The Lives of the Saints, Volume 02 (of 16): February

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Title: The Lives of the Saints, Volume 02 (of 16): February

Author: S. Baring-Gould

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Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS, VOLUME 02 (OF 16): FEBRUARY ***

Transcriber's Note:

Notes and lists in smaller type in the original have been indented two
spaces.

Illustrations on separate plates have been incorporated in the text.

Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals, italics are
indicated by _underscores_, and "oe" ligatures have been removed.

Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The use of hyphens
is not always consistent.

THE

Lives of the Saints

REV. S. BARING-GOULD

_SIXTEEN VOLUMES_

VOLUME THE SECOND

[Illustration: THE REPOSE IN EGYPT, WITH DANCING ANGELS. After Luca
Cranach.

By the robbery of the nest in the tree, the painter ingeniously
points to the Massacre of the Innocents as to the cause of the Flight
into Egypt. Feb.-Front.]

THE

Lives of the Saints

BY THE

REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.

New Edition in 16 Volumes

Revised with Introduction and Additional Lives of
English Martyrs, Cornish and Welsh Saints,
and a full Index to the Entire Work

_ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 400 ENGRAVINGS_

VOLUME THE SECOND

February

LONDON
JOHN C. NIMMO
14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND
MDCCCXCVII

_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO
_At the Ballantyne Press_

[Illustration]

CONTENTS

A
PAGE
S. Abraham 298
" Adalbald 41
" Adelheid 140
" Adeloga 42
" Æmilian 212
" Agatha 136
" Aldetrudis 413
" Alexander 433
" Alnoth 448
" Amandus 182
SS. Ananias and comp. 412
S. Andrew Corsini 105
" Angilbert 337
" Ansbert 246
" Anskar 56
" Apollonia 231
" Aristion 366
" Athracta 236
" Augulus 190
" Auxentius 299
" Auxibius 339
" Aventine of Chateaudun 86
" Aventine of Troyes 84
" Avitus 138

S. Baldomer 447
" Baradatus 368
" Barbatus 342
" Belina 344
" Benedict of Aniane 284
" Berach 307
" Berlinda 50
" Bertulf 139
" Besas 442
" Blaise 47
" Boniface, Lausanne 343
" Bridget 14
" Bruno 304

S. Cæsarius 412
" Castor 289
" Catharine de Ricci 295
" Ceadmon 272
" Celerina 46
SS. Celerinus and comp. 46
" Charalampius and comp. 248
S. Chronion 442
" Chrysolius 189
" Clara of Rimini 256
SS. Claudius and comp. 329
" Constantia and comp. 330
S. Cornelius of Rome. 314
" Cornelius the Cent. 38
" Cuthman 220

S. Damian 376
" Darlugdach 22
SS. Dionysius and others 212
S. Dionysius (Augsburg) 432
" Dorothy 176
" Dositheus 378

S. Earcongotha 382
" Eleutherius 350
" Elfleda 214
SS. Elias and others 314
S. Ephraem, Syrian 7
" Ermenilda 292
" Ethelbert 406
" Ethelwold 283
" Eubulus 449
" Eucher 355
" Eulalia 276
" Euphrosyne 264
" Eusebius 306

SS. Faustinus and Jovita 305
S. Finan 325
" Fintan 324
" Flavian 331
" Fortchern 321
" Fortunatus 47
" Fulcran 294
SS. Fusca and Maura 286

S. Gabinius 340
" Gelasius, Boy 83
" Gelasius, Actor at Heliopolis 443
" George of Amastris 363
" Georgia 306
SS. German and Randoald 361
S. Gilbert 99
" Gregory II. (Pope) 293

S. Hadelin 49
" Honestus 313
" Honorina 444
" Hrabanus Maurus 91

S. Ignatius, Antioch 1
" Ignatius, Africa 46
" Ina 186
" Indract and comp. 140
" Isaias 314
" Isidore 84

S. Jeremias 314
" Joan of Valois 109
" John de Britto 112
" John of the Grate 26
" John of Matha 226
" John William 255
" Jonas the Gardener 263
" Joseph of Leonissa 111
" Jovita 305
" Julian of Cæsarea 320
" Julian in Africa 395
" Julian, Alexandria 442
" Juliana 316
" Juventius 211

S. Laurence, Cant. 39
" Laurence, the Illuminator 49
" Laurentinus 46
" Lazarus, B. Milan 264
" Lazarus, Constantinople 386
" Leander 445
" Licinius 292
" Limnæus 367
SS. Loman and Fortchern 321
S. Lucius 395

SS. Mael and others 178
S. Mansuetus 341
" Margaret of Cortona 371
" Mariamne 318
" Martha 373
" Martian 289
Martyrs at Alexandria 449
" in Arabia 367
" of Japan 141
" of Ebbecksdorf 45
S. Matthias, Ap. 393
" Maura 286
SS. Maurice and comp. 358
S. Maximian 369
" Maximus 329
" Mary, B. V., Purification of 34
" Melchu 178
" Meldan 193
" Meletius 278
" Mengold 220
" Milburgh 382
" Mildred 354
" Modan 91
" Modomnoc 291
SS. Montanus and comp. 395
" Moses and others 192
S. Moses of Syria 376
" Mun 178

S. Nestor 430
" Nicephorus 233
" Nicolas 92
" Nithard 56
SS. Nymphas and Eubulus 449

S. Odran 341
" Olcan 349
" Onesimus 312
" Oswald, York 455

S. Papias 366
" Parthenius 191
" Paula 348
" Paul of Verdun 213
" Pepin 360
" Peter Cambian 45
" Peter Damiani 387
" Peter's Chair at Antioch 365
SS. Phileas and others 80
S. Photinus 358
SS. Pionius and comp. 5
S. Polychronius, B. M. 319
" Polychronius, H. 376
" Polyeuctus 287
" Porphyrius 434
" Prætextatus 402
" Priamianus 376
" Proterius 451
Purification of B. V. Mary 34

S. Randoald 361
" Raymond of Fitero 29
" Rembert 98
" Richard 194
" Rioch 178
" Robert of Arbrissel 426
" Romanus 452
" Romuald 194

S. Sabine 241
" Saturninus 259
" Scholastica 250
" Sebastian 212
" Serenus 374
" Sergius 402
" Severus (Avranches) 23
" Severus (Ravenna) 12
" Severus (Valeria) 306
" Sigebert 24
" Sigfried 310
" Simeon 328
" Soteris 248
" Stephen of Grandmont 224
" Sura 252
" Susanna 246
" Symphorian 451

S. Tanco 317
" Taraghta 236
" Tarasius 416
" Teilo 238
SS. Thalassius and Limnæus 367
S. Thalelæus 444
" Theodora, Empress 275
" Theodore of Apamea 358
" Theodore of Heraclea 190
SS. Theodulus and Julian 320
S. Theophilus, Penitent 88
" Tresan 192
SS. Tyrannio and comp. 346

S. Valentine 296
" Vedast 179
" Verdiana 31
" Veronica 73
" Victor 410
SS. Victor and Susanna 246
" Victorinus and comp. in Egypt 410
S. Vitalina 359

S. Walburga 414
" Walfrid 309
" Werburga 52
" William of Maleval 253
" Wulfric 356

S. Zabdas 341
" Zacharias (Jerusalem) 359
SS. Zebinus and others 376
S. Zeno 249

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE REPOSE IN EGYPT, WITH DANCING ANGELS _Frontispiece_
_After_ LUCA CRANACH.

MARTYRDOM OF S. IGNATIUS _to face p._ 2
_From the "Menologium Græcorum."_

S. EPHRAEM " 8
_After_ CAHIER.

S. BRIDGET " 16
_After_ CAHIER.

TOMB OF JOSHUA _on p._ 33
_The Greek Menology_.

PURIFICATION OF S. MARY THE VIRGIN _to face p._ 34
_From the Great Vienna Missal._

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT " 36
_After_ FRA ANGELICO.

S. BLAISE " 48
_From_ CAHIER.

S. WERBURGA " 52
_From_ CAHIER.

S. GILBERT, PRIOR OF SEMPRINGHAM _to face p._ 104
_From a Drawing by_ A. WELBY PUGIN.

S. VERONICA (_see p. 73_) _on p._ 135

SS. AGNES, CECILIA, AND DOROTHY _to face p._ 176
_After_ ANGELICA DE FIESOLE.

S. AMANDUS (_see p. 184_) _on p._ 188

S. RICHARD THE SAXON AND HIS SONS _to face p._ 192
_From_ CAHIER.

FAMILY OF S. RICHARD THE SAXON " 194
_From a Drawing by_ A. WELBY PUGIN.

A LEARNED DOCTOR AND CHURCH HISTORIAN _on p._ 210

AN ENTHUSIASTIC COLLECTOR OF SAINTLY LEGENDS " 230

S. EUPHROSYNE, FINDING HERSELF AT DEATH'S DOOR,
MAKES HERSELF KNOWN TO HER FATHER _to face p._ 272
_From the "Menologium Græcorum" of_
CARDINAL ALBANI.

THE PAPERMAKER _on p._ 285

AN EARLY RELIQUARY _to face p._ 318

S. AGATHA (_see p. 136_) _on p._ 338

THE PRINTER " 357

S. MARGARET CORTONA _to face p._ 370
_From_ CAHIER.

THE BOOKBINDER _on p._ 372

S. MILBURGH _to face p._ 384
_After_ CAHIER.

BEHEADING OF S. MATTHIAS " 392
_From_ CAHIER.

WINDOW IN THE CATHEDRAL AT TOURS
(VIRGIN WITH ANGELS) " 408

ENAMELLED CHEST WHICH CONTAINED THE REMAINS
OF KING ETHELBERT " 408

S. WALBURGA " 414
_From_ CAHIER.

[Illustration]

LIVES OF THE SAINTS.

February 1.

SS. CÆCILIUS, _B. of Elvira_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Spain,
1st cent._
S. IGNATIUS, _B. of Antioch, M. at Rome_, A.D. 107.
SS. PIONIUS AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Smyrna_, A.D. 251.
S. EUBERT, _B. of Lisle, 4th cent._
S. EPHRAEM SYRUS, _D. C. at Edessa_, A.D. 378.
SS. SEVERUS, _B._, VINCENTIA _his wife, and_ INNOCENTIA, _V., their
daughter, at Ravenna, end of 4th cent._
S. PAUL, _B. of Trois-Chateaux in France, beginning of 5th cent._
S. PETER THE GALATIAN, _M. at Antioch in Syria, 5th cent._
S. KINNEA, _V. in Ireland, 5th cent._
S. BRIDGET, _V. Abs. at Kildare_, A.D. 525.
S. DARLUGDACH, _V. at Kildare_, A.D. 526.
S. SEVERUS, _B. of Avranches, 6th cent._
S. PRÆCORDIUS, _P. at Corbie, 6th cent._
S. SORUS, _H. at Perigeux, 6th cent._
SS. AGRIPANUS, _B._, AND URSICINUS, _MM. at Le Puy, after_ A.D. 650.
S. SIGEBERT III., _K. C. at Metz_, A.D. 656.
B. WOLFHOLD, _P. at Hohenwast in Bavaria, after_ A.D. 1100.
S. JOHN OF THE GRATE, _B. of S. Malo_, A.D. 1163.
S. RAYMOND, _of Fitero, A.C., Founder of the Order of Calatrava_,
A.D. 1163.
S. VERDIANA, _V. R. at Castel Fiorentino, in Tuscany_, A.D. 1242.

S. IGNATIUS, B. M.

(A.D. 107.)

[S. Ignatius is commemorated variously, on June 10th, Oct. 8th, Nov.
24th, Dec. 14th or 19th; but by the Roman Martyrology his festival
is fixed for Feb. 1st. In the Bruges and Treves Martyrologies, his
commemoration was placed on Jan. 31st, so as not to interfere with
that of S. Bridget on this day. The authorities for his life and
passion are his own genuine Epistles, the Acts of his martyrdom,
Eusebius, and S. Chrysostom's Homily on S. Ignatius.]

Saint Ignatius was a convert and disciple of S. John the Evangelist.
He was appointed by S. Peter to succeed Evodius in the see of Antioch,
and he continued in his bishopric full forty years. He received the
name of Theophorus, or one who carries God with him. In his Acts,
Trajan is said to have asked him why he had the surname of
God-bearing, and he answered, because he bore Christ in his heart.[1]

Socrates, in his "Ecclesiastical History," says, "We must make some
allusion to the origin of the custom in the Church of singing hymns
antiphonally. Ignatius, third bishop of Antioch in Syria from the
apostle Peter, who also had conversed familiarly with the apostles
themselves, saw a vision of angels, hymning in alternate chants the
Holy Trinity; after which he introduced this mode of singing into the
Antiochian Church, whence it was transmitted by tradition to all the
other churches."[2]

It seems probable that Evodius vacated the see of Antioch about the
year 70. There are traditions that represent Evodius to have been
martyred; and Josephus speaks of a disturbance in Antioch about that
period, which was the cause of many Jews being put to death.[3] There
is a difficulty in supposing S. Peter to have appointed Ignatius
bishop of Antioch, if he did not succeed Evodius till the year 70. But
it is probable, that later writers have confounded the appointment of
Ignatius to the see of Antioch, with his consecration to the episcopal
office; and it is highly probable that he received this from the hands
of the Prince of the Apostles.

The date of the martyrdom of Ignatius can be fixed with tolerable
certainty as occurring in the year 107. The Acts expressly state that
Trajan was then at Antioch, and that Sura and Senecio were consuls:
two events, which will be found to meet only in the year 107.

Trajan made his entry into Antioch in January; his first concern was
to examine into the state of religion there, and the Christians were
denounced to him as bringers-in of strange gods. Ignatius was brought
before him, and boldly confessed Christ to be God. "Dost thou mean Him
who was crucified?" asked the emperor, scornfully. Ignatius answered,
"The very same, Who by His death overcame sin, and enabled those who
bear Him in their hearts to trample under foot all the power of the
devils."

[Illustration: MARTYRDOM OF S. IGNATIUS.
From the "Menologium Græcorum." Feb. 1.]

Then Trajan ordered him to be taken to Rome, and exposed to wild
beasts in the amphitheatre. It was generally a distinction reserved
for Roman citizens, that if they had committed an offence in the
provinces, they were sent for punishment to the capital. This,
however, does not appear to have been the reason in the case of
Ignatius. The punishment to which he was condemned was generally
reserved for culprits of the lowest condition; and the Christians were
perhaps viewed in this light by the heathen. Ecclesiastical history
has scarcely preserved a more interesting and affecting narrative,
than that of the journey of Ignatius from Antioch to Rome. In tracing
the procession of the martyr to his final triumph, we forget that we
are reading of a prisoner who was dragged to his death in chains. He
was committed to a guard of ten soldiers, who appear to have treated
him with severity; and, after taking ship at Seleucia, they landed for
a time at Smyrna. He had here the gratification of meeting with
Polycarp, who was bishop of that see, and who, like himself, had
enjoyed a personal acquaintance with S. John. His arrival also excited
a sensation through the whole of Asia Minor. Onesimus, bishop of
Ephesus; Polybius, bishop of Tralles; and Demas, bishop of Magnesia,
came from their respective cities, with a deputation of their clergy,
to visit the venerable martyr. Ignatius took the opportunity of
writing from Smyrna to the Churches over which these bishops presided;
and his epistles to the Ephesians, Trallians, and Magnesians, are
still extant. Hearing also of some Ephesians, who were going to Rome,
and who were likely to arrive there more expeditiously than himself,
he addressed a letter to the Church in that city. His principal object
in writing was to prevent any attempt which the Roman Christians might
have made to procure a reprieve from the death which was awaiting him.
He expresses himself not only willing, but anxious, to meet the wild
beasts in the amphitheatre; and there never, perhaps, was a more
perfect pattern of resignation than that which we find in this letter.

From Smyrna he proceeded to Troas, where he was met by some of the
neighbouring bishops, and the bishop of Philadelphia became the bearer
of a letter which he wrote to the Christians in that city. He also
wrote from the same place to the Church of Smyrna; and the personal
regard which he had for Polycarp, the bishop of that see, will explain
why he also wrote to him, and made it his dying request that he would
attend to the Church of Antioch. These seven epistles, which were
written by Ignatius from Smyrna and Troas, are still extant.

It appears that Ignatius had intended to write letters to some other
Churches, from Troas; but his guards were impatient to proceed, and
once more setting sail, they followed the course which S. Paul had
taken upon his first journey into Greece, and landed at Neapolis.
Hurrying through Macedonia, he embarked once more on the western coast
of Epirus, and crossing the Adriatic, arrived at Rome. There was now
an exhibition of games, which lasted some days; and it seems to have
been intended that the death of Ignatius should form part of the
spectacle. The voyage had been hurried on this account; and on the
last day of the games, which was the 19th December, the holy martyr
was led into the amphitheatre, and his death seems to have been the
work of a moment. In his letter to the Roman Church, he had prayed
that the wild beasts might despatch him speedily, and not refuse to
touch him, as had sometimes been the case. His prayer was heard; and
the Christians of Rome, who had thought themselves blessed to have
even seen the apostolic bishop of Antioch among them, had now to pick
up a few of the larger and harder bones, which was all that the wild
beasts had spared. These were carried to Antioch, and it is evidence
of the great reverence at that early age shown to the relics of the
saints, that the same honours were paid to the sacred relics as had
been paid to the holy martyr himself, when he touched at the different
cities. The friends of Ignatius speak of his remains as "an invaluable
treasure;" and as such they were deposited near one of the gates in
the suburbs of Antioch.

The relics of S. Ignatius were retranslated to Rome, and are dispersed
among several of the churches of the city. The head, however, is in
the possession of the Jesuits of Prague.

SS. PIONIUS, P. AND COMPANIONS, MM.

(A.D. 251.)

[Roman and many ancient Martyrologies on this day. The Greeks on
March 11th; the Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome, on March 12th.
Authorities:--The genuine Acts of these martyrs, and the brief
account in Eusebius, lib. iv. c. 15.]

In the persecution of Decius, S. Pionius, a priest of Smyrna, was
apprehended; together with Sabina, Macedonia, Asclepiades, and Linus a
priest, whilst they were celebrating the festival of S. Polycarp, on
February 23. Pionius having fasted on the vigil, was forewarned of his
coming passion in a vision. On the morning, which was the Sabbath, or
Saturday, they took holy bread (the Eulogies) and water, and were then
surprised and taken by Polemon, the chief priest of the idol temple in
Smyrna, and his satellites. Polemon in vain urged them to conform to
the imperial edicts, and sacrifice to the gods; but they set their
faces as flint against his solicitations, and were led into the forum,
where Pionius took the opportunity of haranguing the crowds who
hurried up to be present at their trial.

The Smyrnian Church was then suffering the shame of having seen its
bishop, Eudæmon, apostatize, and his example had been followed by many
timorous Christians.

The interrogatory was conducted by Polemon, and is dryly recorded by
the notary who wrote the acts:--The Idol priest said, "Pionius!
sacrifice." But he answered, "I am a Christian." "Whom," said Polemon,
"dost thou worship?" "The Almighty God," answered Pionius, "who made
heaven and earth, and all things in heaven and earth, and us men; who
giveth to all men liberally, as they need; whom we know through His
Word, Christ." Polemon said, "Sacrifice then, only to the Emperor."
Pionius said, "I cannot sacrifice to any man. I am a Christian."

Then--the notary writing all down--Polemon asked, "What is thy name?"
He answered, "Pionius." Polemon said, "Thou art a Christian?" He
answered, "Certainly I am." "To what Church dost thou belong?" asked
Polemon. "I belong to the Catholic Church," answered Pionius. "There
is none other with Christ."

Then he went to Sabina, and put to her the same questions, which she
answered almost in the same words. Next he turned to Asclepiades, and
asked, "What is thy name?" "Asclepiades." "Art thou a Christian?" "I
am." Then said Polemon, "Whom dost thou worship?" Asclepiades
answered, "I worship Jesus Christ." "What!" asked Polemon, "Is that
another God?" "No," answered Asclepiades, "He is the same God of whom
the others spake."

After this the martyrs were taken to prison, followed by a crowd
jeering and insulting them. On the morrow they were led forth again to
trial, and the idol priest endeavoured to force them to enter the
temple, and by violence to compel them to sacrifice. Pionius tore from
his head the sacrificial garlands that the priest had placed upon him.
Polemon, unable to bend the holy martyrs to submission, delivered them
over to Quintilian, the pro-consul, on his arrival at Smyrna, and he
sentenced Pionius to be hung on a rack, and his body to be torn with
hooks of iron, and afterwards to be nailed to a post, and burnt alive.
Metrodorus, a Marcionite priest, underwent the same punishment with
him.

S. EPHRAEM THE SYRIAN, D. C.

(A.D. 378.)

[Roman and all Latin Martyrologies, except that of Bede, which gives
July 9th. Commemorated by the Greeks on Jan. 28th. His death took
place in summer or autumn. Authorities:--His own narration to his
monks of his conversion, his confession and testament; also the
oration upon him by S. Gregory Nyssen; an account of him in the Life
of S. Basil, attributed to S. Amphilochius, Sozomen, etc.]

Saint Ephraem was the son of poor parents of Nisibis, who had
confessed Christ before the persecutors, under Diocletian or his
successors. In his narrative of his conversion, S. Ephraem laments
some of the faults of his youth. "When I was a boy," says he, "I was
rather wild. One day my parents sent me out of the town, and I found a
cow that was in calf feeding in the road leading to the wood. This cow
belonged to very poor people. I took up stones, and began pelting the
cow, and driving it before me into the wood, and I drove the beast on
till in the evening, it fell down dead, and during the night wild
beasts ate it. On my way back I met the poor man who owned it, and he
asked me, 'My son, have you been driving away my cow?' Then I not only
denied, but heaped abuse and insult upon him." Some few days after he
was sent out of the town by his parents again, and he wandered in the
wood, idling with some shepherds, till night fell. Then, as it was too
late to return, he remained the night with the shepherds. That night
the fold was broken into, and some of the sheep were carried off. Then
the shepherds, thinking the boy had been in league with the robbers,
dragged him before the magistrate, and he was cast into prison, where
he found two men in chains, charged, one with homicide, the other with
adultery, though they protested their innocence. In a dream an angel
appeared to Ephraem, and asked him why he was there. The boy began at
once to declare himself guiltless. "Yes," said the angel, "guiltless
thou art of the crime imputed to you, but hast thou forgotten the poor
man's cow? Listen to the conversation of the men who are with thee,
and thou wilt learn that none suffer without cause."

In the morning, the two men began to speak, and one said, "The other
day, as I was going over a bridge, I saw two fellows quarrelling, and
one flung the other over into the water; and I did not put forth my
hand to save him, as I might have done, and so he was drowned."

Presently the other man said, "I am not guilty of this adultery of
which I am charged, but nevertheless I have done a very wicked thing.
Two brothers and a sister were left an inheritance by their father,
and the two young men wished to deprive their sister of what was her
due, and they bribed me to give false evidence whereby the will was
upset, and the property divided between them, to the exclusion of the
poor girl."

After an imprisonment of forty days, Ephraem was brought before the
magistrate along with his fellow prisoners. He says, that when he saw
the two men stripped, and stretched on the rack, "An awful terror came
over me, and I trembled, thinking I was sure to be subjected to the
same treatment as they. Therefore I cried, and shivered, and my heart
altogether failed me. Then the people and the apparitors began to
laugh at my tears and fright, and asked me what I was crying for? 'You
ought to have considered this before, boy! but now tears are of no
avail. You shall soon have a taste of the rack too, never doubt it.'
Then, at these words, my soul melted clean away."

[Illustration: S. EPHRAEM SYRUS. After Cahier. Feb. 1.]

However, he was spared this time, and the innocence of his companions
having been proved, they were set free. Ephraem was taken back to
prison, where he spent forty more days; and whilst he was there, the
two men who had defrauded their sister of her inheritance, and the man
who had flung his adversary into the river, were caught and chained in
the dungeon with him. These men and Ephraem were brought forth to
trial together, and the men were sentenced, after they had been
racked, and had confessed their crime, to lose their right hands.
Ephraem, in another paroxysm of fear, made a vow that he would become
a monk, if God would spare him the suffering of the rack. To his
extreme terror the magistrate ordered him to be stripped, and the
question to be applied. Then Ephraem stood naked and trembling beside
the rack, when fortunately the servant came up to the magistrate to
tell him that dinner was ready. "Very well," said the magistrate,
"then I will examine this boy another day." And he ordered him back to
prison. On his next appearance, the magistrate, thinking Ephraem had
been punished enough, dismissed him, and he ran off instantly to the
mountains, to an old hermit, and asked him to make of him a monk.[4]

He was eighteen years old when he was baptized, and immediately after
he had received the Sacrament of Regeneration, he began to discipline
his body and soul with great severity. He lay on the bare ground,
often fasted whole days, and spent a considerable part of the night in
prayer. He exercised the handicraft of a sail-maker. He was naturally
a very passionate man, but he learned so completely to subdue his
temper, that the opposite virtue of meekness became conspicuous, so
that he received the title of the "Peaceable man of God." Sozomen
relates that once, after Ephraem had fasted several days, the brother,
who was bringing him a mess of pottage, let the dish fall and broke
it, and strewed the food upon the floor. The saint seeing his
confusion, said cheerfully, "Never mind, if the supper won't come to
me, I will go to the supper." Then, sitting down on the ground by the
broken dish, he picked up the pottage as well as he could.

"He devoted his life to monastic philosophy," says Sozomen; "and
although he had received no education, he became, contrary to all
expectation, so proficient in the learning and language of the
Syrians, that he comprehended with ease the most abstruse problems of
philosophy. His style of writing was so full of glowing oratory and
sublimity of thought, that he surpassed all the writers of Greece. The
productions of Ephraem were translated into Greek during his life, and
translations are even now being made, and yet they preserve much of
their original force, so that his works are not less admired in Greek
than in Syriac. Basil, who was subsequently bishop of the metropolis
of Cappadocia, was a great admirer of Ephraem, and was astonished at
his condition. The opinion of Basil, who was the most learned and
eloquent man of his age, is a stronger testimony I think, to the merit
of Ephraem, than anything that could be indicted in his praise."[5]

S. Gregory Nyssen gives the following testimony to the eloquence of S.
Ephraem: "Who that is proud would not become the humblest of men,
reading his discourse on Humility? Who would not be inflamed with a
divine fire, reading his treatise on Charity? Who would not wish to be
chaste in heart and soul, by reading the praises he has lavished on
Virginity? Who would not be frightened by hearing his discourse on the
Last Judgment, wherein he has depicted it so vividly, that nothing can
be added thereto? God gave him so profound a wisdom, that, though he
had a wonderful facility of speech, yet he could not find expression
for the multitude of thoughts which poured from his mind." At Edessa,
S. Ephraem was ordained deacon; it has been asserted that he
afterwards received the priesthood from the hands of S. Basil, but
this is contradicted by most ancient writers, who affirm that he died
a deacon. He was elected bishop of one town, but hearing it, he
comported himself so strangely, that the people and clergy, supposing
him to have lost his mind, chose another in his place; and he
maintained the same appearance of derangement till the other candidate
was consecrated. The city of Edessa having been severely visited by
famine, he quitted the solitary cell in which he dwelt, and entering
the city, rebuked the rich for permitting the poor to die around them,
instead of imparting to them of their superfluities; and he
represented to them that the wealth which they were treasuring up so
carefully would turn to their own condemnation, and to the ruin of
their souls, which were of more value than all the wealth of earth.
The rich men replied, "We are not intent on hoarding our wealth, but
we know of no one whom we may trust to distribute our goods with
equity." "Then," said Ephraem, "entrust me with that office."

As soon as he had received their money, he fitted up three hundred
beds in the public galleries, and there tended those who were
suffering from the effects of the famine. On the cessation of the
scarcity, he returned to his cell; and after the lapse of a few days
expired.

S. Ephraem was a valiant champion of the orthodox faith. Finding that
the Syrians were fond of singing the heretical hymns of Bardasanes, he
composed a great number of orthodox poems which he set to the same
tunes, and by introducing these, gradually displaced those which were
obnoxious. One instance of his zeal against heresy is curious, though
hardly to be commended. The heretic Apollinarius had composed two
reference books of quotations from Scripture, and arguments he
intended to use in favour of his doctrines, at a public conference
with a Catholic, and these books he lent to a lady. Ephraem borrowed
the books, and glued the pages together, and then returned them.
Apollinarius, nothing doubting, took his volumes to the discussion,
but when he tried to use them, found the pages fast, and retired from
the conference in confusion.

S. SEVERUS, B. C., OF RAVENNA.

(ABOUT A.D. 390.)

[S. Severus, B. M., of Ravenna, is commemorated on Jan. 1; S.
Severus, B. C., of Ravenna, on Feb. 1st. Authorities:--Three ancient
lives, with which agree the accounts in the Martyrologies.]

S. Severus was a poor weaver in Ravenna. Upon the see becoming vacant,
the cathedral was filled with electors to choose a new bishop. Severus
said to his wife Vincentia, "I will visit the minster and see what is
going on." "You had much better remain at home, and not show yourself
in your working clothes among the nobles and well-dressed citizens,"
said she. "Wife! what harm is there in my going?" "You have work to do
here, for your daughter and me, instead of gadding about, sight
seeing." And when Severus persisted in desiring to go, "Very well,"
said Vincentia, "go, and may you come back with a good box on your
ear." And when she saw that he was bent on going, she said, mocking,
"Go then, and get elected bishop."

So he went, and entering the cathedral, stood behind the doors, as he
was ashamed of his common dress covered with flocks of wool. Then when
the Holy Spirit had been invoked to direct the choice of the people,
suddenly there appeared in the cathedral a beautiful white dove,
fluttering at the ear of the poor spinner. And he beat it off, but the
bird returned, and rested on his head. Then the people regarded this
as a heavenly sign, and he was unanimously chosen to be their bishop.
Now Vincentia was at home, and one came running, and told her that her
husband was elected bishop of Ravenna. Then she laughed, and would not
believe it, but when the news was repeated, she said, "This is likely
enough, that a man who tosses a shuttle should make a suitable
prelate!" But when she was convinced, by the story being confirmed by
other witnesses, her amazement rendered her speechless.

After his consecration, Severus lived with her as with a sister, till
she died, and was followed shortly after by her daughter, Innocentia.
Then he laid them both in a tomb, in the church, which had been
prepared for himself. And after many years he knew that he was to die.
So he sang High Mass before all the people, and when the service was
over, he bade all the congregation depart, save only one server. And
when they were gone, he bade the boy close the doors of the cathedral.
Then the bishop went, vested in his pontifical robes, to the sepulchre
of his wife and daughter, and he and the boy raised the stone, and
Severus stood, and looking towards the bodies of his wife and
daughter, he said, "My dear ones, with whom I lived in love so long,
make room for me, for this is my grave, and in death we shall not be
divided." Having said this, he descended into the grave, and laid
himself down between his wife and daughter, and crossed his hands on
his breast, and looked up to heaven and prayed, and then closing his
eyes, gave one sigh, and fell asleep. The relics were translated to
Mayence, in 836, and Oct. 22nd is observed as the feast of this
translation. In art, Severus is represented as a bishop with a shuttle
at his side.

S. BRIDGET, V. ABSS.

(A.D. 525.)

[S. Bridget, or Bride as she is called in England, is the Patroness
of Ireland, and was famous throughout northern Europe. Leslie says,
"She is held in so great honour by Picts, Britons, Angles, and
Irish, that more churches are dedicated to God in her memory, than
to any other of the saints;" and Hector Boece says, that she was
regarded by Scots, Picts, and Irish as only second to the B. Virgin
Mary. Unfortunately, little authentic is known of her. The lives
extant are for the most part of late composition, and are collected
from oral traditions of various value. One life is attributed,
however, to Bishop Ultan Mac Concubar, d. circ. 662; another, a
metrical one, is by the monk Chilian, circ. 740; another by one
Cogitosus, is of uncertain date; another is by Laurence, prior of
Durham, d. 1154; and there is another, considered ancient, by an
anonymous author.]

Ireland was, of old, called the Isle of Saints, because of the great
number of holy ones of both sexes who flourished there in former ages;
or, who, coming thence, propagated the faith amongst other nations. Of
this great number of saints the three most eminent, and who have
therefore been honoured as the special patrons of the island, were S.
Patrick their apostle, S. Columba, who converted the Picts, and S.
Bridget, the virgin of Kildare, whose festival is marked in all the
Martyrologies on the 1st day of February.

This holy virgin was born about the middle of the fifth century, in
the village of Fochard, in the diocese of Armagh. Her father was a
nobleman, called Dubtach, descended from Eschaid, the brother of King
Constantine of the Hundred Battles, as he is surnamed by the Irish
historians. The legend of her origin is as follows, but it is not to
be relied upon, as it is not given by Ultan, Cogitosus, or Chilian of
Inis-Keltra.[6] Dubtach had a young and beautiful slave-girl, whom he
dearly loved, and she became pregnant by him, whereat his wife, in
great jealousy and rage, gave him no peace till he had sold her to a
bard, but Dubtach, though he sold the slave-girl, stipulated with the
purchaser that the child should not go with the mother, but should be
returned to him when he claimed it.

Now one day, the king and queen visited the bard to ask an augury as
to the child they expected shortly, and to be advised as to the place
where the queen should be confined. Then the bard said, "Happy is the
child that is born neither in the house nor out of the house!" Now it
fell out that Brotseach, the slave-girl, was shortly after returning
to the house with a pitcher of fresh warm milk from the cow, when she
was seized with labour, and sank down on the threshold, and was
delivered neither in the house nor out of the house, and the pitcher
of warm sweet milk, falling, was poured over the little child.

When Bridget grew up, her father reclaimed her, and treated her with
the same tenderness that he showed to his legitimate children. She had
a most compassionate heart, and gave to every beggar what he asked,
whether it were hers or not. This rather annoyed her father, who took
her one day with him to the king's court, and leaving her outside, in
the chariot, went within to the king, and asked his majesty to buy his
daughter, as she was too expensive for him to keep, owing to her
excessive charity. The king asked to see the girl, and they went
together to the door. In the meantime, a beggar had approached
Bridget, and unable to resist his importunities, she had given him the
only thing she could find, her father's sword, which was a present
that had been made him by the king. When Dubtach discovered this, he
burst forth into angry abuse, and the king asked, "Why didst thou give
away the royal sword, child?" "If beggars assailed me," answered
Bridget calmly, "and asked for my king and my father, I would give
them both away also." "Ah!" said the king, "I cannot buy a girl who
holds us so cheap."

Her great beauty caused her to be sought in marriage by a young noble
of the neighbourhood, but as she had already consecrated herself by
vow to Jesus, the Spouse of virgins, she would not hear of this match.
To rid herself of the importunity of her suitor, she prayed to God,
that He would render her so deformed that no one might regard her. Her
prayer was heard, and a distemper fell on one of her eyes, by which
she lost that eye, and became so disagreeable to the sight, that no
one thought of giving her any further molestation.[7] Thus she easily
gained her father's consent that she should consecrate her virginity
to God, and become a nun. She took with her three other virgins of
that country, and bidding farewell to her friends, went in 469 to the
holy bishop Maccail, then at Usny hill, Westmeath; who gave the sacred
veil to her and her companions, and received their profession of
perpetual virginity. S. Bridget was then only fourteen years old, as
some authors assert. The Almighty was pleased on this occasion to
declare how acceptable this sacrifice was, by restoring to Bridget the
use of her eye, and her former beauty, and, what is still more
remarkable, and is particularly celebrated, as well in the Roman, as
in other ancient Martyrologies, was, that when the holy virgin, bowing
her head, kissed the dry wood of the feet of the altar, it immediately
grew green, in token of her purity and sanctity. The story is told of
her, that when she was a little child, playing at holy things, she got
a smooth slab of stone which she tried to set up as a little altar;
then a beautiful angel joined in her play, and made wooden legs to the
altar, and bored four holes in the stone, into which the legs might be
driven, so as to make it stand.

[Illustration: S. BRIDGET. After Cahier. Feb. 1.]

S. Bridget having consecrated herself to God, built a cell for her
abode, under a goodly oak, thence called Kil-dare or the Cell of the
Oak; and this foundation grew into a large community, for a great
number of virgins resorted to her, attracted by her sanctity, and put
themselves under her direction. And so great was the reputation of her
virtues, and the place of her abode was so renowned and frequented on
her account, that the many buildings erected in the neighbourhood
during her lifetime formed a large town, which was soon made the seat
of a bishop, and in process of time, the metropolitan see of the whole
province.

What the rule embraced by S. Bridget was, is not known, but it appears
from her history, that the habit which she received at her profession
from S. Maccail was white. Afterwards, she herself gave a rule to her
nuns; so that she is justly numbered among the founders of religious
Orders. This rule was followed for a long time by the greatest part of
the monasteries of sacred virgins in Ireland; all acknowledging our
Saint as their mother and mistress, and the monastery of Kildare as
the headquarters of their Order. Moreover, Cogitosus informs us, in
his prologue to her life, that not only did she rule nuns, but also a
large community of men, who lived in a separate monastery. This
obliged the Saint to call to her aid out of his solitude, the holy
bishop S. Conlaeth, to be the director and father to her monks; and at
the same time to be the bishop of the city. The church of Kildare, to
suit the requirements of the double monastery and the laity, was
divided by partitions into three parts, Cogitosus says, one for the
monks, one for the nuns, and the third for the lay people.

As S. Bridget was obliged to go long journeys, the bishop ordained her
coachman priest, and the story is told that one day as she and a
favourite nun sat in the chariot, the coachman preached to them the
Word of God, turning his head over his shoulder. Then said the abbess,
"Turn round, that we may hear better, and throw down the reins." So he
cast the reins over the front of the chariot, and addressed his
discourse to them with his back to the horses. Then one of the horses
slipped its neck from the yoke, and ran free; and so engrossed were
Bridget and her companion in the sermon of the priestly charioteer,
that they did not observe that the horse was loose, and the carriage
running all on one side. On another occasion she was being driven over
a common near the Liffey, when they came to a long hedge, for a man
had enclosed a portion of the common. Then the man shouted to them to
go round, and Bridget bade her charioteer so do. But he, thinking that
they had a right of way across the newly made field, drove straight at
the hedge; then the proprietor of the field ran forward, and the
horses started, and the jolt of the chariot threw S. Bridget and the
coachman out of the vehicle, and severely bruised them both. Then the
abbess, picking herself up said, "Better to have gone round; short
cuts bring broken bones."

Once a family came to Kildare, leaving their house and cattle
unguarded, that they might attend a festival in the church, and
receive advice from S. Bridget. Whilst they were absent, some thieves
stole their cows, and drove them away.

They had to pass the Liffey, which was much swollen, consequently the
thieves stripped, and tied their clothes to the horns of the cattle,
intending to drive the cows into the river, and swim after them. But
the cows ran away, carrying off with them the clothes of the robbers
attached to their horns, and they did not stop till they reached the
gates of the convent of S. Bridget, the nude thieves racing after
them. The holy abbess restored to them their garments, and severely
reprimanded them for their attempted robbery.

Other strange miracles are attributed to her, of which it is
impossible to relate a tithe. She is said, after a shower of rain, to
have come hastily into a chamber, and cast her wet cloak over a
sunbeam, mistaking it, in her hurry, for a beam of wood. And the cloak
remained there, and the ray of sun did not move, till late at night
one of her maidens ran to her, to tell her that the sunbeam waited its
release, so she hasted, and removed her cloak, and the ray retired
after the long departed sun.

Once a rustic, seeing a wolf run about in proximity to the palace,
killed it; not knowing that it was the tame creature of the king; and
he brought the dead beast to the king, expecting a reward. Then the
prince in anger ordered the man to be cast into prison and executed.
Now when Bridget heard this, her spirit was stirred within her, and
mounting her chariot, she drove to the court, to intercede for the
life of the poor countryman. And on the way, there came a wolf over
the bog racing towards her, and it leaped into the chariot, and
allowed her to caress it. Then, when she reached the palace, she went
before the king, with the wolf at her side, and said, "Sire! I have
brought thee a better wolf than that thou hast lost, spare therefore
the life of the poor man who unwittingly slew thy beast." Then the
king accepted her present with great joy, and ordered the prisoner to
be released.

One evening she sat with sister Dara, a holy nun, who was blind, as
the sun went down; and they talked of the love of Jesus Christ, and
the joys of Paradise. Now their hearts were so full, that the night
fled away whilst they spoke together, and neither knew that so many
hours had sped. Then the sun came up from behind Wicklow mountains,
and the pure white light made the face of earth bright and gay. Then
Bridget sighed, when she saw how lovely were earth and sky, and knew
that Dara's eyes were closed to all this beauty. So she bowed her head
and prayed, and extended her hand and signed the dark orbs of the
gentle sister. Then the darkness passed away from them, and Dara saw
the golden ball in the east, and all the trees and flowers glittering
with dew in the morning light. She looked a little while, and then,
turning to the abbess, said, "Close my eyes again, dear mother, for
when the world is so visible to the eyes, God is seen less clearly to
the soul." So Bridget prayed once more, and Dara's eyes grew dark
again.

A madman, who troubled all the neighbourhood, came one day across the
path of the holy abbess. Bridget arrested him, and said, "Preach to me
the Word of God, and go thy way." Then he stood still and said, "O
Bridget, I obey thee. Love God, and all will love thee. Honour God,
and all will honour thee. Fear God, and all will fear thee." Then with
a howl he ran away. Was there ever a better sermon preached in fewer
words.

A very remarkable prophesy of the heresies and false doctrines of
later years must not be omitted. One day Bridget fell asleep whilst a
sermon was being preached by S. Patrick, and when the sermon was over,
she awoke. Then the preacher asked her, "O Bridget, why didst thou
sleep, when the Word of Christ was spoken?" She fell on her knees and
asked pardon, saying, "Spare me, spare me, my father, for I have had a
dream." Then said Patrick, "Relate thy vision to me." And Bridget
said, "Thy hand-maiden saw, and behold the land was ploughed far and
wide, and sowers went forth in white raiment, and sowed good seed. And
it sprang up a white and goodly harvest. Then came other ploughers in
black, and sowers in black, and they hacked, and tore up, and
destroyed that beauteous harvest, and strewed tares far and wide. And
after that, I looked, and behold, the island was full of sheep and
swine, and dogs and wolves, striving with one another and rending one
another." Then said S. Patrick, "Alas, my daughter! in the latter days
will come false teachers having false doctrine; who shall lead away
many, and the good harvest which has sprung up from the Gospel seed we
have sown will be trodden under foot; and there shall be controversies
in the faith between the faithful and the bringers-in of strange
doctrine."

Now when the time of her departure drew nigh, Bridget called to her a
dear pupil, named Darlugdach and foretold the day on which she should
die. Then Darlugdach wept bitterly, and besought her mother to suffer
her to die with her. But the blessed Bridget said, "Nay, my daughter,
thou shalt live a whole year after my departure; and then shalt thou
follow me." And so it came to pass. Having received the sacred
viaticum from the hands of S. Nennidh, the bishop, the holy abbess
exchanged her mortal life for a happy immortality, on February 1st,
525.[8] Her body was interred in the church of Kildare; where her nuns
for some ages, to honour her memory, kept a fire always burning; from
which that convent was called the House of Fire, till Henry of London,
Archbishop of Dublin, to take away all occasion of superstition, in
1220, ordered it to be extinguished.

The body of the Saint was afterwards translated to Down-Patrick, where
it was found in a triple vault, together with the bodies of S. Patrick
and S. Columba, in the year 1185. These bodies were, with great
solemnity, translated the following year by the Pope's legate,
accompanied by fifteen bishops, in presence of an immense number of
the clergy, nobility, and people, to a more honourable place of the
cathedral of Down; where they were kept, with due honour, till the
time of Henry VIII., when the monument was destroyed by Leonard, Lord
Grey, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. S. Bridget's head was saved by some
of the clergy, who carried it to Neustadt, in Austria; and from
thence, in 1587, it was taken to the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon,
to whom the Emperor Rudolf II. gave it.

In art, S. Bridget is usually represented with her perpetual flame as
a symbol; sometimes with a column of fire, said to have been seen
above her head when she took the veil.

S. DARLUGDACH, V.

(A.D. 526.)

[Authorities:--The lives of S. Bridget.]

Amongst the nuns of S. Bridget's monastery of Kildare, there was one
named Darlugdach. When young, she followed S. Bridget, and being very
dear to her, slept with the abbess.

Darlugdach, not guarding her eyes with sufficient strictness, saw, and
fell in love with a man, who also became enamoured of her, and their
ardent glances revealed their mutual passion. A plan was formed that
she should elope with him, on a certain night; and she laid herself in
the bosom of the sleeping abbess with beating heart, troubled by a
conflict between duty and passion. At last she rose, and in an agony
of uncertainty, cast herself on her knees, and besought God to give
her strength to master her love, and then, in the vehemence of her
resolve, she thrust her naked feet into the red coals that glowed on
the hearth, and held them there till the pain had conquered the
passion. After that, she softly stole into bed again, and crept into
the bosom of her holy mother. When morning broke, Bridget rose, and
looked at the blistered and scorched soles, and touching them, said
gently, "I slept not, dear child, but was awake, and saw thy struggle,
and now, because thou hast fought valiantly, and hast conquered, the
flame of lust shall no more hurt thee." And she healed her feet.

Darlugdach, as has been related in the life of S. Bridget, besought
her spiritual mother to let her die with her, but S. Bridget promised
that she should follow on the anniversary of her departure, after the
expiration of a year. And so it was.

S. SEVERUS, B. OF AVRANCHES.

(6TH CENT.)

[French Martyrologies. Authority:--A life by an anonymous author of
uncertain date, but apparently trustworthy.]

S. Severus was the child of very poor Christian parents, who hired him
to a nobleman named Corbecan, a heathen, who employed him in tending
his herd of mares. The boy loved to pasture the horses in the
neighbourhood of a little church dedicated to S. Martin, on the excuse
that the herbage there was richer than elsewhere, but really out of
love for the House of God. Unable to bear the sight of the misery of
the poor, during a cold winter, the boy gave them the clothes off his
back, and returned one day through the snow to his master's castle,
stripped of everything save his breeches. Corbecan, in a rage, drove
him out of the house, and forbade him to shelter in it that night. The
lad went to the horses, and crouched among them, taking warmth from
their breath. His gentleness and piety, in the end, produced such an
impression on Corbecan, that he placed himself under instruction in
the faith, and was baptized, he and his whole house. Severus
afterwards retired into a solitary place, and lived as an hermit, till
a number of disciples gathering round him, he was ordained priest.
Against his will he was dragged from his beloved retreat to be
consecrated bishop of Avranches. He ruled that see for several years
with great zeal and discretion, till the burden became intolerable,
and he besought the people to elect a successor. Then he laid down his
staff, and retired once more to his forest cell, where he became the
master of the blessed Giles. The day of his death is uncertain. His
body was translated to the cathedral of Rouen.

In art he is represented with the mares of his master.

S. SIGEBERT, K. C.

(A.D. 656.)

[French Martyrology. Authorities:--His life by Sigebert of
Gemblours, d. 1112, and mention by Gregory of Tours, and
Flodoard.]

This royal saint was the son of Dagobert I., King of France. The
father for a long time refused to have his son baptized, but at length
by the advice of S. Ouen and S. Eligius, then laymen in his court, he
recalled S. Amand, bishop of Maestricht, whom he had banished for
reproving his vices, and bade him baptize his son Sigebert. The young
prince's education was entrusted to Pepin, mayor of the palace, who
carried his charge into Aquitain, to his estates. But at the age of
three, Sigebert was invested by his father with the kingdom of
Austrasia, or Eastern France, including Provence, Switzerland,
Bavaria, Swabia, Thuringia, Franconia, the Rhenish Palatinate, Alsace,
Trèves, Lorraine, Champagne, Upper Picardy, and Auvergne.

Dagobert died in 638, and was succeeded by Clovis II., in the kingdom
of Western France. Pepin of Landen, was mayor of the palace to
Sigebert, and strove to train the young king in godliness and
Christian virtues. By his justice and temperance, S. Sigebert rendered
himself in his youth greatly beloved and respected by his subjects.

Pepin dying in 640, the king appointed Grimoald, mayor of the palace,
in his father's room. The Thuringians revolting, Sigebert reduced them
to their duty; and this is the only war in which he was engaged. His
munificence in founding churches and monasteries, his justice in
ruling, and the private virtues of his spotless life, made him to be
regarded as a model of a saintly king. After a reign of eighteen years
from the date of his father's death, he died at the age of
twenty-five, and was buried in the abbey of S. Martin, near Metz,
which he had built. His body was found incorrupt in 1063, and in 1170
it was enshrined in a silver case. When Charles V. laid siege to Metz,
Francis of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, demolished all the monasteries and
other buildings in the suburbs which could give harbour to the enemy,
amongst others that of S. Martin. The relics of the saintly king were
then removed to the collegiate church of Our Lady, at Nancy, where
they repose in a magnificent shrine.

S. JOHN OF THE GRATE, B. C.

(A.D. 1163.)

[His festival is observed as a double by the Church of S. Malo, in
Brittany. His name is inserted in Saussaye's supplement to the
Gallican Martyrology. Authorities:--The letters of S. Bernard and
Nicolas of Clairvaux.]

The illustrious prelate S. John, commonly called "Of the Grate,"
because of an iron grating which surrounded his sepulchre, was a
Breton, the son of parents in a middle class of life. He was born
about the year 1098; and from an early age gave indications of piety.
In the schools to which he was sent, in a short time he made rapid
progress. Peter, abbot of Celle, speaking of him, calls him "the holy
bishop, faithful servant of God, a man of courage, loving poverty, a
brilliant light, dissipating the densest darkness." His life, as a
bishop, was spent in a series of lawsuits with the monks of
Marmoutiers. His episcopal seat was at Aleth on the main land, but he
desired to transfer it to the island of Aaron, now called S. Malo, on
account of the peril to which Aleth was exposed through pirates, and
the intestine wars which devastated Brittany. He claimed the island as
belonging to the episcopal property of Aleth, but was opposed by the
monks of Marmoutiers, who claimed the Church of S. Malo. The case was
referred to the Pope, who ordered a commission of French bishops to
try the case, and they decided against John. He considered that his
cause had been prejudged by them, and visited Rome to carry his appeal
in person to the Pope. But Lucius II. would not listen to him, and he
was condemned to lose his see. He then retired under the protection of
S. Bernard, to Clairvaux, till, on the decease of Lucius II., a monk
of Clairvaux was elevated to the papal throne, under the title of
Eugenius III. John at once appealed again, and was heard; a fresh
commission was appointed, and he was restored to all his rights, and
the monks of Marmoutiers were obliged to cede the Church of S. Malo to
the bishop. John obtained decisions conformable to that of Eugenius
III., from his successors, Anastasius IV. and Adrian IV. That the
claim of John was reasonable appears certain. Only three years before
he made it, the inhabitants of Aleth had been obliged to take refuge
in the island of Aaron to escape the ravages of the Normans, who had
already twice pillaged and burnt the city; and it is certain that
several of the predecessors of John of the Grate had borne the title
of bishop of S. Malo, as well as of Aleth.

During his reign a strange heresy broke out. Eon de l'Etoile, a
fanatic, took to himself the title of "Judge of the quick and dead,"
and armed with a forked stick, shared with God the empire of the
universe. When he turned upwards the two prongs of his stick, he gave
to the Almighty the government of two-thirds of the world, and when he
turned the prongs downwards, he assumed them as his own. This poor
visionary was followed by a number of peasants who pillaged churches,
and committed all sorts of disorders. They were condemned, in 1148, by
the Council of Rheims, and were reduced to submission by the temporal
power. John exerted himself, by persuasion and instruction, to
disabuse of their heresy such of the fanatics as over-ran his diocese,
and succeeded in converting many of his wandering sheep.

He died in the odour of sanctity on Feb. 1st, 1163, and was buried on
the Gospel side of the altar in the Church of S. Malo. His reputation
for virtue was so well established, that almost immediately he
received popular reverence as a Saint. Numerous miracles augmented the
devotion of the people. In 1517, one of his successors, Denis
Brigonnet, ambassador of the king to Rome, obtained from Pope Leo X.
permission for him to be commemorated in a solemn office, as a
confessor bishop. This was the year in which began the schism of
Luther.

On the 15th October, 1784, Mgr. Antoine-Joseph des Laurents, last
bishop of S. Malo but one, examined the relics of the blessed one. He
found the bones of S. John enveloped in his pontifical vestments, his
pastoral staff at his side, and ring on his finger. During the
Revolution the relics of the Saint were ordered to be cast into the
sea, but the order was countermanded, and the sexton was required to
bury them on the common fosse in the cemetery. The grave-digger, whose
name was Jean Coquelin, being a good Catholic, disobeyed the order so
far as to lay the bones apart in a portion of the new cemetery as yet
occupied by no other bodies. In November, 1799, he announced the
secret to M. Manet, a priest who had remained through the Reign of
Terror, in S. Malo; and this venerable ecclesiastic assisted by
another priest and some religious, verified the relics. A sealed box
received the precious deposit, and it was restored to its ancient
shrine on 7th March, 1823. Unfortunately the loss of a document which
supplied one necessary link in the chain of evidence authenticating
the relics was missing, consequently they could not be exposed to the
veneration of the faithful. By a strange accident this document was
recovered later; whereupon the bishop wrote to Rome to state the
proofs which were now complete. The necessary sanction having been
received, the sacred relics were enshrined on the 16th November, 1839,
with great ceremony; and are now preserved in the Church of S. Malo.

In French, S. John is called S. Jean de la Grille; in Latin, S.
Joannes de Craticula.

B. RAYMOND OF FITERO, AB. C.

(A.D. 1163.)

[Cistercian Breviary. Authority:--Radez, Chronic de las ordines y
Cavall. de Santiago, Calatrava, y Alcantara.]

In the year A.D. 714, the Moors, having conquered King Roderick, took
possession of Andalusia, and fortified the city of Oreto, to which
they gave the name of Calatrava; of which they remained masters for
nearly four hundred years, till Alfonso the Warlike took possession of
it, in the year 1147, and gave it to the Templars, to guard against
the irruption of the infidels. But they held it for only eight years.
The forces which the Moors assembled to recover Calatrava so
discouraged them, that they gave up the city into the hands of Don
Sancho, who had succeeded to the kingdom of Castille, on the death of
Alfonso, and withdrew from it. This prince announced to his court that
if any nobleman would undertake the defence of the place, he should
have and hold it, in perpetuity, as his own property. But no one
offered; the host of the Moors which had so alarmed the Templars,
caused equal dismay in the minds of the nobles at court. A monk of the
order of Citeaux alone had courage to undertake the defence of the
town. This was Don Didacus Velasquez, monk of the abbey of Our Lady of
Fitero, in the kingdom of Navarre. He had borne arms before he assumed
the white habit of Citeaux, and was well known to King Sancho, and
this perhaps was the reason why his abbot, Don Raymond, had taken him
with him on a visit to the king, about some matter concerning his
monastery, at this very time. He entreated the abbot to allow him to
ask permission of Sancho to undertake the defence of Calatrava.
Raymond, at first, rejected the proposal, but at length, gained by the
zeal and confidence of Didacus, he boldly asked the city of the
prince. He was regarded as mad, but Sancho was prevailed upon by the
evident assurance of the two monks to give the town of Calatrava to
the Cistercian Order, and especially to the abbey of Fitero, on
condition that the monks held it against the infidels. This was in
1158.

The abbot Raymond and his companion Velasquez then proposed to the
king to found a military Order of Calatrava, and after having obtained
his consent, they communicated their design to the bishop of Toledo,
who not only approved it, but gave them a large sum of money for the
fortification of the town, and accorded indulgences to all such as
should take arms in its defence, or contribute arms or money for the
purpose. Several persons joined the two monks, and in a short while an
army was raised, at the head of which they entered Calatrava, and took
possession of it. The walls were repaired and completed with such
expedition and strength, that the Moors abandoned their purpose of
attacking it, and withdrew.

The abbot Raymond, having nothing further to fear from the infidels,
applied himself to organise the new military Order, which took its
name from this town. The general chapter of Citeaux prescribed the
manner of life and habit of these warrior monks, but historians are
not agreed as to the colour or shape of the original habit.

As the territory of Calatrava was almost devoid of inhabitants, the
abbot Raymond returned to Fitero, where he left only the aged and
infirm monks, bringing all who were active and young to Calatrava,
together with a great number of cattle, and twenty thousand peasants,
that he might settle them in the newly acquired territory. He governed
the order six years, and died at Cirvelos, in the year 1163. After his
death, the knights of Calatrava, although they were novices of Citeaux
into whose hands he had put arms, refused to be governed by an abbot,
and to have monks among them. They elected as their Grand Master one
of their number, Don Garcias; and the monks, who had chosen their new
abbot, Don Rudolf, retired with him to Cirvelos, where they began an
action against the knights, to eject them, that they might recover
possession of Calatrava, which the king had given to their order, and
especially to their house of Fitero. But a reconciliation was
effected, probably through fear of the Moors, and the knights ceded to
them a house at S. Petro de Gurniel, in the diocese of Osma, with all
its dependencies, and there they built a monastery, leaving Calatrava
in the hands of the knights.

In the year 1540, the knights were allowed to marry, and took only the
vows of poverty, obedience, and conjugal fidelity; since the year
1652, they have added a fourth; to defend and maintain the Immaculate
Conception of the blessed Virgin.

S. VERDIANA, V. R.

(A.D. 1242.)

[Roman and Benedictine Martyrology, those of Menardus, Ferrarius,
&c. Authority:--An old contemporary life, falsely attributed to
Atto, B. of Pistoria.]

Verdiana was the child of poor, though well-born parents; and her
knowledge of the sufferings of the poor from her own experience in
early years made her ever full of pity for those in need. At twelve
years old she was noted for her beautiful and modest countenance, and
humble deportment. A wealthy relation, a count, took her into his
house, and made her wait upon his wife. Her strict probity and
scrupulous discharge of her duties so gained the confidence of her
master and mistress, that they entrusted to her the entire management
of their house. One day that there was a famine raging in the diocese
of Florence, and the poor were in extreme distress, the girl saw some
miserable wretches dying from exhaustion at the door. Her master had a
vessel of beans, and she hastily emptied the box, and fed the starving
wretches with them. This would have been an act of questionable
morality, were it not for the extremity of the case, when, to save
life, an act is justified which would have been unjust were there no
such an imperious necessity. Her master had, in the meantime, sold the
beans, and he shortly after returned with the money. He went to the
vessel, to send it to the purchaser, but found it empty. "Then," says
the contemporary writer, "he began to shout and storm against the
servants, and make such a to-do as to cause great scandal in the house
and among the neighbours. Now when all the house was turned
topsy-turvy about these beans, and was in an uproar, the lord's
hand-maiden, with great confidence, betook herself to prayer, and
spent the night in supplication. And on the morrow, the vessel was
found full of beans as before. Then the master was called, and she
bade him abstain for the future from such violence, for Christ who had
received the beans had returned them."

By the kindness of the Count, her relative, she was enabled to make a
pilgrimage to S. James, of Compostella, in company with a pious lady.
On her return, she resolved to adopt the life of a recluse, and after
long preparation, and a visit to Rome, where she spent three years,
she obtained the desire of her heart, and received the veil from the
hands of a canon of the Church of Castel Fiorentino, her native place,
and bearing the Cross, preceded and followed by all the clergy and
people, she was conducted to her cell, and, having been admitted into
it, the door was walled up. In this cell she spent many years,
conversing with those who visited her, and receiving her food through
a window, through which, also, the priest communicated her. Two large
snakes crept in at this window, one day, and thenceforth took up their
abode with her. She received these fellow-comrades with great
repugnance, but overcame it, and fed them from her own store of
provisions. They would glide forth when no one was near, but never
failed to return for the night, and when she took her meals. On one
occasion they were injured by some peasants who pursued them with
sticks and stones. Verdiana healed them, nevertheless the rustics
attacked them again, killed one, and drove the other away, so that it
never returned to the cell of the recluse.

When the holy woman felt that the hour of her release approached, she
made her last confession and received the Blessed Sacrament through
her window, and then closing it opened her psalter, and began to
recite the penitential psalms. Next morning the people finding the
window closed, and receiving no answer to their taps, broke into the
cell, and found her dead, kneeling with eyes and hands upraised to
heaven, and the psalter before her open at the psalm _Miserere mihi_,
"Have mercy upon me, O God! after Thy great goodness; and according to
the multitude of Thy mercies, do away mine offences."

[1] Vincent of Beauvais, and other late writers, say that the name of
God was found after his death written in gold letters on his heart;
but this is only one instance of the way in which legends have been
coined to explain titles, the spiritual significance of which was not
considered sufficiently wondrous for the vulgar.

[2] Lib. vi. c. 8.

[3] De Bel. Jud. vii. 3.

[4] As S. Ephraem related the incident several times to his monks, and
they wrote it down from what he had related, there exist several
versions of the story slightly differing from one another.

[5] Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 16.

[6] Moreover it contradicts the positive statements of more reliable
authors, that Bridget was the legitimate daughter of Brotseach, the
wife of Dubtach.

[7] But this legend is given very differently in another Life, and
Cogitosus and the first and fourth Lives do not say anything about it.

[8] As near as can be ascertained; see Lanigan, Eccl. Hist. of
Ireland, vol. 1, p. 455.

[Illustration: Tomb of Joshua. _From the Greek Menology._]

February 2.

The Purification of S. Mary.

S. CORNELIUS, _the Centurion, B. of Cæsarea, 1st cent._
S. FLOSCULUS, _B. of Orleans, circ._ A.D. 500.
S. LAURENCE, _Abp. of Canterbury_, A.D. 619.
S. ADALBALD, _C. in Belgium and Aquitaine_, A.D. 652.
S. ADELOGA, _V. Abss. at Kitzingen, 8th cent._
SS. MARTYRS, _of Ebbecksdorf_, A.D. 880.
B. PETER CAMBIAN, _O. S.D., M. in Piedmont_, A.D. 1365.

THE PURIFICATION OF S. MARY, OR THE
PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.

The purification is a double feast, partly in memory of the B.
Virgin's purification, this being the fortieth day after the birth of
her Son, which she observed according to the Law (Leviticus xii. 4),
though there was no need for such a ceremony, she having contracted no
defilement through her childbearing. Partly also in memory of Our
Lord's presentation in the temple, which the Gospel for the day
commemorates.

The Old Law commanded, that a woman having conceived by a man, if she
brought forth a male child, should remain forty days retired in her
house, as unclean; at the end of which she should go to the temple to
be purified, and offer a lamb and a turtle dove; but, if she were
poor, a pair of turtle doves or pigeons, desiring the priest to pray
to God for her. This law the Blessed Virgin accomplished (Luke ii. 12)
with the exercise of admirable virtues; especially did she exhibit her
obedience, although she knew that she was not obliged to keep the law,
yet, inasmuch as her Son had consented to be circumcised, though He
needed it not, so did she stoop to fulfil the law, lest she should
offend others. She also exhibited her humility, in being willing to be
treated as one unclean, and as one that stood in need of being
purified, as if she had not been immaculate. Among the Greeks, the
festival goes by the name of _Hypapante_, which denotes the meeting of
our Lord by Symeon and Anna, in the temple; in commemoration of which
occurrence it was first made a festival in the Church by the emperor
Justinian I., A.D. 542. The emperor is said to have instituted it on
occasion of an earthquake, which destroyed half the city of
Pompeiopolis, and of other calamities. It was considered in the Greek
Church as one of the feasts belonging to her Lord (Despotikaì
Heortaì). The name of the Purification was given to it in the 9th
century by the Roman pontiffs. In the Greek Church the prelude of this
festival, which retains its first name, Hypapante, is "My soul doth
magnify the Lord, for He hath regarded the lowliness of his
hand-maiden;" and a festival of Symeon and Anna is observed on the
following day.

[Illustration: PURIFICATION OF S. MARY THE VIRGIN.
From the Great Missal. Feb. 2.]

In the Western Church it has usually been called "Candlemas Day," from
the custom of lighting up churches with tapers and lamps in
remembrance of our Saviour having been this day declared by Symeon to
be "a light to lighten the Gentiles." Processions were used with a
similar object, of which S. Bernard gives the following
description:--"We go in procession, two by two, carrying candles in
our hands, which are lighted not at a common fire, but a fire first
blessed in the church by a bishop. They that go out first return last;
and in the way we sing, 'Great is the glory of the Lord.' We go two by
two in commendation of charity and a social life; for so our Saviour
sent out his disciples. We carry light in our hands: first, to signify
that our light should shine before men; secondly, this we do on this
day, especially, in memory of the Wise Virgins (of whom this blessed
Virgin is the chief) that went to meet their Lord with their lamps lit
and burning. And from this usage and the many lights set up in the
church this day, it is called Candelaria, or Candlemas. Because our
works should be all done in the holy fire of charity, therefore the
candles are lit with holy fire. They that go out first return last, to
teach humility, 'in humility preferring one another.' Because God
loveth a cheerful giver, therefore we sing in the way. The procession
itself is to teach us that we should not stand idle in the way of
life, but proceed from virtue to virtue, not looking back to that
which is behind, but reaching forward to that which is before."

The Purification is a common subject of representation in Christian
art, both Eastern and Western. From the evident unsuitableness of the
mystery of the Circumcision to actual representation, it is not
usually depicted in works of art, and the Presentation in the Temple
has been generally selected, with better taste, for this purpose. The
prophecy of Symeon, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through Thine own soul
also," made to the blessed Virgin, is the first of her seven sorrows.

The Christian rite of "The Churching of Women" is a perpetuation of
the ancient ceremony required by the Mosaic Law. How long a particular
office has been used in the Christian Church, for the thanksgiving and
benediction of woman after child-birth, it would be difficult to say;
but it is probably most ancient, since we find that all the Western
rituals, and those of the patriarchate of Constantinople, contain such
an office. The Greeks appoint three prayers for the mother on the
first day of the child's birth. On the eighth day, the nurse brings
the child to church, and prayer is made for him before the entrance to
the nave. On the fortieth day, the mother and the future sponsor at
the child's baptism bring the child. After an introductory service of
the usual kind, the mother, holding the child, bows her head; the
priest crosses the child, and touching his head, says, "Let us pray
unto the Lord; O Lord God Almighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who didst create by Thy word all creatures, rational and
irrational, who didst bring into being all things out of nothing; we
beseech and entreat Thee, purify from all sin and pollution this Thy
handmaid, whom by Thy will, Thou hast preserved and permitted to enter
into Thy holy Church; that she may be deemed worthy to partake,
without condemnation, of Thy holy mysteries." (If the child has not
survived, the prayer ends here; if it be alive, the priest continues),
"And bless the child born of her. Increase, sanctify, direct, teach,
guide him; for Thou hast brought him to the birth and hast shown him
the light of this world; that so he may be deemed worthy of the mental
light at the time that Thou hast ordained, and be numbered among Thy
holy flock: through Thy only begotten Son, with whom Thou art blessed,
together with Thy all-holy, good, life-giving Spirit, now, always, and
for ever and ever."

Other prayers referring to the mother of the child follow. Allusion is
made to the presentation of Christ, in the Temple. The child is taken
in the priest's arms to various parts of the church as an introduction
to the sanctuary. A boy is taken to the altar; a girl only to the
central door of the screen. There is a separate form in case of
miscarriage.

[Illustration: THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. After Fra Angelico. Feb. 2.]

S. CORNELIUS THE CENTURION, B.

(1ST CENT.)

[Roman and other Western Martyrologies. Commemorated by the Greeks
on Sept. 13th. Authorities:--The Acts of the Holy Apostles, c. 10,
the notices in the Martyrologies, and allusions in the Epistles of
S. Jerome. The Acts given by Metaphrastes are not deserving of much
attention.]

Cornelius, the centurion, was officer of the Italian band at Cæsarea.
He was a devout proselyte, who feared God, with all his household, and
gave much alms to the poor and prayed often and earnestly to God. He
saw in a vision an angel, who told him that his prayers and alms had
come up for a memorial before God, and that he was now to hear the
words of Salvation, and to be instructed in the fulness of divine
truth. He was to send to Joppa, to the house of one Simon, a tanner,
for S. Peter, the prince of the Apostles, who would instruct and
baptize him.

This he accordingly did, and S. Peter, hastening to Cæsarea, baptized
him and all his house. And the Holy Ghost fell upon them.

Cornelius was afterwards, by S. Peter, ordained bishop of Cæsarea,
where he strove mightily to advance the kingdom of Christ, and
witnessed a good confession before the chief magistrate. He died at a
ripe old age, and was buried secretly in a tomb belonging to a friend,
a Christian of wealth. And, it is said, that a bramble grew over the
spot and laced the entrance over with its thorny arms, so that none
could enter in till S. Silvanus, bishop of Philippopolis, in Thrace,
in the beginning of the 5th century, hacked away the bramble, and
discovered, and translated the sacred relics.

S. LAURENCE, ABP. OF CANTERBURY.

(A.D. 619.)

[Roman and other Western Martyrologies. Authorities:--Bede, Hist.
Eccl. lib. ii. c. 4, 6, 7. Malmesbury lib. de Gest. Pontif. Angl.]

Laurence was one of the first missionaries to the Saxons, who came
over with S. Augustine; and he succeeded the Apostle of England in the
see of Canterbury, in 608, in which he sat eleven years. Bede says,
"Laurence succeeded Augustine in the bishopric, having been ordained
thereto by the latter, in his lifetime, lest, upon his death, the
state of the Church, as yet unsettled, might begin to falter, if it
were destitute of a pastor, though but for one hour. Wherein he
followed the example of the first pastor of the Church, Peter, who,
having founded the Church of Christ at Rome, is said to have
consecrated Clement his assistant in preaching the Gospel, and at the
same time, his successor. Laurence, being advanced to the degree of
archbishop, laboured indefatigably, both by frequent exhortations and
examples of piety, to raise to perfection the foundation of the
Church, which had been so nobly laid. In short, he not only took care
of the new Church formed among the English, but endeavoured also to
employ his pastoral solicitude among the ancient inhabitants of
Britain, as also among the Scots, who inhabited the island of Ireland.
For when he understood that the course of life and profession of the
Scots, as well as that of the Britons, was not truly ecclesiastical,
especially that they did not celebrate Easter at the correct time, he
wrote jointly with his fellow-bishops, an exhortatory epistle,
entreating and conjuring them to observe unity of peace, and
conformity with the Church of Christ spread throughout the world."

But soon troubles arose which obliged Archbishop Laurence to withdraw
his attention from the British bishops to the condition of his own
Kentish diocese. The pious King Ethelbert died, and his son Eadbald,
instead of following his father's example, opposed Christianity, and
caused great scandal by taking to him his step-mother to wife, his own
mother, the saintly Bertha, having died some years before. The
condition of Christianity became so hopeless in Kent, that Laurence
resolved to desert his see, and he was confirmed in his determination
by Mellitus, bishop of London, and Justus, bishop of Rochester, who
fled from the violence of the sons and successors of the Christian
Sebert, king of the East Saxons. Bede says, "Laurence, being about to
follow Mellitus and Justus, and to quit Britain, ordered his bed to be
laid, the night before, in the church of the blessed Apostles, Peter
and Paul; wherein, having laid himself to take some rest, after he had
poured out many prayers and tears to God for the state of the Church,
he fell asleep. In the dead of the night, the blessed prince of the
apostles appeared to him, and scourging him a long time with apostolic
severity, asked of him, 'Why he would forsake the flock which he had
committed to him? or to what shepherds he would commit Christ's sheep
that were in the midst of wolves? Have you,' said he, 'forgotten my
example, who, for the sake of those little ones, whom Christ
recommended to me in token of His affection, underwent at the hands of
the infidels and enemies of Christ, bonds, stripes, imprisonment,
afflictions, and lastly, the death of the cross, that I might be
crowned with Him?' Laurence being excited by these words and stripes,
the very next morning repaired to the king, and taking off his
garment, showed the scars of the stripes he had received. The king
astonished, asked, 'Who had presumed to give such blows to so great a
man?' and was much frightened when he heard that the bishop had
suffered so much at the hands of the apostle of Christ for his
salvation. Then, abjuring the worship of idols, and renouncing his
unlawful marriage, he embraced the faith of Christ, and being
baptized, promoted the affairs of the Church to the utmost of his
power."

In the reign of this same king, Archbishop Laurence died, and was
buried in the Church of S. Peter, close beside his predecessor
Augustine, and was succeeded by Mellitus.

S. ADALBALD, C.

(ABOUT A.D. 652.)

[Belgian Martyrologies, and in Saussaye's supplement to the Gallican
Martyrology. Authorities:--Mention of him in the life of his wife S.
Richtrudis, by Hucbald the monk, A.D. 907; and in the life
of his daughter, S. Eusebia. In some Martyrologies he is styled
Martyr, but generally Duke.]

Duke Adalbald was a grandson of S. Gertrude of Hamage. His mother's
name was Gerberta. From his earliest youth he was a model of virtue,
even in the court of the king. He married S. Richtrudis, by whom he
had S. Maurontus, his eldest son, who became afterwards abbot; and
three virgin saintly daughters, Clotsendis, Eusebia, and Andalsendis.
S. Amandus baptized Clotsendis, and Queen Nanthild, wife of King
Dagobert, was sponsor to Eusebia. On his way to Gascony for some
purpose, he was waylaid and murdered, by certain persons who were
displeased at his marriage with Richtrudis. It seems probable,
therefore, that the crime was committed on account of some property,
but nothing for certain is known of the motive actuating the
murderers. Relics at S. Amand, in Flanders.

S. ADELOGA, V. ABSS.

(8TH CENT.)

[Benedictine Martyrology and those of Menardus, Ferrarius, &c.
Authority:--An ancient, apparently authentic, life by an anonymous
writer, published by Bollandus.]

The blessed Adeloga was a daughter of Charles Martel, son of Pepin
l'Heristal, by Kunehilda, whether his wife or concubine is uncertain.
Adeloga was of singular beauty, so that she was greatly sought in
marriage, but she constantly refused all offers, having given her
heart wholly to her heavenly Spouse. Her father, greatly exasperated
against her, on this account, treated her with studied brutality,
subjecting her to public insult; and observing that the bruised spirit
of his child sought refuge and comfort in the advice of her director,
his private chaplain, he was filled with bitterness, and said,
"Hearken, my daughter, you have refused kings, dukes, and peers to
anger me, that you might wanton with a curate." Then calling to him
one of his knights, who stood by, as he thus insulted his daughter, he
bade him "Go and tell the chaplain to be off, he and his woman here,
or they shall both be driven forth with contumely, to-morrow morning."

Hearing this, the priest groaned in spirit, and said, "O God of heaven
and earth, who searchest the secrets of all hearts, and every thought
of man, Thou knowest my innocence in this matter. But, although my
lord has exercised his anger upon me, I will not desert my lady and
mistress, but for Christ's sake will wait upon her with all reverence."

Then Adeloga went forth, and the priest with her, and they journeyed
till they came to a wild and desert place, and there they built a
convent. The name of the place was Kitzingen.

To her came many virgins, and the priest gave her the veil, and made
her abbess, enjoining her to adopt the rule of SS. Benedict and
Scholastica. He, himself, attended to the temporal affairs of the
convent, till he was summoned to his rest.

The story is told that after his death, a young nun, having fallen in
love with a youth, resolved to fly the convent. She waited till night,
and then, when all were asleep, stole to the gates, but there she saw
the form of the white-haired chaplain beckoning her back, and with a
gentle voice addressing her, "Go back, dear virgin! A heavenly Spouse
calleth thee, and no earthly lover! Return to him, my child. I watch
without over this sacred house, and the abbess keeps ward within." And
not many days after, the girl sickened and died.

There was another nun who was also smitten with passion for a young
noble, and harboured in her mind the thought of escaping from her
monastery, and flying to his arms. But in the night, as she slept, she
saw the holy abbess, Adeloga, pass before her with a lamp in her hand,
who turned and looked on her and said, "Lo, Christ cometh, prepare to
meet Him. Awake, the Bridegroom cometh, go forth and trim thy light."
Then she started from sleep, and was moved with compunction, and never
after yielded to sensual thoughts.

Now it fell out that in after years Charles Martel was reconciled to
his daughter, and endowed her monastery with lands, and visited her.
Then, in the night, there stood before him, in vision, the old
chaplain, who said to him, "The Eternal King hath sent me unto thee,
to declare to thee my innocence in that thing whereof thou didst once
accuse me. And if thou believest me not now, then will I cite thee to
appear, and hear me plead my cause, before the just judgment seat of
God." And when Charles awoke, he called to him his daughter, and said,
"Pray for me, my dearest child, that the Lord lay not this sin to my
charge, that once in wrath I spoke falsely against thee and my
chaplain, thy director."

It is related that among the retainers of the abbey was a noble youth
very fond of dogs, and above all, he loved one hound, which was with
him in the field and forest by day, and slept at the foot of his bed
at night. One day that he was in the wood, a couple of ruffians fell
upon him, and murdered him for the sake of his clothes and purse, and
left the body naked under the trees. For three days the faithful hound
kept guard, and then it sought the abbey, and whined at the door of
the lady Adeloga, and when she came forth, plucked at her dress, as
though to lead her into the forest. Suspecting something was amiss,
she called to her some servants, and they followed the dog to where
his master lay slain. The abbess was determined to discover who were
the murderers. She therefore summoned before her all the retainers and
serfs on the land, and questioned them closely, but could obtain no
confession. Then she solemnly warned the culprits to beware how they
left the matter to the judgment of God, and she bade them, for the
last time, confess. When all were silent, the hound of the murdered
man was introduced, and it flew at the throats of the culprits and
tore them so fearfully that one died.

The historian of the life of S. Adeloga, concludes with the following
prayer. "We pray thee, most holy and gentle mother, that, as thou hast
encouraged us in this life with thy good example and virtuous acts, so
mayest thou deign to assist us with God in life eternal; that as we
rejoice in thy commemoration on earth, so may we merit to be
strengthened by thy intercession in heaven; for the sake of Christ
Jesus, our Lord, who of all Saints is the reward, the glory, joy, and
crown, through ages of ages, Amen."

THE HOLY MARTYRS OF EBBECKSDORF.

(A.D. 880.)

[Authority:--The contemporary Fulda Annals of the Franks. See also
the Legend in Langebek, Script. Rer. Danicarum II., pp. 57-71.]

These martyrs were Duke Bruno of Saxony, Theodoric, bishop of Minden,
Marquard, bishop of Hildesheim, Erlulf of Fulda, Gosbert, bishop of
Osnabrück, and many others; massacred by the Northmen.

B. PETER CAMBIAN, O. S.D., M.

(A.D. 1365.)

[Roman Martyrology.]

This Saint was sent by the Sovereign pontiff, into the vallies
inhabited by the Waldensian heretics, as Inquisitor-general in
Piedmont, in 1351, and was murdered by the heretics in the Franciscan
convent of Susa. The person who did the deed stabbed him in the
cloister, on the feast of the Purification of Our Lady, in 1365. His
tomb was opened in 1854, and the relics were elevated to the altars of
several churches to which they were given. Pius IX. confirmed the
devotion of the Catholics towards this martyr.

[Illustration]

February 3.

SS. CELERINUS, _D. C._, CELERINA, IGNATIUS, AND LAURENCE, _MM. in
Africa, 3rd cent._
S. FORTUNATUS, _M. at Rome_.
S. CANDIDUS, _M. at Volaterra_.
SS. TIGRIS AND REMEDIUS, _BB., MM. at Gap, 4th cent._
S. BLAISE, _B. M._, AND COMPANIONS, _at Sebaste, circ._ A.D. 316.
S. SIMPLICIUS, _B. of Vienne; beginning of 5th cent._
S. ANATOLIUS, _B. of Adana, in Cilicia; beginning of 5th cent._
S. LAURENCE THE ILLUMINATOR, _B. of Spoleto, circ._ A.D. 576.
S. PHILIP, _B. of Vienne, circ._ A.D. 578.
S. EVANTIUS, _B. of Vienne_, A.D. 586.
S. HADELIN, _P. at Celles in Belgium, circ._ A.D. 690.
S. BERLINDA, _V. at Meerbeeke in Belgium, circ._ A.D. 698.
S. WERBURGA, _V. Patroness of Chester; beginning of 8th cent._
S. NITHARD, _P. M. in Sweden, circ._ A.D. 840.
S. ANSKAR, _B. of Hamburg, Apostle of Sweden and Denmark_, A.D. 865.
S. LIAFDAG, _B. M. at Ripe in Denmark, circ._ A.D. 980.
S. ELINAND, _Monk of Froidmont, near Beauvais_, A.D. 1237.

SS. CELERINUS, D. C., CELERINA, IGNATIUS,
AND LAURENTINUS, MM.

(3RD CENT.)

[Roman and other Latin Martyrologies. Authorities:--The letters of
S. Cyprian of Carthage, and S. Cornelius of Rome. A letter of S.
Celerinus to the Confessor Lucian is inserted in some editions of
the works of S. Cyprian.]

Of Celerina, Ignatius, and Laurence nothing, except their names, is
known, and even these would not have come down to us, but for their
being mentioned as glorious martyrs by S. Cyprian, in a letter to
their nephew, S. Celerinus. This Celerinus was first Reader, and then
Deacon, in the Church of Carthage, and received orders from S.
Cyprian. He was in Rome in the year 250, and confessed Christ there in
the Decian persecution, spending nineteen days in chains; but to his
great sorrow, his sister yielded to her fears, and was numbered among
the lapsed. Afterwards Celerinus was unfortunately drawn away by
Novatian into schism, but when he perceived that the schismatic sought
his own advancement rather than the glory of God, he acknowledged his
error, and returned to the communion of the Catholic Church.

S. FORTUNATUS, M.

S. Fortunatus is mentioned, together with many other martyrs, in the
Roman and other Martyrologies on Feb. 2nd, as having suffered at Rome;
but their Acts have not been preserved. The body of S. Fortunatus was
found in 1606, in the cemetery of S. Callixtus, and was given by Pope
Paul V. to the Rev. Jacobus Tirinus, S.J., for the new and beautiful
Jesuit church he had built in Antwerp, in the year 1622. On account of
Feb. 2nd being the Feast of the Purification, the commemoration of S.
Fortunatus has been postponed in that church till Feb. 3rd.

S. BLAISE, B. M.

(A.D. 316.)

[Roman and Western Martyrologies. Commemorated by the Greeks on
Feb. 11th, in some ancient Martyrologies, on Feb. 15th. The Greek
Acts, of which there are four versions, are modern, and deserve
little regard.]

Blasius, Blase, Blayse, Blays, or Blaise, was bishop of Sebaste, a
city of Cappadocia, in the Lesser Asia. He spent a great part of his
time in retirement on a hill not far from the city, whither he
withdrew, after the duties of his office were finished, to be alone
with God. During the persecution of the Christians in the reign of
Diocletian, he lay concealed for some time in this retreat; but was at
last taken and brought before Agricolaus, the governor of the
province, and confessing himself a Christian, was thrown into prison.
After enduring many tortures, he received the crown of martyrdom in
the beginning of the fourth century. Some historians refer this event
to the year 316, under the reign of Licinius. Seven holy women and two
young children suffered at the same time. The Acts of his martyrdom
are so untrustworthy that it is not possible to state any further
particulars which are authentic. The Council of Oxford, A.D. 1222,
prohibited servile labour on this day. Its observance in England was
marked by several curious ceremonies. Among others a taper used to be
offered at High Mass; and it was lately the custom in many parts of
England to light bonfires on the hills on S. Blaise's night. Some have
affirmed that these usages arose from an absurd pun on the Saint's
name (sc. "blaze"); but this seems clearly erroneous, as they are not
peculiar to England. In some parts of Germany, S. Blaise's Day is
called "Little Candlemas Day," because of the bonfires that it was
usual (for an uncertain reason) to kindle on that night. At Bradford,
Yorkshire, a festival is holden every five years in memory of S.
Blaise.

In the Greek paintings, S. Blaise is depicted as an old man with a
pointed beard. In Western art he appears in the vestments of a bishop;
his peculiar emblem is an iron comb, such as is used by wool-combers,
which is said to have been an instrument of his torture. Owing,
probably, to this reason, he has been esteemed the patron of
manufacturers of wool, and that trade in the city of Norwich still
observes his day, or did so until lately. S. Blaise is also frequently
represented as surrounded by wild beasts, or birds are bringing him
food; the text, Job v. 23, which occasionally accompanies these
emblems, indicates that, in his case as in that of other saints, by
long continuance in a solitary course of life, the denizens of the
wood had become accustomed to the Saint's presence. Sometimes again,
S. Blaise has a swine's head at his feet, typical of his victory over
the sensual desires of the flesh. Finally, he occasionally holds in
one hand, or has borne before him by a chorister, a lighted taper,
typical of his being "a burning and a shining light."

[Illustration: S. BLAISE. From Cahier. Feb. 3.]

S. LAURENCE THE ILLUMINATOR, B.

(ABOUT A.D. 576.)

[The learned Bollandus, S.J., pithily remarks: "Magnas Umbria circa
veterum suorum Sanctorum res gestas ortum ætatem, contraxit umbras,
si non tenebras." Little is known of this Saint.]

S. Laurence the Illuminator, is said to have come from Syria with many
other illustrious bishops and confessors, to Italy, in the reign of
Diocletian. He was elected by the clergy bishop of Spoleto; and
illumined his diocese with his teaching and miracles.

S. HADELIN, P. C.

(ABOUT A.D. 690.)

[Martyrologies of Ado, of Wyon, Menardus, those of Liége, Cologne,
&c. Authorities:--Two ancient lives, one by Notker, B. of Liége
(971-1007).]

S. Hadelin was one of the disciples of S. Remacle, and when that Saint
resigned his bishopric of Tongres, that he might retire from the world
into the peaceful monastery of Staveloo, lately founded by S.
Sigebert, King of Austrasia, he took with him the pious and humble
Hadelin. On their way they rested on a bare plain, under a glaring
sun, for their afternoon repose. S. Remacle remained awake, whilst his
companion slept, and saw an angel bending over Hadelin, shading him
with his wings from the burning heat. Remacle sent Hadelin into the
neighbourhood of Dinant, on the Meuse, in 669, and finding a quiet
retreat at Celles, on the Lesse, he dwelt there in a cave, and built a
little chapel, on the site of which rose in after years a collegiate
church. S. Hadelin is the patron of five churches in the diocese of
Liége and Namur. His hermitage still exists, and from his time has
never been without a pious successor. The body of the Saint was buried
there, but was translated to Vise in the diocese of Liége, in 1338.
His translation is commemorated on October 11th.

S. BERLINDA.

(ABOUT A.D. 698.)

[Molanus in his addition to Usuardus, Wyon, Menardus, and Ferrarius.
Authority:--An ancient life by an anonymous writer, published by
Bollandus.]

Berlinda was the daughter of a nobleman named Odelard, who resided at
Meerbeeke, near Ninove, in Brabant, in the reign of King Dagobert, and
of Nona, his wife, the sister of S. Amandus. To a rare beauty,
Berlinda joined all the gifts of intellect, but she had the misfortune
to incur the anger of her father. After the death of his wife and only
son, Odelard was attacked by leprosy, and lived a miserable
languishing life, ministered to by his daughter.

One day that he asked her for something to drink, she filled a bowl
with water, and took it to him, and then, being herself thirsty, she
rinsed out the vessel, and filled it again. The father, highly
offended at her doing this, drove off at once to Nivelles and offered
all his lands to S. Gertrude, by the symbolic gift of a white glove
and a reaping-hook and a branch of foliage. Before accomplishing his
donation, he supplicated the Saint to accept his offering with her own
hands. Then the reliquary, in which the holy abbess reposed, opened,
and the lifeless hands of S. Gertrude were extended to receive the
glove, the branch, and the sickle. Then it closed upon them.

Berlinda, being disinherited, retired to the monastery of Moorsel,
near Alost, where she lived in penitence and prayer. One night she
heard a choir of angels singing, as they sailed across the dark
starlit sky, bearing the soul of her father to Paradise. She at once
besought of the superior permission to return to Meerbeeke for a
while. Her request was complied with, and she flew to her father's
castle. He was dead, so Berlinda buried him in the little church he
had erected there to the honour of S. Peter.

Retained by force in her paternal dwelling by the servants and
tenants, Berlinda remained at Meerbeeke, where she continued her life
of austerities and prayer, and died about 690, on the 3rd of February.

As no stone sarcophagus could be found in which she might be laid, a
large oak was cut down and scooped out to serve as a coffin, and her
body was placed in it. Numerous miracles were wrought at her tomb, so
that at the end of seven years the coffin was opened, and the wood was
found to have become petrified. On this occasion a church was built in
her honour and that of the Blessed Virgin, and thirty years later, her
relics were solemnly enshrined on May 2nd, 728. S. Berlinda has
remained in great honour at Meerbeeke. She is invoked against cattle
diseases; and in accordance with an ancient custom, pilgrims pray
before a wooden image of the saint represented beside a cow, and touch
the udder of the cow, which has become black through the innumerable
touchings to which it has become subjected. According to a popular
saying S. Berlinda protects trees transplanted on her festival.

S. WERBURGA, V. ABSS.

(BEGINNING OF 8TH CENTURY.)

[English Martyrology. Authorities:--Life of Goscelin, the monk (fl.
1100), and mention in Bede, John of Brompton, Florence of Worcester,
Hyden, Langherne, Simeon of Durham.]

Werburga, patroness of Chester, was born at Stone, in Staffordshire,
and was the daughter of Wulfhere, King of Mercia, or the Midland
English. From the lips of her sainted mother, Ermingilde, she received
those first lessons of Christian truth which afterwards produced such
beautiful fruit in her life.

Being one of four children, all trained under the same godly
discipline, she is said to have excelled them all in virtue and
discretion. Her mind was open to receive good impressions, and she
listened with earnest attention to every word of instruction and
advice. Thus, she "daily grew in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:" her mind continually expanding under
the influence of holy thoughts and pure desires. At an age when most
persons of her exalted position would have been found joining in the
giddy whirl of pleasure, she found truest joy in contemplation of
heavenly things, and holiest bliss, arising from a pure conscience
chastened by fasting and sanctified by prayer. She daily assisted her
mother in the performance of the whole Church Offices, and spent much
time on her knees in the exercise of private devotions.

Having early resolved to devote herself to a life of virginal purity,
she sought every opportunity to prepare her mind for that holy state.
But she was not to overcome the world without a struggle. Temptations
began to gather around her. The beauty of her person attracted a crowd
of admirers, who eagerly sought her hand in marriage. Foremost among
these was a prince of the West Saxons, who offered her rich gifts and
made flattering proposals. She refused to accept his gifts; and to his
proposals answered that she had resolved to become the bride of
Christ, and wished no earthly spouse.

[Illustration: S. WERBURGA. From Cahier. Feb. 3.]

Another, and more violent temptation soon presented itself. Werbode, a
powerful knight of her father's court, backed by the influence of her
father, entreated Werburga to become his wife; but to his entreaties
she turned a deaf ear. Imagining that to this refusal she was
influenced by her two brothers, who were then under the instruction of
S. Chad, and resolving by fair or foul means to compass his designs,
Werbode sought an opportunity to murder the two brothers, and thus
remove them from his path. In the accomplishment of this diabolical
design, he was, to a certain extent, assisted by the father, whom he
had incensed against his sons. Werbode soon after died a miserable
death. The king, stung by remorse, saw reflected, as in a mirror, all
the deeds of his past life, and remembered how he had promised to
extirpate idolatry from his dominions, but had failed to perform his
vow. With earnestness he began to atone for his faults; destroyed the
idols and converted their temples into churches, built the great abbey
of Peterborough, founded the priory of Stone, and in every way
endeavoured to propagate the true faith among his people.

Seeing this happy change in his disposition, Werburga revealed to her
father the earnest desire of her heart, and earnestly entreated his
permission to consecrate herself wholly to God. At first he appeared
to be very grieved, but yielding at length to her passionate
entreaties, Wulfhere, attended by his whole court, conducted her with
great state to the convent of Ely. Here they were met at the gates by
a long procession of nuns, singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving to
God. Werburga, falling on her knees, begged of the royal abbess, S.
Etheldreda, that she might be received as a postulant. Having obtained
her request, the voice of praise again ascended to heaven, the virgins
chanting the _Te Deum_, as they returned to the convent. Now followed
the usual trials; Werburga was first stripped of her costly apparel,
her rich coronet was exchanged for a poor veil, purple and silks and
gold were replaced by a rough coarse habit, and she resigned herself
into the hands of her superior, henceforward to live only to Christ.

The virgin, with great fervour, now devoted herself to God. Her
affections being weaned from earthly things, were fixed more firmly
upon those things which are above. By prayer and fasting, by
self-sacrifice and mortification, by obedience and penance, she sought
to sanctify her soul and body, that she might present them, a holy and
acceptable sacrifice, unto God.

After many years she was chosen, at the request of her uncle King
Ethelred, to superintend all the religious houses for women in his
kingdom. When she entered upon this larger sphere of duty, she
laboured with earnest diligence to make all the houses under her care
models of exact monastic discipline. Through the liberality of her
uncle, she was enabled to found new convents at Trentham, in
Gloucestershire; Hanbury, in Staffordshire; and Weedon, in
Northamptonshire. These remained for several centuries as evidences of
her godly zeal. The king also, at her request, founded the collegiate
church of S. John the Baptist, in the suburbs of West Chester, and
gave to S. Egwin the ground for the great abbey of Evesham.

S. Werburga, both by precept and example, sought to develope the
religious life in those committed to her charge, and many through her
influence were won from a life of dissipation and vice to a life of
holiness and love.

God, in answer to continual prayers, had crowned her with many
spiritual and celestial blessings. The old chroniclers say that she
became the most perfect pattern of meekness, humility, patience, and
purity. Her fastings and mortifications were almost incredible. She
never took more than one meal during the day, and that of the coarsest
food: seeking in this to emulate the lives of those fathers of the
desert who shed such radiance over the Eastern and African Church.
Beside the usual monastic offices, she was in the habit of reciting,
upon her knees, the whole of the Psalter daily. She often remained in
the church all night, bathed in tears and prostrate in prayer.

In the exercise of these holy devotions she lived to a ripe old age.
Receiving at last some premonitions of her approaching departure, she
made a farewell visit to all the houses under her care, and exhorted
the inmates to prepare for the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom. Then
retiring to the convent at Trentham, she quietly waited her departure.
The messenger soon came, and found the bride ready, and so with quiet
faith and perfect trust she went to the home of her Spouse, on the 3rd
of February, 699.

Her corpse, in accordance with her own directions, was conveyed to the
monastery at Hanbury. It was interred with great honour, and there
remained until the year 708. Then it was disinterred in presence of
King Ceolred and many bishops, and transferred to a costly shrine. The
old chroniclers say that it was found incorrupt, and remained so until
A.D. 875, when, for fear of the Danes, who were invading the country,
the shrine was carried to Chester. The body, however, fell to dust
soon after its translation. In course of time a stately church was
erected over the relics; this became the cathedral, and as such exists
to this day.

During the reign of Henry VIII., the shrine was desecrated, and the
holy relics of S. Werburga scattered abroad. What remained of the
costly shrine was afterwards converted into an episcopal throne, and
may still be seen, carved with the curious images of kings of Mercia,
ancestors of S. Werburga, who flourished eleven centuries ago. To this
day it is used as the throne of the bishops of Chester.

S. NITHARD, P. M.

(A.D. 840.)

[From the Life of S. Anskar, c. 6; Adam of Bremen, Hist. Eccl. lib. i.]

Nithard, nephew of Bishop Gauzbert, accompanied him in his mission to
the Swedes; at first he was heard with patience, but the wild pagans,
enraged at his denunciation of their worship of Thorr and Odin, burst
into the house where he was, and killed him.

S. ANSKAR, B.; AP. OF SWEDEN.

(A.D. 865.)

[German, Scandinavian, and Belgian martyrologies. Authorities:--His
life by his successor, S. Rembert, who was personally acquainted
with him, and had shared in his mission. The following outline of
the life of this illustrious saint is from the pen of the Rev. G. F.
Maclear, B.D., and is extracted from his "Apostles of Mediæval
Europe," somewhat curtailed, and with some modifications.]

Charlemagne was once, we are told,[9] at Narbonne, when, in the midst
of the banquet, some swift barks were seen putting into the harbour.
The company started up, while some pronounced the crew to be Jewish,
others African, others British traders, the keen eye of the great
emperor discerned that they were bound on no peaceful errand. "It is
not with merchandise," said he, "that yonder barks are laden; they are
manned by most terrible enemies." And then he advanced to the window,
and stood there a long while in tears. No one dared to ask him the
cause of his grief, but at length he explained it himself. "It is not
for myself," said he, "that I am weeping, or for any harm that yon
barks can do to me. But truly I am pained to think that even while I
am yet alive they have dared to approach this shore; and still greater
is my grief when I reflect on the evils they will bring on my
successors."

His words were only too truly fulfilled. The sight of those piratical
banners told its own tale. The fleets he had built, the strong forts
and towns he had erected at the mouths of the various rivers
throughout his empire, were neglected by his successors, and what he
foresaw came to pass. Year after year, during the ninth century, the
children of the North burst forth from their pine forests, their
creeks, their fiords, and icebound lakes, and prowled along the
defenceless shores of Germany, France, and England. They laughed at
the fiercest storms, landed on the most inaccessible coasts, and
pushed up the shallowest rivers, while Charlemagne's degenerate
successors tamely beheld the fairest towns in their dominions sacked
and burnt by the terrible crews of those terrible barks.

"Take a map," writes Sir Francis Palgrave, "and colour with vermilion
the provinces, districts, and shores which the Northmen visited, as
the record of each invasion. The colouring will have to be repeated
more than ninety times successively before you arrive at the
conclusion of the Carlovingian dynasty. Furthermore, mark by the usual
symbol of war, two crossed swords, the localities where battles were
fought by or against the pirates; where they were defeated or
triumphant, or where they pillaged, burned, destroyed; and the valleys
and banks of the Elbe, Rhine, and Moselle, Scheldt, Meuse, Somme, and
Seine, Loire, Garonne, and Adour, the inland Allier, and all the
coasts and coastlands between estuary and estuary, and the countries
between the river-streams, will appear bristling as with
_cheveux-de-frise_. The strongly-fenced Roman cities, the venerated
abbeys, and their dependent _bourgades_, often more flourishing and
extensive than the ancient seats of government, the opulent sea-ports
and trading-towns, were all equally exposed to the Danish attacks,
stunned by the Northmen's approach, subjugated by their fury."[10]

But while the mind faintly strives to conceive the misery and
desolation thus inflicted, on well-nigh every town and village of
Germany and France, it finds satisfaction in the thought that even now
missionary zeal did not falter; that while every estuary and river
darkened under the sails of the Northmen's barks, there were not
lacking those who had the Christian bravery to penetrate into the
dreary regions whence they issued forth, to seek them out amidst their
pine forests and icebound lakes, and to plant amongst them the first
germs of Christian civilization.

The first mission in Denmark was organized in the year A.D. 826, when
Harold, king of Jutland, his queen, and a large retinue of Danes, were
baptized with great pomp in the vast Dom of Mayence. On this occasion,
Harold solemnly did homage to Louis the Pious, and agreed to hold the
Danish kingdom as a feudatory of the Carlovingian crown. On this
occasion also, Ebbo, the primate of France, determined to seek out a
monk who would be willing to accompany the newly-baptized king on his
return to Denmark, and remain at his court as a priest and teacher.
But the well-known ferocity of the Northmen long deterred any one from
offering himself for such a duty. At length the abbot of Corbey, near
Amiens, announced that one of his monks was not unwilling to undertake
the arduous task.

The intrepid volunteer was Anskar, a native of a village not far from
Corbey. Born in the year A.D. 801, and early devoted by his parents to
the monastic life, he had always evinced the deepest religious
enthusiasm, and his ardent imagination taught him to believe that he
often saw visions and heard voices from another world. When he was
only five years of age, he lost his mother: and a dream, in which he
saw her surrounded by a majestic choir of virgins, the fairest of whom
bade him, if he would join his mother in bliss, flee the pomps and
vanities of the world, exerted a profound impression upon him, and
induced him to devote himself more than ever to prayer and meditation.

But when he was thirteen years of age, A.D. 814, an event occurred
which exercised a still deeper influence over his susceptible mind.
News reached the monastery that Charlemagne was dead. The greatest of
great emperors had passed away, and now, in the sepulchre which he had
made for himself, "he was sitting on his curule chair, clad in his
silken robes, ponderous with broidery, pearls, and orfray, the
imperial diadem on his head, his closed eyelids covered, his face
swathed in the dead-clothes, girt with his baldric, the ivory horn
slung in his scarf, his good sword 'Joyeuse' by his side, the
Gospel-book open on his lap, musk and amber and sweet spices poured
around."[11]

Anskar at this time had relaxed somewhat of his usual austerities, and
now the thought that even that mighty prince, whom he himself had seen
in all the plenitude of his power could not escape the hand of death,
filled him with awe, and he gave himself up more unreservedly than
ever to the severest discipline. Meanwhile his talents had brought him
into general notice, and when his abbot founded another monastic
outpost in Westphalia, in a beautiful valley on the west bank of the
Weser, and called it New Corbey, Anskar was removed to the new
foundation, and at the age of twenty-five was elected, with the common
consent of all, to superintend its conventual school, and to preach to
the neighbouring population.

He was on a visit to Old Corbey, when the news arrived that a monk was
much needed to accompany the Danish Harold to his native land, and
that the abbot Wala had nominated him to the emperor as a fit person
to be entrusted with the arduous mission. Summoned to the court,
Anskar calmly but resolutely announced his willingness to go. In
dreams and visions, he said, he had heard the voice of Christ himself
bidding him preach the word to the heathen tribes: and nothing could
induce him to shrink from the plain path of duty. In vain, therefore,
on his return to the monastery, the brethren learning that he was
about to resign all his hopes and prospects to preach amongst heathens
and barbarians, warned, protested, and even mocked at him for his
madness. Immoveable in his resolution to brave all risks, he began to
prepare himself for his great enterprise by prayer and study of the
Scriptures; and so deep was the impression made by his evident
sincerity and self-devotion, that Autbert, steward of the monastery,
and a man of noble birth, when every one else hung back, declared that
he could not find it in his heart to desert his friend, and was
resolved to become his companion.

A foretaste of the difficulties that awaited them was experienced at
the very outset. No one could possibly be prevailed on to accompany
them as an attendant. The abbot himself shrank from interposing his
authority, and they were fain to set out alone. Before starting, they
had an interview with Louis, and received from him everything they
were likely to need for their undertaking, in the shape of church
vessels, tents, and books. From Harold, however, they met with but
little encouragement, and neither he nor his nobles cared much for
their company.

On their arrival at Cologne, whence they were to sail up the Rhine to
Holland, and so to Denmark, Bishop Hadebold bestowed upon them a ship
with two cabins. The better accommodation promised in such a vessel
induced Harold to share it with Anskar; and the engaging manners of
the missionary gradually won his respect, and inspired him with an
interest in his undertaking.

On landing, Anskar fixed his head-quarters at Schleswig, and commenced
the foundation of a school, purchasing, or receiving, from Harold,
Danish boys, whom he tried to train, so as to form the nucleus of a
native ministry. Two years thus passed away, and some impression
seemed to have been made upon the people, when Autbert sickened, and
was obliged to return to Corbey, where he died. Meanwhile the baptism
of Harold, and still more his destruction of the native temples, was
bitterly resented by his subjects. Before long a rebellion broke out,
and the king was obliged to fly for refuge to a spot within the
ancient Frisian territory, while Anskar finding it necessary to leave
Schleswig, was consoled by an unexpected opportunity of commencing a
similar work in Sweden.

In the year A.D. 829, ambassadors from Sweden presented themselves at
the court of Louis, and after arranging the political object of their
mission, announced that many of their countrymen were favourably
disposed towards Christianity. The commerce carried on at this period
between Sweden and the port of Doerstadt, combined with the teaching
of some Christian captives, whom the Swedes had carried off in their
piratical excursions, had predisposed not a few towards lending a
favourable ear to Christian teachers. The emperor gladly embraced the
opportunity thus afforded, and summoned Anskar to the palace, who,
after an interview, declared his entire willingness to undertake the
enterprise.

A monk named Gislema was therefore left with Harold, and Anaskar
having found a new companion in Witmar, a brother monk of Corbey, set
out in the year A.D. 831 with presents from Louis to the King of
Sweden.

But the voyage was most disastrous. The missionaries had not proceeded
far when they were attacked by pirates. A fierce battle ensued, and
their crew, though first victorious, were overpowered in a second
engagement, and barely escaped to land. The pirates plundered them of
everything, the presents for the king, their sacred books, and all
their ecclesiastical vestments. In this forlorn and destitute
condition they reached Birka, a haven and village on the Mälar lake,
not far from the ancient capital Sigtuna, the residence of rich
merchants, and the centre of the northern trade. Here they were
hospitably welcomed by the king, Biorn "of the Hill," and received
full permission to preach and baptize. The nucleus of a church was
found already existing in the persons of many Christian captives, who
had long been deprived of the consolation of Christian ordinances. The
work, therefore, of the missionaries commenced under fair auspices,
and before long Herigar, the king's counsellor, announced himself a
convert, and erected a church on his estate.

A year and a half was thus employed, and then Anskar returned to the
court of Louis with a letter from the King of Sweden, and an account
of all that had befallen him. Thereupon Louis resolved, without delay,
to give effect to the ecclesiastical plans of his father, and to make
Hamburg an archiepiscopal see, and the centre of operations for the
northern missions. Accordingly, Anskar was elevated to the
archiepiscopal dignity, and was consecrated at Ingleheim by Drogo,
Archbishop of Mayence, and other prelates. At the same time, because
of the poverty of the diocese, and the dangers to which the mission
would be inevitably exposed, the monastery of Thourout in Flanders,
between Bruges and Ypres, was assigned to him as a place of refuge,
and a source of revenue. Then he was directed to repair to Rome, where
he received the pall from Gregory IV., and was regularly authorized to
preach the Gospel to the nations of the North.

These arrangements made, Anskar returned from Rome. Ebbo, who had been
associated with him in the commission to evangelize the northern
tribes, deputed his missionary duties to his nephew Gauzbert, who was
raised to the episcopal dignity, and entrusted with the special care
of the Swedish mission. Thither, accordingly, Gauzbert set out,
received a hearty welcome from Biorn and his people, and laid the
foundation of a church at Sigtuna. Meanwhile Anskar had proceeded to
Hamburg, and, in pursuance of his former plan, bought or redeemed from
slavery a number of Danish youths, whom he either instructed himself,
or sent for that purpose to the monastery of Thourout.

But the times were hardly ripe for successful operations. Three years
had barely elapsed, when an enormous army of Northmen, led by Eric,
king of Jutland, attacked Hamburg, and before relief could arrive,
sacked and burnt it, together with the church and monastery which
Anskar had erected with great trouble. He himself had barely time to
save the sacred vessels, and, before the sun went down, every external
memorial of his mission was reduced to ashes. "The Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord," was the
exclamation of the archbishop, as he surveyed the scene. Driven from
Hamburg, he now wandered for a long time over his devastated diocese,
followed by a few of his clergy and scholars, and at length sought
refuge at Bremen. But the envious Bishop Leutbert refusing to receive
him, he was fain to avail himself of the hospitality of a noble lady
in the district of Holstein. And, as if this was not enough, he now
received intelligence that, owing to similar risings of Northmen, the
hopes of the Swedish missions were utterly crushed.

The pagan party had conspired against Bishop Gauzbert, expelled him
from the country, and murdered his nephew Nithard. But divine
vengeance did not fail to pursue the conspirators. One of them had
carried home some of the property of the missionaries. Before long he
died, together with his mother and sister, and his father found his
own property wasting from day to day. Alarmed at this sudden reverse
of fortune, he began to consider what God he could have offended, to
bring all these troubles on his house. Unable to solve the difficulty
himself, he had recourse to a soothsayer. The lots were cast, and it
was found that none of the native deities bore him any ill will. At
length the soothsayer explained the cause. "It is the God of the
Christians," said he, "who is the author of thy ruin. There is
something dedicated to Him concealed in thy house, and therefore all
these evils have come upon thee, nor canst thou hope to prosper till
the sacred thing is restored."

After vainly trying, for some time, to comprehend what this could
mean, he suddenly recollected the day when his son had brought home
one of the sacred books from the spoil of the missionaries' dwellings.
Stricken with alarm, he immediately called together the inhabitants of
the place, told them all that had occurred, and prayed their advice in
the emergency. Every one declined to receive the terrible relic, and
at last, fearful of further vengeance if he retained it any longer in
his house, the man covered it carefully, and then fastened it to a
stake on the public road, with a notice that any one who wished might
take it down, and that for the crime he had unwittingly been guilty of
against the Christians' God he was ready to offer any satisfaction
that might be required. One of the native Christians took it down, and
the man's terrors were appeased.

Anskar meanwhile was still wandering over his desolated diocese. Even
the monastery of Thourout, which Louis had bestowed upon him for the
very purpose of being a covert from such storms as these, was closed
against him, having been bestowed upon a layman by Charles the Bald.
Under such accumulated misfortunes most men would have sunk, but
Anskar waited patiently in the hope of some change, and comforted
himself with the words addressed to him by Archbishop Ebbo before his
death: "Be assured, my dear brother, that what we have striven to
accomplish for the glory of Christ will yet, by God's help, bring
forth fruit. For it is my firm and settled belief, nay, I know of a
surety, that though the work we have undertaken among these nations is
for a time subject to obstacles and difficulties on account of our
sins, yet it will not be lost or perish altogether, but will, by God's
grace, thrive and prosper, until the Name of the Lord is made known to
the uttermost ends of the earth."

Before long, events occurred which seemed to promise that the clouds
would roll away, and a brighter era be initiated. Mindful of the
converted chief, Anskar sent to Sigtuna an anchoret named Ardgar, with
directions to see how he fared, and to strengthen him against falling
back into heathenism. Thither Ardgar set out, and was rejoiced to find
Herigar still remaining faithful to the faith he had embraced. The
recollection of the Divine vengeance which had attended the previous
outbreak, protected the missionary from injury, and the new king who
had succeeded Biorn was persuaded by Herigar to permit Ardgar to
preach the Gospel without fear of molestation.

That chief was no half-hearted believer, and openly confronted the
malice of the pagan party. On one occasion, as they were boasting of
the power of their gods, and of the many blessings they had received
by remaining faithful to their worship, he bade them put the matter to
an open and decisive proof. "If there be so much doubt," said he,
"concerning the superior might of our respective gods, let us see
whose power is greatest: whether that of the many whom ye call gods,
or that of my one omnipotent Lord, Jesus Christ. Lo! the season of
rain is at hand. Do ye call upon the names of your gods, that the rain
may be restrained from falling upon you, and I will call upon the name
of my Lord, Jesus Christ, that no drop may fall on me; and the god
that answereth our prayers, let him be God."

The heathen party agreed, and repairing to a neighbouring field, took
their seats in great numbers on one side, while Herigar, attended only
by a little child, sat on the other. In a few moments the rain
descended in torrents, drenched the heathens to the skin, and swept
away their tents; while on Herigar and the little child no drop fell,
and even the ground around them remained dry. "Ye see," he cried,
"which is the true God; bid me not, then, desert the faith I have
adopted, but rather lay aside your errors, and come to a knowledge of
the truth."

On another occasion the town of Birka was attacked by a piratical
expedition of Danes and Swedes, under the command of a king of Sweden,
who had been expelled from his realm. The place was closely invested,
and there seemed to be no prospect of a successful defence. In their
alarm, the townspeople offered numerous sacrifices to their gods, and
when all other means failed, collected such treasures as they
possessed, together with a hundred pounds of silver, and succeeded in
coming to terms with the hostile chiefs. But their followers, not
satisfied with the amount, prepared to storm the town. Again the gods
were consulted, the altars raised, the victims offered, but with
results equally unpromising. Herigar now interposed, rebuked the
people for their obstinate adherence to the worship of gods that could
not give aid in trouble, and when they bade him suggest some device,
and promised to follow his council, he urged them to make a solemn vow
of obedience to the Lord of the Christians, assuring them that, if
they turned to Him, He at any rate, would not fail them in the hour of
danger. The people took his advice, went forth to an open plain, and
there solemnly vowed to keep a fast in honour of the God of the
Christians, if He would rescue them from their enemies.

Help came in an unexpected fashion. The Swedish king, while the army
was clamouring for the signal to attack, suggested that the gods
should be consulted by lot, whether it was their will that Birka
should be destroyed. "There are many great and powerful deities
there," said he; "there also formerly a church was built, and even now
the worship of the Great Christ is observed by many, and He is more
powerful than any other god. We ought, then, to inquire first whether
it is the divine will that we attack the place." Accordingly the lots
were cast, and it was discovered that the auspices were not favourable
for the assault; and thus Birka was spared. The arrival, therefore, of
Ardgar was well timed, and he was not only welcomed by Herigar, but
the Christians were strengthened in their adherence to the faith by
his coming.

Nor was it in Sweden only that the prospects of the missionaries
brightened. In A.D. 847, Leutbert, bishop of Bremen, died. Anskar's
own see of Hamburg was now reduced, by the desolating inroads of the
Northmen, to four baptismal churches. It was therefore proposed that
the see of Bremen should be annexed to the archbishopric of Hamburg,
and, after the plan was matured, Anskar no longer found himself
hampered by want of means from devoting all his energies to the wider
planting of the faith. At the same time he was enabled to appoint a
priest over the church at Sleswik, and from Horik, king of Jutland, he
no longer experienced opposition in preaching the word amongst the
people. This encouraged many who had been baptized at Hamburg and
Doerstadt, but who had subsequently conformed to idolatrous practices,
to publicly profess their adhesion to the Christian faith, and they
rejoiced in the opportunity of joining in Christian fellowship. The
trade also of Doerstadt prospered by the change; Christian merchants
flocked thither in greater numbers, and with greater confidence, and
thus helped forward the work of Anskar and his colleagues.

At this juncture the hermit Ardgar returned from Sweden. Anskar, more
than ever unwilling that the mission there should be allowed to drop,
tried to prevail on Gauzbert to revisit the scene of his former
labours. But the latter, discouraged by his previous failure,
declined, and Anskar finding no one else willing to undertake the work
once more girded up his loins, and encouraged by Horik, who gave him
letters to Olaf king of Sweden, set out for Birka. The time of his
landing was unfortunate. The heathen party had been roused by the
native priests, and a crusade was proclaimed against the strange
doctrines. Suborning a man who pretended to have received a message
from the native deities, the priest announced it to be the will of
heaven that, if the people wished for new gods, they should admit into
their company the late king Eric, and allow divine honours to be paid
to him. This wrought up the feelings of the populace to such a pitch,
that the retinue of the archbishop pronounced it absolute madness to
persevere in his undertaking.

But Anskar was not thus to be thwarted. He invited Olaf to a feast,
set before him the presents sent by the king of Jutland, and announced
the object of his visit. Olaf, on his part, was not indisposed to make
the concessions he desired, but as former missionaries had been
expelled from the country, he suggested that it would be well to
submit the affair, once for all, to the solemn decision of the sacred
lots, and consult in an open council the feelings of the people.
Anskar agreed, and a day was fixed for deciding the question.

First, the council of the chiefs was formally asked, and their opinion
requested. They craved the casting of the sacred lots. The lots were
accordingly cast, and the result was declared to be favourable to the
admission of the archbishop and his retinue. Then the general assembly
of the people of Birka was convened, and at the command of the king a
herald proclaimed aloud the purport of the archbishop's visit. This
was the signal for a great tumult, in the midst of which an aged chief
arose, and thus addressed the assembly:

"Hear me, O king and people. The God whom we are invited to worship is
not unknown to us, nor the aid He can render to those that put their
trust in Him. Many of us have already proved this by experience, and
have felt His assistance in many perils, and especially in the sea.
Why, then, reject what we know to be useful and necessary for us? Not
long ago some of us went to Doerstadt, and believing that this new
religion could profit us much, willingly professed ourselves its
disciples. Now the voyage thither is beset with dangers, and pirates
abound on every shore. Why, then, reject a religion thus brought to
our very doors? Why not permit the servants of God, whose protecting
aid we have already experienced, to abide amongst us? Listen to my
counsel, then, O king and people, and reject not what is plainly for
our advantage. We see our own deities failing us, and unable to aid us
in time of danger. Surely it is a good thing to obtain the favour of a
God who always can and will aid those that call upon Him."

His words found favour with the people, and it was unanimously
resolved that the archbishop should be permitted to take up his abode
in the country, and should not be hindered in disseminating the
Christian faith. This resolution was announced to Anskar in person by
the king, who further conceded a grant of land for building a church,
and welcomed Erimbert, a colleague of the archbishop, whom he
presented as the new director of the Swedish mission.

Meanwhile matters had not been so prosperous in Denmark. Eric "the
Red," though not professedly a Christian, had, as we have seen, aided
the archbishop materially in the introduction of Christianity. His
apostasy provoked the inveterate hostility of the Northmen, and the
sea-kings determined to avenge the insult offered to the national gods.

Rallying from all quarters under the banner of Guthrun, nephew of
Eric, they attacked the apostate king near Flensburg, in Jutland. The
battle raged for three days, and at its close Eric and Guthrun, and a
host of kings and jarls lay dead upon the field; and so tremendous had
been the slaughter, that the entire Viking nobility seemed to have
been utterly exterminated.

The new king, Eric II., easily persuaded that the recent reverses were
entirely due to the apostasy of his predecessor, ordered one of
Anskar's churches to be closed, and forbade all further missionary
operations. After a while, however, he was induced to change his
policy, and Anskar, on his return from Sweden, was reinstated in the
royal favour, and received a grant of land for the erection of a
second church at Ripe, in Jutland, over which he placed Rembert, his
favourite disciple, charging him to win the hearts of his barbarous
flock by the sincerity and devotion of his life.

Anskar now returned to Hamburg, and devoted himself to the
administration of his diocese. One of the latest acts of his life was
a noble effort to check the infamous practice of kidnapping and
trading in slaves. A number of native Christians had been carried off
by the northern pirates, and reduced to slavery. Effecting their
escape, they sought refuge in the territory of Northalbingia. Instead
of sheltering the fugitives, some of the chiefs retained a portion of
them as their own slaves, and sold others to heathen, and even
professedly Christian tribes around. News of this reached Anskar, and
at the risk of his life he sternly rebuked the chiefs and succeeded in
inducing them to set the captives free, and to ransom as many as
possible from the bondage into which they had sold them.

This noble act formed an appropriate conclusion to his life. He was
now more than sixty-four years of age, and during more than half that
period had laboured unremittingly in the mission field. His friend and
biographer expatiates eloquently on his character, as exhibiting the
perfect model of ascetic perfection. Even when elevated to the
episcopal dignity, he never exempted himself from the rigid discipline
of the cloister. He wore a haircloth shirt by night as well as by day.
He measured out his food and drink by an exact rule. He chanted a
fixed number of Psalms, alike when he arose in the morning and when he
retired to rest at night. His charity knew no bounds. Not only did he
erect a hospital at Bremen for the sick and needy, distribute a tenth
of his income among the poor, and divide amongst them any presents he
might receive, but every five years he tithed his income afresh, that
he might be quite sure the poor had their proper share. Whenever he
went on a tour of visitation through his diocese, he would never sit
down to dinner, without first ordering some of the poor to be brought
in, and he himself would sometimes wash their feet, and distribute
amongst them bread and meat.

Such a practical exhibition of Christian love could not fail to
exercise a gradual influence even over the rough pirates of the North,
which was increased by the many miracles he wrought. But he was not
one to seek distinction of this kind. "One miracle," he once said to a
friend, "I would if worthy, ask the Lord to grant me; and that is,
that by His grace, He would make me a good man."

He employed his last days in arranging the affairs of his diocese, and
calmly expired on the 3rd of February, A.D. 865.

Relics. At Corbie is preserved an arm of the Saint.

[9] Pertz, "Mon. Germ." vol. ii. p. 757.

[10] Palgrave's "Normandy and England," vol. i. p. 419.

[11] Palgrave's "Normandy and England," vol. i. p. 158.

February 4.

S. VERONICA, _Matr. at Rome, 1st cent._
S. PHILEAS, _B. of Thmuis_, S. PHILOROMUS AND OTHERS, _MM. at
Alexandria_, A.D. 304.
S. ABRAHAM, _M. B. of Arbela, in Persia_, A.D. 348.
S. GELASIUS, _C. at Piacenza, beginning of 5th cent._
S. ISIDORE _of Pelusium, P. Monk in Egypt, 5th cent._
S. AVENTINE, _H. of Troyes_, A.D. 538.
S. AVENTINE, _B. of Chateaudun_, 6th cent.
S. THEOPHILUS THE PENITENT, _C. at Adana in Cilicia_,
_circ._ A.D. 538.
S. LIEPHARD, _B. M. at Honcourt_, _circ._ A.D. 640.
S. MODAN, _Ab. in Scotland, 7th cent._
S. ULGIS, _Ab. B. at Lobies, 8th cent._
B. HRABANUS MAURUS, _Abp. of Mainz_, A.D. 856.
S. NICHOLAS OF THE STUDIUM, _Ab. C. at Constantinople_, A.D. 868.
S. PROBATIUS, _P. at Nogent_.
S. REMBERT, _B. of Hamburg and Bremen_, A.D. 888.
S. GILBERT OF SEMPRINGHAM, _Ab. in England_, A.D. 1189.
S. ANDREW CORSINI, _B. C. of Fiesoli_, A.D. 1373.
S. JEANNE DE VALOIS, _Q. of France_, A.D. 1505.
S. JOSEPH OF LEONISSA, _C. in Italy_, A.D. 1612.
S. JOHN DE BRITTO, _S.J., M. at Madura_, A.D. 1693.

S. VERONICA.

(1ST CENT.)

[Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints. Some give March 25th as
the anniversary of the Crucifixion, and as therefore the most
appropriate day for the commemoration of the act, which has made
Veronica famous. The festival of S. Veronica with special office,
found its way into the Ambrosian Missal printed in 1555 and 1560,
but it was expunged by the judicious S. Charles Borromeo.]

On the 8th December, 1854, when the Eternal City was crowded with
bishops, assembled to promulgate the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception, Pius IX., at the expressed and urgent desire of the
prelates, allowed the sacred relics of the passion of Christ to be
exhibited in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament at S. Peter's. In the
midst, over the altar, between burning tapers, loomed the veil of S.
Veronica, impressed with the sacred lineaments of the Saviour. None
but bishops were permitted to enter the chapel, all others looked
through a grating, and to them, from the depth of the chapel, the
portrait was wholly undistinguishable. One inferior ecclesiastic
alone, by especial favour, was suffered to enter, accompanying a
prelate. This was M. Barbier de Montault, canon of the basilica of
Anagni; and he took advantage of the opportunity to scrutinize closely
the miraculous portrait. He has fortunately communicated to the world
the result of his examination. His words are full of interest:--"The
Holy Face is enclosed in a frame of silver, partially gilt, and
square, of a severe character and little adorned. The simplicity of
the bordering gives prominence to the interior of the picture, which
is protected by a thin plate of crystal. Unfortunately, a sheet of
metal covers the field, and only leaves apparent the figure by
indicating its outline. By this outline one is led to conjecture
flowing hair reaching to the shoulders, and a short beard, bifurcated,
and small. The other features are so vaguely indicated, or so
completely effaced, that it requires the liveliest imagination in the
world to perceive traces of eyes or nose. In short, one does not see
the material of the substance, because of the useless intervention of
a metal plate, and the place of the impression exhibits only a
blackish surface, not giving any evidence of human features."[12]

The legend of the origin of this portrait is as follows: A holy woman,
named Bernice, or, as it has been Latinized, Veronica, lived on the
way to Calvary. As Christ was on the road bearing the cross, He fell
near her door, and she, moved with compassion, went to Him, and gently
wiped the sweat from His face with her veil or napkin. Then the
impression of the sacred countenance remained on the veil. Marianus
Scotus, the historian (d. 1086), tells the rest of the story thus:
"The emperor Tiberius was afflicted with leprosy. Hearing of the
miracles of Our Lord, he sent to Jerusalem for Him. But Christ was
already crucified, and had risen and was ascended into heaven. The
messengers of Tiberius, however, ascertained that a certain Veronica
possessed a portrait of Christ, impressed by the Saviour Himself on a
linen handkerchief, and preserved by her with reverence. Veronica was
persuaded by them to come to Rome, and the sight of the sacred image
restored the emperor to health. Pilate was then sentenced by him to
death, for having unjustly crucified our Lord." It is hardly necessary
to say that there is no foundation of truth for this addition to the
original story. How far the first part of the story is true it is
impossible to decide. It is by no means improbable that a pious woman
may have wiped the face of Christ.

Mabillon, the learned Benedictine, propounded the theory that each
early portrait of Christ was called, in barbarous jargon, a mixture of
Latin and Greek, _vera icon_, true image; and that later, a fable was
invented to account for the introduction of these representations into
Europe, and the name given to the image was transferred to the person
who was supposed to have brought it to the West. This explanation has
been generally adopted. "By the name of Veronica," says Baillet,
"nothing more was signified than the true image--_vera icon_ of the
Saviour painted on a handkerchief or piece of linen called the Holy
Sudarium, because, ordinarily, only the head of the Saviour from
before was represented on it, that is, the face and hair. Nothing
further was meant at Rome, where was to be seen, dating from the 12th
century, in the Church of S. Peter, one of these Veronicas, before
which lamps were kept burning day and night."[13]

But the legend itself seems to be an importation, not a fabrication,
as Mabillon suggested. For Constantine Porphyrogeneta (d. 959), in
whose reign the sacred Abgarus portrait of Christ was brought to
Constantinople, relates the following story of _that_ portrait:--"As
Christ was on His way to Calvary, bearing His cross, the blood and
sweat streaming from His brow obscured His eyes. Then taking from one
of His disciples a piece of linen, He wiped His face, and left thereon
His sacred portrait. S. Thomas preserved the towel till after the
Ascension, when he gave the miraculous picture to Thaddæus, who bore
it to Edessa. There he lodged with a Jew named Tobias. He began to
work miracles in the name of Christ. Abgarus, king of Edessa, hearing
of his works, sent for him. As Thaddæus entered the chamber of the
sick king, he elevated above his head the sacred picture, and at the
same time, such a blaze of light shot from his face, that Abgarus
could not endure the splendour, and, forgetful of his sickness, leaped
out of bed. Then he took the linen, covered his head and limbs with
it, and was forthwith made whole."

How it was that this venerable picture passed into the hands of the
Emperor of Constantinople we learn from the Arabic historian, El
Matzin.[14] He says that in the year 331 of Hegira, that is A.D.
953--which is a mistake for 944--the Greeks besieged the city of
Edessa, then in the hands of the Saracens, and demanded the surrender
of the holy picture and the accompanying letters of Abgarus and the
Saviour, in exchange for the captives they had made. The treasured
relics were handed over to the Christians, and were brought to
Byzantium, where they were placed in a befitting shrine in the church
of the Eternal Wisdom. What became of the picture when Constantinople
fell into the hands of the Mussulmans is uncertain. The Venetians
claimed to have brought it to Rome, and to have presented it to the
Church of S. Sylvester. The Genoese, on the other hand, lay claim to
the possession of the sacred portrait, and say that it was brought by
Leonard de Montalto, in 1384, to their city, and by him presented to
the Armenian Church of S. Bartholomew, where it is still preserved and
exhibited once a year.

We shall briefly notice such other portraits of Christ as claim to be
authentic, whether in colour or in writing. Of the former, that said
to have been painted by S. Luke is the most interesting. The Greek
monk Michael, in his life of his master, Theodore of the Studium,
relates that S. Luke painted a beautiful likeness of our Saviour. This
assertion was readily adopted by later writers. Among others, Simeon
Metaphrastes (fl. 936) repeats it, and S. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)
refers to the picture as existing in the Chapel of the Santa Scala, in
the Lateran, at Rome.

Another sacred painting of Christ by S. Luke is in the possession of
the Benedictines of Vallombrosa. This portrait is certainly of very
great antiquity, and is in tempora on a panel of cypress wood. The
features are strongly emphasized, the face long, the eyes large and
bright, with eyelids drooping, and arched brows.

Another sacred picture is that given by S. Peter to the Senator
Pudens, which is exhibited on Easter Day, in the monastery of S.
Praxedes. The story goes that it was sketched by S. Peter for the
daughters of Pudens, one evening at supper, on the napkin of Praxedes.

It will be remembered that when Christ was laid in the tomb, His body
was wrapped in fine linen, and a linen napkin was on his face. These
relics are said to be preserved at Besançon and Turin. The Turin linen
shows the bloodstained outline of the Saviour's body; that at Besançon
is marked with the ointments. The features are impressed on the
napkin, and are of the Byzantine type.

A crucifix, by Nicodemus, is exhibited in the cathedral of Lucca.
Another portrait is the Nazaræum, which is certainly of considerable
antiquity, and is probably the earliest extant copy of the famous
Edessa picture. It is in the Latin convent at Nazareth. This picture
is engraved in Abraham Norow's travels in Palestine. (S. Petersburg,
1844).

Let us now turn to the literary sketches of the portrait of our Lord
which have descended to us.

S. Jerome, (d. 420), says that in the face and eyes of Christ there
was something heavenly, so that from their glory and majesty the
hidden Godhead flashed forth. S. John of Damascus, (d. about 760), in
his letter to the Emperor Theophilus, says, "Christ was tall and
stately, had brows uniting over the nose, beautiful eyes, a large
nose, curled hair, and a black beard. His hair was a gold-brown, like
wheat, resembling that of his mother, and his head was bowed somewhat
forward."

The next, and more precise account is that of the apocryphal letter of
Lentulus, (who is supposed to have lived at the time of Christ, and to
have been about the person of Pilate, to the Roman senate,) which is
said to have been extracted from the Roman annals by a certain
Eutropius. This first appears in the writings of S. Anselm, (d. 1107).
"He is a man of tall stature, comely, having a venerable countenance,
which those beholding must love or fear. His hair is waving and
curled, rolling to his shoulders, having a parting in the middle of
the head, after the manner of the Nazarenes, a brow smooth and serene,
a face without wrinkle or blemish of any kind, rendered beautiful by a
moderate colour. There is no fault to be found with the nose and
mouth; he has a full and red beard, the colour of his locks, not long,
but forked, and eyes bright and changeable." Another version of this
letter adds that the hair was the colour of the hazel-nut, the eyes
greyish-blue, and full of light. "His hands and arms are beautiful. He
is terrible in reprehension, but mild and full of love in instruction;
cheerful, but with steadfast earnestness. No one ever saw Him laugh,
but often has He been seen to weep. Precise and modest in his speech,
he is in all perfect, and the fairest of the sons of men."

But the most precise and complete account is that of Nicephorus
Callistus, (fl. 1330). His description is as follows:--"He was
beautiful in body, his height seven complete spans, his hair was
yellowish, not bushy, and at the ends somewhat curled. His eyebrows
were black, only a little arched, and without break; his eyes were
hazel, of that description called bright-eyed, not dim, in no way
misformed, not wandering. His nose was prominent, his beard reddish,
not profuse, but the hair of his head was abundant, for never had
razor or hand of man shorn it. His neck was somewhat bent, so that he
did not walk perfectly upright; the colour of his face was a
yellow-brown, like ripe wheat; his face was not round, nor pointed,
but, like his mother's, a little drooping, and slightly blushing. His
very countenance indicated a man of intelligence, with manners grave,
calm, and removed from anger. In all things, he was like his most pure
mother."

And this is the account of S. Mary given by Nicephorus:--"Mary was in
everything modest and earnest; she spake little, and then only about
necessaries; she was very courteous, and rendered to all honour and
respect. She was of middle stature, though some assert her to have
been somewhat taller. She spake to all with an engaging frankness,
without laughing, without embarrassment, and especially without
rancour. She had a pale tint, light hair, piercing eyes, with
yellowish olive-coloured pupils. Her brows were arched and black, her
nose moderately long, her lips fresh, and full of amiability when
speaking; her face not round or pointed, but longish; hands and
fingers fairly long. Finally, she was without pride, simple, and
without guile; she had no insipidity about her, but was unassuming. In
her dress she was fond of the natural colour; in short, there was in
all her ways divine grace."[15]

S. PHILEAS, B. M., AND OTHERS.

(A.D. 304.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Authentic Acts by Gregory, a
contemporary. Mention by S. Jerome in his Treatise on Ecclesiastical
Writers, c. 78; Ruffinus Hist. Eccl. lib. viii. c. 9; Eusebius, lib.
viii. c. 9, 10.]

Phileas was a wealthy nobleman of Thmuis, in Egypt, who was elected
bishop of that city, but in the persecution of Dioclesian was carried
to Alexandria, before the governor Culcian. In his dungeon he wrote a
letter to his flock to encourage them, narrating the sufferings
endured by the martyrs for the true faith. This letter has been
preserved by Gregory, and in part, by Eusebius. Culcian, who had been
prefect of Thebais, was then governor of all Egypt, under the tyrant
Maximius, but he afterwards lost his head, in 313, by order of
Licinius. The Acts of S. Phileas are scrupulously particular in
detailing every question and answer in the examination of the saint.
They are too long to be given in their entirety, but extracts from
them deserve insertion.

Culcian, the governor, said to him, "Now, then, art thou sober?"
Phileas answered, "I am always sober." Culcian said, "Sacrifice to the
gods." Phileas answered, "I will not." "Why not?" enquired Culcian.
"Because it is forbidden by Scripture to offer sacrifice, save to one
God." "Then offer a sacrifice to Him." "God loveth not such sacrifices
as you make," answered Phileas. "What sort of sacrifices then does thy
God approve of?" asked the judge. Phileas replied, "I offer him a pure
heart and clean senses, and true words." Culcian said, "But Paul
sacrificed." "No, he did not," answered Phileas. "Well, then Moses
did." "Yes," said Phileas, "the command was to the Jews only to
sacrifice to God in Jerusalem; now the Jews sin in celebrating their
solemn rites elsewhere." "Enough of these empty words; sacrifice,"
said the magistrate. "I will not do so, and stain my soul." "Why,"
said the governor, "Paul denied God." "He did not," answered Phileas.
"Wilt thou swear that he did not?" asked Culcian. "I will not swear,"
answered the bishop, "for oaths are forbidden us. It is a matter of
conscience." Culcian said, "Is it not a matter of conscience for thee
to take care of thy wife and sons?" Phileas said, "Yes, but I have a
higher duty to God." Culcian exclaimed, "Hold thy tongue, and
sacrifice." "I will not sacrifice," said the bishop. Culcian asked,
"Is Christ God?" And Phileas replied, "He is." Culcian said, "How
could God be crucified?" "For our salvation," answered Phileas; "He
suffered for our sakes."

The governor said, "I might have tortured thee in the city, but I
spared thee, wishing to shew thee respect." "I thank thee," said the
bishop, "Go on with thy work." "Dost thou desire to die without
cause?" asked Culcian. "Not without cause; I wish to die for God and
the truth." The governor said, "If thou hadst been a poor man I should
soon have despatched thee, but seeing thou art rich enough to feed all
the province, I have shewn patience, and endeavoured to move thee by
persuasion."

Some lawyers standing by said, "Phileas sacrificed in the monastery,"
for they had heard something of the Eucharistic mystery, but
understood it not. Phileas said, "You are right, I did sacrifice, but
I did not immolate victims." Culcian said, "Thy poor wife is looking
at thee." Phileas replied, "Jesus Christ calls me to glory, and He can
also, if He pleases, call my wife."

The lawyers said to the judge, "Phileas asks delay." Culcian said, "I
will grant it willingly, that he may think over the consequences of
his persistency in this course." But Phileas cried out, "I have
thought well over this, and it is my unchangeable resolution to die
for Jesus Christ." Then the lawyers, the emperor's lieutenant, the
other officers of justice, and his relations fell at his feet,
embracing his knees, and conjuring him to have compassion on his
disconsolate family, and not to abandon his children in their tender
years. Philoromus, a Christian present, tribune of the soldiers, moved
with indignation, cried out, "Why strive ye to make this brave man
renounce his God, do ye not see that contemplating the glory of
Heaven, he makes no account of earthly things?" Then with a shout, all
cried that he must be condemned to die along with Phileas, and to this
Culcian assented.

As they were led to execution, the brother of Phileas, who was a
lawyer, exclaimed, "Phileas appeals." Culcian called Phileas back, and
asked if it were so. The bishop denied that he had so done. Then the
procession resumed its way to the place of execution. And when they
had reached the spot, Phileas extended his arms to the east, and
cried, "O my best beloved sons, whosoever worship God, watch over your
hearts, for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour. We have not yet suffered, dearest
ones, but we are about to suffer. Now are we becoming disciples of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Attend to the precepts of Christ. We invoke the
immaculate, incomprehensible One, who sitteth above the Cherubim, the
maker of all things, who is the beginning and the ending, to whom be
glory through ages of ages. Amen." And when he had thus spoken, the
executioner struck off his head, and that of his companion, Philoromus.

S. GELASIUS, BOY, C.

(BEGINNING OF 5TH CENTURY.)

[Commemorated as a semi-double in the Church of Piacenza.
Authority:--The Offices of the Breviary of Piacenza for this day.]

S. Gelasius was a little boy, child of pious and wealthy parents in
Placentia, the modern Piacenza, in Northern Italy. His brother, older
than himself, was S. Olympius, who is commemorated on October 12th.
The children slept in the same room. One evening Gelasius heard his
brother praying, and angels singing, "Suffer little children to come
unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." The child died early,
in the white innocence of his baptismal robe, and was laid by S.
Maurus, bishop of Placentia, in the Church of S. Savin, outside the
walls. It was afterwards translated to the new Church of S. Savin
within the city, in 1481, by the Bishop Fabricius, together with the
bodies of SS. Peregrine and Victor.

S. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM, MONK, P.

(ABOUT A.D. 449.)

[Roman Martyrology. Same day in the Greek Church.]

S. Isidore of Pelusium, in Egypt, was a monk from his youth. Suidas
asserts that he was promoted to the dignity of the priesthood. In the
time when the turbulent Theophilus was patriarch of Alexandria,
Isidore espoused the cause of S. Chrysostom, praised his writings and
doctrine, and consequently became an object of hostility to the proud
patriarch. On the death of Theophilus, S. Cyril, his nephew, succeeded
him, and, as has already been related in the life of that saint,
inherited his uncle's prejudices against the great Chrysostom, and
after his death opposed the insertion of his name in the diptychs, or
list of persons who were commemorated at the Holy Eucharist. But by
the influence of S. Isidore, who earnestly strove to bring councils of
peace before Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria was induced to
withdraw his objections. The letters of S. Isidore are extant.

S. AVENTINE OF TROYES, H.

(ABOUT A.D. 538.)

[Roman Martyrology, and that of Usuardus, on Feb. 4th; but in the
diocese of Troyes, on Feb. 6th, as a semi-double. Authorities:--A
very ancient life, written in crude style; mention by S. Gregory of
Tours, and in two extant lives of S. Fidolus.]

S. Aventine was much beloved and respected for his singular virtues by
S. Camelian, Bishop of Troyes, who made him steward of the possessions
of the church. He afterwards became the abbot of a monastery at
Troyes, and spent all the money he could collect in redeeming
captives. During the reign of Thierry, son of Clovis, he purchased of
a band of soldiers, who were leading captives past his door, the boy
Fidolus, whom for his gentleness and piety he learned greatly to love;
and treating him as a son rather than as a servant, he made of him a
monk, and finally, when he himself was old, and Fidolus had grown to
man's estate, with the consent of the monks, he delivered over into
his hands the government of the monastery, and he himself retired into
a lone hermitage in the forest, and spent many years in a cave. When
he opened his window, and thrust forth his hand full of crumbs,
multitudes of little birds came fluttering up, and perched on his
fingers, and ate the crumbs. He was ministered to by a monk, who, in
bringing water from the river, sometimes caught in the pitcher very
little fish. The gentle Aventine invariably returned the small fish to
the river, for he would not hurt or destroy any animal, unless it were
necessary. One day he trod on a snake and crushed it, so that it lay
numb, and as though lifeless. Then he bent over it, and cherished it,
till life returned, and it glided away. Once a stag, pursued by
hunters, took refuge in his cave, and he closed the door on it, and
hid it, till the hunters had passed further. One stormy night, a bear
came roaring to the door of the cell, and strove to beat it in. The
hermit, in terror, sang the song, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy holy one to see corruption!" and
armed himself with prayer. Now when the sky grew white with dawn,
Aventine opened his cell, and there lay the bear crouched on the
threshold, and it stretched out its paw to him, and licked his feet.
Then the hermit perceived that there was a splinter of wood in the
paw, and he said, "Poor beast, thou wast in pain, and didst seek
relief, and I thought that thou wast raging for my life." And he took
the paw on his lap, drew forth the piece of wood, bathed and bandaged
the wound, gave the bear his blessing, and let it depart.

Relics in the parish churches of Creney and S. Aventin and in the
cathedral at Troyes. In Art he is represented drawing the splinter
from the bear's paw.

S. AVENTINE OF CHATEAUDUN, B. C.

(6TH CENT.)

[Gallican Martyrologies. Authorities:--Mention in the life of his
brother, S. Solemnis, and an ancient metrical French life.]

In the reign of Clovis there lived a Count John, at Chateaudun, who
was married to Agnes, daughter of the Count of Blois. By her he had
three sons, Solemnis, Aventine, and John, and a daughter Agnes, who
died young.

Flavius, uncle of Agnes of Blois, was bishop of Chartres, and called
thither Solemnis and Aventine for the purpose of attending to their
education. As both showed signs of sanctity, he ordained both, whilst
young; Solemnis was raised to the priesthood, and Aventine was
appointed archdeacon.

On the death of Flavius, the clergy and people, with the king's
consent, proceeded to elect Solemnis to fill the vacant see; but he,
knowing their intention, fled, and hid himself in a cave outside the
city. When he could not be found, the electors with one consent
shouted, "Aventine is worthy!" that being the customary formulary of
election. Thereupon, Aventine, much against his will, was drawn into
the cathedral, and ordained priest, and consecrated bishop. Now
Solemnis, from his place of retreat, heard the shout in the city, and
knew that a bishop had been chosen. Yet he waited till he saw peasants
returning along the road that ran by his retreat, and he overheard
them speaking of the consecration of his brother Aventine. So he,
deeming all further concealment unnecessary, came forth, and entered
the city. Then, at once, a crowd surrounded him, and the roar of a
thousand voices proclaimed, "Solemnis is worthy! Solemnis shall be
bishop!" And he was drawn to the cathedral, vested in white, a mitre
placed on his head, the pastoral staff put into his hands, and the
bishops of the province there present, proclaimed him. And when this
was done, men asked, "What shall be done with Aventine?" and he was
sent to be bishop of Chateaudun, his native town. Then he went his
way. And as he drew near to the city, there met him a leper, who ran
towards him, and stopped, and cried out, "I am John, thy brother." He
would have rejoiced to meet his brother, had he not seen that he was
afflicted with leprosy; for which reason John had retired from the
city, and fled from the society of men. Then the bishop ran to him,
and fell on his neck, and his tears flowed over him, and he kissed
him; and the flesh of John came again as the flesh of a little child,
and he was made perfectly whole.

Of the works of the holy Aventine in his diocese little is known, save
that he laboured in season and out of season in the ministry of God,
and that he lived in a little cell outside the city gates, in the face
of a rock. After the death of Solemnis, about 509, Aventine governed
the whole Chartrain Church, and subscribed the council of Orleans,
511, as bishop of Chartres. Relics translated in 1853 to the parish
church of S. Madeleine in Chateaudun.

S. THEOPHILUS THE PENITENT.

(ABOUT A.D. 528.)

[Commemorated by the Greeks on this day. Not by the Westerns, though
the story is quoted by a great number of Latin writers.
Authority:--The Greek account by Eutychianus, who pretends to have
been a disciple of Theophilus, and declares that he relates what he
had seen with his own eyes, and heard from the mouth of Theophilus
himself. Metaphrastes embodied the narrative of Eutychianus in his
great collection of the Lives of the Saints. For a full account of
this strange story, see my "Myths of the Middle Ages."]

The following story must be received with caution. It has not received
the sanction of the Western Church, and is probably a mere religious
romance. It was very popular in the middle ages, and was frequently
represented in sculpture and stained glass.

A few years before the Persian invasion, in 538, there lived, in the
town of Adana in Cilicia, a priest named Theophilus, treasurer and
archdeacon. He lived in strict observance of all his religious duties,
was famous for his liberality to the poor, his sympathy with the
afflicted, his eloquence in the pulpit, his private devotion, and
severe asceticism. On the decease of the bishop, by popular
acclamation he was summoned to the episcopal oversight of the diocese,
but his deep humility urged him to refuse the office, even when it was
pressed upon him by the metropolitan. A stranger was raised to the
vacant seat, and the treasurer resumed the course of life he had
pursued for so many years with credit to himself and advantage to the
diocese, content in his own mind with having refused the office, which
might have aroused his pride, and which certainly would have
diminished his opportunities of self-sacrifice. Virtue invariably
arouses the spirit of detraction, and Theophilus, by his refusal of
the bishopric, was thrust into public notice, and attracted public
attention. The consequence was, that the evil-minded originated
slanders, which circulated widely, produced a revulsion of feeling
towards Theophilus, and, what was generally reported, was accepted as
substantially true. These stories reached the ears of the new bishop,
he sent for the archdeacon, and, without properly investigating the
charges, concluded he was guilty, and deprived him of his offices.

One would have supposed that the humility which had required the holy
man to refuse a mitre, would have rendered him callous to the voice of
slander, and have sustained him under deprivation. But the trial was
too great for his virtue. He brooded over the accusations raised
against him, and the wrongs inflicted upon him, till the whole object
of his desire became the clearing of his character. He sought every
available means of unmasking the calumnies of his malingers, and
exposing the falsity of the charges raised against him. But he found
himself unable to effect his object; one man is powerless against a
multitude, and slander is a hydra which, when maimed in one head,
produces others in the place of that struck off. Baffled, despairing,
and without a friend to sustain his cause, the poor clerk sought
redress in a manner which, a month before, would have filled him with
horror. He visited a necromancer, who led him at midnight to a place
where four cross-roads met, and there conjured up Satan, who promised
to reinstate Theophilus in all his offices, and, what he valued more,
to completely clear his character. The priest, to obtain these boons,
signed away his soul with a pen dipped in his own blood, and abjured
for ever Jesus Christ and His spotless Mother.

On the morrow, the bishop, discovering his error, how we know not,
sent for Theophilus, and acknowledged publicly that he had been misled
by false reports, the utter valuelessness of which he was ready
frankly to acknowledge; and he asked pardon of the priest, for having
unjustly deprived him of his office. The populace enthusiastically
reversed their late opinion of the treasurer, and greeted him as a
Saint and confessor.

For some days all went well, and in the excitement of a return to his
former occupations, the compact he had made was forgotten. But after a
while, as reason and quietness resumed their sway, the conscience of
Theophilus gave him no rest. His face lost its colour, his brow was
seamed with wrinkles, an unutterable horror gleamed out of his
deep-set eyes. Hour by hour he prayed, but found no relief. At length
he resolved on a solemn fast of forty days. This he accomplished,
praying nightly in the Church of the Blessed Virgin, till the grey of
morning stole in at the little window of the dome, and obscured the
lamps. On the fortieth night, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, and
rebuked him for his sin. He implored her pardon and all-prevailing
intercession, and this she promised him. The following night she
re-appeared, and assured him that Christ had forgiven him at her
prayer. With a cry of joy he awoke; and on his breast lay the deed
which had made over his soul to Satan, obtained from the evil one by
the mercy of the holy Mother of God.

The next day was Sunday. He rose, spent some time in acts of
thanksgiving, and then went to church, where the divine liturgy was
being celebrated. After the reading of the Gospel, he flung himself at
the bishop's feet, and requested permission to make his confession in
public. Then he related the circumstances of his fall, and showed the
contract signed with his blood to the assembled multitude. Having
finished his confession, he prostrated himself before the bishop, and
asked for absolution. The deed was torn and burned before the people.
He was reconciled, and received the blessed Sacrament; after which he
returned to his house in a fever, and died at the expiration of three
days. The story is probably a mere religious romance.

S. MODAN, AB.

(7TH CENT.)

[Aberdeen Breviary:--from which almost all that is known of his life
is gathered.]

S. Modan was first monk, and then abbot of Mailros, in Scotland, and
preached the faith in Stirling and at Falkirk. When old he retired
among the mountains of Dumbarton, and there died. His body was kept
till the change of religion, with honour, in the church of Rosneath.

B. HRABANUS MAURUS, B. C.

(A.D. 856.)

[From his life by Rodolph the priest, monk of Fulda, d. 865; and
various writers of a later period.]

Rabanus, or Hrabanus Maurus, was one of the most illustrious writers
of the 9th century. He was born at Mainz, in the year 788. When very
young he was sent to the monastery of Fulda, where he was brought up.
From thence he was sent to Tours, where he studied for some time under
the famous Alcuin. He returned afterwards to Germany, into his
monastery, where he was entrusted with the government of the novices,
was afterwards ordained priest in the year 814, and at last chosen
abbot of Fulda, in 822. After he had managed this charge twenty years,
he voluntarily quitted it, to satisfy the monks, who complained that
his studies so engrossed his time that the affairs of the monastery
were neglected. He retired to Mount S. Peter, and was shortly after
chosen archbishop of Mainz or Mayence, in the year 847. He held a
council in the same year for the reformation of discipline; and died
in 856.

As a mystical interpreter to Holy Scripture, his commentaries will
ever be read. He was a voluminous writer on various subjects, sacred
and profane, and was certainly one of the most learned men of his day.

S. NICOLAS OF THE STUDIUM, C.

(A. D. 868.)

[Greek Menæa for this day. Authorities:--Life by a contemporary monk
in his monastery.]

This glorious confessor was born in Crete, and was the son of pious
parents, who educated him from earliest infancy in the fear of God. At
the age of ten he was sent to Constantinople, to see his kinsman
Theophanes. He found him a monk of the order of the Sleepless
Ones,[16] in the monastery called the Studium. He entered the same
order, and fulfilled his monastic duties with regularity and devotion.
Having set a brilliant example, he was deemed worthy to be invested
with the priesthood. Then broke out the furious persecution of the
Iconoclasts, about which a few words must be said in this place.[17]

When God was made Man, He was put at once into the most intimate
relation with men; and just as it is lawful for any son to have a
portrait of his father or mother, so did it become lawful and
reasonable that he should have a picture of that God-Man, who is
dearer to him than father or mother. The picture served as a constant
reminder, an evidence for the Incarnation. It is a sermon declaring
God to be made Man. But the Arians, who denied the divinity of our
Lord, were most hostile to sacred representations of Christ, and with
reason, for these pictures were a testimony against them. At first the
Arian attack on the foundation doctrine of the Incarnation was open.
But, when the theological statement of that mystery was made so plain
that there was no opposing it by counter statement, Arianism adopted
other tactics, and appeared as Iconoclasm, or war against sacred
pictures. He who disbelieved, or only coldly acquiesced in the
Incarnation of God, saw that this chief corner-stone of Christianity
could only be uprooted by chilling the ardour of Christian affection.
And no better method of chilling that affection could be devised, than
the obliteration of representations of Christ, His acts, His passion,
and of His mother, and His Saints; then there was some prospect of
religious acceptance of this dogma sinking into cold intellectual
apprehension, and thence it could be dislodged without difficulty.
After the reconciliation of large congregations of Gnostics and Arians
with the Catholic Church, they maintained that icy worship which had
preceded their separation, they adored God as a Spirit, but actually,
though they had ceased to do so formally, overlooked His manhood.
These reconciled bodies afforded a fund of passive prejudice and
aversion of small account so long as Catholic princes were on the
throne, but which, in the fortune of a soldier, might produce serious
results to the Church.

Of such adventurers, the most fortunate was the Emperor Leo III., who,
from the mountains of Isauria, ascended to the throne of the East. He
was ignorant of sacred and profane letters; but his education, his
reason, perhaps his intercourse with Jews and Arabs, had inspired the
martial peasant with a hatred of images; and he held it to be the duty
of a prince to impose on his subjects the dictates of his own
conscience. In the reformation of religion, his first steps were
moderate and cautious; he assembled a great council of senators and
bishops, and enacted, with their consent, that all the images should
be removed from the sanctuary and altar to a proper height in the
churches, where they might be visible to the eyes, and inaccessible to
the devotion of the people. But it was impossible on either side to
check the rapid though adverse impulses of veneration and abhorrence:
in their lofty position, the sacred images still edified their
votaries, and exasperated their enemies. He was himself provoked by
resistance and invective; and his own party accused him of an
imperfect discharge of his duty, and urged for his imitation the
example of the Jewish king, who had broken without scruple the brazen
serpent of the temple. By a second edict, he proscribed the existence,
as well as the use of sacred pictures; images of Christ, the Blessed
Virgin, and the Saints, were demolished, or a smooth surface of
plaster was spread over the walls of the edifice. The sect of the
Iconoclasts was supported by the zeal and despotism of six emperors,
and this topic involved the East and West in an angry conflict of one
hundred and twenty years. It was the design of Leo the Isaurian to
pronounce the condemnation of images as an article of faith, and by
the authority of a General Council; but the convocation of such an
assembly was reserved for his son Constantine Copronymus. This council
was attended by three hundred and thirty-eight bishops of Europe and
Anatolia, but not by those of the Western Church, African Church, or
that of Palestine. It was, in fact, an assembly of those prelates who
were weak enough to assist, fearing condemnation and exile if they did
not submit, ambitious enough to follow the caprice of the reigning
emperor, in hopes of emolument, and also of those who heartily
concurred with his semi-Arianism. After a serious deliberation of six
months, the prelates subscribed such a decree as the emperor desired,
condemning all visible symbols of Christ,[18] except the Eucharist, as
blasphemous and heretical; and denouncing veneration for images as the
idolatry of Paganism. "As if," says a Catholic writer of the time,
"there were not this great difference between the Christian image and
the heathen idol, that the latter is the thing worshipped, whereas the
former is the representation of the person adored."

The first hostilities of Leo had been directed against a lofty Christ
on the vestibule, and above the gate, of the palace, placed there to
exhibit to all men that the emperors had bowed before the King of
kings. A ladder had been placed for the assault, but it was shaken by
a crowd of women and zealots, and for their opposing the execution of
the mandate, severe and savage reprisals were taken. The execution of
the imperial mandates were resisted by frequent tumults in
Constantinople and the provinces, which were quelled by the military,
and much blood flowed.

In the cruel persecution that ensued, the monks, ever the champions of
the Incarnate God, suffered most severely. Nicolas of the Studium,
together with S. Theodore, the abbot, or archimandite, of the
monastery were called to suffer. Nicolas was scourged with leather
thongs on the back and limbs, and his arms extended, so that they
became for a time paralysed. His back, which was lashed and bleeding,
was tenderly bathed with warm water and healing lotions by S.
Theodore, his superior, till it was healed. Both were driven into
exile, and kept for three years in nakedness, and without sufficient
food and drink, in a wretched prison. They were beaten again at
Smyrna, and further imprisoned for twenty-two months, with their feet
in the stocks. On the death of Leo, the confessors were released, and
visited S. Nicephorus at Chalcedon. This took place during the absence
of Constantine Copronymus, who had undertaken an expedition against
the Saracens. During this absence, his kinsman, Artavasdus, assumed
the purple, and everywhere the sacred images were triumphantly
restored. Constantine flew for refuge to his paternal mountains; but
he descended at the head of the bold Isaurians, and his final victory
placed the unfortunate Catholics once more at the mercy of a brutal
tyrant. This monster of crime derived his name Copronymus from having
defiled his baptismal font. This incident of his infancy was accepted
as an augury of his maturity, and he did not belie it. His reign was
one long butchery of whatever was most noble, or holy, or innocent, in
his empire. In person the emperor assisted at the execution of his
victims, surveyed their agonies, listened to their groans, and
indulged, without satiating, his appetite for blood: a plate of noses
was accepted as a grateful offering, and his domestics were often
scourged or mutilated by his royal hand. His long reign was distracted
with clamour, sedition, conspiracy, mutual hatred, and sanguinary
revenge. The hatred borne by this ruffian against monks and images was
implacable. Images were torn down and defaced with wanton malice
throughout the empire by an officer called the Dragon, sent round for
that purpose; all religious communities were dissolved, their
buildings were converted into magazines or barracks; the lands,
moveables, and cattle, were confiscated, and the monks were mutilated
in eyes and ears and limbs, with refined cruelty.

Under this emperor, Theophilus (829), Nicolas and Theodore again
suffered persecution. Theodore, and the abbot Theophanes, kinsman of
Nicolas, were mutilated by certain verses being cut upon their brows.
During the persecution, S. Nicolas remained concealed; on the
accession of the indifferent emperor, Michael III., (842), he emerged
from his hiding place, and was elected archimandite of the Studium,
the abbot Theodore being dead. After exercising the government for
three years, he resigned it to Sophronius, and retired to Firmopolis,
that he might pass the remainder of his days in peace; but it was not
so to be; after four years he was recalled to the abbacy of the
Studium, on the death of Sophronius, and was at once involved in
conflict. For the patriarch Ignatius, having rebuked the Cæsar Bardas
for incest, and then excommunicated him, the emperor Michael III., his
nephew, was persuaded to exile Ignatius, and to intrude Photius into
the Patriarchal see. The abbot Nicolas refused to communicate with the
intruder, and was consequently driven from his monastery, and a monk,
Achillas, was appointed in his room. Nicolas was pursued from one
retreat to another by the hostility of the intruded patriarch, and
after many wanderings, rested in the Crimea. Upon the death of Bardas
and Michael, Bardas having been murdered by his nephew Michael, and
Michael by his successor, Basil I., (867), the patriarch Ignatius was
recalled, and the patriarch persuaded Nicolas to return to his
government of the Studium, where he died the following year.

S. REMBERT, B. C.

(A.D. 888.)

[Roman Martyrology; this being the day of his consecration to the
Archbishopric of Bremen and Hamburg. But in some German
Martyrologies, on June 11th, the day of his death. Authority:--his
life written by a coeval author or authors].

This saint was born at Thourout, in Flanders, where was a monastic
cell, that had been given by King Louis the Pious to S. Anskar. As
Anskar was at Thourout one day, he noticed some boys going to church,
and amongst them was one who, by his gravity, pleased him; and when
the boy entered the church, he crossed himself, and behaved with so
great reverence, that the archbishop went to him, and asked his name.
He told him that he was called Rembert. Then S. Anskar took him and
placed him in the little monastery, and bade that he should be well
instructed. In after years, the apostle of Sweden called Rembert to
assist him in his mission; and he loved his young friend greatly, and
prayed to God for three days incessantly that He would grant to
Rembert to accomplish the work that he, Anskar, had begun, and to make
them companions together in the Heavenly Zion. After Anskar died, in
865, S. Rembert was unanimously chosen Archbishop of Hamburg and
Bremen, and he superintended all the churches of Sweden, Denmark, and
Lower Germany. He also began a mission to the Wends and Sclavonic race
of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg, which was attended with considerable
success. He sold the sacred ornaments of the Church to redeem captives
from the Northmen. On one occasion he saw a party of these marauders
pass, dragging after them a poor girl, who raised her shackled hands
towards the bishop, and began to chant one of David's psalms. Then S.
Rembert leaped off his horse, and ran to the chief, and offered him
the horse if he would release the captive Christian maiden. And this
he did, well pleased to obtain so valuable a horse. S. Rembert died on
June 11th, in the year 888.

S. GILBERT OF SEMPRINGHAM, AB.

(A.D. 1189.)

[Roman, Anglican, Belgian, Benedictine, and Cistercian
Martyrologies. Authority:--his life, by a contemporary, published by
Bollandus.]

This S. Gilbert, of whom Henricus Chrysostomus, a Cistercian
chronicler, speaks as "a disciple of Bernard the mellifluous, a man of
apostolical zeal, of most severe and rigid life, in purity
conspicuous, illustrious for his gift of prophecy, and the mirific
performer of stupendous miracles," was born about the year A.D. 1083,
near the close of the reign of William the Conqueror. From an
apparently contemporary pedigree he seems to have been related on the
mother's side to that monarch, who may have rewarded the services of
his father, "a bold and skilful warrior," with the hand of one of his
relations, in addition to the manor of Sempringham, where Gilbert
first saw the light. His mother is said to have received, shortly
before his birth, a miraculous presage of the future greatness of her
child, a greatness, however, of which few external tokens would seem
to have manifested themselves during his childhood; since one of his
biographers relates that as a child he was so dull and spiritless as
to provoke the contempt and ill-usage of even the servants of his
father's household. Driven by this maltreatment from his home and
country, or more probably sent from home by the care of his parents,
who discerned in him a greater aptitude for the cloister than for the
camp, he passed some years in Gaul in the peaceful study of letters
and philosophy. His childish education completed, he returned to
England, and took up his abode with one of his father's dependents.
Here he fell in love with the daughter of his host, and gave the first
proof of his vocation to the counsels of perfection; for finding his
passion increase daily in strength, and fearing lest he should be
overcome by it, he fortified his soul by prayer and fasting; and then
seeking the company of his beloved, he so wrought upon her by his
exhortations and entreaties, that he prevailed upon her to join him in
a vow of perpetual chastity, and she was one of the first who
afterwards became nuns under his rule.

He now took to keeping a school, and gathered together a number of
children of both sexes, to be instructed in the rudiments of religion,
and especially taught them to live an orderly and pious life in the
world, without as yet leading them forward to the higher life of the
cloister; and these afterwards became the nucleus (primitiæ plantæ) of
his order.

During this time he seems to have lived in the family of the then
Bishop of Lincoln, and to have been admitted by him to the minor
orders of the ministry; for the next thing related of him is that
being presented by his father to the united benefices of Sempringham
and Torrington he most willingly accepted the charge, and devoted the
whole revenue of his livings to charitable purposes. Such was the
fervour of his devotion at this time, that it is related that having
one day invited one of his companions to join him in his prayers, the
youth was so fatigued by the length of the office, and the punctilious
care with which Gilbert genuflected whenever the holy names of God and
of Christ occurred, that he swore he would never pray with him again.

After a while he was ordained priest by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln,
who held him in such high esteem that he made him his confessor, and
would have appointed him Archdeacon; but this Gilbert resolutely
declined saying, "that he knew not of a shorter road to perdition."

Persevering in his resolve to give his all to the poor, he now for the
first time formally constituted his religious order, by assembling a
number of poor girls, amongst them the object of his youthful
attachment, whom he made cloistered nuns at Sempringham, and
maintained them at his own cost. He next founded a monastery for male
religious, to whom he entrusted all the more responsible affairs of
the order, providing both nuns and monks with a habit "expressive of
humility."

To this time of his life we must probably refer his miraculous escape
from death by fire. The story is that a great fire having broken out
either in his own house, or in the buildings immediately contiguous,
Gilbert remained sitting abstractedly in his window seat, praying and
singing psalms; the fire devoured all before it until it reached the
spot in which he sat; there its progress was arrested, and the flames
died away on every side, leaving the saint and his seat unharmed.

His order continued to expand, many religious flocked to him, and
gifts of manors and farms pouring in from all quarters, many
monasteries arose under his rule.

The charge of his Order now became so onerous that he is said to have
attended the general chapter of the order at Citeaux, in the year
1140, for the purpose of formally resigning his authority. To this,
however, his brother abbots refused their consent, and Gilbert
returned to his labours, which he was to relinquish only with his life.

A peculiar interest attaches to this chapter, from the circumstance
related by the same writer,[19] who tells us of Gilbert's presence
there, that the Pope Eugenius[20] was present and took part in the
proceedings, "not, however, presiding as with apostolical authority,
but in brotherly love taking his seat among the assembled abbots, as
one of themselves."

Returned to Sempringham, Gilbert resumed his life of prayer and
mortification, observing the fasts of the Church with such rigidity
that from Septuagesima to Easter, and throughout Advent, he not only
abstained from flesh-meat, but even a morsel of fish never passed his
lips. He practised also great austerity with regard to sleep, hardly
allowing himself to lie down for months together.

His unwearied devotion and severe asceticism so forwarded his growth
in grace that his influence over the religious under his authority
became almost unbounded; with such prudence and persuasiveness was he
endued, that he allayed without difficulty a serious disturbance which
arose in the order from a spirit of insubordination that had crept in
among the lay brethren. Overcome by his skilful reasonings and loving
exhortations, the greater number returned to their obedience,
"whereas," the chronicler adds, "those who held out and refused to do
so, all perished miserably." His holiness and his acceptance with God
were also attested by many miracles and wonders. Being at one time
afflicted with a very severe fever, a friend came to condole with him;
the saint enquired whether he had ever experienced the sensations of a
fever; finding that he had not, Gilbert asked him whether he would be
willing to take the fever from which he himself was suffering, if he
might be thereby cured. The friend assented, and returning home, was
the next morning seized with the fever, whereas the saint arose
entirely free from it. Another time, a man suffering from gout was
cured by simply wearing Gilbert's list slippers; and another man, sick
of a fever, was healed by drinking out of his cup.

Overcome at length by the infirmities of advancing age, he resigned
the charge of Sempringham to one of his disciples, Roger by name; but
he seems still to have retained his authority, as it is mentioned that
some time after this, he gave shelter to S. Thomas à Becket in one of
his houses when that prelate, worsted in his contest with Henry II.,
was wandering about the kingdom in search of means to escape to the
continent. He also supplied the archbishop with money during his
exile, thereby drawing upon himself the displeasure of Henry, who,
however,--such was Gilbert's popularity in the kingdom,--found it
expedient to refrain from any proceedings against him.

At last, in the year 1189, and the 106th of Gilbert's age, his death
drew near, and the man of God, full of years, and not less full of
grace, prepared to render up his account with joy. He announced to his
disciples his approaching departure, and on the evening of Christmas
Day he was fortified with the last sacraments of the Church. The
remaining time which God vouchsafed him on earth he devoted to the
edification of others, and during this time many prelates, and men of
various degrees, resorted to him in order to be consoled by his
blessing, and instructed by his discourse. The night before the day on
which he died "an immense globe of fire, and an appearance as of many
candles" were seen to hover in the air over the church of Sempringham,
in which his tomb was prepared. Three times the appearance descended
fro

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