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Title: The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March
Author: Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March" ***
THE
Lives of the Saints
REV. S. BARING-GOULD
_SIXTEEN VOLUMES_
VOLUME THE THIRD
[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION. After Francia, in the Church of S.
John Lateran, Rome. March.--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 THIRD
March
LONDON
JOHN C. NIMMO
14 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND
MDCCCXCVII
_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
_At the Ballantyne Press_
[Illustration: Virgin and Child surrounded by a host of worshippers]
CONTENTS
A
PAGE
SS. Abraham and Mary 275
S. Adrian, B. of S. Andrews 59
" Adrian, M. at Wintershoven 333
" Agricola 285
" Alberta 212
" Albinus 16
" Alexander of Apamea 203
" Alexander of Jerusalem 312
" Alfwold 460
" Alkmund 334
" Amantius 333
" Ambrose of Sienna 369
" Angus of Keld 217
" Aninas 274
Annunciation: B. V. Mary 450
S. Ansewin 252
" Antonina 8
" Aphrodisius of Beziers 407
" Aphrodisius of Carthage 256
" Apollonius 156
" Aristobulus 266
SS. Armogastes and comp. 496
S. Asterius 42
" Augusta 483
B
S. Balbina 513
SS. Balther and Bilfred 94
S. Barachisius 491
" Basil of Ancyra 407
SS. Basiliscus and comp. 44
S. Basinus 59
SS. Bathus, Verca, and children 468
S. Benedict 388
" Benjamin 515
" Bilfrid 94
" Boniface Quiritine 279
" Bosa 175
" Braulio 468
C
SS. Caius and Alexander 203
" Caius the Palatine and comp. 57
S. Camin of Iniskeltra 458
" Casimir, Prince 60
" Castulus 467
" Catherine of Bologna 182
" Chad 23
B. Charles the Good 38
S. Chelidonius 44
" Chrodegang 96
" Cleonicus 44
SS. Codratus and comp. 203
S. Colette 97
" Columba 274
" Constantine 214
Crucifixion, Memorial of 254
S. Cuthbert 337
" Cyril, Patr. of Jerusalem 314
" Cyril of Heliopolis 492
SS. Cyril and Methodius 176
D
S. Daniel 517
" David 10
" Deogratias 411
" Dionysius of Cæsarea 444
" Dionysius of Corinth 203
" Domangart 445
" Domnina 9
" Dorotheus 222
" Drausinus 74
" Droctoveus 209
" Dula 457
" Duthac 164
E
S. Edward 324
B. Eelko Liaukaman 413
SS. Emetherius and Chelidonius 44
S. Enda 376
" Ethelwold 441
" Eubulus 114
" Eudocia 2
" Eulogius 218
" Euphrasia 241
" Eusebia 279
" Eustace 498
" Euthymius 216
" Eutropius 44
F
S. Felicitas 102
" Felix 163
" Fina 239
SS. Fingar and Piala 437
S. Finnian 321
SS. Forty Martyrs of Sebaste 204
S. Frances of Rome 185
" Fridolin 91
" Frigidian 321
G
S. Gabriel, Archangel 312
" Gerasimus 63
" Gertrude 306
" Gorgo 212
" Gorgonius 222
" Gregory the Great 226
" Gregory of Nyssa 172
H
S. Heribert 281
" Hesychius 1
SS. Hilary and comp. 271
S. Hildelitha 446
B. Hugo 502
S. Humbert 458
" Hymelin 210
I
S. Irenæus 457
J
S. Joachim 336
" Joavan 22
" John of Civita-di-Penne 329
" John Climacus 506
" John of Egypt 484
" John of God 165
" John-Joseph 87
SS. Jonas and Barachisius 491
S. Joseph, husband of B. V. Mary 327
" Joseph of Arimathea 283
" Julian of Anazarbus 273
K
S. Katharine of Sweden 421
" Kennocha 255
" Kessog 208
" Kieran 66
" Kunegund 52
SS. Kyneburga and comp. 93
S. Kyneswitha 93
L
S. Lactean 331
" Landoald 333
" Leo, Archb. Rouen 19
" Longinus 266
" Lubin 257
" Lucius 55
" Ludger 469
" Lupicinus 371
" Lydia 482
M
S. Macarius 208
" Mark of Arethusa 492
SS. Marinus and Asterius 42
" Martyrs under Alexander 21
" Martyrs under the Lombards 23
" Martyrs under Nero 256
" Martyrs of Sebaste 256
" Martyrs in the Serapion 284
S. Mathilda 260
" Matrona 268
" Matthew of Beauvais 488
" Maxima of Nicomedia 222
" Maxima of Sermium 467
Memorial of the Crucifixion 454
S. Methodius 176
" Mochoemog 245
" Monan 18
SS. Montanus and Maxima 467
S. Muran 238
N
S. Narcissus 313
" Nicander 267
" Nicephorus 249
B. Nicholas von der Flue 421
O
S. Owen 57
P
S. Pacian 172
" Pancharius 328
" Papas 273
" Patrick 285
" Paul of Cyprus 311
" Paul of Leon 223
" Paul of Narbonne 406
" Paul the Simple 114
Penitent Thief, the 456
SS. Perpetua and comp. 102
" Peter and comp. of Carthage 256
" Peter and comp. of Nicomedia 222
B. Peter of Castelnau 74
S. Peter the Spaniard 221
SS. Philemon and Apollonius 156
" Philetus and comp. 482
S. Phocas 63
" Piala 437
" Piran or Kieran 66
" Proculus 435
Q
S. Quirinus of Rome 456
" Quirinus the Tribune 504
R
S. Regulus 504
" Renovatus 515
SS. Ruderick and Salomon 254
S. Rudesind 19
S
S. Salomon 254
" Secundus 503
" Senan of Iniscatthy 159
" Serapion 371
" Sezin 90
" Simon of Trent 447
" Simplicius 22
" Sixtus 489
" Sophronius 215
" Spes 489
" Swibert the elder 16
T
S. Tatian 271
" Tetricus 322
" Thomas Aquinas 116
B. Thomas of Lancaster 414
S. Tibba 93
SS. Timolaus and comp. 444
" Twenty Monks at S. Sabas 365
V
S. Verca and children 468
" Victorian 439
" Vincent 213
" Vindician 215
" Virgilius 72
W
S. William of Norwich 461
" Winwaloe 49
" Withburga 309
" Wulfram 361
X
S. Xystus, Pope 489
Z
S. Zacharias 268
" Zosimus of Syracuse 508
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE ANNUNCIATION _Frontispiece_
_After_ FRANCIA, _in the Church of S. John Lateran, Rome_.
S. DAVID _to face p._ 10
S. RUDESIND " 18
_After_ CAHIER.
LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL (_see p._ 23) _on p._ 20
S. CHAD _to face p._ 24
S. KUNEGUND, EMPRESS OF GERMANY " 52
FORMS OF MITRE _on p._ 54
S. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND _to face p._ 60
_After_ CAHIER.
GROUP OF ANGELS _on p._ 62
MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN " 89
_After a Bas-Relief by_ ORCAGNA.
S. THOMAS AQUINAS _to face p._ 128
_After_ CAHIER.
S. JOHN OF GOD " 168
_After_ CAHIER.
JESUS CHRIST, IN THE CHARACTER OF A PILGRIM, ACCEPTING
THE HOSPITALITY OF TWO DOMINICANS _on p._ 171
_From a Fresco by_ FRA ANGELICO _at Florence_.
S. GREGORY OF NYSSA _to face p._ 172
_After a Picture by_ DOMINICHINO _at Rome_.
S. GREGORY OF NYSSA (WITH SQUARE NIMBUS) " 174
_After_ CAHIER.
CATHEDRAL--MODENA " 182
_From_ STOUGHTON'S "_Italian Reformers_."
HATRED AND MALICE _on p._ 202
_Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._
DECEITFULNESS AND VANITY " 211
_Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._
S. GREGORY THE GREAT _to face p._ 226
_After_ CAHIER.
MASS OF S. GREGORY " 238
PUSILLANIMITY _on p._ 240
_Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._
SLOTHFULNESS AND GLUTTONY " 265
_Symbolic Carving at the Abbey of S. Denis._
SS. JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS ANOINTING THE BODY
OF CHRIST _to face p._ 282
_From an old Painting._
S. PATRICK " 288
_After_ CAHIER.
S. GERTRUDE OF NIVELLES " 306
_After_ CAHIER.
PORTION OF A MONSTRANCE _on p._ 311
MURDER OF S. EDWARD _to face p._ 324
S. JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY " 326
_From the Vienna Missal._
DEATH OF S. JOSEPH " 328
S. CUTHBERT REASONING WITH THE MONKS " 342
DEATH OF S. CUTHBERT " 342
S. CUTHBERT IN HIS HERMIT'S CELL " 344
S. BENEDICT " 388
_After_ CAHIER.
S. BENEDICT EXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT WHICH HAD INTERRUPTED
THE WORKMEN EMPLOYED IN BUILDING A CHAPEL " 392
_From a Fresco, by_ SPINELLI D'AREZZO, _in the
Church of San Miniato, near Florence_.
S. BENEDICT REPROVING TOTILA, AND PREDICTING HIS
DEATH " 400
_From a Fresco, painted by_ SPINELLI D'AREZZO, _in
the Church of San Miniato, near Florence_.
THE TWO THIEVES (_see p._ 456): S. DIMAS PENITENT, WITH
ANGEL BEARING HIS HAPPY SOUL TO PARADISE; THE IMPENITENT,
WITH DEMON DRAGGING FORTH HIS UNWILLING SOUL _on p._ 443
THE HEAVENLY MESSENGER _to face p._ 450
"The Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee,
named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name
was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name
was Mary."
THE ANNUNCIATION _to face p._ 452
_After_ ISRAEL VAN MECKEN, _in the Museum at Munich_.
THE ANNUNCIATION " 454
_After a Picture in the Museum at Madrid_(?)
MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION " 456
_After a Picture by_ ROGER VAN DER WEYDEN, _in the
Museum at Madrid_.
"FORTITUDE" _on p._ 481
"HOPE" " 490
S. AMADEUS OF SAVOY _to face p._ 512
_After_ CAHIER.
LIVES OF THE SAINTS
March 1.
S. HESYCHIUS, _B.M. at Carteja, in Spain, 1st cent._
S. EUDOCIA, _M. at Heliopolis, in Phœnicia, 2nd cent._
S. ANTONINA, _M. at Nicæa, 4th cent._
S. DOMNINA, _V.H. in Syria, circ._ A.D. 460.
S. SIMPLICIUS, _Abp. of Bourges, circ._ A.D. 480.
S. DAVID, _Abp. of Menevia, in Wales_, A.D. 544.
S. HERCULANIUS, _B.M. at Perugia_, A.D. 547.
S. ALBINUS, _B. of Angers, circ._ A.D. 549.
S. MARNON, _B. in Scotland_.
S. SIWARD, _Ab. of S. Calais, in France_, A.D. 687.
S. SWIBERT, _B. Ap. of the Frisians_, A.D. 713.
S. MONAN, _Archd. of S. Andrews, in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 874.
S. LEO, _M. Abp. of Rouen and Ap. of Bayonne, circ._ A.D. 900.
S. LEO LUKE, _Ab. of Muletta, in Calabria, circ._ A.D. 900.
S. RUDESIND, _B. of Dumium, in Portugal_, A.D. 977.
B. ROGER, _Abp. of Bourges_, A.D. 1368.
B. BONAVITA, _C. Blacksmith of Lugo, in Italy_, A.D. 1375.
S. HESYCHIUS, B.M.
(1ST CENT.)
[Spanish Martyrologies. Not in the Roman.]
Hesychius is traditionally said to have been one of seven apostles
sent by S. Peter into Spain. He is supposed to have preached in the
neighbourhood of Gibraltar, and to have made Carteja, or Carcesia, the
modern Algeziras, his head-quarters. Nothing authentic is known of this
mission, or of his labours and martyrdom.
S. EUDOCIA, M.
(2ND[1] CENT.)
[1] In the reign of Trajan, says the Life, but this is very
questionable. Monastic life was not developed then to the extent shown
in this story.
[Greek Menæa, and Roman Martyrology. This saint does not occur in
any of the ancient Latin Martyrologies. Her name was inserted in the
Roman Martyrology by Baronius. She is called Eudoxia or Eudocia.
Authority:--An ancient Greek Life which, however, from its using the
word _homo-ousios_, and calling the Prætor, _Count_, proves to be
later than the times of Constantine. The story has a foundation of
fact, no doubt; but a large amount of addition to it has been made of
fabulous matter, to convert it into a religious romance.]
There was a Samaritan woman named Eudocia, of great beauty, who lived
as a harlot, in the city of Heliopolis, in Phœnicia. She had amassed
much wealth by her shameful mode of life, and she thought only of how
she might gratify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life. But the word of God is like a hammer that breaketh the
rocks in pieces.
There was a monk, named Germanus, passing through the city, and he
lodged with an acquaintance next door to the house of Eudocia. And
in the middle of the night he arose, as was his wont, and sang his
Psalms, and, opening a book began, by the light of his lamp, to read
a spiritual lecture with a loud voice. And this happened to be its
subject,--the coming of Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven to judge
all men according to their works, when they that have done well shall
enter into life, and they that have done evil shall be cast into
eternal fire. Now, it fell out that there was only a lath and plaster
wall between the room where the monk was and that in which Eudocia lay.
And when he began to sing she awoke, wondering, and listened, annoyed
at first at the disturbance, but afterwards interested and alarmed.
Then, when she heard him read the sentence of God on sinners, she
was filled with remorse for the past, present shame, and fear for the
future. And when morning dawned, she sent for the monk, and she asked
him if that was true which he had read during the night. He answered
that it was so. Then looking round, and wondering at the costly
furniture and luxuries that abounded, he said simply, "What a rich
man thy husband must be!" Then she reddened with shame, and said, in
a low voice, "I have many lovers, but no husband." "Oh, my daughter,"
cried Germanus, "Would'st thou rather be poor now, and live in joy and
glory hereafter, or be wealthy now and perish miserably in everlasting
death?" Then Eudocia said, "How hard thy God must be to hate riches."
"God forbid," exclaimed the monk, "it is not riches that He abhors, but
goods unjustly gotten." Then he declared to her in order what she must
do and believe to be saved. "And first, send for a priest of the city
who may give thee proper instruction, that thou mayest be baptized,
for baptism is the beginning and the foundation of the whole Christian
life. And now, prepare thyself with fasting and prayer."
So Eudocia bade her servants close the house, as though she had gone
into her country villa, and should any one come to the door, refuse him
admission. And she sent for a priest, and when he came she said, "Oh,
sir! I am a grievous sinner, a sea of guilt." "Be of good cheer, my
daughter," was his salutation. "The sea of guilt may be changed into
a port of salvation, and the waves tossing with passion sink into an
ineffable calm." Then he instructed her on the nature of repentance,
and bade her wear a mean dress, putting away her trinkets and silk
gown, and fast for seven days; and he diligently taught her what she
must believe and do. And before he went on his way, Germanus visited
her once again, to confirm the good work that was begun in her. Then
she asked him why he lived in the desert, and in the practice of
severe mortification. "Oh, my daughter," he said; "We monks labour
incessantly to cleanse from every spot of sin the garments of our
souls." And she said, "I have now fasted and eaten nothing for seven
days. And I will declare to thee what befel me last night. In my
exhaustion I sank into a trance, and saw, and lo! an angel took me
by the hand, and led me into Heaven, where was unspeakable light,
and there I saw the blessed ones in white, with shining faces, and
all their countenances lit up as I approached, and they came running
towards me, and greeted me, even _me_, as a sister. Then there came up
a shadow, horrible and black, and it shrieked, saying, 'This woman is
mine. I have used her to destroy many, she has worked for me as a bond
slave, and shall she be saved? I, for one little disobedience, was cast
out of heaven, and here is this beast, steeped from head to foot in
pollution, admitted to the company of the elect! Have done with this;
take them all, scrape all the rascals and harlots on earth together,
and admit them into your society. I will off into my Hell, and grovel
there in fire for ever.' And then I heard a voice from the ineffable
light answer and say, 'God willeth not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he should be converted and live.' And after that the angel
took me by the hand and led me home again, and saying to me, 'There is
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,' signed me thrice with
the cross, and vanished."
Then Germanus rejoiced, and bade Eudocia be of good courage, and
continue in the good path she had elected to walk in.
Now, when the time of her preparation was over, Eudocia was baptized
by the bishop, Theodotus, and when the sacrament of illumination had
been administered, she went home and made an inventory of all that she
had, and sent it to the bishop. And when Theodotus had looked at it
he went to her house, and said, "What is this little book that thou
hast sent me?" And she answered, "This is the list of all my precious
things, which I pray thy holiness to order the steward of the Church to
receive of me, and distribute, as seemeth fitting, to those that have
need." Then the bishop did as he was desired, and the Church treasurer
came, and collected, and disposed of all her costly things. It may
interest some to know what these were. Besides money, and jewels, and
pearls, of which there was great store, he carried off two hundred and
seventy-five boxes of silk dresses, and four hundred and ten chests
of linen, one hundred and sixty boxes of gowns embroidered with gold,
one hundred and fifty cases of dresses with jewelled work, one hundred
and twenty-three large chests of various garments, twelve boxes of
musk, thirty-three of Indian storax, a large number of silver vessels,
several silk curtains ornamented with gold bullion, satin curtains, and
many other things too numerous to mention.[2]
[2] The wealth of some of the harlots of olden times was enormous.
Phryne offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes at her own cost if
allowed to inscribe on them, "What Alexander, the conqueror, pulled
down, Phryne, the harlot, set up."
Now, as soon as all her valuables had been distributed to the most
needy, Eudocia, still in her white baptismal robe, departed into the
desert to a convent of thirty nuns directed by Germanus, the monk, who
had been the means of converting her. And never did she change the
colour or character of her garment till her dying day; only in winter
she put over it a sackcloth gown to her ankles, and a hooded cloak of
the same material.
Thirteen months after her admission, the superior of the convent died,
and Germanus appointed the penitent Eudocia to be superior in her room.
There was a young man, who had been a lover of Eudocia, who was
greatly vexed at her conversion, and resolved, partly out of passion,
and partly out of love of adventure, to seek her out in her seclusion,
and entice her back into the world of pleasure. To accomplish his
object he assumed a monastic habit, and went to the convent, and
tapped at the door. The portress partly opened the window, and,
peeping through it, asked who was there. Then the man answered, after
the manner of monks, "I am a sinner, and seek to communicate in your
prayers and benedictions." Then the sister answered, "Thou art mistaken
in coming here. No men are admitted into the house. But go on thy way,
and thou wilt find a monastery governed by the blessed Germanus; he
will take thee in." Then she shut the window in his face.
The young man, whose name was Philostratus, made his way to the
monastery of Germanus, and he found the old man sitting in the porch,
reading. He fell at his feet, and declared himself a sinner, who
desired to amend his life. Germanus looked hard at him, and a certain
wantonness of the eye made him hesitate about receiving him. "We are
all old men here," said he; "and are not the proper advisers and
guides of a hot-headed, fire-blooded youth. Go elsewhere my son, and
get a director who is nearer thine age." "My father!" exclaimed the
dissembler, "How cans't thou reject me, after that thou hast received
Eudocia. She has passed through the fires of temptation such as assail
youth, and could well advise me. Let her give me some counsel, and I
will go my way strengthened thereby."
Germanus had acted somewhat injudiciously in appointing a reclaimed
harlot to be superior of a sisterhood after only thirteen months'
probation; he now committed another indiscretion in allowing the
strange monk ingress into the convent. But he was guileless himself,
and thought no evil of another, so he listened to the petition of
Philostratus, and calling to him the monk who offered the incense
in the convent, and was, therefore, allowed to enter it, bade him
take with him the stranger, and give him audience of the superior. So
Philostratus was led back to the convent, and the door was opened, and
he was admitted into the room of Eudocia, some of the sisters standing
afar off, according to the rule of the house, to witness the meeting,
though out of hearing of the conversation. Then Philostratus looked at
the sordid room, and the horsehair cover thrown over the pallet bed,
and the haggard cheeks and sunken eyes of his former mistress, and he
burst forth into entreaties that she would leave this wretched life
of constant self-watching and self-denial, and return to the gaiety
of city life, smart gowns, and pearl necklaces, costly feasts, and
obsequious admirers. "All Heliopolis awaits thee," he urged, "ready
once more to lavish on thee its gold and its adulation; return once
more to the raptures and liberty of a life of pleasure."
But she had chosen that better part which was not to be taken away from
her, and she resisted all his persuasion, and dismissed him, startled,
humbled, and resolved to lead a better life.
So far the story of Eudocia is natural and devoid of improbabilities.
But the Greek writer was not content to leave it thus deficient in
marvels, and he has added several chapters of fanciful adventures, as
insipid as they are untrue; and the contrast they make with the earlier
portion of the history, and of the final chapter, points them out as an
interpolation. In this interpolation Eudocia converts "King" Aurelian
at Heliopolis, and appears before the governor, Diogenes, armed only
with a particle of the Holy Eucharist, which she bears in her bosom.
The king orders her to be stripped, and when she has been divested
of her clothes, till the Host is exposed, then the B. Sacrament is
suddenly transmuted into a blazing fire, which consumes the governor
and all the bystanders, and an angel veils modestly the naked shoulders
and bosom of Eudocia.
The sudden extinction of a governor could hardly have been passed
over by profane history had it really occurred, and, therefore, the
falsifier of the Acts found it advisable to revive him. Accordingly,
Eudocia is represented as taking the charred corpses by the hand and
restoring them instantly to perfect soundness.
But putting aside this absurd story, which is to be found repeated
_ad nauseam_ in almost all the forged and falsified Greek Acts of
martyrdoms, with slight variations, we pass to the last chapter of the
Life, which simply narrates the execution, by the sword, of Eudocia in
her convent, by order of Valerius, the governor, without any sermons,
inflated declamations, and theological disquisitions, such as usually
accompany corrupted, interpolated acts, and are an invariable feature
in forgeries.
S. ANTONINA, M.
(4TH CENT.)
[Greek Menæa, and Menologium of the Emperor Basil. Inserted in
the Roman Martyrology by Baronius. Authority:--The account in the
Menologium.]
Antonina is said to have lived in the city of Nicæa, in the reign of
Maxentius. On account of her refusal to offer incense to the gods she
was stripped of her clothes, hung up, and her sides torn with rakes.
Then she was thrust into a sack, or earthen vessel (it is uncertain
which), and was drowned in a lake near the city. A head and body are
shown at Bologna as those of S. Antonina, "but whether of this one or
of another we are not able to divine," say the Bollandists. A curious
instance of the facility with which some forgeries may be detected is
connected with S. Antonina. Canisius published an edition of the Greek
Menologium in the 16th century; in it occurred a mistake. S. Antonina
was stated to have suffered at Cæa, a misprint for Nicæa. Shortly
after, the Jesuit, Hieronymus Romanus de Higuera, forged a chronicle of
Flavius Dexter, Bishop of Barcelona, in the 4th century. He had seen
the Menologium of Canisius, and, as there was a Ceija in Spain, he
inserted S. Antonina in his Spanish Chronicle as having suffered there,
and this blunder was partly the means of the detection of the forgery.
S. DOMNINA, V. H.
(ABOUT A.D. 460.)
[Greek Menologium. Authority:--Theodoret.]
Theodoret, after relating the virtues of S. Maro the hermit, (Feb.
14th) goes on to tell of a holy virgin, named Domnina, who lived in
a small shed, and attended prayers in the Church at cock-crow. She
was emaciated with continuous fasting; she neither looked at any one,
nor suffered her own face to be seen. Whenever she took the hand of
Theodoret, the bishop, to kiss it, he drew it away moistened with her
tears. She spent her time, when not engaged in prayer, in ministering
to the necessities of travellers.
S. DAVID, ABP. OF MENEVIA, AND PATRON OF WALES.
(A.D. 544.)
[Roman, Irish, Scotch, and ancient Anglican Martyrologies. His
festival was celebrated in England with rulers of the choir, and nine
lessons. Pope Callixtus II. ordered him to be venerated throughout the
Christian world. There are no very ancient accounts of S. David, The
oldest is a life existing in MS. at Utrecht, which was not known to
Usher or Colgan. Usher cites Ricimer, Giraldus, and John of Tynemouth,
a Durham priest, who collected the Acts of the English, Scottish,
Welsh, and Irish Saints, and who lived in 1360. Ricimer was Bishop
of S. David's about 1085, and died about 1096. His life of S. David
seems to have been the foundation of all subsequent biographies of
that saint. Several MSS. of this life are extant; and a portion of it
containing matter not found in the life of the same saint by Giraldus
Cambrensis, was printed by Wharton in the Anglia Sacra. Giraldus
Cambrensis wrote his life of S. David about 1177. S. Kentigern (d.
590) mentions S. David, and there are numerous allusions to him in the
lives of contemporary Welsh and Irish saints.]
S. David, or Dewi, as the Welsh call him, was born about 446, at Mynyw,
which was named S. David's after him. His father was Sandde, son of
Ceredig, who was the son of Cunedda, the great conqueror of N. Wales.
His mother's name was Nôn; she was the daughter of Gynyr of Caergawch.
Giraldus says he was baptized at Porth Clais by Alveas, Bishop of
Munster, "who by divine providence had arrived at that time from
Ireland." The same author says he was brought up at "Henmenen," which
is probably the Roman station Menapia.
S. David was educated under Iltyt at Caerworgon. He was afterward
ordained priest, and studied the Scriptures for ten years with Paulinus
at Ty-gwyn-ar Dâf, or Whitland, in Caermarthenshire. He then retired
for prayer and study to the Vale of Ewias, where he raised a chapel,
and a cell on the site now occupied by Llanthony Abbey. The river
Honddu furnished him with drink, the mountain pastures with meadow-leek
for food. His legendary history states that he was advised by an
angel to move from under the shadow of the Black Mountains to the vale
of Rhos, and to found a monastery at Mynyw, his birth place.
[Illustration: S. DAVID.
March 1.]
He built a monastery on the boggy land which forms nearly the
lowest point of that basin-shaped glen: on, or near its site stands
the present Cathedral of S. David. He practised the same rigorous
austerities as before. Water was his only drink, and he rigorously
abstained from animal food. He devoted himself wholly to prayer, study,
and to the training of his disciples. He, like many other abbots at
that time, was promoted to the episcopate. A wild legend makes him
to have started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to have received
consecration at the hands of the patriarch John III. This tale was
invented by some British monk to show that the Welsh bishops traced
their succession to the oldest, if not the most powerful, of the
patriarchates. Except when compelled by unavoidable necessity he kept
aloof from all temporal concerns. He was reluctant even to attend the
Synod of Brefi. This was convened by Dubricius about 519 at Llandewi
Brefi, in Cardiganshire, to suppress the Pelagian heresy, which was
once more raising its head. The synod was composed of bishops, abbots,
and religious of different orders, together with princes and laymen.
Giraldus says, "When many discourses had been delivered in public,
and were ineffectual to reclaim the Pelagians from their error, at
length Paulinus, a bishop with whom David had studied in his youth,
very earnestly entreated that the holy, discreet, and eloquent man
might be sent for. Messengers were therefore despatched to desire
his attendance: but their importunity was unavailing with the holy
man, he being so fully and intently given up to contemplation, that
urgent necessity alone could induce him to pay any regard to temporal
or secular concerns. At last two holy men, Daniel and Dubricius,
persuaded him to come. After his arrival, such was the grace and
eloquence with which he spoke, that he silenced the opponents, and they
were utterly vanquished. But Father David, by common consent of all,
whether clergy or laity, (Dubricius having resigned in his favour), was
elected primate of the Cambrian Church." Dubricius retired to the Isle
of Bardsey.
A beautiful yet wild legend tells us:--"While S. David's speech
continued, a snow white dove descending from heaven sat upon his
shoulders; and moreover the earth on which he stood raised itself under
him till it became a hill, from whence his voice was heard like a
trumpet, and was understood by all, both near and far off: on the top
of which hill a church was afterwards built, and remains to this day."
S. David at first strenuously declined the primacy; at last he
accepted it on the condition that he was to be allowed to transfer the
archiepiscopal chair from the busy city of Caerleon upon the Usk--the
former capital of Britannia Secunda--to the quiet retreat of Mynyw.
Arthur, the famous king, and Pendragon, who is said to have been a
nephew of our saint, assented to this. Doubtless the advances westward
which the heathen English were making, filled S. David with dread lest
the seat of the primacy should one day fall into their hands. So he
thought it prudent to remove it to the iron-bound shores of Pembroke,
where the English could not so easily land.
After his elevation, S. David, in spite of his retiring disposition,
proved a vigorous and hard-working prelate. He occasionally resided
at Caerleon, and in 529 he convened a synod, which exterminated the
Pelagian heresy, and was in consequence named "The Synod of Victory."
It ratified the canons and decrees of Brefi, as well as a code of rules
which he had drawn up for the regulation of the British Church, a copy
of which remained in the Cathedral of S. David's until it was lost in
an incursion of pirates. Giraldus says, "In his times, in Cambria,
the Church of God flourished exceedingly, and ripened with much fruit
every day. Monasteries were built everywhere; many congregations of the
faithful of various orders were collected to celebrate with fervent
devotion the Sacrifice of Christ. But to all of them Father David,
as if placed on a lofty eminence, was a mirror and pattern of life.
He informed them by words, and he instructed them by example; as a
preacher he was most powerful through his eloquence, but more so in his
works. He was a doctrine to his hearers, a guide to the religious, a
light to the poor, a support to the orphans, a protection to widows,
a father to the fatherless, a rule to monks, and a path to seculars,
being made all things to all men that he might bring all to God."
He founded several churches and monasteries. It is also generally
agreed that Wales was first divided into dioceses in his time.
Geoffrey of Monmouth states that he died in his monastery at Mynyw
_i.e._, S. David's, where he was honourably buried by order of Maelgwn
Gwynedd. This event is recorded by him as if it happened soon after
the death of Arthur, who died 542. According to the computations of
Archbishop Usher, S. David died 544, aged 82. The Bollandists agree
with Usher on the date of his death, but they put his birth back as far
as 446, so that according to their calculation he lived to the age of
98.
Numerous legends have gathered round the history of S. David. Thus an
angel is said to have foretold his birth thirty years before to his
father in a dream. "On the morrow, said the angelic voice, thou wilt
slay a stag by a river side, and wild find three gifts there, to wit,
the stag, a fish, and a honeycomb. Thou shalt give part of these to
the son who shall be born thirty years hence. The honeycomb proclaims
his honied wisdom, the fish, his life on bread and water, the stag
his dominion over the old serpent." The mention of the stag doubtless
arose from the old fancy that that animal kills serpents by trampling
on them: thus did David trample the Pelagian heresy under foot. When S.
Patrick settled in the vale of Rhos, a voice bade him depart, for it
was reserved for the abode of a child who should be born thirty years
after.
At his baptism, S. David splashed some water on to the blind eyes
of the bishop who was baptizing him, and restored their power of
sight. His schoolfellows at "Henmenen" saw a dove teaching him, and
singing hymns with him. After studying with Paulinus, he journeyed
to Glastonbury. He was intending to dedicate afresh the church which
had been re-built, when the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and told
him that He had already dedicated it: as a sign that He had spoken
unto him He pierced the saint's hand with His fingers. So our saint
contented himself with building a Lady Chapel at the east end. He is
said to have founded twelve monasteries on this journey. He returned
to Wales, and then established a monastery at Mynyw, which was soon
filled with monks and disciples. They worked hard with their own hands
in the fields; they harnessed themselves to the plough instead of using
oxen for that purpose; they tended bees that they might have some honey
to give to the sick and the poor. The bees became so attached to one
monk, Modemnoc, that they followed him on board ship when he was about
to set sail for Ireland. He returned to the monastery and made several
attempts to embark unobserved by his winged friends; but all his
efforts failed. So at last he asked S. David's leave to take them with
him; the saint blessed the bees, and bade them depart in peace, and be
fruitful and multiply in their new home. Thus Ireland, where bees had
been hitherto unable to live, was enriched by their honey.
He opened many fountains in dry places, healed many brackish streams,
raised many dead to life, and had many visions of God and of Angels. In
one of these visions he was warned that he should depart, March 1st.
Thenceforth he was more zealous in the discharge of his duty: on the
Sunday before his death he preached a sermon to the assembled people,
and after consecrating and receiving the Lord's Body, he was seized
with a sudden pain: then turning to the people he said, "Brethren,
persevere in the things which ye have heard of me: on the third day
hence I go the way of my fathers." On that day, while the clergy were
singing the Matin Office, he had a vision of his Lord; then, exulting
in spirit, he exclaimed, "Raise me after Thee." With these words he
breathed his last.
He was canonized by Pope Callixtus II., A.D. 1120; who is also said to
have granted an indulgence to all those who made a pilgrimage to his
shrine. Three kings of England--William the Conqueror, Henry II., and
Edward I.--are said to have undertaken the journey, which when twice
repeated was deemed equal to one pilgrimage to Rome; whence arose this
saying:--
"Roma semel quantum, dat bis Menevia tantum."
A noble English matron, Elswida, in the reign of Edgar, transferred his
relics, probably in 964, from S. David's to Glastonbury.
S. David's plain but empty shrine stands now in the choir of S. David's
Cathedral to the north of Edward Tudor's altar tomb.
S. ALBINUS, B. OF ANGERS.
(ABOUT A.D. 549.)
[S. Albinus seems to have enjoyed an amount of popularity as a
saint which it is difficult to account for. Besides receiving great
veneration at Angers, where his feast is a double, and in Brittany,
where it is a semi-double, in Gnesen, in Poland, it was observed as a
double. His name appears in most Martyrologies, as those of Usuardus,
Hrabanus, Wandelbert, &c. Authority:--His life written by Fortunatus,
a priest, his contemporary.]
S. Albinus, or _S. Aubin_, as he is called in France, belonged to an
ancient family at Vannes, in Brittany. He embraced the religious life
in the abbey of Cincillac, called afterwards Tintillant, near Angers.
At the age of thirty-five, in the year 504, he was chosen abbot, and
twenty-five years afterwards, bishop of Angers. In the 3rd Council
of Orleans, in 538, he caused the thirtieth canon of the Epaone to
be revived, which declared excommunication to those who contracted
marriage within the first or second degree of consanguinity. His life
is singularly devoid of incident which could mark it off from that of
many another abbot and bishop, and it is therefore difficult to account
for his undoubted popularity in France in ancient times.
S. SWIBERT, THE ELDER, B., AP. OF THE FRISIANS.
(A.D. 713.)
[Ado, Usuardus, Molanus, Belgian, and Cologne Martyrologies, Gallican
and Roman Martyrologies. Authorities:--Bede, lib. V. C. 12; and the
life of S. Willibrod. There exists a forged life of S. Swibert, under
the name of Marcellinus, which was composed in the 15th century, and
which is undeserving of attention. S. Swibert is called the Elder
to distinguish him from S. Swibert, B. of Verden, in Westphalia, in
807. (April 30); there was also another Swibert about 750, abbot in
Cumberland, mentioned by Bede. Many writers have confounded together
S. Swibert the Elder, and S. Swibert the Younger.]
S. Swibert was a Northumbrian monk who had been trained under S.
Egbert, whom he accompanied to Ireland. Egbert desired greatly the
conversion of Friesland, but was unable himself to attempt it, and
his zeal communicated itself to his disciple Swibert, and when S.
Willibrord sailed in 690 for that country, Swibert, at Egbert's desire,
accompanied him. They landed at the mouth of the Rhine, at Katwyck, and
Willibrord established his head quarters at Utrecht. Two years before,
Pepin l'Herstall had conquered Radbod, king of Frisia, and had obliged
him to ask peace, and abandon to the mayor of the palace his most
important possessions, amongst others the whole basin between the Meuse
and the Rhine, where stand now the town of Leyden, Delft, Gouda, Brill,
and Dortrecht, as well as the city of Utrecht.
Finding it difficult to make headway against the superstitions of
paganism, Willibrord appealed to the authority of Pepin, who sent
Willibrord to Rome to receive mission and benediction for his work
from the Holy See. On his return, success declared for the apostles,
and four years after, Pepin sent Willibrord again to Rome with letters
praying the pope to ordain him bishop to the nation he had converted.
Pope Sergius consecrated him in 696, and Willibrord fixed his see at
Utrecht, of which he was the first bishop. In the meantime, Swibert had
been labouring in Hither Friesland, or the southern part of Holland,
the northern part of Brabant, and the counties of Guelders and Cleves,
with great success. In 697, Swibert was in England, probably in quest
of fellow-helpers for the harvest, for the fields were white thereto,
and he received episcopal consecration from the hands of S. Wilfred
of York, then in banishment from his see. Swibert, invested with this
sacred character, returned to his flock, and committing them to the
care of S. Willibrord, penetrated further up the Rhine, and preached to
the Boructarii, a people living below Cologne, with success. But the
Saxons invading the country, swept away his work, and he retired into
the islet of Kaiserwerth in the Rhine, which Pepin had given him, where
he founded a monastery, which flourished for many ages, till it was
converted into a collegiate church of secular canons.
His relics were found in 1626, at Kaiserwerth, in a silver shrine, and
there are preserved and venerated.
S. MONAN, ARCHD. AND C.
(A.D. 874.)
[Aberdeen Breviary.]
S. Adrian, bishop of S. Andrews, trained the holy man from his
childhood, and appointed him to be his archdeacon. He afterwards sent
him to preach the Gospel in the island of May, at the mouth of the
Frith of Forth; he then went into Fife. The Church suffered severely
from the incursions of the Northmen who ravaged the coasts, burning
churches and monasteries, robbing them of their sacred vessels, and
carrying off the unfortunate people captive. S. Monan is said by Butler
to have been martyred by these invaders, but this is inaccurate. There
is no evidence that he died any other than a peaceful death. He was
buried at Inverny.
[Illustration: S. RUDESIND. After Cahier.
March 1.]
S. LEO, ABP. OF ROUEN, M.
(ABOUT A.D. 900.)
[Gallican Martyrology; on this day at Bayonne. By Saussaye and
Ferrarius on March 3rd. Authority:--Two lives of no great antiquity,
one written shortly after 1293.]
Leo, Gervase, and Philip, were the three sons of pious parents in
the North of France; Leo was elected to be archbishop of Rouen, but
resigned his government of the diocese into the hands of vicars, and
betook himself with his two brothers to Bayonne, where Christianity
had made but small progress, much heathen superstition remained, and a
colony of Moors had settled there. He was well received, and succeeded
in making many converts, but was killed by some pirates who had lived
in the town, but had been ejected by the citizens on account of their
nefarious deeds. According to the legend, a spring of water bubbled up
where S. Leo fell, and he arose and carried his head to the place where
he had last been preaching.
He is represented in Art, at Bayonne, where he is greatly venerated, as
a bishop, holding his head in his hands.
S. RUDESIND, B. C.
(A.D. 977.)
[Spanish and Benedictine Martyrologies. Office with twelve lections
in the Coimbra Breviary. His translation is observed on Sept. 1st.
Authority:--A life by Brother Stephen of Cella-nuova, about 1180.]
The Blessed Rudesind was the son of a Count Gutierre da Mendenez, in
Gallicia. His mother is said to have had a foretoken of the sanctity
of the child that was about to be given her, whilst praying in the
Church of S. Salvador on Mount Corduba. When the child was born, she
desired to have him baptised in the church, but as there was no font
there, one had to be brought up the hill in a cart. The cart broke
down, says the popular legend, however, the font continued its journey
without it. The child grew up to be a good man, and he was appointed to
the bishopric of Dumium, a see which has ceased to exist. His kinsman,
Sisnand, bishop of Compostella, was a scandal to the Church, "spending
all his time in sports, excesses, and vanities, and paying no attention
to his duties." Wherefore, at the request of the king, Sancho, and
the nobles and people, Rudesind undertook the government of it, and
Sancho put Sisnand in prison. During the absence of the king against
the Moors, the Normans invaded Gallicia, whereupon the bishop called
together an army, marched against them, and drove them back to their
ships, and then turned his arms against the Moors, and routed them. On
the death of Sancho, Sisnand escaped from prison, attacked Rudesind on
Christmas night, whilst engaged with the canons in the sacred offices,
and threatened him, sword in hand, unless he resigned the see. Rudesind
at once laid aside his office, and retired into a monastery, where he
assumed the habit, and after some years was chosen abbot.
[Illustration: Lichfield Cathedral. See page 23.]
March 2.
SS. MARTYRS, _under the Emperor Alexander at Rome, circ._ A.D. 219.
SS. JOVINUS AND BASILEUS, _MM. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 258.
SS. DUCIUS, _B.M._, ABSALOM, LARGIUS, HEROLUS, PRIMITIUS, AND
JANUARIUS, _MM. at Cæsarea in Cappadocia_.
SS. PAUL, HERACLIUS, SECUNDOLA, JANUARIA, AND LUCIOSA, _MM. in the
Port of Rome_.
S. SIMPLICIUS, _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 483.
S. JOAVAN, _P. at S. Paul de Leon, 6th. cent._
SS. MARTYRS, _under the Lombards, in Italy, circ._ A.D. 579.
S. CEADDA, OR CHAD, _B. of Lichfield_, A.D. 672.
S. WILLEICH, _P. at Keiser-werdt, on the Rhine, circ._ A.D. 726.
B. CHARLES THE GOOD, _M., Count of Flanders_, A.D. 1127.
SS. MARTYRS UNDER ALEXANDER.
(CIRC. A.D. 219.)
Nearly all the Latin Martyrologies commemorate these martyrs, without
giving their names. Baronius added to the Roman Martyrology, that
they suffered under Ulpian the præfect; this was a conjecture of his,
for Ulpian was bitterly hostile to the Christians, and it was under
him that S. Martina (Jan. 1st) suffered. Alexander himself, only
seventeen when he came to the throne, was of mild disposition, and the
reins of government were in the hands of his mother Mamæa, who, with
the approbation of the senate, chose sixteen of the wisest and most
virtuous senators as a council of state, and at the head of this placed
the learned Ulpian, a prudent governor, and severe disciplinarian, who
could not brook that certain citizens should worship God in any way
than that of the established religion, and looked on Christianity as a
dangerous political element in the state, which demanded extirpation.
S. SIMPLICIUS, POPE.
(A.D. 483.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Evagrius, Hist. Eccl., and his own
letters.]
S. Simplicius was born at Tivoli, and succeeded S. Hilary in the papal
throne, in 468. He strongly resisted the Emperor Leo, who desired to
elevate the patriarch of Constantinople to the second rank in the
Church, above the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. He was also
engaged in controversy with Acacius of Constantinople concerning the
appointment of Peter Mongus to the see of Alexandria. After having
governed the Church in most difficult and stormy times, Simplicius died
on March 2nd, in the year 483; and was buried in S. Peter's.
S. JOAVAN, P. C.
(6TH CENT.)
[Venerated in Brittany. Authorities:--A Life by Albert Le Grand, and
the lections of the Church of S. Paul de Léon. Albert Le Grand wrote
his life in 1623, from old MSS. histories and legends preserved at
Léon in his time.]
This saint was an Irishman by birth, and nephew of S. Paul de Léon.
He studied with his uncle in Britain, and then returned to Ireland,
but hearing that S. Paul had gone into Brittany, he departed for that
country, and after having passed his noviciate in the monastery of
Llanaterenecan, under S. Judulus, he departed to Léon, and received
priest's orders from his uncle, who appointed him to the isle of Baz.
He is patron of two parishes in the diocese of S. Paul de Léon.
SS. MARTYRS UNDER THE LOMBARDS.
(CIRC. A.D. 579.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Dialogues of S. Gregory the Great,
lib. iii.]
The Lombards in their ravages of the North of Italy put to death forty
husbandmen, who refused to eat meats they had offered to their idols,
and about four hundred who refused to pay reverence to the head of a
goat, which they regarded with a peculiar veneration.
S. CHAD, B. OF LICHFIELD.
(A.D. 672.)
[Roman, Anglican, Scottish, and Irish Martyrologies. Authorities:--A
life is given by Bede, lib. 3, cap. 23, 24, 28; Lib. 4, cap. 2,
3, also in a MS. printed in the Monasticon, and a Metrical Life
attributed to Robert of Gloucester.]
S. Chad or Ceadda was, perhaps, the youngest of the four brothers,
Cedd, Cynebil, and Celin, all of whom were eminent priests. Our saint
has sometimes been confounded with his brother Cedd, bishop among the
East Saxons, whose life was related on January 7th. We know neither the
date nor the place of his birth. It is certain he was an Angle, and
a native of Northumbria, and that he flourished in the 7th century,
though Dempster wishes to claim him as a Scottish, and Colgan as an
Irish, saint. The date 620 A.D. has been suggested as the probable time
of Chad's birth.
Bede tells us that S. Chad was a pupil of Aidan. That bishop required
the young men who studied with him to spend much time in reading Holy
Writ, and to learn by heart large portions of the Psalter, which they
would require in their devotions.
At the death of Aidan, in 651, he went to Ireland, which was then full
of men of learning and piety. The ravages of the Teutonic hordes on
the continent had driven thither many illustrious foreigners. Then
Ireland was fulfilling the mission ascribed to the Celtic race, that of
supplying the link between Latin and Teutonic civilization. S. Chad,
while in Ireland, made the acquaintance of Egbert, who was afterwards
abbot of Iona.
Cedd had, at the request of Ethelwald, King of Deira, established a
monastery at Lastingham, in Yorkshire. It stood just on the edge of
that wide expanse of moorland which extends thirty miles inland from
the coast.
Bishop Cedd returned thither from his diocese of London many years
after, at a time when a plague was raging. He caught it, and whilst
lying on his death-bed, bequeathed the care of the monastery to his
brother, Chad, who was still in Ireland.
S. Chad, on his return, ruled the monastery with great care and
prudence, and received all who sought his hospitality with kindness
and humility. One day a stranger arrived at the gate, praying to be
received into the brotherhood. This was Owini, lately steward of Queen
Ethelreda. Tradition relates that as he pursued his toilsome journey
from the fens which surrounded the abbey of Ethelreda into Yorkshire,
the pilgrim erected crosses by the roadside to guide any burdened souls
who might hereafter seek the same haven of rest. While quietly keeping
the strict rule of S. Columba at Lastingham, our saint was summoned to
the episcopate by King Oswy, of Northumbria.
But we must go back a little in our history. When the decision of the
council or parliament, held at Whitby, in 664, was adverse to the
Keltic rite, Cedd renounced the customs of Lindisfarne, but Colman,
bishop of Lindisfarne, obstinately holding to them, withdrew from
Northumbria into Scotland with all those who were willing to follow
him. Tuda succeeded him in the pontificate of Northumbria, but died
soon after.
[Illustration: S. CHAD.
March 2.]
"In the meanwhile," says Bede, "King Alchfrid (of Deira) sent Wilfrid
the priest to the king of the Gauls, to have him consecrated bishop for
himself and his subjects. Now he sent him to be ordained to Agilbert,
of whom we said above that he left Britain, and was made bishop of
the city of Paris. Wilfrid was consecrated, A.D. 665, by him with
great pomp; many bishops coming together for that purpose in a village
belonging to the king (Clothair III. of Neustria) called Compiegne.
While he was still making some stay abroad, after his ordination,
king Oswy, following the example of his son, sent to Kent a holy man
of modest character, sufficiently well read in the Scriptures, and
diligently carrying out into practice what he had learnt from the
Scriptures, to be ordained bishop of the Church at York. Now this was
a priest named Ceadda (Chad), brother of the most reverend prelate
Cedd, of whom we have made frequent mention, and abbot of the monastery
called Lastingham. The king also sent with him his own priest, Eadhed
by name, who was afterwards, in the reign of Egfrid, made bishop of
the Church of Ripon. But when they arrived in Kent, they found that
Archbishop Deusdedit had departed this life, and that no other prelate
was as yet appointed in his place. Whereupon they turned aside to the
province of the West Saxons, where Wini was bishop, and by him the
above-mentioned person was consecrated bishop; two bishops of the
British nation, who kept Easter Sunday according to canonical custom
from the 14th to the 20th day of the moon, being associated with him;
for at that time there was no other bishop in all Britain canonically
ordained, except Wini.
"Chad then, being consecrated a bishop, began at once to devote
himself to ecclesiastical truth and to chastity; to apply himself to
the practice of humility, continence, and study; to travel about, not
on horseback, but after the manner of the apostles, on foot, to preach
the gospel in the towns, the open country, cottages, villages, and
castles; for he was one of the disciples of Aidan, and endeavoured to
instruct his hearers by the same actions and behaviour, according to
his master's example and that of his own brother Cedd. Wilfrid also,
who had already been made a bishop, coming into Britain, A.D. 666,
in like manner by his doctrine brought into the English Church many
rules of Catholic observance. Whence it came to pass that the Catholic
institutions daily gained strength, and all the Scots that dwelt in
England either conformed to these or returned into their own country."
This is Bede's account of the consecration of Wilfrid and Chad. At that
time the diocese of York comprised the whole of Northumbria, including
the south of Scotland. Under Oswald the see of Lindisfarne--the Iona
of the Anglo-Saxons--was founded, containing within its jurisdiction
the kingdom of Bernicia, until the establishment by Theodore of
another see at Hexham. The writer of Wilfrid's life tells us that he
objected to being consecrated by the English bishops, inasmuch as they
were converts to the Scottish calculation regarding the celebration
of Easter, or had received consecration from those who were of that
opinion. Though Wini, who had been consecrated in Gaul, cannot be
placed in either of these classes, yet Wilfrid knew he would summon
to assist him two bishops who belonged to one of them; hence his
preference for Gaul. Wilfrid's delay in Gaul, perhaps, excited the
King's suspicions that he, like his friend Agilbert, was seeking a
mitre there; or it may be that the king, influenced by the Scottish
party (who could not forgive Wilfrid for the victory he gained over
them at Whitby), consented to the election of Chad to the see.
Chad has been severely censured for accepting the bishopric under these
circumstances. It may be, however, that he, stirred by sorrow at seeing
the diocese left without a head, and doubting too, perhaps, whether
Wilfrid would return, adopted this course, which may be condemned as
uncanonical.
S. Chad is commemorated in some Breviaries as an archbishop. But he was
only a bishop, for that dignity had fallen into abeyance from the time
that Paulinus fled into Kent. But though no suffragans acknowledged
Chad as their superior, he had ample scope for the most abundant
energy. We have given above Bede's account of his untiring labours;
let us now hear that of the metrical Life attributed to Robert of
Gloucester.
He endeavoured earnestly, night and day, when he had thither come,
To guard well holy Church, and to uphold Christendom.
He went into all his bishopric, and preacht full fast,
Much of that folk, through his word, to God their hearts cast,
All afoot he travelled about, nor kept he any state,
Rich man though he was made he reckoned there of little great.
The Archbishop of York had not him used to go
To preach about on his feet, nor another none the mo,
They ride upon their palfreys, lest they should spurn their toe,
But riches and worldly state doth to holy Church woe.
Theodore, the new archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in A.D.
669. "Soon after," says Bede, "he visited the whole island, wherever
the tribes of the Angles dwelt, for he was willingly entertained and
heard by all persons; and everywhere he taught the right rule of life,
and the canonical custom of celebrating Easter. He was the first
archbishop whom all the English Church obeyed.
Visiting Northumbria, he charged Chad with not being duly consecrated.
The saint replied with great humility, "If thou knowest that I have
not duly received the episcopate, I willingly resign the office, for I
never thought myself worthy of it; but, though unworthy, I consented to
undertake it for obedience sake." Theodore hearing his humble answer,
said that he should not resign the episcopate, but he himself completed
his ordination again after the Roman manner. He probably advised
Chad to resign his see to Wilfrid, for we next hear of our saint in
retirement at Lastingham.
In 669, Jaruman, bishop of the Mercians, died. King Wulfhere asked
Theodore to send them a bishop. The archbishop did not wish to
consecrate a fresh one, so he begged King Oswy to let Chad, who was
then at Lastingham, be their bishop. Theodore knowing that it was
Chad's custom to go about the work of the gospel on foot, rather than
on horseback, bade our saint ride whenever he had a long journey to
perform, but, finding Chad unwilling to comply, the archbishop with his
own hands lifted him on horseback, for he thought him a holy man, and
obliged him to ride wherever he had need to go.
Though Chad was bishop of Lindisfarne for so short a time, he left
his mark on the affections of the people, for we find that at least
one chantry was dedicated in his name at York Minster. Soon after
his election to the bishopric of the Mercians, he set out for Repton
in Derbyshire, where Diuma, the first bishop of the Mercians, had
established his see.
Whether our saint desired a more central position for the episcopal
see, or was influenced by the wish to do honour to a spot enriched with
the blood of martyrs, Bede does not tell us, but Chad established the
Mercian see at Lichfield, then called Licetfield, or the Field of the
Dead, where one thousand British Christians are said to have been put
to death.
His new diocese was not much less in extent than that of Northumbria.
It comprised seventeen counties, and stretched from the banks of the
Severn to the shores of the German Ocean. Theodore, years afterwards,
detached from it the sees of Worcester, Leicester, Lindesey (in
Lincolnshire), and Hereford. Though it was far beyond the power of one
man to administer it effectually, yet Bede witnesses that "Chad took
care to administer the same with great rectitude of life, according to
the example of the ancients. King Wulfhere also gave him land of fifty
families to build a monastery at the place called Ad Barve, _i.e._, 'At
the wood,' in the province of Lindesey, wherein monks of the regular
life instituted by him continue to this day." "Ad Barve" is conjectured
by Smith, of Durham, to be Barton-on-Humber, where there is still
standing a very ancient church, admitted by Rickman to be partly Saxon,
dedicated to S. Peter.
After fixing his see at Lichfield, Bede tells us "he built himself
a habitation not far from the Church, wherein he was wont to pray
and read with seven or eight of the brethren, as often as he had any
spare time from the labour and ministry of the Word. When he had most
gloriously governed the Church in that province two years and a half,
in the dispensation of the Most High Judge, there came round the time
of which Ecclesiastes speaks. "There is a time to cast stones, and a
time to gather them together," for a deadly sickness sent from heaven
came upon that place, to transfer, by the death of the flesh, the
living stones of the Church from their earthly abodes to the heavenly
building. And after many of the Church of that most reverend prelate
had been taken out of the flesh, his hour also drew near wherein he
was to pass out of this world to our Lord. It happened that one day,
Owini, a monk of great merit, the same that left his worldly mistress
to become a subject of the heavenly king, at Lastingham, was busy
labouring alone near the oratory, where the bishop was praying, the
other monks having gone to the Church, this monk, I say, heard the
voice of persons singing most sweetly, and rejoicing, and appearing
to descend from heaven. He heard the voice approaching from the
south-east, till it came to the roof of the oratory, where the bishop
was, and entering therein, filled the same and all about it. After a
time he perceived the same song of joy ascend from the oratory, and
return heavenwards the same way it came, with inexpressible sweetness.
Presently the bishop opened the window of the oratory, and, making a
noise with his hand, ordered him to ask the seven brethren who were
in the church, to come to him at once. When they were come, he first
admonished them to preserve the virtue of peace among themselves, and
towards all the faithful, also to practise indefatigably the rules of
regular discipline, which they had either been taught by him or seen
him observe, or had noticed in the words or actions of the former
fathers. Then he added that the day of his death was at hand: 'For,'
said he, 'that amiable guest who was wont to visit our brethren, has
vouchsafed to come to me also to-day, and to call me out of this world.
Return, therefore, to the church, and speak to the brethren, that they
in their prayers recommend my passage to the Lord, and that they be
careful to provide for their own, the hour whereof is uncertain, by
watching, prayer, and good works.' When they, receiving his blessing,
had gone away in sorrow, Owini returned alone, and casting himself on
the ground prayed the bishop to tell him what that song of joy was
which he heard coming to the oratory. The bishop, bidding him conceal
what he had heard till after his death, said, 'They were angelic
spirits, who came to call me to my heavenly reward, which I have always
longed after, and they promised they would return seven days' hence,
and take me away with them.' His languishing sickness increasing daily,
on the seventh day, when he had prepared for death by receiving the
Body and Blood of our Lord, his soul being delivered from the prison
of the body, the angels, as may justly be believed, attending him, he
departed to the joys of heaven.
"It is no wonder that he joyfully beheld the day of his death, or
rather the day of our Lord, which he had always anxiously looked for
till it came; for notwithstanding his many merits of continence,
humility, teaching, prayer, voluntary poverty, and other virtues, he
was so full of the fear of God, so mindful of his last end in all his
actions, that, as I was informed by one of the brothers, who instructed
me in divinity, and who had been bred in his monastery, whose name
was Trumhere, if it happened that there blew a strong gust of wind,
when he was reading or doing anything else, he at once called upon God
for mercy, and begged it might be extended to all mankind. If it blew
stronger, he, prostrating himself, prayed more earnestly. But if it
proved a violent storm of wind or rain, or of thunder and lightning,
he would pray and repeat Psalms in the church till the weather became
calm. Being asked by his followers why he did so, he answered, 'Have
ye not read,--'The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest
gave forth His voice; yea, He sent out his arrows and scattered them,
and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them.' For the Lord moves
the air, raises the winds, darts lightning, and thunders from heaven
to excite the inhabitants of the earth to fear Him; to put them in
mind of the future judgment; to dispel their pride and vanquish their
boldness, by bringing into their thoughts that dreadful time when, the
heavens and the earth being in a flame, He will come in the clouds with
great power and majesty, to judge the quick and the dead. Wherefore it
behoves us to answer His heavenly admonition with due fear and love.'
"Chad died on the second of March, and was first buried by S. Mary's
Church, but afterwards, when the Church of the most Holy Prince of
the Apostles, Peter, was built, his bones were translated into it. In
both which places as a testimony of his virtue, frequent miraculous
cures are wont to be wrought. The place of the sepulchre is a wooden
monument, made like a little house covered, having a hole in the wall,
through which those that go thither for devotion usually put in their
hand and take out some of the dust, which they put into water and give
to sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are presently eased of
their infirmity and restored to health."
We have told the life of S. Chad in the reverent language of Bede, who,
as he says, had some of the details direct from those who had studied
under the saint. Though his episcopate was short, it was abundantly
esteemed by the warm-hearted Mercians, for thirty-one churches are
dedicated in his honour, all in the midland counties, and either in or
near the ancient diocese of Lichfield. The first church ever built in
Shrewsbury was named after him, and when the old building fell, in the
year 1788, an ancient wooden figure of the patron escaped destruction,
which is still preserved in the new church. The carver has represented
him in his pontifical robes and a mitre, with a book in his right hand,
and a pastoral staff in his left.
His well is shown at Lichfield. There was one in London called Chad's
Well, the water of which was sold to valetudinarians at sixpence a
glass. Doubtless, from the miracles alleged to have been wrought by
mixing a little dust from his shrine with water, he got the character
of patron saint of medicinal springs. At Chadshunt there was an
oratory and well bearing his name. The priest received as much as £16
a-year from the offerings of pilgrims. Chadwell--one source of the New
River--is, perhaps, a corruption for S. Chad's Well.
No writings of our saint have survived, but in Lichfield Cathedral
library there is a MS. of the 7th century in Anglo-Saxon character,
containing the Gospels of S. Matthew, S. Mark, and part of S. Luke,
which is known by the name of _Chad's Gospel_.
Among the Bodleian MSS. there is an Anglo-Saxon homily for S. Chad's
day, written in the _Middle Anglian_ dialect, which stretched from
Lichfield to Peterborough.
His relics were translated from the wooden shrine to the cathedral,
when it was rebuilt by Bishop Roger, in honour of SS. Mary and Chad. In
1296, Walter Langton was raised to the see of Lichfield. He built the
Lady Chapel, and there erected a beautiful shrine, at the enormous cost
of £2,000, to receive the relics of S. Chad. This was spared by Henry
VIII.
His emblem in the Clog Almanacks is a branch. Perhaps this was
suggested by the Gospel, viz., S. John v., formerly read on the Feast
of his Translation, which speaks of the fruitful branches of the vine.
This translation was formerly celebrated with great pomp at Lichfield,
on August 2nd.
As long as the virtues of chastity, humility, and a forsaking all for
Christ's sake are esteemed among men, the name of the apostle of the
Mercians ought not to be forgotten.
A beautiful legend formerly inscribed beneath the cloister windows of
Peterborough, recorded the conversion of King Wulfhere's sons, Wulfade
and Rufine, by S. Chad, and their murder by their father, for he had
turned heathen again in spite of the entreaties of Queen Ermenild:--
By Queen Ermenild had King Wulfere
These twey sons that ye see here.
Wulfade rideth as he was wont,
Into the forest the hart to hunt;
Fore all his men Wulfade is gone,
And sought, himself, the hart alone.
The hart brought Wulfade to a well,
That was beside Seynt Chaddy's cell.
Wulfade asked of Seynt Chad,
Where is the hart that me hath led?
The hart that hither thee hath brought,
Is sent by Christ, that thee hath bought.
Wulfade prayed Chad, that ghostly Leech,
The faith of Christ him for to teach.
Seynt Chad teacheth Wulfade the feyth,
And words of baptism over him seyth.
Seynt Chad devoutly to mass him dight,
And hoseled Wulfade Christy's knight.
Wulfade wished Seynt Chad that day,
For his brother Rufine to pray.
The legend goes on to say that Rufine was baptized also by the saint.
The king's steward, Werbode (who had been rebuked by the two princes
for seeking the hand of their sister, Werburga), told Wulfere of their
becoming Christians, and that they were then praying in S. Chad's
oratory. The king took horse thither at once, and slew them both with
his own hand. Stung with remorse, he fell ill, and was counselled by
his queen to ask Chad to shrive him. As a penance the saint told him to
build several abbeys, and amongst the number he completed Peterborough
Minster, which his father had begun. This legend is told with very full
and touching details in a Latin version printed in the Monasticon.[3]
[3] Many of these details of S. Chad's life are taken from Mr. Warner's
excellent life of S. Chad.
The Latin version is this. King Wulfere, son of Penda the Strenuous,
had been baptized many years before by B. Finan, and promised at the
font, and again when he wedded Ermenilda, of the royal house of Kent,
to destroy all the idols in his realm. He neglected to do so, and let
his three sons, Wulfade, Rufine, and Kenred remain unbaptized. His
beauteous daughter, Werburga, had been dedicated to Christ as a virgin
by the Queen; yet, when Werbode, his chief councillor, and the chief
supporter of idolatry in the realm, sought her hand in marriage, the
king consented. The queen, Ermenilda, however, sharply rebuked him for
his presumption. The brothers threatened him with their sore vengeance
if he again preferred his low-born suit to their sister. Their
disdainful words cost them dear.
While Chad was praying by a fountain near his cell, a hart, with
quivering limbs and panting breath, leaped into the cooling stream.
Pitying its distress, the saint covered him with boughs, then placing
a rope round its neck, he let it graze in the forest. Wulfade came up,
heated in the chase, and asked where the beast had gone. The saint
replied, "Am I keeper of the hart? Yet, through the ministry of the
hart I have become the guide of thy salvation. The hart bathing in the
fountain foreshoweth to thee the laver of baptism, as the text says: As
the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee,
O God."
Many other things did the saint set forth about the ministry of dumb
animals to the faithful. The dove from the ark told that the waters
were dried up.
The young prince replied, "The things you tell me would be more likely
to work faith in me if the hart you have taught to wander in the
forest with the rope round its neck were to appear in answer to your
prayers." The saint prostrated himself in prayer, and lo! the hart
burst from the thicket. The saint exclaimed, "All things are possible
to him that believeth. Hear then, and believe the faith of Christ."
The saint instructed him, and baptized him. The next day he received
the Eucharist, and went home, and told his brother Rufine that he had
become a Christian. The other said, "I have long wished for baptism; I
will seek holy Chad." The brothers set out together. Rufine espying the
hart with the cord round its neck, gave hot chase; the animal made for
the saint's cell, and leaped into the fountain as before. Rufine saw a
venerable man praying near. He said, "Art thou, my lord, father Chad,
guide of my brother Wulfade to salvation?" He answered, "I am." The
prince earnestly desiring baptism, Chad baptized him, Wulfade holding
him at the font, after the manner taught by holy Church.
Then they departed, but returned daily to him. Werbode stealthily spied
their ways and doings, and told their father that they had become
Christians, and were then worshipping in Chad's oratory, adding that
their conversion would alienate his subjects. The king set out in anger
for the cell, the queen sending Werbode before to tell the princes of
his approach, that they might hide. But Werbode only looked in at the
window of the oratory, and saw them praying earnestly. He returned to
the king, and told him that his sons were obstinate in their purpose
of worshipping Christ. The king, pale with anger, rushed towards the
oratory. He threatened them with his vengeance for breaking the laws
of the land by becoming Christians, and bade them renounce Christ.
Wulfade replied, "They did not want to break the laws, and that the
king himself once professed the faith which now he renounced. They
wished to retain his fatherly affection, but no tortures could turn
them from Christ." The king rushed furiously upon him, and cut off his
head. His brother, Rufine, fled, but his father pursued him, and gave
him a mortal wound. Thus these two departed to celestial glory. Werbode
was smitten with madness when they returned to the castle and told the
murder in the ears of all. The queen buried her sons honourably in one
stone tomb, and withdrew with her daughter, Werburga, to the monastery
at Sheppey, and then to that of Ely.
The king, overcome with remorse, fell dangerously ill. The queen
counselled him to seek out Chad, and confess to him. Wulfere took her
advice, and starting one morning with his thanes, as if to follow the
chase, his attendants got scattered from him, and he was left alone.
Soon he espied the meek hart with the rope round its neck; he followed
its track gladly, till he came to Chad's cell. The king, approaching
the oratory, espied the saint saying mass; he dared not enter till he
had been shriven. When the canon began, so great a light shone through
the apertures in the wall, that priest and sacrifice were covered with
such splendour that the king was nearly blinded by it, for it was
brighter than that of the natural sun.
The saint knew what the king wanted, so when the office was ended he
hastily put off his vestments, and, thinking to lay them upon the
appointed place, unwittingly hung them upon a sunbeam, for the natural
sun was now streaming through the window. He found the king prostrate
before the door; raising him up he heard the penitent's confession,
and enjoined him as a penance, to root out idolatry, and to found
monasteries.[4] He then motioned to the king that he should enter the
oratory and pray. Wulfere, chancing to lift up his eyes, with wonder
saw the vestments hanging on the sunbeam. He rose from his knees, and,
drawing near, placed his own gloves and baldric upon the beam, but they
immediately fell to the ground. The king understood by this that Chad
was beloved by the Sun of Righteousness, since the natural sun paid him
such homage.
[4] The reader will here recall the account of Lancelot and the Sacring
in the Tower by Joseph of Arimathæa, in the Morte d'Arthur.
B. CHARLES THE GOOD, M., COUNT OF FLANDERS.
(A.D. 1127.)
[Hermann Greven and Molanus in their additions to Usuardus,
Galesinius, Canisius, Saussaye, and the Belgian Martyrologies.
Authorities:--A life by a contemporary, Walter, archdeacon of
Thèrouanne, another life by Gualbert of Bruges, written about two
years after the death of the count, and another by Suger, abbot of S.
Denys, d. 1151.]
Charles the Good, Count of Flanders, the son of S. Canute, King of
Denmark, and Adelheid,[5] daughter of Robert the Frisian, was taken to
Bruges after the martyrdom of his father, (see Jan. 19th), and received
a careful education from Robert II., Count of Flanders, his uncle on
his mother's side, who trained him to be a good knight, 'without fear
and without reproach,' and at the same time to be a good Christian.
Charles distinguished himself by his bravery in the Holy Land, and in
the war carried on by his uncle against the English, and after the
death of Baldwin VII., who succeeded his father, Robert II., in 1111,
and died without issue, he was declared his successor by acclamation
of the nobility and people, in accordance with the dying wish of his
uncle. His elevation was not, however, acceptable to every party in
the state, and his government, which began in the midst of plots, was
brought to a close by one.
[5] Aleidis or Alice.
He was married to Margaret de Clermont, sister of the Bishop of
Tournai, and of the royal blood of France.
On the sea-banks, in the midst of the sand-hills, living by piracy,
and by fishing, were colonies of Flemings. Furnes is the centre of
this district. It was held by Clémence of Burgundy, the widow of
Count Robert II., as her dowry. She had married one of her nieces to
King Louis VI., another to William de Loo, Viscount of Ypres, son of
Philip, her brother-in-law. Consequently there were several ambitious
and powerful parties ready to lay claim to the County of Flanders, and
wrest it from the hands of Charles.
The Flemings of the sea-coast rose, at the instigation of Clémence, and
were secretly favoured by the King of France; whilst, at the same time,
William de Loo asserted his claim.
The feudal nobles desired to profit by these circumstances, to
increase their own power. One of them, Godfrey of Louvain, married the
dowager countess, Clémence. The Counts of Hainault, Boulogne, S. Pol,
and Hesdin, took arms. Clémence took Audenarde, the Count of S. Pol
invaded West Flanders, but Charles fell suddenly on them with an army,
subjugated De Loo, deprived S. Pol of his castle, and the countess of
her dowry, dispersed the armed men of Hainault, Boulogne, and Coucy,
and as Walter of Thérouanne says, "The land held its tongue before
him." The king of France was the first to strike an alliance with him.
These successes excited the mistrust of the king of England and the
emperor Henry V. The latter, under pretext of a war against the duke
of Saxony, assembled an army in August 1124, crossed the Rhine, and
marched towards Metz, threatening to destroy Rheims, where pope
Callixtus II. had lately excommunicated him. In this imminent peril,
all the vassals of the king rallied around Louis VI. "The noble Count
of Flanders," says the abbot Suger, "brought with him ten thousand
brave soldiers, and if there had been time, he would have brought
thrice as many." In face of these preparations to resist his invasion
the emperor withdrew to Utrecht. On his death, all eyes turned to
Charles, and the imperial crown was offered him. He refused it, as
he did also the crown of Jerusalem, offered him by the Christians in
the Holy Land. He now devoted himself to the administration of his
country with great zeal. He enacted wise laws, and laboured to make
justice prevail in all the courts of judicature. Nevertheless a vague
uneasiness prevailed amongst his subjects. The sea had overleaped the
sand-hills, fires had broken out and consumed certain monasteries,
and an eclipse of the sun gave prognostication of further evils. The
winter of 1125 was of unparalleled severity; ice and snow prevailed
till the end of March, and no sooner had the fields and woods begun to
resume their verdant tints, than furious gales and a deluge of rain
dissipated the hopes of the farmers. A dreadful famine ensued. "Some,"
says Gualbert, "perished before they could reach the towns and castles,
where food was obtainable; others died in extending their hands for
alms. In all our land the natural colour of the face had become
exchanged for the pallor of death. Despair was general, for those who
were not themselves in want sickened with grief at the sight of such
miseries."
In these calamities the Count of Flanders exhibited more greatness than
if he had reigned at Aachen, or at Jerusalem. He exempted the farmers
from their taxes and rents, and required them to house and feed so many
poor. At Ypres he distributed 1800 loaves in one day. He forbade the
consumption of barley for the manufacture of beer, that it might be
used for bread, and he ordered the immediate sowing of such vegetables
as are of rapid growth. The ensuing winter was also severe, but with
the spring the distress gave signs of alleviation, for the crops were
abundant, and in the autumn plenty reigned once more. During the stress
of famine, Charles learnt that Lambert, brother of Bertulf, dean of
S. Donatus, at Bruges, had bought up all the grain of the monasteries
of S. Winoc, S. Bertin, S. Peter, and S. Bavo, together with all the
foreign corn that had been brought into the ports from the Baltic, and
was keeping it back so as to sell it at an enormous profit. Charles
sent for Lambert and the dean, and bitterly reproached them. The
Count sent one of his councillors, Tankmar van Straten, to examine
the granaries of these two men, and they were found to be filled to
overflowing with stored-up grain. Tankmar offered a reasonable price
for the store, but it was indignantly refused by the avaricious men.
He, therefore, by the Count's orders, insisted on their receiving it,
and opening the granaries, distributed the corn to the starving poor.
This aroused the wrath of the brothers, who had powerful friends among
the people of Furnes, and to avenge themselves, a project was formed
to assassinate the prince. One day, as he was hearing mass in a chapel
of the Cathedral of S. Donatus, at Bruges, one of the conspirators cut
off his arm with a hatchet, and another clave his skull. His body was
buried in the Church of S. Christopher, but was afterwards translated
to the Cathedral of S. Donatus, where they remained till the period of
the French Revolution, when the cathedral was levelled with the ground.
The relics of the holy martyr were, however, preserved with respect,
and on March 2nd, 1827, seven hundred years after the death of Charles,
were solemnly replaced above an altar in the Church of S. Sauveur,
now used as the cathedral. The day of his festival attracts a great
concourse of the faithful; those afflicted with fever especially come
from all quarters to cure themselves by drinking out of the skull of
the Blessed Charles the Good.
[Illustration: Decorative motif, snowdrops]
March 3.
SS. MARINUS, _M._, AND ASTERIUS, _C. at Cæsarea, circ._ A.D. 260.
SS. FELIX, CASTUS, LUCIOLUS, FLORIAN, JUSTUS, AND OTHERS, _MM.
in Africa_.
SS. EMETHERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS, _MM. at Calahorra, in Spain_.
SS. BASILISCUS, EUTROPIUS, AND CLEONICUS, _MM. at Amasea and
Comana, in Pontus, circ._ A.D. 308.
S. CAMILLA, _V. R. at Ecoulives, near Auxerre_, A.D. 437.
S. NÔN, _W. in Wales, the Mother of S. David, circ._ A.D. 460.
S. WINWALOE, _Ab. of Landevenec, in Brittany, 6th cent._
S. TITIAN, _B. of Brescia, circ._ A.D. 526.
S. CALUPANUS, _H. at Clermont_, A.D. 576.
S. KUNEGUND, _Empss. V., Wife and Wid., at Bamberg, circ._ A.D. 1040.
SS. MARINUS, M., AND ASTERIUS, C.
(ABOUT A.D. 260.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, Bede, Wandelbert, and Roman Martyrologies.
Authority:--Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 15, 16.]
"Peace being restored to the Church," writes Eusebius, "Marinus of
Cæsarea, in Palestine, who was one of the army, distinguished for
his military honours, and illustrious for his family and wealth, was
beheaded for his confession of Christ, on the following occasion. There
is a certain honour among the Romans, called the vine, which they who
obtain are said to be centurions. A place becoming vacant, Marinus, by
order of succession, was called to be promoted, but another, advancing
to the tribunal, objected, saying that he was a Christian, and refused
to sacrifice to the emperor, and therefore legally could not share in
Roman honours; but that the office devolved on himself, the objector,
who was second on the list. The judge, whose name was Achæus, roused
at this, began first to question Marinus on his opinions; and when he
saw that he was constant in affirming that he was a Christian, granted
him three hours for reflection. But as soon as he came out of the
judgment hall, Theotecnus, bishop of that place, coming to him, took
him by the hand, and drawing him to the Church, placed him before the
altar, raised his cloak a little, and pointing to the sword at his
side, at the same time that he presented before him the book of the
Holy Gospels, told him to choose which of the two he would retain.
Without hesitation, Marinus extended his hand and took the book. 'Hold
fast, then, hold fast to God,' said Theotecnus, 'and strengthened by
him, mayest thou obtain what thou choosest. Go in peace.' Immediately
on his return thence, a crier proclaimed before the prætorium that
the appointed time had elapsed. Marinus then was arraigned, and after
exhibiting a still greater fervour for the faith, was led away and made
perfect by martyrdom."
"Mention is also made of the confidence of Asterius, a man of
senatorial rank, in great favour with the emperors, and well known
for his nobility and wealth. As he was present at the death of
the above-mentioned martyr, taking up the corpse, he bore it on
his shoulder in a splendid and costly dress, and covering it in a
magnificent manner, gave it a decent burial."
Asterius is venerated by the Greeks on August 7th as a martyr, who
suffered decollation, and Marinus is not mentioned by them. Eusebius
says nothing of the martyrdom of Asterius, as he certainly would have
done, had he died for Christ, for he says, "Many other facts are
stated of this man by his friends, who are alive at present," and then
he relates his counteracting by his prayers the drowning of a victim
annually offered to the river Jordan. The Roman Martyrology, however,
accepts the Greek tradition. "Asterius received the honour he rendered
to the martyr, becoming himself a martyr;" but perhaps the word martyr
is here to be taken in the sense frequently given to it anciently, of
a confessor, or witness to Christ, not necessarily by losing his life
for his testimony, but only by imperilling it.
SS. EMETHERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS, MM.
(UNCERTAIN DATE.)
[Commemorated in the Mozarabic Missal and Breviary; the Evora and
Toledo Breviaries, and as a double at Burgos and Leon; Martyrology of
S. Jerome, those of Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and the Roman Martyrology.
Authority:--A hymn of Prudentius, and Acts of no great antiquity,
printed by Tamayus Salazar, and an Elogium by Gregory of Tours.]
These martyrs were put to death with the sword at Calahorra, in
Navarre, on the Ebro. According to the hymn of Prudentius, and the
story of Gregory of Tours, on their execution, the ring of one martyr,
and the stole (orarium) of the other, were caught up in a cloud, and
ascended into Heaven. Probably this legend contains a reminiscence of
an incident such as the wind wafting away some of the martyrs' garments
during the execution.
Relics at Calahorra.
SS. BASILISCUS, EUTROPIUS, AND CLEONICUS, MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 308.)
[By the Greeks on this day, but S. Basiliscus alone on May 22nd.
Menologium of the Emperor Basil, Modern Roman Martyrology. Tamayus
Salazar, trusting to the forged Flavius Dexter, claims them to be
Spanish martyrs. This is a common trick of some Spanish hagiologists,
who have appropriated all martyrs that are not, in Martyrologies,
given a place of martyrdom, and the pseudo-Dexter simply mentioned
these saints without saying that they were of Amasea and Comana;
therefore Salazar audaciously says, "In Caspetana (Sierra di
Guadalupe) in Spain, SS. Felix, Luciolus, ... Cleontius, Eutropius,
Basiliscus, who, in the persecution of Maximian, under Asclepiades,
the Governor, endured torments, and the cross itself, and as martyrs
ascended to Heaven." The forger of Flavius Dexter took the names from
the modern Roman Martyrology, where the name of the place of martyrdom
is not mentioned, and set them down as martyrs in some unknown city
of Spain; Salazar improved on the Pseudo-Dexter by planting them in
the Sierra di Guadalupe. The life of S. Basiliscus, if genuine, is by
Eusignius, who knew the martyr, and was himself, probably, a martyr in
the persecution afterwards, and is commemorated on August 5th. In the
life are many passages which show that Eusignius was well acquainted
with the facts he describes, such as "Christ accompanied His martyr,
as Basiliscus afterwards told me, Eusignius." He was eye-witness of
the events; he says, "As we approached the city, we heard, &c., ...
we tasted ... and when we went in, we heard, ... we, to whom it was
granted to see this terrible mystery ... we asked the speculator, and
gave him thirty gold pieces, and he gave us the body, and we buried
it, and we sowed vegetables ... and we went to rest." The Acts, if
they are genuine, and not an impudent forgery, have undergone much
interpolation. Some of these additions are apparent from a change of
the "we" to "they" in the account of the journey to Comana.]
In the reign of Maximian and Maximin, Agrippa was sent into Pontus, to
be governor in the room of Asclepiades, with orders to constrain all
Christians to sacrifice. Basiliscus, Eutropius, and Cleonicus, three
Christians of Amasea, were seized and thrown into prison. And when
Eutropius and Cleonicus had suffered, the blessed Basiliscus with many
tears prayed, saying, "O Lord Jesus Christ, remember me, even unto the
end, and make my calling manifest unto all, that I may not be separated
from these holy men who have been taken with me, and who have suffered
before me, and are crowned!" Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "I
will not forget thee. Thy name is written with those who have been with
thee. But be not downcast because thou art last; for thou shalt precede
many. But go, bid farewell to thy mother and thy brethren, and when
thou returnest, thou shalt receive thy crown. Fear not the torments
prepared for thee, for I shall be at thy side."
Then Basiliscus asked, and prevailed on, the jailor to let him go to
the village of Cumiala, near Amasea, where his mother lived, that he
might say farewell to her. Now it fell out that early in the morning
Agrippa unexpectedly sent for Basiliscus, and when he heard of the
indulgence that had been granted him--though soldiers had been sent as
guards with the prisoner--he was filled with rage, and threatened the
jailor with capital punishment. Then he called to him a city officer
named Magistrianus, a brutal fellow, implacable in his detestation
of Christianity, and commissioned him to take a band of soldiers
and convey Basiliscus to Comana, whither he himself was starting.
Magistrianus mounted his ass, and ambled to Cumiala, and surrounded the
doors of the house, as Basiliscus was parting with his mother and three
brothers, before returning. Magistrianus ordered a pair of boots to be
put on Basiliscus, with the nails in them protruding, and then bade him
limp along among the guards back to Amasea. The nails made his feet
bleed, and as he walked through the street of Amasea a crowd gathered,
murmuring against the tyranny of the governor and his satellites.
Magistrianus, in a rage, leaped off his ass, and cudgelled the mob with
the stick he had used to make the ass go, and the soldiers assisted
him to disperse the crowd. Basiliscus was then led along the road to
Comana, singing, "Though an host of men be set against me, yet shall
not my heart be afraid; for thou, O Christ, art with me!"
At mid-day the party, which consisted of fifteen, came to a little
village, and a lady's villa. The lady very courteously invited the
officer and his men into the house to refresh themselves, and they
tied Basiliscus with his hands behind his back to a plane tree in the
court yard. A number of the villagers came up to stare at the martyr,
who stood under the dry tree, suffering intensely from the heat, and
with blood dribbling from his wounded feet, "whilst Magistrianus and
his folk were feasting in Trojana's house, on all kinds of delicacies,
meats, and costly wines, served up in the cool summer dining hall,"
says Eusignius, bitterly.
But God did not forget the poor martyr under the blazing mid-day sun,
for the plane tree put forth leaves, and overshadowed him, and a
fountain bubbled at his feet, and cooled and laved his festering wounds.
On the party reaching Comana, Magistrianus led Basiliscus direct to the
temple of Apollo, where was the governor at the moment.
The governor at once ordered him to be brought in. Basiliscus smilingly
entered. "Why wilt thou not sacrifice, fellow?" asked the governor.
"Who told thee that I will not sacrifice?" answered Basiliscus. "Ah!
the gods be praised! thou wilt sacrifice then."
"I will offer to God the sacrifice of praise." "Offer to whom you
please," said the governor, sharply, "only sacrifice and have done with
this folly."
"Who is that?" asked Basiliscus, pointing to the image of Apollo.
"That is the god Apollo," answered Agrippa. "The name is appropriate
enough," said Basiliscus, "for he brings to destruction all who trust
in him."[6] Then he cried aloud to all in the temple, "Hearken, all
men, to my prayer, to the Lord of Heaven and earth." And he prayed,
"God, who art alone and true, with thine only-begotten Son, and the
Holy Spirit; who art invisible, incomprehensible, whom none can
describe and include, who art good and merciful, and acceptest not the
person of man, who createst the things that are out of that which is
not, and enlightenest us who sat in darkness, and gavest us the bright
knowledge of Thy deity: Thou art the helper of all them that trust in
Thee. God, who art alone holy, and dwellest in Thy saints, in me, thy
humble servant, exhibit Thy mercy, and confirm my prayer, for I pray
to Thee of Thy great goodness, Thou who spreadest out the heavens as a
curtain, and by Thy command makest them fast, and adornest them with
the bright shining stars, and with the glory of the sun, and the moon
walking in brightness, and givest us the hours of day; Thou didst make
Thy sun a chamber, and gavest him everlasting limits, and didst set
the moon to rule the course of time, and didst divide the hours and
days and months; Thou didst found the earth by Thy command, that it
should be an habitation for man, and didst give to it an everlasting
bound, and didst clothe it with trees and flowers; Thou didst lay the
sea and bound it by Thy precept, and madest a way over it; and didst
fashion man with Thine own holy hands after Thine image, and didst give
him wisdom and reason, and didst breathe into his face the breath of
life. Lord, who didst create the whole world, who from Adam till this
present, and hereafter till endless ages, keepest those that love Thee,
and glorifiest those that fear Thee! Lord Jesus Christ! hear the prayer
of Thy servant, and be present with me at this hour, and destroy this
deaf, and dumb, and blind, and senseless idol; break and dissolve this
god made with hands, and shew to these heathen the madness of their
worship, and Whom we worship and adore as God. Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing against Thy saints? Look, O Lord,
and keep not still silence, for thus behoves all honour and glory and
magnificence to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through ages of
ages. Amen."
[6] A pun in the Greek, impossible to translate.
And when he had said Amen, there was an earthquake, and a thunder
underground, and the temple shook to its foundations, and the image
of Apollo fell and was broken. Then all who were in the temple fled,
leaving Basiliscus alone with the broken idol at his feet. And when
the earthquake was past, the governor sent, and brought Basiliscus
forth, and his head was struck off with the sword. The governor ordered
the body to be thrown into the river, but Eusignius bribed the soldier
who was carrying it away to let him have it, and he buried it in a
field, and sowed herbs over it. S. Basiliscus died on July 21st. He
appeared in vision to S. Chrysostom the night before that aged saint
died; (see Jan 27th, p. 412.)
S. WINWALOE, AB.
(6TH CENT.)
[Anglican Martyrologies; Saussaye, in his Gallican Martyrology, the
Belgian Martyrologies. His translation from the old wooden church at
Landevenec, to a stone one, is commemorated on April 28th, and to
Montreuil-sur-Mer, on August 1st. Authorities:--Three Lives; the first
by an anonymous writer, given by the Bollandists, is full of fable,
and by no means early. The second is still less trustworthy, and is
given by Surius. The third is by Gurdestin, Monk of Landevenec. The
life by Albert le Grand is deserving of notice, but the historical
particulars are not accurate. There is great difficulty about
this saint. It is probable that there were two of his name, and
only by this means can the very different accounts of his life be
reconciled. One Winwaloe is a native of Brittany, and a disciple of
S. Corentine, and was translated to Montreuil. Another Winwaloe is a
native of Britain, a disciple of S. Sampson, of Dol, and afterwards
of S. Similian, abbot of Tauriac; and his body lies at Ghent. M. Ch.
Barthelemy, in his "Annales Hagiologiques de la France," 5th cent.,
claims for the first anonymous life to have been written by a disciple
of Winwaloe. But this is more than improbable. It has none of the
elements of a contemporary account. The writer says that the name
of the mother of the saint was not known; and he does not name his
master in the religious life, S. Corentine or S. Budock, but calls
him "a holy man," or "that man of God"; and the life, like all late
compilations, gives scanty details of persons and places, but abounds
in fables.[7]]
[7] The following is a specimen of the stories told by this author:
Winwaloe had a sister at home, who was one day playing with the geese
belonging to her father, when one of them flew at her, pecked out, and
swallowed her eye. The parents were in despair. Then an angel appeared
to the holy boy, Winwaloe, and told him of the trouble. Winwaloe at
once hastened home, singled out the guilty goose, sliced open its
belly, removed the eye of his sister from its crop, and replaced it
in his sister's head, and she saw as well as before. The boy then
miraculously healed the goose, and dismissed it to rejoin the flock.
After this he returned to his master and studies.
Winwaloe was born about the year 455; his father was Fragan, related
to Conan Meriadec. Fragan was governor of Léon (Lyoness) and
Cornonaille, under King Grallo, or Gradillon. Fragan married a noble
and wealthy lady named Gwen, of the Three Breasts, and resided with
her at Lesgwen, in the parish of Plonkin. By her he had a son, whom he
called Gwenaloe,[8] or "He that is white," on account of his beauty.
When Winwaloe was about fifteen years old he was given to a holy man,
S. Corentine, or S. Budock, it is uncertain which, together with his
brothers, Gwethenoc and Jacut, and they lived together, serving God in
the islet of Isle-vert.
[8] He is called Guennole, or Vignevale, in French. At
Montreuil-sur-Mer, of which place he is patron, he is called S. Valois.
His name has also been corrupted into Valvais and Vennole.
One day that Winwaloe was with his father, a fleet of pirates appeared
off the coast, and hovered about the harbour of Guic Sezne, near
Lauvengat. S. Winwaloe is said in the popular tradition to have
exclaimed on the occasion, _Me a vel mil Guern_, "I see a thousand
sails;" and a cross which commemorates the spot is called therefrom
to this day, _Croas al mil Guern_, "the cross of the thousand sails."
The pirates landed, but Fragan, having gathered his retainers, fell
upon them and utterly defeated them. Many were cut to pieces, and a
few escaped in their vessels. During the combat, Winwaloe, like a
second Moses, prayed with fervour; and after the victory he exhorted
his father to employ the spoil they had taken in building a monastery
on the spot where the battle took place, in Isel-Vez, in the parish of
Plou-Nevez. He did so, and the monastery was called Loc-Christ.
After some years, Winwaloe left his master, and settled in the island
of Sein, off the Point du Raz; but, finding it exposed to the full
swell of the Atlantic, and to every gale, he was obliged to desert
it, and found a more suitable place of settlement at Llandevenec, on
the opposite side of the harbour of Brest, where he established a
monastery, into which he gathered many disciples, and there, after many
years, he died, standing at the altar, after having bestowed the kiss
of peace on the brethren, on Saturday, the 3rd of March, in the first
week in Lent; a date which may be either 507, 518, or 529.
Another version of the history of S. Winwaloe makes him to have been
born in Wales, and to have had S. Budock for his preceptor.
The body of S. Winwaloe is preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, whither
it was translated through fear of the invasion of the Normans, after
having first just found shelter at Ghent. The chasuble, alb and bell
of S. Winwaloe, are preserved in the Jesuit Church of S. Charles, at
Antwerp.
At the same time, the body of a S. Winwaloe is also at Blandinberg,
near Ghent; and the story told of this saint is in many particulars
like that of the S. Winwaloe at Montreuil, but it differs in others.
S. Winwaloe is represented in art vested as an abbot, with staff in one
hand and bell in the other, standing by the sea, with the fish rising
out of the water as if obeying the summons of his bell.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
S. KUNEGUND, EMPSS.
(ABOUT A.D. 1040.)
[German, Cologne, Basle, and Roman Martyrologies; also in the
Benedictine Martyrology of Wyon. Proper offices in the Brussels,
Passau Ratisbon, Salzburg, Frisingen, Bamberg, Eichstadt, Vienna, and
other Breviaries. Her translation is celebrated on September 9th; and
her canonization on March 29th. At Bamberg she is again commemorated
on August 1st. Her life was written after 1190. This life forms
the Breviary lessons at Bamberg on March 3rd and August 1st. Other
authorities are the historians of the time.]
S. Kunegund, or Cunegundes, was the daughter of Sigfried, count of
Luxemburg, and Hedewig, his pious wife. She was married to S. Henry,
duke of Bavaria. Her sister was married to Gerard, Count of Alsace. Her
brothers were Henry, created, in 103, duke of Bavaria, when S. Henry
was emperor; Frederick, count of Luxemburg on the death of his father;
Dietrich, bishop of Metz; and others.
On the death of the emperor Otho III., S. Henry was elected king of
the Romans, and was crowned at Mentz on June 6th, 1002. Kunegund
was crowned empress at Paderborn, on August 10th, in the same year.
Immediately on his coronation his cousin, the Margrave, Henry of
Schwein-furt, demanded the dukedom of Bavaria, and his own brother,
Bruno, made a similar claim. But the emperor refused to give it to
either, and bestowed it on Henry, Count of Luxemburg, his wife's
brother. The two disappointed competitors then conspired against him
with Boleslas II., of Bohemia, but they were defeated by the emperor
near Creusen, in 1003, and were pardoned. Adalbert, another brother of
Kunegund, then expelled Megingod, archbishop of Treves, and seized on
the diocese for himself, but the emperor deposed him, and restored the
rightful archbishop.
[Illustration: S. KUNEGUND, Empress of Germany.
March 3.]
In 1013, Henry and Kunegund received the imperial crown at Rome,
from the pope. It was on this occasion that the pope bestowed on the
emperor the golden ball, the emblem of the globe over which he was
destined to rule. The imperial pair, it is said, had taken the vow of
chastity, but of this there is no evidence. Kunegund's virtue, however,
did not escape slander, and she voluntarily underwent the ordeal by
fire, and walked unharmed over glowing ploughshares to testify her
innocence.
S. Henry founded the bishopric of Bamberg, partly at the instigation of
S. Kunegund, who obtained for the city such privileges, that it became
a popular saying there, that Kunegund's silk threads defended Bamberg
better than walls and towers. Pope Benedict VIII. visited Bamberg in
1020, for the purpose of consecrating the new establishment. Kunegund
also built and endowed a Benedictine abbey for nuns, at Kaufungen,
near Cassel. Before it was finished, in 1024, S. Henry died. On the
anniversary of his death, in 1025, she assembled a great number of
prelates to the dedication of her church at Kaufungen; and after the
singing of the gospel, she offered on the altar a piece of the true
cross, and then put off her imperial robes, and clothed herself with
a poor habit; her hair was cut off, and the bishop put on her a veil,
and a ring as a pledge of her fidelity to her heavenly Spouse. After
she was consecrated to God in religion, she seemed entirely to forget
that she had been empress, and behaved as the last in the house, being
persuaded that she was so before God. She feared nothing more than
whatever could bring to her mind the remembrance of her former dignity.
She prayed and read much, worked with her hands, and took a singular
pleasure in visiting and comforting the sick. Thus she passed the
fifteen last years of her life, never suffering the least preference
to be given her above any one in the community. Her mortifications
at length reduced her to a very weak condition, and brought on
her last sickness. Her monastery and the whole city of Cassel were
grievously afflicted at the thought of their approaching loss; she
alone appeared without concern, lying on a coarse hair-cloth, ready
to give up the ghost, whilst the prayers of the dying were read by
her side. Perceiving they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to
cover her corpse after her death, she ordered it to be taken away; nor
could she be at rest till it was promised that she should be buried
as a religious in her habit. She died on the 3rd of March, 1040. Her
body was carried to Bamberg, and buried near that of her husband. The
greatest part of her relics still remains in the same church. She was
solemnly canonized by Innocent III. in 1200.
She is represented in art with the ploughshares at her feet
[Illustration: Forms of Mitre.]
March 4.
S. LUCIUS, _Pope, M. at Rome_, A.D. 253.
SS. NINE HUNDRED MARTYRS _on the Appian Way, at Rome, circ._ A.D. 260.
S. CAIUS _the Palatine_, AND XXVII. COMPANIONS, _MM. at Rome._
S. OWEN, _Mk. at Lastingham, end of 7th cent._
S. BASINUS, _B. of Treves, circ._ A.D. 672.
SS. ADRIAN, _B. of S. Andrews_, AND COMP., _MM. in the Isle of
May, circ._ A.D. 870.
S. CASIMIR, _Prince of Poland_, A.D. 1484.
S. LUCIUS, POPE, M.
(A.D. 253.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, Wandelbert, and Roman Martyrologies.
Authorities:--Eusebius, the letters of S. Cyprian, Anastasius
Bibliothecarius, and a Life by Guaiserius, a monk, (11th cent.)]
Saint Lucius was a Roman by birth, and one of the clergy of that
church under SS. Fabian and Cornelius. This latter having been crowned
with martyrdom, in 252, S. Lucius succeeded him in the pontificate.
The emperor Gallus having renewed the persecution of his predecessor
Decius, at least in Rome, this holy pope was no sooner placed in the
chair of S. Peter, than he was banished, though to what place is
uncertain. "Thus," says S. Dionysius of Alexandria, "did Gallus deprive
himself of the succour of heaven, by expelling those who every day
prayed to God for his peace and prosperity." S. Cyprian wrote to S.
Lucius to congratulate him both on his promotion, and on having had
grace to suffer banishment for Christ. Our saint had been but a short
time in exile when he was recalled, to the great joy of his people,
who went out of Rome in crowds to meet him. S. Cyprian wrote to him a
second letter of congratulation on this occasion. He says, "He had not
lost the dignity of martyrdom because he had the will, as the three
children in the furnace, though preserved by God from death; this
glory added a new dignity to his priesthood; so that he, a bishop,
assisted at God's altar, who could exhort his flock to martyrdom by
his own example as well as by his words. By giving such graces to his
pastors, God showed where his true Church was: for he denied the like
glory of suffering to the Novatian heretics. The enemy of Christ only
attacks the soldiers of Christ: heretics he knows to be already his
own, and passes them by. We supplicate God the Father and His Son, our
Lord, giving thanks and praying together, that He who perfects all may
bring you to the glorious crown of your confession, who, perhaps, has
only recalled you that your glory might not be hidden; for the victim
who owes his brethren an example of virtue and faith, ought to be
sacrificed before their eyes."
Eusebius says that Lucius did not occupy the pontifical throne for
above eight months. He seems to have died on March 4th, under Gallus,
but how we know not. His body was found in the Catacombs, and was laid
in the church of S. Cecilia at Rome, where it is now exposed to the
veneration of the faithful. Considerable portions of the body of S.
Lucius, M., are preserved at Bologna, and a head, purporting to be
that of S. Lucius, was anciently one of the great relics of Roeskilde
Cathedral. But these must be the remains of other saints of the same
name, and it was an error of the clergy of Bologna and of Roeskilde
to assert that these relics belonged to the martyred pope. That such
a mistake may easily have been made is seen from the fact that two
martyrs of the name of Lucius are commemorated on this day, the second
being a companion of Caius the Palatine; and six in January, and as
many in February, not to mention those in the other months. In the
Schleswig Breviary, published in 1512, the feast of S. Lucius, Pope,
M., was observed on account of the presence of the head of a S. Lucius,
M., at Roeskilde, with nine lessons at matins, of which the six first
were taken from the account of the Life and Translation of S. Lucius
the pope, made by pope Paschal in 812.
S. CAIUS THE PALATINE, AND COMP., MM.
(DATE UNCERTAIN.)
[Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Notker, Roman Martyrology. The names of the
companions of S. Caius vary in the Martyrologies.]
S. Caius, and twenty-seven fellow soldiers, suffered for the faith at
Rome. Caius was an officer of the palace, but under what emperor is not
known. He was drowned in the sea.
S. OWEN, MK.
(END OF 7TH CENT.)
[Anglican and Benedictine Martyrologies. Authority:--Bede, Hist.
Eccl., lib. iv. c. 3.]
The venerable Bede says, "Owen was a monk of great merit, having
forsaken the world with the pure intention of obtaining the heavenly
reward; worthy in all respects to have the secrets of our Lord revealed
to him, and worthy to have credit given by his hearers to what he
said; for he came with Queen Etheldreda from the province of the East
Angles, and was her prime minister, and governor of her household. As
the fervour of his faith increased, resolving to renounce the world,
he did not go about it slothfully, but quitting all he had, clad in a
plain garment, and carrying an axe and hatchet in his hand, came to
the monastery of S. Chad, at Lastingham: denoting that he did not go
to the monastery to live idly, as some do, but to labour, and this he
confirmed by his practice; for as he was less capable of meditating
on the Holy Scriptures, he the more earnestly applied himself to the
labour of his hands. In short, he was received by the bishop into the
house aforesaid, and there entertained with the brethren, and whilst
they were engaged within in reading, he was without doing such things
as were necessary.
"One day, when he was thus employed abroad, and his companions were
gone to the church, the bishop was alone, reading or praying in the
oratory of that place, when, on a sudden, as he afterwards said, he
heard voices singing most sweetly, and rejoicing, and appearing to
descend from heaven. And this sound seemed to come from the south-east,
and it afterwards drew nigh him to the oratory, where the bishop then
was, and entering therein, filled the same and all around. He listened
attentively to what he heard, and after about half an hour noticed the
same strain of joy ascend from the roof of the oratory, and return to
heaven the same way it came, with inexpressible sweetness. When he had
stood some time wondering, the bishop opened the window of the oratory,
and, making a noise with his hand, ordered him to come in to him.
"Then the holy Chad told him that the day of his death was at hand, and
that the angelic spirits had told him that in seven days they would
return and take him with them. And so it was: seven days after, S. Chad
entered into his rest." Nothing more is known of Owen. A stone cross
put up by Owen remains at Ely, and is preserved in that cathedral.
S. BASINUS, B. OF TREVES.
(ABOUT A.D. 672.)
[Treves and Cologne Martyrologies; Molanus and Greven. Authority:--His
Life by Nizo, Abbot of Metloch (Mediolanum) on the Saar, 11th cent.,
which is very untrustworthy.]
Basinus, of the illustrious family of the Dukes of Austrasia, was
received as monk into the monastery of S. Maximin, at Treves. He was
afterwards made abbot, and later, when S. Numerian, bishop of Treves,
was dead, he was constrained to assume the mitre in his room. He held
the see in the reign of Childebert II., king of Austrasia. He was a
friend of S. Willibrord. After his death, his body was laid in the
basilica of S. Maximin, under the high altar. It was taken up in 1621,
and placed in a more conspicuous position.
He was succeeded by his nephew, S. Lutwin.
S. ADRIAN, M. B. OF S. ANDREWS.
(ABOUT A.D. 870.)
[Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--The Lections from the same.]
S. Adrian, bishop of S. Andrews, in Scotland, was a native of Pannonia.
He laboured to spread the faith among the Picts, together with his
companions, Clodian, Caius, Monan, and Stobrand. As they were in the
island of May, the Danish pirates landed in it, and put Adrian and
Clodian to death.
S. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND.
(A.D. 1484.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Zacharias Ferrier, Papal Legate in
Poland, A.D. 1525.]
S. Casimir was the second son of Casimir III., king of Poland, and
of Elizabeth of Austria, daughter to the emperor Albert II., a most
virtuous woman, who died in 1505. He was born in 1458, on the 5th
of October. From his childhood he was remarkably pious and devout.
His preceptor was John Dugloss, called Longinus, canon of Cracow, a
man of extraordinary learning and piety, who constantly refused all
bishoprics, and other dignities of the Church and state which were
pressed upon him. Vladislas, the eldest son, was elected king of
Bohemia in 1471, and became king of Hungary in 1490. Casimir was the
second son; John Albert, the third son, succeeded his father in the
kingdom of Poland in 1492; and Alexander, the fourth son, was called to
the same in 1501. Casimir and the other princes were warmly attached to
the holy man who was their preceptor; but Casimir profited most by his
pious maxims and example. He consecrated the flower of his age to the
exercises of devotion and penance; his clothes were plain, and under
them he wore a hair shirt. He often slept upon the ground, and spent
a considerable part of the night in prayer and meditation, chiefly
on the passion of our Saviour. He was wont at times to go out in the
night to pray before the church-doors, and in the morning waited before
them till they were opened for matins. He was especially devout to the
passion of our blessed Saviour, the very thought of which excited him
to tears. He was no less piously affected towards the Sacrifice of the
altar, at which he always assisted with such reverence and attention
that he seemed in raptures. And as a mark of his singular devotion to
the Blessed Virgin, he composed, or, at least, frequently recited, the
long hymn that bears his name, a copy of which was, by his desire,
buried with him. His love for Jesus Christ showed itself in his regard
for the poor, who are His members, to whose relief he applied whatever
he had, and employed his credit with his father, and his brother,
Vladislas, king of Bohemia, to procure them succour.
[Illustration: S. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND. After Cahier.
March 4.]
The nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with Matthias Corvinus, their king,
son of the great Huniades, begged the king of Poland to allow them to
place his son Casimir on the throne. The saint, then not quite fifteen
years of age, was very unwilling to consent; but in compliance with his
father's will, he went at the head of an army of twenty thousand men to
the frontiers in 1471. There hearing that Matthias had formed an army
of sixteen thousand men to oppose him, and that pope Sixtus IV. had
sent an embassy to divert his father from the expedition, and finding
that his soldiers were deserting him in great numbers, he joyfully
returned. However, his conduct gave such offence to his father, whose
ambition had been roused, that he was forbidden by him to enter Cracow,
and ordered to take up his residence in the castle of Dobzki. After
this, nothing would again induce him to resume the attempt, though
again pressed by the Hungarians, and urged by his father. As the old
Russian churches were falling out of repair, Casimir, with more zeal
than discretion, persuaded his father to pass an edict forbidding the
restoration and reconstruction of churches which did not belong to the
Latin rite.
Falling into a decline, the physicians recommended that he should relax
his rigid chastity, but the young prince indignantly refused to defile
his virgin body on the chance of thus prolonging his life a few months;
and he died at the age of twenty-three, on March 4th, 1484, and was
buried at Wilna, where his body is still preserved.
[Illustration: Angels praying]
March 5.
S. THEOPHILUS, _B. of Cæsarea, in Palestine, circ._ A.D. 200.
S. ADRIAN, _M. at Cæsarea, in Palestine_, A.D. 308 (_see S. Eubulus,
March 7th_).
S. PHOCAS, _M. at Antioch, in Syria, circ._ A.D. 320.
S. GERASIMUS, _Ab. in Palestine_, A.D. 475.
S. KIERAN OR PIRAN, _of Saigir, B. of Ossory, circ._ A.D. 552.
S. VIRGILIUS, _Abp. of Arles, 7th cent._
S DRAUSINUS, _B. of Soissons, after_ A.D. 675.
S. PETER DE CASTELNAU, _Mk. M. at S. Gilles, in the Narbonnaise_,
A.D. 1209.
S. JOHN-JOSEPH OF THE CROSS, _C. at Naples_, A.D. 1734.
S. PHOCAS, M.
(ABOUT A.D. 320.)
[All the Latin Martyrologies, from the mention in which all that is
known of him is derived.]
At Antioch, after many sufferings endured for the name of Christ,
Phocas triumphed over the Old Serpent, a victory which is testified,
to this day, by a miracle. For whoever is bitten by a serpent, having
touched, full of faith, the door of the basilica of the martyr, is
immediately cured, the poison at once losing its power; so says the
Roman Martyrology.
S. GERASIMUS, AB. IN PALESTINE.
(A.D. 475.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on March 4th and 20th.
Authorities:--Mention in the lives of S. Euthymius and S. Quiriacus,
by Cyril the Monk, fl. 548]
S. Gerasimus embraced the monastic life in Lycia; he afterwards passed
into Palestine, at a time when Eutychianism prevailed, and he had
the misfortune to embrace the errors of that heresy; but S. Euthymius
(Jan. 20th) visited him, and restored him to the unity of the faith.
He expiated his error by the most rigorous fasting. He became very
intimate with S. Euthymius, S. John the Silentiary, S. Sabas, and S.
Theoctistus.
A great number of disciples placed themselves under his conduct, and he
built a laura near Jordan, consisting of seventy cells, amidst which
was a monastery for the lodging of those who were to live in community,
and disciplined those who afterwards occupied the hermitages of the
laura. The anchorites assembled in the church on the Sabbath and the
Sunday to participate in the sacred mysteries, and on these two days
they ate common food that had been cooked, and drank a little wine; on
other days they ate only bread and dates, and drank water. Fires were
never lighted in the cells, and the hermits slept on rush mats.
S. Gerasimus carried his abstinence further than his brethren.
Throughout Lent he took no other nourishment than the Divine Eucharist.
One day as the old abbot was walking on the banks of the Jordan, he saw
a lion limping, and roaring with pain. The lion, instead of attempting
to escape, held up its paw, which was much swollen, and Gerasimus
taking it on his lap, examined it, and saw that a sharp splinter had
entered the flesh. He withdrew the piece of reed, and bathed the paw.
The lion afterwards gratefully followed him to his cell, and never
after left him, but was fed by the abbot. There was an ass belonging to
the monastery which brought water from the Jordan, for the necessities
of the brethren; and Gerasimus sent the ass out to pasture under the
guardianship of the lion. One day the lion had gone away from his
charge, and an Arabian camel driver passing by, stole the ass. In the
evening the lion returned depressed in spirits to the monastery,
without the ass. Gerasimus naturally concluded that the lion had eaten
the animal, and he cried out, "Sirrah, where is the ass?" The lion
stood still, and looked back over his shoulder. "You have eaten him!"
said the abbot; "Let us praise God. Well, what the ass did, you shall
do now." And thenceforth the lion carried the water for the brethren.
Now one day a certain soldier came to the monastery, and seeing the
lion toiling under the water bottles, he pitied the lordly beast, and
gave some money to the abbot to buy an ass on the next opportunity,
and release the lion from its office of water-carrier. Some days after
this, as the lion was near Jordan, there came by the driver who had
stolen the ass, with three camels, and the stolen beast itself. The
lion set up its mane and roared, and made towards the man, whereupon
the driver took to his heels. Then the lion caught the end of the ass's
halter, and drew it along with the camels to the door of the monastery.
And thus the abbot learned that he was wrong in accusing his dumb
friend of having devoured his charge.
For five years the lion was the constant companion of the old abbot,
going in and out among the monks; and at the expiration of that time
Gerasimus died. Now the lion was out when he departed to his rest;
but when the lion returned home, he went about searching for the old
man. Then the abbot Sabbatius, a disciple of the dead saint, seeing
the uneasiness of the lion, said to him "Jordan, (for by that name the
lion was called), our old friend has gone away and left us orphans,
and has migrated to the Lord; but here is food, take and eat." But the
lion would not and paced to and fro seeking the dead man, and every now
and then throwing up his head, and roaring. Then Sabbatius and some of
the other brethren came and rubbed his neck, and said, "The old man
is departed to the Lord, and has left us." But this did not appease
the lion; and the more they caressed him, and spake to him, the more
agitated he became, and the louder he roared, "showing with mouth and
eyes how great was his distress, because he saw not the old man."
Then the abbot Sabbatius said to him, "Come along with me, as you will
not believe me, and I will show you where our old friend is laid."
And he led the lion to the place where Gerasimus was buried; and the
abbot Sabbatius, standing at the tomb, said, "See here is where he is
buried." And then he knelt and wept upon the grave. So when the lion
saw this, he went, and stretched himself on the grave, with his head
on the sand, and moaned, and remained there, and would not leave the
place, but was found there dead, a few days after.
It is almost needless to say that this beautiful incident has given to
the abbot Gerasimus his symbol of a lion, in art.
S. KIERAN OR PIRAN, AB. OF SAIGIR.
(ABOUT A.D. 552.)
[Irish Hagiologies, and an addition of Usuardus published in 1490. A
saint of this name was venerated on this day in the Dumblane Breviary,
but it is uncertain if it was the same. The Life of S. Kieran,
published by Colgan, and that given by the Bollandists, are of later
date, and like so many of the Acts of Celtic Saints, abound in fables.]
According to the Irish legendary lives, Kieran of Saigir was bishop
in Ireland before the arrival of S. Patrick. After honouring him
with the title of the "first-born of the saints of Ireland," these
lives proceed to inform us that his father was Lugneus, a noble of
Ossory, and his mother Liadain, of Corcalaighde, (Carberry), in South
Munster. S. Kieran was born in Cape Clear Island. Having spent thirty
years in Ireland still unbaptized, he heard of the Christian religion
as flourishing at Rome, and went thither for the purpose of being
instructed. There he was baptized, and remained twenty years, studying
the Scriptures and canons, after which he was ordained bishop, and
sent to preach in his own country. On his way to Ireland he met S.
Patrick in Italy, who was not as yet a bishop, and who told Kieran
that he would follow him to Ireland in thirty years from the date of
their meeting. This must have happened in 402, and accordingly Kieran,
being then fifty years old, was born in 352. When arrived in Ireland
he was miraculously directed, as S. Patrick had told him he would, to
the place since called Saigir, (Seir-Kieran, in King's County), where
he erected a monastery. Having ordained an innumerable multitude of
bishops and priests, he died at the age of 300!
Other accounts state that Kieran's meeting with S. Patrick somewhere
out of Ireland occurred several years after the latter had commenced
his apostolical labours in this country. Jocelin places it at a time
when S. Patrick was returning from Britain, whither he had gone to
obtain a supply of additional helpers for his mission, and tells us
that Kieran was then one of the six Irish priests who were proceeding
to foreign countries for religious improvement, and all of whom
afterwards became bishops in their own country. In the Tripartite
history of S. Patrick the precise place of meeting is not given; but,
what is more to the purpose, it is represented as having occurred at
least twelve years after S. Patrick had begun his mission in Ireland,
and Kieran is stated to have then received directions from the saint
concerning the district in which he should erect his monastery.
It appears, however, that he was no disciple of S. Patrick at all,
and did not live in his times. His name does not occur in Tirechan's
list, nor in any of the Lives of S. Patrick, except in those two just
quoted, and his appearance in them is evidently due to the legends
in circulation concerning the meeting. Had S. Kieran been a disciple
of the apostle, how could he have become a scholar of S. Finnian of
Clonard, in the 6th century? For such he is stated to have been, not
only in the Life of S. Finnian, and in that of his illustrious namesake
of Clonmacnois, but also in the tract which is called his first life,
and which enters into more particulars than the other. S. Finnian's
school could not have become celebrated before 534. In both Kieran's
lives his namesake of Clonmacnois, who died in 549, and the two
Brendans, one of whom died in 577, and the other a few years earlier,
are spoken of as having had transactions with him.
We may then safely conclude that he belonged to the sixth century,
became distinguished towards the middle of it, and died during
its latter half. As this was known to be the case, his blundering
biographers strove to reconcile their nonsense concerning the antiquity
and privileges of Saigir, with the true date of his death, by making
him die at the age of about 300 years, although, had they calculated
better, about 220 years might have sufficed.
Kieran, we may safely conclude, was made a bishop about the year 538.
Having retired to a lonesome spot, since called Saigir, he led at first
the life of a hermit, and after some time erected a monastery, around
which a city gradually grew up. Next he established a nunnery in the
neighbourhood for his mother Liadania, and some pious virgins, her
companions, whence the church Killiadhuin got its name. Besides the
care of his monastery, Kieran was assiduously employed in preaching
the Gospel in Ossory, and he converted a great number of heathen. He
is usually considered to have been the first bishop of Ossory, and
founder of that see. It is singular that, notwithstanding all that is
said in the lives, in praise of Kieran, he is not much spoken of in
the accounts of contemporary saints, and that none of the Irish annals
or hagiologies give the date of his death. Hence Colgan was inclined
to think that he died in Cornwall, and is to be identified with S.
Piran, of Peranzabulo. But the first life hints that he died at Saigir.
Although the year of his death is unknown, there can be little doubt of
his having been alive after the year 550.
If S. Piran of Peranzabulo be the same as S. Kieran of Saigir, his
bones have been discovered of late years, when the ancient oratory of
Peranzabulo, near Padstowe, in Cornwall, was dug out of the sand. In
favour of this identification, Colgan points out that S. Piran was
commemorated at Padstow on the 5th March, the same day as S. Kieran in
Ireland; and John of Tynemouth asserts that S. Kieran did retire from
Ireland into Cornwall where he spent the latter part of his life, and
died. The Cornish, moreover, change the K. of Irish names into P.
Some of the legends related of S. Kieran deserve to be recorded. He is
said when a little boy to have been bitterly distressed at seeing a
hawk carry off a little bird in its talons. Then he cried to God, and
the hawk dropped its prey.
One day a king or chief in the neighbourhood carried off one of the
nuns of the convent governed by his mother. Kieran pursued him full of
wrath, and coming to the castle, bade the chief restore the poor maiden
to her cell. "Not unless the cuckoo should rouse me to-morrow morning,"
answered the chief. Now it was mid-winter. But that night no snow
fell round the house where lodged the abbot, and at early dawn a bird
perched on the roof under the window of the chief, and began to call
"Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!" Then the ravisher, in alarm, started from
his bed, and restored the nun to her convent.
On an autumn day, Kieran noticed a magnificent bank of blackberries, so
large and ripe, that he thought it a sad pity the winter should come
and destroy them. Therefore he cast a cloak over the bramble. Now it
fell out that the next ensuing April, Ethnea Vacha the wife of king
Ængus was ill, and felt a craving for blackberries. She was then, with
her husband, the guest of Concraidh, king of Ossory. Concraidh told
S. Kieran of the strange wish of the lady, and instantly the saint
remembered the hedge of blackberries covered by his cloak, and he went
and plucked as many as he could carry, and brought them to the sick
queen, and she ate them and revived.
One day S. Kieran of Clonmacnois and the two Brendans visited the
monastery. The steward came to the abbot in dismay, and said, "There
is nothing to offer these distinguished guests except some scraps of
bacon, and water."
"Then serve up the bacon and the water," said the saint. And when
they were brought on the table, the bacon tasted to every man better
than anything he had ever tasted before, and as for the water, the
benediction of the man of God had converted it into wine. But there
was at the table a lay-brother, and when he had some bacon put before
him, he thrust his platter away angrily, for he was tired of bacon,
and had expected something better, when distinguished visitors were
present. "Hah!" said the abbot,--'not by way of condemnation, but of
prophecy,'--"The time will come when you, son of Comgall, shall eat
ass's flesh in Lent, and soon after you will lose your head."
It is also related that there was a boy came to Saigir called Crichidh
of Clonmacnois, and remained for a while under the abbot Kieran. Now it
was the custom and rule of S. Kieran, that the blessed Paschal fire
should burn all the year. But out of mischief, as we moderns should
say, "instigante diabolo," as the mediæval chronicler expresses it,
the boy put the fire out. Then S. Kieran said to the brethren, "Look!
our fire is extinguished by that confounded boy (a maledicto puero),
Crichidh, purposely, for he is always up to mischief (sicut solet
semper nocere). And now we shall be without fire till next Easter,
unless the Lord sends us some. As for that boy, he will come to a bad
end shortly." And so it was, for on the morrow a wolf killed the boy.
Now S. Kieran of Clonmacnois, to whom the boy belonged, hearing of
this, came to Saigir, and was courteously received by S. Kieran the
Elder. But there was no fire, and the snow fell in large flakes; and it
was bitterly cold, so that S. Kieran of Clonmacnois and his companions
sat blue with frost, and their teeth chattering. Then S. Kieran of
Saigir raised his hands to heaven, and prayed, and there fell a globe
of fire into his hands, and he spread the lap of his chasuble (casula),
and went with the fireball in it before his guests, and they warmed
themselves thereat. And after that, dinner was served. Then said S.
Kieran of Clonmacnois, "I will not eat till my boy is restored to me."
"Brother," answered S. Kieran of Saigir, "I knew wherefore thou didst
come; the boy is now on his way hither." And presently the door opened,
and the boy that the wolf had eaten, walked in alive and well.
King Ængus of Munster had seven bards "who were wont to sing before
him, harping, the deeds of heroes," but these seven men were murdered
and drowned in a bog, and their harps were hung upon a tree by the side
of the morass. S. Kieran, at the king's request, restored the seven
harpers to life, after their having been steeped in bog-water for a
whole month.
Now when he was dying, Kieran besought the Lord to bless all such as
should keep his festival. "And," says his historian, "on March 5th, God
introduced him into the lot of his inheritance in the vineyard, and
planted him in the mountain of his possession, even in the celestial
Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all. Wherefore, then, my brothers,
let us hold a most solemn feast to the most holy Kieran, and let the
voice of praise resound in the tabernacles of the righteous; for the
right hand of the Lord made virtue to spring up in this man, which may
Jesus Christ for the merits of his servant Kieran cause to grow in us
present likewise, that we may be meet, He being our leader, to enter
into the courts of our eternal inheritance. Amen."
S. VIRGILIUS, ABP. OF ARLES.
(ABOUT A.D. 618.)
[Benedictine and Galican Martyrologies; but at Arles on October 10th,
and Greven in his additions to Usuardus. Authority:--A life by an
anonymous writer, long posterior, and very credulous. It contains much
idle fable.]
S. Virgilius, a native of Aquitania, retired in childhood to the
monastery of Lerins, where he distinguished himself by his virtues, and
was in time elected abbot. One night, says the historian of his life,
who deals somewhat largely in popular legend, as he was walking round
the island, as a good pastor keeping guard over his sheep-fold, he saw
a strange ship drawn up against the shore, and by the star light he saw
the sailors moving on the deck. Then two descended from the vessel, and
coming towards him, said, "Reverend father, we know who thou art, and
greatly esteem thy incomparable virtue, the fame of which is spread
abroad through the round world, and many there are of the faithful in
far-off lands who desire to see thy sanctity, and hear the words of
wisdom that distil from thy lips. And now we are bound for Jerusalem,
come therefore with us and make this journey to the holy sites, and
thy name will be praised by all men." But Virgilius mistrusted this
address, and he answered, "Ye cannot thus deceive an old soldier of
Christ!" and he made the sign of the cross. Then the ship and the crew
vanished, and he saw only the stars winking in the waves.
From Lerins he was called, in 588, to take charge of the diocese of
Aries, by the unanimous voice of the people.
He is said to have been the consecrator of S. Augustine of Canterbury
to his mission in England, by order of S. Gregory the Great, from whom
he received the pall. He built several churches in Aries; amongst
others, the cathedral, which he dedicated to S. Stephen, and the church
of the Saviour and S. Honoratus. Whilst erecting this latter church,
the legend says that the people toiled ineffectually to move the
pillars to their destined place. At last they sent word to S. Virgil
that the truck was fast, and the pillars could neither be taken on nor
carried back. Then Virgil hurried to the spot, and saw a little devil,
like a negro boy, sitting under the truck, arresting the progress of
the wheels. Virgil drove him away, and then the columns were easily
moved. By his prayers he is also reported to have killed a monstrous
serpent which infested the neighbourhood. He was buried in the church
of SS. Saviour and Honoratus, which he had built.
S. DRAUSINUS, B. OF SOISSONS.
(A.D. 675.)
[Venerated at Soissons. Mentioned in some of the additions to
Usuardus, and later Martyrologies. Authority:--A Life by a native of
Soissons shortly after his translation, four years after the death of
the saint.]
Drausinus or Drausius was a native of Soissons, and was the son of
pious parents of noble rank. He was educated by S. Anseric, bishop of
Soissons, on whose death he was called to fill his place. His virtues
and charity caused him to be venerated as a saint immediately after his
death. S. Thomas-à-Becket had recourse to his intercession when he was
in France, before returning to England.
His relics were dispersed at the French Revolution, but his tomb, a
very interesting specimen of Gallo-Roman art, is preserved in the
Louvre. The Society of Antiquaries at Soissons has made many attempts
to recover it for the cathedral at Soissons, but hitherto in vain.
B. PETER OF CASTELNAU, MK. M.
(A.D. 1209.)
[Benedictine Martyrology, and Saussaye in his Gallican Martyrology.
Authorities:--William of Puis-Laurent, and other contemporary
historians of the Albigensian war, and the letters of Innocent III.]
The name of the Albigenses probably arose from the condemnation of
these heretics at the council of Albi, under the presidence of Gerard,
bishop of that diocese, in the year 1176.
Under the name was included that vast body of heretics which agreed on
certain fundamental dogmas, but differed on minor particulars, as they
borrowed more or less from Christianity. They inhabited the Duchy of
Narbonne, the Marquisate of Toulouse, and the southern portion of the
Duchy of Aquitaine, mixed with Catholics in some parts, in other parts
comprising the entire population.
Before their condemnation by the Council, they had been known as
Cathari, Patareni or Populicians, a corruption of Paulicians; and
were a branch of that great Manichæan inroad which entered Germany,
Hungary, Bulgaria, and Bohemia, where the name Cathari was corrupted
into Ketzer, and which spread from Northern Italy into the southern
provinces of France, where Manichæism completely displaced Christianity
over a wide area, and gained a head and strength it was unable to
acquire elsewhere.
The fundamental principle of the new Manichæans, from which, as from
a centre, the different sects radiated, was a Dualism of Good and
Evil Principles equally matched, the Evil Principle, the origin of
the visible creation; the Good Principle, the author of that which is
invisible. This opposition of matter and spirit constituted the basis
of their moral systems. These systems were diverse; some, regarding
everything natural and carnal as pertaining to the Evil Principle,
abstained from meat, cheese, and eggs, from marriage, and from whatever
employment attached them to the earth; whilst others, regarding the
soul as so distinct from the body as to be incapable of being soiled or
affected by the actions of the fleshy envelope, gave themselves up to
the grossest licentiousness. Into the theology of these new Manichæans,
contact with Christianity had introduced the person of Christ, but in
their scheme He occupied no necessary place. He was held to be subject
to God, and to have had but a phantom body; He neither suffered,
died, nor rose again, except in appearance. But in opposition to this
Docetism, John de Lugio taught that Christ had a real body; and some of
the Cathari--the late Albigenses--held that the true body was born of
Mary and Joseph, and proceeded from the Evil Principle, and that this
body died on the Cross, but that the spiritual and good Christ was by
no means to be confused with the historical Christ of the Gospels.[9]
[9] The best account of the Manichæan tenets of the medæval heretics is
in Hahn: Geschichte der Ketzer, vol. i.; the texts are given in notes,
upon which he bases his opinion. See also Gieseler's Ecclesiastical
Hist., 3rd division, chap. vii.; but Gieseler is less full and
impartial than Hahn.
With the doctrines specially professed by the Albigenses it is possible
for any one, who chooses, to become thoroughly acquainted, as there
is abundant material from which the requisite information can be
drawn. Such are the decrees of councils condemning categorically
their errors; the bulls of popes and imperial ordinances denouncing
them; the letters of Innocent III.; the statutes of Raymond, Count of
Toulouse; the controversial treatises written against the heretics,
taking each of their doctrines in order, to refute them; and lastly,
the valuable transactions of the Inquisition at Toulouse, published
by Limborch, containing a great number of cases, the interrogations,
and confessions, and sentences; the archives of the Inquisition at
Carcassonne, portions of which are published in Vaissette, and the
Inquisitorial formulary of questions put to Albigenses as to their
faith, in Ricchinus.
The doctrines peculiar to the Albigenses were these:--There were two
Creators, the good God, who was the author of the New Testament, and
who made the world of good spirits; and the bad God, who was the author
of the Old Testament, and Creator of the visible world, and of the
evil spirits.[10] This latter God they called a liar, because he told
the first man: "The day thou eatest of the tree thou shalt surely
die," and man did not die the same day that he broke the commandment;
they also called him a murderer because he slew Pharaoh and his host,
and the inhabitants of the Plain. This bad God was either a fallen
angel,[11] or the Son of the chief God and Creator, who had two sons,
Christ and Satan.[12] Others held that the good God had two wives,
Colla and Coliba, by whom he begat many sons and daughters.[13] Others,
that the men made by the good God were good, but that through union
with women, whom they derived from the Evil Principle, they fell.[14]
The creation of men was veiled in the following myth by some of the
Albigenses. The devil made men out of clay, and bade God send into them
souls. God answered, that men thus constructed would be too strong,
"They would dethrone me." Whereupon Satan made man of the foam of the
sea; and God said, "That is good, he is a mixture of strength and
fragility." And he sent a soul into the man thus made.[15] Generally
the Albigenses held that there were two Christs; one bad, who was born
in Bethlehem of Mary, and who was crucified; and another good, who had
a phantom body and was purely spiritual, and who appeared on earth in
the body of the Apostle Paul. The good Christ neither ate nor drank,
but the bad Christ, the Son of Mary, lived as do other men, and had for
concubine, Mary Magdalene.[16]
[10] "Hæreticus ponit duo principia, diabolum dicens creatorem omnium
visibilium." Pet. Vallium Sarnaii, apud _Bouquet_ xix. p. 5. Reiner in
Max. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. "Quorum finis est Manichæorum induere sectam et
duos fateri Deos, quorum malignus, ut procaciter mentiuntur, creavit
omnia visibilia."--Lucas Tudens. xvi., p. 240.
[11] "Sathanam magnum Luciferum qui propter elevationem et nequitiam
suam de throno bonorum cecidit angelorum, creatorem cœli et terræ,
omniumque rerum visibilium et invisiblium, spirituum malorum creatorem
et principem et Deum esse profitebantur ipsumque legem Moysi dedisse
asseverant."--Chron. Gonfredi in _Bouquet_ xii., p. 448.
[12] "Erant alii hæretici qui dicebant quod unus est Creator; sed
habuit filios, Christum et diabolum." Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud _Bouquet_
xix. p. 5.
[13] Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib., c. 2.
[14] Ibid., p. 5.
[15] Arch. Inquisit. Carcass. in _Vaissette_ iii., p. 435.
[16] "Dicebant in secreto suo, quod Christus ille qui natus est in
Bethleem, terrestori et visibili, et in Hierusalem crucifixus, malus
fuit; et quod Maria Magdalena fuit ejus concubina, et ipsa fuit muiler
in adulterio deprehensa, de qua legitur in Evangelio. Bonus enim
Christus ... nunquam comedit vel bibit, nec veram carnem assumpsit, nec
unquam fuit in hoc mundo nisi spiritualiter in corpore Pauli." Petr.
Vall. Sarn. apud _Bouquet_ xix. p. 5 "Quod Dei filius non assumpsit
in beata et de beata Virgine carnem veram, sed fantasticam." Reg.
Inquisit. Carcass. apud _Vaissette_ ii. p. 372.
The Trinity was naturally rejected by the Albigenses, as incompatible
with their Dualism. They also rejected the Old Testament as the work of
the Evil Principle; and regarded Moses, the Prophet, and even John the
Baptist, as possessed with evil demons.[17]
[17] Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib. xix. p. 5; Reiner, in Mar. Bibl. xxv. p.
263; Lucas Tudens. ib. p. 241; Acta Conc. Lumbar. _Bouquet_ xiv. p. 438.
With regard to the future, some of the Albigenses taught that the souls
of men were the fallen angels condemned to spend seven lives in human
bodies. Others denied the existence of the soul altogether.[18] With
such disbelief in the immortality of the soul, or such notion of its
being an angel in a state of purgation, the resurrection of the body,
Purgatory and Hell were rejected; and with them, prayer for the dead
and invocation of saints--for how pray for a soul which is annihilated,
or how invoke an apostate angel?[19]
[18] Petr. Vall. Sarn. ib. p. 5, 6. "Dicunt quod anima hominis non est
nisi purus sanguis," Reg. Inq. Carcass. _Vaissette_ p. 327.
[19] Lucas Tud. in Max. Bibl. xxv. De altera vita, p. 193-212.
The idea of a visible Church, and the necessity of sacraments, could
not be entertained with such a creed; and the Albigenses repudiated
baptism, communion, and other rites. Marriage they denounced as
fornication, and they condemned intercourse between man and woman as
sin in the higher ranks of the elect.[20] Others, however, said that
fornication was no sin.[21] But this refers to the lower order of the
faithful.
[20] Reiner, in Max. Bibl. xxv. p. 263. Petr. Vall. Sarn. apud
_Bouquet_ xix. p. 5, etc. "Sacrum matrimonium meretricium esse, nec
aliquem in ipso salvari posse prædicabant, filios et filias generando."
[21] "Dicunt quod simplex fornicatio non est peccatum aliquod." Reg.
Inq. Carcass. _Vaissette_ iii. p. 371.
The faithful were divided into two orders: the higher, or "perfect,"
who wore a black dress, abstained from marriage, the eating of
flesh, eggs, and cheese; and the "believers," who gave free scope to
their lusts, and whose salvation was due to a certain ceremony being
performed over them by one of the "perfect," which was called the
"consolation." If one of the perfect ate the least morsel of meat or
cheese or egg, he sinned mortally, and all who had been consoled by him
fell at the same time out of a state of grace, and it was necessary
for them to be re-consoled; and even those who were saved fell out of
heaven for the sins of him who had consoled them. The sacrament of
consolation was performed by one of the "perfect" laying his hands
upon one of the "believers," who repeated a Pater Noster; and such act
placed the "believer" in a state of grace from which he could only fall
by the fall of his consoler. This ceremony was performed at the point
of death.
The ceremony of reception is thus described by Peter of Vaux-Cernaix:--
"When any one went over to the heretics, he who received him said,
'Friend, if you wish to be one of us, it behoves you to renounce the
_whole faith_ that is held by the Roman Church.' He must answer, 'I
renounce.' 'Then receive the Holy Spirit from the good men,' and then
he breathes seven times in his face. Also he says to him, 'You must
renounce that cross which the priest made on you in baptism, on your
breast, and on your shoulders, and on your head, with oil and chrism.'
He must answer, 'I renounce it.' 'Do you believe that water can work
your salvation?' He answers, 'I do not believe it.' 'You must renounce
that veil which the priest placed on your head when you were baptized.'
He must answer, 'I renounce it.' Thus he receives the baptism of the
heretics, and denies the baptism of the Church. Then they all place
their hands upon him, and kiss him, and clothe him with a black
garment, and from that hour he is as one of themselves."
The ceremony of consolation, or heretication, was only performed at the
point of death; but if the sick person should show signs of recovery,
he or she was required to abstain from food, or to open a vein, so as
to prevent convalescence and precipitate death. I may as well give
a few instances which came under the notice of the inquisitors of
Toulouse, from Limborch:--
"This admission was believed to save the soul of the person admitted,
and was called spiritual baptism, the consolation, the reception, and
the good end; and it was believed that those sanctified by it were
bound from that moment to abstain from touching a person of another
sex, and from food, or the soul fell from its state of purification.
Thus we read of the trial of a woman whose father had been received
amongst the Albigenses, 'that she was forbidden by her father to touch
him, because after his reception no woman ought to touch him, and from
that time she never did touch him.' (Fol. 49.) And in another woman's
trial, 'that it was unlawful for her to touch Peter Sancii, and that
she heard that it was reported amongst them that they neither touch
a woman, nor suffer themselves to be touched by one.' (Fol. 68.) But
inasmuch as it was possible that the person received might return to
his former pollutions (says Limborch in his introduction to the Acts
of the Inquisition), his reception was delayed to his last sickness,
when there was no more hopes of recovery, that so he might not lose
the good he had received; for which reason some were not admitted,
though one of the Albigenses was present, because it was not believed
they would immediately die. Thus it is reported of Peter Sancii (fol.
68) that having called 'to hereticate a certain sick woman, she was
not then hereticated, because he did not think it proper, upon account
of her not being weak enough.' And afterwards, though the distemper
grew more violent, Peter Sancii did not hereticate her, because she
recovered. As for those who were received during their illness, they
were commanded to make use of the Endura, that is, fasting, and to
hasten death by opening a vein and bathing. Thus it is related of a
certain woman, that 'she persevered in the abstinence which they call
the Endura many days, and hastened her bodily death by losing her
blood, frequent bathing, and greedily taking a poisonous draught of the
juice of wild cucumbers, mixing it with broken glass, that, by tearing
her bowels, she might sooner die.' (Fol. 14-_b_.) Of another, it is
said, 'that she was forbidden by her mother-in-law to give her little
daughter, who had been hereticated by Peter Sancii, any milk to drink,
by which the child died.' (Fol. 46.) Another confesses, 'that she had
not seen her father since his heretication eating or drinking anything
but cold water.' (Fol. 49.) But one Hugo, who continued several days
in the Endura, did afterwards, by his mother's persuasion, eat and
recover. (Fol. 63.) The same year, Peter Sancii invited him 'to enter
into the Endura, and so to make a good end; but he would not agree to
it till he came to die.' The same Hugo saw 'that Sancii procured and
hastened his own death by bleeding, bathing, and cold.' Peter Auterii
is said to have received another woman, 'and after her reception to
have forbidden any meat being given to the said hereticated sick woman;
and that there were two women who attended her, and watched that there
should be neither meat nor drink given her the whole night, nor the
following day, lest she should lose the good she had received, and
contradict the order of Peter Auterii; although the said sick woman
begged them to give her some food. But the third day after she did eat
and grew well.' (Fol. 65-_b_.) In the sentence of Peter Raymund and of
the Hugos, we read these things concerning the Endura: 'You voluntarily
shorten your own corporal life, and inflict death upon yourself;
because you put yourself in that abstinence, which the heretics call
Endura, in which Endura you have now remained six days without meat
or drink, and would not eat, nor will, though often invited to do
so.' (Fol. 82-_b_.) However, all would not subject themselves to so
severe a law. For we read of a certain woman 'that she suffered not
her sick daughter, though near death, to be received; because then her
said daughter must be put in the Endura.' (Fol. 71.) There is also
an instance of a woman, who, for fear she should be taken up by the
Inquisitors, put herself in the Endura; and sending for a surgeon,
ordered him to open one of her veins in a bath, and after the surgeon
was gone, she unbound her arm in the bath, that so the blood running
out more freely, she might sooner die. After this she bought poison
in order to destroy herself. Afterwards she produced a cobbler's awl,
which in that barbarous age they called alzena, intending to run it
into her side; but the women disputing among themselves, whether the
heart was on the right side or the left, she at last drank up the
poison, and died the day after. (Fol. 30-_b_)."[22]
[22] Historia Inquisitionis, Amst. 1692, c. 8.
Now a great deal of abuse has been poured on the Inquisition, and
its crimes have been vastly exaggerated. Gieseler speaks of the
bloodthirsty Inquisition as a "monster raging with most frightful fury
in Southern France,"--strong language for so calm an historian. But
we ask, was it not necessary that such a system, destructive of life,
should be put down? That the fautors of this atrocious self-murdering
should be summarily dealt with, when they persuaded mothers to let
their children perish on their sick-beds, men to pine themselves to
death, and women to swallow broken glass, to tear their bowels, when
their health began to amend? We have got the Acts of the Inquisition
at Toulouse during sixteen years that it "raged with frightful fury,"
_i.e._, between 1307 and 1323. The whole number of cases reported is
932; but it is obvious that the same individual might, and in fact
did, often reappear before the Inquisition more than once in the
course of sixteen years. Having confessed some connection with heresy,
he was sentenced to wear a little cross, or tongue of red cloth, let
into the garments, or simply to wear a cross round the neck, or to
make a pilgrimage to a certain church, or to use certain prayers; of
such sentences 174 are recorded. If the person condemned to do this
disobeyed, he was put in prison for a while; there were 218 such
cases. If he escaped from prison, or ran away from the country, he was
condemned as a fugitive; there were 38 of these. Some of the leaders of
the heresy who had caused the death of many persons, and incorrigible
heretics who had broken out of prison, were condemned to death; there
were 40 fautors of heresy sentenced--twenty-nine Albigenses, seven
Waldenses, and four Beghards; thirty-two of these were men, and
eight were women. Among the sentences recorded are 113 remissions
of penances, 139 discharges from prison, and 90 sentences of heresy
pronounced against persons deceased.[23]
[23] A large number of the sentences--all the most important--are
translated and published in Maitland's Tracts and Documents, together
with many of the letters, bulls, edicts, and controversial writings on
the Albigenses.
Now when we consider what these Albigensian "perfect" men were, and how
dangerous they were to the well-being of society, by their influence
over superstitious and ignorant peasants, urging them to self-murder,
and thus causing the death of very many persons, we do not think that
the Inquisition at Toulouse deserves all the odium that has been cast
upon it. Many of those whom it condemned to death would probably have
received a sentence of transportation for life in England at the
present day; and though the execution of from two to three persons
a year is certainly to be deplored, it is not just to denounce the
Inquisition as bloodthirsty, when it sentenced to death those who had
caused many innocent and ignorant persons to immolate themselves. We
do not for a moment pretend to justify the Albigensian war; but we
can understand the alarm caused to the Pope and to Christian France
by the heathen reaction in Provence, Narbonne, and Toulouse. Nor were
the Albigenses free from blame in other particulars. They exhibited
their contempt for Christian churches and sacraments in a peculiarly
offensive manner, likely to exasperate Catholics to the uttermost. One
instance shall suffice, and that is so gross that it must be given in
Latin:--
"Erat quidam pessimus hæreticus apud Tolosam, Hugo Faber nomine, qui
quondam lapsus est in dementiam, quod juxta altare cujusdam ecclesiæ
purgavit ventrem, et in contemptum Dei, cum palla altaris tersit
posteriora sua ... quæ omnia cum vir venerabilis abbas Cistercii....
Comiti retulisset, et eum moneret ut puniret qui tantum faciens
perpetrarat, respondit comes quod nullo modo propter hoc puniret in
aliquo cives suos."
Peter of Castelnau, of whom we have now to speak, sprang from an
illustrious family in the diocese of Montpellier, and was archdeacon of
Maguelonne, when he was appointed by the Pope to be one of his legates
in the southern provinces infected with heresy. But the desire of a
higher perfection led Peter to renounce the honours of the world, and
in 1200, to receive the Cistercian habit in the abbey of Fontfroide.
In 1203, he was again obliged to resume his labours as legate, together
with Brother Raoul, his colleague, a Cistercian monk like himself.
He visited Toulouse, where his efforts to repress heresy met with
indifferent success. In 1204, he met the leaders of the Albigenses in
conference at Carcassonne.
Hopeless of effecting any good result, Peter of Castelnau implored the
Holy Father to relieve him of the burden laid on him, which, he said,
was more than he could bear. But the Pope refused to permit him to
resign his office, and Peter was obliged to revisit Toulouse in 1205,
and exact of the Count of Toulouse an oath that he would suppress by
fire and sword the heresy that pervaded his domains. He was ordered on
pain of excommunication to become the inquisitor and executioner of his
own subjects.
At the same time Peter deposed Raymond, bishop of Toulouse, and thus
prepared the way for the election of his friend Foulques, a fierce
and bloodthirsty, if zealous soul.[24] Then the legate turned to the
Rhone, and traversed the provinces of Arles and Vienne. In 1206, he
was at Montpellier, deploring with his colleague, Raoul, the sterility
of their united efforts. At this time of disappointment, God, who, to
use the words of William de Puylaurens, "knows always how to hold in
reserve His arrows in the quiver of His Providence," sent them out
of Spain two holy and valiant athletes. In July, 1206, the venerable
Diego di Azebes, bishop of Osma, accompanied by the sub-prior of his
church, tapped at their door with his pilgrim's staff. They opened, and
admitted with the bishop that sub-prior, who was S. Dominic.
[24] Foulques was famous as a troubadour for his licentious poetry. His
biography is given December 25: by an irony of fate, the commemoration
of this firebrand is on Christmas Day, when "Peace on earth" was sung
by angels.
The legates opened their hearts to the bishop, and told him of their
despair. The bishop gently reproved them, and bade them have a good
courage, and preach the Word in season and out of season, and be
careful to set a holy example. Let them go forth with neither scrip
nor purse, like the apostles; and the success which had not attended
two legates ambling over the country on their mules, would attend
two apostles going barefoot. The advice of the bishop was approved;
the legates only asked of him to accompany them with his sub-prior.
The bishop consented, and the four set forth one morning out of
Montpellier, without shoes on their feet, and no money in their pouch.
At once the difficulties melted away, and numerous conversions were
made. At Beziers and Carcassonne, they met with great success. The
whole town of Caraman, on the Lauraguais, abjured heresy. But their
success was not lasting: Peter saw that the only way in which he could
hope to extinguish heresy was by a more persuasive weapon than the
tongue.
However, he returned into the heat of the battle shortly after, to
attend the conference with the heretics, held at Montreal. After this
the four apostles separated to preach in different parts. Peter,
finding that Raymond, Count of Toulouse, hung back from using the sword
to constrain his people to abjure their heresy, excommunicated him, and
the Count at once swore, as he had done before, that he would put down
the errors of Albigensianism. Peter of Castelnau felt that, to use his
own words, "The cause of Jesus Christ will not succeed in these lands,
till one of us who preach in His name shall die in defence of the
faith; may it please God that I shall be the first to feel the sword of
the persecutor."
The Count met the legate at S. Gilles, on the banks of the Rhone, for
conference, which led to nothing. On January 15th, 1209, Peter had
said Mass, and was preparing to cross the river, when two men ran up,
and one of them pierced him through the sides with a lance. Peter fell
down, exclaiming, "Lord, pardon him, as I forgive him!" then he said a
few words to his fellows, and died, praying fervently. The Count seems
to have been guiltless of ordering or approving the murder.
S. JOHN-JOSEPH OF THE CROSS, C.
(A.D. 1734.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His Life by the P. Diodati, published
at Naples, in 1794. He was inscribed by Pius VI. among the number of
the Beatified on May 15th, 1789; and he was canonized by Gregory XVI.
on May 26th, 1839.]
S. John-Joseph of the Cross, who must not be confounded with S. John
of the Cross (Nov. 16th), was born in the island of Ischia, on the
Feast of the Assumption, in the year 1654, of respectable parents,
Joseph Calosirto and Laura Garguito, and was baptized under the name
of Charles Cajetan, The family must have been one of singular piety,
for five of his brothers entered religion. The subject of our memoir,
as a child, exhibited a precocious piety. He chose as his room a small
chamber in the most retired portion of the house, where he erected a
little altar to Our Lady, on whose great festival he had been born, and
towards whom, through life, he manifested a filial devotion. From the
earliest age also he manifested a great repugnance from sin. His pure
childish soul shivered and shrank from the breath of evil, as a young
spring flower from a frozen blast.
The knowledge of evil without bringing guilt to the soul, unless
voluntarily received and harboured with delight, leaves on it a
mark, so that the soul knowing evil cannot have the freshness of a
guiltless and ignorant soul. The little saintly boy, taught of God,
seems unconsciously to have felt this, and he manifested none of that
curiosity after evil which is one of the tokens of our fallen nature,
and which leads the young mind first to the knowledge of evil, and
then, it may be, to the perpetration of it.
Feeling a great desire for the religious life, he entered the order
of S. Francis, as reformed by S. Peter of Alcantara, in Naples, and
assumed the habit at the age of sixteen, taking at the same time the
name of John-Joseph of the Cross. This was in 1671. His noviciate
lasted three years; and at the age of nineteen, his superior found him
sufficiently perfect to be entrusted with the direction of the building
of a convent at Piedimonte di Agila, and the organizing of discipline
therein.
On arriving at the proper age, he was ordained priest, and soon after
retired into a forest, where he built himself a cell, and resided as
a hermit. Soon five little hermitages clustered around his cell, and
a church was built for the accommodation of the anchorites. But his
superiors recalled him to the monastery to undertake the charge of the
novices, and somewhat later he was appointed superior of the house at
Piedimonte di Agila, which had risen under his care. He suffered about
this time from extreme dryness. It was to him as though the face of God
were turned away from him, and he felt agonies of fear, thinking that
through want of judgment or unbecoming example, he might have retarded
the advance, and perhaps lost some, of the souls of the novices who had
been entrusted to his care. But one of the brethren who had lately died
appeared to him in a vision, and comforted him, assuring him that his
novices were all leading an edifying life.
He was afterwards appointed Superior of the convent, an office in which
he displayed great judgment, but which withdrew him too much from
spiritual meditation and reading to be congenial with his tastes.
At his request he was relieved of the office of Superior, and was again
made director of the novices, and fulfilled the duties of this office
for four years.
He died on March 5th, 1734, in the convent of S. Lucia, at Naples.
[Illustration: MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN. After a bas-relief by Orcagna.]
March 6.
S. MARCIAN, _B.M. at Tortona_, _circ._ A.D. 120.
SS. VICTOR, VICTORINUS, CLAUDIAN AND BASSA, _MM. at Nicemedia and
Apamea_, _3rd cent._
S. QUIRIACUS, _P.C. at Treves_, _4th cent._
S. EVAGRIUS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, _end of 4th cent._
S. SEZIN, _Ab. in Brittany_, _6th cent._
S. FRIDOLIN, _Ab. of Sickingen_, _end of 7th cent._
SS. KYNEBURGA, KYNESWITHA AND TIBBA, _VV. at Peterborough_, _end of
7th cent._
SS. BALTHER AND BILFRED, _HH. at Lindisfarne_, _circ._ A.D. 756.
S. CHRODEGANG, _B. of Metz_, A.D. 766.
SS. FORTY-TWO MARTYRS, _under the Saracens, in Syria_, _circ._ A.D. 841
S. CADROE, _Ab. at Metz_, A.D. 988.
B. OLDEGAR, _B. of Barcelona, and Archb. of Tarragona_, A.D. 1137.
S. COLETTE, _V. at Ghent_, A.D. 1447.
S. SEZIN, AB. IN BRITTANY.
(6th cent.)
[Venerated in Brittany, patron of the parish of Guic-Sezni, in the
diocese of S. Pol-de-Léon.]
Of this abbot nothing certain is known. Colgan attempted to identify
him with S. Isserninus, the companion of S. Patrick. According to
Albert le Grand, S. Sezin was born in Ulster, in 402, studied at Rome,
became a bishop in Ireland, and passed into Brittany in 477, where he
died as late as 529, having lived 127 years. But the lections in the
Breviary of S. Pol de Léon, from which Albert le Grand made up this
history, are for the most part taken word for word from the Life of S.
Kieran. We may allow that the saint was an Irishman, and that he died
at Guic-Sezni, in the beginning of the 6th century, but that is all we
can say of him.
S. FRIDOLIN, AB. OF SICKINGEN.
(END OF 7TH CENT.)
[Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus. Canisius in
his German Martyrology. Anglican and later Irish and Scottish
Martyrologies. The Acts of Fridolin were preserved in a monastery
on the Moselle, where they were found, and recast in a more ornate
style, by a monk, Balther, in the beginning of the 12th cent. The
story of this is rather curious. In the monastery of Sickingen there
was no copy of the life of S. Fridolin, on account of the monastery
having been destroyed by the Huns about 938. But Balther, a monk of
Sickingen, happening to visit a monastery on the Moselle, which had
been founded by S. Fridolin, found the life there. He asked for it,
but the prior refused to give it him, so he learned it by heart, as
well as he could, "partly carrying it away word for word, and partly
gathering the subject-matter," after which he set to work and re-wrote
it, incorporating the portions he knew by heart with that portion
which he wrote in his own words. He says that he was puzzled to find
that in the MS. the saint was called Fridhold, whereas at Sickingen
they were wont to call him Fridolin. Fridhold was undoubtedly
the ancient and most correct form of the name, and Fridolin is a
diminutive.]
Fridolin the Traveller was a native of Ireland, what his name there
was is not known, as we only hear of him by his Teutonic appellation,
signifying "Gentle Peace." His birth was illustrious, and he is usually
said to have been the son of a king, but Balther merely says he was
a person of distinguished piety. Having embraced the ecclesiastical
state, he was raised to the priesthood, and preached with great zeal
for some time in various parts of Ireland. Wishing to visit foreign
countries, he passed over to France, and after preaching there, became
a member of S. Hilary's monastery at Poitiers, where he remained for
a considerable time, and was so much esteemed by the community, and
the bishop and clergy, that he was elected abbot. He then completed an
object which he had greatly at heart, the rebuilding of S. Hilary's
Church, in which he was assisted by king Clovis, and by the bishop
and the inhabitants; and he placed in it the remains of the saint,
reserving a few portions of the relics for himself. During this time he
was visited by two priests, relatives of his, who had been labouring as
missionaries in Northumberland. Leaving them at Poitiers, and taking
with him some of the relics of S. Hilary, Fridolin went to the east of
France, and erected a monastery on the banks of the Moselle, which he
dedicated to S. Hilary, and which was called Helera. Having remained
there only as long as was necessary to complete that foundation, he
built a church amidst the Vosges, likewise in honour of S. Hilary,
perhaps that which was named Hilariacum, the modern S. Avold, in the
Department of Moselle. Thence he proceeded to Strassburg, where also he
erected a church under the same invocation. Next we find him at Coire,
in the Grisons, and there likewise founding a Church of S. Hilary.
While there, he inquired of the inhabitants if there were any island
in the Rhine as yet uninhabited, and was informed there was one, of
which, however, they could not give him a precise account. He went in
search of it, and at length found the island of Sickingen, a few miles
above Basle. When examining it for the purpose of discovering whether
it were fit for the erection of a church, he was beaten and ill-treated
by the inhabitants of the neighbouring district. But having obtained a
grant of the island from the king, he founded a church, and a religious
house for women, towards the endowment of which he got some lands from
Urso, a nobleman of Glarus. Thenceforth he spent the remainder of
his life at Sickingen, together with some disciples of his, of whom
he formed a community, prior, it is said, to his having established
the nunnery. He died there on the 6th of March, but in what year is
not known. There are great doubts even as to the century in which he
flourished; but it is most probable that he belonged to the latter part
of the 7th century. Some writings have been attributed to the saint,
but upon no sufficient authority. Many writers suppose that he arrived
in France in the reign of Clovis I., but it is more probable that it
was in the reign of Clovis III. According to Balther, Christianity
seems to have been completely established in Ireland at the time of
Fridolin's departure for France, and this representation does not suit
the religious state of Ireland at the period when Clovis I. reigned.
The holy expeditions of missionaries from Ireland to the continent, had
not begun as early as the 6th century. Next comes the very remarkable
circumstance of the priests, the nephews of Fridolin, coming from
Northumberland. There were no Irish priests in Northumberland until the
year 635.[25]
[25] See Dr. Lanigan's Irish Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 483-6.
S. Fridolin is regarded as the tutelar patron of the Canton of Glarus,
which bears on its coat of arms a figure of the saint.
SS. KYNEBURGA, ABSS., KYNESWITHA AND TIBBA, VV.
(END OF 7TH CENT.)
[Anglican Martyrologies. Authorities:--Bede, lib. iii. c. 21, Ingulf,
and William of Malmesbury.]
An obstinate tradition found in the ancient English Chronicles asserts
that two daughters of the savage old heathen Penda, king of Mercia,
Kyneburga and Kyneswitha, both gave up the thought of marriage to
consecrate themselves to God. The eldest, who was married to Alcfrid,
the eldest son of king Oswy of Northumbria, is said to have left him
with his consent, after having lived with him some years in virginal
continence, to end her life in the cloister. The youngest, sought in
marriage by Offa, king of the East Saxons, used her connection with him
only to persuade the young prince to embrace the monastic life as she
herself desired to do. But it has been proved that the two daughters of
the bloody Penda contributed with their brothers to the establishment
of the great abbey of Medehampstede, or Peterborough, that their names
appear in the list of the national assembly which sanctioned this
foundation, and that it was not till after, that they retired to lead
a religious life at Dermundcaster, now Caister, near Peterborough, on
the confines of Huntingdon and Northampton. There Kyneburga became
the abbess of a community of nuns, when she was shortly joined by her
sister Kyneswitha, and a kinswoman Tibba.
After their death, they were buried at Peterborough. When the Danes
wasted England, their bodies were carried to Thorney, but were brought
back again in the days of king Henry I.
Camden, in his account of Rutland, informs us that S. Tibba was held in
particular veneration at Ryall on the Wash.
SS. BALTHER AND BILFRED, H. H.
(ABOUT A.D. 756.)
[Anglican and Scottish Martyrologies. Authorities:--Aberdeen Breviary,
Hector Boece, Hist. Scot. lib. ix. Matthew of Westminster under date
941; Turgot of Durham, &c.]
S. Balther is supposed to be identical with S. Baldred, commemorated
the same day in the Scottish Martyrologies.
S. Baldred is said to have lived a solitary life on the Bass-rock. At
the entrance of the Firth of Forth was a dangerous rock just above
the level of low tide which proved a cause of continual shipwreck.
Baldred, says the lection in the Aberdeen Breviary, compassionating
the sailors, went to the rock, and standing on it, it swam away under
him "like a boat," and he conducted it to a place where it could do no
mischief, and there he rooted it again.
He died at Aldham (Alderstone), and his body was claimed by the
neighbouring parishes of Tyningham and Preston. A contest arose between
the three parishes, and the story is told, which occurs also in that
of S. Tyllo, that in the morning there were three precisely similar
bodies, so that each parish was able to possess S. Baldred.
In 951, Anlaf the Dane burnt the church and monastery of Tyningham,
and immediately after was struck with sudden sickness, and died. The
body of S. Balther was rediscovered by revelation, by a priest, Elfrid,
two centuries later, whose mission seems to have been the recovery of
lost relics, for he found also those of SS. Bilfred, Acca, Alkmund
the bishop, king Oswin, and the abbesses Ebba and Ethelgitha, being
directed to them all by visions. The bones of S. Balther and S. Bilfred
were put together with the body of S. Cuthbert in his shrine at Durham.
But they were removed from the shrine again in 1104, the head of S.
Oswald being alone left with S. Cuthbert, and were put in the shrine of
the Venerable Bede.
S. Bilfred was a goldsmith, who is said to have chased a book of the
Gospels with gems in gold, which was long preserved at Durham, and is
now in the Cottonian library in the British Museum. On the cover is "✠
Eadfrid, Oetilwald, Billfrith, Aldred hoc Evangelium Deo et Cuthberto
uonstruxerunt et ornaverunt;" above this in Saxon characters, and in
a Northumbrian dialect, "And Billfrith, the anchorite, he fabricated
the curious works that are on the outside, and it adorned with gold
and with gems, also with silver overgilded, a priceless treasure."
Billfrith is supposed to be a local form of Bilfred.
S. CHRODEGANG, B. OF METZ.
(A.D. 766.)
[Metz Martyrology, Molanus and Herimann Greven in their additions
to Usuardus. Belgian Martyrologies, and Saussaye in his Gallia
Christiana. Authority:--His life by Paulus Diaconus ([fl]. 790), and a
larger one by John, abbot of Gorze, (d. 793), published in Pertz, Mon.
Sacr. T. x. p. 552-572.]
This saint was a native of Hasbain, that portion of Brabant which
surrounds Louvain, and was educated in the abbey of S. Tron. On account
of his learning and general talents he was made chancellor of France
by Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, in 737. Soon after the death
of Charles, he was elected bishop of Metz, in 742. In 754 he was sent
on an embassy by king Pepin to Astulph, king of the Lombards, who had
overrun the North of Italy, praying him not to commit degradations in
Rome, nor to force the Romans to desert their faith. But the embassy
proved fruitless. In 755 the saint organised a regular community to
serve as chapter to his cathedral, requiring them to live together in
one house, and observe certain rules, which he drew up in thirty-four
articles. Amongst other rules, he required his canons to confess at
least twice in the year to the bishop, before the beginning of Advent
and Lent. He built and endowed the monasteries of S. Peter, of Gorze,
and of Lorsch; and died on March 6th, 766. He was buried at Gorze. His
relics disappeared at the Revolution.
S. COLETTE, V.
(A.D. 1447.)
[Roman Martyrology. Her festival was celebrated with proper office
at her convent in Ghent, by permission of Clement VIII.; and Paul
V. extended this privilege to all other convents of her order. She
was canonized by Pius VII., in 1807. Her life was written by Peter à
Vallisus, [or] de Rheims, for many years her confessor, in French, and
it was translated by Etienne Julliac, a contemporary, into Latin; and
an epitome of her life was written by Jodocus Clichthrove.]
Colette Boillet, a carpenter's daughter, was born at Corbie, in
Picardy, on Jan. 13th, 1380. Her parents gave her at the font the name
of Nicoletta, and this has been contracted into Colette, the name by
which she is now usually known. From her earliest infancy she seems
to have been singled out for a special work, and her young soul, from
the first, opened to divine grace, as a spring flower to the sun. At
the age of seven, she yearned for a retired life, and she fashioned
for herself a little oratory in the back premises of the carpenter's
wood-yard, into which she retreated for prayer, and there spent many
hours in communion with God. When her childish companions sought her
that they might draw her into their sports and pastimes, she hid under
her bed; but when anything was really wanted of her, or any of her
companions were in trouble, she was at once at hand to assist and
console. If a poor person came to the door whilst the family was at
meals, she would rise and give him her share.
In 1402, at the age of twenty-two, Colette bade farewell to nature,
to her friends, to all of life that was most lovely, and enclosed
herself in an anchorite's cell, built against the walls of the church
of Corbie. These voluntary recluses were common in the Middle Ages.
Those who desired to live this life of seclusion, entered living into
these tombs, which were built up, leaving only a window open, through
which they were fed and communicated. Throughout all Picardy the fame
of the austerities of Colette spread, and many sought her counsel and
prayers. Fearing that her humility would suffer, for three years she
maintained a complete silence, only opening her window to receive the
Holy Sacrament. At length the call came, which it was impossible for
her to resist. Henry de la Balm, her confessor, saw in a dream a vine
full of leaves, but fruitless; then came Colette and pruned the vine,
and it began to yield abundantly. Shortly after this Colette saw, in
vision, a great tree growing in her cell, laden with golden fruit, and
numerous saplings springing up about its roots. Fearing a deception of
Satan, she tore up the young plants, but there appeared more in their
place. Then she thought God summoned her to reform the Order of the
Poor Clares. But she still hesitated; whereupon she was struck blind
for three days, and after that for three days dumb. She hesitated no
longer, but came forth ready, in God's name, to undertake her mission.
She left her cell with regret; turning at the door, and kissing the
threshold, she sobbed forth, "Oh, dear little home, farewell! farewell
my joy and repose! Oh, if men knew how much happiness I have enjoyed in
thee, they would desert palaces to inhabit thy narrow walls."
It was the close of autumn in 1406. The vines were heavy with grapes,
the trees had put on their many-coloured autumnal tints, and the last
shocks of yellow harvest were being gathered in. For four years, in
her seclusion, she had seen nothing of all this, only the golden light
playing on the wall of her chamber, sometimes pale, and sometimes
burning as flame, and the blue sky and the drifting clouds, now dark
grey with winter rains, and then white and fleecy in summer light.
Colette had written all that she had deemed expedient for the
reformation of the Franciscan Order; she placed her writings in a
pouch attached to her girdle, and on foot she started for Nice, where
Benedict XIII. resided, on account of the schism. The pope received
Colette with honour; she made profession of the rule of S. Clare at his
feet, and he appointed her superior-general of the whole order; naming
Henry de la Balm, her confessor, as assistant for the reformation of
the Friars of S. Francis.
This young and feeble woman now set her hand with incredible energy to
the accomplishment of her task. She traversed France, Savoy, Germany,
and Flanders, meeting in some places with violent opposition as a
crazy fanatic, but in other succeeding in establishing a reform. The
provinces of France were ravaged by war, and all the evil passions of
wicked men were let loose; but Colette walked through all dangers,
relying on Divine protection, and never relying in vain. She was
accused of heresy, and even of unchastity, but she was not crushed by
slander, despising reproach as she had defied danger.
In 1410, she founded a convent at Besançon; in 1415, she introduced a
reform into the convent of the Cordeliers, at Dole, and in succession
into nearly all the convents in Lorraine, Champagne, and Picardy. In
1416, she founded a house of her order at Poligny, at the foot of the
Jura, and another at Auxonne. "I am dying of curiosity to see this
wonderful Colette, who resuscitates the dead," wrote the Duchess of
Bourbon, about this time. For the fame of the miracles and labours of
the carpenter's daughter was in every mouth.
In 1422, Colette started for Moulins to meet the duchess, and to found
there a religious house. The Duchess of Nevers summoned her into her
duchy, and she obeyed the summons. It was on her way to Moulins that
she met another maiden, also acting under a special call, though one
of a very different nature. One maiden was called to wear cord and
veil, the other to gird the sword and wear the casque. It was Joan of
Arc, then on her way with Dunois at the head of an army to besiege
Charité-sur-Loire. In Auvergne, Colette converted Isabeau de Bourbon,
and at the age of nineteen the young princess exchanged her diamonds
for the knotted cord of S. Clare.
After having founded the convent of Le Puy, at the request of Amadeus
VII., Colette carried her reformation into Savoy. On the north shore
of the Lake of Geneva, she found a still sweet spot, itself silent and
secluded as a monastery, its white walls reflected in the deep blue
of the lake, and looking out on a range of snowy mountains. At Vevey
she rested to look around her, relax her weary soul, and breathe in
the soft air, sweet from the fields of narcissus. But God had not yet
called her to rest. From all sides devotees came to her,--the Duchess
of Valentinois, the unfortunate Jacques de Bourbon, in turn jailor and
prisoner of his wife, Jeanne of Sicily, with his children, who, having
tasted the life of the cloister, found it was so sweet, that they
abandoned for it the pleasures and ambitions of the world.[26]
[26] Jacques II. of Bourbon, Count of la Marche and de Castres, married
to Jeanne Q. of Naples and Sicily, was imprisoned by his wife, but
escaped, and becoming a third Order brother of S. Francis, at Besancon,
died there, Sept. 24, 1428.
After having spent two years at Vevey, Colette went to Nozeroy, to the
princess of Orange, and remained with her till 1430. Philip the Good,
Duke of Burgundy, recalled Colette to Flanders, where she founded
several houses, and glorified God by many miracles. In the memoirs
of Oliver de la Marche, a Burgundian gentleman of this time, occurs
the following notice of S. Colette; "En celui temps, régnoit une
moult sainte et dévote femme, religieuse de Sainte-Claire, au pays
de Bourgoigne, nommée soeur Colette. Cette femme allait par toute la
chrétienté, menant moult sainte vie, et édifiant maisons et églises de
la religion de Saint François et de Sainte Claire. Et ai été acertené,
que, par son pourchas et par sa peine, elle avait édifié de son temps
trois cent quatre-vingts églises."
It would seem almost as if Colette had a natural love for mountains, so
generally do we find her returning to them, and laying at their feet
the foundations of her dearest homes. Perhaps the mystery of their
blue-veined valleys, and the wondrous changes wrought by the sun and
clouds on their sides, filled her with a sense of love and awe. But it
was not from among the mountains that she was summoned away. The call
to the everlasting hills came to her on the flats of Flanders, in the
city of Ghent. There she died on March 6th, 1447, laying herself down
to repose as gladly as the weary labourer in harvest time, who returns
to his home and to sleep after a day of incessant toil.
When the Emperor Joseph II. suppressed many religious houses in his
dominions, in 1785, the Poor Clares of Ghent took up the body of S.
Colette, and traversing France, laid it beneath the mountain shadows
at Poligny. The holy relics were secreted at the time of the French
Revolution, and on the return of tranquillity, they were placed in the
parish church; but the Poor Clares having re-established themselves at
Poligny, the bones of the saint have been restored to them.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
March 7.
SS. PERPETUA, FELICITAS, SATURUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa_,
A.D. 203.
S. EUBULUS, _M. at Cæsarea in Palestine_, A.D. 308.
S. PAUL THE SIMPLE, _H. in the Thebaid_, _4th cent._
S. GAUDIOSUS, _B. of Brescia_, _circ._ A.D. 445.
S. EASTERWIN, _Ab. of Wearmouth_, A.D. 785. (_See S. Benedict
Biscop, Jan. 12th; p. 172._)
S. THOMAS AQUINAS, _Doct., O.P., at Fossa Nuova_, A.D. 1274.
SS. PERPETUA, FELICITAS, AND COMP., MM.
(A.D. 203.)
[Roman and all Western Martyrologies on this day, but by the Greeks
on March 1st. Authorities:--The genuine Acts of these martyrs, and a
sermon by S. Augustine of Hippo on them. The names of Perpetua and
Felicitas occur in the Canon of the Mass. The first part of the Acts
was written by S. Perpetua herself, and reaches to the eve of her
martyrdom. S. Saturus then took the pen, and added the account of his
vision; and when he had gained his crown, an eye-witness of their
passion closed the account. Tertullian quotes these Acts in his Book
De Anima, c. 55; and S. Augustine in his Sermons, 280, 283, and 294.
They were anciently read publicly in the churches of Africa.]
A violent persecution broke out under the Emperor Severus, in 202.
It reached Africa the following year; when, by order of Minutius
Timinianus, or Firminianus, five catechumens were apprehended at
Carthage for the faith; namely, Revocatus, and his fellow-slave
Felicitas, Saturninus, and Secundulus, and Vivia Perpetua. Felicitas
was expecting her confinement; and Perpetua had an infant at her
breast, was of a good family, twenty-two years of age, and married to
a person of quality in the city. She had a father, a mother, and two
brothers; the third, Dinocrates, died about seven years old. These
five martyrs were joined by Saturus, probably brother to Saturninus,
and who seems to have been their instructor: he underwent a voluntary
imprisonment, because he would not abandon them. The father of S.
Perpetua, who was a Pagan, and advanced in years, loved her more than
all his other children. Her mother was probably a Christian, as was one
of her brothers, the other a catechumen. The martyrs, for some days
before they were committed to prison, were kept under a strong guard
in a private house: and the account Perpetua gives of their sufferings
to the eve of their death, is as follows: "We were in the hands of our
persecutors, when my father, out of the affection he bore me, made new
efforts to shake my resolution. I said to him, 'Can that vessel, which
you see, change its name?' He said, 'No.' I replied, 'Nor can I call
myself any other than I am, a Christian.' At that word my father in a
rage fell upon me, as if he would have pulled out my eyes, and beat me;
but went away in confusion, seeing me invincible. After this we enjoyed
a little repose, and in that interval received baptism. The Holy Ghost,
on our coming out of the water, inspired me to pray for nothing but
patience under bodily sufferings. A few days after this we were put
into prison; I was shocked at the horror and darkness of the place; for
till then I knew not what such sort of places were. We suffered much
that day, chiefly on account of the great heat caused by the crowd,
and the ill-treatment we met with from the soldiers. I was, moreover,
tortured with concern, because I had not my baby with me. But the
deacons, Tertius and Pomponius, who assisted us, obtained, by money,
that we might pass some hours in a more commodious part of the prison,
to refresh ourselves. My infant was then brought to me almost famished,
and I gave it the breast. I recommended him afterward carefully to
my mother, and encouraged my brother; but was much afflicted to see
their concern for me. After a few days my sorrow was changed into
comfort, and my prison itself seemed agreeable. One day my brother
said to me, 'Sister, I am persuaded that you are a special favourite
of heaven; pray to God to reveal to you whether this imprisonment will
end in martyrdom, or not.' I, knowing God gave me daily tokens of His
goodness, answered, full of confidence, that I would inform him on the
morrow. I therefore asked that favour of God, and had this vision. I
saw a golden ladder, which reached from earth to heaven; but so narrow
that only one could mount it at a time. To the two sides were fastened
all sorts of iron instruments, swords, lances, hooks, and knives; so
that if any one went up carelessly, he was in great danger of having
his flesh torn. At the foot of the ladder lay a dragon of enormous
size, who kept guard to turn back and terrify those that endeavoured to
mount it. The first that went up was Saturus, who was not apprehended
with us, but voluntarily surrendered himself afterward on our account:
when he had reached the top of the ladder, he turned towards me, and
said, 'Perpetua, I wait for you; but take care lest the dragon bite
you.' I answered, 'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, he shall
not hurt me.' Then the dragon, as if afraid of me, gently lifted his
head from under the ladder, and I, having got upon the first step,
set my foot upon his head. Thus I mounted to the top, and there I saw
an extensive garden, and in the middle of it a tall man sitting down
dressed like a shepherd, having white hair. He was milking his sheep,
surrounded with many thousands of persons clad in white. He called me
by my name, bid me welcome, and gave me some curds made of the milk
which he had drawn: I put my hands together, and took and ate them;
and all that were present said aloud, Amen. The noise awakened me,
chewing something very sweet. As soon as I had related this vision to
my brother, we both concluded that we should suffer death.
"After some days, a rumour having got about that we were to be
examined, my father came from the city to the prison, overwhelmed with
grief. 'Daughter,' said he, 'have pity on my grey hairs, if I yet
deserve to be called your father; if I have brought you up. I pray
you consider that my love of you made me always prefer you to your
brothers, and make me not now a reproach to mankind. Have respect for
your mother and your aunt; have compassion on your child that cannot
survive you; lay aside this obstinacy, lest you ruin us all; for not
one of us will dare open his lips any more if misfortune befall you.'
He took me by the hands at the same time, and kissed them; he threw
himself at my feet in tears. I confess, I was pierced with sorrow
when I considered that my father was the only person of our family
that would not rejoice at my martyrdom. I endeavoured to comfort him,
saying, 'Father, grieve not; nothing will happen but what pleases God;
for we are not at our own disposal.' He then departed, much concerned.
Next day, whilst we were at dinner, a person came in suddenly to summon
us to examination. The report of this soon brought a vast crowd of
people into the audience chamber. We were placed on a sort of scaffold
before the judge, Hilarian, procurator of the province, the proconsul
having lately died. All who were questioned before me boldly confessed
Jesus Christ. When it came to my turn, my father stood forward, holding
up my infant. He drew me a little aside, conjuring me in the most
tender manner not to be insensible to the misery I should bring on that
innocent creature, to which I had given life. The president Hilarian
joined with my father, and said, 'What! will neither the gray hairs of
a father, nor the tender innocence of a child, move you? Sacrifice for
the prosperity of the emperors.' I replied, 'I will not do it.' 'Are
you then a Christian,' said Hilarian. I answered, 'Yes, I am.' As my
father attempted to draw me from the scaffold, Hilarian commanded him
to be beaten off, and he had a blow given him with a stick, which I
felt as much as if I had been struck myself, so much was I grieved to
see my father thus treated in his old age. Then the judge pronounced
our sentence, by which we were all condemned to be exposed to wild
beasts. We then joyfully returned to our prison; and as my infant was
not yet weaned, I immediately sent Pomponius the deacon, to demand
him of my father, but he refused to send him. And God so ordered it,
that the child no longer required to suck, nor did my milk incommode
me." Secundulus, being no more mentioned, seems to have died in prison
before this interrogatory. Before Hilarian pronounced sentence, he had
caused Saturus, Saturninus, and Revocatus to be scourged; and Perpetua
and Felicitas to be beaten on the face. They were reserved for the
shows which were to be exhibited for the soldiers in the camp, on the
festival of Geta, who had been made Cæsar four years before, by his
father Severus, when his brother Caracalla was created Augustus.
S. Perpetua relates another vision with which she was favoured, as
follows: "A few days after receiving sentence, when we were all
together in prayer, I happened to name Dinocrates, at which I was
astonished, because I had not before had him in my thoughts; and I that
moment knew that I ought to pray for him. This I began to do with great
fervour before God; and the same night I had the following vision:
I saw Dinocrates coming out of a dark place, where there were many
others, exceedingly hot and thirsty; his face was dirty, his complexion
pale, with the ulcer in his face of which he had died at seven years
of age, and it was for him that I had prayed. There seemed a great
distance between him and me, so that it was impossible for us to come
to each other. Near him stood a vessel full of water: he attempted to
drink, but could not reach it. This mightily grieved me, and I awoke.
By this I knew my brother was in pain, but I trusted I could relieve
him by prayer: so I began to pray for him, beseeching God with tears,
day and night, that he would grant me my request; and I continued doing
this till we were removed to the camp prison: being destined for a
public show on the festival of the Cæsar Geta. The day we were in the
stocks[27] I had this vision; I saw the place, which I had beheld dark
before, now luminous; and Dinocrates, with his body very clean and well
clad, refreshing himself; and in the place of his wound was a scar
only. I awoke, and knew he was relieved from his pain.[28]
[27] These stocks, called Nervus, were a wooden machine with many
holes, in which the prisoners' feet were fastened and stretched to
great distances, as to the fourth or fifth holes, for the increase of
their torments. S. Perpetua remarks, they were chained, and also set in
this engine during their stay in the camp-prison, which seems to have
been several days, in expectation of the day of the public shows.
[28] It is evident from the visions S. Perpetua had of her little
brother, that the Church, at that early age, believed the doctrine of
Purgatory, and prayed for the faithful departed.
"Some days after, Pudens, the officer who commanded the guards of the
prison, seeing that God favoured us with many gifts, had a great esteem
of us, and admitted many people to visit us, for our mutual comfort. On
the day of the public shows, my father came overwhelmed with sorrow. He
tore his beard, threw himself on the ground, cursed his years, and said
enough to move any creature; and I was ready to die with sorrow to see
my father in so deplorable a condition. On the eve of the shows I was
favoured with the following vision. The deacon Pomponius, methought,
knocked very hard at the prison door, which I opened to him. He was
clothed with a white robe, embroidered with innumerable pomegranates
of gold. He said to me, 'Perpetua, we wait for thee, come along.' He
then took me by the hand and led me through very rough places into the
middle of the amphitheatre, and said, 'Fear not.' And, leaving me, said
again, 'I will be with thee in a moment, and bear a part with thee in
thy pains.' I was wondering the beasts were not let out against us,
when there appeared a very ill-favoured negro, who came to encounter me
with others. But another beautiful troop of young men declared for me,
and anointed me with oil for the combat. Then appeared a man of a great
stature, in rich apparel, like the master of the gladiators, having a
wand in one hand, and in the other a green bough on which hung golden
apples. Having ordered silence, he said that the bough should be my
prize, if I vanquished the negro: but that if he conquered me, he would
kill me with a sword. After a long and obstinate engagement, I threw
the negro on his face, and trod upon his head. The people applauded
my victory loudly. I then approached the master of the amphitheatre,
who gave me the bough with a kiss, and said, 'Peace be with thee, my
daughter.' After this I awoke, and found that I was not to combat with
wild beasts so much as with devils." Here ends the relation of S.
Perpetua.
S. Saturus had also a vision, which he wrote down himself. He and his
companions were conducted by a bright angel into a most delightful
garden, in which they met some holy martyrs lately dead, namely
Jocundus, Saturninus, and Artaxius, who had been burned alive for the
faith, and Quintus, who had died in prison. They inquired after other
martyrs of their acquaintance, and were conducted into a most stately
palace, shining like the sun; and in it saw the king of this most
glorious place surrounded by his happy subjects, and heard the voice
of a great multitude crying, "Holy, holy, holy." Saturus, turning to
Perpetua, said, "Thou hast here what thou didst desire." She replied,
"God be praised, I have more joy here than ever I had in the flesh."
He adds, that on going out of the garden they found before the gate,
on the right hand, the bishop of Carthage, Optatus, and on the left,
Aspasius, priest of the same church, both of them alone and sorrowful.
They fell at the martyrs' feet, and begged that they would reconcile
them together, for a dissension had happened between them. The martyrs
embraced them, saying, "Art not thou our bishop, and thou a priest of
our Lord? It is our duty to prostrate ourselves before you." Perpetua
was discoursing with them; but certain angels came and drove away
Optatus and Aspasius; and bade them not to disturb the martyrs, but
be reconciled to each other. The bishop, Optatus, was also charged to
heal the divisions that reigned in his church. The angels after these
reprimands seemed ready to shut the gates of the garden. "Here," says
he, "we saw many of our brethren and martyrs likewise. We were fed with
an ineffable odour, which delighted and satisfied us." Such was the
vision of Saturus. The rest of the Acts were added by an eye-witness.
God had called to himself Secundulus in prison. Felicitas was eight
months gone with child, and as the day of the shows approached, she
was inconsolable lest she should not be confined before then; fearing
that her martyrdom would be deferred on that account, because women
with child were not allowed to be executed, before they were delivered:
the rest also were sensibly afflicted on their part to leave her
behind. Therefore they unanimously joined in prayer to obtain of God
that she might be delivered before the day of the shows. Scarce had
they finished their prayer, when Felicitas found herself in labour.
She cried out under the violence of her pain; then one of the guards
asked her, if she could not bear the throes of childbirth without
crying out, what she would do when exposed to the wild beasts. She
answered, "It is I myself that am enduring these pangs now; but then
there will be another with me who will suffer for me, because I shall
suffer for Him." She was then delivered of a daughter, which a certain
Christian woman took care of, and brought up as her own child. Pudens,
the keeper of the prison, having been already converted, secretly did
them all the good offices in his power. The day before they suffered
they were given, according to custom, their last meal, which was
called a free supper, and they ate in public. Their chamber was full
of people, with whom they talked, threatening them with the judgments
of God, and extolling the happiness of their own sufferings. Saturus,
smiling at the curiosity of those that came to see them, said to
them, "Will not to-morrow suffice to satisfy your inhuman curiosity?
However you may seem now to pity us, to-morrow you will clap your
hands at our death, and applaud our murderers. But observe well our
faces, that you may know them again at that terrible day when all men
shall be judged." They spoke with such courage and intrepidity that
they astonished the infidels, and occasioned the conversion of several
among them. The day of their triumph having come, they went out of
the prison to the amphitheatre full of joy. Perpetua walked with a
composed countenance and easy pace, with her eyes modestly cast down;
Felicitas went with her, following the men, not able to contain her
joy. When they came to the gate of the amphitheatre, the guards would
have given them, according to custom, the superstitious habits with
which they adorned such as appeared at these sights. For the men, a
red mantle, which was the habit of the priests of Saturn; for the
women, a little fillet round the head, by which the priestesses of
Ceres were known. The martyrs rejected those idolatrous vestments;
and, by the mouth of Perpetua, said they came thither of their own
accord, on the promise made them that they should not be forced to
anything contrary to their religion. The tribune then consented that
they should appear in the amphitheatre habited as they were. Perpetua
sang, as being already victorious; Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus
threatened the people that beheld them with the judgments of God: and
as they passed before the balcony of Hilarian, they said to him, "Thou
judgest us in this world, but God will judge thee in the next." The
people, enraged at their boldness, begged that they might be scourged,
and this was granted. They accordingly passed before the Venatores,[29]
or hunters, each of whom gave them a lash. They rejoiced exceedingly
in being thought worthy to resemble our Saviour in his sufferings.
God granted to each of them the death they desired; for when they had
discoursed together about what kind of martyrdom would be agreeable
to each, Saturninus declared that he should prefer to be exposed
to beasts of several sorts, in order that his sufferings might be
aggravated. Accordingly, he and Revocatus, after having been attacked
by a leopard, were also assaulted by a bear. Saturus dreaded nothing
so much as a bear, and therefore hoped a leopard would despatch him at
once with his teeth. He was then exposed to a wild boar, but the beast
turned upon his keeper, who received such a wound from him, that he
died in a few days after, and Saturus was only dragged along by him.
Then they tied the martyr near a bear, but that beast came not out of
his lodge, so that Saturus, being sound and not hurt, was called upon
for a second encounter. This gave him an opportunity of speaking to
Pudens, the gaoler that had been converted. The martyr encouraged him
to constancy in the faith, and said to him, "Thou seest I have not
yet been hurt by any beast, as I desired and foretold: believe then
stedfastly in Christ; I am going where thou wilt see a leopard with one
bite take away my life." It happened so, for a leopard being let out
upon him, sprang upon him, and in a moment he was deluged with blood,
whereupon the people jeering, cried out, "He is well baptized." The
martyr said to Pudens, "Go, remember my faith, and let our sufferings
rather strengthen than trouble thee. Give me the ring thou hast on
thy finger." Saturus, having dipped it in his wound gave it him back
to keep as a pledge to animate him to steadfastness in his faith, and
soon after, fell down dead. Thus he went first to glory, to wait for
Perpetua, according to her vision.
[29] Pro ordine venatorum. Venatores is the name given to those that
were armed to encounter the beasts, who put themselves in ranks, with
whips in their hands, and each of them gave a lash to the Bestiarii, or
those condemned to the beasts, whom they obliged to pass naked before
them in the middle of the pit or arena.
In the mean time, Perpetua and Felicitas had been exposed to a wild
cow; Perpetua and Felicitas were the first attacked, and the cow having
tossed the former, she fell on her back. Then putting herself in a
sitting posture, and perceiving her clothes were torn, she gathered
them about her in the best manner she could, to cover herself,
thinking more of decency than her sufferings.[30] Getting up, not to
seem disconsolate, she tied up her hair, which was fallen loose, and
perceiving Felicitas on the ground much hurt by a toss of the cow, she
helped her to rise. They stood together, expecting another assault
from the beasts, but the people crying out that it was enough, they
were led to the gate Sanevivaria, where those that were not killed by
the beasts were despatched at the end of the shows by the confectores.
Perpetua was here received by Rusticus, a catechumen. She seemed as if
just returning out of a long ecstasy, and asked when she was to fight
the wild cow. When told what had passed, she could not believe it till
she saw on her body and clothes the marks of what she had suffered. She
called for her brother, and said to him and Rusticus, "Continue firm in
the faith, love one another, and be not distressed at our sufferings."
All the martyrs were now brought to the place of their butchery. But
the people, not yet satisfied with beholding blood, cried out to have
them led into the middle of the amphitheatre, that they might have the
pleasure of seeing them receive the last blow. Upon this, some of the
martyrs rose up, and having given one another the kiss of peace, went
of their own accord into the arena; others were despatched without
speaking, or stirring out of the places they were in. S. Perpetua fell
into the hands of a very timorous and unskilful apprentice of the
gladiators, who, with a trembling hand, gave her many slight wounds,
which made her languish a long time. Thus, says S. Augustine, did two
women, amidst fierce beasts and the swords of gladiators, vanquish
the devil and all his fury. The day of their martyrdom was the 7th of
March, as it is marked in the most ancient martyrologies, and in a
Roman Martyrology as old as the year 554. S. Prosper says they suffered
at Carthage, which agrees with all the circumstances. Their bodies
were preserved in the great church of Carthage, in the 5th century,
as Victor of Utica relates. The body of S. Perpetua is said to be
preserved at Bologna, in the Church of the Franciscans, but it is very
questionable whether it is that of the S. Perpetua of Carthage, whose
passion has just been narrated.
[30] Does not this remind the classic scholar of the description of the
death of Polyxena, by Talthybius, in the Hecuba, "She even in death
showed much care to fall decently."
S. EUBULUS, M.
(A.D. 308.)
[By the Greeks on Feb. 3rd, in conjunction with S. Adrian; but by
the Roman Martyrology on this day, and S. Adrian on March 5th.
Authority:--Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. viii., c. 11.]
In the persecution in Palestine, carried out under the ferocious
governor Firmilian, Adrian and Eubulus, natives of Manganæa, suffered.
They came to Cæsarea, and were asked the cause of their coming, as
they entered the gates of the city. They confessed that they had come
to see and minister to the martyrs of Jesus Christ. They were at
once apprehended and brought before Firmilian. He ordered them to be
scourged and torn with hooks, and then to be devoured by the beasts.
After the lapse of two days, on the third of the nones of March, Adrian
was cast before a lion, and afterwards slain with the sword. Eubulus
was also reserved to the nones of March, and was then cast to the
beasts. He was the last to suffer for the faith at Cæsarea in that
persecution.
S. PAUL THE SIMPLE, H.
(4TH CENT.)
[Greek Menæa and Roman Martyrology on the same day. But
some Latin Martyrologies on Dec. 18th, others on Jan. 11th.
Authorities:--Palladius, in his Hist. Lausiaca; Ruffinus, in his Lives
of the Fathers of the Desert; and Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., lib. i., c.
13.]
Paul the Simple was one of the first disciples of S. Antony. He did
not embrace the religious life till he was sixty, and then it was in
consequence of the bad conduct of his wife. He had been a labourer in
a village of the Thebaid, and was very ignorant. He came to S. Antony,
but the patriarch of hermits refused to admit him, thinking him too
old to adopt the monastic life. Paul, however, remained three days and
nights outside the cell of Antony, and would not leave. Antony then
came forth, and found that the man had no food; he, therefore, received
him for a while, hoping to disgust him with the life of a hermit by the
severity of his discipline. He set Paul to pray outside his door, and
told him not to desist till he was released. The simple old labourer
obeyed, and Antony observed him, unseen, praying with the blazing sun
shining down on his head at noon-day, and the moon looking on him at
night, as rigid and immoveable as one of the date palms of the desert.
He then brought him into his cave, and gave him some platting to do.
When it was accomplished he rebuked Paul for his having doing it badly,
and bade him undo his work again. The postulant did as ordered without
a murmur. Then Antony brought bread, and set the table in order for
supper, and called the hungry Paul to it; then he said, "Before we eat,
let us recite twelve psalms and twelve prayers," and he did so; and
when the psalms and prayers were done, Antony said, "We have looked on
the bread, that will suffice for supper; now let us retire to rest."
Yet Paul murmured not; so Antony saw that he was qualified to be a monk.
Once, as Antony and some of his guests were discoursing on spiritual
matters, Paul asked very simply, "Were the prophets before Jesus
Christ, or Jesus Christ before the prophets?" Then Antony reddened,
and bade him keep in the background, and hold his tongue. Now Paul at
once obeyed, and remained for some time silent, and out of sight, and
they told Antony of it. Then he said, "Oh, my brethren! learn from this
man what our obedience towards God ought to be. If I say anything, he
does it instantly and cheerfully, and we--do we thus behave towards our
God?"
S. THOMAS AQUINAS, D., O.P.
(A.D. 1274.)
[The oldest notices of S. Thomas are found in Gerard de Fracheto;
in Thos. Cantipratensis; Stephen de Salanacho; Tocco, a Dominican,
who had seen S. Thomas, and heard him preach, left an account of
his life and miracles, this work formed the basis of the labours of
the Inquisition into our saint's miracles, held in 1319. This, and
the bull of his canonization, issued by John XXII., in 1323, is the
foundation of the first part of Guido's life and acts of S. Thomas;
the latter part contains the miracles substantiated at the second
Inquisition, or those told on trustworthy authority. There are many
other lives, as also histories of the translations of his body. John
XXII. ordered his festival to be kept as that of a confessor, on March
7th; Pius V., in 1567, ordered it to be honoured in the same manner as
were the feasts of the Four Doctors of the Church.]
"The age of S. Thomas Aquinas," says Bareille, "was that of Innocent
III., and of S. Louis, of Albert the Great, and of Roger Bacon, of
Giotto, and of Dante. That age witnessed the birth of the cathedral
of Cologne, and the Summa Theologiæ, of the Divine Comedy, and La
Sainte Chapelle, of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, and the cathedral of
Amiens. It was so fruitful in great men and great monuments, that it
would need an entire volume to give a complete list of both. When we
wander amidst the marvels of the thirteenth century, we are astonished
at the injustice done to it through the ignorance of mankind.
"This astonishment is increased when we consider more attentively
the vast movement which was then going on in the bosom of mankind.
This was the age in which the Universities of Oxford and Paris were
founded, in which S. Louis established his kingdom on a legitimate
basis; in which the barons wrung the Magna Charta from king John; in
which the great religious orders of S. Dominic and S. Francis sprung
up; in which gunpowder was invented, the telescope discovered, the
laws of gravitation recognized; in which the principles of political
representation and of parliamentary debate sprang into fresh life; in
which, lastly, the great nationalities of modern times were settling
themselves decisively into their places. In the middle of this century
S. Thomas appeared. This man sums up in his own person all that was
purest and strongest in his age; he is a personification of that power
which subjugates all other powers to its sway--the power of great ideas.
"Hitherto men have seen in S. Thomas nothing but the pious cenobite,
or, at best, the saintly and profound theologian, who theorises in
his cloister, scarce deigning to bestow a glance on the age in which
he lives. But if we study the real facts of his history, if we put
his works in connection with his actions, we see in him one of those
active and impressionable minds which keep an anxious watch over the
ideas of their time, either to array against them all the fulness of
their power, as a dam against their disorderly movements, or to dash
into their midst and to master them by guiding them. His was, indeed,
an extraordinary genius, whose power contemporary minds were forced to
recognize, whether they came to bruise themselves against his logic, or
whether they came to submit themselves to his direction. He reigned in
both ways, but more by seconding, than by checking, the movements of
his age."
S. Thomas, "the most saintly of the learned, and the most learned
of the saints," sprang from a noble race. His mother, Theodora, was
descended from the Caraccioli, a Norman family, and was countess of
Hano in her own right. Her ancestors had left Normandy 200 years
before, and having driven the Saracens and Greeks out of the plains of
Southern Italy, had established themselves at Naples and Messina, and
having made prisoner the Roman pontiff, had received the crown from his
trembling hands.
Landulf, Theodora's husband, of the house of Sommacoli, otherwise
called Counts of Loreto, Ditcerra, and Belcastro, belonged to one
of the most remarkable families of middle Italy. His father, Thomas,
achieved so high a military reputation, that the emperor, Frederick
Barbarossa, nominated him Lieutenant-General of the Holy Roman empire,
and gave him his sister, Frances of Suabia, to wife. His ancestors
had been Dukes of Capua, but when their inheritance was wrested from
them, they assumed the title of Aquino, and settled themselves between
the Volturno and the Garigliano. In the reign of Otto III., one of
these rough warriors took Rocca Sicca from the abbot of Monte Cassino,
and levelled it with the ground (996). Thus S. Thomas was nephew of
Frederick the First and Henry the Fourth, and cousin of Frederick the
Second, and could claim connection with the royal houses of Arragon,
Sicily, and France. Yet, noble and illustrious as he was by birth, he
was to be made nobler and more illustrious still by the brightness of
his virtues and by the splendour of his intellect.
The saint's father seems to have combined a martial spirit with a
firm devotion to the faith. Theodora, a woman of immense energy of
character, kept herself in control by severe fasts and frequent vigils.
The little town of Aquino occupies the centre of a vast and fertile
plain, commonly called Campagna Felice. One of the rugged mountains
which hem it in on all sides pushes forward a spur, called Rocca Sicca;
on the summit of this crag still stand the ruins of the castle of the
Aquinos. It was in a chamber of this castle that a Dominican friar
appeared to Theodora, and exclaimed, "Rejoice, O lady, for thou art
with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son, whom thou shalt call
Thomas; both thou and thy husband will think to make him a monk in the
monastery of Monte Cassino, where the body of blessed Benedict rests,
hoping to obtain possession of the great income of that monastery
by his elevation, but God has ordained otherwise concerning him,
for he will become a brother of the Order of Preachers, and famous
for his knowledge and the sanctity of his life."[31] She replied, "I
am not worthy to bear such a son; but may the will of God be done!"
In due course Theodora gave birth to him, who was afterwards called
the Angelic Doctor, in the same year that S. Louis became king, and
S. Francis of Assisi died. The date, however, is contested. Most
trustworthy authorities put it at the year 1227. Some say it took place
at Rocca Sicca, some at Aquino, others at Belcastro. Theodora had two
other boys, both of whom adopted a military life; and three daughters:
the eldest became a nun, and died an abbess; the second married Count
San Severino; the youngest, when an infant, was sleeping with Thomas
and his nurse, when a fork of lightning shot through the castle window,
burnt the little girl to death, but left S. Thomas uninjured in his
nurse's arms.
[31] Such is the legend, but possibly it may have been coined after the
death of S. Thomas.
At the age of five, S. Thomas was sent to Monte Cassino, his parents
hoping, in spite of the prophecy, if the prophecy had ever been really
uttered, that he would eventually join the order, and become master of
those vast possessions which were under the dominion of its abbots. The
monastery in the early days of S. Thomas was the most distinguished
school of letters in the land. The little child was doubtless dedicated
to God, as others were; he was brought into the sanctuary in the arms
of his parents, he spoke by their mouth, as at the font, he put out
his tiny hand for the sacred corporal to be wrapped round it, and thus
vowed himself to God. The education of the child was committed to a
large-hearted and God-fearing man, whose chief object was to fill
his soul with God. As a result of this training it came to pass that
S. Thomas's constant question to his teachers was, "What is God?"
Doubtless, they answered him in the apostle's words, "God is love."
The personal appearance of the young S. Thomas indicated the presence
of a governing spirit; not the command of brute force, but the command
of intellect. He possessed that rare class of spiritual beauty which
tells of gentleness, purity, and power. His massive head betokened
strength; his broad tranquil brow, his meditative eyes, produced the
impression, not so much of quickness and vivacity, as of breadth and
command. He seemed to live in a sort of spiritual light,--as the
sunbeam striking upon a landscape naturally beautiful invests it with a
kind of transfiguration. Though he seldom spoke, when he did speak, he
set hearts beating faster; and often, whilst thus conversing with his
companions, the monks would approach the little gathering by stealth,
to listen to the precocious wisdom of this extraordinary child.
After seven years quiet study, S. Thomas was forced to take refuge
with his family from the violence of the imperial soldiers, who had
sacked the abbey, and made a prey of all its wealth in plate and gems,
the legacies of emperors, kings, and knights. The change to the feudal
castle of Loreto must have been a violent one for the young saint. The
tramp of armed men, the free carousing, the shouts and songs of mirth,
must have been sources of temptation to a boy of twelve, whose life had
hitherto been passed in the silence of the cloister, or amid the sacred
songs of the monks, but the holy impressions already made on his soul
shielded it from corruption.
An anecdote is related of him at this period which shows how full his
young heart was of charity. During his sojourn at Loreto, a terrible
famine ravaged Southern Italy. The Aquinos were extremely charitable to
the poor, and Thomas acted as his father's almoner. But not satisfied
with this, he sometimes stole secretly into the kitchen, filled his
cloak with whatever came to hand, and hurried to the castle gate to
divide his spoils amongst the famishing people. Having been reprimanded
for doing so, he still persisted; but one day, as he was carrying his
cloak full of provisions, he met his father unexpectedly, and was
commanded to show what he was hiding with so much care. The child let
fall his burden, but in the place of bread, a shower of flowers hid
the feet of the boy, and the old man, Landulf, burst into tears, and,
embracing his son, bade him follow at liberty the inspirations of his
charity.
His parents determined to send S. Thomas to the University of Naples,
which was then at the height of its prosperity. Tasti states that
he commenced the study of theology under the profound Erasmus, the
Benedictine professor of that science in the University. Tocco states,
however, that the abbot of Monte Cassino advised his removal from Monte
Cassino, and his being placed at the University of Naples, where he
studied grammar and logic under Martin, and natural science under Peter
de Hibernia.
It was the custom for the students, after the professor had delivered
his lecture, to present themselves at a stated time, and deliver what
they had heard before their companions in the schools. When it came
to S. Thomas's turn, he repeated the lectures with greater depth of
thought, and greater lucidity of method, than the learned professor
himself was able to command.
A youth, who was a more brilliant expositor of truth than its
professors, would surely, during his stay in the gay centre of Southern
Italy, have observed with interest the various phases of the period in
which he lived; he must have felt, too, that an organized power alone
could meet the world. He saw what an immense power monasticism had
been in the age which was passing away. But he also perceived that the
world had changed. The efforts of the solitaries and contemplatives
had not been able to direct its course. Citeaux and Clairvaux had done
a work indeed, but it was not the work of directing the stream of
human thought. They had not perceptibly affected the world. The old
methods seemed to have dropped out of use. Discovery, and travel, and
enterprise excited the imagination of the men of that age; they loved
activity better than meditation. They congregated in towns, and the
teaching of the monastery gave way to the excitement and uproar of
university life.
What then? Thomas would ask himself, is the instrument, or the
organization adapted to oppose the powers of the world?
The Order of S. Francis, and that of S. Dominic, were created by
the Church for resisting the mighty pressure. The former, in its
characteristics of poverty and love, the latter, in its specialities
of eloquence and learning, were designed to manifest the perfection of
Christianity in a world full of the pomp of riches and the maddening
influences of pantheistic mysticism. These two Orders had chairs at
Naples. Probably young Aquino was struck by the devotedness and ability
of the Dominican professors. The special scope of the Order, its
love for learning, its active ministrations to humanity, while still
retaining the self-restraint of solitaries, and the humility of monks,
must have struck a new chord, or an old chord in a new fashion, in the
heart of the saint. Anyhow, he soon became intimate with the Fathers of
the Order, and especially with his dear friend, John à Sancto Facundo.
In the end, S. Thomas, who was then either sixteen or seventeen years
old, petitioned for the habit of S. Dominic. The fathers determined
to put his perseverance to the proof. They required him to make the
demand in public. On the day appointed, from a very early hour, the
church was flooded by a great crowd, amongst which might be observed
persons of the highest distinction in the city. The religious of the
house ranged themselves in the choir. Thomas advanced into the midst
of these two clouds of witnesses, and received from the Superior, Fra
Tomaso d'Agni di Lentino, the badges of penance and subjection. When S.
Thomas entered the order, John of Germany was general (1239-1254), and
a constellation of famous men shone with a steady light from the Corona
Fratrum. In Germany there was Albertus Magnus. Hugh of S. Caro edified
all France by his sanctity; and Peter of Verona, and John of Vicenza,
were its ornaments in Italy.
It may be imagined that Theodora was not pleased when she heard of the
ceremony from the lamentations of some of her vassals, who had seen the
young count dressed up as a Dominican friar. She forthwith hastened to
Naples with a large retinue. No sooner did the Dominicans learn that
she was on her way, than they hurried the boy off,--some say at his own
request--with several companions, to Rome, by a different route from
that usually followed by travellers.
Theodora speedily followed him to Rome. In vain she tried to obtain a
sight of him by entreaties the most imploring, and by threats the most
indignant. She then bewailed her hard lot amongst the Roman nobility,
and denounced to the pope the rapacity of the friars, who had robbed
her of her boy.
The Dominicans, dreading her influence in the city, sent S. Thomas to
Paris. Theodora, hearing of his departure, sent off a courier to his
two brothers, who were ravaging Lombardy with a band of Frederick's
soldiers, beseeching them to secure the fugitive. They set guards
to watch the passes through which the Dominicans could escape. As
the friars lay resting under a tree, near Acquapendente, they were
surrounded by armed men, and Thomas found himself a prisoner in the
hands of his brothers. The two young soldiers behaved with great
brutality to the saint, and forcing him on horseback, they carried him
to San Giovanni.
His mother made use of every argument she could invent to turn him from
his purpose; she brought into play all the passions of her nature,
her tears, her entreaties, her threats, her love; but without effect.
Perceiving that he remained unmoveable, she threw him into prison, and
set guards to watch outside. His sisters seconded their mother; they
alone were allowed to wait on him, and they practised all their arts to
turn him from his vocation. But in the end, his calm deportment, his
resignation and tenderness, won them over. They put him in a position
to communicate with the brethren. The saint procured a Bible, the Book
of the "Sentences," and some of the works of Aristotle, and learned
them by heart. Thus it was that he prepared himself for his mighty
labours in the future.
His brothers persevered in their attempts to force him from religion.
They were furious when they found that, far from being changed himself,
Thomas had converted both his sisters. They forbade the girls to
approach him; and bursting in upon him, insulted him with brutal jests,
and ended by tearing his habit, piece by piece, from off his back. Then
Brother John of S. Giuliano brought another habit for him from Naples,
which he had concealed beneath his own. This made his brothers more
enraged than before. They formed the infamous expedient of hiring a
prostitute, and shutting her up in the cell with Thomas. While waiting
the issue, a fearful shriek proceeding from the prison, summoned the
two brothers; they arrived in time to see the girl rushing away in an
agony of terror, and the young man chasing her with a blazing brand,
which he had plucked out of the fire. Even the brutality of the young
soldiers was overcome by this; and from that day forth, they ceased
their persecutions.
Before his death, the saint told his familiar friend, Rainald, that
no sooner had the girl been driven out, than he made a cross with the
charred brand upon the wall, and casting himself upon his knees before
it, made a vow of chastity for life. Whilst thus praying, he fell into
a calm sleep, and was vouchsafed a vision. He saw angels descending
from the clouds, who bound his loins with the girdle of continence,
and armed him for life as the warrior of Heaven. This girdle is said
to have been given after his death to the Dominicans of Vercelli, who
refused to part with it at the command of a pope.
Still his relations kept him in confinement, some say for two years,
and would have detained him longer, had it not been for the influence
of the Dominicans with the pope. The holy father was roused. He not
only brought the case before the emperor, but he ordered him to set the
prisoner free, and threatened to visit the perpetrators of the outrage
with condign punishment. Frederick, having latterly been humiliated by
the _Viterbesi_, and having, in consequence, been abandoned by some
of his supporters, was not sorry for an opportunity of gratifying the
pontiff. Orders were at once sent to Landolf and Rainald to set the
captive free. Still these stubborn soldiers with their haughty mother
would take no active steps to give Thomas his liberty. However, his
sisters informed John of S. Giuliano of the position of affairs, and
he at once hurried to the castle accompanied by one or two companions.
And finally, the girls let their brother down, through the window, like
another S. Paul, into the hands of his delighted brethren below, who at
once hurried him off to Naples.
Tocco says that John of S. Giuliano, others that Tomaso d'Agni di
Lentino, was Superior of the Convent, and received our saint's
profession. Theodora, repenting that she had let him escape, applied
to the pope to annul his vows. The holy father sent for S. Thomas,
and questioned him in the presence of the court. He, with his natural
modesty, and yet with gentle firmness, told the pope how unmistakeable
was the voice which had called him to religion, and implored the holy
father to protect him. Innocent, and the prelates about him, could
not suppress their emotion. The pope acted with great benevolence.
Knowing Theodora's weakness, he proposed to make Thomas abbot of Monte
Cassino, whilst still allowing him to wear the habit of S. Dominic,
and to partake of the privileges of the friars. His mother and his
brothers implored Thomas to accept the tempting offering. But he was
inexorable. He besought the pope to leave him to abide in his vocation.
Thenceforward his mother no longer worried him, and his brothers left
him alone to pursue his own course.
From the first, the Dominicans seem to have had a kind of
fore-knowledge of the great combat that would have to be waged in the
arena of human reason. From the first, with prudence, forethought,
and wise economy, they prepared a system for turning the abilities of
their members to the fullest account. With them no intellect was lost.
Power was recognised, trained, and put in motion. Those who were less
gifted, were set to less intellectual employments: those who had great
powers were fitted to become lights of the world and ornaments of the
Order. With such an intellectual capital as our saint possessed, he
might fairly have been set to work in the active ministrations of his
Order. But, fortunately, his superiors were men who looked into the
future, and knew how a present sacrifice would be repaid. Thus, instead
of looking on S. Thomas's education as finished, they considered it as
only just begun. Who was to be his master to ripen his active mind?
This question John of Germany, 4th General of the Dominicans, must have
asked himself. At last he set out with S. Thomas on foot, from Rome to
Paris, and from Paris to Cologne, where Albertus Magnus then was. It
is related that as they descried the beauty of Paris in the distance,
the general turned to Thomas and said, "What would you give to be king
of that city?" "I would rather have S. Chrysostom's treatise on S.
Matthew," replied the young man, "than be king of the whole of France."
S. Thomas met his match in Albertus Magnus. Nothing is a greater
blessing for a master-mind than to come in contact with another
master-mind, more highly educated, and with a more matured experience
than itself. Albert was born of noble family at Lavingen, in Suabia,
(1193 A.D.) Some say that, like S. Isidore, he was dull as a boy. At
Padua, where he was studying medicine and mathematics, he was drawn
by Brother Jordan's eloquence to join the Dominicans. He was sent to
Bologna, then the second centre of the intellectual world. Next he
began to teach. As a lecturer he was unrivalled: all classes thronged
into the hall of this extraordinary man. The logic, ethics, and physics
of Aristotle, and portions of Holy Writ, were the subject matter of his
lectures. After settling at Cologne, he was summoned to Paris in 1228,
to put the studies on a footing to meet the requirements of the age.
Then he returned to Cologne. It was at this period that he first met S.
Thomas, who became his favourite disciple, and to whom, in private, he
opened the stores of his capacious mind.
The companions of S. Thomas in Albert's school, were men filled with
the impression that to exert the reasoning faculties in debating
scholastic questions, was one of the principal ends of all philosophy.
It is not extraordinary that such men as these, when they saw young
Aquino so silent, should imagine that nothing occupied his thoughts;
especially when they perceived that he was equally reserved in school.
They soon came to the conclusion that he was a naturally obtuse lad.
What is more strange is this,--that Albert at first held him to be
deficient. He was called by master and pupils, "the great dumb Sicilian
ox." Once, when studying in his cell, he heard a voice crying to
him, "Brother Thomas, here! quick, look at this flying ox!" When S.
Thomas went to the window, he was received with shouts of derision. In
explanation he said incisively: "I did not believe an ox could fly, nor
did I, till now, believe that a religious could tell a lie."
A companion one day offered to assist him in his lesson. S. Thomas
assented; presently his friend came to a hard passage, which was beyond
his depth, the saint took the book from him, and explained the passage
with great clearness. Albert had selected a difficult question from the
writings of Dionysius the Areopagite; this the scholars passed to S.
Thomas; he took it to his cell; and first stating all the objections
that could be made against it, he then answered them. A brother picked
up this paper, and carried it to Albert. His master ordered him to
defend a thesis the next day before the whole school. Thomas spoke with
such clearness, established his thesis with such dialectical skill, saw
so far into the difficulties of the case, and handled the whole subject
in so masterly a manner, that Albert exclaimed, "Thou seemest to me not
to be defending the case, but to be deciding it." "Master," he replied,
"I know not how to treat the question otherwise." Albert, to test him
further, started objections, but Thomas solved every difficulty so
successfully, that Albert cried out, "We call this youth 'Dumb Ox,' but
the day will come when the whole world will resound with his bellowing."
[Illustration: S. THOMAS AQUINAS. After Cahier.
March 7.]
In 1245, it was determined by the Dominican Chapter that Albert
should leave Cologne for Paris, and that Thomas should finish his three
years under him there.
The one absorbing science of the middle ages was theology. Learning,
in all its branches, pointed to the study of religion as the great
terminus of the human mind, and the one right road from heaven to
earth. The liberal arts were but a careful and laborious preparation
for philosophy or logic; logic, in turn, was only valuable inasmuch as
it was an instrument for the ordering, defending, and proving the great
truths of revelation. The great object of life was to know God. Jacques
de Vitry beautifully says, "All science ought to be referred to the
knowledge of Christ." It may be laid down roughly that the Scriptures,
Peter Lombard's Book of Sentences, and Aristotle, were the three great
bases on which the active intellect of the 13th century rested in its
development and analysis of truth.
The students of the Paris University may be divided into three classes:
those who lived in seminaries, those who lived in monasteries, and
those who lived as best they could. Some were destitute, living
on charity, or in _hospitia_; others were rich and lordly, great
spendthrifts and swaggerers, studying out of mere curiosity, or pure
conceit.
John of S. Alban had founded a _hospitium_ for pilgrims, with a
chapel dedicated to S. James; this he handed over to the Dominicans,
which gift the University confirmed on condition that mass was said
for its living and dead members twice a year. Thus the Dominicans
came in contact with the University. From the first they attended
the theological schools of the Church of Paris. S. Louis built them
a convent, and at his death left them a part of the library he had
collected at the Sainte Chapelle. Novices were taught Latin and logic;
and disputations echoed in the cloister. Meditation was made to
counterbalance the excitement of study.
The lectures were given in large halls. In the middle stood the chair
of the master, with another seat below, and in front of him a stool
for the bachelor who was going through his training. If there was not
room on the benches, the students sat on the straw which covered the
floor. The teaching was principally done by question and answer, by
exposition, repetition, and disputation. No book was used, the teacher
might have the text before him, and sometimes the students took notes
in shorthand, which they wrote out at their leisure.
Nothing has been handed down, of any moment, regarding the studies of
S. Thomas at Paris during this period. Albert was at the height of his
reputation. His lecture-hall was so crowded, that he was forced to
lecture in a square, near Notre Dame, known as the Place Maubert.
The same year in which S. Thomas finished his studies (1248), a general
chapter of Dominicans was held at Paris. Here it was ruled that four
new schools should be started on the model of that at Paris. Bologna
for Lombardy; Montpellier for Provence; Oxford for England; Cologne
for Germany. Albert was to take the chair at Cologne, re-arrange the
studies, and be regent; whilst Thomas, who was not twenty-three, was to
be second professor, and "Magister Studentium." Albert's old reputation
attracted crowds. Thomas was not long before he also acquired a
brilliant reputation.
His distinctions, even compared with those of Albert, were so new, his
arguments so ingenious, that all were dazzled at his great ability.
It was at Cologne that he first gave evidence as a teacher, of that
depth, balance, and expansion, which, in after life, made him the
weightiest of authorities on the most momentous of religious questions.
In his treatment of the Scripture and of the Sentences, he had ample
opportunity for displaying his many-sided gifts.
Nor did he confine himself to teaching in the schools. He preached and
wrote. His first pieces were "De Ente et Essentia," and "De Principiis
Naturæ." These two works contain the germ of a future system, and were
remarkable productions for a youth of twenty-two.
The saint's practice in teaching, and the accuracy he acquired by
writing, from an early age, were of great assistance to him in
developing his powers. He possessed, moreover, a gift--most valuable at
all times--calmness and self-possession, which was the result, partly
of education, greatly of character; partly of breadth of mind, and
chiefly of grace. Under the most trying provocation he was never known
to lose his self-control.
His humility and sweetness came out strikingly when arguing in the
schools. Though his opponent, in the heat of disputation, might forget
himself, Thomas never did.
Once, when a young student arrogantly defended a thesis of which he
knew the saint did not approve, he was suffered to proceed in silence.
But the next day, when he continued his argument with still greater
arrogance, the saint with infinite sweetness, but crushing power, put a
few questions, made a few distinctions, and upset the student with such
ease, first on one point, then on another, that the whole school was in
an uproar of admiration. Both the youth and his fellows were taught a
lesson which they did not easily forget. Again, while he was preaching
at S. James's, an official of the University walked up the church, and
beckoned the saint to stop, and then read out an offensive document,
drawn up by the secular party, in opposition to the Friars' Preachers.
When the congregation had somewhat recovered from their surprise, S.
Thomas proceeded with his sermon with undisturbed composure.
Conrad De Guessia, his intimate friend, declared him to be: "A man of
holy life and honest conversation, peaceful, sober, humble, quiet,
devout, contemplative, and chaste; so mortified that he cared not what
he ate or what he put on. Every day he celebrated with great devotion,
or heard, one or two masses; and except in times proper for repose, he
was occupied in reading, writing, praying or preaching."
"His science, says Rainald, was not acquired by natural talent, but
by the revelation and the infusion of the Holy Ghost, for he never
set himself to write without having first prayed and wept. When he
was in doubt, he had recourse to prayer, and with tears he returned,
instructed and enlightened in his uncertainty."
It was about this time that S. Thomas was ordained priest. It is
mortifying that no certain information can be procured regarding the
time at which it took place. All his biographers lay stress on his
great devotion while celebrating. He was frequently rapt in spirit
whilst at mass, when the tears would spring to his eyes, and flow
copiously. After mass, he prepared his lectures, and then went to the
schools. Next, he wrote or dictated to several scribes; then he dined,
returned to his cell, and occupied himself with Divine things till time
for rest; after which he wrote again, and thus ordered his life in the
service of his Master.
The duty of preaching also fell upon him. A man so filled with the
Spirit of God would, almost of necessity, manifest the passion which
ruled supreme. His reputation even at this period was great enough to
draw a large congregation into the Dominican Church.
The language in which at this period sermons were preached was the
vernacular. Even when written in Latin, and this was generally the
case, they were delivered to the people in the vernacular.
The biographers of S. Thomas speak of the simplicity of his sermons.
Once, in a discourse on the Passion, during Lent, he so vividly brought
home to the congregation the sufferings of the cross, and drew so
touching a picture of the compassion, mercy, and love of Christ, that
his words were interrupted by the passionate crying of the people. On
Easter Day, his sermon on the Resurrection filled the congregation
with such jubilant triumph that they could scarcely be restrained from
giving public expression to their feelings.
In manner he was gentle, calm, self-possessed. Tocco says that
preaching at Naples on the text, "Hail, Mary!" he was seen to keep his
eyes closed in the pulpit, and his head in a position as if he were
looking into heaven: he tells us also that the people reverenced his
word as if it came from the mouth of God.
In the two hundred and twenty-five skeleton sermons which he has left,
he divides his subject into three or four grand divisions, which are
again sub-divided into three or four sections.
After four years at Cologne our saint received orders to take his
degree at Paris, (1248.) The Dominicans wished to place their
most promising subjects there, that the Order might maintain its
credit. Albert and Cardinal Hugh of S. Charo were instrumental in
his removal: the former saw that the saint possessed all the needed
qualifications for a professorship; a work requiring something more
than learning--tact and temper.
Thomas, when he heard of it, was much concerned. His distaste for
honour and position made him wish to be left alone. Nevertheless, in
obedience to authority, he set out to beg his way to Paris. He passed
through Brabant and Flanders, and preached before the Duchess Margaret.
The learned men of Paris had heard of his successes at Cologne, and he
was received by them with marks of unusual distinction.
The Dominican professors of theology at this time were Hugh of Metz
and Elias Brunetus. It was as teacher in the school of Elias that the
saint began to expound Holy Writ, and the writings of Peter Lombard.
His influence over young men far surpassed that of any other master.
They were conscious that his teaching had something about it of another
world; and the feeling crept over all, and finally mastered them,
that he spoke as one "having authority." The opinions he then formed,
he committed to writing, and held them and defended them with little
change in his maturer years. From his youth he had dedicated himself
to Wisdom as his spouse. Only one thing he asked for--that was wisdom.
Rainald said, "One thing I know of him, that it was not human talent,
but _prayer_, which was the secret of his great success. This was his
daily prayer: 'Grant me, I beseech Thee, O merciful God, prudently to
study, rightly to understand, and perfectly to fulfil that which is
pleasing to Thee, to the praise and glory of Thy Name.'" When a child,
if conversation did not turn on God, or on matters which tended to
edification, the Angelical Doctor would go away; he used to wonder how
men, especially religious men, could talk of anything but God or holy
things. He wept for the sins of others, as if they had been his own.
Though ever dwelling in the unseen kingdom, he was keenly alive to the
tendency of the intellectual world around him. His saintliness, and
his great ability, seem to have pointed him out as destined to sway
the philosophical and theological tendencies of an age in which the
human mind was in a condition of flux. The corroding rationalism of
the school of Abelard, and the dissolving mysticism of the East, had
to be faced, and to be withstood. Thomas fixed himself, therefore, on
the immoveable basis of authority, and grounded his teaching on the
monastic methods of the "Sentences." Doubtless the surprise caused
by his distinctions, and the admiration created by his novelty in
argument, proceeded in great measure from his vivid apprehension of
the work he had to do, of the enemy he was contending with, and of
the powers by which alone that enemy could be overthrown. He followed
Albert, but his teaching was more incisive, more definite, more
strictly to the point.
Many of his disciples became distinguished men. S. Thomas assisted
others beside his own pupils. Sovereigns, cardinals, bishops, superiors
of orders, and professors, wrote to him for advice, and for solutions
of their difficulties. The Opusculum on the difference between the
Divine and human word; and the somewhat larger treatise, on the
nature of the intellectual word, are full of close reasoning; and
state principles which are fundamental regarding the method of human
knowledge.
One of the most important of his treatises is that addressed "ad
Fratrem Rainaldum," on the nature of the Angels. It was begun during
his bachelorship, but he never got beyond the 30th chapter. It shows
his grasp of some of the cardinal questions of the day, and how
masterfully he dealt with errors of the most promising minds in the
Paris schools.
But whilst thus engaged upon the Scriptures and the Lombard, S. Thomas
was frequently in the pulpit, and he regularly delivered lectures
to crowded halls. His versatility, his power of abstraction, his
astonishing memory, his zealous husbanding of time, carried him with
ease through works which would have broken the spirit of any ordinary
man. He possessed that marvellous gift which Origen and Cæsar are said
to have had, of being able to dictate to three or even four scribes
on different and difficult subjects at the same time, and that, too,
without losing the thread of each argument.
Frigerius says that, as Professor, he elucidated the Sentences with
such sublimity of thought that he seemed rather the author of the work
than its expositor. Tocco, "that he surpassed all the masters of the
University, and by the lucidity of his expositions drew, beyond all
others, the intelligences of his disciples towards a love of science."
Students from every part of Europe flocked around his chair.
In touching on S. Thomas's commentary on the "Sentences," the influence
of Alexander Hales must not be forgotten, but he far eclipsed the
Minorite in his proofs of the non-eternity of the world--a question of
momentous importance in the Middle Ages, as well as in his discussion
of the possibility and fitness of the Incarnation. Thomas carried his
teaching on Grace to such perfection that in the Middle Ages it was
always received as a standard authority.
If judged by its bulk, this "Commentary" would seem sufficient to have
occupied a life. It fills over 1250 pages of the large quarto Parma
edition, printed in double columns. It is a monument of ceaseless
labour, great skill, and patient thought.
The work of the Lombard is a confusion compared with the lucid style
and admirable arrangement of the saint. In place of the crabbed
inverted language of Peter, we have the simple, logical, direct use of
words, which go straight to the point, and express the complete idea.
He has these weighty words on the subject of theology, "Since the end
of all philosophy is contained within the end of theology, and is
subservient to it, theology ought to command all other sciences, and
turn to its use those things which they treat of." He adds, "The more
sublime knowledge is, so much greater is its unity, and so much wider
the circle of its expansion, whence the Divine intellect, which is the
most sublime of all, by the light, which is God Himself, possesses a
distinct knowledge of all things." He also shows how the intellect
becomes illuminated when led by faith, illustrating the motto of the
monastic school, "Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis." And he shows
that theology is _deduction_, and philosophy _induction_; and that the
basis of theology must be authority, _i.e._, a Revelation.
During the Lent of 1250 or 1253, the city patrol came in collision with
a party of students, killed one of them, wounded three others, and
carried them off to prison. The secular professors of the University
refused to lecture, until the beadles were punished, but the Dominican
and Franciscan teachers went on with their lectures. When redress
had been granted to the University for the outrage, that body drew
up an oath to observe all the laws of the University, which it was
intended should be taken by all persons before taking the degree as
master. The regulars refused to take it; then the University issued
a decree, declaring the friars excluded from its body, and deprived
of their chairs. The latter appealed to Rome. The pope commissioned
the bishop of Evreux, and Luke, canon of Paris, to re-establish the
friars in their chairs, which was done. This pope dying, his successor
issued a bull, binding all to stop teaching in case of insult, but
re-establishing the friars. The king, returning home, stopped the
execution of the papal briefs. The pope issued another bull more
stringent than the first. Since 1256, S. Thomas had been lecturing
as licentiate. At the same time he was enjoying the friendship of S.
Bonaventura, who was lecturing under the Franciscan professor. Both
men exhibited, in a striking manner, the fundamental quality of the
order to which they respectively belonged. Bonaventura loved to look
into the placid, earnest soul of Thomas, as into a deep sea, with its
marvellous transparency, and awful stillness; whilst Thomas was roused
and brightened by the ardent gushing nature of his friend. S. Thomas
was angelical; S. Bonaventura was seraphic--the one, the deep thinker;
the other, the tender poet. Thomas was famous in the schools for the
keenness of his thought, and for his depth and clearness; Bonaventura
for his eloquence and vivacity in exposition; the former was a child
of contemplation, the latter of activity. Once S. Thomas asked S.
Bonaventura to show him the books out of which he got his sublime
thoughts. "There is the book," replied S. Bonaventura, pointing to
the crucifix. During this time S. Thomas wrote his "Exposition on the
Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, the Ten
Commandments, and the Law of Love." Another work on the "Articles of
the Faith and the Sacraments" falls within this period, as well as a
commentary on Isaiah.
Meanwhile, William of S. Amour, the celebrated philosopher and doctor
of the University, was endeavouring to turn the mendicant Orders out of
Paris by getting people to withhold their alms, and by forbidding the
members of these Orders to attend the secular lectures.
He also endeavoured to fix the authorship of an heretical work, called
"The Everlasting Gospel," on the Franciscans and Dominicans.
But he himself had written a book, called "Perils of the last
times." This the king sent by two doctors of theology for the pope's
examination. The University sent a deputation to make the Holy Father
acquainted with "The Everlasting Gospel." William was leader of this
deputation. S. Thomas was sent to defend his order; S. Bonaventura that
of S. Francis. S. Thomas, after examining the "Perils," reported to the
Dominican chapter that "God had given him grace to discover whatever
is false, captious, erroneous, impious in it, and that after the holy
See had pronounced judgment on it, the faithful would only notice it to
condemn it." In a few days the saint prepared his defence of the order,
and his answer to the "Perils." He pleaded before the pope and sacred
college with such success as to gain their applause.
When he had done, the four cardinals gave in their report on the
"Perils," which stated that it was full of false doctrine, injurious to
the authority of the pope and the bishops, and to the honour of several
religious orders approved by the holy See. After examining the report,
the pope condemned the "Perils" by a bull, dated October 5th, 1256,
and ordered the book to be burnt. The deputation from the University
arrived after the work of their leader had been burnt. They endeavoured
to obtain a revocation of the condemnation, but, instead, they were
compelled to take pen and themselves subscribe it. They swore,
moreover, to receive into the body of the University the Dominicans
and Franciscans, especially SS. Thomas and Bonaventura. William of S.
Amour refused to comply, and being forbidden to enter France, retired
to his estate in Burgundy. A few years later he was allowed to return
to Paris. He died in 1270. It was partly in reply to William's attack
on the religious orders, that S. Thomas wrote his Opusculum, "Against
those who attack religion and the worship of God," and that "Against
those who hinder men from entering religion," which are the best
defence and exaltation of monastic principles ever penned.[32]
[32] For this part of the history of S. Thomas, treated at greater
length, see "The Life and Labours of S. Thomas of Aquin," by the Very
Rev. R. B. Vaughan.
S. Thomas having been recalled by his superiors before the winter of
the same year (1256), embarked on board a ship bound for France. The
vessel was overtaken by a furious storm; the pilot and sailors tried
every artifice to escape the shoals, on which they were being driven by
wind and wave. Thomas, like a second S. Paul, preserved his confidence,
and prayed God to give him all the souls that were with him. His
prayer was heard: the aspect of nature changed, and the ship pursued
her course in safety.
Several bulls followed the deputies to Paris. The prudence and kindness
of S. Louis helped greatly to restore peace between the University and
the friars. The University seal was set to the summons addressed to
SS. Thomas and Bonaventura to take their doctor's degrees, which had
been delayed two years by the troubles. S. Thomas thought many other
Dominicans more deserving of the honour than himself. Whilst sadly
meditating on this, he thought an old man appeared to him, asking the
cause of his sadness. He replied, "It is not right that they should
force me to take rank among the doctors, a thing of which I am not
capable." The old man said, "The order thou hast received is assurance
enough; it destroys thy own will, and points to God's will in that
of thy superiors. Take as the text of thy thesis: '_He watereth the
hills from above: the earth is filled with the fruit of Thy works._
Ps. ciii. 13.'" On the morrow, after a struggle between S. Bonaventura
and himself for the last place, Thomas, as being the younger, gained
it. He preached from the text given him, and it has been regarded as
a prophecy of the influence which the new doctor was to exercise over
Christendom. The day on which he took his degree was the 23rd October,
1257.
The epoch on which we have now entered is the most glorious period
of our saint's life. The star of his genius mounted, without a cloud
to obscure it, in the firmament of the Church. In spite of all the
eulogies of his contemporaries, it is difficult for us to comprehend
now-a-days the extent of the power which Aquinas exercised over the men
and the ideas of his time.
S. Thomas now drew up his famous "Summa contra Gentiles." He begins
this treatise by stating that he will discuss all questions on the
ground of human reason, seeking therein a common ground on which to
combat his adversaries, or rather seeking in their natural intelligence
a point on which to rest that bridge which might lead them from human
reason to the truth of God; then he establishes the necessity of faith;
he shows next that reason affords ground for expecting a supernatural
revelation; lastly, he cements together reason and faith. Then he makes
his general division: he considers God in Himself, in relation to men,
and men in relation to God. To these three parts he joins a fourth,
viz., revelation properly so-called; therein he expounds the Trinity,
the Incarnation, with all the dogmas which attach themselves to it,
the whole destiny of man in the plan of Christianity. This we may call
the theological evolution of his great work. In that which may be
called its philosophical introduction he resolves all such difficult
questions; as the falsehood of pantheism, evil and its origin, its
nature, and its effects, which he turns into a proof of God's existence
in opposition to those unquiet spirits, who saw in it a reason for
doubting His existence.
This work was followed immediately by one upon all the Epistles of S.
Paul.
The question of the Eucharistic accidents was then much mooted in
the schools, especially in those of Paris. The question was, whether
those accidents had anything real, or were only an appearance, in
other words, whether the form under which Jesus hides Himself in the
Eucharist exists in the Sacrament itself, or in a false relation of the
senses? Wearied with a struggle to which they could foresee no end,
all the doctors determined to refer the question to the decision of
S. Thomas, and to accept that decision as conformable to the light of
reason and faith. The saint braced himself to the contemplation of this
subject, and having prayed, he wrote as the Spirit inspired him. He was
loth to take into the presence of the doctors and of the schools, the
fruit of his science and his prayer, before he had consulted Him of
Whom he was speaking, Whose aid he had implored.
He came to the altar, and placing before the tabernacle as before the
Master of masters, that which he had written on the subject of the
controversy, he raised his hands towards the image of Jesus crucified,
and prayed in this fashion: "O Lord Jesu, Who dost verily dwell in
this wonderful Sacrament, Whose works are incomprehensible marvels, I
humbly beseech Thee, if what I have written about Thee is agreeable to
the truth, grant that I may teach it, and persuade my brethren of it on
Thy behalf; but if, on the contrary, there be anything in this writing
which errs from the Catholic faith, make it impossible for me to bring
it before their eyes."
Now the doctor had been followed by his habitual companion and by
several other religious of our order, and they saw Jesus Christ
standing on the leaves which had been written by the hand of Thomas,
and saying to him, "Thou hast written worthily, my son, of the
Sacrament of My Body." And the doctor's prayer still continuing, he was
seen to raise himself nearly to the height of a cubit in the air.
The author who gives this account says he received it from a religious
who was at S. James's with S. Thomas. The members of the University
submitted to the decision, though given by a young man of only
thirty-two years of age.
Louis IX. had forced our saint to enter his council chamber. Whenever
an important affair was coming on for deliberation in the royal
council, the king caused brother Thomas to be instructed about it over
night, that he might reflect thereon in solitude, and might remember it
at the Sacrifice. He was consulted by the king not so much as the man
of genius, but as the man of God.
The saint, in spite of his earnest entreaties to be excused, was
sometimes compelled, both by loyalty and courtesy, to appear at the
royal table. For a while he would join in the general conversation,
soon to be withdrawn by his inward thoughts. Once, at dinner, after
a long silence, he smote the table smartly, exclaiming, "That is an
overwhelming argument against the Manichæans." His superior bade him
remember that he was in the king's presence. Thomas apologised for his
absence of mind. But the king, smiling, requested him to dictate to one
of his secretaries the argument which had engrossed his attention, that
it might lose none of the force which marks the thoughts of genius at
their first conception.
The Dominican Chapter, held at Valenciennes, in 1259, appointed Thomas,
Albertus Magnus, and Pierre de Tarentaise as a commission to establish
order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans.
Alexander IV. died at Viterbo, on May 25th, 1261. Jacques Pantalèon,
Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who was at Viterbo imploring protection
for the Christians of the East, was, to his surprise, raised to the
pontifical throne, under the title of Urban IV. Wishing to unite into
one the divided portions of east and west Christianity, he summoned
S. Thomas to Rome to help him in realising his project. It was in the
same year that S. Thomas came to Rome in answer to this appeal. His
general gave him at once a chair of theology in the Dominican college
at Rome, where he obtained the like success that had gained at Cologne
and Paris. Here he wrote his literal commentary on Job, and the Catena
Aurea. The chain of comments from the fathers is so perfect, the links
of gold in it are so well rivetted to one another, that a biographer
says that, "He speaks with all, and all speak and explain themselves by
him." It was dedicated to the Pope, at whose solicitation it had been
undertaken.
In the midst of the toil these works must have cost him, he did not
forget the purpose for which he was summoned. All the time he was
thinking out and penning his treatise, "Contra errores Græcorum." In
his hands, and by the force of his irresistible logic, he showed that
the ancient Greek fathers unanimously agreed with those of the Latin
Church.[33]
[33] It is necessary to point out here that S. Thomas was misled by
forgeries in this treatise. A Latin theologian, who had resided among
the Greeks, composed a catena of spurious passages of Greek Councils
and Fathers, and in 1261 it was laid before Urban IV., who, entirely
deceived thereby, sent it to S. Thomas, who also accepted it without
the least suspicion of its not being genuine.
This work was sent by the pope at once to Michael, emperor of
Constantinople, as a message of peace. He had just returned to his
capital, which Latin princes had held for more than half a century. The
object of all his efforts was to reconstitute the power of the empire.
To this task he brought an energy, a perseverance, and talents hitherto
unknown among the sovereigns of that nation. He turned his eyes for
help towards the pope; but it was the politician, rather than the
Christian, that solicited the re-establishment of Catholic unity.
S. Thomas, at the request of an Eastern prince, wrote a treatise in
refutation of the errors that were rife in that part of the world.
Nothing could be more modest than the way in which he stated his
purpose, nothing more grand than the way in which he worked it out.
Urban wished to reward his distinguished services. The great wealth he
offered, the saint directed should be given to the poor. He declined
the offer of the patriarchate of Jerusalem, and, shortly after, the
honour of a cardinal's hat, for Thomas had thoroughly realized both
the mysterious treasures of voluntary poverty and the hidden force of
evangelical humility.
The pope, finding he could not attach our saint to his court by the
ties of honours or riches, bade him lecture at the various places where
he took up his abode, Viterbo, Orvieto, Perugia, Fondi. Everywhere a
prodigious number of pupils pressed around his chair. The churches were
too small to receive the numbers who flocked to hear him. Historians
only record one course of Lent sermons preached by him in Rome.
One Christmas-eve he held a disputation with two Jewish Rabbis at the
villa of a cardinal. After asking them to return in the morning, he
passed the whole night in meditation and prayer. The Rabbis returned in
the morning, but it was to ask for baptism.
In 1263, Thomas was sent to the Dominican general chapter, held in
London, as "definitor," in the name of the Roman province.
Soon after his return to Italy, S. Thomas proposed to Urban the
institution of a special festival throughout the Catholic Church in
honour of the Holy Sacrament. When Urban was archdeacon of Liége, in
the convent of Mont Cornillon, near one of the gates of the city, a
poor religious named Juliana (April 3rd), as she prayed had a vision
of the moon shining in all its splendour, but disfigured by one little
breach. She desired to know its meaning, and an inner voice told her
it was the Church, and that the breach represented the defect of a
festival in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. After a time, an office
in honour of the Blessed Sacrament was drawn up by a young religious.
Robert de Torote, bishop of Liége, in 1246, appointed Thursday, in the
octave of Trinity, for this feast.
Henry of Gueldres succeeded him as bishop, and treated the revelations
of Juliana as folly. She died on 5th April, 1258, and left as a legacy
to her friend Eve the duty of reviving this festival. Eve was a recluse
built up in a niche of a wall near the church of S. Martin, at Liége,
and through the hole by which she received light, air, and alms,
besought the canons as they passed to seek out the bishop and entreat
him to write to the pope on the subject of the proposed festival. The
bishop did not disdain this humble prayer, but transmitted her message
to the pope, who received at the same time the petition of the first
doctor in the Church to the same effect. He wrote a letter to the poor
recluse of S. Martin, in 1264, telling her of the issuing of a bull in
answer to her prayer, and transmitting a copy of the office which the
Angelical doctor had drawn up.
Clement IV. succeeded Urban on the 22nd of February, 1265. Shortly
after his elevation he issued a bull appointing S. Thomas archbishop of
Naples, and conferring on him the revenues of the convent of S. Peter
ad Aram. But the pope was induced to recall it by the prayers and tears
of our saint.
In this year we must place the first commencement of the "Summa
Theologiæ." This was the greatest monument produced by that age.
Disgusted, as S. Thomas says in his preface, at the exuberance, the
disorder, the obscurity of the scholastic treatises then extant, he had
conceived the plan of a methodical and luminous summary, which should
contain the whole of Christianity from the existence of God to the
least precept of morality, all the speculative and practical points of
revealed truth following in natural and logical order.
The saying current at the time, that "some proposition was true
according to the master, Aristotle, but false according to the Gospel,"
clearly shows the antagonistic attitude occupied by the two powers in
the opinion of the schools.
The "Summa Theologiæ" is divided into three great but unequal parts;
for the second, much larger than the other two, is divided into two
distinct sections.
The first part is a complete treatise on all existences, and
especially on all intellectual existences, from that intelligence which
is infinite in its nature as in its operations, to the intelligence
which is bounded and severed by matter. It treats of God, of the Holy
Angels, their qualities, and their abode, and of the Creation.
The first section of the second part contains a theory of man. It
treats of happiness, as man's final object, of the passions, and of
human acts, of the virtues in general, of sins, in their origin,
nature, and effects.
The second section is closely allied to the first. It treats of the
conditions of happiness and the moral laws, the three great virtues,
Faith, Hope, and Charity. The impulse given to the soul by these three
theological virtues communicates itself to the moral virtues as well;
in treating of them afresh S. Thomas forms a universal theory of human
duty.
The third part expounds the whole plan of Redemption. After having
studied the work of Redemption in itself, S. Thomas studies it in its
application to each individual. Thus he arrives at the theory of the
Sacraments. But death did not give him time to finish this part of the
work. It is interrupted where he treats on the fourth Sacrament, that
of penance. An attempt has been made to complete it by various extracts
from his other works, but one misses in this compilation the living
hand of genius.
Before quitting this great subject, one word must be added on S.
Thomas's method. It may be defined as geometry applied to theology. S.
Thomas states, first of all, the theorem he is about to develop, or the
problem which he proposes to solve. Then he considers the difficulties
and solves them. He follows this up with a train of sustentations
drawn from holy writ, tradition, and theological reason, and he ends
by a categorical answer to all the objections which were made at the
beginning. This order is invariably observed in every part of the work.
At the Council of Trent, on a table set in the midst of the council
chamber, was placed the "Summa," alongside of the Holy Scriptures and
the decrees of the popes. Well might Dante declare that the doctor
inhabits a sphere above the reach of praise, or, with Lacordaire,
exclaim, that "God alone can praise this great man in the eternal
council of the Saints."
The "Summa Theologiæ" occupied the last nine years of our saint's
life. The world was ignorant of the monument which was being raised in
silence. Thomas preached, lectured, wrote as before.
About this time William of S. Amour republished his attack upon the
religious orders, under the fresh title of "Collectiones S. Scripturæ;"
our saint replied to it by issuing a fresh edition of his defence of
the religious orders, and this silenced his foe.
During these nine years, Thomas visited several towns and convents of
Italy. At Milan he wrote an epitaph on S. Peter Martyr. At Bologna he
lectured with his usual success on theology.
In 1267, he published at Bologna a work on the duties of kings, but his
task was interrupted in the same year by the death of his royal pupil,
Hugo II., king of Cyprus.
Jean de Verceil had just sent to Thomas a famous tract in which the
efficaciousness of the sacrament of penance was denied. He refuted it
in a treatise called "De forma Absolutionis," with so much force and
clearness that the Council of Trent adopted his very words in framing
their canon.
About this time he was one day walking in the cloister of the convent
at Bologna, plunged in deep meditation, when a lay brother, who did
not know him, came up to him and said that he was obliged to go out on
some matters of business, and that the superior had given him leave to
take with him the first religious he met. S. Thomas, without excusing
himself on the score of lameness from which he was then suffering, or
of more serious engagements, went cheerfully with the lay brother;
but the latter walked so fast, that Thomas was often left behind. But
he was soon recognised, and the escort of citizens who respectfully
followed the saint, opened the eyes of the lay brother. When they
returned to the convent, the lay brother threw himself at the feet
of Thomas and begged his pardon. Thomas raised him from the ground,
saying, "It is not your duty, but mine to make an apology; for I ought
to have remembered that my sore leg would not let me walk as fast as
you wanted."
In 1269, Thomas was summoned to Paris, as "definitor" of the Roman
province, to attend the general chapter of his order. S. Thomas
prolonged his last sojourn in Paris for a year after the departure of
S. Louis on his ill-fated crusade, in 1270, and during the whole time
he continued to lecture, and to write his Summa.
S. Thomas was recalled to Bologna by his superiors early in 1271.
Shortly after his return thither, he brought the second part of his
Summa to a conclusion.
At the beginning of the year 1272, the chapter general of the order
received requests from nearly all the universities of Europe that S.
Thomas might lecture in them. The decision was in favour of Naples,
for which he started at once. He visited Rome on his way, and there he
began the last part of the Summa, and wrote his commentaries on several
books of Boetius. Whilst he was explaining that book which treats of
the Trinity, the candle which he held to light him, burnt down between
his fingers, and scorched them severely, before his attention was
aroused from his work.
After leaving Rome, Thomas and his inseparable friend Rainald were
entertained at the villa of Cardinal Richard, where the two Rabbis
were converted. Here Thomas fell ill, but the attack was slight, and
quickly passed away.
In spite of all the precautions of Christian humility, his entry into
Naples was a triumph. All classes, the lettered and the unlettered, the
great and the small, hurried to welcome him. An excited yet respectful
crowd accompanied him as far as the gates of that Dominican convent,
where he had embraced religion. What would Theodora have said if she
had seen her son entering in triumph that same house which she had
regarded as the tomb of his glory?
The king, Charles I., assigned him a monthly pension, rather as a token
of his royal favour, than as a reward for his services. The pilgrim
who visits the Dominican convent at Naples, sees at the entrance
of the great hall a representation of S. Thomas, and beneath it an
inscription, "Before thou enterest, venerate this image and this chair,
from which Thomas Aquinas uttered his oracles to a large number of
disciples for the glory and felicity of his age."
The cardinal-legate of the holy see, wished to have an interview with
our saint, and invited the archbishop of Capua, an old pupil of S.
Thomas, to accompany him. The saint on being told of their arrival,
went down into the cloister, but happening to be absorbed in thought,
he forgot the object for which he had been summoned, and gravely
continued his walk without taking any notice of them. The cardinal
was offended, but the archbishop explained the cause of the saint's
apparent rudeness. When Thomas woke from his reverie, he apologised,
laying the blame on his feebleness of mind, which had not allowed him
to find the solution of a theological difficulty without trouble and
delay. The cardinal-legate withdrew, not knowing which to admire most,
the learning, or the humility, of the doctor.
During the short space of a year and a half S. Thomas composed the 549
articles, which are all that we have of the last part of his Summa.
Some commentaries on divers passages of Holy Writ came from his pen at
the same time. The fleeting elements of this world faded gradually from
his thoughts; his eye was fixed on other horizons.
The transports which he had always experienced in prayer, became daily
more frequent.
Yielding to the entreaties of his friends, to the vow of obedience
which he had taken, contrary to the inclination to which his natural
humility led him, he revealed some of the supernatural favours which
Heaven had vouchsafed to him.
Whilst praying in the church at Naples one day, we are told that
Romanus, whom he had left in Paris as master of theology, stood before
him. S. Thomas approached his friend and said, "Welcome here, when
didst thou come?" "I have passed from this life," replied the figure,
"and am permitted to appear on thine account." The Angelical exclaimed,
"I adjure thee then to answer me these questions. How do I stand? Are
my works pleasing to God?" "Thou art in a good state, and thy works do
please God," was the reply. "Then what about thyself?" enquired the
Angelical. "I am now in Eternal Bliss, but I have been in Purgatory."
"Tell me," continued Thomas, "whether the habits which are acquired
in this life remain to us in heaven?" "Brother Thomas," was the
reply, "I see God, and do not ask for more." "How dost thou see God,"
rejoined the saint, "dost thou see Him immediately, or by means of some
similitude?" The other answered, "Like as we have heard, so have we
seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts," Ps. xlvii. 9, (xlviii. 8,) and
then instantly vanished.
While Thomas was writing his articles on the fourth Sacrament, he was
praying one day in a chapel dedicated to S. Nicolas, when, as the story
goes, the figure on the crucifix turned towards him and said, "Thomas,
Thou hast written well of Me; what reward desirest thou?" "Nought,
save Thyself, Lord," was the saint's spontaneous reply.
At length he became so absorbed in Divine things, that even the "Summa"
itself failed to interest him. He ceased to write, after a marvellous
rapture which seized him whilst celebrating mass in the chapel of S.
Nicolas. After this mass, he did not sit down to his desk, nor would
he consent to dictate anything. When Rainald urged him to finish the
"Summa," he replied, "I cannot, for everything that I have written
appears to me worthless compared with what I have seen, and what has
been revealed to me."
Gregory X. wishing to carry out the union of the Greek and Latin
churches, summoned S. Thomas, by special bull, to the Second Council of
Lyons, and requested him to bring his famous treatise with him.
Our saint set out with Rainald for Lyons, towards the end of January,
1274. His health was feeble, and his mind was still fixed on the
visions of another world. They travelled by way of the Campagna, and
called at the castle of Maienza, in the diocese of Terracina, where
Frances, wife of Hannibal Ceccano, niece of the Angelic Doctor,
resided. Here the saint became much weaker, and did not rally. He
wholly lost his appetite. After a while he felt himself a little
stronger. The rumour of his proximity reached the Benedictine Abbey of
Fossa Nuova, six miles from the castle. The monks came to invite him
thither, and he gladly accepted the invitation, saying, "If the Lord
means to take me away, it were better that I should die in a religious
house, than in the midst of seculars."
He rode in their midst to the abbey; the monks helped him to dismount,
and sustained him to the Church, where he knelt in silent adoration.
Then rising, the abbot conducted him through the church into the
cloister. Then the whole past seemed to break in upon him like a burst
of overpowering sunlight; the calm abbey, the meditative corridor,
the gentle Benedictine monks, recalled to him Monte Cassino, as in
his boyish days. Completely overcome by the memories of the past, he
turned to the monks accompanying him, and exclaimed, "_This_ is the
place where I shall find repose;" and to Rainald he said, "This shall
be my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have a delight
therein." (Ps. cxxxi. 14, A.V., cxxxii. 15.)
His fever increasing, he was conducted to the abbot's cell, which
out of respect had been prepared for him. Here, during the whole of
his illness, which lasted about a month, the community watched over
him with the tenderness and reverence of sons towards a father. They
excluded all servants from waiting on him; even the wood to make his
fire was cut down in the forest by the hands of the brethren, and
borne on their willing shoulders to his hearth. They were overjoyed to
receive him into their home, and to minister to him of their choicest
and best. He, patient as a child, knew that he was amongst his own, and
yearned continually for his release, repeating continually the words
of S. Augustine: "So long as in me there is ought which is not wholly
Thine, O God, suffering and sorrow will be my lot. But when I shall
be Thine alone, then shall I be filled with Thee, and wholly set at
liberty."
Knowing how illumined this man of God was, concerning the union of the
soul with its Beloved, the monks, notwithstanding his feeble condition,
could not refrain from asking him to expound to them the Canticle of
canticles. Ever since his great vision, the saint had put aside his
pen. Still the monks implored him, reminding how blessed Bernard had
done the like. The Angelical Doctor looked at them with unutterable
gentleness, and said, "Get me Bernard's spirit, and I will do your
bidding." Finally he yielded to them, and surrounding the bed on which
he lay, they heard from the lips of the dying theologian, his last
lecture and sermon.
Growing still weaker, S. Thomas foresaw that his hour was drawing
nigh. He sent for Rainald, and with deep contrition and many sighs
made a general confession. Having done this, he begged the brethren to
bring him the Body of our Lord--that Lord, who from his infancy, had
been the mainstay of his life, and the one desire of his heart. The
abbot, accompanied by his community, came solemnly bearing the Blessed
Sacrament. Immediately the great Angelical perceived his Master's
presence, with the help of the brethren, he rose from the pallet, and
kneeling upon the floor, adored his King and Saviour; and amidst the
sobs of the monks, he made his act of faith in the Real Presence of
his Lord. When he had made an end, and the abbot was on the point of
administering the Saving Host to him, he exclaimed, in the hearing of
all the monks: "I receive Thee, the price of my soul's redemption,
for love of Whom I have studied, watched, and laboured. Thee have I
preached, Thee have I taught, against Thee never have I breathed a
word, neither am I wedded to my own opinion. If I have held ought
which is untrue regarding this blessed Sacrament, I subject it to the
judgment of the Holy Roman Church, in whose obedience I now pass out
of life." Then, as the abbot lifted up the spotless Host to administer
to him, with a torrent of tears he uttered his favourite ejaculation:
"Thou, O Christ, art the King of Glory: Thou art the everlasting Son
of the Father!" and received upon his tongue the Bread of Heaven. As
the end was approaching, the abbot with the brethren watched about his
bed; and those senses, which had served their Master with such generous
loyalty, were one by one anointed with sacred unction by loving
Benedictine hands at his request, whilst he, quite conscious of what
was going on, answered "Amen" to the prayers of the minister of God.
The brethren, with untold tenderness and reverence, followed his
countenance with their eyes, and watched life gradually ebbing away.
He was taken from exile in the early morning of the 7th of March, 1274,
in the prime of manhood, being scarcely forty-eight years of age.
The religious of Fossa Nuova committed all that was mortal of S. Thomas
to its resting place with the honour due to the remains of such a
saint, and such a genius. The whole country side followed him mourning.
The superior of the convent, a blind old man, was led to the side of
the corpse to pay it a last tribute of respect. Seized with a sudden
impulse of faith, he placed his sightless eyes to those of our saint,
and the blind eyes of the dead restored the vision of the living monk.
Rainald with tears, and choked with emotion, pronounced a funeral elegy
over his master and friend, before he was laid at rest in the convent
church. Many other miracles were wrought by his body.
On Sunday, Jan. 28th, 1369, his relics were deposited with great pomp
at Toulouse, where they still repose in the Church of S. Sernan.
The king, Charles V., wished his arm to be brought to Paris, and he
received it on his knees in the chapel royal, which he had built for it
at S. James's convent. This relic was at the French Revolution taken to
Italy.
March 8.
S. PONTIUS, _D. at Carthage, circ._ A.D. 262.
SS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, _MM. at Antinoe, in Egypt_, A.D. 305.
SS. CYRIL, _B.M._, ROGATUS, FELIX, AND OTHERS, _MM. in Africa_.
S. QUINTILLUS, _B.M. at Nicomedia_.
S. SENAN, _of Iniscatthy, B. Ab. in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 546.
S. FELIX, _B. among the East Saxons_, A.D. 654.
S. JULIAN, _B. of Toledo_, A.D. 690.
S. THEOPHYLACT, _B.C. at Nicomedia_, A.D. 845.
S. HUMPHREY, _B. of Therouane_, A.D. 871.
S. DUTHAC, _B. of Ross_, A.D. 1250.
S. JOHN OF GOD, _C. at Granada_, A.D. 1550.
SS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, MM.
(A.D. 305.)
[By the Greeks on December 14th. By the Latins on March 8th. Arian
and Theotychus, who are included in the Roman Martyrology, are not
mentioned in any ancient Martyrologies except that of Usuardus.
Authority:--The Acts, which as they now exist, are very corrupt. The
original Acts have apparently been made a foundation to which a later
Greek writer has added a superstructure of fable. The conversion and
the martyrdom of the governor Arian has all the appearance of being
an addition by a later hand, to complete the story, for the fabulous
Greek Acts generally wind up with the conversion or destruction of the
judge. This seems to have been regarded as the proper conclusion of
every martyrdom.]
Arianus the judge, who had condemned S. Asclas (Jan. 23rd) to a cruel
death, at Antinoë in Upper Egypt, did not leave the place till many
other Christians had suffered by his orders. Now there was at Antinoë
a deacon named Apollonius, who feared torture, being by nature of a
highly sensitive and timorous constitution, and when the governor
had given orders that every inhabitant should appear before him and
sacrifice, he went to Philemon, a stage piper and dancer, and offered
him money if he would go and sacrifice in his name, and bring him a
ticket to the effect that Apollonius had sacrificed. Christians who
thus acted were called libellatics; and on the return of tranquillity
were put to penance, but were not regarded in the same light as
apostates. Philemon asked Apollonius for one of his hooded cloaks,
which would conceal his face, and then went before the judge.
Then Arian said, "Well, fellow, what art thou? A Christian perhaps,
muffled thus, as if thou fearedst to be seen."
Philemon, filled with the grace of God, answered gravely, "Yes, my
lord, I am a Christian."
"Thou knowest the choice that is set before thee, torture or
sacrifice," said the magistrate.
"I will not sacrifice," answered the piper, "I saw how, by the power of
God, Asclas held thee stationary in the midst of the river."
Then Arian, leaning back in his seat, said to his officers, "Send for
Philemon the piper; perchance his sweet melodies will drive away the
fancies of this fool, and allure him to the worship of our gods." But
Philemon was not to be found; then his brother Theonas was brought in,
and Arian asked him where was the piper Philemon. Theonas, looking
intently at the prisoner, said, "That is he." Then the hood was plucked
off the face of Philemon, and the cloak drawn from his shoulders, and
it was the merry piper shod with his gay buskins, and with the tuneful
reeds in his hands. Arian laughed heartily, and exclaimed that this
was a rare joke. "We make no account of all this, man!" said he, "for
to this thou wast born, and to this bred, that thou shouldst shake our
sides with laughter. Now sacrifice, and end the farce."
But Philemon steadfastly refused, and Arian saw that no jest was
meant, but that this was sober earnest. So putting on an angry look,
he said, "It is foolery for thee to pass thyself off as a Christian,
piper! for thou art not baptized." Then the poor man was filled with
tribulation, and in his doubt and grief he cried to the Lord Jesus
Christ to accept and baptize him. And as he prayed, there came down a
soft sparkling spring shower, and the piper, stretching his hands to
heaven, cried joyously, "He has heard me, and has baptized me in the
cloud!"[34] And he took his pipes and broke them up, and cast them
away. Now the officer had taken the deacon Apollonius, and they brought
him before Arian, who reproached him for his cowardice; the deacon in
shame admitted that he had done wrong. "But now," said he, in a firm
voice, "know that I will not sacrifice." Then the judge ordered him and
Philemon to be executed with the sword.
[34] There are several versions of this event. According to one, the
judge and assistants were blinded whilst Philemon was carried to the
river and baptized by a priest. But his prayer afterwards, "Thou hast
baptized me in the cloud," proves this to have been an interpolation.
So far the Acts seem to be trustworthy, but what follows is fabulous;
some of these incidents shall however be given. Philemon before his
execution, bade the officers bring a brass pot, and put a baby in
it, cover it, and take aim at it with their arrows. The pot was soon
transfixed; but when it was opened, the child within was found unhurt.
Then Philemon said, "Like that vessel is a Christian's body, riddled
with wounds, but the soul within, like that infant, is unharmed." And
when the governor ordered a flight of arrows to be discharged at him,
he raised his hand, and the arrows remained stationary in the air, but
one returning put out the eye of Arian. Then Philemon said, "When I am
dead, go to my grave, and make clay of the dust there, and anoint thine
eye, and it will be restored whole."
This Arian does and is healed, and in consequence converted. Then
Dioclesian, hearing of his conversion, sends four officers to judge
him, and these in turn are converted, and finally Arian and the four
officers are sewn up in sacks and flung into the sea. All this may
safely be rejected as fabulous.
S. SENAN OF INISCATTHY, AB. B.
(ABOUT A.D. 546.)
[Irish Martyrologies. He died on March 1st, but was buried on the 8th,
on which day his festival is kept. His name occurs in the Festology of
S. Ængus. Authorities:--A life written by S. Colman, versified by a
later hand, and full of fables, also an Irish life written in the 12th
cent.]
Senan was a native of Corco-baskin, a district in the western part of
Thomond.[35] His parents were Christians and noble. Ercan, his father,
is said to have been of the royal blood of Conary I., king of Ireland.
Coemgalla, his mother, was likewise of an illustrious Munster family.
An odd legend of his childhood is told. His parents were moving house,
and Senan remained immersed in prayer, lending no hand to the work.
Then his mother, provoked, threw some water over him to wake him up,
and scolded him soundly. Senan resumed his devotions, and instantly the
pots and pans of the domestic establishment came flying through the air
from the kitchen of the old house into the kitchen of the new one.
[35] In the county Clare.
When arrived at a certain age, he was forced by the prince of
Corco-baskin to join in an expedition undertaken against the territory
of Corcomroe, for the purpose of carrying off plunder. This did not
suit the disposition of young Senan, and accordingly he contrived
to avoid taking any share in the devastation of the country. He was
rewarded for this, for, when the party to which he belonged was routed
with great loss, and he had fallen into the hands of their opponents,
he was allowed to depart without injury, and go whithersoever he
pleased. He therefore placed himself under the abbot Cassidan, and
having received from him the monastic habit, became a proficient in
piety and learning. Next he repaired to the monastery of S. Natalis,
or Naal, with whom he spent some years. Several legends are connected
with this period. He had to keep cows, and one day seeing the calves
sucking them, and dreading lest there should be a deficiency of milk
for the brethren, he put his stick between them, and neither could
approach the other. Another story is to the effect that he read at
night using the fingers of his left hand as candles,--a story told also
of S. Columba, S. Kentigern, and other Irish and Scottish saints. A
monk observed him; then Senan said, "For peeping and prying, a stork
shall peck out your eye." And as the monk left the place, a stork
rushed at him, and had one of his eye balls out in a trice. But when S.
Natalis heard of this, he ordered Senan to replace the eye, and cure
it instantly, and this he did. After Senan had left the monastery of
S. Naal, he is said to have gone into foreign parts, to have visited
Rome and Tours, and on his return to have tarried with S. David of
Menevia, with whom he continued very intimate until his death. Senan's
first establishment was at Inis-Carra, near the river Lee, about five
miles from Cork, in the barony of Barrets. While he was in that place,
a vessel arrived in Cork harbour, bringing fifty religious persons,
passengers from the continent, who came to Ireland for the purpose of
improving themselves in monastic studies. Senan retained ten of them
with himself, the others were distributed in various establishments.
He was not long at Inis-Carra, before Lugadh, prince of that country,
insisted on his submitting to certain exactions, which Senan refused
to comply with. The dispute was soon settled through the interference
of two young noblemen, who were then at the court of Lugadh. Not
long after, Senan, having left eight of his disciples at Inis-Carra,
went to Inis-luinge, an island in the Shannon, where, having erected
a church, he gave the veil to the daughter of Brendan, the prince of
that country. Thence, setting out by water to Inis-mor, he was driven
by adverse winds to an island called Inis-tuaiscert. Thinking that
it was a special providence which had brought him there, he erected
a church, and left it to the care of some of his disciples. He then
made his way to Inis-mor,[36] and there founded a monastery, which he
governed for some time. We afterwards find him settled in the island
of Inis-cathaig, now Iniscatthy, at the mouth of the Shannon, where
he erected a monastery in spite of the opposition of Mactael, the
prince of the country. One of his rules was that no females should be
admitted into the island. This regulation was observed even with regard
to the most saintly virgins. S. Kannera, a nun of Bantry, wished to
receive the Holy Viaticum from the hands of Senan, and to be buried at
Iniscatthy. Accordingly she set out for the island, but, just as she
drew near, Senan met her,[37] and obstinately refused to allow her to
land, and requested her to go to the house of his mother, who lived
not far distant, and was related to Kannera. The conversation given in
the metrical life between the abbot and the dying nun, is very quaint.
The abbot said, "What have monks in common with women? We will not let
you step on to our island." She said, "But if Christ will receive my
spirit, why should you reject my body?" "That," answered the venerable
Senan, "is true; but for all that I will not suffer you to come here,
go back, and do not be a plague to us. You may be pure enough in soul,
but you are a woman, nevertheless." "I will die, before I go back!"
said S. Kannera. Like many another woman, she gained her point, and,
dying on the shore, was there buried.
[36] Inchmore, or Deer Island, in the river Fergus, where this river
joins the Shannon.
[37] According to the legend, an angel brought her to Iniscatthy, and
S. Senan ran out over the water, stick in hand, to arrest her.
Senan was a bishop when he founded his monastery of Iniscatthy, but
when, or by whom he was consecrated, we are not informed. It is related
that, perceiving the time of his departure draw nigh, he determined
to go to the monastery of S. Cassidus, and to the nunnery of S.
Scotia, his paternal aunt, that he might apply himself more fervently
to prayer in these retreats, and prepare himself for his wished-for
departure. On his way thither he turned off a little towards the
church of Kill-eochaille, for the purpose of visiting certain holy
virgins, the daughters of one Naereus, who had received the veil from
him. Having performed his devotions in the church of S. Cassidus,
he was returning to Iniscatthy, when, in a field near the church of
Kill-eochaille, he heard a voice announcing to him that he was to be
removed to heaven without delay. Accordingly, he died on that very day,
and his body remained at Kill-eochaille until the next, when several of
the principal members of his monastery arrived, and had it brought to
Iniscatthy. Notice of his death was then sent to the prelates, clergy,
and principal persons of the neighbouring churches, and his obsequies
were celebrated on the octave. A foolish story, incorporated in some
of the martyrologies, relates that on the day of his burial, as he was
being carried to the grave, he sat up and informed the assistants that
his anniversary was to be celebrated on the 8th March, instead of the
1st. The year of his death is unknown; but there can be no doubt that
it was later than 544, the date assigned to it by some writers. The
reputation of S. Senan has not been confined to Ireland, and his Acts
have been published among those of the saints of Brittany, by Albert le
Grand, as one of the chief patrons of the diocese of S. Pol de Léon;
but the S. Sané there venerated seems not to be the same, but some
local saint of whom nothing is known.
S. FELIX, B.
(A.D. 654.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Salisbury Breviary, and more modern
Anglican Martyrologies. Also Molanus and Greven, in their addition to
Usuardus. Authorities:--Bede and Malmesbury.]
S. Felix was a native of Burgundy, where he made the acquaintance of
Sigebert, prince of the East Angles, who had been banished by Redwald.
This prince was instructed in the Christian faith, and was baptized
by Felix, at that time a priest. Some time after this, upon the death
of his half-brother, king Espenwald, the son of Redwald, who had been
killed at the instigation of the cruel Penda, king of Mercia, Sigebert
was called to England to succeed to the kingdom, and he made it his
care to introduce Christianity among the East Angles, who occupied
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. For this purpose he invited S.
Felix to his court, and he, without demur, quitted country, friends,
and home, to preach the faith to an uncivilized pagan people. But first
he visited Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, and from him he received
his mission to the East Angles, and, as some say, his episcopal
consecration. King Sigebert appointed Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast, as
the head-quarters of his mission. Felix went about, preaching, founding
churches and schools, and, through his exertions, the Christian faith
took deep root in the land. Some attribute to him the foundation of the
first school at Cambridge.
S. Felix lived till after the year 650, and having discharged the duty
of a most zealous pastor of souls for the space of seventeen years,
he departed to the Lord, and was buried in his church of Dunwich, from
which place his body was afterwards translated to Soham, near Ely, and
thence to the abbey of Ramsey.
S. DUTHAC, B. OF ROSS.
(ABOUT A.D. 1250.)
[Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities:--Leslie, Dempster, and the lections
in the Aberdeen Breviary.]
S. Duthac was a member of an illustrious Scottish family. Several
legends are told of his life in the Aberdeen Breviary, and little else
is known of his acts. For instance, when a child, he was sent by his
mother to bring fire from a forge, as all the fires in the house were
extinguished. The blacksmith, in brutal jest, put some red-hot charcoal
in the lap of the child, and Duthac brought the glowing embers thus to
his mother. He was afterwards in Ireland, where he studied, and on his
return was appointed to the bishopric of Ross. One day he was dining
with a noble, and a guest becoming very drunk, gave his gold ring and
a slice of meat to one of Duthac's disciples, ordering him to take
them to his home. The disciple was on his way, when passing through a
churchyard, he laid down the meat and the ring, whilst he said a prayer
for the repose of the souls of those who lay there. At that moment a
kite swooped down and carried off ring and meat. The young man ran to
S. Duthac in dismay, and the bishop summoned the kite, which obeyed,
and bringing the meat and the ring, deposited them at his feet. Duthac
took the ring and gave it to the young man, but allowed the kite to
consume the meat. On the feast of S. Finbar, a canon at Dornock slew a
fat ox, roasted it, and distributed slices amongst the poor. "Surely
some one will take Duthac his share of the beef," said the canon. Then
a man offered himself, and lo! as he travelled by night with the meat
for the bishop, a light like that of a lamp shone on his way, guiding
him; and thus the bishop received his share before it had lost its
freshness.
S. JOHN OF GOD, C.
(A.D. 1550.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His Life, written twenty-five years
after his death.]
S. John, surnamed of God, was born in Portugal, in 1495. His parents
were of the lowest rank, but good and pious people. John spent a
considerable part of his youth in service, under the chief shepherd of
the count of Oropeusa, in Castile, and in great innocence and virtue.
In 1522, he enlisted himself in a company of foot soldiers, raised by
the count, and served in the wars between the French and Spaniards; and
afterwards in Hungary, against the Turks, whilst the emperor Charles
V. was king of Spain. By the licentiousness of his companions, he
by degrees lost his fear of offending God, grew careless, and fell
into many grievous sins. The troop to which he belonged having been
disbanded, he went into Andalusia in 1536, where he entered the service
of a rich lady near Seville, as a shepherd. He was now about forty
years of age, and being stung with remorse for his past misconduct, he
resolved to amend his life and do penance for his sins. He accordingly
employed the greatest part of his time, both by day and night, in
the exercises of prayer and mortification; bewailing his ingratitude
towards God, and deliberating how he could best dedicate himself to
His service. His compassion for the distressed moved him to pass into
Africa, that he might there comfort and succour the slaves, not without
hopes of meeting with the crown of martyrdom. At Gibraltar he met a
Portuguese gentleman condemned to banishment, whose estate had been
confiscated by king John III. He was then in the hands of the king's
officers, together with his wife and children, and was on his way to
Ceuta in Barbary, the place of his exile. John, out of compassion,
served him without wages. At Ceuta the gentleman fell sick, and was
reduced to dispose of the small remains of his shattered fortune for
the support of his wife and children, who were with him in exile.
John, not content to sell what little stock he had to relieve them,
hired himself as a day labourer at the public works to earn all he
could for their subsistence. The apostasy of one of his companions
alarmed him, and his confessor telling him that his going in quest of
martyrdom was an illusion, he determined to return to Spain. Coming
back to Gibraltar, his piety suggested to him to turn pedler, and sell
little sacred pictures and books of devotion, which might furnish him
with opportunities of exhorting his customers to virtue. His stock
increasing considerably, he settled in Granada, where he opened a shop
in 1538, being then forty-three years of age.
The great preacher and servant of God, John D'Avila, surnamed the
Apostle of Andalusia, preached that year at Granada, on S. Sebastian's
day, which is there kept as a great festival. John having heard his
sermon, was so affected with it, that, melting into tears, he filled
the whole church with his cries, beating his breast, and calling aloud
for mercy. Then, frenzied with compunction, he ran about the streets,
tearing his hair, and behaving in such a manner that he was followed by
the rabble with sticks and stones, and came home besmeared with dirt
and blood. He then gave away all that he had in the world, and having
thus reduced himself to absolute poverty, continued his frantic racing
about the streets as before, till some had the charity to take him to
the venerable John D'Avila, covered with dirt and blood. The holy man
spoke to him in private, heard his general confession, gave him proper
advice, and promised his assistance. John returned soon after to his
extravagances. He was, thereupon, taken up and put into a madhouse, on
supposition of his being disordered in his senses, where, according to
the barbarous practice of the time, the severest methods were employed
to bring him to himself. He underwent all the pains inflicted on him
as an atonement for the sins of his past life. D'Avila being informed
of his conduct, came to visit him, and found him reduced almost to
the grave by weakness; and his body covered with wounds and sores;
but his soul was still vigorous, and thirsting after new sufferings
and humiliations. D'Avila, however, told him that being sufficiently
exercised in so singular a method of penance and humiliation, he had
better employ himself for the time to come in something more conducive
to his own and the public good. His exhortation had its desired effect;
and John became at once calm, to the great astonishment of his keepers.
He continued, however, some time longer in the hospital serving the
sick, but left it entirely on S. Ursula's day, in 1539. He then thought
of executing his design of doing something for the relief of the poor;
and, after a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, to recommend himself
and his undertaking to her intercession, he began to sell wood in
the market-place, and expend the proceeds in feeding the poor. Soon
after he hired a house in which to shelter poor sick persons, whom he
served and provided for with such ardour, prudence, and economy, that
it surprised the whole city. This was the foundation of the Order of
Charity, in 1540, which, by the benediction of heaven, has since been
spread all over Christendom. John was occupied all day in serving his
patients; in the night he went out to find new objects of charity,
rather than to seek provisions for them; for people of their own accord
brought him in all necessaries for his little hospital. The archbishop
of Granada, highly pleased with the discipline and order maintained in
the establishment, gave largely towards its support, and his example
was followed by others. Indeed, the charity, patience, and modesty of
S. John, and his wonderful care and foresight, made every one admire
and favour the institution. The bishop of Tuy, president of the royal
court of judicature in Granada, having invited the holy man to dinner,
put several questions to him, to all of which he answered in such a
manner, as gave the bishop the highest opinion of his prudence and
good sense. It was this prelate who gave him the name of John of God,
and prescribed him a kind of habit, though S. John never thought of
founding a religious order; for the rules which bear his name were
drawn up only in 1556, six years after his death; and religious vows
were not introduced among his brethren before the year 1570.
[Illustration: S. JOHN OF GOD. After Cahier.
March 8.]
To make trial of the saint's disinterestedness, the marquis of Tarifa
came to him in disguise to beg an alms, on pretence of a necessary
law-suit, and received from his hands twenty-five ducats, which was all
he had. The marquis was so much edified by his charity, that, besides
returning the sum, he bestowed on him one hundred and fifty crowns of
gold, and sent to his hospital every day, during his stay at Granada,
one hundred and fifty loaves, four sheep, and six pullets. But the
holy man gave a still more illustrious proof of his charity when the
hospital was on fire; for he carried out most of the sick on his own
back; and though he passed and repassed through the flames, and staid
in the midst of them a considerable time, he received no hurt. But
his charity was not confined to his own hospital; he looked upon it
as his own misfortune if the necessities of any distressed person in
the country remained unrelieved. He, therefore, made strict inquiry
into the wants of the poor over the whole province, relieved many in
their own houses, found employment for those that were able to work,
and with wonderful sagacity laid himself out in every way to comfort
and assist the afflicted members of Christ. He was particularly active
and vigilant in providing for young maidens in distress, to prevent
the dangers to which they are often exposed. He also reclaimed many
who were already leading a course of sin, seeking them out, crucifix
in hand, and with many tears exhorting them to repentance. Though his
life seemed to be taken up in continual action, he accompanied it
with perpetual prayer and incredible corporal austerities. And his
tears of devotion, his frequent raptures, and his eminent spirit of
contemplation, gave a lustre to his other virtues. But his sincere
humility appeared most admirable in all his actions, even amidst the
honours which he received at the court of Valladolid, whither business
called him. The king and princes seemed to vie with each other who
should show him the greatest courtesy, or put the largest alms in his
hands. Only the most tried virtue could stand the test of honours, but
John remained the same retiring, modest man he was before, preferring
humiliation to honour. One day, when a woman called him a hypocrite,
and loaded him with invectives, he gave her a piece of money, and
desired her to repeat all she had said in the market-place.
Worn out at last by ten years' hard service in his hospital, he fell
sick. The immediate occasion was excess of fatigue in saving wood
and other such things for the poor, in a great flood. He at first
concealed his sickness, that he might not be obliged to diminish his
labours, but in the meantime he carefully went over the inventories of
all things belonging to his hospital, and inspected all the accounts.
He also revised the rules he had made for its administration, the
distribution of time, and the exercises of piety to be observed in it.
Upon a complaint that he harboured idle strollers and bad women, the
archbishop sent for him. The man of God threw himself at his feet, and
said, "The Son of God came for sinners, and we are obliged to seek
their conversion. I am unfaithful to my vocation because I neglect
this; and I confess that I know no other bad person in my hospital
but myself." This he spoke with go much humility that all present
were moved, and the archbishop dismissed him with respect, leaving
all things to his discretion. His illness increasing, the news of it
spread. The lady Anne Ossorio was no sooner informed of his condition,
than she came in her carriage to the hospital to see him. The servant
of God lay in his habit in his little cell, covered with a piece of an
old coat instead of a blanket, and having under his head the basket in
which he was wont to collect alms for his hospital. The poor and sick
stood weeping round him. The lady, moved with compassion, despatched
secretly a message to the archbishop, who sent immediately an order
to S. John to obey her as he would himself, during his illness. By
virtue of this authority she obliged him to leave his hospital. In
going out, he visited the Blessed Sacrament, and poured forth his heart
before It with fervour; remaining there absorbed in his devotions so
long, that the lady Anne Ossorio caused him to be taken up and carried
into her carriage, in which she conveyed him to her own house. She
herself prepared, with the help of her maids, and gave him with her
own hands, broth and medicine, and often read to him the history of
the passion of our Divine Redeemer. The whole city was in tears; all
the nobility visited him; and the magistrates came to beg he would
give his benediction to the city. He answered, that his sins rendered
him the scandal and reproach of their country, but recommended to them
his brethren the poor, and his religious that served them. At last,
by order of the archbishop, he gave the city his dying blessing. The
archbishop said Mass in his chamber, heard his confession, gave him the
viaticum and extreme unction, and promised to pay all his debts and to
provide for all his poor.
The saint expired on his knees, before the altar, on the 8th of March,
in 1550, at the age of fifty-five. He was buried by the archbishop, and
all the clergy, both secular and regular, accompanied by the court,
the nobles, and the whole city, with the utmost pomp. He was honoured
by many miracles, beatified by Urban VIII., in 1630, and canonized by
Alexander VIII., in 1690. His relics were translated into the church
of his brethren in 1664. His Order of Charity to serve the sick was
approved of by pope Pius V.
[Illustration: Jesus Christ in the Character of a Pilgrim accepting
the Hospitality of two Dominicans. From a Fresco by Fra Angelico at
Florence.]
March 9.
S. PACIAN, _B. of Barcelona, in Spain, before_ A.D. 390.
S. GREGORY NYSSEN, _B.C. in Cappadocia, circ._A.D. 390.
S. BOSA, _B. in Northumbria_, A.D. 705.
SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS, _App. of the Sclaves, 9th cent._
S. VITALIS OF SICILY, _Ab._, A.D. 994.
S. CATHARINE OF BOLOGNA, _V. in Italy_, A.D. 1463.
S. FRANCES OF ROME, _W._, A.D. 1440.
S. PACIAN, B. OF BARCELONA.
(BEFORE A.D. 390.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Notker, &c. Authority:--Mention
by S. Jerome in his Ecclesiastical Writers, c. 106, 107, 132.]
Very little is known of this Spanish bishop, except that he was the
author of some short works, of which one, named Cerbus, is lost. His
"Epistles against the Novatians," his "Call to Penitence," and "Book
on Baptism," addressed to catechumens, are extant. His son, Flavius
Dexter, probably born before Pacian received episcopal orders, was an
intimate friend of S. Jerome. Pacian died at an advanced old age in the
reign of Theodosius.
S. GREGORY, B. OF NYSSA.
(ABOUT A.D. 390.)
[Roman Martyrology. Greek Menæa on Jan. 10th; the Coptic Church on
Oct. 14th and Nov. 22nd. Authorities:--His own works; S. Gregory
Nazianzen, in his letters; Socrates and Theodoret, in their
Ecclesiastical Histories.]
[Illustration: S. GREGORY OF NYSSA. After Dominichino.
March 9.]
S. Gregory was a younger brother of the great S. Basil, (June 14th,)
and S. Macrina, (July 19th), and son of the holy Eusebius and
Emmelia, who are commemorated on May 30th. Having lost his parents, he
grew to reverence his brother Basil as a father, and his sister was
to him as a mother, the instructress of his youth. He was educated
in every accomplishment of the age, and became a rhetorician. He was
married to a virtuous wife, named Theosebia, who is highly praised by
S. Gregory Nazianzen in his ninety-fifth epistle, in after years, as
"an honour to the church, an ornament of Christ, the utility of our
age, the confidence of women, the fairest and most illustrious amidst
the beauty of the brethren, truly holy wife of a priest, his peer in
honour and worthy of the great mysteries." These expressions, though
somewhat exaggerated, at least point Theosebia out as having been
held in high honour by the great saint of Nazianzus. Gregory took the
order of Reader, but instead of pressing forward to the diaconate and
priesthood, showed an inclination to pursue a wholly secular avocation
as a rhetorician, and this drew down on him a sharp reprimand from
Gregory Nazianzen. Moved by this admonition, Gregory now resolved to
turn his back upon worldly ambition, and devote himself wholly to the
service of God. He was ordained bishop by his brother, S. Basil, in
371, when he was aged about thirty-two; and it is supposed by Baronius
that Gregory lived with his wife in continence after his ordination,
and that she was a deaconess. Nazianzen calls her his "holy and blessed
sister," but this is slender ground for the conjecture. It must be
remembered that the celibacy of the clergy, which is now required by
the Western Church, with such advantage, was not a matter of rule
for some centuries, and never prevailed in the Oriental Church.
There cannot be much doubt as to the great benefit to the Church of
a celibate priesthood, but it is a mistake to endeavour to force
the facts of history to demonstrate that celibacy was of primitive
obligation. It was always felt to be most seemly, and when Western
Christendom became sufficiently organized to admit of the rule being
made, the popes and councils did what was evidently for the good of the
Kingdom of Christ in requiring the clergy to lead celibate lives.
The see of Gregory was Nyssa, a city of Cappadocia, of no great
importance, but the brilliant qualities of the bishop, and his
orthodoxy, made him soon conspicuous as a leader of the Catholics, and
an object of great dread to the Arians, who prevailed on Demosthesus,
the deputy-governor of the province, under the Arian Emperor Valens,
to banish him. He spent eight years in exile, wandering from place
to place, suffering everywhere persecution from the Arians. Shortly
after the accession of Gratian, Gregory was restored to his see, and
assisted at the Synod of Antioch, in 379, where he received the charge
of visiting the scattered churches in Arabia. To enable him to execute
this arduous work, the emperor Theodosius accorded to him the use of
the government post-horses and chariots.
He assisted at the council of Constantinople, in 381, when he was
chosen to make the funeral oration upon S. Meletius, patriarch of
Antioch, and was delegated to be one of the bishops to visit Pontus. In
385, he preached at Constantinople the funeral oration of the empress
Flacilla, and he was present at the dedication of the church of the
Ruffini, in Constantinople, in 394. The exact date of his death is not
known, but it is certain that he died at an advanced age.
It is unnecessary here to give a list of the writings of this eloquent
doctor, a large number of which have been preserved.
[Illustration: S. GREGORY OF NYSSA (with square nimbus). After Cahier.
March 9.]
S. BOSA, B. C.
(A.D. 705.)
[Wilson, in his Anglican Martyrology. Authority:--Bede.]
The monastery of Streaneshalch, now Whitby, was founded and governed by
S. Hilda, towards the middle of the seventh century. It was a double
community, under the rule of S. Columba, which S. Aidan had introduced
among the Northumbrians. S. Hilda governed a congregation of men, as
well as one of women, who lived in separate dwellings; and such was her
care that no less than five bishops issued from this monastery, all of
them men of singular merit and sanctity.
The first of these saint-like prelates named by Bede, was Bosa, who,
upon the removal of S. Wilfrid, was taken from the solitude of the
cloister, and ordained bishop of York by S. Theodore, archbishop of
Canterbury, in the year 678. He most worthily administered the see till
700, when S. Wilfrid being recalled, he humbly resigned his charge, and
returned to his monastery.
But S. Wilfrid being again expelled, S. Bosa was once more called
forth to the pastoral administration of the see of York, and this he
discharged till his death, which took place in the year 705. He was a
man of great sanctity and humility, says Bede. He had for his successor
S. John of Beverley, from the same monastery.
SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS, APP.
(9TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. S. Cyril by the Greeks on Feb. 14th, and S.
Methodius on May 11th. Authorities:--The Life of S. Clement, a pupil
of Methodius, pub. by Pampereus, Vienna, 1802; the Pannonian Life
of Methodius; notices in the Life of S. Ludmilla; the Chronicle of
Nestor; Cosmas of Prague, &c. The chronology in this article is from
the treatise on Cyril and Methodius by Philaret, B. of Rigá, Milan,
1847.]
Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Sclaves, were brothers, the
sons of a man of rank in Thessalonica. Constantine, who afterwards in
religion assumed the name of Cyril, the younger, was educated at the
court of Constantinople, along with the youthful emperor Michael, from
the year 842, by the illustrious Photius, who instructed him in logic,
philosophy, mathematics, and languages. His talents and accomplishments
afforded him every prospect of a brilliant career in the world, but
he chose to lay them at the foot of the cross, and, receiving sacred
orders, was appointed librarian to the palace. Soon after, he retired
to a little monastery, but was drawn from it again to give lectures on
philosophy.
Methodius, his elder brother, as soon as his education was
accomplished, entered the army, and was appointed to the government of
the Græco-Sclavonic province, which, according to the Pannonian legend,
he held for ten years.
In the year 851, Cyril retired to Mount Olympus, along with his
brother, who had also resolved to desert the world, and lived in
seclusion and the practice of self-discipline. In 858, some dignitaries
of the Chazars, a Hunnish race, besought the emperor to send them a
learned man to instruct them in the true faith, and Cyril and Methodius
were chosen for this purpose.
How long they spent on this mission is not known exactly. They
tarried till they could organise the church among the Chazars, and
then retired to the Crimea where they worked together at making a
Sclavonic translation of the Holy Gospels. It was whilst there that
they discovered what they believed to be the relics of S. Clement of
Rome, lying together with the anchor, which had been attached to his
neck, where the faithful had reverently laid him. They raised the holy
remains, and translated them to Constantinople.
In 862, the Sclavonic princes of Pannonia, Rostislaw, Swaetopolk, and
Kotel requested the emperor Michael and the patriarch Photius, to send
them teachers, "because they were without true instructors for the
people," and they desired to have instruction and divine worship in
their own language. It appears that missionaries of the Latin Church
had already penetrated amongst them, but probably had been unable to
master the Sclavonic tongue; at any rate, the Pannonians refused to
accept them, and turned instead to the East.
None were better calculated to execute this mission than the brothers
Methodius and Cyril, the former of whom had for some years governed
a Sclavonic province, and both had been born at Thessalonica, on the
confines of Sclavonic peoples, and where the language was familiar
to the natives. The emperor and the patriarch felt this, and sent
for them, and laid before them the desire of these heathen princes
for the Gospel. The brothers at once undertook the mission, and set
forth. On their way, Methodius was the means of converting the king of
the Bulgarians. Boris had a sister, who was a Christian, having been
brought up at Constantinople, whither she had been carried captive. The
prince, who was passionately fond of hunting, desired the emperor to
procure him a picture, which should illustrate his favourite pursuit,
and adorn the hall of a new palace he had erected. Methodius was
commissioned by the emperor to execute this task, and he appeared
before king Boris, not as a missionary, but as a painter. "Let it be
a good picture," said the prince, "large and terrible." "So shall it
be," answered Methodius, "but one thing I demand,--that I may be left
undisturbed here to complete my picture, that no one may see it till
it is finished." The king reluctantly gave his consent, and day after
day passed, and the painter was not seen. He remained closely shut up
within the palace. Weeks rolled by, and Boris chafed with impatience
and curiosity. At length the doors were thrown open, and the king
entered. Methodius had painted the Last Judgment on the wall of the new
hall. Above sat Christ on the great white throne, and below were men
receiving sentence, and the angels dividing them. An awe and wonder
fell on the king's heart as he contemplated the picture. "What meaneth
this?" he asked. And Methodius seized the opportunity of preaching to
him righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. He explained to
the king the whole doctrine of the final judgment of men, their fate
depending on their works in this world, and the king trembled. He went
on to speak of the glories prepared for the baptized who keep the
faith. Great and purifying thoughts swelled the bosom of the prince,
and going up to the painter, he said, with his head bowed, "Take me,
and teach me, that I too may pass to the beautiful side of the picture."
And when Cyril and Methodius had preached the Word of God among the
Bulgarians, they journeyed on, bearing the bones of S. Clement,
and their Sclavonic translation of the Holy Gospels, into Moravia,
where they laboured about four and a half years with great success.
The bishops of the neighbouring German provinces, however, viewed
the mission of these Easterns with jealousy, and complained to pope
Nicolas I. of their performing the liturgy in the Sclavonic language.
The unsuccessful war waged by Rostislaw with the Germans, and the
deposition of Photius at Constantinople, who had commissioned the two
apostles, gave Nicolas the opportunity of summoning the two Greek
missionaries to Rome. On their journey (in 868) they were subjected
to vexatious treatment at Venice, on account of their cause, but
pope Adrian II., who had succeeded Nicolas, dreading to lose Moravia
and Pannonia, received them with great cordiality, permitted them
to celebrate the divine mysteries in Sclavonic at the grave of the
Apostles, ordained their disciples, Formosus and Gonderik,[38] bishops,
three others priests, and two lectors. He also sanctioned the use of
the Sclavonic liturgy. The following account from the Lections of the
Olmutz Breviary will not prove uninteresting. "The blessed Cyril, by
the grace of God, after he had converted the Moravians, invented new
alphabetical letters, and translated the Old and New Testaments, and
many other things from Greek or Latin, into the Sclavonic tongue;
and he appointed to be sung Mass, and the other canonical hours in
the church. And to this day they are thus sung in Sclavonic parts,
especially in Bulgaria, and thereby many souls are drawn to Christ
the Lord. And when after some time the said Cyril went to Rome out
of devotion, he was rebuked by the sovereign pontiff and the other
rulers of the church, because, contrary to the canons, he had appointed
the holy Mass to be sung in the Sclavonic tongue. But he, humbly
endeavouring to satisfy them, but not able to convince them wholly,
snatched up the Psalter, and read the words of the Psalmist, 'Let
everything that hath breath praise the Lord.' _Omnis spiritus laudet
Dominum._ And he said, 'If every one that hath breath is to praise
the Lord, why, my fathers, do ye forbid me to perform the Mass in the
Sclavonic tongue, or to translate other things from Latin and Greek
into the vernacular? Finding the people simple and ignorant of the ways
of the Lord, I, by the inspiration of God, found this means of drawing
many to God. Therefore, pardon me, my fathers, and, following the
example of S. Paul, the doctor of the Gentiles,--Forbid not to speak
with tongues. (I Cor. xiv. 39.)' And they, hearing him, and wondering
at his sanctity and faith, gave him authority in those parts to say
Mass, and sing the Canonical Hours, in the aforesaid tongue."
[38] Gonderik, bishop of Viliterni, was the author of the Life of S.
Clement, which contains much information on the life and acts of SS.
Cyril and Methodius.
Cyril died in Rome shortly after, Feb. 14th, 869, in a monastery into
which he had retired; but Methodius, according to the entreaty of his
dying brother, returned to Moravia, to find that the hostility of the
German prelates and clergy was not allayed. Political disturbances,
fomented by the Germans, broke out between 869 and 901, and Rostislaw
was reduced to ruin. Methodius held himself aloof from these contests,
and in 870 went with his disciples into Pannonia, where the court
received him and gave up to him the castle of Salava in Mosburg, as
a residence. Kotel now besought the pope to consecrate Methodius
archbishop of Pannonia, and his request was complied with. But the
German clergy, especially the archbishops of Salzburg and Mainz, who
unfortunately were ambitious rather of extending their authority than
of preaching the Gospel to the people, were exasperated by this to the
highest pitch, and they stirred up against him the German emperor and
the Moravian prince Swaetopolk, and brought matters so far that he was
driven into banishment for a year and a half or two years. Pope John
VIII. restored to him his see in 874. At last the Moravian Sclaves saw
through the ambition of the bishops his opponents, and expelled them
the country, at the same time writing to the pope to request him to
appoint Methodius archbishop of Moravia. This John VIII. consented to,
and "from this time," says the contemporary writer of the Pannonian
history of S. Methodius, "the divine doctrine began to grow and
spread rapidly, and heathenism and superstition to disappear." But
the archbishops of Salzburg and Mainz, who claimed jurisdiction over
the Sclavonic races, though not converted by them, could not forgive
Methodius the loss of their power and position in the country. They
hastened to Rome, and complained that Methodius was heretical on the
subject of the Double Procession, that he taught the independence of
the Moravian Church, and that he celebrated the Liturgy in the vulgar
tongue. Pope John thereupon, in 878, forbade the performance of the
Liturgy in Sclavonic, and in the following year summoned Methodius to
appear before him in Rome. The German-Latin prelates triumphed; they
appeared in Moravia, and declared that Methodius was deposed, and that
his authority had been transferred to them. But pope John, on the
appearance of the apostle before him, was satisfied of his orthodoxy,
and confirmed him in his position and authority over the Moravian
Church. Disappointed in their hope of ruining Methodius at Rome, the
German prelates now spread the report that the archbishop had incurred
the displeasure of the emperor by his submission to the pope. Methodius
was therefore obliged to make a journey to Constantinople, where he
was cordially received by the emperor Basil, and then dismissed with
many presents. As soon as it was proved that the report of the anger
of the imperial court was false, the enemies of Methodius endeavoured
to dispose Swaetopolk, the prince, against him; and this they were the
more able to effect, because the prince was a man of immoral life, and
had incurred the reprimand of the archbishop on more than one occasion.
Gradually, influenced by these treacherous apostles of Mammon, rather
than of Jesus Christ, Swaetopolk became alienated from Methodius; but
in spite of all their efforts, and the coldness of the prince, all the
Sclavonic races, from Croatia and Dalmatia to the confines of Poland,
heard in their own tongue the celebration of the Divine mysteries,
and looked to Methodius as their archbishop. Moreover he effected the
conversion of the Bohemian Duke Borivoi, and introduced Christianity
into his lands. He founded at Prague the church of Our Lady, and
another dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul; and died on April 6th, 885.
Relics of S. Cyril at Rome in S. Clemente, and at Brunn, in Moravia. In
Art S. Cyril is represented in a philosopher's long habit, and bearded.
S. Methodius as an archbishop with the pallium, holding in one hand a
picture of the Last Judgment.
S. CATHARINE OF BOLOGNA, V.
(A.D. 1463.)
[Roman Martyrology. Her name was inserted by Clement VIII., in 1592;
and she was canonized by Benedict XIII., in 1724. Authority:--Her life
written by F. Paleotti, about fifty years after her death.]
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL MODENA. From Stoughton's "Italian Reformers."
March 9.]
Catharine was the daughter of noble parents. Her father, John Vigri,
was high in favour with Nicholas d'Este, prince of Ferrara. She was
born on the Nativity of the B. Virgin, 1412, at Bologna, where she
spent her childhood; but growing up to girlhood she removed with her
parents to Ferrara, and became the associate of Margaret, daughter
of the prince. At the age of eleven she joined the order of the Poor
Clares, and entered the convent of that society in Bologna, with
the consent of her parents. "Thus withdrawn from all terrestral
occupations," says her biographer, "she began to serve God with such
fervour of soul, that all began to marvel at her. So great was her
gentleness, so great her reverence and obedience towards others, as
long as she lived, that she soon became beloved and pleasant to all,
and almost venerable in her early girlhood. Wherever she was, and with
whomsoever she conversed, she spoke either of God or with God, so that,
though her body was on earth, her soul was ever in heaven. And although
she was tormented with grievous temptations which tried her almost
out of measure, yet was she always of a glad countenance." She grew
daily more devoted to prayer; and her greatest delight was to spend
many hours in close communing with God. One Christmas Eve she obtained
permission to spend the night in the church, having resolved to recite
a thousand times the Angelic Salutation in honour of her who that night
bore the Saviour of the world. The hours glided away in the church in
all stillness, save for the click of the beads in Catharine's fingers,
and in all darkness, save for the glimmer of the red lamp before the
Blessed Sacrament. Suddenly, a glory filled the church, and she saw
before her the holy Mother bearing her infant Son in her bosom, and
smiling on the young religious, S. Mary laid the child Jesus in her
arms. It was a moment of supreme felicity, and one painters have loved
to recall, as she held to her heart her Redeemer and God, and looked
down on His radiant face. Then, trembling between love and fear, she
bent her lips to his mouth, and instantly all was dark; the vision had
fled. When she returned to her cell she wrote down what she had seen on
the margin of her breviary, where it was found after her death.
Margaret d'Este, her little friend in childhood, had grown up, and was
married to a good man, Robert Malatesta,[39] who, however, died and
left her a disconsolate widow. The prince of Ferrara was desirous of
marrying his daughter again, but Margaret clung to the memory of her
first husband, and besought her friend Catharine to assist her with her
prayers. And it fell out that on the very day of the second marriage
the bridegroom died. Next night Margaret saw Robert come to her, and
extending to her the wedding ring, say, "Margaret, I marry thee again,
thou must be mine alone!" and she spent the rest of her days in a holy
widowhood. A convent of Poor Clares having been founded in Bologna, S.
Catharine was appointed to be the first prioress, in spite of her tears
and entreaties to be left to the calm seclusion of her cell, and the
subordinate duties of a sister. She dreaded lest the cares and business
which fall to a superior should leave her less time for contemplation
and prayer.
[39] Robert was only eighteen when he married her, and she was much
younger.
On her way from Ferrara to her new home she sickened, but persevered in
her journey, though carried on a litter to the boat, and when placed
in it, was given a blessed candle to hold, as is usual with dying
persons, in case she should die on the journey. She however recovered,
sufficiently to set the new house in order, and to complete the
construction of some of the buildings; and then after the flame of life
had again sunk, and once more flickered up, calmly entered into the joy
of her Lord on March 9th, 1463, at the age of fifty-one.
Her body, incorrupt, is shown in the church of her convent, through
glass, sitting, richly habited, but with face, hands, and feet bare.
S. FRANCES OF ROME, W.
(A.D. 1440.)
[Roman Martyrology. Canonized by Paul V., in 1608. Authorities:--Her
life by her confessor, John Mattiotti, and another by Maria Magdalena
d'Aguillar. The following life is condensed from that by Lady
Georgiana Fullerton.]
Frances of Rome was born in stormy days. War was raging all over
Europe. Italy was torn by inward dissentions, and the Church was
afflicted, not only by the outward persecutions which strengthens her
vitality, though for a while they appear to cripple her action, but by
trials of a far deeper and more painful nature. Heresy had torn from
her arms a great number of her children, and repeated schisms were
dividing those who, in appearance, and even in intention, remained
faithful to the Holy See. The successors of S. Peter had removed the
seat of their residence to Avignon, and the eternal city presented the
aspect of one vast battle-field, on which daily and hourly conflicts
were occurring. In the capital of Western Christendom ruins of recent
date lay side by side with the relics of past ages; the churches were
sacked, burned, and destroyed, and the eyes of the people of Rome were
turned beseechingly to Heaven to restore to them that tranquillity to
which they had almost become strange.
It was at that time, during the pontificate of Urban VI., in the year
1384, that Francesca was born at Rome; that "she rose as a star in a
dark night," according to the expression of the most ancient of her
biographers. Her father's name was Paul Russa; her mother's Jacobella
de' Roffredeschi; they were both of noble descent. On the day of her
birth she was carried to the Church of S. Agnes, and there baptized.
Little could the worshippers who may have been praying there that day
for a blessing on their bereaved and distracted city, have guessed in
what form that blessing was bestowed, and that that little babe, a few
hours old, was to prove a most powerful instrument in the hands of God
for the extinction of schism, the revival of piety, and the return of
peace.
From her infancy, Francesca was not like other children. At two or
three years old she manifested a precocious intelligence and piety.
Instead of playing, she loved to retire into a silent corner of her
father's palace, and kneeling down join her little hands in prayer.
From the time that Francesca had understood the meaning of the words,
her greatest desire had been to enter a convent; it was therefore
with profound grief that she received, at the age of twelve, the
announcement from her father that he had promised her hand to Lorenzo
Ponziano, a young nobleman of illustrious birth, and not less eminent
for his virtues and talents than from his fortune and position. She
flew to her director and besought his advice. "If your parents persist
in their resolution," said he, "take it, my child, as a sign that
God expects of you this sacrifice. Offer up to him in that case your
earnest desire for the religious life. He will accept the will for
the deed; and you will attain at once the reward of that wish, and
the peculiar graces attached to the sacrament of marriage." Francesca
submitted, and was married to Lorenzo Ponziano, and took up her abode
in his palace in the heart of the Trastevere. It is a well-known spot;
and on the 9th of March, the people of Rome flock to it in crowds. The
modern building erected on the foundations of the old palace is the
Casa dei Esercizii Pii. On the day of her festival its rooms are thrown
open, every memorial of the gentle saint is exhibited, lights burn on
numerous altars, flowers deck the passages, leaves are strewn in the
chapel, on the stairs, in the entrance court; figured tapestry and
crimson silks hang over the door, and crowds of people go in and out,
and kneel before the relics and pictures of the dear saint of Rome, and
gaze on each altar, and linger in these chambers, like kinsfolk met on
a birthday to rejoice together.
Francesca was received into her new home tenderly and joyfully by her
father-in-law Andrew, his wife Cecilia, and Vannozza, the wife of her
husband's brother, a holy and loving woman, in whom Francesca found a
kindred spirit. The manner of Francesca was so gentle and kind, that
it inspired affection in all who approached her; but there was also a
profound and awful purity in her aspect and in her demeanour, which
effectually checked the utterance of a free or licentious word in her
presence. Faithful to her early habits of piety, she continued every
Wednesday to visit the church of S. Maria Nuova; and after confessing
to her director, Antonio Savelli, she communicated. Rising betimes in
the morning, Francesca devoutly said her prayers, made her meditations,
and read attentively out of a spiritual book. In the course of the day,
whenever she had a moment's leisure, she withdrew into a church, or
into her own room, and gave herself up to prayer. At the same time, so
devout a life in a young person of twelve years old could not fail to
attract the attention and draw down the censures of the worldly. Many
such began to laugh at Francesca, and to turn her piety into ridicule.
But her husband was to her a shield, as far as in him lay, against
spiteful tongues. His young wife was much too precious to him, much
too perfect in his sight, her whole life bore too visibly the stamp
of God's dealings with her, for him to dream of interfering with the
course she had taken. On the contrary, he looked upon her with that
affectionate veneration which the presence of true sanctity always
awakens in a noble and religious mind.
There was not a single member, friend, or servant, of that noble family
into which she had been received, that did not love her. Paluzzo,
Lorenzo's brother, delighted in encouraging the intimacy that had
arisen between his young sister-in-law and his own wife Vannozza. Day
by day her influence--her tender, noiseless, gentle influence--was felt
subduing, winning, drawing them all to God.
The happiness which the family of Ponziano had enjoyed since Lorenzo's
marriage was interrupted by the sudden and dangerous illness of his
wife, which baffled all medical skill, and soon brought her to the
verge of the grave. She endured excruciating pain, and was unable to
take nourishment. She declined rapidly, and all hope of her recovery
was abandoned, when, one night, as she was lying motionless on her
couch of suffering, listening to the breathing of her nurses who had
fallen asleep, a sudden light filled the room, and she saw standing
before her in pilgrim's robe, S. Alexis, the noble Roman penitent, who
had passed many years as a despised beggar at the door of his father's
palace. Drawing near to Francesca's bed, he said "I am Alexis, and
am sent from God to enquire of thee if thou choosest to be healed?"
"I have no choice but the good pleasure of God," she answered. "Then
live," said he, "for He choosest that thou shouldest remain in the
world to glorify His name." Then he drew his mantle over Francesca and
vanished, leaving her perfectly recovered.
Confounded at this extraordinary favour, she rose in haste, and
slipping out of the room without awaking her nurses, she hurried to
the bedside of her sister-in-law. "My dear Vannozza, my own Vannozza!"
she exclaimed, putting her arm round her neck, and her cheek next
hers. Vannozza suddenly awoke, and distrusting the evidence of her
senses, said, "Who are you? Am I dreaming? It sounds like the voice of
my little Frances?" "Yes, it is your little sister who is speaking
to you." "What! I left you only an hour ago at the point of death!"
"It is I, nevertheless, come to thank you, dear companion, for having
nursed me so tenderly, and now help me to thank God for his wonderful
mercy towards me." Then sitting on her bed, with the hands of her
sister clasped in her own, she related to her the vision, and the
instantaneous recovery that had followed; and then, as the light began
to break into the chamber, she added with eagerness, "Now let us hasten
to S. Maria Nuova, and then to the church of S. Alexis, that I may
return him my thanks, before others learn what God has done for me."
The year 1400 opened under melancholy auspices. The wars for the
succession of the kingdom of Naples between Louis of Anjou and Ladislas
were agitating the whole of Italy; and Rome was exposed to all the fury
of the contending parties. Lorenzo Ponziano, from his rank and fidelity
to the sovereign pontiff, was especially marked out as an enemy by the
adverse faction. But while on every side the storm was brewing, and the
aspect of public affairs each day became more gloomy, a blessing was
granted him, which for the last five years he had ardently desired.
Francesca became the mother of a little son, who received at the font
the name of John Baptist, or, in Italian, Giovanni Baptista. It was not
at that time the custom for ladies of rank to nurse their children; but
Francesca set aside all such considerations, and never consented to
forego a mother's sacred privilege.
In obedience to her director, and guided by her own sense of duty,
she modified, for the time being her usual mode of life, and occupied
herself with the care of her child in preference to all other
observances of charity or of devotion.
About a year after, Lorenzo's mother died, and Francesca was called
to take her place as head of the household, and to superintend all
the domestic affairs. Distressed at the proposal, she pleaded her
youth and inexperience, and urged that Vannozza, as the wife of the
eldest brother, was, as a matter of course, entitled to that position.
Vannozza, however, steadily refused it, and at length, overcome by the
general importunity, Francesca found herself obliged to comply. Now it
was that her merit shone conspicuously. Placed at the head of the most
opulent house in Rome, no symptom of pride revealed itself in her looks
or in her actions. She was never heard to speak a harsh or impatient
word. Firm in requiring every person in her house to fulfil their
duties, she did it in the gentlest manner. Always courteous to her
servants, she watched over their souls as precious treasures entrusted
to her custody by God.
Francesca had just attained the age of twenty when her second son was
born. He was baptized on the day of his birth, and received the name
of John Evangelist. He might well have been termed his mother's own
child; for in his veriest infancy, he showed that he had inherited
her sweetness and spirit of devotion. He was to her as one of God's
own angels, and tears of joy filled her eyes as she mused on the
extraordinary signs of grace which he daily evinced. Evangelista was
not quite three years old when his little sister Agnes was born, who in
beauty, heavenly sweetness of temper, and precocious piety, proved the
counterpart of her brother.
In the year 1409, when she was about twenty-seven years old,
Francesca's temporal calamities began. After Ladislas of Naples,
befriended by the enemies of the pope, had in 1498 gained possession
of Rome, he left behind him as governor of the city the count of
Troja, a rough and brutal soldier. In an engagement with the count's
soldiers Lorenzo Ponziano was stabbed, and taken up and carried home
as if dead. Francesca however found that he still breathed, and by her
unremitting attention, he was restored to health.
Meanwhile the count of Troja, pressed on every side, began to foresee
the necessity of leaving Rome; but, in his exasperation, resolved
previously to wreak his vengeance on the families most devoted to the
pope, and especially on that of the Ponziani. He accordingly arrested
Paluzzo, Vannozza's husband, and understanding that Lorenzo had a son
of eight or nine years old, he commanded that he should be given up
into his hands as a hostage.
This was to Francesca a trial almost beyond endurance, as she trembled
for the soul of her little one about to be committed to unprincipled
soldiers. The report of the order had spread through Rome, and as she
passed through the streets clasping the hand of her dear child whom she
was about to surrender, crowds of commiserating women pressed round
her. She mounted the Capitol, walked straight to where the tyrant was
standing, and gave up her son to him, and then, without once looking
back, she hastened to the church of Ara Cœli, and falling prostrate
before the feet of the Mother of Mercy, poured out her soul in tears
and supplication. In the mean time the count of Troja had ordered one
of his officers to take little Baptista on his horse, and carry him
away to a place he appointed; but from the instant the child was placed
on the saddle, no efforts could induce the animal to stir. Four of
the knights of Naples renewed the attempt with other horses, and the
same result. There is a strength greater than man's will; there is a
power that defeats human malice. Struck with a secret terror by this
evident prodigy, the count of Troja gave up the unequal contest, and
ordered the child to be restored to his mother. Before the altar of Ara
Cœli, where in her anguish she had fallen, Francesca received back
into her arms the son of her love, and blessed the God who had given
her strength to go through this the severest of her trials.
The States of the Church and Rome were again overrun by the troops
of Ladislas, in 1410. The horrors of this invasion, and of the sack
that followed it, surpassed in atrocity almost all those that had
previously afflicted the capital of Western Christendom. Lorenzo,
scarcely recovered from his long illness, fled into a distant province.
It had been impossible to remove his wife and children; and Francesca
remained exposed to a succession of the most trying disasters. The
wealth of the family chiefly consisted in their country possessions;
and day after day intelligence was brought to her that one farmhouse
or another was burnt or pillaged, the cattle dispersed or destroyed,
and the peasants murdered by a ruthless soldiery. One fatal morning a
troop of savage ruffians, drunk with rage, broke into the palace, and
after pillaging, and all but destroying the time-honoured residence of
the Ponziani, carried off her son Baptista. In the space of a few hours
that gorgeous abode was turned into a heap of ruins. Bereft of her
husband, of her son, and of all the conveniences of life, Francesca,
with her two younger children, remained alone, and unprotected, for her
brother-in-law, Paluzzo, was still a prisoner in the tyrant's hands.
How Baptista escaped is not recorded, but by some means or other he was
enabled to get away from Rome and rejoin his father.
Francesca took shelter in a corner of her ruined habitation; and there,
with Evangelista and Agnese, she managed to live in the most complete
seclusion. These two children were now their mother's only comfort,
as their education was her principal occupation. Evangelista, as he
advanced in age, in no way belied the promise of his infancy. He lived
in spirit with the angels and saints, and seemed more fitted for their
society than for any earthly companionship. "To be with God," was his
only dream of bliss. The hour for another sacrifice was at hand. The
second invasion of Rome was succeeded by a dreadful famine, which was
followed in its turn by a severe pestilence. Evangelista sickened and
died of it. Francesca wept over the loss of her dearly-beloved child,
but did not grieve for him. It was not a time for indulgence of sorrow.
Want and sickness were turning Rome into a charnel house. Wild voices
were screaming for bread on every side. The streets were encumbered by
the victims of the plague. The ruin of private property, the general
penury occasioned by the extortion of Ladislas, and the sacking of
Rome by his soldiers, had cut off almost all the resources of private
charity. Francesca, bereaved of everything but her one little girl,
and lodged with Vannozza in a corner of their dismantled house, had no
longer at her command the resources she had formerly possessed for the
relief of the poor. A little food from their ruined estates was now
and then supplied to these lonely women; and they stinted themselves,
that they might bestow the greatest part on the sick and poor. There
was a large hall in the lower part of the palace; the sisters converted
it into a temporary hospital; out of the shattered furniture that lay
scattered about the house, they contrived to make up beds and covering,
and to prepare some clothing for the wretched creatures they were about
to receive. When all was ready they brought in sufferers, carrying
the weakest in their arms. They washed and dressed their wounds and
sores, prepared both medicine and food, watched the sick by day and by
night; laboured incessantly for their bodies, and still more for their
souls. The example which the ruined and bereaved wives of the Ponziani
had given kindled a similar spirit among the hitherto apathetic
inhabitants of Rome, and in several places hospitals were opened to
the perishing multitudes. Often Francesca and Vannozza were without
a morsel of food for themselves and their poor, then they went forth
to beg, and gratefully accepted the broken bits that fell from the
table of the wealthy. Each remnant of food, each rag of clothing, they
brought home with joy; and the best was invariably bestowed on their
guests.
Evangelista had been dead about a year, when one morning as Francesca
was praying in her oratory, she became conscious that the little room
was suddenly and supernaturally illumined. She raised her eyes, and
Evangelista stood before her; his familiar aspect unchanged, but his
features transfigured and beaming with ineffable splendour. By his
side stood an angel of exquisite beauty. Evangelista smiling on his
mother, told her of his present happiness, and then bade her prepare
to surrender her little Agnese, for God called the child. But a
consolation was promised her. Thenceforth the angel who stood beside
Evangelista was to be ever with her, as a visible companion. Having
said this, Evangelista disappeared, but the angel remained, and to the
day of her death was ever present to her sight.
The following is the description of the angel as given by Francesca to
her confessor, and written down by her, at his order:--
"His stature is that of a child, of about nine years; his countenance
full of sweetness and majesty; his eyes generally turned towards
heaven. Words cannot describe the divine purity of that gaze. His brow
is always serene; his glances kindle in the soul the flame of ardent
devotion. When I look upon him, I understand the glory of the angelic
nature, and the degraded condition of our own. He wears a long, shining
robe, and over it a tunic, either as white as the lilies of the field,
or of the colour of a red rose, or of the hue of the sky, when it is
most deeply blue. When he walks at my side his feet are never soiled by
the mud of the streets, or the dust of the roads."
The presence of her heavenly guide was to her as a mirror, in which she
could see reflected every imperfection of her character. Much as she
had discerned, even from her earliest childhood, of the corruption of
her heart, yet she often told her director that it was only since she
had been continually in the presence of an angelic companion that she
had realised its amount. So that this divine favour, far from exalting
her in her own eyes, served to maintain her in the deepest humility.
When she committed any fault, the angel faded away, and it was only
when she had felt compunction and confessed her fault, that he shone
out upon her once more in all his brilliancy.
And now her little Agnes was taken from her, and was laid beside her
brother Evangelista.
Four long years had elapsed, during which Rome had been given up to
war, famine, and pestilence. The exertions of Francesca told at last on
her enfeebled frame, and she fell dangerously ill. Vannozza never left
her bedside, and nursed her with such love and care that she restored
her to health. It was during this illness that Francesca had a vision
of Hell. And now, in 1414, Ladislas died, and peace was restored to
the States of the Church. The Ponziani were recalled from banishment,
and their property was restored. Lorenzo and his son Baptista returned
to their home, and to the wife and mother they had so longed to behold
again. But the cup of joy was mixed with sorrow. Lorenzo, who a few
years back was strong and active, was now broken by long sufferings,
aged more through exile and grief than through years. We are told that
when he entered his palace and looked upon his wife, deep sobs shook
his breast, and he burst into tears. The two beautiful children whom
he had left by her side were gone, and Francesca herself, pale with
recent sickness, spent with ceaseless labour, was changed in form, and
bloom, and brightness, by what she also had endured.
The household life was now to some extent restored. Francesca devoted
all her leisure moments to prayer, but never allowed her spiritual
exercises to interfere with her duty as a wife and mistress of a
household. Her attention to Lorenzo's slightest wants and wishes was
unceasing. She never complained of any amount of interruption or of
trouble which his claims, or those of the house, or of her position
in society, occasioned. One day that she was reciting in her room the
office of the Blessed Virgin, her husband sent for her. Instantly
rising from her knees, she obeyed his summons. When she had performed
the trifling service he required, she returned to her prayers. Four
successive times, for the most insignificant of purposes, was she sent
for; each time with unwearied good humour she complied, and resumed her
devotions without a shadow of discontent or annoyance. On resuming her
book the last time that this occurred, great was her astonishment in
finding the antiphon which she had begun four times, and had four times
left unfinished, written in letters of gold. Vannozza, who was present,
witnessed the miracle, and the gilded letters remained in the book to
the day of her death.
Her son, Baptista, had now arrived at the age of eighteen, and at his
father's advice he married a maiden, named Mobilia, of noble birth
and singular beauty. Immediately upon her marriage, the bride came
to reside under the same roof as her father and mother-in-law. She
was received as a beloved daughter by Francesca and Vannozza, but
she neither returned their affection nor appeared sensible to their
kindness. Her head was completely turned at finding herself her own
mistress, adored by her husband, and furnished with the most ample
means of gratifying all her fancies. She gave no thought to anything
but her beauty, her dress, and all the amusements within her reach.
Wholly inexperienced, she declined to ask or to receive advice,
and chose in every respect to be guided by her inclinations alone.
Imperious with her equals, haughty with her superiors, she treated her
mother-in-law with the most supreme contempt. In the gay societies
which she frequented, it was her favourite amusement to turn Francesca
into ridicule, and mimic her manners and style of conversation. "How
can one feel respect," said she, "for an old woman who thinks of
nothing but the poor, dresses plainly, and goes about the streets
carrying bread and old clothes?"
It was in vain that Baptista, seriously annoyed at the insults
offered to his dearly-loved mother, remonstrated with his wife.
Mobilia persisted for long, till struck with sudden illness in the
midst of a sharp and bitter speech addressed to her mother-in-law,
she became alarmed lest God should punish her with greater severity,
and she resolved to behave towards her with respect and love. And
this grew till the young wife became passionately fond of Francesca,
and venerated her for her virtues, which she strove hard to imitate.
Francesca, with the most watchful love, nursed Mobilia in her
confinements, and bestowed on her grandchildren the same cares that
she had lavished on her own children. It was a great relief to her
that Mobilia was able to assume the management of the house, and
thus enable her to devote herself more unreservedly to the service
of the poor and of the hospitals. A new epoch was now at hand in her
career. God had placed in her heart many years ago a hope, which she
had nursed in secret, and watered with tears, and fostered by prayer.
Never impatient, never beforehand with God's providence, she waited.
Lorenzo's admiration and affection for his wife had gone on increasing
with advancing years; the perfection of her life, and the miracles he
had so often seen her perform, inspired him with unbounded reverence.
Taking her aside one day, he offered to release her from all the
obligations imposed by the state of marriage, to allow her the fullest
liberty of action, and the most absolute control over her person, her
time, and her conduct, on one condition, that she would promise never
to cease to inhabit his house. She accepted his proposal joyfully
and gratefully, but she continued to devote herself to her excellent
husband, and with the most attentive solicitude to render him every
service in her power. He was now in very declining health, and she
rendered him by day and by night all the cares of the tenderest nurse.
Seeing the necessity of a religious society for women living in the
world, Francesca now formed a congregation of pious women, which was
affiliated to the Olivetian monastery of S. Maria Nuova, and which
comprised about ten noble Roman ladies, devoted like herself and
Vannozza, to the service of God and the poor. She now lost her beloved
sister Vannozza, and her director, Antonio Savelli, who had instructed
her childhood, and guided her ever since with wisdom and faithfulness.
She chose as her director and that of her congregation, Giovanni
Mattiotti, curate of S. Maria in Trastevere, to whom she had already
sometimes been to confession. He was a man of distinguished piety, but
of an irresolute and vacillating disposition, easily disheartened. Her
society, which was called the Congregation of Oblates of Mary, had
lasted seven years, when Francesca decided that it would be advisable
that it should have a convent in which to dwell. She took a house
adapted to the requirements of a religious community, on the spot where
an old tower, named "Tor di Specchi," used to stand. Various obstacles
arose to the purchase of this house, which disheartened Mattiotti;
but they were finally overcome, and the acquisition was completed
towards the end of the year 1432. This house, which was at first
considered only as a temporary residence, was subsequently added to,
and has remained to this day the central house of the order. It was,
doubtless, a trial to Francesca that whilst she was providing a home
for her disciples, she was unable to avail herself of it, but she never
hesitated as to her line of duty. Lorenzo had released her from all
obligations but one, that of residing in his house, and watching over
his old age. His infirmities were increasing, and her attentions were
indispensable to his comfort. The rule adopted by the Oblates of Tor di
Specchi remains the same to this day. They are not, strictly speaking,
nuns: they take no vows, and are bound by no obligations under pain of
sin; they are not cloistered, and their dress is that which was worn at
the period of their establishment by the widows of the Roman nobles.
It was on the Feast of the Annunciation, 1433, that the Oblates, ten
in number, met in the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, heard Mass,
and communicated, then went in procession to the house they were
thenceforth to inhabit. That house, which now-a-days is thrown open
during the Octave of the Feast of S. Frances, is no gloomy abode. The
beautiful chapel; the garden, with its magnificent orange trees; the
open galleries, with their little oratories, where a holy picture or
figure takes you by surprise, and meets you at every turn; the light,
airy rooms, where religious prints and ornaments, with flowers, birds,
and ingenious toys, testify that innocent enjoyments are encouraged
among the children educated therein by the Oblates of S. Mary.
But on the day when Francesca's companions first entered these walls,
there was nothing very fair or beautiful to greet them, though they
carried thither, in their hearts, from the altar they had just left,
the source of all light and love. With delight they exchanged their
ordinary dress for that which the rule prescribed. Francesca alone
stood among them no nun in her outward garb, but the truest nun of all,
through the inward consecration of her whole being to God.
Francesca had been forty years married to Lorenzo Ponziano, and blessed
had that union been by the tender affection which had reigned between
the husband and the wife, and sanctified by the exercise of no common
virtues, by the pursuit of no transitory object. Francesca had led the
way, in meekness, in humility, in subjection, but with a single aim
and an unwavering purpose. Lorenzo's health had been breaking up for
some years past, and now it utterly failed, and his disease assumed an
alarming character. Few men would have shown themselves as worthy as
he did of such a wife as Francesca. From the moment of his marriage
he had appreciated her virtues, rejoiced in her piety, encouraged her
good works, and to a great extent shared in them. He had his reward.
Francesca tended him to the last with indefatigable love. He had been a
just man, and his death was the death of the righteous. Francesca was
now free to follow the bent of her desire. She took leave of Mobilia
and her son, and went straight to Tor di Specchi. It was on the 21st
of March, the feast of S. Benedict, that she entered its walls, not as
the foundress, but as a humble suppliant for admission. At the foot of
the stairs, having taken off her black gown, her veil, and her shoes,
she knelt down, and made her general confession in the presence of the
community, and then asked permission to dwell amongst the Oblates. The
spiritual daughters of S. Frances hastened to raise and to embrace her,
and clothing her with their habit, they led the way to the chapel,
where they all returned thanks to God.
At the same moment, her angel guardian was changed; another, brighter
and more beautiful, stood beside her, weaving a golden woof out of
threads, which he drew from a palm branch. And this angel, ever busy on
this mystic work, remained beside her till her death, in place of the
other.
Agnes de Lellis, the superior, then resigned her office, and the
sisters with one accord insisted on Francesca assuming the direction
of the house. She positively refused to do so, but her objections were
overruled by the director, and unable to resist his orders, she assumed
the office on March 25th.
We have not space to give an account of the life of the blessed
Francesca as a superior, or to detail the miracles she was enabled to
work; for these we refer the English reader to the life of this saint
by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. On March 3rd, 1440, when Francesca was
fifty-six years old, she was sent for to see her son Baptista, who
was laid up with a sharp attack of fever. She instantly obeyed the
summons, and spent the day at the Ponziano palace; but towards evening
she grew so ill that she could scarcely stand. However, she persisted
in returning to her convent. On her way she stopped at the church
of S. Maria in Trastevere, and found there her confessor, Giovanni
Mattiotti, who, noticing her altered looks, ordered her at once to
return to her son's house. The order was a trial to her, for she felt
that she would never again enter the hallowed walls of Tor di Specchi;
but, faithful to the spirit of perfect obedience, she went back to the
palace. In the course of the night a virulent fever came on, and she
became so seriously ill that all hopes of her recovery were abandoned.
And now the angel had nearly done his mystic task, the golden web was
complete, and he folded up the glistening tissue about the palm. The
day of March 9th was far advanced. "What are you saying?" asked her
confessor, seeing her lips move. "The vespers of the Blessed Virgin,"
she answered, in a scarcely audible voice. As an infant she had begun
the practice; and on the eve of her death she had not omitted it.
S. Francesca was canonized May 29th, 1608.
Relics in S. Maria Nuova, at Rome.
In art she appears with an angel by her side, sometimes contemplating
Hell open.
[Illustration: HATRED AND MALICE. Symbolic carving at the Abbey of S.
Denis.]
March 10.
SS. CAIUS AND ALEXANDER, _MM. at Apamea, in Phrygia, after_ A.D. 171.
SS. CODRATUS, DIONYSIUS, CYPRIAN, ANECTUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at
Corinth, circ._ A.D. 258.
SS. FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE, _circ._ A.D. 320.
S. MACARIUS, _B. of Jerusalem, circ._ A.D. 335.
S. KESSOG, _B. in Scotland, 6th cent._
S. ANASTASIUS THE PATRICIAN, _C. in Egypt_, A.D. 567.
S. DROCTOVEUS, _Ab. at S. Germain, in Paris, circ._ A.D. 576.
S. ATTALUS, _Ab. of Bobbio, in Italy_, A.D. 626.
S. HYMELIN, _P. at Visenaeken, in Belgium, 8th cent._
B. JOHN SARCANDER, _P.M. at Holleschan, in Upper Silesia_,
A.D. 1620.[40]
[40] Roman Martyrology. He was born at Skotsoehan, in 1576, then
became priest of Holleschan, where he was put to death with the utmost
barbarity by Protestants, on March 10th, 1624, partly out of hatred to
his religion, partly because he would not disclose the secrets of the
confessional.
SS. CAIUS AND ALEXANDER, MM.
(AFTER A.D. 171.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Notker, &c.
Authority:--Eusebius, lib. v. c. 16.]
Nothing more of these martyrs is known than the brief mention in
Eusebius, quoting from Apollinaris of Hierapolis, that they were
natives of Eumenia, and that they suffered at Apamea.
SS. CODRATUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 258.)
[Inserted in the Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogeneta,
also in the Roman Martyrology. Authority:--A Greek life published by
Bollandus, of uncertain date, and very questionable authority.]
In the persecution of Decius many Christians fled to the mountains and
deserts until the tyranny was overpast. Amongst these was a woman who
was expecting her confinement; she hid in a wild place amongst the
rocks, and there brought forth a child whom she named Codratus. He was
brought up in the desert during his infancy, and growing to maturity,
was joined by other young men desirous of a retired life. They were
taken before the governor Jason, at Corinth, and were executed.
THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE.
(ABOUT A.D. 320.)
[Roman Martyrology. Amongst the Greeks on March 9th; the ancient
Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome on March 9th, as also that of
Bede, and most ancient Martyrologies. In the Roman, it has been
transferred to the 10th, because the feast of S. Frances is a double.
Authorities:--The Ancient Latin and Greek Acts, the former a recension
of more ancient Acts, made in 900; the latter of less antiquity, also
the Armenian Acts. These saints are spoken of by S. Ephraem Syrus, (d.
378), and by S. Gregory Nyssen, (d. 396), and S. Basil has a sermon on
them. There is also a homily upon them extant by S. Gaudentius, B. of
Brescia, (375.) The invention of their relics is mentioned by Sozomen,
Hist. Eccl. lib. ix. c. 2.]
When the Emperor Licinius had broken with his brother-in-law
Constantine, he threw off the mask of toleration he had worn, and
openly persecuted the Christians. When in Cappadocia, he published an
edict commanding every Christian, on pain of death, to abandon his
religion. Agricola, governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, resided
at Sebaste, where S. Blaise, bishop of that city, was one of the first
victims. In the army which was quartered there was the Thundering
Legion. Its commanding officer was Lysias. Forty soldiers of that
legion, natives of different countries, but all young, brave, and
distinguished for their services, refused to sacrifice to the idols.
When Agricola announced the imperial order to the army, these forty
brave men advanced to his tribunal, and announced themselves to be
Christians. They were at once cast into prison, where they raised the
90th (91st) psalm, in solemn chant, as the darkness closed upon them;
"Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High; shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty." Our blessed Lord appeared to them, and
bade them play the man, and win the crown of victory. Then Cyrio, one
of the confessors, said to his brethren, "It has pleased God to unite
us forty brethren in one communion of faith and warfare, let us not
part in life or in death. Let us ask of God to send us forty to our
crown together."
Six or seven days after they were brought again before the governor,
and were sentenced to be exposed naked through the bitter winter night
on the ice of a pond; but he ordered that a fire and warm bath should
be prepared in a small building opening on the pond, and that any of
the confessors who should take advantage of this should be regarded as
having apostatized.
Night closed in over the city. The shops were shut; the streets
were still. Men went not willingly forth into the bitter cold. No
friendly cloud hung in the sky--it was a clear, starry night;--the
constellations glowed in the intense frost. The citizens heaped up
their fires, and gathered closer around them. The soldiers canvassed
the constancy of the sufferers. There, on the frozen pool, stood the
martyrs of Jesus Christ. From the open door of the hut, a bright
cheerful gleam of fire-light shone; reflecting itself on the clear
dark ice. Some presently fell, and slept that sleep which ends only in
death; some walked hurriedly up and down, as if to keep in the heat
of life; some stood with their arms folded, almost lost in prayer;
some consoled themselves and their brethren in the conflict. They
prayed earnestly that He, who had in a special manner consecrated the
number forty to Himself; who had bade Moses tarry in the mount forty
days, who had fed Elijah with that food, in the strength whereof he
went forty days and forty nights; who had given Nineveh forty days
for repentance; they called on Him who had Himself fasted forty days,
and had lain forty hours in death, not to fail them then. "Forty
wrestlers," they said, "O Lord, we have entered the arena; let forty
victors receive the prize!"
One of the soldiers guarding the pond was waiting by the fire, and
slept. And in his sleep he beheld this vision. He stood by the side of
the pool, and saw the martyrs in their conflict. As he gazed on them,
an angel came down from the sky with a golden crown in his hands. Its
brightness was not of this world; it was most bright, most beautiful.
He brought another, and another, and another, till the dreamer
perceived that he was charged with the everlasting diadems of the
victorious martyrs. Nine-and-thirty crowns he brought, but he came not
with the fortieth.
"What may this mean?" he asked, as he awoke. As he was wondering, there
was a stir without, and the soldiers brought in one of the confessors.
He could endure it no more, he had come to the fire and the warm bath.
He who had dreamed went forth. Still the cloudless night; still the
intense piercing blast from the range of the Caucasus. Most of the
sufferers, on the frozen pool, had fallen where they stood. To them the
bitterness of death was past; for they were in the last fatal sleep;
and their diadem, though not yet attained, were certain. Others were
praying, "Forty wrestlers we have entered the arena; let forty victors
receive the prize."
O wonderful power of prayer in all! but most wonderful virtue of
intercession in Christ's martyrs! At that moment a thought rushed into
the mind of the soldier; a thought so sweet, so cheering, that the
bitter Armenian night seemed to him as pleasant as the breath of a May
morning. "One has fallen from his crown; I may attain to it."
In half-an-hour he had roused the governor from his sleep, and had
professed himself a Christian. In half-an-hour more he stood himself
on the frozen pool, a confessor among the other confessors. And there
was yet life in some of the sufferers to hail this new brother in arms
in the spiritual warfare. He, too, contending to the end, received the
prize; the virtue of Baptism, as the Church has ever taught, being
supplied to him in this case by the grace of that martyrdom whereof he
was accounted worthy.
Morning broke at last, and a few still lived, amongst others Melithon,
the youngest of the soldiers. Agricola ordered the legs and arms of
those who survived to be broken, and as the order was carried into
execution, they sang faintly with their frozen lips, "Our soul hath
escaped out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we
are delivered." The mother of Melithon was present. She raised him in
her arms, and laid him with the other bodies in the wagon which was to
convey them to a fire in which they were all to be consumed. Melithon
still lived, and smiled faintly upon her. "Oh, son of my bosom, how
glad am I to see thee offer to Christ the last remains of thy life.
Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that thou hast
sucked!" And she followed the tumbril to the fire into which her yet
breathing son was cast, together with the frozen bodies of his comrades.
A few fragments still remain of the church, which in after years was
raised on the scene of the martyrdom. The names of these martyrs
were Quirio or Cyrio, Candidus, Domnus, Melitho, Domitian, Eunoicus,
Sisinius, Heraclius, Alexander, John, Claudius, Athanasius, Valens,
Helianus, Ecditius, Acacius, Vivianus, Helias, Theodulus, Cyrillus,
Flavius, Severian, Valerius, Chudio, Sacerdo Priscus, Eutychius,
Smaragdus, Philoctimo, Aetius, Nicolas, Lysimachus, Theophilus,
Xantheas, Augias, Leontius, Hesychius, Caius and Gorgo.
S. MACARIUS, B. OF JERUSALEM.
(ABOUT A.D. 335.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Eusebius, Theodoret Socrates.]
S. Macarius was created bishop of Jerusalem in the year 314. He was
present at the great council of Nicæa, against Arius, whom he always
opposed from the beginning of his heretical teaching. The historian
Socrates has preserved for us a letter written to him by the Emperor
Constantine. There was another Macarius, bishop of the same see, in
the reign of the Emperor Justinian, who was driven from his see for
defending the heresy of the Origenists; but having recanted, was
restored.
S. KESSOG, B. C.
(6TH CENT.)
[Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--David Camerarius, Thomas Dempster, and
the Lections in the Breviary.]
Kessog or Makkessog, as he is otherwise called, an Irish prince by
birth, and an itinerary bishop in the province of Boyne, laboured for
the spread of the Gospel in Scotland. He is said to have settled in
Lennox; and Thomas Dempster says he was represented in art dressed as a
soldier with a bow in his hand and a quiver at his back.
S. DROCTOVEUS, AB.
(ABOUT A.D. 576.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Usuardus, and Maurolycus.
Authority:--An ancient life written after the destruction of the
original life by the Danes when they burnt the monastery of S.
Germain.]
S. Droctoveus, vulgarly called in France S. Drotté, was born in the
diocese of Autun, in Burgundy. In his youth he was placed with S.
Germain, in the abbey of S. Symphorian, at Autun, of which he was
abbot. He was formed there upon the most perfect model of virtue.
S. Germain having been elevated to the bishopric of Paris, wished
to continue to live as a monk. Wherefore he withdrew his disciple
Droctoveus from the abbey of S. Symphorian, and brought him to Paris.
King Childebert having built a church in which to place the stole of S.
Vincent, which he had carried back with him from Saragossa in the year
542, on his return from his Spanish expedition, and chosen this church
as his place of sepulture, he was buried there in 558, and S. Germain
dedicated the church on the same day as his burial, under the title
SS. Cross and Vincent. He established a monastery adjoining it, over
which he set S. Droctoveus, with whose virtues he was well acquainted.
Droctoveus governed the monastery for twenty years, and established its
fame. The monks afterwards embraced the rule of S. Benedict, and the
house and church took the name of S. Germain after the body of that
prelate had been transferred to it.
S. HYMELIN, P.
(8TH CENT.)
[Belgian Martyrology of Molanus, Aberdeen Breviary, and Anglican
Martyrology. Authority:--A life founded on notices in the
Martyrologies and popular tradition, by John Gilleman, about 1480.]
The Blessed Hymelin, priest and confessor, was a near relative of
S. Rumbold, and an Irishman. Of his early life nothing is known. He
undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return was attacked by a
virulent fever at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, in Brabant. He sank
exhausted on a bank, and a girl noticed his haggard looks and evident
sickness as she was returning from the well with her pitcher. Hymelin
extended his hands to her, and implored her to give him a draught of
water, but she had received strict orders from her master, the curate
of the place, not to let any one touch the pitcher, as the plague was
then raging, and he feared infection. She therefore reluctantly refused
the draught.
"I am very sick, and perhaps dying," said the Irish pilgrim; "I pray
you deny me not this little gift."
"My good friend," answered the maid, "I would gladly refresh you, were
it not that I am under orders. But come home to my master, and he will
give you food and drink of the very best." "I cannot stir from this
place, I am far too ill," said Hymelin; "I pray you let me taste the
cool water. I am consumed with thirst." She looked at the man's ghastly
countenance with fiery spots on the cheek, and was unable to refuse any
longer, so she held her pitcher to his lips; he drank, thanked her, and
she went to her master with the vessel. The curate took the pitcher,
set it to his lips, and drawing it suddenly away, exclaimed, "Thou
hast brought me wine, not water!" And it was so. The water had been
converted into wine. Then she told him all that she had done; and he
ran and brought the wayfarer to his house, and laid him on his bed, and
nursed him till he died. And as the soul of Hymelin fled, the chimes of
the church began to play sweetly in the air, though no man touched the
bells. Hymelin was buried in the parish church of Vissenaeken, where
his body still remains, and every year, on March 10th, attracts a large
concourse of pilgrims.
[Illustration: DECEITFULNESS AND VANITY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey
of S. Denis.]
March 11.
S. GORGO, _M. at Tours_.
S. ALBERTA, _V.M. at Agen_, A.D. 286.
SS. TROPHIMUS AND THALUS, _MM. at Laodicea, circ._ A.D. 300.
S. VINCENT, _Ab., M. at Leon, in Spain, circ._ A.D. 555.
S. CONSTANTINE, _K., Monk and M., in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 576.
S. SOPHRONIUS, _Patr. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 638.
S. VIGILIUS, _B.M. of Auxerre_, A.D. 689.
S. VINDICIAN, _B. of Cambrai and Arras, circ._ A.D. 712.
S. EUTHYMIUS,_ B.M. at Sardis, circ._ A.D. 827.
S. ANGUS OF KELD, _B. and Ab. in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 824.
S. EULOGIUS,_ P.M. at Cordova_, A.D. 859.
S. PETER THE SPANIARD, _H. at Babuco, in the Campagna of Rome_.
S. AURIA, _V. in Spain, circ._ A.D. 1100.
S. GORGO, M.
(DATE UNKNOWN.)
[Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--An account of the Translation of
his relics by an eye-witness in 847, published by Bollandus.]
At Tours, on this day is celebrated the festival of S. Gorgo the
martyr, whose body, found at Rome, on the Appian way, near that of S.
Cecilia, was transported to the great monastery of Tours in 847, and on
the way worked many miracles of healing. The Roman Martyrology names on
the same day another Gorgo, martyr at Antioch, of whom nothing further
is known.
S. ALBERTA, V. M.
(A.D. 286.)
[Venerated at Agen. Authority:--The Agen Breviary.]
Alberta, the sister of S. Faith in blood and religion, and one of the
first martyrs of the Agenois, earned the double crown of virginity
and martyrdom. Her relics, long preserved at Périgueux with those of
S. Phebadas, were translated to the church of Benerque, on the Ariége,
where they are preserved to this day.
S. VINCENT, AB. M.
(ABOUT A.D. 555.)
[Benedictine Martyrology, and that of Leon, and other Spanish
churches. Tamayus Salazar complains, "The Acts of S. Vincent are shut
up in the Spanish Benedictine Libraries, and are never shown by the
most reverend fathers, possibly lest they should become too common,
content rather that they should lie in bags and boxes, buried in
dust and cobwebs, rather than exposed for the public benefit." We
have, accordingly, in Bollandus, only a compendium of the Acts by
the historian, Antonio Yepes, gathered from MSS., at Leon, and the
lections of the monastic breviary of Coimbra.]
When the Vandals overran Spain, in company with the Suevi and the
Alani, the Suevi settled down in Gallicia and part of Portugal, whilst
the Vandals crossed into North Africa. They were Arians, and their
king, Hermanrik, and his son, Richild, harassed the Catholics in every
way possible, destroying or seizing on their churches. The Arians drew
Vincent, abbot of S. Claudius, before the prince, charging him with
contempt of the laws made against the Catholics. He boldly proclaimed
the divinity of Jesus Christ before the king, and was ordered to be
beaten and thrown into prison. Next day he was again brought before the
king, and was condemned to death. The executioner struck at him with
his sword, and clave his skull. His martyrdom was followed by that of
the prior, Ramirus, and twelve of the monks of his house.
Relics: the body of S. Vincent in the cathedral of Oviedo. The body of
S. Ramirus was translated, April, 26th, 1596, to the monastery of S.
Claudius, at Leon.
S. CONSTANTINE, K. MONK AND M.
(ABOUT A.D. 576.)
[Aberdeen Breviary, Cologne and German Martyrologies. Not to be
confused with Constantine, the successor of king Arthur, nor with
Constantine, the Scottish king, who resigned his throne to live as a
monk at S. Andrews, in 943. Authority:--The Aberdeen Breviary, John
Fordun, John of Tynemouth, and mention in the Life of S. David.]
Constantine, son of Padarn, king of Cornwall, was married to the
daughter of the king of Brittany, but had the misfortune to lose his
wife by death shortly after. He was so deeply attached to her, that he
could find no rest in his loneliness. Therefore, resigning his crown,
and bidding farewell to his subjects, he crossed over into Ireland, and
entered a monastery, without declaring who he was, and whence he came.
He was ordered to grind the corn for the brothers; and for seven years
he filled this situation. But one day as he sat in the granary, working
the rude stone quern with his hands, and thinking himself alone, he
laughed, and said, "Is this then, king Constantine of Cornwall, who
wore helm and bore shield, who drudges thus at a hand-mill? It is the
same, and it is not the same."
Now it happened that one of the brethren was in the granary and heard
this, therefore he stole off unperceived to the abbot, and told him who
his miller was. Then the abbot called the others, and all the brethren
hasted to the mill, and drew Constantine therefrom, and made him one
of themselves, instructed him in letters; and finally, by the grace of
God, he was ordained priest. And after that, he bade them all farewell,
and crossed over into Scotland, and was with S. Columba and S.
Kentigern, who sent him to preach the Word in Galloway. And afterwards
he was made abbot, but of what monastery is not specified, though there
can be little doubt it was Glasgow. Now, when he was very old, he
went a mission into Kintyre, where he was assailed by the heathen, who
knocked him down and cut off his right arm. Having called his brethren
about him, and blessed them, he gently bled to death. He is regarded as
the first martyr of Scotland.
S. SOPHRONIUS, PATR. OF JERUSALEM.
(A.D. 638.)
[Greek Menologium and Menæa on this day, also the Roman Martyrology.
Authorities:--His Life collected from various sources, by Bollandus,
and an epitome of his life in the Greek Menæa.]
Sophronius, surnamed the Sophist, was the son of pious parents
at Damascus. His learning and virtue caused his election to the
patriarchal throne of Jerusalem. On the invasion and capture of
Jerusalem, by Chosroes, king of Persia, Sophronius fled to his friend,
S. John the Almsgiver, (Jan. 23rd,) patriarch of Alexandria, who
supported him till he was able to return to his see. He held a synod at
Jerusalem, against the Monothelites, and drew up a synodal letter on
that occasion, which was sent to pope John IV.
S. VINDICIAN, B. OF ARRAS.
(ABOUT A.D. 712.)
[Arras Martyrology. Authority:--A Life by Balderic, bishop of Noyon.]
This saint was a disciple of S. Eligius. He was born at Bulcourt, in
Bapaume, about the year 620. He spent many years in seclusion on Mont
S. Eloi, where S. Eligius lived with ten others, in the practice of
great austerities. He was nominated by S. Aubert, bishop of Arras,
his vicargeneral. In 675, on the death of S. Aubert, he was elected
bishop of Cambrai and Arras. He completed, in 691, the abbey of S.
Waast, begun by his predecessor, dedicated the church of the monastery
of Elnone, and that of the abbey of Hasnon. S. Leger, bishop of Autun,
having been killed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace, and as the king,
Thierry III., was suspected of having connived at the deed, several
bishops deemed it expedient to remonstrate with the king, through some
one of authority and renown for his sanctity. Vindician was chosen
for this dangerous task, and he executed the commission with such
prudence and firmness, that he attracted the admiration of the court,
and succeeded in bringing the king to repentance. On his return to his
diocese, he built the monastery of Honcourt; and at last, wearied with
the cares of his diocese, he laid them aside, and retired, to be alone
with God, and prepare for his passage, into a hermitage on Mont S.
Eloi, and died at the age of ninety-two. His relics are preserved in
the cathedral of Arras.
S. EUTHYMIUS, M. B. OF SARDIS.
(ABOUT A.D. 827.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on Dec. 11th. Authorities:--The
Greek Menæa, and the Acts of the second council of Nicæa, also the
Chronography of Leo the Grammarian, Cedrenus, Zonaras, &c.]
S. Euthymius, bishop of Sardis, was one of the most zealous defenders
of images against the Iconoclastic emperors. He flourished under the
empress Irene, and her son, Constantine VI., as abbot, but was then
created bishop, and took a prominent part in the second council of
Nicæa. Under the emperor Nicephorus he was sent into exile, together
with other bishops, to Patalarea, for having admitted a virgin to the
religious life. For the next nine-and-twenty years he did not see
his diocese. When Leo the Armenian assumed the purple, he recalled
Euthymius, but before restoring him to his see, he demanded of him
whether he venerated images. The saint boldly replied, "O emperor, it
belongs not to thee to meddle with the affairs of the Church. To thee
is given the care of the State and the government of the army. Attend
to them, and suffer the Church to remain faithful." This answer so
angered Leo, that he ordered him to be banished to Assos. On the death
of Leo by assassination, his successor, Michael the Stammerer, recalled
Euthymius, and again demanded whether he reverenced sacred images.
And when Euthymius protested that he reverenced whatever represented
or recalled Christ, the tyrant banished him to Acrita, where he was
cast into a noisome dungeon, and afterwards, by the emperor's orders,
was brought out and stretched on the ground, with his hands and feet
attached to posts, at the utmost distention possible, and then was cut
and lashed with cow-hide scourges, till he died.
S. ANGUS OF KELD, B. AB.
(ABOUT A.D. 824.)
[Irish Martyrology. Authority:--Colgan.]
Angus, surnamed Kel-Dhu, a man of great love and fervour in the service
of God, was born in Ireland in the eighth century, of the race of the
Dalrhidians, kings of Ulster. In his youth, renouncing the pomp and
vanities of the world and all earthly pretensions, he chose Christ
for his inheritance, and entered religion in the famous monastery of
Cluain-Edneach, in East Meath, under the holy abbot Malathgen. There
he became such a proficient in virtue and learning that he was thought
to excel all others in Ireland. He is said to have sung a hundred and
fifty psalms every day, fifty of which he recited standing up to his
neck in water, in winter and summer; and three hundred times a day he
adored God on his bended knees. Finding that his sanctity attracted
attention, he privately withdrew from his monastery, and disguising
himself, took refuge in that of Tamlacht, three miles from Dublin,
where he was received as an outside novice by the abbot Moelruan, and
for seven years was given the meanest drudgery of the monastery. At
length his great merit was discovered, and his name having been found
out, the abbot apologised to him for having set him such degrading
tasks, and brought him into the brotherhood. S. Angus became afterwards
abbot of Desert-Aenguis and Cluain-Edneach, where he was raised to the
office of bishop, the abbots in the ancient Irish Church being very
generally bishops as well, but without territorial jurisdiction.
S. Angus is regarded as one of the most famous writers of Ireland. He
composed a metrical martyrology, and five books of lives of the saints
of Ireland, together with other treatises.
S. EULOGIUS, P. M.
(A.D. 859.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--An account of his life and martyrdom
by his friend Alvar.]
Eulogius belonged to one of the principal families of Cordova, then
in the hands of the Moors, who had constituted it their capital.
These Mohammedans, who had ruined the Gothic kingdom in Spain, had
not succeeded in trampling out Christianity. They did, indeed, suffer
Christians to exercise their religion, and for this indulgence they
obliged them to pay a heavy tax, but Christians were strictly
forbidden, on pain of death, to make converts. Eulogius had a fellow
scholar at Chute-Clar, a monastery on the north-west of Cordova, named
Alvar, to whom he was warmly attached, and who became afterwards his
biographer. On reaching his maturity, Eulogius taught letters in
Cordova, and was ordained priest. In the year 850, the Moors began to
persecute the Christians, and the metropolitan bishop of Andalusia,
Reccafred, instead of defending his flock against the wolves, basely
taking the part of the king, Abderahman, arrested all the clergy of
Cordova, together with their bishop, and threw them into prison. S.
Eulogius, from his dungeon, wrote an exhortation to two virgins, named
Flora and Mary, exhorting them to stand fast in the faith. "They
threaten to sell you as slaves, and dishonour you, my daughters, but
know that whatever infamy they may heap upon you, they cannot defile
the virginal purity of your souls." But these holy maidens were spared
this terrible humiliation, being executed with the sword.[41] S.
Eulogius and the other prisoners heard with joy of their triumph, and
celebrated a mass of thanksgiving to God in their dungeon.
[41] It is not known what the occasion of the persecution was, and why
the metropolitan sided against the bishop of Cordova and his clergy,
but there is every probability that it was because they had attempted
the conversion of some of the Moors; and Reccafred, as a moderate man,
preferred quiet and toleration to missionary efforts and persecution.
Six days after, S. Eulogius and the other priests were released; and he
at once composed a metrical account of the passion of the virgins Flora
and Mary.
Under Mohammed, the successor of Abderahman, the persecution became
still more cruel, and S. Eulogius was constantly employed in
encouraging timorous Christians, who, to escape death, or the irksome
disabilities and petty tyranny to which they were subjected, were
prepared to desert Christ.
The number of martyrs at this time was very great, and Eulogius
collected all the acts of their passion into a history, in three
books, entitled "The Memorial," which still exists. He then composed
an "Apology" against those who disputed their title, as martyrs,
because, firstly, they wrought no miracles like the ancient martyrs;
secondly, they had offered themselves to death; thirdly, they had
died by a stroke of the sword instead of through lingering torture;
fourthly, they had not been killed by idolators, but by Mohammedans,
who worshipped the One true God.
After the death of the archbishop of Toledo, the clergy and people of
that city cast their eyes on Eulogius, as his successor. But God was
about to crown him with martyrdom. There was in Cordova a girl named
Leocritia, who had been converted from Mohammedanism to Christianity.
For a Moslem to profess the religion of Christ was death. To save
her, Eulogius hid her in the house of his sister, Annulona, and when
the officers of justice were in pursuit of her, he conveyed her from
one Christian house to another. But this could not last long. The
place of her concealment was discovered, and Leocritia was taken, and
Eulogius, for having secreted her, was also confined. He was ordered
to execution, and was decapitated on Saturday, March 11th, 859, and
Leocritia suffered the following Wednesday, and was buried in the
church of S. Genes, at Cordova. Because March 11th usually falls in
Lent, the Church of Cordova transfers the feast of S. Eulogius to June
1st, the day of the first translation of his body, and observes it with
an Octave. The body was afterwards carried to Oviedo, together with
that of S. Leocritia, on Jan. 19th, 883, and a third translation took
place to Camarasanta, in 1300. For Flora and Mary, see November 24.
S. PETER THE SPANIARD, H.
(DATE UNCERTAIN.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--A Life from MS. of Babuco, published
by Bollandus.]
S. Peter was the son of noble parents in Spain, and was brought up in
the profession of arms. In the army he distinguished himself as much by
his zeal for souls and purity of life, as by his courage. His parents
having insisted on his marriage, he yielded with great repugnance, for
his heart was drawn elsewhere, and he desired to live a virgin life to
his dear master Jesus. The marriage ceremony took place, and when the
banquet was over, he retired to the bridal chamber, where he saw the
fair young girl who had given him her hand lying asleep on the bed.
She looked so pure and innocent in her slumber, that he gazed on her
with reverence, and kneeling at her feet, prayed long and earnestly;
and then stealing away, left the house, and fled the country. Taking
his passage on a boat for Italy, he reached the eternal city, and going
forth into the Campagna, found a place suitable for a cell, and there
buried himself from the world.
[Illustration: Holy Spirit]
March 12.
SS. PETER, GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, MAXIMA, AND OTHERS, _MM. at
Nicomedia_, A.D. 302.
S. PAUL OF LEON, _B.C. in Brittany_, A.D. 573.
S. GREGORY THE GREAT, _Pope, D._, A.D. 604.
S. PETER, _Deacon of S. Gregory, at Rome_, A.D. 605.
S. MURAN, _Ab. of Fathinis, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 650.
S. THEOPHANES, _Ab. C., at Constantinople_, A.D. 820.
S. ALPHEGE THE BALD, _B. of Winchester_, A.D. 951. _See September 1._
S. BERNARD, _B.C. at Capua_, A.D. 1109.
S. FINA, _V. in Tuscany_, A.D. 1253.
SS. PETER, GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, MAXIMA, AND OTHERS, MM.
(A.D. 302.)
[Usuardus, those of SS. Jerome, Bede, &c., the Irish Martyrology of
Tamlach, and the Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Eusebius, lib. viii.
c. 6, and the notices in the Martyrologies.]
The Emperor Diocletian having discovered that Peter, one of his
officers of the bed-chamber, was a Christian, ordered him to be
tortured. Then Gorgonius and Dorotheus, two other officers, filled with
indignation, exclaimed, "Why, Sire, dost thou thus torment Peter for
what we all profess in our hearts?" The emperor at once ordered them to
execution, together with Migdo, a priest, and many other Christians of
Nicomedia. Eusebius says that Peter was scourged till his bones were
laid bare, and that then vinegar and salt was poured over the wounds;
and as he bore this without showing anguish, Diocletian ordered him
to be broiled on a gridiron slowly, and his flesh, as it roasted, to
be taken off slowly, so as to protract his torments. Gorgonius and
Dorotheus, after having been tortured, were hung.
S. PAUL OF LEON, B. C.
(A.D. 573.)
[Venerated in Brittany, in the Churches of Léon, Nantes, &c., and
introduced into later Martyrologies. Authority:--A life written by
Worwonock, monk of Landevenec, in the 9th cent., but rewritten, or
added to, in the following century by an anonymous monk of the abbey
of Feury.]
Paul, son of a Welsh prince, was a disciple of S. Iltut, along with
S. Samson and Gildas. At the age of sixteen he left his master, and
retired across the sea into a solitary place among his Brittany moors,
where he erected an oratory and a cell. In course of time, other young
men, seeking like himself a better country than earth, congregated
about him, and he became their superior. He received priest's orders
along with twelve of his companions. Near his congregation lived a
prince named Mark, who invited him to come into his territory, and
instruct his people in the Word of God. He accordingly went with his
twelve priests to Vannes, and was well received by the king. After
he had spent some time in that country, he felt a desire to go into
solitude once more. Therefore he went before the king and asked him to
let him depart, and to give him a bell; "For at that time," says the
chronicler, "it was customary for kings to have seven bells rung before
they sat down to meat." Mark, however, refused to give him the bell,
being vexed that Paul should leave him. So the holy man went his way
without it. And before he took boat to depart, he visited his sister,
who lived in solitude with some other holy women on a little island in
the Morbihan. And when all was ready for his departure, and the boat
was on the shore, he said, "Sister, I must depart." Then she wept, and
entreated him to tarry four days. And as he saw her tears, he consented
to remain three days. Then, when he was about to depart, she said, "I
know, my brother, that thou art powerful with God. Therefore I pray
thee grant me my request." And he said, "Say on." Then she said, "This
island is small and incommodious for landing, being violently beaten by
the angry surge. Pray to the Lord that he extend it a little, with a
gentle shore, into the sea."
"Ah, my sister!" exclaimed the holy man, "thou hast asked what is
beyond my strength. But let us together beseech the Lord to be
gracious, and grant thee thy desire." So they both kneeled down and
prayed. Then the sea began to retreat, and leave smooth yellow sands,
where all had been blue water before. So the nuns hasted and ran and
told the brother and sister, and they rose, and went down to the sea,
and stepped on the newly recovered land. And now follows a part of the
legend which has evidently sprung up among the peasants of the Morbihan
to explain the existence of the Druidical circles and avenues in the
islet. The story goes on to tell that the sister gathered pebbles and
laid them round the land laid bare, and strewed them down the road she
and her brother had taken. And lo! these pebbles grew into tall pillars
of rude rock, and the avenue is to this day called the road of S. Paul.
Then Paul stepped into his boat, followed by his disciples, and they
rowed to the island of Ouessant, and the port where they disembarked
was called Portus-boum, and at the present day is Paimbœuf. Then
Paul tarried there many years till God called him to work again. And
he took boat and went ashore and travelled through Brittany, till he
came to Count Withur, a good man and lord of the country under king
Childebert. And Paul settled in the island of Batz, which was off the
coast, near the small town encompassed with mud walls, which has since
gone by his name. And there he found wild bees in a hollow tree, and
they were swarming, so he gathered the swarm and set them in a hive,
and taught the people how to get honey. He also found a wild sow with
its litter, and patted her gently, and she became tame. Her descendants
remained at Léon for many generations, and were regarded as royal
beasts. Probably this legend points to S. Paul having taught the people
to keep pigs.
One day Paul was with the count Withur, when a fisherman brought the
count a bell he had picked up on the shore; Withur gave it to S. Paul,
who smiled and said that though king Mark had refused him a bell, yet
now God had sent him one, after many years of waiting and wishing for
it.
"That bell," says the historian, "has received from the people a
special name, on account of its colour and shape, for it is green and
oblong." S. Paul erected a church at Léon, and was appointed its first
bishop. Withur could only obtain his consecration by having recourse
to an artifice, for he knew that Paul could not be persuaded to accept
the dignity. He gave him a letter to king Childebert, and entreated
him to take it in person to the king, as it contained matter of urgent
importance. Paul, full of simplicity, and eager to oblige his friend,
hasted to court. And when the king broke the seal and opened the
letter, he read that Withur had sent Paul to be ordained bishop, and
invested with the see of Léon. Then Childebert caught a staff from a
prelate who stood by him, and said, "Receive the pastoral dignity, to
discharge thy office for the good of many souls," and he called three
bishops to him to ordain Paul. Then the holy man wept, and implored the
king to desist, but Childebert turned a deaf ear to his entreaties,
and had him consecrated, and then sent him back to Léon, where he was
received with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. He built a monastery
on the isle of Batz, and filled it with monks, and thither he retired
whenever he could escape from the business of his see. He lived to a
very advanced age, and laying aside his episcopal government, ordained
three of his disciples in succession to it, and survived two of them.
His body reposed in his cathedral church, but his relics were dispersed
by the Huguenots in the religious wars of the 16th century.
In art he is represented either (1) with a bell, or (2) with a cruse of
water and a loaf of bread, as he lived on nothing else, or (3) driving
a dragon into the sea, to signify that he expelled the Druidical
superstition out of Brittany.
S. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE, D.
(A.D. 604.)
[Roman and all other Western Martyrologies; by the Greeks on March
11th. Authorities:--A life by Paulus Diaconus, another by Joannes
Diaconus, 9th cent., the writings of S. Gregory, &c. The following is
in part condensed from the elegant life of S. Gregory by the Count de
Montalembert, in his Monks of the West.]
S. Gregory the Great will be an everlasting honour to the Benedictine
Order and to the Papacy. By his genius, but especially by the charm
and ascendancy of his virtue, he was destined to organise the
temporal power of the popes, to develop and regulate their spiritual
sovereignty, to found their paternal supremacy over the new-born crowns
and races which were to become the great nations of the future, and to
be called France, Spain, and England. It was he indeed, who inaugurated
the middle ages, modern society, and Christian civilisation.
[Illustration: S. GREGORY THE GREAT. After Cahier.
March 12.]
Issued from one of the most illustrious races of ancient Rome, the son
of a rich senator, and descendant of Pope Felix III., of the Anician
family, Gregory was early called to fill a dignified place, which, in
the midst of the Rome of that day, the vassal of Byzantium, and subject
to the ceaseless insults of the Barbarians, retained some shadow
of ancient Roman grandeur. He was prætor of Rome during the first
invasion of the Lombards. In the exercise of this office he gained the
hearts of the Romans, while habituating himself to the management of
public business, and while acquiring a taste for luxury and display
of earthly grandeur, in which he still believed he might serve God
without reproach. But God required him elsewhere. Gregory hesitated
long, inspired by the divine breath to seek religion, but was retained,
led back and fascinated to the world, by the attractions and habits of
secular life. At last he yielded to the influence of his intimate and
close relations with the disciples of S. Benedict in Monte Cassino,
and obeying the grace that enlightened him, he abruptly broke every
tie, devoted his wealth to the endowment of six new monasteries in
Sicily, and established in his own palace in Rome, upon the Cœlian
hill, a seventh, dedicated to S. Andrew, into which he introduced the
Benedictine rule, and where he himself became a monk. He sold all
that remained of his patrimony, to distribute it to the poor; and
Rome, which had seen the young and wealthy patrician traverse its
streets in robes of silk covered with jewels, saw him now, in 575,
with admiration, clothed like a beggar, serving, in his own person the
beggars lodged in the hospital which he had built at the gate of his
paternal house, now changed into a monastery.
Once a monk, he would be nothing less than a model of monks, and
practised with the utmost rigour all the austerities sanctioned by
the rule, applying himself specially at the same time to the study
of the Holy Scriptures. He ate only pulse, which his mother, who had
become a nun since her widowhood, sent him, already soaked, in a
silver porringer. This porringer was the only remnant of his ancient
splendour, and did not long remain in his hands, for one day a
shipwrecked sailor came several times to beg from him while he was
writing in his cell, and finding no money in his purse, the Saint gave
him that relic of his former wealth.
Continually engaged in prayer, reading, writing, or dictation, he
persisted in pushing the severity of his fasts to such an extent,
that his health succumbed. He fell so often into fainting fits, that
more than once he would have sunk under them had not his brethren
supported him with more substantial food. In consequence of having
attempted to do more than others, he was soon obliged to relinquish
the most ordinary fasts, which everybody observed. He was in despair
at not being able to fast even on Easter eve, a day on which even the
little children abstain, says his biographer. He remained weak and
sickly all his life, and when he left his monastery, it was with health
irreparably ruined.
Pope Benedict I. drew him first from the cloister in 577, to raise
him to the dignity of one of the seven cardinal deacons, who presided
over the seven principal divisions of Rome. Pelagius II., successor
to Benedict I., chose S. Gregory to head an embassy to Constantinople
to congratulate the Emperor Tiberius on his accession in A.D. 578.
During his stay at the imperial court, S. Gregory refused to have
any intercourse with the patriarch Eutychius, who had published an
heretical treatise on the nature of the resurrection body. On his
death-bed, however, Eutychius acknowledged his former errors. After six
years of this honourable and laborious exile, he returned to Rome, and
regained the shelter of his monastery of S. Andrea, the monks of which
elected him abbot soon after his return. He enjoyed there for some time
longer the delights of the life he had chosen. Tenderly cherished by
his brethren, he took a paternal share in their trials and spiritual
crosses, provided for their temporary and spiritual necessities, and
specially rejoiced in the holy deaths of several among them. He has
related the details of these in his "Dialogues," and seems to breathe
in them the perfume of heaven.
The tender solicitude he bore to souls was on the point of separating
him from his dear monastery and from Rome. Seeing one day exhibited
in the market some poor pagan children, of extraordinary beauty and
fairness, who were said to be of the country of the Angles, "Not
Angles," said he, "but Angels." Then hastening to the pope, he begged
him to send missionaries into that great island of Britain, where
the pagans sold such slaves; failing others, he offered himself for
this work, surprised the pontiff into consent, and prepared instantly
for his departure. But when the Romans understood his intention, the
love with which they had formerly regarded him was re-awakened. They
surrounded the pope as he went to S. Peter's, and intreated him to
recall Gregory. The astonished pope yielded to the popular voice. He
sent messengers after Gregory, who overtook him at three days' journey
from Rome; and led him back forcibly to his monastery. It was not as a
missionary, but as a pope, that he was to win England to the Church.
In 590, Pelagius II. died of the plague, which then depopulated Rome.
Gregory was immediately elected pope by the unanimous voice of the
senate, the people, and the clergy. It was in vain that he refused, and
appealed to the emperor Maurice not to confirm his election. The Romans
intercepted his letter; the imperial confirmation arrived. Then he
disguised himself, and fleeing from Rome to seek some unknown retreat,
wandered three days in the woods. He was followed, discovered, and a
second time led back to Rome, but this time to reign there. He bowed
his head, weeping, under the yoke imposed upon him by the Divine will
and the unanimity of his fellow-citizens.
It was during the interval between his election and the imperial
confirmation that, filled with a paternal anxiety for the safety of the
people, he organized a great procession, with solemn litanies, to seek
to avert the wrath of Almighty God. It proceeded from seven stations in
the city, in as many divisions, to the Church of S. Maria-Maggiore. The
first company consisted of the secular clergy, the second of the abbots
and their monks, the third of the abbesses and their nuns, the fourth
of children, the fifth of laymen, the sixth of widows, and the seventh
of matrons: each band was led by the priests of the quarter of the
city from which it came. While the procession lasted, eighty persons
in it died of the plague; yet S. Gregory persevered, and the prayers
of the city were heard. This was the origin of the "Greater Litanies,"
which were afterwards held on S. Mark's Day, and which acquired the
popular name of "_The Black Crosses_," from the penitential hue of the
vestments and banners used therein. While the procession defiled before
Gregory, he saw an angel appear upon the summit of the Mole of Hadrian,
putting back his sword into its sheath, the image of which, standing
upon the colossal mausoleum, has given its name to the castle of S.
Angelo, and perpetuated to our day the recollection of S. Gregory's
vision.
The supreme pontificate, perhaps, never fell upon a soul more disturbed
and afflicted than that of this monk, who saw himself thus condemned to
exchange the peace of the cloister for the cares of the government of
the Church, and the special defence of the interests of Italy. Not only
then, but during all his life, he did not cease to lament his fate. "I
have lost," he wrote to the sister of the emperor, "the profound joys
of repose. I seem to have been elevated in external things, but in
spiritual I have fallen." To the patrician Narses: "I am so overcome
with melancholy, that I can scarcely speak. I cannot cease considering
the height of tranquillity from which I have fallen, and the height of
embarrassment I have ascended." To his friend Leander: "I am so beaten
by the waves of this world, that I despair of being able to guide to
port this rotten old vessel with which God has charged me. I weep when
I recall the peaceful shore which I have left, and sigh in perceiving
afar what I now cannot attain."
The poor monk who showed so much despair when he was thrown into the
political whirlpool by the unanimous voice of the Romans, could yet
perceive with a bold and clear glance the dangers of the situation, and
adopt a line of conduct most suitable to the emergency of the times.
First of all he concerned himself with the Lombards. After nine years'
exertion, in overcoming Byzantine repugnance to acknowledge any right
whatever on the side of the Lombards, he concluded a peace between
the two powers, which made Italy, exhausted by thirty years of war
and brigandage, thrill with joy. It was of short duration; but when
hostilities recommenced, he entered into direct negociations with king
Agilulf, and obtained from that prince a special truce for Rome and its
surrounding territory. He had besides found a powerful advocate with
the Lombard king in the person of the illustrious queen Theodelinda.
This princess, a Bavarian and Catholic by birth, had gained the hearts
of the Lombards. The queen was always the faithful friend of the pope;
she served as a medium of communication between him and her husband.
Gregory, from the very beginning of his pontificate, had exhorted the
Italian bishops to make special exertions for the conversion of these
formidable heretics.
His constancy and courage were called forth in contest with the Greeks,
with that Eastern Empire which was represented by functionaries whose
odious exactions had quite as great a share in the despair of the
people as the ravages of the Barbarians, and whose malice was more
dreadful than the swords of the Lombards. His entire life was a
struggle with the patriarch of Constantinople, who aimed at supplanting
the Roman pontiff, as well as with the emperor, who would have
dominated Italy without defending her, and ruled the Church as if she
were a department of the State. Among so many conflicts, we shall dwell
only on that one which arose between him and John the Faster, patriarch
of Constantinople. Relying on the support of most of the Eastern
bishops, this patriarch took to himself the title of Universal Bishop.
Gregory stood up with vigour against this pretension. He did not draw
back before the emperor, who openly sided with the patriarch of his
capital, nor before the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria, who sided
with the Byzantine patriarch. "What!" wrote Gregory to the emperor, "S.
Peter, who received the keys of heaven and earth, the power of binding
and loosing, the charge and primacy of the whole Church, was never
called the Universal Apostle; and yet my pious brother John would name
himself Universal Bishop!" For himself he says, "I desire to increase
in virtue and not in words. I do not consider myself honoured in that
which dishonours my brethren. It is the honour of the universal Church
that is my honour. Away with these words which inflate vanity and wound
charity. The holy council of Chalcedon and other fathers have offered
this title to my predecessors, but none of them have ever used it, that
they might guard their own honour in the sight of God, by seeking here
below the honour of all the priesthood." This weighty difference, the
prohibition addressed by the emperor to soldiers against their becoming
monks, and the contest which arose between the pope and the emperor
touching the irregular election to the metropolitan see of Salona,
contributed to render almost permanent the misunderstanding between
them. These perpetual contests with the Byzantine court may explain,
without excusing, the conduct of Gregory at the death of the Emperor
Maurice. This prince, infected, like all his predecessors, with a mania
for interfering in ecclesiastical affairs, was very superior to most of
them. Gregory himself has more than once done justice to his faith and
piety, to his zeal for the Church, and respect for her canons. After
twenty years of an undistinguished reign, a military revolt broke out,
which placed Phocas upon the throne. This wretch not only murdered
the emperor Maurice, gouty, and incapable of defending himself, but
also his six sons, whom he caused to be put to death under the eyes
of their father, without even sparing the youngest, who was still at
the breast, and whom his nurse would have saved by putting her own
child in his place; but Maurice, who was too noble to allow of such a
sacrifice, disclosed the pious deception to the murderers. He died like
a Christian hero, repeating the words of the psalm, "Thou, O Lord, art
just, and all Thy judgments are right." This massacre did not satisfy
Phocas, who sacrificed the empress and her three daughters, the brother
of Maurice, and a multitude of others in his train. The monster then
sent his own image and that of his wife to Rome, where the senate and
people received them with rejoicings. Gregory unfortunately joined in
these mean acclamations. He carried these images of his new masters,
bathed in innocent blood, into the oratory of the Lateran palace.
Afterwards, he addressed extraordinary congratulations to Phocas, not
in the surprise of the first moment, but seven months after the crime.
This is the only stain upon the life of Gregory. We do not attempt
either to conceal or to excuse it. It can scarcely be explained by
recalling all the vexations he had suffered from Maurice, annoyances
of which he always complained energetically, though he did not fail
to do justice to the undeniable piety of the old emperor. Perhaps
Gregory adopted this means to secure the help of Phocas against the
new incursions of the Lombards, or to mollify beforehand the already
threatening intentions of the tyrant. It must also be remembered that
these flatteries were in some sort the official language of these
times; they resulted from the general debasement of public manners,
and from the tone of the language invariably used then at each change
of reign. His motives were undoubtedly pure. Notwithstanding, a stain
remains upon his memory, and a shadow upon the history of the Church,
which is so consoling and full of light in this age of storm and
darkness. But among the greatest and holiest of mortals, virtue, like
human wisdom, always falls short in some respect.
Long crushed between the Lombards and Byzantines, between the
unsoftened ferocity of the barbarians and the vexatious decrepitude of
despotism, Gregory, with that instinctive perception of future events
which God sometimes grants to pure souls, sought elsewhere a support
for the Roman Church. His eyes were directed to the new races, who
were scarcely less ferocious than the Lombards, but who did not, like
them, weigh upon Italy and Rome, and who already exhibited elements
of strength and continuance. It is impossible to do more here than
touch on these noble enterprises. He entered into correspondence with
Childebert, the Gallo-Frank king, and with the French bishops, to
obtain the rectification of abuses and the purification of the Gallican
church from simony, and the nomination of laymen to the episcopal
office, two vices which consumed the vitals of Christianity in France.
Spain had become Arian under the Visigoths, but the Catholic faith had
triumphed with the accession of Recared, in 587. S. Leander, bishop of
Seville, was the principal author of the conversion of the Visigoths.
Gregory wrote to him and to other bishops of Spain. They consulted him,
and he gave them his advice. He wrote, and gave councils full of wisdom
to the king Recared, himself. He brought back to the unity of the
Church the schismatical bishops of Istria, and wholly suppressed the
Donatist schism in Africa. But one of the most striking points in the
life of S. Gregory is his zeal for the conversion of England.
Amid the labours of his exalted position, S. Gregory never remitted
his anxiety for the evangelization of that distant isle. In July, A.D.
596, he dispatched S. Augustine (May 26th), with forty companions, on
that mission to which we owe so much, that, with every feeling of love
and veneration for the remnant of Celtic Christianity which had then
escaped the sword of Pagan Saxondom, we may yet say, with the Venerable
Bede, "If Gregory be not to others an apostle, he is one to us, for the
seal of his apostleship are we in the Lord."
The services which he rendered to the Liturgy are well known.
Completing and putting in order the work of his predecessors, he gave
its definite form to the holy sacrifice of the Mass, in that celebrated
Sacramentary which remains the most august monument of Liturgical
science. It may be said also that he created, and, by anticipation,
saved, Christian art, by fixing, long before the persecution of the
Iconoclasts, the true doctrine respecting the veneration of images,
in that fine letter to the bishop of Marseilles, in which he reproves
him for having, in the excess of his zeal against idolatry, broken
the statues of the saints, and reminds him that through all antiquity
the history of the saints has been pictorically represented, and that
painting is to the ignorant what letters are to those who can read.
But his name is specially associated, in the history of Catholic
worship, with that branch of religious art which is identified with
worship itself, and which is of the utmost moment to the piety as to
the innocent joy of the Christian people. The name of _Gregorian Chant_
reminds us of his solicitude for collecting the ancient melodies of the
Church, in order to subject them to rules of harmony, and to arrange
them according to the requirements of divine worship. He had the glory
of giving to Ecclesiastical music that sweet and solemn character which
has descended through ages, and to which we must always return after
the most prolonged aberrations of frivolity and innovation. He made out
himself, in his Antiphonary, the collection of ancient and new chants;
he composed the text and melodies of several hymns, which are still
used in the Church; he established at Rome the celebrated school of
sacred music, to which Gaul, Germany, and England came in turns, trying
with more or less success to assimilate their voices to the purity of
Italian modulations. And when Gregory was too ill to leave his little
chamber and his couch, he gathered about him the boys of the choir, and
continued their instructions.
The gout made the last years of his life a kind of martyrdom. The cry
of pain rings in many of his letters. "For nearly two years," he wrote
to the patriarch of Alexandria, "I have been imprisoned to my bed by
such pangs of gout, that I can scarcely rise for two or three hours on
great holidays to celebrate solemn mass. And the intensity of the pain
compels me immediately to lie down again, that I may be able to endure
my torture, by giving free course to my groans. My illness will neither
leave me nor kill me. I entreat your holiness to pray for me, that I
may be soon delivered, and receive that freedom which you know, and
which is the glory of the children of God."
Up to his last moments he continued with unwearied activity to dictate
his correspondence, and to concern himself with the interests of the
Church. He died on the 12th March, 604, aged nearly fifty-five, in the
thirteenth year of his pontificate. He was buried in S. Peter's; and
in the epitaph engraved on his tomb, it is said that, "after having
conformed all his actions to his doctrine, the consul of God went to
enjoy eternal triumph."
S. Hildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo, in the seventh century, writes
thus of him--"He surpassed Antony in holiness, Cyprian in eloquence,
and Augustine in wisdom." Yet so great was his humility, that he
subscribed himself, "Servant of the servants of God"--a style which his
successors in the chair of S. Peter have retained till this day. He was
buried in the basilica of S. Peter. His pallium, reliquary, and girdle
were preserved as precious memorials.
He had, like so many other great hearts, to struggle with ingratitude,
not only during his life, but after his death. Rome was afflicted
with a great famine under his successor, Sabinian, who put an end
to the charities which Gregory had granted to the poor, on the plea
that there was nothing remaining in the treasury of the Church. The
enemies of the deceased pope then excited the people against him,
calling him prodigal and a waster of the Roman patrimony; and that
ungrateful people, whom he had loved and helped so much, began to burn
his writings, as if to annihilate or dishonour his memory. But one of
the monks, who had followed him from the monastery to the palace, his
friend the deacon Peter, interposed. He represented to the incendiaries
that these writings were already spread through the entire world, and
that it was, besides, sacrilege to burn the work of a holy doctor, upon
whom he swore he had himself seen the heavenly dove fluttering. And as
if to confirm his oath, after having ended his address, he breathed
forth his last sigh, a valiant witness of truth and friendship, and is
commemorated by the Church on the same day with S. Gregory.
In the year 826, the body of this holy pontiff was brought into France,
and placed in the celebrated monastery of S. Medard, in Soissons. The
head was given to archbishop Agesil, and deposited in the abbey of S.
Pierre-le-Vif, at Sens, and a bone was given to Rome at the request of
pope Urban VIII., in 1628.
In art, S. Gregory is represented as a pope, with a dove hovering over
him, or at his ear, and with music in his hand: a frequent subject with
Mediæval sculptors and painters was his Mass. According to the legend,
as he was about to communicate a woman, and said, "The Body of our Lord
Jesus Christ preserve thy body and soul unto Eternal Life," he saw her
smile, wherefore he refused to give her the host, and questioning her,
found that she doubted how what her senses told her was bread could
be the flesh of Christ. Then S. Gregory prayed that her eyes might be
opened, and instantly the Host was visibly changed into Christ enduring
His passion.
S. MURAN, AB.
(7TH CENT.)
[Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--Colgan.]
S. Muran was the son of Feradach, of the noble race of the O'Neills,
and was abbot of Fathinis, in the peninsula of Inis-coguin, five miles
from Derry, in the north of Ulster. He was famous for his sanctity; and
was greatly honoured of old in that part of Ireland, where the church
of Fathinis was dedicated in his name; but the particulars of his life
have not been handed down.
[Illustration: MASS OF S. GREGORY.
March 12.]
S. FINA, V.
(A.D. 1253.)
[Venerated in Tuscany, especially at S. Geminiani. Authority:--A Life
written by the famous preacher, John de S. Geminiani (1310).]
S. Fina was the daughter of very poor parents at S. Geminiani, in
Tuscany. Her name was probably Seraphina, but it is only known by
its diminutive of endearment, Fina. The young girl was singularly
beautiful, and at the same time exceedingly bashful, ever walking
abroad with her soft dark eyes modestly lowered. Whilst yet young she
was suddenly paralysed through her whole body, with the exception of
her head. For six years she lay on one side upon a hard board, and
would not suffer her mother or the neighbours to make her a soft bed,
desiring rather to be like our Blessed Lord, stretched on His Cross.
The father seems to have been dead, and the poor mother begged for
subsistence for herself and daughter. The girl's skin broke, and formed
terrible sores, but she bore all her sufferings with sweetness. When
left alone, the mice and rats, which infested the miserable hut, would
often come and attack her, and horribly mangle her sores, and the
poor child being paralysed in all her members was unable to protect
herself from them. Yet not a murmur escaped her lips, nor did a cloud
darken the serenity of her temper. She was always gentle, loving, and
considerate of others.
A new misfortune now befel her. Her mother died suddenly whilst
crossing the threshold, on her return from begging, and Fina was left
wholly unprovided for. She was thus left perfectly helpless, to the
mercy of poor neighbours. But their desultory attention was not like
that of a mother, and it soon became evident that she would die through
partial neglect. In the midst of her sufferings she had been comforted
by being told of S. Gregory the Great and his cruel pains, and the
young girl had formed a strong attachment and devotion to him. One
night, as she lay alone, uncared for in her hut, the great pontiff
and doctor of the Church shone out of the darkness by the side of the
pauper cripple, and bade her be of good cheer. "Dear child, on my
festival Christ will give thee rest." And it was so. On the feast of S.
Gregory she died. When the neighbours lifted the poor little body from
the board on which it had lain, lo! that board was covered with white
violets exhaling a delicious perfume, and to this day, at S. Geminiani,
the peasants call these flowers which bloom about the day of her death,
S. Fina's flowers.
[Illustration: PUSILLANIMITY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey of S.
Denis.]
March 13.
S. EUPHRASIA, _V. in Egypt, after_ A.D. 410.
S. MOCHOEMOG, _Ab. of Liathmor, in Ireland, middle of 7th cent._
S. GERALD, _Ab. and B. of Mayo, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 700.
S. NICEPHORUS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, A.D. 828.
S. ANSEWIN, _B. of Camerino, in Italy, circ._ A.D. 840.
SS. RUDERICK, _P.M._, AND SALOMON, _M. at Cordova_, A.D. 857.
S. ELDRAD, _Ab. of Novalese, in Italy_, A.D. 875.
S. KENNOCHA, _V. in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 1007.
B. ERIC OR HENRICK, _C. at Perugia_, A.D. 1415.
S. EUPHRASIA, V.
(AFTER A.D. 410.)
[Roman Martyrology, on the authority of Usuardus. By the Greeks on
July 25th. Authority:--An ancient Greek life, published by Bollandus,
quoted by S. John Damascene (730). There are other, more modern,
versions of the ancient life.]
In the reign of Theodosius the First, Antigonus, governor of Lycia,
and his wife, Euphrasia, were blessed by God with a little daughter,
who was named after her mother. Antigonus and his wife feared God,
and served Him with all their hearts, and with one consent resolved
to bring up their little child as a bride of Christ. Shortly after
Antigonus had formed this resolution he was called out of the world.
When the child was five years old, the emperor, who had taken the
little girl under his protection, proposed to the mother that she
should be given in marriage to the son of a wealthy senator, in
accordance with the custom of the times, to betroth maidens of high
rank from infancy. The mother consented, and received the betrothal
presents from the parents of the boy, and the marriage was arranged
to take place as soon as the maiden was of a sufficient age. But in
the meantime, some changes in the imperial household having thrown
Euphrasia, the mother, out of favour, she retired into Egypt with her
daughter, under pretext of visiting her relatives, and whilst there she
travelled into Upper Egypt, and saw with admiration and respect the
holy lives of the solitaries who inhabited the deserts of the Thebaid.
In the Thebaid was a convent of a hundred holy women, and the widow
found great delight and exceeding profit in visiting it frequently,[42]
taking with her each time her little child, who was then aged seven.
The mother superior was warmly attached to the beautiful girl, and one
day drawing the child towards her, before her mother, asked Euphrasia
if she loved her. "That do I," answered the child, looking up into
her face. "Well, will you come and live with us, then?" enquired the
superior, playfully. "I would," replied Euphrasia, "if I did not think
it would trouble my mother." "And now, my pet," said the superior,
"which do you love best, your little husband or us sisters." "I have
never seen my little husband, nor has my little husband ever seen me,
so we cannot love each other much," answered the child; "but I do love
you sisters very much, because I know you. Which do you love best, my
little husband or me?" "Oh," said the nun, "I love you much the best;
but I love Jesus Christ above all." "So do I," said the child, "I love
you very much, but I love Jesus Christ best."
[42] She gave the sisters, we are told, candles and incense for their
altar, and oil for their oratory lamp, but gold they would not receive.
The mother, Euphrasia, looked on smiling, and with tears in her eyes,
as this simple conversation, which has been blown down to us through
more than fifteen centuries, passed between the old nun and the
child. Then she took her child's hand to lead her away. But the young
Euphrasia implored her mother to let her remain, and she, supposing
this was a mere infantine caprice, consented, thinking that she would
soon weary of the cloister life. But it was not so. The child clung to
the sisters, in spite of every hardship and trial inflicted on her to
persuade her to go. She was told she must fast, and learn the Psalter
by heart, if she remained, and sleep on the hard ground. She was ready
for all, rather than depart. Then the superior said to the mother,
"Leave the little girl with us, for the grace of God is working in her
heart. Your piety and that of Antigonus have opened to her the most
perfect way." Then Euphrasia, the mother, took her child in her arms,
and going before an image of our Blessed Lord, she held up the little
girl, and said, weeping, "My Lord Jesus Christ, receive this child
into Thy protection, since she desires Thee only, and devotes herself
to Thy service alone." And she blessed her daughter, saying, "May the
Lord, who made the mountains so strong that they cannot be moved,
confirm thee in His holy fear." But when the parting came, she burst
into a flood of tears, and the whole community wept with her. A few
days after, the superior brought the young Euphrasia into the chapel,
and vested her in the religious habit, and kneeling down by the tiny
novice, she prayed, "O King of ages, finish in this child the work of
sanctification that Thou hast begun. Give her grace to follow in all
things Thy holy will, and to place in Thee her hope and confidence."
When her mother saw her in her austere habit, she asked her if she were
content. "Oh, mother!" cried the child, "It is my marriage garment,
given me on my espousals to Jesus." "May He, sweet child, make thee
worthy of His love," said the mother.
Years passed away, and the little flower grew up and bloomed in the
cool shade of the cloister, and her mother had rejoined Antigonus in
bliss, when the emperor wrote to Euphrasia to order her instantly
to return to Constantinople and marry the young man to whom he had
betrothed her. She was of imperial blood, and Theodosius considered
that, on the death of her mother, the charge of Euphrasia, who was now
an heiress and very wealthy, devolved on him. She replied, imploring
him to allow her to follow her vocation, and requested him to dispose
of all her property for the benefit of the poor. Euphrasia was then
aged twelve. Theodosius, satisfied that she was in earnest, obeyed her
request, and troubled her no more about the marriage. But now arrived
a critical time of life, when youthful spirits and passions were in
effervesence, and she was cruelly tormented with vain imaginations
and temptations to go forth into that wondrous world of which she
knew so little, but which, clothed in the rainbow tints of infantine
remembrance, allured her fancy. To divert her attention, and at the
same time to prove her obedience, the superior one day pointed to a
great heap of stones, and bade her carry them to the top of a little
sand hill, some distance off. Euphrasia obeyed cheerfully, toiling
at removing the stones under the hot sun, one by one, to the place
indicated. Then she came joyously to the superior, and signified to
her that the task was accomplished. "Bring them all back again," said
the mother superior. And the young nun hasted to obey. Next day she
presented herself before the superior once more. "I have changed my
mind," said the mother; "take the stones back again to the top of the
mound." And thirty times did she make Euphrasia carry them back; and
each time was she obeyed with cheerfulness.
She was then sent into the kitchen, and made to chop up the wood for
the fire, bake the bread, and cook the food. The sister who undertook
this arduous task was usually exempt from attending the midnight
offices, but Euphrasia never missed being present in choir with the
others, and when she was twenty, she was taller and plumper than
any of the other sisters, her face had lost none of its beauty and
freshness, but beamed with amiability. She had her trials, being for
some time vexed with the contradiction of one of the sisters, who took
a spite against her, being filled with jealousy of her virtues, and she
once seriously injured her foot with the axe when chopping up wood. But
God favoured her, and gave her the power of working miracles, and she
cast evil spirits out of many that were possessed, and healed many that
were sick. And when she was about to die, Julia, a favourite sister,
who inhabited the same cell, implored Euphrasia to obtain for her the
grace to be her companion in heaven, as she had been her associate on
earth. Then, when Euphrasia was dead, sister Julia cast herself on her
tomb, and wept and prayed, and the third day she was called away to be
with her friend in the heavenly kingdom. Now, when the aged superior
saw this, she longed greatly to enter also into her rest; it was she
who had admitted Euphrasia, and it grieved her sore to be left in the
desert when her spiritual daughter had entered the Promised Land. So
she prayed also, and when the nuns looked into her cell in the morning,
she had joined Euphrasia and Julia.
S. MOCHOEMOG, AB. OF LIATHMOR.
(MIDDLE OF 7TH CENT.)
[Irish Martyrologies, also the German Martyrology of Canisius.
Authority:--A life purporting to be written by a disciple, but this is
certainly false. It can not have been written before the 12th century.
I give the story, and the reader may believe as much as he likes of
the wonderful details.]
The abbot Mochoemog was born in Connaught. His father, on account of a
feud, came into Munster and settled on the lands of O'Connell-Ghabhra.
The father, Beoan by name, loved a certain beautiful damsel, called
Nessa, of the race of the Nan-desi,[43] the sister of S. Ytha, and
having wedded her, he went with his wife to S. Ytha, and built her a
beautiful convent, for Beoan was a skilful architect. Then S. Ytha
said to him, "What recompense shall I give thee?" Then he said, "Thou
knowest that I have no heir; beseech the Lord that He may grant me
one." And Ytha answered, "A son shalt thou have, elect before God and
men."
[43] Decies, county Waterford.
Now there was a certain king, named Crunmhoel, who made war on the
O'Connells, and a great battle was fought, and Beoan was in the battle,
and he fell. Then his wife went over the field seeking him, and she
found his head, and knew it again, and she took it and carried it to
S. Ytha, and said, "Where is thy promise, sister, that he should have
an heir?" Then the holy abbess said, "Weep not, my sister, but put his
head on to his body again." "How can I know his body in the midst of
so many headless corpses?" asked Nessa. "Be not discouraged," answered
the holy abbess, "Go into the field, and call Beoan thrice in the name
of the Holy Trinity, and he will come after his head, then put it on
again." So Nessa did so. And when she had called the third time, a
dead man got up out of his place, and he had lost his head, but he
seemed to be looking about for it with his stump. So he came to Nessa,
and she put his head on, and then he opened his mouth, and said, "Oh,
woman! why didst thou call me?" And he was sound again. Therefore he
and his wife came to S. Ytha, who asked him, "Friend, desirest thou to
tarry longer here below, or to go direct to heaven?" Beoan answered,
"I esteem this world as nothing compared to eternal glory." "That is
well," answered Ytha; "However, my promise must be kept. Thou must go
home with thy wife." Then she washed his head and neck, and not even a
scar remained. And after that Nessa became pregnant. Now there was in
the east of Ireland, at Momyfechta, a blind abbot, named Fechean,[44]
and he prayed that he might recover his sight. Then an angel appeared
to him, and bade him go and wash his eyes in the milk from the breast
of the wife of Beoan. But S. Fechean knew not where Beoan lived, and
had never heard his name before. Then he went to S. Ytha, to ask her
to direct him, and she told him whither he was to go. And Fechean
hasted, guided by his disciples, and they came to a mill, and there he
found Beoan and his wife. Then Fechean related in order his vision,
and the journey he had undertaken, and when he had made his petition,
Nessa gave him some of her milk, and therewith he washed his eyes, and
straightway he saw plain, and returned with great joy to his monastery.
[44] Not to be mistaken for S. Fechin of Fore. Colgan mistakes in so
thinking.
Now when Nessa was near the term of her pregnancy, she went in a
chariot to her sister. And Ytha heard the driving of the car, and she
sent one of her maidens forth, saying, "I hear a chariot sounding
as though a king rode therein. Who cometh to me?" Then the maiden
answered, "It is thy sister Nessa." "It is well," said Ytha; "She bears
in her womb a child who will sit enthroned in heaven, therefore did the
chariot sound royally."
Now as soon as Nessa bore a son, it was told to Ytha, and she gave
him a name, Mochoemog (Mo-choem-og), meaning "My-gentle-youth," and
in Latin he is called Pulcherius. Then his parents gave him to S.
Ytha, that she might rear him in the service of God, and he grew up in
her house till he was twenty years old. And after that he went into
Ulster, to S. Comgall, and was ordained priest by him, and he resided
many years in Banchor under his guidance. But at length S. Comgall
bade him depart and found a new monastery, and become father of a new
generation of monks. So he went into Leinster, to Enacht, in Mount
Blaine, and there he built a cell. But being driven forth, he went
into Ossory, and the chief of that part offered him his castle, but
Mochoemog would not accept it, but went into a desert place seeking a
home; and the chief said to him, "I have a great and dense forest near
the bog Lurgan which I will give thee." Then Mochoemog was pleased, and
he went into the forest, and he carried in his hand a bell. Now Ytha
had given him this bell when he was a child, and it sounded not. "But,"
said she, "when thou comest to the place of thy resurrection, then
the bell will tinkle." So Mochoemog walked on till he reached a wide
spreading oak, under which lay an old gray boar; and instantly the bell
began to sound. So Mochoemog knew that he had reached the place of his
resurrection, and he settled there, and because of the great grey boar,
he called the place Liathmor (Liath, _grey_; mor, _great_.)[45]
[45] In King's County.
Here he dwelt for many years, training saints. He was greatly troubled
by princes, for on the death of his protector, the chief who had given
him Liathmor, his son endeavoured to drive the aged abbot and his
community away, but was miraculously prevented from doing so. Once the
horses of the king of Munster were driven to pasture on the lands of
the abbey, because the grass there was very rich. Mochoemog drove them
all off, and hearing that the king was exceedingly incensed against
him, and had ordered that he and his monks should be forcibly ejected
from the country, the old man hasted to Cashel, where was the king. The
prince seeing him, exclaimed, "What! little old bald head, thou here! I
shall have thee driven from the place." "I may be bald," answered the
abbot, "but thou shalt be blind of an eye." Then suddenly there came an
inflammation in the eye of the king, and he lost the sight of it. The
king, humbled, implored relief from the pain. "He shall be freed from
his pain," answered Mochoemog, "but he shall remain blind of an eye."
Then he blessed a vessel of water, and therewith the king's eye was
washed, and the inflammation ceased.
The wonders wrought by Mochoemog are too many to be further related
here. We have given a few specimens, and must refer the reader to the
original life for the rest.
Mochoemog died at Liathmor, and was there buried.
S. NICEPHORUS, PATR. OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
(A.D. 828.)
[This is the festival of the Translation of S. Nicephorus in the
Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa. June 2nd is the day of his death
also observed in his honour by the Greeks. Authorities:--His life by
Ignatius deacon of Constantinople, and afterwards bishop of Nicæa, a
contemporary, and an account of his banishment by Theophanes, a fellow
sufferer in the persecution.]
The father of this saint, named Theodore, was secretary to the emperor
Constantine Copronymus, but when that tyrant declared himself a
persecutor of the Catholic church, the faithful minister preferring to
serve God rather than man, maintained the honour due to holy images
with so much zeal, that he was stripped of his honours, scourged,
tortured, and banished. The young Nicephorus grew up with his father's
example before his eyes to stimulate him to confession of the truth
at any sacrifice; his education was not neglected, and he made rapid
progress in all the accomplishments of the age. When Constantine and
Irene were placed on the imperial throne, and restored the use of
sacred pictures and images in churches, Nicephorus was introduced to
their notice, and by his sterling merit obtained their favour. He
was by them advanced to his father's dignity, and, by the lustre of
his sanctity, he became at once the ornament of the court, and the
support of the state. He distinguished himself greatly by his zeal
against the Iconoclasts, and acted as secretary to the second council
of Nicæa. After the death of S. Tarasius, (Feb. 25th), patriarch
of Constantinople, in 806, no one was found more worthy to succeed
him than Nicephorus. To give an authentic testimony of his faith,
during the time of his consecration he held in his hand a treatise
he had written in defence of holy images, and after the ceremony
was concluded, he laid it up behind the altar, as a pledge that he
would always maintain the tradition of the Church. As soon as he was
seated in the patriarchal chair, he set about endeavouring to effect a
reformation of manners of the clergy and people, and his precepts from
the pulpit received double force from his example. He applied himself
with unwearied diligence to all the duties of the ministry; and, by
his zeal and invincible meekness and patience, was able to effect
much which a less earnest or harsher character would have found it
impossible to achieve.
Constantine was blinded, Irene banished, Nicephorus I., her successor,
had fallen before the Bulgarians. Michael I. was driven from the
throne, and Leo the Armenian became emperor in 813. He was an
Iconoclast, and endeavoured both by artifices and open violence to
establish that heresy. His first endeavour, however, was, by crafty
suggestions, to gain over the holy patriarch to favour his design of
destroying the sacred pictures and images which had resumed their
places in the churches and streets, after the second council of Nicæa
had sanctioned their use. But S. Nicephorus answered him, "We cannot
change the ancient traditions: we respect holy images as we do the
cross and the book of the gospels." For it must be observed that the
ancient Iconoclasts venerated the book of the gospels, and the figure
of the cross, though with singular inconsistency, they forbade the
rendering of the like honour to holy images. The saint showed, that
far from derogating from the supreme honour of God, we honour Him when
we for His sake respect His angels, saints, prophets, and ministers;
and also when we show reverence towards all such things as belong
to His service, like sacred vessels, churches, and images. But the
tyrant persisted in his error, and the first steps he took against
images were marked by caution. He privately encouraged some soldiers
to maltreat an image of Christ on a great cross at the brazen gate of
the city; and then he ordered the image to be taken off the cross,
pretending he did it to prevent a second profanation. S. Nicephorus saw
the storm gathering, and spent most of his time in prayer, in company
with several holy bishops and abbots. Shortly after, the emperor,
having assembled certain Iconoclastic bishops in his palace, sent for
the patriarch and his fellow-bishops.[46] They obeyed the summons,
but entreated the emperor to leave the government of the Church to
her pastors. Æmilian, bishop of Cyzicus, one of their body, said, "If
this is an ecclesiastical affair, let it be discussed in the Church,
according to custom, not in the palace." Euthymius, bishop of Sardis,
said, "For these eight hundred years past, since the coming of Christ,
there have been pictures of Him, and He has been honoured in them.
Who shall now have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition?"
S. Theodore of the Studium spoke after the bishops, and addressed the
emperor, "My lord, do not disturb the order of the Church. God hath
placed in it apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers.[47] You he hath
entrusted with the care of the State; the Church hath he entrusted to
the care of her Bishops." The emperor, in a rage, drove them from his
presence. Some time after, the Iconoclast bishops held an assembly in
the imperial palace, and cited the patriarch to appear before them. To
their summons he returned this answer, "Who gave you this authority? If
it was he who pilots the vessel of old Rome, I am ready. If it was the
Alexandrine successor of the Evangelist Mark, I am ready. If it was the
patriarch of Antioch, or he of Jerusalem, I make no opposition. But who
are ye? In my diocese you have no jurisdiction." He then read the canon
which declares those excommunicate who presume to exercise any act of
jurisdiction in the diocese of another bishop. They, however, proceeded
to pronounce against him a sentence of deposition; and the holy pastor,
after several attempts had been made secretly to take away his life,
was sent by the emperor into banishment. Michael the Stammerer, who
succeeded Leo the Armenian, in 120, also favoured the Iconoclastic
faction, and continued to harass S. Nicephorus, who died in exile, on
June 2nd, 828, in the monastery of S. Theodore, which he had erected,
at the age of seventy. By order of the empress Theodora, his body was
brought to Constantinople with great pomp, in 846, on the 13th of March.
[46] For a further account of this assembly and the ensuing
persecution, see the life of S. Nicetas, April 3rd.
[47] Eph. iv. 11.
S. ANSEWIN, B. OF CAMERINO.
(CIRC. A.D. 840.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--A life written by Eginus the monk,
about the year 960, not, apparently entire, and the Lections of the
Breviary of Camerino.]
S. Ansewin, or Hanse-win, was a native of Camerino, in Tuscany. He
retired in early life into the solitude of Castel-Raymond, near
Torcello, after his ordination as priest. He was appointed chaplain
and confessor to the emperor Louis, and in 822, he was nominated to
the bishopric of his native city. A strange legend of his expedition
to Rome to receive consecration has been recorded by his biographer.
On arriving at Narni, with a cavalcade of nobles and friends who
accompanied him from Camerino, they put up at a tavern for refreshment,
and asked for wine. The publican, an ill-conditioned fellow, served
them with what they desired, but Ansewin, looking at it, detected that
it was watered, and sharply rebuked the taverner. The man surlily
replied that they must drink what was set before them, and that it was
no odds to him whether they liked his wine or not.
"Now, friend," said the bishop-elect, "we have no drinking vessels with
us, so bring us forth horns or goblets."
"Not I," answered the publican, "I provide wine, but customers usually
bring their own cups."
"But, friend, we have none with us." "That is your affair, not mine,"
answered the fellow rudely. "Then we must do what we can," said
Ansewin, drawing off his cape, and holding out the hood. "Come, host!
pour the wine in here." The man stared, and then burst into a roar of
laughter. But Ansewin persisted. "Then, fool, I will do so, and waste
the liquor, but mind, you pay for it," said he. "Pour boldly," said the
bishop-elect, holding the hood distended; and the inn-keeper obeyed.
Then two marvels occurred, the hood retained the liquor, and served as
a drinking horn to all the company, and the water which had diluted the
wine separated from it, and flowed away over the edge.
He ruled his diocese with great prudence, and in time of famine,
by his wise regulations and abundant alms, greatly relieved the
sufferings of the poor. He was absent from his dear city where he had
been born, and which he had ministered to with so much love, when he
was stricken with mortal sickness. He was greatly distressed at the
prospect of dying out of his diocese, and ordered a horse to be brought
that he might ride home. His companions, seeing death in his face,
remonstrated; but he persisted in his command, and when his horse was
brought to the door, he descended, supported by his friends to it. Then
the horse knelt down, and suffered the dying man to mount him without
effort. As soon as he was in Camerino, he ordered all his flock to
assemble to receive his final blessing, and then gently expired.
Relics at Camerino, in the cathedral, and a portion of the shoulder in
the Vatican.
In art he is represented with his hood full of wine.
SS. RUDERICK, P. M., AND SALOMON, M.
(A.D. 857.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--S. Eulogius, (March 11th), himself a
martyr in the same persecution, 859, wrote the Acts of all those who
suffered at that time, either from his own knowledge, or from the
testimony of eye witnesses.]
During the persecution of the Christians under the Moorish occupation
of Spain, there was a priest in the village of Cabra, about
five-and-twenty miles from Cordova, named Ruderick, who had two
brothers, whereof one had renounced Christianity and become a Moslem.
One night this apostate brother and the other were quarrelling, and
came to blows, when Ruderick rushed between them to separate them,
but was so mauled by both, that he fell senseless on the ground. The
Mussulman brother then placed him on a litter, and had him carried
about the country, walking by his side, and showing him off as a
renegade priest. Ruderick was too much bruised and strained to
resist for a while, but he bore this with greater anguish than his
bodily injuries, and as soon as ever he was sufficiently recovered,
he effected his escape. The renegade meeting him some time after in
the streets of Cordova, dragged him before the cadi, and denounced
him as having professed the Mussulman religion, and then returned to
Christianity. Ruderick indignantly denied that he had ever apostatized,
but the cadi, believing the accusation, ordered him to be cast into
the foulest den of the city prison, reserved for parricides. There
he found a Christian, named Salomon, awaiting sentence on a similar
charge of having conformed to the established religion for a while, and
then returned to the worship of Christ. They were retained in prison
for some time, the cadi hoping thus to weary them into apostasy. But
the two confessors encouraged each other to stand fast. Being made
acquainted with this, the cadi ordered them to be separated, but when
this also failed, he sentenced them both to decapitation.
S. KENNOCHA, V.
(ABOUT A.D. 1007.)
[Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--The same.]
On March 13th, the Ancient Scottish Church commemorated S. Kennocha, a
virgin, who, desirous of consecrating herself wholly to Jesus Christ,
met with long and vehement opposition from her parents and friends, and
underwent from them great hardships and persecution, without shaking
her constancy. She led a life as a solitary of great severity, and
attained a good old age. She was buried in the church of Kyle.
March 14.
SS. FORTY-SEVEN MARTYRS, _under Nero, in Rome_, A.D. 67.
SS. PETER, APHRODISIUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Carthage_.
SS. TWO MONKS AND A DEACON, _MM. in the Abruzzi, 6th cent._
S. LUBIN, _B. of Chartres, circ._ A.D. 557.
S. EUTYCHIUS, OR EUSTASIUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Charræ, in
Mesopotamia_, A.D. 741.
S. MATHILDA, _Emp. of Germany_, A.D. 968.
SS. MARTYRS UNDER NERO.
(A.D. 67.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The ancient Acts of SS. Processus and
Martinian.]
These forty-seven martyrs are believed to have been converted by
S. Peter, at the time when he was confined along with S. Paul, in
the Mamertine prison, in which they spent nine months. According to
tradition S. Peter brought water out of the rock wherewith to baptize
them. They suffered execution by the sword.
SS. PETER, APHRODISIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.
(DATE UNCERTAIN.)
[Roman Martyrology.]
The greatest confusion and uncertainty exists relative to these
martyrs. In the Roman Martyrology they are said to have suffered in
the Vandal persecution, in Africa. But there is some mistake, as the
Bollandist fathers have pointed out. Aphrodisius there can be no doubt
is wrong, and should be Euphrosius, who in ancient Martyrologies is
mentioned with SS. Donatus, Frumentius, and others, but not with Peter;
and that the martyrdom took place in the Vandal persecution is an error
of Baronius, trusting to Galesinius, with whom it was pure conjecture.
There is also no evidence that Peter ought to be coupled with
Euphrosius and Donatus; but on the authority of ancient Martyrologies,
with Alexander, Mamerius, Nabor, and others, of equally unknown date.
S. LUBIN, B. OF CHARTRES.
(A.D. 557.)
[Gallican Martyrology. His translation is commemorated in the Roman,
on September 15th. Authority:--An ancient life of uncertain date and
unknown authorship.]
S. Lubin, (Leobinus), was the son of poor parents near Poitiers, and
was born in the reign of Clovis I. (the latter half of the 5th cent.)
His boyhood was spent in ploughing the fields and feeding cattle.
But he had a great desire to learn to read, and having made the
acquaintance of a good monk, he persuaded him to ink the letters of
the alphabet on his leather girdle, so that he might carry them about
with him when he went after the cattle, and learn them by heart. His
intelligence opening, he was sent to a monastery of that country,
but whether it was Ligugé or Nouaille is not certain, and was made
cellarer, and required to ring the hours. These duties gave him little
leisure for pursuing his studies; he therefore curtailed his hours of
sleep, and as his lamp troubled the sleep of the brethren, he hung a
curtain over his window to screen the light from them. After having
spent eight years in this monastery, the desire came upon him to visit
S. Avitus, who lived as a hermit in Perche, (July 17th.) Having gone
into this country, he met first with S. Calais, who had not then left
S. Avitus, to settle in Maine, (July 1st); this great master of the
spiritual life advised Lubin not to attach himself to the service of
any church or chapel, as it would be the means of drawing him into the
world, and interfere with the exercise of his religious rule, and not
to seek a small monastery, for in such every one wants to be master. S.
Avitus counselled Lubin to spend some time longer in a monastery before
he retired into the desert. He therefore took the road to Lerins, but
a monk of that abbey whom he met assuring him that it was unhealthy,
he turned aside with the monk, and went to Javoux, where S. Hilary,
the bishop of that place,[48] received them into his community. But he
did not long remain there, thanks to his new acquaintance from Lerins,
who seems to have been nowhere content, and they went together to
Ile-Barbe, near Lyons. After a while the vagabond monk wanted to make
another change, and draw Lubin away with him, but Lubin shook himself
free of this restless spirit, and remained five years in Ile-Barbe.
[48] The seat was afterwards transferred to Mende.
During a war which broke out between the Franks and Burgundians, ending
in the defeat of the latter by the sons of Clovis, in 525, the abbey
of Ile-Barbe was invaded by the soldiers greedy of plunder. They found
it deserted by all the monks, who had escaped, save S. Lubin and an
old man. The old man, on being asked where the treasures of the church
were concealed, meanly said that S. Lubin knew better than he; and
the soldiers cruelly tormented the saint by winding whipcord tightly
round his head, and then running a stick under it behind the head,
and turning the stick so as to tighten the cord till it sank into the
temples. This was a favourite torture with the barbarians, when they
wanted to extract the secret of hidden treasures from prisoners. They
also tied his feet, and let him, head down into the river, but were
unable to extract from him the information they desired, and of which
he may have been ignorant. Thinking him dead, the soldiers threw him
on the bank and left him. He recovered, and made his way into Perche
to S. Avitus, and served as cellarer in his monastery. On the death
of S. Avitus, 430, he and two others retired into the wilderness of
Charbonnièrs, on the extremities of the forest of Montmirail, which
separates Beauce from Maine. There they built three little cells, and
spent five years in solitude. But miracles proclaimed the sanctity
of S. Lubin; by his intercession a fire which had broken out in the
forest, and threatened to consume it, was arrested. Hearing this,
Ætherius, bishop of Chartres, ordained him deacon, and made him abbot
of the monastery of Brou, in Perche; he afterwards ordained him priest
to give him more authority over his monks.
S. Aubin, bishop of Angers, being on his way to visit S. Cæsarius of
Arles, persuaded S. Lubin to accompany him (536). When they came into
Provence, Lubin yearned to retire into the peaceful retreat of Lerins,
and escape the burden of the charge of his monastery, but S. Aubin
sharply rebuked him, and made him see that he had no right to resign
without sufficient cause a burden laid on him by God. In 544, Ætherius
died, and Lubin was elected to the see of Chartres by the almost
unanimous voice of the clergy and laity. The saint on his ordination
introduced various reforms into the see. S. Lubin assisted in the fifth
council of Orleans, in 549, and in the second of Paris, 551. He died
in 587, and was buried in the church of S. Martin-du-Val, where his
body was religiously preserved till the Calvinists sacked the church in
the 16th century, when they burnt his bones, and cast the ashes to the
winds. His skull was, however, preserved, but it also was lost at the
Revolution.
S. MATHILDA, EMPRESS.
(A.D. 968.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Life drawn up by order of the
emperor Henry, her grandson.]
The father of the empress Mathilda was Dietrich, count of Ringelheim,
a descendant of the famous Witikind, prince of the Saxons, who had
maintained so long and stubborn a resistance against Charlemagne.
Her mother, Reinhild, was of royal Danish and Frisian blood. In her
childhood Mathilda was entrusted to the tender care of her grandmother
Hedwig, who had quitted the world, and had become abbess of Erfurt.
Henry the Fowler, son of duke Otho of Saxony, fell in love with
Mathilda, and married her. The "Life of S. Mathilda," written by
order of Henry the Pious, her grandson, says that Otho, hearing of
the virtues of Mathilda, entered into negotiations with the count of
Ringelheim to have her married to his son Henry. This is, no doubt,
true, but it is only half the truth. The other part was suppressed by
the pious historian. In fact, Henry was already married to Hathburg,
daughter of Erwin of Altstadt, whom he had taken from the cloister,
where she was being educated, and by whom he became father of Thankmar,
who afterwards waged war with Otho the Great, son of Henry and
Mathilda, claiming the duchy of Saxony as his own by right of seniority
of birth. Henry saw and fell in love with Mathilda, and the young
simple girl was probably hardly consulted in the matter, when Henry
divorced his wife Hathburg, sent her back to her convent, and demanded
the hand of Mathilda of her parents. The wrong done to Hathburg was
bitterly atoned for in after years, for Mathilda was sorely tried by
the ingratitude of her own sons, and saw Otho engaged in a bloody war
with Thankmar, whom he had supplanted.
Henry was one to captivate hearts. He is described as lofty and
majestic in stature, although slight and youthful in form, powerful
and active in person, with a commanding and penetrating glance, his
very appearance attracting popular favour, and securing the heart of
his wife. "He excelled in prudence and wisdom, and his stature became
his kingly dignity. Too much addicted to hunting, he was joyous in
festivities, but without diminishing his regal dignity. In war he was
alike loved and feared."[49]
[49] Witikind, lib. i., p. 641.
Henry had been elected emperor of Germany. In his new position,
his life was one of warfare. He subjugated the Hevelli[50] and the
Bohemians, and in 933, routed the Hungarians. The ambassadors of
the Hungarians demanded of him the payment of an ancient tribute.
According to the legendary account, Henry caused a mangy dog to be
thrown before them, and declared a deadly war with their nation. The
Hungarians instantly crossed the frontier in two enormous hordes, the
lesser of which was routed by the arrière-ban of Saxony and Thuringia,
near Sondershausen. The other body advanced along the Saal, in the
vicinity of Merseburg, against the emperor. Henry entrenched himself
on a mountain, since known as the Keuschberg, or Mountain of Chastity,
owing to the circumstance of no woman being permitted to enter the camp
of the Christians, who strengthened themselves for the coming conflict
by devotional exercises. The news of the defeat of their countrymen
at Sondershausen soon reached the Hungarians, who instantly kindled
enormous fires along the banks of the river as signals of recall to
all those of their number who were engaged in plundering the country,
and the battle commenced with the coming morn. Henry addressed his
troops. The picture of S. Michael was borne in the van, as the banner
of the empire. A murderous struggle commenced, the Hungarians shouting,
"Hui! hui!" and the Germans, "Kyrie-eleison!" Victory long wavered,
but was at length decided by the discipline and enthusiastic valour of
the Germans. An immense number of Christian slaves were restored to
liberty. After the victory, Henry knelt, at the head of his troops, and
returned thanks to Heaven. The terror of the Hungarians now equalled
that with which they had formerly inspired the Germans. In the belief
that the archangel Michael, whose gigantic picture they ever beheld
borne in the van of the German army, was the god of victory, they made
golden wings, similar to those with which he was represented, for their
own idols. The hand of the emperor, and, underneath, a horse shoe,
are still to be seen cut in the rock at Keuschberg, as a token of the
victory. Germany remained undisturbed in this quarter during the rest
of the reign of Henry the Fowler. Henry afterwards planned a visit to
Rome, but died without accomplishing that project, in 936, when at the
height of his splendour and renown. He was buried at Quedlinburg, his
favourite residence.
[50] A Sorbian tribe on the Havel.
The union of Mathilda with her husband had been a very happy one. Both
endeavoured to advance the kingdom of God by every means in their
power, and together they concerted laws full of justice, to increase
the prosperity of their dominions. Henry left behind him three sons by
Mathilda, Otho, who was elected to the imperial throne on the decease
of his father, Henry the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria, and Bruno,
archbishop of Cologne. Mathilda spent her time in devotion, and gave
abundant alms to the needy. She was very sober in her repasts, gentle
in conversation, and ready to do with promptitude and cheerfulness
whatever she deemed consistent with her position.
Otho had been unanimously elected emperor, and was crowned at
Aix-la-Chapelle with more than ordinary solemnity. He was invested with
the gigantic crown of Charlemagne, the sceptre, the sword, the cross,
the sacred lance of Longinus, and the golden mantle. And he looked
an emperor. Witikind says of him in later years, "His demeanour was
replete with majesty. His white hair waved over his shoulders. His eyes
were bright and sparkling; his beard of an extraordinary length; his
breast like that of a lion, and covered with hair."
Proud of his position and power, the young emperor was impatient of
his mother's advice and authority. Listening to those who viewed her
virtues with impatience, as a restraint on the licence of a court,
they persuaded Otho that she had lavished the money of the empire
in charities. He at once ordered his mother to retire from court to
Engern, in Ravensberg. It was grief to Mathilda to be thus treated
by her eldest son, but it was greater grief to her to find that her
favourite son, Henry of Bavaria, had been the prime instigator of her
banishment.
But it was not long before Henry fell dangerously ill, and Edith,
the wife of Otho, deeming this a punishment for the wrong done to
the saintly dowager empress, and dreading the same for her husband,
persuaded Otho to recall his mother. He wrote to her, asking her
pardon, and expressing his deep contrition for his past ingratitude.
Mathilda was not one to bear resentment, and she returned to court.
Mathilda now reaped with sorrow the harvest of her early involuntary
fault in marrying a divorced man. Thankmar was in rebellion, for Otho
had not been content with depriving him of the imperial throne, but had
also seized his large maternal inheritance in Saxony, and had bestowed
it on an adherent and friend. Thankmar took arms, and was upheld by the
Saxons. The emperor marched against his half-brother, besieged him in
Everburg, and Thankmar was slain at the foot of the altar, whither he
had fled for safety. Thankmar had been joined by Eberhardt, duke of
Franconia, who, now that all was lost, fell at the feet of Henry of
Bavaria, and besought him to intercede in his behalf with the emperor.
To his surprise, Henry replied, that he was willing to join with him
in his designs against Otho, in order to deprive him of the crown,
which he coveted for himself. For the present the two confederates
dissembled their projects, and Eberhardt made his submission to Otho
with expressions of the deepest contrition for his guilt. Henry
gained confederates to his conspiracy, and suddenly attacked Otho
as he was crossing the Rhine at Zante, but was defeated with great
slaughter. Otho pardoned his brother, who remained afterwards true to
his allegiance, finding that it was his best interest to cling to his
powerful brother. He was a man of treacherous and cruel heart, and when
his Bavarian subjects rose against him, and called the Hungarians to
their assistance, having defeated them with the aid of Otho (955), he
buried alive, or burnt in beds of quicklime, the leaders of the adverse
party, put out the eyes of the bishop of Salzburg, and the patriarch
Lupus of Aquileia met with a still more wretched fate at his hands.
In the midst of all these civil wars the dowager empress laboured to
relieve the sorrows of the peasants upon whom the state of hostilities
weighed most heavily. Her time was devoted to nursing the sick,
releasing debtors from prison, and feeding the starving.
But at length, saddened beyond endurance by the conduct of her sons,
and despairing of the world, she retired into the monastery of
Nordhausen, which she had built, and gathering about her three thousand
sisters, spent the rest of her days in tears and prayer. She lived to
receive her grand-daughter, Mathilda, the child of the emperor Otho,
into her house, and to commit into her hands the government of the
community.
She died on March 14th, 968, and was buried in the church of S.
Servetus, at Quedlinburg, by the side of her husband, Henry.
[Illustration: SLOTHFULNESS AND GLUTTONY. Symbolic carving at the Abbey
of S. Denis.]
March 15.
S. ARISTOBULUS, _M., 1st cent._ S. LONGINUS, _M., 1st cent._
S. NICANDER, _M. in Egypt, circ._ A.D. 302.
S. MATRONA, _M. at Thessalonica_.
S. MATRONA, _V. in Portugal_.
S. MATRONA, _V.M. at Barcelona, in Spain_.
S. MAGORIAN, _C. at Trent, 5th cent._
S. TRANQUILLIUS, _Ab. at Dijon, 6th cent._
S. ZACHARIAS, _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 752.
S. LEOCRITIA, _V.M. at Cordova. (See p. 220.)_
S. ARISTOBULUS, M.
(1ST CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology, Greek Menologium and Menæa, on March 16th.
in the Anglican Martyrology he is entitled bishop and martyr.
Authority:--Notice in the Martyrologies and Menæa.]
Nothing is known for certain of S. Aristobulus, who was one of the
seventy disciples of our Lord. He is said by the Greeks to have
preached in Britain. He may be the Arystly who, according to the
Welsh Triads, was one of the founders of Christianity in Britain. The
Spaniards claim him as one of their apostles. The Greeks say that he
was the brother of S. Barnabas, that he was ordained bishop, and died a
martyr.
S. LONGINUS, M.
(1ST CENT.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology. The name of Longinus was not known to the
Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus, in 715. It was introduced
amongst the Westerns from the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is
no reliable authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint.]
The name Longinus, given in the gospel of Nicodemus to the soldier who
pierced the side of Christ, is probably due to a mistake. The name
is probably Latinized from _Longche_, a spear. Some think that the
soldier who pierced the side, and the centurion who exclaimed at the
earthquake, confessing the Sonship of Christ, are the same, but there
is the greatest uncertainty on every point connected with Longinus. The
Greeks commemorate Longinus the Centurion on October 16th. The Latin
Acts of S. Longinus confuse the centurion and the soldier together.
The Greek Acts pretend to be by S. Hesychius (March 28th), but are an
impudent forgery of late date. It is pretended that the body of S.
Longinus was found at Mantua in 1304, together with the sponge stained
with Christ's blood, wherewith he had assisted in cleansing our Lord's
body when it was taken down from the cross. These relics have been
distributed in various places. Part are in Prague, others in Carlstein,
the body in the Vatican at Rome. But the Sardinians assert that they
possess the body of S. Longinus, which was found in their island, where
he had suffered under Nero. And the Greeks say he suffered in Gabala,
in Cappadocia. The head is, however, also said to have been found in
Jerusalem, and carried into Cappadocia.
S. NICANDER, M.
(ABOUT A.D. 302.)
[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa.]
S. Nicander flourished in the reign of Diocletian, in Egypt. He visited
the Christian confessors in their dungeons, and ministered to their
necessities; and when they suffered, he gathered their ashes and
bones, and reverently buried them. This devotion could not long remain
unobserved by the heathen, and he was denounced to the governor, who
sentenced him to death.
S. MATRONA, V. M.
(DATE UNKNOWN.)
[Three saints of this name are commemorated on this day. At Barcelona
one called Virgin and Martyr, another of Thessalonica, in the Roman
Martyrology, called Martyr, but it is not said that she was a Virgin;
another at Capua, in Campania, where she is said to be a Virgin and
a native of Portugal. They were three distinct persons living at
different dates, as their histories testify, but on account of the
names of the Barcelonese and Capuan Saints being identical with that
of S. Matrona in the Roman Martyrology, their festivals are kept on
the same day. Matrona of Thessalonica is commemorated by the Greeks on
March 27th.]
S. Matrona of Barcelona was early left an orphan and was adopted by her
aunt, who went with her to Italy, and settled in the Campagna. The girl
was given a crucifix, which she ever carried about with her. Having
been denounced as a Christian, she was thrown into prison and starved
to death.
S. Matrona of Thessalonica was the slave of a Jewess, who having
discovered that her servant was a Christian, beat her to death with a
stick.
S. ZACHARIAS, POPE.
(A.D. 752.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Maurolycus, and Notker, on March
14th, so also Molanus in his additions to Usuardus. Authority:--His
life by Anastasius the Librarian.]
Zacharias, a Greek by birth, the son of Polychronius, was educated with
care in every science. He went to Rome, where he was ordained priest,
at a time when the eternal city was subject to constant alarms from
the Lombards. Luitprand, king of the Lombards, ill satisfied because
Gregory III. extended his favour to Thrasymund, duke of Spoleto,
laid siege to Rome, and did not retire till his troops had pillaged
the church of S. Peter, which the Goths had hitherto respected. At
this moment, just as Gregory had asked help of Charles Martel against
Luitprand, the see became vacant through his death.
Zacharias was elected to the throne of S. Peter. The innocence of
his life, and the vigour of his understanding, were accompanied by a
natural kindliness which fascinated all with whom he was brought in
contact. He was consecrated on November 19th, 741, nine days after the
death of his predecessor, and nine days before his interment. Resolved
to expose himself to everything for the sake of his people, Zacharias
sent a nuncio to king Luitprand with a letter overflowing with
expressions of courtesy and respect, which so touched the barbarian,
that he gave token of being disposed to negotiate with the new pontiff.
Zacharias knew how to profit by the opportunity; he went, accompanied
by many of his clergy, to Terni, in Umbria, and met king Luitprand, who
received him with the utmost courtesy. He concluded a treaty with him,
released his prisoners, recovered to the Holy See the towns that had
been taken, and on the morrow assisted at the ordination of a bishop
for Terni, which took place in the Church of S. Valentine. The ceremony
produced a lively effect upon the Lombards, many of whom wept. After
the ordination, the pope invited the barbarian prince to dinner, and
gave him his blessing; Luitprand is reported to have observed that he
had never enjoyed a dinner so much.
Zacharias was afterwards the means of procuring peace for many of the
distressed states and cities of Northern Italy. Luitprand was succeeded
by Hildebrand, who only reigned seven months; and the Lombard throne
was then filled by Rachis, duke of Forli, who concluded a peace of
twenty years with all Italy.
Zacharias now turned his attention to the discipline of the Church,
which had become much relaxed by the troubles that had fallen on the
land. He encouraged S. Boniface in his mission to Germany. In the
East he laboured to soften the violence of the emperor Constantine
Copronymus, who opposed sacred images and pictures in churches.
Pepin, mayor of the palace, who was master of France, under the shadow
and name of Childeric III., sent Burchard, bishop of Wurtzburg,
and Fulrad, abbot of S. Denys, to Zacharias to consult him on the
accomplishment of his ambition, the assumption for himself of the crown
of France from the heads of the "Faineant" race. Zacharias, who desired
help and protection against the Lombards, not content with approving
his design, wrote secretly to Pepin urging him not to refuse the crown
which Providence extended to him; at the same time his more cautiously
worded epistle to the Frank nobles on the subject did not a little
serve towards determining them to place the sovereignty in the bold,
firm hand of the mayor. For, without recommending the deposition of
Childeric, or the election of Pepin, Zacharias urged that "he who had
the power in fact ought to be the king." This was enough for Pepin.
Every one considered this expression to be an approval of the design;
the election of Pepin was regarded as approved by heaven; and he was
crowned at Soissons the year following, by Boniface, archbishop of
Mentz. This coronation took place on May 1st; Zacharias did not live to
see it, for he died on the preceding March 3rd. The day of his burial
in the Church of S. Peter, March 15th, is that on which the Church
honours his memory.
March 16.
SS. HILARY, _B.M._, TATIAN, _D.M._, FELIX, LARGUS AND DIONYSIUS, _MM.
at Aquileja_, A.D. 285.
S. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, _M. in Cilicia_.
S. PAPAS, _M. in Lycaonia, circ._ A.D. 300.
S. AGAPITUS, _B. of Ravenna, circ._ A.D. 340.
S. COLUMBA, _V.M. in England_.
S. ANINAS, _H. on the banks of the Euphrates_.
S. HESYCHIUS, _B. of Vienne, in France, 5th cent._
SS. ABRAHAM, _H._, AND MARY, _P., his niece, in Syria, 6th cent._
S. FINAN THE LEPER, _Ab. of Inisfathlen, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 610.
S. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, _B. of Ross, in Scotland, 7th cent._
S. EUSEBIA, _Abss. of Hamage, circ._ A.D. 680.
S. GREGORY THE ARMENIAN, _B.H. at Pluviers, in France, 11th cent._
S. HERIBERT, _Archb. of Cologne_, A.D. 1021.
SS. HILARY, B. M., TATIAN, D. M., AND COMPANIONS, MM.
(A.D. 285.)
[Roman Martyrology and that of Usuardus. Notker mentions Hilary alone.
Hilary and Tatian in that of Bede, and some copies of that of S.
Jerome. Authority:--the Acts which are genuine.]
Saint Hilary, bishop of Aquileja, in Northern Italy, had a deacon
named Tatian, whom he appointed to be his archdeacon. In the reign of
Numerian, during which they flourished, there was at Aquileja a heathen
priest, named Monofantus, who went before the governor Beronius, and
obtained from him authority to hale the bishop before his tribunal.
Then Monofantus went to the house of Hilary, and found him engaged in
reading, together with his deacon Tatian. He said, "The Governor wants
you." Hilary said, "What is that you say, friend?" "I have already said
once, the governor wants you." S. Hilary answered, "We will go in the
Name of our Lord Jesus Christ." And when they had come to the place of
judgment, and the governor saw Hilary enter with a smiling countenance,
he asked, "What is thy name?" The bishop answered, "My name is Hilary,
and I am bishop of the Christians here." "Well," said the governor,
"the command has gone forth that all are to sacrifice to the immortal
gods. Therefore be speedy, obey, and go thy way." S. Hilary replied,
"From my childhood I have learnt to sacrifice to the living God, and
to worship Jesus Christ with pure heart; I cannot worship demons." The
governor said, "Christ, whom thou sayest that thou worshippest, was
crucified by the Jews." Hilary replied, "If thou knewest the virtue of
His cross, thou wouldest leave the error of idols, and adore Him who
would heal the wounds of thy soul." "Come," exclaimed the governor,
"do as I bid, or I will have thy tongue cut out." "Sir," answered the
bishop, "do so, instead of threatening me." Then Beronius had him
drawn into the temple of Hercules, and beaten with rods. And as Hilary
constantly refused to adore the idols, the governor ordered his back
to be burnt with red hot coals, then the raws to be rubbed with coarse
hair-cloth, and vinegar and salt to be poured into the wounds. After
which he was taken and cast into prison. Tatian, the deacon, was next
brought up to be tried, he was sentenced to be beaten, and thrown into
prison with his bishop. And during the night they prayed, and sang
praises to God, the Lord of heaven and earth; and as they prayed there
was an earthquake, and the temple of Hercules was shaken down.
Then, on the morrow, Hilary the bishop, and Tatian the deacon, and
Felix, Largus and Dionysius, three Christians then in the prison, were
slain by order of Beronius, some of them by having their heads smitten
off, and some by having swords thrust through their breasts.
S. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, M.
(DATE UNCERTAIN.)
[Roman Martyrology. Greek Menology of Basil Porphyrogenitus, same
day. Authority:--A sermon by S. John Chrysostom, Hom. xlvii., and the
notices in the Menologium and Menæa.]
This saint was a native of Cilicia, the same province which had the
honour of producing S. Paul. In one of the persecutions of the Church
he was sentenced to be tied up in a sack with vipers and scorpions, and
thrown into the sea.
S. PAPAS, M.
(ABOUT A.D. 300.)
[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa. Authority:--The hymn in the Menæa.]
S. Papas suffered in Lycaonia during the persecution of Maximian.
He was first beaten, and his cheeks bruised, and then the inhuman
persecutors, to make sport, nailed horse-shoes to his feet, and made
him run before chariots through the streets of Laranda, the drivers,
armed with whips, lashing him till he sank, bleeding and exhausted, on
the pavement. A compassionate woman, like another Veronica, hastened up
to wipe away the blood and sweat, and he died in her arms.
S. COLUMBA, V. M.
(DATE UNKNOWN.)
[Anglican Martyrology. There are two other saints of this name,
virgins and martyrs, one at Sens, the other at Cordova. The Columba of
Sens is commemorated on Dec. 31st, and is very famous; she suffered
under Aurelian. The Cordovan saint gained the palm in the Moorish
persecution in 891, and is commemorated on Sept. 17th.]
The great glory of the virgin martyr, Columba of Sens, has eclipsed the
fame of the other two saintly virgin martyrs of this name. Of the S.
Columba venerated in Cornwall on this day, nothing is known, but she is
believed to have formed one of the company of S. Ursula.
S. ANINAS, H.
(DATE UNKNOWN.)
[Greek Menæa. This saint is commemorated by the Greeks on different
days.]
This hermit, called variously Aninas and Ananias, lived in the flat
deserts of the Euphrates, in a cave, with two lions, out of the foot
of one of which he had drawn a thorn which hurt it. The lions followed
him whenever he went to the Euphrates, distant four or five miles, to
draw water. This he was obliged to do daily, and the bishop of Cæsarea,
hearing of this, sent him the present of an ass to carry the water jars
for him; but Aninas would not keep the ass, but gave it to some poor
folk who were destitute.
Now there was a hermit who lived on a pillar in the same country, and
Aninas heard that he was sore troubled in mind; then, the story goes,
he wrote a letter comforting him, and sent it to him by one of his
lions. Aninas died on March 16th, at the age of one hundred and ten.
SS. ABRAHAM, H., AND MARY, P.
(6TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, after Molanus; but the
Greeks venerate these saints on October 29th. Authority:--The Life of
SS. Abraham and Mary, by Ephraem, the companion of Abraham, but not,
as has been commonly stated, S. Ephraem Syrus.]
Abraham was the son of very wealthy parents at Chidama, in Mesopotamia,
near the city of Edessa. His father sought a young and beautiful girl
in marriage for his son, and Abraham was married to her with all the
pomp befitting the splendour of the rank and wealth and the family. The
young man had now tasted all that the world could give, riches, honour,
and love, and his heart was still void and craving for something more.
Then he felt, with a conviction it was impossible to resist, that God
alone could fill that void, and that satisfaction could alone be found
in serving Him most perfectly. So, secretly in the night, seven days
after his marriage, he escaped, and hid himself in the desert.
His parents, who had refused him nothing for which he had expressed
a wish, his wife, who had given him no occasion of offence, were
in amazement. They searched for him everywhere, and at the end of
seventeen days discovered him in the desert, resolved to live alone.
It was in vain that parents and bride urged him to return; he was
inexorable, and they were obliged to leave him in his solitude. He
had found a small hut, and now he walled up the door, leaving only a
window, through which bread and water could be passed in to him by
a friend. He had spent ten or twelve years in this retreat when his
parents died, and left their immense property to him. He entrusted it
to the care of his most intimate friends, to be used for relieving the
necessities of the poor.
Now there was, not far off, a village of idolaters, who had stubbornly
resisted every missionary effort made to convert them. The bishop of
Edessa bethought him of Abraham the hermit, visited him in person,
and insisted on his coming forth and preaching to these heathen. In
vain did the hermit implore to be permitted to remain in his dear
solitude: the bishop put the matter on his obedience, brought him
forth, ordained him priest, and sent him amongst the pagans. Abraham
then built a church in their midst, and finding that they were deaf to
his exhortations, he spent his nights and days in tearful intercession
for them, and then, armed with zeal, he rushed upon their idols and
overthrew them. A mob at once assembled, and he was beaten till he
could not move; and whenever he appeared in the streets, he was
assailed with sticks and stones. Undeterred by this opposition, Abraham
continued instant in prayer; and, after three years, saw the tide of
popular opinion turn, and the villagers who had treated him so ill, now
venerated him as an apostle of the truth. Abraham tarried with them
another year, to confirm them in the faith, then commended them to the
supervision of the bishop, and returned to his cell. Now it happened
that a little girl, named Mary, the niece of Abraham, had been left an
orphan, and she was brought to the hermit, as her sole relative, to
educate. She was aged seven. Abraham bade a cell be built for her near
his own, and there the child grew up under his supervision till she was
twenty, when a young man, having conceived a violent passion for her,
led her away, and then abandoning her, the unfortunate girl fell deeper
into degradation, and became a common harlot in the city of Assos, in
the Troad. Her the uncle had bewailed her fall with the deepest grief,
and had instituted inquiries as to her whereabouts. Hearing that she
was at Assos, Abraham broke down the wall which closed his door, and
came forth, cast off his habit and sackcloth, and disguising himself
as a soldier, went to Assos. And when he came there, he hired a lodging
next door to the house of ill-fame where dwelt his niece, and he sought
opportunity to meet and speak with her, but could not. Then he went
to the house, and ordered supper, and bade that Mary should eat with
him. So she, knowing him not, lost to shame, came, tricked out with
necklaces and rings, in gaudy wanton dress. Then Abraham reddened
with grief, and could ill restrain his tears. But making an effort,
he controlled his emotion. So they sat down, and ate, and drank, and
she laughed noisily, and talked in a light and wanton way; and as she
spake the shadow on Abraham's brow deepened, the corners of his mouth
quivered with pain, and a film formed on his eyes. Then the girl kissed
him, and looked at him, and suddenly saw in the grave, suffering face
before her, something that recalled past days, and she moaned. The man
of the house hearing this, said, "Mary, what is the matter with thee?
These two years that thou hast been with me thou hast been ever gay."
But she looked up again, and met the tearful eyes of Abraham; then she
cried out, "Oh, God! would that I had died three years ago. This man
recalls to me my dear old uncle in the desert, and days of innocence
and pure joy." Then Abraham put the man forth, and locked the door, and
turning, threw back his hood, and caught Mary by both hands, and looked
at her and said, "Mary, my child!" Then she knew him, and became cold
and motionless as a stone. And he said, "My dearest child, what has
befallen thee? How hast thou sunk from heaven in the abyss! O why didst
thou not disclose to me thy first temptation, and I and Ephraem would
have besieged heaven with tears and prayers to save thee? Why didst
thou desert me like this, and bring this intolerable anguish of soul
upon me?" But she, frightened and trembling, answered not a word. And
he, holding her hands fast in his own, said again, "My own Mary, wilt
thou not speak to me?" Then his tears burst forth, and the whole man
was shaken with sobs. "Upon me be thy sin, my child," he said; "I will
answer for it at the Judgment day to God. I will do penance and suffer
in expiation of thy crime; only return, my child!" Then she burst forth
with, "I cannot look thee in the face, uncle, and how can I call on
God, whom I have so outraged?" "I will bear the burden of the sin, let
it weigh on me, Mary," said the hermit vehemently; "only return to the
old place, and dear Ephraem and I will pray instantly to God for thee.
Come child, follow me." Then she fell down, and laid her brow on his
feet, and sobbed, and held them, and kissed them, and stammered, "I
will follow thee, uncle. What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all
the benefits He has done unto me?" But he caught her up, and would not
suffer her thus to lie. And she fell again and kissed the ground he
had trodden, bringing her hopes of pardon and salvation. And he urged
her to fly at once. Then she said, "Uncle, I have here some valuable
trinkets, and some dresses. What shall I do with them? Shall I not pack
them up and carry them with me?" But he cried out, "Leave them, leave
them, they scent of evil." And he took her on his back, as a shepherd
carrying his strayed sheep, and unlocked the door, and ran out. And
when he came to his hut, he set Mary in the inner cell, and went into
the outer room himself. And she, bitterly repenting the past, served
God instantly, night and day, with tears. Abraham lived ten years
longer, and rejoiced to behold the sincerity of his niece's contrition,
and died at the age of seventy, in the fiftieth year of his solitary
life; and Mary lived five years after her uncle's death. God wrought
miracles of healing by her hands, to comfort the penitent soul, and
assure her that her tears had blotted out her transgression.
S. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, B. OF ROSS.
(7TH CENT.)
[Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities:--David Camerarius and Hector Boece,
and the lections in the Aberdeen Breviary.]
Alban Quiritine, or Kiritine, surnamed Boniface, is fabulously said
to have been of Israelite race, and a descendant of Radia, sister of
the apostles Peter and Andrew. All that is known of him is that he
was bishop of Ross, in Scotland, and that he laboured to suppress the
Keltic ritual and to establish Roman uniformity, doing in Scotland
the work accomplished by S. Wilfrid in Northumbria. He preached to
and converted large numbers of Picts and Scots, during sixty years of
evangelical labours. It is said that as many as thirty-six thousand
received the faith through him, and that he built a hundred and fifty
churches, amongst others, that of S. Peter, at Rosmarkyn, in which he
was buried before the altar.
S. EUSEBIA, ABSS. OF HAMAGE.
(ABOUT A.D. 680.)
[Molanus, Wyon, Menardus, Miræus in his 'Belgian Saints,' and Saussaye
in his Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--A life, probably by Hucbald
of Elnone (907), derived from various earlier accounts and traditions.]
S. Eusebia was the eldest daughter of S. Adalbald, of Douai (Feb. 2nd)
and S. Richtrudis. Probably on the occasion of the assassination of
her father, she was sent to the convent of Hamage, which was governed
by her grandmother, S. Gertrude. On the death of S. Gertrude, Eusebia,
at the age of twelve, was elected abbess of Hamage, according to a
custom of the time, which required abbesses, if possible, to be of
noble birth, so as to secure for the convent protection from powerful
families in times of difficulty or war. But S. Richtrudis, who had
become abbess of Marchiennes, thinking that the girl was far too young
to manage the community, and that under her light hand grave disorders
might prevail, peremptorily ordered Eusebia to come with all her nuns
to Marchiennes. Eusebia hesitated, but when the orders were repeated,
she reluctantly obeyed, and with all the community, bearing the body
of S. Gertrude, she came to Marchiennes, where they were received by
a procession with lights and incense. Eusebia was not happy in her
new home, and sighed for Hamage. During the night, when every one
slept, she was wont to steal out, barefooted, and run to the deserted
convent, to watch and pray over the home of her infancy, fragrant with
memories of a beloved guide and spiritual mother. Richtrudis, hearing
of these nocturnal excursions, and not approving of them, ordered the
child-abbess a sound flogging, and asked her brother Maurontius to
administer it. Eusebia writhed and danced about under the correction,
to elude the blows, and in so doing ran against the point of the sword
of Maurontius, which slightly wounded her side. According to a popular
legend, which the historian records merely as such, one of the twigs of
the birch with which Eusebia was corrected, rooted itself on the spot
where it had fallen, and grew up into a stately tree.
Richtrudis, seeing that her child continued bent on returning to
Hamage, consulted the bishop, who advised her to yield. Accordingly
Eusebia and her community went back to the deserted convent, and she
governed it with prudence, living in piety, till the day of her death.
She was buried in the church of the Apostles, at Hamage; but the body
was afterwards translated to Marchiennes.
In Belgium she is called S. Isoie, or Eusoye.
S. HERIBERT, ARCHB. OF COLOGNE.
(A.D. 1021.)
[German Martyrologies. At Cologne the festival of his translation is
observed on August 30th. Authority:--A Life, by Lambert of Deutz,
written twenty years after the death of Heribert.]
Heribert was born at Worms. His father was a gentleman of rank. His
mother had been carried off into captivity by the Huns, and had been
sold to an honest and good man, who restored her to her parents.
She was grand-daughter of Reginbald, count of Swabia. Heribert was
educated in the abbey of Gorze, in Lorraine, in the diocese of Metz.
His father having recalled him to Worms, the archbishop Hildebald was
so pleased with the young man, that he made him dean of his cathedral,
and destined him to become his successor, but his death before Heribert
had sufficiently established his reputation prevented the fulfilment of
this design. Some years after, Otho III., who had not as yet received
the imperial crown, having been informed of the merit of Heribert,
made him his chancellor, and perceiving his great virtue, obtained his
ordination. Shortly after, the archdiocese of Cologne became vacant,
and this gave rise to party contests, productive of schism in that
Church. The contest was brought to a conclusion by an almost unanimous
election of the chancellor Heribert. He received notice of his having
been chosen, with great regret, and on his induction, on Christmas-eve,
walked barefoot to the cathedral. His reign was a true blessing to the
diocese, through his wise regulations for the maintenance of discipline
among the clergy, and for the systematic relief of the necessitious. He
built and endowed the abbey of Deutz, on the opposite bank of the Rhine
to Cologne; he rebuilt the church of the Apostles, at Cologne, and the
chapel of S. Stephen. In a time of great drought, when the country was
suffering great distress, and the cattle of the poor were perishing, he
went in procession to the church of S. Severinus, and kneeling before
the altar, bowed his head on his hands, and weeping for the misfortunes
of his people, did not raise his head till a thunderstorm broke over
the church.
[Illustration: Two pictures of Saints?() preaching to monks below images
of day and night sky]
[Illustration: SS. JOSEPH AND NICODEMUS ANOINTING THE BODY OF CHRIST.
From a Painting. March 17.]
March 17.
S. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA, _1st cent._
SS. ALEXANDER, _B.M._, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Rome_.
SS. MARTYRS _in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria_, A.D. 390.
S. AGRICOLA, _B. at Chalons-sur-Saone_, A.D. 580.
S. PATRICK, _B. Apostle of Ireland_, A.D. 465.
S. GERTRUDE, _V. Abss. of Nivelles, in Brabant_, A.D. 664.
S. WITHBURGA, _V. at Dereham and Ely_, A.D. 743.
S. PAUL, _M. in Cyprus, circ._ A.D. 700.
S. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA.
(1ST CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, because observed as a double
by the Canons of the Vatican, who possess an arm of the saint. In
Liege, where other relics are preserved, on Feb. 22nd; by the Greeks
on July 31st.]
When Christ came into the world, one Joseph took Him into his arms
and cherished Him in His infancy; another Joseph received Him when He
was dead, and ministered to His inanimate body. Joseph, a native of
Arimathæa, said by S. Matthew to have been rich, and called by S. Mark
a counsellor, appears to have lived in Jerusalem, where he possessed
a garden. According to S. John, he was a disciple in secret of the
Son of God; that he was a just man, we are told by S. Luke. After the
Crucifixion he cast aside the fears which had restrained him from
professing openly his conviction, and going boldly to Pilate, he craved
of him the body of Jesus. He then bought the winding sheet, and going
to Calvary, detached from the Cross the dead body of Christ, assisted
by S. John the Evangelist, S. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of
Cleopas. Joseph and Nicodemus anointed the body with myrrh and aloes,
and laid it in the sepulchre of Joseph.
Many strange traditions have attached themselves to Joseph of
Arimathæa, as that he came to Britain, and planted his staff at
Glastonbury; but as these legends are wholly worthless, they must be
here passed over.
His body is said to have been buried by Fortunatus, patriarch of Grado,
in the abbey of Moyen-Moutier; but no relics of it now remain there,
though some are shown elsewhere.
SS. MARTYRS IN THE SERAPION.
(A.D. 390.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Socrates, Hist. Eccl. lib. v. c. 16;
Sozomen, lib. vii. c. 15.]
The temple of Bacchus at Alexandria having been given to the Christians
to be converted into a church, the patriarch ordered its thorough
purification. Whilst this was being performed, many abominations and
much evidence of trickery were brought to light. This so exasperated
the pagans that a sedition broke out, and rushing down from the
Serapion, a magnificent temple situated on a hill and fortified, they
carried off a number of Christians, and bringing them into the temple,
endeavoured to force them to sacrifice to Serapis. As they refused, the
pagans crucified some, broke the bones of others, and put others to
death in various ways. When the emperor Theodosius heard of the tumult,
he ordered those who had fallen victims to be enrolled in the number of
the blessed, but forbade any reprisals upon their executioners, hoping
that this exhibition of mercy would be efficacious in attracting them
to the true faith. He, however, ordered the Serapion to be levelled
with the dust.
S. AGRICOLA, B. OF CHALONS-SUR-SAONE.
(A.D. 580.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority:--His contemporary,
Gregory of Tours.]
S. Agricola was born of a senatorial family. In stature he was
diminutive, but the greatness of his soul redeemed him from that
disrespect which his short stature might have brought upon him.
He was eloquent, of refined manners, prudent in judgment. In his
youth he formed a warm attachment for S. Venantius Fortunatus, the
Christian poet, and author of the magnificent hymn, _Vexilla regis_,
"The royal banners forward go." In 532, he was appointed bishop of
Châlons-sur-Saône. He died at the age of eighty-three, in the year 580,
and was buried in the Church of S. Marcellus, near Châlons, where his
relics are preserved over the high altar.
S. PATRICK, AP. OF IRELAND.
(ABOUT A.D. 465.)
[Roman, and almost all Western Martyrologies, Bede, Usuardus, Ado,
&c. Authorities:--The most authentic are S. Patrick's Confession, and
his letter against Coroticus, Fiech's hymn, or metrical sketch of the
life of the saint, and the life by Probus. The hymn is attributed to
Fiech, bishop of Sletty, who lived in the 5th cent. The Bollandists
and other critics doubt his having been the author of it; but at any
rate it is very ancient, and not later than the 7th, or perhaps the
6th cent. Probus is supposed to have been teacher of a school at
Slane, who was burnt in a tower fired by the Danes, in 950. There
is also a hymn attributed to Secundinus, one of S. Patrick's first
companions, in which the saint is spoken of as still living. A very
interesting document, of the early part of the 7th cent., is a litany
in Anglo-Saxon characters, published by Mabillon, in which S. Patrick
is invoked. The Antiphonarium Benchorense, apparently of the 8th
cent., contains a hymn in honour of S. Patrick. There exist some
notes or scholia on Fiech's metrical life, which are usually quoted
under the title of Fiech's Scholiast. They were written partly in
Irish, and partly in Latin. These notes are of various dates, and by
different hands, and consequently of very different values. Colgan
gives some lives, which he calls the second, third, and fourth, but
these are full of fables, and seem to have been copied either from
each other, or from some common original. Here and there they contain
facts, but these are smothered in fable. Colgan is utterly wrong in
assigning to them a high antiquity. The Tripartite Life, so called
because it is divided into three parts, is published by Colgan, and
attributed by him wrongly to S. Evin, who lived in the 6th cent. This
work, though founded on older lives, was really put together in the
10th century, as certain persons are named in it who lived about that
period. With the exception of certain fables it contains, it is a very
useful work, and contains a much greater variety of details concerning
the proceedings of S. Patrick during his mission in Ireland than any
other of his lives. It is not to be confounded with a Latin work
quoted by Usher under the same title, and which belongs to a later
period. Of all the lives of S. Patrick this is the worst, though it
has been published oftener than the others. "So wretched a composition
is scarcely worth attending to," says Dr. Lanigan. Another authority
is Jocelin of Furness, who flourished about 1185, and compiled S.
Patrick's life at the request of Thomas, archbishop of Armagh,
Malachias (another Irish prelate) and John de Courcy, the conqueror
of Ulster. It is of little historical value compared with the earlier
and more authentic sources of information, which it not unfrequently
contradicts on the authority of some idle legend.]
The precise time at which Christianity was originally introduced into
Ireland cannot be ascertained. Nor is it to be wondered at, that, while
the first establishment of Christian Churches in Britain, Gaul, and
Spain, is enveloped in obscurity, a similar difficulty should meet
those seeking the origin of the Irish Church. Palladius, according
to Prosper, was the first bishop sent from Rome to Ireland. He was a
deacon of the Roman Church, who had already distinguished himself by
his exertions in delivering Britain from the Pelagian heresy. From this
and other circumstances, it seems probable that he was a native of that
country. He was consecrated bishop and sent into Ireland, accompanied
by some missionaries, four of whom, Sylvester, Solonius, Augustine, and
Benedict, are mentioned by name in some of the lives of S. Patrick. It
seems that his arrival was early in the year 431. The most authentic
accounts of his mission agree in stating that, besides having baptized
some persons, he erected three churches; and the news of his success,
perhaps magnified in its transit, excited such a confident assurance in
Rome of his complete conquest of the island to the Cross, that Prosper
did not hesitate to say that, through the exertion of pope Celestine,
Ireland was become a Christian country. This book "Against Cassian,"
was written not long after the mission of Palladius, and before he had
heard of the reverses which that pioneer of the Gospel had met with.
The success Palladius had met with alarmed the heathen, and he was
denounced to the king of that part of Ireland in which he then was, as
a dangerous person, and he was ordered to quit the country. He sailed
from Ireland towards the latter end of the same year, 431, in which
he had landed, and arriving in Britain, died, not long after, as is
commonly reported, at Fordun, in the district of Mearns, in Scotland.
The great work of the general conversion of the people of Ireland was
reserved for the ministry of S. Patrick, according to the Irish adage
that, "Not to Palladius, but to Patrick, did God grant the conversion
of Ireland."
The variety of opinions, and the many questions that have been
agitated, concerning the country and time of the birth of S. Patrick,
render it necessary to clear up these disputed points before proceeding
with the main story of his life. It would be a waste of time to examine
all the various opinions, that have been started on this subject, such
as his having been born in Cornwall, in Pembrokeshire,[51] or, what
is strangest of all, in Ireland itself. The prevalent opinion since
Usher's time has been that he was born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton.
Usher was led astray by the scholiast on Fiech's hymn. Fiech says
that S. Patrick was born at Nemthur (the holy tower) in Britain, and
the scholiast identified this place with Alcwith, now Dumbarton.
The scholiast guessed this, not knowing that the term Britain also
applied to the whole of the North of Gaul, inhabited by the Armorican
Gauls.[52] Indeed Probus calls S. Patrick's country, and the town where
his family lived, Arimuric, or Armorica. In the life of S. Fursey,
we are told that this saint crossed the sea into the province of
Britain, and proceeded through Ponthieu. Now Ponthieu is a maritime
tract in Picardy, near Boulogne; and it is also to be observed that
this district is said in the life of S. Fursey "to be called by the
moderns Normandy." But S. Patrick in his confession says, "My father
was Calpurnius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest, of the town of
Bonavem Taberniæ. He had near the town a small villa Enon, where I
became a captive." Bonavem (Ben-avon, _British_, the headland above the
river) is the modern Boulogne-sur-mer, and the district of Taberniæ is
Terouanne, in which it is situated. Boulogne was the Bonona[53] of the
Romans, and its Gallic name Ben-avon, exactly describes its situation
on the summit of a hill. On the very edge of the cliff, a little east
of the port, are the remains of the tower built by Caligula (A.D. 40),
when he marched to the shore of the channel with an army of 100,000
men, boasting that he intended to invade the opposite coast of Britain,
but contenting himself with gathering a few shells, which he called the
spoils of the ocean. The tower is supposed to have been intended for
a lighthouse, and its modern name La Tour d'Orde, a corruption of
_Turris Ardens_, points it out as having been used for this purpose.
A very good case is, however, made out for a site on the Roman Wall,
in which case Patrick would be the son of one of the Roman colonists
or defenders of the wall, and a native of Cumberland. In his epistle
against Coroticus, S. Patrick tells us he was of an honourable family
according to the flesh, his father having held the office of decurion,
which conferred a certain amount of nobility. Clerks were not then
forbidden to hold such offices. He calls the Romans his fellow
citizens, and this circumstance, coupled with the fact, that the names
of S. Patrick, of his father, and of his grandfather, are purely Latin,
points to the conclusion that the family was of Roman extraction; but
his mother, whose name was Conchessa, was the daughter of Erkbalius, or
Ocbasius, (Erkbald?) a Frank.
[51] A Welsh tradition claims S. Patrick as the son of Mawon of Gower,
in Glamorganshire.
[52] The Morini occupied this part of Gaul; the name signifies their
maritime position, as does Amorica, the district "by the sea." The
ancient Amorica stretched along the whole of the north coast of Gaul;
but the Norman invasion and settlement cut the two Celtic peoples of
the Bretons and Morini apart.
[53] This name, about the time of Constantine, supplanted the older
Latin name of Gessoriacum.
[Illustration: S. PATRICK. After Cahier.
March 17.]
His birth took place about the year 387, for at his consecration to the
episcopate, a person divulged a fault he had committed thirty years
before, when a boy of fifteen; and he was consecrated at the end of
431, or the beginning of 432; when the news of the death of Palladius
reached him.
When S. Patrick was sixteen years old, Nial Navigiallach, or Nial of
the Nine Hostages, an Irish king, in ravaging the coasts of Great
Britain and Gaul, entered the port of Bonona, in 403, and carried
off S. Patrick and many other youths captive. On being brought to
Ireland, S. Patrick became the servant or slave of a man named Miliac,
or Milcho, who lived in Dalrhidia, which is now comprised within the
county of Antrim. Some say that he was a prince; others that he was
a _magus_, that is, invested with a religious function; and others
represent him only as a rich man. S. Patrick calls his master merely
"a man," without adding anything concerning his situation in life.
With that profound humility, which every line written by this truly
great saint breathes, he tells us that he had been very careless about
religion when a boy; but that, when he found himself in the misery of
slavery, God opened his eyes to behold the wondrous things of His law.
His occupation was to tend sheep on the wild brown bogs; and amidst
snow, frost, or rain, he rose before daylight, that he might "prevent
the day-break" with his prayers.[54]
[54] An instance of the way in which later writers have amplified the
incidents may here be given. Probus adds that he diligently perused
the psalter and hymns, and Jocelin that he read the whole psalter
through every day. "As if," says Dr. Lanigan, "he could have found
books containing them in the North of Ireland at that period, or, when
suddenly made a prisoner, had time to provide himself with religious
tracts, or, while still a careless boy, was anxious about them."
One night, after he had been in service for six years, as he slept, he
heard a voice cry to him, "Thou fastest well, and soon shalt return
to thy country." Presently once more the voice said, "Behold, a ship
is ready for thee." He tells this story himself. Moreover he heard
that the ship was far off on the coast, a great many miles from where
he then lived. So he betook himself to flight. "And by God's power,"
he adds, "I came to a good end;[55] and I was under no apprehension
until I reached the ship. She was then clearing out and I asked for
a passage. The master of the vessel angrily bade me not think of
going with him. On hearing this I retired to the hut where I had been
received and lodged, and on my way prayed. But, before I had finished
my prayer, I heard one of the men shouting after me, 'Come along! they
are asking for thee.' So I returned immediately. And they said, 'Come,
we will take thee on trust, (_i.e._, on the chance of getting paid the
fare on reaching Bononia); we are about to sail, and hope to reach land
in three days.'"
[55] "Et veni ... ad bonum," according to the Bollandists ought to be
"ad Benam," that is to Bantry Bay.
They at once set sail, and reached the coast of Gaul in three days, at
Treguier, in Brittany. They travelled for twenty-eight days through a
country rendered desolate by the ravages of the Franks. Whilst on their
way, he and his fellow travellers were near perishing for want of food;
and then the master of the ship or merchant, who had received Patrick
and given him a passage, and who was now travelling along the same road
with his wares, exclaimed, "Christian! thy God is powerful. Pray for
us, for we are starving." The saint desired them to turn with faith
to the Lord, and he prayed, and suddenly a drove of swine appeared
crashing through the bushes, and they chased and killed many of them,
and halted two days to recover and refresh themselves. The merchants
gave thanks to the God of Patrick, and shortly after, finding some
wild honey, they gave him a part, saying, "This is an offering. God be
thanked."
A very curious story of this journey is told by the saint in his
Confession. Having feasted on the pork, after long hunger, the natural
result was an attack of night-mare, that same night, which he says
seemed to him in his dream like Satan rolling a great rock upon his
chest. In an ecstasy of fear he screamed out "Elias, Elias!" and
thereupon he says, "Lo! the splendour of the sun shone on me, and
dispelled all the burden on me." Dr. Lanigan says this is evidence
of his invoking a saint. There can be little doubt that every
well-instructed Christian of the time would have invoked a saint,
but it seems probable here that this was not an invocation of the
prophet Elias, but an invocation common perhaps among the heathen
and half-converted Roman settlers, of "Helios!" the sun, which had
passed into an exclamation; and this will explain the passage which
immediately follows about the sun at once shining upon him. Patrick
at this time was not well instructed in Christianity, and he had been
stolen as a thoughtless boy from his home, before his education was
complete, or his mind had turned to the truths of Christianity. In his
old age he related this anecdote of himself, but it is impossible to
conclude from the context what he meant by the exclamation.
S. Patrick reached home about the year 409, and remained there for a
while. He was then aged twenty-two. Perhaps it was soon after this that
he went to Tours and studied for four years. He then returned home to
Bonona, and was again made captive, probably by a roving band of Frank
marauders; but his captivity was of short duration, lasting only sixty
days. His friends entreated him not to leave them, after all he had
endured, but he relates that he saw in a vision of the night a man
named Victoricius[56] bringing him a letter, at the head of which were
the words, "The voice of the Irish." And then he thought he heard the
cry of many persons from one of the Irish forests, where they strayed
in darkness and error, "We entreat thee, O holy boy, come and walk
still in the midst of us!" And greatly affected, Patrick awoke.
[56] Probably S. Victricius, one of the apostles of the Morini,
afterwards bishop of Rouen.
About the year 418, he placed himself under the direction of S. Germain
of Auxerre. After this period it is difficult, if not impossible,
to arrange correctly the succeeding transactions of his life, until
near the time of his mission. Nine years he spent in retirement in
an island which has been conjectured to be Lerins. It was during the
same interval, that S. Patrick accompanied S. Germain and S. Lupus of
Troyes in their spiritual expedition to Great Britain, in the year
429, for the purpose of extirpating the Pelagian heresy, which had
taken root in that island. This is stated in some accounts of S.
Patrick's proceedings; and the lives, though they are silent about
it, give nothing which might tend to invalidate it SS. Germain and
Lupus returned to Gaul at Easter, in 430. It is very probable that the
information which they might have obtained, during their residence
in Great Britain, concerning the wants of the Irish Christians, was
communicated to pope Celestine, who either had already determined
on sending a bishop to Ireland, or was advised to do so by these
prelates. And who was better calculated to take part in this mission
than Patrick, who had lived six years in Ireland, and had acquired a
sufficient knowledge of the language of that country? In 431, he was
sent to Rome by S. Germain, recommended by him to the pope as a person
fit to be employed in the work, of which Palladius was appointed the
chief. Whether he arrived in Rome before Palladius set out, or not long
after, cannot be ascertained. From the pope he received a benediction
for the great mission which he was about to undertake; but he does not
appear to have received episcopal ordination at Rome, for Palladius
was already consecrated, and the news of his banishment had not as yet
arrived. It appears, also, from the "Confession" of S. Patrick that
he was consecrated not far from his own country. The account of S.
Patrick's consecration by Celestine is not to be met with in any of
the lives except those two compilations of legendary matter, Jocelin's
and the Tripartite; whence it made its way into certain Breviaries. S.
Patrick left Rome either late in 431, or early in 432. He was perhaps
accompanied by Auxilius and Serenus or Iserninus. These were certainly
afterwards in Ireland with S. Patrick, but whether they accompanied him
from Rome, or were selected by him from among his acquaintance in Gaul,
cannot be ascertained; and it is not certain that they came to Ireland
till some years later.
We next hear of Patrick at Eboria (Eborica), Evreux, where he heard
the news of the failure of the mission of Palladius. On receiving this
information, it became necessary for him to be consecrated, and for
this purpose he applied to a bishop resident in the neighbourhood,
and from him received episcopal orders. His relations and friends
hurried to Evreux to prevent his ordination; he was insensible to
their entreaties, and then, hoping to raise a prejudice against him, a
friend divulged a fault Patrick had committed when a boy. But all their
efforts were in vain, for God was with him, and had marked him out for
his great work.
Everything being arranged, S. Patrick embarked, probably at the mouth
of the Seine, and had a prosperous voyage to Great Britain. According
to Probus and some of the lives he crossed that country without
stopping on the way.
He landed in Wicklow some time after April in 432. Pope Celestine was
dead, and Sixtus III. sat in the Chair of S. Peter. Having landed,
Patrick went to a place in the neighbourhood which cannot now be
identified, and being repulsed by the natives, was obliged again to go
on board his ship. He landed again at Lecale in the county of Down.
A herdsman, thinking it was a party of marauders, ran to the lord of
the district, named Dichu, and informed him of the arrival of a party
of strangers. Dichu armed his retainers and hasted to the shore,
but the peaceable appearance of the missioners disarmed him, and he
brought them to his house, which was at the place now called Saul, and
hospitably entertained them. There the saint had an opportunity of
announcing to him the Christian faith, and Dichu was the first-fruits
of his mission. All his family followed his example, and likewise
became Christians; and S. Patrick celebrated divine worship in the barn
of Dichu, which in after times became known as Sabhall Padruic, or the
Barn of Patrick; and in after years it was converted into a church, and
a monastery was attached to it.
S. Patrick did not remain many days at the house of Dichu, and left his
ship or boat in the care of this new convert, until he should return.
He then set out by land for the place where his old master, Milcho,
lived. He was an obstinate unbeliever, and on hearing of S. Patrick's
approach, was determined not to see and receive him.[57]
[57] An instance of the rodomontade of some of the later lives may be
quoted here. They say that to escape S. Patrick's persuasive eloquence
only one way lay open to him, to set fire to his house and furniture
and property, and precipitate himself into the flames. As a specimen
of the absurdity of some of the legends, the following will suffice. A
robber stole one of S. Patrick's goats and ate it. S. Patrick called
his goat, and it bleated to him out of the man's belly.
S. Patrick, finding his efforts for the conversion of Milcho
unavailing, returned to the district in which Dichu resided, and
remained there for several days, preaching the Gospel with great
success. One of his principal converts on this occasion was Ross, son
of Trichem, who lived near the present town of Downpatrick. In this
neighbourhood he met a youth, called Mochoe, whom, after instruction,
he baptized and tonsured, thus dedicating him to the ecclesiastical
state. He also gave him the book of the Gospels and some sacred
vessels. This must not, however, be understood as having all taken
place during the present stay of S. Patrick at Lecale.
S. Patrick resolved on celebrating the Easter of 433 near Tarah, where
the princes and nobles of the whole kingdom were to be assembled
about that time. He, therefore, left his friend and convert, Dichu,
and sailing southwards, arrived at Colp, in the mouth of the Boyne,
and leaving his boat there, set out with his companions on foot for
the plain of Bry, in which the city of Tarah was situated. On their
way they passed the night in the house of a man of substance, named
Seschuen, who became obedient to the faith, and was baptized, with all
his house, by S. Patrick. A son of his, whom at his baptism our saint,
considering his sweet disposition, called Benignus, became so attached
to him that he insisted on accompanying S. Patrick, and he became one
of the saint's most favourite disciples, and was afterwards consecrated
archbishop of Armagh. It is not, however, to be supposed that the
baptism of Seschuen and his family was accomplished on that occasion,
but probably took place after the Paschal solemnity, which was near at
hand.
On Easter-eve, S. Patrick arrived at Slane. He pitched his tent,
and made preparations for celebrating the festival of Easter, and
accordingly lighted the Paschal fire about night-fall. It happened
that at this very time the king Leogaire (Lear) and the assembled
princes were celebrating a religious festival in honour of the return
of the sun to power and heat. Part of the ritual of this festival
consisted in every fire being extinguished for some days previous,
that all might be relighted from the sacred fire in the palace or
temple of Temora, on Tarah hill, which was kindled on a certain day,
now near at hand. Twilight had settled over the great plain, and all
men waited for the red flame to shoot up on Tarah hill, a signal that
the festival was begun, and that all might rekindle their hearth fires
from the consecrated blaze. But a spark shone out far away on the
plain, from the tent of Patrick, and consternation at this sacrilege
and infringement of precedent became general. The king at once galloped
to Slane, followed by a crowd, and accompanied by two priests, who
assured him that unless this fire were extinguished, it would overpower
their fires, and bring the kingdom to its downfall. On arriving within
a short distance of the tent and fire, the king dismounted, seated
himself, ordered his followers to seat themselves, and not to rise
or show any respect to the violator of their laws, and then ordered
Patrick to be brought before him. On his presenting himself, one
alone rose and saluted him, breaking the king's command; this was the
little lad Herc, son of Drogo, and the saint thereupon blessed him. He
was afterwards bishop of Slane, and celebrated for his sanctity. He
was ordered to declare his object in coming to Ireland, and contend
with the wise men, or priests, next day. On Easter-day, therefore, he
preached before the king and his nobles, and strove with the captious
objections of the Wise-men. It was then, probably, when explaining
the mystery of the Trinity, and when questioned as to the triple
Personality of the One God, that he stooped and plucked a shamrock, and
exhibited it as a symbol of the Catholic doctrine of the Triune God.[58]
[58] Jocelin tells some absurd stories about his contest with the Magi
or Wise-men. He relates how that one of them, Lochu, a great friend
of the king, to show the power of his religion, rose in the air, as
though ascending to the skies. Then Patrick prayed, and angelic hands
flung a snow-ball at him out of heaven, which knocked him down, head
foremost, on a sharp stone at Patrick's feet, and that was the end of
him. Another miracle was as follows:--A house was built, one-half of
green wood, the other of dry timber. A Magus was vested in S. Patrick's
chasuble, and placed in the green wood part of the house; and Benignus
in the Magus's habit in that part which was of dry wood. The house was
set on fire. The green timber was burnt, with the Magus, but not the
chasuble; the dry timber would not burn, and Benignus escaped, only his
coat was reduced to ashes.
Passing over certain contests between S. Patrick and the Wise-men,
which are absurd parodies of those between Moses and the Egyptian
enchanters, we find Dubtach, an eminent bard, boldly submitting to
the faith, and dedicating his poetic talents to Christ. Some of his
works are still extant. The king was not converted, but he permitted
Patrick to preach freely the Word of God. From Tarah the saint
proceeded to Tailten, where public games were celebrated; and it seems
that the chiefs lately assembled for the religious solemnity at Tarah
had adjourned thither. The apostle preached to Carlre, a brother of
Leogaire, but was badly received by him. The conduct of Conall, another
brother, was different; he listened to S. Patrick with delight,
believed, and was baptized. To this memorable Easter week, which was
the first that occurred since the saint's arrival on his mission, must
be referred the origin of the festival of "S. Patrick's Baptism,"
anciently held in Ireland on April 5th.
Henceforth it becomes extremely difficult and next to impossible to
arrange, with chronological accuracy, the subsequent transactions of
S. Patrick's mission. After having celebrated Easter week, he set out
on the following Monday for other places in Meath, in which he seems
to have passed a considerable time. He tells us in his Confession,
that to gain the goodwill of the chieftains, he used to make presents
to them, and take some of their sons with him to educate them. When
on the point of quitting for some time these parts of Ireland, after
having established many flourishing colonies of Christians, and
ordained priests to minister to them, he turned a little northward for
the purpose of destroying the Crom-cruach (crooked-heap), a monument
dedicated to the sun; probably a great Druidical pile of stones,
superposed on uprights, standing in a plain near Feanagh, in the county
of Leitrim. After this, probably in 435, he set out for Connaught,
and crossing the Shannon, arrived at Dumha-graidh, where a remarkable
incident occurred.
As he was advancing into the plain of Connaught, he stopped with
his companions at a fountain near the royal residence Cruachan (now
Croghan, near Elphin), and at break of day began to chant the praises
of the Lord.
Ethnea the fair, and Fethlima the ruddy, daughters of king Leogaire,
were there, and had come very early to the fountain for the purpose of
washing themselves, when, looking up, they saw men clothed in white
garments, holding books in their hands, advance, chanting. The damsels,
full of wonder, asked them what manner of men they were, and Patrick
seized the opportunity of announcing to them the true God. They asked
him many strange questions, as to where God dwelt, whether he was rich,
and young or old, and how he was to be revered; and Patrick explained
to them the principal truths of the Christian religion in answer to
their questions. Delighted with his discourse, they declared themselves
ready to adopt this new and wondrous creed, so beautiful and awful,
and besought the stranger to instruct them further. He did so, and on
their having professed their belief in the doctrines he had propounded,
he baptized them. Then they told him that they desired to see, face to
face, that dear Lord who had come on earth for them on Mary's knee, and
had died on Calvary top so cruel a death; so Patrick explained to them
that great answer of the heart of Jesus to the heart of man, crying to
see Him--the Eucharistic Presence.
"Give us the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ," they asked,
"that we may be freed from the corruption of the flesh, and see our
Spouse who is in heaven."
Then S. Patrick celebrated Mass, and communicated them. He proceeded
west to Sligo and Roscommon, making many converts, and building
several churches, to which he attached priests. In Lent, he ascended
Croagh Aigle, now Croagh Padrig, in Mayo, for meditation and prayer.
He preached at Firawley to an assembly of seven princes, and baptized
them and 1,200 of their subjects. Passing through North Connaught, he
continued his course through West Cashel, to Ulster. Thus ended his
mission in Connaught, which lasted seven years. In 443, he entrusted
bishop Secundinus, who, with Iserninus and Auxilius, had received
consecration in Great Britain or Gaul, with the oversight of his
converts in Meath and North Ireland, while he went on a mission through
East Leinster and Munster.
In Leinster he baptized two princes. In Wicklow he was ill-received
by prince Deichin, but was hospitably entertained by Killan, a poor
man, who slew his only cow to feed Patrick and his followers. Dubtach
having recommended Fiech, his pupil in bardic lore, as a fit person
for ordination, Fiech received the tonsure and books for study from S.
Patrick, and afterwards became chief bishop of the district, and fixed
his seat at Sletty.
Entering Munster, in 445, S. Patrick went straight to Cashel; and
the king came forth to meet him. His son Ængus was converted, and
afterwards baptized, when he came to the throne on the death of his
father. During the performance of the Sacrament, as the bishop raised
his hands above the head of the king, he allowed his pastoral staff to
fall unintentionally on the foot of Ængus, and the sharp point wounded
him. The king made no remark, but bore the pain without flinching,
supposing this act formed a portion of the ceremony.[59]
[59] This was too good a story for Jocelin not to spoil it. So he
relates, in contradiction to the other historians, that the king felt
no pain, and the wound was miraculously healed on S. Patrick resuming
his staff.
S. Patrick here made many converts. He spent seven years in Munster,
and set out, in 432, to return to Leinster. He was followed by many
chieftains, and by much people, desiring his parting blessing, and to
take a last look of the dear face of him who had brought them out of
darkness into the clear light of the glorious Gospel of Christ. Moved
by their love, Patrick ascended a hill, and spreading forth his arms,
gave his apostolic benediction to the whole of Munster. Thus was he
parted from their sight in the act of blessing, like to his Divine
Master, who ascended out of His disciples' sight, with his hands
extended in benediction.
During his stay in Munster, Secundinus had died, the first bishop who
had expired in Ireland. An alphabetical hymn, in honour of S. Patrick
is, with good reason, attributed to him.
About the same time also, Cerotian, or Caradoc, a Welsh prince, made a
descent on the coast, and carried off captives. This called forth from
S. Patrick a letter, which is still extant. The particulars of this
inroad have been elsewhere related (March 23rd, S. Fingar), and need
not be repeated here.
Neither need we repeat here the escape of S. Patrick from a chieftain
in Leinster who sought his death, through the generous self-sacrifice
of his charioteer, Odran (Feb. 19th).
When S. Patrick reached Sabhall, his favourite retreat in Ulster, he
would not take that rest he so much needed, but spent his time in
completing the conversion of the natives, and building churches. But
the time had come for fixing on a spot for a metropolitan see. He,
therefore, went through the land, and coming into the district where
is the present Armagh, a man, named Macka, offered him a site on an
eminence. There he built a church and a monastery. A legend in the
Book of Armagh is too good not to be true; it could hardly have been
invented. According to this book, the owner of the hill was one Daeri,
and Patrick having set his heart on the site, asked for it; but it was
refused, and a portion of the valley offered him instead. One day the
noble brought to S. Patrick a large cauldron of foreign manufacture,
and presented it to him, saying, "There! this cauldron is thine."
"Gratias agam (I thank thee)," answered the saint in Latin. Daeri went
home muttering, "What a fool that fellow is to say only 'Gratzacham,'
for a wonderful cauldron containing three firkins. Ho! slaves, go and
fetch it back to me again." So the thralls went and brought back the
vessel. "Well, what said he to you, churls?" "He said 'Gratzacham'
again," they replied, "Gratzacham when I give, and Gratzacham when I
take away! The saying is so good, that for these Gratzachams he shall
have his cauldron back again. Ho! slaves, take the vessel back to
Patrick." Daeri accompanied the cauldron, and praised the saint for his
imperturbable self-possession; and then, in a fit of good-nature, gave
him the hill which he had at first refused him. Patrick went forth to
view the site, and found a roe with her fawn lying on the place where
the altar of the Northern Church now is. His companions would have
killed it, but the saint raised the fawn and laid it on his shoulders,
and the roe trotted after him, till he laid the fawn down in another
place.
He held two Synods at Armagh, at which canons for the whole of Ireland
were drawn up.
S. Patrick having thus established the see of Armagh, spent the
remainder of his life between it and his favourite retreat of Sabhul
or Saul. He may have made excursions to some of the districts adjacent
to both places; but we do not find any account that can be depended
upon, of his having thenceforth visited again the other provinces of
Ireland, much less of having undertaken any long journey. For we are
not to listen to Jocelin, who says that he then set out for Rome with
the intention of getting the privileges of the new metropolis confirmed
by the Holy See; and that when he arrived there, the pope decorated
him with the pallium, and appointed him his legate in Ireland. This
pretended tour to Rome, and the concomitant circumstances are all
set aside by the testimony of S. Patrick himself, who gives us to
understand that from the commencement of his mission he constantly
remained in Ireland, until he published his Confession, which was not
written till after the foundation of Armagh; and that he did not leave
it afterwards is equally plain, from his telling us that he was afraid
to be out of Ireland even for as much time as would serve for paying a
visit to his relations, because in that case he would be disobeying the
orders of Christ, who had commanded him to stay among the Irish for
the remainder of his life.
A singular fact is related as having occurred about the time of the
building of Armagh, which shows how strictly the fasting rules were
observed by the ancient Irish. One of the disciples of S. Patrick,
named Colman, having been one day greatly fatigued by getting in the
harvest, became exceedingly thirsty, but from fear of breaking the
rule of fasting till vesper-time, would not taste a drop of water. The
consequence was that he died of exhaustion. Had the saint been apprized
of the danger in which Colman was, he would certainly have dispensed
with his observance of the rule on this occasion.
At length we come to the last days of S. Patrick. In his extreme
old age he wrote his Confession, and he seems to have felt that his
dissolution was close at hand, for he concludes with these words: "And
this is my confession before I die"; and provides how the work is to
be carried on after his death. He had been through every province of
Ireland, and he speaks of the bulk of the nation as then Christian, and
of his having ordained clergy everywhere. His object in writing it was
to return thanks to the Almighty for his singular mercies to himself
and to the Irish people, and to confirm them in their faith, by proving
that God had assisted him in a most remarkable way. He also wished that
all the world, and particularly his relatives on the continent, who
had so urgently opposed his going to Ireland, should know how that the
Almighty had prospered his handiwork. For this reason he composed his
book in Latin, apologizing, however, for the rudeness of the style; for
his long sojourn in Ireland, and constant use of the Erse language, had
blunted his ease in expressing himself in his native tongue.
He was at Saul when attacked with his last illness. Perceiving that his
departure was at hand, he desired to go to Armagh, there to breathe
his last and lay his bones. But he is said to have been arrested on his
way thither by an angel, who ordered him to return to Saul. Be this as
it may, to that place he went back, and there he died seven days after,
on the 17th March, A.D. 465.[60] In Fiech's hymn we read that his
soul joined that of another Patrick, and that they proceeded together
to heaven. In this singular passage the author alludes to a second
Patrick, who, as he supposed, died just about the same time. Who this
Patrick was we do not know.
[60] This is the date assigned by Dr. Lanigan. Dr. Todd is certainly
wrong in giving 493.
It is curious to notice a mistake which has crept into some
martyrologies, where we find a Patrick, bishop of Avernia, or Auvergne,
mentioned on March 16th. But no such a Patrick is known in Auvergne;
and this Patrick is simply due to a mistake of some copyist, who
wrote Avernia for Hivernia or Hibernia, and so got his name into the
martyrologies as a separate saint, and, to avoid confusion, this
Patrick of Auvergne was placed on a different day.
There was also, or was supposed to be, a Patrick Senior, who is
commemorated on August 4th. This Patrick, according to Ranulph of
Chester (Polychronicron, lib. v. c. 4) was an Irish abbot, who in 850
retired to Glastonbury, and there died on the 25th of August. But that
being S. Bartholomew's day there, his festival was put back to the day
before. A great confusion arose, partly from this and partly from S.
Patrick being spoken of in the Annals as Sen Patrick, or Senex Patrick,
the old man Patrick, dying in 458.[61] Now, some of the writers of the
Lives were determined to give to S. Patrick a long life, equal to that
of Moses, just as they made the contest of Moses and the magicians a
model for a contest of Patrick and the Wise-men; so they made this Sen
Patrick into a Patrick the elder, distinct from the great apostle. And
this mistake has found its way into the catalogues of the archbishops
of Armagh, which has, besides S. Patrick, a namesake of his surnamed
_Senior_. But this subject has been further obscured by the fables
concerning Glastonbury, as the monks there, having a body of a Patrick
of Ireland, supposed or pretended that it was the body of the great S.
Patrick, and they asserted that he had come over to Glastonbury, and
had died and been buried there. The Irish writers finding themselves
puzzled by these Glastonbury stories, and unwilling to allow the
Glastonians the honour of having among them the remains of S. Patrick,
endeavoured to compromise the matter by giving them, instead of the
apostle, Sen-Patrick, or Patrick Senior. This, however, was not what
those monks wished for. They insisted on having the right S. Patrick,
and him alone they understood by the name of Patrick Senior.
[61] And in some of the most ancient lives, which speak of S. Patrick
at the end of his career as Sen-Patrick, the old man Patrick.
As soon as the news of the saint's death had spread throughout Ireland,
the clergy flocked from all quarters to celebrate his funeral. This
they did with extraordinary pomp and great profession of lights,
insomuch that for a considerable time, during which the obsequies were
continued, both day and night, we are told, darkness was dispelled,
and the whole time seemed one continuous day. This expression of
the ancient hymn of Fiech has given source to a legend that on this
eventful occasion the sun went not down, but real daylight lasted for
the whole function. It is said that a furious contest was very near
breaking out concerning the place in which S. Patrick's remains should
be deposited. To prevent bloodshed, matters were providentially so
managed that his body was interred at Down. It is said to have been
discovered and translated in 1185.
In art, S. Patrick is usually represented expelling serpents and
other reptiles from the island with his pastoral staff, or holding a
shamrock leaf. He is said to have had the golden rod of Jesus, given
him by a hermit in Gaul, wherewith he smote and slew the Peishta-More,
or Monster of the Lakes, and this is also frequently represented in art.
S. GERTRUDE, V. ABSS. OF NIVELLES.
(A.D. 664.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede, Usuardus, and Ado. German,
Gallican, and Belgian Martyrologies commemorate the elevation of her
relics on Feb. 10th; and the translation on May 30th and April 10th.
Authorities:--A Life, by an eye-witness of her acts, apparently a
canon or chaplain of the monastery. He says, "I have endeavoured in
writing to narrate what I have seen myself or heard from trustworthy
witnesses." Another Life, written in polished style from the testimony
of Rinchin, an acquaintance of S. Gertrude.]
S. Gertrude was the daughter of the B. Pepin of Landen (Feb. 21st) and
S. Itta or Iduberga (May 8th). Her brother, Grimoald, succeeded her
father. Her sister, S. Begga (Dec. 17th), who married duke Ansigis, and
became the mother of Pepin, the father of Charles Martel. S. Aldegund
(Jan. 30th), and S. Waltrudis (April 9th), the wife of S. Vincent (July
14th), were also relatives of hers.
[Illustration: S. GERTRUDE OF NIVELLES. After Cahier.
March 17.]
Dagobert, king of the Franks, who had made Pepin of Landen mayor of
the palace, asked him to allow him to give Gertrude in marriage to a
young Frank nobleman. The father hesitated, knowing that his daughter
desired to lead the religious life, and the king seeing his reluctance
to force his daughter to a match for which she was not inclined,
sent for Gertrude herself, then aged about ten, and endeavoured to
persuade her to accept the hand offered her. But Gertrude resolutely
refused, declaring that she would have no other bridegroom but Jesus
Christ. The king dismissed the child, and she returned to her mother,
who educated her in the love and fear of God. On the death of
Pepin, in 646, Iduberga, following the advice of S. Amandus, bishop of
Maestricht, built the celebrated convent of Nivelles, and retired into
it with her daughter, then aged fourteen. They were soon followed by
a numerous company of maidens, and a community was formed, to which
the blessed Iduberga gave rules. The sisters were called canonesses,
and Iduberga appointed her daughter abbess. Thus the mother obeyed the
child. The holy woman spent twelve years in this peaceful retreat, and
died in the odour of sanctity. After her mother's death, Gertrude made
some alterations in the community. She instituted canons, who should
attend to the temporal affairs of the house, whilst she devoted herself
to the internal government of the sisterhood, and their spiritual
training. For this latter purpose Gertrude devoted herself especially
to the study of Holy Scripture, and nearly learnt the whole by heart.
She also built hospitals for the reception of pilgrims, widows, and
orphans, and entrusted the discipline of them to the canons and
canonesses of her community.
After having spent many years in the practice of every virtue, feeling
a great langour come over her, so that she was unable to discharge
her duties with that activity which had been so conspicuous in her
government of the house, she resigned the office of superior, and
created her niece, S. Wilfetrudis, abbess in her place. Wilfetrudis
was aged twenty; she had been brought up by S. Gertrude, who had made
of her a mirror of perfection. Gertrude now redoubled her austerities,
wore a rough horsehair shirt, and adopted an old veil which a nun who
had lodged in the convent, on her way elsewhere, had left behind her,
deeming it too poor to be worth preserving. Gertrude cast it over her,
and bade the sisters bury her in it when she was dead. When she felt
that her hour was approaching, she sent one of her canons to the
monastery of Fosse, in the diocese of Liége, to ask S. Ultan, brother
of SS. Fursey and Forillan, when she must die. The saint replied to
the messenger, "To-morrow, during the celebration of the holy Mass,
Gertrude, the spouse of Jesus Christ, will depart this life, to
enjoy that which is eternal. Tell her not to fear, for S. Patrick,
accompanied by blessed angels, will receive her soul into glory." And
it was so, that after she had received extreme unction, and the priest
was reciting the prayers before the preface in the holy Sacrifice, on
the morrow, the second Sunday in Lent, she breathed forth her pure soul.
Her relics are preserved to this day at Nivelles, together with
a goblet (Patera Nivigellensis), in which the custom to drink to
the honour of S. Gertrude (Sinte Geerts-Minne). From the saint
having established large hospices for the reception of pilgrims and
travellers, whom she entertained with great liberality, arose the
custom of travellers drinking a stirrup cup to her honour before
starting on their journey. She became the patroness of travellers.
Then, by a curious popular superstition, she was supposed to harbour
souls on their way to paradise. It was said that this was a three
days' journey. The first night they lodged with S. Gertrude, the
second with S. Gabriel, and the third was in Paradise. She, therefore,
became the patroness and protector of departed souls. Next, because
popular Teutonic superstition regarded mice and rats as symbols of
souls, the rat and mouse became characteristics of S. Gertrude, and
she is represented in art accompanied by one of these animals. Then,
by a strange transition, when the significance of the symbol was lost,
she was supposed to be a protectress against rats and mice, and the
water of her well in the crypt at Nivelles was distributed for the
purpose of driving away these vermin. In the chapel of S. Gertrude,
which anciently stood in the enclosure of the castle of Moha, near
Huy, little cakes were distributed, which were supposed to banish
mice. For long the right to distribute these cakes belonged to the
Jesuits; after the suppression of that order, the Augustinians of Huy
usurped the right, but it was resisted by the curé of Moha, who claimed
the privilege as belonging to the parochial clergy. The chapel was
destroyed at the French Revolution, and with it the custom disappeared.
In order to explain the significance of the mouse in pictures of S.
Gertrude, when both of these meanings were abandoned, it was related
that she was wont to become so absorbed in prayer that a mouse would
play about her, and run up her pastoral staff, without attracting her
attention.
S. WITHBURGA, V.
(A.D. 743.)
[Some ancient martyrologies, others on July 8th. Authority:--The Ely
Chronicle, and a Life supposed to be by Goscelin, the historian of S.
Werburga.]
The royal race of the Uffings of East Anglia was remarkable for the
crowd of saints which it produced. King Anna, who married the sister
of Hilda, the celebrated abbess of Whitby, became father of three
daughters and a son. The son became in his turn the father of three
daughters, two of whom were in succession abbesses of Hackness in
Northumbria, founded by their grand-aunt S. Hilda, and the last,
Eadburga, became abbess of Repton.
The three daughters of Anna,--Etheldreda, Sexburga, and Withburga--are
all counted among the saints. Withburga was sent into the country to
be nursed, and remained there till she heard, while still quite young,
of her father's death on the battle-field. She resolved immediately
to seek a refuge for the rest of her life in claustral virginity.
She chose as her asylum a modest remnant of her father's lands at
East Dereham, in Norfolk, and there built a little monastery. But
she was so poor that she, her companions, and the masons who built
her future dwelling, had to live on dry bread alone. One day, after
she had prayed long to the blessed Virgin, she saw two does come out
of the neighbouring forest to drink at a stream whose pure current
watered the secluded spot. Their udders were heavy with milk, and they
permitted themselves to be milked by the virginal hands of Withburga's
companions, returning every day to the same place, and thus furnishing
a sufficient supply for the nourishment of the little community and its
workmen. This lasted till the ranger of the royal domains, a savage
and wicked man, who regarded with an evil eye the rising house of God,
undertook to hunt down the two helpful animals. He pursued them with
his dogs across the country, but, in attempting to leap a high hedge,
his horse was impaled on a post, and the hunter broke his neck.
Withburga ended her life in this poor and humble solitude; but the
fragrance of her gentle virtues spread far and wide. The fame of her
holiness went through all the surrounding country. The veneration given
to her by the people of Norfolk was maintained with the pertinacity
common to the Anglo-Saxon race, and went so far that, two centuries
after her death, they armed themselves to defend her relics from the
monks of Ely, who came, by the king's command, to unite them to those
of her sisters at Ely.
There still exists at East Dereham a well bearing the name of S.
Withburga. It is fed by a spring rising in the very place where the
saint's body was laid before its translation to Ely.
S. PAUL, M.
(ABOUT A.D. 760.)
[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menology. Authority:--The Acts of S.
Stephen the junior (Nov. 28th).]
In the furious persecution waged by Constantine Copronymus against
images and those who reverenced them, Paul, a Cypriot, was brought
before the governor of that island, Theophanes Lardotyrus, and was
ordered to choose whether he would stamp on a crucifix laid before him,
or suffer torture on the rack. In answer, he stooped and kissed the
image of his Master, saying, "Far be it from me, Lord Jesus Christ,
only begotten Son of God, to trample on Thy sacred representation." He
was at once stripped, pressed between two boards, his body torn with
iron combs, and then hung head downwards over a fire, which was heaped
about him, till he was consumed.
[Illustration: Portion of a Monstrance.]
March 18.
S. GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL.
S. ALEXANDER, _M.B. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 250.
SS. TEN THOUSAND MARTYRS, _at Nicomedia, 4th cent._
SS. TROPHIMUS AND EUCARPUS, _MM. at Nicomedia, circ._ A.D. 300.
SS. NARCISSUS, _B.M._, AND FELIX, _D.M. at Gerona, beginning of
4th cent._
S. CYRIL, _Patr. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 389.
S. FRIGIDIAN OR FINNIAN, _B. of Lucca_, A.D. 589.
S. TETRICUS, _B. of Langres_, A.D. 572.
S. EDWARD, _K.M. in England_, A.D. 978.
S. ANSELM, _B. of Lucca_, A.D. 1086.
S. GABRIEL, ARCHANGEL.
On this day is commemorated Gabriel the Archangel, who was sent to
announce to the Blessed Mary that she was to become the Mother of
God. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, and in those of the
Camaldoli, the Trinitarians, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, the
Augustinians, the Discalceate Carmelites, and the Servites.
S. ALEXANDER, M. B. OF JERUSALEM.
(A.D. 250.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, some editions of the Martyrology of Bede;
Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on December 12th. In the Breviary of
the Knights of S. John of Jerusalem, this festival is observed with
nine lections. His life is gathered from the ecclesiastical Hist. of
Eusebius.]
Alexander, a Cappadocian bishop, having come to Jerusalem to venerate
the holy places, was elected by revelation of God to take the see
of Jerusalem in place of Narcissus, who, on account of his extreme
old age, was unable to execute the functions of his office. In the
persecution of Decius, when Alexander was advanced in years, with white
hair, he was conducted to Cæsarea, where he was imprisoned, and died in
his dungeon.
S. NARCISSUS, M. B. OF GERONA.
(BEGINNING OF 4TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The "Conversio" of S. Afra, which
existed in the ninth century, but of no historical value.]
Narcissus, bishop of Gerona, being driven from his see in the
persecution of Diocletian, wandered homeless as far as Augsburg, where
finding that the Christians were mightily oppressed, and well nigh
exterminated, he and his deacon Felix, not knowing whither to take
refuge, received the hospitality offered them by a courtesan named
Afra.[62] And they not knowing who and what manner of woman she was
that invited them into her house, went in nothing doubting. Then Afra
marvelled what manner of men these were, who ate little, and spent
their time in prayer. And before they departed, she believed and
was baptized, with all her house. Now when nine months had elapsed,
Narcissus and his deacon, finding the violence of persecution had
abated, returned into Spain, and recommenced their work of converting
the heathen. The success of Narcissus so exasperated them that they
waylaid him and assassinated him. When king Philip of France took
Gerona, his soldiers pillaged the shrine of S. Narcissus, whereupon a
swarm of hornets issued from it and stung them. Consequently in art he
is represented with hornets issuing from his tomb. Relics at Gerona.
[62] In the Life of S. Afra (Aug. 5th), it will be shown that it is a
late mistake to call her a courtesan.
S. CYRIL, PATR. OF JERUSALEM.
(A.D. 389.)
[Roman, Greek, and Syriac Kalendars. Authorities:--Sozomen, Theodoret,
and his own writings.]
Cyril succeeded Maximus in the patriarchal see of Jerusalem, about the
year 350. The story that Maximus was deposed, and Cyril substituted by
Acacius, Bishop of Cæsarea, is inconsistent with probabilities, and
with the testimony borne by the second general Council to the canonical
regularity of his consecration. The other tale, which Jerome credited,
that Cyril obtained the see from Acacius on condition of disclaiming
the ordination which Maximus had bestowed, is utterly incredible, and
probably sprang from the prejudices of a rigid party which mistrusted
Cyril.
The paschal season of 351 was marked at Jerusalem by the luminous
appearance of a cross, which appeared in the sky over the city. It
produced a great impression, and S. Cyril sent an account of it to
Constantius.[63]
[63] The genuineness of this letter, in which he mentions also the
finding of the cross, has been doubted. One objection is that it
contains the word "consubstantial," which at that period Cyril would
hardly have used. But it is by no means improbable that this word was
interpolated by copyists, for the purpose of obtaining the authority of
Cyril for that term.
Cyril, a man of gentle spirit, eminently a peace-maker, was cast in
times of great difficulty. The Arian party was in power, through the
favour of the emperor; and a large number of prelates were semi-Arians;
not disbelieving in the divine nature of Christ as consubstantial with
the Father, but doubting the expedience of stating the doctrine in
plain words which could not be misunderstood. All who were timorous,
not thoroughly illumined with the Holy Spirit, and wanting in that
keenness of theological discrimination which makes doctors of the
Church, hesitated and temporised. It was inexpedient to take too harsh
an attitude towards these weak brethren, and drive them into the arms
of the Arians, and this Cyril felt. Firm in his own faith, deprecating
the injudicious fire of some Catholics who were resolved at all costs
to produce a rupture between those who walked in the clear light
of Catholic certainty, and those who fluttered in the twilight, he
laboured with words of conciliation to avert such a catastrophe.
At the end of 357, or the beginning of 358, an important change took
place at Jerusalem. For two years Cyril had been forced into opposition
to the demands of Acacius. He maintained for Jerusalem, as the mother
Church, possessing an "Apostolic throne," and marked out for honour in
the Nicene Council,[64] an independence of Cæsarea which Acacius would
not grant; and he was also obnoxious to Acacius on theological grounds,
as holding the orthodox doctrine.
[64] Canon VII. "Since a custom and old tradition has obtained, that
the bishop of Ælia (Jerusalem) should receive honour, let him hold the
second place, the metropolitan (of Cæsarea) being secured in his own
dignity."
Acacius now summoned a small council of bishops of his own party, which
Cyril declined to attend. This was regarded as contumacy; and he was
gravely accused of having committed an offence in selling some of the
church ornaments to provide food for the famine-stricken poor. Sozomen
says that he sold Church treasures and sacred veils. Theodoret mentions
a vestment of cloth of gold presented by Constantine to be worn by the
bishop when baptizing. Such an accusation does Cyril honour, and ranks
him with other illustrious prelates, Ambrose, Augustine, Exuperius,
Gregory the Great, Ethelwold of Winchester, who all in like manner
sanctioned the principle that the law of love is the highest law of
all. It is worth remark that in this case, as in that of S. John
Chrysostom, the alliance of a narrow formalism was found, not with
orthodoxy, but with heresy.
By the synod convened by Acacius, Cyril was condemned and expelled
from Jerusalem. He appealed, with more formality, as it appears,
than had been usual in such cases, to "a higher court;" proceeded to
Antioch, where he found that the patriarch Leontius was dead, and
that no one had been appointed his successor; and ultimately found
a welcome at Tarsus, where Silvanus, the bishop, one of the best of
the semi-Arians, received him, in disregard of the remonstrances from
Acacius. This circumstance brought Cyril, for the next few years, into
connection with the semi-Arian party; and he illustrates the fact that
it contained men of whom Athanasius could say, in his noble readiness
to discern substantial unity under verbal difference, "We do not treat
as enemies those who accept everything else that was defined at Nicæa,
and scruple only about the word consubstantial; for we do not attack
them as raging Arians, nor as men who fight against the fathers, but we
discuss the matter with them as brothers with brothers, who mean what
we mean, and differ only about the word."
Considerable excitement had been caused in Antioch in 350 by the
ordination of Aetius as deacon, by the patriarch Leontius. This man,
the most odious of the extreme Arians, had gone through many changes
of life, as a vinedresser's slave, a goldsmith, a medical man, a guest
and pupil of Arian bishops, and a professor of that disputatious
logic in which the heresy was at first embodied. He was the first to
affirm openly that the Son was essentially unlike the Father. Leontius
intended his diaconate to be a means of propagating Arianism. But
Flavian and Diodorus, the pillars of Catholicism in Antioch, had
threatened formally to renounce his communion; and he thought it best
to depose Aetius. Now Leontius was dead, and his throne was filled
by Eudoxius, the intriguing and thoroughly irreligious bishop of
Germanicia. He gained his promotion by fraud, and the aid of court
eunuchs; and he openly patronized Aetius, whose views he had imbibed.
The state of confusion and discord had become intolerable, and a
General Council was resolved upon. Consultations were held as to the
best place; and Constantius the emperor lent his ear to the mischievous
counsel of Acacius and his party, which recommended the breaking the
single council into two, in the hopes of being able thereby to "divide
and govern." Constantius agreed, and Ancyra and Ariminum were named as
the two places. But Ancyra was afterwards thought unsuitable, and it
was decided that one portion of the council should meet at Seleucia
instead of Ancyra.
The ultra-Arian Valens was governing in the West. Both councils met in
359. Four hundred bishops of the West, including some from Britain,
assembled at Ariminum. About eighty were Arians, for the most part of
the advanced school.
The Easterns met at Seleucia, and numbered one hundred and sixty; of
these the great majority, one hundred and five, were semi-Arians, and
of the rest a party were shifty followers of Acacius. Only one small
party of Egyptians were loyal to the faith of Nicæa; nevertheless
the council of Seleucia restored S. Cyril to his see, annulled his
deposition decreed by Acacius, and deposed Acacius himself, and
Eudoxius of Antioch.
In the mean time trickery and violence had been at work at Ariminum. A
creed approved by the Arian emperor was sent to the bishops, and they
were most falsely assured on imperial authority, that the council of
Seleucia had accepted it. The bishops' patience began to give way.
They shrank from a winter on the shore of the Adriatic; they were
utterly weary of so long a sojourn at Ariminum, and their weariness
disposed them to concession. Bishop after bishop signed the imperial
creed; but about twenty held out, headed by two Gallicans, Phœbadius
and Servatius. Taurus, the emperor's officer, appointed to keep order
and enforce his object, tried both menaces and tears. At last, by a
miserable sophistry, Valens carried his point, and won for Arianism
a scandalous victory, whilst it exposed the untruthfulness which
characterized the Arian policy.
Acacius had returned to Constantinople with wrath in his heart,
resolved to ruin the semi-Arians and Cyril. He persuaded Constantius
to allow a council to be summoned to meet at Constantinople next year,
January, 360. About fifty bishops were present. Acacius ruled the
assembly; Aetius was made a scape-goat by the Acacians for having too
boldly given expression to the error which they sought to propagate
insidiously. The council then deposed the leading semi-Arians, but not
on doctrinal grounds. Cyril of Jerusalem, and Silvanus of Tarsus were
deposed, and with the emperor's power to back their decisions, they
were driven into banishment. At the same time the unreality of their
censure of Aetius was shown by the enthronement of Eudoxius, who was
his chief supporter, at Constantinople, on Jan. 27th. On Feb. 15th he
dedicated the restored church of the Eternal Wisdom, for the service
of which Constantius offered splendid vessels, curtains, altar-cloths,
blazing with gold and jewels. In the midst of the ceremonial, Eudoxius
began his sermon with these words, "The Father is irreligious, the Son
is religious." A commotion followed; the bishop bade the people calm
themselves. "Surely the Father worships none, and the Son worships the
Father!" A burst of laughter followed this speech, which became a good
jest in the society of the capital. This was the man Acacius and his
packed council had set up, when they cast down Cyril. Eudoxius was well
fitted to hand on the old traditions of Arian profanity.
The emperor Constantius died, Nov. 3rd, 361, and Julian having recalled
the exiled bishops, S. Cyril returned to his see.
The unhappy man who was now lord of the empire had been for some
ten years a hypocrite in his Christian profession. No sooner was he
proclaimed emperor, than he openly professed himself a restorer of the
old religion. Then it was that he "washed off the laver" of baptism by
a hideous self-immersion in bull's blood,[65] and sought to cleanse
his hands from the touch of the bloodless Sacrifice by holding in them
the entrails of victims. He set up an image of Fortune in the great
church, and while he was sacrificing there, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon,
now a blind old man, was led up to him at his own request, and rebuked
his impiety. "Will thy Galilæan God cure thy blindness?" asked Julian.
"I thank my God," said Maris, "for the blindness which saves me from
seeing the face of an apostate."
[65] The Rite of Taurobolia, Prudent. Peristreph. 10.
The last of Julian's attacks upon Christianity was his attempt to
rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. He did indeed wish to aid the Jews in
their desire of renewing the Levitical sacrifices, and to secure their
attachment to his government in spite of its paganism; but his main
object was to confound the Gospel by raising up the fabric which it had
expressly doomed, and thus reviving the system of which that fabric had
been the symbol and centre.
The rapturous hopes of the Jews were expressed in the scene which
followed the imperial mandate, when silver spades and mattocks were
employed, and earth was carried away from the excavations in the rich
dresses of delicate women. The faith of the Christians was expressed
by Cyril's denunciations of the predestined failure. Full of confidence
he proclaimed that the enterprise, so far from succeeding, would
prove to all men the impossibility of resisting the decree of God.
Great must have been his faith, for every appearance was against him.
The heathen historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, tells us what ensued.
After all possible assistance had been given by the authorities,
"fearful balls of fire breaking out near the foundations with repeated
attacks, scorched the workmen several times, and rendered the place
inaccessible; and in this way, after obstinate repulses by the fiery
element, the undertaking was brought to a stand." Various details are
added by Christian writers, as of an earthquake, a whirlwind, fire
from heaven, a luminous cross in the air, and marks of crosses on the
garments of the Jews. It is possible that in these particulars there
is an element of exaggeration, and that in the fiery eruption itself,
natural agencies were employed. But that those agencies should manifest
themselves at that particular crisis will appear accidental, as men
speak, to those only who do not estimate the exceeding awfulness of the
occasion,--the unparalleled historical position of Julian, the mystery
of iniquity in his general policy, and the specially anti-Christian
malignity of this attempt at a confutation of Christ's words.
"His shafts, not at the Church, but at her Lord addrest," might well be
cast back upon himself by a manifestation of "the finger of God," as
real and awe-inspiring as any of those natural phenomena, the presence
of which under particular circumstances made them a sign of judgment
against Pharaoh.
Julian promised, in his vexation, says Orosius, to revenge his failure
on S. Cyril on his return from the Persian war. But this return never
took place. Cyril was again exiled by the Arian emperor Valens,
in 367. He returned in 378, when the emperor Gratian ordered the
restoration of the Catholics. He found his diocese rent by schism,
corrupted by heresy. Adultery, robbery, and poisoning were general.
The council of Antioch in 379, informed of the deplorable condition of
the diocese, sent Gregory of Nyssa, already charged with reforming the
churches of Arabia, to assist him in pacifying spirits, and repressing
immorality; but his labours were without result. In 381, S. Cyril was
present at the General Council of Constantinople, and subscribed the
condemnation of the semi-Arians and Macedonians. He died in 386, at the
age of seventy.
S. FRIGIDIAN OR FINNIAN, B. OF LUCCA.
(A.D. 589.)
[Roman and Irish Martyrologies. At Lucca the feast of his translation
is observed on Nov. 19th. Authorities:--Mention in life of S. Enda,
March 21st.]
S. Finnian of Moville is mentioned in the life of S. Enda as one
of his disciples in Aran, the Isle of Saints. This remarkable man
was the son of Ultach, an Irish king, and was baptized without his
father's consent. He was first placed under the care of S. Colman of
Dromore, who flourished about the year 510. It is expressly mentioned
in the life just referred to, that it was from Aran he set out on his
pilgrimage to Rome. This was probably his first visit to the apostolic
See. Being of an active temperament, he there devoted himself with
great ardour for several years to the study of the ecclesiastical and
apostolic traditions. He then returned to Ireland, carrying with him
a rich store of relics of the saints given him by the pope, and the
penitential canons, which in his biographer's time, were still called
"The Canons of S. Finnian." He also brought to Ireland the earliest
copy of S. Jerome's translations of the Gospels; a treatise of such
value in the estimation of his ecclesiastical contemporaries, that the
records of this period very frequently refer to them as S. Finnian's
Gospels.
In 540, he founded the great monastery of Moville, where S. Columba
spent a portion of his youth. After labouring with energy in
Ireland, S. Finnian returned to Italy, where, according to the best
authorities, he was made bishop of Lucca, in Tuscany, in which Church
he is venerated under the name of Frigidian, or Fridian. During
the twenty-eight years that he governed the see of Lucca, he built
twenty-eight churches; the chief of these he dedicated to the three
holy Levites, but it has since borne his name. He is said to have
carried a huge stone towards the erection of the church, which none
else could lift. It is still preserved in the church as a monument of
his strength and zeal. S. Gregory the Great relates a story of his
miraculous power. One day the river Arno had overflowed the country,
devastating the fields. The saint ran a plough down to the flood, and
it recoiled before the share.
The Italian annals give 588 as the year of his death; the annals of
Ulster and Tigernach 589.
S. TETRICUS, B. OF LANGRES.
(A.D. 572.)
[Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--S. Gregory of Tours (542) his
kinsman.]
S. Tetricus was the son of S. Gregory of Langres, whose life has been
given on Jan. 4th. His mother's name was Armentaria. By her S. Gregory
had two sons, Tetricus, who succeeded him in the see of Langres, and
Gregory, the father of Armentaria, mother of S. Gregory of Tours,
the historian, who has recorded all that we know of the life of his
great-uncle. This is not much. The choice of the clergy and people fell
on Tetricus as a successor to his father, almost unanimously moved
thereto by the hopes that he would inherit the virtues of S. Gregory.
Nor were these hopes frustrated. Tetricus ruled with prudence, and was
a burning and a shining light in his diocese. One Sunday at Dijon,
as the prelate was ministering in the Church of S. John, Chramn, the
rebel son of king Clothaire, entered it, and besought that he might
be allowed to consult the divine Oracles on the future. Three books
were accordingly placed on the altar, the Prophets, the Gospel, and
the Epistles; and the clergy prayed along with Chramn that the future
might be unfolded to him. Then he opened the book of the Prophets, and
lighted on the words of Isaiah, v. 4, 5. "What could have been done
more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I
looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will
take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: and break down
the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down." Then the book of
Epistles was opened at the place, "When they say, Peace and safety;
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with
child; and they shall not escape," 1 Thess. v. 3; and the book of the
Gospels when interrogated gave the following answer, Matt. vii. 26,
27, "A foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Chramn went away
much dispirited. Shortly after, hearing that his father was marching
upon Dijon, he retired into Aquitaine, but being pursued by Clothaire,
he fled into Brittany to Count Conovre. Shortly after Clothaire
attacked them and defeated them in a battle in which the count fell.
He then took his son and shut him up in a cottage with his wife and
children, set fire to the place, and burnt them all.
S. EDWARD, K. M.
(A.D. 978.)
[Anglican Martyrologies, also modern Anglican Kalendar. Roman
Martyrology. The elevation of his body, June 20th; his translation,
Feb. 18th. Authorities:--The Chronicle of John of Brompton, Osbern of
Canterbury, William of Malmesbury.]
In the year 975, King Edgar died, and was buried at Glastonbury. He had
been twice married. His first wife was the beautiful Ethelfleda, who
died shortly after the birth of her son Edward. After her death Edgar
married, in 964, Elfrida, daughter of Ordgar, earl of Devonshire, and
she became the mother of two sons by him, Edmund, who died young, and
Ethelred. As soon as king Edgar was dead, Edward, who was thirteen
years old, a good youth, upright in all his dealings, and fearing
God, was elected to the crown, much to the discontent of Elfrida, who
desired to see her son Ethelred on the throne.
[Illustration: MURDER OF S. EDWARD.
March 18.]
In the year 979, when Edward was aged seventeen, he was murdered. Now,
certainly he was not a martyr for the Christian faith, nor for right
and truth in any shape; but he was a good youth, and was unjustly
and cruelly killed, so people looked on him as a saint, and called
him Edward the Martyr. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle greatly laments
his death, and says that a worse deed had never been done since the
English came into Britain. It does not, however, say who killed him,
but only that he was killed at eventide, at Corfe Castle. Henry of
Huntingdon says that king Edward was killed by his own people;
Florence of Worcester, that he was killed by his own people by order
of his step-mother, Elfrida. William of Malmesbury, in one part of his
book, says he was killed by earl Elfhere, but this is improbable, as no
reason for such an act appears. But in recording his death, Malmesbury
attributes the crime to Elfrida, and tells the story thus:--
When Edward was elected, Elfrida hated him, because she wished her
own son, Ethelred, to be king, and she ever sought how she might slay
Edward. Now, one day the young king was hunting in Dorsetshire, hard by
the castle of Corfe, where Elfrida and Ethelred her son dwelt. And the
king was weary and thirsty, so he turned away alone from his hunting,
and said, "Now will I go to rest myself at Corfe, with my step-mother
Elfrida, and my brother Ethelred." So king Edward rode to the gate of
the house, and Elfrida came out to meet him, and kissed him. And he
said, "Give me to drink, for I am thirsty." And Elfrida commanded,
and they brought him a cup, and he drank eagerly. But while he drank,
Elfrida made a sign to her servant, and he stabbed the king with a
dagger; and when the king felt the wound, he set spurs to his horse,
and tried to join his comrades, who were hunting. But he slipped from
his horse, and his leg caught in the stirrup, so he was dragged along
till he died, and the track of his blood showed whither he had gone.
And Elfrida bade that he should be buried in Wareham, but not in holy
ground, nor with any royal pomp. But a light from heaven shone over
his grave, and wonders were wrought there. But when the child Ethelred
heard of his brother's murder, he began to cry and bewail him, for
Edward had always been very kind to the little boy. His mother, stung
by her conscience, and angry with him for his lamentations, rushed on
the child to beat him, and having no stick at hand, she pulled a wax
candle out of its socket, and thrashed him with it. But afterwards,
when she heard of the mighty works which were done at the grave of king
Edward, how the sick were healed, and the lame walked, she resolved to
go and see the miracles with her own eyes. But when she mounted her
horse to ride, the horse would not stir. So Elfrida's hard heart was
shaken, and she became alarmed about her sin that she had committed,
and she retired into the convent of Wherwell, that she might repent in
ashes the wickedness she had done. The body was afterwards translated
to the minster at Shaftesbury (June 20th).
S. Edward is usually drawn with a youthful countenance, having the
insignia of royalty, with a cup in one hand and a dagger in the other.
Sometimes he has a sceptre instead of the cup; and at other times a
falcon, in allusion to his last hunt.
[Illustration: Image of Saint (or Christ) with scroll reading "BEATI
PAUPERES SPIRITU.]
[Illustration: S. JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. From the
Vienna Missal. March 19.]
March 19.
S. JOSEPH, _Husband of the B. Virgin Mary, before_ A.D. 30.
SS. QUINTUS, QUINTILLIUS, AND COMP., _MM. at Sorrento_.
S. PANCHARIUS, _M. at Nicomedia, 3rd cent._
S. JOHN, _Ab. at Civita-di-Penne, near Spoleto, 4th cent._
S. LEONTIUS, _B. of Saintes in France, 6th cent._
S. LACTEAN, _Ab. in Ireland_, A.D. 622.
SS. LANDOALD, P.C., AMANTIUS, D., AND ADRIAN, _M. at Wintershoven,
in Belgium, 8th cent._
S. ALEMUND, _M. at Derby_, A.D. 800.
S. JOSEPH.
(BEFORE A.D. 30.)
[Roman Martyrology. His festival was ordered by pope Sixtus IV. to be
observed as a double; Gregory XV. recommended its general observance
by the faithful, and this recommendation was confirmed by Urban XIII.,
by bull in 1642.]
All we know for certain concerning S. Joseph, the husband of Mary the
mother of God, is derived from the Holy Gospels. To him was confided
the most precious treasure ever entrusted to man, the guardianship of
Mary and Jesus, of the Mother and the Son of God; whence we may infer
the great sanctity and merit of S. Joseph.
He was of the lineage of David, and therefore of royal race, but was
poor, and gained his livelihood as a carpenter. According to S. Matthew
his father's name was Jacob, according to S. Luke it was Heli, this
discrepancy in the accounts is explained by the supposition that one
of the genealogies represents the direct line of natural generation,
the other the legal descent of royal prerogative. We are expressly told
that he was a just man. On perceiving that his virgin wife was with
child, he resolved secretly to put her away, for having lived with her
in the purest relations, he knew that the child could be none of his;
and by secretly divorcing her, he would spare her the scandal which
would attach itself to her, for the world would regard her offspring as
his son, and he alone would know that this was not the case.
But he was warned by God in a dream to believe in the innocence of his
wife, and was told that she was to become the mother of the Son of God.
Afterwards, when Herod sought the life of the young child, he took Him
and His mother by night and fled with them into Egypt, till hearing
that Herod was dead, in obedience to an angelic order, he returned to
Palestine; but finding that Archelaus the son of Herod was reigning in
Judea, he thought it imprudent to enter his dominions, and therefore
settled at Nazareth. He and Mary went once every year to Jerusalem to
offer their sacrifice in the temple, in obedience to the requirements
of the law, and on one of these occasions Jesus accompanied them.
The child Jesus grew up under the care of Joseph, assisting him in
his shop. It is believed that Joseph died before our Lord began his
ministry; for we hear of him no more.
The girdle of S. Joseph is said to be preserved among the sacred
treasures of the church of Joinville, in the diocese of Langres.
S. PANCHARIUS, M.
(3RD CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa. Authority:--The account in the
Menæa.]
[Illustration: DEATH OF S. JOSEPH.
March 19.]
Pancharius, a young Christian, well-favoured, and active, having gained
the favour of the emperor Maximian, became his secretary. His mother
and sister, hearing this, were filled with anxiety lest his soul
should be imperilled. They therefore wrote to him a letter urging him
not to be ashamed of Christ, and to remember that it profits a man
little to gain the whole world if he lose his own soul. On reading
this letter, Pancharius was moved, and lifting up his voice he prayed
to God, "Have mercy upon me, Almighty God, and bring not thy servant
to confusion in the face of men and angels, but according to thy
great mercy, spare me." Some one overheard this prayer, and told the
emperor that his favourite was a Nazarene. The emperor sent for him
and asked him if this were true. Then the young man confessed that he
was. The emperor urged him to renounce his religion. But as Pancharius
refused, he ordered him to be scourged, and sent to Nicomedia to be
tried and sentenced by the governor. At Nicomedia he was subjected to
fresh interrogation, but maintaining his constancy, was condemned to
execution by the sword.
S. JOHN, AB. AT CIVITA-DI-PENNE.
(4TH CENT.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, some copies of Bede's Martyrology, and the
Roman Martyrology. Authority:--An ancient life published by the
Bollandists, but evidently founded on tradition.]
The life of this saint shall be translated from the original, as it
deserves, from its quaint simplicity and freshness.
"It fell out in those days that as the blessed John was going forth
from Syria, he prayed, saying, 'Lord God of heaven and earth, God of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of our Fathers, who madest heaven and earth
with all their adornments, who by a word didst suspend the sea, who
didst close the abyss and sign above it gloriously, whose mighty name
all things revere, and before the face of whose virtue all things
quake; I pray Thee, who art the true light, illumine me hoping in thee,
and make my way prosperous before me, in which I go, and let this be to
me for a sign that there I should rest, when that person to whom I give
my psalter shall not return it to me the self-same day.'
"And it came to pass that he came to Italy, and was near to the
metropolitan city (of Spoleto) and had gone about five miles into the
Angellan farm, when he met with a certain handmaiden of God, and he
gave to her his psalter. And afterwards he asked the handmaid for it
again, and she said, 'Servant of God, whither goest thou? Tarry here,
and go thy way to-morrow.' And when they had long spoken, she insisted
that he should remain there that night; so he remained. And the blessed
John remembered his prayer that he had made, and he said in his heart,
'Verily this is what I besought of the Lord; here will I dwell.'
"So when the morning came, having received his psalter again, he
went forth no more than four bow-shots. And, behold! an angel of God
appeared to him, and went before him, and when they came to the place,
the angel said to him, 'Sit down here, servant of the most high God,
for the Lord hath commanded thee to dwell here,' and so saying, he led
him under a tree and said, 'Here shalt thou have a great congregation,
and find rest.' Then S. John, the Confessor of Christ, sat down under
the tree.
"Now it was the month of December, and according to the custom of the
month, it froze hard, and all the ground was stiff; but the tree under
which the blessed John reposed, blossomed as the lily. And at that time
hunters went by, and they found him sitting under the tree, and they
thought that he was a spy, and they questioned him, saying, 'Whence
comest thou?' Then the blessed John told them all, and how he had come
to Italy. So they marvelled greatly, for they had never seen a habit
like his. But he said to them, 'Do not, my sons, do not harm me, for I
have come here in the service of Jesus Christ.'
"Then they observing the tree, that it shone as a lily, knew that the
Lord was with him, and they told all things to the bishop of Spoleto.
And when bishop John heard this, he was filled with great joy, and he
hasted, and went to where the blessed John was praying. And when they
saw one another, for joy they wept. And all that were present gave
glory to God. Now through the mercy of God many people were collected
there, and he built a monastery, and he lived therein all the rest of
the days of his life. And he was there forty and four years, and he
fell asleep in peace, and was buried with hymns and songs, where he
reposes to this day, and there the blind receive their sight, devils
are expelled, lepers are cleansed, and the divine offices are there
performed to the present day, through the assistance of Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who liveth and reigneth, through ages. Amen."
S. LACTEAN, AB. OF CLON-FERT.
(A.D. 622.)
[Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--A fragmentary life published by the
Bollandists, based on tradition.]
The legend of this saint comes under the same category as so many of
the other Irish legends. It exists only in fragments, and was written
several hundreds of years after the death of S. Lactean, from oral
tradition. It shall be given without any attempt at sifting truth from
fable, as a specimen of these Irish biographies.
An angel appeared to S. Molua (d. about 608), monk of Banchor, in
Ireland, when he was wondering who would become his pupil, and
announced to him that after the lapse of fifteen years a child would
be born, who would become his disciple. And for those fifteen years
Molua did not laugh, being instant in expectation. Now there was a man
in Munster named Torphur, who had a wife named Senecha, and she was
with child. And before the child was born, her breasts filled with
milk. An old man, named Mohemath, passed by, and he was blind. Then
Senecha struck his eyes with her milk, and his eyes opened, and he saw
so plain that the city of Rome, bathed in clear light, was visible
instantly to his so long darkened orbs.
Now when Lactean was born, Mohemath was near at hand. And the place
was without water. So Mohemath took the finger of the new-born babe,
and with it signed a cross on the earth. Then instantly a fountain
burst forth, and therein Lactean was baptized. And when Lactean was a
month old, he was taken to S. Alpheus, to be rebaptized, but when he
saw the child full of the grace of God, he knew that he had already
been bathed in the laver of regeneration, and, therefore, he refused
to repeat the sacrament. Also there was in that country a grain, which
acted on whomsoever ate thereof as an emetic, but the infant Lactean
was fed thereon, and was none the worse, for indeed nothing injured
him. Now a grievous murrain broke out amongst the cattle of his father,
and they died. But there was a white cow with a red face, on whose milk
Lactean was nourished, and this cow died. Then the child was carried
in his mother's arms to the dead cow, and it recovered, and her milk
was distributed amongst the other cows, and they recovered of their
disorder.
Now when Lactean was aged fifteen, the angel Muriel, who was
commissioned to be his guardian, led him to Banchor, and S. Comgal gave
him to be the pupil and companion of S. Molua, who instructed him in
letters and the reading of the Divine Scriptures.
Afterwards Lactean went to S. Mochuda, and as he drew nigh, he sent and
asked Mochuda for milk. Then Mochuda filled a vessel with pure water,
and signed it, and it became milk, but Lactean took it, and signed it
again, and it was reconverted into water. Afterwards Lactean founded
the abbey of Clonfert, and he died in the odour of sanctity.
It is evident that his name was the occasion of so many milky legends
attaching themselves to it.[66]
[66] Baine is the common Irish for milk, but there is a Welsh word,
probably adopted from the Latin, Llæth, which means milk.
Colgan has confounded this S. Lactean with another of the same name,
a contemporary of S. Senan of Iniscatthy, from whom the church of
Lis-lachtin, in Kerry, took its name, and who died about the year 560.
The S. Lactean of Clonfert belonged to the house of Corpre Muse, of
Muskerry, Cork, and was a friend of S. Mochoemog (Pulcherius), abbot of
Achadur (Aghour), in Kilkenny.
SS. LANDOALD, P., AMANTIUS, D., AND ADRIAN, M.
(8TH CENT.)
[Belgian Martyrologies. S. Landoald is venerated especially at Ghent.
Also Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. The translation of S. Landoald
is commemorated on Dec. 1st, and the elevation on June 13th. The
original Acts were lost in 954, and by order of Notker, B. of Liege,
new ones were compiled in 981, by one Herdger, abbot of Lobie, who
died 1007.]
S. Amandus having resigned the see of Maestricht into the hands of
S. Remacle, to resume his first vocation of mission work in the Low
Countries, went to Rome to obtain the approval of his design by pope
Martin. The pope not only approved of it, but gave him Landoald, a
priest of the Roman Church, of Lombard family, to accompany and assist
him in his work. S. Amandus was also joined by the deacon Amantius.
They left Rome, and after visiting some of the monasteries of France,
arrived in the country between the Meuse and the Scheldt, where S.
Remacle met S. Amandus, and persuaded him to allow him to keep Landoald
with him to assist him in the work of evangelising his diocese.
Landoald had a large field for the exercise of his zeal in the diocese
of Maestricht, only partially converted to the faith. A rich man named
Aper gave him a piece of land at Wintershoven, on the river Herck, to
the west of Maestricht, where he built a church, which he dedicated to
S. Peter, in 659. Landoald continued his labours under S. Theodard, the
successor of S. Remacle, making Wintershoven his head-quarters, and
sending from time to time one of his little community to Maestricht to
beg. One of his disciples, Adrian by name, was returning from his quest
of alms, when he was waylaid by some robbers, and murdered. S. Landoald
did not long survive him, and there is reason to believe that he died
before S. Lambert succeeded, in the see of Maestricht, to S. Theodard,
who was martyred in 668. He was buried in the church of Wintershoven,
but his body was taken up in 735, and transported into Maestricht, but
from fear of the Normans it was concealed, and taken up again along
with the bodies of S. Amantius and S. Adrian, by Euraculus, bishop of
Liége, but they were claimed by the monks of S. Bavo, at Ghent, who
were proprietors of Wintershoven, and the bodies were translated to
Ghent in 980.
S. ALKMUND, M.
(A.D. 800.)
[Anglican Martyrologies. Authorities:--Florence of Worcester, William
of Malmesbury, Simeon of Durham, and Thurgot of Durham.]
A great discrepancy exists in the accounts given of this saint.
Malmesbury is certainly not to be trusted in his relation, and we must
follow the account of Simeon of Durham. Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria,
abdicated in 737, and was succeeded by Egbert, who was succeeded in
758 by his brother Osulf, who was killed in 759, leaving a son, named
Ethelwald. He was succeeded, not by his son Ethelwald, but by another
Ethelwald, surnamed Moll, who was banished in 765, when Alcred, son of
Eanwin, a descendant of Ida, came to the throne. He was banished in
774, and the crown rested on the head of Ethelred, son of Ethelwald
Moll, who was banished in 779, and succeeded by Ethelwald, son of
Osulf. But this Ethelwald was killed in 788, whereupon Osred, son of
Alcred, came to the throne. Osred's younger brother was S. Alkmund, the
subject of this memoir. But Osred was deposed, in 790, by Ethelred,
son of Ethelwald Moll, who had been exiled in 779, and this king put
Osred to death in 792; and Alkmund, in 800, was murdered by order of
king Eardulf, who came to the throne in 797, after the assassination of
Ethelred in 796.
Alkmund had spent some years in banishment among the Picts, and was
loved and revered for his spotless innocence and gentleness in a period
of crime and violence. Harpsfield, following Radulph Diceto, says
Alkmund fell in battle against the West Saxons, which is certainly
wrong. He also makes Alkmund the son of Ethelred, which is also a
mistake; and Malmesbury calls his father Alfred. The name probably was
Alcfred.
S. Alkmund was buried at Lilleshut, in Shropshire, but his body was
afterwards translated to Derby, and he is honoured as the patron of
that town.
March 20.
S. JOACHIM, _Father of the B. Virgin Mary_.
SS. PHOTINA, JOSEPH, VICTOR, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., 1st cent._
S. ARCHIPPUS, _Companion of S. Paul, 1st cent._
SS. PAUL, CYRIL, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Syria_.
SS. ALEXANDRA, CLAUDIA, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Amisa, 4th cent._
S. URBICIUS, _B. of Metz, circ._ A.D. 420.
S. MARTIN, _Archb. of Braga, in Portugal_, A.D. 580.
S. CUTHBERT, _B. of Lindisfarne_, A.D. 687.
S. HERBERT, _P.H. in an island of Derwentwater_, A.D. 687.
S. WULFRAM, _B. of Sens_, A.D. 741.
SS. JOHN, SERGIUS, COSMAS, AND COMPANIONS, _Monks MM. in the Laura of
S. Sabas, near Jerusalem_, A.D. 797.
S. NICETAS, _B.M. at Apollonia, 8th cent._
B. AMBROSE, _O.P. at Sienna_, A.D. 1287.
B. HIPPOLYTUS GALANTINI, _Founder of the Institute of Christian
Brothers, at Florence_, A.D. 1619.
S. JOACHIM.
[Roman Martyrology; by the Greeks on Sept. 9th. The insertion of this
name in the Martyrologies is not earlier than the 16th century. The
Roman Breviary of 1522, pub. at Venice, contained it with special
office, but this was expunged by pope Pius V., and in the Breviary of
1572, neither name nor office are to be found.]
Nothing whatever is known of S. Joachim, except what is related in
the Apocryphal Gospels, whence the name is derived. It is probable,
however, that the name was traditionally preserved, and adopted by the
author of the Apocryphal Gospels.
S. CUTHBERT, B. OF LINDISFARNE.
(A.D. 687.)
[Martyrologies of Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Rabanus Maurus; the Anglican,
Scottish, and Irish Martyrologies; the Benedictine and the Roman as
well. Authorities:--Bede's Life of S. Cuthbert, another by a monk of
Lindisfarne, written in the reign of Egfrid (d. 705). The following
life is extracted from Montalembert's "Monks of the West."]
Of the parentage of Cuthbert, nothing for certain is known. The Kelts
have claimed him as belonging to them, at least by birth. They made him
out to have been the son of an Irish princess, reduced to slavery, like
Bridget, the holy patroness of Ireland, but who fell, more miserably,
victim to the lust of her savage master. His Celtic origin would seem
to be more conclusively proved by his attitude towards S. Wilfrid, the
introducer of Roman uniformity into the north of England, than by the
tradition of the Anglo-Saxon monks of Durham. His name is certainly
Saxon, and not Keltic. But, to tell the truth, nothing is certainly
known either of his place of birth, or the rank of his family.
His first appearance in history is as a shepherd in Lauderdale, a
valley watered by a river which flows into the Tweed near Melrose.
It was then a district annexed to the kingdom of Northumbria, which
had just been delivered by the holy king Oswald from the yoke of the
Mercians and Britons. As he is soon afterwards to be seen travelling
on horseback, lance in hand, and accompanied by a squire, it is not to
be supposed that he was of poor extraction. At the same time, it was
not the flocks of his father which he kept, as did David in the plains
of Bethlehem; it is expressly noted that the flocks confided to his
care belonged to a master, or to several masters. His family must have
been in the rank of those vassals to whom the great Saxon lords gave
the care and superintendence of their flocks upon the vast extent of
pastures which, under the name of _folcland_ or common, was left to
their use, and where the cowherds and shepherds lived day and night in
the open air, as is still done by the shepherds of Hungary.
Popular imagination in the north of England, of which Cuthbert was
the hero before, as well as after, the Norman Conquest, had thus full
scope in respect to the obscure childhood of its favourite saint, and
delighted in weaving stories of his childish sports, representing
him as walking on his hands, and turning somersaults with his little
companions. A more authentic testimony, that of his contemporary,
Bede, informs us that our shepherd boy had not his equal among the
children of his age, for activity, dexterity, and boldness in the race
and fight. In all sports and athletic exercises he was the first to
challenge his companions, with the certainty of being the victor. The
description reads like that of a little Anglo-Saxon of our own day--a
scholar of Eton or Harrow. At the same time, a precocious piety showed
itself in him, even amid the exuberance of youth. One night, as he
said his prayers, while keeping the sheep of his master, he saw the
sky, which had been very dark, broken by a track of light, upon which
a cloud of angels descended from heaven, returning afterwards with a
resplendent soul, which they had gone to meet on earth. Next morning
he heard that Aidan, the holy bishop of Lindisfarne, the apostle of
the district, had died during the night. This vision determined his
monastic vocation.
Some time afterwards we find him at the gates of the monastery of
Melrose, the great Keltic establishment for novices in Northumbria.
He was then only fifteen, yet, nevertheless, he arrived on horseback,
lance in hand, attended by a squire, for he had already begun his
career in the battle-field, and learned in the face of the enemy
the first lessons of abstinence, which he now meant to practise in
the cloister. He was received by two great doctors of the Keltic
Church,--the abbot Eata, one of the twelve Northumbrians first chosen
by Aidan, and the prior Boswell, who conceived a special affection for
the new-comer, and undertook the charge of his monastic education. Five
centuries later, the copy of the Gospels in which the master and pupil
had read daily, was still kissed with veneration in the cathedral of
Durham.
The robust and energetic youth very soon showed the rarest aptitude
for monastic life, not only for cenobitical exercises, but, above all,
for the missionary work, which was the principal occupation of monks
in that country and period. He was not content merely to surpass all
the other monks in his devotion to the four principal occupations of
monastic life--study, prayer, vigil, and manual labour--but speedily
applied himself to the work of casting out from the hearts of the
surrounding population the last vestiges of pagan superstition. Not a
village was so distant, not a mountain side so steep, not a village
so poor, that it escaped his zeal. He sometimes passed weeks, and
even months, out of his monastery, preaching to and confessing the
rustic population of the mountains. The roads were very bad, or rather
there were no roads; only now and then was it possible to travel on
horseback; sometimes, when his course lay along the coast of the
district inhabited by the Picts, he would take the help of a boat. But
generally it was on foot that he had to penetrate into the glens and
distant valleys, crossing the heaths and vast table-lands, uncultivated
and uninhabited, where a few shepherd's huts, like that in which he
himself had passed his childhood, and which were in winter abandoned
even by the rude inhabitants, were thinly scattered. But neither the
intemperance of the seasons, nor hunger, nor thirst, arrested the
young and valiant missionary in his apostolic travels, to seek the
scattered population, half Celts, and half Anglo-Saxons, who, though
already Christian in name and by baptism, retained an obstinate
attachment to many of their ancient superstitions, and who were quickly
led back by any great calamity, such as one of the great pestilences
which were then so frequent, to the use of magic, amulets, and other
practices of idolatry. The details which have been preserved of the
wonders which often accompanied his wanderings, show that his labours
extended over all the hilly district between the two seas--from the
Solway to the Forth. They explain to us how the monks administered the
consolations and the teaching of religion, before the organization
of parishes, ordained by archbishop Theodore, had been everywhere
introduced or regulated. As soon as the arrival of one of these
apostolic missionaries in a somewhat central locality was known, all
the population of the neighbourhood hastened to hear him, endeavouring
with fervour and simplicity to put in practice the instruction they
received from him. Cuthbert, especially, was received among them with
affectionate confidence; his eloquence was so persuasive that it
brought the most rebellious to his feet, to hear their sins revealed to
them, and to accept the penance which he imposed upon them.
Cuthbert prepared himself for preaching and the administration of
the Sacraments, by extraordinary penances and austerities. Stone
bathing-places, in which he passed the entire night in prayer, lying in
the frozen water, according to a custom common among the Keltic saints,
are still shown in several different places. When he was near the sea,
he went to the shore, unknown to any one, at night, and plunging into
the waves up to his neck, sang his vigils there. As soon as he came out
of the water he resumed his prayers on the sand of the beach. On one
occasion, one of his disciples, who had followed him secretly in order
to discover the aim of this nocturnal expedition, saw two otters come
up out of the water, which, while the saint prayed on his knees, lick
his frozen feet, and wipe them with their hair, until life and warmth
returned to the benumbed members. By one of those strange caprices of
human frivolity which disconcert the historian, this insignificant
incident is the only recollection which now remains in the memory of
the people. S. Cuthbert is known to the peasant of Northumberland and
of the Scottish borders only by the legend of those compassionate
otters.
He had been some years at Melrose, when the abbot Eata took him along
with him to join the community of Keltic monks established by king
Alchfrid at Ripon. Cuthbert held the office of steward, and in this
office showed the same zeal as in his missions. When travellers arrived
through the snow, famished and nearly fainting with cold, he himself
washed their feet and warmed them against his bosom, then hastened to
the oven to order bread to be made ready, if there was not enough.
Cuthbert returned with his countrymen to Melrose, resumed his life of
missionary preaching, and again met his friend and master, the prior
Boswell, at whose death, in the great pestilence of 664, Cuthbert
was elected abbot in his place. He had been himself attacked by the
disease; and all the monks prayed earnestly that his life might be
preserved to them. When he knew that the community had spent the night
in prayer for him, though he felt no better, he cried to himself, with
a double impulse of his habitual energy, "What am I doing in bed? It is
impossible that God should shut His ears to such men. Give me my staff
and my shoes." And getting up, he immediately began to walk, leaning
upon his staff. But this sudden cure left him subject to weakness,
which shortened his life.
However, he had not long to remain at Melrose. The triumph of Wilfrid
and the Roman ritual at the conference of Whitby, brought about a
revolution in the monastic metropolis of Northumbria, and in the mother
monastery of Melrose, at Lindisfarne. Bishop Colman had returned to
Iona, carrying with him the bones of S. Aidan, the first apostle of
the country, and followed by all the monks who would not consent to
sacrifice their Keltic tradition to Roman unity. It was of importance
to preserve the holy island, the special sanctuary of the country, for
the religious family of which its foundress had been a member. Abbot
Eata of Melrose undertook this difficult mission. He became abbot of
Lindisfarne, and was invested with a kind of episcopal supremacy. He
took with him the young Cuthbert, who was not yet thirty, but whom,
however, he held alone capable of filling the important office of prior
in the great insular community.
The struggle into which Eata and Cuthbert, in their own persons, had
entered against Wilfrid, on the subject of Roman rites, did not point
them out as the best men to introduce the novelties so passionately
defended and insisted upon by the new bishop of Northumbria.
Notwithstanding, everything goes to prove that the new abbot and prior
of Lindisfarne adopted without reserve the decisions of the assembly
of Whitby, and took serious pains to introduce them into the great
Keltic community. Cuthbert, in whom the physical energy of a robust
organization was united to an unconquerable gentleness, employed in
this task all the resources of his mind and heart. All the rebels
had not left with bishop Colman; some monks still remained, who held
obstinately by their ancient customs. Cuthbert reasoned with them
daily in the meetings of the chapter; his desire was to overcome their
objections by patience and moderation alone; he bore their reproaches
as long as that was possible, and when his endurance was at an end,
raised the sitting without changing countenance or tone, and resumed
next morning the course of the debate, without ever permitting himself
to be moved to anger, or allowing any thing to disturb the inestimable
gift of kindness and light-heartedness which he had received from God.
[Illustration: S. CUTHBERT reasoning with the monks.]
[Illustration: DEATH OF S. CUTHBERT.
March 20.]
But his great desire was the strict observance of the rule when once
established; and his historian boasts, as one of his most remarkable
victories, the obligation he imposed for ever upon the monks of
Lindisfarne of wearing a simple and uniform dress, in undyed wool, and
thus giving up the passionate liking of the Anglo-Saxons for varied and
brilliant colours.
During the twelve years which he passed at Lindisfarne, the life of
Cuthbert was identical with that which he had led at Melrose. Within
doors this life was spent in the severe practice of all the austerities
of the cloister, in manual labour, united to the punctual celebration
of divine worship, and such fervour in prayer that he often slept only
one night in the three or four, passing the others in prayer, and in
singing the service alone while walking round the aisle to keep himself
awake. Outside, the same zeal for preaching, the same solicitude for
the salvation and well-being, temporal as well as spiritual, of the
Northumbrian people, was apparent in him. He carried to them the Word
of Life; he soothed their sufferings, by curing miraculously a crowd of
diseases which were beyond the power of the physicians. But the valiant
missionary specially assailed the diseases of the soul, and made use
of all the tenderness and all the ardour of his own spirit to reach
them. When he celebrated mass before the assembled crowd, his visible
emotion, his inspired looks, his trembling voice, all contributed to
penetrate and overpower the multitude. The Anglo-Saxon Christians, who
came in crowds to open their hearts to him in the confessional, were
still more profoundly impressed. Though he was a bold and inflexible
judge of impenitent vice, he felt and expressed the tenderest
compassion for the contrite sinner. He was the first to weep over the
sins which he pardoned in the name of God; and he himself fulfilled the
penances which he imposed as the conditions of absolution, thus gaining
by his humility the hearts which he longed to convert and cure.
But neither the life of a cenobite, nor the labours of a missionary
could satisfy the aspirations of his soul after perfection. When he was
not quite forty, after holding his priorship at Lindisfarne for twelve
years, he resolved to leave monastic life, and to live as a hermit in a
sterile and desert island, visible from Lindisfarne, which lay in the
centre of the Archipelago, south of the holy isle, and almost opposite
the fortified capital of the Northumbrian kings at Bamborough. No one
dared to live on this island, which was called Farne, in consequence of
its being supposed to be the haunt of demons. Cuthbert took possession
of it as a soldier of Christ, victorious over the tyranny of evil, and
built there a palace worthy of himself, hollowing out of the living
rock a cell from which he could see nothing but the sky, that he might
not be disturbed in his contemplations. The hide of an ox suspended
before the entrance of his cavern, and which he turned according to
the direction of the wind, afforded him a poor defence against the
intemperance of that wild climate. His holy historian tells us that he
exercised sway over the elements and brute creation as a true monarch
of the land which he had conquered for Christ, and with that sovereign
empire over nature which sin alone has taken from us. He lived on the
produce of a little field of barley sown and cultivated by his own
hands, but so small that the inhabitants of the coast reported among
themselves that he was fed by angels with bread made in Paradise.
[Illustration: S. CUTHBERT. In His Hermit's Cell.
March 20.]
The legends of Northumbria linger lovingly upon the solitary sojourn
of their great national and popular saint in this basaltic isle. They
attribute to him the extraordinary gentleness and familiarity of a
particular species of aquatic birds which came when called, allowed
themselves to be taken, stroked, caressed, and whose down was of
remarkable softness. In ancient times they swarmed about this rock,
and they are still to be found there, though much diminished in number
since curious visitors have come to steal their nests and shoot the
birds. These sea fowl are found nowhere else in the British Isles, and
are called the _Birds of S. Cuthbert_. It was he, according to the
narrative of a monk of the thirteenth century, who inspired them with a
hereditary trust in man by taking them as companions of his solitude,
and guaranteeing to them that they should never be disturbed in their
homes.
It is he, too, according to the fishers of the surrounding islands,
who makes certain little shells of the genus _Entrochus_, which are
only to be found on this coast, and which have received the name of S.
Cuthbert's Beads. They believe that he is still to be seen by night
seated on a rock, and using another as an anvil for his work.
The pious anchorite, however, in condemning himself to the trials of
solitude, had no intention of withdrawing from the cares of fraternal
charity. He continued to receive frequent visits, in the first place
from his neighbours and brethren at Lindisfarne, and in addition from
all who came to consult him upon the state of their souls, as well as
to seek consolation from him in adversity. The number of these pilgrims
of sorrow was countless. They came not only from the neighbouring
shores, but from the most distant provinces. Throughout all England the
rumour spread, that on a desert rock of the Northumbrian coast there
lived a solitary who was the friend of God, and skilled in the healing
of human suffering. In this expectation no one was deceived; no man
carried back from the sea-beaten island the same burden of suffering,
temptation, or remorse which he had taken there. Cuthbert had
consolation for all troubles, light for all the sorrowful mysteries of
life, counsel for all its perils, a helping hand to all the hopeless,
a heart open to all who suffered. He could draw from all terrestrial
anguish a proof of the joys of heaven, deduce the certainty of those
joys from the terrible evanescence of both good and evil in this world,
and light up again in sick souls the fire of charity--the only defence,
he said, against those ambushes of the old enemy which always take our
hearts captive when they are emptied of divine and brotherly love.
To make his solitude more accessible to these visitors, and above all
to his brethren from Lindisfarne, he had built some distance from the
cave which was his dwelling, at a place where boats could land their
passengers, a kind of _parlour_ and refectory for the use of his
guests. There he himself met, conversed, and ate with them, especially
when, as he has himself told, the monks came to celebrate with him such
a great feast as Christmas. At such moments he went freely into all
their conversations and discussions, interrupting himself from time
to time to remind them of the necessity of watchfulness and prayer.
The monks answered him, "Nothing is more true; but we have so many
days of vigil, of fasts and prayers. Let us at least to-day rejoice in
the Lord." The Venerable Bede, who has preserved to us the precious
memory of this exchange of brotherly familiarity has not disdained to
tell us also of the reproaches addressed by Cuthbert to his brothers
for not eating a fat goose which he had hung on the partition-wall of
his guest's refectory, in order that they might thoroughly fortify
themselves before they embarked upon the stormy sea to return to their
monastery.
This tender charity and courteous activity were united in him to
treasures of humility. He would not allow any one to suspect him of
ranking the life of an anchorite above that of a member of a community.
"It must not be supposed," he said, "because I prefer to live out
of reach of every secular care, that my life is superior to that of
others. The life of good cenobites, who obey their abbot in everything,
and whose time is divided between prayer, work, and fasting is much to
be admired. I know many among them whose souls are more pure, and their
graces more exalted than mine; especially, and in the first rank my
dear old Boswell, who received and trained me at Melrose in my youth."
Thus passed, in that dear solitude, and among these friendly
surroundings, eight pleasant years, the sweetest of his life, and
precisely those during which all Northumberland was convulsed by the
struggle between Wilfrid and the new king Egfrid.
Then came the day upon which the king of the Northumbrians, accompanied
by his principal nobles, and almost all the community of Lindisfarne,
landed upon the rock of Fame, to beg, kneeling, and with tears, that
Cuthbert would accept the episcopal dignity to which he had just been
promoted in the synod of Twyford, presided over by archbishop Theodore.
He yielded only after a long resistance, himself weeping when he did
so. It was, however, permitted to him to delay his consecration for
six months, till Easter, which left him still a winter in his dear
solitude, before he went to York, where he was consecrated by the
primate Theodore, assisted by six bishops. He would not, however,
accept the diocese of Hexham, to which he had been first appointed, but
persuaded his friend Eata, the bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne, to
give up to him the monastic bishopric, where he had already lived so
long.
The diocese of Lindisfarne spread far to the west, much beyond
Hexham. The Britons of Cumbria who had come to be tributaries of the
Northumbrian kings, were thus included in it. King Egfrid's deed of
gift, in which he gives the district of Cartmell, with all the Britons
who dwell in it, to bishop Cuthbert, still exists. The Roman city of
Carlisle, transformed into an Anglo-Saxon fortress, was also under his
sway, with all the surrounding monasteries.
His new dignity made no difference in his character, nor even in his
mode of life. He retained his old habits as a cenobite, and even as a
hermit. In the midst of his episcopal pomp he remained always the monk
and missionary of old. His whole episcopate, indeed, seems to bear the
character of a mission indefinitely prolonged. He went over his vast
diocese, to administer confirmation to converts, traversing a crowd
more attentive and respectful than ever, lavishing upon it all kinds
of benefits, alms, clothing, sermons, miraculous cures--penetrating as
of old into hamlets and distant corners, climbing the hills and downs,
sleeping under a tent, and sometimes indeed finding no other shelter
than in the huts of branches, brought from the nearest wood to the
desert, in which he had made the torrent of his eloquence and charity
to gush forth.
Here also we find illustrations, as at all previous periods of his
life, of the most delightful feature of his good and holy soul. In
the obscure missionary of Melrose, in the already celebrated prior
of Lindisfarne, and still more, if that is possible, in the powerful
and venerated bishop, the same heart, overflowing with tenderness and
compassion is always to be found. The supernatural power given to him
to cure the most cruel diseases was wonderful. But in his frequent
and friendly intercourse with the great Anglo-Saxon earls, the
_ealdormen_, as well as with the mixed populations of Britons, Picts,
Scots, and English, whom he gathered under his crosier, the principal
feature in the numerous and detailed narratives which remain to us, and
which gives to them a beauty as of youth, always attractive, is his
intense and active sympathy for those human sorrows which in all ages
are the same, always so keen, and capable of so little consolation.
The more familiar the details of these meetings between the heart of a
saint and true priest, and the simple and impetuous hearts of the first
English Christians, the more attractive do they become, and we cannot
resist the inclination of presenting to our readers some incidents
which shew at once the liveliness of domestic affections among those
newly-baptized barbarians and their filial and familiar confidence in
their master. One of the ealdormen of king Egfrid arrived one day in
breathless haste at Lindisfarne, overwhelmed with grief, his wife, a
woman as pious and generous as himself, having been seized with a fit
of violent madness. But he was ashamed to disclose the nature of the
attack, it seemed to him a sort of chastisement from heaven, disgracing
a creature hitherto so chaste and honoured; all that he said was that
she was approaching death; and he begged that a priest might be given
him to carry to her the viaticum, and that when she died he might be
permitted to bury her in the holy isle. Cuthbert heard his story, and
said to him with much emotion, "This is my business; no one but myself
can go with you." As they rode on their way together, the husband wept,
and Cuthbert, looking at him and seeing the cheeks of the rough warrior
wet with tears, divined the whole; and during all the rest of the
journey consoled and encouraged him, explaining to him that madness was
not a punishment of crime, but a trial which God inflicted sometimes
upon the innocent. "Besides," he added, "when we arrive we shall find
her cured; she will come to meet us, and will help me to dismount from
my horse, taking, according to her custom, the reins in her hand." And
so the event proved; for, says that historian, the demon did not dare
to await the coming of the Holy Ghost, of which the man of God was
full. The noble lady, delivered from her bondage, rose as if from a
profound sleep, and stood on the threshold to greet the holy friend of
the house, seizing the reins of his horse, and joyfully announcing her
sudden cure.
On another occasion, a certain count Henma, from whom he sought
hospitality during one of his pastoral journeys, received him on his
knees, thanking him for his visit, but at the same time telling him
that his wife was at the point of death, and he himself in despair.
"However," said the count, "I firmly believe that were you to give her
your blessing, she would be restored to health, or at least delivered
by a speedy death from her long and cruel sufferings." The saint
immediately sent one of his priests, without entering into the sick
room himself, to sprinkle her with water which he had blessed. The
patient was at once relieved; and herself came to act as cupbearer to
the prelate, offering him, in the name of all her family, that cup of
wine which, under the name of the _loving cup_, has continued since the
time of the Anglo-Saxons to form a part of all solemn public banquets.
A contagious disease at another time broke out in one part of his
diocese, to which Cuthbert immediately betook himself. After having
visited and consoled all the remaining inhabitants of one village, he
turned to the priest who accompanied him, and asked, "Is there still
any one sick in this poor place, whom I can bless before I depart?"
"Then," says the priest, who has preserved this story to us, "I showed
him in the distance a poor woman bathed in tears, one of whose sons
was already dead, and who held the other in her arms, just about to
render his last breath. The bishop rushed to her, and taking the dying
child from its mother's arms, kissed it first, then blessed it, and
restored it to the mother, saying to her, as the Son of God said to the
widow of Nain, 'Woman, weep not; have no more fear or sorrow; your son
is saved, and no more victims to this pestilence shall perish here.'"
No saint of his time or country had more frequent or affectionate
intercourse than Cuthbert with the nuns, whose numbers and influence
were daily increasing among the Anglo-Saxons, and especially in
Northumberland. The greater part of them lived together in the great
monasteries, such as Whitby and Coldingham, but some, especially
those who were widows or of advanced age, lived in their own houses
or with their relatives. Such was a woman devoted to the service of
God, who had watched over Cuthbert's childhood (for he seems to have
been early left an orphan), while he kept his sheep on the hills near
Melrose, from the eighth year of his age until his entrance into the
convent at the age of fifteen. He was tenderly grateful to her for her
maternal care, and when he became a missionary, took advantage of every
occasion furnished to him by his apostolic journeys to visit her whom
he called his mother, in the village where she lived. On one occasion,
when he was with her, a fire broke out in the village, and the flames,
increased by a violent wind, threatened all the neighbouring roofs.
"Fear nothing, dear mother," the young missionary said to her; "this
fire will do you no harm;" and he began to pray. Suddenly the wind
changed; the village was saved, and with it the thatched roof which
sheltered the old age of her who had protected his infancy.
From the cottage of his foster-mother he went to the palaces of
queens. The noble queen of Northumberland, Etheldreda, the saint and
virgin, had a great friendship for Cuthbert. She overwhelmed him and
his monastery with gifts from her possessions, and wishing, besides,
to offer him a personal token of her close affection, she embroidered
for him, with her hands (for she embroidered beautifully), a stole
and maniple covered with gold and precious stones. She chose to give
him such a present that he might wear this memorial of her only in
the presence of God, whom they both served, and accordingly would be
obliged to keep her always in mind at the holy sacrifice.
Cuthbert was on still more intimate terms with the holy princesses,
who, placed at the head of great communities of nuns, and sometimes
even of monks, exercised so powerful an influence upon the Anglo-Saxon
race, and particularly on Northumbria. While he was still at Melrose,
the increasing fame of his sanctity and eloquence brought him often
into the presence of the sister of king Oswy, who then reigned over
the two Northumbrian kingdoms. This princess, Ebba, was abbess of the
double monastery of Coldingham, the farthest north of all the religious
establishments of Northumbria. Cuthbert was the guest for several days
of the royal abbess, but he did not intermit on this occasion his pious
exercises, nor, above all, his austerities and long prayers by night on
the sea-shore.
To the end of his life he maintained a very intimate and constant
friendship with another abbess of the blood-royal of Northumbria,
Elfleda, niece of S. Oswald, and of king Oswy, who, though still quite
young, exercised an influence much greater than that of Ebba upon the
men and the events of her time. She had the liveliest affection for
the prior of Lindisfarne, and at the same time an absolute confidence
in his sanctity. When she was assailed by an alarming illness, which
fell into paralysis, and found no remedy from physicians, she cried,
"Ah! had I but something which belonged to my dear Cuthbert, I am sure
I should be cured." A short time after, her friend sent her a linen
girdle, which she hastened to put on, and in three days she was healed.
Shortly before his death, and during his last pastoral visitation,
Cuthbert went to see Elfleda in the neighbourhood of the great
monastery of Whitby, to consecrate a church which she had built there,
and to converse with her for the last time. They dined together, and
during the meal, seeing his knife drop from his trembling hand in
the abstraction of supernatural thoughts, she had a last opportunity
of admiring his prophetic intuition, and his constant care for
the salvation of souls. The fatigue of the holy bishop, who said,
laughingly, "I cannot eat all day long, you must give me a little
rest"--the eagerness and pious curiosity of the young abbess, anxious
to know and do everything, who rushes up breathless during the ceremony
of the dedication to ask from the bishop a memento for a monk whose
death she had just heard of--all these details form a picture complete
in its simplicity, upon which the charmed mind can repose amid the
savage habits and wild vicissitudes of the struggle, then more violent
than ever, between the Northumbrians and the Picts, the Saxons and the
Kelts.
But the last of all his visits was for another abbess less illustrious
and less powerful than the two princesses of the blood, but also of
high birth, and not less dear to his heart, if we may judge by the mark
of affection which he gave her on his death-bed. This was Verca, abbess
of one of that long line of monasteries which traced the shores of the
Northern Sea. Her convent was on the mouth of the Tyne, the river which
divided the two Northumbrian kingdoms. She gave Cuthbert a magnificent
reception; but the bishop was ill, and after the mid-day meal, which
was usual in all the Benedictine monasteries, he became thirsty. Wine
and beer were offered to him, yet he would take nothing but water,
but this water, after it had touched his lips, seemed to the monks of
Tynemouth, who drank the remainder, the best wine they had ever tasted.
Cuthbert, who retained nothing of the robust health of his youth,
already suffered from the first attacks of the disease which carried
him off. His pious friend was no doubt struck by his feebleness, for
she offered him, as the last pledge of spiritual union, a piece of very
fine linen to be his shroud. Two short years of the episcopate had
sufficed to consume his strength.
After celebrating the feast of Christmas, in 686, with the monks of
Lindisfarne, the presentiment of approaching death determined him to
abdicate, and to return to his isle of Farne, there to prepare for
the last struggle. He lived but two months, in the dear and pleasant
solitude which was his supreme joy, tempering its sweetness by
redoubled austerities. When his monks came to visit him in his isle,
which storms often made inaccessible for weeks together, they found him
thin, tremulous, and almost exhausted. One of them, who has given us a
narrative of the end of his life, revived him a little by giving him
warm wine to drink, then seating himself by the side of the worn-out
bishop upon his bed of stone, to sustain him, received from his beloved
lips the last confidences and last exhortations of the venerated
master. The visits of his monks were very sweet to him, and he lavished
upon them to the last moment proofs of his paternal tenderness and of
his minute care for their spiritual and temporal well-being. His last
illness was long and painful. He fixed beforehand the place of his
burial, near the oratory which he had hollowed in the rock, and at the
foot of a cross which he had himself planted. "I would fain repose,"
said he, "in this spot, where I have fought my little battle for the
Lord, where I desire to finish my course, and from whence I hope that
my merciful Judge will call me to the crown of righteousness. You will
bury me, wrapped in the linen which I have kept for my shroud, out of
love for the abbess Verca, the friend of God, who gave it to me."
He ended his holy life preaching peace, humility, and the love of
that unity which he thought he had succeeded in establishing in the
great Anglo-Keltic sanctuary, the new abbot of which, Herefrid, begged
of him a last message as a legacy to his community. "Be unanimous
in your counsels," the dying bishop said to him in his faint voice;
"live in good accord with the other servants of Christ; despise none
of the faithful who ask your hospitality; treat them with friendly
familiarity, not esteeming yourself better than others, who have the
same faith, and often the same life. But have no communion with those
who withdraw from the unity of Catholic peace, either by the illegal
celebration of Easter, or by practical ill-doing. Remember always, if
you must make a choice, that I infinitely prefer that you should leave
this place, carrying my bones with you, rather than that you should
remain here bent under the yoke of wicked heresy. Learn, and observe
with diligence, the Catholic decrees of the fathers, and also the rules
of monastic life which God has deigned to give you by my hands. I know
that many have despised me in my life, but after my death you will see
that my doctrine has not been despicable."
This effort was the last. He lost the power of speech, received the
last sacraments in silence, and died raising his eyes and arms to
heaven, at the hour when it was usual to sing matins, in the night of
the 20th of March, 687. One of his attendants immediately mounted to
the summit of the rock, where the lighthouse is now placed, and gave to
the monks of Lindisfarne, by waving a lighted torch, the signal agreed
upon to announce the death of the greatest saint who has given glory
to that famous isle. He was but fifty, and had worn the monastic habit
for thirty-five years.
Among many friends, he had one who was at once his oldest and most
beloved, a priest called Herbert, who lived as an anchorite in an
island of Lake Derwentwater. Every year Herbert came from his peaceful
lake to visit his friend in the other island, beaten and undermined
continually by the great waves of the Northern Sea; and upon that wild
rock, to the accompaniment of winds and waves, they passed several days
together, in a tender solitude and intimacy, talking of the life to
come. When Cuthbert, then a bishop, came for the last time to Carlisle,
Herbert seized the opportunity, and hastened to refresh himself at that
fountain of eternal benefits which flowed for him from the holy and
tender heart of his friend. "My brother," the bishop said to him, "thou
must ask me now all that thou wantest to know, for we shall never meet
again in this world." At these words Herbert fell at his feet in tears.
"I conjure thee," he cried, "do not leave me on this earth behind thee;
remember my faithful friendship, and pray God that, after having served
Him together in this world, we may pass into His glory together."
Cuthbert threw himself on his knees at his friend's side, and after
praying for some minutes, said to him, "Rise, my brother, and weep no
more; God has granted to us that which we have both asked from Him."
And, in fact, though they never saw each other again here below, they
died on the same day and at the same hour; the one in his isle bathed
by the peaceful waters of a solitary lake, the other upon his granite
rock, fringed by the ocean foam; and their souls, says Bede, reunited
by that blessed death, were carried together by the angels into the
eternal kingdom. This coincidence deeply touched the Christians of
Northumbria, and was long engraven in their memory. Seven centuries
later, in 1374, the bishop of Carlisle appointed that a mass should
be said on the anniversary of the two saints, in the island where the
Cumbrian anchorite died, and granted an indulgence of forty days to all
who crossed the water to pray there in honour of the two friends.
After many translations, the body of S. Cuthbert found repose in Durham
cathedral, where it rested in a magnificent shrine till the reign of
Henry VIII., when the royal commissioners visited the cathedral with
the purpose of demolishing all shrines. The following is a condensed
account of this horrible profanation, given by a writer of the period,
or shortly after[67]:--
[67] "A description or briefe declaration of all ye auntient monuments,
&c., written in 1593," but this seems to have been written originally
in Latin somewhat earlier. It has been several times republished,
lastly by Sanderson, in 1767.
"The sacred shrine of holy S. Cuthbert was defaced at the visitation
held at Durham, by Dr. Lee, Dr. Henly, and Mr. Blithman. They found
many valuable jewels. After the spoil of his ornaments, they approached
near to his body, expecting nothing but dust and ashes; but perceiving
the chest he lay in strongly bound with iron, the goldsmith, with a
smith's great forge hammer, broke it open, when they found him lying
whole, uncorrupt, with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's
growth, and all the vestments about him, as he was accustomed to say
mass. When the goldsmith perceived he had broken one of his legs in
breaking open the chest, he was sore troubled at it, and cried, 'Alas!
I have broken one of his legs'; which Dr. Henly hearing, called to
him, and bade him cast down his bones. The other answered, he could
not get them asunder, for the sinews and skin held them so that they
would not separate. Then Dr. Lee stept up to see if it were so, and
turning about, spake in Latin to Dr. Henly that he was entire, though
Dr. Henly, not believing his words, called again to have his bones
cast down. Dr. Lee answered, 'If you will not believe me, come up
yourself and see him.' Then Dr. Henly stept up to him, and handled him,
and found he lay whole; then he commanded them to take him down, and
so it happened, that not only his body was whole and uncorrupted, but
the vestments wherein his body lay, and wherein he was accustomed to
say mass, were fresh, safe, and not consumed. Whereupon the visitors
commanded him to be carried into the revestry, till the king's pleasure
concerning him was further known; and upon the receipt thereof, the
prior and monks buried him in the ground under the place where his
shrine was exalted."
Harpsfield, who flourished at the time, and who was a most faithful
and zealous Catholic, gives a similar account; he, however, does not
say that the leg bone was broken, but that the flesh was wounded; and
that the body was entire except that "the prominent part of the nose,
I know not why, was wanting." And he adds that, "a grave was made in
the ground, in that very spot previously occupied by his precious
shrine, and there the body was deposited. And not only his body, but
even the vestments in which it was clothed, were perfectly entire,
and free from all taint and decay. There was upon his finger a ring
of gold, ornamented with a sapphire, which I myself once saw and
handled and kissed. There were present, among others, when this sacred
body was exposed to daylight, Doctor Whithead, the president of the
monastery, Dr. Sparke, Dr. Tod, and William Wilam, the keeper of the
sacred shrine. And thus it is abundantly manifest, that the body of S.
Cuthbert remained inviolate and uncontaminated eight hundred and forty
years."
In May, 1827, the place which these and other authorities had indicated
as that where the body of S. Cuthbert was buried, was very carefully
examined, and the coffin and a body were exhumed. The Anglo-Saxon
sculpture, and everything about and within this coffin, left no doubt
that what was discovered was the ancient coffin, the vestments, and
relics which had accompanied the body of S. Cuthbert. But the body by
no means agreed with the minute accounts of S. Cuthbert. There was
evidence that it had not been uncorrupt when buried, and there was no
trace of any injury done to the leg-bone. Hence it is difficult not to
conclude that the garments and shrine were those of Cuthbert, but that
the body was _not his_, but was one which had been substituted for it.
And when we remember that the incorrupt body was left in the vestry
under the charge of the prior and monks till the king's pleasure could
be ascertained as to what was to be done with it, there can be little
doubt that they who so highly valued this sacred treasure substituted
for it another body, which they laid in the pontifical vestments of
Cuthbert, which was buried as his in his coffin. Where the prior and
monks concealed the holy relics, if this conjecture prove true, it is
impossible to state. That there is ground for this conjecture may be
concluded from the existence of a tradition to this effect, and it is
said that the true place of the interment of the saint is only known to
three members of the Benedictine Order, who, as each one dies, choose
a successor. Another line of tradition is said to descend through the
Vicars Apostolic, now Roman Catholic bishops of the district. This is
the belief to which reference is made in Marmion.
The supposed place of interment indicated by the secular tradition,
(under the stairs of the bell-tower), has been carefully examined.
No remains were found, and it is evident that the ground had never
been disturbed since the construction of the tower.[68] There can be
no question as to the genuineness of all the articles found in the
tomb, for they exactly agree with accounts of the things contained in
the shrine, described by pre-reformation writers; but the genuineness
of the body is more than questionable. Mr. Raine, who was present at
the investigation, and has written an account of it, "S. Cuthbert;
with an Account of the State in which his Remains were found upon the
Opening of his Tomb in Durham Cathedral, in the year 1827," Durham
1828, endeavours to establish their identity by repudiating as absurd
the account of the contemporary writers who assert that the body was
uncorrupt, and of the breaking of the leg-bone, though he accepts all
their other statements.
[68] This secular tradition was preserved in the following
words:--"Subter gradus saxeos (secundum et tertium) climacis
ascendentis et ducentis erga turrim campanarum in templo cathedrali
civitatis Dunelmensis, prope horologium grande quod locatur in angulo
australi fani ejusdem, sepultus jacet thesaurus pretiosus, (corpus S.
Cuthberti.)" The earliest notice of such a tradition is in Serenus
Cressy, (1688), Church History, p. 902. The next in two MSS. in
Downside College by F. Mannock (1740), who states that he had heard it
from F. Casse (1730.) Both these statements pointed to the removal of
the body in the time of Henry VIII. The next notice of it is in 1828,
when F. Gregory Robinson wrote to Lingard, (see Lingard's Remarks, p.
50), but in this account the removal was described as taking place
in Mary's time. The secresy was partly broken when, in 1800, the
sketch of the cathedral which exists in the archives of the Northern
(R.C.) Province was allowed to be seen. Lingard's tradition (Anglo
Saxon Church, ii. p. 80), about the exchange of S. Cuthbert's body
for another skeleton is unknown to the Benedictines, who assert that
they possess the secret. It is said that the Benedictine tradition
concerning the site does not agree with the secular. What started
the diggings in 1867, under the stairs, was that a hereditary Roman
Catholic of Gateshead became a Protestant, and gave up a small piece
of paper on which was written the above secular tradition, "_subter
gradus, &c._" His father or grandfather had been servant to a Vicar
Apostolic, after whose death he had some of his clothes, among which
was a waistcoat, inside which the above was secured. It was ascertained
that this was not a hoax, and the late Dean Waddington invited some of
the fathers from Ushaw over, and the head of the English Benedictines
to see the diggings. It was supposed that the "precious treasure"
was something else, perhaps the Black Rood of Scotland, containing a
portion of the true cross, and that the words above in parenthesis,
(corpus Sti. Cuthberti) are a gloss. However they dug, but found
nothing but concrete and rock.
S. WULFRAM, B. OF SENS.
(A.D. 741.)
[Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Also those of Usuardus and Wyon.
Authority:--A life written by a contemporary, Jonas, a monk of the
same abbey of Fontenelle to which S. Wulfram retired, of this there
are several editions, some much interpolated. Some of these additions
are gross errors. According to the life which Surius publishes, Jonas
dedicated it to his abbot Bainus. But Bainus died seven years after
Wulfram had undertaken his mission. Possibly Bainus is an error of
the copyist for Wando, who translated the body of S. Wulfram in 742.
In the prologue, moreover, Owen, or Ovus, the lad whom S. Wulfram had
resuscitated after he had been hung, is quoted as the authority for
much of what the bishop did in Friesland, Owen being then priest in
the abbey of Fontenelle. This indicates the date of the life as being
about the time of the translation.]
Wulfram was born at Milly, three leagues from Fontainebleau, of a noble
and wealthy family. His father, whose name was Fulbert, was held in
great esteem by Dagobert I. and Clovis II. on account of the signal
services he had rendered them in their wars. Although brought up, and
constantly engaged in the camp, Fulbert took care that his son should
receive an excellent education in letters; and as Wulfram exhibited a
marked partiality for the clerical over the secular life, he suffered
him to take holy orders. Wulfram was not, however, allowed to follow
the bent of his wishes in every particular, for notwithstanding his
desire to live a quiet secluded life of study, he was called in 670
to serve God in the court of Clothaire III. and Thierry III., kings
of the Franks, till the death of his father. About the same time,
Lambert, bishop of Sens, having died, Wulfram was unanimously elected
to fill his room, by clergy and people, and the royal consent having
been obtained, he was consecrated to the see of Sens, in 693. But "the
Spirit breatheth where He wills, and thou canst not tell whence He
cometh and whither He goeth." Moved by a divine call which could not
be gainsaid, after having occupied the see for only two years and a
half, Wulfram abdicted his charge in 685, probably moved by religious
scruples as to the canonicity of his appointment, for S. Amæus, the
rightful bishop of Sens, in the banishment to which he was sent by
Thierry III. in 674, had survived the appointment of Lambert. Wulfram,
freed from his charge, at once undertook a mission to Friesland. He
conferred on his design with S. Ansbert, then archbishop of Rouen,
after having been abbot of S. Vandrille.[69] By his advice he retired
for a while into that abbey of Fontenelle to prepare for his apostolate
to the Frisians, in solitude, with prayer. After awhile he came forth
refreshed, and having divested himself of his property at Milly, his
native place, which he gave to the abbey of S. Vandrille, that he might
go unimpeded into the battle; and having obtained from the abbot,
Hilbert, some monks to accompany him and assist him in his mission, he
embarked at Caudebec, in 700, spread the white sail to the breeze, and
flew out into the sea.
[69] Anciently Fontenelle.
"To the ship's bow he ascended,
By his choristers attended,
Round him were the tapers lighted,
And the sacred incense rose.
"On the bow stood bishop Wulfram,
In his robes, as one transfigured,
And the crucifix he planted
High amid the rain and mist.
"Then with holy water sprinkled
All the ship; the mass-bells tinkled;
Loud the monks around him chanted,
Loud he read the Evangelist."[70]
[70] Longfellow's Saga of king Olaf.
But as the deacon was wiping the paten, during mass, it slipped from
his fingers, and glanced down through a green wave and was lost. Then
he uttered a cry of dismay, for they had no other paten with them in
the vessel. But Wulfram turning himself about from the altar in the
ship's-bows, bade him thrust his hand over the side into the water. And
he did so, nothing doubting, and brought up the paten, dripping with
sea-water. This paten was preserved in the monastery of S. Vandrille
till the year 1621, when it was stolen.
Now when they had come into Friesland, Wulfram went before the king,
Radbod, and preached boldly to him the Word of God. The king listened,
and allowed the missionaries to settle in the land, and to declare the
Gospel of the Kingdom to his subjects, but he himself put off giving
attention to what they taught till a more convenient season. And as
Wulfram dwelt in the land, and saw it wholly given up to the worship of
false gods, and to the performance of cruel sacrifices, his spirit was
stirred within him, and he denounced the hideous offerings of children
made to the false gods. It was then the custom among the Frisians to
offer to Wodin their sons, by hanging them on gibbets. This method of
sacrifice was common to all the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples.
One horrible instance is related, for instance, in one of the old
Norse Sagas, of a mother thus sacrificing her child to Wodin to obtain
from him the secret of brewing better ale than the second wife of her
husband, in order that she might thus be able to attach him to herself
more closely.
Wulfram preached in vain, king Radbod replied to all his remonstrances
that it was the custom of the country, and that he could not, or would
not alter it. And this was the way in which the victims were chosen.
Lots were cast on the children of the nobles, and those who were taken,
were hung on a tree or gibbet, to Wodin, or else were fastened to a
post between tides, and left to drown with the rising flood, as an
offering to Ran, the sea-goddess, to stay her from bringing her waves
over the low, flat land, and submerging it.
Hearing that a child was about to be hung, Wulfram hasted to the spot,
but was unable to prevent the perpetration of the sacrifice. Then after
the boy had been hanging two hours, the rope broke, and the bishop
casting himself on the body, cried to the Lord, and He heard his voice,
and the child revived, and the bishop restored him to his parents.[71]
And on another occasion, he was present when two youths, sons of a
widow, were being sacrificed to the sea. He saw the poor lads waiting
on the wet sand, and shrieking with fear as the waves tumbled at every
instant nearer to them, whilst all the people looked on, shouting to
drown their cries, upon the dyke. Then Wulfram, unable to endure the
spectacle, knelt down, and covered his eyes, and prayed. And when he
looked up, he saw the sea was washing around the youths, but had not
touched them. So he prayed more fervently, and the people standing on
the dyke shouted, to drown the shrieks of the young men; and Wulfram
looked, and they were up to their chins in water, battling with the
angry waves. Then Radbod called to the bishop and said, "See! there be
the youths, go, save them if thou canst." Then Wulfram rose, and made
the sign of the cross, and cast his mantle from him, and went boldly
down to the sea, and walked thereon without fear, trusting in the Lord,
and he took the two children, one by each hand, and he came to the land
leading them, with foot unwet.
[71] The boy was afterwards sent to Fontenelle, and he is the authority
for the events of S. Wulfram's mission in Friesland.
Then the people were filled with wonder, and a great fear fell upon
them, and many renounced their false gods, and came and submitted their
necks to the sweet yoke of Christ. King Radbod also, convinced against
his will, consented to receive baptism. But as he was stepping down
into the water, he suddenly halted, with one foot in the stream, and
asked, "Where are my ancestors, are they in the heaven thou promisest
to me?"
"Be not deceived," answered Wulfram, "God knoweth the number of His
elect. Thy ancestors have died without baptism, therefore they have
certainly received the sentence of damnation." It was an injudicious
answer. It is by no means certain that those who have not had an
opportunity of knowing the truth, but have lived up to the light God
has given them, are eternally lost. The result of this harsh answer
was, that Radbod withdrew his foot from the water, saying, "I will go
to hell with my ancestors, rather than be in heaven without them." It
is only just to remark that this story is not to be found in the most
correct and ancient copies of the life by Jonas of Fontenelle.
After about twenty years of labour in Friesland, his health failed, and
he returned in haste to Fontenelle, to die amongst the brethren in the
peace of a cloister. He died on March 20th, in the year 720. Nine years
after, Wando, abbot of Fontenelle, took the body from its grave, and
translated to the church of S. Peter. In 1058, it was taken to Notre
Dame at Abbeville, and this church in course of years, assumed the
name of S. Wulfram. The sacred relics remain there, enclosed in a rich
shrine. An annual procession is made on this day at Abbeville with the
shrine.
SS. TWENTY MONKS, MM. AT S. SABAS.
(A.D. 797.)
[Commemorated by the Greeks. Authority:--The Acts by S. Stephen of S.
Sabas, an eye-witness of what he relates. The account in the Greek
Menology is full of inaccuracies, which proves that the compiler of it
had not seen the Acts, but wrote his account from tradition.]
The laura of S. Sabas between Jerusalem and Bethlehem stood in a
situation exposed to hostile attack. In the invasion of Palestine by
Chosroes, the monastery did not escape, but yielded up sixty martyrs
to God. In 797, twenty more perished in an incursion of the Arabs.
The account of this latter catastrophe, written by Stephen, a monk of
that monastery, at the time, and one of those who escaped, is full of
interest. It is far too long to be inserted here. We have only space
for a brief outline of the events. The Arabs had been devastating the
whole country for some time past, and news of the ruin of the laura of
S. Charito had reached the monks of the laura of S. Sabas. A laura is a
collection of separate cells, of caves, or huts, the monks assembling
only in the church; whereas a monastery consists of one or more large
buildings, in which the monks live in community. On hearing of the
pillage of the laura of S. Charito, the brethren assembled in the
church to pray God to deliver them from a like infliction, or should
He deem expedient to send it upon them, to strengthen them to meet it
manfully. As they were in prayer, a brother who was on the look-out,
came running to tell that he saw a party of some sixty Arabs, armed
with lances and bows, galloping over a sand hill in the direction
of the laura. It was the 13th of March, and the second hour of the
morning. Then there went forth a deputation of the monks to meet the
marauders, and to beseech them to spare the defenceless brethren. But
they were greeted with shouts of derision, and were driven before the
arrows and stones of the robbers back into the church, some of their
number mortally wounded, and in all, thirty were wounded. The physician
Thomas extracted the arrows and bound up their wounds, as they were
brought in. But he had little space for attending to them, before the
Arabs came into the laura, and gathering thorns into bundles, piled
them about the cells and set fire to them. They were preparing to do
the same to the church, when an alarm was given that succour to the
monks was at hand, and in an instant the Arabs had vanished over the
sand hills.
Throughout the following week the monks were kept in incessant alarm
and expectation of a renewed attack. Messengers came to them from the
old Laura, to warn them that a band of ruffians had attacked it and
was on its way to the Laura of S. Sabas. The news reached them on
Saturday night late, as they were keeping the vigil of the Lord's day
in the Church. Their terror and anxiety was greatly increased somewhat
later, when an old white-haired monk arrived from the monastery of
S. Euthymius, bearing a letter from the abbot, to tell them that a
second party of Arabs was on its way to attack them. A bright full
moon was in the sky, shining in at the church windows, and by its
light the frightened monks deciphered the epistle. Some fled over the
desert, vainly seeking hiding places; some retired to their cells, some
remained praying in the Church. Here occurs a great gap in the history,
a whole sheet of the MS. is lost, and we next hear of the Arabs driving
the flying monks before them with bow, and spear, and club, towards
the church, scouring the desert around and catching the runaways,
penetrating into the cells, and dragging them forth.
John, the guest-master, was found among some rocks, the barbarians
pelted him with stones, then ham-strung him, and dragged him down
the rocks by his feet to the church, till, mangled and bleeding, he
fainted. Sergius, the sacristan, had concealed the sacred vessels,
and had sought refuge in flight, but was caught, and because he
refused to surrender the holy vessels, was hacked to pieces by the
barbarians. A number of the monks had secreted themselves in a cave.
The Arabs ran into it, thrusting their swords and spears into every
corner, and one of the monks, a young man, named Patricius, resolved
to sacrifice himself to save the others. He, therefore, cried out
that he would surrender, and, coming forth, delivered himself up. The
robbers, supposing he was the only one there concealed, left the others
unmolested. He was one of those who were afterwards suffocated.
Now there was a winding cave under the guest-house, which was used for
various purposes. Into this a number of monks were driven, and they
were threatened with death unless they would ransom their lives by
surrendering the Eucharistic vessels and vestments. This they refused
to do. Then the Arabs bade them point out which were the heads of the
community. They replied, with truth, that the abbot was now absent,
he having gone away on some business a few weeks before. Then they
insisted on the physician being indicated to them, for they had an idea
that he was possessed of money. Again the monks refused to declare
which of them was physician. Then the Arabs thrust them all into the
cave, and choking up the entrance with thorns and grass, set fire to
it. And when there had been a blaze and smoke for some little while,
they shouted to the monks within to come forth; so the unfortunate men
came through the blaze and over the red coals, and fell panting for
breath on the ground. Their hair, beards, eyelashes, and their garments
were burnt, and their faces were discoloured with smoke. The Arabs
again bade them deliver up their superiors, and as they again refused,
they drove them back through the flames into the cave, and heaped on
more fuel, and kept up the blaze, till all within had been suffocated.
Then they dispersed themselves over the Laura, and entered every cell,
and took from them all that they wanted, and laded the camels belonging
to the monks with the spoil that they had found, and departed.
And after many hours, the brethren who had escaped came forth from
their places of concealment, and sought water and food to satisfy
their appetites; and they scattered the embers of the great fire, and
as the smoke rolled forth from the cavern, and a pure air entered,
they lighted tapers and went in, at the setting of the sun, and found
all the fathers therein dead, with their faces to the ground, and in
various attitudes, some as though creeping into a corner in quest of
air. And they made great lamentation over them, and drew them forth and
washed them, and buried them with reverence.
S. AMBROSE OF SIENNA, O. P.
(A.D. 1287.)
[At Sienna on the Saturday before Passion Sunday; but by the Dominican
Order on March 22nd; the Roman Martyrology on March 20th, the day
of his death. He was beatified by Gregory XV. His Acts were written
by friars Gisberti, Recuperato di Petromala, Aldobrandini Paparoni,
and Olvado, by order of Honorius IV., the then reigning pope, from
documents transmitted to them within a month of the decease of S.
Ambrose. These originals also exist, and have been printed along with
the Acts by the Bollandists.]
S. Ambrose was of the family of the Sansedoni, on his father's side,
and of the Stribelini on that of his mother, both illustrious in
Sienna. He was deformed at his birth, his legs and feet being twisted,
but as his nurse was hearing mass one holy-day, in the church of the
Dominicans, and was praying before some holy relics, afterwards exposed
to the veneration of the faithful, the child suddenly pronounced the
name of Jesus thrice, and lost at the same moment every trace of
deformity.
As he grew up, his play was connected with holy things. Till he was
seven, he amused himself with carving little crosses, making little
oratories, imitating with other children the processions and psalmody
of the Church. When he grew older, he obtained his father's consent
to his lodging pilgrims. He furnished for the purpose a room in the
house, and went to the gate of the city every Saturday to bring home
with him the first five pilgrims whom he encountered. He then washed
their feet, and ministered in every way to their comforts. On the
morrow he went with them to mass, and guided them about the town to all
the places of devotion. Every Sunday evening after vespers he visited
the hospital, and every Friday the prison. He continued these holy
exercises till he was seventeen, when he entered the Dominican order.
He made his full profession next year, in 1238, and was then sent to
Paris and to Cologne to prosecute his studies. At Cologne he became the
pupil of Albertus Magnus, along with the great S. Thomas Aquinas. When
his education was complete, he taught theology in Paris for two years,
and then preached in France, Germany, and Italy. The people of Sienna
having taken part with Mansfeld, the bastard of Frederick II., who was
in hostility with the pope, were placed under an interdict. Ambrose
undertook to reconcile them with the Holy See, and was so successful,
that the Siennese have chosen him, on account of this eminent service
rendered them, as the patron of their city.
During the forty-nine years of his monastic life, he maintained the
utmost self-discipline. He never slept more than four hours every
night. After matins he remained for two hours in prayer in the choir,
and spent the rest of the night in study till prime. He preached with
singular fire and action. In the Lent of 1286, he broke a blood-vessel
as he was preaching, and was obliged to leave the pulpit. The
hæmorrhage ceasing next day, he insisted on resuming his sermon, but
the vessel burst again, and he lost so much blood that he felt his hour
was at hand. He made his general confession, and having received the
last sacraments, breathed forth his pure soul in the sixty-sixth year
of his age, on March 20th, 1286.
March 21.
SS. SERAPION, _Monk_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., at Alexandria_.
SS. MARTYRS OF ALEXANDRIA, _in the reign of Constantine_, A.D. 367.
S. SERAPION, _B. of Thmuis, 4th cent._
S. LUPICINUS, _Ab. of Condate, circ._ A.D. 430.
S. ENDA, _Ab. in Aran-more, circ._ A.D. 540.
S. BENEDICT, _Ab. of Monte Cassino_, A.D. 543.
S. ELIAS, _B. of Sion in the Valais_.
S. SERAPION, B. OF THMUIS.
(4TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. In the ancient Latin Martyrologies is found
the mention of S. Serapion, Monk and Martyr, and many Companions
at Alexandria; but Baronius, instead, inserted in the Modern Roman
Martyrology another and wholly different Serapion, bishop of Thmuis
and Confessor in one of the Arian persecutions, when S. Athanasius
suffered their pursuit. This Serapion is mentioned by S. Athanasius.]
Serapion bishop of Thmuis, in Egypt, a friend of S. Antony the Great,
and a champion of S. Athanasius, wrote an epistle to the great defender
of orthodoxy, and another on the death of Arius, together with
treatises on the titles of the Psalms, and on Manichæism. He is said by
S. Jerome to have suffered for his zeal in the orthodox cause, under
Constantius, when the Arians were in power.
S. LUPICINUS, AB. OF CONDATE.
(ABOUT A.D. 430.)
[Roman and Benedictine Martyrologies; that of Usuardus, and that
attributed to Bede. Authority:--A life by a contemporary, a monk of
Condate, "Ego adhuc puerulus," he says. This life is very curious from
its barbarous Latin, teeming as it does with words and phrases adopted
from the Burgundian language. Also a life of SS. Romanus and Lupicinus
by S. Gregory of Tours, written in the 5th cent., see Feb. 28th.]
Lupicinus and his younger brother Romanus, seeking solitude, climbed
the rocks among the pines of the Jura, and established themselves
in the wilderness of Joux, living on wild fruits and plants. They
were both young; and they soon found that it was impossible for them
to maintain life on the scanty food yielded by the mountains. They
therefore descended to the plains, and entered the cottage of a poor
woman, and told her how they had tried to serve God in the midst of
the rocks, but had found such a life insupportable. The woman sharply
rebuked them for having put their hand to the plough, and then turned
back, and they filled with shame, turned their faces once more to the
mountains, and penetrated its recesses. And then many came to them from
all quarters, and the grain and herbs they had sown and planted sprang
up, and they cut down trees, and built the monastery of Condate.[72]
But soon the place was too strait for them, and a colony went forth,
and founded Lauconne, also in the Jura, and another was established
at Romainmoutier. Lupicinus was abbot, and all obeyed him. He is said
by S. Gregory of Tours to have been very austere and stern in the
maintenance of discipline, so that from his harshness some brethren
fled, but the contemporary writer gives a very different picture of
him. A story of his severity, with which the mildness of his brother
contrasts pleasingly, has been related in the life of S. Romanus (Feb.
28th).
[72] Afterwards S. Ouyan, and then S. Claude, after the bishop of
Besancon, who reformed it in 635.
But if he could be harsh at times, at others he overflowed with
gentleness.
He wore a rough garment made of the skins of beasts stitched together,
and wooden shoes, or rather sandals.[73] When others retired to rest
after singing vespers, he retreated to his oratory, however cold the
weather, meditating and dozing till the midnight office; in the
quaint Latin of his biographer it is said that he entered the oratory
"mæditaturus potius quam repausaturus" (to meditate rather than to
repose.)
[73] Lignea sola, quæ vulgo soccos monasteria vocitant Gallicana,
continuato est usu.
A pretty story is told of the tender care of the abbot Lupicinus for
a monk whose exaggerated fasting had brought him to such a pass that
it was thought he could not live many days. This man, who was younger
than Lupicinus, not content with the strict rule of the house, refused
to eat and drink till after vespers, and then he would touch nothing
but the crumbs which the brethren had let fall on the floor, which he
collected in his palm, and moistened with a little water. The result
was that he was struck down as with paralysis, and lay unable to move
on his pallet, ghastly, and scarce breathing. This monk was so set on
maintaining his self-imposed rule that the abbot doubted for some while
how to treat him. At last when all the brethren were at work one bright
spring day, he remained behind, and going to the monk's side, said,
"Come, my brother, and let me carry you on my back into the little
garden; you have long been shut in here in this dull cell, unable
to set foot on the ground, and glad your eyes with the fresh green
grass." So he set him on his back, and carried him into the garden,
and spread some sheepskins on the herb, and lay the emaciated brother
on it, and then lay down beside him as though he were also suffering
from exhaustion and rheumatism. After a while he began to rub his arms
and legs, and say, "Good God! how comforted I am by this.[74] Brother,
come, let me rub your back and legs and arms also, it makes them feel
so much better." And when he had done this for a while, the brother,
who lay half torpid, began to stretch himself a bit, and spread out his
legs in the sun.
[74] Deus bone, qualiter comfortatus, qualiter sum reparatus ad horam.
Seeing this, the abbot ran to the kitchen, and got some bits of broken
bread, and then went into the cellar and sopped them in the best wine,
and after that poured a little oil upon them, and came back into the
garden, holding out what he had got, exclaiming, "Look! sweetest
brother, away with your self-imposed severity, and doubt not it has
been too hard for you, follow my example, and obey my advice," and then
he gave him half of what he had prepared, eating the rest himself,
to encourage the monk. So having rubbed him a little more, and sung
a hymn, and said a prayer, he took him up on his back once more, and
carried him back to his cell again. Next day he did precisely the same,
and so on till the monk was able to totter into the garden, leaning
upon him, and then he amused him and occupied him by making him pick
berries. And thus, by degrees, he restored to his vigour a man who was
thought to be on the brink of the grave. He lived many years longer.
There were two monks who, tired of the discipline, or offended at being
set to work that displeased them, resolved to go away. They met in the
oratory at night, going thither under pretence of keeping vigil, and
one said to the other, "You take spade and axe, and I will carry off
the coverlets, and so we shall do well where we are going." Now in a
dark corner was the abbot praying, and he heard them, and he cried
out, "How, my children, is this! Will ye, going away, and disturb our
peace?" Then the two monks fell down dismayed at his feet, but he
extending his hands, put one under each of their chins, and stooping
gently, kissed them, said no one word of reproach, but betook himself
to the arms of prayer to God. Then the two monks stole back, penitent
and humbled, to their beds, and one remained at Condate till he died,
twenty years after; but the second after a while ran away, but returned
again to Lupicinus, sorrowful for what he had done, and resolved to
continue with him through the rest of his life.
When Lupicinus was old, he sought king Chilperic who governed Burgundy,
and who was then in Geneva.[75]
[75] The Burgundian king Gondecar had a brother and a son, both named
Chilperic, who reigned at Geneva. The son reigned only one year after
his father; he was killed by Gondebald in 477. S. Romanus died in
460. It is probable that his elder brother died before him, and that
Lupicinus visited the elder Chilperic. I have therefore supposed that
he died about 430. The Bollandists supposing that it was the younger
Chilperic he visited, have fixed his death at 480.
He went to him to plead the cause of some poor natives of the
Sequanaise, who had been reduced into slavery by a subordinate
potentate. This petty tyrant was one of those degenerate Romans,
courtiers and oppressors, who, by flattering the new-born authority
of the barbarian kings, found means of trampling on and spoiling
their inferiors. He was perhaps one of those senators of Gaul whom
the Burgundians had admitted in 456 to a share of the conquered
soil, and Lupicinus, although of Gallo-Roman origin, seems to have
been less favourably disposed towards the Roman government than that
of the Barbarians. Gregory of Tours has recorded a tradition which
well depicts the impression made on the popular imagination by this
apparition of the monks confronted with the triumphant Barbarians. He
relates that when Lupicinus crossed the threshold of the palace of
Chilperic, the throne upon which the king was seated trembled, as if
there had been an earthquake. Reassured at the sight of the old man
clothed in skins, the Burgundian prince listened to the curious debate
which arose between the oppressor and the advocate of the oppressed.
"It is then thou," said the courtier to the abbot, "it is thou, old
impostor, who hast already insulted the Roman power for ten years, by
announcing that all this region, and its chiefs, were hastening to
their ruin." "Yes, truly," answered the monk, pointing to the king,
who listened, "Yes, perverse traitor, the ruin which I predicted to
thee and to thy fellows, there it is. Seest thou not, degenerate man,
that thy rights are destroyed by thy sins, and that the prayers of the
innocent are granted? Seest thou not that the fasces and the Roman
purple are compelled to bow before a foreign judge? Take heed that
some unexpected guest does not come before a new tribunal to claim thy
lands and thy domains." The king of the Burgundians not only justified
the abbot by restoring his clients to liberty, but overwhelmed him
with presents, and offered him fields, and vineyards for his abbey.
Lupicinus would only accept a portion of the produce of these fields
and vineyards, fearing that the sentiment of too vast a property might
make his monks proud. Then the king decreed that they should be allowed
every year three hundred measures of corn, three hundred measures of
wine, and a hundred gold pieces for vestments; and the treasury of the
Merovingian kings continued to pay these dues long after the fall of
the kingdom of the Burgundians.
The old abbot was true to his profession of self-mortification to the
last. As he lay a dying he asked for a drink of water. One of the
brethren sweetened it, by pouring in a spoonful of honey. But the dying
man, when he tasted the sweetness, turned his head away, and refused to
drink.
S. ENDA, AB. OF ARAN-MORE.
(ABOUT A.D. 540.)
[Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--A fragment of the Life by Augustine
MacCrodin, published by Colgan, written about 1390. The following
account of the home of S. Enda, and sketch of his life, is taken from
the Bishop of Ardagh's charming "Visit to Aran-more," Brown and Nolan,
Dublin, 1870.]
S. Enda, whose name in Irish is written Einne and Ende, and in
Latin, Endeus and Anna, was born in Louth about the middle of the
fifth century, and was the only son of Conall, king of Oriel, whose
territories included the modern counties of Louth, Monaghan, Armagh,
and Fermanagh. Three of his sisters, Fanchea, Lochinia, and Carecha,
were nuns, and Darenia, the fourth sister, was wife of Engus, king of
Cashel, whose death is placed by the Four Masters in the year 489.
On the death of his father, the youthful Enda was chosen to succeed
him as head of the men of Oriel. The warlike spirit of the times took
strong hold of the young prince's heart, and we find him at an early
period of his life captivated by the love of glory, and eager to show
by his military prowess that he was worthy of the royal race from which
he had sprung, and of the throne which he filled. His holy sister,
Fanchea, was incessant in her exertions to win for God her brother's
heart, which, with all its defects, she knew to be chivalrous and pure.
For a time her words of warning and entreaty remained without result;
but the season of grace came soon. Enda had asked from his sister in
marriage one of the royal maidens who were receiving their education in
the convent which she ruled. Fanchea communicated his request to the
maiden: "Make thou thy choice, whether wilt thou love Him whom I love,
or this earthly bridegroom?" "Whom thou lovest," was the girl's sweet
reply, "Him also will I love." She died soon after, and gave her soul
to God, the Spouse whom she had chosen.
"The holy virgin," says the ancient life, covered the face of the dead
girl with a veil, and going again to Enda, said to him: "Young man,
come and see the maiden whom thou lovest." Then Enda with the virgin
entered the chamber where was the dead girl, and the holy virgin
uncovering the face of the lifeless maiden, said to him: "Now look upon
the face of her whom thou didst love." And Enda cried out: "Alas! she
is fair no longer, but ghastly white." "So also shalt thy face be,"
replied the holy virgin. And then S. Fanchea discoursed to him of the
pains of hell, and of the joys of heaven, until the young man's tears
began to flow. O! the wondrous mercy of God in the conversion of this
man to the true faith! for even as He changed the haughty Saul into the
humble Paul, so out of this worldly prince did he make a spiritual and
a holy teacher and pastor of His people. For having heard the words
of the holy virgin, despising the vanities of the world, he took the
monk's habit and tonsure, and what the tonsure signified, he fulfilled
by his actions.
After having founded a monastery in his native place, S. Enda is said
to have proceeded to Rosnat or Abba, in Britain, where he remained for
some time under the spiritual direction of S. Mansenus or Manchan.
Thence, according to the above-mentioned life, he went to Rome, where
"attentively studying the examples of the saints, and preparing
himself in everything for the order of priesthood, having at length
been ordained priest, he was pleasing to the most high God." He built
a monastery called _Lætinum_ or _the Place of Joy_; and rightly so
called, adds the life, "because therein the command of loving God and
our neighbour was most faithfully carried out."
Returning to Ireland, he landed at Drogheda, and built several churches
on either side of the river Boyne. He then proceeded southwards to
visit his brother-in-law, Engus, king of Munster, from whom he asked
the island of Aran, that he might dwell thereon. The king was first
unwilling to comply with his request; not because he was ungenerous,
but because he had learned from S. Patrick "not to offer to the Lord
his God any lands save such as were good and fertile, and easy of
access." But S. Enda declared that Aran was to be the place of his
resurrection; and at length the king made an offering of the island
"to God and to S. Enda," asking in return the blessing of the saint.
Having thus obtained possession of what he rightly deemed a place of
singular retirement, and well suited for the rigours of a penitential
life, S. Enda returned to his brethren, and conducted them in safety to
the island, which was then inhabited by Pagans from the adjacent coast
of Clare. He divided the island into ten parts, and built thereon ten
monasteries, each under the rule of its proper superior. He chose a
place for his own residence on the eastern coast, and there erected a
monastery, the name and site of which is preserved to this day in the
little village of Kil-eany (Kill-Enda), about a mile from Kilronan. One
half of the island was assigned to this monastery.
Then began the blessed days, when the sweet odour of penance ascended
to heaven from the angelic band of monks, who, under the severe rule of
S. Enda, made Aran a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western
Europe. "The virginal saint from Aran Island," as Marianus O'Gorman
styles S. Enda, was to them a model of all the virtues of the religious
life, but, above all, he excelled in the exercise of penitential
mortifications. S. Cuimin of Connor tells us that:--
Enda loved glorious mortification
In Aran--triumphant virtue!
A narrow dungeon of flinty stone,
To bring the people to heaven.
"Aran," says Froude,[76] "is no better than a wild rock. It is strewed
over with the ruins, which may still be seen, of the old hermitages;
and at their best they could have been but such places as sheep would
huddle under in a storm, and shiver in the cold and wet which would
pierce through the chinks of the walls.... Yes; there on that wet
soil, with that dripping roof above them, was the chosen home of these
poor men. Through winter frost, through rain and storm, through summer
sunshine, generation after generation of them, there they lived and
prayed, and at last lay down and died."
[76] Short Studies, vol. 2, page 216.
These miracles of penance were the first and immediate results of S.
Enda's work in Aran.
It was in his life that these holy men had daily before them the
personal realization of all they were striving after; he taught them to
cherish the flinty dungeon and the dripping cave for love of the hard
manger and the harder cross; he bade them dwell amid the discomforts
and dreariness of their island home, because in the tabernacles of
sinners the blessed majesty of God was daily outraged by the crimes
of men. We cannot, indeed, describe the details of his life, for they
have been hidden from human view, as it is becoming that such secrets
of the Heavenly King should be hidden. But there yet survives the voice
of one of those who lived with him in Aran, and in the ideal of an
abbot which S. Carthage sets before us, we undoubtedly find re-produced
the traits which distinguished the abbot of Aran-more, from whom S.
Carthage first learned to serve God in the religious life. S. Enda was
his first model of the "patience, humility, prayer, fast, and cheerful
abstinence; of the steadiness, modesty, calmness that are due from a
leader of religious men, whose office it is to teach in all truth,
unity, forgiveness, purity, rectitude in all that is moral; whose chief
works are the constant preaching of the Gospel for the instruction of
all persons, and the sacrifice of the Body of the great Lord upon the
holy altar."[77]
[77] "Rule of S. Carthage," _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_, vol. 1, p.
117.
The fame of S. Enda's austere holiness, and of the angelical life
which so many were leading in Aran under his guidance, soon spread
far and wide throughout the land. Soon, the Galway fishermen, whom
S. Enda had blessed, found day after day their _corachs_ crowded with
strangers--religious men, of meek eye and gentle face--seeking to
cross over to the island. And thus Aran gradually came to be, as the
writer of the life of S. Kieran of Clonmacnoise describes it, the home
of a multitude of holy men, and the sanctuary where repose the relics
of countless saints, whose names are known only to the Almighty God.
"Great indeed is that island," exclaims another ancient writer, "and it
is the land of the saints, for no one, save God alone, knows how many
holy men lie buried therein."[78]
[78] "Magna est illa insula, et est terra sanctorum; quia nemo scit
numerum sanctorum qui sepulti sunt ibi, nisi solus Deus." Vita S.
Albei. Colgan, Acta SS.
But, although it is not possible to learn the names of all the saints
who were formed to holiness by S. Enda in Aran, the ancient records
have preserved the names of a few at least out of that blessed
multitude. The history of these men is the history of S. Enda's work
on Aran. First among S. Enda's disciples must be ranked S. Kieran, the
founder of Clonmacnoise, who came to Aran in his youth, and for seven
years lived faithfully in the service of God, under the direction of S.
Enda. "During these seven years," says the ancient life of our saint,
"Kieran so diligently discharged the duties of grinding the corn, that
grain in quantity sufficient to make a heap never was found in the
granary of the island." Upon these humble labours the light of the
future greatness of the founder of Clonmacnoise was allowed to shine
in visions calling him elsewhere, but he could not bring himself to
sever the happy ties that bound him to his abbot. He still longed to be
under his guidance, and when recommending himself to the prayers of his
brethren, he said to S. Enda, in the presence of all, "O father, take
me and my charge under thy protection, that all my disciples may be
thine likewise." "Not so," answered Enda, "for it is not the will of
God that you should all live under my care in this scanty island." And
when they had thus spoken, a cross was set up in the place, in sign of
the brotherhood they had contracted between themselves, and those who
were to come after them; and they said: "whosoever in after times shall
break the loving bond of this our brotherhood, shall not have share in
our love on earth, nor in our company in heaven."
The love which S. Enda bore towards his holy pupil, for his many and
wonderful virtues, made their parting singularly painful to them both.
For a time the holy abbot felt as if the angels of God were leaving
Aran with Kieran, and he could find no relief for his anguish but in
prayer. The sternness of religious discipline had not crushed but
chastened the tenderness of an affectionate disposition in S. Enda. The
entire community of the island shared the sorrow that had come on their
venerable abbot. When the moment of departure was at hand, and the boat
that was to bear him from Aran was spreading its sails to the breeze,
Kieran came slowly down to the shore, walking between S. Enda and S.
Finnian, and followed by the entire brotherhood. His tears flowed fast
as he moved along, and those who accompanied him mingled their tears
with his. Peter de Blois, when leaving the abbey of Croyland to return
to his own country, stayed his steps seven times to look back and
contemplate once again the place where he had been so happy; so, too,
did Kieran's gaze linger with tenderness upon the dark hills of Aran
and on the oratories where he had learned to love God, and to feel how
good and joyous a thing it is to dwell with brethren whose hearts are
at one with each other in God. And when the shore was reached, again he
knelt to ask his father's blessing, and, entering the boat, was carried
away from the Aran that he was never to see again. The monastic group
stayed for a while on the rocks to follow with longing eyes the bark
that was bearing from them him they loved; and when at length, bending
their steps homewards, they had gone some distance from the shore, S.
Enda's tears once more began to flow. "O my brethren," cried he, "good
reason have I to weep, for this day has our island lost the flower and
strength of religious observance." What was loss to Aran, however, was
gain to Clonmacnoise, and through Clonmacnoise to the entire Irish
Church.
Next among the saints of Aran comes S. Brendan. S. Finnian of Moville
(March 18th) is also mentioned in the ancient life of our saint as one
of S. Enda's disciples at Aran. The Irish life of S. Columbkille makes
mention of the sojourn of that great saint on Aran. The deep love of S.
Columba for Aran, the sorrow with which he quitted its shores for Iona,
are expressed in a poem, written by him on his departure.
Aran, the Rome of the pilgrims.
Aran thou sun--O! Aran thou sun!
My affection lies with thee westward;
Alike to be under her pure earth interred,
As under the earth of Peter and Paul.
The ancient life of S. Enda also reckons among the inhabitants of Aran
S. Finnian the elder, the founder of the great school of Clonard; S.
Jarlath, the founder of the see of Tuam; S. Mac Creiche, of the race of
the men of Corcomroe, who were in possession of Aran when S. Enda first
went thither. The Martyrology of Donegal makes mention of S. Guigneus;
the Martyrology of Ængus adds S. Papeus, S. Kevin of Glendaloch, S.
Carthage of Lismore, S. Lonan Kerr, S. Nechanus, and S. Libeus, brother
of S. Enda. In the midst of this holy brotherhood S. Enda died in 540
or 542.
The sight of Aran peopled by this host of saints forcibly recalls to
mind that other island, where, in an age of wild and fierce passions,
the arts of peace, religious learning, and the highest Christian
virtues, found a sanctuary. At the beginning of the sixth century, Aran
may, with truth, be styled the Lerins of the Northern seas. True, its
bare flags and cold grey landscape contrast sadly with "the gushing
streams, the green meadows, the luxuriant wealth of vines, the fair
valleys, and the fragrant scents which," according to S. Eucherius,
"made Lerins the paradise of those who dwelt thereon."[79] However,
its very wildness did but make it richer in those attractions so well
described by S. Ambrose, which made the outlying islands so dear to
the religious men of that time.[80] They loved those islands, "which,
as a necklace of perils, God has set upon the bosom of the sea, and in
which those who would fly from the irregular pleasures of the world,
may find a refuge wherein to practise austerity and save themselves
from the snares of this life. In it these faithful and pious men find
incentives to devotion. The mysterious sound of the billows calls for
the answering sound of sacred psalmody; and the peaceful voices of holy
men, mingled with the gentle murmur of the waves breaking softly on the
shore rise in unison to the heavens."
[79] S. Eucherius De laude Eremi, 442.
[80] _Hexaemeron_, lib. 3, c. 5.
On a summer's day in the year 1870, says the Bishop of Ardagh, we
set sail to visit the remote Aran, which the virtues of S. Enda had
changed from a Pagan isle into Aran of the Saints. And as the faint
breeze bore us slowly over the waters that lay almost motionless in
the summer calm, we gazed with admiration upon a scene which was but
little changed since S. Enda and his pilgrim band had first looked
upon it. Before us there lay stretched out the same expanse of sea,
fringed on one side by the dark plains of Iar-Connaught, along which
the eye travelled from the white cliffs of Barna to where the Connemara
mountains, in soft blue masses, stood out in fantastic clusters against
the sky. On the other side ran the Clare coastline, now retreating
before the deep sea-inlets, and now breasting the Atlantic with bold
promontories like that of gloomy Black-Head, or with gigantic cliffs
like those of Mohir. And as the day closed, and we watched the evening
breeze steal out from land, crisping the water into wavelets that
rippled against the vessel's side; and as we saw the golden glory of
the sunset flush with indescribable loveliness, earth, and sea, and
sky, we thought how often in bygone days, the view of Aran rising, as
we then saw it, out of the sunlit waves, had brought joy to the pilgrim
who was journeying to find rest upon its rocky shore.
The Aran isles are three in number, named respectively, Inishmore (the
large island), Inishmain (the middle island), and Inisheen (the eastern
island). The eastern island is the smallest of the three, and is about
two-and-a-half miles long; the middle island is three miles long; the
largest is about nine miles in length, and twenty-four in circumference.
Our chief interest was naturally centred in the group of buildings
which exist at Killeany, and consist of the church of S. Benignus, the
church of S. Enda, the round tower of S. Enda, and the stone houses
in its immediate vicinity. Our readers will have remarked that the
first six churches named in Dr. Keely's list, all stood near each
other, and to the north of the present village of Killeany. Out of six
churches which existed here as late as 1645, four have almost entirely
disappeared. They were demolished by unholy hands for the sake of
materials to build the castle of Arkin.
The church known as Teglach Enda, wherein S. Enda was laid, still
exists on the shore; it is in good preservation, and is a fine specimen
of the single church without chancel. It is twenty-four feet in length
and fourteen in breadth. All the walls now standing are by no means of
an equal antiquity. The eastern gable and part of the northern side
wall are the only parts belonging to S. Enda's time, the remainder
of the building being the work of a later period. Around the church
spreads the cemetery, now almost completely covered up by the sands,
in which the body of S. Enda, and those of one hundred and fifty other
saints, are interred.
On the hill side, are S. Enda's well, and altar; the latter surmounted
by a rude cross. S. Enda's well, and indeed all the other wells we saw
in the island, are carefully protected by the Araners; the scarcity of
water rendering the possession of a well almost as precious to them
as it was to the Eastern shepherds in the days of Rebecca. At a short
distance to the left of the well, stands the remnant of the round tower
of S. Enda. Once its height was worthy of the cluster of sacred temples
which stood within the circle traversed by the shadow it projected in
the changing hours; but now it is little more than thirteen feet high.
An aged man who joined our group, told us that in S. Enda's time the
mass was not commenced in any of the churches of the island, until the
bell from S. Enda's tower announced that S. Enda himself had taken his
place at the altar in his own church.
With the permission of the excellent priest who has charge of the
island, we resolved, on the last morning of our stay on Aran, to
celebrate mass in the ruined church of Teglach-Enda, where in the year
540 or 542, S. Enda was interred. The morning was bright and clear, and
the rigid outlines of the rocks were softened by the touch of the early
sunshine. The inhabitants of Killeany, exulting in the tidings that
the Holy Sacrifice was once again to be offered to God near the shrine
of their sainted patron, accompanied or followed us to the venerable
ruins. The men, young and old, were clothed in decent black, or in
white garments of home-made stuff, with sandals of undressed leather,
like those of the peasants of the Abruzzi, laced round their feet; the
women were attired in gay scarlet gowns and blue bodices, and all wore
a look of remarkable neatness and comfort. The small roofless church
was soon filled to overflowing with a decorous and devout congregation.
We can never forget the scene of that morning: the pure bright sand,
covering the graves of unknown and unnumbered saints as with a robe of
silver tissue; the delicate green foliage of the wild plants; on one
side, the swelling hill crowned with the church of S. Benignus, and
on the other the blue sea, that almost bathed the foundations of the
venerable sanctuary itself; the soft balmy air that hardly stirred the
ferns on the old walls; and the fresh, happy, solemn calm that reigned
over all.
The temporary altar was set up under the east window, on the site
where of old the altar stood; and there, in the midst of the loving
and simple faithful, within the walls which had been consecrated some
twelve hundred years before, over the very spot of earth where so many
of the saints of Ireland lay awaiting their resurrection to glory, the
solemn rite of the Christian Sacrifice was performed, and once more, as
in the days of which S. Columba wrote, the angels of God came down to
worship the Divine Victim in the Churches of Aran.
S. BENEDICT, AB.
(A.D. 543.)
[Roman Martyrology, Benedictine, that of Bede. Greek Menologium on
March 14th. Authorities:--Life written by S. Gregory the Great, in
the second book of his dialogues; S. Gregory received his information
from the lips of four disciples of the holy patriarch, Constantine,
Honoratus, Valentinian, and Simplicius, the two first of whom had
succeeded him as abbots respectively of Monte Cassino and Subiaco.
Also the Chronicon Casinense, the first three books containing the
life of S. Benedict by Leo Marsicanus, B. of Ostia, a monk of Monte
Casino; the fourth book was added by Paulus Diacomus. The following
life has been condensed from that by M. de Montalembert in his "Monks
of the West."]
S. Benedict was born in the year of our Lord 480. Europe has, perhaps,
never known a more calamitous or apparently desperate period than that
which reached its climax at this date. Confusion, corruption, despair,
and death were everywhere; social dismemberment seemed complete.
Authority, morals, laws, sciences, arts, religion herself, might have
been supposed condemned to irremediable ruin. The germs of a splendid
and approaching revival were still hidden from all eyes under the
ruins of a crumbling world. The Church was more than ever infected by
heresy, schisms, and divisions, which the obscure successors of S. Leo
the Great in the Holy See endeavoured in vain to repress. In all the
ancient Roman world there did not exist a prince who was not either
a pagan, an Arian, or an Eutychian. The monastic institution, after
having given so many doctors and saints to the Church in the East, was
drifting toward that descent which it never was doomed to reascend; and
even in the West, some symptoms of premature decay had already appeared.
[Illustration: S. BENEDICT. After Cahier.
March 21.]
Germany was still entirely pagan, as was also Great Britain, where the
new-born faith had been stifled by the Angles and Saxons. Gaul was
invaded on the north by the pagan Franks, and on the south by the
Arian Burgundians. Spain was overrun and ravaged by the Visigoths,
the Sueves, the Alans, and the Vandals, all Arians. The same Vandals,
under the successor of Genseric, made Christian Africa desolate, by a
persecution more unpitying and refined in cruelty than those of the
Roman emperors. In a word, all those countries into which the first
disciples of Jesus Christ carried the faith, had fallen a prey to
barbarianism. The world had to be re-conquered.
Amidst this universal darkness and desolation, history directs our gaze
towards those heights in the centre of Italy, and at the gates of Rome,
which detach themselves from the chain of the Apennines, and extend
from the ancient country of the Sabines to that of the Samnites. A
single solitary was about to form there a centre of spiritual virtue,
and to light it up with a splendour destined to shine over regenerated
Europe for ten centuries to come.
Fifty miles to the west of Rome, among that group of hills where the
Anio hollows a deep gorge, the traveller, ascending by the course of
the river, reaches a basin, which opens out between two immense walls
of rock, and from which a limpid stream pours from fall to fall, to a
place called Subiaco. This grand and picturesque site had attracted
the attention of Nero. He confined the waters of the Anio by dams, and
constructed artificial lakes below, before a delicious villa, which,
from its position, assumed the name of _Sublaqueum_, and of which some
shapeless ruins remain. Four centuries after Nero, when solitude and
silence had long replaced the imperial orgies, a young patrician flying
from the delights and dangers of Rome, sought there a refuge with God.
He had been baptized under the name of Benedictus, or the Blessed. He
belonged to the illustrious Anician family; by his mother's side he
was the last scion of the lords of Nursia, where he was born, as has
been said, in 480. He was scarce fourteen when he resolved to renounce
fortune, his family, and the happiness of this world. Leaving his old
nurse, who had been the first to love him, and who alone followed him
still, he plunged, in 494, into these wild gorges, and ascended those
savage hills. On the way he met a monk, named Romanus, who gave him a
hair shirt and a monastic habit made of skin.[81] Proceeding on his
ascent, and reaching the middle of the abrupt rock, which faces the
south, and which overhangs the Anio, he discovered a dark cave, a
sort of den, unillumined by the sun. He there took up his abode, and
remained unknown to all, except the monk Romanus, who fed him with the
remainder of his own scanty fare, but who, not being able to reach his
cell, transmitted to him every day, at the end of a cord, a loaf and
a little bell, the sound of which warned him of this sustenance which
charity had provided for him.
[81] The locality of the meeting is indicated by a chapel called S.
Crocella.
He lived three entire years in this tomb. The shepherds who discovered
him there at first took him for a wild beast, but by his discourses,
and the efforts he made to instil grace and piety into their rustic
souls, they recognised in him a servant of God. Temptations were not
wanting to him. The allurements of voluptuousness acted so strongly on
his excited senses, that he was on the point of leaving his retreat to
seek after a woman whose beauty had formerly impressed him, and whose
memory haunted him incessantly. But there was near his grotto a clump
of thorns and briers: he took off the vestments of skins, which was his
only dress, and rolled himself among them naked till his body was all
one wound, but also till he had extinguished for ever the infernal fire
which inflamed him even in the desert.
Seven centuries later, another saint, father of the most numerous
monastic family which the church has produced after that of S.
Benedict, S. Francis of Assisi, came to visit that wild site, which was
worthy to rival the bare Tuscan rock, where the stigmata of the passion
were imprinted on himself. He prostrated himself before the thicket of
thorns which had been a triumphal bed to the masculine virtue of the
patriarch of the monks, and after having bathed with his tears the soil
of that glorious battle-field, he planted there two rose trees. The
roses of S. Francis grew, and have survived the Benedictine briers.
This garden, twice sanctified, still occupies a sort of triangular
plateau, which projects upon the side of the rock, a little before
and beneath the grotto which sheltered S. Benedict. The eye, confined
on all sides by rocks, can survey freely only the azure of heaven.
It is the last of those sacred places visited and venerated in the
celebrated and unique monastery of the Iagro Speco, which forms a
series of sanctuaries, built one over the other, backed by the mountain
which Benedict has immortalized. Such was the hard and savage cradle
of the monastic order in the West. It was from this tomb, where the
delicate son of the last patricians of Rome buried himself alive, that
the definite form of monastic life--that is to say, the perfection of
Christian life--was born.
The solitude of the young anchorite was not long respected. The
faithful in the neighbourhood, who brought him food for the body, asked
the bread of life in return. The monks of a neighbouring monastery,
situated near Vico Varo, obtained, by dint of importunity, his
consent to become their ruler, but, soon disgusted by his austerity,
they endeavoured to poison him. He made the sign of the cross over
the vessel which contained the poison, and it broke as if it had
been struck with a stone. He left these unworthy monks, to re-enter
joyfully his beloved cavern, and to live by himself alone. But it
was in vain: he soon found himself surrounded by such a multitude of
disciples, that, to give them a shelter, he was compelled to found in
the neighbourhood of his retreat twelve monasteries, each inhabited by
twelve monks. He kept some with him, in order to direct them himself,
and was thus finally raised to be the superior of a numerous community
of cenobites.
Clergy and laymen, Romans and barbarians, victors and vanquished, alike
flocked to him, attracted by the fame of his virtue and miracles. While
the celebrated Theodoric, at the head of his Goths, up to that time
invincible, destroyed the ephemeral kingdom of the Hercules, seized
Rome, and overspread Italy, other Goths came to seek faith, penitence,
and monastic discipline under the laws of Benedict. At his command they
armed themselves with axes and hatchets, and employed their robust
strength in rooting out the brushwood and clearing the soil, which,
since the time of Nero, had again become a wilderness. The Italian
painters of the great ages of art have left us many representations of
the legend told by S. Gregory, in which S. Benedict restores to a Goth
who had become a convert at Subiaco, the tool which that zealous but
unskilled workman had dropped to the bottom of the lake, and which the
abbot miraculously brought forth. "Take thy tool," said Benedict to the
barbarian woodcutter,--"take it, work, and be comforted." Symbolical
words, in which we find an abridgment of the precepts and examples
lavished by the monastic order on so many generations of conquering
races: _Ecce labora._
[Illustration: S. BENEDICT EXORCISING AN EVIL SPIRIT WHICH HAD
INTERRUPTED THE WORKMEN EMPLOYED IN BUILDING A CHAPEL. From a Fresco,
by Spinelli d'Arezzo, in the Church of San Miniato, near Florence.
March 21.]
Beside these barbarians already occupied in restoring the cultivation
of that Italian soil which their brethren in arms still wasted, were
many children of the Roman nobility, whom their fathers had confided
to Benedict to be trained to the service of God. Among these young
patricians are two whose names are celebrated in Benedictine annals:
Maur, whom the abbot Benedict made his own coadjutor; and Placidus,
whose father was lord of the manor of Subiaco, which did not prevent
his son from rendering menial services to the community, such as
drawing water from the lake of Nero. The weight of his pitcher one day
overbalanced him, and he fell into the lake. We shall leave Bossuet to
tell the rest, in his panegyric, delivered twelve centuries afterwards
before the sons of the founder of Subiaco:--
"S. Benedict ordered S. Maur, his faithful disciple, to run quickly and
draw the child out. At the word of his master, Maur went away without
hesitation, ... and full of confidence in the order he had received,
walked upon the water with as much security as upon the earth, and
drew Placidus from the whirlpool, which would have swallowed him up.
To what shall I attribute so great a miracle, whether to the virtue
of the obedience or to that of the commandment? A doubtful question,
says S. Gregory, between S. Benedict and S. Maur. But let us say, to
decide it, that the obedience had grace to accomplish the command, and
that the command had grace to give efficacy to the obedience. Walk,
my fathers, upon the waves with the help of obedience; you shall find
solid support amid the inconstancy of human things. The waves shall
have no power to overthrow you, nor the depths to swallow you up; you
shall remain immovable, as if all was firm under your feet, and issue
forth victorious."
However, Benedict had the ordinary fate of great men and saints. The
great number of conversions worked by the example and fame of his
austerity, awakened a homicidal envy against him. A wicked priest
of the neighbourhood attempted first to decry and then poison him.
Being unsuccessful in both, he endeavoured at least to injure him in
the object of his most tender solicitude--in the souls of his young
disciples. For that purpose he sent, even into the garden of the
monastery, where Benedict dwelt, and where the monks laboured, seven
wretched women, whose gestures, sports, and shameful nudity, were
designed to tempt the young monks to certain fall. When Benedict, from
the threshold of his cell, perceived these shameless creatures, he
despaired of his work; he acknowledged that the interest of his beloved
children constrained him to disarm so cruel an enmity by retreat. He
appointed superiors to the twelve monasteries which he had founded,
and, taking with him a small number of disciples, he left for ever the
wild gorges of Subiaco, where he had lived for thirty-five years.
Without withdrawing from the mountainous region which extends along
the western side of the Apennines, Benedict directed his steps toward
the south, along the Abruzzi, and penetrated into that land of labour,
the name of which seems naturally suited to a soil destined to be the
cradle of the most laborious men whom the world has known. He ended
his journey in a scene very different from that of Subiaco, but of
incomparable grandeur and majesty. There upon the boundaries of Sammim
and Campania, in the centre of a large basin, half-surrounded by abrupt
and picturesque heights, rises a scarped and isolated hill, the vast
and rounded summit of which overlooks the course of the Liris near its
fountain head, and the undulating plain which extends south towards
the shores of the Mediterranean, and the narrow valleys which, towards
the north, the east, and the west, lost themselves in the lines of the
mountainous horizon. This is Monte Cassino.
It was here, amidst this solemn nature, and upon that predestinated
height, that the patriarch of the monks of the west founded the capital
of the monastic order. He found paganism still surviving there. Two
hundred years after Constantine, in the heart of Christendom, and so
near Rome, there still existed a very ancient temple of Apollo, and
a sacred wood, where a multitude of peasants sacrificed to the gods
and demons. Benedict preached the faith of Christ to these forgotten
people; he persuaded them to cut down the wood, to overthrow the temple
and the idol.
Upon these remains Benedict built two oratories, one dedicated to S.
John the Baptist, the first solitary of the new faith; the other to
S. Martin, the great monk-bishop, whose ascetic and priestly life had
edified Gaul, and reached as far as Italy.
Round these chapels rose the monastery which was to become the most
powerful and celebrated in the Catholic universe; celebrated especially
because there Benedict wrote his rule, and at the same time formed the
type which was to serve as a model to innumerable communities submitted
to that sovereign code. It is for this reason that emulous pontiffs,
princes, and nations have praised, endowed, and visited the sanctuary
where monastic religion, according to the expression of Pope Urban II.,
"flowed from the heart of Benedict as from a fountain-head of Paradise."
Benedict ended his life at Monte Cassino, where he lived for fourteen
years, occupied, in the first place, with extirpating from the
surrounding country the remnants of paganism, afterwards in building
his monastery by the hands of his disciples, in cultivating the arid
sides of his mountain, and the devastated plains around, but above
all, in extending to all who approached him the benefits of the law of
God, practised with a fervour and charity which none have surpassed.
Although he had never been invested with the priestly character, his
life at Monte Cassino was rather that of a missionary and apostle
than of a solitary. He was, notwithstanding, the vigilant head of a
community which flourished and increased more and more. Accustomed
to subdue himself in everything, and to struggle with the infernal
spirits, whose temptations and appearances were not wanting to him more
than to the ancient fathers of the desert, he had acquired the gift of
reading souls, and discerning their most secret thoughts. He used this
faculty not only to direct the young monks, who always gathered in such
numbers round him, in their studies and the labours of agriculture and
building which he shared with them; but even in the distant journeys
on which they were sometimes sent, he followed them by a spiritual
observation, discovered their least failings, reprimanded them on their
return, and bound them in everything to a strict fulfilment of the rule
which they had accepted. He exacted from all, the obedience, sincerity,
and austerely regulated life of which he himself gave the first example.
Many young men of rich and noble families came here, as at Subiaco, to
put themselves under his direction, or were confided to him by their
parents. They laboured with the other brethren in the cultivation of
the soil and the building of the monastery, and were bound to all the
services imposed by the rule. Some of the young nobles rebelled in
secret against that equality. Among these, according to the narrative
of S. Gregory, was the son of a _defender_--that is to say, of the
first magistrate of a town or province. One evening, it being his turn
to light the Abbot Benedict at supper, while he held the candlestick
before the abbotial table, his pride rose within him, and he said to
himself, "What is this man that I should thus stand before him while
he eats, with a candle in my hand like a slave? Am I then made to be
his slave?" Immediately Benedict, as if he had heard him, reproved him
sharply for that movement of pride, gave the candle to another, and
sent him back to his cell, dismayed to find himself at once discovered
and restrained in his most secret thoughts. It was then that the great
legislator inaugurated in his new-formed cloister that alliance of
aristocratic races with the Benedictine Order which we shall have
many generous and fruitful examples to quote.
He bound all--nobles and plebians, young and old, rich and poor--under
the same discipline. But he would have excess or violence in nothing,
and when he was told of a solitary in the neighbouring mountain, who,
not content with shutting himself up in a narrow cave, had attached to
his foot a chain, the other end of which was fixed in a rock, so that
he could not move beyond the length of this chain, Benedict sent to
tell him to break it, in these words, "If thou art truly a servant of
God, confine thyself not with a chain of iron, but with the chain of
Christ."
And extending his solicitude and authority over the surrounding
populations, he did not content himself with preaching eloquently to
them the true faith, but also healed the sick, the lepers and the
possessed, provided for all the necessities of the soul and body, paid
the debts of honest men oppressed by their creditors, and distributed
in incessant alms the provisions of corn, wine, and linen which were
sent to him by the rich Christians of the neighbourhood.
A great famine having afflicted Campania in 539, he distributed to
the poor all the provisions of the monastery, so that one day there
remained only five loaves to feed all the community. The monks were
dismayed and melancholy: Benedict reproached them with their cowardice.
"You have not enough to-day," he said to them, "but you shall have too
much to-morrow." And accordingly they found next morning at the gates
of the monastery two hundred bushels of flour, bestowed by some unknown
hand. Thus were established the foundations of that traditional and
unbounded munificence to which his spiritual descendants have remained
unalterably faithful, and which was the law and glory of his existence.
So much sympathy for the poor naturally inspired them with a blind
confidence in him. One day, when he had gone out with the brethren to
labour in the fields, a peasant, distracted with grief, and bearing in
his arms the body of his dead son, came to the monastery and demanded
to see Father Benedict. When he was told that Benedict was in the
fields with the brethren, he threw down his son's body before the
door, and, in the transport of his grief, ran at full speed to seek
the saint. He met him returning from his work, and from the moment he
perceived him, began to cry, "Restore me my son!" Benedict stopped and
asked "Have I carried him away?" The peasant answered "He is dead;
come and raise him up." Benedict was grieved by these words, and said,
"Go home my friend this is not a work for us; this belongs to the holy
apostles. Why do you come to impose upon us so tremendous a burden?"
But the father persisted, and swore in his passionate distress that
he would not go till the saint had raised up his son. The abbot asked
him where his son was. "His body" said he "is at the door of the
monastery." Benedict, when he arrived there, fell on his knees, and
then laid himself down, as Elijah did in the house of the widow of
Sarepta, upon the body of the child, and rising up, extended his hands
to heaven, praying thus; "Lord look not upon my sins but on the faith
of this man, and restore to the body the soul Thou hast taken away from
it." Scarcely was his prayer ended, when all present perceived that the
whole body of the child trembled. Benedict took him by the hand, and
restored him to his father full of life and health.
His virtue, his fame, the supernatural power which was more and more
visible in his whole life, made him the natural protector of the poor
husbandmen against the violence and rapine of the new masters of
Italy. The great Theodoric had organized an energetic and protective
government, but he dishonoured the end of his reign by persecution and
cruelty; and since his death barbarism had regained all its ancient
ascendancy among the Goths. The rural population groaned under the
yoke of these rude oppressors, doubly exasperated, as Barbarians
and as Arians against the Italian Catholics. To Benedict, the Roman
patrician, who had become a serf of God, belonged the noble office
of drawing towards each other the Italians and Barbarians, two races
cruelly divided by religion, fortune, language, and manners, whose
mutual hatred was embittered by so many catastrophes inflicted by the
one, and suffered by the other, since the time of Alaric. The founder
of Monte Cassino stood between the victors and the vanquished like an
all-powerful moderator and inflexible judge. The facts which we are
about to relate, according to the narrative of S. Gregory, could be
told throughout all Italy, and, spreading from cottage to cottage,
would bring unthought of hope and consolation into the hearts of the
oppressed, and establish the popularity of Benedict and his order on an
immortal foundation in the memory of the people.
It has been seen that there were already Goths among the monks at
Subiaco, and how they were employed in reclaiming the soil which their
fathers had laid waste. But there were others who, inflamed by heresy,
professed a hatred of all that was orthodox and belonged to monastic
life. One especially, named Galla, traversed the country panting with
rage and cupidity, and made a sport of slaying the priests and monks
who fell under his power, and spoiling and torturing the people to
extort from them the little that they had remaining. An unfortunate
peasant, exhausted by the torments inflicted upon him by the pitiless
Goth, conceived the idea of bringing them to an end by declaring
that he had confided all that he had to the keeping of Benedict, a
servant of God; upon which Galla stopped the torture of the peasant,
but, binding his arms with ropes, and thrusting him in front of his
own horse, ordered him to go before and show the way to the house
of this Benedict who had defrauded him of his expected prey. Both
pursued thus the way to Monte Cassino; the peasant on foot, with his
hands tied behind his back, urged on by the blows and taunts of the
Goth, who followed on horseback, an image only too faithful of the
two races which unhappy Italy enclosed within her distracted bosom,
and which were to be judged and reconciled by the unarmed majesty of
monastic goodness. When they had reached the summit of the mountain
they perceived the abbot seated alone, reading at the door of his
monastery. "Behold," said the prisoner turning to his tyrant, "there
is the Father Benedict of whom I told thee." The Goth, believing that
here, or elsewhere, he should be able to make his way by terror,
immediately called out with a furious tone to the monk. "Rise up, rise
up, and restore quickly what thou hast received from this peasant."
At these words the man of God raised his eyes from his book, and,
without speaking, slowly turned his gaze first upon the Barbarian on
horseback, and then upon the husbandman bound, and bowed down by his
cords. Under the light of that powerful gaze the cords which tied his
poor arms loosed of themselves, and the innocent victim stood erect and
free, while the ferocious Galla, falling on the ground, trembling, and
beside himself, remained at the feet of Benedict, begging the saint to
pray for him. Without interrupting his reading, Benedict called his
brethren, and directed them to carry the fainting Barbarian into the
monastery, and give him some blessed bread, and, when he had come to
himself, the abbot represented to him the extravagance, injustice, and
cruelty of his conduct, and exhorted him to change it for the future.
The Goth was completely subdued, and no longer dared to ask anything
of the labourer whom the mere glance of the monk had delivered from his
bonds.
[Illustration: S. BENEDICT REPROVING TOTILA, AND PREDICTING HIS DEATH.
From a Fresco, painted by Spinelli d'Arezzo, in the Church of San
Miniato, near Florence. March 21.]
But this mysterious attraction, which drew the Goths under the
influence of Benedict's looks and words, produced another celebrated
and significant scene. The two principal elements of reviving society
in their most striking impersonation--the victorious Barbarians and the
invincible monks--were here confronted. Totila, the greatest of the
successors of Theodoric, ascended the throne in 542, and immediately
undertook the restoration of the monarchy of the Ostrogoths, which the
victories of Belisarius had half overthrown. Having defeated at Faenza,
with only five thousand men, the numerous Byzantine army, led by the
incapable commanders whom the jealousy of Justinian had substituted
for Belisarius, the victorious king made a triumphal progress through
Central Italy, and was on his way to Naples when he was seized with
a desire to see this Benedict, whose fame was already as great among
the Romans as among the Barbarians, and who was everywhere called a
prophet. He directed his steps towards Monte Cassino, and caused his
visit to be announced. Benedict answered that he would receive him. But
Totila desirous of proving the prophetic spirit which was attributed
to the saint, dressed the captain of his guard in the royal robes and
purple boots, which were the distinctive marks of royalty, gave him a
numerous escort, commanded by the three counts who usually guarded his
own person, and charged him, thus clothed and accompanied, to present
himself to the abbot as the king. The moment that Benedict perceived
him, "My son," he cried, "put off the dress you wear; it is not yours."
The officer immediately threw himself upon the ground, appalled at
the idea of having attempted to deceive such a man. Neither he nor
any of the retinue ventured so much as to approach the abbot, but
returned at full speed to the king, to tell him how promptly they had
been discovered. Then Totila himself ascended the monastic mountain,
but when he had reached the height, and saw from a distance the abbot
seated, waiting for him, the victor of the Romans, and the master of
Italy was afraid. He dared not advance, but threw himself on his face
before the servant of Christ. Benedict said to him three times, "Rise."
But as he persisted in his prostration, the monk rose from his seat and
raised him up. During the course of their interview, Benedict reproved
him for all that was blamable in his life, and predicted what should
happen to him in the future. "You have done much evil; you do it still
every day; it is time that your iniquities should cease. You shall
enter Rome; you shall cross the sea; you shall reign nine years, and
the tenth you shall die." The king, deeply moved, commended himself
to his prayers, and withdrew. But he carried away in his heart this
salutary and retributive incident, and from that time his barbarian
nature was transformed.
Totila was as victorious as Benedict had predicted that he should be.
He possessed himself first of Benevento and Naples, then of Rome, then
of Sicily, which he invaded with a fleet of five hundred ships, and
ended by conquering Corsica and Sardinia. But he exhibited everywhere
a clemency and gentleness which, to the historian of the Goths, seem
out of character at once with his origin and his position as a foreign
conqueror. He treated the Neapolitans as his children, and the captive
soldiers as his own troops, gaining himself immortal honour by the
contrast between his conduct and the horrible massacre of the whole
population, which the Greeks had perpetrated ten years before, when
that town was taken by Belisarius. He punished with death one of
his bravest officers, who had insulted the daughter of an obscure
Italian, and gave all his goods to the woman whom he had injured, and
that despite the representations of the principal nobles of his own
nation, whom he convinced of the necessity of so severe a measure,
that they might merit the protection of God upon their arms. When Rome
surrendered, after a prolonged siege, Totila forbade the Goths to shed
the blood of any Roman, and protected the women from insult. At length,
after a ten years' reign, he fell, according to the prediction of
Benedict, in a great battle which he fought with the Greco-Roman army,
commanded by the eunuch Narses.
Placed as if midway between the two invasions of the Goths and
Lombards, the dear and holy foundation of Benedict, respected by
the one, was to yield for a time to the rage of the other. The holy
patriarch had a presentment that his successors would not meet a second
Totila to listen to them and spare them. A noble whom he had converted,
and who lived on familiar terms with him, found him one day weeping
bitterly. He watched Benedict for a long time, and then, perceiving
that his tears were not stayed, and that they proceeded not from the
ordinary fervour of his prayers, but from profound melancholy, he asked
the cause. The saint answered, "This monastery which I have built, and
all that I have prepared for my brethren, has been delivered up to
the pagans by a sentence of Almighty God. Scarcely have I been able
to obtain mercy for their lives." Less than forty years after, this
prediction was accomplished by the destruction of Monte Cassino by the
Lombards.
Benedict, however, was near the end of his career. His interview
with Totila took place in 542, in the year which preceded his death,
and from his earliest days of the following year, God prepared him
for his last struggle, by requiring from him the sacrifice of the
most tender affection he had retained on earth. The beautiful and
touching incident of the last meeting of Benedict with his twin sister,
Scholastica, has been already recorded (Feb. 10th). At the window of
his cell, three days after, Benedict had a vision of his dear sister's
soul entering heaven in the form of a snowy dove. He immediately sent
for the body, and placed it in the sepulchre which he had already
prepared for himself, that death might not separate those whose souls
had always been united in God.
The death of his sister was the signal of departure for himself. He
survived her only forty days. He announced his death to several of
his monks, then far from Monte Cassino. A violent fever having seized
him, he caused himself on the sixth day of his sickness to be carried
to the chapel of S. John the Baptist; he had before ordered the tomb
in which his sister already slept to be opened. There, supported in
the arms of his disciples, he received the holy Viaticum, then placing
himself at the side of the open grave, but at the foot of the altar,
and with his arms extended towards heaven, he died, standing, muttering
a last prayer. Died standing!--such a victorious death became well that
great soldier of God. He was buried by the side of Scholastica, in a
sepulchre made on the spot where stood the altar of Apollo, which he
had thrown down.
The body of S. Benedict was carried by S. Aigulf, monk of the abbey
of Fleury, from Monte Cassino, which had been ruined by the Lombards,
into France, to his own monastery. This translation took place on July
11th, and is commemorated in all the monasteries of France on that day.
Another solemnity, called the Illation, has been instituted in honour
of the transfer of the same relics from Orleans, whither they had been
conveyed, from fear of the Normans, back again to Fleury-sur-Loire.
In 1838, the bishop of Orleans resolved on sending the relics to the
Benedictine abbey of Solesmes, in the diocese of Le Mans, but the
project met with so great opposition that he contented himself with
sending only the skull to Solesmes.
The reliquary which was opened in 1805, by Mgr. Bernier, bishop of
Orleans, was found to contain, together with the bones, several papal
bulls authenticating the relics. It is, however, necessary to add that
the abbey of Monte Cassino claims to possess the body of S. Benedict,
and adduces a bull of pope Urban II., declaring anathema against all
who deny the authenticity of that body. It is possible that if the
relics in both places were examined carefully, it would be found that
the portions missing in one place would be found in the other. It is
certain that S. Odilo of Cluny sent one of the bones of S. Benedict
to Monte Cassino out of France, in the 11th cent., and that it was
received there with great joy, so that the monks there cannot have
possessed the body at that date.
In Art, S. Benedict is represented with his finger on his lip, as
enjoining silence, and with his rule in his hand, or with the first
words of that rule, "Ausculta, O fili!" issuing from his lips, and with
a discipline, _i.e._ a scourge, or a rose bush at his side, or holding
a broken goblet in his hand.
[Illustration: Saint giving benediction]
March 22.
S. PAUL, _B. of Narbonne, 3rd or 4th cent._
S. APHRODISIUS, _B. of Beziers, 3rd or 4th cent._
SS. CALLINICA AND BASILISSA, _MM. in Galatia, circ._ A.D. 252.
SS. SATURNINUS AND IX. COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa_.
S. BASIL, _P.M. at Ancyra_, A.D. 363.
S. LEA, _W. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 383.
S. DEOGRATIAS, _B. of Carthage, circ._ A.D. 456.
SS. HERLINDA AND REINILDA, _V.V. Abss. at Maeseyck, in Belgium,
8th cent._
S. BENVENUTUS, _B. of Osimo, in the Marches of Ancona_, A.D. 1276.
S. EELKO LIAUKMAN,_ Ab. of Lidlom, in Holland_, A.D.. 1332.
B. THOMAS OF LANCASTER, _M. at Pontefract_, A.D. 1321.
S. KATHARINE OF SWEDEN, _V. daughter of S. Bridget_, A.D. 1381.
B. NICOLAS VON DER FLUE, _H. at Sachseln, in Switzerland_, A.D. 1487.
S. PAUL, B. OF NARBONNE.
(3RD OR 4TH CENT.)
[Ancient Martyrology of S. Jerome; Gallican & Roman Martyrologies.]
Saint Paul, mentioned by the early martyrologies as bishop of
Narbonne, and confessor, has been conjectured to be Sergius Paulus,
the proconsul, converted in the island of Cyprus by the apostle Paul,
when Elymas, the sorcerer, withstood S. Paul. There is no evidence
substantiating this, nor does it appear to rest on any very ancient
tradition.
The most ancient martyrologies do not assert it, though some of them
say that he was a convert of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The Roman
Martyrology mentions the report, but does not authorise it. The Acts of
his life are not deserving of credence. S. Paul certainly lived much
later than he is represented to have done.
Some relics are preserved in the Church of S. Paul at Narbonne.
S. APHRODISIUS, B. OF BEZIERS.
(3RD OR 4TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology, the Evora Breviary, and others.]
This bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in
his mission into Gaul. A foolish legend[82] (_fabulosa narratio_ it is
called by Henschenius) is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt
at the time when S. Joseph and the B. Virgin went down thither with the
Holy Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the
young child's life. On the arrival of the child Jesus in Egypt all the
idols fell, and Aphrodisius, recognising in Him his God, bowed before
Him in adoration, and defended the Holy Family from the rage of the
idolatrous priests. After the Ascension he laid down his prefectship
and went to Antioch where he was baptized by S. Peter, and afterwards
sent with S. Sergius Paulus into Gaul. S. Aphrodisius, however,
certainly lived much later than he is represented to have done.
[82] Related by Peter de Natalibus, lib. iii. c. 218.
S. BASIL, P. M. AT ANCYRA.
(A.D. 363.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on the same day. In the Syriac
Church, a S. Basil and his Companions are commemorated on March 1st,
and another S. Basil and his Companions on March 8th, and S. Basil, P.
M., on March 28th in the Coptic Kalendar. The Greek Acts are genuine,
and were written by a contemporary. Other versions of the Acts exist,
but they are corrupted by the intermixture of the Acts of another S.
Basil, a frequent mistake, when there are several saints of the same
name.]
S. Basil was a priest of Ancyra, very fervent in spirit, zealous in
upholding the Catholic faith, and combating the Arian heresy foot
to foot. An Arian synod of bishops ordered his degradation from his
office, in 360, and appointed Eudoxius, a bishop, and an Arian, in
his place. But Basil encouraged by the Catholic bishops refused to
budge, but maintained his ground, and was indefatigable in stimulating
the courage of the faithful, and encouraging the half-hearted. He was
the means of restoring large numbers of those who had been taught by
the Arians to disbelieve in the consubstantiality of the Son with
the Father to full Catholic faith, thereby exasperating the heretics
against him. He was one of those fiery enthusiasts of resistless
energy, uncompromising with himself and others, a type as needful as
the soft and gentle saint, winning through love. The burning faith
of Basil carried him dauntless into danger, and made him regardless
of opposition, and those spirits which looked to a strong nature for
support found a rock in Basil.
As soon as Julian assumed the purple, paganism was revived; and if
the Christians were not openly persecuted, every means which craft
could devise of breaking their resolution were resorted to, and with
such success that the mild measures of Julian proved more dangerous
to the Church than the fiery persecution of Decius. But the patience
of Julian gave way towards the end of his career, and it is certain
that in some cases he encouraged, and in others connived at the resort
to violence to punish the most zealous upholders of Christianity. The
charges against those most obnoxious were not always their religion,
but contempt of the edicts or seditious conduct. Basil worked so
effectually in Ancyra to counteract the imperial policy that the pagan
priests and governor were resolved to destroy him, hoping that, if
the prop of the Ancyran Christians were removed, their faith would
yield with a crash. Macarius, one of the priests of the idols, laid
hold of Basil as he was publicly denouncing heathen worship, and drew
him before the magistrate, Saturninus, on the charge of stirring up
the people against the established religion. "What meanest thou,"
cried Macarius, "going to and fro in the city, agitating the people
against the religion established by the emperor?" "God break thy
jaws, thou bondslave of Satan!" answered Basil. "It is not I who ruin
thy religion, but He who is in Heaven who confounds thy counsel and
dissipates thy lies."
Then Macarius cried out to the proconsul, "I charge this fellow with
making sedition in the city, stirring up the people to overthrow our
altars and defy the emperor." "Who art thou," asked Saturninus, "who
art so audacious as to do these things?" Basil replied, "I am the best
of everything,--a Christian."
"Then why, if thou art a Christian, dost not thou behave as a
Christian?" "I do," answered Basil; "it behoves every Christian to make
bare all acts."
"Why dost thou make revolt in the city, transgressing good laws, and
blaspheming the emperor?"
"I do not blaspheme the emperor or his religion. God is my emperor, and
He will bring your petty established religion to naught in no time."
"So the religion of the emperor is not true!"
"How can I regard that religion as true, and that worship as true which
consists in men running howling about the streets like rabid dogs with
raw flesh in their mouths."[83]
[83] He is alluding to the Omophagic rites of Zeus Zagreus, in which
the worshippers fell on a sheep and tore it with their teeth and ran
about with the blood dripping from their jaws.
"Hang him up and scrape him," said the proconsul. So Basil was
suspended by his wrists and ankles, and his flesh was torn with rakes.
And as he suffered he cried, "Lord God of ages, I thank thee that I am
deemed worthy to enter into the way of life through these torments,
walking through which I may behold the heirs of thy promises!" Then
he was taken down and cast into prison. And after that the proconsul
sent to the emperor Julian, to announce what had taken place, and to
ask further orders. Then the emperor sent three renegade Christians,
and advised the proconsul to endeavour by all means to persuade and
flatter Basil into apostasy. But though all efforts were used to shake
his resolution they failed, and Basil remained in chains till Julian
himself passed through Ancyra on his way east to the Persian war.
Then Basil was summoned before the emperor, and Julian endeavoured to
persuade him to conform to his religion, but the holy martyr blazed
forth in righteous zeal against the apostate. "Thou renegade hast
abdicated the throne prepared for thee in heaven," he said; "And verily
I believe that Christ whom thou hast abjured will take thee and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling, that thou mayest know how great is that God
whom thou hast offended. Thou hast not thought of His judgments, nor
venerated His altar where thou wast given salvation; thou hast not
kept His law which often thou didst declare with thy lips; wherefore
the great emperor Christ will not remember thee, but will take from
thee speedily thy earthly empire, and thy body shall be deprived of a
sepulchre, and thou shalt breathe forth thy soul in greatest anguish."
Then Julian ordered him to be taken away, and seven thongs to be cut
daily from his skin. This command was given to Frumentinus, Count of
the Squires (Comes Scutariorum.) And when this had been done, the
martyr gathered up one of the strips of skin cut off him, in his
hand, and besought that he might be conducted before the emperor. And
as Frumentinus believed that he was about to make adjuration of his
religion, he brought him into the council hall before Julian. Then he
cried, "Dumb and deaf and blind are thy idols, Apostate! To me to live
is Christ, and to die is gain. He is my helper in whom I trust, and for
whom I suffer. Here is meat for thee, Julian!" and he flung the strip
of skin in his face.
Then the count, alarmed at having occasioned this scene, by suffering
Basil to return into the emperor's presence, hurried him out and cast
him into prison. On the morrow Julian departed for Antioch, without
having seen the count, who feared that he had fallen into disgrace,
and therefore vented his spleen on the martyr. He had iron spikes
heated red-hot, and Basil thrown upon them, so that they burnt into
his bowels. But Basil prayed, "Christ is my light, and Jesus is my
hope, a calm port in tempest. I give Thee thanks, Lord God of my
fathers, because thou hast saved my soul from the abyss; keep Thy Name
inviolate in me, and make me an heir of eternal quiet, for the promise
made unto my fathers by the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, our Lord;
through whom I pray Thee receive my spirit into peace, persevering in
my confession; for Thou art merciful and long-suffering and full of
compassion; who livest and abidest through ages of ages. Amen." And
when he had ended his prayer, as one overcome with slumber, he ceased
and gave up his spirit.
S. DEOGRATIAS, B. OF CARTHAGE.
(ABOUT A.D. 456.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Victor of Utica. Hist. Persec.
Vandalorum, lib. i.]
Carthage was taken by Genseric king of the Vandals in October, 439, and
then began that fearful Arian persecution of the Catholics which almost
surpassed those of the heathen emperors in horror. Bishop Quodvultdeus
had been sent adrift along with his clergy in a broken vessel, and had
been carried by the wind in safety to Naples. The church of Carthage
was without a chief pastor for about fourteen years, till in 454,
Deogratias was created bishop.
In 455, Genseric entered Rome, which he found undefended. Pope S.
Leo met him at the gates and obtained from him that the city should
not be burnt, nor should the inhabitants be massacred, but that the
Vandal conquerors were to content themselves with the pillage. Rome
was therefore pillaged deliberately during a fortnight, and then the
Vandals retired carrying with them an immense treasure, amongst other
things of value, the sacred vessels which Titus had taken from the
temple of Jerusalem. They returned to Africa also encumbered with
crowds of captives whom they sold to the Moors and amongst themselves.
Wives were separated from their husbands, and children from their
parents. The holy bishop, stirred to the depths of his soul by the
misery that he saw, sold all the gold and silver vessels of the
churches of Carthage, and spent the proceeds in redeeming those slaves
whose cases were most urgent and distressing. And, because there
was not found any other place sufficiently capacious to receive the
ransomed multitude, he devoted to their accommodation the church of S.
Fausta, and the new church, which he filled with straw and with beds.
As there were many sick amongst this crowd, some who had suffered from
sea-sickness, and others from the disorders consequent on being crowded
together in small vessels, the holy prelate visited them at all hours,
with medicines, and proper food, and ministered to their necessities
with his own hands. He did not even rest at night, but walked up and
down the churches visiting the beds, and seeing that order and comfort
prevailed. The emergency gave the aged and decrepid man new strength.
The Arians envious of his virtue, made several attempts on his life,
but they failed. The labour and exhaustion consequent on this tax on
his energies overcame him, and he died peaceably after having held the
see only three years. He was secretly buried, whilst the Catholics
were engaged in their churches at prayer, for fear lest the people,
who loved him as a father, should carry off his revered body. After
his death Genseric forbade the ordination of bishops in the whole
proconsular province and in Zeugitania, where there were as many as
sixty-four. Thus, by deaths and imprisonment, the number of Catholic
bishops in thirty years was reduced to three.
B. EELKO LIAUKAMAN, AB.
(A.D. 1332.)
[Norbertine Martyrology. Venerated anciently at Lidlom, in Holland.
Authority:--Life by Sibrand Leonius, Norbertine Canon, 1580.]
The blessed Eelko Liaukaman was abbot of the wealthy Norbertine house
of Lidlom, in Friesland, at a time when the wealth of the abbey had
tended greatly to the relaxation of discipline. The possessions of
the abbey were far apart, and the lay-brothers were sent about to the
different farms and cells to attend to the secular interests of the
society. The abbot soon ascertained that these men took advantage of
their being away from supervision to lead disorderly lives, drinking
and not unfrequently falling into worse offences. He at once undertook
to correct this scandalous conduct as far as possible, and visited the
farms and places whither the lay-brothers had been sent at unexpected
times; the consequence of which was that he sometimes caught them
tripping, and as a necessary corollary, incurred their deadly enmity.
The chief malefactors determined on his destruction, and planned to
murder him when he was at his castle of Ter-poort. He had retired for
the night, shut his door, "put on his night-shirt, drawers, belt and
cap, gone to bed, poured forth his prayers, and composed himself to
sleep,"[84] when the conspirators burst in through the window. Hearing
the noise, the abbot rose up in his bed, and asked gently what was the
matter. Then the disorderly lay-brothers began to shower abuse on him,
and call him a hypocrite, a glutton, and a drunkard. "My sons, when
saw ye me drunk?" "Oh, you put your tipple away up your sleeves, so as
to drink on the sly," they said. "Go," said he, "shake my sleeves and
see for yourselves." They did so, and a shower of red roses fell on
the floor. Then rushing on him with sticks they beat his brains out,
and drawing his body through the window flung it into the moat. Next
morning a woman who was passing saw a portion of his white night gear
above the water and gave the alarm. The body was raised from the moat.
The murderers were afterwards caught and executed.
[84] "Clauso cubile, interula, caligis, cingulo, pileoque nocturno
instructus, lecto sese colocat; fusis ad Deum precibus, somno se
componit."
Before the so-called Reformation the B. Eelko was venerated as a saint,
and represented in art shaking roses out of his habit.
B. THOMAS OF LANCASTER.
(A.D. 1321.)
[Inscribed in his additions to Usuardus by Herman Greven, in the
German Martyrology of Canisius, and by Ferrarius in his General
Catalogue of the Saints. Not mentioned in the Anglican or Roman
Martyrologies, but it is certain that Thomas of Lancaster received
veneration shortly after his execution, and that miraculous cures were
attributed to his relics.]
There have been, as there probably ever will be, great differences
of opinion as to the justice of beheading Thomas, Earl of Lancaster,
cousin-german to king Edward II.
Edward of Carnarvon had received his father's final instructions before
Edward I. died. Of these the principal were; that he should devote a
certain sum to the succour of the Holy Land; that he should persist in
the conquest of Scotland; and that he should not recall his favourite,
Piers de Gaveston (a young Gascon, whom the king had lately banished),
without the consent of parliament.
Every one of these commands were directly violated by the young king.
His first act was to send for Gaveston; and to confer on him the
royal earldom of Cornwall. The old ministers and judges were nearly
all dismissed. Langton, bishop of Coventry, the treasurer of the late
king, who had formerly reproved the extravagance of the prince and his
favourite, was thrown into prison. Gaveston received the money left for
the crusade, was made lord chamberlain; betrothed to Margaret de Clare,
niece of the king; and presently, when Edward went to marry Isabel of
France at Boulogne, left regent of England.
The jealousy of the great nobles was already excited; but when they
beheld the king, on his return, rush into the arms of his favourite
without regarding them; and when they saw Gaveston take precedence of
them all at the coronation of Edward, their anger burst forth. Three
days after the ceremony they called upon the king to dismiss his
minion. Edward deferred the matter until parliament should meet, hoping
by that time to soothe their resentment. All his efforts, however,
was rendered nugatory by the pride and insolence of Gaveston, and the
nobles insisted on his expulsion. Edward was obliged to give way,
and Gaveston to swear that he would never return. The king, however,
escorted him to Bristol with every mark of honour, and mortified his
enemies still more by appointing the exile his lieutenant in Ireland.
From the day of Gaveston's departure the king laboured to effect his
recall. He solicited the intervention of the pope; and having obtained
a conditional abrogation of the oath taken by Gaveston, ordered him
to return. Receiving him in person at Chester, he brought him to meet
parliament. Here he induced the bishops and peers to consent that his
favourite should remain in England; but they added,--as long as he
conducted himself well.
In a very short time, however, the absolute ascendancy of Gaveston over
the king, his ostentation and presumption, had revived the animosity
of the barons. Lancaster and his friends refused to attend the next
parliament. Edward, who wanted money, found it necessary to yield. He
prologued the parliament to London, and leaving Gaveston in retirement,
repaired to the capital. The great barons attended with such a military
force, that Edward was obliged to grant all their demands. A committee
of seven prelates, eight earls, and six barons, under the name of
ordainers, was appointed, with full powers to redress the grievances of
the nation. Gaveston was again banished and as speedily was recalled by
the king in defiance of his parliament. The barons then took up arms,
and captured Gaveston at Scarborough (May 19th, 1312), and executed him
by order of Lancaster and the other insurgent nobles at Blacklow, near
Coventry.
The news of this audacious deed affected the king with the most
passionate grief, to which was quickly added a fierce desire for
revenge. His anger was not diminished when the barons followed up
the blow by a peremptory demand that the ordinances for the better
government of England and the rectification of flagrant abuses should
be carried into effect. A superficial reconciliation was however
effected. The parliament assembled at Westminster hall, and Edward
having taken his seat on the throne, the earl of Lancaster and his
associates knelt before him, and solicited a pardon for the acts which
had offended him. Taking each petitioner by the hand, the king bestowed
upon him the kiss of peace, promised, and the next day published, a
general amnesty.
Some time after the death of Gaveston, the ordainers had imposed upon
the king, as chamberlain, a young man named Hugh le Despenser, son of
one of the great barons. From an object of dislike, he soon became the
favourite of Edward. With his father, he had ably supported the king in
his resistance to the earl of Lancaster, and he had become especially
odious to the earl's party. But, however loyal, the chamberlain was
undoubtedly rapacious; and a harsh attempt to enforce the feudal law
to his own advantage, excited the lords Marchers of Wales to arm
against him. The earl of Lancaster soon joined them; and the united
barons, marching upon London, decreed that the Despensers (who were
both absent), should be banished. The bishops protested; but the king
and his friends were forced to assent to this lawless proceeding. Two
months after the king recalled the Despensers, and took the field
against the barons. The earl assaulted the royal castle of Tichhill;
but failing in his attempts, he hurried southwards to stop the advance
of Edward at Burton-on-Trent. The king, however, forced the passage
of the river, and the barons retreated hastily to Pontefract. There
a stormy council was held. Lancaster was for making a stand at that
point; but over-borne by his associate, he resumed the retreat. At
Boroughbridge, however, he found the way barred by a strong force
under Sir Andrew Harkeley, governor of Carlisle, and Sir Simon Ward,
sheriff of Yorkshire. After a vain endeavour to gain the adhesion of
Harkeley, who had formerly received knighthood at his hands, Lancaster
resolved to force the passage of the bridge; but the earl of Hereford
having been slain in the attempt, and an attack by a ford having been
repulsed, earl Thomas took refuge in a chapel, saying, as he looked
upon the crucifix; "Lord, I render myself to Thee and Thy mercy." He
was, nevertheless, dragged out by the royalists, who, despoiling him
of his rich surcoat, clothed him in a common livery, and conveyed
him down the river to York, where he was received with every kind of
insult. Thence he was taken to Pontefract Castle, which he at that time
possessed in the right of his wife, the heiress of the De Lacys, and
presented to the king.
The death of Gaveston was now to be avenged. The earl of Lancaster was
brought a prisoner into his own hall; and there the king, with the
earls of Kent, Richmond, Pembroke, the elder Spenser, and other of
his party, condemned him to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Edward,
however, remitted the more degrading parts of the sentence. The earl
was at once delivered into the hands of a band of Gascons, who put an
old cap on his head, set him on a lean white pony, and led him out to
immediate execution. The presence of his confessor, a Dominican monk,
who walked by his side, did not save the earl from the insults of the
royalist rabble. They threw pellets of dirt at him, and derisively
saluted him as "king Arthur." In this manner he was conducted to the
summit of a hill without the town, where he was ordered to kneel, with
his face to the north, and then his head was stricken off by "a villain
of London."
A martyr to religion Thomas of Lancaster was not, but he was a martyr
for the rights and liberties of English people.
He both furthered the cause of public liberty, and perished in its
defence. Witness the part he took in framing the ordinances "for the
common benefit of the kingdom, and the peace and prosperity of all the
people generally." All his transactions show that the earl was a man
of noble purposes, naturally averse to arbitrary power, and a lover
of liberty in the true and rational sense of its value. The sentence
pronounced against him was formally revoked by act of parliament;
and the priory church at Pontefract, which claimed to have his body
buried on the right hand of the high altar, became the scene of a
series of miracles. There is a record in the Corpus Christi College at
Cambridge "of the miracles God wroughte for Seint Thomas of Lancaster:
wherefore the king lete close the church doors of Pountfret of the
Prioree, for no man shall come therein to the body for to offeren."
The veneration extended to London and became so prominent that a royal
proclamation was issued denouncing and threatening the worshippers of
the effigy: "Inimici et rebelli nostri fotue accedentes eam absque
auctoritate Ecclesiæ Romanæ tanquam rem sanctificatam colunt et adsunt,
asserentes ibi fieri miracula, opprobrium totius Ecclesiæ, nostri et
vestri dedecus, et animarum populi predicti periculum manifestum,
ac pernisiosum exemplum aliorum." This reverence therefore, however
produced, was of a national and unauthorized character; but within
five weeks after the accession of Edward III. a special mission
was sent to the pope from the king, imploring the appointment of a
commission to institute the usual canonical investigation preparatory
to the canonisation of a Christian hero. In June of the same year a
king's-letter was given to Robert de Weryngton, authorising him and his
agents to collect alms throughout the kingdom for the erection of a
chapel on the hill where the earl was beheaded. Three years later (that
is in 1330) the embassy was repeated, urging the attention of the court
of Rome to a subject that so much interested the Church and people
of England; and in the April of the following year three still more
important envoys were sent with letters to the pope, to nine cardinals,
to the refendary of the papal court, and to the three nephews of
his holiness, intreating them not to give ear to the invectives of
malignant men who had asserted that the earl of Lancaster connived at
some injury offered to certain cardinals at Durham in the late king's
reign. It is affirmed that, on the contrary, the earl defended those
high personages at his own great peril; and the reiterated demand for
his sanctification appeals to the words of Scripture, "Knock, and it
shall be opened unto you."
Of this strange story no continuation appears till fifty-nine years
later, when Walshingham, the Benedictine monk of St. Alban's,
chronicling the events of 1390 (the thirteenth year of Richard II.),
writes, "_hoc quoque anno sanctus Thomas de Lancastria canonizatus
est_." The same event is recorded by John Capgrave with the discrepancy
of one year. Writing of 1389, he narrates: "And this same year was
Thomas of Lancaster canonised, for it was seid commounly that he should
nevir be canonised onto the time that all the juges that set upon him
were ded, & all her issew."
Notwithstanding the distinct assertions of these two ecclesiastical
historians, the festival of Thomas of Lancaster is not set down in any
of the Salisbury Service books either printed or in manuscript. Nor
does his feast come among those which Lyndwode speaks of as introduced
in later years. Butler makes no mention of him in his _Lives of the
Saints_, nor do the Bollandists give to him more than half-a-dozen
lines, mentioning him amongst those whom they do not propose to notice.
A stone coffin found in a field not far from S. Thomas's Hill, near
Pontefract, in the year 1828, which in local histories has been
supposed to contain the bones of the earl, is still to be seen in
the grounds of Lord Houghton, at Fryston Hall.[85] The heavy lid was
removed in the presence of Mr. T. Wright, Rev. C. Hartshorne, and other
members of the Archæological Association, and the bones taken out
and examined. The head was found between the leg bones. All were of
unusually large proportions. They were afterwards restored, with the
exception of the skull, to their ancient resting-place. The skull is
preserved in Fryston Hall.
[85] See Observations on the History of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, by
Lord Houghton in the Transactions of the Archæological Association for
1863, and Notes and Queries for 1850; also "The Honour and Castle of
Pontefract," by Rev. C. H. Hartshorne.
S. KATHARINE OF SWEDEN, V.
(A.D. 1381.)
[Roman Martyrology. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Kalendar. Her
office was sanctioned by Innocent VIII. Authority:--Her life by Ulph,
a Brigittine friar, written thirty years after her death.]
S. Katharine of Sweden was the daughter of Ulph, prince of Nierck,
in Sweden, and S. Bridget. At the age of seven she was placed in
the nunnery of Risborg. Being very beautiful, her father contracted
her in marriage to Egard, a young nobleman of great virtue; but she
persuaded her husband to live with her a life of perpetual chastity.
After the death of her father, S. Katharine out of devotion undertook
a pilgrimage with her mother to various holy places, and came to Rome,
where S. Bridget died in 1373. Katharine returned to Sweden and died
abbess of Vatzen, in the diocese of Lincopen, on March 24th, 1381.
B. NICOLAS VON DER FLUE, H.
(A.D. 1487.)
[Venerated in Unterwalden, in Switzerland, whence his cultus has
spread into France and the Netherlands. His life was written the year
after his death by Heinrich von Gundelfingen, canon of Bern. See also
Albrecht v. Bonstetten, Leben d. Selig. Nicolaus von der Flue, vom
j. 1487 aus einer Nürnberger Handschrift herausgegeben v. C. Morel,
Einsiedeln, 1862. The following account is condensed from Catholic
Legends, Burns, London.]
Nicolas von der Flue was born in Unterwalden in the year 1417, near the
village of Sachseln. He was descended from a race of good and pious
shepherds, in whom were transmitted from father to son the ancient
virtues of the Swiss, and who enjoyed during successive centuries
the esteem of their fellow-countrymen. His parents had an honest
competence; and, after the example of their fathers, they adhered
stedfastly to the true and ancient faith, respected the laws of their
country, and brought up their children in piety and virtue. They tended
their flocks with unwearied care; and, after a life of tranquility,
fell asleep in God, full of confidence; for they had walked before
Him, like the patriarchs, to the borders of Jordan. The young Nicolas
grew up beneath their salutary tutelage, and manifested always an
obedient spirit and a love of virtue; gentle and pious even from the
days of his childhood. It was often remarked by those around him, that
after the hard labour of a whole day in the fields, when he returned
home in the evening, he would disappear by stealth to pray in some
secret place. His spirit began thus early to mortify the body, in
order to give itself without distraction to elevated contemplation.
When some one, out of kindness, warned him not to ruin his health in
his youth by such severe fasts as he was accustomed to observe, he
replied, with sweetness, that such was the will of God concerning him.
Notwithstanding his fervent and austere devotion, his demeanour was
cheerful and affable; and he discharged with fidelity all the duties
which his condition of life imposed upon him. He entered upon manhood
endowed with a noble firmness of soul, a penetrating intelligence, and
great purity of heart. In his twenty-third year he took arms, at the
call of the magistrates, in the campaign against Zurich; and again,
fourteen years later, at the time of the occupation of Thurgau, when
he commanded, as captain, a company of 100 men, and manifested such
bravery, that his country decreed him a gold medal as a recompense. A
yet more honourable circumstance in the same expedition was the saving
of the monastery of the valley of S. Katharine, near Diessenhofen,
which to this day reveres him as its deliverer. It was owing to his
exhortations that the Swiss relinquished their design of setting fire
to the abbey, in order to expel the enemy, who abandoned it soon after
of their own accord. In battle he carried his sword in one hand, his
chaplet in the other: he showed himself at once a fearless soldier and
a merciful Christian, protecting the widow and the orphan, and not
permitting the conquerors to perpetrate acts of violence against the
vanquished.
Arrived at manhood, Nicolas married a virtuous young girl, named
Dorothea Wysyling. They had ten children, five sons and five daughters.
Nicolas was himself unanimously elected governor and judge of Obwalden.
The high dignity of Landaman was decreed him by the general assembly
several times; but he feared the great responsibility; and, without
doubt, he felt also that God had reserved him for some other and
greater thing.
Nicolas had thus lived fifty years for the good of his country and
family, and esteemed by all, when, in the year 1467, he felt himself
drawn to a closer walk with God, in a life of entire separation from
the world. His eldest son, John von der Flue, thus speaks of him: "My
father always retired to rest at the same time as his children and
servants; but every night I saw him rise again, and heard him praying
in his chamber until morning. Many times, also, he would repair in
the silence of the night to the old church of S. Nicholas, or to
other holy places." These hours of solitude were to him the happiest
moments of his life; and the interior impulse became even more powerful
to consecrate the remainder of his life to the devout contemplation
of eternal truths. God also favoured him frequently with miraculous
intimations of His divine will. On one occasion, when he went to visit
his flock at a place called Bergmatt, according to his wont, he knelt
upon the grass, and began to pray, when God vouchsafed him a consoling
vision. He beheld a fragrant lily, white as snow, come out of his
mouth, and rise towards heaven. Whilst he regaled himself with the
perfume and beauty of the flower, his flock came gambolling towards
him, and amongst them a noble horse. As he turned to look, the lily
inclined itself towards the horse, which advanced and drew it from his
mouth; by which Nicolas was made to understand that the treasure to
which he should aspire was in heaven: and if his heart was not wholly
detached from the things of earth, he would forfeit the possession of
the celestial joys reserved for him.
Another time, while engaged in the ordinary business of his house, he
saw three men approach him, of venerable aspect, one of whom addressed
him thus:--
"Tell us, Nicolas, wilt thou put body and soul into our power?"
"I give myself to none," replied he, "but the Almighty God, whom I have
long desired to serve with my soul and body."
At these words the strangers turned with a smile one towards the other,
and the first answered: "Because thou hast given thyself wholly to God,
and art bound to Him for ever, I promise that in the 70th year of thine
age thou shalt be delivered from all the troubles of this world. Remain
constant in thy resolution. Thou shalt bear in heaven a glorious banner
amidst the armies of God, if thou hast borne with patience the cross
that we lay upon thee."
Upon this the three men disappeared. These visions confirmed him in
his resolution of separating from the world. He disclosed to his wife
the desire of his soul, and entreated her, for the love of God, to
give him permission to fulfil this vocation. She consented with calm
resignation, and Nicolas began at once to arrange the affairs of his
house, assigning to each of his children his part of the inheritance.
He then assembled all his household,--his old father, 70 years of
age, his wife, his children, and his friends; he appeared before
them barefoot and bareheaded, clothed in the long robe of a pilgrim,
with a staff and chaplet in his hand; he thanked them for all the
kindness they had shown him, exhorted them for the last time to fear
God before all things; then he gave them his blessing, and departed.
That this separation was a trial to him, was evidenced by his frequent
expressions of thankfulness to God that He had strengthened him to
overcome for His service the love he bore to his wife and children.
Nicolas set out with a tranquil heart for the place which God had
chosen for him. Crossing valleys and mountains, he arrived at the
limits of the Confederation. When not far from Aarau, at a spot whence
he could see beyond the frontiers the little town of Liechstall, he had
a remarkable vision. The town, with its houses and towers, appeared
to him enveloped in flames. Terrified with this spectacle, he entered
into conversation with a peasant whom he found in a neighbouring
farmhouse, and made known to him his purpose, begging him to point
out a solitary spot where he might be able to carry it into effect.
This man counselled him to remain in his own country; because, as the
Confederates were not always well received in other parts, he might be
unfavourably regarded, and his retreat be disturbed. Brother Nicolas
thanked his host for this good counsel, and turned his face again
towards home. He rested not till he reached Melchthal, his native
place; where he repaired to one of his pastures called the Kluster.
There he made a little hut of branches and leaves under a larch tree,
in the midst of thorny bushes, and remained without discovery till
the eighth day, neither eating nor drinking, but absorbed in prayer.
Some hunters in pursuit of game first became aware of his retreat,
and spoke of him to his brother, Peter von der Flue, who visited
him, and besought him not to suffer himself to die of hunger in so
wild a solitude. Brother Nicolas assured him that he need be without
uneasiness on his account, as he had experienced no evil result up to
that time. Nevertheless, that he might not seem to tempt God, he sent
secretly for the curé of Kerns, named Oswald Isner, and acquainted him
with the whole case. This good man gave the following testimony after
the hermit's death, as may be read in the parish record of the year
1488:--
"When Bro. Nicolas had passed eleven days without food, he sent for me,
and asked me whether he should take some nourishment or continue his
trial, as he had always desired to be able to live without eating, in
order that he might be more effectually separated from created things.
When I saw that this could come only from the source of divine love, I
counselled Bro. Nicolas to persevere as long as he was able; and from
this time to the day of his death, a period of more than twenty years,
he continued to dispense with bodily food. As the pious brother was
more familiar with me than with any other person, I sought earnestly
to learn from him how his strength was sustained; and one day he told
me, in great secrecy, that when he assisted at Mass, and the priest
communicated, he received a strength which enabled him to refrain from
all other nourishment."
When the fame of this miraculous life spread abroad, people flocked
from all parts to see a man whom God had so distinguished, and to
convince themselves of its reality by personal observation. His quiet
life was, in consequence, so much disturbed, that he determined to
seek a more isolated spot. After traversing several of the wildest
valleys with this intention, he beheld above a gloomy gorge, down which
the Melch precipitates itself with deafening roar, a brilliant light
descending from heaven. Obedient to this indication of the will of God,
he built there a little hut. But the same year, his neighbours, the
inhabitants of Obwalden, edified by his holy life, built him a chapel
with a small cell attached, and presented it to him as a mark of their
affection. Brother Nicolas entered this new dwelling, and continued
there to serve God in the same supernatural life. Meanwhile, the renown
of his extraordinary mode of existence extended far and wide: many were
unwilling to believe that a man could thus live miraculously by the
sole grace of the Almighty, whilst others glorified God on his behalf.
The magistrates of the canton, desiring to verify the fact of the
monastic life of Blessed Nicolas, sent officers, who, for the space
of a month, occupied day and night all the avenues of his retreat,
in order that no person might bring provisions. Thomas, suffragan
bishop of Constance, subjected the brother to a similar test when he
consecrated the chapel; and after him bishop Otho visited the hermit.
The archduke Sigismund of Austria sent, for the same purpose, his
physician, the learned and skilful Binhard de Horneck, in order that
he might attentively observe Nicolas during several days and nights.
Frederick III., the emperor, also appointed delegates to examine him;
but all these expedients served only to confirm the truth. Those who
visited him were so struck with the piety and humility of the servant
of God, that all their doubts vanished, and they left him penetrated
with the most profound respect. When asked how he could exist without
food, his simple reply was, "God knows."
It was only on Sundays and festival days that he left his cell, and
assisted with the rest of his parishioners at divine service in the
church of Sachseln. Once a year he repaired to Lucerne for the great
procession, and to visit the celebrated places of pilgrimage. When the
journey became too fatiguing on account of his advanced age, and the
gifts of pious persons enabled him to procure the services of a priest,
he heard Mass daily in his own chapel, and confessed and received the
Holy Communion frequently. He consecrated to the service of God all the
hours from midnight to midday, at which time he prayed and meditated,
especially on the passion of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who, as he
said, communicated to him in the exercise a miraculous strength, a
supernatural food.
During the remainder of the day, from midday to the evening, he
received those who visited him; or, when the weather was fine, he would
traverse the mountains praying, or visit his friend, Brother Ulrich,
and converse with him on divine things. Ulrich was a German gentleman,
originally from Bavaria, who, after many remarkable adventures, had
quitted the world to establish himself near Nicolas, in this solitude.
Lodged in the hollow of a rock, he led a life similar to his, save only
that he could not dispense with food, which the pious country-people
provided for him. In the evening Brother Nicolas resumed his prayers;
then he went to take a short repose upon his couch, which consisted
only of two planks, with a piece of wood or a stone for a pillow.
At this period the cities and states of the Swiss Confederation were at
the height of their prosperity; the fruit of three memorable victories
over the forces of the Duke of Burgundy.
Six years had not elapsed since the first of these--that of Granson.
In this famous engagement, the Confederates had humbled the haughty
arrogance of Charles the Bold: his fine army, three times stronger
than their own, had been cut in pieces; and this hitherto unconquered
hero, the master of the richest provinces on this side the Alps--the
two Burgundies, Gueldres, and almost all Belgium,--this warrior, before
whom France trembled, and whom Lorraine had been unable to resist,
fled from the field of battle with only six companions. Four hundred
pieces of artillery, six hundred banners, his ducal hat, his sword of
state, the three large diamonds, celebrated throughout Europe, which
were destined at a subsequent period to adorn the crowns of mighty
potentates;--in a word, a camp which was unequalled in richness and
magnificence throughout Christendom, and could only be compared to the
camps of the Turks, fell into the hands of poor mountaineers, who, with
the help of God, had defended their liberty against the cupidity and
pride of a foreign foe.
The second battle took place on the plains of Morat. Charles of
Burgundy was again routed with enormous loss, and obliged to fly a
second time, having with him only thirty men. The Confederates, after
the battle, fell on their knees in thanksgiving for the success of
their arms; the trumpets poured forth a joyous blast; messengers,
decorated with green branches, ran in all haste through the towns and
villages, and the bells rang out exulting peals.
The third of these great battles was fought by the Swiss near Nancy.
The Burgundian, in his despair, had collected all that remained of his
forces, and having on this occasion to contend with troops superior to
his own, he displayed a valour worthy of his name and ancestors. But
all his efforts were in vain; and Charles, the last of his house on the
throne of Burgundy, was once more totally defeated.
The reputation of the Swiss became so great in consequence of these
successes, that the most powerful princes of Europe sent ambassadors
to their assemblies, and sought their alliance. At the negotiations
held at Zurich, in 1478, for concluding peace with Burgundy, were to
be seen envoys from the emperor of Germany, the king of France, the
Archduke of Austria, and counts and lords from far and near. The Swiss
had no longer a single enemy to fear.
The immense booty taken from the Burgundians, and the payments made
on various accounts by France, had occasioned large sums of money to
circulate among the people; and the Swiss had lost something of their
pure and disinterested love for their country.
At the close of the year, 1481, on S. Thomas's Eve, the deputies of the
Cantons met at Stanz, in Unterwalden, for deliberation on matters of
the highest importance connected with the welfare of the Confederacy.
The minds of the delegates had been already so warped by jealousy and
selfishness, that the members of the assembly of Stanz could come to
no mutual understanding, and were unceasingly embittered against each
other. There were two parties in the assembly at variance with each
other; that of the towns, and that of the country. The peasants of Uri,
of Schwytz, and Unterwalden desired peace, and distrusted the ambition
of the citizens, who would draw them needlessly into war. They sought
to maintain the Swiss Confederation within its ancient limits, and
were not disposed to strengthen the opposite party by the admission
of new towns. On the contrary, the towns of Lucerne, of Berne, and of
Zurich exerted themselves to obtain admittance into the Confederation
for Soleure and Friebourg; because they themselves lay exposed to
the attacks of the enemy, Switzerland not having as yet any natural
frontier; and these towns had fought faithfully for Switzerland in the
wars against Charles, and the Confederates in the hour of danger had
promised to admit them into the league.
To this source of discord was added the envy excited by the division
of the Burgundian booty. It was in vain that the cantons of Glarus and
Zug sought to interpose their mediation, and that meetings were held in
various places to reconcile differences. And now the Confederates were
assembled for consultation for the last time at Stanz. The animosity
of party, however, was so great, that after three sessions of angry
debates, the members rose with agitated countenances, and separated
without taking leave of one another, to meet again, perhaps, only in
the conflict of civil war. That which neither the power of Austria, nor
the fury of Charles of Burgundy had ever been able to accomplish, the
Swiss were themselves in danger of bringing about by their own internal
dissensions; and the liberty and happiness of their country stood in
jeopardy.
These considerations filled all good citizens with sorrow and alarm,
and, amongst others, a curé of Stanz, named Henry Im Grand, a man full
of zeal for the good of his country. As he reflected on the danger
which threatened her, his thoughts turned to Brother Nicolas. "This
man," said he to himself, "is, perhaps, the only one whose voice will
command attention now," and, taking his staff, he went in quest of him.
Brother Nicolas replied to his entreaty to come to Stanz with his usual
gravity: "Return," said he, "tell the envoys of the Confederation that
Brother Klaus has something to propose to them."
The priest, full of hope, resumed his journey with all possible
speed; he hastened to the inns where the deputies were preparing for
departure, and conjured them to be again reconciled, and to listen for
the last time to the counsels and proposition of the pious hermit. They
consented; and some hours after, the brother appeared in the midst of
the assembly.
Notwithstanding his great age, Nicolas had performed this long and
difficult journey without resting; his fine majestic figure--which
time had scarcely bent, was seen advancing across the market-place
of Stanz to the town-hall. He wore, according to custom, his simple,
dark-coloured dress, which descended to his feet; he carried his
chaplet in one hand, and grasped his staff with the other; he was, as
usual, barefoot and bareheaded; and his long hair, a little touched by
the snows of age, fell upon his shoulders. When the holy man entered
the hall before all the Confederates, they rose with one accord to
greet him. After a few moments, silence was broken by the sonorous
voice of the hermit, who addressed them with earnest words, and God
gave such grace to his words that in one hour all difficulties were
smoothed away, and base passions were silent through shame before the
severe counsel of a man who appeared before this assembly with hands
raised towards heaven, as a prophet sent from God.
The Confederates, in accordance with Nicolas's advice, received
into their league the towns of Freibourg and Soleure; the ancient
treaties of alliance were confirmed, and further consolidated by
being established on the basis of new laws unanimously enacted. The
pacification of all the Swiss cantons, the maintenance of public
order, and of the authority of the magistrates against disturbers
of the peace, the division of booty according to the rule given by
Nicolas,--such were the points upon which the Confederates, who had so
long contended with so much animosity, came this same day to an entire
agreement.
The brother returned the same evening to his peaceful hermitage. At
Stanz the bells were rung, and sounds of rejoicing floated across
the lakes and through the valleys to all the villages and towns of
Switzerland, from the snowy heights of S. Gothard to the smiling plains
of Thurgau. There was as much joy and gladness everywhere as after the
victories of Granson and Morat, and with as just cause; for there the
Confederates had delivered their country from foreign enemies; here
they saved it from their own passions. Their true deliverer, who had
obtained from them this victory over themselves, was the poor Brother
Nicolas, and as such he was everywhere recognised and extolled.
The towns and countries of the Confederation, and above all, Soleure
and Freibourg, satisfied with the happy termination of their
dissensions, testified their gratitude to the brother by sending him
letters of thanks and precious gifts. He accepted the latter only when
they were destined to adorn his chapel. Berne sent a courier with
a letter of thanksgiving and a handsome present. The answer which
the brother returned, through the medium of his son John, exists to
this day in the archives of Soleure, to which city it was presented
by Berne. From this time the general veneration for Brother Klaus
increased continually.
Nicolas lived six years longer in his peaceful retreat, rich in
benedictions. At length the time arrived when God would call His
faithful servant from the miseries of the world to eternal joy.
Before his death, God sent him a sharp sickness, in which he suffered
indescribable pain. In this condition of suffering he turned from
side to side, writhing upon his couch like a worm trodden under foot.
These frightful pains lasted eight days. He bore them with perfect
resignation, and continued to exhort those who surrounded his bed of
death so to conduct themselves in this life as to leave it with a
peaceful conscience. "Death," said he, "is terrible; but it is still
more terrible to fall into the hands of the living God." When his pains
were a little relieved, and the moment of death drew near, Nicolas
desired with all the ardour of devotion to receive the sacred Body
of the Saviour, and to be strengthened by the Sacrament of Extreme
Unction. Near the dying man stood his faithful companion, Brother
Ulrich, his old friend Henry Im Grand, and the pious anchorite, Cecil,
who after his death led for seventy years the same solitary life in a
neighbouring cell; his faithful wife and children also gathered round
him. In their presence he received the holy Sacraments with tokens of
deep humility; then he thanked God anew for all the benefits He had
dispensed to him, prostrated himself, and died the death of the just.
This event took place on the first day of the spring of the year 1487,
the feast of S. Benedict, the same on which seventy years previous he
was born.
The lily had been the favourite symbol of this pure calm soul; the lily
in flower, resplendent with a divine glory, was Brother Klaus himself,
the humble servant of God, whose name, it is said, even S. Charles
Borromeo never pronounced but with uncovered head.
The skeleton of Brother Klaus reposes in a shrine above the high
altar of the Church at Sachseln, where also are preserved the habit,
staff, and rosary of the saint. A contemporary portrait exists in the
town-hall of Sarnen. He is represented as deadly pale, with deep sunk
eyes, which are red with constant weeping. His chapel and hermitage are
still shown in Melchthal.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
March 23.
S. PROCULUS, _B. of Verona, 4th cent._
SS. FINGAR, PIALA, _V._, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Cornwall, circ._
A.D. 450.
S. VICTORIAN, _Proconsul of Carthage_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., circ._
A.D. 484.
SS. LIBERATUS, PHYSICIAN, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa, circ._
A.D. 484.
S. BENEDICT, _Monk in Campania, 6th cent._
S. ETHELWOLD, _P.H. in the Isle of Farne, circ._ A.D. 723.
S. ALPHONSO TORIBIO, _B. of Lima, in Peru_, A.D. 1606.
B. JOSEPH ORIOL, _P. at Barcelona_, A.D. 1702.
S. PROCULUS, B. OF VERONA.
(4TH CENT.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology. Maurolycus, Greven and Canisius give Dec.
9th; Galesinus gives both days. The Roman Martyrology says that S.
Proculus confessed Christ in the persecution of Dioclesian; all the
other Martyrologies, that of Verona included, and all the versions of
the Acts extant make a mistake, and say he confessed under Maximin,
the emperor, when he was at Milan, before Anulinus the consul. But
Maximin never was at Milan; and Annius Cornelius Anulinus was consul
in the year 295, when Dioclesian and Maximian were emperors; and
Maximian was at Milan more than once. Anulinus was proconsul of Africa
in 303, and we meet with him in the Acts of some of the African
martyrs. The Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus are not precisely in
their original form, or this error would not have crept in, of making
Maximian into Maximin; otherwise they seem to be trustworthy.]
Saint Proculus was the fourth bishop of Verona. During the persecution
waged by Dioclesian and Maximian against the Church, Anulinus the
consul came to Milan breathing out threatenings and slaughter against
the faithful. And when he had laid his hands on SS. Firmus and
Rusticus, the holy bishop Proculus went to them into their prison to
encourage them to strive manfully for Christ. And he kissed them and
said, "Be strong in the Lord Jesus, and receive me, my brethren, as
your fellow in death; for I desire greatly to be your companion, that
we may have but one will and one struggle for the Lord, so that we may
merit to enter into His glory and sing His praises eternally?" And
they answered, "So be it." Now Anulinus had sent to have the martyrs
brought before him; and the officers came to the door, and saw the
old man sitting with Firmus and Rusticus, and they laughed, and said,
"What does that old man want with these condemned criminals?" Then
the blessed Proculus answered, "They are not condemned criminals, but
crowned victors of the Lord; and would that I might share their glory!"
So saying he held out his hands to the officers that they might be
bound; so they bound him.
Anulinus sat on his judgment seat, and they brought before him Firmus
and Rusticus, and after them the venerable Proculus. "Who is this old
man?" asked the magistrate; and when they told him, Anulinus said, "He
drivels, send him off." So they unbound him and beat him about the
face, and drove him out of the city.
So far from the Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, other accounts of S.
Proculus are less authentic. According to these latter, he went to
Jerusalem together with some companions, when the persecution was at
an end, and was taken captive and sold as a slave; but was released,
on account of his advanced age. On his way home he passed through
Pannonia, and an odd story is related of the journey. The old man felt
the want of a razor, and was ill-content at remaining unshaven so
long. At length, passing through a country where there was no water,
and unable to endure the growth on his chin and place of tonsure any
longer, he summoned water out of the rock, and giving an old blunt
knife to his attendant bade him shave boldly. Then wondrous to relate
the bristles on the old man came off lightly, as though mown by the
keenest razor.
The relics of the saint were discovered on the rebuilding of the
confession or church of S. Proculus, in 1492.
SS. FINGAR, M., AND PIALA, V. M.
(ABOUT A.D. 450.)
[Anglican Martyrology of J. Wilson. In Brittany at Lok-Eguignar, where
the church is dedicated to him; the saint is commemorated on December
14th. Colgan by mistake, February 23rd. The Life and Martyrdom of S.
Fingar, written by one Anselm, but not S. Anselm of Canterbury, is
fabulous.]
There was a prince named Corotic[86] of Cornwall or South Wales, who
was a pirate and a persecutor at once. In, or about, A.D. 450, but
certainly just before S. Patrick left Munster, in 452, Corotic landed
with a party of his armed followers, many of whom were Christians, at
a season of solemn baptism, and set about plundering a district in
which S. Patrick had just baptized and confirmed a great many converts,
and on the very day after the holy chrism was seen shining on the
brows of the white-robed neophytes. Having murdered several persons,
these marauders carried off a considerable number of people, whom they
sold as slaves to the Scots and Picts. S. Patrick wrote a letter, now
extant, which he sent to these pirates, requesting them to restore
the baptized captives, and some part of the booty. The letter was
received with scorn, and S. Patrick was under the necessity of issuing
a circular epistle against them and their chief Corotic, in which he
proclaimed that he excommunicated and cut off from Christ those same
robbers and murderers, and forbade Christian people receiving them
and giving them meat or drink. He requested the faithful to read the
epistle everywhere, and before Corotic himself, and to communicate it
to his soldiers, in the hope that they and their master might return to
God.
[86] The Caradenc of the Britons, Caraduc of the Welsh, the Latinized
Caractacus.
It is probable that S. Fingar was one of the sufferers in this
expedition. He and his sister Piala were _probably_ carried to
Cornwall, and there put to death. But all this is very uncertain. The
life by Anselm tells the story thus: Fingar or Guigner, the son of the
Irish king Clito, and a convert to Christianity through the preaching
of S. Patrick, fled his country to avoid the consequences of his
father's wrath, together with several young nobles to Brittany, where
he was kindly received by the chief of the province, and having got
ample possessions from him, erected an oratory. Afterwards he returned
to Ireland, and there collected nearly eight hundred faithful, among
whom were seven bishops and his sister Piala. Leaving Ireland they
arrived at the port of Hayle, in Cornwall, anciently called Pen-dinas,
but now called Hayle, after S. Hija, an Irish virgin, who had set out
after them, on a leaf of a tree which had been blown into the sea, and
on which she was wafted to the Cornish coast. S. Hija received them
hospitably, and forwarded them on their way. At night they reached the
hut of a pious woman who invited them all in, and as there were not
beds enough for the whole company, pulled the thatch off her roof, and
strewed it on the floor. Then she killed her only cow, and served its
meat to the holy comrades, who satisfied themselves thereon, and then
S. Fingar took the skin, put the bones inside it, and having prayed,
the cow rose up whole, and began to low. Theodoric--this is Anselm's
version of the name Corotic--the earl of Cornwall, hearing of the
passage through his lands of this large party of saints, waylaid and
massacred them. S. Fingar planted his staff at his side, and stretched
forth his neck, and his head was smitten off at one blow. Then a
spring bubbled up from the ground moistened by his blood, and his staff
grew and put forth leaves beside the holy well.
It is almost needless to point out the utter worthlessness of this
fable. That there was a S. Fingar, and that he suffered under Corotic
is likely enough. The violence and murders committed by this piratical
prince are established historical facts. But if S. Fingar had been
a king's son, he would certainly have been mentioned in some of the
lives of S. Patrick, which he is not. Anselm says that his father,
Clito, was the most noble and powerful of the seven Irish kings who
received S. Patrick. Now there is nothing better authenticated than
that the head king at that time was Leogaire. The chief difficulty
according to Colgan, consists in the name Theodoric; but the name was
not unknown among the Britons. A Teudric, or Theodoric, was king of
Glamorgan, about the latter end of the sixth century, (Usher, p. 562.)
But Albertus Magnus maintains (De Sanctis Britan. Armor), that the
Cornubia spoken of in Fingar's Acts was Cornouaille, in Brittany, and
informs us that Fingar's festival is celebrated at Vannes, on December
13th. Lobineau, in his History of Brittany, mentions a Theodoric son
of Budic, and count of Cornouaille, but he lived late in the sixth
century. But probably Theodoric is a mistake for Corotic, made by some
copyist.
S. VICTORIAN AND OTHERS, MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 484.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, ancient and modern Roman Martyrologies.
Authority:--Victor of Utica's History of the Vandal Persecution.]
Victorian, proconsul of Carthage, a native of Adrumetum, was one of the
wealthiest men in North Africa, and had discharged several important
offices under Hunneric, the Vandal king, son of Genseric. But Hunneric
being resolved to trample out the faith in the Godhead of Christ, and
establish the Arian heresy throughout his dominions, offered Victorian
the highest honours, and his own special favour, if he would regard
Christ as a creature. Victorian replied, "Nothing can separate me from
the faith and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the confidence that I
have in so mighty a master, I am ready to suffer all kinds of torments
rather than to consent to Arian impiety. You may burn me or expose
me to wild beasts, or kill me by other tortures; but never will you
prevail on me to desert the Catholic Church in which I was baptized."
This reply so exasperated the tyrant that he made the saint undergo
the worst and most protracted torments his ingenuity could devise.
Victorian endured them all with a good courage, and gained the martyr's
crown.
In the city of Tambala also many suffered for the right faith, and in
that of Aquæ regiæ two brothers exhibited great constancy. They were
hung up by their wrists, with heavy weights attached to their feet.
After having thus hung all day, the endurance of one brother gave way,
and he cried out to be released. Then the other exclaimed, "Do not so,
brother! or I will accuse thee at the judgment seat of Christ; for have
we not sworn over His Body and Blood to suffer together for Him?" Then
the weaker brother was strengthened to endure, and the Vandals incensed
at their obstinacy, applied red-hot plates of iron to their flesh, and
tore them with iron rakes, and so, they entered into the joy of their
Lord.
Two merchants of Carthage, both named Frumentius, also sold all that
they had, even to their lives, to gain the most precious pearl of
eternal life.
The Church honours also on the same day S. Liberatus, his wife, and
sons, who suffered in the same persecution. Liberatus, a physician of
Carthage, was exiled, along with his wife, on account of his faith.
He felt keenly the being separated from his children, but his wife
consoled him, saying, "Think no more of thy children, Jesus Christ will
be their guardian." The husband and wife were incarcerated in separate
prisons, so as not to see one another. "Thy husband has submitted to
the orders of the king," said the Arians to the wife: "therefore do
thou yield also." But she answered, "Let me see him and speak with
him." Then she was conducted to where he was, and she reproached him
for his apostasy. But he exclaimed, "They have deceived thee, O my
wife, never have I renounced my faith." Then she gave praise to God. It
is not known how these saints suffered, but they are honoured by the
Church as martyrs.
S. ETHELWOLD, H.
(ABOUT A.D. 723.)
[Menardus on Jan. 6th. Edward Mayhew in his Trophæa Cong. Anglic.
O.S.B. on March 23rd. So Heronymus Porter in his Flores Vitarum Sanct.
Angliæ, Scotiæ, and Hiberniæ. The revised Anglican Martyrology of
1640, on same day. Authority:--Bede in his life of S. Cuthbert.]
S. Ethetwold, or Ethelwold, was for some time a monk at Ripon, "where
having received the priestly office," says Bede, "he sanctified it
by a life worthy of that degree. After the death of that man of God,
Cuthbert, this venerable priest succeeded him in the exercise of a
solitary life, in the cell which the saint had inhabited in the islet
of Farne, before he was made bishop." He found the oratory of Cuthbert
so rudely put together, that the sea-wind shrieked in through the
joints of the planks, and though patched up with clay and stubble, the
chapel was so full of draughts that Ethelwold asked for and obtained
a calf's skin, and this he nailed against the wall where he was wont
to pray, to keep the wind from blowing into his ear. Bede says, "I
will relate one miracle of Ethelwold, which was told me by one of
the brothers who was concerned, and for whose sake it was wrought,
Guthfried, the venerable servant and priest of Christ, who afterwards
presided in quality of abbot over the church of Lindisfarne, in which
he was educated. I came, said he, to the islet of Farne, with two other
brothers, desiring to speak with the most reverent father Ethelwold;
and when we had been comforted by his discourses, and having asked his
blessing, were returning home, when on a sudden, as we were in the sea,
the fair weather that was wafting us over changed, and so great and
furious a storm fell on us, that neither sail nor oars availed, and we
despaired of life.
"Having a good while struggled in vain with the wind and waves, we
looked back at last to see if by any means we might return to the
island, but found that we were equally beset with the tempest on all
sides; but we could perceive Ethelwold at the mouth of his cavern,
contemplating our danger. For, hearing the howl of the wind, and the
roar of the sea, he came forth to see how we fared. And when he saw our
desperate condition, he bent his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to pray for our life and safety. As he finished his prayer, the
swelling sea immediately abated its violence, and the rage of the winds
ceased, and a fair gale springing up bore us over the smooth waters
to the shore. But no sooner had we arrived, and drawn our boat out of
the water, than the same storm began to rage again, and ceased not all
that day; to the end that it might plainly appear, that this small
intermission had been granted from heaven at the prayer of the man of
God, that we might escape."
S. Ethelwold spent twelve years at Farne, and died there; but he was
buried in Lindisfarne, in the Church of S. Peter, near the bodies of
SS. Cuthbert and Eadbert. His bones were afterwards taken up in the
time of the Danish ravages, 875, and were translated to Durham in 995,
and more honourably enshrined in 1160.
[Illustration: THE TWO THIEVES. see p. 456.
S. Dimas, Penitent. With Angel bearing his happy Soul to Paradise.
The Impenitent. With Dæmon dragging forth his unwilling Soul.]
March 24.
S. LATINUS, _B. of Brescia, 2nd cent._
SS. MARK AND TIMOTHY, _MM. at Rome, 2nd cent._
SS. TIMOLAUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Cæsarea_, A.D. 303.
S. PIGMENIUS, _P.M. at Rome_, A.D. 373.
S. DOMANGART, _of Slieve Donarth, B. in Ireland_.
S. HILDELITHA, _V. Abss. of Barking, in Essex, circ._ A.D. 720.
S. BERNULF, _B.M. of Aste, 9th cent._
S. SIMON, _Child M. at Trent_, A.D. 1475.
SS. TIMOLAUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.
(A.D. 303.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on March 15th. Authority:--Eusebius
on the Martyrs of Palestine.]
Eusebius writes of the persecution under Dioclesian, at Cæsarea,--"Who
could fail to be struck with admiration at the sight or recital of the
things that then took place? For, as the heathen in every place were
on the point of celebrating their accustomed games and festivals, it
was much noised abroad that besides the other exhibitions, those who
had been condemned to wild beasts were to be made to fight. This report
having gained ground, there were six young men, who, first binding
their hands, hastened to Urbanus (the governor of the province), to
prove their readiness to endure martyrdom, as he was on his way to the
amphitheatre. Their names were Timolaus, a native of Pontus, Dionysius
of Tripolis in Phœnice, Romulus, a subdeacon of the church at
Diospolis Paesis, and Alexander, both Egyptians; and another Alexander
from Gaza. They were immediately committed to prison. Not many days
after, two others were added to the number, of whom one had already
witnessed a good confession several times, under various dreadful
tortures. His name was Agapius, but the other, who supplied them with
the necessaries of life, was named Dionysius. All these, being eight in
number, were beheaded in one day at Cæsarea, on the twenty-third day of
the month Dystrus, that is, the ninth of the Kalends of April."
S. DOMANGART OF SLIEVE DONART, B.
(UNCERTAIN.)
[Irish Martyrologies. He is not to be confounded with S. Domangart,
the brother of S. Domnoch, or Modomnoc (Feb. 13th.) Giraldus
Cambrensis calls him Dominick. Usher, thinking this S. Dominick was
the same as Dominick of Ossory mentioned elsewhere by Giraldus, and
not acquainted with the history of S. Domangart, fell into the mistake
of making the mountain Slieve Slainge, called afterwards Slieve
Donart, to be Grenore point, in Wexford. Ware followed Usher. Archdall
calls the saint S. Domangard of Ossory, whereas the saint of Ossory
was Domnoc, or Modomnoc, and not Domangart at all, and makes the
promontory Carnsore.]
S. Domangart is said to have been the son of Euchodius, king of
Ulster, in the latter part of the 5th century, and during a part of
the 6th. In the Tripartite Life of S. Patrick he is represented as a
bigoted heathen and a persecutor. His two daughters having embraced
Christianity made a vow of perpetual virginity, and their father,
highly incensed, ordered them to be cast into the sea. Therefore S.
Patrick cursed him and his seed for ever, excepting, however, his
unborn son, at the petition of the queen, who was with child. The
son born to him after this was Domangart, and his birth is placed
a short time before the foundation of Armagh, and it is added that
he afterwards became a disciple of the apostle. But, as Dr. Lanigan
has proved in his "Irish Ecclesiastical History," S. Patrick did not
survive the foundation of Armagh more than about ten years. How
then could Domangart have been his disciple? Then we are given to
understand, that Domangart was not born till after his father's death,
which the Four Masters assign to A.D. 503 (504.) This sets aside the
whole story; for S. Patrick was dead many years before this date.
Jocelin, who follows the Tripartite as to Euchodius, Domangart, &c.,
omits what is said of the latter having been a disciple of S. Patrick.
There is a fable concerning S. Domangart having been raised from the
dead at Rome by S. Patrick, according to which he would have lived in
the 5th cent. Such contradictory stories show what little reliance can
be placed in the accounts of the saint. All that we can be certain of
is that he founded a monastery on the promontory of Slieve Slainge,
where in Colgan's time stood two churches dedicated to him.
S. HILDELITHA, V. ABSS. OF BARKING.
(ABOUT A.D. 720.)
[Ancient Anglican Martyrologies, and Gallican Martyrology.
Authority:--Bede, Ecc. Hist. l. iv. c. 10.]
Hildelitha was one of the first virgins of the English nation who
consecrated herself a spouse to Christ, going abroad to a French
monastery, there being, at that time, none in England. When S.
Erkonwald had founded the monastery of Chertsey for himself, and the
convent of Barking, in Essex, for his sister Ethelburga, he sent to
France for S. Hildelitha, and committed his sister to her care, to be
by her instructed in monastic discipline. Thus S. Ethelburga herself,
who was the first abbess of Barking, was a disciple of S. Hildelitha,
though she died before her, and was succeeded by her in the government
of the community. Bede highly commends the piety of this saint, and
that she was highly esteemed by others we may gather from S. Aldhelm
having addressed to her his poetical treatise on virginity, and from
mention of her in one of the epistles of S. Boniface, where he relates
what great things he had learned of her.
S. Hildelitha departed to our Lord in a good old age, but the date of
her death is undetermined.
S. SIMON, BOY M.
(A.D. 1475.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts of Canonization by Benedict
XIV., and the Acts published in the Italian immediately after the
event took place.]
Through the Middle Ages, in Europe the Jews were harshly treated,
suffering from sudden risings of the people, or from the exactions
of princes and nobles. This nourished in them a bitter hatred of
Christians and Christianity, and in some instances led to cruel
reprisals. Such was, perhaps, the case in Trent, where on Tuesday in
Holy Week, 1475, the Jews met to prepare for the approaching Passover,
in the house of one of their number named Samuel, and it was agreed
between three of them, Samuel, Tobias, and Angelus, that a child should
be crucified, as an act of revenge against their tyrants, and of hatred
against Christianity. The difficulty, however, was how to get one.
Samuel sounded his servant Lazarus, and attempted to bribe him into
procuring one, but the suggestion so scared the fellow, that he packed
up all his traps and ran away. On the Thursday, Tobias undertook to get
the boy, and going out in the evening, whilst the people were in church
during the singing of Tenebræ, he prowled about till he found a child
sitting on the threshold of his father's door in the Fossati Street,
aged twenty-nine months, and named Simon. The Jew began to coax the
little fellow to follow him, and the boy did so, and he conducted him
to the house of Samuel, where he was put to bed, and given raisins and
apples to amuse him.
In the mean time the parents, Andrew and Mary, missing their child,
began to seek him everywhere, but not finding him, and night falling
darkly upon them, they returned, troubled and alarmed to their home.
During the night, when all was still, a Jew named Moses took the child
from its bed, and carried it into the vestibule of the synagogue, which
formed a part of the house of Samuel, and sitting down on a bench began
to strip the infant; a handkerchief being twisted round its throat to
prevent it from crying. Then stretching out his limbs in the shape of a
cross they began the butchery of the child, cutting the body in several
places, and gathering his blood in a basin. The child being half dead,
they raised him on his feet, and whilst two of them held him by the
arms, the rest pierced his body on all sides with their awls.
When the child was dead, they hid the body in a cellar behind the
barrels of wine.
All Friday the parents sought their son, but found him not, and the
Jews, alarmed at the proceedings of the magistrates, who had taken the
matter up, and were making investigations in all quarters, consulted
what had better be done. They could not carry the body away, as
every gate was watched, and the perplexity was great. At length they
determined to dress the body again and throw it into the stream which
ran under Samuel's window, but which was there blocked by an iron cage
in which the refuse was caught. Tobias was to go to the bishop and
chief magistrates and tell them that there was a child's body entangled
in the grate, and he hoped that by thus drawing attention to it all
suspicion of having been implicated in the murder would be diverted
from him and his co-religionists.
This was done, and when John de Salis, the bishop, and James de Sporo,
the governor, heard the report of the Jew, they at once went, and the
body was removed before their eyes, and conveyed to the cathedral,
followed by a crowd. As, according to a popular mediæval superstition,
blood is supposed to flow from the wound when the murderer approaches,
the officers of justice examined the body as the crowds passed it; and
they noticed that blood exuded as Tobias approached. On the strength of
this the house of Samuel and the synagogue were examined, and blood and
other traces of the butchery were found in the cellar, and in the place
where the deed had been done, and the bowl of blood was discovered in
a cupboard. The most eminent physicians were called to investigate
the condition of the corpse, and they unanimously decided that the
child could not have been drowned, as the body was not swollen, and
as there were marks on the throat of strangulation. The wounds they
decided were made by sharp instruments like awls and knives, and could
not be attributed to the gnawing of water-rats. The popular voice now
accusing the Jews, the magistrates seized on the Jews and threw them
into prison, and on the accusation of a renegade Jew named John, who
had been converted to Christianity seven years before, and who declared
that the Jews had often sought to catch and kill a child, and had
actually done this elsewhere, more than five of the Jews were sentenced
to be broken on the wheel, and then burnt.
The blood found in the basin is preserved in the cathedral of Trent,
and the body of the child is also enshrined there in a magnificent
mausoleum.
March 25.
_The Annunciation of S. Mary_.
MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
THE PENITENT THIEF, A.D. 33.
S. QUIRINUS, _M. at Rome_, A.D. 269.
S. IRENÆUS, _B.M. at Sirmium_, A.D. 304.
S. PELAGIUS, _B. of Laodicæa, end of 4th cent._
S. DULA, _V.M. at Nicomedia_.
S. CAMIN, _Ab. of Iniskeltra, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 653.
S. HUMBERT, _P.C. at Marolles, in Hainault, circ._ A.D. 680.
SS. BARONTUS AND DESIDERIUS, _HH. at Pistoria, circ._ A.D. 725.
S. HERMELAND, _Ab. of Hindre, in France, 8th cent._
S. ALFWOLF, _B. of Sherborne_, A.D. 1075.
S. WILLIAM, _Child M. at Norwich_, A.D. 1144.
S. RICHARD, _Child M. at Paris_, A.D. 1179.
S. IDA, _Abss. of Argensolles, in the diocese of Soissons,
circ._ A.D. 1250.
THE ANNUNCIATION OF S. MARY.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of
Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the
angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is
with thee: Blessed art thou among women."[87]
[87] S. Luke, i. 26-28.
The angel, to manifest his reverence and love, saluted the holy virgin
with an "Ave," or Hail, and he named not her proper name, Mary,
but gave her the title "Full of Grace." This he did that we might
understand, that as Almighty God gave to the Messiah the names of
"Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace,"[88] so also He gave to the Virgin a new and most
glorious name, which, for excellency, is to be attributed to her in the
Church; so that as we call Solomon "the Wise," and S. Paul "the Apostle
of the Gentiles," so we should call the Blessed Virgin the "Full of
Grace," and the "Blessed among women."
[88] Isaiah ix. 6.
[Illustration: THE HEAVENLY MESSENGER.
"The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary."
March 25.]
The festival of the Annunciation is at least as ancient as the Council
in Trullo (A.D. 680), and is supposed, on the authority of a sermon
attributed to S. Cyril, to have been kept in the 5th century. It has
always been very highly observed in England. The Synod of Worcester,
A.D. 1240, by one of its canons, forbade all servile work upon it,
and this was afterwards confirmed by various provincial and diocesan
councils in all respects except agricultural labour.
The tenth council of Toledo, in 656, ordered that this festival
should be solemnized on December 18th, eight days before Christmas,
because of its proper day arriving in Lent, and sometimes in Holy
Week. Nevertheless, it has been observed on its proper day, but is
transferred in the Western Church to after Easter, whenever it occurs
in Holy Week or on Easter-day.
It is said that in the church of Notre Dame du Puy en Valey has the
privilege of making it over-ride Good Friday, when it occurs on that
day; and that on that day there are great indulgences as a jubilee
in that church. The Council of Constantinople, in "Trullo," already
mentioned, ordered that the mass of the pre-sanctified should be said
on all days in Lent except the Sabbath, the Lord's day, and the Feast
of the Annunciation. Pope Urban II., in a council held at Clermont, in
1095, ordered that every day the church bell should be rung, morning,
noon, and evening, and that each time it was rung the faithful should
recite the Angelic Salutation. This is called the Angelus. The object
of the Holy Father was to stir up the faithful to thank God for the
benefit of the Incarnation. Popes John XXII., Calixtus III., Paul III.,
Alexander VII., and Clement X., have recommended this practice and
attached indulgences to it. These were confirmed by Benedict XIII.
The Greeks observe the same day as the Latins. In the Menologium of the
emperor Basil the younger, it is thus described: "On the 25th day of
March, the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God. Our God, most
loving and merciful to human salvation, who ever careth for the sons
of men, when He beheld man, the work of His hands, brought under the
bondage of Satan, willed to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, into the world, to pluck man out of the power of the devil.
But willing not that Satan, nay, nor the celestial powers should know
thereof, he committed this secret to one of the archangels, Gabriel
the Glorious. And having made by His providence that a Virgin pure
and immaculate should be born meet for so high an honour, to her was
Gabriel sent, and he came to the city called Nazareth, and said to her,
'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee!' But she asked, 'How shall
these things be?' To whom he made reply, 'The Holy Ghost shall descend
on thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.' And she
said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy
word.' And having thus spoken, she conceived above nature a son, the
Word of God; and thereafter were fulfilled all the mysteries of the
Word of God incarnate pertaining to our salvation."
In the Greek Menæa also, it is said, "March 25th, the commemoration
of the Annunciation of the most holy Mother of God, our Lady, when
the arch-warrior, Gabriel, captain of the celestial armies, being
instructed in the secret from eternity and unknown to angels, the
mystery hidden of the divine incarnation of the Son of God, was sent
to the most pure Mary, unstained with any spot of sin, in the city of
Nazareth, that he might declare to her the will of God the Father,
and the favour and efficacious help of the life-giving Spirit for the
salvation of man. And he said to her, 'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is
with thee.'"
[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION. After Israel Van Mecken, in the Museum
at Munich. March 25.]
This is the exordium of a Greek hymn on the Annunciation, by S. Joseph,
the hymnographer:--"When Gabriel, the great archangel, saw thee, O
pure one! the living book of Christ, sealed with the Holy Ghost, he
cried to thee, 'Rejoice, oh house of joy! through whom is abolished the
malediction pronounced on our first parents.'"
The ancient Arabian-Egyptian church also observed this festival. In
an Arabic martyrology, the entry on March 25th is as follows, "The
memorial of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, and the Incarnation
of the Son of God, this day the first-fruits of our salvation and the
manifestation of a mystery kept hidden from all ages. The Son of God
issued forth Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announced the favour. And
now we with him exclaim, 'Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with
thee!'" The same festival is observed by the Copts, and found in the
Syriac and Chaldee, and Russian Kalendars.
In the sacramentary of S. Gregory the Great, the proper preface for
this day runs thus: " ... through Christ our Lord, whom Gabriel,
the archangel, announced was to be born for man's salvation, the
Virgin Mary, by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, conceived; that
what angelic sublimity announced, virginal purity might believe, and
ineffable Deity might perform. And thus we hope, by Thy assistance,
to behold His face without confusion, in the solemnity of whose
Incarnation we now rejoice."
In the Church of Milan, according to the Ambrosian rite, "throughout
the whole of Lent, no festival of any saint is observed, and the office
for the Annunciation of S. Mary is celebrated on the last Sunday in
Advent."
MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
In the Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome, in those of Ado, Notker,
Rabanus Maurus, and many others, on this day is marked, "In Jerusalem,
our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified," or words to this effect. This
being by many supposed to be the day of the month on which Christ died.
In an ancient Roman Martyrology, published by Rosweydus, on March 25th
is inserted, "Annuntiatio Dominica et Crucifixio." Some ancient lines
on this day, which occur in some Martyrologies, deserve quotation: "In
hac die multa, mirabilia facta sunt, quæ notantur in his versibus":--
"Salve festa dies, quæ vulnera nostra coerces;
Angelus est missus, est Christus in cruce passus.
Est Adam factus, et eodem tempore lapsus.
Ob meritum decimæ cadit Abel fratris ab ense,
Offert Melchisedech, Isaac supponitur aris,
Est decollatus Christi Baptista Joannes.
Est Petrus ereptus, Jacobus sub Herode peremptus.
Corpora Sanctorum cum Christe multa resurgunt.
Latro dulce tamen per Christum sucipit. Amen."
Molanus, in his additions to Usuardus, adds to the two mysteries of the
Annunciation and the Crucifixion, "On the same day the genesis of the
world; also the victory of Michael, the archangel, over the dragon."
This victory is commemorated on this day in many old martyrologies.
An old Brussels MS. Martyrology adds, "On the same day the formation
of Adam and his ejection from Paradise." Many insert the death of
Abel; in that of Canisius, "Abel the just, the proto-martyr of the Old
Testament, at once virgin, priest, and martyr, and the first of mankind
to die." Also the sacrifice of Melchisedek, and the sacrifice of Isaac,
are inserted on this day in many martyrologies. In some likewise,
"On this day Israel crossed the Red Sea"; in some, "S. Veronica, who
wiped the face of Christ"; in some also the decollation of S. John the
Baptist, the passion of S. James, and the liberation of S. Peter.
[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION. After a painting in the Museum at
Madrid. March 25.]
But in the Greek Menæa, March 23rd is marked as that of the
"Crucifixion and memorial of the Penitent Thief": on March 22nd is
commemorated the Last Supper; on March 24th the Repose in the Tomb; and
on March 25th, the Resurrection.
THE PENITENT THIEF.
[Modern Roman Martyrology.]
The modern Roman Martyrology has on this day: "In Jerusalem the
commemoration of the Blessed Thief, who confessed Christ on the Cross,
and merited to hear from him: This day shalt thou be with Me in
Paradise." Baronius, in his notes to the Martyrology, adds that the
thief is traditionally called Dimas, under which name chapels have been
dedicated to him, but that as this name is derived from apocryphal
sources, it is not sanctioned by the Roman Martyrology. Masinus asserts
that the body of S. Dimas, the Penitent Thief, is preserved in the
church of SS. Vitalis and Agricola at Bologna.
S. QUIRINUS, M.
(A.D. 269.)
[Roman Martyrology. Another S. Quirinus on March 30th, and another on
June 4th. The Quirinus on this day, March 25th, is mentioned in the
Acts of SS. Maris, Martha, Andifax, and Habakkuk (Jan. 19th), which
are genuine. All other accounts of Quirinus are fabulous.]
Quirinus is said, but the statement is palpably false, to have been the
son of the emperor Philip, and to have been converted by his Christian
mother, Severa. Putting this idle fable aside, we know of Quirinus
only that he was executed with the sword in prison in 269, and the
body was thrown into the Tiber, but was recovered by a priest named
Pastor, who buried it in the Pontiani cemetery, whence it was removed
in the pontificate of pope S. Zacharias (March 15th), and it found a
shrine and resting-place eventually in the monastery of Tengern-see,
in Bavaria. A spring of naphtha rising there goes by the name of
Quirinus-oil.
The S. Quirinus of Rome commemorated on March 30th, according to
the Roman Martyrology, is supposed to have been a military tribune,
chiefly from the fact that he has been represented in armour seated on
horseback. He is the patron Saint of Cologne, Correggio, and Neuss.
This S. Quirinus is often represented with a falcon, which circumstance
has been said to indicate his high birth, and has also led to his being
reputed to have been of the Imperial family, and so being identified
with the S. Quirinus commemorated on March 25th. The real reason for
the falcon's presence seems, however, to lie in the story related of
his martyrdom (see page 504).
[Illustration: MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION. After a Picture by Roger
Van der Weyden, in the Museum at Madrid. March 25.]
S. IRENÆUS, B. M.
(A.D. 304.)
[By the Greeks on Aug. 25th; by the Latins on this day, or March 6th
or 25th. Authorities:--The authentic Acts of his martyrdom.]
S. Irenæus, bishop of Sirmich or Mitrovitz on the Save, in Pannonia,
the modern Hungary, died on March 25th, in the year 304. He was
arrested by order of Probus, the governor of Pannonia, and was led
before his tribunal. All his family were present. His mother, wife,
and children surrounded him, and some of the younger children clung to
his knees and implored him not to leave them. His wife cast her arms
round his neck and burst into tears on his breast, and conjured him to
submit to the imperial edict so as to preserve himself for her and his
innocent children. The governor joined in this attempt to shake his
constancy. But S. Irenæus said, "Our Lord Jesus Christ hath declared
that the man who loveth father or mother, wife or children, more than
Him, is not worthy of Him, so that I forget I am a father, a husband,
and a son."
Irenæus was then ordered to have his head struck off and his body cast
into the river Save.
S. DULA, V. M.
(DATE UNKNOWN.)
[Roman and most ancient Western Martyrology.]
Nothing is known of this saint, except that she was a servant or
slave-girl--as indeed her name implies--to a soldier at Nicomedia, and
that she steadfastly resisted his importunities, till, exasperated at
her opposition to his passion, he killed her, in an explosion of anger.
Her real name is unknown; the name Dula is simply the Greek word for
servant-maid.
S. CAMIN OF INISKELTRA, AB.
(A.D. 653.)
[Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--Scattered notices in lives of other
Irish saints collected by Colgan.]
S. Camin was of the princely house of Hy-kinselogh by his father
Dima, a half-brother of Guair, king of Connaught, by his mother
Cumania. Little else is recorded of him, until he retired to the
island of Iniskeltra, in Lough Derg, where he led a very austere and
solitary life, but after some time was obliged to erect a monastery to
accommodate the numbers of disciples who resorted to him. Although of
a delicate constitution, he closely applied himself to ecclesiastical
studies, and wrote a commentary on the Psalms, collated with the Hebrew
text.
S. HUMBERT, P. C.
(ABOUT A.D. 680.)
[Belgian, French, and German Martyrologies. Authority:--A life of S.
Humbert by a monk of Marolles, in the 13th cent., based apparently on
older documents.]
This saint was born at Maizières, on the river Oise, in the province
anciently called Upper Picardy; his parents were noble, and the virtue
of his father Everard obtained for him, after his death, the title of
Benedictus, or the Blessed. The child from infancy showed the utmost
delight in the practice of religion, and his parents took him to a
monastery in Laon, where he received the clerical tonsure. He was
educated and ordained priest in the monastery, and remained in it till
the death of his parents, when he was obliged to leave it that he might
take possession and dispose of his inheritance, which was considerable.
He left the city of Laon with the blessing of the bishop, and the
sanction of his superiors, and returned to Maizières, where he lived in
great retirement. After a while he received S. Amandus, who had just
laid aside his bishopric of Maestricht, and was on his way to Rome with
S. Nicasius, monk of Elno. He accompanied them to Italy. One night as
they were camping on their journey a bear attacked their sumpter horse,
and killed it. When Humbert went in quest of the horse next morning to
lay on it the baggage, he found it lying dead on the grass, and the
bear mangling it. Humbert at once ordered the wild beast to come to
him, and when it obeyed he laid on it the pack-saddle and the baggage,
and made the bear carry for them all they needed till they reached the
gates of Rome, when he dismissed Bruin, who retired, looking every now
and then behind him, as if expecting a recall.
He afterwards made a second pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return
from it, he went to visit S. Amandus in his monastery of Elno, on the
Scarpe; and after having deliberated with him on a suitable place for
a retreat, he retired into the monastery of Marolles, or Maroilles, in
Hainault, on the little river Hespres, which flows into the Sambre.
This house had been built shortly before by count Rodobert, or
Chonebert, in his territory of Famart. Humbert having resolved to spend
the rest of his days there, gave to the new monastery all his lands at
Maizières, in 671. It was then a poor little cell lost in a forest,
but this donation made it very wealthy. A story is told of Humbert at
Marolles which resembles many recorded in the lives of other saints,
and which shows that the old hermits and monks were the protectors of
wild animals.
One day as Humbert was busy tearing up the brambles and thistles which
covered the land which he was desirous of reclaiming, and had cast off
his cloak on account of the heat, the horns of the hunters proclaimed
that a large party was engaged in the chase near the monastery, and
shortly after he saw a frightened beast which the dogs pursued dart
over the open ground and fall panting and wearied out on his cloak. The
dogs surrounded the mantle, yelping, but did not venture to fall on the
wild creature, and the arrows of the hunters fell short of the mark.
Seeing this remarkable interposition in behalf of the poor animal, the
sportsmen withdrew, highly extolling the virtue of the holy man who by
his mantle could protect a beast from injury.
Humbert seldom left his monastery, except to meet S. Aldegunda, abbess
of Maubeuge, with whom he had contracted an intimate union of charity
and prayers. He is sometimes called abbot or superior of Marolles; at
all events he had disciples, in whose arms he died, about the year 680,
on March 25th.
In art he is represented with a bear by his side, and a cross marked
on his shaven crown, which, according to the legend, was miraculously
impressed.
S. ALFWOLD, B. OF SHERBORNE.
(A.D. 1075.)
[Mayhew in Trophæa Cong. Angl. O.S.B.; Gabriel Bucelinus in his
Menologium Benedictinum. Hieron. Porter, in his Flores Vitarum Sanct.
Angliæ. Authorities:--William of Malmesbury, and Henry Knyghton.]
In the reign of the Confessor, Alfwold, a monk of Winchester was raised
to the bishopric of Sherborne. At that time the English people were
greatly addicted to the pleasures of the table, and it was expected
of the bishops to keep open house and have their tables well provided
with abundant and delicate fare. But Alfwold, though ready to show all
hospitality, lived plainly himself, drinking water out of a common
bowl, and eating out of a wooden platter. He had S. Cuthbert's life and
example ever before his eyes, and repeated to himself constantly the
antiphon for his festival, "The blessed bishop Cuthbert, a man perfect
in all things, in the midst of a crowd remained a monk, and to all was
venerable." He visited Durham, and opening the shrine of S. Cuthbert
addressed him lovingly as a friend, and deposited by his side a token
of his regard.
S. WILLIAM, CHILD M.
(A.D. 1144.)
[Anglican Martyrologies. But the day of his invention, April 15th, was
observed as his festival at Norwich. Authority:--An account of his
martyrdom in Capgrave.]
According to the legend related by Capgrave, there lived in Norwich
in the 12th century a couple named Wenstan and Elwina, of the peasant
class, who became parents of a boy, named William. One day Wenstan went
to a feast and took his little son with him. During the meal a beggar
came in with irons on his hands, worn as an act of penance; the child
put out his hands to touch the chains and manacles, and instantly they
broke and fell at the feet of the mendicant. At the age of seven the
boy was so filled with the ardour of self-mortification, that he fasted
three days in the week, and was constantly in the church singing psalms
and reciting prayers.
On the Passover in 1144, some Jews of Norwich took the child, and
having strangled him, crucified him, and then took the body in a sack
out of the town, to bury it in a wood. But a certain Aelward saw them
entering the wood, and followed them. Then, in alarm, the Jews ran
away, and considering that their only chance of safety lay in bribing
the viscount, who was chief magistrate of the town, they offered him a
hundred marks of silver if he would hush the matter up. The viscount
took the money, sent for Aelward, and threatened and persuaded him
to hold his tongue about what he had seen. Aelward kept the secret
for five years, till he was on the point of death, when the martyred
boy appeared to him, and bade him disclose what he had witnessed.
Now at the same time, early in the morning, a nun was walking in the
wood, when she came suddenly on a child's body lying at the foot of
an oak tree, with two ravens fluttering over it, and the woman was so
frightened that she ran into Norwich and told what she had seen. Then
a crowd of people went forth and took up the body, which though it had
lain five years unburied in the wood, was incorrupt, and brought it
into Norwich; at the same time Aelward made his confession, and thus
the whole of the circumstances were made clear; the people readily
concluding that this newly found body was the same that had been left
by the Jews, according to Aelward's account, unburied in the wood, five
years before. The body was buried, and a rose bush was planted at the
head, about the festival of S. Michael, (Sept. 29th), and it at once
put forth fresh leaves and flowers, and bloomed till the feast of S.
Edmund, (Nov. 20th). Many miracles were performed at the grave. It does
not appear that this discovery was followed by a massacre of the Jews.
Throughout the Middle Ages three accusations were constantly brought
against the Jews by the populace; all three were denounced by the
authorities of the time as imaginary. They were accused of killing
children. A law of the duke of Poland, in 1264, renewed in 1343,
rebuked those who made this charge, and required that it should be
substantiated by the testimony of three Jews. They were accused of
poisoning the wells. Pope Innocent IV. in a bull denounced this charge,
and in 1349, the king of the Romans ordered that the Jews in Luxemburg
should be protected against the insolence of the people, because,
said he, the pope and he regarded them as innocent of the many crimes
attributed to them. Lastly, they were accused of sacrilege. The Abbé
Fleury, in his Ecclesiastical History gives one instance of the manner
in which this charge was made, "In a little town called Pulca, in the
diocese of Passau, a layman found a bloody Host before the house of a
Jew, lying in the street upon some straw. The people thought that this
Host was consecrated, and washed it and took it to the priest, that it
might be taken to the church, where a crowd full of devotion assembled,
supposing that the blood had flowed miraculously from wounds dealt it
by the Jews. On this suspicion, and without any other examination, or
any other judicial procedure, the Christians fell on the Jews, and
killed several of them; but wiser heads judged that this was rather
for the sake of pillaging their goods than avenging the pretended
sacrilege. This conjecture was fortified by a similar accident which
took place a little while before at Neuburg, in the same diocese of
Passau, where a certain clerk placed an unconsecrated Host steeped
in blood in the church, but confessed afterwards in the presence of
the bishop Bernhard and other persons deserving of credit, that he
had dipped these Hosts in blood for the purpose of rousing hostility
against the Jews."[89]
[89] Hist. Eccles. vi. p. 110.
If, however, we consider the intolerable treatment of the Jews
throughout the Middle Ages, it makes it by no means improbable that
their pent-up wrongs should have exasperated them into committing
acts of vengeance, when they had the opportunity. Through centuries
they were ground under an intolerable yoke. They could call nothing
really their own, not even their persons. They were obliged to wear a
distinctive mark, like outlaws and harlots; if they emigrated, their
feudal lords were under mutual agreement to seize them in foreign
lands; their children were stolen from them to be baptized; if their
wives wished to abjure, they were divorced; they were taxed on going
in and coming out of and sojourning in any city; on the smallest
pretext, their debtors refused to pay their debts. At Toulouse on every
Good Friday a Jew was brought upon the cathedral stairs to have his
ears publicly boxed; their lives were at the mercy of every one. The
magistrates burnt them, the people massacred them, the kings hunted
them down to despoil them of all, when their exchequer was low. All
these insults, outrages and injustices must have created an intense
hatred of Christianity, and every thing and person that was Christian,
and may well have found vent occasionally in some savage murder in
parody of the Crucifixion, or sacrilegious outrage on the Blessed
Sacrament, which the Jews knew full well was the great object of
Christian love and devotion. They would not have been human had it not
been so, and though many of the stories of murders and sacrileges told
against them were undoubtedly false, yet some may have been true. But
at the same time it is impossible to doubt that most of these charges
brought against them were invented by their enemies for the purpose of
plundering them; and that others had their origin in the imagination of
the people, ready to believe anything against those whose strong-boxes
they lusted to break open.
The first mention of the crucifixion of a boy by the Jews is in
Socrates, (Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 16.) He says that about A.D. 414,
at a place called Immestar, between Antioch in Syria and Chalcis, "the
Jews, while amusing themselves in their usual way with a variety of
sports, impelled by drunkenness, were guilty of many absurdities. At
last they began to scoff at Christians, and even at Christ himself;
and in derision of the cross and those who put their trust in the
Crucified, they seized a Christian boy, and having bound him to a
cross, began to laugh and sneer at him. But in a little while they
became so transported with fury that they scourged the child until he
died under their hands." The emperors being informed of this ordered
the delinquents to be punished with the utmost severity.
The Jews in England were accused of having crucified a child in 1160, a
boy, Robert, at Bury S. Edmunds, in 1181, at whose tomb miracles were
also wrought. Another boy, Hugh, is said to have met with the same fate
at Lincoln, in 1255, the place of whose image and shrine is still shown
in the cathedral of that city. Matthew Paris, in his English history,
under the date 1239, says, "In this year, on the feast of S. Alban,
and on the following day, a great massacre and destruction of the Jews
took place by order of Geoffry the Templar, a particular councillor of
the king, who oppressed, imprisoned, and extorted money from them. At
length, after great suffering, these wretched Jews, in order to enjoy
life and tranquillity, paid the king a third part of all their money
debts, as well as chattels. The original cause of this calamity was the
perpetration of a clandestine murder committed by the Jews in the city;
and not long after this, owing to a boy having been circumcised by the
Jews at Norwich, four of the richest of that community, having been
clearly convicted of that offence, were hung."
And again, under 1240, "About this time the Jews circumcised a
Christian boy at Norwich; they then kept him to crucify him. The
father of the boy, however, from whom the Jews had stolen him, after a
diligent search, at length discovered him, and with a loud cry pointed
out his son, shut up in a room in one of the Jew's houses. When this
came to the knowledge of William de Rele, the bishop, a wise and
circumspect prelate (!) and of some other nobles,--that such an insult
to Christ might not be passed over unpunished, all the Jews in the city
were made prisoners, and when they wished to place themselves under
the royal protection, the bishop said, 'These matters belong to the
Church, they are not to be decided by the king's court.' Four of the
Jews, having been found guilty, were dragged at the tails of horses,
and afterwards hung on a gibbet."
Six boys are reported to have been martyred by the Jews at Ratisbon,
in 1586; another, named Johannet, at Siegesburg, another at Bacharach,
another, S. Richard, at Paris, in 1182, Simon of Trent has already been
spoken of (March 24th), and Raderus in his Bavaria Sancta mentions
another, George, at Sappendalf, in 1540. There was another S. Richard,
child-martyr at Pontoise; and the last we hear of was in 1650, in
Bohemia.[90]
[90] See for fuller particulars, and more instances, the Lives of S.
Werner, April 19th, S. Albert, April 20th, and S. Ludwig, April 30th.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
March 26.
S. CASTULUS, _M. at Rome, circ._ A.D. 286.
SS. MONTANUS AND MAXIMA, _MM. at Sirmium_.
SS. BATHUS, _P.M._, VERCA AND CHILDREN, _MM. among the Goths,
circ._ A.D. 370.
S. EUTYCHIUS, _Subd. M. at Alexandria_, A.D. 356.
S. FELIX, _B. of Treves, circ._ A.D. 426.
S. BRAULIO, _B. of Saragossa_, A.D. 646.
S. MOCHELLOC, _Ab., in Ireland, between_ A.D. 639-656.
S. LUDGER, _B. of Munster, Ap. of Westphalia_, A.D. 809.
S. BASIL THE LESS, _H. at Constantinople, circ._ A.D. 952.
S. CASTULUS, M.
(ABOUT A.D. 286.)
[Roman and almost all Latin Martyrologies. In the Archdiocese of
Prague the feast of this saint is kept as a double; so also in the
dioceses of Ratisbon, Frisingen, and Passau. By the Greeks on Dec.
18th. Authorities:--The Acts, and another account of his passion in
the Acts of S. Sebastian.]
Saint Castulus, chamberlain of the palace to Diocletian, was wont to
receive Christians into his house, and screen them from the pursuit
of the magistrates. He was denounced to Fabian, the prefect of the
city, who, after having tortured him in many ways, had him cast into a
pit and buried in sand. He was betrayed by a renegade Christian named
Torquatus, the same whom Cardinal Wiseman has introduced into his
historical sketch of "Fabiola."
SS. MONTANUS AND MAXIMA, MM.
(DATE UNCERTAIN.)
[Roman Martyrology, and those of Bede and S. Jerome. Authority:--The
notices in the Martyrologies.]
S. Montanus was a priest at Sirmium, in Pannonia, and Maxima was his
wife. They were drowned for the faith either in a river or in a lake;
probably during the persecution of Maximian.
SS. BATHUS, P., VERCA, AND THEIR CHILDREN, MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 370.)
[Greek Menæa and Menology of the Emp. Basil the Younger.]
Bathus, a Gothic priest, his wife Verca, their two sons and two
daughters, and some others were burned in the church by the Gothic
Jungeric. Gaatha, a Gothic queen, collected their relics, and conveyed
them into Roumania; but on her return she was stoned to death.
S. BRAULIO, B. OF SARAGOSSA.
(A.D. 646.)
[Roman Martyrology. Saragossa Martyrology on March 18th.
Authority:--The letters of his great friend S. Isidore.]
S. Braulio is traditionally said to have been divinely designated for
the episcopate, when the clergy and people were assembled to elect to
the vacant see of Saragossa, by the appearance of a tongue of flame on
his head. He was an intimate friend of S. Isidore, bishop of Hispalis,
or Seville, and he has been by some writers erroneously called the
brother of Isidore and Leander. S. Braulio sat in the 5th and 6th
Councils of Toledo. After having held the bishopric twenty years he
died. The day of his death was spent in incessant psalmody. A pleasing
modern legend, which the Bollandists have shown to be without ancient
authority, tells that he heard angelic voices chant in choir, "Arise,
my friend, and come away," to which he replied, "Behold, here am I."
S. LUDGER, B. OF MUNSTER.
(A.D. 809.)
[Roman Martyrology, Molanus and Greven in their additions to Usuardus.
The Treves Martyrology, those of Utrecht and S. Gudule at Brussels,
the Benedictine Martyrology, and many others. Authorities:--His
life by Altfrid, B. of Münster, his disciple, derived from personal
knowledge, or from information furnished by the saint's brother
Hildegrim, or by his nephew, Gerfried, or by his sister, Heriburgh.
There are other lives of him in prose, and three styled litanies,
written in rhyme. One of the former is by an anonymous Frieslander,
a contemporary; another by the monks of Werden, composed about 890.
Our saint's name appears in three forms: viz., Ludger, Liudger, and
Luidger. He is commonly called Ludger, a spelling he himself adopts in
his life of Gregory, abbot of Utrecht. He is styled Liudger both in
Altfrid's life of him, and in the verses sent to him from York by a
disciple of Alcuin.]
The abbey of Utrecht, under the presidency of the devoted Gregory,
had sent forth many noble labourers into the mission-field, and many
more had come over from England to take their share in the good work,
and to spread the knowledge of the truth. One of the most eminent of
these was Ludger, the subject of this memoir. His grandfather Wrffing
Ado, a noble Frieslander, though not a believer in the Trinity, was
yet a help to the poor, a defence to the oppressed, and a just judge,
respecting the person of no man. Radbod, king of Friesland, who had
cruelly oppressed his people, banished his best nobles, and sold their
estates, laid a plot against his life. Wrffing received timely warning
of it from one of the king's council, and fled with his wife and son
to Grimoald, "Duke of the Franks," who received him well. There he
was converted to the Catholic faith; he and all his were baptized.
Grimoald was the son-in-law of Radbod, and son of Pepin of Heristal.
While the latter was lying on his death-bed, Grimoald went to see him,
and was assassinated by a Frieslander, in the church of S. Lambert,
in 714. Wrffing received the same kindness from his successors.
Radbod entreated Wrffing to return; when he refused to do so, Radbod
asked him to let his son come back, promising to reinstate him in
his inheritance. Accordingly the younger son Thiadgrim was sent to
Friesland; the king insisted on his living with him, and restored his
father's lands to him.
When Charles Martel added Friesland to his Frankish dominions,
"extincto Radbodo," he not only reinstated Wrffing in his former
possessions, but also gave him land in the neighbourhood of Utrecht
to hold in feoff for S. Willibrord, who was then labouring among the
Frisians, and had fixed his see at Utrecht. Willibrord received all
support and countenance from Wrffing and his family. Both he and his
successor, S. Boniface, were on very friendly terms with them. Perhaps
it was at his grandfather's house that S. Ludger first saw S. Boniface.
Thiadgrim, the younger son, married Liafburg, the daughter of Nothrad
and Aldeburga. The latter gave her two brothers to S. Willibrord, to
educate, and they first of all the Frisians received the clerical
tonsure. Willibraht, the elder brother, died a deacon, the younger,
before he reached that degree.
Liafburg, S. Ludger's mother, narrowly escaped being murdered at the
time of her birth. Her grandmother by the father's side, a fierce old
pagan, was enraged because her daughter-in-law had borne no sons but
only daughters. She sent officers to snatch the new born babe from
its mother, before it had sucked the breast, for it was the custom of
these heathen to kill a child before it had tasted earthly food. This
statement is corroborated by some old Frisian laws edited by Sibrand
Siccaum.
The officers consigned the child to a servant to be drowned. As the
man held the infant over a bucket of water, she stretched out her tiny
arms and grasped with her hands the edge of the bucket, and with
all her feeble might resisted his efforts to drown her. A woman, who
chanced to be near, touched with pity, snatched the infant from the
servant's hands, and ran away with it to her own home; fastening the
door behind her, she hastened to a chamber and placed some honey in the
child's mouth, which it instantly swallowed. The officers were sent
by the heathen beldame to demand the infant: the woman said, "She has
eaten honey," and at the same time she held up to them the child, still
licking its lips: for this reason it was unlawful to kill the child.
The woman gave Liafburg suck from a horn filled with milk, and
receiving all necessaries from the child's mother, she nursed her till
the death of her unnatural grandmother, when Liafburg was received into
her father's house.
Liafburg many years after, when pregnant with Ludger, heard suddenly of
the return of her husband Thiadgrim from a long journey. She ran out to
greet him, and her foot slipping, she fell on a stake, which entered
her side. She was taken up for dead; but by God's mercy she revived,
and in a few days gave birth to Ludger unhurt. This event took place
probably about 744. At his baptism, which is erroneously said by one
chronicler to have been performed by S. Willibrord, who was then dead,
he received the name of Ludger. As soon as he was able to run about, he
used to collect the bark of trees, and to sew them into books, while
the other children were at play. Then he scribbled on them with reeds
dipped in a black liquor and gave them to his nurse to keep as useful
books. If asked, "What hast thou done to-day?" he said, "I have made
books, or I have written or read all day." If asked again, "Who taught
thee?" he replied, "God taught me."
Then, as he grew in grace and years, he earnestly besought his parents
to entrust him to some man of God to be brought up. They accordingly,
probably in 757, gave him to abbot Gregory, a noble Frank, and a
disciple of the great S. Boniface, who had a monastery at Utrecht.
Either here, or before this, Ludger, as he tells us in his life of S.
Gregory, "saw with his own eyes S. Boniface when his head was white
with hoar hairs, and his body decrepit with age." Gregory, he adds, was
his preceptor, "ab infantia," he brought up his disciples with as much
love, zeal, and care, as if he was their father, and they his children;
they were joined to him by a tie of strong affection. He proclaimed
both in deed and in truth, as well as in word the Apostolic utterance
of S. Peter, concerning the calling and election of all nations, "In
every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted
with him." Acts x. 35. For his disciples were gathered not from one
tribe only, but were the flower of all the neighbouring nations; they
were enlightened with wondrous gentleness and spiritual joy, and joined
into one body, because they were begotten in charity of one spiritual
father, and of the one mother of all. "Some were of noble Frank
families; some were English; some of the new planting of God begun
amongst the Frisians and Saxons; some of the Baquarii and the Suevi;
some of whatever nation God hath sent thither: of all these I, Ludger
am the least, yea, the weakest and most insignificant."
"The holy father Gregory bestowed on all these gathered from all parts
into one fold the spiritual food of God's doctrine and Word. Inspired
by God he burned with love for his disciples and for their instruction,
so that scarce a day passed on which he did not sit in the morning to
receive his disciples singly, and to hear their questions, and then he
gave them to drink of the cup of life, and watered them with God's Word
as each had need."
Altfrid tells us that Gregory received Ludger with joy, and found great
pleasure in instructing him, as he was an intelligent and sagacious
child. Under his loving care Ludger advanced in the fear of the Lord,
and laid aside his secular habit in that monastery; perhaps in 760,
and devoted himself wholly to the study of the spiritual science.
Some of his schoolfellows became bishops or teachers of Churches.
Ludger was much loved by them, by reason of his wondrous gentleness
and kindness: his face was cheerful, though he was not easily provoked
to laughter; he combined prudence with moderation in all his actions,
for he constantly meditated on Holy Scripture, and especially upon
those portions of it which pertained to the praise of God, and to the
Catholic faith, for all which reasons he was loved by his venerable
master as an only son.
Alubert came to Utrecht in 766, or 767, being sent by the bishop
of York to preach the Gospel in Frisia. Gregory besought him to be
made a bishop. He consented after some reluctance, provided Gregory
would despatch him to England with some native clergy. Accordingly
he received as companions Sigibod and Ludger. Sigibod was ordained
priest, Ludger deacon, and Alubert bishop at York, probably by Elbert,
who succeeded Egbert in that see on his death in 766. Elbert on his
accession had ordained Alcuin, who was his favourite pupil, deacon,
and made him master of the cathedral seminary. His fame as a teacher
spread far and wide; and students from all parts eagerly sought in York
that instruction which no other master could supply. Ludger assiduously
drank of the stream of knowledge which flowed from his lips, and it was
with reluctance that he accompanied his friends at the end of a year to
Utrecht, which they reached in 768.
His first act was to petition Gregory for leave to return to Alcuin,
and sate himself "with the honey which he had tasted." Gregory
gently but firmly refused his request: finding that in spite of all
persuasion he cherished the determination of journeying to York, he
sent for his father to induce him to desist from his purpose. But the
studious Ludger remained firm, and at last vanquished all opposition
by entreaty. He was accordingly furnished with all necessaries for his
journey.
He stayed three years and a half at York, under Alcuin, where he was
beloved by all for his good character and holy studies.
At this time, when the citizens of York were going forth to battle
against their enemies, the son of an earl of that province was killed
in a quarrel by a Frisian merchant. All Frisians deemed it prudent to
quit England for fear of the wrath of his relatives. Alcuin sent his
deacon Patal with Ludger, lest his love of learning should induce him
to go to some other town of those parts, and he should there fall a
victim to the vengeance of the young earl's friends. He returned home,
in 774, with a large stock of learning and books, and was received
warmly by Gregory.
About or before this time, Liafwin or Lebuin, a learned priest, was
sent from England to Utrecht. He desired to preach the gospel to the
people who dwelt by the river Yssel. The faithful of those parts
first built him a church at Wulfre, on the west side of that river.
Afterwards one was erected at Deventer, on the east side. He gained
so many converts there that the Saxons made a furious attack on the
place, drove out the Christians, and burned the church. When the enemy
had retired, he returned, and rebuilt the church, and laboured there
peacefully and successfully till his death, when he was buried in the
church. Then the Saxons again sacked and burned the church, after
making an ineffectual search for his body.
Albric succeeded his uncle Gregory, who had died about this time.
Ludger gives a touching account of the old man's death. "He had been
smitten with paralysis some years before: as he grew weaker, he eagerly
looked forward for his nephew's return from Italy. When Albric arrived,
he entrusted the monastery to his charge, and prophesied his own
immediate decease. He bade them carry him to the oratory of S. Saviour,
and set him in front of the tabernacle; there he prayed for a time,
and then received the Lord's Body; then, with his eyes fixed on the
altar, and his soul fixed on heaven, he departed to the Lord, whom he
had served so long in sincerity." His death occurred in 776, according
to the Bollandists; in 781 according to the editors of the Benedictine
Acta Sanctorum.
Albric besought Ludger to assume Liafwin's charge, and to rebuild the
church over his body. Being unable to discover his remains, he laid the
foundations of the church within the space in which he thought they
lay. Liafwin appeared to him in a vision of the night, telling him that
his body was buried deep beneath the south wall of the foundations. The
next day it was found in the spot pointed out, and the foundations were
transferred so as to include the saint's tomb within the church. Many
miracles were afterwards wrought at it. Perhaps the Romanesque crypt of
the present vast church of S. Lubien at Deventer marks the site of this
tomb.
Afterwards Albric sent Ludger and others to destroy the heathen temples
and places of worship throughout Friesland. They found a vast quantity
of treasure in them, of which Charlemagne reserved two-thirds, and gave
the other to Albric for his own uses.
When Albric, in 778, was consecrated bishop at Cologne, he caused
Ludger to be raised to the priesthood at the same time, and then sent
him to be teacher of the Church in the canton of Ostracha, where S.
Boniface was martyred. It seems that Ludger erected a church on the
site of his martyrdom, near Dockum, for Alcuin afterwards sent him some
Latin heroic verses to be inscribed on it.
These verses will be found in Migne's edition of Alcuin's works. The
two first of the fourteen lines run thus:--
"Hic pater egregiis meritis Bonifacius almis,
Cum sociis pariter fundebat sanguinis undam."
He also, in turn with Albric and two others, presided over the
monastery at Utrecht for three months in every year. Once, after he had
said the night office, and had laid himself down to rest, "in solario
ecclesiæ," S. Salvatoris, which probably corresponded to our parvise,
or prophet's chamber, abbot Gregory appeared to him in a vision, and
bade him follow him. The old man cast down to him from a higher place,
as it were, pieces of garments and parchments, which he bade him
distribute well. Ludger gathered them into three heaps. Marchelm, the
custodian of the church, in the morning interpreted the dream to mean
that Ludger would be spiritual ruler over three peoples. Then Ludger
exclaimed, "Would that the Lord would give me, instead, fruit in the
place now entrusted to my charge."
Ludger zealously exercised his office among the Frisians, and the seeds
of life, sown by him, watered by dew from above, bore abundant fruit
in the hearts of many. Thus did he avenge the death of S. Boniface by
bringing to the knowledge of the truth those very peoples who had shed
his blood. Again was verified the old saying, "The blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the Church," for that land afterwards brought forth rich
crops of the corn of God's elect.
When Ludger had toiled there nearly seven years, that "root of evil,"
Wittikind, in 784, leader of the Saxons, drove out the servants of God,
burned the churches, and made the Frisians, as far as the river Fleo,
sacrifice again to the false gods. So Ludger dismissed his disciples,
and taking with him his brother, Hildegrim, and another, went to Rome,
where pope Adrian received him kindly, in 785. Thence he went on to S.
Benedict's monastery at Monte Cassino, "for he was anxious to build a
monastery on his own estate, and this was afterwards done at Werden."
Though S. Ludger's name occurs in Benedictine Martyrologies, he seems
never to have become formally a monk of that order. Probably he wore
their habit at Monte Cassino. The author of the Third Metrical Life
says, "though he wore the cowl." "Nec hujus Regulæ, ullum observantiæ
fecerat promissum." The fact that the monasteries founded by him both
at Werden and Munster observed the rule of the Canons Regular, seems to
settle the matter. He was called abbot simply because he presided over
a Cænobium. In 787, he passed through Rome on his way home, where he
obtained some relics of our Lord, of the Blessed Virgin, and of some of
the saints. The news of Wittikind's conversion, or rather submission,
had recalled him to his old field of labour.
Charlemagne had been at war with the Saxons, who then occupied nearly
the modern circles of Westphalia and Lower Saxony, with short intervals
of peace, for nearly thirty years. In 779, he defeated the Westphalians
at Bochold, and received their submission, which entailed that of the
Ostphali and the Angrarii. The following year he overran the country as
far as the Elbe, where he encamped. Wittikind took refuge at the court
of the king of Denmark, his father-in-law. The solemn sacrament of
baptism was administered to an immense multitude at Horheim.
Charlemagne determined to secure the people by a systematic occupation
of their territory. It was divided into districts, whither bishops,
priests, and abbots were sent. The king gave them the lands, but God
alone could give them the souls of the people.
The rebellion which burst out in 782, under Wittikind, was punished
severely. His accomplices, 4,500 in number, were tried before their own
chiefs at Verden, on the Aller; were condemned and put to death. Their
relatives and all the tribes took up arms to avenge them: a bloody
battle of doubtful issue was fought at Detmold. After Charlemagne
had ravaged the country for two years, he offered terms of peace.
Wittikind and the Saxon nobles accepted them. He submitted to be
baptized at Attigny. His example brought about the submission of Saxony
and Friesland. The story is told somewhat in this fashion:--On great
festivals Charlemagne was wont to distribute money to all the poor
who assembled at his gate. On Easter-day, Wittikind, in the dress of
a beggar, penetrated into the king's tent, where Mass was being said.
After mass, he came to receive alms with the rest. He was recognised in
spite of his rags, arrested, and brought before the king. Then he asked
to become a Christian, and ordered the chiefs of his party to lay down
their arms. It is hardly necessary to add that marvels accompanied this
conversion.
On S. Ludger's return, in 787, to Friesland, Charlemagne sent him to
bear the glad tidings of the gospel of peace to the Frisians in the
neighbourhood of Gröningen and Norden. Away in the sea to the north
was a white island, so he was told, a home of hardy seamen, whither
S. Willibroad had been. Ludger resolved to go to this island of
Fositesland, or Heligoland, and water the little seed of life that
Willibroad had sown there. He embarked in a little vessel, and a
pleasant breeze springing up, the boat was wafted towards the distant
isle. Ludger stood in the bows, cross in hand, and saw a dark grey fog
envelope the island. But presently the veil of mist rose, and disclosed
the white chalk-cliffs glittering in sunshine, and the bishop gladly
took this as an omen of success. He landed, preached the faith, and
destroyed the temples, erecting churches in their stead. The people
gladly heard the Word, and Ludger baptized them in the waters of
the very fountain in which S. Willibroad had baptized three of the
islanders on a former occasion. A son, also, of one of the chiefs
embraced the faith, and became a teacher of the Frisians and the
founder of a monastery.
After the complete subjugation of the Saxons, S. Ludger was directed by
the emperor to repair into Westphalia. He erected a monastery where now
stands the episcopal city of Münster, and travelled over the district
with unflagging energy, wearing no hood, as his biographer says, with
which monks usually keep their heads and shoulders warm, instructed
the barbarous tribes, and appointed priests to minister the sacraments
to them. He was soon after ordained bishop by Hildebold, archbishop of
Cologne. His heart now turned to the wild Normans, the scourge of all
the maritime peoples of Gaul and on the Baltic.
As bishop, he ministered to his Saxon flock with great judgment and
gentleness, and that proud conquered people yielded more to his gentle
persuasion than to the harsh commands of Charlemagne. He still ruled
Friesland, which he had brought to the faith. Charlemagne also set
him over a monastery in Brabant. Thus his dream of the three heaps,
signifying his rule over three peoples, was fulfilled.
The chief seat of his diocese was in the canton Sudergau, at a place
called Mimigardford (or, more properly, Miningardvard, the fort of
Miningard) on the Aa, where he built a monastery by the river for the
Regular Canons.
From this establishment the city eventually took its name of Münster,
though the bishops continued to style themselves "of Mimigard" to the
time of Thierry II.
He built the cathedral of S. Paul at Münster. The five Frisian
counties contributed largely towards the cost. Their liberality was
commemorated in a sculpture representing them offering gifts to S.
Paul, which once stood near the N.W. door of the cathedral. It was
defaced by the Anabaptists in 1535.
He uprooted idolatry, sowed the Word of God, built churches, and
ordained priests to minister in them. He desired to bring many nations
to the knowledge of the true God, and volunteered to preach to the
heathen Northmen, but Charlemagne refused his consent.
The blameless conduct of Ludger did not save him from detractors,
nay, perhaps it rather incited their malice. He was accused (as the
anonymous Frieslander who wrote his life tells us) to Charlemagne of
penuriousness in decorating the houses of God. The emperor summoned
him to court, and on the morning after his arrival the chamberlain
was sent to call him before the council. He found Ludger saying the
divine office. Our saint promised to come as soon as it was done. A
second and a third messenger summoned him, but he did not go to the
emperor till the office was over. Charlemagne asked him, "Why didst
thou disregard my command to come at once?" The saint said, "God is to
be preferred to thee, O king, and to all men." The emperor, pleased at
his reply, exclaimed, "I am thankful that I have found thee such as I
ever esteemed thee, and I promise never again to give ear to those who
calumniate thee." Once Ludger imposed a severe penance on a priest who
left off saying the office that he might blow the fire, as they were
saying Matins in their travelling tent, because the smoke was driving
into the bishop's face; for the saint desired to teach his clergy that
they ought to suffer nothing to disturb them when saying the Divine
office.
Altfrid adds that S. Ludger "was well read in Holy Writ," as is clearly
proved in the book he wrote about the life of Gregory and Albric;
moreover, he wrote an account of the early events which took place at
the coming of S. Boniface and at his ordination. His meaning, probably,
is not that separate lives of these holy men were written by Ludger,
but that notices of them were inserted in his "Life of Gregory." This
is the only genuine work of his that has survived, for the epistle on
the canonization of S. Suibert is not from his pen.
When he felt his end approaching, he devoted more time than before to
reading Holy Writ, to chanting Psalms, and, though feeble in body, he
celebrated Mass every day.
On the day of his death, March 26th, 809, very early, he heard Mass at
Coesfeld, and preached; then hastening to Billerbeck, arrived there at
nine o'clock the same morning, preached again, and celebrated his last
Mass. That evening he gently expired.
[Illustration: Picture of Fortitude bearing shield and club]
March 27.
MEMORIAL OF THE RESURRECTION.[91]
SS. PHILETUS, LYDIA, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Illyria, 2nd cent._
S. AUGUSTA, _V.M. at Serravalle in Venetia_.
S. ALEXANDER, _M. at Drizipara, in Pannonia_.
SS. ZANITAS, LAZARUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Persia_, A.D. 326.
S. JOHN, _H. at Lycopolis, in Egypt_, A.D. 393.
S. RUPERT, _B. of Salzburg_, A.D. 718.
S. MATTHEW OF BEAUVAIS, _M. in France, 11th cent._
S. WILLIAM TEMPIER, _B. of Poitiers_, A.D. 1197.
[91] In some ancient Martyrologies we find this day set down as that of
the Resurrection, but others make the day to be March 25th, March 28th,
April 1st, or April 5th.
SS. PHILETUS, LYDIA, AND COMPANIONS, MM.
(2ND CENT.)
[Greek Menæa and Menologium, and modern Roman Martyrology. The
following account from the Greek Menology, it is almost needless to
say, is fabulous.]
Saint Philetus, a senator, his wife, Lydia, their sons, Macedo and
Theoprepius, also Amphilochius, a general, and Chronides, a registrar,
who suffered under Hadrian, are venerated by Greeks and Latins on this
day. According to the account in the Menology, Philetus, his wife and
sons, and Chronides, were handed over to Amphilochius, the general, to
be by him tortured. Amphilochius ordered them to be cast into a vessel
of boiling oil, but as the bubbling fluid suddenly became cold, when
the martyrs were about to be plunged into it, full of astonishment, he
exclaimed, "God of the Christians, help me!" Then there came a voice
from heaven, "Thy prayer is heard, come up hither." Now when this was
noised in the ears of the emperor, he came down, full of wrath, and
ordered a cauldron of oil to be boiled for seven days, and all to be
cast thereinto. But they were unhurt. Then the emperor left them, and
they, praying, and giving thanks to God, gave up the ghost.
S. AUGUSTA, V. M.
(DATE UNCERTAIN.)
[Ferrarius, in his Catalogue of Saints. Not in the Roman Martyrology.
Venerated at Serravalle, near Ceneda, on the Piavia. There is at
Serravalle a church on a hill-top, containing her relics, and to this
pilgrimages are made on August 1st, the day of the translation of her
relics, but the anniversary of her martyrdom is March 27th, and that
of the invention of her relics in Aug. 22nd. The story of this saint
is purely traditional.]
There was once upon a time, when the Roman empire was tottering to its
decline, a certain duke of Friuli, named Matrucus, of Gothic race, who
built for himself a great castle on the mountain dominating Serravalle,
the ruins of which remain to this day. Now the people of that part
were Christians, but Matrucus was a heathen. He had a daughter named
Augusta, young and fair, and her heart turned from the fierce gods
of Germany to the Christ whom the bruised and suffering people of
Serravalle adored, and to His spotless Mother, so pure and loving. And
she sought means of receiving instruction, and was baptized secretly.
Now there were many things in his daughter's conduct which roused
suspicion in the mind of Matrucus, and he set spies to watch her. One
day, he was told that she was in the church praying, and he rushed in
upon her, dragged her forth, and locked her up in a chamber of the
castle. In ungovernable fury he afterwards beat out her teeth, and
executed her with his sword, reproaching her with having despised the
gods of their ancestors and degraded the honour of his house.
S. JOHN OF EGYPT, H.
(A.D. 393.)
[Almost all Latin Martyrologies, not however that of Bede, nor by the
Greeks. Authorities:--Two lives, one by Evagrius, translated into
Latin by Ruffinus of Aquileia, the other by Palladius, in his Hist.
Lausiaca; both were contemporaries, and had visited and conversed with
the saint.]
No solitary after S. Antony acquired such renown as S. John of Egypt.
He was not only respected by the people, but by emperors. The most
celebrated doctors and ecclesiastical writers, S. Jerome, S. Augustine,
S. Prosper, Cassian, Palladius, Ruffinus, S. Eucher, and S. Fulgentius,
have extolled him. John was born at Lycopolis in the lower Thebaid,
the modern Siout. He exercised the trade of a carpenter till he was
twenty-five, and then, the desire of labouring only for his salvation,
of coming to a death-grip with flesh and blood, possessed him; and he
placed himself under the direction of an aged hermit, whom he served
with alacrity and diligence. The old man fearing lest the merit of this
service should be injured by any admixture of human affection, affected
great capriciousness, and gave his disciple many absurd orders. For
instance, he one day commanded him to plant his staff in the sand
and water it daily. John obeyed without a murmur, and though he had
to go two miles for water, continued his task for a year. On another
occasion, he ordered John to throw their dinner out of the window.
He was obeyed without a trace of hesitation. On one occasion when
some visitors were with the old man, to exhibit the docility of his
disciple, he ordered John to run to a rock some distance off, and roll
it up to his door. John ran, nothing doubting, and laid his shoulder,
and then breast against the huge mass, and toiled ineffectually to move
it, dripping with perspiration, till his master recalled him. On the
death of the hermit, John spent five years in visiting the different
monasteries of Egypt, and then he chose a cave in the face of a rock,
near his native place, and walled up the entrance, leaving only a door
and window. In this grotto he spent the remaining thirty-eight or forty
years of his life.
However great may have been his desire to live in solitude, his fame
brought great numbers to visit him, so that a great house had to be
erected at the foot of his rock to receive the pilgrims. His abstinence
was great. He ate nothing that had been cooked, not even bread, but
took only a little fruit at sun-down. He was given an extraordinary
insight into the future, and many of his prophecies have been recorded.
The most famous were those made by him to Theodosius the Great, to
whom he announced beforehand the irruption of the barbarians into
the empire, the revolts that would take place, and the means he must
employ against them. This prince specially consulted him concerning
two enemies with whom he was called to fight. One was Maximus, who had
killed the emperor Gratian in 383, and driven the emperor Valentinian
from his possessions in 387. John assured him of victory, and promised
that it would be unattended by great effusion of blood. Theodosius
defeated Maximus in two encounters in Pannonia, passed the Alps without
difficulty, pursued and surprised Maximus at Aquileia, where he cut off
his head. Four years after, Eugenius having seized on the empire of the
East, through the credit of Arbogastes, who had strangled the younger
Valentinian, Theodosius resolved to march against him. Eugenius, who
awaited him, prepared for the combat by consulting the augury and the
entrails of victims. Theodosius sent the eunuch Eutropius into Egypt
to invite the hermit John to come to him and declare to him the will
of God. The saint refused to leave his cell, but sent word to the
emperor by Eutropius that he would gain a victory, which would however
be very bloody, and that he would only survive it a short while. Both
predictions were accomplished. A battle was fought in the plains of
Aquileia, on Sept. 6th, 394, in which Eugenius was defeated; Theodosius
lived till January 17th of the following year, and died leaving the
empire divided between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius.
Palladius was in the Nitrian desert with his master Evagrius,
Albinus, Ammon, and three others; and their conversation turned on
the reputation of S. John. Evagrius expressed his desire to know if
all that was reported of his great virtue was true, and to have his
powers of discernment tested by some one of experience. Palladius at
once resolved to go. He was then aged twenty-six. He started without
communicating his design to any one, and made his journey partly on
foot, and partly in a boat, for it was the period of the overflow of
the Nile. This is an unhealthy time, owing to the evaporation of the
slime left by the retreating waters; and Palladius fell ill on his way.
On his recovery he prosecuted his journey, and reached the vestibule
of the hermit's cell, where he learnt that John only gave audiences on
the Sabbath (Saturday) and the Sunday, and that he must therefore wait
in patience till the Saturday. On that day he found the saint seated at
his window, through which he conversed with all who approached. When
John saw him, he greeted him through an interpreter, and asked his
object in visiting him, saying at the same time that he looked like a
disciple of Evagrius. Palladius satisfied his inquiries, and began to
converse with him, when Alypius, the governor of the province, arrived,
and approaching hastily, John signed to Palladius to withdraw whilst he
received the governor. Palladius waited with some impatience, thinking
in his heart that John was not free from the common infirmity of
respect of persons. But the saint divined his thoughts, and sending his
interpreter to him, bade him not be impatient, for he would speedily
dismiss the governor. When Palladius was recalled, the hermit gently
reproved him for his thoughts, saying, "It is not the whole, but those
that are sick that need the physician. Thou art constantly engaged in
labouring for thy salvation, but that man is immersed in the cares
of this world, and can scarcely snatch an hour from business for the
cultivation of his soul. Whom should I greet and prefer most readily?"
and putting out his hand he gently cuffed Palladius. "And now to
proceed with thy affairs," continued John. "I know that the thoughts of
thy father have distracted thee of late, and thou hast been thinking of
returning from the solitary life to him. But know that both he and thy
sister have entered into religion like thyself. Thy father will live
seven years longer. Think no more of returning to thy home, for it is
broken up. He that putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back, is
not fit for the kingdom of God."
These words consoled and encouraged Palladius; and the saint having
asked him with a smile whether he wished to be a bishop, Palladius
answered in the same bantering style, that he was one already, as his
name implied. "And prithee what is thy diocese?" asked the hermit.
"I rule the diocese of the kitchen, and my episcopal jurisdiction is
exercised over pots and pans," answered Palladius. "Enough of this
joking," said the hermit. "In truth I tell thee thou shalt be a bishop
one of these days, and shalt suffer many contradictions. But, if thou
wouldest escape them, leave not thy solitude, for so long as thou
remainest there, none will ordain thee bishop."
Some years after, this prophecy was verified; for, being threatened
with dropsy, Palladius left the desert for Alexandria, and thence
afterwards for Bithynia, where he was ordained bishop of Helenopolis.
He was speedily enveloped in the persecution against S. Chrysostom, and
was obliged to remain concealed for eleven months in a dark chamber.
Palladius returned from his visit to the Nitrian desert, and related
all he had seen and heard to Evagrius, who was stirred to undertake the
journey himself, and his account of this visit is found in the pages of
Ruffinus.
S. MATTHEW OF BEAUVAIS, M.
(END OF 11TH CENT.)
[Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--Guibert, Ab. of Nogent-sous-Coussi,
l. 1053, d. 1124. Guibert knew S. Matthew personally; they were both
natives of the same village, and grew up together from childhood as
friends.]
Matthew was a knight of noble birth, of Agnetz, near Clermont, in
Beauvais. He was a model of purity, sincerity, and piety, ever calm,
and never giving way to petulance, or agitated by passion. He took
the cross and went to the East to fight for the recovery of the Holy
Sepulchre, with the bishop of Beauvais. At the court of Alexis, in
Constantinople, he was greatly respected. Having been made prisoner by
the Saracens, he was offered his life if he would renounce the cross of
Christ. He asked to be allowed to delay his reply till the following
Friday. On that day he was again urged to adopt their religion. He
replied, "I asked you to grant me this delay, not because I had any
doubt as to what my decision would be, but that I might have the honour
and felicity of shedding my blood on the same day as my Saviour Jesus
Christ bled for me. Come then, strike me! I give my life to Him who
laid down His for mankind." So saying he knelt and stretched forth his
neck for the blow, and with one stroke was decapitated.
March 28.
SS. PRISCUS, MALCHUS, AND ALEXANDER, _MM. at Cæsarea, circ._ A.D. 259.
S. XYSTUS OR SIXTUS III., _Pope_, A.D. 440.
S. SPES, _Ab. at Nursia, in Italy_, A.D. 513.
S. GUNTRAM, _K. of Burgundy_, A.D. 593.
S. CONON, _Monk at Nesi, in Sicily_, A.D. 1236.
VEN. MARY DE MAILLIAC, _V.W. at Tours_, A.D. 1414.
S. XYSTUS OR SIXTUS, POPE.
(A.D. 440.)
Saint Sixtus III. was a native of Rome. He succeeded Celestin I.,
in 432, on the Papal throne. He laboured zealously to extinguish
the Pelagian and Nestorian heresies, and exhibited great joy at the
reconciliation between S. Cyril of Alexandria, and John, patriarch
of Antioch. Some epistles and some religious poems attributed to him
exist. He built and adorned many churches in Rome, and died August
18th, 440; and was succeeded by S. Leo the Great.
S. SPES, AB.
(A.D. 513.)
[Roman Martyrology, and the Benedictine Martyrology of Wyon.
Authority:--The Dialogues of S. Gregory the Great, lib. iv. c. 10,
from one who knew Spes.]
S. Spes was an abbot of a monastery, at a place called Cample, or
Campi, near Nursia, who was blind for forty years, and bore his
affliction with the greatest sweetness and patience. At the end of
that time his sight was restored to him for a brief space, and he
occupied this time in visiting the monasteries of his order. And on
the fifteenth day of his recovery he returned to his own house, and
calling the brethren together, and standing in their midst, he received
the Body and Blood of Christ, and then lifted up his voice to precent
the psalms. And as he and the brethren sang, his spirit fled, and the
brethren saw his blessed soul as a white dove soar up to the vault of
the church, which parted, and the dove ascended into the brightness
above.
[Illustration: Hope.]
March 29.
S. LIMINEUS, _M. at Clermont in Auvergne, circ._ A.D. 255.
SS. JONAS AND BARACHISIUS, _Monks MM. in Persia_, A.D. 327.
S. MARK, _B. of Arethusa, and_ S. CYRIL, _D.M. in Syria_, A.D. 362.
S. MARK OF ATHENS, _H. in Libya, 4th cent._
SS. ARMOGASTES, ARCHINIMUS, AND SATURUS, _MM. in Africa, circ._
A.D. 463.
S. GUNDLEUS OR GWYNLLYW FILWR, _K.H. in Wales, circ._ A.D. 529.
(_See Jan. 24th, S. Cadoc._)
S. EUSTACE, _Ab. of Luxeuil_, A.D. 625.
S. LUDOLF, _M.B. of Ratzeburg, in Germany_, A.D. 1201.
B. HUGO, _Mk. of Vaucelles, 13th cent._
SS. JONAS AND BARACHISIUS, MM.
(A.D. 327.)
[Greek Menology of the emperor Basil the younger, and Roman
Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts written by an eye-witness, Esaias,
an Armenian knight in the troops of king Sapor, pub. in Chaldaic by
Asseman. The Greek version in Metaphrastes has gone through much
amplification.]
King Shapoor, or Sapor, of Persia, raised a savage persecution against
the Christians in his realm, believing them to be in league with the
Roman emperor. Amongst those who suffered were Jonas and Barachisius,
because they refused to adore the sun and fire. Melted lead was poured
down the nostrils of Jonas, and red-hot plates were placed under his
arms, and he was hung up by one foot in his dungeon till he fainted.
His hands and feet were cut off, his tongue torn out, and he was
pressed to death in a grape-crusher. Barachisius was treated with equal
barbarity. Sharp splinters of reed were thrust into his flesh, all over
his body, so that he resembled a porcupine, and he was then rolled on
the ground to drive the spikes in.
SS. MARK, B. C., AND CYRIL, D. M.
(A.D. 362.)
[By Greeks and Latins on the same day, but the Greeks commemorate
especially S. Mark, and the modern Roman Martyrology only S. Cyril.
S. Mark, but not S. Cyril, was in that of Galesinius, prepared
for the use of the Roman Church, and approved by Gregory XIII.,
and Clement VIII., but was cut out by Baronius, and S. Cyril
inserted in his place. The reason he gave was "Romana Ecclesia non
recipit Marcum illum inter Sanctos, quem constat Arianum fuisse."
But the continuators of Bollandus have shown that Baronius was
without sufficient grounds for concluding that he was an Arian.
Authorities:--Theodoret, lib. iii. c. 7; Socrates, lib. ii. c. 30;
Theophanes, and the Oration of S. Gregory Nazianzen against Julian.]
Mark, bishop of Arethusa, on Mount Lebanon, was present at the council
of Sirmium (A.D. 351), which met to depose Photinus, the bishop of
Sirmium, who, in spite of former censures for heresy, had retained
his church. This was at a time when the Arian controversy was being
carried on with great vehemence, and the word "consubstantial" was
insisted upon by the orthodox, and rejected by the Arian party. A third
party of semi-Arians, as they were called, existed, which comprised
within its ranks men of two different types. On the one hand were the
prelates who desired to keep well with an Arian emperor, but who were
not disposed to surrender the Catholic faith to obtain favour, and
who were wanting in dogmatic precision. On the other hand, there was
a body of very pious and thoroughly orthodox bishops, who hesitated
about adopting a new word to define our Lord's nature, deprecated the
heat displayed by both parties, and hoped, by avoiding this burning
word, to prevent many who were passively or ignorantly heterodox,
from being forced by the fierceness, wherewith the controversy was
carried on, to side permanently with heresy. We have seen S. Cyril in
company with these men. Mark of Arethusa was another. At the council
he produced a creed, which is given by Socrates, and which it was
hoped would be accepted by the semi-Arians and Catholics together.
This creed is orthodox[92]; the only questionable passage in it is in
reference to a text in Genesis, and is so involved and obscure that it
may be incorrectly given by the historian.[93] It is as follows:--"If
anyone shall understand the words, (Gen. xix. 24.) 'The Lord rained
from the Lord,' not in relation to the Father and the Son, but shall
say that God rained from Himself, let Him be anathema: for the Lord the
Son rained from the Lord the Father. If anyone, hearing _the Lord the
Father_, and _the Lord the Son_, shall term both the Father and the Son
Lord, and saying _the Lord from the Lord_, shall assert that there be
two Gods, let him be anathema. For we rank not the Son with the Father,
but conceive Him to be subordinate to the Father. For He neither came
down to Sodom without the Father's will, nor did He rain from Himself,
but from the Lord who exercises supreme authority: nor does He sit at
the Father's right hand of Himself, but in obedience to the Father."
[92] "Sed ut eæ fidei formulæ, quibus subscripsisse Marcum habemus ex
Epiphanio, prorsus fuerunt fidei orthodoxæ conformes, et in omnibus
præter vocem consubstantialis nihil requireret: sic nec hoc quidem
certum est, an in conciliabulo Sirmiensi quidquam senserit Marcus ab
orthodoxa professione diversum." Acta SS. Martii T. iii. p. 777.
[93] "Quam enim est obscurus hujus anathematismi sensus, tam est nobis
suspecta fides adjunctæ rationis, nihil ad blasphemiam de duobus diis,
quæ sola damnari videtur, facientis, ut propterea intrusa videri possit
ab Ariano aliquo." Bollandus.--_Ibid._
But this strange passage must not be taken to deny the Lordship of the
Son, for the Creed which precedes the anathemas is very explicit on the
Eternal Godhead of Christ. "We believe ... in our Lord Jesus Christ,
who was begotten of His Father before all ages, God of God, Light of
Light, by whom all things visible and invisible, which are in the
heavens and upon the earth, were made; Who is the Word, the Wisdom, the
true Light, and the Life." Again, "If anyone says that the Son was not
with God, begotten of the Father before all ages, and that all things
were not made by Him, let him be anathema."
In the reign of Constantius, Mark had drawn down on himself the hatred
of the pagan inhabitants of Arethusa, by causing the destruction
of a magnificent temple. According to the law published by Julian
the Apostate, on his accession to the throne, he was, under these
circumstances, bound to make good the value of the temple in money, or
else to cause it to be rebuilt. Being in no condition to do the former,
and thinking he could not conscientiously do the latter; fearing, at
the same time, for his life amidst a ferocious populace, he betook
himself to flight. As others, however, were involved in danger on
his account, he turned back, and voluntarily offered himself to his
enemies. The fanatical multitude now fell upon him; he was dragged
through the streets, stripped, and scourged, then dipped in the town
sewer, and given over to the schoolboys returning from their lessons,
to mangle him with their iron pens. When the old man had almost done
breathing, they besmeared him with honey and other liquids, laid him
in a basket, in which he was swung up in the air, and left to be
preyed upon by bees and wasps. Mark shamed his cruel enemies by the
cool indifference which he exhibited under all his sufferings. The
governor, himself a pagan, represented to Julian what scandal it must
occasion if they allowed themselves to be outdone by the constancy of
a weak old man; and the emperor finally commanded him to be set free,
for it was not his wish, he said, to give the Christians any martyrs.
After, when Libanius, the heathen rhetorician, desired to restrain a
governor from indulging in the cruel persecution of a Christian who had
been accused of robbing the temples, he warned him thus: "If he is to
die in his chains, then look well before you, and consider what will
be the result. Take heed lest you bring upon us many more like Mark.
This Mark was hung up, scourged, plucked by the beard, and bore all
with constancy. He is now honoured as a god, and, wherever he appears,
everybody is eager to take him by the hand. As the emperor is aware of
this, he has not allowed the man to be executed, much as he is grieved
at the destruction of the temple. Let the preservation of Mark be a
caution to us."[94] Socrates says that the constancy of Mark converted
the people of Arethusa, and that they submitted to learn from his lips
the doctrines of Christianity.
[94] Liban. ep. 731.
In the same chapter in which Socrates relates the sufferings of Mark,
he tells how other Christians suffered from popular tumults at the
revival of paganism under Julian. "At Askelon, and at Gaza, they seized
men truly worthy of the priesthood, and women vowed to perpetual
virginity, and after having ripped open their stomachs, they threw them
to the pigs to be devoured. At Sebaste, a city of the same province,
they opened the coffin of John the Baptist, burnt his bones, and flung
away his ashes. In Heliopolis, a city near Lebanon, dwelt Cyril, a
deacon. Acting on the impulse of ardent zeal, he had there, during the
reign of Constantius, destroyed many idols. These impious men not only
killed him in revenge for this act, but after having ripped up his
stomach, ate his liver. At Dorostolis, a celebrated city of Thrace,
Emilius, an undaunted champion of the faith, was thrown into the flames
by Capitolinus, governor of the province."
SS. ARMOGASTES AND COMPANIONS, MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 463.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Victor of
Utica. De Persec. Vand. lib. i. (5th cent.)]
Genseric, the Vandal king in North Africa, had in his early youth
renounced the Orthodox communion, and had become an Arian. He was
exasperated to find that the Africans, who fled before him in the
field, presumed to dispute his authority over their faith, and his
ferocious mind was incapable of fear or of compassion. His Catholic
subjects were oppressed by intolerant laws, and arbitrary punishments.
The language of Genseric was furious and formidable; the knowledge of
his intentions might justify the most unfavourable interpretations
of his actions; and the Arians were reproached with the frequent
executions which stained the palace and dominions of the tyrant.
Genseric had ordered, on the advice of the Arian bishops, that no
Catholic should be allowed to hold office in his house. Now there was
found one, named Armogastes, in the service of his son Theodoric. He
was tortured with cords bound round his forehead and legs, compressing
the flesh painfully. But he looked up to heaven, made the sign of
the Cross, and the cords broke like a spider's web. Stouter cords
of hemp were then used, but they proved equally inefficacious. He
was next suspended by one foot, with his head downwards. His master,
Theodoric, wished to cut off his head, but his hand was arrested by an
Arian priest present, named Jucundus, who said, "If thou strikest off
his head, the Romans will honour him as a martyr; therefore make him
languish to death in other ways." By Romans, he meant the conquered
inhabitants of the province. Theodoric then sent Armogastes into the
province of Byzacene, to dig the earth. He afterwards recalled him to
Carthage, and to disgrace him before all men, made him cow-keeper.
The confessor having had a revelation that his death was at hand, said
to a Catholic, named Felix, "I pray thee, bury me under this oak tree,
or thou shalt have to give account before God for not doing this."
Felix replied, "God forbid that I should do so; I will bury thee,
as thou deservest, in some church." Armogastes urged him, and Felix
promised to fulfil his wish, so as not to vex him. The saint died a few
days after, and Felix began his grave beneath the tree, but the roots
incommoded him. He, therefore, got an axe, and cut through them, and
found, to his surprise, an ancient marble sarcophagus beneath them; and
in this he laid the body of Armogastes.
A certain Archinimus, of the city of Mascula, was also called on to
confess Christ about the same time. The king himself endeavoured to
persuade him to disbelieve in the eternal Godhead of Christ, and
promised him great wealth and favour if he would comply with his
wishes. But when he found that the man would not be persuaded, he gave
orders that he should be executed, but he sent secret instructions that
his life should be spared if he maintained his constancy to the last.
The saint showed no disposition to yield, and he was spared.
Satur, procurator of Huneric, often spoke against Arian misbelief.
For this he was denounced by an Arian deacon, named Varimad.
Huneric threatened, unless he conformed to the established heresy,
that he would deprive him of his house, his goods, his slaves, his
children, even of his wife, and publicly wed her in his presence to
a camel-driver. Satur remained inflexible, and was despoiled of all
things. His wife implored delay, and going to her husband, with her
garments rent, cast herself at his feet, and implored him not, by his
obduracy, to expose her to such a public disgrace, and to such a sin
as marriage to another whilst her husband lived. He replied, "You speak
like one of the foolish women. (Job xi. 10.) If you loved me, you would
not urge me to a second death. He that forsaketh not even his wife,
the Lord said, when called upon so to do for His sake, cannot be His
disciple." Then Satur was robbed of all, and reduced to beggary; he was
even forbidden to go forth from his place. Thus was he despoiled of
wealth and family, and liberty. "But," says Victor of Utica, "Of his
baptismal robe they could not rob him." These three men are honoured,
for their sufferings, as martyrs.
S. EUSTACE, AB. OF LUXEUIL.
(A.D. 625.)
[Roman Martyrology, and that of Ado; not in the genuine one of Bede,
nor in that of Usuardus; but in those of Notker and Maurolycus; and in
the Gallican and Benedictine Martyrologies; and in the Scottish one of
Dempster. His life was written by Jonas, monk of Bobbio, in 664.]
Eustace, born of a noble family in Burgundy, had spent his youth in
arms, but he renounced the world and joined S. Columbanus at Luxeuil,
and when, through the persecution of that she-wolf, Brunehault, and her
grandson, Thierry, king of Burgundy, Columbanus was driven from his
monastery, and from the country, Eustace was deemed worthy to succeed
him in the government of the abbey. His marvellous sweetness and tender
companion to all who suffered, mentally or corporeally, endeared him
to his monks; and when they confessed their faults to him, his tears
mingled with theirs, and filled their hearts with consolation.
By order of Clothaire II., he travelled into Italy to recall
Columbanus, and the two saints had the happiness of once more falling
on each other's necks, embracing. Columbanus having refused to return,
Eustace went back to the king and explained to him the reasons of the
saint for declining his invitation. Eustace, therefore, remained at
the head of the great abbey of Luxeuil, which attracted an increasing
number of monks. However, the missionary spirit and desire to preach
exercised an overwhelming influence over Eustace, as over all the
disciples of the great Irish missionary. The bishops, assembled
in the Council of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, by Clothaire II., nominated
him to preach the faith to unconverted nations. He began with the
Varasques, who inhabited the banks of the Doubs, near Baume, some of
whom worshipped the wood-spirit, whilst others had fallen victims to
heresy. He afterwards travelled beyond the countries which Columbanus
had visited, to the extremity of northern Gaul, among the Boii or
Bavarians. His mission was not without success; but Luxeuil, which
could not remain thus without a head, soon recalled him.
During the ten years of his rule, a worthy successor of Columbanus, he
succeeded in securing the energetic support of the Frank nobility, as
well as the favour of Clothaire II. Under his active and intelligent
administration, the abbey founded by S. Columbanus attained its highest
pitch of splendour, and was recognised as the monastic capital of all
the countries under Frank government. The other monasteries, into
which laxness had but too frequently found its way, yielded, one after
another, to the happy influence of Luxeuil, and gradually reformed
themselves by its example. This remarkable prosperity was threatened
with a sudden interruption by means of the intrigues of a false brother
who had stolen into the monastic family of Columbanus. A man named
Agrestin, who had been secretary to king Thierry, the persecutor
of S. Columbanus, came one day to give himself and his property to
Luxeuil. Being admitted among the monks, he soon showed a desire to
go, like Eustace, to preach the faith to the pagans. In vain the abbot,
who could see no evangelical quality in him, attempted to restrain
that false zeal. He was obliged to let him go. Agrestin followed the
footsteps of Eustace into Bavaria, but made nothing of it, and passed
from thence into Istria and Lombardy, where he embraced the schism
of the Three Chapters, and endeavoured to involve therein Attalus,
the second abbot of Bobbio. Failing, he returned to Luxeuil, where he
tried to corrupt his former brethren. Eustace then remembered what
the exiled Columbanus had written to him, in his letter from Nantes,
just before his embarkation:--"If there is one among you who holds
different sentiments from the others, send him away;" and he commanded
Agrestin to leave the community. To avenge himself, the schismatic
began to snarl, says the contemporary annalist, hawking here and there
injurious imputations against the rule of S. Columbanus. Abellinus,
bishop of Geneva, listened to his denunciations, and exerted himself
to make the neighbouring prelates share his dislike. King Clothaire,
who heard of it, and who was always full of solicitude for Luxeuil,
assembled most of the bishops of the kingdom of Burgundy in the council
of Macon. To this council Eustace was called, and the accuser invited
to state his complaints against the rule. They were directed against
certain insignificant peculiarities. "I have discovered," said he,
"that Columbanus has established usuages which are not those of the
whole Church." And thereupon he accused his former brethren, as with
so many heresies, of making the sign of the cross upon their spoons
when eating; of asking a blessing in entering or leaving any monastic
building; and of multiplying prayers at Mass. He insisted especially
against the Irish tonsure, which Columbanus had introduced into France,
and which consisted solely in shaving the front of the head, from one
ear to the other, without touching the hair of the back part, while the
Greeks shaved the entire head, and the Romans only the crown.
Eustace had no difficulty in justifying the customs of Luxeuil, and
in discomfiting the violence of his accuser. But as Agrestin always
returned to the charge, the abbot said to him: "In presence of these
bishops, I, the disciple and successor of him whose institute thou
condemnest, cite thee to appear with him, within a year, at the
tribunal of God, to plead thy cause against him, and to learn to know
the justice of Him whose servant thou hast attempted to calumniate."
The solemnity of this appeal had an effect even upon the prelates who
leant to the side of Agrestin: they urged him to be reconciled to his
former abbot, and the latter, who was gentleness himself, consented to
give him the kiss of peace. But this goodness did not benefit Agrestin.
Hopeless of succeeding at Luxeuil itself, he sowed revolt and calumny
in the other monasteries which had proceeded, like Luxeuil, from the
colonising genius of Columbanus, at Remiremont and Faremoutier. But
shortly before the expiration of the year, he was slain with a blow
of an axe by his servant, whose wife, it was reported--whether truly
or not Jonas does not commit himself to decide--he had intended to
dishonour. At length, in 625, Eustace was called to his rest, and was
succeeded in the government of the abbey by S. Wandelbert (May 7th.)
His relics were preserved in the abbey of Vergaville, in the diocese
of Metz, but on its destruction in 1792 they were carried away and
concealed by the last abbess, Madame de la Marche, in the house of M.
Labrosse, curé of Surianville. They were surrendered by him, on the
return of security, to Mgr. Ant. Eustache Osmond, bishop of Nancy,
and they were placed in two shrines in the Benedictine priory of
Flavigny-sur-Moselle, in Meurthe, in 1824.
B. HUGO, MONK OF VAUCELLES.
(A.D. 1236.)
[Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--Thomas Cantipratensis.]
One of the most fervent and exemplary religious of the abbey of
Vaucelles in the early part of the 13th century was Hugo de Villa,
formerly dean of the church of Cambrai. He was as distinguished for the
nobility of his birth, and of his talents, as he was for his virtue.
The fear of being called to fill some episcopal throne prompted him to
take refuge in the monastery of Vaucelles, where the rule of the first
children of S. Bernard was rigorously observed. When the project of
the pious dean was known, many persons came to ask him to give them a
handsome tame falcon he possessed. Hugo refused, and dissembled his
intentions till the moment that he entered religion. He arrived at the
gates of the abbey with the bird, and then, cutting the string that
held the falcon captive, he gave it liberty, saying, "My dear bird! fly
away and enjoy thy liberty in peace, for I am leaving thee for ever."
Thomas de Cantinpré, his biographer, says, "I have often heard from
the mouths of eye-witnesses that during his noviciate, birds would
come and perch on his hands, and eat crumbs out of them. The master of
the novices, to prove his virtue by opposing this innocent pleasure,
reproached him. The good religious then drove away the birds that
fluttered around him, saying, with that simplicity which marked all his
conduct, 'Away, birds! I am not surprised that you are ordered off: my
age and condition requires that you should obey me, and not I you.'"
March 30.
S. SECUNDUS, _M. at Aste, in Italy_, A.D. 119.
S. QUIRINUS THE TRIBUNE, _M. at Rome_, A.D. 130.
S. REGULUS, _B. of Arles and Senlis, 4th cent._
SS. MARTYRS _at Constantinople, slain by Macedonius, the Heresiarch_,
A.D. 351.
S. JOHN IN THE WELL, _H. in Armenia_.
S. JOHN CLIMACUS, _Ab. of Mount Sinai, about_ A.D. 606.
S. ZOSIMUS, _B. of Syracuse, circ._ A.D. 660.
S. PATTO, _B. of Werden, 9th cent._
S. VERO, _C. at Limbecke, in Hainault, 9th cent._
B. DODO VAN HASCHA, _O.P., C. in Friesland_, A.D. 1231.
B. PETER REGULATUS, _O.M., C. at Aguilar, in Old Castille_, A.D. 1456.
B. AMADEUS, _Duke of Savoy_, A.D. 1472.
S. SECUNDUS, M.
(A.D. 119.)
[Molanus, in his additions to Usuardus, Maurolycus, and other modern
Martyrologies. Not in the Roman Martyrology. The Acts, of which there
exist several versions, are not worthy of trust. They may possibly
contain the original Acts, but if so, they are so embedded in fable
that it is impossible to distinguish what is true from what is false.]
According to the legendary Acts, Secundus of Aste, count of the palace,
was instructed in the faith by S. Calocerus, then a prisoner at Aste,
and baptized by SS. Faustinus and Jovitta, at Milan. He was afterwards
sent to Tortona, to S. Martian, in his dungeon, to bear to him the
Blessed Sacrament, and he was present when this saint suffered for
Christ. It was told the governor, Sapricius, that Secundus had buried
the body of the martyr; and sending for him, he heard him confess that
he was a Christian. He was placed on the rack, and then sent to Aste,
where he suffered execution with the sword, together with S. Calocerus,
on March 30th.
Patron of Aste, where his relics are preserved.
S. QUIRINUS THE TRIBUNE, M.
(A.D. 130.)
[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Mention in
the Acts of S. Alexander, pope (May 3rd), but these are not altogether
trustworthy.]
Quirinus the Tribune was converted and baptized by pope S. Alexander
I., and was condemned to have his tongue, hands, and feet cut off.
According to the popular legend, which is often represented in art, his
tongue was offered to a falcon, but the bird refused to eat it: the
Acts say nothing of it. The hands and feet were in like manner cast
to dogs, and popular tradition adds that they refused to devour them.
Afterwards he was drawn by oxen to the place of final execution, where
his head was struck off.
Relics at Neuss, in the archdiocese of Cologne, and anciently in the
church of S. Madeleine at Troyes, in France, also in the church of S.
Pantaleon, in Cologne, where is a portion of the skull, in that of
S. Gereon, and that of the Jesuits in the same city; at Silburg, at
Zulpich, at Louvain, Tongres, Florieffe, at Bologna, and in the church
of S. Balbina in Rome.
S. REGULUS, B. OF ARLES AND SENLIS.
(4TH CENT.)
[Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Authority:--Various editions of
the life of S. Regulus, the most ancient probably of the 9th cent.
The cathedral of Senlis was burnt in that century, and together with
it perished all its archives. Those lives extant were written from
tradition after this fire. S. Regulus is called in France S. _Rieul_.]
S. Regulus was a native of Argos. Hearing of the miracles wrought
at Ephesus by the Beloved Disciple, S. John the Divine, he went
thither, and was converted by him. The Blessed Apostle, admiring
his virtue, ordained him, and kept him by him as a dear friend. But
persecution soon parted the pupil from his master, for S. John was
exiled to Patmos. After a while, Regulus, hearing that S. Dionysius,
the Areopagite, was leaving Rome to bear the gospel into lands that
knew not Christ, followed him, and S. Denys took with him Rusticus for
his deacon, Eleutherius as subdeacon, Regulus, Lucian, Eugenius, and
others. Regulus was appointed bishop of Arles, where he found a colony
of Christians which had been formed by S. Trophimus. According to the
legend, one day, as Regulus was saying Mass, after he had recited in
the canon the names of SS. Peter and Paul, he added, without thinking
of what he was saying, "also the blessed martyrs, Denys, Rusticus, and
Eleutherius," and thereupon saw three doves descend on the altar, with
these three names in bloody characters inscribed on their breasts.
Knowing that these three blessed apostles must be dead, he went to
Paris to gather up their sacred relics, having first confided the care
of his church to a bishop named Felicissimus. On arriving, he went to
the village of Châton, where he met a lady, named Catulla, who had
secretly buried the bodies of the martyrs. Regulus celebrated the holy
Sacrifice over their grave, and Catulla built a chapel of wood on the
spot. This was the chapel which S. Genoveva afterwards rebuilt in stone
(vol. i. p. 50). Regulus then left Paris, and took the road to Senlis.
Passing through Louvres, six leagues from Paris, he overthrew an idol
of Mercury, which he found there, preached to the people, and built a
chapel, which was afterwards dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Regulus
then undertook the conversion of the people of Senlis, which he happily
effected. Then he betook himself to Beauvais, and the story goes that
as the frogs in the marshes disturbed him whilst preaching he forbade
them all croaking with the exception of one. He is said to have died
in 130, during the reign of Hadrian, after having laboured forty years
in different missions. So far the legendary life, which is destitute of
respect as history. In all probability two saints have been run into
one, a S. Regulus of Arles, the successor of S. Trophimus, and a S.
Regulus of Senlis, who lived in the end of the third century, and died
in the early part of the fourth, for he is spoken of as a companion of
saints who certainly lived at that period.
In art S. Regulus or Rieul is represented with frogs at his side, or
releasing captives from their chains.
S. JOHN CLIMACUS, AB.
(A.D. 606.)
[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menologium of the emperor Basil, and
Menæa. Authority:--His Life by Daniel, monk of Raithu, near the Red
Sea, a contemporary.]
S. John, abbot of Mount Sinai, is commonly called Climacus, from a book
written by him, entitled "Climax, or the Ladder of Perfection." As this
treatise shows his erudition, he is also sometimes called Scholasticus,
and, as abbot of Mount Sinai, he is also designated as John the Sinaite.
The place of his birth is not known, nor is the exact year of that
event, but it was probably in 525. At the age of sixteen he ascended
Mount Sinai with the purpose of offering himself to God as a living
acceptable sacrifice. At the age of thirty-five he became a solitary
at Thola, five miles further in the desert, where, in the complete
silence of the barren rocks, he could discipline his tongue, which was
rather given to loquacity. He passed forty years in the service of God,
and in self-mortification. From Thola he returned every Sabbath to
the monastery church to assist at the divine service, and communicate
at the sacred mysteries on that day and the following Sunday. Many
resorted to the cell of S. John for advice, but, as it was reported,
perhaps not without reason, that he made these visits an opportunity
for indulging in his weakness of talking excessively, he condemned
himself to rigorous silence for a whole twelvemonth.
At the age of seventy-five, in 600, S. John left his hermitage
to fill the office of abbot in the monastery of Mount Sinai, and
superior-general of all the monks and hermits of the deserts around.
S. Gregory the Great, who then sat in S. Peter's chair, wrote to the
holy abbot, commending himself to his prayers, and sent him beds and
money for his hospital, for the use of pilgrims to Mount Sinai.
At the request of John, abbot of Raithu, he drew up his "Climax, or
Ladder of Perfection," containing, in thirty chapters, rules for
attaining the thirty steps of religious perfection. This book contains
many curious and instructive anecdotes, illustrative of the monastic
life of the period.
S. John was regarded by his monastic contemporaries as a second
Moses on Sinai, "for he ascended into the mountain of contemplation,
talked with God face to face, and then descended to his fellows in
mind and intelligence, bearing the tables of God's Law, his Ladder of
Perfection."
Once, when S. John was entertaining six hundred pilgrims, a stranger,
habited in linen, after the ancient Jewish fashion, appeared among the
attendants, a man of very ancient and reverend mien, and ministered
with his own hands to the guests. The feast being over, the stranger
vanished, and S. John concluded it must have been Moses who had
re-visited Sinai for a brief moment. This is a curious instance of the
very widely diffused belief in the Wandering Jew. Hebrew legends are
full of similar tales, but the mysterious stranger is with them Elijah;
and the Arabs tell of a similar undying man, who appears at intervals,
but who is El Khoudir, the friend and instructor of Moses.
When S. John was dying in his hermitage, his spiritual son, George,
besought him to suffer him to depart with him. The saint replied, "Thou
shalt follow me in a year's time." And so it was, at the end of a
twelvemonth the disciple joined his master.
S. ZOSIMUS, B. OF SYRACUSE.
(ABOUT A.D. 660.)
[Commemorated in Greek Menologies on Jan. 21st, save in that of
Cardinal Sirlet, which assigns him to this day. Life, in Menologies
and in Bollandists, by a contemporary Sicilian who derived his
statements from B. Elias or from John the Deacon.]
Our saint's life was calm and almost uneventful; yet it is not without
interest or profit to those who love to see the life of Christ
reflected in some degree in the unruffled mirror of His saints' lives.
His parents owned a farm or small estate near the convent of S. Lucia,
in the neighbourhood of Syracuse. Brought up among all the delights of
a pastoral life in Sicily, of which Theocritus sings in such inimitable
strains, he yet yearned for higher and holier joys. Accordingly, he
gladly assented to his parents' wish to dedicate him to S. Lucia; and,
about 578, when seven years old, he was offered as a living sacrifice
to God in her convent. His chief duty was to watch by the precious
shrine of S. Lucia. Some only of her relics could have been preserved
there, for after the translation of her body from Syracuse to Rome,
it was removed by order of the emperor Otho I. to Metz. Her touching
history will be told on the 13th December, the day on which she
suffered as a martyr for chastity and Christianity. The little Zosimus
doubtless often knelt in prayer for his father and mother in the recess
beneath the silver shrine where her relics rested. Still such communion
with his parents did not satisfy the natural cravings of his heart, for
once when he was ordered by the abbot Faustus to do some disagreeable
task out of doors, he ran home to his friends. They brought the truant
back to the convent, where he was set to watch the tomb again. That
night it seemed to him the hinges of the shrine creaked, and the virgin
herself stepped forth, and standing over him seemed to threaten him
with punishment. Then he saw another lady of gracious aspect by her
side, interceding for him and promising in his name that he would never
so offend again; a promise which he gladly ratified with his own lips.
The virgin returned to her shrine, and he was left alone in the still
dark night watching the lamps which shone in front of her tomb.
Henceforth he approached her shrine with more than his former awe:
his visits home were short and less frequent, he only just stayed to
greet his parents, and then hurried back to the threshold of the virgin
martyr. Prayer, the constant attendance at the shrine, the regular
life of the convent, gave calmness and depth to his character. He once
again, it is said, witnessed the wrath of the virgin. A lady of rank,
suffering from disease, came to the shrine with an unseemly request.
The saint moved from her resting-place, and smote the petitioner on the
cheek. Zosimus summoned her servants to take up their mistress: they
took her up--_dead_.
After thirty years had been passed by our saint in contemplation,
obedience, and cheerful acts of kindness to his brethren, Abbot Faustus
died. The brethren could not fix upon a successor. Leaving Zosimus in
charge of the shrine and the church, they went in a body to S. John,
Bishop of Syracuse. He asked, "Is there no one else beside in your
convent?" They said "No." But the bishop rejoined, "Go and see whether
there be no one." Then they admitted that there was the doorkeeper
of the church, whom all had forgotten. The Bishop sent for him. As
Zosimus entered, S. John looking stedfastly at him, and reading his
character in his face, said, "Behold him, whom the Lord has chosen."
They accepted Zosimus as their Abbot. Then one of the brethren said to
him, "Verily of a truth this scripture is fulfilled in thee to-day. 'On
whom shall My spirit rest, save on him that is of a humble and contrite
spirit, and that trembleth at My word.'"
The same bishop ordained him priest a few days after, to serve the
Church of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin. He ruled his monastery for
forty years with singular success. His like was never seen before or
after in the convent of S. Lucia. He was loved by the good for his
gentleness, yet he was never lax in his treatment of the bad.
On the death of the saintly Peter, Bishop of Syracuse, the people
elected Zosimus, the clergy, a priest named Venerius to succeed him.
The latter was boastful, full of vain glory, ambitious for the post.
Zosimus would willingly have declined the burden of the episcopate,
but his friends would not let him. An appeal was made to Rome. Pope
Theodore, who sat in S. Peter's chair from 641 to 649, chose and
consecrated Zosimus Bishop of Syracuse.
As Zosimus landed in the port of Ortygia, the people and clergy flocked
to meet him and escort him with all due honour to his cathedral. The
once glorious city of Syracuse had then shrunk to a shadow of its
former self: it did not extend beyond the limits of the island of
Ortygia, yet its people were still wealthy, and its cathedral well
supplied with silver plate. When the Saracens sacked it about two
hundred years after, the plate of the cathedral alone weighed five
thousand pounds of silver, and the entire spoil of the city was
estimated at one million pieces of gold (about four hundred thousand
pounds sterling). Zosimus taught his people diligently. Two remarks of
his are preserved: "Anger differs as much from gentleness as storm from
calm." "Death is to the virtuous a rest from trouble and toil, and a
loosing of bands: to the wicked it is the beginning of punishment."
His benevolence to the needy was unfailing. He bade his deacon John
give two coins to a man, who asked an alms. John replied, "Our purse
is empty." "Go and sell thy cloak and give to him that needeth," was
the quick reply. It was a new one just bought, so John murmured and
hesitated; the bishop took off his own cloak and handed it to him and
bade him go and sell it. When he returned from relieving the beggar,
he saw a young man lay a heavy purse of gold at the bishop's feet. The
bishop rebuked John for having so little faith in God.
The bishop would not suffer any one to wait on him. One day he fell
asleep while a priest was reading his psalter near. The flies tormented
the sleeping bishop, so the priest drove them away with a fan. Zosimus
awoke and said to him, "Never do so again, but sit still and read thy
psalter."
He re-built and re-decorated the church of S. Mary, and offered the
unbloody sacrifice there in the 82nd year of his age, and the fifth of
his episcopate, when it was again opened for Divine Service.
Eupraxius, chamberlain of the Emperor Constans II., who made Syracuse
his abode for the last six years of his life, found Zosimus in his
last illness lying on a mat and covered with a few rags. He sent him
some splendid rugs and coverlets. The saint lay on them for a time,
and then bade his attendants make him a bed of straw and sell the rugs
and give the price to the poor and the stranger. He died in 656, and
was followed to his grave by the people, who mourned over him as a
father, for such he had been to them during the thirteen years of his
episcopate.
[Illustration: Figure with halo surrounded by worshippers]
[Illustration: S. AMADEUS OF SAVOY. After Cahier.
March 30.]
March 31.
S. BALBINA, _V. at Rome_, A.D. 132.
S. ACACIUS, _B.C. at Melitene, in Armenia, 3rd cent._
S. BENJAMIN, _D.M. in Persia, 5th cent._
S. RENOVATUS, _B. of Merida, in Spain, circ._ A.D. 633.
S. GUIDO, _Ab. of Pomposa, in N. Italy_, A.D. 1026.
S. DANIEL, _C. at Venice_, A.D. 1411.
S. BALBINA, V.
(A.D. 132.)
[Usuardus, and Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts of S. Alexander
Pope and M. (May 3rd); but these, as has been already stated, are not
trustworthy. There exists Acts which represent her as a Martyr, but
they are even more untrustworthy than those of S. Alexander.]
Saint Balbina was the daughter of S. Quirinus the Tribune, whose legend
has been given on March 30th. She was converted at the same time as her
father, and received baptism at the hands of S. Alexander. The legend
is as follows:--Quirinus said to his prisoner Alexander the Pope, "I
have a daughter whom I desire to see married, but she is scrofulous.
Cure her, and we will together believe in Christ." Then said Alexander,
"Go, go, and bring her into my dungeon, and take the prison collar from
my neck and lay it on her, and speedily she will be whole." Then the
father did as he was commanded, and brought Balbina to the Pope, and he
laid his collar about her neck, and then Alexander said to the father,
"Depart, I pray thee." So Quirinus went forth. And suddenly there
appeared a boy bearing a torch, and he went to the maiden and said, "Be
constant in thy virginity, O damsel, and receive perfect soundness of
body; and thou shalt see thy Bridegroom who for love of thee shed His
blood." And so saying he disappeared. Then the father, coming in, found
that she was healed of her infirmity, and himself was baptized and his
whole house.
Now after the martyrdom of S. Quirinus, she was seen by S. Alexander
often kissing the collar which had healed her. Then said he, "Cease
from kissing this collar, and seek rather to embrace the chains of S.
Peter." Then she had no rest till she had found those chains--how and
where she found them we are not told; and "she began with great fear to
kiss them eagerly, and to give praise to the King of Heaven." And these
chains she gave afterwards to S. Theodora, a devout woman, the sister
of S. Hermes the Prefect, and they are shown to this day at Rome in the
church of S. Peter "ad vincula."
In these fabulous acts it is impossible to say how much of truth lies
overgrown with legend. A church dedicated to S. Balbina certainly
existed in Rome in 590, when three priests of the church of that
dedication subscribed the acts of a council held in Rome.
Her body is preserved in this church, but other relics are said to be
in the Dominican church at Bologna.
There are other saints of the same name commemorated among the virgin
company of S. Ursula, and it is probably the head of one of these which
is preserved in Cologne, in the Franciscan church. In the church of
S. Pantaleon, in the same city, are the bones of S. Balbina--no doubt
she was one of the Ursuline band. But the cathedral of Cologne claims
to have the bones of the Roman S. Balbina. Another head was shown at
Millen, but it was removed to Siburg, and according to the popular
tradition Mass could not be said again on the altar from which the
relics had been removed, as the candles refused to burn; but as soon as
they were restored to their former position, no more difficulty was
experienced in getting the tapers to keep alight. In art S. Balbina
appears holding the chains of S. Peter, with the collar of S. Alexander
either about her neck or in her hand. She is invoked against scrofula.
S. BENJAMIN, D. M.
(5TH CENT.)
[Greek Menæa and Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, and
the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority:--Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 46
v., c. 38.]
Abdas, a bishop in Persia, with highly intemperate zeal, set fire to
a heathen temple and consumed it to the ground. This injudicious act
aroused a persecution against the Christians, the King Isdegerdes
being greatly incensed against the bishop. Abdas suffered, and is
commemorated by the Greeks on the same day, or on May 16th. Benjamin,
his deacon, suffered inhuman tortures, some of indescribable horror.
Sharp splinters of reed were driven up the quick of his nails in hands
and feet, and he was impaled upon a knotted stick.
S. RENOVATUS, B. OF MERIDA.
(ABOUT A.D. 633.)
[Spanish Martyrologist and modern Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His
life by Paul, deacon of Merida, who seems to have lived about the
middle of the 7th cent., certainly not long after the death of S.
Renovatus.]
S. Renovatus is chiefly memorable for his treatment of a gluttonous
monk in his monastery at Cauliana, of which he was abbot. Indeed
this is the only incident of his life recorded, and it is given at
considerable length. Renovatus was much troubled in his abbey by the
conduct of one of his monks, whose love of eating and drinking was
a governing passion. The fellow would steal what he was not given,
and he became a scandal to the community. Renovatus exhorted him,
and reproached him, in vain. Then he ordered him to be whipped; but
the whipping proved as inefficacious as the admonitions. The abbot
then gave him leave to depart if he liked, or, if he stayed in the
monastery, to take anything he found most succulent and dainty in
the house. The monk went into the kitchen, opened the cupboards, and
helped himself to everything he fancied, then descended to the cellars
and carried off some flasks of wine under his arm, out of the abbey
gates; and finding a pleasant shady nook among some bushes, picnicked
on what he had brought, and ate and drank till he could contain no
more, when he lay down and fell asleep. The dogs carried off the rest
of his food, and the cellarer, who little liked the abstraction of
the bottles of best wine, and had dogged his steps, when he heard him
snoring, stole up to the half-consumed meal and recovered what was left
of the precious wine. Towards evenfall the monk came home, tumbled into
bed, was left undisturbed to sleep through matins and lauds, and rose
when it pleased him, took another turn through the larder and cellar,
helped himself to the best of everything, and spent another jovial day
of eating, drinking, and sleeping, with no churchgoing to interrupt
its calm delight. So he lived for some days, and the daily surfeiting
began to tell on his constitution. One morning, as he went forth with
some wine bottles under his arm, and a fat capon in his hood, he heard
the schoolboys reciting an antiphon they had been learning, "Consider
the terrible judgment of the Lord, and the dread sentence at the trial;
consider the dread avenging severity of His judgment; consider the
years of thine age, and now at last change thy ways for the better, or
even one day before thy death correct thy life."[95]
[95] "Considera judicium terribile Domini; considera tremendi examinis
metendam sententiam; considera formidandam atque horrendam ejus judicii
ultricem severitatem; considera etiam annos ætatis tuæ, et sic tandem
mores commuta in melius et vel uno die ante mortem tuam corrige vitam
tuam."
The monk feeling fever in his blood, and hearing the solemn appeal, was
conscience-struck, and sending for the abbot, he confessed his sinful
life with heartfelt contrition, and falling ill with fever, died a few
days after.
S. Renovatus was afterwards elected bishop of Mende, but nothing is
related of the events of his episcopate. He is said to have been a very
stately, handsome man, with a sweet expression of countenance. He was
buried before the altar in the Church of S. Eulalia, whence the bones
were raised and enshrined, and where they are still preserved.
S. DANIEL, C.
(A.D. 1411.)
[Martyrology of Camaldoli, and Bucelinus in his Menology of the Order
of S. Benedict. Authority:--Augustine Fortunatus in his History of the
Order of Camaldoli.]
S. Daniel was a German by birth; having entered a mercantile life,
his business took him to Venice. But though the affairs of commerce
engaged the greater part of his time, they did not take possession of
his heart, and whenever he had a few minutes of leisure, he was wont
to hasten to a church, and spend the precious moments in prayer. Also
to prevent himself from becoming ensnared with the love of gain, he
regularly distributed a portion of all his proceeds among the poor. The
convent of S. Matthias belonging to the Order of Camaldoli presented
to his mind great attractions, and he was fond of entering it for the
purpose of making retreats, or for converse with the fathers, or for
the sake of the peace and atmosphere of prayer which hung about its
cloisters.
At length he resolved to live nearer to that house which was to him
a port of safety, and he obtained permission from the prior to build
himself a chamber opening on the cloisters, into which he might retire
as guest of the Fathers, without giving up his business, and adopting
the habit and rule of the Order. In 1411 he was assassinated in this
little room, one night, by robbers who broke in, thinking that they
would find therein considerable wealth amassed.
His relics are preserved in a shrine in the church of Camaldoli at
Venice, where an altar is erected under his invocation.
[Illustration: Two winged horses (hippalectryon)]
_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
_Edinburgh and London_
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
Inconsistencies in spelling and accents in names have been resolved.
Hyphenation has been standardised.
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
Other variations in spelling, punctuation and accents are as in the
original.
Italics are represented thus _italic_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March" ***
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