire to increase\nin virtue and not in words. I do not consider myself honoured in that\nwhich dishonours my brethren. It is the honour of the universal Church\nthat is my honour. Away with these words which inflate vanity and wound\ncharity. The holy council of Chalcedon and other fathers have offered\nthis title to my predecessors, but none of them have ever used it, that\nthey might guard their own honour in the sight of God, by seeking here\nbelow the honour of all the priesthood.\" This weighty difference, the\nprohibition addressed by the emperor to soldiers against their becoming\nmonks, and the contest which arose between the pope and the emperor\ntouching the irregular election to the metropolitan see of Salona,\ncontributed to render almost permanent the misunderstanding between\nthem. These perpetual contests with the Byzantine court may explain,\nwithout excusing, the conduct of Gregory at the death of the Emperor\nMaurice. This prince, infected, like all his predecessors, with a mania\nfor interfering in ecclesiastical affairs, was very superior to most of\nthem. Gregory himself has more than once done justice to his faith and\npiety, to his zeal for the Church, and respect for her canons. After\ntwenty years of an undistinguished reign, a military revolt broke out,\nwhich placed Phocas upon the throne. This wretch not only murdered\nthe emperor Maurice, gouty, and incapable of defending himself, but\nalso his six sons, whom he caused to be put to death under the eyes\nof their father, without even sparing the youngest, who was still at\nthe breast, and whom his nurse would have saved by putting her own\nchild in his place; but Maurice, who was too noble to allow of such a\nsacrifice, disclosed the pious deception to the murderers. He died like\na Christian hero, repeating the words of the psalm, \"Thou, O Lord, art\njust, and all Thy judgments are right.\" This massacre did not satisfy\nPhocas, who sacrificed the empress and her three daughters, the brother\nof Maurice, and a multitude of others in his train. The monster then\nsent his own image and that of his wife to Rome, where the senate and\npeople received them with rejoicings. Gregory unfortunately joined in\nthese mean acclamations. He carried these images of his new masters,\nbathed in innocent blood, into the oratory of the Lateran palace.\nAfterwards, he addressed extraordinary congratulations to Phocas, not\nin the surprise of the first moment, but seven months after the crime.\nThis is the only stain upon the life of Gregory. We do not attempt\neither to conceal or to excuse it. It can scarcely be explained by\nrecalling all the vexations he had suffered from Maurice, annoyances\nof which he always complained energetically, though he did not fail\nto do justice to the undeniable piety of the old emperor. Perhaps\nGregory adopted this means to secure the help of Phocas against the\nnew incursions of the Lombards, or to mollify beforehand the already\nthreatening intentions of the tyrant. It must also be remembered that\nthese flatteries were in some sort the official language of these\ntimes; they resulted from the general debasement of public manners,\nand from the tone of the language invariably used then at each change\nof reign. His motives were undoubtedly pure. Notwithstanding, a stain\nremains upon his memory, and a shadow upon the history of the Church,\nwhich is so consoling and full of light in this age of storm and\ndarkness. But among the greatest and holiest of mortals, virtue, like\nhuman wisdom, always falls short in some respect.\n\nLong crushed between the Lombards and Byzantines, between the\nunsoftened ferocity of the barbarians and the vexatious decrepitude of\ndespotism, Gregory, with that instinctive perception of future events\nwhich God sometimes grants to pure souls, sought elsewhere a support\nfor the Roman Church. His eyes were directed to the new races, who\nwere scarcely less ferocious than the Lombards, but who did not, like\nthem, weigh upon Italy and Rome, and who already exhibited elements\nof strength and continuance. It is impossible to do more here than\ntouch on these noble enterprises. He entered into correspondence with\nChildebert, the Gallo-Frank king, and with the French bishops, to\nobtain the rectification of abuses and the purification of the Gallican\nchurch from simony, and the nomination of laymen to the episcopal\noffice, two vices which consumed the vitals of Christianity in France.\nSpain had become Arian under the Visigoths, but the Catholic faith had\ntriumphed with the accession of Recared, in 587. S. Leander, bishop of\nSeville, was the principal author of the conversion of the Visigoths.\nGregory wrote to him and to other bishops of Spain. They consulted him,\nand he gave them his advice. He wrote, and gave councils full of wisdom\nto the king Recared, himself. He brought back to the unity of the\nChurch the schismatical bishops of Istria, and wholly suppressed the\nDonatist schism in Africa. But one of the most striking points in the\nlife of S. Gregory is his zeal for the conversion of England.\n\nAmid the labours of his exalted position, S. Gregory never remitted\nhis anxiety for the evangelization of that distant isle. In July, A.D.\n596, he dispatched S. Augustine (May 26th), with forty companions, on\nthat mission to which we owe so much, that, with every feeling of love\nand veneration for the remnant of Celtic Christianity which had then\nescaped the sword of Pagan Saxondom, we may yet say, with the Venerable\nBede, \"If Gregory be not to others an apostle, he is one to us, for the\nseal of his apostleship are we in the Lord.\"\n\nThe services which he rendered to the Liturgy are well known.\nCompleting and putting in order the work of his predecessors, he gave\nits definite form to the holy sacrifice of the Mass, in that celebrated\nSacramentary which remains the most august monument of Liturgical\nscience. It may be said also that he created, and, by anticipation,\nsaved, Christian art, by fixing, long before the persecution of the\nIconoclasts, the true doctrine respecting the veneration of images,\nin that fine letter to the bishop of Marseilles, in which he reproves\nhim for having, in the excess of his zeal against idolatry, broken\nthe statues of the saints, and reminds him that through all antiquity\nthe history of the saints has been pictorically represented, and that\npainting is to the ignorant what letters are to those who can read.\n\nBut his name is specially associated, in the history of Catholic\nworship, with that branch of religious art which is identified with\nworship itself, and which is of the utmost moment to the piety as to\nthe innocent joy of the Christian people. The name of _Gregorian Chant_\nreminds us of his solicitude for collecting the ancient melodies of the\nChurch, in order to subject them to rules of harmony, and to arrange\nthem according to the requirements of divine worship. He had the glory\nof giving to Ecclesiastical music that sweet and solemn character which\nhas descended through ages, and to which we must always return after\nthe most prolonged aberrations of frivolity and innovation. He made out\nhimself, in his Antiphonary, the collection of ancient and new chants;\nhe composed the text and melodies of several hymns, which are still\nused in the Church; he established at Rome the celebrated school of\nsacred music, to which Gaul, Germany, and England came in turns, trying\nwith more or less success to assimilate their voices to the purity of\nItalian modulations. And when Gregory was too ill to leave his little\nchamber and his couch, he gathered about him the boys of the choir, and\ncontinued their instructions.\n\nThe gout made the last years of his life a kind of martyrdom. The cry\nof pain rings in many of his letters. \"For nearly two years,\" he wrote\nto the patriarch of Alexandria, \"I have been imprisoned to my bed by\nsuch pangs of gout, that I can scarcely rise for two or three hours on\ngreat holidays to celebrate solemn mass. And the intensity of the pain\ncompels me immediately to lie down again, that I may be able to endure\nmy torture, by giving free course to my groans. My illness will neither\nleave me nor kill me. I entreat your holiness to pray for me, that I\nmay be soon delivered, and receive that freedom which you know, and\nwhich is the glory of the children of God.\"\n\nUp to his last moments he continued with unwearied activity to dictate\nhis correspondence, and to concern himself with the interests of the\nChurch. He died on the 12th March, 604, aged nearly fifty-five, in the\nthirteenth year of his pontificate. He was buried in S. Peter's; and\nin the epitaph engraved on his tomb, it is said that, \"after having\nconformed all his actions to his doctrine, the consul of God went to\nenjoy eternal triumph.\"\n\nS. Hildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo, in the seventh century, writes\nthus of him--\"He surpassed Antony in holiness, Cyprian in eloquence,\nand Augustine in wisdom.\" Yet so great was his humility, that he\nsubscribed himself, \"Servant of the servants of God\"--a style which his\nsuccessors in the chair of S. Peter have retained till this day. He was\nburied in the basilica of S. Peter. His pallium, reliquary, and girdle\nwere preserved as precious memorials.\n\nHe had, like so many other great hearts, to struggle with ingratitude,\nnot only during his life, but after his death. Rome was afflicted\nwith a great famine under his successor, Sabinian, who put an end\nto the charities which Gregory had granted to the poor, on the plea\nthat there was nothing remaining in the treasury of the Church. The\nenemies of the deceased pope then excited the people against him,\ncalling him prodigal and a waster of the Roman patrimony; and that\nungrateful people, whom he had loved and helped so much, began to burn\nhis writings, as if to annihilate or dishonour his memory. But one of\nthe monks, who had followed him from the monastery to the palace, his\nfriend the deacon Peter, interposed. He represented to the incendiaries\nthat these writings were already spread through the entire world, and\nthat it was, besides, sacrilege to burn the work of a holy doctor, upon\nwhom he swore he had himself seen the heavenly dove fluttering. And as\nif to confirm his oath, after having ended his address, he breathed\nforth his last sigh, a valiant witness of truth and friendship, and is\ncommemorated by the Church on the same day with S. Gregory.\n\nIn the year 826, the body of this holy pontiff was brought into France,\nand placed in the celebrated monastery of S. Medard, in Soissons. The\nhead was given to archbishop Agesil, and deposited in the abbey of S.\nPierre-le-Vif, at Sens, and a bone was given to Rome at the request of\npope Urban VIII., in 1628.\n\nIn art, S. Gregory is represented as a pope, with a dove hovering over\nhim, or at his ear, and with music in his hand: a frequent subject with\nMedi\u00e6val sculptors and painters was his Mass. According to the legend,\nas he was about to communicate a woman, and said, \"The Body of our Lord\nJesus Christ preserve thy body and soul unto Eternal Life,\" he saw her\nsmile, wherefore he refused to give her the host, and questioning her,\nfound that she doubted how what her senses told her was bread could\nbe the flesh of Christ. Then S. Gregory prayed that her eyes might be\nopened, and instantly the Host was visibly changed into Christ enduring\nHis passion.\n\n\nS. MURAN, AB.\n\n(7TH CENT.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--Colgan.]\n\nS. Muran was the son of Feradach, of the noble race of the O'Neills,\nand was abbot of Fathinis, in the peninsula of Inis-coguin, five miles\nfrom Derry, in the north of Ulster. He was famous for his sanctity; and\nwas greatly honoured of old in that part of Ireland, where the church\nof Fathinis was dedicated in his name; but the particulars of his life\nhave not been handed down.\n\n[Illustration: MASS OF S. GREGORY.\n March 12.]\n\n\nS. FINA, V.\n\n(A.D. 1253.)\n\n [Venerated in Tuscany, especially at S. Geminiani. Authority:--A Life\n written by the famous preacher, John de S. Geminiani (1310).]\n\nS. Fina was the daughter of very poor parents at S. Geminiani, in\nTuscany. Her name was probably Seraphina, but it is only known by\nits diminutive of endearment, Fina. The young girl was singularly\nbeautiful, and at the same time exceedingly bashful, ever walking\nabroad with her soft dark eyes modestly lowered. Whilst yet young she\nwas suddenly paralysed through her whole body, with the exception of\nher head. For six years she lay on one side upon a hard board, and\nwould not suffer her mother or the neighbours to make her a soft bed,\ndesiring rather to be like our Blessed Lord, stretched on His Cross.\nThe father seems to have been dead, and the poor mother begged for\nsubsistence for herself and daughter. The girl's skin broke, and formed\nterrible sores, but she bore all her sufferings with sweetness. When\nleft alone, the mice and rats, which infested the miserable hut, would\noften come and attack her, and horribly mangle her sores, and the\npoor child being paralysed in all her members was unable to protect\nherself from them. Yet not a murmur escaped her lips, nor did a cloud\ndarken the serenity of her temper. She was always gentle, loving, and\nconsiderate of others.\n\nA new misfortune now befel her. Her mother died suddenly whilst\ncrossing the threshold, on her return from begging, and Fina was left\nwholly unprovided for. She was thus left perfectly helpless, to the\nmercy of poor neighbours. But their desultory attention was not like\nthat of a mother, and it soon became evident that she would die through\npartial neglect. In the midst of her sufferings she had been comforted\nby being told of S. Gregory the Great and his cruel pains, and the\nyoung girl had formed a strong attachment and devotion to him. One\nnight, as she lay alone, uncared for in her hut, the great pontiff\nand doctor of the Church shone out of the darkness by the side of the\npauper cripple, and bade her be of good cheer. \"Dear child, on my\nfestival Christ will give thee rest.\" And it was so. On the feast of S.\nGregory she died. When the neighbours lifted the poor little body from\nthe board on which it had lain, lo! that board was covered with white\nviolets exhaling a delicious perfume, and to this day, at S. Geminiani,\nthe peasants call these flowers which bloom about the day of her death,\nS. Fina's flowers.\n\n[Illustration: PUSILLANIMITY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey of S.\nDenis.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 13.\n\n S. EUPHRASIA, _V. in Egypt, after_ A.D. 410.\n S. MOCHOEMOG, _Ab. of Liathmor, in Ireland, middle of 7th cent._\n S. GERALD, _Ab. and B. of Mayo, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 700.\n S. NICEPHORUS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, A.D. 828.\n S. ANSEWIN, _B. of Camerino, in Italy, circ._ A.D. 840.\n SS. RUDERICK, _P.M._, AND SALOMON, _M. at Cordova_, A.D. 857.\n S. ELDRAD, _Ab. of Novalese, in Italy_, A.D. 875.\n S. KENNOCHA, _V. in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 1007.\n B. ERIC OR HENRICK, _C. at Perugia_, A.D. 1415.\n\n\nS. EUPHRASIA, V.\n\n(AFTER A.D. 410.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, on the authority of Usuardus. By the Greeks on\n July 25th. Authority:--An ancient Greek life, published by Bollandus,\n quoted by S. John Damascene (730). There are other, more modern,\n versions of the ancient life.]\n\nIn the reign of Theodosius the First, Antigonus, governor of Lycia,\nand his wife, Euphrasia, were blessed by God with a little daughter,\nwho was named after her mother. Antigonus and his wife feared God,\nand served Him with all their hearts, and with one consent resolved\nto bring up their little child as a bride of Christ. Shortly after\nAntigonus had formed this resolution he was called out of the world.\nWhen the child was five years old, the emperor, who had taken the\nlittle girl under his protection, proposed to the mother that she\nshould be given in marriage to the son of a wealthy senator, in\naccordance with the custom of the times, to betroth maidens of high\nrank from infancy. The mother consented, and received the betrothal\npresents from the parents of the boy, and the marriage was arranged\nto take place as soon as the maiden was of a sufficient age. But in\nthe meantime, some changes in the imperial household having thrown\nEuphrasia, the mother, out of favour, she retired into Egypt with her\ndaughter, under pretext of visiting her relatives, and whilst there she\ntravelled into Upper Egypt, and saw with admiration and respect the\nholy lives of the solitaries who inhabited the deserts of the Thebaid.\n\nIn the Thebaid was a convent of a hundred holy women, and the widow\nfound great delight and exceeding profit in visiting it frequently,[42]\ntaking with her each time her little child, who was then aged seven.\nThe mother superior was warmly attached to the beautiful girl, and one\nday drawing the child towards her, before her mother, asked Euphrasia\nif she loved her. \"That do I,\" answered the child, looking up into\nher face. \"Well, will you come and live with us, then?\" enquired the\nsuperior, playfully. \"I would,\" replied Euphrasia, \"if I did not think\nit would trouble my mother.\" \"And now, my pet,\" said the superior,\n\"which do you love best, your little husband or us sisters.\" \"I have\nnever seen my little husband, nor has my little husband ever seen me,\nso we cannot love each other much,\" answered the child; \"but I do love\nyou sisters very much, because I know you. Which do you love best, my\nlittle husband or me?\" \"Oh,\" said the nun, \"I love you much the best;\nbut I love Jesus Christ above all.\" \"So do I,\" said the child, \"I love\nyou very much, but I love Jesus Christ best.\"\n\n[42] She gave the sisters, we are told, candles and incense for their\naltar, and oil for their oratory lamp, but gold they would not receive.\n\nThe mother, Euphrasia, looked on smiling, and with tears in her eyes,\nas this simple conversation, which has been blown down to us through\nmore than fifteen centuries, passed between the old nun and the\nchild. Then she took her child's hand to lead her away. But the young\nEuphrasia implored her mother to let her remain, and she, supposing\nthis was a mere infantine caprice, consented, thinking that she would\nsoon weary of the cloister life. But it was not so. The child clung to\nthe sisters, in spite of every hardship and trial inflicted on her to\npersuade her to go. She was told she must fast, and learn the Psalter\nby heart, if she remained, and sleep on the hard ground. She was ready\nfor all, rather than depart. Then the superior said to the mother,\n\"Leave the little girl with us, for the grace of God is working in her\nheart. Your piety and that of Antigonus have opened to her the most\nperfect way.\" Then Euphrasia, the mother, took her child in her arms,\nand going before an image of our Blessed Lord, she held up the little\ngirl, and said, weeping, \"My Lord Jesus Christ, receive this child\ninto Thy protection, since she desires Thee only, and devotes herself\nto Thy service alone.\" And she blessed her daughter, saying, \"May the\nLord, who made the mountains so strong that they cannot be moved,\nconfirm thee in His holy fear.\" But when the parting came, she burst\ninto a flood of tears, and the whole community wept with her. A few\ndays after, the superior brought the young Euphrasia into the chapel,\nand vested her in the religious habit, and kneeling down by the tiny\nnovice, she prayed, \"O King of ages, finish in this child the work of\nsanctification that Thou hast begun. Give her grace to follow in all\nthings Thy holy will, and to place in Thee her hope and confidence.\"\n\nWhen her mother saw her in her austere habit, she asked her if she were\ncontent. \"Oh, mother!\" cried the child, \"It is my marriage garment,\ngiven me on my espousals to Jesus.\" \"May He, sweet child, make thee\nworthy of His love,\" said the mother.\n\nYears passed away, and the little flower grew up and bloomed in the\ncool shade of the cloister, and her mother had rejoined Antigonus in\nbliss, when the emperor wrote to Euphrasia to order her instantly\nto return to Constantinople and marry the young man to whom he had\nbetrothed her. She was of imperial blood, and Theodosius considered\nthat, on the death of her mother, the charge of Euphrasia, who was now\nan heiress and very wealthy, devolved on him. She replied, imploring\nhim to allow her to follow her vocation, and requested him to dispose\nof all her property for the benefit of the poor. Euphrasia was then\naged twelve. Theodosius, satisfied that she was in earnest, obeyed her\nrequest, and troubled her no more about the marriage. But now arrived\na critical time of life, when youthful spirits and passions were in\neffervesence, and she was cruelly tormented with vain imaginations\nand temptations to go forth into that wondrous world of which she\nknew so little, but which, clothed in the rainbow tints of infantine\nremembrance, allured her fancy. To divert her attention, and at the\nsame time to prove her obedience, the superior one day pointed to a\ngreat heap of stones, and bade her carry them to the top of a little\nsand hill, some distance off. Euphrasia obeyed cheerfully, toiling\nat removing the stones under the hot sun, one by one, to the place\nindicated. Then she came joyously to the superior, and signified to\nher that the task was accomplished. \"Bring them all back again,\" said\nthe mother superior. And the young nun hasted to obey. Next day she\npresented herself before the superior once more. \"I have changed my\nmind,\" said the mother; \"take the stones back again to the top of the\nmound.\" And thirty times did she make Euphrasia carry them back; and\neach time was she obeyed with cheerfulness.\n\nShe was then sent into the kitchen, and made to chop up the wood for\nthe fire, bake the bread, and cook the food. The sister who undertook\nthis arduous task was usually exempt from attending the midnight\noffices, but Euphrasia never missed being present in choir with the\nothers, and when she was twenty, she was taller and plumper than\nany of the other sisters, her face had lost none of its beauty and\nfreshness, but beamed with amiability. She had her trials, being for\nsome time vexed with the contradiction of one of the sisters, who took\na spite against her, being filled with jealousy of her virtues, and she\nonce seriously injured her foot with the axe when chopping up wood. But\nGod favoured her, and gave her the power of working miracles, and she\ncast evil spirits out of many that were possessed, and healed many that\nwere sick. And when she was about to die, Julia, a favourite sister,\nwho inhabited the same cell, implored Euphrasia to obtain for her the\ngrace to be her companion in heaven, as she had been her associate on\nearth. Then, when Euphrasia was dead, sister Julia cast herself on her\ntomb, and wept and prayed, and the third day she was called away to be\nwith her friend in the heavenly kingdom. Now, when the aged superior\nsaw this, she longed greatly to enter also into her rest; it was she\nwho had admitted Euphrasia, and it grieved her sore to be left in the\ndesert when her spiritual daughter had entered the Promised Land. So\nshe prayed also, and when the nuns looked into her cell in the morning,\nshe had joined Euphrasia and Julia.\n\n\nS. MOCHOEMOG, AB. OF LIATHMOR.\n\n(MIDDLE OF 7TH CENT.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies, also the German Martyrology of Canisius.\n Authority:--A life purporting to be written by a disciple, but this is\n certainly false. It can not have been written before the 12th century.\n I give the story, and the reader may believe as much as he likes of\n the wonderful details.]\n\nThe abbot Mochoemog was born in Connaught. His father, on account of a\nfeud, came into Munster and settled on the lands of O'Connell-Ghabhra.\nThe father, Beoan by name, loved a certain beautiful damsel, called\nNessa, of the race of the Nan-desi,[43] the sister of S. Ytha, and\nhaving wedded her, he went with his wife to S. Ytha, and built her a\nbeautiful convent, for Beoan was a skilful architect. Then S. Ytha\nsaid to him, \"What recompense shall I give thee?\" Then he said, \"Thou\nknowest that I have no heir; beseech the Lord that He may grant me\none.\" And Ytha answered, \"A son shalt thou have, elect before God and\nmen.\"\n\n[43] Decies, county Waterford.\n\nNow there was a certain king, named Crunmhoel, who made war on the\nO'Connells, and a great battle was fought, and Beoan was in the battle,\nand he fell. Then his wife went over the field seeking him, and she\nfound his head, and knew it again, and she took it and carried it to\nS. Ytha, and said, \"Where is thy promise, sister, that he should have\nan heir?\" Then the holy abbess said, \"Weep not, my sister, but put his\nhead on to his body again.\" \"How can I know his body in the midst of\nso many headless corpses?\" asked Nessa. \"Be not discouraged,\" answered\nthe holy abbess, \"Go into the field, and call Beoan thrice in the name\nof the Holy Trinity, and he will come after his head, then put it on\nagain.\" So Nessa did so. And when she had called the third time, a\ndead man got up out of his place, and he had lost his head, but he\nseemed to be looking about for it with his stump. So he came to Nessa,\nand she put his head on, and then he opened his mouth, and said, \"Oh,\nwoman! why didst thou call me?\" And he was sound again. Therefore he\nand his wife came to S. Ytha, who asked him, \"Friend, desirest thou to\ntarry longer here below, or to go direct to heaven?\" Beoan answered,\n\"I esteem this world as nothing compared to eternal glory.\" \"That is\nwell,\" answered Ytha; \"However, my promise must be kept. Thou must go\nhome with thy wife.\" Then she washed his head and neck, and not even a\nscar remained. And after that Nessa became pregnant. Now there was in\nthe east of Ireland, at Momyfechta, a blind abbot, named Fechean,[44]\nand he prayed that he might recover his sight. Then an angel appeared\nto him, and bade him go and wash his eyes in the milk from the breast\nof the wife of Beoan. But S. Fechean knew not where Beoan lived, and\nhad never heard his name before. Then he went to S. Ytha, to ask her\nto direct him, and she told him whither he was to go. And Fechean\nhasted, guided by his disciples, and they came to a mill, and there he\nfound Beoan and his wife. Then Fechean related in order his vision,\nand the journey he had undertaken, and when he had made his petition,\nNessa gave him some of her milk, and therewith he washed his eyes, and\nstraightway he saw plain, and returned with great joy to his monastery.\n\n[44] Not to be mistaken for S. Fechin of Fore. Colgan mistakes in so\nthinking.\n\nNow when Nessa was near the term of her pregnancy, she went in a\nchariot to her sister. And Ytha heard the driving of the car, and she\nsent one of her maidens forth, saying, \"I hear a chariot sounding\nas though a king rode therein. Who cometh to me?\" Then the maiden\nanswered, \"It is thy sister Nessa.\" \"It is well,\" said Ytha; \"She bears\nin her womb a child who will sit enthroned in heaven, therefore did the\nchariot sound royally.\"\n\nNow as soon as Nessa bore a son, it was told to Ytha, and she gave\nhim a name, Mochoemog (Mo-choem-og), meaning \"My-gentle-youth,\" and\nin Latin he is called Pulcherius. Then his parents gave him to S.\nYtha, that she might rear him in the service of God, and he grew up in\nher house till he was twenty years old. And after that he went into\nUlster, to S. Comgall, and was ordained priest by him, and he resided\nmany years in Banchor under his guidance. But at length S. Comgall\nbade him depart and found a new monastery, and become father of a new\ngeneration of monks. So he went into Leinster, to Enacht, in Mount\nBlaine, and there he built a cell. But being driven forth, he went\ninto Ossory, and the chief of that part offered him his castle, but\nMochoemog would not accept it, but went into a desert place seeking a\nhome; and the chief said to him, \"I have a great and dense forest near\nthe bog Lurgan which I will give thee.\" Then Mochoemog was pleased, and\nhe went into the forest, and he carried in his hand a bell. Now Ytha\nhad given him this bell when he was a child, and it sounded not. \"But,\"\nsaid she, \"when thou comest to the place of thy resurrection, then\nthe bell will tinkle.\" So Mochoemog walked on till he reached a wide\nspreading oak, under which lay an old gray boar; and instantly the bell\nbegan to sound. So Mochoemog knew that he had reached the place of his\nresurrection, and he settled there, and because of the great grey boar,\nhe called the place Liathmor (Liath, _grey_; mor, _great_.)[45]\n\n[45] In King's County.\n\nHere he dwelt for many years, training saints. He was greatly troubled\nby princes, for on the death of his protector, the chief who had given\nhim Liathmor, his son endeavoured to drive the aged abbot and his\ncommunity away, but was miraculously prevented from doing so. Once the\nhorses of the king of Munster were driven to pasture on the lands of\nthe abbey, because the grass there was very rich. Mochoemog drove them\nall off, and hearing that the king was exceedingly incensed against\nhim, and had ordered that he and his monks should be forcibly ejected\nfrom the country, the old man hasted to Cashel, where was the king. The\nprince seeing him, exclaimed, \"What! little old bald head, thou here! I\nshall have thee driven from the place.\" \"I may be bald,\" answered the\nabbot, \"but thou shalt be blind of an eye.\" Then suddenly there came an\ninflammation in the eye of the king, and he lost the sight of it. The\nking, humbled, implored relief from the pain. \"He shall be freed from\nhis pain,\" answered Mochoemog, \"but he shall remain blind of an eye.\"\nThen he blessed a vessel of water, and therewith the king's eye was\nwashed, and the inflammation ceased.\n\nThe wonders wrought by Mochoemog are too many to be further related\nhere. We have given a few specimens, and must refer the reader to the\noriginal life for the rest.\n\nMochoemog died at Liathmor, and was there buried.\n\n\nS. NICEPHORUS, PATR. OF CONSTANTINOPLE.\n\n(A.D. 828.)\n\n [This is the festival of the Translation of S. Nicephorus in the\n Roman Martyrology and Greek Men\u00e6a. June 2nd is the day of his death\n also observed in his honour by the Greeks. Authorities:--His life by\n Ignatius deacon of Constantinople, and afterwards bishop of Nic\u00e6a, a\n contemporary, and an account of his banishment by Theophanes, a fellow\n sufferer in the persecution.]\n\nThe father of this saint, named Theodore, was secretary to the emperor\nConstantine Copronymus, but when that tyrant declared himself a\npersecutor of the Catholic church, the faithful minister preferring to\nserve God rather than man, maintained the honour due to holy images\nwith so much zeal, that he was stripped of his honours, scourged,\ntortured, and banished. The young Nicephorus grew up with his father's\nexample before his eyes to stimulate him to confession of the truth\nat any sacrifice; his education was not neglected, and he made rapid\nprogress in all the accomplishments of the age. When Constantine and\nIrene were placed on the imperial throne, and restored the use of\nsacred pictures and images in churches, Nicephorus was introduced to\ntheir notice, and by his sterling merit obtained their favour. He\nwas by them advanced to his father's dignity, and, by the lustre of\nhis sanctity, he became at once the ornament of the court, and the\nsupport of the state. He distinguished himself greatly by his zeal\nagainst the Iconoclasts, and acted as secretary to the second council\nof Nic\u00e6a. After the death of S. Tarasius, (Feb. 25th), patriarch\nof Constantinople, in 806, no one was found more worthy to succeed\nhim than Nicephorus. To give an authentic testimony of his faith,\nduring the time of his consecration he held in his hand a treatise\nhe had written in defence of holy images, and after the ceremony\nwas concluded, he laid it up behind the altar, as a pledge that he\nwould always maintain the tradition of the Church. As soon as he was\nseated in the patriarchal chair, he set about endeavouring to effect a\nreformation of manners of the clergy and people, and his precepts from\nthe pulpit received double force from his example. He applied himself\nwith unwearied diligence to all the duties of the ministry; and, by\nhis zeal and invincible meekness and patience, was able to effect\nmuch which a less earnest or harsher character would have found it\nimpossible to achieve.\n\nConstantine was blinded, Irene banished, Nicephorus I., her successor,\nhad fallen before the Bulgarians. Michael I. was driven from the\nthrone, and Leo the Armenian became emperor in 813. He was an\nIconoclast, and endeavoured both by artifices and open violence to\nestablish that heresy. His first endeavour, however, was, by crafty\nsuggestions, to gain over the holy patriarch to favour his design of\ndestroying the sacred pictures and images which had resumed their\nplaces in the churches and streets, after the second council of Nic\u00e6a\nhad sanctioned their use. But S. Nicephorus answered him, \"We cannot\nchange the ancient traditions: we respect holy images as we do the\ncross and the book of the gospels.\" For it must be observed that the\nancient Iconoclasts venerated the book of the gospels, and the figure\nof the cross, though with singular inconsistency, they forbade the\nrendering of the like honour to holy images. The saint showed, that\nfar from derogating from the supreme honour of God, we honour Him when\nwe for His sake respect His angels, saints, prophets, and ministers;\nand also when we show reverence towards all such things as belong\nto His service, like sacred vessels, churches, and images. But the\ntyrant persisted in his error, and the first steps he took against\nimages were marked by caution. He privately encouraged some soldiers\nto maltreat an image of Christ on a great cross at the brazen gate of\nthe city; and then he ordered the image to be taken off the cross,\npretending he did it to prevent a second profanation. S. Nicephorus saw\nthe storm gathering, and spent most of his time in prayer, in company\nwith several holy bishops and abbots. Shortly after, the emperor,\nhaving assembled certain Iconoclastic bishops in his palace, sent for\nthe patriarch and his fellow-bishops.[46] They obeyed the summons,\nbut entreated the emperor to leave the government of the Church to\nher pastors. \u00c6milian, bishop of Cyzicus, one of their body, said, \"If\nthis is an ecclesiastical affair, let it be discussed in the Church,\naccording to custom, not in the palace.\" Euthymius, bishop of Sardis,\nsaid, \"For these eight hundred years past, since the coming of Christ,\nthere have been pictures of Him, and He has been honoured in them.\nWho shall now have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition?\"\nS. Theodore of the Studium spoke after the bishops, and addressed the\nemperor, \"My lord, do not disturb the order of the Church. God hath\nplaced in it apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers.[47] You he hath\nentrusted with the care of the State; the Church hath he entrusted to\nthe care of her Bishops.\" The emperor, in a rage, drove them from his\npresence. Some time after, the Iconoclast bishops held an assembly in\nthe imperial palace, and cited the patriarch to appear before them. To\ntheir summons he returned this answer, \"Who gave you this authority? If\nit was he who pilots the vessel of old Rome, I am ready. If it was the\nAlexandrine successor of the Evangelist Mark, I am ready. If it was the\npatriarch of Antioch, or he of Jerusalem, I make no opposition. But who\nare ye? In my diocese you have no jurisdiction.\" He then read the canon\nwhich declares those excommunicate who presume to exercise any act of\njurisdiction in the diocese of another bishop. They, however, proceeded\nto pronounce against him a sentence of deposition; and the holy pastor,\nafter several attempts had been made secretly to take away his life,\nwas sent by the emperor into banishment. Michael the Stammerer, who\nsucceeded Leo the Armenian, in 120, also favoured the Iconoclastic\nfaction, and continued to harass S. Nicephorus, who died in exile, on\nJune 2nd, 828, in the monastery of S. Theodore, which he had erected,\nat the age of seventy. By order of the empress Theodora, his body was\nbrought to Constantinople with great pomp, in 846, on the 13th of March.\n\n[46] For a further account of this assembly and the ensuing\npersecution, see the life of S. Nicetas, April 3rd.\n\n[47] Eph. iv. 11.\n\n\nS. ANSEWIN, B. OF CAMERINO.\n\n(CIRC. A.D. 840.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--A life written by Eginus the monk,\n about the year 960, not, apparently entire, and the Lections of the\n Breviary of Camerino.]\n\nS. Ansewin, or Hanse-win, was a native of Camerino, in Tuscany. He\nretired in early life into the solitude of Castel-Raymond, near\nTorcello, after his ordination as priest. He was appointed chaplain\nand confessor to the emperor Louis, and in 822, he was nominated to\nthe bishopric of his native city. A strange legend of his expedition\nto Rome to receive consecration has been recorded by his biographer.\nOn arriving at Narni, with a cavalcade of nobles and friends who\naccompanied him from Camerino, they put up at a tavern for refreshment,\nand asked for wine. The publican, an ill-conditioned fellow, served\nthem with what they desired, but Ansewin, looking at it, detected that\nit was watered, and sharply rebuked the taverner. The man surlily\nreplied that they must drink what was set before them, and that it was\nno odds to him whether they liked his wine or not.\n\n\"Now, friend,\" said the bishop-elect, \"we have no drinking vessels with\nus, so bring us forth horns or goblets.\"\n\n\"Not I,\" answered the publican, \"I provide wine, but customers usually\nbring their own cups.\"\n\n\"But, friend, we have none with us.\" \"That is your affair, not mine,\"\nanswered the fellow rudely. \"Then we must do what we can,\" said\nAnsewin, drawing off his cape, and holding out the hood. \"Come, host!\npour the wine in here.\" The man stared, and then burst into a roar of\nlaughter. But Ansewin persisted. \"Then, fool, I will do so, and waste\nthe liquor, but mind, you pay for it,\" said he. \"Pour boldly,\" said the\nbishop-elect, holding the hood distended; and the inn-keeper obeyed.\nThen two marvels occurred, the hood retained the liquor, and served as\na drinking horn to all the company, and the water which had diluted the\nwine separated from it, and flowed away over the edge.\n\nHe ruled his diocese with great prudence, and in time of famine,\nby his wise regulations and abundant alms, greatly relieved the\nsufferings of the poor. He was absent from his dear city where he had\nbeen born, and which he had ministered to with so much love, when he\nwas stricken with mortal sickness. He was greatly distressed at the\nprospect of dying out of his diocese, and ordered a horse to be brought\nthat he might ride home. His companions, seeing death in his face,\nremonstrated; but he persisted in his command, and when his horse was\nbrought to the door, he descended, supported by his friends to it. Then\nthe horse knelt down, and suffered the dying man to mount him without\neffort. As soon as he was in Camerino, he ordered all his flock to\nassemble to receive his final blessing, and then gently expired.\n\nRelics at Camerino, in the cathedral, and a portion of the shoulder in\nthe Vatican.\n\nIn art he is represented with his hood full of wine.\n\n\nSS. RUDERICK, P. M., AND SALOMON, M.\n\n(A.D. 857.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--S. Eulogius, (March 11th), himself a\n martyr in the same persecution, 859, wrote the Acts of all those who\n suffered at that time, either from his own knowledge, or from the\n testimony of eye witnesses.]\n\nDuring the persecution of the Christians under the Moorish occupation\nof Spain, there was a priest in the village of Cabra, about\nfive-and-twenty miles from Cordova, named Ruderick, who had two\nbrothers, whereof one had renounced Christianity and become a Moslem.\nOne night this apostate brother and the other were quarrelling, and\ncame to blows, when Ruderick rushed between them to separate them,\nbut was so mauled by both, that he fell senseless on the ground. The\nMussulman brother then placed him on a litter, and had him carried\nabout the country, walking by his side, and showing him off as a\nrenegade priest. Ruderick was too much bruised and strained to\nresist for a while, but he bore this with greater anguish than his\nbodily injuries, and as soon as ever he was sufficiently recovered,\nhe effected his escape. The renegade meeting him some time after in\nthe streets of Cordova, dragged him before the cadi, and denounced\nhim as having professed the Mussulman religion, and then returned to\nChristianity. Ruderick indignantly denied that he had ever apostatized,\nbut the cadi, believing the accusation, ordered him to be cast into\nthe foulest den of the city prison, reserved for parricides. There\nhe found a Christian, named Salomon, awaiting sentence on a similar\ncharge of having conformed to the established religion for a while, and\nthen returned to the worship of Christ. They were retained in prison\nfor some time, the cadi hoping thus to weary them into apostasy. But\nthe two confessors encouraged each other to stand fast. Being made\nacquainted with this, the cadi ordered them to be separated, but when\nthis also failed, he sentenced them both to decapitation.\n\n\nS. KENNOCHA, V.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 1007.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--The same.]\n\nOn March 13th, the Ancient Scottish Church commemorated S. Kennocha, a\nvirgin, who, desirous of consecrating herself wholly to Jesus Christ,\nmet with long and vehement opposition from her parents and friends, and\nunderwent from them great hardships and persecution, without shaking\nher constancy. She led a life as a solitary of great severity, and\nattained a good old age. She was buried in the church of Kyle.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 14.\n\n SS. FORTY-SEVEN MARTYRS, _under Nero, in Rome_, A.D. 67.\n SS. PETER, APHRODISIUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Carthage_.\n SS. TWO MONKS AND A DEACON, _MM. in the Abruzzi, 6th cent._\n S. LUBIN, _B. of Chartres, circ._ A.D. 557.\n S. EUTYCHIUS, OR EUSTASIUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Charr\u00e6, in\n Mesopotamia_, A.D. 741.\n S. MATHILDA, _Emp. of Germany_, A.D. 968.\n\n\nSS. MARTYRS UNDER NERO.\n\n(A.D. 67.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The ancient Acts of SS. Processus and\n Martinian.]\n\nThese forty-seven martyrs are believed to have been converted by\nS. Peter, at the time when he was confined along with S. Paul, in\nthe Mamertine prison, in which they spent nine months. According to\ntradition S. Peter brought water out of the rock wherewith to baptize\nthem. They suffered execution by the sword.\n\n\nSS. PETER, APHRODISIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.\n\n(DATE UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology.]\n\nThe greatest confusion and uncertainty exists relative to these\nmartyrs. In the Roman Martyrology they are said to have suffered in\nthe Vandal persecution, in Africa. But there is some mistake, as the\nBollandist fathers have pointed out. Aphrodisius there can be no doubt\nis wrong, and should be Euphrosius, who in ancient Martyrologies is\nmentioned with SS. Donatus, Frumentius, and others, but not with Peter;\nand that the martyrdom took place in the Vandal persecution is an error\nof Baronius, trusting to Galesinius, with whom it was pure conjecture.\nThere is also no evidence that Peter ought to be coupled with\nEuphrosius and Donatus; but on the authority of ancient Martyrologies,\nwith Alexander, Mamerius, Nabor, and others, of equally unknown date.\n\n\nS. LUBIN, B. OF CHARTRES.\n\n(A.D. 557.)\n\n [Gallican Martyrology. His translation is commemorated in the Roman,\n on September 15th. Authority:--An ancient life of uncertain date and\n unknown authorship.]\n\nS. Lubin, (Leobinus), was the son of poor parents near Poitiers, and\nwas born in the reign of Clovis I. (the latter half of the 5th cent.)\nHis boyhood was spent in ploughing the fields and feeding cattle.\nBut he had a great desire to learn to read, and having made the\nacquaintance of a good monk, he persuaded him to ink the letters of\nthe alphabet on his leather girdle, so that he might carry them about\nwith him when he went after the cattle, and learn them by heart. His\nintelligence opening, he was sent to a monastery of that country,\nbut whether it was Ligug\u00e9 or Nouaille is not certain, and was made\ncellarer, and required to ring the hours. These duties gave him little\nleisure for pursuing his studies; he therefore curtailed his hours of\nsleep, and as his lamp troubled the sleep of the brethren, he hung a\ncurtain over his window to screen the light from them. After having\nspent eight years in this monastery, the desire came upon him to visit\nS. Avitus, who lived as a hermit in Perche, (July 17th.) Having gone\ninto this country, he met first with S. Calais, who had not then left\nS. Avitus, to settle in Maine, (July 1st); this great master of the\nspiritual life advised Lubin not to attach himself to the service of\nany church or chapel, as it would be the means of drawing him into the\nworld, and interfere with the exercise of his religious rule, and not\nto seek a small monastery, for in such every one wants to be master. S.\nAvitus counselled Lubin to spend some time longer in a monastery before\nhe retired into the desert. He therefore took the road to Lerins, but\na monk of that abbey whom he met assuring him that it was unhealthy,\nhe turned aside with the monk, and went to Javoux, where S. Hilary,\nthe bishop of that place,[48] received them into his community. But he\ndid not long remain there, thanks to his new acquaintance from Lerins,\nwho seems to have been nowhere content, and they went together to\nIle-Barbe, near Lyons. After a while the vagabond monk wanted to make\nanother change, and draw Lubin away with him, but Lubin shook himself\nfree of this restless spirit, and remained five years in Ile-Barbe.\n\n[48] The seat was afterwards transferred to Mende.\n\nDuring a war which broke out between the Franks and Burgundians, ending\nin the defeat of the latter by the sons of Clovis, in 525, the abbey\nof Ile-Barbe was invaded by the soldiers greedy of plunder. They found\nit deserted by all the monks, who had escaped, save S. Lubin and an\nold man. The old man, on being asked where the treasures of the church\nwere concealed, meanly said that S. Lubin knew better than he; and\nthe soldiers cruelly tormented the saint by winding whipcord tightly\nround his head, and then running a stick under it behind the head,\nand turning the stick so as to tighten the cord till it sank into the\ntemples. This was a favourite torture with the barbarians, when they\nwanted to extract the secret of hidden treasures from prisoners. They\nalso tied his feet, and let him, head down into the river, but were\nunable to extract from him the information they desired, and of which\nhe may have been ignorant. Thinking him dead, the soldiers threw him\non the bank and left him. He recovered, and made his way into Perche\nto S. Avitus, and served as cellarer in his monastery. On the death\nof S. Avitus, 430, he and two others retired into the wilderness of\nCharbonni\u00e8rs, on the extremities of the forest of Montmirail, which\nseparates Beauce from Maine. There they built three little cells, and\nspent five years in solitude. But miracles proclaimed the sanctity\nof S. Lubin; by his intercession a fire which had broken out in the\nforest, and threatened to consume it, was arrested. Hearing this,\n\u00c6therius, bishop of Chartres, ordained him deacon, and made him abbot\nof the monastery of Brou, in Perche; he afterwards ordained him priest\nto give him more authority over his monks.\n\nS. Aubin, bishop of Angers, being on his way to visit S. C\u00e6sarius of\nArles, persuaded S. Lubin to accompany him (536). When they came into\nProvence, Lubin yearned to retire into the peaceful retreat of Lerins,\nand escape the burden of the charge of his monastery, but S. Aubin\nsharply rebuked him, and made him see that he had no right to resign\nwithout sufficient cause a burden laid on him by God. In 544, \u00c6therius\ndied, and Lubin was elected to the see of Chartres by the almost\nunanimous voice of the clergy and laity. The saint on his ordination\nintroduced various reforms into the see. S. Lubin assisted in the fifth\ncouncil of Orleans, in 549, and in the second of Paris, 551. He died\nin 587, and was buried in the church of S. Martin-du-Val, where his\nbody was religiously preserved till the Calvinists sacked the church in\nthe 16th century, when they burnt his bones, and cast the ashes to the\nwinds. His skull was, however, preserved, but it also was lost at the\nRevolution.\n\n\nS. MATHILDA, EMPRESS.\n\n(A.D. 968.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Life drawn up by order of the\n emperor Henry, her grandson.]\n\nThe father of the empress Mathilda was Dietrich, count of Ringelheim,\na descendant of the famous Witikind, prince of the Saxons, who had\nmaintained so long and stubborn a resistance against Charlemagne.\nHer mother, Reinhild, was of royal Danish and Frisian blood. In her\nchildhood Mathilda was entrusted to the tender care of her grandmother\nHedwig, who had quitted the world, and had become abbess of Erfurt.\n\nHenry the Fowler, son of duke Otho of Saxony, fell in love with\nMathilda, and married her. The \"Life of S. Mathilda,\" written by\norder of Henry the Pious, her grandson, says that Otho, hearing of\nthe virtues of Mathilda, entered into negotiations with the count of\nRingelheim to have her married to his son Henry. This is, no doubt,\ntrue, but it is only half the truth. The other part was suppressed by\nthe pious historian. In fact, Henry was already married to Hathburg,\ndaughter of Erwin of Altstadt, whom he had taken from the cloister,\nwhere she was being educated, and by whom he became father of Thankmar,\nwho afterwards waged war with Otho the Great, son of Henry and\nMathilda, claiming the duchy of Saxony as his own by right of seniority\nof birth. Henry saw and fell in love with Mathilda, and the young\nsimple girl was probably hardly consulted in the matter, when Henry\ndivorced his wife Hathburg, sent her back to her convent, and demanded\nthe hand of Mathilda of her parents. The wrong done to Hathburg was\nbitterly atoned for in after years, for Mathilda was sorely tried by\nthe ingratitude of her own sons, and saw Otho engaged in a bloody war\nwith Thankmar, whom he had supplanted.\n\nHenry was one to captivate hearts. He is described as lofty and\nmajestic in stature, although slight and youthful in form, powerful\nand active in person, with a commanding and penetrating glance, his\nvery appearance attracting popular favour, and securing the heart of\nhis wife. \"He excelled in prudence and wisdom, and his stature became\nhis kingly dignity. Too much addicted to hunting, he was joyous in\nfestivities, but without diminishing his regal dignity. In war he was\nalike loved and feared.\"[49]\n\n[49] Witikind, lib. i., p. 641.\n\nHenry had been elected emperor of Germany. In his new position,\nhis life was one of warfare. He subjugated the Hevelli[50] and the\nBohemians, and in 933, routed the Hungarians. The ambassadors of\nthe Hungarians demanded of him the payment of an ancient tribute.\nAccording to the legendary account, Henry caused a mangy dog to be\nthrown before them, and declared a deadly war with their nation. The\nHungarians instantly crossed the frontier in two enormous hordes, the\nlesser of which was routed by the arri\u00e8re-ban of Saxony and Thuringia,\nnear Sondershausen. The other body advanced along the Saal, in the\nvicinity of Merseburg, against the emperor. Henry entrenched himself\non a mountain, since known as the Keuschberg, or Mountain of Chastity,\nowing to the circumstance of no woman being permitted to enter the camp\nof the Christians, who strengthened themselves for the coming conflict\nby devotional exercises. The news of the defeat of their countrymen\nat Sondershausen soon reached the Hungarians, who instantly kindled\nenormous fires along the banks of the river as signals of recall to\nall those of their number who were engaged in plundering the country,\nand the battle commenced with the coming morn. Henry addressed his\ntroops. The picture of S. Michael was borne in the van, as the banner\nof the empire. A murderous struggle commenced, the Hungarians shouting,\n\"Hui! hui!\" and the Germans, \"Kyrie-eleison!\" Victory long wavered,\nbut was at length decided by the discipline and enthusiastic valour of\nthe Germans. An immense number of Christian slaves were restored to\nliberty. After the victory, Henry knelt, at the head of his troops, and\nreturned thanks to Heaven. The terror of the Hungarians now equalled\nthat with which they had formerly inspired the Germans. In the belief\nthat the archangel Michael, whose gigantic picture they ever beheld\nborne in the van of the German army, was the god of victory, they made\ngolden wings, similar to those with which he was represented, for their\nown idols. The hand of the emperor, and, underneath, a horse shoe,\nare still to be seen cut in the rock at Keuschberg, as a token of the\nvictory. Germany remained undisturbed in this quarter during the rest\nof the reign of Henry the Fowler. Henry afterwards planned a visit to\nRome, but died without accomplishing that project, in 936, when at the\nheight of his splendour and renown. He was buried at Quedlinburg, his\nfavourite residence.\n\n[50] A Sorbian tribe on the Havel.\n\nThe union of Mathilda with her husband had been a very happy one. Both\nendeavoured to advance the kingdom of God by every means in their\npower, and together they concerted laws full of justice, to increase\nthe prosperity of their dominions. Henry left behind him three sons by\nMathilda, Otho, who was elected to the imperial throne on the decease\nof his father, Henry the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria, and Bruno,\narchbishop of Cologne. Mathilda spent her time in devotion, and gave\nabundant alms to the needy. She was very sober in her repasts, gentle\nin conversation, and ready to do with promptitude and cheerfulness\nwhatever she deemed consistent with her position.\n\nOtho had been unanimously elected emperor, and was crowned at\nAix-la-Chapelle with more than ordinary solemnity. He was invested with\nthe gigantic crown of Charlemagne, the sceptre, the sword, the cross,\nthe sacred lance of Longinus, and the golden mantle. And he looked\nan emperor. Witikind says of him in later years, \"His demeanour was\nreplete with majesty. His white hair waved over his shoulders. His eyes\nwere bright and sparkling; his beard of an extraordinary length; his\nbreast like that of a lion, and covered with hair.\"\n\nProud of his position and power, the young emperor was impatient of\nhis mother's advice and authority. Listening to those who viewed her\nvirtues with impatience, as a restraint on the licence of a court,\nthey persuaded Otho that she had lavished the money of the empire\nin charities. He at once ordered his mother to retire from court to\nEngern, in Ravensberg. It was grief to Mathilda to be thus treated\nby her eldest son, but it was greater grief to her to find that her\nfavourite son, Henry of Bavaria, had been the prime instigator of her\nbanishment.\n\nBut it was not long before Henry fell dangerously ill, and Edith,\nthe wife of Otho, deeming this a punishment for the wrong done to\nthe saintly dowager empress, and dreading the same for her husband,\npersuaded Otho to recall his mother. He wrote to her, asking her\npardon, and expressing his deep contrition for his past ingratitude.\nMathilda was not one to bear resentment, and she returned to court.\nMathilda now reaped with sorrow the harvest of her early involuntary\nfault in marrying a divorced man. Thankmar was in rebellion, for Otho\nhad not been content with depriving him of the imperial throne, but had\nalso seized his large maternal inheritance in Saxony, and had bestowed\nit on an adherent and friend. Thankmar took arms, and was upheld by the\nSaxons. The emperor marched against his half-brother, besieged him in\nEverburg, and Thankmar was slain at the foot of the altar, whither he\nhad fled for safety. Thankmar had been joined by Eberhardt, duke of\nFranconia, who, now that all was lost, fell at the feet of Henry of\nBavaria, and besought him to intercede in his behalf with the emperor.\nTo his surprise, Henry replied, that he was willing to join with him\nin his designs against Otho, in order to deprive him of the crown,\nwhich he coveted for himself. For the present the two confederates\ndissembled their projects, and Eberhardt made his submission to Otho\nwith expressions of the deepest contrition for his guilt. Henry\ngained confederates to his conspiracy, and suddenly attacked Otho\nas he was crossing the Rhine at Zante, but was defeated with great\nslaughter. Otho pardoned his brother, who remained afterwards true to\nhis allegiance, finding that it was his best interest to cling to his\npowerful brother. He was a man of treacherous and cruel heart, and when\nhis Bavarian subjects rose against him, and called the Hungarians to\ntheir assistance, having defeated them with the aid of Otho (955), he\nburied alive, or burnt in beds of quicklime, the leaders of the adverse\nparty, put out the eyes of the bishop of Salzburg, and the patriarch\nLupus of Aquileia met with a still more wretched fate at his hands.\n\nIn the midst of all these civil wars the dowager empress laboured to\nrelieve the sorrows of the peasants upon whom the state of hostilities\nweighed most heavily. Her time was devoted to nursing the sick,\nreleasing debtors from prison, and feeding the starving.\n\nBut at length, saddened beyond endurance by the conduct of her sons,\nand despairing of the world, she retired into the monastery of\nNordhausen, which she had built, and gathering about her three thousand\nsisters, spent the rest of her days in tears and prayer. She lived to\nreceive her grand-daughter, Mathilda, the child of the emperor Otho,\ninto her house, and to commit into her hands the government of the\ncommunity.\n\nShe died on March 14th, 968, and was buried in the church of S.\nServetus, at Quedlinburg, by the side of her husband, Henry.\n\n[Illustration: SLOTHFULNESS AND GLUTTONY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey\nof S. Denis.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 15.\n\n S. ARISTOBULUS, _M., 1st cent._ S. LONGINUS, _M., 1st cent._\n S. NICANDER, _M. in Egypt, circ._ A.D. 302.\n S. MATRONA, _M. at Thessalonica_.\n S. MATRONA, _V. in Portugal_.\n S. MATRONA, _V.M. at Barcelona, in Spain_.\n S. MAGORIAN, _C. at Trent, 5th cent._\n S. TRANQUILLIUS, _Ab. at Dijon, 6th cent._\n S. ZACHARIAS, _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 752.\n S. LEOCRITIA, _V.M. at Cordova. (See p. 220.)_\n\n\nS. ARISTOBULUS, M.\n\n(1ST CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, Greek Menologium and Men\u00e6a, on March 16th.\n in the Anglican Martyrology he is entitled bishop and martyr.\n Authority:--Notice in the Martyrologies and Men\u00e6a.]\n\nNothing is known for certain of S. Aristobulus, who was one of the\nseventy disciples of our Lord. He is said by the Greeks to have\npreached in Britain. He may be the Arystly who, according to the\nWelsh Triads, was one of the founders of Christianity in Britain. The\nSpaniards claim him as one of their apostles. The Greeks say that he\nwas the brother of S. Barnabas, that he was ordained bishop, and died a\nmartyr.\n\n\nS. LONGINUS, M.\n\n(1ST CENT.)\n\n [Modern Roman Martyrology. The name of Longinus was not known to the\n Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus, in 715. It was introduced\n amongst the Westerns from the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is\n no reliable authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint.]\n\nThe name Longinus, given in the gospel of Nicodemus to the soldier who\npierced the side of Christ, is probably due to a mistake. The name\nis probably Latinized from _Longche_, a spear. Some think that the\nsoldier who pierced the side, and the centurion who exclaimed at the\nearthquake, confessing the Sonship of Christ, are the same, but there\nis the greatest uncertainty on every point connected with Longinus. The\nGreeks commemorate Longinus the Centurion on October 16th. The Latin\nActs of S. Longinus confuse the centurion and the soldier together.\nThe Greek Acts pretend to be by S. Hesychius (March 28th), but are an\nimpudent forgery of late date. It is pretended that the body of S.\nLonginus was found at Mantua in 1304, together with the sponge stained\nwith Christ's blood, wherewith he had assisted in cleansing our Lord's\nbody when it was taken down from the cross. These relics have been\ndistributed in various places. Part are in Prague, others in Carlstein,\nthe body in the Vatican at Rome. But the Sardinians assert that they\npossess the body of S. Longinus, which was found in their island, where\nhe had suffered under Nero. And the Greeks say he suffered in Gabala,\nin Cappadocia. The head is, however, also said to have been found in\nJerusalem, and carried into Cappadocia.\n\n\nS. NICANDER, M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 302.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology and Greek Men\u00e6a.]\n\nS. Nicander flourished in the reign of Diocletian, in Egypt. He visited\nthe Christian confessors in their dungeons, and ministered to their\nnecessities; and when they suffered, he gathered their ashes and\nbones, and reverently buried them. This devotion could not long remain\nunobserved by the heathen, and he was denounced to the governor, who\nsentenced him to death.\n\n\nS. MATRONA, V. M.\n\n(DATE UNKNOWN.)\n\n [Three saints of this name are commemorated on this day. At Barcelona\n one called Virgin and Martyr, another of Thessalonica, in the Roman\n Martyrology, called Martyr, but it is not said that she was a Virgin;\n another at Capua, in Campania, where she is said to be a Virgin and\n a native of Portugal. They were three distinct persons living at\n different dates, as their histories testify, but on account of the\n names of the Barcelonese and Capuan Saints being identical with that\n of S. Matrona in the Roman Martyrology, their festivals are kept on\n the same day. Matrona of Thessalonica is commemorated by the Greeks on\n March 27th.]\n\nS. Matrona of Barcelona was early left an orphan and was adopted by her\naunt, who went with her to Italy, and settled in the Campagna. The girl\nwas given a crucifix, which she ever carried about with her. Having\nbeen denounced as a Christian, she was thrown into prison and starved\nto death.\n\nS. Matrona of Thessalonica was the slave of a Jewess, who having\ndiscovered that her servant was a Christian, beat her to death with a\nstick.\n\n\nS. ZACHARIAS, POPE.\n\n(A.D. 752.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Maurolycus, and Notker, on March\n 14th, so also Molanus in his additions to Usuardus. Authority:--His\n life by Anastasius the Librarian.]\n\nZacharias, a Greek by birth, the son of Polychronius, was educated with\ncare in every science. He went to Rome, where he was ordained priest,\nat a time when the eternal city was subject to constant alarms from\nthe Lombards. Luitprand, king of the Lombards, ill satisfied because\nGregory III. extended his favour to Thrasymund, duke of Spoleto,\nlaid siege to Rome, and did not retire till his troops had pillaged\nthe church of S. Peter, which the Goths had hitherto respected. At\nthis moment, just as Gregory had asked help of Charles Martel against\nLuitprand, the see became vacant through his death.\n\nZacharias was elected to the throne of S. Peter. The innocence of\nhis life, and the vigour of his understanding, were accompanied by a\nnatural kindliness which fascinated all with whom he was brought in\ncontact. He was consecrated on November 19th, 741, nine days after the\ndeath of his predecessor, and nine days before his interment. Resolved\nto expose himself to everything for the sake of his people, Zacharias\nsent a nuncio to king Luitprand with a letter overflowing with\nexpressions of courtesy and respect, which so touched the barbarian,\nthat he gave token of being disposed to negotiate with the new pontiff.\nZacharias knew how to profit by the opportunity; he went, accompanied\nby many of his clergy, to Terni, in Umbria, and met king Luitprand, who\nreceived him with the utmost courtesy. He concluded a treaty with him,\nreleased his prisoners, recovered to the Holy See the towns that had\nbeen taken, and on the morrow assisted at the ordination of a bishop\nfor Terni, which took place in the Church of S. Valentine. The ceremony\nproduced a lively effect upon the Lombards, many of whom wept. After\nthe ordination, the pope invited the barbarian prince to dinner, and\ngave him his blessing; Luitprand is reported to have observed that he\nhad never enjoyed a dinner so much.\n\nZacharias was afterwards the means of procuring peace for many of the\ndistressed states and cities of Northern Italy. Luitprand was succeeded\nby Hildebrand, who only reigned seven months; and the Lombard throne\nwas then filled by Rachis, duke of Forli, who concluded a peace of\ntwenty years with all Italy.\n\nZacharias now turned his attention to the discipline of the Church,\nwhich had become much relaxed by the troubles that had fallen on the\nland. He encouraged S. Boniface in his mission to Germany. In the\nEast he laboured to soften the violence of the emperor Constantine\nCopronymus, who opposed sacred images and pictures in churches.\n\nPepin, mayor of the palace, who was master of France, under the shadow\nand name of Childeric III., sent Burchard, bishop of Wurtzburg,\nand Fulrad, abbot of S. Denys, to Zacharias to consult him on the\naccomplishment of his ambition, the assumption for himself of the crown\nof France from the heads of the \"Faineant\" race. Zacharias, who desired\nhelp and protection against the Lombards, not content with approving\nhis design, wrote secretly to Pepin urging him not to refuse the crown\nwhich Providence extended to him; at the same time his more cautiously\nworded epistle to the Frank nobles on the subject did not a little\nserve towards determining them to place the sovereignty in the bold,\nfirm hand of the mayor. For, without recommending the deposition of\nChilderic, or the election of Pepin, Zacharias urged that \"he who had\nthe power in fact ought to be the king.\" This was enough for Pepin.\nEvery one considered this expression to be an approval of the design;\nthe election of Pepin was regarded as approved by heaven; and he was\ncrowned at Soissons the year following, by Boniface, archbishop of\nMentz. This coronation took place on May 1st; Zacharias did not live to\nsee it, for he died on the preceding March 3rd. The day of his burial\nin the Church of S. Peter, March 15th, is that on which the Church\nhonours his memory.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 16.\n\n SS. HILARY, _B.M._, TATIAN, _D.M._, FELIX, LARGUS AND DIONYSIUS, _MM.\n at Aquileja_, A.D. 285.\n S. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, _M. in Cilicia_.\n S. PAPAS, _M. in Lycaonia, circ._ A.D. 300.\n S. AGAPITUS, _B. of Ravenna, circ._ A.D. 340.\n S. COLUMBA, _V.M. in England_.\n S. ANINAS, _H. on the banks of the Euphrates_.\n S. HESYCHIUS, _B. of Vienne, in France, 5th cent._\n SS. ABRAHAM, _H._, AND MARY, _P., his niece, in Syria, 6th cent._\n S. FINAN THE LEPER, _Ab. of Inisfathlen, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 610.\n S. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, _B. of Ross, in Scotland, 7th cent._\n S. EUSEBIA, _Abss. of Hamage, circ._ A.D. 680.\n S. GREGORY THE ARMENIAN, _B.H. at Pluviers, in France, 11th cent._\n S. HERIBERT, _Archb. of Cologne_, A.D. 1021.\n\n\nSS. HILARY, B. M., TATIAN, D. M., AND COMPANIONS, MM.\n\n(A.D. 285.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology and that of Usuardus. Notker mentions Hilary alone.\n Hilary and Tatian in that of Bede, and some copies of that of S.\n Jerome. Authority:--the Acts which are genuine.]\n\nSaint Hilary, bishop of Aquileja, in Northern Italy, had a deacon\nnamed Tatian, whom he appointed to be his archdeacon. In the reign of\nNumerian, during which they flourished, there was at Aquileja a heathen\npriest, named Monofantus, who went before the governor Beronius, and\nobtained from him authority to hale the bishop before his tribunal.\nThen Monofantus went to the house of Hilary, and found him engaged in\nreading, together with his deacon Tatian. He said, \"The Governor wants\nyou.\" Hilary said, \"What is that you say, friend?\" \"I have already said\nonce, the governor wants you.\" S. Hilary answered, \"We will go in the\nName of our Lord Jesus Christ.\" And when they had come to the place of\njudgment, and the governor saw Hilary enter with a smiling countenance,\nhe asked, \"What is thy name?\" The bishop answered, \"My name is Hilary,\nand I am bishop of the Christians here.\" \"Well,\" said the governor,\n\"the command has gone forth that all are to sacrifice to the immortal\ngods. Therefore be speedy, obey, and go thy way.\" S. Hilary replied,\n\"From my childhood I have learnt to sacrifice to the living God, and\nto worship Jesus Christ with pure heart; I cannot worship demons.\" The\ngovernor said, \"Christ, whom thou sayest that thou worshippest, was\ncrucified by the Jews.\" Hilary replied, \"If thou knewest the virtue of\nHis cross, thou wouldest leave the error of idols, and adore Him who\nwould heal the wounds of thy soul.\" \"Come,\" exclaimed the governor,\n\"do as I bid, or I will have thy tongue cut out.\" \"Sir,\" answered the\nbishop, \"do so, instead of threatening me.\" Then Beronius had him\ndrawn into the temple of Hercules, and beaten with rods. And as Hilary\nconstantly refused to adore the idols, the governor ordered his back\nto be burnt with red hot coals, then the raws to be rubbed with coarse\nhair-cloth, and vinegar and salt to be poured into the wounds. After\nwhich he was taken and cast into prison. Tatian, the deacon, was next\nbrought up to be tried, he was sentenced to be beaten, and thrown into\nprison with his bishop. And during the night they prayed, and sang\npraises to God, the Lord of heaven and earth; and as they prayed there\nwas an earthquake, and the temple of Hercules was shaken down.\n\nThen, on the morrow, Hilary the bishop, and Tatian the deacon, and\nFelix, Largus and Dionysius, three Christians then in the prison, were\nslain by order of Beronius, some of them by having their heads smitten\noff, and some by having swords thrust through their breasts.\n\n\nS. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, M.\n\n(DATE UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Greek Menology of Basil Porphyrogenitus, same\n day. Authority:--A sermon by S. John Chrysostom, Hom. xlvii., and the\n notices in the Menologium and Men\u00e6a.]\n\nThis saint was a native of Cilicia, the same province which had the\nhonour of producing S. Paul. In one of the persecutions of the Church\nhe was sentenced to be tied up in a sack with vipers and scorpions, and\nthrown into the sea.\n\n\nS. PAPAS, M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 300.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology and Greek Men\u00e6a. Authority:--The hymn in the Men\u00e6a.]\n\nS. Papas suffered in Lycaonia during the persecution of Maximian.\nHe was first beaten, and his cheeks bruised, and then the inhuman\npersecutors, to make sport, nailed horse-shoes to his feet, and made\nhim run before chariots through the streets of Laranda, the drivers,\narmed with whips, lashing him till he sank, bleeding and exhausted, on\nthe pavement. A compassionate woman, like another Veronica, hastened up\nto wipe away the blood and sweat, and he died in her arms.\n\n\nS. COLUMBA, V. M.\n\n(DATE UNKNOWN.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrology. There are two other saints of this name,\n virgins and martyrs, one at Sens, the other at Cordova. The Columba of\n Sens is commemorated on Dec. 31st, and is very famous; she suffered\n under Aurelian. The Cordovan saint gained the palm in the Moorish\n persecution in 891, and is commemorated on Sept. 17th.]\n\nThe great glory of the virgin martyr, Columba of Sens, has eclipsed the\nfame of the other two saintly virgin martyrs of this name. Of the S.\nColumba venerated in Cornwall on this day, nothing is known, but she is\nbelieved to have formed one of the company of S. Ursula.\n\n\nS. ANINAS, H.\n\n(DATE UNKNOWN.)\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a. This saint is commemorated by the Greeks on different\n days.]\n\nThis hermit, called variously Aninas and Ananias, lived in the flat\ndeserts of the Euphrates, in a cave, with two lions, out of the foot\nof one of which he had drawn a thorn which hurt it. The lions followed\nhim whenever he went to the Euphrates, distant four or five miles, to\ndraw water. This he was obliged to do daily, and the bishop of C\u00e6sarea,\nhearing of this, sent him the present of an ass to carry the water jars\nfor him; but Aninas would not keep the ass, but gave it to some poor\nfolk who were destitute.\n\nNow there was a hermit who lived on a pillar in the same country, and\nAninas heard that he was sore troubled in mind; then, the story goes,\nhe wrote a letter comforting him, and sent it to him by one of his\nlions. Aninas died on March 16th, at the age of one hundred and ten.\n\n\nSS. ABRAHAM, H., AND MARY, P.\n\n(6TH CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, after Molanus; but the\n Greeks venerate these saints on October 29th. Authority:--The Life of\n SS. Abraham and Mary, by Ephraem, the companion of Abraham, but not,\n as has been commonly stated, S. Ephraem Syrus.]\n\nAbraham was the son of very wealthy parents at Chidama, in Mesopotamia,\nnear the city of Edessa. His father sought a young and beautiful girl\nin marriage for his son, and Abraham was married to her with all the\npomp befitting the splendour of the rank and wealth and the family. The\nyoung man had now tasted all that the world could give, riches, honour,\nand love, and his heart was still void and craving for something more.\nThen he felt, with a conviction it was impossible to resist, that God\nalone could fill that void, and that satisfaction could alone be found\nin serving Him most perfectly. So, secretly in the night, seven days\nafter his marriage, he escaped, and hid himself in the desert.\n\nHis parents, who had refused him nothing for which he had expressed\na wish, his wife, who had given him no occasion of offence, were\nin amazement. They searched for him everywhere, and at the end of\nseventeen days discovered him in the desert, resolved to live alone.\nIt was in vain that parents and bride urged him to return; he was\ninexorable, and they were obliged to leave him in his solitude. He\nhad found a small hut, and now he walled up the door, leaving only a\nwindow, through which bread and water could be passed in to him by\na friend. He had spent ten or twelve years in this retreat when his\nparents died, and left their immense property to him. He entrusted it\nto the care of his most intimate friends, to be used for relieving the\nnecessities of the poor.\n\nNow there was, not far off, a village of idolaters, who had stubbornly\nresisted every missionary effort made to convert them. The bishop of\nEdessa bethought him of Abraham the hermit, visited him in person,\nand insisted on his coming forth and preaching to these heathen. In\nvain did the hermit implore to be permitted to remain in his dear\nsolitude: the bishop put the matter on his obedience, brought him\nforth, ordained him priest, and sent him amongst the pagans. Abraham\nthen built a church in their midst, and finding that they were deaf to\nhis exhortations, he spent his nights and days in tearful intercession\nfor them, and then, armed with zeal, he rushed upon their idols and\noverthrew them. A mob at once assembled, and he was beaten till he\ncould not move; and whenever he appeared in the streets, he was\nassailed with sticks and stones. Undeterred by this opposition, Abraham\ncontinued instant in prayer; and, after three years, saw the tide of\npopular opinion turn, and the villagers who had treated him so ill, now\nvenerated him as an apostle of the truth. Abraham tarried with them\nanother year, to confirm them in the faith, then commended them to the\nsupervision of the bishop, and returned to his cell. Now it happened\nthat a little girl, named Mary, the niece of Abraham, had been left an\norphan, and she was brought to the hermit, as her sole relative, to\neducate. She was aged seven. Abraham bade a cell be built for her near\nhis own, and there the child grew up under his supervision till she was\ntwenty, when a young man, having conceived a violent passion for her,\nled her away, and then abandoning her, the unfortunate girl fell deeper\ninto degradation, and became a common harlot in the city of Assos, in\nthe Troad. Her the uncle had bewailed her fall with the deepest grief,\nand had instituted inquiries as to her whereabouts. Hearing that she\nwas at Assos, Abraham broke down the wall which closed his door, and\ncame forth, cast off his habit and sackcloth, and disguising himself\nas a soldier, went to Assos. And when he came there, he hired a lodging\nnext door to the house of ill-fame where dwelt his niece, and he sought\nopportunity to meet and speak with her, but could not. Then he went\nto the house, and ordered supper, and bade that Mary should eat with\nhim. So she, knowing him not, lost to shame, came, tricked out with\nnecklaces and rings, in gaudy wanton dress. Then Abraham reddened\nwith grief, and could ill restrain his tears. But making an effort,\nhe controlled his emotion. So they sat down, and ate, and drank, and\nshe laughed noisily, and talked in a light and wanton way; and as she\nspake the shadow on Abraham's brow deepened, the corners of his mouth\nquivered with pain, and a film formed on his eyes. Then the girl kissed\nhim, and looked at him, and suddenly saw in the grave, suffering face\nbefore her, something that recalled past days, and she moaned. The man\nof the house hearing this, said, \"Mary, what is the matter with thee?\nThese two years that thou hast been with me thou hast been ever gay.\"\nBut she looked up again, and met the tearful eyes of Abraham; then she\ncried out, \"Oh, God! would that I had died three years ago. This man\nrecalls to me my dear old uncle in the desert, and days of innocence\nand pure joy.\" Then Abraham put the man forth, and locked the door, and\nturning, threw back his hood, and caught Mary by both hands, and looked\nat her and said, \"Mary, my child!\" Then she knew him, and became cold\nand motionless as a stone. And he said, \"My dearest child, what has\nbefallen thee? How hast thou sunk from heaven in the abyss! O why didst\nthou not disclose to me thy first temptation, and I and Ephraem would\nhave besieged heaven with tears and prayers to save thee? Why didst\nthou desert me like this, and bring this intolerable anguish of soul\nupon me?\" But she, frightened and trembling, answered not a word. And\nhe, holding her hands fast in his own, said again, \"My own Mary, wilt\nthou not speak to me?\" Then his tears burst forth, and the whole man\nwas shaken with sobs. \"Upon me be thy sin, my child,\" he said; \"I will\nanswer for it at the Judgment day to God. I will do penance and suffer\nin expiation of thy crime; only return, my child!\" Then she burst forth\nwith, \"I cannot look thee in the face, uncle, and how can I call on\nGod, whom I have so outraged?\" \"I will bear the burden of the sin, let\nit weigh on me, Mary,\" said the hermit vehemently; \"only return to the\nold place, and dear Ephraem and I will pray instantly to God for thee.\nCome child, follow me.\" Then she fell down, and laid her brow on his\nfeet, and sobbed, and held them, and kissed them, and stammered, \"I\nwill follow thee, uncle. What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all\nthe benefits He has done unto me?\" But he caught her up, and would not\nsuffer her thus to lie. And she fell again and kissed the ground he\nhad trodden, bringing her hopes of pardon and salvation. And he urged\nher to fly at once. Then she said, \"Uncle, I have here some valuable\ntrinkets, and some dresses. What shall I do with them? Shall I not pack\nthem up and carry them with me?\" But he cried out, \"Leave them, leave\nthem, they scent of evil.\" And he took her on his back, as a shepherd\ncarrying his strayed sheep, and unlocked the door, and ran out. And\nwhen he came to his hut, he set Mary in the inner cell, and went into\nthe outer room himself. And she, bitterly repenting the past, served\nGod instantly, night and day, with tears. Abraham lived ten years\nlonger, and rejoiced to behold the sincerity of his niece's contrition,\nand died at the age of seventy, in the fiftieth year of his solitary\nlife; and Mary lived five years after her uncle's death. God wrought\nmiracles of healing by her hands, to comfort the penitent soul, and\nassure her that her tears had blotted out her transgression.\n\n\nS. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, B. OF ROSS.\n\n(7TH CENT.)\n\n [Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities:--David Camerarius and Hector Boece,\n and the lections in the Aberdeen Breviary.]\n\nAlban Quiritine, or Kiritine, surnamed Boniface, is fabulously said\nto have been of Israelite race, and a descendant of Radia, sister of\nthe apostles Peter and Andrew. All that is known of him is that he\nwas bishop of Ross, in Scotland, and that he laboured to suppress the\nKeltic ritual and to establish Roman uniformity, doing in Scotland\nthe work accomplished by S. Wilfrid in Northumbria. He preached to\nand converted large numbers of Picts and Scots, during sixty years of\nevangelical labours. It is said that as many as thirty-six thousand\nreceived the faith through him, and that he built a hundred and fifty\nchurches, amongst others, that of S. Peter, at Rosmarkyn, in which he\nwas buried before the altar.\n\n\nS. EUSEBIA, ABSS. OF HAMAGE.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 680.)\n\n [Molanus, Wyon, Menardus, Mir\u00e6us in his 'Belgian Saints,' and Saussaye\n in his Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--A life, probably by Hucbald\n of Elnone (907), derived from various earlier accounts and traditions.]\n\nS. Eusebia was the eldest daughter of S. Adalbald, of Douai (Feb. 2nd)\nand S. Richtrudis. Probably on the occasion of the assassination of\nher father, she was sent to the convent of Hamage, which was governed\nby her grandmother, S. Gertrude. On the death of S. Gertrude, Eusebia,\nat the age of twelve, was elected abbess of Hamage, according to a\ncustom of the time, which required abbesses, if possible, to be of\nnoble birth, so as to secure for the convent protection from powerful\nfamilies in times of difficulty or war. But S. Richtrudis, who had\nbecome abbess of Marchiennes, thinking that the girl was far too young\nto manage the community, and that under her light hand grave disorders\nmight prevail, peremptorily ordered Eusebia to come with all her nuns\nto Marchiennes. Eusebia hesitated, but when the orders were repeated,\nshe reluctantly obeyed, and with all the community, bearing the body\nof S. Gertrude, she came to Marchiennes, where they were received by\na procession with lights and incense. Eusebia was not happy in her\nnew home, and sighed for Hamage. During the night, when every one\nslept, she was wont to steal out, barefooted, and run to the deserted\nconvent, to watch and pray over the home of her infancy, fragrant with\nmemories of a beloved guide and spiritual mother. Richtrudis, hearing\nof these nocturnal excursions, and not approving of them, ordered the\nchild-abbess a sound flogging, and asked her brother Maurontius to\nadminister it. Eusebia writhed and danced about under the correction,\nto elude the blows, and in so doing ran against the point of the sword\nof Maurontius, which slightly wounded her side. According to a popular\nlegend, which the historian records merely as such, one of the twigs of\nthe birch with which Eusebia was corrected, rooted itself on the spot\nwhere it had fallen, and grew up into a stately tree.\n\nRichtrudis, seeing that her child continued bent on returning to\nHamage, consulted the bishop, who advised her to yield. Accordingly\nEusebia and her community went back to the deserted convent, and she\ngoverned it with prudence, living in piety, till the day of her death.\nShe was buried in the church of the Apostles, at Hamage; but the body\nwas afterwards translated to Marchiennes.\n\nIn Belgium she is called S. Isoie, or Eusoye.\n\n\nS. HERIBERT, ARCHB. OF COLOGNE.\n\n(A.D. 1021.)\n\n [German Martyrologies. At Cologne the festival of his translation is\n observed on August 30th. Authority:--A Life, by Lambert of Deutz,\n written twenty years after the death of Heribert.]\n\nHeribert was born at Worms. His father was a gentleman of rank. His\nmother had been carried off into captivity by the Huns, and had been\nsold to an honest and good man, who restored her to her parents.\nShe was grand-daughter of Reginbald, count of Swabia. Heribert was\neducated in the abbey of Gorze, in Lorraine, in the diocese of Metz.\nHis father having recalled him to Worms, the archbishop Hildebald was\nso pleased with the young man, that he made him dean of his cathedral,\nand destined him to become his successor, but his death before Heribert\nhad sufficiently established his reputation prevented the fulfilment of\nthis design. Some years after, Otho III., who had not as yet received\nthe imperial crown, having been informed of the merit of Heribert,\nmade him his chancellor, and perceiving his great virtue, obtained his\nordination. Shortly after, the archdiocese of Cologne became vacant,\nand this gave rise to party contests, productive of schism in that\nChurch. The contest was brought to a conclusion by an almost unanimous\nelection of the chancellor Heribert. He received notice of his having\nbeen chosen, with great regret, and on his induction, on Christmas-eve,\nwalked barefoot to the cathedral. His reign was a true blessing to the\ndiocese, through his wise regulations for the maintenance of discipline\namong the clergy, and for the systematic relief of the necessitious. He\nbuilt and endowed the abbey of Deutz, on the opposite bank of the Rhine\nto Cologne; he rebuilt the church of the Apostles, at Cologne, and the\nchapel of S. Stephen. In a time of great drought, when the country was\nsuffering great distress, and the cattle of the poor were perishing, he\nwent in procession to the church of S. Severinus, and kneeling before\nthe altar, bowed his head on his hands, and weeping for the misfortunes\nof his people, did not raise his head till a thunderstorm broke over\nthe church.\n\n[Illustration: Two pictures of Saints?() preaching to monks below images\nof day and night sky]\n\n[Illustration: SS. JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS ANOINTING THE BODY OF CHRIST.\nFrom a Painting. March 17.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 17.\n\n S. JOSEPH OF ARIMATH\u00c6A, _1st cent._\n SS. ALEXANDER, _B.M._, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Rome_.\n SS. MARTYRS _in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria_, A.D. 390.\n S. AGRICOLA, _B. at Chalons-sur-Saone_, A.D. 580.\n S. PATRICK, _B. Apostle of Ireland_, A.D. 465.\n S. GERTRUDE, _V. Abss. of Nivelles, in Brabant_, A.D. 664.\n S. WITHBURGA, _V. at Dereham and Ely_, A.D. 743.\n S. PAUL, _M. in Cyprus, circ._ A.D. 700.\n\n\nS. JOSEPH OF ARIMATH\u00c6A.\n\n(1ST CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, because observed as a double\n by the Canons of the Vatican, who possess an arm of the saint. In\n Liege, where other relics are preserved, on Feb. 22nd; by the Greeks\n on July 31st.]\n\nWhen Christ came into the world, one Joseph took Him into his arms\nand cherished Him in His infancy; another Joseph received Him when He\nwas dead, and ministered to His inanimate body. Joseph, a native of\nArimath\u00e6a, said by S. Matthew to have been rich, and called by S. Mark\na counsellor, appears to have lived in Jerusalem, where he possessed\na garden. According to S. John, he was a disciple in secret of the\nSon of God; that he was a just man, we are told by S. Luke. After the\nCrucifixion he cast aside the fears which had restrained him from\nprofessing openly his conviction, and going boldly to Pilate, he craved\nof him the body of Jesus. He then bought the winding sheet, and going\nto Calvary, detached from the Cross the dead body of Christ, assisted\nby S. John the Evangelist, S. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of\nCleopas. Joseph and Nicodemus anointed the body with myrrh and aloes,\nand laid it in the sepulchre of Joseph.\n\nMany strange traditions have attached themselves to Joseph of\nArimath\u00e6a, as that he came to Britain, and planted his staff at\nGlastonbury; but as these legends are wholly worthless, they must be\nhere passed over.\n\nHis body is said to have been buried by Fortunatus, patriarch of Grado,\nin the abbey of Moyen-Moutier; but no relics of it now remain there,\nthough some are shown elsewhere.\n\n\nSS. MARTYRS IN THE SERAPION.\n\n(A.D. 390.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Socrates, Hist. Eccl. lib. v. c. 16;\n Sozomen, lib. vii. c. 15.]\n\nThe temple of Bacchus at Alexandria having been given to the Christians\nto be converted into a church, the patriarch ordered its thorough\npurification. Whilst this was being performed, many abominations and\nmuch evidence of trickery were brought to light. This so exasperated\nthe pagans that a sedition broke out, and rushing down from the\nSerapion, a magnificent temple situated on a hill and fortified, they\ncarried off a number of Christians, and bringing them into the temple,\nendeavoured to force them to sacrifice to Serapis. As they refused, the\npagans crucified some, broke the bones of others, and put others to\ndeath in various ways. When the emperor Theodosius heard of the tumult,\nhe ordered those who had fallen victims to be enrolled in the number of\nthe blessed, but forbade any reprisals upon their executioners, hoping\nthat this exhibition of mercy would be efficacious in attracting them\nto the true faith. He, however, ordered the Serapion to be levelled\nwith the dust.\n\n\nS. AGRICOLA, B. OF CHALONS-SUR-SAONE.\n\n(A.D. 580.)\n\n [Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority:--His contemporary,\n Gregory of Tours.]\n\nS. Agricola was born of a senatorial family. In stature he was\ndiminutive, but the greatness of his soul redeemed him from that\ndisrespect which his short stature might have brought upon him.\nHe was eloquent, of refined manners, prudent in judgment. In his\nyouth he formed a warm attachment for S. Venantius Fortunatus, the\nChristian poet, and author of the magnificent hymn, _Vexilla regis_,\n\"The royal banners forward go.\" In 532, he was appointed bishop of\nCh\u00e2lons-sur-Sa\u00f4ne. He died at the age of eighty-three, in the year 580,\nand was buried in the Church of S. Marcellus, near Ch\u00e2lons, where his\nrelics are preserved over the high altar.\n\n\nS. PATRICK, AP. OF IRELAND.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 465.)\n\n [Roman, and almost all Western Martyrologies, Bede, Usuardus, Ado,\n &c. Authorities:--The most authentic are S. Patrick's Confession, and\n his letter against Coroticus, Fiech's hymn, or metrical sketch of the\n life of the saint, and the life by Probus. The hymn is attributed to\n Fiech, bishop of Sletty, who lived in the 5th cent. The Bollandists\n and other critics doubt his having been the author of it; but at any\n rate it is very ancient, and not later than the 7th, or perhaps the\n 6th cent. Probus is supposed to have been teacher of a school at\n Slane, who was burnt in a tower fired by the Danes, in 950. There\n is also a hymn attributed to Secundinus, one of S. Patrick's first\n companions, in which the saint is spoken of as still living. A very\n interesting document, of the early part of the 7th cent., is a litany\n in Anglo-Saxon characters, published by Mabillon, in which S. Patrick\n is invoked. The Antiphonarium Benchorense, apparently of the 8th\n cent., contains a hymn in honour of S. Patrick. There exist some\n notes or scholia on Fiech's metrical life, which are usually quoted\n under the title of Fiech's Scholiast. They were written partly in\n Irish, and partly in Latin. These notes are of various dates, and by\n different hands, and consequently of very different values. Colgan\n gives some lives, which he calls the second, third, and fourth, but\n these are full of fables, and seem to have been copied either from\n each other, or from some common original. Here and there they contain\n facts, but these are smothered in fable. Colgan is utterly wrong in\n assigning to them a high antiquity. The Tripartite Life, so called\n because it is divided into three parts, is published by Colgan, and\n attributed by him wrongly to S. Evin, who lived in the 6th cent. This\n work, though founded on older lives, was really put together in the\n 10th century, as certain persons are named in it who lived about that\n period. With the exception of certain fables it contains, it is a very\n useful work, and contains a much greater variety of details concerning\n the proceedings of S. Patrick during his mission in Ireland than any\n other of his lives. It is not to be confounded with a Latin work\n quoted by Usher under the same title, and which belongs to a later\n period. Of all the lives of S. Patrick this is the worst, though it\n has been published oftener than the others. \"So wretched a composition\n is scarcely worth attending to,\" says Dr. Lanigan. Another authority\n is Jocelin of Furness, who flourished about 1185, and compiled S.\n Patrick's life at the request of Thomas, archbishop of Armagh,\n Malachias (another Irish prelate) and John de Courcy, the conqueror\n of Ulster. It is of little historical value compared with the earlier\n and more authentic sources of information, which it not unfrequently\n contradicts on the authority of some idle legend.]\n\nThe precise time at which Christianity was originally introduced into\nIreland cannot be ascertained. Nor is it to be wondered at, that, while\nthe first establishment of Christian Churches in Britain, Gaul, and\nSpain, is enveloped in obscurity, a similar difficulty should meet\nthose seeking the origin of the Irish Church. Palladius, according\nto Prosper, was the first bishop sent from Rome to Ireland. He was a\ndeacon of the Roman Church, who had already distinguished himself by\nhis exertions in delivering Britain from the Pelagian heresy. From this\nand other circumstances, it seems probable that he was a native of that\ncountry. He was consecrated bishop and sent into Ireland, accompanied\nby some missionaries, four of whom, Sylvester, Solonius, Augustine, and\nBenedict, are mentioned by name in some of the lives of S. Patrick. It\nseems that his arrival was early in the year 431. The most authentic\naccounts of his mission agree in stating that, besides having baptized\nsome persons, he erected three churches; and the news of his success,\nperhaps magnified in its transit, excited such a confident assurance in\nRome of his complete conquest of the island to the Cross, that Prosper\ndid not hesitate to say that, through the exertion of pope Celestine,\nIreland was become a Christian country. This book \"Against Cassian,\"\nwas written not long after the mission of Palladius, and before he had\nheard of the reverses which that pioneer of the Gospel had met with.\nThe success Palladius had met with alarmed the heathen, and he was\ndenounced to the king of that part of Ireland in which he then was, as\na dangerous person, and he was ordered to quit the country. He sailed\nfrom Ireland towards the latter end of the same year, 431, in which\nhe had landed, and arriving in Britain, died, not long after, as is\ncommonly reported, at Fordun, in the district of Mearns, in Scotland.\n\nThe great work of the general conversion of the people of Ireland was\nreserved for the ministry of S. Patrick, according to the Irish adage\nthat, \"Not to Palladius, but to Patrick, did God grant the conversion\nof Ireland.\"\n\nThe variety of opinions, and the many questions that have been\nagitated, concerning the country and time of the birth of S. Patrick,\nrender it necessary to clear up these disputed points before proceeding\nwith the main story of his life. It would be a waste of time to examine\nall the various opinions, that have been started on this subject, such\nas his having been born in Cornwall, in Pembrokeshire,[51] or, what\nis strangest of all, in Ireland itself. The prevalent opinion since\nUsher's time has been that he was born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton.\nUsher was led astray by the scholiast on Fiech's hymn. Fiech says\nthat S. Patrick was born at Nemthur (the holy tower) in Britain, and\nthe scholiast identified this place with Alcwith, now Dumbarton.\nThe scholiast guessed this, not knowing that the term Britain also\napplied to the whole of the North of Gaul, inhabited by the Armorican\nGauls.[52] Indeed Probus calls S. Patrick's country, and the town where\nhis family lived, Arimuric, or Armorica. In the life of S. Fursey,\nwe are told that this saint crossed the sea into the province of\nBritain, and proceeded through Ponthieu. Now Ponthieu is a maritime\ntract in Picardy, near Boulogne; and it is also to be observed that\nthis district is said in the life of S. Fursey \"to be called by the\nmoderns Normandy.\" But S. Patrick in his confession says, \"My father\nwas Calpurnius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest, of the town of\nBonavem Taberni\u00e6. He had near the town a small villa Enon, where I\nbecame a captive.\" Bonavem (Ben-avon, _British_, the headland above the\nriver) is the modern Boulogne-sur-mer, and the district of Taberni\u00e6 is\nTerouanne, in which it is situated. Boulogne was the Bonona[53] of the\nRomans, and its Gallic name Ben-avon, exactly describes its situation\non the summit of a hill. On the very edge of the cliff, a little east\nof the port, are the remains of the tower built by Caligula (A.D. 40),\nwhen he marched to the shore of the channel with an army of 100,000\nmen, boasting that he intended to invade the opposite coast of Britain,\nbut contenting himself with gathering a few shells, which he called the\nspoils of the ocean. The tower is supposed to have been intended for\na lighthouse, and its modern name La Tour d'Orde, a corruption of\n_Turris Ardens_, points it out as having been used for this purpose.\nA very good case is, however, made out for a site on the Roman Wall,\nin which case Patrick would be the son of one of the Roman colonists\nor defenders of the wall, and a native of Cumberland. In his epistle\nagainst Coroticus, S. Patrick tells us he was of an honourable family\naccording to the flesh, his father having held the office of decurion,\nwhich conferred a certain amount of nobility. Clerks were not then\nforbidden to hold such offices. He calls the Romans his fellow\ncitizens, and this circumstance, coupled with the fact, that the names\nof S. Patrick, of his father, and of his grandfather, are purely Latin,\npoints to the conclusion that the family was of Roman extraction; but\nhis mother, whose name was Conchessa, was the daughter of Erkbalius, or\nOcbasius, (Erkbald?) a Frank.\n\n[51] A Welsh tradition claims S. Patrick as the son of Mawon of Gower,\nin Glamorganshire.\n\n[52] The Morini occupied this part of Gaul; the name signifies their\nmaritime position, as does Amorica, the district \"by the sea.\" The\nancient Amorica stretched along the whole of the north coast of Gaul;\nbut the Norman invasion and settlement cut the two Celtic peoples of\nthe Bretons and Morini apart.\n\n[53] This name, about the time of Constantine, supplanted the older\nLatin name of Gessoriacum.\n\n[Illustration: S. PATRICK. After Cahier.\n March 17.]\n\nHis birth took place about the year 387, for at his consecration to the\nepiscopate, a person divulged a fault he had committed thirty years\nbefore, when a boy of fifteen; and he was consecrated at the end of\n431, or the beginning of 432; when the news of the death of Palladius\nreached him.\n\nWhen S. Patrick was sixteen years old, Nial Navigiallach, or Nial of\nthe Nine Hostages, an Irish king, in ravaging the coasts of Great\nBritain and Gaul, entered the port of Bonona, in 403, and carried\noff S. Patrick and many other youths captive. On being brought to\nIreland, S. Patrick became the servant or slave of a man named Miliac,\nor Milcho, who lived in Dalrhidia, which is now comprised within the\ncounty of Antrim. Some say that he was a prince; others that he was\na _magus_, that is, invested with a religious function; and others\nrepresent him only as a rich man. S. Patrick calls his master merely\n\"a man,\" without adding anything concerning his situation in life.\nWith that profound humility, which every line written by this truly\ngreat saint breathes, he tells us that he had been very careless about\nreligion when a boy; but that, when he found himself in the misery of\nslavery, God opened his eyes to behold the wondrous things of His law.\nHis occupation was to tend sheep on the wild brown bogs; and amidst\nsnow, frost, or rain, he rose before daylight, that he might \"prevent\nthe day-break\" with his prayers.[54]\n\n[54] An instance of the way in which later writers have amplified the\nincidents may here be given. Probus adds that he diligently perused\nthe psalter and hymns, and Jocelin that he read the whole psalter\nthrough every day. \"As if,\" says Dr. Lanigan, \"he could have found\nbooks containing them in the North of Ireland at that period, or, when\nsuddenly made a prisoner, had time to provide himself with religious\ntracts, or, while still a careless boy, was anxious about them.\"\n\nOne night, after he had been in service for six years, as he slept, he\nheard a voice cry to him, \"Thou fastest well, and soon shalt return\nto thy country.\" Presently once more the voice said, \"Behold, a ship\nis ready for thee.\" He tells this story himself. Moreover he heard\nthat the ship was far off on the coast, a great many miles from where\nhe then lived. So he betook himself to flight. \"And by God's power,\"\nhe adds, \"I came to a good end;[55] and I was under no apprehension\nuntil I reached the ship. She was then clearing out and I asked for\na passage. The master of the vessel angrily bade me not think of\ngoing with him. On hearing this I retired to the hut where I had been\nreceived and lodged, and on my way prayed. But, before I had finished\nmy prayer, I heard one of the men shouting after me, 'Come along! they\nare asking for thee.' So I returned immediately. And they said, 'Come,\nwe will take thee on trust, (_i.e._, on the chance of getting paid the\nfare on reaching Bononia); we are about to sail, and hope to reach land\nin three days.'\"\n\n[55] \"Et veni ... ad bonum,\" according to the Bollandists ought to be\n\"ad Benam,\" that is to Bantry Bay.\n\nThey at once set sail, and reached the coast of Gaul in three days, at\nTreguier, in Brittany. They travelled for twenty-eight days through a\ncountry rendered desolate by the ravages of the Franks. Whilst on their\nway, he and his fellow travellers were near perishing for want of food;\nand then the master of the ship or merchant, who had received Patrick\nand given him a passage, and who was now travelling along the same road\nwith his wares, exclaimed, \"Christian! thy God is powerful. Pray for\nus, for we are starving.\" The saint desired them to turn with faith\nto the Lord, and he prayed, and suddenly a drove of swine appeared\ncrashing through the bushes, and they chased and killed many of them,\nand halted two days to recover and refresh themselves. The merchants\ngave thanks to the God of Patrick, and shortly after, finding some\nwild honey, they gave him a part, saying, \"This is an offering. God be\nthanked.\"\n\nA very curious story of this journey is told by the saint in his\nConfession. Having feasted on the pork, after long hunger, the natural\nresult was an attack of night-mare, that same night, which he says\nseemed to him in his dream like Satan rolling a great rock upon his\nchest. In an ecstasy of fear he screamed out \"Elias, Elias!\" and\nthereupon he says, \"Lo! the splendour of the sun shone on me, and\ndispelled all the burden on me.\" Dr. Lanigan says this is evidence\nof his invoking a saint. There can be little doubt that every\nwell-instructed Christian of the time would have invoked a saint,\nbut it seems probable here that this was not an invocation of the\nprophet Elias, but an invocation common perhaps among the heathen\nand half-converted Roman settlers, of \"Helios!\" the sun, which had\npassed into an exclamation; and this will explain the passage which\nimmediately follows about the sun at once shining upon him. Patrick\nat this time was not well instructed in Christianity, and he had been\nstolen as a thoughtless boy from his home, before his education was\ncomplete, or his mind had turned to the truths of Christianity. In his\nold age he related this anecdote of himself, but it is impossible to\nconclude from the context what he meant by the exclamation.\n\nS. Patrick reached home about the year 409, and remained there for a\nwhile. He was then aged twenty-two. Perhaps it was soon after this that\nhe went to Tours and studied for four years. He then returned home to\nBonona, and was again made captive, probably by a roving band of Frank\nmarauders; but his captivity was of short duration, lasting only sixty\ndays. His friends entreated him not to leave them, after all he had\nendured, but he relates that he saw in a vision of the night a man\nnamed Victoricius[56] bringing him a letter, at the head of which were\nthe words, \"The voice of the Irish.\" And then he thought he heard the\ncry of many persons from one of the Irish forests, where they strayed\nin darkness and error, \"We entreat thee, O holy boy, come and walk\nstill in the midst of us!\" And greatly affected, Patrick awoke.\n\n[56] Probably S. Victricius, one of the apostles of the Morini,\nafterwards bishop of Rouen.\n\nAbout the year 418, he placed himself under the direction of S. Germain\nof Auxerre. After this period it is difficult, if not impossible,\nto arrange correctly the succeeding transactions of his life, until\nnear the time of his mission. Nine years he spent in retirement in\nan island which has been conjectured to be Lerins. It was during the\nsame interval, that S. Patrick accompanied S. Germain and S. Lupus of\nTroyes in their spiritual expedition to Great Britain, in the year\n429, for the purpose of extirpating the Pelagian heresy, which had\ntaken root in that island. This is stated in some accounts of S.\nPatrick's proceedings; and the lives, though they are silent about\nit, give nothing which might tend to invalidate it SS. Germain and\nLupus returned to Gaul at Easter, in 430. It is very probable that the\ninformation which they might have obtained, during their residence\nin Great Britain, concerning the wants of the Irish Christians, was\ncommunicated to pope Celestine, who either had already determined\non sending a bishop to Ireland, or was advised to do so by these\nprelates. And who was better calculated to take part in this mission\nthan Patrick, who had lived six years in Ireland, and had acquired a\nsufficient knowledge of the language of that country? In 431, he was\nsent to Rome by S. Germain, recommended by him to the pope as a person\nfit to be employed in the work, of which Palladius was appointed the\nchief. Whether he arrived in Rome before Palladius set out, or not long\nafter, cannot be ascertained. From the pope he received a benediction\nfor the great mission which he was about to undertake; but he does not\nappear to have received episcopal ordination at Rome, for Palladius\nwas already consecrated, and the news of his banishment had not as yet\narrived. It appears, also, from the \"Confession\" of S. Patrick that\nhe was consecrated not far from his own country. The account of S.\nPatrick's consecration by Celestine is not to be met with in any of\nthe lives except those two compilations of legendary matter, Jocelin's\nand the Tripartite; whence it made its way into certain Breviaries. S.\nPatrick left Rome either late in 431, or early in 432. He was perhaps\naccompanied by Auxilius and Serenus or Iserninus. These were certainly\nafterwards in Ireland with S. Patrick, but whether they accompanied him\nfrom Rome, or were selected by him from among his acquaintance in Gaul,\ncannot be ascertained; and it is not certain that they came to Ireland\ntill some years later.\n\nWe next hear of Patrick at Eboria (Eborica), Evreux, where he heard\nthe news of the failure of the mission of Palladius. On receiving this\ninformation, it became necessary for him to be consecrated, and for\nthis purpose he applied to a bishop resident in the neighbourhood,\nand from him received episcopal orders. His relations and friends\nhurried to Evreux to prevent his ordination; he was insensible to\ntheir entreaties, and then, hoping to raise a prejudice against him, a\nfriend divulged a fault Patrick had committed when a boy. But all their\nefforts were in vain, for God was with him, and had marked him out for\nhis great work.\n\nEverything being arranged, S. Patrick embarked, probably at the mouth\nof the Seine, and had a prosperous voyage to Great Britain. According\nto Probus and some of the lives he crossed that country without\nstopping on the way.\n\nHe landed in Wicklow some time after April in 432. Pope Celestine was\ndead, and Sixtus III. sat in the Chair of S. Peter. Having landed,\nPatrick went to a place in the neighbourhood which cannot now be\nidentified, and being repulsed by the natives, was obliged again to go\non board his ship. He landed again at Lecale in the county of Down.\nA herdsman, thinking it was a party of marauders, ran to the lord of\nthe district, named Dichu, and informed him of the arrival of a party\nof strangers. Dichu armed his retainers and hasted to the shore,\nbut the peaceable appearance of the missioners disarmed him, and he\nbrought them to his house, which was at the place now called Saul, and\nhospitably entertained them. There the saint had an opportunity of\nannouncing to him the Christian faith, and Dichu was the first-fruits\nof his mission. All his family followed his example, and likewise\nbecame Christians; and S. Patrick celebrated divine worship in the barn\nof Dichu, which in after times became known as Sabhall Padruic, or the\nBarn of Patrick; and in after years it was converted into a church, and\na monastery was attached to it.\n\nS. Patrick did not remain many days at the house of Dichu, and left his\nship or boat in the care of this new convert, until he should return.\nHe then set out by land for the place where his old master, Milcho,\nlived. He was an obstinate unbeliever, and on hearing of S. Patrick's\napproach, was determined not to see and receive him.[57]\n\n[57] An instance of the rodomontade of some of the later lives may be\nquoted here. They say that to escape S. Patrick's persuasive eloquence\nonly one way lay open to him, to set fire to his house and furniture\nand property, and precipitate himself into the flames. As a specimen\nof the absurdity of some of the legends, the following will suffice. A\nrobber stole one of S. Patrick's goats and ate it. S. Patrick called\nhis goat, and it bleated to him out of the man's belly.\n\nS. Patrick, finding his efforts for the conversion of Milcho\nunavailing, returned to the district in which Dichu resided, and\nremained there for several days, preaching the Gospel with great\nsuccess. One of his principal converts on this occasion was Ross, son\nof Trichem, who lived near the present town of Downpatrick. In this\nneighbourhood he met a youth, called Mochoe, whom, after instruction,\nhe baptized and tonsured, thus dedicating him to the ecclesiastical\nstate. He also gave him the book of the Gospels and some sacred\nvessels. This must not, however, be understood as having all taken\nplace during the present stay of S. Patrick at Lecale.\n\nS. Patrick resolved on celebrating the Easter of 433 near Tarah, where\nthe princes and nobles of the whole kingdom were to be assembled\nabout that time. He, therefore, left his friend and convert, Dichu,\nand sailing southwards, arrived at Colp, in the mouth of the Boyne,\nand leaving his boat there, set out with his companions on foot for\nthe plain of Bry, in which the city of Tarah was situated. On their\nway they passed the night in the house of a man of substance, named\nSeschuen, who became obedient to the faith, and was baptized, with all\nhis house, by S. Patrick. A son of his, whom at his baptism our saint,\nconsidering his sweet disposition, called Benignus, became so attached\nto him that he insisted on accompanying S. Patrick, and he became one\nof the saint's most favourite disciples, and was afterwards consecrated\narchbishop of Armagh. It is not, however, to be supposed that the\nbaptism of Seschuen and his family was accomplished on that occasion,\nbut probably took place after the Paschal solemnity, which was near at\nhand.\n\nOn Easter-eve, S. Patrick arrived at Slane. He pitched his tent,\nand made preparations for celebrating the festival of Easter, and\naccordingly lighted the Paschal fire about night-fall. It happened\nthat at this very time the king Leogaire (Lear) and the assembled\nprinces were celebrating a religious festival in honour of the return\nof the sun to power and heat. Part of the ritual of this festival\nconsisted in every fire being extinguished for some days previous,\nthat all might be relighted from the sacred fire in the palace or\ntemple of Temora, on Tarah hill, which was kindled on a certain day,\nnow near at hand. Twilight had settled over the great plain, and all\nmen waited for the red flame to shoot up on Tarah hill, a signal that\nthe festival was begun, and that all might rekindle their hearth fires\nfrom the consecrated blaze. But a spark shone out far away on the\nplain, from the tent of Patrick, and consternation at this sacrilege\nand infringement of precedent became general. The king at once galloped\nto Slane, followed by a crowd, and accompanied by two priests, who\nassured him that unless this fire were extinguished, it would overpower\ntheir fires, and bring the kingdom to its downfall. On arriving within\na short distance of the tent and fire, the king dismounted, seated\nhimself, ordered his followers to seat themselves, and not to rise\nor show any respect to the violator of their laws, and then ordered\nPatrick to be brought before him. On his presenting himself, one\nalone rose and saluted him, breaking the king's command; this was the\nlittle lad Herc, son of Drogo, and the saint thereupon blessed him. He\nwas afterwards bishop of Slane, and celebrated for his sanctity. He\nwas ordered to declare his object in coming to Ireland, and contend\nwith the wise men, or priests, next day. On Easter-day, therefore, he\npreached before the king and his nobles, and strove with the captious\nobjections of the Wise-men. It was then, probably, when explaining\nthe mystery of the Trinity, and when questioned as to the triple\nPersonality of the One God, that he stooped and plucked a shamrock, and\nexhibited it as a symbol of the Catholic doctrine of the Triune God.[58]\n\n[58] Jocelin tells some absurd stories about his contest with the Magi\nor Wise-men. He relates how that one of them, Lochu, a great friend\nof the king, to show the power of his religion, rose in the air, as\nthough ascending to the skies. Then Patrick prayed, and angelic hands\nflung a snow-ball at him out of heaven, which knocked him down, head\nforemost, on a sharp stone at Patrick's feet, and that was the end of\nhim. Another miracle was as follows:--A house was built, one-half of\ngreen wood, the other of dry timber. A Magus was vested in S. Patrick's\nchasuble, and placed in the green wood part of the house; and Benignus\nin the Magus's habit in that part which was of dry wood. The house was\nset on fire. The green timber was burnt, with the Magus, but not the\nchasuble; the dry timber would not burn, and Benignus escaped, only his\ncoat was reduced to ashes.\n\nPassing over certain contests between S. Patrick and the Wise-men,\nwhich are absurd parodies of those between Moses and the Egyptian\nenchanters, we find Dubtach, an eminent bard, boldly submitting to\nthe faith, and dedicating his poetic talents to Christ. Some of his\nworks are still extant. The king was not converted, but he permitted\nPatrick to preach freely the Word of God. From Tarah the saint\nproceeded to Tailten, where public games were celebrated; and it seems\nthat the chiefs lately assembled for the religious solemnity at Tarah\nhad adjourned thither. The apostle preached to Carlre, a brother of\nLeogaire, but was badly received by him. The conduct of Conall, another\nbrother, was different; he listened to S. Patrick with delight,\nbelieved, and was baptized. To this memorable Easter week, which was\nthe first that occurred since the saint's arrival on his mission, must\nbe referred the origin of the festival of \"S. Patrick's Baptism,\"\nanciently held in Ireland on April 5th.\n\nHenceforth it becomes extremely difficult and next to impossible to\narrange, with chronological accuracy, the subsequent transactions of\nS. Patrick's mission. After having celebrated Easter week, he set out\non the following Monday for other places in Meath, in which he seems\nto have passed a considerable time. He tells us in his Confession,\nthat to gain the goodwill of the chieftains, he used to make presents\nto them, and take some of their sons with him to educate them. When\non the point of quitting for some time these parts of Ireland, after\nhaving established many flourishing colonies of Christians, and\nordained priests to minister to them, he turned a little northward for\nthe purpose of destroying the Crom-cruach (crooked-heap), a monument\ndedicated to the sun; probably a great Druidical pile of stones,\nsuperposed on uprights, standing in a plain near Feanagh, in the county\nof Leitrim. After this, probably in 435, he set out for Connaught,\nand crossing the Shannon, arrived at Dumha-graidh, where a remarkable\nincident occurred.\n\nAs he was advancing into the plain of Connaught, he stopped with\nhis companions at a fountain near the royal residence Cruachan (now\nCroghan, near Elphin), and at break of day began to chant the praises\nof the Lord.\n\nEthnea the fair, and Fethlima the ruddy, daughters of king Leogaire,\nwere there, and had come very early to the fountain for the purpose of\nwashing themselves, when, looking up, they saw men clothed in white\ngarments, holding books in their hands, advance, chanting. The damsels,\nfull of wonder, asked them what manner of men they were, and Patrick\nseized the opportunity of announcing to them the true God. They asked\nhim many strange questions, as to where God dwelt, whether he was rich,\nand young or old, and how he was to be revered; and Patrick explained\nto them the principal truths of the Christian religion in answer to\ntheir questions. Delighted with his discourse, they declared themselves\nready to adopt this new and wondrous creed, so beautiful and awful,\nand besought the stranger to instruct them further. He did so, and on\ntheir having professed their belief in the doctrines he had propounded,\nhe baptized them. Then they told him that they desired to see, face to\nface, that dear Lord who had come on earth for them on Mary's knee, and\nhad died on Calvary top so cruel a death; so Patrick explained to them\nthat great answer of the heart of Jesus to the heart of man, crying to\nsee Him--the Eucharistic Presence.\n\n\"Give us the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ,\" they asked,\n\"that we may be freed from the corruption of the flesh, and see our\nSpouse who is in heaven.\"\n\nThen S. Patrick celebrated Mass, and communicated them. He proceeded\nwest to Sligo and Roscommon, making many converts, and building\nseveral churches, to which he attached priests. In Lent, he ascended\nCroagh Aigle, now Croagh Padrig, in Mayo, for meditation and prayer.\nHe preached at Firawley to an assembly of seven princes, and baptized\nthem and 1,200 of their subjects. Passing through North Connaught, he\ncontinued his course through West Cashel, to Ulster. Thus ended his\nmission in Connaught, which lasted seven years. In 443, he entrusted\nbishop Secundinus, who, with Iserninus and Auxilius, had received\nconsecration in Great Britain or Gaul, with the oversight of his\nconverts in Meath and North Ireland, while he went on a mission through\nEast Leinster and Munster.\n\nIn Leinster he baptized two princes. In Wicklow he was ill-received\nby prince Deichin, but was hospitably entertained by Killan, a poor\nman, who slew his only cow to feed Patrick and his followers. Dubtach\nhaving recommended Fiech, his pupil in bardic lore, as a fit person\nfor ordination, Fiech received the tonsure and books for study from S.\nPatrick, and afterwards became chief bishop of the district, and fixed\nhis seat at Sletty.\n\nEntering Munster, in 445, S. Patrick went straight to Cashel; and\nthe king came forth to meet him. His son \u00c6ngus was converted, and\nafterwards baptized, when he came to the throne on the death of his\nfather. During the performance of the Sacrament, as the bishop raised\nhis hands above the head of the king, he allowed his pastoral staff to\nfall unintentionally on the foot of \u00c6ngus, and the sharp point wounded\nhim. The king made no remark, but bore the pain without flinching,\nsupposing this act formed a portion of the ceremony.[59]\n\n[59] This was too good a story for Jocelin not to spoil it. So he\nrelates, in contradiction to the other historians, that the king felt\nno pain, and the wound was miraculously healed on S. Patrick resuming\nhis staff.\n\nS. Patrick here made many converts. He spent seven years in Munster,\nand set out, in 432, to return to Leinster. He was followed by many\nchieftains, and by much people, desiring his parting blessing, and to\ntake a last look of the dear face of him who had brought them out of\ndarkness into the clear light of the glorious Gospel of Christ. Moved\nby their love, Patrick ascended a hill, and spreading forth his arms,\ngave his apostolic benediction to the whole of Munster. Thus was he\nparted from their sight in the act of blessing, like to his Divine\nMaster, who ascended out of His disciples' sight, with his hands\nextended in benediction.\n\nDuring his stay in Munster, Secundinus had died, the first bishop who\nhad expired in Ireland. An alphabetical hymn, in honour of S. Patrick\nis, with good reason, attributed to him.\n\nAbout the same time also, Cerotian, or Caradoc, a Welsh prince, made a\ndescent on the coast, and carried off captives. This called forth from\nS. Patrick a letter, which is still extant. The particulars of this\ninroad have been elsewhere related (March 23rd, S. Fingar), and need\nnot be repeated here.\n\nNeither need we repeat here the escape of S. Patrick from a chieftain\nin Leinster who sought his death, through the generous self-sacrifice\nof his charioteer, Odran (Feb. 19th).\n\nWhen S. Patrick reached Sabhall, his favourite retreat in Ulster, he\nwould not take that rest he so much needed, but spent his time in\ncompleting the conversion of the natives, and building churches. But\nthe time had come for fixing on a spot for a metropolitan see. He,\ntherefore, went through the land, and coming into the district where\nis the present Armagh, a man, named Macka, offered him a site on an\neminence. There he built a church and a monastery. A legend in the\nBook of Armagh is too good not to be true; it could hardly have been\ninvented. According to this book, the owner of the hill was one Daeri,\nand Patrick having set his heart on the site, asked for it; but it was\nrefused, and a portion of the valley offered him instead. One day the\nnoble brought to S. Patrick a large cauldron of foreign manufacture,\nand presented it to him, saying, \"There! this cauldron is thine.\"\n\"Gratias agam (I thank thee),\" answered the saint in Latin. Daeri went\nhome muttering, \"What a fool that fellow is to say only 'Gratzacham,'\nfor a wonderful cauldron containing three firkins. Ho! slaves, go and\nfetch it back to me again.\" So the thralls went and brought back the\nvessel. \"Well, what said he to you, churls?\" \"He said 'Gratzacham'\nagain,\" they replied, \"Gratzacham when I give, and Gratzacham when I\ntake away! The saying is so good, that for these Gratzachams he shall\nhave his cauldron back again. Ho! slaves, take the vessel back to\nPatrick.\" Daeri accompanied the cauldron, and praised the saint for his\nimperturbable self-possession; and then, in a fit of good-nature, gave\nhim the hill which he had at first refused him. Patrick went forth to\nview the site, and found a roe with her fawn lying on the place where\nthe altar of the Northern Church now is. His companions would have\nkilled it, but the saint raised the fawn and laid it on his shoulders,\nand the roe trotted after him, till he laid the fawn down in another\nplace.\n\nHe held two Synods at Armagh, at which canons for the whole of Ireland\nwere drawn up.\n\nS. Patrick having thus established the see of Armagh, spent the\nremainder of his life between it and his favourite retreat of Sabhul\nor Saul. He may have made excursions to some of the districts adjacent\nto both places; but we do not find any account that can be depended\nupon, of his having thenceforth visited again the other provinces of\nIreland, much less of having undertaken any long journey. For we are\nnot to listen to Jocelin, who says that he then set out for Rome with\nthe intention of getting the privileges of the new metropolis confirmed\nby the Holy See; and that when he arrived there, the pope decorated\nhim with the pallium, and appointed him his legate in Ireland. This\npretended tour to Rome, and the concomitant circumstances are all\nset aside by the testimony of S. Patrick himself, who gives us to\nunderstand that from the commencement of his mission he constantly\nremained in Ireland, until he published his Confession, which was not\nwritten till after the foundation of Armagh; and that he did not leave\nit afterwards is equally plain, from his telling us that he was afraid\nto be out of Ireland even for as much time as would serve for paying a\nvisit to his relations, because in that case he would be disobeying the\norders of Christ, who had commanded him to stay among the Irish for\nthe remainder of his life.\n\nA singular fact is related as having occurred about the time of the\nbuilding of Armagh, which shows how strictly the fasting rules were\nobserved by the ancient Irish. One of the disciples of S. Patrick,\nnamed Colman, having been one day greatly fatigued by getting in the\nharvest, became exceedingly thirsty, but from fear of breaking the\nrule of fasting till vesper-time, would not taste a drop of water. The\nconsequence was that he died of exhaustion. Had the saint been apprized\nof the danger in which Colman was, he would certainly have dispensed\nwith his observance of the rule on this occasion.\n\nAt length we come to the last days of S. Patrick. In his extreme\nold age he wrote his Confession, and he seems to have felt that his\ndissolution was close at hand, for he concludes with these words: \"And\nthis is my confession before I die\"; and provides how the work is to\nbe carried on after his death. He had been through every province of\nIreland, and he speaks of the bulk of the nation as then Christian, and\nof his having ordained clergy everywhere. His object in writing it was\nto return thanks to the Almighty for his singular mercies to himself\nand to the Irish people, and to confirm them in their faith, by proving\nthat God had assisted him in a most remarkable way. He also wished that\nall the world, and particularly his relatives on the continent, who\nhad so urgently opposed his going to Ireland, should know how that the\nAlmighty had prospered his handiwork. For this reason he composed his\nbook in Latin, apologizing, however, for the rudeness of the style; for\nhis long sojourn in Ireland, and constant use of the Erse language, had\nblunted his ease in expressing himself in his native tongue.\n\nHe was at Saul when attacked with his last illness. Perceiving that his\ndeparture was at hand, he desired to go to Armagh, there to breathe\nhis last and lay his bones. But he is said to have been arrested on his\nway thither by an angel, who ordered him to return to Saul. Be this as\nit may, to that place he went back, and there he died seven days after,\non the 17th March, A.D. 465.[60] In Fiech's hymn we read that his\nsoul joined that of another Patrick, and that they proceeded together\nto heaven. In this singular passage the author alludes to a second\nPatrick, who, as he supposed, died just about the same time. Who this\nPatrick was we do not know.\n\n[60] This is the date assigned by Dr. Lanigan. Dr. Todd is certainly\nwrong in giving 493.\n\nIt is curious to notice a mistake which has crept into some\nmartyrologies, where we find a Patrick, bishop of Avernia, or Auvergne,\nmentioned on March 16th. But no such a Patrick is known in Auvergne;\nand this Patrick is simply due to a mistake of some copyist, who\nwrote Avernia for Hivernia or Hibernia, and so got his name into the\nmartyrologies as a separate saint, and, to avoid confusion, this\nPatrick of Auvergne was placed on a different day.\n\nThere was also, or was supposed to be, a Patrick Senior, who is\ncommemorated on August 4th. This Patrick, according to Ranulph of\nChester (Polychronicron, lib. v. c. 4) was an Irish abbot, who in 850\nretired to Glastonbury, and there died on the 25th of August. But that\nbeing S. Bartholomew's day there, his festival was put back to the day\nbefore. A great confusion arose, partly from this and partly from S.\nPatrick being spoken of in the Annals as Sen Patrick, or Senex Patrick,\nthe old man Patrick, dying in 458.[61] Now, some of the writers of the\nLives were determined to give to S. Patrick a long life, equal to that\nof Moses, just as they made the contest of Moses and the magicians a\nmodel for a contest of Patrick and the Wise-men; so they made this Sen\nPatrick into a Patrick the elder, distinct from the great apostle. And\nthis mistake has found its way into the catalogues of the archbishops\nof Armagh, which has, besides S. Patrick, a namesake of his surnamed\n_Senior_. But this subject has been further obscured by the fables\nconcerning Glastonbury, as the monks there, having a body of a Patrick\nof Ireland, supposed or pretended that it was the body of the great S.\nPatrick, and they asserted that he had come over to Glastonbury, and\nhad died and been buried there. The Irish writers finding themselves\npuzzled by these Glastonbury stories, and unwilling to allow the\nGlastonians the honour of having among them the remains of S. Patrick,\nendeavoured to compromise the matter by giving them, instead of the\napostle, Sen-Patrick, or Patrick Senior. This, however, was not what\nthose monks wished for. They insisted on having the right S. Patrick,\nand him alone they understood by the name of Patrick Senior.\n\n[61] And in some of the most ancient lives, which speak of S. Patrick\nat the end of his career as Sen-Patrick, the old man Patrick.\n\nAs soon as the news of the saint's death had spread throughout Ireland,\nthe clergy flocked from all quarters to celebrate his funeral. This\nthey did with extraordinary pomp and great profession of lights,\ninsomuch that for a considerable time, during which the obsequies were\ncontinued, both day and night, we are told, darkness was dispelled,\nand the whole time seemed one continuous day. This expression of\nthe ancient hymn of Fiech has given source to a legend that on this\neventful occasion the sun went not down, but real daylight lasted for\nthe whole function. It is said that a furious contest was very near\nbreaking out concerning the place in which S. Patrick's remains should\nbe deposited. To prevent bloodshed, matters were providentially so\nmanaged that his body was interred at Down. It is said to have been\ndiscovered and translated in 1185.\n\nIn art, S. Patrick is usually represented expelling serpents and\nother reptiles from the island with his pastoral staff, or holding a\nshamrock leaf. He is said to have had the golden rod of Jesus, given\nhim by a hermit in Gaul, wherewith he smote and slew the Peishta-More,\nor Monster of the Lakes, and this is also frequently represented in art.\n\n\nS. GERTRUDE, V. ABSS. OF NIVELLES.\n\n(A.D. 664.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede, Usuardus, and Ado. German,\n Gallican, and Belgian Martyrologies commemorate the elevation of her\n relics on Feb. 10th; and the translation on May 30th and April 10th.\n Authorities:--A Life, by an eye-witness of her acts, apparently a\n canon or chaplain of the monastery. He says, \"I have endeavoured in\n writing to narrate what I have seen myself or heard from trustworthy\n witnesses.\" Another Life, written in polished style from the testimony\n of Rinchin, an acquaintance of S. Gertrude.]\n\nS. Gertrude was the daughter of the B. Pepin of Landen (Feb. 21st) and\nS. Itta or Iduberga (May 8th). Her brother, Grimoald, succeeded her\nfather. Her sister, S. Begga (Dec. 17th), who married duke Ansigis, and\nbecame the mother of Pepin, the father of Charles Martel. S. Aldegund\n(Jan. 30th), and S. Waltrudis (April 9th), the wife of S. Vincent (July\n14th), were also relatives of hers.\n\n[Illustration: S. GERTRUDE OF NIVELLES. After Cahier.\n March 17.]\n\nDagobert, king of the Franks, who had made Pepin of Landen mayor of\nthe palace, asked him to allow him to give Gertrude in marriage to a\nyoung Frank nobleman. The father hesitated, knowing that his daughter\ndesired to lead the religious life, and the king seeing his reluctance\nto force his daughter to a match for which she was not inclined,\nsent for Gertrude herself, then aged about ten, and endeavoured to\npersuade her to accept the hand offered her. But Gertrude resolutely\nrefused, declaring that she would have no other bridegroom but Jesus\nChrist. The king dismissed the child, and she returned to her mother,\nwho educated her in the love and fear of God. On the death of\nPepin, in 646, Iduberga, following the advice of S. Amandus, bishop of\nMaestricht, built the celebrated convent of Nivelles, and retired into\nit with her daughter, then aged fourteen. They were soon followed by\na numerous company of maidens, and a community was formed, to which\nthe blessed Iduberga gave rules. The sisters were called canonesses,\nand Iduberga appointed her daughter abbess. Thus the mother obeyed the\nchild. The holy woman spent twelve years in this peaceful retreat, and\ndied in the odour of sanctity. After her mother's death, Gertrude made\nsome alterations in the community. She instituted canons, who should\nattend to the temporal affairs of the house, whilst she devoted herself\nto the internal government of the sisterhood, and their spiritual\ntraining. For this latter purpose Gertrude devoted herself especially\nto the study of Holy Scripture, and nearly learnt the whole by heart.\nShe also built hospitals for the reception of pilgrims, widows, and\norphans, and entrusted the discipline of them to the canons and\ncanonesses of her community.\n\nAfter having spent many years in the practice of every virtue, feeling\na great langour come over her, so that she was unable to discharge\nher duties with that activity which had been so conspicuous in her\ngovernment of the house, she resigned the office of superior, and\ncreated her niece, S. Wilfetrudis, abbess in her place. Wilfetrudis\nwas aged twenty; she had been brought up by S. Gertrude, who had made\nof her a mirror of perfection. Gertrude now redoubled her austerities,\nwore a rough horsehair shirt, and adopted an old veil which a nun who\nhad lodged in the convent, on her way elsewhere, had left behind her,\ndeeming it too poor to be worth preserving. Gertrude cast it over her,\nand bade the sisters bury her in it when she was dead. When she felt\nthat her hour was approaching, she sent one of her canons to the\nmonastery of Fosse, in the diocese of Li\u00e9ge, to ask S. Ultan, brother\nof SS. Fursey and Forillan, when she must die. The saint replied to\nthe messenger, \"To-morrow, during the celebration of the holy Mass,\nGertrude, the spouse of Jesus Christ, will depart this life, to\nenjoy that which is eternal. Tell her not to fear, for S. Patrick,\naccompanied by blessed angels, will receive her soul into glory.\" And\nit was so, that after she had received extreme unction, and the priest\nwas reciting the prayers before the preface in the holy Sacrifice, on\nthe morrow, the second Sunday in Lent, she breathed forth her pure soul.\n\nHer relics are preserved to this day at Nivelles, together with\na goblet (Patera Nivigellensis), in which the custom to drink to\nthe honour of S. Gertrude (Sinte Geerts-Minne). From the saint\nhaving established large hospices for the reception of pilgrims and\ntravellers, whom she entertained with great liberality, arose the\ncustom of travellers drinking a stirrup cup to her honour before\nstarting on their journey. She became the patroness of travellers.\nThen, by a curious popular superstition, she was supposed to harbour\nsouls on their way to paradise. It was said that this was a three\ndays' journey. The first night they lodged with S. Gertrude, the\nsecond with S. Gabriel, and the third was in Paradise. She, therefore,\nbecame the patroness and protector of departed souls. Next, because\npopular Teutonic superstition regarded mice and rats as symbols of\nsouls, the rat and mouse became characteristics of S. Gertrude, and\nshe is represented in art accompanied by one of these animals. Then,\nby a strange transition, when the significance of the symbol was lost,\nshe was supposed to be a protectress against rats and mice, and the\nwater of her well in the crypt at Nivelles was distributed for the\npurpose of driving away these vermin. In the chapel of S. Gertrude,\nwhich anciently stood in the enclosure of the castle of Moha, near\nHuy, little cakes were distributed, which were supposed to banish\nmice. For long the right to distribute these cakes belonged to the\nJesuits; after the suppression of that order, the Augustinians of Huy\nusurped the right, but it was resisted by the cur\u00e9 of Moha, who claimed\nthe privilege as belonging to the parochial clergy. The chapel was\ndestroyed at the French Revolution, and with it the custom disappeared.\n\nIn order to explain the significance of the mouse in pictures of S.\nGertrude, when both of these meanings were abandoned, it was related\nthat she was wont to become so absorbed in prayer that a mouse would\nplay about her, and run up her pastoral staff, without attracting her\nattention.\n\n\nS. WITHBURGA, V.\n\n(A.D. 743.)\n\n [Some ancient martyrologies, others on July 8th. Authority:--The Ely\n Chronicle, and a Life supposed to be by Goscelin, the historian of S.\n Werburga.]\n\nThe royal race of the Uffings of East Anglia was remarkable for the\ncrowd of saints which it produced. King Anna, who married the sister\nof Hilda, the celebrated abbess of Whitby, became father of three\ndaughters and a son. The son became in his turn the father of three\ndaughters, two of whom were in succession abbesses of Hackness in\nNorthumbria, founded by their grand-aunt S. Hilda, and the last,\nEadburga, became abbess of Repton.\n\nThe three daughters of Anna,--Etheldreda, Sexburga, and Withburga--are\nall counted among the saints. Withburga was sent into the country to\nbe nursed, and remained there till she heard, while still quite young,\nof her father's death on the battle-field. She resolved immediately\nto seek a refuge for the rest of her life in claustral virginity.\nShe chose as her asylum a modest remnant of her father's lands at\nEast Dereham, in Norfolk, and there built a little monastery. But\nshe was so poor that she, her companions, and the masons who built\nher future dwelling, had to live on dry bread alone. One day, after\nshe had prayed long to the blessed Virgin, she saw two does come out\nof the neighbouring forest to drink at a stream whose pure current\nwatered the secluded spot. Their udders were heavy with milk, and they\npermitted themselves to be milked by the virginal hands of Withburga's\ncompanions, returning every day to the same place, and thus furnishing\na sufficient supply for the nourishment of the little community and its\nworkmen. This lasted till the ranger of the royal domains, a savage\nand wicked man, who regarded with an evil eye the rising house of God,\nundertook to hunt down the two helpful animals. He pursued them with\nhis dogs across the country, but, in attempting to leap a high hedge,\nhis horse was impaled on a post, and the hunter broke his neck.\n\nWithburga ended her life in this poor and humble solitude; but the\nfragrance of her gentle virtues spread far and wide. The fame of her\nholiness went through all the surrounding country. The veneration given\nto her by the people of Norfolk was maintained with the pertinacity\ncommon to the Anglo-Saxon race, and went so far that, two centuries\nafter her death, they armed themselves to defend her relics from the\nmonks of Ely, who came, by the king's command, to unite them to those\nof her sisters at Ely.\n\nThere still exists at East Dereham a well bearing the name of S.\nWithburga. It is fed by a spring rising in the very place where the\nsaint's body was laid before its translation to Ely.\n\nS. PAUL, M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 760.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology and Greek Menology. Authority:--The Acts of S.\n Stephen the junior (Nov. 28th).]\n\nIn the furious persecution waged by Constantine Copronymus against\nimages and those who reverenced them, Paul, a Cypriot, was brought\nbefore the governor of that island, Theophanes Lardotyrus, and was\nordered to choose whether he would stamp on a crucifix laid before him,\nor suffer torture on the rack. In answer, he stooped and kissed the\nimage of his Master, saying, \"Far be it from me, Lord Jesus Christ,\nonly begotten Son of God, to trample on Thy sacred representation.\" He\nwas at once stripped, pressed between two boards, his body torn with\niron combs, and then hung head downwards over a fire, which was heaped\nabout him, till he was consumed.\n\n[Illustration: Portion of a Monstrance.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 18.\n\n S. GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL.\n S. ALEXANDER, _M.B. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 250.\n SS. TEN THOUSAND MARTYRS, _at Nicomedia, 4th cent._\n SS. TROPHIMUS AND EUCARPUS, _MM. at Nicomedia, circ._ A.D. 300.\n SS. NARCISSUS, _B.M._, AND FELIX, _D.M. at Gerona, beginning of\n 4th cent._\n S. CYRIL, _Patr. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 389.\n S. FRIGIDIAN OR FINNIAN, _B. of Lucca_, A.D. 589.\n S. TETRICUS, _B. of Langres_, A.D. 572.\n S. EDWARD, _K.M. in England_, A.D. 978.\n S. ANSELM, _B. of Lucca_, A.D. 1086.\n\n\nS. GABRIEL, ARCHANGEL.\n\nOn this day is commemorated Gabriel the Archangel, who was sent to\nannounce to the Blessed Mary that she was to become the Mother of\nGod. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, and in those of the\nCamaldoli, the Trinitarians, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, the\nAugustinians, the Discalceate Carmelites, and the Servites.\n\n\nS. ALEXANDER, M. B. OF JERUSALEM.\n\n(A.D. 250.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, some editions of the Martyrology of Bede;\n Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on December 12th. In the Breviary of\n the Knights of S. John of Jerusalem, this festival is observed with\n nine lections. His life is gathered from the ecclesiastical Hist. of\n Eusebius.]\n\nAlexander, a Cappadocian bishop, having come to Jerusalem to venerate\nthe holy places, was elected by revelation of God to take the see\nof Jerusalem in place of Narcissus, who, on account of his extreme\nold age, was unable to execute the functions of his office. In the\npersecution of Decius, when Alexander was advanced in years, with white\nhair, he was conducted to C\u00e6sarea, where he was imprisoned, and died in\nhis dungeon.\n\n\nS. NARCISSUS, M. B. OF GERONA.\n\n(BEGINNING OF 4TH CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The \"Conversio\" of S. Afra, which\n existed in the ninth century, but of no historical value.]\n\nNarcissus, bishop of Gerona, being driven from his see in the\npersecution of Diocletian, wandered homeless as far as Augsburg, where\nfinding that the Christians were mightily oppressed, and well nigh\nexterminated, he and his deacon Felix, not knowing whither to take\nrefuge, received the hospitality offered them by a courtesan named\nAfra.[62] And they not knowing who and what manner of woman she was\nthat invited them into her house, went in nothing doubting. Then Afra\nmarvelled what manner of men these were, who ate little, and spent\ntheir time in prayer. And before they departed, she believed and\nwas baptized, with all her house. Now when nine months had elapsed,\nNarcissus and his deacon, finding the violence of persecution had\nabated, returned into Spain, and recommenced their work of converting\nthe heathen. The success of Narcissus so exasperated them that they\nwaylaid him and assassinated him. When king Philip of France took\nGerona, his soldiers pillaged the shrine of S. Narcissus, whereupon a\nswarm of hornets issued from it and stung them. Consequently in art he\nis represented with hornets issuing from his tomb. Relics at Gerona.\n\n[62] In the Life of S. Afra (Aug. 5th), it will be shown that it is a\nlate mistake to call her a courtesan.\n\n\nS. CYRIL, PATR. OF JERUSALEM.\n\n(A.D. 389.)\n\n [Roman, Greek, and Syriac Kalendars. Authorities:--Sozomen, Theodoret,\n and his own writings.]\n\nCyril succeeded Maximus in the patriarchal see of Jerusalem, about the\nyear 350. The story that Maximus was deposed, and Cyril substituted by\nAcacius, Bishop of C\u00e6sarea, is inconsistent with probabilities, and\nwith the testimony borne by the second general Council to the canonical\nregularity of his consecration. The other tale, which Jerome credited,\nthat Cyril obtained the see from Acacius on condition of disclaiming\nthe ordination which Maximus had bestowed, is utterly incredible, and\nprobably sprang from the prejudices of a rigid party which mistrusted\nCyril.\n\nThe paschal season of 351 was marked at Jerusalem by the luminous\nappearance of a cross, which appeared in the sky over the city. It\nproduced a great impression, and S. Cyril sent an account of it to\nConstantius.[63]\n\n[63] The genuineness of this letter, in which he mentions also the\nfinding of the cross, has been doubted. One objection is that it\ncontains the word \"consubstantial,\" which at that period Cyril would\nhardly have used. But it is by no means improbable that this word was\ninterpolated by copyists, for the purpose of obtaining the authority of\nCyril for that term.\n\nCyril, a man of gentle spirit, eminently a peace-maker, was cast in\ntimes of great difficulty. The Arian party was in power, through the\nfavour of the emperor; and a large number of prelates were semi-Arians;\nnot disbelieving in the divine nature of Christ as consubstantial with\nthe Father, but doubting the expedience of stating the doctrine in\nplain words which could not be misunderstood. All who were timorous,\nnot thoroughly illumined with the Holy Spirit, and wanting in that\nkeenness of theological discrimination which makes doctors of the\nChurch, hesitated and temporised. It was inexpedient to take too harsh\nan attitude towards these weak brethren, and drive them into the arms\nof the Arians, and this Cyril felt. Firm in his own faith, deprecating\nthe injudicious fire of some Catholics who were resolved at all costs\nto produce a rupture between those who walked in the clear light\nof Catholic certainty, and those who fluttered in the twilight, he\nlaboured with words of conciliation to avert such a catastrophe.\n\nAt the end of 357, or the beginning of 358, an important change took\nplace at Jerusalem. For two years Cyril had been forced into opposition\nto the demands of Acacius. He maintained for Jerusalem, as the mother\nChurch, possessing an \"Apostolic throne,\" and marked out for honour in\nthe Nicene Council,[64] an independence of C\u00e6sarea which Acacius would\nnot grant; and he was also obnoxious to Acacius on theological grounds,\nas holding the orthodox doctrine.\n\n[64] Canon VII. \"Since a custom and old tradition has obtained, that\nthe bishop of \u00c6lia (Jerusalem) should receive honour, let him hold the\nsecond place, the metropolitan (of C\u00e6sarea) being secured in his own\ndignity.\"\n\nAcacius now summoned a small council of bishops of his own party, which\nCyril declined to attend. This was regarded as contumacy; and he was\ngravely accused of having committed an offence in selling some of the\nchurch ornaments to provide food for the famine-stricken poor. Sozomen\nsays that he sold Church treasures and sacred veils. Theodoret mentions\na vestment of cloth of gold presented by Constantine to be worn by the\nbishop when baptizing. Such an accusation does Cyril honour, and ranks\nhim with other illustrious prelates, Ambrose, Augustine, Exuperius,\nGregory the Great, Ethelwold of Winchester, who all in like manner\nsanctioned the principle that the law of love is the highest law of\nall. It is worth remark that in this case, as in that of S. John\nChrysostom, the alliance of a narrow formalism was found, not with\northodoxy, but with heresy.\n\nBy the synod convened by Acacius, Cyril was condemned and expelled\nfrom Jerusalem. He appealed, with more formality, as it appears,\nthan had been usual in such cases, to \"a higher court;\" proceeded to\nAntioch, where he found that the patriarch Leontius was dead, and\nthat no one had been appointed his successor; and ultimately found\na welcome at Tarsus, where Silvanus, the bishop, one of the best of\nthe semi-Arians, received him, in disregard of the remonstrances from\nAcacius. This circumstance brought Cyril, for the next few years, into\nconnection with the semi-Arian party; and he illustrates the fact that\nit contained men of whom Athanasius could say, in his noble readiness\nto discern substantial unity under verbal difference, \"We do not treat\nas enemies those who accept everything else that was defined at Nic\u00e6a,\nand scruple only about the word consubstantial; for we do not attack\nthem as raging Arians, nor as men who fight against the fathers, but we\ndiscuss the matter with them as brothers with brothers, who mean what\nwe mean, and differ only about the word.\"\n\nConsiderable excitement had been caused in Antioch in 350 by the\nordination of Aetius as deacon, by the patriarch Leontius. This man,\nthe most odious of the extreme Arians, had gone through many changes\nof life, as a vinedresser's slave, a goldsmith, a medical man, a guest\nand pupil of Arian bishops, and a professor of that disputatious\nlogic in which the heresy was at first embodied. He was the first to\naffirm openly that the Son was essentially unlike the Father. Leontius\nintended his diaconate to be a means of propagating Arianism. But\nFlavian and Diodorus, the pillars of Catholicism in Antioch, had\nthreatened formally to renounce his communion; and he thought it best\nto depose Aetius. Now Leontius was dead, and his throne was filled\nby Eudoxius, the intriguing and thoroughly irreligious bishop of\nGermanicia. He gained his promotion by fraud, and the aid of court\neunuchs; and he openly patronized Aetius, whose views he had imbibed.\nThe state of confusion and discord had become intolerable, and a\nGeneral Council was resolved upon. Consultations were held as to the\nbest place; and Constantius the emperor lent his ear to the mischievous\ncounsel of Acacius and his party, which recommended the breaking the\nsingle council into two, in the hopes of being able thereby to \"divide\nand govern.\" Constantius agreed, and Ancyra and Ariminum were named as\nthe two places. But Ancyra was afterwards thought unsuitable, and it\nwas decided that one portion of the council should meet at Seleucia\ninstead of Ancyra.\n\nThe ultra-Arian Valens was governing in the West. Both councils met in\n359. Four hundred bishops of the West, including some from Britain,\nassembled at Ariminum. About eighty were Arians, for the most part of\nthe advanced school.\n\nThe Easterns met at Seleucia, and numbered one hundred and sixty; of\nthese the great majority, one hundred and five, were semi-Arians, and\nof the rest a party were shifty followers of Acacius. Only one small\nparty of Egyptians were loyal to the faith of Nic\u00e6a; nevertheless\nthe council of Seleucia restored S. Cyril to his see, annulled his\ndeposition decreed by Acacius, and deposed Acacius himself, and\nEudoxius of Antioch.\n\nIn the mean time trickery and violence had been at work at Ariminum. A\ncreed approved by the Arian emperor was sent to the bishops, and they\nwere most falsely assured on imperial authority, that the council of\nSeleucia had accepted it. The bishops' patience began to give way.\nThey shrank from a winter on the shore of the Adriatic; they were\nutterly weary of so long a sojourn at Ariminum, and their weariness\ndisposed them to concession. Bishop after bishop signed the imperial\ncreed; but about twenty held out, headed by two Gallicans, Ph\u0153badius\nand Servatius. Taurus, the emperor's officer, appointed to keep order\nand enforce his object, tried both menaces and tears. At last, by a\nmiserable sophistry, Valens carried his point, and won for Arianism\na scandalous victory, whilst it exposed the untruthfulness which\ncharacterized the Arian policy.\n\nAcacius had returned to Constantinople with wrath in his heart,\nresolved to ruin the semi-Arians and Cyril. He persuaded Constantius\nto allow a council to be summoned to meet at Constantinople next year,\nJanuary, 360. About fifty bishops were present. Acacius ruled the\nassembly; Aetius was made a scape-goat by the Acacians for having too\nboldly given expression to the error which they sought to propagate\ninsidiously. The council then deposed the leading semi-Arians, but not\non doctrinal grounds. Cyril of Jerusalem, and Silvanus of Tarsus were\ndeposed, and with the emperor's power to back their decisions, they\nwere driven into banishment. At the same time the unreality of their\ncensure of Aetius was shown by the enthronement of Eudoxius, who was\nhis chief supporter, at Constantinople, on Jan. 27th. On Feb. 15th he\ndedicated the restored church of the Eternal Wisdom, for the service\nof which Constantius offered splendid vessels, curtains, altar-cloths,\nblazing with gold and jewels. In the midst of the ceremonial, Eudoxius\nbegan his sermon with these words, \"The Father is irreligious, the Son\nis religious.\" A commotion followed; the bishop bade the people calm\nthemselves. \"Surely the Father worships none, and the Son worships the\nFather!\" A burst of laughter followed this speech, which became a good\njest in the society of the capital. This was the man Acacius and his\npacked council had set up, when they cast down Cyril. Eudoxius was well\nfitted to hand on the old traditions of Arian profanity.\n\nThe emperor Constantius died, Nov. 3rd, 361, and Julian having recalled\nthe exiled bishops, S. Cyril returned to his see.\n\nThe unhappy man who was now lord of the empire had been for some\nten years a hypocrite in his Christian profession. No sooner was he\nproclaimed emperor, than he openly professed himself a restorer of the\nold religion. Then it was that he \"washed off the laver\" of baptism by\na hideous self-immersion in bull's blood,[65] and sought to cleanse\nhis hands from the touch of the bloodless Sacrifice by holding in them\nthe entrails of victims. He set up an image of Fortune in the great\nchurch, and while he was sacrificing there, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon,\nnow a blind old man, was led up to him at his own request, and rebuked\nhis impiety. \"Will thy Galil\u00e6an God cure thy blindness?\" asked Julian.\n\"I thank my God,\" said Maris, \"for the blindness which saves me from\nseeing the face of an apostate.\"\n\n[65] The Rite of Taurobolia, Prudent. Peristreph. 10.\n\nThe last of Julian's attacks upon Christianity was his attempt to\nrebuild the temple of Jerusalem. He did indeed wish to aid the Jews in\ntheir desire of renewing the Levitical sacrifices, and to secure their\nattachment to his government in spite of its paganism; but his main\nobject was to confound the Gospel by raising up the fabric which it had\nexpressly doomed, and thus reviving the system of which that fabric had\nbeen the symbol and centre.\n\nThe rapturous hopes of the Jews were expressed in the scene which\nfollowed the imperial mandate, when silver spades and mattocks were\nemployed, and earth was carried away from the excavations in the rich\ndresses of delicate women. The faith of the Christians was expressed\nby Cyril's denunciations of the predestined failure. Full of confidence\nhe proclaimed that the enterprise, so far from succeeding, would\nprove to all men the impossibility of resisting the decree of God.\nGreat must have been his faith, for every appearance was against him.\nThe heathen historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, tells us what ensued.\nAfter all possible assistance had been given by the authorities,\n\"fearful balls of fire breaking out near the foundations with repeated\nattacks, scorched the workmen several times, and rendered the place\ninaccessible; and in this way, after obstinate repulses by the fiery\nelement, the undertaking was brought to a stand.\" Various details are\nadded by Christian writers, as of an earthquake, a whirlwind, fire\nfrom heaven, a luminous cross in the air, and marks of crosses on the\ngarments of the Jews. It is possible that in these particulars there\nis an element of exaggeration, and that in the fiery eruption itself,\nnatural agencies were employed. But that those agencies should manifest\nthemselves at that particular crisis will appear accidental, as men\nspeak, to those only who do not estimate the exceeding awfulness of the\noccasion,--the unparalleled historical position of Julian, the mystery\nof iniquity in his general policy, and the specially anti-Christian\nmalignity of this attempt at a confutation of Christ's words.\n\n\"His shafts, not at the Church, but at her Lord addrest,\" might well be\ncast back upon himself by a manifestation of \"the finger of God,\" as\nreal and awe-inspiring as any of those natural phenomena, the presence\nof which under particular circumstances made them a sign of judgment\nagainst Pharaoh.\n\nJulian promised, in his vexation, says Orosius, to revenge his failure\non S. Cyril on his return from the Persian war. But this return never\ntook place. Cyril was again exiled by the Arian emperor Valens,\nin 367. He returned in 378, when the emperor Gratian ordered the\nrestoration of the Catholics. He found his diocese rent by schism,\ncorrupted by heresy. Adultery, robbery, and poisoning were general.\nThe council of Antioch in 379, informed of the deplorable condition of\nthe diocese, sent Gregory of Nyssa, already charged with reforming the\nchurches of Arabia, to assist him in pacifying spirits, and repressing\nimmorality; but his labours were without result. In 381, S. Cyril was\npresent at the General Council of Constantinople, and subscribed the\ncondemnation of the semi-Arians and Macedonians. He died in 386, at the\nage of seventy.\n\n\nS. FRIGIDIAN OR FINNIAN, B. OF LUCCA.\n\n(A.D. 589.)\n\n [Roman and Irish Martyrologies. At Lucca the feast of his translation\n is observed on Nov. 19th. Authorities:--Mention in life of S. Enda,\n March 21st.]\n\nS. Finnian of Moville is mentioned in the life of S. Enda as one\nof his disciples in Aran, the Isle of Saints. This remarkable man\nwas the son of Ultach, an Irish king, and was baptized without his\nfather's consent. He was first placed under the care of S. Colman of\nDromore, who flourished about the year 510. It is expressly mentioned\nin the life just referred to, that it was from Aran he set out on his\npilgrimage to Rome. This was probably his first visit to the apostolic\nSee. Being of an active temperament, he there devoted himself with\ngreat ardour for several years to the study of the ecclesiastical and\napostolic traditions. He then returned to Ireland, carrying with him\na rich store of relics of the saints given him by the pope, and the\npenitential canons, which in his biographer's time, were still called\n\"The Canons of S. Finnian.\" He also brought to Ireland the earliest\ncopy of S. Jerome's translations of the Gospels; a treatise of such\nvalue in the estimation of his ecclesiastical contemporaries, that the\nrecords of this period very frequently refer to them as S. Finnian's\nGospels.\n\nIn 540, he founded the great monastery of Moville, where S. Columba\nspent a portion of his youth. After labouring with energy in\nIreland, S. Finnian returned to Italy, where, according to the best\nauthorities, he was made bishop of Lucca, in Tuscany, in which Church\nhe is venerated under the name of Frigidian, or Fridian. During\nthe twenty-eight years that he governed the see of Lucca, he built\ntwenty-eight churches; the chief of these he dedicated to the three\nholy Levites, but it has since borne his name. He is said to have\ncarried a huge stone towards the erection of the church, which none\nelse could lift. It is still preserved in the church as a monument of\nhis strength and zeal. S. Gregory the Great relates a story of his\nmiraculous power. One day the river Arno had overflowed the country,\ndevastating the fields. The saint ran a plough down to the flood, and\nit recoiled before the share.\n\nThe Italian annals give 588 as the year of his death; the annals of\nUlster and Tigernach 589.\n\n\nS. TETRICUS, B. OF LANGRES.\n\n(A.D. 572.)\n\n [Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--S. Gregory of Tours (542) his\n kinsman.]\n\nS. Tetricus was the son of S. Gregory of Langres, whose life has been\ngiven on Jan. 4th. His mother's name was Armentaria. By her S. Gregory\nhad two sons, Tetricus, who succeeded him in the see of Langres, and\nGregory, the father of Armentaria, mother of S. Gregory of Tours,\nthe historian, who has recorded all that we know of the life of his\ngreat-uncle. This is not much. The choice of the clergy and people fell\non Tetricus as a successor to his father, almost unanimously moved\nthereto by the hopes that he would inherit the virtues of S. Gregory.\nNor were these hopes frustrated. Tetricus ruled with prudence, and was\na burning and a shining light in his diocese. One Sunday at Dijon,\nas the prelate was ministering in the Church of S. John, Chramn, the\nrebel son of king Clothaire, entered it, and besought that he might\nbe allowed to consult the divine Oracles on the future. Three books\nwere accordingly placed on the altar, the Prophets, the Gospel, and\nthe Epistles; and the clergy prayed along with Chramn that the future\nmight be unfolded to him. Then he opened the book of the Prophets, and\nlighted on the words of Isaiah, v. 4, 5. \"What could have been done\nmore to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I\nlooked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?\nAnd now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will\ntake away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: and break down\nthe wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.\" Then the book of\nEpistles was opened at the place, \"When they say, Peace and safety;\nthen sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with\nchild; and they shall not escape,\" 1 Thess. v. 3; and the book of the\nGospels when interrogated gave the following answer, Matt. vii. 26,\n27, \"A foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain\ndescended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that\nhouse, and it fell: and great was the fall of it.\" Chramn went away\nmuch dispirited. Shortly after, hearing that his father was marching\nupon Dijon, he retired into Aquitaine, but being pursued by Clothaire,\nhe fled into Brittany to Count Conovre. Shortly after Clothaire\nattacked them and defeated them in a battle in which the count fell.\nHe then took his son and shut him up in a cottage with his wife and\nchildren, set fire to the place, and burnt them all.\n\n\nS. EDWARD, K. M.\n\n(A.D. 978.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrologies, also modern Anglican Kalendar. Roman\n Martyrology. The elevation of his body, June 20th; his translation,\n Feb. 18th. Authorities:--The Chronicle of John of Brompton, Osbern of\n Canterbury, William of Malmesbury.]\n\nIn the year 975, King Edgar died, and was buried at Glastonbury. He had\nbeen twice married. His first wife was the beautiful Ethelfleda, who\ndied shortly after the birth of her son Edward. After her death Edgar\nmarried, in 964, Elfrida, daughter of Ordgar, earl of Devonshire, and\nshe became the mother of two sons by him, Edmund, who died young, and\nEthelred. As soon as king Edgar was dead, Edward, who was thirteen\nyears old, a good youth, upright in all his dealings, and fearing\nGod, was elected to the crown, much to the discontent of Elfrida, who\ndesired to see her son Ethelred on the throne.\n\n[Illustration: MURDER OF S. EDWARD.\n March 18.]\n\nIn the year 979, when Edward was aged seventeen, he was murdered. Now,\ncertainly he was not a martyr for the Christian faith, nor for right\nand truth in any shape; but he was a good youth, and was unjustly\nand cruelly killed, so people looked on him as a saint, and called\nhim Edward the Martyr. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle greatly laments\nhis death, and says that a worse deed had never been done since the\nEnglish came into Britain. It does not, however, say who killed him,\nbut only that he was killed at eventide, at Corfe Castle. Henry of\nHuntingdon says that king Edward was killed by his own people;\nFlorence of Worcester, that he was killed by his own people by order\nof his step-mother, Elfrida. William of Malmesbury, in one part of his\nbook, says he was killed by earl Elfhere, but this is improbable, as no\nreason for such an act appears. But in recording his death, Malmesbury\nattributes the crime to Elfrida, and tells the story thus:--\n\nWhen Edward was elected, Elfrida hated him, because she wished her\nown son, Ethelred, to be king, and she ever sought how she might slay\nEdward. Now, one day the young king was hunting in Dorsetshire, hard by\nthe castle of Corfe, where Elfrida and Ethelred her son dwelt. And the\nking was weary and thirsty, so he turned away alone from his hunting,\nand said, \"Now will I go to rest myself at Corfe, with my step-mother\nElfrida, and my brother Ethelred.\" So king Edward rode to the gate of\nthe house, and Elfrida came out to meet him, and kissed him. And he\nsaid, \"Give me to drink, for I am thirsty.\" And Elfrida commanded,\nand they brought him a cup, and he drank eagerly. But while he drank,\nElfrida made a sign to her servant, and he stabbed the king with a\ndagger; and when the king felt the wound, he set spurs to his horse,\nand tried to join his comrades, who were hunting. But he slipped from\nhis horse, and his leg caught in the stirrup, so he was dragged along\ntill he died, and the track of his blood showed whither he had gone.\nAnd Elfrida bade that he should be buried in Wareham, but not in holy\nground, nor with any royal pomp. But a light from heaven shone over\nhis grave, and wonders were wrought there. But when the child Ethelred\nheard of his brother's murder, he began to cry and bewail him, for\nEdward had always been very kind to the little boy. His mother, stung\nby her conscience, and angry with him for his lamentations, rushed on\nthe child to beat him, and having no stick at hand, she pulled a wax\ncandle out of its socket, and thrashed him with it. But afterwards,\nwhen she heard of the mighty works which were done at the grave of king\nEdward, how the sick were healed, and the lame walked, she resolved to\ngo and see the miracles with her own eyes. But when she mounted her\nhorse to ride, the horse would not stir. So Elfrida's hard heart was\nshaken, and she became alarmed about her sin that she had committed,\nand she retired into the convent of Wherwell, that she might repent in\nashes the wickedness she had done. The body was afterwards translated\nto the minster at Shaftesbury (June 20th).\n\nS. Edward is usually drawn with a youthful countenance, having the\ninsignia of royalty, with a cup in one hand and a dagger in the other.\nSometimes he has a sceptre instead of the cup; and at other times a\nfalcon, in allusion to his last hunt.\n\n[Illustration: Image of Saint (or Christ) with scroll reading \"BEATI\nPAUPERES SPIRITU.]\n\n[Illustration: S. JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. From the\nVienna Missal. March 19.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 19.\n\n S. JOSEPH, _Husband of the B. Virgin Mary, before_ A.D. 30.\n SS. QUINTUS, QUINTILLIUS, AND COMP., _MM. at Sorrento_.\n S. PANCHARIUS, _M. at Nicomedia, 3rd cent._\n S. JOHN, _Ab. at Civita-di-Penne, near Spoleto, 4th cent._\n S. LEONTIUS, _B. of Saintes in France, 6th cent._\n S. LACTEAN, _Ab. in Ireland_, A.D. 622.\n SS. LANDOALD, P.C., AMANTIUS, D., AND ADRIAN, _M. at Wintershoven,\n in Belgium, 8th cent._\n S. ALEMUND, _M. at Derby_, A.D. 800.\n\n\nS. JOSEPH.\n\n(BEFORE A.D. 30.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. His festival was ordered by pope Sixtus IV. to be\n observed as a double; Gregory XV. recommended its general observance\n by the faithful, and this recommendation was confirmed by Urban XIII.,\n by bull in 1642.]\n\nAll we know for certain concerning S. Joseph, the husband of Mary the\nmother of God, is derived from the Holy Gospels. To him was confided\nthe most precious treasure ever entrusted to man, the guardianship of\nMary and Jesus, of the Mother and the Son of God; whence we may infer\nthe great sanctity and merit of S. Joseph.\n\nHe was of the lineage of David, and therefore of royal race, but was\npoor, and gained his livelihood as a carpenter. According to S. Matthew\nhis father's name was Jacob, according to S. Luke it was Heli, this\ndiscrepancy in the accounts is explained by the supposition that one\nof the genealogies represents the direct line of natural generation,\nthe other the legal descent of royal prerogative. We are expressly told\nthat he was a just man. On perceiving that his virgin wife was with\nchild, he resolved secretly to put her away, for having lived with her\nin the purest relations, he knew that the child could be none of his;\nand by secretly divorcing her, he would spare her the scandal which\nwould attach itself to her, for the world would regard her offspring as\nhis son, and he alone would know that this was not the case.\n\nBut he was warned by God in a dream to believe in the innocence of his\nwife, and was told that she was to become the mother of the Son of God.\nAfterwards, when Herod sought the life of the young child, he took Him\nand His mother by night and fled with them into Egypt, till hearing\nthat Herod was dead, in obedience to an angelic order, he returned to\nPalestine; but finding that Archelaus the son of Herod was reigning in\nJudea, he thought it imprudent to enter his dominions, and therefore\nsettled at Nazareth. He and Mary went once every year to Jerusalem to\noffer their sacrifice in the temple, in obedience to the requirements\nof the law, and on one of these occasions Jesus accompanied them.\nThe child Jesus grew up under the care of Joseph, assisting him in\nhis shop. It is believed that Joseph died before our Lord began his\nministry; for we hear of him no more.\n\nThe girdle of S. Joseph is said to be preserved among the sacred\ntreasures of the church of Joinville, in the diocese of Langres.\n\n\nS. PANCHARIUS, M.\n\n(3RD CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology and Greek Men\u00e6a. Authority:--The account in the\n Men\u00e6a.]\n\n[Illustration: DEATH OF S. JOSEPH.\n March 19.]\n\nPancharius, a young Christian, well-favoured, and active, having gained\nthe favour of the emperor Maximian, became his secretary. His mother\nand sister, hearing this, were filled with anxiety lest his soul\nshould be imperilled. They therefore wrote to him a letter urging him\nnot to be ashamed of Christ, and to remember that it profits a man\nlittle to gain the whole world if he lose his own soul. On reading\nthis letter, Pancharius was moved, and lifting up his voice he prayed\nto God, \"Have mercy upon me, Almighty God, and bring not thy servant\nto confusion in the face of men and angels, but according to thy\ngreat mercy, spare me.\" Some one overheard this prayer, and told the\nemperor that his favourite was a Nazarene. The emperor sent for him\nand asked him if this were true. Then the young man confessed that he\nwas. The emperor urged him to renounce his religion. But as Pancharius\nrefused, he ordered him to be scourged, and sent to Nicomedia to be\ntried and sentenced by the governor. At Nicomedia he was subjected to\nfresh interrogation, but maintaining his constancy, was condemned to\nexecution by the sword.\n\n\nS. JOHN, AB. AT CIVITA-DI-PENNE.\n\n(4TH CENT.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, some copies of Bede's Martyrology, and the\n Roman Martyrology. Authority:--An ancient life published by the\n Bollandists, but evidently founded on tradition.]\n\nThe life of this saint shall be translated from the original, as it\ndeserves, from its quaint simplicity and freshness.\n\n\"It fell out in those days that as the blessed John was going forth\nfrom Syria, he prayed, saying, 'Lord God of heaven and earth, God of\nAbraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of our Fathers, who madest heaven and earth\nwith all their adornments, who by a word didst suspend the sea, who\ndidst close the abyss and sign above it gloriously, whose mighty name\nall things revere, and before the face of whose virtue all things\nquake; I pray Thee, who art the true light, illumine me hoping in thee,\nand make my way prosperous before me, in which I go, and let this be to\nme for a sign that there I should rest, when that person to whom I give\nmy psalter shall not return it to me the self-same day.'\n\n\"And it came to pass that he came to Italy, and was near to the\nmetropolitan city (of Spoleto) and had gone about five miles into the\nAngellan farm, when he met with a certain handmaiden of God, and he\ngave to her his psalter. And afterwards he asked the handmaid for it\nagain, and she said, 'Servant of God, whither goest thou? Tarry here,\nand go thy way to-morrow.' And when they had long spoken, she insisted\nthat he should remain there that night; so he remained. And the blessed\nJohn remembered his prayer that he had made, and he said in his heart,\n'Verily this is what I besought of the Lord; here will I dwell.'\n\n\"So when the morning came, having received his psalter again, he\nwent forth no more than four bow-shots. And, behold! an angel of God\nappeared to him, and went before him, and when they came to the place,\nthe angel said to him, 'Sit down here, servant of the most high God,\nfor the Lord hath commanded thee to dwell here,' and so saying, he led\nhim under a tree and said, 'Here shalt thou have a great congregation,\nand find rest.' Then S. John, the Confessor of Christ, sat down under\nthe tree.\n\n\"Now it was the month of December, and according to the custom of the\nmonth, it froze hard, and all the ground was stiff; but the tree under\nwhich the blessed John reposed, blossomed as the lily. And at that time\nhunters went by, and they found him sitting under the tree, and they\nthought that he was a spy, and they questioned him, saying, 'Whence\ncomest thou?' Then the blessed John told them all, and how he had come\nto Italy. So they marvelled greatly, for they had never seen a habit\nlike his. But he said to them, 'Do not, my sons, do not harm me, for I\nhave come here in the service of Jesus Christ.'\n\n\"Then they observing the tree, that it shone as a lily, knew that the\nLord was with him, and they told all things to the bishop of Spoleto.\nAnd when bishop John heard this, he was filled with great joy, and he\nhasted, and went to where the blessed John was praying. And when they\nsaw one another, for joy they wept. And all that were present gave\nglory to God. Now through the mercy of God many people were collected\nthere, and he built a monastery, and he lived therein all the rest of\nthe days of his life. And he was there forty and four years, and he\nfell asleep in peace, and was buried with hymns and songs, where he\nreposes to this day, and there the blind receive their sight, devils\nare expelled, lepers are cleansed, and the divine offices are there\nperformed to the present day, through the assistance of Jesus Christ,\nour Lord, who liveth and reigneth, through ages. Amen.\"\n\n\nS. LACTEAN, AB. OF CLON-FERT.\n\n(A.D. 622.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--A fragmentary life published by the\n Bollandists, based on tradition.]\n\nThe legend of this saint comes under the same category as so many of\nthe other Irish legends. It exists only in fragments, and was written\nseveral hundreds of years after the death of S. Lactean, from oral\ntradition. It shall be given without any attempt at sifting truth from\nfable, as a specimen of these Irish biographies.\n\nAn angel appeared to S. Molua (d. about 608), monk of Banchor, in\nIreland, when he was wondering who would become his pupil, and\nannounced to him that after the lapse of fifteen years a child would\nbe born, who would become his disciple. And for those fifteen years\nMolua did not laugh, being instant in expectation. Now there was a man\nin Munster named Torphur, who had a wife named Senecha, and she was\nwith child. And before the child was born, her breasts filled with\nmilk. An old man, named Mohemath, passed by, and he was blind. Then\nSenecha struck his eyes with her milk, and his eyes opened, and he saw\nso plain that the city of Rome, bathed in clear light, was visible\ninstantly to his so long darkened orbs.\n\nNow when Lactean was born, Mohemath was near at hand. And the place\nwas without water. So Mohemath took the finger of the new-born babe,\nand with it signed a cross on the earth. Then instantly a fountain\nburst forth, and therein Lactean was baptized. And when Lactean was a\nmonth old, he was taken to S. Alpheus, to be rebaptized, but when he\nsaw the child full of the grace of God, he knew that he had already\nbeen bathed in the laver of regeneration, and, therefore, he refused\nto repeat the sacrament. Also there was in that country a grain, which\nacted on whomsoever ate thereof as an emetic, but the infant Lactean\nwas fed thereon, and was none the worse, for indeed nothing injured\nhim. Now a grievous murrain broke out amongst the cattle of his father,\nand they died. But there was a white cow with a red face, on whose milk\nLactean was nourished, and this cow died. Then the child was carried\nin his mother's arms to the dead cow, and it recovered, and her milk\nwas distributed amongst the other cows, and they recovered of their\ndisorder.\n\nNow when Lactean was aged fifteen, the angel Muriel, who was\ncommissioned to be his guardian, led him to Banchor, and S. Comgal gave\nhim to be the pupil and companion of S. Molua, who instructed him in\nletters and the reading of the Divine Scriptures.\n\nAfterwards Lactean went to S. Mochuda, and as he drew nigh, he sent and\nasked Mochuda for milk. Then Mochuda filled a vessel with pure water,\nand signed it, and it became milk, but Lactean took it, and signed it\nagain, and it was reconverted into water. Afterwards Lactean founded\nthe abbey of Clonfert, and he died in the odour of sanctity.\n\nIt is evident that his name was the occasion of so many milky legends\nattaching themselves to it.[66]\n\n[66] Baine is the common Irish for milk, but there is a Welsh word,\nprobably adopted from the Latin, Ll\u00e6th, which means milk.\n\nColgan has confounded this S. Lactean with another of the same name,\na contemporary of S. Senan of Iniscatthy, from whom the church of\nLis-lachtin, in Kerry, took its name, and who died about the year 560.\nThe S. Lactean of Clonfert belonged to the house of Corpre Muse, of\nMuskerry, Cork, and was a friend of S. Mochoemog (Pulcherius), abbot of\nAchadur (Aghour), in Kilkenny.\n\n\nSS. LANDOALD, P., AMANTIUS, D., AND ADRIAN, M.\n\n(8TH CENT.)\n\n [Belgian Martyrologies. S. Landoald is venerated especially at Ghent.\n Also Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. The translation of S. Landoald\n is commemorated on Dec. 1st, and the elevation on June 13th. The\n original Acts were lost in 954, and by order of Notker, B. of Liege,\n new ones were compiled in 981, by one Herdger, abbot of Lobie, who\n died 1007.]\n\nS. Amandus having resigned the see of Maestricht into the hands of\nS. Remacle, to resume his first vocation of mission work in the Low\nCountries, went to Rome to obtain the approval of his design by pope\nMartin. The pope not only approved of it, but gave him Landoald, a\npriest of the Roman Church, of Lombard family, to accompany and assist\nhim in his work. S. Amandus was also joined by the deacon Amantius.\nThey left Rome, and after visiting some of the monasteries of France,\narrived in the country between the Meuse and the Scheldt, where S.\nRemacle met S. Amandus, and persuaded him to allow him to keep Landoald\nwith him to assist him in the work of evangelising his diocese.\nLandoald had a large field for the exercise of his zeal in the diocese\nof Maestricht, only partially converted to the faith. A rich man named\nAper gave him a piece of land at Wintershoven, on the river Herck, to\nthe west of Maestricht, where he built a church, which he dedicated to\nS. Peter, in 659. Landoald continued his labours under S. Theodard, the\nsuccessor of S. Remacle, making Wintershoven his head-quarters, and\nsending from time to time one of his little community to Maestricht to\nbeg. One of his disciples, Adrian by name, was returning from his quest\nof alms, when he was waylaid by some robbers, and murdered. S. Landoald\ndid not long survive him, and there is reason to believe that he died\nbefore S. Lambert succeeded, in the see of Maestricht, to S. Theodard,\nwho was martyred in 668. He was buried in the church of Wintershoven,\nbut his body was taken up in 735, and transported into Maestricht, but\nfrom fear of the Normans it was concealed, and taken up again along\nwith the bodies of S. Amantius and S. Adrian, by Euraculus, bishop of\nLi\u00e9ge, but they were claimed by the monks of S. Bavo, at Ghent, who\nwere proprietors of Wintershoven, and the bodies were translated to\nGhent in 980.\n\n\nS. ALKMUND, M.\n\n(A.D. 800.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrologies. Authorities:--Florence of Worcester, William\n of Malmesbury, Simeon of Durham, and Thurgot of Durham.]\n\nA great discrepancy exists in the accounts given of this saint.\nMalmesbury is certainly not to be trusted in his relation, and we must\nfollow the account of Simeon of Durham. Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria,\nabdicated in 737, and was succeeded by Egbert, who was succeeded in\n758 by his brother Osulf, who was killed in 759, leaving a son, named\nEthelwald. He was succeeded, not by his son Ethelwald, but by another\nEthelwald, surnamed Moll, who was banished in 765, when Alcred, son of\nEanwin, a descendant of Ida, came to the throne. He was banished in\n774, and the crown rested on the head of Ethelred, son of Ethelwald\nMoll, who was banished in 779, and succeeded by Ethelwald, son of\nOsulf. But this Ethelwald was killed in 788, whereupon Osred, son of\nAlcred, came to the throne. Osred's younger brother was S. Alkmund, the\nsubject of this memoir. But Osred was deposed, in 790, by Ethelred,\nson of Ethelwald Moll, who had been exiled in 779, and this king put\nOsred to death in 792; and Alkmund, in 800, was murdered by order of\nking Eardulf, who came to the throne in 797, after the assassination of\nEthelred in 796.\n\nAlkmund had spent some years in banishment among the Picts, and was\nloved and revered for his spotless innocence and gentleness in a period\nof crime and violence. Harpsfield, following Radulph Diceto, says\nAlkmund fell in battle against the West Saxons, which is certainly\nwrong. He also makes Alkmund the son of Ethelred, which is also a\nmistake; and Malmesbury calls his father Alfred. The name probably was\nAlcfred.\n\nS. Alkmund was buried at Lilleshut, in Shropshire, but his body was\nafterwards translated to Derby, and he is honoured as the patron of\nthat town.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 20.\n\n S. JOACHIM, _Father of the B. Virgin Mary_.\n SS. PHOTINA, JOSEPH, VICTOR, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., 1st cent._\n S. ARCHIPPUS, _Companion of S. Paul, 1st cent._\n SS. PAUL, CYRIL, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Syria_.\n SS. ALEXANDRA, CLAUDIA, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Amisa, 4th cent._\n S. URBICIUS, _B. of Metz, circ._ A.D. 420.\n S. MARTIN, _Archb. of Braga, in Portugal_, A.D. 580.\n S. CUTHBERT, _B. of Lindisfarne_, A.D. 687.\n S. HERBERT, _P.H. in an island of Derwentwater_, A.D. 687.\n S. WULFRAM, _B. of Sens_, A.D. 741.\n SS. JOHN, SERGIUS, COSMAS, AND COMPANIONS, _Monks MM. in the Laura of\n S. Sabas, near Jerusalem_, A.D. 797.\n S. NICETAS, _B.M. at Apollonia, 8th cent._\n B. AMBROSE, _O.P. at Sienna_, A.D. 1287.\n B. HIPPOLYTUS GALANTINI, _Founder of the Institute of Christian\n Brothers, at Florence_, A.D. 1619.\n\n\nS. JOACHIM.\n\n [Roman Martyrology; by the Greeks on Sept. 9th. The insertion of this\n name in the Martyrologies is not earlier than the 16th century. The\n Roman Breviary of 1522, pub. at Venice, contained it with special\n office, but this was expunged by pope Pius V., and in the Breviary of\n 1572, neither name nor office are to be found.]\n\nNothing whatever is known of S. Joachim, except what is related in\nthe Apocryphal Gospels, whence the name is derived. It is probable,\nhowever, that the name was traditionally preserved, and adopted by the\nauthor of the Apocryphal Gospels.\n\n\nS. CUTHBERT, B. OF LINDISFARNE.\n\n(A.D. 687.)\n\n\n [Martyrologies of Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Rabanus Maurus; the Anglican,\n Scottish, and Irish Martyrologies; the Benedictine and the Roman as\n well. Authorities:--Bede's Life of S. Cuthbert, another by a monk of\n Lindisfarne, written in the reign of Egfrid (d. 705). The following\n life is extracted from Montalembert's \"Monks of the West.\"]\n\n\nOf the parentage of Cuthbert, nothing for certain is known. The Kelts\nhave claimed him as belonging to them, at least by birth. They made him\nout to have been the son of an Irish princess, reduced to slavery, like\nBridget, the holy patroness of Ireland, but who fell, more miserably,\nvictim to the lust of her savage master. His Celtic origin would seem\nto be more conclusively proved by his attitude towards S. Wilfrid, the\nintroducer of Roman uniformity into the north of England, than by the\ntradition of the Anglo-Saxon monks of Durham. His name is certainly\nSaxon, and not Keltic. But, to tell the truth, nothing is certainly\nknown either of his place of birth, or the rank of his family.\n\nHis first appearance in history is as a shepherd in Lauderdale, a\nvalley watered by a river which flows into the Tweed near Melrose.\nIt was then a district annexed to the kingdom of Northumbria, which\nhad just been delivered by the holy king Oswald from the yoke of the\nMercians and Britons. As he is soon afterwards to be seen travelling\non horseback, lance in hand, and accompanied by a squire, it is not to\nbe supposed that he was of poor extraction. At the same time, it was\nnot the flocks of his father which he kept, as did David in the plains\nof Bethlehem; it is expressly noted that the flocks confided to his\ncare belonged to a master, or to several masters. His family must have\nbeen in the rank of those vassals to whom the great Saxon lords gave\nthe care and superintendence of their flocks upon the vast extent of\npastures which, under the name of _folcland_ or common, was left to\ntheir use, and where the cowherds and shepherds lived day and night in\nthe open air, as is still done by the shepherds of Hungary.\n\nPopular imagination in the north of England, of which Cuthbert was\nthe hero before, as well as after, the Norman Conquest, had thus full\nscope in respect to the obscure childhood of its favourite saint, and\ndelighted in weaving stories of his childish sports, representing\nhim as walking on his hands, and turning somersaults with his little\ncompanions. A more authentic testimony, that of his contemporary,\nBede, informs us that our shepherd boy had not his equal among the\nchildren of his age, for activity, dexterity, and boldness in the race\nand fight. In all sports and athletic exercises he was the first to\nchallenge his companions, with the certainty of being the victor. The\ndescription reads like that of a little Anglo-Saxon of our own day--a\nscholar of Eton or Harrow. At the same time, a precocious piety showed\nitself in him, even amid the exuberance of youth. One night, as he\nsaid his prayers, while keeping the sheep of his master, he saw the\nsky, which had been very dark, broken by a track of light, upon which\na cloud of angels descended from heaven, returning afterwards with a\nresplendent soul, which they had gone to meet on earth. Next morning\nhe heard that Aidan, the holy bishop of Lindisfarne, the apostle of\nthe district, had died during the night. This vision determined his\nmonastic vocation.\n\nSome time afterwards we find him at the gates of the monastery of\nMelrose, the great Keltic establishment for novices in Northumbria.\nHe was then only fifteen, yet, nevertheless, he arrived on horseback,\nlance in hand, attended by a squire, for he had already begun his\ncareer in the battle-field, and learned in the face of the enemy\nthe first lessons of abstinence, which he now meant to practise in\nthe cloister. He was received by two great doctors of the Keltic\nChurch,--the abbot Eata, one of the twelve Northumbrians first chosen\nby Aidan, and the prior Boswell, who conceived a special affection for\nthe new-comer, and undertook the charge of his monastic education. Five\ncenturies later, the copy of the Gospels in which the master and pupil\nhad read daily, was still kissed with veneration in the cathedral of\nDurham.\n\nThe robust and energetic youth very soon showed the rarest aptitude\nfor monastic life, not only for cenobitical exercises, but, above all,\nfor the missionary work, which was the principal occupation of monks\nin that country and period. He was not content merely to surpass all\nthe other monks in his devotion to the four principal occupations of\nmonastic life--study, prayer, vigil, and manual labour--but speedily\napplied himself to the work of casting out from the hearts of the\nsurrounding population the last vestiges of pagan superstition. Not a\nvillage was so distant, not a mountain side so steep, not a village\nso poor, that it escaped his zeal. He sometimes passed weeks, and\neven months, out of his monastery, preaching to and confessing the\nrustic population of the mountains. The roads were very bad, or rather\nthere were no roads; only now and then was it possible to travel on\nhorseback; sometimes, when his course lay along the coast of the\ndistrict inhabited by the Picts, he would take the help of a boat. But\ngenerally it was on foot that he had to penetrate into the glens and\ndistant valleys, crossing the heaths and vast table-lands, uncultivated\nand uninhabited, where a few shepherd's huts, like that in which he\nhimself had passed his childhood, and which were in winter abandoned\neven by the rude inhabitants, were thinly scattered. But neither the\nintemperance of the seasons, nor hunger, nor thirst, arrested the\nyoung and valiant missionary in his apostolic travels, to seek the\nscattered population, half Celts, and half Anglo-Saxons, who, though\nalready Christian in name and by baptism, retained an obstinate\nattachment to many of their ancient superstitions, and who were quickly\nled back by any great calamity, such as one of the great pestilences\nwhich were then so frequent, to the use of magic, amulets, and other\npractices of idolatry. The details which have been preserved of the\nwonders which often accompanied his wanderings, show that his labours\nextended over all the hilly district between the two seas--from the\nSolway to the Forth. They explain to us how the monks administered the\nconsolations and the teaching of religion, before the organization\nof parishes, ordained by archbishop Theodore, had been everywhere\nintroduced or regulated. As soon as the arrival of one of these\napostolic missionaries in a somewhat central locality was known, all\nthe population of the neighbourhood hastened to hear him, endeavouring\nwith fervour and simplicity to put in practice the instruction they\nreceived from him. Cuthbert, especially, was received among them with\naffectionate confidence; his eloquence was so persuasive that it\nbrought the most rebellious to his feet, to hear their sins revealed to\nthem, and to accept the penance which he imposed upon them.\n\nCuthbert prepared himself for preaching and the administration of\nthe Sacraments, by extraordinary penances and austerities. Stone\nbathing-places, in which he passed the entire night in prayer, lying in\nthe frozen water, according to a custom common among the Keltic saints,\nare still shown in several different places. When he was near the sea,\nhe went to the shore, unknown to any one, at night, and plunging into\nthe waves up to his neck, sang his vigils there. As soon as he came out\nof the water he resumed his prayers on the sand of the beach. On one\noccasion, one of his disciples, who had followed him secretly in order\nto discover the aim of this nocturnal expedition, saw two otters come\nup out of the water, which, while the saint prayed on his knees, lick\nhis frozen feet, and wipe them with their hair, until life and warmth\nreturned to the benumbed members. By one of those strange caprices of\nhuman frivolity which disconcert the historian, this insignificant\nincident is the only recollection which now remains in the memory of\nthe people. S. Cuthbert is known to the peasant of Northumberland and\nof the Scottish borders only by the legend of those compassionate\notters.\n\nHe had been some years at Melrose, when the abbot Eata took him along\nwith him to join the community of Keltic monks established by king\nAlchfrid at Ripon. Cuthbert held the office of steward, and in this\noffice showed the same zeal as in his missions. When travellers arrived\nthrough the snow, famished and nearly fainting with cold, he himself\nwashed their feet and warmed them against his bosom, then hastened to\nthe oven to order bread to be made ready, if there was not enough.\n\nCuthbert returned with his countrymen to Melrose, resumed his life of\nmissionary preaching, and again met his friend and master, the prior\nBoswell, at whose death, in the great pestilence of 664, Cuthbert\nwas elected abbot in his place. He had been himself attacked by the\ndisease; and all the monks prayed earnestly that his life might be\npreserved to them. When he knew that the community had spent the night\nin prayer for him, though he felt no better, he cried to himself, with\na double impulse of his habitual energy, \"What am I doing in bed? It is\nimpossible that God should shut His ears to such men. Give me my staff\nand my shoes.\" And getting up, he immediately began to walk, leaning\nupon his staff. But this sudden cure left him subject to weakness,\nwhich shortened his life.\n\nHowever, he had not long to remain at Melrose. The triumph of Wilfrid\nand the Roman ritual at the conference of Whitby, brought about a\nrevolution in the monastic metropolis of Northumbria, and in the mother\nmonastery of Melrose, at Lindisfarne. Bishop Colman had returned to\nIona, carrying with him the bones of S. Aidan, the first apostle of\nthe country, and followed by all the monks who would not consent to\nsacrifice their Keltic tradition to Roman unity. It was of importance\nto preserve the holy island, the special sanctuary of the country, for\nthe religious family of which its foundress had been a member. Abbot\nEata of Melrose undertook this difficult mission. He became abbot of\nLindisfarne, and was invested with a kind of episcopal supremacy. He\ntook with him the young Cuthbert, who was not yet thirty, but whom,\nhowever, he held alone capable of filling the important office of prior\nin the great insular community.\n\nThe struggle into which Eata and Cuthbert, in their own persons, had\nentered against Wilfrid, on the subject of Roman rites, did not point\nthem out as the best men to introduce the novelties so passionately\ndefended and insisted upon by the new bishop of Northumbria.\nNotwithstanding, everything goes to prove that the new abbot and prior\nof Lindisfarne adopted without reserve the decisions of the assembly\nof Whitby, and took serious pains to introduce them into the great\nKeltic community. Cuthbert, in whom the physical energy of a robust\norganization was united to an unconquerable gentleness, employed in\nthis task all the resources of his mind and heart. All the rebels\nhad not left with bishop Colman; some monks still remained, who held\nobstinately by their ancient customs. Cuthbert reasoned with them\ndaily in the meetings of the chapter; his desire was to overcome their\nobjections by patience and moderation alone; he bore their reproaches\nas long as that was possible, and when his endurance was at an end,\nraised the sitting without changing countenance or tone, and resumed\nnext morning the course of the debate, without ever permitting himself\nto be moved to anger, or allowing any thing to disturb the inestimable\ngift of kindness and light-heartedness which he had received from God.\n\n[Illustration: S. CUTHBERT reasoning with the monks.]\n\n[Illustration: DEATH OF S. CUTHBERT.\n March 20.]\n\nBut his great desire was the strict observance of the rule when once\nestablished; and his historian boasts, as one of his most remarkable\nvictories, the obligation he imposed for ever upon the monks of\nLindisfarne of wearing a simple and uniform dress, in undyed wool, and\nthus giving up the passionate liking of the Anglo-Saxons for varied and\nbrilliant colours.\n\nDuring the twelve years which he passed at Lindisfarne, the life of\nCuthbert was identical with that which he had led at Melrose. Within\ndoors this life was spent in the severe practice of all the austerities\nof the cloister, in manual labour, united to the punctual celebration\nof divine worship, and such fervour in prayer that he often slept only\none night in the three or four, passing the others in prayer, and in\nsinging the service alone while walking round the aisle to keep himself\nawake. Outside, the same zeal for preaching, the same solicitude for\nthe salvation and well-being, temporal as well as spiritual, of the\nNorthumbrian people, was apparent in him. He carried to them the Word\nof Life; he soothed their sufferings, by curing miraculously a crowd of\ndiseases which were beyond the power of the physicians. But the valiant\nmissionary specially assailed the diseases of the soul, and made use\nof all the tenderness and all the ardour of his own spirit to reach\nthem. When he celebrated mass before the assembled crowd, his visible\nemotion, his inspired looks, his trembling voice, all contributed to\npenetrate and overpower the multitude. The Anglo-Saxon Christians, who\ncame in crowds to open their hearts to him in the confessional, were\nstill more profoundly impressed. Though he was a bold and inflexible\njudge of impenitent vice, he felt and expressed the tenderest\ncompassion for the contrite sinner. He was the first to weep over the\nsins which he pardoned in the name of God; and he himself fulfilled the\npenances which he imposed as the conditions of absolution, thus gaining\nby his humility the hearts which he longed to convert and cure.\n\nBut neither the life of a cenobite, nor the labours of a missionary\ncould satisfy the aspirations of his soul after perfection. When he was\nnot quite forty, after holding his priorship at Lindisfarne for twelve\nyears, he resolved to leave monastic life, and to live as a hermit in a\nsterile and desert island, visible from Lindisfarne, which lay in the\ncentre of the Archipelago, south of the holy isle, and almost opposite\nthe fortified capital of the Northumbrian kings at Bamborough. No one\ndared to live on this island, which was called Farne, in consequence of\nits being supposed to be the haunt of demons. Cuthbert took possession\nof it as a soldier of Christ, victorious over the tyranny of evil, and\nbuilt there a palace worthy of himself, hollowing out of the living\nrock a cell from which he could see nothing but the sky, that he might\nnot be disturbed in his contemplations. The hide of an ox suspended\nbefore the entrance of his cavern, and which he turned according to\nthe direction of the wind, afforded him a poor defence against the\nintemperance of that wild climate. His holy historian tells us that he\nexercised sway over the elements and brute creation as a true monarch\nof the land which he had conquered for Christ, and with that sovereign\nempire over nature which sin alone has taken from us. He lived on the\nproduce of a little field of barley sown and cultivated by his own\nhands, but so small that the inhabitants of the coast reported among\nthemselves that he was fed by angels with bread made in Paradise.\n\n[Illustration: S. CUTHBERT. In His Hermit's Cell.\n March 20.]\n\nThe legends of Northumbria linger lovingly upon the solitary sojourn\nof their great national and popular saint in this basaltic isle. They\nattribute to him the extraordinary gentleness and familiarity of a\nparticular species of aquatic birds which came when called, allowed\nthemselves to be taken, stroked, caressed, and whose down was of\nremarkable softness. In ancient times they swarmed about this rock,\nand they are still to be found there, though much diminished in number\nsince curious visitors have come to steal their nests and shoot the\nbirds. These sea fowl are found nowhere else in the British Isles, and\nare called the _Birds of S. Cuthbert_. It was he, according to the\nnarrative of a monk of the thirteenth century, who inspired them with a\nhereditary trust in man by taking them as companions of his solitude,\nand guaranteeing to them that they should never be disturbed in their\nhomes.\n\nIt is he, too, according to the fishers of the surrounding islands,\nwho makes certain little shells of the genus _Entrochus_, which are\nonly to be found on this coast, and which have received the name of S.\nCuthbert's Beads. They believe that he is still to be seen by night\nseated on a rock, and using another as an anvil for his work.\n\nThe pious anchorite, however, in condemning himself to the trials of\nsolitude, had no intention of withdrawing from the cares of fraternal\ncharity. He continued to receive frequent visits, in the first place\nfrom his neighbours and brethren at Lindisfarne, and in addition from\nall who came to consult him upon the state of their souls, as well as\nto seek consolation from him in adversity. The number of these pilgrims\nof sorrow was countless. They came not only from the neighbouring\nshores, but from the most distant provinces. Throughout all England the\nrumour spread, that on a desert rock of the Northumbrian coast there\nlived a solitary who was the friend of God, and skilled in the healing\nof human suffering. In this expectation no one was deceived; no man\ncarried back from the sea-beaten island the same burden of suffering,\ntemptation, or remorse which he had taken there. Cuthbert had\nconsolation for all troubles, light for all the sorrowful mysteries of\nlife, counsel for all its perils, a helping hand to all the hopeless,\na heart open to all who suffered. He could draw from all terrestrial\nanguish a proof of the joys of heaven, deduce the certainty of those\njoys from the terrible evanescence of both good and evil in this world,\nand light up again in sick souls the fire of charity--the only defence,\nhe said, against those ambushes of the old enemy which always take our\nhearts captive when they are emptied of divine and brotherly love.\n\nTo make his solitude more accessible to these visitors, and above all\nto his brethren from Lindisfarne, he had built some distance from the\ncave which was his dwelling, at a place where boats could land their\npassengers, a kind of _parlour_ and refectory for the use of his\nguests. There he himself met, conversed, and ate with them, especially\nwhen, as he has himself told, the monks came to celebrate with him such\na great feast as Christmas. At such moments he went freely into all\ntheir conversations and discussions, interrupting himself from time\nto time to remind them of the necessity of watchfulness and prayer.\nThe monks answered him, \"Nothing is more true; but we have so many\ndays of vigil, of fasts and prayers. Let us at least to-day rejoice in\nthe Lord.\" The Venerable Bede, who has preserved to us the precious\nmemory of this exchange of brotherly familiarity has not disdained to\ntell us also of the reproaches addressed by Cuthbert to his brothers\nfor not eating a fat goose which he had hung on the partition-wall of\nhis guest's refectory, in order that they might thoroughly fortify\nthemselves before they embarked upon the stormy sea to return to their\nmonastery.\n\nThis tender charity and courteous activity were united in him to\ntreasures of humility. He would not allow any one to suspect him of\nranking the life of an anchorite above that of a member of a community.\n\"It must not be supposed,\" he said, \"because I prefer to live out\nof reach of every secular care, that my life is superior to that of\nothers. The life of good cenobites, who obey their abbot in everything,\nand whose time is divided between prayer, work, and fasting is much to\nbe admired. I know many among them whose souls are more pure, and their\ngraces more exalted than mine; especially, and in the first rank my\ndear old Boswell, who received and trained me at Melrose in my youth.\"\n\nThus passed, in that dear solitude, and among these friendly\nsurroundings, eight pleasant years, the sweetest of his life, and\nprecisely those during which all Northumberland was convulsed by the\nstruggle between Wilfrid and the new king Egfrid.\n\nThen came the day upon which the king of the Northumbrians, accompanied\nby his principal nobles, and almost all the community of Lindisfarne,\nlanded upon the rock of Fame, to beg, kneeling, and with tears, that\nCuthbert would accept the episcopal dignity to which he had just been\npromoted in the synod of Twyford, presided over by archbishop Theodore.\nHe yielded only after a long resistance, himself weeping when he did\nso. It was, however, permitted to him to delay his consecration for\nsix months, till Easter, which left him still a winter in his dear\nsolitude, before he went to York, where he was consecrated by the\nprimate Theodore, assisted by six bishops. He would not, however,\naccept the diocese of Hexham, to which he had been first appointed, but\npersuaded his friend Eata, the bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne, to\ngive up to him the monastic bishopric, where he had already lived so\nlong.\n\nThe diocese of Lindisfarne spread far to the west, much beyond\nHexham. The Britons of Cumbria who had come to be tributaries of the\nNorthumbrian kings, were thus included in it. King Egfrid's deed of\ngift, in which he gives the district of Cartmell, with all the Britons\nwho dwell in it, to bishop Cuthbert, still exists. The Roman city of\nCarlisle, transformed into an Anglo-Saxon fortress, was also under his\nsway, with all the surrounding monasteries.\n\nHis new dignity made no difference in his character, nor even in his\nmode of life. He retained his old habits as a cenobite, and even as a\nhermit. In the midst of his episcopal pomp he remained always the monk\nand missionary of old. His whole episcopate, indeed, seems to bear the\ncharacter of a mission indefinitely prolonged. He went over his vast\ndiocese, to administer confirmation to converts, traversing a crowd\nmore attentive and respectful than ever, lavishing upon it all kinds\nof benefits, alms, clothing, sermons, miraculous cures--penetrating as\nof old into hamlets and distant corners, climbing the hills and downs,\nsleeping under a tent, and sometimes indeed finding no other shelter\nthan in the huts of branches, brought from the nearest wood to the\ndesert, in which he had made the torrent of his eloquence and charity\nto gush forth.\n\nHere also we find illustrations, as at all previous periods of his\nlife, of the most delightful feature of his good and holy soul. In\nthe obscure missionary of Melrose, in the already celebrated prior\nof Lindisfarne, and still more, if that is possible, in the powerful\nand venerated bishop, the same heart, overflowing with tenderness and\ncompassion is always to be found. The supernatural power given to him\nto cure the most cruel diseases was wonderful. But in his frequent\nand friendly intercourse with the great Anglo-Saxon earls, the\n_ealdormen_, as well as with the mixed populations of Britons, Picts,\nScots, and English, whom he gathered under his crosier, the principal\nfeature in the numerous and detailed narratives which remain to us, and\nwhich gives to them a beauty as of youth, always attractive, is his\nintense and active sympathy for those human sorrows which in all ages\nare the same, always so keen, and capable of so little consolation.\nThe more familiar the details of these meetings between the heart of a\nsaint and true priest, and the simple and impetuous hearts of the first\nEnglish Christians, the more attractive do they become, and we cannot\nresist the inclination of presenting to our readers some incidents\nwhich shew at once the liveliness of domestic affections among those\nnewly-baptized barbarians and their filial and familiar confidence in\ntheir master. One of the ealdormen of king Egfrid arrived one day in\nbreathless haste at Lindisfarne, overwhelmed with grief, his wife, a\nwoman as pious and generous as himself, having been seized with a fit\nof violent madness. But he was ashamed to disclose the nature of the\nattack, it seemed to him a sort of chastisement from heaven, disgracing\na creature hitherto so chaste and honoured; all that he said was that\nshe was approaching death; and he begged that a priest might be given\nhim to carry to her the viaticum, and that when she died he might be\npermitted to bury her in the holy isle. Cuthbert heard his story, and\nsaid to him with much emotion, \"This is my business; no one but myself\ncan go with you.\" As they rode on their way together, the husband wept,\nand Cuthbert, looking at him and seeing the cheeks of the rough warrior\nwet with tears, divined the whole; and during all the rest of the\njourney consoled and encouraged him, explaining to him that madness was\nnot a punishment of crime, but a trial which God inflicted sometimes\nupon the innocent. \"Besides,\" he added, \"when we arrive we shall find\nher cured; she will come to meet us, and will help me to dismount from\nmy horse, taking, according to her custom, the reins in her hand.\" And\nso the event proved; for, says that historian, the demon did not dare\nto await the coming of the Holy Ghost, of which the man of God was\nfull. The noble lady, delivered from her bondage, rose as if from a\nprofound sleep, and stood on the threshold to greet the holy friend of\nthe house, seizing the reins of his horse, and joyfully announcing her\nsudden cure.\n\nOn another occasion, a certain count Henma, from whom he sought\nhospitality during one of his pastoral journeys, received him on his\nknees, thanking him for his visit, but at the same time telling him\nthat his wife was at the point of death, and he himself in despair.\n\"However,\" said the count, \"I firmly believe that were you to give her\nyour blessing, she would be restored to health, or at least delivered\nby a speedy death from her long and cruel sufferings.\" The saint\nimmediately sent one of his priests, without entering into the sick\nroom himself, to sprinkle her with water which he had blessed. The\npatient was at once relieved; and herself came to act as cupbearer to\nthe prelate, offering him, in the name of all her family, that cup of\nwine which, under the name of the _loving cup_, has continued since the\ntime of the Anglo-Saxons to form a part of all solemn public banquets.\n\nA contagious disease at another time broke out in one part of his\ndiocese, to which Cuthbert immediately betook himself. After having\nvisited and consoled all the remaining inhabitants of one village, he\nturned to the priest who accompanied him, and asked, \"Is there still\nany one sick in this poor place, whom I can bless before I depart?\"\n\"Then,\" says the priest, who has preserved this story to us, \"I showed\nhim in the distance a poor woman bathed in tears, one of whose sons\nwas already dead, and who held the other in her arms, just about to\nrender his last breath. The bishop rushed to her, and taking the dying\nchild from its mother's arms, kissed it first, then blessed it, and\nrestored it to the mother, saying to her, as the Son of God said to the\nwidow of Nain, 'Woman, weep not; have no more fear or sorrow; your son\nis saved, and no more victims to this pestilence shall perish here.'\"\n\nNo saint of his time or country had more frequent or affectionate\nintercourse than Cuthbert with the nuns, whose numbers and influence\nwere daily increasing among the Anglo-Saxons, and especially in\nNorthumberland. The greater part of them lived together in the great\nmonasteries, such as Whitby and Coldingham, but some, especially\nthose who were widows or of advanced age, lived in their own houses\nor with their relatives. Such was a woman devoted to the service of\nGod, who had watched over Cuthbert's childhood (for he seems to have\nbeen early left an orphan), while he kept his sheep on the hills near\nMelrose, from the eighth year of his age until his entrance into the\nconvent at the age of fifteen. He was tenderly grateful to her for her\nmaternal care, and when he became a missionary, took advantage of every\noccasion furnished to him by his apostolic journeys to visit her whom\nhe called his mother, in the village where she lived. On one occasion,\nwhen he was with her, a fire broke out in the village, and the flames,\nincreased by a violent wind, threatened all the neighbouring roofs.\n\"Fear nothing, dear mother,\" the young missionary said to her; \"this\nfire will do you no harm;\" and he began to pray. Suddenly the wind\nchanged; the village was saved, and with it the thatched roof which\nsheltered the old age of her who had protected his infancy.\n\nFrom the cottage of his foster-mother he went to the palaces of\nqueens. The noble queen of Northumberland, Etheldreda, the saint and\nvirgin, had a great friendship for Cuthbert. She overwhelmed him and\nhis monastery with gifts from her possessions, and wishing, besides,\nto offer him a personal token of her close affection, she embroidered\nfor him, with her hands (for she embroidered beautifully), a stole\nand maniple covered with gold and precious stones. She chose to give\nhim such a present that he might wear this memorial of her only in\nthe presence of God, whom they both served, and accordingly would be\nobliged to keep her always in mind at the holy sacrifice.\n\nCuthbert was on still more intimate terms with the holy princesses,\nwho, placed at the head of great communities of nuns, and sometimes\neven of monks, exercised so powerful an influence upon the Anglo-Saxon\nrace, and particularly on Northumbria. While he was still at Melrose,\nthe increasing fame of his sanctity and eloquence brought him often\ninto the presence of the sister of king Oswy, who then reigned over\nthe two Northumbrian kingdoms. This princess, Ebba, was abbess of the\ndouble monastery of Coldingham, the farthest north of all the religious\nestablishments of Northumbria. Cuthbert was the guest for several days\nof the royal abbess, but he did not intermit on this occasion his pious\nexercises, nor, above all, his austerities and long prayers by night on\nthe sea-shore.\n\nTo the end of his life he maintained a very intimate and constant\nfriendship with another abbess of the blood-royal of Northumbria,\nElfleda, niece of S. Oswald, and of king Oswy, who, though still quite\nyoung, exercised an influence much greater than that of Ebba upon the\nmen and the events of her time. She had the liveliest affection for\nthe prior of Lindisfarne, and at the same time an absolute confidence\nin his sanctity. When she was assailed by an alarming illness, which\nfell into paralysis, and found no remedy from physicians, she cried,\n\"Ah! had I but something which belonged to my dear Cuthbert, I am sure\nI should be cured.\" A short time after, her friend sent her a linen\ngirdle, which she hastened to put on, and in three days she was healed.\n\nShortly before his death, and during his last pastoral visitation,\nCuthbert went to see Elfleda in the neighbourhood of the great\nmonastery of Whitby, to consecrate a church which she had built there,\nand to converse with her for the last time. They dined together, and\nduring the meal, seeing his knife drop from his trembling hand in\nthe abstraction of supernatural thoughts, she had a last opportunity\nof admiring his prophetic intuition, and his constant care for\nthe salvation of souls. The fatigue of the holy bishop, who said,\nlaughingly, \"I cannot eat all day long, you must give me a little\nrest\"--the eagerness and pious curiosity of the young abbess, anxious\nto know and do everything, who rushes up breathless during the ceremony\nof the dedication to ask from the bishop a memento for a monk whose\ndeath she had just heard of--all these details form a picture complete\nin its simplicity, upon which the charmed mind can repose amid the\nsavage habits and wild vicissitudes of the struggle, then more violent\nthan ever, between the Northumbrians and the Picts, the Saxons and the\nKelts.\n\nBut the last of all his visits was for another abbess less illustrious\nand less powerful than the two princesses of the blood, but also of\nhigh birth, and not less dear to his heart, if we may judge by the mark\nof affection which he gave her on his death-bed. This was Verca, abbess\nof one of that long line of monasteries which traced the shores of the\nNorthern Sea. Her convent was on the mouth of the Tyne, the river which\ndivided the two Northumbrian kingdoms. She gave Cuthbert a magnificent\nreception; but the bishop was ill, and after the mid-day meal, which\nwas usual in all the Benedictine monasteries, he became thirsty. Wine\nand beer were offered to him, yet he would take nothing but water,\nbut this water, after it had touched his lips, seemed to the monks of\nTynemouth, who drank the remainder, the best wine they had ever tasted.\nCuthbert, who retained nothing of the robust health of his youth,\nalready suffered from the first attacks of the disease which carried\nhim off. His pious friend was no doubt struck by his feebleness, for\nshe offered him, as the last pledge of spiritual union, a piece of very\nfine linen to be his shroud. Two short years of the episcopate had\nsufficed to consume his strength.\n\nAfter celebrating the feast of Christmas, in 686, with the monks of\nLindisfarne, the presentiment of approaching death determined him to\nabdicate, and to return to his isle of Farne, there to prepare for\nthe last struggle. He lived but two months, in the dear and pleasant\nsolitude which was his supreme joy, tempering its sweetness by\nredoubled austerities. When his monks came to visit him in his isle,\nwhich storms often made inaccessible for weeks together, they found him\nthin, tremulous, and almost exhausted. One of them, who has given us a\nnarrative of the end of his life, revived him a little by giving him\nwarm wine to drink, then seating himself by the side of the worn-out\nbishop upon his bed of stone, to sustain him, received from his beloved\nlips the last confidences and last exhortations of the venerated\nmaster. The visits of his monks were very sweet to him, and he lavished\nupon them to the last moment proofs of his paternal tenderness and of\nhis minute care for their spiritual and temporal well-being. His last\nillness was long and painful. He fixed beforehand the place of his\nburial, near the oratory which he had hollowed in the rock, and at the\nfoot of a cross which he had himself planted. \"I would fain repose,\"\nsaid he, \"in this spot, where I have fought my little battle for the\nLord, where I desire to finish my course, and from whence I hope that\nmy merciful Judge will call me to the crown of righteousness. You will\nbury me, wrapped in the linen which I have kept for my shroud, out of\nlove for the abbess Verca, the friend of God, who gave it to me.\"\n\nHe ended his holy life preaching peace, humility, and the love of\nthat unity which he thought he had succeeded in establishing in the\ngreat Anglo-Keltic sanctuary, the new abbot of which, Herefrid, begged\nof him a last message as a legacy to his community. \"Be unanimous\nin your counsels,\" the dying bishop said to him in his faint voice;\n\"live in good accord with the other servants of Christ; despise none\nof the faithful who ask your hospitality; treat them with friendly\nfamiliarity, not esteeming yourself better than others, who have the\nsame faith, and often the same life. But have no communion with those\nwho withdraw from the unity of Catholic peace, either by the illegal\ncelebration of Easter, or by practical ill-doing. Remember always, if\nyou must make a choice, that I infinitely prefer that you should leave\nthis place, carrying my bones with you, rather than that you should\nremain here bent under the yoke of wicked heresy. Learn, and observe\nwith diligence, the Catholic decrees of the fathers, and also the rules\nof monastic life which God has deigned to give you by my hands. I know\nthat many have despised me in my life, but after my death you will see\nthat my doctrine has not been despicable.\"\n\nThis effort was the last. He lost the power of speech, received the\nlast sacraments in silence, and died raising his eyes and arms to\nheaven, at the hour when it was usual to sing matins, in the night of\nthe 20th of March, 687. One of his attendants immediately mounted to\nthe summit of the rock, where the lighthouse is now placed, and gave to\nthe monks of Lindisfarne, by waving a lighted torch, the signal agreed\nupon to announce the death of the greatest saint who has given glory\nto that famous isle. He was but fifty, and had worn the monastic habit\nfor thirty-five years.\n\nAmong many friends, he had one who was at once his oldest and most\nbeloved, a priest called Herbert, who lived as an anchorite in an\nisland of Lake Derwentwater. Every year Herbert came from his peaceful\nlake to visit his friend in the other island, beaten and undermined\ncontinually by the great waves of the Northern Sea; and upon that wild\nrock, to the accompaniment of winds and waves, they passed several days\ntogether, in a tender solitude and intimacy, talking of the life to\ncome. When Cuthbert, then a bishop, came for the last time to Carlisle,\nHerbert seized the opportunity, and hastened to refresh himself at that\nfountain of eternal benefits which flowed for him from the holy and\ntender heart of his friend. \"My brother,\" the bishop said to him, \"thou\nmust ask me now all that thou wantest to know, for we shall never meet\nagain in this world.\" At these words Herbert fell at his feet in tears.\n\"I conjure thee,\" he cried, \"do not leave me on this earth behind thee;\nremember my faithful friendship, and pray God that, after having served\nHim together in this world, we may pass into His glory together.\"\nCuthbert threw himself on his knees at his friend's side, and after\npraying for some minutes, said to him, \"Rise, my brother, and weep no\nmore; God has granted to us that which we have both asked from Him.\"\nAnd, in fact, though they never saw each other again here below, they\ndied on the same day and at the same hour; the one in his isle bathed\nby the peaceful waters of a solitary lake, the other upon his granite\nrock, fringed by the ocean foam; and their souls, says Bede, reunited\nby that blessed death, were carried together by the angels into the\neternal kingdom. This coincidence deeply touched the Christians of\nNorthumbria, and was long engraven in their memory. Seven centuries\nlater, in 1374, the bishop of Carlisle appointed that a mass should\nbe said on the anniversary of the two saints, in the island where the\nCumbrian anchorite died, and granted an indulgence of forty days to all\nwho crossed the water to pray there in honour of the two friends.\n\nAfter many translations, the body of S. Cuthbert found repose in Durham\ncathedral, where it rested in a magnificent shrine till the reign of\nHenry VIII., when the royal commissioners visited the cathedral with\nthe purpose of demolishing all shrines. The following is a condensed\naccount of this horrible profanation, given by a writer of the period,\nor shortly after[67]:--\n\n[67] \"A description or briefe declaration of all ye auntient monuments,\n&c., written in 1593,\" but this seems to have been written originally\nin Latin somewhat earlier. It has been several times republished,\nlastly by Sanderson, in 1767.\n\n\"The sacred shrine of holy S. Cuthbert was defaced at the visitation\nheld at Durham, by Dr. Lee, Dr. Henly, and Mr. Blithman. They found\nmany valuable jewels. After the spoil of his ornaments, they approached\nnear to his body, expecting nothing but dust and ashes; but perceiving\nthe chest he lay in strongly bound with iron, the goldsmith, with a\nsmith's great forge hammer, broke it open, when they found him lying\nwhole, uncorrupt, with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's\ngrowth, and all the vestments about him, as he was accustomed to say\nmass. When the goldsmith perceived he had broken one of his legs in\nbreaking open the chest, he was sore troubled at it, and cried, 'Alas!\nI have broken one of his legs'; which Dr. Henly hearing, called to\nhim, and bade him cast down his bones. The other answered, he could\nnot get them asunder, for the sinews and skin held them so that they\nwould not separate. Then Dr. Lee stept up to see if it were so, and\nturning about, spake in Latin to Dr. Henly that he was entire, though\nDr. Henly, not believing his words, called again to have his bones\ncast down. Dr. Lee answered, 'If you will not believe me, come up\nyourself and see him.' Then Dr. Henly stept up to him, and handled him,\nand found he lay whole; then he commanded them to take him down, and\nso it happened, that not only his body was whole and uncorrupted, but\nthe vestments wherein his body lay, and wherein he was accustomed to\nsay mass, were fresh, safe, and not consumed. Whereupon the visitors\ncommanded him to be carried into the revestry, till the king's pleasure\nconcerning him was further known; and upon the receipt thereof, the\nprior and monks buried him in the ground under the place where his\nshrine was exalted.\"\n\nHarpsfield, who flourished at the time, and who was a most faithful\nand zealous Catholic, gives a similar account; he, however, does not\nsay that the leg bone was broken, but that the flesh was wounded; and\nthat the body was entire except that \"the prominent part of the nose,\nI know not why, was wanting.\" And he adds that, \"a grave was made in\nthe ground, in that very spot previously occupied by his precious\nshrine, and there the body was deposited. And not only his body, but\neven the vestments in which it was clothed, were perfectly entire,\nand free from all taint and decay. There was upon his finger a ring\nof gold, ornamented with a sapphire, which I myself once saw and\nhandled and kissed. There were present, among others, when this sacred\nbody was exposed to daylight, Doctor Whithead, the president of the\nmonastery, Dr. Sparke, Dr. Tod, and William Wilam, the keeper of the\nsacred shrine. And thus it is abundantly manifest, that the body of S.\nCuthbert remained inviolate and uncontaminated eight hundred and forty\nyears.\"\n\nIn May, 1827, the place which these and other authorities had indicated\nas that where the body of S. Cuthbert was buried, was very carefully\nexamined, and the coffin and a body were exhumed. The Anglo-Saxon\nsculpture, and everything about and within this coffin, left no doubt\nthat what was discovered was the ancient coffin, the vestments, and\nrelics which had accompanied the body of S. Cuthbert. But the body by\nno means agreed with the minute accounts of S. Cuthbert. There was\nevidence that it had not been uncorrupt when buried, and there was no\ntrace of any injury done to the leg-bone. Hence it is difficult not to\nconclude that the garments and shrine were those of Cuthbert, but that\nthe body was _not his_, but was one which had been substituted for it.\nAnd when we remember that the incorrupt body was left in the vestry\nunder the charge of the prior and monks till the king's pleasure could\nbe ascertained as to what was to be done with it, there can be little\ndoubt that they who so highly valued this sacred treasure substituted\nfor it another body, which they laid in the pontifical vestments of\nCuthbert, which was buried as his in his coffin. Where the prior and\nmonks concealed the holy relics, if this conjecture prove true, it is\nimpossible to state. That there is ground for this conjecture may be\nconcluded from the existence of a tradition to this effect, and it is\nsaid that the true place of the interment of the saint is only known to\nthree members of the Benedictine Order, who, as each one dies, choose\na successor. Another line of tradition is said to descend through the\nVicars Apostolic, now Roman Catholic bishops of the district. This is\nthe belief to which reference is made in Marmion.\n\nThe supposed place of interment indicated by the secular tradition,\n(under the stairs of the bell-tower), has been carefully examined.\nNo remains were found, and it is evident that the ground had never\nbeen disturbed since the construction of the tower.[68] There can be\nno question as to the genuineness of all the articles found in the\ntomb, for they exactly agree with accounts of the things contained in\nthe shrine, described by pre-reformation writers; but the genuineness\nof the body is more than questionable. Mr. Raine, who was present at\nthe investigation, and has written an account of it, \"S. Cuthbert;\nwith an Account of the State in which his Remains were found upon the\nOpening of his Tomb in Durham Cathedral, in the year 1827,\" Durham\n1828, endeavours to establish their identity by repudiating as absurd\nthe account of the contemporary writers who assert that the body was\nuncorrupt, and of the breaking of the leg-bone, though he accepts all\ntheir other statements.\n\n[68] This secular tradition was preserved in the following\nwords:--\"Subter gradus saxeos (secundum et tertium) climacis\nascendentis et ducentis erga turrim campanarum in templo cathedrali\ncivitatis Dunelmensis, prope horologium grande quod locatur in angulo\naustrali fani ejusdem, sepultus jacet thesaurus pretiosus, (corpus S.\nCuthberti.)\" The earliest notice of such a tradition is in Serenus\nCressy, (1688), Church History, p. 902. The next in two MSS. in\nDownside College by F. Mannock (1740), who states that he had heard it\nfrom F. Casse (1730.) Both these statements pointed to the removal of\nthe body in the time of Henry VIII. The next notice of it is in 1828,\nwhen F. Gregory Robinson wrote to Lingard, (see Lingard's Remarks, p.\n50), but in this account the removal was described as taking place\nin Mary's time. The secresy was partly broken when, in 1800, the\nsketch of the cathedral which exists in the archives of the Northern\n(R.C.) Province was allowed to be seen. Lingard's tradition (Anglo\nSaxon Church, ii. p. 80), about the exchange of S. Cuthbert's body\nfor another skeleton is unknown to the Benedictines, who assert that\nthey possess the secret. It is said that the Benedictine tradition\nconcerning the site does not agree with the secular. What started\nthe diggings in 1867, under the stairs, was that a hereditary Roman\nCatholic of Gateshead became a Protestant, and gave up a small piece\nof paper on which was written the above secular tradition, \"_subter\ngradus, &c._\" His father or grandfather had been servant to a Vicar\nApostolic, after whose death he had some of his clothes, among which\nwas a waistcoat, inside which the above was secured. It was ascertained\nthat this was not a hoax, and the late Dean Waddington invited some of\nthe fathers from Ushaw over, and the head of the English Benedictines\nto see the diggings. It was supposed that the \"precious treasure\"\nwas something else, perhaps the Black Rood of Scotland, containing a\nportion of the true cross, and that the words above in parenthesis,\n(corpus Sti. Cuthberti) are a gloss. However they dug, but found\nnothing but concrete and rock.\n\n\nS. WULFRAM, B. OF SENS.\n\n(A.D. 741.)\n\n [Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Also those of Usuardus and Wyon.\n Authority:--A life written by a contemporary, Jonas, a monk of the\n same abbey of Fontenelle to which S. Wulfram retired, of this there\n are several editions, some much interpolated. Some of these additions\n are gross errors. According to the life which Surius publishes, Jonas\n dedicated it to his abbot Bainus. But Bainus died seven years after\n Wulfram had undertaken his mission. Possibly Bainus is an error of\n the copyist for Wando, who translated the body of S. Wulfram in 742.\n In the prologue, moreover, Owen, or Ovus, the lad whom S. Wulfram had\n resuscitated after he had been hung, is quoted as the authority for\n much of what the bishop did in Friesland, Owen being then priest in\n the abbey of Fontenelle. This indicates the date of the life as being\n about the time of the translation.]\n\n\nWulfram was born at Milly, three leagues from Fontainebleau, of a noble\nand wealthy family. His father, whose name was Fulbert, was held in\ngreat esteem by Dagobert I. and Clovis II. on account of the signal\nservices he had rendered them in their wars. Although brought up, and\nconstantly engaged in the camp, Fulbert took care that his son should\nreceive an excellent education in letters; and as Wulfram exhibited a\nmarked partiality for the clerical over the secular life, he suffered\nhim to take holy orders. Wulfram was not, however, allowed to follow\nthe bent of his wishes in every particular, for notwithstanding his\ndesire to live a quiet secluded life of study, he was called in 670\nto serve God in the court of Clothaire III. and Thierry III., kings\nof the Franks, till the death of his father. About the same time,\nLambert, bishop of Sens, having died, Wulfram was unanimously elected\nto fill his room, by clergy and people, and the royal consent having\nbeen obtained, he was consecrated to the see of Sens, in 693. But \"the\nSpirit breatheth where He wills, and thou canst not tell whence He\ncometh and whither He goeth.\" Moved by a divine call which could not\nbe gainsaid, after having occupied the see for only two years and a\nhalf, Wulfram abdicted his charge in 685, probably moved by religious\nscruples as to the canonicity of his appointment, for S. Am\u00e6us, the\nrightful bishop of Sens, in the banishment to which he was sent by\nThierry III. in 674, had survived the appointment of Lambert. Wulfram,\nfreed from his charge, at once undertook a mission to Friesland. He\nconferred on his design with S. Ansbert, then archbishop of Rouen,\nafter having been abbot of S. Vandrille.[69] By his advice he retired\nfor a while into that abbey of Fontenelle to prepare for his apostolate\nto the Frisians, in solitude, with prayer. After awhile he came forth\nrefreshed, and having divested himself of his property at Milly, his\nnative place, which he gave to the abbey of S. Vandrille, that he might\ngo unimpeded into the battle; and having obtained from the abbot,\nHilbert, some monks to accompany him and assist him in his mission, he\nembarked at Caudebec, in 700, spread the white sail to the breeze, and\nflew out into the sea.\n\n[69] Anciently Fontenelle.\n\n \"To the ship's bow he ascended,\n By his choristers attended,\n Round him were the tapers lighted,\n And the sacred incense rose.\n\n \"On the bow stood bishop Wulfram,\n In his robes, as one transfigured,\n And the crucifix he planted\n High amid the rain and mist.\n\n \"Then with holy water sprinkled\n All the ship; the mass-bells tinkled;\n Loud the monks around him chanted,\n Loud he read the Evangelist.\"[70]\n\n[70] Longfellow's Saga of king Olaf.\n\nBut as the deacon was wiping the paten, during mass, it slipped from\nhis fingers, and glanced down through a green wave and was lost. Then\nhe uttered a cry of dismay, for they had no other paten with them in\nthe vessel. But Wulfram turning himself about from the altar in the\nship's-bows, bade him thrust his hand over the side into the water. And\nhe did so, nothing doubting, and brought up the paten, dripping with\nsea-water. This paten was preserved in the monastery of S. Vandrille\ntill the year 1621, when it was stolen.\n\nNow when they had come into Friesland, Wulfram went before the king,\nRadbod, and preached boldly to him the Word of God. The king listened,\nand allowed the missionaries to settle in the land, and to declare the\nGospel of the Kingdom to his subjects, but he himself put off giving\nattention to what they taught till a more convenient season. And as\nWulfram dwelt in the land, and saw it wholly given up to the worship of\nfalse gods, and to the performance of cruel sacrifices, his spirit was\nstirred within him, and he denounced the hideous offerings of children\nmade to the false gods. It was then the custom among the Frisians to\noffer to Wodin their sons, by hanging them on gibbets. This method of\nsacrifice was common to all the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples.\nOne horrible instance is related, for instance, in one of the old\nNorse Sagas, of a mother thus sacrificing her child to Wodin to obtain\nfrom him the secret of brewing better ale than the second wife of her\nhusband, in order that she might thus be able to attach him to herself\nmore closely.\n\nWulfram preached in vain, king Radbod replied to all his remonstrances\nthat it was the custom of the country, and that he could not, or would\nnot alter it. And this was the way in which the victims were chosen.\nLots were cast on the children of the nobles, and those who were taken,\nwere hung on a tree or gibbet, to Wodin, or else were fastened to a\npost between tides, and left to drown with the rising flood, as an\noffering to Ran, the sea-goddess, to stay her from bringing her waves\nover the low, flat land, and submerging it.\n\nHearing that a child was about to be hung, Wulfram hasted to the spot,\nbut was unable to prevent the perpetration of the sacrifice. Then after\nthe boy had been hanging two hours, the rope broke, and the bishop\ncasting himself on the body, cried to the Lord, and He heard his voice,\nand the child revived, and the bishop restored him to his parents.[71]\nAnd on another occasion, he was present when two youths, sons of a\nwidow, were being sacrificed to the sea. He saw the poor lads waiting\non the wet sand, and shrieking with fear as the waves tumbled at every\ninstant nearer to them, whilst all the people looked on, shouting to\ndrown their cries, upon the dyke. Then Wulfram, unable to endure the\nspectacle, knelt down, and covered his eyes, and prayed. And when he\nlooked up, he saw the sea was washing around the youths, but had not\ntouched them. So he prayed more fervently, and the people standing on\nthe dyke shouted, to drown the shrieks of the young men; and Wulfram\nlooked, and they were up to their chins in water, battling with the\nangry waves. Then Radbod called to the bishop and said, \"See! there be\nthe youths, go, save them if thou canst.\" Then Wulfram rose, and made\nthe sign of the cross, and cast his mantle from him, and went boldly\ndown to the sea, and walked thereon without fear, trusting in the Lord,\nand he took the two children, one by each hand, and he came to the land\nleading them, with foot unwet.\n\n[71] The boy was afterwards sent to Fontenelle, and he is the authority\nfor the events of S. Wulfram's mission in Friesland.\n\nThen the people were filled with wonder, and a great fear fell upon\nthem, and many renounced their false gods, and came and submitted their\nnecks to the sweet yoke of Christ. King Radbod also, convinced against\nhis will, consented to receive baptism. But as he was stepping down\ninto the water, he suddenly halted, with one foot in the stream, and\nasked, \"Where are my ancestors, are they in the heaven thou promisest\nto me?\"\n\n\"Be not deceived,\" answered Wulfram, \"God knoweth the number of His\nelect. Thy ancestors have died without baptism, therefore they have\ncertainly received the sentence of damnation.\" It was an injudicious\nanswer. It is by no means certain that those who have not had an\nopportunity of knowing the truth, but have lived up to the light God\nhas given them, are eternally lost. The result of this harsh answer\nwas, that Radbod withdrew his foot from the water, saying, \"I will go\nto hell with my ancestors, rather than be in heaven without them.\" It\nis only just to remark that this story is not to be found in the most\ncorrect and ancient copies of the life by Jonas of Fontenelle.\n\nAfter about twenty years of labour in Friesland, his health failed, and\nhe returned in haste to Fontenelle, to die amongst the brethren in the\npeace of a cloister. He died on March 20th, in the year 720. Nine years\nafter, Wando, abbot of Fontenelle, took the body from its grave, and\ntranslated to the church of S. Peter. In 1058, it was taken to Notre\nDame at Abbeville, and this church in course of years, assumed the\nname of S. Wulfram. The sacred relics remain there, enclosed in a rich\nshrine. An annual procession is made on this day at Abbeville with the\nshrine.\n\n\nSS. TWENTY MONKS, MM. AT S. SABAS.\n\n(A.D. 797.)\n\n [Commemorated by the Greeks. Authority:--The Acts by S. Stephen of S.\n Sabas, an eye-witness of what he relates. The account in the Greek\n Menology is full of inaccuracies, which proves that the compiler of it\n had not seen the Acts, but wrote his account from tradition.]\n\nThe laura of S. Sabas between Jerusalem and Bethlehem stood in a\nsituation exposed to hostile attack. In the invasion of Palestine by\nChosroes, the monastery did not escape, but yielded up sixty martyrs\nto God. In 797, twenty more perished in an incursion of the Arabs.\nThe account of this latter catastrophe, written by Stephen, a monk of\nthat monastery, at the time, and one of those who escaped, is full of\ninterest. It is far too long to be inserted here. We have only space\nfor a brief outline of the events. The Arabs had been devastating the\nwhole country for some time past, and news of the ruin of the laura of\nS. Charito had reached the monks of the laura of S. Sabas. A laura is a\ncollection of separate cells, of caves, or huts, the monks assembling\nonly in the church; whereas a monastery consists of one or more large\nbuildings, in which the monks live in community. On hearing of the\npillage of the laura of S. Charito, the brethren assembled in the\nchurch to pray God to deliver them from a like infliction, or should\nHe deem expedient to send it upon them, to strengthen them to meet it\nmanfully. As they were in prayer, a brother who was on the look-out,\ncame running to tell that he saw a party of some sixty Arabs, armed\nwith lances and bows, galloping over a sand hill in the direction\nof the laura. It was the 13th of March, and the second hour of the\nmorning. Then there went forth a deputation of the monks to meet the\nmarauders, and to beseech them to spare the defenceless brethren. But\nthey were greeted with shouts of derision, and were driven before the\narrows and stones of the robbers back into the church, some of their\nnumber mortally wounded, and in all, thirty were wounded. The physician\nThomas extracted the arrows and bound up their wounds, as they were\nbrought in. But he had little space for attending to them, before the\nArabs came into the laura, and gathering thorns into bundles, piled\nthem about the cells and set fire to them. They were preparing to do\nthe same to the church, when an alarm was given that succour to the\nmonks was at hand, and in an instant the Arabs had vanished over the\nsand hills.\n\nThroughout the following week the monks were kept in incessant alarm\nand expectation of a renewed attack. Messengers came to them from the\nold Laura, to warn them that a band of ruffians had attacked it and\nwas on its way to the Laura of S. Sabas. The news reached them on\nSaturday night late, as they were keeping the vigil of the Lord's day\nin the Church. Their terror and anxiety was greatly increased somewhat\nlater, when an old white-haired monk arrived from the monastery of\nS. Euthymius, bearing a letter from the abbot, to tell them that a\nsecond party of Arabs was on its way to attack them. A bright full\nmoon was in the sky, shining in at the church windows, and by its\nlight the frightened monks deciphered the epistle. Some fled over the\ndesert, vainly seeking hiding places; some retired to their cells, some\nremained praying in the Church. Here occurs a great gap in the history,\na whole sheet of the MS. is lost, and we next hear of the Arabs driving\nthe flying monks before them with bow, and spear, and club, towards\nthe church, scouring the desert around and catching the runaways,\npenetrating into the cells, and dragging them forth.\n\nJohn, the guest-master, was found among some rocks, the barbarians\npelted him with stones, then ham-strung him, and dragged him down\nthe rocks by his feet to the church, till, mangled and bleeding, he\nfainted. Sergius, the sacristan, had concealed the sacred vessels,\nand had sought refuge in flight, but was caught, and because he\nrefused to surrender the holy vessels, was hacked to pieces by the\nbarbarians. A number of the monks had secreted themselves in a cave.\nThe Arabs ran into it, thrusting their swords and spears into every\ncorner, and one of the monks, a young man, named Patricius, resolved\nto sacrifice himself to save the others. He, therefore, cried out\nthat he would surrender, and, coming forth, delivered himself up. The\nrobbers, supposing he was the only one there concealed, left the others\nunmolested. He was one of those who were afterwards suffocated.\n\nNow there was a winding cave under the guest-house, which was used for\nvarious purposes. Into this a number of monks were driven, and they\nwere threatened with death unless they would ransom their lives by\nsurrendering the Eucharistic vessels and vestments. This they refused\nto do. Then the Arabs bade them point out which were the heads of the\ncommunity. They replied, with truth, that the abbot was now absent,\nhe having gone away on some business a few weeks before. Then they\ninsisted on the physician being indicated to them, for they had an idea\nthat he was possessed of money. Again the monks refused to declare\nwhich of them was physician. Then the Arabs thrust them all into the\ncave, and choking up the entrance with thorns and grass, set fire to\nit. And when there had been a blaze and smoke for some little while,\nthey shouted to the monks within to come forth; so the unfortunate men\ncame through the blaze and over the red coals, and fell panting for\nbreath on the ground. Their hair, beards, eyelashes, and their garments\nwere burnt, and their faces were discoloured with smoke. The Arabs\nagain bade them deliver up their superiors, and as they again refused,\nthey drove them back through the flames into the cave, and heaped on\nmore fuel, and kept up the blaze, till all within had been suffocated.\nThen they dispersed themselves over the Laura, and entered every cell,\nand took from them all that they wanted, and laded the camels belonging\nto the monks with the spoil that they had found, and departed.\n\nAnd after many hours, the brethren who had escaped came forth from\ntheir places of concealment, and sought water and food to satisfy\ntheir appetites; and they scattered the embers of the great fire, and\nas the smoke rolled forth from the cavern, and a pure air entered,\nthey lighted tapers and went in, at the setting of the sun, and found\nall the fathers therein dead, with their faces to the ground, and in\nvarious attitudes, some as though creeping into a corner in quest of\nair. And they made great lamentation over them, and drew them forth and\nwashed them, and buried them with reverence.\n\n\nS. AMBROSE OF SIENNA, O. P.\n\n(A.D. 1287.)\n\n [At Sienna on the Saturday before Passion Sunday; but by the Dominican\n Order on March 22nd; the Roman Martyrology on March 20th, the day\n of his death. He was beatified by Gregory XV. His Acts were written\n by friars Gisberti, Recuperato di Petromala, Aldobrandini Paparoni,\n and Olvado, by order of Honorius IV., the then reigning pope, from\n documents transmitted to them within a month of the decease of S.\n Ambrose. These originals also exist, and have been printed along with\n the Acts by the Bollandists.]\n\nS. Ambrose was of the family of the Sansedoni, on his father's side,\nand of the Stribelini on that of his mother, both illustrious in\nSienna. He was deformed at his birth, his legs and feet being twisted,\nbut as his nurse was hearing mass one holy-day, in the church of the\nDominicans, and was praying before some holy relics, afterwards exposed\nto the veneration of the faithful, the child suddenly pronounced the\nname of Jesus thrice, and lost at the same moment every trace of\ndeformity.\n\nAs he grew up, his play was connected with holy things. Till he was\nseven, he amused himself with carving little crosses, making little\noratories, imitating with other children the processions and psalmody\nof the Church. When he grew older, he obtained his father's consent\nto his lodging pilgrims. He furnished for the purpose a room in the\nhouse, and went to the gate of the city every Saturday to bring home\nwith him the first five pilgrims whom he encountered. He then washed\ntheir feet, and ministered in every way to their comforts. On the\nmorrow he went with them to mass, and guided them about the town to all\nthe places of devotion. Every Sunday evening after vespers he visited\nthe hospital, and every Friday the prison. He continued these holy\nexercises till he was seventeen, when he entered the Dominican order.\nHe made his full profession next year, in 1238, and was then sent to\nParis and to Cologne to prosecute his studies. At Cologne he became the\npupil of Albertus Magnus, along with the great S. Thomas Aquinas. When\nhis education was complete, he taught theology in Paris for two years,\nand then preached in France, Germany, and Italy. The people of Sienna\nhaving taken part with Mansfeld, the bastard of Frederick II., who was\nin hostility with the pope, were placed under an interdict. Ambrose\nundertook to reconcile them with the Holy See, and was so successful,\nthat the Siennese have chosen him, on account of this eminent service\nrendered them, as the patron of their city.\n\nDuring the forty-nine years of his monastic life, he maintained the\nutmost self-discipline. He never slept more than four hours every\nnight. After matins he remained for two hours in prayer in the choir,\nand spent the rest of the night in study till prime. He preached with\nsingular fire and action. In the Lent of 1286, he broke a blood-vessel\nas he was preaching, and was obliged to leave the pulpit. The\nh\u00e6morrhage ceasing next day, he insisted on resuming his sermon, but\nthe vessel burst again, and he lost so much blood that he felt his hour\nwas at hand. He made his general confession, and having received the\nlast sacraments, breathed forth his pure soul in the sixty-sixth year\nof his age, on March 20th, 1286.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 21.\n\n SS. SERAPION, _Monk_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., at Alexandria_.\n SS. MARTYRS OF ALEXANDRIA, _in the reign of Constantine_, A.D. 367.\n S. SERAPION, _B. of Thmuis, 4th cent._\n S. LUPICINUS, _Ab. of Condate, circ._ A.D. 430.\n S. ENDA, _Ab. in Aran-more, circ._ A.D. 540.\n S. BENEDICT, _Ab. of Monte Cassino_, A.D. 543.\n S. ELIAS, _B. of Sion in the Valais_.\n\n\nS. SERAPION, B. OF THMUIS.\n\n(4TH CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. In the ancient Latin Martyrologies is found\n the mention of S. Serapion, Monk and Martyr, and many Companions\n at Alexandria; but Baronius, instead, inserted in the Modern Roman\n Martyrology another and wholly different Serapion, bishop of Thmuis\n and Confessor in one of the Arian persecutions, when S. Athanasius\n suffered their pursuit. This Serapion is mentioned by S. Athanasius.]\n\nSerapion bishop of Thmuis, in Egypt, a friend of S. Antony the Great,\nand a champion of S. Athanasius, wrote an epistle to the great defender\nof orthodoxy, and another on the death of Arius, together with\ntreatises on the titles of the Psalms, and on Manich\u00e6ism. He is said by\nS. Jerome to have suffered for his zeal in the orthodox cause, under\nConstantius, when the Arians were in power.\n\n\nS. LUPICINUS, AB. OF CONDATE.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 430.)\n\n [Roman and Benedictine Martyrologies; that of Usuardus, and that\n attributed to Bede. Authority:--A life by a contemporary, a monk of\n Condate, \"Ego adhuc puerulus,\" he says. This life is very curious from\n its barbarous Latin, teeming as it does with words and phrases adopted\n from the Burgundian language. Also a life of SS. Romanus and Lupicinus\n by S. Gregory of Tours, written in the 5th cent., see Feb. 28th.]\n\nLupicinus and his younger brother Romanus, seeking solitude, climbed\nthe rocks among the pines of the Jura, and established themselves\nin the wilderness of Joux, living on wild fruits and plants. They\nwere both young; and they soon found that it was impossible for them\nto maintain life on the scanty food yielded by the mountains. They\ntherefore descended to the plains, and entered the cottage of a poor\nwoman, and told her how they had tried to serve God in the midst of\nthe rocks, but had found such a life insupportable. The woman sharply\nrebuked them for having put their hand to the plough, and then turned\nback, and they filled with shame, turned their faces once more to the\nmountains, and penetrated its recesses. And then many came to them from\nall quarters, and the grain and herbs they had sown and planted sprang\nup, and they cut down trees, and built the monastery of Condate.[72]\nBut soon the place was too strait for them, and a colony went forth,\nand founded Lauconne, also in the Jura, and another was established\nat Romainmoutier. Lupicinus was abbot, and all obeyed him. He is said\nby S. Gregory of Tours to have been very austere and stern in the\nmaintenance of discipline, so that from his harshness some brethren\nfled, but the contemporary writer gives a very different picture of\nhim. A story of his severity, with which the mildness of his brother\ncontrasts pleasingly, has been related in the life of S. Romanus (Feb.\n28th).\n\n[72] Afterwards S. Ouyan, and then S. Claude, after the bishop of\nBesancon, who reformed it in 635.\n\nBut if he could be harsh at times, at others he overflowed with\ngentleness.\n\nHe wore a rough garment made of the skins of beasts stitched together,\nand wooden shoes, or rather sandals.[73] When others retired to rest\nafter singing vespers, he retreated to his oratory, however cold the\nweather, meditating and dozing till the midnight office; in the\nquaint Latin of his biographer it is said that he entered the oratory\n\"m\u00e6ditaturus potius quam repausaturus\" (to meditate rather than to\nrepose.)\n\n[73] Lignea sola, qu\u00e6 vulgo soccos monasteria vocitant Gallicana,\ncontinuato est usu.\n\nA pretty story is told of the tender care of the abbot Lupicinus for\na monk whose exaggerated fasting had brought him to such a pass that\nit was thought he could not live many days. This man, who was younger\nthan Lupicinus, not content with the strict rule of the house, refused\nto eat and drink till after vespers, and then he would touch nothing\nbut the crumbs which the brethren had let fall on the floor, which he\ncollected in his palm, and moistened with a little water. The result\nwas that he was struck down as with paralysis, and lay unable to move\non his pallet, ghastly, and scarce breathing. This monk was so set on\nmaintaining his self-imposed rule that the abbot doubted for some while\nhow to treat him. At last when all the brethren were at work one bright\nspring day, he remained behind, and going to the monk's side, said,\n\"Come, my brother, and let me carry you on my back into the little\ngarden; you have long been shut in here in this dull cell, unable\nto set foot on the ground, and glad your eyes with the fresh green\ngrass.\" So he set him on his back, and carried him into the garden,\nand spread some sheepskins on the herb, and lay the emaciated brother\non it, and then lay down beside him as though he were also suffering\nfrom exhaustion and rheumatism. After a while he began to rub his arms\nand legs, and say, \"Good God! how comforted I am by this.[74] Brother,\ncome, let me rub your back and legs and arms also, it makes them feel\nso much better.\" And when he had done this for a while, the brother,\nwho lay half torpid, began to stretch himself a bit, and spread out his\nlegs in the sun.\n\n[74] Deus bone, qualiter comfortatus, qualiter sum reparatus ad horam.\n\nSeeing this, the abbot ran to the kitchen, and got some bits of broken\nbread, and then went into the cellar and sopped them in the best wine,\nand after that poured a little oil upon them, and came back into the\ngarden, holding out what he had got, exclaiming, \"Look! sweetest\nbrother, away with your self-imposed severity, and doubt not it has\nbeen too hard for you, follow my example, and obey my advice,\" and then\nhe gave him half of what he had prepared, eating the rest himself,\nto encourage the monk. So having rubbed him a little more, and sung\na hymn, and said a prayer, he took him up on his back once more, and\ncarried him back to his cell again. Next day he did precisely the same,\nand so on till the monk was able to totter into the garden, leaning\nupon him, and then he amused him and occupied him by making him pick\nberries. And thus, by degrees, he restored to his vigour a man who was\nthought to be on the brink of the grave. He lived many years longer.\n\nThere were two monks who, tired of the discipline, or offended at being\nset to work that displeased them, resolved to go away. They met in the\noratory at night, going thither under pretence of keeping vigil, and\none said to the other, \"You take spade and axe, and I will carry off\nthe coverlets, and so we shall do well where we are going.\" Now in a\ndark corner was the abbot praying, and he heard them, and he cried\nout, \"How, my children, is this! Will ye, going away, and disturb our\npeace?\" Then the two monks fell down dismayed at his feet, but he\nextending his hands, put one under each of their chins, and stooping\ngently, kissed them, said no one word of reproach, but betook himself\nto the arms of prayer to God. Then the two monks stole back, penitent\nand humbled, to their beds, and one remained at Condate till he died,\ntwenty years after; but the second after a while ran away, but returned\nagain to Lupicinus, sorrowful for what he had done, and resolved to\ncontinue with him through the rest of his life.\n\nWhen Lupicinus was old, he sought king Chilperic who governed Burgundy,\nand who was then in Geneva.[75]\n\n[75] The Burgundian king Gondecar had a brother and a son, both named\nChilperic, who reigned at Geneva. The son reigned only one year after\nhis father; he was killed by Gondebald in 477. S. Romanus died in\n460. It is probable that his elder brother died before him, and that\nLupicinus visited the elder Chilperic. I have therefore supposed that\nhe died about 430. The Bollandists supposing that it was the younger\nChilperic he visited, have fixed his death at 480.\n\nHe went to him to plead the cause of some poor natives of the\nSequanaise, who had been reduced into slavery by a subordinate\npotentate. This petty tyrant was one of those degenerate Romans,\ncourtiers and oppressors, who, by flattering the new-born authority\nof the barbarian kings, found means of trampling on and spoiling\ntheir inferiors. He was perhaps one of those senators of Gaul whom\nthe Burgundians had admitted in 456 to a share of the conquered\nsoil, and Lupicinus, although of Gallo-Roman origin, seems to have\nbeen less favourably disposed towards the Roman government than that\nof the Barbarians. Gregory of Tours has recorded a tradition which\nwell depicts the impression made on the popular imagination by this\napparition of the monks confronted with the triumphant Barbarians. He\nrelates that when Lupicinus crossed the threshold of the palace of\nChilperic, the throne upon which the king was seated trembled, as if\nthere had been an earthquake. Reassured at the sight of the old man\nclothed in skins, the Burgundian prince listened to the curious debate\nwhich arose between the oppressor and the advocate of the oppressed.\n\"It is then thou,\" said the courtier to the abbot, \"it is thou, old\nimpostor, who hast already insulted the Roman power for ten years, by\nannouncing that all this region, and its chiefs, were hastening to\ntheir ruin.\" \"Yes, truly,\" answered the monk, pointing to the king,\nwho listened, \"Yes, perverse traitor, the ruin which I predicted to\nthee and to thy fellows, there it is. Seest thou not, degenerate man,\nthat thy rights are destroyed by thy sins, and that the prayers of the\ninnocent are granted? Seest thou not that the fasces and the Roman\npurple are compelled to bow before a foreign judge? Take heed that\nsome unexpected guest does not come before a new tribunal to claim thy\nlands and thy domains.\" The king of the Burgundians not only justified\nthe abbot by restoring his clients to liberty, but overwhelmed him\nwith presents, and offered him fields, and vineyards for his abbey.\nLupicinus would only accept a portion of the produce of these fields\nand vineyards, fearing that the sentiment of too vast a property might\nmake his monks proud. Then the king decreed that they should be allowed\nevery year three hundred measures of corn, three hundred measures of\nwine, and a hundred gold pieces for vestments; and the treasury of the\nMerovingian kings continued to pay these dues long after the fall of\nthe kingdom of the Burgundians.\n\nThe old abbot was true to his profession of self-mortification to the\nlast. As he lay a dying he asked for a drink of water. One of the\nbrethren sweetened it, by pouring in a spoonful of honey. But the dying\nman, when he tasted the sweetness, turned his head away, and refused to\ndrink.\n\n\nS. ENDA, AB. OF ARAN-MORE.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 540.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--A fragment of the Life by Augustine\n MacCrodin, published by Colgan, written about 1390. The following\n account of the home of S. Enda, and sketch of his life, is taken from\n the Bishop of Ardagh's charming \"Visit to Aran-more,\" Brown and Nolan,\n Dublin, 1870.]\n\nS. Enda, whose name in Irish is written Einne and Ende, and in\nLatin, Endeus and Anna, was born in Louth about the middle of the\nfifth century, and was the only son of Conall, king of Oriel, whose\nterritories included the modern counties of Louth, Monaghan, Armagh,\nand Fermanagh. Three of his sisters, Fanchea, Lochinia, and Carecha,\nwere nuns, and Darenia, the fourth sister, was wife of Engus, king of\nCashel, whose death is placed by the Four Masters in the year 489.\nOn the death of his father, the youthful Enda was chosen to succeed\nhim as head of the men of Oriel. The warlike spirit of the times took\nstrong hold of the young prince's heart, and we find him at an early\nperiod of his life captivated by the love of glory, and eager to show\nby his military prowess that he was worthy of the royal race from which\nhe had sprung, and of the throne which he filled. His holy sister,\nFanchea, was incessant in her exertions to win for God her brother's\nheart, which, with all its defects, she knew to be chivalrous and pure.\nFor a time her words of warning and entreaty remained without result;\nbut the season of grace came soon. Enda had asked from his sister in\nmarriage one of the royal maidens who were receiving their education in\nthe convent which she ruled. Fanchea communicated his request to the\nmaiden: \"Make thou thy choice, whether wilt thou love Him whom I love,\nor this earthly bridegroom?\" \"Whom thou lovest,\" was the girl's sweet\nreply, \"Him also will I love.\" She died soon after, and gave her soul\nto God, the Spouse whom she had chosen.\n\n\"The holy virgin,\" says the ancient life, covered the face of the dead\ngirl with a veil, and going again to Enda, said to him: \"Young man,\ncome and see the maiden whom thou lovest.\" Then Enda with the virgin\nentered the chamber where was the dead girl, and the holy virgin\nuncovering the face of the lifeless maiden, said to him: \"Now look upon\nthe face of her whom thou didst love.\" And Enda cried out: \"Alas! she\nis fair no longer, but ghastly white.\" \"So also shalt thy face be,\"\nreplied the holy virgin. And then S. Fanchea discoursed to him of the\npains of hell, and of the joys of heaven, until the young man's tears\nbegan to flow. O! the wondrous mercy of God in the conversion of this\nman to the true faith! for even as He changed the haughty Saul into the\nhumble Paul, so out of this worldly prince did he make a spiritual and\na holy teacher and pastor of His people. For having heard the words\nof the holy virgin, despising the vanities of the world, he took the\nmonk's habit and tonsure, and what the tonsure signified, he fulfilled\nby his actions.\n\nAfter having founded a monastery in his native place, S. Enda is said\nto have proceeded to Rosnat or Abba, in Britain, where he remained for\nsome time under the spiritual direction of S. Mansenus or Manchan.\nThence, according to the above-mentioned life, he went to Rome, where\n\"attentively studying the examples of the saints, and preparing\nhimself in everything for the order of priesthood, having at length\nbeen ordained priest, he was pleasing to the most high God.\" He built\na monastery called _L\u00e6tinum_ or _the Place of Joy_; and rightly so\ncalled, adds the life, \"because therein the command of loving God and\nour neighbour was most faithfully carried out.\"\n\nReturning to Ireland, he landed at Drogheda, and built several churches\non either side of the river Boyne. He then proceeded southwards to\nvisit his brother-in-law, Engus, king of Munster, from whom he asked\nthe island of Aran, that he might dwell thereon. The king was first\nunwilling to comply with his request; not because he was ungenerous,\nbut because he had learned from S. Patrick \"not to offer to the Lord\nhis God any lands save such as were good and fertile, and easy of\naccess.\" But S. Enda declared that Aran was to be the place of his\nresurrection; and at length the king made an offering of the island\n\"to God and to S. Enda,\" asking in return the blessing of the saint.\n\nHaving thus obtained possession of what he rightly deemed a place of\nsingular retirement, and well suited for the rigours of a penitential\nlife, S. Enda returned to his brethren, and conducted them in safety to\nthe island, which was then inhabited by Pagans from the adjacent coast\nof Clare. He divided the island into ten parts, and built thereon ten\nmonasteries, each under the rule of its proper superior. He chose a\nplace for his own residence on the eastern coast, and there erected a\nmonastery, the name and site of which is preserved to this day in the\nlittle village of Kil-eany (Kill-Enda), about a mile from Kilronan. One\nhalf of the island was assigned to this monastery.\n\nThen began the blessed days, when the sweet odour of penance ascended\nto heaven from the angelic band of monks, who, under the severe rule of\nS. Enda, made Aran a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western\nEurope. \"The virginal saint from Aran Island,\" as Marianus O'Gorman\nstyles S. Enda, was to them a model of all the virtues of the religious\nlife, but, above all, he excelled in the exercise of penitential\nmortifications. S. Cuimin of Connor tells us that:--\n\n Enda loved glorious mortification\n In Aran--triumphant virtue!\n A narrow dungeon of flinty stone,\n To bring the people to heaven.\n\n\"Aran,\" says Froude,[76] \"is no better than a wild rock. It is strewed\nover with the ruins, which may still be seen, of the old hermitages;\nand at their best they could have been but such places as sheep would\nhuddle under in a storm, and shiver in the cold and wet which would\npierce through the chinks of the walls.... Yes; there on that wet\nsoil, with that dripping roof above them, was the chosen home of these\npoor men. Through winter frost, through rain and storm, through summer\nsunshine, generation after generation of them, there they lived and\nprayed, and at last lay down and died.\"\n\n[76] Short Studies, vol. 2, page 216.\n\nThese miracles of penance were the first and immediate results of S.\nEnda's work in Aran.\n\nIt was in his life that these holy men had daily before them the\npersonal realization of all they were striving after; he taught them to\ncherish the flinty dungeon and the dripping cave for love of the hard\nmanger and the harder cross; he bade them dwell amid the discomforts\nand dreariness of their island home, because in the tabernacles of\nsinners the blessed majesty of God was daily outraged by the crimes\nof men. We cannot, indeed, describe the details of his life, for they\nhave been hidden from human view, as it is becoming that such secrets\nof the Heavenly King should be hidden. But there yet survives the voice\nof one of those who lived with him in Aran, and in the ideal of an\nabbot which S. Carthage sets before us, we undoubtedly find re-produced\nthe traits which distinguished the abbot of Aran-more, from whom S.\nCarthage first learned to serve God in the religious life. S. Enda was\nhis first model of the \"patience, humility, prayer, fast, and cheerful\nabstinence; of the steadiness, modesty, calmness that are due from a\nleader of religious men, whose office it is to teach in all truth,\nunity, forgiveness, purity, rectitude in all that is moral; whose chief\nworks are the constant preaching of the Gospel for the instruction of\nall persons, and the sacrifice of the Body of the great Lord upon the\nholy altar.\"[77]\n\n[77] \"Rule of S. Carthage,\" _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_, vol. 1, p.\n117.\n\nThe fame of S. Enda's austere holiness, and of the angelical life\nwhich so many were leading in Aran under his guidance, soon spread\nfar and wide throughout the land. Soon, the Galway fishermen, whom\nS. Enda had blessed, found day after day their _corachs_ crowded with\nstrangers--religious men, of meek eye and gentle face--seeking to\ncross over to the island. And thus Aran gradually came to be, as the\nwriter of the life of S. Kieran of Clonmacnoise describes it, the home\nof a multitude of holy men, and the sanctuary where repose the relics\nof countless saints, whose names are known only to the Almighty God.\n\"Great indeed is that island,\" exclaims another ancient writer, \"and it\nis the land of the saints, for no one, save God alone, knows how many\nholy men lie buried therein.\"[78]\n\n[78] \"Magna est illa insula, et est terra sanctorum; quia nemo scit\nnumerum sanctorum qui sepulti sunt ibi, nisi solus Deus.\" Vita S.\nAlbei. Colgan, Acta SS.\n\nBut, although it is not possible to learn the names of all the saints\nwho were formed to holiness by S. Enda in Aran, the ancient records\nhave preserved the names of a few at least out of that blessed\nmultitude. The history of these men is the history of S. Enda's work\non Aran. First among S. Enda's disciples must be ranked S. Kieran, the\nfounder of Clonmacnoise, who came to Aran in his youth, and for seven\nyears lived faithfully in the service of God, under the direction of S.\nEnda. \"During these seven years,\" says the ancient life of our saint,\n\"Kieran so diligently discharged the duties of grinding the corn, that\ngrain in quantity sufficient to make a heap never was found in the\ngranary of the island.\" Upon these humble labours the light of the\nfuture greatness of the founder of Clonmacnoise was allowed to shine\nin visions calling him elsewhere, but he could not bring himself to\nsever the happy ties that bound him to his abbot. He still longed to be\nunder his guidance, and when recommending himself to the prayers of his\nbrethren, he said to S. Enda, in the presence of all, \"O father, take\nme and my charge under thy protection, that all my disciples may be\nthine likewise.\" \"Not so,\" answered Enda, \"for it is not the will of\nGod that you should all live under my care in this scanty island.\" And\nwhen they had thus spoken, a cross was set up in the place, in sign of\nthe brotherhood they had contracted between themselves, and those who\nwere to come after them; and they said: \"whosoever in after times shall\nbreak the loving bond of this our brotherhood, shall not have share in\nour love on earth, nor in our company in heaven.\"\n\nThe love which S. Enda bore towards his holy pupil, for his many and\nwonderful virtues, made their parting singularly painful to them both.\nFor a time the holy abbot felt as if the angels of God were leaving\nAran with Kieran, and he could find no relief for his anguish but in\nprayer. The sternness of religious discipline had not crushed but\nchastened the tenderness of an affectionate disposition in S. Enda. The\nentire community of the island shared the sorrow that had come on their\nvenerable abbot. When the moment of departure was at hand, and the boat\nthat was to bear him from Aran was spreading its sails to the breeze,\nKieran came slowly down to the shore, walking between S. Enda and S.\nFinnian, and followed by the entire brotherhood. His tears flowed fast\nas he moved along, and those who accompanied him mingled their tears\nwith his. Peter de Blois, when leaving the abbey of Croyland to return\nto his own country, stayed his steps seven times to look back and\ncontemplate once again the place where he had been so happy; so, too,\ndid Kieran's gaze linger with tenderness upon the dark hills of Aran\nand on the oratories where he had learned to love God, and to feel how\ngood and joyous a thing it is to dwell with brethren whose hearts are\nat one with each other in God. And when the shore was reached, again he\nknelt to ask his father's blessing, and, entering the boat, was carried\naway from the Aran that he was never to see again. The monastic group\nstayed for a while on the rocks to follow with longing eyes the bark\nthat was bearing from them him they loved; and when at length, bending\ntheir steps homewards, they had gone some distance from the shore, S.\nEnda's tears once more began to flow. \"O my brethren,\" cried he, \"good\nreason have I to weep, for this day has our island lost the flower and\nstrength of religious observance.\" What was loss to Aran, however, was\ngain to Clonmacnoise, and through Clonmacnoise to the entire Irish\nChurch.\n\nNext among the saints of Aran comes S. Brendan. S. Finnian of Moville\n(March 18th) is also mentioned in the ancient life of our saint as one\nof S. Enda's disciples at Aran. The Irish life of S. Columbkille makes\nmention of the sojourn of that great saint on Aran. The deep love of S.\nColumba for Aran, the sorrow with which he quitted its shores for Iona,\nare expressed in a poem, written by him on his departure.\n\n Aran, the Rome of the pilgrims.\n Aran thou sun--O! Aran thou sun!\n My affection lies with thee westward;\n Alike to be under her pure earth interred,\n As under the earth of Peter and Paul.\n\nThe ancient life of S. Enda also reckons among the inhabitants of Aran\nS. Finnian the elder, the founder of the great school of Clonard; S.\nJarlath, the founder of the see of Tuam; S. Mac Creiche, of the race of\nthe men of Corcomroe, who were in possession of Aran when S. Enda first\nwent thither. The Martyrology of Donegal makes mention of S. Guigneus;\nthe Martyrology of \u00c6ngus adds S. Papeus, S. Kevin of Glendaloch, S.\nCarthage of Lismore, S. Lonan Kerr, S. Nechanus, and S. Libeus, brother\nof S. Enda. In the midst of this holy brotherhood S. Enda died in 540\nor 542.\n\nThe sight of Aran peopled by this host of saints forcibly recalls to\nmind that other island, where, in an age of wild and fierce passions,\nthe arts of peace, religious learning, and the highest Christian\nvirtues, found a sanctuary. At the beginning of the sixth century, Aran\nmay, with truth, be styled the Lerins of the Northern seas. True, its\nbare flags and cold grey landscape contrast sadly with \"the gushing\nstreams, the green meadows, the luxuriant wealth of vines, the fair\nvalleys, and the fragrant scents which,\" according to S. Eucherius,\n\"made Lerins the paradise of those who dwelt thereon.\"[79] However,\nits very wildness did but make it richer in those attractions so well\ndescribed by S. Ambrose, which made the outlying islands so dear to\nthe religious men of that time.[80] They loved those islands, \"which,\nas a necklace of perils, God has set upon the bosom of the sea, and in\nwhich those who would fly from the irregular pleasures of the world,\nmay find a refuge wherein to practise austerity and save themselves\nfrom the snares of this life. In it these faithful and pious men find\nincentives to devotion. The mysterious sound of the billows calls for\nthe answering sound of sacred psalmody; and the peaceful voices of holy\nmen, mingled with the gentle murmur of the waves breaking softly on the\nshore rise in unison to the heavens.\"\n\n[79] S. Eucherius De laude Eremi, 442.\n\n[80] _Hexaemeron_, lib. 3, c. 5.\n\nOn a summer's day in the year 1870, says the Bishop of Ardagh, we\nset sail to visit the remote Aran, which the virtues of S. Enda had\nchanged from a Pagan isle into Aran of the Saints. And as the faint\nbreeze bore us slowly over the waters that lay almost motionless in\nthe summer calm, we gazed with admiration upon a scene which was but\nlittle changed since S. Enda and his pilgrim band had first looked\nupon it. Before us there lay stretched out the same expanse of sea,\nfringed on one side by the dark plains of Iar-Connaught, along which\nthe eye travelled from the white cliffs of Barna to where the Connemara\nmountains, in soft blue masses, stood out in fantastic clusters against\nthe sky. On the other side ran the Clare coastline, now retreating\nbefore the deep sea-inlets, and now breasting the Atlantic with bold\npromontories like that of gloomy Black-Head, or with gigantic cliffs\nlike those of Mohir. And as the day closed, and we watched the evening\nbreeze steal out from land, crisping the water into wavelets that\nrippled against the vessel's side; and as we saw the golden glory of\nthe sunset flush with indescribable loveliness, earth, and sea, and\nsky, we thought how often in bygone days, the view of Aran rising, as\nwe then saw it, out of the sunlit waves, had brought joy to the pilgrim\nwho was journeying to find rest upon its rocky shore.\n\nThe Aran isles are three in number, named respectively, Inishmore (the\nlarge island), Inishmain (the middle island), and Inisheen (the eastern\nisland). The eastern island is the smallest of the three, and is about\ntwo-and-a-half miles long; the middle island is three miles long; the\nlargest is about nine miles in length, and twenty-four in circumference.\n\nOur chief interest was naturally centred in the group of buildings\nwhich exist at Killeany, and consist of the church of S. Benignus, the\nchurch of S. Enda, the round tower of S. Enda, and the stone houses\nin its immediate vicinity. Our readers will have remarked that the\nfirst six churches named in Dr. Keely's list, all stood near each\nother, and to the north of the present village of Killeany. Out of six\nchurches which existed here as late as 1645, four have almost entirely\ndisappeared. They were demolished by unholy hands for the sake of\nmaterials to build the castle of Arkin.\n\nThe church known as Teglach Enda, wherein S. Enda was laid, still\nexists on the shore; it is in good preservation, and is a fine specimen\nof the single church without chancel. It is twenty-four feet in length\nand fourteen in breadth. All the walls now standing are by no means of\nan equal antiquity. The eastern gable and part of the northern side\nwall are the only parts belonging to S. Enda's time, the remainder\nof the building being the work of a later period. Around the church\nspreads the cemetery, now almost completely covered up by the sands,\nin which the body of S. Enda, and those of one hundred and fifty other\nsaints, are interred.\n\nOn the hill side, are S. Enda's well, and altar; the latter surmounted\nby a rude cross. S. Enda's well, and indeed all the other wells we saw\nin the island, are carefully protected by the Araners; the scarcity of\nwater rendering the possession of a well almost as precious to them\nas it was to the Eastern shepherds in the days of Rebecca. At a short\ndistance to the left of the well, stands the remnant of the round tower\nof S. Enda. Once its height was worthy of the cluster of sacred temples\nwhich stood within the circle traversed by the shadow it projected in\nthe changing hours; but now it is little more than thirteen feet high.\nAn aged man who joined our group, told us that in S. Enda's time the\nmass was not commenced in any of the churches of the island, until the\nbell from S. Enda's tower announced that S. Enda himself had taken his\nplace at the altar in his own church.\n\nWith the permission of the excellent priest who has charge of the\nisland, we resolved, on the last morning of our stay on Aran, to\ncelebrate mass in the ruined church of Teglach-Enda, where in the year\n540 or 542, S. Enda was interred. The morning was bright and clear, and\nthe rigid outlines of the rocks were softened by the touch of the early\nsunshine. The inhabitants of Killeany, exulting in the tidings that\nthe Holy Sacrifice was once again to be offered to God near the shrine\nof their sainted patron, accompanied or followed us to the venerable\nruins. The men, young and old, were clothed in decent black, or in\nwhite garments of home-made stuff, with sandals of undressed leather,\nlike those of the peasants of the Abruzzi, laced round their feet; the\nwomen were attired in gay scarlet gowns and blue bodices, and all wore\na look of remarkable neatness and comfort. The small roofless church\nwas soon filled to overflowing with a decorous and devout congregation.\n\nWe can never forget the scene of that morning: the pure bright sand,\ncovering the graves of unknown and unnumbered saints as with a robe of\nsilver tissue; the delicate green foliage of the wild plants; on one\nside, the swelling hill crowned with the church of S. Benignus, and\non the other the blue sea, that almost bathed the foundations of the\nvenerable sanctuary itself; the soft balmy air that hardly stirred the\nferns on the old walls; and the fresh, happy, solemn calm that reigned\nover all.\n\nThe temporary altar was set up under the east window, on the site\nwhere of old the altar stood; and there, in the midst of the loving\nand simple faithful, within the walls which had been consecrated some\ntwelve hundred years before, over the very spot of earth where so many\nof the saints of Ireland lay awaiting their resurrection to glory, the\nsolemn rite of the Christian Sacrifice was performed, and once more, as\nin the days of which S. Columba wrote, the angels of God came down to\nworship the Divine Victim in the Churches of Aran.\n\n\nS. BENEDICT, AB.\n\n(A.D. 543.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, Benedictine, that of Bede. Greek Menologium on\n March 14th. Authorities:--Life written by S. Gregory the Great, in\n the second book of his dialogues; S. Gregory received his information\n from the lips of four disciples of the holy patriarch, Constantine,\n Honoratus, Valentinian, and Simplicius, the two first of whom had\n succeeded him as abbots respectively of Monte Cassino and Subiaco.\n Also the Chronicon Casinense, the first three books containing the\n life of S. Benedict by Leo Marsicanus, B. of Ostia, a monk of Monte\n Casino; the fourth book was added by Paulus Diacomus. The following\n life has been condensed from that by M. de Montalembert in his \"Monks\n of the West.\"]\n\nS. Benedict was born in the year of our Lord 480. Europe has, perhaps,\nnever known a more calamitous or apparently desperate period than that\nwhich reached its climax at this date. Confusion, corruption, despair,\nand death were everywhere; social dismemberment seemed complete.\nAuthority, morals, laws, sciences, arts, religion herself, might have\nbeen supposed condemned to irremediable ruin. The germs of a splendid\nand approaching revival were still hidden from all eyes under the\nruins of a crumbling world. The Church was more than ever infected by\nheresy, schisms, and divisions, which the obscure successors of S. Leo\nthe Great in the Holy See endeavoured in vain to repress. In all the\nancient Roman world there did not exist a prince who was not either\na pagan, an Arian, or an Eutychian. The monastic institution, after\nhaving given so many doctors and saints to the Church in the East, was\ndrifting toward that descent which it never was doomed to reascend; and\neven in the West, some symptoms of premature decay had already appeared.\n\n[Illustration: S. BENEDICT. After Cahier.\n March 21.]\n\nGermany was still entirely pagan, as was also Great Britain, where the\nnew-born faith had been stifled by the Angles and Saxons. Gaul was\ninvaded on the north by the pagan Franks, and on the south by the\nArian Burgundians. Spain was overrun and ravaged by the Visigoths,\nthe Sueves, the Alans, and the Vandals, all Arians. The same Vandals,\nunder the successor of Genseric, made Christian Africa desolate, by a\npersecution more unpitying and refined in cruelty than those of the\nRoman emperors. In a word, all those countries into which the first\ndisciples of Jesus Christ carried the faith, had fallen a prey to\nbarbarianism. The world had to be re-conquered.\n\nAmidst this universal darkness and desolation, history directs our gaze\ntowards those heights in the centre of Italy, and at the gates of Rome,\nwhich detach themselves from the chain of the Apennines, and extend\nfrom the ancient country of the Sabines to that of the Samnites. A\nsingle solitary was about to form there a centre of spiritual virtue,\nand to light it up with a splendour destined to shine over regenerated\nEurope for ten centuries to come.\n\nFifty miles to the west of Rome, among that group of hills where the\nAnio hollows a deep gorge, the traveller, ascending by the course of\nthe river, reaches a basin, which opens out between two immense walls\nof rock, and from which a limpid stream pours from fall to fall, to a\nplace called Subiaco. This grand and picturesque site had attracted\nthe attention of Nero. He confined the waters of the Anio by dams, and\nconstructed artificial lakes below, before a delicious villa, which,\nfrom its position, assumed the name of _Sublaqueum_, and of which some\nshapeless ruins remain. Four centuries after Nero, when solitude and\nsilence had long replaced the imperial orgies, a young patrician flying\nfrom the delights and dangers of Rome, sought there a refuge with God.\nHe had been baptized under the name of Benedictus, or the Blessed. He\nbelonged to the illustrious Anician family; by his mother's side he\nwas the last scion of the lords of Nursia, where he was born, as has\nbeen said, in 480. He was scarce fourteen when he resolved to renounce\nfortune, his family, and the happiness of this world. Leaving his old\nnurse, who had been the first to love him, and who alone followed him\nstill, he plunged, in 494, into these wild gorges, and ascended those\nsavage hills. On the way he met a monk, named Romanus, who gave him a\nhair shirt and a monastic habit made of skin.[81] Proceeding on his\nascent, and reaching the middle of the abrupt rock, which faces the\nsouth, and which overhangs the Anio, he discovered a dark cave, a\nsort of den, unillumined by the sun. He there took up his abode, and\nremained unknown to all, except the monk Romanus, who fed him with the\nremainder of his own scanty fare, but who, not being able to reach his\ncell, transmitted to him every day, at the end of a cord, a loaf and\na little bell, the sound of which warned him of this sustenance which\ncharity had provided for him.\n\n[81] The locality of the meeting is indicated by a chapel called S.\nCrocella.\n\nHe lived three entire years in this tomb. The shepherds who discovered\nhim there at first took him for a wild beast, but by his discourses,\nand the efforts he made to instil grace and piety into their rustic\nsouls, they recognised in him a servant of God. Temptations were not\nwanting to him. The allurements of voluptuousness acted so strongly on\nhis excited senses, that he was on the point of leaving his retreat to\nseek after a woman whose beauty had formerly impressed him, and whose\nmemory haunted him incessantly. But there was near his grotto a clump\nof thorns and briers: he took off the vestments of skins, which was his\nonly dress, and rolled himself among them naked till his body was all\none wound, but also till he had extinguished for ever the infernal fire\nwhich inflamed him even in the desert.\n\nSeven centuries later, another saint, father of the most numerous\nmonastic family which the church has produced after that of S.\nBenedict, S. Francis of Assisi, came to visit that wild site, which was\nworthy to rival the bare Tuscan rock, where the stigmata of the passion\nwere imprinted on himself. He prostrated himself before the thicket of\nthorns which had been a triumphal bed to the masculine virtue of the\npatriarch of the monks, and after having bathed with his tears the soil\nof that glorious battle-field, he planted there two rose trees. The\nroses of S. Francis grew, and have survived the Benedictine briers.\nThis garden, twice sanctified, still occupies a sort of triangular\nplateau, which projects upon the side of the rock, a little before\nand beneath the grotto which sheltered S. Benedict. The eye, confined\non all sides by rocks, can survey freely only the azure of heaven.\nIt is the last of those sacred places visited and venerated in the\ncelebrated and unique monastery of the Iagro Speco, which forms a\nseries of sanctuaries, built one over the other, backed by the mountain\nwhich Benedict has immortalized. Such was the hard and savage cradle\nof the monastic order in the West. It was from this tomb, where the\ndelicate son of the last patricians of Rome buried himself alive, that\nthe definite form of monastic life--that is to say, the perfection of\nChristian life--was born.\n\nThe solitude of the young anchorite was not long respected. The\nfaithful in the neighbourhood, who brought him food for the body, asked\nthe bread of life in return. The monks of a neighbouring monastery,\nsituated near Vico Varo, obtained, by dint of importunity, his\nconsent to become their ruler, but, soon disgusted by his austerity,\nthey endeavoured to poison him. He made the sign of the cross over\nthe vessel which contained the poison, and it broke as if it had\nbeen struck with a stone. He left these unworthy monks, to re-enter\njoyfully his beloved cavern, and to live by himself alone. But it\nwas in vain: he soon found himself surrounded by such a multitude of\ndisciples, that, to give them a shelter, he was compelled to found in\nthe neighbourhood of his retreat twelve monasteries, each inhabited by\ntwelve monks. He kept some with him, in order to direct them himself,\nand was thus finally raised to be the superior of a numerous community\nof cenobites.\n\nClergy and laymen, Romans and barbarians, victors and vanquished, alike\nflocked to him, attracted by the fame of his virtue and miracles. While\nthe celebrated Theodoric, at the head of his Goths, up to that time\ninvincible, destroyed the ephemeral kingdom of the Hercules, seized\nRome, and overspread Italy, other Goths came to seek faith, penitence,\nand monastic discipline under the laws of Benedict. At his command they\narmed themselves with axes and hatchets, and employed their robust\nstrength in rooting out the brushwood and clearing the soil, which,\nsince the time of Nero, had again become a wilderness. The Italian\npainters of the great ages of art have left us many representations of\nthe legend told by S. Gregory, in which S. Benedict restores to a Goth\nwho had become a convert at Subiaco, the tool which that zealous but\nunskilled workman had dropped to the bottom of the lake, and which the\nabbot miraculously brought forth. \"Take thy tool,\" said Benedict to the\nbarbarian woodcutter,--\"take it, work, and be comforted.\" Symbolical\nwords, in which we find an abridgment of the precepts and examples\nlavished by the monastic order on so many generations of conquering\nraces: _Ecce labora._\n\n[Illustration: S. BENEDICT EXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT WHICH HAD\nINTERRUPTED THE WORKMEN EMPLOYED IN BUILDING A CHAPEL. From a Fresco,\nby Spinelli d'Arezzo, in the Church of San Miniato, near Florence.\n March 21.]\n\nBeside these barbarians already occupied in restoring the cultivation\nof that Italian soil which their brethren in arms still wasted, were\nmany children of the Roman nobility, whom their fathers had confided\nto Benedict to be trained to the service of God. Among these young\npatricians are two whose names are celebrated in Benedictine annals:\nMaur, whom the abbot Benedict made his own coadjutor; and Placidus,\nwhose father was lord of the manor of Subiaco, which did not prevent\nhis son from rendering menial services to the community, such as\ndrawing water from the lake of Nero. The weight of his pitcher one day\noverbalanced him, and he fell into the lake. We shall leave Bossuet to\ntell the rest, in his panegyric, delivered twelve centuries afterwards\nbefore the sons of the founder of Subiaco:--\n\n\"S. Benedict ordered S. Maur, his faithful disciple, to run quickly and\ndraw the child out. At the word of his master, Maur went away without\nhesitation, ... and full of confidence in the order he had received,\nwalked upon the water with as much security as upon the earth, and\ndrew Placidus from the whirlpool, which would have swallowed him up.\nTo what shall I attribute so great a miracle, whether to the virtue\nof the obedience or to that of the commandment? A doubtful question,\nsays S. Gregory, between S. Benedict and S. Maur. But let us say, to\ndecide it, that the obedience had grace to accomplish the command, and\nthat the command had grace to give efficacy to the obedience. Walk,\nmy fathers, upon the waves with the help of obedience; you shall find\nsolid support amid the inconstancy of human things. The waves shall\nhave no power to overthrow you, nor the depths to swallow you up; you\nshall remain immovable, as if all was firm under your feet, and issue\nforth victorious.\"\n\nHowever, Benedict had the ordinary fate of great men and saints. The\ngreat number of conversions worked by the example and fame of his\nausterity, awakened a homicidal envy against him. A wicked priest\nof the neighbourhood attempted first to decry and then poison him.\nBeing unsuccessful in both, he endeavoured at least to injure him in\nthe object of his most tender solicitude--in the souls of his young\ndisciples. For that purpose he sent, even into the garden of the\nmonastery, where Benedict dwelt, and where the monks laboured, seven\nwretched women, whose gestures, sports, and shameful nudity, were\ndesigned to tempt the young monks to certain fall. When Benedict, from\nthe threshold of his cell, perceived these shameless creatures, he\ndespaired of his work; he acknowledged that the interest of his beloved\nchildren constrained him to disarm so cruel an enmity by retreat. He\nappointed superiors to the twelve monasteries which he had founded,\nand, taking with him a small number of disciples, he left for ever the\nwild gorges of Subiaco, where he had lived for thirty-five years.\n\nWithout withdrawing from the mountainous region which extends along\nthe western side of the Apennines, Benedict directed his steps toward\nthe south, along the Abruzzi, and penetrated into that land of labour,\nthe name of which seems naturally suited to a soil destined to be the\ncradle of the most laborious men whom the world has known. He ended\nhis journey in a scene very different from that of Subiaco, but of\nincomparable grandeur and majesty. There upon the boundaries of Sammim\nand Campania, in the centre of a large basin, half-surrounded by abrupt\nand picturesque heights, rises a scarped and isolated hill, the vast\nand rounded summit of which overlooks the course of the Liris near its\nfountain head, and the undulating plain which extends south towards\nthe shores of the Mediterranean, and the narrow valleys which, towards\nthe north, the east, and the west, lost themselves in the lines of the\nmountainous horizon. This is Monte Cassino.\n\nIt was here, amidst this solemn nature, and upon that predestinated\nheight, that the patriarch of the monks of the west founded the capital\nof the monastic order. He found paganism still surviving there. Two\nhundred years after Constantine, in the heart of Christendom, and so\nnear Rome, there still existed a very ancient temple of Apollo, and\na sacred wood, where a multitude of peasants sacrificed to the gods\nand demons. Benedict preached the faith of Christ to these forgotten\npeople; he persuaded them to cut down the wood, to overthrow the temple\nand the idol.\n\nUpon these remains Benedict built two oratories, one dedicated to S.\nJohn the Baptist, the first solitary of the new faith; the other to\nS. Martin, the great monk-bishop, whose ascetic and priestly life had\nedified Gaul, and reached as far as Italy.\n\nRound these chapels rose the monastery which was to become the most\npowerful and celebrated in the Catholic universe; celebrated especially\nbecause there Benedict wrote his rule, and at the same time formed the\ntype which was to serve as a model to innumerable communities submitted\nto that sovereign code. It is for this reason that emulous pontiffs,\nprinces, and nations have praised, endowed, and visited the sanctuary\nwhere monastic religion, according to the expression of Pope Urban II.,\n\"flowed from the heart of Benedict as from a fountain-head of Paradise.\"\n\nBenedict ended his life at Monte Cassino, where he lived for fourteen\nyears, occupied, in the first place, with extirpating from the\nsurrounding country the remnants of paganism, afterwards in building\nhis monastery by the hands of his disciples, in cultivating the arid\nsides of his mountain, and the devastated plains around, but above\nall, in extending to all who approached him the benefits of the law of\nGod, practised with a fervour and charity which none have surpassed.\nAlthough he had never been invested with the priestly character, his\nlife at Monte Cassino was rather that of a missionary and apostle\nthan of a solitary. He was, notwithstanding, the vigilant head of a\ncommunity which flourished and increased more and more. Accustomed\nto subdue himself in everything, and to struggle with the infernal\nspirits, whose temptations and appearances were not wanting to him more\nthan to the ancient fathers of the desert, he had acquired the gift of\nreading souls, and discerning their most secret thoughts. He used this\nfaculty not only to direct the young monks, who always gathered in such\nnumbers round him, in their studies and the labours of agriculture and\nbuilding which he shared with them; but even in the distant journeys\non which they were sometimes sent, he followed them by a spiritual\nobservation, discovered their least failings, reprimanded them on their\nreturn, and bound them in everything to a strict fulfilment of the rule\nwhich they had accepted. He exacted from all, the obedience, sincerity,\nand austerely regulated life of which he himself gave the first example.\n\nMany young men of rich and noble families came here, as at Subiaco, to\nput themselves under his direction, or were confided to him by their\nparents. They laboured with the other brethren in the cultivation of\nthe soil and the building of the monastery, and were bound to all the\nservices imposed by the rule. Some of the young nobles rebelled in\nsecret against that equality. Among these, according to the narrative\nof S. Gregory, was the son of a _defender_--that is to say, of the\nfirst magistrate of a town or province. One evening, it being his turn\nto light the Abbot Benedict at supper, while he held the candlestick\nbefore the abbotial table, his pride rose within him, and he said to\nhimself, \"What is this man that I should thus stand before him while\nhe eats, with a candle in my hand like a slave? Am I then made to be\nhis slave?\" Immediately Benedict, as if he had heard him, reproved him\nsharply for that movement of pride, gave the candle to another, and\nsent him back to his cell, dismayed to find himself at once discovered\nand restrained in his most secret thoughts. It was then that the great\nlegislator inaugurated in his new-formed cloister that alliance of\naristocratic races with the Benedictine Order which we shall have\nmany generous and fruitful examples to quote.\n\nHe bound all--nobles and plebians, young and old, rich and poor--under\nthe same discipline. But he would have excess or violence in nothing,\nand when he was told of a solitary in the neighbouring mountain, who,\nnot content with shutting himself up in a narrow cave, had attached to\nhis foot a chain, the other end of which was fixed in a rock, so that\nhe could not move beyond the length of this chain, Benedict sent to\ntell him to break it, in these words, \"If thou art truly a servant of\nGod, confine thyself not with a chain of iron, but with the chain of\nChrist.\"\n\nAnd extending his solicitude and authority over the surrounding\npopulations, he did not content himself with preaching eloquently to\nthem the true faith, but also healed the sick, the lepers and the\npossessed, provided for all the necessities of the soul and body, paid\nthe debts of honest men oppressed by their creditors, and distributed\nin incessant alms the provisions of corn, wine, and linen which were\nsent to him by the rich Christians of the neighbourhood.\n\nA great famine having afflicted Campania in 539, he distributed to\nthe poor all the provisions of the monastery, so that one day there\nremained only five loaves to feed all the community. The monks were\ndismayed and melancholy: Benedict reproached them with their cowardice.\n\"You have not enough to-day,\" he said to them, \"but you shall have too\nmuch to-morrow.\" And accordingly they found next morning at the gates\nof the monastery two hundred bushels of flour, bestowed by some unknown\nhand. Thus were established the foundations of that traditional and\nunbounded munificence to which his spiritual descendants have remained\nunalterably faithful, and which was the law and glory of his existence.\n\nSo much sympathy for the poor naturally inspired them with a blind\nconfidence in him. One day, when he had gone out with the brethren to\nlabour in the fields, a peasant, distracted with grief, and bearing in\nhis arms the body of his dead son, came to the monastery and demanded\nto see Father Benedict. When he was told that Benedict was in the\nfields with the brethren, he threw down his son's body before the\ndoor, and, in the transport of his grief, ran at full speed to seek\nthe saint. He met him returning from his work, and from the moment he\nperceived him, began to cry, \"Restore me my son!\" Benedict stopped and\nasked \"Have I carried him away?\" The peasant answered \"He is dead;\ncome and raise him up.\" Benedict was grieved by these words, and said,\n\"Go home my friend this is not a work for us; this belongs to the holy\napostles. Why do you come to impose upon us so tremendous a burden?\"\nBut the father persisted, and swore in his passionate distress that\nhe would not go till the saint had raised up his son. The abbot asked\nhim where his son was. \"His body\" said he \"is at the door of the\nmonastery.\" Benedict, when he arrived there, fell on his knees, and\nthen laid himself down, as Elijah did in the house of the widow of\nSarepta, upon the body of the child, and rising up, extended his hands\nto heaven, praying thus; \"Lord look not upon my sins but on the faith\nof this man, and restore to the body the soul Thou hast taken away from\nit.\" Scarcely was his prayer ended, when all present perceived that the\nwhole body of the child trembled. Benedict took him by the hand, and\nrestored him to his father full of life and health.\n\nHis virtue, his fame, the supernatural power which was more and more\nvisible in his whole life, made him the natural protector of the poor\nhusbandmen against the violence and rapine of the new masters of\nItaly. The great Theodoric had organized an energetic and protective\ngovernment, but he dishonoured the end of his reign by persecution and\ncruelty; and since his death barbarism had regained all its ancient\nascendancy among the Goths. The rural population groaned under the\nyoke of these rude oppressors, doubly exasperated, as Barbarians\nand as Arians against the Italian Catholics. To Benedict, the Roman\npatrician, who had become a serf of God, belonged the noble office\nof drawing towards each other the Italians and Barbarians, two races\ncruelly divided by religion, fortune, language, and manners, whose\nmutual hatred was embittered by so many catastrophes inflicted by the\none, and suffered by the other, since the time of Alaric. The founder\nof Monte Cassino stood between the victors and the vanquished like an\nall-powerful moderator and inflexible judge. The facts which we are\nabout to relate, according to the narrative of S. Gregory, could be\ntold throughout all Italy, and, spreading from cottage to cottage,\nwould bring unthought of hope and consolation into the hearts of the\noppressed, and establish the popularity of Benedict and his order on an\nimmortal foundation in the memory of the people.\n\nIt has been seen that there were already Goths among the monks at\nSubiaco, and how they were employed in reclaiming the soil which their\nfathers had laid waste. But there were others who, inflamed by heresy,\nprofessed a hatred of all that was orthodox and belonged to monastic\nlife. One especially, named Galla, traversed the country panting with\nrage and cupidity, and made a sport of slaying the priests and monks\nwho fell under his power, and spoiling and torturing the people to\nextort from them the little that they had remaining. An unfortunate\npeasant, exhausted by the torments inflicted upon him by the pitiless\nGoth, conceived the idea of bringing them to an end by declaring\nthat he had confided all that he had to the keeping of Benedict, a\nservant of God; upon which Galla stopped the torture of the peasant,\nbut, binding his arms with ropes, and thrusting him in front of his\nown horse, ordered him to go before and show the way to the house\nof this Benedict who had defrauded him of his expected prey. Both\npursued thus the way to Monte Cassino; the peasant on foot, with his\nhands tied behind his back, urged on by the blows and taunts of the\nGoth, who followed on horseback, an image only too faithful of the\ntwo races which unhappy Italy enclosed within her distracted bosom,\nand which were to be judged and reconciled by the unarmed majesty of\nmonastic goodness. When they had reached the summit of the mountain\nthey perceived the abbot seated alone, reading at the door of his\nmonastery. \"Behold,\" said the prisoner turning to his tyrant, \"there\nis the Father Benedict of whom I told thee.\" The Goth, believing that\nhere, or elsewhere, he should be able to make his way by terror,\nimmediately called out with a furious tone to the monk. \"Rise up, rise\nup, and restore quickly what thou hast received from this peasant.\"\nAt these words the man of God raised his eyes from his book, and,\nwithout speaking, slowly turned his gaze first upon the Barbarian on\nhorseback, and then upon the husbandman bound, and bowed down by his\ncords. Under the light of that powerful gaze the cords which tied his\npoor arms loosed of themselves, and the innocent victim stood erect and\nfree, while the ferocious Galla, falling on the ground, trembling, and\nbeside himself, remained at the feet of Benedict, begging the saint to\npray for him. Without interrupting his reading, Benedict called his\nbrethren, and directed them to carry the fainting Barbarian into the\nmonastery, and give him some blessed bread, and, when he had come to\nhimself, the abbot represented to him the extravagance, injustice, and\ncruelty of his conduct, and exhorted him to change it for the future.\nThe Goth was completely subdued, and no longer dared to ask anything\nof the labourer whom the mere glance of the monk had delivered from his\nbonds.\n\n[Illustration: S. BENEDICT REPROVING TOTILA, AND PREDICTING HIS DEATH.\nFrom a Fresco, painted by Spinelli d'Arezzo, in the Church of San\nMiniato, near Florence. March 21.]\n\nBut this mysterious attraction, which drew the Goths under the\ninfluence of Benedict's looks and words, produced another celebrated\nand significant scene. The two principal elements of reviving society\nin their most striking impersonation--the victorious Barbarians and the\ninvincible monks--were here confronted. Totila, the greatest of the\nsuccessors of Theodoric, ascended the throne in 542, and immediately\nundertook the restoration of the monarchy of the Ostrogoths, which the\nvictories of Belisarius had half overthrown. Having defeated at Faenza,\nwith only five thousand men, the numerous Byzantine army, led by the\nincapable commanders whom the jealousy of Justinian had substituted\nfor Belisarius, the victorious king made a triumphal progress through\nCentral Italy, and was on his way to Naples when he was seized with\na desire to see this Benedict, whose fame was already as great among\nthe Romans as among the Barbarians, and who was everywhere called a\nprophet. He directed his steps towards Monte Cassino, and caused his\nvisit to be announced. Benedict answered that he would receive him. But\nTotila desirous of proving the prophetic spirit which was attributed\nto the saint, dressed the captain of his guard in the royal robes and\npurple boots, which were the distinctive marks of royalty, gave him a\nnumerous escort, commanded by the three counts who usually guarded his\nown person, and charged him, thus clothed and accompanied, to present\nhimself to the abbot as the king. The moment that Benedict perceived\nhim, \"My son,\" he cried, \"put off the dress you wear; it is not yours.\"\nThe officer immediately threw himself upon the ground, appalled at\nthe idea of having attempted to deceive such a man. Neither he nor\nany of the retinue ventured so much as to approach the abbot, but\nreturned at full speed to the king, to tell him how promptly they had\nbeen discovered. Then Totila himself ascended the monastic mountain,\nbut when he had reached the height, and saw from a distance the abbot\nseated, waiting for him, the victor of the Romans, and the master of\nItaly was afraid. He dared not advance, but threw himself on his face\nbefore the servant of Christ. Benedict said to him three times, \"Rise.\"\nBut as he persisted in his prostration, the monk rose from his seat and\nraised him up. During the course of their interview, Benedict reproved\nhim for all that was blamable in his life, and predicted what should\nhappen to him in the future. \"You have done much evil; you do it still\nevery day; it is time that your iniquities should cease. You shall\nenter Rome; you shall cross the sea; you shall reign nine years, and\nthe tenth you shall die.\" The king, deeply moved, commended himself\nto his prayers, and withdrew. But he carried away in his heart this\nsalutary and retributive incident, and from that time his barbarian\nnature was transformed.\n\nTotila was as victorious as Benedict had predicted that he should be.\nHe possessed himself first of Benevento and Naples, then of Rome, then\nof Sicily, which he invaded with a fleet of five hundred ships, and\nended by conquering Corsica and Sardinia. But he exhibited everywhere\na clemency and gentleness which, to the historian of the Goths, seem\nout of character at once with his origin and his position as a foreign\nconqueror. He treated the Neapolitans as his children, and the captive\nsoldiers as his own troops, gaining himself immortal honour by the\ncontrast between his conduct and the horrible massacre of the whole\npopulation, which the Greeks had perpetrated ten years before, when\nthat town was taken by Belisarius. He punished with death one of\nhis bravest officers, who had insulted the daughter of an obscure\nItalian, and gave all his goods to the woman whom he had injured, and\nthat despite the representations of the principal nobles of his own\nnation, whom he convinced of the necessity of so severe a measure,\nthat they might merit the protection of God upon their arms. When Rome\nsurrendered, after a prolonged siege, Totila forbade the Goths to shed\nthe blood of any Roman, and protected the women from insult. At length,\nafter a ten years' reign, he fell, according to the prediction of\nBenedict, in a great battle which he fought with the Greco-Roman army,\ncommanded by the eunuch Narses.\n\nPlaced as if midway between the two invasions of the Goths and\nLombards, the dear and holy foundation of Benedict, respected by\nthe one, was to yield for a time to the rage of the other. The holy\npatriarch had a presentment that his successors would not meet a second\nTotila to listen to them and spare them. A noble whom he had converted,\nand who lived on familiar terms with him, found him one day weeping\nbitterly. He watched Benedict for a long time, and then, perceiving\nthat his tears were not stayed, and that they proceeded not from the\nordinary fervour of his prayers, but from profound melancholy, he asked\nthe cause. The saint answered, \"This monastery which I have built, and\nall that I have prepared for my brethren, has been delivered up to\nthe pagans by a sentence of Almighty God. Scarcely have I been able\nto obtain mercy for their lives.\" Less than forty years after, this\nprediction was accomplished by the destruction of Monte Cassino by the\nLombards.\n\nBenedict, however, was near the end of his career. His interview\nwith Totila took place in 542, in the year which preceded his death,\nand from his earliest days of the following year, God prepared him\nfor his last struggle, by requiring from him the sacrifice of the\nmost tender affection he had retained on earth. The beautiful and\ntouching incident of the last meeting of Benedict with his twin sister,\nScholastica, has been already recorded (Feb. 10th). At the window of\nhis cell, three days after, Benedict had a vision of his dear sister's\nsoul entering heaven in the form of a snowy dove. He immediately sent\nfor the body, and placed it in the sepulchre which he had already\nprepared for himself, that death might not separate those whose souls\nhad always been united in God.\n\nThe death of his sister was the signal of departure for himself. He\nsurvived her only forty days. He announced his death to several of\nhis monks, then far from Monte Cassino. A violent fever having seized\nhim, he caused himself on the sixth day of his sickness to be carried\nto the chapel of S. John the Baptist; he had before ordered the tomb\nin which his sister already slept to be opened. There, supported in\nthe arms of his disciples, he received the holy Viaticum, then placing\nhimself at the side of the open grave, but at the foot of the altar,\nand with his arms extended towards heaven, he died, standing, muttering\na last prayer. Died standing!--such a victorious death became well that\ngreat soldier of God. He was buried by the side of Scholastica, in a\nsepulchre made on the spot where stood the altar of Apollo, which he\nhad thrown down.\n\nThe body of S. Benedict was carried by S. Aigulf, monk of the abbey\nof Fleury, from Monte Cassino, which had been ruined by the Lombards,\ninto France, to his own monastery. This translation took place on July\n11th, and is commemorated in all the monasteries of France on that day.\nAnother solemnity, called the Illation, has been instituted in honour\nof the transfer of the same relics from Orleans, whither they had been\nconveyed, from fear of the Normans, back again to Fleury-sur-Loire.\nIn 1838, the bishop of Orleans resolved on sending the relics to the\nBenedictine abbey of Solesmes, in the diocese of Le Mans, but the\nproject met with so great opposition that he contented himself with\nsending only the skull to Solesmes.\n\nThe reliquary which was opened in 1805, by Mgr. Bernier, bishop of\nOrleans, was found to contain, together with the bones, several papal\nbulls authenticating the relics. It is, however, necessary to add that\nthe abbey of Monte Cassino claims to possess the body of S. Benedict,\nand adduces a bull of pope Urban II., declaring anathema against all\nwho deny the authenticity of that body. It is possible that if the\nrelics in both places were examined carefully, it would be found that\nthe portions missing in one place would be found in the other. It is\ncertain that S. Odilo of Cluny sent one of the bones of S. Benedict\nto Monte Cassino out of France, in the 11th cent., and that it was\nreceived there with great joy, so that the monks there cannot have\npossessed the body at that date.\n\nIn Art, S. Benedict is represented with his finger on his lip, as\nenjoining silence, and with his rule in his hand, or with the first\nwords of that rule, \"Ausculta, O fili!\" issuing from his lips, and with\na discipline, _i.e._ a scourge, or a rose bush at his side, or holding\na broken goblet in his hand.\n\n[Illustration: Saint giving benediction]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 22.\n\n S. PAUL, _B. of Narbonne, 3rd or 4th cent._\n S. APHRODISIUS, _B. of Beziers, 3rd or 4th cent._\n SS. CALLINICA AND BASILISSA, _MM. in Galatia, circ._ A.D. 252.\n SS. SATURNINUS AND IX. COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa_.\n S. BASIL, _P.M. at Ancyra_, A.D. 363.\n S. LEA, _W. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 383.\n S. DEOGRATIAS, _B. of Carthage, circ._ A.D. 456.\n SS. HERLINDA AND REINILDA, _V.V. Abss. at Maeseyck, in Belgium,\n 8th cent._\n S. BENVENUTUS, _B. of Osimo, in the Marches of Ancona_, A.D. 1276.\n S. EELKO LIAUKMAN,_ Ab. of Lidlom, in Holland_, A.D.. 1332.\n B. THOMAS OF LANCASTER, _M. at Pontefract_, A.D. 1321.\n S. KATHARINE OF SWEDEN, _V. daughter of S. Bridget_, A.D. 1381.\n B. NICOLAS VON DER FLUE, _H. at Sachseln, in Switzerland_, A.D. 1487.\n\n\nS. PAUL, B. OF NARBONNE.\n\n(3RD OR 4TH CENT.)\n\n [Ancient Martyrology of S. Jerome; Gallican & Roman Martyrologies.]\n\nSaint Paul, mentioned by the early martyrologies as bishop of\nNarbonne, and confessor, has been conjectured to be Sergius Paulus,\nthe proconsul, converted in the island of Cyprus by the apostle Paul,\nwhen Elymas, the sorcerer, withstood S. Paul. There is no evidence\nsubstantiating this, nor does it appear to rest on any very ancient\ntradition.\n\nThe most ancient martyrologies do not assert it, though some of them\nsay that he was a convert of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The Roman\nMartyrology mentions the report, but does not authorise it. The Acts of\nhis life are not deserving of credence. S. Paul certainly lived much\nlater than he is represented to have done.\n\nSome relics are preserved in the Church of S. Paul at Narbonne.\n\n\nS. APHRODISIUS, B. OF BEZIERS.\n\n(3RD OR 4TH CENT.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, the Evora Breviary, and others.]\n\nThis bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in\nhis mission into Gaul. A foolish legend[82] (_fabulosa narratio_ it is\ncalled by Henschenius) is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt\nat the time when S. Joseph and the B. Virgin went down thither with the\nHoly Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the\nyoung child's life. On the arrival of the child Jesus in Egypt all the\nidols fell, and Aphrodisius, recognising in Him his God, bowed before\nHim in adoration, and defended the Holy Family from the rage of the\nidolatrous priests. After the Ascension he laid down his prefectship\nand went to Antioch where he was baptized by S. Peter, and afterwards\nsent with S. Sergius Paulus into Gaul. S. Aphrodisius, however,\ncertainly lived much later than he is represented to have done.\n\n[82] Related by Peter de Natalibus, lib. iii. c. 218.\n\n\nS. BASIL, P. M. AT ANCYRA.\n\n(A.D. 363.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on the same day. In the Syriac\n Church, a S. Basil and his Companions are commemorated on March 1st,\n and another S. Basil and his Companions on March 8th, and S. Basil, P.\n M., on March 28th in the Coptic Kalendar. The Greek Acts are genuine,\n and were written by a contemporary. Other versions of the Acts exist,\n but they are corrupted by the intermixture of the Acts of another S.\n Basil, a frequent mistake, when there are several saints of the same\n name.]\n\nS. Basil was a priest of Ancyra, very fervent in spirit, zealous in\nupholding the Catholic faith, and combating the Arian heresy foot\nto foot. An Arian synod of bishops ordered his degradation from his\noffice, in 360, and appointed Eudoxius, a bishop, and an Arian, in\nhis place. But Basil encouraged by the Catholic bishops refused to\nbudge, but maintained his ground, and was indefatigable in stimulating\nthe courage of the faithful, and encouraging the half-hearted. He was\nthe means of restoring large numbers of those who had been taught by\nthe Arians to disbelieve in the consubstantiality of the Son with\nthe Father to full Catholic faith, thereby exasperating the heretics\nagainst him. He was one of those fiery enthusiasts of resistless\nenergy, uncompromising with himself and others, a type as needful as\nthe soft and gentle saint, winning through love. The burning faith\nof Basil carried him dauntless into danger, and made him regardless\nof opposition, and those spirits which looked to a strong nature for\nsupport found a rock in Basil.\n\nAs soon as Julian assumed the purple, paganism was revived; and if\nthe Christians were not openly persecuted, every means which craft\ncould devise of breaking their resolution were resorted to, and with\nsuch success that the mild measures of Julian proved more dangerous\nto the Church than the fiery persecution of Decius. But the patience\nof Julian gave way towards the end of his career, and it is certain\nthat in some cases he encouraged, and in others connived at the resort\nto violence to punish the most zealous upholders of Christianity. The\ncharges against those most obnoxious were not always their religion,\nbut contempt of the edicts or seditious conduct. Basil worked so\neffectually in Ancyra to counteract the imperial policy that the pagan\npriests and governor were resolved to destroy him, hoping that, if\nthe prop of the Ancyran Christians were removed, their faith would\nyield with a crash. Macarius, one of the priests of the idols, laid\nhold of Basil as he was publicly denouncing heathen worship, and drew\nhim before the magistrate, Saturninus, on the charge of stirring up\nthe people against the established religion. \"What meanest thou,\"\ncried Macarius, \"going to and fro in the city, agitating the people\nagainst the religion established by the emperor?\" \"God break thy\njaws, thou bondslave of Satan!\" answered Basil. \"It is not I who ruin\nthy religion, but He who is in Heaven who confounds thy counsel and\ndissipates thy lies.\"\n\nThen Macarius cried out to the proconsul, \"I charge this fellow with\nmaking sedition in the city, stirring up the people to overthrow our\naltars and defy the emperor.\" \"Who art thou,\" asked Saturninus, \"who\nart so audacious as to do these things?\" Basil replied, \"I am the best\nof everything,--a Christian.\"\n\n\"Then why, if thou art a Christian, dost not thou behave as a\nChristian?\" \"I do,\" answered Basil; \"it behoves every Christian to make\nbare all acts.\"\n\n\"Why dost thou make revolt in the city, transgressing good laws, and\nblaspheming the emperor?\"\n\n\"I do not blaspheme the emperor or his religion. God is my emperor, and\nHe will bring your petty established religion to naught in no time.\"\n\n\"So the religion of the emperor is not true!\"\n\n\"How can I regard that religion as true, and that worship as true which\nconsists in men running howling about the streets like rabid dogs with\nraw flesh in their mouths.\"[83]\n\n[83] He is alluding to the Omophagic rites of Zeus Zagreus, in which\nthe worshippers fell on a sheep and tore it with their teeth and ran\nabout with the blood dripping from their jaws.\n\n\"Hang him up and scrape him,\" said the proconsul. So Basil was\nsuspended by his wrists and ankles, and his flesh was torn with rakes.\nAnd as he suffered he cried, \"Lord God of ages, I thank thee that I am\ndeemed worthy to enter into the way of life through these torments,\nwalking through which I may behold the heirs of thy promises!\" Then\nhe was taken down and cast into prison. And after that the proconsul\nsent to the emperor Julian, to announce what had taken place, and to\nask further orders. Then the emperor sent three renegade Christians,\nand advised the proconsul to endeavour by all means to persuade and\nflatter Basil into apostasy. But though all efforts were used to shake\nhis resolution they failed, and Basil remained in chains till Julian\nhimself passed through Ancyra on his way east to the Persian war.\nThen Basil was summoned before the emperor, and Julian endeavoured to\npersuade him to conform to his religion, but the holy martyr blazed\nforth in righteous zeal against the apostate. \"Thou renegade hast\nabdicated the throne prepared for thee in heaven,\" he said; \"And verily\nI believe that Christ whom thou hast abjured will take thee and pluck\nthee out of thy dwelling, that thou mayest know how great is that God\nwhom thou hast offended. Thou hast not thought of His judgments, nor\nvenerated His altar where thou wast given salvation; thou hast not\nkept His law which often thou didst declare with thy lips; wherefore\nthe great emperor Christ will not remember thee, but will take from\nthee speedily thy earthly empire, and thy body shall be deprived of a\nsepulchre, and thou shalt breathe forth thy soul in greatest anguish.\"\n\nThen Julian ordered him to be taken away, and seven thongs to be cut\ndaily from his skin. This command was given to Frumentinus, Count of\nthe Squires (Comes Scutariorum.) And when this had been done, the\nmartyr gathered up one of the strips of skin cut off him, in his\nhand, and besought that he might be conducted before the emperor. And\nas Frumentinus believed that he was about to make adjuration of his\nreligion, he brought him into the council hall before Julian. Then he\ncried, \"Dumb and deaf and blind are thy idols, Apostate! To me to live\nis Christ, and to die is gain. He is my helper in whom I trust, and for\nwhom I suffer. Here is meat for thee, Julian!\" and he flung the strip\nof skin in his face.\n\nThen the count, alarmed at having occasioned this scene, by suffering\nBasil to return into the emperor's presence, hurried him out and cast\nhim into prison. On the morrow Julian departed for Antioch, without\nhaving seen the count, who feared that he had fallen into disgrace,\nand therefore vented his spleen on the martyr. He had iron spikes\nheated red-hot, and Basil thrown upon them, so that they burnt into\nhis bowels. But Basil prayed, \"Christ is my light, and Jesus is my\nhope, a calm port in tempest. I give Thee thanks, Lord God of my\nfathers, because thou hast saved my soul from the abyss; keep Thy Name\ninviolate in me, and make me an heir of eternal quiet, for the promise\nmade unto my fathers by the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, our Lord;\nthrough whom I pray Thee receive my spirit into peace, persevering in\nmy confession; for Thou art merciful and long-suffering and full of\ncompassion; who livest and abidest through ages of ages. Amen.\" And\nwhen he had ended his prayer, as one overcome with slumber, he ceased\nand gave up his spirit.\n\n\nS. DEOGRATIAS, B. OF CARTHAGE.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 456.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Victor of Utica. Hist. Persec.\n Vandalorum, lib. i.]\n\nCarthage was taken by Genseric king of the Vandals in October, 439, and\nthen began that fearful Arian persecution of the Catholics which almost\nsurpassed those of the heathen emperors in horror. Bishop Quodvultdeus\nhad been sent adrift along with his clergy in a broken vessel, and had\nbeen carried by the wind in safety to Naples. The church of Carthage\nwas without a chief pastor for about fourteen years, till in 454,\nDeogratias was created bishop.\n\nIn 455, Genseric entered Rome, which he found undefended. Pope S.\nLeo met him at the gates and obtained from him that the city should\nnot be burnt, nor should the inhabitants be massacred, but that the\nVandal conquerors were to content themselves with the pillage. Rome\nwas therefore pillaged deliberately during a fortnight, and then the\nVandals retired carrying with them an immense treasure, amongst other\nthings of value, the sacred vessels which Titus had taken from the\ntemple of Jerusalem. They returned to Africa also encumbered with\ncrowds of captives whom they sold to the Moors and amongst themselves.\nWives were separated from their husbands, and children from their\nparents. The holy bishop, stirred to the depths of his soul by the\nmisery that he saw, sold all the gold and silver vessels of the\nchurches of Carthage, and spent the proceeds in redeeming those slaves\nwhose cases were most urgent and distressing. And, because there\nwas not found any other place sufficiently capacious to receive the\nransomed multitude, he devoted to their accommodation the church of S.\nFausta, and the new church, which he filled with straw and with beds.\nAs there were many sick amongst this crowd, some who had suffered from\nsea-sickness, and others from the disorders consequent on being crowded\ntogether in small vessels, the holy prelate visited them at all hours,\nwith medicines, and proper food, and ministered to their necessities\nwith his own hands. He did not even rest at night, but walked up and\ndown the churches visiting the beds, and seeing that order and comfort\nprevailed. The emergency gave the aged and decrepid man new strength.\nThe Arians envious of his virtue, made several attempts on his life,\nbut they failed. The labour and exhaustion consequent on this tax on\nhis energies overcame him, and he died peaceably after having held the\nsee only three years. He was secretly buried, whilst the Catholics\nwere engaged in their churches at prayer, for fear lest the people,\nwho loved him as a father, should carry off his revered body. After\nhis death Genseric forbade the ordination of bishops in the whole\nproconsular province and in Zeugitania, where there were as many as\nsixty-four. Thus, by deaths and imprisonment, the number of Catholic\nbishops in thirty years was reduced to three.\n\n\nB. EELKO LIAUKAMAN, AB.\n\n(A.D. 1332.)\n\n [Norbertine Martyrology. Venerated anciently at Lidlom, in Holland.\n Authority:--Life by Sibrand Leonius, Norbertine Canon, 1580.]\n\nThe blessed Eelko Liaukaman was abbot of the wealthy Norbertine house\nof Lidlom, in Friesland, at a time when the wealth of the abbey had\ntended greatly to the relaxation of discipline. The possessions of\nthe abbey were far apart, and the lay-brothers were sent about to the\ndifferent farms and cells to attend to the secular interests of the\nsociety. The abbot soon ascertained that these men took advantage of\ntheir being away from supervision to lead disorderly lives, drinking\nand not unfrequently falling into worse offences. He at once undertook\nto correct this scandalous conduct as far as possible, and visited the\nfarms and places whither the lay-brothers had been sent at unexpected\ntimes; the consequence of which was that he sometimes caught them\ntripping, and as a necessary corollary, incurred their deadly enmity.\nThe chief malefactors determined on his destruction, and planned to\nmurder him when he was at his castle of Ter-poort. He had retired for\nthe night, shut his door, \"put on his night-shirt, drawers, belt and\ncap, gone to bed, poured forth his prayers, and composed himself to\nsleep,\"[84] when the conspirators burst in through the window. Hearing\nthe noise, the abbot rose up in his bed, and asked gently what was the\nmatter. Then the disorderly lay-brothers began to shower abuse on him,\nand call him a hypocrite, a glutton, and a drunkard. \"My sons, when\nsaw ye me drunk?\" \"Oh, you put your tipple away up your sleeves, so as\nto drink on the sly,\" they said. \"Go,\" said he, \"shake my sleeves and\nsee for yourselves.\" They did so, and a shower of red roses fell on\nthe floor. Then rushing on him with sticks they beat his brains out,\nand drawing his body through the window flung it into the moat. Next\nmorning a woman who was passing saw a portion of his white night gear\nabove the water and gave the alarm. The body was raised from the moat.\nThe murderers were afterwards caught and executed.\n\n[84] \"Clauso cubile, interula, caligis, cingulo, pileoque nocturno\ninstructus, lecto sese colocat; fusis ad Deum precibus, somno se\ncomponit.\"\n\nBefore the so-called Reformation the B. Eelko was venerated as a saint,\nand represented in art shaking roses out of his habit.\n\n\nB. THOMAS OF LANCASTER.\n\n(A.D. 1321.)\n\n [Inscribed in his additions to Usuardus by Herman Greven, in the\n German Martyrology of Canisius, and by Ferrarius in his General\n Catalogue of the Saints. Not mentioned in the Anglican or Roman\n Martyrologies, but it is certain that Thomas of Lancaster received\n veneration shortly after his execution, and that miraculous cures were\n attributed to his relics.]\n\nThere have been, as there probably ever will be, great differences\nof opinion as to the justice of beheading Thomas, Earl of Lancaster,\ncousin-german to king Edward II.\n\nEdward of Carnarvon had received his father's final instructions before\nEdward I. died. Of these the principal were; that he should devote a\ncertain sum to the succour of the Holy Land; that he should persist in\nthe conquest of Scotland; and that he should not recall his favourite,\nPiers de Gaveston (a young Gascon, whom the king had lately banished),\nwithout the consent of parliament.\n\nEvery one of these commands were directly violated by the young king.\nHis first act was to send for Gaveston; and to confer on him the\nroyal earldom of Cornwall. The old ministers and judges were nearly\nall dismissed. Langton, bishop of Coventry, the treasurer of the late\nking, who had formerly reproved the extravagance of the prince and his\nfavourite, was thrown into prison. Gaveston received the money left for\nthe crusade, was made lord chamberlain; betrothed to Margaret de Clare,\nniece of the king; and presently, when Edward went to marry Isabel of\nFrance at Boulogne, left regent of England.\n\nThe jealousy of the great nobles was already excited; but when they\nbeheld the king, on his return, rush into the arms of his favourite\nwithout regarding them; and when they saw Gaveston take precedence of\nthem all at the coronation of Edward, their anger burst forth. Three\ndays after the ceremony they called upon the king to dismiss his\nminion. Edward deferred the matter until parliament should meet, hoping\nby that time to soothe their resentment. All his efforts, however,\nwas rendered nugatory by the pride and insolence of Gaveston, and the\nnobles insisted on his expulsion. Edward was obliged to give way,\nand Gaveston to swear that he would never return. The king, however,\nescorted him to Bristol with every mark of honour, and mortified his\nenemies still more by appointing the exile his lieutenant in Ireland.\n\nFrom the day of Gaveston's departure the king laboured to effect his\nrecall. He solicited the intervention of the pope; and having obtained\na conditional abrogation of the oath taken by Gaveston, ordered him\nto return. Receiving him in person at Chester, he brought him to meet\nparliament. Here he induced the bishops and peers to consent that his\nfavourite should remain in England; but they added,--as long as he\nconducted himself well.\n\nIn a very short time, however, the absolute ascendancy of Gaveston over\nthe king, his ostentation and presumption, had revived the animosity\nof the barons. Lancaster and his friends refused to attend the next\nparliament. Edward, who wanted money, found it necessary to yield. He\nprologued the parliament to London, and leaving Gaveston in retirement,\nrepaired to the capital. The great barons attended with such a military\nforce, that Edward was obliged to grant all their demands. A committee\nof seven prelates, eight earls, and six barons, under the name of\nordainers, was appointed, with full powers to redress the grievances of\nthe nation. Gaveston was again banished and as speedily was recalled by\nthe king in defiance of his parliament. The barons then took up arms,\nand captured Gaveston at Scarborough (May 19th, 1312), and executed him\nby order of Lancaster and the other insurgent nobles at Blacklow, near\nCoventry.\n\nThe news of this audacious deed affected the king with the most\npassionate grief, to which was quickly added a fierce desire for\nrevenge. His anger was not diminished when the barons followed up\nthe blow by a peremptory demand that the ordinances for the better\ngovernment of England and the rectification of flagrant abuses should\nbe carried into effect. A superficial reconciliation was however\neffected. The parliament assembled at Westminster hall, and Edward\nhaving taken his seat on the throne, the earl of Lancaster and his\nassociates knelt before him, and solicited a pardon for the acts which\nhad offended him. Taking each petitioner by the hand, the king bestowed\nupon him the kiss of peace, promised, and the next day published, a\ngeneral amnesty.\n\nSome time after the death of Gaveston, the ordainers had imposed upon\nthe king, as chamberlain, a young man named Hugh le Despenser, son of\none of the great barons. From an object of dislike, he soon became the\nfavourite of Edward. With his father, he had ably supported the king in\nhis resistance to the earl of Lancaster, and he had become especially\nodious to the earl's party. But, however loyal, the chamberlain was\nundoubtedly rapacious; and a harsh attempt to enforce the feudal law\nto his own advantage, excited the lords Marchers of Wales to arm\nagainst him. The earl of Lancaster soon joined them; and the united\nbarons, marching upon London, decreed that the Despensers (who were\nboth absent), should be banished. The bishops protested; but the king\nand his friends were forced to assent to this lawless proceeding. Two\nmonths after the king recalled the Despensers, and took the field\nagainst the barons. The earl assaulted the royal castle of Tichhill;\nbut failing in his attempts, he hurried southwards to stop the advance\nof Edward at Burton-on-Trent. The king, however, forced the passage\nof the river, and the barons retreated hastily to Pontefract. There\na stormy council was held. Lancaster was for making a stand at that\npoint; but over-borne by his associate, he resumed the retreat. At\nBoroughbridge, however, he found the way barred by a strong force\nunder Sir Andrew Harkeley, governor of Carlisle, and Sir Simon Ward,\nsheriff of Yorkshire. After a vain endeavour to gain the adhesion of\nHarkeley, who had formerly received knighthood at his hands, Lancaster\nresolved to force the passage of the bridge; but the earl of Hereford\nhaving been slain in the attempt, and an attack by a ford having been\nrepulsed, earl Thomas took refuge in a chapel, saying, as he looked\nupon the crucifix; \"Lord, I render myself to Thee and Thy mercy.\" He\nwas, nevertheless, dragged out by the royalists, who, despoiling him\nof his rich surcoat, clothed him in a common livery, and conveyed\nhim down the river to York, where he was received with every kind of\ninsult. Thence he was taken to Pontefract Castle, which he at that time\npossessed in the right of his wife, the heiress of the De Lacys, and\npresented to the king.\n\nThe death of Gaveston was now to be avenged. The earl of Lancaster was\nbrought a prisoner into his own hall; and there the king, with the\nearls of Kent, Richmond, Pembroke, the elder Spenser, and other of\nhis party, condemned him to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Edward,\nhowever, remitted the more degrading parts of the sentence. The earl\nwas at once delivered into the hands of a band of Gascons, who put an\nold cap on his head, set him on a lean white pony, and led him out to\nimmediate execution. The presence of his confessor, a Dominican monk,\nwho walked by his side, did not save the earl from the insults of the\nroyalist rabble. They threw pellets of dirt at him, and derisively\nsaluted him as \"king Arthur.\" In this manner he was conducted to the\nsummit of a hill without the town, where he was ordered to kneel, with\nhis face to the north, and then his head was stricken off by \"a villain\nof London.\"\n\nA martyr to religion Thomas of Lancaster was not, but he was a martyr\nfor the rights and liberties of English people.\n\nHe both furthered the cause of public liberty, and perished in its\ndefence. Witness the part he took in framing the ordinances \"for the\ncommon benefit of the kingdom, and the peace and prosperity of all the\npeople generally.\" All his transactions show that the earl was a man\nof noble purposes, naturally averse to arbitrary power, and a lover\nof liberty in the true and rational sense of its value. The sentence\npronounced against him was formally revoked by act of parliament;\nand the priory church at Pontefract, which claimed to have his body\nburied on the right hand of the high altar, became the scene of a\nseries of miracles. There is a record in the Corpus Christi College at\nCambridge \"of the miracles God wroughte for Seint Thomas of Lancaster:\nwherefore the king lete close the church doors of Pountfret of the\nPrioree, for no man shall come therein to the body for to offeren.\"\nThe veneration extended to London and became so prominent that a royal\nproclamation was issued denouncing and threatening the worshippers of\nthe effigy: \"Inimici et rebelli nostri fotue accedentes eam absque\nauctoritate Ecclesi\u00e6 Roman\u00e6 tanquam rem sanctificatam colunt et adsunt,\nasserentes ibi fieri miracula, opprobrium totius Ecclesi\u00e6, nostri et\nvestri dedecus, et animarum populi predicti periculum manifestum,\nac pernisiosum exemplum aliorum.\" This reverence therefore, however\nproduced, was of a national and unauthorized character; but within\nfive weeks after the accession of Edward III. a special mission\nwas sent to the pope from the king, imploring the appointment of a\ncommission to institute the usual canonical investigation preparatory\nto the canonisation of a Christian hero. In June of the same year a\nking's-letter was given to Robert de Weryngton, authorising him and his\nagents to collect alms throughout the kingdom for the erection of a\nchapel on the hill where the earl was beheaded. Three years later (that\nis in 1330) the embassy was repeated, urging the attention of the court\nof Rome to a subject that so much interested the Church and people\nof England; and in the April of the following year three still more\nimportant envoys were sent with letters to the pope, to nine cardinals,\nto the refendary of the papal court, and to the three nephews of\nhis holiness, intreating them not to give ear to the invectives of\nmalignant men who had asserted that the earl of Lancaster connived at\nsome injury offered to certain cardinals at Durham in the late king's\nreign. It is affirmed that, on the contrary, the earl defended those\nhigh personages at his own great peril; and the reiterated demand for\nhis sanctification appeals to the words of Scripture, \"Knock, and it\nshall be opened unto you.\"\n\nOf this strange story no continuation appears till fifty-nine years\nlater, when Walshingham, the Benedictine monk of St. Alban's,\nchronicling the events of 1390 (the thirteenth year of Richard II.),\nwrites, \"_hoc quoque anno sanctus Thomas de Lancastria canonizatus\nest_.\" The same event is recorded by John Capgrave with the discrepancy\nof one year. Writing of 1389, he narrates: \"And this same year was\nThomas of Lancaster canonised, for it was seid commounly that he should\nnevir be canonised onto the time that all the juges that set upon him\nwere ded, & all her issew.\"\n\nNotwithstanding the distinct assertions of these two ecclesiastical\nhistorians, the festival of Thomas of Lancaster is not set down in any\nof the Salisbury Service books either printed or in manuscript. Nor\ndoes his feast come among those which Lyndwode speaks of as introduced\nin later years. Butler makes no mention of him in his _Lives of the\nSaints_, nor do the Bollandists give to him more than half-a-dozen\nlines, mentioning him amongst those whom they do not propose to notice.\n\nA stone coffin found in a field not far from S. Thomas's Hill, near\nPontefract, in the year 1828, which in local histories has been\nsupposed to contain the bones of the earl, is still to be seen in\nthe grounds of Lord Houghton, at Fryston Hall.[85] The heavy lid was\nremoved in the presence of Mr. T. Wright, Rev. C. Hartshorne, and other\nmembers of the Arch\u00e6ological Association, and the bones taken out\nand examined. The head was found between the leg bones. All were of\nunusually large proportions. They were afterwards restored, with the\nexception of the skull, to their ancient resting-place. The skull is\npreserved in Fryston Hall.\n\n[85] See Observations on the History of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, by\nLord Houghton in the Transactions of the Arch\u00e6ological Association for\n1863, and Notes and Queries for 1850; also \"The Honour and Castle of\nPontefract,\" by Rev. C. H. Hartshorne.\n\n\nS. KATHARINE OF SWEDEN, V.\n\n(A.D. 1381.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Kalendar. Her\n office was sanctioned by Innocent VIII. Authority:--Her life by Ulph,\n a Brigittine friar, written thirty years after her death.]\n\nS. Katharine of Sweden was the daughter of Ulph, prince of Nierck,\nin Sweden, and S. Bridget. At the age of seven she was placed in\nthe nunnery of Risborg. Being very beautiful, her father contracted\nher in marriage to Egard, a young nobleman of great virtue; but she\npersuaded her husband to live with her a life of perpetual chastity.\nAfter the death of her father, S. Katharine out of devotion undertook\na pilgrimage with her mother to various holy places, and came to Rome,\nwhere S. Bridget died in 1373. Katharine returned to Sweden and died\nabbess of Vatzen, in the diocese of Lincopen, on March 24th, 1381.\n\n\nB. NICOLAS VON DER FLUE, H.\n\n(A.D. 1487.)\n\n [Venerated in Unterwalden, in Switzerland, whence his cultus has\n spread into France and the Netherlands. His life was written the year\n after his death by Heinrich von Gundelfingen, canon of Bern. See also\n Albrecht v. Bonstetten, Leben d. Selig. Nicolaus von der Flue, vom\n j. 1487 aus einer N\u00fcrnberger Handschrift herausgegeben v. C. Morel,\n Einsiedeln, 1862. The following account is condensed from Catholic\n Legends, Burns, London.]\n\nNicolas von der Flue was born in Unterwalden in the year 1417, near the\nvillage of Sachseln. He was descended from a race of good and pious\nshepherds, in whom were transmitted from father to son the ancient\nvirtues of the Swiss, and who enjoyed during successive centuries\nthe esteem of their fellow-countrymen. His parents had an honest\ncompetence; and, after the example of their fathers, they adhered\nstedfastly to the true and ancient faith, respected the laws of their\ncountry, and brought up their children in piety and virtue. They tended\ntheir flocks with unwearied care; and, after a life of tranquility,\nfell asleep in God, full of confidence; for they had walked before\nHim, like the patriarchs, to the borders of Jordan. The young Nicolas\ngrew up beneath their salutary tutelage, and manifested always an\nobedient spirit and a love of virtue; gentle and pious even from the\ndays of his childhood. It was often remarked by those around him, that\nafter the hard labour of a whole day in the fields, when he returned\nhome in the evening, he would disappear by stealth to pray in some\nsecret place. His spirit began thus early to mortify the body, in\norder to give itself without distraction to elevated contemplation.\nWhen some one, out of kindness, warned him not to ruin his health in\nhis youth by such severe fasts as he was accustomed to observe, he\nreplied, with sweetness, that such was the will of God concerning him.\nNotwithstanding his fervent and austere devotion, his demeanour was\ncheerful and affable; and he discharged with fidelity all the duties\nwhich his condition of life imposed upon him. He entered upon manhood\nendowed with a noble firmness of soul, a penetrating intelligence, and\ngreat purity of heart. In his twenty-third year he took arms, at the\ncall of the magistrates, in the campaign against Zurich; and again,\nfourteen years later, at the time of the occupation of Thurgau, when\nhe commanded, as captain, a company of 100 men, and manifested such\nbravery, that his country decreed him a gold medal as a recompense. A\nyet more honourable circumstance in the same expedition was the saving\nof the monastery of the valley of S. Katharine, near Diessenhofen,\nwhich to this day reveres him as its deliverer. It was owing to his\nexhortations that the Swiss relinquished their design of setting fire\nto the abbey, in order to expel the enemy, who abandoned it soon after\nof their own accord. In battle he carried his sword in one hand, his\nchaplet in the other: he showed himself at once a fearless soldier and\na merciful Christian, protecting the widow and the orphan, and not\npermitting the conquerors to perpetrate acts of violence against the\nvanquished.\n\nArrived at manhood, Nicolas married a virtuous young girl, named\nDorothea Wysyling. They had ten children, five sons and five daughters.\n\nNicolas was himself unanimously elected governor and judge of Obwalden.\nThe high dignity of Landaman was decreed him by the general assembly\nseveral times; but he feared the great responsibility; and, without\ndoubt, he felt also that God had reserved him for some other and\ngreater thing.\n\nNicolas had thus lived fifty years for the good of his country and\nfamily, and esteemed by all, when, in the year 1467, he felt himself\ndrawn to a closer walk with God, in a life of entire separation from\nthe world. His eldest son, John von der Flue, thus speaks of him: \"My\nfather always retired to rest at the same time as his children and\nservants; but every night I saw him rise again, and heard him praying\nin his chamber until morning. Many times, also, he would repair in\nthe silence of the night to the old church of S. Nicholas, or to\nother holy places.\" These hours of solitude were to him the happiest\nmoments of his life; and the interior impulse became even more powerful\nto consecrate the remainder of his life to the devout contemplation\nof eternal truths. God also favoured him frequently with miraculous\nintimations of His divine will. On one occasion, when he went to visit\nhis flock at a place called Bergmatt, according to his wont, he knelt\nupon the grass, and began to pray, when God vouchsafed him a consoling\nvision. He beheld a fragrant lily, white as snow, come out of his\nmouth, and rise towards heaven. Whilst he regaled himself with the\nperfume and beauty of the flower, his flock came gambolling towards\nhim, and amongst them a noble horse. As he turned to look, the lily\ninclined itself towards the horse, which advanced and drew it from his\nmouth; by which Nicolas was made to understand that the treasure to\nwhich he should aspire was in heaven: and if his heart was not wholly\ndetached from the things of earth, he would forfeit the possession of\nthe celestial joys reserved for him.\n\nAnother time, while engaged in the ordinary business of his house, he\nsaw three men approach him, of venerable aspect, one of whom addressed\nhim thus:--\n\n\"Tell us, Nicolas, wilt thou put body and soul into our power?\"\n\n\"I give myself to none,\" replied he, \"but the Almighty God, whom I have\nlong desired to serve with my soul and body.\"\n\nAt these words the strangers turned with a smile one towards the other,\nand the first answered: \"Because thou hast given thyself wholly to God,\nand art bound to Him for ever, I promise that in the 70th year of thine\nage thou shalt be delivered from all the troubles of this world. Remain\nconstant in thy resolution. Thou shalt bear in heaven a glorious banner\namidst the armies of God, if thou hast borne with patience the cross\nthat we lay upon thee.\"\n\nUpon this the three men disappeared. These visions confirmed him in\nhis resolution of separating from the world. He disclosed to his wife\nthe desire of his soul, and entreated her, for the love of God, to\ngive him permission to fulfil this vocation. She consented with calm\nresignation, and Nicolas began at once to arrange the affairs of his\nhouse, assigning to each of his children his part of the inheritance.\nHe then assembled all his household,--his old father, 70 years of\nage, his wife, his children, and his friends; he appeared before\nthem barefoot and bareheaded, clothed in the long robe of a pilgrim,\nwith a staff and chaplet in his hand; he thanked them for all the\nkindness they had shown him, exhorted them for the last time to fear\nGod before all things; then he gave them his blessing, and departed.\nThat this separation was a trial to him, was evidenced by his frequent\nexpressions of thankfulness to God that He had strengthened him to\novercome for His service the love he bore to his wife and children.\n\nNicolas set out with a tranquil heart for the place which God had\nchosen for him. Crossing valleys and mountains, he arrived at the\nlimits of the Confederation. When not far from Aarau, at a spot whence\nhe could see beyond the frontiers the little town of Liechstall, he had\na remarkable vision. The town, with its houses and towers, appeared\nto him enveloped in flames. Terrified with this spectacle, he entered\ninto conversation with a peasant whom he found in a neighbouring\nfarmhouse, and made known to him his purpose, begging him to point\nout a solitary spot where he might be able to carry it into effect.\nThis man counselled him to remain in his own country; because, as the\nConfederates were not always well received in other parts, he might be\nunfavourably regarded, and his retreat be disturbed. Brother Nicolas\nthanked his host for this good counsel, and turned his face again\ntowards home. He rested not till he reached Melchthal, his native\nplace; where he repaired to one of his pastures called the Kluster.\nThere he made a little hut of branches and leaves under a larch tree,\nin the midst of thorny bushes, and remained without discovery till\nthe eighth day, neither eating nor drinking, but absorbed in prayer.\nSome hunters in pursuit of game first became aware of his retreat,\nand spoke of him to his brother, Peter von der Flue, who visited\nhim, and besought him not to suffer himself to die of hunger in so\nwild a solitude. Brother Nicolas assured him that he need be without\nuneasiness on his account, as he had experienced no evil result up to\nthat time. Nevertheless, that he might not seem to tempt God, he sent\nsecretly for the cur\u00e9 of Kerns, named Oswald Isner, and acquainted him\nwith the whole case. This good man gave the following testimony after\nthe hermit's death, as may be read in the parish record of the year\n1488:--\n\n\"When Bro. Nicolas had passed eleven days without food, he sent for me,\nand asked me whether he should take some nourishment or continue his\ntrial, as he had always desired to be able to live without eating, in\norder that he might be more effectually separated from created things.\nWhen I saw that this could come only from the source of divine love, I\ncounselled Bro. Nicolas to persevere as long as he was able; and from\nthis time to the day of his death, a period of more than twenty years,\nhe continued to dispense with bodily food. As the pious brother was\nmore familiar with me than with any other person, I sought earnestly\nto learn from him how his strength was sustained; and one day he told\nme, in great secrecy, that when he assisted at Mass, and the priest\ncommunicated, he received a strength which enabled him to refrain from\nall other nourishment.\"\n\nWhen the fame of this miraculous life spread abroad, people flocked\nfrom all parts to see a man whom God had so distinguished, and to\nconvince themselves of its reality by personal observation. His quiet\nlife was, in consequence, so much disturbed, that he determined to\nseek a more isolated spot. After traversing several of the wildest\nvalleys with this intention, he beheld above a gloomy gorge, down which\nthe Melch precipitates itself with deafening roar, a brilliant light\ndescending from heaven. Obedient to this indication of the will of God,\nhe built there a little hut. But the same year, his neighbours, the\ninhabitants of Obwalden, edified by his holy life, built him a chapel\nwith a small cell attached, and presented it to him as a mark of their\naffection. Brother Nicolas entered this new dwelling, and continued\nthere to serve God in the same supernatural life. Meanwhile, the renown\nof his extraordinary mode of existence extended far and wide: many were\nunwilling to believe that a man could thus live miraculously by the\nsole grace of the Almighty, whilst others glorified God on his behalf.\n\nThe magistrates of the canton, desiring to verify the fact of the\nmonastic life of Blessed Nicolas, sent officers, who, for the space\nof a month, occupied day and night all the avenues of his retreat,\nin order that no person might bring provisions. Thomas, suffragan\nbishop of Constance, subjected the brother to a similar test when he\nconsecrated the chapel; and after him bishop Otho visited the hermit.\nThe archduke Sigismund of Austria sent, for the same purpose, his\nphysician, the learned and skilful Binhard de Horneck, in order that\nhe might attentively observe Nicolas during several days and nights.\nFrederick III., the emperor, also appointed delegates to examine him;\nbut all these expedients served only to confirm the truth. Those who\nvisited him were so struck with the piety and humility of the servant\nof God, that all their doubts vanished, and they left him penetrated\nwith the most profound respect. When asked how he could exist without\nfood, his simple reply was, \"God knows.\"\n\nIt was only on Sundays and festival days that he left his cell, and\nassisted with the rest of his parishioners at divine service in the\nchurch of Sachseln. Once a year he repaired to Lucerne for the great\nprocession, and to visit the celebrated places of pilgrimage. When the\njourney became too fatiguing on account of his advanced age, and the\ngifts of pious persons enabled him to procure the services of a priest,\nhe heard Mass daily in his own chapel, and confessed and received the\nHoly Communion frequently. He consecrated to the service of God all the\nhours from midnight to midday, at which time he prayed and meditated,\nespecially on the passion of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who, as he\nsaid, communicated to him in the exercise a miraculous strength, a\nsupernatural food.\n\nDuring the remainder of the day, from midday to the evening, he\nreceived those who visited him; or, when the weather was fine, he would\ntraverse the mountains praying, or visit his friend, Brother Ulrich,\nand converse with him on divine things. Ulrich was a German gentleman,\noriginally from Bavaria, who, after many remarkable adventures, had\nquitted the world to establish himself near Nicolas, in this solitude.\nLodged in the hollow of a rock, he led a life similar to his, save only\nthat he could not dispense with food, which the pious country-people\nprovided for him. In the evening Brother Nicolas resumed his prayers;\nthen he went to take a short repose upon his couch, which consisted\nonly of two planks, with a piece of wood or a stone for a pillow.\n\nAt this period the cities and states of the Swiss Confederation were at\nthe height of their prosperity; the fruit of three memorable victories\nover the forces of the Duke of Burgundy.\n\nSix years had not elapsed since the first of these--that of Granson.\nIn this famous engagement, the Confederates had humbled the haughty\narrogance of Charles the Bold: his fine army, three times stronger\nthan their own, had been cut in pieces; and this hitherto unconquered\nhero, the master of the richest provinces on this side the Alps--the\ntwo Burgundies, Gueldres, and almost all Belgium,--this warrior, before\nwhom France trembled, and whom Lorraine had been unable to resist,\nfled from the field of battle with only six companions. Four hundred\npieces of artillery, six hundred banners, his ducal hat, his sword of\nstate, the three large diamonds, celebrated throughout Europe, which\nwere destined at a subsequent period to adorn the crowns of mighty\npotentates;--in a word, a camp which was unequalled in richness and\nmagnificence throughout Christendom, and could only be compared to the\ncamps of the Turks, fell into the hands of poor mountaineers, who, with\nthe help of God, had defended their liberty against the cupidity and\npride of a foreign foe.\n\nThe second battle took place on the plains of Morat. Charles of\nBurgundy was again routed with enormous loss, and obliged to fly a\nsecond time, having with him only thirty men. The Confederates, after\nthe battle, fell on their knees in thanksgiving for the success of\ntheir arms; the trumpets poured forth a joyous blast; messengers,\ndecorated with green branches, ran in all haste through the towns and\nvillages, and the bells rang out exulting peals.\n\nThe third of these great battles was fought by the Swiss near Nancy.\nThe Burgundian, in his despair, had collected all that remained of his\nforces, and having on this occasion to contend with troops superior to\nhis own, he displayed a valour worthy of his name and ancestors. But\nall his efforts were in vain; and Charles, the last of his house on the\nthrone of Burgundy, was once more totally defeated.\n\nThe reputation of the Swiss became so great in consequence of these\nsuccesses, that the most powerful princes of Europe sent ambassadors\nto their assemblies, and sought their alliance. At the negotiations\nheld at Zurich, in 1478, for concluding peace with Burgundy, were to\nbe seen envoys from the emperor of Germany, the king of France, the\nArchduke of Austria, and counts and lords from far and near. The Swiss\nhad no longer a single enemy to fear.\n\nThe immense booty taken from the Burgundians, and the payments made\non various accounts by France, had occasioned large sums of money to\ncirculate among the people; and the Swiss had lost something of their\npure and disinterested love for their country.\n\nAt the close of the year, 1481, on S. Thomas's Eve, the deputies of the\nCantons met at Stanz, in Unterwalden, for deliberation on matters of\nthe highest importance connected with the welfare of the Confederacy.\nThe minds of the delegates had been already so warped by jealousy and\nselfishness, that the members of the assembly of Stanz could come to\nno mutual understanding, and were unceasingly embittered against each\nother. There were two parties in the assembly at variance with each\nother; that of the towns, and that of the country. The peasants of Uri,\nof Schwytz, and Unterwalden desired peace, and distrusted the ambition\nof the citizens, who would draw them needlessly into war. They sought\nto maintain the Swiss Confederation within its ancient limits, and\nwere not disposed to strengthen the opposite party by the admission\nof new towns. On the contrary, the towns of Lucerne, of Berne, and of\nZurich exerted themselves to obtain admittance into the Confederation\nfor Soleure and Friebourg; because they themselves lay exposed to\nthe attacks of the enemy, Switzerland not having as yet any natural\nfrontier; and these towns had fought faithfully for Switzerland in the\nwars against Charles, and the Confederates in the hour of danger had\npromised to admit them into the league.\n\nTo this source of discord was added the envy excited by the division\nof the Burgundian booty. It was in vain that the cantons of Glarus and\nZug sought to interpose their mediation, and that meetings were held in\nvarious places to reconcile differences. And now the Confederates were\nassembled for consultation for the last time at Stanz. The animosity\nof party, however, was so great, that after three sessions of angry\ndebates, the members rose with agitated countenances, and separated\nwithout taking leave of one another, to meet again, perhaps, only in\nthe conflict of civil war. That which neither the power of Austria, nor\nthe fury of Charles of Burgundy had ever been able to accomplish, the\nSwiss were themselves in danger of bringing about by their own internal\ndissensions; and the liberty and happiness of their country stood in\njeopardy.\n\nThese considerations filled all good citizens with sorrow and alarm,\nand, amongst others, a cur\u00e9 of Stanz, named Henry Im Grand, a man full\nof zeal for the good of his country. As he reflected on the danger\nwhich threatened her, his thoughts turned to Brother Nicolas. \"This\nman,\" said he to himself, \"is, perhaps, the only one whose voice will\ncommand attention now,\" and, taking his staff, he went in quest of him.\nBrother Nicolas replied to his entreaty to come to Stanz with his usual\ngravity: \"Return,\" said he, \"tell the envoys of the Confederation that\nBrother Klaus has something to propose to them.\"\n\nThe priest, full of hope, resumed his journey with all possible\nspeed; he hastened to the inns where the deputies were preparing for\ndeparture, and conjured them to be again reconciled, and to listen for\nthe last time to the counsels and proposition of the pious hermit. They\nconsented; and some hours after, the brother appeared in the midst of\nthe assembly.\n\nNotwithstanding his great age, Nicolas had performed this long and\ndifficult journey without resting; his fine majestic figure--which\ntime had scarcely bent, was seen advancing across the market-place\nof Stanz to the town-hall. He wore, according to custom, his simple,\ndark-coloured dress, which descended to his feet; he carried his\nchaplet in one hand, and grasped his staff with the other; he was, as\nusual, barefoot and bareheaded; and his long hair, a little touched by\nthe snows of age, fell upon his shoulders. When the holy man entered\nthe hall before all the Confederates, they rose with one accord to\ngreet him. After a few moments, silence was broken by the sonorous\nvoice of the hermit, who addressed them with earnest words, and God\ngave such grace to his words that in one hour all difficulties were\nsmoothed away, and base passions were silent through shame before the\nsevere counsel of a man who appeared before this assembly with hands\nraised towards heaven, as a prophet sent from God.\n\nThe Confederates, in accordance with Nicolas's advice, received\ninto their league the towns of Freibourg and Soleure; the ancient\ntreaties of alliance were confirmed, and further consolidated by\nbeing established on the basis of new laws unanimously enacted. The\npacification of all the Swiss cantons, the maintenance of public\norder, and of the authority of the magistrates against disturbers\nof the peace, the division of booty according to the rule given by\nNicolas,--such were the points upon which the Confederates, who had so\nlong contended with so much animosity, came this same day to an entire\nagreement.\n\nThe brother returned the same evening to his peaceful hermitage. At\nStanz the bells were rung, and sounds of rejoicing floated across\nthe lakes and through the valleys to all the villages and towns of\nSwitzerland, from the snowy heights of S. Gothard to the smiling plains\nof Thurgau. There was as much joy and gladness everywhere as after the\nvictories of Granson and Morat, and with as just cause; for there the\nConfederates had delivered their country from foreign enemies; here\nthey saved it from their own passions. Their true deliverer, who had\nobtained from them this victory over themselves, was the poor Brother\nNicolas, and as such he was everywhere recognised and extolled.\n\nThe towns and countries of the Confederation, and above all, Soleure\nand Freibourg, satisfied with the happy termination of their\ndissensions, testified their gratitude to the brother by sending him\nletters of thanks and precious gifts. He accepted the latter only when\nthey were destined to adorn his chapel. Berne sent a courier with\na letter of thanksgiving and a handsome present. The answer which\nthe brother returned, through the medium of his son John, exists to\nthis day in the archives of Soleure, to which city it was presented\nby Berne. From this time the general veneration for Brother Klaus\nincreased continually.\n\nNicolas lived six years longer in his peaceful retreat, rich in\nbenedictions. At length the time arrived when God would call His\nfaithful servant from the miseries of the world to eternal joy.\n\nBefore his death, God sent him a sharp sickness, in which he suffered\nindescribable pain. In this condition of suffering he turned from\nside to side, writhing upon his couch like a worm trodden under foot.\nThese frightful pains lasted eight days. He bore them with perfect\nresignation, and continued to exhort those who surrounded his bed of\ndeath so to conduct themselves in this life as to leave it with a\npeaceful conscience. \"Death,\" said he, \"is terrible; but it is still\nmore terrible to fall into the hands of the living God.\" When his pains\nwere a little relieved, and the moment of death drew near, Nicolas\ndesired with all the ardour of devotion to receive the sacred Body\nof the Saviour, and to be strengthened by the Sacrament of Extreme\nUnction. Near the dying man stood his faithful companion, Brother\nUlrich, his old friend Henry Im Grand, and the pious anchorite, Cecil,\nwho after his death led for seventy years the same solitary life in a\nneighbouring cell; his faithful wife and children also gathered round\nhim. In their presence he received the holy Sacraments with tokens of\ndeep humility; then he thanked God anew for all the benefits He had\ndispensed to him, prostrated himself, and died the death of the just.\n\nThis event took place on the first day of the spring of the year 1487,\nthe feast of S. Benedict, the same on which seventy years previous he\nwas born.\n\nThe lily had been the favourite symbol of this pure calm soul; the lily\nin flower, resplendent with a divine glory, was Brother Klaus himself,\nthe humble servant of God, whose name, it is said, even S. Charles\nBorromeo never pronounced but with uncovered head.\n\nThe skeleton of Brother Klaus reposes in a shrine above the high\naltar of the Church at Sachseln, where also are preserved the habit,\nstaff, and rosary of the saint. A contemporary portrait exists in the\ntown-hall of Sarnen. He is represented as deadly pale, with deep sunk\neyes, which are red with constant weeping. His chapel and hermitage are\nstill shown in Melchthal.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative motif]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 23.\n\n S. PROCULUS, _B. of Verona, 4th cent._\n SS. FINGAR, PIALA, _V._, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Cornwall, circ._\n A.D. 450.\n S. VICTORIAN, _Proconsul of Carthage_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., circ._\n A.D. 484.\n SS. LIBERATUS, PHYSICIAN, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa, circ._\n A.D. 484.\n S. BENEDICT, _Monk in Campania, 6th cent._\n S. ETHELWOLD, _P.H. in the Isle of Farne, circ._ A.D. 723.\n S. ALPHONSO TORIBIO, _B. of Lima, in Peru_, A.D. 1606.\n B. JOSEPH ORIOL, _P. at Barcelona_, A.D. 1702.\n\n\nS. PROCULUS, B. OF VERONA.\n\n(4TH CENT.)\n\n [Modern Roman Martyrology. Maurolycus, Greven and Canisius give Dec.\n 9th; Galesinus gives both days. The Roman Martyrology says that S.\n Proculus confessed Christ in the persecution of Dioclesian; all the\n other Martyrologies, that of Verona included, and all the versions of\n the Acts extant make a mistake, and say he confessed under Maximin,\n the emperor, when he was at Milan, before Anulinus the consul. But\n Maximin never was at Milan; and Annius Cornelius Anulinus was consul\n in the year 295, when Dioclesian and Maximian were emperors; and\n Maximian was at Milan more than once. Anulinus was proconsul of Africa\n in 303, and we meet with him in the Acts of some of the African\n martyrs. The Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus are not precisely in\n their original form, or this error would not have crept in, of making\n Maximian into Maximin; otherwise they seem to be trustworthy.]\n\nSaint Proculus was the fourth bishop of Verona. During the persecution\nwaged by Dioclesian and Maximian against the Church, Anulinus the\nconsul came to Milan breathing out threatenings and slaughter against\nthe faithful. And when he had laid his hands on SS. Firmus and\nRusticus, the holy bishop Proculus went to them into their prison to\nencourage them to strive manfully for Christ. And he kissed them and\nsaid, \"Be strong in the Lord Jesus, and receive me, my brethren, as\nyour fellow in death; for I desire greatly to be your companion, that\nwe may have but one will and one struggle for the Lord, so that we may\nmerit to enter into His glory and sing His praises eternally?\" And\nthey answered, \"So be it.\" Now Anulinus had sent to have the martyrs\nbrought before him; and the officers came to the door, and saw the\nold man sitting with Firmus and Rusticus, and they laughed, and said,\n\"What does that old man want with these condemned criminals?\" Then\nthe blessed Proculus answered, \"They are not condemned criminals, but\ncrowned victors of the Lord; and would that I might share their glory!\"\nSo saying he held out his hands to the officers that they might be\nbound; so they bound him.\n\nAnulinus sat on his judgment seat, and they brought before him Firmus\nand Rusticus, and after them the venerable Proculus. \"Who is this old\nman?\" asked the magistrate; and when they told him, Anulinus said, \"He\ndrivels, send him off.\" So they unbound him and beat him about the\nface, and drove him out of the city.\n\nSo far from the Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, other accounts of S.\nProculus are less authentic. According to these latter, he went to\nJerusalem together with some companions, when the persecution was at\nan end, and was taken captive and sold as a slave; but was released,\non account of his advanced age. On his way home he passed through\nPannonia, and an odd story is related of the journey. The old man felt\nthe want of a razor, and was ill-content at remaining unshaven so\nlong. At length, passing through a country where there was no water,\nand unable to endure the growth on his chin and place of tonsure any\nlonger, he summoned water out of the rock, and giving an old blunt\nknife to his attendant bade him shave boldly. Then wondrous to relate\nthe bristles on the old man came off lightly, as though mown by the\nkeenest razor.\n\nThe relics of the saint were discovered on the rebuilding of the\nconfession or church of S. Proculus, in 1492.\n\n\nSS. FINGAR, M., AND PIALA, V. M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 450.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrology of J. Wilson. In Brittany at Lok-Eguignar, where\n the church is dedicated to him; the saint is commemorated on December\n 14th. Colgan by mistake, February 23rd. The Life and Martyrdom of S.\n Fingar, written by one Anselm, but not S. Anselm of Canterbury, is\n fabulous.]\n\nThere was a prince named Corotic[86] of Cornwall or South Wales, who\nwas a pirate and a persecutor at once. In, or about, A.D. 450, but\ncertainly just before S. Patrick left Munster, in 452, Corotic landed\nwith a party of his armed followers, many of whom were Christians, at\na season of solemn baptism, and set about plundering a district in\nwhich S. Patrick had just baptized and confirmed a great many converts,\nand on the very day after the holy chrism was seen shining on the\nbrows of the white-robed neophytes. Having murdered several persons,\nthese marauders carried off a considerable number of people, whom they\nsold as slaves to the Scots and Picts. S. Patrick wrote a letter, now\nextant, which he sent to these pirates, requesting them to restore\nthe baptized captives, and some part of the booty. The letter was\nreceived with scorn, and S. Patrick was under the necessity of issuing\na circular epistle against them and their chief Corotic, in which he\nproclaimed that he excommunicated and cut off from Christ those same\nrobbers and murderers, and forbade Christian people receiving them\nand giving them meat or drink. He requested the faithful to read the\nepistle everywhere, and before Corotic himself, and to communicate it\nto his soldiers, in the hope that they and their master might return to\nGod.\n\n[86] The Caradenc of the Britons, Caraduc of the Welsh, the Latinized\nCaractacus.\n\nIt is probable that S. Fingar was one of the sufferers in this\nexpedition. He and his sister Piala were _probably_ carried to\nCornwall, and there put to death. But all this is very uncertain. The\nlife by Anselm tells the story thus: Fingar or Guigner, the son of the\nIrish king Clito, and a convert to Christianity through the preaching\nof S. Patrick, fled his country to avoid the consequences of his\nfather's wrath, together with several young nobles to Brittany, where\nhe was kindly received by the chief of the province, and having got\nample possessions from him, erected an oratory. Afterwards he returned\nto Ireland, and there collected nearly eight hundred faithful, among\nwhom were seven bishops and his sister Piala. Leaving Ireland they\narrived at the port of Hayle, in Cornwall, anciently called Pen-dinas,\nbut now called Hayle, after S. Hija, an Irish virgin, who had set out\nafter them, on a leaf of a tree which had been blown into the sea, and\non which she was wafted to the Cornish coast. S. Hija received them\nhospitably, and forwarded them on their way. At night they reached the\nhut of a pious woman who invited them all in, and as there were not\nbeds enough for the whole company, pulled the thatch off her roof, and\nstrewed it on the floor. Then she killed her only cow, and served its\nmeat to the holy comrades, who satisfied themselves thereon, and then\nS. Fingar took the skin, put the bones inside it, and having prayed,\nthe cow rose up whole, and began to low. Theodoric--this is Anselm's\nversion of the name Corotic--the earl of Cornwall, hearing of the\npassage through his lands of this large party of saints, waylaid and\nmassacred them. S. Fingar planted his staff at his side, and stretched\nforth his neck, and his head was smitten off at one blow. Then a\nspring bubbled up from the ground moistened by his blood, and his staff\ngrew and put forth leaves beside the holy well.\n\nIt is almost needless to point out the utter worthlessness of this\nfable. That there was a S. Fingar, and that he suffered under Corotic\nis likely enough. The violence and murders committed by this piratical\nprince are established historical facts. But if S. Fingar had been\na king's son, he would certainly have been mentioned in some of the\nlives of S. Patrick, which he is not. Anselm says that his father,\nClito, was the most noble and powerful of the seven Irish kings who\nreceived S. Patrick. Now there is nothing better authenticated than\nthat the head king at that time was Leogaire. The chief difficulty\naccording to Colgan, consists in the name Theodoric; but the name was\nnot unknown among the Britons. A Teudric, or Theodoric, was king of\nGlamorgan, about the latter end of the sixth century, (Usher, p. 562.)\nBut Albertus Magnus maintains (De Sanctis Britan. Armor), that the\nCornubia spoken of in Fingar's Acts was Cornouaille, in Brittany, and\ninforms us that Fingar's festival is celebrated at Vannes, on December\n13th. Lobineau, in his History of Brittany, mentions a Theodoric son\nof Budic, and count of Cornouaille, but he lived late in the sixth\ncentury. But probably Theodoric is a mistake for Corotic, made by some\ncopyist.\n\n\nS. VICTORIAN AND OTHERS, MM.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 484.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, ancient and modern Roman Martyrologies.\n Authority:--Victor of Utica's History of the Vandal Persecution.]\n\nVictorian, proconsul of Carthage, a native of Adrumetum, was one of the\nwealthiest men in North Africa, and had discharged several important\noffices under Hunneric, the Vandal king, son of Genseric. But Hunneric\nbeing resolved to trample out the faith in the Godhead of Christ, and\nestablish the Arian heresy throughout his dominions, offered Victorian\nthe highest honours, and his own special favour, if he would regard\nChrist as a creature. Victorian replied, \"Nothing can separate me from\nthe faith and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the confidence that I\nhave in so mighty a master, I am ready to suffer all kinds of torments\nrather than to consent to Arian impiety. You may burn me or expose\nme to wild beasts, or kill me by other tortures; but never will you\nprevail on me to desert the Catholic Church in which I was baptized.\"\nThis reply so exasperated the tyrant that he made the saint undergo\nthe worst and most protracted torments his ingenuity could devise.\nVictorian endured them all with a good courage, and gained the martyr's\ncrown.\n\nIn the city of Tambala also many suffered for the right faith, and in\nthat of Aqu\u00e6 regi\u00e6 two brothers exhibited great constancy. They were\nhung up by their wrists, with heavy weights attached to their feet.\nAfter having thus hung all day, the endurance of one brother gave way,\nand he cried out to be released. Then the other exclaimed, \"Do not so,\nbrother! or I will accuse thee at the judgment seat of Christ; for have\nwe not sworn over His Body and Blood to suffer together for Him?\" Then\nthe weaker brother was strengthened to endure, and the Vandals incensed\nat their obstinacy, applied red-hot plates of iron to their flesh, and\ntore them with iron rakes, and so, they entered into the joy of their\nLord.\n\nTwo merchants of Carthage, both named Frumentius, also sold all that\nthey had, even to their lives, to gain the most precious pearl of\neternal life.\n\nThe Church honours also on the same day S. Liberatus, his wife, and\nsons, who suffered in the same persecution. Liberatus, a physician of\nCarthage, was exiled, along with his wife, on account of his faith.\nHe felt keenly the being separated from his children, but his wife\nconsoled him, saying, \"Think no more of thy children, Jesus Christ will\nbe their guardian.\" The husband and wife were incarcerated in separate\nprisons, so as not to see one another. \"Thy husband has submitted to\nthe orders of the king,\" said the Arians to the wife: \"therefore do\nthou yield also.\" But she answered, \"Let me see him and speak with\nhim.\" Then she was conducted to where he was, and she reproached him\nfor his apostasy. But he exclaimed, \"They have deceived thee, O my\nwife, never have I renounced my faith.\" Then she gave praise to God. It\nis not known how these saints suffered, but they are honoured by the\nChurch as martyrs.\n\n\nS. ETHELWOLD, H.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 723.)\n\n [Menardus on Jan. 6th. Edward Mayhew in his Troph\u00e6a Cong. Anglic.\n O.S.B. on March 23rd. So Heronymus Porter in his Flores Vitarum Sanct.\n Angli\u00e6, Scoti\u00e6, and Hiberni\u00e6. The revised Anglican Martyrology of\n 1640, on same day. Authority:--Bede in his life of S. Cuthbert.]\n\n\nS. Ethetwold, or Ethelwold, was for some time a monk at Ripon, \"where\nhaving received the priestly office,\" says Bede, \"he sanctified it\nby a life worthy of that degree. After the death of that man of God,\nCuthbert, this venerable priest succeeded him in the exercise of a\nsolitary life, in the cell which the saint had inhabited in the islet\nof Farne, before he was made bishop.\" He found the oratory of Cuthbert\nso rudely put together, that the sea-wind shrieked in through the\njoints of the planks, and though patched up with clay and stubble, the\nchapel was so full of draughts that Ethelwold asked for and obtained\na calf's skin, and this he nailed against the wall where he was wont\nto pray, to keep the wind from blowing into his ear. Bede says, \"I\nwill relate one miracle of Ethelwold, which was told me by one of\nthe brothers who was concerned, and for whose sake it was wrought,\nGuthfried, the venerable servant and priest of Christ, who afterwards\npresided in quality of abbot over the church of Lindisfarne, in which\nhe was educated. I came, said he, to the islet of Farne, with two other\nbrothers, desiring to speak with the most reverent father Ethelwold;\nand when we had been comforted by his discourses, and having asked his\nblessing, were returning home, when on a sudden, as we were in the sea,\nthe fair weather that was wafting us over changed, and so great and\nfurious a storm fell on us, that neither sail nor oars availed, and we\ndespaired of life.\n\n\"Having a good while struggled in vain with the wind and waves, we\nlooked back at last to see if by any means we might return to the\nisland, but found that we were equally beset with the tempest on all\nsides; but we could perceive Ethelwold at the mouth of his cavern,\ncontemplating our danger. For, hearing the howl of the wind, and the\nroar of the sea, he came forth to see how we fared. And when he saw our\ndesperate condition, he bent his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, to pray for our life and safety. As he finished his prayer, the\nswelling sea immediately abated its violence, and the rage of the winds\nceased, and a fair gale springing up bore us over the smooth waters\nto the shore. But no sooner had we arrived, and drawn our boat out of\nthe water, than the same storm began to rage again, and ceased not all\nthat day; to the end that it might plainly appear, that this small\nintermission had been granted from heaven at the prayer of the man of\nGod, that we might escape.\"\n\nS. Ethelwold spent twelve years at Farne, and died there; but he was\nburied in Lindisfarne, in the Church of S. Peter, near the bodies of\nSS. Cuthbert and Eadbert. His bones were afterwards taken up in the\ntime of the Danish ravages, 875, and were translated to Durham in 995,\nand more honourably enshrined in 1160.\n\n[Illustration: THE TWO THIEVES. see p. 456.\n\nS. Dimas, Penitent. With Angel bearing his happy Soul to Paradise.\n\nThe Impenitent. With D\u00e6mon dragging forth his unwilling Soul.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 24.\n\n S. LATINUS, _B. of Brescia, 2nd cent._\n SS. MARK AND TIMOTHY, _MM. at Rome, 2nd cent._\n SS. TIMOLAUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at C\u00e6sarea_, A.D. 303.\n S. PIGMENIUS, _P.M. at Rome_, A.D. 373.\n S. DOMANGART, _of Slieve Donarth, B. in Ireland_.\n S. HILDELITHA, _V. Abss. of Barking, in Essex, circ._ A.D. 720.\n S. BERNULF, _B.M. of Aste, 9th cent._\n S. SIMON, _Child M. at Trent_, A.D. 1475.\n\n\nSS. TIMOLAUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.\n\n(A.D. 303.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on March 15th. Authority:--Eusebius\n on the Martyrs of Palestine.]\n\nEusebius writes of the persecution under Dioclesian, at C\u00e6sarea,--\"Who\ncould fail to be struck with admiration at the sight or recital of the\nthings that then took place? For, as the heathen in every place were\non the point of celebrating their accustomed games and festivals, it\nwas much noised abroad that besides the other exhibitions, those who\nhad been condemned to wild beasts were to be made to fight. This report\nhaving gained ground, there were six young men, who, first binding\ntheir hands, hastened to Urbanus (the governor of the province), to\nprove their readiness to endure martyrdom, as he was on his way to the\namphitheatre. Their names were Timolaus, a native of Pontus, Dionysius\nof Tripolis in Ph\u0153nice, Romulus, a subdeacon of the church at\nDiospolis Paesis, and Alexander, both Egyptians; and another Alexander\nfrom Gaza. They were immediately committed to prison. Not many days\nafter, two others were added to the number, of whom one had already\nwitnessed a good confession several times, under various dreadful\ntortures. His name was Agapius, but the other, who supplied them with\nthe necessaries of life, was named Dionysius. All these, being eight in\nnumber, were beheaded in one day at C\u00e6sarea, on the twenty-third day of\nthe month Dystrus, that is, the ninth of the Kalends of April.\"\n\n\nS. DOMANGART OF SLIEVE DONART, B.\n\n(UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies. He is not to be confounded with S. Domangart,\n the brother of S. Domnoch, or Modomnoc (Feb. 13th.) Giraldus\n Cambrensis calls him Dominick. Usher, thinking this S. Dominick was\n the same as Dominick of Ossory mentioned elsewhere by Giraldus, and\n not acquainted with the history of S. Domangart, fell into the mistake\n of making the mountain Slieve Slainge, called afterwards Slieve\n Donart, to be Grenore point, in Wexford. Ware followed Usher. Archdall\n calls the saint S. Domangard of Ossory, whereas the saint of Ossory\n was Domnoc, or Modomnoc, and not Domangart at all, and makes the\n promontory Carnsore.]\n\nS. Domangart is said to have been the son of Euchodius, king of\nUlster, in the latter part of the 5th century, and during a part of\nthe 6th. In the Tripartite Life of S. Patrick he is represented as a\nbigoted heathen and a persecutor. His two daughters having embraced\nChristianity made a vow of perpetual virginity, and their father,\nhighly incensed, ordered them to be cast into the sea. Therefore S.\nPatrick cursed him and his seed for ever, excepting, however, his\nunborn son, at the petition of the queen, who was with child. The\nson born to him after this was Domangart, and his birth is placed\na short time before the foundation of Armagh, and it is added that\nhe afterwards became a disciple of the apostle. But, as Dr. Lanigan\nhas proved in his \"Irish Ecclesiastical History,\" S. Patrick did not\nsurvive the foundation of Armagh more than about ten years. How\nthen could Domangart have been his disciple? Then we are given to\nunderstand, that Domangart was not born till after his father's death,\nwhich the Four Masters assign to A.D. 503 (504.) This sets aside the\nwhole story; for S. Patrick was dead many years before this date.\nJocelin, who follows the Tripartite as to Euchodius, Domangart, &c.,\nomits what is said of the latter having been a disciple of S. Patrick.\nThere is a fable concerning S. Domangart having been raised from the\ndead at Rome by S. Patrick, according to which he would have lived in\nthe 5th cent. Such contradictory stories show what little reliance can\nbe placed in the accounts of the saint. All that we can be certain of\nis that he founded a monastery on the promontory of Slieve Slainge,\nwhere in Colgan's time stood two churches dedicated to him.\n\n\nS. HILDELITHA, V. ABSS. OF BARKING.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 720.)\n\n [Ancient Anglican Martyrologies, and Gallican Martyrology.\n Authority:--Bede, Ecc. Hist. l. iv. c. 10.]\n\nHildelitha was one of the first virgins of the English nation who\nconsecrated herself a spouse to Christ, going abroad to a French\nmonastery, there being, at that time, none in England. When S.\nErkonwald had founded the monastery of Chertsey for himself, and the\nconvent of Barking, in Essex, for his sister Ethelburga, he sent to\nFrance for S. Hildelitha, and committed his sister to her care, to be\nby her instructed in monastic discipline. Thus S. Ethelburga herself,\nwho was the first abbess of Barking, was a disciple of S. Hildelitha,\nthough she died before her, and was succeeded by her in the government\nof the community. Bede highly commends the piety of this saint, and\nthat she was highly esteemed by others we may gather from S. Aldhelm\nhaving addressed to her his poetical treatise on virginity, and from\nmention of her in one of the epistles of S. Boniface, where he relates\nwhat great things he had learned of her.\n\nS. Hildelitha departed to our Lord in a good old age, but the date of\nher death is undetermined.\n\n\nS. SIMON, BOY M.\n\n(A.D. 1475.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts of Canonization by Benedict\n XIV., and the Acts published in the Italian immediately after the\n event took place.]\n\nThrough the Middle Ages, in Europe the Jews were harshly treated,\nsuffering from sudden risings of the people, or from the exactions\nof princes and nobles. This nourished in them a bitter hatred of\nChristians and Christianity, and in some instances led to cruel\nreprisals. Such was, perhaps, the case in Trent, where on Tuesday in\nHoly Week, 1475, the Jews met to prepare for the approaching Passover,\nin the house of one of their number named Samuel, and it was agreed\nbetween three of them, Samuel, Tobias, and Angelus, that a child should\nbe crucified, as an act of revenge against their tyrants, and of hatred\nagainst Christianity. The difficulty, however, was how to get one.\nSamuel sounded his servant Lazarus, and attempted to bribe him into\nprocuring one, but the suggestion so scared the fellow, that he packed\nup all his traps and ran away. On the Thursday, Tobias undertook to get\nthe boy, and going out in the evening, whilst the people were in church\nduring the singing of Tenebr\u00e6, he prowled about till he found a child\nsitting on the threshold of his father's door in the Fossati Street,\naged twenty-nine months, and named Simon. The Jew began to coax the\nlittle fellow to follow him, and the boy did so, and he conducted him\nto the house of Samuel, where he was put to bed, and given raisins and\napples to amuse him.\n\nIn the mean time the parents, Andrew and Mary, missing their child,\nbegan to seek him everywhere, but not finding him, and night falling\ndarkly upon them, they returned, troubled and alarmed to their home.\n\nDuring the night, when all was still, a Jew named Moses took the child\nfrom its bed, and carried it into the vestibule of the synagogue, which\nformed a part of the house of Samuel, and sitting down on a bench began\nto strip the infant; a handkerchief being twisted round its throat to\nprevent it from crying. Then stretching out his limbs in the shape of a\ncross they began the butchery of the child, cutting the body in several\nplaces, and gathering his blood in a basin. The child being half dead,\nthey raised him on his feet, and whilst two of them held him by the\narms, the rest pierced his body on all sides with their awls.\n\nWhen the child was dead, they hid the body in a cellar behind the\nbarrels of wine.\n\nAll Friday the parents sought their son, but found him not, and the\nJews, alarmed at the proceedings of the magistrates, who had taken the\nmatter up, and were making investigations in all quarters, consulted\nwhat had better be done. They could not carry the body away, as\nevery gate was watched, and the perplexity was great. At length they\ndetermined to dress the body again and throw it into the stream which\nran under Samuel's window, but which was there blocked by an iron cage\nin which the refuse was caught. Tobias was to go to the bishop and\nchief magistrates and tell them that there was a child's body entangled\nin the grate, and he hoped that by thus drawing attention to it all\nsuspicion of having been implicated in the murder would be diverted\nfrom him and his co-religionists.\n\nThis was done, and when John de Salis, the bishop, and James de Sporo,\nthe governor, heard the report of the Jew, they at once went, and the\nbody was removed before their eyes, and conveyed to the cathedral,\nfollowed by a crowd. As, according to a popular medi\u00e6val superstition,\nblood is supposed to flow from the wound when the murderer approaches,\nthe officers of justice examined the body as the crowds passed it; and\nthey noticed that blood exuded as Tobias approached. On the strength of\nthis the house of Samuel and the synagogue were examined, and blood and\nother traces of the butchery were found in the cellar, and in the place\nwhere the deed had been done, and the bowl of blood was discovered in\na cupboard. The most eminent physicians were called to investigate\nthe condition of the corpse, and they unanimously decided that the\nchild could not have been drowned, as the body was not swollen, and\nas there were marks on the throat of strangulation. The wounds they\ndecided were made by sharp instruments like awls and knives, and could\nnot be attributed to the gnawing of water-rats. The popular voice now\naccusing the Jews, the magistrates seized on the Jews and threw them\ninto prison, and on the accusation of a renegade Jew named John, who\nhad been converted to Christianity seven years before, and who declared\nthat the Jews had often sought to catch and kill a child, and had\nactually done this elsewhere, more than five of the Jews were sentenced\nto be broken on the wheel, and then burnt.\n\nThe blood found in the basin is preserved in the cathedral of Trent,\nand the body of the child is also enshrined there in a magnificent\nmausoleum.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 25.\n\n_The Annunciation of S. Mary_.\n\n MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.\n THE PENITENT THIEF, A.D. 33.\n S. QUIRINUS, _M. at Rome_, A.D. 269.\n S. IREN\u00c6US, _B.M. at Sirmium_, A.D. 304.\n S. PELAGIUS, _B. of Laodic\u00e6a, end of 4th cent._\n S. DULA, _V.M. at Nicomedia_.\n S. CAMIN, _Ab. of Iniskeltra, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 653.\n S. HUMBERT, _P.C. at Marolles, in Hainault, circ._ A.D. 680.\n SS. BARONTUS AND DESIDERIUS, _HH. at Pistoria, circ._ A.D. 725.\n S. HERMELAND, _Ab. of Hindre, in France, 8th cent._\n S. ALFWOLF, _B. of Sherborne_, A.D. 1075.\n S. WILLIAM, _Child M. at Norwich_, A.D. 1144.\n S. RICHARD, _Child M. at Paris_, A.D. 1179.\n S. IDA, _Abss. of Argensolles, in the diocese of Soissons,\n circ._ A.D. 1250.\n\n\nTHE ANNUNCIATION OF S. MARY.\n\nIn the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of\nGalilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was\nJoseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the\nangel came in unto her, and said, \"Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is\nwith thee: Blessed art thou among women.\"[87]\n\n[87] S. Luke, i. 26-28.\n\nThe angel, to manifest his reverence and love, saluted the holy virgin\nwith an \"Ave,\" or Hail, and he named not her proper name, Mary,\nbut gave her the title \"Full of Grace.\" This he did that we might\nunderstand, that as Almighty God gave to the Messiah the names of\n\"Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the\nPrince of Peace,\"[88] so also He gave to the Virgin a new and most\nglorious name, which, for excellency, is to be attributed to her in the\nChurch; so that as we call Solomon \"the Wise,\" and S. Paul \"the Apostle\nof the Gentiles,\" so we should call the Blessed Virgin the \"Full of\nGrace,\" and the \"Blessed among women.\"\n\n[88] Isaiah ix. 6.\n\n[Illustration: THE HEAVENLY MESSENGER.\n\n\"The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named\nNazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the\nhouse of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.\"\n March 25.]\n\nThe festival of the Annunciation is at least as ancient as the Council\nin Trullo (A.D. 680), and is supposed, on the authority of a sermon\nattributed to S. Cyril, to have been kept in the 5th century. It has\nalways been very highly observed in England. The Synod of Worcester,\nA.D. 1240, by one of its canons, forbade all servile work upon it,\nand this was afterwards confirmed by various provincial and diocesan\ncouncils in all respects except agricultural labour.\n\nThe tenth council of Toledo, in 656, ordered that this festival\nshould be solemnized on December 18th, eight days before Christmas,\nbecause of its proper day arriving in Lent, and sometimes in Holy\nWeek. Nevertheless, it has been observed on its proper day, but is\ntransferred in the Western Church to after Easter, whenever it occurs\nin Holy Week or on Easter-day.\n\nIt is said that in the church of Notre Dame du Puy en Valey has the\nprivilege of making it over-ride Good Friday, when it occurs on that\nday; and that on that day there are great indulgences as a jubilee\nin that church. The Council of Constantinople, in \"Trullo,\" already\nmentioned, ordered that the mass of the pre-sanctified should be said\non all days in Lent except the Sabbath, the Lord's day, and the Feast\nof the Annunciation. Pope Urban II., in a council held at Clermont, in\n1095, ordered that every day the church bell should be rung, morning,\nnoon, and evening, and that each time it was rung the faithful should\nrecite the Angelic Salutation. This is called the Angelus. The object\nof the Holy Father was to stir up the faithful to thank God for the\nbenefit of the Incarnation. Popes John XXII., Calixtus III., Paul III.,\nAlexander VII., and Clement X., have recommended this practice and\nattached indulgences to it. These were confirmed by Benedict XIII.\n\nThe Greeks observe the same day as the Latins. In the Menologium of the\nemperor Basil the younger, it is thus described: \"On the 25th day of\nMarch, the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God. Our God, most\nloving and merciful to human salvation, who ever careth for the sons\nof men, when He beheld man, the work of His hands, brought under the\nbondage of Satan, willed to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ,\nour Lord, into the world, to pluck man out of the power of the devil.\nBut willing not that Satan, nay, nor the celestial powers should know\nthereof, he committed this secret to one of the archangels, Gabriel\nthe Glorious. And having made by His providence that a Virgin pure\nand immaculate should be born meet for so high an honour, to her was\nGabriel sent, and he came to the city called Nazareth, and said to her,\n'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee!' But she asked, 'How shall\nthese things be?' To whom he made reply, 'The Holy Ghost shall descend\non thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.' And she\nsaid, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy\nword.' And having thus spoken, she conceived above nature a son, the\nWord of God; and thereafter were fulfilled all the mysteries of the\nWord of God incarnate pertaining to our salvation.\"\n\nIn the Greek Men\u00e6a also, it is said, \"March 25th, the commemoration\nof the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God, our Lady, when\nthe arch-warrior, Gabriel, captain of the celestial armies, being\ninstructed in the secret from eternity and unknown to angels, the\nmystery hidden of the divine incarnation of the Son of God, was sent\nto the most pure Mary, unstained with any spot of sin, in the city of\nNazareth, that he might declare to her the will of God the Father,\nand the favour and efficacious help of the life-giving Spirit for the\nsalvation of man. And he said to her, 'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is\nwith thee.'\"\n\n[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION. After Israel Van Mecken, in the Museum\nat Munich. March 25.]\n\nThis is the exordium of a Greek hymn on the Annunciation, by S. Joseph,\nthe hymnographer:--\"When Gabriel, the great archangel, saw thee, O\npure one! the living book of Christ, sealed with the Holy Ghost, he\ncried to thee, 'Rejoice, oh house of joy! through whom is abolished the\nmalediction pronounced on our first parents.'\"\n\nThe ancient Arabian-Egyptian church also observed this festival. In\nan Arabic martyrology, the entry on March 25th is as follows, \"The\nmemorial of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, and the Incarnation\nof the Son of God, this day the first-fruits of our salvation and the\nmanifestation of a mystery kept hidden from all ages. The Son of God\nissued forth Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announced the favour. And\nnow we with him exclaim, 'Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with\nthee!'\" The same festival is observed by the Copts, and found in the\nSyriac and Chaldee, and Russian Kalendars.\n\nIn the sacramentary of S. Gregory the Great, the proper preface for\nthis day runs thus: \" ... through Christ our Lord, whom Gabriel,\nthe archangel, announced was to be born for man's salvation, the\nVirgin Mary, by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, conceived; that\nwhat angelic sublimity announced, virginal purity might believe, and\nineffable Deity might perform. And thus we hope, by Thy assistance,\nto behold His face without confusion, in the solemnity of whose\nIncarnation we now rejoice.\"\n\nIn the Church of Milan, according to the Ambrosian rite, \"throughout\nthe whole of Lent, no festival of any saint is observed, and the office\nfor the Annunciation of S. Mary is celebrated on the last Sunday in\nAdvent.\"\n\n\nMEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.\n\nIn the Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome, in those of Ado, Notker,\nRabanus Maurus, and many others, on this day is marked, \"In Jerusalem,\nour Lord Jesus Christ was crucified,\" or words to this effect. This\nbeing by many supposed to be the day of the month on which Christ died.\nIn an ancient Roman Martyrology, published by Rosweydus, on March 25th\nis inserted, \"Annuntiatio Dominica et Crucifixio.\" Some ancient lines\non this day, which occur in some Martyrologies, deserve quotation: \"In\nhac die multa, mirabilia facta sunt, qu\u00e6 notantur in his versibus\":--\n\n \"Salve festa dies, qu\u00e6 vulnera nostra coerces;\n Angelus est missus, est Christus in cruce passus.\n Est Adam factus, et eodem tempore lapsus.\n Ob meritum decim\u00e6 cadit Abel fratris ab ense,\n Offert Melchisedech, Isaac supponitur aris,\n Est decollatus Christi Baptista Joannes.\n Est Petrus ereptus, Jacobus sub Herode peremptus.\n Corpora Sanctorum cum Christe multa resurgunt.\n Latro dulce tamen per Christum sucipit. Amen.\"\n\nMolanus, in his additions to Usuardus, adds to the two mysteries of the\nAnnunciation and the Crucifixion, \"On the same day the genesis of the\nworld; also the victory of Michael, the archangel, over the dragon.\"\nThis victory is commemorated on this day in many old martyrologies.\nAn old Brussels MS. Martyrology adds, \"On the same day the formation\nof Adam and his ejection from Paradise.\" Many insert the death of\nAbel; in that of Canisius, \"Abel the just, the proto-martyr of the Old\nTestament, at once virgin, priest, and martyr, and the first of mankind\nto die.\" Also the sacrifice of Melchisedek, and the sacrifice of Isaac,\nare inserted on this day in many martyrologies. In some likewise,\n\"On this day Israel crossed the Red Sea\"; in some, \"S. Veronica, who\nwiped the face of Christ\"; in some also the decollation of S. John the\nBaptist, the passion of S. James, and the liberation of S. Peter.\n\n[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION. After a painting in the Museum at\nMadrid. March 25.]\n\nBut in the Greek Men\u00e6a, March 23rd is marked as that of the\n\"Crucifixion and memorial of the Penitent Thief\": on March 22nd is\ncommemorated the Last Supper; on March 24th the Repose in the Tomb; and\non March 25th, the Resurrection.\n\n\nTHE PENITENT THIEF.\n\n [Modern Roman Martyrology.]\n\nThe modern Roman Martyrology has on this day: \"In Jerusalem the\ncommemoration of the Blessed Thief, who confessed Christ on the Cross,\nand merited to hear from him: This day shalt thou be with Me in\nParadise.\" Baronius, in his notes to the Martyrology, adds that the\nthief is traditionally called Dimas, under which name chapels have been\ndedicated to him, but that as this name is derived from apocryphal\nsources, it is not sanctioned by the Roman Martyrology. Masinus asserts\nthat the body of S. Dimas, the Penitent Thief, is preserved in the\nchurch of SS. Vitalis and Agricola at Bologna.\n\n\nS. QUIRINUS, M.\n\n(A.D. 269.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Another S. Quirinus on March 30th, and another on\n June 4th. The Quirinus on this day, March 25th, is mentioned in the\n Acts of SS. Maris, Martha, Andifax, and Habakkuk (Jan. 19th), which\n are genuine. All other accounts of Quirinus are fabulous.]\n\nQuirinus is said, but the statement is palpably false, to have been the\nson of the emperor Philip, and to have been converted by his Christian\nmother, Severa. Putting this idle fable aside, we know of Quirinus\nonly that he was executed with the sword in prison in 269, and the\nbody was thrown into the Tiber, but was recovered by a priest named\nPastor, who buried it in the Pontiani cemetery, whence it was removed\nin the pontificate of pope S. Zacharias (March 15th), and it found a\nshrine and resting-place eventually in the monastery of Tengern-see,\nin Bavaria. A spring of naphtha rising there goes by the name of\nQuirinus-oil.\n\nThe S. Quirinus of Rome commemorated on March 30th, according to\nthe Roman Martyrology, is supposed to have been a military tribune,\nchiefly from the fact that he has been represented in armour seated on\nhorseback. He is the patron Saint of Cologne, Correggio, and Neuss.\nThis S. Quirinus is often represented with a falcon, which circumstance\nhas been said to indicate his high birth, and has also led to his being\nreputed to have been of the Imperial family, and so being identified\nwith the S. Quirinus commemorated on March 25th. The real reason for\nthe falcon's presence seems, however, to lie in the story related of\nhis martyrdom (see page 504).\n\n[Illustration: MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION. After a Picture by Roger\nVan der Weyden, in the Museum at Madrid. March 25.]\n\n\nS. IREN\u00c6US, B. M.\n\n(A.D. 304.)\n\n [By the Greeks on Aug. 25th; by the Latins on this day, or March 6th\n or 25th. Authorities:--The authentic Acts of his martyrdom.]\n\nS. Iren\u00e6us, bishop of Sirmich or Mitrovitz on the Save, in Pannonia,\nthe modern Hungary, died on March 25th, in the year 304. He was\narrested by order of Probus, the governor of Pannonia, and was led\nbefore his tribunal. All his family were present. His mother, wife,\nand children surrounded him, and some of the younger children clung to\nhis knees and implored him not to leave them. His wife cast her arms\nround his neck and burst into tears on his breast, and conjured him to\nsubmit to the imperial edict so as to preserve himself for her and his\ninnocent children. The governor joined in this attempt to shake his\nconstancy. But S. Iren\u00e6us said, \"Our Lord Jesus Christ hath declared\nthat the man who loveth father or mother, wife or children, more than\nHim, is not worthy of Him, so that I forget I am a father, a husband,\nand a son.\"\n\nIren\u00e6us was then ordered to have his head struck off and his body cast\ninto the river Save.\n\n\nS. DULA, V. M.\n\n(DATE UNKNOWN.)\n\n [Roman and most ancient Western Martyrology.]\n\nNothing is known of this saint, except that she was a servant or\nslave-girl--as indeed her name implies--to a soldier at Nicomedia, and\nthat she steadfastly resisted his importunities, till, exasperated at\nher opposition to his passion, he killed her, in an explosion of anger.\nHer real name is unknown; the name Dula is simply the Greek word for\nservant-maid.\n\n\nS. CAMIN OF INISKELTRA, AB.\n\n(A.D. 653.)\n\n [Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--Scattered notices in lives of other\n Irish saints collected by Colgan.]\n\nS. Camin was of the princely house of Hy-kinselogh by his father\nDima, a half-brother of Guair, king of Connaught, by his mother\nCumania. Little else is recorded of him, until he retired to the\nisland of Iniskeltra, in Lough Derg, where he led a very austere and\nsolitary life, but after some time was obliged to erect a monastery to\naccommodate the numbers of disciples who resorted to him. Although of\na delicate constitution, he closely applied himself to ecclesiastical\nstudies, and wrote a commentary on the Psalms, collated with the Hebrew\ntext.\n\n\nS. HUMBERT, P. C.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 680.)\n\n [Belgian, French, and German Martyrologies. Authority:--A life of S.\n Humbert by a monk of Marolles, in the 13th cent., based apparently on\n older documents.]\n\nThis saint was born at Maizi\u00e8res, on the river Oise, in the province\nanciently called Upper Picardy; his parents were noble, and the virtue\nof his father Everard obtained for him, after his death, the title of\nBenedictus, or the Blessed. The child from infancy showed the utmost\ndelight in the practice of religion, and his parents took him to a\nmonastery in Laon, where he received the clerical tonsure. He was\neducated and ordained priest in the monastery, and remained in it till\nthe death of his parents, when he was obliged to leave it that he might\ntake possession and dispose of his inheritance, which was considerable.\nHe left the city of Laon with the blessing of the bishop, and the\nsanction of his superiors, and returned to Maizi\u00e8res, where he lived in\ngreat retirement. After a while he received S. Amandus, who had just\nlaid aside his bishopric of Maestricht, and was on his way to Rome with\nS. Nicasius, monk of Elno. He accompanied them to Italy. One night as\nthey were camping on their journey a bear attacked their sumpter horse,\nand killed it. When Humbert went in quest of the horse next morning to\nlay on it the baggage, he found it lying dead on the grass, and the\nbear mangling it. Humbert at once ordered the wild beast to come to\nhim, and when it obeyed he laid on it the pack-saddle and the baggage,\nand made the bear carry for them all they needed till they reached the\ngates of Rome, when he dismissed Bruin, who retired, looking every now\nand then behind him, as if expecting a recall.\n\nHe afterwards made a second pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return\nfrom it, he went to visit S. Amandus in his monastery of Elno, on the\nScarpe; and after having deliberated with him on a suitable place for\na retreat, he retired into the monastery of Marolles, or Maroilles, in\nHainault, on the little river Hespres, which flows into the Sambre.\nThis house had been built shortly before by count Rodobert, or\nChonebert, in his territory of Famart. Humbert having resolved to spend\nthe rest of his days there, gave to the new monastery all his lands at\nMaizi\u00e8res, in 671. It was then a poor little cell lost in a forest,\nbut this donation made it very wealthy. A story is told of Humbert at\nMarolles which resembles many recorded in the lives of other saints,\nand which shows that the old hermits and monks were the protectors of\nwild animals.\n\nOne day as Humbert was busy tearing up the brambles and thistles which\ncovered the land which he was desirous of reclaiming, and had cast off\nhis cloak on account of the heat, the horns of the hunters proclaimed\nthat a large party was engaged in the chase near the monastery, and\nshortly after he saw a frightened beast which the dogs pursued dart\nover the open ground and fall panting and wearied out on his cloak. The\ndogs surrounded the mantle, yelping, but did not venture to fall on the\nwild creature, and the arrows of the hunters fell short of the mark.\nSeeing this remarkable interposition in behalf of the poor animal, the\nsportsmen withdrew, highly extolling the virtue of the holy man who by\nhis mantle could protect a beast from injury.\n\nHumbert seldom left his monastery, except to meet S. Aldegunda, abbess\nof Maubeuge, with whom he had contracted an intimate union of charity\nand prayers. He is sometimes called abbot or superior of Marolles; at\nall events he had disciples, in whose arms he died, about the year 680,\non March 25th.\n\nIn art he is represented with a bear by his side, and a cross marked\non his shaven crown, which, according to the legend, was miraculously\nimpressed.\n\n\nS. ALFWOLD, B. OF SHERBORNE.\n\n(A.D. 1075.)\n\n [Mayhew in Troph\u00e6a Cong. Angl. O.S.B.; Gabriel Bucelinus in his\n Menologium Benedictinum. Hieron. Porter, in his Flores Vitarum Sanct.\n Angli\u00e6. Authorities:--William of Malmesbury, and Henry Knyghton.]\n\nIn the reign of the Confessor, Alfwold, a monk of Winchester was raised\nto the bishopric of Sherborne. At that time the English people were\ngreatly addicted to the pleasures of the table, and it was expected\nof the bishops to keep open house and have their tables well provided\nwith abundant and delicate fare. But Alfwold, though ready to show all\nhospitality, lived plainly himself, drinking water out of a common\nbowl, and eating out of a wooden platter. He had S. Cuthbert's life and\nexample ever before his eyes, and repeated to himself constantly the\nantiphon for his festival, \"The blessed bishop Cuthbert, a man perfect\nin all things, in the midst of a crowd remained a monk, and to all was\nvenerable.\" He visited Durham, and opening the shrine of S. Cuthbert\naddressed him lovingly as a friend, and deposited by his side a token\nof his regard.\n\n\nS. WILLIAM, CHILD M.\n\n(A.D. 1144.)\n\n [Anglican Martyrologies. But the day of his invention, April 15th, was\n observed as his festival at Norwich. Authority:--An account of his\n martyrdom in Capgrave.]\n\nAccording to the legend related by Capgrave, there lived in Norwich\nin the 12th century a couple named Wenstan and Elwina, of the peasant\nclass, who became parents of a boy, named William. One day Wenstan went\nto a feast and took his little son with him. During the meal a beggar\ncame in with irons on his hands, worn as an act of penance; the child\nput out his hands to touch the chains and manacles, and instantly they\nbroke and fell at the feet of the mendicant. At the age of seven the\nboy was so filled with the ardour of self-mortification, that he fasted\nthree days in the week, and was constantly in the church singing psalms\nand reciting prayers.\n\nOn the Passover in 1144, some Jews of Norwich took the child, and\nhaving strangled him, crucified him, and then took the body in a sack\nout of the town, to bury it in a wood. But a certain Aelward saw them\nentering the wood, and followed them. Then, in alarm, the Jews ran\naway, and considering that their only chance of safety lay in bribing\nthe viscount, who was chief magistrate of the town, they offered him a\nhundred marks of silver if he would hush the matter up. The viscount\ntook the money, sent for Aelward, and threatened and persuaded him\nto hold his tongue about what he had seen. Aelward kept the secret\nfor five years, till he was on the point of death, when the martyred\nboy appeared to him, and bade him disclose what he had witnessed.\nNow at the same time, early in the morning, a nun was walking in the\nwood, when she came suddenly on a child's body lying at the foot of\nan oak tree, with two ravens fluttering over it, and the woman was so\nfrightened that she ran into Norwich and told what she had seen. Then\na crowd of people went forth and took up the body, which though it had\nlain five years unburied in the wood, was incorrupt, and brought it\ninto Norwich; at the same time Aelward made his confession, and thus\nthe whole of the circumstances were made clear; the people readily\nconcluding that this newly found body was the same that had been left\nby the Jews, according to Aelward's account, unburied in the wood, five\nyears before. The body was buried, and a rose bush was planted at the\nhead, about the festival of S. Michael, (Sept. 29th), and it at once\nput forth fresh leaves and flowers, and bloomed till the feast of S.\nEdmund, (Nov. 20th). Many miracles were performed at the grave. It does\nnot appear that this discovery was followed by a massacre of the Jews.\n\nThroughout the Middle Ages three accusations were constantly brought\nagainst the Jews by the populace; all three were denounced by the\nauthorities of the time as imaginary. They were accused of killing\nchildren. A law of the duke of Poland, in 1264, renewed in 1343,\nrebuked those who made this charge, and required that it should be\nsubstantiated by the testimony of three Jews. They were accused of\npoisoning the wells. Pope Innocent IV. in a bull denounced this charge,\nand in 1349, the king of the Romans ordered that the Jews in Luxemburg\nshould be protected against the insolence of the people, because,\nsaid he, the pope and he regarded them as innocent of the many crimes\nattributed to them. Lastly, they were accused of sacrilege. The Abb\u00e9\nFleury, in his Ecclesiastical History gives one instance of the manner\nin which this charge was made, \"In a little town called Pulca, in the\ndiocese of Passau, a layman found a bloody Host before the house of a\nJew, lying in the street upon some straw. The people thought that this\nHost was consecrated, and washed it and took it to the priest, that it\nmight be taken to the church, where a crowd full of devotion assembled,\nsupposing that the blood had flowed miraculously from wounds dealt it\nby the Jews. On this suspicion, and without any other examination, or\nany other judicial procedure, the Christians fell on the Jews, and\nkilled several of them; but wiser heads judged that this was rather\nfor the sake of pillaging their goods than avenging the pretended\nsacrilege. This conjecture was fortified by a similar accident which\ntook place a little while before at Neuburg, in the same diocese of\nPassau, where a certain clerk placed an unconsecrated Host steeped\nin blood in the church, but confessed afterwards in the presence of\nthe bishop Bernhard and other persons deserving of credit, that he\nhad dipped these Hosts in blood for the purpose of rousing hostility\nagainst the Jews.\"[89]\n\n[89] Hist. Eccles. vi. p. 110.\n\nIf, however, we consider the intolerable treatment of the Jews\nthroughout the Middle Ages, it makes it by no means improbable that\ntheir pent-up wrongs should have exasperated them into committing\nacts of vengeance, when they had the opportunity. Through centuries\nthey were ground under an intolerable yoke. They could call nothing\nreally their own, not even their persons. They were obliged to wear a\ndistinctive mark, like outlaws and harlots; if they emigrated, their\nfeudal lords were under mutual agreement to seize them in foreign\nlands; their children were stolen from them to be baptized; if their\nwives wished to abjure, they were divorced; they were taxed on going\nin and coming out of and sojourning in any city; on the smallest\npretext, their debtors refused to pay their debts. At Toulouse on every\nGood Friday a Jew was brought upon the cathedral stairs to have his\nears publicly boxed; their lives were at the mercy of every one. The\nmagistrates burnt them, the people massacred them, the kings hunted\nthem down to despoil them of all, when their exchequer was low. All\nthese insults, outrages and injustices must have created an intense\nhatred of Christianity, and every thing and person that was Christian,\nand may well have found vent occasionally in some savage murder in\nparody of the Crucifixion, or sacrilegious outrage on the Blessed\nSacrament, which the Jews knew full well was the great object of\nChristian love and devotion. They would not have been human had it not\nbeen so, and though many of the stories of murders and sacrileges told\nagainst them were undoubtedly false, yet some may have been true. But\nat the same time it is impossible to doubt that most of these charges\nbrought against them were invented by their enemies for the purpose of\nplundering them; and that others had their origin in the imagination of\nthe people, ready to believe anything against those whose strong-boxes\nthey lusted to break open.\n\nThe first mention of the crucifixion of a boy by the Jews is in\nSocrates, (Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 16.) He says that about A.D. 414,\nat a place called Immestar, between Antioch in Syria and Chalcis, \"the\nJews, while amusing themselves in their usual way with a variety of\nsports, impelled by drunkenness, were guilty of many absurdities. At\nlast they began to scoff at Christians, and even at Christ himself;\nand in derision of the cross and those who put their trust in the\nCrucified, they seized a Christian boy, and having bound him to a\ncross, began to laugh and sneer at him. But in a little while they\nbecame so transported with fury that they scourged the child until he\ndied under their hands.\" The emperors being informed of this ordered\nthe delinquents to be punished with the utmost severity.\n\nThe Jews in England were accused of having crucified a child in 1160, a\nboy, Robert, at Bury S. Edmunds, in 1181, at whose tomb miracles were\nalso wrought. Another boy, Hugh, is said to have met with the same fate\nat Lincoln, in 1255, the place of whose image and shrine is still shown\nin the cathedral of that city. Matthew Paris, in his English history,\nunder the date 1239, says, \"In this year, on the feast of S. Alban,\nand on the following day, a great massacre and destruction of the Jews\ntook place by order of Geoffry the Templar, a particular councillor of\nthe king, who oppressed, imprisoned, and extorted money from them. At\nlength, after great suffering, these wretched Jews, in order to enjoy\nlife and tranquillity, paid the king a third part of all their money\ndebts, as well as chattels. The original cause of this calamity was the\nperpetration of a clandestine murder committed by the Jews in the city;\nand not long after this, owing to a boy having been circumcised by the\nJews at Norwich, four of the richest of that community, having been\nclearly convicted of that offence, were hung.\"\n\nAnd again, under 1240, \"About this time the Jews circumcised a\nChristian boy at Norwich; they then kept him to crucify him. The\nfather of the boy, however, from whom the Jews had stolen him, after a\ndiligent search, at length discovered him, and with a loud cry pointed\nout his son, shut up in a room in one of the Jew's houses. When this\ncame to the knowledge of William de Rele, the bishop, a wise and\ncircumspect prelate (!) and of some other nobles,--that such an insult\nto Christ might not be passed over unpunished, all the Jews in the city\nwere made prisoners, and when they wished to place themselves under\nthe royal protection, the bishop said, 'These matters belong to the\nChurch, they are not to be decided by the king's court.' Four of the\nJews, having been found guilty, were dragged at the tails of horses,\nand afterwards hung on a gibbet.\"\n\nSix boys are reported to have been martyred by the Jews at Ratisbon,\nin 1586; another, named Johannet, at Siegesburg, another at Bacharach,\nanother, S. Richard, at Paris, in 1182, Simon of Trent has already been\nspoken of (March 24th), and Raderus in his Bavaria Sancta mentions\nanother, George, at Sappendalf, in 1540. There was another S. Richard,\nchild-martyr at Pontoise; and the last we hear of was in 1650, in\nBohemia.[90]\n\n[90] See for fuller particulars, and more instances, the Lives of S.\nWerner, April 19th, S. Albert, April 20th, and S. Ludwig, April 30th.\n\n[Illustration: Decorative motif]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 26.\n\n S. CASTULUS, _M. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 286.\n SS. MONTANUS AND MAXIMA, _MM. at Sirmium_.\n SS. BATHUS, _P.M._, VERCA AND CHILDREN, _MM. among the Goths,\n circ._ A.D. 370.\n S. EUTYCHIUS, _Subd. M. at Alexandria_, A.D. 356.\n S. FELIX, _B. of Treves, circ._ A.D. 426.\n S. BRAULIO, _B. of Saragossa_, A.D. 646.\n S. MOCHELLOC, _Ab., in Ireland, between_ A.D. 639-656.\n S. LUDGER, _B. of Munster, Ap. of Westphalia_, A.D. 809.\n S. BASIL THE LESS, _H. at Constantinople, circ._ A.D. 952.\n\n\nS. CASTULUS, M.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 286.)\n\n [Roman and almost all Latin Martyrologies. In the Archdiocese of\n Prague the feast of this saint is kept as a double; so also in the\n dioceses of Ratisbon, Frisingen, and Passau. By the Greeks on Dec.\n 18th. Authorities:--The Acts, and another account of his passion in\n the Acts of S. Sebastian.]\n\nSaint Castulus, chamberlain of the palace to Diocletian, was wont to\nreceive Christians into his house, and screen them from the pursuit\nof the magistrates. He was denounced to Fabian, the prefect of the\ncity, who, after having tortured him in many ways, had him cast into a\npit and buried in sand. He was betrayed by a renegade Christian named\nTorquatus, the same whom Cardinal Wiseman has introduced into his\nhistorical sketch of \"Fabiola.\"\n\n\nSS. MONTANUS AND MAXIMA, MM.\n\n(DATE UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede and S. Jerome. Authority:--The\n notices in the Martyrologies.]\n\nS. Montanus was a priest at Sirmium, in Pannonia, and Maxima was his\nwife. They were drowned for the faith either in a river or in a lake;\nprobably during the persecution of Maximian.\n\n\nSS. BATHUS, P., VERCA, AND THEIR CHILDREN, MM.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 370.)\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a and Menology of the Emp. Basil the Younger.]\n\nBathus, a Gothic priest, his wife Verca, their two sons and two\ndaughters, and some others were burned in the church by the Gothic\nJungeric. Gaatha, a Gothic queen, collected their relics, and conveyed\nthem into Roumania; but on her return she was stoned to death.\n\n\nS. BRAULIO, B. OF SARAGOSSA.\n\n(A.D. 646.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology. Saragossa Martyrology on March 18th.\n Authority:--The letters of his great friend S. Isidore.]\n\nS. Braulio is traditionally said to have been divinely designated for\nthe episcopate, when the clergy and people were assembled to elect to\nthe vacant see of Saragossa, by the appearance of a tongue of flame on\nhis head. He was an intimate friend of S. Isidore, bishop of Hispalis,\nor Seville, and he has been by some writers erroneously called the\nbrother of Isidore and Leander. S. Braulio sat in the 5th and 6th\nCouncils of Toledo. After having held the bishopric twenty years he\ndied. The day of his death was spent in incessant psalmody. A pleasing\nmodern legend, which the Bollandists have shown to be without ancient\nauthority, tells that he heard angelic voices chant in choir, \"Arise,\nmy friend, and come away,\" to which he replied, \"Behold, here am I.\"\n\n\nS. LUDGER, B. OF MUNSTER.\n\n(A.D. 809.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus.\n The Treves Martyrology, those of Utrecht and S. Gudule at Brussels,\n the Benedictine Martyrology, and many others. Authorities:--His\n life by Altfrid, B. of M\u00fcnster, his disciple, derived from personal\n knowledge, or from information furnished by the saint's brother\n Hildegrim, or by his nephew, Gerfried, or by his sister, Heriburgh.\n There are other lives of him in prose, and three styled litanies,\n written in rhyme. One of the former is by an anonymous Frieslander,\n a contemporary; another by the monks of Werden, composed about 890.\n Our saint's name appears in three forms: viz., Ludger, Liudger, and\n Luidger. He is commonly called Ludger, a spelling he himself adopts in\n his life of Gregory, abbot of Utrecht. He is styled Liudger both in\n Altfrid's life of him, and in the verses sent to him from York by a\n disciple of Alcuin.]\n\nThe abbey of Utrecht, under the presidency of the devoted Gregory,\nhad sent forth many noble labourers into the mission-field, and many\nmore had come over from England to take their share in the good work,\nand to spread the knowledge of the truth. One of the most eminent of\nthese was Ludger, the subject of this memoir. His grandfather Wrffing\nAdo, a noble Frieslander, though not a believer in the Trinity, was\nyet a help to the poor, a defence to the oppressed, and a just judge,\nrespecting the person of no man. Radbod, king of Friesland, who had\ncruelly oppressed his people, banished his best nobles, and sold their\nestates, laid a plot against his life. Wrffing received timely warning\nof it from one of the king's council, and fled with his wife and son\nto Grimoald, \"Duke of the Franks,\" who received him well. There he\nwas converted to the Catholic faith; he and all his were baptized.\nGrimoald was the son-in-law of Radbod, and son of Pepin of Heristal.\nWhile the latter was lying on his death-bed, Grimoald went to see him,\nand was assassinated by a Frieslander, in the church of S. Lambert,\nin 714. Wrffing received the same kindness from his successors.\nRadbod entreated Wrffing to return; when he refused to do so, Radbod\nasked him to let his son come back, promising to reinstate him in\nhis inheritance. Accordingly the younger son Thiadgrim was sent to\nFriesland; the king insisted on his living with him, and restored his\nfather's lands to him.\n\nWhen Charles Martel added Friesland to his Frankish dominions,\n\"extincto Radbodo,\" he not only reinstated Wrffing in his former\npossessions, but also gave him land in the neighbourhood of Utrecht\nto hold in feoff for S. Willibrord, who was then labouring among the\nFrisians, and had fixed his see at Utrecht. Willibrord received all\nsupport and countenance from Wrffing and his family. Both he and his\nsuccessor, S. Boniface, were on very friendly terms with them. Perhaps\nit was at his grandfather's house that S. Ludger first saw S. Boniface.\n\nThiadgrim, the younger son, married Liafburg, the daughter of Nothrad\nand Aldeburga. The latter gave her two brothers to S. Willibrord, to\neducate, and they first of all the Frisians received the clerical\ntonsure. Willibraht, the elder brother, died a deacon, the younger,\nbefore he reached that degree.\n\nLiafburg, S. Ludger's mother, narrowly escaped being murdered at the\ntime of her birth. Her grandmother by the father's side, a fierce old\npagan, was enraged because her daughter-in-law had borne no sons but\nonly daughters. She sent officers to snatch the new born babe from\nits mother, before it had sucked the breast, for it was the custom of\nthese heathen to kill a child before it had tasted earthly food. This\nstatement is corroborated by some old Frisian laws edited by Sibrand\nSiccaum.\n\nThe officers consigned the child to a servant to be drowned. As the\nman held the infant over a bucket of water, she stretched out her tiny\narms and grasped with her hands the edge of the bucket, and with\nall her feeble might resisted his efforts to drown her. A woman, who\nchanced to be near, touched with pity, snatched the infant from the\nservant's hands, and ran away with it to her own home; fastening the\ndoor behind her, she hastened to a chamber and placed some honey in the\nchild's mouth, which it instantly swallowed. The officers were sent\nby the heathen beldame to demand the infant: the woman said, \"She has\neaten honey,\" and at the same time she held up to them the child, still\nlicking its lips: for this reason it was unlawful to kill the child.\n\nThe woman gave Liafburg suck from a horn filled with milk, and\nreceiving all necessaries from the child's mother, she nursed her till\nthe death of her unnatural grandmother, when Liafburg was received into\nher father's house.\n\nLiafburg many years after, when pregnant with Ludger, heard suddenly of\nthe return of her husband Thiadgrim from a long journey. She ran out to\ngreet him, and her foot slipping, she fell on a stake, which entered\nher side. She was taken up for dead; but by God's mercy she revived,\nand in a few days gave birth to Ludger unhurt. This event took place\nprobably about 744. At his baptism, which is erroneously said by one\nchronicler to have been performed by S. Willibrord, who was then dead,\nhe received the name of Ludger. As soon as he was able to run about, he\nused to collect the bark of trees, and to sew them into books, while\nthe other children were at play. Then he scribbled on them with reeds\ndipped in a black liquor and gave them to his nurse to keep as useful\nbooks. If asked, \"What hast thou done to-day?\" he said, \"I have made\nbooks, or I have written or read all day.\" If asked again, \"Who taught\nthee?\" he replied, \"God taught me.\"\n\nThen, as he grew in grace and years, he earnestly besought his parents\nto entrust him to some man of God to be brought up. They accordingly,\nprobably in 757, gave him to abbot Gregory, a noble Frank, and a\ndisciple of the great S. Boniface, who had a monastery at Utrecht.\nEither here, or before this, Ludger, as he tells us in his life of S.\nGregory, \"saw with his own eyes S. Boniface when his head was white\nwith hoar hairs, and his body decrepit with age.\" Gregory, he adds, was\nhis preceptor, \"ab infantia,\" he brought up his disciples with as much\nlove, zeal, and care, as if he was their father, and they his children;\nthey were joined to him by a tie of strong affection. He proclaimed\nboth in deed and in truth, as well as in word the Apostolic utterance\nof S. Peter, concerning the calling and election of all nations, \"In\nevery nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted\nwith him.\" Acts x. 35. For his disciples were gathered not from one\ntribe only, but were the flower of all the neighbouring nations; they\nwere enlightened with wondrous gentleness and spiritual joy, and joined\ninto one body, because they were begotten in charity of one spiritual\nfather, and of the one mother of all. \"Some were of noble Frank\nfamilies; some were English; some of the new planting of God begun\namongst the Frisians and Saxons; some of the Baquarii and the Suevi;\nsome of whatever nation God hath sent thither: of all these I, Ludger\nam the least, yea, the weakest and most insignificant.\"\n\n\"The holy father Gregory bestowed on all these gathered from all parts\ninto one fold the spiritual food of God's doctrine and Word. Inspired\nby God he burned with love for his disciples and for their instruction,\nso that scarce a day passed on which he did not sit in the morning to\nreceive his disciples singly, and to hear their questions, and then he\ngave them to drink of the cup of life, and watered them with God's Word\nas each had need.\"\n\nAltfrid tells us that Gregory received Ludger with joy, and found great\npleasure in instructing him, as he was an intelligent and sagacious\nchild. Under his loving care Ludger advanced in the fear of the Lord,\nand laid aside his secular habit in that monastery; perhaps in 760,\nand devoted himself wholly to the study of the spiritual science.\nSome of his schoolfellows became bishops or teachers of Churches.\nLudger was much loved by them, by reason of his wondrous gentleness\nand kindness: his face was cheerful, though he was not easily provoked\nto laughter; he combined prudence with moderation in all his actions,\nfor he constantly meditated on Holy Scripture, and especially upon\nthose portions of it which pertained to the praise of God, and to the\nCatholic faith, for all which reasons he was loved by his venerable\nmaster as an only son.\n\nAlubert came to Utrecht in 766, or 767, being sent by the bishop\nof York to preach the Gospel in Frisia. Gregory besought him to be\nmade a bishop. He consented after some reluctance, provided Gregory\nwould despatch him to England with some native clergy. Accordingly\nhe received as companions Sigibod and Ludger. Sigibod was ordained\npriest, Ludger deacon, and Alubert bishop at York, probably by Elbert,\nwho succeeded Egbert in that see on his death in 766. Elbert on his\naccession had ordained Alcuin, who was his favourite pupil, deacon,\nand made him master of the cathedral seminary. His fame as a teacher\nspread far and wide; and students from all parts eagerly sought in York\nthat instruction which no other master could supply. Ludger assiduously\ndrank of the stream of knowledge which flowed from his lips, and it was\nwith reluctance that he accompanied his friends at the end of a year to\nUtrecht, which they reached in 768.\n\nHis first act was to petition Gregory for leave to return to Alcuin,\nand sate himself \"with the honey which he had tasted.\" Gregory\ngently but firmly refused his request: finding that in spite of all\npersuasion he cherished the determination of journeying to York, he\nsent for his father to induce him to desist from his purpose. But the\nstudious Ludger remained firm, and at last vanquished all opposition\nby entreaty. He was accordingly furnished with all necessaries for his\njourney.\n\nHe stayed three years and a half at York, under Alcuin, where he was\nbeloved by all for his good character and holy studies.\n\nAt this time, when the citizens of York were going forth to battle\nagainst their enemies, the son of an earl of that province was killed\nin a quarrel by a Frisian merchant. All Frisians deemed it prudent to\nquit England for fear of the wrath of his relatives. Alcuin sent his\ndeacon Patal with Ludger, lest his love of learning should induce him\nto go to some other town of those parts, and he should there fall a\nvictim to the vengeance of the young earl's friends. He returned home,\nin 774, with a large stock of learning and books, and was received\nwarmly by Gregory.\n\nAbout or before this time, Liafwin or Lebuin, a learned priest, was\nsent from England to Utrecht. He desired to preach the gospel to the\npeople who dwelt by the river Yssel. The faithful of those parts\nfirst built him a church at Wulfre, on the west side of that river.\nAfterwards one was erected at Deventer, on the east side. He gained\nso many converts there that the Saxons made a furious attack on the\nplace, drove out the Christians, and burned the church. When the enemy\nhad retired, he returned, and rebuilt the church, and laboured there\npeacefully and successfully till his death, when he was buried in the\nchurch. Then the Saxons again sacked and burned the church, after\nmaking an ineffectual search for his body.\n\nAlbric succeeded his uncle Gregory, who had died about this time.\nLudger gives a touching account of the old man's death. \"He had been\nsmitten with paralysis some years before: as he grew weaker, he eagerly\nlooked forward for his nephew's return from Italy. When Albric arrived,\nhe entrusted the monastery to his charge, and prophesied his own\nimmediate decease. He bade them carry him to the oratory of S. Saviour,\nand set him in front of the tabernacle; there he prayed for a time,\nand then received the Lord's Body; then, with his eyes fixed on the\naltar, and his soul fixed on heaven, he departed to the Lord, whom he\nhad served so long in sincerity.\" His death occurred in 776, according\nto the Bollandists; in 781 according to the editors of the Benedictine\nActa Sanctorum.\n\nAlbric besought Ludger to assume Liafwin's charge, and to rebuild the\nchurch over his body. Being unable to discover his remains, he laid the\nfoundations of the church within the space in which he thought they\nlay. Liafwin appeared to him in a vision of the night, telling him that\nhis body was buried deep beneath the south wall of the foundations. The\nnext day it was found in the spot pointed out, and the foundations were\ntransferred so as to include the saint's tomb within the church. Many\nmiracles were afterwards wrought at it. Perhaps the Romanesque crypt of\nthe present vast church of S. Lubien at Deventer marks the site of this\ntomb.\n\nAfterwards Albric sent Ludger and others to destroy the heathen temples\nand places of worship throughout Friesland. They found a vast quantity\nof treasure in them, of which Charlemagne reserved two-thirds, and gave\nthe other to Albric for his own uses.\n\nWhen Albric, in 778, was consecrated bishop at Cologne, he caused\nLudger to be raised to the priesthood at the same time, and then sent\nhim to be teacher of the Church in the canton of Ostracha, where S.\nBoniface was martyred. It seems that Ludger erected a church on the\nsite of his martyrdom, near Dockum, for Alcuin afterwards sent him some\nLatin heroic verses to be inscribed on it.\n\nThese verses will be found in Migne's edition of Alcuin's works. The\ntwo first of the fourteen lines run thus:--\n\n \"Hic pater egregiis meritis Bonifacius almis,\n Cum sociis pariter fundebat sanguinis undam.\"\n\nHe also, in turn with Albric and two others, presided over the\nmonastery at Utrecht for three months in every year. Once, after he had\nsaid the night office, and had laid himself down to rest, \"in solario\necclesi\u00e6,\" S. Salvatoris, which probably corresponded to our parvise,\nor prophet's chamber, abbot Gregory appeared to him in a vision, and\nbade him follow him. The old man cast down to him from a higher place,\nas it were, pieces of garments and parchments, which he bade him\ndistribute well. Ludger gathered them into three heaps. Marchelm, the\ncustodian of the church, in the morning interpreted the dream to mean\nthat Ludger would be spiritual ruler over three peoples. Then Ludger\nexclaimed, \"Would that the Lord would give me, instead, fruit in the\nplace now entrusted to my charge.\"\n\nLudger zealously exercised his office among the Frisians, and the seeds\nof life, sown by him, watered by dew from above, bore abundant fruit\nin the hearts of many. Thus did he avenge the death of S. Boniface by\nbringing to the knowledge of the truth those very peoples who had shed\nhis blood. Again was verified the old saying, \"The blood of the martyrs\nis the seed of the Church,\" for that land afterwards brought forth rich\ncrops of the corn of God's elect.\n\nWhen Ludger had toiled there nearly seven years, that \"root of evil,\"\nWittikind, in 784, leader of the Saxons, drove out the servants of God,\nburned the churches, and made the Frisians, as far as the river Fleo,\nsacrifice again to the false gods. So Ludger dismissed his disciples,\nand taking with him his brother, Hildegrim, and another, went to Rome,\nwhere pope Adrian received him kindly, in 785. Thence he went on to S.\nBenedict's monastery at Monte Cassino, \"for he was anxious to build a\nmonastery on his own estate, and this was afterwards done at Werden.\"\n\nThough S. Ludger's name occurs in Benedictine Martyrologies, he seems\nnever to have become formally a monk of that order. Probably he wore\ntheir habit at Monte Cassino. The author of the Third Metrical Life\nsays, \"though he wore the cowl.\" \"Nec hujus Regul\u00e6, ullum observanti\u00e6\nfecerat promissum.\" The fact that the monasteries founded by him both\nat Werden and Munster observed the rule of the Canons Regular, seems to\nsettle the matter. He was called abbot simply because he presided over\na C\u00e6nobium. In 787, he passed through Rome on his way home, where he\nobtained some relics of our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, and of some of\nthe saints. The news of Wittikind's conversion, or rather submission,\nhad recalled him to his old field of labour.\n\nCharlemagne had been at war with the Saxons, who then occupied nearly\nthe modern circles of Westphalia and Lower Saxony, with short intervals\nof peace, for nearly thirty years. In 779, he defeated the Westphalians\nat Bochold, and received their submission, which entailed that of the\nOstphali and the Angrarii. The following year he overran the country as\nfar as the Elbe, where he encamped. Wittikind took refuge at the court\nof the king of Denmark, his father-in-law. The solemn sacrament of\nbaptism was administered to an immense multitude at Horheim.\n\nCharlemagne determined to secure the people by a systematic occupation\nof their territory. It was divided into districts, whither bishops,\npriests, and abbots were sent. The king gave them the lands, but God\nalone could give them the souls of the people.\n\nThe rebellion which burst out in 782, under Wittikind, was punished\nseverely. His accomplices, 4,500 in number, were tried before their own\nchiefs at Verden, on the Aller; were condemned and put to death. Their\nrelatives and all the tribes took up arms to avenge them: a bloody\nbattle of doubtful issue was fought at Detmold. After Charlemagne\nhad ravaged the country for two years, he offered terms of peace.\nWittikind and the Saxon nobles accepted them. He submitted to be\nbaptized at Attigny. His example brought about the submission of Saxony\nand Friesland. The story is told somewhat in this fashion:--On great\nfestivals Charlemagne was wont to distribute money to all the poor\nwho assembled at his gate. On Easter-day, Wittikind, in the dress of\na beggar, penetrated into the king's tent, where Mass was being said.\nAfter mass, he came to receive alms with the rest. He was recognised in\nspite of his rags, arrested, and brought before the king. Then he asked\nto become a Christian, and ordered the chiefs of his party to lay down\ntheir arms. It is hardly necessary to add that marvels accompanied this\nconversion.\n\nOn S. Ludger's return, in 787, to Friesland, Charlemagne sent him to\nbear the glad tidings of the gospel of peace to the Frisians in the\nneighbourhood of Gr\u00f6ningen and Norden. Away in the sea to the north\nwas a white island, so he was told, a home of hardy seamen, whither\nS. Willibroad had been. Ludger resolved to go to this island of\nFositesland, or Heligoland, and water the little seed of life that\nWillibroad had sown there. He embarked in a little vessel, and a\npleasant breeze springing up, the boat was wafted towards the distant\nisle. Ludger stood in the bows, cross in hand, and saw a dark grey fog\nenvelope the island. But presently the veil of mist rose, and disclosed\nthe white chalk-cliffs glittering in sunshine, and the bishop gladly\ntook this as an omen of success. He landed, preached the faith, and\ndestroyed the temples, erecting churches in their stead. The people\ngladly heard the Word, and Ludger baptized them in the waters of\nthe very fountain in which S. Willibroad had baptized three of the\nislanders on a former occasion. A son, also, of one of the chiefs\nembraced the faith, and became a teacher of the Frisians and the\nfounder of a monastery.\n\nAfter the complete subjugation of the Saxons, S. Ludger was directed by\nthe emperor to repair into Westphalia. He erected a monastery where now\nstands the episcopal city of M\u00fcnster, and travelled over the district\nwith unflagging energy, wearing no hood, as his biographer says, with\nwhich monks usually keep their heads and shoulders warm, instructed\nthe barbarous tribes, and appointed priests to minister the sacraments\nto them. He was soon after ordained bishop by Hildebold, archbishop of\nCologne. His heart now turned to the wild Normans, the scourge of all\nthe maritime peoples of Gaul and on the Baltic.\n\nAs bishop, he ministered to his Saxon flock with great judgment and\ngentleness, and that proud conquered people yielded more to his gentle\npersuasion than to the harsh commands of Charlemagne. He still ruled\nFriesland, which he had brought to the faith. Charlemagne also set\nhim over a monastery in Brabant. Thus his dream of the three heaps,\nsignifying his rule over three peoples, was fulfilled.\n\nThe chief seat of his diocese was in the canton Sudergau, at a place\ncalled Mimigardford (or, more properly, Miningardvard, the fort of\nMiningard) on the Aa, where he built a monastery by the river for the\nRegular Canons.\n\nFrom this establishment the city eventually took its name of M\u00fcnster,\nthough the bishops continued to style themselves \"of Mimigard\" to the\ntime of Thierry II.\n\nHe built the cathedral of S. Paul at M\u00fcnster. The five Frisian\ncounties contributed largely towards the cost. Their liberality was\ncommemorated in a sculpture representing them offering gifts to S.\nPaul, which once stood near the N.W. door of the cathedral. It was\ndefaced by the Anabaptists in 1535.\n\nHe uprooted idolatry, sowed the Word of God, built churches, and\nordained priests to minister in them. He desired to bring many nations\nto the knowledge of the true God, and volunteered to preach to the\nheathen Northmen, but Charlemagne refused his consent.\n\nThe blameless conduct of Ludger did not save him from detractors,\nnay, perhaps it rather incited their malice. He was accused (as the\nanonymous Frieslander who wrote his life tells us) to Charlemagne of\npenuriousness in decorating the houses of God. The emperor summoned\nhim to court, and on the morning after his arrival the chamberlain\nwas sent to call him before the council. He found Ludger saying the\ndivine office. Our saint promised to come as soon as it was done. A\nsecond and a third messenger summoned him, but he did not go to the\nemperor till the office was over. Charlemagne asked him, \"Why didst\nthou disregard my command to come at once?\" The saint said, \"God is to\nbe preferred to thee, O king, and to all men.\" The emperor, pleased at\nhis reply, exclaimed, \"I am thankful that I have found thee such as I\never esteemed thee, and I promise never again to give ear to those who\ncalumniate thee.\" Once Ludger imposed a severe penance on a priest who\nleft off saying the office that he might blow the fire, as they were\nsaying Matins in their travelling tent, because the smoke was driving\ninto the bishop's face; for the saint desired to teach his clergy that\nthey ought to suffer nothing to disturb them when saying the Divine\noffice.\n\nAltfrid adds that S. Ludger \"was well read in Holy Writ,\" as is clearly\nproved in the book he wrote about the life of Gregory and Albric;\nmoreover, he wrote an account of the early events which took place at\nthe coming of S. Boniface and at his ordination. His meaning, probably,\nis not that separate lives of these holy men were written by Ludger,\nbut that notices of them were inserted in his \"Life of Gregory.\" This\nis the only genuine work of his that has survived, for the epistle on\nthe canonization of S. Suibert is not from his pen.\n\nWhen he felt his end approaching, he devoted more time than before to\nreading Holy Writ, to chanting Psalms, and, though feeble in body, he\ncelebrated Mass every day.\n\nOn the day of his death, March 26th, 809, very early, he heard Mass at\nCoesfeld, and preached; then hastening to Billerbeck, arrived there at\nnine o'clock the same morning, preached again, and celebrated his last\nMass. That evening he gently expired.\n\n[Illustration: Picture of Fortitude bearing shield and club]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 27.\n\n MEMORIAL OF THE RESURRECTION.[91]\n SS. PHILETUS, LYDIA, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Illyria, 2nd cent._\n S. AUGUSTA, _V.M. at Serravalle in Venetia_.\n S. ALEXANDER, _M. at Drizipara, in Pannonia_.\n SS. ZANITAS, LAZARUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Persia_, A.D. 326.\n S. JOHN, _H. at Lycopolis, in Egypt_, A.D. 393.\n S. RUPERT, _B. of Salzburg_, A.D. 718.\n S. MATTHEW OF BEAUVAIS, _M. in France, 11th cent._\n S. WILLIAM TEMPIER, _B. of Poitiers_, A.D. 1197.\n\n[91] In some ancient Martyrologies we find this day set down as that of\nthe Resurrection, but others make the day to be March 25th, March 28th,\nApril 1st, or April 5th.\n\n\nSS. PHILETUS, LYDIA, AND COMPANIONS, MM.\n\n(2ND CENT.)\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a and Menologium, and modern Roman Martyrology. The\n following account from the Greek Menology, it is almost needless to\n say, is fabulous.]\n\nSaint Philetus, a senator, his wife, Lydia, their sons, Macedo and\nTheoprepius, also Amphilochius, a general, and Chronides, a registrar,\nwho suffered under Hadrian, are venerated by Greeks and Latins on this\nday. According to the account in the Menology, Philetus, his wife and\nsons, and Chronides, were handed over to Amphilochius, the general, to\nbe by him tortured. Amphilochius ordered them to be cast into a vessel\nof boiling oil, but as the bubbling fluid suddenly became cold, when\nthe martyrs were about to be plunged into it, full of astonishment, he\nexclaimed, \"God of the Christians, help me!\" Then there came a voice\nfrom heaven, \"Thy prayer is heard, come up hither.\" Now when this was\nnoised in the ears of the emperor, he came down, full of wrath, and\nordered a cauldron of oil to be boiled for seven days, and all to be\ncast thereinto. But they were unhurt. Then the emperor left them, and\nthey, praying, and giving thanks to God, gave up the ghost.\n\n\nS. AUGUSTA, V. M.\n\n(DATE UNCERTAIN.)\n\n [Ferrarius, in his Catalogue of Saints. Not in the Roman Martyrology.\n Venerated at Serravalle, near Ceneda, on the Piavia. There is at\n Serravalle a church on a hill-top, containing her relics, and to this\n pilgrimages are made on August 1st, the day of the translation of her\n relics, but the anniversary of her martyrdom is March 27th, and that\n of the invention of her relics in Aug. 22nd. The story of this saint\n is purely traditional.]\n\nThere was once upon a time, when the Roman empire was tottering to its\ndecline, a certain duke of Friuli, named Matrucus, of Gothic race, who\nbuilt for himself a great castle on the mountain dominating Serravalle,\nthe ruins of which remain to this day. Now the people of that part\nwere Christians, but Matrucus was a heathen. He had a daughter named\nAugusta, young and fair, and her heart turned from the fierce gods\nof Germany to the Christ whom the bruised and suffering people of\nSerravalle adored, and to His spotless Mother, so pure and loving. And\nshe sought means of receiving instruction, and was baptized secretly.\nNow there were many things in his daughter's conduct which roused\nsuspicion in the mind of Matrucus, and he set spies to watch her. One\nday, he was told that she was in the church praying, and he rushed in\nupon her, dragged her forth, and locked her up in a chamber of the\ncastle. In ungovernable fury he afterwards beat out her teeth, and\nexecuted her with his sword, reproaching her with having despised the\ngods of their ancestors and degraded the honour of his house.\n\n\nS. JOHN OF EGYPT, H.\n\n(A.D. 393.)\n\n [Almost all Latin Martyrologies, not however that of Bede, nor by the\n Greeks. Authorities:--Two lives, one by Evagrius, translated into\n Latin by Ruffinus of Aquileia, the other by Palladius, in his Hist.\n Lausiaca; both were contemporaries, and had visited and conversed with\n the saint.]\n\nNo solitary after S. Antony acquired such renown as S. John of Egypt.\nHe was not only respected by the people, but by emperors. The most\ncelebrated doctors and ecclesiastical writers, S. Jerome, S. Augustine,\nS. Prosper, Cassian, Palladius, Ruffinus, S. Eucher, and S. Fulgentius,\nhave extolled him. John was born at Lycopolis in the lower Thebaid,\nthe modern Siout. He exercised the trade of a carpenter till he was\ntwenty-five, and then, the desire of labouring only for his salvation,\nof coming to a death-grip with flesh and blood, possessed him; and he\nplaced himself under the direction of an aged hermit, whom he served\nwith alacrity and diligence. The old man fearing lest the merit of this\nservice should be injured by any admixture of human affection, affected\ngreat capriciousness, and gave his disciple many absurd orders. For\ninstance, he one day commanded him to plant his staff in the sand\nand water it daily. John obeyed without a murmur, and though he had\nto go two miles for water, continued his task for a year. On another\noccasion, he ordered John to throw their dinner out of the window.\nHe was obeyed without a trace of hesitation. On one occasion when\nsome visitors were with the old man, to exhibit the docility of his\ndisciple, he ordered John to run to a rock some distance off, and roll\nit up to his door. John ran, nothing doubting, and laid his shoulder,\nand then breast against the huge mass, and toiled ineffectually to move\nit, dripping with perspiration, till his master recalled him. On the\ndeath of the hermit, John spent five years in visiting the different\nmonasteries of Egypt, and then he chose a cave in the face of a rock,\nnear his native place, and walled up the entrance, leaving only a door\nand window. In this grotto he spent the remaining thirty-eight or forty\nyears of his life.\n\nHowever great may have been his desire to live in solitude, his fame\nbrought great numbers to visit him, so that a great house had to be\nerected at the foot of his rock to receive the pilgrims. His abstinence\nwas great. He ate nothing that had been cooked, not even bread, but\ntook only a little fruit at sun-down. He was given an extraordinary\ninsight into the future, and many of his prophecies have been recorded.\nThe most famous were those made by him to Theodosius the Great, to\nwhom he announced beforehand the irruption of the barbarians into\nthe empire, the revolts that would take place, and the means he must\nemploy against them. This prince specially consulted him concerning\ntwo enemies with whom he was called to fight. One was Maximus, who had\nkilled the emperor Gratian in 383, and driven the emperor Valentinian\nfrom his possessions in 387. John assured him of victory, and promised\nthat it would be unattended by great effusion of blood. Theodosius\ndefeated Maximus in two encounters in Pannonia, passed the Alps without\ndifficulty, pursued and surprised Maximus at Aquileia, where he cut off\nhis head. Four years after, Eugenius having seized on the empire of the\nEast, through the credit of Arbogastes, who had strangled the younger\nValentinian, Theodosius resolved to march against him. Eugenius, who\nawaited him, prepared for the combat by consulting the augury and the\nentrails of victims. Theodosius sent the eunuch Eutropius into Egypt\nto invite the hermit John to come to him and declare to him the will\nof God. The saint refused to leave his cell, but sent word to the\nemperor by Eutropius that he would gain a victory, which would however\nbe very bloody, and that he would only survive it a short while. Both\npredictions were accomplished. A battle was fought in the plains of\nAquileia, on Sept. 6th, 394, in which Eugenius was defeated; Theodosius\nlived till January 17th of the following year, and died leaving the\nempire divided between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius.\n\nPalladius was in the Nitrian desert with his master Evagrius,\nAlbinus, Ammon, and three others; and their conversation turned on\nthe reputation of S. John. Evagrius expressed his desire to know if\nall that was reported of his great virtue was true, and to have his\npowers of discernment tested by some one of experience. Palladius at\nonce resolved to go. He was then aged twenty-six. He started without\ncommunicating his design to any one, and made his journey partly on\nfoot, and partly in a boat, for it was the period of the overflow of\nthe Nile. This is an unhealthy time, owing to the evaporation of the\nslime left by the retreating waters; and Palladius fell ill on his way.\nOn his recovery he prosecuted his journey, and reached the vestibule\nof the hermit's cell, where he learnt that John only gave audiences on\nthe Sabbath (Saturday) and the Sunday, and that he must therefore wait\nin patience till the Saturday. On that day he found the saint seated at\nhis window, through which he conversed with all who approached. When\nJohn saw him, he greeted him through an interpreter, and asked his\nobject in visiting him, saying at the same time that he looked like a\ndisciple of Evagrius. Palladius satisfied his inquiries, and began to\nconverse with him, when Alypius, the governor of the province, arrived,\nand approaching hastily, John signed to Palladius to withdraw whilst he\nreceived the governor. Palladius waited with some impatience, thinking\nin his heart that John was not free from the common infirmity of\nrespect of persons. But the saint divined his thoughts, and sending his\ninterpreter to him, bade him not be impatient, for he would speedily\ndismiss the governor. When Palladius was recalled, the hermit gently\nreproved him for his thoughts, saying, \"It is not the whole, but those\nthat are sick that need the physician. Thou art constantly engaged in\nlabouring for thy salvation, but that man is immersed in the cares\nof this world, and can scarcely snatch an hour from business for the\ncultivation of his soul. Whom should I greet and prefer most readily?\"\nand putting out his hand he gently cuffed Palladius. \"And now to\nproceed with thy affairs,\" continued John. \"I know that the thoughts of\nthy father have distracted thee of late, and thou hast been thinking of\nreturning from the solitary life to him. But know that both he and thy\nsister have entered into religion like thyself. Thy father will live\nseven years longer. Think no more of returning to thy home, for it is\nbroken up. He that putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back, is\nnot fit for the kingdom of God.\"\n\nThese words consoled and encouraged Palladius; and the saint having\nasked him with a smile whether he wished to be a bishop, Palladius\nanswered in the same bantering style, that he was one already, as his\nname implied. \"And prithee what is thy diocese?\" asked the hermit.\n\"I rule the diocese of the kitchen, and my episcopal jurisdiction is\nexercised over pots and pans,\" answered Palladius. \"Enough of this\njoking,\" said the hermit. \"In truth I tell thee thou shalt be a bishop\none of these days, and shalt suffer many contradictions. But, if thou\nwouldest escape them, leave not thy solitude, for so long as thou\nremainest there, none will ordain thee bishop.\"\n\nSome years after, this prophecy was verified; for, being threatened\nwith dropsy, Palladius left the desert for Alexandria, and thence\nafterwards for Bithynia, where he was ordained bishop of Helenopolis.\nHe was speedily enveloped in the persecution against S. Chrysostom, and\nwas obliged to remain concealed for eleven months in a dark chamber.\n\nPalladius returned from his visit to the Nitrian desert, and related\nall he had seen and heard to Evagrius, who was stirred to undertake the\njourney himself, and his account of this visit is found in the pages of\nRuffinus.\n\n\nS. MATTHEW OF BEAUVAIS, M.\n\n(END OF 11TH CENT.)\n\n [Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--Guibert, Ab. of Nogent-sous-Coussi,\n l. 1053, d. 1124. Guibert knew S. Matthew personally; they were both\n natives of the same village, and grew up together from childhood as\n friends.]\n\nMatthew was a knight of noble birth, of Agnetz, near Clermont, in\nBeauvais. He was a model of purity, sincerity, and piety, ever calm,\nand never giving way to petulance, or agitated by passion. He took\nthe cross and went to the East to fight for the recovery of the Holy\nSepulchre, with the bishop of Beauvais. At the court of Alexis, in\nConstantinople, he was greatly respected. Having been made prisoner by\nthe Saracens, he was offered his life if he would renounce the cross of\nChrist. He asked to be allowed to delay his reply till the following\nFriday. On that day he was again urged to adopt their religion. He\nreplied, \"I asked you to grant me this delay, not because I had any\ndoubt as to what my decision would be, but that I might have the honour\nand felicity of shedding my blood on the same day as my Saviour Jesus\nChrist bled for me. Come then, strike me! I give my life to Him who\nlaid down His for mankind.\" So saying he knelt and stretched forth his\nneck for the blow, and with one stroke was decapitated.\n\n\n\n\nMarch 28.\n\n SS. PRISCUS, MALCHUS, AND ALEXANDER, _MM. at C\u00e6sarea, circ._ A.D. 259.\n S. XYSTUS OR SIXTUS III., _Pope_, A.D. 440.\n S. SPES, _Ab. at Nursia, in Italy_, A.D. 513.\n S. GUNTRAM, _K. of Burgundy_, A.D. 593.\n S. CONON, _Monk at Nesi, in Sicily_, A.D. 1236.\n VEN. MARY DE MAILLIAC, _V.W. at Tours_, A.D. 1414.\n\n\nS. XYSTUS OR SIXTUS, POPE.\n\n(A.D. 440.)\n\nSaint Sixtus III. was a native of Rome. He succeeded Celestin I.,\nin 432, on the Papal throne. He laboured zealously to extinguish\nthe Pelagian and Nestorian heresies, and exhibited great joy at the\nreconciliation between S. Cyril of Alexandria, and John, patriarch\nof Antioch. Some epistles and some religious poems attributed to him\nexist. He built and adorned many churches in Rome, and died August\n18th, 440; and was succeeded by S. Leo the Great.\n\n\nS. SPES, AB.\n\n(A.D. 513.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and the Benedictine Martyrology of Wyon.\n Authority:--The Dialogues of S. Gregory the Great, lib. iv. c. 10,\n from one who knew Spes.]\n\nS. Spes was an abbot of a monastery, at a place called Cample, or\nCampi, near Nursia, who was blind for forty years, and bore his\naffliction with the greatest sweetness and patience. At the end of\nthat time his sight was restored to him for a brief space, and he\noccupied this time in visiting the monasteries of his order. And on\nthe fifteenth day of his recovery he returned to his own house, and\ncalling the brethren together, and standing in their midst, he received\nthe Body and Blood of Christ, and then lifted up his voice to precent\nthe psalms. And as he and the brethren sang, his spirit fled, and the\nbrethren saw his blessed soul as a white dove soar up to the vault of\nthe church, which parted, and the dove ascended into the brightness\nabove.\n\n[Illustration: Hope.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 29.\n\n S. LIMINEUS, _M. at Clermont in Auvergne, circ._ A.D. 255.\n SS. JONAS AND BARACHISIUS, _Monks MM. in Persia_, A.D. 327.\n S. MARK, _B. of Arethusa, and_ S. CYRIL, _D.M. in Syria_, A.D. 362.\n S. MARK OF ATHENS, _H. in Libya, 4th cent._\n SS. ARMOGASTES, ARCHINIMUS, AND SATURUS, _MM. in Africa, circ._\n A.D. 463.\n S. GUNDLEUS OR GWYNLLYW FILWR, _K.H. in Wales, circ._ A.D. 529.\n (_See Jan. 24th, S. Cadoc._)\n S. EUSTACE, _Ab. of Luxeuil_, A.D. 625.\n S. LUDOLF, _M.B. of Ratzeburg, in Germany_, A.D. 1201.\n B. HUGO, _Mk. of Vaucelles, 13th cent._\n\n\nSS. JONAS AND BARACHISIUS, MM.\n\n(A.D. 327.)\n\n [Greek Menology of the emperor Basil the younger, and Roman\n Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts written by an eye-witness, Esaias,\n an Armenian knight in the troops of king Sapor, pub. in Chaldaic by\n Asseman. The Greek version in Metaphrastes has gone through much\n amplification.]\n\nKing Shapoor, or Sapor, of Persia, raised a savage persecution against\nthe Christians in his realm, believing them to be in league with the\nRoman emperor. Amongst those who suffered were Jonas and Barachisius,\nbecause they refused to adore the sun and fire. Melted lead was poured\ndown the nostrils of Jonas, and red-hot plates were placed under his\narms, and he was hung up by one foot in his dungeon till he fainted.\nHis hands and feet were cut off, his tongue torn out, and he was\npressed to death in a grape-crusher. Barachisius was treated with equal\nbarbarity. Sharp splinters of reed were thrust into his flesh, all over\nhis body, so that he resembled a porcupine, and he was then rolled on\nthe ground to drive the spikes in.\n\n\nSS. MARK, B. C., AND CYRIL, D. M.\n\n(A.D. 362.)\n\n [By Greeks and Latins on the same day, but the Greeks commemorate\n especially S. Mark, and the modern Roman Martyrology only S. Cyril.\n S. Mark, but not S. Cyril, was in that of Galesinius, prepared\n for the use of the Roman Church, and approved by Gregory XIII.,\n and Clement VIII., but was cut out by Baronius, and S. Cyril\n inserted in his place. The reason he gave was \"Romana Ecclesia non\n recipit Marcum illum inter Sanctos, quem constat Arianum fuisse.\"\n But the continuators of Bollandus have shown that Baronius was\n without sufficient grounds for concluding that he was an Arian.\n Authorities:--Theodoret, lib. iii. c. 7; Socrates, lib. ii. c. 30;\n Theophanes, and the Oration of S. Gregory Nazianzen against Julian.]\n\nMark, bishop of Arethusa, on Mount Lebanon, was present at the council\nof Sirmium (A.D. 351), which met to depose Photinus, the bishop of\nSirmium, who, in spite of former censures for heresy, had retained\nhis church. This was at a time when the Arian controversy was being\ncarried on with great vehemence, and the word \"consubstantial\" was\ninsisted upon by the orthodox, and rejected by the Arian party. A third\nparty of semi-Arians, as they were called, existed, which comprised\nwithin its ranks men of two different types. On the one hand were the\nprelates who desired to keep well with an Arian emperor, but who were\nnot disposed to surrender the Catholic faith to obtain favour, and\nwho were wanting in dogmatic precision. On the other hand, there was\na body of very pious and thoroughly orthodox bishops, who hesitated\nabout adopting a new word to define our Lord's nature, deprecated the\nheat displayed by both parties, and hoped, by avoiding this burning\nword, to prevent many who were passively or ignorantly heterodox,\nfrom being forced by the fierceness, wherewith the controversy was\ncarried on, to side permanently with heresy. We have seen S. Cyril in\ncompany with these men. Mark of Arethusa was another. At the council\nhe produced a creed, which is given by Socrates, and which it was\nhoped would be accepted by the semi-Arians and Catholics together.\nThis creed is orthodox[92]; the only questionable passage in it is in\nreference to a text in Genesis, and is so involved and obscure that it\nmay be incorrectly given by the historian.[93] It is as follows:--\"If\nanyone shall understand the words, (Gen. xix. 24.) 'The Lord rained\nfrom the Lord,' not in relation to the Father and the Son, but shall\nsay that God rained from Himself, let Him be anathema: for the Lord the\nSon rained from the Lord the Father. If anyone, hearing _the Lord the\nFather_, and _the Lord the Son_, shall term both the Father and the Son\nLord, and saying _the Lord from the Lord_, shall assert that there be\ntwo Gods, let him be anathema. For we rank not the Son with the Father,\nbut conceive Him to be subordinate to the Father. For He neither came\ndown to Sodom without the Father's will, nor did He rain from Himself,\nbut from the Lord who exercises supreme authority: nor does He sit at\nthe Father's right hand of Himself, but in obedience to the Father.\"\n\n[92] \"Sed ut e\u00e6 fidei formul\u00e6, quibus subscripsisse Marcum habemus ex\nEpiphanio, prorsus fuerunt fidei orthodox\u00e6 conformes, et in omnibus\npr\u00e6ter vocem consubstantialis nihil requireret: sic nec hoc quidem\ncertum est, an in conciliabulo Sirmiensi quidquam senserit Marcus ab\northodoxa professione diversum.\" Acta SS. Martii T. iii. p. 777.\n\n[93] \"Quam enim est obscurus hujus anathematismi sensus, tam est nobis\nsuspecta fides adjunct\u00e6 rationis, nihil ad blasphemiam de duobus diis,\nqu\u00e6 sola damnari videtur, facientis, ut propterea intrusa videri possit\nab Ariano aliquo.\" Bollandus.--_Ibid._\n\nBut this strange passage must not be taken to deny the Lordship of the\nSon, for the Creed which precedes the anathemas is very explicit on the\nEternal Godhead of Christ. \"We believe ... in our Lord Jesus Christ,\nwho was begotten of His Father before all ages, God of God, Light of\nLight, by whom all things visible and invisible, which are in the\nheavens and upon the earth, were made; Who is the Word, the Wisdom, the\ntrue Light, and the Life.\" Again, \"If anyone says that the Son was not\nwith God, begotten of the Father before all ages, and that all things\nwere not made by Him, let him be anathema.\"\n\nIn the reign of Constantius, Mark had drawn down on himself the hatred\nof the pagan inhabitants of Arethusa, by causing the destruction\nof a magnificent temple. According to the law published by Julian\nthe Apostate, on his accession to the throne, he was, under these\ncircumstances, bound to make good the value of the temple in money, or\nelse to cause it to be rebuilt. Being in no condition to do the former,\nand thinking he could not conscientiously do the latter; fearing, at\nthe same time, for his life amidst a ferocious populace, he betook\nhimself to flight. As others, however, were involved in danger on\nhis account, he turned back, and voluntarily offered himself to his\nenemies. The fanatical multitude now fell upon him; he was dragged\nthrough the streets, stripped, and scourged, then dipped in the town\nsewer, and given over to the schoolboys returning from their lessons,\nto mangle him with their iron pens. When the old man had almost done\nbreathing, they besmeared him with honey and other liquids, laid him\nin a basket, in which he was swung up in the air, and left to be\npreyed upon by bees and wasps. Mark shamed his cruel enemies by the\ncool indifference which he exhibited under all his sufferings. The\ngovernor, himself a pagan, represented to Julian what scandal it must\noccasion if they allowed themselves to be outdone by the constancy of\na weak old man; and the emperor finally commanded him to be set free,\nfor it was not his wish, he said, to give the Christians any martyrs.\nAfter, when Libanius, the heathen rhetorician, desired to restrain a\ngovernor from indulging in the cruel persecution of a Christian who had\nbeen accused of robbing the temples, he warned him thus: \"If he is to\ndie in his chains, then look well before you, and consider what will\nbe the result. Take heed lest you bring upon us many more like Mark.\nThis Mark was hung up, scourged, plucked by the beard, and bore all\nwith constancy. He is now honoured as a god, and, wherever he appears,\neverybody is eager to take him by the hand. As the emperor is aware of\nthis, he has not allowed the man to be executed, much as he is grieved\nat the destruction of the temple. Let the preservation of Mark be a\ncaution to us.\"[94] Socrates says that the constancy of Mark converted\nthe people of Arethusa, and that they submitted to learn from his lips\nthe doctrines of Christianity.\n\n[94] Liban. ep. 731.\n\nIn the same chapter in which Socrates relates the sufferings of Mark,\nhe tells how other Christians suffered from popular tumults at the\nrevival of paganism under Julian. \"At Askelon, and at Gaza, they seized\nmen truly worthy of the priesthood, and women vowed to perpetual\nvirginity, and after having ripped open their stomachs, they threw them\nto the pigs to be devoured. At Sebaste, a city of the same province,\nthey opened the coffin of John the Baptist, burnt his bones, and flung\naway his ashes. In Heliopolis, a city near Lebanon, dwelt Cyril, a\ndeacon. Acting on the impulse of ardent zeal, he had there, during the\nreign of Constantius, destroyed many idols. These impious men not only\nkilled him in revenge for this act, but after having ripped up his\nstomach, ate his liver. At Dorostolis, a celebrated city of Thrace,\nEmilius, an undaunted champion of the faith, was thrown into the flames\nby Capitolinus, governor of the province.\"\n\n\nSS. ARMOGASTES AND COMPANIONS, MM.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 463.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Victor of\n Utica. De Persec. Vand. lib. i. (5th cent.)]\n\nGenseric, the Vandal king in North Africa, had in his early youth\nrenounced the Orthodox communion, and had become an Arian. He was\nexasperated to find that the Africans, who fled before him in the\nfield, presumed to dispute his authority over their faith, and his\nferocious mind was incapable of fear or of compassion. His Catholic\nsubjects were oppressed by intolerant laws, and arbitrary punishments.\nThe language of Genseric was furious and formidable; the knowledge of\nhis intentions might justify the most unfavourable interpretations\nof his actions; and the Arians were reproached with the frequent\nexecutions which stained the palace and dominions of the tyrant.\n\nGenseric had ordered, on the advice of the Arian bishops, that no\nCatholic should be allowed to hold office in his house. Now there was\nfound one, named Armogastes, in the service of his son Theodoric. He\nwas tortured with cords bound round his forehead and legs, compressing\nthe flesh painfully. But he looked up to heaven, made the sign of\nthe Cross, and the cords broke like a spider's web. Stouter cords\nof hemp were then used, but they proved equally inefficacious. He\nwas next suspended by one foot, with his head downwards. His master,\nTheodoric, wished to cut off his head, but his hand was arrested by an\nArian priest present, named Jucundus, who said, \"If thou strikest off\nhis head, the Romans will honour him as a martyr; therefore make him\nlanguish to death in other ways.\" By Romans, he meant the conquered\ninhabitants of the province. Theodoric then sent Armogastes into the\nprovince of Byzacene, to dig the earth. He afterwards recalled him to\nCarthage, and to disgrace him before all men, made him cow-keeper.\n\nThe confessor having had a revelation that his death was at hand, said\nto a Catholic, named Felix, \"I pray thee, bury me under this oak tree,\nor thou shalt have to give account before God for not doing this.\"\nFelix replied, \"God forbid that I should do so; I will bury thee,\nas thou deservest, in some church.\" Armogastes urged him, and Felix\npromised to fulfil his wish, so as not to vex him. The saint died a few\ndays after, and Felix began his grave beneath the tree, but the roots\nincommoded him. He, therefore, got an axe, and cut through them, and\nfound, to his surprise, an ancient marble sarcophagus beneath them; and\nin this he laid the body of Armogastes.\n\nA certain Archinimus, of the city of Mascula, was also called on to\nconfess Christ about the same time. The king himself endeavoured to\npersuade him to disbelieve in the eternal Godhead of Christ, and\npromised him great wealth and favour if he would comply with his\nwishes. But when he found that the man would not be persuaded, he gave\norders that he should be executed, but he sent secret instructions that\nhis life should be spared if he maintained his constancy to the last.\nThe saint showed no disposition to yield, and he was spared.\n\nSatur, procurator of Huneric, often spoke against Arian misbelief.\nFor this he was denounced by an Arian deacon, named Varimad.\nHuneric threatened, unless he conformed to the established heresy,\nthat he would deprive him of his house, his goods, his slaves, his\nchildren, even of his wife, and publicly wed her in his presence to\na camel-driver. Satur remained inflexible, and was despoiled of all\nthings. His wife implored delay, and going to her husband, with her\ngarments rent, cast herself at his feet, and implored him not, by his\nobduracy, to expose her to such a public disgrace, and to such a sin\nas marriage to another whilst her husband lived. He replied, \"You speak\nlike one of the foolish women. (Job xi. 10.) If you loved me, you would\nnot urge me to a second death. He that forsaketh not even his wife,\nthe Lord said, when called upon so to do for His sake, cannot be His\ndisciple.\" Then Satur was robbed of all, and reduced to beggary; he was\neven forbidden to go forth from his place. Thus was he despoiled of\nwealth and family, and liberty. \"But,\" says Victor of Utica, \"Of his\nbaptismal robe they could not rob him.\" These three men are honoured,\nfor their sufferings, as martyrs.\n\n\nS. EUSTACE, AB. OF LUXEUIL.\n\n(A.D. 625.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology, and that of Ado; not in the genuine one of Bede,\n nor in that of Usuardus; but in those of Notker and Maurolycus; and in\n the Gallican and Benedictine Martyrologies; and in the Scottish one of\n Dempster. His life was written by Jonas, monk of Bobbio, in 664.]\n\nEustace, born of a noble family in Burgundy, had spent his youth in\narms, but he renounced the world and joined S. Columbanus at Luxeuil,\nand when, through the persecution of that she-wolf, Brunehault, and her\ngrandson, Thierry, king of Burgundy, Columbanus was driven from his\nmonastery, and from the country, Eustace was deemed worthy to succeed\nhim in the government of the abbey. His marvellous sweetness and tender\ncompanion to all who suffered, mentally or corporeally, endeared him\nto his monks; and when they confessed their faults to him, his tears\nmingled with theirs, and filled their hearts with consolation.\n\nBy order of Clothaire II., he travelled into Italy to recall\nColumbanus, and the two saints had the happiness of once more falling\non each other's necks, embracing. Columbanus having refused to return,\nEustace went back to the king and explained to him the reasons of the\nsaint for declining his invitation. Eustace, therefore, remained at\nthe head of the great abbey of Luxeuil, which attracted an increasing\nnumber of monks. However, the missionary spirit and desire to preach\nexercised an overwhelming influence over Eustace, as over all the\ndisciples of the great Irish missionary. The bishops, assembled\nin the Council of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, by Clothaire II., nominated\nhim to preach the faith to unconverted nations. He began with the\nVarasques, who inhabited the banks of the Doubs, near Baume, some of\nwhom worshipped the wood-spirit, whilst others had fallen victims to\nheresy. He afterwards travelled beyond the countries which Columbanus\nhad visited, to the extremity of northern Gaul, among the Boii or\nBavarians. His mission was not without success; but Luxeuil, which\ncould not remain thus without a head, soon recalled him.\n\nDuring the ten years of his rule, a worthy successor of Columbanus, he\nsucceeded in securing the energetic support of the Frank nobility, as\nwell as the favour of Clothaire II. Under his active and intelligent\nadministration, the abbey founded by S. Columbanus attained its highest\npitch of splendour, and was recognised as the monastic capital of all\nthe countries under Frank government. The other monasteries, into\nwhich laxness had but too frequently found its way, yielded, one after\nanother, to the happy influence of Luxeuil, and gradually reformed\nthemselves by its example. This remarkable prosperity was threatened\nwith a sudden interruption by means of the intrigues of a false brother\nwho had stolen into the monastic family of Columbanus. A man named\nAgrestin, who had been secretary to king Thierry, the persecutor\nof S. Columbanus, came one day to give himself and his property to\nLuxeuil. Being admitted among the monks, he soon showed a desire to\ngo, like Eustace, to preach the faith to the pagans. In vain the abbot,\nwho could see no evangelical quality in him, attempted to restrain\nthat false zeal. He was obliged to let him go. Agrestin followed the\nfootsteps of Eustace into Bavaria, but made nothing of it, and passed\nfrom thence into Istria and Lombardy, where he embraced the schism\nof the Three Chapters, and endeavoured to involve therein Attalus,\nthe second abbot of Bobbio. Failing, he returned to Luxeuil, where he\ntried to corrupt his former brethren. Eustace then remembered what\nthe exiled Columbanus had written to him, in his letter from Nantes,\njust before his embarkation:--\"If there is one among you who holds\ndifferent sentiments from the others, send him away;\" and he commanded\nAgrestin to leave the community. To avenge himself, the schismatic\nbegan to snarl, says the contemporary annalist, hawking here and there\ninjurious imputations against the rule of S. Columbanus. Abellinus,\nbishop of Geneva, listened to his denunciations, and exerted himself\nto make the neighbouring prelates share his dislike. King Clothaire,\nwho heard of it, and who was always full of solicitude for Luxeuil,\nassembled most of the bishops of the kingdom of Burgundy in the council\nof Macon. To this council Eustace was called, and the accuser invited\nto state his complaints against the rule. They were directed against\ncertain insignificant peculiarities. \"I have discovered,\" said he,\n\"that Columbanus has established usuages which are not those of the\nwhole Church.\" And thereupon he accused his former brethren, as with\nso many heresies, of making the sign of the cross upon their spoons\nwhen eating; of asking a blessing in entering or leaving any monastic\nbuilding; and of multiplying prayers at Mass. He insisted especially\nagainst the Irish tonsure, which Columbanus had introduced into France,\nand which consisted solely in shaving the front of the head, from one\near to the other, without touching the hair of the back part, while the\nGreeks shaved the entire head, and the Romans only the crown.\n\nEustace had no difficulty in justifying the customs of Luxeuil, and\nin discomfiting the violence of his accuser. But as Agrestin always\nreturned to the charge, the abbot said to him: \"In presence of these\nbishops, I, the disciple and successor of him whose institute thou\ncondemnest, cite thee to appear with him, within a year, at the\ntribunal of God, to plead thy cause against him, and to learn to know\nthe justice of Him whose servant thou hast attempted to calumniate.\"\nThe solemnity of this appeal had an effect even upon the prelates who\nleant to the side of Agrestin: they urged him to be reconciled to his\nformer abbot, and the latter, who was gentleness himself, consented to\ngive him the kiss of peace. But this goodness did not benefit Agrestin.\nHopeless of succeeding at Luxeuil itself, he sowed revolt and calumny\nin the other monasteries which had proceeded, like Luxeuil, from the\ncolonising genius of Columbanus, at Remiremont and Faremoutier. But\nshortly before the expiration of the year, he was slain with a blow\nof an axe by his servant, whose wife, it was reported--whether truly\nor not Jonas does not commit himself to decide--he had intended to\ndishonour. At length, in 625, Eustace was called to his rest, and was\nsucceeded in the government of the abbey by S. Wandelbert (May 7th.)\n\nHis relics were preserved in the abbey of Vergaville, in the diocese\nof Metz, but on its destruction in 1792 they were carried away and\nconcealed by the last abbess, Madame de la Marche, in the house of M.\nLabrosse, cur\u00e9 of Surianville. They were surrendered by him, on the\nreturn of security, to Mgr. Ant. Eustache Osmond, bishop of Nancy,\nand they were placed in two shrines in the Benedictine priory of\nFlavigny-sur-Moselle, in Meurthe, in 1824.\n\n\nB. HUGO, MONK OF VAUCELLES.\n\n(A.D. 1236.)\n\n [Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--Thomas Cantipratensis.]\n\nOne of the most fervent and exemplary religious of the abbey of\nVaucelles in the early part of the 13th century was Hugo de Villa,\nformerly dean of the church of Cambrai. He was as distinguished for the\nnobility of his birth, and of his talents, as he was for his virtue.\nThe fear of being called to fill some episcopal throne prompted him to\ntake refuge in the monastery of Vaucelles, where the rule of the first\nchildren of S. Bernard was rigorously observed. When the project of\nthe pious dean was known, many persons came to ask him to give them a\nhandsome tame falcon he possessed. Hugo refused, and dissembled his\nintentions till the moment that he entered religion. He arrived at the\ngates of the abbey with the bird, and then, cutting the string that\nheld the falcon captive, he gave it liberty, saying, \"My dear bird! fly\naway and enjoy thy liberty in peace, for I am leaving thee for ever.\"\n\nThomas de Cantinpr\u00e9, his biographer, says, \"I have often heard from\nthe mouths of eye-witnesses that during his noviciate, birds would\ncome and perch on his hands, and eat crumbs out of them. The master of\nthe novices, to prove his virtue by opposing this innocent pleasure,\nreproached him. The good religious then drove away the birds that\nfluttered around him, saying, with that simplicity which marked all his\nconduct, 'Away, birds! I am not surprised that you are ordered off: my\nage and condition requires that you should obey me, and not I you.'\"\n\n\n\n\nMarch 30.\n\n S. SECUNDUS, _M. at Aste, in Italy_, A.D. 119.\n S. QUIRINUS THE TRIBUNE, _M. at Rome_, A.D. 130.\n S. REGULUS, _B. of Arles and Senlis, 4th cent._\n SS. MARTYRS _at Constantinople, slain by Macedonius, the Heresiarch_,\n A.D. 351.\n S. JOHN IN THE WELL, _H. in Armenia_.\n S. JOHN CLIMACUS, _Ab. of Mount Sinai, about_ A.D. 606.\n S. ZOSIMUS, _B. of Syracuse, circ._ A.D. 660.\n S. PATTO, _B. of Werden, 9th cent._\n S. VERO, _C. at Limbecke, in Hainault, 9th cent._\n B. DODO VAN HASCHA, _O.P., C. in Friesland_, A.D. 1231.\n B. PETER REGULATUS, _O.M., C. at Aguilar, in Old Castille_, A.D. 1456.\n B. AMADEUS, _Duke of Savoy_, A.D. 1472.\n\n\nS. SECUNDUS, M.\n\n(A.D. 119.)\n\n [Molanus, in his additions to Usuardus, Maurolycus, and other modern\n Martyrologies. Not in the Roman Martyrology. The Acts, of which there\n exist several versions, are not worthy of trust. They may possibly\n contain the original Acts, but if so, they are so embedded in fable\n that it is impossible to distinguish what is true from what is false.]\n\nAccording to the legendary Acts, Secundus of Aste, count of the palace,\nwas instructed in the faith by S. Calocerus, then a prisoner at Aste,\nand baptized by SS. Faustinus and Jovitta, at Milan. He was afterwards\nsent to Tortona, to S. Martian, in his dungeon, to bear to him the\nBlessed Sacrament, and he was present when this saint suffered for\nChrist. It was told the governor, Sapricius, that Secundus had buried\nthe body of the martyr; and sending for him, he heard him confess that\nhe was a Christian. He was placed on the rack, and then sent to Aste,\nwhere he suffered execution with the sword, together with S. Calocerus,\non March 30th.\n\nPatron of Aste, where his relics are preserved.\n\n\nS. QUIRINUS THE TRIBUNE, M.\n\n(A.D. 130.)\n\n [Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Mention in\n the Acts of S. Alexander, pope (May 3rd), but these are not altogether\n trustworthy.]\n\nQuirinus the Tribune was converted and baptized by pope S. Alexander\nI., and was condemned to have his tongue, hands, and feet cut off.\nAccording to the popular legend, which is often represented in art, his\ntongue was offered to a falcon, but the bird refused to eat it: the\nActs say nothing of it. The hands and feet were in like manner cast\nto dogs, and popular tradition adds that they refused to devour them.\nAfterwards he was drawn by oxen to the place of final execution, where\nhis head was struck off.\n\nRelics at Neuss, in the archdiocese of Cologne, and anciently in the\nchurch of S. Madeleine at Troyes, in France, also in the church of S.\nPantaleon, in Cologne, where is a portion of the skull, in that of\nS. Gereon, and that of the Jesuits in the same city; at Silburg, at\nZulpich, at Louvain, Tongres, Florieffe, at Bologna, and in the church\nof S. Balbina in Rome.\n\n\nS. REGULUS, B. OF ARLES AND SENLIS.\n\n(4TH CENT.)\n\n [Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Authority:--Various editions of\n the life of S. Regulus, the most ancient probably of the 9th cent.\n The cathedral of Senlis was burnt in that century, and together with\n it perished all its archives. Those lives extant were written from\n tradition after this fire. S. Regulus is called in France S. _Rieul_.]\n\nS. Regulus was a native of Argos. Hearing of the miracles wrought\nat Ephesus by the Beloved Disciple, S. John the Divine, he went\nthither, and was converted by him. The Blessed Apostle, admiring\nhis virtue, ordained him, and kept him by him as a dear friend. But\npersecution soon parted the pupil from his master, for S. John was\nexiled to Patmos. After a while, Regulus, hearing that S. Dionysius,\nthe Areopagite, was leaving Rome to bear the gospel into lands that\nknew not Christ, followed him, and S. Denys took with him Rusticus for\nhis deacon, Eleutherius as subdeacon, Regulus, Lucian, Eugenius, and\nothers. Regulus was appointed bishop of Arles, where he found a colony\nof Christians which had been formed by S. Trophimus. According to the\nlegend, one day, as Regulus was saying Mass, after he had recited in\nthe canon the names of SS. Peter and Paul, he added, without thinking\nof what he was saying, \"also the blessed martyrs, Denys, Rusticus, and\nEleutherius,\" and thereupon saw three doves descend on the altar, with\nthese three names in bloody characters inscribed on their breasts.\nKnowing that these three blessed apostles must be dead, he went to\nParis to gather up their sacred relics, having first confided the care\nof his church to a bishop named Felicissimus. On arriving, he went to\nthe village of Ch\u00e2ton, where he met a lady, named Catulla, who had\nsecretly buried the bodies of the martyrs. Regulus celebrated the holy\nSacrifice over their grave, and Catulla built a chapel of wood on the\nspot. This was the chapel which S. Genoveva afterwards rebuilt in stone\n(vol. i. p. 50). Regulus then left Paris, and took the road to Senlis.\nPassing through Louvres, six leagues from Paris, he overthrew an idol\nof Mercury, which he found there, preached to the people, and built a\nchapel, which was afterwards dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Regulus\nthen undertook the conversion of the people of Senlis, which he happily\neffected. Then he betook himself to Beauvais, and the story goes that\nas the frogs in the marshes disturbed him whilst preaching he forbade\nthem all croaking with the exception of one. He is said to have died\nin 130, during the reign of Hadrian, after having laboured forty years\nin different missions. So far the legendary life, which is destitute of\nrespect as history. In all probability two saints have been run into\none, a S. Regulus of Arles, the successor of S. Trophimus, and a S.\nRegulus of Senlis, who lived in the end of the third century, and died\nin the early part of the fourth, for he is spoken of as a companion of\nsaints who certainly lived at that period.\n\nIn art S. Regulus or Rieul is represented with frogs at his side, or\nreleasing captives from their chains.\n\n\nS. JOHN CLIMACUS, AB.\n\n(A.D. 606.)\n\n [Roman Martyrology and Greek Menologium of the emperor Basil, and\n Men\u00e6a. Authority:--His Life by Daniel, monk of Raithu, near the Red\n Sea, a contemporary.]\n\nS. John, abbot of Mount Sinai, is commonly called Climacus, from a book\nwritten by him, entitled \"Climax, or the Ladder of Perfection.\" As this\ntreatise shows his erudition, he is also sometimes called Scholasticus,\nand, as abbot of Mount Sinai, he is also designated as John the Sinaite.\n\nThe place of his birth is not known, nor is the exact year of that\nevent, but it was probably in 525. At the age of sixteen he ascended\nMount Sinai with the purpose of offering himself to God as a living\nacceptable sacrifice. At the age of thirty-five he became a solitary\nat Thola, five miles further in the desert, where, in the complete\nsilence of the barren rocks, he could discipline his tongue, which was\nrather given to loquacity. He passed forty years in the service of God,\nand in self-mortification. From Thola he returned every Sabbath to\nthe monastery church to assist at the divine service, and communicate\nat the sacred mysteries on that day and the following Sunday. Many\nresorted to the cell of S. John for advice, but, as it was reported,\nperhaps not without reason, that he made these visits an opportunity\nfor indulging in his weakness of talking excessively, he condemned\nhimself to rigorous silence for a whole twelvemonth.\n\nAt the age of seventy-five, in 600, S. John left his hermitage\nto fill the office of abbot in the monastery of Mount Sinai, and\nsuperior-general of all the monks and hermits of the deserts around.\n\nS. Gregory the Great, who then sat in S. Peter's chair, wrote to the\nholy abbot, commending himself to his prayers, and sent him beds and\nmoney for his hospital, for the use of pilgrims to Mount Sinai.\n\nAt the request of John, abbot of Raithu, he drew up his \"Climax, or\nLadder of Perfection,\" containing, in thirty chapters, rules for\nattaining the thirty steps of religious perfection. This book contains\nmany curious and instructive anecdotes, illustrative of the monastic\nlife of the period.\n\nS. John was regarded by his monastic contemporaries as a second\nMoses on Sinai, \"for he ascended into the mountain of contemplation,\ntalked with God face to face, and then descended to his fellows in\nmind and intelligence, bearing the tables of God's Law, his Ladder of\nPerfection.\"\n\nOnce, when S. John was entertaining six hundred pilgrims, a stranger,\nhabited in linen, after the ancient Jewish fashion, appeared among the\nattendants, a man of very ancient and reverend mien, and ministered\nwith his own hands to the guests. The feast being over, the stranger\nvanished, and S. John concluded it must have been Moses who had\nre-visited Sinai for a brief moment. This is a curious instance of the\nvery widely diffused belief in the Wandering Jew. Hebrew legends are\nfull of similar tales, but the mysterious stranger is with them Elijah;\nand the Arabs tell of a similar undying man, who appears at intervals,\nbut who is El Khoudir, the friend and instructor of Moses.\n\nWhen S. John was dying in his hermitage, his spiritual son, George,\nbesought him to suffer him to depart with him. The saint replied, \"Thou\nshalt follow me in a year's time.\" And so it was, at the end of a\ntwelvemonth the disciple joined his master.\n\n\nS. ZOSIMUS, B. OF SYRACUSE.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 660.)\n\n [Commemorated in Greek Menologies on Jan. 21st, save in that of\n Cardinal Sirlet, which assigns him to this day. Life, in Menologies\n and in Bollandists, by a contemporary Sicilian who derived his\n statements from B. Elias or from John the Deacon.]\n\nOur saint's life was calm and almost uneventful; yet it is not without\ninterest or profit to those who love to see the life of Christ\nreflected in some degree in the unruffled mirror of His saints' lives.\nHis parents owned a farm or small estate near the convent of S. Lucia,\nin the neighbourhood of Syracuse. Brought up among all the delights of\na pastoral life in Sicily, of which Theocritus sings in such inimitable\nstrains, he yet yearned for higher and holier joys. Accordingly, he\ngladly assented to his parents' wish to dedicate him to S. Lucia; and,\nabout 578, when seven years old, he was offered as a living sacrifice\nto God in her convent. His chief duty was to watch by the precious\nshrine of S. Lucia. Some only of her relics could have been preserved\nthere, for after the translation of her body from Syracuse to Rome,\nit was removed by order of the emperor Otho I. to Metz. Her touching\nhistory will be told on the 13th December, the day on which she\nsuffered as a martyr for chastity and Christianity. The little Zosimus\ndoubtless often knelt in prayer for his father and mother in the recess\nbeneath the silver shrine where her relics rested. Still such communion\nwith his parents did not satisfy the natural cravings of his heart, for\nonce when he was ordered by the abbot Faustus to do some disagreeable\ntask out of doors, he ran home to his friends. They brought the truant\nback to the convent, where he was set to watch the tomb again. That\nnight it seemed to him the hinges of the shrine creaked, and the virgin\nherself stepped forth, and standing over him seemed to threaten him\nwith punishment. Then he saw another lady of gracious aspect by her\nside, interceding for him and promising in his name that he would never\nso offend again; a promise which he gladly ratified with his own lips.\nThe virgin returned to her shrine, and he was left alone in the still\ndark night watching the lamps which shone in front of her tomb.\n\nHenceforth he approached her shrine with more than his former awe:\nhis visits home were short and less frequent, he only just stayed to\ngreet his parents, and then hurried back to the threshold of the virgin\nmartyr. Prayer, the constant attendance at the shrine, the regular\nlife of the convent, gave calmness and depth to his character. He once\nagain, it is said, witnessed the wrath of the virgin. A lady of rank,\nsuffering from disease, came to the shrine with an unseemly request.\nThe saint moved from her resting-place, and smote the petitioner on the\ncheek. Zosimus summoned her servants to take up their mistress: they\ntook her up--_dead_.\n\nAfter thirty years had been passed by our saint in contemplation,\nobedience, and cheerful acts of kindness to his brethren, Abbot Faustus\ndied. The brethren could not fix upon a successor. Leaving Zosimus in\ncharge of the shrine and the church, they went in a body to S. John,\nBishop of Syracuse. He asked, \"Is there no one else beside in your\nconvent?\" They said \"No.\" But the bishop rejoined, \"Go and see whether\nthere be no one.\" Then they admitted that there was the doorkeeper\nof the church, whom all had forgotten. The Bishop sent for him. As\nZosimus entered, S. John looking stedfastly at him, and reading his\ncharacter in his face, said, \"Behold him, whom the Lord has chosen.\"\nThey accepted Zosimus as their Abbot. Then one of the brethren said to\nhim, \"Verily of a truth this scripture is fulfilled in thee to-day. 'On\nwhom shall My spirit rest, save on him that is of a humble and contrite\nspirit, and that trembleth at My word.'\"\n\nThe same bishop ordained him priest a few days after, to serve the\nChurch of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin. He ruled his monastery for\nforty years with singular success. His like was never seen before or\nafter in the convent of S. Lucia. He was loved by the good for his\ngentleness, yet he was never lax in his treatment of the bad.\n\nOn the death of the saintly Peter, Bishop of Syracuse, the people\nelected Zosimus, the clergy, a priest named Venerius to succeed him.\nThe latter was boastful, full of vain glory, ambitious for the post.\nZosimus would willingly have declined the burden of the episcopate,\nbut his friends would not let him. An appeal was made to Rome. Pope\nTheodore, who sat in S. Peter's chair from 641 to 649, chose and\nconsecrated Zosimus Bishop of Syracuse.\n\nAs Zosimus landed in the port of Ortygia, the people and clergy flocked\nto meet him and escort him with all due honour to his cathedral. The\nonce glorious city of Syracuse had then shrunk to a shadow of its\nformer self: it did not extend beyond the limits of the island of\nOrtygia, yet its people were still wealthy, and its cathedral well\nsupplied with silver plate. When the Saracens sacked it about two\nhundred years after, the plate of the cathedral alone weighed five\nthousand pounds of silver, and the entire spoil of the city was\nestimated at one million pieces of gold (about four hundred thousand\npounds sterling). Zosimus taught his people diligently. Two remarks of\nhis are preserved: \"Anger differs as much from gentleness as storm from\ncalm.\" \"Death is to the virtuous a rest from trouble and toil, and a\nloosing of bands: to the wicked it is the beginning of punishment.\"\n\nHis benevolence to the needy was unfailing. He bade his deacon John\ngive two coins to a man, who asked an alms. John replied, \"Our purse\nis empty.\" \"Go and sell thy cloak and give to him that needeth,\" was\nthe quick reply. It was a new one just bought, so John murmured and\nhesitated; the bishop took off his own cloak and handed it to him and\nbade him go and sell it. When he returned from relieving the beggar,\nhe saw a young man lay a heavy purse of gold at the bishop's feet. The\nbishop rebuked John for having so little faith in God.\n\nThe bishop would not suffer any one to wait on him. One day he fell\nasleep while a priest was reading his psalter near. The flies tormented\nthe sleeping bishop, so the priest drove them away with a fan. Zosimus\nawoke and said to him, \"Never do so again, but sit still and read thy\npsalter.\"\n\nHe re-built and re-decorated the church of S. Mary, and offered the\nunbloody sacrifice there in the 82nd year of his age, and the fifth of\nhis episcopate, when it was again opened for Divine Service.\n\nEupraxius, chamberlain of the Emperor Constans II., who made Syracuse\nhis abode for the last six years of his life, found Zosimus in his\nlast illness lying on a mat and covered with a few rags. He sent him\nsome splendid rugs and coverlets. The saint lay on them for a time,\nand then bade his attendants make him a bed of straw and sell the rugs\nand give the price to the poor and the stranger. He died in 656, and\nwas followed to his grave by the people, who mourned over him as a\nfather, for such he had been to them during the thirteen years of his\nepiscopate.\n\n[Illustration: Figure with halo surrounded by worshippers]\n\n[Illustration: S. AMADEUS OF SAVOY. After Cahier.\n March 30.]\n\n\n\n\nMarch 31.\n\n S. BALBINA, _V. at Rome_, A.D. 132.\n S. ACACIUS, _B.C. at Melitene, in Armenia, 3rd cent._\n S. BENJAMIN, _D.M. in Persia, 5th cent._\n S. RENOVATUS, _B. of Merida, in Spain, circ._ A.D. 633.\n S. GUIDO, _Ab. of Pomposa, in N. Italy_, A.D. 1026.\n S. DANIEL, _C. at Venice_, A.D. 1411.\n\n\nS. BALBINA, V.\n\n(A.D. 132.)\n\n [Usuardus, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts of S. Alexander\n Pope and M. (May 3rd); but these, as has been already stated, are not\n trustworthy. There exists Acts which represent her as a Martyr, but\n they are even more untrustworthy than those of S. Alexander.]\n\nSaint Balbina was the daughter of S. Quirinus the Tribune, whose legend\nhas been given on March 30th. She was converted at the same time as her\nfather, and received baptism at the hands of S. Alexander. The legend\nis as follows:--Quirinus said to his prisoner Alexander the Pope, \"I\nhave a daughter whom I desire to see married, but she is scrofulous.\nCure her, and we will together believe in Christ.\" Then said Alexander,\n\"Go, go, and bring her into my dungeon, and take the prison collar from\nmy neck and lay it on her, and speedily she will be whole.\" Then the\nfather did as he was commanded, and brought Balbina to the Pope, and he\nlaid his collar about her neck, and then Alexander said to the father,\n\"Depart, I pray thee.\" So Quirinus went forth. And suddenly there\nappeared a boy bearing a torch, and he went to the maiden and said, \"Be\nconstant in thy virginity, O damsel, and receive perfect soundness of\nbody; and thou shalt see thy Bridegroom who for love of thee shed His\nblood.\" And so saying he disappeared. Then the father, coming in, found\nthat she was healed of her infirmity, and himself was baptized and his\nwhole house.\n\nNow after the martyrdom of S. Quirinus, she was seen by S. Alexander\noften kissing the collar which had healed her. Then said he, \"Cease\nfrom kissing this collar, and seek rather to embrace the chains of S.\nPeter.\" Then she had no rest till she had found those chains--how and\nwhere she found them we are not told; and \"she began with great fear to\nkiss them eagerly, and to give praise to the King of Heaven.\" And these\nchains she gave afterwards to S. Theodora, a devout woman, the sister\nof S. Hermes the Prefect, and they are shown to this day at Rome in the\nchurch of S. Peter \"ad vincula.\"\n\nIn these fabulous acts it is impossible to say how much of truth lies\novergrown with legend. A church dedicated to S. Balbina certainly\nexisted in Rome in 590, when three priests of the church of that\ndedication subscribed the acts of a council held in Rome.\n\nHer body is preserved in this church, but other relics are said to be\nin the Dominican church at Bologna.\n\nThere are other saints of the same name commemorated among the virgin\ncompany of S. Ursula, and it is probably the head of one of these which\nis preserved in Cologne, in the Franciscan church. In the church of\nS. Pantaleon, in the same city, are the bones of S. Balbina--no doubt\nshe was one of the Ursuline band. But the cathedral of Cologne claims\nto have the bones of the Roman S. Balbina. Another head was shown at\nMillen, but it was removed to Siburg, and according to the popular\ntradition Mass could not be said again on the altar from which the\nrelics had been removed, as the candles refused to burn; but as soon as\nthey were restored to their former position, no more difficulty was\nexperienced in getting the tapers to keep alight. In art S. Balbina\nappears holding the chains of S. Peter, with the collar of S. Alexander\neither about her neck or in her hand. She is invoked against scrofula.\n\n\nS. BENJAMIN, D. M.\n\n(5TH CENT.)\n\n [Greek Men\u00e6a and Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, and\n the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 46\n v., c. 38.]\n\nAbdas, a bishop in Persia, with highly intemperate zeal, set fire to\na heathen temple and consumed it to the ground. This injudicious act\naroused a persecution against the Christians, the King Isdegerdes\nbeing greatly incensed against the bishop. Abdas suffered, and is\ncommemorated by the Greeks on the same day, or on May 16th. Benjamin,\nhis deacon, suffered inhuman tortures, some of indescribable horror.\nSharp splinters of reed were driven up the quick of his nails in hands\nand feet, and he was impaled upon a knotted stick.\n\n\nS. RENOVATUS, B. OF MERIDA.\n\n(ABOUT A.D. 633.)\n\n [Spanish Martyrologist and modern Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His\n life by Paul, deacon of Merida, who seems to have lived about the\n middle of the 7th cent., certainly not long after the death of S.\n Renovatus.]\n\nS. Renovatus is chiefly memorable for his treatment of a gluttonous\nmonk in his monastery at Cauliana, of which he was abbot. Indeed\nthis is the only incident of his life recorded, and it is given at\nconsiderable length. Renovatus was much troubled in his abbey by the\nconduct of one of his monks, whose love of eating and drinking was\na governing passion. The fellow would steal what he was not given,\nand he became a scandal to the community. Renovatus exhorted him,\nand reproached him, in vain. Then he ordered him to be whipped; but\nthe whipping proved as inefficacious as the admonitions. The abbot\nthen gave him leave to depart if he liked, or, if he stayed in the\nmonastery, to take anything he found most succulent and dainty in\nthe house. The monk went into the kitchen, opened the cupboards, and\nhelped himself to everything he fancied, then descended to the cellars\nand carried off some flasks of wine under his arm, out of the abbey\ngates; and finding a pleasant shady nook among some bushes, picnicked\non what he had brought, and ate and drank till he could contain no\nmore, when he lay down and fell asleep. The dogs carried off the rest\nof his food, and the cellarer, who little liked the abstraction of\nthe bottles of best wine, and had dogged his steps, when he heard him\nsnoring, stole up to the half-consumed meal and recovered what was left\nof the precious wine. Towards evenfall the monk came home, tumbled into\nbed, was left undisturbed to sleep through matins and lauds, and rose\nwhen it pleased him, took another turn through the larder and cellar,\nhelped himself to the best of everything, and spent another jovial day\nof eating, drinking, and sleeping, with no churchgoing to interrupt\nits calm delight. So he lived for some days, and the daily surfeiting\nbegan to tell on his constitution. One morning, as he went forth with\nsome wine bottles under his arm, and a fat capon in his hood, he heard\nthe schoolboys reciting an antiphon they had been learning, \"Consider\nthe terrible judgment of the Lord, and the dread sentence at the trial;\nconsider the dread avenging severity of His judgment; consider the\nyears of thine age, and now at last change thy ways for the better, or\neven one day before thy death correct thy life.\"[95]\n\n[95] \"Considera judicium terribile Domini; considera tremendi examinis\nmetendam sententiam; considera formidandam atque horrendam ejus judicii\nultricem severitatem; considera etiam annos \u00e6tatis tu\u00e6, et sic tandem\nmores commuta in melius et vel uno die ante mortem tuam corrige vitam\ntuam.\"\n\nThe monk feeling fever in his blood, and hearing the solemn appeal, was\nconscience-struck, and sending for the abbot, he confessed his sinful\nlife with heartfelt contrition, and falling ill with fever, died a few\ndays after.\n\nS. Renovatus was afterwards elected bishop of Mende, but nothing is\nrelated of the events of his episcopate. He is said to have been a very\nstately, handsome man, with a sweet expression of countenance. He was\nburied before the altar in the Church of S. Eulalia, whence the bones\nwere raised and enshrined, and where they are still preserved.\n\n\nS. DANIEL, C.\n\n(A.D. 1411.)\n\n [Martyrology of Camaldoli, and Bucelinus in his Menology of the Order\n of S. Benedict. Authority:--Augustine Fortunatus in his History of the\n Order of Camaldoli.]\n\nS. Daniel was a German by birth; having entered a mercantile life,\nhis business took him to Venice. But though the affairs of commerce\nengaged the greater part of his time, they did not take possession of\nhis heart, and whenever he had a few minutes of leisure, he was wont\nto hasten to a church, and spend the precious moments in prayer. Also\nto prevent himself from becoming ensnared with the love of gain, he\nregularly distributed a portion of all his proceeds among the poor. The\nconvent of S. Matthias belonging to the Order of Camaldoli presented\nto his mind great attractions, and he was fond of entering it for the\npurpose of making retreats, or for converse with the fathers, or for\nthe sake of the peace and atmosphere of prayer which hung about its\ncloisters.\n\nAt length he resolved to live nearer to that house which was to him\na port of safety, and he obtained permission from the prior to build\nhimself a chamber opening on the cloisters, into which he might retire\nas guest of the Fathers, without giving up his business, and adopting\nthe habit and rule of the Order. In 1411 he was assassinated in this\nlittle room, one night, by robbers who broke in, thinking that they\nwould find therein considerable wealth amassed.\n\nHis relics are preserved in a shrine in the church of Camaldoli at\nVenice, where an altar is erected under his invocation.\n\n[Illustration: Two winged horses (hippalectryon)]\n\n\n _Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.\n\n _Edinburgh and London_\n\n * * * * *\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\nInconsistencies in spelling and accents in names have been resolved.\n\nHyphenation has been standardised.\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.\n\nOther variations in spelling, punctuation and accents are as in the\noriginal.\n\nItalics are represented thus _italic_.","title":"The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): March","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":163208}