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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and
+Principal Saints, by Alban Butler
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints
+       January, February, March
+
+Author: Alban Butler
+
+Release Date: January 26, 2007 [EBook #20450]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIVES OF THE FATHERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Geoff Horton
+
+
+
+
+{000}
+{Transcriber's notes:
+
+1) Page numbers in the main text have been retained in {braces}. Page
+breaks within long footnotes are not marked.
+
+2) The original of this work is printed very badly. In most cases, the
+original text is obvious and has been restored without any special
+notations in the transcription. In those cases where it was not possible
+to determine the original text with much certainty (usually numbers and
+rare proper nouns which cannot be deduced from context) a pair of braces
+{} indicates where the illegible text was. Sometimes the braces contains
+text {like this}, indicating a possible but not certain reconstruction.
+
+3) The original had both numbered footnotes, used for references, and
+footnotes with symbols, used for extended comments. This transcription
+does not preserve that distinction; all the notes have been numbered or
+renumbered as needed.
+
+4) In a few cases, footnotes appear on the bottom of the page that do
+not appear in the text (presumably because of the poor printing noted
+above). In this case, the footnote is marked in the text at a likely
+location, and the footnote begins {Footnote not in text} to indicate
+that this was done.}
+
+{006}
+ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE,
+452 MADISON AVENUE.
+Imprimatur
+{Michael Augustinus
+Archeispo Neo}
+June 28th, 1895.
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+NOTWITHSTANDING that several editions of Butler's Lives of the Saints
+have been issued from the American press, and circulated extensively
+throughout the United States, yet the publishers of the present one are
+led to believe that there are vast numbers of persons still unsupplied,
+and desirous of possessing a work so replete with instruction and
+edification for Christian families. This edition is reprinted from the
+best London edition, without the omission of a single line or citation
+from the original. To render the work as complete as possible, we have
+added the Lives of St. Alphonsus Liguori, and other Saints canonized
+since the death of the venerable author, and not included in any former
+edition. This edition also contains the complete notes of the author,
+which have been shamefully omitted in an edition published by a
+Protestant firm of this city.
+
+The present edition is illustrated with fine steel engravings of many of
+the Saints, and when bound will form four very handsome volumes, uniform
+with the Life of Christ, and the Life of the Blessed Virgin.
+
+THE PUBLISHER
+
+NEW YORK, _Sept._, 1895.
+
+
+{007}
+
+PREFACE
+
+"THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS" is republished. This work--this inestimable
+work, is at length given to the public. Hitherto the circulation of it
+was confined to those who could afford to purchase it in TWELVE volumes,
+and at a proportionate price. It is now stereotyped, printed in good
+character, on fine paper, and published at a price not only below its
+value, but below the hopes of the publisher. It is therefore now, and
+for the first time, that "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS" are, properly
+speaking, given to the public.
+
+And what is the nature and character of this work, which is thus placed
+within the reach of almost every family in Ireland? We presume to say,
+that "The Lives of the Saints" is an historical supplement to the Old
+and New Testaments; an illustration of all that God has revealed, and of
+all the sanctity which his divine grace has produced among the children
+of men. It is a history, not so much of men, as of all ages and nations;
+of their manners, customs, laws, usages, and creeds. It is a succinct,
+but most accurate and satisfactory account of all that the Church of God
+has done or suffered in this world from the creation to almost our own
+days: an account not extracted from authentic records only, but one
+which exhibits at every page the living examples, the speaking proofs,
+of whatever it sets forth or asserts. As drawings taken by an artist,
+and afterwards carved on plates of steel or copper, present to us views
+of a country, or of the productions of the earth and sea, so "The Lives
+of the Saints" exhibit to the reader images the most perfect of whatever
+the human race, in times past, has yielded to God in return for his
+countless mercies.
+
+But "The Lives of the Saints" are not confined to history, though they
+embrace whatever is most valuable in history, whether sacred,
+ecclesiastical, or profane. No! This work extends farther; it presents
+to the reader a mass of general information, digested and arranged with
+an ability and a candor never surpassed. Here, no art, no science, is
+left unnoticed. Chronology, criticism, eloquence, painting, sculpture,
+architecture--in a word, whatever has occupied or distinguished man in
+{008} times of barbarism or of civilization; in peace or in war; in the
+countries which surround us, or in those which are far remote; in these
+later ages, or in times over which centuries upon centuries have
+revolved; all, all of these are treated of, not flippantly nor
+ostentatiously, but with a sobriety and solidity peculiar to the writer
+of this work.
+
+But there is one quality which may be said to characterize "The Lives of
+the Saints." It is this: that here the doctrines of the Catholic Church
+are presented to us passing through the ordeal of time unchanged and
+unchangeable, while her discipline is seen to vary from age to age; like
+as a city fixed and immoveable, but whose walls, ramparts, and outworks,
+undergo, from one period to another, the necessary changes, alterations,
+or repairs. Here are pointed out the persecutions which the Saints
+endured,--persecutions which patience overcame, which the power of God
+subdued. Here are traced the causes of dissension in the Church; the
+schisms and heresies which arose; the errors which the pride and
+passions of bad men gave birth to; the obstinacy of the wicked,--the
+seduction of the innocent,--the labors and sufferings of the just; the
+conflicts which took place between light and darkness,--between truth
+and error; the triumph, at one time of the city of God, at another, the
+temporary exaltation of the empire of Satan. In this work, we see the
+great and powerful leaders of God's people, the pastors and doctors of
+the Church, displaying lights gives them from heaven, and exercising a
+courage all-divine; while crowds of the elect are presented to us in
+every age retiring from the world, hiding their lives with Christ in
+God, and deserving, by their innocence and sanctity, to be received into
+heaven until Christ, who was their life, will again appear, when they
+also will appear along with him in glory. Here we behold the Apostles,
+and their successors in the several ages, calling out to the nations who
+sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, "Arise, thou who sleep eat,
+and Christ will enlighten thee!"--men of God, and gifted with his power,
+who, by preaching peace, enduring wrongs, and pardoning injuries,
+subdued the power of tyrants, stopped the mouths of lions, upturned
+paganism, demolished idols, planted everywhere the standard of the
+cross, and left to us the whole world illuminated by the rays of divine
+truth. Here is seen the meek martyr who possessed his soul in
+patience,--who, having suffered the two of goods, the loss of kindred,
+the lose of fame, bowed down his head beneath the axe, and sealed, by
+the plentiful effusion of his blood, the testimony which he bore to
+virtue and to truth. Here the youthful virgin, robed in innocence and
+sanctity, clothed with the visible protection of God, is seen at one
+time to yield up her frame, unfit, as yet, for torments, to the power of
+the executioner; while her spirit, ascending {009} like the smoke of
+incense, passed from earth to heaven. At another time we behold her
+conducted, as it were, into the wilderness by the Spirit; where, having
+left the house of her father, the allurements of the world, and the
+endearments of life, she dedicates her whole being to the service of
+God, and to the contemplation of those invisible goods which he has
+reserved for those who love him.
+
+In "The Lives of the Saints" we behold the prince and the peasant, the
+warrior and the sage, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the
+peasant and the mechanic, the shepherd and the statesman, the wife and
+the widow, the prelate, the priest, and the recluse,--men and women of
+every class, and age, and degree, and condition, and country, sanctified
+by the grace of God, exhibiting to the faithful reader models for his
+imitation, and saying to him, in a voice which he cannot fail to
+understand, "Go thou and do likewise."
+
+It is on this account we have ventured to designate "The Lives of the
+Saints" an historical supplement to the Old and New Testaments. We think
+this work deserves to be so considered, on account of the close
+resemblance it bears to the historical portions of holy writ. Let the
+divine economy, in this respect, be for a moment the subject of the
+reader's consideration.
+
+When God was pleased to instruct men unto righteousness, he did so, as
+the whole series of revelation proves, by raising up from among the
+fallen children of Adam men and women of superior virtue,--men and women
+whose lives, like shining lights, could direct in the ways of peace and
+justice the footsteps of those who looked towards them. He did more: he
+caused the lives of those his servants whom he sanctified and almost
+glorified in this world, to be recorded by their followers; and his own
+Spirit did not disdain to inspire the men who executed a work so
+salutary to mankind. From Adam to Noe, from Noe to Abraham, from Abraham
+to the days of Christ, what period is not marked by the life of some
+eminent saint; and what portion of the Old Testament has always been and
+still is most interesting to true believers? Is it not that which
+instructs us as to the life and manners of those patriarchs, prophets,
+and other holy persons of whom we ourselves are, according to the
+promise, the seed and the descendants? The innocence of Abel, the cruel
+deed of Cain, the piety of Seth, the fidelity and industry of Noe,
+furnish to us the finest moral instruction derived from the primeval
+times. The life of Abraham is perhaps the most precious record in the
+Old Testament! Who even now can read it, and not repose with more
+devotion on the providence of God? Who can contrast his life and conduct
+with that of all the sages of paganism, and not confess there is a God;
+yea! a God who not only upholds this {010} world, and fills every
+creature in it with his benediction, but who also conducts by a special
+providence all those who put their trust in him,--a God who teaches his
+elect, by the unction of his Spirit, truths inaccessible to the wise of
+this world; and who makes them, by his grace, to practise a degree of
+virtue to which human nature unassisted is totally unable to attain? The
+God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, is exceedingly glorified by the
+virtues of those great men; and that glory is exalted, and we are led to
+adore it, because the lives of those men have been written for our
+instruction. Is not Moses the keystone, as it were, of the Jewish
+covenant? Are they not his trials, his meekness, his attachment to God
+and to God's people, his incessant toils, and patience, and
+long-suffering, even more than the miracles wrought by his
+interposition, which render the law published by him, and the ministry
+established by him, worthy of all acceptation in our eyes? Who can
+contemplate the rejection of Saul, and the election of David,--the
+wisdom of Solomon in early life, and his utter abandonment in his latter
+days,--and not be stricken with a salutary dread of the inscrutable
+judgments of a just God? Who can read the life of Judith, and not
+wonder?--of Susanna, and not love chastity and confide in God? Who has
+read the prophecies of Isaiah, and not believed the gospel which he
+foretold? And what example of a suffering Saviour so full, so perfect,
+and expressive, as that exhibited in the life of Jeremiah? If thus,
+then, from the beginning to the day of Christ, the Spirit of God
+instructed mankind in truth and virtue, by writing for their instruction
+"the Lives of the Saints," what can better agree with the ways of that
+God, than to continue the record--to prolong the narrative? If this mode
+of instruction has been adopted by the master, should it not be
+continued by the servant?--if employed when the people of God were only
+one family, should it not be resorted to when all nations were enrolled
+with that people? if this mode of instruction was found useful when the
+knowledge of the Lord was confined to one province, should it not be
+preserved when that knowledge covered the whole earth even as the waters
+cover the sea? And is it not therefore with justice we have said that
+"The Lives of the Saints" might not improperly be designated "an
+historical supplement to the Old and New Testaments?"
+
+And in good truth, who can peruse the life of Peter, and not be animated
+with a more lively faith? Who can read of the conversion of Paul, of his
+zeal and labor, and unbounded love,--who can enter with him into the
+depths of those mysterious truths which he has revealed, and contemplate
+along with him the riches of the glory of the grace of God, and not
+esteem this world as dung; or experience some throes of those heavenly
+desires, which urged him so pathetically to exclaim, "I {011} wish to be
+dissolved, and to be with Christ?" Who can read the life of the
+evangelist John, and not feel the impulse of that subdued spirit, of
+that meek and humble charity, which so eminently distinguished him as
+the "beloved disciple of the Lord?" And if we advance through the
+several ages that have elapsed since our Saviour ascended into heaven,
+we shall find each and all of them instructing us by examples of the
+most heroic virtue. The age of the martyrs ended, only to make room for
+that of the doctors and ascetics; so that each succeeding generation of
+the children of God presents to us the active and contemplative life
+equally fruitful in works of sanctification. An Athanasius, a Jerom, a
+Chrysostom, or an Augustin, are scarcely more precious as models in the
+house of God, than an Anthony, a Benedict, an Arseneus, or a Paul. Nor
+has the Almighty limited his gifts, or confined the mode of instruction
+to those primitive times when the blood of the Mediator was as yet warm
+upon the earth, and the believers in him filled more abundantly with the
+first-fruits of the Spirit. No; he has extended his grace to every age!
+Only take up the history of those holy persons, men and women, whose
+lives shed a lustre upon the Church within these last few centuries, and
+you will acknowledge that the arm of the Lord is not shortened, and, to
+use the words of the Psalmist, that "_Sanctity becometh the house of the
+Lord unto length of days,_" or to the end of time.
+
+As therefore it hath pleased God to raise up for our help and
+edification so many and so perfect models of Christian perfection, and
+disposed by his all wise providence that their lives should have been
+written for our instruction, we should not be faithful co-operators with
+the grace given to us, if we did not use our best efforts to learn and
+to imitate what our Father in heaven has designed for our use.
+
+But "The Lives of the Saints" are a history, not so much of men, as of
+all ages and nations,--of their manners, customs, laws, usages, and
+creeds. And in this licentious age, an age of corrupted literature, when
+that worldly wisdom or vain philosophy which God has declared to be
+folly, is again revived; in this age, when history has failed to
+represent the truth, and is only written for base lucre's sake, or to
+serve a sect or party, what can be so desirable to a Christian
+community, as to have placed in their hands a sincere and dispassionate
+account of the nations which surround us, and of the laws and manners
+and usages, whether civil or religious, which have passed, or are
+passing into the abyss of time? If the wisdom of God warns us "to train
+up youth in the way in which they should walk," and promises that "even
+when old they will not depart from it," there is no duty more sacred, or
+more imperative or parents and pastors, than to remove from their reach
+such {012} books as are irreligious, immoral, or untrue, and to place in
+their hands such works only as may serve to train their minds and
+affections to the knowledge of truth and to the love of virtue.
+
+History is, of its nature, pleasing and instructive; it leaves after it
+the most lasting impressions; and when youth, as at present, is almost
+universally taught to read, and works of fiction or lying histories
+placed constantly in their way, is it not obvious that every parent and
+every pastor should be careful not only to exclude from their flocks and
+families such impious productions, but also to provide the youth
+committed to their care with works of an opposite description? But we
+make bold to say, that in no work now extant can there be found
+condensed so vast a quantity of historical information as is contained
+in "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS:" nor is it the store of knowledge here
+amassed which renders the work, as a history, of so much value; but it
+is the judicious arrangement, the undoubted candor, the dispassionate
+judgment of men, manners, and things, which the venerable historian
+everywhere displays.
+
+He has been able to trace events to their true causes; to point out the
+influence of religion upon human policy, and of that policy on the
+Church of God; to exhibit the rise and fall of states and empires,--the
+advancement or declension of knowledge,--the state of barbarism or
+civilization which prevailed in the several countries of the world,--the
+laws, the manners, the institutions, which arose, were changed,
+improved, or deteriorated, in the kingdoms and empires which brought
+forth the elect of God in every age: but in his narration there is
+always found to prevail a spirit, wanted in almost every history written
+in our times--a spirit which assigns to the power and providence of God
+the first place in the conduct of human events, and which makes manifest
+to the unbiased reader the great and fundamental truth of the Christian
+Religion, that "all things work together to the good of those who,
+according to the purpose or design of God, are called to be Saints."
+
+The great characteristic, however, of this work, and that which,
+perhaps, in these times and in this country, constitutes its chief
+excellence, is, that it exhibits to the reader the doctrine and
+discipline of the Catholic Church,--the former always the same,
+"yesterday, to-day, and forever"--the latter receiving impressions from
+abroad, and moulding itself to the places, times, and circumstances, in
+which the Church herself was placed. In other works may be found
+arguments and proofs in support of the dogmas of faith and the doctrines
+of the Catholic Church, set forth in due order and becoming force; but
+such works are of a controversial nature, and not always suited to the
+taste or capacity of every class of readers: not so "The Lives of the
+Saints." This work presents to us the religion of Christ as it was first
+planted, as it grew {013} up, and flourished, and covered with its shade
+all tribes, and tongues, and peoples, and nations. The trunk of this
+mighty tree is placed before our eyes, standing in the midst of time,
+with ages and empires revolving about it, its roots binding and
+embracing the earth, its top touching the heavens, its branches strong
+and healthful--bearing foliage and fruits in abundance. But to drop this
+allegory. "The Lives of the Saints" demonstrate the doctrines of the
+Church, by laying before us the history of the most precious portion of
+her children: of her martyrs, her doctors, her bishops; of holy and
+devout persons of all ranks and conditions; of what they believed, and
+taught, and practised, in each and every age: so that if no Gospel had
+been written, or liturgy preserved, or decree recorded, we should find
+in "The Lives of the Saints" sufficient proofs of what has always, and
+in every place, and by all true believers, been held and practised to
+the Church of God.
+
+In this work there is no cavilling about texts, no disputes about
+jurisdiction, no sophisms to delude, no imputations to irritate, no
+contradictions to confound the reader; but in place of all these there
+is found in it a simple detail of the truths professed, and of the
+virtues practised by men and women, who were not only the hearers of the
+law but the doers thereof. Whosoever seeks for wisdom as men seek for
+gold, will find it in the perusal of "The Lives of the Saints:" for here
+not theory or speculation, but living examples, make truth manifest, and
+exhibit at once and together all the marks of the Church of God in the
+life and conduct of her children. These children will all be found to
+have denied themselves, to have taken up the cross, to have followed
+Christ, and to have convinced the world by their sanctity that they were
+the children of God--that they were perfect even as their heavenly
+Father was perfect. These children of the Church will be found a
+Catholic or universal people, collected from all ages and nations,
+offering the same sacrifice, administering or receiving the same
+sacraments, and yielding to the same authority a reasonable obedience.
+Finally, there will be found included in this great family the Apostles
+and their disciples, and the descendants of those disciples,--faithful
+men keeping the deposit of the faith, or transmitting it to others
+through all the vicissitudes to which this world is a prey, even to that
+hour when the dead will arise and come to judgment. Thus it is that "The
+Lives of the Saints" put to silence the gainsayers, and convince, not by
+argument, but by historical and incontrovertible details of facts and of
+the lives of men, that the Church of God is _one_, that she is _holy_,
+that she, though universal, is not divided, that she is built upon the
+Apostles, as upon an immoveable {014} foundation, Jesus Christ himself
+being the chief corner-stone. This work strips schism of her mask, and
+stops the mouth of heresy. It points out, with an evidence not to be
+impeached, the day of separation,--when schism commenced, and the hour
+of revolt and rebellion, when the heretic said, like Lucifer, in the
+pride of his heart, "I WILL NOT SERVE." If ever there was a work which
+rendered almost visible and tangible to the sight and touch of men that
+promise of the Redeemer to his Church, "_And the gates of hell shall not
+prevail against her,_" surely this work is "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS."
+
+Who, therefore, is a Catholic, and would not possess such a treasure?
+How great is the benefit derived to the public from the low price and
+convenient form in which this work is given to them! If infidelity, and
+immorality, and heresy have opened wide their mouths, and are everywhere
+devouring their victims, is it not a blessing from God that the children
+of the Church should be preserved from them, and fed with the wholesome
+food of pious reading? If the spirit of error or of that worldly wisdom
+which is folly with God, has filled our shops and streets with
+circulating poison in the shape of books, is not the Spirit of truth,
+and of Him who has overcome the world, to have also such means of
+instruction as may save and strengthen those whom God, by his grace, has
+translated into the kingdom of his beloved Son? Accept, therefore gentle
+reader, of "The Lives of the Saints;" Which, for their own worth's sake,
+and for your good, we have endeavored to recommend. And with it permit
+us also to recommend to your pious prayers the spiritual wants of him
+who has thus addressed you.
+
++JAMES DOYLE
+
+{015}
+
+AN ACCOUNT
+OF
+THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
+OF THE
+REV. ALBAN BUTLER;
+INTERSPERSED WITH
+OBSERVATIONS ON SOME SUBJECTS OF SACRED AND PROFANE LITERATURE
+MENTIONED IN HIS WRITINGS.
+BY CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ.
+BARRISTER AT LAW.
+
+Quare quis tandem me reprehendat, si quantum ad cæteris festos dies
+ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias voluptates, et ad ipsam requiem
+animi et corporis conceditur temporis: Quantum alii tempestivis
+conviviis, quantum aleæ, quantum pilæ, tantum mihi egomet ad hæc studia
+recolenda, sumpsero.
+
+CIC. PRO ARCHIA
+
+1.
+
+THE Reverend Alban Butler was the second son of Simon Butler, Esq., of
+Appletree, in the county of Northampton, by Miss Ann Birch, daughter of
+Thomas Birch, Esq., of Gorscot, in the county of Stafford. His family,
+for amplitude of possessions, and splendor of descent and alliances, had
+vied with the noblest and wealthiest of this kingdom, but was reduced to
+slender circumstances at the time of his birth. A tradition in his
+family mentions, that Mr. Simon Butler (our author's grandfather) was
+the person confidently employed by the duke of Devonshire and the earl
+of Warrington, in inviting the prince of Orange over to England; that he
+professed the protestant religion, and that his great zeal for it was
+his motive for embarking so warmly in that measure; but that he never
+thought it would be attended with the political consequences which
+followed from it; that, when they happened, they preyed greatly on his
+mind; that to fly from his remorse, he gave himself up to pleasure: and
+that in a few years he dissipated a considerable proportion of the
+remaining part of the family estate, and left what he did not sell of it
+heavily encumbered.
+
+At a very early age our author was sent to a school in Lancashire, and
+there applied himself to his studies with that unremitted application
+which, in every part of his life, he gave to literature. Sacred
+biography was even then his favorite pursuit. A gentleman, lately
+deceased, mentioned to the editor that he remembered him at this school,
+and frequently heard him repeat, with a surprising minuteness of fact,
+and precision of chronology, to a numerous and wondering audience of
+little boys, the history of the chiefs and saints of the Saxon æra of
+our history. He then also was distinguished for his piety, and a
+punctual discharge of his religious duties. About the age of eight years
+he was sent to the English college at Douay. It appears, from the diary
+of that college, that Mr. Holman, of Warkworth, (whose memory, for his
+extensive charities, is still in benediction in Oxfordshire and
+Northamptonshire,) became security for the expenses of his education.
+About this time he lost his father and mother. The latter, just before
+she died, wrote to him and his two brothers the following beautiful
+letter:
+
+"MY DEAR CHILDREN.
+
+"Since it pleases Almighty God to take me out of this world, as no doubt
+wisely foreseeing I am no longer a useful parent to you, (for no person
+ought to be thought necessary in this world when God thinks proper to
+take them out;) so I hope you will offer the loss of me with a
+resignation suitable to the religion you are of, and offer {016}
+yourselves. He who makes you orphans so young, without a parent to take
+care of you, will take you into his protection and fatherly care, if you
+do love and serve him who is the author of all goodness. Above all
+things, prepare yourselves while you are young to offer patiently what
+afflictions he shall think proper to lay upon you, for it is by this he
+trieth his best servants. In the first place, give him thanks for your
+education in the true faith, (which many thousands want;) and then I beg
+of you earnestly to petition his direction what state of life you shall
+undertake, whether be for religion, or to get your livings in the world.
+No doubt but you may be saved either way, if you do your duty to God,
+your neighbor, and yourselves. And I beg of you to make constant
+resolutions rather to die a thousand times, if possible, than quit your
+faith; and always have in your thoughts what you would think of were you
+as nigh death as I now think myself. There is no preparation for a good
+death but a good life. Do not omit your prayers, and to make an act of
+contrition and examen of conscience every night, and frequent the
+blessed sacraments of the church. I am so weak I can say no more to you,
+but I pray God bless and direct you, and your friends to take care of
+you. Lastly, I beg of you never to forget to pray for your poor father
+and mother when they are not capable of helping themselves: so I take
+leave of you, hoping to meet you in heaven, to be happy for all
+eternity.
+
+"Your affectionate mother,
+"ANN BUTLER."
+
+Though our author's memory for the recollection of dates was, in his
+very earliest years, remarkable, he found, when he first came to the
+college, great difficulty in learning his lessons by heart; so that, to
+enable him to repeat them in the school as well as the other boys, he
+was obliged to rise long before the college hour. By perseverance,
+however, he overcame this disheartening difficulty. Even while he was in
+the lowest schools, he was respected for his virtue and learning. One of
+his school-fellows writes thus of him: "The year after Mr. Alban
+Butler's arrival at Douay, I was placed in the same school, under the
+same master, he being in the first class of rudiments, as it is there
+called, and I in the lowest. My youth and sickly constitution moved his
+innate goodness to pay me every attention in his power; and we soon
+contracted an intimacy that gave me every opportunity of observing his
+conduct, and of being fully acquainted with his sentiments. No one
+student in the college was more humble, more devout, more exact in every
+duty, more obedient or mortified. He was never reproved or punished but
+once; and then for a fault of which he was not guilty. This undeserved
+treatment he received with silence, patience, and humility. In the hours
+alloted to play he rejoiced in the meanest employments assigned to him
+by his companions, as to fetch their balls, run on their errands, &c.
+&c. Though often treated with many indignities by his thoughtless
+companions, on purpose to try his patience, he never was observed to
+show the lest resentment, but bore all with meekness and patience. By
+the frequent practice of these virtues he had attained so perfect
+evenness of temper, that his mind seemed never ruffled with the least
+emotion of anger. He restricted himself in every thing to the strictest
+bounds of necessity. Great part of his monthly allowance of
+pocket-money, and frequently of his daily food, went to the poor. So
+perfectly had he subjected the flesh to the spirit, that he seemed to
+feel no resistance from his senses in the service of God and his
+neighbor."
+
+As he advanced in age his learning and virtue became more and more
+conspicuous. Monsieur Pellison,[1] in his life of the famous Huet,
+bishop of Avranches, observes, that "from his tenderest youth he gave
+himself to study; that at his rising, his going to bed, and during his
+meal, he was reading, or had others to read to him; that neither the
+fire of youth, the interruption of business, the variety of his
+employments, the society of his friends, nor the bustle of the world,
+could ever moderate his ardor of study." The same may be said of our
+author. He generally allowed himself no more than four hours sleep, and
+often passed whole nights in study and prayer. All his day was spent in
+reading. When he was alone, he read; when he was in company, he read; at
+his meals, he read; in his walks, he read; when he was in a carriage, he
+read; when he was on horseback, he read; whatever he did, he read. It
+was his custom to make abridgments of the principal works he perused,
+and to copy large extracts from them; several bulky volumes {017} of
+them have fallen into the hands of the editor. Many were surprised to
+see the rapidity with which he read, or rather ran through books, and at
+the same time acquired a full and accurate knowledge of their contents.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Histoire de l'Académie, 1 vol. 102.
+
+II
+
+After our author had completed the usual course of study, he was
+admitted as alumnus of Douay college, and appointed _professor of
+philosophy_. The Newtonian system of philosophy was about that time
+gaining ground in the foreign universities. He adopted it, in part, into
+the course of philosophy which he dictated to the students. He read and
+considered with great attention the metaphysical works of Woolfe and
+Leibnitz. He did not admire them, and thought the system of
+pre-established harmony laid down in them irreconcilable with the
+received belief or opinions of the Roman Catholic church on the soul;
+and that much of their language, though susceptible of a fair
+interpretation, conveyed improper notions, or, at least, sounded
+offensively to Catholic ears. The late Mr. John Dunn, his contemporary
+at the college, frequently mentioned to the editor the extreme caution
+which our author used in inserting any thing new in his dictates,
+particularly on any subject connected with any tenet of religion. After
+teaching a course of philosophy, he was appointed _professor of
+divinity_. On this part of his life the editor has been favored by a
+gentleman deservedly damed for his erudition and piety, the reverend
+Robert Bannister, with a long letter, of which the reader is presented
+with an extract.
+
+"I was contemporary with Mr. Alban Butler in Douay college eight years;
+viz. from October, 1741 to October, 1749. But as I was but a boy the
+greater part of that time, I had not any intimacy with him, nor was I
+capable of knowing any thing concerning his interior, the manner of his
+prayer, or the degrees to which he ascended in it, or any extraordinary
+communications or elevations to which the Holy Ghost, the great master
+and teacher of contemplation, might raise him. All that I can say is,
+that he opened Douay college great door to me and a gentleman whom I
+knew not, but who was so good as to bring me from Lisle in his coach, on
+Sunday between ten and eleven, the 15th of October, 1741; and the first
+sight of him appeared to me then so meek and so amiable, that I thought
+I would choose him for my ghostly father; but another, I suppose in
+rotation, adopted me. Mr. Alban was my sole master in my first year of
+divinity in 1749, and dictated the two treatises _De Decalogo et De
+Incarnatione_; he also presided over my defensions upon those two
+treatises, and over Mr. James Talbot's (the late bishop of London) upon
+universal divinity. As to heroic acts of virtue, which strike with
+admiration all that see or hear of them, I cannot recollect more than a
+uniform, constant observance of all the duties of a priest, professor,
+and confessarius. He was always at morning meditations, seldom omitted
+the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the mass, which he said with a
+heavenly composure, sweetness, and recollection; studying and teaching
+assiduously, dictating with an unwearied patience so equally and
+leisurely, that every one could, if he wished to do it, write his
+dictates in a clear and legible hand; nor do I remember that he ever
+sent a substitute to dictate for him; so exact and punctual he was in
+his duty as a professor. I never knew one more ready to go to the
+confession-seat, at the first intimation of any, even the least or
+youngest boy. He heard his penitents with wonderful meekness; and his
+penetration, learning, judgment, and piety, were such as to move them to
+place in him a singular confidence. He frequently visited the military
+hospital, to instruct, exhort, and hear the confessions of Irish
+soldiers. He sometimes assembled a number of them (when they happened to
+be quartered in Douay) in the college-church of St. Thomas of
+Canterbury, and preached to them. In one of his sermons I remember he
+told them, for their example and encouragement, that there are more
+soldiers saints than of any other vocation, or state, or condition. As
+poor, and often distressed, Irish men and women frequently came to
+Douay, he was always ready to relieve them, and administer both corporal
+and spiritual succors. It can never be forgotten what attention,
+solicitude, and care he had, in the year 1745, of our English soldiers,
+wounded and maimed, who were brought prisoners to Douay, and quartered
+in the barracks, in great numbers, after the battle of Fontenoy. He
+animated both by words and example all the young priests, and all in
+holy orders at the college, to visit them, to instruct and instil into
+them serious thoughts of saving their souls by embracing the only saving
+faith, and by true repentance.{018} He also procured for them temporal
+succor and relief so beneficently, that the duke of Cumberland, then
+generalissimo of the British and allied armies, being informed of it,
+promised him a special protection whensoever he came over into England.
+Scarce any thing affords one a better proof of Mr. Alban's eminent
+spirit of piety and great understanding, discretion, and light in
+spiritual matters, than his familiarity and friendship with M. Jean
+Baptiste de Villérs, president of the seminary des Evéques in the
+university of Douay, who died October the 7th, 1746, the death of a
+saint, after having lived the life of one for seventy-eight years. This
+M. de Villérs was eminent in all supernatural and moral virtues, but he
+concealed them under an amiable simplicity, and a plain unaffected
+behavior or exterior, unless charity and zeal for the glory of God and
+salvation of souls required their open and full exertion; and,
+notwithstanding his great learning, (which he had acquired by an
+excellent genius and diligent application to sacred studies,) and his
+great and solid fund of piety, he was as docile as an infant; so
+timorous and diffident of his own judgment, that he would neither do nor
+decide any thing without counsel. With this sentiment of diffidence and
+humility, he often visited (says M. Leroy, the faithful imitator and
+writer of the history of his life) a young professor, a foreigner, (that
+is, Alban Butler,) and passed an hour or two in his company in the
+afternoon, once every week, and sometimes twice, several years, until
+his edifying death. Their conversation together was solely about various
+points of morality; about the direction of souls, and the method of
+arriving at perfection in every action and intention; how to teach
+devout persons a habit of making continual aspirations to God, by acts
+of love, oblation, entire sacrifice of their hearts, of humility, &c. M.
+de Villérs would not suffer more than half a small fagot to be kindled
+for him in the severest weather, saying to Mr. Alban, 'the other part
+may serve some poor person.' As to wine, or any other liquor, he never
+drank any but at meal-time. I remember to have heard an instance of Mr.
+Alban's meekness, for I am not a witness of it. When he was presiding
+over one of his students in divinity in the public hall of Douay
+college, a disputant, who was probably much offended at some proposition
+in the thesis, as being opposite to some favorite opinion of his school
+or religious family, said to him with intolerable rudeness, _habes mel
+in ore, sed fel in corde_: to which he made no reply, nor showed the
+least resentment. Mr. Alban Butler was totally averse to the system of
+probabilism, and to all assertions that favor laxity in morale. This is
+evident from the dictates which he delivered to us, from his treatise
+_De Decalogo, de actibus humanis_, in his _Epitome moralis
+sacramentorum_, &c. It is still more evident from his _Epitome de sex
+prioribus conciliis [oe]cumenicis in calce tractanus de Incarnatione_, that
+he had the highest veneration for the holy see, and for him who sits in
+the chair of St. Peter; that he constantly held and maintained the
+rights and singular prerogatives of St. Peter and his successors, in
+calling, presiding over, and confirming general or [oe]cumenical councils;
+the pope's superiority over the whole church, and over the whole college
+of bishops, and over a general council; the irreformability of his
+doctrinal decisions in points of faith and morale; his supreme power to
+dispense (when there is cause) in the canons of general councils; in
+short, the plenitude of his authority over the whole chorus, without
+exception or limitation, _Nihil excipitur ubi distinguitur nihil_."
+
+III.
+
+From the letter of which we have presented the reader with an extract,
+it appears what our author's sentiments were on the nature and extent of
+the spiritual power of the see of Rome. It has frequently been said that
+he was the editor of doctor Hulden's _Analysis Fidei_: had this been the
+fact, it would have been a strong proof of an alteration of his
+sentiments on those points; but, after particular inquiry, the editor
+finds the assertion to be wholly unfounded.
+
+On the celebrated questions, _Of the infallibility of the Pope, and his
+right to the deposing power_, our author thus expresses himself in one
+of his letters on Mr. Bower's History of the Popes; "Mr. Bower having
+been educated in the Catholic schools, could not but know that, though
+some private divine think that the pope, by the assistance of some
+special providence, cannot err in the decisions of faith solemnly
+published by him, with the mature advice of his council, or of the
+clergy or divines of his church, yet that this is denied by others; and
+that the learned Bossuet, and many others, especially of the school of
+Sorbon, have written warmly {019} against that opinion; and that no
+Catholic looks upon it as an article or term of communion. It is the
+infallibility of the whole church, whether assembled in a general
+council, or dispersed over the world, of which they speak in their
+controversial disputations. Yet this writer, at every turn, confounds
+these two things together only to calumniate and impose on the public.
+If he had proved that some popes had erred in faith, he would have no
+more defeated the article of supremacy, than he would disinherit a king
+by arraigning him of bad policy. The Catholic faith teaches the pope to
+be the supreme pastor of the church established by Christ, and that this
+church, founded by Christ on a rock, shall never be overcome by hell, or
+cease to be his true spouse. For he has promised that his true Spirit
+shall direct it in all truth to the end of the world. But Mr. Bower
+never found the infallibility of the pope in our creed; and knows very
+well that no such article is proposed by the church, or required of any
+one. Therefore the whole chain of his boastings which is conducted
+through the work falls to the ground.
+
+"What he writes against the deposing power in popes, certainly cannot be
+made a reproach against the Catholics of England, France, Spain, &c. It
+is a doctrine neither taught nor tolerated in any Catholic kingdom that
+I know of, and which many Catholics write as warmly against as Mr. Bower
+could wish."
+
+IV.
+
+While our author continued at the college of Douay, his first
+publication made its appearance: this was his _Letters on the History of
+the Popes, published by Mr. Archibald Bower_. That gentleman had entered
+into the society of Jesus, and acquired a reputation for learning and
+talents. He came into England, embraced the religion of the established
+church, and endeavored to recommend himself to the favor of his new
+friends by his History of the Lives of the Popes. He also published an
+account of his escape from Italy, and of his motives for quitting it.
+The truth of the account became a subject of controversy. It was
+disbelieved, not only by Catholics but by Protestants. Dr. Douglas, the
+present bishop of Salisbury, wrote an excellent pamphlet to expose its
+falsehood and absurdity. It carried great improbability on the face of
+it. Mr. Bower was a lively writer, and defended himself with adroitness;
+but he was not equal to the composition of the history which he
+undertook to write. He was of the numerous list of authors who, when
+they sit down to write, have to learn what they shall write, rather than
+to write what they have already learned. The errors which our author
+exposes in his letters are sometimes the errors of a very young writer.
+The letters are written with ease and good-humor; they show various and
+extensive learning, a vigorous and candid mind. They met with universal
+applause.
+
+V.
+
+In the year 1745, our author accompanied the late earl of Shrewsbury and
+the honorable James Talbot and Thomas Talbot on their travels through
+France and Italy. He wrote a full, entertaining, and interesting account
+of them. As it will be published, the editor makes no extracts from it
+in this place. He was always solicitous that the noble personages
+committed to his care should see whatever deserved attention, and be
+introduced to persons distinguished by their rank, talents, or virtue.
+He drew out for them a comparative view of the Greek, Roman, and Gothic
+architecture; an account of the different schools of painting; and an
+abridgment of the lives, and remarks on the different characters, of the
+most eminent painters. These will be found in his travels. He kept them
+from all stage entertainments: "The stage entertainments," he says, in
+one of his letters, "I can give no account of, as we never would see
+any; they being certainly very dangerous, and the school of the passions
+and sin, most justly abhorred by the church and the fathers. Among us,
+Collier, Law, &c.; among the French, the late prince of Condi, Doctor
+Voisin, Nicole, &c., have said enough to satisfy any Christian; though
+Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Chrysostom, are still more implacable
+enemies of the stage. However, we saw the stages for their architecture,
+where this was curious." His opinion of the evil tendency of stage
+entertainments continued with him through life.
+
+VI.
+
+On his return from his travels _our author was sent on the English
+mission._ He {020} had long been engaged in his great work of the _Lives
+of the Saints_, and was then bringing it to a conclusion. He naturally,
+therefore, wished to be settled in London, for the convenience of its
+public libraries, and the opportunities it affords of intercourse with
+men of letters. But the vicar-apostolic of the middle district claimed
+him as belonging to that district, and appointed him to a mission in
+Staffordshire. This was a severe mortification to our author; he
+respectfully remonstrated; but the vicar-apostolic was inexorable, and
+required his immediate obedience. A gentleman who lived in the same
+house with him at the time, has mentioned to the editor, that he was
+with him when the summons came; and that on receiving it, he appeared
+much hurt, retired for half an hour to his oratory, and soon after set
+off for his country mission.
+
+From Staffordshire he removed to Warkworth, the seat of Francis Eyre,
+esquire, to whom these sheets are dedicated. He had the highest opinion
+of a good missioner, and frequently declared that he knew of no
+situation so much to be envied, while the missioner had a love of his
+duties, and confined himself to them: none so miserable, when the
+missioner had lost the love of them, and was fond of the pleasures of
+life. "Such a one," he used to say, "would seldom have the means of
+gratifying his taste for pleasure; he would frequently find that, in
+company, if he met with outward civility, he was the object of silent
+blame; and that if he gave pleasure as a companion, no one would resort
+to him as a priest." He had a manuscript written by a Mr. Cox, an
+English missioner, who lived in the beginning of the present century, in
+which these sentiments were expressed forcibly and with great feeling:
+he often mentioned it. But no person was less critical on the conduct of
+others, none exacted less from them, than our author. He was always at
+the command of a fellow-clergyman, and ready to do him every kind of
+good office. To the poor, his door was always open. When he resided in
+London, in quality of chaplain to the duke of Norfolk, he was under no
+obligation, strictly speaking, of attending to any person except the
+duke himself and his family; but he was at the call of every one who
+wanted any spiritual or temporal assistance which it was in his power to
+afford. The poor, at length, flocked to him in such numbers that, much
+in opposition to his wishes, his brother, with whom he then lived, was
+obliged to give general orders that none of them should be admitted to
+him. He was ever ready to oblige. Moss. Olivet relates of Huet, the
+bishop of Avranches, that he was so absorbed in his studies as sometimes
+to neglect his pastoral duties; that once a poor peasant waited on him
+respecting some matter of importance, and was refused admittance, "his
+lordship being at his studies:" upon which the peasant retired,
+muttering, with great indignation, "that he hoped they should ever have
+another bishop who had not finished his studies before he came among
+them;" but our author's "being at his studies," was never a reason with
+him for refusing to see any one. It was often unpleasant to observe how
+much his good-humor, in this respect, was abused.
+
+VII.
+
+Our author did not remain long in Staffordshire. Edward, duke of
+Norfolk, (to whom the present duke is second in succession,) applied to
+the late Mr. Challoner for a person to be his chaplain, and to
+_superintend the education of Mr. Edward Howard_, his nephew and
+presumptive heir. Mr. Challoner fixed upon our author to fill that
+situation. His first residence, after he was appointed to it, was at
+Norwich in a house generally called the duke's palace. Thither some
+large boxes of books belonging to him were directed, but by mistake were
+sent to the bishop's palace. The bishop opened them, and finding them
+fall of Roman Catholic books, refused to deliver them. It has been
+mentioned, that after the battle of Fontenoy, our author was very active
+in serving the English prisoners, and that the duke of Cumberland
+returned him thanks for his conduct, and made him an offer of his
+services, if he should have occasion for them after his return to
+England. On this seizure of his books, our author applied to the duke;
+his highness immediately wrote to the bishop, and soon after the books
+were sent to their owner.
+
+Mr. Edward Howard, by our author's advice, was first sent to the School
+of the English clergy, at a small village near Douay, called Esquerchin,
+of which the most pious and respectable Mr. Tichborne Blunt was
+president. After some years he was sent to complete his education at
+Paris; and thither our author accompanied him. Mr. Edward Howard was the
+Marcellus of the English Catholics; {021} never did a noble youth raise
+greater expectations; but he was suddenly taken ill and died after an
+illness of a few days. On that melancholy occasion the family expressed
+great pleasure in the recollection of the religious education he had
+received from our author.
+
+VIII.
+
+During our author's stay at Paris he finally completed and sent to the
+press his great work on the _Lives of the Saints_. We have seen that,
+from his tenderest years, he had discovered his turn for sacred
+biography. At a very early period of his life he conceived the plan of
+his work; and from that time pursued it with undeviating attention. He
+qualified himself for an able execution of it, by unremitted application
+to every branch of profane or sacred literature connected with it. He
+was, a perfect master of the Italian, Spanish, and French languages. The
+last he spoke and wrote with fluency and purity. He was also perfect
+master of the Latin and Greek languages. At an advanced period of his
+life he mentioned to the editor that he could then understand the works
+of St. John Chrysostom as easily in the original as in the Latin
+interpretation; but that the Greek of Saint Gregory Nazianzen was too
+difficult for him. A few years before he died he amused himself with an
+inquiry into the true pronunciation of tee Greek language, and in
+preparing for the press some sheets of an intended Greek grammar. To
+attain that degree of knowledge of the Greek language is given to few:
+Menage mentions that he was acquainted with three persons only who could
+read a Greek writer without an interpreter. Our author had also some
+skill in the oriental languages. In biblical reading, in positive
+divinity, in canon law, in the writings of the fathers, in
+ecclesiastical antiquities, and in modern controversy, the depth and
+extent of his erudition are unquestionable. He was also skilled in
+heraldry: every part of ancient and modern geography was familiar to
+him. He had advanced tar beyond the common learning of the schools in
+the different branches of philosophy; and even in botany and medicine he
+was deeply read. In this manner he had qualified himself to execute the
+work he undertook.
+
+IX.
+
+The present section is intended to give _An account of some of the
+principal works he consulted in the composition of it_. It will contain,
+1st, some remarks on the attention of the church, during the early ages
+of Christianity, to preserve the memory of the martyrs and saints: 2dly,
+some account of the acts of the martyrs; 3dly, some account of the
+sacred calendars: 4thly, some account of the Martyrologies: 5thly, some
+account of the Menæon and Menologies of the Greek church; 6thly, some
+account of the early Agiographists: 7thly, some account of the
+Bollandists: and, 8thly, some account of the process of the
+beatification and canonization of saints.
+
+IX. 1. The Roman Catholic church has ever been solicitous _that the
+lives and miracles of those who have been eminent for their sanctify
+should be recorded for the edification of the faithful_. St. Clement the
+Second, successor of St. Peter in the see of Rome, is said to have
+divided the fourteen districts of that city among seven notaries,
+assigning two districts to each of them, with directions to form a
+minute and accurate account of the martyrs who suffered within them.
+About one hundred and fifty years from that time, pope Fabian put the
+notaries under the care of deacons and subdeacons. The same attention to
+the actions and sufferings of the martyrs was shown in the provinces. Of
+this, the letter of the church of Smyrna, giving an account of the
+martyrdom of St. Polycarp, the letter of the churches of Lyons and
+Vienne, giving an account of the martyrs who suffered in those cities;
+and the letter of St. Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandra, to Fabius, the
+bishop of Antioch, on the martyrs who suffered under the emperor Decius,
+are remarkable instances. "Our ancestors," says Pontius, in the
+beginning of the acts of St. Cyprian, "held those who suffered
+martyrdom, though only catechumens, or of the lowest rank, in such
+veneration, as to commit to writing almost every thing that related to
+them." Nor was this attention confined to those who obtained the crown
+of martyrdom. Care was taken that the lives of all should be written who
+were distinguished by their virtues, particularly if they had been
+favored with the gift of miracles.
+
+IX. 2. The lives of the martyrs and saints, written in this manner, were
+called _their acts_. They were often collected into volumes. One of the
+earliest of these {022} collections was made by Eusebius, the father of
+church history. Some of the lives he inserted in the body of his great
+historical work: he also published a separate collection of them; it was
+greatly esteemed, but has not reached our time: many others were
+published. These accounts of the virtues and sufferings of the martyrs
+were received by the faithful with the highest respect. They considered
+them to afford a glorious proof of the truth of the Christian faith, and
+of the holiness and sublimity of its doctrines. They felt themselves
+stimulated by them to imitate the heroic acts of virtue and constancy
+which they placed before their eyes, and to rely on the assistance of
+heaven when their own hour of trial should arrive. Thus the vocal blood
+of the martyrs was a powerful exhortation, both to induce the infidel to
+embrace the faith of Christ, and to incite the faithful to the practice
+of its precepts. The church, therefore, always recommended the frequent
+reading of the acts of the martyrs, and inserted the mention of them in
+her liturgy. This Ruinart proves by many examples: he also shows that
+the greatest care was taken to procure the genuine acts of the martyrs;
+or, when they could not be had, to procure exact accounts of their
+trials and sufferings. By this means the church was in possession of
+authentic histories of the persecutions she had suffered, and through
+which she had finally triumphed over paganism, and of particular
+accounts of the principal sufferers. The greatest part of them was lost
+in the general wreck which sacred and profane literature suffered from
+the barbarians who overturned the Roman empire. In every age, however,
+some were found who carefully preserved whatever they could save of
+those sacred treasures. Copies were frequently made of them; and this in
+this, as in every other important branch of Christian learning, the
+chain of tradition has been left unbroken. Much, however, of these
+sacred documents of church history has been irretrievably lost; and,
+speaking generally, the remaining part came down to us in an imperfect
+state. Hence Vives, at the end of the fifteenth century, exclaimed,
+"What a shame it is to the Christian world, that the acts of our martyrs
+have not been published with greater truth and accuracy!" The important
+task of publishing them in that manner was at length undertaken by Dom
+Ruinart, a Maurist monk, in his _Acta primorum martyrum sincera et
+selecta_. He executed it in a manner that gained him universal applause.
+His prefatory discourse, respecting the number of martyrs, has been
+generally admired. An invaluable accession to this branch of sacred
+literature was published by Stephen Evodius Assemani, in two volumes
+folio, at Rome in 1748. The title of the work expresses its contents:
+"_Acta Sanctorum Martyrum orientalium et occidentalium editore Stephano
+Evodio Assemano, que textum Chaldaicum recensuit, notis vocalibus
+animavit, Latine vertit, et annotationibus illustravit_." It is to be
+observed, that the eastern and western martyrs mentioned in this place,
+are not the martyrs of the eastern of Greek church, and the martyrs of
+the Latin or western church, in which sense the words eastern and
+western are generally used by ecclesiastical writers. By the eastern
+martyrs, Assemani denotes the martyrs who suffered in the countries
+which extend from the eastern bank of the Euphrates, over Mesopotamia
+and Chaldea to the Tigris and the parts beyond it; by the western, he
+denotes the martyrs who suffered in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Stephen
+Assemani was the nephew of Joseph Assemani, whose Kalendaria will be
+mentioned in another place. Joseph was first præfect of the Vatican
+library; Stephen was archbishop of Apamea; both of them were Maronite
+monks, and sent into the east by pope Clement XII. to purchase
+manuscripts.
+
+IX. 3. It was the pious custom of the early Christians to celebrate
+yearly the memory of the martyrs, on the days on which they suffered. On
+that day the martyr was considered to be born to a life of glory and
+immortality, and, with respect to that second life, it was called the
+day of his birth. The different churches, therefore, were careful to
+preserve an exact account of the particular days on which the martyrs
+obtained the crown of martyrdom. The book which contained this account
+was called a _Calendar_. At first the calendar contained the mention of
+the martyrs only; but, in the course of time, the confessors, or those
+who, without arriving at the glory of martyrdom, had confessed their
+faith in Christ by their heroic virtues, were admitted to the same
+honor. The calendars were preserved in the churches; a calendar of the
+Church of Rome was published by Boucher; another by Leo Alatius; a third
+by Joannes Fronto, chancellor of Paris, and canon regular of the church
+of St. Genevieve at Paris. A most ancient calendar of the church of
+Carthage was published by Mabillon. But under this head no publication
+is more respectable than Joseph Assemani's _Kalendaria Ecclesiæ universæ
+notis illustrata._
+
+{023}
+
+IX. 4. The calendars gave rise to the _Martyrologies_; the object of
+them was to collect, in one volume, from the calendars of the different
+churches, the names of the martyrs and confessors throughout the world,
+with a brief mention of the day of their decease, and the place in which
+they suffered, or which they had illustrated by their birth, their
+residence, their rank, or their virtues. The Roman Martyrology is
+mentioned in the following terms by St. Gregory, (Lib. 8. Epist. Indict.
+1.) in a letter to Eulogius, the bishop of Alexandria: "We," says his
+holiness, "have the names of almost all the martyrs collected into one
+volume, and referred to the days on which they suffered; and we
+celebrate the solemn sacrifice of the mass daily in their honor. But our
+calendar does not contain the particulars of their sufferings; it only
+mentions their names, and the place and time of their martyrdom." The
+Roman calendar seems to have been adopted generally through the western
+church. It certainly was received in England. At the council held at
+Shovesham in 747, by Cuthbert, the archbishop of Canterbury, it was
+ordered, "That throughout the year, the feasts of the saints should be
+celebrated on the days appointed by the Martyrology of the church of
+Rome, with the proper psalms." It was once generally believed to have
+been composed by St. Jerom; but this opinion is now universally
+rejected. It suffered much in the middle ages. Pope Gregory XIII.,
+immediately after he had completed the great work of reforming the
+calendar, used the most earnest endeavors to procure a correct edition
+of the Roman Martyrology. He committed the care of it to some of the
+most distinguished writers of his time on ecclesiastical subjects. Among
+them, Bellarmin, Baronius, and Gavant deserve particular mention. With
+this edition Baronius himself was not satisfied. He published another
+edition in 1586: and afterwards, at the instigation of cardinal Sirlet,
+published a still more correct edition, with notes, in 1598. He prefixed
+to his edition a dissertation, in which he appears to have exhausted the
+subject. A further correction of the Roman Martyrology was made by pope
+Urban VIII. They were all surpassed by that published by pope Benedict
+XIV., at Cologne, in 1751. But the most useful edition is that published
+at Paris, in 1661, by father Lubin, an Augustinian friar. It is
+accompanied with excellent notes and geographical tables. Politus, an
+Italian divine, published, in 1751, the first volume of a new edition of
+the Roman Martyrology. It comprises the month of January, but the plan
+of annotation is so extended, that it fills five hundred folio pages of
+the smallest print; from the time of Drackenborch's edition of Livy, so
+prolix a commentary had not been seen. Among other principal
+Martyrologies, is that of the _Venerable Bede_. After several faulty
+editions of it had appeared, it was correctly published by Henschenius
+and Papebroke, and afterwards by Smith, at the end of his edition of
+Bede's Ecclesiastical History. Notwithstanding Bede's great and deserved
+celebrity, the Martyrology of _Usuard_, a Benedictine monk, was in more
+general use; he dedicated it to Charles the Bald, and died about 875. It
+was published by Solerius at Antwerp, in 1714, and by Dom Bouillard, in
+1718; but the curious still seek for the earlier edition by Molanus, in
+1568, as, in the subsequent editions, some parts of it were omitted.
+Another Martyrology of renown is that of _Ado_; he was archbishop of
+Vienne, in Dauphiné, and died in 875. The best edition of it is that by
+Roswede, in 1613, published at Rome in 1745.--Such have been the
+exertions of the church of Rome, to perpetuate the memory of those who
+have illustrated her by their virtues. During the most severe
+persecutions, in the general wreck of the arts and sciences, in the
+midst of the public and private calamities which attended the
+destruction of the Roman empire, the providence of God always raised
+some pious and enlightened men, who preserved the deposit of faith, sod
+transmitted to future times the memory of whatever had been most
+virtuous in former ages or their own.
+
+IX. 5. The Greek church has also shown great attention to preserve the
+memory of the holy martyrs and saints. This appears from her Menæon and
+Monologue. The Menæon is divided into twelve months, and each month is
+contained in a volume. All the saints, whose festivals occur in that
+month, have their proper day assigned to them in it: the rubric of the
+divine office, to be performed on that day, is mentioned; the
+particulars of the office follow; an account of the life and actions of
+the saint is inserted; and sometimes an engraving of him is added. If it
+happen that the saint has not his peculiar office, a prose or hymn in
+his praise in generally introduced. The greater solemnities have an
+appropriate office. From this the intelligent reader will observe that
+the Menæon of the Greeks is {024} nearly the same as a work would be,
+which should unite in itself the Missal and Breviary of the Roman
+Catholic church. It was printed in twelve volumes in folio at Venice.
+Bollandus mentions that Raderus, a Tyrolese Jesuit, had translated the
+whole of the Menæon, and pronounced it to be free from schism or heresy.
+
+_The Menologium_ answers to the Latin Martyrology. There are several
+Menologia, as, at different times, great alterations have been made in
+them. But the ground-word of them all is the same, so that they are
+neither wholly alike nor wholly different. A translation of a Menologium
+into Latin by cardinal Sirlet, was published by Henry Canisius, in the
+third volume of his _Lectiones Antiquæ_. The Greek original, with a new
+version, was published by Annibal Albani, at Urbino, in 1727. From these
+works it is most clear that the Greek church invokes the saints, and
+implores their intercession with God: "_Haud obscure ostendit_," says
+Walchius, "_Græcos eo cultu prosequi homines in sanctorum ordinem
+ascriptos, ut ilios incocent_." Bib. Theologica, vol. iii. 668. From the
+Menæon, and the Menologium, Raderus published a collection of pious and
+entertaining narratives, under the title of _Viridarum Sanctorum_. It is
+to be wished that some gentleman would employ his leisure in a
+translation of it. We should then be furnished, from the works of the
+Agiographists of the eastern church, with a collection of pious and
+instructing narratives, similar to those in the well-known _Histoires
+Choisies_. One of the most curious articles inserted in the _Acta
+Sanctorum_ of the Bollandists, is the _Muscovite or Russian Calendar_,
+with the engravings of the saints. It was first published by father
+Possevin. He praises the Russians for the great attention to decency
+which they observe in their pictures and engravings of holy subjects. He
+mentions that the Russians, who accompanies him in his return to Rome,
+observed with surprise in the Italian paintings of saints, a want of the
+like attention. Father Papebroke, when he cites this passage, adopts the
+remark, and loudly calls on Innocent XII. to attend to the general
+decency of all public paintings and statues. _A Greek Calendar of the
+Saints_ in hexameter verse accompanies the Russian Calendar, in the
+_Acta Sanctorum_; both are illustrated with notes by father Pane broke.
+
+IX. 6. We proceed to the _Lives of the Saints_, written by individuals.
+For these our attention must be first directed to the Agiographists of
+the Greek church. The eighth century may be considered as the period
+when Grecian literature had reached its lowest state of depression; in
+the ninth, Bardas Cæsar, the brother of the empress Theodora, protected
+letters; from that time they were constantly cultivated by the Greeks;
+so that Constantinople, utile it was taken by Mahomet, was never without
+its historians, poets, or philosophers. Compared with the writings of
+the ancients, their compositions seem lifeless and unnatural; we look
+among them in vain either for original genius or successful imitation.
+Still they are entitled to our gratitude; many of the precious remains
+of antiquity have come down to us only in their extracts and
+abridgments; and their voluminous compilations have transmitted to us
+much useful information which has no other existence. Sacred biography,
+in particular, has great obligations to them. The earliest work on that
+subject we owe to the care which the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus
+bestowed on the literary education of his son; an example which, at the
+distance of about six hundred years, was successfully rivalled by the
+elegant edition of the Delphin Classics, published under the aspics of
+Lewis XIV. But the Greek emperor had this advantage over the French
+monarch, that he himself was the author of some of the works published
+for the use of his son. In the first (published by Lerch and Reisch at
+Leipsic, in 1751) he described the ceremonial of the Byzantine court;
+the second (published by Banduri, in his _Imperium Orientale_) is a
+geographical survey of the provinces, or, as he calls them, the
+_Themata_ of the empire; the third, which some ascribe to the emperor
+Leo, his father, describes the prevailing system of military tactics;
+the forth delineates the political relations and intercourse of the
+court of Byzantium with the other states. His Geoponics (published by
+Nicholas Niclas at Leipsic, in 1731, in two volumes, 8vo.) were written
+with a view of instructing his subjects in agriculture. By his
+direction, a collection of historical examples of vice and virtue was
+compiled in fifty-three books, and _Simeon Metaphrastes_, the great
+logothete, or chancellor of the empire, composed his Lives of the
+Saints. Several of them were published, with a Latin translation, by the
+care of Lipoman, the bishop of Verona. Cardinal Bellarmin accuses
+Metaphrastes of giving too much loose to his imagination. "He inserts,"
+{025} says the cardinal, "such accounts of conversations of the martyrs
+with their persecutors, and such accounts of conversions of bystanders,
+as exceed belief. He mentions many and most wonderful miracles on the
+destruction of the temples and idols, and on the death of the
+persecutors, of which nothing is said by the ancient historians." We
+next come to _Jacobus de Voragine_, a Dominican friar and archbishop of
+Genoa, in 1292. His _Golden Legend_ was the delight of our ancestors
+during the ages which preceded the revival of letters. The library of no
+monastery was without it. Like the essays of Montaigne, it was to be
+found on the shelf of every private person; and, for a long time after
+the invention of printing, no work more often issued from the press.
+After enjoying the highest degree of reputation, it lost much of its
+celebrity, in consequence of the Lives of Saints published by
+_Mombritius_ in two immense volumes, in folio, about the year 1480, from
+manuscripts in the library of the church of St. John of Lateran and in
+consequence of the Lives of Saints published by _Surius_, a Carthusian
+monk. The first edition of Surius's work was published in 1570-75, in
+six volumes; the second appeared in 1578, the third and most complete
+was published, in twelve volumes, in 1615. That he frequently shows too
+much credulity, and betrays a want of taste, must be admitted; but his
+works are allowed to breathe a spirit of piety; his candor, and desire
+to be accurate, are discernible in every part of his writings; and his
+learning, for the age in which he lived, was considerable. In
+_Ribadeneira_ the line of ancient Agiographists respectably finishes.
+
+While candor and good taste must allow that, even in the Lest of the
+compilations we have mentioned, there is a great want of critical
+discernment, and that they are wholly deficient in elegance, and the
+artificial beauties of composition, justice requires that their defects
+should not be exaggerated. Still less should an intention to deceive,
+even on the pretence of edification, be imputed to them. Whatever may
+have been either the error or the criminality of some of her members,
+the church herself, in this, as in every other instance, has always
+inculcated the duty of sincerity and truth, and reprobated a deviation
+from them, even on the specious pretence of producing good. On this
+subject our author thus forcibly expresses himself, in one of his
+letters on Mr. Bower's History of the Lives of the Popes: "It is very
+unjust to charge the popes or the Catholic church with countenancing
+knowingly false legends; seeing all the divines of that communion
+unanimously condemn all such forgeries as lies in things of great
+moment, and grievous sins; and all the councils, popes, and other
+bishops, have always expressed the greatest horror of such villanies;
+which no cause or circumstances whatever can authorize, and which, in
+all things relating to religion, are always of the most heinous nature.
+Hence the authors, when detected, have been always punished with the
+utmost severity. Dr. Burnet himself says, that those who feigned a
+revelation at Basil, of which he gives a long detail, with false
+circumstances, in his letters on his travels, were all burnt at stakes
+for it, which we read more exactly related by Surius in his Commentary
+on his own times. The truth is, that many false legends of true martyrs
+were forged by heretics, as were those of St. George, condemned by pope
+Gelasius, as many false gospels were soon after the birth of
+Christianity, of which we have the names of near fifty extant. Other
+wicked or mistaken persons have sometimes been guilty of a like
+imposture. A priest at Ephesus forged acts of St. Paul's voyages, out of
+veneration for that apostle, and was deposed for it by St. John the
+evangelist, as we learn from Tertullian. To instance examples of this
+nature would form a complete history; for the church has always most
+severely condemned all manner of forgeries. Sometimes the more virtuous
+and remote from fraud a person is, the more unwilling he is to suspect
+an imposture in others. Some great and good men have been imposed upon
+by lies, and have given credit to false histories, but without being
+privy to the forgery; and nothing erroneous, dangerous, or prejudicial
+was contained in what they unwarily admitted. However, if credulity in
+private histories was too easy in any former age, certainly skepticism
+and infidelity are the characters of this in which we live. No
+histories, except those of holy scripture, are proposed as parts of
+divine revelation or articles of faith; all others rest upon their bare
+historical authority. They who do not think this good and sufficient in
+any narrations, do well to suggest modestly their reasons; yet may look
+upon them at least as parables, and leave others the liberty of judging
+for themselves without offence. But Mr. Bower says, p. 177, 'The Roman
+Breviary is the most authentic book the {026} church of Rome has, after
+the scripture; it would be less dangerous, at least in Italy, to deny
+any truth revealed in the scripture, than to question any fable related
+in the Breviary.' Catholic divines teach that every tittle in the holy
+scriptures is sacred, divinely inspired, and the word of God dictated by
+the Holy Ghost. Even the definitions of general councils do not enjoy an
+equal privilege; they are indeed the oracles of an unerring guide in the
+doctrine of faith; which guide received, together with the scriptures,
+the true sense and meaning of the articles of faith contained in them;
+and, by the special protection of the Holy Ghost, invariably preserves
+the same by tradition from father to son, according to the promises of
+Christ. But the church receives no new revelation of faith, and adds
+nothing to that which was taught by the apostles: 2dly, Its decisions
+are not supernaturally infallible in matters of fact, as scripture
+histories are, but only in matters of faith. Nor do Catholics say that
+its expressions, even in decisions of faith, are strictly dictated by
+the Holy Ghost, or suggested from him, by any immediate revelation or
+inspiration; but only that the church is directed by his particular
+guidance, according to his divine truths, revealed and delivered to his
+church by his apostles. As to the Roman Breviary, the prayers consist,
+for the greatest part, of the psalms, and other parts of the holy
+scriptures, to which the same respect is due which we pay to the divine
+books. The short lessons from the Homilies, or other works of approved
+fathers, especially those fathers who are mentioned by Gelasius I. in
+his decree, carry with them the authority of their venerable authors. As
+it was the custom in the primitive ages to read, in the churches or
+assemblies, the acts of the most illustrious martyrs, of which frequent
+mention is made in those of St. Polycarp, &c., some short histories of
+the martyrs and other saints have been always inserted in the Breviary,
+to which only an historical assent is due, whence they have been
+sometimes altered and amended. These are chiefly such as are judged
+authentic and probable by the cardinals Baronius and Bellarmin, who
+revised those lessons, in the last correction under Clement VIII.
+Gavant, who was himself one of the revisers of the Breviary, and
+secretary to the congregation, writes thus, (in Breviar. sect. 5, c. 12,
+n. 15, p. 18:) 'The second lessons from the histories of the saints were
+revised by Bellarmin and Baronius, who rejected what could be justly
+called in question: in which difficult task they thought it best to
+restore the truth of history with the least change possible, and to
+retain those things which had a certain degree of probability, and had
+the authority of some grave voucher, though the contrary sentiment had
+perhaps more patrons.' In computing the years of the popes, the
+chronology of Baronius was judged the most exact, and retained.
+Historical facts, nowise revealed or contained in scripture, cannot be
+made an object of divine faith. If edifying histories are inserted in
+the church-office, they stand upon their own credit. Such only ought to
+be chosen which are esteemed authentic. This rule has been always
+followed when any were compiled. If the compilers are found afterwards
+to have been mistaken, it is nowhere forbid to correct them.[1] This has
+been often done by the order of several popes."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Nimia profecto almplicitate peccant qui scandalizantur quoties
+    audiunt aliquid ex jam olim creditia et juxta breviarii prescriptum
+    hodiedum recitandis, in disputationem adduci.--_Diss. Ballandic{e}._
+    vol. 2, p. 140.
+
+IX. 7. Among the _modern collections of the Lives of Saints_, of which
+our authors availed himself, in the work we are speaking of, the
+histories which different religious have written of their own orders,
+hold a distinguished place. But he was indebted to no work so much as
+the _Acta sanctorum of the Bollandists_. That noble collection was first
+projected by Father Roswede of the society of Jesus. He died before he
+had completely digested his plan. Fortunately for the lovers either of
+sacred history or sacred literature, it mm taken up by father Bollandus
+of the same society, and has been carried down to the eleventh day of
+October inclusive. Those who, after Bollandus's decease, succeeded him
+in his undertaking, were from him called Bollandists.
+
+As far as the editor has been able to learn, the work was composed by
+the following authors, and published in the number of volumes and years
+following:
+
+          No. of Vols.    Years of their
+Months.   all in folio.   appearance.            Authors.
+January     Two,           1643 ........... Bollandus and Henschenius
+February    Three,         1658 ........... Bollandus and Henschenius
+March       Three,         1668 ........... Henschenius and
+                                              Papebrochius
+April       Three,         1675 ........... Henschenius and
+                                              Papebrochius
+May         Seven,         1680-1688....... Henschenius, Papebrochius,
+                                              Baertius, and Janningus
+
+{027}
+
+June        Six,           1695--1715...... Henschenius, Papebrochius,
+                                              Baertius, Janningus,
+                                              and Sollerius
+July        Seven,         1719--1731...... Janningus, Sollerius,
+                                              Pinius, Cuperius, and
+                                              Boschinus.
+August      Six,           1733--1743...... Sollerius, Pinius,
+                                              Cuperius, Boschius, and
+                                              Stiltingus
+September   Eight,         1746--1762...... Pinius, Stiltingus,
+                                              Limpenus, Veldius,
+                                              Suyskenius, Pericrius,
+                                              and Cleus.
+October     Five           1765--1786...... Stiltingus, Suyskenius,
+                                              Perierius, Byeus, Boæus,
+                                              Gnesquierus, Hubenus,
+                                              and Fronsonus.
+
+Antwerp was the scene of the labors of the Bollandists. They were
+engaged on them, when the enemies of every thing sacred arrived there
+under Pichegrû. The most eminent of the Bollandists was Father
+Papebroke, a rival of the Petaviuses, the Sirmonds, and Mabillons: one
+of those men who exalt the character of the society to which they
+belong, and the age in which they live. The Spanish Inquisition
+condemned some of the volumes in which he was concerned, but afterwards
+retracted the censure. Several dissertations, replete with various and
+profound erudition, are interspersed in the body of the work; they are
+equally distinguished by the learning, and the soundness and sobriety of
+criticism which appear in them. It would be an irreparable loss to the
+Christian world that the work should not be completed. The principal
+dissertations have been printed, in three volumes folio, at Venice, in
+1749-59. Those who wish to see an account of the controversy which
+produced or was occasioned by the sentence of the Inquisition, may
+consult the _Acta Eruditorum_, 1696, p. 132-500.
+
+IX. 8. Another source of information, of which our author availed
+himself in the composition of his work, was the _Acts of the
+Beatification and Canonization of the Saints_.
+
+The name of _Martyr_ was given by the ancient church to those who had
+suffered death for the faith of Christ; the name of _Confessor_ was
+applied to those who had made a public profession of their faith before
+the persecutors. It was afterwards extended to those who had edified the
+church by their heroic virtues. St. Martin of Tours is generally
+supposed to have been the first saint to whom the title of confessor was
+applied in the last sense.
+
+Originally, every bishop had the privilege of canonizing saints, or
+declaring them entitled to the honors which the Catholic church bestows
+on her saints. The council of Cologne, cited by Ivo of Chartres, forbids
+the faithful to show any public mark of veneration to any modern saint,
+without the permission of the diocesan. A capitulary of Charlemagne in
+801 is to the same effect.
+
+Pope Alexander III. is supposed to have been the first pope who reserved
+the exclusive privilege of canonizing saints to the holy see. It was
+recognised by the church of France at a council at Vienne, in which the
+bishops, addressing themselves to pope Gregory IX., expressly say, "that
+no sanctity, however eminent, authorizes the faithful to honor the
+memory of a saint, without the permission of the holy see."
+
+The present mode of proceeding in the canonization of saints,
+principally takes its rise from the decree of pope Urban VIII., dated
+the 13th of March, 1625. By that he forbade the public veneration of
+every new saint, not beatified or baptized; and particularly ordered
+that no one, even in private, should paint the image of any person,
+whatever might be his reputation for sanctity, with a crown or {}e of
+light round his head; or expose his picture in any sacred place, or
+publish a history of his life, or a relation of his virtues and
+miracles, without the approbation of his diocesan: that if, in a work so
+approved of, the person were called saint, or blessed, those words
+should only be used to denote the general holiness of his life, but not
+to anticipate the general judgment of the church. His holiness adds a
+form of protestation to that effect, which he requires the authors to
+sign, at the beginning and end of their works. This regulation of pope
+Urban is so strictly attended to, that a single proof of the infraction
+of it, and even the omission of a definite sentence that there has been
+no infraction of it, makes the canonization of the saint impossible, and
+invalidates the whole of the proceedings. The only exception is, in
+favor of those saints who are proved to have been immemorially venerated
+for a hundred years and upwards, before 1634, the year in which pope
+Urban's bull was confirmed.
+
+The beatification of a saint is generally considered as a preliminary to
+his canonization. It is a kind of provisional permission, authorizing
+the faithful to honor {028} the memory of the person beatified; but
+qualified as to the place or manner. A decree of pope Alexander VIII. in
+1659, prohibits the faithful from carrying those honors farther than the
+bull of beatification expressly permits.
+
+The proceedings of beatification or canonization are long, rigorous, and
+expensive. 1st, The bishop of the diocese institutes a process, in the
+nature of an information, to inquire into the public belief of the
+virtues and miracles of the proposed, and to ascertain that the decree
+we have mentioned of pope Urban VIII. has been complied with: this
+proceeding begins and ends with the bishop, his sentence being
+conclusive. 2dly, The acts of this proceeding, with the bishop's
+sentence, are sealed up, then taken to the congregation of rites: and
+deposited with the notary. 3dly, The solicitors for the congregation
+petition for publication of the proceedings. 4thly, This is granted; and
+the proceedings, being first legally verified, are opened before the
+cardinal-president of the congregation, 5thly, The pope is then
+requested to refer the business to a particular cardinal to report upon
+it. 6thly, This being granted, the writings of the proposed, if he be
+the author of any, are laid before the cardinal-reporter. 7thly, He
+appoints a commission to assist him, and, with their assistance, makes
+his report. If one formal error against faith, one direct opinion
+contrary to morals, be round in them, it puts a total end to the
+proceedings, unless the author, in his life, expressly retracted it. "A
+general protestation;" says Benedict XIV., "the most sincere submission
+of all opinions to the authority of the Catholic church, saves the
+author from criminality, but does not prevent the effect of this
+rigorous escalation." 8thly, Hitherto the proceedings are not in
+strictness before the pope; but, from this sage of the business, the
+affair wholly devolves on his holiness. He signs a commission to the
+congregation of rites to institute and prosecute the process of
+beatification; but, before this commission is granted, ten years must
+have expired, from the time when the acts of the diocesan were first
+lodged with the congregation of rites. 9thly; The congregation of rites
+appoints commissaries, whom the pope delegates, to inform themselves of
+the virtues and miracles are the proposed. The commissaries usually are
+bishops, and the bishop of the diocese where the proposed is buried is
+usually one of them; but laymen are never employed. The proceedings of
+the commissaries are secret, and carried on and subscribed with the
+strictest order and regularity, and in great form; the last step in
+their proceedings is to visit the tomb of the deceased, and to draw out
+a verbal process of the state in which his remains are found. The
+original of the proceedings is left with the bishops; a legalized copy
+is taken of them, and returned by a sworn courier to the congregation of
+rites. 10thly, The solicitors for the congregation then pray for what is
+called a decree of attribution, or that an inquiry may be made into each
+particular virtue and miracle attributed to the proposed: 11thly, Upon
+this, they proceed to make the inquiry, beginning with the virtues and
+ending with the miracles; but of the former they can take on notice in
+this stage of the business, till fifty years from the time of the
+proposed's decease: in the case of a martyr, his martyrdom alone, with
+proof both of the heroism with which it was suffered, and of its having
+been suffered purely and absolutely in the cause of Christ, is supposed
+to make an inquiry into his virtues unnecessary. 12thly, The final
+determination of the cause is settled in three extraordinary
+congregations, called the antepreparatory, the preparatory, and the
+general. The virtues to be approved of must be of the most heroic kind:
+the number of miracles is, in strictness, limited to two. The pope
+collects the vows of the assembly; and two-thirds of it, at least, must
+agree in opinion, before they come to a resolution. He then pronounces
+what is called a private sentence, before the promoter and the secretary
+of the congregation of St. Peter. 13thly, A general congregation is then
+held, to determine whether it be advisable to proceed to the
+beatification of the proposed. 14thly, Three consistories are afterwards
+held. l5thly, The pope then signs the brief of beatification. The
+publication of it is performed in the church of the Vatican. The
+solicitor for the beatification presents the brief to the
+cardinal-prefect; he remits it to the cardinal-archpriest of the church
+where the ceremony is held. The cardinal-archpriest reads it aloud; the
+Te Deum is sung, a collect in honor of the beatified is read, and mass
+is solemnized in his honor. 16thly, When the proceedings for the
+beatification are completed, the proceedings for the canonization begin.
+But it is necessary that, before any thing be done in them, new miracles
+should be wrought. When the solicitor for the canonization is satisfied
+that he can prove by judicial evidence the existence of these miracles,
+he presents a petition for resuming the {029} cause. 17thly, Three
+congregations extraordinary, a general assembly, and three consistories,
+are held for the purpose of pronouncing on the new miracles, and
+determining whether it be prudent to proceed to canonization. 18thly,
+This being determined upon, the pope issues the brief of canonization,
+and, soon after, the ceremonial follows. It begins by a solemn
+procession: an image of the saint is painted on several banners. When
+the procession arrives at the church where the ceremony is performed,
+the pope seats himself on his throne, and receives the usual homage of
+the court. The solicitor for the cause and the consistorial advocate
+place themselves at the feet of his holiness, and request the
+canonization; the litanies are sung; the request is made a second time;
+the _Veni Creator_ is sung; the request is made a third time; the
+secretary announces that it is the will of the pope to proceed
+immediately upon the canonization; the solicitor requests that the
+letters of canonization may be delivered in due form; his holiness
+delivers them, and the first prothonotary calls on all the assembly to
+witness the delivery. The _Te Deum_ is sung, and high mass is
+solemnized.
+
+The decree of canonization is usually worded in these terms: "To the
+glory of the Holy Trinity, for the exaltation of the Catholic faith, and
+the increase of the Christian religion: In virtue of the authority of
+Jesus Christ, of the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and our own,
+after due deliberation and frequent invocations of the heavenly light,
+with consent of our venerable brethren, the cardinals, patriarchs,
+archbishops, and bishops, present at Rome, we declare the blessed N. to
+be a saint, and we inscribe him as such in the catalogue of the saints.
+In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."
+
+Such is the outline of the process of canonization. It must be added,
+that the strictest evidence is required of every thing offered in proof.
+It is laid down as a universal rule, which admits of no exception, that
+the same evidence shall be required, through the whole of the process,
+as in criminal cases is required to convict an offender of a capital
+crime; and that no evidence of any fact shall be received, if a higher
+degree of evidence of the same fact can possibly be obtained. Hence, a
+copy of no instrument is admitted, if the original be in existence; no
+hearsay witness is received, if ocular testimony can be produced. The
+rigorous examination of every circumstance offered to be proved has
+excited the surprise of intelligent Protestants. Miracles, which to them
+seemed proved to the utmost degree of demonstration, have, to their
+surprise, been rejected. Whatever there is most awful in religion, most
+sacred in an oath, or most tremendous in the censures of the church, is
+employed in the process of canonization to elicit truth and detect
+falsehood. Every check and countercheck is used, which slowness of
+proceeding, or a repetition of it in other stages and under different
+forms, can effect. The persons employed in it are the members of the
+Roman Catholic church, the most exalted by their rank, and the most
+renowned for their virtues and talents. When the proceedings are
+concluded, they are printed and exposed to the examination of the whole
+world. The sixth volume of the celebrated treatise of Benedict XIV. on
+the beatification and canonization of saints, contains the acts of the
+saints canonized by himself.
+
+X.
+
+With these helps our author sat down to his work. We may suppose him
+addressing to the saints, whose lives he was about to write, a prayer
+similar to the beautiful prayer addressed to them by Bollandus at the
+end of his general preface, and which may be thus abridged: "Hail, ye
+citizens of heaven! courageous warriors! triumphant over the world! from
+the blessed scenes of your everlasting glory, look on a low mortal, who
+searches everywhere for the memorials of your virtues and triumphs. Show
+your favor to him; give him to discover the valuable monuments of former
+times; to distinguish the spurious from the legitimate; to digest his
+work in proper order and method; to explain and illustrate whatever is
+obscure. Take under your protection all who have patronized or assisted
+him in his undertakings: obtain for all who read his work, that they
+imitate the examples of virtue which it places before their eyes; and
+that they experience how sweet, how useful, and how glorious it is to
+walk in your steps."
+
+In the preface to the French translation, the work is said to have cost
+our author the labor of thirty years. It was his practice, when he began
+to write the life of any saint, to read over and digest the whole of his
+materials, before he committed any thing to paper. His work evidently
+shows, that his mind was full of its subject, {030} and that what he
+wrote was the result of much previous information and reflection. On
+many occasions he must have written on subjects which were new to him;
+but, such is the mutual connection and dependence of every branch of
+literature, that a mind stored like his was already in possession of
+that kind of knowledge, which would make him apprehend, with great ease,
+whatever he had to learn; and would instruct him, though the subject
+were new to him, where he might express himself decisively, and where he
+should doubt. How extensive and profound his general knowledge was,
+appears from this, that a person who happens to have made any subject,
+treated of by him, his particular study, will seldom read what our
+author has written upon it without finding in it something original, or,
+at least, so happily expressed or illustrated as to have the merit of
+originality. In some instances, as in his account of the Manichæns, in
+the life of St. Augustine, and of the crusades, in the life of St.
+Lewis, he shows such extent and minuteness of investigation, as could
+only be required from works confined to those subjects. In other
+instances, where his materials are scanty, so that he writes chiefly
+from his own mind, as in the lives of St. Zita or St. Isidore of
+Pelusium, he pours an unpremeditated stream of piety, which nothing but
+an intimate acquaintance with the best spiritual writers could produce.
+
+The sameness of a great number of the most edifying actions which our
+author had to relate, made it difficult for him to avoid a tiresome
+uniformity of narrative: but he has happily surmounted this difficulty.
+Another difficulty he met with, was the flat and inanimate style of the
+generality of the writers from whom his work was composed. Happy he must
+have been, when the authors he had to consult were St. Jerome, Scipio,
+Maffei, Bouhours, or Marsollier. But most commonly they were such as
+might edify but could not delight. He had then to trust to his own
+resources for that style, that arrangement, those reflections, which
+were to engage his reader's attention. In this he has certainly
+succeeded. Few authors on holy subject have possessed, in a higher
+degree, that indescribable charm of style which rivets the reader's
+attention to the book, which never places the writer between the book
+and the reader, but insensibly leads him to the conclusion, sometimes
+delighted, but always attentive and always pleased.
+
+His style is peculiar to himself; it partakes more of the style of the
+writers of the last century than of the style of the present age. It
+possesses great merit, but sometimes is negligent and loose. Mr. Gibbon
+mentioned it to the editor in warm terms of commendation; and was
+astonished when he heard how much of our author's life had been spent
+abroad. Speaking of our author's Lives of the Saints, (vol. iv. 457,) he
+calls it "a work of merit,--the sense and learning belong to the
+author--his prejudices are those of his profession." As it is known what
+prejudice means in Mr. Gibbon's vocabulary, our author's relatives
+accept the character.
+
+Having lived so long in the schools, he must have had a strong
+predilection for some of the opinions agitated in them; and frequent
+opportunities of expressing it occurred in his work. He seems to have
+cautiously avoided them: a single instance, perhaps, is not to be found,
+where any thing of the kind is discoverable in any of his writings. He
+has carefully brought before the reader every circumstance arising from
+his subject, that could be offered in proof or illustration of the
+particular tenets of the Roman Catholic church; but he does it without
+affectation, and rather leaves the reader to draw his own conclusions,
+than suggests them to him. Those expressions which good manners and good
+taste reject, are never to be found in his works.
+
+But the chief merit of his works is, that they make virtue and devotion
+amiable: he preaches penance, but he shows its rewards; he exhorts to
+compunction, but he shows the sweetness of pious sorrow; he enforces
+humility, but he shows the blessedness of a humble heart; he recommends
+solitude, but he shows that God _is_ where the world is not. No one
+reads his work who does not perceive the happiness, even in this world,
+of a holy life, or who does not wish to die the death of a saint. Most
+readers of it will acknowledge that, sometimes at least, when they have
+read it, every worldly emotion has died within them, and they have felt
+themselves in a disposition of mind suited to receive the finest
+impressions of religion.
+
+At the finishing of his work he gave a very edifying instance of
+humility. The manuscript of the first volume having been submitted to
+Mr. Challoner, the vicar-apostolic of the London district, he
+recommended the omission of all the notes, not {031} excepting that
+beautiful note which gave an account of the writings of St. John
+Chrysostom. His motive was, that, by being made less bulky, the work
+might be made less expensive, and, consequently, more generally useful.
+It is easy to suppose what it must have cost our author to consign to
+oblivion the fruit of so much labor and so many vigils. He obeyed,
+however, and to this circumstance it is owing that, in the first
+edition, the notes in question were omitted.
+
+XI.
+
+XI. 1. It has been objected to our author's work on the Lives of the
+Saints, _that the system of devotion which is recommended by it, is, at
+best, suited to the cloister_. But no work has ever appeared, in which
+the difference between the duties of a man of the world and the duties
+of a religious is more strongly pointed out. Whenever the author has
+occasion to mention any action of any saint, which is extraordinary or
+singular in its nature he always observes, that it is of a kind rather
+to be admired than imitated.
+
+XI. 2. It has been objected, _that the piety which it inculcates is of
+the ascetic kind_, and that the spirit of penance, voluntary
+mortification, and contempt of the world, which it breathes everywhere,
+is neither required nor recommended by the gospel. But no difference can
+be found between the spirit of piety inculcated by our author, and that
+inculcated by the most approved authors of the Roman Catholic church.
+Less of penance, of voluntary mortification, or of contempt of the
+world, is not recommended by Rodriguez, by Thomas of Kempis, by St.
+Francis of Sales, by Bourdaloue, or Massillon, than is recommended by
+our author. Speaking of those "who confound nature with grace, and who
+look on the cross of Jesus Christ as an object foreign to faith and
+piety;--It was not thus," says Massillon, in his sermon on the
+Incarnation, "it was not thus that the apostles announced the gospel to
+our ancestors. _The spirit of the gospel is a holy eagerness of
+suffering, an incessant attention to mortify self-love, to do violence
+to the will, to restrain the desires, to deprive the senses of useless
+gratifications; this is the essence of Christianity, the soul of piety_.
+If you have not this spirit, you belong not, says the apostle, to Jesus
+Christ; it is of no consequence that you are not of the number of the
+impure or sacrilegious of whom the apostle speaks, and who will not be
+admitted into the kingdom of Christ. You are equally strangers to him;
+your sentiments are not his; you still live according to nature; you
+belong not to the grace of our Saviour; you will therefore perish, for
+it is on him alone, says the apostle, that the Father has placed our
+salvation. A complaint is sometimes made that we render piety disgusting
+and impracticable, by prohibiting many pleasures which the world
+authorizes. But, my brethren, what is it we tell you? allow yourselves
+all the pleasures which Christ would have allowed himself; faith allows
+you no other; mix with your piety all the gratifications which Jesus
+Christ would have mixed in his; the gospel allows no greater
+indulgence--O my God, how the decisions of the world will one day be
+strangely reversed! when worldly probity and worldly regularity, which,
+by a false appearance of virtue, give a deceitful confidence to so many
+souls, will be placed by the side of the crucified Jesus, and will be
+judged by that model! To be always renouncing yourselves, rejecting what
+pleases, regulating the most innocent wishes of the heart by the
+rigorous rules of the spirit of the gospel, is difficult, is a state of
+violence. But if the pleasures of the senses leave the soul sorrowful,
+empty, and uneasy, the rigors of the cross make her happy. Penance heals
+the wounds made by herself; like the mysterious bush in the scripture,
+while man sees only its thorns and briers, the glory of the Lord is
+within it, and the soul that possesses him possesses all. Sweet tears
+of penance! divine secret of grace! O that you were better known to the
+sinner!" "The pretended esprits forts," says Bourdaloue, in his sermon
+on the scandal of the cross, and the humiliations of Jesus Christ, the
+noblest of all his sermons, in the opinion of the cardinal de Maury, "do
+not relish the rigorous doctrines announced by the Son of God in his
+gospel; self-hatred, self-denial, severity to one's self. But when
+Christ established a religion for men, who were to acknowledge
+themselves sinners and criminals, ought he, as St. Jerome asks, to have
+published other laws? What is so proper for sin as penance? what is more
+of the nature of penance, than the sinner's harshness and severity to
+himself? Is there any thing in this contrary to reason? They are
+astonished at his ranking poverty among the beatitudes; that he held up
+the cross as an attraction to his disciples to follow him; that he
+declared a love of {032} contempt was preferable to the honors of the
+world. In all this I see the depth of his divine counsels." Such is the
+language of Bourdaloue and Massillon, preaching before a luxurious
+court, to the best-informed and most polished audience in the Christian
+world. It is apprehended that no other language is found in our author's
+Lives of the Saints.
+
+XI. 3. Some (but their number is small) have imputed to our author _too
+much credulity respecting miracles_. A chain of agiographists might be
+supposed: on the first link of it we might place Surius, as possessing
+the utmost degree of the belief of miracles, consistent with any degree
+of judgment; on the last we might place Baillet and Launoy, as
+possessing the utmost degree of the belief of miracles, consistent with
+any degree of deference to the general opinions of pious Catholics.
+Between them we might place in succession, according to their respective
+degrees of supposed belief, Ribadeneira, Baronius, the Bollandists,
+Tillemont, and Fleury. With which of these writers shall we class our
+author? certainly neither with Surius, nor with Baillet or Launoy. The
+middle links represent those to whom the most liberal Roman Catholic
+will not impute too much credulity, or the most credulous too much
+freedom. Perhaps our author should rank with the Bollandists, the first
+of this middle class; and generally he who thinks with father Papebroke
+on any subject of ecclesiastical literature, may be sure of thinking
+right. To those who wholly deny the existence of miracles these sheets
+are not addressed; but the Roman Catholic may be asked on what principle
+he admits the evidence for the miracles of the three first centuries,
+and rejects the evidence for the miracles of the middle age; why he
+denies to St. Austin, St. Gregory, the venerable Bede, or St. Bernard,
+the confidence he places in St. Justin, St. Irenæus, or Eusebius.
+
+XII.
+
+Some years after our author had published the Lives of the Saints, he
+published the _Life of Mary of the Cross_; a nun in the English convent
+of the Poor Clares at Rouen. It is rather a vehicle to convey
+instruction on various important duties of a religious life, and on
+sublime prayer, than a minute account of the life and actions of the
+nun. It was objected to this work, as it had been to the Saints' Lives,
+that it inculcated a spirit of mystic prayer, the excesses of which had
+been formally condemned, and the propriety of which, even in a very
+qualified view of it, was doubtful.
+
+It must be admitted by those who urge this objection, that, both in the
+Saints Lives and in the work of which we are speaking, our author uses
+very guarded expressions. He always takes care to mention that, in the
+practices of devotion, as in every other practice, the common is the
+safest road: that many of the greatest saints have, through the whole of
+their lives, confined themselves to the usual modes of prayer and
+meditation; that the gift of contemplation is given to few; that, like
+every other practice of devotion, contemplation has its dangers; and
+that, without a perfect spirit of humility, it is much exposed to
+illusion; but he delivers, at the same time, an explicit opinion, that
+contemplation is a gift of heaven; that the happiness of a soul on whom
+God bestows it, is above description; and that every joy which this life
+affords is contemptible in comparison of it. This certainly is catholic
+doctrine.
+
+It is natural to suppose that, at a time when every art and science was
+deluged in a quantity of barbarous words, and metaphysics were carried
+into every subject, the doctrine of prayer would often be involved in
+similar intricacies and refinements. The fact certainly is, that many
+writers of the middle age, on the subject of prayer, introduced into
+their writings a wonderful degree of metaphysical subtilty. But, if
+their doctrine be divested of those subtilties, and expressed in plain
+language, it will be found that nothing in what our author, with other
+spiritualists, calls mystical theology, contradicts common sense. With
+them he divides the progress of a Christian, in his advances towards
+perfection, into three stages, the purgative, the contemplative, and the
+unitive. In the first stage he places sinners on their first entrance,
+after their conversion into a spiritual life; who bewail their sins, are
+careful to avoid relapsing into them, endeavor to destroy their had
+habits, to extinguish their passions; who fast, watch, prey, chastise
+the flesh, mourn, and are blessed with a contrite and humble heart. In
+the second stage he places those who divest themselves of earthly
+affections, study to acquire purity of heart, and a constant habit of
+virtue, the true light of the soul; who {033} meditate incessantly on
+the virtues and doctrines of Christ, and thereby inflame themselves to
+the imitation of him. Those he supposes to be arrived at the third stage
+whose souls, being thus illuminated, are united to God, and enjoy his
+peace which passeth understanding. According to our author, the prayer
+of a person who is arrived at the last stage, is very different from
+that of a beginner in spiritual life. To present a pious subject to his
+mind, to place it in the various points of view in which it should be
+considered, to raise the devout sentiments which the consideration of it
+should produce, and to form the resolutions which those sentiments
+should inspire, must, our author observes, be a work of exertion to a
+beginner. But when once he has arrived at that state of perfection as to
+have detached himself from those objects which are the usual incitements
+to sin, and to which, from the natural propensity of the human heart,
+the imaginations of man forcibly lead, and when an ardent love of
+virtue, piety, and whatever relates to them, is habitual in her; then,
+our author supposes, that what before was exertion becomes the usual
+state of the soul; a thousand causes of distraction cease to exist, and
+all the powers of the mind and affections of the heart rest with ease
+and pleasure on the subject of her meditation; God communicates to her
+his perfections; he enlightens her in the mysteries of religion, and
+raises in her admirable sentiments of wonder and love. This our author
+calls the prayer of contemplation. In process of time, he supposes that
+the habit of devotion increases: that the soul acquires a stronger
+aversion from every thing that withholds her from God, and a more ardent
+desire of being united to him; and that, by continually meditating on
+the sublime truths and mysteries of Christianity, she is disengaged from
+earthly affections, is always turned to God, and obtains a clearer view
+of his perfections, of her obligations to him, and of the motives which
+entitle him to her love. Then, according to our author, every thing
+which is not God becomes irksome to her, and she is united to him in
+every action and every thought. At first, the soul, by our author's
+description, calls to her mind the presence of God; afterwards she
+habitually recollects it; at length every thing else disappears, and she
+lives in him. Even in the first stage, when the sinner first turns from
+vice, and determinately engages in the practice of a virtuous life, our
+author pronounces that the comforts which she experiences in reflecting
+on the happiness of the change, exceed the joys of this world: he
+supposes her to say, in the words of Bourdaloue, (_Sur la Choix mutuel
+de Dieu et de l'Ame Religieuse_,) "I have chosen God, and God has chosen
+me; this reflection is my support and my strength, it will enable me to
+surmount every difficulty, to resist every temptation, to rise above
+every chagrin and every disgust." From the moment this choice is made,
+he supposes, with the same eloquent preacher, in his sermon for the
+feast of St. Mary Magdalen, "that the soul, exposed till then to all the
+vexations which the love of the world inevitably occasions, begins to
+enjoy a sweet tranquillity; conscience begins to experience the interior
+joy of pious hope and confidence in the mercies of God, and to feel the
+holy unction of grace; in the midst of her penitential austerities she
+comforts and strengthens herself by the thought, that she is making some
+satisfaction and atonement to God for her sins, that she is purifying
+her heart, and disposing it to receive the communications of heaven."
+This comfort and sensation of happiness, he observes, must necessarily
+increase as the charms of virtue are unveiled to the soul, and she
+acquires a continual habit of thinking on God. "Who can express," he
+makes the soul exclaim with the same author, "the secret delights which
+God bestows on a heart thus purified and prepared? how he enlightens
+her! how he inflames her with divine love! with what visitations he
+favors her! what holy sentiments and transports he excites in her!" but,
+when she lives for God alone, then, in our author's language, God
+communicates himself with her, and her happiness, as far as happiness is
+attainable in this life, is complete. Here, according to Thomas of
+Kempis, (and what Catholic recuses his authority?) begins the
+_familiaritas stupenda nimis_. "What is the hundred-fold of reward,"
+cries Bourdaloue, (_Sermon sur le Renoncement Religieuse_,) "that thou,
+O God, hast promised to the soul which has left every thing for thee? It
+is something more than I have said upon it: it is something that I
+cannot express; but it is something with which, sinful and weak as I am,
+God has more than once favored me."--"Thou promisedst me a
+hundred-fold," says St. Bernard: "I feel it; thou hast more than
+performed thy promise." _Necessitas good cogit, defendit_. In defence of
+our author, this short exposition of his doctrine seemed necessary: and
+it may be confidently asked {034} in what it differs from the doctrine
+of Rodriguez, of St. Francis de Sales, of Bourdaloue, or of many other
+authors, in whom the universal opinion of the Catholic world recognises,
+not only true devotion and piety, but extreme good sense and moderation.
+Nor should it be forgotten that, if the prelates assembled at Issy, in
+1695, declared, (Art. 22,) "that, without any extraordinary degrees of
+prayer, a person may become a very great saint," they had previously
+declared, (Art. 21,) "that even those which are passive, and approved of
+by St. Francis of Sales and other spiritualists, cannot be rejected."
+The authors on these subjects, whom our author particularly recommended,
+were Balthazar, Alvarez de Paz, and St. Jure. The latter was one of the
+Jesuits who came into England during the reign of Charles the First. His
+most celebrated work is, a Treatise on the Knowledge and Love of God, in
+five volumes,--a noble effusion of the sublimest piety. The only work by
+which he is known in this country is, his Life of the Baron de Renty:
+our author esteemed it much, but thought it censurable for mentioning,
+in terms of commendation, the mode in which the baron, to save his
+honor, indirectly put himself in the way of fighting a duel.
+
+Another spiritualist, whom our author greatly admired, was the
+celebrated Henry Marie de Boudon. He frequently mentioned, in terms of
+the highest admiration, the humility and resignation with which Boudon
+bore the calumnies of his prelate and fellow-clergy. He often related
+that part of his life, when, being abandoned by the whole world, a poor
+convent of religious received him into their house, and he knelt down to
+thank God that one human being still existed who was kindly disposed to
+him. His writings are numerous: the style of them is not elegant, and
+they abound with low expressions; but they contain many passages of
+original and sublime eloquence. Our author was also a great admirer of
+the works of Father Surin, particularly his _Fondemens de la Vie
+Spirituelle_, edited by Father Bignon. In this species of writing, few
+works, perhaps, will give the reader so much pleasure as the _Morale de
+l'Evangile_, in 4 vols. 8vo., by Father Neuvile, brother to the
+celebrated preacher of that name. It is to be hoped that it will be
+translated into English.[1] Our author greatly lamented the consequences
+of the altercation between Fenelon and Bossuet. He thought the
+condemnation which had been passed {035} on it on the abuses of
+devotion, had brought devotion itself into discredit, and thrown a
+ridicule on the holiness of an interior life. Of Fenelon he always spoke
+with the highest respect. One of the editors of the last edition of his
+works is now in England: he has declared that it appeared from Fenelon's
+papers, that his exertions, to the very last, to ward off the sentence
+of the condemnation of his works, were most active. This enhanced the
+value of his sacrifice. Our author thought that Valart had abundantly
+proved that Thomas of Kempis was not the author of the Imitation of
+Christ; but that he had not proved it to be written by Gersen, the abbot
+of Vercelli: he also differed from Valart in his opinion of the general
+merit of the works of Thomas of Kempis; his treatises _De Tribus
+Tabernaculis_ and _De Verâ Compunctione_ (the latter particularly) he
+thought excellent.[2]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  For this and many other valuable works we naturally look to
+    Stonyhurst. If the Musæ Exulantes,[The title assumed by them, in the
+    preface to the Latin translation of Cato.] in the swamps of Bruges,
+    could produce an elegant and nervous translation of Cato, will their
+    notes be less strong or less sweet in their native land? May we not
+    expect from Stonyhurst other Petaviuses, other Sirmonds, other
+    Porées, future Strachans, future Stanleys, future Heskeys, future
+    Stricklands. If any of them would favor us with a translation of
+    Father Montreuil's _Vie de Jésus Christ_, he would supply the
+    English Catholic with the present desideratum of his library, an
+    interesting and accurate life of Christ. A literary history of the
+    gospels, showing the state of the text, and the grammatical
+    peculiarities of their idiom, and containing a short account of the
+    early versions, would be an invaluable work. The excellent
+    translation by Mr. Combes, the professor of divinity in St. Edmund's
+    College, of selected parts of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom,
+    shows his ability to execute such a work, and leads us to hope it
+    for him. The mention of these gentlemen naturally makes us reflect
+    on the singular kindness shown by this country to the foreign
+    exiles. The editor begs leave to copy what has been said by him on
+    this subject in a small work entitled _Hors Biblicæ_. After
+    mentioning some of the most splendid of the biblical exertions of
+    the English, the compiler of that work says, "Yet, useful and
+    magnificent as these exertions have been, an edition of the New
+    Testament has lately appeared in this country, which, in one point
+    of view, eclipses them all. It has been our lot to be witnesses of
+    the most tremendous revolution that Christian Europe has known: a
+    new race of enemies to the Christian religion has arisen, and, from
+    Rome to Hungary, has struck at every altar and shaken every throne.
+    One of their first enormities was, the murder of a large proportion
+    of their clergy, and the banishment of almost the whole of the
+    remaining part. Some thousands of those respectable exiles found
+    refuge in England. A private subscription of 33,775_l_, 15_s_.
+    9-1/2_d_. was immediately made for them. When it was exhausted, a
+    second was collected, under the auspices of his majesty, and
+    produced 41,304_l_. 12_s_. 6-1/4_d_. Nor is it too much to say, that
+    the beneficence of individuals, whose charities on this occasion are
+    known to God alone, raised for the sufferers a sum much exceeding
+    the amount of the larger of the two subscriptions. When at length
+    the wants of the sufferers exceeded the measure of private charity,
+    government took them under its protection, and, though engaged to a
+    war exceeding all former wars in expense, appropriated, with the
+    approbation of the whole kingdom, a monthly allowance of about
+    8000_l_. for their support; an instance of splendid munificence and
+    systematic liberality, of which the annals of the world do not
+    furnish another example. The management of the contributions was
+    intrusted to a committee, of whom Mr. Wilmot, then one of the
+    members of parliament for the city of Coventry, was president: on
+    him the burden of the trust almost wholly fell, and his humanity,
+    judgment, and perseverance, in discharge of it, did honor to himself
+    and his country.
+
+    "It should be observed, that the contributions we have mentioned are
+    exclusive of those which were granted for the relief of the lay
+    emigrants.
+
+    "So suddenly had the unhappy sufferers been driven from their
+    country, that few of them had brought with them any of those books
+    of religion or devotion which their clerical character and habits of
+    prayer had made the companions of their past life, and which were to
+    become almost the chief comfort of their future years. To relieve
+    them from this misfortune, the University of Oxford, at her sole
+    expense, printed for them, at the Clarendon Press, two thousand
+    copies of the Latin Vulgate of the New Testament, from an edition of
+    Barbou, but this number not being deemed sufficient to satisfy the
+    demand, two thousand more copies were added, at the expense of the
+    marquess of Buckingham. Few will forget the piety, the blameless
+    demeanor, the long, patient suffering of these respectable men.
+    Thrown on a sudden into a foreign country, differing from theirs in
+    religion, language, manners, and habits, the uniform tenor of their
+    pious and unoffending lives procured them universal respect and
+    good-will. The country that received them has been favored. In the
+    midst of the public and private calamity which almost every nation
+    has experienced, Providence has crowned her with glory and honor;
+    peace has dwelt in her palaces, plenty within her wells; every
+    climate has been tributary to her commerce, every sea has been
+    witness of her victories."
+2.  Our author was a great admirer of the writings of Abraham Woodhead:
+    he purchased his manuscripts, and, by his will, bequeathed them to
+    the English College at Douay. Mr. Woodhead is one of the writers to
+    whom the celebrated _Whole Duty of Man_ has been attributed. On that
+    subject the editor is in possession of the following note in our
+    author's handwriting: "Mr. Simon Berrington, who died in 1758,
+    endeavored to give Mr. Woodhead the honor of being the author of the
+    Whole Duty of Man, and other works of the same kind; but there is a
+    difference of style between them,--there occurring in the Whole Duty
+    of Man, and the other works of that author, scarce any parentheses,
+    with which all Mr. Woodhead's works abound. Nevertheless, certain it
+    is that Dr. John Pell, dean of Christ Church, (afterwards bishop of
+    Oxford,) who published the other works of the author of the Whole
+    Duty of Man, namely, the Ladies' Calling, the Art of Contentment,
+    the Government of the Tongue, the Lively Oracles given unto us, &c.,
+    in folio, at Oxford, in 1675-78, and wrote the preface which he
+    prefixed to this edition, and who was the only person then living
+    who knew the author of the Whole Duty of Man, gave this book of the
+    Whole Duty of Man to his bookbinder, and Hawkins, his bookseller in
+    London, with other pieces of Mr. Woodhead's, and ordered Mr.
+    Woodhead's name to be added to the title of this, as well as of the
+    other works which he gave to be bound. If Mr. Woodhead wrote that
+    celebrated work, it was before he travelled abroad, or had any
+    thoughts of embracing the Catholic faith." The same anecdote has
+    been mentioned to the editor by the late Mr. Challoner.
+
+XIII.
+
+Some time after our author's return to England, from his travels with
+Mr. Edward Howard, he was chosen president of the English College at St.
+Omer's. That college was originally founded by the English Jesuits. On
+the expulsion of the society from France, the English Jesuits shared the
+fate of their brethren.
+
+On his being named to the presidency of the English college at St.
+Omer's, doubts were suggested to him on the justice or propriety of his
+accepting the presidency of a college which, in fact, belonged to
+others. He advised with the bishop of Amiens and the bishop of Boulogne
+upon this point, and they both agreed in opinion that he might safely
+accept it.
+
+He continued president of the college of St. Omer's till his decease. It
+was expected by his friends, that his office of president would leave
+him much time for his studies; but these expectations wholly failed. He
+was immediately appointed vicar-general to the bishops of Arras, St.
+Omer's, Ipres, and Boulogne. This involved him in an immensity of
+business; and, his reputation continually increasing, he was consulted
+from every part of France on affairs of the highest moment. The
+consequence was, that, contrary to the wishes and expectations of his
+friends, he never was so little master of his time as he was during his
+residence at St. Omer's. The editor has been favored with the following
+letter, which will show the esteem in which our author was held by those
+who, at the time we speak of, lived in habits of intimacy with him.
+
+"You have occasioned me, sir, to experience a heartfelt satisfaction in
+allowing me an intercourse with you on the subject of the late Mr.
+Butler, your uncle; and to communicate to you the particulars within my
+knowledge, concerning the life, the eminent virtues, and uncommon
+abilities of that celebrated gentleman. Never was I acquainted with any
+of my contemporaries who was at once so learned, so pious, so gentle, so
+modest; and, whatever high opinion might be conceived of him from a
+perusal of his immortal work on the Lives of the Saints,--that
+masterpiece of the most extensive erudition, of the most enlightened
+criticism, and of that unction which commands the affections,--such an
+opinion is greatly inferior to the admiration which he inspired in those
+persons who, like myself, had the happiness to live in intimate
+connection with him. The paternal kindness, and, I am bold {036} say it,
+the tender friendship with which he honored my youth, have indelibly
+engraved on my heart the facts I am about to relate to you with the most
+scrupulous exactness. Monsieur de Conzie, now bishop of Arras, having
+been raised to the see of St. Omer's in 1766, caused me to be elected a
+canon in his cathedral church: he nominated me one of his
+vicars-general, and I repaired thither on the 5th of October, 1767.
+
+"That prelate, whose high reputation dispenses with my encomiums,
+mentioned your uncle to me on the very day of my arrival. 'I am here
+possessed,' said he; 'of a hidden treasure; and that is Mr. Butler, the
+president of the English college. I for the first time saw him,' added
+he, 'during the ceremony of my installation. He was kneeling on the
+pavement in the midst of the crowd; his countenance and deportment had
+something heavenly in them: I inquired who he was, and upon his being
+named to me, I caused him, though reluctant, to be conducted to one of
+the first stalls in the choir. I will entreat him,' said moreover the
+prelate, 'to favor you with his friendship: he shall be your counsel;
+you cannot have a better.' I made answer, that Monsieur de Beaumont, the
+illustrious archbishop of Paris, in whose palace I had enjoyed the
+invaluable benefit of passing two years, had often spoken of him to me
+in the most honorable terms; that he had commissioned me, at my
+departure, to renew to him the assurance of his particular esteem; and
+that I would neglect nothing to be thought worthy of his benevolence.
+
+"I was so happy as to succeed in it within a short time. His lordship,
+the bishop, condescended to wish the joy of it, and intrusted me with
+the design he had formed of honoring the assembly of his vicars-general,
+by making him our colleague. I was present when he delivered to him his
+credentials; which moment will never forsake my remembrance. I beheld
+your dear uncle suddenly casting himself at the prelate's knees, and
+beseeching him, with tears in his eyes, not to lay that burden upon him.
+_Ah! my lord_, said he to him, _I am unable to fill so important a
+place_; nor did he yield but upon an express command: _Since you require
+it shall be so_, said he, _I will obey; that is the first of my duties_.
+What an abundant source of reflections was this for me, who was then but
+twenty-six years of age. It was then especially that I resolved to make
+up for my inexperience, by taking him for my guide who had been giving
+me that great example of Christian humility.
+
+"The bishop had already showed him his confidence, by placing his own
+nephew in the English college, as also that of the bishop of Senlis, his
+friend, and the son of one of his countrymen. I had the charge of
+visiting them frequently. I used to send for them to dine with me on
+every school holiday. If one of them had been guilty of a fault, the
+punishment I inflicted was, that he should desire Mr. Butler to keep him
+at home. But it almost always proved useless; he would himself bring me
+the delinquent, and earnestly solicit his pardon; _Depend upon it_, said
+he to me one day, _he will behave better for the future_. I asked him
+what proof he had of it. _Sir_, answered he, in the presence of the lad,
+_he has told me so_. I could not forbear smiling at such confidence in
+the promises of a school-boy of ten years old; but was not long before I
+repented. In a private conversation he observed to me, that one of the
+most important rules in education is to impress children with a
+persuasion that the vices we would keep them from, such as lying and
+breaking one's word, are too shocking to be thought possible. A maxim
+this worthy of the great Fenelon, his beloved model, and which common
+tutors do not so much as surmise.
+
+"Those three youths, our common functions of vicars-general, the
+delightful company of your uncle, and the frequent need I had of drawing
+from that source of light, carried me almost every day to the English
+college. I could delineate to you, sir, his ordinary course of life in
+the inward administration of that house; I could tell you of his
+assiduousness at all the exercises; of his constant watchfulness; of the
+public and private exhortations he made to his pupils, with that
+persuasive eloquence we meet with in his writings; of his pious
+solicitude for all their wants; and of their tender attachment to him.
+His room was continually filled with them. He never put on the harsh end
+threatening magisterial look: he was like a fond mother surrounded by
+her children; or he was rather, according to the expression, the eagle
+not disdaining to teach her young ones to soar, and carrying {037} them
+on her expanded wings, to save them from a fatal fall. But I leave to
+his worthy co-operators the satisfaction of detailing to you those
+particulars, which I only transiently beheld, and which I never saw
+without being affected. How many interesting anecdotes will they have to
+acquaint you with!
+
+"Every instant that Mr. Butler did not dedicate to the government of his
+college he employed in study; and, when obliged to go abroad, he would
+read as he walked along the streets. I have met him with a book under
+each arm, and a third in his hands, and have been told that, travelling
+one day on horseback, he fell a reading, giving the horse his full
+liberty. The creature used it to eat a few ears of corn that grew on the
+road-side. The owner came in haste, swearing he would be indemnified.
+Mr. Butler, who knew nothing of the damage done, no sooner perceived it,
+than, blushing, he said to the countryman, with his usual mildness, that
+his demand was just; he then draws out a louis d'or, and gives it to the
+fellow, who would have been very well satisfied with a few pence, makes
+repeated apologies to him, easily obtains forgiveness, and goes on his
+way.
+
+"Notwithstanding such constant application, the extensiveness of his
+knowledge was next to a prodigy. Whenever I happened to consult him on
+any extraordinary question, upon which the authors most familiar to us
+were silent, he would take me to the library of the abbey of St. Bertin,
+would ask for old writers, whose names I was scarce acquainted with, and
+point out to me, even before I had opened them, the section and chapter
+in which I should find my difficulty solved.
+
+"Nor would I have you think, sir, that the ecclesiastical sciences were
+the only that he had applied to. A couple of anecdotes I am going to
+relate, and which I could hardly have believed had I not been witness to
+them, will prove to you that every kind of information was reunited in
+his intellect, without the smallest confusion.
+
+"Monsieur de Conzie, after his translation from the bishopric of St.
+Omer's to that of Arras, invited him to come and see him there. My
+brother vicars and myself sought one day for a question which he should
+not be able to answer, and thought we had found one. Accordingly, we
+asked him what was the name of a pear called, in French, _bon Chrétien_,
+before the coming of Christ, and Christianity. _There are_, answered he,
+_two systems on that point_; and then quotes as two modern naturalists,
+sets forth their opinions, and unfolds to us the authorities with which
+they backed them. I had the curiosity to ascertain one of those
+quotations, and found it accurate to a tittle.
+
+"A few days after, the bishop of Arras, having his drawing-room filled
+with company, Mr. President was announced. The bystanders thinking it to
+be the first president of the council d'Artois, opened him a gangway to
+come at the prelate; they behold a priest enter, whom, by his bashful
+and modest looks, they take for some country curate, and, by a
+simultaneous motion, they close up the passage which they had made. The
+bishop, who had already descried his dear president of the English
+college, perceived also the motion and resolved to put the authors of it
+to the blush. He observed in one corner of the room a group of military
+men; he goes up to them, and, finding they were conversing upon the
+question keenly debated at that time, whether in battle the _thin
+order_, observed in our days, be preferable to the _deep_ order of the
+ancients; he called to Mr. Butler, and asked him what he thought of it.
+I then heard that amazing man talk on the art of war with the modest
+tone of a school-boy, and the depth of the most consummate military man.
+I observed admiration in the countenance of all those officers; and saw
+several of them, who, being too far off, stood up upon chairs to hear
+and see him. They altogether put to him questions upon questions, and
+each of his answers caused fresh applause.
+
+"His lordship left us to go and join another group, consisting of
+magistrates, who were discussing a point of common law; and, in like
+manner, called upon his oracle, who, by the sagacity of his reflections,
+bore away all suffrages, and united their several opinions.
+
+"The prelate, next, taking him by the hand, presented him to the ladies,
+seated round the fireplace, and asked him, whether the women in ancient
+times wore their head-dresses as high as ours then did. _Fashions_,
+answered he, _like the spokes of a wheel turning on its axis, are always
+replaced by those very ones which they have set aside_. He then
+described to us the dresses, both of the men and women, in the various
+ages of our monarchy: _and, to go still further back_, added he, _the
+{038} statue of a female Druid has been found, whose head-dress measured
+half a yard to height; I have been myself to see it, and have measured
+it._
+
+"What astonished me most was, that studies so foreign to the
+supernatural objects of piety, shed over his soul neither aridity nor
+lukewarmness. He referred all things to God, and his discourse always
+concluded by some Christian reflections, which he skilfully drew from
+the topic of the conversation. His virtue was neither minute nor
+pusillanimous: religion had, in his discourse as well as in his conduct,
+that solemn gravity which can alone make it worthy of the Supreme Being.
+Ever composed, he feared neither contradictions nor adversities: he
+dreaded nothing but praises. He never allowed himself a word that could
+injure any one's reputation; his noble generosity was such, that, as
+often as I happened to prize in his presence any one of his books, or of
+the things belonging to him, I the same day found them in my possession.
+In short, I will confess it, to my confusion, that for a long time I
+sought to discover a failing in him; and I protest, by all that is most
+sacred, that I never knew one in him. These are the facts, sir, you were
+desirous of knowing; in the relation of which I have used no
+exaggeration, nor have had anything to dissemble. I have often related
+these facts to my wondering friends, as a relief to my heart; and
+indeed, notwithstanding the distance of time, they recur as fresh to my
+remembrance as if just transacted before my eyes.
+
+"I was at a distance from St. Omer's when death robbed me of my
+respectable friend. Time has not alleviated the sorrow which the loss of
+him fixed deeply in my breast. I have preciously preserved some of his
+presents, and carefully concealed them at my leaving France. May I one
+day find again those dear pledges of a friendship, the recollection of
+which is, in our calamities, the sweetest of my consolations. I have the
+honor to be, with the highest regard, sir, your most obedient, &c.
+
+"L'Abbé de la SEPOUZE.
+
+"_At the Hague, December_ 30, 1794."
+
+During our author's stay at St. Omer's, a thesis was printed and
+publicly defended, in a neighboring university, which excited his
+attention. Mr. Joseph Berington presided at the defensions of it. It
+certainly contained many propositions which were offensive to pious
+ears; but respectable persons are said to have declared, that it
+contained nothing materially contrary to the faith of the Roman Catholic
+church; and the editor feels it a duty incumbent on him to add, that one
+of the bishops, to whom our author was grand-vicar, mentioned to the
+editor, that he thought his vicar had shown too much vivacity on that
+occasion.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Sieni aquila provocans ad volandam pullos suos et super eos
+    volians expandit alas suas--_Deuteron_. cap. 22.
+
+XIV.
+
+Both from our author's letters, and from what is recollected of his
+conversations, it appears that he often explicitly declared that, if
+powerful measures were not adopted to prevent it, a _revolution in
+France_ would take place, both in church and state. He thought
+irreligion, and a general corruption of manners, gained ground
+everywhere. On the decay of piety in France, he once mentioned in
+confidence to the editor a circumstance so shocking, that even after
+what has publicly happened, the editor does not think himself
+justifiable in mentioning it in this place. He seems to have augured
+well on the change of ministry which took place on the expulsion of the
+Choiseuls. He was particularly acquainted with the cardinal de Bernis,
+and the mareschal de Muy. Of the latter he writes thus in one of his
+letters. "Mr. de Muy, who has sometimes called upon me, and often writes
+to me, as the most affectionate of friends, is unanimously called the
+most virtuous and upright nobleman in the kingdom. The late dauphin's
+projects in favor of religion he will endeavor to execute. He is
+minister of war. The most heroic piety will be promoted by him by every
+method: if I gave you an account of his life, you would be charmed by so
+bright a virtue."
+
+XV.
+
+Our author had _projected many works_ besides those which we have
+mentioned. Among them his Treatise on the _Moveable Feasts_ may be
+reckoned. He very much lamented that he had not time to complete: what
+he had prepared of it, he thought too prolix, and, if he had lived to
+revise it, he would have made great alterations in it. Some time after
+his decease, it was published under the inspection of Mr. Challoner. He
+proposed writing the lives of bishop Fisher and sir Thomas {039} More,
+and had made great collections, with a view to such a work: some of them
+are in the hands of the editor, and are at the command of any person to
+whom they can be of use. He had begun a treatise to explain and
+establish the truths of _natural and revealed religion_; he was
+dissatisfied with what Bergier had published on those subjects. He
+composed many _sermons_, and an immense number of _pious discourses_.
+From what remained of the three last articles, _the three volumes of his
+discourses_, which have appeared since his decease, were collected. The
+editor is happy in this opportunity of mentioning his obligations to the
+Rev. Mr. Jones, for revising and superintending the publication of them.
+They are acknowledged to possess great merit; the morality of them is
+entitled to great praise; the discourse on conversation shows a
+considerable knowledge of life and manners. Having mentioned his
+sermons, it is proper to add, that as a preacher he almost wholly
+failed. His sermons were sometimes interesting and pathetic; but they
+were always desultory, and almost always immeasurably long. The editor
+has lately published his _Short Life of Sir Toby Matthews_.
+
+He was very communicative of his manuscripts, and consequently many of
+them were lost; so that, on an attentive examination of them, after his
+decease, none but those we have mentioned were thought fit for the
+press.
+
+XVI.
+
+The number of _letters_ written by our author exceeds belief; if they
+could be collected, they would be found to contain an immense mass of
+interesting matter on many important topics of religion and literature.
+He corresponded with many persons of distinction, both among the
+communicants with the see of Rome, and the separatists from her. Among
+the former may be reckoned the learned and elegant Lambertini, who
+afterwards, under the name of Benedict XIV., was honored with the papal
+crown: among the latter may be reckoned Dr. Louth, the bishop first of
+Oxford, afterwards of London, the celebrated translator of Isaiah. In a
+Latin note on Michaelis, our author speaks of that prelate as his
+intimate acquaintance, "_necessitate conjunctissimus_."
+
+He had the happiness to enjoy the friendship and esteem of many persons
+distinguished by rank, talents, or virtue. The holy bishop of Amiens
+spoke of him in the highest terms of admiration and regard. In the life
+written in French of that excellent prelate, he is mentioned "as the
+most learned man in Europe." He is styled by father Brotier, in his
+preface to his edition of Tacitus, "sacrâ eruditione perceleber." The
+late Mr. Philips, in the preface to his life of cardinal Pole,
+mentioning the edition of his letters by cardinal Quirini, expresses
+himself thus: "They were procured for the author by Mr. Alban Butler, to
+whom the public is indebted for the most useful and valuable work which
+has appeared in the English language on the Lives of the Saints, and
+which has been so much esteemed in France, that it is now translating
+into the language of a country celebrated for biography, with large
+additions by the author. This gentleman's readiness on all occasions to
+assist the author in his undertaking, was answerable to his extensive
+knowledge and general acquaintance with whatever has any relation to
+erudition." Our author was not satisfied with the French translation of
+his work: the writers professed to translate it freely; but he thought
+that they abused the privilege of free translation, that they
+misrepresented his meaning, that their style was affected, and that the
+devotional cast which he had labored to give the original, was wholly
+lost in their translation. The editor has heard that a translation of it
+was begun in the Spanish and Italian languages, but he has seen no such
+translation. Dr. Kennicot spoke loudly of our author's readiness and
+disinterested zeal to oblige. Even the stern Mr. Hollis mentions him in
+his memoirs with some degree of kindness. No person was more warmly
+attached to his friends. With his affectionate and generous disposition,
+no one was more sensible of unkindness than he was; but none forgave it
+more readily. It was his rule to cultivate those who were inimical to
+him by every mark of attention and act of kindness; and rather to seek
+than avoid an intercourse with them. His incessant attention to his
+studies frequently made him absent in society: this sometimes produced
+whimsical incidents.
+
+Whatever delight he found in his literary pursuits, he never sacrificed
+his religious duties to them, or permitted them to trespass on _his
+exercises of devotion_. Huet, whom, from his resemblance to our author
+in unremitted application to study, the editor has often had occasion to
+mention, laments his own contrary conduct in {040} very feeling terms:
+"I was entirely carried," says he, (_De Rebus ad eum Pertinentibus_,
+174,) "by the pleasure found in learning: the endless variety which it
+affords had taken up my thoughts, and seized all the avenues of my mind,
+that I was altogether incapable of any sweet and intimate communication
+with God. When I withdrew into religious retirement, in order to
+recollect my scattered thoughts, and fix them on heavenly things, I
+experienced a dryness and insensibility of soul by which the Holy Spirit
+seemed to punish this excessive bent to learning." This misfortune our
+author never experienced. A considerable portion of his time was devoted
+to prayer. When it was in his power, he said mass every day; when he
+travelled, he rose at a very early hour, that he might hear it: he never
+neglected the prayer of the _Angelus_, and, when he was not in the
+company of strangers, he said it on his knees. He recommended a frequent
+approach to the sacrament of the altar: some, under his spiritual
+direction, communicated almost every day. The _morale sevère_ of the
+Jansenists he strongly reprobated in discourse, and no person receded
+further from it in practice: but he was an admirer of the style of the
+gentlemen of Port Royal, and spoke with praise of their general practice
+of avoiding the insertion of the pronoun _I_ in their writings. He
+thought the Bible should not be read by very young persons, or by those
+who were wholly uninformed: even the translation of the whole divine
+office of the church he thought should not be given to the faithful
+promiscuously. In the printed correspondence of Fenelon, a long letter
+by him on frequent communion, and one on reading the Bible, (they
+deserve to be translated and generally read,) express exactly our
+author's sentiments on those subjects. All singularity in devotion was
+offensive to him. He exhorted every one to a perfect discharge of the
+ordinary duties of his situation, to a conformity to the divine will,
+both in great and little occasions, to good temper and mildness in his
+intercourse with his neighbor, to an habitual recollection of the divine
+presence, to a scrupulous attachment to truth, to retirement, to extreme
+sobriety. These, he used to say, were the virtues of the primitive
+Christians, and among them, he said, we should always look for perfect
+models of Christian virtue. Fleury's account of them, in his _Manners of
+the Christians_, he thought excellent, and frequently recommended the
+perusal of it. He exhorted all to devotion to the Mother of God; many,
+under his care, said her office every day. The advantage of mental
+prayer he warmly inculcated. In the conduct of souls he was all mildness
+and patience: motives of love were oftener in his mouth than motives of
+fear: "for to him that loves, nothing," he used to say, with the author
+of the Imitation of Christ, "is difficult." He often sacrificed his
+studies and private devotions to the wants of his neighbor. When it was
+in his power he attended the ceremony of the _salut_ at the parish
+church; and on festivals particularly solemnized by any community of the
+towns in which he resided, he usually assisted at the divine service in
+their churches. He was very abstemious in his diet; and considered
+systematic sensuality as the ultimate degradation of human nature. He
+never was heard to express so much disgust, as at conversations where,
+for a great length of time, the pleasures of the table, or the
+comparative excellence of dishes, had been the sole topic of
+conversation; yet he was very far from being an enemy to rational mirth,
+and he always exerted himself to entertain and promote the pleasures of
+his friends. In all his proceedings he was most open and unreserved:
+from selfishness none could be more free. Dr. Kennicot often said that,
+of the many he had employed in his great biblical undertaking, none had
+shown more activity or more disinterestedness than our author. He was
+zealous in the cause of religion, but his zeal was without bitterness or
+animosity: polemic acrimony was unknown to him. He never forgot that in
+every heretic he saw a brother Christian; in every infidel he saw a
+brother man. He greatly admired _Drouen de Sacramentis_, and _Boranga's
+Theology_. _Tournely_ he preferred much to his antagonist _Billouart_.
+He thought _Houbigant_ too bold a critic, and objected some novelties to
+the _Hebraizing friars of the Rue St. Honoré_. He believed the letters
+of Ganganelli, with the exception of two or three at most, to be
+spurious. Their spuriousness has been since placed beyond controversy by
+the _Diatribe Clementine_, polished in 1777. _Caraccioli_, the editor of
+them, in his _Remerciement à l'Auteur de l'Année Littéraire de la part
+de l'Editeur des Lettres du Pape Ganganelli_, acknowledges that he filled
+sixty pages at least of them with thoughts and insertions of his own
+compositions. In the handwriting of a gentleman, remarkable for his
+great accuracy, the editor has before him the following {041} account of
+our author's sentiments on usury: "Mr. Alban Butler's opinion of
+receiving interest for money, in a letter dated the 20th of June, 1735,
+but copied anno 1738.--In England, and in some other countries, the laws
+allow of five per cent., and even an action at law for the payment of
+it. This is often allowable in a trading country; and, as it is the
+common practice in England, I shall not blame any one for taking or even
+exacting interest-money; therefore will say nothing against it in
+general: but, in my own regard, I am persuaded it is not warrantable in
+conscience, but in three cases; viz. either for a gain ceasing, as
+merchants lend money which they would otherwise employ in trade, _lucrum
+cessans_: or, secondly, some detriment the lender suffers by it, _damnum
+emergens_: or, thirdly, some hazard in the principal money, by its being
+exposed to some more than ordinary danger in being recovered safely.
+Some time afterwards the said Alban Butler was convinced there was no
+occasion of scruple in receiving interest for money, so that it was at a
+moderate or low rate of interest; and that there was reason to believe
+the borrower made full the advantage of the money that he paid for it by
+the interest."
+
+Our author's love of learning continued with him to the last. Literary
+topics were frequently the subject of his familiar conversation. He was
+a great admirer of what is called the simple style of writing; and once
+mentioned that, if he could acquire a style by wishing for it, he should
+wish for that of Herodotus. He thought the orator appeared too much in
+Cicero's philosophical works, except his Offices; that work he
+considered to be one of the most perfect models of writing which have
+come down to us from antiquity. He professed to discover the man of high
+breeding and elegant society in the commentaries of Cæsar; and to find
+expressions in the writings of Cicero which showed a person accustomed
+to address a mob, the _foex Romani populi_. He believed the works of
+Plato had been much interpolated; and once mentioned, without blame,
+father Hardouin's opinion that they were wholly a fabrication of the
+middle age. Of the modern Latin poets, he most admired Wallius, and in
+an illness desired his poems to be read to him. He himself sometimes
+composed Latin poetry. He preferred the _Paradisus Animæ_ to its rival
+prayer-book, the _Coeleste Palmetum_. Of the last he spoke with great
+contempt. The little rhyming offices, which fill a great part of it, are
+not very interesting; but the explanation in it of the psalms in our
+Lady's office, of the psalms in the office for the dead, of the gradual
+and seven penitential psalms, and of the psalms sung at vespers and
+complin, is excellent. A person would deserve well of the English
+Catholics who should translate it into English. The Coeleste Palmetum
+was the favorite prayer-book of the Low Countries. By Foppen's
+_Bibliotheca Belgica_, it appears that the first edition of it was
+printed at Cologne, in 1660, and that, during the first eight years
+after its publication, more than 14,000 copies of it were sold. Most
+readers will be surprised, when they are informed that our author
+preferred the sermons of Bossuet to those of Bourdaloue but in this he
+has not been absolutely singular; the celebrated cardinal de Maury has
+avowed the same opinion; and, what is still more extraordinary, it has
+also been avowed by father Neuville. Bossuet's Discourse upon Universal
+History may be ranked among the noblest efforts of human genius that
+ever issued from the press. In the chronological part of it, the scenes
+pass rapidly but distinctly; almost every word is a sentence, and every
+sentence presents an idea, or excites a sentiment of the sublimest kind.
+The third part of it, containing his reflections on the events which
+produced the rise and fall of the ancient empires of the earth, is not
+inferior to the celebrated work of Montesquieu on the greatness and fall
+of the Roman empire; but, in the second part, the genius of Bossuet
+appears in its full strength. He does not lead his reader through a maze
+of argumentation; he never appears in a stretch of exertion; but, with a
+continued splendor of imagery, magnificence of language, and vehemence
+of argument, which nothing can withstand, he announces the sublime
+truths of the Christian religion, and the sublime evidence that supports
+them, with a grandeur and force that overpower and disarm resistance.
+Something of this is to be found in many passages of his sermons; but,
+in general, both the language and the arguments of them are forced and
+unnatural. His letters to the nuns are very interesting. Let those who
+affect to talk slightingly of the devotions of the religious, recollect
+that the sublime Bossuet bestowed a considerable portion of his time
+upon them. The same pen that wrote the discourse on universal history,
+the funeral oration of the prince of Condé, and the History of the
+Variations, was at the command of every religious who requested {042}
+from Bossuet a letter of advice or consolation. "Was he at Versailles,
+was he engaged on any literary work of importance, was he employed on a
+pastoral visit of his diocese, still," say the Benedictine editors of
+his works, "he always found time to write to his correspondents on
+spiritual concerns." In this he had a faithful imitator in our author.
+No religious community addressed themselves to him who did not find in
+him a zealous director, an affectionate and steady friend. For several
+among the religious he had the highest personal esteem. Those who
+remember him during his residence at St. Omer's, will recollect his
+singular respect for Mrs. More, the superior of the English convent of
+Austins at Bruges. He was, in general, an enemy to the private pensions
+of nuns; (see Boudon's Letter _Sur le Relâchement qui s'est introduit
+dans l'Observation du Voeu de Pauvreté_, Lettres de Boudon, vol. 1, p.
+500;) but in this, as in every other instance, he wished the reform,
+when determined upon, to proceed gently and gradually.
+
+All who leave had an opportunity of observing the English communities
+since their arrival in this country, have been edified by their amiable
+and heroic virtues. Their resignation to the persecution which they have
+so undeservedly suffered, their patience, their cheerfulness, their
+regular discharge of their religious observances, and, above all, their
+noble confidence in Divine Providence, have gained them the esteem of
+all who know them. At a village near London, a small community of
+Carmelites lived for several months, almost without the elements of
+fire, water, or air. The two first (for water, unfortunately, was there
+a vendible commodity) they could little afford to buy; and from the last
+(their dress confining them to their shed) they were excluded. In the
+midst of this severe distress, which no spectator could behold unmoved,
+they were happy. Submission to the will of God, fortitude, and
+cheerfulness, never deserted them. A few human tears would fall from
+them when they thought of their convent; and with gratitude, the finest
+of human feelings, they abounded; in other respects they seemed of
+another world. "Whatever," says Dr. Johnson, "withdraws us from the
+power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the
+future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of
+human beings." It would be difficult to point out persons to whom this
+can be better applied than these venerable ladies, whose lives are more
+influenced by the past, the distant, or the future, or so little
+influenced by the present.
+
+Our author was not so warm on any subject as the calumnies against the
+religious of the middle age: he considered the civilization of Europe to
+be owing to them. When they were charged with idleness, he used to
+remark the immense tracts of land, which, from the rudest state of
+nature, they converted to a high state of husbandry in the Hercynian
+wood, the forests of Champagne and Burgundy, the morasses of Holland,
+and the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. When ignorance was
+imputed to them, he used to ask, what author of antiquity had reached
+us, for whose works we were not indebted to the monks. He could less
+endure that they should be considered as instruments of absolute power
+to enslave the people: when this was intimated, he observed that, during
+the period which immediately followed the extinction of the Carlovingian
+dynasty, when the feudal law absolutely triumphed over monarchy, the
+people were wholly left to themselves, and must have sunk into an
+absolute state of barbarism, if it had not been for the religious
+establishments. Those, he said, softened the manners of the conquerors,
+afforded refuge to the vanquished, preserved an intercourse between
+nations: and, when the feudal chiefs rose to the rank of monarchs, stood
+as a rampart between them and the people. He thought St. Thomas of
+Canterbury a much injured character. He often pointed out that rich
+tract of country, which extends from St. Omer's to Liege, as a standing
+refutation of those who asserted that convents and monasteries were
+inimical to the populousness of a country: he observed, that the whole
+income of the smaller houses, and two-thirds of the revenues of the
+greater houses, were constantly spent within twenty miles round their
+precincts; that their lands were universally let at low rents; that
+every abbey had a school for the instruction of its tenants, and that no
+human institution was so well calculated to promote the arts of
+painting, architecture, and sculpture, works in iron and bronze, and
+every other species of workmanship, as abbeys or monasteries, and their
+appendages. "Thus," he used to say, "though the country in view was
+originally a marsh, and has for more than a century wholly survived its
+commerce, it is the most populous country in Europe; and presents on the
+face of it as great a display {043} of public and private strength,
+wealth, and affluence, as can be found in any other part of the world."
+Fortunately for him, he did not live to be witness to the domiciliary
+visit which, in our times, it has received from France. What would he
+have thought, if any person had told him, that, before the expiration of
+the century in which he lived, the French themselves would, in perfect
+hatred of Christ, destroy the finest churches of France? At their
+profanation of his favorite church of St. Bertin, in the town of St.
+Omer's, that is said to have happened which Victor Vitensis relates to
+have happened in the persecution of the Vandals, (Hist. Pers. Van. 31:)
+"Introeuntes maximo cum furore, corpus Christi et sanguinem pavimento
+sparserunt, et illud pollutis pedibus calcaverunt."
+
+XVII.
+
+Our author enjoyed through life a good state of health, but somewhat
+impaired it by intense application to study. Some years before his
+decease he had a slight stroke of the palsy, which affected his speech.
+He died on the 15th of May, 1773, in the sixty-third year of his age. A
+decent monument of marble was raised to his memory in the chapel of the
+English college at St. Omer's, with the following inscription upon it,
+composed by Mr. Bannister:
+
+Hic jacet
+R. D. Albanus Butler (Bouteillier) Prænobilis Angius.
+Sacerdos et Alumnus Collegii Anglorum Duaci.
+Ibidem S. T. Professor, Postmodum Missionarius in Patria.
+Præses II. Collegii Regii Anglorum Audomari.
+Vicarius Generalis
+Illustrissimorum Philomelien. Deboren. Atrebaten. Audomarea
+Ex vetustâ Ortus prosapiâ
+In utrisque Angliæ et Galliæ Regnis
+Amplâ et Florente.
+Suavissimis Moribus,
+Summis acceptissimus, Infimis benignus,
+Omnium necessitatibus inserviens,
+Pro Deo.
+
+Propter Doctrinam et Ingenium, Doctissimis,
+Propter Pietatem, Bonis omnibus,
+Percharus.
+
+Nobilissimæe Juventutis Institutionem,
+Sacrarum Virginum curam,
+Reverendissimorum Antistitum negotia,
+Suscepit, promovit, expedivit,
+Opera, Scriptis, Hortatubus.
+Sanctorum rebus gestis a Puentiâ inhærens,
+Acta omnia pernoscens,
+Mentem et Sapientiam altê imbibens.
+Multa scripsit de Sanctorum vitis,
+Plena Sanctorum Spiritu, librata judicio, polita stylo,
+Summæ ubertatis et omnigenæ eruditiouis.
+Apastolicæ sedis et omnis officii semper observantissimus.
+Pie obiit 15 Mensis Maii 1773.
+Natus annis 63.
+Sacerdos 39.
+Præses 7
+Hoc m[oe]rens posuit Carolus Butler
+Monumentum Pietatis sum in Patruum Amantissimum.
+
+{044 blank}
+{045}
+
+PREFACE
+
+As in corporal distempers a total loss of appetite, which no medicines
+can restore, forebodes certain decay and death; so in the spiritual life
+of the soul, a neglect or disrelish of pious reading and instruction is
+a most fatal symptom. What hopes can we entertain of a person to whom
+the science of virtue and of eternal salvation doth not seem
+interesting, or worth his application? "It is impossible," says St.
+Chrysostom,[1] "that a man should be saved, who neglects assiduous pious
+reading or consideration. Handicraftsmen will rather suffer hunger and
+all other hardships than lose the instruments of their trade, knowing
+them to be the means of their subsistence." No less criminal and
+dangerous is the disposition of those who misspend their precious
+moments in reading romances and play-books, which fill the mind with a
+worldly spirit, with a love of vanity, pleasure, idleness, and trifling;
+which destroy and lay waste all the generous sentiments of virtue in the
+heart, and sow there the seeds of every vice, which extend their baneful
+roots over the whole soil. Who seeks nourishment from poisons? What food
+is to the body, that our thoughts and reflections are to the mind: by
+them the affections of the soul are nourished. The chameleon changes its
+color as it is affected by sadness, anger, or joy; or by the color upon
+which it sits: and we see an insect borrow its lustre and hue from the
+plant or leaf upon which it feeds. In like manner, what our meditations
+and affections are, such will our souls become, either holy and
+spiritual or earthly and carnal. By pious reading the mind is instructed
+and enlightened, and the affections of the heart are purified and
+inflamed. It is recommended by St. Paul as the summary of spiritual
+advice.[2] Devout persons never want a spur to assiduous reading or
+meditation. They are insatiable in this exercise, and, according to the
+golden motto of Thomas à Kempis, they find their chief delight _in a
+closet, with a good book_.[3] Worldly and tepid Christians stand
+certainly in the utmost need of this help to virtue. The world is a
+whirlpool of business, pleasure, and sin. Its torrent is always beating
+upon their hearts, ready to break in and bury them under its flood,
+unless frequent pious reading and consideration oppose a strong fence to
+its waves. The more deeply a person is immersed in its tumultuous cares,
+so much the greater ought to be his solicitude to find leisure to
+breathe, after the fatigues and dissipation of business and company; to
+plunge his heart, by secret prayer, in the ocean of the divine
+immensity, and, by pious reading, to afford his soul some spiritual
+refection; as the wearied husbandman, returning from his labor, recruits
+his spent vigor and exhausted strength, by allowing his body necessary
+refreshment and repose.
+
+The lives of the saints furnish the Christian with a daily spiritual
+entertainment, {046} which is not less agreeable than affecting and
+instructive. For in sacred biography the advantages of devotion and
+piety are joined with the most attractive charms of history. The method
+of forming men to virtue by example, is, of all others, the shortest,
+the most easy, and the best adapted to all circumstances and
+dispositions. Pride recoils at precepts, but example instructs without
+usurping the authoritative air of a master; for, by example, a man seems
+to advise and teach himself. It does its work unperceived, and therefore
+with less opposition from the passions, which take not the alarm. Its
+influence is communicated with pleasure. Nor does virtue here appear
+barren and dry as in discourses, but animated and living, arrayed with
+all her charms, exerting all her powers, and secretly obviating the
+pretences, and removing the difficulties which self-love never fails to
+raise. In the lives of the saints we see the most perfect maxims of the
+gospel reduced to practice, and the most heroic virtue made the object
+of our senses, clothed as it were with a body, and exhibited to view in
+its most attractive dress. Here, moreover, we are taught the means by
+which virtue is obtained, and learn the precipices and snares which we
+are to shun, and the blinds and by-ways in which many are bewildered and
+misled in its pursuit. The example of the servants of God points out to
+us the true path, and leads us as it were by the hand into it, sweetly
+inviting and encouraging us to walk cheerfully in the steps of those
+that are gone before us.
+
+Neither is it a small advantage that, by reading the history of the
+saints, we are introduced into the acquaintance of the greatest
+personages who have ever adorned the world, the brightest ornaments of
+the church militant, and the shining stars and suns of the triumphant,
+our future companions in eternal glory. While we admire the wonders of
+grace and mercy, which God hath displayed in their favor, we are
+strongly moved to praise his adorable goodness. And, in their
+penitential lives and holy maxims, we learn the sublime lessons of
+practical virtue, which their assiduous meditation on the divine word,
+the most consummate experience in their deserts, watchings, and commerce
+with heaven, and the lights of the Holy Ghost, their interior Master,
+discovered to them. But it is superfluous to show from reason the
+eminent usefulness of the example, and the history of the saints, which
+the most sacred authority recommends to us as one of the most powerful
+helps to virtue. It is the admonition of St. Paul, that we remember our
+holy teachers, and that, having the end of their conversation before our
+eyes, we imitate their faith.[4]
+
+For our instruction the Holy Ghost himself inspired the prophets to
+record the lives and actions of many illustrious saints in the holy
+scriptures. The church could not, in a more solemn manner, recommend to
+us to have these great models often before our eyes, than by inserting
+in her daily office an abstract of the lives of the martyrs and other
+saints; which constant sacred custom is derived from the primitive ages,
+in which the histories of the martyrs were publicly read at the divine
+office, in the assemblies of the faithful, on their annual festivals.
+This is testified of the acts of St. Polycarp in the life of St.
+Pionius, and, by St. Austin,[5] of those of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas,
+&c. The council of Africa, under Aurelius, archbishop of Carthage, in
+397, mentions the acts of the martyrs being allowed to be read in the
+church on their anniversary days.[6] St. Cæsarius permitted persons that
+were sick and weak, to hear the histories of the martyrs sitting, when
+they were of an uncommon length; but complained that some who were
+healthful unreasonably took the same liberty.[7]
+
+{047}
+
+All great masters of a spiritual life exceedingly extol the advantages
+which accrue to souls from the devout reading of the lives of eminent
+saints; witness St. Nilus,[8] St. Chrysostom, and others. Many fathers
+have employed their pens in transmitting down to posterity the actions
+of holy men. And the histories of saints were the frequent entertainment
+and delight of all pious persons, who ever found in them a most powerful
+means of their encouragement and advancement in virtue, as St.
+Bonaventure writes of St. Francis of Assisium. "By the remembrance of
+the saints, as by the touch of glowing stones of fire, he was himself
+enkindled, and converted into a divine flame." St. Stephen of Grandmont
+read their lives every day, and often on his knees. The abbot St.
+Junian, St. Antoninus, St. Thomas, and other holy men are recorded to
+have read assiduously the lives of the saints, and by their example to
+have daily inflamed themselves with fervor in all virtues. St. Boniface
+of Mentz sent over to England for books of the lives of saints,[9] and,
+by reading the acts of the martyrs, animated himself with the spirit of
+martyrdom. This great apostle of Germany, St. Sigiran and others, always
+carried with them in their journeys the acts of the martyrs, that they
+might read them wherever they travelled. It is related of St. Anastasius
+the martyr, that "while he read the conflicts and victories of the
+martyrs, he watered the book with his tears, and prayed that he might
+suffer the like for Christ. And so much was he delighted with this
+exercise that he employed in it all his leisure hours." St. Teresa
+declares how much the love of virtue was kindled in her breast by this
+reading, even when she was a child. Joseph Scaliger, a rigid Calvinist
+critic, writes as follows on the acts of certain primitive martyrs:[10]
+"The souls of pious persons are so strongly affected in reading them,
+that they always lay down the book with regret. This every one may
+experience in himself. I with truth aver, that there is nothing in the
+whole history of the church with which I am so much moved: when I read
+them I seem no longer to possess myself."
+
+It would be very easy to compile a volume of the remarkable testimonies
+of eminent and holy men concerning this most powerful help to virtue,
+and to produce many examples of sinners, who have been converted by it
+to an heroic practice of piety. St. Austin mentions two courtiers who
+were moved on the spot to forsake the world, and became fervent monks,
+by accidentally reading the life of St. Antony.[11] St. John Columbin,
+from a rich, covetous, and passionate nobleman, was changed into a
+saint, by casually reading the life of St. Mary of Egypt.[12] The duke
+of Joyeuse, marshal of France, owed his perfect conversion to the
+reading of the life of St. Francis Borgia, which his servant had one
+evening laid on the table. To these the example of St. Ignatius of
+Loyola, and innumerable others might be added. Dr. Palafox, the pious
+Binni of Osma, in his preface to the fourth tome of the letters of St.
+Teresa, relates, that an eminent Lutheran minister at Bremen, famous for
+several works which he had printed against the Catholic church,
+purchased the life of St. Teresa, written by herself, with a view of
+attempting to confute it; but, by attentively reading it over, was
+converted to the Catholic faith, and from that time led a most edifying
+life. The examples of Mr. Abraham Woodhead and others were not less
+illustrious.
+
+But, to appeal to our own experience--who is not awakened from his
+spiritual lethargy, and confounded at his own cowardice, when he
+considers the fervor and courage of the saints? All our pretences and
+foolish objections are silenced, when we see the most perfect maxims of
+the gospel {048} demonstrated to be easy by example. When we read how
+many young noblemen and tender virgins have despised the world, and
+joyfully embraced the cross and the labors of penance, we feel a glowing
+flame kindled in our own breasts, and are encouraged to suffer
+afflictions with patience, and cheerfully to undertake suitable
+practices of penance. While we see many sanctifying themselves in all
+states, and making the very circumstances of their condition, whether on
+the throne, in the army, in the state of marriage, or in the deserts,
+the means of their virtue and penance, we are persuaded that the
+practice of perfection is possible also to us, in every lawful
+profession, and that we need only sanctify our employments by a perfect
+spirit, and the fervent exercises of religion, to become saints
+ourselves, without quitting our state in the world. When we behold
+others, framed of the same frail mould with ourselves, many in age or
+other circumstances weaker than ourselves, and struggling with greater
+difficulties, yet courageously surmounting, and trampling upon all the
+obstacles by which the world endeavored to obstruct their virtuous
+choice, we are secretly stung within our breasts, feel the reproaches of
+our sloth, are roused from our state of insensibility, and are forced to
+cry out, "Cannot you do what such and such have done?" But to wind up
+this discourse, and draw to a conclusion; whether we consult reason,
+authority, or experience, we may boldly affirm that, except the sacred
+writings, no book has reclaimed so many sinners, or formed so many holy
+men to perfect virtue, as that of _The Lives of Saints_.
+
+If we would read to the spiritual profit of our souls, our motive must
+be a sincere desire of improving ourselves in divine love, in humility,
+meekness, and other virtues. Curiosity or vanity shuts the door of the
+heart to the Holy Ghost, and stifles in it all affections of piety. A
+short and humble petition of the divine light ought to be our
+preparation; for which we may say with the prophet, "Open thou mine
+eyes, and I will consider the wonderful things of thy law."[13] We must
+make the application of what we read to ourselves, entertain pious
+affections, and form particular resolutions for the practice of virtue.
+It is the admonition of a great servant of God,[14] "Whatever good
+instructions you read, unless you resolve and effectually endeavor to
+practise them with your whole heart, you have not read to the benefit of
+your soul. For knowledge without works only accuseth and condemneth."
+Though we cannot imitate all the actions of the saints, we can learn
+from them to practise humility, patience, and other virtues in a manner
+suiting our circumstances and state of life; and can pray that we may
+receive a share in the benedictions and glory of the saints. As they who
+have seen a beautiful flower-garden, gather a nosegay to smell at the
+whole day; so ought we, in reading, to cull out some flowers, by
+selecting certain pious reflections and sentiments with which we are
+most affected; and these we should often renew during the day; lest we
+resemble a man who, having looked at him self in the glass, goeth away,
+and forgetteth what he had seen of himself.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Chrys. Conc. 3, de Lazaro. t. 1, p. 738, ed. Montfauc.
+2.  1 Tim. iv. 13.
+3.  In angelo cum libello.
+4.  Heb. xii.
+5.  St. Aug. Serm. 280, t. 5, p. 1134.
+6.  Can. 47, Conc. t. 2, p. 1072.
+7.  St. Cæsar. Serm. 95, vel apud St. Aug. t. 5, Append. Serm. 300.
+8.  St. Nilius, l. 4, ep. 1, Discipulo suo, p. 458. Item, Tr. e
+    Monasticâ Exercitatione, c. 34 et c. 43, p. 40 et Peristeria, sect. 4,
+    p. 99.
+9.  St. Bonif. ep. 35, Bibl. Patr.
+10. Animadv. in Chronic. Eus. ad ann 2187.
+11. Conf. l. 8, c. 6.
+12. Fleury, l. 97, n. 2, t. 20.
+13. Ps. cviii. 18.
+14. Lansperg. Enchir. c. 11.
+
+{049}
+
+AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.
+
+THE lives of the principal martyrs, fathers, and other more illustrious
+saints, whose memory is revered in the Catholic church, are here
+presented to the public. An undertaking of this kind seems not to stand
+in need of an apology. For such are the advantages and so great the
+charms of history, that, on every subject, and whatever dress it wears,
+it always pleases and finds readers. So instructive it is, that it is
+styled by Cicero, "The mistress of life,"[1] and is called by others,
+"Moral philosophy exemplified in the lives and actions of mankind."[2]
+But, of all the parts of history, biography, which describes the lives
+of great men, seems both the most entertaining, and the most instructive
+and improving. By a judicious choice and detail of their particular
+actions, it sets before our eyes a living image of those heroes who have
+been the object of the admiration of past ages; it exhibits to us a
+portraiture of their interior virtues and spirit, and gives the most
+useful and enlarged view of human nature. From the wise maxims,
+experience, and even mistakes of great men, we learn the most refined
+lessons of prudence, and are furnished with models for our imitation.
+Neither is the narration here interrupted, nor the attention of the
+reader hurried from one object to another, as frequently happens in
+general history. On these and other accounts are the lives of eminent
+personages the most agreeable and valuable part of history. But, in the
+lives of the saints, other great advantages occur. Here are incidentally
+related the triumphs of the church, the trophies of the most exalted
+virtue, and the conversion of nations. What are profane histories better
+than records of scandals? What are the boasted triumphs of an Alexander
+or a Cæsar but a series of successful plunders, murders, and other
+crimes? It was the remark of the historian Socrates, that if princes
+were all lovers of peace and fathers of their people, and if the lives
+of men were a uniform and steady practice of piety, civil history would
+be almost reduced to empty dates. This reflection extorted from the pen
+of a famous wit of our age, in his history of the empire of the West
+since Charlemagne, the following confession: "This history is scarcely
+any more than a vast scene of weaknesses, faults, crimes, and
+misfortunes; among which we find some virtues, and some successful
+exploits, as fertile valleys are often seen among chains of rocks and
+precipices. This is likewise the case with other histories."[3] But the
+lives of the saints are the history of the most exemplary and perfect
+virtue and prowess. While therefore all other branches of history employ
+daily so many pens, shall this, which above all others deserves our
+attention, be alone forgotten? While every other part of the soil is
+daily raked up, shall the finest spot be left uncultivated? Our
+antiquaries must think themselves obliged by this essay, as the greatest
+part of these saints have been the objects of the veneration of the
+whole Christian world during several ages. Their names stand recorded in
+the titles of our churches, in our towns, estates, writings, and {050}
+almost every other monument of our Christian ancestors. If the late
+learned bishop Tanner, by his _Notitia Monastica_, deserved the thanks
+of all lovers of antiquity, will they not receive favorably the history
+of those eminent persons of whom we meet so frequent memorials?
+
+Besides the principal saint for each day, in this collection is added a
+short account of some others who were very remarkable in history, or
+famous among our ancestors. The English and Scottish churches had, by
+the mutual intercourse and neighborhood of the nations, a particular
+devotion to several French saints, as appears from all their ancient
+breviaries, from a complete English manuscript calendar, written in the
+reign of Edward IV., now in my hands, and from the titular saints of
+many monasteries and parishes. Our Norman kings and bishops honored
+several saints of Aquitain and Normandy by pious foundations which bear
+their names among us: and portions of the relics of some French saints,
+as of St. Salvius, kept in the cathedral of Canterbury, have rendered
+their names illustrious in this kingdom. The mention of such, were it
+but for the satisfaction of our antiquaries, &c., will, it is to be
+hoped, be pardoned. Though the limits of this work would not allow long
+abstracts of these secondary lives, yet some characteristical
+circumstances are inserted, that these memoirs might not sink into a
+bare _necrology_, or barren list of dates and names. For, unless a
+narration be supported with some degree of dignity and spirit, and
+diversified by the intermixture of various events, it deserves not the
+name of history; no more than a plot of ground can be called a garden,
+which is neither variegated with parterres of flowers, nor checkered
+with walks and beds of useful herbs or shrubs. To answer the title and
+design of this work, a short account is given of those fathers whose
+names are famous in the history of the church, and in the schools, but
+who have never been honored among the saints. But such fathers or other
+eminent persons are spoken of only in notes upon the lives of certain
+saints, with which they seem to have some connection. It was the
+compiler's intention to insert among the lives of the saints an account
+of none to whom public veneration has not been decreed by the authority
+of the Holy See, or at least of some particular churches, before this,
+on many just accounts, was reserved to the chief pastor of the church.
+The compiler declares that the epithets of Saint and Blessed are never
+employed in this work, but with entire submission to the decrees of
+Urban VIII. on this subject; and that if they are anywhere given to
+persons to whom the supreme pastors of the church have never juridically
+granted this privilege, no more is meant by them, than such persons are
+esteemed holy and venerable for the reputation of their virtue; not that
+they are publicly honored among the saints. The same is to be understood
+of miracles here related, which have not been judicially examined and
+approved, the part of an historian differing entirely from an authentic
+decision of the supreme judge.
+
+The actions of several apostles and other illustrious saints were never
+committed to writing: and, with regard to some others, the records of
+their transactions, by falling a prey to the moths or flames, have
+perished in the general wreck: yet their names could not be omitted. If
+their history affords little to gratify vain curiosity, at least a heart
+which seeks and loves God will find, even in these scanty memoirs, every
+thing interesting and entertaining. If the names of some saints have
+been transmitted down to us without particular accounts of their
+lives,[4] their virtues shine with no {051} less lustre in heaven; and
+this very circumstance is pleasing and favorable to humility, which
+studies and loves to lie concealed and unknown; and it was pointed out
+by the hidden life of Christ. It is also objected, that certain actions
+of some saints, which were performed by a special instinct of the Holy
+Ghost, are to us rather objects of admiration than imitation; but even
+in these we read lessons of perfect virtue, and a reproach of our own
+sloth, who dare undertake nothing for God. But some may say, What
+edification can persons in the world reap from the lives of apostles,
+bishops, or recluses? To this it may be answered, that though the
+functions of their state differ from ours, yet patience, humility,
+penance, zeal, and charity, which all their actions breathe, are
+necessary virtues in all persons. Christian perfection is in its spirit
+and essence everywhere the same, how much soever the means or exercises
+may vary. Though edification be the primary view in works of this
+nature, the other ends of history are not neglected, as it becomes more
+entertaining and useful in proportion as it is more clear, complete, and
+important. This, it is hoped, will excuse certain short digressions
+which are sometimes inserted, and which the laws of correct writing
+allow when not too long, frequent, or foreign, when they have a natural
+connection with the subject, and when the want of regularity is
+compensated by greater perspicuity and utility. This liberty is more
+freely taken in parts which would have otherwise seemed barren. Notes
+are added, which seemed useful to the bulk of those for whom this work
+was designed, or likely to attract the curiosity of some to whom these
+lives would otherwise have seemed obscure, or not sufficiently
+interesting. This method renders sacred biography a more universal
+improvement in useful knowledge, and by enlarging the view, becomes more
+satisfactory and engaging.
+
+Certain critics of this age, as they style themselves, are displeased
+with all histories of miracles, not considering that these wonders are,
+in a particular manner, the works of God, intended to raise our
+attention to his holy providence, and to awake our souls to praise his
+goodness and power, often also to bear testimony to his truth. Entirely
+to omit the mention of them would be an infidelity in history, and would
+tend, in some measure, to obstruct the great and holy purposes for which
+they were effected. Yet a detail of all miracles, though authentically
+attested, is not the design of this work. Wherefore, in such facts, it
+seemed often sufficient to refer the reader to the original records. But
+miracles may be the subject of a particular disquisition.
+
+A tedious sameness in the narration hath been carefully avoided, and in
+relating general virtues, it is hoped that the manner, diction, and
+thoughts will be found new. Where memoirs allowed it, such a collection
+of remarkable actions and sayings of the saints hath been selected as
+seems neither trifling nor redundant; and may serve to express their
+character and spirit. In this consists the chief advantage of biography,
+as in painting, a portraiture draws its life from the strength of the
+features. By thus singular excellency doth Plutarch charm his readers,
+cover, or at least compensate for, his neglect of style and method, and
+other essential blemishes, and make even the most elegant writers who
+have attempted a supplement to his {052} lives,[5] to appear tedious and
+dull to one who hath first read his work. What eloquence could furnish
+so fine a description, or convey so strong a idea of the pride of
+Alexander, as the short answers of that prince to the Cynic philosopher,
+or to Darius? or of the modesty of Phocion, as the well-chosen
+circumstances of his disinterestedness and private life?[6]
+
+In these lives of the saints pious reflections are sometimes
+interspersed, though in general sparingly, not to swell the volume, or
+seem to suspect the judgment of the reader, or to forestall the pleasure
+of his own reflections. The study and exercise of virtue being the
+principal end which every good Christian ought to propose to himself in
+all his actions and undertakings, and which religious persons have
+particularly in view in reading the lives of saints, in favor of those
+who are slow in forming suitable reflections in the reading, a short
+instruction, consisting of maxims drawn from the writing or example of
+each saint, is subjoined to the principal life for each day, which may
+be omitted at discretion. A succinct account of the writings of the
+fathers is given in marginal notes, as a key to young theologians in
+studying their works: their ascetical lucubrations are principally
+pointed out, in which their spirit is often discovered, even to better
+advantage than in the best histories which are left us of their actions.
+
+The compiler's first care in this work, hath been a most scrupulous
+attachment to truth, the foundation, or rather the soul of all history,
+especially of that which tends to the advancement of piety and religion.
+The indagation is often a task both nice and laborious. If we weigh the
+merit of original authors, some we shall find careless and injudicious,
+and many write under the bias of party prejudice, which strangely
+perverts the judgment. By this, James Basnage could, in his History of
+the Jews, (b. 6,) notoriously mistake and misrepresent, by wholesale,
+the clearest authorities, to gratify his prepossession against an
+incontestable miracle, as the most learned Mr. Warburton hath
+demonstrated in his Julian, (b. 2, ch. 4.) Some write history as they
+would a tragedy or a romance; and, seeking at any rate to please the
+reader, or display their art, often sacrifice the truth for the sake of
+a fine conceit, of a glittering thought, or a point of wit.[7] Another
+difficulty is, that ancient writings have sometimes suffered much by the
+bold rashness of modern critics, or in the manuscripts, by the slips of
+careless copiers.[8] Again, authors who polish the style, or abridge the
+histories of others, are seldom to be trusted; and experience will show
+us the same of translations. Even Henry Valois, the most learned and
+celebrated Greek interpreter, is accused of having sometimes so far
+mistaken the sense of Eusebius, as to have given in his translation the
+contradictory of the meaning of his author.
+
+A greater mischief than all these have been the forgeries of impostors,
+especially heretics. Indeed, if the father of lies, by the like
+instruments, {053} found means to counterfeit forty-eight or fifty false
+gospels, of which a list is given by Calmet,[9] is it surprising that,
+from the same forge, he should have attempted to adulterate the
+histories of certain saints? But the vigilance of zealous pastors, and
+the repeated canons of the church, show, through every age, how much all
+forgeries and imposture were always the object of their abhorrence. Pope
+Adrian I., in an epistle to Charlemagne, mentions this constant severe
+law of the church, and says, that no acts of martyrs are suffered to be
+read which are not supported by good vouchers.[10] The council in
+Trullo,[11] and many others down to the present age, have framed canons
+for this purpose, as F. Honoratus of St. Mary shows.[12] Pope Gelasius
+I., in his famous Roman council in 494, condemns the false acts of St.
+George, which the Arians had forged,[13] &c. Tertullian[14] and St.
+Jerom[15] inform us, that, in the time of the apostles, a certain priest
+of Asia, out of veneration for St. Paul and St. Thecla, forged false
+acts of their peregrinations and sufferings; but for this crime he was
+deposed from the priesthood by St. John the Evangelist. No good end can,
+on any account, excuse the least lie; and to advance that pious frauds,
+as some improperly call them, can ever be lawfully used, is no better
+than blasphemy. All wilful lying is essentially a sin, as Catholic
+divines unanimously teach, with St. Austin, against the
+Prisciallianists. It is contrary and most hateful to the God of truth,
+and a heinous affront and injury offered to our neighbor: it destroys
+the very end and use of speech, and the sacred bond of society, and all
+commerce among men; for it would be better to live among dumb persons,
+than to converse with liars. To tell any lie whatsoever in the least
+point relating to religion, is always to lie in a matter of moment, and
+can never be excused from a mortal sin, as Catholic divines teach.[16]
+Grotius, the Protestant critic, takes notice that forgeries cannot be
+charged upon the popes, who, by the most severe canons, forbid them,
+punish the authors if detected, and give all possible encouragement to
+judicious critics.[17] This also appears from the works of innumerable
+learned men among the Catholics, and from the unwearied labors with
+which they have given to the public the most correct editions of the
+ancient fathers and historians. Good men may sometimes be too credulous
+in things in which there appears no harm. Nay, Gerson observes,[18] that
+sometimes the more averse a person is from fraud himself, the more
+unwilling he is to suspect imposture in others. But no good man can
+countenance and abet a known fraud for any purpose whatever. The
+pretence of religion would exceedingly aggravate the crime.
+
+If any particular persons among the monks could be convicted of having
+attempted to palm any false writing or lie on the world, the obligations
+of their profession would render their crime the more odious and
+enormous. But to make this a charge upon that venerable order of men in
+any age, is a most unjust and a notorious slander. Melchior Cano, who
+complains of interpolations which have crept into some parts of sacred
+biography, justifies the monks from the infamous imputation which some,
+through ignorance or malice, affect to cast upon them;[19] and Mabillon
+has vindicated them more at large.[20] On their diligence and
+scrupulosity in general, in correctly copying the manuscripts, see Dom.
+Coutant,[21] and the authors of the new {054} French Diplomatique.[22]
+In the Penitentia of St. Theodore the Studite, a penance is prescribed
+for a monk who had made any mistake in copying a manuscript. In 1196, in
+the general chapter of the Cistercians, it was ordered that the church
+of Lyons and the monastery of Cluni should be consulted about the true
+reading of a passage in a book to be copied. Anciently, books were
+chiefly copied and preserved in monasteries, which for several ages were
+the depositories of learning. Mr. Gurdon[23] and Bishop Tanner[24] take
+notice, that in England the great abbeys were even the repositories of
+the laws, edicts of kings, and acts of parliament. The history of Wales
+was compiled and kept through every age, by public authority, in the
+monastery of Ystratflur for South Wales, where the princes and noblemen
+of that country were interred; and in the abbey of Conwey for North
+Wales, which was the burying-place of the princes of that part.
+Conringius,[25] a German Protestant, writes, "In the sixth, seventh, and
+eighth centuries there is scarce to be found, in the whole Western
+church, the name of a person who had written a book, but what dwelt, or
+at least was educated in a monastery." Before universities were erected,
+monasteries, and often the palaces of bishops, were the seminaries of
+the clergy, the nurseries for the education of young noblemen, and the
+great schools of all the sciences. To the libraries and industry of the
+monks we are principally indebted for the works of the ancients which we
+possess. Grateful for this benefit, we ought not to condemn them
+because, by a fatality incident to human things, some works are come
+down to us interpolated or imperfect.[26]
+
+Accidental causes have given frequent occasions to mistakes, which, when
+we consider, we cannot be surprised if sometimes good men have been
+deceived by false memoirs. As to authors of wilful forgeries, we have no
+name harsh enough to express, nor punishment equal to their crime. But
+the integrity even of Geoffry of Monmouth is no longer impeached, since
+it hath been proved that in his British history he was not the author of
+the fables which he published upon the credit of other vouchers.
+
+Nevertheless, upon these, and the like accounts, history calls aloud for
+the discernment of criticism. And many learned men, especially of the
+monastic order, have, for our assistance, with no less industry than
+success, separated in ancient writings the sterling from the
+counterfeit, and by collating manuscripts, and by clearing difficult
+points, have rendered the path in this kind of literature smooth and
+secure. The merit of original authors hath been weighed; we have the
+advantage of most correct editions of their works; rash and groundless
+alterations of some modern critics, and the blunders of careless copiers
+or editors are redressed; interpolations foisted into the original
+writings are retrenched; and a mark hath been set on memoirs of inferior
+authority. Moreover, the value of ancient manuscripts, being known,
+ample repositories of such monuments have been made, curious lists of
+which are communicated to the public, that any persons may know and have
+recourse to them. It must also be added, that the laborious task of
+making the researches necessary for this complicated work, hath been
+rendered lighter by the care with which several judicious and learned
+men have compiled the lives of many particular saints. Thus have
+Mabillon and {055} Bulteau writ the lives of the saints of the order of
+St. Benedict; the elegant Touron of that of St. Dominick; Le Nain, of
+the Cistercian order; Tillemont, the Maurist Benedictin monks, and Orsi,
+these of the principal fathers of the church, &c.[27] The genuine acts
+of the primitive martyrs, the most valuable monument of ecclesiastical
+history, have been carefully published by Ruinart. Some of them are
+presidial acts, _i.e._ extracted from the court registers; others were
+written from the relations of eye-witnesses of undoubted veracity. To
+this treasure an accession, which the learned Orsi and others doubt not
+to call of equal value, hath been lately made by the publication of the
+genuine acts of the martyrs of the East, or of Persia, and of the West,
+or Palestine, in two volumes, folio, at Rome. Those of the East were
+written chiefly by St. Maruthus, a neighboring bishop of Mesopotamia:
+the others seem to contain the entire work of Eusebius on the martyrs of
+Palestine, which he abridged in the eighth book of his history. Both
+parts were found in a Chaldaic manuscript, in a monastery of Upper
+Egypt, and purchased by Stephen Evodius Assemani, archbishop of Apamea,
+and his uncle Joseph Simonius Assemani, first prefect of the Vatican
+library, at the charges of pope Clement XII., who had sent the former
+into the East on that errand. The manuscripts are deposited in the
+Vatican library. Joseph Assemani is known in the republic of letters by
+his invaluable Oriental library, his _Italicæ Historiæ Scriptores_, his
+_Kalendaria Ecclesiæ Universæ notis Ilustrata_, &c., and Stephen, by his
+share in the publication of the works of St. Ephrem, and by the _Acta
+Martyrum Orientalium et Occidentalium_. The learned Jesuits at Antwerp,
+Bollandus and his continuators, have given us the _Acta Sanctorum_,
+enriched with curious remarks and dissertations, in forty-one large
+volumes in folio, to the 5th day of September. To mention other
+monuments and writers here made use of, would be tedious and
+superfluous. The authorities produced throughout the work speak for
+themselves: the veracity of writers who cannot pretend to pass for
+inspired, ought to be supported by competent vouchers.
+
+The original authors are chiefly our guides. The stream runs clear and
+pure from the source, which in a long course often contracts a foreign
+mixture; but the lucubrations of many judicious modern critics have cast
+a great light upon ancient historians: these, therefore, have been also
+consulted and compared, and their labors freely made use of.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Cicero, l. 2, de Orat. c. 9.
+2.  Voss. Ars Hist. cap. 5.
+3.  Voltaire's Annals of the Empire of Germany.
+4.  Some call in question the existence of certain saints, as SS.
+    Bacchus, Quirinus, Mercurius, Nilammon, Hippolytus, &c., because
+    these names are of pagan original. But that Christians often
+    retained those names is evident, not only from the oldest
+    Martyrologies, but from Eusebius, Theodoret, and other ancient
+    writers, who often mention Christians named Apollonius and
+    Apollinerius, from Apollo &c., and St. Paul speaks of a disciple
+    called Hermes, or Mercurius; and had another named Dionysius, or
+    Bacchus. Dr. Geddes and others object to the existence of St.
+    Almnachius, St. George, St. Wenefred, &c., but we shall find their
+    honor supported in this work by irrefregable authorities. Longinus
+    not only signifies a spear, but was a Roman name, and that of a
+    soldier and martyr, on the 15th of March: whether he be the person
+    who opened the side of Christ with a spear or no, is a point of less
+    importance. Mr. Addison and Dr. Middleton thought they had hit on a
+    great discovery when they transformed Mount Soracte into St.
+    Orestes. But that mountain is commonly called, not St. Orestes, but
+    San Sylvestro, together with the monastery on its summit. Moreover,
+    we find both in the Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa two saints of
+    the name of Orestes recorded, the one on the 9th of November, the
+    other on the 19th of December, who both suffered under Dioclesian,
+    one in Armenia, the other in Cappadocia. The latter is also named by
+    St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his oration on St. Basil. If, by slips of
+    copiers, mistakes have happened to some names, of accidental
+    circumstances; or if certain private persons should be convicted of
+    having been any time deceived in some saint, this would not affect
+    the credit of authentic general Martyrologies.
+5.  Mrs. Dacier, Mr. Rowe.
+6.  This made Theodorus Gaza say, that if learning must suffer a general
+    shipwreck, and he had only his choice left him of preserving one
+    author, Plutarch should be the man.
+7.  With this fault the famous king of Prussia, who is perfectly
+    acquainted with the affairs of the North, charged the florid author
+    of the history of Charles XII. of Sweden. Nor could this historian,
+    as it is said, give any other answer to the complaint of the
+    Hamburghers, that he had notoriously slandered them with regard to
+    their conduct towards the citizens of Altena, than that his fiction
+    was plausible and ingenious, founded in their mutual jealousy,
+    according to the maxim of dramatic writers, _Feign with
+    probability_. Of this cast, indeed, though we have many modern
+    examples, we know, perhaps, none among the authors of antiquity.
+8.  Thirty thousand various readings were found by Mr. Mills in the
+    Greek New Testament; Dr. Bentley reckoned twenty thousand in
+    Terence, and twice as many as there are verses in the poet Manilius.
+    Even the most valuable Vatican and Alexandrian manuscripts of the
+    Bible abound in faults of the copiers; and editions of works made
+    from single manuscripts are always very defective.--witness those of
+    Cornelius Nepos, and the Greek Hesychius. Patrick Young, (called in
+    Latin, Patricius Junius,) when keeper of the king's library at
+    London, scrupled not to erase and alter several words in the most
+    valuable Alexandrian Greek manuscript copy of the Bible, as is
+    visible to this day. What wonder, then, (how intolerable such
+    liberties are,) if the like has been sometimes done by others in
+    books of less note, with a presumption like that of Dr. Bentley in
+    his amendments of Horace.
+9.  Prelim Dissert. on St. Matthew.
+10. Sine probabilibus autoribus, Conc. t. 7, 954.
+11. Can. 62.
+12. Règies de la Critique, t. 2, p. 12, 20, et Diss. 3, p. 134.
+13. See Mabillon, Disquis. de Cursu Gallic. §1.
+14. Tert. l. de Bapt. c. 17.
+15. Catal. Vir Illustr. c. 7.
+16. See Nat. Alexander, Collet, Henno, &c., in Decalogum de Mendacio.
+17. Grot. l. de Antichr. t. 3, Op. Theolog.
+18. Gerson, ep. ad Morel.
+19. De Loc. Theol. l. 11, c. 5.
+20. Diplomat. l. 3, c. 3.
+21. Coutant, Vindic. veter. Cod. Confirm. p. 32, 550, &c.
+22. Diplom. t. 4, p. 452, &c.
+23. Gurdon, Hist. of Parliament, t. 1.
+24. Pref. to Notitia Monastica, in folio.
+25. Dissert. 3, de Antiq. Acad.
+26. How easy was the mistake of a copyist or bookseller, who ascribed
+    the works of some modern Austin to the great doctor of that name? or
+    who, finding several sermons of St. Cæsarius annexed in the same copy
+    to those of St. Austin, imagined them all to belong to one title?
+    Several disciples published, under the names of St. Austin, St.
+    Gregory, or St. Zeno, sermons or comments which they had heard from
+    their mouths: by the same means we have three different editions of
+    the confession of St. Ephrem. We have already seen many works
+    falsely published under the name of Boerhaave, which never came from
+    his pen; as, The Method of Studying Physic, Materia Medica, Praxis
+    Medica, and a spurious edition of his Chemistry, which seem all to
+    come from the pens of his scholars.
+27. Among the compilers of the lives of saints, some wanted the
+    discernment of criticism. Simeon Metaphrastes, patrician, first
+    secretary and chancellor to the emperors Leo the Wise, and
+    Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in 912, (of whose collection one
+    hundred and twenty-two lives are still extant,) sometimes altered
+    the style of his authors where it appeared flat or barbarous, and
+    sometimes inserted later additions and interpolations, often not
+    sufficiently warranted, though not by him forged; for Psellus, in
+    his panegyric, furnishes us with many proofs of his piety. See Cave,
+    (Hist. Litér. t. 2, p. 88,) who, with other judicious critics,
+    entertains a much more favorable opinion of Metaphrastes than
+    Baillet. See Metaphrastes vindicated by Leo Allatius. (Diatr. de
+    Nilis, p. 24.) James de Voragine, of the order of St. Dominick, and
+    archbishop of Genoa, author of the _Golden Legend_, in 1290, wrote
+    still with less judgment, and, in imitation of Livy, often made the
+    martyrs speak his own language. Lippoman, bishop of Verona in 1550,
+    and Laurence Surius, a Carthusian monk of Cologne in 1570, sometimes
+    wanted the necessary helps for discernment in the choice of
+    materials. The same is to be said of Ribadeneira, except in the
+    lives of saints who lived near his own time, though a person
+    otherwise well qualified for a writer of sacred biography. Several
+    who have augmented his works in France, Spain, or Italy, labored
+    under the same misfortune and often gathered together whatever the
+    drag-net of time had amassed. John Capgrave, an Austin friar, some
+    time confessor to the duke of Gloucester, who died at Lynn in
+    Norfolk, in 1484, compiled the legend of the saints of England, from
+    a more ancient collection, the Sanctilogium of John of Tinmouth, a
+    monk of St. Alban's, in 1366, of which a very fair manuscript copy
+    was, before the last fire, extant in the Cottonian library. By the
+    melting of the glue and warping of the leaves, this book is no
+    longer legible unless some such method be used as that which is
+    employed in unfolding the parched and mouldering manuscripts found
+    in the ruins of Herculaneum.
+
+    On the other hand, some French critics in sacred biography have
+    tinctured their works with a false and pernicious leaven, and, under
+    the name of criticism, established skepticism.
+
+{056 blank page}
+{057}
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+JANUARY.
+
+
+1.
+THE Circumcision of our Lord.....................  59
+St. Fulgentius, Bishop and Confessor.............  63
+St. Odilo, or Olon, Sixth Abbot of Cluni.........  69
+St. Almachus, or Telemachus, Martyr..............  71
+St. Eugendus, Abbot..............................  71
+St. Fanchea, or Faine, Virgin, of Ireland........  72
+St. Mochua, or Moncain, alias Claunus, Abbot
+  in Ireland.....................................  72
+St. Mochua, alias Cronan, of Bella, Abbot in
+  Ireland........................................  72
+
+2.
+St. Macarius, of Alexandria, Anchoret............  73
+SS. Martyrs for the Holy Scriptures..............  76
+St. Concordius, Martyr...........................  77
+St. Adalard, or Alard, Abbot and Confessor.......  77
+
+3.
+St. Peter Balsam, Martyr.........................  80
+St. Anterus, Pope................................  81
+St. Gordius, Martyr..............................  81
+St. Genevieve, or Genovefa, Virgin, Patroness of
+  Paris..........................................  82
+
+4.
+St. Titus, Disciple of St. Paul, Bishop..........  86
+St. Gregory, Bishop of Langres...................  88
+St. Rigobert, or Robert, Bishop..................  88
+St. Rumon, Bishop in England.....................  88
+
+5.
+St. Simon Stylites, Confessor....................  89
+St. Telesphorus, Pope and Martyr ................  93
+St. Syncletica, Virgin ..........................  93
+
+6.
+The Epiphany of our Lord.........................  95
+St. Melanius, Bishop and Confessor............... 100
+St. Nilammon, Hermit............................. 100
+St. Peter, Abbot in England...................... 100
+
+7.
+St. Lucian, Priest and Martyr.................... 101
+St. Cedd, Bishop of London....................... 103
+St. Kentigerna, Widow, of Ireland................ 105
+St. Aldric, Bishop of Mans, Confessor............ 105
+St. Thillo, Recluse.............................. 106
+St. Canut........................................ 107
+
+8.
+St. Apollinaris, the Apologist, Bishop........... 108
+St. Severinus, Abbot, and Apostle of Noricum,
+  or Austria .................................... 110
+St. Lucian, Apostle of Beauvais, in France,
+  Martyr......................................... 112
+St. Pega, Virgin, of England..................... 112
+St. Vulsin, Bishop in England.................... 112
+St. Gudula, Virgin, Patroness of Brussels........ 113
+St. Nathalan, Bishop of Aberdeen, Confessor...... 113
+
+9.
+St. Peter of Sebaste, Bishop and Confessor....... 114
+St. Julian and St. Basilissa, Martyrs............ 114
+St. Marciana, Virgin and Martyr.................. 116
+St. Brithwald, Archbishop of Canterbury.......... 117
+St. Felan, or Foelan, Abbot in Ireland .......... 117
+St. Adrian, Abbot at Canterbury.................. 118
+St. Vaneng, Confessor............................ 118
+St. William, Confessor, Archbishop of Bourges.... 120
+St. Agatho, Pope................................. 122
+St. Marcian, Priest.............................. 123
+
+11.
+St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch, Abbot............. 124
+St. Hyginus, Pope and Martyr..................... 127
+St. Egwin, Bishop in England, Confessor.......... 128
+St. Salvius, or Sauve, Bishop of Amiens.......... 128
+
+12.
+St. Arcadius, Martyr............................. 129
+St. Benedict Bishop, Abbot....................... 131
+St. Tygrius and St. Eutropius, Martyrs........... 133
+St. Aelred, Abbot in England..................... 133
+
+13.
+St. Veronica, Virgin, of Milan................... 135
+St. Kentigern, Bishop of Glasco, Confessor....... 137
+The Octave of the Epiphany....................... 139
+
+14.
+St. Hilary, Bishop............................... 140
+St. Felix, Priest and Confessor.................. 147
+St. Isaias, St. Sabbas, &c. Martyrs of Sinai..... 149
+St. Barbasceminus, &c. Martyrs .................. 150
+
+15.
+St. Paul, the First Hermit....................... 151
+St. Maurus, Abbot................................ 154
+St. Main, Abbot, Native of England............... 155
+St. John Calybite, Recluse....................... 155
+St. Isidore of Alexandria, Priest and Hospitaller 156
+St. Isidore of Sceté, Priest and Hermit.......... 157
+St. Bonitus, Bishop of Auvergne, Confessor....... 157
+St. Ita, or Mida, Virgin of Ireland, Abbess...... 158
+
+16.
+St. Marcellus, Pope and Martyr................... 158
+St. Macarius the Elder, of Egypt................. 159
+St. Honoratus, Archbishop of Arles, Abbot........ 162
+St. Fursey, Abbot In Ireland..................... 163
+SS. Five Friars, Minors, Martyrs................. 164
+St. Henry, Hermit................................ 164
+
+17.
+St. Antony, Abbot, Patriarch of Monks............ 165
+SS. Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Meleusippus,
+  Martyrs........................................ 172
+
+{058}
+
+St. Sulpicius the Pious, Archbishop of Bourges... 173
+St. Sulpicius de Débonnaire, Archbishop
+  of Bourges..................................... 173
+St. Milgithe, Virgin, of England................. 174
+St. Nennius, or Nennidhius, Abbot In Ireland..... 174
+
+18.
+St. Peter's Chair at Rome........................ 175
+St. Paul and Thirty-six Companions in Egypt,
+  Martyrs........................................ 176
+St. Prisca, Virgin and Martyr.................... 176
+St. Deicolus, Abbot, Native of Ireland .......... 177
+St. Ulfrid, or Wolfred, Bishop and Martyr........ 177
+
+19.
+St. Maris, St. Martha, St. Audifax, and St
+  Abachum, Martyrs............................... 178
+St. Canutus, King of Denmark, Martyr............. 179
+St. Henry, Archbishop of Upsal, Martyr........... 180
+St. Wulstan, Bishop of Worcester, Confessor...... 181
+St. Blaithmaic, Native of Ireland, Abbot of Hij in
+  Scotland....................................... 182
+St. Lomer, or Laudomarus, Abbot.................. 182
+
+20.
+St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr...................... 183
+St. Sebastian, Martyr............................ 183
+St. Euthymius, Abbot............................. 185
+St. Fechin, Abbot in Ireland..................... 187
+
+21.
+St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr..................... 188
+St. Fructuosus, Bishop of Tarragon, and his
+  Companions, Martyrs............................ 190
+St. Vimin, or Vivian, Bishop and Confessor, in
+  Scotland....................................... 192
+St. Publius, Bishop and Martyr................... 192
+St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Pavia.................. 192
+
+22.
+St. Vincent, Martyr.............................. 193
+St. Anastasius, Martyr........................... 196
+
+23.
+St. Raymund of Pennafort, Confessor.............. 200
+St. John the Almoner, Confessor, Patriarch of
+  Alexandria..................................... 203
+St. Emerentia, Virgin and Martyr................. 206
+St. Clement of Ancyra, Bishop and Martyr......... 207
+St. Agathangelus, Martyr......................... 207
+St. Ildelfonsus, Archbishop...................... 207
+St. Eusebius, Abbot.............................. 208
+
+24.
+St. Timothy, Bishop and Martyr................... 208
+St. Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr .......... 211
+St. Suranus, Abbot in Umbria..................... 213
+St. Macedonius, Anchoret In Syria................ 213
+On the life and Writings of Theodoret, Bishop of
+  Cyrus.......................................... 213
+
+25.
+The Conversion of St. Paul....................... 216
+St. Juventius and St. Maximinus, Martyrs......... 219
+On the Life and Writings of Julian the Apostate.. 219
+St. Projectus, Bishop of Clermont, Martyr........ 220
+St. Poppo, Abbot of Stavello..................... 221
+St. Apollo, Abbot in Thebais..................... 222
+St. Publius, Abbot near Zeugma, upon the
+  Euphrates...................................... 222
+
+26.
+St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr........... 223
+St. Paula, Widow................................. 229
+St. Conon, Bishop of the Isle of Man............. 232
+
+27.
+St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of
+ Constantinople.................................. 233
+On the Writings of that Father................... 252
+St. Julian, First Bishop of Mans, Confessor...... 275
+St. Marius, Abbot................................ 275
+
+28.
+Commemoration of St. Agnes....................... 276
+St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria............... 276
+On the Writings of that Father................... 279
+St. Thyrsus, St. Leucius, and St. Callinicus,
+  Martyrs........................................ 283
+St. John of Reomay, Abbot........................ 283
+B. Margaret, Princess of Hungary, Virgin......... 284
+St. Paulinus, Patriarch of Aquileia, Confessor... 284
+B. Charlemagne, Emperor.......................... 287
+St. Glastian, Bishop and Confessor in Scotland... 289
+
+29.
+
+St. Francis of Sales, Bishop and Confessor....... 289
+St. Sulpicius Severus............................ 303
+On the Writings of that Saint.................... 305
+St. Gildas the Wise, or Badonicus, Abbot,
+   Native of England ............................ 306
+St. Gildas the Albanian, or the Scot, Confessor.. 310
+
+30.
+St. Bathildes, Queen of France................... 310
+St. Martina, Virgin and Martyr................... 312
+St. Aldegondes, Virgin and Abbess................ 313
+St. Barsimæus, Bishop and Martyr................. 313
+
+31.
+St. Peter Nolasco, Confessor..................... 314
+St. Serapion, Martyr in England.................. 317
+St. Cyrus and St. John, Martyrs.................. 317
+St. Marcella, Widow.............................. 318
+St. Maidoc, or Maodhog, Bishop of Ferns in
+  Ireland........................................ 318
+
+
+{059}
+
+JANUARY I.
+
+THE CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD[1]
+
+CIRCUMCISION was a sacrament of the Old Law, and the first legal
+observance required by Almighty God of that people, which he had chosen
+preferably to all the nations of the earth to be the depositary of his
+revealed truths.--These were the descendants of Abraham, whom he had
+enjoined it, under the strictest penalties,[2] several hundred years
+before the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai; and this on two
+several accounts: First, as a distinguishing mark between them and the
+rest of mankind. Secondly, as a seal to a covenant between God and that
+patriarch: whereby it was stipulated on God's part to bless Abraham and
+his posterity; while on their part it implied a holy engagement to be
+his people, by a strict conformity to his laws. It was, therefore, a
+sacrament of initiation in the service of God, and a promise and
+engagement to believe and act as he had revealed and directed.
+Circumcision is also looked upon by St. Austin, and by several eminent
+modern divines,[3] to have been the expedient, in the male posterity of
+Abraham, for removing the guilt of original sin, which in those who did
+not belong to the covenant of Abraham, nor fall under this law was
+remitted by other means, probably by some external act of faith.
+
+This law of circumcision continued in force till the death of Christ:
+hence our Saviour being born under the law, it _became him_, who came to
+teach mankind obedience to the laws of God; to _fulfil all justice_, and
+to submit to it. Therefore, he was _made under the law_, that is, was
+circumcised, that he might redeem them that were under the law, by
+freeing them from the servitude of it; and that those, who were in the
+condition of servants before, might be set at liberty, and _receive the
+adoption of sons_ in baptism; which by Christ's institution, succeeded
+to circumcision. On the {060} day he was circumcised he received the
+name of JESUS, the same which had been appointed him by the angel before
+he was conceived.[4] The reason of his being called JESUS is mentioned
+in the gospel:[5] _For he shall save his people from their sins_. This
+he effected by the greatest sufferings and humiliations; _having humbled
+himself_, as St. Paul says,[6] not only unto death, but even _to the
+death of the cross; for which cause God hath exalted him, and hath given
+him a name which is above all names; that at the name of JESUS every
+knee should bow_: agreeably to what Christ says of himself,[7] _All
+power is given unto me in heaven and in earth_.[8]
+
+Christ being not only innocent, but incapable of sin, could stand in no
+need of circumcision, as an expedient then in use for the remission of
+sin. He was pleased, however, to subject himself to this humbling and
+painful rite of the Mosaic dispensation for several reasons: as, First,
+to put an end in an honorable manner to a divine, but temporary,
+institution, by taking it upon his own person. Secondly, to prove the
+reality of his human body; which, however evident from this and so many
+other actions and sufferings of his life, was denied by several ancient
+heretics. Thirdly, to prove himself not only the son of man, but of that
+man in particular of whose seed the Messiah was promised to come: thus
+precluding any future objection that might be raised by the Jews against
+his divine mission in quality of Messiah, under the pretence of his
+being an alien; and hereby qualifying himself for free conversation with
+them for their own spiritual advantage: setting us all a pattern of
+undergoing voluntarily several hardships and restraints, which, though
+not necessary on our own account, may be of great use to promote the
+good of others. Christ not being like other Jewish children, who could
+not know or fear the pain of circumcision, when they were going to
+suffer the operation, was perfectly sensible of it beforehand, and with
+calmness and intrepidity offered himself willingly to suffer the knife,
+and shed the first-fruits of his sacred blood in this painful manner.
+Under the smart this divine infant shed tears, but not as other
+children; for by them, with the most tender love and compassion, he
+bewailed chiefly our spiritual miseries, and at the same time presented
+with joy his blood as the price of our redemption to his Father.
+Fourthly, by thus humbling himself under this painful operation, he
+would give us an early pledge and earnest of his love for us, of his
+compassion for our miseries, and of his utter detestation of sin. The
+charity and zeal which glowed in his divine breast, impatient, as it
+were, of delay, delighted themselves in these first-fruits of
+humiliation and suffering for our sakes, till they could fully satiate
+their thirst by that superabundance of both, in his passion and death.
+With infinite zeal for his Father's honor, and charity for us sinners,
+with invincible patience, and the most profound humility, he now offered
+himself most cheerfully to his Father to undergo whatever he was pleased
+to enjoin him. Fifthly, he teaches us by the example of voluntary
+obedience to a law that could not oblige him, to submit with great
+punctuality and exactness to laws of divine appointment; and how very
+far we ought to be from sheltering our {061} disobedience under lame
+excuses and frivolous pretexts. Sixthly, by this ceremony, he humbled
+himself to satisfy for our pride, and to teach us the sincere spirit of
+humility. What greater humiliation can be imagined than for Him who is
+the eternal Son of God, in all things equal to his Father, to conceal
+these glorious titles under the appearance of a sinner? What a subject
+of confusion to us, who, being abominable criminals, are ashamed to pass
+for what we are, and desire to appear and be esteemed what we are not!
+Shall we not learn from this example of Christ to love humiliations,
+especially as we cannot but acknowledge that we deserve every reproach
+and all manner of contempt from all creatures? Seventhly, by beginning
+the great work of our salvation in the manner he was one day to finish
+it; suffering in his own person the punishment of sin, to deliver us
+from both sin and its punishment, he confounds the impenitence of
+sinners who will suffer nothing for their own sins; and inculcates the
+necessity of a spiritual circumcision, whereof the external was but the
+type and figure, as the apostle puts us in mind.[9]
+
+It is manifest, beyond all contradiction, from several texts of the Old
+Testament,[10] that men under that dispensation ought not to have rested
+in the external act alone, but should have aspired from the letter to
+the spirit, from the carnal to a spiritual circumcision. These texts, at
+the same time that they set forth its necessity, describe it as
+consisting in a readiness and willing disposition to conform to the will
+of God, and submit to it when known, in every particular. They in
+consequence require a retrenchment of all inordinate and superfluous
+desires of the soul, the keeping a strict guard and government over
+ourselves, a total abstinence from criminal, and a prudent reserve even
+in the lawful gratifications of sense and appetite. If such instances of
+spiritual circumcision were required of those under the Old Law, to
+qualify them for acceptance with God, can any thing less than the same
+entitle us Christians to the claim of spiritual kindred with faithful
+Abraham, and to share of that redemption which Christ began this day to
+purchase for us at the expense of his blood? We must cut off whatever
+inordinate or superfluous desires of riches, honors, or pleasures reign
+in our hearts, and renounce whatever holds us wedded to our senses or
+the world. Though this sacrifice required the last drop of our blood, we
+ought cheerfully to make it. The example of Christ powerfully excites us
+not to spare ourselves. A thousand irregular affections reign in our
+souls, and self-love is master there. This enemy is only to be expelled
+by compunction, watchfulness over ourselves, perfect obedience, humble
+submission to correction, voluntary self-denials, and patience under
+crosses. To these endeavors we must join earnest prayer for the
+necessary grace to discover, and courageously crucify whatever opposes
+the reign of the pure love of God in our affections. If we are conscious
+to ourselves of having taken a contrary course, and are of the unhappy
+number of the _uncircumcised to heart_; what more proper time to set
+about a thorough reformation, by cutting off whatever is inconsistent
+with or prejudicial to the true Christian spirit, than this very day,
+the first of the new year? that so it may be a _new_ year to us in the
+most Christian and beneficial sense of the word.[11]
+
+{062}
+
+Wherefore, after having consecrated its first-fruits to God, by the most
+sincere and fervent homage of praise and adoration; after having paid
+him the just tribute of thanksgiving for all his benefits, and in
+particular for the mercy by which he vouchsafes us still time to appease
+his anger, and serve him; it becomes us to allot some part of this day
+to tears of compunction for our past offences, and to the diving into
+the source of our spiritual sloth and other irregularities, with a view
+to the amendment of our lives, and the preventing of relapses: not
+contenting ourselves with general purposes, which cost self-love so
+little, the insufficiency of which our own experience has convinced us
+of; we must lay the axe to the root, and seriously resolve to decline,
+to the best of our power, the particular occasions which have betrayed
+us into sin, and embrace the most effectual means of reformation of life
+and improvement in virtue. Every year ought to find us more fervent in
+charity; every day ought our soul to augment in strength, and be decked
+with new flowers of virtue and good works. If the plant ceases to grow,
+or the fruit to ripen, they decay of course, and are in danger of
+perishing. By a rule far more sacred, the soul, which makes not a daily
+progress in virtue loses ground: a dreadful symptom in the spiritual
+life.
+
+The more intense ought our fervor to be, as we draw the nearer to the
+end of our course: _So much the more_, says the apostle, _as you
+perceive the day to approach_,[12] the day of _retribution_ to each
+according to his works, which will be that of our death, which may be
+much nearer than we are willing to imagine. Perhaps we may not live to
+the end of this very year: it will be the case of thousands, who at this
+time are as regardless of it as we can be. What security can we have
+against a surprise, the consequences whereof are infinite and
+irretrievable, except that of a sincere and speedy conversion, of being
+upon our guard against temptations, of dedicating effectually this
+ensuing year and the remainder of our short lives to God, our last end
+and only good, and frequently imploring his grace and mercy. It is our
+blessed Saviour's advice and injunction: _Watch ye therefore; praying at
+all times {063} ... that you may be accounted worthy ... to stand before
+the Son of man_.[13]
+
+The Christian's devotion on this day ought to consist, first, in the
+solemn consecration of the first-fruits of the year to God; and
+secondly, in honoring the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God,
+particularly his birth and circumcision. The church invites us on this
+day to unite our homage with the seraphic ardors and transports of
+devotion with which the glorious Mother of God assisted at these
+wonderful mysteries which we commemorate, but in which she acted herself
+so great a part. With what sentiments did Mary bear in her womb, bring
+forth, and serve her adorable son, who was also her God? with what love
+and awe did she fix her eyes upon him particularly at his circumcision,
+who can express in what manner she was affected when she saw him
+subjected to this painful and humbling ceremony? Filled with
+astonishment, and teeming affections of love and gratitude, by profound
+adorations and praise she endeavored to make him all the amends in her
+power, and the best return and acknowledgment she was able. In amorous
+complaints that he would begin, in the excess of his love, to suffer for
+us in so tender an age, and to give this earnest of our redemption, she
+might say to him: _Truly than art to me a spouse of blood._[14] With the
+early sacrifice Christ here made of himself to his Father, she joined
+her own offering her divine son, and with and through him herself, to be
+an eternal victim to his honor and love, with the most ardent desire to
+suffer all things, even to blood, for the accomplishment of his will.
+Under her mediation we ought to make him the tender of our homages, and
+with and through this holy Redeemer, consecrate ourselves to God without
+reserve.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  In the ancient sacramentary of the Roman church, published by
+    cardinal Thomasius, (the finishing of which some ascribe to Pope
+    Gelasius I., others more probably to Leo I., though the ground was
+    doubtless the work of their predecessors,) this festival is called
+    the Octave of our Lord's Nativity. The same title is given to it in
+    the Latin calendar (or rather collection of the gospels read at Mass
+    throughout the year) written above 900 years ago, presented to the
+    public by F. John Fronteau, regular canon of saint Genevieve's at
+    Paris, and by Leo Allatius. The inference which Baillet draws from
+    thence that the mystery of our Lord's circumcision was not then
+    commemorated in the office of this day, is a notorious mistake. For
+    Thomassin takes notice from Ivo of Chartres, that the word Octave
+    here implies the circumcision of our Lord, which was performed on
+    the eighth day after his birth; and in the above mentioned
+    Sacramentary express mention is made of the circumcision in the
+    Secret of the Mass. In F. Froubeau's calendar the gospel read on
+    this day is the history of the circumcision given, by St. Luke. An
+    old Vatican MS. copy of St. Gregory's Sacramentary and that of
+    Usuard's Martyrology kept at St. Germain des-Près, express both the
+    titles of the Octave day and of the circumcision.
+
+    Durandus in the 13th century, (Ration. offic. l. 6, c. 15,) John
+    Beleth, a theologian of Paris, (c. 71,) and several missals of the
+    middle ages prescribe two masses to be said on this day, one on the
+    circumcision, the other on the B. Virgin Mary. Micrologus (c. 39)
+    assigns this reason, that as the B. Virgin, who had so great a share
+    in the birth of Christ, could not be mentioned in that solemn
+    office, therefore a commemoration of her is deferred to the Octave
+    day. The second Mass is now abolished: but in a great part of the
+    office a regard is had to the B. Virgin. In F. Fronteau's Roman
+    calendar, after the title of the Octave is added, _Natale S. Mariæ_
+    for which Dom Martenne would have us read _S. Martinæ_; but without
+    grounds. For, as Pope Benedict XIV. observes, (Comment. de Festis
+    Domini, c. 1,) the original unquestionably means a festival of the
+    B. Virgin Mary. The word _Natale_, which was used originally for the
+    birth-day of the emperors, was afterwards taken for any annual
+    feast.
+2.  Gen. xvii.
+3.  Grounding their opinion on Gen. xvii. 14, &c.
+4.  Luke i. 31.
+5.  Matt. i. 21.
+6.  Phil. ii. 8, 9, 10.
+7.  Matt. xxviii. 18.
+8.  The Jews generally named their children on the day of their
+    circumcision, but this was not of precept. There are several
+    instances of children named on the day of their birth, (Gen. xxx.)
+    which could not be that of their circumcision by an express law
+    requiring the interval of eight days from their birth; the child
+    being presumed too weak and delicate to undergo the operation
+    sooner, without danger of its life. It seems to have been the
+    practice among the Jews for children to be circumcised at home; nor
+    was a priest the necessary or ordinary minister, but the father,
+    mother, or any other person could perform the ceremony, as we see in
+    the time of Abraham, (Gen. xvii.; Acts vii.) and of the Maccabees,
+    (1 Mac. 1.) St. Epiphanius, (Hær. 20.) Whence F. Avala, in his
+    curious work entitled _Pietor Christianus_, printed at Madrid in
+    1730, shows that it is a vulgar error of painters who represent
+    Christ circumcised by a priest in the temple. The instrument was
+    sometimes a sharp stone, (Exod. iv. Jos. v.,) but doubtless most
+    frequently of iron or steel.
+9.  Rom. ii. 29.
+10. Deut. x. 16; xxx. 6; Jer. iv. 4.
+11. The pagan Romans celebrated the _Saturnalia_, or feast of Saturn,
+    from the 17th of December during seven days: at which time slaves
+    dined with their masters, and were allowed an entire liberty of
+    speech, in the superstitious remembrance of the golden age of the
+    world, in which no distinction of ranks was yet known among men.
+    (Macrob {}, 10. Horat. &c.) The calends also of January were
+    solemnized with licentious shows in honor of Janus and the goddess
+    Strenia: and it is from those infamous diversions that among
+    Christians, are derived the profane riots of new year's day,
+    twelfthtide, and shrovetide, by which many pervert these times into
+    days of sin and intemperance. Several councils severely condemn
+    these abuses; and the better to prevent them, some churches formerly
+    kept the 1st of January a fast-day, as it is mentioned by St.
+    Isidore of Seville (lib. 2 offic c. 40) Alcuin (lib. de div offic)
+    &c. Dom Martenne observes, (lib. de antiquis ritibus in celebr. div.
+    offic. c. 13,) that on this account the second council of Tours in
+    567 ordered that on the calends of the circumcision the litany be
+    sung, and high mass begun only at the eighth hour, that is, two in
+    the afternoon, that it might be finished by three, the hour at which
+    it was allowed to eat on the fasts of the stations. We have among
+    the works of the fathers many severe invectives against the
+    superstitions and excesses of this time. See St. Austin, (serm. 198,
+    in hunc diem,) St. Peter Chrysologus, (serm. in calendas,) St.
+    Maximus of Turin, (Hom. 5, apud Mabill. in Musæo Italico,) Faustinus
+    the Bishop, (apud Bolland. hac die. p. 3,) &c. The French name
+    Etrennes is pagan, from _strenæ_, or new-year gifts, in honor of the
+    goddess Strenia. The same in Poitou and Perche, anciently the
+    country of the Druids, is derived from their rites. For the
+    Poitevins for Etrennes use the word Auguislanneuf, and the
+    Percherons, Equilans, from the ancient cry of the Druids, _Au guy
+    l'an neuf_, i.e. _Ad Viscum, annul novus_, or to the mistletoe the
+    new-year, when on new-year's day the Pagans went into the forests to
+    seek the mistletoe on the oaks. See Chatelain, notes on the Martyr.
+    Jan. 1, p. 7.
+
+    The ancients began the year, some from the autumnal, others from the
+    vernal equinox. The primitive patriarchs from that of autumn, that
+    is, from the month called by the Hebrews Tisri, which coincides with
+    part of our September and October. Hence it seems probable, that the
+    world was created about that season; the earth, as appears from Gen.
+    iii. 2, being then covered with trees, plants, fruits, seeds, and
+    all other things in the state of their natural maturity and
+    perfection. The Jews retained this commencement of the year, as a
+    date for contracts and other civil purposes; as also for their
+    sabbatical year and jubilee. But God commanded them to begin their
+    ecclesiastical year, or that by which their religious festivals were
+    regulated, from the spring equinox, or the Hebrew month Nisan, the
+    same with part of our March and April, Exod. xii. 2. Christian
+    nations commenced the year, some from the 25th of March, the feast
+    of the Annunciation, and bordering upon the spring equinox; others
+    from Christmas; others from its octave day, the first of January, in
+    which our ancestors have often varied their practice. Europe is now
+    agreed in fixing the first of January for this epoch.
+
+    The Julian year, so called from Julius Cæsar, from whom the Roman
+    calendar received its last reformation, consisted of 365 days and 6
+    hours, which exceed the true solar year by 11 minutes, for
+    astronomers compute the yearly revolution of the sun not to exceed
+    365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 37 seconds, according to Cassini,
+    but according to Keil 57 seconds, or almost 49 minutes. This error,
+    becoming daily more sensible, would have occasioned the autumnal
+    equinox to have at length fallen on the day reckoned the solstice,
+    and in process of time, on that held for the vernal equinox. The
+    Golden number, or Grecian cycle of the lunar years, was likewise
+    defective. The remedy both which, pope Gregory XIII., in 1585,
+    established the new style. Scaliger, Tachet, and Cassini have
+    demonstrated that cycles might be chosen still more exact by some
+    few seconds: however, this adopted by pope Gregory, besides being
+    the easiest in the execution, admits of no material error, or
+    sensible inconveniency. This correction of the style was received by
+    act of Parliament, in Great Britain, in 1752; for the promoting of
+    which, great praise is due to the two illustrious ornaments of the
+    republic of letters, the earls of Chesterfield and Macclesfield.
+12. Heb. x. 25.
+13. Luke xxi. 36.
+14. Exod. v. 25.
+
+THE LIFE OF S. FULGENTIUS, B.C.
+
+Extracted from his works, and from his life, accurately written by a
+disciple of great abilities, the companion of his exile: and dedicated
+to Felician, his successor in the see of Ruspa. The author declares
+himself a monk: consequently was not the deacon Ferrandus, as some
+critics imagine.
+
+A.D. 533.
+
+FABIUS CLAUDIUS GORDIANUS FULGENTIUS was the descendant of a noble
+senatorian family of Carthage: but much decayed in its splendor by the
+invasion of the Vandals. His father Claudius, being unjustly deprived of
+his house in Carthage, which was made over to the Arian priests, settled
+at an estate belonging to him at Telepte, the capital city of the
+province of Byzacena. Our saint was born in 468, about thirty years
+after the Barbarians had dismembered Africa from the Roman empire. He
+was educated in sentiments of piety with his younger brother, under the
+care of his mother Mariana, who was left a young widow. Being, by her
+particular direction, taught the Greek very young, he spoke it with as
+proper and exact an accent as if it had been his native language. He
+also applied himself to Latin, and all the useful parts of human
+literature, under masters distinguished for consummate abilities: yet he
+knew how to mingle business with study; for he took upon himself the
+regulation of the family concerns, in order to ease his mother of the
+burden. His prudent circumspection in all the affairs he transacted, his
+virtuous conduct, his mild carriage to all, and more especially his
+deference for his mother, without whose express orders or approbation he
+never did any thing, caused him to be beloved and admired wherever his
+name was known. He was chosen procurator, that is, lieutenant-governor,
+and general receiver of the taxes of Byzacena. But it was not long
+before {064} he grew disgusted with the world; and being justly alarmed
+at its dangers he armed himself against them by pious reading, assiduous
+prayer, and rigorous fasting. His visits to monasteries were frequent;
+and happening among other books of spiritual entertainment, to read a
+sermon of St. Austin on the thirty-sixth psalm, in which that father
+treats of the world and the short duration of human life, he felt within
+him strong desires of embracing the monastic state.
+
+Huneric, the Arian king, had driven most of the orthodox bishops from
+their sees. One of these, named Faustus, had erected a monastery in
+Byzacena. It was to him that the young nobleman addressed himself for
+admittance; but Faustus immediately objecting the tenderness of his
+constitution, discouraged his desires with words of some harshness;
+"Go," said he, "and first learn to live in the world abstracted from its
+pleasures. Who can well suppose, that you on a sudden, relinquishing a
+life of softness and ease, can take up with our coarse diet and clothing
+and can inure yourself to our watchings and fastings?" The saint, with
+downcast eyes, modestly replied: "He, who hath inspired me with the will
+to serve him, can also furnish me with courage and strength." This
+humble, yet resolute answer, induced Faustus to admit him on trial. The
+saint was then in the twenty-second year of his age. The news of so
+unthought of an event both surprised and edified the whole country; many
+even imitated the example of the governor. But Mariana his mother, in
+transports of grief, ran to the monastery, crying out at the gates:
+"Faustus! restore to me my son; to the people, their governor: the
+church always protects widows; why then rob you me, a desolate widow, of
+my son?" She persisted several days in the same tears and cries. Nothing
+that Faustus could urge was sufficient to calm her, or prevail with her
+to depart without her son. This was certainly as great a trial of
+Fulgentius's resolution as it could well be put to; but the love of God,
+having the ascendant in his breast, gave him a complete victory over all
+the suggestions of nature: Faustus approved his vocation, and
+accordingly recommended him to the brethren. The saint having now
+obtained all he wished for in this world, made over his estate to his
+mother, to be discretionally disposed of by her in favor of his brother,
+as soon as he should be arrived at a proper age. He totally abstained
+from oil and every thing savory; from wine also, drinking only water.
+His mortifications brought on him a dangerous illness; yet after
+recovery he abated nothing in them. The persecution breaking out anew,
+Faustus was obliged to withdraw; and our saint, with his consent,
+repaired to a neighboring monastery, of which Felix, the abbot, would
+fain resign to him the government. Fulgentius was much startled at the
+proposal, but at length was prevailed upon to consent that they should
+jointly execute the functions. It was admirable to observe with what
+harmony these two holy abbots for six years governed the house. No
+contradiction ever took place between them; each always contended to
+comply with the will of his colleague. Felix undertook the management of
+the temporal concerns; Fulgentius's province was to preach and instruct.
+
+In the year 499, the country being ravaged by an irruption of the
+Numidians, the two abbots were necessitated to fly to Sicca Veneria, a
+city of the proconsular province of Africa. Here it was, that an Arian
+priest ordered them to be apprehended and scourged on account of their
+preaching the consubstantiality of the Son of God. Felix, seeing the
+executioners seize first on Fulgentius, cried out: "Spare that poor
+brother of mine, whose delicate complexion cannot bear torments; let
+them rather be my portion who am strong of body." They accordingly, at
+the instigation of this wicked priest, fell on Felix first, and the old
+man endured their stripes {065} with the greatest alacrity. When it was
+Fulgentius's turn to experience the same rigorous treatment, he bore the
+lashes with great patience; but feeling the pain excessive, that he
+might gain a little respite and recruit his spirits, he requested his
+judge to give ear to something he had to impart to him. The executioners
+thereupon being commanded to desist, he began to entertain him with an
+account of his travels. This savage monster expected nothing more than
+some overtures to be proposed to him of an intention to yield; but
+finding himself disappointed, in the utmost rage, ordered his torments
+to be redoubled. At length having glutted his barbarity, the confessors
+were dismissed, their clothes rent, their bodies inhumanly torn, and
+their beards and hair plucked off. The very Arians were ashamed of such
+cruelty, and their bishop offered to punish the priest, if Fulgentius
+would but undertake his prosecution. His answer was, that a Christian is
+never allowed to seek revenge; and for their parts it was incumbent on
+them not to lose the advantage of patience, and the blessings accruing
+from the forgiving of injuries. The two abbots, to avoid an additional
+effort of the fury of these heretics, travelled to Ididi, on the
+confines of Mauritania. Here Fulgentius went aboard a ship for
+Alexandria, being desirous, for the sake of greater perfection, to visit
+the deserts of Egypt, renowned for the sanctity of the solitaries who
+dwelt there. But the vessel touching at Sicily, St. Eulalius, abbot at
+Syracuse, diverted him from his intended voyage, on assuring him, that
+"a perfidious dissension had severed this country from the communion of
+Peter,"[1] meaning that Egypt was full of heretics, with whom those that
+dwelt there were obliged either to join in communion, or be deprived of
+the sacraments. The liberality and hospitality of Fulgentius to the
+poor, out of the small pittance he received for his particular
+subsistence, made Eulalius condemn himself of remissness in those
+virtues, and for the future imitate so laudable an example.
+
+Our saint having laid aside the thoughts of pursuing his voyage to
+Alexandria, embarked for Rome, to offer up his prayers at the tombs of
+the apostles. One day passing through a square called Palma Aurea, he
+saw Theodoric, the king of Italy, seated on an exalted throne, adorned
+with pompous state, surrounded by the senate, and his court, with all
+the grandeur of the city displayed in the greatest magnificence: "Ah!"
+said Fulgentius, "how beautiful must the heavenly Jerusalem be, if
+earthly Rome be so glorious! What honor, glory, and joy will God bestow
+on the saints in heaven, since here in this perishable life he clothes
+with such splendor the lovers and admirers of vanity!" This happened
+towards the latter part of the year 500, when that king made his first
+entry into Rome. Fulgentius returned home in a short time after, and was
+received with incredible joy. He built a spacious monastery in Byzacena,
+but retired to a cell himself, which was situate on the sea-shore. Here
+his time was employed in writing, reading, prayer, mortification, and
+the manual labor of making mats and umbrellas of palm-tree leaves.
+Faustus, who was his bishop, obliged him to resume the government of his
+monastery; and many places at the same time sought him for their bishop.
+King Thrasimund having prohibited by edict the ordination of orthodox
+bishops, several sees by this means had been long vacant and destitute
+of pastors. The orthodox prelates resolved to remedy this inconveniency,
+as they effectually did; but the king receiving intelligence of the
+matter, caused Victor, the primate of Carthage, to be apprehended. All
+this time our saint lay concealed, though sought after eagerly by many
+citizens for their bishop. Thinking the danger over, he appeared again:
+but Ruspa, now a little town called {066} Alfaques, in the district of
+Tunis, still remained without a pastor; and by the consent of the
+primate, while detained in the custody of the king's messengers,
+Fulgentius was forcibly taken out of his cell, and consecrated bishop in
+508.
+
+His new dignity made no alteration in his manners. He never wore the
+_orarium_, a kind of stole then used by bishops, nor other clothes than
+his usual coarse garb, which was the same in winter and summer. He went
+sometimes barefoot: he never undressed to take rest, and always rose to
+prayer before the midnight office. His diet chiefly consisted of pulse
+and herbs, with which he contented himself, without consulting the
+palate's gratification by borrowed tastes: but in more advanced years,
+finding his sight impaired by such a regimen, he admitted the use of a
+little oil. It was only in very considerable bodily indispositions, that
+he suffered a drop or two of wine to be mingled with the water which he
+drank; and he never could be prevailed upon in any seeming necessity to
+use the least quantity of flesh-meat, from the time of his monastic
+profession till his death. His modesty, meekness, and humility, gained
+him the affection of all, even of the ambitious deacon Felix, who had
+opposed his election, and whom the saint received and treated with the
+most cordial charity. His great love for a recluse life induced him to
+build a monastery near his own house at Ruspa, which he designed to put
+under the direction of his ancient friend Felix; but before the building
+could be completed, or he acquit himself to his wish of his episcopal
+duties, orders were issued from King Thrasimund, for his banishment to
+Sardinia, with others to the number of sixty orthodox bishops.
+Fulgentius, though the youngest of this venerable body, who were
+transported from Carthage to Sardinia, was notwithstanding their sole
+oracle in all doubts, and their tongue and pen upon all occasions; and
+not only of them, but even of the whole church of Africa. What spread a
+brighter lustre on these amiable qualities, were the humility and
+modesty with which he always declared his sentiments: he never preferred
+his counsel to that of another, his opinion he never intruded. Pope
+Symmachus, out of his pastoral care and charity, sent every year
+provisions in money and clothes to these champions of Christ.[2] A
+letter of this pope to them is still extant,[3] in which he encourages
+and comforts them; and it was at the same time that he sent them certain
+relics of SS. Nazarius and Romanus, "that the example and
+_patronage_,"[4] as he expresses it, "of those generous soldiers of
+Christ, might animate the confessors to fight valiantly the battles of
+the Lord." Saint Fulgentius, with some companions, converted his house
+at Cagliari into a monastery; which immediately became the comfort of
+all in affliction, the refuge of the poor, and the oracle to which the
+whole country resorted for deciding their controversies without appeal.
+In this retirement the saint composed many learned treatises for
+confirming and instructing the faithful in Africa. King Thrasimund,
+hearing that he was their principal support, and their invincible
+advocate, was desirous of seeing him; and having accordingly sent for
+him, appointed him lodgings in Carthage. The king then drew up a set of
+objections, to which he required his immediate answer: the saint without
+hesitation complied with, and discharged the injunction; and this is
+supposed to be his book, entitled, An Answer to Ten Objections. The king
+equally admired his humility and learning, and the orthodox triumphed
+exceedingly in the advantage their cause gained by this piece. To
+prevent a second time the same effect, the king, when he sent him new
+objections, ordered them to be only read to him. Fulgentius refused to
+give an answer in writing, unless he was allowed {067} to take a copy of
+them. He addressed, however, to the king an ample and modest confutation
+of Arianism, which we have under the title of his Three Books to King
+Thrasimund. The prince was pleased with the work, and granted him
+permission to reside at Carthage; till upon repeated complaints from the
+Arian bishops of the success of his preaching, which threatened they
+said, a total extinction of their sect in Carthage, he was sent back to
+Sardinia in 520. Being ready to go aboard the ship, he said to a
+catholic, whom he saw weeping: "Grieve not, Juliatus!" for that was his
+name, "I shall shortly return, and we shall see the true faith of Christ
+flourish again in this kingdom, with full liberty to profess it; but
+divulge not this secret to any." The event confirmed the truth of the
+prediction. His humility concealed the multiplicity of miracles which he
+wrought, and he was wont to say: "A person may be endowed with the gift
+of miracles, and yet may lose his soul: miracles ensure not salvation;
+they may indeed procure esteem and applause; but what will it avail a
+man to be esteemed on earth, and afterwards be delivered up to hell
+torments?" If the sick, for whom he prayed, recovered, to avoid being
+puffed up with vain-glory, he ascribed it wholly to the divine mercy.
+Being returned to Cagliari, he erected a new monastery near that city,
+and was exceedingly careful to supply his monks with all necessaries,
+especially in sickness; but would not suffer them to ask for any thing,
+alleging, "That we ought to receive all things as from the hand of God,
+with resignation and gratitude." Thus he was sensible how conducive the
+unreserved denial of the will is for perfecting ourselves in the paths
+of virtue.
+
+King Thrasimund died in 523, having nominated Hilderic his successor.
+Knowing him inclined to favor the orthodox, he exacted from him an oath,
+that he would never restore their profession. To evade this, Hilderic,
+before the death of his predecessor, signed an order for the liberty of
+the orthodox churches, but never had the courage to declare himself of
+the same belief; his lenity having quite degenerated into softness and
+indolence. However, the professors of the true faith called home their
+pastors. The ship which brought them back, was received at Carthage with
+the greatest demonstrations of joy: the shore echoed far and near with
+repeated acclamations, more particularly when Fulgentius appeared on the
+upper deck of the vessel. The confessors went straight to the church of
+St. Agileus, to return thanks to God, and were accompanied by thousands;
+but on their way, being surprised with a sudden storm, the people, to
+show their singular regard for Fulgentius, made a kind of umbrella over
+his head with their cloaks to defend him from the inclemency of the
+storm. The saint hastened to his own church, and immediately set about
+the reformation of the abuses that had crept in during the persecution,
+which had now continued seventy years; but this reformation was carried
+on with a sweetness that won, sooner or later, the hearts of the most
+vicious. In a council held at Junque, in 524, a certain bishop, named
+Quodvultdeus, disputed the precedency with our saint, who made no reply,
+though he would not oppose the council, which ordered him to take the
+first place. The other resented this as an injury offered to the dignity
+of his see; and St. Fulgentius, in another council soon after, publicly
+requested that Quodvultdeus might be allowed the precedency. His talents
+for preaching were singular; and Boniface, the archbishop of Carthage,
+never heard him without watering, all the time, the ground with his
+tears, thanking God for having given so great a pastor to his church.[5]
+
+{068}
+
+About a year before his death, he secretly retired from all business
+into a monastery on the little island, of rock, called Circinia, in
+order to prepare {069} himself for his passage to eternity, which he did
+with extraordinary fervor. The necessities and importunities of his
+flock recalled him to Ruspa a little before his exit. He bore the
+violent pains of his last illness for seventy days with admirable
+patience, having this prayer almost always in his mouth:[6] "Lord, grant
+me patience now, and hereafter mercy and pardon." The physicians advised
+him the use of baths; to whom he answered "Can baths make a mortal man
+escape death, when his life is arrived at its final period?" He would
+abate nothing of his usual austerities without an absolute necessity. In
+his agony, calling for his clergy and monks, who were all in tears, he
+begged pardon if he had ever offended any one of them; he comforted
+them, gave them some short, moving instructions, and calmly breathed
+forth his pious soul in the year 533, and of his age the 65th, on the
+1st of January, on which day his name occurs in many calendars soon
+after his death, and in the Roman; but in some few on the 16th of
+May,--perhaps the day on which his relics were translated to Bourges, in
+France, about the year 714, where they still remain deposited.[7] His
+disciple relates, that Pontian, a neighboring bishop, was assured in a
+vision of his glorious immortality. The veneration for his virtues was
+such, that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and
+custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St.
+Fulgentius proposed to himself St. Austin for a model; and, as a true
+disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully expounding his
+doctrine, and imbibing his spirit.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A comumnione Petri perfida dissentio separavit. Vit S. Fulg. c. 12.
+2.  Anastas. in Symmacho. Bar. ad ann. 504. Fleury, Liv. 31.
+3.  Inter opera Ennodii. t. 4. Conc. Labb. col. 1300.
+4.  Patrocinia.
+5.  S. Fulgentius, in his first letter, to a gentleman whose wife in a
+    violent sickness had made a vow of continency, proves that a vow of
+    chastity ought not to be made by a person engaged in a married
+    state, without the free consent of the husband. In his second, to
+    Galla, a most virtuous Roman lady, he comforts her upon the death of
+    her husband, who, he says, was only gone a little before her to
+    glory; and he sets before her the divine mercy, which by this means
+    calls her to a more heroic practice of all virtues in the state of
+    widowhood,--especially continence, plainness in dress, furniture,
+    and diet, profuse alms-deeds, and holy prayer, the exercise whereof
+    ought to be her most assiduous employment. Herein he warns her that
+    vanity and pride are our most dangerous enemies, against which we
+    must diligently watch and arm ourselves. In his third letter,
+    addressed to the holy lady Proba, sister to Galla, consecrated to
+    God by a vow of virginity, he shows the excellency of that virtue,
+    and recommends, at length, temperance, penance, and perfect
+    humility, as its essential attendants, without which it cannot
+    render a soul the spouse of Christ, who chose her poor, and bestowed
+    on her all she had. In his fourth letter, to the same lady, he again
+    puts her in mind of the extreme danger of pride and vain-glory, and
+    lays down excellent precepts concerning the necessity of assiduous
+    prayer and compunction; in which spirit we are bound to weep
+    continually before God, imploring his mercy and succor under the
+    weight of our miseries, and to pay him the constant tribute of
+    praise and thanksgiving for all his benefits and gratuitous favors.
+    His letter to the abbot Eugypius, is a commendation of fraternal
+    charity, a principal fruit of which is, to pray for one another. In
+    the sixth letter, he congratulates with Theodorus, a senator, upon
+    his conversion from the world, promising himself that such an
+    example would have great influence over many: for "those who are
+    raised above others by their rank in the world, either draw many
+    with themselves into eternal damnation, or are to many an occasion
+    of salvation." The saint strenuously exhorts him to the study of the
+    most profound humility, which is the only greatness of a Christian,
+    and is always attended with its sister virtue, meekness. The seventh
+    letter of this father is addressed to the illustrious and venerable
+    lady Venantia, and contains a strong exhortation to the spirit and
+    practice of penance, with advice against despair. The sermons and
+    homilies of S. Fulgentius are usually short: we have near one
+    hundred extant which bear his name, but some of these belong to S.
+    Austin. The danger and evil of presumption and pride, are points
+    which he takes every occasion to inculcate: he teaches that it is
+    impossible to know God, and his benefits and goodness, unless we
+    have a true knowledge of ourselves, and our own frailty and
+    miseries. (Hom. 14, p. 123. Bibl. Patr. Lugdun. T. 9, part 1.) In
+    his sermons and letters, he frequently enforces the obligation of
+    alms-deeds. His other works are chiefly polemical, against the
+    Arians, Pelagians, and Nestorians. In his books against the Sermon
+    of Fastidiosus, (an Arian priest,) to Felix the Notary; On the
+    Orthodox Faith, to Donatus, against Fabian; Three Books to King
+    Thrasimund; Ten Answers to Ten Objections of the Arians, &c., he
+    explains the trinity of persons in one divine nature, solidly
+    answers the objections of the Arians, and frequently shows that
+    prayers which are addressed to the Father, or to the Son, or to the
+    Holy Ghost, are addressed to the whole Blessed Trinity. (Lib. 9,
+    contra Fabium, p. 620, &c.) Showing that the Father, Son, and Holy
+    Ghost are equally to be adored, he distinguishes the worship of
+    _Latria_, or adoration, which is due to God alone, and that of
+    _Dulia_, which is given to creatures. (Ib. lib. 4, p. 592.) Pinta,
+    an Arian bishop, having published a treatise against our saint's
+    books to King Thrasimund, St. Fulgentius answered him by a work
+    which is lost. For that which we have among his writings, is the
+    performance of some other Catholic controvertist of the same age, as
+    the learned agree. This author's style falls short of St.
+    Fulgentius's: he quotes the Scripture according to the Old Italic
+    Version; our saint always makes use of the Vulgate. He understood
+    not the Greek tongue, in which St. Fulgentius was well skilled. And
+    the author of our saint's life mentions, that in his book against
+    Pinta he referred to his books to King Thrasimund, which is not
+    found in this work.
+
+    One of the most famous among the writings of St. Fulgentius, is that
+    entitled, On the Two-fold Predestination, to Monimus, in answer to
+    certain difficulties proposed to him by a friend of that name. In
+    the first book he shows, that though God foresees sin, he
+    predestinates no one to evil, but only to good, or to grace and
+    glory. In the second book he proves, that the sacrifice of Christ's
+    body and blood is offered not to the Father alone, as the Arians
+    pretended, but to the whole Blessed Trinity. In this and the third
+    book he answers certain other difficulties. In his two books, On the
+    Remission of Sins, to Euthymius, he proves that sins can never be
+    forgiven without sincere repentance, or out of the pale of the true
+    church. When Peter, a deacon, and three other deputies from the
+    Scythian monks in the East, arrived at Rome, to be informed of the
+    sentiments of the western churches concerning the late errors
+    advanced in the East, against the mystery of the Incarnation, and in
+    the West, by the Semipelagians against the necessity of divine
+    grace, they consulted the sixty African bishops who were at that
+    time in banishment, in Sardinia. St. Fulgentius was pitched upon to
+    send an answer in the name of this venerable company of Confessors.
+    This produced his book, On the Incarnation and Grace, in the first
+    part of which he confutes the Nestorians and Eutychians, and in the
+    second the Semipelagians. His three books, On the Truth of
+    Predestination and Grace, addressed to John the Archimandrite, and
+    Venerius, deacon of Constantinople, are another fruit of the leisure
+    which his exile gave him. In the first part he shows, that grace is
+    the pure effect of the divine goodness and mercy; in the second,
+    that it destroys not free-will; and in the third, that the Divine
+    election both to grace and glory is purely gratuitous. In another
+    treatise or letter, to the same John and Venerius, who had consulted
+    the Confessors in Sardinia about the doctrine of Faustus of Riez, he
+    confutes Semipelagianism. In the treatise, On the Incarnation, to
+    Scarilas, he explains that mystery, showing that the Son became
+    man,--not the Father, or the Holy Ghost; and that in God the trinity
+    destroys not the unity of the nature. Ferrand, the learned deacon of
+    Carthage, consulted St. Fulgentius about the baptism of a certain
+    Ethiopian, who had desired that sacrament, but was speechless and
+    senseless when it was administered to him. Our saint, in a short
+    treatise on this subject, demonstrates this baptism to have been
+    both necessary and valid. By another treatise, addressed to this
+    Ferrand, he answers five questions proposed by him, concerning the
+    Trinity and Incarnation. Count Reginus consulted him, whether the
+    body of Christ was corruptible, and begged certain rules for leading
+    a Christian life in a military state. St. Fulgentius answered the
+    first point, proving that Christ's mortal body was liable to hunger,
+    thirst, pain, and corruption. The second part of moral instructions,
+    which he lived not to finish, was added by Ferrand the deacon. St.
+    Fulgentius's book, On Faith, to Peter, is concise and most useful.
+    It was drawn up after the year 523, about the time of his return
+    from Sardinia. One Peter, designing to go to Jerusalem, requested
+    the saint to give him in writing a compendious rule of faith, by
+    studying which he might be put upon his guard against the heresies
+    of that age. St. Fulgentius executed this in forty articles, some
+    copies and forty-one. In these he explains, under anathemas, the
+    chief mysteries of our faith: especially the Trinity. Incarnation,
+    sacrifice of the altar, (cap. 19. p. 475,) absolute necessity of the
+    true faith, and of living in the true church, to steadfastness, in
+    which he strongly and pathetically exhorts all Christians in the
+    close of the work, (c. 44, 45.) For if we owe fidelity to our
+    temporal prince, much more to Christ who redeemed our souls, and
+    whose anger we are bound to fear above all things, nay, as the only
+    evil truly to be dreaded. The writings of this father discover a
+    deep penetration and clear conception, with an admirable perspicuity
+    in the diction; but seeming apprehensive of not having sufficiently
+    inculcated his matter, he is diffusive, end runs into repetitions.
+    His reasoning is just and close, corroborated by Scripture and
+    tradition. The accurate F. Sirmond published part of his writings,
+    but the most complete edition of them was given at Paris, in 4vo.,
+    1584.
+6.  Domine, da mihi modo patientiam, et postea indulgentiam.
+7.  See Gall. Christ. Nov. T. l, p. 121. and Baillet, p. 16. The written
+    relation of this translation is a production of the tenth century,
+    and deserves no regard; but the constant tradition of the church and
+    country proves the translation to have been made (See Hist. Liter.
+    de la France, T. 6, p. 265.) The hutch in which these relics are
+    venerated at Bourget, is called S. Fulgentius's. The saint's head is
+    in the church of the archbishop's seminary, which was anciently an
+    abbey, and named Monte-maven.
+
+ST. ODILO, OR OLON, SIXTH ABBOT OF CLUNI
+
+HIS family was that of the lords of Mercteur, one of the most
+illustrious of Auvergne. Divine grace inclined him from his infancy to
+devote himself to God with his whole heart. He was very young when he
+received the monastic habit at Cluni, from the hands of S. Mayeul, by
+whose appointment he was made his coadjutor in 991, though only
+twenty-nine years of age, and from the death of S. Mayeul in 994, our
+saint was charged with the entire government of that great abbey. He
+labored to subdue his carnal appetites by rigorous fasting, wearing
+hair-cloth next his skin, and studded iron chains. Notwithstanding
+those austerities practised on himself, his carriage to others was
+most mild and humane. It was usual with him to say, that of two
+extremes, he chose rather to offend by tenderness, than a too rigid
+severity. In a great famine in 1006, his liberality to the poor was by
+many censured as profuse; for he melted down the sacred vessels and
+ornaments, and sold the gold crown S. Henry made a present of to that
+abbey, to relieve their necessities. He accompanied that prince in his
+journey to Rome when he was crowned emperor, in 1014. This was his
+second journey thither; he made a third in 1017, and a fourth in
+1022. Out of devotion to S. Bennet he paid a visit to Mount Cassino,
+where he begged leave, with the greatest earnestness, to kiss the feet
+of all the monks, which was granted him with great difficulty. Besides
+the journeys which the reformation he established in many monasteries
+obliged him to undertake, he made one to Orbe, to wait on the empress
+Alice. That pious princess burst into tears upon seeing him, and
+taking hold of his habit, kissed it, and applied it to her eyes, and
+declared to him she should die in a {070} very short time. This was in
+999, and she died on the 16th of December the same year. Massacres and
+plunders were so common in that age, by the right which every petty
+lord pretended of revenging his own injuries and quarrels by private
+wars, that the treaty called the truce of God was set on foot. By
+this, among other articles, it was agreed, that churches should be
+sanctuaries to all sorts of persons, except those that violated this
+truce; and that from Wednesday till Monday morning no one should offer
+violence to any one, not even by way of satisfaction for any injustice
+he had received. This truce met with the greatest difficulties among
+the Neustrians, but was at length received and observed in most
+provinces of France, through the exhortations and endeavors of
+St. Odilo, and B. Richard, abbot of St. Vanne's, who were charged with
+this commission.[1] Prince Casimir, son of Miceslaw, king of Poland,
+retired to Cluni, where he professed the monastic state, and was
+ordained deacon. He was afterwards, by a solemn deputation of the
+nobility, called to the crown. St. Odilo referred the matter to pope
+Benedict IX., with whose dispensation Casimir mounted the throne in
+1041, married, had several children, and reigned till his death in
+1058.[2]
+
+St. Odilo being moved by several visions, instituted the annual
+commemoration of all the faithful departed, to be observed by the
+members of his community with alms, prayers, and sacrifices, for the
+relief of the suffering souls in purgatory; and this charitable devotion
+he often much recommended. He was very devout to the Blessed Virgin; and
+above all sacred mysteries, that of the divine Incarnation employed his
+particular attention. As the monks were singing that verse in the
+church, "thou being to take upon thee to deliver man, didst not abhor
+the womb of a virgin;" melting away with the tenderest emotions of love,
+he fell to the ground; the ecstatic agitations of his body bearing
+evidence to that heavenly fire which glowed in his soul. Most of his
+sermons and little poems extant, treat of the mysteries of our
+redemption, or of the Blessed Virgin.[3] He excelled in an eminent
+spirit of compunction, and contemplation. While he was at prayer,
+trickling tears often watered his cheeks. Neither importunities nor
+compulsion could prevail upon him to submit to his being elected
+archbishop of Lyons in 1031. Having patiently suffered during five years
+the most painful diseases, he died of the cholic, at Souvigny, a priory
+in Bourbonnois, while employed in the visitation of his monasteries,
+January 1, 1049, being then eighty-seven years old, and having been
+fifty-six years abbot. He would be carried to the church, to assist at
+the divine office, even in his agony; and having received the viaticum
+and extreme-unction the day before, he expired on sackcloth strewed with
+ashes on the ground. See his life, by his disciple Lotsald, as also, by
+St. Peter Damian, who wrote it soon after the saint's death, at the
+request of St. Hugh of Cluni, his successor, in Bollandus, and
+Bibliotheca Cluniacensis by Dom Marrier, and in Andrew Duchesne, fol.
+Paris, 1614. See likewise certain epistles of St. Odilo, ib., and
+fourteen Sermons on the festivals of our Lord, the B. Virgin, &c., in
+Bibl. Patr. Lugdun. an. 1677, T. 17, p. 653.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Glaber, monk of Cluni, in his history which he dedicated to St.
+    Odilo, l. 4, c. 5, l. 5, c. 1.
+2.  Mab. Annal. l. 57, n. 45. Solignac, Hist. de Pologne, t. 1.
+3.  Ceillier demonstrates, (T. 20, p. 258,) against Basnage, (observ. in
+    vit. Adelaid. T. 3, le t. Canis, p. 71,) that the life of St. Alice
+    the empress is the work of St. Odilo, no less than the life of St.
+    Mayeul. We have four letters, some poems, and several sermons of
+    this saint in the library of Cluni, (p. 370,) and in that of the
+    Fathers, (T. 17, p. 653.) Two other sermons hear his name in
+    Martenn{} (Anned. T. 5.)
+
+{071}
+
+ST. ALMACHUS, OR TELEMACHUS, M.
+
+WAS a holy solitary of the East, but being excited by the ardors of a
+pious zeal in his desert, and pierced with grief that the impious
+diversion of gladiators should cause the damnation of so many unhappy
+souls, and involve whole cities and provinces in sin; he travelled to
+Rome, resolved, as far as in him lay, to put a stop to this crying evil.
+While the gladiators were massacring each other in the amphitheatre, he
+ran in among them; but as a recompense for his kind remonstrance, and
+entreating them to desist, he was beaten down to the ground, and torn in
+pieces, on the 1st of January, 404. His zeal had its desired success;
+for the effusion of his blood effected what till that time many emperors
+had found impracticable. Constantine, Constantius, Julian, and
+Theodosius the elder, had, to no purpose, published several edicts
+against those impious scenes of blood. But Honorius took occasion from
+the martyrdom of this saint, to enforce their entire abolition. His name
+occurs in the true martyrology of Bede, in the Roman and others. See
+Theodoret, Hist. l. 5, c. 62, t. 3, p. 740.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The martyrologies of Bede, Ado, Usuard, &c. mention St. Almachus, M.
+    put to death at Rome, for boldly opposing the heathenish
+    superstitions on the octave of our Lord's nativity. Ado adds, that
+    he was slain by the gladiators at the command of Alypius, prefect of
+    Rome. A prefect of this name is mentioned in the reign of
+    Theodosius, the father of Honorius. This name, the place, day, and
+    cause seeming to agree, Baronius, (Annot. In Martyr. Rom.) Bolland,
+    and Baillet, doubt not but this martyr is the same with St.
+    Telemachus, mentioned by Theodoret. Chatelain, canon of the
+    cathedral at Paris, (Notes sur le Martyr. Rom. p. 8,) and Benedict
+    XIV., (in Festo Circumcis. T. 10, p. 18.) think they ought to be
+    distinguished, and that Almachus suffered long before Telemachus.
+    Wake, (on Enthusiasm,) Geddes, &c. pretend the name to have been a
+    mistake for Almanachum; but are convicted by Chatelain of several
+    unpardonable blunders, and of being utterly unacquainted with
+    ancient MSS. of this kind, and the manner of writing them. Scaliger
+    and Salmasius tell us that the word Almanach is of Arabic
+    extraction. La Crosse observes, (Bibl. Univ. T. 11,) that it occurs
+    in Porphyry, (apud Eus. Præf. Evang. l. 3, c. 4,) who says that
+    horoscopes are found [Greek: en tois almenichiaxois], where it seems
+    of Egyptian origin. But whatever be the meaning of that term in
+    Porphyry, Du Cange, after the strictest search, assures us that the
+    barbarous word Almanach is never met with in any MS. Calendars or
+    Ephemerides. Menage (Origine de la Langue Françoise V. Almanach)
+    shows most probably that the word is originally Persian, with the
+    Arabic article prefixed. It seems to have been first used by the
+    Armenians to signify a calendar, ib.
+
+ST. EUGENDUS, IN FRENCH OYEND, A.
+
+AFTER the death of the two brothers, St. Romanus and St. Lupicinus, the
+holy founders of the abbey of Condate, under whose discipline he had
+been educated from seven years of age, he was first coadjutor to
+Minausius, their immediate successor, and soon after, upon his demise,
+abbot of that famous monastery. His life was most austere, his clothes
+being sackcloth, and the same in summer as in winter. He took only one
+small refection in the day, which was usually after sunset. He inured
+himself to cold and all mortifications; and was so dead to himself, as
+to seem incapable of betraying the least emotion of anger. His
+countenance was always cheerful; yet he never laughed. By meekness he
+overcame all injuries, was well skilled in Greek and Latin, and in the
+holy scriptures, and a great promoter of the sacred studies in his
+monastery. No importunities could prevail upon him to consent to be
+ordained priest. In the lives of the first abbots of Condate, of which a
+MS. copy is preserved in the Jesuit's library in the college of
+Clermont, at Paris, enriched with MS. notes by F. Chifflet, it is
+mentioned, that the monastery which was built by St. Romanus, of timber,
+being consumed by fire, St. Eugendus rebuilt it of stone; and also near
+the oratory, which St. Romanus had built, erected a handsome church in
+honor of SS. Peter, Paul, and Andrew, enriched with precious relics. His
+prayer was almost continual, and his devotion so tender, that the
+hearing {072} of a pious word was sufficient visibly to inflame his
+soil, and to throw him sometimes into raptures even in public, and at
+table. His ardent sighs to be united with his God, were most vehement
+during his last illness. Having called the priest among his brethren, to
+whom he had enjoined the office of anointing the sick, he caused him to
+anoint his breast according to the custom, says the author of his life,
+and he breathed forth his happy soul five days after, about the year
+510, and of his age sixty-one.[1] The great abbey of Condate, in
+Franche-comté, seven leagues from Geneva, on mount Jura, or Mont-jou,
+received from this saint the name of St. Oyend; till in the thirteenth
+century it exchanged it for that of St. Claude; who having resigned the
+bishopric of Besanzon, which see he had governed seven years in great
+sanctity, lived fifty-five years abbot of this house, a perfect copy of
+the virtues of St. Oyend, and died in 581. He is honored on the 6th of
+June. His body remains entire to this day; and his shrine is the most
+celebrated place of resort for pilgrims in all France.[2] See the life
+of St. Oyend by a disciple, in Bollandus and Mabillon. Add the remarks
+of Rivet. His. Liter. T. 3, p. 60.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The history of the first Abbots of Condate, compiled, according to
+    F. Chifflet, in 1252, mentions translation of the relics of St.
+    Eugendus, when they were enshrined in the same Church of St. Peter,
+    which had been made with great solemnity, at which this author had
+    assisted, and of which he testifies that he had already wrote the
+    history here quoted. F. Chifflet regrets the loss of this piece, and
+    adds that the girdle of St. Eugendus, made of white leather, two
+    fingers broad, has been the instrument of miraculous cures, and that
+    in 1601 Petronilla Birod, a Calvinist woman in that neighborhood,
+    was converted to the Catholic faith, with her husband and whole
+    family, having been suddenly freed from imminent danger of death and
+    child-bearing, and safely delivered by the application of this
+    relic.
+2.  The rich abbey of St. Claude gave rise to a considerable town built
+    about it, which was made an episcopal see by pope Benedict XIV., in
+    1743: who, secularizing the monastery, converted it into a
+    cathedral. The canons, to gain admittance, must give proof of their
+    nobility for sixteen degrees, eight paternal and as many maternal.
+    St. Romanus was buried at Beaume, St. Lucinius at Leu{}nne, and St.
+    Oyend at Condate: whence this last place for several ages bore his
+    name.
+
+S. FANCHEA, OR FAINE, V.
+
+HER feast has been kept for time immemorial in the parish church of
+Rosairthir, in the diocese of Clogher, in Ulster: and at Kilhaine near
+mount Bregh, on the borders of Meath, where her relics have been in
+veneration. She seems to have been an abbess, and is thought to have
+flourished in the sixth century, when many eminent saints flourished in
+Ireland. Her name was not known to Bollandus or Sir James Ware. See
+Chatelain.
+
+S. MOCHUA, OR MONCAIN, ABBOT,
+
+OTHERWISE CALLED CLAUNUS.
+
+HAVING served his prince in the army, he renounced the world, and
+devoted himself to God in a monastic state, with so much fervor as to
+become a model of perfection to others. He is said to have founded
+thirty churches, and one hundred and twenty cells, and passed thirty
+years at one of these churches, which is called from him Teach Mochua,
+but died at Dayrinis on the 1st of January, in the ninety-ninth year of
+his age, about the sixth century. See his life in Bollandus, p. 45.
+
+SAINT MOCHUA OF BELLA,
+
+OTHERWISE CALLED CRONAN,
+
+WAS contemporary to S. Congal, and founded the monastery (now a town)
+named Balla, in Connaught. He departed to our Lord in the fifty-sixth
+year of his age. See Bollandus, p. 49.
+
+{073}
+
+
+JANUARY II.
+
+S. MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA,
+
+ANCHORET.
+
+From Palladius, bishop of Helenopolis, who had been his disciple, c. 20.
+Rufin, Socrates, and others in Rosweide, D'Andilly, Cotelier, and
+Bollandus, p. 85 See Tillemont, t. 8, p. 626. Bulteau, Hist. Mon.
+d'Orient, l. 1, c. 9, p. 128.
+
+A.D. 394.
+
+ST. MACARIUS the younger, a citizen of Alexandria, followed the business
+of a confectioner. Desirous to serve God with his whole heart, he
+forsook the world in the flower of his age, and spent upwards of sixty
+years in the deserts in the exercise of fervent penance and
+contemplation. He first retired into Thebais, or Upper Egypt, about the
+year 335.[1] Having learned the maxims, and being versed in the practice
+of the most perfect virtue, under masters renowned for their sanctity;
+still aiming, if possible, at greater perfection, he quitted the Upper
+Egypt, and came to the Lower, before the year 373. In this part were
+three deserts almost adjoining to each other; that of Sceté, so called
+from a town of the same name on the borders of Lybia; that of the Cells,
+contiguous to the former, this name being given to it on account of the
+multitude of hermit-cells with which it abounded; and a third, which
+reached to the western branch of the Nile, called, from a great
+mountain, the desert of Nitria. St. Macarius had a cell in each of these
+deserts. When he dwelt in that of Nitria, it was his custom to give
+advice to strangers, but his chief residence was in that of the Cells.
+Each anchoret had here his separate cell, which he made his continued
+abode, except on Saturday and Sunday, when all assembled in one church
+to celebrate the divine mysteries, and partake of the holy communion. If
+any one was absent, he was concluded to be sick, and was visited by the
+rest. When a stranger came to live among them, every one offered him his
+cell, and was ready to build another for himself. Their cells were not
+within sight of each other. Their manual labor, which was that of making
+baskets or mats, did not interrupt the prayer of the heart. A profound
+silence reigned throughout the whole desert. Our saint received here the
+dignity of priesthood, and shone as a bright sun influencing this holy
+company, while St. Macarius the elder lived no less eminent in the
+wilderness of Sceté, forty miles distant. Palladius has recorded[2] a
+memorable instance of the great self-denial professed and observed by
+these holy hermits. A present was made of a newly-gathered bunch of
+grapes to St. Macarius: the holy man carried it to a neighboring monk
+who was sick; he sent it to another: it passed in like manner to all the
+cells in the desert, and was brought back to Macarius, who was
+exceedingly rejoiced to perceive the abstinence of his brethren, but
+would not eat of the grapes himself.
+
+The austerities of all the inhabitants of that desert were
+extraordinary; but St. Macarius, in this regard, far surpasses the rest.
+For seven years {074} together he lived only on raw herbs and pulse, and
+for the three following years contented himself with four or five ounces
+of bread a day, and consumed only one little vessel of oil in a year; as
+Palladius assures us. His watchings were not less surprising, as the
+same author informs us. God had given him a body capable of bearing the
+greatest rigors; and his fervor was so intense, that whatever spiritual
+exercise be heard of, or saw practised by others, be resolved to copy
+the same. The reputation of the monastery of Tabenna, under St.
+Pachomius, drew him to this place in disguise, some time before the year
+349. St. Pachomius told him that he seemed too far advanced in years to
+begin to accustom himself to their fastings and watchings; but at length
+admitted him, on condition he would observe all the rules and
+mortifications of the house. Lent approaching soon after, the monks were
+assiduous in preparations to pass that holy time in austerities, each
+according to his strength and fervor; some by fasting one, others two,
+three, or four days, without any kind of nourishment; some standing all
+day, others only sitting at their work. Macarius took some palm-tree
+leaves steeped in water, as materials for his work, and standing in a
+private corner, passed the whole time without eating, except a few green
+cabbage leaves on Sundays. His hands were employed in almost continual
+labor, and his heart conversed with God by prayer. If he left his
+station on any pressing occasion, he never stayed one moment longer than
+necessity required. Such a prodigy astonished the monks, who even
+remonstrated to the abbot at Easter against a singularity of this
+nature, which, if tolerated, might on several accounts be prejudicial to
+their community. St. Pachomius entreated God to know who this stranger
+was; and learning by revelation that he was the great Macarius, embraced
+him, thanked him for his edifying visit, and desired him to return to
+his desert, and there offer up his prayers for them.[3] Our saint
+happened one day inadvertently to kill a gnat that was biting him in his
+cell; reflecting that he had lost the opportunity of suffering that
+mortification, he hastened from his cell for the marshes of Sceté, which
+abound with great flies, whose stings pierce even boars. There he
+continued six months exposed to those ravaging insects; and to such a
+degree was his whole body disfigured by them with sores and swellings,
+that when he returned he was only to be known by his voice.[4] Some
+authors relate[5] that he did this to overcome a temptation of the
+flesh.
+
+The virtue of this great saint was often exercised with temptations. One
+was a suggestion to quit his desert and go to Rome, to serve the sick in
+the hospitals; which, by due reflection, he discovered to be a secret
+artifice of vain-glory inciting him to attract the eyes and esteem of
+the world. True humility alone could discover the snare which lurked
+under the specious gloss of holy charity. Finding this enemy extremely
+importunate, he threw himself on the ground in his cell, and cried out
+to the fiends: "Drag me hence if you can by force, for I will not stir."
+Thus he lay till night, and by this vigorous resistance they were quite
+disarmed.[6] As soon as he arose they renewed the assault; and he, to
+stand firm against them, filled two great baskets with sand, and laying
+them on his shoulders, travelled along the wilderness. A person of his
+acquaintance meeting him, asked him what he meant, and made an offer of
+easing him of his burden; but the saint made no other reply than this:
+"I am tormenting my tormentor." He returned home in the evening, much
+fatigued in body, but freed from the temptation. Palladius informs us,
+that St. Macarius, desiring to enjoy more perfectly the sweets of
+heavenly contemplation, at least for five days without interruption,
+{075} immured himself within his cell for this purpose, and said to his
+soul: "Having taken up thy abode in heaven, where thou hast God and the
+holy angels to converse with, see that thou descend not thence: regard
+not earthly things." The two first days his heart overflowed with divine
+delights; but on the third he met with so violent a disturbance from the
+devil, that he was obliged to stop short of his design, and to return to
+his usual manner of life. Contemplative souls often desire, in times of
+heavenly consolation, never to be interrupted in the glorious employment
+of love and praise: but the functions of Martha, the frailty and
+necessities of the human frame, and the temptations of the devil, force
+them, though reluctant, from their beloved object. Nay, God oftentimes
+withdraws himself, as the saint observed on this occasion, to make them
+sensible of their own weakness, and that this life is a state of trial.
+St. Macarius once saw, in a vision, devils closing the eyes of the monks
+to drowsiness, and tempting them by diverse methods to distractions,
+during the time of public prayer. Some, as often as they approached,
+chased them away by a secret supernatural force, while others were in
+dalliance with their suggestions. The saint burst into sighs and tears;
+and, when prayer was ended, admonished every one of his distractions,
+and of the snares of the enemy, with an earnest exhortation to employ,
+in that sacred duty, a more than ordinary watchfulness against his
+attacks.[7] St. Jerom[8] and others relate, that a certain anchoret in
+Nitria, having left one hundred crowns at his death, which he had
+acquired by weaving cloth, the monks of that desert met to deliberate
+what should be done with that money. Some were for having it given to
+the poor, others to the church: but Macarius, Pambo, Isidore, and
+others, who were called the fathers, ordained that the one hundred
+crowns should be thrown into the grave and buried with the corpse of the
+deceased, and that at the same time the following words should be
+pronounced: "_May thy money be with thee to perdition_."[9] This example
+struck such a terror into all the monks, that no one durst lay up any
+money by him.
+
+Palladius, who, from 391, lived three years under our saint, was
+eye-witness to several miracles wrought by him. He relates, that a
+certain priest, whose head, in a manner shocking to behold, was consumed
+by a cancerous sore, came to his cell, but was refused admittance; nay,
+the saint at first would not even speak to him. Palladius, by earnest
+entreaties, strove to prevail upon him to give at least some answer to
+so great an object of compassion. Macarius, on the contrary, urged that
+he was unworthy, and that God, to punish him for a sin of the flesh he
+was addicted to, had afflicted him with this disorder: however, that
+upon his sincere repentance, and promise never more during his life to
+presume to celebrate the divine mysteries, he would intercede for his
+cure. The priest confessed his sin with a promise, pursuant to the
+ancient canonical discipline, never after to perform any priestly
+function. The saint thereupon absolved him by the imposition of hands;
+and a few days after the priest came back perfectly healed, glorifying
+God, and giving thanks to his servant. Palladius found himself tempted
+to sadness, on a suggestion from the devil, that he made no progress in
+virtue, and that it was to no purpose for him to remain in the desert.
+He consulted his master, who bade him persevere with fervor, never dwell
+on the temptation, and always answer instantly the fiend: "My love for
+Jesus Christ will not suffer me to quit my cell, where I am determined
+to abide in order to please and serve him agreeably to his will."
+
+The two saints of the name of Macarius happened one day to cross the
+{076} Nile together in a boat, when certain tribunes, or principal
+officers, who were there with their numerous trains, could not help
+observing to each other, that those men, from the cheerfulness of their
+aspect, must be exceeding happy in their poverty. Macarius of
+Alexandria, alluding to their name, which in Greek signifies _happy_,
+made this answer: "You have reason to call us happy, for this is our
+name. But if we are happy in despising the world, are not you miserable
+who live slaves to it?" These words, uttered with a tone of voice
+expressive of an interior conviction of their truth, had such an effect
+on the tribune who first spoke, that, hastening home, he distributed his
+fortune among the poor, and embraced an eremitical life. In 375, both
+these saints were banished for the catholic faith, at the instigation of
+Lacius, the Arian patriarch of Alexandria. Our saint died in the year
+394, as Tillemont shows from Palladius. The Latins commemorate him on
+the 2d, the Greeks with the elder Macarius, on the 19th of January.
+
+In the desert of Nitria there subsists at this day a monastery which
+bears the name of St. Macarius. The monastic rule called St. Macarius's,
+in the code of rules, is ascribed to this of Alexandria. St. Jerom seems
+to have copied some things from it in his letter to Rusticus. The
+concord, or collection of rules, gives us another, under the names of
+the two SS. Macariuses; Serapion (of Arsinoe, or the other of Nitria;)
+Paphnutius (of Becbale, priest of Sceté;) and thirty-four other
+abbots.[10] It was probably collected from their discipline, or
+regulations and example. According to this latter, the monks fasted the
+whole year, except on Sundays, and the time from Easter to Whitsuntide;
+they observed the strictest poverty, and divided the day between manual
+labor and hours of prayer; hospitality was much recommended in this
+rule, but, for the sake of recollection, it was strictly forbid for any
+monk, except one who was deputed to entertain guests, ever to speak to
+any stranger without particular leave.[11] The definition of a monk or
+anchoret, given by the abbot Rancè of la Trappe, is a lively portraiture
+of the great Macarius in the desert when, says he, a soul relishes God
+in solitude, she thinks no more of any thing but heaven, and forgets the
+earth, which has nothing in it that can now please her; she burns with
+the fire of divine love, and sighs only after God, regarding death as
+her greatest advantage; nevertheless they will find themselves much
+mistaken, who, leaving the world, imagine they shall go to God by
+straight paths, by roads sown with lilies and roses, in which they will
+have no difficulties to conquer, but that the hand of God will turn
+aside whatever could raise any in their way, or disturb the tranquillity
+of their retreat: on the contrary, they must be persuaded that
+temptations will everywhere follow them, that there is neither state nor
+place in which they can be exempt, that the peace which God promises is
+procured amidst tribulations, as the rose-bud amidst thorns; God has not
+promised his servants that they shall not meet with trials, but that
+with the temptation, he will give them grace to be able to bear it:[12]
+heaven is offered to us on no other conditions; it is a kingdom of
+conquest, the prize of victory--but, O God, what a prize!
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Some confound our saint with Macarius of Pisper, or the disciple of
+    Saint Antony. But the best critics distinguish them. The latter,
+    with his fellow-disciple Amathas, buried St. Antony, who left him
+    his staff, as Cronius, the Priest of Nitria, related to Palladius.
+    To this Macarius of Pisper St. Antony committed the government of
+    almost five thousand monks as appears from the life of saint
+    Posthumias.
+2.  Hist. Lausiac, c. 20.
+3.  Pallad. Laus. c. 20.
+4.  Ib.
+5.  Rosweide b. 8, c. 20, p. 722.
+6.  Pallad. Laus. c. 20.
+7.  Rosweide, Vit. Patr. l. 2, c. 29, p. 481.
+8.  S. Hier. ep. 18 (ol. 22) ad. Eustoch. T. 4, par. 2, p. 44, ed. Ben.
+    et Rosw. Vit. Patr. l. 3, c. 319
+9.  Acts viii. 20.
+10. Concordia Regularum, autore S. Benedicto Ananiæ Abbate, edita ab
+    Hugone Menardo, O.S.B. in 4to Parisiis, 1638. Item, Codex Regularum
+    collectus a S. Benedicto Ananiæ, auctus a Luca Holstenio, two vols.
+    4to. Romæ, 1661.
+11. C. 60, p. 809 edit. Mena{}.
+12. 1 Cor. x. 13.
+
+_On the same day_
+
+Are commemorated many holy martyrs throughout the provinces of the Roman
+empire; who, when Dioclesian, in 303, commanded the holy scriptures,
+{077} wherever found, to be burnt, chose rather to suffer torments and
+death than to be accessary {sic.} to their being destroyed by
+surrendering them into the hands of the professed enemies of their
+Author.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Baron. n. annal. et annot. in Martyr. Rom. Eus. l. 8, c. 2. H.
+    Vales. not. ib. p. 163. Ruinart, in Acta SS Saturn &c. and S.
+    Felicis. Fleury. Moeurs des Chrét. p. 45. Tillem. Pers. de. Dicol.
+    art. 10, t. 5. Lactant. de mort. Pers. c. 15 et 18, cum not. Baluz.
+    &c.
+
+_Also_, ST. CONCORDIUS, M.
+
+A HOLY subdeacon, who in the reign of Marcus Antoninus, was apprehended
+in a desert, and brought before Torquatus, governor of Umbria, then
+residing at Spoletto, about the year 178. The martyr, paying no regard
+to his promises or threats, in the first interrogatory was beaten with
+clubs, and in the second was hung on the rack, but in the height of his
+torments he cheerfully sang: "Glory be to thee, Lord Jesus!" Three days
+after, two soldiers were sent by Torquatus, to behead him in the
+dungeon, unless he would offer sacrifice to an idol, which a priest who
+accompanied them carried with him for this purpose. The saint showed his
+indignation by spitting upon the idol, upon which one of the soldiers
+struck off his head. In the Roman Martyrology his name occurs on the
+1st, in some others on the 2d of January. See his genuine acts in
+Bollandus, p. 9, and Tillemont, t. 2, p. 439.
+
+_Also_, ST. ADALARD, OR ADALARD. A.C.
+
+Pronounced ALARD.[1]
+
+THE birth of this holy monk was most illustrious, his father Bernard
+being son of Charles Martel, and brother of king Pepin, so that Adalard
+was cousin-german to Charlemagne, by whom he was called in his youth to
+the court, and created count of his palace. A fear of offending God made
+him tremble at the sight of the dangers of forfeiting his grace, with
+which he was surrounded, and of the disorders which reigned in the
+world. Lest he should be engaged to entangle his conscience, by seeming
+to approve of things which he thought would endanger his salvation, he
+determined to forsake at once both the court and the world. His
+sacrifice was the more perfect and edifying, as he was endowed with the
+greatest personal accomplishments of mind and body for the world, and in
+the flower of his age; for he was only twenty years old, when, in 773,
+he took the monastic habit at Corbie in Picardy, a monastery that had
+been founded by queen Bathildes, in 662. After he had passed a year in
+the fervent exercises of his novitiate, he made his vows; the first
+employment assigned him in the monastery was that of gardener, in which,
+while his hands were employed in the business of his calling, his
+thoughts were on God and heavenly things. Out of humility, and a desire
+of closer retirement, he obtained leave to be removed to mount Cassino,
+where he hoped he should be concealed from the world; but his eminent
+qualifications, and the great example of his virtue, betrayed and
+defeated all the projects of his humility, and did not suffer him to
+live long unknown; he was brought back to Corbie, and some years after
+chosen abbot. Being obliged by Charlemagne often to attend at court, he
+appeared there as the first among the king's counsellors, as he is
+styled by Hincmar,[2] who had seen him there in 796. He was compelled by
+Charlemagne {078} entirely to quit his monastery, and take upon him the
+charge of chief minister to that prince's eldest son Pepin, who, at his
+death at Milan in 810, appointed the saint tutor to his son Bernard,
+then but twelve years of age. In this exalted and distracting station,
+Adalard appeared even in council recollected and attentive to God, and
+from his employments would hasten to his chamber, or the chapel, there
+to plunge his heart in the centre of its happiness. During the time of
+his prayers, tears usually flowed from his eyes in great abundance,
+especially on considering his own miseries, and his distance from God.
+The emperor recalled him from Milan, and deputed him to pope Leo III. to
+assist at the discussion of certain difficulties started relating to the
+clause inserted in the creed, concerning the procession of the Holy
+Ghost from the Father and the Son. Charlemagne died in 814, on the 28th
+of January, having associated his son, Lewis le Débonnaire, in the
+empire in the foregoing September. While our saint lived in his
+monastery, dead to the world, intent only on heavenly things,
+instructing the ignorant, and feeding the poor, on whom he always
+exhausted his whole revenue, Lewis declared his son, Lothaire, his
+partner and successor in the empire, in 817: Bernard, who looked upon
+that dignity as his right, his father Pepin having been eldest brother
+to Lewis, rebelled, but lost both his kingdom and his life. Lewis was
+prevailed upon, by certain flatterers, to suspect our saint to have been
+no enemy to Bernard's pretensions, and banished him to a monastery,
+situated in the little island Heri, called afterwards Hermoutier, and
+St. Philebert's, on the coast of Aquitain. The saint's brother Wala (one
+of the greatest men of that age, as appears from his curious life,
+published by Mabillon) he obliged to become a monk at Lerins. His sister
+Gondrada he confined in the monastery of the Holy Cross, at Poitiers;
+and left only his other sister Theodrada, who was a nun, at liberty in
+her convent at Soissons. This exile St. Adalard regarded as his gain,
+and in it his tranquillity and gladness of soul met with no
+interruptions. The emperor at length was made sensible of his innocence,
+and, after five years' banishment, called him to his court towards the
+close of the year 821; and, by the greatest honors and favors,
+endeavored to make amends for the injustice he had done him. Adalard
+(whose soul, fixed wholly on God, was raised above all earthly things)
+was the same person in prosperity and adversity, in the palace as in the
+cell, and in every station: the distinguishing parts of his character
+were, an extraordinary gift of compunction and tears, the most tender
+charity for all men, and an undaunted zeal for the relief and protection
+of all the distressed. In 823, he obtained leave to return to the
+government of his abbey of Corbie, where he with joy frequently took
+upon himself the most humbling and mortifying employments of the house.
+By his solicitude, earnest endeavors, and powerful example, his
+spiritual children grew daily in fervor and divine love; and such was
+his zeal for their continual advancement, that he passed no week without
+speaking to every one of them in particular, and no day without
+exhorting them all in general, by pathetic and instructive discourses.
+The inhabitants of the country round his monastery had also a share in
+his pious labors, and he exhausted on the poor the revenue of his
+monastery, and whatever other temporal goods came to his hands, with a
+profusion which many condemned as excessive, but which heaven, on urgent
+occasions, sometimes approved by sensible miracles. The good old man
+would receive advice from the meanest of his monks, with an astonishing
+humility; when entreated by any to moderate his austerities, he
+frequently answered, "I will take care of your servant, that he may
+serve you the longer;" meaning himself. Several hospitals were erected
+by him. During his banishment, another Adalard, who governed the
+monastery by his appointment, began, upon our saint's project, to {079}
+prepare the foundation of the monastery of New Corbie, vulgarly called
+Corwey, in the diocese of Paderborn, nine leagues from that city, upon
+the Weser, that it might be a nursery of evangelical laborers, to the
+conversion and instruction of the northern nations. St. Adalard, after
+his return to Corbie, completed this great undertaking in 822, for which
+he went twice thither, and made a long stay, to settle the discipline of
+his colony. Corwey is an imperial abbey; its territory reaches from the
+bishopric of Paderborn to the duchy of Brunswick, and the abbot is one
+of the eleven abbots, who sit with twenty-one bishops, in the imperial
+diet at Ratisbon: but the chief glory of this house is derived from the
+learning and zeal of St. Anscharius, and many others, who erected
+illustrious trophies of religion in many barbarous countries. To
+perpetuate the regularity which he established in his two monasteries,
+he compiled a book of statutes for their use, of which considerable
+fragments are extant:[3] for the direction of courtiers in their whole
+conduct, he wrote an excellent book, On the Order of the Court; of which
+work we have only the large extracts, which Hincmar has inserted in his
+Instructions of king Carloman, the master-piece of that prelate's
+writings, for which he is indebted to our saint. A treatise on the
+Paschal Moon, and other works of St. Adalard, are lost. By those which
+we have, also by his disciples, St. Paschasius Radbertus, St.
+Anscharius, and others, and by the testimony of the former in his life,
+it is clear that our saint was an elegant and zealous promoter of
+literature in his monasteries: the same author assures us, that he was
+well skilled, and instructed the people not only in the Latin, but also
+in the Tudesque and vulgar French languages.[4] St. Adalard, for his
+eminent learning, and extraordinary spirit of prayer and compunction,
+was styled the Austin, the Antony, and the Jeremy of his age. Alcuin, in
+a letter addressed to him under the name of Antony, calls him his
+son;[5] whence many infer that he had been scholar to that great man.
+St. Adalard was returned out of Germany to Old Corbie, when he fell sick
+three days before Christmas: he received extreme unction some days
+after, which was administered by Hildemar, bishop of Beauvais, who had
+formerly been his disciple; the viaticum he received on the day after
+the feast of our Lord's circumcision, about seven o'clock in the
+morning, and expired the same day about three in the afternoon, in the
+year 827, of his age seventy-three. Upon proof of several miracles, by
+virtue of a commission granted by pope John XIX. (called by some XX.)
+the body of the saint was enshrined, and translated with great solemnity
+in 1040; of which ceremony we have a particular history written by St.
+Gerard, who also composed an office in his honor, in gratitude for
+having been cured of a violent headache through his intercession: the
+same author relates seven other miracles performed by the same means.[6]
+The relics of St. Adalard, except a small portion given to the abbey of
+Chelles, are still preserved at Corbie, in a rich shrine and two smaller
+cases. His name has never been inserted in the Roman Martyrology, though
+he is honored as principal patron in many parish churches, and by
+several towns on the banks of the Rhine and in the Low Countries. See
+his life, compiled with accuracy, in a very florid pathetic style, by
+way of panegyric, by his disciple Paschasius Radbertus, {080} extant in
+Bollandus, and more correctly in Mabillon, (Act. Ben. t. 5, p. 306, also
+the same abridged in a more historical style, by St. Gerard, first monk
+of Corbie, afterwards first abbot of Seauve-majeur in Guienne, founder
+by William, duke of Aquitain and count of Poitiers, in 1080. The history
+of the translation of the saint's body, with an account of eight
+miracles by the same St. Gerard, is also given us by Bollandus.)
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  It was usual among the ancient French, to add to certain words,
+    syllables, or letters which they did not pronounce; as Chrodobert,
+    or Rigobert, for Robert: Cloves for Louis; Clothaire for Lotharie,
+    &c.
+2.  Hinc. l. Inst. Regis, c. 12.
+3.  Published by D'Achery, Spicil. tom. 4, p. 1, 20.
+4.  From this testimony it is clear, that the French language, used by
+    the common people, had then so much deviated from the Latin as to be
+    esteemed a different tongue; which is also evident from Nithard, an
+    officer in the army of Lewis le Débonnaire, who, in his history of
+    the divisions between the sons of Lewis le Débonnaire, (published
+    among the French historians by du Chesne,) gives us the original act
+    of the agreement between the two brothers, Charles the Bald, and
+    Lewis of Germany, at Strasburg, in 842.
+5.  Alcuin, Ep. 107.
+6.  St. Gerard, of Seauve-majeur, died on the 5th of April, 1095, and
+    was canonized by C[oe]lestine III. in 1197. See his life, with an
+    account of the foundation of his monastery, in Mabillon, Acts,
+    Sanctorum ad S. Benedict. t. 9, p. 841.
+
+
+JANUARY III.
+
+ST. PETER BALSAM, M.
+
+From his valuable acts in Ruinart, p. 501. Bollandus, p. 128. See
+Tillemont, T. 5. Assemani, Act Mart. Occid. T. 2, p. 106.
+
+A.D. 311.
+
+PETER BALSAM, a native of the territory of Eleutheropolis, in Palestine,
+was apprehended at Aulane, in the persecution of Maximinus. Being
+brought before Severus, governor of the province, the interrogatory
+began by asking him his name. Peter answered: "Balsam is the name of my
+family, but I received that of Peter in baptism." SEVERUS. "Of what
+family, and of what country are you?" PETER. "I am a Christian."
+SEVERUS. "What is your employ?" PETER. "What employ can I have more
+honorable, or what better thing can I do in the world, than to live a
+Christian?" SEVERUS. "Do you know the imperial edicts?" PETER. "I know
+the laws of God, the sovereign of the universe." SEVERUS. "You shall
+quickly know that there is an edict of the most clement emperors,
+commanding all to sacrifice to the gods, or be put to death." PETER.
+"You will also know one day that there is a law of the eternal king,
+proclaiming that every one shall perish, who offers sacrifice to devils:
+which do you counsel me to obey, and which, do you think, should be my
+option; to die by your sword, or to be condemned to everlasting misery,
+by the sentence of the great king, the true God?" SEVERUS. "Seeing you
+ask my advice, it is then that you obey the edict, and sacrifice to the
+gods." PETER. "I can never be prevailed upon to sacrifice to gods of
+wood and stone, as those are which you adore." SEVERUS. "I would have
+you know, that it is in my power to revenge these affronts by your
+death." PETER. "I had no intention to affront you. I only expressed what
+is written in the divine law." SEVERUS. "Have compassion on yourself,
+and sacrifice." PETER. "If I am truly compassionate to myself, I ought
+not to sacrifice." SEVERUS. "My desire is to use lenity; I therefore
+still do allow you time to consider with yourself, that you may save
+your life." PETER. "This delay will be to no purpose, for I shall not
+alter my mind; do now what you will be obliged to do soon, and complete
+the work, which the devil, your father, has begun; for I will never do
+what Jesus Christ forbids me."
+
+Severus, on hearing these words, ordered him to be hoisted on the rack,
+and while he was suspended in the air, said to him scoffing: "What say
+you now, Peter; do you begin to know what the rack is? Are you yet
+willing to sacrifice?" Peter answered: "Tear me with iron hooks, and
+talk not of my sacrificing to your devils: I have already told you, that
+I will sacrifice to that God alone for whom I suffer." Hereupon the
+governor {081} commanded his tortures to be redoubled. The martyr, far
+from fetching the least sigh, sung with alacrity those verses of the
+royal prophet: _One thing I have asked of the Lord; this will I seek
+after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
+life_.[1] _I will take the chalice of salvation, and will call upon the
+name of the Lord_.[2] The governor called forth fresh executioners to
+relieve the first, now fatigued. The spectators, seeing the martyr's
+blood run down in streams, cried out to him: "Obey the emperors:
+sacrifice, and rescue yourself from these torments." Peter replied: "Do
+you call these torments? I, for my part, feel no pain: but this I know,
+that if I am not faithful to my God, I must expect real pains, such as
+cannot be conceived." The judge also said: "Sacrifice, Peter Balsam, or
+you will repent it." PETER. "Neither will I sacrifice, nor shall I
+repent it." SEVERUS. "I am just ready to pronounce sentence." PETER. "It
+is what I most earnestly desire." Severus then dictated the sentence in
+this manner: "It is our order, that Peter Balsam, for having refused to
+obey the edict of the invincible emperors, and having contemned our
+commands, after obstinately defending the law of a man crucified, be
+himself nailed to a cross." Thus it was that this glorious martyr
+finished his triumph, at Aulane, on the 3d of January, which day he is
+honored in the Roman Martyrology, and that of Bede.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the example of the martyrs we see, that religion alone inspires true
+constancy and heroism, and affords solid comfort and joy amidst the most
+terrifying dangers, calamities, and torments. It spreads a calm
+throughout a man's whole life, and consoles at all times. He that is
+united to God, rests in omnipotence, and in wisdom and goodness; he is
+reconciled with the world whether it frowns or flatters, and with
+himself. The interior peace which he enjoys, is the foundation of
+happiness, and the delights which innocence and virtue bring, abundantly
+compensate the loss of the base pleasures of vice. Death itself, so
+terrible to the worldly man, is the saint's crown, and completes his joy
+and his bliss.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ps. xxvi. 4.
+2.  Ps. cxv. 4.
+
+ST. ANTERUS, POPE.
+
+HE succeeded St. Pontianus in 235. He sat only one month and ten days,
+and is styled a martyr by Bede, Ado, and the present Roman Martyrology.
+See Card. d'Aguirre, Conc. Hispan. T. 3. In the martyrology called S.
+Jerom's, kept at S. Cyriacus's, it is said that he was buried on the
+Appian road, in the Paraphagene, where the cemetery of Calixtus was
+afterwards erected.
+
+ST. GORDIUS.
+
+MARTYRED at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, was a centurion to the army, but
+retired to the deserts when the persecution was first raised by
+Dioclesian. The desire of shedding his blood for Christ made him quit
+his solitude, while the people of that city were assembled to the
+Circus[1] to solemnize public games in honor of Mars. His attenuated
+body, long beard and hair and ragged clothes, drew on him the eyes of
+the whole assembly; yet, with this strange garb and mien, the graceful
+air of majesty that appeared in his {082} countenance commanded
+veneration. Being examined by the governor, and loudly confessing his
+faith, he was condemned to be beheaded. Having fortified himself by the
+sign of the cross,[2] he joyfully received the deadly blow. St. Basil,
+on this festival, pronounced his panegyric at Cæsarea, in which he says,
+several of his audience had been eye-witnesses of the martyr's triumph.
+Hom. 17, t. 1.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The _Circus_ was a ring, or large place, wherein the people sat and
+    saw the public games.
+2.  [Greek: Heautou ton tupon tou staurou perigrapsas.] St. Basil, t. 1,
+    p. 452.
+
+ST. GENEVIEVE, OR GENOVEFA, V.
+
+CHIEF PATRONESS OF THE CITY OF PARIS.
+
+HER father's name was Severus, and her mother's Gerontia: she was born
+about the year 422, at Nanterre, a small village four miles from Paris,
+near the famous modern stations, or Calvary, adorned with excellent
+sculptures, representing our Lord's Passion, on Mount Valerien. When St.
+Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, went with St. Lupus into Britain to oppose
+the Pelagian heresy, he lay at Nanterre in his way. The inhabitants
+flocked about them to receive their blessing, and St. Germanus made them
+an exhortation, during which he took particular notice of Genevieve,
+though only seven years of age. After his discourse he inquired for her
+parents, and addressing himself to them, foretold their daughter's
+future sanctity, and said that she would perfectly accomplish the
+resolution she had taken of serving God, and that others would imitate
+her example. He then asked Genevieve whether it was not her desire to
+serve God in a state of perpetual virginity, and to bear no other title
+than that of a spouse of Jesus Christ. The virgin answered, that this
+was what she had long desired, and begged that by his blessing she might
+be from that moment consecrated to God. The holy prelate went to the
+church of the place, followed by the people, and, during long singing of
+psalms and prayers, says Constantius,[1]--that is, during the recital of
+None and Vespers,[2] as the author of the life of St. Genevieve
+expresses it,[3] he held his hand upon the virgin's head. After he had
+supped, he dismissed her, giving a strict charge to her parents to bring
+her again to him very early the next morning. The father complied with
+the commission, and St. Germanus asked Genevieve whether she remembered
+the promise she had made to God. She said she did, and declared she
+would, by the divine assistance, faithfully perform it. The bishop gave
+her a brass medal, on which a cross was engraved, to wear always about
+her neck, to put her in mind of the consecration she had made of herself
+to God; and at the same time, he charged her never to wear bracelets, or
+necklaces of pearls, gold, or silver, or any other ornaments of vanity.
+All this she most religiously observed, and considering herself as the
+spouse of Christ, gave herself up to the most fervent practices of
+devotion and penance. From the words of St. Germanus, in his exhortation
+to St. Genevieve never to wear jewels, Baillet and some others infer,
+that she must have been a person of quality and fortune; but the ancient
+Breviary and constant tradition of the place assure us, that her father
+was a poor shepherd. Adrian, Valois, and Baluze, observe, that her most
+ancient life ought not to be esteemed of irrefragable authority, and
+that the words of St. Germanus are {083} not perhaps related with a
+scrupulous fidelity.[4] The author of her life tells us, that the holy
+virgin begging one day with great importunity that she might go to the
+church, her mother struck her on the face, but in punishment lost her
+sight, which she only recovered, two months after, by washing her eyes
+twice or thrice with water which her daughter fetched from the well, and
+upon which she had made the sign of the cross. Hence the people look
+upon the well at Nanterre as having been blessed by the saint. About
+fifteen years of age, she was presented to the bishop of Paris to
+receive the religious veil at his hands, together with two other persons
+of the same sex. Though she was the youngest of the three, the bishop
+placed her the first, saying, that heaven had already sanctified her; by
+which he seems to have alluded to the promise she had already made, in
+the presence of SS. Germanus and Lupus, of consecrating herself to God.
+From that time she frequently ate only twice in the week, on Sundays and
+Thursdays. Her food was barley bread with a few beans. At the age of
+fifty, by the command of certain bishops, she mitigated this austerity,
+so far as to allow herself a moderate use of fish and milk. Her prayer
+was almost continual, and generally attended with a large flow of tears.
+After the death of her parents she left Nanterre, and settled with her
+god-mother at Paris; but sometimes undertook journeys upon motives of
+charity, and illustrated the cities of Meaux, Leon, Tours, Orleans, and
+all other places wherever she went, with miracles and remarkable
+predictions. God permitted her to meet with some severe trials; for at a
+certain time all persons indiscriminately seemed to be in a combination
+against her, and persecuted her under the opprobrious names of
+visionary, hypocrite, and the like imputations, all tending to asperse
+her innocency. The arrival of St. Germanus at Paris, probably on his
+second journey to Britain, for some time silenced her calumniators; but
+it was not long ere the storm broke out anew. Her enemies were fully
+determined to drown her, when the archdeacon of Auxerre arrived with
+_Eulogies_, or blessed bread, sent her by St. Germanus, as a testimony
+of his particular esteem for her virtues, and a token of communion. This
+seems to have happened while St. Germanus was absent in Italy in 449, a
+little before his death. This circumstance, so providentially opportune,
+converted the prejudices of her calumniators into a singular veneration
+for her during the remainder of her life. The Franks or French had then
+possessed themselves of the better part of Gaul; and Childeric, their
+king, took Paris.[5] During the long blockade of that city, the citizens
+being extremely distressed by famine, St. Genevieve, as the author of
+her life relates, went out at the head of a company who were sent to
+procure provisions, and brought back from Arcis-sur-Aube and Troyes
+several boats laden with corn. Nevertheless, Childeric, when he had made
+himself master of Paris, though always a pagan, respected St. Genevieve,
+and, upon her intercession, spared the lives of many prisoners, and did
+several other acts of clemency and bounty. Our saint, out of her
+singular devotion to St. Dionysius and his companions, the apostles of
+the country, frequently visited their tombs at the borough of
+Catulliacum, which many think the borough since called Saint Denys's.
+She also excited the zeal of many pious persons to build there a church
+in {084} honor of St. Dionysius, which King Dagobert I. afterwards
+rebuilt with a stately monastery in 629.[6] Saint Genevieve likewise
+performed several pilgrimages, in company with other holy virgins, to
+the shrine of St. Martin at Tours. These journeys of devotion she
+sanctified by the exercise of holy recollection and austere penance.
+King Clovis, who embraced the faith in 496, listened often with
+deference to the advice of St. Genevieve, and granted liberty to several
+captives at her request. Upon the report of the march of Attila with his
+army of Huns, the Parisians were preparing to abandon their city, but
+St. Genevieve persuaded them, in imitation of Judith and Hester, to
+endeavor to avert the scourge, by fasting, watching, and prayer. Many
+devout persons of her sex passed many days with her in prayer in the
+baptistery; from whence the particular devotion to St. Genevieve, which
+is practised at St. John-le-rond, the ancient public baptistery of the
+church of Paris, seems to have taken rise. She assured the people of the
+protection of heaven, and their deliverance; and though she was long
+treated by many as an impostor, the event verified the prediction, that
+barbarian suddenly changing the course of his march, probably by
+directing it towards Orleans. Our author attributes to St. Genevieve the
+first design of the magnificent church which Clovis began to build in
+honor of SS. Peter and Paul, by the pious counsel of his wife Saint
+Clotilda, by whom it was finished several years after; for he only laid
+the foundation a little before his death, which happened in 511.[7] St.
+Genevieve died about the same year, probably five weeks after that
+prince, on the 3d of January, 512, being eighty-nine years old. Some
+think she died before King Clovis. Prudentius, bishop of Paris, had been
+buried about the year 409, on the spot where this church was built.
+Clovis was interred in it: his remains were afterwards removed into the
+middle of the choir, where they are covered with a modern monument of
+white marble, with an inscription. St. Clotilda was buried near the
+steps of the high altar in 545; but her name having been enrolled among
+the saints, her relics were enshrined, and are placed behind the high
+altar. Those of St. Alda, the companion of St. Genevieve, and of St.
+Ceraunus, bishop of Paris, are placed in silver shrines on the altar of
+S. Clotilda. The tombs of St. Genevieve and King Clovis were near
+together. Immediately after the saint was buried, the people raised an
+oratory of wood over her tomb, as her historian assures us, and this was
+soon changed into the stately church built under the invocation of SS.
+Peter and Paul. From this circumstance, we gather that her tomb was
+situated in a part of this church, which was only built after her death.
+Her tomb, though empty, is still shown in the subterraneous church, or
+vault, betwixt those of Prudentius, and St. Ceraunus, bishop of Paris.
+But her relics were enclosed, by St. {085} Eligius, in a costly shrine,
+adorned with gold and silver, which he made with his own hands about the
+year 630, as St. Owen relates in his life. In 845 these relics, for fear
+of the Normans, were removed to Atis, and thence to Dravel, where the
+abbot of the canons kept a tooth for his own church. In 850 they were
+carried to Marisy, near Ferté-Milon, and five years after brought back
+to Paris. The author of the original life of St. Genevieve concludes it
+by a description of the Basilick which Clovis and St. Clotilda erected,
+adorned with a triple portico, in which were painted the histories of
+the patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, and confessors. This church was
+several times plundered, and at length burnt, by the Normans. When it
+was rebuilt, soon after the year 856, the relics of St. Genevieve were
+brought back. The miracles which were performed there from the time of
+her burial, rendered this church famous over all France, so that at
+length it began to be known only by her name. The city of Paris has
+frequently received sensible proofs of the divine protection, through
+her intercession. The most famous instance is that called the miracle of
+_Des Ardens_, or of the burning fever. In 1129, in the reign of Louis
+VI., a pestilential fever, with a violent inward heat, and pains in the
+bowels, swept off, in a short time, fourteen thousand persons; nor could
+the art of physicians afford any relief. Stephen, bishop of Paris, with
+the clergy and people, implored the divine mercy, by fasting and
+supplications. Yet the distemper began not to abate till the shrine of
+St. Genevieve was carried in a solemn procession to the cathedral.
+During that ceremony many sick persons were cured by touching the
+shrine; and of all that then lay ill of that distemper in the whole
+town, only three died, the rest recovered, and no others fell ill. Pope
+Innocent II. coming to Paris the year following, after having passed a
+careful scrutiny on the miracle, ordered an annual festival in
+commemoration of it on the 26th of November, which is still kept at
+Paris. A chapel near the cathedral, called anciently St. Genevieve's the
+Little, erected near the house in which she died, afterward, from this
+miracle, (though it was wrought not at this chapel, but chiefly at the
+cathedral, as Le Beuf demonstrates,) was called St. Genevieve des
+Ardens, which was demolished in 1747, to make place for the Foundling
+Hospital.[8] Both before and since that time, it is the custom, in
+extraordinary public calamities, to carry the shrine of St. Genevieve,
+accompanied with those of St. Marcel, St. Aurea, St. Lucan, martyr, St.
+Landry, St. Merry, St. Paxentius, St. Magloire, and others, in a solemn
+procession to the cathedral; on which occasion the regular canons of St.
+Genevieve walk barefoot, and at the right hand of the chapter of the
+cathedral, and the abbot walks on the right hand of the archbishop. The
+present rich shrine of St. Genevieve was made by the abbot, and the
+relics enclosed in it in 1242. It is said that one hundred and
+ninety-three marks of silver, and eight of gold, were used in making it;
+and it is almost covered with precious stones, most of which are the
+presents of several kings and queens. The crown or cluster of diamonds
+which glitters on the top, was given by Queen Mary of Medicis. The
+shrine is placed behind the choir, upon a fine piece of architecture,
+supported by four high pillars, two of marble, and two of jaspis.[9] See
+the Ancient Life of St. Genevieve, written by an anonymous author,
+eighteen years after her death, of which the best edition is given by F.
+Charpentier, a Genevevan regular canon, in octavo, in 1697. It is
+interpolated in several editions. Bollandus has added another more
+modern life; see also Tillemont, t. 16, p. 621, and notes, ib. p. 802.
+Likewise, Gallia Christiana Nova, t. 7, p. 700.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Constant. in vit. S. Germani. Altiss. l. 1, c. 20.
+2.  _Nonam atque duodecim_. It deserves the attention of clergymen, that
+    though anciently the canonical hours were punctually observed in the
+    divine office, SS. Germanus and Lupus deferred None beyond the hour,
+    that they might recite it in the church, rather than on the road.
+    The word _duodecima_ used for Vespers, is a clear demonstration that
+    the canonical hour of Vespers was not five, but six o'clock,--which,
+    about the _equinox_, was the twelfth hour of the natural day: which
+    is also proved from the name of the Ferial hymn at Vespers, _Jam ter
+    quaternis_, &c. See Card. Bona, de div. Psalmodia, &c.
+3.  Apud Bolland.
+4.  See Piganiol, Descrip. de Paris, t. 8, v. Nanterre.
+5.  Paris was called by the Romans the castle of the Parisians, being by
+    its situation one of the strongest fortresses in Gaul; for at that
+    time it was confined to the island of the river Seine, now called
+    the Isle _du Palais_, and the _City_: though the limits of the city
+    are now extended somewhat beyond that island, it is the smallest
+    part of the town. This isle was only accessible over two wooden
+    bridges, each of which was defended by a castle, which were
+    afterwards called the _Great_ and _Little_ Chatelet. (See Lobineau.
+    Hist. de la Ville de Paris, t. l, l. 1.) The greatest part of the
+    neighboring country was covered with thick woods. The Roman
+    governors built a palace without the island, (now in Rue de
+    l'Harpe,) which Julian, the Apostate, while he commanded in Gaul,
+    exceedingly embellished, furnished with water by a curious aqueduct,
+    and, for the security of his own person, contrived a subterraneous
+    passage from the palace to the castle or Great Chatelet; of all
+    which works certain vestiges are to be seen at this day.
+6.  Some think that Catualliacum was rather Montmartre than St. Denys's,
+    and that the church built there in the time of St. Genevieve stood
+    near the bottom of the mountain, because it is said in her life to
+    have been at the place where St. Dionysius suffered martyrdom; and
+    it is added, that she often visited the place, attended by many
+    virgins, watched there every Saturday night in prayer, and that one
+    night when she was going thither with her companions in the rain,
+    and through very dirty roads, the lamp that was carried before her
+    was extinguished, but lighted again upon her taking it into her own
+    hands: all which circumstances seem not to agree to a place two
+    leagues distant, like St. Denys's.
+7.  The author of the life of St. Bathildes testifies, that Clovis built
+    this church for the use of monks; which Mabillon confirms by other
+    proofs, (Op. Posth. t. 2, p. 356.) He doubts not but it continued in
+    their hands, till being burnt by the Normans in 856 (as appears from
+    Stephen of Tournay, ep. 146,) it was soon after rebuilt, and given
+    to secular canons. These, in punishment of a sedition, were expelled
+    by the authority of Eugenius III., and Suger, abbot of St. Denys's,
+    and prime minister to Lewis VII., or the Young, in 1148, who
+    introduced into this church twelve regular canons of the order of
+    St. Austin, chosen out of St. Victor's abbey, which had been erected
+    about forty years before, and was then most famous for many great
+    men, the austerity of its rule, and the piety and learning which
+    flourished in it. Cardinal Francis Rochefoucault, the history of
+    whose most edifying life and great actions will be a model of all
+    pastoral virtues to all ages to come, having established an
+    excellent reformation in the abbey of St. Vincent, at regular
+    canons, at Senlis, when he was bishop of that see, being nominated
+    abbot of St. Genevieve's by Lewis XIII., called from St. Vincent's
+    F. Charles Faure, and twelve others, in 1624, and by their means
+    introduced the same reformation in this monastery, which was
+    confirmed in 1634, when F. Faure was chosen abbot coadjutor to the
+    cardinal. He died in odor of sanctity in 667, the good cardinal
+    having passed to a better life in 1645.
+8.  _De Miraculo Ardentium_. See Anonym. ap. Bolland. et Brev. Paris. ad
+    26 Nov.
+9.  See Piganiol, Descr. de Paris, t. 5, p. 238, et Le Fevre Calendrier
+    Hist. de l'Eglise de Paris, Nov 26, et Jan. 3. Gallia Christian.
+    Nova, t. 7, p. 700. Le Beuf l. 2, p. 95, et l. 1, p. 387.
+
+{086}
+
+
+JANUARY IV.
+
+ST. TITUS, DISCIPLE OF ST. PAUL, B.
+
+See St. Paul, ep. ad Tit. and 1 and 2 ad Cor.; also, Tillemont T. 2,
+Calmet, T. 8, Le Quien Oriens Christianus, T. 2, p. 256. F. Farlat
+Illyrici sacri. T. 1, p. 354 ad 392.
+
+ST. TITUS was born a Gentile, and seems to have been converted by St.
+Paul, who calls him his son in Christ. His extraordinary virtue and
+merit gained him the particular esteem and affection of this apostle;
+for we find him employed as his secretary and interpreter; and he styles
+him his brother, and copartner in his labors; commends exceedingly his
+solicitude and zeal for the salvation of his brethren,[1] and in the
+tenderest manner expresses the comfort and support he found in him,[2]
+insomuch, that, on a certain occasion, he declared that he found no rest
+in his spirit, because at Troas he had not met Titus.[3] In the year 51,
+he accompanied him to the council that was held at Jerusalem, on the
+subject of the Mosaic rites. Though the apostle had consented to the
+circumcision of Timothy, in order to render his ministry acceptable
+among the Jews, he would not allow the same in Titus, apprehensive of
+giving thereby a sanction to the error of certain false brethren, who
+contended that the ceremonial institutes of the Mosaic law were not
+abolished by the law of grace. Towards the close of the year 56, St.
+Paul sent Titus from Ephesus to Corinth, with full commission to remedy
+the several subjects of scandal, as also to allay the dissensions in
+that church. He was there received with great testimonies of respect,
+and was perfectly satisfied with regard to the penance and submission of
+the offenders; but could not be prevailed upon to accept from them any
+present, not even so much as his own maintenance. His love for that
+church was very considerable, and at their request he interceded with
+St. Paul for the pardon of the incestuous man. He was sent the same year
+by the apostle a second time to Corinth, to prepare the alms that church
+designed for the poor Christians at Jerusalem. All these particulars we
+learn from St. Paul's two epistles to the Corinthians.
+
+St. Paul, after his first imprisonment, returning from Rome into the
+east, made some stay in the island of Crete, to preach there the faith
+of Jesus Christ: but the necessities of other churches requiring his
+presence elsewhere, he ordained his beloved disciple Titus bishop of
+that island, and left him to finish the work he had successfully begun.
+"We may form a judgment," says St. Chrysostom,[4] "from the importance
+of the charge, how great the esteem of St. Paul was for his disciple."
+But finding the loss of such a companion too material, at his return
+into Europe the year after, the apostle ordered him to meet him at
+Nicopolis in Epirus, where he intended to pass the winter, and to set
+out for that place as soon as either Tychichus, or Arthemas, whom he had
+sent to supply his place during his absence, should arrive in Crete. St.
+Paul sent these instructions to Titus, in the canonical epistle
+addressed to him, when on his Journey to Nicopolis, in autumn, in the
+year 64. He ordered him to establish Priests,[5] that is, {087} bishops,
+as St. Jerom, St. Chrysostom, and Theodoret expound it, in all the
+cities of the island. He sums up the principal qualities necessary for a
+bishop, and gives him particular advice touching his own conduct to his
+flock, exhorting him to hold to strictness of discipline, but seasoned
+with lenity. This epistle contains the rule of episcopal life, and as
+such, we may regard it as faithfully copied in the life of this
+disciple. In the year 65, we find him sent by St. Paul to preach in
+Dalmatia.[6] He again returned to Crete, and settled the faith in that
+and the adjacent little island. All that can be affirmed further of him
+is, that he finished a laborious and holy life by a happy death in
+Crete, in a very advanced old age, some affirm in the ninety-fourth year
+of his age. The body of St. Titus was kept with great veneration in the
+cathedral of Gortyna, the ruins of which city, the ancient metropolis of
+the island, situated six miles from mount Ida, are still very
+remarkable. This city being destroyed by the Saracens in 823, these
+relics could never since be discovered: only the head of our saint was
+conveyed safe to Venice, and is venerated in the Ducal basilica of St.
+Mark (See Creta Sacra, Auctore Flaminio Cornelio, Senatore Veneto.
+Venetiis, anno 1755, de S. Tito, T. 1, p. 189, 195.) St. Titus has been
+looked upon in Crete as the first archbishop of Gortyna, which
+metropolitical see is fixed at Candia, since this new metropolis was
+built by the Saracens. The cathedral of the city of Candia, which now
+gives its name to the whole island, bears his name. The Turks leave this
+church in the hands of the Christians. The city of Candia was built in
+the ninth century, seventeen miles from the ancient Gortyn or Gortyna.
+Under the metropolitan of Candia, there are at present in this island
+eleven suffragan bishops of the Greek communion.
+
+When St. Paul assumed Titus to the ministry, this disciple was already a
+saint, and the apostle found in him all the conditions which he charged
+him so severely to require in those whom he should honor with the
+pastoral charge. It is an illusion of false zeal, and a temptation of
+the enemy, for young novices to begin to teach before they have learned
+themselves how to practise. Young birds, which leave their nests before
+they are able to fly, are sure to perish. Trees which push forth their
+buds before the season, yield no fruit, the flowers being either nipped
+by the frost, or destroyed by the sun. So those who give themselves up
+to the exterior employments of the ministry, before they are thoroughly
+grounded in the spirit of the gospel, strain their tender interior
+virtue, and produce only unclean or tainted fruit. All who undertake the
+pastoral charge, besides a thorough acquaintance with the divine law,
+and the maxims and spirit of the gospel, and experience, discretion, and
+a knowledge of the heart of man, or his passions, must have seriously
+endeavored to die to themselves by the habitual practice of self-denial,
+and a rooted humility; and must have been so well exercised in holy
+contemplation, as to retain that habitual disposition of soul amidst
+exterior employments, and in them to be able still to say, _I sleep, and
+my heart watches_;[7] that is, I sleep to all earthly things, and am
+awake only to my heavenly friend and spouse, being absorbed in the
+thoughts and desires of the most ardent love.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  2 Cor. viii. 16, xii. 18.
+2.  2 Cor. vii. 6, 7.
+3.  2 Cor. xi. 13.
+4.  Hom. i. in Tit.
+5.  [Greek: Presbuterous], Tit. i. 5. See the learned Dr. Hammond's
+    dissertation on this subject. From the words of St. Paul, Tit. i. De
+    Marca de Concord. l. 1, c. 3, n. 2. and Schelstrate, T. 2, Ant.
+    Eccl. Diss. 4, c. 2 prove archbishops to be of apostolic
+    institution.
+6.  St. Titus certainly preached in Dalmatia, 2 Tim. iv. 10, &c. He is
+    honored in that country as its principal apostle, on which see the
+    learned Jesuit F. Fariat, Illyrici Sacr. T. i. p. 355. Saint
+    Domnius, who is honored among the saints on the 7th of May, is said
+    to have been ordained by him first bishop of Salona, then the
+    metropolis, which see was afterwards translated to Spalatro.
+7.  Cant. v.
+
+{088}
+
+ST. GREGORY, B.
+
+HE was one of the principal senators of Autun, and continued from the
+death of his wife a widower till the age of fifty-seven, at which time,
+for his singular virtues, he was compelled from his private penitential
+life, and consecrated bishop of Langres, which see he governed with
+admirable prudence and zeal thirty-three years, sanctifying his pastoral
+labors by the most profound humility, assiduous prayer, and
+extraordinary abstinence and mortification. An incredible number of
+infidels were converted by him from idolatry, and worldly Christians
+from their disorders. He died about the beginning of the year 541, but
+some days after the Epiphany. Out of devotion to St. Benignus, he
+desired to be buried near that saint's tomb at Dijon, which town was
+then in the diocese of Langres, and had often been the place of his
+residence. This was executed by his virtuous son Tetricus--who succeeded
+him in his bishopric. The 4th of January seems to have been the day of
+the translation of his relics. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology.
+See his miracles recorded by St. Gregory of Tours. Vit. Patr. c. 7.
+Hist. Franc. l. 3, c. 15, 19. Cointe Annal. et Gall. Christ.
+
+ST. RIGOBERT, OR ROBERT.
+
+HE was abbot of Orbais, afterwards bishop of Rheims, was favored with
+the gift of miracles, and suffered an unjust banishment under Charles
+Martel. He was recalled by Pepin, but finding Milo in possession of his
+see, retired to Gernicour, a village four or five leagues from Rheims,
+where he led a retired life in the exercises of penance and prayer. He
+died about the year 750, and was buried in the church of St. Peter at
+Gernicour, which he had built. Hincmar, the fifth bishop from him,
+translated his relics to the abbey of St. Theodoric, and nine years
+after, to the church of St. Dionysius at Rheims. Fulco, Hincmar's
+successor, removed them into the metropolitan church of our lady, in
+which the greater part is preserved in a rich shrine; but a portion is
+kept in the church of St. Dionysius there, and another portion in the
+cathedral of Paris, where a chapel bears his name. See his anonymous
+life in Bollandus; also Flodoard, l. 2. Hist. Rhemens. &c.
+
+ST. RUMON, B.C.
+
+WILLIAM of Malmesbury informs us, that the history of his life was
+destroyed by the wars, which has also happened in other parts of
+England. He was a bishop, though it is not known of what see. His
+veneration was famous at Tavistock, in Devonshire, where Ordulf, earl of
+Devonshire, built a church under his invocation, before the year 960.
+Wilson, upon informations given him by certain persons of that country,
+inserted his name on this day; in the second edition of his English
+Martyrology. See Malmesb. l. 2. De gestis Pont. Angl. in Cridiensibus.
+
+{089}
+
+
+JANUARY V.
+
+ST. SIMEON STYLITES, C.
+
+From the account given of him by Theodoret, one of the most judicious
+and most learned prelates of the church, who lived in the same country,
+and often visited him; this account was written sixteen years before the
+saint's death. Also from St. Simeon's life written by Antony, his
+disciple, published genuine in Bollandus, and the same in Chaldaic by
+Cosmas, a priest; all three contemporaries and eye-witnesses. This work
+of Cosmas has been lately published by Monsignor Stephen Assemani,[1]
+from a Chaldaic MS, which he proves to have been written in the year
+474, fifteen years only after the death of St. Simeon. Also from the
+ancient lives of SS. Euthyinius, Theodosius, Auxentius, and Daniel
+Stylites. Evagrius, Theodorus Lector, and other most faithful writers of
+that and the following age, mention the most wonderful actions of this
+saint. The severest critics do not object to this history, in which so
+many contemporary writers, several of them eye-witnesses, agree; persons
+of undoubted veracity, virtue, and sagacity, who could not have
+conspired in a falsehood, nor could have imposed upon the world facts,
+which were of their own nature public and notorious. See Tillemont, T.
+14.
+
+A.D. 459.
+
+ST. SIMEON was, in his life and conduct, a subject of astonishment, not
+only to the whole Roman empire, but also to many barbarous and infidel
+nations. The Persians, Medes, Saracens, Ethiopians, Iberians, and
+Scythians, had the highest veneration for him. The kings of Persia
+thought his benediction a great happiness. The Roman emperors solicited
+his prayers, and consulted him on matters of the greatest importance. It
+must, nevertheless, be acknowledged, that his most remarkable actions,
+how instrumental soever they might be to this universal veneration and
+regard for him, are a subject of admiration, not of imitation. They may
+serve, notwithstanding, to our spiritual edification and improvement in
+virtue; as we cannot well reflect on his fervor, without condemning and
+being confounded at our own indolence in the service of God.
+
+St. Simeon was son to a poor shepherd in Cilicia, on the borders of
+Syria, and at first kept his father's sheep. Being only thirteen years
+of age, he was much moved by hearing the beatitudes one day read in the
+church, particularly these: _Blessed are they that mourn; blessed are
+the clean of heart_. The youth addressed himself to a certain old man,
+to learn the meaning of those words; and begged to know how the
+happiness they promised was to be obtained. He told him that continual
+prayer, watching, fasting, weeping, humiliation, and patient suffering
+of persecutions, were pointed out by those texts as the road to _true
+happiness_; and that a solitary life afforded the best opportunities for
+enforcing the practice of these good works, and establishing a man in
+solid virtue. Simeon, upon this, withdrew to a small distance, where,
+falling prostrate upon the ground, he besought Him, who desires all may
+be saved, to conduct him in the paths which lead to happiness and
+perfection; to the pursuit of which, under the help of his divine grace,
+he unreservedly from that moment devoted himself. At length, falling
+into a slumber, he was favored with a vision, which it was usual with
+him afterward to relate.. He seemed to himself to be digging a pit for
+the foundation of a house, and that, as often as he stopped for taking a
+little breath, which was four times, he was commanded each time to dig
+deeper, till at length he was told he might desist, the pit being deep
+enough to receive the intended foundation, on which he would be able to
+raise a superstructure of what kind, and to what height he pleased. "The
+event," says Theodoret, "verified the prediction; the actions of this
+wonderful man were so superior {090} to nature, that they might well
+require the deepest foundation of humility and fervor whereon to raise
+and establish them."
+
+Rising from the ground, he repaired {"here paired" in the original text}
+to a monastery in that neighborhood under the direction of a holy abbot,
+called Timothy, and lay prostrate at the gate for several days, without
+either eating or drinking; begging to be admitted on the footing of the
+lowest servant in the house, and as a general drudge. His petition was
+granted, and he complied with the terms of it with great fervor and
+affection for four months. During this time he learned the Psalter by
+heart, the first task enjoined the novices; and his familiarity with the
+sacred oracles it contains, greatly helped to nourish his soul in a
+spiritual life. Though yet in his tender youth, he practised all the
+austerities of the house; and, by his humility and charity, gained the
+good-will of all the monks. Having here spent two years, he removed to
+the monastery of Heliodorus, a person endowed with an admirable spirit
+of prayer; and who, being then sixty-five years of age, had spent
+sixty-two of them in that community, so abstracted from the world, as to
+be utterly ignorant of the most obvious things in it, as Theodoret
+relates, who was intimately acquainted with him. Here Simeon much
+increased his mortifications; for whereas those monks ate but once a
+day, which was towards night, he, for his part, made but one meal a
+week, which was on Sundays. These rigors, however, he moderated at the
+interposition of his superior's authority, and from that time was more
+private in his mortifications. With this view, judging the rough rope of
+the well, made of twisted palm-tree leaves, a proper instrument of
+penance, he tied it close about his naked body, where it remained
+unknown both to the community and his superior, till such time as it
+having eat into his flesh, what he had privately done was discovered by
+the stench proceeding from the wound. Three days successively his
+clothes, which clung to it, were to be softened with liquids, to
+disengage them; and the incisions of the physician, to cut the cord out
+of his body, were attended with such anguish and pain, that he lay for
+some time as dead. On his recovery, the abbot, to prevent the ill
+consequences such a dangerous singularity might occasion, to the
+prejudice of uniformity in monastic discipline, dismissed him.
+
+After this he repaired to a hermitage, at the foot of mount Telnescin,
+or Thelanissa, where he came to a resolution of passing the whole forty
+days of Lent in a total abstinence, after the example of Christ, without
+either eating or drinking. Bassus, a holy priest, and abbot of two
+hundred monks, who was his director, and to whom he had communicated his
+design, had left with him ten loaves and water, that he might eat if he
+found it necessary. At the expiration of the forty days he came to visit
+him, and found the loaves and water untouched, but Simeon stretched out
+on the ground, almost without any signs of life. Taking a sponge, he
+moistened his lips with water, then gave him the blessed Eucharist.
+Simeon, having recovered a little, rose up, and chewed and swallowed by
+degrees a few lettuce-leaves, and other herbs. This was his method of
+keeping Lent during the remainder of his life; and he had actually
+passed twenty-six Lents after this manner, when Theodoret wrote his
+account of him; in which are these other particulars, that he spent the
+first part of Lent in praising God standing; growing weaker, he
+continued his prayer sitting; and towards the end, finding his spirits
+almost quite exhausted, not able to support himself in any other
+posture, he lay on the ground. However, it is probable, that in his
+advanced years he admitted some mitigation of this wonderful austerity.
+When on his pillar, he kept himself, during this fast, tied to a pole;
+but at length was able to fast the whole term, without any support. Many
+attribute this to the strength of his constitution, which was naturally
+very {091} robust, and had been gradually habituated to such an
+extraordinary abstinence. It is well known that the hot eastern climates
+afford surprising instances of long abstinence among the Indians.[2] A
+native of France has, within our memory, fasted the forty days of Lent
+almost in that manner.[3] But few examples occur of persons fasting
+upwards of three or six days, unless prepared and inured by habit.
+
+After three years spent in this hermitage, the saint removed to the top
+of the same mountain, where, throwing together some loose stones, in the
+form of a wall, he made for himself an enclosure, but without any roof
+or shelter to protect him from the inclemencies of the weather; and to
+confirm his resolution of pursuing this manner of life, he fastened his
+right leg to a rock with a great iron chain. Meletius, vicar to the
+patriarch of Antioch, told him, that a firm will, supported by God's
+grace, was sufficient to make him abide in his solitary enclosure,
+without having recourse to any bodily restraint: hereupon the obedient
+servant of God sent for a smith, and had his chain knocked off.
+
+The mountain began to be continually thronged, and the retreat his soul
+so much sighed after, to be interrupted by the multitudes that flocked,
+even from remote and infidel countries, to receive his benediction; by
+which many sick recovered their health. Some were not satisfied unless
+they also touched him. The saint, to remove these causes of distraction,
+projected for himself a new and unprecedented manner of life. In 423, he
+erected a pillar six cubits high, and on it he dwelt four years; on a
+second twelve cubits high, he lived three years; on a third, twenty-two
+cubits high, ten years: and on a fourth, forty cubits high, built for
+him by the people, he spent the last twenty years of his life. Thus he
+lived thirty-seven years on pillars, and was called Stylites, from the
+Greek word _Stylos_, which signifies a pillar. This singularity was at
+first censured by all, as a mark of vanity or extravagance. To make
+trial of his humility, an order was sent him, in the name of the
+neighboring bishops and abbots, to quit his pillar and new manner of
+life. The saint, ready to obey the summons, was for stepping down: which
+the messenger seeing, said, that as he had shown a willingness to obey,
+it was their desire that he might follow his vocation in God. His pillar
+exceeded not three feet in diameter on the top, which made it impossible
+for him to lie extended on it; neither would he allow a seat. He only
+stooped, or leaned, to take a little rest, and often in the day bowed
+his body in prayer. A certain person once reckoned one thousand two
+hundred and forty-four such reverences of adoration made by him in one
+day. He made exhortations to the people twice a day. His garments were
+the skins of beasts, and he wore an iron collar about his neck. He never
+suffered any woman to come within the enclosure where his pillar stood.
+His disciple Antony mentions, that he prayed most fervently for the soul
+of his mother after her decease.
+
+God is sometimes pleased to conduct certain fervent souls through
+extraordinary paths, in which others would find only dangers of
+illusion, vanity, and self-will, which we cannot sufficiently guard
+ourselves against. We should notwithstanding consider, that the sanctity
+of these fervent souls does not consist in such wonderful actions, or
+miracles, but in the perfection of their unfeigned charity, patience,
+and humility; and it was the exercise {092} of these solid virtues that
+rendered so conspicuous the life of this saint; these virtues he
+nourished and greatly increased, by fervent and assiduous prayer. He
+exhorted people vehemently against the horrible custom of swearing, as
+also, to observe strict justice, to take no usury, to be assiduous at
+church and in holy prayer, and to pray for the salvation of souls. The
+great deference paid to his instructions, even by barbarians, is not to
+be expressed. Many Persians, Armenians, and Iberians, with the entire
+nation of the Lazi in Colchis, were converted by his miracles and
+discourses, which they crowded to hear. Princes and queens of the
+Arabians came to receive his blessing. Vararanes V. king of Persia,
+though a cruel persecutor, respected him. The emperors Theodosius the
+younger, and Leo, often consulted him, and desired his prayers. The
+emperor Marcian visited him, disguised in the dress of a private man. By
+his advice the empress Eudoxia abandoned the Eutychian party a little
+before her death. His miracles and predictions are mentioned at large in
+Theodoret and others. By an invincible patience he bore all afflictions,
+austerities, and rebukes, without ever mentioning them. He long
+concealed a horrible ulcer in his foot, swarming with maggots. He always
+sincerely looked upon, and treated himself, as the outcast of the world,
+and the last of sinners; and he spoke to all with the most engaging
+sweetness and charity. Domnus, patriarch of Antioch, administered unto
+him the holy communion on his pillar: undoubtedly he often received that
+benefit from others. In 459, according to Cosmas, on a Wednesday, the 2d
+of September, this incomparable penitent, bowing on a pillar, as if
+intent on prayer, gave up the ghost, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
+On the Friday following his corpse was conveyed to Antioch, attended by
+the bishops and the whole country. Many miracles, related by
+Evagrius,[4] Antony, and Cosmas, were wrought on occasion; and the
+people immediately, over all the East, kept his festival with great
+solemnity.[5]
+
+The extraordinary manner of life which this saint led, is a proof of the
+fervor with which he sought to live in the most perfect sequestration
+from creatures, and union with God and heaven. The most perfect
+accomplishment of the Divine Will was his only view, and the sole object
+of his desires; whence upon the least intimation of an order from a
+superior, he was ready to leave his pillar; nor did he consider this
+undertaking as any thing great or singular, by which he should appear
+distinguished from others. By humility he looked upon himself as justly
+banished from among men and hidden from the world in Christ. No one is
+to practise or aspire after virtue or perfection upon a motive of
+greatness, or of being exalted by it. This would be to fall into the
+snare of pride, which is to be feared under the cloak of sanctity
+itself. The foundation of Christian perfection is a love of humiliation,
+a sincere spirit of humility. The heroic practice of virtue must be
+undertaken, not because it is a sublime and elevated state, but because
+God calls us to it, and by it we do his will, and become pleasing to
+him. The path of the cross, or of contempt, poverty, and sufferings, was
+chosen {093} by the Father for his divine Son, to repair his glory, and
+restore to man the spiritual advantages of which sin had robbed him. And
+the more perfectly we walk in his spirit, by the love and esteem of his
+cross, the greater share shall we possess in its incomparable
+advantages. Those who in the practice of virtue prefer great or singular
+actions, because they appear more shining, whatever pretexts of a more
+heroic virtue, or of greater utility to others they allege, are the
+dupes of a secret pride, and follow the corrupt inclinations of their
+own heart, while they affect the language of the saints. We are called
+to follow Christ by bearing our crosses after him, leading at least in
+spirit a hidden life, always trembling in a deep sense of our frailty,
+and humbled in the centre of our nothingness, as being of ourselves the
+very abstract of weakness, and an unfathomed abyss of corruption.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Act. Mart. T. 2, app {}.
+2.  Lettres édifiantes et curieuses.
+3.  Don Claude Leauté, a Benedictin monk of the congregation of St.
+    Maur, in 1731, when he was about fifty-one years of age, had fasted
+    eleven years, without taking any food the whole forty days, except
+    what he daily took at mass; and what added to the wonder is, that
+    during Lent he did not properly sleep, but only dozed. He could not
+    bear the open air; and towards the end of Lent he was excessively
+    pale and wasted. This fact is attested by his brethren and
+    superiors, in a relation printed at Sens, in 1731; and recorded by
+    Dom L'Isle, in his History of Fasting; and by Feyjoo, in his Theatro
+    Critico Universal.
+4.  Evagrius, l. 1, c. 13, 14.
+5.  Monsignor Majelli, a domestic prelate to pope Benedict XIV., in his
+    dissertation on the _Stylites_, or religious men living on pillars,
+    represents the pillar of St. Simeon enclosed with rails around the
+    top. Whenever he slept a little he leaned on them, or his staff.
+    This author shows the order of the Stylites to have been propagated
+    in the East from saint Simeon, down to the Saracen and Turkish
+    empires. The inclemency of the air makes that manner of life
+    impracticable to the West. However, St. Gregory of Tours mentions
+    one (l. 8. c. 15) V{}filaick, a Lombard, and disciple of the abbot
+    St. Yrier, who leaving Limousin went to Triers, and lived some time
+    on a pillar in that neighborhood. He engaged the people of the
+    villages to renounce the worship of idols, and to hew down the great
+    statue of Diana at Ardens, that had been famous from the time of
+    Domitian. The bishop ordered him to quit a manner of life too severe
+    for the cold climate. He instantly obeyed, and lived afterwards in a
+    neighboring monastery. He seems to have been the only _Stylite_ of
+    the West. See Fleury, l. 35, T. 8, p. 54.
+
+ST. TELESPHORUS, P.M.
+
+HE was a Grecian by birth, and the seventh bishop of Rome. Towards the
+end of the year 128, he succeeded Saint Sixtus I., sat eleven years, and
+saw the havoc which the persecution of Adrian made in the church. "He
+ended his life by an illustrious martyrdom," says Eusebius;[1] which is
+also confirmed by St. Irenæus.[2]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Hist. l. 4, c. 10.
+2.  L. 3, c. 3.
+
+ST. SYNCLETICA, V.
+
+SHE was born at Alexandria in Egypt, of wealthy Macedonian parents. From
+her infancy she had imbibed the love of virtue, and in her tender years
+she consecrated her virginity to God. Her great fortune and beauty
+induced many young noblemen to become her suitors for marriage, but she
+had already bestowed her heart on her heavenly spouse. Flight was her
+refuge against exterior assaults, and, regarding herself as her own most
+dangerous enemy, she began early to subdue her flesh by austere fasts
+and other mortifications. She never seemed to suffer more than when
+obliged to eat oftener than she desired. Her parents, at their death,
+left her heiress to their opulent estate; for the two brothers she had
+died before them; and her sister being blind, was committed entirely to
+her guardianship. Syncletica, having soon distributed her fortune among
+the poor, retired with her sister into a lonesome monument, on a
+relation's estate; where, having sent for a priest, she cut off her hair
+in his presence, as a sign whereby she renounced the world, and renewed
+the consecration of herself to God. Mortification and prayer were from
+that time her principal employment; but her close solitude, by
+concealing her pious exercises from the eyes of the world, has deprived
+us in a great measure of the knowledge of them.
+
+The fame of her virtue being spread abroad, many women resorted to her
+abode to confer with bet upon spiritual matters. Her humility made her
+unwilling to take upon herself the task of instructing, but charity, on
+the other side, opened her mouth. Her pious discourses were inflamed
+with so much zeal, and accompanied with such an unfeigned humility, and
+with so many tears, that it cannot be expressed what deep impressions
+they made on her hearers. "Oh," said the saint, "how happy should we be,
+did we but take as much pains to gain heaven and please God, as
+worldlings do to heap up riches and perishable goods! by land they
+venture among thieves and robbers; at sea they expose themselves to the
+fury of winds and storms; {094} they suffer shipwrecks, and all perils;
+they attempt all, try all, hazard all; but we, in serving so great a
+master, for so immense a good, are afraid of every contradiction." At
+other times, admonishing them of the dangers of this life, she was
+accustomed to say, "We must be continually upon our guard, for we are
+engaged in a perpetual war; unless we take care, the enemy will surprise
+us, when we are least aware of him. A ship sometimes passes safe through
+hurricanes and tempests, yet, if the pilot, even in a calm, has not a
+great care of it, a single wave, raised by a sudden gust, may sink her.
+It does not signify whether the enemy clambers in by the window, or
+whether all at once he shakes the foundation, if at last he destroys the
+house. In this life we sail, as it were, in all unknown sea. We meet
+with rocks, shelves, and sands; sometimes we are becalmed, and at other
+times we find ourselves tossed and buffeted by a storm. Thus we are
+never secure, never out of danger; and, if we fall asleep, are sure to
+perish. We have a most intelligent and experienced pilot at the helm of
+our vessel, even Jesus Christ himself, who will conduct us safe into the
+haven of salvation, if, by our supineness, we cause not our own
+perdition." She frequently inculcated the virtue of humility, in the
+following words: "A treasure is secure so long as it remains concealed;
+but when once disclosed, and laid open to every bold invader, it is
+presently rifled; so virtue is safe so long as secret, but, if rashly
+exposed, it but too often evaporates into smoke. By humility, and
+contempt of the world, the soul, like an eagle, soars on high, above all
+transitory things, and tramples on the backs of lions and dragons." By
+these, and the like discourses, did this devout virgin excite others to
+charity, humility, vigilance, and every other virtue.
+
+The devil, enraged to behold so much good, which all his machinations
+were not capable to prevent, obtained permission of God, for her trial,
+to afflict this his faithful servant, like another Job: but even this
+served only to render her virtue the more illustrious. In the eightieth
+year of her age she was seized with an inward burning fever, which
+wasted her insensibly by its intense heat; at the same time an
+imposthume was formed in her lungs; and a violent and most tormenting
+scurvy, attended with a corroding hideous stinking ulcer, ate away her
+jaws and mouth, and deprived her of her speech. She bore all with
+incredible patience and resignation to God's holy will; and with such a
+desire of an addition to her sufferings, that she greatly dreaded the
+physicians would alleviate her pains. It was with difficulty that she
+permitted them to pare away or embalm the parts already dead. During the
+three last months of her life, she found no repose. Though the cancer
+had robbed her of her speech, her wonderful patience served to preach to
+others more movingly than words could have done. Three days before her
+death she foresaw, that in the third day she should be released from the
+prison of her body; and on it, surrounded by a heavenly light, and
+ravished by consolatory visions, she surrendered her pure soul into the
+hands of her Creator, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. The Greeks
+keep her festival on the 4th, the Roman Martyrology mentions her on the
+5th of January.[1] The ancient beautiful life of S. Syncletica is quoted
+in the old lives of the fathers published by Rosweide, l. 6, and in the
+ancient notes of St. John Climacus. It appears, from the work itself,
+that the author was personally acquainted with the saint. It has been
+ascribe to St. Athanasius, but without sufficient grounds. It was
+translated into {095} French, though not scrupulously, by d'Andilly,
+Vies des SS. Pères des Dé certs, T. 3, p. 91. The antiquity of this
+piece is confirmed by Montfaucon, Catal. Bibl. Coislianæ, p. 417.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  She must not have lived later than the fourth century, for we find
+    her life quoted in the fifth and sixth; and as she lived eighty-four
+    years, she could not at least be much younger than St. Athanasius.
+    From the age in which she lived, she is thought by some to have been
+    the first foundress of nunneries, of religious women living in
+    community, as St. Antony was of men. On this head consult Helyott,
+    Hist. des Ord., and Mr. Stevens in his English Monasticon, c. 1, p.
+    16. However, St. Antony's sister found a nunnery erected when she
+    was but young, and this was prior to the time of Constantine the
+    Great.
+
+
+JANUARY VI.
+
+THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD.
+
+EPIPHANY, which in the original Greek signifies appearance or
+manifestation, as St. Austin observes,[1] is a festival principally
+solemnized in honor of the discovery Jesus Christ made of himself to the
+Magi, or wise men; who, soon after his birth, by a particular
+inspiration of Almighty God, came to adore him and bring him
+presents.[2] Two other manifestations of our Lord are jointly
+commemorated on this day in the office of the church; that at his
+baptism, when the Holy Ghost descended on him in the visible form of a
+dove, and a voice from heaven was heard at the same time: _This is my
+beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased_.[3] The third manifestation was
+that of his divine power at the performance of his first miracle, the
+changing of water into wine, at the marriage at Cana,[4] _by which he
+manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him_.[5] Upon so
+many accounts ought this festival to challenge a more than ordinary
+regard and veneration; but from none more than us Gentiles, who, in the
+persons of the wise men, our first-fruits and forerunners, were on this
+day called to the faith and worship of the true God. Nothing so much
+illustrates this mercy as the wretched degeneracy into which the
+subjects of it were fallen. So great this, that there was no object so
+despicable as not to be thought worthy of divine honors, no vice so
+detestable as not to be enforced by the religion of those _times of
+ignorance_,[6] as the scripture emphatically calls them. God had, in
+punishment of their apostasy from him by idolatry, given them over to
+the most shameful passions, as described at large by the apostle:
+_Filled with all iniquity, fornication, covetousness, maliciousness,
+envy, murder, contention, deceit, whisperers, detracters, proud,
+haughty, disobedient, without fidelity, without affection, without
+mercy, &c._[7] Such were the generality of our pagan ancestors, and such
+should we ourselves have been, but for God's gracious and effectual call
+to the true faith.
+
+The call of the Gentiles had been foretold for many ages before in the
+clearest terms. David and Isaias abound with predictions of this import;
+the like is found in the other prophets; but their completion was a
+mercy reserved for the times of the Messiah. It was to him, who was also
+the consubstantial Son of God, that the eternal Father had made the
+promise of all _nations for his inheritance_;[8] who being born the
+spiritual king of the {096} whole world, for the salvation of _all
+men_,[9] would therefore manifest his coming both to those that _were
+near, and those that were afar off_;[10] that is, both to Jew and
+Gentile. Upon his birth, angels[11] were dispatched ambassadors to the
+Jews, in the persons of the poor shepherds, and a star[12] was the
+divine messenger on this important errand to the Gentiles of the
+East;[13] conformably to Balaam's prophecy,[14] who foretold the coming
+of the Messias by that sign.
+
+The summons of the Gentiles to Bethlehem to pay homage to the world's
+Redeemer was obeyed by several whom the scripture mentions under the
+name and title of _Magi_,[15] or wise men; but is silent as to their
+number. The general opinion, supported by the authority of St. Leo,
+Cæsarius, Bede, and others, declares for three.[16] However, the number
+was small, comparatively to those many others that saw that star, no
+less than the wise men, but paid no regard to this voice of heaven:
+admiring, no doubt, its uncommon brightness, but culpably ignorant of
+the divine call in it, or hardening their hearts against its salutary
+impressions, overcome by their passions, and the dictates of self-love.
+In like manner do Christians, from the same causes, turn a deaf ear to
+the voice of divine grace in their souls, and harden their hearts
+against it in such numbers, that, notwithstanding their call, their
+graces, and the mysteries wrought in their favor, it is to be feared,
+that even among _them_ many _are called, but few are chosen_. It was the
+case with the Jews, _with the most of whom_, St. Paul says, _God was not
+well pleased_.[17]
+
+How opposite was the conduct of the wise men! Instead of being swayed by
+the dictates of self-love, by the example of the crowd, and of many
+reputed moral men among them, they no sooner discovered the heavenly
+messenger, but, without the least demur, set out on their journey to
+find the Redeemer of their souls. Convinced that they had a call from
+heaven by the star, which spoke to their eyes, and by an inward grace,
+that spoke to their hearts, they cut off all worldly consultations,
+human reasonings, and delays, and postponed every thing of this kind to
+the will of God. Neither any affairs to be left unfinished, nor the care
+of their provinces or families, nor the difficulties and dangers of a
+long and tedious journey through deserts and mountains almost
+unpassable, and this in the worst season of the year, and through a
+country which in all ages had been notoriously {097} infested with
+robbers: nothing of all this, or the many other false lights of worldly
+prudence and policy, made use of, no doubt, by their counsellors and
+dependents, and magnified by the enemy of souls, could prevail with them
+to set aside or defer their journey; or be thought deserving the least
+attention, when God called. They well know that so great a grace, if
+slighted, might perhaps have been lost forever. With what confusion must
+not this their active and undaunted zeal cover our sloth and cowardice!
+
+The wise men being come, by the guidance of the star, into Jerusalem, or
+near, it, it there disappears: whereupon they reasonably suppose they
+are come to their journey's end, and upon the point of being blessed
+with the sight of the new-born king: that, on their entering the royal
+city, they shall in every street and corner hear the acclamations of a
+happy people, and learn with ease the way to the royal palace, made
+famous to all posterity by the birth of their king and Saviour. But to
+their great surprise there appears not the least sign of any such
+solemnity. The court and city go quietly on in seeking their pleasure
+and profit! and in this unexpected juncture what shall these weary
+travellers to? Were they governed by human prudence, this disappointment
+is enough to make them abandon their design, and retreat as privately as
+they can to screen their reputation, and avoid the raillery of the
+populace, as well as to prevent the resentment of the most jealous of
+tyrants, already infamous for blood. But true virtue makes trials the
+matter and occasion of its most glorious triumphs. Seeming to be
+forsaken by God, on their being deprived of extraordinary, they have
+recourse to the ordinary means of information. Steady in the resolution
+of following the divine call, and fearless of danger, they inquire in
+the city with equal confidence and humility, and pursue their inquiry in
+the very court of Herod himself: _Where is he that is born king of the
+Jews?_ And does not their conduct teach us, under all difficulties of
+the spiritual kind, to have recourse to those God has appointed to be
+our spiritual guides, for their advice and direction? To _obey and be
+subject to them_,[18] that so God may lead us to himself, as he guided
+the wise men to Bethlehem by the directions of the priests of the Jewish
+church.
+
+The whole nation of the Jews, on account of Jacob's and Daniel's
+prophecies, were then in the highest expectation of the Messiah's
+appearance among them; the place of whose birth having been also
+foretold, the wise men, by the interposition of Herod's authority,
+quickly learned, from the unanimous voice of the Sanhedrim, or great
+council of the Jews,[19] that Bethlehem was the place which was to be
+honored with his birth; as having been pointed out by the prophet
+Micheas,[20] several ages before. How sweet and adorable is the conduct
+of divine providence! He teaches saints his will by the mouths of
+impious ministers, and furnishes Gentiles with the means of admonishing
+and confounding the blindness of the Jews. But graces are lost on carnal
+and hardened souls. Herod had then reigned upwards of thirty years; a
+monster of cruelty, ambition, craft, and dissimulation; old age and
+sickness had at that time exasperated his jealous mind in an unusual
+manner. He dreaded nothing so much as the appearance of the Messiah,
+whom the generality then expected under the notion of a temporal prince,
+and whom he could consider in no other light than that of a rival and
+pretender to his crown; so no wonder that he was startled at the news of
+his birth. All Jerusalem, likewise, instead of rejoicing at such happy
+tidings, were alarmed and disturbed together with him. We {098} abhor
+their baseness; but do not we, at a distance from courts, betray several
+symptoms of the baneful influence of human respects running counter to
+our duty? Likewise in Herod we see how extravagantly blind and foolish
+ambition is. The divine infant came not to deprive Herod of his earthly
+kingdom, but to offer him one that is eternal; and to teach him a holy
+contempt of all worldly pomp and grandeur. Again, how senseless and
+extravagant a folly was it to form designs against those of God himself!
+who confounds the wisdom of the world, baffles the vain projects of men,
+and laughs their policy to scorn. Are there no Herods now-a-days;
+persons who are enemies to the spiritual kingdom of Christ in their
+hearts?
+
+The tyrant, to ward off the blow he seemed threatened with, has recourse
+to his usual arts of craft and dissimulation. He pretends a no less
+ardent desire of paying homage to the new-born king, and covers his
+impious design of taking away his life, under the specious pretext of
+going himself in person to adore him. Wherefore, after particular
+examination about the time when the wise men first saw this star, and a
+strict charge to come back and inform him where the child was to be
+found, he dismisses them to the place determined by the chief priests
+and scribes. Herod was then near his death; but as a man lives, such
+does he usually die. The near prospect of eternity seldom operates in so
+salutary a manner on habitual sinners, as to produce in them a true and
+sincere change of heart.
+
+The wise men readily comply with the voice of the Sanhedrim,
+notwithstanding the little encouragement these Jewish leaders afford
+them from their own example to persist in their search; for not one
+single priest or scribe is disposed to bear them company, in seeking
+after, and paying due homage to their own king. The truths and maxims of
+religion depend not on the morals of those that preach them; they spring
+from a higher source, the wisdom and veracity of God himself. When
+therefore a message comes undoubtedly from God, the misdemeanors of him
+that immediately conveys it to us can be no just plea or excuse for our
+failing to comply with it. As, on the other side, an exact and ready
+compliance will then be a better proof of our faith and confidence in
+God, and so much the more recommend us to his special conduct and
+protection, as it did the wise men. For no sooner had they left
+Jerusalem, but, to encourage their faith and zeal, and to direct their
+travels, God was pleased to show them the star again, which they had
+seen in the East, and which continued to go before them till it
+conducted them to the very place where they were to see and adore their
+God and Saviour. Here its ceasing to advance, and probably sinking lower
+in the air tells them in its mute language: "Here shall you find the
+new-born king." The holy men, with an unshaken and steady faith, and in
+transports of spiritual joy, entered the poor cottage, rendered more
+glorious by this birth than the most sumptuous stately palace in the
+universe, and finding the child with his mother, they prostrate
+themselves, they adore him, they pour forth their souls in his presence
+in the deepest sentiments of praise, thanksgiving, and a total sacrifice
+of themselves. So far from being shocked at the poverty of the place,
+and at his unkingly appearance, their faith rises and gathers strength
+on the sight of obstacles which, humanly speaking, should extinguish it.
+It captivates their understanding; it penetrates these curtains of
+poverty, infancy, weakness, and abjection; it casts them on their faces,
+as unworthy to look up to this star, this God of Jacob: they confess him
+under this disguise to be the only and eternal God: they own the excess
+of his goodness in becoming man, and the excess of human misery, which
+requires for its relief so great a humiliation of the Lord of glory. St.
+Leo thus extols their faith and devotion: "When a star had conducted
+them to adore Jesus, they did not find him commanding devils, or raising
+the dead, {099} or restoring sight to the blind, or speech to the dumb,
+or employed in any divine actions; but a silent babe, under the care of
+a solicitous mother, giving no sign of power, but exhibiting a miracle
+of humility."[21] Where shall we find such a faith in Israel? I mean
+among the Christians of our days. The wise men knew by the light of
+faith that he came not to bestow on us earthly riches, but to banish our
+love and fondness for them, and to subdue our pride. They had already
+learned the maxims of Christ, and had imbibed his spirit: whereas
+Christians are for the greatest part such strangers to it, and so
+devoted to the world, and its corrupt maxims, that they blush at poverty
+and humiliation, and will give no admittance in their hearts to the
+humility and the cross of Jesus Christ. Such by their actions cry out
+with those men in the gospel: _We will not have this man to reign over
+us_.[22] This their opposite conduct shows what they would have thought
+of Christ and his humble appearance at Bethlehem.
+
+The Magi, pursuant to the custom of the eastern nations, where the
+persons of great princes are not to be approached without presents,
+present to Jesus, as a token of homage, the richest produce their
+countries afforded, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold, as an
+acknowledgment of his regal power: incense, as a confession of his
+Godhead: and myrrh, as a testimony that he was become man for the
+redemption of the world. But their far more acceptable presents were the
+holy sentiments and affections of their souls; their fervent charity,
+signified by gold; their devotion, figured by frankincense; and the
+unreserved sacrifice of themselves by mortification, represented by
+myrrh.[23] The divine king, no doubt, richly repaid their generosity by
+favors of a much greater excellency, the spiritual gifts of his grace.
+It is with the like sentiments and affections of love, praise,
+gratitude, compunction, and humility, that we ought frequently, and
+particularly on this solemnity, to draw near, in spirit, to the infant
+Jesus; making him an affectionate tender of our hearts, but first
+cleansed by tears of sincere repentance.
+
+The holy kings being about to return home, God, who saw the hypocrisy
+and malicious designs of Herod, by a particular intimation diverted them
+from their purpose of carrying back word to Jerusalem, where the child
+was to be found. So, to complete their fidelity and grace, they returned
+not to Herod's court; but, leaving their hearts with their infant
+Saviour, took another road back into their own country. In like manner,
+if we would persevere in the possession of the graces bestowed on us, we
+must resolve from this day to hold no correspondence with a sinful
+world, the irreconcilable enemy to Jesus Christ; but to take a way that
+lies at a distance from it, I mean that which is marked out to us by the
+saving maxims of the gospel. And pursuing this with an unshaken
+confidence in his grace and merits, we shall safely arrive at our
+heavenly country.
+
+It has never been questioned but that the holy Magi spent the rest of
+their lives in the fervent service of God. The ancient author of the
+imperfect comment on St. Matthew, among the works of St. Chrysostom,
+says, they were afterwards baptized in Persia, by St. Thomas the
+apostle, and became themselves preachers of the gospel. Their bodies
+were said to have been translated to Constantinople under the first
+Christian emperors. From thence they were conveyed to Milan, where the
+place in which they were deposited is still shown in the Dominicans'
+church of that city. The emperor Frederick Barbarossa having taken
+Milan, caused them to be translated to Cologne in Germany, in the
+twelfth century.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Aug. Serm. 203, ol. 64, de div.
+2.  According to Papebroch, it was pope Julius the First, in the fourth
+    century, by whom the celebration of these two mysteries, the
+    nativity and manifestation of Christ to the Magi, was first
+    established in the western church on distinct days. The Greeks still
+    keep the Epiphany with the birth of Christ on Christmas-day, which
+    they call _Theophany_, or the manifestation of God, which is the
+    ancient name for the Epiphany in St. Isidore of Pelusium, St.
+    Gregory Nazianzen, Eusebius, &c. See Thomassi Tr. des Fôtes,
+    Martenne Anecd. T. 5, p. 206, B. et in Nota, ib.
+3.  Matt. iii. 17.
+4.  Footnote: Jo. ii. 11.
+5.  Bollandus (Pref. gen. c. 4) and Ruinart (in Cal. in calce. act.
+    Mart.) quote a fragment of Polemeus Sylvius written in 448, in which
+    is said that all these three manifestations of Christ happened on
+    this day, though S. Maximus of Turin was uncertain.
+6.  Acts xvii. 30.
+7.  Rom. i.
+8.  Ps. ii. 8.
+9.  1 Tim. ii. 4.
+10. Eph. ii. 17.
+11. Luke ii. 10, 11.
+12. This phenomenon could not have been a real star, that is, one of the
+    fixed, the least or nearest of which is for distance too remote, and
+    for bulk too enormous, to point out any particular house or city
+    like Bethlehem, as St. Chrysostom well observes; who supposes it to
+    have been an angel assuming that form. If of a corporeal nature, it
+    was a miraculous shining meteor, resembling a star, but placed in
+    the lower region of our atmosphere; its motion, contrary to the
+    ordinary course of the stars, performing likewise the part of a
+    guide to these travellers; accommodating itself to their
+    necessities, disappearing or returning as they could best or least
+    dispense with its guidance. See S. Thomas, p. 3, quæst 36, a. 7.
+    Federicus Miegius Diss. _De Stellá à Magis conspectâ_ in Thesauro
+    Dissertationum in Nov. Testament. Amstelodami. An. 1702, T. 1,
+    Benedictus XIV. de Canoniz. l. 4, part 1, c. 25.
+13. What and where this East was, is a question about which interpreters
+    have been much divided. The controverted places are Persia, Chaldea,
+    Mesopotamia, and Arabia Felix. As they lay all more or less eastward
+    from Palestine, so, in each of these countries, some antecedent
+    notions of a Messias may be accounted for. In Persia and Chaldea, by
+    the Jewish captivity and subsequent dispersion; also the prophecies
+    of Daniel. In Arabia, by the proximity of situation and frequent
+    commerce. In Mesopotamia, besides these, the aforesaid prophecy of
+    Balaam, a native of that country.
+14. Num. xxiv. 17.
+15. In the eastern parts, particularly in Persia,_Magi_ was the title
+    they gave to their wise men and philosophers. In what veneration
+    they were there held appears from the most important affairs, sacred
+    and civil, being committed to their administration. They were deemed
+    the oracles of the eastern countries. These that came to Bethlehem
+    on this solemn occasion are vulgarly called kings, as they very
+    likely were at least of an inferior and subordinate rank. They are
+    called princes by Tertullian, (L. contra Judæos, c. 9, L. 5, contra
+    Marcion.) See Gretser, l. 1. de Festis, c. 30, (T. 5, Op. nup. ad.
+    Ratisp.) Baronius ad ann. l, n. 30, and the learned author Annot.
+    ad histor. vitæ Christi, Urbini, anno 1730, c. 7, who all agree that
+    the Magi seem to have been governors, or petty princes, such
+    anciently being often styled kings. See a full account of the Magi,
+    or Magians, in Prideaux's Connexion, p. 1, b. 4.
+16. St. Leo, Serm. 30, &c. St. Cæsar. Serm. 139, &c. See Maldonat. on
+    Saint Matt. ii. for the grounds of this opinion. Honoratus of St.
+    Mary, Règles de la Critique, l. 3, diss. 4, a. 2, F. Ayala in Pictor
+    Christian. l. 3, c. 3, and Benedict XIV. de Festis Christi. l. 1, c.
+    2, de Epiph. n. 7, p. 22. This last great author quotes a picture
+    older than St. Leo, found in an ancient Roman cemetery, of which a
+    type was published at Rome in a collection of such monuments printed
+    at Rome in 1737. T. 1., Tab. 22.
+17. 1 Cor. x. 5.
+18. Heb. xiii. 17.
+19. This consisted principally of the chief priests and scribes or
+    doctors of the law.
+20. Ch. v. 2.
+21. Ser. 36, in Epiph. 7, n. 2.
+22. Luke xix. 14.
+23. Myrrh was anciently made use of in embalming dead bodies: a fit
+    emblem of mortification, because this virtue preserves the soul from
+    the corruption of sin.
+
+{100}
+
+S. MELANIUS, B.C.
+
+HE was a native of Placs or Plets, in the diocese of Vannes in Brittany
+and had served God with great fervor in a monastery for some years, when
+Noon the death of St. Amandus, bishop of Rennes, he was compelled by the
+clergy and people to fill that see, though his humility made great
+opposition. His virtue was chiefly enhanced by a sincere humility, and a
+spirit of continual prayer. The author of his life tells us, that he
+raised one that was dead to life, and performed many other miracles.
+King Clovis after his conversion held him in great veneration. The
+almost entire extirpation of idolatry in the diocese of Rennes was the
+fruit of our saint's zeal. He died in a monastery which he had built at
+Placs, the place of his nativity, according to Dom Morice, in 490. He
+was buried at Rennes, where his feast is kept on the 6th of November. In
+the Roman Martyrology he is commemorated on the 6th of January. St.
+Gregory, of Tours, mentions a stately church erected over his tomb.
+Solomon, sovereign prince of Brittany, in 840, founded a monastery under
+his invocation, which still subsists in the suburbs of Rennes, of the
+Benedictin order. See the anonymous ancient life of St. Melanius in
+Bollandus; also St. Greg. Tour. l. de glor. Conf. c. 55. Argentre, Hist.
+de Bretagne. Lobineau, Vies des Saints de Bretagne, p.32 Morice, Hist.
+de Bretagne, note 28, p. 932.
+
+SAINT NILAMMON, A HERMIT,
+
+NEAR PELUSIUM, IN EGYPT,
+
+WHO being chosen bishop of Geres, and finding the patriarch Theophilus
+deaf to his tears and excuses, prayed that God would rather take him out
+of the world than permit him to be consecrated bishop of the place, for
+which he was intended. His prayer was heard, for he died before he had
+finished it.[1] His name occurs in the modern Roman Martyrology on this
+day. See Sozomen, Hist. l. 8, c. 19.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A like example is recorded in the life of brother Columban,
+    published in Italian and French, in 1755, and abridged in the
+    Relation de la Mort do quelques religieux de la Trappe, T. 4. p.
+    334, 342. The life of this holy man from his childhood at Abbeville,
+    the place of his birth, and afterwards at Marseilles, was a model of
+    innocence, alms-deeds, and devotion. In 1710 he took the Cistercian
+    habit, according to the reformation of la Trappe, at Buon Solazzo in
+    Tuscany, the only filiation of that Institute. In this most rigorous
+    penitential institute his whole comportment inspired with humility
+    and devotion all who beheld him. He bore a holy envy to those whom
+    he ever saw rebuked by the Abbot, and his compunction, charity,
+    wonderful humility, and spirit of prayer, had long been the
+    admiration of that fervent house, when he was ordered to prepare
+    himself to receive holy orders, a thing not usually done in that
+    penitential institute. The abbot had herein a private view of
+    advancing him to the coadjutorship in the abbacy for the easing of
+    his own shoulders in bearing the burden of the government of the
+    house. Columban, who, to all the orders of his superior, had never
+    before made any reply, on this occasion made use of the strongest
+    remonstrances and entreaties, and would have had recourse to flight,
+    had not his vow of stability cut off all possibility. Being by
+    compulsion promoted gradually to the orders of deacon, he most
+    earnestly prayed that God would by some means prevent his being
+    advanced to the priesthood; soon after he was seized with a lameness
+    in his hands, 1714, and some time after taken happily out of this
+    world. These simples are most edifying in such persons who were
+    called to a retired penitential life. In the clergy all promotion to
+    ecclesiastical honors ought to be dreaded, and generally only
+    submitted to by compulsion; which Stephen, the learned bishop of
+    Tourney, in 1179, observes to be the spirit and rule of the
+    primitive church of Christ, (ser. 2.) Yet too obstinate a resistance
+    may become a disobedience, an infraction of order and peace, a
+    criminal pusillanimity, according to the just remark of St. Basil,
+    Reg. disput. c. 21 Innocent III. ep. ad Episc. Calarit. Decret. l.
+    2, tit. 9, de Renunciatione.
+
+SAINT PETER,
+
+DISCIPLE of St. Gregory the Great, and first abbot of St. Austin's, in
+Canterbury, then called St. Peter's. Going to France in 608, he was
+drowned near the harbor of Ambleteuse, between Calais and Bologne, and
+is named in the English and Gallican Martyrologies. See Bede, Hist. l.
+1, c. 33.
+
+{101}
+
+
+JANUARY VII.
+
+ST. LUCIAN, PRIEST AND MARTYR.
+
+From his panegyric by St. Chrysostom, at Antioch, in 387, and pronounced
+on his festival, T. 2, p. 524. And also from St. Jerom de script c. 77.
+Eusebius, l. 8, c. 12, l. 9, c. 6, and Rufinus. See Tillemont T. 5, p.
+474. Pagi, an. 311.
+
+A.D. 312.
+
+ST. LUCIAN, surnamed of Antioch, was born at Samosata, in Syria. He lost
+his parents while very young; and being come to the possession of his
+estate, which was very considerable, he distributed all among the poor.
+He became a great proficient in rhetoric and philosophy, and applied
+himself to the study of the holy scriptures under one Macarius at
+Edessa. Convinced of the obligation annexed to the character of
+priesthood, which was that of devoting himself entirely to the service
+of God and the good of his neighbor, he did not content himself with
+inculcating the practice of virtue both by word and example; he also
+undertook to purge the scriptures, that is, both the Old and New
+Testament, from the several faults that had crept into them, either by
+reason of the inaccuracy of transcribers, or the malice of heretics.
+Some are of opinion, that as to the Old Testament, he only revised it,
+by comparing different editions of the Septuagint: others contend, that
+he corrected it upon the Hebrew text, being well versed in that
+language. Certain, however, it is that St. Lucian's edition of the
+scriptures was much esteemed, and was of great use to St. Jerom.[1][2]
+
+{102}
+
+S. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, says that Lucian remained some years
+separated from the catholic communion,[3] at Antioch, under three
+successive bishops, namely, Domnus, Timæus, and Cyril. If it was for too
+much favoring Paul of Samosata, condemned at Antioch in the year 269, he
+must have been deceived, for want of a sufficient penetration into the
+impiety of that dissembling heretic. It is certain, at least, that he
+died in the catholic communion; which also appears from a fragment of a
+letter written by him to the church of Antioch, and still extant in the
+Alexandrian Chronicle. Though a priest of Antioch, we find him at
+Nicomedia, in the year 303, when Dioclesian first published his edicts
+against the Christians. He there suffered a long imprisonment for the
+faith; for the Paschal Chronicle quotes these words from a letter which
+he wrote out of his dungeon to Antioch, "All the martyrs salute you. I
+inform you that the pope Anthimus (bishop of Nicomedia) has finished his
+course by martyrdom." This happened in 303. Yet Eusebius informs us,
+that St. Lucian did not arrive himself at the crown of martyrdom till
+after the death of St. Peter of Alexandria, in 311, so that he seems to
+have continued nine years in prison. At length he was brought before
+the governor, or, as the acts intimate, the emperor himself, for the
+word[4] which Eusebius uses may imply either. On his trial, he presented
+to the judge an excellent apology for the Christian faith. Being
+remanded to prison, an order was given that no food should be allowed
+him; but, when almost dead with hunger, dainty meats that had been
+offered to idols were set before him, which he would not touch. It was
+not in itself unlawful to eat of such meats, as St. Paul teaches, except
+where it would give scandal to the weak, or when it was exacted as an
+action of idolatrous superstition, as was the case here. Being brought a
+second time before the tribunal, he would give no other answer to all
+the questions put to him, but this: "I am a Christian." He repeated the
+same while on the rack, and he finished his glorious course in prison,
+either by famine, or, according to St. Chrysostom, by the sword. His
+acts relate many of his miracles, with other particulars; as that, when
+bound and chained down on his back in prison, he consecrated the divine
+mysteries upon his own breast, and communicated the faithful that were
+present: this we also read in Philostorgius,[5] the Arian historian. St.
+Lucian suffered at Nicomedia, where Maximinus II. resided.
+
+His body was interred at Drepanum, in Bithynia, which, in honor of him,
+Constantine the Great soon after made a large city, which he exempted
+from all taxes, and honored with the name of Helenopolis, from his
+mother. St. Lucian was crowned in 312, on the 7th of January, on which
+day his festival was kept at Antioch immediately after his death, as
+appears from St. Chrysostom.[6] It is the tradition of the church of
+Arles, that the body of St. {103} Lucian was sent out of the East to
+Charlemagne, who built a church under his invocation at Arles, in which
+his relics are preserved.[7]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The first thing that is necessary in the service of God, is earnestly to
+search his holy will, by devoutly reading, listening to, and meditating
+on his eternal truths. This will set the divine law in a clear and full
+light, and conduct us, by unerring rules, to discover and accomplish
+every duty. It will awake and continually increase a necessary
+tenderness of conscience, which will add light and life to its
+convictions, oblige us to a more careful trial and examination of all
+our actions, keep us not only from evil, but from every appearance of
+it, render us steadfast and immoveable in every virtuous practice, and
+always preserve a quick and nice sense of good and evil. For this
+reason, the word of God is called in holy scripture, _Light_, because it
+distinguisheth between good and evil, and, like a lamp, manifesteth the
+path which we are to choose, and disperseth that mist with which the
+subtilty of our enemy and the lusts of our heart have covered it. At the
+same time, a daily repetition of contrition and compunction washes off
+the stains which we discover in our souls, and strongly incites us, by
+the fervor and fruitfulness of our following life, to repair the sloth
+and barrenness of the past. Prayer must be made our main assistant in
+every step of this spiritual progress. We must pray that God would
+enable us to search out and discover our own hearts, and reform whatever
+is amiss in them. If we do this sincerely, God will undoubtedly grant
+our requests; will lay open to us all our defects and infirmities, and,
+showing us how far short we come of the perfection of true holiness of
+life, will not suffer any latent corruptions in our affections to
+continue undiscovered, nor permit us to forget the stains and ruins
+which the sins of our life past have left behind them.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Hier. Catal. Vir. illustr. c. 77, Ep. 107, et Præf. in Paralip.
+    Item Synopsis ap. St. Athan. ad fin.
+2.  The Greek translation of the Old Testament, commonly called of the
+    seventy, was made by the Jews living at Alexandria, and used by all
+    the Hellenist Jews. This version of the Pentateuch appeared about
+    two hundred and eighty-five years before Christ, according to Dr.
+    Hody, (_de Bibliorum Textibus, Original. et Versionibus_, p. 570,
+    &c.) that of the other parts somewhat later, and at different times,
+    as the style seems to prove. The Jews even of Palestine at first
+    gloried in this translation, as Philo testifies; but it being
+    employed by the Christians against them, they began, soon after the
+    beginning of the second century, to condemn it, alleging that it was
+    not always conformable to the Hebrew original. This text had then
+    suffered several alterations by the blunders, and, according to
+    Kennicott, some few by the wilful malice of transcribers; though
+    these differences are chiefly ascribed by Origen to alterations of
+    the Hebrew text, introduced after the version was made. The seventy
+    being exploded by the Jews, three new versions were set on foot
+    among them. The first was formed in 129, by Aquila, of Sinope, in
+    Pontus, whom the emperor Adrian, when he built Jerusalem, under the
+    name of Ælia, appointed overseer of that undertaking. He had been
+    baptized, but for his conduct being expelled from among the
+    Christians, became a Jew, and gave his new translation out of hatred
+    to the Christians. A second was published about the year 175, by
+    Theodotion, a native of Ephesus, some time a Christian, but a
+    disciple first of the heretic Tatian, then of Marcion. At length he
+    fell into Judaism, or at least connected obedience to the Ritual Law
+    of Moses with a certain belief in Christ. His translation, which
+    made its appearance in the reign of Commodus, was bolder than that
+    of Aquila. The third version was formed about the year 200, by
+    Symmachus, who having been first a Samaritan, afterwards, upon some
+    disgust turned Jew. In this translation he had a double view of
+    thwarting both the Jews and Christians. St. Jerom extols the
+    elegance of his style, but says he walked in the steps of
+    Theodotion; with the two former translators he substituted [Greek:
+    neanis] for [Greek: parthenos] in the famous prophecy of Isaiah, (c.
+    vii. v. 14,) and in that of Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 10,) [Greek: ta
+    apokeimena autôi] for [Greek: ôi apokeitai] Both which
+    falsifications St. Justin Martyr charges upon Aquila, (Dial. cum
+    Tryphon. p. 224, 395, 284, ed. Thirlbii.) and St. Irenæus reproaches
+    Aquila and Theodotion with the former, (p. 253, ed. Grebe.) Many
+    additions from these versions, and several various readings daily
+    creeping into the copies of the seventy, which were transcribed, to
+    apply a remedy to this danger, Origen compiled his Hexapla, &c., of
+    which see some account in the appendix to April 21. Before the year
+    300 three other corrected editions of the old Greek version were
+    published, the first by Lucian, the second by Hesychius, and the
+    third by Pamphilus the martyr. The first was made use of in the
+    churches, from Constantinople to Antioch; that of Hesychius was
+    received at Alexandria, and in the rest of Egypt; and the third in
+    the intermediate country of Palestine, as we are informed by St
+    Jerom, (_Præf. in Paralip. et Præf. in Explic. Daniel_.) The edition
+    of Lucian came nearest to the [Greek: koine] or common edition of
+    the seventy, and was the purest as St. Jerom (ep. ad Suniam et
+    Fretel. T. 2, col. 627,) and Euthymius affirm, and is generally
+    allowed by modern critics, says Mr. Kennicott, (diss. 2, p. 397.)
+    The excellent Vatican MS. of the seventy, published (though with
+    some amendments from other MSS.) by Cardinal Carafa, at the command
+    of Sixtus V., in 1587, is said in the preface to have been written
+    before the year 390; but Blanchini (Vindiciæ vet. Cod. p. 34)
+    supposes it somewhat later. It is proved from St. Jerom's letter to
+    Sunia and Fretela, and several instances, that this Vatican MS.
+    comes nearest to the [Greek: koine], and to Lucian's edition, as
+    Grabe, (See Annot. in ep. ad Sun. et Fretel. T. 2, col. 671,)
+    Blanchini, (Vindiciæ, p. 256) and Kennicott (diss. 2, p. 416) take
+    notice: the old Alexandrian MS. kept in the British Museum at
+    London, is thought by Grabe to have been written about the year 396;
+    by Mills and Wetstein, (in their _Prolegom. in Nov. Test. Gr._) about
+    one hundred years later. It was published by Grabe, though not pure;
+    for in some places he gives the reading of this MS. in the margin,
+    and prefers some other in the text. Though none of Origen's Asterics
+    are retained, it comes nearest to his edition in the Hexapla, as
+    Grabe, Montfaucon, and Kennicott agree: in some places it is
+    conformable to Theodotion, or Symmachus, and seems mostly the
+    Hesychian edition. See Montfaucon, Prælim. in Hexapla; Kennicott,
+    diss. 2.
+3.  [Greek: Aposunagwgos emo ne.]
+4.  [Greek: Arxontos]
+5.  2 B. 2, c. 12, 13.
+6.  The Arians boasted that Arius had received his impious doctrine from
+    St. Lucian: but he is justified with regard to that calumny by the
+    silence of Saint Athanasius; the panegyrics of St. Chrysostom and
+    St. Jerom; the express testimony of the ancient book, On the
+    Trinity, among the works of St. Athanasius, Dial. 3, tom. 2, p. 179;
+    his orthodox confession of faith in Sozomen, l. 3, c. 5, p. 502; and
+    the authority of the church, which from his death has always ranked
+    him among her illustrious martyrs.
+7.  Saussaye Mart. Gallic. t. 1, p. 17. Chatelain, p. 114.
+
+ST. CEDD, BISHOP OF LONDON.
+
+HE was brother to St. Chad, bishop of Litchfield, and to St. Celin, and
+Cimbert, apostolic priests, who all labored zealously in the conversion
+of the English Saxons, their countrymen. St. Cedd long served God in the
+monastery of Lindisfarne, founded by St. Aidan, and for his great
+sanctity was promoted to the priesthood. Peada, the son of Penda, king
+of Mercia, was appointed by his father king of the midland English; by
+which name Bede distinguishes the inhabitants of Leicestershire, and
+part of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, from the rest of the Mercians. The
+young king, with a great number of noblemen, servants, and soldiers,
+went to Atwall, or Walton, the seat of Oswy, king of the Northumbers,
+and was there baptized with all his attendants, by Finan, bishop of
+Lindisfarne. Four priests, Saint Cedd, Adda, Betta, and Diuma, the last
+a Scot, the rest English, were sent to preach the gospel to his people,
+the midland English; among whom great multitudes received the word of
+life with joy. King Penda himself obstructed not these missionaries in
+preaching the faith in other parts of Mercia, but hated and despised
+such as embraced the gospel, yet lived not up to it, saying, "Such
+wretches deserved the utmost contempt, who would not obey the God in
+whom they believed." St. Cedd, after laboring there some time with great
+success, was called from this mission to a new harvest. Sigbercht, or
+Sigebert, king of the East-Saxons, paying a visit to Oswy, in {104}
+Northumberland, was persuaded by that prince to forsake his idols, and
+was baptized by bishop Finan. When he was returned to his own kingdom,
+he entreated king Oswy to send him some teachers, who might instruct his
+people in the faith of Christ. Oswy called St. Cedd out of the province
+of the midland English, and sent him with another priest to the nation
+of the East-Saxons. When they had travelled over that whole province,
+and gathered numerous churches to our Lord, St. Cedd returned to
+Lindisfarne, to confer with bishop Finan about certain matters of
+importance. That prelate ordained him bishop of the East-Saxons, having
+called two other bishops to assist at his consecration. St. Cedd going
+back to his province, pursued the work he had begun, built churches, and
+ordained priests and deacons. Two monasteries were erected by him in
+those parts, which seem afterwards to have been destroyed by the Danes,
+and never restored. The first, he founded near a city, called by the
+English Saxons, Ythancester, formerly Othona, seated upon the bank of
+the river Pante, (now Froshwell,) which town was afterwards swallowed up
+by the gradual encroaching of the sea. St. Cedd's other monastery was
+built at another city called Tillaburg, now Tilbury, near the river
+Thames, and here Camden supposes the saint chiefly to have resided, as
+the first English bishops often chose to live in monasteries. But others
+generally imagine, that London, then the seat of the king, was the
+ordinary place of his residence, as it was of the ancient bishops of
+that province, and of all his successors. In a journey which St. Cedd
+made to his own country, Edilwald, the son of Oswald, who reigned among
+the Deiri, in Yorkshire, finding him to be a wise and holy man, desired
+him to accept of some possessions of land to build a monastery, to which
+the king might resort to offer his prayers with those who should attend
+the divine service without intermission, and where he might be buried
+when he died. The king had before with him a brother of our saint,
+called Celin, a priest of great piety, who administered the divine word,
+and the sacraments, to him and his family. St. Cedd pitched upon a place
+amidst craggy and remote mountains, which seemed fitter to be a retreat
+for robbers, or a lurking place for wild beasts, than a habitation for
+men. Here he resolved first to spend forty days in fasting and prayer,
+to consecrate the place to God. For this purpose he retired thither in
+the beginning of Lent. He ate only in the evening, except on Sundays,
+and his meal consisted of an egg, and a little milk mingled with water,
+with a small portion of bread, according to the custom of Lindisfarne,
+derived from that of St. Columba, by which it appears that, for want of
+legumes so early in the year, milk and eggs were allowed in that
+northern climate, which the canons forbade in Lent. Ten days before the
+end of Lent, the bishop was called to the king for certain pressing
+affairs, so that he was obliged to commission his priest, Cynibil, who
+was his brother, to complete it. This monastery being founded in 658,
+was called Lestingay. St. Cedd placed in it monks, with a superior from
+Lindisfarne; but continued to superintend the same, and afterwards made
+several visits thither from London. Our saint excommunicated a certain
+nobleman among the East-Saxons, for an incestuous marriage; forbidding
+any Christian to enter his house, or eat with him. Notwithstanding this
+prohibition, the king went to a banquet at his house. Upon his return,
+the holy bishop met him, whom, as soon as the king saw, he began to
+tremble, and lighting from his horse, prostrated himself at his feet,
+begging pardon for his offence. The bishop touched him with the rod
+which he held in his hand, and said, "O king, because thou wouldst not
+refrain from the house of that wicked excommunicated person, thou
+thyself shalt die in that very house." Accordingly, some time after, the
+king was basely murdered, in 661. by this nobleman and another, {105}
+both his own kinsmen, who alleged no other reason for their crime, than
+that he was too easy in forgiving his enemies. This king was succeeded
+by Suidhelm, the son of Sexbald, whom St. Cedd regenerated to Christ by
+baptism. In 664, St. Cedd was present at the conference, or synod, of
+Streneshalch, in which he forsook the Scottish custom, and agreed to
+receive the canonical observance of the time of Easter. Soon after, a
+great pestilence breaking out in England, St. Cedd died of it, in his
+beloved monastery of Lestingay, in the mountainous part of Yorkshire,
+since destroyed by the Danes, so that its exact situation is not known.
+He was first buried in the open cemetery, but, not long after, a church
+of stone being built in the same monastery, under the invocation of the
+Blessed Virgin, the mother of our Lord, his body was removed, and laid
+at the right hand of the altar. Thirty of the saint's religious brethren
+in Essex, upon the news of his death, came to Lestingay, in the
+resolution to live and die where their holy father had ended his life.
+They were willingly received by their brethren, but were all carried off
+by the same pestilence, except a little boy, who was afterwards found
+not to have been then baptized, and being in process of time advanced to
+the priesthood, lived to gain many souls to God. St. Cedd died on the
+26th of October, but is commemorated in the English Martyrology on the
+7th of January. See Bede, Hist. l. 3, c. 21, 22, 23. Wharton Hist.
+Episc. Lond. &c.
+
+ST. KENTIGERNA, WIDOW.
+
+SHE is commemorated on the 7th of January, in the Aberdeen Breviary,
+from which we learn, that she was of royal blood, daughter of Kelly,
+prince of Leinster in Ireland, as Colgan proves from ancient monuments.
+She was mother of the holy abbot St. Foelan, or Felan. After the death
+of her husband, she left Ireland, and consecrated her to God in a
+religious state, and lived in great austerity and humility, and died on
+the 7th of January, in the year 728. Adam King informs us that a famous
+parish church bears her name at Locloumont, in Inchelroch, a small
+island into which she retired some time before her death, that she might
+with greater liberty give herself up to heavenly meditation. See Brev.
+Aberden. et Colgan ad 7 Jan. p. 23.
+
+ST. ALDRIC, BISHOP OF MANS, C.
+
+THIS saint was born of a noble family, of partly Saxon and partly
+Bavarian extraction, about the year 800. At twelve years of age he was
+placed by his father in the court of Charlemagne, in the family of Lewis
+le Débonnaire, where, by his application to the exercises of devotion,
+and to serious studies, and by his eminent virtue, he gained the esteem
+of the whole court. But the false lustre of worldly honors had no charms
+to one who, from his infancy, had entertained no other desire than that
+of consecrating himself to the divine service. About the year 821,
+bidding adieu to the court, he retired from Aix-la-chapelle to Metz,
+where he entered himself amongst the clergy, in the bishop's seminary,
+and received the clerical tonsure. Two years after, he was promoted to
+the holy orders of deacon, and, after three years more, to the
+priesthood. The emperor Lewis le Débonnaire called him again to court,
+and made him his first chaplain and his confessor. In 832, St. Aldric
+was chosen bishop of Mans, and consecrated on the 22d of December. The
+emperor arrived at Mans three days after, and kept the {106} Christmas
+holydays with him. The holy pastor was humble, patient, severe towards
+himself, and mild and charitable to all others. He employed both his
+patrimony and his whole interest and credit in relieving the poor,
+redeeming captives, establishing churches and monasteries, and promoting
+piety and religion. In the civil wars which divided the French monarchy,
+his fidelity to his prince, and to his successor Charles the Bald, was
+inviolable, for which he was for almost a year expelled, by the
+factious, from his see; though it is a subject of dispute whether this
+happened in the former or in the latter reign. It was a principal part
+of his care, to maintain an exact discipline in his clergy; for whose
+use he drew up a collection of canons, of councils, and decretals of
+popes, called his Capitulars, which seems to have been the most learned
+and judicious work of that kind which that age produced, so that the
+loss of it is much regretted.[1] Some fragments have reached us of the
+excellent regulations which he made for the celebration of the divine
+service, in which he orders ten wax candles, and ninety lamps with oil,
+to be lighted up in his cathedral on all great festivals.[2] We have
+three testaments of this holy prelate extant.[3] The last is an edifying
+monument of his sincere piety: in the two first, he bequeaths several
+lands and possessions to many churches of his diocese, adding prudent
+advice and regulations for maintaining good order, and a spirit of
+charity, between the clergy and monks. In 836, he was deputed by the
+council of Aix-la-chapelle, with Erchenrad, bishop of Paris, to Pepin,
+king of Aquitain, who was then reconciled with the emperor his father;
+and that prince was prevailed on by them to cause all the possessions of
+churches, which had been seized by those of his party, to be restored.
+Our saint assisted at the eighth council of Paris, in 846, and at the
+council of Tours, in 849. The two last years of his life he was confined
+to his bed by a palsy, during which time he redoubled his fervor and
+assiduity in holy prayer, for which he had from his infancy an
+extraordinary ardor. He died the 7th of January, 856, having been bishop
+almost twenty-four years. He was buried in the church of St. Vincent, to
+which, and the monastery to which it belongs, he had been a great
+benefactor. His relics are honorably preserved there at this day, and
+his festival has been kept at Mans from time immemorial. See his life
+published by Baluze, T. 3, Miscell. from an ancient MS. belonging to his
+church. The author produces many original public instruments, and seems
+to have been contemporary. (See Hist Lit. de la France, T. 5, p. 145.)
+Another life, probably compiled by a canon of the cathedral of Mans, in
+the time of Robert, successor to Saint Aldric, is given us by Mabillon,
+Annal. T. 3, p. 46, 246, 397, &c., but inserts some false pieces. (See
+Hist. Lit. ib. p. 148.) The life of St. Aldric, which we find in
+Bollandus, is a modern piece composed by John Moreau, canon of Mans.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Baluze, Capitul. Regnum Fr. T. 2, p. 44.
+2.  Ibid. p. 143.
+3.  Ib. p. 63, 70, 72, 80.
+
+SAINT THILLO,
+
+CALLED IN FRANCE THEAU, IN FLANDERS TILLOINE, OR TILMAN, C.
+
+HE was by birth a Saxon, and being made captive, was carried into the
+Low Countries, where he was ransomed and baptized by St. Eligius. That
+apostolical man sent him to his abbey of Solignac, in Limousin. St.
+Thillo was called thence by St. Eligius, ordained priest, and employed
+by him some time at Tournay, and in other parts of the Low Countries.
+The inhabitants of the country of Isengihen, near Courtray, regard him
+as their apostle. Some years after the death of St. Eligius, St. Thillo
+returned to Solignac, {107} and lived a recluse near that abbey, in
+simplicity, devotion, and austerities, imitating the Antonies and
+Macariuses. He died in his solitude, about the year 702, of his age
+ninety-four, and was honored with miracles. His name is famous in the
+French and Belgic calendars, though it occurs not in the Roman. St.
+Owen, in his life of St. Eligius, names Thillo first among the seven
+disciples of that saint, who worked with him at his trade of goldsmith,
+and imitated him in all his religious exercises, before that holy man
+was engaged in the ministry of the church. Many churches in Flanders,
+Auvergne, Limousin, and other places, are dedicated to God, under his
+invocation. The anonymous life of St. Thillo, in Bollandus, is not
+altogether authentic; the history which Mabillon gives of him from the
+Breviary of Solignac, is of more authority, (Mab. Sæc. 2, Ben. p. 996.)
+See also Bulteau, Hist. Ben. T. i. l. 3, c. 16. Molanus in Natal. Sanct.
+Belgii, &c.
+
+ST. CANUT,
+
+SECOND son of Eric the Good, king of Denmark, was made duke of Sleswig,
+his elder brother Nicholas being king of Denmark. Their father, who
+lived with his people as a father with his children, and no one ever
+left him without comfort, says the ancient chronicle Knytling-Saga, p.
+71, died in Cyprus, going on a pilgrimage to the holy land, in which he
+had been received by Alexius Comnenus, emperor, at Constantinople, with
+the greatest honor, and had founded an hospital at Lucca for Danish
+pilgrims. He died in 1103, on the 11th of July. Mallet, 1. 2, p. 112.
+
+Canut set himself to make justice and peace reign in his principality:
+those warriors could not easily be restrained from plundering. One day,
+when he had condemned several together to be hanged for piracies, one
+cried out, that he was of blood royal, and related to Canut. The prince
+answered, that to honor his extraction, he should be hanged on the top
+of the highest mast of his ship, which was executed. (Helmold, l. 6, c.
+49) Henry, king of the Sclavi, being dead, and his two sons, St. Canut
+his nephew succeeded, paid homage to the emperor Lothaire II. and was
+crowned by him king of the Obotrites, or western Sclavi. St. Canut was
+much honored by that emperor, in whose court he had spent part of his
+youth. Valor, prudence, zeal, and goodness, endeared him to all. He was
+slain by conspiracy of the jealous Danes, the 7th of January, 1130, and
+canonized in 1171. His son became duke of Sleswig, and in 1158 king of
+Denmark, called Valdemar I. and the Great, from his virtuous and
+glorious actions.
+
+{108}
+
+
+JANUARY VIII.
+
+ST. APOLLINARIS, THE APOLOGIST,
+
+BISHOP
+
+From Eusebius, Theodoret, St. Jerom, &c. See Tillemont, Mem. t. 2, p.
+492, and Hist des Emp. t. 2, p. 309.
+
+A.D. 175.
+
+CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS, bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, was one of the
+most illustrious prelates of the second age. Notwithstanding the great
+encomiums bestowed on him by Eusebius, St. Jerom, Theodoret, and others,
+we know but very little of his actions; and his writings, which then
+were held in great esteem, seem now to be all lost. Photius,[1] who had
+read them, and who was a very good judge, commends them both for their
+style and matter. He wrote against the Encratites, and other heretics,
+and pointed out, as St. Jerom testifies,[2] from what philosophical sect
+each heresy derived its errors. The last of these works was against the
+Montanists and their pretended prophets, who began to appear in Phrygia
+about the year 171. But nothing rendered his name so illustrious, as his
+noble apology for the Christian religion, which he addressed to the
+emperor Marcus Aurelius, about the year 175, soon after the miraculous
+victory that prince had obtained over the Quadi by the prayers of the
+Christians, of which the saint made mention.
+
+Marcus Aurelius having long attempted, without success, to subdue the
+Germans by his generals, resolved in the thirteenth year of his reign,
+and of Christ 171, to lead a powerful army against them. He was beyond
+the Danube, (for Germany was extended much further eastward than it is
+at present,) when the Quadi, a people inhabiting that tract now called
+Moravia, surrounded him in a very disadvantageous situation, so that
+there was no possibility that either he or his army could escape out of
+their hands, or subsist long where they were, for want of water. The
+twelfth legion, called the Melitine, from a town of that name in
+Armenia, where it had been quartered a long time, was chiefly composed
+of Christians. These, when the army was drawn up, but languid and
+perishing with thirst, fell upon their knees, "as we are accustomed to
+do at prayer," says Eusebius, and poured forth earnest supplications to
+God in this public extremity of their state and emperor, though hitherto
+he had been a persecutor of their religion. The strangeness of the sight
+surprised the enemies, who had more reason to be astonished at the
+event; for all on a sudden the sky was darkened with clouds, and a thick
+rain showered down with impetuosity just as the Barbarians had assailed
+the Roman camp. The Romans fought and drank at the same time, catching
+the rain, as it fell, in their helmets, and often swallowing it mingled
+with blood. Though by this means exceedingly refreshed, the Germans were
+much too strong for them; but the storm being driven by a violent wind
+upon their faces, and accompanied with dreadful flashes of lightning,
+and loud thunder, the Germans were deprived of their sight, beaten down
+to the ground, and terrified to such a degree, that they were entirely
+routed and put to flight. Both heathen and Christian writers give this
+account of the victory. The heathens ascribe it, some to the power of
+{109} magic, others to their gods, as Dio Cassius;[3] but the Christians
+unanimously recount it as a miracle obtained by the prayers of this
+legion, as St. Apollinaris in his apology to this very emperor, who
+adds, that as an acknowledgment, the emperor immediately gave it the
+name of the Thundering Legion, and from him it is so called by
+Eusebius,[4] Tertullian,[5] St. Jerom,[6] and St. Gregory of Nyssa.[7]
+
+The Quadi and Sarmatians brought back thirteen thousand prisoners, whom
+they had taken, and begged for peace on whatever conditions it should
+please the emperor to grant it them. Marcus Aurelius hereupon took the
+title of the _seventh time emperor_, contrary to custom, and without the
+consent of the senate, regarding it as given him by heaven. Out of
+gratitude to his Christian soldiers, he published an edict, in which he
+confessed himself indebted for his delivery _to the shower obtained_,
+PERHAPS, _by the prayers of the Christians_;[8] and more he could not
+say without danger of exasperating the pagans. In it he forbade, under
+pain of death, any one to accuse a Christian on account of his religion;
+yet, by a strange inconsistency, especially in so wise a prince, being
+overawed by the opposition of the senate, he had not the courage to
+abolish the laws already made and in force against Christians. Hence,
+even after this, in the same reign, many suffered martyrdom, though
+their accusers were also put to death; as in the case of St. Apollonius
+and of the martyrs of Lyons. Trajan had in like manner forbid Christians
+to be accused, yet commanded them to be punished with death if accused,
+as may be seen declared by him in his famous letter to Pliny the
+Younger. The glaring injustice of which law Tertullian demonstrates by
+an unanswerable dilemma.
+
+St. Apollinaris, who could not see his flock torn in pieces and be
+silent, penned his apology to the emperor, about the year 172, to remind
+him of the benefit he had received from God by the prayers of the
+Christians, and to implore his protection. We have no account of the
+time of this holy man's death, which probably happened before that of
+Marcus Aurelius. The Roman Martyrology mentions him on the 8th of
+January.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We believe the same great truths, and divine mysteries,--we profess the
+same faith which produced such wonderful fruits in the souls of the
+saints. Whence comes it that it has not the like effects in us?--that
+though we acknowledge virtue to be the richest treasure of the soul of
+man, we take little pains about it, passionately seek the things of this
+world, are cast down and broken under every adversity, and curb and
+restrain our passions only by halves?--that the most glorious objects,
+God and heaven, and the amazing and dreadful truths, a judgment to come,
+hell, and eternity, strike us so feebly, and operate so little in us?
+The reason is plain: because we meditate not sufficiently on these great
+truths. Our notions of them are dim and imperfect; our thoughts pass so
+slightly over them, that they scarce retain any print or traces of them.
+Otherwise it is impossible that things {110} so great and terrible
+should excite in us no fear, or that things in their own nature
+infinitely amiable, should enkindle in us no desire. Slight and faint
+images of things move our minds very weakly, and affect them very
+coldly, especially in such matters as are not subject to our senses. We
+therefore grossly deceive ourselves in not allotting more time to the
+study of divine truths. It is not enough barely to believe them, and let
+our thoughts now and then glance upon them: that knowledge which shows
+us heaven, will not bring us to the possession of it, and will deserve
+punishments, not rewards, if it remain slight, weak, and superficial. By
+serious and frequent meditation it must be concocted, digested, and
+turned into the nourishment of our affections, before it can be powerful
+and operative enough to change them, and produce the necessary fruit in
+our lives. For this all the saints affected solitude and retreats from
+the noise and hurry of the world, as much as their circumstances allowed
+them.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  {}
+2.  Ep. 83, ad Magn.
+3.  B. 71.
+4.  Hist. B. 5, c. 5.
+5.  Apol. c. 5. L. ad Scap. c. 4.
+6.  Chron.
+7.  Or. 2, de 40 mart.
+8.  _Christianorum_ FORTE _militum precationibus impetrato imbri_.
+    Tertull. Apolog. c. 5. Euseb. l. 5, c. 5. Some take the word _forte_
+    here to signify, _casually, accidentally, as hap was_. Several
+    learned Protestants have written in defence of this miracle: see Mr.
+    Weston's dissertation in 1748. The exceptions of Le Clerc, Hist.
+    Eccl. p. 744, and of Moyle, in his essay on the Thundering Legion,
+    deserve no notice. The deliverance of the emperor is represented on
+    the _Columna Antoniniana_, in Rome, by the figure of a Jupiter
+    Pluvius, being that of an old man flying in the air, with his arms
+    expanded, and a long beard which seems to waste away in rain. The
+    soldiers are there represented as relieved by this sudden tempest,
+    and in a posture, partly drinking of the rain-water, and partly
+    fighting against the enemy; who, on the contrary are represented as
+    stretched out on the ground with their horses, and upon them only
+    the dreadful part of the storm descending. The original letter of
+    Marcus Aurelius concerning this matter, was extant when Tertullian
+    and St. Jerom wrote. See Hier. in Chron. Euseb. ad annum 176. Tert.
+    Apol. c. 5, et lib. ad Scapul. The letter of Marcus Aurelius to the
+    senate now extant, is rejected as supposititious by Scaliger,
+    (Animadv. In Eus. ad an. 189.).It is published in the new edition of
+    the works of Marcus Aurelius, printed by Robert Fowlis in 1748, t.
+    1, p. 127, in Greek, t. 2, p. 126, in Latin, with notes, ib. p. 212.
+    Mamachi, t. 1, p 366.
+
+ST. SEVERINUS, ABBOT,
+
+AND APOSTLE OF NORICUM, OR AUSTRIA.
+
+From his life, by Eugippius his disciple, who was present at his death.
+See Tillemont, t. 16, p. 168. Lambecius Bibl. Vend. t. 1, p. 28, and
+Bollandus, p. 497.
+
+A.D. 482.
+
+WE know nothing of the birth or country of this saint. From the purity
+of his Latin, he was generally supposed to be a Roman; and his care to
+conceal what he was according to the world, was taken for a proof of his
+humility, and a presumption that he was a person of birth. He spent the
+first part of his life in the deserts of the East; but, inflamed with an
+ardent zeal for the glory of God, he left his retreat to preach the
+gospel in the North. At first he came to Astures, now Stokeraw, situate
+above Vienna; but finding the people hardened in vice, he foretold the
+punishment God had prepared for them, and repaired to Comagenes, now
+Haynburg on the Danube, eight leagues westward of Vienna. It was not
+long ere his prophecy was verified; for Astures was laid waste, and the
+inhabitants destroyed by the sword of the Huns, soon after the death of
+Attila. St. Severinus's ancient host with great danger made his escape
+to him at Comagenes. By the accomplishment of this prophecy, and by
+several miracles he wrought, the name of the saint became famous.
+Favianes, a city on the Danube, twenty leagues from Vienna, distressed
+by a terrible famine, implored his assistance. St. Severinus preached
+penance among them with great fruit; and he so effectually threatened
+with the divine vengeance a certain rich woman, who had hoarded up a
+great quantity of provisions, that she distributed all her stores among
+the poor. Soon after his arrival, the ice of the Danube and the Ins
+breaking, the country was abundantly supplied by barges up the rivers.
+Another time by his prayers he chased away the locusts, which by their
+swarms had threatened with devastation the whole produce of the year. He
+wrought many miracles; yet never healed the sore eyes of Bonosus, the
+dearest to him of his disciples, who spent forty years in almost
+continual prayer, without any abatement of his fervor. The holy man
+never ceased to exhort all to repentance and piety: he redeemed
+captives, relieved the oppressed, was a father to the poor, cured the
+sick, mitigated or averted public calamities, and brought a blessing
+wherever he came. Many cities desired him for their bishop; but he
+withstood their importunities by urging, that it was sufficient he had
+relinquished his dear solitude for their instruction and comfort.
+
+{111}
+
+He established many monasteries, of which the most considerable was one
+on the banks of the Danube, near Vienna; but he made none of them the
+place of his constant abode, often shutting himself up in a hermitage
+four leagues from his community, where be wholly devoted himself to
+contemplation. He never ate till after sunset, unless on great
+festivals. In Lent he ate only once a week. His bed was sackcloth spread
+on the floor in his oratory. He always walked barefoot, even when the
+Danube was frozen. Many kings and princes of the Barbarians came to
+visit him, and among them Odoacer, king of the Heruli, then on his march
+for Italy. The saint's cell was so low that Odoacer could not stand
+upright in it. St. Severinus told him that the kingdom he was going to
+conquer would shortly be his; and Odoacer seeing himself, soon after,
+master of Italy, sent honorable letters to the saint, promising him all
+he was pleased to ask; but Severinus only desired of him the restoration
+of a certain banished man. Having foretold his death long before it
+happened, he fell ill of a pleurisy on the 5th of January, and on the
+fourth day of his illness, having received the viaticum, and arming his
+whole body with the sign of the cross, and repeating that verse of the
+psalmist, _Let every spirit praise the Lord_,[1] he closed his eyes, and
+expired in the year 482. Six years after, his disciples, obliged by the
+incursions of Barbarians, retired with his relics into Italy, and
+deposited them at Luculano, near Naples, where a great monastery was
+built, of which Eugippius, his disciple, and author of his life, was
+soon after made the second abbot. In the year 910 they were translated
+to Naples, where to this day they are honored in a Benedictin abbey,
+which bears his name. The Roman and other Martyrologies place his
+festival on this day, as being that of his death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A perfect spirit of sincere humility is the spirit of the most sublime
+and heroic degree of Christian virtue and perfection. As the great work
+of the sanctification of our souls is to be begun by humility, so must
+it be completed by the same. Humility invites the Holy Ghost into the
+soul, and prepares her to receive his graces; and from the most perfect
+charity, which he infuses, she derives a new interior light, and an
+experimental knowledge of God and herself, with an _infused_ humility
+far clearer in the light of the understanding, in which she sees God's
+infinite greatness, and her own total insufficiency, baseness, and
+nothingness, after a quite new manner; and in which she conceives a
+relish of contempt and humiliations as her due, feels a secret sentiment
+of joy in suffering them, sincerely loves her own abjection, dependence,
+and correction, dreads the esteem and praises of others, as snares by
+which a mortal poison may imperceptibly insinuate itself into her
+affections, and deprive her of the divine grace; is so far from
+preferring herself to any one, that she always places herself below all
+creatures, is almost sunk in the deep abyss of her own nothingness,
+never speaks of herself to her own advantage, or affects a show of
+modesty in order to appear humble before men, in all good, gives the
+_entire_ glory to God alone, and as to herself, glories only in her
+infirmities, pleasing herself in her own weakness and nothingness,
+rejoicing that God is the great _all_ in her and in all creatures.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ps. 150.
+
+{112}
+
+ST. LUCIAN,
+
+APOSTLE OF BEAUVAIS, IN FRANCE.
+
+HE preached the gospel in Gaul, in the third century; came from Rome,
+and was probably one of the companions of St. Dionysius, of Paris, or at
+least of St. Quintin. He sealed his mission with his blood at Beauvais,
+under Julian, vicar or successor to the bloody persecutor Rictius Varus,
+in the government of Gaul, about the year 290. Maximian, called by the
+common people Messien, and Julian, the companions of his labors, were
+crowned with martyrdom at the same place a little before him. His
+relics, with those of his two colleagues, were discovered in the seventh
+age, as St. Owen informs us in his life of St. Eligius. They are shown
+in three gilt shrines, in the abbey which bears his name, and was
+founded in the eighth century. Rabanus Maurus says, that these relics
+were famous for miracles in the ninth century.
+
+St. Lucian is styled only martyr, in most calendars down to the
+sixteenth century, and in the Roman Martyrology, and the calendar of the
+English Protestants, in all which it is presumed that he was only
+priest; but a calendar compiled in the reign of Lewis le Débonnaire,[1]
+gives him the title of bishop, and he is honored in that quality at
+Beauvias. See Bollandus, p. 540; though the two lives of this saint,
+published by him, and thought to be one of the ninth, the other of the
+tenth age, are of little or no authority. Tillemont, T. 4, p. 537.
+Loisel and Louvet, Hist. de Beauvais, p. 76.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Spicileg. T. 10, p. 130.
+
+ST. PEGA, V.
+
+SHE was sister to St. Guthlack, the famous hermit of Croyland, and
+though of the royal blood of the Mercian kings, forsook the world, and
+led an austere retired life in the country which afterwards bore her
+name, in Northamptonshire, at a distance from her holy brother. Some
+time after his death she went to Rome, and there slept in the Lord,
+about the year 719. Ordericus Vitalis says, her relics were honored with
+miracles, and kept in a church which bore her name at Rome, but this
+church is not now known. From one in Northamptonshire, a village still
+retains the name of Peagkirk, vulgarly Pequirk; she was also titular
+saint of a church and monastery in Pegeland, which St. Edward the
+Confessor united to Croyland. She is called St. Pee in Northamptonshire,
+and St. Pege at Croyland. See Ingulph. et Ord. Vitalis, l. 4. Florence
+of Worcester, ad ann. 714. Harpsfield, sec. 8, c. 19.
+
+ST. VULSIN, BISHOP OF SHIREBURN, C.
+
+WILLIAM of Malmesbury informs us, that St. Dunstan, when bishop of
+London, appointed him abbot of twelve monks at Thorney, since called
+Westminster, where Saint Mellitus had built a church in honor of St.
+Peter. Vulsin was afterwards chosen bishop of Shireburn; his holy life
+was crowned with a happy death in 973. He is called Ultius by Matthew of
+Westminster, {113} but his true ancient name, given by Capgrave, is
+Vulsin. See Malmesbury de Pontif. Angl. l. 2. Capgrave and Harpsfield,
+sæc. 10, c. 9, sæc. 11, c. 16.
+
+ST. GUDULA, V.
+
+CALLED IN BRABANT GOULE, OR ERGOULE, IN FLEMISH SINTE-R-GOELEN,
+
+PATRONESS OF BRUSSELS.
+
+ST. AMALBERGE, mother of this saint, was niece to Pepin, mayor of the
+palace. Gudula was educated at Nivelle, under the care of St. Gertrude,
+her cousin and god-mother; after whose death, in 664, she returned to
+the house of count Witger, her father, and having by vow consecrated her
+virginity to God, led there a most austere and holy life, in watching,
+fasting, and prayer. By her profuse alms, in which she bestowed her
+whole revenue on the poor, she was truly the mother of all the
+distressed; though her father's castle was two miles from the church of
+our Saviour at Morzelle, she went thither early every morning, with a
+maid to carry a lantern before her; and the wax taper being once put
+out, is said to have miraculously lighted again at her prayers, whence
+she is usually represented in pictures with a lantern. She died on the
+8th of January, not in 670, as Miræus says, but in 712, and was buried
+at Ham, near Villevord. In the reign of Charlemagne, her body was
+removed to the church of our Saviour at Morzelle, and placed behind the
+high altar; this emperor, out of veneration of her memory, often
+resorted thither to pray, and founded there a nunnery, which soon after
+changed its name of St. Saviour for that of St. Goule: this house was
+destroyed in the irruptions of the Normans. The relics of St. Gudula, by
+the care of Charles, duke of Lorrain, (in which Brabant was then
+comprised,) were translated to Brussels, in 978, where they were first
+deposited to the church of St. Gery, but in 1047, removed into the great
+collegiate church of St. Michael, since called from her St. Gudula's.
+See her life wrote by Hubert of Brabant, in the eleventh century, soon
+after this translation of her relics to St. Michael's, who assures us
+that he took the whole relation from an ancient life of this saint,
+having only changed the order and style.
+
+ST. NATHALAN, BISHOP OF ABERDEEN, C.
+
+HE possessed a large estate, which he distributed among the poor; and
+seeing that agriculture is an employment best suiting a life of
+contemplation, he made this an exercise of penance, joining with the
+same assiduous prayer. He was a proficient in profane and sacred
+learning, and being made bishop, (to which dignity he was raised by the
+pope, in a journey of devotion which he made to Rome,) he continued to
+employ his revenues in charities as before, living himself in great
+austerity by the labor of his hands, and at the same time preaching the
+gospel to the people. By his means Scotland was preserved from the
+Pelagian heresy. He was one of the apostles of that country, and died in
+452. He resided at Tullicht, now in the diocese of Aberdeen, and built
+the churches of Tullicht Bothelim, and of the Hill; in the former of
+these he was buried, and it long continued famous for miracles wrought
+by his relics, which were preserved there till the change of religion.
+See King, the Chronicles of Dumferling, and the lessons of the Aberdeen
+Breviary on this day. The see of Aberdeen was {114} not then regularly
+established; it was first erected at Murthlac by St. Bean, in the
+beginning of the eleventh century, and translated thence to Aberdeen by
+Nectan, the fourth bishop, in the reign of king David.[2] See Hector
+Boetius in the lives of the bishops of Aberdeen,[3] and Spotswood, b. 2,
+p. 101.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The Aberdeen Breviary resembles that called _of Sarum_, and contains
+    the feasts of many French saints. It was printed at Edinburg, by
+    Walter Chapman, in 1509.
+2.  Few authentic memoirs of the ancient Scotch church, or history, have
+    been handed down to us, except those of certain noble families. A
+    catalogue of the bishops of Galloway, from St. Ninianus, in 450; of
+    the archbishops of Glascow, from St. Kentigern; of St. Andrew's,
+    from the year 840; and of the bishops of the other sees, from the
+    twelfth century, is printed at the end of an old edition of
+    Spotsword in 166{} and reprinted by bishop Burnet, in an appendix to
+    his memoirs of the house of Hamilton.
+3.  De vitis episcopor. Aberd. Prælo. Afrensiano, anno 1522.
+
+
+JANUARY IX.
+
+ST. PETER OF SEBASTE, B.C.
+
+From the life of his sister St. Macrina, composed by their brother St.
+Gregory of Nyssa; and from St. Gregory Naz. Or. 20. See also Theodoret,
+Hist. Eccl. l. 4, c. 30. Rufin, l. 2., c. 9, and the judicious
+compilation of Tillemont, in his life of St. Gregory of Nyssa, art. 6,
+t. 9, p. 572.
+
+About the year 387.
+
+THE family of which St. Peter descended, was very ancient and
+illustrious; St. Gregory Nazianzen tells us, that his pedigree was made
+up of a list of celebrated heroes; but their names are long since buried
+in oblivion, while those of the saints which it gave to the church, and
+who despised the world and its honors, are immortal in the records of
+the church, and are written in the book of life; for the light of faith,
+and the grace of the Almighty, extinguishing in their breasts the sparks
+of worldly ambition, inspired them with a most vehement ardor to attain
+the perfection of Christian virtue, and changed their family into a
+house of saints; three brothers were at the same time eminently holy
+bishops, St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Peter of Sebaste; and
+their eldest sister, St. Macrina, was the spiritual mother of many
+saints and excellent doctors; their father and mother, St. Basil the
+Elder, and St. Emolia, were banished for their faith in the reign of the
+emperor Galerius Maximian, and fled into the deserts of Pontus; they are
+recorded together in the Roman Martyrology, on the 30th of May: the
+grandmother of our pious and fruitful family of saints, was the
+celebrated St. Macrina the Elder, who was instructed in the science of
+salvation, by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. St. Peter of Sebaste was the
+youngest of ten children, and lost his father in his cradle, some think
+before he was born; and his eldest sister, Macrina, took care of his
+education, in which it was her only aim to instruct him in the maxims of
+religion, and form him to perfect piety; profane studies she thought of
+little use, to one who designed to make salvation the sole end of all
+his inquiries and pursuits, nor did he ever make them any part of his
+employment, confining his views to a monastic state. His mother had
+founded two monasteries, one for men, the other for women; the former
+she put under the direction of her son Basil, the latter under that of
+her daughter Macrina. Peter, whose thoughts were wholly bent on
+cultivating the seeds of piety that had been sown in him, retired into
+the house governed by his brother, situated on the bank of the river
+Iris; when St. Basil was obliged to quit that post, in 362, he left the
+abbacy in the hands of St. Peter, who discharged this office for {115}
+several years with great prudence and virtue. When the provinces of
+Pontus and Cappadocia were visited by a severe famine, he gave a
+remarkable proof of his charity; human prudence would have advised him
+to be frugal in the relief of others, till his own family should be
+secured against that calamity; but Peter had studied the principles of
+Christian charity in another school, and liberally disposed of all that
+belonged to his monastery, and whatever he could raise, to supply with
+necessaries the numerous crowds that daily resorted to him, in that time
+of distress. Soon after St. Basil was made bishop of Cæsarea in
+Cappadocia, in 370, he promoted his brother Peter to the priesthood; the
+holy abbot looked on the holy orders he had received as a fresh
+engagement to perfection. His brother St. Basil died on the 1st of
+January, in 379, and his sister Macrina in November, the same year.
+Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, a violent Arian, and a
+furious persecutor of St. Basil, seems to have died soon after them, for
+St. Peter was consecrated bishop of Sebaste in 380, to root out the
+Arian heresy in that diocese, where it had taken deep root; the zeal of
+a saint was necessary, nor can we doubt but God placed our saint in that
+dignity for this purpose. A letter which St. Peter wrote, and which is
+prefixed to St. Gregory of Nyssa's books against Eunomius, has entitled
+him to a rank among the ecclesiastical writers, and is a standing proof,
+that though he had confined himself to sacred studies, yet by good
+conversation and reading, and by the dint of genius, and an excellent
+understanding, he was inferior to none but his incomparable brother
+Basil, and his colleague Nazianzen, in solid eloquence. In 381, he
+attended the general council held at Constantinople, and joined the
+other bishops in condemning the Macedonian heretics. Not only his
+brother St. Gregory, but also Theodoret, and all antiquity, bear
+testimony to his extraordinary sanctity, prudence, and zeal. His death
+happened in summer, about the year 387, and his brother of Nyssa
+mentions, that his memory was honored at Sebaste (probably the very year
+after his death) by an anniversary solemnity, with several martyrs of
+that city.[1] His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology, on the 9th of
+January.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We admire to see a whole family of saints! This prodigy of grace, under
+God, was owing to the example, prayers, and exhortations of the elder
+St. Macrina, which had this wonderful influence and effect; from her
+they learned most heartily and deeply to imbibe the true spirit of
+self-denial and humility, which all Christians confess to be the
+fundamental maxim of the gospel; but this they generally acknowledge in
+speculation only, whereas it is in the heart that this foundation is to
+be laid: we must entertain no attachment, says St. Gregory of Nyssa,[2]
+to any thing, especially where there is most danger of passion, by some
+sensual pleasure annexed; and we must begin by being upon our guard
+against sensuality in eating, which is the most ancient enemy, and the
+father of vice: we must observe in our whole life the most exact rule of
+temperance, never making the pleasure of sense our end, but only the
+necessity of the use we make of things, even those in which a pleasure
+is taken. In another treatise he says,[3] he who despises the world,
+must also renounce himself, so as never to follow his own will, but
+purely to seek in all things the will of God; we are his in justice, his
+will must be the law and rule of our whole life. This precept of dying
+to ourselves, that Christ may live in us, and all our affections and
+actions governed by his spirit, is excellently inculcated by St. Basil
+the Great.[4]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Gr. Nyss. ep. ad Flav. t. 3, p. 645.
+2.  St. Gr. Nyss. de Virg. c. 9.
+3.  St. Basil, in Ps. 34, de Bapt. l. 1, et interr. 237.
+4.  Id. de perfectâ Christi formâ.
+
+{116}
+
+SS. JULIAN AND BASILISSA, MM.
+
+ACCORDING to their acts, and the ancient Martyrologies, though engaged
+in a married state, they by mutual consent lived in perpetual chastity,
+sanctified themselves by the most perfect exercises of an ascetic life,
+and employed their revenues in relieving the poor and the sick; for this
+purpose they converted their house into a kind of hospital, in which, if
+we may credit their acts, they sometimes entertained a thousand indigent
+persons. Basilissa attended those of her sex, in separate lodgings from
+the men, of whom Julian took care, who from his charity is surnamed the
+Hospitalarian. Egypt, where they lived, had then begun to abound with
+examples of persons, who, either in cities or in deserts, devoted
+themselves to the most perfect exercises of charity, penance, and
+contemplation. Basilissa, after having stood severe persecutions, died
+in peace; Julian survived her many years, and received the crown of a
+glorious martyrdom, together with Celsus a youth, Antony a priest,
+Anastatius, and Marcianilla the mother of Celsus. They seem to have
+suffered in the reign of Maximin II., in 313, on the 6th of January;
+for, in the most ancient lectionary used in the church of Paris, under
+the first race of the French kings, quoted by Chatelain,[1] and several
+ancient calendars, their festival is marked on that day, or on the eve.
+On account of the concurrence of the Epiphany, it was deferred in
+different churches to the 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 27, 28, or
+29th, of January; 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 24, or 27th, of February; 20, 21,
+or 22d of June; or 31st of August. The menology, published by Canisius,
+places the martyrdom of St. Julian and his companions, at Antinopolis in
+Egypt; certain ancient MS. copies of the Martyrology, which bear the
+name of St. Jerom, say more correctly Antinous: by mistaking the
+abbreviation of this name in some MS. copies, several Latins have read
+it Antioch;[2] and the Latin acts say these martyrs suffered at Antioch
+in Egypt: but no town of that name is ever mentioned in that country;
+though Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, gave it to sixteen cities which
+he built in Asia, as Appian takes notice. Many churches and hospitals in
+the east, and especially in the west, bear the name of one or other of
+these martyrs: at Antioch, in Syria, our St. Julian was titular saint of
+a famous church and St. Julian of Anazarbus, of two others. Chatelain[3]
+proves from ancient images and other monuments, that four churches at
+home, and three out of five at Paris, which bear the name of St. Julian,
+were originally dedicated under the name of St. Julian the hospitalarian
+and martyr; though some of these latter afterward took either St. Julian
+bishop of Mans, confessor, or St. Julian of Brioude, martyr, for patron.
+The same has happened to some, out of the great number of churches and
+hospitals in the Low Countries, erected under his invocation; but the
+hospitalarian and martyr is still retained in the office of the greatest
+part, especially at Brussels, Antwerp, Tournay, Douay, &c. In the time
+of St. Gregory the Great, the skull of St. Julian, husband of St.
+Basilissa, was brought out of the east into France, and given to queen
+Brunehault; she gave it to the nunnery which she founded at Etampes;
+part of it is at present in the {117} monastery of Morigny, near
+Etampes, and part in the church of the regular canonesses of St.
+Basilissa, at Paris.[4]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Notes sur le Martyrol. 6 Jan., p. 106. Mabill. Lit. Gallic. l. 2,
+    pp. 115, 116.
+2.  The abbreviation _Antio_ for Antinous, found in a MS. copy mentioned
+    by Chatelain, p. 106, was probably mistaken for Antioch, a name
+    better known. Certain circumstances related from the false acts of
+    these martyrs, by St. Antoninus, gave occasion to the painters in
+    Italy to represent St. Julian as a sportsman with a hawk on his
+    hand; and in France, as a boatsman, in a barge; and the postilions
+    and bargemen keep his feast, as of their principal patron.
+3.  Notes on Jan. 6, p. 109.
+4.  See Chatelain, notes on Jan. 6, p. 110, from a MS. at Morigny.
+
+
+ST. MARCIANA, V.M.
+
+SHE was a native of Rusuccur in Mauritania, and courageously despising
+all worldly advantages, to secure to herself the possession of the
+precious jewel of heavenly grace, she was called to the trial in the
+persecution of Dioclesian, which was continued in Africa under his
+successors, till the death of Severus, who was declared Cæsar in 305,
+and slain in 309. St. Marciana was beaten with clubs, and her chastity
+exposed to the rude attempts of pagan gladiators, in which danger God
+miraculously preserved her, and she became the happy instrument of the
+conversion of one of them to the faith: at length she was torn in pieces
+by a wild bull and a leopard, in the amphitheatre at Cæsarea in
+Mauritania. She is the same who is commemorated on the 12th of July, in
+the ancient breviary of Toledo; and in the Roman, and some other
+Martyrologies, both on the 9th of July, and on the 9th of January. See a
+beautiful ancient hymn in her praise, in the Mozarabic breviary, and her
+acts in Bollandus, though their authority is not altogether certain.
+Consult Tillemont, t. 5, p. 263. Chatelain, notes on the 9th of January
+p. 146.
+
+ST. BRITHWALD, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
+
+HE was abbot of Glastenbury, but resigning that dignity, came to the
+little monastery of Riculf, or Riculver, near the isle of Thanet, in
+Kent, that he might improve himself in the study of the Holy Scriptures,
+in the neighborhood of St. Theodorus; after whose death he was promoted
+to the see of Canterbury, in 692, in which he sat thirty-seven years and
+six months, a living {icon} of perfection to this church. He died in
+731. See John of Glastenbury, published by Hearne; William of
+Malmesbury, in the antiquities of Glastenbury, published by Thomas Gale;
+and Bede, l. 5, c. 9, and 24.
+
+ST. FELAN, OR FOELAN, ABBOT
+
+HIS name is famous in the ancient Scottish and Irish Calendars. The
+example and instructions of his pious parents, Feriach and St.
+Kentigerna, inspired him from the cradle with the most ardent love of
+virtue. In his youth, despising the flattering worldly advantages to
+which high birth and a great fortune entitled him, he received the
+monastic habit from a holy abbot named Mundus, and passed many years in
+a cell at some distance from the monastery, not far from St. Andrew's.
+He was by compulsion drawn from this close solitude, being chosen abbot.
+His sanctity in this public station shone forth with a bright light.
+After some years he resigned this charge, and retired to his uncle
+Congan, brother to his mother, in a place called Siracht, a mountainous
+part of Glendarchy, now in Fifeshire, where, with the assistance of
+seven others, he built a church, near which he served for several years.
+God glorified him by a wonderful gift of miracles; and called him to the
+reward of his labors on the 9th of January, in the seventh century.
+{118} He was buried in Straphilline, and his relics were long preserved
+there with honor. This account is given us of him in the lessons of the
+Aberdeen Breviary.[1] The Scottish historians[2] attribute to the
+intercession of St. Felan a memorable victory obtained by king Robert
+Bruce, in 1314, over a numerous army of English, at Bannocburn, not far
+from Sterling, in the reign of Edward II. of England, who narrowly
+escaped, being obliged to pass the Tweed in a boat, with only one
+companion. See Lesley, l. 17; Boetius, l. 14. Chatelain certainly
+mistakes in confounding this saint with St. Finan, bishop of
+Lindisfarne.[3]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  T. 1, part 2, fol. 28.
+2.  Hector Boetius, l. 14, &c.
+3.  St. Felan flourished in the county of Fife, and probably in the
+    monastery of Pettinuime, where his memory was famous, as is
+    testified by the author of MS. memoirs on the Scottish saints,
+    preserved in the college of the Scots at Paris, who declares himself
+    to have been a missionary priest in Scotland to 1609. The county of
+    Fife was famous for the rich and most ancient monasteries of
+    Dumferling, Lindore, St. Andrew's, or Colrosse, or Courose,
+    Pettinuime, Balmure, and Petmoace; and two stately nunneries:
+    Aberdaure and Elcho. All these noble buildings they levelled to the
+    ground with incredible fury, crying, "Pull down, pull down: the
+    crows' nest must be utterly exterminated, lest they should return
+    and attempt again to renew their settlement." Ib. MS. fol. 7.
+
+ST. ADRIAN, ABBOT AT CANTERBURY
+
+DIVINE Providence conducted this holy man to Britain, in order to make
+him an instructor of innumerable saints. Adrian was an African by birth,
+and was abbot of Nerida, not far from Naples, when pope Vitalian, upon
+the death of St. Deusdedit the archbishop of Canterbury, judged him, for
+his skill in sacred learning, and experience in the paths of true
+interior virtue, to be of all others the most proper person to be the
+doctor of a nation, zealous in the pursuit of virtue, but as yet
+ignorant in the sciences, and in the canons of the church. The humble
+servant of God found means to decline that dignity, by recommending St.
+Theodorus as most capable, but refused not to share in the laborious
+part of the ministry. The pope therefore enjoined him to be the
+companion, assistant, and adviser of the apostolic archbishop, which
+charge Adrian willingly took upon himself. In travelling through France
+with St. Theodorus, he was stopped by Ebroin, the jealous mayor of the
+palace, who feared lest the emperor of the East had given these two
+persons, who were his born subjects, some commission in favor of his
+pretensions to the western kingdoms. Adrian stayed a long time in
+France, at Meaux, and in other places, before he was allowed to pursue
+his journey. St. Theodorus established him abbot of the monastery of SS.
+Peter and Paul, afterward called St. Austin, near Canterbury, where he
+taught the learned languages and the sciences, and principally the
+precepts and maxims of our divine religion. He had illustrated this
+island by his heavenly doctrine, and the bright example of his virtues,
+for the space of thirty-nine years, when he departed to our Lord on the
+9th of January, in the year 710. His tomb was famed for miracles, as we
+are assured by Joscelin the Monk, quoted by William of Malmesbury and
+Capgrave; and his name is inserted in the English calendars. See Bede,
+l. 4, c. 1, l. 5, c. 21. Malmesb. de Pontif. Angl. and Capgrave.
+
+ST. VANENG, C.
+
+FROM various fragments of ancient histories of his life, the most modern
+of which was compiled in the twelfth century, it appears that Vaneng was
+made by Clotaire III. governor of that part of Neustria, or Normandy,
+which was anciently inhabited by the Caletes, and is called Pais de
+Caux, {119} at which time he took great pleasure in hunting.
+Nevertheless, he was very pious, and particularly devout to St. Eulalia
+of Barcelona, called in Guienne, St. Aulaire. One night be seemed, in a
+dream, to hear that holy Virgin and Martyr repeat to him those words of
+our blessed Redeemer in the gospel, that "it is easier for a camel to
+pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to be saved." Soon
+after this he quitted the world, assisted St. Vandrille in building the
+churches of SS. Peter and Paul at Fontenelles, and founded in the valley
+of Fécam[1] a church in honor of the holy Trinity, with a great nunnery
+adjoining, under the direction of St. Owes and St. Vandrille.
+Hildemarca, a very virtuous nun, was called from Bourdeaux, and
+appointed the first abbess. Under her, three hundred and sixty nuns
+served God in this house, and were divided into as many choirs as were
+sufficient, by succeeding one another, to continue the divine office
+night and day without interruption. St. Vaneng died about the year 688,
+and is honored, in the Gallican and Benedictin Martyrologies, on the 9th
+of January; but at St. Vandrille's, and in other monasteries in
+Normandy, on the 31st of January. This saint is titular patron of
+several churches in Aquitain and Normandy; one near Touars in Poictou
+has given its name to the village of St. Vaneng. His body is possessed
+in a rich shrine, in the abbatial church of Our Lady at Ham, in Picardy,
+belonging to the regular canons of St. Genevieve. See Mabillon, t. 2, p.
+972; Bollandus, and chiefly the life of St. Vaneng, judiciously
+collected and printed at Paris in 1700;[2] also, the breviary of the
+abbey of Fontenelle, now St. Vandrille's. The abbeys of Fécam, St.
+Vandrille, Jumiege, Bec, St. Stephen's at Caen, Cerisy, &c., are now of
+the reformed congregation of St. Maur, abbot of St. Benignus, at Dijon,
+whose life Bollandus has given us among the saints, January 1. Fécam,
+honored by the dukes of Normandy above all their other monasteries, is
+the richest and most magnificent abbey in Normandy.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The monastery of Fécam was ruined in the invasion of the Normans.
+    Rollo, who came into France in 876, was baptized, and, after having
+    founded the duchy of Normandy, died in 917. His sepulchral monument
+    is shown in one of the chapels near the door in the cathedral at
+    Rouen. His son William built a palace at Fécam, where his son
+    Richard was born. The church of the Holy Trinity being
+    re-established, this Richard placed in it secular canons; but, on
+    his death-bed, ordered it to be put into the hands of the monks.
+    This was executed by his successor, the monks being sent by William
+    the most holy abbot.
+2.  Ferrarius, an Italian servite, Du-Saussayè, Bollandus, and F. Giry,
+    place among the saints of this day, Sithride, or Sedredo, an English
+    virgin, and second abbess of Farmoutiers. Bede tells us (l. 3, c. 8)
+    that she was daughter of St. Hereswide, by a former husband, before
+    she married Annas, king of the East Angles, and that going to the
+    monastery of Briè, (now Farmoutiers,) she was second abbess between
+    St. Fara and St. Aubierge, King Annas's own daughter. But though St.
+    Aubierge be honored at Farmoutiers in July, with great solemnity,
+    and St. Arthongate in February, the name of Sedredo is not found in
+    the calendar of any church, nor are any of her relics enshrined like
+    the others, unless she be the same with St. Sissetrudis, who in some
+    calendars is named on the 6th, in others on the 7th of May. But St.
+    Sissetrude is called by Jonas of Bobio, cellerer, not abbess. See
+    Chatelain, &c. 3.
+
+{120}
+
+
+JANUARY X.
+
+SAINT WILLIAM, CONFESSOR,
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES.
+
+From his life written by a faithful acquaintance at Bourges, (abridged
+by Surius,) and again by Peter, a monk of Chaalis, both soon after his
+death: collected by Dom le Nain, in his history of the Cistercians, t.
+7. See also the notes of Bollandus, with a fragment of a third life, and
+Gallia Christ. Nov. t. 2. p. 63.
+
+A.D. 1209.
+
+WILLIAM BERRUYER, of the illustrious family of the ancient counts of
+Nevers, was educated by Peter the Hermit, archdeacon of Soissons, his
+uncle by the mother's side. He learned from his infancy to despise the
+folly and emptiness of the riches and grandeur of the world, to abhor
+its pleasures, and to tremble at its dangers. His only delight was in
+exercises of piety and in his studies, in which he employed his whole
+time with indefatigable application. He was made canon, first of
+Soissons, and afterwards of Paris; but he soon took the resolution of
+abandoning all commerce with the world, and retired into the solitude of
+Grandmont, where he lived with great regularity in that austere order,
+till seeing its peace disturbed by a contest which arose between the
+fathers and lay-brothers, he passed into the Cistercian, then in
+wonderful odor of sanctity. He took the habit in the abbey of Pontigny,
+and shining as a perfect model of monastic perfection, was after some
+time chosen prior of that house, and afterwards abbot, first of
+Fountaine-Jean, in the diocese of Sens, (a filiation of Pontigny,
+founded in 1124, by Peter de Courtenay, son of king Louis the Fat,) and
+some time after, of Chaalis, near Senlis, a much more numerous
+monastery, also a filiation of Pontigny, built by Louis the Fat in 1136,
+a little before his death. St. William always reputed himself the last
+among his brethren. The universal mortification of his senses and
+passions, laid in him the foundation of an admirable purity of heart,
+and an extraordinary gift of prayer; in which he received great heavenly
+lights, and tasted of the sweets which God has reserved for those to
+whom he is pleased to communicate himself. The sweetness and
+cheerfulness of his countenance testified the uninterrupted joy and
+peace that overflowed his soul, and made virtue appear with the most
+engaging charms in the midst of austerities.
+
+On the death of Henry de Sully, archbishop of Bourges, the clergy of
+that church requested his brother Endo, bishop of Paris, to come and
+assist them in the election of a pastor. Desirous to choose some abbot
+of the Cistercian Order, then renowned for holy men, they put on the
+altar the names of three, written on as many billets. This manner of
+election by lots would have been superstitious, and a tempting of God,
+had it been done relying on a miracle without the warrant of divine
+inspiration. But it deserved not this censure when all the persons
+proposed seemed equally worthy and fit, as the choice was only
+recommended to God, and left to this issue by following the rules of his
+ordinary providence, and imploring his light, without rashness, or a
+neglect of the usual means of scrutiny: prudence might sometimes even
+recommend such a method, in order to terminate a debate when the
+candidates seemed equally qualified. God, in such cases is said
+sometimes to have miraculously interposed.
+
+{121}
+
+Eudo, accordingly, having written three billets, laid them on the altar,
+and having made his prayer drew first the name of the abbot William, on
+whom, at the same time, the majority of the votes of the clergy had made
+the election fall, the 23d of November, 1200. This news overwhelmed
+William, with grief. He never would have acquiesced, had he not received
+a double command in virtue of obedience, from the pope, and from his
+general the abbot of Citeaux. He left his clear solitude with many
+tears, and was received at Bourges as one sent by heaven, and soon after
+was consecrated. In this new dignity his first care was to conform both
+his exterior and interior to the most perfect rules of sanctity; being
+very sensible that a man's first task is to honor God perfectly in his
+own soul. He redoubled all his austerities, saying, it was now incumbent
+on him to do penance for others, as well as for himself. He always wore
+a hair-shirt under his religious habit, and never added, nor diminished,
+any thing in his clothes, either winter or summer. He never ate any
+flesh-meat, though he had it at his table for strangers. His attention
+to feed his flock was no less remarkable, especially in assisting the
+poor both spiritually and corporally, saying, that he was chiefly sent
+for them. He was most mild to penitent sinners; but inflexible towards
+the impenitent, though he refused to have recourse to the civil power
+against them, the usual remedy of that age. Many such he at last
+reclaimed by his sweetness and charity. Certain great men, abusing his
+lenity, usurped the rights of his church; but the saint strenuously
+defended them even against the king himself, notwithstanding his threats
+to confiscate his lands. By humility and resolution he overcame several
+contradictions of his chapter and other clergy. By his zeal he converted
+many of the Albigenses, contemporary heretics, and was preparing himself
+for a mission among them, at the time he was seized with his last
+illness. He would, notwithstanding, preach a farewell sermon to his
+people, which increased his fever to such a degree that he was obliged
+to set aside his journey, and take to his bed. Drawing near his end, he
+received first extreme unction, according to the discipline of that
+age;[1] then, in order to receive the viaticum, he rose out of bed, fell
+on his knees melting in tears, and prayed long prostrate with his arms
+stretched out in the form of a cross. The night following, perceiving
+his last hour approach, he desired to anticipate the nocturns, which are
+said at midnight; but having made the sign of the cross on his lips and
+breast, was able to pronounce no more than the two first words. Then,
+according to a sign made by him, he was laid on ashes in the hair-cloth
+which he always privately wore. In this posture he soon after expired, a
+little past midnight, on the morning of the 10th of January, in 1209.
+His body was interred in his cathedral; and being honored by many
+miracles, was taken up in 1217; and in the year following he was
+canonized by pope Honorius III. His relics were kept with great
+veneration till 1562, when they were burnt, and scattered in the winds
+by the Huguenots, on occasion of their plundering the cathedral of
+Bourges, as Baillet and Bollandus mention. A bone of his arm is shown
+with veneration at Chaalis, whither it had been sent soon after the
+saint's body was taken up; and a rib is preserved in the church of the
+college of Navarre, at Paris, on which the canons of St. Bourges
+bestowed it in 1399.[2] His festival is kept in that church with great,
+solemnity, and a great concourse of devout persons; St. William being
+regarded in several parts of France as one of the patrons of the nation,
+though his name is not mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. The
+celebrated countess Maud, his niece, out of veneration for his memory,
+bestowed certain lands in the {122} Nivernois, on the church of
+Bourges.[3] B. Philip Berruyer, a nephew of St. William, was archbishop
+of Bourges from the year 1236 to 1260, in which he died in the odor of
+sanctity. Nangi ascribes to him many miracles, and other historians bear
+testimony to his eminent virtue.[4] Dom Martenne has published his
+edifying original life.[5]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If we look into the lives of all the saints, we shall find that it was
+by a spirit and gift of prayer that the Holy Ghost formed in their
+hearts the most perfect sentiments of all virtues. It is this which
+enlightens the understanding, and infuses a spiritual knowledge, and a
+heavenly wisdom, which is incomparably more excellent than that in which
+philosophers pride themselves. The same purifies the affections,
+sanctifies the soul, adorns it with virtues, and enriches it with every
+gift of heaven. Christ, who is the eternal wisdom, came down among us on
+earth to teach us more perfectly this heavenly language, and he alone is
+our master in it. He vouchsafed also to be our model. In the first
+moment in which his holy soul began to exist, it exerted all its powers
+in contemplating and adorning the divine Trinity, and employed his
+affections in the most ardent acts of praise, love, thanksgiving,
+oblation, and the like. His whole moral life was an uninterrupted
+prayer; more freely to apply himself to this exercise, and to set us an
+example, he often retired into mountains and deserts, and spent whole
+nights in prayer; and to this employment he consecrated his last breath
+upon the cross. By him the saints were inspired to conceive an infinite
+esteem for holy prayer, and such a wonderful assiduity and ardor in this
+exercise, that many renounced altogether the commerce of men to only
+that of God, and his angels; and the rest learned the art of conversing
+secretly with heaven even amidst their exterior employments, which they
+only undertook for God. Holy pastors have always made retirement and a
+life of prayer their apprenticeship or preparation for the ministry, and
+afterward, amidst its functions were still men of prayer in them, having
+God always present to their mind, and setting apart intervals in the
+day, and a considerable part of the nights, to apply themselves with
+their whole attention to this exercise, in the silence of all creatures.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Bellarmin, de Arte moriendi. Iuenin, de Sacram. t. 2, et Hist.
+    des Sacr. t. 7.
+2.  See Chatelain. Not. p. 161, Brev. Paris.
+3.  Gallia Christ. Nov. t. 2, p. 63{?}.
+4.  Ib. p. 69.
+5.  Martenne Anecdot. t. 3, p. 1927.
+
+ST. AGATHO, POPE.
+
+AGATHO, a Sicilian by birth, was remarkable for his charity and
+benevolence, a profound humility, and an engaging sweetness of temper.
+Having been several years treasurer of the church of Rome, he succeeded
+Domnus in the pontificate in 679. He presided by his three legates in
+the sixth general council, and third of Constantinople, in 680, in the
+reign of the pious emperor Constantine Pogonatus, against the
+Monothelite heresy, which he confuted in a learned letter to that
+emperor, by the tradition of the apostolic church of Rome:
+"Acknowledged," says he, "by the whole Catholic church, to be the mother
+and mistress of all other churches, and to derive her superior authority
+from St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, to whom Christ committed his
+whole flock, with a promise that his faith should never fail." This
+epistle was approved as a rule of faith by the same council, which
+declared, _that Peter spoke by Agatho_. This pope restored St. Wilfrid
+to the see of York, and was a great benefactor to the Roman clergy and
+to the churches. Anastatius says, that the number of his miracles
+procured him the title of Thaumaturgus. He died in 682, having held the
+pontificate {123} two years and a half. His feast is kept both by the
+Latins and Greeks. See Anastatius published by Bianchini; also Muratori
+and Labbé, Conc. t. 6, p. 1109.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The style of this pope's letters is inferior to that both of his
+predecessors and successors. The reason he alleges in excusing the
+legates whom he sent to Constantinople for their want of eloquence,
+because the graces of speech could not be cultivated amidst the
+incursions of barbarians, while with much difficulty they earned Thor
+daily subsistence by manual labor; "But we preserve," said he, with
+simplicity of heart, "the faith, which our fathers have handed down to
+us." The bishops, his legates, say the same thing: "Our countries are
+harassed by the fury of barbarous nations. We live in the midst of
+battles, inroads, and devastations; our lives pass in continual alarms
+and anxiety, and we subsist by the labor of our hands."
+
+ST. MARCIAN, PRIEST,
+
+AND TREASURER OF THE CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, IN THE FIFTH AGE,
+
+WAS born at Constantinople, though of a Roman family related to the
+imperial house of the Theodosiuses. From his childhood he served God in
+continual watching, fasting, and prayer, in imitation of St. John the
+Baptist; and for the relief of the necessitous he gave away immense
+occult alms. The time which was not employed in these charities, he
+spent in holy retirement and prayer. In the reign of the emperor
+Marcian, Anatolius the archbishop, offering violence to the saint's
+humility, ordained him priest. In this new state the saint saw himself
+under a stricter obligation than before of laboring to attain to the
+summit of Christian perfection; and while he made the instruction of the
+poor his principal and favorite employment, he redoubled his earnestness
+in providing for their corporal necessities, and was careful never to
+relax any part of his austerities. The severity of his morals was made a
+handle, by those who feared the example of his virtue, as a tacit
+censure of their sloth, avarice, and irregularities, to fasten upon him
+a suspicion of Novatianism; but his meekness and silence at length
+triumphed over the slander. This persecution served more and more to
+purify his soul, and exceedingly improve his virtue. This shone forth
+with greater lustre than ever, when the cloud was dispersed; and the
+patriarch Gennadius, with the great applause of the whole body of the
+clergy and people, conferred on him the dignity of treasurer, which was
+the second in that church. St. Marcian built or repaired in a stately
+manner a great number of churches in Constantinople, confounded the
+Arians and other heretics, and was famous for miracles both before and
+after his happy death, which happened towards the end of the fifth
+century. He is honored both in the Greek Menæa, and Roman Martyrology,
+on the 10th of January. See his ancient anonymous life in Surius, and
+Bollandus; also Cedrenus, Sozomen, and Theodorus Lector, l. 1. Codinus
+Orig. Constant. p. 60. See Tillemont, t. 16, p. 161.
+
+{124}
+
+
+JANUARY XI.
+
+ST. THEODOSIUS, THE CENOBIARCH.
+
+From his life by Theodorus, bishop of Petra, some time his disciple, in
+Surius and Bollandus, and commended by Fleury, Baillet, &c.
+
+A.D. 529.
+
+ST. THEODOSIUS was born at Mogariassus, called in latter ages Marissa,
+in Cappadocia, in 423. He imbibed the first tincture of virtue from the
+fervent example and pious instructions of his virtuous parents. He was
+ordained reader, but some time after being moved by Abraham's example to
+quit his country and friends, he resolved to put this motion in
+execution. He accordingly set out for Jerusalem, but went purposely out
+of his road, to visit the famous St. Simeon Stylites on his pillar, who
+foretold him several circumstances of his life, and gave him proper
+instructions for his behavior in each. Having satisfied his devotion in
+visiting the holy places in Jerusalem, he began to consider in what
+manner he should dedicate himself to God in a religious state. The
+dangers of living without a guide, made him prefer a monastery to a
+hermitage; and he therefore put himself under the direction of a holy
+man named Longinus, to whom his virtue soon endeared him in a very
+particular manner. A pious lady having built a church under the
+invocation of the Blessed Virgin, on the high road to Bethlehem,
+Longinus could not well refuse her request, that his pupil should
+undertake the charge of it; but Theodosius, who loved only to obey,
+could not be induced by any entreaties to consent to this proposal:
+absolute commands were necessary to force him to a compliance. Nor did
+he govern long; for dreading the poison of vanity from the esteem of
+men, he retired into a cave at the top of a neighboring desert mountain,
+and employed his time in fasting, watching, prayers, and tears, which
+almost continually flowed from his eyes. His food was coarse pulse and
+wild herbs: for thirty years he never tasted so much as a morsel of
+bread. Many desired to serve God under his direction: he at first
+determined only to admit six or seven, but was soon obliged to receive a
+greater number, and at length came to a resolution, which charity
+extorted from him, never to reject any that presented themselves with
+dispositions that seemed sincere. The first lesson which he taught his
+monks was, that the continual remembrance of death is the foundation of
+religious perfection; to imprint this more deeply in their minds, he
+caused a great grave or pit to be dug, which might serve for the common
+burial-place of the whole community, that by the presence of this
+memorial of death, and by continually meditating on that object, they
+might more perfectly learn to die daily. The burial-place being made,
+the abbot one day, when he had led his monks to it, said, "The grave is
+made, who will first perform the dedication?" Basil, a priest, who was
+one of the number, falling on his knees, said to St. Theodosius, "I am
+the person, be pleased to give me your blessing." The abbot ordered the
+prayers of the church for the dead to be offered up for him, and on the
+fortieth day, Basil wonderfully departed to our Lord in peace, without
+any apparent sickness. When the holy company of disciples were twelve in
+number, it happened that at the great feast of Easter they had nothing
+to eat; they had not even bread for the sacrifice: some murmured; the
+saint bid them trust {125} in God and he would provide: which was soon
+remarkably verified, by the arrival of certain mules loaded with
+provisions. The lustre of the sanctity and miracles of St. Theodosius,
+drawing great numbers to him who desired to serve God under his
+direction, his cave was too little for their reception; therefore,
+having consulted heaven by prayer, he, by its particular direction,
+built a spacious monastery at a place called Cathismus, not far from
+Bethlehem, at a small distance from his cave, and it was soon filled
+with holy monks. To this monastery were annexed three infirmaries; one
+for the sick, the gift of a pious lady in that neighborhood; the two
+others St. Theodosius built himself, one for the aged and feeble, the
+other for such as had been punished with the loss of their senses, or by
+falling under the power of the devil, for rashly engaging in a religious
+state through pride, and without a due dependence on the grace of God to
+carry them through it. All succors, spiritual and temporal, were
+afforded in these infirmaries, with admirable order, care, and
+affection. He erected also several buildings for the reception of
+strangers, in which he exercised an unbounded hospitality, entertaining
+all that came, for whose use there were one day above a hundred tables
+served with provisions: these, when insufficient for the number of
+guests, were more than once miraculously multiplied by his prayers. The
+monastery itself was like a city of saints in the midst of a desert, and
+in it reigned regularity, silence, charity, and peace. There were four
+churches belonging to it, one for each of the three several nations of
+which his community was chiefly composed, each speaking a different
+language; the fourth was for the use of such as were in a state of
+penance, which those that recovered from their lunatic or possessed
+condition before, mentioned, were put into, and detained till they had
+expiated their fault. The nations into which his community was divided,
+were the Greeks, which were far the most numerous, and consisted of all
+those that came from any provinces of the empire; the Armenians, with
+whom were joined the Arabians and Persians; and, thirdly, the Bessi, who
+comprehended all the northern nations below Thrace, or all who used the
+Runic or Sclavonian tongue. Each nation sung the first part of the mass
+to the end of the gospel, in their own church, but after the gospel, all
+met in the church of the Greeks, where they celebrated the essential
+part of the sacrifice in Greek and communicated all together.[1]
+
+The monks passed a considerable part of the day and night at their
+devotions in the church, and at the times not set apart for public
+prayer and necessary rest, every one was obliged to apply himself to
+some trade, of manual labor, not incompatible with recollection, that
+the house might be supplied with conveniences. Sallust, bishop of
+Jerusalem, appointed St. Sabas superior general of the hermits, and our
+saint of the Cenobites, or religious men living in community throughout
+all Palestine, whence he was styled the Cenobiarch. These two great
+servants of God lived in strict friendship, and had frequent spiritual
+conferences together; they were also united in their zeal and sufferings
+for the church.
+
+The emperor Anastasius patronized the Eutychian heresy, and used all
+possible means to engage our saint in his party. In 513 he deposed
+Elias, patriarch of Jerusalem, as he had banished Flavian II., patriarch
+of Antioch, and intruded Severus, an impious heretic, into that see,
+commanding the Syrians to obey and hold communion with him. SS.
+Theodosius and Sabas maintained boldly the right of Elias, and of John
+his successor; whereupon the imperial officers thought it most advisable
+to connive at their proceedings, considering the great authority they
+had acquired by {126} their sanctity. Soon after, the emperor sent
+Theodosius a considerable sum of money, for charitable uses in
+appearance, but in reality to engage him in his interest. The saint
+accepted of it, and distributed it all among the poor. Anastasius now
+persuading himself that he was as good as gained over to his cause, sent
+him an heretical profession of faith, in which the divine and human
+natures in Christ were confounded into one, and desired him to sign it.
+The saint wrote him an answer full of apostolic spirit; in which,
+besides solidly confuting the Eutychian error, he added, that he was
+ready to lay down his life for the faith of the church. The emperor
+admired his courage and the strength of his reasoning, and returning him
+a respectful answer, highly commended his generous zeal, made some
+apology for his own inconsiderateness, and protested that he only
+desired the peace of the church. But it was not long ere he relapsed
+into his former impiety and renewed his bloody edicts against the
+orthodox, dispatching troops everywhere to have them put in execution.
+On the first intelligence of this, Theodosius went over all the deserts
+and country of Palestine, exhorting every one to be firm in the faith of
+the four general councils. At Jerusalem, having assembled the people
+together, he from the pulpit cried out with a loud voice: "If any one
+receives not the four general councils as the four gospels, let him be
+anathema." So bold an action in a man of his years, inspired with
+courage those whom the edicts had terrified. His discourses had a
+wonderful effect on the people, and God gave a sanction up his zeal by
+miracles: one of these was, that on his going out of the church at
+Jerusalem, a woman was healed of a cancer on the spot, by only touching
+his garments. The emperor sent an order for his banishment, which was
+executed; but dying soon after, Theodosius was recalled by his Catholic
+successor, Justin; who, from a common soldier, had gradually ascended
+the imperial throne.
+
+Our saint survived his return eleven years, never admitting the least
+relaxation in his former austerities. Such was his humility, that seeing
+two monks at variance with each other, he threw himself at their
+feet, and could not rise till they were perfectly reconciled; and once
+having excommunicated one of his subjects for a crime, who
+contumaciously pretended to excommunicate him in his turn, the saint
+behaved as if he had been really excommunicated, to gain the sinner's
+soul by this unprecedented example of submission, which had the desired
+effect. During the last year of his life he was afflicted with a painful
+distemper, in which he gave proof of an heroic patience, and an entire
+submission to the will of God; for being advised by one that was an
+eye-witness of his great sufferings, to pray that God would be pleased
+to grant him some ease, he would give no ear to it, alleging that such
+thoughts were impatience, and would rob him of his crown. Perceiving the
+hour of his dissolution at hand, he gave his last exhortation to his
+disciples, and foretold many things, which accordingly came to pass
+after his death: this happened in the one hundred and fifth year of his
+age, and of our Lord 529. Peter, patriarch of Jerusalem, and the whole
+country, assisted with the deepest sentiments of respect at the
+solemnity of his interment, which was honored by miracles. He was buried
+in his first cell, called the cave of the magi, because the wise men,
+who came to adore Christ soon after his birth, were said to have lodged
+in it. A certain count being on his march against the Persians, begged
+the hair shirt which the saint used to wear next his skin, and believed
+that he owed the victory which he obtained over them, to the saint's
+protection through the pledge of that relic. Both the Roman and Greek
+calendars mention his festival on the 11th of January.
+
+{127}
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The examples of the Nazarites and Essenes among the Jews, and of many
+excellent and holy persons among the Christians through every age,
+demonstrate that many are called by God to serve him in a retired
+contemplative life; nay, it is the opinion of St. Gregory the Great,
+that the world is to some persons so full of ambushes and snares, or
+dangerous occasions of sin, that they cannot be saved but by choosing a
+safe retreat. Those who from experience are conscious of their own
+weakness, and find themselves to be no match for the world, unable to
+countermine its policies, and oppose its power, ought to retire as from
+the face of too potent an enemy; and prefer a contemplative state to a
+busy and active life: not to indulge sloth, or to decline the service of
+God and his neighbor, but to consult his own security, and to fly from
+dangers of sin and vanity. Yet there are some who find the greatest
+dangers in solitude itself; so that it is necessary for every one to
+sound his own heart, take a survey of his own forces and abilities, and
+consult God, that he may best he able to learn the designs of his
+providence with regard to his soul; in doing which, a great purity of
+intention is the first requisite. Ease and enjoyment must not be the end
+of Christian retirement, but penance, labor, and assiduous
+contemplation; without great fervor and constancy in which, close
+solitude is the road to perdition. If greater safety, or an unfitness
+for a public station, or a life of much business (in which several are
+only public nuisances) may be just motives to some for embracing a life
+of retirement, the means of more easily attaining to perfect virtue may
+be such to many. Nor do true contemplatives bury their talents, or cease
+either to be members of the republic of mankind, or to throw in their
+mite towards its welfare. From the prayers and thanksgivings which they
+daily offer to God for the peace of the world, the preservation of the
+church, the conversion of sinners, and the salvation of all men,
+doubtless more valuable benefits often accrue to mankind, than from the
+alms of the rich, or the labors of the learned. Nor is it to be
+imagined, how far and how powerfully their spirit, and the example of
+their innocence and perfect virtue, often spread their influence; and
+how serviceable persons who lead a holy and sequestered life may be to
+the good of the world; nor how great glory redounds to God, by the
+perfect purity of heart and charity to which many souls are thus raised.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Le Brun, Explic. des Cérèmonies de la Messe, t. 4, pp. 234-235,
+    dissert. l. 4, art. 2.
+
+ST. HYGINUS, P. AND M.
+
+HE was placed in the chair of St. Peter after the martyrdom of St.
+Telesphorus, in the year 139. Eusebius informs us,[1] that he sat four
+years. The church then enjoyed some sort of calm, under the mild reign
+of the emperor Antoninus Pius; though several martyrs suffered in his
+time by the fury of the populace, or the cruelty of certain magistrates.
+The emperor himself never consented to such proceedings; and when
+informed of them by the governors of Asia, Athens, Thessalonica, and
+Larissea, he wrote to them in favor of the Christians, as is recorded by
+St. Justin and Eusebius.[2]
+
+But the devil had recourse to other arts to disturb the peace of God's
+church. Cerdo, a wolf in sheep's clothing, in the year 140, came from
+Syria to Rome, and began to teach the false principles which Marcion
+adopted afterward with more success. He impiously affirmed that there
+were two Gods; the one rigorous and severe, the author of the Old
+Testament; the other merciful and good, the author of the New, and the
+father of Christ, sent by him to redeem man from the tyranny of the
+former; and that Christ was not really born of the Virgin Mary, or true
+man, but such {128} in shadow only and appearance. Our holy pope, by his
+pastoral vigilance detected that monster, and cut him off from the
+communion of the church. The heresiarch, imposing upon him by a false
+repentance, was again received; but the zealous pastor having discovered
+that he secretly preached this old opinions, excommunicated him a second
+time.[3]
+
+Another minister of Satan was Valentine, who being a Platonic
+philosopher, puffed up with the vain opinion of his learning, and full
+of resentment for another's being preferred to him in an election to a
+certain bishopric in Egypt, as Tertullian relates,[4] revived the errors
+of Simon Magus, and added to them many other absurd fictions, as of
+thirty Æones or ages, a kind of inferior deities, with whimsical
+histories of their several pedigrees. Having broached these opinions at
+Alexandria, he left Egypt for Rome. At first he dissembled his heresies,
+but by degrees his extravagant doctrines came to light. Hyginus, being
+the mildest of men, endeavored to reclaim him without proceeding to
+extremities; so that Valentine was not excommunicated before the first
+year of St. Pius his immediate successor.
+
+St. Hyginus did not sit quite four years, dying in 142. We do not find
+that he ended his life by martyrdom, yet he is styled a martyr in some
+ancient calendars, as well as in the present Roman Martyrology;
+undoubtedly on account of the various persecutions which he suffered,
+and to which his high station in the church exposed him in those
+perilous times. See Tillemont, t. 2, p. 252.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Eus. l. 4, c. 11.
+2.  Eus. l. 4, c. 30.
+3.  St. Epiph. hom. 41; Iren. l. 3, c. 4; Euseb. &c.
+4.  Tertull. l. contra Valent. c. 4.
+
+ST. EGWIN, B.C.
+
+HE was of the royal blood of the Mercian kings, devoted himself to the
+divine service in his youth, and succeeded O{}or in the episcopal see of
+Worcester, in 692. by his zeal and severity in reproving vice, he
+stirred up some of his own flock to persecute him, which gave him an
+opportunity of performing a penitential pilgrimage Rome. Some legends
+tell us, that setting out he put on his legs iron shackles, and threw
+the key into the river Severn, others say the Avon; but found it in the
+belly of a fish, some say at Rome, others in his passage from France to
+England. After his return, with the assistance of Coenred or Kenred,
+king of Mercia, he founded the famous abbey of Evesham, under the
+invocation of the Blessed Virgin. After this he undertook a second
+journey to Rome, in the company of Coenred, king of the Mercians, and of
+Offa, of the East Saxons, who gave up their temporal principalities to
+labor with greater earnestness to secure an eternal crown. St. Egwin
+died on the 30th of December, in 717, and was buried in the monastery of
+Evesham. His body was translated to a more honorable place in 1183,
+probably on the 11th of January, on which day many English Martyrologies
+mark his festival. See his life in Capgrave, the Annals of Worcester, in
+Wharton's Anglia Sacra; Malmesbury, l. 4, de Pontif. Ang. Harpsfield.
+Sæc. 8, c. 15, 18, and Dr. Thomas in his History the Cathedral of
+Worcester. Monast. Anglic. vol. 1, p. 144, and vol. 2, p. 851. Leland's
+Collections, vol. 1, pp. 240 and 298; vol. 3, p. 160. Dr. Brown Willis,
+History of Abbeys, t. 1, p. 90.
+
+ST. SALVIUS, OR SAUVE, BISHOP OF AMIENS,
+
+FAMOUS for miracles, succeeded Ado in 672, and flourished in the reign
+of Theodoric III. His relics rest at Montreuil, in Picardy, in the
+Benedictin {129} Abbey which bears his name, whither they were
+translated from the cathedral of Amiens, several years after his death,
+as is related in his anonymous life, a piece of uncertain authority with
+regard to his actions. A relic of this saint was formerly kept with
+great veneration in the cathedral of Canterbury, mentioned in the
+history of that church, &c. This saint must not be confounded with St.
+Salvius of Alby, nor with the martyr of this name in Africa, on whose
+festival St. Austin made a sermon. See his anonymous life in Bollandus;
+also Baillet. Gall. Christ. Nova, t. 10, p. 1154. This seems the day of
+his translation, and the 28th of October that of his death.
+
+
+JANUARY XII.
+
+ST. ARCADIUS, MARTYR.
+
+From his ancient acts, much esteemed by Baronius, and inserted by
+Ruinart in his authentic collection. St. Zeno of Verona made use of them
+in his forty-ninth sermon on this martyr. See Tillemont. t. 5 p. 557.
+
+THE time of this saint's martyrdom is not mentioned in his acts; some
+place it under Valerian, others under Dioclesian: he seems to have
+suffered in some city of Mauritania, probably the capital, Cæsarea. The
+fury of the tyrants raged violently, and the devil had instigated his
+soldiers to wage, like so many wolves, a bloody war against the servants
+of Jesus. Upon the least suspicion they broke into houses, made rigorous
+searches, and if they found a Christian, they treated him upon the spot
+with the greatest cruelty, their impatience not suffering them to wait
+the bringing him before a judge. Every day new sacrileges were
+committed; the faithful were compelled to assist at superstitious
+sacrifices, to lead victims crowned with flowers through the streets, to
+burn incense before idols, and to celebrate the enthusiastic feasts of
+Bacchus. Arcadius, seeing his city in great confusion, left his estate
+and withdrew to a solitary place in the neighboring country, serving
+Jesus Christ in watching, prayer, and other exercises of a penitential
+life. His flight could not be long a secret; for his not appearing at
+the public sacrifices made the governor send soldiers to his house; who
+surrounded it, forced open the doors, and finding one of his relations
+in it, who said all he could to justify his kinsman's absence; they
+seized him, and the governor ordered him to be kept in close custody
+till Arcadius should be taken. The martyr, informed of his friend's
+danger, and burning with a desire to suffer for Christ, went into the
+city, and presenting himself to the judge, said: "If on my account you
+detain my innocent relation in chains, release him; I, Arcadius, am come
+in person to give an account of myself, and to declare to you, that he
+knew not where I was." "I am willing," answered the judge, "to pardon
+not only him, but you also, on condition that you will sacrifice to the
+gods." Arcadius replied, "How can you propose to me such a thing? Do you
+not know the Christians, or do you believe that the fear of death will
+ever make me swerve from my duty? Jesus Christ is my life, and death is
+my gain. Invent what torments you please; but know that nothing shall
+make me a traitor to my God." The governor, in a rage, paused to devise
+some unheard-of torment for him. Iron hooks seemed too easy; neither
+plummets of lead, nor cudgels could satisfy his fury; the very rack he
+thought by much too gentle. At last {130} imagining he had found a
+manner of death suitable to his purpose, he said to the ministers of his
+cruelty, "Take him, and let him see and desire death, without being able
+to obtain it. Cut off his limbs joint by joint, and execute this so
+slowly, that the wretch may know what it is to abandon the gods of his
+ancestors for an unknown deity." The executioners dragged Arcadius to
+the place, where many other victims of Christ had already suffered; a
+place dear and sweet to all who sigh after eternal life. Here the martyr
+lifts up his eyes to heaven, and implores strength from above; then
+stretches out his neck, expecting to have his head cut off; but the
+executioner bid him hold out his hand, and joint after joint chopped off
+his fingers, arms, and shoulders. Laying the saint afterward on his
+back, he in the same barbarous manner cut off his toes, feet, legs, and
+thighs. The holy martyr held out his limbs and joints, one after
+another, with invincible patience and courage, repeating these words,
+"Lord, teach me thy wisdom:" for the tyrants had forgot to cut out his
+tongue. After so many martyrdoms, his body lay a mere trunk weltering in
+its own blood. The executioners themselves, as well as the multitude,
+were moved to tears and admiration at this spectacle, and at such an
+heroic patience. But Arcadius, with a joyful countenance, surveying his
+scattered limbs all around him, and offering them to God, said, "Happy
+members, now dear to me, as you at last truly belong to God, being all
+made a sacrifice to him!" Then turning to the people, he said, "You who
+have been present at this bloody tragedy, learn that all torments seem
+as nothing to one who has an everlasting crown before his eyes. Your
+gods are not gods; renounce their worship. He alone for whom I suffer
+and die, is the true God. He comforts and upholds me in the condition
+you see me. To die for him is to live; to suffer for him is to enjoy the
+greatest delights." Discoursing in this manner to those about him, he
+expired on the 12th of January, the pagans being struck with
+astonishment at such a miracle of patience. The Christians gathered
+together his scattered limbs, and laid them in one tomb. The Roman and
+other Martyrologies make honorable mention of him on this day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We belong to God by numberless essential titles of interest, gratitude,
+and justice, and are bound to be altogether his, and every moment to
+live to him alone, with all our powers and all our strength: whatever it
+may cost us to make this sacrifice perfect and complete, if we truly
+love him, we shall embrace it with joy and inexpressible ardor. In these
+sentiments we ought, by frequent express acts, and by the uninterrupted
+habitual disposition of our souls, to give all we are and have to God,
+all the powers of our souls, all the senses and organs of our bodies,
+all our actions, thoughts, and affections. This oblation we may
+excellently comprise in any of the first petitions of our Lord's prayer:
+the following is a form of an oblation to our divine Redeemer, which St.
+Ignatius of Loyola drew up and used to repeat: "O sovereign king, and
+absolute Lord of all things, though I am most unworthy to serve you,
+nevertheless, relying on your grace and boundless mercy, I offer myself
+up entire to you, and subject whatever belongs to me to your most holy
+will; and I protest, in presence of your infinite goodness, and in
+presence of the glorious Virgin your mother, and your whole heavenly
+court, that it is my most earnest desire, and unshaken resolution, to
+follow and imitate you the nearest I am able, in bearing all injuries
+and crosses with meekness and patience, and in laboring to die to the
+world and myself in a perfect spirit of humility and poverty, that I may
+be wholly yours and you may reign in me in time and eternity."
+
+{131}
+
+SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP,
+
+COMMONLY CALLED BENNET.
+
+HE was nobly descended, and one of the great officers of the court of
+Oswi, the religious king of the Northumbers: he was very dear to his
+prince, and was beholden to his bounty for many fair estates, and great
+honors; but neither the favors of so good and gracious a king, nor the
+allurements of power, riches, and pleasures, were of force to captivate
+his heart, who could see nothing in them but dangers, and snares so much
+the more to be dreaded, as fraught with the power of charming. At the
+age therefore of twenty-five, an age that affords the greatest relish
+for pleasure, he bid adieu to the world, made a journey of devotion to
+Rome, and at his return devoted him wholly to the studies of the
+scriptures and other holy exercises. Some time after his return to
+England, Alcfrid, son of king Oswi, being desirous to make a pilgrimage
+to the shrines of the apostles, engaged Biscop to bear him company to
+Rome. The king prevented his son's journey; nevertheless our saint
+travelled thither a second time, burning with an earnest desire of
+improving himself in the knowledge of divine things, and in the love of
+God. From Rome he went to the great monastery of Lerins, then renowned
+for its regular discipline; there he took the monastic habit, and spent
+two years in the most exact observance of the rule, and penetrated in
+every exercise with its true spirit: after this he returned to Rome,
+where he received an order of pope Vitalian to accompany St. Theodorus,
+archbishop of Canterbury, and St. Adrian, to England. When he arrived at
+Canterbury, St. Theodorus committed to him the care of the monastery of
+SS. Peter and Paul, near that city, which abbacy he resigned to St.
+Adrian upon his arrival in England. St. Bennet stayed about two years in
+Kent, giving himself up to religious exercises and sacred studies, under
+the discipline of those two excellent persons. Then he took a fourth
+journey to Rome, with a view of perfecting himself in ecclesiastical
+discipline, and the rules and practice of a monastic life; for which
+purpose he made a considerable stay at Rome and other places: he brought
+home with him a choice library, relics and pictures of Christ, the
+Blessed Virgin, and other saints. When he returned to Northumberland,
+king Egfrid (in whose father's court St. Bennet had formerly lived)
+bestowed on him seventy ploughs or families of land for building a
+monastery;[1] this the saint founded on the mouth of the river Were,
+whence it was called Weremouth. When the monastery was built, St. Bennet
+went over to France, and brought back with him skilful masons, who built
+the church for this monastery of stone, and after the Roman fashion; for
+till that time stone buildings were very rare in Britain, even the
+church of Lindisfarne was of wood, and covered over with a thatch of
+straw and reeds, till bishop Eadbert procured both the roof and the
+walls to be covered with sheets of lead, as Bede mentions.[2] St. Bennet
+also brought over glaziers from France, for the art of making glass was
+then unknown in Britain. In a fifth journey to Rome, St. Bennet
+furnished himself with a larger stock of good books, especially the
+writings of the fathers, also of relics and holy pictures, with which he
+enriched his own country.
+
+His first monastery of Weremouth was entitled from Saint Peter, prince
+of the apostles; and such was the edification which it gave, that the
+same {132} king added to the saint a second donation of lands,
+consisting of forty ploughs; on which Biscop built another monastery, at
+a place called Girwy, now Jarrow, on the Tine, six miles distant from
+the former, and this latter was called St. Paul's; these two monasteries
+were almost looked upon as one; and St. Bennet governed them both,
+though he placed in each a superior or abbot, who continued subject to
+him, his long journey to Rome and other avocations making this
+substitution necessary.[3] In the church of St. Peter at Weremouth he
+placed the pictures of the Blessed Virgin, the twelve apostles, the
+history of the gospel, and the visions in the revelation of St. John:
+that of St. Paul's at Jarrow, he adorned with other pictures, disposed
+in such manner as to represent the harmony between the Old and New
+Testament, and the conformity of the figures in one to the reality in
+the other. Thus Isaac carrying the wood which was to be employed in the
+sacrifice of himself, was explained by Jesus Christ carrying his cross,
+on which he was to finish his sacrifice; and the brazen serpent was
+illustrated by our Saviour's crucifixion. With these pictures, and many
+books and relics, St. Bennet brought from Rome in his last voyage, John,
+abbot of St. Martin's, precentor in St. Peter's church, whom he
+prevailed with pope Agatho to send with him, and whom he placed at
+Weremouth to instruct perfectly his monks in the Gregorian notes, and
+Roman ceremonies for singing the divine office. Easterwin, a kinsman of
+St. Bennet, and formerly an officer in the king's court, before he
+became a monk, was chosen abbot before our saint set out for Rome, and
+in that station behaved always as the meanest person in the house; for
+though he was eminently adorned with all virtues, humility, mildness,
+and devotion seemed always the most eminent part of his character. This
+holy man died on the 6th of March, when he was but thirty-six years old,
+and had been four years abbot, while St. Bennet was absent in the last
+journey to Rome. The monks chose in his place St. Sigfrid, a deacon, a
+man of equal gravity and meekness, who soon after fell into a lingering
+decay, under which he suffered violent pains in his lungs and bowels. He
+died four months before our saint. With his advice, two months before
+his death, St. Bennet appointed St. Ceolfrid abbot of both his
+monasteries, being himself struck with a dead palsy, by which all the
+lower parts of his body were without life; he lay sick of this distemper
+three years, and for a considerable time was entirely confined to his
+bed. During this long illness, not being able to raise his voice to the
+usual course of singing the divine office, at every canonical hour he
+sent for some of his monks and while they, being divided into two
+choirs, sung the psalms proper for the hour of the day or night, he
+endeavored as well as he could to join not only his heart, but also his
+voice, with theirs. His attention to God he seemed never to relax, and
+frequently and earnestly exhorted his monks to a constant observance of
+the rule he had given them. "You must not think," said he, "that the
+constitutions which you have received from me were my own invention,
+for, having in my frequent journeys visited seventeen well-ordered
+monasteries, I informed myself of all their laws and rules, and picking
+out the best among them, these I have recommended to you." The saint
+expired soon after, having received the viaticum on the 12th of January,
+in 690. His relics, according to Malmesbury,[4] were translated to
+Thorney abbey, in 970, but the monks of Glastenbury thought themselves
+possessed at least of part of that treasure.[5] The true name of our
+saint was Biscop {133} Baducing, as appears from Eddius-Stephen, in his
+life of St. Wilfrid. The English Benedictins honor him as one of the
+patrons of their congregation, and he is mentioned in the Roman
+Martyrology on this day. See his life in Bede's history of the first
+abbots of Weremouth, published by Sir James Ware, at Dublin, in 1664.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A plough, or family of land, was as much as one plough, or one yoke
+    of oxen could throw up in a year, or as sufficed for the maintenance
+    of a family.
+2.  Hist. l. 3, c. 25.
+3.  The abbeys of Weremouth and Jarrow were destroyed by the Danes. Both
+    were rebuilt in part, and from the year 1083 were small priories or
+    cells dependent on the abbey of Durham, till their dissolution {}th
+    of Henry VIII.
+4.  Malmes. l. 4, de Pontif.
+5.  See Monast. Ang. t. 1, p. 4, and John of Glastenbury, Hist. Glasten.
+
+TYGRIUS, A PRIEST,
+
+WHO was scourged, tormented with the disjointing of his bones, stripped
+of all his goods, and sent into banishment; and EUTROPIUS, lector, and
+precentor of the church of Constantinople, who died in prison of his
+torments, having been scourged, his cheeks torn with iron hooks, and his
+sides burnt with torches; are honored in the Roman Martyrology with the
+title of martyrs on the 12th of January.
+
+ST. AELRED,
+
+ABBOT OF RIEVAL, OR RIDAL, IN YORKSHIRE.
+
+HE was of noble descent, and was born in the north of England, in 1109.
+Being educated in learning and piety, he was invited by David, the pious
+king of Scotland, to his court, made master of his household, and highly
+esteemed both by him and the courtiers. His virtue shone with bright
+lustre in the world, particularly his meekness, which Christ declared to
+be his favorite virtue, and the distinguishing mark of his true
+disciples. The following is a memorable instance to what a degree he
+possessed this virtue: a certain person of quality having insulted and
+reproached him in the presence of the king, Aelred heard him out with
+patience, and thanked him for his charity and sincerity, in telling him
+his faults. This behavior had such an influence on his adversary as made
+him ask his pardon on the spot. Another time, while he was speaking on a
+certain matter, one interrupted him with very harsh, reviling
+expressions: the servant of God heard him with tranquillity, and
+afterwards resumed his discourse with the same calmness and presence of
+mind as before. His desires were ardent to devote himself entirely to
+God, by forsaking the world; but the charms of friendship detained him
+some time longer in it, and were fetters to his soul; reflecting,
+notwithstanding, that he must sooner or later be separated by death from
+those he loved most, he condemned his own cowardice, and broke at once
+those bands of friendship, which were more agreeable to him than all
+other sweets of life. He describes the situation of his soul under this
+struggle, and says, "Those who saw me, judging by the gaudy show which
+surrounded me, and not knowing what passed within my soul, said,
+speaking of me: Oh, how well is it with him! how happy is he! But they
+knew not the anguish of my mind; for the deep wound in my heart gave me
+a thousand tortures, and I was not able to bear the intolerable stench
+of my sins." But after he had taken his resolution, he says, "I began
+then to know, by a little experience, what immense pleasure is found in
+thy service, and how sweet that peace is, which is its inseparable
+companion."[1] To relinquish entirely all his worldly engagements, he
+left Scotland, and embraced the austere Cistercian order, at Rieval, in
+a valley upon the hanks of the Rie, in Yorkshire, where a noble lord,
+called Walter {134} Especke, had founded a monastery in 1122. At the age
+of twenty-four, in 1133, he became a monk under the first abbot,
+William, a disciple of St. Bernard. Fervor adding strength to his tender
+delicate body, he set himself cheerfully about practising the greatest
+austerities, and employed much of his time in prayer and the reading of
+pious books. He converted his heart with great ardor to the love of God,
+and by this means finding all his mortifications sweet and light, he
+cried out,[2] "That yoke doth not oppress, but raiseth the soul; that
+burden hath-wings, not weight." He speaks of divine charity always in
+raptures, and by his frequent ejaculations on the subject, it seems to
+have been the most agreeable occupation of his soul. "May thy voice
+(says he) sound in my ears, O good Jesus, that my heart may learn how to
+love thee, that my mind may love thee, that the interior powers, and, as
+it were, bowels of my soul, and very marrow of my heart, may love thee,
+and that my affections may embrace thee, my only true good, my sweet and
+delightful joy! What is love? my God! If I mistake not, it is the
+wonderful delight of the soul, so much the more sweet as more pure, so
+much the more overflowing and inebriating as more ardent. He who loves
+thee, possesses thee; and he possesses thee in proportion as he loves,
+because thou art love. This is that abundance with which thy beloved are
+inebriated, melting away from themselves, that they may pass into thee,
+by loving thee."[3] He had been much delighted in his youth with reading
+Tully; but after his conversion, found that author, and all other
+reading, tedious and bitter, which was not sweetened with the honey of
+the holy name of Jesus, and seasoned with the word of God, as he says in
+the preface to his book, _On spiritual friendship_. He was much edified
+with the very looks of a holy monk, called Simon, who had despised high
+birth, an ample fortune, and all the advantages of mind and body, to
+serve God in that penitential state. This monk went and came as one deaf
+and dumb, always recollected in God; and was such a lover of silence,
+that he would scarce speak a few words to the prior on necessary
+occasions. His silence, however, was sweet, agreeable, and full of
+edification. Our saint says of him, "The very sight of his humility
+stifled my pride, and made me blush at the immortification of my looks.
+The law of silence practised among us, prevented my ever speaking to him
+deliberately; but, one day, on my speaking a word to him inadvertently,
+his displeasure appeared in his looks for my infraction of the rule of
+silence; and he suffered me to lie some time prostrate before him to
+expiate my fault; for which I grieved bitterly, and which I never could
+forgive myself."[4] This holy monk, having served God eight years in
+perfect fidelity, died in 1142, in wonderful peace, repeating with his
+last breath, "I will sing eternally, O Lord, thy mercy, thy mercy, thy
+mercy!"
+
+St. Aelred, much against his inclination, was made abbot of a new
+monastery of his order, founded by William, Earl of Lincoln, at Revesby,
+in Lincolnshire, in 1142, and of Rieval, over three hundred monks, in
+1143. Describing their life, he says, that they drank nothing but water;
+ate little, and that coarse; labored hard, slept little, and on hard
+boards; never spoke, except to their superiors on necessary occasions;
+carried the burdens that were laid on them without refusing any; went
+wherever they were led; had not a moment for sloth, or amusements of any
+kind, and never had any lawsuit or dispute.[5] St. Aelred also mentions
+their mutual charity and peace in the most affecting manner, and is not
+able to find words to express the joy he felt at the sight of every one
+of them. His humility and love of solitude made him constantly refuse
+many bishoprics which were pressed {135} upon him. Pious reading and
+prayer were his delight. Even in times of spiritual dryness, if he
+opened the divine books, he suddenly found his soul pierced with the
+light of the Holy Ghost. His eyes, though before as dry as marble,
+flowed with tears, and his heart abandoned itself to sighs accompanied
+with a heavenly pleasure, by which he was ravished in God. He died in
+1166, and the fifty-seventh of his age, having been twenty-two years
+abbot. See his works published at Douay in 1625, and in Bibl. Cisterc.
+t. 5, particularly his _Mirrour of Charity_; Hearne's Notes on Gulielmus
+Neubrigensis, who dedicated to our saint the first book of his history,
+t. 3, p. 1: likewise his life in Capgrave, and the annals of his order.
+The general chapter held at Citeaux in 1250, declared him to be ranked
+among the saints of their order; as Henriquez and the additions to the
+Cistercian Martyrology testify. In the new Martyrology published by
+Benedict XIV. for the use of this order, the feast of St. Aelred is
+marked on the 2d of March,[6] with a great eulogium of his learning,
+innocence of life, wonderful humility, patience, heavenly conversation,
+gift of prophecy, and miracles.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Spec. {} 1, c. 28.
+2.  Spec. l. 1, c. 5.
+3.  Ibid. l. 1, c. 1.
+4.  Ibid. l. 1, c. ult.
+5.  L. 2, c. 2.
+6.  P. 304
+
+
+JANUARY XIII.
+
+ST. VERONICA, OF MILAN.
+
+From her life, in Bollandus, t. 1, p. 890.
+
+A.D. 1497.
+
+ALL states furnish abundant means for attaining to sanctity and
+Christian perfection, and it is only, owing to our sloth and tepidity
+that we neglect to make use of them. This saint could boast of no
+worldly advantages either by birth or fortune.[1] Her parents maintained
+their family by hard labor in a village near Milan, and were both very
+pious; her father never sold a horse, or any thing else he dealt in,
+without being more careful to acquaint the purchaser with all that was
+secretly faulty in it, than to recommend its good qualities. His narrow
+circumstances prevented his giving his daughter any schooling, so that
+she never learned to read; but his own, and his devout wife's example,
+and fervent though simple instructions, filled her tender heart from the
+cradle with lively sentiments of virtue. The pious {136} maid from her
+infancy applied herself to continual prayer, was very attentive to the
+instructions given in the catechism; and the uninterrupted consideration
+of the holy mysteries, and the important truths of religion, engrossed
+her whole soul to themselves. She was, notwithstanding, of all others,
+the most diligent and indefatigable in labor; and so obedient to her
+parents and masters, even in the smallest trifles, so humble and
+submissive to her equals, that she seemed to have no will of her own.
+Her food was coarse and very sparing, and her drink the same which the
+poorer sort of people used in that country, water, except sometimes
+whey, or a little milk. At her work she continually conversed in her
+heart with God; insomuch that in company she seemed deaf to their
+discourses, mirth, and music. When she was weeding, reaping, or at any
+other labor in the fields, she strove to work at a distance from her
+companions, to entertain herself the more freely with her heavenly
+spouse. The rest admired her love of solitude, and on coming to her,
+always found her countenance cheerful, yet often bathed in tears, which
+they sometimes perceived to flow in great abundance; though they did not
+know the source to be devotion: so carefully did Veronica conceal what
+passed in her soul between her and God.
+
+Through a divine call to a religious and conventual state of life, she
+conceived a great desire to become a nun, in the poor, austere, and
+edifying convent of St. Martha, of the order of St. Austin in Milan. To
+qualify herself for this state, being busied the whole day at work, she
+sat up at night to learn to read and write, which the want of an
+instructor made a great fatigue to her. One day being in great anxiety
+about her learning, the Mother of God, to whom she had always
+recommended herself, in a comfortable vision bade her banish that
+anxiety; for it was enough if she knew three letters: The first, purity
+of the affections, by placing her whole heart on God alone, loving no
+creature, but in him and for him; the second, never to murmur, or be
+impatient at the sins, or any behavior of others, but to bear them with
+interior peace and patience, and humbly to pray for them; the third, to
+set apart some time every day to meditate on the passion of Christ.
+After three years' preparation, she was admitted to the religious habit
+in St. Martha's. Her life was entirely uniform, perfect, and fervent in
+every action, no other than a living copy of her rule, which consisted
+in the practice of evangelical perfection reduced to certain holy
+exercises. Every moment of her life she studied to accomplish it to the
+least tittle, and was no less exact in obeying the order or direction of
+any superior's will. When she could not obtain leave to watch in the
+church so long as she desired, by readily complying, she deserved to
+hear from Christ, that obedience was a sacrifice the most dear to him,
+who, to obey his Father's will, came down from heaven, _becoming
+obedient even unto death_.[2]
+
+She lay three years under a lingering illness, all which time she would
+never be exempted from any duty of the house, or part of her work, or
+make use of the least indulgence, though she had leave; her answer
+always was, "I must work while I can, while I have time." It was her
+delight to help and serve every one. She always sought with admirable
+humility the last place, and the greatest drudgery. It was her desire to
+live always on bread and water. Her silence was a sign of her
+recollection and continual prayer, in which her gift of abundant and
+almost continual tears was most wonderful. She nourished them by
+constant meditation on her own miseries, on the love of God, the joys of
+heaven, and the sacred passion of Christ. She always spoke of her own
+sinful life, as she called it, though it was most innocent, with the
+most feeling sentiments of compunction. She was favored by God with many
+extraordinary visits and {137} comforts. By moving exhortations to
+virtue, she softened and converted several obdurate sinners. She died at
+the hour which she had foretold, in the year 1497, and the fifty-second
+of her age. Her sanctity was confirmed by miracles. Pope Leo X., by a
+bull in 1517, permitted her to be honored in her monastery in the same
+manner as if she had been beatified according to the usual form. The
+bull may be seen in Bollandus.[3] Her name is inserted on this day in
+the Roman Martyrology, published by Benedict XIV., in the year 1749; but
+on the 28th of this month, in that of the Austin friars, approved by the
+same pope.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Christian perfection consists very much in the performance of our
+ordinary actions, and the particular duties of our respective stations.
+God, as the good father and great master of the family of the world,
+allots to every one his proper place and office in it; and it is in this
+variety of states by which it subsists; and in their mutual dependence
+upon each other, that its good order and beauty consist. It is the most
+holy and wise appointment of providence and the order of nature, that
+the different stations in the world be filled. Kings and subjects, rich
+and poor, reciprocally depend upon each other; and it is the command of
+God that every one perform well the part which is assigned him. It is,
+then, by the constant attendance on all the duties of his state, that a
+person is to be sanctified. By this all his ordinary actions will be
+agreeable sacrifices to God, and his whole life a continued chain of
+good works. It is not only in great actions, or by fits and starts, but
+in all that we do, and in every moment, that we are bound to live to
+God. The regulation of this point is of essential importance in a
+virtuous life, that every action may be performed with regularity,
+exactitude in all its circumstances, and the utmost fervor, and by the
+most pure motive, referred solely to divine honor, in union with the
+most holy actions and infinite merits of Christ. Hence St. Hilary
+says,[4] "When the just man performs all his actions, with a pure and
+simple view to the divine honor and glory, as the apostle admonishes us,[5]
+his whole life becomes an uninterrupted prayer; and as he passes his
+days and nights in the accomplishment of the divine will, it is true to
+say, that the whole course of a holy life is a constant meditation on
+the law of God." Nevertheless this axiom, that the best devotion is the
+constant practice of a person's ordinary duties, is abused by some, to
+excuse a life of dissipation. Every one is bound to live to himself in
+the first place, and to reserve leisure for frequent exercises of
+devotion; and it is only by a spirit of perfect self-denial, humility,
+compunction, and prayer, and by an assiduous attention of the soul to
+God, that our exterior ordinary actions will be animated by the motives
+of divine faith and charity, and the spirit of true piety nourished in
+our breasts; in this consists the secret of a Christian life in all
+states.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The print of the holy face of our Saviour on a linen cloth, is kept
+    in Saint Peter's church at Rome, with singular veneration. It is
+    mentioned in an ancient ceremonial of that church, dedicated to
+    Celestin II. in 1143, published by Mabillon, (Museum Ital. t 2 p.
+    122;) also in Matthew of Westminster, Flores Hist. under Innocent
+    III. who died in 1216; and in a Bull of Nicholas IV. in 1290. It was
+    called Veronica, or true image of our Lord's face, from Vera and
+    Iconica, a word used by St. Gregory of Tours. (Vit. Patr. c, 12.)
+    for an image, from the Greek word Icon. Some moderns imagine that it
+    served at the burial of out Lord; others say, that a devout woman
+    wiped his face with it, when he was fainting under the load of his
+    cross, going to mount Calvary. In some particular missals, as in
+    that of Mentz in 1493, among the votive masses, is one "de Sancta
+    Veronica sei vultu Domini," in the same manner as there is a mass,
+    "On the cross." Such devotions are directed to honor our Lord, with
+    a remembrance of this relic, memorial, or pledge. From this office
+    of the Veronica is taken an Anthem and Prayer which are said in some
+    private churches, as a commemoration of the holy face of Lucca,
+    which is a very ancient and miraculous crucifix, in the chapel of
+    the Holy Cross, in the cathedral dedicated to St. Martin at Lucca. A
+    copy of the true Veronica is kept in the Cistercian nunnery at
+    Montreuil, a present of Urban IV. to this house, his sister being a
+    nun there. See his letter to them in Chiffleter, "de Linteis
+    sepulchralibus Domini." This letter was dated in 1249, when the
+    author was archdeacon and chaplain to Innocent IV. Some private
+    writers and churches have given the name of St. Veronica to the
+    devout woman who is said to have presented this linen cloth to our
+    divine Redeemer; but without sufficient warrant. See Rapebroch Matt.
+    t. 7, p. 356, n. 126, and Chatelain. Notes on the Martyr, on Jan.
+    13, pp. 201, 222.
+2.  Phil. ii. 8.
+3.  T. 1, p. 889.
+4.  S. Hilar. in Ps. i. p. 20.
+5.  1 Cor. x. 31.
+
+ST. KENTIGERN, BISHOP OF GLASCO, C.
+
+IN ANCIENT BRITISH, KYNDEYRN; SURNAMED MUNGHO, OR MUNGHU.
+
+THIS eminent saint of the ancient church of North Britain, was of royal
+blood among the Picts, or original inhabitants of that country, and born
+about the year 516. He was placed very young under the discipline of St.
+Servanus, bishop and abbot of Culros, a monastery, situated upon the
+frith which divides Lothian from Fife. By this holy prelate he was
+trained up in the perfect spirit of Christian meekness and piety. For
+his innocence and great virtues he was beloved by his master, and all
+who were acquainted {138} with that religious family, above all his
+fellow-disciples, for which reason he was called Munghu, or Mungho,
+which in the language of that country signified "one dearly beloved;"
+and this is the name which the Scots usually give him to this day. When
+he was grown up, by the direction of St. Servanus, he retired to a place
+called Glasghu, where he led a solitary life in great abstinence, till
+the clergy and people earnestly demanded him for their bishop. He was
+consecrated by an Irish bishop, invited over for that purpose, and fixed
+his see at Glasghu, or Glasco, where he assembled a numerous company of
+religious brethren, who formed their rule of life upon the model of the
+primitive Christians at Jerusalem. The saint's diocese was of vast
+extent, reaching from sea to sea, and being wild and uncultivated,
+afforded continual exercise for his zeal and patience; he travelled
+always on foot, sparing no pains to spread the light of the gospel among
+the unbelievers, of whom he converted and baptized great numbers. The
+Pelagian heresy having taken deep root among the Christians in those
+parts, he so vigorously opposed that fatal, growing evil, as entirely to
+banish that hydra out of the church of the Picts. Besides the recital of
+the whole Psalter, he performed every day several other exercises of
+devotion; lived in a constant union of his soul with God, and by
+perpetual abstinence, rigorous fasts, and other extraordinary
+austerities, he made his whole life an uninterrupted course of penance.
+Every Lent he retired from the sight and conversation of men, into some
+desert, to hold a close communication with God in solitude. As both in
+his virtues and labors he imitated the apostles, so God was pleased to
+authorize his preaching, by conferring on him an apostolic grace of the
+miraculous powers. Out of his monks and disciples, he sent many
+missionaries to preach the faith in the north of Scotland, in the isles
+of Orkney, in Norway, and Iceland.
+
+The form of government among the Straith-Cluid Britons and the
+Cumbrians, the latter inhabiting the country from the Picts' wall, to
+the Ribble in Lancashire, was in part aristocratical; for many petty
+lords or princes enjoyed so great authority in their respective
+territories, as often to wage war among themselves: yet they all obeyed
+one monarch, who usually resided at Alcluyd, or Dunbritton. Besides the
+feuds and quarrels of particular chieftains and their clans, there
+happened about that time several revolutions in the monarchy. We learn
+from the book entitled the Triades, that when St. Kentigern was made
+bishop of Glasco, Gurthmel Wledig was king of the North Britons, and
+contemporary with Arthur. He was succeeded by Rydderch, surnamed Hael,
+i.e. _The Liberal_, who vanquished his enemies and rivals in war,
+especially by the great victory of Arderyth, in 577.[1] He was a
+religious and deserving prince, and his magnificence, generosity, and
+other virtues, are extolled by the ancient author of the Triades, by
+Merlin, Taliessin, the old laws of the Britons, and the authors of the
+lives of St. Kentigern and St. Asaph. This prince, however, was
+afterwards obliged by rebellious subjects, under Morcant Mawr, and
+Aeddon, surnamed Uraydog, or _The Treacherous_, to fly into Ireland. The
+impious Morcant (as he is styled in the fragment of St. Asaph's life,
+extant in Coch-Asaph) usurped the throne of the Straith-Cluid Britons;
+but the Cumbrians, who dwelt on the south side of the wall, were
+protected by Urien, lord of Rheged, a nobleman who had lived at the
+court of king Arthur, and whose great qualities are celebrated by the
+pens of Lhowarch-Hen, (his cousin-german,) Taliessin, and the author of
+the Triades. In the beginning of the usurpation of Morcant Mawr, St.
+Kentigern was obliged to fly into Wales, where he stayed some time with
+St. David, at Menevia, {139} till Cathwallain, (uncle to king Maelgun
+Gwynedh,[2]) a religious prince of part of Denbighshire, bestowed on him
+the land at the meeting of the rivers Elwy and Cluid, on which he built
+a famous monastery and school, called from the river Elwy, Llan-Elwy, or
+absolutely Elgwy, where a great number of disciples and scholars soon
+put themselves under his direction. St. Kentigern was here when St.
+David died, in 546, or rather in 544, when the first of March fell on a
+Tuesday.[3] After the death of the usurper Morcant, Rydderch returned
+from Ireland, and recovered his crown, and St. Kentigern, leaving his
+school to the care of St. Asaph, (whose name the town, which was raised
+at Elgwy, bears to this day,) went back to Glasco, taking with him
+several hundreds of his scholars; their number having probably been much
+increased after the death of Daniel, bishop of Bangor, which happened
+between the years 542 and 545. The return of St. Kentigern to his see,
+is generally placed about the year 560, nor can it be placed later,
+since in 565 he had a conference with St. Columbo, when that holy man
+came over to Scotland, in order to convert the northern Picts, to whom
+St. Kentigern had already sent missionaries.[4] Wharton therefore justly
+places the residence of St. Kentigern in Wales, from the year 543 to
+560.[5] King Rydderch powerfully seconded the zeal of our saint in all
+his undertakings, being his constant friend and protector; as were the
+two princes who afterward succeeded him, Guallauc, (who seems to have
+been his son,) and Morcant Mwynfawn, (who was certainly his brother.)
+The valor of Rydderch, and these two successors, which is highly
+commended by an ancient author in Nennius, and other British historians,
+was the bulwark of their dominions against the inroads of the Saxons.
+St. Kentigern employed his zeal all this time, with wonderful success,
+in correcting abuses, reforming the manners of his flock, and
+propagating the faith; was favored with a wonderful gift of miracles,
+and died in 601, aged eighty-five years. His tomb, in his titular church
+at Glasco, was famous for miracles, and his name was always most
+illustrious in the Scottish calendars. See his ancient life, Leland de
+Scriptor. Usher, Ant. c. 15. Hector Boetius, Leslie, &c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Vaughn's Dissert. on the British Chron. Carte. t. 1, p. 211.
+2.  See Notes on St. Gildas and St. David.
+3.  Usher, Ant. Brit. c. 14.
+4.  Vit. S. Kentigerni. Usher, Antiqu. c. 15, p. 358.
+5.  Wharton de Episcopis Asaphensibus, pp. 300, 302.
+
+This is also the Octave of the Epiphany.[1] The principal object of the
+devotion of the church on this day is the baptism of our Saviour by St.
+John in the Jordan. We learn from the great council of Oxford, in
+1222,[2] that it was then kept a holyday of the third class; on which
+all were obliged to hear mass, though they might work afterwards. In
+France and Germany all servile work was forbidden on it, by the
+capitulars of Lewis le Débonnaire.[3] The emperor Theodosius II. forbids
+all civil courts and transactions during eight days before the festival
+of the Epiphany, and as many after it.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The church prolongs more solemn festivals during eight days, with a
+    daily continuation of the sacred office proper to each such
+    festival. This term is called its octave, and the eighth day is
+    called the octave-day.
+2.  Can. 8.
+3.  L. 2, de feriis.
+
+{140}
+
+
+JANUARY XIV.
+
+ST. HILARY, BISHOP.
+
+From his own writings, and the histories of that age, which furnish the
+most authentic memoirs of his life. See what Dom Coutant, the Benedictin
+monk, has recorded of him in his excellent edition of his works; as also
+Tillemont, t. 7, Ceillier, t. 5, and Rivet, Hiss. Lit. t. 1, part 2, p.
+139. The two books, the one of his life, the other of his miracles, by
+Fortunatus of Poictiers, 600, are inaccurate. Both the Fortunatases were
+from Italy; and probably one was the author of the first, and the other
+of the second book.
+
+A.D. 368.
+
+ST. AUSTIN, who often urges the authority of St. Hilary against the
+Pelagians, styles him _the illustrious doctor of the churches_.[1] St.
+Jerom says[2] that he was a _most eloquent man, and the trumpet of the
+Latins against the Arians_; and in another place, that in _St. Cyprian_
+and _St. Hilary_, God had transplanted two _fair cedars_ out of the
+world into his church.[3]
+
+St. Hilary was born at Poictiers, and his family one of the most
+illustrious in Gaul.[4] He spent his youth in the study of eloquence. He
+himself testifies that he was brought up in idolatry, and gives us a
+particular account of the steps by which God conducted him to the
+knowledge of his saving faith.[5] He considered by the glimmering or
+faint light of reason, that man, who is created a moral and free agent,
+is placed in this world for the exercise of patience, temperance, and
+other virtues, which he saw must receive from God a recompense after
+this life. He ardently set about learning what God is; and after some
+researches into the nature of the Supreme Being, quickly discovered the
+absurdity of polytheism, or a plurality of gods; and was convinced that
+there can be only one God, and that the same is eternal, unchangeable,
+all-powerful, the first cause and author of all things. Full of these
+reflections, he met with the holy scriptures, and was wonderfully
+affected with that just and sublime description Moses gives of God in
+those words, so expressive of his self-existence,[6] I AM WHO AM: and
+was no less struck with the idea of his immensity and supreme dominion,
+illustrated by the most lively images in the inspired language of the
+prophets. The reading of the New Testament put an end to, and completed
+his inquiries; and he learned from the first chapter of St. John, that
+the Divine Word, God the Son, is coeternal and consubstantial with the
+Father. Here he checked his natural curiosity, avoided subtilties, and
+submitted his understanding to divine revelation, resolving what seemed
+incomprehensible into the veracity and power of God; and not presuming
+to measure divine mysteries by his shallow capacity. Being thus brought
+to the knowledge of faith, he received the heavenly regeneration by
+baptism. From that time forth he so squared his whole life by the rules
+of piety, and so zealous were his endeavors to confirm others in the
+faith of the holy Trinity, and to encourage all to virtue, that he
+seemed, though a layman, already to possess the grace of the priesthood.
+
+He was married before his conversion to the faith; and his wife, by whom
+he had a daughter named Apra, or Abram, was yet living, when he was
+chosen bishop of Poictiers, about the year 353; but from the time of
+{141} his ordination he lived in perpetual continency.[7] He omitted no
+endeavors to escape this promotion: but his humility only made the
+people the more earnest to see him vested with that dignity; and indeed
+their expectations were not frustrated in him, for his eminent virtue
+and capacity shone forth with such a lustre, as soon drew upon him the
+attention, not only of all Gaul, but of the whole church. Soon after he
+was raised to the episcopal dignity, he composed, before his exile,
+elegant comments on the gospel of Saint Matthew, which are still extant.
+Those on the Psalms he compiled after his banishment.[8] Of these
+comments on the Psalms, and on St. Matthew, we are chiefly to understand
+St. Jerom, when he recommends, in a particular manner, the reading of
+the works of St. Hilary to virgins and devout persons.[9] From that time
+the Arian controversy chiefly employed his pen. He was an excellent
+orator and poet. His style is lofty and noble, beautified with
+rhetorical ornaments and figures, but somewhat studied; and the length
+of his periods renders him sometimes obscure to the unlearned,[10] as
+St. Jerom takes notice.[11] It is observed by Dr. Cave, that all his
+writings breathe an extraordinary vein of piety. Saint Hilary solemnly
+appeals to God,[12] that he held it as the great work of his life, to
+employ all his faculties to announce God to the world, and to excite all
+men to the love of him. He earnestly recommends the practice of
+beginning every action and discourse by prayer,[13] and some act of
+divine praise;[14] as also to meditate on {142} the law of God day and
+night, to pray without ceasing, by performing all our actions with a
+view to God their ultimate end, and to his glory.[15] He breathes a
+sincere and ardent desire of martyrdom, and discovers a soul {143}
+fearless of death and torments. He had the greatest veneration for
+truth, sparing no pains in its pursuit, and dreading no dangers in its
+defence. The emperor Constantius, having labored for several years to
+compel the eastern churches to embrace Arianism, came into the West: and
+after the overthrow of the tyrant Magnentius, made some stay at Arles,
+while his Arian bishops held a council there, in which they engaged
+Saturninus, the impious bishop of that city, in their party, in 353. A
+bolder Arian council at Milan, in 355, held during the residence of the
+emperor in that city, required all to sign the condemnation of St.
+Athanasius. Such as refused to comply were banished; among whom were St.
+Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, and St. Dionysius of Milan,
+into whose see Auxentius, the Arian, was intruded. St. Hilary wrote on
+that occasion his first book to Constantius, in which he mildly
+entreated him to restore peace to the church. He separated himself from
+the three Arian bishops in the West, Ursacius, Valens, and Saturninus,
+and exhibited an accusation against the last in a synod at Beziers. But
+the emperor, who had information of the matter from Saturninus, sent an
+order to Julian, then Cæsar, and surnamed afterwards the Apostate, who
+at that time commanded in Gaul, for St. Hilary's immediate banishment
+into Phrygia, together with St. Rhodanius, bishop of Toulouse. The
+bishops in Gaul being almost all orthodox, remained in communion with
+St. Hilary, and would not suffer the intrusion of any one into his see,
+which in his absence he continued to govern by his priests. The saint
+went into banishment about the middle of the year 356, with as great
+alacrity as another would take a journey of pleasure, and never
+entertained the least disquieting thought of hardships, dangers, or
+enemies, having a soul above both the smiles and frowns of the world,
+and fixed only on God. He remained in exile somewhat upwards of three
+years, which time he employed in composing several learned works. The
+principal and most esteemed of these is that _On the Trinity, against
+the Arians_, in twelve {144} books. In them he proves the
+consubstantiality of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He teaches that
+the church is one, out of which all heresies spring; not that by this
+she is distinguished, as standing always one, always alone against them
+all, and confounding them all: whereas they by perpetual divisions tear
+each other in pieces, and so become the subject of her triumph.[16] He
+proves that Arianism cannot be the faith of Christ, because not revealed
+to St. Peter, upon whom the church was built and secured forever; for
+whose faith Christ prayed, that it might never fail; who received the
+keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whose judiciary sentence on earth is
+that of heaven:[17] all which arguments he frequently urges.[18] He
+proves the divinity of Christ by the miracles wrought at the sepulchres
+of the apostles and martyrs, and by their relics: for the devils
+themselves confess Christ's godhead, and roar and flee at the presence
+of the venerable bones of his servants,[19] which he also mentions and
+urges in his invective against Constantius.[20] In 358, he wrote his
+book _On Synods_, or _On the Faith of the Orientals_, to explain the
+terms and variation of the eastern Arians in their synods.
+
+In his exile he was informed that his daughter Apra, whom he had left in
+Gaul, had thoughts of embracing the married state; upon which he
+implored Christ, with many tears, to bestow on her the precious jewel of
+virginity. He sent her a letter that is still extant, in which he
+acquaints her, that if she contemned all earthly things, spouse,
+sumptuous garments, and riches, Christ had prepared for her, and had
+shown unto him, at his prayers and tears, an inestimable never-falling
+diamond, infinitely more precious than she was able to frame to herself
+an idea of. He conjures her by the God of heaven, and entreats her not
+to make void his anxiety for her, nor to deprive herself of so
+incomparable a good. Fortunatus assures us that the original letter was
+kept with veneration in the church of Poictiers, in the sixth century,
+when he wrote, and that Apra followed his advice, and died happily at
+his feet after his return.[21] St. Hilary sent to her with this letter
+two hymns, composed by himself; one for the evening, which does not seem
+to have reached our times; the other for the morning, which is the hymn
+_Lucis largitor splendide_.
+
+The emperor, by an unjust usurpation in the affairs of the Church,
+assembled a council of Arians at Seleucia, in Isauria, to undermine the
+great council of Nice. St. Hilary, who had then passed four years in
+banishment, in Phrygia, was invited thither by the Semi-Arians, who
+hoped from his lenity that he would be useful to their party in crushing
+the staunch Arians, that is, those who adhered strictly to the doctrine
+of Arius. But no human considerations could daunt his courage. He boldly
+defended the decrees of Nice, till at last, tired out with hearing the
+blasphemies of the heretics, he withdrew to Constantinople. The weak
+emperor was the dupe sometimes of the Arians, and at other times of the
+Semi-Arians. These last prevailed at Seleucia, in September, 359, as the
+former did in a council held at Constantinople in the following year,
+360, where having the advantage, they procured the banishment of the
+Semi-Arians, less wicked than themselves. St. Hilary, who had withdrawn
+from Seleucia to Constantinople, presented to the emperor a request,
+called his second book to Constantius, begging the liberty of holding a
+public disputation about religion with {145} Saturninus, the author of
+his banishment. He presses him to receive the unchangeable apostolic
+faith, injured by the late innovations, and smartly rallies the fickle
+humor of the heretics, who were perpetually making new creeds, and
+condemning their old ones, having made four within the compass of the
+foregoing year; so that faith was become that of the times, not that of
+the gospels, and that there were as many faiths as men, as great a
+variety of doctrine as of manners, as many blasphemies as vices.[22] He
+complains that they had their yearly and monthly faiths; that they made
+creeds to condemn and repent of them; and that they formed new ones to
+anathematize those that adhered to their old ones. He adds, that every
+one had scripture texts, and the words _Apostolic Faith_, in their
+mouths, for no other end than to impose on weak minds: for by attempting
+to change faith, which is unchangeable, faith is lost; they correct and
+amend, till weary of all, they condemn all. He therefore exhorts them to
+return to the haven from which the gusts of their party spirit and
+prejudice had driven them, as the only means to be delivered out of
+their tempestuous and perilous confusion. The issue of this challenge
+was, that the Arians, dreading such a trial, persuaded the emperor to
+rid the East of a man that never ceased to disturb its peace, by sending
+him back into Gaul; which he did, but without reversing the sentence of
+his banishment, in 360.
+
+St. Hilary returned through Illyricum and Italy to confirm the weak. He
+was received at Poictiers with the greatest demonstrations of joy and
+triumph, where his old disciple, St. Martin, rejoined him, to pursue the
+exercises of piety under his direction. A synod in Gaul, convoked at the
+instance of St. Hilary, condemned that of Rimini, which, in 359, had
+omitted the word _Consubstantial_. Saturninus, proving obstinate, was
+excommunicated and deposed for his heresy and other crimes. Scandals
+were removed, discipline, peace, and purity of faith were restored, and
+piety flourished. The death of Constantius put an end to the Arian
+persecution. St. Hilary was the mildest of men, full of condescension
+and affability to all: yet seeing this behavior ineffectual, he composed
+an invective against Constantius, in which he employed severity, and the
+harshest terms; and for which undoubtedly he had reasons that are
+unknown to us. This piece did not appear abroad till after the death of
+that emperor. Our saint undertook a journey to Milan, in 364, against
+Auxentius, the Arian usurper of that see, and in a public disputation
+obliged him to confess Christ to be true God, of the same substance and
+divinity with the Father. St. Hilary indeed saw through his hypocrisy;
+but this dissembling heretic imposed so far on the emperor Valentinian,
+as to pass for orthodox. Our saint died at Poictiers, in the year 368,
+on the thirteenth of January, or on the first of November, for his name
+occurs in very ancient Martyrologies on both these days. In the Roman
+breviary his office is celebrated on the fourteenth of January. The one
+is probably that of some translation of his relics. The first was made
+at Poictiers in the reign of Clovis I., on which see Cointe.[23] From
+St. Gregory of Tours, it appears that before his time some part of St.
+Hilary's relics was honored in a church in Limousin.[24] Alcuin mentions
+the veneration of the same at Poictiers;[25] and it is related that his
+relics were burned by the Huguenots at Poictiers.[26] But this we must
+understand of some small portion, or of the dust remaining in his tomb.
+For his remains were translated from Poictiers to the abbey of St.
+Denys, near Paris, as is proved by the tradition of that abbey, a writer
+of the abbey of Richenow, in {146} the ninth century,[27] and other
+monuments.[28] Many miracles performed by St. Hilary are related by
+Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poictiers, and are the subject of a
+whole book added to his life, which seems to have been written by
+another Fortunatus. St. Gregory of Tours, Flodoard, and others, have
+mentioned several wrought at his tomb. Dom Coutant, the most judicious
+and learned Maurist monk, has given an accurate edition of his works, in
+one volume in folio, at Paris, in 1693, which was reprinted at Verona by
+the Marquis Scipio Maffei, in 1730, together with additional comments on
+several Psalms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Hilary observes, that singleness of heart is the most necessary
+condition of faith and true virtue, "For Christ teaches that only those
+who become again as it were little children, and by the simplicity of
+that age cut off the inordinate affections of vice, can enter the
+kingdom of heaven. These follow and obey their father, love their
+mother; are strangers to covetousness, ill-will, hatred, arrogance, and
+lying, and are inclined easily to believe what they hear. This
+disposition of affections opens the way to heaven. We must therefore
+return to the simplicity of little children, in which we shall bear some
+resemblance to our Lord's humility."[29] This, in the language of the
+Holy Ghost, is called the foolishness of the cross of Christ,[30] in
+which consists true wisdom. That prudence of the flesh and worldly
+wisdom, which is the mother of self-sufficiency, pride, avarice, and
+vicious curiosity, the source of infidelity, and the declared enemy of
+the spirit of Christ, is banished by this holy simplicity; and in its
+stead are obtained true wisdom, which can only be found in a heart freed
+from the clouds of the passions, perfect prudence, which, as St. Thomas
+shows, is the fruit of the assemblage of all virtues, and a divine light
+which grace fails not to infuse. This simplicity, which is the mother of
+Christian discretion, is a stranger to all artifice, design, and
+dissimulation, to all views or desires of self-interest, and to all
+undue respect or consideration of creatures. All its desires and views
+are reduced to this alone, of attaining to the perfect union with God.
+Unfeignedly to desire this one thing, to belong to God alone, to arrive
+at his pure love, and to do his will in all things, is that simplicity
+or singleness of heart of which we speak, and which banishes all
+inordinate affections of the heart, from which arise the most dangerous
+errors of the understanding. This is the essential disposition of every
+one who sincerely desires to live by the spirit of Christ. That divine
+spouse of souls, loves to communicate himself to such.[31] His
+conversation (or as another version has it, his secret) is with the
+simple.[32] His delight is in those who walk with simplicity.[33] This
+is the characteristic of all the saints:[34] whence the Holy Ghost cries
+out, Approach him not with a double heart.[35] That worldly wisdom is
+not subject to the law of God, neither can it be.[36] Its intoxication
+blinds men, and shuts their eyes to the light of divine revelation. They
+arrogate to themselves the exclusive privilege of learning and clear
+understanding: but the skepticism, the pitiful inconsistencies, and
+monstrous extravagances, which characterize their writings and
+discourses, make us blush to see so strong an alliance of ignorance and
+presumption; and lament that the human mind should be capable of falling
+into a state of so deplorable degeneracy. Among the fathers of the
+church we admire men the most learned of their age, the most penetrating
+and most judicious, and at the same time {147} the most holy and
+sincere; who, being endowed with true simplicity of heart, discovered in
+the mysteries of the cross the secrets of infinite wisdom, which they
+made their study, and the rule of their actions.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  L. 2, adv. Julian, c. 8.
+2.  L. 2, adv. Rufin. p. 415.
+3.  In Isa. c. 60.
+4.  S. Hieron. in Catal.
+5.  L. 1, de Trin. p. 1-10.
+6.  Exod. iii. 14.
+7.  The contrary is certainly a mistake in Dr. Cave; for St. Jerom,
+    writing against Jovinian, says, in {} p. 175, that though the church
+    was sometimes obliged to make choice of married men for the
+    priesthood, because virgins, or unmarried, could not always be
+    found, they notwithstanding lived ever after continent. _Certe
+    confiteris, non posse esse episcopum qui in episcopatu filios
+    faciat: alioqui si deprehensus fuerit non quasi vir tenebitur, sed
+    quasi adulter condemnabitur, ib_. And in his book against
+    Vigilantius, p. 28, he observes, that in the churches of the East,
+    in Egypt, and in the apostolic see of Rome, those only were made
+    clergymen, who were virgins, or single; or if they were married,
+    they ceased to live as husbands. _Aut virgines clericos accipiunt,
+    aut contintes; aut si uxores habuerint, mariti esse desinunt_, p.
+    281.
+8.  S. Hilar. in Ps. 53, n. 8, in Ps. 67, p. 15, and Contant, Armon. in
+    S. Hilar. in Psalmos, p. 165.
+9.  Ep. ad Lætam.
+10. On the interpretation of certain obscure passages of the works of
+    St. Hilary, see Dom Coutant, in an excellent preface to his edition
+    of this father's works; also Witasse de Incarn. t. 2, &c.
+11. Ep. 49, ad Paulinum, t. 4, p. 567.
+12. Lib. 1, de Trinit.
+13. Doubtless his love of prayer, and the assiduous application of his
+    mind to that holy exercise, moved him to make the Psalms a main
+    object of his sacred studies and meditation. His comments are
+    elegant; though in them he dwells much on the literal sense, he
+    neglects not the mystical and allegorical, every thing in these
+    divine oracles being prophetic, as he takes notice, (in Ps. 142, n.
+    1.) Often he finds the immediate literal sense clear; in other
+    passages, he shows Christ and his Church to be pointed out. The true
+    sense of the holy scriptures he teaches, only to be opened to us by
+    the spirit of assiduous prayer, (in Ps. 125, n. 2, &c.) The fatal
+    and opposite errors, which the overweening spirit and study of a
+    false criticism have produced in every age, justify this general
+    remark of the fathers, that though the succor of reasonable
+    criticism ought by no means to be neglected, a spirit of prayer is
+    the only key which can open to us the sacred treasures of the divine
+    truths, by the light which it obtains of the Holy Ghost, and the
+    spirit of simplicity, piety, and humility, which it infuses. In this
+    disposition, the holy doctors of the Church discovered in the divine
+    oracles that spirit of perfect virtue, which they imbibed and
+    improved from their assiduous meditation. St. Hilary remarks, that
+    the first lesson we are to study in them is, that of humility, in
+    which "Christ has taught, that all the titles and prizes of our
+    faith are comprised:" In humilitate docuit omnia fidei nomina et
+    præmia contineri, (in Ps. 118, l. 20, n. 1, p. 358.) Whence the
+    royal prophet entreats God, to consider nothing in him but his
+    lowliness of heart, (v. 153, ibid.) This holy father sticks not to
+    say, humility is the greatest work of our faith, our best sacrifice
+    to God, (in Ps. 1311, n. 1. p. 442;) but true humility is
+    accompanied with an invincible courage, and a firmness and constancy
+    in virtue, which no fear of worldly powers is ever able to shake,
+    (in Ps. xiv. p. 66.) St. Hilary laments, that even several pastors
+    of the church thought it a part of piety to flatter princes. But
+    true religion teaches us (Matt. x. 28) only to fear things which are
+    justly to be feared, that is, to fear God, to fear sin, or what can
+    hurt our souls: for what threatens only our bodies, this is to be
+    despised, when the interest of God and our souls is concerned. We
+    indeed study out of charity to give offence to no one, (1 Cor. x.
+    32, 33;) but desire only to please men for God, not by contemning
+    him, (in Ps. 52, p. 89, 90.) Prayer is the great Christian duty,
+    which this holy doctor was particularly solicitous to inculcate,
+    teaching that it consists in the cry of the heart; not in the lips,
+    as David cried to God in his whole heart, Ps. cxviii. v. 145, (in
+    Ps. cxviii. l. 19, p. 352.) We are to pour forth our souls before
+    God, with earnestness, and with abundance of tears, (in Ps. 41, apud
+    Marten. t. 9, p. 71.) Amidst the dangers and evils of this life, our
+    only comfort ought to be in God, in the assured hope of his
+    promises, and in prayer. (Ib.) That prayer is despised by God, which
+    is slothful and lukewarm, accompanied with distrust, distracted with
+    unprofitable thoughts, weakened by worldly anxiety and desires of
+    earthly goods, or fruitless, for want of the support of good works,
+    (in Ps. liv. p. 104.) All our actions and discourses ought to be
+    begin by prayer, and the divine praise, (in Ps. lxiv. p. 162.) The
+    day among Christians is always begun by prayer, and ended by hymns
+    to God, (ib. n. 12, p. 169.) By this public homage of the church,
+    and of every faithful soul in it, God is particularly honored, and
+    he delights in it. (St. Jerom. in eund. Ps.) St. Hilary takes
+    notice, that the night is of all others the most proper time for
+    prayer; as the example of Christ, David, and other saints,
+    demonstrates, (in Ps. cxviii. l. 8, p. 292.) He observes, that it
+    cannot be doubted, but among all the acts of prayer, that of the
+    divine praise is in general the most noble and most excellent: and
+    that it is for his infinite goodness and mercy, in the first place,
+    that we are bound to praise him, (in Ps. cxxxiv p. 469.) Next to
+    this, he places the duty of thanksgiving. (Ib.) To be silent in the
+    divine praises, he calls the greatest of all punishments; and takes
+    notice, that every one makes what he loves the chiefest object of
+    his joy: as we see in the drunkard, the covetous, or the ambitious
+    man: thus the prophet makes the heavenly Jerusalem the beginning of
+    his joy; always bearing in mind, that this is his eternal country,
+    in which he will be associated with the troops of angels, be
+    received into the kingdom of God, and put in possession of its
+    glory; he therefore finds all other things insipid, and knows no
+    other comfort or joy but in this hope, bearing always in mind, that
+    the glorious inhabitants of that kingdom never cease singing the
+    divine praises, saying, Holy, holy, holy, &c. (in Ps. cxxxvi. n. 11,
+    p. 494.) In another place he tells us, that the prophet bears not
+    the delays of his body, (moras corporis sui non patitur,) sighing
+    with the apostle to be dissolved and clothed with immortality: but
+    earnestly praying, that he may find mercy, and be delivered from
+    falling into the lake of torments, (in Ps. cxlii. n. 8, 9, p. 549.)
+    During this exile to meditate on eternity, and on the divine law and
+    judgments, ought to be our assiduous occupation, (in Ps. cxlii. n.
+    6, p. 548,) especially in time of tribulations and temptations, (in
+    Ps. cxviii. l. 12, n. 10, p. 313.) The world is to be shunned, at
+    least in spirit; first, because it is filled on every side with
+    snares and dangers, secondly, that our souls may more freely soar
+    above it, always thinking on God; hence, he says, our souls must be,
+    as it were, spiritual birds of heaven, always raised high on the
+    wing; and he cries out, "Thou art instructed in heavenly science:
+    what hast thou to do with anxious worldly cares? Thou hast renounced
+    the world; what hast thou to do with its superfluous concerns? Why
+    dost thou complain if thou art taken in a snare, by wandering in a
+    strange land, who oughtest to restrain thy affections from straying
+    from home? Say rather, Who will give me wings as of a dove, and I
+    will fly, and will be at rest?" Ps. liv. 7, (in Ps. cxviii. l. 14,
+    p. 328.) To build a house for God, that is, to prepare a dwelling
+    for him in our souls, we must begin by banishing sin, and all
+    earthly affections, (in Ps. xxxi. p. 73;) for Christ, who is wisdom,
+    sanctity, and truth, cannot establish his reign in the breast of a
+    fool, hypocrite, or sinner, (in Ps. xli. p. 60, ap. Marten. t. 9.)
+    It is easy for God, by penance, to repair his work, howsoever it may
+    have been defaced by vice, as a potter can restore or improve the
+    form of a vessel, while the clay is yet moist, (in Ps. ii. p. 47:)
+    but he often inculcates that repentance, or the confession of sin,
+    is a solemn profession of sinning no more, (in Ps. cxxxvii. p. 498,
+    in Ps. li. and cxviii. p. 263, &c.) Every thing that is inordinate
+    in the affections must be cut off. "The prophet gave himself entire
+    to God, according to the tenor of his consecration of himself.
+    Whatever lives in him, lives to God. His whole heart, his whole soul
+    is fixed on God alone, and occupied in him, and he never loses sight
+    of him. In all his works and thoughts God is before his eyes." Totum
+    quod vivit, Deo vivit. (Ps. cxviii. l. 14, n. 16, p. 327.) Upon
+    these words, _I am thy servant_, Ps. cxviii. v. 125, he observes,
+    that every Christian frequently repeats this, but most deny by their
+    actions what they profess in words, "It is the privilege of the
+    prophet to call himself the servant of God in every affection of his
+    heart, in every circumstance and action of his life," &c. (in Ps.
+    cxviii. l. 17, p. 339.) He teaches that the angels, patriarchs, and
+    prophets are as it were mountains protecting the church, (in Ps.
+    cxxiv. n. 6, p. 404;) and that holy angels attend and succor the
+    faithful, (in Ps. cxxxvii. p. 499;) assist them in time of combat
+    against the devils, (in Ps. lxv. p. 178, and in Ps. cxxxiv. p. 475;)
+    carry up their prayers to their heavenly Father with an eager zeal;
+    and looking upon this ministry as an honor, (in Matt. c. 18, p.
+    699.) That the church of Christ is one, out of which, as out of the
+    ark of Noah, no one man be saved, (in Ps. cxlvi., xiv., lxiv.,
+    cxxviii., and cxvvii. in Matt. c. 4, and 7 De Trinit. l. 7, p. 917.)
+    He mentions fast days of precept, the violation of which renders a
+    Christian a slave of the devil, a vessel of death, and fuel of hell,
+    (in Ps. cxviii. l. 18, p. 349.) This crime he joins with pride and
+    fornication, as sins at the sight of which every good Christian
+    ought to pine away with grief and zeal, according to the words of
+    Ps. cxviii. v. 139. Saint Hilary seems to have explained the whole
+    Psalter, though only part is recovered by the editors of his works.
+    To the comments published by Dom Coutant at Paris, in 1693, the
+    marquis Scipio Maffei added some others on several other Psalms, in
+    his edition at Verona, in 1730. Dom Martenne, in 1733, published
+    others on certain other Psalms, which he had discovered in a
+    manuscript at Anchin, in his Amplissima Monumentorum Collectio, t.
+    9, p. 55. These comments on the Psalms, St. Hilary compiled after
+    his exile, as appears from certain allusions to his books on the
+    Trinity, and from his frequent reflections against the Arians.
+    Nothing of this is found in his commentary on St. Matthew, which Dom
+    Coutant shows to have been the first of his works in the order of
+    time, composed soon after he was raised to the episcopal dignity. He
+    here and there borrows short passages from Origen, but sticks closer
+    to the literal sense, though he sometimes has recourse to the
+    allegorical, for the sake of some moral instruction. St. Hilary is
+    one of the first who published any Latin comments in the holy
+    scriptures. Rheticius, bishop of Autun, and St. Victorinus of
+    Passaw, though the latter wrote in Greek, had opened the way in the
+    West in the beginning of the same century. St. Hilary, in this
+    commentary on St. Matthew, excellently inculcates in few words the
+    maxims of Christian virtue, especially fraternal charity and
+    meekness, by which our souls pass to divine charity and peace, (in
+    Matt. c. 4, v. 18, 19, p. 626:) and the conditions of fasting and
+    prayer, though for the exposition of our Lord's prayer, he refers to
+    that of St. Cyprian; adding that Tertullian has left us also a very
+    suitable work upon it; but that his subsequent error has weakened
+    the authority of his former writings which may deserve approbation,
+    (in c. 5, p. 630.) The road to heaven he shows to be exceeding
+    narrow, because even among Christians very few sincerely despise the
+    world, and labor strenuously to subdue their flesh and all their
+    passions, and to shun all the incentives of vice, (in c. 6, p. 368.)
+    St. Peter he calls the Prince of the College of the Apostles, and
+    the Porter of Heaven, and extols the authority of the keys conferred
+    upon him, (in Matt. c. 7, p. 642, in c. 16, p. 690. Also 1. 6. de
+    Trin. p. 891, 903, 9114.) He proves that Christ, in his bloody
+    sweat, grieved more for the danger of his disciples and other
+    causes, than for his own death; because he had in his last supper
+    already consecrated his blood to be poured forth for the remission
+    of sin. Numquid pati ipse nolebat. Atquin superius fundendum in
+    remissionem peccatorum corporis sui sanguinem consecraverat, (S.
+    Hilar. in Matt. c. 31, p. 743.) His twelve books on the Trinity he
+    compiled during his banishment in Phrygia, between the years 356 and
+    359, as is clear from his own express testimony, and that of St.
+    Jerom. In the first book of this immortal monument of his admirable
+    genius and piety, he beautifully shows that man's felicity is only
+    to be found in God; and that the light of reason suffices to
+    demonstrate this, which he illustrates by an account of his own
+    conversion to the faith. After this he takes notice, that we can
+    learn only by God's revelation, his nature, or what he is, he being
+    the competent witness of himself, who it known only by himself, (n.
+    18, p. 777.) In the second book he explains the Trinity, which we
+    profess in the form of baptism, and says, that faith alone in
+    believing, and sincerity and devotion in adoring, this mystery ought
+    to suffice without disputing or prying, and laments, that by the
+    blasphemies of the Sabellians and Arians, who perverted the true
+    sense of the scriptures, he was compelled to dispute of things
+    ineffable and incomprehensible which only necessity can excuse, (n.
+    25.) He then proves the eternal generation of the Son, the
+    procession of the Holy Ghost, and their consubstantiality in one
+    nature, (l. 2 and 3.) He checks their presumption in pretending to
+    fathom the Trinity, by showing that they cannot understand many
+    miracles of Christ or corporeal things, which yet they confess to be
+    most certain, (l. 3, n. 19, 20, 24.) He detects and confutes the
+    subtilties of the Arians, in their various confessions of faith, (l.
+    4, 5, 6,) also of the Sabellians and Photinians, (l. 7;) and
+    demonstrates the divinity of Christ, from the confession of St.
+    Peter, &c., (l. 6,) and of the very Jews, who were more sincere than
+    the Arians, acknowledging that Christ called himself the natural Son
+    of God. (John x. 31, &c. l. 7, n. 2, 3, p. 931.) The natural unity
+    of the Father and Son, he demonstrates from that text, "I and my
+    Father are one," and others, (l. 8,) and observes that both from the
+    testimony of Christ in the holy scriptures, and from the faith of
+    the church, we believe without doubting the Eucharist to be the true
+    body and blood of Christ, (l. 8, n. 14, p. 955, 956.) He answers
+    several objections from scripture, (l. 9,) and shows there was
+    something in Christ (viz. the divine person, &c.) which did not
+    suffer in his passion, (l. 10.) Other objections he confutes, (l.
+    11,) and in his last book defends the eternity of the Son of God.
+    Between August in 358, and May in 359, St. Hilary, after he had been
+    three years in banishment, and was still in Asia, published his book
+    On Synods, to inform the Catholics in Gaul, Britain, and Germany,
+    what judgment they ought to form of several synods, held lately in
+    the East, chiefly by the Arians and Semi-Arians: a work of great use
+    in the history of those times, and in which St. Hilary's prudence,
+    humility, modesty, greatness of soul, constancy, invincible
+    meekness, and love of peace, shine forth. In this work he mollifies
+    certain expressions of the Semi-Arians in their councils, because
+    writing before the council of Rimini, he endeavored to gain them by
+    this method, whereas he at other times severely condemned the same;
+    as did also St. Athanasius, in his book on the same subject, and
+    under the same title, which he composed after the council of Rimini;
+    and expressly to show the variations of those heretics. (See
+    Coutant, vit. S. Hilar. p. c. ci. et præf. in S. Hilar. de Synodis,
+    p. 1147.) Fifteen fragments of St. Hilary's history of the councils
+    of Rimini and Seleucia furnish important materials for the history
+    of Arianism, particularly of the council of Rimini. In his first
+    book to the emperor Constantius, which he wrote in 355 or 356, he
+    conjures that prince with tears to restore peace to the church, and
+    leave the decision of ecclesiastical causes to its pastors. The
+    excellent request which he presented to Constantius at
+    Constantinople, in 360, is called his second book to that prince.
+    The third book ought to be styled, with Coutant, Against
+    Constantius: for in it St. Hilary directs it to the Catholics, (n. 2
+    and 12) though he often uses an apostrophe to Constantius. The saint
+    wrote it five years after the council of Milan, in 355, as he
+    testifies; consequently in 360, after that prince had rejected his
+    second request; but it was only published after the death of that
+    emperor, in the following year, as is clear from St. Jerom: He says
+    Constantius, by artifices and flattery, was a more dangerous
+    persecutor than Nero and Decius: he tells him, "Thou receivest the
+    priests with a kiss, as Christ was betrayed by one: thou bowest thy
+    head to receive their blessing, that thou mayest trample on their
+    faith: thou entertainest them at thy table, as Judas went from table
+    to betray his master." Fleury (l. 14, n. 26) bids us observe, in
+    these words, with what respect emperors then treated bishops. St.
+    Hilary in his elegant book against Auxentius, gives the catholics an
+    account of his conferences with that heretic at Milan in 364.
+14. In Ps. 64.
+15. In Ps. 1, p. 19, 20.
+16. Lib. 7, de Trinit. n. 4, p. 917.
+17. Lib. 6, n. 37, 38, p. 904.
+18. In Ps. 131, n. 4, p. 447, in cap. 16, Matt. n. 7, p. 690.
+19. Lib. 11, de Trinit. n. 3.
+20. Lib. 3, adv. Constant. n. 8, p. 1243, Ed. Ben.
+21. This letter is commended by the most judicious critics, Baronius,
+    Tillemont, Fleury, and Coutant, a monk of the congregation of St.
+    Maur, in his edition of the works of St. Hilary, and others. The
+    style is not pompous, but adapted to the capacity of a girl of
+    thirteen years of age.
+22. Facta est fides temporum, potius quam evangellorum, l. 2, ad Const.
+    p. 1227. Tot nunc fides existere, quot voluntates, ib. Annuas atque
+    menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, decretis poenitimusm poenitentes
+    defendimus, defensos anathematizamus. ib. p. 1228.
+23. Cointe Annal. Fr. ad ann. 538, n. 41, 42, 43.
+24. L. de Gl. Conf. c. 2.
+25. Alcuin, Hom. de S. Willibrodo.
+26. Baillet, Vie de S. Hilaire.
+27. Ap. Mab. anal. t. 4, p. 644.
+28. Aimion. l. 4, c. 17 & 33. Coutant, Vit. S. Hilar. p. cxxiv, cxxv,
+    cxxix.
+29. S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 18, v. i. p. 698.
+30. 1 Cor. i. 17, & iii. 18. S. Hilar. l. 3, de Trin. n. 24, 25, pp.
+    822, 823.
+31. 1 Par. xxix. 17.
+32. Prov. iii. 32.
+33. Prov. xi. 20.
+34. 2 Cor. i. 12.
+35. Eccles. i. 39.
+36. Rom. viii. 7.
+
+
+ST. FELIX OF NOLA, P. AND C.
+
+IT is observed by the judicious Tillemont, with regard to the life of
+this saint, that we might doubt of its wonderful circumstances, were
+they not supported by the authority of a Paulinus; but that great
+miracles ought to be received with the greater veneration, when
+authorized by incontestable vouchers.
+
+St. Felix was a native of Nola, a Roman colony in Campania, fourteen
+miles from Naples, where his father Hermias, who was by birth a Syrian,
+and had served in the army, had purchased an estate and settled himself.
+He had two sons, Felix and Hermias, to whom at his death he left his
+patrimony. The younger sought preferment in the world among the lovers
+of vanity, by following the profession of arms, which at that time was
+the surest road to riches and honors. Felix, to become in effect what
+his name in Latin imported, that is, _happy_, resolved to follow no
+other standard than that of the king of kings, Jesus Christ. For this
+purpose, despising all earthly things, lest the love of them might
+entangle his soul, he distributed the better part of his substance among
+the poor, and was ordained Reader, Exorcist, and, lastly, Priest, by
+Maximus, the holy bishop of Nola; who, charmed with his sanctity and
+prudence, made him his principal support in these times of trouble, and
+designed him for his successor.[1]
+
+In the year 250, the emperor Decius raised a bloody persecution against
+the church. Maximus, seeing himself principally aimed at, retired into
+the deserts, not through the fear of death, which he desired, but rather
+not to tempt God by seeking it, and to preserve himself for the service
+of his flock. The persecutors not finding him, seized on Felix, who, in
+his absence, was very vigilant in the discharge of all his pastoral
+duties. The governor caused him to be scourged; then loaded with bolts
+and chains about his neck, hands, and legs, and cast into a dungeon, in
+which, as St. Prudentius informs us,[2] the floor was spread all over
+with potsherds and pieces of broken glass, so that there was no place
+free from them, on which the saint could either stand or lie. One night
+an angel appearing in great glory, filled the prison with a bright
+light, and bade St. Felix go and assist his bishop, who was in great
+distress. The confessor, seeing his chains fall off, and the doors open,
+followed his guide, and was conducted by heaven to the place where
+Maximus lay, almost perished with hunger and cold, speechless, and
+without sense: for, through anxiety for his flock, and the hardships of
+his solitary retreat, he had suffered more than a martyrdom. Felix, not
+being able to bring him to himself, had recourse to prayer; and
+discovering thereupon a bunch of grapes within reach, he squeezed some
+of the juice into his mouth, which had the desired effect. The good
+bishop no sooner beheld his friend Felix, but he embraced him, and
+begged to be conveyed back to his church. The saint, taking him on his
+shoulders, carried him to his episcopal house in the city, before day
+appeared, where a pious ancient woman took care of him.[3]
+
+Felix, with the blessing of his pastor, repaired secretly to his own
+lodgings, and there kept himself concealed, praying for the church
+without ceasing till peace was restored to it by the death of Decius, in
+the year 251. {148} He no sooner appeared again in public, but his zeal
+so exasperated the pagans that they came armed to apprehend him; but
+though they met him, they knew him not; they even asked him where Felix
+was, a question he did not think proper to give a direct answer to. The
+persecutors going a little further, perceived their mistake, and
+returned; but the saint in the mean time had stepped a little out of the
+way, and crept through a hole in a ruinous old wall, which was instantly
+closed up by spiders' webs. His enemies never imagining any thing could
+have lately passed where they saw so close a spider's web, after a
+fruitless search elsewhere, returned in the evening without their prey.
+Felix finding among the ruins, between two houses, an old well half dry,
+hid himself in it for six months; and received during that time
+wherewithal to subsist by means of a devout Christian woman. Peace being
+restored to the church by the death of the emperor, the saint quitted
+his retreat, and was received in the city as an angel sent from heaven.
+
+Soon after, St. Maximus' dying, all were unanimous for electing Felix
+bishop; but he persuaded the people to make choice of Quintus, because
+the older priest of the two, having been ordained seven days before him.
+Quintus, when bishop, always respected St. Felix as his father, and
+followed his advice in every particular. The remainder of the saint's
+estate having been confiscated in the persecution, he was advised to lay
+claim to it, as others had done, who thereby recovered what had been
+taken from them. His answer was, that in poverty he should be the more
+secure of possessing Christ.[4] He could not even be prevailed upon to
+accept what the rich offered him. He rented a little spot of barren
+land, not exceeding three acres, which he tilled with his own hands, in
+such manner as to receive his subsistence from it, and to have something
+left for alms. Whatever was bestowed on him, he gave it immediately to
+the poor. If he had two coats, he was sure to give them the better; and
+often exchanged his only one for the rags of some beggar. He died in a
+good old age, on the fourteenth of January, on which day the
+Martyrology, under the name of St. Jerom, and all others of later date
+mention him. Five churches have been built at, or near the place where
+he was first interred, which was without the precinct of the city of
+Nola. His precious remains are at present kept in the cathedral; but
+certain portions are at Rome, Benevento, and some other places. Pope
+Damasus, in a pilgrimage which he made from Rome to Nola, to the shrine
+of this saint, professes, in a short poem which he composed in
+acknowledgment, that he was miraculously cured of a distemper through
+his intercession.
+
+St. Paulinus, a Roman senator in the fifth age, forty-six years after
+the death of St. Damasus, came from Spain to Nola, desirous of being
+porter in the church of St. Felix. He testifies that crowds of pilgrims
+came from Rome, from all other parts of Italy, and more distant
+countries, to visit his sepulchre on his festival: he adds, that all
+brought some present or other to his church, as wax-candles to burn at
+his tomb, precious ointments, costly ornaments, and such like; but that
+for his part, he offered to him the homage of his tongue, and himself,
+though an unworthy victim. [5] He everywhere expresses his devotion to
+this saint in the warmest and strongest terms, and believes that all the
+graces he received from heaven were conferred on him through the
+intercession of St. Felix. To him he addressed himself in all his
+necessities; by his prayers he begged grace in this life, and glory
+after {149} death.[6] He describes at large the holy pictures of the
+whole history of the Old Testament, which were hung up in the church of
+St. Felix, and which inflamed all who beheld them, and were as so many
+books that instructed the ignorant. We may read with pleasure the pious
+sentiments the sight of each gave St. Paulinus.[7] He relates a great
+number of miracles that were wrought at his tomb, as of persons cured of
+various distempers and delivered from dangers by his intercession, to
+several of which he was an eye-witness. He testifies that he himself had
+frequently experienced the most sensible effects of his patronage, and,
+by having recourse to him, had been speedily succored.[8] St. Austin
+also has given an account of many miracles performed at his shrine.[9]
+It was not formerly allowed to bury any corpse within the walls of
+cities. The church of St. Felix, out of the walls of Nola, not being
+comprised under this prohibition, many devout Christians sought to be
+buried in it, that their faith and devotion might recommend them after
+death to the patronage of this holy confessor, upon which head St.
+Paulinus consulted St. Austin. The holy doctor answered him by his book,
+_On the care for the dead_: in which he shows that the faith and
+devotion of such persons would be available to them after death, as the
+suffrages and good works of the living in behalf of the faithful
+departed are profitable to the latter. See the poems of St. Paulinus on
+his life, confirmed by other authentic ancient records, quoted by
+Tillemont, t. 4, p. 226, and Ruinart, Acta Sincera, p. 256; Muratori,
+Anecd. Lat.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  S. Paulin. Carm. 19, 20. Seu Natali, 4.
+2.  De Cor. hymn 5.
+3.  Paulin. Carm. 19.
+4.  _Dives egebo Deo; nam Christum pauper habebo_. Paulin. Carm. 2.
+    Natali S. Felicia 5.
+5.  ________________ _Ego munere linguæ,
+      Nudus opum, famulor, de me mea debita solvens
+      Meque ipsum pro me, vilis licet hostia pendam._ Natal. 6
+6.  Nat. 1, 2, &c.
+7.  Nat. 9, 10.
+8.  St. Paulin. Ep. 28 & 36. Carm. 13, 18, 21, 22, 23, 29, &c.
+9.  St. August. Ep. 78, olim 137, lib. De curâ pro moritus, c. 16.
+
+SS. ISAIAS, SABBAS,
+
+AND thirty-eight other holy solitaries on mount Sinai, martyred by a
+troop of Arabians in 273; likewise Paul, the abbot; Moses, who by his
+preaching and miracles had converted to the faith the Ishmaelites of
+Pharan; Psaes, a prodigy of austerity, and many other hermits in the
+desert of Raithe, two days' journey from Sinai, near the Red Sea, were
+massacred the same year by the Blemmyans, a savage infidel nation of
+Ethiopia. All these anchorets lived on dates, or other fruits, never
+tasted bread, worked at making baskets in cells at a considerable
+distance from each other, and met on Saturdays, in the evening, in one
+common church, where they watched and said the night office, and on the
+Sunday received together the holy eucharist. They were remarkable for
+their assiduity in praying and fasting. See their acts by Ammonius, an
+eye-witness, published by F. Combefis; also Bulteau, Hist. Mon.
+d'Orient, l. 2, c. 1, p. 209.
+
+Also, many holy anchorets on mount Sinai, whose lives were faithful
+copies of Christian perfection, and who met on Sundays to receive the
+holy eucharist, were martyred by a band of Saracens in the fifth
+century. A boy of fourteen years of age led among them an ascetic life
+of great perfection. The Saracens threatened to kill him, if he did not
+discover where the ancient monks had concealed themselves. He answered,
+that death did not terrify him, and that he could not ransom his life by
+a sin in betraying his fathers. They bade him put off his clothes:
+"After you have killed me," said the modest youth, "take my clothes and
+welcome: but as I never saw my body naked, have so much compassion and
+regard for my shamefacedness, as to let me die covered." The barbarians,
+enraged at this answer, fell on him with all their weapons at once, and
+the pious youth died by as many martyrdoms as he had executioners. St.
+Nilus, who had been formerly governor {150} of Constantinople, has left
+us an account of this massacre in seven narratives: at that time he led
+an eremitical life in those deserts, and had placed his son Theodulus in
+this holy company. He was carried away captive, but redeemed after many
+dangers. See S. Nili, Septem Narrationes; also, Bulteau, Hist. Mon.
+d'Orient, l. 2, c. 2, p. 220.
+
+S. BARBASCEMINUS,
+
+AND SIXTEEN OF HIS CLERGY, MM.
+
+HE succeeded his brother St. Sadoth in the metropolitical see of
+Seleucia and Ctesiphon, in 342, which he held six years. Being accused
+as an enemy to the Persian religion, and as one who spoke against the
+Persian divinities, _Fire_ and _Water_, he was apprehended, with sixteen
+of his clergy, by the orders of king Sapor II. The king seeing his
+threats lost upon him, confined him almost a year in a loathsome
+dungeon, in which he was often tormented by the Magians with scourges,
+clubs, and tortures, besides the continual annoyance of stench, filth,
+hunger, and thirst. After eleven months the prisoners were again brought
+before the king. Their bodies were disfigured by their torments, and
+their faces discolored by a blackish hue which they had contracted.
+Sapor held out to the bishop a golden cup as a present, in which were a
+thousand sineas of gold, a coin still in use among the Persians. Besides
+this he promised him a government, and other great offices, if he would
+suffer himself to be initiated in the rites of the sun. The saint
+replied that he could not answer the reproaches of Christ at the last
+day, if he should prefer gold, or a whole empire, to his holy law; and
+that he was ready to die. He received his crown by the sword, with his
+companions, on the 14th of January, in the year 346, and of the reign of
+king Sapor II. the thirty-seventh, at Ledan, in the province of the
+Huzites. St. Maruthas, the author of his acts, adds, that Sapor,
+resolving to extinguish utterly the Christian name in his empire,
+published a new terrible edict, whereby he commanded every one to be
+tortured and put to death who should refuse to adore the sun, to worship
+fire and water, and to feed on the blood of living creatures.[1] The see
+of Seleucia remained vacant twenty years, and innumerable martyrs
+watered all the provinces of Persia with their blood. St. Maruthas was
+not able to recover their names, but has left us a copious panegyric on
+then heroic deeds, accompanied with the warmest sentiments of devotion,
+and desires to be speedily united with them in glory. See Acta Mart.
+Orient. per Steph. Assemani, t. 1, p. 3.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The Christians observed for several ages, especially in the East,
+    the apostolic temporary precept of abstaining from blood. Acts, xv.
+    20. See Nat. Alexander Hist. Sæc. 1, dissert 9.
+
+{151}
+
+
+JANUARY XV.
+
+ST. PAUL, THE FIRST HERMIT.
+
+From his life, compiled by St. Jerom, in 365. Pope Gelasius I., in his
+learned Roman council, in 494, commends this authentic history. St. Paul
+is also mentioned by Cassian, St. Fulgentius, Sulpitius Severus,
+Sidonius, Paulinus, in the life of St. Ambrose, &c. St. Jerom received
+this account from two disciples of St. Antony, Amathas and Macariux. St.
+Athanasius says, that he only wrote what he had heard from St. Antony's
+own mouth, or from his disciples; and desires others to add what they
+know concerning his actions. On the various readings and MS. copies of
+this life, see the disquisition of P. Jem{} de Prato, an oratorian of
+Verona, in his new edition of the works of Sulpitius Severus, t. l, app.
+2, p. 403. The Greek history of St. Paul the hermit, which Bollandus
+imagines St. Jerom to have followed, is evidently posterior; and borrows
+from him, as Jos. Assemani shows. Comm. In Calend. Univ. t. 6, p. 92.
+See Gudij Epistolæ, p. 278.
+
+A.D. 342.
+
+ELIAS and St. John the Baptist sanctified the deserts, and Jesus Christ
+himself was a model of the eremitical state during his forty days' fast
+in the wilderness; neither is it to be questioned but the Holy Ghost
+conducted the saint of this day, though young, into the desert, and was
+to him an instructor there; but it is no less certain, that an entire
+solitude and total sequestration of one's self from human society, is
+one of those extraordinary ways by which God leads souls to himself, and
+is more worthy of our admiration, than calculated for imitation and
+practice: it is a state which ought only to be embraced by such as are
+already well experienced in the practices of virtue and contemplation,
+and who can resist sloth and other temptations, lest, instead of being a
+help, it prove a snare and stumbling-block in their way to heaven.
+
+This saint was a native of the Lower Thebais, in Egypt, and had lost
+both his parents when he was but fifteen years of age: nevertheless, he
+was a great proficient in the Greek and Egyptian learning, was mild and
+modest, and feared God from his earliest youth. The bloody persecution
+of Decius disturbed the peace of the church in 250; and what was most
+dreadful, Satan, by his ministers, sought not so much to kill the
+bodies, as by subtle artifices and tedious tortures to destroy the souls
+of men. Two instances are sufficient to show his malice in this respect:
+A soldier of Christ, who had already triumphed over the racks and
+tortures, had his whole body rubbed over with honey, and was then laid
+on his back in the sun, with his hands tied behind him, that the flies
+and wasps, which are quite intolerable in hot countries, might torment
+and gall him with their stings. Another was bound with silk cords on a
+bed of down, in a delightful garden, where a lascivious woman was
+employed to entice him to sin; the martyr, sensible of his danger, bit
+off part of his tongue and spit it in her face, that the horror of such
+an action might put her to flight, and the smart occasioned by it be a
+means to prevent, in his own heart, any manner of consent to carnal
+pleasure. During these times of danger, Paul kept himself concealed in
+the house of another; but finding that a brother-in-law was inclined to
+betray him, that he might enjoy his estate, he fled into the deserts.
+There he found many spacious caverns in a rock, which were said to have
+been the retreat of money-coiners in the days of Cleopatra, queen of
+Egypt. He chose for his dwelling a cat; in this place, near which were a
+palm-tree[1] and a clear spring: the former by its leaves furnished him
+with raiment, and by its fruit with food; and the latter supplied him
+with water for his drink.
+
+{152}
+
+Paul was twenty-two years old when he entered the desert. His first
+intention was to enjoy the liberty of serving God till the persecution
+should cease; but relishing the sweets of heavenly contemplation and
+penance, and learning the spiritual advantages of holy solitude, he
+resolved to return no more among men, or concern himself in the least
+with human affairs, and what passed in the world: it was enough for him
+to know that there was a world, and to pray that it might be improved in
+goodness. The saint lived on the fruit of his tree till he was
+forty-three years of age, and from that time till his death, like Elias,
+he was miraculously fed with bread brought him every day by a raven. His
+method of life, and what he did in this place during ninety years, is
+unknown to us: but God was pleased to make his servant known a little
+before his death.
+
+The great St. Antony, who was then ninety years of age, was tempted to
+vanity, as if no one had served God so long in the wilderness as he had
+done, imagining himself also to be the first example of a life so
+recluse from human conversation: but the contrary was discovered to him
+in a dream the night following, and the saint was at the same time
+commanded, by Almighty God, to set out forthwith in quest of a perfect
+servant of his, concealed in the more remote parts of those deserts. The
+holy old man set out the next morning in search of the unknown hermit.
+St. Jerom relates from his authors, that he met a centaur, or creature
+not with the nature and properties, but with something of the mixed
+shape of man and horse,[2] and that this monster, or phantom of the
+devil, (St. Jerom pretends not to determine which it was,) upon his
+making the sign of the cross, fled away, after having pointed out the
+way to the saint. Our author adds, that St. Antony soon after met a
+satyr,[3] who gave him to understand that he was an inhabitant of those
+deserts, and one of that sort whom the deluded Gentiles adored for gods.
+St. Antony, after two days and a night spent in the search, discovered
+the saint's abode by a light that was in it, which he made up to. Having
+long begged admittance at the door of his cell, St. Paul at last opened
+it with a smile: they embraced, called each other by their names, which
+they knew by divine revelation. St. Paul then inquired whether idolatry
+still reigned in the world. While they were discoursing together, a
+raven flew towards them, and dropped a loaf of bread before them. Upon
+which St. Paul said, "Our good God has sent us a dinner. In this manner
+have I received half a loaf every day these sixty years past; now you
+are come to see me, Christ has doubled his provision for his servants."
+Having given thanks to God they both sat down by the fountain; but a
+little contest arose between them who should break the bread; St. Antony
+alleged St. Paul's greater age, and St. Paul pleaded that Antony was the
+stranger: both agreed at last to take up their parts together. Having
+refreshed themselves at the spring, they spent the night in prayer. The
+next morning St. Paul told his guest that the time of his death
+approached, and that he was sent to bury him; adding, "Go and fetch the
+cloak given you by St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in which I
+desire you to wrap my body." This he might say with the intent of being
+left alone in prayer, while he expected to be called out of this world;
+as also that he might testify his veneration for St. Athanasius, and his
+high regard for the faith and communion of the Catholic church, on
+account of which that holy bishop was then a great sufferer. St. Antony
+was surprised to hear him mention the cloak, which he could not have
+known but by divine revelation. Whatever was his motive for desiring to
+be buried {153} in it, St. Antony acquiesced to what was asked of him:
+so, after mutual embraces, he hastened to his monastery to comply with
+St. Paul's request. He told his monks that he, a sinner, falsely bore
+the name of a servant of God, but that he had seen Elias and John the
+Baptist in the wilderness, even Paul in Paradise. Having taken the
+cloak, he returned with it in all haste, fearing lest the holy hermit
+might be dead, as it happened. While on his road, he saw his happy soul
+carried up to heaven, attended by choirs of angels, prophets, and
+apostles. St. Antony, though he rejoiced on St. Paul's account, could
+not help lamenting on his own, for having lost a treasure so lately
+discovered. As soon as his sorrow would permit, he arose, pursued his
+journey, and came to the cave. Going in, he found the body kneeling, and
+the hands stretched out. Full of joy, and supposing him yet alive, he
+knelt down to pray with him, but by his silence soon perceived he was
+dead. Having paid his last respects to the holy corpse, he carried it
+out of the cave. While he stood perplexed how to dig a grave, two lions
+came up quietly, and, as it were, mourning; and tearing up the ground,
+made a hole large enough for the reception of a human body. St. Antony
+then buried the corpse, singing hymns and psalms, according to what was
+usual and appointed by the church on that occasion. After this he
+returned home praising God, and related to his monks what he had seen
+and done. He always kept as a great treasure, and wore himself on great
+festivals, the garment of St. Paul, of palm-tree leaves patched
+together. St. Paul died in the year of our Lord 342, the hundred and
+thirteenth year of his age, and the ninetieth of his solitude, and is
+usually called the _first hermit_, to distinguish him from others of
+that name. The body of this saint is said to have been conveyed to
+Constantinople, by the emperor Michael Comnenus, in the twelfth century,
+and from thence to Venice in 1240.[4] Lewis I., king of Hungary,
+procured it from that republic, and deposited it at Buda, where a
+congregation of hermits under his name, which still subsists in Hungary,
+Poland, and Austria, was instituted by blessed Eusebius of Strigonium, a
+nobleman, who, having distributed his whole estate among the poor,
+retired into the forests; and being followed by others, built the
+monastery of Pisilia, under the rule of the regular canons of St.
+Austin. He died in that house, January the 20th, 1270.
+
+St. Paul, the hermit, is commemorated in several ancient western
+Martyrologies on the 10th of January, but in the Roman on the 15th, on
+which he is honored in the anthologium of the Greeks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An eminent contemplative draws the following portraiture of this great
+model of an eremitical life:[5] St. Paul, the hermit, not being called
+by God to the external duties of an active life, remained alone,
+conversing only with God, in a vast wilderness, for the space of near a
+hundred years, ignorant of all that passed in the world, both the
+progress of sciences, the establishment of religion, and the revolutions
+of states and empires; indifferent even as to those things without which
+he could not live, as the air which he breathed, the water he drank, and
+the miraculous bread with which he supported life. What did he do? say
+the inhabitants of this busy world, who think they could not live
+without being in a perpetual hurry of restless projects; what was his
+employment all this while? Alas! ought we not rather to put this
+question to them; what are you doing while you are not taken up in doing
+the will of God, which occupies the heavens and the earth in all their
+motions? Do you call that doing nothing which is the great end God {154}
+proposed to himself in giving us a being, that is, to be employed in
+contemplating, adoring, and praising him? Is it to be idle and useless
+in the world to be entirely taken up in that which is the eternal
+occupation of God himself, and of the blessed inhabitants of heaven?
+What employment is better, more just, more sublime, or more advantageous
+than this, when done in suitable circumstances? To be employed in any
+thing else, how great or noble soever it may appear in the eyes of men,
+unless it be referred to God, and be the accomplishment of his holy
+will, who in all our actions demands our heart more than our hand, what
+is it, but to turn ourselves away from our end, to lose our time, and
+voluntarily to return again to that state of nothing out of which we
+were formed, or rather into a far worse state?
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Pliny recounts thirty-nine different sorts of palm-trees, and says
+    that the best grow in Egypt, which are ever green, have leaves thick
+    enough to make ropes and a fruit which serves in some places to make
+    bread.
+2.  Pliny, l. 7, c. 3, and others, assure us that such monsters have
+    been seen. Consult the note of Rosweide.
+3.  The heathens might feign their gods of the woods, from certain
+    monsters sometimes seen. Plutarch, in his life of Sylla, says, that
+    a satyr was brought to that general at Athens; and St. Jerom tells
+    us, that one was shown alive at Alexandria, and after its death was
+    salted and embalmed, and sent to Antioch that Constantine the Great
+    might see it.
+4.  See the whole history of this translation, published from an
+    original MS. by F. Gamans, a Jesuit, inserted by Bollandus in his
+    collection.
+5.  F. Ambrose de Lombez, Capucin, Tr. de la Paix Intérieure, (Paris,
+    1758,) p. 372.
+
+ST. MAURUS, ABBOT
+
+AMONG the several noblemen who placed their sons under the care of St.
+Benedict, to be brought up in piety and learning, Equitius, one of that
+rank, left with him his son Maurus, then but twelve years old, in 522.
+The youth surpassed all his fellow monks in the discharge of monastic
+duties, and when he was grown up, St. Benedict made him his coadjutor in
+the government of Sublaco. Maurus, by his singleness of heart and
+profound humility, was a model of perfection to all the brethren, and
+was favored by God with the gift of miracles. St. Placidus, a fellow
+monk, the son of the senator Tertullus, going one day to fetch water,
+fell into the lake, and was carried the distance of a bow-shot from the
+bank. St. Benedict saw this in spirit in his cell, and bid Maurus run
+and draw him out. Maurus obeyed, walked upon the waters without
+perceiving it, and dragged out Placidus by the hair, without sinking in
+the least himself. He attributed the miracle to the prayers of St.
+Benedict; but the holy abbot, to the obedience of the disciple. Soon
+after that holy patriarch had retired to Cassino, he called St. Maurus
+thither, in the year 528. Thus far St. Gregory, Dial. l. 2, c. 3, 4, 6.
+
+St. Maurus coming to France in 543, founded, by the liberality of king
+Theodebert, the great abbey of Glanfeuil, now called St. Maur-sur-Loire,
+which he governed several years. In 581 he resigned the abbacy to
+Bertulf, and passed the remainder of his life in close solitude, in the
+uninterrupted contemplation of heavenly things, in order to prepare
+himself for his passage to eternity. After two years thus employed, he
+fell sick of a fever, with a pain in his side: he received the
+sacraments of the church, lying on sackcloth before the altar of St.
+Martin, and in the same posture expired on the 15th of January, in the
+year 584. He was buried on the right side of the altar in the same
+church,[1] and on a roll of parchment laid in his tomb was inscribed
+this epitaph: "Maurus, a monk and deacon, who came into France in the
+days of king Theodebert, and died the eighteenth day before the month of
+February."[2] St. Maurus is named in the ancient French litany composed
+by Alcuin, and in the Martyrologies of Florus, Usuard, and others. {155}
+For fear of the Normans, in the ninth century, his body was translated
+to several places; lastly, in 868, to St. Peter's des Fusses, then a
+Benedictin abbey, near Paris,[3] where it was received with great
+solemnity by Æneas, bishop of Paris. A history of this translation,
+written by Eudo, at that time abbot of St. Peter's des Fusses, is still
+extant. This abbey des Fusses was founded by Blidegisilus, deacon of the
+church of Paris, in the time of king Clovis II. and of Audebert, bishop
+of Paris: St. Babolen was the first abbot. This monastery was reformed
+by St. Mayeul, abbot of Cluni, in 988: in 1533 it was secularized by
+Clement VII. at the request of Francis I., and the deanery united to the
+bishopric of Paris; but the church and village have for several ages
+borne the name of St. Maur. The abbey of Glanfeuil, now called St.
+Maur-sur-Loire, was subjected to this des Fosses from the reign of
+Charles the Bald to the year 1096, in which Urban II., at the
+solicitation of the count of Anjou, re-established its primitive
+independence. Our ancestors had a particular veneration for St. Maurus,
+under the Norman kings; and the noble family of Seymour (from the French
+_Saint Maur_) borrow from him its name, as Camden observes in his
+_Remains_. The church of St. Peter's des Fusses, two leagues from Paris,
+now called St. Maurus's, was secularized, and made a collegiate, in
+1533; and the canons removed to St. Louis, formerly called St. Thomas of
+Canterbury's, at the Louvre in Paris, in 1750. The same year the relics
+of St. Maurus were translated thence to the abbey of St.
+Germain-des-Prez, where they are preserved in a rich shrine.[4] An arm
+of this saint was with great devotion translated to mount Cassino, in
+the eleventh century,[5] and by its touch a demoniac was afterwards
+delivered, as is related by Desiderius at that time abbot of mount
+Cassino,[6] who was afterwards pope, under the name of Victor III. See
+Mabill. Annal. Bened. t. 1, l. 3 and 4; and the genuine history of the
+translation of the body of St. Maurus to the monastery des Fosses, by
+Endo, at that time abbot of this house. The life of St. Maurus, and
+history of his translation, under the pretended name of Faustus, is
+demonstrated by Cointe and others to be a notorious forgery, with
+several instruments belonging to the same.[7]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Mab. Annal. Ben. t. 1, l. 7, ad annos 581, 584.
+2.  All writers, at least from the ninth century, are unanimous in
+    affirming with Amalarius, that St. Maurus of Anjou, the French
+    abbot, was the same Maurus that was the disciple of St. Benedict;
+    which is also proved against certain modern critics, by Dom Ruinart
+    in his Apologia Missionis St. Mauri, in append. 1. annal. Bened. per
+    Mabill. t. 1, p. 630. The arguments which are alleged by some for
+    distinguishing them, may be seen in Chatelain's notes on the
+    Martyrol. p. 253. In imitation of the congregation of SS. Vane and
+    Hydulphus, then lately established in Lorraine, certain French
+    Benedictin monks instituted a like reformation of their order, under
+    the title of the congregation of St. Maurus, in 1621, which was
+    approved of by Gregory XV. and Urban VIII. It is divided into six
+    provinces, under its own general, who usually resides at St.
+    Germain-des-Prez, at Paris. These monks live in strict retirement,
+    and constantly abstain from flesh meat, except in the infirmary.
+    Their chief houses are, St. Maur-sur-Loire, St. Germain-des Prez,
+    Fleury, or St. Benoit-sur-Loire, Marmoutier at Tours, Vendome, St.
+    Remigius at Rheims, St. Peter of Corbie, Fecan &c.
+3.  Ib. l. 15, p. 465, l. 36, p. 82. See Dom Beaunier, Recueil
+    Historique des Evech. et Abbayes, t. 1, p. 17.
+4.  Dom Vaissette, Géographie Histor. t. 6, p. 515, and Le Beuf, Hist.
+    du Diocèse de Paris, t. 5, p. 17. Piganiol, Descrip. of Paris, t. 8,
+    p. 165, t. 3, p. 114, t. 7, p. 79.
+5.  S. Odilo in vitâ S. Majoli; et Leo Ostiens in chron. Casin. l. 2, c.
+    55.
+6.  Victor III. Dial. l. 2. Ruinart, Apol. Miss. S. Mauri, p. 632.
+    Mabill. Annal. Bened. l. 56, c. 73.
+7.  Dom Freville, the Maurist monk, and curate of St. Symphorian's, at
+    the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, has nevertheless made use of
+    these pieces in a MS. history of the life and translations of this
+    saint, which he has compiled, and of which he allowed me the
+    perusal. When the relics of St. Maurus were translated to St.
+    Germain-des-Prez, those of St. Babolen, who died about the year 671,
+    and is honored is the Paris breviary on the 28th of June, and
+    several others which had enriched the monastery des Fosses were
+    conveyed to the church of St. Louis, at the Louvre.
+
+ST. MAIN, ABBOT
+
+THIS saint was a British bishop, who, passing into Little Britain in
+France, there founded an abbey in which he ended his days.
+
+ST. JOHN CALYBITE, RECLUSE.
+
+HE was the son of Eutropius, a rich nobleman in Constantinople. He
+secretly left home to become a monk among the Acæmetes.[1] After six
+{156} years he returned disguised in the rags of a beggar, and subsisted
+by the charity of his parents, as a stranger, in a little hut near their
+house; hence he was called the Calybite.[2] He sanctified his soul by
+wonderful patience, meekness, humility, mortification, and prayer. He
+discovered himself to his mother, in his agony, in the year 450, and,
+according to his request, was buried under his hut; but his parents
+built over his tomb a stately church, as the author of his life
+mentions. Cedrenus, who says it stood in the western quarter of the
+city, calls it _the church of poor John_;[3] Zonaras, the church of St.
+John Calybite.[4] An old church standing near the bridge of the isle of
+the Tiber in Rome, which bore his name, according to an inscription
+there, was built by pope Formosus, (who died in 896,) together with an
+hospital. From which circumstance Du Cange[5] infers that the body of
+our saint, which is preserved in this church, was conveyed from
+Constantinople to Rome, before the broaching of the Iconoclast heresy
+under Leo the Isarian, in 706: but his head remained at Constantinople
+till after that city fell into the hands of the Latins, in 1204; soon
+after which it was brought to Besanzon in Burgundy, where it is kept in
+St. Stephen's church, with a Greek inscription round the case. The
+church which bears the name of Saint John Calybite, at Rome, with the
+hospital, is now in the hands of religious men of the order of St. John
+of God. According to a MS. life, commended by Baronius, St. John
+Calybite flourished under Theodosius the Younger, who died in 450:
+Nicephorus says, under Leo, who was proclaimed emperor in 457; so that
+both accounts may be true. On his genuine Greek acts, see Lambecius,
+Bibl. Vind. t. 8, pp. 228, 395; Bollandus, p. 1035, gives his Latin acts
+the same which we find in Greek at St. Germain-des-Prez. See Montfaucon,
+Bibl. Coislianæ, p. 196. Bollandus adds other Latin acts, to which he
+gives the preference. See also Papebroch, Comm. ad Januarium Græcum
+metricum, t. 1. Maij. Jos. Assemani, in Calendaria Univ. ad 15 Jan. t.
+6, p. 76. Chatelain, p. 283, &c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Papebroch supposes St. John Calybite to have made a long voyage at
+    sea; but this circumstance seems to have no other foundation than
+    the mistake of those who place his birth at Rome, forgetting that
+    Constantinople was then called New Rome. No mention is made of any
+    long voyage in his genuine Greek acts, nor in the interpolated
+    Latin. He sailed only threescore furlongs from Constantinople to the
+    place called [Greek: Gomôn], and from the peaceful abode of the
+    Acæmetes' monk, ([Greek: Eirênaion], or dwelling of peace,) opposite
+    to Sosthenium on the Thrancian shore, where the monastery of the
+    Acæmetes stood.
+2.  From [Greek: kalubê], a cottage, a hut.
+3.  Cedr. ad an. 461.
+4.  Zonaras, p. 41.
+5.  Du Cange, Constantinop. Christiana, l. 4, c. 6, n. 51.
+
+
+ST. ISIDORE, PRIEST AND HOSPITALLER,
+
+OF ALEXANDRIA.[1]
+
+HE was taken from his cell where he had passed many years in the
+deserts, ordained Priest, and placed in the dignity of hospitaller, by
+St. Athanasius. He lived in that great city a perfect model of meekness,
+patience, mortification, and prayer. He frequently burst into tears at
+table, saying: "I who am a rational creature, and made to enjoy God, eat
+the food of brutes, instead of feeding on the bread of angels."
+Palladius, afterwards bishop of Helenopolis, on going to Egypt to
+embrace an ascetic life, addressed himself first to our saint for
+advice: the skilful director bade him go and exercise himself for some
+time in mortification and self-denial, and then return for further
+instructions. St. Isidore suffered many persecutions, first from Lucius
+the Arian intruder, and afterwards from Theophilus, who unjustly accused
+him of Origenism.[2] He publicly condemned that heresy at {157}
+Constantinople, where he died in 403, under the protection of St.
+Chrysostom. See Palladius in Lausiac, c. 1 and 2. Socrates, l. 6, c. 9.
+Sozomen, c. 3 and 12. St. Jerom, Ep. 61, c. 15, ad Princip. Theodoret.
+l. 4, c. 21. Pallad. de Vitâ S. Chrys. Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d'Orient. l.
+1, c. 15
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A hospitaller is one residing in an hospital, in order to receive
+    the poor and strangers.
+2.  St. Jerom's zeal against the Origenists was very serviceable to the
+    church; yet his translation of Theophilus's book against the memory
+    of St. Chrysostom, (ap. Fac. herm. l. 6, c. 4,) is a proof that it
+    sometimes carried him too far. This weakens his charge against the
+    holy hospitaller of Alexandria, whom Theophilus expelled Egypt, with
+    the four long brothers, (Dioscorus, Ammonias, Eusebius, and
+    Euthymius,) and about three hundred other monks. Some accuse
+    Theophilus of proceeding against them out of mere jealousy. It is at
+    least certain, that St. Isidore and the four long brothers
+    anathematized Origenism at Constantinople, before St. Chrysostom
+    received them to his communion, and that Theophilus himself was
+    reconciled to them at Chalcedon, in the council at the Oak, without
+    requiring of them any confession of faith, or making mention of
+    Origen. (Sozom. l. 8, c. 17.) Many take the St. Isidore, mentioned
+    in the Roman Martyrology, for the hospitaller; but Bulteau observes,
+    that St. Isidore of Scété is rather meant; at least the former is
+    honored by the Greeks.
+
+ST. ISIDORE, P.H.
+
+HE was priest of Scété, and hermit in that vast desert. He excelled in
+an unparalleled gift of meekness, continency, prayer, and recollection.
+Once perceiving in himself some motions of anger to rise, he that
+instant threw down certain baskets he was carrying to market, and ran
+away to avoid the occasion.[1] When, in his old age, others persuaded
+him to abate something in his labor, he answered: "If we consider what
+the Son of God hath done for us, we can never allow ourselves any
+indulgence in sloth. Were my body burnt, and my ashes scattered in the
+air, it would be nothing."[2] Whenever the enemy tempted him to despair,
+he said, "Were I to be damned, thou wouldest yet be below me in hell;
+nor would I cease to labor in the service of God, though assured that
+this was to be my lot." If he was tempted to vain-glory, he reproached
+and confounded himself with the thought, how far even in his exterior
+exercises he fell short of the servants of God, Antony, Pambo, and
+others.[3] Being asked the reason of his abundant tears, he answered: "I
+weep for my sins: if we had only once offended God, we could never
+sufficiently bewail this misfortune." He died a little before the year
+391. His name stands in the Roman Martyrology, on the fifteenth of
+January. See Cassian. coll. 18, c. 15 and 16. Tillem. t. 8, p. 440.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+1.  Cotellier, Mon. Gr. t. 1, p. 487.
+2.  Ib. p. 686. Rosweide, l. 5, c. 7
+3.  Cotel. ib. t. 2, p. 48. Rosweide, l. 3, c. 101, l. 7, c. 11.
+
+SAINT BONITUS, BISHOP OF AUVERGNE, C.
+
+(COMMONLY, IN AUVERGNE, BONET; AT PARIS, BONT.)
+
+ST. BONET was referendary or chancellor, to Sigebert III., the holy king
+of Austrasia; and by his zeal, religion, and justice, flourished in that
+kingdom under four kings. After the death of Dagobert II., Thierry III.
+made him governor of Marseilles and all Provence, in 680. His elder
+brother St. Avitus II., bishop of Clermont, in Auvergne, having
+recommended him for his successor, died in 689, and Bonet was
+consecrated. But after having governed that see ten years, with the most
+exemplary piety, he had a scruple whether his election had been
+perfectly canonical; and having consulted St. Tilo, or Theau, then
+leading an eremitical life at Solignac, resigned his dignity, led for
+four years a most penitential life in the abbey of Manlieu, now of the
+order of St. Bennet, and after having made a pilgrimage to Rome, died of
+the gout at Lyons on the fifteenth of January in 710, being eighty-six
+years old. His relics were enshrined in the cathedral at Clermont; but
+some small portions are kept at Paris, in the churches of St. Germain
+l'Auxerrois, and St. Bont, near that of St. Merry. See his life, {158}
+written by a monk of Sommon in Auvergne, in the same century, published
+by Bollandus, also le Cointe, an. 699. Gallia Christiana Nova, &c.
+
+ST. ITA, OR MIDA, V. ABBESS
+
+SHE was a native of Nandesi, now the barony of Dessee in the county of
+Waterford, and descended from the royal family. Having consecrated her
+virginity to God, she led an austere retired life at the foot of the
+mountain Luach, in the diocese of Limerick, and founded there a famous
+monastery of holy virgins, called Cluain-cred-hail. By the mortification
+of her senses and passions, and by her constant attention to God and his
+divine love, she was enriched with many extraordinary graces. The lesson
+she principally inculcated to others was, that to be perpetually
+recollected in God is the great means of attaining to perfection. She
+died January 15, in 569. Her feast was solemnized in her church of
+Cluain-cred-hail; in the whole territory of Hua-Conail, and at Rosmide,
+in the territory of Nandesi. See her ancient life in Bollandus, Jan.
+xvi., and Colgan, t. 1, p. 72, who calls her the second St. Bridget of
+Ireland.
+
+
+JANUARY XVI.
+
+ST. MARCELLUS, POPE, M.
+
+See the epitaph of eight verses, composed for this Pope, by St. Damasus,
+carm. 48, and Tillemont, t. 5.
+
+A.D. 310.
+
+ST. MARCELLUS was priest under pope Marcellinus. whom he succeeded in
+308, after that see had been vacant for three years and a half. An
+epitaph written on him by pope Damasus, who also mentions himself in it,
+says, that by enforcing the canons of holy penance, he drew upon himself
+the contradictions and persecutions of many tepid and refractory
+Christians, and that for his severity against a certain apostate, he was
+banished by the tyrant Maxentius.[1] He died in 310, having sat one
+year, seven months, and twenty days. Anastatius writes, that Lucina, a
+devout widow of one Pinianus, who lodged St. Marcellus when he lived in
+Rome, after his death converted her house into a church, which she
+called by his name. His false acts relate, that among his other
+sufferings, he was condemned by the tyrant to keep cattle in this place.
+He is styled a martyr in the sacramentaries of Gelasius I. and St.
+Gregory, and in the Martyrologies ascribed to St. Jerom and Bede, which,
+with the rest of the Western calendars, mention his feast on the
+sixteenth of January. His body lies under the high altar in the ancient
+church, which bears his name, and gives title to a cardinal in Rome; but
+certain portions of his relics are honored at Cluni, Namur, Mons, &c.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+God is most wonderful in the whole economy of his holy providence over
+his elect: his power and wisdom are exalted infinitely above the
+understanding {159} of creatures, and we are obliged to cry out, "Who
+can search his ways?"[2] We have not penetration to discover all the
+causes and ends of exterior things which we see or feel. How much less
+can we understand this in secret and interior things, which fall not
+under our senses? "Remember that thou knowest not his work. Behold he is
+a great God, surpassing our understanding."[3] How does he make every
+thing serve his purposes for the sanctification of his servants! By how
+many ways does he conduct them to eternal glory! Some he sanctifies on
+thrones; others in cottages; others in retired cells and deserts; others
+in the various functions of an apostolic life, and in the government of
+his church. And how wonderfully does he ordain and direct all human
+events to their spiritual advancement, both in prosperity and in
+adversity! In their persecutions and trials, especially, we shall
+discover at the last day, when the secrets of his providence will be
+manifested to us, the tenderness of his infinite love, the depth of his
+unsearchable wisdom, and the extent of his omnipotent power. In all his
+appointments let us adore these his attributes, earnestly imploring his
+grace, that according to the designs of his mercy, we may make every
+thing, especially all afflictions, serve for the exercise and
+improvement of our virtue.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Damasus, carm. 26.
+2.  Job xxxvi, 23.
+3.  Ib.
+
+ST. MACARIUS, THE ELDER, OF EGYPT
+
+From the original authors of the lives of the fathers of the deserts, in
+Rosweide, d'Andilly, Bollandus, 15 Jan., Tillemont, t. 13, p. 576,
+collated with a very ancient manuscript of the lives of the Fathers,
+published by Rosweide, &c., in the hands of Mr. Martin, of Palgrave, in
+Suffolk.
+
+A.D. 390.
+
+ST. MACARIUS, the Elder, was born in Upper Egypt, about the year 300,
+and brought up in the country in tending cattle. In his childhood, in
+company with some others, he once stole a few figs, and ate one of them:
+but from his conversion to his death, he never ceased to weep bitterly
+for this sin.[1] By a powerful call of divine grace, he retired from the
+world in his youth, and dwelling in a little cell in a village, made
+mats, in continual prayer and great austerities. A wicked woman falsely
+accused him of having defloured her; for which supposed crime he was
+dragged through the streets, beaten, and insulted, as a base hypocrite,
+under the garb of a monk. He suffered all with patience, and sent the
+woman what he earned by his work, saying to himself: "Well, Macarius!
+having now another to provide for, thou must work the harder." But God
+discovered his innocency; for the woman falling in labor, lay in extreme
+anguish, and could not be delivered till she had named the true father
+of her child. The people converted their rage into the greatest
+admiration of the humility and patience of the saint.[2] To shun the
+esteem of men, he fled into the vast hideous desert of Scété,[3] being
+then about thirty years of age. In this solitude he lived sixty years,
+and became the spiritual parent of innumerable holy persons, who put
+themselves under his direction, and were governed by the rules he
+prescribed them; but all dwelt in separate hermitages. St. Macarius
+admitted only one disciple with him, to entertain strangers. He was
+{160} compelled by an Egyptian bishop to receive the order of
+priesthood, about the year 340, the fortieth of his age, that he might
+celebrate the divine mysteries for the convenience of this holy colony.
+When the desert became better peopled, there were four churches built in
+it, which were served by so many priests. The austerities of St.
+Macarius were excessive; he usually ate but once a week. Evagrius, his
+disciple, once asked him leave to drink a little water, under a parching
+thirst; but Macarius bade him content himself with reposing a little in
+the shade, saying: "For these twenty years, I have never once ate,
+drunk, or slept, as much as nature required."[4] His face was very pale,
+and his body weak and parched up. To deny his own will, he did not
+refuse to drink a little wine when others desired him; but then he would
+punish himself for this indulgence, by abstaining two or three days from
+all manner of drink; and it was for this reason, that his disciple
+desired strangers never to tender unto him a drop of wine.[5] He
+delivered his instructions in few words, and principally inculcated
+silence, humility, mortification, retirement, and continual prayer,
+especially the last, to all sorts of people. He used to say, "In prayer,
+you need not use many or lofty words. You can often repeat with a
+sincere heart, Lord, show me mercy as thou knowest best. Or, assist me,
+O God!"[6] He was much delighted with this ejaculation of perfect
+resignation and love: "O Lord, have mercy on me, as thou pleasest, and
+knowest best in thy goodness!"[7] His mildness and patience were
+invincible, and occasioned the conversion of a heathen priest, and many
+others.[8] The devil told him one day, "I can surpass thee in watching,
+fasting, and many other things; but humility conquers and disarms
+me."[9] A young man applying to St. Macarius for spiritual advice, he
+directed him to go to a burying-place, and upbraid the dead; and after
+to go and flatter them. When he came back, the saint asked him what
+answer the dead had made: "None at all," said the other, "either to
+reproaches or praises." "Then," replied Macarius, "go, and learn neither
+to be moved with injuries nor flatteries. If you die to the world and to
+yourself, you will begin to live to Christ." He said to another:
+"Receive, from the hand of God, poverty as cheerfully as riches, hunger
+and want as plenty, and you will conquer the devil, and subdue all your
+passions."[10] A certain monk complained to him, that in solitude he was
+always tempted to break his fast, whereas in the monastery, he could
+fast the whole week cheerfully. "Vain-glory is the reason," replied the
+saint; "fasting pleases, when men see you; but seems intolerable when
+that passion is not gratified."[11] One came to consult him, who was
+molested with temptations to impurity: the saint, examining into the
+source, found it to be sloth, and advised him never to eat before
+sunset, to meditate fervently at his work, and to labor vigorously,
+without sloth, the whole day. The other faithfully complied, and was
+freed from his enemy. God revealed to St. Macarius, that he had not
+attained the perfection of two married women, who lived in a certain
+town: he made them a visit, and learned the means by which they
+sanctified themselves. They were extremely careful never to speak any
+idle or rash words: they lived in the constant practice of humility,
+patience, meekness, charity, resignation, mortification of their own
+will, and conformity to the humors of their husbands and others, where
+the divine law did not interpose: in a spirit of recollection they
+sanctified all their actions by {161} ardent ejaculations, by which they
+strove to praise God, and most fervently to consecrate to the divine
+glory all the powers of their soul and body.[12]
+
+A subtle heretic of the sect of the Hieracites, called so from Hierax,
+who in the reign of Dioclesian denied the resurrection of the dead, had,
+by his sophisms, caused some to stagger in their faith. St. Macarius, to
+confirm them in the truth, raised a dead man to life, as Socrates,
+Sozomen, Palladius, and Rufinus relate. Cassian says, that he only made
+a dead corpse to speak for that purpose; then bade it rest till the
+resurrection. Lucius, the Arian usurper of the see of Alexandria, who
+had expelled Peter, the successor of St. Athanasius, in 376 sent troops
+into the deserts to disperse the zealous monks, several of whom sealed
+their faith with their blood: the chiefs, namely, the two Macariuses,
+Isidore, Pambo, and some others, by the authority of the emperor Valens,
+were banished into a little isle of Egypt, surrounded with great
+marshes. The inhabitants, who were Pagans, were all converted to the
+faith by the confessors.[13] The public indignation of the whole empire,
+obliged Lucius to suffer them to return to their cells. Our saint,
+knowing that his end drew near, made a visit to the monks of Nitria, and
+exhorted them to compunction and tears so pathetically, that they all
+fell weeping at his feet. "Let us weep, brethren," said he, "and let our
+eyes pour forth floods of tears before we go hence, lest we fall into
+that place where tears will only increase the flames in which we shall
+burn."[14] He went to receive the reward of his labors in the year 390,
+and of his age the ninetieth, having spent sixty years in the desert of
+Scété.[15]
+
+He seems to have been the first anchoret who inhabited this vast
+wilderness; and this Cassian affirms.[16] Some style him a disciple of
+St. Antony; but that quality rather suits St. Macarius of Alexandria;
+for, by the history of our saint's life, it appears that he could not
+have lived under the direction of St. Antony before he retired into the
+desert of Scété. But he afterwards paid a visit, if not several, to that
+holy patriarch of monks, whose dwelling was fifteen days' journey
+distant.[17] This glorious saint is honored in the Roman Martyrology on
+the 15th of January; in the Greek Menæa on the 19th. An ancient monastic
+rule, and an epistle addressed to monks, written in sentences, like the
+book of Proverbs, are ascribed to St. Macarius. Tillemont thinks them
+more probably the works of St. Macarius of Alexandria, who had under his
+inspection at Nitria five thousand monks.[18] Gennadius[19] says that
+St. Macarius wrote nothing but this letter. This may be understood of
+St. Macarius of Alexandria, though one who wrote in Gaul might not have
+seen all the works of an author whose country was so remote, and
+language different. Fifty spiritual homilies are ascribed, in the first
+edition, and in some manuscripts, to St. Macarius of Egypt: yet F.
+Possin[20] thinks they rather belong to Macarius of Pispir, who attended
+St. Antony at his death, and seems to have been some years older than
+the two great Macariuses, though some have thought him the same with the
+Alexandrian.[21]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bolland. 15. Jan. p. 1011, §39. Cotel. Mon. Gr{}t, l. 1, p. 546.
+2.  Cotel. ib. p. 525. Rosweide, Vit. Patr. l. 3, c. 99, l. 5, c. 15,
+    §25, p. 623.
+3.  Mount Nitria was above forty miles from Alexandria, towards the
+    Southwest. The desert of Scété lay eighty miles beyond Nitria, and
+    was rather in Lybia than in Egypt. It was of a vast extent, and then
+    were no roads thereabouts, so that men were guided only by the stars
+    in travelling in those parts. See Tillemont on St. Amon and this
+    Macarius.
+4.  Socrates, l. 4, c. 23.
+5.  Rosweide, Vit. Patr. l. 3, §3, p. 505, l. 5, c. 4, §26, p. 569.
+6.  Rosweide, l. 3, c. 20, l. 5, c. 12. Cotel. p. 537.
+7.  Domine, sicut scis et vis, miserere me!
+8.  Rosweide, l. 3, c. 127. Cotel. t. 1, p. 547.
+9.  Rosweide, l. 5, c. 15.
+10. Rosweide, l. 7, c. 48. Cotel. t. 1, p. 537. Rosweide, ib. §9.
+11. Cassian Collat. 5, c. 32.
+12. Rosweide, l. 3, c. 97, l. 6, c. 3, §17, p. 657.
+13. Theodoret, l. 4, c. 18, 19. Socr. l. 4, c. 22. Sozom. l. 6, c. 19,
+20. Rufin. l. 2, c. 3. S. Hier. in Chrom. Oros. l. 7, c. 33. Pallad.
+    Lausiac. c. 117.
+14. Rosw. Vit. Part. l. 5, c. 3, §9. Cotel. Mon. Gr. p. 545.
+15. Pallad. Lausiac. c. 19.
+16. Cassian. Collat. 15, c. 13. Tillem. Note 3, p. 806.
+17. Rosw. Vit. Patr. l. 5, c. 7, §9. Cotel. Apothegm. Patr. 530. Tillem.
+    art. 4, p. 581, and Note 4, p. 80{}.
+18. See Tillem. Note 3, p. 806.
+19. Gennad. Cat. c. 10.
+20. Possin. Ascet. pr. p. 17.
+21.
+    Du Pin allows these fifty homilies to be undoubtedly very ancient:
+    in which judgment others agree, and the discourses themselves bear
+    evident marks. Du Pin and Tillemont leave them to St. Macarius of
+    Egypt; and his claim to them is very well supported by the learned
+    English translator, who published them with an introduction, at
+    London, in 1721, in octavo. The censure of Ceillier upon them seems
+    too severe. Certain passages, which seem to favor Pelagianism, ought
+    to be explained by others, which clearly condemn that heresy; or it
+    must be granted that they have suffered some alteration. The
+    composition is not very methodical, these homilies being addressed
+    to monks, in answer to particular queries. The author exceedingly
+    extols the peace and sweetness which a soul, crucified to the world,
+    enjoys with the consolations of the Holy Ghost, who resides in her.
+    But he says that the very angels deplore, as much as their state
+    will permit, those unhappy souls which taste not these heavenly
+    delights, as men weep over a dear friend who lies sick in his agony,
+    and receives all nourishment from their hands. (St. Macar., hom. 1 &
+    15.) Prayer, without which no one can be free from sin, is a duty
+    which he strongly inculcates, (Hom. 2,) with perfect concord, by
+    which we love, and are inclined to condescend to indifferent things,
+    and to judge well of all men, so as to say, when we see one pray,
+    that he prays for us; if he read, that he reads for us, and for the
+    divine honor; if he rest or work, that he is employed for the
+    advancement of the common good. (Hom. 3.) The practice of keeping
+    ourselves constantly in the divine presence, he calls a principal
+    duty, by which we learn to triumph over our enemies, and refer to
+    the divine honor all we do; "for this one thing is necessary, that
+    whether we work, read, or pray, we always entertain this life and
+    treasure in our souls; having God constantly in our thoughts, and
+    the Holy Ghost in our breasts." (Hom. 3.) A continual watchfulness,
+    and strict guard upon all our senses, and in all our actions, is
+    necessary, especially against vanity, concupiscence, and gluttony;
+    without which, failings will be multiplied; pure and faithful souls
+    God makes his chaste spouses; they always think on him, and place
+    all their desires on him; but those who love the earth are earthly
+    in their thoughts and affections, their corrupt inclinations gain
+    such a mastery, that they seem natural to them. Vigilance is
+    absolutely necessary to remove this insinuating enemy; and purity of
+    conscience begets prudence, which can never be found under the
+    tyranny of the passions, and which is the eye that guides the soul
+    through the craggy paths of this life. Pure souls are raised by
+    divine grace to dwell with God on earth by holy contemplation, and
+    are fitted for eternal bliss, (Hom. 4;) true Christians differ in
+    their desires and actions from other men. The wicked burn with
+    lawless passions, and are disturbed with anxious desires and vain
+    wishes, hunt after, and think of nothing but earthly pleasures; but
+    the true Christian enjoys an uninterrupted tranquillity of mind and
+    joy, even amidst crosses, and rejoices in sufferings and
+    temptations, hope and divine grace sweetening their severest trials.
+    The love of God with which they burn, makes them rejoice in all they
+    suffer for his sake, and by his appointment. It is their most ardent
+    desire to behold God in his glory, and to be themselves transformed
+    into him. (2 Cor. iii.) Even now the sweetness with which God
+    overwhelms them, renders them already, in some measure, partakers of
+    his glory; which will be completed in them in heaven. (Hom. 5.) In
+    prayer we must be freed from all anxious care, trouble of mind, and
+    foreign thoughts; and must cry out to God with our whole hearts in
+    tranquillity and silence; for God descends only in peace and repose,
+    not amidst tumult and clamors. (Hom. 6.) A soul astonished to see
+    God, who is crowned with infinite glory, visit her with so much
+    sweetness, absorbed in hi, sovereignly despises all earthly things,
+    and cries out to his in strains of admiration at his condescension
+    and goodness. (Hom. 7) When a person, endowed with the gift of
+    supernatural prayer, falls on his knees to pray, his heart is
+    straight filled with the divine sweetness, and his soul exults in
+    God as a spouse with her beloved. This joy in one hour of prayer in
+    the silence of the night, makes a soul forget all the labors of the
+    day; being wrapt in God, she expatiates in the depth of his
+    immensity, and is raised above all the toys of this world to
+    heavenly joys, which no tongue can express. Then she cries out, "Oh!
+    that my soul could now ascend with my prayer out high, to be for
+    evermore united with God!" But this grace is not always equal; and
+    this light is sometimes stronger, and this ardor is sometimes more
+    vehement, sometimes more gentle; sometimes the soul seems to herself
+    to behold a cross shining with a dazzling brightness, wherewith her
+    interior man is penetrated. Sometimes in a rapture she seems clothed
+    with glory, in some measure as Christ appeared in his
+    transfiguration. At other times, overwhelmed with a divine light,
+    and drowned in the ocean of divine sweetness, she scarce remains
+    herself, and becomes a stranger, and, as it were, foolish to this
+    world, through the excess of heavenly sweetness, and relish of
+    divine mysteries. A perfect state of contemplation is granted to no
+    one in this life; yet when we go to pray, after making the sign of
+    the cross, often grace so overwhelms the heart, and the whole man,
+    filling every power with perfect tranquillity, that the soul,
+    through excess of overflowing joy, becomes like a little child,
+    which knows no evil, condemns no man, but loves all the world. At
+    other times she seems as a child of God, to confide in him as in her
+    father, to penetrate the heavenly mansions which are opened to her,
+    and to discover mysteries which no man can express. (Hom. 8.) These
+    interior delights can only be purchased by many trials; for a soul
+    must be dead to the world, and burn with a vehement love of God
+    alone, so that no creature can separate her from him, and she
+    dedicate herself and all her actions to him, without reserve. (Hom.
+    9.) For this, a most profound humility, cheerfulness, and courage
+    are necessary; sloth, tepidity, and sadness being incompatible with
+    spiritual progress. (Hom. 10.) The Holy Ghost is a violent fire in
+    our breasts, which makes us always active, and spurs us on
+    continually to aspire more and more vehemently towards God. (Hom.
+    11.) The mark of a true Christian is, that he studies to conceal
+    from the eyes of men all the good he receives from God. Those who
+    taste how sweet God is, and know no satiety in his love, in
+    proportion as they advance in contemplation, the more perfectly they
+    see their own wants and nothingness: and always cry out, "I am most
+    unworthy that this sun sheds its beams upon me." (Hom. 15.) In the
+    following homilies, the author delivers many excellent maxims on
+    humility and prayer, and tells us, that a certain monk, after having
+    been favored with a wonderful rapture, and many great graces, fell
+    by pride into several grievous sins. (Hom. 17.) A certain rich
+    nobleman gave his estate to the poor, and set his slaves at liberty;
+    yet afterwards fell into pride, and many enormous crimes. Another,
+    who in the persecution had suffered torments with great constancy
+    for the faith, afterwards, intoxicated with self-conceit, gave great
+    scandal by his disorders. He mentions one who had formerly lived a
+    long time with him in the desert, prayed often with him, and was
+    favored with an extraordinary gift of compunction, and a miraculous
+    power of curing many sick persons, was delighted with glory and
+    applause of men, and drawn into the sink of vice. (Hom. 27.) To
+    preserve the unction of the Holy Ghost, a person must live in
+    constant fear, humility, and compunction. (Hom. 17.) Without Christ
+    and his grace we can do nothing; but by the Holy Ghost dwelling in
+    her, a soul becomes all light, all spirit, as joy, all love, all
+    compassion. Unless a person be animated by divine grace, and
+    replenished with all virtues, the best instructions and exhortations
+    in their mouths produce very little good. (Hom 18.) The servant of
+    God never bears in mind the good works he has done, but, after all
+    his labors, sees how much is wanting to him; and how much he falls
+    short of his duty, and of the perfection of virtue, and says every
+    day to himself, that now he ought to begin, and that to-morrow
+    perhaps God will call him to himself, and deliver him from his
+    labors and dangers (Hom. 26.) The absolute necessity of divine grace
+    he teaches in many places; also the fundamental article of original
+    sin, (Hom. 48. pag. 101, t. 4, Bibl. Patr. Colon. an. {}6{}) which
+    the Pelagians denied.
+
+{162}
+
+ST. HONORATUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ARLES.
+
+He was of a consular Roman family, then settled in Gaul, and was well
+versed in the liberal arts. In his youth he renounced the worship of
+idols, and gained his elder brother, Venantius, to Christ, whom he also
+inspired with a contempt of the world. They desired to renounce it
+entirely, but a {163} fond Pagan father put continual obstacles in their
+way: at length they took with them St. Caprais, a holy hermit, for their
+director, and sailed from Marseilles to Greece, with the design to live
+there unknown, in some desert. Venantius soon died happily at Methone;
+and Honoratus, being also sick, was obliged to return with his
+conductor. He first led an eremitical life in the mountains, near
+Frejus. Two small islands lie in the sea near that coast, one larger, at
+a nearer distance from the continent, called Lero, now St. Margaret's;
+the other smaller and more remote, two leagues from Antibes, named
+Lerins, at present St. Honoré, from our saint, where he settled; and
+being followed by others, he there founded the famous monastery of
+Lerins, about the year 400. Some he appointed to live in community;
+others, who seemed more perfect, in separate cells, as anchorets. His
+rule was chiefly borrowed from that of St. Pachomius. Nothing can be
+more amiable than the description St. Hilary has given of the excellent
+virtues of this company of saints, especially of the charity, concord,
+humility, compunction, and devotion which reigned among them, under the
+conduct of our holy abbot. He was, by compulsion, consecrated archbishop
+of Arles in 426, and died, exhausted with austerities and apostolical
+labors, in 429. The style of his letters was clear and affecting: they
+were penned with an admirable delicacy, elegance, and sweetness, as St.
+Hilary assures. The loss of all these precious monuments is much
+regretted. His tomb is shown empty under the high altar of the church
+which bears his name at Arles; his body having been translated to Lerins
+in 1391, where the greatest part remains. See his panegyric by his
+disciple, kinsman, and successor, St. Hilary of Arles; one of the most
+finished pieces extant in this kind. Dom Rivet, Hist. Lit. t. 2, p. 156.
+
+ST. FURSEY,
+
+SON OF FINTAN, KING OF PART OF IRELAND,
+
+WAS abbot first of a monastery in his own country, in the diocese of
+Tuam, near the lake of Orbsen, where now stands the church of
+Kill-fursa, says Colgan. Afterwards, travelling with two of his
+brothers, St. Foilan and St. Ultan, through England, he founded, by the
+liberality of king Sigibert, the abbey of Cnobbersburg, now Burg-castle
+in Suffolk. Saint Ultan retired into a desert, and St. Fursey, after
+some time, followed him thither, leaving the government of his monastery
+to St. Foilan. Being driven thence by the irruptions of king Penda, he
+went into France, and, by the munificence of king Clovis II. and
+Erconwald, the pious mayor of his palace, built the great monastery of
+Latiniac, or Lagny, six leagues from Paris, on the Marne. He was deputed
+by the bishop of Paris to govern that diocese in quality of his vicar;
+on which account some have styled him bishop. He died in 650 at
+Froheins, that is, Fursei-domus, in the diocese of Amiens, while he was
+building another monastery at Peronne, to which church Erconwald removed
+his body. His relics have been famous for miracles, and are still
+preserved in the great church at Peronne, which was founded by Erconwald
+to be served by a certain number of priests, and made a royal collegiate
+church of canons by Lewis XI. Saint Fursey is honored as {164} patron of
+that town. See his ancient life in Bollandus, from which Bede extracted
+an account of his visions in a sickness in Ireland, l. 3, hist. c. 19.
+See also his life by Bede in MS. in the king's library at the British
+Museum, and Colgan, Jan. 16, p. 75, and Feb. 9, p. 282.
+
+FIVE FRIARS, MINORS, MARTYRS.
+
+BERARDUS, PETER, ACURSIUS, ADJUTUS, AND OTTO,
+
+WERE sent by St. Francis to preach to the Mahometans of the West, while
+he went in person to those of the East. They preached first to the Moors
+of Seville, where they suffered much for their zeal, and were banished.
+Passing thence into Morocco, they began there to preach Christ, and
+being banished, returned again. The infidel judge caused them twice to
+be scourged till their ribs appeared bare; he then ordered burning oil
+and vinegar to be poured into their wounds, and their bodies to be
+rolled over sharp stones and potsherds. At length the king caused them
+to be brought before him, and taking his cimeter, clove their heads
+asunder in the middle of their foreheads, on the 16th of January, 1220.
+Their relics were ransomed, and are preserved in the monastery of the
+holy cross in Coimbra. Their names stand in the Roman Martyrology, and
+they were canonized by Sixtus IV. in 1481. See their acts in Bollandus
+and Wading; also Chalippe, Vie de S. François, l. 3, t. 1, p. 275.
+
+ST. HENRY, HERMIT.
+
+THE Danes were indebted in part for the light of faith, under God, to
+the bright example and zealous labors of English missionaries. Henry was
+born in that country, of honorable parentage, and from his infancy gave
+himself to the divine service with his whole heart. When he came to
+man's estate he was solicited by his friends to marry, but having a
+strong call from God to forsake the world, he sailed to the north of
+England. The little island of Cocket, which lies on the coast of
+Northumberland, near the mouth of the river of the same name, was
+inhabited by many holy anchorets in St. Bede's time, as appears from his
+life of St. Cuthbert.[1] This island belonged to the monastery of
+Tinmouth, and, with the leave of the prior of that house, St. Henry
+undertook to lead in it an eremitical life. He fasted every day, and his
+refection, which he took at most only once in twenty-four hours, after
+sunset, was only bread and water: and this bread he earned by tilling a
+little garden near his cell. He suffered many assaults both from devils
+and men; but by those very trials improved his soul in the perfect
+spirit of patience, meekness, humility, and charity. He died in his
+hermitage in 1127, on the 16th of January, and was buried by the monks
+of Tinmouth, in the church of the Blessed Virgin, near the body of St.
+Oswin, king and martyr. See his life in Capgrave and Bollandus.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bede, Vit. S. Cuthberti, c. 24.
+
+{165}
+
+
+JANUARY XVII.
+
+
+ST. ANTONY, ABBOT,
+
+PATRIARCH OF MONKS.
+
+From his life, compiled by the great St. Athanasius, vol. 2, p. 743, a
+work much commended by St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Jerom, St. Austin,
+Rufinus, Palladius, &c. St. Chrysostom recommends to all persons the
+reading of this pious history, as full of instruction and edification.
+Hom. 8, in Matt t. 7. p. 128. It contributed to the conversion of St.
+Austin. Confess. l. 8, c. 6 and 28. See Tillemont, t. 7, Helyot, t. 1,
+Stevens, Addit. Mon. Anglic. t. 1, Ceillier, &c.
+
+A.D. 356.
+
+ST. ANTONY was born at Coma, a village near Heraclea, or Great
+Heracleopolis, in Upper Egypt, on the borders of Arcadia, or Middle
+Egypt, in 251. His parents, who were Christians, and rich, to prevent
+his being tainted by bad example and vicious conversation, kept him
+always at home; so that he grew up unacquainted with any branch of human
+literature, and could read no language but his own.[1] He was remarkable
+from his childhood for his temperance, a close attendance on church
+duties, and a punctual obedience to his parents. By their death he found
+himself possessed of a very considerable estate, and charged with the
+care of a younger sister, before he was twenty years of age. Near six
+months after, he heard read in the church those words of Christ to the
+rich young man: _Go sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor, and
+thou shalt have treasure in heaven._[2] He considered these words as
+addressed to himself; going home, he made over to his neighbors three
+hundred _aruras_,[3] that is, above one hundred and twenty acres of good
+land, that he and his sister might be free forever from all public taxes
+and burdens. The rest of his estate he sold, and gave the price to the
+poor, except what he thought necessary for himself and his sister. Soon
+after, hearing in the church those other words of Christ; _Be not
+solicitous for to-morrow_;[4] he also distributed in alms the moveables
+which he had reserved; and placed his sister in a house of virgins,[5]
+which most moderns take to be the first instance mentioned in history of
+a nunnery. She was afterwards intrusted with the care and direction of
+tethers in that holy way of life. Antony himself retired into a
+solitude, near his village, in imitation of a certain old man, who led
+the life of a hermit in the neighborhood of Coma. Manual labor, prayer,
+and pious reading, were his whole occupation: and such was his fervor,
+that if he heard of any virtuous recluse, he sought him out, and
+endeavored to make the best advantage of his {166} example and
+instructions. He saw nothing practised by any other in this service of
+God, which he did not imitate: thus he soon became a perfect model of
+humility, Christian condescension, charity, prayer, and all virtues. The
+devil assailed him by various temptations; first, he represented to him
+divers good works he might have been able to do with his estate in the
+world, and the difficulties of his present condition: a common artifice
+of the enemy, whereby he strives to make a soul slothful or dissatisfied
+in her vocation, in which God expects to be glorified by her. Being
+discovered and repulsed by the young novice, he varied his method of
+attack, and annoyed him night and day with filthy thoughts and obscene
+imaginations. Antony opposed to his assaults the strictest watchfulness
+over his senses, austere fasts, humility, and prayer, till Satan,
+appearing in a visible form, first of a woman coming to seduce him, then
+of a black boy to terrify him, at length confessed himself vanquished.
+The saint's food was only bread, with a little salt, and he drank
+nothing but water; he never ate before sunset, and sometimes only once
+in two, or four days: he lay on a rush mat, or on the bare floor. In
+quest of a more remote solitude he withdrew further from Coma, and hid
+himself in an old sepulchre; whither a friend brought him from time to
+time a little bread. Satan was here again permitted to assault him in a
+visible manner, to terrify him with dismal noises; and once he so
+grievously beat him, that he lay almost dead, covered with bruises and
+wounds; and in this condition he was one day found by his friend, who
+visited him from time to time to supply him with bread, during all the
+time he lived in the ruinous sepulchre. When he began to come to
+himself, though not yet able to stand, he cried out to the devils, while
+he yet lay on the floor, "Behold! here I am; do all you are able against
+me: nothing shall ever separate me from Christ my Lord." Hereupon the
+fiends appearing again, renewed the attack, and alarmed him with
+terrible clamors, and a variety of spectres, in hideous shapes of the
+most frightful wild beasts, which they assumed to dismay and terrify
+him; till a ray of heavenly light breaking in upon him, chased them
+away, and caused him to cry out: "Where wast thou, my Lord and my
+Master? Why wast thou not here, from the beginning of my conflict, to
+assuage my pains!" A voice answered: "Antony, I was here the whole time;
+I stood by thee, and beheld thy combat: and because thou hast manfully
+withstood thine enemies, I will always protect thee, and will render thy
+name famous throughout the earth." At these words the saint arose, much
+cheered, and strengthened, to pray and return thanks to his deliverer.
+Hitherto the saint, ever since his retreat, in 272, had lived in
+solitary places not very far from his village; and St. Athanasius
+observes, that before him many fervent persons led retired lives in
+penance and contemplation, near the towns; others remaining in the towns
+imitated the same manner of life. Both were called ascetics, from their
+being entirely devoted to the most perfect exercises of mortification
+and prayer, according to the import of the Greek word. Before St.
+Athanasius, we find frequent mention made of such ascetics: and Origen,
+about the year 219,[6] says they always abstained from flesh, no less
+than the disciples of Pythagoras. Eusebius tells us that St. Peter of
+Alexandria practised austerities equal to those of the ascetics; he says
+the same of Pamphilus; and St. Jerom uses the same expression of
+Pierius. St. Antony had led this manner of life near Coma, till
+resolving to withdraw into the deserts about the year 285, the
+thirty-fifth of his age, he crossed the eastern branch of the Nile, and
+took up his abode in the ruins of an old castle on the top of the
+mountains; in which close solitude he lived almost twenty years, very
+{167} rarely seeing any man, except one who brought him bread every six
+months.
+
+To satisfy the importunities of others, about the year 305, the
+fifty-fifty of his age, he came down from his mountain, and founded his
+first monastery at Phaium.[7] The dissipation occasioned by this
+undertaking led him into a temptation of despair, which he overcame by
+prayer and hard manual labor. In this new manner of life his daily
+refection was six ounces of bread soaked in water, with a little salt;
+to which he sometimes added a few dates. He took it generally after
+sunset, but on some days at three o'clock; and in his old age he added a
+little oil. Sometimes he ate only once in three or four days, yet
+appeared vigorous, and always cheerful: strangers knew him from among
+his disciples by the joy which was always painted on his countenance,
+resulting from the inward peace and composure of his soul. Retirement in
+his cell was his delight, and divine contemplation and prayer his
+perpetual occupation. Coming to take his refection, he often burst into
+tears, and was obliged to leave his brethren and the table without
+touching any nourishment, reflecting on the employment of the blessed
+spirits in heaven, who praise God without ceasing.[8] He exhorted his
+brethren to allot the least time they possibly could to the care of the
+body. Notwithstanding which, he was very careful never to place
+perfection in mortification, as Cassian observes, but in charity, in
+which it was his whole study continually to improve his soul. His under
+garment was sackcloth over which he wore a white coat of sheep-skin,
+with a girdle. He instructed his monks to have eternity always present
+to their minds, and to reflect every morning that perhaps they might not
+live till night, and every evening that perhaps they might never see the
+morning; and to perform every action, as if it were the last of their
+lives, with all the fervor of their souls to please God. He often
+exhorted them to watch against temptations, and to resist the devil with
+vigor: and spoke admirably of his weakness, saying: "He dreads fasting,
+prayer, humility, and good works: he is not able even to stop my mouth
+who speak against him. The illusions of the devil soon vanish,
+especially if a man arms himself with the sign of the cross.[9] The
+devils {168} tremble at the sign of the cross of our Lord, by which he
+triumphed over and disarmed them."[10] He told them in what manner the
+fiend in his rage had assaulted him by visible phantoms, but that these
+disappeared while he persevered in prayer. He told them, that once when
+the devil appeared to him in glory, and said, "Ask what you please; I am
+the power of God:" he invoked the holy name of Jesus, and he vanished.
+Maximinus renewed the persecution in 311; St. Antony, hoping to receive
+the crown of martyrdom, went to Alexandria, served and encouraged the
+martyrs in the mines and dungeons, before the tribunals, and at the
+places of execution. He publicly wore his white monastic habit, and
+appeared in the sight of the governor; yet took care never
+presumptuously to provoke the judges, or impeach himself, as some rashly
+did. In 312 the persecution being abated, he returned to his monastery,
+and immured himself in his cell. Some time after he built another
+monastery, called Pispir, near the Nile; but he chose, for the most
+part, to shut himself up in a remote cell upon a mountain of difficult
+access, with Macarius, a disciple, who entertained strangers. If he
+found them to be _Hierosolymites_, or spiritual men, St. Antony himself
+sat with them in discourse; if Egyptians, (by which name they meant
+worldly persons,) then Macarius entertained them, and St. Antony only
+appeared to give them a short exhortation. Once the saint saw in a
+vision the whole earth covered so thick with snares, that it seemed
+scarce possible to set down a foot without falling into them. At this
+sight he cried out, trembling: "Who, O Lord, can escape them all?" A
+voice answered him "Humility, O Antony!"[11] St. Antony always looked
+upon himself as the least and the very outcast of mankind; he listened
+to the advice of every one, and professed that he received benefit from
+that of the meanest person. He cultivated and pruned a little garden on
+his desert mountain, that he might have herbs always at hand to present
+a refreshment to those who, on coming to see him, were always weary by
+travelling over a vast wilderness and inhospitable mountain, as St.
+Athanasius mentions. This tillage was not the only manual labor in which
+St. Antony employed himself. The same venerable author speaks of his
+making mats as an ordinary occupation. We are told that he once fell
+into dejection, finding uninterrupted contemplation above his strength;
+but was taught to apply himself at intervals to manual labor, by a
+vision of an angel who appeared platting mats of palm-tree leaves, then
+rising to pray, and after some time sitting down again to work; and who
+at length said to him, "Do thus, and thou shalt be saved."[12] But St.
+Athanasius informs us, that our saint continued in some degree to pray
+while he was at work. He watched great part of the nights in heavenly
+contemplation; and sometimes, when the rising sun called him to his
+daily tasks, he complained that its visible light robbed him of the
+greater interior light which he enjoyed, and interrupted his close
+application and solitude.[13] He always rose after a short sleep at
+midnight, and continued in prayer, on his knees with his hands lifted up
+to heaven till sunrise, and sometimes till three in the afternoon, as
+Palladius relates in his Lausiac history.
+
+St. Antony; in the year 339, saw in a vision, under the figure of mules
+kicking down the altar, the havoc which the Arian persecution made two
+years after in Alexandria, and clearly foretold it, as St. Athanasius,
+St. Jerom, and St. Chrysostom assure us.[14] He would not speak to a
+heretic, unless to exhort him to the true faith; and he drove all such
+from his mountain, calling them venomous serpents.[15] At the request of
+the bishops, about {169} the year 355, he, took a journey to Alexandria,
+to confound the Arians, preaching aloud in that city, that God the Son
+is not a creature, but of the same substance with the Father; and that
+the impious Arians, who called him a creature, did not differ from the
+heathens themselves, _who worshipped and served the creature rather than
+the Creator_. All the people ran to see him, and rejoiced to hear him;
+even the pagans, struck with the dignity of his character, flocked to
+him; saying, "We desire to see the man of God." He converted many, and
+wrought several miracles: St. Athanasius conducted him back as far as
+the gates of the city, where he cured a girl possessed by the devil.
+Being desired by the duke or general of Egypt, to make a longer stay in
+the city than he had proposed, he answered: "As fish die if they leave
+the water, so does a monk if he forsakes his solitude."[16]
+
+St. Jerom and Rufin relate, that at Alexandria he met with the famous
+Didymus, and told him that he ought not to regret much the loss of eyes.
+which were common to ants and flies, but to rejoice in the treasure of
+that interior light which the apostles enjoyed, and by which we see God,
+and kindle the fire of his love in our souls. Heathen philosophers, and
+others, often went to dispute with him, and always returned much
+astonished at his humility, meekness, sanctity, and extraordinary
+wisdom. He admirably proved to them the truth and security of the
+Christian religion, and confirmed it by miracles. "We," said he, "only
+by naming Jesus Christ crucified, put to flight those devils which you
+adore as gods; and where the sign of the cross is formed, magic and
+charms lose their power." At the end of this discourse he invoked
+Christ, and signed with the cross twice or thrice several persons
+possessed with devils; in the same moment they stood up sound, and in
+their senses, giving thanks to God for his mercy in their regard.[17]
+When certain philosophers asked him how he could spend his time in
+solitude, without the pleasure of reading books, he replied, that nature
+was his great book, and amply supplied the want of others. When others,
+despising him as an illiterate man, came with the design to ridicule his
+ignorance, he asked them with great simplicity, which was first, reason
+or learning, and which had produced the other? The philosophers
+answered, "Reason, or good sense." "This, then," said Antony,
+"suffices." The philosophers went away astonished at the wisdom and
+dignity with which he prevented their objections. Some others demanding
+a reason of his faith in Christ, on purpose to insult it, he put them to
+silence by showing that they degraded the notion of the divinity, by
+ascribing to it infamous human passions, but that the humiliation of the
+cross is the greatest demonstration of infinite goodness, and its
+ignominy appears the highest glory, by the triumphant resurrection, the
+miraculous raising of the dead, and curing of the blind and the sick. He
+then admirably proved, that faith in God and his works is more clear and
+satisfactory than the sophistry of the Greeks. St. Athanasius mentions
+that he disputed with these Greeks by an interpreter.[18] Our holy
+author assures us, that no one visited St. Antony under any affliction
+and sadness, who did not return home full of comfort and joy; and he
+relates many miraculous cures wrought by him, also several heavenly
+visions and revelations with which he was favored. Belacius, the duke or
+general of Egypt, persecuting the Catholics with extreme fury, St.
+Antony, by a letter, exhorted him to leave the servants of Christ in
+peace. Belacius tore the letter, then spit and trampled upon it, and
+threatened to make the abbot the next victim of his fury; but five days
+after, as he was riding with Nestorius, governor of Egypt, their horses
+began to play and prance, and the governor's horse, though otherwise
+remarkably tame, by {170} justling, threw Belacius from his horse, and
+by biting his thigh, tore it in such a manner that the general died
+miserably on the third day.[19] About the year 337, Constantine the
+Great, and his two sons, Constantius and Constans, wrote a joint letter
+to the saint; recommending themselves to his prayers, and desiring an
+answer. St. Antony seeing his monks surprised, said, without being
+moved: "Do not wonder that the emperor writes to us, one man to another;
+rather admire that God should have wrote to us, and that he has spoken
+to us by his Son." He said he knew not how to answer it: at last,
+through the importunity of his disciples, he penned a letter to the
+emperor and his sons, which St. Athanasius has preserved; and in which
+he exhorts them to the contempt of the world, and the constant
+remembrance of the judgment to come. St. Jerom mentions seven other
+letters of St. Antony, to divers monasteries, written in the style of
+the apostles, and filled with their maxims: several monasteries of Egypt
+possess them in the original Egyptian language. We have them in an
+obscure, imperfect, Latin translation from the Greek.[20] He inculcates
+perpetual watchfulness against temptations, prayer, mortification, and
+humility.[21] He observes, that as the devil fell by pride, so he
+assaults virtue in us principally by that temptation.[22] A maxim which
+he frequently repeats is, that the knowledge of ourselves is the
+necessary and only step by which we call ascend to the knowledge and
+love of God. The Bollandists[23] give us a short letter of St. Antony to
+St. Theodorus, abbot of Tabenna, in which he says that God had assured
+him in a revelation, that he showed mercy to all true adorers of Jesus
+Christ, though they should have fallen, if they sincerely repented of
+their sin. No ancients mention any monastic rule written by St.
+Antony.[24] His example and instructions have been the most perfect rule
+for the monastic life to all succeeding ages. It is related[25] that St.
+Antony, hearing his disciples express their surprise at the great
+multitudes who embraced a monastic life, and applied themselves with
+incredible ardor to the most austere practices of virtue, told them with
+tears, that the time would come when monks would be fond of living in
+cities and stately buildings, and of eating at dainty tables, and be
+only distinguished from persons of the world by their habit; but that
+still, some among them would arise to the spirit of true perfection,
+whose crown would be so much the greater, as their virtue would be more
+difficult, amid the contagion of bad example. In the discourses which
+this saint made to his monks, a rigorous self-examination upon all their
+actions, every evening, was a practice which he strongly inculcated.[26]
+In an excellent sermon which he made to his disciples, recorded by St.
+Athanasius,[27] he pathetically exhorts them to contemn the whole world
+for heaven, to spend every day as if they knew it to be the last of
+their lives, having death always before their eyes, continually to
+advance in fervor, and to be always armed against the assaults of Satan,
+whose weakness he shows at length. He extols the efficacy of the sign of
+the cross in chasing him, and dissipating his illusions, and lays down
+rules for the discernment of spirits, the first of which is, that the
+devil leaves in the soul impressions of fear, sadness, confusion, and
+disturbance.
+
+{171}
+
+St. Antony performed the visitation of his monks a little before his
+death, which he foretold them with his last instructions, but no tears
+could move him to die among them. It appears from St. Athanasius, that
+the Christians had learned from the pagans their custom of embalming the
+bodies of the dead, which abuse, as proceeding from vanity and sometimes
+superstition, St. Antony had often condemned: this he would prevent, and
+ordered that his body should be buried in the earth, as the patriarchs
+were, and privately, on his mountain, by his two disciples Diacarius and
+Amathas, who had remained with him the last fifteen years, to serve him
+in his remote cell in his old age. He hastened back to that solitude,
+and some time after fell sick: he repeated to these two disciples his
+orders for their burying his body secretly in that place, adding; "In
+the day of the resurrection, I shall receive it incorruptible from the
+hand of Christ." He ordered them to give one of his sheep-skins, with a
+cloak[28] in which he lay, to the bishop Athanasius, as a public
+testimony of his being united in faith and communion with that holy
+prelate; to give his other sheep-skin to the bishop Serapion; and to
+keep for themselves his sackcloth. He added; "Farewell, my children,
+Antony is departing, and will be no longer with you." At these words
+they embraced him, and he, stretching out his feet, without any other
+sign calmly ceased to breathe. His death happened in the year 355,
+probably on the 17th of January, on which the most ancient Martyrologies
+name him, and which the Greek empire kept as a holyday soon after his
+death. He was one hundred and five years old. From his youth to that
+extreme old age, he always maintained the same fervor in his holy
+exercises: age to the last never made him change his diet (except in the
+use of a little oil) nor his manner of clothing; yet he lived without
+sickness, his sight was not impaired, his teeth were only worn, and not
+one was lost or loosened. The two disciples interred him according to
+his directions. About the year 561, his body[29] was discovered, in the
+reign of Justinian, and with great solemnity translated to Alexandria,
+thence it was removed to Constantinople, and is now at Vienne in France.
+Bollandus gives us an account of many miracles wrought by his
+intercession; particularly in what manner the distemper called the
+Sacred Fire, since that time St. Antony's Fire, miraculously ceased
+through his patronage, when it raged violently in many parts of Europe,
+in the eleventh century.
+
+{172}
+
+A most sublime gift of heavenly contemplation and prayer was the fruit
+of this great saint's holy retirement. Whole nights seemed to him short
+in those exercises, and when the rising sun in the morning seemed to him
+too soon to call him from his knees to his manual labor, or other
+employments, he would lament that the incomparable sweetness which he
+enjoyed, in the more perfect freedom with which his heart was taken up
+in heavenly contemplation in the silent watching of the night, should be
+interrupted or abated. But the foundation of his most ardent charity,
+and that sublime contemplation by which his soul soared in noble and
+lofty flights above all earthly things, was laid in the purity and
+disengagement of his affections, the contempt of the world, a most
+profound humility, and the universal mortification of his senses and of
+the powers of his soul. Hence flowed that constant tranquillity and
+serenity of his mind, which was the best proof of a perfect mastery of
+his passions. St. Athanasius observes of him, that after thirty years
+spent in the closest solitude, "he appeared not to others with a sullen
+or savage, but with a most obliging sociable air."[30] A heart that is
+filled with inward peace, simplicity, goodness, and charity, is a
+stranger to a lowering or contracted look. The main point in Christian
+mortification is the humiliation of the heart, one of its principal ends
+being the subduing of the passions. Hence, true virtue always increases
+the sweetness and gentleness of the mind, though this is attended with
+an invincible constancy, and an inflexible firmness in every point of
+duty. That devotion or self-denial is false or defective which betrays
+us into pride or uncharitableness; and whatever makes us sour, morose,
+or peevish, makes us certainly worse, and instead of begetting in us a
+nearer resemblance of the divine nature, gives us a strong tincture of
+the temper of devils.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Athanasius commends St. Antony's love of reading, both when he
+    lived with his father, (p. 795, B.) and afterwards when he lived
+    alone, (p. 797, C.) which we cannot naturally understand of his
+    hearing others read, especially when he was alone; therefore, when
+    St. Athanasius says, (p. 795, A.) that in his childhood he never
+    applied himself to the study of letters, [Greek: grammata mathein],
+    fearing the danger of falling into had company at school, he seems
+    to mean only Greek letters, then the language of all the learned;
+    for he must have learned at home the Egyptian alphabet. In the same
+    manner we are to understand Evagrius and others, who relate, that a
+    certain philosopher expressing his surprise how St. Antony could
+    employ his time, being deprived of the pleasure of reading, the
+    saint told him that the universe was his book. (Socr. l. 4, c. 23,
+    Rosweide, Vit. Patr. l. 6, c. 4, St. Nilus, l. 4, p. 60.)
+    Nevertheless, St. Austin imagined that St. Antony could read no
+    alphabet, and learned by heart and meditated on the scriptures only
+    by hearing them read by others (S. Aug. de Doctr. Chr. pr. p. 3, t.
+    3.) See Rosweide, Not. in Vit. S. Antonii. Bolland. 17 Jan. p. 119,
+    §64, Tillem. note 1, p. 666.
+2.  Matt. xix. 21.
+3.  An aura was one hundred cubits of land. See Lexicon Constantini.
+    Fleury, l. 8, p. 418.
+4.  Ibid. vi. 34.
+5.  [Greek: Parthenôn], as St. Athanasius calls it, t. 2, p. 796, ed.
+    Ben. He mentions that St. Antony, long after, paid her a visit, when
+    she was very old, and superior or mistress of many virgins, [Greek:
+    hathêgoumenên allôs parthenôn], n. 54. p. 837.
+6.  Orig. lib. 5, p. 264.
+7.  His first monastery was situated near the confines of Upper and
+    Middle Egypt: it at first consisted of scattered cells. To visit
+    some of these brethren, he is mentioned by St. Athanasius (Vit. p.
+    461) to have crossed the Arsinotic canal, extremely infested with
+    crocodiles. This is sometimes called his monastery near the river,
+    and was situated not far from Aphroditopolis, the lower and more
+    ancient city of that name, in Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt. St.
+    Athanasius seems to place it in Thebais, or Upper Egypt, because it
+    was near the borders, and the boundaries of Upper Egypt were
+    extended much lower by those who divided Egypt only into two parts,
+    the Upper and the Lower; as Sozomen, l. 2, c. 23, and others,
+    frequently did. St. Antony, finding this solitude grow too public,
+    and not bearing the distraction of continual visits, he travelled up
+    the river to seek a more remote wilderness; but after mounting a
+    little way, while he sat on the bank waiting to see a boat pass by,
+    he changed his design, and instead of advancing southward, he went
+    with certain Saracen merchants to the East, and in three days,
+    doubtless on a camel, arrived at the great mountain towards the Red
+    Sea, where he spent the latter years of his life; yet he frequently
+    visited his first monastery, near Aphroditopolis. St. Hilarion going
+    from this latter to St. Antony's great monastery on the mountain,
+    performed that journey in three days, on camels, which a deacon,
+    named Baisan, let to those who desired to visit St. Antony. This
+    latter, near which the saint died, always continued a famous
+    pilgrimage.
+
+    Pispir was the monastery of St. Macarius, but is sometimes called
+    St. Antony's, who often visited it. This was situated on the Nile,
+    in Thebais, thirty measures or [Greek: sêmeia] from St. Antony's
+    mountain, according to Palladius, (Laus. c. 63.) This some
+    understand of Roman miles, others of Egyptian schæni of thirty
+    furlongs each; thirty schæni are nine hundred stadia, or one hundred
+    and thirteen miles. Pispir therefore seems not to have been very far
+    from Aphroditopolis. See Kocher, (comment. In fastos Abyssinorum,)
+    in the journal of Bern, ad an. 1761, t. 1, p. 160 and 169.
+
+    A monastery, of which St. Antony is titular saint, still subsists a
+    little above the ancient city of Aphroditon on the Nile. It is now
+    called Der-mar-Antinious-el-Bahr, that is, The monastery of Antony
+    at the river. See Pocock, p. 70, and the map prefixed to that part
+    of his travels. Travelling from hence one day's journey up the
+    river, then turning from the south towards the east, over sandy
+    deserts, and a chain of high mountains, in which springs of water,
+    in other parts very rare, are here and there found, and camels
+    travel for one hundred miles, we arrive at St. Antony's great
+    monastery, about six or seven hours journey from the Red Sea. See
+    Pocock, ib. p. 128. Granger, Relation du Voyage, &c., p. 107. Nouv.
+    Memoires des Missions, t. 5, p. 136. Vanslebius, Nouv. Relat. pp.
+    299 and 309; and Maillet. Descr. de 'Egypte, p. 320. The Grotto of
+    St. Paul is shown not very far from this great monastery; yet the
+    road wing [sic] round the mountains, and a great way about it, seems
+    to travellers as a great distance from it.
+8.  St. Athan. Vit. Anton. n. 45, p. 830.
+9.  P. 814.
+10. P. 823, ed. Ben.
+11. Rosweide, l. 3, c. 129. Cotelier, &c.
+12. S. Nilus, ep. 24. Cotelier, Apoth. Patr. p. 340. Rosweide, Vit.
+    Patr. l. 3, c. 105, l. 5, c. 7.
+13. Cassian, Collat. c. 31.
+14. S. Athan. n. 82, p. 857. S. Chrys. Hom. 8, in Matt. S. Hier. ep.
+    {}6. Sozom. l. 6, c. 5.
+15. S. Athan. n. 68, 69, p. 847.
+16. Ibid. n. 85. p. 859.
+17. Ibid. n. 80, p. 855.
+18. N. 77, p. 858.
+19. N. 86, p. 860.
+20. Bibl. Patr. Colon. t. 4, p. 26. See S. Antonii. M. Epistolæ 20. curâ
+    Abr. Eckellens. Paris, 1641. But only the above-mentioned seven
+    letters can be regarded as genuine, except the discourses preserved
+    by St. Athanasius in his life.
+21. Ep. 2, ad Arsinoitas.
+22. Ib.
+23. Maij. t. 3, p. 355.
+24. That under his name in Abraham Eckellensis is not of so high a
+    pedigree. A large body of the monks of St. Basil in the East, since
+    the seventh century, take the name of the Order of St. Antony, but
+    retain the rule of St. Basil, comprised in his ascetic writings; and
+    observe the same fasts, and other exercises, with all the other
+    monks of the East, who are called of the order of St. Basil; which
+    even the Maronites follow; though Tillemont denies it by mistake.
+25. Rosweide, Vit. Patr. l. 5, c. 8. Abr. Eckellens. in Vit. S. Ant. p.
+    106. Cotel. p. 344. Mart. Coptor.
+26. S. Athan. n. 55, p. 858.
+27. N. 16 & 43.
+28. The Ependytes of St. Antony, mentioned by St. Athanasius, n. 46, p.
+    831, has much embarrassed the critics: it seems to have been a cloak
+    of white wool. It is clear, from St. Athanasius, that St. Antony's
+    inner garment was a hair-cloth, over which he wore a cloak made of
+    sheep-skin.
+29. This translation of his relics to Alexandria, though doubted of by
+    some Protestants, is incontestably confirmed by Victor of Tunone,
+    (Chron. p. 11, in Scalig. Thesauro,) who lived then in banishment at
+    Canope, only twelve miles from Alexandria; also, by St. Isidore of
+    Seville, in the same age, Bede. Usuard, &c. They were removed to
+    Constantinople when the Saracens made themselves masters of Egypt,
+    about the year 635. (pee Bollandus, pp. 162, 1134.) They were
+    brought to Vienne in Dauphine, by Joselin, a nobleman of that
+    country, whom the emperor of Constantinople had gratified with that
+    rich present, about the year 1070. These relics were deposited in
+    the church of La Motte S. Didier, not far from Vienne, then a
+    Benedictin priory belonging to the abbey of Mont-Majour near Arles,
+    but now an independent abbey of regular canons of St. Antony. In
+    1089, a pestilential erysipelas distemper, called the Sacred Fire,
+    swept off great numbers in most provinces of France; public prayers
+    and processions were ordered against this scourge; at length it
+    pleased God to grant many miraculous cures of this dreadful
+    distemper, to those who implored his mercy trough the intercession
+    of St. Antony, especially before his relics; the church in which
+    they were deposited was resorted to by great numbers of pilgrims,
+    and his patronage was implored over the whole kingdom against this
+    disease. A nobleman near Vienne, named Gaston, and his son Girond,
+    devoted themselves and their estate to found and serve an hospital
+    near this priory, for the benefit of the poor that were afflicted
+    with this distemper: seven others joined them in their charitable
+    attendance on the sick, whence a confraternity of laymen who served
+    this hospital took its rise, and continued till Boniface VIII.
+    converted the Benedictin priory into an abbey, which he bestowed on
+    those hospitaller brothers, and giving them the religious rule of
+    regular canons of St. Austin, declared the abbot general of this new
+    order, called Regular Canons of St. Antony. An abbey in Paris, which
+    belongs to this order, is called Little St. Antony's, by which name
+    it is distinguished from the great Cistercian nunnery of St. Antony.
+    The general or abbot of St. Antony's, in Viennois, enjoys a yearly
+    revenue of about forty thousand livres according to Piganiol, Descr.
+    de la Fr. t. 4, p. 249, and Dom Beaunier, Rec. Abbayes de Fr. p.
+    982. The superiors of other houses of this order retain the name of
+    commanders, and the houses are called commaranderies, as when they
+    were hospitallers; so that the general is the only abbot. See
+    Bollandus, Beaunict, F. Longueval, Hist. de l'Eglise de France, l.
+    22, t. 8, p. 16, and Drouet, in the late edition of Moreri's Hist.
+    Diction V Antoine, from memoirs communicated by M. Bordet, superior
+    of the convent of this order at Paris.
+30. S. Athan. n. 67, p. 847, & n. 73, p. 850.
+
+SS. SPEUSIPPUS, ELEUSIPPUS, AND MELEUSIPPUS,
+
+MARTYRS.
+
+THEY were three twin brothers, who, with Leonilla their grandmother,
+glorified God by an illustrious martyrdom in Cappadocia, probably in the
+reign of Marcus Aurelius. The most ancient acts of their martyrdom,
+published by Rosweide and Bollandus, place it in that country, and their
+relics were brought from the East to Langres in France, while the first
+race of French kings filled the throne. A copy of the acts of their
+martyrdom, which was sent from Langres by one Varnahair, to St.
+Ceraunus, bishop of Paris, in the beginning of the seventh century, by
+an evident mistake or falsification, affirms their martyrdom to have
+happened at Langres; by which false edition, Ado, and many others, were
+led into the same mistake. From certain ancient writings kept at
+Langres, mentioned by Gualtherot in his Anastasius of Langres, Chatelain
+proves that these relics, with the head of St. Mammes, a martyr, also of
+Cappadocia, were given by the emperor Zeno to a nobleman of Langres, who
+had served him in his wars. By him this sacred treasure was deposited in
+the church of Langres, in the time of the bishop Aprunculus, in 490, to
+be a protection against devils. The cathedral of Langres, which bears
+the title of Saint Mammes, is possessed of the head of that martyr in a
+rich shrine. A brass tomb before the high altar, is said to have
+contained the bodies of the three children who were thrown into the
+furnace at Babylon, mentioned in the book of Daniel: but Chatelain
+thinks it belonged to the three martyrs whose bodies were given by the
+emperor Zeno to the count of Langres. The church called of St. {173}
+Geome, or Sancti Gemini, that is, the twins, situated two miles from
+Langres, belongs to a priory of regular canons, and is famous out of
+devotion to those saints, though great part of their relics was
+translated by Hariolf, duke of Burgundy, and his brother Erlolf, bishop
+of Langres, into Suabia, and remains in the noble collegiate church of
+St. Guy, or St. Vitus, at El{}ange. These holy martyrs are secondary
+patrons of the diocese of Langres, and titular saints of many churches
+in France and Germany. See Chatelain Notes on Jan. 17, p. 313.
+
+ST. SULPICIUS THE PIOUS, B.
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES.
+
+THE church of Bourges in France was founded by St. Ursin, who was sent
+from Rome to preach the faith in Gaul. St. Gregory of Tours, in his
+history, places his mission in the middle of the third century,[1] yet
+in his book on the Glory of Confessors,[2] he tells us that he was
+ordained by the disciples of the apostles, and governed many years the
+church of Bourges, which he had planted. He was interred in a common
+burial-place in a field without the city; but his remains were
+translated thence by St. Germanus, bishop of Paris, and abbot of St.
+Symphorian's,[3] and by Probianus, bishop of Bourges, and deposited in
+the church of St. Symphorian, now called St. Ursin's.[4] This saint is
+honored in the Roman Martyrology on the 9th of November; at Lisieux, and
+some other places, on the 29th of December. Among the most eminent of
+his successors, two are called Sulpicius, and both surnamed Pious; the
+first, who is sometimes called the Severe, sat from the year 584 to 591,
+and his relics are enshrined in the church of St. Ursin.[5] His name was
+inserted in the Roman Martyrology by Baronius, on the 29th of January,
+and occurs in other more ancient calendars.[6]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  S. Gr. Tur. Hist. l. 1, c. 28.
+2.  L. de Gl. Conf. c. 80.
+3.  Fortunat. in Vitâ S. German Paris
+4.  Gallia Christ. nova, t. 2, p. 4.
+5.  See St. Greg. Turon. and Gallia Christ. nov. t. 2, p. 15.
+6.  See Benedict XIV. Litter. Apost. præfix. Martyr. Rom. §46, p. 33.
+
+ST. SULPICIUS II., ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES,
+
+SURNAMED LE DEBONNAIRE,
+
+IS commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology. He was descended
+of a noble family in Berry, and educated in learning and piety. His
+large patrimony he gave to the church and poor; and being ordained
+priest, served king Clothaire II. in quality of almoner and chaplain in
+his armies; and on a time when he lay dangerously ill, restored him to
+his health by prayer and fasting. In 624 he succeeded St. Austregesilus,
+commonly called St. Outrille, in the see of Bourges. He reformed
+discipline, converted all the Jews in his diocese, and employed his
+whole time in prayer and laborious functions, chiefly in the instruction
+of the poor. He died in 644. Among the letters of St. Desiderius of
+Cahors, we have one which he sent to our saint with this title, "To the
+holy patriarch, Sulpicius;"[1] and several of our saint to him.[2] The
+famous monastery which bears his name at Bourges, is said to have been
+founded by him under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin; it now
+belongs to the congregation of St. Maur, and is enriched with part of
+his relics, and with a portion of the blood of St. Stephen, who is the
+titular saint of the stately cathedral. A bone of one of the arms {174}
+of our saint, is kept in the famous parochial church in Paris, which is
+dedicated to God under his invocation. See his ancient life in Bolland.
+and Mab. sæc. 2, Ben. Gallia Christ. nova, t. 2, p. 18.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Apud Canis. Lect. Ant. t. 5, & Bibl. Patr. t. 8, l. 1, ep. 12.
+2.  Ib. l. 2.
+
+ST. MILGITHE, V.
+
+THUS Dom Menard writes the name of this saint, who by Capgrave is called
+Mildgyda, by Josselin, Milvida, and by Thomas of Ely, in a fragment of
+the life of St. Andry, quoted by Mabillon, Milgrida. Wilson testifies
+that her feast is mentioned on this day, in an ancient MS. English
+Martyrology; though Menard places it on the 26th of February. Her
+father, Merowald, was son of Penda, and brother of Peoda, Wulfher, and
+Ethelred, kings of Mercia. Her mother, Domneva, was daughter of
+Ermenred, who was brother to Erconbert, king of Kent, father of St.
+Ercongata, who died a nun at Farmoutier, in France, under the discipline
+of St. Aubierge, her aunt. Her brother Meresin died young, in the odor
+of sanctity. Her elder sisters, SS. Mildred and Milburge, are very
+famous in the English calendars. St. Milgithe imitated their illustrious
+example, and contemning the fading pleasures and delights of the world,
+retired into the monastery of Estrey, built by Egbert, king of Kent, not
+far from Canterbury, and having served God in the heroic practice of all
+Christian virtues, died happily about the close of the seventh century.
+See Menard in Martyrol. Bened. Wilson's English Martyr. Capgrave and
+Bolland. t. 2, p. 176.
+
+ST. NENNIUS, OR NENNIDHIUS, ABBOT.
+
+DESPISING the vanities of the world, though of the race of the monarchs
+of Ireland, from his youth he made the science of the cross of Christ
+the sole object of his ambition; and to engrave in his heart the lessons
+which our divine Redeemer taught by that adorable mystery, was the
+centre of all his desires. Having passed many years, first in the school
+of St. Fiechus, archbishop of Leinster, and afterwards in the celebrated
+monastery of Clonard, in the province of Meath, under its holy founder
+St Finian, he retired into the isle of Inis-muighesamb, in the lake of
+Erne, in the province of Ulster. Here, in process of time, he became the
+director of many souls in the paths of Christian perfection, founded a
+great monastery, and, on account of his eminent sanctity, and the number
+of illustrious disciples whom he left behind him, is called one of the
+twelve apostles of Ireland. He flourished in the sixth century, and has
+been honored in Ireland among the saints. F. Colgan was not able to meet
+with any acts of his life, though he is mentioned in the lives of
+several other Irish saints. A church in the isle of the lake, formed by
+the river Erne, is dedicated to God under his invocation.
+
+{175}
+
+
+JANUARY XVIII.
+
+ST. PETER'S CHAIR AT ROME.
+
+See Phæbeus, de Cathedrâ in quâ S. Petrus Romæ sedit, et de antiquitate
+et præstantiâ solemnitatis Cathedræ Romanæ. Romæ, 1666, 8vo.; also
+Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrology, p. 326.
+
+ST. PETER having triumphed over the devil in the East, pursued him to
+Rome in the person of Simon Magus. He who had formerly trembled at the
+voice of a poor maid, now feared not the very throne of idolatry and
+superstition. The capital of the empire of the world, and the centre of
+impiety, called for the zeal of the prince of the apostles. God had
+established the Roman empire, and extended its dominion beyond that of
+any former monarchy, for the more easy propagation of his gospel. Its
+metropolis was of the greatest importance for this enterprise. St. Peter
+took that province upon himself; and, repairing to Rome, there preached
+the faith and established his Episcopal chair, whose _successors_ the
+bishops of Rome have been accounted in all ages. That St. Peter founded
+that church by his _preaching_, is expressly asserted by Caius,[1] a
+priest of Rome under pope Zephyrinus; who relates also that his body was
+then on the Vatican-hill, and that of his fellow-laborer, St. Paul, on
+the Ostian road. That he and St. Paul planted the faith at Rome, and
+were both crowned with martyrdom at the same time, is affirmed by
+Dionysius,[2] bishop of Corinth, in the second age. St. Irenæus,[3] who
+lived in the same age, calls the church at Rome "The greatest and most
+ancient church, founded by the two glorious apostles, Peter and Paul."
+Eusebius, in several places,[4] mentions St. Peter's being at Rome, and
+the several important transactions of this apostle in that city. Not to
+mention Origen,[5] Hegesippus,[6] Arnobius,[7] St. Ambrose,[8], St.
+Austin,[9] St. Jerom,[10] St. Optatus,[11] Orosius,[12] and others on
+the same subject.[13] St. Cyprian[14] calls Rome the _chair_ of St.
+Peter, (as Theodoret[15] calls it his _throne_,) which the general
+councils and ecclesiastical writers, through every age, and on every
+occasion, repeat. That St. Peter at least preached in Rome, founded that
+church, and died there by martyrdom under Nero, are facts the most
+incontestable by the testimony of all writers of different countries,
+who lived near that time; persons of unquestionable veracity, and who
+could not but be informed of the truth, in a point so interesting, and
+of its own nature so public and notorious, as to leave them no
+possibility of a mistake. This is also attested by monuments of every
+kind; also by the prerogatives, rights, and privileges, which that
+church enjoyed from those early ages; in consequence of this title.
+
+It was an ancient custom, as cardinal Baronius[16] and Thomassin[17]
+show by many examples, observed by churches, to keep an annual festival
+of the {176} consecration of their bishops. The feast of the chair of
+St. Peter is found in ancient Martyrologies, as in one under the name of
+St. Jerom, at Esternach, copied in the time of St. Willibrord, in 720.
+Christians justly celebrate the founding of this mother-church, the
+centre of Catholic communion, in thanksgiving to God for his mercies on
+his church, and to implore his future blessings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Christ has taught us {by} the divine model of prayer which he has
+delivered to us, that we are bound to recommend to him, before all other
+things, the exaltation of his own honor and glory, and to beg that the
+kingdom of his holy grace and love be planted in all hearts. If we love
+God above all things, and with our whole hearts, or have any true
+charity for our neighbor, this will be the centre of all our desires,
+that God be loved and served by all his creatures, and that he be
+glorified in the most perfect manner, in our own souls. By placing this
+at the head of our requests, we shall most strongly engage God to crown
+all our just and holy desires. As one of his greatest mercies to his
+church, we must earnestly beseech him to raise up in it zealous pastors,
+eminently replenished with his Spirit, with which he animated his
+apostles.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Apud Eus. l. 2, c. 24, alias 25.
+2.  Ibid.
+3.  L. 3, c. 3.
+4.  L. 2, c. 13 & 15, &c.
+5.  Ib. l. 3, c. 1.
+6.  L. de. Excid. Hier. {}.
+7.  L. 3.
+8.  Ser. de Basilicis.
+9.  L. de Hæres. c. 1, &c.
+10. L. 17, ad Marcell.
+11. Adv. Parm.
+12. L. 7, c. 1.
+13. The general opinion with Eusebius, St. Jerom, and the Roman
+    calendar, fixes the first arrival of St. Peter at Rome in the second
+    year of Claudius. If this date be true, the apostle returned into
+    the East soon after; for he was imprisoned in Judæa, by Agrippa, in
+    the year of Christ 43. Lactantius does not mention this first coming
+    of St. Peter to Rome, but only the second, saying, that he came to
+    Rome in the reign of Nero, who put him and St. Paul to death. L. de
+    Mort. Persec. n. 2.
+14. Ep. 55, ad. Cornel. pap.
+15. L. 2, c. 17.
+16. Notæ in Martyr.
+17. Tr. des Fêtes, l. 2, c. 10.
+
+SS. PAUL, AND THIRTY-SIX COMPANIONS, MM. IN EGYPT.
+
+From their authentic acts in Ruinart, p. 624.
+
+IN Egypt, thirty-seven Christian noblemen, all persons of high birth and
+plentiful fortunes, but richer in the gifts of grace, entered into a
+zealous confederacy to propagate the gospel throughout the country.
+Their leader and head was one Paul, a true imitator of the great apostle
+whose name he bore. They divided themselves into four several bands:
+Paul and nine others went eastward: Recombus, with eight more, towards
+the north: Thoonas, with the like number, to the south: and Papias, with
+the remaining eight, to the west. They labored zealously in extending
+the kingdom of Christ on every side, planting the faith, instructing the
+docile, and purifying the souls of penitents who confessed their sins.
+But the greatest part of the inhabitants of that great kingdom loved
+darkness rather than light. The servants of God were treated with all
+manner of injuries, apprehended, and laid in irons. The governor,
+alarmed at the news of their enterprise, sent orders for their being
+brought before him from different parts of the kingdom. He employed both
+promises and threats to compel them to sacrifice. Paul answered, in the
+name of them all, that it was better for them to die, saying: "Do not
+spare us." The judge condemned them all to death: those who went to the
+east and south, to be burned; those from the north, to be beheaded; and
+those from the west to be crucified. But he was affrighted and surprised
+beyond expression to see with what joy and courage this brave army
+marched out, and bowed their heads to death. They suffered on the 18th
+of January, but in what year it is not mentioned in their acts.
+
+ST. PRISCA, V.M.
+
+SHE was a noble Roman lady, and after many torments finished her triumph
+by the sword, about the year 275. Her relics are preserved in the
+ancient church which bears her name in Rome, and gives title in a
+cardinal. {177} She is mentioned in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, and
+in almost all western Martyrologies. The acts of her martyrdom deserve
+no regard: St. Paul, in the last chapter of his epistle to the Romans,
+salutes Aquila, a person of Pontus, of Jewish extraction, and Priscilla,
+whom he and all churches thanked, because they had exposed themselves
+for his sake. He mentions the church which assembled in their house,
+which he attributes to no other among the twenty-five Christians whom he
+saluted, and were then at Rome. This agrees with the immemorial
+tradition at Rome, that St. Peter consecrated an altar, and baptized
+there in an urn of stone, which is now kept in the church of St. Prisca.
+Aquila and Priscilla are still honored in this church, as titular
+patrons with our saint, and a considerable part of their relics lies
+under the altar. Aquila and Priscilla were tent-makers, and lived at
+Corinth when they were banished from Rome under Claudius: she who is
+called Priscilla in the Acts of the Apostles, and Epistles to the Roman,
+and first to the Corinthians, is named Prisca in the second to Timothy.
+See the Roman Martyrology on the 18th of January and the 8th of July;
+also Chatelain, not. p. 333.
+
+ST. DEICOLUS, ABBOT.
+
+IN IRISH DICHUL, CALLED BY THE FRENCH, ST. DEEL, OR DIEY
+
+HE quitted Ireland, his native country, with St. Columban, and lived
+with him, first in the kingdom of the East Angles, and afterwards at
+Luxeu; but when his master quitted France, he founded the abbey of
+Lutra, or Lure, in the diocese of Besanzon, which was much enriched by
+king Clothaire II.[1] Amidst his austerities, the joy and peace of his
+soul appeared in his countenance. St. Columban once said to him in his
+youth: "Deicolus, why are you always smiling?" He answered in
+simplicity: "Because no one can take my God from me." He died in the
+seventh century. See his life and the history of his miracles in F.
+Chifflet, and Mabillon, Acta Bened. t. 2, p. 103, both written by a monk
+of Lure in the tenth century, as the authors of l'Hist. Lit. de la
+France take notice, t. 6, p. 410. By moderns, this saint is called
+Deicola; but in ancient MSS. Deicolus. In Franche-comté his name Deel is
+frequently given in baptism, and Deele to persons of the female sex.
+
+Footnotes:
+1. The abbot of Lure was formerly a prince of the empire. At present the
+abbey is united to that of Morbac in Alsace. Lure is situated three
+leagues from Laxeu, which stands near mount Vosge, two leagues from
+Lorraine towards the south.
+
+ST. ULFRID, OR WOLFRED, BISHOP AND MARTYR.
+
+HE was an Englishman of great learning and virtue; and preached the
+faith, first in Germany; afterwards in Sweden, under the pious king Olas
+II., who first took the title of king of Sweden; for his predecessors
+had only been styled kings of Upsal. The good bishop converted many to
+Christ; till in the year 1028, while he was preaching against the idol
+Tarstans or Thor, and hewing it down with a hatchet, he was slain by the
+pagans. See Adam of Bremen, who wrote his most faithful History of the
+Church in the North, in 1080, l. 2 c. 44. Albert Kranxius, l. 4. Metrop.
+c. 8. Baron. ad an. 1028, n. 10.
+
+{178}
+
+
+JANUARY XIX.
+
+SS. MARIS, MARTHA, AUDIFAX, AND ABACHUM MM.
+
+Abridged from their acts, concerning which see Bollandus, who allows
+them, Tillem. t. 4, p. 673; and Chatelain, notes, p. 339.
+
+A.D. 270.
+
+MARIS, a nobleman of Persia, with his wife Martha, and two sons, Audifax
+and Abachum, being converted to the faith, distributed his fortune among
+the poor, as the primitive Christians did at Jerusalem, and came to Rome
+to visit the tombs of the apostles. The emperor Aurelian then persecuted
+the church, and by his order a great number of Christians were shut up
+in the amphitheatre, and shot to death with arrows, and their bodies
+burnt. Our saints gathered and buried their ashes with respect; for
+which they were apprehended, and after many torments under the governor
+Marcianus, Maris and his two sons were beheaded; and Martha drowned,
+thirteen miles from Rome, at a place now called Santa Ninfa.[1] Their
+relics were found at Rome in 1590. They are mentioned with distinction
+in all the western Martyrologies from the sacramentary of St. Gregory.
+Their relics are kept principally at Rome; part in the church of St.
+Adrian, part in that of St. Charles, and in that of St. John of
+Calybite. Eginhart, sole-in-law and secretary of Charlemagne, deposited
+a portion of these relics, which had been sent him from Rome, in the
+abbey of Selghenstadt, of which he was the founder, in the diocese of
+Mentz.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The martyrs and confessors triumphed over the devil by prayer; by this,
+poor and weak as they were, they were rendered invincible, by engaging
+Omnipotence itself to be their comfort, strength, and protection. If the
+art of praying well be the art of living well, according to the received
+maxim of the fathers and masters of a spiritual life,[2] nothing is
+certainly of greater importance, than for us to learn this heavenly art
+of conversing with God in the manner we ought. We admire the wonderful
+effects which this exercise produced in the saints, who by it were
+disengaged from earthly ties and made spiritual and heavenly, perfect
+angels on earth; but we experience nothing of this in ourselves. Prayer
+was in them the channel of all graces, the means of attaining all
+virtues, and all the treasures of heaven. In us it is fruitless: the
+reason is plain; for the promises of Christ cannot fail: we ask, and
+receive not, because we ask amiss.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ninfa, or Nympha, in the corrupted ages of the Latin tongue,
+    signifies water. In this place are several pools called by the
+    Italians from these martyrs, Santa Ninfa. See Chatelain, p. 340, and
+    Du Cange.
+2.  Vere novit recta vivere, qui recti novit orare. Inter Serm. S.
+    Augustini, Sermon 55, in Appendix, ed. Ben. t. 5, p. 101.
+
+{179}
+
+ST. CANUTUS, KING OF DENMARK, M.
+
+From his life, faithfully written by Ælnoth, a monk of Canterbury, who
+had lived twenty-four years in Denmark, and wrote in 1105. It was
+printed at Copenhagen, in 1602. See also Saxo Grammaticus, the most
+elegant and judicious of the Danish historians.
+
+A.D. 1086.
+
+ST. CANUTUS, or KNUT, the fourth of that name, king of Denmark, was
+natural son of Swein III., whose great uncle Canutus had reigned in
+England. Swein having no lawful issue, took care of the education of
+Canutus, who being endowed with excellent qualities both of mind and
+body, answered perfectly well the care of his preceptors and governors.
+It is hard to say, whether he excelled more in courage, or in conduct
+and skill in war; but his singular piety perfectly eclipsed all his
+other endowments. He scoured the seas of pirates, and subdued several
+neighboring provinces which infested Denmark with their incursions. The
+kingdom of Denmark was elective till the year 1660; wherefore, when
+Swein died, many pitched upon our saint, whose eminent virtues best
+qualified him for the throne; but the majority, fearing his martial
+spirit, preferred his eldest natural brother Harald, the seventh king of
+that name, who, for his stupidity and vices, was commonly called the
+Slothful. Canutus retired into Sweden to king Halstan, who received him
+with the greatest marks of kindness and esteem; but the king could never
+induce him to undertake any expedition against Denmark; on the contrary,
+the Christian hero employed all his power and interest in the service of
+his country. Harald dying after two years' reign, Canutus was called to
+succeed him.
+
+Denmark had received the Christian faith long before; some say in 826,
+but wanted a zealous hand at the helm, to put the finishing stroke to
+that good work. St. Canutus seems to have been pitched upon by
+providence for this purpose. He began his reign by a successful war
+against the troublesome barbarous enemies of the state, and by planting
+the faith in the conquered provinces of Courland, Samogitia, and
+Livonia. Amidst the glory of his victories, he humbly prostrated himself
+at the foot of the crucifix, laying there his diadem, and offering
+himself and his kingdom to the King of kings. After having provided for
+its peace and safety, and enlarged its territories, he married Eltha, or
+Alice, daughter of Robert, earl of Flanders, by whom he had a pious son,
+St. Charles, surnamed the Good, afterwards also earl of Flanders. His
+next concern was to reform abuses at home. For this purpose, he enacted
+severe, but necessary laws, for the strict administration of justice,
+and repressed the violence and tyranny of the great, without respect of
+persons. He countenanced and honored holy men, granted many privileges
+and immunities to the clergy, to enhance the people's esteem of them;
+and omitted nothing to convince them of their obligation to provide for
+their subsistence by the payment of tithes. His charity and tenderness
+towards his subjects made him study by all possible ways to ease them of
+their burdens, and make them a happy people. He showed a royal
+magnificence in building and adorning churches, and gave the crown which
+he wore, of exceeding great value, to the church of Roschild, in
+Zealand, his capital city, and the place of his residence, where the
+kings of Denmark are yet buried. He chastised his body with fasting,
+discipline, and hair-cloths. Prayer was his assiduous exercise. When
+William the Conqueror had made himself master of England, Canutus sent
+forces to assist the vanquished; but these troops finding no one willing
+to {180} join them, were easily defeated in the year 1069. Some time
+after, being invited by the conquered English, he raised an army to
+invade this island, and expel the Normans; but through the treacherous
+practices of his brother Olas, or Olaus, was obliged to wait so long on
+the coast, that his troops deserted him. The pious king, having always
+in view the service of God, and judging this a proper occasion to induce
+his people to pay tithes to their pastors, he proposed to them either to
+pay a heavy fine, by way of punishment for their desertion, or submit to
+the law of tithes for the pastors of the church. Their aversion to the
+latter made them choose the tax, to the great mortification of the king,
+who, hoping they would change their resolution, ordered it to be levied
+with rigor. But they, being incensed at the severity of the collectors,
+rebelled. St. Canutus retired for safety into the isle of Fionia, and
+was hindered from joining his loyal troops by the treachery of Blanco,
+an officer, who, to deceive him, assured his majesty that the rebels
+were returned to their duty. The king went to the church of St. Alban,
+the martyr, to perform his devotions, and return God thanks for that
+happy event. This the rebels being informed of by Blanco, they
+surrounded the church with him at their head. In the mean time the holy
+king, perceiving the danger that threatened his life, confessed his sins
+at the foot of the altar, with great tranquillity and resignation, and
+received the holy communion. His guards defended the church doors, and
+Blanco was slain by them. The rebels threw in bricks and stones, through
+the windows, by which they beat down the shrines of certain relics of
+St. Alban and St. Oswald, which St. Canutus had brought over from
+England. The saint, stretching out his arms before the altar, fervently
+recommended his soul into the hands of his Creator: in which posture he
+was wounded with a javelin, darted through the window, and fell a victim
+to Christ. His brother Benedict, and seventeen others, were slain with
+him, on the 10th of July, 1086, as Ælnoth, a contemporary author,
+testifies, who has specified the date of all the events with the utmost
+exactness. His wicked brother Olas succeeded him in the kingdom. God
+punished the people during eight years and three months of his reign
+with a dreadful famine, and other calamities; and attested the sanctity
+of the martyr, by many miraculous cures of the sick at his tomb. For
+which reason his relics were taken up out of their obscure sepulchre,
+and honorably entombed towards the end of the reign of Olas. His
+successor, Eric III., a most religious prince, restored piety and
+religion, with equal courage and success, and sent ambassadors to Rome,
+with proofs of the miracles performed, and obtained from the pope a
+declaration authorizing the veneration of St. Canutus, the proto-martyr
+of Denmark. Upon this occasion a most solemn translation of his relics,
+which were put in a most costly shrine, was performed, at which Ælnoth,
+our historian, was present. He adds, that the first preachers of the
+faith in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were English priests; that the
+Danes then zealously embraced the Christian religion, but that the
+Swedes still continued more obstinate, among whom Eschil, an Englishman,
+received the crown of martyrdom, while he was preaching Christ to
+certain savage tribes.
+
+ST. HENRY, ARCHBISHOP OF UPSAL, M.
+
+HE was an Englishman, and preached the faith in the North with his
+countryman, cardinal Nicholas Breakspear, the apostle of Norway, and
+legate of the holy see, afterwards pope Adrian IV., by whom he was
+raised to this see, in 1148. St. Eric, or Henry, (for it is the same
+name,) was {181} then the holy king of Sweden.[1] Our saint, after
+having converted several provinces, went to preach in Finland, which
+that king had lately conquered. He deserved to be styled the apostle of
+that country, but fell a martyr in it, being stoned to death at the
+instigation of a barbarous murderer, whom he endeavored to reclaim by
+censures, in 1151. His tomb was in great veneration at Upsal, till his
+ashes were scattered on the change of religion, in the sixteenth
+century. See John Magnus, l. 1, Vit. Pout. Upsal. Olaus Magnus, l. 4.
+Bollandus, and chiefly his life published by Benzelius. Monum. Suec. p.
+33.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Stiernman, in his discourse, "On the State of Learning among the
+    ancient Swedes," observes, that Sweden was chiefly converted to
+    Christianity by English Saxon missionaries. The principal among
+    these were Ansgar, Sigfrid, Roduard, Richolf, Edward, Eskil, David,
+    and Henric, as he gives their names.
+
+    In the history of the bishops and archbishops of Upsal, published by
+    Benzelius in his Monum. Suec. p 37, the first whose name is recorded
+    is Everin, whom Benzelius supposes to be the person whom St. Sigfrid
+    consecrated to this see. He seems to have been one of his English
+    colleagues. Stephen, the sixth bishop of Upsal, was the first
+    archbishop. See the life of St. Sigfrid, and Benzelius's notes on
+    the catalogue of the bishops of Upsol, p. 186.
+
+ST. WULSTAN, BISHOP OF WORCESTER, C.
+
+HE was a native of Icentum, in Warwickshire. In his youth, perceiving
+himself somewhat touched with wanton love on seeing a woman dance, he
+withdrew into a thicket hard by, and, lying prostrate, bewailed his
+fault before God, with very great contrition. And he was endowed from
+that time, by Almighty God, with the gift of such a constant
+watchfulness over his senses, as prevented his being ever more annoyed
+with the like temptations. He laid the foundation of his studies and
+education in the monastery of Evesham, but completed the same at
+Peterborough. His parents having by mutual consent taken the monastic
+habit at Worcester; his father, Athelstan, in the great monastery of
+men, and his mother, Wulfgeva, in a nunnery; St. Wulstan put himself
+under the direction of Brithege, bishop of Worcester, by whom he was
+advanced to the holy orders of priesthood. In this station he redoubled
+his ardor for prayer, and practised greater austerities in the world,
+than monks in their convents. At first, he allowed himself the use of
+flesh; but being one day distracted in saying mass, by the smell of meat
+that was roasting in the kitchen, he bound himself by vow never more to
+eat any flesh. Not long after he entered himself a novice in the great
+abbey at Worcester, where he was remarkable for the innocence and
+sanctity of his life. The first charge with which he was intrusted in
+the monastery, was the care of instructing the children. He was
+afterwards made preceptor, and then treasurer of the church. In these
+two last stations he devoted himself totally to prayer, and watched
+whole nights in the church. As the meanest employments were always the
+object of his love and choice, it was contrary to his inclination that
+he was made prior of Worcester, and, in 1062, bishop of that see, when
+Aldred was translated to that of York. Though not very learned, he
+delivered the word of God with so much dignity and unction, as often to
+move his whole audience to tears. He always recited the psalter while he
+travelled, and never passed by any church or chapel without going in, to
+pour forth his soul before the altar with tears, which seemed to stand
+always ready in his eyes for prayer. When the conqueror had deprived the
+English, both nobility and clergy, of the posts of honor they possessed
+in the church and state, in favor of his Normans, on whose fidelity he
+could depend, Wulstan kept his see, though not without a miracle, as St.
+Aelred, Florentius, and Capgrave relate, as follows: In a synod, held at
+Westminster, in which archbishop Lanfranc {182} presided, Wulstan was
+called upon to give up his crosier and ring, upon pretext of his
+simplicity and unfitness for business. The saint confessed himself unfit
+for the charge, but said, that king Edward, with the concurrence of the
+apostolic see, had compelled him to take it upon him, and that he would
+deliver his crosier to him. Then going to the king's monument, he fixed
+his crosier to the stone; then went and sat down among the monks. No one
+was able to draw out the crosier till the saint was ordered to take it
+again, and it followed his hand with ease. From this time the conqueror
+treated him with honor. Lanfranc even commissioned him to perform the
+visitation of the diocese of Chester for himself. When any English
+complained of the oppression of the Normans, he used to tell them, "This
+is a scourge of God for your sins, which you must bear with patience."
+The saint caused young gentlemen who were brought up under his care, to
+carry in the dishes and wait on the poor at table, to teach them the
+practice of humiliation, in which he set the most edifying example. He
+showed the most tender charity for penitents, and often wept over them,
+while they confessed their sins to-him. He died in 1095, having sat
+thirty-two years, and lived about eighty-seven. He was canonized in
+1203. See his life by William of Malmesbury, in Wharton, t. 2, p. 244.
+Also, a second, by Florence of Worcester, and a third in Capgrave; and
+his history, at length, by Dr. Thomas, in his History of the Cathedral
+of Worcester.
+
+ST. BLAITHMAIC,
+
+SON of an Irish king, and abbot in the isle of Hij, in Scotland. He was
+martyred by Danish pirates, to whom he refused to betray the treasures
+of the church, in 793. See his life, by Wilfridus Strabo, in Canisius
+Antiq. {} &c.
+
+ST. LOMER, OR LAUDOMARUS, ABBOT.
+
+IN his childhood he kept his father's sheep; in which employment he
+macerated his body by regular fasts, and spent his time in studies and
+prayer, under the direction of a certain holy priest. Being afterwards,
+by compulsion, ordained priest, he was made canon and cellerer (some
+moderns say provost) of the church of Chartres. After some years he
+retired into a neighboring forest: Mabillon thinks at the place where
+now stands Bellomer, a monastery of the order of Fontevrald. Many
+disciples being assembled near his hermitage, he removed with them into
+another desert, where he built the monastery of Corbion, (at present a
+priory called Moutier-au-Perche, six leagues from Chartres,) about the
+year 575. A wonderful spirit of prayer, and gift of miracles, rendered
+his name famous. He died on the 19th of January, in 593, at Chartres, in
+the house of the bishop, who had called him thither some time before. In
+the incursions of the Normans, his remains were removed from place to
+place, till they were lodged at Perly, in Auvergne. His head is now kept
+in the priory of Maissac, called St. Laumer's, in Auvergne; the rest of
+his relics were removed to Blois, where an abbey was built which bears
+his name. Set his anonymous life, written by one who knew him, in
+Bollandus and Mabillon; also Chatelain and the Paris Breviary.
+
+{183}
+
+
+JANUARY XX.
+
+ST. FABIAN, POPE, M.
+
+See Tillemont, t. 3, p. 362.
+
+A.D. 250.
+
+HE succeeded St. Anterus in the pontificate, in the year 236. Eusebius
+relates,[1] that in an assembly of the people and clergy, held for the
+election of a pastor in his room, a dove, unexpectedly appearing,
+settled, to the great surprise of all present, on the head of St.
+Fabian; and that this miraculous sign united the votes of the clergy and
+people in promoting him, though not thought of before, as being a layman
+and a stranger. He governed the church sixteen years, sent St. Dionysius
+and other preachers into Gaul, and condemned Privatus, a broacher of a
+new heresy in Africa, as appears from St. Cyprian.[2] St. Fabian died a
+glorious martyr in the persecution of Decius, in 250, as St. Cyprian and
+St. Jerom witness. The former, writing to his successor, St. Cornelius,
+calls him an incomparable man; and says, that the glory of his death had
+answered the purity and holiness of his life.[3]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The saints made God, and the accomplishment of his holy will, the great
+object of all their petitions to their prayers, and their only aim in
+all their actions. "God," says St. Austin,[4] "in his promises to hear
+our prayers, is desirous to bestow himself upon us; if you find any
+thing better than him, ask it, but if you ask any thing beneath him, you
+put an affront upon him, and hurt yourself by preferring to him a
+creature which he framed: pray in the spirit and sentiment of love, in
+which the royal prophet said to him, 'Thou, O Lord, art my portion.'[5]
+Let others choose to themselves portions among creatures, for my part,
+Thou art my portion, Thee alone have I chosen for my whole inheritance."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Hist. l. 6, c. 29.
+2.  Cypr. Ep. 30. Ed. Pam.
+3.  Ep. 44 ad. Corn.
+4.  S. Aug. Conc. 1, in Ps. 34.
+5.  Ps. lxxii. 26.
+
+ST. SEBASTIAN, M.
+
+From his acts, written before the end of the fourth age. The gladiators,
+who were abolished by Honorius, in 403, subsisted when these acts were
+compiled. See Bollandus, who thinks St. Ambrose wrote them, also
+Tillemont, t. 1, p. 551.
+
+A.D. 288.
+
+ST. SEBASTIAN was born at Narbonne, in Gaul, but his parents were of
+Milan, in Italy, and he was brought up in that city. He was a fervent
+servant of Christ, and though his natural inclinations gave him an
+aversion to a military life, yet to be better able, without suspicion,
+to assist the confessors and martyrs in their sufferings, he went to
+Rome, and entered the army under the emperor Carinus, about the year
+283. It happened that the martyrs, Marcus and Marcellianus, under
+sentence of death, appeared in danger of being shaken in their faith by
+the tears of their friends: Sebastian seeing this, stepped in, and made
+them a long exhortation to constancy, which {184} he delivered with the
+holy fire, that strongly affected all his hearers. Zoë, the wife of
+Nicostratus, having for six years lost the use of speech by a palsy in
+her tongue, fell at his feet, and spoke distinctly, by the saint's
+making the sign of the cross on her mouth. She, with her husband
+Nicostratus, who was master of the rolls,[1] the parents of Marcus and
+Marcellianus, the jailor Claudius, and sixteen other prisoners, were
+converted; and Nicostratus, who had charge of the prisoners, took them
+to his own house, where Polycarp, a holy priest, instructed and baptized
+them. Chromatius, governor of Rome, being informed of this, and that
+Tranquillinus, the father of Saints Marcus and Marcellianus, had been
+cured of the gout by receiving baptism, desired to be instructed in the
+faith, being himself grievously afflicted with the same distemper.
+Accordingly, having sent for Sebastian, he was cured by him, and
+baptized, with his son Tiburtius. He then enlarged the converted
+prisoners, made his slaves free, and resigned his prefectship.
+
+Not long after, in the year 285, Carinus was defeated and slain in
+Illyricum by Dioclesian, who, the year following, made Maximian his
+colleague in the empire. The persecution was still carried on by the
+magistrates, in the same manner as under Carinus, without any new
+edicts. Dioclesian, admiring the courage and virtue of St. Sebastian,
+who concealed his religion, would fain have him near his person, and
+created him captain of a company of the pretorian guards, which was a
+considerable dignity. When Dioclesian went into the East, Maximian, who
+remained in the West, honored our saint with the same distinction and
+respect. Chromatius, with the emperor's consent, retired into the
+country in Campania, taking many new converts along with him. It was a
+contest of zeal, out of a mutual desire of martyrdom, between St.
+Sebastian and the priest Polycarp, which of them should accompany this
+troop, to complete their instruction, and which should remain in the
+city, to encourage and assist the martyrs, which latter was the more
+dangerous province. St. Austin wished to see such contests of charity
+among the ministers of the church.[2] Pope Caius, who was appealed to,
+judged it most proper that Sebastian should stay in Rome, as a defender
+of the church. In the year 286, the persecution growing hot, the pope
+and others concealed themselves in the imperial palace, as a place of
+the greatest safety, in the apartments of one Castulus, a Christian
+officer of the court. St. Zoë was first apprehended, praying at St.
+Peter's tomb on the feast of the apostles. She was stifled with smoke,
+being hung by the heels over a fire. Tranquillinus, ashamed to be less
+courageous than a woman, went to pray at the tomb of St. Paul, and was
+seized by the populace, and stoned to death. Nicostratus, Claudius,
+Castorius, and Victorinus were taken, and after being thrice tortured,
+were thrown into the sea. Tiburtius, betrayed by a false brother, was
+beheaded. Castulus, accused by the same wretch, was thrice put on the
+rack, and afterwards buried alive. Marcus and Marcellianus were nailed
+by the feet to a post, and having remained in that torment twenty-four
+hours, were shot to death with arrows.
+
+St. Sebastian, having sent so many martyrs to heaven before him, was
+himself impeached before the emperor Dioclesian; who, having grievously
+reproached him with ingratitude, delivered him over to certain archers
+of Mauritania, to be shot to death. His body was covered with arrows,
+and he left for dead. Irene, the widow of St. Castulus, going to bury
+him, found him still alive, and took him to her lodgings, where, by
+care, he recovered of his wounds, but refused to fly, and even placed
+himself one day by a staircase where the emperor was to pass, whom he
+first accosted, reproaching {185} him for his unjust cruelties against
+the Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person, too, whom he
+supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but
+recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for his being seized and
+beat to death with cudgels, and his body thrown into the common sewer. A
+pious lady called Lucina, admonished by the martyr in a vision, got it
+privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs,[3] at the entrance of
+the cemetery of Calixtus. A church was afterwards built over his relies
+by pope Damasus, which is one of the seven ancient stationary churches
+at Rome, but not one of the seven principal churches of that city, as
+some moderns mistake; it neither being one of the five patriarchal
+churches, nor one of the seventy-two old churches which give titles to
+cardinals. Vandelbert, St. Ado, Eginard, Sigebert, and other
+contemporary authors relate, that in the reign of Louis Débonnaire, pope
+Eugenius II. gave the body of St. Sebastian to Hilduin, abbot of St.
+Denys, who brought it into France, and it was deposited at St. Medard's,
+at Soissons, on the 9th of December, in 826; with it is said to have
+been brought a considerable portion of the relics of St. Gregory the
+Great. The rich shrines of SS. Sebastian, Gregory, and Medard, were
+plundered by the Calvinists, in 1564, and the sacred bones thrown into a
+ditch, in which there was water. Upon the declaration of two
+eye-witnesses, they were afterwards found by the Catholics; and in 1578,
+enclosed in three new shrines, though the bones of the three saints
+could not be distinguished from each other.[4] The head of this martyr,
+which was given to St. Willibrord by pope Sergius, is kept at Esternach,
+in the duchy of Luxemburg. Portions of his relics are shown in the
+cathedral at St. Victor's; the Theatins and Minims at Paris; in four
+churches at Mantua; at Malaca, Seville, Toulouse, Munich in the ducal
+palace, Tournay in the cathedral, Antwerp in the church of the Jesuits,
+and at Brussels, in the chapel of the court, not at St. Gudula's, as
+some have mistaken.[5] St. Sebastian has been always honored by the
+church, as one of her most illustrious martyrs. We read in Paul the
+deacon, in what manner, in the year 680, Rome was freed from a raging
+pestilence, by the patronage of this saint. Milan, in 1575, Lisbon, in
+1599, and other places, have experienced, in like calamities, the
+miraculous effects of his intercession with God in their behalf.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Primiscrinius.
+2.  Ep. 180.
+3.  On Catacombs, see in St. Calixtus, Oct. 14.
+4.  Chatelain, notes, p. 355. Baillet.
+5.  Bollandus, Chatel. ib.
+
+ST. EUTHYMIUS, ABBOT.
+
+From his life, faithfully written forty years after his death, by Cyril
+of Scythopolis, a monk of his monastery, one of the best writers of
+antiquity, and author of the life of St. Sabas. See it accurately
+published by Dom Lottin, Annal. Græc. t. 1, and Cotelier, Mon. Græc. t.
+2, p. 200.
+
+A.D. 473.
+
+THE birth of this saint was the fruit of the prayers of his pious
+parents, through the intercession of the martyr Polyeuctus. His father
+was a noble and wealthy citizen of Melitene in Armenia. Euthymius was
+educated in sacred learning, and in the fervent practice of prayer,
+silence, humility, and mortification, under the care of the holy bishop
+of that city, who ordained him priest, and constituted him his vicar and
+general-overseer of the monasteries. The saint often visited that of St.
+Polyeuctus, and spent whole nights in prayer on a neighboring mountain;
+as he also did all the time from the octave of the Epiphany till towards
+the end of Lent. The love of solitude daily growing stronger in his
+breast, he secretly left his own country,{186} at twenty-nine years of
+age: and, after offering up his prayers at the holy places in Jerusalem,
+chose a cell six miles from that city, near the Laura[1] of Pharan. He
+made baskets, and procured, by selling them, both his own subsistence
+and alms for the poor. Constant prayer was the employment of his soul.
+After five years he retired with one Theoctistus, a holy hermit, ten
+miles further towards Jericho, where they lived together on raw herbs in
+a cave. In this place he began to receive disciples, about the year 411.
+He committed the care of his monastery to Theoctistus, and continued
+himself in a remote hermitage, only giving audience on Saturdays and
+Sundays, to those who desired spiritual advice. He taught all his monks
+never to eat so much as to satisfy their hunger, but strictly forbade
+among them all singularity in fasts, or any other common observances, as
+savoring of vanity and self-will. According to his example, they all
+retired into the deserts from the octave of the feast of the Epiphany
+till the week before Easter, when they met again in their monastery, to
+celebrate the office peculiar to Holy Week. He enjoined them constant
+silence and manual labors: they gained their own subsistence, and a
+surplus, which they devoted as first-fruits to God in the relief of the
+poor.
+
+St. Euthymius cured, by the sign of the cross and a short prayer,
+Terebon, one half of whose body had been struck dead with a palsy. His
+father, who was an Arabian prince, named Aspebetes, an idolater, had
+exhausted on his cure, but to no purpose, the much-boasted arts of
+physic and magic among the Persians, to procure some relief for his son.
+At the sight of this miracle Aspebetes desired baptism, and took the
+name of Peter. Such multitudes of Arabians followed his example, that
+Juvenal, patriarch of Jerusalem, ordained him their bishop, and he
+assisted at the council of Ephesus against Nestorius in 431. He built
+St. Euthymius a Laura on the right hand of the road from Jerusalem to
+Jericho, in the year 420. Euthymius could never be prevailed upon to
+depart from his rules of strict solitude; but governed his monks by
+proper superiors, to whom he gave his directions on Sundays. His
+humility and charity won the hearts of all who spoke to him. He seemed
+to surpass the great Arsenius in the gift of perpetual tears. Cyril
+relates many miracles which he wrought, usually by the sign of the
+cross. In the time of a great drought, he exhorted the people to
+penance, to avert this scourge of heaven. Great numbers came in
+procession to his cell, carrying crosses, singing Kyrie eleison, and
+begging him to offer up his prayers to God for them. He said to them: "I
+am a sinner, how can I presume to appear before God, who is angry at our
+sins? Let us prostrate ourselves all together before him, and he will
+hear us." They obeyed; and the saint going into his chapel with some of
+his monks, prayed prostrate on the ground. The sky grew dark on a
+sudden, rain fell in abundance, and the year proved remarkably fruitful.
+
+St. Euthymius showed great zeal against the Nestorian and Eutychian
+heretics. The turbulent empress Eudocia, after the death of her husband
+Theodosius, retired into Palestine, and there continued to favor the
+latter with her protection. Awaked by the afflictions of her family,
+particularly in the plunder of Rome, and the captivity of her daughter
+Eudocia, and her two granddaughters, carried by the Vandals into Africa,
+she sent to beg the advice of St. Simeon Stylites. He answered, that her
+misfortunes were the punishment of her sin, in forsaking and persecuting
+the orthodox faith; and ordered her to follow the direction of
+Euthymius. She knew that our saint admitted no woman within the precinct
+of his Laura, no more than St. Simeon suffered them to step within the
+enclosure of the mandra or lodge {187} about his pillar. She therefore
+built a tower on the east side of the desert, thirty furlongs from the
+Laura, and prayed St. Euthymius to meet her there. His advice to her was
+to forsake the Eutychians and their impious patriarch Theodosius, and to
+receive the council of Chalcedon. She followed his advice as the command
+of God, and returning to Jerusalem, embraced the Catholic communion with
+the orthodox patriarch Juvenal; and an incredible number followed her
+example. She spent the rest of her life in works of penance and piety.
+In 459, she desired St. Euthymius to meet her at her tower, designing to
+settle on his Laura sufficient revenues for its subsistence. He sent her
+word to spare herself the trouble, and to prepare herself for death; for
+God summoned her before his tribunal. She admired his disinterestedness,
+returned to Jerusalem, and died shortly after. One of the latest
+disciples of our saint was the young St. Sabas, whom he tenderly loved.
+In the year 473, on the 13th of January, Martyrius and Elias, to both
+whom St. Euthymius had foretold the patriarchate of Jerusalem, came with
+several others to visit him, and to conduct him into his Lent-retreat.
+But he said he would stay with them all that week, and leave them on the
+Saturday following, meaning, by death. Three days after he gave orders
+that a general watching should be observed on the eve of St. Antony's
+festival, on which he made a discourse to his spiritual children,
+exhorting them to humility and charity. He appointed Elias his
+successor, and foretold Domitian, a beloved disciple, that he would
+follow him out of this world, on the seventh day, which happened
+accordingly. Euthymius died on Saturday the 28th day of January, being
+ninety-five years old, of which he had spent sixty-eight in the deserts.
+Cyril relates his having appeared several times after his death, and the
+many miracles that were wrought by his intercession; to several of which
+he declares himself an eye-witness. St. Sabas kept his festival
+immediately after his death; which is observed both by the Latins and
+Greeks. The latter always style him the Great. It appears from his life
+that he was ordained priest before he embraced an eremitical state, and
+that he founded two monasteries, besides a Laura, which was also
+converted into a monastery after his death.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A Laura consisted of cells at a little distance from one another,
+    and not under the same roof, as a monastery.
+
+ST. FECHIN, ABBOT.
+
+AN ancient hymn on this saint is published by Bollandus. He is honored
+with singular devotion at Foure, anciently called Fobhar, a village in
+West-Meath, where he governed a monastery with great sanctity; and
+happily departed to our Lord in the year 664, being carried off in the
+great pestilence which swept off four kings in Ireland; and which scarce
+a third part of the inhabitants survived. See his life in Bollandus;
+also Giraldus Cambr. Topog. Hibern. dist. 2, c. 52, and Colgan. Giraldus
+mentions St. Fechin's mill at Foure, which out of respect it is forbid
+for any woman ever to enter. Several churches, and some villages in
+Ireland, take their name from this saint.
+
+{188}
+
+
+JANUARY XXI.
+
+SAINT AGNES, V.M.
+
+The following relation is taken from Prudentius, de Coron. hym. 14, St.
+Ambrose, l. 1, de Virgin. & Offic. t. 1, c. 41, and other fathers. Her
+acts are as ancient as the seventh century; but not sufficiently
+authentic: nor are those given us in Chaldaic by Stephen Assemani of a
+better stamp. They contradict St. Ambrose and Prudentius in supposing
+that she finished her martyrdom by fire. See Tillemont, t. 5.
+
+A.D. 304, or 305.
+
+ST. JEROM says,[1] that the tongues and pens of all nations are employed
+in the praises of this saint, who overcame both the cruelty of the
+tyrant and the tenderness of her age, and crowned the glory of chastity
+with that of martyrdom. St. Austin observes,[2] that her name signifies
+chaste in Greek, and lamb in Latin. She has been always looked upon in
+the church as a special patroness of purity, with the immaculate Mother
+of God and St. Thecla. Rome was the theatre of the triumph of St. Agnes;
+and Prudentius says, that her tomb was shown within sight of that city.
+She suffered not long after the beginning of the persecution of
+Dioclesian, whose bloody edicts appeared in March in the year of our
+Lord 303. We learn from St. Ambrose and St. Austin, that she was only
+thirteen years of age at the time of her glorious death. Her riches and
+beauty excited the young noblemen of the first families of Rome, to vie
+with one another in their addresses, who should gain her in marriage.[3]
+Agnes answered them all, that she had consecrated her virginity to a
+heavenly spouse, who could not be beheld by mortal eyes. Her suitors
+finding her resolution impregnable to all their arts and importunities,
+accused her to the governor as a Christian; not doubting but threats and
+torments would overcome her tender mind, on which allurements could make
+no impression. The judge at first employed the mildest expressions and
+most inviting promises; to which Agnes paid no regard, repeating always,
+that she could have no other spouse than Jesus Christ. He then made use
+of threats, but found her soul endowed with a masculine courage, and
+even desirous of racks and death. At last, terrible fires were made, and
+iron hooks, racks, and other instruments of torture displayed before
+her, with threats of immediate execution. The young virgin surveyed them
+all with an undaunted eye; and with a cheerful countenance beheld the
+fierce and cruel executioners surrounding her, and ready to dispatch her
+at the word of command. She was so far from betraying the least symptom
+of fear, that she even expressed her joy at the sight, and offered
+herself to the rack. She was then dragged before the idols, and
+commanded to offer incense: "but could by no means be compelled to move
+her hand, except to make the sign of the cross," says St. Ambrose.
+
+The governor seeing his measures ineffectual, said he would send her to
+a house of prostitution, where what she prized so highly should be
+exposed to the insults of the debauchees.[4] Agnes answered that Jesus
+Christ was too jealous of the purity of his spouses, to suffer it to be
+violated in such a manner; for he was their defender and protector. "You
+may," said she, "stain your sword with my blood, but will never be able
+to profane my body, consecrated to Christ." The governor was so incensed
+at this, that he {189} ordered her to be immediately led to the public
+brothel, with liberty to all persons to abuse her person at pleasure.
+Many young profligates ran thither, full of the wicked desire of
+gratifying their lust; but were seized with such awe at the sight of the
+saint, that they durst not approach her; one only excepted, who,
+attempting to be rude to her, was that very instant, by a flash, as it
+were, of lightning from heaven, struck blind, and fell trembling to the
+ground. His companions, terrified, took him up, and carried him to
+Agnes, who was at a distance, singing hymns of praise to Christ, her
+protector. The virgin by prayer restored him to his sight and health.[5]
+
+The chief prosecutor of the saint, who at first sought to gratify his
+lust and avarice, now labored to satiate his revenge, by incensing the
+judge against her; his passionate fondness being changed into anger and
+rage. The governor wanted not others to spur him on; for he was highly
+exasperated to see himself baffled, and set at defiance by one of her
+tender age and sex. Therefore, resolved upon her death, he condemned her
+to be beheaded. Agnes, transported with joy on hearing this sentence,
+and still more at the sight of the executioner, "went to the place of
+execution more cheerfully," says St. Ambrose, "than others go to their
+wedding." The executioner had secret instructions to use all means to
+induce her to a compliance: but Agnes always answered she could never
+offer so great an injury to her heavenly spouse; and having made a short
+prayer, bowed down her neck to adore God, and receive the stroke of
+death. The spectators wept to see so beautiful and tender a virgin
+loaded with fetters, and to behold her fearless under the very sword of
+the executioner, who with a trembling hand cut off her head at one
+stroke. Her body was buried at a small distance from Rome, near the
+Nomentan road. A church was built on the spot in the time of Constantine
+the Great, and was repaired by pope Honorius in the seventh century. It
+is now in the hands of Canon-Regulars, standing without the walls of
+Rome; and is honored with her relics in a very rich silver shrine, the
+gift of pope Paul V., in whose time they were found in this church,
+together with those of St. Emerentiana.[6] The other beautiful rich
+church of St. Agnes within the city, built by pope Innocent X., (the
+right of patronage being vested in the family of Pamphili,) stands on
+the place where her chastity was exposed. The feast of St. Agnes is
+mentioned in all Martyrologies, both of the East and West, though on
+different days. It was formerly a holyday for the women in England, as
+appears from the council of Worcester, held in the year 1240. St.
+Ambrose, St. Austin, and other fathers have wrote her panegyric. St.
+Martin of Tours was singularly devout to her. Thomas à Kempis honored
+her as his special patroness, as his works declare in many places. He
+relates many miracles wrought, and graces received through her
+intercession.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Marriage is a holy state, instituted by God, and in the order of
+providence and nature the general or most ordinary state of those who
+live in the world. Those, therefore, who upon motives of virtue, and in
+a Christian and holy manner engage in this state, do well. Those,
+nevertheless, who for the sake of practising more perfect virtue, by a
+divine call, prefer a state of perpetual {190} virginity, embrace that
+which is more perfect and more excellent. Dr. Wells, a learned
+Protestant, confesses that Christ[7] declares voluntary chastity, for
+the kingdom of heaven's sake, to be an excellency, and an excellent
+state of life.[8] This is also the manifest inspired doctrine of St.
+Paul,[9] and in the revelations of St. John,[10] spotless virgins are
+called, in a particular manner, the companions of the Lamb, and are said
+to enjoy the singular privilege of following him wherever he goes. The
+tradition of the church has always been unanimous in this point; and
+among the Romans, Greeks Syrians, and Barbarians, many holy virgins
+joyfully preferred torments and death to the violation of their
+integrity, which they bound themselves by vow to preserve without
+defilement, in mind or body. The fathers, from the very disciples of the
+apostles, are all profuse in extolling the excellency of holy virginity,
+as a special fruit of the incarnation of Christ, his divine institution,
+and a virtue which has particular charms in the eyes of God, who
+delights in chaste minds, and chooses to dwell singularly in them. They
+often repeat that purity raises men, even in this mortal life, to the
+dignity of angels; purifies the soul, fits it for a more perfect love of
+God and a closer application to heavenly things, and disengages the mind
+and heart from worldly thoughts and affections. It produces in the soul
+the clearest resemblance to God. Chastity is threefold; that of virgins,
+that of widows, and that of married persons; in each state it will
+receive its crown, as St. Ambrose observes,[11] but in the first is most
+perfect, so that St. Austin calls its fruit an hundred fold, and that of
+marriage sixty fold; but the more excellent this virtue is, and the
+higher its glory and reward, the more heroic and the more difficult is
+its victory; nor is it perfect unless it be embellished with all other
+virtues in an heroic degree, especially divine charity and the most
+profound humility.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ep. 8.
+2.  Serm. 274.
+3.  Footnote: S. Ambrose, l. 1, Virgin.
+4.  Prudent. S. Ambrose.
+5.  St. Basil witnesses, (l. de verâ Virgin.,) that when virgins were
+    exposed by the persecutors to the attempts of lewd men, Christ
+    wonderfully interposed in defence of their chastity. Tertullian
+    reproached the heathens with this impiety, in these words: Apolog.
+    "By condemning the Christian maid rather to the lewd youth than to
+    the lion, you have acknowledged that a stain of purity is more
+    dreaded by us than any torments or death. Yet your crafty cruelty
+    avails you not: it rather serves to gain men over to our holy
+    religion."
+6.  This church gives title to a cardinal, and every year on her feast
+    the abbot of St. Peter's ad Vincula blesses in it, at high mass, two
+    lambs, which are thence carried to the pope, by whom they are again
+    blessed. After which they are sent to the nuns of St. Laurence's in
+    Panisperna, or sometimes to the Capucinesses, who make of their wool
+    palliums, which his holiness blesses, and sends to archbishops as
+    emblem of meekness and spotless purity.
+7.  Matt. xix. 11.
+8.  Wells, Paraph. on S. Matt. p. 185.
+9.  1 Cor. vii. 7, 8, 25, 27, 32, 38.
+10. Apoc. xiv. 1, 3, 4, 5.
+11. S. Ambr. l. de Viduis, t. 5, p. 635.
+
+SAINT FRUCTUOSUS, BISHOP OF TARRAGON, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
+
+From his most valuable acts in Ruinart, quoted by St. Austin, Serm. 273,
+and transcribed by Prudentius, hymno 6.
+
+A.D. 259.
+
+ST. FRUCTUOSUS was the zealous and truly apostolical bishop of Tarragon,
+then the capital city of Spain. The persecution of Valerian and Gallien
+raging in the year 259, he was apprehended by an order of Emilian the
+governor, who sent the soldiers, called Beneficiarii,[1] for that
+purpose. They seized the good bishop in his lodgings, with two deacons,
+Augurius and Eulogius, on Sunday the 16th of January. He was then laid
+down on his bed, and only asked leave to put on his shoes; after which
+he cheerfully followed the guards, who committed him and his two
+companions to close prison, where he spent his time with them in fervent
+prayer, full of joy at the prospect of the crown prepared for them. He
+gave his benediction to the faithful who visited him, and recommended
+themselves to his prayers. On Monday he baptized in jail a catechumen
+named Rogatianus. On Wednesday he kept the usual fast of the stations[2]
+till none, or three o'clock in {191} the afternoon. On Friday, the sixth
+day after their commitment, the 21st of January, the governor ordered
+them to be brought before him, and asked Fructuosus if he knew the
+contents of the late edict of the emperors. The saint answered that he
+did not, but that whatever they were, he was a Christian. "The
+emperors," said Emilian, "command all to sacrifice to the gods."
+Fructuosus answered, "I adore one God, who made heaven and earth and all
+things therein." Emilian said, "Do you not know that there are gods?"
+"No," replied the saint. The proconsul said, "I will make you know it
+shortly." St. Fructuosus then lifted up his eyes to heaven, and began to
+pray in private. The proconsul broke out into this exclamation: "What
+will any man fear or adore on earth, if he contemns the worship of the
+immortal gods, and of the emperors?" Then turning to the deacon
+Angurius, he bade him not regard what Fructuosus had said: but he
+satisfied him in a few words that he adored the same almighty God.
+Emilian lastly addressed himself to the other deacon, Eulogius, asking
+him if he did not adore Fructuosus. The holy man answered, "I adore not
+Fructuosus, but the same God whom he adores." Emilian asked Fructuosus
+if he was a bishop; and added, upon his confessing it, "say you have
+been one;" meaning that he was going to lose his dignity with his life:
+and immediately condemned them to be burnt alive.
+
+The pagans themselves could not refrain from tears, on seeing them led
+to the amphitheatre; for they loved Fructuosus on account of his rare
+virtues. The Christians accompanied them with a sorrow mixed with joy.
+The martyrs exulted to behold themselves on the verge of a glorious
+eternity. The faithful offered St. Fructuosus a cup of wine, but he
+would not taste it, saying, it was not yet the hour of breaking the
+fast, which was observed on Fridays till three o'clock, and it was then
+only ten in the morning. The holy man hoped to end the station, or fast
+of that day, with the patriarchs and prophets in heaven. When they were
+come into the amphitheatre, Augustalis, the bishop's lector, came to him
+weeping, and begged he would permit him to pull off his shoes. The
+martyr said he could easily put them off himself, which he did. Felix, a
+Christian soldier, stepped in, and desired he would remember him in his
+prayers. Fructuosus said aloud: "I am bound to pray for the whole
+Catholic church spread over the world from the east to the west;" as if
+he had said, as St. Austin observes, who much applauds this sentence:[3]
+"Remain always in the bosom of the Catholic church, and you will have a
+share in my prayers." Martial, one of his flock, desired him to speak
+some words of comfort to his desolate church. The bishop, turning to the
+Christians, said, "My brethren, the Lord will not leave you a flock
+without a pastor. He is faithful to his promises. Do not grieve for me.
+The hour of my suffering is short." The martyrs were fastened to wooden
+stakes to be burnt; but the flame seemed at first to respect their
+bodies, having consumed only the bands with which their hands were tied,
+giving them liberty to stretch out their arms in the form of a cross in
+prayer, in which posture they gave up their souls to God before the fire
+had touched them. Babylas and Mygdone, two Christian servants of the
+governor, saw the heavens open, and the saints carried up with crowns on
+their heads. The faithful came in the night, extinguished the fire, and
+took out the half-burnt bodies. Every one carried some part of their
+remains home with them; but being admonished from heaven, brought them
+back and laid them in the same monument. St. Austin has left us a
+panegyric on St. Fructuosus, pronounced on the anniversary day of his
+martyrdom, on which his name has been always famous in the western
+church, especially in Spain and Africa.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Beneficiarii were soldiers distinguished by certain privileges, and
+    who stood for promotion, as Vege{tius} informs us, l. 2, c. 7.
+2.  Wednesdays and Fridays were fast-days at that time; but only till
+    none, that is, three in the afternoon, and called the fast of the
+    stations.
+3.  Serm. 273.
+
+{192}
+
+
+ST. VIMIN, OR VIVIAN, B.C., IN SCOTLAND.
+
+BY the fervent practices of the most perfect monastic discipline in one
+of the famous abbeys in Fifeshire, he qualified himself to become, by
+word and example, a guide and director to many chosen souls in the paths
+of evangelical perfection. This appeared in the fruits of his zealous
+preaching and labors, when he was raised to the abbatial, and soon after
+to the episcopal dignity; for at that time, very few bishoprics being
+erected in Scotland, it was customary for learned and holy abbots of
+great monasteries to be often consecrated bishops, and to be attended by
+their monks in performing their functions; as venerable Bede informs us,
+speaking of St. Aidan.[1] St. Vimin, to shun the danger of vain-glory,
+to which the reputation of many miracles which he had wrought exposed
+him, removed to a more solitary place, and there founded the abbey of
+Holywood, called in Latin Sacrum-boscum, in succeeding ages famous for
+many learned men; particularly the great mathematician, John à
+Sacro-bosco, in the thirteenth century. King places the death of St.
+Vimin in 615, but brings no proofs for dating it so high. The noble and
+very ancient family of Wemse, in Fifeshire, is said in Scotland to be of
+the same lineage with this saint. The ancient prayer in the Aberdeen
+breviary on his festival, and other monuments, bear evidence to the
+great devotion of the ancient Scottish church to his memory. See
+Breviarium Aberdonense of Chronicou Skonense.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bede, Hist. l. 4, c. 17, &c.
+
+ST. PUBLIUS, B.M.
+
+HE succeeded St. Dionysius the Areopagite in the see of Athens, as we
+are assured by St. Dionysius of Corinth, quoted by Eusebius.[1] He went
+to God by martyrdom, and St. Quadratus was chosen third bishop of that
+city. See Le Quien, Or. Christ. t. 2, p. 169.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Euseb. l. 4, c. 22.
+
+ST. EPIPHANIUS, BISHOP OF PAVIA,
+
+FROM 467 TO 497.
+
+THE reputation of Epiphanius for sanctity and miracles, gave him the
+highest credit with all the last weak Roman emperors, and with the kings
+Odoacer and Theodoric, though all of opposite interests. By his
+admirable eloquence and charity he often disarmed the most savage
+barbarians, obtained the lives and liberty of whole armies of captives,
+the abolition of several oppressive laws, and the mitigation of heavy
+public imposts and taxes. By his profuse charities he preserved an
+incredible number of distressed persons from perishing, and by his zeal
+he stemmed the torrent of iniquity in times of universal disorder and
+calamity. He performed an embassy to the emperor Anthemius, and another
+to king Euric at Toulouse; both to avert the dangers of war. He rebuilt
+Pavia, which had been destroyed by Odoacer, and mitigated the fury of
+Theodoric in the heat of his victories. He undertook a journey into
+Burgundy, to redeem captives detained by the kings Gondebald and
+Godegisile, and died of a cold and fever at Pavia, in the fifty-eighth
+year of his age. His body was translated to Hildesheim in Lower {193}
+Saxony, in 963. Brower thinks it lies in a silver coffin near the high
+altar. His name is inserted in the Roman Martyrology. See his panegyric
+in verse, by Ennodius, his successor, the master-piece of that author,
+published by Bollandus and F. Sirmond. Consult also Marroni, of the
+Schola Pia Comment. de Ecclesià & Episcopis Papiensibus. Romæ. An. 1758.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  B. MACELAIN, A. His name in Irish signifies the son of Chilian.
+    Passing into Belgic Gaul, in order to lead there an anchoretical
+    life, he was appointed abbot of St. Michael's on the borders of
+    Hainault, and of Vasour, or Vasencour, on the Meuse, in the diocese
+    of Namur: monasteries which were just founded. He appointed St.
+    Cadroe, who had accompanied him from Ireland, provost of the latter
+    in 946, and died in 978. Ferrarius, Saussaye, and Wilson, falsely
+    place this monastery of St. Michael's at Virdun, mistaking the
+    epithet Vir Dni, which is given him in the chronicle of Flodoard,
+    for the name of that town. Though he is styled saint in the
+    catalogue of the abbots of Vasour, and by several martyrologists on
+    this day, he never was honored in any public office even in either
+    of his monasteries, as Bollandus observes; who makes the same remark
+    of his two companions, B. Forannand and B. Cadroe. This latter was
+    called from Vasour, and made abbot of St. Clement's, at Metz, where
+    he died in 975. See Bolland. t. 2, p. 386. Chatelain, p. 371. Gallia
+    Christ. Nova, t. 3, p. 570.
+
+    B. FORANNAND, B.C. This saint is styled in ancient chronicles,
+    Archbishop of Domnachmor, in Ireland. Domnach signifying church, and
+    mor, the greater, says Mabillon: by which epithet many understand
+    Armagh. Resigning his see, he travelled into Belgic Gaul, with
+    twelve companions, among whom were B. Macelain, and B. Cadroe. After
+    leading for some time an eremitical life, he was commanded by pope
+    Benedict VII. to take upon him the charge of the government of
+    Vasour, in which employment he died on the last day of April, in
+    982. See Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 3. p. 571.
+
+
+JANUARY XXII.
+
+ST. VINCENT, MARTYR.
+
+From Prudentius, hymn 5, and St. Austin, serm, 274, 275, 276, 277, all
+four preached on his festivals. His ancient acts in Bollandus are also
+authentic, but not those in Metaphrastes and Surius. See Tillemont t. 5,
+p. 217.
+
+A.D. 399.
+
+THE most glorious martyr St. Vincent was born, some say at Saragossa,
+others at Valentia, but most authors, and most probably, at Osca, now
+Huesca, in Granada. He was instructed in the sacred sciences and in
+Christian piety by Valerius, the bishop of that city, who ordained him
+his deacon, and appointed him, though very young, to preach and instruct
+the people. Dacian, a most bloody persecutor, was then governor of
+Spain. The emperors Dioclesian and Maximian published their second and
+third bloody edicts against the Christian clergy in the year 303, which
+in the following year were put in force against the laity. It seems to
+have been before these last that Dacian put to death eighteen martyrs at
+Saragossa, who are mentioned by Prudentius, and in the Roman
+Martyrology, January the 16th, and that he apprehended Valerius and
+Vincent. They spilt some of their blood at Saragossa, but were thence
+conducted to Valentia, where the governor let them lie long in prison,
+suffering extreme famine and other miseries. The proconsul hoped that
+this lingering torture would shake their constancy; but when they were
+brought out before him, he was surprised to see them still intrepid in
+mind, and vigorous in body, and reprimanded his officers, as if they had
+not treated the prisoners according to his orders. Then, turning to the
+champions of Christ, he employed alternately threats and promises to
+induce them to sacrifice. Valerius, who had an impediment in his speech,
+making no answer, Vincent said to him "Father, if you order me, I will
+speak." "Son," said Valerius, "as I committed to you the dispensation of
+the word of God, so I now charge you to answer in vindication of the
+faith which we defend." The holy deacon then acquainted the judge that
+they were ready to suffer every thing for the {194} true God, and little
+regarded either his threats or promises in such a cause. Dacian
+contented himself with banishing Valerius.[1] As for St. Vincent, he was
+determined to assail his resolution by every torture his cruel temper
+could suggest. St. Austin assures us, that he suffered torments far
+beyond what any man could possibly have endured, unless supported by a
+supernatural strength; and that he preserved such a peace and
+tranquillity in his words, countenance, and gestures in the midst of
+them, as astonished his very persecutors, and visibly appeared as
+something divine; while the rage and distraction of Dacian's soul was as
+visible in the violent agitations of his body, by his eyes sparkling
+with fury, and his faltering voice.
+
+The martyr was first stretched on the rack by his hands and feet, drawn
+by cords and pulleys, till his joints were almost torn asunder: while he
+hung in this posture, his flesh was unmercifully torn off with iron
+hooks. Vincent, smiling, called the executioners weak and faint-hearted.
+Dacian thought they spared him, and caused them to be beaten, which
+afforded the champion an interval of rest: but they soon returned to
+him, resolved fully to satisfy the cruelty of their master, who excited
+them all the while to exert their utmost strength. They twice stayed
+their hands to take breath, and let his wounds grow cold; then began
+with fresh vigor to rend and tear his body, which they did in all its
+limbs and parts with such cruelty, that his bones and bowels were in
+most places exposed bare to sight. The more his body was mangled, the
+more did the divine presence cherish and comfort his soul, and spread a
+greater joy on his countenance. The judge, seeing the streams of blood
+which flowed from all the parts of his body, and the frightful condition
+to which it was reduced, was obliged to confess, with astonishment, that
+the courage of the young nobleman had vanquished him; and his rage
+seemed somewhat abated. Hereupon he ordered a cessation of his torments,
+begging of the saint for his own sake, that if he could not be prevailed
+upon to offer sacrifice to the gods, he would at least give up the
+sacred books to be burnt, according to the order of the late edicts. The
+martyr answered, that he feared his torments less than that false
+compassion which he testified. Dacian, more incensed than ever,
+condemned him to the most cruel of tortures, that of fire upon a kind of
+gridiron, called by the acts the legal torture.[2] The saint walked with
+joy to the frightful engine, so as almost to get the start of his
+executioners, such was his desire to suffer. He mounted cheerfully the
+iron bed, in which the bars were framed like scythes, full of sharp
+spikes made red-hot by the fire underneath. On this dreadful gridiron,
+the martyr was stretched out at length, and bound fast down. He was not
+only scourged thereon, but, while one part of his body was broiling next
+the fire, the other was tortured by the application of red-hot plates of
+iron. His wounds were rubbed with salt, which the activity of the fire
+forced the deeper into his flesh and bowels. All the parts of his body
+were tormented in this manner, one after the other, and each several
+times over. The melted fat dropping from the flesh, nourished and
+increased the flames; which, instead of tormenting, seemed, as St.
+Austin says, to give the martyr new vigor and courage; for the more he
+suffered, the greater seemed to be the inward joy and consolation of his
+soul. The rage and confusion of the tyrant exceeded all bounds: he
+appeared not able to contain himself, and was continually inquiring what
+Vincent did and what he said; but was always answered, that he suffered
+with joy in his countenance, and seemed every moment to acquire new
+strength and resolution. {195} He lay unmoved, his eyes turned towards
+heaven, his mind calm, and his heart fixed on God in continual prayer.
+
+At last, by the command of the proconsul, he was thrown into a dungeon
+and his wounded body laid on the floor strewed with broken potsherds,
+which opened afresh his ghastly wounds, and cut his bare flesh. His legs
+were set in wooden stocks, stretched very wide, and strict orders were
+given that he should be left without provisions, and that no one should
+be admitted to see or speak to him. But God sent his angels to comfort
+him, with whom he sung the praises of his protector. The jailer
+observing through the chinks the prison filled with light, and the saint
+walking and praising God, was converted upon the spot to the Christian
+faith, and afterwards baptized. At this news Dacian chafed, and even
+wept through rage, but ordered some repose should be allowed the
+prisoner. The faithful were then permitted to see him, and coming in
+troops wiped and kissed his wounds, and dipped cloths in his blood,
+which they kept as an assured protection for themselves and their
+posterity. After this a soft bed was prepared for him, on which he was
+no sooner laid but he expired, the happy moment he had not ceased to
+pray for ever since his torments, and his first call to martyrdom.
+Dacian commanded his body to be thrown on a marshy field among rushes;
+but a crow defended it from wild beasts and birds of prey. The acts in
+Ruinart and Bollandus, and the sermon attributed to St. Leo, add, that
+it was then tied to a great stone and cast into the sea in a sack, but
+miraculously carried to the shore, and revealed to two Christians. They
+laid it in a little chapel out of the walls of Valentia, where God
+honored these relics with many miracles, as the acts and St. Austin
+witness. Prudentius informs us, that the iron on which he lay, and other
+instruments of his passion, were likewise preserved with veneration.
+Childebert, king of France, or rather of Paris, besieging Saragossa,
+wondered to see the inhabitants busied continually in making
+processions. Being informed they carried the stole of St. Vincent about
+the walls in devout prayer, and had been miraculously protected by that
+martyr's intercession, he raised the siege upon condition that relic
+should be given him. This he with great solemnity brought to Paris, and
+enriched with it the magnificent church and abbey of St. Vincent, now
+called St. Germain-des-Prés, which he built in 559, and which his
+successor Clotaire caused to be dedicated.[3] In the year 855, his
+sacred bones were discovered at Valentia, and conveyed into France, and
+deposited in the abbey of Castres, now an episcopal see in Languedoc,
+where they remain; but several portions have been given to the abbey of
+St. Germain-des-Prés at Paris, and other churches; and part was burnt at
+Castres by the Huguenots about the end of the sixteenth century.[4]
+Aimoinus, a contemporary monk, wrote the history of this translation,
+with an account of many miracles which attended it.[5] St. Gregory of
+Tours mentions a portion of his relics to have been famous for miracles,
+in a village church near Poictiers.[6] In the life of St. Domnolus,
+mention is made of a portion placed by him in a great monastery in the
+suburb of the city of Mans. But it is certain that the chief part of
+this martyr's body was conveyed to Lisbon. To escape the cruel
+persecution of the Saracen king Abderamene, at Valentia, many Christians
+privately withdrew themselves, and, carrying with them the body of St.
+Vincent, took shelter on the southwest cape, called {196} the Sacred
+Promontory, and from these relics St. Vincent's, in the kingdom of
+Algarb, then under the Saracens. Alphonsus Henry, the most pious first
+king of Portugal, son of count Henry, having defeated five Moorish
+kings, at Ourique, in the year 1139, received from those faithful
+keepers the body of St. Vincent, sent it by sea to Lisbon, and built the
+royal monastery of the Cross of regular canons of St. Austin, in which
+he most religiously deposited this treasure, rendered more famous by
+miracles, in the year 1148. This account is recorded by contemporary
+unexceptionable vouchers in Bollandus, p. 406. Mariana, and especially
+Thomas ab Incarnatione, a regular canon, in his Historiâ Ecclesiæ
+Lusitanæ, printed at Lisbon, A.D. 1759, Sæc. 4, c. 6, t. 1, p. 215. The
+Portuguese, ever since the year 1173, keep an annual commemoration of
+this translation on the 15th of September, which feast was confirmed by
+Sixtus V.
+
+Prudentius finishes his hymn on this holy martyr by a prayer to him,
+that he would present the marks of his sufferings to Christ, to move him
+to compassion in his behalf.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+God never more visibly manifested his power, nor gave stronger or more
+wonderful proofs of his tenderness and love for his church, than when he
+suffered it to groan under the most violent oppression and persecution;
+nor does his grace anywhere appear more triumphant than in the victories
+of his martyrs under the severest trials, and in the heroic virtues
+which they displayed amidst torments and insults. Under the slightest
+disappointments and afflictions we are apt to fall into discouragement,
+and to imagine, by our sloth and impatience, that our situation is of
+all others the most unhappy and intolerable. If nature feels, and we
+implore the divine mercy, and a deliverance, if this may be conducive to
+God's honor, we must be careful never to sink under the trials, or
+consent to the least secret murmuring: we must bear them if not with
+joy, at least with perfect submission; and remain assured that God only
+seems to withdraw himself from us, that we may follow him more
+earnestly, and unite ourselves more closely to him.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  He is named in the Roman Martyrology, January the 28th, and his
+    relics are kept with veneration at Saragossa, famous for miracles
+    wrought by them even in the last age. See Bollandus, January the
+    28th, p. 838.
+2.  Quæstio legitima.
+3.  S. Greg. Tur. Hist. Franc. l. 3, c. 29. Aimoin. de Gestis Franc. l.
+    2, c. 19 and 20. Ade In Chron. &c.
+4.  See Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrol. p. 378.
+5.  This Aimoinus is something more ancient than another monk of the
+    same name, who has left a history of France. His relation depends
+    upon the authority of Audald, a monk of Conques in the diocese of
+    Rhodes, who brought them from Valentia into Languedoc. See his
+    account in Bollandus, which yet the Spaniards deny, and say it could
+    only be a small part of these bones: or the body of another martyr
+    of the same name.
+6.  De Gk. Mart. l. 1, c. 90.
+
+ST. ANASTASIUS, MARTYR.
+
+From his genuine acts, which are commended in the seventh general
+council, abut one hundred and sixty years after his death.
+
+A.D. 628.
+
+ST. ANASTASIUS was a trophy of the holy cross of Christ, when it was
+carried away into Persia by Chosroës, in the year 614, after he had
+taken and plundered Jerusalem. The martyr was a Persian, son of a
+Magian, instructed in the sciences of that sect, and a young soldier in
+the Persian troops. Upon hearing the news of the taking of the cross by
+his king, he became very inquisitive concerning the Christian religion:
+and its sublime truths made such an impression on his mind, that being
+returned into Persia from an expedition into the Roman empire, he left
+the army with his brother, who also served in it, and retired to
+Hierapolis. In that city he lodged with a devout Persian Christian, a
+silversmith, with whom he went often to prayer. The holy pictures which
+he saw, moved him exceedingly, and gave him occasion to inquire daily
+more into our faith, and to admire the courage of the martyrs whose
+glorious sufferings were painted in the churches. At length, desirous of
+baptism, he left Hierapolis, which city was subject to the Persians, and
+went to Jerusalem, where he received that sacrament by the hands of
+Modestus who governed that church as vicar during the absence {197} of
+the patriarch Zachary, whom Chosroës had led away captive into Persia.
+In baptism he changed his Persian name Magundat, into that of
+Anastasius, meaning, according to the signification of that Greek word,
+that he was risen from death to a new and spiritual life. He had
+prepared himself with wonderful devotion for that sacrament while a
+catechumen, and he spent in no less fervor the several days after it,
+which persons baptized passed in white garments, in prayer, and in
+receiving more perfect instructions in the faith. At the end of this
+term, Anastasius, the more easily and more perfectly to keep inviolably
+his sacred baptismal vows and obligations, desired to become a monk in a
+monastery five miles distant from Jerusalem. Justin, the abbot, made him
+first learn the Greek tongue and the psalter; then cutting off his hair,
+gave him the monastic habit, in the year 621.
+
+Anastasius was always the first at all spiritual duties, especially in
+assisting at the celebration of the divine mysteries. His attention to
+pious discourse testified the earnest thirst of his soul; nor was he
+less fervent in practice. He never read the triumphs of the martyrs
+without abundance of tears, and burned with an ardent desire of the like
+happiness. Being molested beyond measure with blasphemous thoughts of
+magic and superstitions, which his father had taught him, he was
+delivered from that troublesome temptation by discovering it to his
+director, and by his advice and prayers. After seven years spent in
+great perfection in this monastery, his desire of martyrdom daily
+increasing, and having been assured by a revelation, that his prayers
+for that grace were heard, he left that house, and visited the places of
+devotion in Palestine, at Diospolis, Garizim, and our Lady's church at
+Cæsarea, where he stayed two days. This city, with the greatest part of
+Syria, was then subject to the Persians. The saint seeing certain
+Persian soothsayers of the garrison occupied in their abominable
+superstitions in the streets, boldly spoke to them, remonstrating
+against the impiety of such practices. The Persian magistrates
+apprehended him as a suspected spy; but he informed them that he once
+enjoyed the dignity of Magian with them, and had renounced it to become
+a humble follower of Christ. Upon this confession he was thrown into a
+dungeon, where he lay three days without eating of drinking, till the
+return of Marzabanes, the governor, to the city. Being interrogated by
+him, he confessed his conversion to the faith, and equally despised his
+offers of great preferments, and his threats of crucifying him.
+Marzabanes commanded him to be chained by the foot to another criminal,
+and his neck and one foot to be also linked together by a heavy chain,
+and condemned him in this condition to carry stones. The Persians,
+especially those of his own province of Rasech, and his former
+acquaintance, upbraided him as the disgrace of his country, kicked and
+beat him, plucked his beard, and loaded him with burdens above his
+strength. The governor sent for him a second time, but could by no means
+prevail with him to pronounce the impious words which the Magians used
+in their superstitions: he said, "That the wilful calling them to
+remembrance would defile the heart." The judge then threatened he would
+write immediately to the king against him, if he did not comply. "Write
+what you please," said the saint, "I am a Christian: I repeat it again,
+I am a Christian." Marzabanes commanded him to be forthwith beaten with
+knotty clubs. The executioners were preparing themselves to bind him
+fast on the ground; but the saint told him it was unnecessary, for he
+had courage enough to lie down under the punishment without moving, and
+he regarded it as his greatest happiness and pleasure to suffer for
+Christ. He only begged leave to put off his monk's habit, lest it should
+be treated with contempt, which only his body deserved. He therefore
+laid it aside in a respectful manner, and then stretched himself on the
+ground, and without {198} being bound did not stir all the time of the
+cruel torment, bearing it without changing his posture. The governor
+again threatened him to acquaint the king of his obstinacy: "Whom ought
+we rather to fear," said Anastasius, "a mortal man, or God, who made all
+things out of nothing?" The judge pressed him to sacrifice to fire, and
+to the sun and moon. The saint answered, he could never acknowledge as
+gods, creatures which God had made only for our use; upon which he was
+remanded to prison.
+
+His old abbot hearing of his sufferings, sent two monks to assist him,
+and ordered prayers for him. The confessor, after carrying stones all
+the day, spent the greatest part of the night in prayer, to the surprise
+of his companions: one of whom, a Jew, saw and showed him to others at
+prayer in the night, shining in brightness and glory like a blessed
+spirit, and angels praying with him. As the confessor was chained to a
+man condemned for a public crime, he prayed always with his neck bowed
+downwards, keeping his chained foot near his companion not to disturb
+him. Marzabanes in the mean time having informed Chosroës, and received
+his orders, acquainted the martyr by a messenger, without seeing him,
+that the king would be satisfied on condition he would only by word of
+mouth abjure the Christian faith: after which he might choose whether he
+would be an officer in the king's service, or still remain a Christian
+and a monk; adding, he might in his heart always adhere to Christ,
+provided he would but for once renounce him in words privately, in his
+presence, "in which there could be no harm, nor any great injury to his
+Christ," as he said. Anastasius answered firmly, that he would never
+even seem to dissemble, or to deny his God. Then the governor told him,
+that he had orders to send him bound into Persia to the king. "There is
+no need of binding me," said the saint: "I go willingly and cheerfully
+to suffer for Christ." The governor put on him and on two other
+prisoners the mark, and gave orders that they should set out after five
+days. In the mean time, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the
+14th of September, at the request of the Comerciarius, or tax-gatherer
+for the king, who was a Christian of distinction, Anastasius had leave
+to go to the church and assist at the divine service. His presence and
+exhortations encouraged the faithful, excited the tepid to fervor, and
+moved all to tears. He dined that day with the Comerciarius, and then
+returned with joy to his prison. On the day appointed, the martyr left
+Cæsarea, in Palestine, with two other Christian prisoners, under a
+strict guard, and was followed by one of the monks whom the abbot had
+sent to assist and encourage him. The acts of his martyrdom were written
+by this monk, or at least from what be related by word of mouth. The
+saint received great marks of honor, much against his inclination, from
+the Christians wherever he came. This made him fear lest human applause
+should rob trim of his crown by infecting his heart with pride. He wrote
+from Hierapolis, and again from the river Tigris, to his abbot, begging
+the prayers of his brethren.
+
+Being arrived at Barsaloe in Assyria, six miles from Discartha, or
+Dastagerde, near the Euphrates, where the king then was, the prisoners
+were thrown into a dungeon till his pleasure was known. An officer came
+from Chosroës to interrogate the saint, who made answer, with regard to
+his magnificent promises, in these words: "My religious habit and poor
+clothes show that I despise from my heart the gaudy pomp of the world.
+The honors and riches of a king, who must shortly die himself, are no
+temptation to me." Next day the officer returned to the prison, and
+endeavored to intimidate him by blustering threats and reproaches. But
+the saint said calmly: "My lord judge, do not give yourself so much
+trouble about me. By the grace of Christ I am not to be moved: so
+execute your pleasure without more ado." The officer caused him to be
+unmercifully beaten with staves, after {199} the Persian manner,
+insulting him all the time, and often repeating, that because he
+contemned the king's bounty, he should be treated in that manner every
+day as long as he lived. This punishment was inflicted on him three
+days; on the third the judge commanded him to be laid on his back, and a
+heavy beam pressed down by the weight of two men on his legs, crushing
+the flesh to the very bone. The martyr's tranquillity and patience
+astonished the officer, who went again to acquaint the king of his
+behavior. In his absence the jailer, being a Christian by profession,
+though too weak to resign his place rather than detain such a prisoner,
+gave every one free access to the martyr. The Christians immediately
+filled the prison; every one sought to kiss his feet or chains, and kept
+as relics whatever had been sanctified by their touch: they also
+overlaid his fetters with wax, in order to receive their impression. The
+saint, with confusion and indignation, strove to hinder them, and
+expressed how extremely dissatisfied he was with such actions. The
+officer returning from the king caused him to be beaten again, which the
+confessor bore rather as a statue, than as flesh and blood. Then he was
+hung up for two hours by one hand, with a great weight at his feet, and
+tampered with by threats and promises. The judge despairing to overcome
+him, went back to the king; for his last orders, which were, that he and
+all the Christian captives should be put to death. He returned speedily
+to put them in execution, and caused Anastasius's two companions, with
+threescore and six other Christians, to be strangled one after another
+on the banks of the river, before his face, whom the judge all the time
+pressed to return to the Persian worship, and to escape so disgraceful a
+death, promising, in case of compliance, that he should be made one of
+the greatest men in the court. Anastasius, with his eyes lifted up to
+heaven, gave thanks to God for bringing his life to so happy a
+conclusion; and said he expected that he should have met with a more
+cruel death in the torture of all his members: but seeing God granted
+him one so easy, he embraced with joy that end of a life which he
+otherwise must shortly have lost in a more painful manner. He was
+accordingly strangled, and after his death his head was cut off. This
+was in the year 628, the seventeenth of the emperor Heraclius, on the
+22d of January, on which day both the Latins and Greeks keep his
+festival. His body, among the other dead, was exposed to be devoured by
+dogs, but it was the only one they left untouched. It was afterwards
+redeemed by the Christians, who laid it in the monastery of St. Sergius,
+a mile from the place of his triumph, in the city Barsaloe, called
+afterwards from that monastery, Sergiopolis. The monk that attended him
+brought back his Colobium, or liners tunic without sleeves. The saint's
+body was afterwards brought into Palestine. Some years after, it was
+removed to Constantinople, and lastly to Rome.
+
+The seventh general council[1] proves the use of pious pictures from the
+head of this holy martyr, and his miraculous image, then kept at Rome
+with great veneration: where it is still preserved in the church
+belonging to the monastery of our Lady ad Aquas Sylvias, which now bears
+the name of SS. Vincent and Anastasius.[2] The rest of his relics are
+reposited in the holy chapel ad Scalas Sanctas, near St. John Lateran.
+See the history of many miracles wrought by them in Bollandus. St.
+Anastasius foretold the speedy fall of the tyrant Chosroës: and ten days
+after his martyrdom the emperor Heraclius entered Persia.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Act. 4.
+2.  Mabill. Iter. Ital. p. 141.
+
+{200}
+
+
+JANUARY XXIII.
+
+ST. RAYMUND, OF PENNAFORT, C.
+
+From the bull of his canonization, by Clement VIII. in 1601, and his
+life, written by several Spanish, Italian, and French authors. See
+Fleury, b. 78, n. 55, 84, and chiefly Touron, Hommes Illustres de
+l'Ordre de S. Domin. t. 1, p. 1.
+
+A.D. 1275.
+
+THE house of Pegnafort, or, as it is pronounced, Pennafort, was
+descended from the counts of Barcelona, and nearly allied to the kings
+of Aragon. Raymund was born in 1175, at Pennafort, a castle in
+Catalonia, which in the fifteenth century was changed into a convent of
+the order of St. Dominick. Such was his rapid progress in his studies,
+that at the age of twenty he taught philosophy at Barcelona, which he
+did gratis, and with so great reputation, that he began then to be
+consulted by the ablest masters. His principal care was to instil into
+his scholars the most perfect maxims of a solid piety and devotion, to
+compose all differences among the citizens, and to relieve the
+distressed. He was about thirty years of age when he went to Bologna, in
+Italy, to perfect himself in the study of the canon and civil law,
+commenced Doctor in that faculty, and taught with the same
+disinterestedness and charity as he had done in his own country. In 1219
+Berengarius, bishop of Barcelona, who had been at Rome, took Raymund
+home with him, to the great regret of the university and senate of
+Bologna; and, not content with giving him a canonry in his church, made
+him his archdeacon, grand vicar, and official. He was a perfect model to
+the clergy, by his innocence, zeal, devotion, and boundless liberalities
+to the poor, whom he called his creditors. In 1222 he took the religious
+habit of St. Dominick at Barcelona, eight months after the death of the
+holy founder, and in the forty-seventh year of his age. No person was
+ever seen among the young novices more humble, more obedient, or more
+fervent. To imitate the obedience of a Man-God, who reduced himself to a
+state of subjection to his own creatures, to teach us the dangers and
+deep wound of self-will, and to point out to us the remedy, the saint
+would depend absolutely on the lights of his director in all things. And
+it was upon the most perfect self-denial that he laid the foundation of
+that high sanctity which he made the object of his most earnest desires.
+The grace of prayer perfected the work which mortification had begun. In
+a spirit of compunction he begged of his superiors that they would
+enjoin him some severe penance, to expiate the vain satisfaction and
+complacency which he said he had sometimes taken in teaching. They
+indeed imposed on him a penance, but not such a one as be expected. It
+was to write a collection of cases of conscience for the instruction and
+conveniency of confessors and moralists. This produced his Sum, the
+first work of that kind. Had his method and decisions been better
+followed by some later authors of the like works, the holy maxims of
+Christian morality had been treated with more respect by some moderns
+than they have been, to our grief and confusion.
+
+Raymund joined to the exercises of his solitude the functions of an
+apostolical life, by laboring without intermission in preaching,
+instructing, hearing confessions with wonderful fruit, and converting
+heretics, Jews, and Moors. Among his penitents were James, king of
+Aragon, and St. Peter Nolasco, {201} with whom he concerted the
+foundation of the Order of the B. Virgin of mercy for the redemption of
+captives. James, the young king of Aragon, had married Eleonora of
+Castile within the prohibited degrees, without a dispensation. A legate
+was sent by pope Gregory IX. to examine and judge the case. In a council
+of bishops of the two kingdoms, held at Tarragon, he declared the
+marriage null, but that their son Don Alphonso should be reputed
+lawfully born, and heir to his father's crown. The king had taken his
+confessor with him to the council, and the cardinal legate was so
+charmed with his talents and virtue, that he associated him in his
+legation, and gave him a commission to preach the holy war against the
+Moors. The servant of God acquitted himself of that function with so
+much prudence, zeal, and charity, that he sowed the seeds of the total
+overthrow of those infidels in Spain. His labors were no less successful
+in the reformation of the manners of the Christians detained in
+servitude under the Moors, which were extremely corrupted by their long
+slavery or commerce with these infidels. Raymund showed them, by words
+full of heavenly unction and fire, that, to triumph over their bodily,
+they must first conquer their spiritual enemies, and subdue sin in
+themselves, which made God their enemy. Inculcating these and the like
+spiritual lessons, he ran over Catalonia, Aragon, Castile, and other
+countries. So general a change was wrought hereby in the manners of the
+people, as seemed incredible to all but those who were witnesses of it.
+By their conversion the anger of God was appeased, and the arms of the
+faithful became terrible to their enemies. The kings of Castile and Leon
+freed many places from the Moorish yoke. Don James, king of Aragon,
+drove them out of the islands of Majorca and Minorca, and soon after, in
+1237, out of the whole kingdom of Valentia. Pope Gregory IX. having
+called St. Raymund to Rome in 1230, nominated him his chaplain, (which
+was the title of the Auditor of the causes of the apostolic palace,) as
+also grand penitentiary. He made him likewise his own confessarius, and
+in difficult affairs came to no decision but by his advice. The saint
+still reserved himself for the poor, and was so solicitous for them that
+his Holiness called him their father. He enjoined the pope, for a
+penance, to receive, hear, and expedite immediately all petitions
+presented by them. The pope, who was well versed in the canon law,
+ordered the saint to gather into one body all the scattered decree, of
+popes and councils, since the collection made by Gratian in 1150.
+Raymund compiled this work in three years, in five books, commonly
+called the Decretals, which the same pope Gregory confirmed in 1234. It
+is looked upon as the best finished part of the body of the canon law;
+on which account the canonists have usually chosen it for the texts of
+their comments. In 1235, the pope named St. Raymund to the archbishopric
+of Tarragon, the capital of Aragon: the humble religious man was not
+able to avert the storm, as he called it, by tears and entreaties; but
+at length fell sick through anxiety and fear. To restore him to his
+health, his Holiness was obliged to consent to excuse him, but required
+that he should recommend a proper person. The saint named a pious and
+learned canon of Gironne. He refused other dignities with the like
+constancy.
+
+For the recovery of his health he returned to his native country, and
+was received with as much joy as if the safety of the whole kingdom, and
+of every particular person, had depended on his presence. Being restored
+again to his dear solitude at Barcelona, he continued his former
+exercises of contemplation, preaching, and administering the sacrament
+of penance. Except on Sundays, he never took more than one very small
+refection in the day. Amidst honors and applause he was ever little in
+his own eyes. He appeared in the schools like a scholar, and in his
+convent begged the {202} superior to instruct him in the rules of
+religious perfection, with the humility and docility of a novice.
+Whether he sung the divine praises with his brethren, or prayed alone in
+his cell, or some corner of the church, he poured forth an abundance of
+tears; and often was not able to contain within himself the ardor of his
+soul. His mildness and sweetness were unalterable. The incredible number
+of conversions of which he was the instrument, is known only to Him who,
+by his grace, was the author of them. He was employed frequently in most
+important commissions, both by the holy see and by the king. But he was
+thunderstruck by the arrival of four deputies from the general chapter
+of his order at Bologna, in 1238, with the news that he was chosen third
+general, Jordan of Saxony being lately dead. He wept and entreated, but
+at length acquiesced in obedience. He made the visitation of his order
+on foot, without discontinuing any of his penitential austerities, or
+rather exercises. He instilled into his spiritual children a love of
+regularity, solitude, mortification, prayer, sacred studies, and the
+apostolical functions, especially preaching. He reduced the
+constitutions of the order into a clearer method, with notes on the
+doubtful passages. Thus his code of rules was approved in three general
+chapters. In one held at Paris in 1239, he procured the establishment of
+this regulation, that a voluntary demission of a superior, founded upon
+just reasons, should be accepted. This he contrived in his own favor;
+for, to the extreme regret of the order, he in the year following
+resigned the generalship, which he had held only two years. He alleged
+for his reason his age of sixty-five years. Rejoicing to see himself
+again a private religious man, he applied himself with fresh vigor to
+the exercises and functions of an apostolical life, especially the
+conversion of the Saracens. Having this end in view, he engaged St.
+Thomas to write his work 'Against the Gentiles;' procured the Arabic and
+Hebrew tongues to be taught in several convents of his order; and
+erected convents, one at Tunis, and another at Murcia, among the Moors.
+In 1256, he wrote to his general that ten thousand Saracens had received
+baptism. King James took him into the island of Majorca. The saint
+embraced that opportunity of cultivating that infant church. This prince
+was an accomplished soldier and statesman, and a sincere lover of
+religion, but his great qualities were sullied by a base passion for
+women. He received the admonitions of the saint with respect, and
+promised amendment of life, and a faithful compliance with the saint's
+injunctions in every particular; but without effect. St. Raymund, upon
+discovering that he entertained a lady at his court with whom he was
+suspected to have criminal conversation, made the strongest instances to
+have her dismissed, which the king promised should be done, but
+postponed the execution. The saint, dissatisfied with the delay, begged
+leave to retire to his convent at Barcelona. The king not only refused
+him leave, but threatened to punish with death any person that should
+undertake to convey him out of the island. The saint, full of confidence
+in God, said to his companion, "A king of the earth endeavors to deprive
+us of the means of retiring; but the King of heaven will supply them."
+He then walked boldly to the waters, spread his cloak upon them, tied up
+one corner of it to a staff for a sail, and having made the sign of the
+cross, stepped upon it without fear, while his timorous companion stood
+trembling and wondering on the shore. On this new kind of vessel the
+saint was wafted with such rapidity, that in six hours he reached the
+harbor of Barcelona, sixty leagues distant from Majorca. Those who saw
+him arrive in this manner met him with acclamations. But he, gathering
+up his cloak dry, put it on, stole through the crowd, and entered his
+monastery. A chapel and a tower, built on the place where he landed,
+have transmitted the memory of this miracle to posterity. {203} This
+relation is taken from the bull of his canonization, and the earliest
+historians of his life. The king became a sincere convert, and governed
+his conscience, and even his kingdoms, by the advice of St. Raymund from
+that time till the death of the saint. The holy man prepared himself for
+his passage to eternity, by employing days and nights in penance and
+prayer. During his last illness, Alphonsus, king of Castile, with his
+queen, sons, and brother; and James, king of Aragon, with his court,
+visited him, and received his last benediction. He armed himself with
+the last sacraments; and, in languishing sighs of divine love, gave up
+his soul to God, on the 6th of January, in the year 1275, and the
+hundredth of his age. The two kings, with all the princes and princesses
+of their royal families, honored his funeral with their presence: but
+his tomb was rendered far more illustrious by miracles. Several are
+recorded in the bull of his canonization, published by Clement VIII. in
+1601. Bollandus has filled fifteen pages in folio with an account of
+them. His office is fixed by Clement X. to the 23d of January.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The saints first learned in solitude to die to the world and themselves,
+to put on the spirit of Christ, and ground themselves in a habit of
+recollection and a relish only for heavenly things, before they entered
+upon the exterior functions even of a spiritual ministry. Amidst these
+weighty employments, not content with reserving always the time and
+means of frequent retirement for conversing with God and themselves, in
+their exterior functions by raising their minds to heaven with holy
+sighs and desires, they made all their actions in some measure an
+uninterrupted prayer and exercise of divine love and praise. St.
+Bonaventure reckons it among the general exercises of every religious or
+spiritual man,[1] "That he keep his mind always raised, at least
+virtually, to God: hence, whensoever a servant of God has been
+distracted from attending to him for ever so short a space, he grieves
+and is afflicted, as if he was fallen into some misfortune, by having
+been deprived of the presence of such a friend who never forgets us.
+Seeing that our supreme felicity and glory consists in the eternal
+vision of God, the constant remembrance of him is a kind of imitation of
+that happy state: _this_ the reward, _that_ the virtue which entitles us
+to it. Till we are admitted to his presence, let us in our exile always
+bear him in mind: every one will behold him in heaven with so much the
+greater joy, and so much the more perfectly, as he shall more
+assiduously and more devoutly have remembered him on earth. Nor is it
+only in our repose, but also in the midst of our employments, that we
+ought to have him present to our minds, in imitation of the holy angels,
+who, when they are sent to attend on us, so acquit themselves of the
+functions of this exterior ministry as never to be drawn from their
+interior attention to God. As much as the heavens exceed the earth, so
+much larger is the field of spiritual meditation than that of all
+terrestrial concerns."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  S. Bonav. de Profectu Religios. l. 2, c. 20. p. 604.
+
+ST. JOHN THE ALMONER, C.
+
+PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA.
+
+HE received his surname from his profuse alms-deeds; was nobly
+descended, very rich, and a widower, at Amathus in Cyprus, where, having
+buried all his children, he employed the whole income of his estate in
+the {204} relief of the poor, and was no less remarkable for his great
+piety. The reputation of his sanctity raised him to the patriarchal
+chair of Alexandria about the year 605, at which time he was upwards of
+fifty years of age. On his arrival in that city, he ordered an exact
+list to be taken of his Masters. Being asked who these were, his answer
+was, "The poor;" namely, on account of their great interest in the court
+of heaven in behalf of their benefactors. Their number amounted to seven
+thousand five hundred, whom he took under his special protection, and
+furnished with all necessaries. He prepared himself, by this action, to
+receive the fulness of grace in his consecration. On the same day he
+published severe ordinances, but in the most humble terms, conjuring and
+commanding all to use just weights and measures, in order to prevent
+injustices and oppressions of the poor. He most rigorously forbade all
+his officers and servants ever to receive the least presents, which are
+no better than bribes, and bias the most impartial. Every Wednesday and
+Friday he sat the whole day on a bench before the church, that all might
+have free access to him to lay their grievances before him, and make
+known their necessities. He composed all differences, comforted the
+afflicted, and relieved the distressed. One of his first actions at
+Alexandria was to distribute the eighty thousand pieces of gold which he
+found in the treasury of his church, among hospitals and monasteries. He
+consecrated to the service of the poor the great revenues of his see,
+then the first in all the East, both in riches and rank. Besides these,
+incredible charities flowed through his hands in continual streams,
+which his example excited every one to contribute according to their
+abilities. When his stewards complained that he impoverished his church,
+his answer was, that God would provide for them. To vindicate his
+conduct, and silence their complaints, he recounted to them a vision he
+had in his youth, of a beautiful woman, brighter than the sun, with an
+olive garland on her head, whom he understood to be Charity, or
+compassion for the miserable; who said to him "I am the eldest daughter
+of the great King. If you enjoy my favor, I will introduce you to the
+great monarch of the universe. No one has so great an interest with him
+as myself, who was the occasion of his coming down from heaven to become
+man for the redemption of mankind." When the Persians had plundered the
+East, and sacked Jerusalem, St. John entertained all that fled from
+their swords into Egypt; and sent to Jerusalem, for the use of the poor
+there, besides a large sum of money, one thousand sacks of corn, as many
+of pulse, one thousand pounds of iron, one thousand loads of fish, one
+thousand barrels of wine, and one thousand Egyptian workmen to assist in
+rebuilding the churches; adding, in his letter to Modestus, the bishop,
+that he wished it had been in his power to have gone in person, and
+contributed the labor of his hands towards carrying on that holy work.
+He also sent two bishops and an abbot to ransom captives. No number of
+necessitous objects, no losses, no straits to which he saw himself often
+reduced, discouraged him, or made him lose his confidence in divine
+providence, and resources never failed him in the end. When a certain
+person, whom he had privately relieved with a most bountiful alms,
+expressed his gratitude in the strongest terms, the saint cut him short,
+saying, "Brother, I have not yet spilt my blood for you, as Jesus
+Christ, my master and my God, commands me." A certain merchant, who had
+been thrice ruined by shipwrecks, had as often found relief from the
+good patriarch, who the third time gave him a ship belonging to the
+church, laden with twenty thousand measures of corn. This vessel was
+driven by a storm to the British Islands, and a famine raging there, the
+owners sold their cargo to great advantage, {205} and brought back a
+considerable value in exchange, one half in money, the other in pewter.
+
+The patriarch lived himself in the greatest austerity and poverty, as to
+diet, apparel, and furniture. A person of distinction in the city, being
+informed that our saint had but one blanket on his bed, and this a very
+sorry one, sent him one of value, begging his acceptance of it, and that
+he would make use of it for the sake of the donor. He accepted of it,
+and put it to the intended use, but it was only for one night; and this
+he passed in great uneasiness, with severe self-reproaches for being so
+richly covered, while so many of his masters (his familiar term for the
+poor) were so ill accommodated. The next morning he sold it, and gave
+the price to the poor. The friend being informed of it, bought it for
+thirty-six pieces, and gave it him a second, and a third time; for the
+saint always disposed of it in the same way, saying facetiously, "We
+shall see who will be tired first." He was well versed in the
+scriptures, though a stranger to the pomp of profane eloquence. The
+functions of his ministry, prayer, and pious reading, employed his whole
+time. He studied with great circumspection to avoid the least idle word,
+and never chose to speak about temporal affairs, unless compelled by
+necessity, and then only in very few words. If he heard any detract from
+the reputation of their neighbor, he was ingenious in turning the
+discourse to some other subject, and he forbade them his house, to deter
+others from that vice. Hearing that when an emperor was chosen, it was
+customary for certain carvers to present to him four or five blocks of
+marble, to choose one out of them for his tomb, he caused his grave to
+be half dug, and appointed a man to come to him on all occasions of
+pomp, and say, "My lord, your tomb is unfinished; be pleased to give
+your orders to have it completed, for you know not the hour when death
+will seize you." The remembrance of the rigorous account which we are to
+give to God, made him often burst into the most pathetic expressions of
+holy fear. But humility was his distinguishing virtue, and he always
+expressed, both in words and actions, the deepest sentiments of his own
+nothingness, sinfulness, miseries, and pride. He often admired how
+perfectly the saints saw their own imperfections, and that they were
+dust, worms, and unworthy to be ranked among men.
+
+The saint regarded injuries as his greatest gain and happiness. He
+always disarmed his enemies of their rancor by meekness, and frequently
+fell at the feet of those who insulted him, to beg their pardon.
+Nicetas, the governor, had formed a project of a new tax, very
+prejudicial to the poor. The patriarch modestly spoke in their defence.
+The governor in a passion left him abruptly. St. John sent him this
+message towards evening: "The sun is going to set:" putting him in mind
+of the advice of the apostle: _Let not the sun go down upon your anger_.
+This admonition had its intended effect on the governor, and pierced him
+to the quick. He arose, and went to the patriarch, bathed in tears,
+asked his pardon, and by way of atonement, promised never more to give
+ear to informers and tale-bearers. St. John confirmed him in that
+resolution, adding, that he never believed any man whatever against
+another, till he himself had examined the party accused; and that he
+punished all calumniators and tale-bearers in a manner which might deter
+others from so fatal a vice. Having in vain exhorted a certain nobleman
+to forgive one with whom he was at variance, he soon after invited him
+to his private chapel to assist at his mass, and there desired him to
+recite with him the Lord's prayer. The saint stopped at that petition;
+_Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against
+us_. When the nobleman had recited it alone, he conjured him to reflect
+on what he had been saying to God at the hour of the tremendous
+mysteries, {206} begging to be pardoned in the same manner as he forgave
+others. The other, feeling himself struck to the heart, fell at his
+feet, and from that moment was sincerely reconciled with his adversary.
+The saint often exhorted men against rash judgment, saying,
+"Circumstances easily deceive us; magistrates are bound to examine and
+judge criminals; but what have private persons to do with others, unless
+it be to vindicate them?" He used to relate many examples of persons who
+were found innocent and eminent saints, though they had been condemned
+by the world upon circumstances; as that of a certain monk, who brought
+to that city a Jewess whom he had converted, but was accused as guilty
+of lewdness with her, and cruelly scourged; for he said nothing to
+justify himself, out of a desire of humiliation and suffering. But his
+innocence and sanctity were soon after brought to light. St. John
+employed Sophronius and John Moschus in reducing to the faith the
+Severians and other heretics. Observing that many amused themselves
+without the church, during part of the divine office, which was then of
+a very considerable length, he followed them out, and seated himself
+among them, saying, "My children, the shepherd must be with his flock."
+This action, which covered them with confusion, prevented their being
+guilty of that irreverence any more. As he was one day going to church,
+he was accosted on the way by a woman who demanded justice against her
+son-in-law that had injured her. The woman being ordered by some
+standers-by to wait the patriarch's return from church, he overhearing
+them, said, "How can I hope that God will hear my prayer, if I put off
+the petition of this woman?" Nor did he stir from the place till he had
+redressed the grievance complained of.
+
+Nicetas, the governor, persuaded the saint to accompany him to
+Constantinople, to pay a visit to the emperor. St. John was admonished
+from heaven, while he was on his way, at Rhodes, that his death drew
+near, and said to Nicetas, "You invite me to the emperor of the earth;
+but the King of heaven calls me to himself." He therefore sailed for
+Cyprus, and soon after died happily at Amathus, about the year of our
+Lord 619, in the sixty-fourth of his age, and tenth of his patriarchal
+dignity. His body was afterwards carried to Constantinople, where it was
+kept a long time. The Turkish emperor made a present of it to Matthias,
+king of Hungary, which he deposited in his chapel at Buda. In 1530 it
+was translated to Tall, near Presbourg; and, in 1632, to the cathedral
+itself of Presbourg, where, according to Bollandus, it still remains.
+The Greeks honor this saint on the 11th of November, the day of his
+death; but the Roman Martyrology on the 23d of January, the day marked
+for the translation of his relics. His life, written by his two vicars,
+Sophronius and Moschus, is lost; but we have that by Leontius, bishop of
+Naplouse in Cyprus, from the relation of the saint's clergy, commended
+in the seventh general council. It is published more correct by Rosweide
+and Bollandus. We have another life of this saint, conformable to the
+former, given us by Metaphrastes. See Le Quien, Oriens Christi, t. 2, p.
+446.
+
+ST. EMERENTIA, V.M.
+
+SHE suffered about the year 304, and is named in the Martyrologies under
+the name of St. Jerom, Bede, and others. She is said in her acts to have
+been stoned to death, while only a catechumen, praying at the tomb of
+St. Agnes.
+
+{207}
+
+ST. CLEMENT OF ANCYRA, B.M.
+
+HE suffered under Dioclesian, and is ranked by the Greeks among the
+great martyrs. His modern Greek acts say, his lingering martyrdom was
+continued by divers torments during twenty-eight years; but are
+demonstrated by Baronius and others to be of no authority. Two churches
+at Constantinople were dedicated to God under the invocation of St.
+Clement of Ancyra; one called of the Palace, the other now in Pera, a
+suburb of that city. Several parts of his relics were kept with great
+devotion at Constantinople. His skull, which was brought thence to Paris
+when Constantinople was taken by the Latins, in the thirteenth century,
+was given by queen Anne of Austria to the abbey of Val de Grace. See
+Chatelain, p. 386. Le Quien, Oriens Chr. t. 1, p. 457.
+
+ST. AGATHANGELUS,
+
+THE fellow-martyr of St. Clement, bishop of Ancyra. His relics, with
+those of St. Clement, lay in a church in the suburbs of Constantinople,
+now called Pera; but were brought into the West when that city was taken
+by the Latins.
+
+ST. ILDEFONSUS, B.
+
+HE was a learned Benedictin abbot of a monastery called Agaliense, in a
+suburb of Toledo, promoted to the archbishopric of that city after the
+death of Eugenius, in December, 657, according to F. Flores; sat nine
+years and two months, and died on the 23d of January, 667, according to
+the same learned author, in the eighteenth year of king Rescisvintho.
+His most celebrated work is a book On the spotless virginity of the
+Virgin Mary, against Helvidius, Jovinian, and a certain Jew: he breathes
+in it the most tender devotion to her, and confidence in her
+intercession with her Son. He had a singular devotion to St. Leocadia,
+patroness of Toledo. Certain sermons of St. Ildefonsus on the B.
+Virgin Mary, and some letters, are published by Flores.[1] Some of his
+letters, which were first given us by D'Achery, were reprinted by
+cardinal D'Aguirre.[2] In Spanish this saint is called Ildefonso, and by
+the common people Alanso, for Alphonsus, which is an abbreviation of
+Ildefonsus. See his short life by St. Julian, bishop of Toledo,
+twenty-three years after his death. In Mabillon, sæc. 2. Fleury, b. 39,
+n. 40. That by Cixila is not authentic. See especially the remarks of
+the learned F. Flores on these two lives, &c., in his Spana Sagrada, t.
+5, tr. 5, c. 3, n. 31, p. 275, and app. 9, ib. p. 522. F. Flores reckons
+St. Ildefonsus the thirty-first bishop of Toledo, from St. Eugenius, the
+disciple of St. Dionysius of Paris, whom, with the writers of his
+country, he counts the first, in the year 112.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  F. Flores. Spana Sagrada, t. 5, append. 7, p. 490.
+2.  Card. D'Aguirre, Conc. Hispan. t. 2, p. 534.
+
+{208}
+
+ST. EUSEBIUS,
+
+AN ABBOT BETWEEN ANTIOCH AND BER[OE]A
+
+HIS example was a perpetual and a most moving sermon, and his very
+countenance inspired all who beheld him with the love of virtue. He took
+nourishment but once in four days, but would not allow any of his monks
+to pass above two days without eating. He prescribed them mortifications
+of each sense in particular, but made perpetual prayer his chief rule,
+ordering them to implore the divine mercy in their hearts, in whatever
+labor their hands were employed. While Ammianus, who had resigned to him
+the government of the abbey, was one day reading aloud, out of the
+scriptures, for their mutual edification, Eusebius happened to cast his
+eye on certain laborers in the field where they sat, so as not to give
+due attention to the lecture: to punish himself for this slight fault,
+he put on, and wore till his death, for above forty years, a heavy iron
+collar about his neck, fastened by a stiff chain to a great iron girdle
+about his middle, so that he could only look downwards under his feet:
+and he never afterwards stirred out of his cell but by a narrow passage
+from his cell to the chapel. His sanctity drew many disciples to him. He
+flourished in the fourth century. See Theodoret Philoth. c. 4. Item
+Hist. Eccles. l. 4, c. 28.
+
+
+JANUARY XXIV.
+
+ST. TIMOTHY, B. AND M.
+
+See Tillemont, t. 2, p. 142.
+
+ST. TIMOTHY, the beloved disciple of St. Paul, was of Lycaonia, and
+probably of the city Lystra. His father was a Gentile, but his mother
+Eunice a Jewess. She, with Lois his grandmother, embraced the Christian
+religion, and St. Paul commends their faith. Timothy had made the holy
+scriptures his study from his infancy.[1] When St. Paul preached in
+Lycaonia, in the year 51, the brethren of Iconium and Lystra gave him so
+advantageous a character of the young man, that the apostle, being
+deprived of St. Barnaby, took him for the companion of his labors, but
+first circumcised him at Lystra. For though the Jewish ceremonies ceased
+to be obligatory from the death of Christ, it was still lawful to use
+them (but not as of precept and obligation) till about the time of the
+destruction of Jerusalem with the temple, that the synagogue might be
+buried with honor. Therefore St. Paul refused to circumcise Titus, born
+of Gentile parents, to assert the liberty of the gospel, and to condemn
+those who erroneously affirmed circumcision to be still of precept in
+the New Law. On the other side, he circumcised Timothy, born of a
+Jewess, by that condescension to render him the more acceptable to the
+Jews, and to make it appear that himself was no enemy to their law. St.
+Chrysostom[2] here admires the prudence, steadiness, {209} and charity
+of St. Paul; and we may add, the voluntary obedience of the disciple.
+St. Austin[3] extols his zeal and disinterestedness in immediately
+forsaking his country, his house, and his parents, to follow this
+apostle, to share in his poverty and sufferings. After he was
+circumcised, St. Paul, by the imposition of hands, committed to him the
+ministry of preaching, his rare virtue making ample amends for his want
+of age. From that time the apostle regarded him not only as his disciple
+and most dear son, but as his brother, and the companion of his
+labors.[4] He calls him a man of God,[5] and tells the Philippians, that
+he found no one so truly united to him in heart and sentiments, as
+Timothy.[6] This esteem of the apostle is a sufficient testimony of the
+extraordinary merit of the disciple, whose vocation and entrance into
+the ministry was accompanied with prophecies in his behalf.[7]
+
+St. Paul travelled from Lystra over the rest of Asia, sailed into
+Macedon, and preached at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ber[oe]a, in the year
+52. Being compelled to quit this last city by the fury of the Jews, he
+left Timothy behind him, to confirm the new converts there. On St.
+Paul's arrival at Athens he sent for him, but being informed that the
+Christians of Thessalonica lay under a very heavy persecution for the
+faith, he soon after deputed him to go thither, to comfort and encourage
+them under it; and he returned to St. Paul, then at Corinth, to give him
+an account of his success in that commission.[8] Upon this the apostle
+wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians. From Corinth St. Paul went
+to Jerusalem, and thence to Ephesus, where he spent two years. Here he
+formed a resolution of returning into Greece, and sent Timothy and
+Erastus before him through Macedon, to apprize the faithful in those
+parts of his intention, and to prepare the alms intended to be sent the
+Christians of Jerusalem.
+
+Timothy had a particular order to go afterwards to Corinth, to correct
+certain abuses, and to revive in the minds of the faithful there the
+doctrine which the apostle had taught them; who, writing soon after to
+the Corinthians, earnestly recommended this disciple to them.[9] St.
+Paul waited in Asia for his return, and then went with him into Macedon
+and Achaia. St. Timothy left him at Philippi, but rejoined him at Troas.
+The apostle on his return to Palestine was imprisoned, and after two
+years custody at Cæsarea, was sent to Rome. Timothy seems to have been
+with him all or most of this time, and is named by him in the titles of
+his epistles to Philemon, and to the Philippians and Thessalonians, in
+the years 61 and 62. St. Timothy himself suffered imprisonment for
+Christ, and gloriously confessed his name, in the presence of many
+witnesses; but was set at liberty.[10] He was ordained bishop by a
+prophecy, and a particular order of the Holy Ghost.[11] He received by
+this imposition of hands, not only the grace of the sacrament, and the
+authority to govern the church, but also the power of miracles, and the
+other exterior gifts of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul being returned from
+Rome into the East, in the year 64, left St. Timothy at Ephesus, to
+govern that church, to oppose false teachers, and to ordain priests,
+deacons, and even bishops.[12] For St. Chrysostom[13] and other fathers
+observe, that he committed to him the care of all the churches of Asia:
+and St. Timothy is always named the first bishop of Ephesus.[14]
+
+St. Paul wrote his first epistle to Timothy from Macedon, in 64; and his
+second, in 65, from Rome, while there in chains, to press him to come to
+Rome, that he might see him again before he died. It is an effusion of
+his heart, full of tenderness towards this his dearest son. In it he
+encourages {210} him, endeavors to renew and stir up in his soul that
+spirit of intrepidity, and that fire of the Holy Ghost, with which he
+was filled at his ordination; gives him instructions concerning the
+heretics of that time, and adds a lively description of such as would
+afterwards arise.[15]
+
+We learn[16] that St. Timothy drank only water: but his austerities
+having prejudiced his health, on account of his weak stomach and
+frequent infirmities, St. Paul ordered him to use a little wine. The
+fathers observe that he only says a little, even in that necessity,
+because the flesh is to be kept weak, that the spirit may be vigorous
+and strong. St. Timothy was then young: perhaps about forty. It is not
+improbable that he went to Rome to confer with his master. In the year
+64 he was made by St. Paul bishop of Ephesus, before St. John arrived
+there, who resided also in that city as an apostle, and exercising a
+general inspection over all the churches of Asia.[17] St. Timothy is
+styled a martyr in the ancient martyrologies.
+
+His acts, in some copies ascribed to the famous Polycrates, bishop of
+Ephesus, but which seem to have been written at Ephesus, in the fifth or
+sixth age, and abridged by Photius, relate, that under the emperor
+Nerva, in the year 97, St. John being still in the isle of Patmos, St.
+Timothy was slain with stones and clubs by the heathens, while he was
+endeavoring to oppose their idolatrous ceremonies on one of their
+festivals called Catagogia, kept on the 22d of January, on which the
+idolaters walked in troops, every one carrying in one hand an idol, and
+in the other a club. St. Paulinus,[18] Theodorus Lector, and
+Philostorgius,[19] inform us, that his relics were with great pomp
+translated to Constantinople in the year 356, in the reign of
+Constantius. St. Paulinus witnesses, that the least portion of them
+wrought many miracles wherever they were distributed. These precious
+remains, with those of St. Andrew. and St. Luke, were deposited under
+the altar, in the church of the apostles in that city, where the devils,
+by their howlings, testified how much they felt their presence, says St.
+Jerom;[20] which St. Chrysostom also confirms.[21]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pious reading was the means by which St. Timothy, encouraged by the
+example and exhortations of his virtuous grandmother and mother, imbibed
+in his tender years, and nourished during the whole course of his life,
+the most fervent spirit of religion and all virtues; and his ardor for
+holy reading and meditation is commended by St. Paul, as the proof of
+his devotion and earliest desire of advancing in divine charity. When
+this saint was wholly taken up in the most laborious and holy functions
+of the apostolic ministry, that great apostle strongly recommends to him
+always to be assiduous in the same practice,[22] and in all exercises of
+devotion. A minister of the gospel who neglects regular exercises of
+retirement, especially self-examination, reading, meditation, and
+private devotion, forgets his first and most essential duty, the care he
+owes to his own soul. Neither can he hope to kindle the fire of charity
+in others, if he suffer it to be extinguished {211} in his own breast.
+These exercises are also indispensably necessary in a certain degree, in
+all states and circumstances of life; nor is it possible for a Christian
+otherwise to maintain a spirit of true piety, which ought to animate the
+whole body of all his actions, and without which even spiritual
+functions want as it were their soul.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  2 Tim. iii. 15.
+2.  Præf. in 1 Tim.
+3.  Serm. 177, n. 7.
+4.  1 Thess. iii. 2. 1 Cor. iv. 17.
+5.  1 Tim. vi. 11.
+6.  Phil. ii. 20.
+7.  1 Tim. i. 18.
+8.  Acts xviii.
+9.  1 Cor. xvi. 10.
+10. Heb. xiii. 23.
+11. 1 Tim. iv. 14.
+12. 1 Tim. {}.
+13. Hom. 15, in 1 Tim.
+14. Eus. l. 3, c. {} Conc. t. 4, p. 699.
+15. 2 Tim. iii. 1, 2.
+16. 1 Tim. v. 23.
+17. In the Apocalypse, which was written in the year 95, Christ
+    threatens the bishop of Ephesus, because he was fallen from his
+    first charity, and exhorts him to do penance and return to his first
+    works. (Apoc. xi. 4.) Calmet says, that this bishop could be no
+    other than St. Timothy; Pererius, Cornelieus à Lapide, Grotius,
+    Alcazar, Bossuet, and other learned men, agree in this point; also
+    Tillemont, t. 2, p. 147, and Bollandus ad 21 Jan. pp. 563 & 564.
+    Nicholas à Lyra and Ribera cannot be persuaded that St. Timothy ever
+    deserved such a censure, unless we understand it only of his flock.
+    The others say, he might have fallen into some venial remissness in
+    not reprehending the vices of others with sufficient vigor; which
+    fault he repaired, upon this admonition, with such earnestness, as
+    to have given occasion to his martyrdom, in 97. He was succeeded in
+    the see of Ephesus by John I., who was consecrated by St. John
+    Evangelist. (See Consitut. Apostol. l. 8, c. 46.) Onesiumus was
+    third bishop of Ephesus. See Le Quien Oriens. Chris. t. 1, p. 672.
+18. Carm. 26.
+19. L. 3, c. 2.
+20. In Vigilant. c. 2.
+21. Hom. 1, ad Pop. Antioch.
+22. 1 Tim. iv. 7 and 13.
+
+ST. BABYLAS,
+
+BISHOP OF ANTIOCH AND MARTYR.
+
+From St. Chrysostom, l. contra Gentiles de S. Babylâ, and hom. de S.
+Babylâ, t. 2, ed. Ben. p. 531. He wrote the first discourse against the
+Gentiles, expressly to confound them by the miracles of this saint. He
+spoke the second five years after, in 3871 on St. Babylas's feast,
+before a numerous auditory, and mentions Flavian, the bishop of Antioch,
+and others, who were to speak after him on the same subject. The
+miracles were recent, performed before the eyes of many then present.
+Nome of the three acts of this saint in Bollandus can be authentic. See
+Tillemont, Mem. t. 3, p. 400, and Hist. des Empereurs, t. 3, and F.
+Merlin. Dissertation contre M. Bayle sur ce que rapporte S. Chrysostome
+du Martyre de S. Babylas, Mem. de Trevoux, Juin 1737, p. 1051. Also
+Stilting, the Bollandist, in Vit. S. Chrysost. §15. p 439, ad 14
+Septemb. t. 4.
+
+About the year 250.
+
+THE most celebrated of the ancient bishops of Antioch, after St.
+Ignatius, was St. Babylas, who succeeded Zebinus in the year 237, and
+governed that church with great zeal and virtue, about thirteen years,
+under the emperors Gordian, Philip, and Decius. Philip, an Arabian by
+birth, and of mean extraction, raised by the young emperor Gordian to be
+prefect of the prætorian guards, perfidiously murdered his master at the
+head of his victorious army in Persia, and caused himself to be
+acknowledged emperor by the senate and people of Rome, in the year 244.
+We have very imperfect histories of his reign. Eusebius says that he
+abolished the public stews and promiscuous bathing in Rome, which
+Alexander Severus, the most virtuous of the heathen emperors, had in
+vain attempted to do. The same historian adds, it was averred[1] that
+Philip, being a Christian, subjected himself to canonical penance at
+Antioch, where being arrived on the eve of a great festival, as the
+chronicle of Alexandria relates, he presented himself at the Christian
+oratory, with his wife; but being excluded by the bishop, with a meek
+rebuke for his crimes, he made his exomologesis, or confession, and
+ranked himself among the penitents without doors. St. Jerom, Vincent of
+Lerins, Orosius, and others, positively affirm that this emperor was a
+Christian: and Eusebius, Rufinus, St. Jerom, Vincent of Lerins, and
+Syncellus say, that Origen wrote two letters, one to the emperor Philip,
+another to his wife, with an authority which the Christian priesthood
+gave him over emperors.
+
+Philip assisted at the heathenish solemnity of the thousandth year of
+Rome; but his presence was necessary on that occasion, nor is he said to
+have offered sacrifice. He was indeed a bad Christian, and probably only
+a catechumen, an ambitious and cruel tyrant, who procured the death of
+Misitheus, father-in-law of Gordian, murdered Gordian himself to usurp
+his empire, and put to death the young prince, son of the king of
+Persia, of the Parthians, left a hostage in his hands: circumstances
+mentioned by St. Chrysostom. Having reigned something upwards of five
+years, he was slain with his son Philip, his colleague in the empire, by
+Decius, about the middle of the year 249. The peace and favor which the
+church had enjoyed during his reign, had much increased her numbers, but
+had relaxed the fervor of many, as we see in St. Cyprian's works, and in
+the life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. Whole cities had embraced the
+faith, and public {212} churches were erected. Decius equally hated the
+Philips and the Christian religion, against which he published the most
+cruel edicts in the year 250; which caused the seventh general
+persecution, permitted by God to purge away the dross to his flock, and
+to awake them to fervor.
+
+St. Chrysostom extols the courage and zeal of St. Babylas, in shutting
+the church-doors against an emperor and a barbarous tyrant, then at the
+head of a victorious army. We find Philip styled conqueror of the
+Parthians, in an inscription in Gruter,[2] by which he seems to have
+returned triumphant, though Zonoras pretends he had bought a peace.
+Eusebius mentions it as a report, that the emperor received the bishop's
+rebuke with meekness, and submitted to public penance: but St.
+Chrysostom insinuates, that the same tyrant, in a rage for being refused
+admittance, threw St. Babylas into a dungeon, where he soon died. St.
+Jerom says that Decius imprisoned him, which seems the true account. F.
+Stilting thinks that Decius, after being proclaimed emperor in Pannonia,
+marched first against Philip, and when he was slain, led his army into
+Syria, where Priscus, Philip's brother, commanded the troops of those
+parts, and Jotapian about that time assumed the purple, but was soon
+crushed. At this time he doubts not but Decius was forbid by St. Babylas
+to enter the church, because he was an idolater, and had perfidiously
+murdered a prince who was the son of some king of a nation of
+barbarians, who had sent him as a hostage to that tyrant. For many
+transactions of that time are not recorded by the Roman historians. At
+least it seems to have been under Decius that St. Babylas consummated
+his martyrdom by the hardships of his prison: and when dying, ordered
+his chains to be buried with him, as the happy instruments and marks of
+his triumph. The Christians built a church over his tomb. His body
+rested here about one hundred years, till 351, when Gallus Cæsar
+translated it to Daphne, five miles from Antioch, to oppose the worship
+of a famous idol of Apollo, which gave oracles in that place. Gallus
+erected a church, sacred to the name of St. Babylas, near the profane
+temple, and placed in it his venerable ashes in a shrine above ground.
+The neighborhood of the martyr's relics struck the devil dumb, as is
+averred by St. Chrysostom. Theodoret,[3] Sozomen, and others, who
+triumph over the pagans on this account.[4] Eleven years after, Julian
+the Apostate came to Antioch, in the year 362, and by a multitude of
+sacrifices endeavored to learn of the idol the cause of his silence. At
+length the fiend gave him to understand, that the neighborhood was full
+of dead bones, which must be removed before he could be at rest and
+disposed to give answers. Julian understood this of the body of St.
+Babylas, and commanded that the Christians should immediately remove his
+shrine to some distant place; but not touch the other dead bodies. Thus
+do the fathers and Christian historians of that age relate this
+miracle.[5] The Christians obeyed the order, and with great solemnity
+carried back in procession the sacred relics to Antioch, singing on this
+occasion the psalms which ridicule the vanity and feebleness of idols,
+repeating after every verse: "May they who adore idols and glory in
+false gods, blush with shame and be covered with confusion." The
+following evening, lightning fell on the temple of Apollo, and reduced
+to ashes all the rich and magnificent ornaments with which it was
+embellished, and the idol itself, leaving only the walls standing.
+Julian, the emperor's uncle, {213} and governor of the East, upon this
+news hastened to Daphne, and endeavored by tortures to compel the
+priests to confess if the accident had happened by any negligence, or by
+the interposition of the Christians: but it was clearly proved by the
+testimony of these very priests, and also by that of several peasants
+who saw the fire fall from heaven, that lightning was the cause. The
+Apostate durst not restore the idol lest the like thunder should fall on
+his own head: but he breathed nothing but fury against the Christians in
+general, more especially against those of Antioch, the fatal effects of
+which he intended they should feel at his return from the Persian war.
+Vain projects against God, who defeated them by his unhappy death in
+that expedition! The ruins of this temple remained in the same condition
+above twenty years after. The Roman Martyrology, with that of St. Jerom
+and others of the West, celebrate the memory of St. Babylas on the 24th
+of January, but the Greeks on the 4th of September, together with three
+children martyred with him, as St. Chrysostom and others mention. His
+body is said to be now at Cremona, brought from the East in the
+crusades. St. Babylas is the titular saint of many churches in Italy,
+France, and Spain.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  [Greek: Touton katexei xristianon honta] Eus. l. 6, c. 3.
+2.  P. 273.
+3.  Theodoret l. 3. Hist. c. 6, and de Græcor. Affect. l. 10. Rufin.
+    Chrys.
+4.  St. Chrysostom has given us the lamentation of Libanius, the
+    celebrated heathen sophist, bewailing the silence of Apollo at
+    Daphne; adding that Julian had delivered him from the neighborhood
+    of a dead man, which was troublesome to him.
+5.  Ammianus Marcellinus, a heathen, and Julian's own historian, says b.
+    2, p. 225, that he caused all the bones of dead men to be taken away
+    to purify the place.
+
+ST. SURANUS, ABBOT IN UMBRIA,
+
+WHO gave all things, even the herbs out of his garden, to the poor. He
+was martyred by the Lombards in the seventh century, and his relics were
+famed for miracles.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Greg. Dial. l. 4, c. 22.
+
+ST. MACEDONIUS, ANCHORET IN SYRIA.
+
+HE lived forty years on barley moistened in water, till finding his
+health impaired, he ate bread, reflecting that it was not lawful for him
+to shorten his life to shun labors and conflicts, as he told the mother
+of Theodoret; persuading her, when in a bad state of health, to use a
+proper food, which he said was physic to her. Theodoret relates many
+miraculous cures of sick persons, and of his own mother among them, by
+water on which he had made the sign of the cross, and that his own birth
+was the effect of his prayers, after his mother had lived childless in
+marriage thirteen years.[1] {214} The saint died, ninety years old, and
+is named in the Greek menologies. See Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. l. 5, c.
+19, and Philotheæ, c. 13. St. Chrysost. hom. 17, ad Pop. Antioch.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The great Theodoret was dedicated to God by his parents before he
+    was born, and was educated in the study of every true branch of
+    Syriac, Greek, and Hebrew learning. He gave a large estate to the
+    poor, and entered a monastery near Apamea, but was taken out of it
+    against his will, and consecrated bishop of Cyrus in 423, being very
+    young. He converted all the Marcionites, Arians, and other heretics
+    in his diocese, in which he reckons eight hundred churches, or
+    parishes. (Ep. 113, p. 987.) Cyrus was a very small poor town in a
+    desert country, eighty miles from Antioch, one hundred and twenty
+    from Apamea, and one hundred and seventeen from Samosata. Though
+    Theodoret lived in great poverty, he enriched the poor and the
+    churches, and built for his city an aqueduct, two large bridges,
+    porticoes, and baths. In 430 pope Celestin and St. Cyril of
+    Alexandria wrote to John, patriarch of Antioch, against Nestorius,
+    who on his side sent an orthodox letter to the same prelate: soon
+    after St. Cyril wrote his third letter to Nestorius, to which he
+    subjoined twelve anathematisms against the errors of Nestorius. In
+    this writing certain obscure phrases occur, which John of Antioch
+    thought favorable to the heresy of Apollinaris: whereupon he engaged
+    Theodoret to undertake a confutation of them. Theodoret carried on
+    this contest with great warmth in several writings, and when the
+    ecumenical council of Ephesus was assembled in 431, refused, with
+    John of Antioch, and the rest of the forty Oriental bishops, to
+    enter it, because Nestorius had been condemned in it on the 21st of
+    June, before they arrived at Ephesus on the 27th. They even went so
+    far as to pretend to excommunicate St. Cyril, and form a schism in
+    the church. F. Garnier, the most declared enemy to Theodoret among
+    the moderns, lays to his charge several things, of which Tillemont
+    and others clear him. It is certain that he wrote with great
+    bitterness against St. Cyril, and his anathematisms, as appears from
+    the works which he wrote upon that occasion, especially certain
+    letters and fragments of his Pentalogus, (or work in five books,
+    against St. Cyril,) still extant. But St. Cyril having made a clear
+    confession of his faith in a letter to Acacius of Ber[oe]a, Theodoret
+    loudly declared him orthodox, and this he proved even in letters
+    which he wrote to Nestorius himself, and to Alexander of Hierapolis,
+    his own metropolitan, the warmest of all St. Cyril's enemies. John
+    of Antioch and many others made their peace with St. Cyril, about
+    the month of April. In 433, Theodoret stood out some time longer, by
+    refusing to condemn the person of Nestorius. St. Cyril and John of
+    Antioch afterwards admitted him to their communion without requiring
+    that condition, and Theodoret labored to gain over Alexander of
+    Hierapolis; but in vain, so that this prelate was banished by the
+    emperor; Theodoret himself, though he enjoyed the communion of St.
+    Cyril, and of John of Antioch, was often accused, because he
+    persisted to defend the person of Nestorius. The persecution was
+    often renewed against Theodoret, so long as he adhered to Nestorius,
+    especially after St. Cyril, St. Proclus, and all the western
+    prelates condemned the writings of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, as the
+    master of the heresiarch Nestorius in his capital error. The
+    Orientals defended Theodorus, and Theodoret endeavored to justify
+    him by several writings against St. Cyril, of which only fragments
+    quoted in the fifth council are extant. St. Cyril, by his silence
+    and moderation, calmed this dispute, and always maintained peace
+    with the Orientals from the time it was settled between them. His
+    death happened in June, 444, and Dioscorus, the impious Eutychian,
+    was his successor. Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia, who
+    died in 428, in his erroneous writings laid the foundation both of
+    the Pelagian and Nestorian heresies. Theodoret, in his writings
+    against St. Cyril, adopts certain expressions which favored
+    Nestorianism, and were condemned in the fifth general council;
+    nevertheless, his sentiments were always orthodox, as is proved by
+    Tillemont, (Art. 20, t. 15, p. 253,) Natalis Alexander, Graveson,
+    &c. By exerting his zeal against Eutyches and Dioscorus, he incurred
+    the indignation of their sect, and the false council of Ephesus
+    pronounced a pretended sentence of deposition against him.
+    Theodosius the younger first forbade him to stir out of his diocese,
+    and when he desired to go to Rome to justify himself, in 450,
+    banished him to his monastery near Apamea. The emperor Marcian put
+    an end to the persecution raised by the Eutychians under his
+    predecessor; yet Theodoret chose to continue in his monastery till
+    he was called by pope Leo to assist at the council of Chalcedon. He
+    had received, with great applause, the excellent letter of that pope
+    to Flavian, and St. Leo declared null all the proceedings of
+    Dioscorus against him at Ephesus, and restored him to his see,
+    (Conc. t. 4, p. 622.) The council of Chalcedon met in 451, and in
+    the seventh session, held on the 26th of October, Theodoret
+    presented his request that his writings and faith might be examined.
+    Those who were prepossessed against him would not allow any such
+    examination, but required that he should anathematize Nestorius,
+    which he at length did; and the council, with high commendations,
+    declared him orthodox, and worthy of his see. Marcian, by a law
+    published the following year, annulled the edict of Theodosius
+    against him and Flavian. He died at Cyrus, about the year 458. The
+    heresy of Nestorius he had clearly condemned from the beginning,
+    with John of Antioch, in their exhortatory letter to Nestorius,
+    (Conc. t. 3, p. 394). What mistakes and faults he fell into he
+    cancelled by his edifying repentance; and the great virtues which he
+    practised even under his disgrace, the extent of his learning, and
+    the sublimity and acuteness of his genius, have established his
+    reputation in all succeeding ages, and he is deservedly ranked among
+    the must illustrious fathers of the church. His excellent writings
+    are the most authentic monuments of his extraordinary learning and
+    piety. He modestly compares himself (Proleg. in Osee. t. 2, p. 700)
+    to the Jewish poor women, who in the building of the tabernacle,
+    having neither gold nor silver to give to God towards this work,
+    picked and gathered together the hair, thread, or cloths,
+    contributed by others, or spun, or sewed something, not to be found
+    quite empty-handed. St. Chrysostom was taken away from Antioch in
+    397, and Theodoret was only born about the year 393: but though he
+    had not the happiness of hearing his divine discourses, he took him
+    for his principal model, and especially in his comments on the
+    scriptures usually adhered to those of that incomparable doctor. His
+    works were printed at Paris, in 1642, in four volumes in folio, to
+    which F. Garnier, a learned Jesuit, in 1684, added a fifth under the
+    title of an Auctarium, containing certain letters and discourses of
+    this father, with several prolix historical dissertations on the
+    Nestorian heresy. The judicious F. Sirmond, far more equitable than
+    F. Garnier. admires Theodoret's brevity, joined with great
+    perspicuity, especially in his commentaries, and commends the
+    pleasing beauty and attic elegance of his style. Photius praises his
+    fruitfulness of invention, the purity of his language, the choice of
+    his words, and the smoothness and neatness of his style, in which he
+    finds everywhere a decent and noble elevation, though he thinks his
+    metaphors sometimes too bold. This great critic calls his method of
+    short notes the most accomplished model for interpreting the holy
+    scriptures, and mentions, as an instance of his sincere humility,
+    that he never employs a single word, or produces a quotation for
+    ostentation, never falling into digressions foreign to his purpose;
+    we may almost say, that a superfluous word scarce ever escapes him.
+    (Phot. Cod. 203, p. 526. Cod. 31, 46, 56.)
+
+    His comments on St. Paul, and on most of the books of the old
+    Testament, are concise literal, and solid, but contain not that
+    inexhausted and excellent treasure of morality which we find in St.
+    Chrysostom, whose commentaries Theodoret had always before him: this
+    latter excels chiefly on the prophets. His church history, in five
+    books, from the close of that of Eusebius in 324 to 429, is a
+    valuable compilation. Photius justly prefers his style to that of
+    Eusebius, Evagrius, Socrates, and Sozomen, as more historical,
+    clear, and lofty, without any redundancy. (Cod. 31) His religious
+    history, or Philothea, (_i.e._ History of the Friends of God,)
+    contains the lives of thirty monks and anchorets of his time. He was
+    himself an eye-witness to several of the miracles which he relates
+    to have been wrought by the sign of the cross, holy water, and
+    blessed oil. Of some other miracles which he mentions, he tells us
+    that they were so authentic and notorious that no one who believes
+    those of Moses, Elias, and the Apostles, could deny them. The five
+    books, Of Heretical Fables, are a history of ancient heresies which
+    he wrote at the request of Sporacius, one of the imperial
+    commissaries at the council of Chalcedon, who was consul in 452. In
+    the fourth book, he inveighs most bitterly against Nestorius, whom
+    he had for some time unwarily favored. The letters of Theodoret
+    which are extant, amount to the number of 146. His book Against the
+    twelve Anthematisms of St. Cyril, he tacitly recalled by his
+    condemnation of Nestorius; also his Pentalogus on the same subject,
+    which is now lost, except some fragments preserved by Marius
+    Mercator. His three dialogues against the Eutychians, he entitled
+    Polymorphus, (_i.e._ of many shapes,) and Eranistes, that is, the
+    Beggar, because the Eutychian error was gathered from the various
+    heresies of Marcian, Valentin, Arius, and Apollinaris. The first
+    dialogue he calls the Unchangeable, because in it he shows that the
+    divine Word suffered no change by becoming man. The second is
+    entitled The Inconfused, from the subject, which is to prove that in
+    Christ, after the Incarnation, the divine and human nature remain
+    really distinct. The third is called, The Impassible, because in it
+    the author demonstrates that the divinity neither did nor could
+    suffer; the same is the purport of his Demonstration by syllogisms.
+    The dialogues were written about the year 447; for the author
+    clearly confutes Eutyches, though he never names him; and it appears
+    that St. Cyril was then dead, the author reckoning him in the end
+    among the Catholic doctors, who had formerly flourished in the
+    church, and among the stars which had enlightened the world. (Dial.
+    2. p. 86, and 111.)
+
+    Theodoret's ten sermons On Providence, is a work never yet
+    paralleled by any other writer, ancient or modern, on that sublime
+    subject; whether we consider the matter and the choice of thoughts,
+    or the author's sincere piety, or his extensive knowledge, and the
+    depth of his philosophical inquiries, or the strength and solidity
+    of his reasoning, or the noble sublimity of the expression, and the
+    elegance and perspicuity of the diction. It was the love of God
+    which engaged him to undertake, in this task, the defence of the
+    cause of our best Father and supreme Lord, as he modestly assures
+    us, (p. 320,) and this motive animated him with fresh life and
+    uncommon vigor in exerting and displaying the strength and beauty of
+    his genius on so great a subject.
+
+    His twelve discourses On healing the Prejudices of the Greeks, are
+    an excellent apology for our faith against the pagans; a performance
+    which falls little short of the former. In it we meet with many
+    curious anecdotes relating to the heathenish theology of the
+    ancients, and the impiety and vices with which their philosophers
+    disgraced their profession. In the eighth of these discourses, which
+    is entitled, On the Martyrs, he clearly demonstrates that the
+    veneration which Christians pay to the saints in heaven, is entirely
+    different from the worship which the heathens give to their false
+    gods, and elegantly explains (pp. 591, 660, 606) in what manner the
+    souls of the martyrs now in heaven, with the choirs of angels, are
+    our protectors and mediators with God, the physicians of our bodies,
+    and savers of our souls: the portions of their divided relics are
+    the guard and protection of our cities, which through their
+    intercession with God obtain divine gifts: Christians give their
+    names to their children to put these under their patronage: it was a
+    custom to hang up before their shrines, gold or silver images of
+    eyes, feet, or hands, as tokens or memorials of health, or other
+    benefits received by their means: they keep their festivals, as
+    those of Peter, Paul, Thomas, Sergius, Marcellus, Leontius,
+    Panteleemon, Antoninus, Mauritius, and others, in prayer, divine
+    canticles, and holy sermons. The same he testifies in his other
+    works. Almost every life of holy monks which he wrote, he closes by
+    imploring their intercession, and mentions that as far as Rome,
+    handicraftsman hang up in their shops the picture of St. Simeon
+    Stylites, hoping by their devotion to share in the protection of his
+    prayers. (Philoth. c. 26, p. 862.) We learn from, him, that
+    Christians were always accustomed to make the sign of the cross on
+    the cup before they drank. (Hist. Eccl. l. 3, c. 13.) He often
+    extols the virtues of that holy sign, honored, as he says, by all
+    Christians, whether Greeks, Romans, or Barbarians, (Serm. 6, de
+    Prov. p. 580, t. 4,) and he relates, (Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 1,) that
+    Julian the Apostate, by making it in a fright, drove away the devils
+    which one of his enchanters was invoking. His book in praise of
+    virginity, to which he refers us, (on 1 Cor. vii. 33.) is lost; also
+    the book in which he confuted both Eutyches and Nestorius, which is
+    mentioned by Gennadius (c. 89) and Marcellinus. (ad an. 466.) His
+    book Against the Jews, and several others, have not reached us.
+    Among those which are extant his Octateuch, (or comments on the five
+    books of Moses, and those of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth,) to which he
+    added comments on the books of Kings and Paralipomenon, much
+    commended by Photius, seems to be the last work which he wrote. See
+    Tillem. t. 15. Ceillier.
+
+{215}
+
+ST. CADOCUS, OR CADOC, ABBOT IN WALES.
+
+CADOC was son to Gundleus, a prince of South Wales, by his wife Gladusa,
+daughter of Braghan, whose name wax given to the province now called
+Brecknockshire. His parents were not less ennobled by their virtues than
+by their blood, and his father, who some years before his death
+renouncing the world, led an eremitical life near a country church which
+he had built, was honored in Wales among the saints. Cadoc, who was his
+eldest son, succeeded in the government, but not long after followed his
+father's example; and embracing a religious life, put himself under the
+direction of St. Tathai, an Irish monk, who had opened a famous school
+at Gwen{t}, the ancient Venta Silurum of the Romans, afterwards a
+bishop's see, now in ruins in Monmouthshire. Our saint made such
+progress both in learning and virtue, that when he returned into
+Glamorganshire, his own country, he spread on every side the rays of his
+wisdom and sanctity. Here, three miles from Cowbridge, he built a church
+and a monastery, which was called Llan-carvan, or the Church of Stags,
+and sometimes Nancarvan, that is, the Vale of Stags. The school which he
+established in this place became most illustrious, and fruitful in great
+and holy men. By our saint's persuasion St. Iltut renounced the court
+and the world, and learned at Llan-carvan that science which he
+preferred to all worldly treasures. He afterwards founded the great
+monastery of Llan-Iltut. These two monasteries and that of St. Docuinus,
+all situated in the diocese of Landaff, were very famous for many ages,
+and were often governed by abbots of great eminence. St. Gildas, after
+his return from Ireland, entered the monastery of St. Cadoc, where he
+taught for one year, and copied a book of the gospels, which was long
+preserved with great care in the church of St. Cadoc, and highly
+reverenced by the Welsh, who used it in their most solemn oaths and
+covenants. After spending there one year, St. Gildas and St. Cadoc left
+Llan-carvan, being desirous to live in closer retirement. They hid
+themselves first in the islands of Ronech and Echni. An ancient life of
+St. Cadoc tells us, that he died at Benevenna, which is the {216} Roman
+name of a place now called Wedon, in Northamptonshire. Some moderns take
+it for Benevento, in Italy, where they suppose him to have died.
+Chatelain imagines this St. Cadoc to be the same who is honored at
+Rennes, under the name of Cadoc, or Caduad, and from whom a small island
+on the coast of Vennes is called Enes-Caduad. St. Cadoc flourished in
+the beginning of the sixth century, and was succeeded in the abbacy of
+Llan-carvan, by Ellenius, "an excellent disciple of an excellent
+master," says Leland. See the Acts of St. Cadoc, in Capgrave; Usher's
+Antiquities, c. 13, p. 252. Chatelain's Notes on the. Martyr. p. 399.
+
+
+JANUARY XXV.
+
+THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.
+
+See Tillemont, t. 1, p. 192.
+
+THIS great apostle was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin. At his
+circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, he received the name of
+Saul. His father was by sect a Pharisee, and a denizen of Tarsus, the
+capital of Cilicia: which city had shown a particular regard for the
+cause of the Cæsars; on which account Cassius deprived it of its
+privileges and lands; but Augustus, when conqueror, made it ample amends
+by honoring it with many new privileges, and with the freedom of Rome,
+as we read in the two Dions and Appian. Hence St. Paul, being born at
+Tarsus, was by privilege a Roman citizen, to which quality a great
+distinction and several exemptions were granted by the laws of the
+empire.[1] His parents sent him young to Jerusalem, where he was
+educated and instructed in the strictest observance of the law of Moses,
+by Gamaliel,[2] a learned and noble Jew, and probably a member of the
+Sanhedrim; and was a most scrupulous observer of it in every point. He
+appeals even to his enemies to bear evidence how conformable to it his
+life had been in every respect.[3] He embraced the sect of the
+Pharisees, which was of all others the most severe, though by its pride
+the most opposite to the humility of the gospel.[4] It was a rule among
+the Jews that all their children were to learn some trade with their
+studies, were it but to avoid idleness, and to exercise the body, as
+well as the mind, in something serious.[5] It is therefore probable that
+Saul learned in his youth the trade which he exercised even after his
+apostleship, of making tents.[6]
+
+Saul, surpassing all his equals in zeal for the Jewish law and their
+traditions, which he thought the cause of God, became thereby a,
+blasphemer, a persecutor, and the most outrageous enemy of Christ.[7] He
+was one of those who combined to murder St. Stephen, and by keeping the
+garments of all who stoned that holy martyr, he is said by St. Austin to
+have stoned him by the hands of all the rest;[8] to whose prayers for
+his enemies he ascribes {217} the conversion of St. Paul:[9] "If
+Stephen," said he, "had not prayed, the church would never have had St.
+Paul."
+
+After the martyrdom of the holy deacon, the priests and magistrates of
+the Jews raised a violent persecution against the church at Jerusalem,
+in which Saul signalized himself above others. By virtue of the power he
+had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of
+their houses, loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison.[10]
+He procured them to be scourged in the synagogues, and endeavored by
+torments to compel them to blaspheme the name of Christ. And as our
+Saviour had always been represented by the leading men of the Jews as an
+enemy to their law, it was no wonder that this rigorous Pharisee fully
+persuaded himself that _he ought to do many things contrary to the name
+of Jesus of Nazareth_.[11] By the violences he committed, his name
+became everywhere a terror to the faithful. The persecutors not only
+raged against their persons, but also seized their estates and what they
+possessed in common,[12] and left them in such extreme necessity, that
+the remotest churches afterwards thought it incumbent on them to join in
+charitable contributions to their relief. All this could not satisfy the
+fury of Saul; he breathed nothing but threats and the slaughter of the
+other disciples.[13] Wherefore, in the fury of his zeal, he applied to
+the high priest and Sanhedrim for a commission to take up all Jews at
+Damascus who confessed Jesus Christ, and bring them bound to Jerusalem,
+that they might serve as public examples for the terror of others. But
+God was pleased to show forth in him his patience and mercy; and, moved
+by the prayers of St. Stephen and his other persecuted servants, for
+their enemies, changed him, in the very heat of his fury, into a vessel
+of election, and made him a greater man in his church by the grace of
+the apostleship, than St. Stephen had ever been, and a more illustrious
+instrument of his glory. He was almost at the end of his journey to
+Damascus, when about noon, he and his company were on a sudden
+surrounded by a great light from heaven, brighter than the sun.[14] They
+all saw the light, and being struck with amazement, fell to the ground.
+Then Saul heard a voice, which to him was articulate and distinct; but
+not understood, though heard by the rest:[15] _Saul, Saul, why dost thou
+persecute me?_ Christ said not: Why dost thou persecute my disciples?
+but me: for it is he, their head, who is chiefly persecuted in his
+servants. Saul answered: _Who art thou, Lord?_ Christ said: _Jesus of
+Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the
+goad:_ "to contend with one so much mightier than thyself. By
+persecuting my church you make it flourish, and only prick and hurt
+yourself." This mild expostulation of our Redeemer, accompanied with a
+powerful interior grace, strongly affecting his soul, cured his pride,
+assuaged his rage, and wrought at once a total change in him. Wherefore,
+trembling and astonished, he cried out: _Lord, what wilt thou have me to
+do?_ What to repair the past? What to promote your glory? I make a
+joyful oblation of myself to execute your will in every thing, and to
+suffer for your sake afflictions, disgraces, persecutions, torments, and
+every sort of death. The true convert expressed this, not in a bare form
+of words, nor with faint languid desires, nor with any exception lurking
+in the secret recesses of his heart; but with an entire sacrifice of
+himself, and an heroic victory over the world with its frowns and
+charms, over the devils with their snares and threats, and over himself
+and all inclinations of self-love; devoting himself totally to God. A
+{218} perfect model of a true conversion, the greatest work of almighty
+grace! Christ ordered him to arise and proceed on his journey to the
+city, where he should be informed of what he expected from him. Christ
+would not instruct him immediately by himself, but, St. Austin
+observes,[16] sent him to the ministry[17] which he had established in
+the church, to be directed in the way of salvation by those whom he had
+appointed for that purpose. He would not finish the conversion and
+instruction of this great apostle, whom he was pleased to call in so
+wonderful a manner, but by remitting him to the guidance of his
+ministers; showing us thereby that his holy providence has so ordered
+it, that all who desire to serve him, should seek his will by listening
+to those whom he has commanded us to hear, and whom he has sent in his
+own name and appointed to be our guides. So perfectly would he abolish
+in his servants all self-confidence and presumption, the source of error
+and illusion. The convert, rising from the ground, found that, though
+his eyes were open, he saw nothing. Providence sent this corporal
+blindness to be an emblem of the spiritual blindness in which he had
+lived, and to signify to him that he was henceforward to die to the
+world, and learn to apply his mind totally to the contemplation of
+heavenly things. He was led by the hand into Damascus, whither Christ
+seemed to conduct him in triumph. He was lodged in the house of a Jew
+named Judas, where he remained three days blind, and without eating or
+drinking. He doubtless spent his time in great bitterness of soul, not
+yet knowing what God required of him. With what anguish he bewailed his
+past blindness and false zeal against the church, we may conjecture both
+from his taking no nourishment during those three days, and from the
+manner in which he ever after remembered and spoke of his having been a
+blasphemer and a persecutor. Though the entire reformation of his heart
+was not gradual, as in ordinary conversions, but miraculous in the order
+of grace, and perfect in a moment; yet a time of probation and a severe
+interior trial (for such we cannot doubt but he went through on this
+occasion) was necessary to crucify the old man and all other earthly
+sentiments in his heart, and to prepare it to receive the extraordinary
+graces which God designed him. There was a Christian of distinction in
+Damascus, much respected by the Jews for his irreproachable life and
+great virtue; his name was Ananias. Christ appeared to this holy
+disciple; and commanded him to go to Saul, who was then in the house of
+Judas at prayer: Ananias trembled at the name of Saul, being no stranger
+to the mischief he had done in Jerusalem, or to the errand on which he
+was set out to Damascus. But our Redeemer overruled his fears, and
+charged him a second time to go to him, saying: _Go, for he is a vessel
+of election to carry my name before Gentiles and kings, and the children
+of Israel: and I will show him how much he has to suffer for my name_.
+For tribulation is the test and portion of all the true servants of
+Christ. Saul in the mean time saw in a vision a man entering, and laying
+his hands upon him, to restore his sight. Ananias, obeying the divine
+order, arose, went to Saul, and laying his hands upon him, said:
+_Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to thee on thy journey, hath
+sent me that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy
+Ghost._ Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he
+recovered his eyesight. Ananias added: _The God of our fathers hath
+chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and see the just one, and
+shouldst hear the voice from his mouth: and thou shalt be his witness
+unto all men to publish what thou hast seen and heard. Arise, therefore,
+be baptized and washed from thy sins, invoking the name of the Lord._
+Saul then arose, was baptized,{219} and took some refreshment. He stayed
+some few days with the disciples at Damascus, and began immediately to
+preach in the synagogues, that Jesus was the Son of God, to the great
+astonishment of all that heard him, who said: _Is not this he who
+persecuted at Jerusalem those who invoked the name of Jesus, and who is
+come hither to carry them away prisoners?_ Thus a blasphemer and a
+persecutor was made an apostle, and chosen to be one of the principal
+instruments of God in the conversion of the world.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Paul never recalled to mind this his wonderful conversion, without
+raptures of gratitude and praise to the divine mercy. The church, in
+thanksgiving to God for such a miracle of his grace, from which it has
+derived such great blessings, and to commemorate so miraculous an
+instance of his almighty power, and to propose to penitents a perfect
+model of a true conversion, has instituted this festival, which we find
+mentioned in several calendars and missals of the eighth and ninth
+centuries, and which pope Innocent III. commanded to be observed with
+great solemnity. It was for some time kept a holy day of obligation in
+most churches in the West; and we read it mentioned as such in England
+in the council of Oxford in 1222, in the reign of king Henry III.[18]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Acts, xxi. 29, xxii. 3.
+2.  Ibid. xxii. 3.
+3.  Ibid. xxvi. 4.
+4.  Ibid. xxvi. 5.
+5.  Rabbi Juda says, "That a parent, who neglects his duty, is as
+    criminal as if he taught his son to steal." See Grotius and Sanctius
+    on Acts xviii. 3.
+6.  These tents were for the use of soldiers and mariners, and were made
+    of skins sewn together. {} think that his business was that of
+    making tapestry and hangings for theatres.
+7.  Gal. i. 14.
+8.  Serm. 301.
+9.  Ibid. l. 16, c. 4. Acts, vi.
+10. Acts, viii. 3, xxii. 4, xxvi. 10.
+11. Acts, xxvi. 9.
+12. Heb. x. 32.
+13. Acts, x. 1.
+14. Acts, ix. xiii. xxvi.
+15. So the Greek word [Greek: akoein] is often used in scripture, as in
+    J{} xiv. 2. And thus the text is very reconcilable with Acts. xxii.
+    9.
+16. Qu. Evang. l. 2, c. 40, et præf. 1, de doctr. Christ. p. 32.
+17. St. Austin doubts not but Ananias was a bishop, or at least a
+    priest. The Greeks give him a place in their calendar on the 1st of
+    October, and style him bishop of Damascus and martyr.
+18. Conc. Labbe, t. xi. p. 274.
+
+SS. JUVENTINUS AND MAXIMINUS, MARTYRS.
+
+From the elegant panegyric of St. Chrysostom, t. 2, p. 578, ed. Montf.,
+and from Theodoret, Hist. l. 3, c. 11.
+
+A.D. 363.
+
+THESE martyrs were two officers of distinction in the foot-guards of
+Julian the Apostate.[1] When that tyrant was on his march against the
+Persians, they let fall at table certain free reflections on his impious
+laws against the Christians, wishing rather for death than to see the
+profanation {220} of holy things. The emperor, being informed of this,
+sent for them, and finding that they could not be prevailed upon by any
+means to retract what they had said, nor to sacrifice to idols, he
+confiscated their estates, caused them to be cruelly scourged, and, some
+days after, to be beheaded in prison at Antioch, January the 25th, 363.
+The Christians, with the hazard of their lives, stole away their bodies,
+and after the death of Julian, who was slain in Persia on the 26th of
+June following, erected for them a magnificent tomb. On their festival
+St. Chrysostom pronounced their panegyric, in which he says of these
+martyrs: "They support the church as pillars, defend it as towers, and
+repel all assaults as rocks. Let us visit them frequently, let us touch
+their shrine, and embrace their relics with confidence, that we may
+obtain from thence some benediction. For as soldiers, showing to the
+king the wounds which they have received in his battles, speak with
+confidence, so they, by an humble representation of their past
+sufferings for Christ, obtain whatever they ask of the King of
+heaven."[2]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Julian, surnamed the Apostate, rebelled against Constantius, his
+    cousin-german, in the spring, in 360, and by his death, in November,
+    361, obtained the empire. He was one of the most infamous
+    dissemblers that ever lived. Craft, levity, inconstancy, falsehood,
+    want of judgment, and an excessive vanity, discovered themselves in
+    all his actions, and appear in his writings, namely, his epistles,
+    his satire called Misopogon, and his lives of the Cæsars. He wrote
+    the last work to censure all the former emperors, that he might
+    appear the only great prince: for a censorious turn is an effect of
+    vanity and pride. He was most foolishly superstitious, and
+    exceedingly fond of soothsayers and magicians. After the death of
+    Constantius, he openly professed idolatry, and by besmearing himself
+    with the blood of impious victims, pretended to efface the character
+    of baptism. He was deceived in almost every step by ridiculous
+    omens, oracles, and augurs, as may be seen in his heathen historian,
+    Ammianus Marcellinus, (b. 22.) Maximus, the magician, and others of
+    that character, were his chief confidants. He endeavored, by the
+    black art, to rival the miracles of Christ, though he effected
+    nothing. He disqualified Christians from bearing offices in the
+    state; he forbade them to teach either rhetoric of philosophy, that
+    he might deprive them of the advantages of human literature, a thing
+    condemned by Ammianus himself. He commanded, by an edict, that they
+    should be no longer called Christians, but Galileans, and though he
+    pretended to toleration, he destroyed more souls by recompenses,
+    caresses, and strategems, than he could have done by cruelties. He
+    levied heavy fines and seized the estates of Christians, saying, in
+    raillery, that he did it to oblige them to follow the gospel, which
+    recommends poverty. He often put them to death, but secretly, and on
+    other pretences, that he might deprive them of the honor of
+    martyrdom: which artifice might have its influence on philosophers,
+    the lovers of vanity; but not on the servants of God, who desired to
+    be known to him alone, and to suffer, regardless of the applause of
+    men, as St. Gregory Nazianzen observes. (Or. 3, in Julian.) That
+    father, when he knew him a student at Athens, in 355, prognosticated
+    (Or. 4, in Julian, p. 122) from his light carriage, wandering eye,
+    haughty look, impertinent questions, and foolish answers, what a
+    monster the Roman empire was fostering and breeding up. In his march
+    to his Persian expedition, he was made a subject of mockery and
+    ridicule at Antioch, on account of his low stature, gigantic gait,
+    great goat's beard, and bloody sacrifices. In answer to which, he
+    wrote his Misopogon, or Beardhater, a low and insipid satire. He
+    everywhere threatened the Christians upon his return from the
+    Persian war. The oracles of Delos, Delphos, Dodona, and others,
+    promised him victories, as Theodoret, St. Gregory Nazianzen,
+    Philostorgius, and Libanius himself, (Libanius, Or. 12,) a heath,
+    and the chief favorite of Julian, testify: all the pagan deities
+    wherever he passed, gave him the like assurances, as he himself
+    writes (Julian, ep. 2.) But in Persia he rashly ventured into wilds
+    and deserts, with an army of sixty-five thousand men, where he was
+    defeated and slain in June, 363. Ammianus, who was then in the army,
+    only says that he was mortally wounded in the battle, and died in
+    his tent the same day, before noon. Theodoret, Sozomen, and the acts
+    of St. Theodoret the martyr, say, that finding himself wounded, he
+    threw up a handful of blood towards heaven, crying out: "Thou hast
+    conquered, O Galilean, thou hast conquered." It was revealed to many
+    holy hermits, that God cut him off to give peace to his church.
+2.  Hom. in SS. Juv. et Max. t. 2, p. 583.
+
+ST. PROJECTUS, BISHOP OF CLERMONT, M.
+
+CALLED AT LYONS ST. PRIEST, AT SENS ST. PREST, IN SAINT-ONGE ST. PREILS,
+AT PARIS AND IN PICARDY ST. PRIX.
+
+THE episcopal see of Auvergne, which was founded by St. Austremonius, in
+the middle of the third century, has been honored with many holy
+bishops, of whom twenty-six are ranked among the saints. Of these the
+most eminent are St. Alidius, called in French Allyre, the fourth
+bishop, in 380, St. Sidonius Apollinaris in 482, St. Gallus in 656, St.
+Prix in 674, and St. Bont in 710. About the year 1160, the title of
+bishops of Auvergne was changed into that of Clermont, from the city of
+this name. St. Prix was a native of Auvergne, and trained up in the
+service of the church, under the care of St. Genesius, first archdeacon,
+afterwards bishop of Auvergne, and was well skilled in plain song,
+(which was esteemed in that age the first part of the science of a
+clergyman,) and in holy scriptures and church history. The parish of
+Issoire, and afterwards the nunnery, of Candedin, (now probably
+Chantoen, a convent of barefooted Carms,) were the chief theatres of his
+zeal, till about the year 666 he was called by the voice of the people,
+seconded by Childeric II., king of Austrasia, to the episcopal dignity,
+upon the death of Felix, bishop of Auvergne. Partly by his own ample
+patrimony, and partly by the great liberalities of Genesius, the holy
+count of Auvergne, he was enabled to found several monasteries,
+churches, and hospitals; so that all distressed persons in his extensive
+diocese were provided for, and a spirit of fervor in the exercises of
+religion, and all Christian virtues, reigned in all parts. This was the
+fruit of the unwearied and undaunted zeal, assiduous sermons and
+exhortations, and the admirable example and sanctity of the holy
+prelate; whose learning, eloquence, and piety, are exceedingly extolled
+by the two historians of his life. The saint, on his road to the court
+of king Childeric, whither he was going for the affairs of his diocese,
+restored to health St. Damarin, or Amarin, a holy abbot of a monastery
+in the mountains of Voge, who was afterwards martyred with him. This
+king caused Hector, the patrician of Marseilles, whom the saint had
+severely rebuked for having ravished a young lady of Auvergne, a rich
+heiress, and having unjustly usurped considerable estates belonging to
+his church, to be put to death for this rape and other crimes. One
+Agritius, imputing his death to the complaints carried to the king by
+St. Prix, in revenge {221} stirred up many persons against the holy
+prelate, and with twenty armed men met the bishop as he returned from
+court, at Volvic, two leagues from Clermont, and first slew the abbot
+St. Damarin, whom the ruffians mistook for the bishop. St. Prix,
+perceiving their design, courageously presented himself to them, and was
+stabbed in the body by a Saxon named Radbert. The saint, receiving this
+wound, said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, for they know not
+what they do." Another of the assassins clove his head with a
+back-sword, and scattered his brains. This happened in 674, on the 25th
+of January. The veneration which the Gallican churches paid to the
+memory of this martyr began from the time of his death. His name was
+added to the calendar in the copies of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory,
+which were transcribed in France, and churches were erected under his
+invocation in almost every province of that kingdom. The principal part
+of his relics remain in the abbey of Flavigny, whither they were carried
+about the year 760. Some portions are kept in the abbey of St. Prix at
+St. Quintin's, of the congregation of Cluni; another in the priory of
+St. Prix near Bethune, and in certain other places. See the two lives of
+St. Prix, the first written by one who was acquainted with him, the
+other by one of the same age, both extant in Bollandus, pp. 628, 636,
+and in Mabillon Act. Ben. t. 1, pp. 642, 650.
+
+ST. POPPO, ABBOT OF STAVELO
+
+ST. POPPO was born in Flanders in 978, and received a pious education,
+under the care of a most virtuous mother, who died a nun at Verdun. In
+his youth he served for some time in the army, but even while he lived
+in the world, he found the spiritual food of heavenly meditation and
+prayer, with which the affections of the soul are nourished,[St. Aug.
+Tr. 26. in Joan.] to be incomparably sweeter than all the delights of
+the senses, and to give himself up entirely to these holy exercises, he
+renounced his profession and the world. In a visit which he made by a
+penitential pilgrimage to the holy places at Jerusalem, he brought
+thence many precious relics, with which he enriched the church of our
+Lady at Deisne, now a marquisate between Ghent and Courtray. He made
+also a pilgrimage to the shrines of the apostles at Rome, and, some time
+after his return, took the monastic habit at St. Thierry's, near Rheims.
+Richard, abbot of Verdun, becoming acquainted with his eminent virtue,
+obtained with great difficulty his abbot's consent to remove him
+thither; and being made abbot of St. Vedast's, at Arras, upon the
+deposition of Folrad, who had filled that house with scandalous
+disorders, he appointed Poppo procurator. In a journey which our saint
+was obliged to make to the court of St. Henry, he prevailed with that
+religious prince to abolish the combats of men and bears. St. Poppo was
+chosen successively prior of St. Vedast's, provost of St. Vennes, and
+abbot of Beaulieu, which last he rebuilt. He was afterwards chosen abbot
+of St. Vedast's, and some time later of the two united abbeys of Stavelo
+and Malmedy, about a league asunder, in the diocese of Liege; also, two
+years after this, of St. Maximin's at Triers. Those of Arms and
+Marchiennes were also committed to his care: in all which houses he
+settled the most exact discipline. He died at Marchiennes, on the 25th
+of January, in 1048, being seventy years of age. St. Poppo received
+extreme unction at the hands of Everhelm, abbot of Hautmont, afterwards
+of Blandinberg at Ghent, who afterwards wrote his life, in which he
+gives a particular account of his great {222} virtues. The body of St.
+Poppo was carried to Stavelo, and there interred: his remains were taken
+up and enshrined in 1624, after Baronius had inserted his name in the
+Roman Martyrology; for Molanus, in his Indiculus, and Miræus observe
+that he was never canonized. Chatelain denies against Trithemius that
+any commemoration was ever made of him in the public office in any of
+the abbeys which he governed. But Martenne assures us that he was
+honored among the saints at Stavelo, in the year 1624. See his life
+written by the monk Onulf, and abridged by Everhelm, abbot of Hautmont,
+in Bollandus, p. 673, and Martenne, Amplis. Collectio, t. 2, Præf. p.
+17.
+
+ST. APOLLO, ABBOT IN THEBAIS.
+
+AFTER passing many years in a hermitage, he formed and governed a
+community of five hundred monks, near Heliopolis. They all wore the same
+coarse white habit, all received the holy communion every day, and the
+holy abbot made them also a daily exhortation with admirable unction. He
+entertained them often on the evils of melancholy and sadness, saying,
+that spiritual joy and cheerfulness of heart are necessary amid our
+tears of penance; as being the fruit of charity, and requisite to
+support the fervor of the soul. He was known to strangers by the joy of
+his countenance. By humility he ranked himself among the goats, unworthy
+to be numbered among the sheep. He made it his constant and earnest
+petition to God, that he might know himself, and be preserved from the
+subtile snares and illusions of pride. It is said that the devil left a
+possessed person at his command, crying out that he was not able to
+withstand his humility. The saint received a visit from St. Petronius,
+afterwards bishop of Bologna, in 393, being then near eighty years old,
+which he did not long survive. See Sozom. l. 6, c. 29. Rufin. l. 2.
+Tillem. t. 10, p. 35. The Greek menæa and Bollandus on this day.
+
+ST. PUBLIUS, ABBOT
+
+NEAR ZEUGMA, UPON THE EUPHRATES,
+
+IS honored by the Greeks. He was the son of a senator in that city, and
+sold his estate, plate, and furniture, for the benefit of the poor; and
+lived first a hermit, afterwards governed a numerous community in the
+fourth age. He allowed his monks no other food than herbs and pulse, and
+very coarse bread; no drink but water: he forbade milk, cheese, grapes,
+and even vinegar, also oil, except from Easter to Whitsuntide. To put
+himself always in mind of advancing continually in fervor and charity,
+he added every day something to his exercises of penance and devotion:
+he was remarkably solicitous to avoid sloth, being sensible of the
+inestimable value of time. Alas! what would not a damned soul, what
+would not a suffering soul in purgatory give, for one of those moments
+which we unthinkingly throw away. As far as the state of the blessed in
+heaven can admit of regret, they eternally condemn their insensibility
+as having lost every moment of their mortal life, which they did not
+improve to the utmost advantage. Theodoret tells us that the holy abbot
+Publius founded two congregations, the one of Greeks, the other of
+Syrians, each using their own tongue in the divine office: for the Greek
+and Chaldean were from the beginning {223} sacred languages, or
+consecrated by the church in her public prayers. St. Publius flourished
+about the year 369. See Theodoret, Philoth. c. 5. Rosweide, l. 6, c. 7.
+Chatel. Mart. Univ. p. 886, among the Aemeres, or saints who are not
+commemorated on any particular day.
+
+
+JANUARY XXVI.
+
+ST. POLYCARP, BISHOP OF SMYRNA, M.
+
+From his acts, written by the church of Smyrna in an excellent circular
+letter to the churches of Pontus, immediately after his martyrdom: a
+piece abridged by Eusebius, b. 4, c. 14, highly esteemed by the
+ancients. Joseph Scaliger, a supercilious critic, says that nothing in
+the whole course of church history so strongly affected him, as the
+perusal of these acts, and those relating to the martyrs of Lyons: that
+he never read them but they gave him extraordinary emotions. Animad. in
+Chron. Eusebii, n. 2183, &c. They are certainly most valuable pieces of
+Christian antiquity. See Eusebius, St. Jerom, and St. Irenæus. Also
+Tillemont, t. 2, p. 327. Dom Ceillier, t. 1. Dom Marechal, Concordance
+des Peres Grecs et Latins, t. 1.
+
+A.D. 166.
+
+ST. POLYCARP was one of the most illustrious of the apostolic fathers,
+who, being the immediate disciples of the apostles, received
+instructions from their mouths, and inherited of them the spirit of
+Christ, in a degree so much the more eminent, as they lived nearer the
+fountain head. He embraced Christianity very young, about the year 80;
+was a disciple of the apostles, in particular of St. John the
+Evangelist, and was constituted by him bishop of Smyrna, probably before
+his banishment to Patmos, in 96: so that he governed that important see
+seventy years. He seems to have been the angel or bishop of Smyrna, who
+was commended above all the bishops of Asia by Christ himself in the
+Apocalypse,[1] and the only one without a reproach. Our Saviour
+encouraged him under his poverty, tribulation, and persecutions,
+especially the calumnies of the Jews, called him rich in grace, and
+promised him the crown of life by martyrdom. This saint was respected by
+the faithful to a degree of veneration. He formed many holy disciples,
+among whom were St. Irenæus and Papias. When Florinus, who had often
+visited St. Polycarp, had broached certain heresies, St. Irenæus wrote
+to him as follows:[2] "These things were not taught you by the bishops
+who preceded us. I could tell you the place where the blessed Polycarp
+sat to preach the word of God. It is yet present to my mind with what
+gravity he everywhere came in and went out: what was the sanctity of his
+deportment, the majesty of his countenance and of his whole exterior,
+and what were his holy exhortations to the people. I seem to hear him
+now relate how he conversed with John and many others, who had seen
+Jesus Christ; the words he had heard from their mouths. I can protest
+before God, that if this holy bishop had heard of any error like yours,
+he would have immediately stopped his ears, and cried out, according to
+his custom: Good God! that I should be reserved to these times to hear
+such things! That very instant he would have fled out of the place in
+which he had heard such doctrine." St. Jerom[3] mentions, that St.
+Polycarp met at Rome the heretic Marcion, in the streets, who resenting
+that the holy bishop did not take that notice of him which he expected,
+said to him: "Do not you {224} know me, Polycarp?" "Yes," answered the
+saint, "I know you to be the first-born of Satan." He had learned this
+abhorrence of the authors of heresy, who knowingly and willingly
+adulterate the divine truths, from his master St. John, who fled out of
+the bath in which he saw Cerinthus.[4] St. Polycarp kissed with respect
+the chains of St. Ignatius, who passed by Smyrna on the road to his
+martyrdom, and who recommended to our saint the care and comfort of his
+distant church of Antioch; which he repeated to him in a letter from
+Troas, desiring him to write in his name to those churches of Asia to
+which he had not leisure to write himself.[5] St. Polycarp {225} wrote a
+letter to the Philippians shortly after, which is highly commended by
+St. Irenæus, St. Jerom, Eusebius, Photius, and others, and is still
+extant. It is justly admired both for the excellent instructions it
+contains, and for the simplicity and perspicuity of the style; and was
+publicly read in the church in Asia, in St. Jerom's time. In it he calls
+a heretic, as above, the eldest son of Satan. About the year 158, he
+undertook a journey of charity to Rome, to confer with pope Anicetus
+about certain points of discipline, especially about the time of keeping
+Easter, for the Asiatic churches kept it on the fourteenth day of the
+vernal equinoctial moon, as the Jews did, on whatever day of the week it
+fell; whereas Rome, Egypt, and all the West, observed it on the Sunday
+following. It was agreed that both might follow their custom without
+breaking the bands of charity. St. Anicetus, to testify his respect,
+yielded to him the honor of celebrating the Eucharist in his own
+church.[6] We find no further particulars concerning our saint recorded
+before the acts of his martyrdom.
+
+In the sixth year of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Statius Quadrates
+being proconsul of Asia, a violent persecution broke out in that
+country, in which the faithful gave heroic proofs of their courage and
+love of God, to the astonishment of the infidels. When they were torn to
+pieces with scourges till their very bowels were laid bare, amidst the
+moans and tears of the spectators, who were moved with pity at the sight
+of their torments, not one of them gave so much as a single groan: so
+little regard had they for their own flesh in the cause of God. No kinds
+of torture, no inventions of cruelty were forborne to force them to a
+conformity to the pagan worship of the times. Germanicus, who had been
+brought to Smyrna with eleven or twelve other Christians, signalized
+himself above the rest, and animated the most timorous to suffer. The
+proconsul in the amphitheatre called upon him with tenderness,
+entreating him to have some regard for his youth, and to value at least
+his life: but he, with a holy impatience, provoked the beasts to devour
+him, to leave this wicked world. One Quintus, a Phrygian, who had
+presented himself to the judge, yielded at the sight of the beast let
+out upon him, and sacrificed. The authors of these acts justly condemn
+the presumption of those who offered themselves to suffer,[7] and says
+that the martyrdom of St. Polycarp was conformable to the gospel,
+because he exposed not himself to the temptation, but waited till the
+persecutors laid hands on him, as Christ our Lord taught us by his own
+example. The same venerable authors observe, that the martyrs by their
+patience and constancy demonstrated to all men, that, while their bodies
+were tormented, they were in spirit estranged from the flesh, and
+already in heaven; or rather that our Lord was present with them and
+assisted them; for the fire of the barbarous executioners seemed as if
+it had been a cooling refreshment to them.[8] The spectators, seeing the
+courage of Germanicus and his companions, and being fond of their
+impious bloody diversions, cried out: "Away with the impious; let
+Polycarp be sought for." The holy man, though fearless, had been
+prevailed upon by his friends to withdraw and conceal himself in a
+neighboring village during the storm, spending most of his time in
+prayer. Three days before his martyrdom, he in a vision saw his pillow
+on fire; from which he understood by revelation, and {226} foretold his
+companions, that he should be burnt alive. When the persecutors were in
+quest of him he changed his retreat, but was betrayed by a boy, who was
+threatened with the rack unless he discovered him. Herod, the Irenarch,
+or keeper of the peace, whose office it was to prevent misdemeanors and
+apprehend malefactors, sent horsemen by night to beset his lodgings. The
+saint was above stairs in bed, but refused to make his escape, saying:
+"God's will be done." He went down, met them at the door, ordered them a
+handsome supper, and desired only some time for prayer before he went
+with them. This granted, he began his prayer standing, which he
+continued in that posture for two hours, recommending to God his own
+flock and the whole church with so much earnestness and devotion, that
+several of those that were come to seize him repented they had
+undertaken the commission. They set him on an ass, and were conducting
+him towards the city, when he was met on the road by Herod and his
+father Nicetes, who took him into their chariot, and endeavored to
+persuade him to a little compliance, saying: "What harm is there in
+saying Lord Cæsar, or even in sacrificing, to escape death?" By the word
+Lord was meant nothing less than a kind of deity or godhead. The bishop
+at first was silent, in imitation of our Saviour: but being pressed, he
+gave them this resolute answer: "I shall never do what you desire of
+me." At these words, taking off the mask of friendship and compassion,
+they treated him with scorn and reproaches, and thrust him out of the
+chariot with such violence, that his leg was bruised by the fall. The
+holy man went forward cheerfully to the place where the people were
+assembled. Upon his entering it, a voice from heaven was heard by many:
+"Polycarp, be courageous, and act manfully."[9] He was led directly to
+the tribunal of the proconsul, who exhorted him to respect his own age,
+to swear by the genius of Cæsar, and to say: "Take away the impious,"
+meaning the Christians. The saint turning towards the people in the pit,
+said, with a stern countenance: "Exterminate the wicked," meaning by
+this expression either a wish that they might cease to be wicked by
+their conversion to the faith of Christ: or this was a prediction of the
+calamity which befell their city in 177, when Smyrna was overturned by
+an earthquake, as we read in Dion[10] and Aristides.[11] The proconsul
+repeated: "Swear by the genius of Cæsar, and I discharge you; blaspheme
+Christ." Polycarp replied: "I have served him these fourscore and six
+years, and he never did me any harm, but much good; and how can I
+blaspheme my King and my Saviour? If you require of me to swear by the
+genius of Cæsar, as you call it, hear my free confession: I am a
+Christian; but if you desire to learn the Christian religion, appoint a
+time, and hear me." The proconsul said: "Persuade the people." The
+martyr replied: "I addressed my discourse to you; for we are taught to
+give due honor to princes as far as is consistent with religion. But the
+populace is an incompetent judge to justify myself before." Indeed, rage
+rendered them incapable of hearing him.
+
+The proconsul then assuming a tone of severity, said: "I have wild
+beasts:" "Call for them," replied the saint: "for we are unalterably
+resolved not to change from good to evil. It is only good to pass from
+evil to good." The proconsul said: "If you contemn the beasts, I will
+cause you to be burnt to ashes." Polycarp answered: "You threaten me
+with a fire which burns for a short time, and then goes out; but are
+yourself ignorant of the {227} judgment to come, and of the fire of
+everlasting torments which is prepared for the wicked. Why do you delay?
+Bring against me what you please." While he said thus and many other
+things, he appeared in a transport of joy and confidence, and his
+countenance shone with a certain heavenly grace, and pleasant
+cheerfulness, insomuch that the proconsul himself was struck with
+admiration. However, he ordered a crier to make public proclamation
+three times it the middle of the Stadium, (as was the Roman custom in
+capital cases:) "Polycarp hath confessed himself a Christian."[12] At
+this proclamation the whole multitude of Jews and Gentiles gave a great
+shout, the latter crying out: "This is the great teacher of Asia; the
+father of the Christians; the destroyer of our gods, who preaches to men
+not to sacrifice to or adore them." They applied to Philip the
+Asiarch,[13] to let loose a lion upon Polycarp. He told them that it was
+not in his power, because those shows had been closed. Then they
+unanimously demanded that he should be burnt alive. Their request was no
+sooner granted, but every one ran with all speed to fetch wood from the
+baths and shops. The Jews were particularly active and busy on this
+occasion. The pile being prepared, Polycarp put off his garments, untied
+his girdle, and began to take off his shoes; an office he had not been
+accustomed to, the Christians having always striven who should do these
+things for him, regarding it as a happiness to be admitted to touch him.
+The wood and other combustibles were heaped all round him. The
+executioners would have nailed him to the stake; but he said to them:
+"Suffer me to be as I am. He who gives me grace to undergo this fire,
+will enable me to stand still without that precaution." They therefore
+contented themselves with tying his hands behind his back, and in this
+posture, looking up towards heaven, he prayed as follows: "O Almighty
+Lord God, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we
+have received the knowledge of thee, God of angels, powers, and every
+creature, and of all the race of the just that live in thy presence! I
+bless thee for having been pleased in thy goodness to bring me to this
+hour, that I may receive a portion in the number of thy martyrs, and
+partake of the chalice of thy Christ, for the resurrection to eternal
+life, in the incorruptibleness of the holy Spirit. Amongst whom grant me
+to be received this day as a pleasing sacrifice, such an one as thou
+thyself hast prepared, that so thou mayest accomplish what thou, O true
+and faithful God! hast foreshown. Wherefore, for all things I praise,
+bless, and glorify thee, through the eternal high priest Jesus Christ
+thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee and the Holy Ghost be glory now and
+for ever. Amen." He had scarce said Amen, when fire was set to the pile,
+which increased to a mighty flame. But behold a wonder, say the authors
+of these acts, seen by us, reserved to attest it to others; the flames
+forming themselves into an arch, like the sails of a ship swelled with
+the wind, gently encircled the body of the martyr, which stood in the
+middle, resembling not roasted flesh, but purified gold or silver,
+appearing bright through the flames; and his body sending forth such a
+fragrancy, that we seemed to smell precious spices. The blind infidels
+were only exasperated to see his body could not be consumed, and ordered
+a spearman to pierce him through, which he did, and such a quantity of
+blood issued out of his left side as to quench the fire.[14] The malice
+of the devil ended not here: {228} he endeavored to obstruct the relics
+of the martyr being carried off by the Christians; for many desired to
+do it, to show their respect to his body. Therefore, by the suggestion
+of Satan, Nicetes advised the proconsul not to bestow it on the
+Christians, lest, said he, abandoning the crucified man, they should
+adore Polycarp: the Jews suggested this, "Not knowing," say the authors
+of the acts, "that we can never forsake Christ, nor adore any other,
+though we love the martyrs, as his disciples and imitators, for the
+great love they bore their king and master." The centurion, seeing a
+contest raised by the Jews, placed the body in the middle, and burnt it
+to ashes. "We afterwards took up the bones," say they, "more precious
+than the richest jewels or gold, and deposited them decently in a place
+at which may God grant us to assemble with joy, to celebrate the
+birth-day of the martyr." Thus these disciples and eye-witnesses. It was
+at two o'clock in the afternoon, which the authors of the acts call the
+eighth hour, in the year 166, that St. Polycarp received his crown,
+according to Tillemont; but, in 169, according to Basnage.[15] His tomb
+is still shown with great veneration at Smyrna, in a small chapel. St.
+Irenæus speaks of St. Polycarp as being of an uncommon age.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The epistle of St. Polycarp to the Philippians, which is the only one
+among those which he wrote that has been preserved, is, even in the dead
+letter, a standing proof of the apostolic spirit with which he was
+animated, and of that profound humility, perfect meekness, burning
+charity, and holy zeal, of which his life was so admirable an example.
+The beginning is an effusion of spiritual joy and charity with which he
+was transported at the happiness of their conversion to God, and their
+fervor in divine love. His extreme abhorrence of heresy makes him
+immediately fall upon that of the Docætæ, against which he arms the
+faithful, by clearly demonstrating that Christ was truly made man, died,
+and rose again: in which his terms admirably express his most humble and
+affectionate devotion to our divine Redeemer, under these great
+mysteries of love. Besides walking in truth, he takes notice, that to be
+raised with Christ in glory, we must also do his will, keep all his
+commandments, and love whatever he loved; refraining from all fraud,
+avarice, detraction, and rash judgment; repaying evil with good,
+forgiving and showing mercy to others that we ourselves may find mercy.
+"These things," says he, "I write to you on justice, because you incited
+me; for neither I, nor any other like me, can attain to the wisdom of
+the blessed and glorious Paul, into whose epistles if you look, you may
+raise your spiritual fabric by strengthening faith, which is our mother,
+hope following, and charity towards God, Christ, and our neighbor
+preceding us. He who has charity is far from all sin." The saint gives
+short instructions to every particular state, then adds; "Every one who
+hath not confessed that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is
+antichrist;[16] and who hath not confessed the suffering of the cross,
+is of the devil; and who hath drawn the oracles of the Lord to his
+passions, and hath said that there is no resurrection nor judgment, he
+is the oldest son of Satan." He exhorts to watching always in prayer,
+lest we be led into temptation; to be constant in fasting, persevering,
+joyful in hope, and in the pledge of our justice, which is Christ {229}
+Jesus, imitating his patience; for, by suffering for his name, we
+glorify him. To encourage them to suffer, he reminds them of those who
+had suffered before their eyes: Ignatius, Zozimus, and Rufus, and some
+of their own congregation,[17] "who are now," says our saint, "in the
+place which is due to them with the Lord, with whom they also suffered."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ch. ii. v. 9.
+2.  Eus. Hist. l. 5, c. 20, p. 188.
+3.  Cat. vir. illustr. c. 17.
+4.  See also 1 John ii. 18, 22, and 2 John 10.
+5.  St. Ignatius begins his letter to the faithful at Smyrna, by
+    glorifying God for their great spiritual wisdom, saying he knew them
+    to be perfect in their unshaken faith, as men crucified with our
+    Lord Jesus in flesh and in spirit, and deeply grounded in charity by
+    the blood of Christ. He then solidly confutes the Docætæ, heretics
+    who imagined that Christ was not incarnate, and died only in
+    appearance; whom he calls demoniacs. He adds: "I give you this
+    caution, knowing that you hold the true faith, but that you may
+    stand upon your guard against these wild beasts in human shape, whom
+    you ought not to receive under your roof, nor even meet if possible;
+    and be content only to pray for them that they may be converted, if
+    it be possible; for it is very difficult; though it is in the power
+    of Jesus Christ, our true life. If Jesus Christ did all this in
+    appearance only, then I am only chained in imagination; and why have
+    I delivered myself up to death, to fire, to the sword, to beasts?
+    but who is near the sword, is near God; he who is among beasts is
+    with God. I suffer all things only in the name of Jesus Christ, that
+    I may suffer with him, he giving me strength, who was made perfectly
+    man. What does it avail me to be commended by any one, if he
+    blasphemes our Lord, not confessing him to have flesh? The whole
+    consists in faith and charity; nothing can take place before these.
+    Now consider those who maintain a false opinion of the grace of
+    Jesus Christ, how they also oppose charity; they take no care of the
+    widow, or orphan, or him who is afflicted, or pining with hunger or
+    thirst. _They abstain from the Eucharist and prayer, (says he,)
+    because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our
+    Saviour Jesus Christ, which was crucified for our sins, and which
+    the Father, by his goodness, raised again._ It is advisable for you
+    to separate yourselves from them, and neither to speak to them in
+    public or in private. Shun schisms and all discord, as the source of
+    evils. Follow your bishop as Christ his Father, and the college of
+    priests as the apostles; respect the deacons as the precept of God.
+    Let no one do any thing that belongs to the church without the
+    bishop. Let that Eucharist be regarded as lawful which is celebrated
+    by the bishop, or one commissioned by him. Wherever the bishop makes
+    his appearance, there let the people be assembled, as wherever
+    Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic church. It is not lawful to
+    baptize or celebrate the Agape without the bishop or his authority.
+    What he approves of is acceptable to God. He who does any thing
+    without the bishop's knowledge, serves the devil." The saint most
+    affectionately thanks them for the kindness they had shown him and
+    his followers; begs they will depute some person to his church in
+    Syria, to congratulate with his flock for the peace which God had
+    restored to them, adding that he was unworthy to be called a member
+    of that church of which he was the last. He asks the succor of their
+    prayers, that by them he might enjoy God. "Seeing," says he, "that
+    you are perfect, entertain perfect sentiments of virtue: for God is
+    ready to bestow on you who desire to do well." After the most tender
+    salutations of many in particular, and of all in general, especially
+    the virgins who were called widows, (_i.e._ the deaconesses, who
+    were called widows, because they were often such, though these were
+    virgins,) he closes his letter by praying for their advancement in
+    all charity, grace, mercy, peace, and patience. St. Ign. ep. ad
+    Smyrnæos, p. 872, ed. Cotel.
+
+    The apostolic St. Ignatius writes as follows, in his letter to St.
+    Polycarp. "Thy resolution in God, founded as it were upon an
+    unshaken rock, I exceedingly commend, having been made worthy of thy
+    holy face, which I pray I may enjoy in God. I conjure thee in the
+    grace with which thou art enriched, to increase thy stock in thy
+    course, and to exhort all that they may be saved. Have great care of
+    unity and concord, than which nothing is better. Bear with all men,
+    that God may bear with thee; bear all men by charity, as thou dost
+    apply thyself to prayer without interruption. Ask more perfect
+    understanding than thou hast. Watch, seeing that the spirit which
+    sleepeth not, dwelleth within thee. Speak to every one according to
+    the grace which God giveth thee. Bear the weaknesses and distemper
+    of all as a stout champion. Where the labor is greater, the gain is
+    exceeding great. If thou lovest the disciples that are good, thou
+    deservest not thanks; strive rather to subdue the wicked by
+    meekness. Every wound is not healed by the same plaster; assuage
+    inflammations by lenitives. Be not intimidated by those who seem
+    worthy of faith, yet teach things that are foreign. Stand firm, as
+    an anvil which is beaten: it is the property of a true champion to
+    be struck and to conquer. Let not the widows be neglected. Let
+    religious assemblies be most frequent. Seek out every one in them by
+    name. Despise not the slaves, neither suffer them to be puffed up;
+    but to the glory of God let them serve with greater diligence, that
+    they may obtain of God a better liberty. Let them not desire that
+    their liberty be purchased or procured for them by the congregation,
+    lest they fall under the slavery of their own passions. Fly evil
+    artifices; let them not be so much as named. Engage my sisters to
+    love the Lord, and never entertain a thought of any man but their
+    husbands. In like manner enjoin my brethren, in the name of Jesus
+    Christ, to love their wives as Christ loveth his church. If any one
+    is able to remain in a state of continency, in honor of our Lord's
+    flesh, let him be constantly humble: if he boasts, or is puffed up,
+    he is lost. Let all marriages be made by the authority of the
+    bishop, that they may be made in the Lord, not by the passions of
+    men. Let all things be done to the honor of God." Then addressing
+    himself to all the faithful at Smyrna, he writes: "Listen to your
+    bishop, that God may also hearken to you. With joy I would lay down
+    my life for those who are subject to the bishop, priests, and
+    deacons. May my portion be with them in God. Let all things be in
+    common among you: your labor, your warfare, your sufferings, your
+    rest, and your watching, as becomes the dispensers, the assessors,
+    and the servants of God. Please hi, in whose service you fight, and
+    from whom you receive your salary. Let your baptism be always your
+    weapons, faith your helmet, charity your spear, and patience your
+    complete armor. Let your good works the the treasure which you lay
+    up, that you may receive the fruit which is worthy. Bear with each
+    other in all meekness, as God bears with you. I pray that I may
+    always enjoy and rejoice in you. Because the church of Antioch by
+    our prayers now enjoys peace, I am in mind secure in God; provided
+    still that by suffering I may go to God, and be found in the
+    resurrection your servant. You will do well, O Polycarp, most
+    blessed in God, to hold an assembly, and choose a very dear person
+    fit for dispatch in a journey, who may be styled the divine
+    messenger; him honor with a commission to go to Antioch, and there
+    bear witness of the fervor of your charity. A Christian lives not
+    for himself alone, but belongs to God." The holy martyr concludes by
+    desiring St. Polycarp to write for him to the other churches of
+    Asia, he being at that moment called on board by his guards to sail
+    from Troas to Naples.
+6.  St. Iren. b. 3, c. 3. Euseb. b. 5, c. 24. S. Hieron. c. 17.
+7.  N. 1, and 4.
+8.  [Greek: To tur hên autois psuxron to tôn apathôn basanitzôn.]
+    Frigidis ipsis videbatur immanium carnificum ignis. n. 2, p. 1020.
+9.  Dr. Middleton pretends, that this voice was only heard by some few;
+    but the acts in Ruinart say, by those who were present, [Greek: hoi
+    parontes]: Eusebius says, [Greek: polloi]: Rufinus _plurimi_, very
+    many. A voice from heaven must certainly be sensibly discerned to be
+    more than human, and manifest itself sufficiently, to be perceived
+    that it could not come from the crowd.
+10. L. 71.
+11. Or. 20, 21, 22, 41.
+12. The great council of Asia seems to have been held at that time in
+    Smyrna, instead of Ephesus, which the Arundelian marbles show
+    sometimes to have been done.
+13. Or president of the public games, chosen yearly by the
+    common-council of Asia.
+14. Dr. Middleton ridicules the mention of a dove issuing out of the
+    wound of the side; but this is only found in some modern MSS. by the
+    blunder of a transcriber: it is not in Eusebius, Rufinus,
+    Nicephorus, or the Greek Menæa; though the last two would have
+    magnified a prodigy if they had found the least authority for any.
+    According to Le Moyen, (Proleg. ad varia sacra.) Ceillier, &c., the
+    true reading is [Greek: ep apisera], on the left side; which some
+    transcriber blundered into [Greek: perisera], a dove. As to the
+    foregoing miracle, that a wind should naturally divest the fire of
+    its property of burning, and form it into an arch about the body, is
+    a much more wonderful supposition of the doctor's than any miracle.
+15. St. Polycarp says himself, "That he had served Christ eighty-six
+    years." Basnage thinks he had been bishop so long, and was a hundred
+    and twenty years old when he suffered: but it is far more probable
+    that this is the term he had been a Christian, having been converted
+    in his youth, and dying about one hundred years old or upwards, as
+    Tillemont understands it.
+16. 1 John iv. 3.
+17. Some of the Philippians had seen St. Ignatius in chains, and perhaps
+    at Rome. The primitive martyrs, Zozimus and Rufus, are commemorated
+    in the Martyrologies on the 18th of December.
+
+ST. PAULA, WIDOW.
+
+This illustrious pattern of widows surpassed all other Roman ladies in
+riches, birth, and the endowments of mind. She was born on the 5th of
+May, in 347. The blood of the Scipios, the Gracchi, and Paulus Æmilius,
+was centred in her by her mother Blesilla. Her father derived his
+pedigree from Agamemnon, and her husband Toxotius his from Iulus and
+Æneas. By him she had a son called also Toxotius, and four daughters,
+namely, Blesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Rufina. She shone a bright
+pattern of virtue in the married state, and both she and her husband
+edified Rome by their good example; but her virtue was not without its
+alloy; a certain degree of the love of the world being almost
+inseparable from honors and high life. She did not discern the secret
+attachments of her heart, nor feel the weight of her own chains: she had
+neither courage to break them, nor light whereby to take a clear and
+distinct view of her spiritual poverty and misery. God, compassionating
+her weakness, was pleased in his mercy to open her eyes by violence, and
+sent her the greatest affliction that could befall her in the death of
+her husband, when she was only thirty-two years of age. Her grief was
+immoderate till such time as she was encouraged to devote herself
+totally to God, by the exhortations of her friend St. Marcella, a holy
+widow, who then edified Rome by her penitential life. Paula, thus
+excited to set aside her sorrow, erected in her heart the standard of
+the cross of Jesus Christ, and courageously resolved to walk after it.
+From that time, she never sat at table with any man, not even with any
+of the holy bishops and saints whom she entertained. She abstained from
+all flesh meat, fish, eggs, honey, and wine; used oil only on holydays;
+lay on a stone floor covered with sackcloth; renounced all visits and
+worldly amusements, laid aside all costly garments, and gave every thing
+to the poor which it was in her power to dispose of. She was careful in
+inquiring after the necessitous, and deemed it a loss on her side if any
+other hands than her own administered relief to them. It was usual with
+her to say, that she could not make a better provision for her children,
+than to secure for them by alms the blessings of heaven. Her occupation
+was prayer, pious reading, and fasting. She could not bear the
+distraction of company, which interrupted her commerce with God; and, if
+ever she sought conversation, it was with the servants of God for her
+own edification. She lodged St. Epiphanius and St. Paulinus of Antioch,
+when they came to Rome; and St. Jerom was her director in the service of
+God, during his stay in that city for two years and a half, under pope
+Damasus. Her eldest daughter Blesilla, having, in a short time after
+marriage, lost her husband, came to a resolution of forsaking the world,
+but died before she could compass her pious design. The mother felt this
+affliction too sensibly. St. Jerom, who at that time was newly arrived
+at Bethlehem, in 384, wrote to her both to comfort and reprove her.[1]
+He first condoles their common loss; but adds {230} that God is master,
+that we are bound to rejoice in his will, always holy and just, to thank
+and praise him for all things; and, above all, not to mourn for a death
+at which the angels attend, and for one who by it departs to enjoy
+Christ: and that it is only the continuation of our banishment which we
+ought to lament. "Blesilla," says he, "has received her crown, dying in
+the fervor of her resolution, in which she had purified her soul near
+four months." He adds, that Christ seemed to reproach her grief in these
+terms: "Art thou angry, O Paula! that thy daughter is made mine? Thou
+art offended at my providence, and by thy rebellious tears, thou dost
+offer an injury to me who possess her."[2] He pardons some tears in a
+mother, occasioned by the involuntary sensibility of nature; but calls
+her excess in them a scandal to religion, abounding with sacrilege and
+infidelity: adding, that Blesilla herself mourned, as far as her happy
+state would allow, to see her offend Christ, and cried out to her; "Envy
+not my glory: commit not what may forever separate us. I am not alone.
+Instead of you I have the mother of God, I have many companions whom I
+never knew before. You mourn for me because I have left the world; and I
+pity your prison and dangers in it." Paula afterwards, completing the
+victory over herself, showed herself greatly superior to this weakness.
+Her second daughter Paulina was married to St. Pammachius, and died in
+397. Eustochium, the third, was her individual companion. Rufina died
+young.
+
+The greater progress Paula made in spiritual exercises, and in the
+relish of heavenly things, the more insupportable to her was the
+tumultuous life of the city. She sighed after the deserts, longed to be
+disincumbered of attendants, and to live in a hermitage, where her heart
+would have no other occupation than on God. The thirst after so great a
+happiness made her ready to forget her house, family, riches, and
+friends; yet never did mother love her children more tenderly.[3] At the
+thought of leaving them her bowels yearned, and being in an agony of
+grief, she seemed as if she had been torn from herself. But in this she
+was the most wonderful of mothers, that while she felt in her soul the
+greatest emotions of tenderness, she knew how to keep them within due
+bounds. The strength of her faith gave her an ascendant over the
+sentiments of nature, and she even desired this cruel separation,
+bearing it with joy, out of a pure and heroic love of God. She had
+indeed taken a previous care to have all her children brought up saints;
+otherwise her design would have been unjustifiable. Being therefore
+fixed in her resolution, and having settled her affairs, she went to the
+water side, attended by her brother, relations, friends, and children,
+who all strove by their tears to overcome her constancy. Even when the
+vessel was ready to sail, her little son Toxotius, with uplifted hands
+on the shore, and bitterly weeping, begged her not to leave him. The
+rest, who were not able to speak with gushing tears, prayed her to defer
+at least her voluntary banishment. But Paula, raising her dry eyes to
+heaven, turned her face from the shore, lest she should discover what
+she could not behold without feeling the most sensible pangs of sorrow.
+She sailed first to Cyprus, where she was detained ten days by St.
+Epiphanius; and from thence to Syria. Her long journeys by land she
+performed on the backs of asses; she, who till then had been accustomed
+to be carried about by eunuchs in litters. She visited with great
+devotion all the principal places which we read to have been consecrated
+by the mysteries of the life of our divine Redeemer, as also the
+respective abodes of all the principal anchorets and holy solitaries of
+Egypt and Syria. At Jerusalem the proconsul had prepared a stately
+palace richly furnished for her reception; but excusing herself with
+regard {231} to the proffered favor, she chose to lodge in an humble
+cell. In this holy place her fervor was redoubled at the sight of each
+sacred monument, as St. Jerom describes. She prostrated herself before
+the holy cross, pouring forth her soul in love and adoration, as if she
+had beheld our Saviour still bleeding upon it. On entering the
+sepulchre, she kissed the stone which she angel removed on the occasion
+of our Lord's resurrection, and imparted many kisses full of faith and
+devotion to the place where the body of Christ had been laid. On her
+arrival at Bethlehem, she entered the cave or stable in which the
+Saviour of the world was born, and she saluted the crib with tears of
+joy, crying out; "I, a miserable sinner, am made worthy to kiss the
+manger, in which my Lord was pleased to be laid an infant babe weeping
+for me! This is my dwelling-place, because it was the country chosen by
+my Lord for himself."
+
+After her journeys of devotion, in which she distributed immense alms,
+she settled at Bethlehem with her daughter Eustochium, under the
+direction of St. Jerom. The three first years she spent there in a poor
+little house; but in the mean time she took care to have a hospital
+built on the road to Jerusalem, as also a monastery for St. Jerom and
+his monks, whom she maintained; besides three monasteries for women,
+which properly made but one house, for all assembled in the same chapel
+to perform together the divine service day and night; and on Sundays in
+the church that was adjoining. At prime, tierce, sext, none, vespers,
+complin, and the midnight office, they daily sung the whole psalter,
+which every sister was obliged to know by heart. Their food was very
+coarse and temperate, their fasts frequent and austere. All the sisters
+worked with their hands, and made clothes for themselves and others. All
+wore the same uniform poor habit, and used no linen except for the
+wiping of their hands. No man was ever suffered to set a foot within
+their doors. Paula governed them with a charity full of discretion,
+animating them in the practice of every virtue by her own example and
+instructions, being always the first, or among the first, in every duty;
+sharing with her daughter Eustochium in all the drudgery and meanest
+offices of the house, and appearing everywhere as the last of her
+sisters. She severely reprimanded a studied neatness in dress, which she
+called an uncleanness of the mind. If any one was found talkative, or
+angry, she was separated from the rest, ordered to walk the last in
+order, to pray at the outside of the door, and for some time to eat
+alone. The holy abbess was so tender of the sick, that she sometimes
+allowed them to eat flesh-meat, but would not admit of the same
+indulgence in her own ailments, nor even allow herself a drop of wine in
+the water she drank. She extended her love of poverty to her buildings
+and churches, ordering them all to be built low, and without any thing
+costly or magnificent; she said that money is better laid out on the
+poor, who are the living members of Christ. She wept so bitterly for the
+smallest faults, that others would have thought her guilty of grievous
+crimes. Under an overflow of natural grief for the death of her
+children, she made frequent signs of the cross on her mouth and breast
+to overcome nature, and remained always perfectly resigned in her soul
+to the will of God. Her son Toxotius married Læta, daughter to a priest
+of the idols, but, as to herself, she was a most virtuous Christian.
+Both were faithful imitators of the sanctity of our saint. Their
+daughter, Paula the younger, was sent to Bethlehem. to be under the care
+of her grandmother, whom she afterwards succeeded in the government of
+that monastery. St. Jerom wrote to Læta some excellent lessons[4] for
+the education of this girl, which parents can never read too often. Our
+saint lived {232} fifty-six years and eight months, of which she had
+spent in her widowhood five at Rome, and almost twenty at Bethlehem. In
+her last illness, but especially in her agony, she repeated almost
+without intermission certain verses of the psalms, which express an
+ardent desire of the heavenly Jerusalem, and of being united to God.
+When she was no longer able to speak, she formed the sign of the cross
+on her lips, and expired in the most profound peace, on the 26th of
+January, 404. Her corpse, carried by bishops, and attended with lighted
+wax torches, was interred on the 28th of the same month, in the midst of
+the church of the holy manger. Her tomb is still shown in the same
+place, near that of St. Jerom, but empty: even the Latin epitaph which
+St. Jerom composed in verse, and caused to be engraved on her tomb, is
+erased or removed, though extant in the end of this letter which he
+addressed to her daughter. Her relics are said to be in the possession
+of the metropolitical church at Sens, and the feast of St. Paula is kept
+a holiday of precept in that city on the 27th of January; on which day
+her name is placed by Ado, Usuard, &c., because she died on the 26th,
+after sunset, and the Jews in Palestine began the day from sunset: but
+her name occurs on the 26th in the Roman Martyrology, &c. See her life
+in St. Jerom's letter to her daughter, called her epitaph, ep. 86, &c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ep. 22, ol. 54.
+2.  Rebellibus lachrymis injurian facis possidenti.
+3.  Nulla sic amabat filios, &c. St. Heir {} epitaph. Paulæ.
+4.  Ep. 57, ol. 7.
+
+ST. CONON, BISHOP OF THE ISLE OF MAN.
+
+IF we can give credit to some lives of St. Fiaker, and the old breviary
+of Limoges, that saint was son of Eusenius, king of Scotland, and by his
+father committed in his childhood, with his two brothers, to the care of
+St. Conon, from which saintly education he received that ardent love and
+perfect spirit of piety, by which he was distinguished during the whole
+course of his life. Conon, by the purity and fervor in which he served
+God, was a saint from his infancy. The Isle of Man, which was a famous
+ancient seat of the Druids, is said to have received the seeds of the
+Christian faith by the zeal of St. Patrick. St. Conon, passing thither
+from Scotland, completed that great work, and is said to have been made
+bishop of Man, or of Sodor, supposed by these authors to have been
+anciently, a town in this island. This bishopric was soon after united
+with that of the Hebrides or the Western islands, which see was fixed in
+the isle of Hi, Iona or Y-colmkille. St. Conon died in the isle of Man,
+about the year 648. His name continued, to the change of religion, in
+great veneration throughout the Hebrides, or islands on the West of
+Scotland.[1] On St. Conon, see Leslie, Hist. of Scotland, &c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1. In some few of these islands, the laird and all the inhabitants
+remain still Catholics; as Banbecuis, under Ranal Mac Donald;
+South-Vist, under Alan Mac Donald of Moydart, whose ancestors were once
+kings of these islands; Barry under Mac Neil; Canny, and Egg, and some
+others. In many others there are long since no Catholics, as in Lewis,
+North-Vist, Harries, St. Kilda, &c. See the latest edition of the
+Present State of England and bishop Leslie's nephew, in his MS. account,
+&c.
+
+{233}
+
+
+JANUARY XXVII.
+
+ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM,
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH.
+
+From Socrates, Theodoret, and other historians: as also from the saint's
+works; and his life, written by way of dialogue, with great fidelity, by
+his friend and strenuous advocate Palladius, a holy bishop, but a
+distinct person from Palladius the bishop of Helenopolis and author of
+the Lausiac history, who was then young, and is evidently distinguished
+by this writer in many places, as Tillemont, Montfaucon, and Stilting
+show against Baillet and others; though also Palladius, bishop of
+Helenopolis, exerted himself in defence of St. Chrysostom. Palladius,
+author of the Dialogue on the life of St. Chrysostom, was never accused
+of Origenism except by those who, at least in the proofs alleged for
+this charge, confounded him with the bishop of Helenopolis. F. Stilting
+clears also the latter from the charge of Origenism, and answers the
+arguments produced by Baronius against him. Comm. Hist. §1, p. 404. The
+later Greek panegyrists, George, patriarch of Alexandria, in 620, the
+emperor Leo the Wise, in 890, &c., deserve very little notice. See the
+life of our saint compiled by Dom Montfaucon. Op. t. 13. And lastly, the
+accurate commentary on his life given by F. Stilting the Bollandist, on
+the 14th of September, from p. 401 to 709, t. 4.
+
+A.D. 407.
+
+THIS incomparable doctor, on account of the fluency and sweetness of his
+eloquence, obtained soon after his death the surname of Chrysostom, or
+Golden Mouth, which we find given him by St. Ephrem of Antioch,
+Theodoret, and Cassiodorus. But his tender piety, and his undaunted
+courage and zeal in the cause of virtue, are titles far more glorious,
+by which he holds an eminent place among the greatest pastors and saints
+of the church. About the year 344, according to F. Stilting, Antioch,
+the capital city of the East, was ennobled by his illustrious birth. He
+had one elder sister, and was the only son and heir of Secundus, master
+of the horse, that is, chief commander of the imperial troops in Syria.
+His mother, Anthusa, left a widow at twenty years of age, continued such
+the remainder of her life, dividing her time between the care of her
+family and the exercises of devotion. Her example in this respect made
+such an impression on our saint's master, a celebrated pagan sophist,
+that he could not forbear crying out, "What wonderful women have the
+Christians!"[1] She managed the estate of her children with great
+prudence and frugality, knowing this to be part of her duty to God, but
+she was sensible that their spiritual instruction in virtue was of
+infinitely greater importance. From their cradle she instilled into them
+the most perfect maxims of piety, and contempt of the world. The ancient
+Romans dreaded nothing more in the education of youth, than their being
+ill taught the first principles of the sciences; it being more difficult
+to unlearn the errors then imbibed, than to begin on a mere tabula rasa,
+or blank paper. Wherefore Anthusa provided her son the ablest masters in
+every branch of literature, which the empire at that time afforded.
+Eloquence was esteemed the highest accomplishment, especially among the
+nobility, and was the surest means of raising men to the first dignities
+in the state. John studied that art under Libanius, the most famous
+orator of that age; and such was his proficiency, that even in his youth
+he excelled his masters. Libanius being asked by his pagan friends on
+his death-bed, about the year 390, who should succeed him in his school:
+"John," said he, "had not the Christians stolen him from us."[2] Our
+saint was then priest. While he was only a scholar, that sophist one day
+read to an assembly of orators a declamation composed by him, and it was
+received with unusual tokens {234} of admiration and applause. Libanius
+pronounced the young orator happy, "as were also the emperors," he said,
+"who reigned at a time when the world was possessed of so great a
+treasure."[3] The progress of the young scholar in philosophy, under
+Andragatius, was no less rapid and surprising; his genius shone in every
+disputation. All this time his principal care was to study Christ, and
+to learn his spirit. He laid a solid foundation of virtue, by a perfect
+humility, self-denial, and a complete victory over himself. Though
+naturally hot and inclined to anger, he had extinguished all emotions of
+passion in his breast.[4] His modesty, meekness, tender charity, and
+singular discretion, rendered him the delight of all he conversed with.
+
+The first dignities of the empire were open to John. But his principal
+desire was to dedicate himself to God, without reserve, in holy
+solitude. However, not being yet twenty years of age, he for some time
+pleaded at the bar. In that employment he was drawn by company into the
+diversions of the world, and sometimes assisted at the entertainments of
+the stage. His virtue was in imminent danger of splitting against that
+fatal rock, when God opened his eyes. He was struck with horror at the
+sight of the precipice upon the brink of which he stood; and not content
+to flee from it himself, he never ceased to bewail his blindness, and
+took every occasion to caution the faithful against that lurking place
+of hellish sirens, but more particularly in his vehement sermons against
+the stage. Alarmed at the danger he had narrowly escaped, full of
+gratitude to God his deliverer, and to prevent the like danger for the
+time to come, he was determined to carry his resolution of renouncing
+the world into immediate execution. He began by the change of his garb,
+to rid himself the more easily of the importunities of friends: for a
+penitential habit is not only a means for preserving a spirit of
+mortification and humility, but is also a public sign and declaration to
+the world, that a person has turned his back on its vanities, and is
+engaged in an irreconcilable war against them. His clothing was a coarse
+gray coat: he watched much, fasted every day, and spent the greater part
+of his time in prayer and meditation on the holy scriptures: his bed was
+no other than the hard floor. In subduing his passions, he found none of
+so difficult a conquest as vain-glory;[5] this enemy he disarmed by
+embracing every kind of public humiliation. The clamors of his old
+friends and admirers, who were incensed at his leaving them, and pursued
+him with their invectives and censures, were as arrows shot at random.
+John took no manner of notice of them: he rejoiced in contempt, and
+despised the frowns of a world whose flatteries he dreaded: Christ
+crucified was the only object of his heart, and nothing could make him
+look back after he had put his hand to the plough. And his progress in
+virtue was answerable to his zealous endeavors.
+
+St. Meletius, bishop of Antioch, called the young ascetic to the service
+of the church, gave him suitable instructions, during three years, in
+his own palace, and ordained him Reader. John had learned the art of
+silence, in his retirement, with far greater application than he had
+before studied that of speaking. This he discovered when he appeared
+again in the world, though no man ever possessed a greater fluency of
+speech, or a more ready and enchanting eloquence, joined with the most
+solid judgment and a rich fund of knowledge and good sense; yet in
+company he observed a modest silence, and regarded talkativeness as an
+enemy to the interior recollection of the heart, as a source of many
+sins and indiscretions, and as a mark of vanity and self-conceit. He
+heard the words of the wise with the humble docility of a scholar, and
+he bore the impertinence, trifles, and blunders of {235} fools in
+discourse, not to interrupt the attention of his soul to God, or to make
+an ostentatious show of his eloquence or science: yet with spiritual
+persons he conversed freely on heavenly things, especially with a pious
+friend named Basil, one of the same age and inclinations with himself,
+who had been his most beloved school-fellow, and who forsook the world
+to embrace a monastic life, a little before our saint. After three
+years, he left the bishop's house to satisfy the importunities of his
+mother, but continued the same manner of life in her house, during the
+space of two years. He still saw frequently his friend Basil, and he
+prevailed on two of his school-fellows under Libanius to embrace an
+ascetic life; Theodorus, afterwards bishop of Mopsuestia, and Maximus,
+bishop of Seleucia. The former returned in a short time to the bar, and
+fell in love with a young lady called Hermione. John lamented his fall
+with bitter tears before God, and brought him back to his holy institute
+by two tender and pathetic exhortations to penance, "which breathe an
+eloquence above the power of what seems merely human," says Sozomen. Not
+long after, hearing that the bishops of the province were assembled at
+Antioch, and deliberated to raise him and Basil to the episcopal
+dignity, he privately withdrew, and lay hid till the vacant sees were
+filled. Basil was made bishop of Raphanæa near Antioch; and had no other
+resource in his grief for his promotion, but in tears and complaints
+against his friend who had betrayed him into so perilous a charge. John,
+being then twenty-six years old, wrote to him in his own justification
+six incomparable books, Of the Priesthood.
+
+Four years after, in 374, he retired into the mountains near Antioch,
+among certain holy anchorets who peopled them, and whose manner of life
+is thus described by our saint:[6] They devoted all the morning to
+prayer, pious reading, and meditating on the holy scriptures. Their food
+was bread with a little salt; some added oil, and those who were very
+weak, a few herbs or pulse; no one ever ate before sunset. After the
+refection it was allowed to converse with one another, but only on
+heavenly things. They always closed their night-prayers with the
+remembrance of the last judgment, to excite themselves to a constant
+watchfulness and preparation; which practice St. Chrysostom earnestly
+recommends to all Christians with the evening examination.[7] These
+monks had no other bed than a mat spread on the bare ground. Their
+garments were made of the rough hair of goats or camels, or of old
+skins, and such as the poorest beggars would not wear, though some of
+them were of the richest families, and had been tenderly brought up.
+They wore no shoes; no one possessed any thing as his own; even their
+poor necessaries were all in common. They inherited their estates only
+to distribute them among the poor; and on them, and in hospitality to
+strangers, they bestowed all the spare profits of their work. They all
+used the same food, wore a uniform habit, and by charity were all one
+heart. The cold words mine and thine, the baneful source of lawsuits and
+animosities among men, were banished from their cells. They rose at the
+first crowing of the cock, that is, at midnight, being called up by the
+superior; and after the morning hymns and psalms, that is, matins and
+lauds, all remained in their private cells, where they read the holy
+scriptures, and some copied books. All met in the church at the
+canonical hours of tierce, sext, none, and vespers, but returned to
+their cells, none being allowed to speak, to jest, or to be one moment
+idle. The time which others spend a table, or in diversions, they
+employed in honoring God; even their meal took up very little time, and
+after a short sleep, (according to the custom of hot countries,) {236}
+they resumed their exercises, conversing not with men but with God, with
+the prophets and apostles in their writings and pious meditation; and
+spiritual things were the only subject of their entertainment. For
+corporal exercise they employed themselves in some mean manual labor,
+such as entertained them in humility, and could not inspire vanity or
+pride: they made baskets, tilled and watered the earth, hewed wood,
+attended the kitchen, washed the feet of all strangers, and waited on
+them without distinction, whether they were rich or poor. The saint
+adds, that anger, jealousy, envy, grief, and anxiety for worldly goods
+and concerns, were unknown in these poor cells; and he assures us, that
+the constant peace, joy, and pleasure which reigned in them, were as
+different from the bitterness and tumultuous scenes of the most
+brilliant worldly felicity, as the security and calmness of the most
+agreeable harbor are, from the dangers and agitation of the most
+tempestuous ocean. Such was the rule of these cenobites, or monks who
+lived in community. There were also hermits on the same mountains who
+lay on ashes, wore sackcloth, and shut themselves up in frightful
+caverns, practising more extraordinary austerities. Our saint was at
+first apprehensive that he should find it an insupportable difficulty to
+live without fresh bread, use the same stinking oil for his food and for
+his lamp, and inure his body to hard labor under so great
+austerities.[8] But by courageously despising this apprehension, in
+consequence of a resolution to spare nothing by which he might learn
+perfectly to die to himself; he found the difficulty entirely to vanish
+in the execution. Experience shows that in such undertakings, the
+imagination is alarmed not so much by realities as phantoms, which
+vanish before a courageous heart which can look them in the face with
+contempt. Abbot Rancé, the reformer of la Trappe, found more difficulty
+in the thought of rising without a fire in winter, in the beginning of
+his conversion, than he did in the greatest severities which he
+afterwards practised. St. Chrysostom passed four years under the conduct
+of a veteran Syrian monk, and afterwards two years in a cave as a
+hermit. The dampness of this abode brought on him a dangerous distemper,
+and for the recovery of his health he was obliged to return into the
+city. By this means he was restored to the service of the church in 381,
+for the benefit of innumerable souls. He was ordained deacon by St.
+Meletius that very year, and priest by Flavian in 386, who at the same
+time constituted him his vicar and preacher, our saint being then in the
+forty-third year of his age.[9] He discharged all the duties of that
+arduous station during twelve {237} years, being the hand and the eye of
+his bishop, and his mouth to his flock. The instruction and care of the
+poor he regarded as his first obligation: this he always made his
+favorite employment and his delight. He never ceased in his sermons to
+recommend their cause and the precept of alms deeds to the people.
+Antioch, he supposed, contained at that time one hundred thousand
+Christian souls: all these he fed with the word of God, preaching
+several days in the week, and frequently several times on the same day.
+He confounded the Jews and Pagans, also the Anomæans, and other
+heretics. He abolished the most inveterate abuses, repressed vice, and
+changed the whole face of that great city. It seemed as if nothing could
+withstand the united power of his eloquence, zeal, and piety.
+
+Theodosius I., finding himself obliged to levy a new tax on his
+subjects, on occasion of his war with Maximus, who had usurped the
+Western empire in 387, the populace of Antioch, provoked at the demand,
+mutinied, and discharged their rage on the emperor's statue, those of
+his father, his two sons, and his late consort, Flavilla, dragged them
+with ropes through the streets, and then broke them to pieces. The
+magistrates durst not oppose the rabble in their excesses. But as soon
+as their fury was over, and that they began to reflect on what they had
+been guilty of, and the natural consequences of their extravagances,
+they were all seized with such terror and consternation, that many
+abandoned the city, others absconded, and scarce any durst appear
+publicly in the streets. The magistrates in the mean time were filling
+the prisons with citizens, in order to their trials, on account of their
+respective share in the combustion. Their fears were heightened on the
+arrival of two officers dispatched from Constantinople to execute the
+emperor's orders with regard to the punishment of the rioters. The
+reports which were spread abroad on this occasion imported, that the
+emperor would cause the guilty to be burned alive, would confiscate
+their estates, and level the city with the ground. The consternation
+alone was a greater torment than the execution itself could have been.
+Flavian, notwithstanding his very advanced age, and though his sister
+was dying when he left her, set out without delay in a very severe
+season of the year, to implore {238} the emperor's clemency in favor of
+his flock. Being come to the palace, and admitted into the emperor's
+presence, he no sooner perceived that prince but he stopped at a
+distance, holding down his head, covering his face, and speaking only by
+his tears, as though himself had been guilty. Thus he remained for some
+time. The emperor seeing him in this condition, carrying, as it were,
+the weight of the public guilt in his breast, instead of employing harsh
+reproaches, as Flavian might naturally have expected, summed up the many
+favors he had conferred on that city, and said at the conclusion of each
+article: "Is this the acknowledgment I had reason to expect? Is this
+their return for my love? What cause of complaint had they against me?
+Had I ever injured them? But granting that I had, what can they allege
+for extending their insolence even to the dead? Had they received any
+wrong from them? Why were they to be insulted too? What tenderness have
+I not shown on all occasions for their city? Is it not notorious that I
+have given it the preference in my love and esteem to all others, even
+to that which gave me birth? Did not I always express a longing desire
+to see it, and that it gave the highest satisfaction to think I should
+soon be in a condition of taking a journey for this purpose?"
+
+Then the holy bishop, being unable to bear such stinging reproaches or
+vindicate their conduct, made answer: "We acknowledge, Sir, that you
+have on all occasions favored us with the greatest demonstrations of
+your singular affection; and this it is that enhances both our crime and
+our grief, that we should have carried our ingratitude to such a pitch
+as to have offended our best friend and greatest benefactor: hence,
+whatever punishment you may inflict upon us, it will still fall short of
+what we deserve. But alas! the evil we have done ourselves is worse than
+innumerable deaths: for what can be more afflicting than to live, in the
+judgment of all mankind, guilty of the blackest ingratitude, and to see
+ourselves deprived of your sweet and gracious protection, which was our
+bulwark. We dare not look any man in the face; no, not the sun itself.
+But as great as our misery is, it is not irremediable; for it is in your
+power to remove it. Great affronts among private men have often been the
+occasion of great charity. When the devil's envy had destroyed man,
+God's mercy restored him. That wicked spirit, jealous of our city's
+happiness, has plunged her into this abyss of evils, out of which you
+alone can rescue her. It is your affection, I dare say it, which has
+brought them upon us, by exciting the jealousy of the wicked spirits
+against us. But, like God himself, you may draw infinite good out of the
+evil which they intended us. If you spare us, you are revenged on them.
+
+"Your clemency on this occasion will be more honorable to you than your
+most celebrated victories. It will adorn your head with a far brighter
+diadem than that which you wear, as it will be the fruit only of your
+own virtue. Your statues have been thrown down: if you pardon this
+insult, you will raise yourself others, not of marble or brass, which
+time destroys, but such as will exist eternally in the hearts of all
+those who will hear of this action. Your predecessor, Constantine the
+Great, when importuned by his courtiers to exert his vengeance on some
+seditious people that had disfigured his statues by throwing stones at
+them, did nothing more than stroke his face with his hand, and told
+them, smiling, that he did not feel himself hurt. This his saying is yet
+in the mouths of all men, and a more illustrious trophy to his memory
+than all the cities which he built, than all the barbarous nations which
+he subdued. Remember your own memorable saying, when you ordered the
+prisons to be opened, and the criminals to be pardoned at the feast of
+Easter: 'Would to God I were able in the same manner to open the graves,
+and restore the dead to life!' That time is now come. {239} Here is a
+city whose inhabitants are already dead; and is, as it were, at the
+gates of its sepulchre. Raise it then, as it is in your power to do,
+without cost or labor. A word will suffice. Suffer it by your clemency
+to be still named among the living cities. It will then owe more to you
+than to its very founder. He built it small, you will raise it great and
+populous. To have preserved it from being destroyed by barbarians would
+not have been so great an exploit, as to spare it on such an occasion as
+now offers.
+
+"Neither is the preservation of an illustrious city the only thing to be
+considered; your own glory, and, above all, the honor of the Christian
+religion, are highly interested in this affair. The Jews and Pagans, all
+barbarous nations, nay, the whole world, have their eyes fixed on you at
+this critical juncture; all are waiting for the judgment you will
+pronounce. If it be favorable, they will be filled with admiration, and
+will agree to praise and worship that God, who checks the anger of those
+who acknowledge no master upon earth, and who can transform men into
+angels; they will embrace that religion which teaches such sublime
+morality. Listen not to those who will object that your clemency on this
+occasion may be attended with, and give encouragement to the like
+disorders in other cities. That could only happen, if you spared for
+want of a power to chastise: but whereas you do not divest yourself, by
+such an act of clemency, of this power, and as by it you endear and
+rivet yourself the more in the affections of your subjects, this,
+instead of encouraging such insults and disorders, will rather the more
+effectually prevent them. Neither immense sums of money, nor innumerable
+armies, could ever have gained you so much the hearts of your subjects
+and their prayers for your person and empire, as will this single
+action. And if you stand fair for being such a gainer from men, what
+rewards may you not reasonably expect from God? It is easy for a master
+to punish, but rare and difficult to pardon.
+
+"It will be extremely glorious to you to have granted this pardon at the
+request of a minister of the Lord, and it will convince the world of
+your piety, in that you overlooked the unworthiness of his person, and
+respected only the power and authority of that Master who sent him. For
+though deputed immediately by the inhabitants of Antioch to deprecate
+your just displeasure on this occasion, it is not only in their name
+that I appear in this place, for I am come from the sovereign Lord of
+men and angels to declare to you in his name, that, if you pardon men
+their faults, he will forgive you your sins. Call to mind then that
+dreadful day on which we shall all be summoned to give in an account of
+all our actions. Reflect on your having it now in your power, without
+pain or labor, to efface your sins, and to find mercy at that terrible
+tribunal. You are about to pronounce your own sentence. Other
+ambassadors bring gold, silver, and other like presents, but as for me,
+I offer nothing but the law of God, and entreat you to imitate his
+example on the cross." He concluded his harangue by assuring the emperor
+that if he refused to pardon the city, he would never more return to it,
+nor look upon that city as his country, which a prince of his humane
+disposition could not prevail upon himself to pardon.
+
+This discourse had its desired effect on the emperor, who with much
+difficulty suppressed his tears while the bishop spoke, whom he answered
+in these few words: "If Jesus Christ, the Lord of all things, vouchsafed
+to pardon and pray for those very men that crucified him, ought I to
+hesitate to pardon them who have offended me? I, who am but a mortal man
+like them, and a servant of the same Master." The patriarch, overjoyed
+at his success, prostrated himself at the emperor's feet, wishing him a
+reward for such an action suitable to its merit. And whereas the prelate
+made an offer of passing the feast of Easter with the emperor at
+Constantinople, he, to {240} testify how sincerely he was reconciled to
+the city of Antioch, urged his immediate return, saying: "Go, Father,
+delay not a moment the consolation your people will receive at your
+return, by communicating to them the assurances of the pardon I grant
+them; I know they must be in great affliction." The bishop set out
+accordingly; but, to delay as little as possible the joy of the
+citizens, he dispatched a courier before him with the emperor's letter
+of pardon, which produced a comfortable change in the face of affairs.
+The bishop himself arrived time enough before Easter to keep that
+solemnity with his people. The joy and triumph of that city could not be
+greater; it is elegantly described by St. Chrysostom, extolling above
+all things the humility and modesty of Flavian, who attributed the whole
+change of Theodosius's mind, and all the glory of the action, to God
+alone. The discourse which Flavian addressed to the emperor, except the
+introduction, had been composed by St. Chrysostom, who recited it to the
+people to comfort them, and ceased not strongly to exhort them to
+penance, and the fervent exercise of good works, during the whole time
+of their bishop's absence.[10] After this storm our saint continued his
+labors with unwearied zeal, and was the honor, the delight, and the
+darling not of Antioch only but of all the East, and his reputation
+spread itself over the whole empire.[11] But God was pleased to call him to
+glorify his name on a new theatre, where he prepared for his virtue
+other trials, and other crowns.
+
+St. Chrysostom had been five years deacon, and twelve years priest, when
+Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople, dying in 397, the emperor Arcadius,
+at the suggestion of Eutropius the eunuch, his chamberlain, resolved to
+procure the election of our saint to the patriarchate of that city. He
+therefore dispatched a secret order to the count of the East, enjoining
+him to send John to Constantinople, but by some stratagem; lest his
+intended removal, if known at Antioch, should cause a sedition, and be
+rendered impracticable. The count repaired to Antioch, and desiring the
+saint to accompany him out of the city to the tombs of the martyrs, on
+the pretence of devotion, he there delivered him into the hands of an
+officer sent on purpose, who, taking him into his chariot, conveyed him
+with all possible speed to the imperial city. Theophilus, patriarch of
+Alexandria, a man of a proud and turbulent spirit, was come thither to
+recommend a creature of his own to that dignity. He endeavored by
+illegal practices secretly to traverse the canonical promotion of our
+saint; but was detected, and threatened to be accused in a synod.
+Whereupon he was glad to desist from his intrigues, and thus John was
+consecrated by him on the 26th of February, in 398.[12] In regulating
+his own conduct and his domestic concerns, he retrenched all the great
+expenses which his predecessors had entailed on their dignity, which he
+looked upon as superfluous, and an excessive prodigality, and these sums
+he applied to the relief of the poor, especially of the sick. For this
+purpose he erected and maintained several numerous hospitals, under the
+government of holy and charitable priests, and was very careful that all
+the servants and attendants were persons of great virtue, tenderness,
+compassion, and prudence. His own family being settled in good order,
+the next thing he took in hand after his promotion was the reformation
+of his clergy. This he forwarded by zealous exhortations and proper
+rules for their conduct, tending both to their sanctification and
+exemplarity. And to give these his endeavors their due force, he lived
+an exact model of what he inculcated to others: but his zeal exasperated
+the tepid part of that order, and raised a storm against himself. The
+immodesty {241} of women in their dress in that gay capital excited in
+him sentiments of the most just abhorrence and indignation. Some young
+ladies seemed to have forgot that clothing is the covering of the
+ignominy of sin, and ought to be an instrument of penance, and a motive
+of confusion and tears, not of vanity. But the exhortations of St.
+Chrysostom moved many to despise and lay aside the use of purple, silks,
+and jewels. It was a far more intolerable scandal that some neglected to
+cover their necks, or used such thin veils as served only to invite the
+eyes of others more boldly. Our saint represented to such persons that
+they were in some respects worse than public prostitutes: for these hide
+their baits at home only for the wicked: "but you," said he, "carry your
+snare everywhere, and spread your nets publicly in all places. You
+allege, that you never invited others to sin. You did not by your
+tongue, but you have done it by your dress and deportment more
+effectually than you could by your voice: when you have made another to
+sin in his heart, how can you be innocent? You sharpened and drew the
+sword: you gave the thrust by which the soul is wounded.[13] Tell me,
+whom does the world condemn? whom do judges punish? Those who drink the
+poison, or those who prepare and give the fatal draught? You have
+mingled the execrable cup; you have administered the potion of death:
+you are so much more criminal than poisoners, as the death which you
+cause is the more terrible; for you murder not the body, but the soul.
+Nor do you do this to enemies; nor compelled by necessity, nor provoked
+by any injury; but out of a foolish vanity and pride. You sport
+yourselves in the ruin of the souls of others, and make their spiritual
+death your pastime." Hence he infers, how false and absurd their excuse
+is in saying, they mean no harm. These and many other scandals he
+abolished. He suppressed the wicked custom of swearing, first at
+Antioch, then at Constantinople. By the invincible power of his
+eloquence and zeal he tamed the fiercest sinners, and changed them into
+meek lambs: he converted an incredible number of idolaters and
+heretics.[14] His mildness towards sinners was censured by the
+Novatians; he invited them to repentance with the compassion of the most
+tender father, and was accustomed to cry out: "If you are fallen a
+second time, or even a thousand times into sin, come to me and you shall
+be healed."[15] But he was firm and severe in maintaining discipline,
+though without harshness; to impenitent sinners he was inflexible. To
+mention one instance of the success of his holy zeal out of the many
+which his sermons furnish; in the year 399, the second of his
+episcopacy, on Wednesday in Holy Week, so violent a rain fell as to
+endanger the corn, and threaten the whole produce of the country.
+Hereupon public processions were made to the church of the apostles by
+the bishop and people, to avert the scourge by imploring the
+intercession chiefly of St. Peter, St. Andrew, (who is regarded as the
+founder of the church of Byzantium,) St. Paul, and St. Timothy.[16] The
+rain ceased, but not their fears. Therefore they all crossed the
+Bosphorus to the church of SS. Peter and Paul, on the opposite side of
+the water. This danger was scarce over, when on the Friday following
+many ran to see certain horse-races, and on Holy Saturday to games
+exhibited at the theatre. The good bishop was pierced to the quick with
+grief, and on the next day, Easter-Sunday, preached a most zealous and
+eloquent sermon, Against the Games and Shows of the Theatre and Circus.
+Indignation made him not so much as mention the paschal solemnity;{242}
+but by an abrupt exordium he burst into the most vehement pathos, as
+follows: "Are these things to be borne? Can they be tolerated? I appeal
+to yourselves, be you your own judges. Thus did God expostulate with the
+Jews."[17] This exclamation he often repeated to assuage his grief. He
+put the people in mind of the sanctity of our faith; of the rigorous
+account we must give to God of all our moments, and the obligation of
+serving him incumbent on us from his benefits, who has made for us the
+heaven and earth, the sun, light, rivers, &c. The saint grieved the
+more, because, after all, they said they had done no harm, though they
+had murdered not only their own souls, but also those of their children.
+"And how will you," said he, "after this approach the holy place? How
+will you touch the heavenly food? Even now do I see you overwhelmed with
+grief, and covered with confusion. I see some striking their foreheads,
+perhaps those who have not sinned, but are moved with compassion for
+their brethren. On this account do I grieve and suffer, that the devil
+should make such a havoc in such a flock. But if you join with me, we
+will shut him out. By what means? If we seek out the wounded, and snatch
+them out of his jaws. Do not tell me their number is but small: though
+they are but ten, this is a great loss: though but five, but two, or
+only one. The shepherd leaving ninety-nine, did not return till he had
+completed his number by recovering that sheep which was lost. Do not
+say, it is only one; but remember that it is a soul for which all things
+visible were made; for which laws were given, miracles wrought, and
+mysteries effected: for which God spared not his only Son. Think how
+great a price hath been paid for this one sheep, and bring him back to
+the fold. If he neither hears your persuasions nor my exhortations, I
+will employ the authority with which God hath invested me." He proceeds
+to declare such excommunicated. The consternation and penance of the
+city made the holy pastor forbear any further censure, and to commend
+their conversion. Palladius writes that he had the satisfaction to see
+those who had been the most passionately fond of the entertainments of
+the stage and circus, moved by his sermons on that subject, entirely
+renounce those schools of the devil. God is more glorified by one
+perfect soul than by many who serve him with tepidity. Therefore, though
+every individual of his large flock was an object of his most tender
+affection and pastoral concern, those were particularly so, who had
+secluded themselves from the world by embracing a religious state of
+life, the holy virgins and nuns. Describing their method of life, he
+says:[18] Their clothing was sackcloth, and their beds only mats spread
+on the floor; that they watched part of the night in prayer, walked
+barefoot, never ate before evening, and never touched so much as bread,
+using no other food than pulse and herbs, and that they were always
+occupied in prayer, manual labor, or serving the sick of their own sex.
+The spiritual mother, and the sun of this holy company, St. Nicareta, is
+honored December the 27th. Among the holy widows who dedicated
+themselves to God under the direction of this great master of saints,
+the most illustrious were the truly noble ladies St. Olympias, Salvina,
+Procula, and Pantadia. This last (who was the widow of Timasus, formerly
+the first minister to the emperor) was constituted by him deaconess of
+the church of Constantinople. Widows he considered as by their state
+called to a life of penance, retirement, and devotion; and he spared no
+exhortations or endeavors to engage them faithfully to correspond to the
+divine grace, according to the advice which St. Paul gives them.[19] St.
+Olympias claimed the privilege of furnishing the expenses of the saint's
+{243} frugal table. He usually ate alone: few would have been willing to
+dine so late, or so coarsely and sparingly as he did; and he chose this
+to save both time and expenses: but he kept another table in a house
+near his palace, for the entertainment of strangers, which he took care
+should be decently supplied. He inveighed exceedingly against sumptuous
+banquets. All his revenues he laid out on the poor; for whose relief he
+sold the rich furniture which Nectarius had left; and once, in a great
+dearth, he caused some of the sacred vessels to be melted down for that
+purpose. This action was condemned by Theophilus, but is justly regarded
+by St. Austin as a high commendation of our holy prelate. Besides the
+public hospital near his cathedral, and several others which he founded
+and maintained, he erected two for strangers. His own patrimony he had
+given to the poor long before, at Antioch. His extraordinary charities
+obtained him the name of John of alms-deeds.[20] The spiritual
+necessities of his neighbor were objects of far greater compassion to
+his tender charity. His diocese, nay, the whole world, he considered as
+a great hospital of souls, spiritually blind, deaf, sick, and in danger
+of perishing eternally; many standing on the brink, many daily falling
+from the frightful precipice into the unquenchable lake. Not content
+with tears and supplications to the Father of mercies for their
+salvation, he was indefatigable in labors and in every endeavor to open
+their eyes; feared no dangers, no not death itself in its most frightful
+shapes, to succor them in their spiritual necessities, and prevent their
+fall. Neither was this pastoral care confined to his own flock or
+nation: he extended it to the remotest countries. He sent a bishop to
+instruct the Nomades or wandering Scythians: another, an admirable man,
+to the Goths. Palestine, Persia, and many other distant provinces felt
+the most beneficent influence of his zeal. He was himself endued with an
+eminent spirit of prayer: this he knew to be the great channel of
+heavenly graces, the cleanser of the affections of the soul from earthly
+dross, and the means which renders them spiritual and heavenly, and
+makes men angels, even in their mortal body. He was therefore
+particularly earnest in inculcating this duty, and in instructing others
+in the manner of performing it. He warmly exhorted the laity to rise to
+the midnight office of matins together with the clergy: "Many artisans,"
+said he, "watch to labor, and soldiers watch as sentries; and cannot you
+do as much to praise God?"[21] He observes, that the silence of the
+night is peculiarly adapted to devout prayer, and the sighs of
+compunction: which exercise we ought never to interrupt too long; and by
+watching, prayer becomes more earnest and powerful. Women he will not
+have to go easily abroad to church in the night-time; but advises that
+even children rise in the night to say a short prayer, and as they
+cannot watch long be put to bed again: for thus they will contract from
+their infancy a habit of watching, and a Christian's whole house will be
+converted into a church. The advantages and necessity of assiduous
+prayer he often recommends with singular energy; but he expresses
+himself on no subject with greater tenderness and force than on the
+excess of the divine love, which is displayed in the holy Eucharist, and
+in exhorting the faithful to the frequent use of that heavenly
+sacrament. St. Proclus says,[22] that he abridged the liturgy of his
+church. St. Nilus[23] assures us that he was often favored with visions
+of angels in the church during the canonical hours, surrounding the
+altars in troops during the celebration of the divine mysteries, and at
+the communion of the people. The saint himself confidently avers {244}
+that this happens at those times,[24] which he confirms by the visions
+of several hermits.
+
+The public concerns of the state often called on the saint to afford the
+spiritual succors of his zeal and charity. Eutropius was then at the
+head of affairs. He was a eunuch, and originally a slave, but had worked
+himself into favor with the emperor Arcadius. In 395 he was instrumental
+in cutting off Rufinus, the chief minister, who had broke out into an
+open rebellion, and he succeeded the traitor in all his honors: golden
+statues were erected to him in several parts of the city, and what
+Claudian, Marcellinus in his chronicle, Suidas, and others, represent as
+the most monstrous event that occurs in the Roman Fasti, was declared
+consul, though a eunuch. Being placed on so high a pinnacle, a situation
+but too apt to turn the strongest head, forgetful of himself and the
+indispensable rules of decency and prudence, it was not long before he
+surpassed his predecessor in insolence, ambition, and covetousness.
+Wholesome advice, even from a Chrysostom, served only to exasperate a
+heart devoted to the world, and open to flatterers, who added
+continually new flames to its passions. In the mean time, the murmurs
+and indignation of the whole empire at the pride and avarice of
+Eutropius were a secret to him, till the pit was prepared for his fall.
+Gainas, general of the auxiliary Goths in the imperial army, was stirred
+up to revenge an affront which his cousin Trigibildus, a tribune, had
+received from the haughty minister. At the same time the empress
+Eudoxia, having been insulted by him, ran to the emperor, carrying her
+two little babes in her arms, and cried out for justice against the
+insolent servant. Arcadius, who was as weak in abandoning, as he was
+imprudent in choosing favorites, gave orders that the minister should be
+driven out of the court, and his estates confiscated. Eutropius found
+himself in a moment forsaken by all the herds of his admirers and
+flatterers, without one single friend, and fled for protection to the
+church, and to those very altars whose immunities he had infringed and
+violated. The whole city was in an uproar against him; the army called
+aloud for his death, and a troop of soldiers surrounded the church with
+naked swords in their hands, and fire in their eyes. St. Chrysostom went
+to the emperor, and easily obtained of him that the unhappy criminal
+might be allowed to enjoy the benefit of sanctuary; and the soldiers
+were prevailed upon, by the tears of the emperor and the remonstrances
+of the bishop, to withdraw. The next day the people flocked to behold a
+man whose frown two days before made the whole world to tremble, now
+laying hold of the altar, gnashing his teeth, trembling and shuddering,
+having nothing before his eyes but drawn swords, dungeons, and
+executioners. St. Chrysostom on this occasion made a pathetic discourse
+on the vanity and treachery of human things, the emptiness and falsehood
+of which he could not find a word emphatical enough to express. The poor
+Eutropius could not relish such truths a few days ago, but now found his
+very riches destructive. The saint entreated the people to forgive him
+whom the emperor, the chief person injured, was desirous to forgive: he
+asked them how they could beg of God the pardon of their own sins if
+they did not pardon a man who then, by repentance, was perhaps a saint
+in the eyes of God. At this discourse not a single person in the church
+was able to refrain from tears, and all things seemed in a state of
+tranquillity.[25] Some days after, Eutropius left the church, hoping to
+escape privately out of the city, but was seized, and banished into
+Cyprus.[26] He was recalled a few months after, and being impeached
+{245} of high-treason was condemned and beheaded, chiefly at the
+instigation of Gainas; in compliance with whose unjust demands the weak
+emperor consented to the death of Aurelianus and Saturninus, two
+principal lords of his court. But St. Chrysostom, by several journeys,
+prevailed with the barbarian to content himself with their banishment,
+which they underwent, but were soon after recalled. As unjust
+concessions usually make rebels the more insolent, Gainas hereupon
+obliged the emperor to declare him commander-in-chief of all his troops.
+Yet even when his pride and power were at the highest, St. Chrysostom
+refused him the use of any Catholic church in Constantinople for the
+Arian worship. And when, some time after, he laid siege to that capital,
+the saint went out to him, and by kind expostulations prevailed on him
+to withhold his design and draw off his army. He was afterwards defeated
+in passing the Hellespont; and fleeing through the country of the Huns,
+was overthrown, and slain by them in 400.
+
+This same year, 400, St. Chrysostom held a council of bishops in
+Constantinople; one of whom had preferred a complaint against his
+metropolitan Antoninus, the archbishop of Ephesus, which consisted of
+several heads, but that chiefly insisted on was simony.[27] All our
+saint's endeavors to discuss this affair being frustrated by the
+distance of places, he found it necessary, at the solicitation of the
+clergy and people of Ephesus, to go in person to that city, though the
+severity of the winter season, and the ill state of health he was then
+in, might be sufficient motives for retarding this journey. In this and
+the neighboring cities several councils were held, in which the
+archbishop of Ephesus and several other bishops in Asia, Lycia, and
+Phrygia, were deposed for simony. Upon his return after Easter, in 401,
+having been absent a hundred days, he preached the next morning,[28]
+calling his people, in the transports of tender joy, his crown, his
+glory, his paradise planted with flourishing trees; but if any bad
+shrubs should be found in it, he promised that no pains should be spared
+to change them into good. He bid them consider if they rejoiced so much
+as they testified, to see him again who was only one, how great his joy
+must be which was multiplied in every one of them: he calls himself
+their bond-slave, chained to their service, but says, that slavery was
+his delight, and that during his absence he ever had them present to his
+mind, offering up his prayers for their temporal and spiritual welfare.
+
+It remained that our saint should glorify God by his sufferings, as he
+had already done by his labors: and if we contemplate the mystery of the
+cross with the eyes of faith, we shall find him greater in the
+persecutions he sustained than in all the other occurrences of his life.
+At the same time we cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of envy
+and pride in his enemies, as in the Pharisees against Christ himself. We
+ought to tremble for ourselves: if that passion does not make us
+persecute a Chrysostom, it may often betray us into rash judgments,
+aversions, and other sins, even under a cloak of virtue. The first open
+adversary of our saint was Severianus, bishop of Gabala, in Syria, to
+whom the saint had left the care of his church during his absence. This
+mart had acquired the reputation of a preacher, was a favorite of the
+empress Eudoxia, and had employed all his talents and dexterity to
+establish himself in the good opinion of the court and people, to the
+prejudice of the saint, against whom he had preached in his own city.
+Severianus being obliged to leave Constantinople at the saint's return,
+he made an excellent discourse to his flock on the peace Christ came to
+establish on earth, and begged they would receive again Severianus, whom
+they {246} had expelled the city. Another enemy of the saint was
+Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, whom Sozomen, Socrates, Palladius,
+St. Isidore of Pelusium, and Synesius, accuse of avarice and oppressions
+to gratify his vanity in building stately churches; of pride, envy,
+revenge, dissimulation, and an incontrollable love of power and rule, by
+which he treated other bishops as his slaves, and made his will the rule
+of justice. His three paschal letters, which have reached us, show that
+he wrote without method, and that his reflections and reasonings were
+neither just nor apposite: whence the loss of his other writings is not
+much to be regretted. These spiritual vices sullied his zeal against the
+Anthropomorphites, and his other virtues. He died in 412, wishing that
+he had lived always in a desert, honoring the name of the holy
+Chrysostom, whose picture he caused to be brought to his bedside, and by
+reverencing it, showed his desire to make atonement for his past ill
+conduct towards our saint.[29] This turbulent man had driven from their
+retreat four abbots of Nitria, called the tall brothers, on a groundless
+suspicion of Origenism, as appears from Palladius, though it was
+believed by St. Jerom, which is maintained by Baronius. St. Chrysostom
+admitted them to communion, but not till they had juridically cleared
+themselves of it in an ample manner.[30] This however was grievously
+resented by Theophilus: but the empress Eudoxia, who, after the disgrace
+of Eutropius, governed her husband and the empire, was the main spring
+which moved the whole conspiracy against the saint. Zozimus, a heathen
+historian, says, that her flagrant avarice, her extortions and
+injustices, knew no bounds, and that the court was filled with
+informers, calumniators, and harpies, who, being always on the watch for
+prey, found means to seize the estates of such as died rich, and to
+disinherit their children or other heirs. No wonder that a saint should
+displease such a court while he discharged his duty to God. He had
+preached a sermon against the extravagance and vanity of women in dress
+and pomp. This was pretended by some to have been levelled at the
+empress; and Severianus was not wanting to blow the coals. Knowing
+Theophilus was no friend to the saint, the empress, to be revenged of
+the supposed affront, sent to desire his presence at Constantinople, in
+order to depose him. He obeyed the summons with pleasure, and landed at
+Constantinople in June, 403, with several Egyptian bishops his
+creatures, refused to see or lodge with John, and got together a packed
+cabal of thirty-six bishops, the saint's enemies, in a church at
+Chalcedon, calling themselves the synod at the Oak, from a great tree
+which gave name to that quarter of the town. The heads of the
+impeachment drawn up against the holy bishop were: that he had deposed a
+deacon for beating a servant; that he had called several of his clergy
+base men; had deposed bishops out of his province; had ordained priests
+in his domestic chapel, instead of the cathedral; had sold things
+belonging to the church; that nobody knew what became of his revenues;
+that he ate alone; and that he gave the holy communion to persons who
+were not fasting: all which were false or frivolous. The saint held a
+legal council of forty bishops in the city at the same time; and refused
+to appear before that at the Oak, alleging most notorious infractions of
+the canons in their pretended council. The cabal proceeded to a sentence
+of deposition, which they sent to the city and to the emperor, to whom
+they also accused him of treason, for having called the empress Jezabel,
+a false assertion, as Palladius testifies. The emperor hereupon issued
+out an order for his banishment, but the execution of it was opposed by
+the people, who assembled about the great church to guard their pastor.
+{247} He made them a farewell sermon,[31] in which he spoke as follows:
+"Violent storms encompass me on all sides; yet I am without fear,
+because I stand upon a rock. Though the sea roar, and the waves rise
+high, they cannot sink the vessel of Jesus. I fear not death, which is
+my gain: not banishment, for the whole earth is the Lord's: nor the loss
+of goods; for I came naked into the world, and must leave it in the same
+condition. I despise all the terrors of the world and trample upon its
+smiles and favor. Nor do I desire to live unless for your service.
+Christ is with me: whom shall I fear? Though waves rise against me:
+though the sea, though the fury of princes threaten me, all these are to
+me more contemptible than a spider's web. I always say: O Lord, may thy
+will be done: not what this or that creature wills, but what it shall
+please thee to appoint, that shall I do and suffer with joy. This is my
+strong tower: this is my unshaken rock: this is my staff that can never
+fail. If God be pleased that it be done, let it be so. Wheresoever his
+will is that I be, I return him thanks." He declared that he was ready
+to lay down a thousand lives for them, if at his disposal, and that he
+suffered only because he had neglected nothing to save their souls. On
+the third day after the unjust sentence given against him, having
+received repeated orders from the emperor to go into banishment, and
+taking all possible care to prevent a sedition, he surrendered himself,
+unknown to the people, to the count, who conducted him to Prænetum in
+Bithynia. After his departure his enemies entered the city with guards,
+and Severianus mounted the pulpit, and began to preach, pretending to
+show the deposition of the saint to have been legal and just. But the
+people would not suffer him to proceed, and ran about as if distracted,
+loudly demanding in a body the restoration of their holy pastor. The
+next night the city was shook with an earthquake. This brought the
+empress to reflect with remorse on what she had done against the holy
+bishop. She applied immediately to the emperor, under the greatest
+consternation, for his being recalled; crying out: "Unless John be
+recalled, our empire is undone:" and with his consent she dispatched
+letters the same night, inviting him home with tender expressions of
+affection and esteem, and protesting her ignorance of his banishment.
+Almost all the city went out to meet him, and great numbers of lighted
+torches were carried before him. He stopped to the suburbs, refusing to
+enter the city till he had been declared innocent by a more numerous
+assembly of bishops. But the people would suffer no delay: the enemies
+of the saint fled, and he resumed his functions, and preached to his
+flock. He pressed the emperor to call Theophilus to a legal synod: but
+that obstinate persecutor alleged that he could not return without
+danger of his life. However, Sozomen relates that threescore bishops
+ratified his return: but the fair weather did not last long. A silver
+statue of the empress having been erected on a pillar before the great
+church of St. Sophia, the dedication of it was celebrated with public
+games, which, besides disturbing the divine service, engaged the
+spectators in extravagances and superstition. St. Chrysostom had often
+preached against licentious shows; and the very place rendered these the
+more criminal. On this occasion, fearing lest his silence should be
+construed as an approbation of the thing, he, with his usual freedom and
+courage, spoke loudly against it. Though this could only affect the
+Manichæan overseer of those games, the vanity of the empress made her
+take the affront to herself, and her desires of revenge were
+implacable.[32] His enemies were invited back: Theophilus {248} durst
+not come, but sent three deputies. Though St. John had forty-two bishops
+with him, this second cabal urged to the emperor certain canons of an
+Arian council of Antioch, made only to exclude St. Athanasius, by which
+it was ordained that no bishop who had been deposed by a synod, should
+return to his see till he was restored by another synod. This false plea
+overruled the justice of the saint's cause, and Arcadius sent him an
+order to withdraw. He refused to forsake a church committed to him by
+God, unless forcibly compelled to leave it. The emperor sent troops to
+drive the people out of the churches on Holy-Saturday, and the holy
+places were polluted with blood and all manner of outrages. The saint
+wrote to pope Innocent, begging him to declare void all that had been
+done; for no injustice could be more notorious.[33] He also wrote to beg
+the concurrence of certain other holy bishops of the West. The pope
+having received from Theophilus the acts of the false council at the
+Oak, even by them saw the glaring injustice of its proceedings, and
+wrote to him, exhorting him to appear in another council, where sentence
+should be given according to the canons of Nice, meaning by those words
+to condemn the Arian canons of Antioch. He also wrote to St. Chrysostom,
+to his flock, and several of his friends: and endeavored to redress
+these evils by a new council: as did also the emperor Honorius. But
+Arcadius and Eudoxia found means to prevent its assembling, the very
+dread of which made Theophilus, Severianus, and other ringleaders of the
+faction to tremble.
+
+St. Chrysostom was suffered to remain at Constantinople two months after
+Easter. On Thursday, in Whitsun-week, the emperor sent him an order for
+his banishment. The holy man, who received it in the church, said to
+those about him, "Come, let us pray, and take leave of the angel of the
+church." He took leave of the bishops, and, stepping into the
+baptistery, also of St. Olympias and the other deaconesses, who were
+overwhelmed with grief and bathed in tears. He then retired privately
+out of the church, to prevent a sedition, and was conducted by Lucius, a
+brutish captain, into Bithynia, and arrived at Nice on the 20th of June,
+404. After his departure, a fire breaking out, burnt down the great
+church and the senate-house, two buildings which were the glory of the
+city: but the baptistery was spared by the flames, as it were to justify
+the saint against his calumniators; for not one of the rich vessels was
+found wanting. In this senate-house perished the incomparable statues of
+the muses from Helicon, and other like ornaments, the most valuable then
+known: so that Zozimus looks upon this conflagration as the greatest
+misfortune that had ever befallen that city. Palladius ascribes the fire
+to the anger of heaven. Many of the saint's friends were put to the most
+exquisite tortures on this account, but no discovery could be made. The
+Isaurians plundered Asia, and the Huns several other provinces. Eudoxia
+ended her life and crimes in childbed on the 6th of October following,
+five days after a furious hail-storm had made a dreadful havoc in the
+city. The emperor wrote to St. Nilus, to recommend himself and his
+empire to his prayers. The hermit answered him with a liberty of speech
+which became one who neither hoped nor feared any thing from the world.
+"How do you hope," said he, "to see Constantinople delivered from the
+destroying angel of God, after such enormities authorized by laws? after
+having banished the most blessed John, the pillar of the church, the
+lamp of truth, the trumpet of Jesus Christ!"[34] And again: "You have
+banished John, the greatest light of the earth:--At least, {249} do not
+persevere in your crime."[35] His brother, the emperor Honorius, wrote
+still in stronger terms,[36] and several others. But in vain; for
+certain implacable court ladies and sycophants, hardened against all
+admonitions and remorse, had much too powerful an ascendant over the
+unhappy emperor, for these efforts of the saint's friends to meet with
+success. Arsacius, his enemy and persecutor, though naturally a soft and
+weak man, was by the emperor's authority intruded into his see. The
+saint enjoyed himself comfortably at Nice: but Cucusus was pitched upon
+by Eudoxia for the place of his banishment. He set out from Nice in
+July, 404, and suffered incredible hardships from heats, fatigues,
+severity of guards, almost perpetual watchings, and a fever which soon
+seized him with pains in his breast. He was forced to travel almost all
+night, deprived of every necessary of life, and was wonderfully
+refreshed if he got a little clear water to drink, fresh bread to eat,
+or a bed to take a little rest upon. All he lamented was the impenitence
+of his enemies, for their own sake: calling impunity in sin, and honor
+conferred by men on that account, the most dreadful of all
+judgments.[37] About the end of August, after a seventy days' journey,
+he arrived at Cucusus, a poor town in Armenia, in the deserts of Mount
+Taurus. The good bishop of the place vied with his people in showing the
+man of God the greatest marks of veneration and civility, and many
+friends met him there, both from Constantinople and Antioch. In this
+place, by sending missionaries and succors, he promoted the conversion
+of many heathen countries, especially among the Goths, in Persia and
+Phoenicia. He appointed Constantius, his friend, a priest of Antioch,
+superior of the apostolic missions in Phoenicia and Arabia. The letters
+of Constantius are added to those of St. Chrysostom. The seventeen
+letters of our saint to St. Olympias might be styled treatises. He tells
+her,[38] "I daily exult and am transported with joy in my heart under my
+sufferings, in which I find a hidden treasure: and I beg that you
+rejoice on the same account, and that you bless and praise God, by whose
+mercy we obtain to such a degree the grace of suffering." He often
+enlarges on the great evils and most pernicious consequences of sadness
+and dejection of spirit, which he calls[39] "the worst of human evils, a
+perpetual domestic rack, a darkness and tempest of the mind, an interior
+war, a distemper which consumes the vigor of the soul, and impairs all
+her faculties." He shows[40] that sickness is the greatest of trials, a
+time not of inaction, but of the greatest merit, the school of all
+virtues, and a true martyrdom. He advises her to use physic, and says it
+would be a criminal impatience to wish for death to be freed from
+sufferings. He laments the fall of Pelagius, whose heresies he abhorred.
+He wrote to this lady his excellent treatise, That no one can hurt him
+who does not hurt himself. Arsacius dying in 405, many ambitiously
+aspired to that dignity, whose very seeking it was sufficient to prove
+them unworthy. Atticus, one of this number, a violent enemy to St.
+Chrysostom, was preferred by the court, and placed in his chair. The
+pope refused to hold communion with Theophilus or any of the abettors of
+the persecution of our saint.[41] He and the emperor Honorius sent five
+bishops to Constantinople to insist on a council, and that, in the mean
+time, St. Chrysostom should be restored to his see, his deposition
+having been notoriously unjust.[42] But the deputies were cast into prison
+in Thrace, because they refused to communicate with Atticus. The
+persecutors saw that, if the council was held, they would be inevitably
+condemned and deposed by it, therefore they stuck at nothing to prevent
+its meeting. The incursions of the Isaurian plunderers obliged St.
+Chrysostom to take shelter in the castle of Arabissus, on{250} Mount
+Taurus. He enjoyed a tolerable state of health during the year 406 and
+the winter following, though it was extremely cold in those mountains,
+so that the Armenians were surprised to see how his thin, weak body was
+able to support it. When the Isaurians had quitted the neighborhood, he
+returned to Cucusus. But his impious enemies, seeing the whole Christian
+world both honor and defend him, resolved to rid the world of him. With
+this view they procured an order from the emperor that he should be
+removed to Arabissus, and thence to Pytius, a town situated on the
+Euxine sea, near Colchis, at the extremity of the empire, on the
+frontiers of the Sarmatians, the most barbarous of the Scythians. Two
+officers were ordered to convey him thither in a limited number of days,
+through very rough roads, with a promise of promotion, if, by hard
+usage, he should die in their hands. One of these was not altogether
+destitute of humanity, but the other could not bear to hear a mild word
+spoken to him. They often travelled amidst scorching heats, from which
+his head, that was bald, suffered exceedingly. In the most violent rains
+they forced him out of doors, obliging him to travel till the water ran
+in streams down his back and bosom. When they arrived at Comana Pontica,
+in Cappadocia, he was very sick; yet was hurried five or six miles to
+the martyrium or chapel in which lay the relics of the martyr St.
+Basiliscus.[43] The saint was lodged in the oratory of the priest. In
+the night, that holy martyr appearing to him, said, "Be of good courage,
+brother John; to-morrow we shall be together." The confessor was filled
+with joy at this news, and begged that he might stay there till eleven
+o'clock. This made the guards drag him out the more violently; but when
+they had travelled four miles, perceiving him in a dying condition, they
+brought him back to the oratory. He there changed all his clothes to his
+very shoes, putting on his best attire, which was all white, as if he
+meant it for his heavenly nuptials. He was yet fasting, and having
+received the holy sacrament, poured forth his last prayer, which he
+closed with his usual doxology: Glory be to God for all things. Having
+said Amen, and signed himself with the sign of the cross, he sweetly
+gave up his soul to God on the feast of the exaltation of the holy
+cross, the 14th of September, as appears from the Menæa, in 407, having
+been bishop nine years and almost seven months.[44]
+
+His remains were interred by the body of St. Basiliscus, a great
+concourse of holy virgins, monks, and persons of all ranks from a great
+distance flocking to his funeral. The pope refused all communion with
+those who would not allow his name a place in the Dyptics or registers
+of Catholic bishops deceased. It was inserted at Constantinople by
+Atticus, in 417, and at Alexandria, by St. Cyril, in 419: for Nestorius
+tells him that he then venerated the ashes of John against his will.[45]
+His body was translated to Constantinople in 434, by St. Proclus, with
+the utmost pomp, the emperor Theodosius and his sister Pulcheria
+accompanying St. Proclus in the procession, and begging pardon for the
+sins of their parents, who had unadvisedly persecuted this servant of
+God. The precious remains were laid in the church of the apostles, the
+burying-place of the emperors and bishops, on the 27th of January, 438;
+on which day he is honored by the Latins: {251} but the Greeks keep his
+festival on the 13th of November.[46] His ashes were afterwards carried
+to Rome, and rest under an altar which bears his name in the Vatican
+church. The saint was low in stature; and his thin, mortified
+countenance bespoke the severity of his life. The austerities of his
+youth, his cold solitary abode in the mountains, and the fatigues of
+continual preaching, had weakened his breast, which occasioned his
+frequent distempers. But the hardships of his exile were such as must
+have destroyed a person of the most robust constitution. Pope Celestine,
+St. Austin, St. Nilus, St. Isidore of Pelusium, and others, call him the
+illustrious doctor of churches, whose glory shines on every side, who
+fills the earth with the light of his profound sacred learning, and who
+instructs by his works the remotest corners of the world, preaching
+everywhere, even where his voice could not reach. They style him the
+wise interpreter of the secrets of God, the sun of the whole universe,
+the lamp of virtue, and the most shining star of the earth. The
+incomparable writings of this glorious saint, make his standing and most
+authentic eulogium.
+
+In the character which St. Chrysostom has in several places drawn of
+divine and fraternal charity and holy zeal, we have a true portraiture
+of his holy soul. He excellently shows, from the words of our Lord to
+St. Peter,[47] that the primary and essential disposition of a pastor of
+souls is a pure and most ardent love of God, whose love for these souls
+is so great, that he has delivered his Son to death for them. Jesus
+Christ shed his blood to save this flock, which he commits to the care
+of St. Peter. Nothing can be stronger or more tender than the manner in
+which this saint frequently expresses his charity and solicitude for his
+spiritual children.[48] When he touches this topic, his words are all
+fire and flame, and seem to breathe the fervor of St. Peter, the zeal of
+St. Paul, and the charity of Moses. This favorite of God was not afraid,
+for the salvation of his people, to desire to be separated from the
+company of the saints, provided this could have been done without
+falling from the love of God; though he knew that nothing would more
+closely unite him forever to God, than this extraordinary effort of his
+love. The apostle of nations desired to be an anathema for his brethren,
+and for their salvation;[49] and the prince of the apostles gave the
+strongest proof of the ardor of his love for Christ, by the floods of
+tears which he shed for his flock. From the same furnace of divine love,
+St. Chrysostom drew the like sentiments towards his flock, joined with a
+sovereign contempt of all earthly things; another distinguishing
+property of charity, which he describes in the following words:[50]
+"Those who burn with a spiritual love, consider as nothing all that is
+shining or precious on earth. We are not to be surprised if we
+understand not this language, who have no experience of this sublime
+virtue. For whoever should be inflamed with the fire of the perfect love
+of Jesus Christ, would be in such dispositions with regard to the earth,
+that he would be indifferent both to its honors and to its disgrace, and
+would be no more concerned about its trifles than if he was alone in the
+world. He would despise sufferings, scourges, and dungeons, as if they
+were endured in another's body, not in his own; and would be as
+insensible to the pleasures and enjoyments of the world; as we are to
+the bodies of the dead, or as the dead are to their own bodies. He would
+be as pure from the stain of any inordinate passions, as gold perfectly
+refined is from all rust or spot. And as flies beware of falling into
+the flames, and keep at a distance, so irregular passions dare not
+approach him."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  S. Chrys. ad Vid. jun. t. 1, p. 340.
+2.  Sozom. l. 8, c. 22.
+3.  Liban. ep. ad Joan. apud S. Isidor. Pelus. l. 2, ep. 42.
+4.  L. 3, de Sacerd. c. 14, p. 390.
+5.  L. 3, de Sacerd. c. 14.
+6.  Hom. 72 (ol. 73) and 69 (ol. 69,) in Matt. Hom. 14, in 1 Tim. t. 11,
+    pp. 628, 630, {}3, contra vitup. vita Mon. c. 14.
+7. Lib. de Compunct. p. {1}32.
+8. Lib. 1, de Compunct. &c.
+9.  Flavian I. was a native of Antioch, of honorable extraction, and
+    possessed of a plentiful estate, which he employed in the service of
+    the church and relief of the poor. He was remarkably grave and
+    serious, and began early to subdue his flesh by austerities and
+    abstinence, in which he remitted nothing even in his old age. Thus
+    was his heart prepared to receive and cherish the seeds of divine
+    grace, the daily increase of which rendered him so conspicuous in
+    the world, and of such advantage to the church. The Arians being at
+    that time masters of the church of Antioch, Flavian and his
+    associate Diodorus, afterwards bishop of Tarsus, equally
+    distinguished by their birth, fortune, learning, and virtue, were
+    the great supports of the flock St. Eustathius had been forced to
+    abandon. In 348, they undertook the defence of the Catholic faith
+    against Leontius, the Arian bishop, who made use of all his craft
+    and authority to establish Arianism to that city; one of whose chief
+    expedients was to promote none to holy orders but Arians. The
+    scarcity of Catholic pastors, on this account called for all their
+    zeal and charity in behalf of the abandoned flock. The Arians being
+    in possession of the churches to the city, these two zealous laymen
+    assembled them without the walls, at the tombs of the martyrs, for
+    the exercise of religious duties. They introduced among them the
+    manner of singing psalms alternately, and of concluding each psalm
+    with _Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; as it was,_ &c.,
+    which pious custom was soon after spread over all the eastern and
+    western churches. Theodoret (l. 2, c. 19) says, that Flavian and
+    Diodorus were the first who directed the psalms to be sung in this
+    manner by two choirs: though Socrates (l. 6, c. 8) attributes its
+    institution to St. Ignatius the martyr: who having, as he there
+    relates, heard angels in a vision singing the divine praises
+    alternately, instituted that manner of singing in the church of
+    Antioch; but this might have been disused. Pliny's famous letter to
+    Trajan shows, that singing was then in use among the Christians In
+    Bithynia; and it appears from Philo, that the Therapeuts did the
+    same before that time. Leontius stood so much in awe of Flavian and
+    Diodorus while they were only laymen, that in compliance with their
+    demands he deposed Aëtius that most impious and barefaced blasphemer
+    of all the Arians, from the rank of deacon.
+
+    St. Meletius, on his being promoted to the see of Antioch, about the
+    year 361, raised these both to the priesthood, and they took care of
+    that church, as his delegates, during his banishment by Constantius.
+    Thus they continued together their zealous labors till Diodorus was
+    made bishop of Tarsus. In 381, St. Meletius took Flavian with him to
+    the general council which was assembled at Constantinople; but dying
+    in that capital, Flavian was chosen to succeed him. His life was a
+    perfect copy of the eminent episcopal virtues, and especially of the
+    meekness, the candor, and affability of his worthy predecessor.
+
+    Unhappily the schism, which for a long time had divided the church
+    of Antioch, was not yet extinguished. The occasion was this: after
+    the death of St. Eustathius, they could not agree in the choice of
+    his successor; those who were most attached to this holy prelate,
+    with St. Athanasius and the West, followed Paulinus: the
+    Apollinarists declared for Vitalis: and the greatest body of the
+    orthodox of Antioch, with Flavian, Diodorus, and all the East,
+    adhered to St. Meletius, who, as we have seen already, was succeeded
+    by Flavian. Paulinus, bishop of that part of the Catholics called
+    Eustathians, from their attachment to that prelate, though long
+    since dead, still disputed that see with Flavian; but dying in 383,
+    the schism of Antioch must have ended, had not his abettors kept
+    open the breach by choosing Evagrius in his room; though it does not
+    appear that he had one bishop in communion with him, Egypt and the
+    West being now neuter, and the East all holding communion with
+    Flavian. Evagrius dying in 395, the Eustathians, though now without
+    a pastor, still continued their separate meetings, and kept up the
+    schism several years longer. St. Chrysostom being raised to the see
+    of Constantinople, in 398, labored hourly to abolish this fatal
+    schism, which was brought about soon after by commissioners
+    constituted for this purpose by the West, Egypt, and all the other
+    parties concerned, and the Eustathians received Flavian as their
+    bishop. In the year 404, when St. Chrysostom was banished, Flavian
+    testified his indignation against so unjust a proceeding, and wrote
+    upon that subject to the clergy of Constantinople. But he did not
+    live to be witness of all the sufferings his dear friend was to meet
+    with, dying about three years before him, in 404. The general
+    council of Chalcedon calls him blessed, (Conc. t. 4, p. 840,) and
+    Theodoret (l. 5, c. 232) gives him the titles of the great, the
+    admirable saint. St. Chrysostom is lavish in his praises of him.
+    Flavian's sermons and other writings are all lost except his
+    discourse to Theodosius, preserved by St. Chrysostom. No church or
+    Martyrology, whether among the Greeks or Latins, ever placed Falvius
+    I. of Antioch in the catalogue of the saints. Whence Chatelain, in
+    his notes, speaking of St. Meletius, February the 12th, p. 630; and
+    on St. Flavian of Constantinople, February the 17th, p. 685,
+    expresses his surprise at the boldness of Baillet and some others,
+    who, without regard to the decrees of Urban VIII., presumed to do it
+    of their own private authority, and without any reason, have
+    assigned for his feast the 21st of February. Chatelain, in his
+    additions to his Universal Martyrology, p. 711, names him with the
+    epithet of venerable only, on the 26th of September. He is only
+    spoken of here, to answer our design of giving in the notes some
+    account of the most eminent fathers of the church who have never
+    been ranked among the saints. On St. Flavian II. of Antioch,
+    banished by the emperor Anastasius with St. Elias of Jerusalem, for
+    their zeal in defending the council of Chalcedon against the
+    Eutychians, see July {} 4th, on which these two confessors are
+    commemorated in the Roman Martyrology.
+10. St. Chrys. Hom. 21, ad Pap. Antioch. seu de Statius. t. 2.
+11. Sozom. l. 8, c. 2, &c.
+12. Socrat. c. 2. See Stilting, §35, p. 511.
+13. St. Chrys. l. Quod regulares foeminæ, t. 1, p. 250.
+14. Stilting, §41, p. 526.
+15. Phot. Cod. 59. Socr. l. 6, c. 21. Stilting, §40, p. 523.
+16. [Greek: Kai sunêgores elambanomen]. Chrys. Serm. contra ludos et
+    spect. t. 6, p. 272. Ed. Ben. [Greek: Andreas Paulon kai Timotheon].
+17. Mich. vi. 3. Jer. ii. 5.
+18. Hom. 13, in Ephes. t. 11, p. 95
+19. Pallad in Vit. Chrysost. Item S. Chrysost. Hom. in 1 Tim. v. 5, l.
+    3, de Sacerd. c. 8, and l. ad V{}oior. Stilting, §67, p. 603.
+20. [Greek: Iôannês hu tês eleêmosunês]. Pallad. c. 12.
+21. Hom. 2, & 25, in Acta. Hom. 14, in Hebr. Pallad. in Vit. S. Chrys.
+22. S. Procl. Or. 22. p. 581.
+23. L. 2, Ep. 294, p. 266.
+24. L. 3, de Sacerd.
+25. Stilting, §43, p. 530, et seq.
+26. About this time the poet Claudian wrote his two books against
+    Eutropius, as he had done before against Rufinus.
+27. Pallad. Dial. {} 127. Stilting, §47, p. 542.
+28. T. 3, p. 411.
+29. S. Joan. Damasc. Orat. 3, de Imaginibus, p. 480, {} Billii. See F.
+    Sollier in Hist. Chronol. Patriarch Alexand. in Theophilo, p. 52.
+30. See Stilting, §54, 55, 5{}, p. 567.
+31. T. 3, p. 415.
+32. Socrates and Sozomen say that he preached another sermon against the
+    empress, beginning with these words: Herodias is again became
+    furious. But Montfaucon refutes this slander, trumped up by his
+    enemies. The sermon extant under that title is a manifest forgery,
+    t. {}n spuriis, p. 1. See Montfaucon, and Stilting, §63, p. 503.
+33. {}p t. 3, p. 515. Pallad. Dial. Stilting, §58, p. 578.
+34. S. Nilus, l. 2, ep. 265.
+35. L. 3, ep. 279.
+36. T. 3, p. 525.
+37. Ep. 8.
+38. Ep. 8, p. 589.
+39. Ibid. 3, p. 552.
+40. Ibid. 4, p. 570.
+41. Pallad. Theodoret, l. 5, c. 34.
+42. Pallad. Sozom. l. 8. c. 28.
+43. The passage of Palladius, in which St. Basiliscus is called bishop
+    of Comana, is evidently falsified by the mistake of copiers, as
+    Stilting demonstrates; who shows this Basiliscus to have suffered
+    not at Nicomedia, but near Comana, in the country where his relics
+    remained; the same that is honored on the 2d of March. It is without
+    grounds that Tillemont, Le Quien, &c., imagine there were two
+    martyrs of the same name, the one a soldier, who suffered at Comana
+    under Galerius Maximian; the other, bishop of that city. T. 5, in S.
+    Basilisc. note 4. See Stilting, §83, p. 665.
+44. Sir Harry Saville is of opinion that he was only fifty-two years
+    old: but he must have been sixty-three, as born in 344.
+45. Nestorius, Or. 12, apud Marium Mercat. par. 2, p. 86, ed. Gamier.
+    Stilting, §88, p. 685.
+46. Jos. Assemani. Comm. In Calend. Univ. t. 6. p. 105, and Stilting.
+47. Joan. xxi. 17. St. Chrys. l. 2, de Sacred. c. 1.
+48. Hom. 3 & 44, in Act. et alibi sæpe.
+49. See St. Chrys. hom. 16, in Rom.
+50. Hom. 52, in Acta.
+
+
+{252}
+
+ON THE WRITINGS
+
+OF
+
+ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.
+
+IN the Benedictine edition of his works given by Dom Montfaucon, we have
+in the first tome his two Exhortations to Theodorus; three books against
+the Adversaries of a Monastic Life; the Comparison between a King and a
+Monk; two books on Compunction; three books to Stagirius the monk, on
+Tribulation and Providence; against those Clergymen who harbor Women
+under their roof to serve them; another treatise to prove that
+Deaconesses, or other Regular Women, ought not to live under the same
+roof with men; On Virginity; To a Young Widow; On the Priesthood; and a
+considerable number of scattered homilies. Theodorus, after renouncing
+the advantages which high birth, a plentiful estate, a polite education,
+and an uncommon stock of learning offered him in the world, and having
+solemnly consecrated himself to God in a monastic state, violated his
+sacred engagement, returned into the world, took upon him the
+administration of his estate, fell in love with a beautiful young woman
+named Hermione, and desired to marry her. St. Chrysostom, who had
+formerly been his school-fellow, under Libanius, and been afterwards
+instrumental in inducing him to forsake the world, and some time his
+companion in a religious state, grievously lamented his unhappy fall;
+and by two most tender and pathetic exhortations to repentance, gained
+him again to God. Every word is dictated by the most ardent zeal and
+charity, and powerfully insinuates itself into the heart by the charm of
+an unparalleled sweetness, which gives to the strength of the most
+persuasive eloquence an irresistible force. Nothing of the kind extant
+is more beautiful, or more tender, than these two pieces, especially the
+former. The saint, in the beginning, borrows the most moving parts of
+the lamentations of Jeremy, showing that he had far more reason to
+abandon himself to bitter grief than that prophet; for he mourned not
+for a material temple and city with the holy ark and the tables of the
+law, but for an immortal soul, far more precious than the whole material
+world. And if one soul which observes the divine law is greater and
+better than ten thousand which transgress it, what reason had he to
+deplore the loss of one which had been sanctified, and the holy living
+temple of God, and shone with the grace of the Holy Ghost: one in which
+the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost had dwelt; but was stripped of its glory
+and fence, robbed of its beauty, enslaved by the devil, and fettered
+with his bolts and chains. Therefore the saint invites all creatures to
+mourn with him, and declares he will receive no comfort, nor listen to
+those who offer him any, crying out with the prophet: _Depart from me: I
+will weep bitterly: offer not to comfort me_. Isa. xxii. 4. His grief,
+he says, was just, because he wept for a soul that was fallen from
+heaven to hell, from grace into sin: it was reasonable, because by tears
+she might yet be recovered; and he protests that he would never
+interrupt them, till he should learn that she was risen again. To
+fortify his unhappy friend against the temptation of despair, he shows
+by the promises, examples, and parables of the Old and New Testaments,
+that no one can doubt of the power or goodness of God, who is most ready
+to pardon every sinner that sues for mercy. Observing that hell was not
+created for man, but heaven, he conjures him not to defeat the design of
+God in his creation, and destroy the work of his mercy by persevering in
+sin. The difficulties which seemed to stand in his way, and dispirited
+him, the saint shows would be all removed, and would even vanish of
+themselves, if he undertook the work with courage and resolution: this
+makes the conversion of a soul easy. He terrifies him by moving
+reflections on death, and the divine judgments, by a dreadful
+portraiture which he draws of the fire of hell, which resembles not our
+fire, but burns souls, and is eternal; lastly, by the loss of heaven, on
+the joys of which kingdom he speaks at large; on its immortality, the
+company of the angels, the joy, liberty, beauty, and glory of the
+blessed, adding, that such is this felicity, that in its loss consists
+the most dreadful of all the torments of the damned. Penance averts
+these evils, and restores to a soul all the titles and advantages which
+she had forfeited by her fall: and its main difficulty and labor are
+vanquished by a firm resolution, and serious beginning of the work. This
+weakens and throws down the enemy: if he be thoroughly vanquished in
+that part where he was the strongest, the soul will pursue, with ease
+and cheerfulness, the delightful and beautiful course of virtue upon
+which she has entered. He conjures Theodorus, by all that is dear, to
+have compassion on himself; also to have pity on his mourning friends,
+and not by grief send them to their graves: he exhorts him resolutely to
+break his bonds at once, not to temporize only with his enemy, or
+pretend to rise by degrees; and he entreats him to exert his whole
+strength in laboring to {253} be of the happy number of those who, from
+being the last, are raised by their fervor to the first rank in the
+kingdom of God. To encourage him by examples, he mentions a young
+nobleman of Phoenicia, the son of one Urbanus, who, having embraced with
+fervor the monastic state, insensibly fell into lukewarmness, and at
+length returned into the world, where he enjoyed large possessions,
+lived in pomp, and abandoned himself to the pursuit of vanity and
+pleasures; till, opening his eyes upon the remonstrances of certain
+pious friends, he distributed his whole estate among the poor, and spent
+the rest of his life in the desert with extraordinary fervor. Another
+ascetic, falling by degrees, in an advanced age, committed the crime of
+fornication; but immediately rising, attained to an eminent degree of
+sanctity, and was honored with the gift of miracles. The disciple of St.
+John, who had been a captain of a troop of robbers and murderers, became
+an illustrious penitent. In like manner, our saint exhorts and conjures
+this sinner to rise without delay, before he was overtaken by the divine
+judgments, and to confess his sins with compunction of heart, abundant
+bitter tears, and a perfect change of life, laboring to efface his
+crimes by good works, to the least of which Christ has promised a
+reward.
+
+St. Chrysostom begins his second Exhortation to Theodorus, which is much
+shorter than the first, by expressing his grief as follows: (t. 1, p.
+35:) "If tears and groans could have been conveyed by letters, this
+would have been filled. I grieve not that you have taken upon you the
+administration of your affairs; but that you have trampled under your
+feet the sacred engagement you had made of yourself to Christ. For this
+I suffer excessive trouble and pain; for this I mourn; for this I am
+seized with fear and trembling, having before my eyes the severe
+damnation which so treacherous and base a perfidiousness deserves." He
+tells him yet "that the case is not desperate for a person to have been
+wounded, but for him to neglect the cure of his wounds. A merchant after
+shipwreck labors to repair his losses; many wrestlers, after a fall,
+have risen and fought so courageously as to have been crowned; and
+soldiers, after a defeat, have rallied and conquered. You allege," says
+he, "that marriage is lawful. This I readily acknowledge; but it is not
+now in your power to embrace that state: for it is certain that one who,
+by a solemn engagement, has given himself to God as his heavenly spouse,
+if he violates this contract, he commits an adultery, though he should a
+thousand times call it marriage. Nay, he is guilty of a crime so much
+the more enormous as the majesty of God surpasses man. Had you been
+free, no one would charge you with desertion; but since you are
+contracted to so great a king, you are not at your own disposal." St.
+Chrysostom pathetically shows him the danger, baseness, and crime of
+deferring his repentance, sets before him hell, the emptiness of the
+world, the uneasiness and troubles which usually attend a married life,
+and the sweetness of the yoke of Christ. He closes this pressing
+exhortation by mentioning the tears and prayers of his friends, which
+they would never interrupt, till they had the comfort of seeing him
+raised from his fall. St. Chrysostom wrote these two exhortations about
+the year 369, which was the second that he spent in his mother's house
+at Antioch when he led there an ascetic life. The fruit of his zeal and
+charity was the conversion of Theodorus, who broke his engagements with
+the world, and returned to his solitude. In 381 he was made bishop of
+Mopsuestia. In opposing the Apollinarist heresy, he had the misfortune
+to lay the seeds of Nestorianism in a book which he composed on the
+Incarnation, and other writings. He became a declared protector of
+Julian the Pelagian, when he took refuge in the East; wrote an express
+treatise against original sin; and maintained the Pelagian errors in a
+multitude of other works, which were all condemned after his death,
+though only fragments of them have reached us, preserved chiefly in
+Facundus, Photius, and several councils. He died in 428, before the
+solemn condemnation of his errors, and in the communion of the Catholic
+church. See Tillemont, t. 12.
+
+During St. Chrysostom's retreat in the mountains, two devout servants of
+God desired of him certain instructions on the means of attaining to the
+virtue of compunction. Demetrius, the first of these, though he was
+arrived at a high degree of perfection in an ascetic life, always ranked
+himself among those who crawl on the earth, and said often to St.
+Chrysostom, kissing his hand, and watering it with tears, "Assist me to
+soften the hardness of my heart." St. Chrysostom addressed to him his
+first book on Compunction, in which he tells him that he was not
+unacquainted with this grace, of which he had a pledge in the
+earnestness of his desire to obtain it, his love of retirement, his
+watching whole nights, and his abundant tears, even those with which,
+squeezing him by the hand, he lead begged the succor of his advice and
+prayers, in order to soften his dry, stony heart into compunction. With
+the utmost confusion for his own want of this virtue, he yielded to his
+request, begging in return his earnest prayers for the conversion of his
+own soul. Treating first on the necessities and motives of compunction,
+he takes notice that Christ pronounces those blessed who mourn, and says
+we ought never to cease weeping for our own sins, and those of the whole
+world, which deserves and calls for our tears so much the more loudly,
+as it is insensible of its own miseries. We should never cease weeping,
+if we considered how much sin reigns among men. The saint considers the
+sin of rash judgment as a general vice among men, from which he thinks
+scarce any one will be found to have lived always free. He {254} says
+the same of anger; then of detraction; and considering how universally
+these crimes prevail among men, cries out: "What hopes of salvation
+remain for the generality of mankind, who commit, without reflection,
+some or other of these crimes, one of which is enough to damn a soul?"
+He mentions also, as general sins, swearing, evil words, vain-glory, not
+giving alms, want of confidence in divine providence, and of resignation
+to his will, covetousness, and sloth in the practice of virtue. He
+complains that whereas the narrow path only leads to heaven, almost all
+men throw themselves into the broad way, walking with the multitude in
+their employs and actions, seeking their pleasure, interest, or
+convenience, not what is safest for their souls. Here what motives for
+our tears! A life of mortification and penance he prescribes, as an
+essential condition for maintaining a spirit of compunction; saying that
+water and fire are not more contrary to each other, than a life of
+softness and delights is to compunction; pleasure being the mother of
+dissolute laughter and madness. A love of pleasure renders the soul
+heavy and altogether earthly; but compunction gives her wings, by which
+she raises herself above all created things. We see worldly men mourn
+for the loss of friends and other temporal calamities. And are not we
+excited to weep for our spiritual miseries? We can never cease if we
+have always before our eyes our sins, our distance from heaven, the
+pains of hell, God's judgments, and our danger of losing Him, which is
+the most dreadful of all the torments of the damned.
+
+In his second book On Compunction, which is addressed to Stelechius, he
+expresses his surprise that he should desire instructions on compunction
+of one so cold in the divine service as he was; but only one whose
+breast is inflamed with divine love, and whose words are more
+penetrating than fire, can speak of that virtue. He says that
+compunction requires in the first place, solitude, not so much that of
+the desert, as that which is interior, or of the mind. For seeing that a
+multitude of objects disturbs the sight, the soul must restrain all the
+senses, remain serene, and without tumult or noise within herself,
+always intent on God, employed in his love, deaf to corporeal objects.
+As men placed on a high mountain hear nothing of the noise of a city
+situated below them, only a confused stir which they no way heed; so a
+Christian soul, raised on the mountain of true wisdom, regards not the
+hurry of the world; and though she is not destitute of senses, is not
+molested by them, and applies herself and her whole attention to
+heavenly things. Thus St. Paul was crucified and insensible to the
+world, raised as far above its objects as living men differ from
+carcasses. Not only St. Paul, amid a multiplicity of affairs, but also
+David, living in the noise of a great city and court, enjoyed solitude
+of mind, and the grace of perfect compunction, and poured forth tears
+night and day, proceeding from an ardent love and desire of God and his
+heavenly kingdom, the consideration of the divine judgments, and the
+remembrance of his own sins. Persons that are lukewarm and slothful,
+think of what they do or have done in penance to cancel their debts; but
+David nourished perpetually in his breast a spirit of compunction, by
+never thinking on the penance he had already done, but only on his debts
+and miseries, and on what he had to do in order to blot out or deliver
+himself from them. St. Chrysostom begs his friend's prayers that he
+might be stirred up by the divine grace to weep perpetually under the
+load of his spiritual evils, so as to escape everlasting torments.
+
+The saint's three books, On Providence, are an exhortation to comfort,
+patience, and resignation, addressed to Stagirius, a monk possessed by
+an evil spirit. This Stagirius was a young nobleman, who had exasperated
+his father by embracing a monastic state: but some time after fell into
+lukewarmness, and was cruelly possessed by an evil spirit, and seized
+with a dreadful melancholy, from which those who had received a power of
+commanding evil spirits were not able to deliver him. St. Chrysostom
+wrote these books soon after he was ordained deacon in 380. In the
+first, he shows that all things are governed by divine providence, by
+which even afflictions are always sent and directed for the good of the
+elect. For any one to doubt of this is to turn infidel: and if we
+believe it, what can we fear whatever tribulations befall us, and to
+whatever height their waves ascend? Though the conduct of divine
+providence, with regard to the just, be not uniform, it sends to none
+any tribulations which are not for their good; when they are most heavy,
+they are designed by God to prepare men for the greatest crowns.
+Moreover, God is absolute master to dispose of us, as a potter of his
+clay. What then have we to say? or how dare we presume to penetrate into
+his holy counsels? The promise of God can never fail: this gives us an
+absolute security of the highest advantages, mercy, and eternal glory,
+which are designed us in our afflictions. St. Chrysostom represents to
+Stagirius that his trials had cured his former vanity, anger, and sloth,
+and it was owing to them that he now spent nights and days in fasting,
+prayer, and reading. In the second book, he presses Stagirius
+strenuously to reject all melancholy and gloomy thoughts, and not to be
+uneasy either about his cure, or the grief his situation was likely to
+give his father, but leaving the issue to God, with perfect resignation
+to ask of him this mercy, resting in the entire confidence that whatever
+God ordained would turn to his greatest advantage. In the third book, he
+mentions to Stagirius several of his acquaintance, whose sufferings,
+both in mind and body, were more grievous than those with which he was
+afflicted. He bids him also pay a visit to the hospitals and prisons;
+for he would there see that his cross was light in comparison of what
+many others endured. {255} He tells him that sin ought to be to him the
+only subject of grief; and that he ought to rejoice in sufferings as the
+means by which his sins were to be expiated. A firm confidence in God, a
+constant attention to his presence, and perpetual prayer, he calls the
+strong ramparts against sadness.
+
+When the Arian emperor Valens, in 375, commanded the monks to be turned
+out of their deserts, and enrolled in the troops, and several Catholics
+reviled them as bigots and madmen, St. Chrysostom took up his pen to
+justify them, by three books, entitled, Against the Impugners of a
+Monastic State. T. 1, p. 44, he expresses his surprise that any
+Christians could speak ill of a state which consists in the most perfect
+means of attaining to true virtue, and says they hurt themselves, not
+the monks, whose merit they increase; as Nero's persecution of St. Paul,
+because he had converted one of the tyrant's concubines, enhanced the
+apostle's glory. A more dreadful judgment is reserved to these enemies
+of the love of Christ. They said, they drew no one from his faith. The
+saint retorts: What will faith avail without innocence and virtue? They
+alleged that a Christian may be saved without retiring into the desert.
+He answers: Would to God men lived so in the world that monasteries were
+of no advantage! but seeing all disorders prevail in it, who can blame
+those who seek to shelter themselves from the storm? He elegantly shows
+that the number of those that are saved in the world is exceeding small,
+and that the gate of life is narrow. The multitude perished in Noah's
+flood, and only eight escaped in the ark. How foolish would it have been
+to rely carelessly on safety in such danger! Yet here the case is far
+more dreadful, everlasting fire being the portion of those that are
+lost. Yet in the world how few resist the torrent, and are not carried
+down with the crowd, sliding into anger, detraction, rash judgment,
+covetousness, or some other sin. Almost all, as if it were by common
+conspiracy, throw themselves into the gulf, where the multitude of
+companions will be no comfort. Is it not, then, a part of wisdom to fly
+from these dangers, in order to secure our only affair in the best
+manner possible?
+
+Whereas parents sometimes opposed the vocation of their children to a
+monastic state, in his second book he addresses himself to a Pagan
+father, who grieved to see his son and heir engaged in that profession.
+He tells him he has the greatest reason to rejoice; proving from
+Socrates, and other heathen philosophers, that his son is more happy in
+voluntary poverty and contempt of the world, than he could have been in
+the possession of empires: that he is richer than his father, whom the
+loss of one bag of his treasures would afflict, whereas the monk, who
+possessed only a single cloak, could see without concern even that
+stolen, and would even rejoice though condemned to banishment or death.
+He is greater than emperors, more happy than the world, out of the reach
+of its malice or evil, whom no one could hurt if he desired it. A father
+who loves his son ought more to rejoice at his so great happiness than
+if he had seen him a thousand times king of the whole earth, and his
+life and kingdom secured to him for ten thousand years. What treasures
+would not have been well employed to purchase for him such a soul as his
+was rendered by virtue, could this blessing have been procured for
+money? He displays the falsehood of worldly pleasure; the inconstancy,
+anxiety, trouble, grief, and bitterness of all its enjoyments, and says
+that no king can give so sensible a joy as the very sight of a virtuous
+man inspires. As he speaks to a Pagan, he makes a comparison between
+Plato and Dionysius the tyrant; then mentions an acquaintance of his
+own. This was a holy monk, whom his Pagan father, who was a rich
+nobleman, incensed at his choice of that state, disinherited; but was at
+length so overcome by the virtue of this son, that he preferred him to
+all his other children, who were accomplished noblemen in the world,
+often saying that none of them was worthy to be his slave; and he
+honored and respected him as if he had been his own father. In the third
+book, St. Chrysostom directs his discourse to a Christian father, whom
+he threatens with the judgment of Hell, if he withdrew his children from
+this state of perfection, in which they would have become suns in
+heaven, whereas, if they were saved in the world, their glory would
+probably be only that of stars. He inveighs against parents, who, by
+their discourse and example, instil into their children a spirit of
+vanity, and sow in their tender minds the seeds of covetousness, and all
+those sins which overrun the world. He compares monks to angels, in
+their uninterrupted joy and attention to God; and observes that men in
+the world are bound to observe the same divine law with the monks, but
+cannot so easily acquit themselves of this obligation, as he that is
+hampered with cords cannot run so well as he that is loose and at
+liberty. He exhorts parents to breed up their children for some years in
+monasteries, and to omit nothing in forming them to perfect virtue. In
+his elegant short treatise, entitled A Comparison between a King and a
+Monk, t. 1, p. 116, he beautifully shows that a pious monk is
+incomparably more honorable, more glorious, and more happy than the
+greatest monarch, by enjoying the favor of heaven, and possessing God;
+by the empire over himself and his own passions, by which he is king in
+his own breast, exercising the most glorious command; by the sweetness
+and riches of divine grace; by the kingdom of God established in his
+soul; by prayer, by which all things are in his power; by his universal
+benevolence and beneficence to others, procuring to every one all
+spiritual advantages as far as lies in him; by the comfort which he
+finds in death which is terrible {256} to kings, but by which he is
+translated to an immortal crown, &c. This book is much esteemed by
+Montfaucon and the devout Blosius.
+
+St. Chrysostom, in his treatise on Virginity, t. 1, p. 268, says this
+virtue is a privilege peculiar to the true church, not to be found, at
+least pure, among heretics: he proves against the Manichees, that
+marriage is good: yet says that virginity as far excels it as angels
+men, but that all its excellency is derived from the consecration of a
+soul to God, and her attention to please him, without which this state
+avails nothing.
+
+After he was ordained deacon at Antioch, he composed his book To a Young
+Widow, (t. 1, p. 337,) a lady who had lost her husband Tarasius,
+candidate for the prefectship of the city. He draws motives to comfort
+her from the spiritual advantages of holy widowhood, and the happiness
+to which her husband was called. His second book To the Widow, (t. 1, p.
+349,) is a dissuasive from second marriages, when they are contracted
+upon worldly motives.
+
+His six incomparable books on the Priesthood, he composed to excuse
+himself to his friend Basil, who complained that he had been betrayed by
+him into the episcopal charge; for Chrysostom persuaded him they had
+time yet to conceal themselves; yet secretly absconded himself and left
+the other to be chosen. Basil, when he met him afterwards, was not able
+to speak for some time but by a flood of tears; and at length broke
+through them only to give vent to his grief in bitter complaints against
+the treachery of his friend. This work is wrote in a dialogue between
+the two friends. St. Chrysostom, in the first book, alleges (t. 1, p.
+362) that he could not deprive the church of a pastor so well qualified
+to serve it as Basil was; nor undertake himself a charge for which he
+had not the essential talents, and in which he should involve others and
+himself in ruin. In the second book he justifies his own action in not
+hindering the promotion of his friend to the episcopacy, by observing
+that to undertake the charge of souls is the greatest proof we can give
+of our love for Christ, which He declared by putting the question thrice
+to St. Peter whether he loved him, before he committed to him the care
+of his flock. John xxi. 15. If we think it an argument of our love for a
+friend to take care of his servants or cattle, much more will God
+recompense faithful pastors, who feed those dear souls to save which God
+died. The pastoral charge is certainly the first of all others in merit
+and dignity. The saint therefore thinks he should have prevaricated if
+he had deprived the church of a minister capable of serving it. But in
+order to justify his own flight, he adds that the dangers and
+difficulties of this state are proportioned to its pre-eminence and
+advantages. For what can be more difficult and dangerous than the charge
+of immortal souls, and of applying to them remedies, which, to take
+effect, depend upon their own co-operation and consent, and must be
+always proportioned to their dispositions and character, which must be
+sounded, as well as to their wounds? Remissness leaves a wound half
+cured: and a suitable penance often exasperates and makes it wider.
+Herein the greatest sagacity and prudence are necessary: Nor is the
+difficulty less in bringing back to the church members which are
+separated from it. Basil replied to this discourse of St. Chrysostom:
+"You then love not Christ, who fly from the charge of souls." St.
+Chrysostom answered, that he loved him, and fled from this charge
+because he loved him, fearing to offend him by taking upon him such an
+office, for which he was every way unqualified. Basil retorts with
+warmth, that his treachery towards himself was unpardonable, because he
+was acquainted with his friend's incapacity. Chrysostom answers, that he
+should never have betrayed him into that dignity, if he had not known
+his charity and other qualifications. In order to show that he had
+reason to shun that charge, he in his third book sets forth the
+excellence and obligations of that dignity; for it is not earthly, but
+altogether heavenly, and its ministry would do honor to the angels; and
+a pastor ought to look upon himself as placed among the heavenly
+spirits, and under an obligation of being no less pure and holy. This he
+shows, first, from the tremendous sacrifice of the altar, which requires
+in the offerer a purity truly becoming heaven, and even far surpassing
+the sanctity which was required in so terrible a manner of priests in
+the Old Law, a mere shadow of ours. "For," says he, "when you behold the
+Lord himself lying the victim on the altar, and offered, and the priest
+attending, and praying over the sacrifice, purpled with his precious
+blood, do you seem to remain among men and on earth, or not rather to be
+translated into heaven? O wonderful prodigy! O excess of the divine
+mercy! He who is seated above at the right hand of the Father, is in
+that hour held by all in their hands, and gives himself to be touched
+and received. Figure to yourself Elias before the altar, praying alone,
+the multitude standing around him in silence, and trembling, and the
+fire falling from heaven and consuming the sacrifice. What is now done
+is far more extraordinary, more awful, and more astonishing. The priest
+is here standing, and calls down from heaven, not fire, but the Holy
+Ghost: he prays a long time, not that a flame may be kindled, but that
+grace may touch the sacrifice, and that the hearts of all who partake of
+it may be purged by the same." c. 5, p. 385. (See the learned prelate
+Giacomelli's Note on St. Chrysostom's doctrine on the real presence of
+the body of Christ in the Eucharist, and on the sacrifice of the altar,
+in hunc librum, c. 4, p. 340.) Secondly, he mentions the eminent
+prerogative of binding and loosing, not bodies, but souls, with which
+the priesthood of the New Law is {257} honored: a power reaching the
+heavens, where God confirms the sentence pronounced by priests below: a
+power never given to angels, yet granted to men. John xx. 22. All power
+was given by the Father to the Son, who again transferred it on men. It
+is esteemed a great authority if an emperor confers on a private person
+power to imprison others or to set them at liberty. How great then is
+the authority with which God honors the priesthood. The priests of the
+Old Law declared lepers healed; those of the New really cleanse and heal
+our souls. They are our spiritual parents, by whom we are reborn to
+eternal life; they regenerate us by baptism, again remit our sins by
+extreme unction, (James v. 14,) and by their prayers appease God whom we
+have offended. From all which he infers that it is arrogance and
+presumption to seek such a dignity, which made St. Paul himself tremble
+(1 Cor. xi. 3, &c.) If the people in a mad phrensy should make an
+ignorant cobble general of their army, every one would commend such a
+wretch if he fled and hid himself that he might not be instrumental in
+his own and his country's ruin. "If any one," says he, "should appoint
+me pilot, and order me to steer a large vessel in the dangerous Egæn or
+Tyrrhenian sea, I should be alarmed and struck with fear, and rather fly
+than drown both myself and crew." The saint proceeds to mention the
+principal temptations to which a pastor of souls is himself exposed, and
+the storms by which he is assailed; as vain-glory, for instance, a more
+dreadful monster than the sirens of the poets, which passengers, by
+standing on their guard, could sail by and escape. "This rock," says he,
+"is so troublesome to me even now, when no necessity drives me upon it,
+that I do not quite escape being hurt by it. But if any one had placed
+me on so high a pinnacle, it would have been as if, having tied my hands
+behind my back, he had exposed me to wild beasts to be torn in pieces."
+He adds the danger of human respect, fear of the great ones, contempt or
+neglect of the poor; observing that none can encounter such dangers, but
+such as are perfect in virtue, disinterested, watchful over themselves,
+inured to mortification by great abstinence, resting on hard beds, and
+assiduous labor: lastly, what is most rare, dead to themselves by
+meekness, sweetness, and charity, which no injuries or reproaches, no
+ingratitude, no perverseness, or malice, can ever weary or overcome: for
+a perfect victory over anger is a most essential part of the character
+of a good pastor, without which all his virtues will be tarnished, and
+he will reap no fruit of his labors. He makes this dreadful remark, that
+within the circle of his own acquaintance he had known many who in
+solitude led lives pleasing to God, but being advanced to the
+priesthood, lost both themselves and others. If no Christian can call to
+mind, without trembling, the dreadful account which he is to give at the
+tribunal of Christ for his own sins, how must he tremble at this
+thought, who sees himself charged with the sins and souls of others?
+Heb. xiii. 17. In the fourth book he proves that one unfit for the
+pastoral charge is not excused because it is imposed on him by others,
+as one unacquainted with the rules of architecture can by no means
+undertake to build, nor one to practise medicine who is a stranger to
+that profession. He speaks of the crime of those who choose unworthy
+pastors, and of the learning necessary for this charge, especially in
+applying suitable remedies to every spiritual disorder, in confuting
+Pagans, Jews, and heretics, and in instructing the faithful. A talent
+for preaching is an indispensable qualification. In the fifth book he
+prescribes the manner in which a preacher ought to announce the word of
+God, with what indefatigable pains, and with what purity of intention,
+desiring only to please God and plant his love in all hearts, and
+despising the applause of men, insensible both to their praise and
+censures. His discourse must be set off by piety, natural eloquence,
+plain simplicity, and dignity, that all may hear the divine word
+willingly, and with respect and pleasure, so as to wish at the end of
+the sermon that it were longer. The extreme danger of vain-glory so much
+alarmed him, that in the close of this book he again speaks against that
+vice, and says, that he who entirely subdued this furious wild beast,
+and cut off its numberless heads, enjoys a great interior calm, with
+infinite spiritual advantages; and that every one is bound to stand
+always armed against its assaults. In the sixth book, he shows that
+priests will be punished for the sins of others. It is no excuse for a
+watchman to say, _I heard not the trumpet: I saw not the enemy
+approach_, (Ezech. xxxiii. 3,) for he is appointed sentinel to watch and
+announce the danger to others. If a single soul perishes through his
+neglect, this will condemn him at the last day. In how great
+watchfulness must he live not to be infected with the contagion of the
+world, with which he is obliged to converse! With what zeal, vigilance,
+and fervor is he bound to acquit himself of all his duties and
+functions! For priests are ambassadors of heaven, sent not to one city,
+but to the whole earth, with a strict charge never to cease scattering
+the divine seed, preaching and exhorting with so great diligence, that
+no secret sinner may be able to escape them. They are moreover appointed
+by God mediators to intercede with him for the sins both of the living
+and the dead; to offer the tremendous sacrifice, and hold the common
+Lord of all things in their hands. With what purity, with what sanctity
+ought he to be adorned, who exercises so sublime a function? In it
+angels attend the priest, all the choir of heaven joins, and the holy
+place near the altar is occupied by legions of blessed spirits, in honor
+of Him who is laid upon it. This he confirms by a vision of a holy old
+man, who saw a multitude of bright spirits surrounding the altar,
+profoundly bowing their heads. "Another," says the {258} saint, "assured
+me, that he had both seen himself, and heard from others, that the souls
+of those who receive the holy mysteries before death, depart out of
+their bodies attended by angels as troops of heavenly guards." Lastly,
+he shows that sins are more easily committed, and are more grievous, in
+the episcopal ministry than in holy retirement. Basil, at this
+discourse, almost swooned away in the excess of grief and fear with
+which he was seized, till after some time, recovering himself, he said
+in the bitterness of his heart, What has the church of God committed to
+have deserved so dreadful a calamity, that the pastoral charge should be
+intrusted to the most unworthy of men? For he had before his eyes on one
+side the glory, the sanctity, the spiritual beauty and wisdom of the
+sacred spouse of Christ; and on the other, the sins and miseries of his
+own soul; and this consideration drew from him a flood of tears.
+Chrysostom said, that as to himself, upon the first news of his danger
+he had swooned away, and only returned to himself to vent his grief by
+abundance of tears; in which agony he passed all that time. He adds: "I
+will now discover to you the deplorable state of my mind at that time,
+that out of mere compassion you may forgive me what I have done; and I
+wish I could show you my wretched heart itself.--But all my alarms are
+now converted into joy." Basil replied: "But I am now plunged in bitter
+sorrow and tears: and what protection can I seek? If you have still any
+bowels of tenderness and compassion for my soul, any consolation in
+Christ, I conjure you never to forsake me in the dangers in which you
+have engaged me." St. Chrysostom answered, smiling, "In what can I serve
+you in your exalted station? However, when a respite from your functions
+affords you any leisure, I will wait upon you, and will never be wanting
+in any thing in my power." Basil at this arose weeping. St. John,
+embracing him and kissing his head, said, "Be of good courage, trusting
+in Christ, who has called you to his holy ministry."
+
+In the first tome of his works, p. 228, we have a book which he composed
+when he was first made bishop of Constantinople, in 397, Against those
+who have sub-introduced Women; that is, against such of the clergy as
+kept deaconesses, or spiritual sisters, under the same roof to take care
+of their household. Saint Chrysostom condemns this custom as criminal in
+itself, both because dangerous, and because scandalous to others.
+Whatever pretext such persons allege of imaginary necessities, and of
+their security and precautions against the danger, he shows that there
+is always danger of their finding a lurking pleasure in such company.
+Though they perceive not any secret passion, he will not believe them
+exempt; for men are often the greatest strangers to their own hearts. He
+urges that this conduct is at least criminal, because it is an occasion
+and incentive of evil. Job, so holy a man, so dead to himself by long
+habits of mortification, durst not cast his eyes upon a virgin. St.
+Paul, not content with his continual fatigues and sufferings, added
+voluntary chastisements of his flesh to subdue it. What austerities do
+anchorets practise to tame their bodies, by perpetual fasts, watching,
+and sackcloth! yet never suffer even visits of persons of the other sex.
+Ironically inveighing against the presumption of such as had not the
+like saving apprehension of danger, he tells them; "I must indeed call
+these strong men happy, who have nothing to fear from such a danger, and
+I could wish myself to be endowed with equal strength," (t. 1, p. 231.)
+But he tells them this is as impossible as for a man to carry fire in
+his bosom without being burnt. "You bid me," says he, "believe that
+though I see you converse with a virgin, this is a work of piety, not
+passion. O wonderful man! this may be said of those who live not with
+men, but among stones," (t. 1, p. 235.) Our zealous pastor shows that
+the capital point in this warfare is, not to awake our domestic enemy,
+but by watchfulness to shun whatever can rouse him: and he adds, that
+though a man were invulnerable, he ought not to scandalize the weak, and
+by his example, draw them into a like snare. The stronger a person is,
+the more easy must it be to him not to give scandal. To the pretext of
+necessity, he answers, that this is mere madness, for a clergyman ought
+not to be so nice, either in his furniture or table. The saint addressed
+a like book to women, under this title: That regular (or religious)
+Women ought not to live in the same house with Men, (t. 1, p. 248.)
+Besides condemning this abuse and scandal, he zealously inveighs against
+the airy, light dress of many ladies, and pathetically invites all
+servants of God to mingle floods of tears with his in the bitter anguish
+of his soul, for a scandal by which snares are laid for others, souls
+murdered, (though undesignedly,) and sin against the divine Majesty
+propagated.
+
+St. Chrysostom seems to have been only deacon when he compiled his book
+On St. Babylas, against the Gentiles; in which he speaks of the miracles
+wrought at his relics, as of facts to which he and his auditors had been
+eye-witnesses, (t. 2, p. 530.) Montfaucon refers to the same time his
+Synopsis of the Old Testament: in which he places in the canon the
+deutero-canonical books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Esther, Toby, and
+Judith: and out of the seven canonical epistles counts only three, viz:
+that of St. James, one of St. Peter, and one of St. John, (no others
+being received by the Syrians, as appears from Cosmas Indicopleustes,)
+t. 6, p. 308.
+
+St Chrysostom was ordained priest by the patriarch Flavian, in 386, and
+appointed his ordinary preacher. On this occasion the saint made a
+sermon, (t. 1, p. 436,) in which he expresses his dread and surprise at
+his promotion, earnestly begs the prayers of the people, {259} and says
+he desires to entertain them on the praises of God, but was deterred by
+the checks of his conscience, and remorse for his sins: for the royal
+prophet, who invites all creatures, even dragons and serpents, to sound
+forth the praises of God, passes by sinners as unworthy to be allowed a
+place in that sacred choir: they are ignominiously ejected, as a
+musician cuts off a string that is not tunable with the rest.
+
+The holy doctor, grieving for the spiritual blindness of many who were
+seduced by heresy, and considering their dangers as most grievous, and
+their miseries most pressing, preached five most eloquent sermons on the
+Incomprehensible Nature of God, against the Anomæans. He had taken
+notice that these heretics, who were very numerous in Syria, resorted
+willingly to his sermons with the Catholics, which afforded him an
+opportunity of more easily reclaiming them. The Anomæans were the
+followers of Eunomius, who, to the errors of the rankest Arianism, added
+a peculiar blasphemy, asserting that both the blessed in heaven, and
+also men in this mortal life, not only know God, but also comprehend and
+fathom the divine nature as clearly as we know our own, and even as
+perfectly as God comprehends himself. This fanaticism and impiety St.
+Chrysostom confutes in these five homilies, demonstrating, from the
+infinitude of the divine attributes, and from holy scriptures, that God
+is essentially incomprehensible to the highest angels. He strongly
+recommends to Catholics a modest and mild behavior towards heretics; for
+nothing so powerfully gains others as meekness and tender charity; this
+heals all wounds, whereas harshness exasperates and alienates the mind.
+(Hom. 2, p. 461.) His method is to close every discourse with some
+pathetic moral exhortation. In his third homily, On the
+Incomprehensible, he complains bitterly that many who heard his sermon
+with patience, left the church when it was at an end, without attending
+the celebration of the divine mysteries. He shows the efficacy of public
+prayer to be far greater than that of private, and a far more glorious
+homage to be paid by it to God: by this St. Peter was delivered from his
+chains; to it the apostles ascribed the wonderful success of their
+preaching. He mentions, that ten years ago, when a magistrate condemned
+for high treason was led to execution with a halter about his neck, the
+citizens ran in a body to the hippodrome to beg a reprieve; and the
+emperor, who was not able to reject the request of the whole city,
+readily granted the criminal a full pardon. Much more easily will the
+Father of mercy suffer himself to be overcome by the concord of many in
+prayer, and show mercy to sinners. Not only men join the tremendous
+voice during the sacred mysteries, but the angels and archangels present
+to the Father of all things the body of the Lord, entreating him to have
+mercy on them for whom he shed his blood, and sacrificed this very body.
+"By your acclamations you testify your approbation of what is said; but
+by your compliance show that your applause is sincere. This is the only
+applause that can give me pleasure or joy," &c., (p. 471.) In the
+following sermon (Hom. 4, p. 477) he commends their compliance by all
+assisting to the end of the public office, but severely finds fault that
+some conversed together in the church, and in that awful hour when the
+deacon cried out, "Let us stand attentive." He bids them call to mind
+that they are then raised above created things, placed before the throne
+of God, and associated with the seraphims and cherubims in sounding
+forth his praises, (p. 477.) In the fifth homily he again makes fervent
+and humble prayer, by which all things are obtained and effected, the
+subject of his moral exhortation. Public prayer is a duty which he
+frequently inculcates as a most essential obligation, a homage most
+honorable to God, and a most powerful means of grace to ourselves and
+all mankind. (See Hom. de Obscur. Prophet, t. 6, p. 187, &c.) We have
+seen other homilies of this father against the Anomæans, in which he
+proves the consubstantiality of God the Son; subjoining exhortations to
+prayer, humility, good works, &c. His sermon Upon not Anathematizing,
+(t. 1, p. 691,) was the fruit of his pious zeal to induce the Meletians
+and Paulinians to concord, and prevent private persons from
+anathematizing or branding others with the crime of heresy or schism;
+censures being reserved to the chief pastors, who are very sparing in
+using them. The spirit of Christ is meekness, and compassion and
+tenderness the means to gain souls. By this discourse he healed the
+sores left in the church of Antioch by the late schism. The Jews and the
+Gentiles shared in the fruits of his zeal and charity. Eight sermons
+which he preached against the Jews, whom he proves to have been cast off
+by God, and their ceremonial rites abolished, have reached us, and many
+others are lost. In his book Against the Jews and Gentiles, he
+demonstrates the Christian religion from the propagation of the gospel,
+the martyrs, prophecies, and the triumph of the cross: this ensign now
+adorns the crowns of emperors, is carried by every one on his forehead,
+and placed everywhere with honor, in houses, market-places, deserts,
+highways, mountains, hills, woods, ships, beds, clothes, arms, vessels,
+jewels, and pictures; on the bodies of beasts when sick, on energumens,
+&c. We are all more adorned with it than with crowns and a thousand
+precious stones; all eagerly visit the wood on which the sacred body was
+crucified; men and women have small particles of it set in gold, which
+they hang about their necks. On the 20th of December, 386, our saint
+pronounced his discourse on St. Philogonius, the twenty-fast bishop of
+Antioch. who had zealously opposed the rising heresy of Arius, and died
+on this day in 322. St. Chrysostom left the subject of the panegyric to
+his bishop Flavian, who {260} was to speak after him, and entertained
+his people with an exhortation to the holy communion on Christmas-day,
+five days after. He tells them the Magi had the happiness only of
+adoring Christ, but that they who should approach him with a pure
+conscience, would receive him and carry him with them; that he whose
+life is holy and free from crimes, may communicate every day; but he who
+is guilty in the sight of God, not even on the greatest festival.
+Nevertheless, the sinner ought to prepare himself, by a sincere
+conversion and by good works, during the interval of five days, and then
+communicate. The Ninevites appeased the divine vengeance in three days
+by the fervor of their penance.
+
+In his homily On the Calends, or First Day of the Year, (t. 1, p. 697,)
+he inveighs with great zeal against rioting and revels usual in that
+season, and strongly exhorts all to spend that day in works of piety,
+and in consecrating the year to God. As builders raise a wall by a ruler
+or plummet, that no unevenness may spoil their work, so must we make the
+sincere intention of the divine glory our rule in our prayers, fasts,
+eating, drinking, buying, selling, silence, and discourse. This must be
+our great staff, our arms, our rampart, our immense treasure: wherever
+we are, and whatever we say or do, we must bear this motto always
+written on our heart: "To the glory of God;" ever glorifying God, not
+barely in words, but by all our actions in the sincere affections of our
+hearts, that we may receive glory from him who says: "Those who glorify
+me, I will crown with glory," (p. 697.)
+
+In seven discourses, On Lazarus and the Rich Man, he shows that a life
+of sensuality and pleasures is condemned by Christ; laments that any
+Christian should abandon himself to debauchery, and declares he will
+never cease to pursue sinners by his exhortations, as Christ did Judas,
+to the last moment: if any remain obstinately incorrigible, he shall
+esteem it a great happiness if he reclaim but one soul, or even prevent
+but one sin; at least that he can never see God offended and remain
+silent. (Hom. 1.) He sets off the advantages of afflictions, which are
+occasions of all virtue, and even in the reprobate, at least abate the
+number of their sins, and the torments of another life. In the seventh
+homily, he severely condemns the diversions of the circus, and expresses
+the most tender grief that any Christian should so far forget God as to
+frequent them. He paternally exhorts all such to repentance; proves
+afflictions and the cross to be the portion of the just in this life,
+and says, "That they whom God does not visit with tribulations, ought at
+least to afflict themselves by the labors of penance, the only path
+which can conduct us with Lazarus to God," (p. 736.)
+
+In the second tome, we have the holy doctor's twenty-one sermons to the
+people of Antioch, or, On the Statues; the following discourses, to the
+number of sixty, in the old editions not being genuine, but patched up
+by modern Greeks, chiefly out of several works of this father. The great
+sedition happened at Antioch on the 26th of February, 387, just after
+the saint had preached the first of the sermons, in which he spoke
+against drunkenness and blasphemy, pressing all persons to expel their
+company any one who should blaspheme. After the sedition, he was silent,
+in the general grief and consternation, for seven days: then made his
+second sermon, in which he tells the people that their confusion and
+remorse is itself a greater punishment than it was in the power of the
+emperor to inflict; he exhorts them to alms-deeds, and to hope in the
+mercy of Christ, who, leaving the earth, left us his own flesh, which
+yet he carried with him to heaven, and that blood which he spilt for us,
+he again imparted to us. After this, what will he refuse to do for our
+salvation? The third sermon being made in the beginning of Lent, the
+preacher inculcates the obligation of fasting: from his words it is
+clear that Christians then abstained from wine and fish no less than
+from fowls and all flesh. He insists chiefly on the moral fast of the
+will from all sin, and of all the senses by self-denials in each of
+them. Detraction he singles out as the most common sin, and exhorts us
+to abhor, with the royal prophet, every one who secretly detracts
+another; to say to such, "If you have any thing to say to the advantage
+of another, I will hear you with pleasure; but if you have only ill to
+tell me, this is what I cannot listen to." If detracters were thoroughly
+persuaded that by their evil speeches they rendered themselves more
+odious than those of whom they speak ill, they would be effectually
+cured of this pestilential habit. The saint draws an inference from what
+the people then saw before their eyes, and represented to them that if
+emperors punish with extreme rigor those who injure their statues, with
+what severity will God revenge the injury done by the detracter to his
+living image, and that offered by the blasphemer to his own adorable
+name. In the fourth homily, he speaks on the usefulness of afflictions,
+which withdraw men from many dangers of sin, and make them earnestly
+seek God. In the fifth, he continues the same subject, and shows that
+they ought not to fear death, if they prepare themselves for it by
+sincere penance. Their conversion he would have them begin by correcting
+the habit of swearing, which had taken deep root among many of them.
+This victory, he says, would be easy if every one who had contracted
+such a habit would enjoin himself some penance for every oath which
+should escape him, as the loss of a meal. "Hunger and thirst," says the
+saint, "will put you in mind always to watch over yourself, and you will
+stand in need of no other exhortation." In the sixth, he shows that
+death is desirable to a Christian, who, by a penitential life, in
+imitation of the holy anchorets, is dead to the world and himself. {261}
+In the fourteenth, he describes the dreadful consternation with which
+the whole city was filled at the sight of new troops, and of a tribunal
+erected; and, to awake sinners to a sincere repentance, he sets before
+their eyes the terrors of the last judgment. In the twentieth, he
+exhorts them to redouble their fervor in preparing their souls for the
+Paschal communion, the nearer that time approached; especially by
+forgiving all injuries. In the twenty-first, which was spoken on
+Easter-day, after the return of the patriarch, he recites great part of
+Flavian's speech, and the emperor's gracious answer, whose clemency he
+elegantly extols, with a pathetic exhortation to the people never to
+forget the divine mercy. From the mention he makes of Flavian's speech,
+(Hom. 3, p. 35,) it appears that our saint had concerted it with him. He
+preached every day this Lent; but only these twenty-one have reached us:
+and only two catechetical discourses, out of many others which he made
+about Easter that year to the catechumens. In the first he censures
+those who defer baptism, and explains the names and fruits of that great
+sacrament; in the second, he exhorts them always to bear in mind, and to
+repeat to themselves, on every occasion, those solemn words, "I renounce
+thee, Satan;" and to make it the study of their whole lives to be ever
+faithful to this most sacred engagement. He next puts them in mind, that
+they ought to pray without intermission, and always to have God before
+their eyes, at work, in the shop, abroad, sitting, or whatever else they
+were doing.
+
+About the year 392, Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus, formerly St.
+Chrysostom's master, happened to preach at Antioch, and in his sermon
+highly commended our saint, whom he called John the Baptist, the voice
+of the church, and the rod of Moses. The people, by loud acclamations,
+testified how agreeable these encomiums of their preacher were to them:
+only St. Chrysostom heard them with grief and confusion, and ascribed
+them to the fondness of a good master, and the charity of the people.
+Afterwards, ascending the pulpit, he said that every word of the
+discourse had struck him to the heart, and made him sigh within himself:
+for praises sting the conscience no less than sins, when a soul is
+conscious to herself how far she is from what is said of her: they only
+set before her eyes the last day, in which, to her greater confusion,
+all things will appear naked and as they are; for we shall not be judged
+by the masks which are put on us by other men. T. 3, F. 747.
+
+In three sermons On the Devil, he shows that the divine mercy has
+restored us more by grace in our redemption, than the devil has robbed
+us of by the sin of Adam; and that the punishment itself of that sin
+served to set forth the excess of the divine mercy and goodness, (Hom.
+1, de Diabolo, t. 2, p. 246;) that temptations and the devil's malice
+are occasions of great advantage, if we make a good use of them: that
+temporal calamities are sent by God: we fall into sin only by our own
+malice: the devil has no power against us but by the divine permission,
+and all his efforts are weak, unless by our sloth we give him power over
+us. He draws a parallel between Adam sinning in paradise by his free
+will, and Job victorious by patience on his dunghill under his
+sufferings, of which he gives a lively description, showing them to have
+been far more grievous than all the calamities under which we so easily
+lose our patience and crown.
+
+In nine homilies On Penance, he extols its efficacy, and invites all
+sinners to repentance. Hom. 6, p. 316, he vehemently condemns stage
+entertainments, which he calls the school of pleasure, the seat of
+pestilence, and the furnace of Babylon. Hom. 3, he calls alms the queen
+of virtues, and charity and compassion the key of the divine mercy. Hom.
+9, p. 347, he presses all to assist assiduously at the divine mysteries,
+but with attention, awe, and trembling.
+
+In two homilies On the Treason of Judas, (p. 376,) he recommends
+meekness towards persecutors, and the pardon of injuries, by which we
+reap from them, without trouble of expense, the most precious of all
+advantages, grace and the pardon of our sins. Speaking on the holy
+eucharist, he says, that Christ gives us in it the same body which he
+delivered to death for us, and that he refused not to present to Judas
+the very blood which that traitor sold. (Hom. 1, de proditione Judæ, t.
+2, p. 383.) He repeats the same thing, (Hom. 2, ib. p. 393.) He
+observes, that as God, by his word, (Gen. i. 28,) propagates and
+multiplies all things in nature to the end of the world, so it is not
+the priest, but Christ, by the words pronounced by the priest, and by
+virtue of those which he spoke at his last supper, saying, "This is my
+body," who changes the offering (or bread and wine) in every church from
+that to this time, and consummates the sacrifice till his coming. (Hom.
+1, ib. p. 383.)
+
+In two homilies, On the Cross, and on the Good Thief, preached on Good
+Friday, he makes many excellent reflections on the conversion of the
+latter, and on the precept of our forgiving injuries, by which we become
+true imitators of Christ, and inherit the privileges of his disciples.
+The cross he commends as the instrument of Christ's glorious triumph,
+and of our happiness.
+
+In a homily On the Resurrection of the Dead, he proves this article to
+be the foundation, both of our faith, and of our morals. In that On the
+Resurrection of our Lord, he tells his flock, that on that day (which
+was the solemnity of Easter) they were no longer obliged to drink only
+water, to abstain from the bath, to live on herbs and pulse, and to fast
+as in Lent; but that they were bound to shun intemperance: he speaks
+against drunkenness, {262} and says the poor have equal reason for joy
+and thanksgiving with the rich on that solemnity, the advantages which
+it brings consisting in spiritual graces, not in feasting or pomp. In
+the first homily, On Whitsunday, he proves, that though the descent of
+the Holy Ghost is no longer manifested by miracles, since the faith had
+been sufficiently established by them, it was not less real, though made
+in an invisible manner in our souls, by his grace and peace. In the
+second, on the same feast, he calls Whitsunday the accomplishment of all
+the mysteries of our faith; and teaches that the Holy Ghost delayed his
+descent, that he might not come upon the apostles in vain, or without
+having been long and earnestly desired; and that he manifested his
+descent by the emblem of tongues of fire, to represent that he consumes
+like fire the thorns of our souls, and that his principal gift is
+charity. His seven homilies On St. Paul, are standing proofs of his
+singular veneration for that great apostle, and admiration of his divine
+virtues. In the third, speaking of that apostle's ardent love of God,
+which made ignominies and torments for his sake a triumph, and a subject
+of joy and pleasure, he seems to surpass himself, (p. 481.) In the
+sixth, he speaks of miracles wrought at the relics of St. Babylas at
+Daphne, and says, that the devil trembled at the name of Christ, and
+fled whenever it was pronounced. In many other homilies he speaks in
+raptures on the admirable virtues of St. Paul, whose spirit he had
+imbibed and studied in his writings and example. The miracles of St.
+Babylas are the subject of a panegyric, which St. Chrysostom has left us
+on that holy martyr, (ib. p. 531.) We have his panegyrics or homilies on
+St. Meletius, St. Lucian, SS. Juventinus and Maximin, St. Pelagia, St.
+Ignatius, St. Eustathius, St. Romanus, the Maccabees, SS. Bernice,
+Prosodoche, and Domnina, St. Drosis, St. Phocas, &c., in which he
+frequently and strongly recommends the most devout veneration for their
+relics. See that on St. Ignatius, p. 593, &c. In homily 1, On the
+Martyrs, (p. 650,) he says that the very sight of their relics more
+strongly moves to virtue than the most pathetic sermons, and that their
+shrines are more precious than the richest earthly treasures, and that
+the advantages which these relics afford, are not diminished by their
+division, but multiplied. Some being surprised that in this discourse he
+had compared the crime of an unworthy communion to that of the Jews, who
+crucified Christ, he made another under this title, That we are not to
+preach to please Men; in which he repeats and enforces the same
+comparison; but adds a serious exhortation to frequent communion, after
+a sincere repentance, and the distinct confession of every sin; "For it
+is not enough to say, I am a sinner, but every kind of sin is to be
+expressed," (p, 667.) Though some circumstances aggravate a sacrilegious
+communion beyond the crime of Judas and that of the crucifiers of
+Christ; the last was doubtless, as St. Thomas Aquinas shows, far more
+enormous in itself; an injury offered to Christ in his own natural form
+differing from an insult which he receives hid under sacramental veils,
+though it is hard to imagine that any crime into which a Christian can
+fall since the death of Christ, can be more enormous than an unworthy
+communion. St. Chrysostom, in his second sermon On the Martyrs, (p.
+668,) bids the faithful remain a long time in prayer at their tombs, and
+devoutly kiss their shrines, which abound with blessings. In that On the
+Martyrs of Egypt, (p. 699,) he calls their relics dispersed in different
+places, "the ramparts of the cities," &c. In that On the Earthquake, he
+expresses a deep and tender concern for the public calamity, but
+rejoices at the spiritual advancement of the people, saying, that this
+scourge had wrought such a change in them, that they seemed to be become
+angels. Two books On Prayer, bear the name of St. Chrysostom: if they
+are not mentioned by the ancients among his works, that most important
+subject is treated in them in a manner not unworthy his pen. This book
+is made use of in many pious schools as a Greek classic, with another On
+the Education of Children, full of excellent maxims, ascribed to our
+saint; but unjustly, for it is a compilation, made without much method,
+out of several of his sermons and other works.
+
+The first part of the third tome, in the Benedictin edition, presents us
+thirty-four elegant sermons of this saint on divers texts of holy
+scripture, and on various Christian virtues and duties. Those on
+forgiving injuries, humility, alms, prayer, widowhood, and three on
+marriage, particularly deserve attention. That On Alms he took occasion
+to preach from the extreme miseries under which he saw the beggars
+groan, lying abandoned in the streets as he passed through them coming
+to the church; whence it is inferred by Tillemont and others, that it
+was spoken extempore, or without preparation. He says, that water does
+not so easily wash away the spots of our clothes, as alms blot out the
+stains of our souls. On Marriage, he proves that state to be holy, and
+will not have it dishonored by profane pomps, which no custom can
+authorize; as by them God is offended. Christ is to be invited to give
+the nuptial blessing in the persons of the priests, and what many throw
+away on musicians, would be a grateful sacrifice to God if bestowed on
+the poor. Every one ought to be ambitious to set the example of so
+wholesome and holy a custom, which others would imitate. What
+incomparable advantages does a wife bring to a house, when she enters it
+loaded with the blessings of heaven? This is a fortune far beyond all
+the riches of the world. In the third discourse, he speaks of the
+inviolable precept of mutual tender love which the husband and wife are
+bound constantly to bear each other, and of forgetting one another's
+faults, as {263} a man in engaging in this state seeks a companion for
+life, the saint observes that nothing is busier than for him to make it
+an affair of traffic, or a money job. A wife with a moderate fortune
+usually brings more complaisance and submission, and blesses a house
+with peace, union, and friendship. How many rich men, by marrying great
+fortunes, in seeking to increase their estates, have forfeited the
+repose of their minds for the rest of their lives. A virtuous wife gives
+every succor and comfort to a family, by the virtuous education of her
+children, by possessing the heart of her husband, and by furnishing
+supplies for every necessity, and comfort in every distress. Virtue was
+the only quality and circumstance which Abraham was solicitous about in
+the choice which he made of a wife for his son. Among the letters of the
+saint, which, with certain scattered homilies, fill up the latter part
+of this volume, the seventeen addressed to St. Olympias, both by the
+subjects and style, deserve rather the title of treatises than of
+epistles.
+
+The fourth tome contains sixty-seven homilies on Genesis, which were
+preached at Antioch during Lent, some year later than 386. Photius takes
+notice, that in these his style is less correct than in any of his other
+writings, and as far beneath his comments on the Acts of the Apostles,
+as those fall short of his most eloquent discourses on Isaiah, or on the
+epistles of St. Paul. His parentheses are sometimes so long, that he
+forgets to wind up his discourse and return to his subject: for speaking
+not only with little or no preparation, but without much attention to a
+regular method, for the instruction of the peoples, he suffered himself
+often to be carried sway with the ardor with which some new important
+thought inspired him. Yet the purity of his language, the liveliness of
+his images and similes, the perspicuity of his expression, and the
+copiousness of his invention, never fall: his thoughts and words flow
+everywhere in a beautiful stream, like an impetuous river. He
+interweaves excellent moral instructions against vain-glory, detraction,
+rash judgment, avarice, and the cold words mine and thine; on prayer,
+&c. His encomiums of Abraham and other patriarchs, are set off by
+delicate strokes. In the first thirty-two he often explains the
+conditions of the Lent fast. In the year 386, during Lent, at which time
+the church read the book of Genesis, he explained the beginning thereof
+in eight elegant sermons, t. 4, p. 615. In the first, he congratulates
+with the people for the great joy and holy eagerness for penance with
+which they received the publication of the Lent fast, this being the
+most favorable season for obtaining the pardon of sins, and reaping the
+most abundant heavenly blessings and graces; a season in which the
+heavens are in a particular manner open, through the joint prayers,
+fasts, and alms of the whole church. These are usually called sermons on
+Genesis, in order to be distinguished from the foregoing homilies, which
+were posterior to them in time. Five sermons On Anna, the mother of
+Samuel, (t. 4, p. 6{}9,) were preached at Antioch in 387, after the
+emperor had granted his gracious pardon for the sedition. The saint
+treats in them on fasting, the honor due to martyrs and their relics, on
+purity, the education of children, the spiritual advantages of poverty,
+and on perpetual earnest prayer, which he recommends to be joined with
+every ordinary action, and practised at all times, by persons while they
+spun, walked, sat, lay down, &c. Invectives against stage-entertainments
+occur both in those, and in the following three discourses On David, in
+which he says many excellent things also on patience, and on forgiving
+injuries. (T. 4, p. 747.)
+
+The fifth tome presents us with fifty-eight sermons on the Psalms. He
+explained the whole Psalter; but the rest of the discourses are lost; a
+misfortune much to be regretted, these being ranked among the most
+elegant and beautiful of his works. In them notice is taken of several
+differences in the Greek translations of Aquila, Symmachus, and
+Theodotion; also in the Hebrew text, though written in Greek letters, as
+in Origen s Hexapla. The critics find the like supply for restoring
+parts of these ancient versions also in the spurious homilies in the
+appendix of this volume, compiled by some other ancient Greek preacher.
+In this admired work of St. Chrysostom the moral instructions are most
+beautiful, on prayer, especially that of the morning, meekness,
+compunction, careful self-examination every evening, fasting, humility,
+alms, &c. In Pa. 43, p. 146, he thus apostrophizes the rich: "Hear this,
+you all who are slack in giving alms: hear this, you who, by hoarding up
+your treasures, lose them yourselves: hear me you, who, by perverting
+the end of your riches, are no better by them than those who are rich
+only in a dream; nay, your condition is fair worse," &c. He says that
+the poor, though they seem so weak, have arms more powerful and more
+terrible than the greatest magistrates and princes; for the sighs and
+groans which they send forth in their distresses, pierce the heavens,
+and draw down vengeance without thinking to demand it, upon the rich,
+upon cities, upon whole nations. In Ps. 11, p. 120, he will have prayer
+to be made effectual by the exercise of all virtues and good works,
+especially by a pure love of God, hunger after his justice alone, and
+disengagement of the heart from all love of earthly things. In P. 41, p.
+190, this prayer by aspirations, which may be borrowed from the psalms,
+he recommends to be practised in all places and times. Ib. He insists,
+that with David we begin the day by prayer, doing nothing before this
+duty to God be complied with: and that with him we consecrate part of
+the night to compunction and prayer. In. Ps. 6, he says many excellent
+things on the remedies we are bound to employ against concupiscence,
+especially assiduous prayer, shunning {264} all occasions which can
+prove incentives to this enemy or to our senses, and above all dangerous
+company; assiduous meditation on death and hell, &c. Ib. God only
+afflicts the just out of the excess of his love for them, and desire to
+unite them closely to himself. In Ps. 114, p. 308, as the Jews obtained
+not their return from their captivity to Jerusalem but by long and
+earnestly desiring it, so only an ardent and pure desire of the heavenly
+Jerusalem can raise us thither; and an attachment to earthly goods and
+pleasures links us to our slavery, and chains us down too fast for us
+ever to rise so high. In Ps. Graduales, p. 328, it was the custom at
+Antioch for all the faithful to recite, every morning, the 140th psalm,
+which he desires them carefully to understand, so as to penetrate the
+riches of the excellent sentiments every word contains, in order to
+repeat it with more dilated affections of the heart. In like manner he
+mentions that the 62d psalm was recited by all every evening. From his
+exposition of Ps. 41, p. 131, it appears that the people answered by
+repeating the first verse of every psalm, after every verse, as it was
+sung by the clergy.
+
+In the sixth tome occur his excellent discourses on the seven first
+chapters of Isaiah: then his four homilies on the fall of king Ozias,
+(Isa. vi.,) in which he sets forth the danger of pride, and necessity of
+perseverance and constant watchfulness. (T. 6, p. 94.) After several
+homilies on certain texts of Jeremy, Daniel, &c., we have his two
+elegant discourses On the Obscurity of the Prophets, in which he shows
+that the wisdom of Providence is displayed; for too great perspicuity
+would not have so well answered the various ends of the Old Law. The
+advantages of public prayer are here strongly set forth; and in the
+second the saint declaims against detraction, a vice which brings
+neither profit nor pleasure, yet is most enormous even in those who only
+listen to it. If he who scandalizes one brother is so grievously
+punished, what will be the chastisement of him who scandalizes so many?
+We are bound to cover, not to proclaim the faults of others; but it is
+our duty to endeavor to reclaim and save sinners, according to the
+precept of Christ. The very company of detracters ought to be shunned:
+to correct, or at least set a mark upon such, he wishes, in order that
+they may be known and avoided, they were publicly branded with the name
+of flies, because, like these insects, they delight to dwell on filth
+and corruption. In the homily On Perfect Charity, he draws a most
+amiable portraiture of that virtue in society; and another, in striking
+colors, of the day of judgment. It is uncertain by what accident the
+imperfect work of St. Matthew was formerly taken by some for a
+performance of St. Chrysostom. The mistake is notorious; for the author
+declares himself an advocate for Arian ism, (Hom. 19, 22, 28, &c.,) and
+for the re-baptization of heretics. (Hom. 13 and 15.) He seems to have
+written about the beginning of the seventh century, and to have been a
+Latin, (not a Greek,) for he follows closely the Latin text.
+
+The commentary of St. Chrysostom on St. Matthew fills the seventh tome,
+and consists of ninety homilies: the old Latin version, by dividing the
+nineteenth into two, counts ninety-one. They were preached at Antioch,
+probably in the year 390. This literal and most pious exposition of that
+gospel contains the whole practical science of virtues and vices, and is
+an inexhausted source of excellent morality, and a finished model of
+preaching the word of God, and of expounding the oracles of eternal life
+for the edification of souls. St. Thomas Aquinas was possessed only of a
+bad Latin translation of this unparalleled work, yet said he would
+rather be master of this single book than of the whole city of Paris.
+The example of the saint shows that the most essential preparation for
+the study of the holy scriptures consists in simplicity and purity of
+heart, an eminent spirit of prayer, and habitual profound meditation on
+the sacred oracles. Thus qualified, he, with admirable sagacity and
+piety, penetrates and unfolds the unbounded spiritual riches of the
+least tittle in the divine word; and explains its sacred truths with
+incomparable ease, perspicuity, elegance, and energy of style. The moral
+instructions are enforced by all the strength and ornaments of the most
+sweet and persuasive eloquence. Inveighing against the stage, he calls
+it the reign of vice and iniquity, and the ruin of cities: and commends
+the saying of that ancient Roman, who, hearing an account of the usual
+entertainments which were represented on the stage, and how eagerly the
+citizens ran to them, cried out, "Have they then neither wives nor
+children at home?" giving to understand, that men ought not to seek
+diversion abroad which they would more rationally procure at home with
+those whom they love. (Hom. 37, p. 414.) On the precept of self-denial
+he takes notice, that by it Christ commands us, first, to be crucified
+to our own flesh and will; secondly, to spare ourselves in nothing;
+thirdly, not only to deny ourselves, but thoroughly to deny ourselves;
+by this little particle _thoroughly_, adding great force to his precept.
+He says further, _Let him take up his cross_; this is, bearing not only
+all reproaches and injurious words, but also every kind of sufferings or
+death. (Hom. 55, p. 556.) On Vain Glory, he calls it the most tyrannical
+of all the diseases of the soul, (Hom. 19, p. 244,) and pathetically
+laments the extreme misery of a soul that forsakes God, who would
+commend and reward her, to court the empty esteem of the vainest of all
+creatures, and those who will the more hate and despise her as she more
+eagerly hunts after applause. He compares her to a king's daughter who
+should abandon a most amiable and rich prince, to run night and day
+through the streets after fugitives and slaves, that hate and fly from
+her as the {265} basest of prostitutes. Those she seeks to have for
+witnesses and applauders, or rather she herself, act the part of
+robbers, and rifle treasures laid up even in heaven in a place of
+safety. The devil sees them inaccessible to his arts, therefore employs
+this worm to devour them. When you bestow an alms, shut your door; let
+him alone to whom you give it be witness, nor even him if possible; of
+others see you they will proclaim your vain-glory, and be published by
+God himself. (Hom. 71.) Speaking on alms, (Hom. 66,) he says, that the
+Church of Antioch was then possessed only of the revenue of one rich and
+of one poor man, yet maintained three thousand virgins and widows,
+besides hospitals &c. What then is not one rich man able to do? But they
+have children. The saint replies, that the best fortune they can leave
+is a treasure laid up in heaven. Every one is bound at least to count
+the poor among his children, and allot to them one half, a third, or at
+least a tenth part. He declares (Hom. 88.) that he will never cease
+preaching on the obligation, efficacy, and advantages of alms. He
+asserts, (Hom. 85,) that in the church of Antioch were contained one
+hundred thousand souls; besides whom as many Jews and idolaters dwelt in
+that city. (Hom. in St. Ignat. t. 2, p. 591.) He applauds the constancy
+and virtue of a famous actress, (Hom. 67,) who being converted to God,
+would not be compelled by the threats of the governor or any punishment,
+to appear again upon the stage. In Hom. 68 and 69, he gives an amiable
+and edifying account of the lives of the monks of Syria: and (Hom. 47,
+80, 81, 90, &c.) commends a state of voluntary poverty, and preaches on
+the contempt of the world. On visiting the tombs of martyrs, to obtain
+health of body and every spiritual advantage, see Hom. 37, 424. On the
+sign of the cross he says, (Hom. 54, p. 551,) "Let us carry about the
+cross of Christ as a crown, and let no one blush at the ensign of
+salvation. By it is every thing in religion done: the cross is employed
+if a person is regenerated, or fed with the mystical food, or ordained;
+whatever else is to be done, this ensign of victory is ever present;
+therefore we have it in our houses, paint it on our walls and windows,
+make it on our foreheads, and always carry it devoutly in our hearts. We
+must not content ourselves with forming it with our fingers, but must do
+it with great sentiments of faith and devotion. If you thus form it on
+your face, no unclean spirit will be able to stand against you when he
+beholds the instrument which has given him the mortal stab. If we
+tremble at the sight of the place where criminals are executed, think
+what the devils must suffer when they see that weapon by which Christ
+stripped them of their power, and cut off the head of their leader. Be
+not ashamed of so great a good which has been bestowed on you, lest
+Christ should be ashamed of you when he shall appear in glory, and this
+standard be borne before him brighter than the rays of the sun; for then
+the cross shall appear speaking as it were with a loud voice. This sign,
+both in the time of our forefathers and in our own, has opened gates,
+deadened malignant poisons, and healed wounds made by the sting or bite
+of venomous creatures. If it has broken down the gates of hell, unbolted
+those of paradise, destroyed the empire and weakened the powers of the
+devil, what wonder if it overcomes poisons and wild beasts?" On the
+virtue of the sign of the cross, see also Hom. 8, ib. and Hom. 4, de St.
+Paolo, t. 2, 9. 494, et de libello repudii, t. 3, p. 204, &c. On the
+Holy Eucharist, he gives frequent and admirable instructions. Speaking
+of the sick, who were cured by touching the hem of Christ's garments, he
+adds, (Hom. 50, p. 517,) "What grace is not in our power to receive by
+touching and receiving his holy body? What if you hear not his voice;
+you see him laid. He has given us himself to eat, and has set himself in
+the state of a victim sacrificed before us," &c. And Hom. 82, p. 787, he
+writes: "How many now say, they wish to see his shape, his garments? You
+desire to see his garments, but he gives himself to you not only to be
+seen, but to be touched, to be eaten, to be received within you. Then
+what beam of the sun ought not that hand to be more which divides this
+flesh? that mouth which is filled with this spiritual fire? that tongue
+which is purpled with this adorable blood? The angels beholding it
+tremble, and dare not look thereupon through awe and fear, and on
+account of the rays which dart from that wherewith we are nourished,
+with which we are mingled, being made one body, one flesh with Christ.
+What shepherd ever fed his sheep with his own limbs? nay, many mothers
+give their children to other nurses; whereas he feeds us with his own
+blood," &c. It is a familiar reflection of our saint, that by the
+communion we become of one flesh and of one body with Christ, to express
+the close union of our souls with him in this divine sacrament. In the
+same Homily, 82, (olim 83,) on St. Matthew, p. 782, t. 7, he says, the
+apostles were not affrighted when they heard Christ assure them, _This
+is my body_; because he had before initiated them in most wonderful
+mysteries, and made them witnesses to many prodigies and miracles, and
+had already instructed them in this very sacrament, at which they had
+been at first much struck, and some of them scandalized. John vi.
+Moreover, that they might not fear, or say, Shall we then drink his
+blood and eat his flesh? he set the example in taking the cup, and
+drinking his own blood the first of all. The saint charges us (ib. p.
+787) not to question or contradict the words of Christ, but to captivate
+our reason and understanding in obeying him, and believing his word,
+which cannot deceive us, whereas our senses often lead us into mistakes.
+When, therefore, he tells us, _This is_ {266} _my body_, we must believe
+him, and consider the mystery with spiritual eyes; for we learn from
+him, that what he gives us is something spiritual, which falls not under
+our senses. See this further on the same subject, Hom. 50, (olim 51,) in
+Matt. pp. 516, 517, 518. Hom. de Baptismo Christi, t. 2, pp. 374, 375.
+Hom. in Laudem Martyrum, t. 2, p. 654. Hom non esse ad gratiam
+concionandum, ib. pp. 658, 659. Expos. in Ps. 46, t. 5, p. 189, and in
+Pd. 133, p. 382. Hom. 5, in illud: Vidi Dominum, t. 6, p. 143. Hom. de
+St. Philogonio, t. 1, p. 498, besides the passages quoted in this
+abstract. In the same comments on St. Matthew, t. 7, Hom. 82, p. 788, he
+vehemently exhorts the faithful to approach the holy table with a
+burning thirst and earnest desire to suck in the spiritual milk, as it
+were, from the divine breasts. As children throw themselves into the
+bosom of their nurse or mother, and eagerly suck their breast, so ought
+we with far greater ardor to run to the sacred mysteries, to draw into
+our hearts, as the children of God, the grace of his Holy Spirit. To be
+deprived of this heavenly food ought to be to us the most sensible, nay,
+our only grief, (ib p. 788.) Nothing can be more tender than his
+exhortations to frequent communion; he even recommends it daily, (Hom.
+de St. Philogonio, t. 1, pp. 499, 500,) provided persons lead Christian
+lives, and bring suitable dispositions. But no solemnity can be a reason
+for those who are under the guilt of sin ever to approach in that state.
+(Ib,) No terms can be stronger than those in which he speaks in many
+places of the enormity of a sacrilegious communion, which he compares to
+the crime of Judas who betrayed Christ, of the Jews who crucified him,
+sud of Herod who sought to murder him in his cradle, (Hom. 7, in Matt.
+p. 112, &c.,) and frequently explains the dispositions requisite to
+approach worthily the holy table, insisting chiefly on great purity of
+soul, fervent devotion, and a vehement hunger and thirst after this
+divine banquet. (Hom. 17, in Heb. t. 12, p. 169. Hom. 24, in 1 Cor t.
+10, p. 218, &c.) He denounces the most dreadful threats of divine
+vengeance against unfaithful ministers who admit to it notorious
+sinners. (Hom. 72, in Matt. t. 7, pp. 789, 790.) "Christ," says he,
+"will demand of you an account of his blood, if you give it to those who
+are unworthy. If any such person presents himself, though he were
+general of the army, or emperor, drive him from the holy table. The
+power with which you are invested is above that of an emperor. If you
+dare not refuse to admit the unworthy, inform me. I will rather suffer
+my blood to be spilt than offer this sacred blood to one who is
+unworthy," &c. (Ib.) In this work of St. Chrysostom upon St. Matthew, we
+meet with beautiful instructions on almost every Christian virtue. Read
+Hom. 38, on humility, which he styles the queen of all virtues; Hom. 58,
+where he calls it the beginning of a virtuous life; and Hom. 65, where
+he shows that it exalts a man above the highest dignities. On the entire
+contempt of the world as a nothing, Hom. 12, 33, &c. On the happiness of
+him who serves God, whom the whole world cannot hurt, Hom. 24, 56, 90.
+Against avarice, Hom. 28, 74, 63. Against drunkenness, Hom. 70. On
+compunction, Hom. 41, where he proves it indispensable from the
+continual necessity of penance for hidden sins, and for detraction,
+vain-glory, avarice, &c. We ought also to weep continually for our
+dangers. Speaking on the same virtue, Hom. 6, p. 94, he, teaches that
+compunction is the daughter of divine love, which consumes in the heart
+all affections for temporal things, so that a man is disposed with
+pleasure to part with the whole world and life itself. A soul is by it
+made light, and soaring above all things visible, despises them as
+nothing. He who is penetrated with this spirit of love and compunction,
+frequently breaks into floods of tears; but these tears afford him
+incredible sweetness and pleasure. He lives in cities as if he were in a
+wilderness; so little notice does he take of the things of this life. He
+is never satiated with tears which he pours forth for his own sins and
+those of others. Hence the saint takes occasion to launch forth into the
+commendation of the gift of holy tears, pp. 96, 97. He inveighs against
+stage entertainments, Hom. 6, 7, 17, 37, &c. See especially Hom. contra
+ludos et theatra, t. 6, 274.
+
+On Hell, he says (Hom. 23, in Matt.) that the loss of God is the
+greatest of all the pains which the damned endure, nay, more grievous
+than a thousand hells. Many tremble at the name of hell; but he much
+more at the thought of losing God, which the state of damnation implies.
+(Ib.) He distinguishes in hell the loss of God, and secondly, fire and
+the other pains of sense. (Hom. 47.) He shows that company abates
+nothing in its torments. (Hom. 43.) Some object that to meditate on
+those torments is too frightful; to whom he answers, that this is most
+agreeable, because by it we learn to shun them, the hope of which
+inspires joy, and so great earnestness in the practice of penance, that
+austerities themselves become agreeable. (Ib.) He often mentions grace
+before and after meat; and, Hom. 55, p. 561, recites that which the
+monks about Antioch used before their meals, as follows: "Blessed God,
+who feedest me from my youth, who givest nourishment to all flesh, fill
+our hearts with joy, that being supported by thy bounty we may abound in
+every good work to Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be all honor,
+praise, and glory given with the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
+Glory be to thee, O Lord; glory be to thee, O Holy; glory be to thee, O
+King, because Thou hast given us food in joyfulness. Fill us with thy
+Holy Spirit, that we may be found acceptable in thy sight, that we may
+not be covered with confusion when Thou shalt render to every one
+according to his works:" This whole prayer is {267} admirable, says the
+saint, but especially the close, the remembrance of the last day being a
+bridle and check to sensuality and concupiscence. (Ib.) The saint shows
+(Horn. 86, p. 810) the malice and danger of small faults wilfully
+committed, which many are apt to make slight of; but from such the most
+dreadful falls take their rise. The old Latin translation of St.
+Chrysostom's homilies on St. Matthew, is too full of words, and often
+inaccurate. Anian, the author, seems to have been the Pelagian deacon of
+that name, who assisted at the council of Diospolis in 415. The new
+Latin translation is far more exact, but very unequal in elegance and
+dignity of expression to the original.
+
+The eighth tome is composed of the homilies of St. Chrysostom upon St.
+John, which are eighty-eight in number, though in former Latin editions,
+in imitation of Morellus, the first is called preface, and only
+eighty-seven bear the title of homilies. They were preached at Antioch,
+about the year 394, at break of day, long before the usual hour of the
+sermon (Hom. 31.) We find here the same elevation of thought, the same
+genius and lively imagination, and the same strength of reasoning which
+we admire in those on St. Matthew; but the method is different. After a
+short literal exposition of the text, the holy doctor frequently inserts
+polemical discussions, in which he proves the Consubstantiality of the
+Son against the Anomæans. Hence his moral reflections in the end are
+short: in which, nevertheless, he is always admirable, especially when
+he speaks of the love which God testifies for us in the mystery of the
+Incarnation. (See Hom. 27, olim 26, p. 156.) He observes that Christ
+miraculously multiplied five loaves, before he gave his solemn promise
+of the Eucharist, which he calls "The miracle of mysteries," and this he
+did, says our saint, "That being taught by that miracle, they might not
+doubt in giving credit to his words--that not only by love, but in
+reality, we are mingled with his flesh." (Hom. 46, olim 45, in Joan. t.
+8, p. 272.) Christ by this institution thus invites us to his heavenly
+banquet, says our saint. "I feed you with my flesh, I give you myself
+for your banquet. I would become your brother: for your sake, I took
+upon myself flesh and blood: Again, I give you the flesh and blood, by
+which I have made myself of the same nature and kindred with you,
+([Greek: suggenês], congener.) This blood by being poured forth has
+cleansed the whole world. This blood has purified the sanctuaries and
+the Holy of Holies. If its figure had so great efficacy in the temple of
+the Hebrews, and sprinkled on the doors of Egypt, the truth will have
+much greater." (Ib. p. 273.) He calls the holy Eucharist "the tremendous
+mysteries, the dreadful altar," [Greek: frikta ontôs ta musêria, frikton
+ontôs to fusiastêrion], (ib.,) and says, "When you approach the sacred
+cup, come as if you were going to drink the blood flowing from his
+side." (Hom. 85, olim 84, in Joan. p. 507.)
+
+The fifty-five homilies _On the Acts of the Apostles_, he preached at
+Constantinople in the third year of his episcopal dignity, of our Lord
+401, as appears from Hom. 44, p. 335, t. 9. The famous censure of
+Erasmus, who judged them absolutely unworthy of our saint, (ep. ad
+Warham. archiepiscopum Cantuarens,) is well known: Billius, on the
+contrary, thinks them very elegant. Both judgments show how far
+prepossession is capable of misleading the most learned men. That this
+work is undoubtedly genuine, is demonstrated by Sir Henry Saville.
+Photius justly admires an admirable eloquence, rich veins of gold
+scattered through it, and the moral instructions are so noble and
+beautiful, that no other genius but that of a Chrysostom could have
+formed them. The style indeed, in many parts of the comments, is not
+regular or correct; which might be owing to some indisposition, or to an
+extraordinary hurry of troublesome affairs, to a confusion of mind, and
+to alarms, the city being then in imminent danger by the revolt and
+blockade of Gainas, and in daily fears of being plundered by that
+barbarian. In the first homily our saint speaks against those who
+deferred to receive baptism, for fear of forfeiting the grace by
+relapsing into sin: which delay he shows to imply a wilful and obstinate
+contempt of God and his grace, with the guilt of a base and inexcusable
+sloth, like one who should desire to enrol himself in the army when the
+war was over, yet expect a share in the triumph; or a wrestler who
+should enter the lists when the games are closed. He adds, that in
+sickness, under alarms and pains, it is scarce to be hoped that a person
+will be able to dispose himself for so great a sacrament. Prudent men
+make their wills while in health, imagining that at best they will
+retain their senses but by halves at the approaches of death; and can we
+think dying men capable of duly making so solemn an engagement with God?
+He assures his flock that he is notable to express the consternation,
+grief, and agony, with which he is seized whenever he hears of any one
+being dead without baptism or penance, (p. 13.) In Hom. 3, p. 30, he
+exaggerates the grievousness of sin in a priest, and has these
+remarkable words, "I do not believe that many priests are saved; but
+that far the greater number are lost: for this dignity requires a great
+soul and much courage." In Hom. 7, he draws a most amiable and beautiful
+portraiture of the charity which reigned in the primitive church, when
+all with joy cast away their money; setting no value but on the
+inestimably greater treasures which they possessed in God; when all
+lived without envy, jealousy, pride, contempt of any one, and without
+any cunning or ill-will; and when the cold words mine and thine were
+banished from among them, pp. 58,59. A passage often quoted by those who
+write on the small number of the elect occurs Hom. 24, p. 198, "How
+many," says he, "do you think there are in this city {268} who will be
+saved? What I am going to say is frightful indeed; yet I will speak it.
+Out of so many thousands not one hundred belongs to the number of the
+elect: and even of these I doubt. How much vice among the youth! What
+sloth in the old! No one takes due care of the education of his
+children. If we see a man truly devout in his old age, he is imitated by
+nobody. I see persons behave disrespectfully and without due attention
+in the church, and even when the priest is giving his blessing. Can any
+insolence be found equal to this? Amidst such scandals, what hopes can
+we entertain of the salvation of many? At a ball every one dances in his
+rank, every thing is regulated, and done without confusion. And here in
+the company of angels, and singing the praises of God with the blessed
+spirits, you talk and laugh. Should we be surprised if thunder fell from
+heaven to punish such impiety?" The monks then lived without the walls,
+and could not be included by him: nor probably the clergy, deaconesses,
+or others particularly consecrated to a devout life; as appears from his
+invective. Nor does he speak this with any certitude, but from his
+private apprehension by comparing the lives of the generality of the
+people with the severe maxims of the gospel. This is manifest from the
+proof he draws from the manners of the people, and from a like invective
+in Hom. 61, olim 62, on St. Matthew, (t. 7, p. 612,) spoken at Antioch
+ten years before. See also l. 1, adv. Oppugnatores Vitæ Mon. n. 8, t. 1,
+p. 55. Speaking on the general impiety of the world, (Hom. 10, in 1
+Tim,) he says: "We have great reason to weep: scarce the least part of
+the world is saved: almost all live in danger of eternal death." But he
+shows that the multitude will only increase the torments of the wicked,
+as if a man saw his wife and children to be burnt alive with him. St.
+Chrysostom counts in Constantinople, at that time, one hundred thousand
+Christians, (Hom. 11, in Acts,) and says that the poor in that city
+amounted to fifty thousand, and the riches of the particulars to about
+one million pounds of gold. Yet he reckons the assembly of the
+Christians greater at Antioch than at Constantinople. (Hom. 1, adv.
+Judæos. p. 592, t. 1.) If the estate of one rich and that of one poor
+man maintained three thousand poor at Antioch, and the like estates of
+ten rich men would have supported all the poor of that city, it is
+inferred that there were in Antioch only thirty thousand poor, though it
+might perhaps have more inhabitants than Constantinople. See Bandurius
+on the site and extent of Constantinople under the emperors Arcadius and
+Honorius; and Hasius de magnitudine urbium, p. 47.
+
+St. Chrysostom teaches that grace is conferred by God at the imposition
+of hands in the ordination of priests, Hom. 14, in Acta. p. 114, also
+Hom. 3, de Resurrect. t. 2, p. 436, and Hom. 21, in Acta. p. 175, that
+"Oblations (or masses) are not offered in vain for the dead." It is his
+pious counsel (Hom. 17, in Acta.) that when we find ourselves provoked
+to anger, we form on our breast the sign of the cross; and Hom. 26, he
+exhorts all Christians, even the married, and both men and women, to
+rise every midnight to pray in their own houses, and to awake little
+children at that hour that they may say a short prayer in bed. He says
+that saints and martyrs are commemorated in the holy mysteries, because
+this is doing them great honor, (Hom. 21, in Acta. p. 276,) and by the
+communion with them in their virtues, the rest of the faithful departed
+reap much benefit. (Hom. 51, in 1 Corinth. t. 10, p. 393.)
+
+For a specimen of the zeal and charity with which this great preacher
+instructed his flock, two or three passages are here inserted. Hom. 3,
+in Acta. p. 31, t. 9. "I wish," says he, "I could set before your eyes
+the tender charity and love which I bear you: after this no one could
+take it amiss or be angry if I ever seem to use too harsh words in
+correcting disorders. Nothing is dearer to me than you; not even life or
+light. I desire a thousand times over to lose my sight, if by this means
+I could convert your souls to God; so much more sweet is your salvation
+to me. If it happens that any of you fall into sin, you are present even
+in my sleep: through grief I am like persons struck with a palsy, or
+deprived of their senses. For what hope or comfort can I have left, if
+you advance not in virtue? And if you do well, what can afflict me? I
+seem to feel myself taking wing when I hear any good of you. _Make my
+joy complete_. Phil. ii. 2. Your progress is my only desire. You are to
+me all, father and mother, and brothers and children." Hom. 44, in Act.
+p. 335, having appealed to his closet and secret retreats to bear
+witness how many tears he shed without intermission for them, he says,
+"What shall I do? I am quite spent daily crying out to you: Forsake the
+stage. Yet many laugh at our words: Refrain from oaths and avarice, and
+no one listens to us. For your sakes I have almost abandoned the care of
+my own soul and salvation; and while I weep for you, I bewail also my
+own spiritual miseries, to which, through solicitude for you, I am not
+sufficiently attentive: so true it is that you are all things to me. If
+I see you advance in virtue, through joy I feel not my own ills; and if
+I perceive you make no progress, here again through grief I forget my
+own miseries. Though I am sinking under them, on your account, I am
+filled with joy: and whatever subject of joy I have in myself, I am
+overwhelmed with grief if all is not well with you. For what comfort,
+what life, what hope can a pastor have, if his flock be perishing? How
+will he stand before God? What will he say? Though he should be innocent
+of the blood of them all, still he will be pierced with bitter sorrow
+which nothing will be able to assuage. For though parents were no way in
+fault, they would suffer the most {269} cruel anguish for the ruin or
+loss of their children. Whether I shall be demanded an account of year
+souls or no, this will not remove my grief. I am not anxious that you
+may attain to happiness by my labors, but that you be saved at any rate,
+or by any means. You know not the impetuous tyranny of spiritual
+travails, and how he who spiritually brings forth children to God
+desires a thousand times over to be hewn to pieces rather than to see
+one of his children fall or perish. Though we could say with assurance,
+we have done all that lay in us, and are innocent of his blood, this
+will not be enough to comfort us. Could my heart be laid open and
+exposed to your view, you would see that you are every one there, and
+much dilated, women, children, and men. So great is the power of charity
+that it makes a soul wider than the heavens. St. Paul bore all Corinth
+within his breast. 2 Cor. vii. 2. I can make you no reproaches for any
+indifference towards me on your side. I am sensible of the love which
+you reciprocally bear me. But what will be the advantage either of your
+love for me or of mine for you, if the duties you owe to God are
+neglected? It is only an occasion of rendering my grief more heavy. You
+have never been wanting in any thing towards me. Were it possible, you
+would have given me your very eyes: and on our side we were desirous to
+give you with the gospel also our lives. Our love is reciprocal. But
+this is not the point. We must in the first place love Christ. This
+obligation both you and I have great need to study: not that we entirely
+neglect it; but the pains we take are not adequate to this great end."
+
+To abolish the sacrilegious custom of swearing at Constantinople, as he
+had done at Antioch, he strained every sinew, and in several sermons he
+exerted his zeal with uncommon energy, mingled with the most tender
+charity. In Hom. 8, in Act t. 9, pp. 66, 67, he complains that some who
+had begun to correct their criminal habit, after having fallen through
+surprise, or by a sudden fit of passion, had lost courage. These he
+animates to a firmer resolution and vigor, which would crown them with
+victory. He tells them he suffers more by grief for them than if he
+languished in a dungeon, or was condemned to the mines; and begs, by the
+love which they bear him, they would give the only comfort which could
+remove the weight of his sorrow by an entire conversion. It will not
+justify him, he says, at the last day, to allege that he had reprimanded
+those who swore. The judge will answer: "Why didst not thou check,
+command, and by laws restrain those that disobeyed?" Heli reprimanded
+his sons; but was condemned for not having done it, because he did not
+use sufficient severity. 1 Kings xi. 24. "I every day cry aloud," says
+the saint, "yet am not heard. Fearing to be myself condemned at the last
+day for too great lenity and remissness, I raise my voice, and denounce
+aloud to all, that if any swear, I forbid them the church. Only this
+month is allowed for persons to correct their habit." His voice he calls
+a trumpet, with which in different words he proclaims thrice this
+sentence of excommunication against whosoever should persist refractory,
+thought he were a prince, or he who wears the diadem. Hom. 9, p. 76, he
+congratulates with his audience for the signs of compunction and
+amendment which they had given since his last sermon, and tells the
+greatest part of the difficulty is already mastered by them. To inspire
+them with a holy dread and awe for the adorable name of God, he puts
+them in mind that in the Old Law only the high priest was allowed ever
+to pronounce it, and that the devils trembled at its sound. Hom. 10, he
+charges them never to name God but in praising him or in imploring his
+mercy. He takes notice that some among them still sometimes swore, but
+only for want of attention, by the force of habit, just as they made the
+sign of the cross by mere custom, without attention, when they entered
+the baths, or lighted a candle. He tells them (Hom. 11, p. 95) that the
+term of a month, which he had fixed, was almost elapsed, and most
+affectionately conjures them to make their conversion entire. A sight of
+one such conversion, he says, gave him more joy, than if a thousand
+imperial diadems of the richest jewels had been placed upon his head.
+Other specimens of the saint's ardent love for his people at
+Constantinople, see Hom. 9, in Hebr. t. 12, p. 100; Hom. 23, in Hebr. p.
+217; Hom. 9, in 1 Thes. t. 11, p. 494; Hom. 7, in 1 Coloss. Hom. 39, in
+Act. p. 230, &c. For his people at Antioch, t. 3, p. 362, t. 2, p. 279,
+t. 7, p. 374, &c. On his humility, t. 2, p. 455, t. 4, p. 339. On his
+desire to suffer for Christ, t. 1, p. 453, t. 7, p. 243, t. 11, pp. 53,
+55.
+
+The inspired epistles of St. Paul were the favorite subject of this
+saint's intense meditation, in which he studied the most sublime maxims,
+and formed in himself the most perfect spirit of Christian virtue. The
+epistle to the Romans is expounded by him in thirty-two homilies, (t. 9,
+p. 429,) which he made at Antioch, as is clear from Hom. 8, p. 508, and
+Hom. 30, p. 743. Nothing can go beyond the commendations which St
+Isidore of Pelusium bestows on this excellent work, (l. 5, ep. 32,) to
+which all succeeding ages have subscribed. The errors of Pelagius, which
+were broached soon after in the West, are clearly guarded against by the
+holy preacher, though he is more solicitous to confute the opposite
+heresy of the Manichees, which then reigned in many parts of the East.
+He also confounds frequently the Jews. But what we most admire is the
+pious sagacity with which he unfolds the deep sense of the sacred text,
+and its author, the true disciple of Christ, and the perspicuity and
+eloquence with which he enforces his moral instructions. Whoever reads
+anyone of these homilies, will hear testimony to this eulogium. See Hom.
+24. (t. 9, p. 694,) {270} on the shortness of human life: Hom. 8, on
+fraternal charity and forgiving injuries: Hom. 20, on our obligation of
+offering to God a living sacrifice of our bodies by the exercise of all
+virtues, and the sanctity of our affections: Hom. 22 and 27, on patience
+in bearing all injuries, by which we convert them into our greatest
+treasure: Hom. 5, on the fear of God's judgments, and on his love, to
+which he pathetically says, it would be more grievous to offend God than
+to suffer all the torments of hell, which every one incurs who is not in
+this disposition, (p. 469,) though it is a well-known maxim that persons
+ought not to propose to themselves in too lively a manner such
+comparisons, or to become their own tempters: Hom. 7, against envy, and
+on alms, he says this is putting out money at interest for one hundred
+fold from God, who is himself our security, and who herein considers not
+the sum, but the will, as he did in St. Peter, who left for him only a
+broken net, a line, and a hook. The promise of a hundred fold made to
+him, is no less made to us.
+
+The commentary On the First Epistle to the Corinthians, (t. 10,) in
+forty-four homilies, was likewise the fruit of his zeal at Antioch, and
+is one of the most elaborate and finished of his works. The interpreter
+seems animated with the spirit of the great apostle whose sacred oracle
+he expounds, so admirably does he penetrate the pious energy of the
+least tittle. If St. Paul uses the words _My God_, he observes, that out
+of the vehement ardor and tenderness of his love he makes Him his own,
+who is the common God of all men; and that he names Him with a sentiment
+of burning affection and profound adoration, because he had banished all
+created things from his heart, and all his affections were placed in
+God. He extols the merit and advantages of holy virginity, (Hom. 19,)
+and Hom. 26, speaks on the duties of a married state, especially that of
+mutual love and meekness in bearing each other's faults: this he bids
+them learn from Socrates, a pagan, who chose a very shrew for his wife,
+and being asked how he could bear with her, said: "I have a school of
+virtue at home, in order to learn meekness and patience by the daily
+practice." The saint adds, it was a great grief to him to see Christians
+fall short of the virtue of a heathen, whereas they ought to be
+imitators of the angels, nay, of God himself. Recommending the most
+profound respect for the holy eucharist, and a dread of profaning it, he
+says, Hom. 24, pp. 217, 218, "No one dares touch the king's garments
+with dirty hands. When you see Him (_i.e._ Christ) exposed before you,
+say to yourself: This body was pierced with nails; this body which was
+scourged, death did not destroy; this body was nailed to a cross, at
+which spectacle the sun withdrew its rays; this body the Magi
+venerated," &c. The saint inveighs against several superstitious
+practices of that age, Hom. 12. His discourses are animated and strong
+on the characters of fraternal charity, and against avarice, envy, &c.
+
+The thirty homilies, On the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, (t. 10,
+p. 417,) were also preached at Antioch: for he speaks of Constantinople
+as at a distance, (Hom. 26,) which passage Sir Henry Saville has
+mistaken, as Montfaucon clearly shows. This commentary is inferior to
+the last, though not in elegance, yet in fire, the moral instructions
+being shorter. The saint mentions several of the ceremonies used still
+at mass, or in the public office of the church. Hom. 18, p. 568. Hom.
+30, p. 6{5}0. On visiting the shrines of martyrs, he says, Hom. 26, p.
+629, "The tombs of those who served the crucified Christ surpass in
+splendor the courts of kings. Even he who wears purple visits and
+devoutly kisses them, and standing suppliant, prays the saint to be a
+protection to him before God." He adds that emperors sue for their
+patronage, and count it an honor to be porters to them in their graves.
+By this he alludes to the burial of Constantine the Great in the porch
+of the church of the apostles. He proves, Hom. 3, p. 441, and Hom. 14,
+p. 537, that the essence of repentance consists in a change of the
+heart: that without an amendment of life, penance is only a mask and a
+shadow, what fasts or other works soever attend it, and that it must be
+founded not barely in the fear of hell, but in the love of so good and
+loving a God. He teaches, Hom. 10, p. 505, that a Christian ought to
+rejoice at the approaches of death. He speaks in many places on the
+precept of alms-deeds with great vehemence. He says, Hom. 16, that to be
+animated with a spirit of charity and compassion is something greater
+than to raise the dead to life: our alms must be liberal, plentiful,
+voluntary, and given with joy. He says, Hom. 19, that Christ stripped
+himself of his immense glory and riches for love of us; yet men refuse
+him a morsel of bread. They throw away on dogs, and what is superfluous
+among servants, that which Christ wants in his members, to whom all
+strictly belongs whatever we enjoy beyond what is necessary for life. He
+enters into a severe and elegant detail of these superfluities, Hom. 19,
+p. 570. The apostle, as he observes, (Hom. 20, p. 577,) justly calls
+alms a seed, because it is not lost, but sown, and produces a most
+plentiful harvest.
+
+His commentary On the Epistle to the Galatians (t. 10) is an accurate
+interpretation of the text, with frequent remarks against the Anomoeans,
+Marcionites, and Manichees, but very sparing in moral exhortations:
+these the saint probably added in the pulpit, and gave to the work the
+form of discourses; for it appears to have been delivered in homilies to
+the people, though it is not now divided into discourses. It was
+certainly compiled at Antioch.
+
+The twenty-four homilies On the Epistle to the Ephesians (t. 11) were
+preached at Antioch; and though some passages might have received a
+higher polish from a second touch of the saint's masterly file, are a
+most useful and excellent work. From Hom. 3, p. 16, it {271} is clear
+that his predecessor Nectarius had not abolished canonical public
+penances, when he removed the public penitentiary; but that this office,
+as before the institution of such a charge, was exercised altogether by
+the bishop. For St. Chrysostom having taken notices that many assisted
+at mass who did not communicate, tells them, that those who were guilty
+of any grievous sin could not approach the holy table even on the
+greatest solemnity; but that such persons ought to be in a course of
+penance, and consequently not at mass with the rest of the faithful: and
+he terrifies them by exaggerating the danger and crime of delaying to do
+penance. Those who are not excluded by such an obstacle, he exhorts
+strongly to frequent communion, seeming desirous that many would
+communicate at every day's mass. "With a pure conscience," says he,
+"approach always; without this disposition, never. In vain is the daily
+sacrifice offered; to no purpose do we assist at the altar: no one
+communicates. I say not this to induce any one to approach unworthily,
+but to engage all to render yourselves worthy. The royal table is
+prepared, the administering angels are present, the King himself is
+there waiting for you: yet you stand with indifference," &c. (Hom. 3, in
+Ephes. p. 23.) The virtues of St. Paul furnish the main subject of his
+sixth and seventh homilies; in the eighth he speaks of that apostle's
+sufferings for Christ, and declares, in a kind of rapturous exclamation,
+that he prefers his chains to gold and diadems, and his company in
+prison to heaven itself. He wishes he could make a pilgrimage to Rome,
+to see and kiss those chains at which the devils tremble, and which the
+angels reverence, while they venerate the hands which were bound with
+them. For it is more desirable and more glorious to suffer with Christ,
+than to be honored with him in glory: this is an honor above all others.
+Christ himself left heaven to meet his cross: and St. Paul received more
+glory from his chains, than by being rapt up to the third heaven, or by
+curing the sick by the touch of his scarfs, &c. He desires to feast his
+heart by dwelling still longer on the chains of this apostle, being
+himself fettered with a chain from which he would not be separated: for
+he declares himself to be closer and faster linked to St. Paul's chains
+by desire, than that apostle was in prison. In the like strain he speaks
+of the chains of St. Peter, and of St. John Baptist. In the next Homily,
+(9,) he returns in equal raptures to St. Paul in chains for Christ; in
+which state he calls him a spectacle of glory far beyond all the
+triumphs of emperors and conquerors. Our saint gives excellent
+instructions on the duties of married persons, Hom. 20; on the education
+of children in the practice and spirit of obedience and piety, Hom. 21;
+and on the duties of servants, Hom. 22.
+
+The eighteen homilies On the First Epistle to Timothy, and ten On the
+Second, seem also to have been preached at Antioch, (t. 11, p. 146.)
+They are not equally polished, but contain excellent instructions
+against covetousness, and the love of the world; on alms, on the duties
+of bishops, and those of widows, &c.; on the education of children, Hom.
+10, p. 596. The six, On the Epistle to Titus, are more elaborate: also
+three On the Epistle to Philemon, which seem all to have been finished
+at Antioch.
+
+In the eleventh tome we have also eleven sermons, which St. Chrysostom
+preached at Constantinople about the end of the year 398. Tile second
+was spoken upon the following occasion, (ib. p. 332:) The empress
+Eudoxia procured a solemn procession and translation of the relics of
+certain martyrs, to be made from the great church in Constantinople to
+the church of St. Thomas the apostle in Drypia, on the sea-shore, nine
+miles out of town. The princes without any retinue, priests, monks,
+nuns, ladies, and the people, attended the procession in such
+multitudes, that from the light of the burning tapers which they carried
+in their hands the sea seemed as it were on fire. The empress walked all
+the way behind, touching the shrine and the veil which covered it. The
+procession set out in the beginning of the night, passed through the
+market-place, and arrived at Drypia about break of day. There St.
+Chrysostom made an extemporary sermon, in which he described the pomp of
+this ceremony, commended the piety of the empress, and proved that if
+the clothes, handkerchiefs, and even shadow of saints on earth had
+wrought many miracles, a blessing is certainly derived from their relics
+upon those who devoutly touch them. The next day the emperor Arcadius,
+attended by his court and guards, arrived, and the soldiers having laid
+aside their arms, and the emperor his diadem, he paid his devotions
+before the shrine. After his departure St. Chrysostom preached again,
+(p. 336.)
+
+St. Chrysostom was removed to Constantinople in 397. The fifteen (or, if
+with some editors we include the prologue, sixteen) homilies On the
+Epistle to the Philippians, (t. 11, p. 189,) were preached in that
+capital of the empire. The moral instructions turn mostly on alms and
+riches. The order which prudence prescribes in the distribution of alms,
+he explains, (Hom. 1, t. 11, p. 201,) and condemns too anxious an
+inquiry and suspicion of imposture in the poor, as contrary to Christian
+simplicity and charity, affirming that none are so frequently imposed
+upon by cheat as the most severe inquirers. Prudence and caution he
+allows to be necessary ingredients of alms, in which those whose wants
+are most pressing, or who are most deserving, ought to be first
+considered. Hom. 3, p. 215, he lays it down as a principle, that
+catechumens who die without baptism, and penitents without absolution,
+"are excluded heaven with the damned;" which we are to understand,
+unless they were purified by perfect contrition joined with a desire of
+the sacrament, as St. Ambrose, St. {272} Austin, and all the fathers and
+councils declare. St. Chrysostom adds, that it is a wholesome ordinance
+of the apostles in favor of the faithful departed, to commemorate them
+in the adorable mysteries: for how is it possible God should be deaf to
+our prayers for them, at a time when all the people stand with stretched
+forth hands with the priests, in presence of the most adorable
+sacrifice? But the catechumens are deprived of this comfort, though not
+of all succor, for alms may be given for them, from which they receive
+some relief or mitigation of their pains. Though such not dying within
+the exterior pale of the church cannot be commemorated in its public
+suffrages and sacrifices; yet if by desire they were interiorly its
+members, and by charity united to Christ its head, they may be benefited
+by private suffrages which particulars may offer for them. This is the
+meaning of this holy doctor. Exhorting the faithful to live in perpetual
+fear of the dangers with which we are surrounded, (Hom. 8, in Ephes. t.
+11,) he says, "A builder on the top of a house always apprehends the
+danger of falling, and on this account is careful how he stands: so
+ought we much more to fear, how much soever we may be advanced in
+virtue. The principal means always to entertain in our souls this saving
+fear, is to have God always before our eyes, who is everywhere present,
+hears and sees all things, and penetrates the most secret foldings of
+our hearts. Whether you eat, go to sleep, sit at dainty tables, are
+inclined to anger, or any other passion, or whatever else you do,
+remember always," says he, "that God is present, and you will never fall
+into dissolute mirth, or be provoked to anger; but will watch over
+yourselves in continual fear." With great elegance he shows (Hom. 10, p.
+279,) that precious stones serve for no use, are not so good even as
+common stones, and that all their value is imaginary, and consists
+barely in the mad opinion of men; and he boldly censures the insatiable
+rapaciousness and unbounded prodigality of the rich, in their sumptuous
+palaces, marble pillars, and splendid clothes and equipages. Houses are
+only intended to defend us from the weather, and raiment to cover our
+nakedness. All vanities he shows to be contrary to the designs of
+nature, which is ever content with little. In Hom. 12, we have an
+excellent instruction on that important maxim in a spiritual life, That
+we must never think how far we have run, but what remains of our course,
+as in a race a man thinks only on what is before him. It will avail
+nothing to have begun, unless we finish well our course. In Hom. 13, he
+excellently explains the mystery of the cross, which we bear if we study
+continually to crucify ourselves by self-denial. We must in all places
+arm ourselves with the sign of the cross.
+
+The Exposition of the epistle to the Colossians, in twelve homilies, (t.
+11) was made at Constantinople in the year 399. In the second homily (p.
+333) he says, that a most powerful means to maintain in ourselves a deep
+sense of gratitude to God, and to increase the flame of his love in our
+hearts, is to bear always in mind his numberless benefits to us, and the
+infinite evils from which he has mercifully delivered us. In Hom. 8, p.
+319, he teaches, that no disposition of our souls contributes more
+effectually to our sanctification, than that of returning thanks to God
+under the severest trials of adversity, a virtue little inferior to
+martyrdom. A mother who, without entertaining the least sentiment of
+complaint at the sickness and death of her dearest child, thanks God
+with perfect submission to his will, will receive a recompense equal to
+that of martyrs. After condemning the use of all superstitious practices
+for the cure of distempers, he strongly exhorts mothers rather to suffer
+their children to die, than ever to have recourse to such sacrilegious
+methods; and contenting themselves with making the sign of the cross
+upon their sick children to answer those who suggested any superstitious
+remedy: "These are my only arms; I am utterly a stranger to other
+methods of treating this distemper." The tenth homily (p. 395) contains
+a strong invective against the excessive luxury and immodesty of ladies
+in their dress, and their vanity, pride, and extravagance. The empress
+Eudoxia, who was at the head of these scandalous customs, and the
+mistress of court fashions and vices, could not but be highly offended
+at this zealous discourse. The saint says, that many ladies used vessels
+of silver for the very meanest uses, and that the king of Persia wore a
+golden beard.
+
+The eleven homilies On the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, were also
+part of the fruit of his episcopal labors at Constantinople. (T. 11.) In
+the second he shows the excellency of fraternal love and friendship, by
+which every thing is, as it were, possessed in common, and those cold
+words mine and thine, the seed of all discords, are banished as they
+were from the primitive Christians. In the third, he doubts not but
+perfect patience, under grievous sicknesses, may equal the merit of
+martyrdom. In the fifth, he speaks incomparably on the virtue of purity,
+and against occasions which may kindle in the heart the contrary
+passion, which, with St. Paul, he will not have so much as earned,
+especially against the stage, and all assemblies where women make their
+appearance dressed out to please the eyes and wound the hearts of
+others. In Hom. 6, he condemns excessive grief for the death of friends.
+To indulge this sorrow for their sake, he calls want of faith: to grieve
+for our own sake because we are deprived of a comfort and support in
+them, he says, must proceed from a want of confidence in God; as if any
+friend on earth could be our safeguard, but God alone. God took this
+friend away, because he is jealous of our hearts and will have us love
+him without a rival, (p. 479.) In Hom. 10, we are instructed, that {273}
+the best revenge we can take of an enemy is to forgive him, and to bear
+injuries patiently. In Hom. 11, p. 505, he gives an account, that a
+certain lady being offended at a slave for a great crime, resolved to
+sell him and his wife. The latter wept bitterly; and a mediator, whose
+good offices with her mistress in her behalf she implored, conjured the
+lady in these words: "May Christ appear to you at the last day in the
+same manner in which you now receive our petition." Which words so
+strongly affected her, that she forgave the offence. The night following
+Christ appeared to her in a comfortable vision, as St. Chrysostom was
+assured by herself. In Hom. 7, (ib.,) he shows the possibility of the
+resurrection of the flesh, against infidels.
+
+The five homilies On the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, were also
+preached at Constantinople, (t. 11, p. 510.) In the second, he exhorts
+all to make the torments of hell a frequent subject of their meditation,
+that they may never sin; and to entertain little children often with
+some discourse on them instead of idle stories, that sentiments of holy
+fear and virtue may strike deep roots in their tender hearts. On
+traditions received by the church from the apostles he writes as
+follows: (Hom. 4, in 2 Thess. p. 532.) "Hence it is clear that they did
+not deliver all things by their epistles, but communicated also many
+things without writing: and these likewise deserve our assent or faith.
+It is a tradition: make no further inquiry." In the same Hom. 4, p. 534,
+he expresses how much he trembled at the thought of being, by the
+obligation of his office, the mediator betwixt God and his people; and
+declares, that he ceased not most earnestly to pour forth his prayers
+for them both at home and abroad. Hom. 4, ib., he severely reprimands
+those who reproach the poor in harsh words, adding to the weight of
+their affliction and misery.
+
+The thirty-four homilies On the Epistle to the Hebrews, (t. 12, p. 1,)
+were compiled at Constantinople. In the seventh he shows, that the
+evangelical precepts and counsels belong to all Christians, not only to
+monks, if we except the vow of perpetual virginity: though also men
+engaged in a married state are bound to be disentangled in spirit, and
+to use the world as if they used it not. Hom. 17, ib. p. 169, he
+explains that the sacrifice of the New Law is one, because the same body
+of Christ is every day offered; not one day one sheep, another day a
+second, &c. (On this sacrifice see also Hom. 5, in 1 Tim. t. 11, p. 577,
+Hom. 3, contra Judæos. t. 1, p. 611. Hom. 7, contra Judæos. t. 1, p.
+664. Hom. in St. Eustath. t. 2, p. 606. Hom. 24, in 1 Cor. t. 10, p.
+213.) In Hom. 34, ad Hebr. p. 313, he expresses his extreme fears for
+the rigorous account which a pastor is obliged to give for every soul
+committed to his charge, and cries out, "I wonder that any superior of
+others is saved."
+
+A letter to a certain monk called Cæsarius, has passed under the name of
+St. Chrysostom ever since Leontius and St. John Damascen; and not only
+many Protestants, but also F. Hardouin, (Dissert. de ep. ad Cæsarium
+Monachum) Tillemont, (t. 11, art. 130, p. 340,) and Tournely, (Tr. de
+Euchar. t. 1, p. 282, and Tract. de Incarnat. p. 486,) are not unwilling
+to look upon it as a genuine work of our holy doctor. But it is
+demonstrated by F. Le Quien, (Diss. 3, in St. Joan. Damasc.) Dom
+Montfaucon, (in Op. St. Chrys. t. 3, p. 737,) Ceillier, (t. 9, p. 249,)
+F. Merlin in his learned dissertations on this epistle, (in Mémoires de
+Trevoux an. 1737, pp. 252, 516, and 917,) and F. Stilting, the
+Bollandist, (t. 4, Sept. Comment. in vitam St. Chrys. §82, p. 656,) that
+it has been falsely ascribed to him, and is a patched work of some later
+ignorant Greek writer, who has borrowed some things from the first
+letter of St. Chrysostom to Olympias, as Stilting shows. Merlin thinks
+the author discovers himself to have been a Nestorian heretic. At least
+the style is so opposite to that of St. Chrysostom, both in the diction
+and in the manner of reasoning, that the reader must find himself quite
+in another world, as Montfaucon observes. The author's long acquaintance
+with this Cæsarius seems not easily reconcilable with the known history
+of St. Chrsysostom's life. This piece, moreover, is too direct a
+confutation of the Eutychian error to have been written before its
+birth: or if it had made its appearance, how could it have escaped all
+the antagonists of that heresy? Whoever the author was, he is far from
+opposing the mystery of the real presence, or that of
+transubstantiation, in the blessed eucharist, for both which he is an
+evident voucher in these words, not to mention others: "The nature of
+bread and that of our Lord's body are not two bodies, but one body of
+the Son," which he introduces to make a comparison with the unity of
+Christ's Person in the Incarnation. It is true, indeed, that he says the
+nature of bread remains in the sacrament: but it is easy to show that by
+the nature of bread he means its external natural qualities or
+accidents.
+
+Among former Latin translations of St. Chrysostom's works, only those
+made by the learned Jesuit Fronto-le-Duc are accurate. These are
+retained by Montfaucon, who has given us a new version of those writings
+which Le Duc had not translated. The edition of Montfaucon in twelve
+volumes, an. 1718, is of all others the most complete. But it is much to
+be wished that he had favored us with a more elegant Latin translation,
+which might bear some degree of the beauty of the original. The Greek
+edition, made by Sir Henry Saville at Eton, in nine volumes, in 1612, is
+more correct and more beautiful than that of the learned Benedictin, and
+usually preferred by those who stand in need of no translation.
+
+{274}
+
+As to the French translations, that of the homilies on the epistles to
+the Romans, Ephesians, &c., by Nicholas Fontaine, the Port-Royalist, in
+1693, was condemned by Harlay, archbishop of Paris; and recalled by the
+author, who undesignedly established in it the Nestorian error. The
+French translation of the homilies on St. John, was given us by Abbé le
+Merre: of those on Genesis and the Acts, with eighty-eight chosen
+discourses, by Abbé de Bellegarde, though for some time attributed to de
+Marsilly, and by others to Sacy. That of the homilies on St. Matthew,
+ascribed by many to de Marsilly, was the work of le Maitre and his
+brother Sacy. That of the homilies to the People of Antioch, was given
+to by Abbé de Maucroix in 1671. That of the saint's panegyrics on the
+martyrs, is the work of F. Durauty de Bourecueil, an Oratorian, and made
+its appearance in 1735.
+
+St Chrysostom wrote comments on the whole scripture, as Cassiodorus and
+Suidas testify; but of these many, with a great number of sermons, &c.,
+are lost. Theophylactus, Æcumenius, and other Greek commentators, are
+chiefly abridgers of St. Chrysostom. Even Theodoret is his disciple in
+the excellent concise notes he composed on the sacred text. Nor can
+preachers or theologians choose a more useful master or more perfect
+model in interpreting the scripture; but ought to join with him some
+judicious, concise, critical commentator. As in reading the classics,
+grammatical niceties have some advantage in settling the genuine text;
+yet if multiplied or spun out in notes, are extremely pernicious, by
+deadening the student's genius and spirit, and burying them in rubbish,
+while they ought to be attentive to what will help them to acquire true
+taste, to be employed on the beauties, ease, and gentleness of the
+style, and on the greatness, delicacy, and truth of the thoughts or
+sentiments, and to be animated by the life, spirit, and fire of an
+author; so much more in the study of the sacred writings, a competent
+skill in resolving grammatical and historical scruples in the text is of
+great use, and sometimes necessary in the church: in which, among the
+fathers, Origen and St. Jerom are our models. Yet from the conduct of
+divine providence over the church, and the example of the most holy and
+most learned among the primitive fathers, it is clear, as the learned
+doctor Hare, bishop of Chichester, observes, that assiduous, humble, and
+devout meditation on the spirit and divine precepts of the sacred
+oracles, is the true method of studying them, both for our own
+advantage, and for that of the church. Herein St. Chrysostom's comments
+are our most faithful assistant and best model: The divine majesty and
+magnificence of those writings is above the reach, and beyond the power,
+of all moral wit. None but the Spirit of God could express his glory,
+and display either the mysteries of his grace, or the oracles of his
+holy law. And none but they whose hearts are disengaged from objects of
+sense, and animated with the most pure affections of every sublime
+virtue, and whose minds are enlightened by the beams of heavenly truth,
+can penetrate the spirit of these divine writings, and open it to us.
+Hence was St. Chrysostom qualified to become the interpreter of the word
+of God, to discover its hidden mysteries of love and mercy, the perfect
+spirit of all virtues which it contains, and the sacred energy or each
+word or least circumstance.
+
+The most ingenious Mr. Blackwall, in his excellent Introduction to the
+Classics, writes as follows on the style of St. Chrysostom, p. 139: "I
+would fain beg room among the classics for three primitive writers of
+the church--St. Chrysostom, Minutius Felix, and Lactantius. St.
+Chrysostom is easy and pleasant to new beginners; and has written with a
+purity and eloquence which have been the admiration of all ages. This
+wondrous man in a great measure possesses all the excellences of the
+most valuable Greek and Roman classics. He has the invention,
+copiousness, and perspicuity of Cicero; and all the elegance and
+accuracy of composition which is admired in Isocrates, with much greater
+variety and freedom. According as his subject requires, he has the
+easiness and sweetness of Xenophon, and the pathetic force and rapid
+simplicity of Demosthenes. His judgment is exquisite, his images noble,
+his morality sensible and beautiful. No man understands human nature to
+greater perfection, nor has a happier power of persuasion. He is always
+clear and intelligible upon the loftiest and greatest subjects, and
+sublime and noble upon the least." All that has been said of St.
+Chrysostom's works is to be understood only of those which are truly
+his. The irregular patched compilations from different parts of his
+writings, made by modern Greeks, may be compared to scraps of rich
+velvet, brocade, and gold cloth, which are clumsily sewed together with
+{}thread.
+
+{275}
+
+ST. JULIAN, FIRST BISHOP OF MANS, C.
+
+TOWARDS THE END OF THE THIRD CENTURY.
+
+HE was succeeded by St. Turibius. His head is shown in the cathedral of
+Mans, but the most of his relics in the neighboring Benedictin abbey of
+nuns called St. Julian's du Prè, famous for miracles; though the
+greatest part of these relics was burnt, or scattered in the wind by the
+Huguenots, who plundered the shrine of St. Julian, in 1562. He was much
+honored in France, and many churches built during the Norman succession
+in England, especially about the reign of Henry II., who was baptized in
+the church of St. Julian, at Mans, bear his name: one in particular at
+Norwich, which the people by mistake imagine to have been dedicated
+under the title of the venerable Juliana, a Benedictin nun at Norwich,
+who died in the odor of sanctity, but never was publicly invoked as a
+saint. St. Julian of Mans had an office in the Sarum breviary. See
+Tillem. t. 4, pp. 448, 729. Gal. Christ. Nov. &c.
+
+ST. MARIUS, ABBOT.
+
+DYNAMIUS, patrician of the Gauls who is mentioned by St. Gregory of
+Tours, (l. 6, c. 11,) and who was for some time steward of the patrimony
+of the Roman church in Gaul, in the time of St. Gregory the Great, as
+appears by a letter of that pope to him, (in which he mentions that he
+sent him in a reliquary some of the filings of the chains of St. Peter,
+and of the gridiron of St. Laurence,) was the author of the lives of St.
+Marius and of St. Maximus of Ries. From the fragments of the former in
+Bollandus, we learn that he was born at Orleans, became a monk, and
+after some time was chosen abbot at La-Val-Benois, in the diocese of
+Sisteron, in the reign of Gondebald, king of Burgundy, who died in 509.
+St. Marius made a pilgrimage to St. Martin's, at Tours, and another to
+the tomb of St. Dionysius, near Paris, where, falling sick, he dreamed
+that he was restored to health by an apparition of St. Dionysius, and
+awaking, found himself perfectly recovered. St. Marius, according to a
+custom received in many monasteries before the rule of St. Bennet, in
+imitation of the retreat of our divine Redeemer, made it a rule to live
+a recluse in a forest during the forty days of Lent. In one of these
+retreats, he foresaw, in a vision, the desolation which barbarians would
+soon after spread in Italy, and the destruction of his own monastery,
+which he foretold before his death, in 555. The abbey of
+La-Val-Benois[1] being demolished, the body of the saint was translated
+to Forcalquier, where it is kept with honor in a famous collegiate
+church which bears his name, and takes the title of Concathedral with
+Sisteron. St. Marius is called in French St. May, or St. Mary, in Spain,
+St. Mere, and St. Maire, and in some places, by mistake, St. Marrus. See
+fragments of his life compiled by Dynamius, extant in Bollandus, with
+ten preliminary observations.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  In Latin Vallis Bodonensis. Baillet and many others call it at
+    present Beuvons, or Beuvoux: but there is no such village. Bevons
+    indeed is the name of a village in Provence, one league from
+    Sisteron; but the ruins of the abbey La-Val-Benois are very
+    remarkable, in a village called St. May, in Dauphiné, sixteen
+    leagues from Sisteron, in which diocese it is. See many mistakes of
+    martyrologists and geographers concerning this saint and abbey
+    rectified by Chatelain, p. 424.
+
+{276}
+
+
+JANUARY XXVIII.
+
+SAINT AGNES, V.M.
+
+A SECOND commemoration of St. Agnes occurs on this day in the ancient
+Sacramentaries of pope Gelasius and St. Gregory the Great; as also in
+the true Martyrology of Bede. It was perhaps the day of her burial, or
+of a translation of her relics, or of some remarkable favor obtained
+through her intercession soon after her death.
+
+ST. CYRIL,
+
+PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA.
+
+From Socrates, Marius Mercator, the councils, and his works. See
+Tillemont, t. 14, p. 272. Ceillier, t. 13, p. 241.
+
+A.D. 444.
+
+ST. CYRIL was raised by God to defend the faith of the Incarnation of
+his Son, "of which mystery he is styled the doctor, as St. Austin is of
+that of grace," says Thomassin. He studied under his uncle Theophilus,
+and testifies[1] that he made it his rule never to advance any doctrine
+which he had not learned from the ancient Fathers. His books against
+Julian the Apostate show that he had read the profane writers. He often
+says himself that he neglected human eloquence: and it is to be wished
+that he had written in a clearer style, and with greater purity of the
+Greek tongue. Upon the death of Theophilus, in 412, he was raised by the
+people to the patriarchal dignity. He began to exert his authority by
+causing the churches of the Novatians in the city to be shut up, and
+their sacred vessels and ornaments to be seized; an action censured by
+Socrates, a favorer of those heretics; but we do not know the reasons
+and authority upon which he proceeded. He next drove the Jews out of the
+city, who were very numerous, and enjoyed great privileges there from
+the time of Alexander the Great. Seditions, and several acts of violence
+committed by them, excited him to this, which grievously offended
+Orestes the governor, but was approved by the emperor Theodosius: and
+the Jews never returned. St. Cyril sent to conjure the governor by the
+holy gospels that he would consent to a reconciliation, and that he
+would join in sincere friendship with him: but his offers were rejected.
+This unhappy disagreement produced pernicious effects. Hypatia, a pagan
+lady, kept a public school of philosophy in the city. Her reputation for
+learning was so great, that disciples flocked to her from all parts.
+Among these was the great Synesius, who afterwards submitted his works
+to her censure. She was consulted by philosophers of the first rank on
+the most intricate points of learning, and of the Platonic philosophy in
+particular, in which she was remarkably well versed.[2] She was much
+respected and consulted by the governor, and often visited him. The mob,
+which was nowhere more unruly, or more fond of riots and tumults than in
+that populous city, the second in the world for extent, upon a {277}
+suspicion that she incensed the governor against their bishop,
+seditiously rose, pulled her out of her chariot, cut and mangled her
+flesh, and tore her body in pieces in the streets, in 415, to the great
+grief and scandal of all good men, especially of the pious bishop.[3][4]
+He had imbibed certain prejudices from his uncle against the great St.
+Chrysostom: but was prevailed on by St. Isidore of Pelusium, and others,
+to insert his name in the Dyptics of his church, in 419: after which,
+pope Zozimus sent him letters of communion.[5]
+
+Nestorius, a monk and priest of Antioch, was made bishop of
+Constantinople in 428. The retiredness and severity of his life, joined
+with a hypocritical exterior of virtue, a superficial learning, and a
+fluency of words, gained him some reputation in the world. But being
+full of self conceit, he neglected the study of the Fathers, was a man
+of weak judgment, extremely vain, violent, and obstinate. This is the
+character he bears in the history of those times, and which is given him
+by Socrates, and also by Theodoret, whom he had formerly imposed upon by
+his hypocrisy. Marius Mercator informs us, that he was no sooner placed
+in the episcopal chair, but he began to persecute, with great fury, the
+Arians, Macedonians, Manichees, and Quartodecimans, whom he banished out
+of his diocese. But though he taught original sin, he is said to have
+denied the necessity of grace; on which account he received to his
+communion Celestius and Julian, who had been condemned by the popes
+Innocent and Zozimus, and banished out of the West by the emperor
+Honorius, for Pelagianism. Theodosius obliged them to leave
+Constantinople, notwithstanding the protection of the bishop. Nestorius
+and his mercenary priests broached also new errors from the pulpit,
+teaching two distinct persons in Christ, that of God, and that of man,
+only joined by a moral union, by which he said the Godhead dwelt in the
+humanity merely as in its temple. Hence he denied the Incarnation, or
+that God was made man: and said the Blessed Virgin ought not to be
+styled the mother of God, but of the man who was Christ, whose humanity
+was only the temple of the divinity, not a nature hypostatically assumed
+by the divine Person; though at length convicted by the voice of
+antiquity, he allowed her the empty title of mother of God, but
+continued to deny the mystery. The people were shocked at these
+novelties, and the priests, St. Proclus, Eusebius, afterwards bishop of
+Dorylæum, and others, separated themselves from his communion, after
+having attempted in vain to reclaim him by remonstrances. His homilies,
+wherever they appeared, gave great offence, and excited everywhere
+clamors against the errors and blasphemies they contained. St. Cyril
+having read them, sent him a mild expostulation ob the subject, but was
+answered with haughtiness and contempt. Pope Celestine, being applied to
+by both parties, examined his doctrine in a council at Rome; condemned
+it, and pronounced a sentence of excommunication and deposition against
+the author, unless within ten days after notification of the sentence,
+he publicly condemned and retracted it, appointing St. Cyril as his
+vicegerent in this affair, to see that the sentence was put in
+execution.[6] Our saint, together with his third and last summons, sent
+Nestorius twelve propositions with anathemas, hence called
+anathematisms, to be signed by him as a proof of his orthodoxy, but the
+heresiarch appeared more {278} obstinate than ever. This occasioned the
+calling of the third general council opened at Ephesus, in 431, by two
+hundred bishops, with St. Cyril at their head, as pope Celestine's
+legate and representative.[7] Nestorius, though in the town, and thrice
+cited, refused to appear. His heretical sermons were read, and
+depositions received against him, after which his doctrine was
+condemned, and the sentence of excommunication and deposition was
+pronounced against him and notified to the emperor.
+
+Six days after, John, patriarch of Antioch, arrived at Ephesus with
+forty-one oriental bishops; who secretly favoring the person but not the
+errors of Nestorius, of which they deemed him innocent, had advanced but
+slowly on their journey to the place. Instead of associating with the
+council, they assembled by themselves, and presumed to excommunicate St.
+Cyril and his adherents. Both sides had recourse to the emperor for
+redress, by whose order, soon after, St. Cyril and Nestorius were both
+arrested and confined, but our saint the worst treated of the two. Nay,
+through his antagonist's greater interest at court, he was upon the
+point of being banished, when three legates from pope
+Celestine--Arcadius and Projectus, bishops, and Philip, a
+priest--arrived at Ephesus, which gave a new turn to affairs in our
+saint's favor. The three new legates having considered what had been
+done under St. Cyril, the condemnation of Nestorius was confirmed, the
+saint's conduct approved, and the sentence pronounced against him
+declared null and invalid. Thus, matters being cleared up, he was
+enlarged with honor. The Orientals, indeed, continued their schism till
+433, when they made their peace with St. Cyril, condemned Nestorius, and
+gave a clear and orthodox exposition of their faith. That heresiarch,
+being banished from his see, retired to his monastery in Antioch. John,
+though formerly his friend, yet finding him very perverse and obstinate
+in his heresy, and attempting to pervert others, entreated the emperor
+Theodosius to remove him. He was therefore banished to Oasis, in the
+deserts of Upper Egypt, on the borders of Libya, in 431, and died
+miserably and impenitent in his exile. His sect remains to this day very
+numerous in the East.[8] St. Cyril triumphed over this heresiarch by his
+meekness, intrepidity, and courage; thanking God for his sufferings, and
+professing himself ready to spill his blood with joy for the gospel.[9]
+He arrived at Alexandria on the 30th of October, 431, and spent the
+remainder of his days in maintaining the faith of the church in its
+purity, in promoting peace and union among the faithful, and the zealous
+labors of his pastoral charge, till his glorious death in 444, on the
+28th of June, that is, the 3d of the Egyptian month Epiphi, as the
+Alexandrians, the Copts, and the Ethiopians unanimously affirm, who, by
+abridging his name, call him Kerlos, and give him the title of Doctor of
+the world. The Greeks keep the 18th of January in his honor; and have a
+second commemoration of him again on the 9th of June.[10] The Roman
+Martyrology mentions him on this day. Pope Celestine styles him, "The
+generous defender of the church and faith, the Catholic doctor, and an
+apostolical man."[11]
+
+The extraordinary devotion of this holy doctor towards the holy
+sacrament appears from the zeal with which he frequently inculcates the
+glorious effects which it produces in the soul of him who worthily
+receives it, especially in healing all his spiritual disorders,
+strengthening him against temptations,{279} subduing the passions,
+giving life, and making us one with Christ by the most sacred union, not
+only in spirit, but also with his humanity. Hence this father says that
+by the holy communion we are made concorporeal with Christ.[12] The
+eminent dignity and privileges of the ever glorious Virgin Mary were
+likewise a favorite subject on which he often dwells. In his tenth
+homily,[13] after having often repeated her title of Mother of God, he
+thus salutes her: "Hail, O Mary, mother of God, rich treasure of the
+world,[14] inextinguishable lamp, crown of virginity, sceptre of the
+true doctrine, temple which cannot fall, the residence of him whom no
+place can contain, Mother and Virgin, by whom He is who cometh Blessed
+in the name of the Lord. Hail, Mary, who in your virgin womb contained
+Him who is immense and incomprehensible: You through whom the whole
+blessed Trinity is glorified and adored, through whom the precious cross
+is honored and venerated over the whole world, through whom heaven
+exults, the angels and archangels rejoice, the devils are banished, the
+tempter is disarmed, the creature that was fallen is restored to heaven,
+and comes to the knowledge of the truth, through whom holy baptism is
+instituted, through whom is given the oil of exultation, through whom
+churches are founded over the whole earth, through whom nations are
+brought to penance. And what need of more words? Through whom the only
+begotten Son of God has shone the light to those who sat in darkness and
+in the shade of death, &c.--What man can celebrate the most praiseworthy
+Mary according to her dignity?"
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ep. 56, and 35 apud Lupum.
+2.  Synesius, ep. 153.
+3.  Vie d'Hypacie par l'abbé Goujet. Mémoires de Littérature, t. 5.
+4.  It is very unjust in some moderns to charge him as conscious of so
+    horrible a crime, which shocks human nature. Great persons are never
+    to be condemned without proofs which amount to conviction. The
+    silence of Orestes, and the historian Socrates, both his declared
+    enemies, suffices to acquit him.
+5.  We have nothing further of the life of this father, until the year
+    428, when his zeal was first exerted in defence of the faith against
+    Nestorianism: we shall introduce this period of his labors with some
+    account of the author of this heresy.
+6. Conc. t. 3, p. 343. Liberat. in Breviar. c. 4.
+7. St. Leo, Ep. 72, c. 3. Conc. t. 3, p. 656, 980.
+8.  They have a liturgy under the name of Nestorius, and two others
+    which they pretend to be still more ancient. See Renaudot, liturg.
+    orient. t. 2, and Le Brun, liturg. t. 3. The former contains a clear
+    profession of transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass.
+9.  Ep. ad Theopomp, t. 3. Conc. p. 771.
+10. Smith on the present state of the Greek church, p. 13. Thomassin Tr.
+    des Fêtes, l. 1, ch. 7.
+11. Conc. t. 3, p. 1077.
+12. {Footnote not found in text.} L. 4, contra Nestor, t. 6, parte 1, p.
+    110. l. 7, de adoratione in spiritu et verit. t. 1, p. 231, c. 10,
+    in Joan. t. 1, c. 13.
+13. T. 5, parte 2, p. 380. Item Conc. t. 3, p. 583.
+14. [Greek: Keimêlion tês oikomenês]. The rich furniture of the world.
+
+APPENDIX
+
+ON
+
+THE WRITINGS OF ST. CYRIL
+
+OF ALEXANDRIA.
+
+The old Latin translations of the works of this father were extremely
+faulty, before the edition of Paris, by John Aubert, in 1638, in six
+tomes, folio, bound in seven, which yet might be improved. Baluze and
+Lupus have published some letters of this holy doctor, which had escaped
+Aubert and Labbe. If elegance, choice of thoughts, and beauty of style
+be wanting in his writings, these defects are compensated by the
+justness and precision with which he expresses the great truths of
+religion, especially in clearing the terms concerning the mystery of the
+Incarnation. Hence his controversial works are the most valuable part of
+his writings. His books against Nestorius, those against Julian, and
+that called The Treasure, are the most finished and important.
+
+His treatise On Adoration in Spirit and Truth, with which he begins his
+commentary on the Bible, contains, in seventeen books, an exposition of
+several passages of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, (though not
+in order,) in moral and allegorical interpretations.
+
+In the thirteen books entitled Glaphyrs, _i.e._ profound or elegant, the
+longer passages of the same books are explained allegorically of Christ
+and his church.
+
+In his commentaries on Isaiah, and the twelve lesser prophets, he gives
+both the literal and allegorical sense.
+
+On the Gospel of St. John, we have ten books entire, and fragments of
+the seventh and eighth. In the old editions, the fifth, sixth, seventh,
+and eighth books, which were entirely wanting, were patched up by
+Clictou from the writings of other fathers: which, for want of reading
+the preface, have been quoted by some as St. Cyril's. In this great work,
+the {280} saint gives not only the literal and spiritual senses of the
+sacred text, but likewise refutes the reigning heresies of that age,
+especially those against the consubstantiality of the Son, as the
+Eunomians. He also answers all the objections of the Manichees. He is
+very clear in establishing in the holy sacrament of the altar the
+reality of Christ's body contained in it and the holy sacrifice,
+teaching that "the holy body of Christ gives life to us when received,
+and preserves us in it, being the very body of life itself, according to
+nature, and containing all the virtue of the Word united to it, and
+being endued with all his efficacy by whom all things receive life, and
+are preserved." (L. 4, in Joan. p. 324.) That we shall, by tasting it,
+"have life in us, being united together with his body as it is with the
+Word dwelling in it." (Ibid. p. 361.) That "as death had devoured all
+human nature, he who is life, being in us by his flesh, might overcome
+that tyrant." (Ibid. p. 272.) "Christ by his flesh, hides in us life and
+a seed of immortality, which destroys in us all corruption," (Ibid. p.
+363,) and "heals our diseases, assuaging the law of the flesh raging in
+our members." (ibid. p. 365.) In the tenth look he is most diffusive and
+clear on this sacrament, extolling its miraculous institution, the most
+exalted of all God's mysteries, above our comprehension, and the
+wonderful manner by which we are united and made one with him; not by
+affection, but by natural participation; which he calls "a mixture, an
+incorporation, a blending together; for as wax melted and mingled with
+another piece of melted wax, makes one; so by partaking of his precious
+body and blood, he is united in us, and we in him," &c. (L. 10, in Joan.
+pp. 862, 863, item pp. 364, 365.) See the longer and clearer texts of
+this doctrine in this book itself, and in the controversial writers upon
+that subject. Also, in his works Against Nestorius, whom he confutes
+from the blessed eucharist, proving Christ's humanity to be the humanity
+of the divine Person. "This," says he, "I cannot but add in this place,
+namely, that when we preach the death of the only begotten Son of God,
+that is, of Jesus Christ, and his resurrection from the dead, and
+confess his ascension into heaven, we celebrate the unbloody sacrifice
+in the church, and do by this means approach the mystical benedictions,
+and are sanctified, being made partakers of the sacred flesh and
+precious blood of Christ, the Saviour of us all. And we do not receive
+it as common flesh, ([Greek: mê genoito],) God forbid; nor as the flesh
+of man who is sanctified and joined to the Word by a unity of dignity,
+or as having a divine habitation; but we receive it, as it is truly, the
+life-giving and proper flesh of the Word." (Ep. ad Nestorium, de
+Excommun. p. 72, t. 5, par. 2, and in Declaratione undecimi
+Anathematismi, t. 6, p. 156.) In this latter place he speaks of it also
+as a true sacrifice: "We perform in the churches the holy and
+life-giving and unbloody sacrifice, believing the body which is placed,
+and the precious blood to be made the very body and blood of the Word,
+which gives life to all things, &c. He proves that it is only to be
+offered in Catholic churches, in the only one house of Christ" (L. adv.
+Anthropomorph. t. 6, p. 380.) He heard that some imagined that the
+mystical benediction is lost if the eucharist is kept to another day;
+but says, "they are mad; for Christ is not altered, nor his body
+changed." (T. 6, p. 365, ep. ad Calosyrium.) In his fourth book on St.
+John, (t. 4, p. 358,) he as expressly confutes the Jewish doubt about
+the possibility of the holy sacrament, as if he had the modern
+Sacramentarians in view.
+
+To refute the whole system of Arianism, he wrote the book which he
+called The Treasure, which he divided into thirty-five titles or
+sections. He answers in it all the objections of those heretics, and
+establishes from scripture the divinity of the Son of God; and from
+title thirty-three, that of the Holy Ghost.
+
+His book On the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, consists of seven
+dialogues, and was composed at the request of Nemesm and Hermias. This
+work was also written to prove the consubstantiality of Christ, but is
+more obscure than the former. The holy doctor added two other Dialogues,
+the eighth and ninth, On the Incarnation, against the errors of
+Nestorius, then only known by report at Alexandria. He afterwards
+subjoined Scholia, to answer certain objections; likewise a short book
+On the Incarnation, in which he proves the holy Virgin to be, as she is
+called, the Mother of God; as Jesus Christ is at the same time both the
+Son of God, and the Son of man. By his skirmishes with the Arians he was
+prepared to oppose and crush the extravagances of Nestorius, broached at
+that time against the same adorable mystery of the Incarnation, of which
+God raised our holy doctor the champion in his church; for by his
+writings he both stifled the heresy of Nestorius in the cradle, and
+furnished posterity with arms against that of Eutyches, says Basil of
+Seleucia. (T. 4, Conc. p. 925.)
+
+St. Cyril composed at Ephesus his three treatises On the Right Faith,
+against Nestorius. The first is addressed to the Emperor Theodosius. It
+contains an enumeration of the heresies against the Incarnation, namely,
+of Cerinthus, Photinus, Apollinaris, and Nestorius, with a refutation of
+each, especially the last. The second is inscribed to the princesses
+Pulcheria, Arcadia, and Marina, the emperor's sisters, all virgins,
+consecrated to God. This contains the proofs of the Catholic faith
+against Nestorius. The third is a confutation of the heretics'
+objections against it.
+
+His five books against Nestorius, are the neatest and best penned of his
+polemic writings. They contain a refutation of the blasphemous homilies
+of that heresiarch, who yet is never {281} named in them; by which
+circumstance they seem to have been written before his condemnation. St.
+Cyril sent to Nestorius twelve Anathematisms against his errors. This
+work was read in the council of Ephesus, and is entirely orthodox, yet
+some censured it as favoring Apollinarism, or as denying the distinction
+of two natures in Christ, the divine and human, after the Incarnation;
+and the Eutychians afterwards strained them in favor of their heresy.
+John, patriarch of Antioch, prepossessed against St. Cyril, pretended
+for some time to discover that error in them; and persuaded Andrew,
+bishop of Samosata, and the great Theodoret of Cyr, to write against
+them. St. Cyril gave in his clear Explication of them to the council of
+Ephesus, at its desire, extant, p. 145.
+
+He also wrote, soon after that synod, two Apologies of the
+Anathematisms; one against Andrew of Samosata, and other Oriental
+prelates, who through mistake were offended at them; and the other,
+against Theodoret of Cyr. And lastly, An Apologetic for them to the
+emperor Theodosius, to remove some sinister suspicions which his enemies
+had endeavored to give that prince against his sentiments in that work.
+
+The Anthropomorphite heretics felt likewise the effects of St. Cyril's
+zeal. These were certain ignorant monks of Egypt, who having been taught
+by the elders, in order to help their gross minds in the continual
+practice of the presence of God, to represent him to themselves under a
+corporeal human figure, by which they at length really believed him to
+be not a pure spirit, but corporeal, like a man; because man was created
+to his image. Theophilus immediately condemned, and the whole church
+exploded, this monstrous absurdity. St. Cyril wrote a letter to confute
+it to Calosyrius, bishop of Arsinoe, showing that man is framed
+according to the Divine image, not in his body, for God being the most
+pure Spirit, can have no sensible figure, but in being endued with
+reason, and capable of virtue. In the same letter he rejects a second
+error of other ignorant monks, who imagined that the blessed Eucharist
+lost its consecration if kept to the following day. He reprehends other
+anchorets, who, upon a pretence of continual prayer, did not work at
+certain hours of the day, making it a cloak of gluttony and laziness.
+The saint has left us another book against the Anthropomorphites, in
+which he proves that man is made to God's image, by bearing the
+resemblance of his sanctity, by grace and virtue. So he says the angels
+are likewise made to his likeness. He answers in this book twenty-seven
+dogmatical questions put to him by the same monks.
+
+He wrote, in the years 437 and 438, two Dogmatical Letters (pp. 51 and
+52) against certain propositions of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, the
+forerunner of Nestorius, though he had died in the communion of the
+church.
+
+The book on the Trinity cannot be St. Cyril's; for it refutes the
+Monothelite heresy, not known before the year 620.
+
+Julian the Apostate, while he was preparing for the Persian war, had,
+with the assistance of Maximus and his other impious philosophers,
+published three books against the holy gospels, which were very
+prejudicial to weak minds; though nothing was advanced in them that had
+not been said by Celsus, and fully answered by Origen in his books
+against that philosopher, and by Eusebius in his Evangelical
+Preparation. St. Cyril, out of zeal, composed ten books against Julian,
+which he dedicated to the emperor Theodosius; and also sent to John of
+Antioch to show the sincerity of his reconciliation. In this work he has
+preserved us Julian's words, omitting only his frequent repetitions and
+puerilities. Nor have we any thing else of that work of the Apostate,
+but what is preserved here by St. Cyril. He begins by warning the
+emperor against bad company, by which Julian fell into such extravagant
+impieties. In the first book he justifies Moses's history of the world,
+and proves with great erudition from profane history that its events are
+posterior, and the heathen sages and historians younger than that divine
+lawgiver, from whom they all borrowed many things. In the second, he
+compares the sacred history of the creation, which Julian had pretended
+to ridicule, with the puerilities and absurdities of Pythagoras, Thales,
+Plato, &c., of whom Julian was an admirer to a degree of folly. In the
+third, he vindicates the history of the Serpent, and of Adam's fall; and
+retorts the ridiculous Theogony of Hesiod, &c. In the fourth, he shows
+that God governs all things by himself, not by inferior deities, as
+Julian pretended, the absurdity of which he sets forth: demonstrating,
+likewise, that things are ruled by a wise free providence; not by
+destiny or necessity, which even Porphyry and the wiser heathens had
+justly exploded, though the Apostate adopted that monstrous doctrine. He
+justifies against his cavils the history of the Tower of Babel: and in
+his fifth book, the Ten Commandments; showing in the same, that God is
+not subject to jealousy, anger, or other passions, though he has an
+infinite horror of sin. Julian objected that we also adore God the Son,
+consequently have two gods. St. Cyril answers that he is the same God
+with the Father. In the sixth book he reports the shameful vices of
+Socrates, Plato, and their other heroes of paganism, in opposition to
+the true virtues of the prophets and saints. Julian reproached Christ
+that he did not appear great in the world, and only cured the pool, and
+delivered demoniacs in villages; he reprehended Christians for refusing
+to adore the noble ensign, the gift of Jupiter or Mars; yet, says he,
+you adore the wood of {282} the cross, make its sign on your forehead,
+and engrave it on the porches of your houses ([Greek: To toutu saurou
+proskuneite tzolon, eikonas autou skiagrafountes en tô metôpô, kai pro
+tôn opennatôs eggrafontes.] L. 6, adv. Jul. t. 6, p. 194.) To which St.
+Cyril answers, (p. 195:) We glory in this sign of the precious cross,
+since Christ triumphed on it; and it is to us the admonition of all
+virtue. This father says in another place, (in Isaiam, t. 4, p. 294:)
+"The faithful arm and intrench themselves with the sign of the cross,
+overthrowing and breaking by it the power, and every assault of the
+devils: for the cross is to us an impregnable rampart." In this sixth
+book he produces the open acknowledgment of Julian that the heathenish
+oracles had all ceased; but this he ascribed to old age and length of
+time. St. Cyril shows the extravagance of this supposition, and that the
+true reason was, because the power of the devil had been restrained by
+the coming of Christ. He mentions the same in his Commentary on Isaiah,
+(t. 2, p. 596.) In the seventh book, he proves that the great men in the
+true religion far surpassed in virtue all the heroes of paganism. In the
+eighth and ninth, that Christ was foretold by the ancient prophets, and
+that the Old and New Law are in substance the same. In the tenth he
+proves, that not only St. John, but all the Evangelists, teach Christ to
+be truly God. Julian objects, (pp. 333, 335, 339, and 350,) that we also
+adore the martyrs and their sepulchres: "Why do you prostrate yourselves
+at the sepulchres?--which it is to be believed your Apostles did after
+the death of their Master, and taught you this art magic," (p. 339.) The
+saint answers, We make an infinite difference between God and the
+martyrs: which he had before told him, (l. 6, pp. 201 and 203,) where he
+writes, "We neither call the martyrs gods, nor adore them with divine
+worship; but with affection and honor reverence them: we pay them the
+highest honors, because they contemned their life for the truth," &c.
+
+We have in the second part of the fifth tome several Homilies and
+Letters of this saint. It was ordained by the council of Nice that the
+bishop of Alexandria, in which city chiefly flourished the sciences of
+mathematics and astronomy, should at the end of every year examine
+carefully on what day the next Easter was to be kept. They, by custom,
+acquainted by a circular letter other bishops near them, and in
+particular the bishop of Rome, that he might notify it to all the
+prelates of the West. St. Cyril was very exact in this duty. Possevin
+says he saw his paschal discourses in the Vatican library, for every
+year of hie episcopacy, namely thirty-one, from the year 414. We have
+but twenty-nine printed: those for 443 and 444 being wanting. He spoke
+them to his own flock, as well as sent them to other bishops; and marks
+in each the beginning of Lent, the Monday and Saturday in Holy Week, and
+Easter-day, counting Lent exactly of forty days. In these paschal
+homilies he exceedingly recommends the advantages of fasting; which he
+shows (Hom. 1.) to be the "source of all virtues, the image of an
+angelical life, the extinction of lust, and the preparation of a soul to
+heavenly communications." He says, "If it seems at first bitter and
+laborious, its fruits and reward infinitely compensate the pains; for
+more should seem nothing for the purchase of virtue: even in temporal
+things, nothing valuable can be obtained without labor and cost. If we
+are afraid of fasting here, we shall fall into eternal flames hereafter;
+an evil infinitely worse, and quite intolerable." In the following
+homilies he extols the absolute necessity of this mortification, to
+crucify in us the old man, and punish past irregularities; but shows it
+must be accompanied with alms and other good works. In his latter
+paschal discourses, and others extant, he explains the mystery of the
+Incarnation against Nestorianism and other heresies. The ninth homily is
+On the Mystical Supper, or Holy Banquet of the Communion and Sacrifice,
+in which "the tremendous mystery is performed, and the Lamb of God
+sacrificed, (p. 271;) in which (p. 272) the Eternal Wisdom distributes
+his body as bread, and his saving blood as wine: the Maker gives himself
+to the work of his own hands. Life bestows itself to be eat and drunk by
+men," &c. At this divine table he cries out, (p. 376,) "I am filled with
+dread when I behold it. I am transported cut of myself with astonishment
+when I consider it," &c. He proves, against Nestorianism, (p. 318,) that
+there is but one Person in Christ, because in this holy sacrament is
+received his true body and blood: not the Divinity alone, which nobody
+could receive, nor a pure man's body, which could not give life; but a
+man made the Word of God--who is Christ, the Son of the living God, one
+of the adorable Trinity. He remains the priest and the victim: he who
+offers, and he who is offered. ([Greek: Oti autos menei hiereus kai
+lusia, autos ho prosferôn kai ho prosferomenos.] p. 378.) In the tenth
+homily he pronounces an encomium of the blessed Mary, mother of God.
+This was delivered at Ephesus, in an assembly of bishops, during the
+council; for he apostrophizes that city, and St. John the Evangelist,
+its protector. In it he calls the pope "the most holy Celestine, the
+father and archbishop of the whole world, and the patriarch of the great
+city Rome." (Ib. Encom. in St. Mariam. part 2, p. 384.) He more clearly
+extols the supreme prerogative of the church of Rome, founded on the
+faith of Peter; which church is perpetual, impregnable to hell, and
+confirmed beyond the danger of falling. (Dial. 4, de Trinit. pp. 507,
+508.) His eleventh homily is On the Presentation, or, as the Greeks call
+it, [Greek: apantêsis]. The meeting of the Lord in the Temple, and The
+Purification of our Lady, in which he speaks of the lamp or candles used
+on that festival. He has a pathetic Sermon on the Pains of {283} Hell:
+he paints the terrors of the last Judgment in a manner which cannot fail
+to make a strong impression upon all who read it. (Or. de Exitu animi,
+et de secundo Adventu.)
+
+The epistles which we have from his pen all relate to the public affairs
+of the church, and principally those of Nestorius. His second letter to
+that heresiarch, and his letter to the Orientals, were adopted by the
+general councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, and are a rule of the
+Catholic faith. His sixteenth letter is placed among the canons of the
+Greek church. In it be recommends to the bishops of Libya and
+Pentapolis, the strictest scrutiny of the capacity and manners of those
+who are admitted to holy Orders; and the greatest solicitude and
+watchfulness that no one die without baptism, if only a catechumen, and
+the Holy Eucharist or Viaticum. See Beveridge.
+
+SS. THYRSUS, LEUCIUS, AND CALLINICUS, MM.
+
+THEIR Greek and Latin Acts agree that, after suffering many torments,
+they were put to death, on three different days, at Apollonia, in
+Phrygia, in the persecution of Decius. Sozomen tells us that Cæsarius,
+who had been prefect and consul, built at Constantinople a magnificent
+church under the invocation of St. Thyrsus, with a portion of whose
+relics it was enriched. Another church within the city bore his name, as
+appears from the Menæa, on the 14th of December. In the cathedral of our
+Lady at Sisteron, in a church at Limoges, &c., St. Thymus is one of the
+patrons. Many churches in Spain bear his name. Silon, King of Oviedo and
+Asturia, in a letter to Cyxilas, archbishop of Toledo in 777, says that
+the queen had sent presents to the church of St. Thyrsus, which the
+archbishop had built, viz. a silver chalice and paten, a basin to wash
+the hands in, with a pipe and a diadem on the cover, to be used when the
+blood of our Lord was distributed to the people.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Cum suo naso. Du Cange, not understanding this word, substitutes
+    vaso. But nasus here signifies a silver pipe or quill to suck up the
+    blood of Christ at the communion, such as the pope sometimes uses.
+    Such a one is kept at St. Denys's, near Paris. The ancient Ordo
+    Romanus calls that _pugillar_ which is here called nasus, because it
+    sucks up as a nose draws up air. In the reign of Philip II., in
+    1595, in certain ruins near the cathedral of Toledo, this cover of
+    the chalice was discovered with the diadem. Chatelain, p. 440.
+
+ST. JOHN OF REOMAY, A.
+
+NOW CALLED MOUTIER-SAINT-JEAN, IN BURGUNDY
+
+HE was a native of the diocese of Langres, and took the monastic habit
+at Lerins. He was called into his own country by the bishop of Langres
+to found the abbey from which he received his surname. He settled it
+under the rule of St. Macarius, governed it many years with great
+reputation of sanctity, and was rendered famous by miracles. He went to
+God about the year 540, being almost one hundred and twenty years old,
+and was one of the holy institutors of the monastic state in France. St.
+Gregory of Tours gives an account of him in the eighty-seventh chapter
+of his book, On the Glory of Confessors. His life was also compiled by
+Jonas, the disciple of Columban, extant in Bollandus. See P. Rover,
+Hist. Monast. S. Joan. Reom. Paris, 1637.
+
+{284}
+
+B. MARGARET, PRINCESS OF HUNGARY, V.
+
+SHE was daughter to Bala IV., the pious king of Hungary. Her parents
+consecrated her to God by a vow before her birth, and when but three
+years and a half old she was placed in the monastery of Dominican nuns
+at Vesprin, and at ten removed to a new nunnery of that order, founded
+by her father in an isle of the Danube, near Buda, called from her the
+isle of St. Margaret. She was professed at twelve.[1] In her tender age
+she outstripped the most advanced in devotion, and was favored with
+extraordinary communications from heaven. It was her delight to serve
+everybody, and to practise every kind of humiliation: she never spoke of
+herself, as if she was beneath all notice: never loved to see her royal
+parents, or to speak of them, saying it was her misfortune that she was
+not of poor parentage. Her mortifications were excessive. She endeavored
+to conceal her sicknesses for fear of being dispensed with or shown any
+indulgence in the rule. From her infancy she conceived the most ardent
+devotion towards her crucified Redeemer, and kissed very often, both by
+day and night, a little cross made of the wood of our Saviour's cross,
+which she always carried about her. She commonly chose to pray before
+the altar of the cross. Her affection for the name of Jesus made her
+have it very frequently in her mouth, which she repeated with incredible
+inward feeling and sweetness. Her devotion to Christ in the blessed
+sacrament was most remarkable: she often wept abundantly, or appeared in
+ecstasies during the mass, and much more when she herself received the
+divine spouse of her soul: on the eve she took nothing but bread and
+water, and watched the night in prayer. On the day itself she remained
+in prayer and fasting till evening, and then took a small refection. She
+showed a sensible joy in her countenance when she heard any festival of
+our Lady announced, through devotion to the mother of God; she performed
+on them, and during the octaves, one thousand salutations each day,
+prostrating herself on the ground at each, besides saying the office of
+our blessed Lady every day. If any one seemed offended at her, she fell
+at their feet and begged their pardon. She was always the first in
+obedience, and was afraid to be excepted if others were enjoined penance
+for a breach of silence or any other fault. Her bed was a coarse skin,
+laid on the bare floor, with a stone for her pillow. She was favored
+with the gift of miracles and prophecy. She gave up her pure soul to
+God, after a short illness, on the 18th of January, in the year 1271,
+and of her age the twenty-eighth. Her body is preserved at Presbourg.
+See her life by Guerinus, a Dominican, by order of his general, in 1340:
+and an abridgment of the same by Ranzano. She was never canonized, but
+is honored with an office in all the churches in Hungary, especially
+those of the Dominicans in that kingdom, by virtue of a decree of Pope
+Pius II, as Touron assures us.[2]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Touron, Vies des Hommes Illustres de l'Ordre de St. Dominique, in
+    Humbert des Romains, fifth general of the Dominicans, t. 1, p. 325.
+2.  Touron, ib. in Innocent V. t. 1, p. 384.
+
+ST. PAULINUS, PATRIARCH OF AQUILEIA, C.
+
+ONE of the most illustrious and most holy prelates of the eighth and
+ninth centuries was Paulinus, patriarch of Aquileia, who seems to have
+been born {285} about the year 728, in a country farm, not far from
+Friuli. His family could boast of no advantages of fortune, and his
+parents having no other revenue than what arose from the tillage of
+their farm, he spent part of his youth in agriculture. Yet he found
+leisure for his studios, and in process of time became so eminent a
+grammarian and professor, that Charlemagne honored him with a rescript,
+in which he styles him Master of Grammar, and Very Venerable. This
+epithet seems to imply that he was then priest. The same prince, in
+recompense of his extraordinary merit, bestowed on him an estate in his
+own country. It seems to have been about the year 776, that Paulinus was
+promoted, against his will, to the patriarchate of Aquileia, which
+dignity had not then been long annexed to that see, after the extinction
+of the schism of Istria. From the zeal, abilities, and piety of St.
+Paulinus, this church derived its greatest lustre. Such was his
+reputation, that Charlemagne always expressed a particular desire that
+he should be present at all the great councils which were assembled in
+his time, though in the remotest part of his dominions. He assisted at
+those of Aix-la-Chapelle in 789, of Ratisbon in 792, and of Frankfort in
+794; and held himself one at Friuli, in 791, or 796, against the errors
+which some had begun to spread in that age concerning the Procession of
+the Holy Ghost, and the mystery of the Incarnation.
+
+Felix, bishop of Urgel in Catalonia, in a letter to Elipandus, bishop of
+Toledo, who had consulted him on that subject, before the year 783,
+pretended to prove that Christ as man is not the natural, but only the
+adoptive Son of God: which error he had already advanced in his public
+discourses.[1] The rising error was vigorously opposed by Beatus, a
+priest and abbot, and his disciple Etherius, who was afterwards bishop
+of Osma. Soon after it was condemned by a council at Narbonne, in
+788,[2] and by another at Ratisbon, in 792, while Charlemagne kept his
+court in that city. Felix revoked his error first in this council at
+Ratisbon, and afterwards before pope Leo III. at Rome.[3] Yet after his
+return into Spain he continued both by letters and discourses to spread
+his heresy; which was therefore again condemned in the great council of
+Frankfort, in 794, in which a work of our saint, entitled
+Sacro-Syllabus, against the same, was approved, and ordered to be sent
+into Spain, to serve for all antidote against the spreading poison.[4]
+From this book of St. Paulinus it is clear that Elipandus also returned
+to the vomit. Alcuin returning from England, where he had stayed three
+years, in 793, wrote a tender moving letter to Felix, exhorting him
+sincerely to renounce his error. But the unhappy man, in a long answer,
+endeavored to establish his heresy so roundly as to fall into downright
+Nestorianism, which indeed is a consequence of his erroneous principle.
+For Christ as man cannot be called the adoptive Son of God, unless his
+human nature subsist by a distinct person from the divine.[5] By an
+order of Charlemagne, Alcuin and St. Paulinus solidly confuted the
+writings of these two heresiarchs, the former in seven, our saint in
+three books. Alcuin wrote four other books against the pestilential
+writings of Elipandus, in which he testifies that Felix was then at
+Rome, and converted to the Catholic faith. Elipandus, who was not a
+subject of Charlemagne, could not be compelled to appear before the
+councils held in his dominions, Toledo being at that time subject to the
+Moors. Felix, after his relapse, returned to the faith with his
+principal followers in the council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 797.[6] From
+that time he concealed his heresy, but continued in secret to defend it,
+and at his {286} death, in 815, left a written profession of his
+heresy.[7] Elipandus died in 809.[8]
+
+The zeal of St. Paulinus was not less successful in the conversion of
+infidels than in the extinction of this heresy. Burning with zeal for
+the salvation of souls, and a vehement desire of laying down his life
+for Christ, he preached the gospel to the idolaters, who had remained to
+that time obstinately attached to their superstition among the Carantani
+in Carinthia and Stiria; in which provinces also St. Severinus the
+abbot, who died in 481, and afterwards St. Virgilius, bishop of
+Saltzburg, who died in 785, planted several numerous churches. Whence a
+contest arising between Arno, St. Virgilius's successor, and Ursus, the
+successor of Paulinus, to which see Carinthia ought to be annexed, it
+was settled in 811, that the churches which are situated on the south of
+the Drave should be subject of the patriarchate of Aquileia, and those
+on the north to the archbishopric of Saltzburg.[9] The Avares, a
+barbarous nation of Huns, who were settled in part of Pannonia, and were
+twice subdued by Charlemagne, received the faith by the preaching of St.
+Paulinus, and of certain missionaries sent by the archbishops of
+Saltzburg.[10] Henry, a virtuous nobleman, being appointed by
+Charlemagne Duke of Friuli, and governor of that country which he had
+lately conquered, St. Paulinus wrote for his use an excellent book Of
+Exhortation, in which he strongly invites him to aspire with his whole
+heart after Christian perfection, and lays down the most important rules
+on the practice of compunction and penance: on the remedies against
+different vices, especially pride, without which he shows that no sin
+ever was, or will be committed, this being the beginning, end, and cause
+of all sin:[11] on an earnest desire and study to please God with all
+our strength in all our actions:[12] on assiduous prayer and its
+essential dispositions: on the holy communion, of the preparation to
+which after sin he shows confession and penance to be an essential
+part:[13] on shunning bad company, &c. He closes the book with a most
+useful prayer; and in the beginning promises his prayers for the
+salvation of the good duke. By tears and prayers he ceased not to draw
+down the blessings of the divine mercy on the souls committed to his
+charge. Alcuin earnestly besought him as often as bathed in tears he
+offered the spotless victim to the divine Majesty, to implore the divine
+mercy in his behalf.[14] In 802, St. Paulinus assembled a council at
+Altino, a city near the Adriatic sea, which had been destroyed by
+Attila, and was at that time only a shadow of what it had been, though
+famous for a monastery, in which this synod was probably held.[15] It is
+long since entirely decayed. St. Paulinus closed a holy life by a happy
+death on the 11th of January, in 804, as Madrisius proves.[16] His
+festival occurs on this day in the old missal of Aquileia, and in
+several German Martyrologies: but it is at present kept at Aquileia,
+Friuli, and in some other places, on the 28th of January.[17] See the
+life of St. Paulinus of Aquileia, compiled by Nicoletti, {287} with the
+notes of Madrisius; and far more accurately by Madrisius himself an
+Oratorian of U{}na, who in 1737 published at Venice the works of this
+father in folio, illustrated with long notes and dissertations on every
+circumstance relating to the history or writings of our saint. See also
+Ceillier t. 18, p. 262, and Bollandus ad 11 Januarii.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Madrisius, Dissert. 4, p. 214.
+2.  On this council see Baluse, additam. ad. e. 25, l. 6, Petri de
+    Marca, de Concord. Sacerd. et. Imp.
+3.  Leo III. in Conc. Rom. 799. Act. 2, et Eginard in Annal. &c.
+4.  See Madrisius, dissert. 4, p. 219.
+5.  See Natal. Alex. Sæc. 8. diss. 5.
+6.  Alcuin, l. 1, contra Elipand.
+7.  Agobard, l. 1, adv. Felicem. n. 1 & 5.
+8.  From certain false chronicles, Iamayo and Ceillier (in St. Beatus.
+    t. 18, p. 364,) relate that Ellpandus revoked his error in a council
+    which he held at Toledo, and died penitent. Madrisius shows this
+    circumstance to be uncertain, (Diss. 4, in op. S. Paulini, p. 225,)
+    and Nicolas Antony of Seville, in his Bibl. Hisp. l. 6, c. 2, n. 42,
+    has proved the monuments upon which it is founded to be of no
+    authority. Claudius, bishop of Turin, a disciple of Felix of Urgel,
+    renewed this heresy in Italy, and denied the veneration due to holy
+    images, and was refuted by Jonas, bishop of Orleans, and others.
+9.  Sconleben, Annal. Austr. and Madrisius, Vit. S. Paulini, c. 8.
+10. Alcuin. ep. 112. F. Inchofer, in Annal. Hungar. Eccl. ad an. 795.
+    Madrisius, in Vit. St. Paulini, c. 8, p. 31.
+11. St. Paulin. l, Exhort. ad Henr. ducem. c. 19, p. 29.
+12. C. 24, p. 34.
+13. C. 33, p. 29. See 1 Corinth. xi. 28, St. Cypr. ep. 9, 10, 11, and
+    Tract. de Lapsis.
+14. Alcuin, ep. 113, and Poem. 214.
+15. See Madrisius, Dissert. 6.
+16. Mardis. in Vitâ St. Paulini, c. 13, p. 37.
+17. Besides the polemical and spiritual works of St. Paulinus of
+    Aquileia, mentioned above, we have several poems of his composition:
+    the first contains a rule of faith against the Arians, Nestorians,
+    and Eutychians: the rest are hymns or rhythms on the Chair of St.
+    Peter, and on several other festivals and saints. Among his letters
+    the second is most remarkable, in which he complains severely to
+    Charlemagne that several bishops attending the court neglected to
+    reside in their dioceses. Against this abuse he quotes the council
+    of Sardica, which forbade any bishop to be absent from his see above
+    three weeks. Madrisius, p. 188.
+
+B. CHARLEMAGNE, EMPEROR.
+
+CHARLEMAGNE, or Charles the Great, son of king Pepin, was born in 742,
+and crowned king of France in 768; but his youngest brother Carloman
+reigned in Austrasia till his death, in 771. Charlemagne vanquished
+Hunauld, duke of Aquitaine, and conquered the French Gothia or
+Languedoc; subdued Lombardy; conferred on pope Adrian the exarchate of
+Ravenna, the duchy of Spoletto, and many other dominions; took Pavia,
+(which had been honored with the residence of twenty kings,) and was
+crowned king of Lombardy in 774. The emir Abderamene in Spain, having
+shaken off the yoke of the caliph of the Saracens, in 736, and
+established his kingdom at Cordova, and other emirs in Spain setting up
+independency, Charlemagne, in 778, marched as far as the Ebro and
+Saragossa, conquered Barcelona, Gironne, and many other places, and
+returned triumphant. His cousin Roland, who followed him with the rear
+of his army, in his return was set upon in the Pyrenean mountains by a
+troop of Gascon robbers, and slain; and is the famous hero of numberless
+old French romances and songs. The Saxons having in the king's absence
+plundered his dominions upon the Rhine, he flew to the Weser, and
+compelled them to make satisfaction. Thence he went to Rome, and had his
+infant sons crowned kings, Pepin of Lombardy, and Lewis of Aquitaine.
+The great revolt of the Saxons, in 782, called him again on that side.
+When they were vanquished, and sued for pardon, he declared he would no
+more take their oaths which they had so often broken, unless they became
+Christians. Witikind embraced the condition, was baptized with his chief
+followers in 785, and being created duke of part of Saxony, remained
+ever after faithful in his religion and allegiance. From him are
+descended, either directly or by intermarriages, many dukes of Bavaria,
+and the, present houses of Saxony, Brandenburg, &c., as may be seen in
+the German genealogists. Some other Saxons afterwards revolted, and were
+vanquished and punished in 794, 798, &c., so that, through their
+repeated treachery and rebellions, this Saxon war continued at intervals
+for the space of thirty-three years. Thassillon, duke of Bavaria, for
+treasonable practices, was attacked by Charlemagne in 788, vanquished,
+and obliged to put on a monk's cowl to save his life: from which time
+Bavaria was annexed to Charlemagne's dominions. To punish the Abares for
+their inroads, he crossed the Inns into their territories, sacked
+Vienna, and marched to the mouth of the Raab, upon the Danube. In 794,
+he assisted at the great council of Frankfort, held in his royal palace
+there. He restored Leo III. at Rome, quelled the seditions there, and
+was crowned by him on Christmas-day, in 800, emperor of Rome and of the
+West: in which quality he was afterwards solemnly acknowledged by
+Nicephorus, emperor of Constantinople. Thus was the western empire
+restored, which had been extinct in Momylus Agustulus in the fifth
+century. In 805, Charlemagne quelled and conquered the Sclavonians. The
+Danube, {288} the Teisse, and the Oder on the East, and the Ebro and the
+ocean on the West, were the boundaries of his vast dominions. France,
+Germany, Dacia, Dalmatia, Istria, Italy, and part of Pannonia and Spain,
+obeyed his laws. It was then customary for kings not to reside in great
+cities, but to pass the summer often in progresses or campaigns, and the
+winter at some country palace. King Pepin resided at Herstal, now Jopin,
+in the territory of Liege, and sometimes at Quiercy on the Oise:
+Charlemagne often at Frankfort or Aix-la-Chapelle, which were country
+seats; for those towns were then inconsiderable places: though the
+latter had been founded by Serenas Granus in 124, under Adrian. It owes
+its greatness to the church built there by Charlemagne.
+
+This prince was not less worthy of our admiration in the quality of a
+legislator than in that of a conqueror; and in the midst of his marches
+and victories, he gave the utmost attention to the wise government of
+his dominions, and to every thing that could promote the happiness of
+his people, the exaltation of the church, and the advancement of piety
+and every branch of sacred and useful learning.[1] What pains he took
+for the reformation of monasteries, and for the sake of uniformity
+introducing in them the rule of St. Bennet, appears from his
+transactions, and several ecclesiastical assemblies in 789. His zeal for
+the devout observance of the rites of the church is expressed in his
+book to Alcuin on that subject, and in his encyclical epistle on the
+rites of baptism,[2] and in various works which he commissioned Alcuin
+and others to compile. For the reformation of manners, especially of the
+clergy, he procured many synods to be held, in which decrees were
+framed, which are called his Capitula.[3] His Capitulars, divided into
+many chapters, are of the same nature. The best edition of these
+Capitulars is given by Baluzius, with dissertations, in 1677, two vols.
+folio. The Carolin Books are a theological work, (adopted by this
+prince, who speaks in the first person,) compiled in four books, against
+a falsified copy of the second council of Nice, sent by certain
+Iconoclasts from Constantinople, on which see F. Daniel[4] and
+Ceillier.[5]
+
+There never was a truly great man, who was not a lover and encourager of
+learning, as of the highest improvement of the human mind. Charlemagne,
+by most munificent largesses, invited learned men over from foreign
+parts, as Alcuin, Peter of Pisa, Paul the deacon, &c., found no greater
+pleasure than in conversing with them, instituted an academy in his own
+palace, and great schools at Paris, Tours, &c., assisted at literary
+disputations, was an excellent historian, and had St. Austin's book, On
+the City of God, laid every night under his pillow to read if he awaked.
+Yet Eginhard assures us that whatever pains he took, he could never
+learn to write, because he was old when he first applied himself to it.
+He was skilled in astronomy, arithmetic, music, and every branch of the
+mathematics; understood the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac, also the
+Sclavonian, and several other living languages, so as never to want an
+interpreter to converse with ambassadors of neighboring nations. He
+meditated assiduously on the scriptures, assisted at the divine office,
+even that of midnight, if possible; had good books read to him at table,
+and took but one meal a day, which he was obliged to anticipate before
+the hour of evening on fasting days, that all his officers and servants
+might dine before midnight. He was very abstemious, had a paternal care
+of the poor in all his dominions, and honored good men, especially among
+the clergy. Charlemagne died January the 28th, in 814, seventy-two years
+old, and was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle. The incontinence into {289}
+which he fell in his youth, he expiated by sincere repentance, so that
+several churches in Germany and France honor him among the saints. In
+the university of Paris, the most constant nation of the Germans, (which
+was originally called the English nation, in 1250, when the distinction
+of nations n the faculty of arts was there established,) take
+Charlemagne for their patron, but only keep his festival since the year
+1480, which is now common to the other three nations of French, Picards,
+and Normans, since 1661.[6]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Hardion, Hist. Universelle, t. 10.
+2.  Apud Mabill. Analect. t. 1, p. 21.
+3.  Conc. t. 6 & 7, ed. Labbe.
+4.  Hist. de France in Charlem. French edit. in fol.
+5.  Ceillier, pp. 376 & 400.
+6.  Pagi (in Breviario Rom. Pontif. t. 3, in Alex. III. p. 82) proves
+    that suffrages for the soul of Charlemagne were continued at
+    Aix-la-Chapelle, till the antipope Pascal, at the desire of Frederic
+    Barbarossa, enshrined his remains in that city, and published a
+    decree for his canonization. From the time of this enshrining of his
+    remains, he is honored among the saints in many churches in Germany
+    and the Low Countries, as Goujet (De Festis propriis Sanctor. l. 1,
+    c. 5, quæst. 9) and Bollandus (ad 28 Jan. and t. 2, Febr. Schemate
+    19) show. The tacit approbation of the popes is to be looked upon as
+    equivalent to a beatification, as Benedict XIV. proves (De Canoniz.
+    l. 1, c. 9, n. 5, p. 72.) Molanus, (in Natal. SS. Belg.,) Natalis
+    Alexander. (Hist. Sæc. 9 and 10., cap. 7, a. 1,) and many others,
+    have made the same observation.
+
+ST. GLASTIAN, B.C. IN SCOTLAND.
+
+HE was a native of the county of Fife, and discharged in the same,
+during many years, the duties of the episcopal character with which he
+was honored. Amidst the desolation which was spread over the whole
+country, in the last bloody civil war between the Scots and Picts, in
+which the latter were entirely subdued, St. Glastian was the comforter,
+spiritual father, and most charitable protector of many thousands of
+both nations. He died in 830, at Kinglace in Fifeshire, and was
+particularly honored in that country, and in Kyntire. According to the
+ancient custom of that country, his name is frequently written
+Mac-Glastian, the word Mac signifying son. See the Breviary of Aberdeen;
+King in his Calendar, &c.
+
+
+JANUARY XXIX.
+
+SAINT FRANCIS OF SALES,
+
+BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
+
+From his writings and authentic lives, chiefly that written by his
+nephew, Charles Augustus de Sales: also that by F. Goulu, general of the
+Feuillans: that by Henry de Maupas du Tour, bishop of Puy, afterwards of
+Evreux: and that by Madame de Bussi-Rabutin, nun of the Visitation See
+his life, collected by M. Marsoillier, and done into English by the late
+Mr. Crathorne. See also the bull of his canonization, and an excellent
+collection of his maxims and private actions, compiled by his intimate
+friend and real admirer, M. Peter Caums, bishop of Bellay, in his book,
+entitled, L'Espirit de St. François de Sales, and in his scarce and
+incomparable work under the title. Quel est le meilleur Gouvernement, le
+rigoureux ou le dour, printed at Paris without the name of the author,
+1636. Though I find not this book in any catalogue of bishop Camus's
+works, the conformity of style, and in several places the repetition of
+the same expressions which occur in the last-mentioned work, seem to
+prove this to be also the production of his pen. See also the excellent
+new edition of the letters of St. Francis of Sales, in six volumes,
+12mo. 1758.
+
+A.D. 1622.
+
+THE parents of this saint were Francis, count of Sales, and Frances of
+Sionas. The countess being with child, offered her fruit to God with the
+most fervent prayers, begging he would preserve it from the corruption
+of the world, and rather deprive her of the comfort of seeing herself a
+mother, than suffer her to give birth to a child who should ever become
+his enemy by sin. The saint was born at Sales, three leagues from
+Annecy, the seat of that noble family; and his mother was delivered of
+him when she was {290} but seven months advanced in her pregnancy.[1]
+Hence he was reared with difficulty, and was so weak, that his life,
+during his infancy, was often despaired of by physicians. However, he
+escaped the danger, and grew robust: he was very beautiful, and the
+sweetness of his countenance won the affections of all who saw him: but
+the meekness of his temper, the pregnancy of his wit, his modesty,
+tractableness, and obedience, were far more valuable qualifications. The
+countess could scarce suffer the child out of her sight, lest any
+tincture of vice might infect his soul. Her first care was to inspire
+him with the most profound respect for the church, and all holy things;
+and she had the comfort to observe in him a recollection and devotion at
+his prayers far above his age. She read to him the lives of the saints,
+adding recollections suited to his capacity; and she took care to have
+him with her when she visited the poor, making him the distributer of
+her alms, and to do such little offices for them as he was able. He
+would set by his own meat for their relief, and when he had nothing left
+to bestow on them, would beg for them of all his relations. His horror
+of a lie, even in his infancy, made him prefer any disgrace or
+chastisement to the telling of the least wilful untruth.
+
+His mother's inclination for a domestic preceptor, to prevent his being
+corrupted by wicked youth in colleges, was overruled by her husband's
+persuasion of the usefulness of emulation for advancing children in
+their studies; hoping his son's virtue and modesty would, under God, be
+a sufficient guard of his innocency. He was accordingly sent to
+Rocheville, at six years of age, and some time after to Annecy. An
+excellent memory, a solid judgment, and a good application, could not
+fail of great progress. The young count spent as much of his time as
+possible in private studies and lectures of piety, especially that of
+the lives of saints; and by his diligence always doubled or trebled his
+school tasks. He showed an early inclination for the ecclesiastical
+state, and obtained his father's consent, though not without some
+reluctance, for his receiving tonsure in the year 1578, and the eleventh
+of his age. He was sent afterwards, under the care of a virtuous priest,
+his preceptor, to pursue his studies in Paris; his mother having first
+instilled into him steady principles of virtue, a love of prayer, and a
+dread of sin and its occasions. She often repeated to him those words of
+queen Blanche to her son St. Louis, king of France: "I had rather see
+you dead, than hear you had committed one mortal sin." On his arrival at
+Paris, he entered the Jesuits' schools, and went through his rhetoric
+and philosophy with great applause. In pure obedience to his father's
+orders, he learned in the academy to ride, dance, and fence, whence he
+acquired that easy behavior which he retained ever after. But these
+exercises, as matters of amusement, did not hinder his close application
+to the study of the Greek and Hebrew languages, and of positive
+divinity, for six years, under the famous Genebrard and Maldonatus. But
+his principal concern all this time was a regular course of piety, by
+which he labored to sanctify himself and all his actions. Pious
+meditation, and the study of the holy scripture, were his beloved
+entertainments: and he never failed to carry about him that excellent
+book, called the Spiritual Combat. He sought the conversation of the
+virtuous, particularly of F. Angelus Joyeuse, who, from a duke and
+marshal of France, was become a Capuchin friar. The frequent discourses
+of this good man on the necessity of mortification, induced the count to
+add, to his usual austerities, the wearing of a hair shirt three days in
+the week. His chief resort during his stay at Paris, was to some
+churches, that especially of Saint Stephen des Grez, as being one of the
+most retired. Here, he made {291} a vow of perpetual chastity, putting
+himself under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin. God, to
+purify his heart, permitted a thick darkness insensibly to overspread
+his mind, and a spiritual dryness and melancholy to overwhelm him. He
+seemed, from a perfect tranquillity and peace of mind, to be almost
+brought to the brink of despair. Seized with the greatest terrors, he
+passed nights and days in tears and lamentations, and suffered more than
+can be conceived by those who have not felt the severity of such
+interior conflicts. The bitterness of his grief threw him into a deep
+jaundice; he could neither eat, drink, nor sleep. His preceptor labored,
+but all in vain, to discover the cause of this disorder, and find out a
+remedy. At last, Francis, being at prayer in the same church of St.
+Stephen, cast his eyes on a picture of our Lady: this awaking his
+confidence in her intercession, he prostrated himself on the ground,
+and, as unworthy to address the Father of all consolation, begged that
+she would be his advocate, and procure him the grace to love God with
+his whole heart. That very moment he found himself eased of his grief as
+of a heavy weight taken off his heart, and his former peace and
+tranquillity restored, which he ever after enjoyed. He was now eighteen
+years old, when his father recalled him from Paris, and sent him to
+Padua, to study the law, where his master was the celebrated Guy
+Pancirola; this was in the year 1554. He chose the learned and pious
+Jesuit, Antony Possevin, for his spiritual director; who at the same
+time explained to him St. Thomas's Sum, and they read together
+Bellarmin's controversies. His nephew, Augustus, gives us his written
+rule of life, which he made at Padua: it chiefly shows his perpetual
+attention to the presence of God, his care to offer up every action to
+him, and implore his aid at the beginning of each. Falling sick, he was
+despaired of by the physicians, and he himself expected with joy his
+last moment. His preceptor, Deage, who had ever attended him, asked him
+with tears, what he had to order about his funeral and other matters.
+"Nothing," answered he, cheerfully, "unless it be, that my body be given
+to the anatomy theatre to be dissected; for it will be a comfort to me
+if I can be of any advantage when dead, having been of none while alive.
+Thus I may also prevent some of the disorders and quarrels which happen
+between the young physicians and the friends of the dead, whose bodies
+they often dig up." However, he recovered; and by his father's orders,
+being twenty years of age, commenced doctor in laws, with great applause
+and pomp, in presence of forty-eight doctors. After which he travelled
+through Italy to see the antiquities, and visit the holy places there.
+He went to Rome by Ferrara, and returned by Loretto and Venice. To any
+insult offered him on the road he returned only meekness; for which he
+met with remarkable blessings from heaven. The sight of the pompous
+remains of ancient Rome gave him a feeling contempt of worldly grandeur:
+but the tombs of the martyrs drew everywhere tears of devotion from his
+eyes. Upon his return his father received him with great joy, at his
+castle of Tuille, where he had prepared for him a good library of books.
+
+All persons were charmed with the young count, but none so much as the
+great Antony Favre, afterwards first president of the parliament of
+Chamberry, and Claudius Cranier, the learned and truly apostolic bishop
+of Geneva, who already consulted him as an oracle. His father had a very
+good match in view for him, and obtained in his behalf, from the duke of
+Savoy, patents creating him counsellor of the parliament of Chamberry.
+Francis modestly, but very firmly, refused both; yet durst not propose
+to his parents his design of receiving holy orders; for the tonsure was
+not all absolute renouncing of the world. At last, he discovered it to
+his pious preceptor, Deage, and begged of him to mention it to his
+father: but this he {292} declined, and used his utmost endeavors to
+dissuade the young count from such a resolution, as he was the eldest
+son, and destined by the order of nature for another state. Francis
+answered all his reasonings, but could not prevail on him to charge
+himself with the commission. He had then recourse to a cousin, Lewis of
+Sales, a priest and canon of Geneva, who obtained the consent of his
+parents, but not without the greatest difficulty. His cousin also
+obtained for him from the pope, without his knowledge, the provostship
+of the church of Geneva, then vacant: but the young clergyman held out a
+long time before he would accept of it. At last he yielded, and took
+possession of that dignity, and was in a short time after promoted to
+holy orders by his diocesan, who, as soon as he was deacon, employed him
+in preaching. His first sermons gained him an extraordinary reputation,
+and were accompanied with incredible success. He delivered the word of
+God with a mixture of majesty and modesty; had a strong, sweet voice,
+and an animated manner of gesture, far from any affectation or vanity:
+but what chiefly affected the hearts of his hearers was the humility and
+unction with which he spoke from the abundance of his own heart. Before
+he preached, he always renewed the fervor of his heart before God, by
+secret sighs and prayer. He studied as much at the foot of the crucifix
+as in books, being persuaded that the essential quality of a preacher is
+to be a man of prayer. He received the holy order of priesthood with
+extraordinary preparation and devotion, and seemed filled by it with an
+apostolic spirit. He every day began his functions by celebrating the
+holy mysteries early in the morning, in which, by his eyes and
+countenance of fire, the inward flames of his soul appeared. He then
+heard the confessions of all sorts of people, and preached. He was
+observed to decline with the utmost care whatever might gain him the
+applause of men, seeking only to please God, and to advance his glory.
+He chiefly resorted to cottages, and country villages, instructing an
+infinity of poor people. His piety, his charity to the poor, his
+disinterestedness, his care of the sick and those in prison, endeared
+him to all: but nothing was so moving as his meekness, which no
+provocation was ever capable of disturbing. He conversed among all as
+their father, with a fellow-feeling of all their wants, being all to
+all. He was indeed naturally of a hasty and passionate temper, as he
+himself confesses; and we find in his writings a certain fire and
+impetuosity which renders it unquestionable. On this account from his
+youth he made meekness his favorite virtue, and by studying in the
+school of a God who was meek and humble of heart, he learned that
+important lesson to such perfection, as to convert his predominant
+passion into his characteristical virtue. The Calvinists ascribed
+principally to his meekness the wonderful conversions he made among
+them. They were certainly the most obstinate of people at that time,
+near Geneva; yet St. Francis converted no less than seventy-two thousand
+of them.
+
+Before the end of this first year of his ministry, in 1591, he erected
+at Annecy a confraternity of the Holy Cross, the associates of which
+were obliged to instruct the ignorant, to comfort and exhort the sick
+and prisoners, and to beware of all lawsuits, which seldom fail to
+shipwreck Christian charity. A Calvinistical minister took occasion from
+this institution to write against the honor paid by Catholics to the
+cross. Francis answered him by his book entitled, The Standard of the
+Cross. At this time, fresh matter presented itself for the exercise of
+the saint's zeal. The bishop of Geneva was formerly lord of that city,
+paying an acknowledgment to the duke of Savoy. While these two were
+disputing about the sovereignty, the Genevans expelled them both, and
+formed themselves into a republic in alliance with the Switzers; and
+their city became the centre of Calvinism. {293} Soon after, the
+Protestant canton of Bern seized the country of Vaux, and the republic
+of Geneva, the dutchy of Chablais, with the bailiwicks of Gex, Terni,
+and Gaillard; and there by violence established their heresy, which from
+that time had kept quiet possession for sixty years. The duke Charles
+Emmanuel had recovered these territories, and resolving to restore the
+Catholic religion, wrote in 1594 to the bishop of Geneva, to recommend
+that work to him. The wise ones, according to this world, regarded the
+undertaking as impracticable; and the most resolute, whether
+ecclesiastics or religious, were terrified at its difficulties and
+dangers. Francis was the only one that offered himself for the work, and
+was joined by none but his cousin-german Lewis de Sales. The tears and
+remonstrances of his parents and friends to dissuade him from the
+undertaking, made no impression on his courageous soul. He set out with
+his cousin on the 9th of September, in 1594. Being arrived on the
+frontiers of Chablais, they sent back their horses, the more perfectly
+to imitate the apostles. On his arrival at Thonon, the capital of
+Chablais, situate on the lake of Geneva, he found in it only seven
+Catholics. After having commended the souls to God, and earnestly
+implored his mercy through the intercession of the guardian angels, and
+tutelar saints of the country, he was obliged to take up his quarters in
+the castle of Allinges, where the governor and garrison were Catholics,
+two leagues from Thonon, whither he went every day, visiting also the
+neighboring country. The Calvinists for a long time shunned him, and
+some even attempted his life. Two assassins, hired by others, having
+missed him at Thonon, lay in wait to murder him on his return; but a
+guard of soldiers had been sent to escort him safe, the conspiracy
+having taken wind. The saint obtained their pardon, and, overcome by his
+lenity and formed by his holy instructions, they both became very
+virtuous converts. All our saint's relations, and many friends, whom he
+particularly respected for their great virtue and prudence, solicited
+him by the most pressing letters to abandon such a dangerous and
+fruitless enterprise. His father, to the most tender entreaties, added
+his positive commands to him to return home, telling him that all
+prudent persons called his resolution to continue his mission a foolish
+obstinacy and madness; that he had already done more than was needful,
+and that his mother was dying of grief for his long absence, the fear of
+losing him entirely, and the hardships, atrocious slanders, and
+continual alarms and dangers in which he lived. To compel him to abandon
+this undertaking, the father forbade his friends to write any more to
+him, or to send him necessary supplies. Nevertheless, St. Francis
+persevered, and at length his patience, zeal, and eminent virtue,
+wrought upon the most obdurate, and insensibly wore away their
+prejudices. His first converts were among the soldiers, whom he brought
+over, not only to the faith, but also to an entire change of manners and
+strict virtue, from habits of swearing, duelling, and drunkenness. He
+was near four years, however, without any great fruit among the
+inhabitants, till the year 1597, when God was pleased to touch several
+of them with his grace. The harvest daily increased both in the town and
+country so plentifully, that a supply of new laborers from Annecy was
+necessary, and the bishop sent some Jesuits and Capuchins to carry on
+the good work with Francis and under his direction. In 1598 the public
+exercise of the Catholic religion was restored, and Calvinism banished
+by the duke's orders over all Chablais, and the two bailiwicks of Terni
+and Gaillard. Though the plague raged violently at Thonon, this did not
+hinder Francis either by day or night from assisting the sick in their
+last moments; and God preserved him from the contagion, which seized and
+swept off several of his fellow-laborers. It is incredible what fatigues
+and hardships he underwent in the course of his mission; with what
+devotion {294} and tears he daily recommended the work of God: with what
+invincible courage he braved the greatest dangers: with what meekness
+and patience he bore all manner of affronts and calumnies. Baron
+D'Avuli, a man of quality, and of great worth and learning, highly
+esteemed among the Calvinists, and at Geneva, being converted by him,
+induced him to go thither, to have a conference with the famous minister
+La Faye. The minister, during the whole conference, was ever shifting
+the matter in debate, as he found himself embarrassed and pressed by his
+antagonist. His disadvantage being so evident that be himself could read
+it in the countenance of every one present, he broke off the conference
+by throwing out a whole torrent of injurious language on Francis, who
+bore it with so much meekness as not to return the least sharp answer.
+During the whole course of his ministry in these parts, the violent
+measures, base cowardice in declining all dispute, and the shameful
+conduct of the ministers in other respects, set the saint's behavior and
+his holy cause still in a more shining light. In 1597 he was
+commissioned by pope Clement VIII. to confer with Theodore Beza at
+Geneva, the most famous minister of the Calvinist party, in order to win
+him back to the Catholic church. He accordingly paid him four visits in
+that city, gained a high place in that heresiarch's esteem, and made him
+often hesitate in deep silence and with distracted looks, whether he
+should return to the Roman Catholic church or not, wherein he owned from
+the beginning that salvation was attainable. St. Francis had great hopes
+of bringing him over in a fifth visit, but his private conferences had
+alarmed the Genevans so much that they guarded Beza too close for him to
+find admittance to him again, and Beza died soon after. 'Tis said, that
+a little before death he lamented very much he could not see Francis.[2]
+It is certain, from his first conference with him, he had ever felt a
+violent conflict within himself, between truth and duty on one hand, and
+on the other, the pride of being head of a party, the shame of
+recanting, inveterate habits, and certain secret engagements in vice, to
+which he continued enslaved to the last. The invincible firmness and
+constancy of the saint appeared in the recovery of the revenues of the
+curacies and other benefices which had been given to the Orders of St.
+Lazarus and St. Maurice; the restoration of which, after many
+difficulties, he effected by the joint authority of the pope and the
+duke of Savoy. In 1596 he celebrated mass on Christmas-day in the church
+of St. Hippolytus at Thonon, and had then made seven or eight hundred
+converts. From this time he charged himself with the parish of the town,
+and established two other Catholic parishes in the country. In the
+beginning of the year 1599 he had settled zealous clergymen in all the
+parishes of the whole territory.
+
+The honors the saint received from the pope, the duke of Savoy, the
+cardinal of Medicis, and all the church, and the high reputation which
+his virtues had acquired him, never made the least impression on his
+humble mind, dead to all motions of pride and vanity. His delight was
+with the poor: the most honorable functions he left to others, and chose
+for himself the meanest and most laborious. Every one desired to have
+him for their director, wherever he went: and his extraordinary
+sweetness, in conjunction with his eminent piety, reclaimed as many
+vicious Catholics as it converted heretics. In 1599, he went to Annecy
+to visit his diocesan, Granier, who had procured him to be made his
+coadjutor. The fear of resisting God, in refusing this charge, when
+pressed upon him by the pope, in conjunction with his bishop and the
+duke of Savoy, at last extorted his consent; but the apprehension of the
+obligations annexed to the episcopacy was so strong that it threw him
+into an illness which had like to have cost him his life. {295} On his
+recovery he set out for Rome to receive his bulls, and to confer with
+his Holiness on matters relating to the missions of Savoy. He was highly
+honored by all the great men at Rome, and received of the pope the bulls
+for being consecrated bishop of Nicopolis; and coadjutor of Geneva. On
+this occasion he made a visit of devotion to Loretto, and returned to
+Annecy before the end of the year 1599. Here he preached the Lent the
+year following, and assisted his father during his last sickness, heard
+his general confession, and administered to him the rites of the church.
+An illness he was seized with at Annecy made him defer his consecration.
+
+On his recovery he was obliged to go to Paris, on affairs of his
+diocese, and was received there by all sorts of persons with all the
+regard due to his extraordinary merit. The king was then at
+Fontainebleau; but the saint was desired to preach the Lent to the court
+in the chapel of the Louvre. This he did in a manner that charmed every
+one, and wrought innumerable wonderful conversions. The duchesses of
+Morcoeur and Longueville sent him thereupon a purse of gold: he admired
+the embroidery, but gave it back, with thanks to them for honoring his
+discourses with their presence and good example. He preached a sermon
+against the pretended reformation, to prove it destitute of a lawful
+mission; it being begun at Meaux, by Peter Clark, a wool-carder; at
+Paris, by Masson Riviere, a young man called to the ministry by a
+company of laymen; and elsewhere after the like manner. This sermon
+converted many Calvinists; among others the countess of Perdrieuville,
+who was one of the most obstinate learned ladies of the sect: she
+consulted her ministers, and repaired often to Francis's conferences,
+till she had openly renounced Calvinism with all her numerous family.
+The whole illustrious house of Raconis followed her example, and so many
+others, even of the most inveterate of the sect, that it made cardinal
+Perron, a man famous for controversy, say: "I can confute the
+Calvinists; but, to persuade and convert them, you must carry them to
+the coadjutor of Geneva." Henry IV. was charmed with his preaching, and
+consulted him several times in matters relating to the direction of his
+conscience. There was no project of piety going forward about which he
+was not advised with. He promoted the establishment of the Carmelite
+nuns in France, and the introduction of F. Berulle's congregation of the
+oratory. The king himself earnestly endeavored to detain him in France,
+by promises of 20,000 livres pension, and the first vacant bishopric:
+but Francis said, God had called him against his will to the bishopric
+of Geneva, and he thought it his obligation to keep it till his death;
+that the small revenue he had sufficed for his maintenance, and more
+would only be an incumbrance. The king was astonished at his
+disinterestedness, when he understood that the bishopric of Geneva,
+since the revolt of that city, did not yield the incumbent above four or
+five thousand livres, that is, not two hundred and fifty-nine pounds,
+a-year.
+
+Some envious courtiers endeavored to give the king a suspicion of his
+being a spy. The saint heard this accusation just as he was going into
+the pulpit; yet he preached as usual without the least concern; and that
+prince was too well convinced of the calumny, by his sanctity and
+candor. After a nine months' stay in Paris, he set out with the king's
+letters,[3] and heard on the road, that Granier, bishop of Geneva, was
+dead. He hastened to Sales-Castle, and as soon as clear of the first
+visits, made a twenty days' retreat to prepare himself for his
+consecration. He made a general confession, and {296} laid down a plan
+of life, which he ever punctually observed. This was, never to wear any
+silk or camlets, or any clothes but woollen, as before; to have no
+paintings in his house but of devotions: no magnificence in furniture:
+never to use coach or litter, but to make his visits on foot: his family
+to consist of two priests, one for his chaplain, the other to take care
+of his temporalities and servants: nothing but common meats to be served
+to his table: to be always present at all feasts of devotion, kept in
+any church in town: his regulation with respect to alms was incredible,
+for his revenues: to go to the poor and sick in person: to rise every
+day at four, make an hour's meditation, say lauds and prime, then
+morning prayers with his family: to read the scripture till seven, then
+say mass, which he did every day, afterwards to apply to affairs till
+dinner, which being over, he allowed an hour for conversation; the rest
+of the afternoon he allotted to business and prayer. After supper he
+read a pious book to his family for an hour, then night prayers; after
+which he said matins. He fasted all Fridays and Saturdays, and our
+Lady's eves: be privately wore a hair shirt, and used the discipline,
+but avoided all ostentatious austerities. But his exact regularity and
+uniformity of life, with a continued practice of internal self-denials,
+was the best mortification. He redoubled his fasts, austerities, and
+prayers, as the time of his consecration drew nearer. This was performed
+on the 3d of December, 1602. He immediately applied himself to preaching
+and the other functions of his charge. He was exceedingly cautious in
+conferring holy orders. He ordained but few, neither was it without the
+strictest scrutiny passed upon all their qualifications for the
+priesthood. He was very zealous, both by word and example, in promoting
+the instruction of the ignorant by explanations of the catechism, on
+Sundays and holidays; and his example had a great influence over the
+parish-priests in this particular, as also over the laity, both young
+and old. He inculcated to all the making, every hour when the clock
+struck, the sign of the cross, with a fervent aspiration on the passion
+of Christ. He severely forbade the custom of Valentines or giving boys,
+in writing, the names of girls to be admired and attended on by them;
+and, to abolish it, he changed it into giving billets with the names of
+certain saints for them to honor and imitate in a particular manner. He
+performed the visitation of his diocese as soon as possible, published a
+new ritual, set on foot ecclesiastical conferences, and regulated all
+things; choosing St. Charles Borromeo for his model.
+
+Above all things he hated lawsuits, and strictly commanded all
+ecclesiastics to avoid them, and refer all disputes to arbitration. He
+said they were such occasions of sins against charity, that, if any one
+during the course of a lawsuit had escaped them, that alone would
+suffice for his canonization. Towards the close of the visitation of his
+diocese, he reformed several monasteries. That of Six appealed to the
+parliament of Chamberry: but our saint was supported there, and carried
+his point. While Francis was at Six, he heard that a valley, three
+leagues off, was in the utmost desolation, by the tops of two mountains
+that had fallen, and buried several villages, with the inhabitants and
+cattle. He crawled over impassable ways to comfort and relieve these
+poor people, who had neither clothes to cover, nor cottages to shelter
+them, nor bread to stay their hunger; he mingled his tears with theirs,
+relieved them, and obtained from the duke a remission of their taxes.
+The city of Dijon having procured leave from the duke of Savoy, the
+saint preached the Lent there in 1604, with wonderful fruit; but refused
+the present offered him by the city on that occasion. Being solicited by
+Henry IV. to accept of a considerable abbey, the saint refused it;
+alleging, that he dreaded riches as much as others could desire them;
+and that, the less he had of them the less he would have to answer for.
+That king {297} offered to name him to the dignity of cardinal at the
+next promotion; but the saint made answer, that though he did not
+despise the offered dignity, he was persuaded that great titles would
+not sit well upon him, and might raise fresh obstacles to his salvation.
+He was also thought of at Rome as a very fit person to be promoted to
+that dignity, but was himself the only one who everywhere opposed and
+crossed the design. Being desired on another occasion by the same king
+to accept of a pension; the saint begged his majesty to suffer it to
+remain in the hands of his comptroller till he should call for it; which
+handsome refusal much astonished that great prince, who could not
+forbear saying: "That the bishop of Geneva, by the happy independence in
+which his virtue had placed him, was as far above him, as he by his
+royal dignity was above his subjects." The saint preached the next Lent
+at Chamberry, at the request of the parliament, which notwithstanding at
+that very time seized his temporalities for refusing to publish a
+monitory at its request; the saint alleging, that it was too trifling an
+affair, and that the censures of the church were to be used more
+reservedly. To the notification of the seizure he only answered
+obligingly, that he thanked God for teaching him by it, that a bishop is
+to be altogether spiritual. He neither desisted from preaching, nor
+complained to the duke, but heaped most favors on such as most insulted
+him, till the parliament, being ashamed, granted him of their own accord
+a replevy. But the great prelate found more delight in preaching in
+small villages than amidst such applause, though he everywhere met with
+the like fruit; and he looked on the poor as the object of his
+particular care. He took a poor dumb and deaf man into his family,
+taught him by signs, and by them received his confession. His steward
+often found it difficult to provide for his family by reason of his
+great alms, and used to threaten to leave him. The saint would answer:
+"You say right; I am an incorrigible creature, and what is worse, I look
+as if I should long continue so." Or at other times, pointing to the
+crucifix; "How can we deny any thing to a God who reduced himself to
+this condition for the love of us!"
+
+Pope Paul V. ordered our saint to be consulted about the school dispute
+between the Dominicans and Jesuits on the grace of God, or de auxiliis.
+His opinion appears from his book On the Love of God: but he answered
+his Holiness in favor of neutrality, which he ever observed in school
+opinions; complaining often in how many they occasioned the breach of
+charity, and spent too much of their precious time, which, by being
+otherwise employed, might be rendered more conducive to God's honor. In
+1609 he went to Bellay, and consecrated bishop John Peter Camus, one of
+the most illustrious prelates of the church of France, and linked to our
+saint by the strictest bands of holy friendship. He wrote the book
+entitled, The Spirit of St. Francis of Sales, consisting of many of his
+ordinary sayings and actions, in which his spirit shines with great
+advantage, discovering a perpetual recollection always absorbed in God,
+and a constant overflowing of sweetness and divine love. His writings to
+this day breathe the same; every word distils that love and meekness
+with which his heart was filled. It is this which makes his epistles,
+which we have to the number of five hundred and twenty-nine, in seven
+books, to be an inestimable treasure of moving instructions, suitable to
+all sorts of persons and circumstances.
+
+His incomparable book, the Introduction to a Devout Life, was originally
+letters to a lady in the world, which, at the pressing instances of many
+friends, he formed into a book and finished, to show that devotion
+suited Christians in a secular life, no less than in cloisters. Villars,
+the archbishop of Vienna, wrote to him upon it: "Your book charms,
+inflames, and puts me in raptures, as often as I open any part of it."
+The author received {298} the like applause and commendations from all
+parts, and it was immediately translated into all the languages of
+Europe. Henry IV. of France was extremely pleased with it; his queen,
+Mary of Medicis, sent it richly bound and adorned with jewels to James
+I. of England, who was wonderfully taken with it, and asked his bishops
+why none of them could write with such feeling and unction.[4] There
+was, however, one religious Order in which this book was much censured,
+as if it had allowed of gallantry and scurrilous jests, and approved of
+balls and comedies, which was very far from the saint's doctrine. A
+preacher of that Order had the rashness and presumption to declaim
+bitterly against the book in a public sermon, to cut it in pieces, and
+bum it in the very pulpit. The saint bore this outrage without the least
+resentment; so perfectly was he dead to self-love. This appears more
+wonderful to those who know how jealous authors are of their works, as
+the offspring of their reason and judgment, of which men are of all
+things the fondest. His book of the Love of God cost him much more
+reading, study, and meditation. In it he paints his own soul. He
+describes the feeling sentiments of divine love, its state of fervor, of
+dryness, of trials, sufferings, and darkness: in explaining which he
+calls in philosophy to his assistance. He writes on this sublime subject
+what he had learned by his own experience. Some parts of this book are
+only to be understood by those souls who have gone through these states:
+yet the author has been ever justly admired for the performance. The
+general of the Carthusians had written to him upon his Introduction,
+advising him to write no more, because nothing else could equal that
+book. But seeing this, he bade him never cease writing, because his
+latter works always surpassed the former; and James 1. was so delighted
+with the book, that he expressed a great desire to see the author. This
+being told the saint, he cried out: "Ah! who will give me the wings of a
+dove, and I will fly to the king, into that great island, formerly the
+country of saints; but now overwhelmed with the darkness of error. If
+the duke will permit me, I will arise, and go to that great Ninive: I
+will speak to the king, and will announce to him, with the hazard of my
+life, the word of the Lord." In effect, he solicited the duke of Savoy's
+consent, but could never obtain it.[5] That jealous sovereign feared
+lest he should be drawn in to serve another state, or sell to some other
+his right to Geneva; on which account he often refused him leave to go
+to preach in France, when invited by many cities. His other works are
+sermons which are not finished as they were preached, except, perhaps,
+that on the Invention of the Cross. We have also his Preparation for
+Mass: his Instructions for Confessors: a collection of his Maxims, pious
+Breathings and Sayings, written by the bishop of Bellay; some Fragments,
+and his Entertainments to his nuns of the Visitation, in which he
+recommends to them the most perfect interior self-denial, a
+disengagement of affections from all things temporal, and obedience. The
+institution of that Order may be read in the life of B. Frances Chantal.
+Saint Francis designing his new Order to be such, that all, even the
+sickly and weak, might be admitted into it, he chose for it the rule of
+St. Austin, as commanding few extraordinary bodily austerities, and
+would have it possess funds and settlements in common, to prevent being
+carried off from the interior life by anxious cares about necessaries.
+But then he requires from each person so strict a practice of poverty,
+as to allow no one the property or even the long use of any thing; and
+orders them every year to change chambers, beds, crosses, beads, and
+books. He will have no manner of account to be made of birth, wit, or
+talents; but only of humility; {299} he obliges them only to the little
+office of our Lady, which all might easily learn to understand;
+meditations, spiritual reading, recollection, and retreats, abundantly
+compensating the defect. All his regulations tend to instil a spirit of
+piety, charity, meekness, and simplicity. He subjects his Order to the
+bishop of each place, without any general. Pope Paul V. approved it, and
+erected the congregation of the Visitation into a religious Order.
+
+St. Francis, finding his health decline, and his affairs to multiply,
+after having consulted cardinal Frederic Borromeo, archbishop of Milan,
+chose for his coadjutor in the bishopric of Geneva, his brother John
+Francis of Sales, who was consecrated bishop of Chalcedon at Turin, in
+1618. But the saint still applied himself to his functions as much as
+ever. He preached the Lent at Grenoble, in 1617, and again in 1618, with
+his usual conquests of souls; converting many Calvinists, and among
+these the duke of Lesdiguieres. In 1619, he accompanied to Paris the
+cardinal of Savoy, to demand the sister of king Louis XIII., Christina
+of France, in marriage for the prince of Piedmont. He preached the Lent
+in St. Andre-des-Arcs, and had always such a numerous audience, that
+cardinals, bishops, and princes could scarce find room. His sermons and
+conferences, and still more the example of his holy life, and the
+engaging sweetness of his conversation, most powerfully moved not only
+the devout, but also heretics, libertines, and atheists; while his
+eloquence and learning convinced their understandings. The bishop of
+Bellay tells us, that he entreated the saint at Paris not to preach
+twice every day, morning and evening, for the sake of his health. St.
+Francis answered him with a smile: "That it cost him much less to preach
+a sermon than to find an excuse for himself when invited to perform that
+function." He added: "God has appointed me a pastor and a preacher: and
+is not every one to follow his profession? But I am surprised that the
+people in this great city flock so eagerly to my sermons: for my tongue
+is slow and heavy, my conceptions low, and my discourses flat, as you
+yourself are witness." "Do you imagine," said the other, "that eloquence
+is what they seek in your discourses? It is enough for them to see you
+in the pulpit. Your heart speaks to them by your countenance, and by
+your eyes, were you only to say the Our Father with them. The most
+common words in your mouth, burning with the fire of charity, pierce and
+melt all hearts. There is I know not what so extraordinary in what you
+say, that every word is of weight, every word strikes deep into the
+heart. You have said every thing even when you seem to have said
+nothing. You are possessed of a kind of eloquence which is of heaven:
+the power of this is astonishing." St. Francis, smiling, turned off the
+discourse.[6] The match being concluded, the princess Christina chose
+Francis for her chief almoner, desiring to live always under his
+direction: but all her entreaties could neither prevail on him to leave
+his diocese, though he had a coadjutor, nor to accept of a pension: and
+it was only on these two conditions he undertook the charge, always
+urging that nothing could dispense with him from residence. The princess
+made him a present of a rich diamond, by way of an investiture, desiring
+him to keep it for her sake. "I will," said he, "unless the poor stand
+in need of it." She answered, she would then redeem it. He said, "This
+will happen so often, that I shall abuse your bounty." Finding it given
+to the poor afterwards at Turin, she gave him another, richer, charging
+him to keep that at least. He said. "Madam, I cannot promise you: I am
+very unfit to keep things of value." Inquiring after it one day, she was
+told it was always in pawn for the poor, and that {300} the diamond
+belonged not to the bishop, but to all the beggars of Geneva. He had
+indeed a heart which was not able to refuse any thing to those in want.
+He often gave to beggars the waistcoat off his own back, and sometimes
+the cruets of his chapel. The pious cardinal, Henry de Gondi, bishop of
+Paris, used all manner of arguments to obtain his consent to be his
+coadjutor in the see of Paris; but he was resolved never to quit the
+church which God had first committed to his charge.
+
+Upon his return to Annecy he would not touch a farthing of his revenue
+for the eighteen months he was absent; but gave it to his cathedral,
+saying, it could not be his, for he had not earned it. He applied
+himself to preaching, instructing, and hearing confessions with greater
+zeal than ever. In a plague which raged there, he daily exposed his own
+life to assist his flock. The saint often met with injurious treatment,
+and very reviling words, which he ever repaid with such meekness and
+beneficence as never failed to gain his very enemies. A lewd wretch,
+exasperated against him for his zeal against a wicked harlot, forged a
+letter of intrigue in the holy prelate's name, which made him pass for a
+profligate and a hypocrite with the duke of Nemours and many others: the
+calumny reflected also on the nuns of the Visitation. Two years after,
+the author of it, lying on his death-bed, called in witnesses, publicly
+justified the saint, and made an open confession of the slander and
+forgery. The saint had ever an entire confidence in the divine
+providence, was ever full of joy, and resigned to all the appointments
+of heaven, to which he committed all events. He had a sovereign contempt
+of all earthly things, whether riches, honors, dangers, or sufferings.
+He considered only God and his honor in all things: his soul perpetually
+breathed nothing but his love and praises; nor could he contain this
+fire within his breast, for it discovered itself in his countenance;
+which, especially while he said mass, or distributed the blessed
+eucharist, appeared shining, as it were, with rays of glory, and
+breathing holy fervor. Often he could not contain himself in his
+conversation, and would thus express himself to his intimate friends:
+"Did you but know how God treats my heart, you would thank his goodness,
+and beg for me the strength to execute the inspirations which he
+communicates to me. My heart is filled with an inexpressible desire to
+be forever sacrificed to the pure and holy love of my Saviour. Oh! it is
+good to live, to labor, to rejoice only in God. By his grace I will
+forevermore be nothing to any creature; nor shall any creature be
+anything to me but in him and for him." At another time, he cried out to
+a devout friend: "Oh! if I knew but one string of my heart which was not
+all God's, I would instantly tear it out. Yes; if I knew that there was
+one thread in my heart which was not marked with the crucifix, I would
+not keep it one moment."
+
+In the year 1622, he received an order from the duke of Savoy to go to
+Avignon to wait on Louis XIII., who had just finished the civil wars in
+Languedoc. Finding himself indisposed, he took his last leave of his
+friends, saying, he should see them no more; which drew from them floods
+of tears. At Avignon he was at his prayers during the king's triumphant
+entry, and never went to the window to see any part of that great pomp.
+He was obliged to attend the king and the cardinal of Savoy to Lyons,
+where he refused all the grand apartments offered him by the intendant
+of he province and others, to lodge to the poor chamber of the gardener
+to the monastery of the Visitation: as he was never better pleased than
+when he could most imitate the poverty of his Saviour. He received from
+the king and queen-mother, and from all the princes, the greatest marks
+of honor and esteem: and though indisposed, continued to preach and
+perform all his {301} functions, especially on Christmas-day, and St.
+John's in the morning. After dinner he began to fall gradually into an
+apoplexy, was put to bed by his servant, and received extreme unction;
+but as he had said mass that day and his vomiting continued, it was
+thought proper not to give him the viaticum. He repeated with great
+fervor: "My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God; I will sing
+the mercies of the Lord to all eternity. When shall I appear before his
+face? Show me, my beloved, where thou feedest, where thou restest at
+noonday. O my God, my desire is before thee, and my sighs are not hidden
+from thee. My God and my all! my desire is that of the hills eternal."
+While the physicians applied blistering plasters, and hot irons behind
+his neck, and a caustic to the crown of his head, which burned him to
+the bone, he shed abundance of tears under excess of pain, repeating:
+"_Wash me, O Lord, from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin. Still
+cleanse me more and more_. What do I here, my God, distant from thee,
+separated from thee?" And to those about him: "Weep not, my children;
+must not the will of God be done?" One suggesting to him the prayer of
+St. Martin, "If I am still necessary for thy people, I refuse not to
+labor:" he seemed troubled at being compared to so great a saint, and
+said, he was an unprofitable servant, whom neither God nor his people
+needed. His apoplexy increasing, though slowly, he seemed at last to
+lose his senses, and happily expired on the feast of Holy Innocents, the
+28th of December, at eight o'clock at night, in the year 1622, the
+fifty-sixth of his age, and the twentieth of his episcopacy. His corpse
+was embalmed, and carried with the greatest pomp to Annecy, where he had
+directed by will it should be interred. It was laid in a magnificent
+tomb near the high altar in the church of the first monastery of the
+Visitation. After his beatification by Alexander VII., in 1661, it was
+placed upon the altar in a rich silver shrine. He was canonized in 1665
+by the same pope, and his feast fixed to the 29th of January, on which
+day his body was conveyed to Annecy. His heart was kept in a leaden
+case, in the church of the Visitation at Lyons: it was afterwards
+exposed in a silver one, and lastly in one of gold, given by king Louis
+XIII. Many miracles, as the raising to life two persons who were
+drowned, the curing of the blind, paralytic, and others, were
+authentically attested to have been wrought by his relics and
+intercession; not to mention those he had performed in his lifetime,
+especially during his missions. Pope Alexander VII., then cardinal
+Chigi, and plenipotentiary in Germany, Louis XIII., XIV., and others,
+attributed their cures in sickness to this saint's patronage.
+
+Among his ordinary remarkable sayings, we read that he often repeated to
+bishop Camus, "That truth must be always charitable; for bitter zeal
+does harm instead of good. Reprehensions are a food of hard digestion,
+and ought to be dressed on a fire of burning charity so well, that all
+harshness be taken off; otherwise, like unripe fruit, they will only
+produce gripings. Charity seeks not itself nor its own interests, but
+purely the honor and interest of God: pride, vanity, and passion cause
+bitterness and harshness: a remedy injudiciously applied may be a
+poison. A judicious silence is always better than a truth spoken without
+charity." St. Francis, seeing a scandalous priest thrown into prison,
+fell at his feet, and with tears conjured him to have compassion on him,
+his pastor, on his religion, which he scandalized, and on his own soul;
+which sweetness converted the other, so that he became an example of
+virtue. By his patience and meekness under all injuries, he overcame the
+most obstinate, and ever after treated them with singular affection,
+calling them dearer friends, because regained. A great prelate observes,
+from his example, that the meek are kings of other hearts, which they
+powerfully attract, and can turn as they please; and in {302} an express
+and excellent treatise, proposes him as an accomplished model of all the
+qualifications requisite in a superior to govern well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meekness was the favorite virtue of St. Francis de Sales. He once was
+heard to say, that he had employed three years in studying it in the
+school of Jesus Christ, and that his heart was still far from being
+satisfied with the progress he had made. If he, who was meekness itself,
+imagined, nevertheless, that he had possessed so little of it; what
+shall we say of those, who, upon every trifling occasion, betray the
+bitterness of their hearts in angry words and actions of impatience and
+outrage? Our saint was often tried in the practice of this virtue,
+especially when the hurry of business and the crowds that thronged on
+him for relief in their various necessities, scarce allowed him a moment
+to breathe. He has left us his thoughts upon this situation, which his
+extreme affability rendered very frequent to him. "God," says he, "makes
+use of this occasion to try whether our hearts are sufficiently
+strengthened to bear every attack. I have myself been sometimes in this
+situation: but I have made a covenant with my heart and with my tongue,
+in order to confine them within the bounds of duty. I considered those
+persons who crowd in one upon the other, as children who run into the
+embraces of their father: as the hen refuseth not protection to her
+little ones when they gather around her, but, on the contrary, extendeth
+her wings so as to cover them all; my heart, I thought, was in like
+manner expanded, in proportion as the numbers of these poor people
+increased. The most powerful remedy against sudden starts of impatience
+is a sweet and amiable silence; however little one speaks, self-love
+will have a share in it, and some word will escape that may sour the
+heart, and disturb its peace for a considerable time. When nothing is
+said, and cheerfulness preserved, the storm subsides, anger and
+indiscretion are put to flight, and nothing remains but a joy, pure and
+lasting. The person who possesses Christian meekness, is affectionate
+and tender towards every one; he is disposed to forgive and excuse the
+frailties of others; the goodness of his heart appears in a sweet
+affability that influences his words and actions, and presents every
+object to his view in the most charitable and pleasing light; he never
+admits in his discourse any harsh expression, much less any term that is
+haughty or rude. An amiable serenity is always painted on his
+countenance, which remarkably distinguishes him from those violent
+characters, who, with looks full of fury, know only how to refuse; or
+who, when they grant, do it with so bad a grace, that they lose all the
+merit of the favor they bestow."
+
+Some persons thinking him too indulgent towards sinners, expressed their
+thoughts one day with freedom to him on this head. He immediately
+replied: "If there was any thing more excellent than meekness, God would
+have certainly taught it us; and yet there is nothing to which he so
+earnestly exhorts us, as to be _meek and humble of heart_. Why would you
+hinder me to obey the command of my Lord, and follow him in the exercise
+of that virtue which he so eminently practised and so highly esteems?
+Are we then better informed in these matters than God himself?" But his
+tenderness was particularly displayed in the reception of apostates and
+other abandoned sinners; when these prodigals returned to him, he said,
+with all the sensibility of a father: "Come, my dear children, come, let
+me embrace you; ah, let me hide you in the bottom of my heart! God and I
+will assist you: all I require of you is not to despair: I shall take on
+myself the labor of the rest." Looks full of compassion and love
+expressed the sincerity of his feelings: his affectionate and charitable
+care of them extended even to their bodily wants and his purse was open
+to them as well as his heart; {303} he justified this proceeding to
+some, who, disedified at his extreme indulgence, told him it served only
+to encourage the sinner, and harden him still more in his crimes, by
+observing, "Are they not a part of my flock? Has not our blessed Lord
+given them his blood, and shall I refuse them my tears? These wolves
+will be changed into lambs: a day will come when, cleansed from their
+sins, they will be more precious in the sight of God than we are: if
+Saul had been cast off, we would never have had a St. Paul."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  It is a problem in nature, discussed without success by several
+    great physicians, why children born in their seventh month more
+    frequently live than those that are brought forth in their eighth
+    month.
+2.  Aug. Sales de Vit. l. {} p. 123.
+3.  The saint being on his return to Savoy, was informed that a convent
+    of religious women, of the order of Fontevrault, received
+    superfluous pensions. He wrote about it to those religious, and
+    after giving testimony to their virtue, in order to gain their
+    confidence, he conjured them, in the strongest and most pathetic
+    terms, to banish such an abuse from their monastery; persuaded that
+    such pensions were not exempt from sin, were an obstacle to monastic
+    perfection, and opposite to their essential vow of poverty;
+    lamenting that after doing so much they should, for the sake of one
+    small reserve, destroy the merit of their whole sacrifice. This
+    letter is extremely useful and beautiful. L. 1, ep. 41, t. 1, p.
+    136.
+4.  Aug. Sales in Vit.
+5.  Aug. Sales in Vit.
+6.  Quel est le meilleur Gouvernment, &c. ch. 8, p. 298.
+
+SAINT SULPICIUS SEVERUS[1]
+
+DISCIPLE OF ST. MARTIN.
+
+HE was born in Aquitaine, not at Agen, as Scaliger, Vossius, Baillet,
+&c., have falsely inferred from a passage of his history,[2] but near
+Toulouse. That he was of a very rich and illustrious Roman family, we
+are assured by the two Paulinus's, and Gennadius.[3] His youth he spent
+in studying the best Roman authors of the Augustan age, upon whom he
+formed his style, not upon the writers of his own time: he also applied
+himself to the study of the laws, and surpassed all his contemporaries
+in eloquence at the bar. His wife was a lady of a consular family, whom
+he lost soon after their marriage, but he continued to enjoy a very
+great estate which he had inherited by her. His mother-in-law, Bassula,
+loved him constantly, as if he had been her own son: they continued to
+live several years in the same house, and had in all things the same
+mind.[4] The death of his beloved consort contributed to wean his heart
+from the world: in which resolution he seems to have been confirmed by
+the example and exhortations of his pious mother-in-law. His conversion
+from the world happened in the same year with that of St. Paulinus of
+Nola,[5] though probably somewhat later: and St. Paulinus mentions that
+Sulpicius was younger than himself, and at that time (that is, about the
+year 392) in the flower of his age. De Prato imagines Sulpicius to have
+been ten years younger than St. Paulinus, consequently that he was
+converted in the thirty-second year of his age. Whereas St. Paulinus
+distributed his whole fortune among the poor at once; Sulpicius reserved
+his estates to himself and his heirs, employing the yearly revenue on
+the poor, and in other pious uses, so that he was no more than a servant
+of the church and the poor, to keep accounts for them.[6] But he sold so
+much of them as was necessary to discharge him of all obligations to
+others. Gennadius tells us that he was promoted to the priesthood; but
+from the silence of St. Paulinus, St. Jerom, and others, Tillemont and
+De Prato doubt of this circumstance. Sulpicius suffered much from the
+censures of friends, who condemned his retreat, having chosen for his
+solitude a cottage at Primuliacus, a village now utterly unknown in
+Aquitaine, probably in Languedoc. In his kitchen nothing was ever
+dressed but pulse and herbs, boiled without any seasoning, except a
+little vinegar: he ate also coarse bread. He and his few disciples had
+no other beds but straw of sackcloth spread on the ground. He set at
+liberty several of his slaves, and admitted them, and some of his old
+servants, to familiar intercourse and {304} conversation. About the year
+394, not long after his retreat, he made a visit to St. Martin at Tours,
+and was so much taken with his saintly comportment, and edified by his
+pious discourses and counsels, that he became from that time his
+greatest admirer, and regulated his conduct by his direction. Ever after
+he visited that great saint once or twice almost every summer as long as
+he lived, and passed some time with him, that he might study more
+perfectly to imitate his virtues. He built and adorned several churches.
+For two which he founded at Primuliacus, he begged some relics of St.
+Paulinus, who sent him a piece of the cross on which our Saviour was
+crucified, with the history of its miraculous discovery by St.
+Helena.[7] This account Sulpicius inserted in his ecclesiastical
+history. These two saints sent frequent presents to each other, of poor
+garments or the like things, suitable to a penitential life, upon which
+they make in their letters beautiful pious reflections, that show how
+much they were accustomed to raise their thoughts to God from every
+object.[8] Our saint recommending to St. Paulinus a cook, facetiously
+tells him that he was utterly a stranger to the art of making sauces,
+and to the use of pepper, or any such incentives of gluttony, his skill
+consisting only in gathering and boiling herbs in such a manner that
+monks, who only eat after having fasted long, would find delicious. He
+prays his friend to treat him as he would his own son, and wishes he
+could himself have served him and his family in that quality.[9] In the
+year 399 St. Paulinus wrote to our saint that he hoped to have met him
+at Rome, whither he went to keep the feast of the prince of the
+apostles, and where he had stayed ten days, but without seeing any thing
+but the tombs of the apostles, before which he passed the mornings, and
+the evenings were taken up by friends who called to see him.[10]
+Sulpicius answered, that an indisposition had hindered him from
+undertaking that journey. Of the several letters mentioned by Gennadius,
+which Sulpicius Severus wrote to the devout virgin Claudia, his sister,
+two are published by Baluze.[11] Both are strong exhortations to fervor
+and perseverance. In the first, our saint assures her that he shed tears
+of joy in reading her letter, by which he was assured of her sincere
+desire of serving God. In a letter to Aurelius the deacon, he relates
+that one night in a dream he saw St. Martin ascend to heaven in great
+glory, and attended by the holy priest Clarus, his disciple, who was
+lately dead: soon after, two monks arriving from Tours, brought news of
+the death of St. Martin. He adds, that his greatest comfort in the loss
+of so good a master, was a confidence that he should obtain the divine
+blessings by the prayers of St. Martin in heaven. St. Paulinus mentions
+this vision in an inscription in verse, which he made and sent to be
+engraved on the marble altar of the church of Primuliacus.[12] St.
+Sulpicius wrote the life of the incomparable St. Martin, according to
+Tillemont and most others, before the death of that saint: but De Prato
+thinks, that though it was begun before, it was neither finished nor
+published till after his death. The style of this piece is plainer and
+more simple than that of his other writings. An account of the death of
+St. Martin, which is placed by De Prato in the year 400, is accurately
+given by St. Sulpicius in a letter to Bassula, his mother-ill-law, who
+then lived at Triers. The three dialogues of our saint are the most
+florid of all his writings. In the first Posthumian, a friend who had
+spent three years in the deserts of Egypt and the East, and was then
+returned, relates to him and Gallus, a disciple of St. Martin, (with
+whom our saint then lived under the same roof,) the wonderful examples
+of virtue he had seen abroad. In the second dialogue, Gallus recounts
+{305} many circumstances of the life of St. Martin, which St. Sulpicius
+had omitted in his history of that saint. In the third, under the name
+of the same Gallus, several miracles wrought by St. Martin are proved by
+authentic testimonies.[13] The most important work of our saint is his
+abridgment of sacred history from the beginning of the world down to his
+own time, in the year 400. The elegance, conciseness, and perspicuity
+with which this work is compiled, have procured the author the name of
+the Christian Sallust; some even prefer it to the histories of the Roman
+Sallust, and look upon it as the most finished model extant of
+abridgments.[14] His style is the most pure of any of the Latin fathers,
+though also Lactantius, Minutius Felix, we may almost add St. Jerom, and
+Salvian of Marseilles, deserve to be read among the Latin classics. The
+heroic sanctity of Sulpicius Severus is highly extolled by St. Paulinus
+of Nola, Paulinus of Perigueux, about the year 460.[15] Venantius
+Fortunatus, and many others, down to the present {306} age. Gennadius
+tells us, that he was particularly remarkable for his extraordinary love
+of poverty and humility. After the death of St. Martin, in 400, St.
+Sulpicius Severus passed five years in that illustrious saint's cell at
+Marmoutier. F. Jerom de Prato thinks that he at length retired to a
+monastery at Marseilles, or in that neighborhood; because in a very
+ancient manuscript copy of his works, transcribed in the seventh
+century, kept in the library of the chapter of Verona, he is twice
+called a monk of Marseilles. From the testimony of this manuscript, the
+Benedictin authors of the new treatise On the Diplomatique,[16] and the
+continuators of the Literary History of France,[17] regard it as
+undoubted that Sulpicius Severus was a monk at Marseilles before his
+death. While the Alans, Sueves, and Vandals from Germany and other
+barbarous nations, laid waste most provinces in Gaul in 406, Marseilles
+enjoyed a secure peace under the government of Constantine, who, having
+assumed the purple, fixed the seat of his empire at Arles from the year
+407 to 410. After the death of St. Chrysostom in 407, Cassian came from
+Constantinople to Marseilles, and founded there two monasteries, one for
+men, the other for women. Most place the death of St. Sulpicius Severus
+about the year 420, Baronius after the year 432; but F. Jerom de Prato
+about 410, when he supposes him to have been near fifty years old,
+saying that Gennadius, who tells us that he lived to a very great age,
+is inconsistent with himself. Neither St. Paulinus nor any other writer
+mentions him as living later than the year 407, which seems to prove
+that he did not survive that epoch very many years. Guibert, abbot of
+Gemblours, who died in 1208, in his Apology for Sulpicius Severus,[18]
+testifies that his festival was kept at Marmoutier with great solemnity
+on the 29th of January. Several editors of the Roman Martyrology, who
+took Sulpicius Severus, who is named in the calendars on this day, to
+have been this saint, added in his eulogium, Disciple of St. Martin,
+famous for his learning and merits. Many have proved that this addition
+was made by the mistake of private editors, and that the saint
+originally meant here in the Roman Martyrology was Sulpicius Severus,
+bishop of Bourges;[19] and Benedict XIV. proves and declares[20] that
+Sulpicius Severus, the disciple of St. Martin, is not commemorated in
+the Roman Martyrology. Nevertheless, he has been ranked among the saints
+at Tours from time immemorial, and is honored with a particular office
+on this day in the new breviary used in all that diocese. See his works
+correctly printed, with various readings, notes, dissertations, and the
+life of this saint, at Verona in 1741, in two volumes folio, by F. Jerom
+de Prato, an Italian Oratorian of Verona: also Gallia Christiana tum
+Vetus tum Nova: Tillemont, t. 12. Ceillier, t. 10, p. 635. Rivet, Hist.
+Littér. de la France, t. 2, p. 95.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Severus was his own proper name, Sulpicius that of his family, as is
+    testified by Gennadius and all antiquity. Vossius, Dupin, and some
+    others, on this account, will have him called Severus Sulpicius,
+    with Eugippius and St. Gregory of Tours. But other learned men
+    agree, that after the close of the republic of Rome, under the
+    emperors, the family name was usually placed first, though still
+    called Cognomen, and the other Prænomen, because the proper name
+    went anciently before the other. Thus we say Cæcilius Cyprianus,
+    Eusebius Hieronymus, Aurelius Agustinus, &c. See Sirmond, Ep.
+    præfixe Op. Serva. Lapi, and Hier. De Prato in vita Sulpicii Severi,
+    p. 56, &c.
+2.  Sulp. Sev. Hist. l. 2, c. 44.
+3.  {Footnote not in text} Ib. c. 48, and Ep. ad Bassulam. de Prato, p.
+    57.
+4.  S. Paulinus, Ep. 5 & 35.
+5.  Ib. Ep. 11, n. 6.
+6.  S. Paulinus, Ep. 1 & 24.
+7.  Ib. Ep. 52.
+8.  Sulpic. Sev. Ep. ad Paulin. ed à D'Achery in Spicileg. t. 52, p.
+    532, et inter opera S. Paulini, p. 119.
+9.  Ibid.
+10. S. Paulin. Ep. ad Sulpic. Sev. p. 96.
+11. Baluze, t. 1, Miscellan. p. 329.
+12. S. Paulinus, Ep. 32, p. 204.
+13. Many, upon the authority of St. Jerom, rank Sulpicius Severus among
+    the Millenarians, though all allow that he never defended any error
+    so as to be out of the communion of the church. But that he could
+    not be properly a Millenarian, seems clear from several parts of his
+    writings. For, Ep. 2 and 3, he affirms, that the souls of St. Martin
+    and St. Clarus passed from this world to the immediate beatific
+    vision of God. He establishes the same principles, Ep. 1, ad
+    Claudiam Soror., c. 5. And in his Sacred History, l. 2, c. 3,
+    explaining the dream of Nabachodonosor, he teaches that the
+    destruction of the kingdoms of this world will be immediately
+    succeeded by the eternal reign of Christ with his saints in heaven.
+    In the passage, Dial. 2, c. 14, upon which the charge is founded,
+    Sulpicius relates, in the discourse of Gallus, that St. Martin, on a
+    certain occasion, said, that the reign of Nero in the West, and his
+    persecution, were immediate forerunners of the last day: as is the
+    reign of Antichrist in the East, who will rebuild Jerusalem and its
+    temple, reside in the same, restore circumcision, kill Nero, and
+    subject the whole world to his empire. Where he advances certain
+    false conjectures about the reign of Nero, and the near approach of
+    the last judgment at that time: likewise the restoration of
+    Jerusalem by Antichrist; though this last is maintained probable by
+    cardinal Bellarmin, l. 3, de Rom. Pontif. c. 13. But the Millenarian
+    error is not so much as insinuated. Nor could it have been inserted
+    by the author in that passage and omitted by copiers, as De Prato
+    proves, against that conjecture of Tillemont. St. Jerom, indeed, l.
+    11, in Ezech. c. 36, represents certain Christian writers who
+    imitated some later Jews in their Deuteroseis in a carnal manner of
+    expounding certain scripture prophecies, expecting a second
+    Jerusalem of gold and precious stones, a restoration of bloody
+    sacrifices, circumcision, and a Sabbath. Among these he names
+    Tertullian, in his book De Spe Fidelium, (now lost,) Lactantius,
+    Victorious Petabionensis, and Severus, (Sulpicius,) in his dialogue
+    entitled, Gallus, then just published: and among the Greeks, Irenæus
+    and Apollinarius. De Prato thinks he only speaks of Sulpicius
+    Severus by hearsay, because he mentions only one dialogue called
+    Gallus, whereas two bear that title. At least St. Jerom never meant
+    to ascribe all these errors to each of those he names; for none of
+    them maintained them all except Apollinarius. His intention was only
+    to ascribe one point or other of such carnal interpretations to
+    each, and to Sulpicius the opinion that Jerusalem, with the temple
+    and sacrifices, will be restored by Antichrist, &c., which cannot be
+    called erroneous; though St. Jerom justly rejects that
+    interpretation, because the desolation foretold by Daniel is to
+    endure to the end. In the decree of Gelasius this dialogue of Gallus
+    is called Apocryphal, but in the same sense in which it was rejected
+    by St. Jerom. Nor is this exposition advanced otherwise than as a
+    quotation from St. Martin's answer on that subject. See the
+    justification of Sulpicius Severus, in a dissertation printed at
+    Venice in 1738, in Racolta di Opuscoli Scientifici, t. 18, and more
+    amply by F. Jerom de Prato, Disser. 5, in Opera Sulpicii Severi, t.
+    1, p. 259, commended in the Acta Eruditor. Lipsiæ, ad an. 1760.
+    Gennadius, who wrote about the year 494, tells us, (Cat. n. 19.)
+    that Sulpicius was deceived in his old age by the Pelagians, but
+    soon opening his eyes, condemned himself to five years' rigorous
+    silence to expiate this fault. From the silence of other authors,
+    and the great commendations which the warmest enemies of the
+    Pelagians bestow on our saint, especially Paulinus of Milan, in his
+    life of St. Ambrose, (written at latest in 423,) and St. Paulinus of
+    Nola, and Paulinus of Perigueux, (who in 461 wrote in verse the life
+    of St. Martin,) l. 5, v, 193, &c., some look upon this circumstance
+    as a slander, which depends wholly on the testimony of so inaccurate
+    a writer, who is inconsistent with himself in other matters relating
+    to Sulpicius Severus, whose five years' silence might have other
+    motives. If the fact be true, it can only be understood of the
+    semi-Pelagian error, which had then many advocates at Marseilles,
+    and was not distinguished in its name from Pelagianism till some
+    years after our saint's death, nor condemned by the church before
+    the second council of Orange in 529. Pelagius was condemned by the
+    councils of Carthage and Milevis in 416, and by pope Innocent I. in
+    412. If Sulpicius Severus fell into any error, especially before it
+    had been clearly anathematized by the church, at least he cannot be
+    charged with obstinacy, having so soon renounced it. We must add,
+    that even wilful offences are blotted out by sincere repentance. See
+    F. Jerom de Pram in vita Sulp. Sev., §12, pp. 69 and 74, t. 1, Op.
+    Veronæ, 1741.
+14. The sacred history of Sulpicius Severus is a most useful classic for
+    Christian schools; but not to be studied in the chosen fragments
+    mangled by Chompré, and prescribed for the schools in Portugal. True
+    improvement of the mind is impossible without the beauties of method
+    and the advantages of taste, which are nowhere met with but by
+    seeing good compositions entire, and by considering the art with
+    which the whole is wound up. A small edition of Sulpicius's history,
+    made from that correctly published by De Prato, would be of great
+    service. Nevertheless, Sulpicius, though he has so well imitated the
+    style of the purest ages, declares that he neglects elegance; and he
+    takes the liberty to use certain terms and phrases which are not of
+    the Augustan standard, sometimes because they were so familiar in
+    his time that he otherwise would not have seemed to write with ease,
+    and sometimes because they are necessary to express the mysteries of
+    our faith. How shocking is the delicacy of Bembo; who, for fear of
+    not being Ciceronian, conjures the Venetians, _per Deos immortales_,
+    and uses the words _Dea Lauretana!_ or that of Justus Lipsius, who
+    used _Fatum_ or destiny, for Providence, because this latter word is
+    not in Cicero, who with the Pagans, usually speaks according to the
+    notion of an overruling destiny in events which they by believed
+    ordained by heaven. For this term some of Lipsius's works were
+    censured, and by him recalled.
+15. Vit. St. Martin, versu expressa, l. 5, v. 193, &c.
+16. Tr. de Diplomatique, t. 3.
+17. Hist. Litter. t. 11, Advertissement preliminaire, p. 5.
+18. Published by Bollandus ad 29 Jan. p. 968.
+19. See Annalus, Theolog. positivæ, l. 4, c. 26, and Dominic Georgi in
+    Notis ad Martyrol. Adonis, ad {} Jan.
+20. Benedict. XIV. in litteris apost. præfixis novæ suæ editioni Romani
+    Martyrologii, (Romæ, 1749,), §47, p. 34.
+
+ST. GILDAS THE WISE, OR BADONICUS, ABBOT.
+
+HE was son to a British lord, who, to procure him a virtuous education,
+placed him in his infancy in the monastery of St. Iltutus in
+Glamorganshire. The surname of Badonicus was given him, because, as we
+learn from his writings, he was born in the year in which the Britons
+under Aurelius Ambrosius, or, according to others, under king Arthur,
+gained the famous victory over the Saxons at Mount Badon, now
+Bannesdown, near Bath, in Somersetshire. This Bede places in the
+forty-fourth year after the first {307} coming of the Saxons into
+Britain, which was in 451. Our saint, therefore, seems to have been born
+in 494; he was consequently younger than St. Paul, St. Samson, and his
+other illustrious school-fellows in Wales: but by his prudence and
+seriousness in his youth he seemed to have attained to the maturity of
+judgment and gravity of an advanced age. The author of the life of St.
+Paul of Leon, calls him the brightest genius of the school of St. Iltut.
+His application to sacred studies was uninterrupted, and if he arrived
+not at greater perfection in polite literature, this was owing to the
+want of masters of that branch in the confusion of those times. As to
+improve himself in the knowledge of God and himself was the end of all
+his studies, and all his reading was reduced to the study of the science
+of the saints, the greater progress he made in learning, the more
+perfect he became in all virtues. Studies which are to many a source of
+dissipation, made him more and more recollected, because in all books he
+found and relished only God, whom alone he sought. Hence sprang that
+love for holy solitude, which, to his death, was the constant ruling
+inclination of his heart. Some time after his monastic profession, with
+the consent, and perhaps by the order of his abbot, St. Iltut, he passed
+over into Ireland, there to receive the lessons of the admirable masters
+of a religious life, who had been instructed in the most sublime maxims
+of an interior life, and formed to the practice of perfect virtue, by
+the great St. Patrick. The author of his Acts compares this excursion,
+which he made in the spring of his life, to that of the bees in the
+season of flowers, to gather the juices which they convert into honey.
+In like manner St. Gildas learned, from the instructions and examples of
+the most eminent servants of God, to copy in his own life whatever
+seemed most perfect. So severe were his continual fasts, that the motto
+of St. John Baptist might in some degree be applied to him, that he
+scarce seemed to eat or drink at all. A rough hair-cloth, concealed
+under a coarse cloak, was his garment, and the bare floor his bed, with
+a stone for his bolster. By the constant mortification of his natural
+appetites, and crucifixion of his flesh, his life was a prolongation of
+his martyrdom, or a perpetual sacrifice which he made of himself to God
+in union with that which he daily offered to him on his altars. If it be
+true that he preached in Ireland in the reign of king Ammeric, he must
+have made a visit to that island from Armorica, that prince only
+beginning to reign in 560: this cannot be ascribed to St. Gildas the
+Albanian, who died before that time. It was about the year 527, in the
+thirty-fourth of his age, that St. Gildas sailed to Armorica, or
+Brittany, in France:[1] for he wrote his invective ten years {308} after
+his arrival there, and in the forty-fourth year of his age, as is
+gathered from his life and writings. Here he chose for the place of his
+retirement the little isle of Houac, or Houat, between the coast of
+Rhuis and the island of Bellisle, four leagues from the latter. Houat
+exceeds not a league in length; the isle of Hoedre is still smaller, not
+far distant: both are so barren as to yield nothing but a small quantity
+of corn. Such a solitude, which appeared hideous to others, offered the
+greatest charms to the saint, who desired to fly, as much as this mortal
+state would permit, whatever could interrupt his commerce with God. Here
+he often wanted the common necessaries and conveniences of life; but the
+greater the privation of earthly comforts was in which he lived, the
+more abundant were those of the Holy Ghost which he enjoyed, in
+proportion as the purity of his affections and his love of heavenly
+things were more perfect. The saint promised himself that he should live
+here always unknown to men: but it was in vain for him to endeavor to
+hide the light of divine grace under a bushel, which shone forth to the
+world, notwithstanding all the precautions which his humility took to
+conceal it. Certain fishermen who discovered him were charmed with his
+heavenly deportment and conversation, and made known on the continent
+the treasure they had found. The inhabitants flocked from the coast to
+hear the lessons of divine wisdom which the holy anchoret gave with a
+heavenly unction which penetrated their hearts. To satisfy their
+importunities, St. Gildas at length consented to live among them on the
+continent, and built a monastery at Rhuis, in a peninsula of that name,
+which Guerech, the first lord of the Britons about Vannes, is said to
+have bestowed upon him. This monastery was soon filled with excellent
+disciples and holy monks. St. Gildas settled them in good order; then,
+sighing after closer solitude, he withdrew, and passing beyond the gulf
+of Vannes, and the promontory of Quiberon, chose for his habitation a
+grot in a rock, upon the bank of the river Blavet, where he found a
+cavern formed by nature extended from the east to the west, which on
+that account he converted into a chapel. However, he often visited this
+abbey of Rhuis, and by his counsels directed many in the paths of true
+virtue. Among these was St. Trifina, daughter of Guerech, first British
+count of Vannes. She was married to count Conomor, lieutenant of king
+Childebert, a brutish and impious man, who afterwards murdered her, and
+the young son which he had by her, who at his baptism received the name
+of Gildas, and was godson to our saint: but he is usually known by the
+surname of Treuchmeur, or Tremeur, in Latin Trichmorus. SS. Trifina and
+Treuchmeur are invoked in the English Litany of the seventh century, in
+Mabillon. The great collegiate church of Carhaix bears the name of St.
+Treuchmeur: the church of Quimper keeps his feast on the 8th of
+November, on which day he is commemorated in several churches in
+Brittany, and at St. Magloire's at Paris. A church situated between
+Corlai and the abbey of Coetmaloen in Brittany, is dedicated to God
+tinder the invocation of St. Trifina.[2]
+
+St. Gildas wrote eight canons of discipline, and a severe invective
+against the crimes of the Britons, called De Excidio Britanniæ, that he
+might confound {309} those whom he was not able to convert, and whom God
+in punishment delivered first to the plunders of the Picts and Scots,
+and afterwards to the perfidious Saxons, the fiercest of all nations. He
+reproaches their kings, Constantine, (king of the Danmonians, in
+Devonshire and Cornwall,) Vortipor, (of the Dimetians, in South Wales,)
+Conon, Cuneglas, and Maglocune, princes in other parts of Britain, with
+horrible crimes: but Constantine was soon after sincerely converted, as
+Gale informs us from an ancient Welsh chronicle.[3] According to John
+Fordun[4] he resigned his crown, became a monk, preached the faith to
+the Scots and Picts, and died a martyr in Kintyre: but the apostle of
+the Scots seems to have been a little more ancient than the former.[5]
+Our saint also wrote an invective against the British clergy, whom he
+accuses of sloth, of seldom sacrificing at the altar, &c. In his
+retirement he ceased not with tears to recommend to God his own cause,
+or that of his honor and glory, and the souls of blind sinners, and died
+in his beloved solitude in the island of Horac, (in Latin Horata,)
+according to Usher, in 570, but according to Ralph of Disse, in 581.[6]
+St. Gildas is patron of the city of Vannes. The abbey which bears his
+name in the peninsula of Rhuis, between three and four leagues from
+Vannes, is of the reformed congregation of St. Maur since the year 1649.
+The relics of St. Gildas were carried thence for fear of the Normans
+into Berry, about the year 919, and an abbey was erected there on the
+banks of the river Indre, which was secularized and united to the
+collegiate church of Chateauroux in 1623. St. Gildas is commemorated in
+the Roman Martyrology on the 29th of January. A second commemoration of
+him is made in some places on the 11th of May, on account of the
+translation of his relics. His life, compiled from the ancient archives
+of Rhuis by a monk of that house, in the eleventh century, is the best
+account we have of him, though the author confounds him sometimes with
+St. Gildas the Albanian. It is published in the library of Fleury, in
+Bollandus, p. 954, and most correctly in Mabillon, Act. SS. Ord. Saint
+Belled. t. 1, p. 138. See also Dom Lobineau, Vies des Saints de
+Bretagne, (fol. an. 1725,) p. 72, and Hist. de la {310} Bretagne, (2
+vol. fol. an. 1707,) and the most accurate Dom Morice, Mémoires Sur
+l'Histoire de Bretagne, 3 vol. fol. in 1745, and Hist. de la Bretagne, 2
+vol. fol. an. 1750.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Armorica, which word in the old Celtic language signified a maritime
+    country, comprised that part of Celtic Gaul which is now divided
+    into Brittany, Lower Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. Tours was
+    the capital, and still maintains the metropolitical dignity. By St.
+    Gatian, about the middle of the third century, the faith was first
+    planted in those parts: but the entire extirpation of idolatry was
+    reserved to the zeal of British monks. Dom Morice distinguishes
+    three principal transmigrations of inhabitants from Great Britain
+    into Armorica: the first, when many fled from the arms of Carausius
+    and Allectus, who successively assumed the purple in Great Britain:
+    Constance made these fugitives welcome in Gaul, and allowed them to
+    settle on the coast of Armorica about the year 293. A second and
+    much larger colony of Britons was planted here under Conan, a
+    British prince by Maximus, whom all the British youth followed into
+    Gaul in 383. After the defeat of Maximus, these Armorican Britons
+    chose this Conan, surnamed Meriedec, king, formed themselves into an
+    independent state, and maintained their liberty against several
+    Roman generals in the decline of that empire, and against the Alans,
+    Vandals, Goths, and other barbarians. Des Fontaines, (Diss. p. 118,)
+    and after him Dom Morice. demonstrates that Brittany was an
+    independent state before the year 421. The third transmigration of
+    Britons hither was completed at several intervals while the Saxons
+    invaded and conquered Britain, where Hengist first landed in 470.
+    Brittany was subjected to the Romans during four centuries: an
+    independent state successively under the title of a kingdom, county,
+    and duchy, for the space of about eleven hundred and fifty years,
+    and has been united to the kingdom of France ever since the year
+    1532, by virtue of the marriage of king Charles VIII. with Anne,
+    sole heiress of Brittany, daughter of duke Francis, celebrated in
+    1491. This province was subdued by Clovis I., who seems to have
+    treacherously slain Budic, king of Brittany. This prince left six
+    sons, Howel I., Ismael, bishop of Menevia, St. Tifel, honored as a
+    martyr at Pennalun, St. Oudecee, bishop of Landaff, Urbian or
+    Concur, and Dinot, father of St. Kineda. Brittany remained subject
+    to the sons of Clovis, and it was by the authority of Childobert
+    that St. Paul was made bishop of Leon in 512. But Howel, returning
+    from the court of king Arthur in 513, recovered the greater part of
+    these dominions. See Dom Morice, Hist. t. 1, p. 14. Howel I., often
+    called Rioval, that is, king Rowel, was a valiant prince, and
+    liberal to churches and monasteries. Among many sons whom he left
+    behind him, Howel II. succeeded him, and two are honored among the
+    saints, viz. St. Leonor or Lunaire, and St. Tudgual or Pabutual,
+    first Bishop of Treguier. See Morice. t. 1, pp. 14. and 729. Howel
+    III., alias Juthael, recovered all Brittany. King Pepin again
+    conquered this country, and Charlemagne and Louis le Débonnaire
+    quelled it when it thrice rebelled. The latter established the
+    Benedictin rule at Llandevenec. which probably was soon imitated in
+    others: for the monastic rule which first prevailed here was that of
+    the Britons in Wales, borrowed from the Orientals. After the
+    straggles made by this province for its liberty, Charles the Bald
+    yielded it up in 858, and some time after treated Solomon III. as
+    king of Brittany. See Morice, Des Fontaines, &c.
+2.  In this churchyard stands an ancient pyramid, on which are engraved
+    letters of an unknown alphabet, supposed to be that of the Britons
+    and Gauls before the Roman alphabet was introduced among them.
+    Letters of the same alphabet are found upon some other monuments of
+    Brittany. See Lobineau, Vies des Saints de la Bretagne. in St.
+    Treuchmeur, p. 8. Dom Morice endeavors to prove that the Welsh, the
+    old British, and the Celtic, are the same language. (Hist. t. 1, p.
+    867.) That they are so in part is unquestionable.
+3.  Mr. Vaughan, in his British Antiquities revived, printed at Oxford
+    in 1662, shows that there were at this time many princes or
+    chieftains among the Britons in North Wales, but that they all held
+    their lands of one sovereign, though each in his own district was
+    often honored with the title of king. The chief prince at this time
+    was Maelgun Gwynedth, the lineal heir and eldest descendant of
+    Cuneda, who flourished in the end of the fourth, or beginning of the
+    fifth century, and from one or other of whose eight sons all the
+    princes of North Wales, also those of Cardigan, Dimetia, Glamorgan,
+    and others in South Wales, derived their descent. The ancient
+    author, published at the end of Nenbius, says Maelgun began his
+    reign one hundred and forty-six years after Cuaedha, who was his
+    Atavus, or great-grandfather's grandfather. Maelgun was prince only
+    of Venedotia for twenty-five years before he was acknowledged in
+    564, after the death of Arthur, chief king of the Britons in Wales,
+    while St. David was primate, Arthur king of the Britons in general,
+    Gurthmyll king, and St. Kentigern bishop of the Cumbrian Britons.
+    "He had received a good education under the elegant instructor of
+    almost all Britain," says Gildas, pointing out probably St. Iltutus.
+    Yet he fell into enormous vices. Touched with remorse, he retired
+    into a monastery in 552; but being soon tired of that state,
+    reassumed his crown, and relapsed into his former impieties. He died
+    in 565. Gildas, who wrote his epistle De Excidio Britanniæ, between
+    the years 564 and 570, that of his death, hints that Veralam was
+    then fallen into the hands of the Saxons: which is certain of
+    London, &c. The other princes reprehended by Gildas were lesser
+    toparchs, as Aurelius Canon, Vortipor, Cuneglas, and Constantine.
+    These were chieftains, Vortipor in Pembrokeshire, the rest in some
+    quarter or other of Britain, all living when Gildas wrote.
+    Constantine, whom Gildas represents as a native of Cornwall, and as
+    he is commonly understood, also as prince of that country, did
+    penance. The chief crime imputed to him is the murder of two royal
+    youths in a church, and of two noblemen who had the charge of their
+    education. Those Carte imagines to have been the sons of Caradoc
+    Ureich Uras, who was chief prince of the Cornish Britons in the
+    latter end of king Arthur's reign, as is attested by the author of
+    the Triades. The prelates whom Gildas reproves, were such as Maelgun
+    had promoted: for the sees of South-Wales were at that time filled
+    with excellent prelates, whose virtues Gildas desired to copy.
+    Carte, t. 1, p. 214.
+4.  Scoti-chron. c. 26.
+5.  Gildas's epistle, De Excidio Britanniæ, was published extremely
+    incorrect and incomplete, till the learned Thomas Gale gave us a far
+    more accurate and complete edition, t. 3, Scriptor. Britan., which
+    is reprinted with notes by Bertrame in Germany, Hanniæ imp. an.
+    1757, together with Nennius's history of the Britons, and Richard
+    Corin, of Westminster, De Situ Britanniæ. Gildas's Castigatio Cleri
+    is extant in the library of the fathers, ed. Colon. t. 5, part 3, p.
+    682.
+6.  Dom Morice shows that about one hundred and twenty years were an
+    ordinary term of human life among the ancient Britons, and that
+    their usual liquor, called Kwrw, made of barley and water, was a
+    kind of beer, a drink most suitable to the climate and constitutions
+    of the inhabitants. See Dom Morice, Mémoires sur l'Histoire de
+    Bretange, t. 1, preface; and Lamery, Diss. sur les Boissons.
+
+ST. GILDAS THE ALBANIAN, OR THE SCOT, C.[1]
+
+HIS father, who was called Caunus, and was king of certain southern
+provinces in North Britain, was slain in war by king Arthur. St. Gildas
+improved temporal afflictions into the greatest spiritual advantages,
+and, despising a false and treacherous world, aspired with his whole
+heart to a heavenly kingdom. Having engaged himself in a monastic state,
+he retired with St. Cado, abbot of Llan-carvan, into certain desert
+islands, whence they were driven by pirates from the Orcades. Two
+islands, called Ronech and Ecni, afforded him for some time a happy
+retreat, which he forsook to preach to sinners the obligation of doing
+penance, and to invite all men to the happy state of divine love. After
+discharging this apostolical function for several years, he retired to
+the southwest part of Britain into the abbey of Glastenbury, where he
+died and was buried in 512. William of Malmesbury[2] and John Fordun[3]
+mention his prophecies and miracles. See F. Alford, an. 512. Dom
+Lobineau, Saints de Bret. p. 72. Dom Morice, Hist. de Bret. t. 1, in the
+notes.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Mr. Gale has cleared up the dispute about the two Gildases, and
+    demonstrates this to have been a distinct person from the former,
+    which is also proved by Dom Lobineau and Dom Morice.
+2.  Gul. Malmesb. de Antiq. Glast.
+3.  Scoti-chron. c. 22.
+
+On this day is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, ST. SABINIANUS of
+TROYES in CHAMPAGNE, a martyr of the third century. His festival is kept
+at Troyes on the 24th. See Bollan. 29th Jan. p. 937. Tillem. Hist. des
+Emp, t. 3, p. 541.
+
+Also, ST. SULPICIUS, surnamed SEVERUS, Bishop of Bourges in 591. See
+Greg. Tour. Hist. Franc. l. 6, c. 39. Gall. Christ. and Ben. XIV. Pref.
+in Mart. Rom.
+
+
+JANUARY XXX.
+
+ST. BATHILDES, QUEEN OF FRANCE.
+
+From her life written by a contemporary author, and a second life, which
+is the same with the former, except certain additions of a later date,
+in Bollandus and Mabillon, sec. 4, Ben. p. 447, and Act. Sanct. Ben. t.
+2. See also Dubois, Hist. Eccl. Paris, p. 198, and Chatelain. Notes on
+the Martyr. 30 Jan. p. 462. See Historia St. Bathildis et Fundationem
+ejus, among the MS. lives of saints in the abbey of Jumieges, t. 2. Also
+her MS. life at Bec, &c.
+
+A.D. 680.
+
+ST. BATHILDES, or BALDECHILDE, in French Bauteur, was an English-woman,
+who was carried over very young into France, and there sold for a slave,
+at a very low price, to Erkenwald, otherwise called Erchinoald, and,
+Archimbald, mayor of the palace under King Clovis II. When she grew up
+he was so much taken with her prudence and virtue, that he committed to
+her the care of his household. She was no ways puffed up, but seemed
+{311} the more modest, more submissive to her fellow-slaves, and always
+ready to serve the meanest of them in the lowest offices. King Clovis
+II. in 649 took her for his royal consort, with the applause of his
+princes and whole kingdom: such was the renown of her extraordinary
+endowments. This unexpected elevation, which would have turned the
+strongest head of a person addicted to pride, produced no alteration in
+a heart perfectly grounded to humility and other virtues. She seemed
+even to become more humble than before, and more tender of the poor. Her
+present station furnished her with the means of being truly their
+mother, which she was before in the inclination and disposition of her
+heart. All other virtues appeared more conspicuous in her, but above the
+rest an ardent zeal for religion. The king gave her the sanction of his
+royal authority for the protection of the church, the care of the poor,
+and the furtherance of all religions undertakings. She bore him three
+sons, who all successively wore the crown, Clotaire III., Childeric II.,
+and Thierry I. He dying in 655, when the eldest was only five years old,
+left her regent of the kingdom. She seconded the zeal of St. Owen, St.
+Eligius, and other holy bishops, and with great pains banished simony
+out of France, forbade Christians to be made slaves,[1] did all in her
+power to promote piety, and filled France with hospitals and pious
+foundations. She restored the monasteries of St. Martin, St. Denys, St.
+Medard, &c., founded the great abbey of Corbie for a seminary of virtue
+and sacred learning, and the truly royal nunnery of Chelles,[2] on the
+Marne, which had been begun by St. Clotildis. As soon as her son
+Clotaire was of an age to govern, she with great joy shut herself up in
+this monastery of Chelles, in 665, a happiness which she had long
+earnestly desired, though it was with great difficulty that she obtained
+the consent of the princes. She had no sooner taken the veil but she
+seemed to have forgotten entirely her former dignity, and was only to be
+distinguished from the rest by her extreme humility, serving them in the
+lowest offices, and obeying the holy abbess St. Bertilla as the last
+among the sisters. She prolonged her devotions every day with many
+tears, and made it her greatest delight {312} to visit and attend the
+sick, whom she comforted and served with wonderful charity. St. Owen, in
+his life of St. Eligius, mentions many instances of the great veneration
+which St. Bathildes bore that holy prelate, and relates that St.
+Eligius, after his death, in a vision by night, ordered a certain
+courtier to reprove the queen for wearing jewels and costly apparel in
+her widowhood, which she did not out of pride, but because she thought
+it due to her state while she was regent of the kingdom. Upon this
+admonition, she laid them aside, distributed a great part to the poor,
+and with the richest of her jewels made a most beautiful and sumptuous
+cross, which she placed at the head of the tomb of St. Eligius. She was
+afflicted with long and severe colics and other pains, which she
+suffered with an admirable resignation and joy. In her agony she
+recommended to her sisters charity, care of the poor, fervor, and
+perseverance, and gave up her soul in devout prayer, on the 30th of
+January, in 680, on which day she is honored in France, but is named on
+the 26th in the Roman Martyrology.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A Christian, who seriously considers that he is to live here but a
+moment, and will live eternally in the world to come, must confess that
+it is a part of wisdom to refer all his actions and views to prepare
+himself for that everlasting dwelling, which is his true country. Our
+only and necessary affair is to live for God, to do his will, and to
+sanctify and save our souls. If we are employed in a multiplicity of
+exterior business, we must imitate St. Bathildes, when she bore the
+whole weight of the state. In all we do God and his holy will must be
+always before our eyes, and to please him must be our only aim and
+desire. Shunning the anxiety of Martha, and reducing all our desires to
+this one of doing what God requires of us, we must with her call in Mary
+to our assistance. In the midst of action, while our hands are at work,
+our mind and heart ought to be interiorly employed on God, at least
+virtually, that all our employments may be animated with the spirit of
+piety: and hours of repose must always be contrived to pass at the feet
+of Jesus, where in the silence of all creatures we may listen to his
+sweet voice, refresh in him our wearied souls, and renew our fervor.
+While we converse with the world, we must tremble at the sight of its
+snares, and be upon our guard that we never be seduced so far as to be
+in love with it, or to learn its spirit. To love the world, is to follow
+its passions; to be proud, covetous, and sensual, as the world is. The
+height of its miseries and dangers, is that blindness by which none who
+are infected with its spirit, see their misfortune, or are sensible of
+their disease. Happy are they who can imitate this holy queen in
+entirely separating themselves from it!
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The Franks, when they established themselves in Gaul, allowed the
+    Roman Gauls to live according to their own laws and customs, and
+    tolerated their use of slaves, but gradually mitigated their
+    servitude. Queen Bathildes alleviated the heaviest conditions, gave
+    great numbers their liberty, and declared all capable of property.
+    The Franks still retained slaves with this condition, attached to
+    certain manors or farms, and bound to certain particular kinds of
+    servitude. The kings of the second race often set great numbers
+    free, and were imitated by other lords. Queen Blanche and Saint
+    Lewis contributed more than any others to ease the condition of
+    vassals, and Louis Hutin abolished slavery in France, declaring all
+    men free who live in that kingdom according to the spirit of
+    Christianity, which teaches us to treat all men as our brethren. See
+    the life of St. Bathildes, and Gratigny, [OE]vres posthumes, an. 1757.
+    Disc. sur la Servitude et son Abolition en France.
+2.  In the village of Chelles, in Latin Cala, four leagues from Paris,
+    the kings of the first race had a palace. St. Clotildis founded near
+    it a small church under the invocation of St. George, with a small
+    number of cells adjoining for nuns. St. Bathildes so much enlarged
+    this monastery as to be looked upon as the principal foundress. The
+    old church of St. George falling to decay, Saint Bathildes built
+    there the magnificent church of the Holy Cross, in which she was
+    buried. Gisela, sister to the emperor Charlemagne, abbess of this
+    house, rebuilt the great church, which some pretend to be the same
+    that is now standing. At present here are three churches together;
+    the first, which is small, the oldest, and only a choir, is called
+    the church of the Holy Cross, and is used by six monks who assist
+    the nuns; the lowest church is called St. George's, and is a
+    parochial church for the seculars who live within the jurisdiction
+    of the monastery: the great church which serves the nuns is
+    dedicated under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, and is said to
+    be the same that was built by the abbess Gisela, and much enlarged
+    and enriched by Hegilvich, abbess of this monastery, mother to the
+    empress Judith, whose husband, Louis le Débonnaire, caused the
+    remains of our saint to be translated into this new church, in 833,
+    and from this treasure it is more frequently called the church of
+    St. Bathlides, than our Lady's. Two rich silver shrines are placed
+    over the iron rails of the chancel, in one of which rest the sacred
+    remains of St. Bathildes, in the other those of St. Bertilla, first
+    abbess of Chelles: these rails, which are of admirable workmanship,
+    were the present of an illustrious princess of the house of Bourbon,
+    Mary Adelaide of Orleans, abbess of this house in 1725, who not
+    thinking her sacrifice complete by having renounced the world, after
+    some years abdicated her abbacy, and died in the condition of humble
+    obedience, and of a private religious woman, near the shrines of SS.
+    Bathildes and Bertilla, and those of St. Genesius of Lyons, St.
+    Eligius and Radegondes of Chelles, called also little St. Bathildes.
+    The last-mentioned princess was god-daughter to our saint, and died
+    in her childhood, in this monastery, two or three days before her.
+    See Piganiol's Descr. de Paris, t. 1 and S. Chatelain's notes in
+    martyr. p. 464, and especially Le Boeuf, Hist. du Diocese de Paris,
+    t. 6, p. 32. This author gives (p. 43) the full relation of a
+    miracle approved by John Francis Gondy, archbishop of Paris,
+    mentioned in a few words by Mabillon and Baillet. Six nuns were
+    cured of inveterate distempers, attended with frequent fits of
+    convulsions, by touching the relics of Saint Bathildes, when her
+    shrine was opened on the 13th of July, in 1631.
+
+ST. MARTINA, V.M.
+
+SHE was a noble Roman virgin, who glorified God, suffering many torments
+and a cruel death for his faith, in the capital city of the world, in
+the third century. There stood a chapel consecrated to her memory in
+Rome, which was frequented with great devotion in the time of St.
+Gregory the Great. Her relics were discovered in a vault, in the ruins
+of her old church, and translated with great pomp in the year 1634,
+under the pope Urban VIII., who built a new church in her honor, and
+composed himself the hymns used in her office in the Roman Breviary. The
+city of Rome ranks her among its particular patrons. She is mentioned in
+the Martyrologies of Ado, Usuard, &c. The history of the discovery of
+her relics was published by Honoratus of Viterbo, an Oratorian. See
+Bollandus.
+
+{313}
+
+ST. ALDEGONDES, V. ABBESS.
+
+SHE was daughter of Walbert, of the royal blood of France, and born in
+Hainault about the year 630. She consecrated herself to God by a vow of
+virginity, when very young, and resisted all solicitations to marriage,
+serving God in the house of her holy parents, till, in 638, she took the
+religious veil, and founded and governed a great house of holy virgins
+at Maubeuge.[1] She was favored with an eminent gift of prayer, and many
+revelations; but was often tried by violent slanders and persecutions,
+which she looked upon as the highest favors of the divine mercy, begging
+of God that she might be found worthy to suffer still more for his sake.
+His divine providence sent her a lingering and most painful cancer in
+her breast. The saint bore the torture of her distemper, also the
+caustics and incisions of the surgeons, not only with patience, but even
+with joy, and expired in raptures of sweet love, on the 30th of January,
+in 660, according to Bollandus. Her relics are enshrined in the great
+church of Maubeuge, where her monastery is now a college of noble
+virgins canonesses. Her name occurs on this day in the ancient breviary
+of Autun, and in the martyrologies of Rabanus, Usuard, and Notker: also
+in the Roman. At St. Omer, where a parish church bears her name, she is
+called Saint Orgonne. See her life written some time after her death: a
+second a century later, and a third by Hucbald, a learned monk of St.
+Armand's, in 900, with the remarks of Mabillon, (Act. Bened. t. 2, p.
+937,) and the Bollandists. Consult also Miræus's Fasti Belgici, and La
+Vie de St. Aldegonde, par P. Binet, Jesuite, in 12mo. Paris, 1625.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The act of this foundation, published by Miræus, is spurious, as
+    mention is made therein of persons who were not living at that time:
+    neither could it have been made in the twentieth year of Dagobert,
+    as it contains facts which cannot be reconciled with the history of
+    that prince. See the note of Bollandus, t. 2, p. 1039, and
+    Chatelain, p 461.
+
+
+ST. BARSIMÆUS, B.M.
+
+CALLED BY THE SYRIANS BARSAUMAS.
+
+HE was the third bishop of Edessa from St. Thaddæus, one of the
+seventy-two disciples. St. Barsaumas was crowned with martyrdom, being
+condemned to die for his zeal in converting great multitudes to the
+faith, by the president Lysias, in the reign of Trajan, when that
+prince, having passed the Euphrates, made the conquest of Mesopotamia in
+114. St. Barsimæus is mentioned on the 30th of January in the Roman
+Martyrology, and in the Greek Mænology.
+
+{314}
+
+
+JANUARY XXXI.
+
+SAINT PETER NOLASCO, C.
+
+FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF OUR LADY FOR THE REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES.
+
+From Chronica Sacri et Militaris Ordinis B.M. de Mercede, per Bern. de
+Vargas, ej. Ord. 2 vol. in fol. Panormi, 1622, and by John de Latomis in
+12mo. in 1621, and especially the Spanish history of the same by Alonso
+Roman, 2 vol. fol. at Madrid, in 1618, and the life of the saint
+compiled in Italian by F. Francis Olihano, in 4to. 1668. See also
+Baillet, and Hist. des Ordres Relig. par Helyot, and Hist de l'Ordre de
+Notre Dame de la Merci, par les RR. Pères de la Merci, de la
+Congrégation de Paris, fol. printed at Amiens, in 1685.
+
+A.D. 1258.
+
+PETER, of the noble family of Nolasco, in Languedoc, was born in the
+diocese of St. Papoul, about the year 1189. His parents were very rich,
+but far more illustrious for their virtue. Peter, while an infant, cried
+at the sight of a poor man, till something was given him to bestow on
+the object of his compassion. In his childhood he gave to the poor
+whatever he received for his own use. He was exceeding comely and
+beautiful; but innocence and virtue were his greatest ornaments. It was
+his pious custom to give a very large alms to the first poor man he met
+every morning, without being asked. He rose at midnight, and assisted at
+matins in the church, as then the more devout part of the laity used to
+do, together with all the clergy. At the age of fifteen he lost his
+father, who left him heir to a great estate: and he remained at home
+under the government of his pious mother, who brought him up in
+extraordinary sentiments and practices of virtue. Being solicited to
+marry, he betook himself to the serious consideration of the vanity of
+all earthly things; and rising one night full of those thoughts,
+prostrated himself in fervent prayer, which he continued till morning,
+most ardently devoting himself to God in the state of celibacy, and
+dedicating his whole patrimony to the promoting of his divine honor. He
+followed Simon of Montfort, general of the holy war against the
+Albigenses, an heretical sect, which had filled Languedoc with great
+cruelties, and over spread it with universal desolation. That count
+vanquished them, and in the battle of Muret defeated and killed Peter,
+king of Aragon, and took his son James prisoner, a child of six years
+old. The conqueror having the most tender regard and compassion for the
+prince his prisoner, appointed Peter Nolasco, then twenty-five years
+old, his tutor, and sent them both together into Spain. Peter, in the
+midst of the court of the king at Barcelona,[1] where the kings of
+Aragon resided, led the life of a recluse, practising the austerities of
+a cloister. He gave no part of his time to amusements, but spent all the
+moments which the instruction of his pupil left free, in holy prayer,
+meditation, and pious reading. The Moors at that time were possessed of
+a considerable part of Spain, and great numbers of Christians groaned
+under their tyranny in a miserable slavery both there and in Africa.
+Compassion for the poor had always been the distinguishing virtue of
+Peter. The sight of so many moving objects in captivity, and the
+consideration of the spiritual dangers to which their faith and virtue
+stood exposed under their Mahometan masters, touched his heart to the
+quick, and he soon spent his whole estate in redeeming as many as he
+could. Whenever he saw {315} any poor Christian slaves, he used to say:
+"Behold eternal treasures which never fail." By his discourses he moved
+others to contribute large alms towards this charity, and at last formed
+a project for instituting a religious order for a constant supply of men
+and means whereby to carry on so charitable an undertaking. This design
+met with great obstacles in the execution, but the Blessed Virgin, the
+true mother of mercy, appearing to St. Peter, the king, and St. Raymund
+of Pennafort, in distinct visions the same night, encouraged them to
+prosecute the holy scheme under the assurance of her patronage and
+protection. St. Raymund was the spiritual director both of St. Peter and
+of the king, and a zealous promoter of this charitable work. The king
+declared himself the protector of the Order, and assigned them a large
+quarter of his own palace for their abode. All things being settled for
+laying the foundation of it, on the feast of St. Laurence, in the year
+1223, the king and St. Raymund conducted St. Peter to the church and
+presented him to Berengarius, the bishop of Barcelona, who received his
+three solemn religious vows, to which the saint added a fourth, to
+devote his whole substance and his very liberty, if necessary, to the
+ransoming of slaves; the like vow he required of all his followers. St.
+Raymund made an edifying discourse on the occasion, and declared from
+the pulpit, in the presence of this august assembly, that it had pleased
+Almighty God to reveal to the king, to Peter Nolasco, and to himself,
+his will for the institution of an Order for the redemption of the
+faithful, detained in bondage among the infidels. This was received by
+the people with the greatest acclamations of joy, happy presages of the
+future success of the holy institute.[2] After this discourse, St. Peter
+received the new habit (as Mariana and pope Clement VIII. in his bull
+say) from St. Raymund, who established him first general of this new
+Order, and drew up for it certain rules and constitutions. Two other
+gentlemen were professed at the same time with St. Peter. When St.
+Raymund went to Rome, he obtained from pope Gregory IX., in the year
+1225, the confirmation of this Order, and of the rule and constitutions
+he had drawn up. He wrote an account of this from Rome to St. Peter,
+informing him how well pleased his Holiness was with the wisdom and
+piety of the institute. The religious chose a white habit, to put them
+continually in mind of innocence: they wear a scapular, which is
+likewise white: but the king would oblige them, for his sake, to bear
+the royal arms of Aragon, which are interwoven on their habit upon the
+breast. Their numbers increasing very fast, the saint petitioned the
+king for another house; who, on this occasion, built for them, in 1232,
+a magnificent convent at Barcelona.[3]
+
+King James having conquered the kingdom of Valencia, founded in it
+several rich convents; one was in the city of Valencia, which was taken
+by the aid of the prayers of St. Peter, when the soldiers had despaired
+of {316} success, tired out by the obstinacy of the besieged and
+strength of the place. In thanksgiving for this victory, the king built
+the rich monastery in the royal palace of Uneza, near the same city, on
+a spot where an image of our Lady was dug up, which is still preserved
+in the church of this convent end is famous for pilgrimages. It is
+called the monastery of our Lady of mercy del Puche.[4] That prince
+attributed to the prayers of Saint Peter thirty great victories which he
+obtained over the infidels, and the entire conquest of the two kingdoms
+of Valencia and Murcia. St. Peter, after his religious profession,
+renounced all his business at court, and no entreaties of the king could
+ever after prevail with him to appear there but once, and this was upon
+a motive of charity to reconcile two powerful noblemen, who by their
+dissension had divided the whole kingdom, and kindled a civil war. The
+saint ordained that two members of the Order should be sent together
+among the infidels, to treat about the ransom of Christian slaves, and
+they are hence called Ransomers. One of the two first employed in this
+pious work was our saint; and the kingdom of Valencia was the first
+place that was blessed with his labors; the second was that of Granada.
+He not only comforted and ransomed a great number of captives, but by
+his charity and other rare virtues, was the happy instrument of inducing
+many of the Mahometans to embrace the faith of Christ. He made several
+other journeys to the coasts of Spain, besides a voyage to Algiers,
+where, among other sufferings, he underwent imprisonment for the faith.
+But the most terrifying dangers could never make him desist from his
+pious endeavors for the conversion of the infidels, burning with a holy
+desire of martyrdom. He begged earnestly of his Order to be released
+from the burden of his generalship: but by his tears could only obtain
+the grant of a vicar to assist him in the discharge of it. He employed
+himself in the meanest offices of his convent, and coveted above all
+things to have the distribution of the daily alms at the gate of the
+monastery: he at the same time instructed the poor in the knowledge of
+God and in virtue. St. Louis IX. of France wrote frequently to him, and
+desired much to see him. The saint waited on him in Languedoc, in the
+year 1243, and the king, who tenderly embraced him, requested him to
+accompany him in his expedition to recover the Holy Land. St. Peter
+earnestly desired it, but was hindered by sickness, with which he was
+continually afflicted during the last years of his life, the effect of
+his fatigues and austerities, and he bore it with incomparable patience.
+In 1249, he resigned the offices of Ransomer and General, which was six
+or seven years before his death. This happened on Christmas-day, in
+1256. In his agony, he tenderly exhorted his religious to perseverance,
+and concluded with those words of the psalmist: _Our Lord hath sent
+redemption to his people; he hath commanded his covenant forever_.[5] He
+then recommended his soul to God by that charity with which Christ came
+from heaven to redeem us from the captivity of the devil, and melting
+into tears of compunction and divine love, he expired, being in the
+sixty-seventh year of his age. His relics are honored by many miracles.
+He was canonized by pope Urban VIII. His festival was appointed by
+Clement VIII. to be kept on the 31st of January.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Charity towards all mankind was a distinguishing feature in the
+character of the saints. This benevolent virtue so entirely possessed
+their hearts, that they were constantly disposed to sacrifice even their
+lives to the relief and assistance of others. Zealously employed in
+removing their temporal necessities, they labored with redoubled vigor
+to succor their spiritual wants, {317} by rooting out from their souls
+the dominion of sin, and substituting in its room the kingdom of God's
+grace. Ingratitude and ill-treatment, which was the return they
+frequently met with for their charitable endeavors, were not able to
+allay their ardent zeal: they considered men on these occasions as
+patients under the pressure of diseases, more properly the object of
+compassion than of resentment. They recommended them to God in their
+private devotions, and earnestly besought his mercy in their favor. This
+conduct of the saints, extraordinary as it is, ceases to appear
+surprising when we recollect the powerful arguments our Blessed Saviour
+made use of to excite us to the love of our neighbor. But how shall we
+justify our unfeeling hard-heartedness, that seeks every trifling
+pretence to exempt us from the duty of succoring the unfortunate? Have
+we forgot that Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who alone hath bestowed on us
+whatever we possess, hath made charity towards our fellow-creature, but
+especially towards the needy, an indispensable precept? Do we not know
+that he bids us consider the suffering poor as members of the same head,
+heirs of the same promises, as our brethren and his children who
+represent him on earth? He declares, that whatever we bestow upon them
+he will esteem it as given to himself; and pledges his sacred word that
+he will reward our alms with an eternity of bliss. Such motives, says
+St. Chrysostom, would be sufficient to touch a heart of stone: but there
+is something still more cogent, continues the same holy father, which
+is, that the same Jesus Christ, whom we refuse to nourish in the persons
+of the poor, feeds our souls with his precious body and blood. If such
+considerations move not our hearts to commiserate and assist the
+indigent, what share of mercy and relief can we hope for in the hour of
+need? Oh, incomprehensible blindness! we perhaps prepare for ourselves
+an eternal abyss, by those very means which, properly applied, would
+secure as the conquest of a kingdom which will never have an end.[6]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A century before, the counts of Barcelona were become kings of
+    Aragon by a female title, and had joined Catalonia to Aragon, making
+    Barcelona their chief residence and capital.
+2.  F. Tonron, in the life of St. Raymund, p. 20, quotes an original
+    letter of St. Raymund, which mentions this revelation. The
+    authenticity of this letter cannot be called in question, being
+    proved by F. Bremond, Bullar. Ord. Præd. t. 1, not. in Constit. 36,
+    Greg. X. The same revelation is inserted in the bull of the saint's
+    canonization, in the Histories of Zumel, Vargas, Penia, &c. Benedict
+    XIV. also mentions it, Canoniz. SS. l. 1, c. 41, and proves that it
+    cannot reasonably be contested.
+3.  This Order consisted at first of some knights, who were dressed like
+    seculars, wearing only a scarf or scapular; and of friars who were
+    in holy orders, and attended the choir. The knights were to guard
+    the coast against the Saracens, but were obliged to choir when not
+    on duty. St. Peter himself was never ordained priest; and the first
+    seven generals or commanders were chosen out of the knights, though
+    the friars were always more numerous. Raymond Albert, in 1317. was
+    the first priest who was raised to that dignity; and the popes
+    Clement V., and John XXII., ordered that the general should be
+    always a priest after which, the knight were incorporated into other
+    military Orders, or were rarely renewed. It is styled, "The royal
+    military religious Order of our Lady of Mercy for the redemption of
+    Captives." It is divided into commanderies, which in Spain are very
+    rich. It has eight provinces in America, three in Spain, and one,
+    the poorest, in the southern part of France, called the province of
+    Guienne. Whereas this Order is not bound to many extraordinary
+    domestic austerities, a reformation, obliging the members to go
+    barefoot, was established among them in the sixteenth century, and
+    approved by pope Clement VIII. It observes the strictest poverty,
+    recollection, solitude, and abstinence, and has two provinces in
+    Spain, and one in Sicily, besides several nunneries. It was erected
+    by F. John Baptist Gonzales, or of the holy sacrament, who died in
+    the year 1{}18, and is said to have been honored with miracles.
+4.  Podoniensis.
+5.  Ps. cx. 9.
+6.  S. Chrys. Hom. in illud: Vidua eligatur, &c. t. 3, p. 397. Ed. Ben.
+
+ST. SERAPION, M.
+
+HE was a zealous Englishman, whom St. Peter Nolasco received into his
+Order at Barcelona. He made two journeys among the Moors for the ransom
+of captives, in 1240. The first was to Murcia, in which he purchased the
+liberty of ninety-eight slaves: the second to Algiers, in which he
+redeemed eighty-seven, but remained himself a hostage for the full
+payment of the money. He boldly preached Christ to the Mahometans, and
+baptized several: for which he was cruelly tortured, scourged, cut and
+mangled, at length fastened to a cross, and was thereon stabbed and
+quartered alive in the same year, 1240. Pope Benedict XIII. declared him
+a martyr, and proved his immemorial veneration in his Order, by a decree
+in 1728, as Benedict XIV. relates. L. 2, de Canoniz. c. 24, p. 296.
+
+SS. CYRUS AND JOHN, MM.
+
+CYRUS, a physician of Alexandria, who by the opportunities which his
+profession gave him, had converted many sick persons to the faith; and
+John, an Arabian, hearing that a lady called Athanasia, and her three
+daughters, of which the eldest was only fifteen years of age, suffered
+torments for the name of Christ at Canope in Egypt, went thither to
+encourage them. They were apprehended themselves, and cruelly beaten:
+their sides {318} were burnt with torches, and salt and vinegar poured
+into their wounds in the presence of Athanasia and her daughters, who
+were also tortured after them. At length the four ladies, and a few days
+after, Cyrus and John, were beheaded, the two latter on this day. The
+Syrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Latins, honor their memory. See their
+acts[1] by St. Sophronius commended in the seventh general council, and
+published with remarks by Bollandus.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Cyrus is the same as Abba-Cher, mentioned in the Coptic calendar
+    on this day, which is the 8th of their month Mechir. He is called
+    Abbacyrus in the life of St. John the Almoner, written by Leontius,
+    in many ancient Martyrologies, and other monuments of antiquity.
+    Abbacyrus is a Chaldaic word, signifying the Father Cyr. As this
+    saint was an Egyptian, it is probable he was originally called
+    Pa-Cher, or Pa-Cyrus, the Egyptians having been accustomed to prefix
+    the article Pa to the names of men, as we see in Pa-chomis,
+    Pa-phantis, Pa-phantis, &c.
+
+    It is said in the acts of our two martyrs, that they were buried at
+    Canopus, twelve furlongs from Alexandria, and that their relics were
+    afterwards translated to Manutha, a village near Canopus, which was
+    celebrated for a great number of miracles wrought there. These
+    relies are now in a church at Rome called Sant' Apassara: this word
+    being corrupted by the Italians from Abbacyrus. Formerly there were
+    many churches in that city dedicated under the invocation of these
+    two holy martyrs. See Chatelain, notes on the Rom. Mart, p. 469, et
+    seq.
+
+ST. MARCELLA, WIDOW.
+
+SHE IS styled by St. Jerom the glory of the Roman ladies. Having lost
+her husband in the seventh month of her marriage, she rejected the suit
+of Cerealis the consul, uncle of Gallus Cæsar, and resolved to imitate
+the lives of the ascetics of the East. She abstained from wine and
+flesh, employed all her time in pious reading, prayer, and visiting the
+churches of the apostles and martyrs, and never spoke with any man
+alone. Her example was followed by many virgins of the first quality,
+who put themselves under her direction, and Rome was in a short time
+filled with monasteries. We have eleven letters of St. Jerom to her in
+answer to her religious queries. The Goths under Alaric plundered Rome
+in 410. St. Marcella was scourged by them for the treasures which she
+had long before distributed among the poor. All that time she trembled
+only for her dear spiritual pupil, Principia (not her daughter, as some
+have reputed her by mistake,) and falling at the feet of the cruel
+soldiers, she begged, with many tears, that they would offer her no
+insult. God moved them to compassion. They conducted them both to the
+church of St. Paul, to which Alaric had granted the right of sanctuary
+with that of St. Peter. St. Marcella, who survived this but a short
+time, which she spent in tears, prayers, and thanksgiving, closed her
+eyes by a happy death, in the arms of St. Principia, about the end of
+August, in 410, but her name occurs in the Roman Martyrology on the 31st
+of January. See St. Jerom, Ep. 96, ol. 16, ad Principiam, t. 4, p. 778.
+Ed. Ben. Baronius ad ann. 410, and Bollandus, t. 2, p. 1105.
+
+ST. MAIDOC, OR MAODHOG,
+
+CALLED ALSO AIDAN AND MOGUE, BISHOP OF FERNS, IN IRELAND.
+
+HE was born in Connaught, a province of Ireland, and seemed from his
+infancy to be deeply impressed with the fear of God. He passed in his
+early days into Wales, where he lived for a considerable time under the
+direction of the holy abbot David. He returned afterwards to his own
+country, accompanied with several monks of eminent piety, founded a
+great number of churches and monasteries, and was made bishop of Ferns.
+He {319} died in 632, according to Usher. His name is celebrated among
+the Irish saints. It appears from Cambrensis that his festival was
+observed in Wales in the twelfth century. He was also honored in
+Scotland.[1] See Colgan, Jan. 31, pp. 208, 223. Chatelain, notes, p.
+481.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  There is found in the chronicle of Scone, and in the Breviary of
+    Aberdeen, an ancient collect, in which the Divine mercy is implored
+    through his intercession. Chatelain tells us that in Lower Brittany
+    he is called St. De, (contracted from the Latin word Aideus, or
+    Aidanus,) and that the village and church which bear his name,
+    celebrate his festival on the 18th of March, the day perhaps on
+    which they received some portion of his relics.
+
+{320 blank page}
+{321}
+
+_Only Complete and Unabridged Edition with nearly 100 pages of
+Chronological and General Index, Alphabetical and Centenary Table, etc._
+
+THE
+LIVES
+OF
+THE FATHERS, MARTYRS,
+AND OTHER
+PRINCIPAL SAINTS;
+COMPILED FROM
+ORIGINAL MONUMENTS, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC RECORDS;
+ILLUSTRATED WITH THE
+REMARKS OF JUDICIOUS MODERN CRITICS AND HISTORIANS,
+BY THE REV. ALBAN BUTLER.
+_With the approbation of
+MOST REV. M. A. CORRIGAN, D.D.,
+Archbishop of New York._
+
+VOL. II.
+
+NEW YORK:
+P.J. KENEDY,
+PUBLISHER TO THE HOLY SEE,
+EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE,
+5 BARCLAY STREET.
+1903.
+
+{322 blank page}
+{323}
+/*
+CONTENTS.
+FEBRUARY.
+
+1.                                             PAGE
+St. IGNATIUS, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr........ 325
+St. Pionius, Priest and Martyr................. 333
+St. Bridget, Virgin and Abbess, Patroness of
+  Ireland...................................... 334
+St Kinnia, Virgin, of Ireland.................. 334
+St. Sigebert, King of Austrasia, Confessor..... 337
+
+2.
+The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.... 337
+St. Laurence, Archbishop of Canterbury......... 342
+
+3.
+St Blaze, Bishop and Martyr.................... 343
+St. Anscharius, Archbishop of Hamburgh and
+  Bremen, Confessor............................ 344
+St. Wereburge, Virgin and Abbess, in England,
+  Patroness of Chester......................... 345
+St. Margaret, Virgin in England................ 348
+
+4.
+St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop and Confessor....... 349
+St. Phileas and Philoromus, Bishop of Thmuis,
+  Martyrs...................................... 351
+St. Gilbert, Abbot, Founder of the Gilbertins.. 353
+St. Jean, or Joan, of Valois, Queen of France.. 353
+St. Isidore of Pelusium, Priest................ 354
+St Rembert, Archbishop of Bremen, Confessor.... 355
+St. Modan, Abbot in Scotland, Confessor........ 355
+St. Joseph of Leonissa, Confessor.............. 356
+
+5.
+St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr.................. 357
+The Martyrs of Japan........................... 359
+Appendix to the Martyrs of China............... 362
+SS. Martyrs of Pontus, under Dioclesian........ 366
+St. Avitus, Archbishop of Vienne, Confessor.... 366
+St. Alice, or Adelaide, Virgin and Abbess...... 366
+St. Abraamius, Bishop of Arbela, Martyr........ 367
+
+6.
+St. Dorothy, Virgin and Martyr................. 367
+St. Vedast, Bishop of Arras, Confessor......... 368
+St. Amandus, Bishop and Confessor.............. 369
+St. Barsanuphius, Anchoret..................... 370
+
+7.
+St. Romuald, Abbot and Confessor, Founder of
+  the Order of Camaldoli....................... 370
+St. Richard, King in England, and Confessor.... 377
+St. Theodorus, of Heraclea, Martyr............. 377
+St. Tresain, or Tresanus, Priest and Confessor. 378
+St. Augulus, Bishop in England, and Martyr..... 379
+
+8.
+St. John of Matha, Confessor, Founder of the
+  Order of Trinitarians........................ 379
+St. Stephen of Grandmont, Abbot................ 382
+Appendix to the Life of St. Stephen............ 384
+St. Paul, Bishop of Verdun, Confessor.......... 384
+St. Cuthman, in England, Confessor............. 385
+
+9.
+St. Apollonia, Virgin and Martyr............... 388
+St. Nicephorus, Martyr......................... 388
+St. Theliau, Bishop in England, and Confessor.. 489
+St. Ansbert, Archbishop of Rouen in 695,
+  Confessor.................................... 390
+St. Attracta, or Tarahata, Virgin, in Ireland.. 390
+St. Erhard, Abbot and Confessor, native of
+  Scotland..................................... 390
+
+10.
+St. Scholastica, Virgin........................ 391
+St. Soteris, Virgin and Martyr................. 393
+St. William of Maleval, Hermit, and Institutor
+  of the Order of Gulielmites.................. 393
+St. Erlulph, Bishop and Martyr, native of
+  Scotland..................................... 305
+
+11.
+SS. Saturninus, Dativus, and others, Martyrs of
+  Africa....................................... 395
+St. Severinus, Abbot of Agaunum................ 397
+St. Theodora, Empress.......................... 398
+
+12.
+St. Benedict of Anian, Abbot................... 398
+St. Meletius, Patriarch of Antioch, Confessor.. 401
+St. Eulalia, Virgin, of Barcelona, Martyr...... 405
+St. Antony Cauleas, Patriarch of
+  Constantinople, Confessor.................... 405
+
+13.
+St. Catharine de Ricci, Virgin................. 406
+St. Licinius, Bishop of Angers, Confessor...... 408
+St. Polyeuctus, Martyr......................... 409
+St. Gregory II., Pope and Confessor............ 410
+St. Martinianus, Hermit at Athens.............. 412
+St. Modomnoc, or Dominick, of Ossory, Bishop
+  and Confessor................................ 413
+St. Stephen, Abbot............................. 413
+B. Roger, Abbot and Confessor.................. 413
+
+14.
+St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr............... 413
+St. Maro, Abbot................................ 414
+St. Abraames, Bishop of Carres................. 415
+St. Auxentius, Hermit.......................... 415
+St. Conran, Bishop of Orkney, Confessor........ 416
+
+15.
+SS. Faustinus and Jovita, Martyrs.............. 416
+St. Sigefride, or Sigfrid, Bishop. Apostle of
+  Sweden....................................... 417
+
+16.
+St. Onesimus, Disciple of St. Paul............. 418
+SS. Elias, Jeremy, Isaias, Samuel, Daniel, and
+  other Holy Martyrs at Cæsarea, in Palestine. 419
+St. Juliana, Virgin and Martyr................. 420
+St. Gregory X., Pope and Confessor............. 420
+St. Tanco, or Tatta, Bishop and Martyr, native
+  of Scotland.................................. 422
+
+{324}
+
+17.
+St. Flavian, Archbishop of Constantinople,
+  Martyr....................................... 422
+SS. Theodulus and Julian, Martyrs.............. 425
+St. Silvin of Auchy, Bishop and Confessor...... 426
+St. Loman, or Luman, Bishop in Ireland,
+  Confessor.................................... 426
+St. Fintan, Abbot of Cluian-Ednech, in Ireland. 427
+
+18.
+St. Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, Martyr........ 427
+SS. Leo and Paregorius, Martyrs................ 429
+
+19.
+St. Barbatus, or Barbas, Bishop of Benevento,
+  Confessor.................................... 431
+
+20.
+SS. Tyrannio, Bishop of Tyre, Zenobius, and
+  other Martyrs in Phoenicia................... 433
+St. Sadoth, Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon,
+  with 128 Companions, Martyrs................. 434
+St. Eleutherius, Bishop of Tourney, Martyr..... 436
+St. Mildred, Virgin and Abbess................. 436
+St. Eucherius, Bishop of Orleans, Confessor.... 437
+St. Ulrick, Recluse in England................. 438
+
+21.
+St. Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, Martyr.. 439
+SS. German, Abbot of Granfel, and Randaut,
+  Martyrs...................................... 440
+SS. Daniel, Priest, and Verde, Virgin, Martyrs. 441
+B. Pepin of Landen, Mayor of the Palace........ 441
+
+22.
+The Chair of St. Peter, at Antioch............. 442
+St. Margaret of Cortona, Penitent.............. 443
+SS. Thalassius and Limneus, Confessors......... 444
+St. Baradat, Confessor......................... 444
+
+23.
+St. Serenas, a Gardener, Martyr................ 445
+St. Milburge, Virgin in England................ 447
+St. Dositheus, Monk............................ 447
+B. Peter Damian, Cardinal, Bishop of Ostia..... 448
+St. Boisil, Prior of Melross, Confessor........ 431
+
+24.
+St. Matthias, Apostle.......................... 453
+SS. Montanus, Lucius, Flavian, Julian,
+  Victoricus, Primolus, Rhenus, and Donatian,
+  Martyrs at Carthage.......................... 453
+St. Lethard, Bishop of Senlis, Confessor....... 459
+B. Robert, of Arbrissel, Priest................ 459
+St. Pretextatus, or Prix, Archbishop of Rouen,
+  Martyr....................................... 460
+St. Ethelbert, Confessor, First Christian King
+  among the English............................ 462
+
+25.
+St. Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople,
+  Confessor.................................... 463
+St. Victorinus, and Six Companions, Martyrs.... 468
+St. Walburge, Abbess in England................ 469
+St. Cæsarius, Physician, Confessor............. 470
+St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria,
+  Confessor.................................... 470
+St. Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza, Confessor...... 473
+St. Victor, or Vittre, of Arcis in Champagne,
+  Anchoret and Confessor....................... 477
+
+26.
+St. Leander, Bishop of Seville, Confessor...... 478
+SS. Julian, Chronion, and Besas, Martyrs ...... 480
+St. Thalilæus, a Cilician, Recluse in Syria.... 481
+St. Galmier, of Lyons.......................... 481
+St. Nestor, Bishop and Martyr.................. 481
+St. Alnoth, Anchoret and Martyr................ 482
+
+28.
+Martyrs who died in the Great Pestilence in
+  Alexandria................................... 482
+St. Proterius, Patriarch of Alexandria, Martyr. 482
+SS. Romanus and Lupicinus, Abbots.............. 484
+
+29.
+St. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, and
+  Archbishop of York........................... 484
+*/
+{325}
+
+
+FEBRUARY I.
+
+ST. IGNATIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, M.
+
+From his genuine epistles; also from the acts of his martyrdom, St.
+Chrys. Hom. In St. Ignat. M. t. 3, p. {}{9}2. Ed. Nov. Eusebius. See
+Tillemont, t. 2, p. 191. Cave, t. 1, p. 100. Dom Ceillier. Dom Marechal
+Concordance des Pères Grecs et Latins, t. 1, p. 58.
+
+A.D. 107.
+
+ST. IGNATIUS, surnamed Theophorus,[1] a word implying a divine or
+heavenly person, was a zealous convert and an intimate disciple of St.
+John the Evangelist, as his acts assure us; also the apostles SS. Peter
+and Paul, who united their labors in planting the faith at Antioch.[2]
+It was by their direction that he succeeded Evodius in the government of
+that important see, as we are told by St. Chrysostom,[3] who represents
+him as a perfect model of virtue in that station, in which he continued
+upwards of forty years. During the persecution of Domitian, St. Ignatius
+defended his flock by prayer, fasting, and daily preaching the word of
+God. He rejoiced to see peace restored to the church on the death of
+that emperor, so far as this calm might be beneficial to those committed
+to his charge: but was apprehensive that he had not attained to the
+perfect love of Christ, nor the dignity of a true disciple, because he
+had not as yet been called to seal the truth of his religion with his
+blood, an honor he somewhat impatiently longed for. The peaceable reign
+of Nerva lasted only fifteen months. The governors of several provinces
+renewed the persecution under Trajan his successor: and it appears from
+Trajan's letter to Pliny the younger, governor of Bithynia, that the
+Christians were ordered to be put to death, if accused; but it was
+forbid to make any inquiry after them. That emperor sullied his clemency
+and bounty, and his other pagan virtues, by incest with his sister, by
+an excessive vanity, which procured him the surname of Parietmus, (or
+dauber of every wall with the inscriptions of his name and actions,) and
+by blind superstition, which rendered him a persecutor of the true
+followers of virtue, out of a notion of gratitude to his imaginary
+deities, especially after his victories over the Daci and Scythians in
+101 and 105. In the year 106, which was the ninth of his reign, he set
+out for the East on an expedition {326} against the Parthians, and made
+his entry into Antioch on the 7th of January, 107, with the pomp of a
+triumph. His first concern was about the affair of religion and worship
+of the gods, and for this reason he resolved to compel the Christians
+either to acknowledge their divinity and sacrifice to them, or suffer
+death in case of refusal.
+
+Ignatius, as a courageous soldier, being concerned only for his flock,
+willingly suffered himself to be taken, and carried before Trajan, who
+thus accosted him: "Who art thou, wicked demon, that durst transgress my
+commands, and persuade others to perish?" The saint answered: "No one
+calls Theophorus a wicked demon." Trajan said: "Who is Theophorus?"
+Ignatius answered: "He who carrieth Christ in his breast." Trajan
+replied: "And do not we seem to thee to bear the gods in our breasts,
+whom we have assisting us against our enemies?" Ignatius said: "You err
+in calling those gods who are no better than devils: for there is only
+one God, who made heaven and earth, and all things that are in them: and
+one Jesus Christ his only Son, into whose kingdom I earnestly desire to
+be admitted." Trajan said: "Do not you mean him that was crucified under
+Pontius Pilate?" Ignatius answered: "The very same, who by his death
+has crucified with sin its author, who overcame the malice of the
+devils, and has enabled those, who bear him in their heart, to trample
+on them." Trajan said: "Dost thou carry about Christ within thee?"
+Ignatius replied, "Yes; for it is written: _I will dwell and walk in
+them_."[4] Then Trajan dictated the following sentence: "It is our will
+that Ignatius, who saith that he carrieth the crucified man within
+himself, be bound and conducted to Rome, to be devoured there by wild
+beasts, for the entertainment of the people." The holy martyr, hearing
+this sentence, cried out with joy: "I thank thee, O Lord, for
+vouchsafing to honor me with this token of perfect love for thee, and to
+be bound with chains of iron, in imitation of thy apostle Paul, for thy
+sake." Having said this, and prayed for the church, and recommended it
+with tears to God, he joyfully put on the chains, and was hurried away
+by a savage troop of soldiers to be conveyed to Rome. His inflamed
+desire of laying down his life for Christ, made him embrace his
+sufferings with great joy.
+
+On his arrival at Seleucia, a sea-port, about sixteen miles from
+Antioch, he was put on board a ship which was to coast the southern and
+western parts of Asia Minor. Why this route was pitched upon, consisting
+of so many windings, preferably to a more direct passage from Seleucia
+to Rome, is not known; probably to render the terror of his punishment
+the more extensive, and of the greater force, to deter men from
+embracing and persevering in the faith: but providence seems to have
+ordained it for the comfort and edification of many churches. Several
+Christians of Antioch, taking a shorter way, got to Rome before him,
+where they waited his arrival. He was accompanied thither from Syria by
+Reus, Philo, a deacon, and Agathopodus, who seem to have written these
+acts of his martyrdom. He was guarded night and day, both by sea and
+land, by ten soldiers, whom he calls ten leopards, on account of their
+inhumanity and merciless usage who, the kinder he was to them, were the
+more fierce and cruel to him. This voyage, however, gave him the
+opportunity of confirming in faith and piety the several churches he saw
+on his route; giving them the strictest caution against heresies and
+schism, and recommending to them an inviolable attachment to the
+tradition of the apostles. St. Chrysostom adds, that he taught them
+admirably to despise the present life, to love only the good things to
+come, and never to fear any temporal evils whatever. The faithful {327}
+flocked from the several churches he came near, to see him, and to
+render him all the service in their power, hoping to receive benefit
+from the plenitude of his benediction. The cities of Asia, besides
+deputing to him their bishops and priests, to express their veneration
+for him, sent also deputies in their name to bear him company the
+remainder of his journey; so that he says he had many churches with him.
+So great was his fervor and desire of suffering, that by the fatigues
+and length of the voyage, which was a very bad one, he appeared the
+stronger and more courageous. On their reaching Smyrna, he was suffered
+to go ashore, which he did with great joy, to salute St. Polycarp, who
+had been his fellow-disciple under St. John the Evangelist. Their
+conversation was upon topics suitable to their character, and St.
+Polycarp felicitated him on his chains and sufferings in so good a
+cause. At Smyrna he was met by deputies of several churches, who were
+sent to salute him. Those from Ephesus were Onesimus, the bishop;
+Burrhus, the deacon; Crocus, Euplus, and Fronto. From Magnesia in Lydia,
+Damas the bishop, Bassus and Apollo, priests, and Sotio, deacon. From
+Tralles, also in Lydia, Polybius the bishop. From Smyrna, St. Ignatius
+wrote four letters: in that to the church of Ephesus, he commends the
+bishop Onesimus, and the piety and concord of the people, and their zeal
+against all heresies, and exhorts them to glorify God all manner of
+ways: to be subject, in unanimity, to their bishop and priests; to
+assemble, as often as possible, with them in public prayer, by which the
+power of Satan is weakened: to oppose only meekness to anger, humility
+to boasting, prayers to curses and reproaches, and to suffer all
+injuries without murmuring. He says, that because they are spiritual,
+and perform all they do in a spiritual manner, that all, even their
+ordinary actions, are spiritualized, because they do all in Jesus
+Christ. That he ought to have been admonished by them, but his charity
+would not suffer him to be silent: wherefore he prevents them, by
+admonishing first, that both might meet in the will of God. He bids them
+not be solicitous to speak, but to live well, and to edify others by
+their actions; and recommends himself and his widow-church of Antioch to
+their prayers. Himself he calls their outcast, yet declares that he is
+ready to be immolated for their sake, and says they were persons who had
+found mercy, but he a condemned man: they were strengthening in grace,
+but he struggling in the midst of dangers. He calls them
+fellow-travellers in the road to God, which is charity, and says they
+bore God and Christ in their breasts, and were his temples, embellished
+with all virtues, and that he exulted exceedingly for the honor of being
+made worthy to write to them, and rejoice in God with them: for setting
+a true value on the life to come, they loved nothing but God alone.
+Speaking of heretics, he says, that he who corrupts the faith for which
+Christ died, will go into unquenchable fire, and also he who heareth
+him. It is observed by him, that God concealed from the devil three
+mysteries: the virginity of Mary, her bringing forth, and the death of
+the Lord: and he calls the Eucharist the medicine of immortality, the
+antidote against death, by which we always live in Christ. "Remember me,
+as I pray that Jesus Christ be mindful of you. Pray for the church of
+Syria, from whence I am carried in chains to Rome, being the last of the
+faithful who are there. Farewell in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ,
+our common hope." The like instructions he repeats with a new and most
+moving turn of thought, in his letters to the churches of Magnesia, and
+of the Trallians; inculcates the greatest abhorrence of schism and
+heresy, and begs their prayers for himself and his church in Syria, of
+which he is not worthy to be called a member, being the last of them.[5]
+His {328} fourth letter was written to the Christians of Rome. The saint
+knew the all-powerful efficacy of the prayers of the saints, and feared
+lest they should obtain of God his deliverance from death. He therefore
+besought St. Polycarp and others at Smyrna, to join their prayers with
+his, that the cruelty of the wild beasts might quickly rid the world of
+him, that he might be presented before Jesus Christ. With this view he
+wrote to the faithful at Rome, to beg that they would not endeavor to
+obtain of God that the beasts might spare him, as they had several other
+martyrs; which might induce the people to release him, and so disappoint
+him of his crown.
+
+The ardor of divine love which the saint breathes throughout this
+letter, is as inflamed as the subject is extraordinary. In it he writes:
+"I fear your charity, lest it prejudice me: for it is easy for you to do
+what you please; but it will be difficult for me to attain unto God if
+you spare me. I shall never have such an opportunity of enjoying God:
+nor can you, if ye shall now be silent, ever be entitled to the honor of
+a better work. For if ye be silent in my behalf, I shall be made
+partaker of God; but if ye love my body, I shall have my course to run
+again. Therefore, a greater kindness you cannot do me, than to suffer me
+to be sacrificed unto God, while the altar is now ready; that so
+becoming a choir in love, in your hymns ye may give thanks to the Father
+by Jesus Christ, that God has vouchsafed to bring me, the bishop of
+Syria, from the East unto the West, to pass out of the world unto God,
+that I may rise again unto him. Ye have never envied any one. Ye have
+taught others. I desire, therefore, that you will firmly observe that
+which in your instructions you have prescribed to others. Only pray for
+me, that God would give me both inward and outward strength, that I may
+not only say, but do: that I may not only be called a Christian, {329}
+but be found one: for if I shall be found a Christian, I may then
+deservedly be called one; and be thought faithful, when I shall no
+longer appear to the world. Nothing is good that is seen. A Christian is
+not a work of opinion, but of greatness, when he is hated by the world.
+I write to the churches, and signify to them all, that I am willing to
+die for God, unless you hinder me. I beseech you that you show not an
+unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to be the food of wild
+beasts, whereby I may attain unto God: I am the wheat of God, and I am
+to be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the
+pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the beasts to my sepulchre, that
+they may leave nothing of my body, that, being dead, I may not be
+troublesome to any. Then shall I be a true disciple of Jesus Christ,
+when the world shall not see so much as my body. Pray to Christ for me,
+that in this I may become a sacrifice to God. I do not, as Peter and
+Paul, command you; they were apostles, I am an inconsiderable person:
+they were free, I am even yet a slave. But if I suffer, I shall then
+become the freeman of Jesus Christ, and shall arise a freeman in him.
+Now I am in bonds for him, I learn to have no worldly or vain desires.
+From Syria even unto Rome, I fight with wild beasts, both by sea and
+land, both night and day, bound to ten leopards, that is, to a band of
+soldiers; who are the worse for kind treatment. But I am the more
+instructed by their injuries; yet am I not thereby justified.[6] I
+earnestly wish for the wild beasts that are prepared for me, which I
+heartily desire may soon dispatch me; whom I will entice to devour me
+entirely and suddenly, and not serve me as they have done some whom they
+have been afraid to touch; but if they are unwilling to meddle with me,
+I will even compel them to it.[7] Pardon me this matter, I know what is
+good for me. Now I begin to be a disciple. So that I have no desire
+after any thing visible or invisible, that I may attain to Jesus Christ.
+Let fire, or the cross, or the concourse of wild beasts, let cutting or
+tearing of the flesh, let breaking of bones and cutting off limbs, let
+the shattering in pieces of my whole body, and all the wicked torments
+of the devil come upon me, so I may but attain to Jesus Christ. All the
+compass of the earth, and the kingdoms of this world, will profit me
+nothing. It is better for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ, than
+to rule unto the ends of the earth. Him I seek who died for us: Him I
+desire who rose again for us. He is my gain at hand. Pardon me,
+brethren: be not my hinderance in attaining to life, for Jesus Christ is
+the life of the faithful; while I desire to belong to God, do not ye
+yield me back to the world. Suffer me to partake of the pure light. When
+I shall be there, I shall be a man of God. Permit me to imitate the
+passion of Christ my God. If any one has him within himself, let him
+consider what I desire, and let him have compassion on me, as knowing
+how I am straitened. The prince of this world endeavors to snatch me
+away, and to change the desire with which I burn of being united to God.
+Let none of you who are present attempt to succor me. Be rather on my
+side, that is, on God's. Entertain no desires of the world, having Jesus
+Christ in your mouths. Let no envy find place in your breasts. Even were
+I myself to entreat you when present, do not obey me; but rather believe
+what I now signify to you by letter. Though I am alive at the writing of
+this, yet my desire is to die. My love is crucified. The fire that is
+within me does not crave any water; but being alive and springing
+within, says: Come to the Father. I take no pleasure in the food of
+corruption, nor in the pleasure of this life. I desire {330} the bread
+of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, and for drink, his blood,
+which is incorruptible charity. I desire to live no longer according to
+men; and this will be, if you are willing. Be, then, willing, that you
+may be accepted by God. Pray for me that I may possess God. If I shall
+suffer, ye have loved me: if I shall be rejected, ye have hated me.
+Remember in your prayers the church of Syria, which now enjoys God for
+its shepherd instead of me. I am ashamed to be called of their number,
+for I am not worthy, being the last of them, and an abortive: but
+through mercy I have obtained that I shall be something, if I enjoy
+God." The martyr gloried in his sufferings as in the highest honor, and
+regarded his chains as most precious jewels. His soul was raised above
+either the love or fear of any thing on earth; and, as St. Chrysostom
+says, he could lay down his life with as much ease and willingness as
+another man could put off his clothes. He even wished, every step of his
+journey, to meet with the wild beasts; and though that death was most
+shocking and barbarous, and presented the most frightful ideas,
+sufficient to startle the firmest resolution; yet it was incapable of
+making the least impression upon his courageous soul. The perfect
+mortification of his affections appears from his heavenly meekness; and
+he expressed how perfectly he was dead to himself and the world, living
+only to God in his heart, by that admirable sentence: "My love is
+crucified."[8] To signify, as he explains himself afterwards, that his
+appetites and desires were crucified to the world, and to all the lusts
+and pleasures of it.
+
+The guards pressed the saint to leave Smyrna, that they might arrive at
+Rome before the shows were over. He rejoiced exceedingly at their hurry,
+desiring impatiently to enjoy God by martyrdom. They sailed to Troas,
+where he was informed that God had restored peace to his church at
+Antioch: which freed him from the anxiety he had been under, fearing
+lest there should be some weak ones in his flock. At Troas he wrote
+three other letters, one to the church of Philadelphia, and a second to
+the Smyrnæans, in which he calls the heretics who denied Christ to have
+assumed true flesh, and the Eucharist to be his flesh, wild beasts in
+human shape; and forbids all communication with them, only allowing them
+to be prayed for, that they may be brought to repentance, which is very
+difficult. His last letter is addressed to St. Polycarp, whom he exhorts
+to labor for Christ without sparing himself; for the measure of his
+labor will be that of his reward.[9] The style of the martyr everywhere
+follows the impulses of a burning charity, rather than the rules of
+grammar, and his pen is never able to express the sublimity of his
+thoughts. In every word there is a fire and a beauty not to be
+paralleled: every thing is full of a deep sense. He everywhere breathes
+the most profound humility and contempt of himself as an abortive, and
+the last of men; a great zeal for the church, and abhorrence of schisms:
+the most ardent love of God and his neighbor, and tenderness for his own
+flock: begging the prayers of all the churches in its behalf to whom he
+wrote, and entreating of several that they would send an embassy to his
+church at Antioch, to comfort and exhort them. The {331} seven epistles
+of this apostolic father, the same which were quoted by St. Irenæus,
+Origen, Eusebius, St. Athanasius, St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Gildas,
+&c., are published genuine by Usher, Vossius, Cotelier, &c., and in
+English by archbishop Wake, in 1710.
+
+St. Ignatius, not being allowed time to write to the other churches of
+Asia, commissioned St. Polycarp to do it for him. From Troas they sailed
+to Neapolis in Macedonia, and went thence to Philippi, from which place
+they crossed Macedonia and Epirus on foot; but took shipping again at
+Epidamnum in Dalmatia, and sailing by Rhegium and Puteoli, were carried
+by a strong gale into the Roman port, the great station of the navy near
+Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, sixteen miles from Rome. He would
+gladly have landed at Puteoli, to have traced St. Paul's steps, by going
+on foot from that place to Rome, but the wind rendered it impracticable.
+On landing, the authors of these acts, who were his companions, say they
+were seized with great grief, seeing they were soon to be separated from
+their dear master; but he rejoiced to find himself so near the end of
+his race. The soldiers hastened him on, because the public shows were
+drawing to an end. The faithful of Rome came out to meet him, rejoicing
+at the sight of him, but grieving that they were so soon to lose him by
+a barbarous death. They earnestly wished that he might be released at
+the request of the people. The martyr knew in spirit their thoughts, and
+said much more to them than he had done in his letter on the subject of
+true charity, conjuring them not to obstruct his going to the Lord. Then
+kneeling with all the brethren, he prayed to the Son of God for the
+Church, for the ceasing of the persecution, and for perpetual charity
+and unanimity among the faithful. He arrived at Rome the 20th of
+December, the last day of the public entertainments, and was presented
+to the prefect of the city, to whom the emperor's letter was delivered
+at the same time. He was then hurried by the soldiers into the
+amphitheatre. The saint hearing the lions roar, cried out: "I am the
+wheat of the Lord; I must be ground by the teeth of these beasts to be
+made the pure bread of Christ." Two fierce lions being let out upon him,
+they instantly devoured him, leaving nothing of his body but the larger
+bones: thus his prayer was heard. "After having been present at this
+sorrowful spectacle," say our authors, "which made us shed many tears,
+we spent the following night in our house in watching and prayer,
+begging of God to afford us some comfort by certifying us of his glory."
+They relate, that their prayer was heard, and that several of them in
+their slumber saw him in great bliss. They are exact in setting down the
+day of his death, that they might assemble yearly thereon to honor his
+martyrdom.[10] They add, that his bones were taken up and carried to
+Antioch, and there laid in a chest as an inestimable treasure. St.
+Chrysostom says his relics were carried in triumph on the shoulders of
+all the cities from Rome to Antioch. They were first laid in the
+cemetery without the Daphnitic gate, but in the reign of Theodosius the
+younger were translated thence with great pomp to a church in the city,
+which had been a temple of Fortune, but from this time bore his name, as
+Evagrius {332} relates.[11] St. Chrysostom exhorts all people to visit
+them, assuring them they would receive thereby many advantages,
+spiritual and corporal, which he proves at length.[12] They are now at
+Rome, in the church of St. Clement, pope, whither they were brought
+about the time when Antioch fell into the hands of the Saracens in the
+reign of Heraclius, in 637.[13] The regular canons at Arouaise near
+Bapaume in Artois, the Benedictin monks at Liesse in Haynault, and some
+other churches, have obtained each some bone of this glorious
+martyr.[14] The Greeks keep his feast a holyday on the day of his death,
+the 20th of December. His martyrdom happened in 107.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The perfect spirit of humility, meekness, patience, charity, and all
+other Christian virtues, which the seven epistles of St. Ignatius
+breathe in every part, cannot fail deeply to affect all who attentively
+read them. Critics confess that they find in them a sublimity, an energy
+and beauty of thought and expression, which they cannot sufficiently
+admire. But the Christian is far more astonished at the saint's perfect
+disengagement of heart from the world, the ardor of his love for God,
+and the earnestness of his desire of martyrdom. Every period in them is
+full of profound sense, which must be attentively meditated on before we
+can discover the divine sentiments of all virtues which are here
+expressed. Nor can we consider them without being inspired by some
+degree of the same, and being covered with confusion to find ourselves
+fall so far short of the humility and fervor of the primitive saints.
+Let us listen to the instructions which this true disciple of Christ
+gives in his letter to the Philadelphians, an abstract of his other six
+epistles being given above. He begins it by a strenuous recommendation
+of union with their bishop, priests, and deacons; and gives to their
+bishop (whom he does not name) great praises, especially for his
+humility and meekness, insomuch that he says his silence was more
+powerful than the vain discourses of others, and that conversing with an
+unchangeable serenity of mind, and in the sweetness of the living God,
+he was utterly a stranger to anger. He charges them to refrain from the
+pernicious weeds of heresy and schism, which are not planted by the
+Father, nor kept by Christ. "Whoever belong to God and Jesus Christ,
+these are with the bishop. If any one follows him who maketh a schism,
+he obtains not the inheritance of the kingdom of God. He who walks in
+the simplicity of obedience is not enslaved to his passion. Use one
+eucharist: for the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ is one, and the cup is
+one in the unity of his blood. There is one altar, as there is one
+bishop, with the college of the priesthood and the deacons, my
+fellow-servants, that you may do all things according to God. My
+brethren, my heart is exceedingly dilated in the tender love which I
+bear you, and exulting beyond bounds, I render you secure and cautious;
+not I indeed, but Jesus Christ, in whom being bound I fear the more for
+myself, being yet imperfect. But your prayer with God will make me
+perfect, that I may obtain the portion which his mercy assigns me."
+Having cautioned them against adopting Jewish ceremonies, and against
+divisions and schisms, he mentions one that had lately happened among
+them, and speaks of a revelation which he had received of it as follows:
+"When I was among you, I cried out with a loud voice, with the voice of
+God, saying: Hearken to your bishop, and the priesthood, and the
+deacons. Some suspected that I said this from a foresight of the
+division which some afterwards {333} made. But He for whom I am in
+chains is my witness, that I knew it not from man, but the Spirit
+declared it, saying: Do ye nothing without your bishop. Keep your body
+holy as the temple of God. Be lovers of unity; shun all divisions. Be ye
+imitators of Jesus Christ, as he is of the Father. I therefore did what
+lay in me, as one framed to maintain union. Where disagreement or anger
+is found, there God never dwells. But God forgives all penitents." He
+charges them to send some person of honor from their church to
+congratulate with his church in Syria upon peace being restored to it,
+and calls him blessed who should be honored with this commission.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The accent placed on the penultima of [Greek: Theophoros], as the
+    word is written in the saint's acts, denotes it of an active
+    signification, _one that carrieth God_; but of the passive, _carried
+    of God_, if placed on the antepenultima.
+2.  St. Gregory tells us, (l. 4, ep. 37,) that he was a disciple of St.
+    Peter. The apostolic constitutions add, also of St. Paul, (l. 7, c.
+    46.) We are assured by St. Chrysostom (Hom. in St. Ignat.) and
+    Theodoret, (Dial. 1, p. 33,) that he was made bishop by the
+    direction of the apostles, and by the imposition of their hands. St.
+    Chrysostom says, that St. Peter appointed him bishop to govern the
+    see of Antioch, when he quitted it himself; which seems also to be
+    affirmed by Origen, (in Luc. Hom. 6,) St. Athanasius, (de Syn. p.
+    922,) F{}dus, &c. Baronius thinks he was left by St. Peter, bishop
+    of the Jewish converts, and became bishop also of the Gentiles in
+    68: for Eusebius (Hist. l. 3, c. 22, 36.) says, that St. Evodius
+    succeeded St. Peter at Antioch; he adds in his chronicle, in the
+    year 43, that he died in 68, and was succeeded by St. Ignatius. Some
+    think there is a mistake in the chronicle of Eusebius, as to the
+    year of the death of Evodius, and that this happened before the
+    martyrdom of St. Peter, who appointed St. Ignatius his successor.
+    See Cotelier, not. p. 299. Tillem. not. t. 2. p. 619. The Greek
+    Menæa mentions Evodius on the 7th of September.
+3.  Hom. in St. Ignat. t. 2, p. 592. See also Theodoret. Dial. 1, p. 33.
+4.  2 Cor. v. 16.
+5.  In his letter to the Magnesians, after saluting them, he says, he
+    rejoices exceedingly in their charity and faith, and adds: "Having
+    the honor to bear a name of divine dignity, on account to the chains
+    which I carry, I sing the glow of the churches, and wish them the
+    union of the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ our perpetual life, of
+    faith, and of charity, than which nothing is more excellent; and
+    what is chiefest, of Jesus and the Father, in whom, bearing with
+    patience the whole power of the prince of this world, and escaping
+    him, we shall possess God." The saint much commends their bishop
+    Damas, and exhorts them to yield him perfect obedience,
+    notwithstanding his youth. Setting death before their eyes as near
+    at hand to every one, he puts them in mind that we must bear the
+    mark of Jesus Christ, (which is charity,) not that of the world. "If
+    we are not ready to die, in imitation of his sufferings, his life is
+    not in us," says he. "I recommend to you that you do all things in
+    the concord of God, the bishop presiding for God, the priests in the
+    place of the college of the apostles, and my dearest deacons, to
+    whom is the ministry of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father before
+    all ages, and has appeared in the end. Therefore, following all the
+    same conduct, respect one another, and let no one consider his
+    neighbor according to the flesh, but ever love each other in Jesus
+    Christ. As the Lord did nothing without the Father, so neither do
+    you say thing without the priests. Meeting together, have one
+    prayer, one mind, one hope in charity, in holy joy. All of you meet
+    as in one church of God, as to one altar, as to one Jesus Christ,
+    who proceeds from one Father, exists in one, and returns to him in
+    Unity." He cautions them against admitting the Jewish ceremonies,
+    and against the errors of the Docetes. Then adds: "I shall enjoy you
+    in all things if I am worthy. For though I am in chains, I am not to
+    be compared to any one of you who enjoy your liberty. I know there
+    is in you no pride; for you have Jesus Christ within you. And when I
+    commend you, I know that you are more confounded, as it is written:
+    _The just man is his own accuser_." Prov. xviii. 18. He again
+    tenderly exhorts them to concord, and to obedience to their bishop,
+    and commends himself, that he may attain to God and his church, of
+    which he is not worthy to be called one, to their prayers, adding:
+    "I stand much in need of your united prayer and charity in God, that
+    the church in Syria may deserve to be watered by your church."
+
+    The epistle to the Trallians he begins thus: "I know that your
+    sentiments are pure, your hearts inseperable in patience and
+    meekness, which is not passing, but as it were natural; as I learn
+    from your bishop Polybius who congratulated with me in my chains in
+    Christ Jesus, in such manner that in him I beheld your whole
+    multitude. Receiving through him your good-will in God, I gloried,
+    finding you to be, as I knew, imitators of God. As you are subject
+    to the bishop as to Christ, you seem not to live according to men,
+    but according to Jesus Christ." He bids them respect the deacons
+    (whom be calls the ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ) as
+    the precept of Christ; the priests as the senate of God, and the
+    bishop as representing God. "Without these the very name of a church
+    is not given," says he--"I know many things in God, but I measure
+    myself, lest by glorying I perish. Now I have reason more to fear:
+    nor must I listen to those who speak kindly to me; for they who
+    speak to commend me, scourge me. I desire indeed to suffer: but I
+    know not whether I am worthy. Though I am in chains, and understand
+    heavenly things, the ranks of angels and principalities, things
+    visible and invisible; am I on this account a disciple? for many
+    things are wanting to us that we be not separated from God. I
+    conjure you, not I, but the charity of Jesus Christ, to use
+    Christian food, and to refrain from foreign weed, which is heresy.
+    Heretics join Jesus Christ with what is defiled, giving a deadly
+    poison in a mixture of wine and honey which they who take, drink
+    with pleasure their own death without knowing it. Refrain from such,
+    which you will do if you remain united to God, Jesus Christ, and the
+    bishop, and the precepts of the apostles. He who is within the altar
+    is clean, but he who is without it, that is, without the bishop,
+    priests, and deacons, is not clean." He adds his usual exhortations
+    to union, and begs their prayers for himself and his church, of
+    which he is not worthy to be called one, being the last of them, and
+    yet fighting is danger. "May my spirit sanctify you, not only now,
+    but also when I shall enjoy God."
+6.  1 Cor. iv. 4.
+7.  Not that he would really incite the beasts to dispatch him, without
+    a special inspiration, because that would have been self-murder; but
+    this expresses the courage and desire of his soul.
+8.  [Greek: Ho hemos erôs estanrôtai.]
+9.  See an account of these two last in the life of St. Polycarp. Orsi
+    draws a proof in favor of the supremacy of the see of Rome, from the
+    title which St. Ignatius gives it at the head of his epistle. In
+    directing his other letters, and saluting other churches, he only
+    writes: "To the blessed church which is at Ephesus:" [Greek: Tê esê
+    en Ephesô] "at Magnesia near the Mæander: at Tralles: at
+    Philadelphia: at Smyrna:" but in that to the Romans he changes his
+    style, and addresses his letter: "To the beloved church which is
+    enlightened, (by the will of Him who ordaineth all things which are
+    according to the charity of Jesus Christ our God,) which presides in
+    the country of the Romans, [Greek: êtis prokathêtai en topô chores
+    Rômaiôn], worthy of God, most adorned, justly happy, most commended,
+    fitly regulated and governed, most chaste, and presiding in charity,
+    &c."
+10. According to the common opinion, St. Ignatius was crowned with
+    martyrdom in the year 107. The Greek copies of a homily of the sixth
+    age, On the False Prophets, among the works of St. Chrysostom, say
+    on the 20th; but Bede, in his Martyrology, on the 17th of December.
+    Antoni Pagi, convinced by the letter of Dr. Loyde, bishop of St.
+    Asaph's, places his martyrdom about the end of the year 116: for
+    John Malalas of Antioch tells us the great earthquake, in which Dion
+    Cassias mentions that Trajan narrowly escaped at Antioch, happened
+    in that journey of Trajan in which he condemned St. Ignatius. Now
+    Trajan marching to the Parthian war, arrived at Antioch on the 8th
+    of January, in 113, the sixteenth year of his reign: and in his
+    return from the East, above two years later, passed again through
+    Antioch in 116, when this earthquake happened. St. Ignatius suffered
+    at Rome towards the end of that year. Le Quien prefers this date,
+    because it best agrees with the chronology of his successors to
+    Theophilus. Orien. Christ. t. 2, p. 700.
+11. Evagr. Hist. Eccl. l. 1, c. 16, Ed. Vales.
+12. Or. in S. Ignat. t. 2, p. 600. Ed. Nov.
+13. See Baron. Annal. ad an. 637, and Not. ad Martyr. Rom. ad 17 Dec.
+14. See Henschenius, Feb. t. 1, p. 35.
+
+ST. PIONIUS, M.
+
+HE was priest of Smyrna, a true heir of the spirit of St. Polycarp, an
+apostolic man, who converted multitudes to the faith. He excelled in
+eloquence, and in the science of our holy religion. The paleness of his
+countenance bespoke the austerity of his life. In the persecution of
+Decius, in 250, on the 23d of February, he was apprehended with Sabina
+and Asclepiades, while they were celebrating the anniversary festival of
+St. Polycarp's martyrdom. Pionius, after having fasted the eve with his
+companions, was forewarned thereof by a vision. On the morning after
+their solemn prayer, taking the holy bread (probably the eucharist) and
+water, they were surprised and seized by Polemon, the chief priest, and
+the guardian of the temple. In prolix interrogatories before him, they
+resisted all solicitations to sacrifice; professed they were ready to
+suffer the worst of torments and deaths rather than consent to his
+impious proposals, and declaring that they worshipped one only God, and
+that they were of the Catholic church. Asclepiades being asked what God
+he adored, made answer: "Jesus Christ." At which Polemon said: "Is that
+another God?" Asclepiades replied: "No; he is the same they have just
+now confessed." A clear confession of the consubstantiality of God the
+Son, before the council of Nice. Being all threatened to be burnt alive,
+Sabina smiled. The pagans said: "Dost thou laugh? thou shalt then be led
+to the public stews." She answered: "God will be my protector on that
+occasion." They were cast into prison, and preferred a lower dungeon,
+that they might be more at liberty to pray when alone. They were carried
+by force into the temple, and all manner of violence was used to compel
+them to sacrifice. Pionius tore the impious garlands which were put upon
+his head, and they resisted with all their might. Their constancy
+repaired the scandal given by Eudæmon, the bishop of Smyrna, there
+present, who had impiously apostatized and offered sacrifice. In the
+answers of St. Pionius to the judges, and in all the circumstances of
+his martyrdom, we admire the ardent piety and courage of one who had
+entirely devoted himself to God, and employed his whole life in his
+service. When Quintilian the proconsul arrived at Smyrna, he caused
+Pionius to be hung on the rack, and his body to be torn with iron hooks,
+and afterwards condemned him to be burned alive; he was accordingly
+nailed to a trunk or post, and a pile heaped round him and set on fire.
+Metrodorus, a Marcionite priest, underwent the same punishment with him.
+His acts were written by eye-witnesses, quoted by Eusebius, l. 4, c. 15,
+and are extant genuine in Ruinart, p. 12. See Tillemont t. 3, p. 397;
+Bollandus, Feb. t. 1, p. 37.
+
+{334}
+
+ST. BRIDGIT, OR BRIDGET, V.
+
+AND BY CONTRACTION, BRIDE, ABBESS, AND PATRONESS OF IRELAND.
+
+SHE was born at Fochard, in Ulster, soon after Ireland had been blessed
+with the light of faith. She received the religious veil in her youth,
+from the hands of St. Mel, nephew and disciple of St. Patrick. She built
+herself a cell under a large oak, thence called Kill-dara, or cell of
+the oak; living, as her name implies, the bright shining light of that
+country by her virtues. Being joined soon after by several of her own
+sex, they formed themselves into a religious community, which branched
+out into several other nunneries throughout Ireland; all which
+acknowledged her for their mother and foundress, as in effect she was of
+all in that kingdom. But a full account of her virtues has not been
+transmitted down to us, together with the veneration of her name. Her
+five modern lives mention little else but wonderful miracles. She
+flourished in the beginning of the sixth century, and is named in the
+Martyrology of Bede, and in all others since that age. Several churches
+in England and Scotland are dedicated to God under her name, as, among
+others, that of St. Bride in Fleet-street; several also in Germany, and
+some in France. Her name occurs in most copies of the Martyrology which
+bears the name of St. Jerom, especially in those of Esternach and
+Corbie, which are most ancient. She is commemorated in the divine office
+in most churches of Germany, and in that of Paris, till the year 1607,
+and in many others in France. One of the Hebrides, or western islands
+which belong to Scotland, near that of Ila, was called, from a famous
+monastery built there in her honor, Brigidiani. A church of St. Brigit,
+in the province of Athol, was reputed famous for miracles, and a portion
+of her relics was kept with great veneration in a monastery of regular
+canons at Aburnethi, once capital of the kingdom of the Picts, and a
+bishopric, as Major mentions.[1] Her body was found with those of SS.
+Patrick and Columba, in a triple vault in Down-Patrick, in 1185, as
+Giraldus Cambrensis informs us:[2] they were all three translated to the
+cathedral of the same city;[3] but their monument was destroyed in the
+reign of king Henry VIII. The head of St. Bride is now kept in the
+church of the Jesuits at Lisbon.[4] See Bollandus, Feb. t. 1, p. 99.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Major de Gestis Scotor. l. 2, c. 14.
+2.  Topogr. Hibern. dist. 3, c. 18. Camden, &c.
+3.  {Footnote not in text} Camden.
+4.  Bolland. p. 112 and p. 941, t. 1, Februarii.
+
+ST. KINNIA. V.
+
+HER memory was long sacred in Ireland, and her relics were in veneration
+at Lowth, in the southern part of Ulster; but we have no other authentic
+account of her actions, than that she was baptized by St. Patrick, and
+received the religious veil at his hand. See Jocelin's life of St.
+Patrick, Colgan, and Bollandus, ad 1 Feb. p. 96.
+
+ST. SIGEBERT II., FRENCH KING OF AUSTRASIA, C.
+
+DAGOBERT I., king of France, led for some time a very dissolute life,
+but was touched by an extraordinary grace upon the birth of his son
+Sigebert {335} and from that time entirely converted to God. Bagnetrude,
+our saint's mother, is only styled the concubine of Dagobert, though he
+was publicly married to her. The father desiring to have his son
+baptized by the most holy prelate of his dominions, recalled St. Amand,
+bishop of Masstricht, whom he had banished for his zeal in reproving his
+vices, fell at his feet at Clichi, near Paris, to ask his pardon,
+promised amendment, and by the advice of St. Owen and St. Eligius, then
+laymen in his court, engaged him to initiate his son in the sacrament of
+regeneration. The ceremony was performed with great pomp at Orleans,
+Charibert, king of part of Aquitaine, and brother to Dagobert, being
+god-father. The young prince's education was intrusted by the father to
+the blessed Pepin of Landen, mayor of his palace, who being forced by
+the envy of the nobility to withdraw for some time, carried Sigebert
+into the dominions of Charibert in Aquitaine, where he enjoyed a
+considerable estate, the paternal patrimony of his wife, the blessed
+Itta. Pepin remained there about three years; after which term he was
+recalled to the court of Dagobert, who declared his son Sigebert, though
+only three years old, in 633, king of Austrasia, and gave him for his
+ministers, St. Cunibert, archbishop of Cologne, and duke Adelgise, and
+committed the administration of the whole kingdom to Pepin, whom he
+always kept near his own person. Dagobert's second son, Clovis II., was
+born in the following year, 634, and to him the father allotted for his
+inheritance all the western part of France, containing all Neustria and
+part of Burgundy.[1] Austrasia, or Eastern France, (in which sense
+Austria retains a like name in Germany,) at that time comprised Provence
+and Switzerland, (dismembered from the ancient kingdom of Burgundy,) the
+Albigeois, Auvergne, Quercy, the Cevennes, Champagne, Lorraine, Upper
+Picardy, the archbishopric of Triers, and other states, reaching to the
+borders of Friesland; Alsace, the Palatinate, Thuringia, Franconia,
+Bavaria, Suabia, and the country which lay betwixt the Lower Rhine and
+Old Saxony. Dagobert died in 638, and was buried at the abbey of St.
+Denys, of which he was the munificent founder. According to the
+settlement which he had made, he was succeeded in Austrasia by St.
+Sigebert, and in the rest of France by his youngest son Clovis II. Pepin
+of Landen, who had been mayor of the palace to the father, discharged
+the same office to his death under St. Sigebert, and not content to
+approve himself a faithful minister, and true father to the prince, he
+formed him from the cradle to all heroic Christian virtues. By his
+prudence, virtue, and valor, St. Sigebert in his youth was beloved and
+respected by his subjects, and feared by all his enemies. Pepin dying in
+640, the virtuous king appointed his son Grimoald mayor of his palace.
+He reigned in perfect intelligence with his brother, of which we have
+few examples among the Merovingian kings whenever the French monarchy
+was divided. The Thuringians revolting, he reduced them to their duty;
+and this is the only war in which he was engaged. The love of peace
+disposed his heart to be a fit temple of the Holy Ghost, whom he invited
+into his soul by assiduous prayer, and the exercise of all Christian
+virtues. His patrimony he employed in relieving the necessitous, and in
+building or endowing monasteries, churches, and hospitals. He founded
+twelve monasteries, the four principal of which were Cougnon, now a
+priory, not far from Bouillon; Stavelo and Malmedi, two miles from each
+other, and St. Martin's, near Metz. St. Remaclus brought from Solignac
+the rule of St. Columban, which king Sigebert {336} in his charter to
+Cougnon calls the rule of the ancient fathers. This that holy abbot
+established first at Cougnon, and afterwards at Malmedi and Stavelo. A
+life filled with good works, and devoted all to God, can never be called
+short. God was pleased to call this good king from the miseries of this
+world to the recompense of his labors on the 1st of February, in the
+year 656, the eighteenth of his reign, and the twenty-fifth of his
+age.[2] He was interred in the abbey of St. Martin's, near Metz, which
+he had built. His body was found incorrupt in 1063, and placed in a
+monument on the side of the high altar: and in 1170 it was enshrined in
+a silver case. The monastery of St. Martin's, and all others in the
+suburbs, were demolished by Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise, in 1552,
+when Charles V. laid siege to Metz. The relics of St. Sigebert are now
+deposited in the collegiate church of our Lady at Nancy. He is honored
+among the saints in great part of the dominions which he governed, and
+in the monasteries and churches which he founded. See Fredegarius and
+his continuator, Sigebert of Gemblours, in his life of this saint, with
+the learned remarks of Henschenius, p. 40. Also Calmet, Hist. de
+Lorraine, t. 1, p. 419. Schoëpflin, Alsatia Illustrata, Colmariæ, an.
+1751. Sect. 2, p. 742.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Charibert, though he took the title of king, and resided at
+    Toulouse, held his estates of his brother Dagobert, and by his gift.
+    After Charibert's death, Chilperic, his eldest son, was put to death
+    by Dagobert; but his second son, Boggis, left a numerous posterity,
+    which was only extinguished in Louis d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours,
+    slain at the battle of Cerignole, where he commanded for Louis XII.
+    against Gonzales de Cordova, surnamed The Great Captain, for the
+    Catholic king Ferdinand in 1503, by which the French lost the
+    kingdom of Naples. So long did the family of Clovis II. subsist. See
+    Vaisette, Hist de Languedoc, Henault, Abr. de l'Hist. de France, t.
+    1, pp. 26, and 818.
+2.  St. Sigebert left his son Dagobert, about seven years old, under the
+    care of Grimoald, mayor of his palace, who treacherously sent him
+    into Ireland, and placed his own son Childebert on the throne. This
+    usurper reigned seven months, as Schoëpflin proves from the express
+    testimony of Chronicon Brevissimum, and from circumstances mentioned
+    by Fredegarius, against the mistake of the authors, l'Art de
+    vérifier les Dates, p. 481, who say he only reigned seven days. By
+    an insurrection of the people, Grimoald and his son were deposed,
+    and both perished in prison: but Dagobert not being found, Clovis
+    II. united Austrasia to his other dominions. Dagobert II., by the
+    assistance of St. Wilfrid, afterwards archbishop of York, returned
+    into France eighteen years after the death of his father, and
+    recovered Alsace and some other provinces by the cession either of
+    Childeric II., son of Clovis II., (then monarch of all France,) or
+    of his brother Theodoric III., who succeeded him before the month of
+    April, in 674: for the reign of Dagobert II must be dated from the
+    latter end of 673, with Henault, or from 674, with Schoëpflin. The
+    spirit of religion and piety, which he had learned in the school of
+    afflictions, and under the great masters of a spiritual life, who
+    then flourished among the Scots and Irish, was eminently the
+    distinguishing part of his character. As he resided chiefly in
+    Alsace, he filled that country, in the first place, with monuments
+    of his devotion, being so liberal in founding and endowing
+    monasteries and churches, that though his reign was only of six
+    years, Schoëpflin assures us that the French church is not more
+    indebted to any reign than to this, at least in those parts, (p.
+    740.) St. Wilfrid, bishop of York, had exceedingly promoted his
+    return into France; and when that prelate was compelled to leave
+    England Dagobert entertained him with the most cordial affection,
+    and, upon the death of St. Arbogastus, earnestly pressed him to
+    accept of that see. St. Wilfrid declined that dignity, promising,
+    however, to call upon this good king in his return from Rome, where
+    he obtained a sentence of pope Agatho in his favor. But coming but
+    into France, he found his royal friend cut off by a violent death.
+    It is the general persuasion of the French historians, that the
+    impious Ebroin, mayor of the palace to Theodoric III., king of
+    Burgundy and Noustria, was the author of his death, with a view to
+    seize his dominions. Dagobert was murdered by assassins at Stenay
+    upon the Meuse, now the best town in the duchy of Bar in Lorraine.
+    The people, however, chose Pepin and Martin dukes or governors of
+    Austrasia, who defended their liberty against Ebroin. Martin was
+    afterwards assassinated by the contrivance of Ebroin, and Ebroin by
+    Ermenfrid; but Pepin, in 687, defeated Theodoric III. at Testry,
+    took Paris, and the king himself; from which time, under the title
+    of mayor, he enjoyed the supreme power in the French monarchy. The
+    death of St. Dagobert happened in 679, on the 23d of December, on
+    which day he is commemorated in the Martyrology of Ado and others,
+    and honored as a martyr at Stenay, in the diocese of Verdun, ever
+    since the eighth century. The church of Strasburg was much enriched
+    by this prince, as maybe seen in Schoëpflin's Alsatia Illustrata.
+    The same author gives an account of some of the monasteries which
+    were founded by this prince in those parts, (c. 11, §254, p. 736,)
+    and shows from his charters that the palace where he chiefly resided
+    was at Isenburg in Alsace. (Sect. 1, c. 10, §146, p. 693.) The year
+    of the death of Dagobert II. is learned from the life of St.
+    Wilfrid, who returned from Rome when St. Agatho sat in St. Peter's
+    chair. See on this holy king the lives of St. Wilfrid and St.
+    Salaberga; also his charters; and, among the moderns, Dan.
+    Schoëpflin, professor of history and eloquence at Strasburg, in his
+    Alsatia Illustrata, anno 1751. Sect. 2, c. 1, §3, pp. 740, 743, and
+    §1, c. 10, §146, p. 693, c. 11, §254, p. 736. Also Calmet, Hist. de
+    Lorraine, t. 1, l. 10, n. 16, p. 432. The first edition of this work
+    was given in 1728, in three volumes folio, but the second edition is
+    so much enlarged as to fill six volumes folio. The reign of Dagobert
+    II. escaped most of the French historians; which omission, and a
+    false epoch of the beginning of the reign of Dagobert I., brought
+    incredible confusion into the chronology and history of most of the
+    Merovingian kings, which Adrian Valois, Henschenius, Le Cointe,
+    Pagi, Louguerue and others have taken great pains to clear up.
+
+{337}
+
+FEBRUARY II.
+
+THE PURIFICATION,
+
+COMMONLY CALLED CANDLEMAS-DAY.
+
+THE law of God, given by Moses to the Jews, to insinuate both to us and
+to them, that by the sin of Adam man is conceived and born in sin, and
+obnoxious to his wrath, ordained that a woman, after childbirth, should
+continue for a certain time in a state which that law calls unclean;
+during which she was not to appear in public, nor presume to touch any
+thing consecrated to God.[1] This term was of forty days upon the birth
+of a son, and the time was double for a daughter: on the expiration of
+which, the mother was to bring to the door of the tabernacle, or temple,
+a lamb of a year old, and a young pigeon or turtle-dove. The lamb was
+for a holocaust, or burnt-offering, in acknowledgment of the sovereignty
+of God, and in thanksgiving for her own happy delivery; the pigeon or
+turtle-dove was for a sin-offering. These being sacrificed to Almighty
+God by the priest, the woman was cleansed of the legal impurity, and
+reinstated in her former privileges.
+
+A young pigeon, or turtle-dove, by way of a sin-offering, was required
+of all, whether rich or poor: but whereas the charge of a lamb might be
+too burdensome on persons of narrow circumstances, in that case, nothing
+more was required than two pigeons, or two turtle-doves, one for a
+burnt, the other for a sin-offering.[2]
+
+Our Saviour having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, and his blessed
+Mother remaining always a spotless virgin, it is most evident from the
+terms of the law,[3] that she was, in reality, under no obligation to
+it, nor within the intent of it. She was, however, within the letter of
+the law, in the eye of the world, who were as yet strangers to her
+miraculous conception. And her humility making her perfectly resigned,
+and even desirous to conceal her privilege and dignity, she submitted
+with great punctuality and exactness to every humbling circumstance
+which the law required. Pride indeed proclaims its own advantages, and
+seeks honors not its due; but the humble find their delight in obscurity
+and abasement, they shun all distinction and esteem, which they clearly
+see their own nothingness and baseness to be most unworthy of: they give
+all glory to God alone, to whom it is due. Devotion also and zeal to
+honor God by every observance prescribed by his law, prompted Mary to
+perform this act of religion, though evidently exempt from the precept.
+Being poor herself, she made the offering appointed for the poor:
+accordingly is this part of the law mentioned by St. Luke,[4] as best
+agreeing with the meanness of her worldly condition. But her offering,
+however mean in itself, was made with a perfect heart, which is what God
+chiefly regards in all that is offered to him. The King of Glory would
+appear everywhere in the robes of poverty, to point out to us the
+advantages of a suffering and lowly state, and to repress our pride, by
+which, though really poor and mean in the eyes of God, we covet to
+appear rich, and, though sinners, would be deemed innocents and saints.
+
+A second great mystery is honored this day, regarding more immediately
+{338} the person of our Redeemer, viz. his presentation in the
+temple.[5] Besides the law which obliged the mother to purify herself,
+there was another which ordered that the first-born son should be
+offered to God: and in these two laws were included several others, as,
+that the child, after its presentation, should be ransomed[6] with a
+certain sum of money,[7] and peculiar sacrifices offered on the
+occasion.
+
+Mary complies exactly with all these ordinances. She obeys not only in
+the essential points of the law, as in presenting herself to be
+purified, and in her offering her first-born, but has strict regard to
+all the circumstances. She remains forty days at home, she denies
+herself all this time the liberty of entering the temple, she partakes
+not of things sacred, though the living temple of the God of Israel; and
+on the day of her purification, she walks several miles to Jerusalem,
+with the world's Redeemer in her arms. She waits for the priest at the
+gate of the temple, makes her offerings of thanksgiving and expiation,
+presents her divine Son by the hands of the priest to his eternal
+Father, with the most profound humility, adoration, and thanks giving.
+She then redeems him with five shekels, as the law appoints, and
+receives him back again as a depositum in her special care, till the
+Father shall again demand him for the full accomplishment of man's
+redemption. It is clear that Christ was not comprehended in the law;
+"The king's son, to whom the inheritance of the crown belongs, is exempt
+from servitude:--much more Christ, who was the Redeemer both of our
+souls and bodies, was not subject to any law by which he was to be
+himself redeemed," as St. Hilary observes.[8] But he would set an
+example of humility, obedience, and devotion: and would renew, in a
+solemn and public manner, and in the temple, the oblation of himself to
+his Father for the accomplishment of his will, and the redemption of
+man, which he had made privately in the first moment of his Incarnation.
+With what sentiments did the divine Infant offer himself to his Father
+at the same time! the greatest homage of his honor and glory the Father
+could receive, and a sacrifice of satisfaction adequate to the injuries
+done to the Godhead by our sins, and sufficient to ransom our souls from
+everlasting death! With what cheerfulness and charity did he offer
+himself to all his torments! to be whipped, crowned with thorns, and
+ignominiously put to death for us!
+
+Let every Christian learn hence to offer himself to God with this divine
+victim, through which he may be accepted by the Father; let him devote
+himself with all his senses and faculties to his service. If sloth, or
+any other vice, has made us neglectful of this essential duty, we must
+bewail past omissions, and make a solemn and serious consecration of
+ourselves this day to the divine majesty with the greater fervor, crying
+out with St. Austin, in compunction of heart: "Too late have I known
+thee, too late have I begun to love thee, O beauty more ancient than the
+world!" But our sacrifice, if we desire it may be accepted, must not be
+lame and imperfect. It would be an insult to offer to God, in union with
+his Christ, a divided heart, or a heart infected with wilful sin. It
+must therefore first be cleansed by tears of sincere compunction: its
+affections must be crucified to the world by perfect mortification. Our
+offering must be sincere and fervent, without reserve, allowing no
+quarter to any of our vicious passions and inclinations, and no division
+in any of our affections. It must also be universal; to suffer and to do
+all for the divine honor. If we give our hearts to Christ in this
+manner, we shall receive him with his graces and {339} benedictions. He
+would be presented in the temple by the hands of his mother: let us
+accordingly make the offering of our souls through Mary and beg his
+graces through the same channel.
+
+The ceremony of this day was closed by a third mystery, the meeting in
+the temple of the holy persons, Simeon and Anne, with Jesus and his
+parents, from which this festival was anciently called by the Greeks
+Hypante, the meeting.[9] Holy Simeon, on that occasion, received into
+his arms the object of all his desires and sighs, and praised God in
+raptures of devotion for being blessed with the happiness of beholding
+the so much longed-for Messias. He foretold to Mary her martyrdom of
+sorrow; and that Jesus brought redemption to those who would accept of
+it on the terms it was offered them; but a heavy judgment on all
+infidels who should obstinately reject it, and on Christians also whose
+lives were a contradiction to his holy maxims and example. Mary, hearing
+this terrible prediction, did not answer one word, felt no agitation of
+mind from the present, no dread for the future; but courageously and
+sweetly committed all to God's holy will. Anne also, the prophetess,
+who, in her widowhood, served God with great fervor, had the happiness
+to acknowledge and adore in this great mystery the world's Redeemer.
+Amidst the crowd of priests and people, the Saviour of the world is
+known only by Simeon and Anne. Even when he disputed with the doctors,
+and when he wrought the most stupendous miracles, the learned, the wise,
+and the princes did not know him. Yet here, while a weak, speechless
+child, carried in the arms of his poor mother, he is acknowledged and
+adored by Simeon and Anne. He could not hide himself from those who
+sought him with fervor, humility, and ardent love. Unless we seek him in
+these dispositions, he will not manifest himself, nor communicate his
+graces to us. Simeon, having beheld his Saviour in the flesh, desired no
+longer to see the light of this world, nor any creatures on earth. If we
+truly love God, our distance from him must be a continual pain: and we
+must sigh after that desired moment which will free us from the danger
+of ever losing him by sin, and will put us in possession of Him who is
+the joy of the blessed, and the infinite treasure of heaven. Let us
+never cease to pray that he purify our hearts from all earthly dross,
+and draw them to himself: that he heal, satiate, and inflame our souls,
+as he only came upon earth to kindle in all hearts the fire of his love.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Lev. xii. 2.
+2.  Lev. xii. 8.
+3.  Ibid. 2.
+4.  Luke ii. 64.
+5.  {Footnote not in text} Luke ii. 23.
+6.  Exod. xiii. 13.
+7.  This, from Levit. xxvii. 6, and Numb. iii. 47, appears to have been
+    five shekels, each shekel weighing according to Prideaux, (Preface
+    to Connection of the Old and New Testament, p. xvii.) about three
+    shillings of our money: so that the five amounted to about fifteen
+    shillings sterling.
+8.  S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 17, n. 11, pp. 696, 697.
+9.  [Greek: Hypantê], from [Greek: hupantaô], occurro.
+
+_On blessing the candles and the procession._
+
+The procession with lighted tapers on this day is mentioned by pope
+Gelasius I., also by St. Ildefonsus, St. Eligius,[1] St. Sophronius,
+patriarch of Jerusalem, St. Cyril of Alexandria, &c., in their sermons
+on this festival, St. Bernard says:[2] "This holy procession was first
+made by the virgin mother, St. Joseph, holy Simeon, and Anne, to be
+afterwards performed in all places and by every nation, with the
+exultation of the whole earth, to honor this mystery." In his second
+sermon on this feast he describes it thus:[3] "They walk two and two,
+holding in their hands candles lighted, not from common fire, but from
+that which had been first blessed in the church by the priests,[4] and
+singing in the ways of the Lord, because great is his glory." He shows
+that the concurrence of many in the procession and prayer is a symbol
+of our union and charity, and renders our praises {340} the more
+honorable and acceptable to God. We _walk_ while we sing to God, to
+denote that to stand still in the paths of virtue is to go back. The
+lights we bear in our hands represent the divine fire of love with
+which our hearts ought to be inflamed, and which we are to offer to
+God without any mixture of strange fire, the fire of concupiscence,
+envy, ambition, or the love of creatures. We also hold these lights in
+our hands to honor Christ, and to acknowledge him as the _true
+light_,[5] whom they represent under this character, and who is called
+by holy Simeon in this mystery, _a light for the enlightening of the
+Gentiles;_[6] for he came to dispel our spiritual darkness. The
+candles likewise express that by faith his light shines in our souls:
+as also that we are to _prepare his way_ by good works, by which we
+are to be _a light to_ men.[7]
+
+Lights are used by the church during the celebration of the divine
+mysteries, while the gospel is read, and the sacraments administered,
+on a motive of honor and respect. On the same account lamps burned
+before the Lord in the tabernacle[8] and temple. Great personages were
+anciently received and welcomed with lights, as was king Antiochus by
+Jason and others on his entering Jerusalem.[9] Lights are likewise
+expressive of joy, and were anciently used on this account in
+receiving Roman emperors, and on other public occasions, as at
+present. "Throughout all the churches of the East," says St. Jerom,
+"when the gospel is to be read, though the sun shines, torches are
+used, not to chase away darkness, but for a sign of joy."[10] The
+apostolic canons mention incense, and oil for the lamps, then used in
+the churches.[11] Many out of devotion burned lamps before the bodies
+of saints, as we read in Prudentius,[12] St. Paulinus,[13] &c. The
+corporeal creatures, which we use, are the gifts of God: it is
+therefore just that we should honor and glorify him by them. Besides,
+in our embodied state, they contribute to excite our souls to
+devotion; they are to our eyes, what words are to our ears, and by our
+organs move the affections of our hearts.[14] Though piety consists in
+the fervor of the soul, and is interior and spiritual, yet many
+sensible things concur to its aid and improvement; and we may as well
+condemn the use of words, which are corporeal, and affect the soul by
+the sense of hearing, as the use of suitable approved ceremonies.
+Christ made use of sensible signs in the institution of his most
+divine sacraments, and in several miraculous cures, &c. The church
+always used external rites and ceremonies in the divine worship. These
+contribute to the majesty and dignity of religion, which in our
+present condition would appear naked, if destitute of all exterior.
+The candles are blessed previously to the use of them, because the
+church blesses and sanctifies, by prayer, what ever is employed in the
+divine service. We are to hold the candles in our hands on this day,
+while the gospel is read or sung; also from the elevation to the
+communion, in the most fervent spirit of sacrifice, offering ourselves
+to God with our divine Redeemer, and desiring to meet in spirit this
+blessed company in this mystery; likewise to honor the mother of God
+in her purification, and still more so, with the most profound
+adoration and gratitude, our divine Saviour in his presentation in our
+flesh for us. The same lively sentiments of devotion ought to inflame
+our breasts on this occasion, as if we had been present with holy
+Simeon and the rest in the temple, while we carry in our hands these
+emblems of our spiritual joy and homage, and of the consecration of
+ourselves in union with our heavenly victim, through the intercession
+of his virgin mother.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Serm. 2.
+2.  Serm. de Purif. p. 959.
+3.  Serm. 2, p. 961.
+4.  According to the ceremonies then in use.
+5.  John i. 9.
+6.  Luke ii. 3.
+7.  Matt. v. 6.
+8.  Exod. xxviii. 20.
+9.  2 Macch. iv. 22.
+10. Adv. Vigil. p. 304.
+11. Can. 3.
+12. Hymn 2.
+13. Nat. iii. v. 98.
+14. See the pastoral charge of the late Dr. Butler, bishop of Durham.
+
+{341}
+
+_On the Christian rite of churching women after childbirth._
+
+God, in the old law, declared several actions unclean, which, though
+innocent and faultless it themselves, had a constant but remote regard
+to sin. One of these was childbirth, to denote the impurity of man's
+origin by his being conceived and born in sin. For the removal of legal
+uncleanness in general, God established certain expiatory rites,
+consisting of ablutions and sacrifices, to which all were strictly
+obliged who desired to be purified; that is, restored to the privileges
+of their brethren, and declared duly qualified members of the synagogue
+or Jewish church. It would be superstitious since the death of Christ,
+and the publication of the new law, to stand in awe of legal
+uncleannesses, or to have recourse to Jewish purifications on account of
+any of them, whether after childbirth or in any other cases. It is not,
+therefore, with that intention, that Christian mothers come to the
+church, as Jewish women did to the tabernacle, in order to be purified
+from any uncleanness they contract by childbirth. It is not on any
+consideration peculiar to the Jews that this ceremony was established in
+the Christian church, but on a motive common to all mankind, the
+performing the duty of thanksgiving and prayer. Hence in the canon law,
+pope Innocent III. speaks of it as follows: "If women after childbearing
+desire immediately to enter the church, they commit no sin by so doing,
+nor are they to be hindered. Nevertheless, if they choose to refrain out
+of respect for some time, we do not think their devotion ought to be
+reprehended."[1]
+
+In some dioceses this term is limited to a certain number of days. Where
+this is not regulated by custom, or by any particular statute, the party
+may perform this duty as soon as she is able to go abroad. Her first
+visit is to be to the church: first, to give God thanks for her safe
+delivery: secondly, to implore his blessing on herself and her child. It
+ought to be her first visit, to show her readiness to acquit herself of
+this duty to God, and to give him the first-fruits of her recovery and
+blessing received; as the first-fruits in every thing are most
+particularly due to God, and most agreeable to him, and which, in the
+old law, he was most jealous in exacting of his people. The
+acknowledgment of a benefit received, is the least return we can make
+for it: the law of nature dictates the obligation of this tribute; God
+strictly requires it, and this is the means to draw down new blessings
+on us, the flowing of which is by nothing more effectually obstructed
+than by insensibility and ingratitude: wherefore, next to the praise and
+love of God, thanksgiving is the principal homage we owe him in the
+sacrifice of our hearts, and is a primary act of prayer. The book of
+psalms abounds with acts of thanksgiving; the apostle everywhere
+recommends and inculcates it in the strongest terms. The primitive
+Christians had these words, _Thanks be to God_, always in their mouths,
+and used them as their ordinary form of salutation on all occasions, as
+St. Austin mentions,[2] who adds, "What better thing can we bear in our
+hearts, or pronounce with our tongues, or express with our pens, than,
+_Thanks be to God_?" It is the remark of St. Gregory of Nyssa,[3] that
+besides past benefits, and promises of other inestimable benefits to
+come, we every instant of our lives receive from God fresh favors; and
+therefore we ought, if it were possible, every moment to make him a
+return of thanks with our whole hearts, and never cease from this duty.
+We owe a particular thanksgiving for his more remarkable blessings. A
+mother regards her safe delivery, and her happiness is being blessed
+with a child, as signal benefits, and therefore she owes a {342}
+particular holocaust of thanks for them. This she comes to offer at the
+foot of the altar. She comes also to ask the succors of divine grace.
+She stands in need of an extraordinary aid from above, both for herself
+and her child. For herself, that, by her example, instructions, and
+watchfulness, she may fulfil her great obligations as a mother. For her
+child, that it may reap the advantage of a virtuous education, may live
+to God, and become one day a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem:
+otherwise, what will it avail her to have been a mother, or the child to
+have been born? Now prayer is the channel which God has appointed for
+the conveyance of his graces to us. The mother, therefore, must be
+assiduous in begging daily of the Father of mercies all necessary
+succors for these purposes: but this she should make the subject of her
+most zealous petitions on the occasion of her first solemn appearance
+after childbed before his altar. She should, at the same time, make the
+most perfect offering and consecration of her child to the divine
+Majesty. Every mother, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, ought to
+perform this triple duty of thanksgiving, petition, and oblation, and
+through her hands, who, on the day of her purification, set so perfect a
+pattern of this devotion.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Cap. unico de Purif. post partum.
+2.  Ep. 41. olim 77.
+3.  Or. 1, de præst. t. 1, p. 715
+
+
+ST. LAURENCE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
+
+HE was one of those who accompanied St. Austin into this island, about
+the year 597, and was his immediate successor in the see of Canterbury,
+in 608, in which he sat eleven years. When Eadbald, son and successor to
+the holy king Ethelbert, not only refused to follow his father's example
+in embracing the faith, but gave into idolatry, and incestuously took to
+his bed his father's widow, Laurence having labored hard for his
+conversion to no purpose, and despairing of reclaiming him, thought of
+nothing but retiring into France, as some others had already done. But
+he was severely scourged by St. Peter, in a dream, on the eve of his
+intended departure, with reproaches for designing to forsake that flock
+for which Christ had laid down his life. This did not only prevent his
+going, but had such an effect upon the king, when he was shown the marks
+of the stripes he had received on this occasion, that he became a
+thorough convert, doing whatever was required of him, both for his own
+sanctification, and the propagation of Christianity in his dominions.
+St. Laurence did not long survive this happy change, dying in the year
+619. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. See Bede, Hist. b. 2, c.
+4, 6, 7.[1] Malmesb. l. 1, Pontif. Angl.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  From these words of Bede, b. 1, c. 27, Austin sent to Rome Laurence
+    the priest, and Peter the monk, some modern historians infer that
+    St. Laurence was no monk, but a secular priest; though this proof is
+    wreak. See Collier, Dict. Suppl. Henschenius, p. 290. and Le Quien,
+    Oriens Christ. t. 1, p. 421.
+
+{343}
+
+FEBRUARY III.
+
+ST. BLASE, BISHOP AND MARTYR.
+
+The four modern different Greek acts of this Saint are of small
+authority. Bollandus has supplied this deficiency by learned remarks.
+
+A D. 316.
+
+HE was bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and was crowned with martyrdom in
+the persecution of Licinius, in 316, by the command of Agricolaus,
+governor of Cappadocia and the lesser Armenia. It is mentioned in the
+acts of St. Eustratius, who received the crown of martyrdom in the reign
+of Dioclesian, and is honored on the 13th of December, that St. Blase,
+the bishop of Sebaste, honorably received his relics, deposited them
+with those of St. Orestes, and punctually executed every article of the
+last will and testament of St. Eustratius. His festival is kept a
+holiday in the Greek church on the 11th of February. He is mentioned in
+the ancient Western Martyrologies which bear the name of St. Jerom. Ado
+and Usuard, with several more ancient manuscript Martyrologies, quoted
+by Chatelain, place his name on the 15th. In the holy wars his relics
+were dispersed over the West, and his veneration was propagated by many
+miraculous cures, especially of sore throats. He is the principal patron
+of the commonwealth of Ragusa.[1] No other reason than the great
+devotion of the people to this celebrated martyr of the church, seems to
+have given occasion to the wool-combers to choose him the titular patron
+of their profession: on which account his festival is still kept by them
+with a solemn guild at Norwich. Perhaps also his country might in part
+determine them to this choice: for it seems that the first branch, or at
+least hint of this manufacture, was borrowed from the remotest known
+countries of the East, as was that of silk: or the iron combs, with
+which he is said to have been tormented, gave occasion to this choice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The iron combs, hooks, racks, swords, and scaffolds, which were purpled
+with the blood of the martyrs, are eternal proofs of their invincible
+courage and constancy in the divine service. But are they not at the
+same time subjects of our condemnation and confusion? How weak are our
+resolutions! How base our pusillanimity and cowardice in the pursuit of
+virtue! We have daily renewed our most sacred baptismal engagements, and
+our purposes of faithfully serving God: these we have often repeated at
+the feet of God's ministers, and in presence of his holy altars; and we
+have often begun our conversation with great fervor. Yet these fair
+blossoms were always nipped in the bud: for want of constancy we soon
+fell back into our former sloth and disorders, adding to our other
+prevarications that of base infidelity. Instead of encountering gibbets
+and wild beasts, we were scared at the sight of the least difficulty; or
+we had not courage to make the least sacrifice of our passions, or to
+repulse the weakest and most contemptible assaults of the world. Its
+example, or that dangerous company from which we had not resolution to
+separate ourselves, carried us {344} away; and we had not courage to
+withstand those very maxims which we ourselves condemn in the moments of
+our serious reflections, as contrary to the spirit of the gospel.
+Perhaps we often flew back for fear of shadows, and out of apprehensions
+frequently imaginary, lest we should forfeit some temporal advantage,
+some useful or agreeable friend. Perhaps we were overcome by the
+difficulties which arose barely from ourselves, and wanted resolution to
+deny our senses, to subdue our passions, to renounce dangerous
+occasions, or to enter upon a penitential life. Blinded by self-love,
+have we not sheltered our dastardly pusillanimity under the cloak of
+pretended necessity, or even virtue?
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Bollandus, Pagi ad an. 316. Chatelain, Notes on the Martyr. p.
+    507, and Jos. Assemani in Cal. Univ. ad 11 Feb. t. 6, p. 123.
+
+ST. ANSCHARIUS, C.,
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF HAMBURG AND BREMEN.
+
+From his excellent life compiled by St. Rembert, his successor, with the
+remarks of Mabillon, Act. Bened t. 4, p. 401, and the preliminary
+discourse of Henschenius, p. 391. Adam Bremensis, Hist. Episc. Hamb. and
+Olof Dolin, in his new excellent history of Sweden in the reigns of
+Listen, Bel, and Bagnar, c. 16.
+
+A.D. 865.
+
+HE was a monk, first of Old Corbie in France, afterwards of Little
+Corbie in Saxony. Harold, or Heriold, prince of Denmark, having been
+baptized in the court of the emperor Louis Débonnaire, Anscarius
+preached the faith with great success, first to the Danes, afterwards to
+the Swedes, and lastly in the north of Germany. In 832, he was made
+archbishop of Hamburg, and legate of the holy see, by pope Gregory IV.
+That city was burnt by an army of Normans, in 845. The saint continued
+to support his desolate churches, till, in 849, the see of Bremen
+becoming vacant, pope Nicholas united it to that of Hamburg, and
+appointed him bishop of both. Denmark and Sweden had relapsed into
+idolatry, notwithstanding the labors of many apostolical missionaries
+from New Corbie, left there by our saint. His presence soon made the
+faith flourish again in Denmark, under the protection of king Horick.
+But in Sweden the superstitious king Olas cast lots whether he should be
+admitted or no. The saint, grieved to see the cause of God and religion
+committed to the cast of a die, recommended the issue to the care of
+heaven. The lot proved favorable, and the bishop converted many of the
+lower rank, and established many churches there, which he left under
+zealous pastors at his return to Bremen. He wore a rough hair shirt,
+and, while his health permitted him, contented himself with a small
+quantity of bread and water. He never undertook any thing without
+recommending it first to God by earnest prayer, and had an extraordinary
+talent for preaching. His charity to the poor had no bounds; he washed
+their feet, and waited on them at table. He ascribed it to his sins,
+that he never met with the glory of martyrdom in all that he had
+suffered for the faith. To excite himself to compunction and to the
+divine praise, he made a collection of pathetic sentences, some of which
+he placed at the end of each psalm; several of which are found in
+certain manuscript psalters, as Fleury takes notice. The learned
+Fabricius, in his Latin Library of the middle ages, calls them an
+illustrious monument of the piety of this holy prelate. St. Anscharius
+died at Bremen in the year 865, the sixty-seventh of his age, and
+thirty-fourth of his episcopal dignity; and was honored with miracles.
+His name occurs in the Martyrologies soon after his death. In the German
+language he is called St. Scharies, and his collegiate church of Bremen
+Sant-Scharies. That at Hamburg, which bore his name, has been converted
+by the Lutherans into an hospital for orphans. His name was rather
+Ansgar, as it {345} is written in his own letter, and in a charter of
+Louis Débonnaire. In this letter[1] he attributes all the fruits and
+glory of the conversion of the Northern nations, to which he preached,
+to the zeal of that emperor and of Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, without
+taking the least notice of himself or his own labors. The life of St.
+Willehad, first bishop of Bremen, who died in 789 or 791, compiled by
+St. Anscharius, is a judicious and elegant work, and the preface a
+masterpiece for that age. It is abridged and altered by Surius, but
+published entire at Cologne, in 1642; and more correctly by Mabillon;
+and again by Fabricius, among the historians of Hamburg, t. 2.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ap. Bolland. et. Mabill.
+
+ST. WEREBURGE, V. ABBESS.
+
+PATRONESS OF CHESTER.
+
+From Harpsfield, Bede, Brompton, Florence of Worcester, Higden,
+Langhorn's Chronicle, Leland's Collections, Powel's History of Wales,
+the Saxon Chronicle, Simeon of Durham, and her curious life, written in
+old English metre, from the Passionary of the monastery of Chester, by
+Henry Bradshaw, a monk of that house, who died in 1521, on whom see
+Wood, Athen. Oxon., vol. 1, p. 9, n. 14, and Tanner, Bibl. p. 121. This
+scarce history was printed in 1521, by Richard Pynson, printer to king
+Henry VIII. See her ancient life, a MS. copy of which Camden sent to F.
+Rosweide, published by Henschenius, with notes, p. 386. See also the
+summary of the life of St. Wereburge, with an historical account of the
+images carved on her shine, (now the episcopal throne,) in the choir of
+the cathedral of Chester, by William Cooper, M.D., at Chester 1749.
+
+Seventh Age.
+
+ST. WEREBURGE was daughter of Wulfere, king of Mercia, by St. Ermenilde,
+daughter of Ercombert, king of Kent, and St. Sexburge. In her was
+centred the royal blood of all the chief Saxon kings; but her glory was
+the contempt of a vain world, even from her cradle, on the pure motive
+of the love of God. She had three brothers, Wulfade and Rufin, who died
+martyrs, and Kenred, who ended his life at Rome in the odor of sanctity.
+Her father, Wulfere, resided near Stone, in Staffordshire. His eldest
+brother, Peada, had begun to plant the faith in Mercia. Wulfere promised
+at his marriage to extirpate the remains of idolatry, and was then a
+Christian; but worldly motives made him delay the performance of his
+promise. Ermenilde endeavored to soften the fierceness of his temper;
+but she found it a far more easy task to dispose the minds of her tender
+nursery to be faithful to divine grace; and, under her care, all her
+children grew up fruitful plants in the garden of the saints. Wereburge
+excelled the rest in fervor and discretion. She was humble, obedient,
+and meek; never failed of assisting with her mother at the daily
+performance of the whole church office; besides spending many hours on
+her knees in private devotion in her closet. She eagerly listened to
+every instruction and exhortation of piety. At an age in which youth is
+the fondest of recreations, pleasures, and vanities, she was always
+grave, reserved, and mortified. She was a stranger to any joy but that
+which the purity of her conscience afforded her; and in holy compunction
+bewailed before God, without ceasing, her distance from him, and her
+other spiritual miseries. She trembled at the thought of the least
+danger that could threaten her purity; fasting and prayer were her
+delight, by which she endeavored to render her soul acceptable to her
+heavenly bridegroom. Her beauty and her extraordinary qualifications,
+rendered more conspicuous by the greater lustre of her virtue, drew to
+her many suitors for marriage. But a mountain might sooner be moved than
+her resolution shaken. The prince of the West-Saxons waited on her with
+rich presents; but she refused to accept them or listen to his
+proposals, saying she had chosen the Lord Jesus, the Redeemer of
+mankind, for the Spouse of her {346} soul, and had devoted herself to
+his service in the state of virginity. But her greatest victory was over
+the insidious attempts of Werbode, a powerful, wicked knight of her
+father's court. The king was greatly indebted to the valor and services
+of this knight for his temporal prosperity, and entertained a particular
+affection for him. The knight, sensible of this, and being passionately
+fond of Wereburge, made use of all his interest with the king to obtain
+his consent to marry her, which was granted, on condition he could gain
+that of the royal virgin. Queen Ermenilde and her two sons, Wulfade and
+Rufin, were grievously afflicted at the news. These two princes were
+then upon their conversion to Christianity, and for this purpose
+resorted to the cell of St. Chad, bishop of Litchfield, under pretence
+of going a hunting; for the saint resided in a hermitage, situate in a
+forest. By him they were instructed in the faith, and baptized. Werbode,
+finding them an obstacle to his design, contrived their murder, for
+which he is said to have moved the father to give an order in a fit of
+passion, by showing him the young princes returning from the bishop, and
+incensing him against them by slanders: for the king was passionate, and
+had been likewise prevailed on by his perfidious minister to countenance
+and favor idolatry. Werbode died miserably soon after, and Wulfere no
+sooner heard that the murder was perpetrate but, stung with grief and
+remorse, he entered into himself, did great penance, and entirely gave
+himself up to the advice of his queen and St. Chad. He destroyed all the
+idols, converted their temples into churches, founded the abbey of
+Peterborough, and the priory of Stone, where the two martyrs were
+buried, and exceedingly propagated the worship of the true God, by his
+zealous endeavors and example.
+
+Wereburge, seeing this perfect change in the disposition of her father,
+was no longer afraid to disclose to him her earnest desire of
+consecrating herself to God in a religious state of life. Finding him
+averse, and much grieved at the proposal, she pleaded her cause with so
+many tears, and urged the necessity of preparing for death in so
+pathetic a manner, that her request was granted. Her father even thanked
+God with great humility for so great a grace conferred on her, though
+not without many tears which such a sacrifice cost him. He conducted her
+in great state to Ely, attended by his whole court, and was met at the
+gate of the monastery by the royal abbess St. Audry, with her whole
+religious family in procession, singing holy hymns to God. Wereburge,
+falling on her knees, begged to be admitted in quality of a penitent.
+She obtained her request, and Te Deum was sung. She went through the
+usual trials with great humility and patience, and with joy exchanged
+her rich coronet, purple, silks, and gold, for a poor veil and a coarse
+habit, and resigned herself into the hands of her superior, to live only
+to Christ. King Wulfere, his three brothers, and Egbright, or Egbert,
+king of Kent, and Adulph, king of the East-Angles, together with the
+great lords of their respective states, were present at these her solemn
+espousals with Christ,[1] and were entertained by Wulfere with a royal
+magnificence. The virgin here devoted herself to God with new fervor in
+all her actions, and made the exercises of obedience, prayer,
+contemplation, humility, and penance, her whole occupation, instead of
+that circle of vanities and amusements which employ the slaves of the
+world. King Wulfede dying in 675, was buried at Litchfield. Kenred, his
+son, being then too young to govern, his brother Ethelred succeeded him.
+St. Ermenilde was no sooner at liberty, but she took the religions veil
+at Ely, under her mother, St. Sexburge, at whose death she was chosen
+third abbess, and honored in England among the saints on the 13th of
+February. Her daughter, St. Wereburge, at her {347} uncle king
+Ethelred's persuasion, left Ely to charge herself, at his request, with
+the superintendency of all the houses of religious women in his kingdom,
+that she might establish in them the observance of the most exact
+monastic discipline. By his liberality she founded those of Trentham in
+Staffordshire, of Hanbury, near Tutbury, in the county of Stafford, (not
+in the county of Huntingdon, as some mistake,) and of Wedon, one of the
+royal palaces in Northamptonshire. This king also founded the collegiate
+church of St. John Baptist, in the suburbs of West-Chester, and gave to
+St. Egwin the ground for the great abbey of Evesham; and after having
+reigned twenty-nine years, embraced the monastic state in his beloved
+monastery of Bardney, upon the river Witham, not far from Lincoln, of
+which he was afterwards chosen abbot. He resigned his crown to Kenred,
+his nephew, brother to our saint, having been chosen king only on
+account of the nonage of that prince. Kenred governed his realm with
+great prudence and piety, making it his study, by all the means in his
+power, to prevent and root out all manner of vice, and promote the
+knowledge and love of God. After a reign of five years, he recommended
+his subjects to God, took leave of them, to their inexpressible grief,
+left his crown to Coelred, his uncle's son, and, making a pilgrimage to
+Rome, there put on the monastic habit in 708, and persevered in great
+fervor till his happy death.
+
+St. Wereburge, both by word and example, conducted to God the souls
+committed to her care. She was the most perfect model of meekness,
+humility, patience, and purity. Besides the church office, she recited
+every day the psalter on her knees, and, after matins, remained in the
+church in prayer, either prostrate on the ground or kneeling, till
+daylight, and often bathed in tears. She never took more than one repast
+in the day, and read with wonderful delight the lives of the fathers of
+the desert. She foretold her death, visited all places under her care,
+and gave her last orders and exhortations. She prepared herself for her
+last hour by ardent invitations of her heavenly bridegroom, and
+languishing aspirations of divine love, in which she breathed forth her
+pure soul on the 3d of February, at Trentham, about the end of the
+seventh century. Her body, as she had desired, was interred at Hanbury.
+Nine years after, in 708, it was taken up in presence of king Coelred,
+his council, and many bishops, and being found entire and uncorrupt, was
+laid in a costly shrine on the 21st of June. In 875 her body was still
+entire; when, for fear of the Danish pirates, who were advanced as far
+as Repton, in the county of Derby, a royal seat (not Ripon, as Guthrie
+mistakes) within six miles of Hanbury, (in the county of Stafford,) her
+shrine was carried to West-Chester, in the reign of king Alfred, who,
+marrying his daughter Elfleda to Ethelred, created him first earl of
+Mercia, after the extinction of its kings. This valiant earl built, and
+endowed with secular canonries, a stately church, as a repository for
+the relics of St. Wereburge, which afterwards became the cathedral. His
+lady rebuilt other churches, walled in the city, and fortified it with a
+strong castle against the Welsh.[2] The great kings, Athelstan and
+Edgar, devoutly visited and enriched the church of St. Wereburge. In the
+reign of St. Edward the Confessor, Leofrick, earl of Mercia, and his
+pious wife, Godithe, rebuilt many churches and monasteries in those
+parts, founded the abbeys of Leonence, near Hereford, also that of
+Coventry, which city this earl made free. At Chester they repaired the
+collegiate church of St. John, and out of their singular devotion to St.
+Wereburge, rebuilt her minster in a most stately {348} manner. William
+the Conqueror gave to his kinsman and most valiant knight, Hugh Lupus,
+the earldom of Chester, with the sovereign dignity of a palatinate, on
+condition he should win it. After having been thrice beaten and
+repulsed, he at last took the city, and divided the conquered lands of
+the country among his followers. In 1093, he removed the secular canons
+of St. Wereburge, and in their stead placed monks under an abbot,
+brought over from Bec in Normandy. Earl Richard, son and heir to Lupus,
+going in pilgrimage to St. Winefrid's at Holywell, attributed to the
+intercession of St. Wereburge his preservation from an army of Welshmen,
+who came with an intention to intercept him. In memory of which, his
+constable, William, gave to her church the village of Newton, and
+founded the abbey of Norton on the Dee, at the place where his army
+miraculously forded that great river to the succor of his master, which
+place is still called Constable Sondes, says Bradshaw. The same learned
+author relates, from the third book of the Passionary of the Abbey, many
+miraculous cures of the sick, and preservations of that city from the
+assaults of the Welsh, Danes, and Scots, and, in 1180, from a terrible
+fire, which threatened to consume the whole city, but was suddenly
+extinguished when the monks carried in procession the shrine of the
+virgin in devout prayer. Her body fell to dust soon after its
+translation to Chester. These relics being scattered in the reign of
+Henry VIII., her shrine was converted into the episcopal throne in the
+same church, and remains in that condition to this day. This monument is
+of stone, ten feet high, embellished with thirty curious antique images
+of kings of Mercia and other princes, ancestors or relations of this
+saint. See Cooper's remarks on each.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Some authors in Leland's Collectanea place her religious profession
+    after the death of her father; but our account is supported by the
+    authority of Bradshaw.
+2.  This noble lady, heiress of the great virtues of her royal father,
+    rebuilt, after the death of her husband, the churches and towns of
+    Stafford, Warwick, Tamworth, and Shrewsbury; and founded, besides
+    some others, the great abbey of St. Peter's in Gloucester, which
+    church she enriched with the relics of St. Oswalk, king and martyr,
+    and in which she herself was buried. See Bradshaw, Dugdale, Launden.
+
+ST. MARGARET SURNAMED OF ENGLAND, V.
+
+HER body is preserved entire, and resorted to with great devotion, in
+the church of the Cistercian nuns of Seauve Benoite,[1] in the diocese
+of Puy, is Velay, eight leagues from that city toward Lyons. The
+brothers of Sainte Marthe, in the old edition of Gallia Christiana,[2]
+and Dom Besunier, the Maurist monk,[3] confirm the tradition of the
+place, that she was an English woman, and that her shrine is famous for
+miracles. Yet her life in old French, (a manuscript copy of which is
+preserved by the Jesuits of Clermont college, in Paris, with remarks of
+F. Peter Francis Chifflet,) tells us that she was by birth a noble
+Hungarian. Her mother, probably at least of English extraction, after
+the death of her husband, took her with her on a pilgrimage to
+Jerusalem; and both led a very penitential religious life, first in that
+city, and afterwards at Bethlehem. St. Margaret having buried her mother
+in that country, made a pilgrimage to Montserrat, in Spain, and
+afterwards to our Lady's, at Puy in Velay. Then she retired to the
+Cistercian nunnery of Seauve Benoite,[4] where she happily ended her
+mortal course in the twelfth century. See Gallia Christ. Nova in Dioec.
+Aniciensi seu Podiensi, t. 2, p. 777.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Sylva Benedicta.
+2.  Gallia Christ. vetus, t. 4, p. 828.
+3.  Recueil Hist. des Abbayes de France, t. 1, p. 314.
+4.  This St. Margarey perhaps never professed the Cistercian order. At
+    least Henriquez, in the annals of that order, speak only of one
+    Margaret, and English woman, whose brother Thomas was banished by
+    Henry II. among the friends and relations of St. Thomas of
+    Canterbury. By this brother's advice she made her profession in the
+    Cistercian nunnery at Laon, where she died in odor of sanctity in
+    1192. See Henriquez ad eum annum.
+
+{349}
+
+
+FEBRUARY IV.
+
+SAINT ANDREW CORSINI
+
+BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
+
+From his two original lives, written, the one by a disciple, the other
+by Peter Andrew Castagna, a friar of his Order, one hundred years after
+his death. See the same compiled in Latin by Francis Venturius bishop of
+San-Severo, printed at Rome in 1620, in quarto, and abridged by the
+elegant Jesuit Maffei.
+
+A.D. 1373.
+
+THIS saint at his baptism was called Andrew, from the apostle of that
+name, on whose festival he was born in Florence, in 1302. The family of
+the Corsini was then one of the most illustrious of that commonwealth.
+This child was the fruit of the prayers of his pious parents, who
+consecrated him by vow to God before his birth. But notwithstanding the
+care his parents took to instil good principles into him, he spent the
+first part of his youth in vice and extravagance, in the company of such
+as were as wicked as himself. His devout mother Peregrina never ceased
+weeping and praying for his conversion, and one day said to him, with
+many sighs, in the bitterness of her grief: "I see you are the wolf I
+saw in my sleep;" giving him to understand, that when with child of him
+she had dreamed she was brought to bed of a wolf, which running into a
+church, was turned into a lamb. She added, that she and her husband had
+in a particular manner devoted him, while in the womb, to the service of
+God, under the protection of the blessed Virgin; and that in consequence
+of his being born not for them, nor for the world, but for God, a very
+different kind of life from what he led was expected from him. This
+discourse made so strong an impression on his heart, that he went
+immediately to the church of the Carmelite friars, and having prayed
+there for some time with great fervor before the altar of our Lady, he
+was so touched by God, that he took a resolution upon the spot to return
+no more to his father's house, but to embrace the religious state of
+life professed in that convent. He was readily admitted, in the year
+1318, and after a novitiate of a year and some months, during which he
+eluded the artifices of his worldly companions, and resolutely rejected
+the solicitations of an uncle who sought to draw him back into the
+world, he made his solemn profession. He never departed from the first
+fervor of his conversion. He strenuously labored to subdue his passions
+by extreme humiliations, obedience even to the last person in the house,
+by silence and prayer; and his superiors employed him in the meanest
+offices, often in washing the dishes in the scullery. The progress he
+made in learning, particularly in the holy scriptures and in divinity,
+was very great. In the year 1328 he was ordained priest; but to prevent
+the music and feast which his family had prepared, according to custom,
+for the day on which he was to say his first mass, he privately withdrew
+to a little convent seven miles out of town, where he offered, unknown,
+his first-fruits to God, with wonderful recollection and devotion. After
+some time employed in preaching at Florence, he was sent to Paris, where
+he studied three years, and took some degrees. He prosecuted his studies
+some time at Avignon, with his uncle, cardinal Corsini; and in 1332,
+returning to Florence, was chosen prior of that convent by a provincial
+chapter. God honored his extraordinary {350} virtue with the gifts of
+prophecy and miracles; and the astonishing fruits of his example and
+zealous preaching made him be looked upon as a second apostle of his
+country. Among other miracles and conquests of hardened souls, was the
+conversion of his cousin John Corsini, an infamous gamester; and the
+miraculous cure of an ulcer in his neck.
+
+The bishop of Fiesoli, a town three miles from Florence, being dead, the
+chapter unanimously chose our saint to fill up the vacant see. Being
+informed of their proceedings, he hid himself, and remained so long
+concealed that the canons, despairing to find him, were going to proceed
+to a second election; when, by a particular direction of divine
+providence, he was discovered by a child. Being consecrated bishop in
+the beginning of the year 1360, he redoubled his former austerities. To
+his hair-shirt he added an iron girdle. He daily said the seven
+penitential psalms and the litany of the saints, and gave himself a
+severe discipline while he recited the litany. His bed was of
+vine-branches strewed on the floor. All his time was taken up in prayer
+or in his functions. Holy meditation and reading the scriptures he
+called his recreation from his labors. He avoided discourse with women
+as much as possible, and would never listen to flatterers or informers.
+His tenderness and care of the poor were incredible, and he had a
+particular regard for the bashful among them, that is, such as were
+ashamed to make known their distress: these he was diligent in seeking
+out, and assisted them with all possible secrecy. By an excellent talent
+for composing differences and dissensions, he never failed to reconcile
+persons at variance, and to appease all seditions that happened in his
+time, either at Fiesoli, or at Florence. Urban V., on this account, sent
+him vested with legatine power to Bologna, where the nobility and people
+were miserably divided. He happily pacified them, and their union
+continued during the remainder of his life. He was accustomed every
+Thursday to wash, with singular charity and humility, the feet of the
+poor: one excused himself, alleging that his feet were full of ulcers
+and corruption; the saint insisted upon washing them notwithstanding,
+and they were immediately healed. In imitation of St. Gregory the Great,
+he kept a list of the names of all the poor, and furnished them all with
+allowances. He never dismissed any without an alms, for which purpose he
+once miraculously multiplied bread. He was taken ill while he was
+singing high mass on Christmas-night, in the year 1372. His fever
+increasing, he gave up his happy soul to God with a surprising joy and
+tranquillity, on the 6th of January, 1373, being seventy-one years and
+five weeks old, having been twelve years bishop. He was honored with
+many miracles, and immediately canonized by the voice of the people. The
+state of Florence has often sensibly experienced his powerful
+intercession. Pope Eugenius IV. allowed his relics to be exposed to
+public veneration. He was canonized by Urban VIII. in 1629. His festival
+was transferred to the 4th of February. Clement XII. being of this
+family, in conjunction with his nephew, the marquis of Corsini,
+sumptuously adorned the chapel of the Carmelite friars' church in
+Florence, in which the saint's body is kept. He also built and endowed a
+magnificent independent chapel in the great church of St. John Lateran,
+under the name of this his patron, in which the corpse of that pope is
+interred.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The example of all the saints confirms the fundamental maxim of our
+divine Redeemer, that the, foundation of all solid virtue and of true
+sanctity, is to be laid by subduing the passions and dying to ourselves.
+Pride, sensuality, covetousness, and every vice must be rooted out of
+the heart, the senses must be mortified, the inconstancy of the mind
+must be settled, and its inclination to roving and dissipation fixed by
+recollection, and all depraved {351} affections curbed. Both in
+cloisters and in the world, many Christians take pains to become
+virtuous by multiplying religious practices, yet lose in a great measure
+the fruit of their labors, because they never study with their whole
+hearts to die to themselves. So long as self-love reigns in their souls,
+almost without control, this will often blind and deceive them, and will
+easily infect even their good works, and their devotion will be liable
+to a thousand illusions, and always very imperfect. Hence religious
+persons, after many years spent in the rigorous observance of their
+rule, still fail upon the least trial or contradiction which thwarts
+their favorite inclination, and are stopped in their spiritual progress
+as it were by every grain of sand in their way: their whole life they
+crawl like base insects in the mire of their imperfections, whereas if
+they studied once in good earnest to curb sensuality and to renounce
+their own lights, their own will, and the inordinate love of themselves,
+difficulties would disappear before them, and they would in a short time
+arrive at the perfection of true virtue, and enjoy the liberty of the
+children of God, and his interior peace, the true road to which is only
+humility, meekness, and perfect self-denial. Did we know the treasure
+and happiness which this would procure us, we should, in imitation of
+the ancient holy monks, desire to meet with superiors who would exercise
+us by the severest trials, and think ourselves most obliged to those who
+apply the strongest remedies to purge and cure our sick souls.
+
+SS. PHILEAS, MM.
+
+BISHOP OF THMUIS, AND PHILOROMUS.
+
+PHILEAS was a rich nobleman of Thmuis[1] in Egypt, very eloquent and
+learned. Being converted to the faith, he was chosen bishop of that
+city; but was taken and carried prisoner to Alexandria by the
+persecutors, under the successors of Dioclesian. Eusebius has preserved
+part of a letter which he wrote in his dungeon, and sent to his flock to
+comfort and encourage them.[2] Describing the sufferings of his fellow
+confessors at Alexandria, he says that every one had full liberty
+allowed to insult, strike, and beat them with rods, whips, or clubs.
+Some of the confessors, with their hands behind their backs, were tied
+to pillars, their bodies stretched out with engines, and their sides,
+belly, thighs, legs, and cheeks, hideously torn with iron hooks: others
+were hung by one hand, suffering excessive pain by the stretching of
+their joints: others hung by both hands, their bodies being drawn down.
+The governor thought no treatment too bad for Christians. Some expired
+on the racks; others expired soon after they were taken down: others
+were laid on their backs in the dungeons, with their legs stretched out
+in the wooden stocks to the fourth hole, &c. Culcian, who had been
+prefect of Thebais, was then governor of all Egypt, under the tyrant
+Maximinus, but afterwards lost his head in 313, by the order of
+Licinius. We have a long interrogatory of St. Phileas before him from
+the presidial registers. Culcian, after many other things, asked him,
+"Was Christ God?" The saint answered, "Yes;" and alleged his miracles as
+a proof of his divinity. The governor professed a great regard for his
+quality and merit, and said: "If you were in misery, or necessity, you
+should be {352} dispatched without more ado; but as you have riches and
+estates sufficient not only for yourself and family, but for the
+maintenance almost of a whole province, I pity you, and will do all in
+my power to save you." The counsellors and lawyers, desirous also of
+saving him, said: "He had already sacrificed in the Phrontisterium, (or
+academy for the exercises of literature.") Phileas cried out: "I have
+not by any immolation; but say barely that I have sacrificed, and you
+will say no more than the truth." Having been confined there some time,
+he might perhaps have said mass in that place.[3]
+
+His wife, children, brother, and other relations, persons of
+distinction, and Pagans, were present at the trial. The governor, hoping
+to overcome him by tenderness, said:--"See how sorrowful your wife
+stands with her eyes fixed upon you." Phileas replied: "Jesus Christ,
+the Saviour of souls, calls me to his glory: and he can also, if he
+pleases, call my wife." The counsellors, out of compassion, said to the
+judge: "Phileas begs a delay." Culcian said to him: "I grant it you most
+willingly, that you may consider what to do." Phileas replied: "I have
+considered, and it is my unchangeable resolution to die for Jesus
+Christ." Then all the counsellors, the emperor's lieutenant, who was the
+first magistrate of the city, all the other officers of justice, and his
+relations, fell down together at his feet, embracing his knees, and
+conjuring him to have compassion on his disconsolate family, and not to
+abandon his children in their tender years, while his presence was
+absolutely necessary for them. But he, like a rock unshaken by the
+impetuous waves that dash against it, stood unmoved; and raising his
+heart to God, protested aloud that he owned no other kindred but the
+apostles and martyrs. Philoromus, a noble Christian, was present: he was
+a tribune or colonel, and the emperor's treasurer-general in Alexandria,
+and had his tribunal in the city, where he sat every day hearing and
+judging causes, attended by many officers in great state. Admiring the
+prudence and inflexible courage of Phileas, and moved with indignation
+against his adversaries, he cried out to them: "Why strive ye to
+overcome this brave man, and to make him, by an impious compliance with
+men, renounce God? Do not you see that, contemplating the glory of
+heaven, he makes no account of earthly things?" This speech drew upon
+him the indignation of the whole assembly, who in rage demanded that
+both might be condemned to die. To which the judge readily assented.
+
+As they were led out to execution, the brother of Phileas, who was a
+judge, said to the governor: "Phileas desires his pardon." Culcian there
+fore called him back, and asked him if it was true. He answered: "No;
+God forbid. Do not listen to this unhappy man. Far from desiring the
+reversion of my sentence, I think myself much obliged to the emperors,
+to you, and to your court: for by your means I become coheir with
+Christ, and shall enter this very day into the possession of his
+kingdom." Hereupon he was remanded to the place of execution, where
+having made his prayer aloud, and exhorted the faithful to constancy and
+perseverance, he was beheaded with Philoromus. The exact time of their
+martyrdom is not known, but it happened between the years 306 and 312.
+Their names stand in the ancient martyrologies. See Eusebius, Hist. l.
+8, c. 9. St. Hier. in Catal. in Philea; and their original beautiful
+acts, published by Combefis, Henschenius, and Ruinart.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Thmuis, capital of the Nomos, or district of Mendes, is called, by
+    Strata, Mendes: which word in the Egyptian tongue signifies a goat,
+    Pan being there worshipped with extraordinary superstition under the
+    figure of a goat. This city was anciently one of the largest and
+    richest in Egypt, as Amm. Marcellinus (l. 22) testifies; but is now
+    reduced to the condition of a mean village, and called Themoi, or
+    rather Them{o}wia. See Le Quien. Oriens Christ. t. 2. p. 53{}.
+2.  Eus. Hist. l. 8, c. 10, p. 302.
+3.  See Tillemont and Ceillier.
+
+{353}
+
+ST. GILBERT, A.
+
+FOUNDER OF THE GILBERTINS
+
+HE was born at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, and, after a clerical
+education, was ordained priest by the bishop of Lincoln. For some time
+he taught a free-school, training up youth in regular exercises of piety
+and learning. The advowson of the parsonages of Sempringham and
+Tirington being the right of his father, he was presented by him to
+those united livings, in 1123. He gave all the revenues of them to the
+poor, except a small sum for bare necessaries, which he reserved out of
+the first living. By his care his parishioners seemed to lead the lives
+of religious men, and were known to be of his flock, by their
+conversation, wherever they went. He gave a rule to seven holy virgins,
+who lived in strict enclosure in a house adjoining to the wall of his
+parish church of St. Andrew at Sempringham, and another afterwards to a
+community of men, who desired to live under his direction. The latter
+was drawn from the rule of the canon regulars; but that given to his
+nuns, from St. Bennet's: but to both he added many particular
+constitutions. Such was the origin of the Order of the Gilbertins, the
+approbation of which he procured from pope Eugenius III. At length he
+entered the Order himself, but resigned the government of it some time
+before his death, when he lost his sight. His diet was chiefly roots and
+pulse, and so sparing, that others wondered how he could subsist. He had
+always at table a dish which he called, The plate of the Lord Jesus, in
+which he put all that was best of what was served up; and this was for
+the poor. He always wore a hair shirt, took his short rest sitting, and
+spent great part of the night in prayer. In this, his favorite exercise,
+his soul found those wings on which she continually soared to God.
+During the exile of St. Thomas of Canterbury, he and the other superiors
+of his Order were accused of having sent him succors abroad. The charge
+was false: yet the saint chose rather to suffer imprisonment and the
+danger of the suppression of his Order, than to deny it, lest he should
+seem to condemn what would have been good and just. He departed to our
+Lord on the 3d of February, 1190, being one hundred and six years old.
+Miracles wrought at his tomb were examined and approved by Hubert,
+archbishop of Canterbury, and the commissioners of pope Innocent III. in
+1201, and he was canonized by that pope the year following. The Statutes
+of the Gilbertins, and Exhortations to his Brethren, are ascribed to
+him. See his life by a contemporary writer, in Dugdale's Monasticon, t.
+2, p. 696; and the same in Henschenius, with another from Capgrave of
+the same age. See also, Harpsfield, Hist. Angl. cent. 12, c. 37. De
+Visch, Bibl. Cisterc. Henschenius, p. 567. Helyot, &c.
+
+ST. JANE, JOAN, OR JOANNA OF VALOIS,
+
+QUEEN OF FRANCE.
+
+SHE was daughter of king Louis XI. and Charlotte of Savoy, born to 1464.
+Her low stature and deformed body rendered her the object of her
+father's aversion, who, notwithstanding, married her to Louis duke of
+Orleans, his cousin-german, in 1476. She obtained his life of her
+brother, Charles VIII., who had resolved to put him to death for
+rebellion. Yet {354} nothing could conquer his antipathy against her,
+from which she suffered every thing with patience, making exercises of
+piety her chief occupation and comfort. Her husband coming to the crown
+of France in 1498, under the name of Louis XII., having in view an
+advantageous match with Anne, the heiress of Brittany, and the late
+king's widow, alleging also the nullity of his marriage with Jane,
+chiefly on account of his being forced to it by Louis XI., applied to
+pope Alexander VI. for commissaries to examine the matter according to
+law. These having taken cognizance of the affair, declared the marriage
+void; nor did Jane make any opposition to the divorce, but rejoiced to
+see herself at liberty, and in a condition to serve God in a state of
+greater perfection, and attended with fewer impediments in his service.
+She therefore meekly acquiesced in the sentence, and the king, pleased
+at her submission, gave her the duchy of Berry, besides Pontoise and
+other townships. She resided at Bourges, wore only sackcloth, and
+addicted herself entirely to the exercises of mortification and prayer,
+and to works of charity, in which she employed all her great revenues.
+By the assistance of her confessarius, a virtuous Franciscan friar,
+called Gabriel Maria, as he always signed his name, she instituted, in
+1500, the Order of nuns of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.[1] It
+was approved by Julius II., Leo X., Paul V., and Gregory XV. The nuns
+wear a black veil, a white cloak, a red scapular, and a brown habit with
+a cross, and a cord for a girdle. The superioress is only called
+Ancelle, or servant, for humility. St. Jane took the habit herself in
+1504, but died on the 4th of February, 1505. The Huguenots burned her
+remains at Bourges, in 1562.[2] She was canonized by Clement XII. in
+1738, but had been venerated at Bourges from the time of her death. See
+the brief of Benedict XIV., concerning her immemorial veneration, t. 2,
+de Canoniz. l. 2, c. 24, p. 296. Bullarii, t. 16, p. 104, and Helyot,
+Hist. des Ord. Rel. t. 7, p. 339. Also, Henschenius, p. 575. Chatelain's
+Notes on the Mart. Her life, compiled by Andrew Fremiot, archbishop of
+Bourges; by Hilarion de Coste, of the Order of Minims, among his
+illustrious ladies; another printed by the order of Doni d'Attichi,
+bishop of Autun, in 1656, (who had from his youth professed the same
+Order of the Minims, of which he wrote the Annals, and a History of the
+French Cardinals.) See also, on St. Jane, Godeau, Eloges des Princesses,
+&c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The imitation of the ten principal virtues, of which the mysteries
+    of the Blessed Virgin, honored by the Church in her yearly
+    festivals, furnish perfect models, is the peculiar end of this
+    religious institute, which takes its name from the first and
+    principal of the joyful mysteries of the mother of God. These nuns
+    wear a gray habit with a red scapular, with a gold cross (or of
+    silver gilt) hanging before their breast, and a gold ring on one of
+    their fingers. A noble Genoese widow, called Mary Victoria Fornaro,
+    instituted in 1604 another Order of the same title, called of the
+    Celestial Annunciades, Annuntiatæ Coelestinæ. As an emblem of
+    heaven, their habit is white, with a blue mantle to represent the
+    azure of the heavens. The most rigorous poverty, and a total
+    separation from the world, are prescribed. The religious are only
+    allowed to speak to externs six times in a year, and then only to
+    near relations, the men to those of the first, the women to those of
+    the first and second degree. See the life of ven. Mary Victoria
+    Fornaro, by F. Ambrose Spinola, Jesuit; and Hist. des Ordres Relig.
+    t. 4, p. 297.
+2.  See Henschenius, p. 578.
+
+ST. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM.
+
+HE was a monk from his youth, and became superior of a monastery in the
+neighborhood of that city, in the fifth age. Facundus and Suidas assure
+us that he was promoted to the dignity of priest. He was looked upon as
+a living rule of religious perfection, and treated by his patriarch, St.
+Cyril, and the other prelates of his time, as their father. He chose St.
+Chrysostom for his model. We have still extant two thousand and twelve
+of his letters, abounding with excellent instructions of piety, and with
+theological {355} and critical learning. They are concise, and the style
+natural, very elegant, agreeable, full of fire and penetration. Possevin
+laments that they are not in use as a classic author for the Greek
+language. His prudence, undaunted zeal, profound humility, ardent love
+of God, and other virtues, shine admirably in them. He died about the
+year 449. See Photius, Bibl. Cod. 232 and 228. Tillem. t. 15, p. 97.
+Bolland. 4 Feb, p. 468.
+
+ST. REMBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF BREMEN, C.
+
+HE was a native of Flanders, near Bruges, and a monk in the neighboring
+monastery of Turholt. St. Anscharius called him to his assistance in his
+missionary labors, and in his last sickness recommended him for his
+successor, saying: "Rembert is more worthy to be archbishop, than I to
+discharge the office of his deacon." After his death, in 865, St.
+Rembert was unanimously chosen archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, and
+superintended all the churches of Sweden, Denmark, and the Lower
+Germany, finishing the work of their conversion. He also began the
+conversion of the Sclavi and the Vandals, now called Brandenburghers. He
+sold the sacred vessels to redeem captives from the Normans; and gave
+the horse on which he was riding for the ransom of a virgin taken by the
+Sclavi. He was most careful never to lose a moment of time from serious
+duties and prayer, and never to interrupt the attention of his mind to
+God in his exterior functions. He died on the 11th of June, in 888, but
+is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 4th of February, the day
+on which he was chosen archbishop. His life of St. Anscharius is
+admired, both for the author's accuracy and piety, and for the elegance
+and correctness of the composition. His letter to Walburge, first abbess
+of Nienherse, is a pathetic exhortation to humility and virginity. The
+see of Hamburg being united to Bremen by St. Anscharius, this became the
+metropolitan church of all the north of Germany: but the city becoming
+Lutheran, expelled the archbishop in the reign of Charles V. This see
+and that of Ferden were secularized and yielded to the Swedes by the
+treaty of Westphalia, in 1648. See his life written soon after his
+death, in Henschenius, p. 555. Mabillon, Act. Bened., &c.
+
+ST. MODAN, ABBOT IN SCOTLAND, C.
+
+DRYBURGH, situated near Mailros, was anciently one of the most famous
+monasteries in Scotland: in this house of saints, Modan dedicated
+himself to God, about the year 522. Being persuaded that Christian
+perfection is to be attained by holy prayer and contemplation, and by a
+close union of our souls with God, he gave six or seven hours every day
+to prayer, and moreover seasoned with it all his other actions and
+employments. A spirit of prayer is founded in the purity of the
+affections, the fruit of self-denial, humility, and obedience. Hence
+proceeded the ardor with which our saint studied to crucify his flesh
+and senses by the practice of the greatest austerities, to place himself
+beneath all creatures by the most profound and sincere humility, and in
+all things to subject his will to that of his superiors with such an
+astonishing readiness and cheerfulness, that they unanimously declared
+they never saw any one so perfectly divested of all self-will, and dead
+to himself, as Modan. The abbacy falling vacant, he was raised against
+his will to that dignity. In this charge, his conduct was a clear proof
+of the well-known maxim, that no man possesses the art of governing
+{356} others well, unless he is perfectly master of that of obeying. His
+inflexible firmness, in maintaining every point of monastic discipline,
+was tempered by the most winning sweetness and charity, and an
+unalterable calmness and meekness. Such, moreover, was his prudence, and
+such the unction of his words in instructing or reproving others, that
+his precepts and very reprimands gave pleasure, gained all hearts, and
+inspired the love, and communicated the spirit of every duty. He
+preached the faith at Stirling, and in other places near the Forth,
+especially at Falkirk; but frequently interrupted his apostolic
+employments to retire among the craggy mountains of Dunbarton, where he
+usually spent thirty or forty days at once in the heavenly exercises of
+devout contemplation, in which he enjoyed a kind of anticipation or
+foretaste of the delights in which consists the happiness of the
+blessed. He died in his retirement near Alcluid, (a fortress on the
+river Cluid,) since called Dunbritton, now Dunbarton. His death is
+usually placed in the seventh century, though some think he flourished
+later. His relics were kept with singular veneration in a famous church
+of his name at Rosneith. He is also titular saint of the great church at
+Stirling, and honored particularly at Dunbarton and Falkirk. See Hector
+Boetius, Lesley, King, in his Calendar, the Breviary of Aberdeen, and
+the Chronicle of Scone: also Bollandus, p. 497.
+
+ST. JOSEPH OF LEONISSA, C.
+
+THIS saint was born to 1556, at Leonissa a small town near Otricoli, in
+the ecclesiastical state, and at eighteen years of age made his
+profession among the Capuchin friars, in the place of his birth, taking
+the name of Joseph; for before he was called Eufranius. He was always
+mild, humble, chaste, patient, charitable, mortified, and obedient to an
+heroic degree: with the utmost fervor, and on the most perfect motive of
+religion, he endeavored to glorify God in all his actions. Three days in
+the week he usually took no other sustenance than bread and water, and
+passed several Lents in the year after the same manner. His bed was hard
+boards, with the trunk of a vine for his pillow. The love of injuries,
+contumelies, and humiliations, made him find in them his greatest joy.
+He looked upon himself as the basest of sinners, and said, that indeed
+God by his infinite mercy had preserved him from grievous crimes; but
+that by his sloth, ingratitude, and infidelity to the divine grace, he
+deserved to have been abandoned by God above all creatures. By this
+humility and mortification he crucified in himself the _old man with his
+deeds_, and prepared his soul for heavenly communications in prayer and
+contemplation, which was his assiduous exercise. The sufferings of
+Christ were the favorite and most ordinary object of his devotions. He
+usually preached with a crucifix in his hands, and the fire of his words
+kindled a flame in the hearts of his hearers and penitents. In 1587 he
+was sent by his superiors into Turkey, to labor as a missioner among the
+Christians at Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, He there encouraged and
+served the Christian galley-slaves with wonderful charity and fruit,
+especially during a violent pestilence, with which he himself was
+seized, but recovered. He converted many apostates, one of whom was a
+bashaw. By preaching the faith to the Mahometans he incurred the utmost
+severity of the Turkish laws, was twice imprisoned, and the second time
+condemned to a cruel death. He was hung on a gibbet by one hand, which
+was fastened by a chain, and pierced with a sharp hook at the end of the
+chain; and by one foot in the same manner. Having been some time on
+{357} the gibbet, he was released,[1] and the sentence of death was
+changed by the sultan into banishment. Wherefore, embarking for Italy,
+he landed at Venice; and after two years' absence arrived at Leonissa.
+He resumed his apostolic labors in his Own country with extraordinary
+zeal, and an uncommon benediction from heaven. To complete his
+sacrifice, he suffered very much towards the end of his life from a
+painful cancer, to extirpate which he underwent two incisions without
+the least groan or complaint, only repeating: "Holy Mary, pray for us
+miserable afflicted sinners:" and holding all the while a crucifix to
+his hand, on which he fixed his eyes. When some said, before the
+operation, that he ought to be bound or held, he pointed to the
+crucifix, saying: "This is the strongest band: this will hold me unmoved
+better than any cords could do." The operation proving unsuccessful, the
+saint happily expired, on the 4th day of February, in 1612, being
+fifty-eight years old. His name was inserted in the Roman Martyrology on
+the 4th of February. See the history of his miracles in the acts of his
+beatification, which ceremony was performed by Clement XII. in 1737, and
+in those of his canonization by Benedict XIV. in 1746. Acta
+Canonizationis 5 Sanctorum, viz. Fidelis a Sigmaringa, M. Camilli de
+Lelia, Petri Regalati, Josephi a Leonissa, and Catharinæa de Riccis, a
+Benedicto XIV., an. 1746, printed at Rome an. 1749, pp. 11, 85, and the
+bull for his canonization, p. 558. Also Bollan. t. 15, p. 127.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Some say he was released by an angel, after hanging three days, but
+    this circumstance is not mentioned by Benedict XIV., in the decree
+    for his canonization, p. 559.
+
+
+FEBRUARY V.
+
+ST. AGATHA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.
+
+We have her panegyrics by St. Aldhelm, in the seventh, and St.
+Methodius, patriarch of Constantinople, in the ninth, centuries; also a
+hymn in her honor among the poems of pope Damasus, and another by St.
+Isidore of Seville, in Bollandus, p. 596. The Greeks have interpolated
+her acts, but those in Latin are very ancient. They are abridged by
+Tillemont, t. 3, p. 409. See also Rocci Pyrrho, in Sicilia Sacra on
+Palermo, Catana, and Malta.
+
+A. D 251.
+
+THE cities of Palermo and Catana, in Sicily, dispute the honor of her
+birth: but they do much better who, by copying her virtues, and claiming
+her patronage, strive to become her fellow-citizens in heaven. It is
+agreed that she received the crown of martyrdom at Catana, in the
+persecution of Decius, in the third consulship of that prince, in the
+year of our Lord 251. She was of a rich and illustrious family, and
+having been consecrated to God from her tender years, triumphed over
+many assaults upon her chastity. Quintianus, a man of consular dignity,
+bent on gratifying both his lust and avarice, imagined he should easily
+compass his wicked designs on Agatha's person and estate, by means of
+the emperor's edict against the Christians. He therefore caused her to
+be apprehended and brought before him at Catana. Seeing herself in the
+hands of the persecutors, she made this prayer: "Jesus Christ, Lord of
+all things, you see my heart, you know my desire: possess alone all that
+I am. I am your sheep, make me worthy to overcome the devil." She wept,
+and prayed for courage and strength all the way she {358} went. On her
+appearance, Quintianus gave orders for her being put into the hands of
+Aphrodisia, a most wicked woman, who with six daughters, all
+prostitutes, kept a common stew. The saint suffered in this infamous
+place, assaults and stratagems against her virtue, infinitely more
+terrible to her than any tortures or death itself. But placing her
+confidence in God, she never ceased with sighs and most earnest tears to
+implore his protection, and by it was an overmatch for all their hellish
+attempts, the whole month she was there. Quintianus being informed of
+her constancy after thirty days, ordered her to be brought before him.
+The virgin, in her first interrogatory, told him, that to be a servant
+of Jesus Christ was the most illustrious nobility, and true liberty. The
+judge, offended at her resolute answers, commanded her to be buffeted,
+and led to prison. She entered it with great joy, recommending her
+future conflict to God. The next day she was arraigned a second time at
+the tribunal, and answered with equal constancy that Jesus Christ was
+her life and her salvation. Quintianus then ordered her to be stretched
+on the rack, which torment was usually accompanied with stripes, the
+tearing of the sides with iron hooks, and burning them with torches or
+matches. The governor, enraged to see her suffer all this with
+cheerfulness, commanded her breast to be tortured, and afterwards to be
+cut off. At which she made him this reproach: "Cruel tyrant, do you not
+blush to torture this part of my body, you that sucked the breasts of a
+woman yourself?" He remanded her to prison with a severe order, that
+neither salves nor food should be allowed her. But God would be himself
+her physician, and the apostle St. Peter in a vision comforted her,
+healed all her wounds, and filled her dungeon with a heavenly light.
+Quintianus, four days after, not the least moved at the miraculous cure
+of her wounds, caused her to be rolled naked over live coals mixed with
+broken potsherds. Being carried back to prison, she made this prayer:
+"Lord, my Creator, you have ever protected me from the cradle. You have
+taken from me the love of the world, and given me patience to suffer:
+receive now my soul." After which words she sweetly gave up the ghost.
+Her name is inserted in the canon of the mass, in the calendar of
+Carthage, as ancient as the year 530, and in all martyrologies of the
+Latins and Greeks. Pope Symmachus built a church in Rome on the Aurelian
+way, under her name, about the year 500, which is fallen to decay.[1]
+St. Gregory the Great enriched a church which he purged from the Arian
+impiety, with her relics,[2] which it still possesses. This church had
+been rebuilt in her honor by Ricimer, general of the western empire, in
+460. Gregory II. built another famous church at Rome, under her
+invocation, in 726, which Clement VIII. gave to the congregation of the
+Christian doctrine. St. Gregory the Great[3] ordered some of her relics
+to be placed in the church of the monastery of St. Stephen, in the Isle
+of Capreæ, now Capri. The chief part, which remained at Catana, was
+carried to Constantinople by the Greek general, who drove the Saracens
+out of Sicily about the year 1040: these were brought back to Catana in
+1127, a relation of which translation, written by Mauritius, who was
+then bishop, is recorded by Rocci Pyrrho, and Bollandus.[4] The same
+authors relate in what manner the torrent of burning sulphur and stones
+which issue from mount Ætna, in great eruptions, was several times
+averted from the walls of Catana by the veil of St. Agatha, (taken out
+of her tomb,) which was carried in procession. Also that through her
+intercession, Malta (where she is honored as patroness of the island)
+was preserved from the Turks who invaded it in 1551. Small portions of
+relics of St. Agatha are said to be distributed in many places.
+
+{359}
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The perfect purity of intention by which St. Agatha was entirely dead to
+the world and herself, and sought only to please God, is the
+circumstance which sanctified her sufferings, and rendered her sacrifice
+complete. The least cross which we bear, the least action which we
+perform in this disposition, will be a great holocaust, and a most
+acceptable offering. We have frequently something to suffer--sometimes
+an aching pain in the body, at other times some trouble of mind, often
+some disappointment, some humbling rebuke, or reproach, or the like. If
+we only bear these trials with patience when others are witnesses, or if
+we often speak of them, or are fretful under them, or if we bear
+patiently public affronts or great trials, yet sink under those which
+are trifling, and are sensible to small or secret injuries, it is
+evident that we have not attained to true purity of intention in our
+patience; that we are not dead to ourselves, and love not to disappear
+to the eyes of creatures, but court them, and take a secret complacency
+in things which appear great. We profess ourselves ready to die for
+Christ; yet cannot bear the least cross or humiliation. How agreeable to
+our divine spouse is the sacrifice of a soul which suffers in silence,
+desiring to have no other witness of her patience than God alone, who
+sends her trials; which shuns superiority and honors, but takes all care
+possible that no one knows the humility or modesty of such a refusal;
+which suffers humiliations, and seeks no comfort or reward but from God.
+This simplicity and purity of heart; this love of being hid in God,
+through Jesus Christ, is the perfection of all our sacrifices, and the
+complete victory over self-love, which it attacks and forces out of its
+strongest intrenchments: this says to Christ, with St. Agatha, "Possess
+alone all that I am."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Fronteau Cal. p. 25.
+2.  Disi. l. 3, c. 30.
+3.  L. 1, ep. 52.
+4.  Feb. {}1, p. 647.
+
+THE MARTYRS OF JAPAN.
+
+See the triumph of the martyrs of Japan. by F. Trigault, from the year
+1612 to 1640, the history of Japan, by F. Crasset, to the year 1658, and
+that by the learned F. Charlevoix in nine volumes: also the life of F.
+Spinola, &c.
+
+THE empire of Japan, so called from one of the islands of which it is
+composed, was discovered by certain Portuguese merchants, about the year
+1541. It is generally divided into several little kingdoms, all which
+obey one sovereign emperor. The capital cities are Meaco and Jedo. The
+manners of this people are the reverse of ours in many things. Their
+characteristic is pride, and an extravagant love of honor. They adore
+idols of grotesque shapes, by which they represent certain famous wicked
+ancestors: the chiefest are Amida and Xacha. Their priests are called
+Bonzas, and all obey the Jaco, or high-priest. St. Francis Xavier
+arrived in Japan in 1549, baptized great numbers, and whole provinces
+received the faith. The great kings of Arima, Bungo, and Omura, sent a
+solemn embassy of obedience to pope Gregory XIII. in 1582: and in 1587
+there were in Japan above two hundred thousand Christians, and among
+these several kings, princes, and bonzas, but in 1588, Cambacundono, the
+haughty emperor, having usurped the honors of a deity, commanded all the
+Jesuits to leave his dominions within six months: however, many remained
+there disguised. In 1593, the persecution was renewed, and several
+Japanese converts received the crown of martyrdom. The emperor
+Tagcosama, one of the proudest and most vicious of men, was worked up
+into rage and jealousy by a suspicion suggested by certain European
+merchants desirous of the monopoly of this trade, that the view of the
+missionaries in preaching the Christian faith was to facilitate the
+conquest of their country by the Portuguese or Spaniards. Three Jesuits
+and six Franciscans were crucified on {360}a hill near Nangasaqui in
+1597. The latter were partly Spaniards and partly Indians, and had at
+their head F. Peter Baptist, commissary of his Order, a native of Avila,
+in Spain. As to the Jesuits, one was Paul Michi, a noble Japanese and an
+eminent preacher, at that time thirty-three years old. The other two,
+John Gotto and James Kisai, were admitted into the Society in prison a
+little before they suffered. Several Japanese converts suffered with
+them. The martyrs were twenty-six in number, and among them were three
+boys who used to serve the friars at mass; two of them were fifteen
+years of age, and the third only twelve, yet each showed great joy and
+constancy in their sufferings. Of these martyrs, twenty-four had been
+brought to Meaco, where only a part of their left ears was cut off, by a
+mitigation of the sentence which had commanded the amputation of their
+noses and both ears. They were conducted through many towns and public
+places, their cheeks stained with blood, for a terror to others. When
+the twenty-six soldiers of Christ were arrived at the place of execution
+near Nangasaqui, they were allowed to make their confession to two
+Jesuits of the convent, in that town, and being fastened to crosses by
+cords and chains, about their arms and legs, and an iron collar about
+their necks, were raised into the air, the foot of each cross falling
+into a hole prepared for it in the ground. The crosses were planted in a
+row, about four feet asunder, and each martyr had an executioner near
+him with a spear ready to pierce his side, for such is the Japanese
+manner of crucifixion. As soon as all the crosses were planted, the
+executioners lifted up their lances, and at a signal given, all pierced
+the martyrs almost in the same instant; upon which they expired and went
+to receive the reward of their sufferings. Their blood and garments were
+procured by Christians, and miracles were wrought by them. Urban VIII.
+ranked them among the martyrs, and they are honored on the 5th of
+February, the day of their triumph. The rest of the missionaries were
+put on board a vessel, and carried out of the dominions, except
+twenty-eight priests, who stayed behind in disguise. Tagcosama dying,
+ordered his body should not be burned, as was the custom in Japan, but
+preserved enshrined in his palace of Fuximi, that he might be worshipped
+among the gods under the title of the new god of war. The most stately
+temple in the empire was built to him, and his body deposited in it. The
+Jesuits returned soon after, and though the missionaries were only a
+hundred in number, they converted, in 1599, forty thousand, and in 1600,
+above thirty thousand, and built fifty churches; for the people were
+highly scandalized to see him worshipped as a god, whom they had
+remembered a most covetous, proud, and vicious tyrant. But in 1602,
+Cubosama renewed the bloody persecution, and many Japanese converts were
+beheaded, crucified, or burned. In 1614, new cruelties were exercised to
+overcome their constancy, as by bruising their feet between certain
+pieces of wood, cutting off or squeezing their limbs one after another,
+applying red-hot irons or slow fires, flaying off the skin of the
+fingers, putting burning coals to their hands, tearing off the flesh
+with pincers, or thrusting reeds into all parts of their bodies, and
+turning them about to tear their flesh, till they should say they would
+forsake their faith: all which, innumerable persons, even children, bore
+with invincible constancy till death. In 1616, Xogun succeeding his
+father Cubosama in the empire, surpassed him in cruelty. The most
+illustrious of these religious heroes was F. Charles Spinola. He was of
+a noble Genoese family, and entered the Society at Nola, while his uncle
+cardinal Spinola was bishop of that city. Out of zeal and a desire of
+martyrdom, he begged to be sent on the Japanese mission. He arrived
+there in 1602; labored many years in that mission, gained many to
+Christ, by his mildness, and lived in great austerity, for his usual
+food was only a little rice and {361} herbs. He suffered four years a
+most cruel imprisonment, during which, in burning fevers, he was not
+able to obtain of his keepers a drop of cold water out of meals: yet he
+wrote from his dungeon: "Father, how sweet and delightful is it to
+suffer for Jesus Christ! I have learned this better by experience than I
+am able to express, especially since we are in these dungeons where we
+fast continually. The strength of my body fails me, but my joy increases
+as I see death draw nearer. O what a happiness for me, if next Easter I
+shall sing the heavenly Alleluia in the company of the blessed!" In a
+long letter to his cousin Maximilian Spinola, he said: "O, if you had
+tasted the delights with which God tills the souls of those who serve
+him, and suffer for him, how would you contemn all that the world can
+promise! I now begin to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, since for his
+love I am in prison, where I suffer much. But I assure you, that when I
+am fainting with hunger, God hath fortified me by his sweet
+consolations, so that I have looked upon myself as well recompensed for
+his service. And though I were yet to pass many years in prison, the
+time would appear short, through the extreme desire which I feel of
+suffering for him, who even here so well repays our labors. Besides
+other sickness, I have been afflicted with a continual fever a hundred
+days without any remedies or proper nourishment. All this time my heart
+was so full of joy, that it seemed to me too narrow to contain it. I
+have never felt any equal to it, and I thought myself at the gates of
+paradise." His joy was excessive at the news that he was condemned to be
+burnt alive, and he never ceased to thank God for so great a mercy, of
+which he owned himself unworthy. He was conducted from his last prison
+at Omura to Nangasaqui, where fifty martyrs suffered together on a hill
+within sight of that city-nine Jesuits, four Franciscans, and six
+Dominicans, the rest seculars: twenty-five were burned, the rest
+beheaded. The twenty-five stakes were fixed all in a row, and the
+martyrs tied to them. Fire was set to the end of the pile of wood
+twenty-five feet from the martyrs, and gradually approached them, two
+hours before it reached them. F. Spinola stood unmoved, with his eyes
+lifted up towards heaven, till the cords which tied him being burnt, he
+fell into the flames, and was consumed, on the 2d of September, in 1622,
+being fifty-eight years old. Many others, especially Jesuits, suffered
+variously, being either burnt at slow fires, crucified, beheaded, or
+thrown into a burning mountain, or hung with their heads downward in
+pits, which cruel torment usually put an end to their lives in three or
+four days. In 1639, the Portuguese and all other Europeans, except the
+Dutch, were forbid to enter Japan, even for trade; the very ambassadors
+which the Portuguese sent thither were beheaded. In 1642, five Jesuits
+landed secretly in Japan, but were soon discovered, and after cruel
+tortures were hung in pits till they expired. Thus hath Japan encouraged
+the church militant, and filled the triumphant with glorious martyrs:
+though only the first-mentioned have as yet been publicly declared such
+by the holy See, who are mentioned in the new edition of the Roman
+Martyrology published by Benedict XIV. in 1749.
+
+{362}
+
+APPENDIX
+
+ON
+
+THE MARTYRS OF CHINA.
+
+THE devil set all his engines to work, that he might detain in his
+captivity those great nations, which, by the inscrutable judgments of
+God, lay yet buried in the night of infidelity, and by their vicious
+habits and prejudices had almost extinguished the law written in their
+breast by their Creator. The pure light of the gospel sufficed to dispel
+the dark clouds of idolatry by its own brightness; but the passions of
+men were not to be subdued but by the omnipotent hand of Him who
+promised that his holy faith and salvation should be propagated
+throughout all nations. All the machinations of hell were not able to
+defeat the divine mercy, not even by the scandal of those false
+Christians, whom jealousy, covetousness, and the spirit of the world
+blinded and seared to every feeling, not only of religion, but even of
+humanity. Religious missionaries, filled with the spirit of the
+apostles, and armed with the power of God, baffled obstacles which
+seemed insurmountable to flesh and blood; and by their zeal, charity,
+patience, humility, meekness, mortification, and invincible courage,
+triumphantly planted the standard of the cross in a world heretofore
+unknown to us, and but lately discovered, not by blind chance, but for
+these great purposes of divine providence.
+
+It appears from the Chinese annals, in F. Du Halde's History of China,
+that this vast empire is the most ancient in the world. Mr. Shuckford
+(B. 1, 2, 6) thinks, that their first, king, Fo-hi, was Noah himself,
+whom he imagines to have settled here soon after the deluge. Mr.
+Swinton, in the twentieth tome of the Universal History, justly censures
+this conjecture, and rejects the first dynasty of the Chinese history;
+which Mr. Jackson in his chronology, with others, vindicates. We must
+own that the Chinese annals are unanimous in asserting this first
+dynasty, whatever some have, by mistake, wrote against it; and this
+antiquity agrees very well with the chronology of the Septuagint, or
+that of the Samaritan Pentateuch, one of which several learned men seem
+at present much inclined to embrace. As for this notion that the Chinese
+are originally an Egyptian colony, and that their first dynasty is
+borrowed from the latter; notwithstanding my great personal respect for
+the worthy author of that system, it stands in need of proofs founded in
+facts, not in conjectures. A little acquaintance with languages shows,
+that we frequently find in certain words and circumstances a surprising
+analogy, in some things, between several words or customs of the most
+disparate languages and manners of very distant countries: several
+Persian words are the same in English, and it would be as plausible a
+system to advance that one of these nations was a colony of the other.
+From such circumstances it only results, that all nations have one
+common original. Allowing therefore the Chinese an antiquity of which
+they are infinitely jealous, Fo-hi was perhaps either Sem himself, or
+one that lived very soon after the flood, from whom this empire derives
+its origin. Confucius was the great philosopher of this people, who drew
+up the plan of their laws and religion. He is thought to have flourished
+about the time of king Solomon, or not much later. He was of royal
+extraction, and a man of severe morals. His writings contain many
+sublime moral truths, and show him to have been the greatest philosopher
+that ever lived. As he came nearer to the patriarchs in time, and
+received a more perfect tradition from them, he surpassed, in the
+excellency of his moral precepts, Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato. He
+taught men to obey, honor, and fear the Lord of Heaven, to love their
+neighbor as themselves, to subdue irregular inclinations, and to be
+guided in all things by reason; that God is the original and ultimate
+end of all things, which he produced and preserves, himself eternal,
+infinite, and immutable; one, supremely holy, supremely intelligent, and
+invisible. He often mentioned the expectation of a Messias to come, a
+perfect guide and teacher of virtue; calling him the holy man, and the
+holy person, who is expected to come on earth. It is a tradition in
+China, that he was often heard to say, "That in the West the Holy One
+will appear." This he delivered from the patriarchal tradition; but he
+not only mentions heavenly spirits, the ministers of God, but he also
+ordains the worship of these spirits by religious rites and sacrifices,
+and concurs with the idolatry which was established in his time. St.
+Francis Xavier had made the conversion of China the object of his
+zealous wishes; but died, like another Moses, in sight of it. His
+religious brethren long attempted in vain to gain admittance into that
+country; but the jealousy of the inhabitants refused entrance to all
+strangers. However, God was pleased, at the repeated prayers of his
+servants, to crown them with success. The Portuguese made a settlement
+at Macao. an island within sight of China, and obtained leave to go
+thither {363} twice a year for to trade at the fairs of Canton. F.
+Matthew Ricci, a Roman Jesuit, a good mathematician, and a disciple of
+Clavius, being settled a missionary at Macao, went over with them
+several times into China, and in 1593, obtained leave of the governor to
+reside there with two other Jesuits. A little catechism which he
+published, and a map of the world, in which he placed the first meridian
+in China, to make it the middle of the world, according to the Chinese
+notion, gained him many friends and admirers. In 1595, he established a
+second residence of Jesuits, at Nanquin; and made himself admired them
+by teaching the true figure of the earth, the cause of lunar eclipses,
+&c. He also built an observatory, and converted many to the faith. In
+1600, he went to Pekin, and carried with him a clock, a watch, and many
+other presents to the emperor, who granted him a residence in that
+capital. He converted many, and among these several officers of the
+court, one of whom was Paul Siu, afterwards prime minister, under whose
+protection a flourishing Church was established in his country, Xankai,
+(in the province of Nanquin,) in which were forty thousand Christians
+when the late persecution began. Francis Martinez, a Chinese Jesuit,
+having converted a famous doctor, was beaten several times, and at
+length expired under the torment. Ricci died in 1617, having lived in
+favor with the emperor Vanlie.
+
+F. Adam Schall, a Jesuit from Cologn, by his mathematics, became known
+to the emperor Zonchi: but in 1636, that prince laid violent hands upon
+himself, that he might not fall into the hands of two rebels who had
+taken Pekin. The Chinese called in Xuute, king of a frontier nation of
+the Tartars, to their assistance, who recovered Pekin, but demanded the
+empire for the prize of his victory: and his son Chunchi obtained quiet
+possession of it in 1650. From that time the Tartars have been emperors
+of China, but they govern it by its own religion and laws. They
+frequently visit their original territories, but rather treat them as
+the conquered country. Chunchi esteemed F. Schall, called him father,
+and wag favorable to the Christians. After his death the four regents
+pat to death five Christian mandarins for their faith, and condemned F.
+Schall, but granted him a reprieve; during which he died. The young
+emperor Camhi coming of age, put a stop to the persecution, and employed
+F. Verbiest, a Jesuit, to publish the yearly Chinese calendar, declared
+him president of the mathematics in his palace, and consequently a
+mandarin. The first year he opened the Christian churches, which was in
+1671, above twenty thousand souls were baptized: and in the year
+following, an uncle of the emperor, one of the eight perpetual generals
+of the Tartar troops, and several other persons of distinction. The
+succeeding emperors were no less favorable to the Christians, and
+permitted them to build a most sumptuous church within the enclosures of
+their own palace, which in many respects surpassed all the other
+buildings of the empire. It was finished in 1702. The Dominican friars,
+according to Touron, (Hommes Illustr. t. 6,) entered China in 1556,
+converted many to the faith, and, in 1631, laid the foundation of the
+most numerous church of Fokieu, great part of which province they
+converted to the faith. Four priests of this order received the crown of
+martyrdom in 1647, and a fifth, named Francis de Capillas, from the
+convent of Valladolid, the apostle of the town of Fogau, was cruelly
+beaten, and soon after beheaded, on the 15th of January, 1648;
+"because," as his sentence imported, "he contemned the spirits and gods
+of the country." Relations hereof were transmitted to the Congregation
+de Propagandâ Fide, under pope Urban VIII.
+
+Upwards of a hundred thousand souls zealously professed the faith, and
+they had above two hundred churches. But a debate arose whether certain
+honors paid by the Chinese to Confucius and their deceased ancestors,
+with certain oblations made, either solemnly, by the mandarins and
+doctors at the equinoxes, and at the now and full moons, or privately,
+in their own houses or temples, were superstitious and idolatrous. Pope
+Clement XI., in 1704, condemned those rites as superstitious, _utpote
+superstitione imbutos_, the execution of which decree he committed to
+the patriarch of Antioch, afterwards cardinal Tournon, whom he sent as
+his commissary into that kingdom. Benedict XIV. confirmed the same more
+amply and severely by his constitution, _ex quo singulari_, in 1742, in
+which he declares, that the faithful ought to express God, in the
+Chinese language, by the name Thien Chu, _i.e._ the Lord of heaven: and
+that the words Tien, the heaven, and Xang Ti, the Supreme Ruler, are not
+to be used, because they signify the supreme god of the idolaters, a
+kind of fifth essence, or intelligent nature, in the heaven itself: that
+the inscription, King Tien, worship thou the heaven, cannot be allowed.
+The obedience of those who had formerly defended these rites to be
+merely political and civil honors, not sacred, was such, that from that
+time they have taken every occasion of testifying it to the world. By a
+like submission end victory over himself, Fenelon was truly greater than
+by all his other illustrious virtues and actions.
+
+The emperor Kang-hi protected the Christian religion in the most
+favorable manner. Whereas his successor, Yongtching, banished the
+missionaries out of the chief cities, but kept those religious in his
+palace who were employed by him in painting, mathematics, and other
+liberal arts, and who continued mandarins of the court. Kien-long, the
+next emperor, carried the persecution to the greatest rigors of cruelty.
+The tragedy was begun by the viceroy of Fokieu, who stirred up the
+emperor himself. A great number of Christians of {364} all ages and
+sexes were banished, beaten, and tortured divers ways, especially by
+being buffeted on the face with a terrible kind of armed ferula, one
+blow of which would knock the teeth out, and make the head swell
+exceedingly. All which torments even the young converts bore with
+incredible constancy, rather than discover where the priest lay hid, or
+deliver up the crosses, relics, or sacred books, or do any thing
+contrary to the law of God. Many priests and others died of their
+torments, or of the hardships of their dungeons. One bishop and six
+priests received the crown of martyrdom. Peter Martyr Sanz, a Spanish
+Dominican friar, arrived in China in 1715, where he had labored fifteen
+years, when he was named by the congregation bishop of Mauricastre, and
+ordained by the bishop of Nanquin, assisted by the bishops of Pekin and
+Macao, and appointed Apostolic Vicar for the province of Fokieu. In
+1732, the emperor, by an edict, banished all the missionaries. Peter
+Sauz retired to Macao, but returned to Fokieu, in 1738, and founded
+several new churches for his numerous converts, and received the vows of
+several virgins who consecrated themselves to God. The viceroy, provoked
+at this, caused him to be apprehended, amidst the tears of his dear
+flock, with four Dominican friars, his fellow-laborers. They were beaten
+with clubs, buffeted on the face with gauntlets made of several pieces
+of leather, and at length condemned to lose their heads. The bishop was
+beheaded on the same day, the 26th of May, 1747. The Chinese
+superstitiously imagine, that the soul of one that is put to death
+seizes the first person it meets, and therefore all the spectators run
+away as soon as they see the stroke of death given; but none of them did
+so at the death of this blessed martyr. On the contrary, admiring the
+joy with which he died, and esteeming his holy soul happy, they thought
+it a blessing to come the nearest to him, and to touch his blood; which
+they did as respectfully as Christians could have done, for whom a pagan
+gathered the blood, because they durst not appear. The other four
+Dominican friars, who were also Spaniards, suffered much during
+twenty-eight months' cruel imprisonment, and were strangled privately in
+their dungeons on the 28th of October, 1748. Pope Benedict XIV. made a
+discourse to the cardinals on the precious death of this holy bishop,
+September 16, 1748. See Touron, t. 6, p. 729.
+
+These four fellow-martyrs of the Order of St. Dominic, were, Francis
+Serranus, fifty-two years old, who had labored nineteen years in the
+Chinese mission, and during his last imprisonment was nominated by pope
+Benedict XIV., bishop of Tipasa: Joachim Roio, fifty-six years old, who
+had preached in that empire thirty-three years: John Alcober, forty-two
+years old, who had spent eighteen years in that mission: and Francis
+Diaz, thirty-three years old, of which he had employed nine in the same
+vineyard. During their imprisonment, a report that their lives would be
+spared, filled them not with joy, but with grief, to the great
+admiration of the infidels, as pope Benedict XIV. mentions in his
+discourse to the consistory of cardinals, on their death, delivered in
+1752: in which he qualifies them crowned, but not declared martyrs:
+_martyres consummatos, nondum martyres vindicatos_. In the same
+persecution, two Jesuits, F. Joseph of Attemis, an Italian, and F.
+Antony Joseph Heuriquez, a Portuguese, were apprehended in December,
+1747, and tortured several times, to compel them to renounce their
+religion. They were at length condemned to death by the mandarins, and
+the sentence, according to custom, being sent to the emperor, was
+confirmed by him, and the two priests were strangled in prison on the
+12th of September, 1748. On these martyrs see F. Touron, Hommes
+Illustres de l'Ordre de S. Domin., t. 6, and the letters of the Jesuit
+missionaries. On the history of China, F. Du Halde's Description of
+China, in four vols. fol. Mullerus de Chataiâ, Navarrete, Tratados
+Históricos de la China, an. 1676. Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses des
+Missionaires, vols. 27, 28. Jackson's Chronology, &c.
+
+In Tonquin, a kingdom southwest of China, in which the king and
+mandarins follow the Chinese religion, though various sects of idolatry
+and superstition reign among the people, a persecution was raised
+against the Christians in 1713. In this storm one hundred and fifty
+churches were demolished, many converts were beaten with a hammer on
+their knees, and tortured various other ways; and two Spanish missionary
+priests of the order of St. Dominick suffered martyrdom for the faith,
+F. Francis Gil de Federich, and F. Matthew Alfonso Leziniana. F. Gil
+arrived there in 1735, and found above twenty thousand Christians in the
+west of the kingdom, who had been baptized by priests of his order. This
+vineyard he began assiduously to cultivate; but was apprehended by a
+neighboring Bonza, in 1737, and condemned to die the year following. The
+Touquinese usually execute condemned persons only in the last moon of
+the year, and a rejoicing or other accidents often cause much longer
+delays. The confessor was often allowed the liberty of saying mass in
+the prison: and was pressed to save his life, by saying that he came
+into Tonquin as a merchant; but this would have been a lie, and he would
+not suffer any other to give in such an answer for him. Father Matthew,
+a priest of the same order, after having preached ten years in Tonquin,
+was seized while he was saying mass; and because he refused to trample
+on a crucifix, was condemned to die in 1743; and in May, 1744, was
+brought into the same prison with F. Gil. The idolaters were so
+astonished to see their ardor to die, and the sorrow of the latter upon
+an offer of his life, that they cried out: "Others desire to live, but
+{365} these men to die." They were both beheaded together on the 22d of
+January, 1744. See Touron, t. 6, and Lettres Edif. of Curieuses des
+Missionaires.
+
+Many other vast countries, both in the eastern and western parts of the
+world, received the light of the gospel in the sixteenth century; in
+which great work several apostolic men were raised by God, and some were
+honored with the crown of martyrdom. Among the zealous missionaries who
+converted to the faith the savage inhabitants of Brazil, in America, of
+which the Portuguese took possession in 1500, under king John II., F.
+Joseph Anchieta is highly celebrated. He was a native of the Canary
+islands, but took the Jesuit's habit at Coimbra; died in Brazil, on the
+9th of June, 1597, of his age sixty-four; having labored in cultivating
+that vineyard forty-seven years. He was a man of apostolic humility,
+patience, meekness, prayer, zeal, and charity. The fruit of his labors
+was not less wonderful than the example of his virtues. See his life by
+F. Peter Roterigius, and by F. Sebastian Beretarius. The sanctity of the
+venerable F. Peter Claver, who labored in the same vineyard, was so
+heroic, that a process has been commenced for his canonization.
+
+F. Peter Claver was nobly born in Catalonia, and entered himself in the
+Society at Tarragon, in 1602, when about twenty years old. From his
+infancy he looked upon nothing small in which the service of God was
+concerned; for the least action or circumstance which is referred to his
+honor is great and precious, and requires our utmost application: in
+this spirit of fervor he considered God in every neighbor and superior;
+and upon motives of religion was humble and meek towards all, and ever
+ready to obey and serve every one. From the time of his religious
+profession, he applied himself with the greatest ardor to seek nothing
+in the world, but what Jesus Christ sought in his mortal life, that is,
+the kingdom of his grace: for the only aim of this servant of God was,
+the sanctification of his own soul, and the salvation of others. He was
+thoroughly instructed that a man's spiritual progress depends very much
+upon the fervor of his beginning; and he omitted nothing both to lay a
+solid foundation, and continually to raise upon it the structure of all
+virtues; and he sought and found God in all things. The progress which
+he made was very great, because he set out by the most perfect exterior
+and interior renunciation of the world and himself. Being sent to
+Majorca, to study philosophy and divinity, he contracted a particular
+friendship with a lay-brother, Alphonsus Rodriguez, then porter of the
+college, an eminent contemplative, and perfect servant of God: nor is it
+to be expressed how much the fervent disciple improved himself in the
+school of this humble master, in the maxims of Christian perfection. His
+first lessons were, to speak little with men, and much with God: to
+direct every action in the beginning with great fervor, to the most
+perfect glory of God, in union with the holy actions of Christ: to have
+God always present in his heart; and to pray continually for the grace
+never to offend God: never to speak of any thing that belongs to
+clothing, lodging, and such conveniences, especially eating or drinking:
+to meditate often on the sufferings of Christ, and on the virtues of his
+calling. F. Claver, in 1610, was, at his earnest request, sent with
+other missionaries to preach the faith to the infidels at Carthagena,
+and the neighboring country in America. At the first sight of the poor
+negro slaves, he was moved with the strongest sentiments of compassion,
+tenderness, and zeal, which never forsook him; and it was his constant
+study to afford them all the temporal comfort and assistance in his
+power. In the first place he was indefatigable in instructing and
+baptizing them, and in giving them every spiritual succor: the title in
+which he gloried was that of the Slave of the Slaves, or of the Negroes;
+and incredible were the fatigues which he underwent night and day with
+them, and the many heroic acts of all virtues which he exercised in
+serving them. The Mahometans, the Pagans, and the very Catholics, whose
+scandalous lives were a reproach to their holy religion; the hospitals
+and the prisons, were other theatres where he exercised his zeal. The
+history of his life furnishes us with most edifying instances, and gives
+all account of two persons raised to life by him, and of other miracles;
+though his assiduous prayer, and his extraordinary humility,
+mortification of his senses, and perfect self-denial, might be called
+the greatest of his miracles. In the same rank we may place the
+wonderful conversions of many obstinate sinners, and the heroic sanctity
+of many great servants of God, who were by him formed to perfect virtue.
+Among his maxims of humility, he used especially to inculcate, that he
+who is sincerely humble desires to be contemned; he seeks not to appear
+humble, but worthy to be humbled, is subject to all in his heart, and
+ready to obey the whole world. By the holy hatred of ourselves, we must
+secretly rejoice in our hearts when we meet with contempt end affronts;
+but must take care, said this holy man, that no one think we rejoice at
+them, but rather believe that we are confounded and grieved at the
+ill-treatment which we receive. F. Claver died on the 8th of September,
+1651, being about seventy-two years old; having spent in the Society
+fifty-five years, in the same uniform crucified life, and in the
+constant round of the same uninterrupted labors, which perhaps requires
+a courage more heroic than martyrdom. In the process for his
+canonization, the scrutiny relating to his life and virtues is happily
+finished; and Benedict XIV. confirmed the decree of the Congregation of
+Rites, in 1747, by which it is declared, that the proofs of the heroic
+degree of the Christian virtues which he practised, are competent and
+sufficient. See his life by F. Fleuriau.
+
+{366}
+
+MANY Martyrs in Pontus, under Dioclesian. Some were tortured with melted
+lead poured upon them, others with sharp reeds thrust under their nails,
+and such like inventions, several times repeated: at length they various
+ways completed their martyrdom. See Eusebius, Hist. l. 8, c. 12, p. 306.
+
+ST. AVITUS, ARCHBISHOP OF VIENNE, C.
+
+ST. ALCIMUS ECDITIUS AVITUS was of a senatorian Roman family, but born
+in Auvergne. His father, Isychius, was chosen archbishop of Vienne upon
+the death of St. Mammertus, and was succeeded in that dignity by our
+saint, in 490. Ennodius, in his life of St. Epiphanius of Pavia, says of
+him, that he was a treasure of learning and piety; and adds, that when
+the Burgundians had crossed the Alps, and carried home many captives out
+of Liguria, this holy prelate ransomed a great number. Clovis, king of
+France, while yet a pagan, and Gondebald, king of Burgundy, though an
+Arian, held him in great veneration. This latter, for fear of giving
+offence to his subjects, durst not embrace the Catholic faith, yet gave
+sufficient proofs that he was convinced of the truth by our saint, who,
+in a public conference, reduced the Arian bishops to silence in his
+presence, at Lyons. Gondebald died in 516. His son and successor,
+Sigismund, was brought over by St. Avitus to the Catholic faith. In 517,
+our saint presided in the famous council of Epaone, (now called Yenne,)
+upon the Rhone, in which forty canons of discipline were framed. When
+king Sigismund had imbrued his hands in the blood of his son Sigeric,
+upon a false charge brought against him by a stepmother, St. Avitus
+inspired him with so great a horror of his crime, that he rebuilt the
+abbey of Agaunum, or St. Maurice, became a monk, and died a saint. Most
+of the works of St. Avitus are lost: we have yet his poem on the praises
+of virginity, to his sister Fuscina, a nun, and some others; several
+epistles; two homilies On the Rogation days; and a third on the same,
+lately published by Dom Martenne;[1] fragments of eight other homilies;
+his conference against the Arians is given us in the Spicilege.[2] St.
+Avitus died in 525, and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the
+5th of February; and in the collegiate church of our Lady at Vienne,
+where he was buried, on the 20th of August. Ennodius, and other writers
+of that age, extol his learning, his extensive charity to the poor, and
+his other virtues. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. l. 2. His works, and
+his life in Henschenius;[3] and Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 2, p. 242.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Martenne Thesaur. Anecdot. t. 5, p. 49.
+2.  Spicil. t. 5.
+3.  F. Sirmond published the works of St. Avitus, with judicious short
+    notes, in 8vo., 1643. See them in Sirmond's works, t. 2, and Bibl.
+    Patr. His close manner of confuting the Arians in some of his
+    letters, makes us regret the loss of many other works, which he
+    wrote against them.
+
+ST. ALICE, OR ADELAIDE, V. ABBESS.
+
+SHE was daughter of Megendose, count of Guelders, and governed the
+nunnery of Bellich on the Rhine, near Bonn, (now a church of
+canonesses,) but died in 1015, abbess of our Lady's in Cologne, both
+monasteries having been founded by her father. Her festival, with an
+octave, is kept at Bellich, or Vilich, where the nunnery which she
+instituted, of the order of St. Bennet, is now converted into a church
+of canonesses. See her life in Surius and Bollandus; also Miræus, in
+Fastis Belgicis, &c.
+
+{367}
+
+ST. ABRAAMIUS, BISHOP OF ARBELA, M.
+
+THIS city, after the fall of Ninive, was long the capital of Adiabene,
+in Assyria, and was one bishopric with Hazza, anciently called Adiab.
+Arbeta, now called Irbil, was famous for the victory of Alexander; but
+received far greater lustre from the martyrdom of St. Abraamius, its
+bishop, who sealed his faith with his blood, after having suffered
+horrible torments, which were inflicted by order of an arch magian, in
+the fifth year of king Sapor's persecution, that is, of Christ 348. See
+Sozomen, l. 2, c. 12 and the Greek Menæa and Synaxary.
+
+FEBRUARY VI.
+
+ST. DOROTHY, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.
+
+See S. Aldhelm, Ado, Usuard, &c., in Bollandus, p. 771.
+
+ST. ALDHELM relates from her acts,[1] that Fabritius, the governor of
+Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, inflicted on her most cruel torments, because
+she refused to marry, or to adore idols: that she converted two apostate
+women sent to seduce her: and that being condemned to be beheaded, she
+converted one Theophilus, by sending him certain fruits and flowers
+miraculously obtained of her heavenly spouse. She seems to have suffered
+under Dioclesian. Her body is kept in the celebrated church which bears
+her name, beyond the Tiber, in Rome. She is mentioned on this day in the
+ancient Martyrology under the name of St. Jerom. There was another holy
+virgin, whom Rufin calls Dorothy, a rich and noble lady of the city of
+Alexandria, who suffered torments and a voluntary banishment, to
+preserve her faith and chastity against the brutish lust and tyranny of
+the emperor Maximinus, in the year 308, as is recorded by Eusebius[2]
+and Rufinus:[3] but many take this latter, whose name is not mentioned
+by Eusebius, to be the famous St. Catharine of Alexandria.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The blood of the martyrs flourished in its hundred-fold increase, as St.
+Justin has well observed: "We are slain with the sword, but we increase
+and multiply: the more we are persecuted and destroyed, the more are
+added to our numbers. As a vine, by being pruned and cut close, shoots
+forth new suckers, and bears a greater abundance of fruit; so is it with
+us."[4] Among other false reflections, the baron of Montesquieu, an
+author too much admired by many, writes:[5] "It is hardly possible that
+Christianity should ever be established in China. Vows of virginity, the
+assembling of women in the churches, their necessary intercourse with
+the ministers of religion, their participation of the sacraments,
+auricular confession, the marrying but one wife; all this oversets the
+manners and customs, and strikes at the religion and laws of the
+country." Could he forget that the gospel overcame {368} all these
+impediments where it was first established, in spite of the most
+inveterate prejudices, and of all worldly opposition from the great and
+the learned; whereas philosophy, though patronized by princes, could
+never in any age introduce its rules even into one city. In vain did the
+philosopher Plotinus solicit the emperor Gallienus to rebuild a ruined
+city in Campania, that he and his disciples might establish in it the
+republic of Plato: a system, in some points, flattering the passions of
+men, almost as Mahometism fell in with the prejudices and passions of
+the nations where it prevailed. So visibly is the church the work of
+God.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  L. de Laud. Virgin. c. 25.
+2.  L. 8, c. 14.
+3.  L. 1, c. 17.
+4.  Apol. 2, ol. 1.
+5.  L'Esprit des Loix, b. xix. 18.
+
+ST. VEDAST, BISHOP OF ARRAS, C.
+
+From a very short life of his, written soon after his death, and another
+longer, corrected by Alcuin, both published by Henschenius, with
+remarks, p. 782, t. 1. Febr. See Alcuin's Letter ad Monachos Vedastinos,
+in Martenne, Ampl. Collectio, t. l, p. 50. Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 3, p.
+3.
+
+A.D. 539.
+
+ST. VEDAST left his own country very young, (which seems to have been in
+the west of France,) and led a holy life concealed from the world in the
+diocese of Toul, where the bishop, charmed with his virtue, promoted him
+to the priesthood. Clovis I., king of France, returning from his victory
+over the Alemanni, hastening to Rheims to receive baptism, desired at
+Toul some priest who might instruct and prepare him for that holy
+sacrament on the road. Vedast was presented to his majesty for this
+purpose. While he accompanied the king at the passage of the river
+Aisne, a blind man begging on the bridge besought the servant of God to
+restore him to his sight: the saint, divinely inspired, prayed, and made
+the sign of the cross on his eyes, and he immediately recovered it. The
+miracle confirmed the king in the faith, and moved several of his
+courtiers to embrace it. St. Vedast assisted St. Remigius in converting
+the French, till that prelate consecrated him bishop of Arras, that he
+might re-establish the faith in that country. As he was entering that
+city in 499, he restored sight to a blind man, and cured one that was
+lame. These miracles excited the attention, and disposed the hearts of
+many infidels to a favorable reception of the gospel, which had been
+received here when the Romans were masters of the country: but the
+ravages of the Vandals and the Alans having either dispersed or
+destroyed the Christians, Vedast could not discover the least footsteps
+of Christianity, save only in the memory of some old people, who showed
+him without the walls a poor ruinous church, where Christians used to
+hold their religious assemblies. He sighed to see the Lord's field so
+overgrown with bushes and brambles, and become the haunt of wild beasts;
+whereupon he made it his most earnest supplication to God, that he would
+in his mercy vouchsafe to restore his worship in that country. A
+national faith is so great a blessing, that we seldom find it granted a
+second time to those, who, by imitating the ingratitude of the Jews,
+have drawn upon themselves the like terrible chastisement. St. Vedast
+found the infidels stupid and obstinate; yet persevered, till by his
+patience, meekness, charity, and prayers, he triumphed over bigoted
+superstition and lust, and planted throughout that country the faith and
+holy maxims of Christ. The great diocese of Cambray, which was extended
+beyond Brussels, was also committed to the care of this holy pastor, by
+St. Remigius, in 510, and the two sees remained a long time united. St.
+Vedast continued his labors almost forty years, and left his church
+flourishing in sanctity at his decease, on the 6th of February, in 539.
+He was buried in the cathedral, which is dedicated to God, under the
+patronage {369} of the Blessed Virgin; but a hundred and twenty-eight
+years after, St. Aubertus, the seventh bishop, changed a little chapel
+which St. Vedast had built in honor of St. Peter, without the walls,
+into an abbey, and removed the relics of St. Vedast into this new
+church, leaving a small portion of them in the cathedral. The great
+abbey of St. Vedast was finished by St. Vindicianus, successor to St.
+Aubertus, and most munificently endowed by king Theodoric or Thierry,
+who lies buried in the church with his wife Doda. Our ancestors had a
+particular devotion to St. Vedast, whom they called St. Foster, whence
+descends the family name of Foster, as Camden takes notice in his
+Remains. Alcuin has left us a standing monument of his extraordinary
+devotion to St. Vedast, not only by writing his life, but also by
+compiling an office and mass in his honor, for the use of his monastery
+at Arras, and by a letter to the monks of that house, in 769, in which
+he calls this saint his protector. See this letter in Martenne, Ampliss.
+Collect. t. 1, p. 50.
+
+SAINT AMANDUS, B.C.
+
+HE was born near Nantes, of pious parents, lords of that territory. At
+twenty years of age, he retired into a small monastery in the little
+isle of Oye, near that of Rhé. He had not been there above a year, when
+his father found him out, and made use of every persuasive argument in
+his power to prevail with him to quit that state of life. To his threats
+of disinheriting him, the saint cheerfully answered: " Christ is my only
+inheritance." The saint went to Tours, and a year after to Bourges,
+where he lived near fifteen years under the direction of St.
+Austregisilus, the bishop, in a cell near the cathedral. His clothing
+was a single sackcloth, and his sustenance barley-bread and water. After
+a pilgrimage to Rome, he was ordained in France a missionary bishop,
+without any fixed see, in 628, and commissioned to preach the faith to
+infidels. He preached the gospel in Flanders, and among the Sclavi in
+Carinthia and other provinces near the Danube:[1] but being banished by
+king Dagobert, whom he had boldly reproved for his scandalous crimes, he
+preached to the pagans of Gascony and Navarre. Dagobert soon recalled
+him, threw himself at his feet to beg his pardon, and caused him to
+baptize his new-born sort, St. Sigebert, afterwards king. The idolatrous
+people about Ghent were so savage, that no preacher durst venture
+himself among them. This moved the saint to choose that mission; during
+the course of which he was often beaten, and sometimes thrown into the
+river: he continued preaching, though for a long time he saw no fruit,
+and supported himself by his labor. The miracle of his raising a dead
+man to life, at last opened the eyes of the barbarians, and the country
+came in crowds to receive baptism, destroying the temples of their idols
+with their own hands. In 633 the saint having built them several
+churches, founded two great monasteries in Ghent, both under the
+patronage of St. Peter; one was named Blandinberg, from the hill Blandin
+on which it stands, now the rich abbey of St. Peter's; the other took
+the name of St. Bavo, from him who gave his estate for its foundation;
+this became the cathedral in 1559, when the city was created a bishop's
+see. Besides many pious foundations, both in France and Flanders, in
+639, he built the great abbey three leagues from Tourney, called Elnon,
+from the river on which it stands; but it has long since taken the name
+of St. Amand, with its town and warm mineral baths. In 649 he was chosen
+bishop of Maestricht; but three years after he resigned that see to St.
+Remaclus, and returned to his missions, to which his compassion for the
+blindness of infidels always inclined {370} his heart. He continued his
+labors among them till the age of eighty-six, when, broken with
+infirmities, he retired to Orion, which house he governed as abbot four
+years more, spending that time in preparing his soul for his passage to
+eternity, which happened in 675. His body is honorably kept in that
+abbey. The Sarum Breviary honored St. Amandus and St. Vedast with an
+office of nine lessons. See Buzelin, Gallo-Flandria, and Henschenius, 6
+Feb. p. 815, who has published five different lives of this saint.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Henschenius. p. 828.
+
+ST. BARSANUPHIUS, ANCHORET.
+
+HAVING renounced the world, he passed some years in the monastery of St.
+Seridon, near Gaza in Palestine, in the happy company of that holy
+abbot, John the prophet, the blessed Dorotheus, and St. Dositheus. That
+he might live in the constant exercise of heavenly contemplation, the
+sweetness of which he had begun to relish, he left the monastery about
+the year 540, and in a remote cell led a life rather angelical than
+human. He wrote a treatise against the Origenist monks, which Montfaucon
+has published in his Bibl. Coislin. The Greeks held this saint in so
+great veneration, that his picture was placed in the sanctuary of the
+church of Sancta Sophia in Constantinople, with those of St. Antony and
+St. Ephrem, as we are informed by the Studite monk who wrote the preface
+to the Instructions of St. Dorotheus, translated into French by abbot
+Rance of la Trappe. The relics of St. Barsanuphius were brought in the
+ninth century to Oria, near Siponto in Italy, where he is honored as
+principal patron, on the 7th of February. The Greek Synaxaries have his
+office on the 6th of this month. Baronius placed his name in the Roman
+Martyrology on the 11th of April. See on him Evagrius, (who finished his
+history in 593,) l. 4, c. 33. Pagi ad an. 548, n. 10. Bulteau, Hist.
+Mon. d'Orient. l. 4, c. 9, p. 695.
+
+
+FEBRUARY VII.
+
+ST. ROMUALD, ABBOT, C.
+
+FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF CAMALDOLI.
+
+From his life, written by St. Peter Damian, fifteen years after his
+death. See also Magnotii, Eremi Camaldol. descriptio, Romæ, an. 1570.
+Historarium Camaldulensium, libri 3. anth. Aug. Florentino, in 4to.
+Florentiæ, 1575. Earumdem pans posterior, in 4to. Venetiis, 1579.
+Dissertationes Camaldulenses, in quibus agitui de institutione Ordinis,
+ætate St. Romualdi, &c. auth. Guidone Grando, ej. Ord. Lucæ, 1707. The
+Lives of the Saints of this Order, in Italian, by Razzi, 1600, and in
+Latin, by F. Thomas de Minis, in two vols. in 4to. an. 1605, 1606.
+Annales Camaldulenses Ordinis St. Benedicti, auctoribus Jo. Ben.
+Mittarelli, abbate, et Ans. Costadoni, presbyteris et monachis è Cong.
+Camald. Venetiis, in four vols fol., of which the fourth is dedicated to
+pope Clement XIII., in 1760.
+
+A.D. 1027.
+
+ST. ROMUALD, of the family of the dukes of Ravenna, called Honesti, was
+born in that capital about the year 956. Being brought up in the maxims
+of the world, in softness and the love of pleasure, he grew every day
+more and more enslaved to his passions: yet he often made a resolution
+of undertaking something remarkable for the honor of God; and when he
+went a hunting, if he found an agreeable solitary place in the woods, he
+would stop in it to pray, and would cry out: "How happy were the ancient
+hermits, who had {371} such habitations! With what tranquillity could
+they serve God, free from the tumult of the world!" His father, whose
+name was Sergius, a worldly man, agreed to decide a dispute he had with
+a relation about an estate by a duel. Romuald was shocked at the
+criminal design; but by threats of being disinherited if he refused, was
+engaged by his father to be present as a spectator: Sergius slew his
+adversary. Romuald, then twenty years of age, struck with horror at the
+crime that had been perpetrated, though he had concurred to it no
+further than by his presence, thought himself, however, obliged to
+expiate it by a severe course of penance for forty days in the
+neighboring Benedictine monastery of Classis, within four miles of
+Ravenna. He performed great austerities, and prayed and wept almost
+without intermission. His compunction and fervor made all these
+exercises seem easy and sweet to him: and the young nobleman became
+every day more and more penetrated with the fear and love of God. The
+good example which he saw, and the discourses of a pious lay-brother,
+who waited on him, concerning eternity and the contempt of the world,
+wrought so powerfully upon him, that he petitioned in full chapter to be
+admitted as a penitent to the religious habit. After some demurs,
+through their apprehensions of his father's resentment, whose next heir
+the saint was, his request was granted. He passed seven years in this
+house in so great fervor and austerity, that his example became odious
+to certain tepid monks, who could not bear such a continual reproach of
+their sloth. They were more exasperated when his fervor prompted him to
+reprove their conduct, insomuch, that some of the most abandoned formed
+a design upon his life, the execution of which he prevented by leaving
+that monastery, with the abbot's consent, and retiring into the
+neighborhood of Venice, where he put himself under the direction of
+Marinus, a holy hermit, who there led an austere ascetic life. Under
+this master, Romuald made great progress in every virtue belonging to a
+religious state of life.
+
+Peter Urseoli was then doge of Venice. He had been unjustly raised to
+that dignity two years before by a faction which had assassinated his
+predecessor Peter Candiano; in which conspiracy he is said by some to
+have been an accomplice: though this is denied by the best Venetian
+historians.[1] This murder, however, paved the way for his advancement
+to the sovereignty, which the stings of his conscience would not suffer
+him quietly to enjoy. This put him upon consulting St. Guarinus, a holy
+abbot of Catalonia, then at Venice, about what he was to do to be saved.
+The advice of St. Marinus and St. Romuald was also desired. These three
+unanimously agreed in proposing a monastic state, as affording the best
+opportunities for expiating his crimes. Urseoli acquiesced, and, under
+pretence of joining with his family at their villa, where he had ordered
+a great entertainment, set out privately with St. Guarinus, St. Romuald,
+and John Gradenigo, a Venetian nobleman of singular piety, and his
+son-in-law John Moresini, for St. Guarinus's monastery of St. Michael of
+Cusan, in that part of Catalonia which was then subject to France. Here
+Urseoli and Gradenigo made their monastic profession: Marinus and
+Romuald, leaving them under the conduct of Guarinus, retired into a
+desert near Cusan, and there led an eremitical life. Many flocked to
+them, and Romuald being made superior, first practised himself what he
+taught others, joining rigorous fasts, solitude, and continual prayer,
+with hard manual labor. He had an extraordinary ardor {372} for prayer,
+which he exceedingly recommended to his disciples, in whom he could not
+bear to see the least sloth or tepidity with regard to the discharge of
+this duty; saying, they had better recite one psalm with fervor; than a
+hundred with less devotion. His own fasts and mortifications were
+extremely rigorous, but he was more indulgent to others, and in
+particular to Urseoli, who had exchanged his monastery for St. Romuald's
+desert, where he lived under his conduct; who, persevering in his
+penitential state, made a most holy end, and is honored in Venice as a
+saint, with an office, on the 14th of January: and in the Roman
+Martyrology, published by Benedict XIV., on the 10th of that month.
+
+Romuald, in the beginning of his conversion and retreat from the world,
+was molested with various temptations. The devil sometimes directly
+solicited him to vice; at other times he represented to him what he had
+forsaken, and that he had left it to ungrateful relations. He would
+sometimes suggest that what he did could not be agreeable to God; at
+other times, that his labors and difficulties were too heavy for man to
+bear. These and the like attempts of the devil he defeated by watching
+and prayer, in which he passed the whole night; and the devil strove in
+vain to divert him from this holy exercise by shaking his whole cell,
+and threatening to bury him in the ruins. Five years of grievous
+interior conflicts and buffetings of the enemy, wrought in him a great
+purity of heart, and prepared him for most extraordinary heavenly
+communications. The conversion of count Oliver, or Oliban, lord of that
+territory, added to his spiritual joy. That count, from a voluptuous
+worldling, and profligate liver, became a sincere penitent, and embraced
+the order of St. Benedict. He carried great treasures with him to mount
+Cassino, but left his estate to his son. The example of Romuald had also
+such an influence on Sergius, his father, that, to make atonement for
+his past sins and enormities, he had entered the monastery of St.
+Severus, near Ravenna; but after some time spent there, he yielded so
+far to the devil's temptations, as to meditate a return into the world.
+This was a sore affliction to our saint, and determined him to return to
+Italy, to dissuade his father from leaving his monastery. But the
+inhabitants of the country where he lived, had such an opinion of his
+sanctity, that they were resolved not to let him go. They therefore
+formed a brutish extravagant design to kill him, that they might keep at
+least his body among them, imagining it would be their protection and
+safeguard on perilous occasions. The saint being informed of their
+design, had recourse to David's stratagem, and feigned himself mad upon
+which the people, losing their high opinion of him, guarded him no
+longer. Being thus at liberty to execute his design, he set out on his
+journey to Ravenna, through the south of France. He arrived there in
+994, and made use of all the authority his superiority in religion gave
+him over his father; and by his exhortations, tears, and prayers,
+brought him to such an extraordinary degree of compunction and sorrow,
+as to prevail with him to lay aside all thoughts of leaving his
+monastery, where he spent the remainder of his days in great fervor, and
+died with the reputation of sanctity.
+
+Romuald, having acquitted himself of his duty towards his father,
+retired into the marsh of Classis, and lived in a cell, remote from all
+mankind. The devil pursued him here with his former malice; he sometimes
+overwhelmed his imagination with melancholy, and once scourged him
+cruelly in his cell. Romuald at length cried out: "Sweetest Jesus,
+dearest Jesus, why hast thou forsaken me? hast thou entirely delivered
+me over to my enemies?" At that sweet name the wicked spirits betook
+themselves to flight, and such an excess of divine sweetness and
+compunction filled the breast of Romuald, that he melted into tears, and
+his heart seemed quite dissolved. {373} He sometimes insulted his
+spiritual enemies, and cried out: "Are all your forces spent? have you
+no more engines against a poor despicable servant of God?" Not long
+after, the monks of Classis chose Romuald for their abbot. The emperor,
+Otho III. who was then at Ravenna, made use of his authority to engage
+the saint to accept the charge, and went in person to visit him in his
+cell, where he passed the night lying on the saint's poor bed. But
+nothing could make Romuald consent, till a synod of bishops then
+assembled at Ravenna, compelled him to it by threats of excommunication.
+The saint's inflexible zeal for the punctual observance of monastic
+discipline, soon made these monks repent of their choice, which they
+manifested by their irregular and mutinous behavior. The saint being of
+a mild disposition, bore with it for some time, in hopes of bringing
+them to a right sense of their duty. At length, finding all his
+endeavors to reform them ineffectual, he came to a resolution of leaving
+them, and went to the emperor, then besieging Tivoli, to acquaint him of
+it; whom, when he could not prevail upon to accept of his resignation,
+the saint, in the presence of the archbishop of Ravenna, threw down his
+crosier at his feet. This interview proved very happy for Tivoli; for
+the emperor, though he had condemned that city to plunder, the
+inhabitants having rebelled and killed duke Matholin, their governor,
+spared it at the intercession of St. Romuald. Otho having also, contrary
+to his solemn promise upon oath, put one Crescentius, a Roman senator,
+to death, who had been the leader in the rebellion of Tivoli, and made
+his widow his concubine; he not only performed a severe public penance
+enjoined him by the saint, as his confessor, but promised, by St.
+Romuald's advice, to abdicate his crown and retire into a convent during
+life; but this he did not live to perform. The saint's remonstrances had
+a like salutary effect on Thamn, the emperor's favorite, prime minister
+and accomplice in the treachery before mentioned, who, with several
+other courtiers, received the religious habit at the hands of St.
+Romuald, and spent the remainder of his days in retirement and penance.
+It was a very edifying sight to behold several young princes and
+noblemen, who a little before had been remarkable for their splendid
+appearance and sumptuous living, now leading an obscure, solitary,
+penitential life in humility, penance, fasting, cold, and labor. They
+prayed, sung psalms, and worked. They all had their several employments:
+some spun, others knit, others tilled the ground, gaining their poor
+livelihood by the sweat of their brow. St. Boniface surpassed all the
+rest in fervor and mortification. He was the emperor's near relation,
+and so dear to him, that he never called him by any other name than, My
+soul! he excelled in music, and in all the liberal arts and sciences,
+and after having spent many years under the discipline of St. Romuald,
+was ordained bishop, and commissioned by the pope to preach to the
+infidels of Russia, whose king he converted by his miracles, but was
+beheaded by the king's brothers, who were themselves afterwards
+converted on seeing the miracles wrought on occasion of the martyr's
+death. Several other monks of St. Romuald's monastery met with the same
+cruel treatment in Sclavonia, whither they were sent by the pope to
+preach the gospel.
+
+St. Romuald built many other monasteries, and continued three years at
+one he founded near Parenzo, one year in the community to settle it, and
+two in a neighboring cell. Here he labored some time under a spiritual
+dryness, not being able to shed one tear; but he ceased not to continue
+his devotions with greater fervor. At last being in his cell, at those
+words of the psalmist; _I will give thee understanding, and will
+instruct thee_, he was suddenly visited by God with an extraordinary
+light and spirit of compunction, which from that time never left him. By
+a supernatural light, the fruit of prayer, he understood the holy
+scriptures, and wrote an exposition of the {374} psalms full of
+admirable unction. He often foretold things to come, and gave directions
+full of heavenly wisdom to all who came to consult him, especially to
+his religious, who frequently came to ask his advice how to advance in
+virtue, and how to resist temptations; he always sent them back to their
+cells full of an extraordinary cheerfulness. Through his continual
+weeping he thought others had a like gift, and often said to his monks:
+"Do not weep too much; for it prejudices the sight and the head." It was
+his desire, whenever he could conveniently avoid it, not to say mass
+before a number of people, because he could not refrain from tears in
+offering that august sacrifice. The contemplation of the Divinity often
+transported him out of himself; melting in tears, and burning with love,
+he would cry out: "Dear Jesus! my dear Jesus! my unspeakable desire! my
+joy! joy of the angels! sweetness of the saints!" and the like, which he
+was heard to speak with a jubilation which cannot be expressed. To
+propagate the honor of God, he resolved, by the advice of the bishop of
+Pola and others, to exchange his remote desert, for one where he could
+better advance his holy institute. The bishop of Paienzo forbade any
+boat to carry him off, desiring earnestly to detain him; but the bishop
+of Pola sent one to fetch him. He miraculously calmed a storm at sea,
+and landed safe at Capreola. Coming to Bifurcum, he found the monks'
+cells too magnificent, and would lodge in none but that of one Peter, a
+man of extraordinary austerity, who never would live in a cell larger
+than four cubits. This Peter admired the saint's spirit of compunction,
+and said, that when he recited the psalms alternately with him, the holy
+man used to go out thirty times in a night as if for some necessity, but
+he saw it was to abandon himself a few moments to spiritual consolation,
+with which he overflowed at prayer, or to sighs and tears which he was
+not able to contain. Romuald sent to the counts of the province of
+Marino, to beg a little ground whereon to build a monastery. They
+hearing Romuald's name, offered him with joy whatever mountains, woods,
+or fields he would choose among them. He found the valley of Castro most
+proper. Exceeding great was the fruit of the blessed man's endeavors,
+and many put themselves with great fervor under his direction. Sinners,
+who did not forsake the world entirely, were by him in great multitudes
+moved to penance, and to distribute great part of their possessions
+liberally among the poor. The holy man seemed in the midst of them as a
+seraph incarnate, burning with heavenly ardors of divine love, and
+inflaming those who heard him speak. If he travelled, he rode or walked
+at a distance behind his brethren, reciting psalms, and watering his
+cheeks almost without ceasing with tears that flowed in great abundance.
+
+The saint had always burned with an ardent desire of martyrdom, which
+was much increased by the glorious crowns of some of his disciples,
+especially of St. Boniface. At last, not able to contain the ardor of
+his charity and desire to give his life for his Redeemer, he obtained
+the pope's license, and set out to preach the gospel in Hungary, in
+which mission some of his disciples accompanied him. He had procured two
+of them to be consecrated archbishops by the pope, declining himself the
+episcopal dignity; but a violent illness which seized him on his
+entering Hungary, and returned as often as he attempted to proceed on
+his intended design, was a plain indication of the will of God in this
+matter; so he returned home with seven of his associates. The rest, with
+the two archbishops, went forward, and preached the faith under the holy
+king, St. Stephen, suffering much for Christ, but none obtained the
+crown of martyrdom. Romuald in his return built some monasteries in
+Germany, and labored to reform others; but this drew on him many
+persecutions. Yet all, even the great ones of the world, trembled in his
+presence. He refused to accept either water or wood, without {375}
+paying for it, from Raynerius; marquis of Tuscia, because that prince
+had married the wife of a relation whom he had killed. Raynerius, though
+a sovereign, used to say, that neither the emperor nor any mortal on
+earth could strike him with so much awe as Romuald's presence did. So
+powerful was the impression which the Holy Ghost, dwelling in his
+breast, made on the most haughty sinners. Hearing that a certain
+Venetian had by simony obtained the abbey of Classis, he hastened
+thither. The unworthy abbot strove to kill him, to preserve his unjust
+dignity. He often met with the like plots and assaults from several of
+his own disciples, which procured him the repeated merit, though not the
+crown, of martyrdom. The pope having called him to Rome, he wrought
+there several miracles, built some monasteries in its neighborhood, and
+converted innumerable souls to God. Returning from Rome, he made a long
+stay at Mount Sitria. A young nobleman addicted to impurity, being
+exasperated at this saint's severe remonstrances, had the impudence to
+accuse him of a scandalous crime. The monks, by a surprising levity,
+believed the calumny, enjoined him a most severe penance, forbid him to
+say mass, and excommunicated him. He bore all with patience and in
+silence, as if really he had been guilty, and refrained from going to
+the altar for six months. In the seventh month he was admonished by God
+to obey no longer so unjust and irregular a sentence pronounced without
+any authority and without grounds. He accordingly said mass again, and
+with such raptures of devotion, as obliged him to continue long absorbed
+in ecstasy. He passed seven years in Sitria, in his cell, in strict
+silence, but his example did the office of his tongue and moved many to
+penance. In bis old age, instead of relaxing, he increased his
+austerities and fasts. He had three hair-shirts which he now and then
+changed. He never would admit of the least thing to give a savor to the
+herbs or meal-gruel on which he supported himself. If any thing was
+brought him better dressed, he, for the greater self-denial, applied it
+to his nostrils, and said: "O gluttony, gluttony, thou shalt never taste
+this; perpetual war is declared against thee." His disciples also were
+remarkable for their austere lives, went always barefoot, and looked
+excessive pale with continual fasting. No other drink was known among
+them but water, except in sickness. St. Romuald wrought in this place
+many miraculous cures of the sick. At last, having settled his disciples
+here in a monastery which he had built for them, he departed for
+Bifurcum.
+
+The holy emperor St. Henry II., who had succeeded Otho III., coming into
+Italy, and being desirous to see the saint, sent an honorable embassy to
+him to induce him to come to court. At the earnest request of his
+disciples he complied, but not without great reluctance on his side. The
+emperor received him with the greatest marks of honor and esteem, and
+rising out of his chair, said to him: "I wish my soul was like yours."
+The saint observed a strict silence the whole time the interview lasted,
+to the great astonishment of the court. The emperor being convinced that
+this did not proceed from pride or disdain, but from humility and a
+desire of being despised, was so far from being offended at it, that it
+occasioned his conceiving a higher esteem and veneration for him. The
+next day he received from him wholesome advice in his closet. The German
+noblemen showed him the greatest respect as he passed through the court,
+and plucked the very hairs out of his garments for relics, at which he
+was so much grieved, that he would have immediately gone back if he had
+not been stopped. The emperor gave him a monastery on Mount Amiatus.
+
+The most famous of all his monasteries is that of Camaldoli, near
+Arezzo, in Tuscany, on the frontiers of the ecclesiastical state, thirty
+miles east from Florence, founded by him about the year 1009. It lies
+beyond a mountain, {376} very difficult to pass over, the descent from
+which, on the opposite side, is almost a direct precipice looking down
+upon a pleasant large valley, which then belonged to a lord called
+Maldoli, who gave it the saint, and from him it retained the name
+Camaldoli.[2] In this place St. Romuald built a monastery, and by the
+several observances he added to St. Benedict's rule, gave birth to that
+new order called Camaldoli, in which he united the cenobitic and
+eremitical life. After seeing in a vision his monks mounting up a ladder
+to heaven all in white, he changed their habit from black to white. The
+hermitage is two short miles distant from the monastery. It is a
+mountain quite overshaded by a dark wood of fir-trees. In it are seven
+clear springs of water. The very sight of this solitude in the midst of
+the forest helps to fill the mind with compunction, and a love of
+heavenly contemplation. On entering it, we meet with a chapel of St.
+Antony for travellers to pray in before they advance any further. Next
+are the cells and lodgings for the porters. Somewhat further is the
+church, which is large, well built, and richly adorned. Over the door is
+a clock, which strikes so loud that it may be heard all over the desert.
+On the left side of the church is the cell in which St. Romuald lived,
+when he first established these hermits. Their cells, built of stone,
+have each a little garden walled round. A constant fire is allowed to be
+kept in every cell, on account of the coldness of the air throughout the
+year: each cell has also a chapel in which they may say mass: they call
+their superior, major. The whole hermitage is now enclosed with a wall:
+none are allowed to go out of it; but they may walk in the woods and
+alleys within the enclosure at discretion. Every thing is sent them from
+the monastery in the valley: their food is every day brought to each
+cell; and all are supplied with wood and necessaries, that they may have
+no dissipation or hinderance in their contemplation. Many hours of the
+day are allotted to particular exercises; and no rain or snow stops any
+one from meeting in the church to assist at the divine office. They are
+obliged to strict silence in all public common places; and everywhere
+during their Lents, also on Sundays, Holydays, Fridays, and other days
+of abstinence, and always from Complin till prime the next day.
+
+For a severer solitude, St. Romuald added a third kind of life; that of
+a recluse. After a holy life in the hermitage, the superior grants leave
+to any that ask it, and seem called by God, to live forever shut up in
+their cells, never speaking to any one but to the superior when he
+visits them, and to the brother who brings them necessaries. Their
+prayers and austerities are doubled, and their fasts more severe and
+more frequent. St. Romuald condemned himself to this kind of life for
+several years; and fervent imitators have never since failed in this
+solitude.
+
+St. Romuald died in his monastery in the valley of Castro, in the
+marquisate of Ancona. As he was born about the year 956, he must have
+died seventy years and some months old, not a hundred and twenty, as the
+present copies of his life have it. The day of his death was the 19th of
+June; but his principal feast is appointed by Clement VIII. on the 7th
+of February, the day of his translation. His body was found entire and
+uncorrupt five years after his death, and again in 1466. But his tomb
+being sacrilegiously opened, and his body stolen in 1480, it fell to
+dust, in which state it was translated to Fabriano, and there deposited
+in the great church, all but the remains of one arm, sent to Camaldoli.
+God has honored his relics with many miracles. The order of Camaldoli is
+now divided into five congregations, under so many generals or majors.
+The life of the hermits is very severe, though something mitigated since
+the time of St. Romuald. The {377} Cenobites are more like Benedictines,
+and perhaps were not directly established by St. Romuald, says F.
+Helyot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If we are not called to practise the extraordinary austerities of many
+saints, we cannot but confess that we lie under an indispensable
+necessity of leading mortified lives, both in order to fulfil our
+obligation of doing penance, and to subdue our passions and keep our
+senses and interior faculties under due command. The appetites of the
+body are only to be reduced by universal temperance, and assiduous
+mortification and watchfulness over all the senses. The interior powers
+of the soul must be restrained, as the imagination, memory, and
+understanding: their proneness to distraction, and the itching curiosity
+of the mind, must be curbed, and their repugnance to attend to spiritual
+things corrected by habits of recollection, holy meditation, and prayer.
+Above all, the will must be rendered supple and pliant by frequent
+self-denial, which must reach and keep in subjection all its most
+trifling sallies and inclinations. If any of these, how insignificant
+soever they may seem, are not restrained and vanquished, they will prove
+sufficient often to disturb the quiet of the mind, and betray one into
+considerable inconveniences, faults, and follies. Great weaknesses are
+sometimes fed by temptations which seem almost of too little moment to
+deserve notice. And though these infirmities should not arise to any
+great height, they always fetter the soul, and are an absolute
+impediment to her progress towards perfection.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Sanuti tells us, that St. Peter Urseoli, from his cradle, devoted
+    himself with his whole heart to the divine service, and proposed to
+    himself in all his actions the holy will and the greater glory of
+    God. He built in the church of St. Mark a chapel, in which the body
+    of that evangelist was secretly laid, the place being known by very
+    few. Being chosen doge, he refused that dignity for a long time with
+    great obstinacy, but at length suffered himself to be overcome by
+    the importunity of the people. He had held it only two years and
+    eight months, when he retired. Sanuti. Vite de Duchi di Venezia, c.
+    976. Maramri, Rerum Italicar. Scriptores, t. 22, p. 564.
+2.  Contracted from Campo Maldoli.
+
+ST. RICHARD, KING AND C.
+
+THIS saint was an English prince, in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, and
+was perhaps deprived of his inheritance by some revolution in the state
+or he renounced it to be more at liberty to dedicate himself to the
+pursuit of Christian perfection. His three children, Winebald,
+Willibald, and Warburga, are all honored as saints. Taking with him his
+two sons, he undertook a pilgrimage of penance and devotion, and sailing
+from Hamble-haven, landed in Neustria on the western coasts of France.
+He made a considerable stay at Rouen, and made his devotions in the most
+holy places that lay in his way through France. Being arrived at Lucca
+in Italy, in his road to Rome, he there died suddenly, about the year
+722, and was buried in St. Fridian's church there. His relics are
+venerated to this day in the same place, and his festival kept at Lucca
+with singular devotion. St. Richard, when living, obtained by his
+prayers the recovery of his younger son Willibald, whom he laid at the
+foot of a great crucifix erected in a public place in England, when the
+child's life was despaired of in a grievous sickness and since his
+death, many have experienced the miraculous power of his intercession
+with God, especially where his relics invite the devotion of the
+faithful. His festival is kept at Lucca, and his name honored in the
+Roman Martyrology on the 7th of February. See the Life of St. Willibald
+by his cousin, a nun of Heidenhelm, to Canisius's Lectiones Antiquæ,
+with the notes of Basnage. Henschenius, Feb. t. 2, p. 70.
+
+ST. THEODORUS OF HERACLEA, M.
+
+AMONG those holy martyrs whom the Greeks honor with the title of
+Megalomartyrs, (_i.e._ great martyrs,) as St. George, St. Pantaleon,
+&c., four are {378} distinguished by them above the rest as principal
+patrons, namely, St. Theodorus of Heraclea, surnamed Stratilates,
+(_i.e._ general of the army,) St. Theodorus of Amasea, surnamed Tyro,
+St. Procopius, and St. Demetrius. The first was general of the forces of
+Licinius, and governor of the country of the Mariandyni, who occupied
+part of Bithynia, Pontus, and Paphlagonia, whose capital at that time
+was Heraclea of Pontus, though originally a city of Greeks, being
+founded by a colony from Megara. This was the place of our saint's
+residence, and here he glorified God by martyrdom, being beheaded for
+his faith by an order of the emperor Licinius, the 7th of February, on a
+Saturday, in 319, as the Greek Menæa and Menologies all agree: for the
+Greek Acts of his martyrdom, under the name of Augarus, are of no
+authority. It appears from a Novella of the emperor Manuel Comnenus, and
+from Balsamon's Scholia on the Nomocanon of Photius,[1] that the Greeks
+kept as semi-festivals, that is, as holydays till noon, both the 7th of
+February, which was the day of his martyrdom, and that of the
+translation of his relics, the 8th of June, when they were conveyed soon
+after his death, according to his own appointment, to Euchaia, or
+Euchaitæ, where was the burial-place of his ancestors, a day's journey
+from Amasea, the capital of all Pontus. This town became so famous for
+his shrine, that the name of Theodoropolis was given it; and out of
+devotion to this saint, pilgrims resorted thither from all parts of the
+east, as appears from the Spiritual Meadow,[2] Zonaras,[3] and
+Cedrenus.[4] The two latter historians relate, that the emperor John I.,
+surnamed Zemisces, about the year 970, ascribed a great victory which he
+gained over the Saracens, to the patronage of this martyr: and in
+thanksgiving rebuilt in a stately manner the church where his relics
+were deposited at Euchaitæ.[5] The republic of Venice has a singular
+veneration for the memory of St. Theodorus of Heraclea, who, as Bernard
+Justiniani proves,[6] was titular patron of the church of St. Mark in
+that city, before the body of that evangelist was translated into it
+from another part of the city. A famous statue of this St. Theodorus is
+placed upon one of the two fine pillars which stand in the square of St.
+Mark. The relics of this glorious martyr are honored in the magnificent
+church of St. Saviour at Venice, whither they were brought by Mark
+Dandolo in 1260, from Constantinople; James Dandolo having sent them to
+that capital from Mesembria, an archiepiscopal maritime town in Romania,
+or the coast of Thrace, when in 1256 he scoured the Euxine sea with a
+fleet of galleys of the republic, as the Venetian historians inform
+us.[7] See archbishop Falconius, Not. in Tabulis Cappon. and Jos.
+Assemani in Calend. Univ. on the 8th and 17th of February, and the 8th
+of June;[8] also Lubin. Not. in Martyr. Rom. p. 283, and the Greek
+Synaxary.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Tit. 7, c. 1, Thomassin, l. 1, c. 7, n. 3.
+2.  Prat. Spir. c. 180.
+3.  Zonar. 3, parte Annal.
+4.  Ced. in Joanne Zemisce Imp.
+5.  See Baronius in his notes on the Martyrology, (ad 9 Nov.,) who
+    justly censures those who confound this saint with St. Theodoras
+    Tyro, as Fabricius has since done. (t. 9, Bibl. Græcæ, p. 147.) Yet
+    himself falsely places Tyro's shrine at Euchaitæ, and ascribes to
+    him these pilgrimages and miracles which certainly belong to St.
+    Theodorus Stratilates, or of Heraclea.
+6.  De Rebus Venetis, l. 6.
+7.  Sansovin, l. 13, Hist. &c.
+8.  The modern Greeks have transferred his feast from the 7th to the
+    8th of February.
+
+ST. TRESAIN, IN LATIN, TRESANUS, PRIEST, C.
+
+He was a holy Irish priest, who, having left his own country, preached
+with great zeal in France, and died curate of Mareuil upon the Marne, in
+the sixth century. His relics are held in great veneration at Avenay in
+Champagne. See his life in Colgan and Bollandus.
+
+{379}
+
+ST. AUGULUS, B M.
+
+HIS name occurs with the title of bishop in all the manuscript copies of
+the ancient Western Martyrology, which bears the name of St. Jerom. That
+of the abbey of Esternach, which is very old, and several others, style
+him martyr. He probably received that crown soon after St. Alban. All
+martyrologies place him in Britain, and at Augusta, which name was given
+to London, as Amm. Marcellinus mentions; never to York, for which
+Henschenius would have it to be taken in this place, because it was at
+that time the capital of Britain. In the ancient copy of Bede's
+martyrology, which was used at St. Agnan's at Orleans, he is called St.
+Augustus; in some others St. Augurius. The French call him St. Aule.
+Chatelain thinks him to be the same saint who is famous in some parts of
+Normandy under the name of St. Ouil.
+
+
+FEBRUARY VIII.
+
+ST. JOHN OF MATHA,
+
+FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE TRINITARIANS
+
+From several bulls of Innocent III. and the many authors of his life,
+especially that compiled by Robert Gagnin, the learned general of this
+Order, in 1490, collected by Baillet, and the Hist. des Ordres Relig. by
+F. Helyot. See also Annales Ordinis SS. Trinitatis, auctore Bon. Baro,
+Ord. Minor. Romæ. 1684, and Regula et Statuta Ord. SS. Trinitatis, in
+12mo. 1570.
+
+A.D. 1213.
+
+ST. JOHN was born of very pious and noble parents, at Faucon, on the
+borders of Provence, June the 24th, 1169, and was baptized John, in
+honor of St. John the Baptist. His mother dedicated him to God by a vow
+from his infancy. His father, Euphemius, sent him to Aix, where he
+learned grammar, fencing, riding, and other exercises fit for a young
+nobleman. But his chief attention was to advance in virtue. He gave the
+poor a considerable part of the money his parents sent him for his own
+use: he visited the hospital every Friday, assisting the poor sick,
+dressing and cleansing their sores, and affording them all the comfort
+in his power.
+
+Being returned home, he begged his father's leave to continue the pious
+exercises he had begun, and retired to a little hermitage not far from
+Faucon, with the view of living at a distance from the world, and united
+to God alone by mortification and prayer. But finding his solitude
+interrupted by the frequent visits of his friends, he desired his
+father's consent to go to Paris to study divinity, which he easily
+obtained. He went through these more sublime studies with extraordinary
+success, and proceeded doctor of divinity with uncommon applause, though
+his modesty gave him a reluctancy in that honor. He was soon after
+ordained priest, and said his first mass in the bishop of Paris's
+chapel, at which the bishop himself, Maurice de Sully, the abbots of St.
+Victor and of St. Genevieve. and the rector of the {380} university,
+assisted; admiring the graces of heaven in him, which appeared in his
+extraordinary devotion on this occasion, as well as at his ordination.
+
+On the day he said his first mass, by a particular inspiration from God,
+he came to a resolution of devoting himself to the occupation of
+ransoming Christian slaves from the captivity they groaned under among
+the infidels: considering it as one of the highest acts of charity with
+respect both to their souls and bodies. But before he entered upon so
+important a work, he thought it needful to spend some time in
+retirement, prayer, and mortification. And having heard of a holy
+hermit, St. Felix Valois, living in a great wood near Gandelu, in the
+diocese of Meux, he repaired to him and begged he would admit him into
+his solitude, and instruct him in the practice of perfection. Felix soon
+discovered him to be no novice, and would not treat him as a disciple,
+but as a companion. It is incredible what progress these two holy
+solitaries made in the paths of virtue, by perpetual prayer,
+contemplation, fasting, and watching.
+
+One day, sitting together on the bank of a spring, John disclosed to
+Felix the design he had conceived on the day on which he said his first
+mass, to succor the Christians under the Mahometan slavery, and spoke so
+movingly upon the subject that Felix was convinced that the design was
+from God, and offered him his joint concurrence to carry it into
+execution. They took some time to recommend it to God by prayer and
+fasting, and then set out for Rome in the midst of a severe winter,
+towards the end of the year 1197, to obtain the pope's benediction. They
+found Innocent III. promoted to the chair of St. Peter, who being
+already informed of their sanctity and charitable design by letters of
+recommendation from the bishop of Paris, his holiness received them as
+two angels from heaven; lodged them in his own palace, and gave them
+many long private audiences. After which he assembled the cardinals and
+some bishops in the palace of St. John Lateran, and asked their advice.
+After their deliberations he ordered a fast and particular prayers to
+know the will of heaven. At length, being convinced that these two holy
+men were led by the spirit of God, and that great advantages would
+accrue to the church from such an institute, he consented to their
+erecting a new religious order, and declared St. John the first general
+minister. The bishop of Paris, and the abbot of St. Victor, were ordered
+to draw up their rules, which the pope approved by a bull, in 1198. He
+ordered the religious to wear a white habit, with a red and blue cross
+on the breast, and to take the name of the order of the Holy Trinity. He
+confirmed it some time after, adding new privileges by a second bull,
+dated in 1209.
+
+The two founders having obtained the pope's blessing and certain indults
+or privileges, returned to France, and presented themselves to the king,
+Philip Augustus, who authorized the establishment of their Order in his
+kingdom, and favored it with his liberalities. Gaucher III., lord of
+Chatillon, gave them land whereon to build a convent. Their number
+increasing, the same lord, seconded by the king, gave them Cerfroid, the
+place in which St. John and St. Felix concerted the first plan of their
+institute. It is situated in Brie, on the confines of Valois. This house
+of Cerfroid, or De Cervo frigido, is the chief of the order. The two
+saints founded many other convents in France, and sent several of their
+religious to accompany the counts of Flanders and Blois, and other
+lords, to the holy war. Pope Innocent III. wrote to recommend these
+religious to Miramolin, king of Morocco; and St. John sent thither two
+of his religions in 1201, who redeemed one hundred and eighty-six
+Christian slaves the first voyage. The year following, St. John went
+himself to Tunis, where he purchased the liberty of one hundred and ten
+more. He returned into Provence, and there received great charities,
+which he carried into Spain, and redeemed many in captivity {381} under
+the Moors. On his return he collected large alms among the Christians
+towards this charitable undertaking. His example produced a second order
+of Mercy, instituted by St. Peter Nolasco, in 1235.
+
+St. John made a second voyage to Tunis in 1210, in which he suffered
+much from the infidels, enraged at his zeal and success in exhorting the
+poor slaves to patience and constancy in their faith. As he was
+returning with one hundred and twenty slaves he had ransomed, the
+barbarians took away the helm from his vessel, and tore all its sails,
+that they might perish in the sea. The saint, full of confidence in God,
+begged him to be their pilot, and hung up his companions' cloaks for
+sails, and, with a crucifix in his hands, kneeling on the deck, singing
+psalms, after a prosperous voyage, they all landed safe at Ostia, in
+Italy. Felix, by this time, had greatly propagated his order in France,
+and obtained for it a convent in Paris, in a place where stood before a
+chapel of St. Mathurin, whence these religious in France are called
+Mathurins.
+
+St. John lived two years more in Rome, which he employed in exhorting
+all to penance with great energy and fruit. He died on the 21st of
+December, in 1213, aged sixty-one. He was buried in his church of St.
+Thomas, where his monument yet remains, though his body has been
+translated into Spain. Pope Honorius III. confirmed the rule of this
+order a second time. By the first rule, they were not permitted to buy
+any thing for their sustenance except bread, pulse, herbs, oil, eggs,
+milk, cheese, and fruit; never flesh nor fish: however, they might eat
+flesh on the principal festivals, on condition it was given them. They
+were not, in travelling, to ride on any beasts but asses.[1]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Chrysostom[2] elegantly and pathetically extols the charity of the
+widow of Sarepta, whom neither poverty nor children, nor hunger, nor
+fear of death, withheld from affording relief to the prophet Elias, and
+he exhorts every one to meditate on her words, and keep her example
+present to his mind. "How hard or insensible soever we are," says he,
+"they will make a deep impression upon us, and we shall not be able to
+refuse relief to the poor, when we have before our eyes the generous
+charity of this widow. It is true, you will tell me, that if you meet
+with a prophet in want, you could not refuse doing him all the good
+offices in your power. But what ought you not to do for Jesus Christ,
+who is the master of the prophets? He takes whatsoever you do to the
+poor as done to himself." When we consider the zeal and joy with which
+the saints sacrificed themselves for their neighbors, how must we blush
+at, and condemn our insensibility at the spiritual and the corporal
+calamities of others! The saints regarded affronts, labors, and pains,
+as nothing for the service of others in Christ: we cannot bear the least
+word or roughness of temper.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A mitigation of this rule was approved by pope Clement IV. in 1267,
+    which allows them to use horses, and to buy fish, flesh, and all
+    other necessaries: on which mitigations see Historia prolixior
+    Priorum Grandimont, published by Martenne, Ampliff. Collectio, t. 6,
+    p. 138. This order is possessed of about two hundred and fifty
+    monasteries, divided into thirteen provinces, in France, Spain,
+    Italy, and Portugal. That formerly in England had forty-three
+    houses; that in Scotland nine, and that in Ireland fifty-two. The
+    general of the order is chosen by a general chapter, which is always
+    held at Cerfroid. Each house is governed by a superior who is called
+    minister. Those in the provinces of Champagne, Normandy, and Picardy
+    (which last includes Flanders) are perpetual but to Italy and Spain,
+    triennial. Their rule is that of the canons regular of St. Austin.
+    Their principal exercises are to sing the divine office at the
+    canonical hours, praising and glorifying the adorable Trinity, as
+    angel of the earth; and to gather and carry alms in Barbary for the
+    redemption of slaves, to which work one third of the revenues of
+    each house is applied. A reformation was made in this order in the
+    years 1573 and 1576, which, by degrees, has been introduced into the
+    greater part of the convents, and into that of Cerfroid itself.
+    These never eat meat except on Sundays, sing matins at midnight, and
+    wear no linen. The reformation of the barefooted Trinitarians, still
+    much more severe, was set on foot in Spain, in 1594, by John Baptist
+    of the Conception, who suffered many persecutions in the
+    undertaking, and died in 1613, in great reputation for sanctity and
+    miracles, the examination of which has been commenced in order to
+    his beatification.
+2.  Hom. de Eila et Vidua Sarept. pp. 33, 338, ed. Montf.
+
+{382}
+
+ST. STEPHEN OF GRANDMONT, ABBOT.
+
+His life was written by Stephen de Liciaco, fourth prior of Grandmont,
+in 1141: but this work seems now lost. Gerard Ithier, seventh prior, and
+his abridger, fell into several anachronisms and mistakes, which are to
+be corrected by the remarks of Dom Martenne, who has given us a new and
+accurate edition of this life, and other pieces relating to it, Ver.
+Scriptorum Ampliff. Collectio, t. 6, p. 1043. See also Dom Rivet, Hist.
+Littér. de la France, t. 10, p. 410. Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 2, p. 646.
+
+A.D. 1124.
+
+ST. STEPHEN was son of the virtuous viscount of Thiers, the first
+nobleman of Auvergne. From his infancy he gave presages of an uncommon
+sanctity. Milo, a pious priest, at that time dean of the church of
+Paris, was appointed his tutor, and being made bishop of Beneventum in
+1074, kept the saint with him, continued to instruct him in sacred
+learning, and in the maxims of Christian perfection, and ordained him
+deacon. After his death in 1076, Stephen pursued his studies in Rome
+during four years. All this time he seemed to himself continually
+solicited by an interior voice to seek a sanctuary for his soul in holy
+solitude, considering the dangers of the pastoral charge, the
+obligations of leading a penitential life, and the happiness of the
+exercises of holy retirement. He desired to imitate the rigorous
+institute of a certain monastery which he had seen in Calabria, and
+obtained leave of pope Gregory VII. to embrace an eremitical life. He
+therefore returned to the castle of Thiers, the seat of his late
+parents, to settle his affairs. He had always been their favorite child,
+and regarded by them as the blessing bestowed on their prayers and
+fasts, by which they had begged him of God. Being both exceeding pious,
+they had rejoiced to see him so virtuously inclined; but they being now
+dead, his other friends vehemently opposed his design of renouncing the
+world. Stephen left them privately, and travelling through many deserts,
+arrived at Muret, a desolate, barren mountain, in the neighborhood of
+Limoges, haunted by wild beasts, and of an exceeding cold situation.
+Here he took up his abode, and, by a vow, consecrated himself to the
+divine service, in these words: "I, Stephen, renounce the devil and his
+pomps, and do offer and dedicate myself to the Father, Son, and Holy
+Ghost, one God in three Persons." This engagement he wrote and kept
+always by him with a ring as the symbol. He built himself a hut with the
+boughs of trees, and in this place passed forty-six years in prayer, and
+the practice of such austerities as almost surpassed the strength of a
+human body.[1] He lived at first on wild herbs and roots. In the second
+summer he was discovered by certain shepherds, who brought him a little
+coarse bread; which some country people from that time continued to do
+as long as he lived. He always wore next his skin a hair-cloth with iron
+plates and hoops studded with sharp spikes, over which his only garment,
+made of the coarsest stuff, was the same both in summer and winter. When
+overcome by sleep, he took a short rest on rough boards, laid in the
+form of a coffin. When he was not employed in manual labor, he lay
+prostrate on the ground in profound adoration of the majesty of God. The
+sweetness which he felt in divine contemplation made him often forget to
+take any refreshment for two or three days together. When sixty years of
+{383} age, finding his stomach exceeding weak, he suffered a few drops
+of wine to be mixed with the water which he drank.
+
+Many were desirous to live with him and become his disciples. Though
+most rigorous to himself, he was mild to those under his direction, and
+proportioned their mortifications to their strength. But he allowed no
+indulgence with regard to the essential points of a solitary life,
+silence, poverty, and the denial of self-will. He often exhorted his
+disciples to a total disengagement of their hearts from all earthly
+things, and to a love of holy poverty for that purpose. He used to say
+to those who desired to be admitted into his community: "This is a
+prison without either door or hole whereby to return into the world,
+unless a person makes for himself a breach. And should this misfortune
+befall you, I could not send after you, none here having any commerce
+with the world any more than myself." He behaved himself among his
+disciples as the last of them, always taking the lowest place, never
+suffering any one to rise up to him; and while they were at table, he
+would seat himself on the ground in the midst of them, and read to them
+the lives of the saints. God bestowed on him a divine light, by which he
+often told others their secret thoughts. The author of his life gives a
+long history of miracles which he wrought. But the conversions of many
+obstinate sinners were still more miraculous: it seemed as if no heart
+could resist the grace which accompanied his words.
+
+Two cardinals coming into France, as legates to the king from the pope,
+one of whom was afterwards pope Innocent II., paid the saint a visit to
+his desert. They asked him whether he was a canon, a monk, or a hermit.
+He said he was none of those. Being pressed to declare what he was: "We
+are sinners," said he, "whom the mercy of God hath conducted into this
+wilderness to do penance. The pope himself hath imposed on us these
+exercises, at our request, for our sins. Our imperfection and frailty
+deprive us of courage to imitate the fervor of those holy hermits who
+lived in divine contemplation almost without any thought for their
+bodies. You see that we neither wear the habit of monks nor of canons.
+We are still further from usurping those names, which we respect and
+honor at a distance in the persons of the priests, and in the sanctity
+of the monks. We are poor, wretched sinners, who, terrified at the rigor
+of the divine justice, still hope, with trembling, by this means, to
+find mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ in the day of his judgment." The
+legates departed exceedingly edified at what they saw and heard. Eight
+days after the saint was admonished by God of the end of his mortal
+course, after which he most earnestly sighed. He redoubled his fervor in
+all his exercises, and falling sick soon after, gave his disciples his
+last instructions, and exhorted them to a lively confidence in God, to
+whom he recommended them by a humble prayer. His exhortation was so
+moving and strong that it dispelled their fears in losing him, and they
+seemed to enter into his own sentiments. He caused himself to be carried
+into the chapel, where he heard mass, received extreme unction and the
+viaticum: and on the 8th day of February, 1124, being fourscore years
+old, expired in peace, repeating those words: "_Lord, into thy hands I
+commend my spirit_." He had passed in his desert fifty years, bating two
+months. His disciples buried him privately, to prevent the crowds of
+people breaking in. But the news of his death drew incredible numbers to
+his tomb, which was honored by innumerable miracles. Four months after
+his death, the priory of Ambazac, dependent on the great Benedictin
+abbey of St. Austin, to Limoges, put in a claim to the land of Muret.
+The disciples of the holy man, who had inherited his maxims and spirit,
+abandoned the ground to them without any contention, and retired to
+Grandmont, a desert one league distant, carrying with them his precious
+remains. From this place the order {384} took its name. The saint was
+canonized by Clement III., in 1189, at the request of king Henry II. of
+England. See Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 2, p. 646.
+
+APPENDIX
+
+TO
+
+THE LIFE OF ST. STEPHEN OF GRANDMONT.
+
+Such was the fervor and sanctity of the first disciples of St. Stephen
+of Grandmont, that they were the admiration of the world in the age
+wherein they lived. Peter, the learned and pious abbot of Celles, calls
+them angels, and testifies that he placed an extraordinary confidence in
+their prayers. (Petr. Cellens. ep. 8.) John of Salisbury, a contemporary
+author, represents them as men who, being raised above the necessities
+of life, had conquered not only sensuality and avarice, but even nature
+itself. (Joan. Salisb. Poly. l. 7, c. 23.) Stephen, bishop of Tournay,
+speaks of them in as high strains. (Steph. Tournac. ep. 2.) Trithemius,
+Yepez, and Miræus, imagined that St. Stephen made the rule of St. Bennet
+the basis of his order; and Mabillon at first embraced this opinion,
+(Mabill. Præf. in part 2, sec. 6, Bened.,) but changed it afterwards,
+(Annul. Bened. l. 64, n. 37 and 112,) proving that this saint neither
+followed the rule of Saint Bennet nor that of St. Austin. Dom Martenne
+has set this in a much fuller light in his preface to the sixth tome of
+his great collection. (Amplise Collect. t. 6, n. 20, &c.) Baillet,
+Helyot, and some others, pretend that St. Stephen never wrote any thing
+himself, and that his rule was compiled by some of his successors from
+his sayings, and from the discipline which he had established. But some
+of the very passages to which these critics appeal, suffice to confute
+them, and St. Stephen declares himself the author of the written rule
+both in the prologue, and in several other places, (Regula Grandim. c.
+9, 11, 14,) as Mabillon, or rather Martenne, (who was author of this
+addition to his annals,) takes notice. (Annal. t. 6, l. 74, n. 9l.) The
+rule of this holy founder consists of seventy-five chapters. In a
+pathetic prologue he puts his disciples in mind, that the rule of rules,
+and the origin of all monastic rules, is the gospel: they are but
+streams derived from this source, and in it are all the means of
+arriving at Christian perfection pointed out. He recommends strict
+poverty and obedience, as the foundation of a religious life; forbids
+his religious ever to receive any retributions for their masses, or to
+open the door of their oratory to secular persons on Sundays or
+holydays, because on these days they ought to attend their parish
+churches. He forbids his religious all lawsuits. (Reg. c. 15. See
+Chatelain, Notes sur le Martyr. p. 378.) He forbids them the use of
+flesh meat even in time of sickness, and prescribes rigorous fasts, with
+only one meal a day for a great part of the year. This rule, which was
+approved by Urban III. in 1186, was mitigated by pope Innocent IV. in
+1247, and again by Clement V. in 1309. It is printed at Rouen in 1672.
+Besides this rule, certain maxims or instructions of St. Stephen are
+extant, and were collected together by his disciples after his death.
+They were printed at Paris in Latin and French, in 1704. Baillet
+published a new translation of them in 1707. In them we admire the
+beauty and fruitfulness of the author's genius, and still much more the
+great sentiments of virtue which they contain, especially concerning
+temptations, vain-glory, ambition, the sweetness of God's service, and
+his holy commandments; the obligation without bounds which all men have
+of loving God, the incomprehensible advantages of praising him, the
+necessity of continually advancing in fervor, and of continually
+gathering, by the practice of good works, new flowers, of which the
+garland of our lives ought to be composed. This useful collection might
+doubtless have been made much more ample by his disciples. Several other
+holy maxims and short lessons delivered by him, occur in the most
+ancient of his lives, entitled, Stephani Dicta et Facta, compiled by the
+care of St. Stephen de Liciaco. (Martenne, t. 6, p. 1046.)
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  William of Dandina, an accurate writer, in the life of Hugh of
+    Lacerta, the most famous among the first disciples of St. Stephen,
+    published by Martenne, (t. 6, p. 1143,) says, that the saint died in
+    the forty-sixth year after his conversion. His retreat, therefore,
+    cannot be dated before the year 1076, and the foundation of his
+    order, which some place in 1076, must have been posterior to this.
+    Gerard Ithier mistakes when he says that St. Stephen went to
+    Benevento in the twelfth year of his age; and remained there twelve
+    years. He went only then to Paris to Milo, who was bishop only two
+    years. See Martenne, p. 1053.
+
+ST. PAUL, BISHOP OF VERDUN, C.
+
+HAVING lived in the world a perfect pattern of perfection by alms,
+fasts, assiduous prayer, meekness, and charity, he retired among the
+hermits of {385} Mount Voge, near Triers, on a hill called from him
+Paulberg. King Dagobert placed him in the episcopal chair of Verdun, and
+was his protector in his zealous labors and ample foundations of that
+church. The saint died in 631. See his authentic anonymous life in
+Henschenius. Also Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, t. 1, l. 9, n. 41, p. 402.
+Bollandus, Feb. t. 2, p. 169.
+
+ST. CUTHMAN, C.
+
+THE spiritual riches of divine grace were the happy portion of this
+saint, who seemed from his cradle formed to perfect virtue. His name
+demonstrates him to have been an English-Saxon, not of British
+extraction, either from Wales or Cornwall, as Bollandus conjectured. He
+was born in the southern parts of England, and, from the example of his
+pious parents, inherited the most perfect spirit of Christian piety.
+From his infancy he never once transgressed their orders in the least
+article, and when sent by his father to keep his sheep, he never failed
+coming home exactly at the time appointed. This employment afforded him
+an opportunity of consecrating his affections to God, by the exercises
+of holy prayer, which only necessary occasions seemed to interrupt, and
+which he may be said to have always continued in spirit, according to
+that of the spouse in the Canticles: I sleep, but my heart watcheth. By
+the constant union of his soul with God, and application to the
+functions and exercises of the angels, the affections of his soul were
+rendered daily more and more pure, and his sentiments and whole conduct
+more heavenly and angelical. What gave his prayer this wonderful force
+in correcting and transforming his affections, was the perfect spirit of
+simplicity, disengagement from creatures, self-denial, meekness,
+humility, obedience, and piety, in which it was founded. We find so
+little change in our souls by our devotions, because we neglect the
+practice of self-denial and mortification, live wedded to the world, and
+slaves to our senses and to self-love, which is an insuperable obstacle
+to this principal effect of holy prayer. Cuthman, after the death of his
+father, employed his whole fortune and all that he gained by the labor
+of his hands, in supporting his decrepit mother: and afterwards was not
+ashamed to beg for her subsistence. To furnish her necessaries by the
+sweat of his brow, and by the charitable succors of others, he removed
+to several places; nor is it to be expressed what hardships and
+austerities he voluntarily and cheerfully suffered, which he embraced as
+part of his penance, increasing their severity in order more perfectly
+to die to himself and to his senses, and sanctifying them by the most
+perfect dispositions in which he bore them. Finding, at a place called
+Steninges, a situation according to his desire, he built there a little
+cottage to be a shelter from the injuries of the air, in which, with his
+mother, he might devote himself to the divine service, without
+distraction. His hut was no sooner finished but he measured out the
+ground near it for the foundation of a church, which he dug with his own
+hands. The inhabitants, animated by his piety and zeal, contributed
+liberally to assist him in completing this work. The holy man worked
+himself all day, conversing at the same time in his heart with God, and
+employed a considerable part of the night in prayer. Here he said in his
+heart: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, O Lord! this is the place of
+my rest for ever and ever, in which I will every day render to thee my
+vows." His name was rendered famous by many miracles, of which God was
+pleased to make him the instrument, both living and after his death. He
+flourished about the eighth century, and his relics were honored at
+Steninges. This place Saint Edward {386} the Confessor bestowed on the
+great abbey of Fecam in Normandy, which was enriched with a portion of
+his relics. This donation of Steninges, together with Rye, Berimunster,
+and other neighboring places, made to the abbey of Fecam, was confirmed
+to the same by William the Conqueror, and the two first Henries, whose
+charters are still kept among the archives of that house, and were shown
+me there. This parish, and that of Rye, were of the exemption of Fecam,
+that is, were not subject to the jurisdiction of the diocesan, but to
+this abbey, as twenty-four parishes in Normandy are to this day. For in
+the enumeration of the parishes which belong to this exemption in the
+bulls of several popes, in which it is confirmed, Steninges and Rye are
+always mentioned with this additional clause, that those places are
+situated in England.[1] St. Cuthman was titular patron of Steninges or
+Estaninges, and is honored to this day, on the 8th of February, in the
+great abbeys of Fecam, Jumieges, and others in Normandy: and his name
+occurs in the old Missal, used by the English Saxons before the Norman
+conquest, kept in the monastery of Jumieges, in which a proper mass is
+assigned for his feast on the 8th of February. In the account of the
+principal shrines of relics of saints, honored anciently in England,
+published by the most learned Dr. Hickes, mention is made of St.
+Cuthman's, as follows: "At Steninge, on the river Bramber, among the
+South-Saxons, rests St. Cuthman." See Narratio de Sanctis qui in Anglia
+quiescunt, published by Hickes, in his Thesaurus Linguarum veterum
+Septentr. t. 1, in Dissert. Epistol. p. 121. See also two lives of St.
+Cuthman, in Bollandus, t. 2, Feb. p. 197, and the more accurate lessons
+for his festival in the breviary of Fecam. He is honored in most of the
+Benedictin abbeys in Normandy.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bollandus had not seen these charters and bulls, or he could not
+    have supposed Steninges to be situated in Normandy, and St. Cuthman
+    to have died in that province. Dom Le Noir, a learned Benedictin
+    monk of the congregation of St. Maur, and library-keeper at Fecam,
+    who is employed in compiling a history of Normandy, gives me the
+    following information by a letter from Fecam: "On tient ici à Féca,
+    pas une espèce de tradition que Hastings, port d'Angleterre, sur la
+    Manche, dens le comté de Sossex, et dans le voisinage de Rye, est le
+    Staninges de l'Abbaye de Fécam. Si le nom est un pen différent
+    aujourd'hui on voit des noms des lieux qui ont souffert des plus
+    grandes altérations." This pretended tradition is an evident
+    mistake. Hastings was a famous sea-port under the same name, in the
+    ninth century, and Stening is at this day a borough in Sussex,
+    situated under the reins of Bramber castle, not far from the river,
+    which was formerly navigable so high, though at present even
+    Shoreham at its month has no harbor, the sea having made frequent
+    changes on this coast, especially in the twelfth century.
+
+
+FEBRUARY IX.
+
+ST. APOLLONIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.
+
+Her acts are of no authority, and falsely place her triumph at Rome,
+instead of Alexandria. See Tillemont, t. 3, p. 495. Her authentic
+history is in the letter of St. Dionysius, then bishop of Alexandria,
+preserved by Eusebius, l. 6, c. 41, 42, p. 236. Ed. Val.
+
+A.D. 249.
+
+ST. DIONYSIUS of Alexandria wrote to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, a
+relation of the persecution raised at Alexandria by the heathen populace
+of that city, in the last year of the reign of the emperor Philip. A
+certain poet of Alexandria, who pretended to foretell things to come,
+stirred up this great city against the Christians on the motive of
+religion. The first victim of their rage was a venerable old man, named
+Metras, or Metrius, whom they would have compelled to utter impious
+words against the worship of {387} the true God: which, when he refused
+to do, they beat him with staffs, thrust splinters of reeds into his
+eyes, and having dragged him into one of the suburbs, stoned him to
+death. The next person they seized was a Christian woman, called Quinta,
+whom they carried to one of their temples to pay divine worship to the
+idol. She loaded the execrable divinity with many reproaches, which so
+exasperated the people that they dragged her by the heels upon the
+pavement of sharp pebbles, cruelly scourged her, and put her to the same
+death. The rioters, by this time, were in the height of their fury.
+Alexandria seemed like a city taken by storm. The Christians mads no
+opposition, but betook themselves to flight, and beheld the loss of
+their goods with joy; for their hearts had no ties on earth. Their
+constancy was equal to their disinterestedness; for of all who fell into
+their hands, St. Dionysius knew of none that renounced Christ.
+
+The admirable Apollonia, whom old age and the state of virginity
+rendered equally venerable, was seized by them. Their repeated blows on
+her jaws beat out all her teeth. At last they made a great fire without
+the city, and threatened to cast her into it, if she did not utter
+certain impious words. She begged a moment's delay, as if it had been to
+deliberate on the proposal; but, to convince her persecutors that her
+sacrifice was perfectly voluntary, she no sooner found herself at
+liberty, than of her own accord she leaped into the flames. They next
+exercised their fury on a holy man called Serapion, and tortured him in
+his own house with great cruelty. After bruising his limbs, disjointing
+and breaking his bones, they threw him headlong from the top of the
+house on the pavement, and so completed his martyrdom. A civil war among
+the pagan citizens put an end to their fury this year, but the edict of
+Decius renewed it in 250. See the rest of the relation on the 27th of
+February. An ancient church in Rome, which is frequented with great
+devotion, bears the name of St. Apollonia: under whose patronage we meet
+with churches and altars in most parts of the Western church.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last part of our saint's conduct is not proposed to our imitation,
+as self-murder is unjustifiable. If any among the Fathers have commended
+it, they presumed, with St. Austin, that it was influenced by a
+particular direction of the Holy Ghost, or was the effect of a pious
+simplicity, founded in motives of holy zeal and charity. For it can
+never be lawful for a person by any action wilfully to concur to, or
+hasten his own death, though many martyrs out of an ardent charity, and
+desire of laying down their lives for God, and being speedily united to
+him, anticipated the executioners in completing their sacrifice. Among
+the impious, absurd, and false maxims of the Pagan Greeks and Romans,
+scarce any thing was more monstrous than the manner in which they
+canonized suicide in distress, as a remedy against temporal miseries,
+and a point of heroism. To bear infamy and all kind of sufferings with
+unshaken constancy and virtue, is true courage and greatness of soul,
+and the test and triumph of virtue: and to sink under misfortunes, is
+the most unworthy baseness of soul. But what name can we find for the
+pusillanimity of those who are not able so much as to look humiliations,
+poverty, or affliction in the face? Our life we hold of God, and he who
+destroys it injures God, to whom he owes it. He refuses also to his
+friends and to the republic of mankind, the comfort and succors which
+they are entitled in justice or charity to receive from him. Moreover,
+if to murder another is the greatest temporal injustice a man can commit
+against a neighbor, life being of all temporal blessings the greatest
+and most noble, suicide is a crime so much more enormous, as the charity
+which every one owes to himself, especially to his immortal soul, is
+stricter, {388} more noble and of a superior order to that which he owes
+to his neighbor.
+
+SAINT NICEPHORUS, M.
+
+From his genuine Acts in Ruinart, p. 244. Tillemont, t. 4, p. 16.
+
+THERE dwelt in Antioch a priest called Sapricius, and a layman, named
+Nicephorus, who had been linked together for many years by the strictest
+friendship. But the enemy of mankind sowing between them the seeds of
+discord, this their friendship was succeeded by the most implacable
+hatred, and they declined meeting each other in the streets. Thus it
+continued a considerable time. At length, Nicephorus, entering into
+himself, and reflecting on the grievousness of the sin of hatred,
+resolved on seeking a reconciliation. He accordingly deputed some
+friends to go to Sapricius to beg his pardon, promising him all
+reasonable satisfaction for the injury done him. But the priest refused
+to forgive him. Nicephorus sent other friends to him on the same errand,
+but though they pressed and entreated him to be reconciled, Sapricius
+was inflexible. Nicephorus sent a third time, but to no purpose;
+Sapricius having shut his ears not to men only, but to Christ himself,
+who commands us to forgive as we ourselves hope to be forgiven.
+Nicephorus, finding him deaf to the remonstrances of their common
+friends, went in person to his house, and casting himself at his feet,
+owned his fault, and begged pardon for Christ's sake; but all in vain.
+
+The persecution suddenly began to rage under Valerian and Gallien in the
+year 260. Sapricius was apprehended and brought before the governor, who
+asked him his name. "It is Sapricius," answered he. Governor. "Of what
+profession are you?" Sapricius. "I am a Christian." Governor. "Are you
+of the clergy?" Sapricius. "I have the honor to be a priest." He added:
+"We Christians acknowledge one Lord and Master Jesus Christ, who is God;
+the only and true God, who created heaven and earth. The gods of nations
+are devils." The president, exasperated at his answer, gave orders for
+him to be put into an engine, like a screw-press, which the tyrants had
+invented to torment the faithful. The excessive pain of this torture did
+not shake Sapricius's constancy, and he said to the judges: "My body is
+in your power; but my soul you cannot touch. Only my Saviour Jesus
+Christ is master of this." The president seeing him so resolute,
+pronounced this sentence: "Sapricius, priest of the Christians, who is
+ridiculously persuaded that he shall rise again, shall be delivered over
+to the executioner of public justice to have his head severed from his
+body, because he has contemned the edict of the emperors."
+
+Sapricius seemed to receive the sentence with great cheerfulness, and
+was to haste to arrive at the place of execution in hopes of his crown.
+Nicephorus ran out to meet him, and casting himself at his feet, said:
+"Martyr of Jesus Christ, forgive me my offence." But Sapricius made him
+no answer. Nicephorus waited for him in another street which he was to
+pass through, and as soon as he saw him coming up, broke through the
+crowd, and falling again at his feet, conjured him to pardon the fault
+he had committed against him, through frailty rather than design. This
+he begged by the glorious confession he had made of the divinity of
+Jesus Christ. Sapricius's heart was more and more hardened, and now he
+would not so much as look on him. The soldiers laughed at Nicephorus,
+saying: "A greater fool than thou was never seen, in being so solicitous
+for a man's {389} pardon who is upon the point of being executed." Being
+arrived at the place of execution, Nicephorus redoubled his humble
+entreaties and supplications: but all in vain; for Sapricius continued
+as obstinate as ever, in refusing to forgive. The executioners said to
+Sapricius: "Kneel down that we may cut off your head." Sapricius said.
+"Upon what account?" They answered: "Because you will not sacrifice to
+the gods, nor obey the emperor's orders, for the love of that man that
+is called Christ." The unfortunate Sapricius cried out: "Stop, my
+friends; do not put me to death: I will do what you desire: I am ready
+to sacrifice." Nicephorus, sensibly afflicted at his apostacy, cried
+aloud to him: "Brother, what are you doing? renounce not Jesus Christ
+our good master. Forfeit not a crown you have already gained by tortures
+and sufferings." But Sapricius would give no manner of attention to what
+he said. Whereupon, Nicephorus, with tears of bitter anguish for the
+fall of Sapricius, said to the executioner: "I am a Christian, and
+believe in Jesus Christ, whom this wretch has renounced; behold me here
+ready to die in his stead." All present were astonished at such an
+unexpected declaration. The officers of justice being under an
+uncertainty how to proceed, dispatched a lictor or beadle to the
+governor, with this message: "Sapricius promiseth to sacrifice, but here
+is another desirous to die for the same Christ, saying: I am a
+Christian, and refuse to sacrifice to your gods, and comply with the
+edicts of the emperors." The governor, on hearing this, dictated the
+following sentence: "If this man persist in refusing to sacrifice to the
+immortal gods, let him die by the sword:" which was accordingly put in
+execution. Thus Nicephorus received three immortal crowns, namely, of
+faith, humility, and charity, triumphs which Sapricius had made himself
+unworthy of. The Greek and the Roman Martyrologies mention him on this
+day.
+
+SAINT THELIAU, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
+
+HE was born in the same province with St. Samson at Eccluis-Guenwa{},
+near Monmouth. His sister Anaumed went over to Armorica in 490, and upon
+her arrival was married to Budic, king of the Armorican Britons. Before
+she left her own country she promised St. Theliau to consecrate her
+first child in a particular manner to God. Our saint was educated under
+the holy discipline of St. Dubritius, and soon after the year 500, made
+a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his schoolfellows St. David and St.
+Paternus. In their return St. David stopped at Dole, with Sampson the
+elder, who had been bishop of York, but being expelled by the Saxons,
+fled into Armorica and was made bishop of Dole. This prelate and St.
+Theliau planted a great avenue, three miles long, from Dole to Cai,
+which for several ages was known by their names. The people of Dole,
+with the bishop and king Budic, pressed our saint to accept of that
+bishopric; but in vain. After his return into the island, St. Dubritius
+being removed from the see of Landaff to that of Caërleon, in 495,
+Theliau was compelled to succeed him in Landaff, of which church he has
+always been esteemed the principal patron. His great learning, piety,
+and pastoral zeal, especially in the choice and instruction of his
+clergy, have procured him a high reputation which no age can ever
+obliterate, says Leland.[1] His authority alone decided whatever
+controversies arose in his time. When the yellow plague depopulated
+Wales, he exerted his courage and charity with an heroic intrepidity.
+Providence preserved his life for the sake of others, and he died {390}
+about the year 580, in a happy old age, in solitude, where he had for
+some time prepared himself for his passage. The place where he departed
+to our Lord was called from him Llan deilo-vaur, that is, the church of
+the great Theliau: it was situated on the bank of the river Tovy in
+Caermarthenshire. The Landaff register names among the most eminent of
+his disciples his nephew St. Oudoceus, who succeeded him in the see of
+Landaff, St. Ismael, whom he consecrated bishop, St. Tyfhei, martyr, who
+reposeth in Pennalun, &c. See Capgrave, Harpsfield, Wharton,
+Brown-Willis, D. Morice, Hist. de Bretagne, t. 1, p. 22, and the notes,
+pp. 785 and 819. Bolland. Feb. t. 2, p. 303.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  De Script. Brit. c. 30.
+
+ST. ANSBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF ROUEN, C. IN 695.
+
+HE had been chancellor to king Clotaire III., in which station he had
+united the mortification and recollection of a monk with the duties of
+wedlock, and of a statesman. Quitting the court, he put on the monastic
+habit at Fontenelle, under St. Wandregisile, and when that holy
+founder's immediate successor, St. Lantbert, was made bishop of Lyons,
+Ansbert was appointed abbot of that famous monastery. He was confessor
+to king Theodoric III., and with his consent was chosen archbishop of
+Rouen, upon the death of St. Owen in 683. By his care, good order,
+learning, and piety flourished in his diocese; nevertheless Pepin, mayor
+of the palace, banished him, upon a false accusation, to the monastery
+of Aumont, upon the Sambre in Hainault, where he died in the year 698.
+See Mab. Sæc. 2, Ben. and Annal. l. 18.. Rivet, Hist. Littér. t. 4, p.
+33, and t. 3, p. 646. Henschenius, Feb. t. 2, p. 342.
+
+ST. ATTRACTA, OR TARAHATA, AN IRISH VIRGIN.
+
+SHE received the veil from St. Patrick, and lived at a place called from
+her Kill-Attracta to this day, in Connaught. Her acts in Colgan are of
+no authority.
+
+ST. ERHARD, ABBOT, C.
+
+CALLED BY MERSÆUS AND OTHER GERMANS, EBERHARDUS.
+
+HE was a Scotchman by birth, and being well instructed in the
+scriptures, went into Germany to preach the gospel, with two brothers.
+He taught the sacred sciences at Triers, when St. Hydulphus was bishop
+of that city, whom Welser and some others take for a Scot, and one of
+our saint's brothers. When St. Hydulphus resigned his bishopric to end
+his days in retirement in 753, St. Erhard withdrew to Ratisbon, where he
+founded a small monastery, and is said to have been honored with
+miracles, both living and after his death, which happened to that city.
+He was commemorated on this day in Scotland, but in Germany on the 8th
+of January. See Peter Merssæus, Catal. Archiep. Trevirens. M. Welserus,
+l. 5. Rerum B{}iocar, ad ab, 753. Pantaleon, Prosopographiæ, part 1.
+
+{391}
+
+
+FEBRUARY X.
+
+ST. SCHOLASTICA, VIRGIN.
+
+From St. Gregory the Great, Dial. l. 2, c. 33 and 34. About the year
+543.
+
+THIS saint was sister to the great St. Benedict. She consecrated herself
+to God from her earliest youth, as St. Gregory testifies. Where her
+first monastery was situated is not mentioned; but after her brother
+removed to Mount Cassino, she chose her retreat at Plombariola, in that
+neighborhood, where she founded and governed a nunnery about five miles
+distant to the south from St. Benedict's monastery.[1] St. Bertharius,
+who was abbot of Cassino three hundred years after, says, that she
+instructed in virtue several of her own sex. And whereas St. Gregory
+informs us, that St. Benedict governed nuns as well as monks, his sister
+must have been their abbess under his rule and direction. She visited
+her holy brother once a year, and as she was not allowed to enter his
+monastery, he went out with some of his monks to meet her at a house at
+some small distance. They spent these visits in the praises of God, and
+in conferring together on spiritual matters, St. Gregory relates a
+remarkable circumstance of the last of these visits. Scholastica having
+passed the day as usual in singing psalms, and pious discourse, they sat
+down in the evening to take their refection. After it was over,
+Scholastica, perhaps foreknowing it would be their last interview in
+this world, or at least desirous of some further spiritual improvement,
+was very urgent with her brother to delay his return till the next day,
+that they might entertain themselves till morning upon the happiness of
+the other life. St. Benedict, unwilling to transgress his rule, told her
+he could not pass a night out of his monastery: so desired her not to
+insist upon such a breach of monastic discipline. Scholastica, finding
+him resolved on going home, laying her hands joined upon the table and
+her head upon them, with many tears begged of Almighty God to interpose
+in her behalf. Her prayer was scarce ended, when there happened such a
+storm of rain, thunder, and lightning, that neither St. Benedict nor any
+of his companions could set a foot out of doors. He complained to his
+sister, saying: "God forgive you, sister; what have you done?" She
+answered: "I asked you a favor, and you refused it me: I asked it of
+Almighty God, and he has granted it me." St. Benedict was therefore
+obliged to comply with her request, and they spent the night in
+conferences on pious subjects, chiefly on the felicity of the blessed,
+to which both most ardently aspired, and which she was shortly to enjoy.
+The nest morning they parted, and three days after St. Scholastica died
+in her solitude. St. Benedict was then alone in contemplation on Mount
+Cassino, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he saw the soul of his
+sister ascending thither in the shape of a dove. Filled with joy at her
+happy passage, he gave thanks for it to God, and declared her death to
+his brethren; some of whom he sent to bring her corpse to his monastery,
+where {392} he caused it to be laid in the tomb which he had prepared
+for himself. She must have died about the year 543. Her relics are said
+to have been translated into France, together with those of St. Bennet,
+in the seventh century, according to the relation given by the monk
+Adrevald.[2] They are said to have been deposited at Mans, and kept in
+the collegiate church of St. Peter in that city in a rich silver
+shrine.[3] In 1562 this shrine was preserved from being plundered by the
+Huguenots, as is related by Chatelain. Her principal festival at Mans is
+kept a holyday on the 11th of July, the day of the translation of her
+relics. She was honored in some places with an office of three lessons,
+in the time of St. Louis, as appears from a calendar of Longchamp,
+written in his reign.
+
+Lewis of Granada, treating on the perfection of the love of God,
+mentions the miraculous storm obtained by St. Scholastica, to show with
+what excess of goodness God is always ready to hear the petitions and
+desires of his servants. This pious soul must have received strong
+pledges and most sensible tokens of his love, seeing she depended on
+receiving so readily what she asked of him. No child could address
+himself with so great confidence to his most tender parent. The love
+which God bears us, and his readiness to succor and comfort us, if we
+humbly confess and lay before him our wants, infinitely surpasses all
+that can be found in creatures. Nor can we be surprised that he so
+easily heard the prayer of this holy virgin, since at the command of
+Joshua he stopped the heavens, God obeying the voice of man. He hears
+the most secret desires of those that fear and love him, and does their
+will: if he sometimes seem deaf to their cries, it is to grant their
+main desire by doing what is most expedient for them, as St. Austin
+frequently observes. The short prayer by which St. Scholastica gained
+this remarkable victory over her brother, who was one of the greatest
+saints on earth, was doubtless no more than a single act of her pure
+desires, which she continually turned towards, and fixed on her beloved.
+It was enough for her to cast her eye interiorly upon him with whom she
+was closely and inseparably united in mind and affections, to move him
+so suddenly to change the course of the elements in order to satisfy her
+pious desire. By placing herself, as a docile scholar, continually at
+the feet of the Divine Majesty, who filled all the powers of her soul
+with the sweetness of his heavenly communications, she learned that
+sublime science of perfection in which she became a mistress to so many
+other chaste souls by this divine exercise. Her life in her retirement,
+to that happy moment which closed her mortal pilgrimage, was a continued
+uniform contemplation, by which all her powers were united to, and
+transformed into God.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This nunnery underwent the same fate with the abbey of Mount
+    Cassino, both being burnt to the ground by the Lombards. When
+    Rachim, king of that nation, having been converted to the Catholic
+    faith by the exhortations of pope Zachary, re-established that
+    abbey, and taking the monastic habit, ended his life there, his
+    queen Tasai and his daughter Ratruda rebuilt and richly endowed the
+    nunnery of Plombariola, in which they lived with great regularity to
+    their deaths, as is related by Leo of Ostia in his Chronicle of
+    Mount Cassino, ad an. 750. It has been since destroyed, so that at
+    present the land is only a farm belonging to the monastery of Mount
+    Cassino. See Dom Mege, Vie de St. Benoit, p. 412. Chatelain, Notes,
+    p. 605. Murarori, Antichita, &c. t. 3. p. 400. Diss. 66, del
+    Monasteri delle Monache.
+2.  See Paul the deacon, Hist. Longob. and Dom Mege, Vie de St. Bénoit,
+    p. 48.
+3.  That the relics of St. Bennet were privately carried off from Mount
+    Cassino, in 660, soon after the monastery was destroyed, and brought
+    to Fleury on the Loire by Algiulph the monk, and those of St.
+    Scholastica, by certain persons of Mans to that city, is maintained
+    by Mabillon, Menard, and Bosche. But that the relics of both these
+    saints still remain at Mount Cassino, is strenuously affirmed by
+    Loretus Angelus de Nuce, and Marchiarelli, the late learned monk of
+    the Order of Camaldoli: and this assertion Benedict XIV. looks upon
+    as certain, (de Canoniz. l. 4, part 2, c. 24, t, 4, p. 245.) For
+    pope Zachary in his bull assures us, that he devoutly honored the
+    relics of SS. Benedict and Scholastica, at Mount Cassino, in 746.
+    Leo Ostiensis and Peter the deacon visited them and found them
+    untouched in 1071, as Alexander II. affirms in the bull he published
+    when he consecrated the new church there. By careful visitations
+    made by authority, in 1486 and 1545, the same is proved. Yet Angelus
+    de Nuce allows some portions of both saints to be at Mans and
+    Fleury, on the Loire. Against the supposed translation of the whole
+    shrines of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica into France, see
+    Muratori, Antichita, &c., dissert. 58, t. 3, p. 244.
+
+{393}
+
+ST. SOTERIS, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.
+
+From St. Ambrose, Exhort. Virginit, c. 12, and l. 3. de Virgin. c. 6
+Tillemont, t. 5, p. 259.
+
+FOURTH AGE.
+
+ST. AMBROSE boasts of this saint as the greatest honor of his family.
+St. Soteris was descended from a long series of consuls and prefects:
+but her greatest glory was her despising, for the sake of Christ, birth,
+riches, great beauty, and all that the world prizes as valuable. She
+consecrated her virginity to God, and to avoid the dangers her beauty
+exposed her to, neglected it entirely, and trampled under her feet all
+the vain ornaments that might set it off. Her virtue prepared her to
+make a glorious confession of her faith before the persecutors, after
+the publication of the cruel edicts of Dioclesian and Maximian against
+the Christians. The impious judge commanded her face to be buffeted. She
+rejoiced to be treated as her divine Saviour had been, and to have her
+face all wounded and disfigured by the merciless blows of the
+executioners. The judge ordered her to be tortured many other ways, but
+without being able to draw from her one sigh or tear. At length,
+overcome by her constancy and patience, he commanded her head to be
+struck off. The ancient martyrologies mention her.
+
+ST. WILLIAM OF MALEVAL, H.
+
+AND INSTITUTER OF THE ORDER OF GULIELMITES.
+
+From l'Hist des Ordres Relig., t. 6, p. 155, by F. Helyot.
+
+A.D. 1157
+
+WE know nothing of the birth or quality of this saint: he seems to have
+been a Frenchman, and is on this account honored in the new Paris Missal
+and Breviary. He is thought to have passed his youth in the army, and to
+have given into a licentious manner of living, too common among persons
+of that profession. The first accounts we have of him represent him as a
+holy penitent, filled with the greatest sentiments of compunction and
+fervor, and making a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles at Rome.
+Here he begged pope Eugenius III. to put him into a course of penance,
+who enjoined him a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the year 1145. In
+performing this, with great devotion, the saint spent eight years.
+Returning into Tuscany, in 1153, he retired into a desert. He was
+prevailed upon to undertake the government of a monastery in the isle of
+Lupocavio, in the territory of Pisa, but not being able to bear with the
+tepidity and irregularity of his monks, he withdrew, and settled on
+Mount Pruno, till, finding disciples there no less indocile to the
+severity of his discipline than the former, he was determined to pursue
+himself that rigorous plan of life which he had hitherto unsuccessfully
+proposed to others. He pitched upon a desolate valley for this purpose,
+the very sight of which was sufficient to strike the most resolute with
+horror. It was then called the Stable of Rhodes, but since, Maleval; and
+is situated in the territory of Sienna, in the diocese of Grosseto. He
+entered this frightful solitude in September, 1155, and had no other
+lodging than a cave in the ground, till being discovered some months
+after, the lord of Buriano built him a cell. During the first four
+months, he had no other company than that of wild beasts eating only the
+herbs on which they fed. {394} On the feast of the Epiphany, in the
+beginning of the year 1156, he was joined by a disciple or companion,
+called Albert, who lived with him to his death, which happened thirteen
+months after, and who has recorded the last circumstances of his life.
+The saint, discoursing with others, always treated himself as the most
+infamous of criminals, and deserving the worst of deaths; and that these
+were his real sentiments, appeared from that extreme severity which he
+exercised upon himself. He lay on the bare ground: though he fed on the
+coarsest fare, and drank nothing but water, he was very sparing in the
+use of each; saying, sensuality was to be feared even in the most
+ordinary food. Prayer, divine contemplation, and manual labor, employed
+his whole time. It was at his work that he instructed his disciple in
+his maxims of penance and perfection, which he taught him the most
+effectually by his own example, though in many respects so much raised
+above the common, that it was fitter to be admired than imitated. He had
+the gift of miracles, and that of prophecy. Seeing his end draw near, he
+received the sacraments from a priest of the neighboring town of
+Chatillon, and died on the 10th of February, in 1157, on which day he is
+named in the Roman and other martyrologies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Divine Providence moved one Renauld, a physician, to join Albert, a
+little before the death of the saint. They buried St. William's body in
+his little garden, and studied to live according to his maxims and
+example. Some time after, their number increasing, they built a chapel
+over their founder's grave, with a little hermitage. This was the origin
+of the Gulielmites, or Hermits of St. William, spread in the next age
+over Italy, France, Flanders, and Germany. They went barefoot, and their
+fasts were almost continual: but pope Gregory IX. mitigated their
+austerities, and gave them the rule of St. Benedict, which they still
+observe. The order is now become a congregation united to the hermits of
+St. Austin, except twelve houses to the Low Countries, which still
+retain the rule of the Gulielmites, which is that of St. Benedict, with
+a white habit like that of the Cistercians.
+
+The feast of St. William is kept at Paris in the Abbey of
+Blancs-Manteaux, so called from certain religious men for whom it was
+founded, who wore white cloaks, and were of a mendicant Order, called of
+the Servants of the Virgin Mary: founded at Marseilles, and approved by
+Alexander IV., in 1257. This order being extinguished, by virtue of the
+decree of the second council of Lyons, in 1274, by which all mendicants,
+except the four great Orders of Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and
+Austin friars, were abolished, this monastery was bestowed on the
+Gulielmites, who removed hither from Montrouge, near Paris, in 1297. The
+prior and monks embraced the order of St. Bennet, and the reformation of
+the Congregation of St. Vanne of Verdun, soon after called in France, of
+St. Maur, in 1618, and this is in order the fifth house of that
+Congregation in France, before the abbeys of St. Germany-des-Prez, and
+St. Denys.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Villefore confounds this saint with St. William, founder of the
+    hermits of Monte Virgine in the kingdom of Naples, who lived in
+    great repute with king Roger, and is commemorated in the Roman
+    Martyrology, June 25. Others confound him with St. William, duke of
+    Aquitaine, a monk of Gellone. He was a great general, and often
+    vanquished the Saracens who invaded Languedoc. In recompense,
+    Charlemagne made him duke or governor of Aquitaine, and appointed
+    Toulouse for his residence. Some years after, in 806, having
+    obtained the consent of his duchess, (who also renounced the world,)
+    and or Charlemagne, though with great difficulty, he made his
+    monastic profession at Gellone, a monastery which he had founded in
+    a valley of that name, a league distant from Aniane, in the diocese
+    of Lodeve. St. William received the habit at the hands of St.
+    Benedict of Aniane, was directed by him in the exercises of a
+    religious life, and sanctified himself with great fervor, embracing
+    the most humbling and laborious employments, and practising
+    extraordinary austerities, till his happy death in 812, on the 28th
+    of May, on which day his festival is kept in the monastery of
+    Gellone, (now called St. Guillem de Desert, founded by this saint in
+    804,) and in the neighboring churches. See, on him, Mabillon, Sæc.
+    Ben. 4, p. 88. Henschenius, diss, p. 488. Bultea p. 367. and Hist.
+    Gén. du Languedoc par deux Bénédictins, l. 9. Many have also
+    confounded our saint with William, the last duke of Guienne, who,
+    after a licentious youth, and having been an abettor of the
+    anti-pope, Peter Leonis, was wonderfully converted by St. Bernard,
+    sent to him by pope Innocent II., in the year 1135. The year
+    following he renounced his estates, which his eldest daughter
+    brought in marriage to Louis the Young, king of France; and clothed
+    with hair-cloth next his skin, end in a tattered garment expressive
+    of the sincerity of his repentance and contrition, undertook a
+    pilgrimage to Compostella, and died in that journey, in 1137. See
+    Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Norman. et Armoldus Bonæ-Vallis, in vita
+    Bernardi; with the Historical Dissert. of Henschenius on the 10th of
+    February; and Abrégé Chronol. des Grands Fiefs, p. 223.
+
+{395}
+
+SAINT ERLULPH, BISHOP AND MARTYR.
+
+SEVERAL Scottish missionaries passed into the northwestern parts of
+Germany, to sow there the seeds of the faith, at the time when
+Charlemagne subdued the Saxons. In imitation of these apostolic men, St.
+Erlulph, a holy Scotchman, went thither, and after employing many years
+with great success in that arduous mission, was chosen the tenth bishop
+of Verdun. His zeal in propagating the faith enraged the barbarous
+infidels, and he was slain by them at a place called Eppokstorp, in 830.
+See Krantzius, l. 3. Metrop. c. 30. Democh. Gatal. episc. Verd.
+Pantaleon, &c.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This saint must not be confounded with Ernulph, a most holy man, the
+    apostle of Iceland, who flourished in the year 890; on whom see
+    Jonas, Histor. Islandiæ.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XI.
+
+SS. SATURNINUS, DATIVUS,
+
+AND MANY OTHER MARTYRS, OF AFRICA.
+
+From their contemporary acts, received as authentic by St. Austin,
+Brevic. Coll. die 3, c. 17. The Donatists added a preface to them and a
+few glosses, in which condition they are published by Baluzius, t. 2.
+But Bollandus and Ruinart give them genuine.
+
+A.D. 304
+
+THE emperor Dioclesian had commanded all Christians, under pain of
+death, to deliver up the holy scriptures to be burnt. This persecution
+had raged a whole year in Africa; some had betrayed the cause of
+religion, but many more had defended it with their blood, when these
+saints were apprehended. Abitina, a city of the proconsular province of
+Africa, was the theatre of their triumph. Saturninus, priest of that
+city, celebrated the divine mysteries on a Sunday, in the house of
+Octavius Felix. The magistrates having notice of it, came with a troop
+of soldiers, and seized forty-nine persons of both sexes. The principal
+among them were the priest Saturninus, with his four children, viz.:
+young Saturninus and Felix, both Lectors, Mary, who had consecrated her
+virginity to God, and Hilarianus, yet a child; also, Dativus, a noble
+senator, Ampelius, Rogatianus, and Victoria. Dativus, the ornament of
+the senate of Abitina, whom God destined to be one of the principal
+senators of heaven, marched at the head of this holy troop. Saturninus
+walked by his side, surrounded by his illustrious family. The others
+followed in silence. Being brought before the magistrates, they
+confessed Jesus Christ so resolutely, that their very judges applauded
+their courage, which repaired the infamous sacrilege committed there a
+little before by Fundanus, the bishop of Abitina, who in that same place
+had given up to the magistrates the sacred books to be burnt: but a
+violent shower suddenly falling, put out the fire, and a prodigious hail
+ravaged the whole country.
+
+{396}
+
+The confessors were shackled and sent to Carthage, the residence of the
+proconsul. They rejoiced to see themselves in chains for Christ, and
+sung hymns and canticles during their whole journey to Carthage,
+praising and thanking God. The proconsul, Anulinus, addressing himself
+first to Dativus, asked him of what condition he was, and if he had
+assisted at the collect or assembly of the Christians. He answered, that
+he was a Christian, and had been present at it. The proconsul bid him
+discover who presided, and in whose house those religious assemblies
+were held: but without waiting for his answer, commanded him to be put
+on the rack and torn with iron hooks, to oblige him to a discovery. They
+underwent severally the tortures of the rack, iron hooks, and cudgels.
+The weaker sex fought no less gloriously, particularly the illustrious
+Victoria; who, being converted to Christ in her tender years, had
+signified a desire of leading a single life, which her pagan parents
+would not agree to, having promised her in marriage to a rich young
+nobleman. Victoria, on the day appointed for the wedding, full of
+confidence in the protection of Him, whom she had chosen for the only
+spouse of her soul, leaped out of a window, and was miraculously
+preserved from hurt. Having made her escape, she took shelter in a
+church; after which she consecrated her virginity to God, with the
+ceremonies then used on such occasions at Carthage, in Italy, Gaul, and
+all over the West.[1] To the crown of virginity, she earnestly desired
+to join that of martyrdom. The proconsul, on account of her quality, and
+for the sake of her brother, a pagan, tried all means to prevail with
+her to renounce her faith. He inquired what was her religion. Her answer
+was: "I am a Christian." Her brother, Fortunatianus, undertook her
+defence, and endeavored to prove her lunatic. The saint, fearing his
+plea might be the means of her losing the crown of martyrdom, made it
+appear by her wise confutations of it, that she was in her perfect
+senses, and protested that she had not been brought over to Christianity
+against her will. The proconsul asked her if she would return with her
+brother? She said: "She could not, being a Christian, and acknowledging
+none as brethren but those who kept the law of God." The proconsul then
+laid aside the quality of judge to become her humble suppliant, and
+entreated her not to throw away her life. But she rejected his
+entreaties with disdain, and said to him: "I have already told you my
+mind. I am a Christian, and I assisted at the collect." Anulinus,
+provoked at this constancy, reassumed his rage, and ordered her to
+prison with the rest, to wait the sentence of death which he not long
+after pronounced upon them all.
+
+The proconsul would yet try to gain Hilarianus, Saturninus's youngest
+son, not doubting to vanquish one of his tender age. But the child
+showed more contempt than fear of the tyrant's threats, and answered his
+interrogatories: "I am a Christian: I have been at the collect, and it
+was of my own voluntary choice, without any compulsion." The proconsul
+threatened him with those little punishments with which children are
+accustomed to be chastised, little knowing that God himself fights in
+his martyrs. The child only laughed at him. The governor then said to
+him: "I will cut off your nose and ears." Hilarianus replied: "You may
+do it; but I am a Christian." The proconsul, dissembling his confusion,
+ordered him to prison. Upon which the child said: "Lord, I give thee
+thanks." These martyrs ended their lives under the hardships of their
+confinement, and are honored in the ancient calendar of Carthage, and
+the Roman Martyrology, on the 11th of February, though only two (of the
+name of Felix) died on that day of their wounds.
+
+{397}
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The example of these martyrs condemns the sloth with which many
+Christians in this age celebrate the Lord's Day. When the judge asked
+them, how they durst presume to hold their assembly against the imperial
+orders, they always repeated, even on the rack: "The obligation of the
+Sunday is indispensable. It is not lawful for us to omit the duty of
+that day. We celebrated it as well as we could. We never passed a Sunday
+without meeting at our assembly. We will keep the commandments of God at
+the expense of our lives." No dangers nor torments could deter them from
+this duty. A rare example of fervor in keeping that holy precept, from
+which too many, upon lame pretences, seek to excuse themselves. As the
+Jew was known by the religious observance of the Sabbath, so is the true
+Christian by his manner of celebrating the Sunday. And as our law is
+more holy and more perfect than the Jewish, so must be our manner of
+sanctifying the Lord's Day. This is the proof of our religion, and of
+our piety towards God. The primitive Christians kept this day in the
+most holy manner, assembling to public prayer in dens and caves, knowing
+that, "without this religious observance, a man cannot be a Christian,"
+to use the expression of an ancient father.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  These were, by laying her head on the altar to offer it to God, and
+    all her life after wearing her hair long as the ancient Nazarenes
+    did: (Act. p. 417. St. Optatas, l. 6. S. Ambr. ad Virg. c. 8.)
+    Whereas the ceremony of this consecration in Egypt and Syria was for
+    the virgin to cut off her hair in the presence of a priest.
+    (Bulteau, Hist. Mon. p. 170.)
+
+ST. SEVERINUS, ABBOT OF AGAUNUM.
+
+From his ancient short life, in Mabillon App. Sæc. l. Ben. The additions
+in Surius and Bollandus are too modern. See Chatelain, Notes on the
+Martyrol., p. 618.
+
+A.D. 507.
+
+ST. SEVERINUS, of a noble family in Burgundy, was educated in the
+Catholic faith, at a time when the Arian heresy reigned in that country.
+He forsook the world in his youth, and dedicated himself to God in the
+monastery of Agaunum, which then only consisted of scattered cells, till
+the Catholic king Sigismund, son and successor to the Arian Gondebald,
+who then reigned in Burgundy, built there the great abbey of St.
+Maurice. St. Severinus was the holy abbot of that place, and had
+governed his community many years in the exercise of penance and
+charity, when, in 504, Clovis, the first Christian kin; of France, lying
+ill of a fever, which his physicians had for two years ineffectually
+endeavored to remove, sent his chamberlain to conduct him to court; for
+he heard how the sick from all parts recovered their health by his
+prayers. St. Severinus took leave of his monks, telling them he should
+never see them more in this world. On his journey he healed Eulalius,
+bishop of Nevers, who had been for some time deaf and dumb, also a leper
+at the gates of Paris; and coming to the palace, he immediately restored
+the king to perfect health, by putting on him his own cloak. The king in
+gratitude distributed large alms to the poor, and released all his
+prisoners.[1] St. Severinus returning towards Agaunum, stopped at
+Chateau-Landon, in Gatinois, where two priests served God in a solitary
+chapel, among whom he was admitted, at his request, as a stranger, and
+was soon greatly admired by them for his sanctity. He foresaw his death,
+which happened shortly after, in 507. The place is now an abbey of
+reformed canons regular of St. Austin. The Huguenots scattered the
+greatest part of his relics, when they plundered this church. He is
+mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, and a large parish in Paris takes
+its name from this saint, not from the hermit who was St. Cloud's
+master.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  {Footnote not in text} See Le Boeuf, Hist. du Diocèse de Paris, t.
+    1, p. 151, 157, and Le Fevre, Calend. Hist de Paris, p. 40{}.
+
+{398}
+
+THE EMPRESS THEODORA.
+
+WHOM THE GREEKS RANK AMONG THE SAINTS.
+
+BY her mildness and patience she often softened the cruel temper of her
+brutish husband, Theophilus, and protected the defenders of holy images
+from the fury of his persecution. Being left by his death regent of the
+empire during the minority of her son, Michael III., she put an end to
+the Iconoclast heresy, one hundred and twenty years after the first
+establishment of it by Leo the Isaurian: and the patriarch Methodius
+with great solemnity restored holy images in the great church in
+Constantinople, on the first Sunday of Lent, which we call the second,
+of which event the Greeks make an annual commemoration, calling it the
+feast of Orthodoxy. After she had governed the empire with great glory
+twelve years, she was banished by her unnatural son and his impious
+uncle, Bardas. She prepared herself for death by spending the last eight
+years of her life in a monastery, where she gave up her soul to God in
+867. She is ranked among the saints in the Menology of the emperor
+Basil, in the Menæa, and other calendars of the Greeks. See the
+compilations of Bollandus from the authors of the Byzantine history.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XII.
+
+ST. BENEDICT, OF ANIAN, ABBOT.
+
+From his life, written with great piety, gravity, and erudition, by St.
+Ardo Smaragdus, his disciple, to whom he committed the government of his
+monastery of Anian, when he was called by the emperor near the court.
+Ardo died March the 7th, in 843, and is honored at Anian among the
+saints. He is not to be confounded with Smaragdus, abbot in the diocese
+of Verdun, author of a commentary on the rules of St. Bennet. This
+excellent life is published by Dom Menard, at the head of St. Bennet's
+Concordia Regularum; by Henschenius, 12 Feb., and by Dom Mabillon, Acta
+SS. Ben., vol. 5, pp. 191, 817. See Helyot, Hist. des Ord. Relig. t. 5,
+p. 139. See also Bulteau, Hist. de l'Ord. de S. Bénoit, l. 5, c. 2, p.
+342. Eckart. de Reb. Fran. t. 2, pp. 117, 163.
+
+A.D. 821.
+
+HE was the son of Aigulf, count or governor of Languedoc, and served
+king Pepin and his son Charlemagne in quality of cupbearer, enjoying
+under them great honors and possessions. Grace made him sensible of the
+vanity of all perishable goods, and at twenty years of age he took a
+resolution of seeking the kingdom of God with his whole heart. From that
+time he led a most mortified life in the court itself for three years,
+eating very sparingly and of the coarsest fare, allowing himself very
+little sleep, and mortifying all his senses. In 774, having narrowly
+escaped being drowned in the Tesin, near Pavia, in endeavoring to save
+his brother, he made a vow to quit the world entirely. Returning to
+Languedoc, he was confirmed in his resolution by the pious advice of a
+hermit of great merit and virtue, called Widmar; and under a pretext of
+going to the court at Aix-la-Chapelle, he went to the abbey of St.
+Seine, five leagues from Dijon, and having sent back all his attendants,
+became a monk there. He spent two years and a half in wonderful
+abstinence, treating his body as a furious wild beast, to {399} which he
+would show no other mercy than barely not to kill it. He took no other
+sustenance on any account but bread and water; and when overcome with
+weariness, he allowed himself nothing softer than the bare ground
+whereon to take a short rest; thus making even his repose a continuation
+of penance. He frequently passed the whole night in prayer, and stood
+barefoot on the ground in the sharpest cold. He studied to make himself
+contemptible by all manner of humiliations, and received all insults
+with joy, so perfectly was he dead to himself. God bestowed on him an
+extraordinary spirit of compunction, and the gift of tears, with an
+infused knowledge of spiritual things to an eminent degree. Not content
+to fulfil the rule of St. Benedict in its full rigor, he practised all
+the severest observances prescribed by the rules of St. Pachomius and
+St. Basil. Being made cellarist, he was very solicitous to provide for
+others whatever St. Benedict's rule allowed, and had a particular care
+of the poor and of the guests.
+
+His brethren, upon the abbot's death, were disposed to choose our saint,
+but he, being unwilling to accept of the charge on account of their
+known aversion to a reformation, left them, and returned to his own
+country, Languedoc, in 780, where he built a small hermitage, near a
+chapel of St. Saturninus, on the brook Anian, near the river Eraud, upon
+his own estate. Here he lived some years in extreme poverty, praying
+continually that God would teach him to do his will, and make him
+faithfully correspond with his eternal designs. Some solitaries, and
+with them the holy man Widmar, put themselves under his direction,
+though he long excused himself. They earned their livelihood by their
+labor, and lived on bread and water, except on Sundays and solemn
+festivals, on which they added a little wine and milk when it was given
+them in alms. The holy superior did not exempt himself from working with
+the rest in the fields, either carrying wood or plugging; and sometimes
+he copied good books. The number of his disciples increasing, he quitted
+the valley, and built a monastery in a more spacious place, in that
+neighborhood. He showed his love of poverty by his rigorous practice of
+it: for he long used wooden, and afterwards glass or pewter chalices at
+the altar; and if any presents of silk ornaments were made him, he gave
+them to other churches. However, he some time after changed his way of
+thinking with respect to the church; built a cloister, and a stately
+church adorned with marble pillars, furnished it with silver chalices,
+and rich ornaments, and bought a great number of books. He had in a
+short time three hundred religious under his direction, and also
+exercised a general inspection over all the monasteries of Provence,
+Languedoc, and Gascony, which respected him as their common parent and
+master. At last he remitted something in the austerities of the
+reformation he had introduced among them. Felix, bishop of Urgel, had
+advanced that Christ was not the natural, but only the adoptive son of
+the eternal Father. St. Benedict most learnedly opposed this heresy, and
+assisted, in 794, at the council assembled against it at Frankfort. He
+employed his pen to confute the same, in four treatises, published in
+the miscellanies of Clausius.
+
+Benedict was become the oracle of the whole kingdom, and he established
+his reformation in many great monasteries with little or no opposition.
+His most illustrious colony was the monastery of Gellone, founded in
+804, by William, duke of Aquitaine, who retired into it himself, whence
+it was called St. Guillem du Desert. By the councils held under
+Charlemagne, in 813, and by the Capitulars of that prince, published the
+same year, it was ordained that the canons should live according to the
+canons and laws of the church, and the monks according to the rule of
+St. Bennet: by which regulation a uniformity was introduced in the
+monastic order in the West. The emperor Louis Débonnaire, who succeeded
+his father on the 28th of {400} January, 814, committed to the saint the
+inspection of all the abbeys in his kingdom. To have him nearer his own
+person, the emperor obliged him to live in the abbey of Marmunster, in
+Alsace; and as this was still too remote, desirous of his constant
+assistance in his councils, he built the monastery of Inde, two leagues
+from Aix-la-Chapelle, the residence of the emperor and court.
+Notwithstanding St. Benedict's constant abode in this monastery, he had
+still a hand in restoring monastic discipline throughout France and
+Germany; as he also was the chief instrument in drawing up the canons
+for the reformation of prebendaries and monks in the council of
+Aix-la-Chapelle, in 817, and presided in the assembly of abbots the same
+year, to enforce restoration of discipline. His statutes were adopted by
+the order, and annexed to the rule of St. Benedict, the founder. He
+wrote, while a private monk at Seine, the Code of Rules, being a
+collection of all the monastic regulations which he found extant; as
+also a book of homilies for the use of monks, collected, according to
+the custom of that age, from the works of the fathers: likewise a
+Penitential, printed in the additions to the Capitulars. In his Concord
+of Rules he gives that of St. Benedict, with those of other patriarchs
+of the monastic order, to show their uniformity in the exercises which
+they prescribe.[1] This great restorer of the monastic order in the
+West, worn out at length with mortification and fatigues, suffered much
+from continual sickness the latter years of his life. He died at Inde,
+with extraordinary tranquillity and cheerfulness, on the 11th of
+February, 821, being then about seventy-one years of age, and was buried
+in the same monastery, since called St. Cornelius's, the church being
+dedicated to that holy pope and martyr. At Anian his festival is kept on
+the 11th, but by most other Martyrologies on the 12th of February, the
+day of his burial. His relics remain in the monastery of St. Cornelius,
+or of Inde, in the duchy of Cleves, and have been honored with miracles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Bennet, by the earnestness with which he set himself to study the
+spirit of his holy rule and state, gave a proof of the ardor with which
+he aspired to Christian perfection. The experienced masters of a
+spiritual life, and the holy legislators of monastic institutes, have in
+view the great principles of an interior life, which the gospel lays
+down: for in the exercises which they prescribe, powerful means are
+offered by which a soul may learn perfectly to die to herself, and be
+united in all her powers to God. This dying to, and profound
+annihilation of ourselves, is of such importance, that so long as a soul
+remains in this state, though all the devils in hell were leagued
+together, they can never hurt her. All their efforts will only make her
+sink more deeply in this feeling knowledge of herself, in which she
+finds her strength, her repose, and her joy, because by it she is
+prepared to receive the divine grace: and if self-love be destroyed, the
+devil can have no power over us; for he never makes any successful
+attacks upon us but by the secret intelligence which he holds with this
+domestic enemy. The crucifixion of the old man, and perfect
+disengagement of the heart, by the practice of universal self-denial, is
+absolutely necessary before a soul can ascend the mountain of the God of
+Jacob, on which his infinite majesty is seen, separated from all
+creatures; as Blosius,[2] and all other directors in the paths of an
+interior life, strongly inculcate.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Codex Regularum, collectus a B. Benedicto Anianæ, auctus a Lucâ
+    Holstenio, printed by Holstenias at Rome, in 1661. Also, Concordia
+    Regularum, authore B. Benedicto Anianæ abbate, edita ab. Hug.
+    Menardo Benedictia{} Parisiis, 1638.
+2.  Instit. Spir. c. 1, n. 6, &c.
+
+{401}
+
+ST. MELETIUS, PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH, C.
+
+HE was of one of the best families of Lesser Armenia, and born a
+Melitene, which Strabo and Pliny place to Cappadocia; but Ptolemy, and
+all succeeding writers, in Lesser Armenia, of which province it became
+the capital. The saint, in his youth, made fasting and mortification his
+choice, to the midst of every thing that could flatter the senses. His
+conduct was uniform and irreproachable, and the sweetness and affability
+of his temper gained him the confidence and esteem both of the Catholics
+and Arians; for he was a nobleman of charming simplicity and sincerity,
+and a great lover of peace. Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, a semi-Arian,
+being deposed by the Arians, in a council held at Constantinople, in
+360, Meletius was promoted to that see; but meeting with too violent
+opposition, left it, and retired first into the desert, and afterwards
+to the city of Beræa, in Syria, of which Socrates falsely supposes him
+to have been bishop. The patriarchal church of Antioch had been
+oppressed by the Arians, ever since the banishment of Eustathius, in
+331. Several succeeding bishops, who were intruded into that chair, were
+infamous abettors of that heresy. Eudoxus, the last of these, had been
+removed from the see of Germanicia to that of Antioch, upon the death of
+Leontius, an Arian like himself, but was soon expelled by a party of
+Arians, in a sedition, and be shortly after usurped the see of
+Constantinople. Both the Arians and several Catholics agreed to raise
+St. Meletius to the patriarchal chair at Antioch, and the emperor
+ordered him to be put in possession of that dignity in 361; but some
+among the Catholics refused to acknowledge him, regarding his election
+as irregular, on account of the share which the Arians had had in it.
+The Arians hoped that he would declare himself of their party, but were
+undeceived when, the emperor Constantius arriving at Antioch, he was
+ordered, with certain other prelates, to explain in his presence that
+text of the Proverbs,[1] concerning the wisdom of God: _The Lord hath
+created me in the beginning of his ways_. George of Laodicea first
+explained it in an Arian sense, next Acacius of Cæsarea, in a sense
+bordering on that heresy; but the truth triumphed in the mouth of
+Meletius, who, speaking the third,[2] showed that this text is to be
+understood not of a strict creation, but of a new state or being, which
+the Eternal Wisdom received in his incarnation. This public testimony
+thunderstruck the Arians, and Eudoxus, then the bishop of
+Constantinople, prevailed with the emperor to banish him into Lesser
+Armenia, thirty days after his installation. The Arians intruded the
+impious Euzoius into that see, who, formerly being deacon at Alexandria,
+had been deposed and expelled the church, with the priest and
+arch-heretic Arius, by St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria. From this
+time is dated the famous schism of Antioch, in 360, though it drew its
+origin from the banishment of St. Eustathius about thirty years before.
+Many zealous Catholics always adhered to St. Eustathius, being convinced
+that his faith was the only cause of his unjust expulsion. But others,
+who were orthodox in their principles, made no scruple, at least for
+some time, to join communion in the great church with the intruded
+patriarchs; in which their conscience was more easily imposed upon, as,
+by the artifices of the Arians, the cause of St. Eustathius appeared
+merely personal and secular, or at least mixed; and his two first
+short-lived successors Eulalius and Euphronius, do not appear to have
+declared themselves Arians, otherwise than by their intrusion. Placillus
+the Third joined in condemning St. Athanasius in the councils of Tyre,
+in 335, and of Antioch {402} in 341. His successors, Stephen I., (who at
+Philippopolis opposed the council of Sardica,) Leontius, and Eudoxus,
+appeared everywhere leagued with the heads of the Arians. But the
+intrusion of Euzoius, with the expulsion of St. Meletius, rendered the
+necessity of an entire separation to communion more notorious; and many
+who were orthodox in their faith, yet, through weakness or ignorance of
+facts, had till then communicated with the Arians in the great church,
+would have no communion with Euzoius, or his adherents; but under the
+protection of Diodorus and Flavian, then eminent and learned laymen,
+afterwards bishops, held their religious assemblies with their own
+priests, in the church of the apostles without the city, in a suburb
+called Palæa, that is, the old suburb or church. They attempted in vain
+to unite themselves to the Eustathians, who for thirty years past had
+held their separate assemblies; but these refused to admit them, or to
+allow the election of Meletius, on account of the share the Arians had
+had therein: they therefore continued their private assemblies within
+the city. The emperor Constantius, in his return from the Persian war,
+with an intention to march against his cousin Julian, Cæsar, in the
+West, arrived at Antioch, and was baptized by the Arian bishop Euzoius;
+but died soon after, in his march at Mopsucrêne, in Cilicia, on the 3d
+of November, 361. Julian having allowed the banished bishops to go to
+their respective churches, St. Meletius returned to Antioch about the
+end of the year 362, but had the affliction to see the breach made by
+the schism grow wider. The Eustathians not only refused still to receive
+him, but proceeded to choose a bishop for themselves. This was Paulinus,
+a person of great meekness and piety, who had been ordained priest by
+St. Eustathius himself, and had constantly attended his zealous flock.
+Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, passing by Antioch in his return from
+exile, consecrated Paulinus bishop, and by this precipitate action,
+riveted the schism which divided this church near fourscore and five
+years, and in which the discussion of the facts upon which the right of
+the claimants was founded, was so intricate that the saints innocently
+took part on both sides. It was an additional affliction to St.
+Meletius, to see Julian the Apostate make Antioch the seat of the
+superstitious abominations of idolatry, which he restored; and the
+generous liberty with which he opposed them, provoked that emperor to
+banish him a second time. But Jovian soon after succeeding that unhappy
+prince, in 363, our saint returned to Antioch. Then it appeared that the
+Arians were men entirely guided by ambition and interest, and that as
+nothing could be more insolent than they had shown themselves when
+backed by the temporal power, so nothing was more cringing and
+submissive, when they were deprived of that protection. For the emperor
+warmly embracing the Nicene faith, following in all ecclesiastical
+matters the advice of St. Athanasius, and expressing a particular regard
+for St. Meletius; the moderate Arians, with Acacius of Cæsarea, in
+Palestine, at their head, went to Antioch, where our saint held a
+council of twenty-seven bishops, and there subscribed an orthodox
+profession of faith. Jovian dying, after a reign of eight months, Valens
+became emperor of the East, who was at first very orthodox, but
+afterwards, seduced by the persuasions of his wife, he espoused the
+Arian heresy, and received baptism from Eudoxus, bishop of
+Constantinople, who made him promise upon oath to promote the cause of
+that sect. The cruel persecution which this prince raised against that
+church, and the favor which he showed not only to the Arians, but also
+to Pagans, Jews, and all that were not Catholics, deterred not St.
+Meletius from exerting his zeal in defence of the orthodox faith. This
+prince coming from Cæsarea, where he had been vanquished by the
+constancy of St. Basil, arrived at Antioch in April, 372, where he left
+nothing unattempted {403} to draw Meletius over to the interest of his
+sect; but meeting with no success, ordered him a third time into
+banishment. The people rose tumultuously to detain him among them, and
+threw stones at the governor, who was carrying him off, so that he only
+escaped with his life by our saint's stepping between him and the mob,
+and covering him with his cloak. It is only to this manner that the
+disciples of Jesus Christ revenge injuries, as St. Chrysostom
+observes.[3] Hermant and Fleury suppose this to have happened at his
+first banishment. By the order of Valens, he was conducted into Lesser
+Armenia, where he made his own estate at Getasus, near Nicopolis, the
+place of his residence. His flock at Antioch, by copying his humility,
+modesty, and patience, amid the persecution which fell upon them, showed
+themselves the worthy disciples of so great a master. They were driven
+out of the city, and from the neighboring mountains, and the banks of
+the river, where they attempted to hold their assemblies; some expired
+under torments, others were thrown into the Orontes. In the mean time,
+Valens allowed the pagans to renew their sacrifices, and to celebrate
+publicly the feasts of Jupiter, Ceres, and Bacchus.[4] Sapor, king of
+Persia, having invaded Armenia, took by treachery king Arsaces, bound
+him in silver chains, (according to the Persian custom of treating royal
+prisoners,) and caused him to perish in prison. To, check the progress
+of these ancient enemies of the empire, Valens sent an army towards
+Armenia, and marched himself to Edessa, in Mesopotamia. Thus the
+persecution at Antioch was abated, to which the death of Valens put an
+end, who was burnt by the Goths in a cottage, after his defeat near
+Adrianople, in 378. His nephew Gratian, who then became master of the
+East, went in all haste to Constantinople, by his general, Theodosius,
+vanquished the Goths, and by several edicts recalled the Catholic
+prelates, and restored the liberty of the church in the Eastern empire.
+St. Meletius, upon his return, found that the schism had begun to engage
+distant churches in the division. Most of the Western prelates adhered
+to the election of Paulinus. St. Athanasius communicated with him, as he
+had always done with his friends the Eustathian Catholics, though, from
+the beginning, he disapproved of the precipitation of Lucifer of
+Cagliari in ordaining him, and he afterwards communicated also with St.
+Meletius. St. Basil, St. Amphilochius of Iconium, St. Pelagius of
+Laodicea, St. Eusebius of Samosata, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory
+of Nyasa, St. Gregory of Nazianzum, St. Chrysostom, and the general
+council of Constantinople, with almost the unanimous suffrage of all the
+East, zealously supported the cause of St. Meletius. Theodosius having,
+after his victory over the Goths, been associated by Gratian, and taken
+possession of the Eastern empire, sent his general, Sapor, to Antioch,
+to re-establish there the Catholic pastors. In an assembly which was
+held in his presence, in 379, St. Meletius, Paulinus, and Vitalis, whom
+Apollinarius had consecrated bishop of his party there, met, and St.
+Meletius, addressing himself to Paulinus, made the following
+proposal:[5] "Since our sheep have but one religion, and the same faith,
+let it be our business to unite them into one flock; let us drop all
+disputes for precedency, and agree to feed them together. I am ready to
+share this see with you, and let the survivor have the care of the whole
+flock." After some demur the proposal was accepted of, and Sapor put St.
+Meletius in possession of the churches which he had governed before his
+last banishment, and of those which were in the hands of the Arians, and
+Paulinus was continued in his care of the Eustathians. St. Meletius
+zealously reformed the disorders which heresy and divisions {404} had
+produced, and provided his church with excellent ministers. In 379 he
+presided in a council at Antioch, in which the errors of Apollinarius
+were condemned without any mention of his name. Theodosius, whom Gratian
+declared Augustus, and his partner in the empire at Sirmich, on the 19th
+of January, soon after his arrival at Constantinople, concurred
+zealously in assembling the second general council which was opened at
+Constantinople, in the year 381. Only the prelates of the Eastern empire
+assisted, so that we find no mention of legates of pope Damasus, and it
+was general, not in the celebration, but by the acceptation of the
+universal church. St. Meletius presided as the first patriarch that was
+present; in it one hundred and fifty Catholic bishops, and thirty-six of
+the Macedonian sect, made their appearance; but all these latter chose
+rather to withdraw than to retract their error, or confess the divinity
+of the Holy Ghost. The council approved of the election of St. Gregory
+of Nazianzen to the see of Constantinople, though he resigned it to
+satisfy the scruples and complaints of some, who, by mistake, thought it
+made against the Nicene canon, which forbade translations of bishops;
+which could not be understood of him who had never been allowed to take
+possession of his former see. The council then proceeded to condemn the
+Macedonian heresy, and to publish the Nicene creed, with certain
+additions. In the second, among the seven canons of discipline, the two
+oriental patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch were acknowledged. In
+the third, the prerogative of honor, next to the see of Rome, is given
+to that of Constantinople, which before was subject to the metropolitan
+of Heraclea, in Thrace. This canon laid the foundation of the
+patriarchal dignity to which that see was raised by the council of
+Calcedon, though not allowed for some time after in the West. St.
+Meletius died at Constantinople while the council was sitting, to the
+inexpressible grief of the fathers, and of the good emperor. By an
+evangelical meekness, which was his characteristic, he had converted the
+various trials that he had gone through into occasions of virtue, and
+had exceedingly endeared himself to all that had the happiness of his
+acquaintance. St. Chrysostom assures us, that his name was so venerable
+to his flock at Antioch, that they gave it their children, and mentioned
+it with all possible respect. They cut his image upon their seals, and
+upon their plate, and carved it in their houses. His funeral was
+performed at Constantinople with the utmost magnificence, and attended
+by the fathers of the council, and all the Catholics of the city. One of
+the most eminent among the prelates, probably St. Amphilochius of
+Iconium, pronounced his panegyric in the council. St. Gregory of Nyssa
+made his funeral oration in presence of the emperor, in the great
+church, in the end of which he says, "He now sees God face to face, and
+prays for us, and for the ignorance of the people." St. Meletius's body
+was deposited in the church of the apostles, till it was removed before
+the end of the same year, with the utmost pomp, to Antioch, at the
+emperor's expense, and interred near the relics of St. Babylas, in the
+church which he had erected in honor of that holy martyr. Five years
+after, St. Chrysostom, whom our saint had ordained deacon, spoke his
+elegant panegyric on the 12th of February, on which his name occurs in
+the Menæa, and was inserted by Baronius in the Roman Martyrology; though
+it is uncertain whether this be the day of his death, or of his
+translation to Antioch. On account of his three banishments and great
+sufferings, he is styled a martyr by St. John Damascen.[6] His
+panegyrics, by St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Chrysostom, are extant. See
+also Socrates, l. 5, c. 5, p. 261. Sozom. l. 4, c. 28, p. 586.
+Theodoret, l. 3, c. 5, p. 128, l. 2, c. 27, p. 634. Jos. Assem. in Cal.
+Univer. t. 6, p. 125.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Prov. viii. 22.
+2.  St. Epiph. hær. 73, n. 29.
+3.  Hom. in St. Melet. t. 2.
+4.  Theod. l. 4, c. 23, 24. Sozom. l. 6, c. 17.
+5.  Socr. l. 5, c. 5. Sozom. l. 7, c. 3. Theodoret. l. 5, c. 22.
+6.  Or. 2. de Imagin.
+
+{405}
+
+ST. EULALIA, OF BARCELONA, V.M.
+
+THIS holy virgin was brought up in the faith, and in the practice of
+piety, at Barcelona in Spain. In the persecution of Dioclesian, under
+the cruel governor Dacian, she suffered the rack, and being at last
+crucified on it, joined the crown of martyrdom with that of virginity.
+Her relics are preserved at Barcelona, by which city she is honored as
+its special patroness. She is titular saint of many churches, and her
+name is given to several villages of Guienne and Languedoc, and other
+neighboring provinces, where, in some places, she is called St. Eulalie,
+in others St. Olaire, St. Olacie, St. Occille, St. Olaille, and St.
+Aulazie. Sainte-Aulaire and Sainte-Aulaye are names of two ancient
+French families taken from this saint. Her acts deserve no notice. See
+Tillemont, t. 5, in his account from Prudentius, of St. Eulalia of
+Merida, with whom Vincent of Beauvais confounds her; but she is
+distinguished by the tradition of the Spanish churches, by the Mozarabic
+missal, and by all the martyrologies which bear the name of St. Jerom,
+Ado, Usuard, &c.
+
+ST. ANTONY CAULEAS, CONFESSOR,
+
+PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
+
+HE was by extraction of a noble Phrygian family, but born at a country
+seat near Constantinople, where his parents lived retired for fear of
+the persecution and infection of the Iconoclasts. From twelve years of
+age he served God with great fervor, in a monastery of the city, which
+some moderns pretend to have been that of Studius. In process of time he
+was chosen abbot, and, upon the death of Stephen, brother to the emperor
+Leo VI., surnamed the Wise, or the Philosopher, patriarch of
+Constantinople in 893. His predecessor had succeeded Photius in 886,
+(whom this emperor expelled,) and labored strenuously to extinguish the
+schism he had formed, and restore the peace of the church over all the
+East. St. Antony completed this great work, and in a council in which he
+presided at Constantinople, condemned or reformed all that had been done
+by Photius during his last usurpation of that see, after the death of
+St. Ignatius. The acts of this important council are entirely lost,
+perhaps through the malice of those Greeks who renewed this unhappy
+schism. A perfect spirit of mortification, penance, and prayer,
+sanctified this great pastor, both in his private and public life. He
+died in the year 896, of his age sixty-seven, on the 12th of February,
+on which day his name is inserted in the Greek Menæa, and in the Roman
+Martyrology. See an historical panegyric on his virtues, spoken soon
+after his death by a certain Greek philosopher named Nicephorus, in the
+Bollandists. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, t. 3; also t. 1, p. 250.
+
+{406}
+
+
+FEBRUARY XIII.
+
+ST. CATHARINE DE RICCI, V, O.S.D.
+
+See her life, written by F. Seraphin Razzi, a Dominican friar, who knew
+her, and was fifty-eight years old when she died. The nuns of her
+monastery gave an ample testimony that this account was conformable
+partly to what they knew of her, and partly to MS. memorials left by her
+confessor and others concerning her. Whence F. Echard calls this life a
+work accurately written. It was printed in 4to. at Lucca, in 1594. Her
+life was again compiled by F. Philip Galdi, confessor to the saint and
+to the duchess of Urbino, and printed at Florence, in two vols. 4to., in
+1622. FF. Michael Pio and John Lopez, of the same order, have given
+abstracts of her life. See likewise Bened. XIV. de Can. Serv. Dei, t. 5,
+inter Act. Can. 5. SS. Append.
+
+A.D. 1589.
+
+THE Ricci are an ancient family, which still subsists in a flourishing
+condition in Tuscany. Peter de Ricci, the father of our saint, was
+married to Catharine Bonza, a lady of suitable birth. The saint was born
+at Florence in 1522, and called at her baptism Alexandrina: but she took
+the name of Catharine at her religious profession. Having lost her
+mother in her infancy, she was formed to virtue by a very pious
+godmother, and whenever she was missing, she was always to be found on
+her knees in some secret part of the house. When she was between six and
+seven years old, her father placed her in the convent of Monticelli,
+near the gates of Florence, where her aunt, Louisa de Ricci, was a nun.
+This place was to her a paradise: at a distance from the noise and
+tumult of the world, she served God without impediment or distraction.
+After some years her father took her home. She continued her usual
+exercises in the world as much as she was able; but the interruptions
+and dissipation, inseparable from her station, gave her so much
+uneasiness, that, with the consent of her father, which she obtained,
+though with great difficulty, in the year 1535, the fourteenth of her
+age, she received the religious veil in the convent of Dominicanesses at
+Prat, in Tuscany, to which her uncle, F. Timothy de Ricci, was director.
+God, in the merciful design to make her the spouse of his crucified Son,
+and to imprint in her soul dispositions conformable to his, was pleased
+to exercise her patience by rigorous trials. For two years she suffered
+inexpressible pains under a complication of violent distempers, which
+remedies themselves served only to increase. These sufferings she
+sanctified by the interior dispositions with which she bore them, and
+which she nourished principally by assiduous meditation on the passion
+of Christ, in which she found an incredible relish, and a solid comfort
+and joy. After the recovery of her health, which seemed miraculous, she
+studied more perfectly to die to her senses, and to advance in a
+penitential life and spirit, in which God had begun to conduct her, by
+practising the greatest austerities which were compatible with the
+obedience she had professed: she fasted two or three days a week on
+bread and water, and sometimes passed the whole day without taking any
+nourishment, and chastised her body with disciplines and a sharp iron
+chain which she wore next her skin. Her obedience, humility, and
+meekness, were still more admirable than her spirit of penance. The
+least shadow of distinction or commendation gave her inexpressible
+uneasiness and confusion, and she would have rejoiced to be able to lie
+hid in the centre of the earth, in order to be entirely unknown to, and
+blotted out of the hearts of all mankind, such were the sentiments of
+annihilation and contempt of herself in which she constantly lived. It
+was by profound {407} humility and perfect interior self-denial that she
+learned to vanquish in her heart the sentiments or life of the first
+Adam, that is, of corruption, sin, and inordinate self-love. But this
+victory over herself, and purgation of her affections, was completed by
+a perfect spirit of prayer: for by the union of her soul with God, and
+the establishment of the absolute reign of his love in her heart, she
+was dead to, and disengaged from all earthly things. And in one act of
+sublime prayer, she advanced more than by a hundred exterior practices
+in the purity and ardor of her desire to do constantly what was most
+agreeable to God, to lose no occasion of practising every heroic virtue,
+and of vigorously resisting all that was evil. Prayer, holy meditation,
+and contemplation were the means by which God imprinted in her soul
+sublime ideas of his heavenly truths, the strongest and most tender
+sentiments of all virtues, and the most burning desire to give all to
+God, with an incredible relish and affection for suffering contempt and
+poverty for Christ. What she chiefly labored to obtain, by meditating on
+his life and sufferings, and what she most earnestly asked of him was,
+that he would be pleased, in his mercy, to purge her affections of all
+poison of the inordinate love of creatures, and engrave in her his most
+holy and divine image, both exterior and interior, that is to say, both
+in her conversation and affections, that so she might be animated, and
+might think, speak, and act by his most holy Spirit. The saint was
+chosen, very young, first, mistress of the novices, then sub-prioress,
+and, in the twenty-fifth year of her age, was appointed perpetual
+prioress. The reputation of her extraordinary sanctity and prudence drew
+her many visits from a great number of bishops, princes, and cardinals,
+among others, of Cervini, Alexander of Medicis, and Aldobrandini, who
+all three were afterwards raised to St. Peter's chair, under the names
+of Marcellus II., Clement VIII., and Leo XI. Something like what St.
+Austin relates of St. John of Egypt, happened to St. Philip Neri and St.
+Catharine of Ricci. For having some time entertained together a commerce
+of letters, to satisfy their mutual desire of seeing each other, while
+he was detained at Rome she appeared to him in a vision, and they
+conversed together a considerable time, each doubtless being in a
+rapture. This St. Philip Neri, though most circumspect in giving credit
+to, or in publishing visions, declared, saying, that Catharine de Ricci,
+while living, had appeared to him in vision, as his disciple Galloni
+assures us in his life.[1] And the continuators of Bollandus inform us
+that this was confirmed by the oaths of five witnesses.[2] Bacci, in his
+life of St. Philip, mentions the same thing, and pope Gregory XV., in
+his bull for the canonization of St. Philip Neri, affirms, that while
+this saint lived at Rome, he conversed a considerable time with
+Catharine of Ricci, a nun, who was then at Prat, in Tuscany.[3] Most
+wonderful were the raptures of St. Catharine in meditating on the
+passion of Christ, which was her daily exercise, but to which she
+totally devoted herself every week from Thursday noon to three o'clock
+in the afternoon on Friday. After a long illness, she passed from this
+mortal life to everlasting bliss and the possession of the object of all
+her desires, on the feast of the Purification of our Lady, on the 2d of
+February, in 1589, the sixty-seventh year of her age. The ceremony of
+her beatification was performed by Clement XII., in 1732, and that of
+her canonization by Benedict XIV., in 1746. Her festival is deferred to
+the 13th of February.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the most perfect state of heavenly contemplation which this life
+admits of, there must be a time allowed for action, as appears from the
+most {408} eminent contemplatives among the saints, and those religious
+institutes which are most devoted to this holy exercise. The mind of man
+must be frequently unbent, or it will be overset. Many, by a too
+constant or forced attention, have lost their senses. The body also
+stands in need of exercise, and in all stations men owe several exterior
+duties both to others and themselves, and to neglect any of these, upon
+pretence of giving the preference to prayer, would be a false devotion
+and dangerous illusion. Though a Christian be a citizen of heaven, while
+he is a sojourner in this world, he is not to forget the obligations or
+the necessities to which this state subjects him, or to dream of flights
+which only angels and their fellow inhabitants of bliss take. As a life
+altogether taken up in action and business, without frequent prayer and
+pious meditation, alienates a soul from God and virtue, and weds her
+totally to the world, so a life spent wholly in contemplation, without
+any mixture of action, is chimerical, and the attempt dangerous. The art
+of true devotion consists very much in a familiar and easy habit of
+accompanying exterior actions and business with a pious attention to the
+Divine Presence, frequent secret aspirations, and a constant union of
+the soul with God. This St. Catharine of Ricci practised at her work, in
+the exterior duties of her house and office, in her attendance on the
+sick, (which was her favorite employment, and which she usually
+performed on her knees,) and in the tender care of the poor over the
+whole country. But this hindered not the exercises of contemplation,
+which were her most assiduous employment. Hence retirement and silence
+were her delight, in order to entertain herself with the Creator of all
+things, and by devout meditation, kindling in her soul the fire of
+heavenly love, she was never able to satiate the ardor of her desire in
+adoring and praising the immense greatness and goodness of God.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  {Footnote not in text} Gallon. apud Contin. Bolland. Acta Sanctorum,
+    Maii, t. 6, p. 503, col. 2, n. 146.
+2.  Ibid. p. 504, col. 2.
+3.  In Bolland. Cherubini, t. 4, p. 8.
+
+ST. LICINIUS, CONFESSOR,
+
+CALLED BY THE FRENCH, LESIN, BISHOP OF ANGERS.
+
+HE was born of a noble family, allied to the kings of France, about the
+year 540. He was applied to learning as soon as he was capable of
+instruction, and sent to the court of king Clotaire I., (whose cousin he
+was,) being about twenty years of age. He signalized himself by his
+prudence and valor, both in the court and in the army, and acquitted
+himself of all Christian duties with extraordinary exactitude and
+fervor. Fasting and prayer were familiar to him, and his heart was
+always raised to God. King Chilperic made him count or governor of
+Anjou, and being overcome by the importunities of his friends, the saint
+consented to take a wife about the year 578. But the lady was struck
+with a leprosy on the morning before it was to be solemnized. This
+accident so strongly affected Licinius, that he resolved to carry into
+immediate execution a design he had long entertained of entirely
+renouncing the world. This he did in 580, and leaving all things to
+follow Jesus Christ, he entered himself among the clergy, and hiding
+himself from the world in a community of ecclesiastics, found no
+pleasure but in the exercises of piety and the most austere penance, and
+in meditating on the holy scriptures. Audouin, the fourteenth bishop of
+Angers, dying towards the year 600, the people, remembering the equity
+and mildness with which Licinius had governed them, rather as their
+father than as a judge or master, demanded him for their pastor. The
+voice of the clergy seconded that of the people, and, the concurrence of
+the court of Clotaire II. in his minority, under the regency of his
+mother Fredegonda, overcame {409} all the opposition his humility could
+make. His time and his substance were divided in feeding the hungry,
+comforting and releasing prisoners, and curing the bodies and souls of
+his people. Though he was careful to keep up exact discipline in his
+diocese, he was more inclined to indulgence than rigor, in imitation of
+the tenderness which Jesus Christ showed for sinners. Strong and
+persuasive eloquence, the more forcible argument of his severe and
+exemplary life, and God himself speaking by miracles, qualified him to
+gain the hearts of the most hardened, and make daily conquest of souls
+to Christ. He renewed the spirit of devotion and penance by frequent
+retreats, and desired earnestly to resign his bishopric, and hide
+himself in some solitude: but the bishops of the province, whose consent
+he asked, refusing to listen to such a proposal, he submitted, and
+continued to spend the remainder of his life in the service of his
+flock. His patience was perfected by continual infirmities in his last
+years, and he finished his sacrifice about the year 618, in the
+sixty-fifth of his age. He was buried in the church of St. John Baptist,
+which he had founded, with a monastery, which he designed for his
+retreat. It is now a collegiate church, and enriched with the treasure
+of his relics. His memory was publicly honored in the seventh age: the
+1st of November was the day of his festival, though he is now mentioned
+in the Roman Martyrology on the 13th of February. At Angers he is
+commemorated on the 8th of June, which seems to have been the day of his
+consecration, and on the 21st of June, when his relics were translated
+or taken up, 1169, in the time of Henry II., king of England, count of
+Anjou. See his life, written from the relation of his disciples soon
+after his death; and again by Marbodius, archdeacon of Angers,
+afterwards bishop of Rennes, both in Bollandus.
+
+ST. POLYEUCTUS, M.
+
+THE city of Melitine, a station of the Roman troops in the Lesser
+Armenia, is illustrious for a great number of martyrs, whereof the first
+in rank is Polyeuctus. He was a rich Roman officer, and had a friend
+called Nearchus, a zealous Christian, who, when the news of the
+persecution, raised by the emperor against the church, reached Armenia,
+prepared himself to lay down his life for his faith; and grieving to
+leave Polyeuctus in the darkness of Paganism, was so successful in his
+endeavors to induce him to embrace Christianity, as not only to gain him
+over to the faith, but to inspire him with an eager desire of laying
+down his life for the same. He openly declared himself a Christian, and
+was apprehended and condemned to cruel tortures. The executioners being
+weary with tormenting him, betook themselves to the method of argument
+and persuasion, in order to prevail with him to renounce Christ. The
+tears and cries of his wife Pauline, of his children, and of his
+father-in-law, Felix, were sufficient to have shaken a mind not superior
+to all the assaults of hell. But Polyeuctus, strengthened by God, grew
+only the firmer in his faith, and received the sentence of death with
+such cheerfulness and joy, and exhorted all to renounce their idols with
+so much energy, on the road to execution, that many were converted. He
+was beheaded on the 10th of January, in the persecution of Decius, or
+Valerian, about the year 250, or 257. The Christians buried his body in
+the city. Nearchus gathered his blood in a cloth, and afterwards wrote
+his acts. The Greeks keep his festival very solemnly: and all the Latin
+martyrologies mention him. There was in Melitine a famous church of St.
+Polyeuctus, in the fourth age, in which St. Euthymius often prayed.
+There was also a very stately one in Constantinople, under {410}
+Justinian, the vault of which was covered with plates of gold, in which
+it was the custom for men to make their most solemn oaths, as is related
+by St. Gregory of Tours.[1] The same author informs us, in his history
+of the Franks,[2] that the kings of France, of the first race, used to
+confirm their treaties by the name of Polyeuctus. The martyrology
+ascribed to St. Jerom, and the most ancient Armenian calendars, place
+his feast on the 7th of January, which seems to have been the day of his
+martyrdom. The Greeks defer his festival to the 9th of January: but it
+is marked on the 13th of February in the ancient martyrology, which was
+sent from Rome to Aquileia in the eighth century, and which is copied by
+Ado, Usuard, and the Roman Martyrology. See his acts taken from those
+written by Nearchus, the saint's friend, and Tillem. t. 3, p. 424. Jos.
+Assemani, in Calend. ad 9 Januarii, t. 6.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  De Glor. Mart. c. 103.
+2.  Hist. l. 7, c. 6.
+
+ST. GREGORY II., POPE, C.
+
+HE was born in Rome, to an affluent fortune, and being educated in the
+palace of the popes, acquired great skill in the holy scriptures and in
+ecclesiastical affairs, and attained to an eminent degree of sanctity.
+Pope Sergius I., to whom he was very dear, ordained him subdeacon. Under
+the succeeding popes, John the sixth and seventh, Sisinnius, and
+Constantine, he was treasurer of the church, and afterwards library
+keeper, and was charged with several important commissions. The fifth
+general council had been held upon the affair of the three chapters, in
+553, in the reign of Justinian, and the sixth against the Monothelites,
+in those of Constantine Pogonatus and pope Agatho, in 660. With a view
+of adding a supplement of new canons to those of the aforesaid two
+councils, the bishops of the Greek church, to the number of two hundred
+and eleven, held the council called Quini-sext, in a hall of the
+imperial palace at Constantinople, named Trullus, in 692, which laid a
+foundation of certain differences to discipline between the Eastern and
+Western churches; for in the thirteenth canon it was enacted, that a man
+who was before married should be allowed to receive the holy orders of
+subdeacon, deacon, or priest, without being obliged to leave his wife,
+though this was forbid to bishops. (can. 12.) It was also forbid, (canon
+55,) to fast on Saturdays, even in Lent. Pope Sergius I. refused to
+confirm this council; and, in 695, the emperor, Justinian II., surnamed
+Rhinotmetus, who had succeeded his father, Constantine Pogonatus, in
+685, was dethroned for his cruelty, and his nose being slit, (from which
+circumstance he received his surname,) banished into Chersonesus. First
+Leontius, then Apsimarus Tiberius, ascended the throne; but Justinian
+recovered it in 705, and invited pope Constantine into the East, hoping
+to prevail upon him to confirm the council in Trullo. The pope was
+received with great honor, and had with him our saint, who, in his name,
+answered the questions put by the Greeks concerning the said council.
+After their return to Rome, upon the death of Constantine, Gregory was
+chosen pope, and ordained on the 19th of May, 715. The emperor Justinian
+being detested both by the army and people, Bardanes, who took the name
+of Philippicus, an Armenian, one of his generals, revolted, took
+Constantinople, put him and his son Tiberius, only seven years old, to
+death, and usurped the sovereignty in December, 711. In Justinian II was
+extinguished the family of Heraclius. Philippicus abetted warmly the
+heresy of the Monothelites, and caused the sixth council to be
+proscribed in a pretended synod at Constantinople. His reign was very
+short, for Artemius, his secretary, {411} who took the name of
+Anastasius II., deposed him, and stepped into the throne on the fourth
+of June, 713. By him the Monothelites were expelled; but, after a reign
+of two years and seven months, seeing one Theodosius chosen emperor by
+the army, which had revolted in January, 716, he withdrew, and took the
+monastic habit at Thessalonica. The eastern army having proclaimed Leo
+III., surnamed the Isaurian, emperor, on the 25th of March, 717,
+Theodosius and his son embraced an ecclesiastical state, and lived in
+peace among the clergy. Pope Gregory signalized the beginning of his
+popedom by deposing John VI., the Monothelite, false patriarch of
+Constantinople, who had been nominated by Philippicus, and he promoted
+the election of St. Germanus, who was translated to that dignity from
+Cyzicus, in 715. With unwearied watchfulness and zeal he laid himself
+out in extirpating heresies on all sides, and in settling a reformation
+of manners. Besides a hospital for old men, he rebuilt the great
+monastery near the church of St. Paul at Rome, and, after the death of
+his mother, in 718, changed her house into the monastery of St. Agatha.
+The same year he re-established the abbey of Mount Cassino, sending
+thither, from Rome, the holy abbot St. Petronax, to take upon him the
+government, one hundred and forty years after it had been laid in ruins
+by the Lombards. This holy abbot lived to see monastic discipline
+settled here in so flourishing a manner, that in the same century,
+Carloman, duke or prince of the French, Rachis, king of the Lombards,
+St. Willebald, St. Sturmius, first abbot of Fulda, and other eminent
+persons, fled to this sanctuary.[1] Our holy pope commissioned zealous
+missionaries to preach the faith in Germany, and consecrated St.
+Corbinian bishop of Frisingen, and St. Boniface bishop of Mentz. Leo,
+the Isaurian, protected the Catholic church during the first ten years
+of his reign, and St. Gregory II. laid up among the archives of his
+church several letters which he had received from him, from the year 717
+to 726, which proved afterwards authentic monuments of his perfidy. For,
+being infatuated by certain Jews, who had gained an ascendant over him
+by certain pretended astrological predictions, in 726 he commanded holy
+images to be abolished, and enforced the execution of his edicts of a
+cruel persecution. St. Germanus, and other orthodox prelates in the
+East, endeavored to reclaim him, refused to obey his edicts, and
+addressed themselves to pope Gregory. Our saint employed long the arms
+of tears and entreaties, yet strenuously maintained the people of Italy
+in their allegiance to their prince, as Anastasius assures us. A
+rebellion was raised in Sicily, but soon quelled by the death of
+Artemius, who had assumed the purple. The pope vigorously opposed the
+mutineers, both here and in other parts of the West. When he was
+informed that the army at Ravenna and Venice, making zeal a pretence for
+rebellion, had created a new emperor, he effectually opposed their
+attempt, and prevented the effect. Several disturbances which were
+raised in Rome were pacified by his care. Nevertheless, he by letters
+encouraged the pastors of the church to resist the heresy which the
+emperor endeavored to establish by bloodshed and violence. The tyrant
+sent orders to several of his officers, six or seven times, to murder
+the pope: but he was so faithfully guarded by the Romans and Lombards,
+that he escaped all their snares. St. Gregory II. held the pontificate
+fifteen years, eight months, and twenty-three days, and died in 731, on
+the 10th of February; but the Roman Martyrology consecrates to his
+memory the 13th which was probably the day on which his corpse was
+deposited in the Vatican church.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d'Occid. t. 2, l. 4, c. 2, p. 8.
+
+{412}
+
+ST. MARTINIANUS, HERMIT AT ATHENS.
+
+MARTINIANUS was born at Cæsarea in Palestine, during the reign of
+Constantius. At eighteen years of age he retired to a mountain near that
+city, called, The place of the Ark, where he lived for twenty-five years
+among many holy solitaries in the practice of all virtues, and was
+endowed with the gift of miracles. A wicked strumpet of Cæsarea, called
+Zoe, hearing his sanctity much extolled, at the instigation of the devil
+undertook to pervert him. She feigned herself a poor woman, wandering in
+the desert late at night, and ready to perish. By this pretext she
+prevailed on Martinianus to let her remain that night in his cell.
+Towards morning she threw aside her rags, put on her best attire, and
+going in to Martinianus, told him she was a lady of the city, possessed
+of a large estate and plentiful fortune, all which she came to offer him
+with herself. She also instanced, in the examples of the saints of the
+Old Testament, who were rich and engaged in the conjugal state, to
+induce him to abandon his purpose. The hermit, who should have imitated
+the chaste Joseph in his flight, was permitted, in punishment perhaps of
+some secret presumption, to listen to her enchanting tongue, and to
+consent in his heart to her proposal. But as it was near the time that
+he expected certain persons to call on him to receive his blessing and
+instructions, he told her he would go and meet them on the road and
+dismiss them. He went out with this intent, but being touched with
+remorse, he returned speedily to his cell, where, making a great fire,
+he thrust his feet into it. The pain this occasioned was so great, that
+he could not forbear crying out aloud. The woman at the noise ran in and
+found him lying on the ground, bathed in tears, and his feet half
+burned. On seeing her he said: "Ah! if I cannot bear this weak fire, how
+can I endure that of hell?" This example excited Zoe to sentiments of
+grief and repentance; and she conjured him to put her in a way of
+securing her salvation. He sent her to Bethlehem, to the monastery of
+St. Paula, to which she lived in continual penance, and lying on the
+bare floor, with no other sustenance than bread and water. Martinianus,
+as soon as his legs were healed, which was not till seven months after,
+not being able all that time to rise from the ground, retired to a rock
+surrounded with water on every side, to be secure from the approach of
+danger and all occasions of sin. He lived here exposed always to the
+open air, and without ever seeing any human creature, except a boatman,
+who brought him twice a year biscuit and fresh water, and twigs
+wherewith to make baskets. Six years after this, he saw a vessel split
+and wrecked at the bottom of his rock. All on board perished, except one
+girl, who, floating on a plank, cried out for succor. Martinianus could
+not refuse to go down and save her life: but fearing the danger of
+living on the same mountain with her till the boatman should come, as
+was expected in two months, resolved to leave her there to subsist on
+his provisions till that time, and she chose to end her days on this
+rock in imitation of his penitential life. He, trusting himself to the
+waves and Providence, to shun all danger of sin, swam to the main land,
+and travelled through many deserts to Athens, where he made a happy end
+towards the year 400, being about fifty years old. His name, though not
+mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, occurs in the Greek Menæa, and was
+in great veneration in the East, particularly at Constantinople, in the
+famous church near Sancta Sophia. See his acts in the Bollandists, and
+in most compilers of the lives of the saints. Also Jos. Assemani in Cal.
+Univ. ad 13 Feb. t. 6, p. 145.
+
+{413}
+
+ST. MODOMNOC, OR DOMINICK, OF OSSORY, C.
+
+HE is said to have been of the noble race of the O'Neils, and, passing
+into Wales, to have studied under St. David in the Vale of Ross. After
+his return home he served God at Tiprat Fachna, in the western part of
+Ossory. He is said to have been honored there with the Episcopal
+dignity, about the middle of the sixth century. The see of Ossory was
+translated from Seirkeran, the capital of this small county, to Aghavoa,
+in the eleventh century, and in the twelfth, in the reign of Henry II.,
+to Kilkenny. See Sir James Ware, l. De Antiquitatibus Hiberniæ, and l.
+De Episcopal. Hibern.
+
+ST. STEPHEN, ABBOT.
+
+HE was abbot of a monastery near the walls of Rieti in Italy, and a man
+of admirable sanctity. He had despised all things for the love of
+heaven. He shunned all company to employ himself wholly in prayer. So
+wonderful was his patience, that he looked upon them as his greatest
+friends and benefactors, who did him the greatest injuries, and regarded
+insults as his greatest gain. He lived in extreme poverty, and a
+privation of all the conveniences of life. His barns, with all the corn
+in them, the whole subsistence of his family, were burned down by wicked
+men. He received the news with cheerfulness, grieving only for their sin
+by which God was offended. In his agony angels were seen surrounding him
+to conduct his happy soul to bliss. He lived in the sixth age. He is
+named in the Roman Martyrology. See St. Gregory, hom. 35, in Evang. t.
+1, p. 1616, and l. 4, Dial. c. 19.
+
+B. ROGER, ABBOT, C.
+
+HAVING embraced the Cistercian order at Loroy, or Locus Regis, in Berry,
+he was chosen abbot of Elan near Retel in Champagne, and died about the
+year 1175. His remains are enshrined in a chapel which bears his name,
+in the church at Elan, where his festival is kept with a mass in his
+honor on the 13th of February. His life was written by a monk of Elan.
+See Chatelain, on the 4th of January, on which day his name occurs in a
+Cistercian calendar printed at Dijon.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XIV.
+
+ST. VALENTINE, PRIEST AND MARTYR.
+
+His acts are commended by Henschenius, but objected to by Tillemont, &c.
+Here is given only an abridgment of the principal circumstances, from
+Tillem. l. 4, p. 678.
+
+THIRD AGE.
+
+VALENTINE was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his
+family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He
+was {414} apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome;
+who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith
+ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards to be
+beheaded, which was executed on the 14th of February, about the year
+270. Pope Julius I. is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole to
+his memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate, now called
+Ports del Popolo, formerly Porta Valentini. The greatest part of his
+relics are now in the church of St. Praxedes. His name is celebrated as
+that of an illustrious martyr, in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, the
+Roman missal of Thomasius, in the calendar of F. Fronto, and that of
+Allatius, in Bede, Usuard, Ado, Notker, and all other martyrologies on
+this day. To abolish the heathen's lewd superstitious custom of boys
+drawing the names of girls, in honor of their goddess Februata Juno, on
+the 15th of this month, several zealous pastors substituted the names of
+saints in billets given on this day. See January 29, on St. Francis de
+Sales.
+
+ST. MARO, ABBOT.
+
+From Theodoret Philoth. c. 16, 22, 24, 30, Tillem. t. 12, p. 412. Le
+Quien, Oriens Christ. t. 3, p. 5, Jos Assemani Bibl. Orient. t. 1, p.
+497.
+
+A.D. 433.
+
+ST. MARO made choice of a solitary abode on a mountain in the diocese of
+Syria and near that city, where, out of a spirit of mortification, he
+lived for the most part in the open air. He had indeed a little hut,
+covered with goat skins, to shelter him from the inclemencies of the
+weather; but he very seldom made use of it for that purpose, even on the
+most urgent occasions. Finding here a heathen temple, he dedicated it to
+the true God, and made it his house of prayer. Being renowned for
+sanctity, he was raised, in 405, to the dignity of priesthood. St.
+Chrysostom, who had a singular regard for him, wrote to him from
+Cucusus, the place of his banishment, and recommended himself to his
+prayers, and begged to hear from him by every opportunity.[1]
+
+St. Zebinus, our saint's master, surpassed all the solitaries of his
+time, with regard to assiduity in prayer. He devoted to this exercise
+whole days and nights, without being sensible of any weariness or
+fatigue: nay, his ardor for it seemed rather to increase than slacken by
+its continuance. He generally prayed in an erect posture; but in his old
+age was forced to support his body by leaning on a staff. He gave advice
+in very few words to those that came to see him, to gain the more time
+for heavenly contemplation. St. Maro imitated his constancy in prayer:
+yet he not only received all visitants with great tenderness, but
+encouraged their stay with him; though few were willing to pass the
+whole night in prayer standing. God recompensed his labors with most
+abundant graces, and the gift of curing all distempers, both of body and
+mind. He prescribed admirable remedies against all vices. This drew
+great multitudes to him, and he erected many monasteries in Syria, and
+trained up holy solitaries. Theodoret, bishop of Cyr, says, that the
+great number of monks who peopled his diocese were the fruit of his
+instructions. The chief among his disciples was St. James of Cyr, who
+gloried that he had received from the hands of St. Maro his first
+hair-cloth.
+
+God called St. Maro to his glory after a short illness, which showed,
+says Theodoret, the great weakness to which his body was reduced. A
+{415} pious contest ensued among the neighboring provinces about his
+burial. The inhabitants of a large and populous place carried off the
+treasure, and built to his honor a spacious church over his tomb, to
+which a monastery was adjoined, which seems to have been the monastery
+of St. Maro in the diocese of Apamea.[2]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Chrys. ep. 36.
+2.  It is not altogether certain whether this monastery near Apamea, or
+    another on the Orontes, between Apamea and Emesa, or a third in
+    Palmyrene, (for each of them bore his name,) possessed his body, or
+    gave name to the people called Maronites. It seems most probable of
+    the second, the abbot of which is styled primate of all the
+    monasteries of the second Syria, in the acts of the second council
+    of Constantinople, under the patriarch Mennas, in 536, and he
+    subscribes first a common letter to pope Hormisdas, in 517. The
+    Maronites were called so from these religious, in the fifth century,
+    and adhered to the council of Chalcedon against the Eutychians. They
+    were joined in communion with the Melchites or Loyalists, who
+    maintained the authority of the council of Chalcedon. The Maronites,
+    with their patriarch, who live in Syria, towards the seacoast,
+    especially about mount Libanus, are steady in the communion of the
+    Catholic church, and profess a strict obedience to the pope, as its
+    supreme pastor; and such has always been the conduct of that nation,
+    except during a very short time, that they were inveigled into the
+    Greek schism; and some fell into Eutychianism, and a greater number
+    into Nestorianism; they returned to the communion of the Catholic
+    church under Gregory XIII. and Clement VIII., as Stephen Assemani
+    proves, (Assemani, Act. Mart. t. 2, p. 410,) against the slander of
+    Eutychius in his Arabic Annals, which had imposed upon Renaudot. The
+    Maronites keep the feast of St. Maro on the 9th, the Greeks on the
+    14th of February. The seminary of the Maronites at Rome, founded by
+    Gregory XIII. under the direction of the Jesuits, had produced
+    several great men, who have exceedingly promoted true literature
+    especially the Oriental; such as Abraham Eckellensis, the three
+    Assemani, Joseph, Stephen Evodius, and Lewis, known by his Judicious
+    writings on the ceremonies of the church. The patriarch of the
+    Maronites, styled of Antioch, resides in the monastery of Canabine,
+    at the foot of mount Libanus; he is confirmed by the pope, and has
+    under him five metropolitans, namely, of Tyre, Damascus, Tripolis,
+    Aleppo, and Niocsia, in Cyprus. See Le Quien. Oriens Christianus. t.
+    3, p. 46.
+
+ST. ABRAAMES, BISHOP OF CARRES.
+
+HE was a holy solitary, who, going to preach to an idolatrous village on
+Mount Libanus, overcame the persecutions of the heathens by meekness and
+patience. When he had narrowly escaped death from their hands, he
+borrowed money wherewith to satisfy the demands of the collectors of the
+public taxes, for their failure in which respect they were to be cast
+into prison; and by this charity he gained them all to Christ. After
+instructing them for three years, he left them in the care of a holy
+priest, and returned to his desert. He was some time after ordained
+bishop of Canes, in Mesopotamia, which country he cleared of idolatry,
+dissensions, and other vices. He joined the recollection and penance of
+a monk with the labors of his functions, and died at Constantinople, in
+422, having been sent for to court by Theodosius the Younger, and there
+treated with the greatest honor on account of his sanctity. The emperor
+kept one of his mean garments, and wore it himself on certain days, out
+of respect. See Theodoret Philoth. c. 17, t. 3, p. 847.
+
+ST. AUXENTIUS, H.
+
+HE was a holy hermit in Bithynia, in the fifth age. In his youth he was
+one of the equestrian guards of Theodosius the Younger, but this state
+of life, which he discharged with the utmost fidelity to his prince, did
+not hinder him from making the service of God his main concern. All his
+spare time was spent in solitude and prayer; and he often visited holy
+hermits, to spend the nights with them in tears and singing the divine
+praises, prostrate on the ground. The fear of vain-glory moved him to
+retire to the desert mountain of Oxen, in Bithynia, eight miles from
+Constantinople. After the council of Chalcedon, where he appeared upon
+summons by order of the emperor Marcian, against Eutyches, he chose a
+cell on the mountain of Siope, near Chalcedon, in which he contributed
+to the sanctification of many who resorted to him for advice; he
+finished his martyrdom of penance, together {416} with his life, about
+470. Sozomen commended exceedingly his sanctity while he was yet
+living.[1] St. Stephen the Younger caused the church of his monastery to
+be dedicated to God, under the invocation of our saint; and mount Siope
+is called to this day mount St. Auxentius. See his life, written from
+the relation of his disciple Vendimian, with the remarks of Henschenius.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Sozom. l. 7, c. 21.
+
+ST. CONRAN, BISHOP OF ORKNEY, CONFESSOR.
+
+THE isles of Orkney are twenty-six in number, besides the lesser, called
+Holmes, which are uninhabited, and serve only for pasture. The faith was
+planted here by St. Palladius, and St. Sylvester, one of his
+fellow-laborers, who was appointed by him the first pastor of this
+church, and was honored in it on the 5th of February. In these islands
+formerly stood a great number of holy monasteries, the chief of which
+was Kirkwall. This place was the bishop's residence, and is at this day
+the only remarkable town in these islands. It is situated in the largest
+of them, which is thirty miles long, called anciently Pomonia, now
+Mainland. This church is much indebted to St. Conran, who was bishop
+here in the seventh century, and whose name, for the austerity of his
+life, zeal, and eminent sanctity, was no less famous in those parts, so
+long as the Catholic religion flourished there, than those of St.
+Palladius and of St. Kentigern. The cathedral of Orkney was dedicated
+under the invocation of St. Magnus, king of Norway. On St. Conran, see
+bishop Lesley, Hist. Scot. l. 4. Wion, in addit. c. 3. Ligni Vitæ. King,
+in Calend.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XV.
+
+SS. FAUSTINUS AND JOVITA, MM.
+
+A.D. 121.
+
+FAUSTINUS and JOVITA were brothers, nobly born, and zealous professors
+of the Christian religion, which they preached without fear in their
+city of Brescia, while the bishop of that place lay concealed during the
+persecution. The acts of their martyrdom seeming of doubtful authority,
+all we can affirm with certainty of them is, that their remarkable zeal
+excited the fury of the heathens against them, and procured them a
+glorious death for their faith at Brescia, in Lombardy, under the
+emperor Adrian. Julian, a heathen lord, apprehended them; and the
+emperor himself passing through Brescia, when neither threats nor
+torments could shake their constancy, commanded them to be beheaded.
+They seem to have suffered about the year 121.[1] The city of Brescia
+honors them as its chief patrons, and possesses their relics. A very
+ancient church in that city bears their name, and all the martyrologies
+mention them.
+
+The spirit of Christ is a spirit of martyrdom, at least of mortification
+and penance. It is always the spirit of the cross. The remains of the
+old man, of sin and of death, must be extinguished, before one can be
+made heavenly by putting on affections which are divine. What mortifies
+the {417} senses and the flesh gives life to the spirit, and what
+weakens and subdues the body strengthens the soul. Hence the divine love
+infuses a spirit of mortification, patience, obedience, humility, and
+meekness, with a love of sufferings and contempt, in which consists the
+sweetness of the cross. The more we share in the suffering life of
+Christ, the greater share we inherit in his spirit, and in the fruit of
+his death. To souls mortified to their senses and disengaged from
+earthly things, God gives frequent foretastes of the sweetness of
+eternal life, and the most ardent desire of possessing him in his glory.
+This is the spirit of martyrdom, which entitles a Christian to a happy
+resurrection and to the bliss of the life to come.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Tillemont, t. 2, p. 249. Pagi, &c.
+
+ST. SIGEFRIDE, OR SIGFRID,
+
+BISHOP, APOSTLE OF SWEDES.
+
+From Joan. Magnus, Hist. Goth. l. 17, c. 20, quoted by Bollandus, and
+chiefly from a life of this saint, compiled at Wexlow about the year
+1205, published from an ancient MS. by the care of Ericus Benzelius
+junior, in his Monuments Historica vetera Ecclesiæ Suevogothicæ, printed
+at Upsal in 1709, p. 1, ad p. 14, and in Prolegom. Sect. 1. The editor
+was not able to discover the author's name: upon which he repeats the
+remark of the learned Maussac, (in Diss. Critica ad Harpocrat.,) that
+"many monkish writers endeavored to conceal their names out of
+humility." On which see Mabillon, Diar. Ital. p. 36. Benzelius gives us
+a considerable fragment of a second life of this holy prelate, ib. p.
+21, ad 29, and some verses of bishop Brynoth the third, on St. Sigfrid
+and the other bishops of this province, ib. p. 72.
+
+Our zealous ancestors having received the light of our faith, propagated
+the same throughout all the northern provinces of Europe. St. Anscarius
+had planted the faith in, in 830; but it relapsed soon into idolatry.
+King Olas Scobcong entreated king Edred, who died in 91{} to send him
+missionaries to preach the gospel in his country. Sigefride, an eminent
+priest of York, undertook that mission, and on the 21st of June, in 950,
+arrived at Wexiow, in Gothland, in the territory of Smaland. He first
+erected a cross, then built a church of wood, celebrated the divine
+mysteries, and preached to the people. Twelve principal men of the
+province were converted by him, and one who died, was buried after the
+Christian manner, and a cross placed upon his grave. So great numbers
+were in a short time brought to the faith, that the cross of Christ was
+triumphantly planted in all the twelve tribes into which the inhabitants
+of South-Gothland were divided. The fountain near the mountain of
+Ostrabo, since called Wexiow, in which St. Sigefride baptized the
+catechumens, long retained the names of the twelve first converts,
+engraved on a monument. King Olas was much pleased with the accounts he
+heard of the man of God, and many flocked from remote parts, out of mere
+curiosity to hear his doctrine, and to see him minister at the altar,
+admiring the rich ornaments of linen, and over them of silk, which he
+wore in celebrating the divine mysteries, with a mitre on his head, and
+a crosier, or pastoral staff, in his hand. Also the gold and silver
+vessels which he had brought with him for the use of the altar, and the
+dignity and majesty of the ceremonies of the Christian worship,
+attracted their attention. But the sublime truths of our religion, and
+the mortification, disinterestedness, zeal, and sanctity of the
+apostolic missionaries, engaged them to give them a favorable reception,
+and to open their eyes to the evidence of the divine revelation. St.
+Sigefride ordained two bishops, the one of East, the other of West
+Gothland, or Lingkoping, and Scara. The see of Wexiow he continued
+himself to govern so long as he lived. His three nephews, Unaman, a
+priest, and Sunaman and Wiaman, the one a deacon, the other a subdeacon,
+were his chief assistants in his apostolic labors. Haring intrusted the
+administration of his see of Wexiow to Unaman, and left his two brothers
+to assist and comfort him, the saint himself set out to carry {418} the
+light of the gospel into the midland and northern provinces. King Olas
+received him with great respect, and was baptized by him, with his whole
+court and his army. St. Sigefride founded many churches, and consecrated
+a bishop of Upsal, and another of Strengues. The former of these sees
+had been founded by St. Anscharius, in 830, and the bishop was declared
+by pope Alexander III., in 1160, metropolitan and primate of the whole
+kingdom. During the absence of our saint, a troop of idolatrous rebels,
+partly out of hatred of the Christian religion, and partly for booty,
+plundered the church of Wexiow, and barbarously murdered the holy pastor
+Unaman and his two brothers. Their bodies they buried in the midst of a
+forest, where they have always remained hid. But the murderers put the
+heads of the martyrs into a box, which, with a great stone they had
+fastened to it, they threw into a great pond. But they were afterwards
+taken out, and kept richly enshrined in the church of Wexiow till their
+relics were removed by the Lutherans. These three holy martyrs were
+honored in Sweden. Upon the news of this massacre St. Sigefride hastened
+to Wexiow to repair the ruins of his church. The king resolved to put
+the murderers to death; but Sigefride, by his earnest entreaties,
+prevailed on him to spare their lives. However, he condemned them to pay
+a heavy fine, which he would have bestowed on the saint, but he refused
+accepting a single farthing of it, notwithstanding his extreme poverty,
+and the difficulties which he had to struggle with, in laying the
+foundation of that new church. He had inherited the spirit of the
+apostles in an heroic degree. Our saint died about the year 1002, and
+was buried in his cathedral at Wexiow, where his tomb became famous for
+miracles. He was canonized about the year 1158, by pope Adrian IV.,[1]
+an Englishman, who had himself labored zealously, and with great
+success, in the conversion of Norway, and other northern countries,
+about a hundred and forty years after St. Sigefride, who was honored by
+the Swedes as their apostle, till the change of religion among them.[2]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Vastove, Vinea Aquilonis.
+2.  In the life of St. Sigefride, published by Benzelius, it is
+    mentioned, that St. Sigefride, upon his first arrival in Sweden,
+    preached chiefly by interpreters.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XVI.
+
+ST. ONESIMUS, DISCIPLE OF ST. PAUL.
+
+HE was a Phrygian by birth, slave to Philemon, a person of note of the
+city of Colossæ, converted to the faith by St. Paul. Having robbed his
+master, and being obliged to fly, he providentially met with St. Paul,
+then a prisoner for the faith at Rome, who there converted and baptized
+him, and sent him with his canonical letter of recommendation to
+Philemon, by whom he was pardoned, set at liberty, and sent back to his
+spiritual father, whom he afterwards faithfully served. That apostle
+made him, with Tychicus, the bearer of his epistle to the Colossians,[1]
+and afterwards, as St. Jerom[2] and other fathers witness, a preacher of
+the gospel, and a bishop. The Greeks say he was crowned with martyrdom
+under Domitian, in the year 95, and {419} keep his festival on the 15th.
+Bede, Ado, Usuard, the Roman and other Latin martyrologists mention him
+on the 16th of February.[3]
+
+Baronius and some others confound him with St. Onesimus, the third
+bishop of Ephesus, after St. Timothy, who was succeeded first by John,
+then by Caius. This Onesimus showed great respect and charity to St.
+Ignatius, when on his journey to Rome, in 107, and is highly commended
+by him.[4]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When a sinner, by the light and power of an extraordinary grace, is
+snatched like a firebrand out of the fire, and rescued from the gates of
+hell, we cannot wonder if he is swallowed up by the deepest and most
+lively sense of his own guilt, and of the divine mercy; if such a one
+loves much, because much has been forgiven him; if he endeavors to
+repair his past crimes by heroic acts of penance and all virtues, and if
+he makes haste to redeem his lost time by a zeal and vigilance hard to
+be imitated by others. Hence we read of the _first love of the church of
+Ephesus_[5] as more perfect. The ardor of the compunction and love of a
+true penitent, is compared to the unparalleled _love of Judah in the day
+of her espousal_.[6] This ardor is not to be understood as a passing
+sally of the purest passions, as a shortlived fit of fervor, or desire
+of perfection, as a transient taste or sudden transport of the soul: it
+must be sincere and constant. With what excess of goodness does God
+communicate himself to souls which thus open themselves to him! With
+what caresses does he often visit them! With what a profusion of graces
+does he enrich and strengthen them! It often happens that, in the
+beginning, God, either to allure the frailty of a new convert, or to
+fortify his resolution against hazardous trials, favors him with more
+than usual communications of the sweetness of his love, and ravishes him
+by some glances, as it were, of the beatific vision. His tenderness was
+not less, when, for their spiritual advancement, their exercise in
+heroic virtues, and the increase of their victories and glory, he
+conducted them through severe trials. On the other side, with what
+fidelity and ardor did these holy penitents improve themselves daily in
+divine love and all virtues! Alas! our coldness and insensibility, since
+our pretended conversion from the world and sin, is a far greater
+subject of amazement than the extraordinary fervor of the saints in the
+divine service.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Colos. iv.
+2.  Ep. 62, c. 2.
+3.  Tillem. t. 1, p. 294, and note 10, on St. Paul.
+4.  Ep. ad Ephes.
+5.  Apoc. 11. 4.
+6.  Jerem. 11. 2.
+
+
+SS. ELIAS, JEREMY, ISAIAS, SAMUEL, AND DANIEL,
+
+WITH OTHER HOLY MARTYRS AT CÆSAREA, IN PALESTINE.
+
+From Eusebius's relation of the martyrs of Palestine, at the end of the
+eighth book of his history, c. 11, 12, p. 346. Ed. Vales.
+
+A.D. 309.
+
+In the year 309, the emperors Galerius Maximianus and Maximinus
+continuing the persecution begun by Dioclesian, these five pious
+Egyptians went to visit the confessors condemned to the mines in
+Cilicia, and on their return were stopped by the guards of the gates of
+Cæsarea, in Palestine, as they were entering the town. They readily
+declared themselves Christians, together with the motive of their
+journey; upon which they were apprehended. The day following they were
+brought before Firmilian, the governor of Palestine, together with St.
+Pamphilus and others. The judge, before {420} he began his
+interrogatory, ordered the five Egyptians to be laid on the rack, as was
+his custom. After they had long suffered all manner of tortures, he
+addressed himself to him who seemed to be their chief, and asked him his
+name and his country. They had changed their names, which, perhaps,
+before their conversion, were those of some heathen gods, as was
+customary in Egypt. The martyr answered, according to the names they had
+given themselves, that he was called Elias, and his companions, Jeremy,
+Isaias, Samuel, and Daniel. Firmilian then asked their country; he
+answered, Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem, the true country of
+all Christians. The judge inquired in what part of the world that was,
+and ordered him to be tormented with fresh cruelty. All this while the
+executioners continued to tear his body with stripes, while his hands
+were bound behind him, and his feet squeezed in the woodstocks, called
+the Nervus. The judge, at last, tired with tormenting them, condemned
+all five to be beheaded, which was immediately executed.
+
+Porphyrius, a youth who was a servant of St. Pamphilus, hearing the
+sentence pronounced, cried out, that at least the honor of burial ought
+not to be refused them. Firmilian, provoked at this boldness, ordered
+him to be apprehended, and finding that he confessed himself a
+Christian, and refused to sacrifice, ordered his sides to be torn so
+cruelly, that his very bones and bowels were exposed to view. He
+underwent all this without a sigh or tear, or so much as making the
+least complaint. The tyrant, not to be overcome by so heroic a
+constancy, gave orders for a great fire to be kindled, with a vacant
+space to be left in the midst of it, for the martyr to be laid in, when
+taken off the rack. This was accordingly done, and he lay there a
+considerable time, surrounded by the flames, singing the praises of God,
+and invoking the name of Jesus; till at length, quite broiled by the
+fire, he consummated a slow, but glorious martyrdom.
+
+Seleucus, an eye-witness of this victory, was heard by the soldiers
+applauding the martyr's resolution; and being brought before the
+governor, he, without more ado, ordered his head to be struck off.
+
+ST. JULIANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR.
+
+AFTER many torments, she was beheaded at Nicomedia, under Galerius
+Maximianus. St. Gregory the great mentions that her bones were
+translated to Rome. Part of them are now at Brussels, in the church of
+our Lady of Sablon. This saint is much honored in the Low Countries. Her
+acts in Bollandus deserve no notice. Bede, and martyrologies ascribed to
+St. Jerom, call this the day of her martyrdom, which the ancient Corbie
+manuscript places at Nicomedia. See Chatelain's notes on the
+martyrology, p. 667.
+
+ST. GREGORY X., POPE, C.
+
+HE was of an illustrious family, born at Placentia, and at his baptism
+was called Theobald. In his youth he was distinguished for his
+extraordinary virtue, and his progress in his studies, especially of the
+canon law, which he began in Italy, and pursued at Paris, and lastly at
+Liege. He was archdeacon of this last church when he received an order
+from the pope to preach the crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land.
+Incredible were the pains which he took in executing this commission,
+and in reconciling the Christian princes, who were at variance. The
+death of St. Lewis, in 1270, {421} struck a damp upon the spirits of the
+Christians in the East, though the prince of Wales, soon after Edward
+I., king of England, sailed from Sicily, in March, 1271, to their
+assistance, took Jaffa and Nazareth, and plundered Antioch. A tender
+compassion for the distressed situation of the servants of Christ in
+those parts, moved the holy archdeacon of Liege to undertake a dangerous
+pilgrimage to Palestine, in order to comfort them, and at the same time
+to satisfy his devotion by visiting the holy places. The see of Rome had
+been vacant almost three years, from the death of Clement IV. to
+November, 1268, the cardinals who were assembled at Viterbo not coming
+to an agreement in the choice of a pope, till, by common consent, they
+referred his election to six among them, who, on the 1st of September,
+in 1271, nominated Theobald, the archdeacon of Liege. Upon the news of
+his election, he prepared himself to return to Italy. Nothing could be
+more tender and moving than his last farewell to the disconsolate
+Christians of Palestine, whom he promised, in a most solemn manner,
+never to forget. He arrived at Rome in March, and was first ordained
+priest, then consecrated bishop, and crowned on the 27th of the same
+month, in 1272. He took the name of Gregory X., and, to procure the most
+effectual succor to the Holy Land, called a general council to meet at
+Lyons, where pope Innocent IV. had held the last in 1245, partly for the
+same purpose of the holy war, and partly to endeavor to reclaim the
+emperor Frederick II. The city of Lyons was most convenient for the
+meeting of those princes whose succors were principally expected for the
+holy war; and was most unexceptionable, because at that time it
+acknowledged no other sovereign than its archbishop. Henry III., king of
+England, died on the 16th of November, 1272, and Edward I., who had
+concluded a peace of ten years with the Saracens, in the name of the
+Christians in Syria and Palestine, returned for England, and on the road
+at Trapani, in Sicily, met the news of his father's death. In the same
+place he received most obliging letters from pope Gregory X. The
+fourteenth general council, the second of Lyons, was opened in that city
+in May, 1274, in which were assembled five hundred bishops and seventy
+abbots. In the fourth session, the Greek ambassadors (who were,
+Germanus, formerly patriarch of Constantinople, Theophanes, archbishop
+of Nice, and the senator, George Acropolita, great logothete, or
+chancellor) were admitted. The logothete abjured the schism in the name
+of the emperor Michael Palæologus; and the pope, while Te Deum was sung,
+stood with his cheeks all the time bathed in tears. St. Thomas Aquinas
+died on the 7th of March, before the opening of the council, and St.
+Bonaventure at Lyons, on the 15th of July. The council was closed by the
+fifth and last session, on the 17th of July. The more our holy pope was
+overwhelmed with public affairs, the more watchful he was over his own
+soul, and the more earnest in the interior duties of self-examination,
+contemplation, and prayer. He spoke little, conversing assiduously in
+his heart with God; he was very abstemious in his diet, and most
+rigorous to himself in all things. By this crucified life, his soul was
+prepared to taste the hidden manna which is concealed in the divine
+word, with which he continually nourished it in holy meditation. After
+the council he was taken up in concerting measures for carrying its
+decrees into execution, particularly those relating to the crusade in
+the East. By his unwearied application to business, and the fatigues of
+his journey, in passing the Alps in his return to Rome, he contracted a
+distemper, of which he died at Arezzo, on the 10th of January, in 1276,
+three years and nine months after his consecration, and four years, four
+months, and ten days after his election. His name is inserted in the
+Roman Martyrology, published by Benedict XIV., on the 16th of February.
+See Platina, Ciacconius, St. Antoninus, Hist. part 3, it. 20, c. 2. The
+account of his life and miracles in {422} the archives of the tribunal
+of the Rota, and in Benedict XIV. de Canoniz. l. 2, t. 2, Append. 8, p.
+673; the proofs of his miracles, ib. p. 709; also, ib. l. 2, c. 24, sec.
+37 and 42; and l. 1, c. 20, n. 17. See likewise his life, copied from a
+MS. history of several popes, by Bernard Guidonis, published by
+Muratori, Scriptor. Ital. t. 3, p. 597, and another life of this pope,
+written before the canonization of St. Lewis, in which mention is made
+of miraculous cures performed by him, ibid. pp. 599, 604.
+
+ST. TANCO, OR TATTA, B.M.
+
+PATTON, abbot of Amabaric, in Scotland, passing into Germany to preach
+the gospel, and being chosen bishop of Verdun, Tanco, who had served God
+many years in that abbey in great reputation for his singular learning
+and piety, was raised to the dignity of abbot. Out of an ardent thirst
+after martyrdom, he resigned this charge, and followed his countryman
+and predecessor into Germany, where, after some time, he succeeded him
+in the see of Verdun, of which he was the third bishop. His success in
+propagating the faith was exceeding great, but it was to him a subject
+of inexpressible grief to see many who professed themselves Christians,
+live enslaved to shameful passions. In order to convert, or at least to
+confound them, he preached a most zealous sermon against the vices which
+reigned among them; at which a barbarous mob was so enraged as fiercely
+to assault him; and one of them, stabbing him with a lance, procured him
+the glorious crown of martyrdom, about the year 815. This account of him
+is given us by Krantzius, (l. 1, Metrop. c. 22 & 29.) Lesley, l. 5,
+Hist. Wion, l. 3, Ligni Vitæ.
+
+FEBRUARY XVII.
+
+ST. FLAVIAN, M.
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
+
+From the councils, and historians Cedrenus, Evagrius, Theophanes, &c.
+See Baronius, Henschenius. t. 3, Feb. p. 71. Fleury, l. 27, 28. Quesnel,
+in his edition of the works of St. Leo, t. 2, diss. 1, and F. Cacciari,
+t. 3, Exercit. in opera St. Leonis, Romæ, an. 1755. Dissert. 4, de
+Eutychiana Hær. l. 1, c. 2, p. 322; c. 8, p. 383; c. 9, p. 393, c. 11,
+p. 432.
+
+A.D. 449
+
+ST. FLAVIAN was a priest of distinguished merit, and treasurer of the
+church of Constantinople, when he succeeded St. Proclus in the
+archiepiscopal dignity in 447. The eunuch Chrysaphius, chamberlain to
+the emperor Theodosius the Younger, and a particular favorite, suggested
+to his master, a weak prince, to require of him a present, out of
+gratitude to the emperor for his promotion. The holy bishop sent him
+some blessed bread, according to the custom of the church at that time,
+as a benediction and symbol of communion. Chrysaphius let him know that
+it was a present of a very different kind that was expected from him.
+St. Flavian, an enemy to simony, answered resolutely, than the revenues
+and treasure of the church were designed for other uses, namely, the
+honor of God and the relief of his poor. The eunuch, highly provoked at
+the bishop's refusal, from that moment {423} resolved to contrive his
+ruin. Wherefore, with a view to his expulsion, he persuaded the emperor,
+by the means of his wife Eudoxia, to order the bishop to make Pulcheria,
+sister to Theodosius, a deaconess of his church. The saint's refusal was
+a second offence in the eyes of the sycophants of the court. The next
+year Chrysaphius was still more grievously offended with our saint for
+his condemning the errors of his kinsman Eutyches, abbot of a monastery
+of three hundred monks, near the city, who had acquired a reputation for
+virtue, but in effect was no better than an ignorant, proud, and
+obstinate man. His intemperate zeal against Nestorius, for asserting two
+distinct persons in Christ, threw him into the opposite error, that of
+denying two distinct natures after the incarnation.
+
+In a council, held by St. Flavian in 448, Eutyches was accused of this
+error by Eusebius of Dorylæum, his former friend, and it was there
+condemned as heretical, and the author was cited to appear to give an
+account of his faith. On the day appointed in the last summons he
+appeared before the council, but attended by two of the principal
+officers of the court, and a troop of the imperial guards. Being
+admitted and interrogated on the point in question, that is, his faith
+concerning the incarnation; he declared that he acknowledged indeed two
+natures before the union, but after it only one. To all reasonings and
+authority produced against his tenet, his reply was, that he did not
+come thither to dispute, but to satisfy the assembly what his faith was.
+The council, upon this, anathematized and deposed him, and St. Flavian
+pronounced the sentence, which was subscribed by thirty-two bishops and
+twenty-three abbots, of which last eighteen were priests. Eutyches said
+privately to his guards, that he appealed to the bishops of Rome, Egypt,
+and Jerusalem; and in a letter he wrote to St. Leo to complain of his
+usage in the council, he endeavored to impose on the pope. But his
+Holiness being informed of the state of the affair by St. Flavian, wrote
+to him an ample declaration of the orthodox faith upon the point which
+was afterwards read, and inserted in the acts of the council of
+Chalcedon, in which the errors of Eutyches were solemnly condemned.
+Chrysaphius, however, had interest enough with the weak emperor to
+obtain an order for a re-examination of the cause between St. Flavian
+and Eutyches in another council. This met in April, 449, consisting of
+about thirty bishops, one third whereof had assisted at the late
+council. St. Flavian being looked on as a party, Thalassius, bishop of
+Cæsarea, presided in his room. After the strictest scrutiny into every
+particular, the impiety of Eutyches, and the justice of our saint's
+proceedings, clearly appeared. St. Flavian presented to the emperor a
+profession of his faith, wherein he condemned the errors of both
+Eutyches and Nestorius, his adversaries pretending that he favored the
+latter.
+
+Chrysaphius, though baffled in his attempts, was still bent on the ruin
+of the holy bishop, and employed all his craft and power to save
+Eutyches and destroy Flavian. With this view he wrote to Dioscorus, a
+man of a violent temper, who had succeeded St. Cyril in the patriarchal
+see of Alexandria, promising him his friendship and favor in all his
+designs, if he would undertake the defence of the deposed abbot against
+Flavian and Eusebius. Dioscorus came into his measures; and, by their
+joint interest with the empress Eudoxia, glad of an opportunity to
+mortify Pulcheria, who had a high esteem for our saint, they prevailed
+with the emperor to order a council to be called at Ephesus, to
+determine the dispute. Dioscorus was invited by the emperor to come and
+preside in it, accompanied with ten metropolitans and other bishops,
+together with the archimandrite, or abbot Barsumas, a man strongly
+attached to Eutyches and Dioscorus. The like directions were sent to the
+other patriarchs. St. Leo, who was invited, though late, sent legatee to
+act {424} in his name, Julius, bishop of Puteoli, Renatus, a priest, who
+died on the road, Hilarius, a deacon, and Dulcitius, a notary. He sent
+by them a learned letter to St. Flavian, in which he taxes the ignorance
+of Eutyches in the holy scriptures, and explains the Catholic doctrine
+against that heresiarch, which he also did by other letters.
+
+The false council of Ephesus, for the violences therein used commonly
+called the Latrocinale, was opened on the 8th of August, in 449, and
+consisted of one hundred and thirty bishops, or their deputies, from
+Egypt and the East. Eutyches was there, and two officers from the
+emperor, with a great number of soldiers. Every thing was carried on, by
+violence and open faction, in favor of Eutyches, by those officers and
+bishops who had espoused his party and formed a cabal. The pope's
+legates were never suffered to read his letters to the council. The
+final result of the proceedings was, to pronounce sentence of deposition
+against St. Flavian and Eusebius. The pope's legates protested against
+the sentence. Hilarius, the deacon, cried out aloud, "contradicitur,"
+opposition is made; which Latin word was inserted in the Greek acts of
+the synod. And Dioscorus no sooner began to read the sentence, but he
+was interrupted by several of the bishops, who, prostrating themselves
+before him, besought him, in the most submissive terms, to proceed no
+further in so unwarrantable an affair. Upon this he starts up, and calls
+aloud for the imperial commissioners, Elpidius and Eulogius, who,
+without more ado, ordered the church doors to be set open; upon which
+Proclus, the proconsul of Asia, entered, surrounded with a band of
+soldiers, and followed by a confused multitude with chains, clubs, and
+swords. This struck such a terror into the whole assembly, that, when
+the bishops were required by Dioscorus and his creatures to subscribe,
+few or none had the courage to withstand his threats, the pope's legates
+excepted, who protested aloud against these violent proceedings; one of
+whom was imprisoned; the other, Hilarius, got off with much difficulty,
+and came safe to Rome. St. Flavian, on hearing the sentence read by
+Dioscorus, appealed from him to the holy see, and delivered his acts of
+appeal in writing to the pope's legates, then present. This so provoked
+Dioscorus,[1] that, together with Barsumas and others of their party,[2]
+after throwing the holy bishop on the ground, they so kicked and bruised
+him, that he died within a few days, in 449, not at Ephesus, as some
+have said by mistake, but in his exile at Epipus, two days' journey from
+that city, situated near Sardes in Lydia, as Marcellinus testifies in
+his chronicle.
+
+The council being over, Dioscorus, with two of his Egyptian bishops, had
+the insolence to excommunicate St. Leo. But violence and injustice did
+not triumph long. For the emperor's eyes being opened on his sister
+Pulcheria's return to court, whom the ambition of Chrysaphius had found
+means to remove in the beginning of these disturbances, the eunuch was
+disgraced, and soon after put to death; and the empress Eudoxia obliged
+to retire to Jerusalem. The next year the emperor died, as Cedrenus
+says, penitent; and Pulcheria, ascending the throne in 450, ordered
+Saint Flavian's body to be brought with great honor to Constantinople,
+and there magnificently interred, among his predecessors in that see.
+St. Leo had, upon the first news of these proceedings, written to him to
+comfort him, as also to Theodosius, Pulcheria, and the clergy of
+Constantinople, in his defence. The general council of Chalcedon
+declared him a saint and martyr, and paid great honors to his memory, in
+451. The same council honorably restored Eusebius of Dorylæum to his
+see. Pope Hilarius, who had been St. Leo's legate at Ephesus, had so
+great a veneration for the saint, that he caused his martyrdom {425} to
+be represented in mosaic work, in the church which he built in honor of
+the holy Cross. The wicked Dioscorus was condemned by the council of
+Chalcedon, in 451, and died obstinate and impenitent, in the Eutychian
+heresy, and his other crimes, in his banishment at Gangres, in 454.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was the glory of St. Flavian to die a martyr of the mystery of the
+incarnation of the Son of God. This is the fundamental article of the
+Christian religion, and, above all other mysteries, challenges our most
+profound homages and constant devotion. In it hath God displayed, in the
+most incomprehensible manner, the astonishing immensity of his power,
+mercy, wisdom, and love, the contemplation of which will be the sweet
+occupation of angels and saints to all eternity. The servants of God on
+earth find their greatest delight in meditating on this great mystery,
+and in profound adoration and transports of love, honoring, praising,
+and glorifying their divine Saviour, and studying to put on his spirit
+by the constant union in mind and heart, or of their thoughts and
+affections, with him. Is it possible that we who believe in this God,
+who annihilated himself, and died for us most miserable and ungrateful
+sinners, should not die of love for him? At least, how is it possible we
+should not always have him present to our minds, and prostrate ourselves
+at his feet a thousand times a day to return him our most humble thanks,
+and to pay him the homages of our adoration, love, and praise? The more
+he is insulted in this mystery of goodness itself, by the blasphemies of
+unbelievers and heretics, the greater ought to be our zeal and fervor in
+honoring it. But as the incarnation is the mystery of the unfathomed
+humility of a God to heal the wound of our pride, it is only by
+humility, and the annihilation of creatures in our hearts, that we can
+be disposed to contemplate or honor it with fruit. The dreadful fall and
+impenitence of Eutyches, after he had renounced the world with a view to
+give himself to God, were owing to the fatal sin of a secret pride.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Evag. l. xi. c. 11.
+2.  Conc. Calced. act. 4.
+
+SS. THEODULUS AND JULIAN, MM.
+
+THEY suffered at Cæsarea, in Palestine, at the same time with those
+mentioned yesterday, but are named on this day in the Roman Martyrology.
+Theodulus was an old man of eminent virtue and wisdom, who enjoyed one
+of the most honorable posts in the household of Firmilian, the governor
+of Palestine, and had several sons. His personal merit gained him the
+love of all that knew him, and the governor had a particular esteem for
+him. This holy man had seen the invincible courage and patience of the
+five Egyptian martyrs at Cæsarea, and, going to the prisons, made use of
+their example to encourage the other confessors, and prepare them for
+the like battles. Firmilian, vexed at this conduct of an old favorite
+servant, sent for him, reproached him strongly with ingratitude, and,
+without hearing his defence, condemned him to be crucified. Theodulus
+received the sentence with joy, and went with transports to a death
+which was speedily to unite him to his Saviour, and in which he was
+thought worthy to bear a near resemblance to him. Julian, who shared the
+glory of that day with the other martyrs, was a Cappadocian, as was also
+St. Seleucus; he was only a catechumen, though highly esteemed by the
+faithful for his many great virtues, and he was just then come to
+Cæsarea. At his arrival, hearing of the conflicts of the martyrs, he ran
+to the place, and finding the execution over, expressed his veneration
+for them, by kissing and embracing the bodies which had been animated by
+those heroic and happy souls. The guards apprehended {426} him, and
+carried him to the governor, who, finding him as inflexible as the rest,
+would not lose his time in useless interrogatories, but immediately
+ordered him to be burnt. Julian, now master of all he wished for, gave
+God thanks for the honor done him by this sentence, and begged he would
+be pleased to accept of his life as a voluntary sacrifice. The courage
+and cheerfulness which he maintained to his last moment, filled his
+executioners with surprise and confusion. See Eusebius, an eye-witness,
+l. de Mart. Palæst. c. 12, p. 337.
+
+ST. SILVIN OF AUCHY, B.C.
+
+HE was born of a considerable family in the territory of Thoulouse, and
+passed his first years at the court of two successive kings, Childeric
+II. and Theodoric III. Every thing was ready for his marriage, when,
+powerfully touched by divine grace, he renounced all worldly prospects,
+and retired from court. His thoughts were now bent upon Jesus Christ
+alone, and he longed for nothing so much as to enjoy silence and
+solitude. After several devout penitential pilgrimages to Jerusalem and
+other places, he took orders at Rome, and was consecrated bishop, some
+say of Thoulouse, others of Terouenne. But his name is not found in any
+ancient register of either of those churches, and it is now agreed,
+among the most judicious critics, that he was ordained a regionary
+bishop to preach the gospel to infidels. His zeal carried him into the
+north of France, and he spent most of his time in the diocese of
+Terouenne, which was then full of Pagans, and Christians but one remove
+from them. He was indefatigable in preaching to them the great truths
+and essential obligations of our holy faith, and taught them to despise
+and renounce the pleasures of this life, by appearing on all occasions a
+strong lesson of self-denial and mortification. Instructing them thus,
+both by words and actions, he gathered a large harvest in a wild and
+uncultivated field. After many years thus spent, he died at Auchy, in
+the county of Artois, on the 15th of February, in 718. He is
+commemorated in Usuard, the Belgic and Roman Martyrologies, on the 17th,
+which was the day of his burial: but at Auchy on the 15th. The greatest
+part of his relics is now at St. Bertin's, at St. Omers, whither they
+were carried in 951, for fear of the Normans. Usuard is the first who
+styles St. Silvin bishop of Terouenne. Some think he was born, not at
+Thoulouse, but at Thosa, or Doest, near Bruges; or rather at another
+Thosa, now Doesbury, in Brabant; for in his life it is said that he
+travelled westward to preach the gospel. His original life, which was
+ascribed to Antenor, a disciple of the saint, is lost: that which we
+have was compiled in the ninth century. See Bolland. t. 3, Feb. p. 29,
+Mabillon, Act. Bened. Sæc. 3, par. 1, p. 298. Chatelain's Notes, p. 659.
+
+ST. LOMAN, OR LUMAN, B.C.
+
+JOCELIN calls him a nephew of St. Patrick, by a sister. He was at least
+a disciple of that saint, and first bishop of Trim, in Meath.
+Port-Loman, a town belonging to the Nugents in West-meath, takes its
+name from him, and honors his memory with singular veneration. St.
+Forcher{n}, son of the lord of that territory, was baptized by St.
+Loman, succeeded him in the bishopric of Trim, and is honored among the
+saints in Ireland, both on this same day and on the 11th of October. See
+Colgan on the 17th Febr. Usher's Antiqu. ad ann. 433.
+
+{427}
+
+ST. FINTAN, ABBOT OF CLUAINEDNECH,
+
+WHICH Usher interprets the Ivy-Cave, in the diocese of Lethglean, in
+Leinster, in the sixth century. He had for disciple St. Comgal, the
+founder of the abbey of Benchor, and master of St. Columban. Colgan
+reckons twenty-four Irish saints of the name of Fintan; but probably
+several of these were the same person honored in several places. Another
+St. Fintan, surnamed Munnu, who is honored on the 21st of October, was
+very famous. See Colgan, Usher, and Henschenius.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XVIII.
+
+ST. SIMEON, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM, M.
+
+From Euseb. l. 3, c. 32. Tillem. t. 1, p. 186, and t. 2. Le Quien,
+Oriens Christ. t. 3, p. 140.
+
+A.D. 116
+
+ST. SIMEON was the son of Cleophas, otherwise called Alpheus, brother to
+St. Joseph, and of Mary, sister of the Blessed Virgin. He was therefore
+nephew both to St. Joseph and to the Blessed Virgin, and cousin-german
+to Christ. Simeon and Simon are the same name, and this saint is,
+according to the best interpreters of the holy scripture, the Simon
+mentioned,[1] who was brother to St. James the Lesser, and St. Jude,
+apostles, and to Joseph or José. He was eight or nine years older than
+our Saviour. We cannot doubt but he was an early follower of Christ, as
+his father and mother and three brothers were, and an exception to that
+of St. John,[2] that our Lord's relations did not believe in him. Nor
+does St. Luke[3] leave us any room to doubt but that he received the
+Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, with the blessed Virgin and the
+apostles; for he mentions present St. James and St. Jude, and the
+brothers of our Lord. St. Epiphanius relates,[4] that when the Jews
+massacred St. James the Lesser, his brother Simeon reproached them for
+their atrocious cruelty. St. James, bishop of Jerusalem, being put to
+death in the year 62, twenty-nine years after our Saviour's
+resurrection, the apostles and disciples met at Jerusalem to appoint him
+a successor. They unanimously chose St. Simeon, who had probably before
+assisted his brother in the government of that church.
+
+In the year 66, in which SS. Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome,
+the civil war began in Judea, by the seditions of the Jews against the
+Romans. The Christians in Jerusalem were warned by God of the impending
+destruction of that city, and by a divine revelation[5] commanded to
+leave it, as Lot was rescued out of Sodom. They therefore departed out
+of it the same year, before Vespasian, Nero's general, and afterward
+emperor, entered Judæa, and retired beyond Jordan to a small city called
+Pella; having St. Simeon at their head. After the taking and burning of
+Jerusalem they returned thither again, and settled themselves amidst its
+{428} ruins, till Adrian afterwards entirely razed it. St. Epiphanius[6]
+and Eusebius[7] assure us, that the church here flourished extremely,
+and that multitudes of Jews were converted by the great number of
+prodigies and miracles wrought in it.
+
+St. Simeon, amidst the consolations of the Holy Ghost and the great
+progress of the church, had the affliction to see two heresies arise
+within its bosom, namely, those of the Nazareans and the Ebionites; the
+first seeds of which, according to St. Epiphanius, appeared at Pella.
+The Nazareans were a sect of men between Jews and Christians, but
+abhorred by both. They allowed Christ to be the greatest of the
+prophets, but said he was a mere man, whose natural parents were Joseph
+and Mary: they joined all the ceremonies of the old law with the new,
+and observed both the Jewish Sabbath and the Sunday. Ebion added other
+errors to these, which Cerenthus had also espoused, and taught many
+superstitions, permitted divorces, and allowed of the most infamous
+abominations. He began to preach at Cocabe, a village beyond Jordan,
+where he dwelt; but he afterwards travelled into Asia, and thence to
+Rome. The authority of St. Simeon kept the heretics in some awe during
+his life, which was the longest upon earth of any of our Lord's
+disciples. But, as Eusebius says, he was no sooner dead than a deluge of
+execrable heresies broke out of hell upon the church, which durst not
+openly appear during his life.
+
+Vespasian and Domitian had commanded all to be put to death who were of
+the race of David. St. Simeon had escaped their searches; but Trajan
+having given the same order, certain heretics and Jews accused him, as
+being both of the race of David and a Christian, to Atticus, the Roman
+governor in Palestine. The holy bishop was condemned by him to be
+crucified: who, after having undergone the usual tortures during several
+days, which, though one hundred and twenty years old, he suffered with
+so much patience that he drew on him a universal admiration, and that of
+Atticus in particular, he died in 107, according to Eusebius in his
+chronicle, but in 116, according to Dodwell, bishop Loyde, and F. Pagi.
+He must have governed the church of Jerusalem about forty-three years.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The eminent saints among the primitive disciples of Jesus Christ, were
+entirely animated by his spirit, and being dead to the world and
+themselves, they appeared like angels among men. Free from the secret
+mixture of the sinister views of all passions, to a degree which was a
+miracle of grace, they had in all things only God, his will and honor,
+before their eyes, equally aspiring to him through honor and infamy. In
+the midst of human applause they remained perfectly humbled in the
+centre of their own nothing: when loaded with reproaches and contempt,
+and persecuted with all the rage that malice could inspire, they were
+raised above all these things so as to stand fearless amid racks and
+executioners, inflexibly constant in their fidelity to God, before
+tyrants, invincible under torments, and superior to them almost as if
+they had been impassible. Their resolution never failed them, their
+fervor seemed never slackened. Such wonderful men wrought continual
+miracles in converting souls to God. We bear the name of Christians, and
+wear the habit of Saints; but are full of the spirit of worldlings, and
+our actions are infected with its poison. We secretly seek ourselves,
+even when we flatter ourselves that God is our only aim, and while we
+undertake to convert the world, we suffer it to pervert us. When shall
+we begin to study to crucify our passions and die to ourselves, that we
+may lay a solid foundation of true virtue, and establish its reign in
+our hearts?
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Matt. xiii.55.
+2.  John vii. 5.
+3.  Acts i. 14.
+4.  Hær. 78. c. 14.
+5.  Eus. l. 3, c. 5, Epiph. hær. 29, c. 7, hær. 30, c. 2.
+6.  L. de Pond. et Mensur. c. 15.
+7.  Demonst. l. 3, c. 5.
+
+{429}
+
+SS. LEO AND PAREGORIUS, MARTYRS
+
+From their ancient authentic acts in Ruinart, Bollandus, &c.
+
+THIRD AGE.
+
+ST. PAREGORIUS having spilt his blood for the faith at Patara, in Lycia,
+St. Leo, who had been a witness of his conflict, found his heart divided
+between joy for his friend's glorious victory, and sorrow to see himself
+deprived of the happiness of sharing in it. The proconsul of Asia being
+absent in order to wait on the emperors, probably Valerian and Galien,
+the governor of Lycia, residing at Patara, to show his zeal for the
+idols, published an order on the festival of Serapis, to oblige all to
+offer sacrifice to that false god. Leo seeing the heathens out of
+superstition, and some Christians out of fear, going in crowds to adore
+the idol, sighed within himself, and went to offer up his prayers to the
+true God, on the tomb of St. Paregorius, to which he passed before the
+temple of Serapis, it lying in his way to the martyr's tomb. The
+heathens that were sacrificing in it knew him to be a Christian by his
+modesty. He had exercised himself from his childhood in the austerities
+and devotions of an ascetic life, and possessed, in an eminent degree,
+chastity, temperance, and all other virtues. His clothes were of a
+coarse cloth made of camel's hair. Not long after his return home from
+the tomb of the martyr, with his mind full of the glorious exit of his
+friend, he fell asleep, and from a dream he had on that occasion,
+understood, when he awaked, that God called him to a conflict of the
+same kind with that of St. Paregorius, which filled him with
+inexpressible joy and comfort.
+
+Wherefore, the next time he visited the martyr's tomb, instead of going
+to the place through by-roads, he went boldly through the market-place,
+and by the Tychæaum, or temple of Fortune, which he saw illuminated with
+lanterns. He pitied their blindness; and, being moved with zeal for the
+honor of the true God, he made no scruple to break as many of the
+lanterns as were within reach, and trampled on the tapers in open view,
+saying: "Let your gods revenge the injury if they are able to do it."
+The priest of the idol having raised the populace, cried out: "Unless
+this impiety be punished, the goddess Fortune will withdraw her
+protection from the city." An account of this affair soon reached the
+ears of the governor, who ordered the saint to be brought before him,
+and on his appearance addressed him in this manner; "Wicked wretch, thy
+sacrilegious action surely bespeaks thee either ignorant of the immortal
+gods, or downright mad, in flying in the face of our most divine
+emperors, whom we justly regard as secondary deities and saviours." The
+martyr replied with great calmness: "You are under a great mistake, in
+supposing a plurality of gods; there is but one, who is the God of
+heaven and earth, and who does not stand in need of being worshipped
+after that gross manner that men worship idols. The most acceptable
+sacrifice we can offer him is that of a contrite and humble heart."
+"Answer to your indictment," said the governor, "and don't preach your
+Christianity. I thank the gods, however, that they have not suffered you
+to lie concealed after such a sacrilegious attempt. Choose therefore
+either to sacrifice to them, with those that are here present, or to
+suffer the punishment due to your impiety." The martyr said: "The fear
+of torments shall never draw me from my duty. I am ready to suffer all
+you shall inflict. All your tortures cannot reach beyond death. Eternal
+life is not to be attained but by the way of tribulations; the scripture
+accordingly {430} informs us, _that narrow is the way that leads to
+life_." "Since you own the way you walk in is narrow," said the
+governor, "exchange it for ours, which is broad and commodious." "When I
+called it narrow," said the martyr, "this was only because it is not
+entered without difficulty, and that its beginnings are often attended
+with afflictions and persecutions for justice sake. But being once
+entered, it is not difficult to keep in it by the practice of virtue,
+which helps to widen it and render it easy to those that persevere in
+it, which has been done by many."
+
+The multitude of Jews and Gentiles cried out to the judge to silence
+him. But he said, he allowed him liberty of speech, and even offered him
+his friendship if he would but sacrifice. The confessor answered: "You
+seem to have forgot what I just before told you, or you would not have
+urged me again to sacrifice. Would you have me acknowledge for a deity
+that which has nothing in its nature of divine?" These last words put
+the governor in a rage, and he ordered the saint to be scourged. While
+the executioners were tearing his body unmercifully, the judge said to
+him: "This is nothing to the torments I am preparing for you. If you
+would have me stop here, you must sacrifice." Leo said: "O judge, I will
+repeat to you again what I have so often told you: I own not your gods,
+nor will I ever sacrifice to them." The judge said: "Only say the gods
+are great, and I will discharge you. I really pity your old age." Leo
+answered: "If I allow them that title, it can only be with regard to
+their power of destroying their worshippers." The judge in a fury said:
+"I will cause you to be dragged over rocks and stones, till you are torn
+to pieces." Leo said: "Any kind of death is welcome to me, that procures
+me the kingdom of heaven, and introduces me into the company of the
+blessed." The judge said: "Obey the edict, and say the gods are the
+preservers of the world, or you shall die." The martyr answered: "You do
+nothing but threaten: why don't you proceed to effects?" The mob began
+to be clamorous, and the governor, to appease them, was forced to
+pronounce sentence on the saint, which was, that he should be tied by
+the feet, and dragged to the torrent, and there executed; and his orders
+were immediately obeyed in a most cruel manner. The martyr being upon
+the point of consummating his sacrifice, and obtaining the
+accomplishment of all his desires, with his eyes lifted up to heaven,
+prayed thus aloud: "I thank thee, O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
+Christ, for not suffering me to be long separated from thy servant
+Paregorius. I rejoice in what has befallen me as the means of expiating
+my past sins. I commend my soul to the care of thy holy angels, to be
+placed by them where it will have nothing to fear from the judgments of
+the wicked. But thou, O Lord, who willest not the death of a sinner, but
+his repentance, grant them to know thee, and to find pardon for their
+crimes, through the merits of thy only Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
+He no sooner repeated the word Amen, together with an act of
+thanksgiving, but he expired. His executioners then took the body and
+cast it down a great precipice into a deep pit; and notwithstanding the
+fall, it seemed only to have received a few slight bruises. The very
+place which was before a frightful precipice, seemed to have changed its
+nature; and the acts say, no more dangers or accidents happened in it to
+travellers. The Christians took up the martyr's body, and found it of a
+lively color, and entire, and his face appeared comely and smiling; and
+they buried it in the most honorable manner they could. The Greeks keep
+his festival on the 18th of February.
+
+{431}
+
+FEBRUARY XIX.
+
+ST. BARBATUS, OR BARBAS, C.
+
+BISHOP OF BENEVENTO.
+
+From his two authentic lives in Bollandus, t. 3, Febr. p. 139. See
+Ughelli, Italia Sacra, t. 8, p. l3.
+
+A.D. 682.
+
+ST. BARBATUS was born in the territory of Benevento, in Italy, towards
+the end of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great, in the beginning of
+the seventh century. His parents gave him a Christian education, and
+Barbatus in his youth laid the foundation of that eminent sanctity which
+recommends him to our veneration. Devout meditation on the holy
+scriptures was his chief entertainment; and the innocence, simplicity,
+and purity of his manners, and extraordinary progress in all virtues,
+qualified him for the service of the altar, to which he was assumed by
+taking holy orders as soon as the canons of the church would allow it.
+He was immediately employed by his bishop in preaching, for which he had
+an extraordinary talent; and, after some time, made curate of St.
+Basil's, in Morcona, a town near Benevento. His parishioners were
+steeled in their irregularities, and averse from whatever looked like
+establishing order and discipline among them. As they desired only to
+slumber on in their sins, they could not bear the remonstrances of their
+pastor, who endeavored to awake them to a sense of their miseries, and
+to sincere repentance: they treated him as a disturber of their peace,
+and persecuted him with the utmost violence. Finding their malice
+conquered by his patience and humility, and his character shining still
+more bright, they had recourse to slanders, in which, such was their
+virulence and success, that he was obliged to withdraw his charitable
+endeavors among them. By these fiery trials, God purified his heart from
+all earthly attachments, and perfectly crucified it to the world.
+Barbatus returned to Benevento, where he was received with joy by those
+who were acquainted with his innocence and sanctity. The seed of
+Christianity had been first sown at Benevento by St. Potin, who is said
+to have been sent thither by St. Peter, and is looked upon as the first
+bishop of this see. We have no names of his successors till St.
+Januarius, by whom this church was exceedingly increased, and who was
+honored with the crown of martyrdom in 305. Totila, the Goth, laid the
+city of Benevento in ruins, in 545. The Lombards having possessed
+themselves of that country, repaired it, and king Autharis gave it to
+Zotion, a general among those invaders, with the title of a duchy, about
+the year 598, and his successors governed it, as sovereign dukes, for
+several ages. These Lombards were at that time chiefly Arians; but among
+them there remained many idolaters, and several at Benevento had
+embraced the Catholic faith, even before the death of St. Gregory the
+Great, with their duke Arichis, a warm friend of that holy pope. But
+when St. Barbatus entered upon his ministry in that city, the Christians
+themselves retained many idolatrous superstitions, which even their
+duke, or prince Romuald, authorized by his example, though son of
+Grimoald, king of the Lombards, who had edified all Italy by his
+conversion. They expressed a religious veneration to a golden viper, and
+prostrated themselves before it: they paid also a superstitious honor to
+a tree, on which they hung {432} the skin of a wild beast, and these
+ceremonies were closed by public games, in which the skin served for a
+mark at which bowmen shot arrows over their shoulder. St. Barbatus
+preached zealously against these abuses, and labored long to no purpose:
+yet desisted not, but joined his exhortations with fervent prayer and
+rigorous fasting, for the conversion of this unhappy people. At length
+he roused their attention by foretelling the distress of their city, and
+the calamities which it was to suffer from the army of the emperor
+Constans, who, landing soon after in Italy, laid siege to Benevento. In
+their extreme distress, and still more grievous alarms and fears, they
+listened to the holy preacher, and, entering into themselves, renounced
+their errors and idolatrous practices. Hereupon St. Barbatus gave them
+the comfortable assurance that the siege should be raised, and the
+emperor worsted: which happened as he had foretold. Upon their
+repentance, the saint with his own hand cut down the tree which was the
+object of their superstition, and afterwards melted down the golden
+viper which they adored, of which he made a chalice for the use of the
+altar. Ildebrand, bishop of Benevento, dying during the siege, after the
+public tranquillity was restored, St. Barbatus was consecrated bishop on
+the 10th of March, 653; for this see was only raised to the
+archiepiscopal dignity by pope John XIII., about the year 965. Barbatus,
+being invested with the episcopal character, pursued and completed the
+good work which he had so happily begun, and destroyed every trace or
+the least remain of superstition in the prince's closet, and in the
+whole state. In the year 680 he assisted in a council held by pope
+Agatho at Rome, and the year following in the sixth general council held
+at Constantinople against the Monothelites. He did not long survive this
+great assembly, for he died on the 29th of February, 682, being about
+seventy years old, almost nineteen of which he had spent in the
+episcopal chair. He is named in the Roman Martyrology, and honored at
+Benevento among the chief patrons of that city.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many sinners are moved by alarming sensible dangers or calamities to
+enter into themselves, on whom the terrors of the divine judgment make
+very little impression. The reason can only be a supine neglect of
+serious reflection, and a habit of considering them only transiently,
+and as at a distance; for it is impossible for any one who believes
+these great truths, if he takes a serious review of them, and has them
+present to his mind, to remain insensible: transient glances effect not
+a change of heart. Among the pretended conversions which sickness daily
+produces, very few bear the characters of sincerity, as appears by those
+who, after their recovery, live on in their former lukewarmness and
+disorders.[1] St. Austin, in a sermon which he made upon the news that
+Rome had been sacked by the barbarians, relates,[2] that not long
+before, at Constantinople, upon the appearance of an unusual meteor, and
+a rumor of a pretended prediction that the city would be destroyed by
+fire from heaven, the inhabitants were seized with a panic fear, all
+began to do penance like Ninive, and fled, with the emperor at their
+head, to a great distance from the city. After the term appointed for
+its pretended destruction was elapsed, they sent scouts to the city,
+which they had left quite empty, and, hearing that it was still
+standing, returned to it, and with their fears forgot their repentance
+and all their good resolutions. To prevent the danger of penitents
+imposing upon themselves by superficial conversions, St. Barbatus took
+all necessary precautions to improve their {433} first dispositions to a
+sincere and perfect change of heart, and to cut off and remove all
+dangerous occasions of temptations.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;
+    The devil was well, the devil no monk was he.
+2.  S. Aug. Serm. de Excidio Urbis, c. 6, t. 6, p. 627, ed. Ben.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XX.
+
+SS. TYRANNIO, BISHOP OF TYRE,
+
+ZENOBIUS, AND OTHERS, MARTYRS IN PHOENICIA, ETC.
+
+From Eusebius, Hist l. 8, c.7, 13, 25. St. Jerom in Chron. Euseb.
+
+A.D. 304, 310.
+
+EUSEBIUS, the parent of church history, and an eye-witness of what he
+relates concerning these martyrs, gives the following account of them.
+"Several Christians of Egypt, whereof some had settled in Palestine,
+others at Tyre, gave astonishing proofs of their patience and constancy
+in the faith. After innumerable stripes and blows, which they cheerfully
+underwent, they were exposed to wild beasts, such as leopards, wild
+bears, boars, and bulls. I myself was present when these savage
+creatures, accustomed to human blood, being let out upon them, instead
+of devouring them, or tearing them to pieces, as it was natural to
+expect, stood off, refusing even to touch or approach them, at the same
+time that they fell foul on their keepers, and others that came in their
+way.[1] The soldiers of Christ were the only persons they refused,
+though these martyrs, pursuant to the order given them, tossed about
+their arms, which was thought a ready way to provoke the beasts, and
+stir them up against them. Sometimes, indeed, they were perceived to
+rush towards them with their usual impetuosity, but, withheld by a
+divine power, they suddenly withdrew; and this many times, to the great
+admiration of all present. The first having done no execution, others
+were a second and a third time let out upon them, but in vain; the
+martyrs standing all the while unshaken, though many of them very young.
+Among them was a youth of not yet twenty, who had his eyes lifted up to
+heaven, and his arms extended in the form of a cross, not in the least
+daunted, nor trembling, nor shifting his place, while the bears and
+leopards, with their jaws wide open, threatening immediate death, seemed
+just ready, to tear him to pieces; but, by a miracle, not being suffered
+to touch him, they speedily withdrew. Others were exposed to a furious
+bull, which had already gored and tossed into the air several infidels
+who had ventured too near, and left them half dead: only the martyrs he
+could not approach; he stopped, and stood scraping the dust with his
+feet, and though he seemed to endeavor it with his utmost might, butting
+with his horns on every side, and pawing the ground with his feet, being
+also urged on by red-hot iron goads, it was all to no purpose. After
+repeated trials of this kind with other wild beasts, with as little
+success as the former, the saints were slain by the sword, and their
+bodies cast into the sea. Others who refused to sacrifice were beaten
+{434} to death, or burned, or executed divers other ways." This happened
+in the year 304, under Veturius, a Roman general, in the reign of
+Dioclesian.
+
+The church on this day commemorates the other holy martyrs, whose crown
+was deferred till 310. The principal of these was St. Tyrannio, bishop
+of Tyre, who had been present at the glorious triumph of the former, and
+encouraged them in their conflict. He had not the comfort to follow them
+till six years after; when, being conducted from Tyre to Antioch, with
+St. Zenobius, a holy priest and physician of Sidon, after many torments
+he was thrown into the sea, or rather into the river Orontes, upon which
+Antioch stands, at twelve miles distance front the sea. Zenobius expired
+on the rack, while his sides and body were furrowed and laid open with
+iron hooks and nails. St. Sylvanus, bishop of Emisa, in Phoenicia, was,
+some time after, under Maximinus, devoured by wild beasts in the midst
+of his own city, with two companions, after having governed that church
+forty years. Peleus and Nilus, two other Egyptian priests, in Palestine,
+were consumed by fire with some others. St. Sylvanus, bishop of Gaza,
+was condemned to the copper mines of Phoenon, near Petra, in Arabia, and
+afterwards beheaded there with thirty-nine others.
+
+St. Tyrannio is commemorated on the 20th of February, in the Roman
+Martyrology, with those who suffered under Veturius, at Tyre, in 304.
+St. Zenobius, the priest and physician of Sidon, who suffered with him
+at Antioch, on the 29th of October: St. Sylvanus of Emisa, to whom the
+Menology gives many companions, on the 6th of February: St. Sylvanus of
+Gaza, on the 29th of May.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The love of Christ triumphed in the hearts of so many glorious martyrs,
+upon racks, in the midst of boiling furnaces, or flames, and in the
+claws or teeth of furious wild beasts. How many inflamed with his love
+have forsaken all things to follow him, despising honors, riches,
+pleasures, and the endearments of worldly friends, to take up their
+crosses, and walk with constancy in the narrow paths of a most austere
+penitential life! We also pretend to love him: but what effect has this
+love upon us? what fruit does it produce in our lives? If we examine our
+own hearts, we shall be obliged to confess that we have great reason to
+fear that we deceive ourselves. What pains do we take to rescue our
+souls from the slavery of the world, and the tyranny of self-love, to
+purge our affections of vice, or to undertake any thing for the divine
+honor, and the sanctification of our souls? Let us earnestly entreat our
+most merciful Redeemer, by the power of this his holy love, to triumph
+over all his enemies, which are our unruly passions, in our souls, and
+perfectly to subdue our stubborn hearts to its empire. Let it be our
+resolution, from this moment, to renounce the love of the world, and all
+self-love, to seek and obey him alone.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Rufinus adds, that these beasts killed several of the keepers and
+    spectators. It is in this sense that some have translated this
+    passage with Nicephorus. See Vales. In Annot. p. 165. But it seems
+    improbable that the spectators, who were separated from the arena by
+    iron rails, and seated on stone benches gradually ascending ten or
+    twenty men deep all round, should be killed or injured by the
+    beasts, unless some were so rash as to venture within the rails with
+    the keepers; which we see several do in the combats of wild beasts.
+    This, therefore, we are to restrain to the keepers and those who
+    kept them company.
+
+S. SADOTH, BISHOP OF SELEUCIA AND CTESIPHON,
+
+WITH 128 COMPANIONS, MARTYRS.
+
+From his genuine acts in Metaphrastes, Bollandus, and Ruinart; but more
+correctly in the original Chaldaic given us by Assemani, t. 1, p. 83.
+Orsi, Hist. t. 5, l. 13. See Le Quien, Oriens Christ. t. 2, p. 1108.
+
+A.D. 342.
+
+SADOTH, as he is called by the Greeks and Latins, is named in the
+original Persian language, Schiadustes, which signifies "friend of the
+king," from _schiah_, king, and _dust_, friend. His unspotted purity of
+heart, his ardent zeal, and the practice of all Christian virtues,
+prepared him, from his {435} youth, for the episcopal dignity, and the
+crown of martyrdom. St. Simeon, bishop of Selec, or Seleucia, and
+Ctesiphon, then the two capital cities of Persia, situate on the river
+Tigris, being translated to glory by martyrdom, in the beginning of the
+persecution raised by Sapor II., in 341, St. Sadoth was chosen three
+months after to fill his see, the most important in that empire, but the
+most exposed to the storm. This grew more violent on the publication of
+a new edict against the Christians, which made it capital to confess
+Christ. To wait with patience the manifestation of the divine will, St.
+Sadoth, with part of his clergy, lay hid for some time; which did not
+however hinder him from affording his distressed flock all proper
+assistance and encouragement, but rather enabled him to do it with the
+greater fruit. During this retreat he had a vision which seemed to
+indicate that the time was come for the holy bishop to seal his faith
+with his blood. This he related to his priests and deacons, whom he
+assembled for that purpose. "I saw," said he, "in my sleep, a ladder
+environed with light and reaching from earth to the heavens. St. Simeon
+was at the top of it, and in great glory. He beheld me at the bottom,
+and said to me, with a smiling countenance: 'Mount up, Sadoth, fear not.
+I mounted yesterday, and it is your turn to-day:' which means, that as
+he was slain last year, so I am to follow him this." He was not wanting
+on this occasion to exhort his clergy, with great zeal and fervor, to
+make a provision of good works, and employ well their time, till they
+should be called on in like manner, that they might be in readiness to
+take possession of their inheritance. "A man that is guided by the
+Spirit," says St. Maruthas, author of these acts, "fears not death; he
+loves God, and goes to him with an incredible ardor; but he who lives
+according to the desires of the flesh, trembles, and is in despair at
+its approach: he loves the world, and it is with grief that he leaves
+it."
+
+The second year of the persecution, king Sapor coming to Seleucia,
+Sadoth was apprehended, with several of his clergy, some ecclesiastics
+of the neighborhood, end certain monks and nuns belonging to his church,
+to the amount of one hundred and twenty-eight persons. They were thrown
+into dungeons, where, during five months' confinement, they suffered
+incredible misery and torments. They were thrice called out, and put to
+the rack or question; their legs were straight bound with cords, which
+were drawn with so much violence, that their bones breaking, were heard
+to crack like sticks in a fagot. Amidst these tortures the officers
+cried out to them: "Adore the sun, and obey the king, if you would save
+your lives." Sadoth answered in the name of all, that the sun was but a
+creature, the work of God, made for the use of mankind; that they would
+pay supreme adoration to none but the Creator of heaven and earth, and
+never be unfaithful to him; that it was indeed in their power to take
+away their lives, but that this would be the greatest favor they could
+do them; wherefore he conjured them not to spare them, or delay their
+execution. The officers said: "Obey! or know that your death is certain,
+and immediate." The martyrs all cried out with one voice: "We shall not
+die, but live and reign eternally with God and his Son Jesus Christ.
+Wherefore inflict death as soon as you please; for we repeat it to you
+that we will not adore the sun, nor obey the unjust edicts." Then
+sentence of death was pronounced upon them all by the king; for which
+they thanked God, and mutually encouraged each other. They were chained
+two and two together, and led out of the city to execution, singing
+psalms and canticles of joy as they went. Being arrived at the place of
+their martyrdom, they raised their voices still higher, blessing and
+thanking God for his mercy in bringing them thither, and begging the
+grace of perseverance, and that by this baptism of their blood they
+might enter into his glory. These prayers and praises of God did not
+cease but with {436} the life of the last of this blessed company. St.
+Sadoth, by the king's orders, was separated from them, and sent into the
+province of the Huzites, where he was beheaded. He thus rejoined his
+happy flock in the kingdom of glory. Ancient Chaldaic writers quoted by
+Assemani say, St. Schiadustes, or Sadoth, was nephew to Simeon Barsaboe,
+being son to his sister. He governed his church only eight months, and
+finished his martyrdom after five months imprisonment, in the year 342,
+and of king Sapor II. the thirty-third. These martyrs are honored in the
+Roman Martyrology on this day.
+
+ST. ELEUTHERIUS, MARTYR,
+
+BISHOP OF TOURNAY.
+
+A.D. 532.
+
+HE was born at Tournay, of Christian parents, whose family had been
+converted to Christ by St. Piat, one hundred and fifty years before. The
+faith had declined at Tournay ever since St. Piat's martyrdom, by reason
+of its commerce with the heathen islands of Taxandria, now Zealand, and
+by means of the heathen French kings, who resided some time at Tournay.
+Eleutherius was chosen bishop of that city in 486; ten years after which
+king Clovis was baptized at Rheims. Eleutherius converted the greatest
+part of the Franks in that country to the faith, and opposed most
+zealously certain heretics who denied the mystery of the Incarnation, by
+whom he was wounded on the head with a sword, and died of the wound five
+weeks after, on the first of July, in 532. The most ancient monuments,
+relating to this saint, seem to have perished in a great fire which
+consumed his church, and many other buildings at Tournay, in 1092, with
+his relics. See Miræus, and his life written in the ninth century,
+extant in Bollandus, p. 187.[1] Of the sermons ascribed to St.
+Eleutherius, in the Library of the Fathers t. 8, none seem sufficiently
+warranted genuine, except three on the Incarnation and Birth of Christ,
+and the Annunciation. See Dom. Rivet, Hist. Littér., t. 3, p. 154, and
+t. 5, pp. 40, 41. Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 3, p. 571, and Henschenius, p
+180.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This author wrote before the invasion of the Normans, and the
+    translation of the saint's relics; but long after the saint's death,
+    and by making him born in the reign of Dioclesian, yet contemporary
+    with St. Medard, destroys his own credit. Some years after, another
+    author much enlarged this life, and inserted a history of the
+    translation of the relics of this saint, made in 897. A third writer
+    added a relation of later miracles, and of the translation of these
+    relics into the city of Tourney, in 1164. All these authors deserve
+    little notice, except in relating facts of their own time.
+
+ST. MILDRED, V. ABBESS.
+
+EORMENBURGA,[1] pronounced Ermenburga, otherwise called Domneva, was
+married to Merwald, a son of king Penda, and had by him three daughters
+and a son, who all consecrated their whole estates to pious uses, and
+were all honored by our ancestors among the saints. Their names were
+Milburg, Mildred, Mildgithe, and Mervin. King Egbert caused his two
+nephews, Ethelred and Ethelbright, to be secretly murdered in the isle
+of Thanet. Count Thunor, whom he had charged with that execrable
+commission, buried the bodies of the two princes under the king's
+throne, in the {437} royal palace at Estrage, now called Estria. The
+king is said to have been miraculously terrified by seeing a ray of
+bright light dart from the heavens upon their grave, and, in sentiments
+of compunction, he sent for their sister Eormenburga, out of Mercia, to
+pay her the weregeld, which was the mulct for a murder, ordained by the
+laws to be paid to the relations of the persons deceased. In
+satisfaction for the murder, he settled on her forty-eight ploughs of
+land, which she employed in founding a monastery, in which prayers might
+be continually put up to God for the repose of the souls of the two
+princes. This pious establishment was much promoted by the king, and
+thus the monastery was founded about the year 670; not 596, as Leland[2]
+and Speed mistake. The monastery was called Menstrey, or rather Minstre,
+in the isle of Thanet. Domneva sent her daughter Mildred to the abbey of
+Chelles, in France, where she took the religious veil, and was
+thoroughly instructed in all the duties of that state, the perfect
+spirit of which she had imbibed from her tender years. Upon her return
+to England she was consecrated first abbess of Minstre, in Thanet, by
+St. Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, and at the same time received
+to the habit seventy chosen virgins. She behaved herself by humility as
+the servant of her sisters, and conducted them to virtue by the
+authority of her example, for all were ashamed not to imitate her
+watching, mortification, and prayer, and not to walk according to her
+spirit. Her aunt, Ermengitha, served God in the same house with such
+fervor, that after her death she was ranked among the saints, and her
+tomb, situated a mile from the monastery, was famous for the resort of
+devout pilgrims. St. Mildred died of a lingering, painful illness,
+towards the close of the seventh century. This great monastery was often
+plundered by the Danes, and the nuns and clerks murdered, chiefly in the
+years 980 and 1011. After the last of these burnings, here were no more
+nuns, but only a few secular priests. In 1033, the remains of St.
+Mildred were translated to the monastery of St. Austin's at Canterbury,
+and venerated above all the relics of that holy place, says
+Malmesbury,[3] who testifies frequent miracles to have been wrought by
+them: Thorn and others confirm the same. Two churches in London bear her
+name. See Thorn's Chronicle, inter Decem Scriptores, coll. 1770, 1783,
+1906. Harpsfield: an old Saxon book, entitled, Narratio de Sanctis qui
+in Angliâ quiescunt published by Hickes, Thesaur., t. 1, in Dissert.
+Epistolari, p. 116. Monast. Anglic. t. 1, p. 84. Stevens Supplem. vol.
+1, p. 518. Reyneri Apostolat. Bened. t. 1, p. 61, and Lewis's History of
+the isle of Thanet, (printed at London in 1723, in 4to.,) pp. 51, 62,
+and in Append. n. 23.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Eadbald, king of Kent, had by his queen Emma, daughter to a king of
+    the French, St. Eanswithe, (whose relics were venerated at
+    Folkstone, till the change of religion,) and two sons, Eorcombert
+    (afterwards king) and Eormenred, surnamed Clito. This last left four
+    children by his wife Oslave, namely, Eurmenburga and St.
+    Eormengitha, with two sons, St. Ethelred and St. Ethelbright. King
+    Eorcombert had, by his queen Sexburga, Egbert and Lothaire,
+    successively kings, and St. Eormenilda and St. Ercongota.
+    Eormenburga was surnamed Moldeva, as we are assured by the ancient
+    English Saxon account of these saints, published by Hickes: though
+    Capgrave frequently speaks of them as different women.
+2.  Leland, Collect. t. 1, p. 97.
+3.  L. 2, de Reg. Angl. c. 13.
+
+ST. EUCHERIUS, BISHOP OF ORLEANS, C.
+
+OUR saint's mother, who was a lady of eminent virtue, and of the first
+quality at Orleans, while she was with child of him, made a daily
+offering of him to God, and begged nothing for him but divine grace.
+When he was born, his parents dedicated him to God, and set him to study
+when he was but seven years old, resolving to omit nothing that could be
+done towards cultivating his mind, or forming his heart. His improvement
+in virtue kept pace with his progress in learning: he meditated
+assiduously on the sacred writings, especially on St. Paul's manner of
+speaking on the world, and its enjoyments, as mere empty shadows, that
+deceive us and vanish away;[1] and took particular notice that the
+apostle says, the wisdom of those who love the pleasures and riches of
+this life is no better than folly before God. {438} These reflections at
+length sunk so deep into his mind, that he resolved to quit the world.
+To put this design in execution, about the year 714, he retired to the
+abbey of Jumiege, on the banks of the Seine, in the diocese of Rouen.
+When he had spent six or seven years here, in the practice of
+penitential austerities and obedience, Suavaric, his uncle, bishop of
+Orleans, died: the senate and people, with the clergy of that city,
+deputed persons to Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, to beg his
+permission to elect Eucherius to the vacant see. That prince granted
+their request, and sent with them one of his principal officers of state
+to conduct him from his monastery to Orleans. The saint's affliction at
+their arrival was inexpressible, and he entreated the monks to screen
+him from the dangers that threatened him. But they preferred the public
+good to their private inclinations, and resigned him up for that
+important charge. He was received at Orleans, and consecrated with
+universal applause, in 721. Though he received the episcopal character
+with grievous apprehensions of its obligations and dangers, he was not
+discouraged, but had recourse to the supreme pastor for assistance in
+the discharge of his duties, and devoted himself entirely to the care of
+his church. He was indefatigable in instructing and reforming his flock,
+and his zeal and even reproofs were attended with so much sweetness and
+charity, that it was impossible not to love and obey him. Charles
+Martel, to defray the expenses of his wars and other undertakings, and
+to recompense those that served him, often stripped the churches of
+their revenues, and encouraged others to do the same. St. Eucherius
+reproved these encroachments with so much zeal, that flatterers
+represented it to the prince as an insult offered to his person;
+therefore, in the year 737, Charles, in his return to Paris, after
+having defeated the Saracens in Aquitaine, took Orleans in his way,
+ordered Eucherius to follow him to Verneuil upon the Oise, in the
+diocese of Beauvais, where he then kept his court, and banished him to
+Cologne. The extraordinary esteem which his virtue procured him in that
+city, moved Charles to order him to be conveyed thence to a strong place
+in Hasbain, now called Haspengaw, in the territory of Liege, under the
+guard of Robert, governor of that country. The governor was so charmed
+with his virtue, that he made him the distributer of his large alms, and
+allowed him to retire to the monastery of Sarchinium, or St. Tron's.
+Here prayer and contemplation were his whole employment, till the year
+743, in which he died on the 20th of February. He is named in the Roman,
+and other martyrologies. See his original life by one of the same age,
+with the preliminary dissertation of Henschenius, and the remarks of
+Mabillon, sæc. 3, Ben. The pretended vision of the damnation of Charles
+Martel, is an evident interpolation, found only in later copies and in
+Surius.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  1. Cor. vii {}, m. 19.
+
+ST. ULRICK, A RECLUSE.
+
+HE was born near Bristol, and being promoted to the priesthood, took
+great pleasure in hunting, till being touched by divine grace, he
+retired near Hoselborough in Dorsetshire, where he led a most austere
+and holy life. He died on the 20th of February, in 1154. See Matthew
+Paris, Ford Henry of Huntingdon, and Harpsfield, sæc. 12, c. 29
+
+{439}
+
+FEBRUARY XXI.
+
+ST. SEVERIANUS, MARTYR.
+
+BISHOP OF SCYTHOPHOLIS.
+
+From the life of St. Euthymius, written by Cyril the monk; a letter of
+the emperor Marcia{}agrius, l. 2, c. 5. Nicephorus Calixt. l. 15, c. 9,
+collected by Bollandus, p. 246.
+
+A.D. 452, or 453.
+
+IN the reign of Marcian and St. Pulcheria, the council of Chalcedon
+which condemned the Eutychian heresy, was received by St. Euthymius, and
+by a great part of the monks of Palestine. But Theodosius, an ignorant
+Eutychian monk, and a man of a most tyrannical temper, under the
+protection of the empress Eudoxia, widow of Theodosius the Younger, who
+lived at Jerusalem, perverted many among the monks themselves, and
+having obliged Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem, to withdraw, unjustly
+possessed himself of that important see, and in a cruel persecution
+which he raised, filled Jerusalem with blood, as the emperor Marcian
+assures us: then, at the head of a band of soldiers, he carried
+desolation over the country. Many, however, had the courage to stand
+their ground. No one resisted him with greater zeal and resolution than
+Severianus, bishop of Scythopolis, and his recompense was the crown of
+martyrdom; for the furious soldiers seized his person, dragged him out
+of the city, and massacred him in the latter part of the year 452, or in
+the beginning of the year 453. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology,
+on the 21st of February.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Palestine, the country which for above one thousand four hundred years
+had been God's chosen inheritance under the Old Law, when other nations
+were covered with the abominations of idolatry, had been sanctified by
+the presence, labors, and sufferings of our divine Redeemer, and had
+given birth to his church, and to so many saints, became often the
+theatre of enormous scandals, and has now, for many ages, been enslaved
+to the most impious and gross superstitions. So many flourishing
+churches in the East which were planted by the labors of the chiefest
+among the apostles, watered with the blood of innumerable glorious
+martyrs, illustrated with the bright light of the Ignatiuses, the
+Polycarps, the Basils, the Ephrems, and the Chrysostoms, blessed by the
+example and supported by the prayers of legions of eminent saints, are
+fallen a prey to almost universal vice and infidelity. With what floods
+of tears can we sufficiently bewail so grievous a misfortune, and
+implore the divine mercy in behalf of so many souls! How ought we to be
+alarmed at the consideration of so many dreadful examples of God's
+inscrutable judgments, and tremble for ourselves! _Let him who stands
+beware lest he fall_. _Hold fast what thou hast_, says the oracle of the
+Holy Ghost to every one of us, _lest another bear away thy crown_.
+
+{440}
+
+SS. GERMAN, ABBOT OF GRANFEL,
+
+AND RANDAUT, OR RANDOALD, MARTYRS.
+
+From their acts, written by the priest Babolen in the same age, in
+Bollandus, Le Cointe, ad an. 662. Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d'Occid. l. 3, c.
+44, p. 661.
+
+ABOUT THE YEAR 666.
+
+ST. GERMAN, or GERMANUS, was son of a rich senator of Triers, and
+brought up from the cradle under the care of Modoald, bishop of Triers.
+At seventeen years of age, he gave all he could dispose of to the poor,
+and with Modoald's consent applied himself to St. Arnoul, who having
+resigned his dignities of bishop of Metz, and minister of state under
+Dagobert, then led an eremitical life in a desert in Lorrain, near
+Romberg, or Remiremont. That great saint, charmed with the innocence and
+fervor of the tender young nobleman, received him in the most
+affectionate manner, and gave him the monastic tonsure. Under such a
+master the holy youth made great progress in a spiritual life, and after
+some time, having engaged a younger brother, called Numerian, to forsake
+the world, he went with him to Romberg, or the monastery of St. Romaric,
+a prince of royal blood, who, resigning the first dignity and rank which
+he enjoyed in the court of king Theodebert, had founded in his own
+castle, in concert with his friend St. Arnoul, a double house, one
+larger for nuns, the other less for monks; both known since under the
+name of Remiremont, situated on a part of Mount Vosge. St. Romaric died
+in 653, and is named in the Roman Martyrology on the 8th of December, on
+which his festival is kept at Remiremont, and that of the Blessed Virgin
+deferred to the day following. He settled here the rule of Luxeu, or of
+St. Columban.[1] St. German made the practices of all manner of
+humiliations, penance, and religion, the object of his earnest ambition,
+and out of a desire of greater spiritual advancement, after some time
+passed with his brother to the monastery of Luxeu, then governed by the
+holy abbot, St. Walbert. Duke Gondo, one of the principal lords of
+Alsace, having founded a monastery in the diocese of Basil, called the
+Great Valley, in German, Granfel, and now more commonly Munster-thal, or
+the Monastery of the valley, St. Walbert appointed St. German abbot of
+the colony which he settled there. Afterwards the two monasteries of
+Ursiein, commonly called St. Ursitz, and of St. Paul Zu-Werd, or of the
+island, were also put under his direction, though he usually resided at
+Granfel. Catihe, called also Boniface, who succeeded Gondo in the duchy,
+inherited no share of his charity and religion, and oppressed both the
+monks and poor inhabitants with daily acts of violence and arbitrary
+tyranny. The holy abbot bore all private injuries in silence, but often
+pleaded the cause of the poor. The duke had thrown the magistrates of
+several villages into prison, and many ways distressed the other
+inhabitants, laying waste their lands at pleasure, and destroying all
+the fruits of their toil, and all the means of their poor subsistence.
+As he was one day ravaging their lands and plundering their houses at
+the head of a troop of soldiers, St. German went out to meet him, to
+entreat him to spare a distressed and innocent people. The duke listened
+to his remonstrances and promised to desist; but while the saint stayed
+to offer up his prayers in the church of St. Maurice, the {441} soldiers
+fell again to killing, burning, and plundering: and while St. German was
+on his road to return to Granfel, with his companion Randoald, commonly
+called Randaut, they first stripped them, and then, while they were at
+their prayers, pierced them both with lances, about the year 666. Their
+relics were deposited at Granfel, and were exposed in a rich shrine till
+the change of religion, since which time the canonries, into which this
+monastery was converted, are removed to Telsberg, or Delmont.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Remiremont was destroyed in the tenth century by the Hungarians or
+    New Huns, but rebuilt in the reign of Louis III., in the plain
+    beyond the Moselle, at the bottom of the mountain, where a town is
+    formed. It has been, if not from its restoration, at least for
+    several centuries, a noble collegiate church for canonesses, who
+    make proof of nobility for two hundred years, but can marry if they
+    resign their p{}ends; except the abbess, who makes solemn religious
+    vows.
+
+SS. DANIEL, PRIEST, AND VERDA, VIRGIN,
+
+MARTYRS.
+
+From their authentic acts, written by St. Maruthas, in Syriac, and
+published by Stephen Assemani among the Oriental Martyrs, t. 1, p. 103.
+
+A.D. 344.
+
+Two years after the martyrdom of St. Milles, Daniel, a priest, and a
+virgin consecrated to God, named Verda, which in Chaldaic signifies a
+rose, were apprehended in the province of the Razicheans, in Persia, by
+an order of the governor, and put to all manner of torments for three
+months, almost without intermission. Among other tortures, their feet
+being bored through, were put into frozen water for five days together.
+The governor, seeing it impossible to overcome their constancy,
+condemned them to lose their heads. They were crowned on the 25th of the
+moon of February, which was that year the 21st of that month, in the
+year of Christ 344, and of king Sapor II., the thirty-fifth. Their names
+were not known either to the Greek or Latin martyrologists: and their
+illustrious triumph is recorded in few words by St. Maruthas: but was
+most glorious in the sight of heaven.
+
+B. PEPIN OF LANDEN, MAYOR OF THE PALACE
+
+TO THE KINGS CLOTAIRE II., DAGOBERT, AND SIGEBERT.
+
+HE was son of Carloman, the most powerful nobleman of Austrasia, who had
+been mayor to Clotaire I., son of Clovis I. He was grandfather to Pepin
+of Herstal, the most powerful mayor, whose son was Charles Martel, and
+grandson Pepin the Short, king of France, in whom began the Carlovingian
+race. Pepin of Landen, upon the river Geete, in Brabant, was a lover of
+peace, the constant defender of truth and justice, a true friend to all
+servants of God, the terror of the wicked, the support of the weak, the
+father of his country, the zealous and humble defender of religion. He
+was lord of great part of Brabant, and governor of Austrasia, when
+Theodebert II., king of that country, was defeated by Theodoric II.,
+king of Burgundy, and soon after assassinated in 612: and Theodoric
+dying the year following, Clotaire II., king of Soissons, reunited
+Burgundy, Neustria, and Austrasia to his former dominions, and became
+sole monarch of France. For the pacific possession of Austrasia he was
+much indebted to Pepin, whom he appointed mayor of the palace to his son
+Dagobert I., when, in 622, he declared him king of Austrasia and
+Neustria. The death of Clotaire II., in 628, put him in possession of
+all France, except a small part of Aquitaine, with Thoulouse, which was
+settled upon his younger brother, Charibert. When king Dagobert,
+forgetful of the maxims instilled into him in his youth, had given
+himself up to a shameful lust, this faithful minister {442} boldly
+reproached him with his ingratitude to God, and ceased not till he saw
+him a sincere and perfect penitent. This great king died in 638, and was
+buried at St. Denys's. He had appointed Pepin tutor to his son Sigebert
+from his cradle, and mayor of his palace when he declared him king of
+Austrasia, in 633. After the death of Dagobert, Clovis II. reigning in
+Burgundy and Neustria, (by whom Erchinoald was made mayor for the
+latter, and Flaochat for the former,) Pepin quitted the administration
+of those dominions, and resided at Metz, with Sigebert, who always
+considered him as his father, and under his discipline became himself a
+saint, and one of the most happy among all the French kings. Pepin was
+married to the blessed Itta, of one of the first families in Aquitaine,
+by whom he had a son called Grimoald, and two daughters, St. Gertrude,
+and St. Begga. The latter, who was the elder, was married to Ansigisus,
+son of St. Arnoul, to whom she bore Pepin of Herstal. B. Pepin, of
+Landen, died on the 21st of February, in 640, and was buried at Landen;
+but his body was afterwards removed to Nivelle, where it is now
+enshrined, as are those of the B. Itta, and St. Gertrude in the same
+place. His name stands in the Belgi martyrologies, though no other act
+of public veneration has been paid to his memory, than the enshrining of
+his relics, which are carried in processions. His name is found in a
+litany published by the authority of the archbishop of Mechlin. See
+Bollandus, t. 3, Fehr. p. 250, and Dom Bouquet, Recueil des Hist. de
+France, t. 2, p. 603.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXII.
+
+THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER AT ANTIOCH.
+
+Baronius, Annot. In Martyrol. ad 18 Januarii, the Bollandists, ib. t. 2
+p. 182, sect. 5 and 6, and especially Jos. Bianchini, Dissecr. De Romanâ
+Cathedrâ in notis in Anastatium Biblioth. t. 4, p. 150.
+
+THAT Saint Peter, before he went to Rome, founded the see of Antioch, is
+attested by Eusebius,[1] Origen,[2] St. Jerom,[3] St. Innocent,[4] Pope
+Gelasius, in his Roman Council,[5] Saint Chrysostom, and others. It was
+just that the prince of the apostles should take this city under his
+particular care and inspection, which was then the capital of the East,
+and in which the faith took so early and so deep root as to give birth
+in it to the name of Christians. St. Chrysostom says, that St. Peter
+made there a long stay: St. Gregory the Great,[6] that he was seven
+years bishop of Antioch; not that he resided there all that time, but
+only that he had a particular care over that church. If he sat
+twenty-five years at Rome, the date of his establishing his church at
+Antioch must be within three years after our Saviour's ascension; for in
+that supposition he must have gone to Rome in the second year of
+Claudius.
+
+The festival of St. Peter's chair in general, Natale Petri de Cathedrâ,
+is marked on this day in the most ancient calendar extant, made in the
+time of pope Liberius, about the year 354.[7] It also occurs in
+Gregory's sacramentary, {443} and in all the martyrologies. It was kept
+in France in the sixth century, as appears from the council of Tours,[8]
+and from Le Cointo.[9]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the first ages it was customary, especially in the East, for every
+Christian to keep the anniversary of his baptism, on which he renewed
+his baptismal vows, and gave thanks to God for his heavenly adoption:
+this they called their spiritual birthday. The bishops in like manner
+kept the anniversary of their own consecration, as appears from four
+sermons of St. Leo, on the anniversary of his accession or assumption to
+the pontifical dignity, and this was frequently continued by the people
+after their decease, out of respect to their memory. St. Leo says, we
+ought to celebrate the chair of St. Peter with no less joy than the day
+of his martyrdom; for as in this he was exalted to a throne of glory in
+heaven, so by the former he was installed head of the church on
+earth.[10]
+
+On this festival we are especially bound to adore and thank the divine
+goodness for the establishment and propagation of his church, and
+earnestly to pray that in his mercy he preserve the same, and dilate its
+pale, that his name may be glorified by all nations, and by all hearts,
+to the boundaries of the earth, for his divine honor and the salvation
+of souls, framed to his divine image, and the price of his adorable
+blood. The church of Christ is his spiritual kingdom: he is not only the
+architect and founder, but continues to govern it, and by his spirit to
+animate its members to the end of the world as its invisible head:
+though he has left in St. Peter and his successors a vicar, or
+lieutenant, as a visible head, with an established hierarchy for its
+exterior government. If we love him and desire his honor, if we love men
+on so many titles linked with us, can we cease weeping and praying, that
+by his sweet omnipotent grace he subdue all the enemies of his church,
+converting to it all infidels and apostates? In its very bosom sinners
+fight against him. Though these continue his members by faith, they are
+dead members, because he lives not in them by his grace and charity,
+reigns not in their hearts, animates them not with his spirit. He will
+indeed always live by grace and sanctity in many members of his mystical
+body. Let us pray that by the destruction of the tyranny of sin all
+souls may subject themselves to the reign of his holy love. Good Jesus!
+for your mercy's sake, hear me in this above all other petitions: never
+suffer me to be separated from you by forfeiting your holy love: may I
+remain always _rooted and grounded in your charity_, as is the will of
+your Father. Eph. iii.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Chron. and Hist., l. 3, c. 30.
+2.  Hom. 6, in Luc.
+3.  In Catal. c. 1.
+4.  Ep. 18, t. 2, Conc. p. 1269.
+5.  Conc. t. 4, p. 1262.
+6.  Ep. 40, l. 7, t. 2, p. 888, Ed. Ben.
+7.  Some have imagined that the feast of the chair of St. Peter was not
+    known, at least in Africa, because it occurs not in the ancient
+    calendar of Carthage. But how should the eighth day before the
+    calends of March now appear in it, since the part is lost from the
+    fourteenth before the calends of March to the eleventh before the
+    calends of May? Hence St. Pontius, deacon and martyr, on the eighth
+    before the Ides of March; St. Donatus, and some other African
+    martyrs are not there found. At least it is certain that it was kept
+    at Rome long before that time. St. Leo preached a sermon on St.
+    Peter's chair, (Serm. 100, t. 1, p. 285, ad. Rom.) Quesnel denied it
+    to be genuine in his first edition; but in the second at Lyons, to
+    1700, he corrected this mistake, and proved this sermon to be St.
+    Leo's; which is more fully demonstrated by Cacciari in his late
+    Roman edition of St. Leo's works, t. 1, p. 285.
+8.  Can. 22.
+9.  Ad an. 566.
+10. St. Leo Serm. 100, in Cathedrâ S. Petri, t. 1, p. 285, ed. Romanæ.
+
+ST. MARGARET OF CORTONA, PENITENT.
+
+From her life written by her confessor, in the Acta Sanctorum; by
+Bollandus, p. 298. Wadding, Annal. FF. Minorum ad an. 1297; and the
+Lives of the SS. of Third Ord. by Barb. t. 1, p. 508.
+
+A.D. 1297
+
+MARGARET was a native of Alviano, in Tuscany. The harshness of a
+stepmother, and her own indulged propension to vice, cast her headlong
+into the greatest disorders. The sight of the carcass of a man, half
+putrefied, {444} who had been her gallant, struck her with so great a
+fear of the divine judgments, and with so deep a sense of the treachery
+of this world, that she in a moment became a perfect penitent. The first
+thing she did was to throw herself at her father's feet, bathed in
+tears, to beg his pardon for her contempt of his authority and fatherly
+admonitions. She spent the days and nights in tears: and to repair the
+scandal she had given by her crimes, she went to the parish church of
+Alviano; with a rope about her neck, and there asked public pardon for
+them. After this she repaired to Cortona, and made her most penitent
+confession to a father of the Order of St. Francis, who admired the
+great sentiments of compunction with which she was filled, and
+prescribed her austerities and practices suitable to her fervor. Her
+conversion happened in the year 1274, the twenty-fifth of her age. She
+was assaulted by violent temptations of various kinds, but courageously
+overcame them, and after a trial of three years, was admitted to her
+profession among the penitents of the third Order of St. Francis, in
+Cortona. The extraordinary austerities with which she punished her
+criminal flesh soon disfigured her body. To exterior mortification she
+joined all sorts of humiliations; and the confusion with which she was
+covered at the sight of her own sins, pushed her on continually to
+invent many extraordinary means of drawing upon herself all manner of
+confusion before men. This model of true penitents, after twenty-three
+years spent in severe penance, and twenty of them in the religious
+habit, being worn out by austerities, and consumed by the fire of divine
+love, died on the 22d of February, in 1297. After the proof of many
+miracles, Leo X. granted an office in her honor to the city of Cortona,
+which Urban VIII. extended to the whole Franciscan Order, in 1623, and
+she was canonized by Benedict XIII. in 1728.
+
+SS. THALASSIUS AND LIMNEUS, CC.
+
+THEY were contemporaries with the great Theodoret, bishop of Cyr, and
+lived in his diocese. The former dwelt in a cavern in a neighboring
+mountain, and was endowed with extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost,
+but was a treasure unknown to the world. His disciple St. Limneus was
+famous for miraculous cures of the sick, while he himself bore patiently
+the sharpest colics and other distempers without any human succor. He
+opened his enclosure only to Theodoret, his bishop, but spoke to others
+through a window. See Theodoret, Phil. c. 22.
+
+ST. BARADAT, C.
+
+HE lived in the same diocese, in a solitary hut, made of wood in
+trellis, like windows, says Theodoret,[1] exposed to all the severities
+of the weather. He was clothed with the skins of wild beasts, and by
+conversing continually with God, he attained to an eminent degree of
+wisdom, and knowledge of heavenly things. He left his wooden prison by
+the order of the patriarch of Antioch, giving a proof of his humility by
+his ready obedience. He studied to imitate all the practices of penance,
+which all the other solitaries of those parts exercised, though of a
+tender constitution himself. The fervor of his soul, and the fire of
+divine love, supported him under his incredible labors {445} though his
+body was weak and infirm. It is sloth that makes us so often allege a
+pretended weakness of constitution, in the practice of penance and the
+exercises of devotion, which courage and fervor would not even feel. See
+Theodoret, Phil. c. 22, t. 3, p. 868, and c. 27.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This passage of Theodoret shows, that the windows of the ancients
+    were made of trellis or wicker before the invention of glass; though
+    not universally; for in the ruins of Herculaneum, near Portichi were
+    found windows of a diaphanous thin slate, such as the rich in Rome
+    sometimes used.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXIII.
+
+ST. SERENUS, A GARDENER, MARTYR.
+
+From his genuine acts in Ruinart, p. 546.
+
+A.D. 327.
+
+SERENUS was by birth a Grecian. He quitted estate, friends, and country,
+to serve God in an ascetic life, that is, in celibacy, penance, and
+prayer. Coming with this design to Sirmium, in Pannonia or Hungary, he
+there bought a garden, which he cultivated with his own hands, and lived
+on the fruits and herbs it produced. The apprehension of the persecution
+made him hide himself for some months; after which he returned to his
+garden. On a certain day, there came thither a woman, with her two
+daughters, to walk. Serenus seeing them come up to him, said, "What do
+you seek here?" "I take a particular satisfaction," she replied, "in
+walking in this garden." "A lady of your quality," said Serenus, "ought
+not to walk here at unseasonable hours, and this you know is an hour you
+ought to be at home. Some other design brought you hither. Let me advise
+you to withdraw, and be more regular in your hours and conduct for the
+future, as decency requires in persons of your sex and condition." It
+was usual for the Romans to repose themselves at noon, as it is still
+the custom in Italy. The woman, stung at our saint's charitable
+remonstrance, retired in confusion, but resolved on revenging the
+supposed affront. She accordingly writes to her husband, who belonged to
+the guards of the emperor Maximian, to complain of Serenus as having
+insulted her. Her husband, on receiving her letter, went to the emperor
+to demand justice, and said: "While we are waiting on your majesty's
+person, our wives in distant countries are insulted." Whereupon the
+emperor gave him a letter to the governor of the province to enable him
+to obtain satisfaction. With this letter he set out for Sirmium, and
+presented it to the governor, conjuring him, in the name of the emperor
+his master, to revenge the affront offered to him in the person of his
+wife during his absence. "And who is that insolent man," said the
+magistrate, "who durst insult such a gentleman's wife?" "It is," said
+he, "a vulgar pitiful fellow, one Serenus, a gardener." The governor
+ordered him to be immediately brought before him, and asked him his
+name. "It is Serenus," said he. The judge said: "Of what profession are
+you?" He answered: "I am a gardener." The governor said: "How durst you
+have the insolence and boldness to affront the wife of this officer?"
+Serenus: "I never insulted any woman, to my knowledge, in my life." The
+governor then said: "Let the witnesses be called in to convict this
+fellow of the affront he offered this lady in a garden." Serenus,
+hearing the garden mentioned, recalled this woman to mind, and answered:
+"I remember that, some time ago, a lady came into my garden at an
+unseasonable hour, with a design, as she said, to take a walk: and I own
+I took the liberty to tell her it was against decency {446} for one of
+her sex and quality to be abroad at such an hour." This plea of Serenus
+having put the officer to the blush for his wife's action, which was too
+plain an indication of her wicked purpose and design, he dropped his
+prosecution against the innocent gardener, and withdrew out of court.
+
+But the governor, understanding by this answer that Serenus was a man of
+virtue, suspected by it that he might be a Christian, such being the
+most likely, he thought, to resent visits from ladies at improper hours.
+Wherefore, instead of discharging him, he began to question him on this
+head, saying: "Who are you, and what is your religion?" Serenus, without
+hesitating one moment, answered: "I am a Christian." The governor said:
+"Where have you concealed yourself? and how have you avoided sacrificing
+to the gods?" "It has pleased God," replied Serenus, "to reserve me for
+this present time. It seemed awhile ago as if he rejected me as a stone
+unfit to enter his building, but he has the goodness to take me now to
+be placed in it; I am ready to suffer all things for his name, that I
+may have a part in his kingdom with his saints." The governor, hearing
+this generous answer, burst into rage, and said: "Since you sought to
+elude by flight the emperor's edicts, and have positively refused to
+sacrifice to the gods, I condemn you for these crimes to lose your
+head." The sentence was no sooner pronounced, but the saint was carried
+off and led to the place of execution, where he was beheaded, on the 23d
+of February, in 307. The ancient Martyrology attributed to St. Jerom,
+published at Lucca by Florentinius, joins with him sixty-two others,
+who, at different times, were crowned at Sirmium. The Roman Martyrology,
+with others, says seventy-two.
+
+The garden affords a beautiful emblem of a Christian's continual
+progress to the path of virtue. Plants always mount upwards, and never
+stop in their growth till they have attained to that maturity which the
+author of nature has prescribed: all the nourishment they,receive ought
+to tend to this end; if any part wastes itself in superfluities, this is
+a kind of disease. So in a Christian, every thing ought to carry him
+towards that perfection which the sanctity of his state requires; and
+every desire of his soul, every action of his life, to be a step
+advancing to this in a direct line. When all his inclinations have one
+uniform bent, and all his labors the same tendency, his progress must be
+great, because uninterrupted, however imperceptible it may often appear.
+Even his temporal affairs must be undertaken with this intention, and so
+conducted as to fall within the compass of this his great design. The
+saints so regulated all their ordinary actions, their meals, their
+studies, their conversation and visits, their business and toil, whether
+tilling a garden or superintending an estate, as to make the love of God
+their motive, and the accomplishment of his will their only ambition in
+every action. All travail which leadeth not towards this end is but so
+much of life misspent and lost, whatever names men may give to their
+political or military achievements, study of nature, knowledge of
+distant shores, or cunning in the mysteries of trade, or arts of
+conversation. Though such actions, when of duty, fall under the order of
+our salvation, and must be so moderated, directed, and animated with a
+spirit of religion, as to be made means of our sanctification. But in a
+Christian life the exercises of devotion, holy desires, and tender
+affections, which proceed from a spirit of humble compunction, and an
+ardent love of our Saviour, and by which a soul raises herself up to,
+and continually sighs after him, are what every one ought most
+assiduously and most earnestly to study to cultivate. By these is the
+soul more and more purified, and all her powers united to God, and made
+heavenly {447} These are properly the most sweet and beautiful flowers
+of paradise, or of a virtuous life.
+
+ST. MILBURGE, V.
+
+See Malmesb. l. 2, Regibus, & l. 4, de Pontif. Angl. c. 3. Thorn's
+Chron. Capgrave Harpsfield, &c.
+
+SEVENTH CENTURY.
+
+ST. MILBURGE was sister to St. Mildred, and daughter of Merowald, son of
+Penda, king of Mercia. Having dedicated herself to God in a religious
+state, she was chosen abbess of Wenlock, in Shropshire, which house she
+rendered a true paradise of all virtue. The more she humbled herself,
+the more she was exalted by God; and while she preferred sackcloth to
+purple and diadems, she became the invisible glory of heaven. The love
+of purity of heart and holy peace were the subject of her dying
+exhortation to her dear sisters. She closed her mortal pilgrimage about
+the end of the seventh century. Malmesbury and Harpsfield write, that
+many miracles accompanied the translation of her relics, in 1101, on the
+26th of May; which Capgrave and Mabillon mistake for the day of her
+death: but Harpsfield, who had seen the best ancient English
+manuscripts, assures us that she died on the 23d of February, which is
+confirmed by all the manuscript additions to the Martyrologies of Bede
+and others, in which her name occurs, which are followed by the Roman on
+this day. The abbey of Wenlock was destroyed by the Danes: but a
+monastery of Cluni monks was afterwards erected upon the same spot, by
+whom her remains were discovered in a vault in 1101, as Malmesbury, who
+wrote not long after, relates.
+
+B. DOSITHEUS, MONK.
+
+From his life, by a fellow-disciple, in Bollandus, p. 38, and from S.
+Dorotheus, Docum. 1.
+
+DOSITHEUS, a young man who had spent his first years in a worldly
+manner, and in gross ignorance of the first principles of Christianity,
+came to Jerusalem on the motive of curiosity, to see a place he had
+heard frequent mention made of in common discourse. Here he became so
+strongly affected by the sight of a picture representing hell, and by
+the exposition given him of it by an unknown person, that, on the spot,
+he forsook the world, and entered into a monastery, where the abbot
+Seridon gave him the monastic habit, and recommended him to the care of
+one of his monks, named Dorotheus. This experienced director, sensible
+of the difficulty of passing from one extreme to another, left his pupil
+at first pretty much to his own liberty in point of eating, but was
+particularly careful to instil into him the necessity of a perfect
+renunciation of his own will in every thing, both great and little. As
+he found his strength would permit, he daily diminished his allowance,
+till the quantity of six pounds of bread became reduced to eight ounces.
+St. Dorotheus proceeded with his pupil after much the same manner in
+other monastic duties; and thus, by a constant and unreserved denial of
+his own will, and a perfect submission to his director, he surpassed in
+virtue the greatest fasters of the monastery. All his actions seemed to
+have nothing of choice, nothing of his own humor in any circumstance of
+them, the will of God alone reigned in his heart. At the end of five
+years he was intrusted with the care of the sick, an office he
+discharged with such an incomparable vigilance, charity, and sweetness,
+as procured him a high and {448} universal esteem: the sick in
+particular were comforted and relieved by the very sight of him. He fell
+into a spitting of blood and a consumption, but continued to the last
+denying his own will, and was extremely vigilant to prevent any of its
+suggestions taking place in his heart; being quite the reverse of those
+persons afflicted with sickness, who, on that account, think every thing
+allowed them. Unable to do any thing but pray, he asked continually, and
+followed, in all his devotions, the directions of his master; and when
+he could not perform his long exercises of prayer, he declared this with
+his ordinary simplicity to St. Dorotheus, who said to him: "Be not
+uneasy, only have Jesus Christ always present in your heart." He begged
+of a holy old man, renowned in that monastery for sanctity, to pray that
+God would soon take him to himself. The other answered: "Have a little
+patience, God's mercy is near." Soon after he said to him: "Depart in
+peace, and appear in joy before the blessed Trinity, and pray for us."
+The same servant of God declared after his death, that he had surpassed
+the rest in virtue, without the practice of any extraordinary austerity.
+Though he is honored with the epithet of saint, his name is not placed
+either in the Roman or Greek calendars.
+
+B. PETER DAMIAN, OR OF DAMIAN,
+
+CARDINAL, BISHOP OF OSTIA.
+
+From his life by his disciple, John of Lodi, in Mabill., s. 6. Ben. and
+from his own writings. Fleury, {} 99, n. 48, and Hist des Ordres Relig.
+Ceillier, t. 20, p. 512. Henschenius ad 23 Febr. p. 406.
+
+A.D. 1072.
+
+PETER, surnamed of Damian, was born about the year 988, in Ravenna, of a
+good family, but reduced. He was the youngest of many children, and,
+losing his father and mother very young, was left in the hands of a
+brother who was married, in whose house he was treated more like a
+slave, or rather like a beast, than one so nearly related; and when
+grown up, he was sent to keep swine. He one day became master of a piece
+of money, which, instead of laying it out in something for his own use,
+he chose to bestow in alms on a priest, desiring him to offer up his
+prayers for his father's soul. He had another brother called Damian, who
+was archpriest of Ravenna, and afterwards a monk; who, taking pity on
+him, had the charity to give him an education. Having found a father in
+this brother, he seems from him to have taken the surname of Damian,
+though he often styles himself the Sinner, out of humility. Those who
+call him De Honestis, confound him with Peter of Ravenna, who was of the
+family of Honesti. Damian sent Peter to school, first at Faenza,
+afterwards at Parma, where he had Ivo for his master. By the means of
+good natural parts and close application, it was not long before he
+found himself in a capacity to teach others, which he did with great
+applause, and no less advantage by the profits which accrued to him from
+his professorship. To arm himself against the allurements of pleasure
+and the artifices of the devil, he began to wear a rough hair shirt
+under his clothes, and to inure himself to fasting, watching, and
+prayer. In the night, if any temptation of concupiscence arose, he got
+out of bed and plunged himself into the cold river. After this he
+visited churches, reciting the psalter while he performed this devotion,
+till the church office began. He not only gave much away in alms, but
+was seldom without some poor person at his table, and took a pleasure in
+serving such, or rather Jesus Christ in their persons, with his own
+hands. But {449} thinking all this to be removing himself from the
+deadly poison of sin but by halves, he resolved entirely to leave the
+world and embrace a monastic life, and at a distance from his own
+country, for the sake of meeting with the fewer obstacles to his design.
+While his mind was full of these thoughts, two religious of the order of
+St. Benedict, belonging to Font-Avellano, a desert at the foot of the
+Apennine in Umbria, happened to call at the place of his abode; and
+being much edified at their disinterestedness, he took a resolution to
+embrace their institute, as he did soon after. This hermitage had been
+founded by blessed Ludolf, about twenty years before St. Peter came
+thither, and was then in the greatest repute. The hermits here remained
+two and two together in separate cells, occupied chiefly in prayer and
+reading. They lived on bread and water four days in the week: on
+Tuesdays and Thursdays they ate pulse and herbs, which every one dressed
+in his own cell: on their fast days all their bread was given them by
+weight. They never used any wine, (the common drink of the country,)
+except for mass, or in sickness: they went barefoot, used disciplines,
+made many genuflections, struck their breasts, stood with their arms
+stretched out in prayer, each according to his strength and devotion.
+After the night office they said the whole psalter before day. Peter
+watched long before the signal for matins, and after, with the rest.
+These excessive watchings brought on him an insomnie, or wakefulness,
+which was cured with very great difficulty. But he learned from this to
+use more discretion. He gave a considerable time to sacred studies, and
+became as well versed in the scriptures, and other sacred learning, as
+he was before in profane literature.
+
+His superior ordered him to make frequent exhortations to the religious,
+and as he had acquired a very great character for virtue and learning,
+Guy, abbot of Pomposia, begged his superior to send him to instruct his
+monastery, which consisted of a hundred monks. Peter stayed there two
+years, preaching with great fruit, and was then called back by his
+abbot, and sent to perform the same function in the numerous abbey of
+St. Vincent, near the mountain called Pietra Pertusa, or the Hollow
+Rock. His love for poverty made him abhor and be ashamed to put on a new
+habit, or any clothes which were not threadbare and most mean. His
+obedience was so perfect, that the least word of any superior, or signal
+given, according to the rule of the house, for the performance of any
+duty, made him run that moment to discharge, with the utmost exactness,
+whatever was enjoined. Being recalled home some time after, and
+commanded by his abbot, with the unanimous consent of the hermitage, to
+take upon him the government of the desert after his death, Peter's
+extreme reluctance only obliged his superior to make greater use of his
+authority till he acquiesced. Wherefore, at his decease, in 1041, Peter
+took upon him the direction of that holy family, which he governed with
+the greatest reputation for wisdom and sanctity. He also founded five
+other numerous hermitages; in which he placed priors under his
+inspection. His principal care was to cherish in his disciples the
+spirit of solitude, charity, and humility. Among them many became great
+lights of the church, as St. Ralph, bishop of Gubio, whose festival is
+kept on the 26th of June, St. Dominick, surnamed Loricatus, the 14th of
+October; St. John of Lodi, his successor in the priory of the Holy
+Cross, who was also bishop of Gubio, and wrote St. Peter's life; and
+many others. He was for twelve years much employed in the service of the
+church by many zealous bishops, and by four popes successively, namely:
+Gregory VI., Clement II., Leo IX., and Victor II. Their successor,
+Stephen IX., in 1057, prevailed with him to quit his desert, and made
+him cardinal bishop of Ostia. But such was his reluctance to the
+dignity, that nothing less than the pope's {450} threatening him with
+excommunication, and his commands, in virtue of obedience, could induce
+Peter to submit.
+
+Stephen IX. dying in 1058, Nicholas II. was chosen pope, a man of deep
+penetration, of great virtue and learning, and very liberal in alms, as
+our saint testifies, who assisted him in obliging John, bishop of
+Veletri, an antipope, set up by the capitaneos or magistrates of Rome,
+to quit his usurped dignity. Upon complaints of simony in the church of
+Milan, Nicholas II. sent Peter thither as his legate, who chastised the
+guilty. Nicholas II. dying, after having sat two years and six months,
+Alexander was chosen pope, in 1062. Peter strenuously supported him
+against the emperor, who set up an antipope, Cadolaus, bishop of Parma,
+on whom the saint prevailed soon after to renounce his pretensions, in a
+council held at Rome; and engaged Henry IV., king of Germany, who was
+afterwards emperor, to acquiesce in what had been done, though that
+prince, who in his infancy had succeeded his pious father, Henry III.,
+had sucked in very early the corrupt maxims of tyranny and irreligion.
+But virtue is amiable in the eyes of its very enemies, and often disarms
+them of their fury. St. Peter had, with great importunity, solicited
+Nicholas II. for leave to resign his bishopric, and return to his
+solitude; but could not obtain it. His successor, Alexander II., out of
+affection for the holy man, was prevailed upon to allow it, in 1062, but
+not without great difficulty, and the reserve of a power to employ him
+in church matters of importance, as he might have occasion hereafter for
+his assistance. The saint from that time thought himself discharged, not
+only from the burden of his flock, but also from the quality of
+superior, with regard to the several monasteries, the general inspection
+of which he had formerly charged himself with, reducing himself to the
+condition of a simple monk.
+
+In this retirement he edified the church by his penance and compunction,
+and labored by his writings to enforce the observance of discipline and
+morality. His style is copious and vehement, and the strictness of his
+maxims appears in all his works, especially where he treats of the
+duties of clergymen and monks. He severely rebuked the bishop of
+Florence for playing a game at chess.[1] That prelate acknowledged his
+amusement to be a faulty sloth in a man of his character, and received
+the saint's remonstrance with great mildness, and submitted to his
+injunction by way of penance, namely: to recite three times the psalter,
+to wash the feet of twelve poor men, and to give to each a piece of
+money. He shows those to be guilty of manifold simony, who serve princes
+or flatter them for the sake of obtaining ecclesiastical preferments.[2]
+He wrote a treatise to the bishop of Besanzon,[3] against the custom
+which the canons of that church had of saying the divine office sitting;
+though he allowed all to sit during the lessons. This saint recommended
+the use of disciplines whereby to subdue and punish the flesh, which was
+adopted as a compensation for long penitential fasts. Three thousand
+lashes, with the recital of thirty psalms, were a redemption of a
+canonical penance of one year's continuance. Sir Thomas More, St.
+Francis of Sales, and others, testify that such means of mortification
+are great helps to tame the flesh, and inure it to the labors of
+penance; also to remove a hardness of heart and spiritual dryness, and
+to soften the soul into compunction. But all danger of abuses, excess,
+and singularity, is to be shunned, and other ordinary bodily
+mortifications, as watching and fasting, are frequently more advisable.
+This saint wrote most severely on the obligations of religious men,[4]
+particularly against their strolling abroad; for one of the most
+essential qualities of their state is solitude, or at least the spirit
+{451} of retirement. He complained loudly of certain evasions, by which
+many palliated real infractions of their vow of poverty. He justly
+observed: "We can never restore what is decayed of primitive discipline;
+and if we, by negligence, suffer any diminution in what remains
+established, future ages will never be able to repair such breaches. Let
+us not draw upon ourselves so base a reproach; but let us faithfully
+transmit to posterity the examples of virtue which we have received from
+our forefathers."[5] The holy man was obliged to interrupt his solitude
+in obedience to the pope, who sent him in quality of his legate into
+France, in 1063, commanding the archbishops and others to receive him as
+himself. The holy man reconciled discords, settled the bounds of the
+jurisdiction of certain dioceses, and condemned and deposed in councils
+those who were convicted of simony. He, notwithstanding, tempered his
+severity with mildness and indulgence towards penitents, where charity
+and prudence required such a condescension. Henry IV., king of Germany,
+at eighteen years of age, began to show the symptoms of a heart
+abandoned to impiety, infamous debauchery, treachery, and cruelty. He
+married, in 1066, Bertha, daughter to Otho, marquis of Italy, but
+afterwards, in 1069, sought a divorce, by taking his oath that he had
+never been able to consummate his marriage. The archbishop of Mentz had
+the weakness to be gained over by his artifices to favor his desires, in
+which view he assembled a council at Mentz. Pope Alexander II. forbade
+him ever to consent to so enormous an injustice, and pitched upon Peter
+Damian for his legate to preside in that synod, being sensible that a
+person of the most inflexible virtue, prudence, and constancy, was
+necessary for so important and difficult an affair, in which passion,
+power, and craft, made use of every engine in opposition to the cause of
+God. The venerable legate met the king and bishops at Frankfort, laid
+before them the orders and instructions of his holiness, and in his name
+conjured the king to pay a due respect to the law of God, the canons of
+the church, and his own reputation, and seriously reflect on the public
+scandal of so pernicious an example. The noblemen likewise all rose up
+and entreated his majesty never to stain his honor by so foul an action.
+The king, unable to resist so cogent an authority, dropped his project
+of a divorce; but remaining the same man in his heart, continued to hate
+the queen more than ever.
+
+Saint Peter hastened back to his desert of Font-Avellano. Whatever
+austerities he prescribed to others he was the first to practise
+himself, remitting nothing of them even in his old age. He lived shut up
+in his cell as in a prison, fasted every day, except festivals, and
+allowed himself no other subsistence than coarse bread, bran, herbs, and
+water, and this he never drank fresh, but what he had kept from the day
+before. He tortured his body with iron girdles and frequent disciplines,
+to render it more obedient to the spirit. He passed the three first days
+of every Lent and Advent without taking any kind of nourishment
+whatever; and often for forty days together lived only on raw herbs and
+fruits, or on pulse steeped in cold water, without touching so much as
+bread, or any thing which had passed the fire. A mat spread on the floor
+was his bed. He used to make wooden spoons and such like useful mean
+things, to exercise himself at certain hours in manual labor. Henry,
+archbishop of Ravenna, having been excommunicated for grievous
+enormities, St. Peter was sent by Pope Alexander II. in quality of
+legate, to adjust the affairs of the church. When he arrived at Ravenna,
+in 1072, he found the unfortunate prelate just dead; but brought {452}
+the accomplices of his crimes to a sense of their guilt, and imposed on
+them a suitable penance. This was his last undertaking for the church,
+God being pleased soon after to call him to eternal rest, and to the
+crown of his labors. Old age and the fatigues of his journey did not
+make him lay aside his accustomed mortifications, by which he
+consummated his holocaust. In his return towards Rome, he was stopped by
+a fever in the monastery of our Lady without the gates of Faenza, and
+died there on the eighth day of his sickness, while the monks were
+reciting matins round about him. He passed from that employment which
+had been the delight of his heart on earth, to sing the same praises of
+God in eternal glory, on the 22d of February, 1072, being fourscore and
+three years old. He is honored as patron at Faenza and Font-Avellano, on
+the 23d of the same month.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Opusc. 20, c. 7.
+2.  Ib. 22.
+3.  Ib. 29, Nat. Alex. Theo Dogm. l. 2, c. 8, reg. 8.
+4.  Opusc. 12.
+5.  The works of St. Peter Damien, printed in three volumes, at Lyons,
+    in 1623, consist of one hundred and fifty-eight letters, fifteen
+    sermons, five lives of saints, namely, of St. Odilo, abbot of Cluni;
+    St. Maurus, bishop of Cesene; St. Romuald; St. Ralph, bishop of
+    Gubio; and St. Dominick Luricatus, and SS. Lucillia and Flora. The
+    third volume contains sixty small tracts, with several prayers and
+    hymns.
+
+ST. BOISIL, PRIOR OF MAILROSS, OR MELROSS, C.
+
+THE famous abbey of Mailross, which in later ages embraced the
+Cistercian rule, originally followed that of St. Columba. It was
+situated upon the river Tweed, in a great forest, and in the seventh
+century was comprised in the kingdom of the English Saxons in
+Northumberland, which was extended in the eastern part of Scotland as
+high as the Frith. Saint Boisil was prior of this house under the holy
+abbot Eata, who seem to have been both English youths, trained up in
+monastic discipline by St. Aidan. Boisil was, says Bede, a man of
+sublime virtues, and endued with a prophetic spirit. His eminent
+sanctity determined St. Cuthbert to repair rather to Mailross than to
+Lindisfarne in his youth, and he received from this saint the knowledge
+of the holy scriptures, and the example of all virtues. St. Boisil had
+often in his mouth the holy names of the adorable Trinity, and of our
+divine Redeemer Jesus, which he repeated with a wonderful sentiment of
+devotion, and often with such an abundance of tears as excited others to
+weep with him. He would say, frequently, with the most tender affection,
+"How good a Jesus have we!" At the first sight of St. Cuthbert, he said
+to the bystanders: "Behold a servant of God." Bede produces the
+testimony of St. Cuthbert, who declared that Boisil foretold him the
+chief things that afterwards happened to him in the sequel of his life.
+Three years beforehand, he foretold the great pestilence of 664, and
+that he himself should die of it, but Eata, the abbot, should outlive
+it. Boisil, not content continually to instruct and exhort his religious
+brethren by word and example, made frequent excursions into the villages
+to preach to the poor, and to bring straying souls into the paths of
+truth and of life. St. Cuthbert was taken with the pestilential disease:
+when St. Boisil saw him recovered, he said to him: "Thou seest, brother,
+that God hath delivered thee from this disease, nor shalt thou any more
+feel it, nor die at this time: but my death being at hand, neglect not
+to learn something of me so long as I shall be able to teach thee, which
+will be no more than seven days." "And what," said Cuthbert, "will be
+best for me to read, which may be finished in seven days?" "The gospel
+of St. John," said he, "which we may in that time read over, and confer
+upon as much as shall be necessary." For they only sought therein, says
+Bede, the sincerity of faith working through love, and not the treating
+of profound questions. Having accomplished this reading in seven days,
+the man of God, Boisil, falling ill of the aforesaid disease, came to
+his last day, which he passed over in extraordinary jubilation of soul,
+out of his earnest desire of being with Christ. In his last moments he
+often repeated those words of St. Stephen: "Lord Jesus receive my
+spirit!" Thus he {453} entered into the happiness of eternal light, in
+the year 664. The instructions which he was accustomed most earnestly to
+inculcate to his religious brethren were: "That they would never cease
+giving thanks to God for the gift of their religious vocation; that they
+would always watch over themselves against self-love, and all attachment
+to their own will and private judgment, as against their capital enemy;
+that they would converse assiduously with God by interior prayer, and
+labor continually to attain to the most perfect purity of heart, this
+being the true and short road to the perfection of Christian virtue."
+Out of the most ardent and tender love which he bore our divine
+Redeemer, and in order daily to enkindle and improve the sane, he was
+wonderfully delighted with reading every day a part of the gospel of St.
+John, which for this purpose he divided into seven parts or tasks. St.
+Cuthbert inherited from him this devotion, and in his tomb was fouled a
+Latin copy of St. John's gospel, which was in the possession of the
+present earl of Litchfield, and which his lordship gave to Mr. Thomas
+Philips, canon of Tongres.
+
+Bede relates[1] as an instance that St. Boisil continued after his death
+to interest himself particularly in obtaining for his country and
+friends the divine mercy and grace, that he appeared twice to one of his
+disciples, giving him a charge to assure St. Egbert, who had been
+hindered from going to preach the gospel to the infidels in Germany,
+that God commanded him to repair to the monasteries of St. Columba, to
+instruct them in the right manner of celebrating Easter. These
+monasteries were, that in the island of Colm-Kill, or Iona, (which was
+the ordinary burial-place of the kings of Scotland down to Malcolm
+III.,) and that of Magis, in the isles of Orkney, built by bishop
+Colman. The remains of St. Boisil were translated to Durham, and
+deposited near those of his disciple St. Cuthbert, in 1030. Wilson and
+other English authors mention St. Boisil on the 7th of August; but in
+the Scottish calendars his name occurs on the 23d of February. See Bede,
+Hist. l. 4, c. 27, l. 5, c. 10, and in Vitâ S. Cuthberti, c. 8.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Hist. l. 5, c. 10.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXIV.
+
+SAINT MATTHIAS, APOSTLE.
+
+From Acts i. 21. See Tillemont, t. 1, p. 406. Henschenius, p. 434.
+
+ST. CLEMENT of Alexandria[1] assures us, from tradition, that this saint
+was one of the seventy-two disciples, which is confirmed by Eusebius[2]
+and St. Jerom;[3] and we learn from the Acts[4] of the apostles, that he
+was a constant attendant on our Lord, from the time of his baptism by
+St. John to his ascension. St. Peter having, in a general assembly of
+the faithful held soon after, declared from holy scripture, the
+necessity of choosing a twelfth apostle, in the room of Judas; two were
+unanimously pitched upon by the assembly, as most worthy of the dignity,
+Joseph, called Barsabas, and, on account of his extraordinary piety,
+surnamed the Just, and Matthias. After devout prayer to God, that he
+would direct them in their choice, they proceeded in {454} it by way of
+lot, which falling by the divine direction on Matthias, he was
+accordingly associated with the eleven, and ranked among the apostles.
+When in deliberations each side appears equally good, or each candidate
+of equally approved merit, lots may be sometimes lawfully used;
+otherwise, to commit a thing of importance to such a chance, or to
+expect a miraculous direction of divine providence in it, would be a
+criminal superstition and a tempting of God, except he himself, by an
+evident revelation or inspiration, should appoint such a means for the
+manifestation of his will, promising his supernatural interposition in
+it, which was the case on this extraordinary occasion. The miraculous
+dreams or lots, which we read of in the prophets, must no ways authorize
+any rash superstitious use of such means in others who have not the like
+authority.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We justly admire the virtue of this holy assembly of saints. Here were
+no solicitations or intrigues. No one presented himself to the dignity.
+Ambition can find no place in a virtuous or humble heart. He who seeks a
+dignity either knows himself unqualified, and is on this account guilty
+of the most flagrant injustice with regard to the public, by desiring a
+charge to which he is no ways equal: or he thinks himself qualified for
+it, and this self-conceit and confidence in his own abilities renders
+him the most unworthy of all others. Such a disposition deprives a soul
+of the divine assistance, without which we can do nothing; for God
+withdraws his grace and refuses his blessing where self-sufficiency and
+pride have found any footing. It is something of a secret confidence in
+ourselves, and a presumption that we deserve the divine succor, which
+banishes him from us. This is true even in temporal undertakings; but
+much more so in the charge of souls, in which all success is more
+particularly the special work of the Holy Ghost, not the fruit of human
+industry. These two holy candidates were most worthy of the apostleship,
+because perfectly humble, and because they looked upon that dignity with
+trembling, though they considered its labors, dangers, and persecutions
+with holy joy, and with a burning zeal for the glory of God. No regard
+was had to worldly talents, none to flesh and blood. God was consulted
+by prayer, because no one is to be assumed to his ministry who is not
+called by him, and who does not enter it by the door,[5] and with the
+undoubted marks of his vocation. Judas's misfortune filled St. Matthias
+with the greater humility and fervor, lest he also should fall. We
+Gentiles are called upon the disinherison of the Jews, and are ingrafted
+on their stock.[6] We ought therefore to learn to stand always in
+watchfulness and fear, or we shall be also cut off ourselves, to give
+place to others whom God will call in our room, and even compel to
+enter, rather than spare us. The number of his elect depends not on us.
+His infinite mercy has invited us without any merit on our side; but if
+we are ungrateful, he can complete his heavenly city without us, and
+will certainly make our reprobation the most dreadful example of his
+justice, to all eternity. The greater the excess of his goodness and
+clemency has been towards us, the more dreadful will be the effects of
+his vengeance. _Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall
+sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God; but the
+sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth_.[7]
+
+St. Matthias received the Holy Ghost with the rest soon after his
+election; and after the dispersion of the disciples, applied himself
+with zeal to the functions of his apostleship, in converting nations to
+the faith. He is recorded by St. Clement of Alexandria,[8] to have been
+remarkable for inculcating the necessity of the mortification of the
+flesh with regard to all {455} its sensual and irregular desires, an
+important lesson he had received from Christ, and which he practised
+assiduously on his own flesh. The tradition of the Greeks in their
+menologies tells us that St: Matthias planted the faith about Cappadocia
+and on the coasts of the Caspian sea, residing chiefly near the port
+Issus. He must have undergone great hardships and labors amidst so
+savage a people. The same authors add that he received the crown of
+martyrdom in Colchis, which they call Æthiopia. The Latins keep his
+festival on the 24th of February. Some portions of his relics are shown
+in the abbatical church of Triers, and in that of St. Mary Major in
+Rome, unless these latter belong to another Matthias, who was one of the
+first bishops of Jerusalem: on which see the Bollandists.
+
+As the call of St. Matthias, so is ours purely the work of God, and his
+most gratuitous favor and mercy. What thanks, what fidelity and love do
+we not owe him for this inestimable grace! When he decreed to call us to
+his holy faith, cleanse us from sin, and make us members of his
+spiritual kingdom, and heirs of his glory, he saw nothing in us which
+could determine him to such a predilection. We were infected with sin,
+and could have no title to the least favor, when God said to us, _I have
+loved Jacob_: when he distinguished us from so many millions who perish
+in the blindness of infidelity and sin, drew us out of the mass of
+perdition, and bestowed on us the grace of his adoption, and all the
+high privileges that are annexed to this dignity. In what transports of
+love and gratitude ought we not, without intermission, to adore his
+infinite goodness to us, and beg that we may be always strengthened by
+his grace to advance continually in humility and his holy love, lest, by
+slackening our pace in his service, we fall from this state of
+happiness, forfeit this sublime grace, and perish with Judas. Happy
+would the church be, if all converts were careful to maintain themselves
+in the same fervor in which they returned to God. But by a neglect to
+watch over themselves, and to shun dangers, and by falling into sloth,
+they often relapse into a condition much worse than the former.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Strom. l. 4, p. 488.
+2.  L. 1, c. {1}.
+3.  In Catal.
+4.  C. i. 21.
+5.  Jo. x. 1.
+6.  Rom. xi. 12.
+7.  Matt. viii. 11.
+8.  Strom. l. 3, p. 436.
+
+SS. MONTANUS, LUCIUS, FLAVIAN, JULIAN, VICTORICUS,
+
+PRIMOLUS, RHENUS, AND DONATIAN, MARTYRS AT CARTHAGE.
+
+From their original acts written, the first part by the martyrs
+themselves, the rest by an eye-witness. They are published more
+correctly by Ruinart than by Surius and Bollandus. See Tillemont, t. 4,
+p. 206.
+
+A.D. 259.
+
+THE persecution, raised by Valerian, had raged two years, during which
+many had received the crown of martyrdom, and, among others, St.
+Cyprian, in September, 258. The proconsul Galerius Maximus, who had
+pronounced sentence on that saint, dying himself soon after, the
+procurator, Solon, continued the persecution, waiting for the arrival of
+a new proconsul from Rome. After some days, a sedition was raised in
+Carthage against him, in which many were killed. The tyrannical man,
+instead of making search after the guilty, vented his fury upon the
+Christians, knowing this would be agreeable to the idolaters.
+Accordingly he caused these eight Christians, all disciples of St.
+Cyprian, and most of them of the clergy, to be apprehended. As soon as
+we were taken, say the authors of the acts, we were given in custody to
+the officers of the quarter:[1] when the governor's soldiers told us
+that we should be condemned to the flames, we prayed to God with great
+fervor to be delivered from that punishment: and he in {456} whose hands
+are the hearts of men, was pleased to grant our request. The governor
+altered his first intent, and ordered us into a very dark and
+incommodious prison, where we found the priest, Victor, and some others:
+but we were not dismayed at the filth and darkness of the place, our
+faith and joy in the Holy Ghost reconciled us to our sufferings in that
+place, though these were such as it is not easy for words to describe;
+but the greater our trials, the greater is he who overcomes them in us.
+Our brother Rhenus, in the mean time, had a vision, in which he saw
+several of the prisoners going out of prison with a lighted lamp
+preceding each of them, while others, that had no such lamp, stayed
+behind. He discerned us in this vision, and assured us that we were of
+the number of those who went forth with lamps. This gave us great joy.
+for we understood that the lamp represented Christ, the true light, and
+that we were to follow him by martyrdom.
+
+The next day we were sent for by the governor, to be examined. It was a
+triumph to us to be conducted as a spectacle through the market-place
+and the streets, with our chains rattling. The soldiers, who knew not
+where the governor would hear its, dragged us from place to place, till,
+at length, he ordered us to be brought into his closet. He put several
+questions to us; our answers were modest, but firm: at length we were
+remanded to prison; here we prepared ourselves for new conflicts. The
+sharpest trial was that which we underwent by hunger and thirst, the
+governor having commanded that we should be kept without meat and drink
+for several days, insomuch that water was refused us after our work: yet
+Flavian, the deacon, added great voluntary austerities to these
+hardships, often bestowing on others what little refreshment which was
+most sparingly allowed us at the public charge.
+
+God was pleased himself to comfort us in this our extreme misery, by a
+vision which he vouchsafed to the priest Victor, who suffered martyrdom
+a few days after. "I saw last night," said he to us, "an infant, whose
+countenance was of a wonderful brightness, enter the prison. He took us
+to all parts to make us go out, but there was no outlet; then he said to
+me, 'You have still some concern at your being retained here, but be not
+discouraged. I am with you: carry these tidings to your companions, and
+let them know that they shall have a more glorious crown.' I asked him
+where heaven was; the infant replied, 'Out of the world.' 'Show it me,'
+says Victor. The infant answered, 'Where then would be your faith?'
+Victor said, 'I cannot retain what you command me: tell me a sign that I
+may give them.' He answered, 'Give them the sign of Jacob, that is, his
+mystical ladder, reaching to the heavens.'" Soon after this vision,
+Victor was put to death. This vision filled us with joy.
+
+God gave us, the night following, another assurance of his mercy by a
+vision to our sister Quartillosia, a fellow-prisoner, whose husband and
+son had suffered death for Christ three days before, and who followed
+them by martyrdom a few days after. "I saw," says she, "my son, who
+suffered; he was in the prison sitting on a vessel of water, and said to
+me: 'God has seen your sufferings.' Then entered a young man of a
+wonderful stature, and he said: 'Be of good courage, God hath remembered
+you.'" The martyrs had received no nourishment the preceding day, nor
+had they any on the day that followed this vision; but at length Lucian,
+then priest, and afterwards bishop of Carthage, surmounting all
+obstacles, got food to be carried to them in abundance by the subdeacon,
+Herermian, and by Januarius, a catechumen. The acts say they brought the
+never-failing food[2] {457} which Tillemont understands of the blessed
+eucharist, and the following words still more clearly determine it in
+favor of this sense. They go on: We have all one and the same spirit,
+which unites and cements us together in prayer, in mutual conversation,
+and in all our actions. These are those amiable bands which put the
+devil to flight, are most agreeable to God, and obtain of him, by joint
+prayer, whatever they ask. These are the ties which link hearts
+together, and which make men the children of God. To be heirs of his
+kingdom we must be his children, and to be his children we must love one
+another. It is impossible for us to attain to the inheritance of his
+heavenly glory, unless we keep that union and peace with all our
+brethren which our heavenly Father has established among us.
+Nevertheless, this union suffered some prejudice in our troop, but the
+breach was soon repaired. It happened that Montanus had some words with
+Julian, about a person who was not of our communion, and who was got
+among us, (probably admitted by Julian.) Montanus on this account
+rebuked Julian, and they, for some time afterwards, behaved towards each
+other with coldness, which was, as it were, a seed of discord. Heaven
+had pity on them both, and, to reunite them, admonished Montanus by a
+dream, which he related to us as follows: "It appeared to me that the
+centurions were come to us, and that they conducted us through a long
+path into a spacious field, where we were met by Cyprian and Lucius.
+After this we came into a very luminous place, where our garments became
+white, and our flesh became whiter than our garments, and so wonderfully
+transparent, that there was nothing in our hearts but what was clearly
+exposed to view: but in looking into myself, I could discover some filth
+in my own bosom; and, meeting Lucian, I told him what I had seen,
+adding, that the filth I had observed within my breast denoted my
+coldness towards Julian. Wherefore, brethren, let us love, cherish, and
+promote, with all our might, peace and concord. Let us be here unanimous
+in imitation of what we shall be hereafter. As we hope to share in the
+rewards promised to the just, and to avoid the punishments wherewith the
+wicked are threatened: as, in fine, we desire to be and reign with
+Christ, let us do those things which will lead us to him and his
+heavenly kingdom." Hitherto the martyrs wrote in prison what happened to
+them there: the rest was written by those persons who were present, to
+whom Flavian, one of the martyrs, had recommended it.
+
+After suffering extreme hunger and thirst, with other hardships, during
+an imprisonment of many months, the confessors were brought before the
+president, and made a glorious confession. The edict of Valerian
+condemned only bishops, priests, and deacons to death. The false friends
+of Flavian maintained before the judge that he was no deacon, and,
+consequently, was not comprehended within the emperor's decree; upon
+which, though he declared himself to be one, he was not then condemned;
+but the rest were adjudged to die. They walked cheerfully to the place
+of execution, and each of them gave exhortations to the people. Lucius,
+who was naturally mild and modest, was a little dejected on account of
+his distemper and the inconveniences of the prison; he therefore went
+before the rest, accompanied but by a few persons, lest he should be
+oppressed by the crowd, and so not have the honor to spill his blood.
+Some cried out to him, "Remember us." "Do you also," says he, "remember
+me." Julian and Victoricus exhorted a long while the brethren to peace,
+and recommended to their care the whole body of the clergy, those
+especially who had undergone the hardships of imprisonment. Montanus,
+who was endued with great strength, both of body and mind, cried out,
+"He that sacrificeth to any God but the true one, shall be utterly
+destroyed." This he often repeated. He also checked the pride and wicked
+obstinacy of the heretics, telling them {458} that they might discern
+the true church by the multitude of its martyrs. Like a true disciple of
+Saint Cyprian, and a zealous lover of discipline, he exhorted those that
+had fallen not to be over hasty, but fully to accomplish their penance.
+He exhorted the virgins to preserve their purity, and to honor the
+bishops, and all the bishops to abide to concord. When the executioner
+was ready to give the stroke, he prayed aloud to God that Flavian, who
+had been reprieved at the people's request, might follow them on the
+third day. And, to express his assurance that his prayer was heard, he
+rent in pieces the handkerchief with which his eyes were to be covered,
+and ordered one half of it to be reserved for Flavian, and desired that
+a place might be kept for him where he was to be interred, that they
+might not be separated even in the grave. Flavian, seeing his crown
+delayed, made it the object of his ardent desires and prayers. And as
+his mother stuck close by his side with the constancy of the mother of
+the holy Maccabees, and with longing desires to see him glorify God by
+his sacrifice, he said to her "You know, mother, how much I have longed
+to enjoy the happiness of dying by martyrdom." In one of the two nights
+which he survived, he was favored with a vision, in which one said to
+him: "Why do you grieve? You have been twice a confessor, and you shall
+suffer martyrdom by the sword." On the third day he was ordered to be
+brought before the governor. Here it appeared how much he was beloved by
+the people, who endeavored by all means to save his life. They cried out
+to the judge that he was no deacon; but he affirmed that he was. A
+centurion presented a billet which set forth that he was not. The judge
+accused him of lying to procure his own death. He answered: "Is that
+probable? and not rather that they are guilty of an untruth who say the
+contrary?" The people demanded that he might be tortured, in hopes he
+would recall his confession on the rack; but the judge condemned him to
+be beheaded. The sentence filled him with joy, and he was conducted to
+the place of execution, accompanied by a great multitude, and by many
+priests. A shower dispersed the infidels, and the martyr was lead into a
+house where he had an opportunity of taking his last leave of the
+faithful without one profane person being present. He told them that in
+a vision he had asked Cyprian whether the stroke of death is painful,
+and that the martyr answered: "The body feels no pain when the soul
+gives herself entirely to God." At the place of execution he prayed for
+the peace of the church and the union of the brethren; and seemed to
+foretell Lucian that he should be bishop of Carthage, as he was soon
+after. Having done speaking, he bound his eyes with that half of the
+handkerchief which Montanus had ordered to be kept for him, and,
+kneeling in prayer, received the last stroke. These saints are joined
+together on his day in the present Roman and in ancient Martyrologies.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Apud regionantes.
+2.  Alimentum indeficiens.
+
+ST. LETHARD, BISHOP OF SENLIS, C.
+
+CALLED BY VENERABLE BEDE, LUIDHARD.
+
+BEDE, William of Malmesbury, and other historians relate, that when
+Bertha, daughter of Charibert, king of the French, was married to
+Ethelbert, king of Kent, about the year 566, this holy French prelate
+accompanied her into England, and resided at Canterbury in quality of
+almoner and chaplain to the queen. Though his name does not occur in the
+imperfect catalogue of the bishops of Senlis, which is found in the
+ancient copy of St. Gregory's sacramentary, which belonged to that
+church in 880, nor in the old edition of Gallia Christiana yet, upon the
+authority of the English historians, {459} is inserted in the new
+edition, the thirteenth, from St. Regulus, the founder of that see, one
+of the Roman missionaries in Gaul about the time of St. Dionysius. The
+relics of St. Regulus are venerated in the ancient collegiate church
+which bears his name in Senlis, and his principal festival is kept on
+the 23d of April. St. Lethard having resigned this see to St. Sanctinus,
+was only recorded in England. On the high altar of St. Augustine's
+monastery at Canterbury, originally called SS. Peter and Paul's, his
+relics were exposed in a shrine near those of the holy king Ethelbert,
+as appears from the Monasticon. St. Lethard died at Canterbury about the
+year 596. Several miracles are recorded to have been obtained by his
+intercession, particularly a ready supply of rain in time of drought.
+See Bede, l. 1, c. 25. Will. of Malmesbury, de Pontif. l. 1. Monas.
+Angl. t. 1, p. 24. Tho. Sprot, in his History of the Abbey of
+Canterbury, Thorn, Henschenius ad 24 Feb., Gallia Christ. Nova, t. 10,
+p. 1382.
+
+B. ROBERT OF ARBRISSEL,
+
+SO CALLED FROM THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH.
+
+HE was archpriest and grand vicar of the diocese of Rennes, and
+chancellor to the duke of Brittany; but divested himself of these
+employments, and led a most austere eremitical life, in the forest of
+Craon, in Anjou. He soon filled that desert with anchorets, and built in
+it a monastery of regular canons. This is the abbey called De la Roe, in
+Latin De Rotâ, which was founded, according to Duchesne, in 1093, and
+confirmed by pope Urban II., in 1096. This pope having heard him preach
+at Angers, gave him the powers of an apostolical missionary. The blessed
+man therefore preached in many places, and formed many disciples. In
+1099 he founded the great monastery of Fontevraud, Fons Ebraldi, a
+league from the Loire, in Poitou. He appointed superioress Herlande of
+Champagne, a near kinswoman to the duke of Brittany; and Petronilla of
+Craon, baroness of Chemillé, coadjutress. He settled it under the rule
+of St. Benedict, with perpetual abstinence from flesh, even in all
+sicknesses, and put his order under the special patronage of the blessed
+Virgin. By a singular institution, he appointed the abbess superioress
+over the men, who live in a remote monastery, whose superiors she
+nominates. The holy founder prescribed so strict silence in his order,
+as to forbid any one to speak, even by signs, without necessity. The law
+of enclosure was not less rigorous, insomuch that no priest was allowed
+to enter even the infirmary of the nuns, to visit the sick, if it could
+possibly be avoided, and the sick, even in their agonies, were carried
+into the church, that they might there receive the sacraments. Among the
+great conversions of which St. Robert was the instrument, none was more
+famous than that of queen Bertrade, the daughter of Simon Montfort, and
+sister of Amauri Montfort, count of Evreux. She was married to Fulk,
+count of Anjou, in 1089, but quitted him in 1092, to marry Philip I.,
+king of France, who was enamored of her. Pope Urban II. excommunicated
+that prince on this account in 1094, and again in 1100, because the
+king, after having put her away, had taken her again. These censures
+were taken off when she and the king had sworn upon the gospels, in the
+council of Poitiers, never to live together again. Bertrade, when she
+had retired to an estate which was her dower, in the diocese of
+Chartres, was so powerfully moved by the exhortations of St. Robert,
+that, renouncing the world, of which she had been long the idol, she
+took the religious veil at Fontevraud, and led there an exemplary life
+till her death. Many other princesses embraced the same state {460}
+under the direction of the holy founder: among others Hersande of
+Champagne, widow of William of Monsoreau; Agnes of Montroëil, of the
+same family; Ermengarde, wife of Alin Fergan, duke of Brittany; {}pa,
+countess of Thoulouse, wife of William IX., duke of Aquitaine, &c. After
+the death of St. Robert, several queens and princesses had taken
+sanctuary in this monastery, flying from the corruption of the world.
+Among its abbesses are counted fourteen princesses, of which five were
+of the royal house of Bourbon. The abbot Suger, writing to pope Eugenius
+III., about fifty years after the death of the founder, says there were
+at that time in this order between five and six thousand religious
+persons. The order of Fontevraud, in France, is divided into four
+provinces. B. Robert lived to see above three thousand nuns in this one
+house. He died in 1116, on the 25th of February, St. Matthias's day, it
+being leap-year, in the seventieth of his age, at the monastery of
+Orsan, near Linieres, in Berry. His body was conveyed to Fontevraud, and
+there interred. The bishop of Poitiers, in 1644, took a juridical
+information of many miracles wrought by his intercession.[1] From the
+time of his death he has been honored with the title of blessed, and is
+invoked in the litany of his order, which keeps his festival only with a
+mass of the Trinity on St. Matthias's day. See his life by Baldric,
+bishop of Dole, his contemporary; Helyot, Hist. des Ordres Relig. t. 6,
+p. 83, Dom Lobineau, Hist. de Bretagne, fol. 1707, p. 113, and, in the
+first place, Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrol. p. 736 to 758, who
+clearly confutes those who place his death in 1117.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Some have raked up most groundless slanders to asperse the character
+    of this holy man, as, that he admitted all to the religious habit
+    that asked it, and was guilty of too familiar conversation with
+    women. These slanders were spread in a letter of Roscelin, whose
+    errors against faith were condemned in the council of Soissons in
+    1095. Such scandalous reports excited the zeal of some good men, and
+    they are mentioned in a letter ascribed to Marbodius, bishop of
+    Rennes, and in another of Godfrey, abbot of Vendome, addressed to
+    the holy man himself. This last letter seems genuine, though some
+    have denied it. But the charge was only gathered from hearsay, and
+    notoriously false, as the very authors of these letters were soon
+    convinced. It is not surprising that a man who bade open defiance to
+    all sinners, and whose reputation ran so high in the world, should
+    excite the murmurs of some and envy of others, which zeal and merit
+    never escape. But his boldness to declaim against the vices of great
+    men, and the most hardened sinners; the high encomiums and favorable
+    testimonies which all who knew him gave to his extraordinary
+    sanctity, which forced even envy itself to respect him; and his most
+    holy comportment and happy death, furnish most invincible proofs of
+    his innocence and purity; which he preserved only by humility, and
+    the most scrupulous flight of all dangerous occasions. Godfrey of
+    Vendome was afterwards perfectly satisfied of the sanctity of this
+    great servant of God and became his warmest friend and patron; as is
+    evident from several of his letters. See l. 1, ep. 24, and 26, l. 3,
+    ep.2, l. 4, ep. 32. He entered into an association of prayers with
+    the monastery of Fontevraud in 1114; and so much did he esteem his
+    virtue that he made a considerable foundation at Fontevraud, often
+    visited the church, and built himself a house near it, called Hotel
+    de Vendome, that he might more frequently enjoy the converse of St.
+    Robert, and promote his holy endeavors. The letter of Marbodius is
+    denied to be genuine by Mainferme and Natalis Alexander, and
+    suspected by D. Beaugendre, who published the works of Marbodius at
+    Paris, in 1708. But the continuator of the Hist. Littér. t. 10, p.
+    359, clearly shows this letter to have been written by Marbodius,
+    who, in it, speaks of these rumors without giving credit to them,
+    and with tenderness and charity exhorts Robert to reform his conduct
+    if the reports were true; to dissipate them by justifying himself,
+    if they were false. Marbodius was soon satisfied as to these
+    calumnies, and was the saint's great protector, in 1101, in his
+    missions in Brittany, particularly in his diocese of Rennes; whither
+    he seems to have invited him. Ermengarde, countess of Brittany, was
+    so moved by St. Robert's sermons, that she earnestly desired to
+    renounce the world, and retire to Fontevraud. The saint exhorted her
+    to continue in the world, and to sanctify her soul by her duties in
+    her public station, especially by patience and prayer: yet, some
+    years after, she took the veil at Fontevaud. See F. de la Mainferme,
+    in his three apologetic volumes in vindication of this patriarch of
+    his order, Natalis Alexander, sæc. xii. diss. 6, and especially
+    Sorin's Apologetique du Saint. in 1702, a polite and spirited work.
+
+ST. PRETEXTATUS, OR PRIX, M.
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF ROUEN.
+
+HE was chosen archbishop of Rouen in 549, and in 557 assisted at the
+third council of Paris held to abolish incestuous marriages, and remove
+other crying abuses: also at the second council of Tours in 566. By his
+zeal in reproving Fredegonda for her injustices and cruelties, he had
+incurred her indignation. King Clotaire I., in 562, had left the French
+monarchy {461} divided among his four sons. Charibert was king of Paris,
+Gontran of Orleans and Burgundy, Sigebert I. of Austrasia, and Chilperic
+I. of Soissons. Sigebert married Brunehault, younger daughter of
+Athanagilde, king of the Visigoths in Spain, and Chilperic her elder
+sister Galsvinda; but after her death he took to wife Fredegonda, who
+had been his mistress, and was strongly suspected to have contrived the
+death of the queen by poison. Hence Brunehault stirred up Sigebert
+against her and her husband. But Fredegonda contrived the assassination
+of king Sigebert in 575, and Chilperic secured Brunehault his wife, her
+three daughters, and her son Childebert. This latter soon made his
+escape, and fled to Metz, where he was received by his subjects, and
+crowned king of Austrasia. The city of Paris, after the death of
+Charibert in 566, by the agreement of the three surviving brothers,
+remained common to them all, till Chilperic seized it. He sent Meroveus,
+his son by his first wife, to reduce the country about Poitiers, which
+belonged to the young prince Childebert. But Meroveus, at Ronen, fell in
+love with his aunt Brunehault, then a prisoner in that city; and bishop
+Prix, in order to prevent a grievous scandal, judging circumstances to
+be sufficiently cogent to require a dispensation, married them: for
+which he was accused of high treason by king Chilperic before a council
+at Paris, in 577, in the church of St. Peter, since called St.
+Genevieve. St. Gregory of Tours there warmly defended his innocence, and
+Prix confessed the marriage, but denied that he had been privy to the
+prince's revolt; but was afterwards prevailed upon, through the
+insidious persuasion of certain emissaries of Chilperic, to plead
+guilty, and confess that out of affection he had been drawn in to favor
+the young prince, who was his godson. Whereupon he was condemned by the
+council, and banished by the king into a small island upon the coast of
+Lower Neustria, near Coutances. His sufferings he improved to the
+sanctification of his soul by penance and the exercise of all heroic
+Christian virtues. The rage and clamor with which his powerful enemies
+spread their slanders to beat down his reputation, staggered many of his
+friends: but St. Gregory of Tours never forsook him. Meroveus was
+assassinated near Terouanne, by an order of his stepmother Fredegonda,
+who was also suspected to have contrived the death of her husband
+Chilperic, who was murdered at Chelles, in 584. She had three years
+before procured Clovis, his younger son by a former wife, to be
+assassinated, so that the crown of Soissons devolved upon her own son
+Clotaire II.: but for his and her own protection, she had recourse to
+Gontran, the religious king of Orleans and Burgundy. By his order Prix,
+after a banishment of six years, was restored with honor to his see;
+Ragnemond, the bishop of Paris, who had been a principal flatterer of
+Chilperic in the persecution of this prelate, having assured this prince
+that the council had not deposed him, but only enjoined him penance. St.
+Prix assisted at the council of Macon in 585, where he harangued several
+times, and exerted his zeal in framing many wise regulations for the
+reformation of discipline. He continued his pastoral labors in the care
+of his flock, and by just remonstrances often endeavored to reclaim the
+wicked queen Fredegonda, who frequently resided at Rouen, and filled the
+kingdom with scandals, tyrannical oppressions, and murders. This Jezabel
+grew daily more and more hardened in iniquity, and by her secret order
+St. Prix was assassinated while he assisted at matins in his church in
+the midst of his clergy on Sunday the 25th of February. Happy should we
+be if under all afflictions, with this holy penitent, we considered that
+sin is the original fountain from whence all those waters of bitterness
+flow, and by laboring effectually to cut off this evil, convert its
+punishment into its remedy and a source of benedictions. St. Prix of
+Rouen to honored in the Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Those who with
+{462} Chatelain, &c. place his death on the 14th of April, suppose him
+to have been murdered on Easter-day, but the day of our Lord's
+Resurrection in this passage of our historian, means no more than
+Sunday. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. l. 5, c. 10, 15. Fleury,
+l. 34, n. 52. Gallia Christiana Nova, t. 11, pp. 11 and 638. Mons.
+Levesque de la Ravaliere in his Nouvelle Vie de S. Gregoire, Evêque de
+Tours, published in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et
+Belles Lettres, An. 1760, t. 26, pp. 699, 60. F. Daniel, Hist. de
+France, t. 1, p. 242.
+
+ST. ETHELBERT, C.
+
+FIRST CHRISTIAN KING AMONG THE ENGLISH.
+
+HE was king of Kent, the fifth descendant from Hengist, who first
+settled the English Saxons in Britain, in 448, and the foundation of
+whose kingdom is dated in 445. Ethelbert married, in his father's
+lifetime, Bertha, the only daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, and
+cousin-german to Clotaire, king of Soissons, and Childebort, king of
+Austrasia, whose two sons, Theodobert and Theodoric, or Thierry, reigned
+after his death, the one in Austrasia, the other in Burgundy. Ethelbert
+succeeded his father Ermenric, in 560. The kingdom of Kent having
+enjoyed a continued peace for about a hundred years, was arrived at a
+degree of power and riches which gave it a pre-eminence in the Saxon
+heptarchy in Britain, and so great a superiority and influence over the
+rest, that Ethelbert is said by Bede to have ruled as far as the Humber,
+and Ethelbert is often styled king of the English. His queen Bertha was
+a very zealous and pious Christian princess, and by the articles of her
+marriage had free liberty to exercise her religion; for which purpose
+she was attended by a venerable French prelate, named Luidhard, or
+Lethard, bishop of Senlis. He officiated constantly in an old church
+dedicated to St. Martin, lying a little out of the walls of Canterbury.
+The exemplary life of this prelate, and his frequent discourses on
+religion, disposed several Pagans about the court to embrace the faith.
+The merit of the queen in the great work of her husband's conversion is
+acknowledged by our historians, and she deserved by her piety and great
+zeal to be compared by St. Gregory the Great to the celebrated St.
+Helen.[1] Divine providence, by these means, mercifully prepared the
+heart of a great king to entertain a favorable opinion of our holy
+religion, when St. Augustine landed in his dominions: to whose life the
+reader is referred for all account of this monarch's happy conversion to
+the faith. From that time he appeared quite changed into another man, it
+being for the remaining twenty years of his life his only ambition and
+endeavor to establish the perfect reign of Christ, both in his own soul
+and in the hearts of all his subjects. His ardor in the exercises of
+penance and devotion never suffered any abatement, this being a property
+of true virtue, which is not to be acquired without much labor and
+pains, self-denial and watchfulness, resolution and constancy. Great
+were, doubtless, the difficulties and dangers which he had to encounter
+in subduing his passions, and in vanquishing many obstacles which the
+world and devil failed not to raise: but these trials were infinitely
+subservient to his spiritual advancement, by rousing him continually to
+greater vigilance and fervor, and by the many victories and the exercise
+of all heroic virtues of which they furnished the occasions. In the
+government of his kingdom, his thoughts were altogether turned upon the
+means of best promoting the {463} welfare of his people. He enacted most
+wholesome laws, which were held in high esteem in succeeding ages in
+this island: he abolished the worship of idols throughout his kingdom,
+and shut up their temples, or turned them into churches. His royal
+palace at Canterbury he gave for the use of the archbishop St. Austin:
+he founded in that city the cathedral called Christ Church, and built
+without the walls the abbey and church of SS. Peter and Paul, afterwards
+called St. Austin's. The foundation of St. Andrew's at Rochester, St.
+Paul's at London, and many other churches, affords many standing proofs
+of his munificence to the church, and the servants of God. He was
+instrumental in bringing over to the faith of Christ, Sebert, king of
+the East-Saxons, with his people, and Redwald, king of the East-Angles,
+though the latter afterwards relapsing, pretended to join the worship of
+idols with that of Christ. King Ethelbert, after having reigned
+fifty-six years, exchanged his temporal diadem for an eternal crown, in
+616, and was buried in the church of SS. Peter and Paul. His remains
+were afterwards deposited under the high altar in the same church, then
+called St. Austin's. St. Ethelbert is commemorated on this day in the
+British and Roman Martyrologies: he was vulgarly called by our ancestors
+St. Albert, under which name he is titular saint of several churches in
+England; particularly of one in Norwich, which was built before the
+cathedral, an account of which is given by Blomfield, in his history of
+Norfolk, and the city of Norwich. Polydore Virgil tells us that a light
+was kept always burning before the tomb of St. Ethelbert, and was
+sometimes an instrument of miracles, even to the days of Henry VIII. See
+Bede, Hist. Ang. l. 1, c. 25, &c. Henschen. t. 3, Febr. p. 471.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Greg. M. l. 9, ep. 60.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXV.
+
+SAINT TARASIUS, CONFESSOR,
+
+PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
+
+From his life written by Ignatius, his disciple, afterwards bishop of
+Nice, and from the church historians of his time. See Bollandus, t. 5,
+p. 576. Fleury, B. 44.
+
+A.D. 806.
+
+TARASIUS was born about the middle of the eighth century. His parents
+were both of patrician families. His father, George, was a judge in
+great esteem for his well-known justice, and his mother, Eucratia, no
+less celebrated for her piety. She brought him up in the practice of the
+most eminent virtues. Above all things, she recommended to him to keep
+no company but that of the most virtuous. The young man, by his talents
+and virtue, gained the esteem of all, and was raised to the greatest
+honors of the empire, being made consul, and afterwards first secretary
+of state to the emperor Constantine and the empress Irene, his mother.
+In the midst of the court, and in its highest honors, surrounded by all
+that could flatter pride, or gratify sensuality, he led a life like that
+of a religious man.
+
+Leo, the Isaurian, his son Constantine Copronymus, and his grandson Leo,
+surnamed Chazarus, three successive emperors, had established, with all
+their power, the heresy of the Iconoclasts, or image-breakers, in the
+{464} East. The empress Irene, wife to the last, was always privately a
+Catholic, though an artful, ambitious woman. Her husband dying miserably
+in 780, after a five years' reign, and having left his son Constantine,
+but ten years old, under her guardianship, she so managed the nobility
+in her favor as to get the regency and whole government of the state
+into her hands, and put a stop to the persecution of the Catholics.
+Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, the third of that name, had been
+raised to that dignity by the late emperor. Though, contrary to the
+dictates of his own conscience, he had conformed in some respects to the
+then reigning heresy, he had however several good qualities; and was not
+only singularly beloved by the people for his charity to the poor, but
+highly esteemed by the empress and the whole court for his great
+prudence. Finding himself indisposed, and being touched with remorse for
+his condescension to the Iconoclasts in the former reign, without
+communicating his design to any one, he quitted the patriarchal see, and
+put on a religious habit in the monastery of Florus, in Constantinople.
+The empress was no sooner informed of it, but taking with her the young
+emperor, went to the monastery to dissuade a person so useful to her
+from persisting in such a resolution, but all in vain, for the patriarch
+assured them with tears, and bitter lamentations, that, in order to
+repair the scandal he had given, he had taken an unalterable resolution
+to end his days in that monastery; so desired them to provide the church
+of Constantinople with a worthy pastor in his room. Being asked whom he
+thought equal to the charge, he immediately named Tarasius, and dying
+soon after this declaration, Tarasius was accordingly chosen patriarch
+by the unanimous consent of the court, clergy, and people. Tarasius
+finding it in vain to oppose his election, declared, however, that he
+thought he could not in conscience accept of the government of a see
+which had been cut off from the Catholic communion, but upon condition
+that a general council should be called to compose the disputes which
+divided the church at that time, in relation to holy images. This being
+agreed to, he was solemnly declared patriarch, and consecrated soon
+after, on Christmas-day. He was no sooner installed, but he sent his
+synodal letters to pope Adrian, to whom the empress also wrote in her
+own and her son's name on the subject of a general council; begging that
+he would either come in person, or at least send some venerable and
+learned men as his legates to Constantinople. Tarasius wrote likewise a
+letter to the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, wherein
+he desires them to send their respective legates to the intended
+council. His letter to the pope was to the same effect. The pope sent
+his legates, as desired, and wrote by them to the emperor, the empress,
+and the patriarch; applauded their zeal, showing at large the impiety of
+the Iconoclast heresy, insisting that the false council of the
+Iconoclasts, held under Copronymus for the establishment of Iconoclasm,
+should be first condemned in presence of his legates, and conjuring them
+before God to re-establish holy images at Constantinople, and in all
+Greece, on the footing they were before. He recommends to the emperor
+and empress his two legates to the council, who were Peter, archpriest
+of the Roman church, and Peter, priest and abbot of St. Sabas, in Rome.
+The eastern patriarchs being under the Saracen yoke, could not come for
+fear of giving offence to their jealous masters, who prohibited, under
+the strictest penalties, all commerce with the empire. However, with
+much difficulty and through many dangers, they sent their deputies.
+
+The legates of the pope and the oriental patriarchs being arrived, as
+also the bishops under their jurisdiction, the council was opened on the
+1st of August, in the church of the apostles at Constantinople, in 786.
+But the assembly being disturbed by the violences of the Iconoclasts,
+and desired {465} by the empress to break up and withdraw for the
+present, the council met again the year following in the church of St.
+Sophia, at Nice. The two legates from the pope are named first in the
+Acts, St. Tarasms next, and after him the legates of the Oriental
+patriarchs, namely, John, priest and monk, for the patriarchs of Antioch
+and Jerusalem; and Thomas, priest and monk, for the patriarch of
+Alexandria. The council consisted of three hundred and fifty bishops,
+besides many abbots and other holy priests and confessors,[1] who having
+declared the sense of the present church, in relation to the matter in
+debate, which was found to be the allowing to holy pictures and images a
+relative honor, the council was closed with the usual acclamations and
+prayers for the prosperity of the emperor and empress. After which,
+synodal letters were sent to all the churches, and in particular to the
+pope, who approved the council.
+
+The good patriarch, pursuant to the decrees of the synod, restored holy
+images throughout the extent of his jurisdiction. He also labored
+zealously to abolish simony, and wrote a letter upon that subject to
+pope Adrian, to which, by saying it was the glory of the Roman church to
+preserve the purity of the priesthood, he intimated that that church was
+free from this reproach. The life of this holy patriarch was a model of
+perfection to his clergy and people. His table had nothing of the
+superfluity, nor his palace any thing of the magnificence, of several of
+his predecessors. He allowed himself very little time for sleep, being
+always up the first and last in his family. Reading and prayer filled
+all his leisure hours. It was his pleasure, in imitation of our blessed
+Redeemer, to serve others instead of being served by them;{466} on which
+account he would scarce permit his own servants to do any thing for him.
+Loving humility in himself, he sought sweetly to induce all others to
+the love of that virtue. He banished the use of gold and scarlet from
+among the clergy, and labored to extirpate all the irregularities among
+the people. His charity and love for the poor seemed to surpass his
+other virtues. He often took the dishes of meat from his table to
+distribute among them with his own hands: and he assigned them a large
+fixed revenue. And that none might be overlooked, he visited all the
+houses and hospitals in Constantinople. In Lent, especially, his bounty
+to them was incredible. His discourses were powerful exhortations to the
+universal mortification of the senses, and he was particularly severe
+against all theatrical entertainments. Some time after, the emperor
+became enamored of Theodota, a maid of honor to his wife, the empress
+Mary, whom he had always hated; and forgetting what he owed to God, he
+was resolved to divorce her in 795, after seven years' cohabitation. He
+used all his efforts to gain the patriarch, and sent a principal officer
+to him for that purpose, accusing his wife of a plot to poison him. St.
+Tarasius answered the messenger, saying: "I know not how the emperor can
+bear the infamy of so scandalous an action in the sight of the universe:
+nor how he will be able to hinder or punish adulteries and debaucheries,
+if he himself set such an example. Tell him that I will rather suffer
+death and all manner of torments than consent to his design." The
+emperor hoping to prevail with him by flattery, sent for him to the
+palace, and said to him: "I can conceal nothing from you, whom I regard
+as my father. No one can deny but I may divorce one who has attempted my
+life. She deserves death or perpetual penance." He then produced a
+vessel, as he pretended, full of the poison prepared for him. The
+patriarch, with good reason, judging the whole to be only an artful
+contrivance to impose upon him, answered: that he was too well convinced
+that his passion for Theodota was at the bottom of all his complaints
+against the empress. He added, that, though she were guilty of the crime
+he laid to her charge, his second marriage during her life, with any
+other, would still be contrary to the law of God, and that he would draw
+upon himself the censures of the church by attempting it. The monk John,
+who had been legate of the eastern patriarchs in the seventh council,
+being present, spoke also very resolutely to the emperor on the subject,
+so that the pretors and patricians threatened to stab him on the spot:
+and the emperor, boiling with rage, drove them both from his presence.
+As soon as they were gone, he turned the empress Mary out of his palace,
+and obliged her to put on a religious veil. Tarasius persisting in his
+refusal to marry him to Theodota, the ceremony was performed by Joseph,
+treasurer of the church of Constantinople. This scandalous example was
+the occasion of several governors and other powerful men divorcing their
+wives, or taking more than one at the same time, and gave great
+encouragement to public lewdness. SS. Plato and Theodorus separated
+themselves from the emperor's communion to show their abhorrence of his
+crime. But Tarasius did not think it prudent to proceed to
+excommunication, as he had threatened, apprehensive that the violence of
+his temper, when further provoked, might carry him still greater
+lengths, and prompt him to re-establish the heresy which he had taken
+such effectual measures to suppress. Thus the patriarch, by his
+moderation, prevented the ruin of religion, but drew upon himself the
+emperor's resentment, who persecuted him many ways during the remainder
+of his reign. Not content to set spies and guards over him under the
+name of Syncelli, who watched all his actions, and suffered no one to
+speak to him without their leave, he banished many of his domestics and
+relations. This confinement gave the saint the more leisure for
+contemplation, and he {467} never ceased in it to recommend his flock to
+God. The ambitious Irene, finding that all her contrivances to render
+her son odious to his subjects had proved ineffectual to her design,
+which was to engross the whole power to herself, having gained over to
+her party the principal officers of the court and army, she made him
+prisoner, and caused his eyes to be plucked out; this was executed with
+so much violence that the unhappy prince died of it in 797. After this
+she reigned alone five years, during which she recalled all the
+banished; but at length met with the deserved reward of her ambition and
+cruelty from Nicephorus, a patrician, and the treasurer general; who, in
+802, usurped the empire, and having deposed her, banished her into the
+isle of Lesbos, where she soon after died with grief.
+
+St. Tarasius, on the death of the late emperor, having interdicted and
+deposed the treasurer Joseph, who had married and crowned Theodota, St.
+Plato, and others, who had censured his lenity, became thoroughly
+reconciled to him. The saint, under his successor Nicephorus, persevered
+peaceably in his practices of penance, and in the functions of his
+pastoral charge. In his last sickness he still continued to offer daily
+the holy sacrifice as long as he was able to move. A little before his
+death he fell into a kind of trance, as the author of his life, who was
+an eye-witness, relates, wherein he was heard to dispute and argue with
+a number of accusers, very busy in sifting his whole life, and objecting
+all they could to it. He seemed in a great fright and agitation on this
+account, and, defending himself, answered every thing laid to his
+charge. This filled all present with fear, seeing the endeavors of the
+enemy of man to find something to condemn even in the life of so holy
+and so irreprehensible a bishop. But a great serenity succeeded, and the
+holy man gave up his soul to God in peace, on the 25th of February, 806,
+having sat twenty-one years and two months. God honored his memory with
+miracles, some of which are related by the author of his life. His
+festival began to be celebrated under his successor. The Latin and Greek
+churches both honor his memory on this day. Fourteen years after his
+decease, Leo, the Armenian, the Iconoclast emperor, dreamed a little
+before his own death, that he saw St. Tarasius highly incensed against
+him, and heard him command one Michael to stab him. Leo, judging this
+Michael to be a monk in the saint's monastery, ordered him the next
+morning to be sought for, and even tortured some of the religious to
+oblige them to a discovery of the person: but it happened there was none
+of that name among them; and Leo was killed six days after by Michael
+Balbus.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The virtue of St. Tarasius was truly great, because constant and crowned
+with perseverance, though exposed to continual dangers of illusion or
+seduction, amidst the artifices of hypocrites and a wicked court. St.
+Chrysostom observes,[2] that the path of virtue is narrow, and lies
+between precipices, in which it is easier for the traveller to be seized
+with giddiness even near the end of his course, and fall. Hence this
+father most grievously laments the misfortune of king Ozias, who, after
+long practising the most heroic virtues, fell, and perished through
+pride; and he strenuously exhorts all who walk in the service of God,
+constantly to live in fear, watchfulness, humility, and compunction. "A
+soul," says he, "often wants not so much spurring in the beginning of
+her conversion; her own fervor and cheerfulness make her run vigorously.
+But this fervor, unless it be continually nourished, cools by degrees:
+then the devil assails her with all his might. Pirates wait for and
+principally attack ships when they are upon the return home laden with
+{468} riches, rather than empty vessels going out of the port. Just so
+the devil, when he sees a soul has gathered great spiritual riches, by
+fasts, prayer, alms, chastity, and all other virtues, when he sees our
+vessel fraught with rich commodities, then he falls upon her, and seeks
+on all sides to break in. What exceedingly aggravates the evil, is the
+extreme difficulty of ever rising again after such a fall. To err in the
+beginning may be in part a want of experience; but to fall after a long
+course is mere negligence, and can deserve no excuse or pardon."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  In the third session the letters of the patriarchs of Alexandria,
+    Antioch, and Jerusalem were read, all teaching the same doctrine of
+    paying a relative honor to sacred images, no less than the letters
+    of pope Adrian. Their deputies, John and Thomas, then added, that
+    the absence of those patriarchs should not affect the authority of
+    the council, because the tyranny under which they lived made their
+    presence impossible, and because they had sent their deputies and
+    professions of faith by letter: that none of the oriental patriarchs
+    had been at the sixth general Council, laboring then under the yoke
+    of the barbarians, yet it was not less an [oe]cumenical synod,
+    especially "as the apostolic Roman pope agreed to it, and presided
+    in it by his legates." This is a clear testimony of the eastern
+    churches in favor of the authority of the holy see in general
+    councils, and it cannot in the least be suspected of fluttery. In
+    the fourth session were read many passages of the fathers in favor
+    of the relative honor due to holy images. After which, all cried
+    out, they were sons of obedience, who placed their glory in
+    following the tradition of their holy mother the church; and they
+    pronounced many anathemas against all image-breakers, that is, those
+    who do not honor holy images, or those who call them Idols. In the
+    end they add a confession of filth, in which they declare, that they
+    honor the mother of God, who is above all the heavenly powers: then
+    the angels, apostles, prophets, martyrs, doctors, and all the
+    saints; as also their pictures: for though the angels are
+    incorporeal, they have appeared like men. This profession of faith
+    was subscribed by the pope's legates, St. Turasius, the legates of
+    the three other patriarchs, and three hundred and one bishops
+    present, besides a great many priests and deacons, deputies of
+    absent bishops, and by one hundred and thirty abbots. In the fifth
+    session were read many passages of fathers falsified and corrupted
+    by the Iconoclasts, as was clearly shown. The archpriest, the pope's
+    legate, demanded that an image should be then set up in the midst of
+    the assembly, and honored by all, which was done; and that the books
+    written against holy images night be condemned and burned, which the
+    council also ratified. In the sixth session the sham council of the
+    Iconoclasts under Copronymus was condemned and refuted as to every
+    article: as first, that it falsely styled itself a _general_
+    council; for it was not received but anathematized by the other
+    bishops of the church. Secondly, because the pope of Rome had no
+    ways concurred to it, neither by himself nor by his legates, nor by
+    a circular letter, according to the custom of councils: nor had the
+    western bishops assisted at it. Thirdly, there had not been obtained
+    any consent of the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem,
+    nor of the bishops of their respective districts. These are
+    conditions necessary to a general council, which were all wanting to
+    that sham synod. The council goes on refuting it, because it accused
+    the church of idolatry; which is giving the lie to Christ, whose
+    kingdom, according to scripture, is everlasting, and whose power
+    over hell can never be wrested from him. To accuse the whole church
+    is to do fill injury to Christ. They added, that the sham synod had
+    contradicted itself by admitting that the six general councils had
+    preserved the faith entire, and yet condemned the use of images,
+    which it must allow to be more ancient than the sixth council, and
+    which is of as great antiquity as the apostolic age. And that
+    whereas the same synod had advanced that the clergy having fallen
+    Into Idolatry, God had raised faithful emperors to destroy the
+    fortresses of the devil; the council of Nice vehemently condemns
+    this, because the bishops are the depositaries of tradition, and not
+    the emperors. It adds, that the Iconoclasts falsely called the
+    blessed Eucharist the only image, for it is not an image nor a
+    figure, but the true body and blood of Christ. In the seventh
+    session was read the definition of filth, declaring, that images
+    ought to be set up in churches as well as crosses, (which last the
+    Iconoclasts allowed of,) also to be figured on the sacred vessels
+    and ornaments, on the walls, ceilings, houses, &c. For the oftener
+    people behold holy images or pictures, the oftener are they excited
+    to the remembrance of what they represent: that these images are to
+    be honored, but not with the worship called Latria, which can only
+    be given to God: that they shall be honored with incense and
+    candles, as the cross, the gospels, and other holy things are, all
+    according to the pious customs of the ancients. For the honor paid
+    to images, passes to the archetypes, or things represented, and he
+    who reveres the image reveres the person it represents. This the
+    council declared to be the doctrine of the fathers, and tradition of
+    the Catholic church.
+2.  Chrysos. Hom. 3. de Ozia, t. 6, p. 14. ed Ben.
+
+ST. VICTORINUS, AND SIX COMPANIONS, MARTYRS.
+
+From their genuine acts published from the Chaldaic by Monsignor Steph.
+Assemani. Act. Mart. Occid. t. 2. p. 60. See also Henschenius on this
+day.
+
+A.D. 284.
+
+THESE seven martyrs were citizens of Corinth, and confessed their faith
+before Tertius the proconsul, in their own country, in 249, in the
+beginning of the reign of Decius. After their torments they passed into
+Egypt, whether by compulsion or by voluntary banishment is not known,
+and there finished their martyrdom at Diospolis, capital of Thebais, in
+the reign of Numerian, in 284, under the governor Sabinus. After the
+governor had tried the constancy of the martyrs by racks, scourges, and
+various inventions of cruelty, he caused Victorinus to be thrown into a
+great mortar, (the Greek Menology says, of marble.) The executioners
+began by pounding his feet and legs, saying to him at every stroke:
+"Spare yourself, wretch. It depends upon you to escape this death, if
+you will only renounce your new God." The prefect grew furious at his
+constancy, and at length commanded his head to be beat to pieces. The
+sight of this mortar, so far from casting a damp on his companions,
+seemed to inspire them with the greater ardor to be treated in the like
+manner. So that when the tyrant threatened Victor with the same death,
+he only desired him to hasten the execution; and, pointing to the
+mortar, said: "In that is salvation and true felicity prepared for me!"
+He was immediately cast into it and beaten to death. Nicephorus, the
+third martyr, was impatient of delay, and leaped of his own accord into
+the bloody mortar. The judge, enraged at his boldness, commanded not
+one, but many executioners at once to pound him in the same manner. He
+caused Claudian, the fourth, to be chopped in pieces, and his bleeding
+joints to be thrown at the feet of those that were yet living. He
+expired after his feet, hands, arms, legs, and thighs were cut off. The
+tyrant, pointing to his mangled limbs and scattered bones, said to the
+other three: "It concerns you to avoid this punishment; I do not compel
+you to suffer." The martyrs answered with one voice: "On the contrary,
+we rather pray that if you have any other more exquisite torment you
+would inflict it on us. We are determined never to violate the fidelity
+which we owe to God, or to deny Jesus Christ our Saviour, for he is our
+God, from whom we have our being, and to whom alone we aspire." The
+tyrant became almost distracted with fury, and commanded Diodorus to be
+burned alive, Serapion to be beheaded, and Papias to be drowned. This
+happened on the 25th of February; on which day the Roman and other
+western Martyrologies name them; but the Greek Menæa, and the Menology
+of the emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, honor them on the 21st of January,
+the day of their confession at Corinth.
+
+{469}
+
+ST. WALBURGE,[1] V. ABBESS.
+
+SHE was daughter to the holy king St. Richard, and sister to SS.
+Willibald and Winebald; was born in the kingdom of the West-Saxons in
+England, and educated in the monastery of Winburn in Dorsetshire, where
+she took the religious veil. After having passed twenty-seven years in
+this holy nunnery, she was sent by the abbess Tetta, under the conduct
+of St. Lioba, with several others, into Germany, at the request of her
+cousin, St. Boniface.[2] Her first settlement in that country was under
+St. Lioba, in the monastery of Bischofsheim, in the diocese of Mentz.
+Two years after she was appointed abbess of a nunnery founded by her two
+brothers, at Heidenheim in Suabia, (now subject to the duke of
+Wirtemberg,) where her brother, St. Winebald, took upon him at the same
+time the government of an abbey of monks. This town is situated in the
+diocese of Aichstadt, in Franconia, upon the borders of Bavaria, of
+which St. Willibald, our saint's other brother, had been consecrated
+bishop by St. Boniface. So eminent was the spirit of evangelical
+charity, meekness, and piety, which all the words and actions of St.
+Walburge breathed, and so remarkable was the fruit which her zeal and
+example produced in others, that when St. Winebald died, in 760, she was
+charged with a superintendency also over the abbey of monks till her
+death. St. Willibald caused the remains of their brother Winebald to be
+removed to Aichstadt, sixteen years after his death; at which ceremony
+St. Walburge assisted. Two years after she passed herself to eternal
+rest; on the 25th of February, in 779, having lived twenty-five years at
+Heidenheim. Her relics were translated, in the year 870, to Aichstadt,
+on the 21st of September, and the principal part still remains there in
+the church anciently called of the Holy Cross, but since that time of
+St. Walburge. A considerable portion is venerated with singular devotion
+at Furnes, where, by the pious zeal of Baldwin, surnamed of Iron, it was
+received on the 25th of April, and enshrined on the 1st of May, on which
+day her chief festival is placed in the Belgic Martyrologies, imitated
+by Baronius in the Roman. From Furnes certain small parts have been
+distributed in several other towns in the Low Countries, especially at
+Antwerp, Brussels, Tiel, Arnhem, Groningue, and Zutphen; also Cologne,
+Wirtemberg, Ausberg, Christ Church at Canterbury, and other places, were
+enriched with particles of this treasure from Aichstadt. St. Walburge is
+titular saint of many other great churches in Germany, Brabant,
+Flanders, and several provinces of France, especially in Poitou, Perche,
+Normandy, Burgundy, Lorraine, Alsace, &c. Her festival, on account of
+various translations of her relics, is marked on several days of the
+year, but the principal is kept in most places on the day of her death.
+A portion of her relics was preserved in a rich shrine in the repository
+of relics in the electoral palace of Hanover, as appears from the
+catalogue printed in folio at Hanover in 1713. See her life written by
+Wolfhard, a devout priest of Aichstadt, in the following century, about
+the year {470} 890, again by Adelbold, nineteenth bishop of Utrecht, (of
+which diocese Heda calls her patroness;) thirdly, by an anonymous
+author; fourthly, by the poet Medibard; fifthly, by Philip, bishop of
+Aichstadt; sixthly, by an anonymous author, at the request of the nuns
+of St. Walburge of Aichstadt. All these six lives are published by
+Henschenius. See also Raderus, in Bavaria Sancta, t. 3, p. 4. Gretser,
+de Sanctis Eystettensibus, &c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This saint is corruptly called, in Perche, St. Gauburge, in Normandy
+    and Champagne, St. Vaubourg, about Luzon, St. Falbourg, in ether
+    parts of Poitou, St. Avougourg, in Germany, Walburge, Waltpurde,
+    Walpourc, and in some places Warpurg. Her English-Saxon name
+    Walburge, is the same with the Greek Eucharia, and signifies
+    gracious. See Camden's Remains.
+2.  St. Boniface being sensible of how great importance it is for the
+    public advantage of the church, and the general advancement of the
+    kingdom of Christ in the souls of men, called over from England into
+    Germany many holy nuns whom he judged best qualified to instruct and
+    train up others in the maxims and spirit of the Gospel. Among these
+    he placed St. Tecla in the monastery of Kitzingen, founded by
+    Alheide, daughter of king Pepin; St. Lioba was appointed by him
+    abbess at Bischofsheim; St. Cunihilt, aunt of St. Lulius, and her
+    daughter Berathgit, called also Bergitis, were mistresses of
+    religious schools in Thuringia, and were honored in that country
+    among the saints. Cunihildls is also called Gunthildis and
+    Bilhildis. See Thuringia Sacra, printed at Frankfort, an. 1737.
+
+SAINT CÆSARIUS, C.
+
+HE was a physician, and brother to St. Gregory Nazianzen. When the
+latter repaired to Cæsarea, in Palestine, where the sacred studies
+flourished, Cæsarius went to Alexandria, and with incredible success ran
+through the circle of the sciences, among which oratory, philosophy, and
+especially medicine, fixed his attention. In this last he became the
+first man of his age. He perfected himself in this profession at
+Constantinople, but excused himself from settling there, as the city and
+the emperor Constantius earnestly requested him to do. He was afterwards
+recalled thither, singularly honored by Julian the Apostate, nominated
+his first physician, and excepted in several edicts which that prince
+published against the Christians. He resisted strenuously the
+insinuating discourses and artifices with which that prince endeavored
+to seduce him, and was prevailed upon by the remonstrances of his father
+and brother to resign his places at court, and prefer a retreat,
+whatever solicitations Julian could use to detain him. Jovian honorably
+restored him, and Valens, moreover, created him treasurer of his own
+private purse, and of Bithynia. A narrow escape in an earthquake at
+Nice, in Bithynia, in 368, worked so powerfully on his mind, that he
+renounced the world, and died shortly after, in the beginning of the
+year 369, leaving the poor his heirs. The Greeks honor his memory on the
+9th of March, as Nicephorus testifies, (Hist. l. 11, c. 19,) and as
+appears from the Menæa: in the Roman Martyrology he is named on the 25th
+of February.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXVI.
+
+ST. ALEXANDER, CONFESSOR,
+
+PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA.
+
+From Theodoret, St. Athanasius, &c. See Hennant, Tillemont, t. 6, pp.
+213, 240. Ceillier, t. 4.
+
+A.D. 326.
+
+ST. ALEXANDER succeeded St. Achillas in the see of Alexandria, in 313.
+He was a man of apostolic doctrine and life, mild, affable, exceeding
+charitable to the poor, and full of faith, zeal, and fervor. He assumed
+to the sacred ministry chiefly those who had first sanctified themselves
+in holy solitude, and was happy in the choice of bishops throughout all
+Egypt. The devil, enraged to see the havoc made in his usurped empire
+over mankind, by the disrepute idolatry was generally fallen into, used
+his utmost endeavors to repair the loss to his infernal kingdom, by
+procuring the establishment of a most impious heresy. Arius, a priest of
+Alexandria, was his {471} principal instrument for that purpose. This
+heresiarch was well versed in profane literature, was a subtle
+dialectician, had an exterior show of virtue, and an insinuating
+behavior; but was a monster of pride, vain-glory, ambition, envy, and
+jealousy. Under an affected modesty he concealed a soul full of deceit,
+and capable of all crimes. He joined Meletius, the bishop of Lycopolis,
+in the beginning of his schism against St. Peter, our saint's
+predecessor, in 300; but quitting that party after some time, St. Peter
+was so well satisfied of the sincerity of his repentance, that he
+ordained him deacon. Soon after Arius discovered his turbulent spirit,
+in accusing his archbishop, and raising disturbances in favor of the
+Meletians. This obliged St. Peter to excommunicate him, nor could he
+ever be induced to revoke that sentence. But his successor, St.
+Achillas, upon his repentance, admitted him to his communion, ordained
+him priest, and made him curate of the church of Baucales, one of the
+quarters of Alexandria. Giving way to spite and envy, on seeing St.
+Alexander preferred before him to the see of Alexandria,[1] he became
+his mortal enemy: and as the saint's life and conduct were
+irreproachable, all his endeavors to oppose him were levelled at his
+doctrine, in opposition to which the heresiarch denied the divinity of
+Christ. This error he at first taught only in private; but having, about
+the year 319, gained followers to support him, he boldly advanced his
+blasphemies in his sermons, affirming, with Ebion, Artemas, and
+Theodotus, that Christ was not truly God; adding, what no heretic had
+before asserted in such a manner, that the Son was a creature, and made
+out of nothing; that there was a time when he did not exist, and that he
+was capable of sinning, with other such impieties. St. Athanasius
+informs us,[2] that he also held that Christ had no other soul than his
+created divinity, or spiritual substance, made before the world:
+consequently, that it truly suffered on the cross, descended into hell,
+and rose again from the dead. Arius engaged in his errors two other
+curates of the city, a great many virgins, twelve deacons, seven
+priests, and two bishops.
+
+One Colluthus, another curate of Alexandria, and many others, declaimed
+loudly against these blasphemies. The heretics were called Arians, and
+these called the Catholics Colluthians. St. Alexander, who was one of
+the mildest of men, first made use of soft and gentle methods to recover
+Arius to the truth, and endeavored to gain him by sweetness and
+exhortations. Several were offended at his lenity, and Colluthus carried
+his resentment so far as to commence a schism; but this was soon at an
+end, and the author of it returned to the Catholic communion. But St.
+Alexander, finding Arius's party increase, and all his endeavors to
+reclaim him ineffectual, he summoned him to appear in an assembly of his
+clergy, where, being found obstinate and incorrigible, he was
+excommunicated, together with his adherents. This sentence of
+excommunication the saint confirmed soon after, about the end of the
+year 320, in a council at Alexandria, at the head of near one hundred
+bishops, at which Arius was also present, who, repeating his former
+blasphemies, and adding still more horrible ones was unanimously
+condemned by the synod, which loaded him and all his followers with
+anathemas. Arius lay hid for some time after this in Alexandria, but
+being discovered, went into Palestine, and found means to gain over to
+his party Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, also Theognis of Nice, and
+Eusebius of Nicomedia, which last was, of all others, his most declared
+protector, and had great authority with the emperor Constantine, who
+resided even at Nicomedia, or rather with his sister Constantia. Yet it
+is clear, from Constantine himself, that he was a wicked, proud,
+ambitious, intriguing man. {472} It is no wonder, after his other
+crimes, that he became an heresiarch, and that he should have an
+ascendant over many weak, but well-meaning men, on account of his high
+credit and reputation at court. After several letters that had passed
+between these two serpents, Arius retired to him at Nicomedia, and there
+composed his Thalia, a poem stuffed with his own praises, and his
+impious heresies.
+
+Alexander wrote to the pope, St. Sylvester, and, in a circular letter,
+to the other bishops of the church, giving them an account of Arius's
+heresy and condemnation. Arius, Eusebius, and many others, wrote to our
+saint, begging that he would take off his censures. The emperor
+Constantine also exhorted him by letter to a reconciliation with Arius,
+and sent it by the great Osius to Alexandria, with express orders to
+procure information of the state of the affair. The deputy returned to
+the emperor better informed of the heresiarch's impiety and malice, and
+the zeal, virtue, and prudence of St. Alexander: and having given him a
+just and faithful account of the matter, convinced him of the necessity
+of a general council, as the only remedy adequate to the growing evil,
+and capable of restoring peace to the church. St. Alexander had already
+sent him the same advice in several letters.[3] That prince,
+accordingly, by letters of respect, invited the bishops to Nice, in
+Bithynia, and defrayed their expenses. They assembled in the imperial
+palace of Nice, on the 19th of June, in 325, being three hundred and
+eighteen in number, the most illustrious prelates of the church, among
+whom were many glorious confessors of the faith. The principal were our
+saint, St. Eustathius, patriarch of Antioch, St. Macarius of Jerusalem,
+Cecilian, archbishop of Carthage, St. Paphnutius, St. Potamon, St. Paul
+of Neocesarea, St. James of Nisibis, &c. St. Sylvester could not come in
+person, by reason of his great age; but he sent his legates, who
+presided in his name.[4] The emperor Constantine entered the council
+without guards, nor would he sit till he was desired by the bishops,
+says Eusebius.[5] Theodoret says,[6] that he asked the bishops' leave
+before he would enter.
+
+The blasphemies of Arius, who was himself present, were canvassed for
+several days. Marcellus of Ancyra, and St. Athanasius, whom St.
+Alexander had brought with him, and whom he treated with the greatest
+esteem, discovered all the impiety they contained, and confuted the
+Arians with invincible strength. The heretics, fearing the indignation
+of the council, used a great deal of dissimulation in admitting the
+Catholic terms. The fathers, to exclude all their subtleties, declared
+the Son consubstantial to the {473} Father, which they inserted in the
+profession of their faith, called the Nicene creed, which was drawn up
+by Osius, and to which all subscribed, except a small number of Arians.
+At first they were seventeen, but Eusebius of Cæsarea received the creed
+the day following, as did all the others except five, namely, Eusebius
+of Nicomedia, Theognis of Nice, Marie of Chalcedon, Theonas and Secundus
+of Lybia, the two bishops who had first joined Arius. Of these also
+Eusebius, Marie, and Theognis conformed through fear of banishment. The
+Arian historian Philostorgius[7] pretends to excuse his heroes, Eusebius
+of Nicomedia and Theognis, by saying they inserted an iota, and
+signed[8] like in substance, instead of of the same substance;[9] a
+fraud in religion which would no way have excused their hypocrisy.
+Arius, Theonas, and Secundus, with some Egyptian priests, were banished
+by the order of Constantine, and Illyricum was the place of their exile.
+The council received Meletius and his schismatical adherents upon their
+repentance; but they afterwards relapsed into their schism, and part of
+them joined the Arians. The council added twenty canons of discipline,
+and was closed about the 25th of August.[10] Constantine gave all the
+prelates a magnificent entertainment, and dismissed them with great
+presents to their respective sees. St. Alexander, after this triumph of
+the faith, returned to Alexandria; where, after having recommended St.
+Athanasius for his successor, he died in 326, on the 26th of February,
+on which day he is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A true disciple of Christ, by a sincere spirit of humility and distrust
+in himself, is, as it were, naturally inclined to submission to all
+authority appointed by God, in which he finds his peace, security, and
+joy. This happy disposition of his soul is his secure fence against the
+illusions of self-sufficiency and blind pride, which easily betrays men
+into the most fatal errors. On the contrary, pride is a spirit of revolt
+and independence: he who is possessed with this devil is fond of his own
+conceits, self-confident, and obstinate. However strong the daylight of
+evidence may be in itself, such a one will endeavor to shut up all the
+avenues of light, though some beams force themselves into his soul to
+disturb his repose, and strike deep the sting of remorse: jealousy and a
+love of opposition foster the disorder, and render it incurable. This is
+the true portraiture of Arius, and other heresiarchs and firebrands of
+the universe. Can we sufficiently detest jealousy and pride, the fatal
+source of so great evils? Do we not discover, by fatal symptoms, that we
+ourselves harbor this monster in our breasts? Should the eye be jealous
+that the ear hears, and disturb the functions of this or the other
+senses, instead of regarding them as its own and enjoying their mutual
+advantage and comfort, what confusion would ensue!
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Theodoret, l. 1, c. {}. Socrates, l. 1, c. 5.
+2.  L. de Adv. Chr., p. 635.
+3.  Rufinus (l. 1, Hist. c. 1) says, that the council was assembled by
+    the advice of the priests. Ex sacerdotum sententia. And the third
+    council of Constantinople attributes convocation to St. Sylvester as
+    much as to the emperor. Constantinus et Sylvester magnam in Nicea
+    synodum congregabant. Conc. Constantinopolitanum tertium, Act. 18,
+    p. 1049, t. 6. Conc.
+4.  This is acknowledged by the oriental bishops, assembled at
+    Constantinople, in 552, (t. 5, Conc. pp. 337, 338.) The legates were
+    Vito, or Victor, and Vincent, two Roman priests, to whom the pope
+    joined Osius, bishop of Cordova, as being the most renowned prelate
+    of the West, and highly esteemed by the emperor. Ipse etiam Osius ex
+    Hispanis nominis et famæ celebritate insignis, qui Sylvestri
+    episcoli maximæ Romæ locum obtinebat, una cum Romanis presbyteris
+    Vitone et Vincentio adfuit; says Gelasius of Cyzicus. (Hist. Conc.
+    Nicen. l. 2, c. 5, t. 2. Conc, p. 155.) The same is affirmed by pope
+    Adrian, (t. 6, Conc. p. 1810.) In all the editions of this council,
+    Osius with the two priests. Vito and Vincent, is first named among
+    the subscribers. Socrates also names them first, and before the
+    patriarchs. Osius Episc. Cordubæ, ita credo, ut sup. dictum est.
+    Vito et Vincentius presbyteri urbis Romæ. Egypti Alexander Episc.
+    Antiochiæ Eustathius, &c. (Socr. l. 1, c.13.) It is then false what
+    Blondel (de la primantè de l'Eglise, p. 1195) pretends, that St.
+    Eustathius of Antioch presided. He is indeed called, by Facundus,
+    (l. 8, c. 1, & l. 11, c. 1.) the first of the council; and by
+    Nicephorus, (Chronol. p. 146,) the chief of the bishops, because he
+    was the first among the orientals; for St. Alexander of Egypt was
+    certainly before him in rank. Theodoret (l. 1, c. 6) says, he sat
+    the first on the right hand in the assembly. And it appears from
+    Eusebius, that the pope's legates and the patriarch of Alexandria
+    sat at the head on the left side. This might be the more honorable
+    on several accounts, as being on the right to those that came in. It
+    is certain that the pope's legate presided in the council of
+    Chalcedon where they, in the same manner, sat first on the left
+    above the patriarch of Alexandria, and the patriarch of Antioch was
+    placed on the right.
+5.  L. 3. de vit. Constant. c. 10.
+6.  L. 1, c. 7.
+7.  L. 1, c. 9.
+8.  [Greek: Homoiusios].
+9.  [Greek: Homousious].
+10. The Arabic canons are falsely ascribed to the Nicene council, being
+    collected out of other ancient synods.
+
+ST. PORPHYRIUS, BISHOP OF GAZA, CONFESSOR
+
+From his life, written with great accuracy by his faithful disciple
+Mark. See Fleury, t. 5. Tillemont, t. 10. Chatelain, p. 777. In the
+king's library at Paris is a Greek MS. life Of St. Porphyrius, (abridged
+from that of Mark,) which has never been translated.
+
+A.D. 420.
+
+PORPHYRIUS, a native of Thessalonica in Macedonia, was of a noble and
+wealthy family. The desire of renouncing the world made him leave his
+{474} friends and country at twenty-five years of age, in 378, to pass
+into Egypt, where he consecrated himself to God in a famous monastery in
+the desert of Sceté. After five years spent there in the penitential
+exercises of a monastic life, he went into Palestine to visit the holy
+places of Jerusalem. After this he took up his abode in a cave near the
+Jordan, where he passed other five years in great austerity, till he
+fell sick, when a complication of disorders obliged him to leave that
+place and return to Jerusalem. There he never failed daily to visit
+devoutly all the holy places, leaning on a staff, for he was too weak to
+stand upright. It happened about the same time that Mark, an Asiatic,
+and the author of his life, came to Jerusalem with the same intent,
+where he made some stay. He was much edified at the devotion with which
+Porphyrius continually visited the place of our Lord's resurrection, and
+the other oratories. And seeing him one day labor with great pain in
+getting up the stairs in the chapel built by Constantine, he ran to him
+to offer him his assistance, which Porphyrius refused, saying: "It is
+not just that I who am come hither to beg pardon for my sins, should be
+eased by any one: rather let me undergo some labor and inconvenience
+that God, beholding it, may have compassion on me." He, in this
+condition, never omitted his usual visits of piety to the holy places,
+and daily partook of the mystical table, that is, of the holy sacrament.
+And as to his distemper, so much did he contemn it, that he seemed to be
+sick in another's body and not in his own. His confidence in God always
+supported him. The only thing which afflicted him was, that his fortune
+had not been sold before this for the use of the poor. This he
+commissioned Mark to do for him, who accordingly set out for
+Thessalonica, and in three months' time returned to Jerusalem with money
+and effects to the value of four thousand five hundred pieces of gold.
+When the blessed man saw him, he embraced him with tears of joy for his
+safe and speedy return. But Porphyrius was now so well recovered, that
+Mark scarce knew him to be the same person; for his body had no signs of
+its former decay, and his face looked full, fresh, and painted with a
+healthy red. He, perceiving his friend's amazement at his healthy looks,
+said to him with a smile, "Be not surprised, Mark, to see me in perfect
+health and strength, but admire the unspeakable goodness of Christ, who
+can easily cure what is despaired of by men." Mark asked him by what
+means he had recovered. He replied: "Forty days ago, being in extreme
+pain, I made a shift to reach Mount Calvary, where, fainting away, I
+fell into a kind of trance or ecstasy, during which I seemed to see our
+Saviour on the cross, and the good thief in the same condition near him.
+I said to Christ,_ Lord, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom_:
+whereupon he ordered the thief to come to my assistance, who, raising me
+off the ground on which I lay, bade me go to Christ. I ran to him, and
+he, coming off his cross, said to me: _Take this wood_ (meaning his
+cross) _into thy custody_. In obedience to him, methought I laid it on
+my shoulders, and carried it some way. I awaked soon after, and have
+been free from pain ever since, and without the least appearance of my
+having ever ailed any thing." Mark was so edified with the holy man's
+discourse and good example, that he became more penetrated with esteem
+and affection for him than ever, which made him desirous of living
+always with him in order to his own improvement; for he seemed to have
+attained to a perfect mastery over all his passions: he was endued at
+the same time with a divine prudence, an eminent spirit of prayer, and
+the gift of tears. Being also well versed in the holy scriptures and
+spiritual knowledge, and no stranger to profane learning, he confounded
+all the infidels and heretics who attempted to dispute with him. As to
+the money and effects which Mark had brought him, he distributed all
+among the necessitous in Palestine and Egypt, so {475} that, in a very
+short time, he had reduced himself to the necessity of laboring for his
+daily food. He therefore learned to make shoes and dress leather, while
+Mark, being well skilled in writing, got a handsome livelihood by
+copying books, and to spare. He therefore desired the saint to partake
+of his earnings. But Porphyrius replied, in the words of St. Paul: _He
+that doth not work let him not eat_. He led this laborious and
+penitential life till he was forty years of age, when the bishop of
+Jerusalem ordained him priest, though much against his will, and
+committed to him the keeping of the holy cross: this was in 393. The
+saint changed nothing in his austere penitential life, feeding only upon
+roots and the coarsest bread, and not eating till after sunset, except
+on Sundays and holidays, when he ate at noon, and added a little oil and
+cheese: and on account of a great weakness of stomach, he mingled a very
+small quantity of wine in the water he drank. This was his method of
+living till his death. Being elected bishop of Gaza, in 396, John, the
+metropolitan and archbishop of Cæsarea, wrote to the patriarch of
+Jerusalem to desire him to send over Porphyrius, that he might consult
+him on certain difficult passages of scripture. He was sent accordingly,
+but charged to be back in seven days. Porphyrius, receiving this order,
+seemed at first disturbed, but said: "God's will be done." That evening
+he called Mark, and said to him: "Brother Mark, let us go and venerate
+the holy places and the sacred cross, for it will be long before we
+shall do it again." Mark asked him why he said so. He answered: Our
+Saviour had appeared to him the night before, and said: "Give up the
+treasure of the cross which you have in custody, for I will marry you to
+a wife, poor indeed and despicable, but of great piety and virtue. Take
+care to adorn her well; for, however contemptible she may appear, she is
+my sister." "This," said he, "Christ signified to me last night: and I
+fear, in consequence, my being charged with the sins of others, while I
+labor to expiate my own; but the will of God must be obeyed." When they
+had venerated the holy places and the sacred cross, and Porphyrius had
+prayed long before it, and with many tears, he shut up the cross in its
+golden case, and delivered the keys to the bishop; and having obtained
+his blessing, he and his disciple Mark set out the next day, with three
+others, among whom was one Barochas, a person whom the saint had found
+lying in the street almost dead, and had taken care of, cured, and
+instructed; who ever after served him with Mark. They arrived the next
+day, which was Saturday, at Cæsarea. The archbishop obliged them to sup
+with him. After spiritual discourses they took a little sleep, and then
+rose to assist at the night service. Next morning the archbishop bid the
+Gazæans lay hold on St. Porphyrius, and, while they held him, ordained
+him bishop. The holy man wept bitterly, and was inconsolable for being
+promoted to a dignity he judged himself so unfit for. The Gazæans,
+however, performed their part in endeavoring to comfort him, and, having
+assisted at the Sunday office, and stayed one day more at Cæsarea, they
+set out for Gaza, lay at Diospolis, and, late on Wednesday night,
+arrived at Gaza, much harassed and fatigued. For the heathens living in
+the villages near Gaza, having notice of their coming, had so damaged
+the roads in several places, and clogged them with thorns and logs of
+wood, that they were scarce passable. They also contrived to raise such
+a smoke and stench, that the holy men were in danger of being blinded or
+suffocated.
+
+There happened that year a very great drought, which the pagans ascribed
+to the coming of the new Christian bishop, saying that their god Marnas
+had foretold that Porphyrius would bring public calamities and disasters
+on their city. In Gaza stood a famous temple of that idol, which the
+emperor Theodosius the Elder had commanded to be shut up, but not
+demolished, {476} on account of its beautiful structure. The governor
+afterwards had permitted the heathens to open it again. As no rain fell
+the two first months after St. Porphyrius's arrival, the idolaters, in
+great affliction, assembled in this temple to offer sacrifices, and make
+supplications to their god Marnas, whom they called the Lord of rains.
+These they repeated for seven days, going also to a place of prayer out
+of the town; but seeing all their endeavors ineffectual, they lost all
+hopes of a supply of what they so much wanted. A dearth ensuing, the
+Christians, to the number of two hundred and eighty, women and children
+included, after a day's fast, and watching the following night in
+prayer, by the order of their holy bishop, went out in procession to St.
+Timothy's church, in which lay the relics of the holy martyr St. Meuris,
+and of the confessor St. Thees, singing hymns of divine praise. But at
+their return to the city they found the gates shut against them, which
+the heathens refused to open. In this situation the Christians, and St.
+Porphyrius above the rest, addressed almighty God with redoubled fervor
+for the blessing so much wanted; when in a short time, the clouds
+gathering, as at the prayers of Elias, there fell such a quantity of
+rain that the heathens opened their gates, and, joining them, cried out
+"Christ alone is God: He alone has overcome." They accompanied the
+Christians to the church to thank God for the benefit received, which
+was attended with the conversion of one hundred and seventy-six persons,
+whom the saint instructed, baptized, and confirmed, as he did one
+hundred and five more before the end of that year. The miraculous
+preservation of the life of a pagan woman in labor, who had been
+despaired of, occasioned the conversion of that family and others, to
+the number of sixty-four.
+
+The heathens, perceiving their number decrease, grew very troublesome to
+the Christians, whom they excluded from commerce and all public offices,
+and injured them all manner of ways. St. Porphyrius, to screen himself
+and his flock from their outrages and vexations, had recourse to the
+emperor's protection. On this errand he sent Mark, his disciple, to
+Constantinople, and went afterwards himself in company with John, his
+metropolitan, archbishop of Cæsarea. Here they applied themselves to St.
+John Chrysostom, who joyfully received them, and recommended them to the
+eunuch Amantius, who had great credit with the empress, and was a
+zealous servant of God. Amantius having introduced them to the empress,
+she received them with great distinction, assured them of her
+protection, and begged their prayers for her safe delivery, a favor she
+received a few days after. She desired them in another visit to sign her
+and her newborn son, Theodosius the Younger, with the sign of the cross,
+which they did. The young prince was baptized with great solemnity, and
+on that occasion the empress obtained from the emperor all that the
+bishops had requested, and in particular that the temples of Gaza should
+be demolished; an imperial edict being drawn up for this purpose and
+delivered to Cynegius, a virtuous patrician, and one full of zeal, to
+see it executed. They stayed at Constantinople during the feast of
+Easter, and at their departure the emperor and empress bestowed on them
+great presents. When they landed in Palestine, near Gaza, the Christians
+came out to meet them with a cross carried before them, singing hymns.
+In the place called Tetramphodos, or Four-ways-end, stood a marble
+statue of Venus, on a marble altar, which was in great reputation for
+giving oracles to young women about the choice of husbands, but had
+often grossly deceived them, engaging them to most unhappy marriages; so
+that many heathens detested its lying impostures. As the two bishops,
+with the procession of the Christians, and the cross borne before them,
+passed through that square, this idol fell down of itself, and was {477}
+broken to pieces: whereupon thirty-two men and seven women were
+converted.
+
+Ten days after arrived Cynegius, having with him a consular man and a
+duke, or general, with a strong guard of soldiers, besides the civil
+magistrates of the country. He assembled the citizens and read to them
+the emperor's edict, commanding their idols and temples to be destroyed,
+which was accordingly executed, and no less than eight public temples in
+the city were burnt; namely, those of the Sun, Venus, Apollo,
+Proserpine, Hecate, the Hierion, or of the priests, Tycheon, or of
+Fortune, and Marnion of Marnas, their Jupiter. The Marnion, in which men
+had been often sacrificed, burned for many days. After this, the private
+houses and courts were all searched; the idols were everywhere burned or
+thrown into the common sewers, and all books of magic and superstition
+were cast into the flames. Many idolaters desired baptism; but the saint
+took a long time to make trial of them, and to prepare them for that
+sacrament by daily instructions. On the spot where the temple of Marnas
+had stood, was built the church of Eudoxia in the figure of a cross. She
+sent for this purpose precious pillars and rich marble from
+Constantinople. Of the marble taken out of the Marnion, St. Porphyrius
+made steps and a road to the church, that it might be trampled upon by
+men, dogs, swine, and other beasts, whence many heathens would never
+walk thereon. Before he would suffer the church to be begun, he
+proclaimed a fast, and the next morning, being attended by his clergy
+and all the Christians in the city, they went in a body to the place
+from the church Irene, singing the Venite exultemus Domino, and other
+psalms, and answering to every verse Alleluia, Barochas carrying a cross
+before them. They all set to work, carrying stones and other materials,
+and digging the foundations according to the plan marked out and
+directed by Rufinus, a celebrated architect, singing psalms and saying
+prayers during their work. It was begun in 403, when thirty high pillars
+arrived from Constantinople, two of which, called Carostiæ, shone like
+emeralds when placed in the church. It was five years a building, and
+when finished in 408, the holy bishop performed the consecration of it
+on Easter-Day with the greatest pomp and solemnity. His alms to the poor
+on that occasion seemed boundless, though they were always exceeding
+great. The good bishop spent the remainder of his life in the zealous
+discharge of all pastoral duties; and though he lived to see the city
+clear for the most part of the remains of paganism, superstition, and
+idolatry, he had always enough to suffer from such as continued
+obstinate in their errors. Falling sick, he made his pious will, in
+which he recommended all his dear flock to God. He died in 420, being
+about sixty years of age, on the 26th of February, on which day both the
+Greeks and Latins make mention of him. The pious author of his life
+concludes it, saying: "He is now in the paradise of delight, interceding
+for us with all the saints, by whose prayers may God have mercy on us."
+
+ST. VICTOR, OR VITTRE, OF ARCIES, OR ARCIS,
+
+IN CHAMPAGNE, ANCHORET AND CONFESSOR, IN THE SEVENTH AGE.
+
+HE was of noble parentage in the diocese of Troyes in Champagne educated
+under strict discipline in learning and piety, and a saint from his
+cradle. In his youth, prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds were his chief
+delight, and, embracing an ecclesiastical state, he took orders; but the
+love of heavenly contemplation being always the prevalent inclination in
+his soul he {478} preferred close retirement to the mixed life of the
+care of souls. In this choice the Holy Ghost was his director, for he
+lived in continual union with God by prayer and contemplation, and
+seemed raised above the condition of this mortal life, and almost as if
+he lived without a body. God glorified him by many miracles; but the
+greatest seems to have been the powerful example of his life. We have
+two pious panegyrics made upon this saint by St. Bernard, who says:[1]
+"Now placed in heaven, he beholds God clearly revealed to him, swallowed
+up in joy, but not forgetting us. It is not a land of oblivion in which
+Victor dwells. Heaven doth not harden or straiten hearts, but it maketh
+them more tender and compassionate it doth not distract minds, nor
+alienate them from us: it doth not diminish, but it increaseth affection
+and charity: it augmenteth bowels of pity. The angels, although they
+behold the face of their Father, visit, run, and continually assist us;
+and shall they now forget us who were once among us, and who once
+suffered themselves what they see us at present laboring under? No: _I
+know the just expect me till thou renderest to me my reward_.[2] Victor
+is not like that cupbearer of Pharaoh, who could forget his
+fellow-captive. He hath not so put on the stole of glory himself, as to
+lay aside his pity, or the remembrance of our misery." St. Victor died
+at Saturniac, now called Saint-Vittre, two leagues from Arcies in the
+diocese of Troyes. A church was built over his tomb at Saturniac; but in
+837 his relics were translated thence to the neighboring monastery of
+Montier-Ramey, or Montirame, so called from Arremar, by whom it was
+founded in 837. It is situated four leagues from Troyes, of the
+Benedictin Order, and is still possessed of this sacred treasure. At the
+request of these monks, St. Bernard composed an office of St. Victor,
+extant in his works, (ep. 312, vet. ed. seu 398, nov. edit.) See the two
+sermons of St. Bernard on St. Victor, and his ancient life in
+Henschenius and others: from which it appears that this saint never was
+a monk, never having professed any monastic Order, though he led an
+eremitical life.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Serm. 2, p. 966.
+2.  Ps. cxii. 8.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXVII.
+
+ST. LEANDER, BISHOP OF SEVILLE, CONFESSOR.
+
+From St. Isidore of Seville, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Gregory of
+Tours, hist l. 5. See Fleury, b. 34, 35, 38. Mabillon, Sæc. Ben. 1.
+Ceillier, t. 17.
+
+A.D. 596.
+
+ST. LEANDER was of an illustrious family, and born at Carthagena in
+Spain. He had two brothers, St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ecija and
+Carthagena, and St. Isidore, our saint's successor in the see of
+Seville. He had also one sister, Florentia by name, who had consecrated
+herself to God in the state of virginity. He set them an example of that
+piety which they faithfully imitated. He entered into a monastery very
+young, where he lived many years, and attained to an eminent degree of
+virtue and sacred learning. These qualities occasioned his being
+promoted to the see of Seville: but his change of condition made little
+or no alteration in his method {479} of life, though it brought on him a
+great increase of care and solicitude for the salvation of those whom
+God had put under his care, as well as for the necessities of the whole
+church, that of Spain in particular. This kingdom was then possessed by
+the Visigoths, or Western-Goths; who, while Theodoric settled the
+Ostrogoths, or Eastern-Goths, in Italy, had passed the Alps, and founded
+their kingdom, first in Languedoc, and soon after, about the year 470,
+in Spain. These Goths, being for the generality all infected with
+Arianism, established this heresy wherever they came; so that when St.
+Leander was made bishop, it had reigned in Spain a hundred years. This
+was his great affliction: however, by his tears and prayers to God, and
+by his most zealous and unwearied endeavors, both at home and abroad, he
+became the happy instrument of the conversion of that nation to the
+Catholic faith. But he suffered much from king Leovigild on this
+account, and was at length forced into banishment; the saint having
+converted, among others, Hermenegild, the king's eldest son and heir
+apparent. This pious prince his unnatural father put to death the year
+following, for refusing to receive the communion from the hands of an
+Arian bishop. But, touched with remorse not long after, he recalled our
+saint, and falling sick, and finding himself past hopes of recovery, he
+sent for St. Leander, whom he had so much persecuted, and recommended to
+him his son Recared, whom he left his successor, to be instructed in the
+true faith; though out of fear of his people, as St. Gregory laments, he
+durst not embrace it himself. His son Recared, by listening to St.
+Leander, soon became a Catholic. The king also spoke with so much wisdom
+on the controverted points to the Arian bishops, that by the force of
+his reasoning, rather than by his authority, he brought them over to own
+the truth of the Catholic doctrine; and thus he converted the whole
+nation of the Visigoths. He was no less successful in the like pious
+endeavors with respect to the Suevi, a people of Spain, whom his father
+Leovigild had perverted. It was a subject of great joy to the whole
+church to behold the wonderful blessing bestowed by Almighty God on the
+labors of our saint, but to none more than St. Gregory the Great, who
+wrote to St. Leander to congratulate him on the subject.
+
+This holy prelate was no less zealous in the reformation of manners,
+than in restoring the purity of faith; and he planted the seeds of that
+zeal and fervor which afterwards produced so many martyrs and saints.
+His zeal in this regard appeared in the good regulations set on foot
+with this intent in the council of Seville, which was called by him, and
+of which he was, as it were, the soul. In 589, he assisted at the third
+council of Toledo, of seventy-two bishops, or their deputies, in which
+were drawn up twenty-three canons, relating to discipline, to repair the
+breaches the Arian heresy had made in fomenting disorders of several
+kinds. One of these was, that the Arian clergy cohabited with their
+wives; but the council forbade such of them as were converted to do so,
+enjoining them a separation from the same chamber, and, if possible,
+from the same house.[1] This council commanded also the rigorous
+execution of all penitential canons without any abatement. The pious
+cardinal D'Aguirre has written a learned dissertation ton this
+subject.[2]
+
+St. Leander, sensible of the importance of prayer, which is in a devout
+life what a spring is in a watch, or the main wheel in an engine,
+labored particularly to encourage true devotion in all persons, but
+particularly those of the monastic profession, of which state it is the
+very essence and constituent. His letter to his sister Florentina, a
+holy virgin, is called his Rule of a Monastic Life. It turns chiefly on
+the contempt of the world, and on {480} the exercises of prayer. This
+saint also reformed the Spanish liturgy.[3] In this liturgy, and in the
+third council of Toledo, in conformity to the eastern churches, the
+Nicene creed was appointed to be read at mass, to express a detestation
+of the Arian heresy. Other western churches, with the Roman, soon
+imitated this devotion. St. Leander was visited by frequent distempers,
+particularly the gout, which St. Gregory, who was often afflicted with
+the same, writing to him, calls a favor and mercy of heaven. This holy
+doctor of Spain died about the year 596, on the 27th of February, as
+Mabillon proves from his epitaph. The church of Seville has been a
+metropolitan see ever since the third century. The cathedral is the most
+magnificent, both as to structure and ornament, of any in all Spain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The contempt of the world which the gospel so strongly inculcates, and
+which St. Leander so eminently practised and taught, it the foundation
+of a spiritual life; but is of far greater extent than most Christians
+conceive, for it requires no less than a total disengagement of the
+affections from earthly things. Those whom God raises to perfect virtue,
+and closely unites to himself, must cut off and put away every thing
+that can be an obstacle to this perfect union. Their will must be
+thoroughly purified from all dross of inordinate affections before it
+can be perfectly absorbed in his. This they who are particularly devoted
+to the divine service, are especially to take notice of. If this truth
+was imprinted in the manner that it ought, in the hearts of those who
+enrol themselves in the service of the church, or who live in cloisters,
+they would be replenished with heavenly blessings, and the church would
+have the comfort of seeing apostles of nations revive among her clergy,
+and the monasteries again filled with Antonies, Bennets, and Bernards;
+whose sanctity, prayers, and example, would even infuse into many others
+the true spirit of Christ, amid the desolation and general blindness of
+this unhappy age.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Conc. t. 5, p. 998.
+2.  Diss. 3. in Conc. Hisp.
+3.  The church of Spain first received the faith from Rome, as pope
+    Innocent I. Informs us. (Ep. ad. Decent.) Whence St. Isidore says
+    their divine office was instituted by St. Peter, (l. l, c. 15, Eccl.
+    Offic.) Their ceremonies and discipline, as of fasting on Saturdays,
+    and other rites mentioned in their councils, are Roman. And the
+    Roman liturgy was used in Africa beyond Spain. But the Goths used a
+    liturgy formed by Ulphilas from the Orientals. St. Leander is said
+    to have compiled a liturgy from both, and also from the Gaulish and
+    oriental liturgies: St. Isidore and St. Ildefonse perfected it. When
+    the Saracens or Arabians became masters of Spain, the Christians of
+    that country were called Mixt-Arabs, and their liturgy, Mozarabic.
+    In the eleventh and twelfth centuries this liturgy gave place to the
+    Roman. Cardinal Ximenes re-established the daily use of the
+    Mozarabic in a chapel of the cathedral of Toledo: it is also used in
+    the same city by seven old Mozarabic churches, but on the days of
+    their patrons only. See Le Brun, liturg. t. 2, p. 272. F. Flores
+    thinks the Mozarabic liturgy was that of the Roman and African
+    churches retained by St. Leander, without any alteration or mixture
+    from the Orientals, except certain very inconsiderable rites. See
+    his Spans. Sagrada, t. 3, Diss. de la Missa Antigua de Espagna,
+    pp.187, 198, &c. But though it much resembles it, we are assured by
+    F. Burriel, the learned Jesuit, in his letter on the literary
+    monuments found in Spain, that in some parts there are considerable
+    differences. We shall be fully informed of this, also what masses
+    were added by St. Ildefonse, and of other curious particulars, when
+    we are favored with the collections he has made from the Gothic MSS.
+    in Spain on this subject, and the new edition of all the liturgies
+    of Christian churches which the Assemani are preparing at Rome in
+    fifteen volumes folio. The Mozarabic liturgy has been printed at
+    Rome in folio, by the care of F. Leeley, a Scotch Jesuit.
+
+SS. JULIAN, CHRONION, AND BESAS, MM.
+
+WHEN the persecution of Decius filled the city of Alexandria with dread
+and terror, many, especially among the nobles, the rich, and those who
+held any places in the state, sacrificed to idols, but pale and
+trembling, so as to show they had neither courage to die, nor heart to
+sacrifice. Several generous soldiers repaired the scandal given by these
+cowards. Julian, who was grievously afflicted with the gout, and one of
+his servants, called Chronion, were set on the backs of camels, and,
+cruelly scourged through the {481} whole city, and at length were
+consumed by fire. Besas, a soldier, was beheaded. See St. Dionysius of
+Alex. in Eusebius, l, 6, c. 41, ed Val.
+
+ST. THALILÆUS, A CILICIAN
+
+HE lived a recluse on a mountain in Syria, and shut himself up ten years
+in an open cage of wood. Theodoret asked him why he had chosen so
+singular a practice. The penitent answered: "I punish my criminal body,
+that God, seeing my affliction for my sins, may be moved to pardon them,
+and to deliver me from, or at least to mitigate the excessive torments
+of the world to come, which I have deserved." See Theodoret, Phil. c.
+28. John Mosch in the Spiritual Meadow, c. 59, p. 872, relates that
+Thalihæus, the Cilician, spent sixty years in an ascetic life, weeping
+almost without intermission; and that he used to say to those that came
+to him: "Time is allowed us by the divine mercy for repentance and
+satisfaction, and wo {sic} to us if we neglect it."
+
+ST. GALMIER, IN LATIN, BALDOMERUS.
+
+HE was a locksmith in Lyons, who lived in great poverty and austerity,
+and spent all his leisure moments in holy reading and prayer. He gave
+his gains to the poor, and sometimes even his tools. He repeated to
+every one: "In the name of the Lord let us always give thanks to God."
+Vivencius, abbot of St. Justus, (afterwards archbishop of Lyons,)
+admired his devotion in the church, but was more edified and astonished
+when he had conversed with him. He gave him a cell in his monastery, in
+which the servant of God sanctified himself still more and more by all
+the exercises of holy solitude, and by his penitential labor. He died a
+subdeacon about the year 650. His relics were very famous for miracles,
+and a celebrated pilgrimage, till they were scattered in the air by the
+Huguenots, in the sixteenth century. The Roman Martyrology names him on
+the day of his death, the 27th of February.
+
+ST. NESTOR, B.M.
+
+EPOLIUS, whom the emperor Decius had appointed governor of Lycia,
+Pamphylia, and Phrygia, sought to make his court to that prince by
+surpassing his colleagues in the rage and cruelty with which he
+persecuted the meek disciples of Christ. At that time Nestor, bishop of
+Sida in Pamphylia, (as Le Quien demonstrates, not of Perge, or of
+Mandis, or Madigis, as some by mistake affirm,) was distinguished in
+those parts for his zeal in propagating the faith, and for the sanctity
+of his life. His reputation reached the governor, who sent an Irenarch
+to apprehend him. The martyr was conducted to Perge, and there
+crucified, in imitation of the Redeemer of the world, whom he preached.
+His triumph happened in 250. His Latin Acts, given by the Bollandists,
+are to be corrected by those in Greek, found among the manuscript acts
+of Saints, honored by the Greeks in the month of February in the king's
+library at Paris, Cod. 1010, written in the tenth century.
+
+{482}
+
+ST. ALNOTH, ANCHORET, M.
+
+WEDON, in Northamptonshire, was honored with a palace of Wulphere, king
+of Mercia, in the middle of England, and was bestowed by that prince
+upon his daughter St. Wereburge, who converted it into a monastery.
+Alnoth was the bailiff of St. Wereburge in that country, and the perfect
+imitator of her heroic virtues. After her retreat he led an anchoretical
+life in that neighborhood, and was murdered by robbers in his solitude.
+His relics were kept with veneration in the church of the village of
+Stow, near Wedon. Wilson places his festival on the 27th of February, in
+the first edition of his English Martyrology, and in the second on the
+25th of November. See the life of St. Wereburge, which Camden sent to F.
+Rosweide, written, as it seems, by Jocelin. See also Harpsfield, Sæc. 7,
+c. 23, and Bollandus, p. 684.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXVIII.
+
+MARTYRS, WHO DIED IN THE GREAT PESTILENCE IN ALEXANDRIA.
+
+From Eusebius, Hist. l. 7, c. 21, 22, p. 268.
+
+A.D. 261, 262, 263.
+
+A VIOLENT pestilence laid waste the greatest part of the Roman empire
+during twelve years, from 249 to 263. Five thousand persons died of it
+in one day in Rome, in 262. St. Dionysius of Alexandria relates, that a
+cruel sedition and civil war had filled that city with murders and
+tumults; so that it was safer to travel from the eastern to the western
+parts of the then known world, than to go from one street of Alexandria
+to another. The pestilence succeeded this first scourge, and with such
+violence, that there was not a single house in that great city which
+entirely escaped it, or which had not some dead to mourn for. All places
+were filled with groans, and the living appeared almost dead with fear.
+The noisome exhalations of carcasses, and the very winds, which should
+have purified the air, loaded with infection and pestilential vapors
+from the Nile, increased the evil. The fear of death rendered the
+heathens cruel towards their nearest relations. As soon as any of them
+had caught the contagion, though their dearest friends, they avoided and
+fled from them as their greatest enemies. They threw them half dead into
+the streets, and abandoned them without succor; they left their bodies
+without burial, so fearful were they of catching that mortal distemper,
+which, however, it was very difficult to avoid, notwithstanding all
+their precautions. This sickness, which was the greatest of calamities
+to the pagans, was but an exercise and trial to the Christians, who
+showed, on that occasion, how contrary the spirit of charity is to the
+interestedness of self love. During the persecutions of Decius, Gallus,
+and Valerian, they durst not appear, but were obliged to keep their
+assemblies in solitudes, or in ships tossed on the waves, or in infected
+prisons, or the like places, which the sanctity of our mysteries made
+venerable. Yet in the {483} time of this public calamity, most of them,
+regardless of the danger of their own lives to assisting others,
+visited, relieved, and attended the sick, and comforted the dying. They
+closed their eyes, carried them on their shoulders, laid them out,
+washed their bodies, and decently interred them, and soon after shared
+the same fate themselves; but those who survived still succeeded to
+their charitable office, which they paid to the very pagans their
+persecutors. "Thus," adds St. Dionysius, "the best of our brethren have
+departed this life; some of the most valuable, both of priests, deacons,
+and laics; and it is thought that this kind of death is in nothing
+different from martyrdom." And the Roman Martyrology says, the religious
+faith of pious Christians honors them as martyrs.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In these happy victims of holy charity we admire how powerfully perfect
+virtue, and the assured expectation of eternal bliss, raises the true
+Christian above all earthly views. He who has always before his eyes the
+incomprehensible happiness of enjoying God in his glory, and seriously
+considers the infinite advantage, peace, and honor annexed to his divine
+service; he who is inflamed with ardent love of God, and zeal for his
+honor, sets no value on any thing but in proportion as it affords him a
+means of improving his spiritual stock, advancing the divine honor, and
+more perfectly uniting his soul to God by every heroic virtue:
+disgraces, dangers, labor, pain, death, loss of goods or friends, and
+every other sacrifice here become his gain and his greatest joy. That by
+which he most perfectly devotes himself to God, and most speedily and
+securely attains to the bliss of possessing him, he regards as his
+greatest happiness.
+
+ST. PROTERIUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, M.
+
+HE was ordained priest by St. Cyril, but opposed Dioscorus, his
+successor, on his patronizing Eutyches, and giving into his errors,
+notwithstanding his endeavor to gain him to his interest, by making him
+archpriest, and entrusting him with the care of his church. Dioscorus
+being condemned and deposed by the council of Chalcedon, Proterius was
+elected in his room, and was accordingly ordained and installed in 552.
+The people of Alexandria, famed for riots and tumults, then divided;
+some demanding the return of Dioscorus, others supporting Proterius. The
+factious party was headed by two vicious ecclesiastics, Timothy,
+surnamed Elurus, and Peter Mongus, whom the saint had canonically
+excommunicated. And so great and frequent were the tumults and seditions
+they raised against him, that during the whole course of his pontificate
+he was never out of danger of falling a sacrifice to the schismatical
+party, regardless both of the imperial orders and decisions of the
+council of Chalcedon. In the height of one of those tumults, Elurus,
+having caused himself to be ordained by two bishops of his faction, that
+had been formerly deposed, took possession of the episcopal throne, and
+was proclaimed by his party the sole lawful bishop of Alexandria. But
+being soon after driven out of the city by the imperial commander, this
+so inflamed the Eutychian party, that their barefaced attempts obliged
+the holy patriarch to take sanctuary in the baptistery adjoining to the
+church of St. Quirinus, where the schismatical rabble breaking in, they
+stabbed him on Good-Friday, in the year 557. Not content with this, they
+dragged his dead body through the whole city, cut it in pieces, burnt it
+and scattered the ashes in the air. The bishops of Thrace, to a letter
+to the emperor Loo, soon after his death, declared that they placed him
+among {484} the martyrs, and hoped to find mercy through his
+intercession. Sanctissimum Proterium in ordine et choro sanctorum
+martyrum ponimus, et ejus intercessionibus misericordem et propitium
+Deum nobis fieri postulamus. Conc. t. 4, p. 907. His name occurs in the
+Greek calendars on the 28th of February.--See Evagrius, Hist. Eccl. l.
+2, c. 4. Liberat. Disc. in Breviar. c. 15. Theophanes in Marciano et
+Leone. Theodor. Lect. l. 1 F. Cacciari, Diss. in Op. S. Leonia, t. 3.
+Henschenius, t. 3, Febr. p. 729.
+
+SS. ROMANUS AND LUPICINUS, ABBOTS.
+
+ROMANUS at thirty-five years of age left his relations, and spent some
+time in the monastery of Ainay, (called in Latin Athanacense,) at Lyons,
+at the great church at the conflux of the Saone and Rhone, which the
+faithful had built over the ashes of the famous martyrs of that city;
+for their bodies being burnt by the pagans, their ashes were thrown into
+the Rhone, but a great part of them was gathered by the Christians, and
+deposited in this place. Romanus, a short time after, took with him the
+institutions and conferences of Cassian, and retired into the forests of
+mount Iura, between France and Switzerland, and fixed his abode at a
+place called Condate, at the conflux of the rivers Bienne and Aliere,
+where he found a spot of ground fit for culture, and some trees which
+furnished him with a kind of wild fruit. Here he spent his time in
+praying, reading, and laboring for his subsistence. Lupicinus, his
+brother, came to him some time after in company with others, who were
+followed by several more, drawn by the fame of the virtue and miracles
+of these two saints. Here they built the monastery of Condate, and,
+their numbers increasing, that of Leuconne, two miles distant to the
+north, and, on a rock, a nunnery called La Beaume, (now St. Remain de la
+Roche,) which no men were allowed ever to enter, and where St. Romanus
+chose his burial-place. The brothers governed the monks jointly and in
+great harmony, though Lupicinus was more inclined to severity of the
+two. He usually resided at Leuconne with one hundred and fifty monks.
+The brethren at Condate, when they were enriched with many lands,
+changed their diet, which was only bread made of barley and bran, and
+pulse dressed often without salt or oil, and brought to table
+wheat-bread, fish, and variety of dishes. Lupicinus being informed
+hereof by Romanus, came to Condate on the sixth day after this
+innovation, and corrected the abuse. The abstinence which he prescribed
+his monks was milder than that practised by the oriental monks, and by
+those of Lerins, partly because the Gauls were naturally great eaters,
+and partly because they were employed in very hard manual labor. But
+they never touched fowls or any flesh-meat, and only were allowed milk
+and eggs in time of sickness. Lupicinus, for his own part, used no other
+bed than a chair or a hard board; never touched wine, and would scarce
+ever suffer a drop either of oil or milk to be poured on his pulse. In
+summer his subsistence for many years was only hard bread moistened in
+cold water, so that he could eat it with a spoon. His tunic was made of
+various skins of beasts sewn together, with a cowl: he used wooden
+shoes, and wore no stockings unless when he was obliged to go out of the
+monastery. St. Romanus died about the year 460, and is mentioned in the
+Roman Martyrology on the 28th of February. St. Lupicinus survived him
+almost twenty years, and is honored in the Roman Martyrology on the 21st
+of March. He was succeeded in the abbacy of Condate by Minaucius, who,
+in 480, chose St. Eugendus his coadjutor. See the lives of the two
+brothers, SS. Romanus and Lupicinus, and that of St. Eugendus or Oyend,
+compile a by a monk of Condate of the same age; St. Gregory of Tours,
+{in} {485} de Vitis Patr. c. 1. Mabill. Annal. Ben. l. 1, ad an. 510, t.
+1, p. 23. Tillemont, t. 16, p. 142. Bulteau, l. 1.
+
+
+FEBRUARY XXIX.
+
+ST. OSWALD,
+
+BISHOP OF WORCESTER AND ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.
+
+From his life written by Eadmer; also from Florence of Worcester,
+William of Malmesbury, and, above all, the elegant and accurate author
+of the history of Ramsey, published by the learned Mr. Gale, p. 385. The
+life of this saint, written by Fulcard, abbot of Thorney, in 1068,
+Wharton thinks not extant. Mabillon doubts whether it is not that which
+we have in Capgrave and Surius. See also Portiforium 8. Oswaldi Archiep.
+Eborac. Codex MS. crassus in 8vo. exarates circa annum 1064, in Bennet
+College, Cambridge, mentioned by Waneley, Catal. p. 110.
+
+A.D. 992.
+
+ST. OSWALD was nephew to St. Odo, archbishop of Canterbury, and to
+Oskitell, bishop first of Dorcester, afterwards of York. He was educated
+by St. Odo, and made dean of Winchester; but passing into France, took
+the monastic habit at Fleury. Being recalled to serve the church, he
+succeeded St. Dunstan in the see of Worcester about the year 959. He
+shone as a bright star in this dignity, and established a monastery of
+monks at Westberry, a village in his diocese. He was employed by duke
+Aylwin in superintending his foundation of the great monastery of
+Ramsey, in an island formed by marshes and the river Ouse in
+Huntingdonshire, in 972. St. Oswald was made archbishop of York in 974,
+and he dedicated the church of Ramsey under the names of the Blessed
+Virgin, St. Benedict, and all holy virgins. Nothing of this rich mitred
+abbey remains standing except an old gate-house, and a neglected statue
+of the founder, Aylwin, with keys and a ragged staff in his hand to
+denote his office; for he was cousin to the glorious king Edgar, the
+valiant general of his armies, and the chief judge and magistrate of the
+kingdom, with the title of alderman of England, and half king, as the
+historian of Ramsey usually styles him.[1] {486} St. Oswald was almost
+always occupied in visiting his diocese, preaching without intermission
+and reforming abuses. He was a great encourager of learning and learned
+men. St. Dunstan obliged him to retain the see of Worcester with that of
+York. Whatever intermission his function allowed him he spent it at St.
+Mary's, a church and monastery of Benedictins, which he had built at
+Worcester, where he joined with the monks in their monastic exercises.
+This church from that time became the cathedral. The saint, to nourish
+in his heart the sentiments of humility and charity, had everywhere
+twelve poor persons at his table, whom he served, and also washed and
+kissed their feet. After having sat thirty-three years he fell sick at
+St. Mary's in Worcester, and having received the extreme unction and
+viaticum, continued in prayer, repeating often, "Glory be to the
+Father," &c., with which words he expired amidst his monks, on the 29th
+of February, 992. His body was taken up ten years after and enshrined,
+by Adulph his successor, and was illustrated by miracles. It was
+afterwards translated to York, on the 15th of October, which day was
+appointed his principal festival.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Oswald made quick progress in the path of perfect virtue, because he
+studied with the utmost earnestness to deny himself and his own will,
+listening attentively to that fundamental maxim of the Eternal Truth,
+which St. Bennet, of whose holy order he became a bright light, repeats
+with great energy. This holy founder declares in the close of his rule,
+that, He who desires to give himself up to God, must trample all earthly
+things under his feet, renounce every thing that is not God, and die to
+all earthly affections, so as to attain to a perfect disengagement and
+nakedness of heart, that God may fill and entirely possess it, in order
+to establish therein the kingdom of his grace and pure love forever. And
+in his prologue he cries out aloud, that he addresses himself only to
+him who is firmly resolved in all things to deny his own will, and to
+hasten with all diligence to arrive at his heavenly kingdom.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The titles of honor among our Saxon ancestors were, Etheling, prince
+    of the blond: chancellor, assistant to the king in giving judgments:
+    alderman, or ealderman, (not earldonnan, as Rapin Thoyras writes
+    this word in his first edition,) governor or viceroy. It is derived
+    from the word ald or old, like senator in Latin. Provinces, cities,
+    and sometimes wapentakes, had their alderman to govern them,
+    determine lawsuits, judge criminals, &c. That office gave place to
+    the title of earl, which was merely Danish, and introduced by
+    Canute. Sheriffe or she-reeve, was the deputy of the alderman,
+    chosen by him, sat judge in some courts, and saw sentence executed;
+    hence he was called vicecomes. Heartoghan signified, among our Saxon
+    ancestors, generals of armies, or dukes. Hengist, in the Saxon
+    chronicle, is heartogh; such were the dukes appointed by Constantine
+    the Great, to command the forces in the different provinces of the
+    Roman empire. These titles began to become hereditary with the
+    offices or command annexed under Pepin and Charlemagne, and grew
+    more frequent by the successors of these princes granting many
+    hereditary fiefs to noblemen, to which they annexed titular
+    dignities. Fiefs were an establishment of the Lombards, from whom
+    the emperors of Germany, and the kings of France, borrowed this
+    custom, and with it the feodal laws, of which no mention is made in
+    the Routun code. Titles began frequently to become merely honorary
+    about the time of Otho I. in Germany.
+
+    Reeve among the English Saxons was a steward. The bishop's reeve was
+    a bishop's steward for secular affairs, attending in his court.
+    Thanes, _i.e._, servants, were officers of the crown whom the king
+    recompensed with lands, sometimes to descend to their posterity, but
+    always to be held of him with some obligation of service, homage, or
+    acknowledgment. There were other lords of lands and vassals, who
+    enjoyed the title of thanes, and were distinguished from the king's
+    thanes. The ealdermen and dukes were all king's thanes, and all
+    others who held lands of the king by knight's service in chief, and
+    were immediately great tenants of the king's estates. These were the
+    greater thanes, and were succeeded by the barons, which title was
+    brought in by the Normans, and is rarely found before the Conqueror.
+    Mass thanes were those who held lands in fee of the church. Middle
+    thanes were such as held very small estates of the king, or parcels
+    of lands of the king's greater thanes. They were called by the
+    Normans vavassors, and their lands vavassories. They who held lands
+    of these, were thanes of the lowest class, and did not rank as
+    gentlemen. All thanes disposed of the lands which they held (and
+    which were called Blockland) to their heirs, but with the
+    obligations due to those of whom they were held. Ceorle (whence our
+    word churl) was a countryman or artisan who was a freeman. Those
+    ceorles who held lands in leases were called sockmen, and their land
+    sockland, of which they could not dispose, being barely tenants.
+    Those ceorles who acquired possession of five hides of land with a
+    large house, court, and bell to call together their servants, were
+    raised to the rank of thanes of the lowest class. A hide of land was
+    as much as one plough could till. The villains or slaves in the
+    country were laborers, bound to the service of particular persons;
+    were all capable of possessing money in property, consequently were
+    not strictly slaves in the sense of the Roman law.
+
+    Witan or Wites, (_i. e._ wisemen,) were the magistrates and lawyers.
+    Burghwitten signified the magistrates of cities. Some shires (or
+    counties) are mentioned before king Alfred; and Asserius speaks of
+    earls (or counts) of Somerset, and Devonshire, in the reign of
+    Ethelwolph. But Alfred first divided the whole kingdom into shires,
+    the shires into tithings, lathes, or wapentacks, the tithings into
+    hundreds, and the hundreds into tenths. Each division had a court
+    subordinate to those that were superior, the highest in each shire
+    being the shire-gemot, or folck-mote, which was held twice a year,
+    and in which the bishop or his deputy, and the ealderman, or his
+    viceregent, the sheriff, presided. See Seldon on the Titles of
+    Honor; Speman's Glossary, ad. noviss. Squires on the Government of
+    the English Saxons. Dr. William Howel, in his learned General
+    History, t. 5, p. 273, &c. N.B. The titles of earls and hersen were
+    first given by Ifwar Widfame, king of Sweden, to two ministers of
+    state in 824; on which see many remarks of Olof Delin, in his
+    excellent new history of Sweden, c. 5, t. {}, p. {}34.
+
+{487}
+
+_Only Complete and Unabridged Edition with nearly 100 pages of
+Chronological and General Index, Alphabetical and Centenary Table, etc._
+
+THE
+LIVES
+THE FATHERS, MARTYRS,
+AND OTHER
+PRINCIPAL SAINTS;
+COMPILED FROM
+ORIGINAL MONUMENTS, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC RECORDS;
+ILLUSTRATED WITH THE
+REMARKS OF JUDICIOUS MODERN CRITICS AND HISTORIANS
+BY THE REV. ALBAN BUTLER
+_With the approbation of
+MOST REV. M.A. CORRIGAN, D.D.,
+Archbishop of New York._
+
+VOL. III.
+
+NEW YORK:
+P.J. KENEDY,
+PUBLISHER TO THE HOLY SEE,
+EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE,
+5 BARCLAY STREET.
+1903
+
+{488 blank page}
+{489}
+CONTENTS
+
+MARCH.
+1.                                              PAGE
+ST. DAVID, Archbishop, Patron of Wales.......... 491
+St. Swidbert, or Swibert, the ancient, Bishop
+  and Confessor................................. 493
+St. Albinus, Bishop of Angers, Confessor........ 494
+St. Monan, Martyr............................... 495
+
+2.
+Martyrs under the Lombards...................... 496
+St. Ceada, or Chad, Bishop and Confessor........ 497
+St. Simplicius, Pope and Confessor.............. 498
+St. Marnan, Bishop and Confessor................ 499
+St. Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, Martyr.. 500
+St. Joavan, or Joevin, Bishop and Confessor..... 501
+
+3.
+St. Cunegundes, Empress......................... 501
+SS. Marinus and Asterius, or Astyrius, Martyrs.. 503
+SS. Emeterius and Chelidonius, Martyrs.......... 503
+St. Winwaloe, or Winwaloc, Abbot................ 504
+St. Lamalisse, Confessor........................ 506
+
+4.
+St. Casimir, Prince of Poland................... 506
+St. Lucius, Pope and Martyr..................... 508
+St. Adrian, Bishop of St. Andrew's, Martyr...... 509
+
+5.
+SS. Adrian and Eubulus, Martyrs................. 510
+St. Kiaran, or Kenerin, Bishop and Confessor.... 511
+St. Roger, Confessor............................ 512
+St. John Joseph of the Cross.................... 512
+
+6.
+St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, Confessor....... 519
+B. Coleus, Virgin and Abbess.................... 520
+St. Fridolin, Abbot............................. 522
+St. Baldrede, Bishop of Glasgow, Confessor...... 522
+SS. Kyneburge, Kyneswide, and Tibba............. 522
+St. Cadroe. Confessor........................... 523
+
+7.
+St Thomas of Aquino, Doctor of the Church
+  and Confessor................................. 523
+SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, &c., Martyrs........ 533
+St. Paul, Anchoret.............................. 540
+
+8.
+St. John of God, Confessor...................... 541
+Venerable John of Avila, Apostle of Andalusia... 542
+St. Felix, Bishop and Confessor................. 547
+SS. Apollonius, Philemon, &c., Martyrs.......... 548
+St. Julian, Archbishop of Toledo, Confessor..... 548
+St. Duthak, Bishop of Ross, in Scotland,
+  Confessor..................................... 549
+St. Rosa, of Viterbo, Virgin.................... 549
+St. Senan, Bishop and Confessor.. .............. 549
+St. Psalmod, or Saumay, Anchoret................ 550
+
+
+9.
+St. Frances, Widow ............................. 550
+Gregory of Nyasa, Bishop and Confessor.......... 552
+On the Writings of St. Gregory.................. 553
+St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona, Confessor...... 557
+On the Writings of St. Pacian................... 557
+St. Catherine of Bologna, Virgin and Abbess..... 559
+
+10.
+SS. The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste................ 560
+St. Droctovæus, Abbot........................... 563
+St. Mackessoge, or Kessoge, Confessor........... 564
+
+11.
+St. Eulogius of Cordova, Priest and Martyr...... 564
+St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem,
+  Confessor..................................... 566
+St. Ængus, Bishop and Confessor................. 567
+St. Constantine, Martyr......................... 568
+
+12.
+St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Confessor....... 568
+On the Life of St. Gregory...................... 580
+St. Maximilian, Martyr.......................... 581
+St. Paul, Bishop of Leon, Confessor............. 581
+
+13.
+St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople,
+  Confessor..................................... 582
+St. Euphrasia, Virgin........................... 585
+St. Theophanes, Abbot and Confessor............. 587
+St. Kennocha, Virgin in Scotland................ 588
+St. Gerald, Bishop.............................. 588
+St. Mochoemoc, in Latin Pulcherius, Abbot....... 588
+
+14.
+St. Maud, or Mathildis, Queen of Germany........ 589
+SS. Acepsimas, Bishop, Joseph, Priest, and
+  Aithilahas, Deacon, Martyrs................... 591
+St. Boniface, Bishop of Ross, Confessor......... 594
+
+15.
+St. Abraham, Hermit............................. 594
+St. Zachary, Pope and Confessor................. 596
+
+16.
+St. Julian, of Cilicia, Martyr.................. 597
+St. Finian, surnamed Lobhar, or the Leper....... 598
+
+17.
+St. Patrick, Bishop and Confessor, Apostle of
+  Ireland....................................... 599
+SS. Martyrs of Alexandria....................... 604
+St. Joseph of Arimathea......................... 605
+St. Gertrude, Virgin and Abbess of Nivelle ..... 605
+
+18
+St. Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, Martyr...... 606
+St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, Confessor... 607
+
+{490}
+
+On the Writings of St. Cyril.................... 614
+St. Edward, Ring and Martyr..................... 617
+St. Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, Confessor.......... 618
+St. Fridian, Bishop of Lucca, Confessor......... 619
+
+19.
+St Joseph....................................... 620
+St. Alcmund, Martyr............................. 624
+
+20.
+St. Cuthbert, Bishop and Confessor.............. 625
+St. Wulfran, Archbishop of Seas................. 629
+
+21.
+St. Benedict, Abbot............................. 639
+St. Serapion, the Sindonite..................... 638
+St. Serapion, Abbot of Arsinoe.................. 639
+St. Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis in Egypt......... 640
+St. Enna, or Endeus, Abbot...................... 641
+
+22.
+St. Basil of Ancyra, Priest and Martyr.......... 641
+St. Paul, Bishop of Narbonne, Confessor......... 644
+St. Lea, Widow.................................. 644
+St. Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage, Confessor... 644
+St. Catherine of Sweden, Virgin................. 644
+
+23.
+St. Alphonsus Turibius, Bishop and Confessor.... 645
+SS. Victorian, Proconsul of Carthage. &c.,
+  Martyrs....................................... 649
+St. Edelwald, Priest and Confessor.............. 650
+
+24.
+St. Irenæus, Bishop of Sirmium, Martyr.......... 651
+St. Simon, an Infant, Martyr.................... 653
+St. William of Norwich, Martyr.................. 653
+
+25.
+The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary..... 661
+St. Cammin, Abbot............................... 666
+
+26.
+St. Ludger, Bishop of Munster, Apostle of
+  Saxony........................................ 661
+St. Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa, Confessor..... 663
+
+27.
+St. John of Egypt, Hermit....................... 664
+St. Rupert, or Robert, Bishop and Confessor..... 688
+
+28.
+SS. Priscus, Malchus, and Alexander, Martyrs.... 669
+St. Sixtus III., Pope........................... 670
+St. Gontran, King and Confessor................. 671
+
+29.
+SS. Jonas, Barachisius, &c., Martyrs............ 672
+SS. Armogastes, Archinimus, and Saturns,
+  Martyrs....................................... 674
+St. Eustasius, or Eustachius, Abbot............. 675
+St. Gundleus, Confessor......................... 673
+St. Mark, Bishop and Confessor.................. 675
+
+30.
+St. John Climacus, Abbot........................ 677
+St. Zozimus, Bishop of Syracuse................. 681
+St. Regulus, or Rieul........................... 681
+
+31.
+St. Benjamin, Deacon, Martyr.................... 691
+St. Acacias, or Achates, Bishop of Antioch in
+  Asia Minor, Confessor......................... 683
+St. Guy, Confessor.............................. 685
+
+{491}
+
+MARCH I.
+
+SAINT DAVID, ARCHBISHOP,
+
+PATRON OF WALES.
+
+See his life by Giralduc Cambrensis, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, t. 2;
+also Doctor Brown Willis, and Wilkins, Conc. Britain. & Hibern. t. 1.
+
+About the year 544.
+
+ST. DAVID, in Welsh Dewid, was son of Xantus, prince of Ceretice, now
+Cardiganshire. He was brought up in the service of God, and, being
+ordained priest, retired into the Isle of Wight, and embraced an ascetic
+life, under the direction of Paulinus, a learned and holy man, who had
+been a disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre. He is said by the sign of
+the cross to have restored sight to his master, which he had lost by old
+age, and excessive weeping in prayer. He studied a long time to prepare
+himself for the functions of the holy ministry. At length, coming out of
+his solitude, like the Baptist out of the desert, he preached the word
+of eternal life to the Britons. He built a chapel at Glastenbury, a
+place which had been consecrated to the divine worship by the first
+apostles of this island. He founded twelve monasteries, the principal of
+which was in the vale of Ross,[1] near Menevia, where he formed many
+great pastors and eminent servants of God. By his rule he obliged all
+his monks to assiduous manual labor in the spirit of penance: he allowed
+them the use of no cattle to ease them at their work in tilling the
+ground. They were never suffered to speak but on occasions of absolute
+necessity, and they never ceased to pray, at least mentally, during
+their labor. They returned late in the day to the monastery, to read,
+write, and pray. Their food was only bread and vegetables, with a little
+salt, and they never drank any thing better than a little milk mingled
+with water. After their repast they spent three hours in prayer and
+adoration; then took a little rest, rose at cock-crowing, and continued
+in prayer till they went out to work. Their habit was of the skins of
+beasts. When any one petitioned to be admitted, he waited ten days at
+the door, during which time he was tried by harsh words, repeated
+refusals, and painful labors, that he might learn to die to himself.
+When he was admitted, he left all his worldly substance behind him, for
+the monastery never received any thing on the score of admission. All
+the monks discovered their most secret thoughts and temptations to their
+abbot.
+
+The Pelagian heresy springing forth a second time in Britain, the
+bishops, in order to suppress it, held a synod at Brevy, in
+Cardiganshire, in 512, or rather in 519.[2] St. David, being invited to
+it, went thither, and in that venerable assembly confuted and silenced
+the infernal monster by his eloquence,{492} learning, and miracles. On
+the spot where this council was held, a church was afterwards built
+called Llan-Devi Brevi, or the church of St. David near the river Brevi.
+At the close of the synod, St. Dubritius, the archbishop of Caerleon,
+resigned his see to St. David, whose tears and opposition were only to
+be overcome by the absolute command of the synod, which however allowed
+him, at his request, the liberty to transfer his see from Caerleon, then
+a populous city, to Menevia, now called St. David's, a retired place,
+formed by nature for solitude, being, as it were, almost cut off from
+the rest of the island, though now an intercourse is opened to it from
+Milford-Haven. Soon after the former synod, another was assembled by St.
+David at a place called Victoria, in which the acts of the first were
+confirmed, and several canons added relating to discipline which were
+afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Roman church; and these two
+synods were, as it were, the rule and standard of the British churches.
+As for St. David, Giraldus adds, that he was the great ornament and
+pattern of his age. He spoke with great force and energy, but his
+example was more powerful than his eloquence; and he has in all
+succeeding ages been the glory of the British church. He continued in
+his last see many years; and having founded several monasteries, and
+been the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, died
+about the year 544, in a very advanced age. St. Kentigtern saw his soul
+borne up by angels into heaven. He was buried in his church of St.
+Andrew, which hath since taken his name, with the town and the whole
+diocese. Near the church stand several chapels, formerly resorted to
+with great devotion: the principal is that of St. Nun, mother of St.
+David, near which is a beautiful well still frequented by pilgrims.
+Another chapel is sacred to St. Lily, surnamed Gwas-Dewy, that is, St.
+David's man; for he was his beloved disciple and companion in his
+retirement. He is honored there on the 3d, and St. Nun, who lived and
+died the spiritual mother of many religious women, on the 2d of March.
+The three first days of March were formerly holidays in South Wales in
+honor of these three saints; at present only the first is kept a
+festival throughout all Wales. John of Glastenbury[3] informs us, that
+in the reign of king Edgar, in the year of Christ 962, the relics of St.
+David were translated with great solemnity from the vale of Ross to
+Glastenbury, together with a portion of the relics of St. Stephen the
+Protomartyr.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By singing assiduously the divine praises with pure and holy hearts,
+dead to the world and all inordinate passions, monks are styled angels
+of the earth. The divine praise is the primary act of the love of God;
+for a soul enamored of his adorable goodness and perfections, summons up
+all her powers to express the complacency she takes in his infinite
+greatness and bliss, and sounds forth his praises with all her strength.
+In this entertainment she feels an insatiable delight and sweetness, and
+with longing desires aspires after that bliss in which she will love and
+praise without intermission or impediment. By each act of divine praise,
+the fervor of charity and its habit, and with it every spiritual good
+and every rich treasure, is increased in her: moreover, God in return
+heaps upon her the choicest blessings of his grace. Therefore, though
+the acts of divine praise seem directly to be no more than a tribute or
+homage of our affections, which we tender to God, the highest advantages
+accrue from these exercises to our souls. St. Stephen of Grandmont was
+once asked by a disciple, why we are so frequently exhorted in the
+scriptures to bless and praise God, who, being infinite, can receive no
+increase from our homages. {493} To which the saint replied: "A man who
+blesses and praises God receives from thence the highest advantage
+imaginable; for God, in return, bestows on him all his blessings, and
+for every word that he repeats in these acts, says: 'For the praises and
+blessings which you offer me, I bestow my blessings on you; what you
+present to me returns to yourself with an increase which becomes my
+liberality and greatness.' It is the divine grace," goes on this holy
+doctor, "which first excites a man to praise God, and he only returns to
+God his own gift: yet by his continually blessing God, the Lord pours
+forth his divine blessings upon him, which are so many new increases of
+charity in his soul."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This denomination was given to the valley from the territory where
+    it was situated, which was called Ross. Frequent mention is made of
+    this monastery in the acts of several Irish saints, under the name
+    of Rosnat or Rosnant.
+2.  See Wilkins, Conc. t. 1.
+3.  Maximes de S. Etienne de Grandmort, ch. 105, p. 228. Item {}
+    Sententuarum S. Stephani Grand. c. {}05, p. 103.
+
+ST. SWIDBERT, OR SWIBERT, THE ANCIENT, B.C.
+
+He was an English monk, educated near the borders of Scotland, and lived
+some time under the direction of the holy priest and monk, St. Egbert,
+whom he accompanied into Ireland. St. Egbert was hindered himself from
+passing into Lower Germany, according to his zealous desire, to preach
+the gospel to the infidels: and Wigbert, who first went into Friesland
+upon that errand, was thwarted in all his undertakings by Radbod, prince
+of that country, and returned home without success. St. Egbert, burning
+with an insatiable zeal for the conversion of those souls, which he
+ceased not with many tears to commend to God, stirred up others to
+undertake that mission. St. Swidbert was one of the twelve missionaries,
+who, having St. Willibrord at their head, sailed into Friesland, in 690,
+according to the direction of St. Egbert. They landed at the mouth of
+the Rhine, as Alcuin assures us, and travelled as high as Utrecht, where
+they began to announce to the people the great truths of eternal life.
+Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the French palace, had conquered part of
+Friesland, eighteen months before, and compelled Radbod, who remained
+sovereign in the northern part, to pay an annual tribute. The former was
+a great protector and benefactor to these missionaries, nor did the
+latter oppose their preaching. St. Swidbert labored chiefly in Hither
+Friesland, which comprised the southern part of Holland, the northern
+part of Brabant, and the countries of Gueldres and Cleves: for in the
+middle age, Friesland was extended from the mouths of the Meuse and the
+Rhine, as far as Denmark and ancient Saxony. An incredible number of
+souls was drawn out of the sink of idolatry, and the most shameful
+vices, by the zeal of St. Swidbert. St. Willibrord was ordained
+archbishop of Utrecht by pope Sergius I., at Rome, in 696. St. Swidbert
+was pressed by his numerous flock of converts, and by his
+fellow-laborers, to receive the episcopal consecration: for this purpose
+he returned to England soon after the year 697, where he was consecrated
+regionary bishop to preach the gospel to infidels, without being
+attached to any see, by Wilfrid, bishop of York, who happened to be then
+banished from his own see, and employed in preaching the faith in
+Mercia. Either the see of Canterbury was still vacant after the death of
+St. Theodorus, or Brithwald, his successor, was otherwise hindered from
+performing that ceremony, and St. Swidbert had probably been formerly
+known personally to St. Wilfrid, being both from the same kingdom of
+Northumberland. Our saint invested with that sacred character, returned
+to his flock, and settled the churches which he had founded in good
+order: then leaving them to the care of St. Willibrord and his ten
+companions, he penetrated further into {494} the country, and converted
+to the faith a considerable part of the Boructuarians, who inhabited the
+countries now called the duchy of Berg, and the county of La Marck. His
+apostolic labors were obstructed by an invasion of the Saxons, who,
+after horrible devastations, made themselves masters of the whole
+country of the Boructuarians. St. Swidbert, being at length desirous to
+prepare himself for his last hour, in retirement, by fervent works of
+penance, received of Pepin of Herstal the gift of a small island, formed
+by different channels of the Rhine, and another river, called
+Keiserswerdt, that is, island of the emperor; werdt, in the language of
+that country, signifying an island. Here the saint built a great
+monastery, which flourished for many ages, till it was converted into a
+collegiate church of secular canons. A town, which was formed round this
+monastery, bore long the name of St. Swidbert's Isle, but is now called
+by the old name, Keiserswerdt, and is fortified: it is situated on the
+Rhine, six miles below Dusseldorp: a channel of the Rhine having changed
+its course, the place is no longer an island. St. Swidbert here died in
+peace, on the 1st of March, in 713. His feast was kept with great
+solemnity in Holland and other parts where he had preached. Henschenius
+has given us a panegyric on him, preached on this day by Radbod, bishop
+of Utrecht, who died in 917. His relics were found in 1626 at
+Keiserswerdt, in a silver shrine, together with those of St. Willeic,
+likewise an Englishman, his successor in the government of this abbey;
+and are still venerated in the same place, except some small portions
+given to other churches by the archbishop of Cologne.[1] See Bede, Hist.
+l. 5, c. 10, 12, and the historical collection of Henschenius, l. Mart.
+p. 84; Fleury, l. 40; Batavia Sacra; and the Roman Martyrology, in which
+his name occurs on this day. His successor, St. Willeic, is commemorated
+on the 2d of March, by Wilson, in his English Martyrology, in the first
+edition, an. 1608, (though omitted in the second edition, an. 1628,) and
+is mentioned among the English saints, by F. Edward Maihew, Trop{}ea
+Congregationis Anglicanæ Bened. Rhemis, 1625; and F. Jerom Porter, in
+his Flores Sanctorum Angliæ, Scotiæ, et Hiberniæ. Duaci, 1632.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The acts of St. Swidbert, under the name of Marcellinus, pretended
+    to be St. Marchelm, a disciple or colleague of the saint, extant in
+    Surius, are a notorious piece of forgery of the fifteenth century.
+    We must not, with these false acts and many others, confound St.
+    Swidbert of Keiserswerdt with a younger saint of the same name, also
+    an Englishman, first bishop of Verden or Ferden, in Westphaly, in
+    807, in the reign of Charlemagne; whose body was taken up at Verden,
+    together with those of seven bishops his successors, in 1630. St.
+    Swidbert the younger is mentioned in some Martyrologies on the 30th
+    of April, though many moderns have confounded him with our saint.
+    Another holy man, called Swidbert, forty years younger than our
+    saint, whom some have also mistaken for the same with him, is
+    mentioned by Bede, (l. 4, c. 32) and was abbot of a monastery in
+    Cumberland, upon the river Decors, which does not appear to hive
+    been standing since the Conquest. See Leland, Collect. t. 2, p. 152,
+    and Camden's Britannia; by Gibson, col. 831. Tanner's Notitia Mon.
+    p. 73.
+
+ST. ALBINUS, BISHOP OF ANGERS, C.
+
+HE was of an ancient and noble family in Brittany,[1] and from his
+childhood was fervent in every exercise of piety. He ardently sighed
+after the happiness which a devout soul finds in being perfectly
+disengaged from all earthly things. Having embraced the monastic state
+at Cincillac, called afterwards Tintillant, a place somewhere near
+Angers, he shone a perfect model of virtue, especially of prayer,
+watching, universal mortification of the senses, and obedience, living
+as if in all things he had been without any will of his own, and his
+soul seemed so perfectly governed by the Spirit of Christ as to live
+only for him. At the age of thirty-five years, he was chosen {495}
+abbot, in 504, and twenty-five years afterwards, bishop of Angers. He
+everywhere restored discipline, being inflamed with a holy zeal for the
+honor of God. His dignity seemed to make no alteration either in his
+mortifications, or in the constant recollection of his soul. Honored by
+all the world, even by kings, he was never affected with vanity.
+Powerful in works and miracles, he looked upon himself as the most
+unworthy and most unprofitable among the servants of God, and had no
+other ambition than to appear such in the eyes of others, as he was in
+those of his own humility. By his courage in maintaining the law of God
+and the canons of the church, he showed that true greatness of soul is
+founded in the most sincere humility. In the third council of Orleans,
+in 538, he procured the thirtieth canon of the council of Epaoue to be
+revived, by which those are declared excommunicated who presume to
+contract incestuous marriages in the first or second degree of
+consanguinity or affinity. He died on the 1st of March, in 549. His
+relics were taken up and enshrined by St. Germanus of Paris, and a
+council of bishops, with Eutropius, the saint's successor, at Angers, in
+556; and the most considerable part still remains in the church of the
+famous abbey of St. Albinus at Angers, built upon the spot where he was
+buried, by king Childebert, a little before his relics were enshrined.
+Many churches in France, and several monasteries and villages, bear his
+name. He was honored by many miracles, both in his life-time and after
+his death. Several are related in his life written by Fortunatus, bishop
+of Poitiers, who came to Angers to celebrate his festival seven years
+after his decease; also by St. Gregory of Tours, (l. de Glor. Confess.
+c. 96.) See the Notes of Henschenius on his life.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  It is proved by Leland in his Itinerary, published by Hearne, (t. 3,
+    p. 4,) that the ancestors of St. Albinus of Angers came from Great
+    Britain, and that two branches of his family flourished long after,
+    one in Cornwall, the other in Somersetshire.
+
+ST. MONAN, IN SCOTLAND, M.
+
+ST. ADRIAN, bishop of St. Andrews, trained up this holy man from his
+childhood, and when he had ordained him priest, and long employed him in
+the service of his own church, sent him to preach the gospel in the isle
+of May, lying to the bay of Forth. The saint exterminated superstition
+and many other crimes and abuses, and having settled the churches of
+that island in good order, passed into the county of Fife, and was there
+martyred; being slain with above 6000 other Christians, by an army of
+infidels who ravaged that country in 874. His relics were held in great
+veneration at Innerny, in Fifeshire, the place of his martyrdom, and
+were famous for miracles. King David II. having himself experienced the
+effect of his powerful intercession with God, rebuilt his church at
+Innerny of stone, to a stately manner, and founded a college of canons
+to serve it. See King's calendar, and the manuscript life of this martyr
+in the Scottish college at Paris and the Breviary of Aberdeen.
+
+{496}
+
+
+MARCH II.
+
+MARTYRS UNDER THE LOMBARDS.
+
+From St. Gregory, Dial. l. 3, c. 26, 27. t. 2, p. 337.
+
+SIXTH AGE.
+
+THE Lombards, a barbarous idolatrous nation which swarmed out of
+Scandinavia and Pomerania, settled first in the counties now called
+Austria and Bavaria; and a few years after, about the middle of the
+sixth century, broke into the north of Italy. In their ravages about the
+year 597, they attempted to compel forty husbandmen, whom they had made
+captives, to eat meats which had been offered to idols. The faithful
+servants of Christ constantly refusing to comply, were all massacred.
+Such meats might, in some circumstances, have been eaten without sin,
+but not when this was exacted out of a motive of superstition. The same
+barbarians endeavored to oblige another company of captives to adore the
+head of a goat, which was their favorite idol, and about which they
+walked, singing, and bending their knees before it; but the Christians
+chose rather to die than purchase their lives by offending God. They are
+said to have been about four hundred in number. St. Gregory the Great
+mentions, that these poor countrymen had prepared themselves for the
+glorious crown of martyrdom, by lives employed in the exercises of
+devotion and voluntary penance, and by patience in bearing afflictions;
+also, that they had the heroic courage to suffer joyfully the most cruel
+torments and death, rather than offend God by sin, because his love
+reigned in their hearts. "True love," says St. Peter Chrysologus,[1]
+"makes a soul courageous and undaunted; it even finds nothing hard,
+nothing bitter, nothing grievous; it braves dangers, smiles at death,
+conquers all things." If we ask our own hearts, if we examine our lives
+by this test, whether we have yet begun to love God, we shall have
+reason to be confounded, and to tremble at our remissness and sloth. We
+suffer much for the world, and we count labor light, that we may attain
+to the gratification of our avarice, ambition, or other passion in its
+service, yet we have not fervor to undertake any thing to save our
+souls, or to crucify our passions. Here penance, watchfulness over
+ourselves, or the least restraint, seems intolerable. Let us begin
+sincerely to study to die to ourselves, to disengage our hearts from all
+inordinate love of creatures, to raise ourselves above the slavery of
+the senses, above the appetites of the flesh and all temporal interest;
+and in order to excite ourselves to love God with fervor, let us
+seriously consider what God, infinite in goodness and in all
+perfections, and whose love for us is eternal and immense, deserves at
+our hands; what the joys of heaven are, how much we ought to do for such
+a bliss, and what Christ has done to purchase it for us, and to testify
+the excess of his love; also what the martyrs have suffered for his
+sake, and to attain to the happiness of reigning eternally with him. Let
+us animate ourselves with their fervor: "Let us love Christ as they
+did," said St. Jerom to the virgin Eustochium, "and every thing that now
+appears difficult, will become easy to us." To find this {497} hidden
+treasure of divine love we must seek it earnestly; we must sell all
+things, that is, renounce in spirit all earthly objects; we must dig a
+deep foundation of sincere humility in the very centre of our
+nothingness, and must without ceasing beg this most precious of all
+gifts, crying out to God in the vehement desire of our hearts. Lord,
+when shall I love thee!
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Peter Chrysol. Serm. 4.
+
+ST. CEADA OR CHAD, B.C.
+
+HE was brother to St. Cedd, bishop of London, and the two holy priests
+Celin and Cymbel, and had his education in the monastery of Lindisfarne,
+under St. Aidan. For his greater improvement in sacred letters and
+divine contemplation he passed into Ireland, and spent a considerable
+time in the company of St. Egbert, till he was called back by his
+brother St. Cedd to assist him in settling the monastery of Lestingay,
+which he had founded in the mountains of the Deiri, that is, the Woulds
+of Yorkshire. St. Cedd being made bishop of London, or of the East
+Saxons, left to him the entire government of this house. Oswi having
+yielded up Bernicia, or the northern part of his kingdom, to his son
+Alcfrid, this prince sent St. Wilfrid into France, that he might be
+consecrated to the bishopric of the Northumbrian kingdom, or of York;
+but he stayed so long abroad that Oswi himself nominated St. Chad to
+that dignity, who was ordained by Wini, bishop of Winchester, assisted
+by two British prelates, in 666. Bede assures us that he zealously
+devoted himself to all the laborious functions of his charge, visiting
+his diocese on foot, preaching the gospel, and seeking out the poorest
+and most abandoned persons to instruct and comfort, in the meanest
+cottages, and in the fields. When St. Theodorus, archbishop of
+Canterbury, arrived in England, in his general visitation of all the
+English churches, he adjudged the see of York to St. Wilfrid. St. Chad
+made him this answer: "If you judge that I have not duly received the
+episcopal ordination, I willingly resign this charge, having never
+thought myself worthy of it: but which, however unworthy, I submitted to
+undertake in obedience." The archbishop was charmed with his candor and
+humility, would not admit his abdication, but supplied certain rites
+which he judged defective in his ordination: and St. Chad, leaving the
+see of York, retired to his monastery of Lestingay, but was not suffered
+to bury himself long in that solitude. Jaruman, bishop of the Mercians,
+dying, St. Chad was called upon to take upon him the charge of that most
+extensive diocese.[1] He was the fifth bishop of the Mercians, and first
+fixed that see at Litchfield, so called from a great number of martyrs
+slain and buried there under Maximianus Herculeus; the name signifying
+the field of carcasses. Hence this city bears for its arms a landscape,
+covered with the bodies of martyrs. St. Theodorus considering St. Chad's
+old age, and the great extent of his diocese, absolutely forbade him to
+make his visitations on foot, as he used to do at York. When the
+laborious duties of his charge allowed him to retire, he enjoyed God in
+solitude with seven or eight monks, whom he had settled in a place near
+his cathedral. Here he gained new strength and fresh graces for the
+discharge of his functions; he was so strongly affected with the fear of
+the divine judgments, that as often as it thundered he went to the
+church and prayed prostrate all the time the storm continued, in
+remembrance of the dreadful day in which Christ will come to judge the
+world. By the bounty of king Wulfere, he founded a monastery at a place
+called Barrow, in the province {498} of Lindsay, (in the northern part
+of Lincolnshire,) where the footsteps of the regular life begun by him
+remained to the time of Bede. Carte conjectures that the foundation of
+the great monastery of Bardney, in the same province, was begun by him.
+St. Chad governed his diocese of Litchfield, two years and a half, and
+died in the great pestilence on the 2d of March, in 673. Bede gives the
+following relation of his passage. "Among the eight monks whom he kept
+with him at Litchfield, was one Owini, who came with queen Ethelred,
+commonly called St. Audry, from the province of the East Angles, and was
+her major-domo, and the first officer of her court, till quitting the
+world, clad in a mean garment, and carrying an axe and a hatchet in his
+hand, he went to the monastery of Lestingay, signifying that he came to
+work, and not to be idle; which he made good by his behavior in the
+monastic state. This monk declared, that he one day heard a joyful
+melody of some persons sweetly singing, which descended from heaven into
+the bishop's oratory, filled the same for about half an hour, then
+mounted again to heaven. After this, the bishop opening his window, and
+seeing him at his work, bade him call the other seven brethren. When the
+eight monks were entered his oratory, he exhorted them to preserve peace
+and religiously observe the rules of regular discipline; adding, that
+the amiable guest who was wont to visit their brethren, had vouchsafed
+to come to him that day, and to call him out of this world. Wherefore he
+earnestly recommended his passage to their prayers, and pressed them to
+prepare for their own, the hour of which is uncertain, by watching,
+prayer, and good works." The bishop fell presently into a languishing
+distemper, which daily increased, till, on the seventh day, having
+received the body and blood of our Lord, he departed to bliss, to which
+he was invited by the happy soul of his brother St. Cedd, and a company
+of angels with heavenly music. He was buried in the church of St. Mary,
+in Litchfield; but his body was soon after removed to that of St. Peter,
+in both places honored by miraculous cures, as Bede mentions. His relics
+were afterwards translated into the great church which was built in
+1148, under the invocation of the B. Virgin and St. Chad, which is now
+the cathedral, and they remained them till the change of religion. See
+Bede, l. 3, c. 28, l. 4, c. 2 and 3.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The first bishop of the Mercians was Diuma, a Scot; the second,
+    Keollach, of the same nation: the third, Trumhere, who had been
+    abbot of Gethling in the kingdom of the Northumbrians: the fourth
+    Jaruruan.
+
+ST. SIMPLICIUS, POPE, C.
+
+HE was the ornament of the Roman clergy under SS. Leo and Hilarius, and
+succeeded the latter in the pontificate in 497. He was raised by God to
+comfort and support his church amidst the greatest storms. All the
+provinces of the Western empire, out of Italy, were fallen into the
+hands of barbarians, infected for the greatest part with idolatry or
+Arianism. The ten last emperors, during twenty years, were rather
+shadows of power than sovereigns, and in the eighth year of the
+pontificate of Simplicius, Rome itself fell a prey to foreigners.
+Salvian, a learned priest of Marseilles in 440, wrote an elegant book On
+Divine Providence, in which he shows that these calamities were a just
+chastisement of the sins of the Christians; saying, that if the Goths
+were perfidious, and the Saxons cruel, they were however both remarkable
+for their chastity; as the Franks were for humanity, though addicted to
+lying: and that though these barbarians were impious, they had not so
+perfect a knowledge of sin, nor consequently were so criminal as those
+whom God chastised by them. The disorders of the Roman state paved the
+way for this revolution. Excessive taxes were levied in the most
+arbitrary ways. The governors oppressed the people at discretion, and
+many were obliged to take shelter among the barbarians: for the Bagaude,
+{499} Franks, Huns, Vandals, and Goths raised no taxes upon their
+subjects: on which account nations once conquered by them were afraid of
+falling again under the Roman yoke, preferring what was called slavery,
+to the empty name of liberty. Italy, by oppressions and the ravages of
+barbarians, was left almost a desert without inhabitants; and the
+imperial armies consisted chiefly of barbarians, hired under the name of
+auxiliaries, as the Suevi, Alans, Heruli, Goths, and others. Those soon
+saw their masters were in their power. The Heruli demanded one third of
+the lands of Italy, and, upon refusal, chose for their leader Odoacer,
+one of the lowest extraction, but a tall, resolute, and intrepid man,
+then an officer in the guards, and an Arian heretic, who was proclaimed
+king at Rome in 476. He put to death Orestes, who was regent of the
+empire for his son Augustulus, whom the senate had advanced to the
+imperial throne. The young prince had only reigned eight months, and his
+great beauty is the only thing mentioned of him. Odoacer spared his
+life, and appointed him a salary of six thousand pounds of gold, and
+permitted him to live at full liberty near Naples. Pope Simplicius was
+wholly taken up in comforting and relieving the afflicted, and in sowing
+the seeds of the Catholic faith among the barbarians. The East gave his
+zeal no less employment and concern. Zeno, son and successor to Leo the
+Thracian, favored the Eutychians. Basiliscus his admiral, who, on
+expelling him, usurped the imperial throne in 476, and held it two
+years, was a most furious stickler for that heresy. Zeno was no
+Catholic, though not a stanch Eutychian: and having recovered the
+empire, published, in 482, his famous decree of union, called the
+Henoticon, which explained the faith ambiguously, neither admitting nor
+condemning the council of Chalcedon. Peter Cnapheus, (that is, the
+Dyer,) a violent Eutychian, was made by the heretics patriarch of
+Antioch; and Peter Mongus, one of the most profligate of men, that of
+Alexandria. This latter published the Henoticon, but expressly refused
+to anathematize the council of Chalcedon; on which account the rigid
+Eutychians separated themselves from his communion, and were called
+Acephali, or, without a head. Acacias, the patriarch of Constantinople,
+received the sentence of St. Simplicius against Cnapheus, but supported
+Mongus against him and the Catholic church, promoted the Henoticon, and
+was a notorious changeling, double-dealer, and artful hypocrite, who
+often made religion serve his own private ends. St. Simplicius at length
+discovered his artifices, and redoubled his zeal to maintain the holy
+faith which he saw betrayed on every side, while the patriarchal sees of
+Alexandria and Antioch were occupied by furious wolves, and there was
+not one Catholic king in the whole world. The emperor measured every
+thing by his passions and human views. St. Simplicius having sat fifteen
+years, eleven months, and six days, went to receive the reward of his
+labors, in 483. He was buried in St. Peter's on the 2d of March. See his
+letters: also the historians Evagrius, Theophanes, Liberatus, and
+amongst the moderns, Baronius, Henschenius, Ceillier, t. 15, p. 123.
+
+ST. MARNAN, B.C.
+
+To his holy prayers Aidan, king of the Scots, ascribed a wonderful
+victory which he gained over Ethelfrid, the pagan king of the
+Northumbrian English; and by his councils Eugenius IV., who succeeded
+his father Aidan in the kingdom soon after this battle, treated all the
+prisoners with the utmost humanity and generosity, by which they were
+gained to the Christian faith. The Northumbrian princes, Oswald and
+Oswi, were instructed in our holy religion, and grounded in its spirit
+by St. Marnan, {500} who died in Annandale in the year 620. His head was
+kept with singular devotion at Moravia, and was carried in processions
+attended by the whole clan of the Innis's, which from the earliest times
+was much devoted to this saint. See the Breviary of Aberdeen, Buchanan,
+l. 5, in Aidano et Eugenio Regibus, and MS. Memoirs in the Scottish
+college at Paris. St. Marnan is titular saint of the church of
+Aberkerdure upon the river Duvern, formerly much frequented out of
+devotion to his relics kept there.
+
+ST. CHARLES THE GOOD, EARL OF FLANDERS, M.
+
+HE was the son of St. Canutus, king of Denmark, and of Alice of
+Flanders, who, after the death of his father, carried him, then an
+infant, into Flanders, in 1086. His cousin-german Baldwin the Seventh,
+earl of Flanders, dying without issue in 1119, left him his heir by
+will, on account of his extraordinary valor and merit. The young earl
+was a perfect model of all virtues, especially devotion, charity, and
+humility. Among his friends and courtiers, he loved those best who
+admonished him of his faults the most freely. He frequently exhausted
+his treasury on the poor, and often gave the clothes off his back to be
+sold for their relief. He served them with his own hands, and
+distributed clothes and bread to them in all places where he came. It
+was observed that in Ipres he gave away, in one day, no less than seven
+thousand eight hundred loaves. He took care for their sake to keep the
+price of corn and provisions always low, and he made wholesome laws to
+protect them from the oppressions of the great. This exasperated
+Bertulf, who had tyrannically usurped the provostship of St. Donatian's
+in Bruges, to which dignity was annexed the chancellorship of Flanders,
+and his wicked relations, the great oppressors of their country. In this
+horrible conspiracy they were joined by Erembald, castellan or chief
+magistrate of the territory of Bruges, with his five sons, provoked
+against their sovereign because he had repressed their unjust violences
+against the noble family De Straten. The holy earl went every morning
+barefoot to perform his devotions early before the altar of the Blessed
+Virgin in St. Donatian's church. Going thither one day, he was informed
+of a conspiracy, but answered; "We are always surrounded by dangers, but
+we belong to God. If it be his will, can we die in a better cause than
+that of justice and truth?" While he was reciting the penitential psalms
+before the altar, the conspirators rushing in, his head was cloven by
+Fromold Borchard, nephew to Bertulf, in 1124. He was buried in St.
+Christopher's church at Bruges, not in that of St. Donatian, as
+Pantoppidan proves. Borchard was broke alive on the wheel, and Bertulf
+was hung on a rack at Ipres, and exposed on it to be torn by furious
+dogs, and at length was stoned to death by beggars while he remained on
+that engine. St. Charles's shrine was placed by an order of Charles
+Philip Rodoan, fourth bishop of Bruges, in 1606, in the chapel of the
+blessed Virgin, and ever since the year 1610 a high mass in honor of the
+Trinity is sung on his festival. See the life of this good earl by
+Walter, archdeacon of Terouenne, and more fully by Gualbert, syndic of
+Bruges, and by Ælnoth a monk of Canterbury and Danish missionary at that
+time. See also Molanus and Miræus in their martyrologies; Henschenius,
+p. 158; Robertus de Monte a Append, ad. Chronicon Sigeberti ad an. 1127;
+Jac. Maierus, Annal. Flandriæ, l. 4, pp. 45, 46. Likewise Ericus
+Pantoppidanus in his Gesta Danorum extra Daniam. Hafniæ, 1740 t. 2, sec.
+1, c. 5, sec. 32, p. 398.
+
+{501}
+
+ST. JOAVAN, OR JOEVIN, B.C.
+
+This saint was a fervent disciple of St. Paul of Leon, in Great Britain,
+his own country, accompanied him into Armorica, led an anchoretical life
+near him in the country of Ack, and afterwards in the isle of Baz. That
+great saint chose him coadjutor in his bishopric, when he retired a
+little before his death. St. Joavan survived him only one year. He is
+titular saint of two parish churches in the diocese of St. Paul of Leon,
+&c. See Lobineau, Vies des Saints de la Bretagne, p. 71, from the
+breviary and tradition of that church, though the life of St. Jovian,
+copied by Albert the Great. &c., deserves no regard.
+
+MARCH III.
+
+ST. CUNEGUNDES, EMPRESS.
+
+From her life written by a canon of Bamberg, about the year 1152: also
+the Dissertation of Henschenius, p. 267.
+
+A.D. 1040.
+
+ST. CUNEGUNDES was the daughter of Sigefride, the first count of
+Luxemburgh, and Hadeswige his pious wife. They instilled into her from
+her cradle the most tender sentiments of piety, and married her to St.
+Henry, duke of Bavaria, who, upon the death of the emperor Otho III.,
+was chosen king of the Romans, and crowned at Mentz on the 6th of June,
+1002. She was crowned at Paderborn on St. Laurence's day, on which
+occasion she made great presents to the churches of that city. In the
+year 1014 she went with her husband to Rome, and received the imperial
+crown with him from the hands of Pope Benedict VIII. She had, by St.
+Henry's consent before her marriage, made a vow of virginity.
+Calumniators afterwards accused her to him of freedoms with other men.
+The holy empress, to remove the scandal of such a slander, trusting in
+God the protector of innocence, in proof of hers, walked over red-hot
+ploughshares without being hurt. The emperor condemned his too
+scrupulous fears and credulity, and made her ample amends. They lived
+from that time in the strictest union of hearts conspiring to promote in
+every thing God's honor, and the advancement of piety.
+
+Going once to make a retreat in Hesse, she fell dangerously ill, and
+made a vow to found a monastery, if she recovered, in a place then
+called Capungen, now Kaffungen, near Cassel, in the diocese of
+Paderborn, which she executed in a stately manner, and gave it to nuns
+of the Order of St. Benedict. Before it was finished St. Henry died, in
+1024. She earnestly recommended his soul to the prayers of others,
+especially to her dear nuns, and expressed her longing desire of joining
+them. She had already exhausted her treasures and her patrimony in
+founding bishoprics and monasteries, and in relieving the poor. Whatever
+was rich or magnificent she thought better suited churches than her
+palace. She had therefore little now left to give. {502} But still
+thirsting to embrace perfect evangelical poverty, and to renounce all to
+serve God without obstacle, on the anniversary day of her busband's
+death, 1025, she assembled a great number of prelates to the dedication
+of her church of Kaffungen; and after the gospel was sung at mass,
+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 the 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 what ever could bring to her mind the
+remembrance of her former dignity. She prayed and read much, worked with
+her hands, abhorred the least appearance of worldly nicety, 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 anyone 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, while the prayers of the agonizing were read by her side.
+Perceiving they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to cover her
+corpse after her death, she changed color and ordered it to be taken
+away; nor could she be at rest till she was promised she should be
+buried as a poor religious in her habit. She died on the 3d 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. The author
+of her life relates many miracles wrought at the tomb, or by the
+intercession of this holy virgin and widow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Few arrive at any degree of perfection amongst those who aspire after
+virtue, because many behave as if they placed it barely in multiplying
+exercises of piety and good works. This costs little to self-love, which
+it rather feeds by entertaining a secret vanity, or self-complacency, in
+those who are not very careful in watching over their hearts. It is a
+common thing to see persons who have passed forty or fifty years in the
+constant practice of penance and all religious exercises, and the use of
+the most holy sacraments, still subject to habitual imperfections, and
+venial disorders, incompatible with a state of sanctity or perfection.
+They give marks of sudden resentment, if they happen to be rebuked or
+despised: are greedy of the esteem of others, take a secret satisfaction
+in applause, love too much their own ease and conveniences, and seek
+those things which flatter self-love. How much are these souls their own
+enemies by not giving themselves to God without reserve, and taking a
+firm resolution to labor diligently in watching over themselves, and
+cutting off all irregular attachments, and purifying their hearts! The
+neglect of this fosters many habitual little disorders and venial sins,
+which incredibly obstruct the work of our sanctification, and the
+advancement of the kingdom of divine grace in our souls. These little
+enemies wilfully caressed, weaken our good desires, defile even our
+spiritual actions with a thousand imperfections, and stop the abundant
+effusion with which the Holy Ghost is infinitely desirous to communicate
+himself to our souls, and to fill them with his light, grace, peace, and
+holy joy. The saints, by the victory over themselves, and by making it
+their principal study to live in the most perfect disengagement and
+purity of heart, offered to God, even in their smallest actions, pure
+and full sacrifices of love, praise, and obedience. If we desire to
+cultivate this purity of heart, we {503} must carefully endeavor to
+discover the imperfections and disorders of their souls, especially such
+as are habitual, and strenuously labor to root them out. Secondly, we
+must keep our senses under a strict guard, and accustom them to
+restraint by frequent denials. Thirdly, we must live as much as may be
+in a habit of recollection, and the practice of the divine presence,
+and, after any dissipating affairs, return eagerly to close retirement
+for some short time. Fourthly, we must, with perfect simplicity, lay
+open our whole interior to our spiritual director, and be most
+solicitous to do this, with particular candor and courage, in things in
+which we are tempted to use any kind of duplicity or dissimulation.
+Lastly, we must propose to ourselves, in all our thoughts and actions,
+the most perfect accomplishment of the will of God, and study to square
+our whole lives by this great rule, watching in all we do with
+particular care against motives of vanity, pride, sensuality, interest,
+and aversions, the great enemies to purity of intention.
+
+SS. MARINUS AND ASTERIUS, OR ASTYRIUS, 1131.
+
+ST. MARINUS was a person remarkable both for his wealth and family at
+Cæsarea in Palestine, about the year 272, and was in course to succeed
+to the place of a centurion, which was vacant, and about to obtain it;
+when another came up and said, that according to the laws Marinus could
+not have that post, on account of his being a Christian. Achæus, the
+governor of Palestine, asked Marinus if he was a Christian; who answered
+in the affirmative: whereupon the judge gave him three hours space to
+consider whether he would abide by his answer, or recall it. Theotecnus,
+the bishop of that city, being informed of the affair, came to him, when
+withdrawn from the tribunal, and taking him by the hand led him to the
+church. Here, pointing to the sword which he wore, and then to a book of
+the gospels, asked him which of the two he made his option. Marinus, in
+answer to the query, without the least hesitation, stretched out his
+right hand, and laid hold of the sacred book. "Adhere steadfastly then
+to God," says the bishop, "and he will strengthen you, and you shall
+obtain what you have chosen. Depart in peace." Being summoned again
+before the judge, he professed his faith with greater resolution and
+alacrity than before, and was immediately led away just as he was, and
+beheaded. St. Asterius, or Astyrius, a Roman senator, in great favor
+with the emperor, and well known to all on account of his high birth and
+great estate, being present at the martyrdom of St. Marinus, though he
+was richly dressed, took away the dead body on his shoulders, and having
+sumptuously adorned it, gave it a decent burial. Thus far the acts in
+Ruinart. Rufinus adds, that he was beheaded for this action. See Eus.
+Hist. l. 7, c. 15, 16, 17.
+
+SS. EMETERIUS, &c., MM.
+
+COMMONLY CALLED MADIR, AND CHELIDONIUS
+
+THEY were soldiers of distinguished merit in the Roman army in Spain,
+and suffered martyrdom at Calahorra, but it is not known in what
+persecution. Their courage and cheerfulness seemed to increase with
+their sharpest torments, and to them fires and swords seemed sweet and
+agreeable. Prudemius says, that the persecutors burned the acts of their
+martyrdom, envying us the history of so glorious a triumph. He adds,
+that their festival was kept in Spain with great devotion by all ranks
+of people; that strangers {504} came in devout pilgrimages to visit
+their relics, praying to these patrons of the world; and that none
+poured forth their pure prayers to them who were not heard and their
+tears dried up: "For," says he, "they immediately hear every petition,
+and carry it to the ear of the eternal king." See Prudentius, de Coro,
+hymn 1.
+
+ST. WINWALOE, OF WINWALOC, ABBOT.
+
+FRAGAN or Fracan, father of this saint, was nearly related to Cathoun,
+one of the kings or princes of Wales, and had by his wife Gwen three
+sons, Guethenoc, Jacut, and Winwaloe, whom they bound themselves by vow
+to consecrate to God from his birth, because he was their third son. The
+invasions of the Saxons, and the storms which soon after overwhelmed his
+own country, obliged him to seek a harbor in which he might serve God in
+peace. Riwal had retired a little before, with many others, from Wales
+into Armorica, and had been there kindly received; several Britons, who
+had followed the tyrant Maximus, having settled in that country long
+before. Fragan therefore transported his whole family, about the middle
+of the fifth century, and fixed his habitation at a place called from
+him to this day, Ploufragan, situated on the river Gouct, which ancient
+British and Gaulish word signifies blood. All accounts of our saint
+agree that his two elder brothers were born in Great Britain, but some
+place the birth of St. Winwaloe, and of his sister Creirvie, much
+younger than him, in Armorica. The pious parents brought up their
+children in the fear of God, but out of fondness delayed to place
+Winwaloe in a monastery, till he was now grown up. At length, touched by
+God, the father conducted him to the monastery of St. Budoc, in the isle
+of Laurels,[1] now called Isleverte, or Green Island, not far from the
+isle of Brehat. St. Budoc was an abbot in Great Britain, eminent for
+piety and learning, and flying from the swords of the Saxons, took
+refuge among his countrymen in Armorica, and in this little island
+assembled several monks, and opened a famous school for youth. Under his
+discipline Winwaloe made such progress, that the holy abbot appointed
+him superior over eleven monks, whom he sent to lay the foundation of a
+new monastery. They travelled through Domnonea, or the northern coast of
+Brittany, and finding a desert island near the mouth of the river Aven,
+now called Chateaulin, they built themselves several little huts or
+cells. From these holy inhabitants the name of Tibidy, that is, House of
+Prayers, was given to that island, which it still retains. This place is
+exposed to so violent winds and storms, that after three years St.
+Winwaloe and his community abandoned it, and built themselves a
+monastery on the continent, in a valley sheltered from the winds, called
+Landevenech, three leagues from Brest, on the opposite side of the bay.
+Grallo, count of Cornouailles, in which province this abbey is situated,
+in the diocese of Quimper-Corentin, gave the lands, and was at the
+expense of the foundation of this famous monastery. St. Winwaloe, from
+the time he left his father's house, never wore any other garments but
+what were made of the skins of goats, and under these a hair shirt; day
+and night, winter and summer, his clothing was the same. In his
+monastery neither wheat-bread nor wine was used, but for the holy
+sacrifice of the mass. No other drink was allowed to the community but
+water, which was sometimes boiled with a small decoction of certain wild
+herbs. The monks ate only coarse barley-bread, boiled herbs and roots,
+or barley-meal and herbs mixed, except on Saturdays and Sundays, on
+which {505} they were allowed cheese and shellfish, but of these the
+saint never tasted himself. His coarse barley-bread he always mingled
+with ashes, and their quantity he doubled in Lent, though even then it
+must have been very small, only to serve for mortification, and an
+emblem of penance. In Lent he took his refreshment only twice a week;
+his bed was composed of the rough bark of trees or of sand, with a stone
+for his pillow. From the relaxation in the rule of abstinence on
+Saturdays, it is evident that this monastic rule, which was the same in
+substance with that received in other British, Scottish; and Irish
+monasteries, was chiefly borrowed from Oriental rules, Saturday being a
+fast-day according to the discipline of the Roman church. This rule was
+observed at Landevenech, till Louis le Débonnaire, for the sake of
+uniformity, caused that of St. Benedict to be introduced there in 818.
+This house was adopted into the congregation of St. Maur, in 1636. St.
+Winwaloe was sensible that the spirit of prayer is the soul of a
+religious state, and the comfort and support of all those who are
+engaged in it: as to himself, his prayer, either mental or vocal, was
+almost continual, and so fervent, that he seemed to forget that he lived
+in a mortal body. From twenty years of age, till his death he never sat
+in the church, but always prayed either kneeling or standing unmoved, in
+the same posture, with his hands lifted up to heaven, and his whole
+exterior bespoke the profound veneration with which he was penetrated.
+He died on the 3d of March, about the year 529, in a very advanced age.
+His body was buried in his own church, which he had built of wood, on
+the spot upon which the abbatial house now stands. These relics were
+translated into the new church when it was built, but during the ravages
+of the Normans they were removed to several places in France, and at
+length into Flanders. At present the chief portions are preserved at
+Saint Peter's, at Blaudinberg, at Ghent, and at Montreuil in Lower
+Picardy, of which he is titular patron. In Picardy, he is commonly
+called St. Vignevaley, and more commonly Walovay; in Brittany, Guignole,
+or more frequently Vennole; in other parts of France, Guingalois; in
+England, Winwaloe or Winwaloc. His name occurs in the English litany of
+the seventh age, published by Mabillon.[2] He is titular saint of St.
+Guingualoe, a priory at Chateau du Loir, dependent on Marmoutier at
+Tours, and of several churches and parishes in France. His father, St.
+Fragan, is titular saint of a parish in the diocese of St. Brieuc,
+called Plou-Fragan, of which he is said to have been lord, and of
+another in the diocese of Leon, called St. Frogan; also, St. Gwen his
+mother, of one in the same diocese called Ploe-Gwen, and of another in
+that of Quimper. In France she is usually called St. Blanche, the
+British word Gwen signifying Blanche or White. His brothers are honored
+in Brittany, St. Guethenoc, on the 5th of November, and St. Jacut or
+James, on the 8th of February and the 3d of March; the latter is patron
+of the abbey of St. Jagu, in the diocese of Dol. St. Balay, or Valay,
+chief patron of the parish of Plou-balai, in the diocese of St. Malo,
+and a St. Martin, are styled disciples of St. Winwaloe, and before their
+monastic profession were lords of Rosmeur, and Ros-madeuc. Some other
+disciples of our saint are placed in the calendars of several churches
+in Brittany, as St. Guenhael his successor, St. Idunet or Yonnet, St.
+Dei, &c. See the ancient life of St. Winwaloe, the first of the three
+given by Bollandus and Henschenius; that in Surius and Cressy not being
+genuine. See also Baillet and Lobineau, Lives of the Saints of Brittany,
+pp. 43 and 48.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Laureaca.
+2.  Mabil. in Analect.
+
+{506}
+
+ST. LAMALISSE, C.
+
+HE flourished in great sanctity in the isle of Aran, on the west of
+Scotland, in the seventh century, and from him a neighboring small
+island is called to this day St. Lamalisse's Isle. See MS. memoirs in
+the Scottish College at Paris.
+
+
+MARCH IV.
+
+ST. CASIMIR, PRINCE OF POLAND.
+
+From his life compiled by Zachary Ferrier, legate of Leo X., in Poland,
+thirty-six years after his death; and an authentic relation of his
+miracles, with many circumstances of his life, by Gregory Swiecicki,
+canon of Vilna; also the commentary of Henschenius, p. 337.
+
+A D. 1483
+
+ST. CASIMIR was the third among the thirteen children 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. Uladislas, the eldest son, was elected king
+of Bohemia, in 1471, and became king of Hungary in 1490. Our saint was
+the second son: John Albert, the third son, succeeded the 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 so affectionately
+attached to the holy man who was their preceptor, that they could not
+bear to be separated from him. But Casimir profited most by his pious
+maxims and example. He consecrated the flower of his age to the
+exercises of devotion and penance, and had a horror of that softness and
+magnificence which reign in courts. His clothes were very plain, and
+under them be wore a hair shirt. His bed was frequently the ground, and
+he spent a considerable part of the night in prayer and meditation,
+chiefly on the passion of our Saviour. He often went out in the night to
+pray before the church-doors; and in the morning waited before them till
+they were opened to assist at matins. By living always under a sense of
+the divine presence he remained perpetually united to, and absorbed in,
+his Creator, maintained an uninterrupted cheerfulness of temper, and was
+mild and affable to all. He respected the least ceremonies of the
+church: every thing that tended to promote piety was dear to him. He was
+particularly devout to the passion of our blessed Saviour, the very
+thought of which excited him to tears, and threw him into transports of
+love. 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 {507} 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
+Uladislas, king of Bohemia, to procure them succor. His compassion made
+him feel in himself the afflictions of every one. The Palatines and
+other nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with Matthias Corvin, 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, not then 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 defend him, and that all differences were
+accommodated between him and his people, and that pope Sixtus IV. had
+sent an embassy to divert his father from that expedition, he joyfully
+returned, having with difficulty obtained his father's consent so to do.
+However, as his dropping this project was disagreeable to the king his
+father, not to increase his affliction by appearing before him, he did
+not go directly to Cracow, but retired to the castle of Dobzki, three
+miles from that city, where he continued three months in the practice of
+penance. Having learned the injustice of the attempt against the king of
+Hungary, in which obedience to his father's command prevailed upon him
+to embark when he was very young, he could never be engaged to resume it
+by a fresh pressing invitation of the Hungarians, or the iterated orders
+and entreaties of his father. The twelve years he lived after this, he
+spent in sanctifying himself in the same manner as he had done before.
+He observed to the last an untainted chastity, notwithstanding the
+advice of physicians who excited him to marry, imagining, upon some
+false principle, this to be a means necessary to preserve his life.
+Being wasted with a lingering consumption, he foretold his last hour,
+and having prepared himself for it by redoubling his exercises of piety,
+and receiving the sacraments of the church, he made a happy end at
+Vilna, the capital of Lithuania, on the 4th of March, 1482, being twenty
+three years and five months old. He was buried in the church of St.
+Stanislas. So many were the miracles wrought by his intercession, that
+Swiecicki, a canon of Vilna, wrought a whole volume of them from good
+memoirs, in 1604. He was canonized by pope Leo X., whose legate in
+Poland, Zachary Ferrier, wrote the saint's life. His body and all the
+rich stuffs it was wrapped in, were found quite entire, and exhaling a
+sweet smell one hundred and twenty years after his death,
+notwithstanding the excessive moisture of the vault. It is honored in a
+large rich chapel of marble, built on purpose in that church. St.
+Casimir is the patron of Poland, and several other places, and is
+proposed to youth as a particular pattern of purity. His original
+picture is to be seen in his chapel in St. Germain des Prez in Paris,
+built by John Casimir, king of Poland, the last of the family of Waza,
+who, renouncing his crown, retired to Paris, and died abbot of St.
+Germain's, in 1668.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What is there on earth which can engage the affections of a Christian,
+or be the object of his ambition, in whose soul God desires to establish
+his kingdom? Whoever has conceived a just idea of this immense happiness
+and dignity, must look upon all the glittering bubbles of this world as
+empty and vain, and consider every thing in this life barely as it can
+advance or hinder the great object of all his desires. Few arrive at
+this happy and glorious state, because scarce any one seeks it with his
+whole heart, and has the courage sincerely to renounce all things and
+die to himself: and this precious jewel cannot be purchased upon any
+other terms. The kingdom {508} of God can only be planted in a soul upon
+the ruins of self-love: so long as this reigns, it raises insuperable
+obstacles to the perfect establishment of the empire of divine love. The
+amiable Jesus lives in all souls which he animates by his sanctifying
+grace, and the Holy Ghost dwells in all such. But in most of these how
+many worldly maxims and inclinations diametrically opposite to those of
+our most holy heavenly king, hold their full sway! how many secret
+disorders and irregular attachments are cherished! how much is found of
+self-love, with which sometimes their spiritual exercises themselves are
+infected! The sovereign king of men and their merciful Redeemer is
+properly said to reign only in those souls which study effectually, and
+without reserve, to destroy in their affections whatever is opposite to
+his divine will, to subdue all their passions, and to subject all their
+powers to his holy love. Such fall not into any venial sins with full
+deliberation, and wipe away those of frailty into which they are
+betrayed, by the compunction and penance in which they constantly live,
+and by the constant attention with which they watch daily over
+themselves. They pray with the utmost earnestness that God deliver them
+from all the power of the enemy, and establish in all their affections
+the perfect empire of his grace and love; and to fulfil his will in the
+most perfect manner in all their actions, is their most earnest desire
+and hearty endeavor. How bountifully does God reward, even in this life,
+those who are thus liberal towards him! St. Casimir, who had tasted of
+this happiness, and learned truly to value the heavenly grace, loathed
+all earthly pomp and delights. With what joy ought not all Christians,
+both rich and poor, to be filled when they hear: The kingdom of God is
+within you! With what ardor ought they not to devote themselves to make
+God reign perfectly in their hearts! How justly did St. Casimir prefer
+this pursuit to earthly kingdoms!
+
+ST. LUCIUS, POPE AND MARTYR.
+
+From Eus. l. 7. c. 2 and St. Cyprian's letters. See Tillem. t. 4. p.
+118. Pagi, Ceillier, t. 3, p. 118, and Pearson, Annal. Cyprian. pp. 31,
+33.
+
+A.D. 253.
+
+ST. Lucius was a Roman by birth, and one of the clergy of that church
+under SS. Fabian and Cornelius. This latter being crowned with
+martyrdom, in 252, St. 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
+St. Peter, but he was banished with several others, though to what place
+is uncertain. "Thus," says St. Dionysius of Alexandria, "did Gallus
+deprive himself of the succor of heaven, by expelling those who every
+day prayed to God for his peace and prosperity." St. Cyprian wrote to
+St. Lucius to congratulate him both on his promotion, and for the grace
+of suffering banishment for Christ. Our saint had been but a short time
+in exile, when he was recalled, with his companions, to the incredible
+joy of his people, who went out of Rome in crowds to meet him. St.
+Cyprlan wrote him a second letter of congratulation on this occasion.[1]
+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, that a bishop
+assisted at God's altar, who exhorted 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 {509} 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. He seeks to throw down those who stand against him." He
+adds, in his own name and that of his colleagues: "We do not cease in
+our sacrifices and prayers (in sacrificiis et orationibus nostris) to
+God the Father, and to Christ his Son, our Lord, giving thanks and
+praying together, that he who perfects all may consummate in you the
+glorioius crown of your confession, who perhaps has only recalled you
+that your glory might not be hidden; for the victim, which owes his
+brethren an example of virtue and faith, ought to be sacrificed in their
+presence."[2]
+
+St. Cyprian, in his letter to pope Stephen, avails himself of the
+authority of St. Lucius against the Novatian heretics, as having decreed
+against them, that those who were fallen were not to be denied
+reconciliation and communion, but to be absolved when they had done
+penance for their sin. Eusebius says, he did not sit in the pontifical
+chair above eight months; and he seems, from the chronology of St.
+Cyprian's letters, to have sat only five or six, and to have died on the
+4th of March, in 253, under Gallus, though we know not in what manner.
+The most ancient calendars mention him on the 5th of March, others, with
+the Roman, on the 4th, which seems to have been the day of his death, as
+the 5th that of his burial. His body was found in the Catacombs, and
+laid in the church of St. Cecily in Rome, where it is now exposed to
+public veneration by the order of Clement VIII.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ep. 58 Pamelio.--61. Fello, p. 272.
+2.  Ep. 67 Pamelio.--68. Fello, in Ed. Oxo.
+
+ST. ADRIAN, BISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS M.,
+
+IN SCOTLAND.
+
+WHEN the Danes, in the ninth century, made frequent descents upon the
+coast of Scotland, plundered several provinces, and massacred great part
+of the inhabitants, this holy pastor often softened their fury, and
+converted several among them to Christ. In a most cruel invasion of
+these pirates, he withdrew into the isle of May, in the bay of the river
+Forth; but the barbarians plundering also that island, discovered him
+there, and slew him with another bishop named Stalbrand, and a great
+number of others: the Aberdeen Breviary says six thousand six hundred.
+This massacre happened in the reign of Constantine II., in the year 874.
+A great monastery was built of polished stone in honor of St. Adrian, in
+the isle of May, the church of which, enriched with his relics, was a
+place of great devotion. See bishop Lesley, Hist. l. 5. Breviar.
+Aberdon. and Chronica Skonensia.
+
+{510}
+
+SS. ADRIAN. AND EUBULUS, OF PALESTINE.
+
+MARTYRS.
+
+From Eusebius's History of the Martyrs of Palestine, c. 11, p. 341.
+
+A.D. 309.
+
+IN the seventh year of Dioclesian's persecution, continued by Galerius
+Maximianus, when Firmilian, the most bloody governor of Palestine, had
+stained Cæsarea with the blood of many illustrious martyrs, Adrian and
+Eubulus came out of the country called Magantia to Cæsarea, in order to
+visit the holy confessors there. At the gates of the city they were
+asked, as others were, whither they were going, and upon what errand.
+They ingenuously confessed the truth, and were brought before the
+president, who ordered them to be tortured, and their sides to be torn
+with iron hooks, and then condemned them to be exposed to wild beasts.
+Two days after, when the pagans at Cæsarea celebrated the festival of
+the public Genius, Adrian was exposed to a lion, and not being
+dispatched by that beast, but only mangled, was at length killed by the
+sword. Eubulus was treated in the same manner, two days later. The judge
+offered him his liberty if he would sacrifice to idols; but the saint
+preferred a glorious death, and was the last that suffered in this
+persecution at Cæsarea, which had now continued twelve years under three
+successive governors, Flavian, Urban, and Firmilian. Divine vengeance
+pursuing the cruel Firmilian, he was that same year beheaded for his
+crimes, by the emperor's order, as his predecessor Urban had been two
+years before.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is in vain that we take the name of Christians, or pretend to follow
+Christ, unless we carry our crosses after him. It is in vain that we
+hope to share in his glory, and in his kingdom, if we accept not the
+condition.[1] We cannot arrive at heaven by any other road but that
+which Christ held, who bequeathed his cross to all his elect as their
+portion and inheritance in this world. None can be exempted from this
+rule, without renouncing his title to heaven. Let us sound our own
+hearts, and see if our sentiments are conformable to these principles of
+the holy religion which we profess. Are our lives a constant exercise of
+patience under all trials, and a continual renunciation of our senses
+and corrupt inclinations, by the practice of self-denial and penance?
+Are we not impatient under pain or sickness, fretful under
+disappointments, disturbed and uneasy at the least accidents which are
+disagreeable to our nature, harsh and peevish in reproving the faults of
+others, and slothful and unmortified in endeavoring to correct our own?
+What a monstrous contradiction is it to call ourselves followers of
+Christ, yet to live irreconcilable enemies to his cross! We can never
+separate Christ from his cross, on which he sacrificed himself for us,
+that he might unite us on it eternally to himself. Let us courageously
+embrace it, and he will be our comfort and support, as he was of his
+martyrs.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Matt. xvi. 24. Luke xxiv. 26.
+
+{511}
+
+ST. KIARAN, OR KENERIN, B.C.
+
+CALLED BY THE BRITONS, PIRAN.
+
+AMONG the Irish saints who were somewhat older than St. Patrick, the
+first and most celebrated is St. Kiaran, whom the Irish style the
+first-born of their saints. According to some he was a native of the
+country of Ossory, according to others, of Cork. Usher places his birth
+about the year 352. Having received some imperfect information about the
+Christian faith, at thirty years of age he took a journey to Rome, that
+he might be instructed in its heavenly doctrine, and learn faithfully to
+practise its precepts. He was accompanied home by four holy clerks, who
+were all afterwards bishops; their names are, Lugacius, Columban, Lugad,
+and Cassan. The Irish writers suppose him to have been ordained bishop
+at Rome; but what John of Tinmouth affirms, seems far more probable,
+that he was one of the twelve whom St. Patrick consecrated bishops in
+Ireland to assist him in planting the gospel in that island. For his
+residence, he built himself a cell in a place encompassed with woods,
+near the water of Fuaran, which soon grew into a numerous monastery. A
+town was afterwards built there called Saigar, now from the saint
+Sier-keran. Here he converted to the faith his family, and whole clan,
+which was that of the Osraigs, with many others. Having given the
+religious veil to his mother, whose name was Liadan, he appointed her a
+cell or monastery near his own, called by the Irish Ceall Lidain. In his
+old age, being desirous to prepare himself for his passage to eternity
+in close retirement., he passed into Cornwall, where he led an
+eremitical life, near the Severn sea, fifteen miles from Padstow.
+Certain disciples joined him, and by his words and example formed
+themselves to a true spirit of Christian piety and humility. In this
+place he closed his mortal pilgrimage by a happy death: a town upon the
+spot is to this day called from him St. Piran's in the Sands, and a
+church is there dedicated to God in his memory, where was formerly a
+sanctuary near St. Mogun's church, upon St. Mogun's creek.[1] See John
+of Tinmouth, Usher, &c., collected by Henschenius: also Leland's
+Collections, published by Hearne, t. 3, pp. 10 and 174.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A great number of other Irish saints retired to Cornwall, where many
+    towns and churches still retain their names. Thus St. Burian's is so
+    called from an Irish virgin called Buriana, to whose church and
+    college here king Athelstan, in 936, granted the privilege of
+    sanctuary. See Leland. Collect t. 3, pp. 7, 8.
+
+ST. IA,
+
+WAS daughter to an Irish nobleman, and a disciple of St. Barricus; Iä
+and Erwine, and many others, came out of Ireland into Cornwall, and
+landed at Pendinas, a stony rock and peninsula. At her request Dinan, a
+lord of the country, built there a church, since called St. Iës,
+eighteen miles from St. Piran's in the Sands, on the Severn. St
+Carantoke's is two miles above St. Piran's. Iës stands two miles from
+Lannant; St. Erth is a parish church two miles above Lannant. St. Cua and
+St. Tedy's parishes are situated in the same part. St. Lide's island,
+where her tomb was formerly visited by the whole country, still retains
+her name. See the life of St. Ia quoted by Leland, Coll. t. 3, p. 11.
+
+ST. BREACA, V.
+
+SHE was born in Ireland on the borders of Leinster and Ulster, and
+consecrated herself to God in a religious state under the direction of
+St. Bridget, who built for her a separate oratory, and afterwards a
+monastery, in a place since called the field of Breaca. She afterwards
+passed into Cornwall in company with abbot Sinnin, a disciple of St.
+Patrick, Maruan, a monk, Germoch, or Gemoch, king Elwen, Crewenna, and
+Helen. St. Breaca landed at Revyer, otherwise called Theodore's castle,
+situated on the eastern bank of the river Hayle, long since, as it
+seems, swallowed up by the sands on the coast of the northern sea of
+Cornwall. Tewder, a Welshman, slew part of this holy company. St. Breaca
+proceeded to Pencair, a hill in Penibro parish, now commonly called St.
+Banka. She afterwards built two churches, one at Trene, with the other
+at Talmeneth, two mansion places in the parish of Pembro, as is related
+in the life of St. Elwin. See Leland's Itinerary, published by Hearne,
+p. 5.
+
+ST. GERMOKE'S church is three miles from St. Michael's Mount, by
+east-south-east, a mile from the sea. His tomb is yet seen there, and
+his chair is shown in the churchyard, and his well a little without the
+Churchyard. Leland, ib. p. 6.
+
+ST. MAWNOUN'S church stands at the point of the haven towards Falmouth,
+ib. p. 13.
+
+{512}
+
+SAINT ROGER, C.
+
+A DISCIPLE Of St. Francis of Assisio, who received him into his Order in
+1216, and sent him into Spain, though Wading calls him a layman. The
+spirit of poverty which he professed, he inherited of his holy father in
+the most perfect degree, and St. Francis commended his charity above all
+his other disciples. The gifts of prophecy and miracles rendered him
+illustrious both living and after his death, which happened in 1236. His
+head is kept at Villa Franca, in the diocese of Asturia, and his body at
+Todi in Italy, where he is honored with a particular office ratified by
+Gregory IX. See Wading's Annals, published by Fonseca, at Rome, in 1732,
+t. 2, pp. 413, 414, also Henschenius, p. 418. Pope Benedict XIV. granted
+to the Franciscans for {his} festival the 5th of March.
+
+ST. JOHN JOSEPH OF THE CROSS.
+
+(SUPPLEMENT _to Butler's Lives of the Saints_--SADLIERS' EDITION.)
+
+St. John Joseph of the Cross was canonized on Trinity Sunday, May
+26th, 1839. His biography was written by the reverend postulator who
+conducted the process of his canonization, from authentic documents in
+his possession, and published at Rome in 1838, in a work
+entitled--_Compendio della Vita di Giangiuseppe della Croce_. The
+following account of the life of this eminent saint is compiled from
+the English translation of the above work, and thought worthy of being
+incorporated in this edition of the "Lives of the Saints."
+
+A.D. 1654-1734.
+
+HE was born on the Feast of the Assumption, in the year of our Lord
+1654, at the town of Ischia, in the island of that name, belonging to
+the kingdom of Naples, of respectable parents, Joseph Calosirto and
+Laura Garguilo, and was upon the same day christened Charles Cajetan. He
+early discovered the seeds of those virtues that in a special manner
+enriched his soul, and sanctified his life in the religious
+state,--humility, sweetness, obedience, and an incomparable modesty; and
+at the same time manifested a marvellous inclination to silence,
+retirement, and prayer. Wherefore, even in childhood, he made choice of
+a room in the most secluded quarter of the house, and therein fitting up
+a little altar to Our blessed Lady, (on whose great festival he had the
+happiness to be born, and towards whom, through life, he cherished a
+tender and filial devotion,) he spent his whole time in study and pious
+exercises. Here, too, he early manifested his attachment to the cross,
+sleeping upon a narrow hard bed, and fasting on appointed days during
+the week; and as he mortified the flesh betimes, so also he checked all
+pride, by wearing constantly mean clothes, notwithstanding his birth and
+station, in despite of remonstrances and reproach. His horror of sin was
+equal to his love of virtue, so that his mind, from the first dawn of
+reason, shrunk like a delicate plant from the very shadow of guilt, and
+was all-imbued with zeal for God's glory. Idleness, levity, vanity, and
+falsehood, even in trivial matters, were censured by him as faults
+severely reprehensible. And when his efforts to check sin drew upon him
+the hostility of others, he was so far from losing patience, that he
+therein only discovered a fresh opportunity of practising virtue.
+Towards the poor he overflowed with tenderness, reserving for them the
+choicest portion of his meals, and devoting to their use the
+pocket-money he received.
+
+The sanctity of his boyhood merited for him the grace of a divine call
+to a state of holiness; and feeling an interior movement to quit the
+world, he {513} sedulously sought counsel from the Father of lights, as
+to the manner in which he should obey this inspiration. For this end he
+redoubled his ordinary devotions and mortifications; performed a novena
+to the Holy Ghost, and threw himself upon the tender patronage and
+powerful intercession of Our Lady. God hearkened to his fervent appeal;
+for his providence so disposed that at this period the renowned servant
+of God, Father John da San Bernardo, a Spanish Alcantarine, came into
+the country of our saint, with the view of establishing his order in the
+kingdom of Naples. The mean habit and devout demeanor of this holy man
+and his companions, touched and won the heart of Joseph; he desired to
+imitate what he beheld, and doubted not but the desire came from God.
+Wherefore he journeyed to Naples, that he might impart to the fathers of
+the order his inclination; and they, having prudently considered his
+vocation, admitted him to the novitiate. He manifested so much ardor,
+that the superiors deemed it fitting to clothe him with the habit before
+the usual time had expired. This happy consummation of his wishes took
+place before he had completed his sixteenth year. He adopted the name of
+John Joseph of the Cross, and on the feast of St. John the Baptist, in
+the year of our Lord 1671, he completed his edifying novitiate, and took
+the solemn vows of his order; whose holy founder, St. Francis of Asisi,
+and St. Peter of Alcantara, he proposed to himself as models.
+
+In obedience to the express desire of his superior, our saint submitted
+to receive the dignity of the priesthood, and was appointed to hear
+confessions; in which task he displayed a profound theological learning,
+which he had acquired solely at the foot of the cross. But, carried
+onward by an ardent love of the cross, whose treasures he more and more
+discovered as he advanced in the dignity and functions of the sacred
+ministry, he resolved to establish in the wood adjoining his convent a
+kind of solitude, where, after the manner of the ancient Fathers of the
+Desert, he might devote himself entirely to grayer and penitential
+austerities, and give to the Church an illustrious and profitable
+example of the sacerdotal spirit exercised in a perfect degree. There
+was found in the wood a pleasant fountain, whose waters healed the sick;
+and hard by he erected a little church, and round about it, at
+intervals, five small hermitages, wherein, with his companions, he
+renewed the austere and exalted life of the old anchorites, and advanced
+greatly in spirituality. And in order that no care or worldly thought
+might ruffle the sublime tranquillity of this contemplative life, the
+convent had charge of daily supplying the holy solitary with food.
+
+But the superiors, who knew the rich treasure they possessed in our
+saint, when he had attained the age of twenty-four, chose him for master
+of the novices; in which new office, so far from allowing himself the
+smallest dispensation, he was foremost in setting the example of a
+scrupulous observance of every rule; assiduous in his attendance in
+choir, constant in silence, in prayer, and recollection. He was careful
+to instil into the hearts of those under his charge an ardent love of
+Our Lord Jesus, and a desire of imitating him; as also a special
+veneration for, and tender attachment to His blessed mother.
+
+From Naples, where he was employed as master of the novices, our saint
+was transferred to Piedimonte, and invested with the office of guardian.
+The zeal which this new and more responsible charge called for, was
+surpassed only by the profound humility its exercise demanded. Ever a
+rigid enforcer of the rule, he was careful to make his enactments
+agreeable to others, by being the first to observe them himself. The
+beneficial result of such conduct was soon made manifest, for he thereby
+won the hearts of all the religious, who under him, advanced with rapid
+strides towards the most heroic {514} perfection. Still his humble and
+gentle spirit sighed to be disburdened of so heavy a charge; and having,
+after two years, obtained the desired release, turned its charitable
+energies to the direction of souls, the assistance and alleviation of
+the dying and distressed, and the conversion of sinners.
+
+When he was released from his post of guardian, it was only to reassume
+that of master of the novices, which be held for four successive years,
+and exercised partly in Naples, and partly in Piedimonte. But now
+succeeded the accustomed visitation of crosses, to be afterwards
+followed by an increase of grace and supernatural favors; an alternation
+which checkered the whole course of his life. He was summoned to his
+native country, Ischia, to order to discharge the painful duty of filial
+affection, and receive the last sighs of his dying mother. Her death
+ensued, full of hope, and calm, in the presence of her beloved; and,
+stifling the swelling emotions of sensible grief, this incomparable son
+followed her remains to the church, and offered up for her soul the
+sacrifice of propitiation. Who shall adequately conceive his feelings
+during the celebration of that mass? Was his grief less filial, less
+poignant, because it was reasonable and Christian? and because, instead
+of breaking into wild laments and barren demonstrations, it remained
+pent up in the recesses of his strong heart, and left free play and
+exercise to calm judgment and the salutary measures of Christian
+charity? Christian fortitude requires that we should bear up against the
+stroke of death not despondingly, because inevitable, but firmly and
+cheerfully, because it is the season of better hope, whereby we plant
+the ensign of salvation upon the grave. This will be no unnatural check
+to those emotions, which it is so great and yet so painful a consolation
+to indulge. They will flow no less freely, and far more profitably, when
+the calls of religion have first been satisfied. Was St. Bernard a
+violator of the sentiments of humanity, when he followed with tearless
+eyes and calm countenance the body of his brother to the grave,
+assisting at all the offices of religion, and officiating thereat
+himself? Was that great heart insensible, when its uncontrollable grief
+burst out in the midst of a discourse on other topics, into an
+impassioned address to his departed brother, and a magnificent tribute
+to the virtues of this partner of his soul and affections? Or does not
+such an instance of Christian fortitude and magnanimity favorably
+contrast with the pusillanimous and almost heathen despondency and
+desolation which overwhelm many at the sight or news of death, even as
+the Catholic faith--warm, generous, and confident--cheers beyond that
+cold and gloomy creed, that bids farewell to hope at the brink of the
+grave?
+
+In the provincial chapter of 1690, he was appointed to the office of
+definitor, in addition to that which he already held. The difficulties
+of these two functions, requiring a union of the virtues of the active
+and contemplative life, our saint marvellously and happily surmounted.
+But now an event happened which well-nigh extinguished the institute to
+which he belonged, in Italy, and which gave occasion to an illustrious
+evidence of his exceeding utility to the order. The Spanish
+Alcantarines, having some differences with the Italian, procured from
+the apostolic see their dismemberment from the latter, who, being thus
+abandoned, recurred to our saint for succor. Suffering himself to be
+overcome by their entreaties, he undertook the advocacy of their cause
+with the pontiff, and succeeded, in a congregation held in 1702, in
+changing the sentiments of the cardinals and bishops, previously
+disposed to their suppression; so that on the day after the feast of St.
+Thomas the Apostle, a decree was issued by which the order was
+established in Italy under the form of a province. A chapter was
+convoked, in which the arduous task of government was, by the unanimous
+voice of {515} all, forced upon the humility of our saint, who,
+surmounting incredible hardships and obstacles, had at length the
+satisfaction of seeing the necessary means provided, and the order
+firmly established. Before the chapter-general of the order met, he was
+named definitor by the provincial chapter; but on his remonstrances at
+being thus so often compelled to assume offices, in spite of his
+repugnance, he at length obtained a papal brief, exempting him from all
+charges, and annulling even his active and passive vote in the chapter.
+During the course of the year 1722, another brief made over to the
+Alcantarines the convent of St. Lucy, in Naples, and thither our saint
+retired, never afterwards to be brought out into the public light, which
+he so much shunned, but left to edify his brethren during the remainder
+of his life, and to build up the fabric of those extraordinary virtues,
+of which we shall now proceed to give a sketch.
+
+Faith, like the keystone of the arch, is that which gives the fabric of
+Christian virtue solidity and stability. Of the attachment of our saint
+to this necessary virtue, it would be superfluous to say any thing, as
+his whole life was a speaking evidence of that attachment, as well as of
+the eminent degree in which it pleased God to enable him to appreciate
+its consoling mysteries. But he was content to thank God for having
+admitted him to the truth, without rashly or profanely lifting the veil
+of the sanctuary, and scrutinizing that which is within. He was
+persuaded that the attempt to fathom the secrets of God, or to measure
+his designs, would prove as hopeless as it would be impious, and
+therefore he bowed to the truths of faith with implicit submission. From
+this attachment of our saint to the virtue of faith, proceeded his zeal
+to instruct the ignorant in the mysteries of religion, as well as the
+force, fervor, and clearness, with which he expounded the sublime dogmas
+of the Trinity and Incarnation, and even of predestination and grace;
+the gift he possessed of quieting doubts respecting faith; and finally,
+that constant exercise of the presence of God which he practised
+uninterruptedly, and constantly recommended, saying: "Whoever walks
+always in God's presence, will never commit sin, but will preserve his
+innocence and become a great saint."
+
+Hope in God rendered our saint of even temper in the midst of the
+various contradictions he experienced in establishing his order in
+Italy. He used to say to his companions, when they were dismayed by the
+persecutions they suffered, "Let us hope in God, and doubtless we shall
+be comforted:" and to the distressed who flocked to him, "God is a
+tender father, who loves and succors all;" or, "Doubt not; trust in God,
+He will provide." Hence his heart enjoyed a peace which no sufferings
+could molest, and which did not desert him even when he lay under the
+stroke of apoplexy that terminated in his death. For his hope was based
+upon the Catholic principle, that God, who destined him for an eternal
+kingdom, would not refuse the succors necessary to attain it. Still,
+though his hopes, through the merits of our Lord's blessed passion, knew
+no bounds, yet was he tremblingly sensible of the guilt of sin, and the
+awful character of God's judgments; whence were derived that intense
+grief with which sin inspired him, and that astonishing humility which
+led him to bewail unceasingly his want of correspondence to divine
+grace, to proclaim himself everywhere a sinner, and implore the prayers
+of others.
+
+To complete the crown of theological virtues, charity in both its
+branches pre-eminently characterized our saint. This divine virtue
+burned so warmly in his heart, as to be transfused through his features,
+over which it spread a superhuman and celestial glow, and gave to his
+discourse a melting tenderness. "Were there neither heaven nor hell," he
+would say, "still would I ever wish to love God, who is a father so
+deserving of our love." Or: {516} "Let us love our Lord, love him verily
+and indeed, for the love of God is a great treasure. Blessed is he that
+loveth God."
+
+Our saint, who so ardently loved God, whom he saw not, was not without
+bowels of tenderness for his neighbor, whom he beheld. It was the
+constant practice of his life to feed the poor; and when he was
+superior, he ordered that no beggar should be dismissed from the convent
+gate without relief: in time of scarcity he devoted to their necessities
+his own portion, and even that of the community, relying upon Providence
+to supply their wants; and when he was only a private monk, he earnestly
+recommended this charity to the superiors.
+
+But it was towards the sick that his charity displayed itself. He used
+to attend the infirm in his convent with unwearied assiduity; nor was he
+less anxious to serve those who were without, but generously sought them
+out, and visited them, even during the most inclement seasons. And as
+God maketh his sun to shine upon the wicked as well as the good, so our
+saint would not exclude even his enemies from the boundless range of his
+charity. For one who had insulted him he once labored strenuously to
+procure some advantageous post; and being warned that the man was his
+enemy, he replied, "that therefore he was under the greater obligation
+of serving him." Besides these general virtues, he possessed in the
+highest degree those which belonged to his religious state, especially a
+prompt and implicit obedience to all commands, however painful or
+difficult. That obedience which he practised himself, he was careful to
+enforce upon others, which his office of superior made it his duty, for
+he justly regarded this virtue as essential to a religious. Nor was his
+love of poverty less remarkable. A rouge seat and a table, a bed,
+consisting of two narrow planks, with two sheep-skins and a wretched
+woollen coverlet, a stool to rest his wounded legs upon, these, with his
+breviary, formed the whole furniture of his cell. And although the order
+allowed each one to possess two habits, yet during the forty-six years
+that he was a member of it, he never had any other than that which he
+put on in the novitiate. But it was in his vigilant guard over chastity,
+that our saint was most remarkable. His unremitting mortifications, his
+extreme modesty, and perpetual watchfulness over all his senses,
+preserved him from the slightest breath of contamination. Never during
+the sixty years of his life was he known to look any one not of his own
+sex in the face. His every word and action bespoke purity, and inspired
+the love thereof. Our saint, so solidly grounded in this virtue, was not
+without its only sure foundation,--humility. He delighted in performing
+menial offices in the convent, and when the task allotted to him was
+finished, he was anxious to fulfil that of others. Hence he also avoided
+all posts and honor, as much as was consistent with his vow of
+obedience. When he journeyed through Italy as provincial, he would not
+make himself known at the inns, where he lodged, lest any distinction
+should be paid him. To the same cause may be ascribed his unwillingness
+to revisit his native country, his aversion to being in company with the
+great, when their spiritual affairs did not require it, his not
+accepting the invitations of the viceroy and his consort to the palace;
+his calling himself, as he was wont, the greatest sinner in the whole
+world, ungrateful to God for his benefits, a worm on the face of the
+earth; his custom of frequently kissing the hands of priests; his
+unwillingness to declare his opinion in council; his care to break off
+every discourse touching upon his birth or connections; his gratitude to
+God for enlightening those who disparaged him; his never being
+scandalized at the sins of others, how great soever; and finally, his
+never evincing the smallest resentment at any insult or injury. He was
+studious to conceal and dissemble the great gifts of miracles and
+prophecy with which God favored {517} him; ascribing the miracles he
+performed to the faith of those in whose behalf they were wrought, or to
+the intercession of the saints. Not unfrequently he desired those whom
+he restored to health, to take some certain medicine, that the cure
+might be attributed to a mere natural remedy; and with regard to his
+prophecies, which were numerous, he affected to judge from analogy and
+experience. To the numerous penitential austerities enjoined by his
+order, he added as many more as an ingenious self-denial could devise.
+Silent as long as possible, when he spoke, it was in a low voice.
+Bareheaded in all seasons, he wore under his rough and heavy habit
+divers hair-shirts and chains, which he was careful to vary to keep the
+sense of torment ever fresh. Besides, he used the discipline to a severe
+degree; and when, at the age of forty, his superior obliged him to wear
+sandals, he placed between them and his feet a quantity of small nails;
+but the most tremendous instrument of torture, which he devised against
+himself, was a cross about a foot in length, set with rows of sharp
+nails, which he fastened tight over his shoulders, so as to open there a
+wound which never afterwards closed. In sooth, these things would appear
+incredible, did we not remember that St. John Joseph of the Cross had
+taken up the instrument of our Lord Jesus's blessed passion, and was
+miraculously supported under its weight. If we are not blessed with
+equal strength, still we are all capable of enduring much more than is
+demanded of us for gaining heaven. Is not the life of a worldling more
+irksome and more painful than that of a mortified religious man? How
+many heart-burnings, and aching heads, and palled appetites, and
+disordered faculties, and diseased frames, could bear out this
+assertion,--that the way to heaven would be easy on the score of
+mortification, if men could consent to sacrifice to virtue but one half
+what they sacrifice to feed their passions?
+
+It was usual for our saint to be absorbed and rapt in heavenly ecstasies
+and visions. In this state he was lost to all that passed around him;
+seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing, he stood like a statue of marble,
+and when he was awakened, his countenance glowed like a burning coal. In
+a condition so closely resembling that of the blessed, he was, from time
+to time, made a partaker of their glories. Thus, during prayer a halo of
+light often encircled his head; and, during mass, a supernatural
+brightness overspread his countenance. In the practice of every virtue,
+and in the enjoyment of sublime graces, our saint passed the days of his
+pilgrimage, glorifying God and giving alms and doing good, until it
+pleased the Lord to close his career on earth, not without a previous
+forewarning as to the time and circumstances of his death. In the year
+when it occurred, his nephew writing to him from Vienna, that he would
+return home in May, he sent back answer that he would not then find him
+living. And only a week before his departure, discoursing with his
+brother. Francis, he said, "I have never asked a boon of you till now;
+do me the charity to pray to Almighty God for me, next Friday, do you
+hear? mind, do not forget." It was the very day he died. Two days before
+his last mortal attack, accosting Vincent of Laines, "We shall never,"
+said he, "meet on earth again." Now, upon the last day of February,
+after hearing mass, and receiving communion with extraordinary fervor,
+he betook himself to his room, to deliver to the crowds that resorted to
+him his last paternal admonitions. He continued without interruption
+till mid-day, and at that hour precisely, turning to the lay-brother
+that assisted him, said, "Shortly a thunderclap will lay me prostrate on
+the ground, you will have to raise me thence, but this is the last I
+shall experience." Accordingly, at two hours and a half after sunset, an
+apoplectic stroke threw him on the ground. At first the nature of his
+disease was mistaken. It was thought that over-fatigue had brought on
+giddiness but the next day {518} the symptoms manifested themselves
+alarmingly, and spread in defiance of remedies. Yet though he was thus,
+to all appearances, senseless during the five days that he survived,
+doubtless his soul was occupied in interior ecstasies and profound
+contemplation; as indeed his countenance, his lips, and gestures,
+expressive of the tenderest devotion, indicated. His eyes, generally
+shut, opened frequently to rest upon the mild image of Our Lady, whose
+picture was opposite him. Sometimes, too, he turned them towards his
+confessor, as if demanding absolution, according to what had been
+previously concerted between them. A pressure of the eyes and an
+inclination of the head were also perceptible, and he was seen to strike
+his breast when he received, for the last time, the sacramental
+absolution from the hands of the superior. At length the morning dawned,
+which was to witness the passage of our saint from this vale of tears
+and land of sorrow to a better life. It was Friday, the 5th of March, a
+day yet unoccupied in the calendar, as if purposely left for him. He had
+spent the previous night in unceasing fervent acts of contrition,
+resignation, love, and gratitude, as his frequent beating of his breast,
+lifting his hands towards heaven, and blessing himself, testified.
+Before the morning was far advanced, turning to the lay-brother that
+attended him, as if awoke out of an ecstasy, he said, "I have but a few
+moments to live." Hereupon the lay-brother ran in all speed to give
+notice to the superior, who, with the whole community, at that moment in
+choir, hastened to the cell of the dying man. The recommendation of a
+departing soul was recited with an abundance of tears. The
+father-guardian perceiving he was in his agony, imparted to him the last
+sacramental absolution; which he, bowing his head to receive, instantly
+raised it again; opened, for the last time, his eyes, now swimming in
+joy, and inebriated with heavenly delight; fixed them, just as they were
+closing, with a look of ineffable tenderness, upon the image of Out
+blessed Lady, and composing his lips to a sweet smile, without farther
+movement or demonstration, ceased to breathe.
+
+Thus expired, without a struggle, John Joseph of the Cross, the mirror
+of religious life, the father of the poor, the comforter of the
+distressed, and the unconquerable Christian hero: but when death came to
+pluck him from the tree he dropped like a ripe fruit, smiling, into his
+hands: or, even as a gentle stream steals unperceived into the ocean, so
+calmly that its surface is not fretted with a ripple, his soul glided
+into eternity. To die upon the field of battle, amidst the shouts of
+victory, in presence of an admiring throng, surrounded by the badges of
+honor and respect, bequeathing to history a celebrated name, may merit
+the ambition of the world; or to perish in some noble cause, buoyed up
+by enthusiasm, conscious worth, and the certainty of having the sympathy
+and applause of all from whom meed is valuable, may make even
+selfishness generous, and cowardice heroic, but to suffer during life
+the lingering martyrdom of the cross; and then to expire, not suddenly,
+but like a taper, burnt out; to fall like a flower, not in its prime and
+beauty but gradually shedding its leaves and perfume, and bearing its
+fibres to the last, till it droops and lies exhaled and prostrate in the
+dust; is a death too pure, too self-devoted, too sublime, for any but
+the annals of Christian heroism to supply. And assuredly a day will come
+when the conqueror's crown shall not be brighter than the Christian's
+halo, nor the patriot's laurel-branch bear richer foliage than the palms
+of Paradise, which the humblest denizen of heaven shall carry. A day
+will come that will give to all their proper measure and dimensions; yet
+even before that day shall God glorify those who have died the peaceful
+death of the just, by embalming their memory and rendering their tombs
+and relics illustrious, so that, for the one who shall have heard of the
+hero, thousands shall bless and invoke the Saint.
+
+{519}
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He alone is a perfect Christian who is crucified to the world, and to
+whom the world is crucified, and who glorieth in nothing save the cross
+of out Lord Jesus. Nor without embracing the cross at least in heart and
+affection, can any one belong to the religion of Christ. Upon entering
+life we are marked with the cross; through the various vicissitudes
+thereof our every step is encountered by it--go whithersoever thou wilt
+and thou shalt find it impossible to escape the cross--and it
+accompanies us even unto death and the grave. For a Christian dieth
+pressing the cross to his lips; and the cross is engraven upon his tomb
+that it may bear witness of his faith and hope. But if Our Lord has
+said, in general terms, "Whosoever will be my disciple, let him take up
+his cross and follow me;" and if it be true that through many
+tribulations it is necessary to enter into the kingdom of heaven, then
+are all without exception called upon to assume this burden. It is not
+strange, then, that saints should have delighted to blend their names
+with the cross wherewith their hearts were so closely entwined; or that
+men, after their departure to glory, should have designated them by the
+title of that whereof they were so deeply enamored.
+
+
+MARCH VI.
+
+ST. CHRODEGANG, BISHOP OF METZ, CONFESSOR.
+
+From Paul the Deacon, l. 2 de Gest. Longob. c. 16. Henschenius, p. 453.
+Mabill. Annal. Ben. l. 22, t. 2, & Act. SS. Ord. Ben. t. 4, p. 184.
+Ceillier, t. 18, p. 176. His life, published by George Von Eckart, Hist
+Francie Orient. t. 1, p. 912. Also Meurisse, Hist. des Evêques de Metz,
+l. 2.
+
+A.D. 766.
+
+THIS saint, nobly born in Brabant, then called Hasbain, was educated in
+the abbey of St. Tron, and for his great learning and virtue was made
+referendary, chancellor of France, and prime minister, by Charles
+Martel, mayor of the French palace, in 737. He was always meanly clad
+from his youth; he macerated his body by fasting, watching, and
+hair-cloths, and allowed his senses no superfluous gratifications of any
+kind. His charity to all in distress seemed to know no bounds; he
+supported an incredible number of poor, and was the protector and father
+of orphans and widows. Soon after the death of Charles Martel, he was
+chosen bishop of Metz, in 742. Prince Pepin, the son and successor of
+Charles, uncle to our saint by his mother, Landrada, would not consent
+to his being ordained, but on the condition that he should still
+continue at the helm of the state. Chrodegang always retained the same
+sweetness, humility, recollection, and simplicity in his behavior and
+dress. He constantly wore a rough hair-shirt under his clothes, spent
+good part of the night in watching, and usually at his devotions watered
+his cheeks with tears. Pope Stephen III. being oppressed by the
+Lombards, took refuge in France. Chrodegang went to conduct him over the
+Alps, and king Pepin was no sooner informed that he had passed these
+mountains in his way to France, but he sent Charles, his eldest son, to
+accompany him to Pont-yon, in Champagne, where the king was to receive
+him. The pope being three miles distant from that city, the king came to
+meet him, and having joined him, alighted from his horse, and prostrated
+himself, as did the queen, his children, and the lords of his court; and
+the king walked some time by the side of his horse to do him honor. The
+pope {520} retired to the monastery of St. Deny's; and king Pepin, in
+the year 754, sent St. Chrodegang on an embassy to Astulph, king of the
+Lombards, praying him out of respect to the holy apostles not to commit
+any hostilities against Rome, nor to oblige the Romans to superstitions
+contrary to their laws, and to restore the towns which he had taken from
+the holy see; but this embassy was without effect. The saint, in 755,
+converted the chapter of secular canons of his cathedral into a regular
+community, in which he was imitated by many other churches. He composed
+for his regular canons a rule, consisting of thirty-four articles. In
+the first he lays down humility for the foundation of all the rest.[1]
+He obliged the canons to confess at least twice a year to the bishop,
+before the beginning of Advent and Lent.[2] But these churches, even
+that of Metz, have again secularized themselves. The saint built and
+endowed the monasteries of St. Peter, that of Gorze, and a third in the
+diocese of Worms, called Lorsh or Laurisham. He died on the 6th of
+March. in 766, and was buried at Gorze, to which by his will, which is
+still extant, he demised several estates. He is named in the French,
+German, and Belgic Martyrologies.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The zeal of St. Chrodegang in restoring the primitive and apostolic
+spirit in the clergy, particularly their fervor and devotion in the
+ministry of the altar, is the best proof of his ardor to advance the
+divine honor. To pay to Almighty God the public homage of praise and
+love, in the name of the whole church, is a function truly angelical.
+Those, who by the divine appointment are honored with this sublime
+charge, resemble those glorious heavenly spirits who always assist
+before the throne of God. What ought to be the sanctity of their lives!
+how pure their affections, how perfectly disengaged from all inordinate
+attachments to creatures, particularly how free from the least filth of
+avarice, and every other vice! All Christians have a part in this
+heavenly function.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ch. 14.
+2.  See the other regulations abridged in Fleury, &c., the entire rule
+    published genuine in {Le Cointe Amaise} t. 5, and in the later
+    editions of the councils{}.
+
+B. COLETTE, VIRGIN AND ABBESS.
+
+From her life, written by her confessor, Peter de Vaux. See Helyot,
+Hist. des Ord. Relig. t. 7, p. 96. Miraeus and Barbaza, Vies des Saints
+du Tiers Ordre de St. François, t. 2, p. 51.
+
+A.D. 1447.
+
+COLETTE BOILET, a carpenter's daughter, was born at Corbie, in Picardy,
+in 1380. Her parents, out of devotion to St. Nicholas, gave her the name
+of Colette, the diminutive of Nicholas. She was brought up in the love
+of humiliations and austerities. Her desire to preserve her purity
+without the least blemish made her avoid as much as possible all
+company, even of persons of her own sex, unless it was sometimes to draw
+them from the love of the world by her moving discourses, which were
+attended with a singular blessing from almighty God. Humility was her
+darling virtue; and her greatest delight seemed to be in seeing herself
+contemned. She was so full of confusion at her own miseries and
+baseness, and was so contemptible in her own eyes, that she was ashamed
+to appear before any one, placed herself far below the greatest sinners,
+and studied by all sorts of humiliations to prevent the least motion of
+secret pride or self-conceit in her heart. She served the poor and the
+sick with an affection that charmed and comforted them. She lived in
+strict solitude in a small, poor, abandoned apartment in {521} her
+father's house, and spent her time there in manual labor and prayer.
+Being very beautiful, she begged of God to change her complexion, and
+her face became so pale and thin, that she could scarce be known for the
+same person. Yet a certain majesty of virtue, shining in her
+countenance, gave her charms conducive to the edification of others by
+the sweetness, modesty, and air of piety and divine love discernible in
+her looks. Her parents, who, though poor, were virtuous, and exceeding
+charitable, according to their abilities, and great peacemakers among
+their neighbors, seeing her directed by the Spirit of God, allowed her
+full liberty in her devotions. After their death she distributed the
+little they left her among the poor, and retired among the Beguines,
+devout societies of women, established in several parts of Flanders,
+Picardy, and Lorrain, who maintain themselves by the work of their
+hands, leading a middle kind of life between the secular and religious,
+but make no solemn vows. Not finding this way of life austere enough,
+she, by her confessor's advice, took the habit of the third order of St.
+Francis, called the Penitents; and, three years after, that of the
+mitigated Clares or Urbanists, with the view of reforming that order,
+and reducing it to its primitive austerity. Having obtained of the abbot
+of Corbie a small hermitage, she spent in it three years in
+extraordinary austerity, near that abbey. After this, in order to
+execute the project she had long formed of re-establishing the primitive
+spirit and practice of her order, she went to the convent at Amiens, and
+from thence to several others. To succeed in her undertaking, it was
+necessary that she should be vested with proper authority: to procure
+which she made a journey to Nice in Provence, to wait on Peter de Luna,
+who, in the great schism, was acknowledged pope by the French under the
+name of Benedict XIII., and happened then to be in that city. He
+constituted her superioress-general of the whole order of St. Clare,
+with full power to establish in it whatever regulations she thought
+conducive to God's honor and the salvation of others. She attempted to
+revive the primitive rule and spirit of St. Francis in the convents of
+the diocese of Paris, Beauvais, Noyon, and Amiens; but met with the most
+violent opposition, and was treated as a fanatic. She received all
+injuries with joy, and was not discouraged by human difficulties. Some
+time after she met with a more favorable reception in Savoy, and her
+reformation began to take root there, and passed thence into Burgundy,
+France, Flanders, and Spain. Many ancient houses received it, that of
+Besanzon being the first, and she lived to erect seventeen new ones.
+Several houses of Franciscan friars received the same. But Leo X., in
+1517, by a special bull, united all the different reformations of the
+Franciscans under the name of Observantines: and thus the distinction of
+Colettines is extinct. So great was her love for poverty, in imitation
+of that of Christ, that she never put on so much as sandals, going
+always barefoot, and would have no churches or convents but what were
+small and mean. Her habit was not only of most coarse stuff, but made of
+above a hundred patches sewed together. She continually inculcated to
+her nuns the denial of their own wills in all things, as Christ, from
+his first to his last breath, did the will of his heavenly Father:
+saying, that all self-will was the broad way to hell. The sacred passion
+of Christ was the subject of her constant meditation. On Fridays, from
+six in the morning till six at night, she continued in this meditation,
+without eating or doing any other thing, but referring all her thoughts
+and affections to it with a flood of tears; also during the Holy-Week,
+and whenever she assisted at mass: she often fell into ecstasies when
+she considered it. She showed a particular respect to the holy cross;
+but, above all, to Christ present in the blessed eucharist, when she
+appeared in raptures of adoration and love. She often purified her
+conscience by sacramental confession before she heard mass, to {522}
+assist thereat with the greater purity of soul. Her zeal made her daily
+to pour forth many fervent prayers for the conversion of sinners, and
+also for the souls in purgatory, often with many tears. Being seized
+with her last sickness in her convent at Ghent, she received the
+sacraments of the church, foretold her death, and happily expired in her
+sixty-seventh year, on the 6th of March, in 1447. Her body is exposed to
+veneration in the church of that convent called Bethleem, in Ghent. She
+was never canonized, nor is she named in the Roman Martyrology: but
+Clement VIII., Paul V., Gregory XIII., and Urban VIII., have approved of
+an office in her honor for the whole Franciscan order, and certain
+cities. Her body was taken up at Ghent, in 1747, and several miracles
+wrought on the occasion were examined by the ordinary of the place, who
+sent the process and relation of them to Rome.
+
+ST. FRIDOLIN, A.
+
+HE was an Irish or Scotch abbot, who, leaving his own country, founded
+several monasteries in Austria, Burgundy, and Switzerland: the last was
+that of Sekingen, in an isle in the Rhine, now one of the four forest
+towns belonging to the house of Austria. In this monastery he died, in
+538. He is the tutelar patron of the Swiss canton of Glaris, who carry
+in their coat of arms his picture in the Benedictin habit, though he was
+not of that order. See Molanus, Addit. ad Usuard; Pantaleon,
+Prosopographiæ Vir. Illustr. German. ad an. 502; King in Calend Wion,
+Lignum Vitæ, l. 3.
+
+ST. BALDREDE, BISHOP OF GLASGOW, C.
+
+HE was immediate successor of St. Mungo, in that see, established many
+nunneries in Scotland, and died in the province of Laudon, about the
+year 608. His relics were very famous in many churches in Scotland. See
+Adam King, in Calend., and the historians Boetius, Major, Leslie, &c.
+
+SS. KYNEBURGE, KYNESWIDE, AND TIBBA.
+
+THE two first were daughters of Penda, the cruel pagan king of Mercia,
+and sisters to three successive Christian kings, Peada, Wulfere, and
+Ethelred, and to the pious prince Merowald. Kyneburge, as Bede informs
+us,[1] was married to Alefrid, eldest sort of Oswi, and in his father's
+life-time king of Bernicia. They are said to have lived in perpetual
+continency. By his death she was left a widow in the bloom of life, and,
+renouncing the world, governed a nunnery which she built; or, according
+to others, found built by her brother Wulfere, in a moist fenny place,
+on the confines of the counties of Huntingdon and Northampton, then
+called Dormundcaster, afterwards, from her, Kyneburgecaster, now Caster.
+The author of her life in Capgrave says, that she lived here a mirror of
+all sanctity, and that no words can express the bowels of charity with
+which she cherished the souls which served God under her care; and how
+watchful she was over their comportment, and how zealous in instructing
+and exhorting them; and with what floods of tears she implored for them
+the divine grace and mercy. She had a wonderful compassion for the poor,
+and strongly exhorted her royal brothers {523} to alms-giving and works
+of mercy. Kyneswide and Kynedride (though many confounded the latter
+with St. Kyneburge) were also daughters of Penda, left very young at his
+death. By an early consecration of their virginity to God, they devoted
+themselves to his service, and both embraced a religious state.
+Kyneswide took the holy veil in the monastery of Dormundcaster.
+
+The bodies of these saints were translated to Peterborough, where their
+festival was kept on the 6th of March, together with that of Saint
+Tibba, a holy virgin, their kinswoman, who, having spent many years in
+solitude and devotion, passed to glory on the 13th of December. Camden
+informs us, that she was honored with particular devotion at Rihal, a
+town near the river Wash, in Rutlandshire. See Ingulphus, Hist. p. 850;
+Will. of Malmesbury l. 4, de Pontif. p. 29; Capgrave and Harpsfield,
+sæc. 7, c. 23.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bede Hist. l. 3, c. 21.
+2.  Camdem in Rutlandshire.
+
+ST. CADROE, C.
+
+HE was a noble Scotsman, son of count (or rather laird) Fokerstrach, and
+travelling into France, he took the monastic habit at Saint Bennet's on
+the Loire. He afterwards reformed the monastery of St. Clement, at Metz,
+in 960, and died in a visit which he made to Adelaide, mother of the
+emperor Otho I., at Neristein, about the year 975. His relics are kept
+at St. Clement's, at Metz, and he is honored on the 6th of March. See
+Mabillon, sec. 5, Ben. p. 480, and sec. 6, p. 28; Henschenius; and
+Calmet, Hist. de Lor. l. 19, n. 67, p. 1011.
+
+
+MARCH VII.
+
+ST. THOMAS OF AQUINO,
+
+DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND CONFESSOR.
+
+From his life written by Bartholomew of Lucca, some time the saint's
+confessor: also another life compiled for his canonization by William of
+Tocco, prior of Benevento, who had been personally acquainted with the
+saint, &c. See F. Touron, in his life of St. Thomas, in quarto, Paris,
+1737.
+
+A.D. 1274.
+
+THE counts of Aquino, who have flourished in the kingdom of Naples these
+last ten centuries, derive their pedigree from a certain Lombard prince.
+They were allied to the kings of Sicily and Aragon, to St. Lewis of
+France, and many other sovereign houses of Europe. Our saint's
+grandfather having married the sister of the emperor Frederick I., he
+was himself grand nephew to that prince, and second cousin to the
+emperor Henry VI., and in the third degree to Frederick II.[1] His
+father, Landulph, was count of Aquino, and lord of Loretto and
+Belcastro: his mother Theodora was daughter to the count of Theate. The
+saint was born towards the end of the year 1226. St. Austin observes,[2]
+that the most tender age is subject to various passions, {524} as of
+impatience, choler, jealousy, spite, and the like, which appear to
+children: no such thing was seen in Thomas. The serenity of his
+countenance, the constant evenness of his temper, his modesty and
+sweetness, were sensible marks that God prevented him with his early
+graces. The count of Aquino conducted him to the abbey of Mount Cassino,
+when he was but five years old, to be instructed by those good monks in
+the first principles of religion and learning; and his tutors soon saw
+with joy the rapidity of his progress, his great talents, and his happy
+dispositions to virtue. He was but ten years of age when the abbot told
+his father that it was time to send him to some university. The count,
+before he sent him to Naples, took him for some months to see his mother
+at his seat at Loretto, the place which, about the end of that century,
+grew famous for devotion to our Lady. Thomas was the admiration of the
+whole family. Amidst so much company, and so many servants, he appeared
+always as much recollected, and occupied on God, as he had been in the
+monastery; he spoke little, and always to the purpose: and he employed
+all his time in prayer, or serious and profitable exercises. His great
+delight seemed to be to intercede for, and to distribute, his parents'
+plentiful alms among the poor at the gate, whom he studied by a hundred
+ingenious contrivances to relieve. He robbed himself of his own victuals
+for that purpose; which his father having discovered, he gave him leave
+to distribute things at discretion, which liberty he made good use of
+for the little time he stayed. The countess, apprehensive of the dangers
+her son's innocence might be exposed to in an academy, desired that he
+should perform his studies with a private preceptor under her own eyes;
+but the father, knowing the great advantages of emulation and mutual
+communication in studies, was determined to send him to Naples, where
+the emperor Frederick II., being exasperated against Bologna, had
+lately, in 1224, erected a university, forbidding students to resort to
+any other in Italy. This immediately drew thither great numbers of
+students, and with them disorder and licentiousness, like that described
+by St. Austin in the great schools of Carthage.[3] Thomas soon perceived
+the dangers, and regretted the sanctuary of Mount Cassino: but by his
+extraordinary watchfulness, he lived here like the young Daniel in the
+midst of Babylon; or Toby in the infidel Ninive. He guarded his eyes
+with an extreme caution, shunned entirely all conversation with any
+woman whatever, and with any young men whose steady virtue did not
+render him perfectly secure as to their behavior. While others went to
+profane diversions, he retired into some church or into his closet,
+making prayer and study his only pleasure. He learned rhetoric under
+Peter Martin and philosophy under Peter of Hibernia, one of the most
+learned men of his age, and with such wonderful progress, that he
+repeated the lessons more clearly than the master had explained them yet
+his greater care was to advance daily in the science of the saints, by
+holy prayer, and all good works. His humility concealed them; but his
+charity and fervor sometimes betrayed his modesty, and discovered them,
+especially in his great alms, for which ne deprived himself of almost
+all things, and in which he was careful to hide from his left-hand what
+his right did.
+
+The Order of St. Dominick, who had been dead twenty-two years, then
+abounded with men full of the spirit of God. The frequent conversations
+Thomas had with one of that body, a very interior holy man, filled his
+heart with heavenly devotion and comfort, and inflamed him daily with a
+more ardent love of God, which so burned in his breast that at his
+prayers his countenance seemed one day, as it were, to dart rays of
+light, and he conceived {525} a vehement desire to consecrate himself
+wholly to God in that Order. His tutor perceived his inclinations and
+informed the count of the matter who omitted neither threats nor
+promises to defeat such a design. But the saint, not listening to flesh
+and blood in the call of heaven, demanded with earnestness to be
+admitted into the Order, and accordingly received the habit in the
+convent of Naples, in 1243, being then seventeen years old. The countess
+Theodora his mother, being informed of it, set out for Naples to
+disengage him, if possible, from that state of life. Her son, on the
+first news of her journey, begged his superiors to remove him, as they
+did first to the convent of St. Sabina in Rome, and soon after to Paris,
+out of the reach of his relations. Two of his brothers, Landulph and
+Reynold, commanders in the emperor's army in Tuscany, by her direction
+so well guarded all the roads that he fell into their hands, near
+Acqua-pendente{?}. They endeavored to pull off his habit, but he
+resisted them so violently that they conducted him in it to the seat of
+his parents, called Rocca-Secca. The mother, overjoyed at their success,
+made no doubt of overcoming her son's resolution. She endeavored to
+persuade him that to embrace such an Order, against his parents' advice,
+could not be the call of heaven; adding all manner of reasons, fond
+caresses, entreaties, and tears. Nature made her eloquent and pathetic.
+He appeared sensible of her affliction, but his constancy was not to be
+shaken. His answers were modest and respectful, but firm, in showing his
+resolution to be the call of God, and ought consequently to take place
+of all other views whatsoever, even for his service any other way. At
+last, offended at his unexpected resistance, she expressed her
+displeasure in very choleric words, and ordered him to be more closely
+confined and guarded, and that no one should see him but his two
+sisters. The reiterated solicitations of the young ladies were a long
+and violent assault. They omitted nothing that flesh and blood could
+inspire on such an occasion, and represented to him the danger of
+causing the death of his mother by grief. He on the contrary spoke to
+them in so moving a manner, on the contempt of the world, and the love
+of virtue, that they both yielded to the force of his reasons for his
+quitting the world, and, by his persuasion, devoted themselves to a
+sincere practice of piety.
+
+This solitude furnished him with the most happy opportunity for holy
+contemplation and assiduous prayer. Some time after, his sisters
+conveyed to him some books, viz., a Bible, Aristotle's logics, and the
+works of the Master of the Sentences. During this interval his two
+brothers, Landulph and Reynold, returning home from the army, found
+their mother in the greatest affliction, and the young novice triumphant
+in his resolution. They would needs undertake to overcome him, and began
+their assault by shutting him up in a tower of the castle. They tore in
+pieces his habit on his back, and after bitter reproaches and dreadful
+threats they left him, hoping his confinement, and the mortifications
+every one strove to give him, would shake his resolution. This not
+succeeding, the devil suggested to these two young officers a new
+artifice for diverting him from pursuing his vocation. They secretly
+introduced one of the most beautiful and most insinuating young
+strumpets of the country into his chamber, promising her a considerable
+reward in case she could draw him into sin. She employed all the arms of
+Satan to succeed in so detestable a design. The saint, alarmed and
+affrighted at the danger, profoundly humbled himself, and cried out to
+God most earnestly for his protection; then snatching up a firebrand
+struck her with it, and drove her out of his chamber. After this
+victory, not moved with pride, but blushing with confusion for having
+been so basely assaulted, he fell on his knees and thanked God for his
+merciful preservation, consecrated to him anew his chastity, and
+redoubled his prayers, and the earnest cry of his {526} heart with sighs
+and tears, to obtain the grace of being always faithful to his promises.
+Then falling into a slumber, as the most ancient historians of his life
+relate,[4] he was visited by two angels, who seemed to gird him round
+the waist with a cord so tight that it awaked him, and made him to cry
+out. His guards ran in, but he kept his secret to himself. It was only a
+little before his death that he disclosed this incident to F. Reynold,
+his confessor, adding that he had received this favor about thirty years
+before, from which time he had never been annoyed with temptations of
+the flesh; yet he constantly used the utmost caution and watchfulness
+against that enemy, and he would otherwise have deserved to forfeit that
+grace. One heroic victory sometimes obtains of God a recompense and
+triumph of this kind. Our saint having suffered in silence this
+imprisonment and persecution upwards of a twelvemonth, some say two
+years, at length, on the remonstrances of Pope Innocent IV. and the
+emperor Frederick, on account of so many acts of violence in his regard,
+both the countess and his brothers began to relent. The Dominicans of
+Naples being informed of this, and that his mother was disposed to
+connive at measures that might be taken to procure his escape, they
+hastened in disguise to Rocca-Secca, where his sister, knowing that the
+countess no longer opposed his escape, contrived his being let down out
+of his tower in a basket. He was received by his brethren in their arms,
+and carried with joy to Naples. The year following he there made his
+profession, looking on that day as the happiest of his whole life in
+which he made a sacrifice of his liberty that he might belong to God
+alone. But his mother and brothers renewed their complaints to Pope
+Innocent IV., who sent for Thomas to Rome, and examined him on the
+subject of his vocation to the state of religion, in their presence; and
+having received entire satisfaction on this head, the pope admired his
+virtue, and approved of his choice of that state of life, which from
+that time he was suffered to pursue in peace. Albertus Magnus teaching
+then at Cologne, the general, John the Teutonic, took the saint with him
+from Rome to Paris, and thence to Cologne. Thomas gave all his time,
+which was not employed in devotion and other duties, to his studies,
+retrenching part of that which was allowed for his meals and sleep, not
+out of a vain passion, or the desire of applause, but for the
+advancement of God's honor and the interests of religion, according to
+what he himself teaches.[5] His humility made him conceal his progress
+and deep penetration, insomuch that his schoolfellows thought he learned
+nothing, and on account of his silence, called him The dumb Ox, and the
+Great Sicilian Ox. One of them even offered to explain his lessons to
+him, whom he thankfully listened to without speaking, though he was then
+capable of teaching him. They who know how much scholars and masters
+usually seek to distinguish themselves, and display their science, will
+give to so uncommon an humility its due praise. But the brightness of
+his genius, his quick and deep penetration and learning were at last
+discovered, in spite of all his endeavors to conceal them: for his
+master Albertus, having propounded to him several questions on the most
+knotty and obscure points, his answers, which the duty of obedience
+extorted, astonished the audience; and Albertus, not able to contain his
+joy and admiration, said, "We call him the dumb ox, but he will give
+such a bellow in learning as will be heard all over the world." This
+applause made no impression on the humble saint. He continued the same
+in simplicity, modesty, silence, and recollection, because his heart was
+the same; equally insensible to praises and humiliations, full of
+nothing but of God and his own insufficiency, never reflecting on his
+own qualifications, or on what was the opinion of others concerning him.
+In his first year, {527} under Albertus Magnus, he wrote comments on
+Aristotle's Ethics. The general chapter of the Dominicans, held at
+Cologne in 1245, deputed Albertus to teach at Paris, in their college of
+St. James, which the university had given them; and it is from that
+college they are called in France Jacobins. St. Thomas was sent with him
+to continue his studies there. His school exercises did not interrupt
+his prayer. By an habitual sense of the divine presence, and devout
+aspirations, he kept his heart continually raised to God; and in
+difficult points redoubled with more earnestness his fervor in his
+prayers than his application to study. This he found attended with such
+success, that he often said that he had learned less by books than
+before his crucifix, or at the foot of the altar. His constant attention
+to God always filled his soul with joy, which appeared in his very
+countenance, and made his conversation altogether heavenly. His humility
+and obedience were most remarkable in all things. One day while he read
+at table, the corrector, by mistake, bid him read a word with a false
+quantity, and he readily obeyed, though he knew the error. When others
+told him he ought notwithstanding to have given it the right
+pronunciation, his answer was, "It matters not how a word is pronounced,
+but to practise on all occasions humility and obedience is of the
+greatest importance." He was so perfectly mortified, and dead to his
+senses, that he ate without reflecting either on the kind or quality of
+his food, so that after meals he often knew not what he had been eating.
+
+In the year 1248, being twenty-two years of age, he was appointed by the
+general chapter to teach at Cologne, together with his old master
+Albertus, whose high reputation he equalled in his very first lessons.
+He then also began to publish his first works, which consist of comments
+on the Ethics, and other philosophical works of Aristotle. No one was
+more courteous and affable, but it was his principle to shun all
+unnecessary visits. To prepare himself for holy orders he redoubled his
+watchings, prayer, and other spiritual exercises. His devotion to the
+blessed Sacrament was extraordinary. He spent several hours of the day
+and part of the night before the altar, humbling himself in acts of
+profound adoration, and melting with love in contemplation of the
+immense charity of that Man-God, whom he there adored. In saying mass he
+seemed to be in raptures, and often quite dissolved in tears; a glowing
+frequently appeared in his eyes and countenance which showed the ardor
+with which his heart burned within him. His devotion was most frequent
+during the precious moments after he had received the divine mysteries;
+and after saying mass he usually served at another, or at least heard
+one. This fire and zeal appeared also in his sermons at Cologne, Paris,
+Rome, and in other cities of Italy. He was everywhere heard as an angel;
+even the Jews ran of their own accord to hear him, and many of them were
+converted. His zeal made him solicitous, in the first place, for the
+salvation of his relations. His example and exhortations induced them to
+an heroic practice of piety. His eldest sister consecrated herself to
+God in St. Mary's, at Capua, and died abbess of that monastery: the
+younger, Theodora, married the count of Marsico, and lived and died in
+great virtue; as did his mother. His two brothers, Landulph and Reynold,
+became sincere penitents; and having some time after left the emperor's
+service, he, in revenge, burnt Aquino, their seat, in 1250, and put
+Reynold to death; the rest were obliged to save themselves by a
+voluntary banishment, but were restored in 1268. St. Thomas, after
+teaching four years at Cologne, was sent, in 1252, to Paris. His
+reputation for perspicuity and solidity drew immediately to his school a
+great number of auditors.[6] St. Thomas, with great reluctancy,
+compelled by holy obedience {528} consented to be admitted doctor, on
+the 23d of October, in 1257, being then thirty-one years old. The
+professors of the university of Paris being divided about the question
+of the accidents remaining really, or only in appearance, in the blessed
+sacrament of the altar, they agreed, in 1258, to consult our saint. The
+young doctor, not puffed up by such an honor, applied himself first to
+God by prayer, then he wrote upon that question the treatise still
+extant, and, carrying it to the church, laid it on the altar. The most
+ancient author of his life assures us, that while the saint remained in
+prayer on that occasion, some of the brethren who were present, saw him
+raised a little above the ground.[7]
+
+The holy king, St. Louis, had so great an esteem for St. Thomas, that he
+consulted him in affairs of state, and ordinarily informed him, the
+evening before, of any affair of importance that was to be treated of in
+council, that he might be the more ready to give advice on the point.
+The saint avoided the honor of dining with the king as often as be could
+excuse himself: and, when obliged to assist at court, appeared there as
+recollected as in his convent. One day at the king's table, the saint
+cried out: "The argument is conclusive against the Manichees."[8] His
+prior, being with him, bade him remember where he was. The saint would
+have asked the king's pardon, but that good prince, fearing he should
+forget the argument that had occurred to his mind, caused his secretary
+to write it down for him. In the year 1259 St. Thomas assisted at the
+thirty-sixth general chapter of his order, held at Valenciennes, which
+deputed him, in conjunction with Albertus Magnus and three others, to
+draw up rules for studies, which are still extant in the acts of that
+chapter. Returning to Paris, he there continued his lectures. Nothing
+was more remarkable than his meekness on all occasions. His temper was
+never ruffled in the heat of any dispute, nor by any insult. It was
+owing to this sweetness, more than to his invincible force of reasoning,
+that he brought a young doctor to retract on the spot a dangerous
+opinion, which he was maintaining a second time in his thesis. In 1261,
+Urban IV. called St. Thomas to Rome, and, by his order, the general
+appointed him to teach here. His holiness pressed him with great
+importunity to accept of some ecclesiastical dignity,{529} but he knew
+how much safer it is to refuse than to accept a bishopric. The pope,
+however, obliged him always to attend his person. Thus it happened that
+the saint taught and preached in all the towns where that pope ever
+resided, as in Rome, Viterbo, Orvieto, Fondi, and Perugia. He also
+taught at Bologna, Naples, &c.[9]
+
+The fruits of his preaching were no less wonderful than those of his
+pen. While he was preaching, on Good Friday, on the love of God for man,
+and our ingratitude to him, his whole auditory melted into tears to such
+a degree that he was obliged to stop several times, that they might
+recover themselves. His discourse on the following Sunday, concerning
+the glory of Christ, and the happiness of those who rise with him by
+grace, was no less pathetic and affecting. William of Tocco adds, that
+as the saint was coming out of St. Peter's church the same day, a woman
+was cured of the bloody flux by touching the hem of his garment. The
+conversion of two considerable Rabbins seemed still a greater miracle.
+St. Thomas had held a long conference with them at a casual meeting in
+cardinal Richard's villa, and they agreed to resume it the next day. The
+saint spent the foregoing night in prayer, at the foot of the altar. The
+next morning these two most obstinate Jews came to him of their own
+accord, not to dispute, but to embrace the faith, and were followed by
+many others. In the year 1263, the Dominicans held their fortieth
+general chapter in London; St. Thomas assisted at it, and obtained soon
+after to be dismissed from teaching. He rejoiced to see himself reduced
+to the state of a private religious man. Pope Clement IV. had {530} such
+a regard for him, that, in 1265, among other ecclesiastical preferments,
+he made him an offer of the archbishopric of Naples, but could not
+prevail with him to accept of that or any other. The first part of his
+theological Summ St. Thomas composed at Bologna: he was called thence to
+Naples. Here it was that, according to Tocco and others, Dominick
+Caserte beheld him, while in fervent prayer, raised from the ground, and
+heard a voice from the crucifix directed to him in these words: "Thou
+hast written well of me, Thomas: what recompense dost thou desire?" He
+answered: "No other than thyself, O Lord."[10]
+
+From the 6th of December, in 1273, to the 7th of March following, the
+day of his death, he neither dictated nor wrote any thing on theological
+matters. He from that time laid aside his studies, to fix his thoughts
+and heart entirely on eternity, and to aspire with the greatest ardor
+and most languishing desires to the enjoyment of God in perfect love.
+Pope Gregory X. had called a general council, the second of Lyons, with
+the view of extinguishing the Greek schism, and raising succors to
+defend the holy land against the Saracens. The ambassadors of the
+emperor Michael Palaeologus, together with the Greek prelates, were to
+assist at it. The council was to meet on the 1st of May, in 1274. His
+holiness, by brief directed to our saint, ordered him to repair thither,
+and to prepare himself to defend the Catholic cause against the Greek
+schismatics. Though indisposed, he set out from Naples about the end of
+January. His dear friend, F. Reynold of Piperno, was appointed his
+companion, and ordered to take care that he did not neglect himself,
+which the saint was apt to do. St. Thomas on the road called at the
+castle of Magenza, the seat of his niece, Francisca of Aquino, married
+to the count of Cecan. Here his distemper increased, which was attended
+with a loss of appetite. One day he said, to be rid of their
+importunities, that he thought he could eat a little of a certain fish
+which he had formerly eaten in France, but which was not easily to be
+found in Italy. Search however was made, and the fish procured; but the
+saint refused to touch it, in imitation of David on the like occasion.
+Soon after his appetite returned a little, and his strength with it; yet
+he was assured that his last hour was at hand. This however did not
+hinder him from proceeding on his journey, till, his fever increasing,
+he was forced to stop at Fossa-Nuova, a famous abbey of the Cistercians,
+in the diocese of Terracina, where formerly stood the city called Forum
+Appii. Entering the monastery, he went first to pray before the Blessed
+Sacrament, according to his custom. He poured forth his soul with
+extraordinary fervor, in the presence of Him who noto called him to his
+kingdom. Passing thence into the cloister, which he never lived to go
+out of, he repeated these words:[11] _This is my rest for ages without
+end_. He was lodged in the abbot's apartment, where he lay ill for near
+a month. The good monks treated him with uncommon veneration and esteem,
+and as if he had been an angel from heaven. They would not employ any of
+their servants about him, but chose to serve him themselves in the
+meanest offices, as in cutting or carrying wood for him to burn, &c. His
+patience, humility, constant recollection, and prayer, were equally
+their astonishment and edification.
+
+The nearer he saw himself to the term of all his desires, the entering
+into the joy of his Lord, the more tender and inflamed were his longings
+after death. He had continually in his mouth these words of St.
+Austin,[12] "Then shall I truly live, when I shall be quite filled with
+you alone, and your love; {531} now I am a burden to myself, because I
+am not entirely full of you." In such pious transports of heavenly love,
+he never ceased sighing after the glorious day of eternity. The monks
+begged he would dictate an exposition of the book of Canticles, in
+imitation of St. Bernard. He answered: "Give me St. Bernard's spirit,
+and I will obey." But at last, to renounce perfectly his own will, he
+dictated the exposition of that most mysterious of all the divine books.
+It begins: Solomon inspiratus: It is not what his erudition might have
+suggested, but what love inspired him with in his last mordents, when
+his pure soul was hastening to break the chains of mortality, and drown
+itself in the ocean of God's immensity, and in the delights of
+eternity.[13] The holy doctor at last finding himself too weak to
+dictate any more, begged the religious to withdraw, recommending himself
+to their prayers, and desiring their leave to employ the few precious
+moments he had to live with God alone. He accordingly spent them in
+fervent acts of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, humility, and
+repentance. He made a general confession of his whole life to F.
+Reynold, with abundance of tears for his imperfections and sins of
+frailty; for in the judgment of those to whom he had manifested his
+interior, he had never offended God by any mortal sin. And he said to F.
+Reynold, before his death, that he thanked God with his whole heart for
+having prevented him with his grace, and always conducted him as it were
+by the hand, and preserved him from any known sin that destroys charity
+in the soul; adding, that this was purely God's mercy to which he was
+indebted for his preservation from every sin which he had not
+committed.[14] Having received absolution in the sentiments of the most
+perfect penitent, he desired the Viaticum. While the abbot and community
+were preparing to bring it, he begged to be taken off his bed, and laid
+upon ashes spread upon the floor. Thus lying on the ground, weak in body
+but vigorous in mind, he waited for the priest with tears of the most
+tender devotion. When he saw the host in the priest's hand, he said: "I
+firmly believe that Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, is present in
+this august sacrament. I adore you, my God and my Redeemer: I receive
+You, the price of my redemption, the Viaticum of my pilgrimage; for
+whose honor I have studied, labored, preached, and taught. I hope I
+never advanced any tenet as your word, which I had not learned from you.
+If through ignorance I have done otherwise, I revoke every thing of that
+kind, and submit all my writing, to the judgment of the holy Roman
+church." Then recollecting himself, after other acts of faith,
+adoration, and love, he received the holy Viaticum; but remained on the
+ashes till he had finished his thanksgiving. Growing still weaker, amid
+his transports of love, he desired extreme unction, which he received,
+answering himself to all the prayers. After this he lay in peace and
+joy, as appeared by the serenity of his countenance; and he was heard to
+pronounce these aspirations: "Soon, soon will the God of all comfort
+complete his mercies on me, and fill all my desires. I shall shortly be
+satiated in him, and drink of the torrent of his delights: be inebriated
+from the abundance of his house, and in him who is the source of life, I
+shall behold the true light." Seeing all in tears about him, he
+comforted them, saying: Death was his gain and his joy. F. Reynold said
+he had hoped to see him triumph over the adversaries of the church in
+the council of Lyons, and placed in a rank in which he might do it some
+signal service. The saint answered: "I have begged of God, as the
+greatest favor, to die a simple religious man, and I now thank him for
+it. It is a {532} greater benefit than he has granted to many of his
+holy servants, that he is pleased to call me out of this world so early,
+to enter into his joy; wherefore grieve not for me, who am overwhelmed
+with joy." He returned thanks to the abbot and monks of Fossa-Nuova for
+their charity to him. One of the community asked him by what means we
+might live always faithful to God's grace. He answered: "Be assured that
+he who shall always walk faithfully in his presence, always ready to
+give him an account of all his actions, shall never be separated from
+him by consenting to sin." These were his last words to men, after which
+he only spoke to God in prayer, and gave up the ghost, on the 7th of
+March, in 1274, a little after midnight: some say in the fiftieth year
+of his age. But Ptolemy of Lucca, and other contemporary authors, say
+expressly in his forty-eighth, which also agrees with his whole history.
+He was very tall, and every way proportioned.
+
+The concourse of people at the saint's funeral was extraordinary:
+several monks of that house, and many other persons, were cured by his
+relics and intercession, of which many instances, juridically proved,
+are mentioned by William of Tocco, in the bull of his canonization, and
+other authors. The Bollandists give us other long authentic relations of
+the like miracles continued afterwards, especially in the translation of
+those holy relics. The University of Paris sent to the general and
+provincial of the Dominicans a letter of condolence upon his death,
+giving the highest commendations to the saint's learning and sanctity,
+and begging the treasure of his holy body. Naples, Rome, and many other
+universities, princes, and Orders, contended no less for it. One of his
+hands, uncorrupt, was cut off in 1288, and given to his sister, the
+countess Theodora, who kept it in her domestic chapel of San Severino.
+After her death it was given to the Dominicans' convent of Salerno.
+After several contestations, pope Urban V., many years after his death,
+granted his body to the Dominicans to carry to Paris or Toulouse, as
+Italy already possessed the body of St. Dominick at Bologna. The sacred
+treasure was carried privately into France, and received at Thoulouse in
+the most honorable mariner: one hundred and fifty thousand people came
+to meet and conduct it into the city, having at their head Louis duke of
+Anjou, brother to king Charles V., the archbishops of Thoulouse and
+Narbonne, and many bishops, abbots, and noblemen. It rests now in the
+Dominican's church at Thoulouse, in a rich shrine, with a stately
+mausoleum over it, which reaches almost up to the roof of the church,
+and hath four faces. An arm of the saint was at the same time sent to
+the great convent of the Dominicans at Paris, and placed in St. Thomas's
+chapel in their church, which the king declared a royal chapel. The
+faculty of theology meets to assist at a high mass there on the
+anniversary festival of the saint. The kingdom of Naples, after many
+pressing solicitations, obtained, in 1372, from the general chapter held
+at Thoulouse, a bone of the other arm of St. Thomas. It was kept in the
+church of the Dominicans at Naples till 1603, when the city being
+delivered from a public calamity by his intercession, it was placed in
+the metropolitan church among the relics of the other patrons of the
+country. That kingdom, by the briefs of Pius V. in 1567, and of Clement
+VIII. in 1603, confirmed by Paul V., honors him as a principal patron.
+He was solemnly canonized by pope John XXII. in 1323. Pope Pius V., in
+1567, commanded his festival and office to be kept equal with those of
+the four doctors of the western church.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many in their studies, as in other occupations, take great pains to
+little purpose, often to draw from them the poison of vanity or error;
+or at least to drain their affections, and rather to nourish pride and
+other vices in the heart than to promote true virtue. Sincere humility
+and simplicity of heart {533} are essential conditions for the
+sanctification of studies, and for the improvement of virtue by them.
+Prayer must also both go before and accompany them. St. Thomas spoke
+much to God by prayer, that God might speak to him by enlightening his
+understanding in his reading and studies; and he received in this what
+he asked in the other exercise. This prodigy of human wit, this
+unparalleled genius, which penetrated the most knotty difficulties in
+all the sciences, whether sacred or profane, to which he applied
+himself, was accustomed to say that he learned more at the foot of the
+crucifix than in books. We ought never to set ourselves to read or study
+any thing without having first made our morning meditation, and without
+imploring in particular the divine light in every thing we read; and
+seasoning our studies by frequent aspirations to God in them, and by
+keeping our souls in an humble attention to his presence. In intricate
+difficulties, we ought more earnestly, prostrate at the foot of a
+crucifix, to ask of Christ the resolution of our doubts. We should thus
+receive, in the school of so good a master, that science which makes
+saints, by giving, with other sciences, the true knowledge of God and
+ourselves, and purifying and kindling in the will the fire of divine
+love with the sentiments of humility and other virtues. By a little use,
+fervent aspirations to God will arise from all subjects in the driest
+studies, and it will become easy, and as it were natural in them, to
+raise our heart earnestly to God, either despising the vain pursuits, or
+detesting the vanity, and deploring the blindness of the world, or
+aspiring after heavenly gifts, or begging light, grace, or the divine
+love. This is a maxim of the utmost importance in an interior or
+spiritual life, which otherwise, instead of being assisted, is entirely
+overwhelmed and extinguished by studies, whether profane or sacred, and
+in its place a spirit of self-sufficiency, vanity, and jealousy is
+contracted, and the seeds of all other spiritual vices secretly sown.
+Against this danger St. Bonaventure warns all students strongly to be
+upon their guard, saying, "If a person repeats often in his heart, Lord,
+when shall I love thee? he will feel a heavenly fire kindled in his soul
+much more than by a thousand bright thoughts or fine speculations on
+divine secrets, on the eternal generation of the Word, or the procession
+of the Holy Ghost."[15] Prayer and true virtue even naturally conduce to
+the perfection of learning, in every branch; for purity of the heart,
+and the disengagement of the affections from all irregular passions,
+render the understanding clear, qualify the mind to judge impartially of
+truth in its researches, divest it of many prejudices, the fatal sources
+of errors, and inspire a modest distrust to a person's own abilities and
+lights. Thus virtue and learning mutually assist and improve each other.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Thomas was born at Belcastro: on his ancient illustrious
+    pedigree and its branches, which still flourish in Calabria, see
+    Barrius, de Antiquitate et Situ Calabriæ, with the notes of Thomas
+    Aceti, l. 4, c. 2, p. 288, &c, where he refutes the Bollandists, who
+    place his birth at Aquino in Campania, on the border of that
+    province.
+2.  L. 1, Conf. c. 7.
+3.  Conf. l. 5, c. 3.
+4.  Gul. Tocco. Bern. Guid. Antonin. Malvend.
+5.  Footnote: 2. 2dæ, q. 188, a. 5.
+6.  The manner of teaching then was not, as it is generally at present,
+    by dictating lessons, which the scholars write, but it was according
+    to the practice that still obtains in some public schools, as in
+    Padua, &c. The master delivered his explanation like an harangue;
+    the scholars retained what they could, and often privately took down
+    short notes to help their memory. Academical degrees were then also
+    very different from what they now are; being conferred on none but
+    those who taught. To be Master of Arts, a man must have studied six
+    years at least, and be twenty-one years old. And to be qualified for
+    teaching divinity, he must have studied eight years more, and be at
+    least thirty-five years old. Nevertheless, St. Thomas, by a
+    dispensation of the university, on account of his distinguished
+    merit, was allowed to teach at twenty-five. The usual way was for
+    one named bachelor to explain the Master of the Sentences for a year
+    in the school of some doctor, upon whose testimony, after certain
+    rigorous public examinations, and other formalities, the bachelor
+    was admitted in the degree of licentiate; which gave him the license
+    of a doctor, to teach or hold a school himself. Another year, which
+    was likewise employed in expounding the Master of the Sentences,
+    completed the degree of doctor, which the candidate received from
+    the chancel for of the university, and then opened a school in form,
+    with a bachelor to teach under him. In 1253, St. Thomas began to
+    teach as licentiate; but a stop was put to his degrees for some
+    time, by a violent disagreement between the regulars, principally
+    Dominicans and Franciscans, and the university which had at first
+    admitted them into their body, and even given the Dominicans a
+    college. In these disputes St. Thomas was not spared, but he for a
+    long time had recourse to no other vindication of himself than that
+    of modesty and silence. On Palm Sunday he was preaching in the
+    Dominican's church of St. James, when a beadle coming in commanded
+    silence, and read a long written invective against him and his
+    colleagues. When he had done, the saint, without speaking one word
+    to justify himself or his Order, continued his sermon with the
+    greatest tranquillity and unconcern of mind. William de Saint-Amour,
+    the most violent among the secular doctors, published a book, On the
+    dangers of the latter Times, a bitter invective against the
+    mendicant Orders, which St. Louis sent to pope Alexander IV. SS.
+    Thomas and Bonaventure were sent into Italy to defend their Orders.
+    And to confute that book, St. Thomas published his nineteenth
+    Opusculum, with an Apology for the mendicant Orders, showing they
+    lay under no precept that all should apply themselves to manual
+    labor, and that spiritual occupations were even preferable. The
+    pope, upon this apology, condemned the book, and also another,
+    called the Eternal Gospel, in defence of the error of the abbot
+    Joachim. who had advanced that the church was to have an end, and be
+    succeeded by a new church which should be formed perfectly according
+    to the Spirit: this heresy, and the errors of certain other
+    fanatics, were refuted by our saint at Rome. In his return to Paris,
+    a violent storm terrified all the mariners and passengers; only
+    Thomas appeared without the least fear, and continued in quiet
+    prayer till the tempest had ceased. William de Saint-Amour being
+    banished Paris, peace was restored in the university.
+7.  Gul. Tocco.
+8.  Conclusum est contra Manichæos.
+9.  The works of St. Thomas are partly philosophical, partly
+    theological; with some comments on the holy scriptures, and several
+    treatises of piety. The elegance of Plato gave his philosophy the
+    greater vogue among the Gentiles; and the most learned of the
+    Christian fathers were educated is the maxims or his school. His
+    noble sentiments on the attributes of the Deity, particularly his
+    providence, and his doctrine on the rewards and punishments in a
+    future state, seemed favorable to religion. Nor can it be doubted
+    but he had learned, in his travels in Egypt and Phoenicia, many
+    traditional truths delivered down from the patriarchal ages, before
+    the corruptions of idolatry. On the other hand, the philosophy of
+    Aristotle was much less in request among the heathens, was silent as
+    to all traditional truths, and contained some glaring errors, which
+    several heretics of the first ages adopted against the gospel. On
+    which account he is called by Tertullian the patriarch of heretics,
+    and his works were procribed by a council of Paris, about the year
+    1209. Nevertheless it must be acknowledged, by all impartial judges,
+    that Aristotle was the greatest and most comprehensive genius of
+    antiquity, and perhaps of any age: and he was the only one that had
+    laid down complete rules, and explained the laws of reasoning, and
+    had given a thorough system of philosophy. Boetius had penetrated
+    the depth of his genius, and the usefulness of his logic; yet did
+    not redress his mistakes. Human reasoning is too weak without the
+    light of revelation; and Aristotle, by relying too much on it fell
+    into the same gross errors. Not only many ancient heretics, but also
+    several in the twelfth and thirteenth ages, as Peter Aballard, the
+    Albigenses, and other heretics, made a bad use of his philosophy.
+    But above all, the Saracens of Arabaia and Spain wrote with
+    incredible subtilty on his principles. St. Thomas opposed the
+    enemies of truth with their own weapons, and employed the philosophy
+    of Aristotle in defence of the faith, in which he succeeded to a
+    miracle. He discerned and confuted his errors, and set in a clear
+    and new light the great truths of reason which that philosopher had
+    often wrapt up in obscurity. Thus Aristotle, who had been called the
+    terror of Christians, in the hands of Thomas became orthodox, and
+    furnished faith with new arms against idolatry and atheism. For this
+    admirable doctor, though he had only a bad Latin translation of the
+    works of that philosopher, has corrected his errors, and shown that
+    his whole system of philosophy, as far as it is grounded in truth,
+    is subservient to divine revelation. This he has executed through
+    the nicest metaphysical speculations, in the five first volumes of
+    his works. He everywhere strikes out a new track for himself; and
+    enters into the most secret recesses of this shadowy region; so as
+    to appear new even on known and beaten subjects. For his writings
+    are original efforts of genius and reflection, and every point he
+    handles in a manner that makes it appear new. If his speculations
+    are sometimes spun fine, and his divisions run to niceties, this was
+    the fault of the age in which he lived, and of the speculative
+    refining geniuses of the Arabians, whom he had undertaken to pursue
+    and confute throughout their whole system. His comments on the four
+    books of the Master of the Sentences contain a methodical course of
+    theology, and make the sixth and seventh volumes of his works; the
+    tenth, eleventh, and twelfth give us his Summ, Or incomparable
+    abridged body of divinity, though this work he never lived to
+    finish. Among the fathers, St. Austin is principally his guide; so
+    that the learned cardinals, Norris and Aguirre, call St. Thomas his
+    most faithful Interpreter. He draws the rules of practical duties
+    and virtues principally from the morals of St. Gregory on Job. He
+    compassed his Summ against the Gentiles, at the request of St.
+    Raymund of Pennafort, to serve the preachers in Spain in converting
+    the Jews and Saracens to the faith. He wrote comments on most parts
+    of the holy scriptures, especially on the epistles of St. Paul, in
+    which latter he seemed to outdo himself. By the order of pope Urban
+    IV., he compiled the office of the blessed sacrament, which the
+    church uses to this day, on the feast and during the Octave of
+    Corpus-Christi. His Opuscula, or lesser treatises, have in view the
+    confutation of the Greek schismatics and several heresies; or
+    discuss various points of philosophy and theology; or are comments
+    on the creed, sacraments, decalogue, Lord's prayer, and Hail Mary.
+    In his treatises on piety he reduces the rules of an interior life
+    to these two gospel maxims: first. That we must strenuously labor by
+    self-denial and mortification to extinguish in our hearts all the
+    sparks of pride, and the inordinate love of creatures; secondly,
+    That by assiduous prayer, meditation, and doing the will of God in
+    all things, we must kindle his perfect love in our souls. (Opusc. 17
+    & 18; His works are printed in nineteen volumes folio.)
+10. Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma: quam mercedem addipies? Non aliam,
+    nisi te Domine.
+11. Psalm cxxxi. 14.
+12. Conf. l. 10, c. 28.
+13. There is another commentary on the same book which sometimes bears
+    his name, and begins: Sonet vox tua in auribus meis: which was not
+    the work of this saint, but of Hayme{}, bishop of Halberstadt. See
+    Echard, t. 1, p. 323. Touron, p. 714. Le Long. Bibl. Sacra. n. 766.
+14. Tibi debo et quod non feci. St. Au{}.
+15. St. Bonav. l. de Mystica Theol. a. ult.
+
+SS. PERPETUA, AND FELICITAS, MM.
+
+WITH THEIR COMPANIONS.
+
+From their most valuable genuine acts, quoted by Tertullian, l. de
+anima, c. 55, and by St. Austin, serm. {}, 283, 294. The first part of
+these acts, which reaches to the eve of her martyrdom, was written by
+St. Perpetua. The vision of St. Saturus was added by him. The rest was
+subjoined by an eye-witness of their death. See Tillemont, t. 3, p. 139.
+Ceillier, t. 2, p. 213. These acts have been often republished; but are
+extant, most ample and correct, in Ruinart. They were publicly read in
+the churches of Africa, as appears from St. Austin, Serm. 180. See them
+vindicated from the suspicion of Montanism, by O{}, Vindicæ Act. SS.
+Perpetuæ et Felicitatis.
+
+A. D 203.
+
+A VIOLENT persecution being set on foot by the emperor Severus, in 202,
+reached Africa the following year; when, by order of Minutius
+Timinianus, {534} (or Firminianus,) five catechumens were apprehended at
+Carthage for the faith: namely, Rovocatus, and his fellow-slave
+Felicitas, Saturninus, and Secundulus, and Vibia Perpetua. Felicitas was
+seven months gone with child; 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 St. 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 were for some days before
+their commitment 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, that is to say, a Christian.' At that word my father in a rage fell
+upon me, as if he would have pulled my eyes out, 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 corporal pains. A few days after this we were put into prison: I
+was shocked at the horror and darkness of the place;[1] 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, for that I had not my infant. 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 being brought to me almost famished, I gave it the breast. I
+recommended him afterwards 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 peculiar favorite of Heaven: pray to God to reveal to you
+whether this imprisonment will end in martyrdom or not, and acquaint me
+of it.' I, knowing God gave me daily tokens of his goodness, answered,
+full of confidence, 'I will inform you to-morrow.' I therefore asked
+that favor of God, and had this vision. I saw a golden ladder which
+reached from earth to the heavens; but so narrow, that only one could
+mount it at a time. To the two sides were fastened all sorts of iron
+instruments, as swords, lances, hooks, and knives; so that if any one
+went up carelessly he was in great danger of having his flesh torn by
+those weapons. At the foot of the ladder lay a dragon of an enormous
+size, who kept guard to turn back and terrify those that endeavored to
+mount it. The first that went up was Saturus, who was not apprehended
+with us, but voluntarily surrendered himself afterwards on our account:
+when he was got to 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 {535} I saw a garden of an
+immense space, 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 awaked me, chewing something very
+sweet. As soon as I had related to my brother this vision, we both
+concluded that we should suffer death.
+
+"After some days, a rumor being spread 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 gray hairs, have compassion on
+your father, if I yet deserve to be called your father; if I myself have
+brought you up to this age: if you consider that my extreme love of you,
+made me always prefer you to all your brothers, make me not a reproach
+to mankind. Have respect for your mother and your aunt; have compassion
+on your child that cannot survive you; lay aside this resolution, this
+obstinacy, lest you ruin us all: for not one of us will dare open his
+lips any more if any misfortune befall you.' He took me by the hands at
+the same time and kissed them; he threw himself at my feet in tears, and
+called me no longer daughter, but, my lady. I confess, I was pierced
+with sharp sorrow when I considered that my father was the only person
+of our family that would not rejoice at my martyrdom. I endeavored 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 very
+much concerned. The next day, while we were at dinner, a person came all
+on a sudden to summon us to examination. The report of this was soon
+spread, and brought together a vast crowd of people into the
+audience-chamber. We were placed on a sort of scaffold before the judge,
+who was Hilarian, procurator of the province, the proconsul being lately
+dead. All who were interrogated before me confessed boldly Jesus Christ.
+When it came to my turn, my father instantly appeared with 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 you are going to
+make miserable, nor the tender innocence of a child, which your death
+will leave an orphan, move you? Sacrifice for the prosperity of the
+emperor.' 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 had been used to the breast, I immediately
+sent Pomponius, the deacon, to demand him of my father, who 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 tour years before by his father Severus, when his brother
+Caracalla was created Augustus.
+
+St. Perpetua relates another vision with which she was favored, as
+follows: "A few days after receiving sentence, when we were all together
+in {536} 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
+fervor and sighing 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, exceeding hot and thirsty; his face was dirty, his
+complexion pale, with the ulcer in his face of which he 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, whose brim was higher
+than the statue of an infant: he at tempted to drink, but though he had
+water he 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 by prayer
+relieve him: so I began to pray fer him, beseeching God with tears, day
+and night, that he would grant me my request; as I continued to do till
+we were removed to the damp prison: being destined for a public show on
+the festival of Cæsar Geta. The day we were in the stocks[2] 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 instead of his wound a scar only. I awoke, and I knew he
+was relieved from his pain.[3]
+
+"Some days after, Pudens, the officer who commanded the guards of the
+prison, seeing that God favored 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 to find me out, overwhelmed
+with sorrow. He tore his beard, he threw himself prostrate 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 favored 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 you, 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 you in a moment, and bear a part with you in your pains.' I was
+wondering the beasts were not let out against us, when there appeared a
+very ill-favored Egyptian, 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 prodigious stature, in
+rich apparel, having a wand in his hand like the masters of the
+gladiators, and a green bough on which hung golden apples. Having
+ordered silence, he said that the bough should be my prize, if I
+vanquished {537} the Egyptian--but that if he conquered me, he should
+kill me with a sword. After a long and obstinate engagement, I threw him
+on his face, and trod upon his head. The people applauded my victory
+with loud acclamations. I then approached the master of the
+amphitheatre, who gave me the bough with a kiss, and said: 'Peace be
+with you, my daughter.' After this I awoke, and found that I was not so
+much to combat with wild beasts as with the devils." Here ends the
+relation of St. Perpetua.
+
+St. Saturus had also a vision which he wrote 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 died in prison. They inquired after other
+martyrs of their acquaintance, say the acts, and were conducted into a
+most stately place, shining like the sun: and in it saw the king of this
+most glorious place surrounded by his happy subjects, and heard a voice
+composed of many, which continually cried: "Holy, holy, holy." Saturus,
+turning to Perpetua, said: "You have here what you desired." She
+replied: "God be praised. I have more joy here than ever I had in the
+flesh." He adds, Going out of the garden they found before the gate, on
+the right hand, their bishop of Carthage, Optatus, and on the left,
+Aspasius, priest of the same church, both of them alone and sorrowful.
+They fell at the martyr's feet, and begged they would reconcile them
+together, for a dissension had happened between them. The martyrs
+embraced them, saying: "Are not you our bishop, and you 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 hence 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 among several of 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 odor, 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 Secondulus 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 brought to bed
+before it came; 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 alone in the road to their common hope. Wherefore they
+unanimously joined in prayer to obtain of God that she might be
+delivered against the shows. Scarce had they finished their prayer, when
+Felicitas found herself in labor. She cried out under the violence of
+her pain: 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 that suffer what I now suffer; but
+then there will be another in me that 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.
+The tribune, who had the holy martyrs in custody, being informed by some
+persons of little credit, that the Christians would free themselves out
+of prison by some magic enchantments, used them the more cruelly on that
+account, and forbade any to see them. Thereupon Perpetua said to him:
+"Why do you not afford us some relief, since we are condemned by Cæsar,
+and destined to combat at his festival? Will it not be to your honor
+that we appear well fed?" At this the tribune trembled and blushed, and
+ordered them to be used with more humanity, and their friends to be
+admitted to see them. Pudens, {538} the keeper of the prison, being
+already converted, secretly did them all the good offices in his power.
+The day before they suffered they gave them, according to custom, their
+last meal, which was called a free supper, and they ate in public. But
+the martyrs did their utmost to change it into an Agape, or Love-feast.
+Their chamber was full of people, whom they talked to with their usual
+resolution, 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 in our regard? 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, as astonished the infidels, and
+occasioned the conversion of several among them.
+
+The day of their triumph being come, they went out of the prison to go
+to the amphitheatre. Joy sparkled in their eyes, and appeared in all
+their gestures and words. Perpetua walked with a composed countenance
+and easy pace, as a woman cherished by Jesus Christ, 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 ceremonies; 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 any thing
+contrary to their religion. The tribune then consented that they might
+appear in the amphitheatre habited as they were. Perpetua sung, as being
+already victorious; Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus threatened the
+people that beheld them with the judgments of God: and as they passed
+over against the balcony of Hilarian, they said to him: "You judge us in
+this world, but God will judge you to the next." The people, enraged at
+their boldness, begged they might be scourged, which was granted. They
+accordingly passed before the Venatores,[4] 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 were discoursing together about what
+kind of martyrdom would be agreeable to each, Saturninus declared that
+be would choose to be exposed to beasts of several sorts in order to the
+aggravation of his sufferings. 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 dispatch 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 to the bridge 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 jailer that had been converted.
+The martyr encouraged him to constancy in the faith, and said to him:
+"You see I have not yet been hurt by any beast, as I desired and
+foretold; believe then steadfastly in Christ; I am going where you will
+{539} see a leopard with one bite take away my life." It happened so,
+for a leopard being let out upon him, covered him all over 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 you. Give me the ring you have on your
+finger." Saturus, having dipped it in his wound, gave it him back to
+keep as a pledge to animate him to a constancy in his faith, and fell
+down dead soon after. Thus he went first to glory to wait for Perpetua,
+according to her vision. Some with Mabillon,[5] think this Pudens is the
+martyr honored in Africa, on the 29th of April.
+
+In the mean time, Perpetua and Felicitas had been exposed to a wild cow;
+Perpetua was first attacked, and the cow having tossed her up, 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. 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 dispatched at the end of the
+shows by the confectores. Perpetua was here received by Rusticus, a
+catechumen, who attended her. This admirable woman seemed just returning
+to herself out of a long ecstasy, and asked when she was to fight the
+wild cow. Being told what had passed, she could not believe it till she
+saw on her body and clothes the marks of what she had suffered, and knew
+the catechumen. With regard to this circumstance of her acts, St. Austin
+cries out, "Where was she when assaulted and torn by so furious a wild
+beast, without feeling her wounds, and when, after that furious combat,
+she asked when it would begin? What did she, not to see what all the
+world saw? What did she enjoy who did not feel such pain. By what love,
+by what vision, by what potion was she so transported out of herself,
+and as it were divinely inebriated, to seem without feeling in a mortal
+body?" She called for her brother, and said to him and Rusticus,
+"Continue firm in the faith, love one another, and be not scandalized 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 brought 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 middle of the arena; others
+were dispatched without speaking, or stirring out of the place they were
+in. St. 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 St.
+Austin, 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 the Roman calendar as old as the year 354,
+published by Bucherins. St. Prosper says they suffered at Carthage,
+which agrees with all the circumstances. Their bodies were in the great
+church of Carthage, in the fifth age, as St. Victor[6] informs us. Saint
+Austin says, their festival drew yearly more to honor their memory in
+their church, than curiosity had done to their martyrdom. They are
+mentioned in the canon of the Mass.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The prisons of the ancient Romans, still to be seen in many old
+    amphitheatres, &c., are dismal holes: having at most one very small
+    aperture for light, just enough to show day.
+2.  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 torment. St. Perpatua 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
+    show.
+3.  By the conclusions which St. Perpetua was led to make from her two
+    visions, it evidently appears, that the church, in that early age,
+    believed the doctrine of the expiation of certain sins after death,
+    and prayed for the faithful departed. This must be allowed, even
+    though it should be pretended that her visions were not from God.
+    But neither St. Austin, nor any other ancient father, ever
+    entertained the least suspicion on that head. Nor can we presume
+    that the goodness of God would permit one full of such ardent love
+    at him to be imposed upon in a point of this nature. The Oxonian
+    editor of these acts knew not what other answer to make to this
+    ancient testimony, than that St. Perpetua seems to have been
+    Montanist (p. 14.) But this unjust censure Oodwell (Diss. Cypr. A.
+    n. 8, p. 15) and others have confuted. And could St. Austin, with
+    the whole Catholic church, have ranked a Montanist among the most
+    illustrious martyrs? That father himself, in many places of his
+    works, clearly explains the same doctrine of the Catholic faith,
+    concerning a state of temporary sufferings in the other world, and
+    conformably to it speaks of these visions. (L. de Orig. Animæ, l. 1,
+    c. 10, p. 343, and l. 4, c. 18, p. 401, t. 10, &c.) He says, that
+    Dinocrates must have received baptism, but afterwards sinned,
+    perhaps by having been seduced by his pagan father into some act of
+    superstition, or by lying, or by some other faults of which children
+    in that tender age may be guilty. Illus ætatis pueri at mentiri et
+    verum iniqui, at confiteri et negare jam possum. Lib. 1. c. 10. See
+    Orsi Diss. de Actis SS. Perpetuæ et Felicitatis. Florentiæ 1738, {}.
+ 4. Pro ordine venatorum. Venatores, is the name given to those that
+    were armed to encounter the beast; who put themselves in ranks, with
+    whips in their hands, and each of them gave a last to the Bestiarii,
+    or those condemned to the beasts, whom they obliged to pass naked
+    before them in the middle of the pit of arena.
+5.  Analect. t. 3, p. 403.
+6.  Victor, l. 1, p. 4.
+
+{540}
+
+ST. PAUL. ANCHORET.
+
+FROM his ignorance of secular learning, and his extraordinary humility,
+he was surnamed the Simple. He served God in the world to the age of
+sixty, in the toils of a poor and laborious country life. The
+incontinency of his wife contributed to wean his soul from all earthly
+ties. Checks and crosses which men meet with in this life are great
+graces. God's sweet providence sows our roads with thorns, that we may
+learn to despise the vanity, and hate the treachery of the world. "When
+mothers would wean their children," says St. Austin, "they anoint their
+breasts with aloes, that the babe, being offended at the bitterness, may
+no more seek the nipple." Thus has God in his mercy filled the world
+with sorrow and vexation; but woe to those who still continue to love
+it! Even in this life miseries will be the wages of their sin and folly,
+and their eternal portion will be the second death. Paul found true
+happiness because he converted his heart perfectly from the world to
+God. Desiring to devote himself totally to his love, he determined to
+betake himself to the great St. Antony. He went eight days' journey into
+the desert, to the holy patriarch, and begged that he would admit him
+among his disciples, and teach him the way of salvation. Antony harshly
+rejected him, telling him he was too old to bear the austerities of that
+state. He therefore bade him return home, and follow the business of his
+calling, and sanctify it by the spirit of recollection and assiduous
+prayer. Having said this he shut his door: but Paul continued fasting
+and praying before his door, till Antony, seeing his fervor, on the
+fourth day opened it again, and going out to him, after several trials
+of his obedience, admitted him to the monastic state, and prescribed him
+a rule of life; teaching him, by the most perfect obedience, to crucify
+in himself all attachment to his own will, the source of pride; by the
+denial of his senses and assiduous hard labor, to subdue his flesh; and
+by continual prayer at his work, and at other times, to purify his
+heart, and inflame it with heavenly affections.[1] He instructed him how
+to pray, and ordered him never to eat before sunset, nor so much at a
+meal as entirely to satisfy hunger. Paul, by obedience and humility,
+laid the foundation of an eminent sanctity in his soul, which being dead
+to all self-will and to creatures, soared towards God with great fervor
+and purity of affections.
+
+Among the examples of his ready obedience, it is recorded, that when he
+had wrought with great diligence in making mats and hurdles, praying at
+the same time without intermission, St. Antony disliked his work, and
+bade him undo it and make it over again. Paul did so, without any
+dejection in his countenance, or making the least reply, or even asking
+to eat a morsel of bread, though he had already passed seven days
+without taking any refreshment. After this, Antony ordered him to
+moisten in water four loaves of six ounces each; for their bread in the
+deserts was exceeding hard and dry. When their refection was prepared,
+instead of eating, he bade Paul sing psalms with him, then to sit down
+by the loaves, and at night, after praying together, to take his rest.
+He called him up at midnight to pray with him: this exercise the old man
+continued with great cheerfulness till three o'clock in the afternoon
+the following day. After sunset, each ate one loaf, and Antony asked
+Paul if he would eat another. "Yes, if you do," said Paul; "I am a
+monk," said Antony; "And I desire to be one," replied the disciple;
+whereupon they arose, sung twelve psalms, and recited twelve other {541}
+prayers. After a short repose, they both arose again to prayer at
+midnight. The experienced director exercised his obedience by frequent
+trials, bidding him one day, when many monks were come to visit him to
+receive his spiritual advice, to spill a vessel of honey, and then to
+gather it up without any dust. At other times he ordered him to draw
+water a whole day and pour it out again; to make baskets and pull them
+to pieces; to sew and unsew his garments, and the like.[2] What
+victories over themselves and their passions might youth and others,
+&c., gain! what a treasure of virtue might they procure, by a ready and
+voluntary obedience and conformity of their will to that of those whom
+Providence bath placed over them! This they would find the effectual
+means to crush pride, and subdue their passions. But obedience is of
+little advantage, unless it bend the will itself, and repress all wilful
+interior murmuring and repugnance. When Paul had been sufficiently
+exercised and instructed in the duties of a monastic life, St. Antony
+placed him in a cell three miles from his own, where he visited him from
+time to time. He usually preferred his virtue to that of all his other
+disciples, and proposed him to them as a model. He frequently sent to
+Paul sick persons, or those possessed by the devil, whom he was not able
+to cure; as not having received the gift; and by the disciple's prayers
+they never failed of a cure. St. Paul died some time after the year 330.
+He is commemorated both by the Greeks and Latins, on the 7th of March.
+See Palladius, Rufinus, and Sozomen, abridged by Tillemont, t. 7, p.
+144. Also by Henschenius, p. 645.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Pallad. Lausiac. c. 28, p. 942. Rufin. Vit. Patr. c. 31. Sozom. l.
+    1, c. 13.
+2.  Rufin. & Pallad. loc. cit.
+
+
+MARCH VIII.
+
+ST. JOHN OF GOD, C.
+
+FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF CHARITY.
+
+From his life, written by Francis de Castro, twenty-five years after his
+death, abridged by Vaillet, p. 98, and F. Helyot, Hist. des Ordres
+Relig. t. 4. p. 131.
+
+A.D. 1550
+
+ST. JOHN, surnamed of God, was born in Portugal, in 1495. His parents
+were of the lowest rank in the country, but devout and charitable. John
+spent a considerable part of his youth in service, under the mayoral or
+chief shepherd of the count of Oropeusa in Castile, and in great
+innocence and virtue. In 1522, he listed himself in a company of foot
+raised by the count, and served in the wars between the French and
+Spaniards; as he did afterwards in Hungary, against the Turks, while the
+emperor Charles V. was king of Spain. By the licentiousness of his
+companions, he by degrees lost his fear of offending God, and laid aside
+the greatest part of his practices of devotion. The troop which he
+belonged to being disbanded, he went into Andalusia in 1536, where he
+entered the service of a rich lady near Seville, in quality of shepherd.
+Being now about forty years of age, stung with remorse for his past
+misconduct, he began to entertain very serious thoughts of a change of
+life, and doing penance for his sins. He accordingly employed the
+greatest part of his time, both by day and night, in the exercises {542}
+of prayer and mortification, bewailing almost continually his
+ingratitude towards God, and deliberating how he could dedicate himself
+in the most perfect manner to his service. His compassion for the
+distressed moved him to take a resolution of leaving his place, and
+passing into Africa, that he might comfort and succor the poor slaves
+there, not without hopes of meeting with the crown of martyrdom. At
+Gibraltar he met with a Portuguese gentleman condemned to banishment,
+and whose estate had also been confiscated by king John III. He was then
+in the hands of the king's officers, together with his wife and
+children, and on his way to Ceuta, in Barbary, the place of his exile.
+John, out of charity and compassion, served him without any wages. At
+Ceuta, the gentleman falling sick with grief and the change of air, was
+soon reduced to such straits as to be obliged to dispose of the small
+remains of his shattered fortune for the family's support. John, not
+content to sell what little stock he was master of to relieve them, went
+to day-labor at the public works, to earn all he could for their
+subsistence. The apostacy 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 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, {543} Apostle of
+Andalusia, preached that year at Granada, on St. 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 and lamentations; detesting his past life, beating his
+breast, {544} and calling aloud for mercy. Not content with this, he ran
+about the streets like a distracted person, tearing his hair, and
+behaving in such a manner that he was followed everywhere by the rabble
+with sticks and stones, and came home all besmeared with dirt and blood.
+He then gave away all he had in the world, and having thus reduced
+himself to absolute poverty, that he might die to himself, and crucify
+all the sentiments of the old man, he began again to counterfeit the
+madman, running 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, full of the Spirit of God, soon discovered in John the
+motions of extraordinary graces, spoke to him in private, heard his
+general confession, and gave him proper advice, and promised his
+assistance ever after. John, out of a desire of the greatest
+humiliations, returned soon after to his apparent madness and
+extravagances. He was, thereupon, taken up and put into a madhouse, on
+supposition of his being disordered in his senses, where the severest
+methods were used to bring him to himself, all which he underwent in the
+spirit of penance, and by way of 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
+with the greatest ardor after new sufferings and humiliations. D'Avila
+however told him, that having now been sufficiently exercised in that so
+singular a method of penance and humiliation, he advised him to 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 he grew
+instantly calm and sedate, to the great astonishment of his keepers. He
+continued, however, some time longer in the hospital, serving the sick,
+but left it entirely on St. Ursula's day, in 1539. This his
+extraordinary conduct is an object of our admiration, not of our
+imitation: in this saint it was the effect of the fervor of his
+conversion, his desire of humiliation, and a holy hatred of himself and
+his past criminal life. By it he learned in a short time perfectly to
+die to himself and the world; which prepared his soul for the graces
+which God afterwards bestowed on him. He then thought of executing his
+design of doing something for the relief of the poor; and, after a
+pilgrimage to our Lady's in Guadaloupa, to recommend himself and his
+undertaking to her intercession, in a place celebrated for devotion to
+her, he began by selling wood in the market-place, to feed some poor by
+the means of his labor. Soon after he hired a house to harbor poor sick
+persons in, whom he served and provided for with an ardor, prudence,
+economy, and vigilance, that 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 carry in
+new objects of charity, rather than to seek out provisions for them; for
+people, of their own accord, brought him in all necessaries for his
+little hospital. The archbishop of Granada, taking notice of so
+excellent an establishment, and admiring the incomparable order observed
+in it, both for the spiritual and temporal care of the poor, furnished
+considerable sums to increase it, and favored it with his protection.
+This excited all persons to vie with each other in contributing to it.
+Indeed the charity, patience, and modesty of St. John, and his wonderful
+care and foresight, engaged every one to admire and favor the institute.
+The bishop of Tuy, president of the royal court of judicature in
+Granada, having invited the holy man to dinner, put {545} several
+questions to him, to all which he answered in such a manner, as gave the
+bishop the highest esteem of his person. It was this prelate that gave
+him the name of John of God, and prescribed him a kind of habit, though
+St. John never thought of founding a religious order: for the rules
+which bear his name were only drawn up in 1556, six years after his
+death; and religious vows were not introduced among his brethren before
+the year 1570.
+
+To make trial of the saint's disinterestedness, the marquis of Tarisa
+came to him in disguise to beg an alms, on pretence of a necessary
+lawsuit, and he 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 bospital 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 stayed
+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 whole
+country had remained unrelieved. He therefore made strict inquiry into
+the wants of the poor over the whole province, relieved many in their
+own houses, employed in a proper manner those that were able to work,
+and with wonderful sagacity laid himself out every way to comfort and
+assist all the afflicted members of Christ. He was particularly active
+and vigilant in settling and providing for young maidens in distress to
+prevent the danger to which they are often exposed, of taking bad
+courses. He also reclaimed many who were already engaged in vice: for
+which purpose he sought out public sinners, and holding a crucifix in
+his hand, with many tears exhorted 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 amid the
+honors 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; whose charitable contributions he employed with great prudence in
+Valladolid itself, and the adjacent country. Only perfect virtue could
+stand the test of honors, amid which he appeared the most humble.
+Humiliations seemed to be his delight: these he courted and sought, and
+always underwent them with great alacrity. One day, when a woman called
+him hypocrite, and loaded him with invectives, he gave her privately 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 of his distemper seemed to be excess of
+fatigue in saving wood and other such things for the poor in a great
+flood, in which, seeing a person in danger of being drowned, he swam in
+his long clothes to endeavor to rescue him, not without imminent hazard
+of his own life: but he could not see his Christian brother perish
+without endeavoring at all hazards to succor him. He at first concealed
+his sickness, that he might not be obliged to diminish his labors and
+extraordinary austerities; but in the mean time he carefully revised the
+inventories of all things belonging to his hospital, and inspected all
+the accounts. He also reviewed all the excellent regulations which he
+had made for its administration, the distribution of {546} time, and the
+exercises of piety to be observed in it. Upon a complaint that he
+harbored idle strollers and bad women, the archbishop sent for him, and
+laid open the charge against him. The man of God threw himself prostrate
+at his feet, and said: "The Son of God came for sinners, and we are
+obliged to promote their conversion, to exhort them, and to sigh and
+pray for them. 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;
+who, as I am obliged to own with extreme confusion, am a most base
+sinner, altogether unworthy to eat the bread of the poor." This he spoke
+with so much feeling and humility that all present were much moved, and
+the archbishop dismissed him with respect, leaving all things to his
+discretion. His illness increasing, the news of it was spread abroad.
+The lady Anne Ossorio was no sooner informed of his condition, but she
+came in her coach 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, not indeed a stone, as
+was his custom, but a basket, in which he used to beg alms in the city
+for his hospital. The poor and sick stood weeping round him. The lady,
+moved with compassion, dispatched secretly a message to the archbishop,
+who sent immediately an order to St. John to obey her as he would do
+himself, during his illness. By virtue of this authority she obliged him
+to leave his hospital. He named Anthony Martin superior in his place,
+and gave moving instructions to his brethren, recommending to them, in
+particular, obedience and charity. In going out he visited the blessed
+sacrament, and poured forth his heart before it with extraordinary
+fervor; remaining there absorbed in his devotions so long, that the lady
+Anne Ossorio caused him to be taken up and carried into her coach, 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, his broths and other
+things, and often read to him the history of the passion of our
+Redeemer. He complained that while our Saviour, in his agony, drank
+gall, they gave him, a miserable sinner, broths. The whole city was in
+tears; all the nobility visited him; the magistrates came to beg he
+would give his benediction to their 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
+benediction. His exhortations to all were most pathetic. His prayer
+consisted of most humble sentiments of compunction and inflamed
+aspirations of divine love. 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, being exactly fifty-five years old. He was buried by the
+archbishop at the head of all the clergy, both secular and regular,
+accompanied by all the court, noblesse, and city, with the utmost pomp.
+He was honored 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. The Spaniards have their own
+general: but the religious in France and Italy obey a general who
+resides at Rome. They follow the rule of St. Austin.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One sermon perfectly converted one who had been long enslaved to the
+world and his passions, and made him a saint. How comes it that so many
+sermons and pious books produce so little fruit in our souls? It is
+altogether owing to our sloth and wilful hardness of heart, that we
+receive God's {547} omnipotent word in vain, and to our most grievous
+condemnation. The heavenly seed can take no root in hearts which receive
+it with indifference and insensibility, or it is trodden upon and
+destroyed by the dissipation and tumult of our disorderly affections, or
+it is choked by the briers and thorns of earthly concerns. To profit by
+it, we must listen to it with awe and respect, in the silence of all
+creatures, in interior solitude and peace, and must carefully nourish it
+in our hearts. The holy law of God is comprised in the precept of divine
+love; a precept so sweet, a virtue so glorious and so happy, as to carry
+along with it its present incomparable reward. St. John, from the moment
+of his conversion, by the penitential austerities which he performed,
+was his own greatest persecutor; but it was chiefly by heroic works of
+charity that he endeavored to offer to God the most acceptable sacrifice
+of compunction, gratitude, and love. What encouragement has Christ given
+us in every practice of this virtue, by declaring, that whatever we do
+to others he esteems as done to himself! To animate ourselves to fervor,
+we may often call to mind what St. John frequently repeated to his
+disciples, "Labor without intermission to do all the good works in your
+power, while time is allowed you." His spirit of penance, love, and
+fervor he inflamed by meditating assiduously on the sufferings of
+Christ, of which he often used to say: "Lord, thy thorns are my roses,
+and thy sufferings my paradise."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The venerable John of Avila, or Avilla, who may be called the father
+    of the most eminent saints that flourished in Spain in the sixteenth
+    century, was a native of the diocese of Toledo. At fourteen years of
+    age he was sent to Salamanca, and trained up to the law. From his
+    infancy he applied himself with great earnestness to prayer, and all
+    the exercises of piety and religion; and he was yet very young when
+    he found his inclinations strongly bent towards an ecclesiastical
+    state in order to endeavor by his tears and labors to kindle the
+    fire of divine love in the hearts of men. From the university his
+    parents called him home, but were surprised and edified to see the
+    ardor with which he pursued the most heroic practices of Christian
+    perfection; which, as they both feared God, they were afraid in the
+    least to check, or damp his fervor. His diet was sparing, and as
+    coarse as he could choose, without an appearance of singularity or
+    affectation; he contrived to sleep on twigs, which he secretly laid
+    on his bed, wore a hair shirt, and used severe disciplines. What was
+    most admirable in his conduct, was the universal denial of his will,
+    by which he labored to die to himself, added to his perfect
+    humility, patience, obedience, and meekness, by which he subjected
+    his spirit to the holy law of Christ. All his spare time was devoted
+    to prayer, and he approached very frequently the holy sacraments. In
+    that of the blessed Eucharist he began to find a wonderful relish
+    and devotion, and he spent some hours in preparing himself to
+    receive it with the utmost purity of heart and fervor of love he was
+    able to bring to that divine banquet. In the commerce of the world
+    he appeared so much out of his element, that he was sent to the
+    university of Alcala, where he finished his studies in the same
+    manner he had began them, and bore the first prize in philosophy and
+    his other classes. F. Dominic Soto, the learned Dominican professor,
+    who was his master, conceived for him the warmest affection and the
+    highest esteem, and often declared how great a man he doubted not
+    this scholar would one day become. Peter Guerrera, who was
+    afterwards archbishop of Toledo, was also from that time his great
+    admirer, and constant friend. Both his parents dying about that
+    time, John entered into holy orders. On the same day on which he
+    said his first mass, instead of giving an entertainment according to
+    the custom, he provided a dinner for twelve poor persons, on whom he
+    waited at table, and whom he clothed at his own expense, and with
+    his own hands. When he returned into his own country, he sold his
+    whole estate, for he was the only child and heir of his parents: the
+    entire price he gave to the poor, reserving nothing for himself
+    besides an old suit of mean apparel, desiring to imitate the
+    apostles, whom Christ forbade to carry either purse or scrip. Taking
+    St. Paul for his patron and model, he entered upon the ministry of
+    preaching, in which sublime function his preparation consisted not
+    merely in the study and exercise of oratory, and in a consummate
+    knowledge of faith, and of the rules of Christian virtue, but much
+    more in a perfect victory over himself and his passions, the entire
+    disengagement of his heart and affections from the world and all
+    earthly things, an eminent spirit of humility, tender charity, and
+    inflamed zeal for the glory of God, and the sanctification of souls.
+    He once said to a young clergyman, who consulted him by what method
+    he could learn the art of preaching with fruit, that it was no other
+    than that of the most ardent love of God. Of this he was himself a
+    most illustrious example. Prayer, and an indefatigable application
+    to the duties of his ministry, divided his whole time; and such was
+    his thirst of the salvation of souls, that the greatest labors and
+    dangers were equally his greatest gain and pleasure; he seemed even
+    to gather strength from the former, and confidence and courage from
+    the latter. His inflamed sermons, supported by the admirable example
+    of his heroic virtue, and the most pure maxims of the gospel,
+    delivered with an eloquence and an unction altogether divine, from
+    the overflowings of a heart burning with the most ardent love of
+    God, and penetrated with the deepest sentiments of humility and
+    compunction, had a force which the most hardened hearts seemed not
+    able to withstand. Many sacred orators preach themselves rather than
+    the word of God, and speak with so much art and care, that their
+    hearers consider more how they speak than what they say. This true
+    minister of the gospel never preached or instructed others without
+    having first, for a considerable time, begged of God with great
+    earnestness to move both his tongue and the hearts of his hearers:
+    he mounted the pulpit full of the most sincere distrust in his own
+    abilities and endeavors, and contempt of himself; and with the most
+    ardent thirst of the salvation of the souls of all his hearers. He
+    cast his nets, or rather sowed the seed, of eternal life. The Holy
+    Ghost, who inspired and animated his soul, seemed to speak by the
+    organ of his voice; and gave so fruitful a blessing to his words,
+    that wonderful were the conversions he everywhere wrought. Whole
+    assemblies came from his sermons quite changed, and their change
+    appeared immediately in their countenances and behavior. He never
+    ceased to exhort those that were with him by his inflamed
+    discourses, and the absent by his letters. A collection of these,
+    extant in several languages, is a proof of his elo quence,
+    experimental science of virtue, and tender and affecting charity.
+    The ease with which he wrote them without study, shows how richly
+    his mind was stored with an inexhausted fund of excellent motives
+    and reflections on every subject matter of piety, with what
+    readiness he disposed those motives in an agreeable methodical
+    manner, and with what unction he expressed them, insomuch that his
+    style appears to be no other than the pure language of his heart,
+    always bleeding for his own sins and those of the world. So various
+    are the instructions contained in these letters, that any one may
+    find such as are excellently suited to his particular circumstances,
+    whatever virtue he desires to obtain, or vice to shun, and under
+    whatever affliction he seeks for holy advice and comfort. It was
+    from the school of an interior experienced virtue that he was
+    qualified to be so excellent a master. This spirit of all virtues he
+    cultivated in his soul by their continual exercise. Under the
+    greatest importunity of business, besides his office and mass, with
+    a long preparation and thanksgiving, he never failed to give to
+    private holy meditation two hours, when he first rose in the
+    morning, from three till five o'clock, and again two hours in the
+    evening before he took his rest, for which he never allowed himself
+    more than four hours of the night, from eleven till three o'clock.
+    During the time of his sickness, towards the latter end of his life,
+    almost his whole time was devoted to prayer, he being no longer able
+    to sustain the fatigue of his functions. His clothes were always
+    very mean, and usually old; his food was such as he bought in the
+    streets, which wanted no dressing, as herbs, fruit, or milk; for he
+    would never have a servant. At the tables of others he ate sparingly
+    of whatever was given him, or what was next at hand. He exceedingly
+    extolled, and was a true lover of holy poverty, not only as it is an
+    exercise of penance, and cuts off the root of many passions, but
+    also as a state dear to those who love our divine Redeemer, who was
+    born, lived, and died, in extreme poverty. Few persons ever appeared
+    to be more perfectly dead to the world than this holy man. A certain
+    nobleman, who was showing him his curious gardens, canals, and
+    buildings, expressed his surprise to see that no beauties and
+    wonders of art and nature could fix his attention or raise his
+    curiosity. The holy man replied, "I trust confess that nothing of
+    this kind gives me any satisfaction because my heart takes no
+    pleasure in them." This holy man was so entirely possessed with God,
+    and filled with the love of invisible things, as to loathe all
+    earthly things, which seemed not to have a direct and immediate
+    tendency to them. He preached at Seville, Cordova, Granada, Baeza,
+    and over the whole country of Andalusia. By his discourses and
+    instructions, St. John of God, St. Francis of Borgia, St. Teresa,
+    Lewis of Granada, and many others, were moved, and assisted to lay
+    the deep foundation of perfect virtue to which the divine grace
+    raised them. Many noblemen and ladies were directed by him in the
+    paths of Christian perfection, particularly the Countess of Feria
+    and the Marchioness of Pliego, whose conduct, first in a married
+    state, and afterwards in holy widowhood, affords most edifying
+    instances of heroic practices and sentiments of all virtues. This
+    great servant of God taught souls to renounce and cast away that
+    false liberty by which they are the worst of slaves under the
+    tyranny of their passions, and to take up the sweet chains of the
+    divine love which gives men a true sovereignty, not only over all
+    other created things, but also over themselves. He lays down in his
+    works the rules by which he conducted so many to perfect virtue,
+    teaching us that we must learn to know both God and ourselves, not
+    by the lying glass of self-love, but by the clear beam of truth:
+    ourselves, that we may see the depth of our miseries, and fly with
+    all our might from the cause thereof, which is our pride, and other
+    sins: God, that we may always tremble before his infinite majesty,
+    may believe his unerring truth, may hope for a share in his
+    inexhausted mercy, and may vehemently love that incomprehensible
+    abyss of goodness and charity. These lessons he lays down with
+    particular advice how to subside our passions. In his treatise on
+    the Audi filia, or on those words of the Holy Ghost, Psa. xliv,
+    _Hear me, daughter, bend thine ear, forget thy house,_ &c. The
+    occasion upon which he composed this book was as follows: Donna
+    Soncha Carilla, daughter of Don Lewis Fernandez of Cordoba, lord of
+    Guadalcazar, a young lady of great beauty and accomplishments, was
+    called to court to serve in quality of lady of honor to the queen.
+    Her father furnished her with an equipage, and every thing suitable;
+    but before her journey, she went to cast herself at the feet of
+    Avila, and make her confession. She afterwards said he reproved her
+    sharply for coming to the sacred tribunal of penance too richly
+    attired, and in a manner not becoming a penitent whose heart was
+    broken with compunction. What else passed in their conference is
+    unknown; but coming from the church, she begged to be excused from
+    going to court, laid aside all sumptuous attire, and gave herself up
+    entirely to recollection and penance. Thus she led a retired most
+    holy life in her father's house till she died, most happily, about
+    ten years after. Her pious director wrote this book for her
+    instruction in the practice of an interior life, teaching her how
+    she ought to subdue her passions, and vanquish temptations,
+    especially that of pride; also by what means she was to labor to
+    obtain the love of God, and all virtues. He dwells at length on
+    assiduous meditation, on the passion of Christ, especially on the
+    excess of love with which he suffered so much for us. His other
+    works, and all the writers who speak of this holy man, bear
+    testimony to his extraordinary devotion towards the passion of
+    Christ. From this divine book he learned the perfect spirit of all
+    virtues, especially a desire of suffering with him and for him. Upon
+    this motive he exhorts us to give God many thanks when he sends us
+    an opportunity of enduring some little, that by our good use of this
+    little trial, our Lord nay be moved to give us strength to suffer
+    more, and may send us more to undergo. Envy raising him enemies, he
+    was accused of shutting heaven to the rich, and upon that senseless
+    slander thrown into the prison of the inquisition at Seville. This
+    sensible disgrace and persecution he bore with incredible sweetness
+    and patience, and after he was acquitted, returned only kindnesses
+    to his calumniators. In the fiftieth year of his age he began to be
+    afflicted with the stone, frequent fevers, and a complication of
+    other painful disorders: under the sharpest pains he used often to
+    repeat this prayer, "Lord. increase my sufferings, but give me also
+    patience." Once, in a fit of exquisite pain, he begged our Redeemer
+    to assuage it: and that instant he found it totally removed, and he
+    fell into a gentle slumber. He afterwards reproached himself as
+    guilty of pusillanimity. It is not to be expressed how much he
+    suffered from sickness during the seventeen last years of his life.
+    He died with great tranquillity and devotion, on the 10th of May,
+    1569. The venerable John of Avila was a man powerful in words and
+    works, a prodigy of penance, the glory of the priesthood, the
+    edification of the church by his virtues, its support by his zeal,
+    its oracle by his doctrine. A profound and universal genius, a
+    prudent and upright director, a celebrated preacher, the apostle of
+    Andalusia, a man revered by all Spain, known to the whole Christian
+    world. A man of such sanctity and authority, that princes adopted
+    his decisions, the learned were improved by his enlightened
+    knowledge, and St. Teresa regarded him as her patron and protector,
+    consulted him as her master, and followed him as her guide and
+    model. See the edifying life of the venerable John of Avila, written
+    by F. Lewis of Granada; also by Lewis Munnoz: and the abstract
+    prefixed by Arnauld d' Andilly to the French edition of his works in
+    folio, at Paris, in 1673.
+
+ST. FELIX, B.C.
+
+HE was a holy Burgundian priest, who converted and baptized Sigebert,
+prince of the East-Angles, during his exile in France, whither he was
+forced to retire, to secure himself from the insidious practices of his
+relations. Sigebert being called home to the crown of his ancestors,
+invited out of France his spiritual father St. Felix, to assist him in
+bringing over his idolatrous subjects to the Christian faith: these were
+the inhabitants of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. Our saint being
+ordained bishop by Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, and deputed by
+him to preach to the East-Angles, was surprisingly successful in his
+undertaking, and made almost a thorough conversion of that country. The
+most learned and most Christian king, Sigebert, as he is styled by Bede,
+concurred with him in all things, and founded churches, monasteries, and
+schools. From those words of Bede, that "he set up a school for youth,
+in which Felix furnished him with masters," some have called him the
+founder of the university of Cambridge. St. Felix established schools at
+Felixstow; Cressy adds at Flixton or Felixton. King Sigebert, after two
+years, resigned his crown to Egric, his cousin, and became a monk at
+Cnobersburgh, now Burgh-castle, in Suffolk, which monastery he had
+founded for St. Fursey. Four years after this, the people dragged him
+out of his retirement by main force, and conveyed him into the army, to
+defend them against the cruel king Penda, who had made war upon the
+East-Angles. He refused to bear arms, as inconsistent with the monastic
+profession; and would have nothing but a wand in his hand. Being slain
+with Egric in 642, he was honored as a martyr in the English calendars,
+on the 27th of September, and in the Gallican on the 7th of August.
+Egric was succeeded by the good king Annas, the father of many saints;
+as, SS. Erconwald, bishop; Ethelrede, Sexburge, Ethelburge, and
+Edilburge, abbesses; and Withburge. He was slain fighting against the
+pagans, after a reign of nineteen years, and buried at Blitheburg: his
+remains were afterwards removed to St. Edmond's-bury. St. Felix
+established his see at Dumraoc, now Dunwich, in Suffolk, and governed it
+seventeen years, dying in {548} 646. He was buried at Dunwich; but his
+relics were translated to the abbey of Ramsey, under king Canutus. See
+Bede, l. 2, Malmesbury; Wharton, t. 1, p. 403.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Dunwich was formerly a large city, with fifty-two religious houses
+    in it, but was gradually swallowed up by the sea. The remains of the
+    steeples are still discoverable, under water, about five miles from
+    the shore. See Mr. Gardiner's History and Antiquities of Dunwich.
+    4to. in 1754.
+
+SS. APOLLONIUS, PHILEMON, &c., MARTYRS.
+
+APOLLONIUS was a zealous holy anchoret, and was apprehended by the
+persecutors at Antinous in Egypt. Many heathens came to insult and
+affront him while in chains; and among others one Philemon, a musician,
+very famous, and much admired by the people. He treated the martyr as an
+impious person and a seducer, and one that deserved the public hatred.
+To his injuries the saint only answered, "My son, may God have mercy on
+thee, and not lay these reproaches to thy charge." This his meekness
+wrought so powerfully on Philemon, that he forthwith confessed himself a
+Christian. Both were brought before the judge whom Metaphrastes and
+Usuard call Arian, and who had already put to death SS. Asclas, Timothy,
+Paphnutius, and several other martyrs: after making them suffer all
+manner of tortures, he condemned them to be burnt alive. When the fire
+was kindled about them, Apollonius prayed: "Lord, deliver not to beasts
+the souls who confess thee; but manifest thy power." At that instant a
+cloud of dew encompassed the martyrs, and put out the fire. The judge
+and people cried out at this miracle: "The God of the Christians is the
+great and only God." The prefect of Egypt being informed of it, caused
+the judge and the two confessors to be brought, loaded with irons, to
+Alexandria. During the journey, Apollonius, by his instructions,
+prevailed so far upon those who conducted him, that they presented
+themselves also to the judge with their prisoners, and confessed
+themselves likewise to be Christians. The prefect, finding their
+constancy invincible, caused them all to be thrown into the sea, about
+the year 311. Their bodies were afterwards found on the shore, and were
+all put into one sepulchre. "By whom," says Rufinus, "many miracles are
+wrought to the present time, and the vows and prayers of all are
+received, and are accomplished. Hither the Lord was pleased to bring me,
+and to fulfil my requests." See Rufinus, Vit. Patr l. 2, c. 19, p. 477.
+Palladius Lausiac. c. 65, 66.
+
+ST. JULIAN, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO, C.
+
+HE presided in the fourteenth and fifteenth councils of Toledo. King
+Wemba, falling sick, received penance and the monastic habit from his
+hands, and recovering, lived afterwards a monk. St. Julian has left us a
+History of the Wars of king Wemba, a book against the Jews, and three
+books On Prognostics, or on death, and the state of souls after death.
+He teaches that love, and a desire of being united to God, ought to
+extinguish in us the natural fear of death: that the saints in heaven
+pray for us, earnestly desire our happiness, and know our actions,
+either in God whom they behold, and in whom they discover all truth
+which it concerns them to know; or by the angels, the messengers of God
+on earth: but that the damned do not ordinarily know what passes on
+earth, because they neither see God nor converse with our angels. He
+says that prayers for the dead are thanksgivings for the good, a
+propitiation for the souls in purgatory, but {549} no relief to the
+damned. He was raised to the see of Toledo in 680, and died in 690. See
+Ildefonse of Toledo, Append. Hom. Illustr.
+
+ST. DUTHAK, BISHOP OF ROSS, IN SCOTLAND, C
+
+HIS zeal and labors in preaching the word of God, his contempt of
+himself, his compassion for the poor and for sinners, his extreme love
+of poverty, never reserving any thing for himself, and the extraordinary
+austerity of his life, to which he had inured himself from his
+childhood, are much extolled by the author of his life. The same writer
+assures us, that he was famous for several miracles and predictions, and
+that he foretold an invasion of the Danes, which happened ten years
+after his death, in 1263, in the reign of Alexander III., when, with
+their king Achol, they were defeated by Alexander Stuart,
+great-grandfather to Robert, the first king of that family. This victory
+was ascribed to the intercession of St. Andrew and St. Duthak. Our
+saint, after longing desires of being united to God, passed joyfully to
+bliss, in 1253. His relics, kept in the collegiate church of Thane, in
+the county of Ross, were resorted to by pilgrims from all parts of
+Scotland. Lesley, the pious bishop of Ross, (who, after remaining four
+years in prison with queen Mary, passed into France, was chosen
+suffragan of Rouen, by cardinal Bourbon, and died at Brussels, in 1591,)
+had an extraordinary devotion to this saint, the chief patron of his
+diocese. See Lesley, Descript. Scot. p. 27, and the MS. life of St.
+Duthak, compiled by a Scottish Jesuit, nephew by the mother to bishop
+Lesley, and native of that diocese. See also King in Calend.
+
+ST. ROSA, OF VITERBO, VIRGIN.
+
+FROM her childhood she addicted herself entirely to the practice of
+mortification and assiduous prayer; she was favored with the gift of
+miracles, and an extraordinary talent of converting the most hardened
+sinners. She professed the third rule of St. Francis, living always in
+the house of her father in Viterbo, where she died in 1261. See Wading's
+Annals, and Barbaza, Vies des SS. du Tiers Ordre, t. 2, p. 77.
+
+ST. SENAN, B.C.
+
+HE was born in the country of Hy-Conalls, in Ireland, in the latter part
+of the fifth century, was a disciple of the abbots Cassidus and Natal,
+or Naal: then travelled for spiritual improvement to Rome, and thence
+into Britain. In this kingdom he contracted a close friendship with St.
+David. After his return he founded many churches in Ireland, and a great
+monastery in Inis-Cathaig, an island lying at the mouth of the river
+Shannon, which he governed, and in which he continued to reside after he
+was advanced to the episcopal dignity. The abbots, his successors for
+several centuries, were all bishops, till this great diocese was divided
+into three, namely, of Limerick, Killaloe, and Ardfert. St. Senan died
+on the same day and year with St. David; but was honored in the Irish
+church on the 8th of March. A town in Cornwall bears the name of St.
+Senan. See his acts in Colgan, p. 602.
+
+{550}
+
+ST. PSALMOD, OR SAUMAY, ANCRORET.
+
+HE was born in Ireland, and, retiring into France, led an eremitical
+life at Limousin, where he acquired great reputation for his sanctity
+and miracles. He died about 589. See the Martyrology of Evreux.
+
+
+MARCH IX.
+
+ST. FRANCES, WIDOW, FOUNDRESS OF THE COLLATINES.
+
+Abridged from her life by her confessor Canon. Mattiotti; and that by
+Magdalen Dell'A{}ara, superioress of the Oblates, or Coliatines. Helyot,
+Hist. des Ordr. Mon. t. 6, p. 208.
+
+A.D. 1440.
+
+ST. FRANCES was born at Rome in 1384. Her parents, Paul de Buxo and
+Jacobella Rofredeschi, were both of illustrious families. She imbibed
+early sentiments of piety, and such was her love of purity from her
+tender age, that she would not suffer her own father to touch even her
+hands, unless covered. She had always an aversion to the amusements of
+children, and loved solitude and prayer. At eleven years of age she
+desired to enter a monastery, but, in obedience to her parents, was
+married to a rich young Roman nobleman, named Laurence Ponzani, in 1396.
+A grievous sickness showed how disagreeable this kind of life was to her
+inclinations. She joined with it her former spirit; kept herself as
+retired as she could, shunning feastings and public meetings. All her
+delight was in prayer, meditation, and visiting churches. Above all, her
+obedience and condescension to her husband was inimitable, which engaged
+such a return of affection, that for forty years which they lived
+together, there never happened the least disagreement; and their whole
+life was a constant strife and emulation to prevent each other in mutual
+complaisance and respect. While she was at her prayers or other
+exercises, if called away by her husband, or the meanest person of her
+family, she laid all aside to obey without delay, saying: "A married
+woman must, when called upon, quit her devotions to God at the altar, to
+find him in her household affairs." God was pleased to show her the
+merit of this her obedience; for the authors of her life relate, that
+being called away four times in beginning the same verse of a psalm in
+our Lady's office, returning the fifth time, she found that verse
+written in golden letters. She treated her domestics not as servants,
+but as brothers and sisters, and future co-heirs in heaven; and studied
+by all means in her power to induce them seriously to labor for their
+salvation. Her mortifications were extraordinary, especially when, some
+years before her husband's death, she was permitted by him to inflict on
+her body what hardships she pleased. She from that time abstained from
+wine, fish, and dainty meats, with a total abstinence from flesh, unless
+in her greatest sicknesses. Her ordinary diet was hard and mouldy bread.
+She would procure secretly, out of the pouches of the beggars, their dry
+crusts in exchange for better bread. When she {551} fared the best, she
+only added to bread a few unsavory herbs without oil, and drank nothing
+but water, making use of a human skull for her cup. She ate but once a
+day, and by long abstinence had lost all relish of what she took. Her
+garments were of coarse serge, and she never wore linen, not even in
+sickness. Her discipline was armed with rowels and sharp points. She
+wore continually a hair shirt, and a girdle of horse-hair. An iron
+girdle had so galled her flesh, that her confessor obliged her to lay it
+aside. If she inadvertently chanced to offend God in the least, she
+severely that instant punished the part that had offended; as the
+tongue, by sharply biting it, &c. Her example was of such edification,
+that many Roman ladies having renounced a life of idleness, pomp, and
+softness, joined her in pious exercises, and put themselves under the
+direction of the Benedictin monks of the congregation of Monte-Oliveto,
+without leaving the world, making vows, or wearing any particular habit.
+St. Frances prayed only for children that they might be citizens of
+heaven, and when she was blessed with them, it was her whole care to
+make them saints.
+
+It pleased God, for her sanctification, to make trial of her virtue by
+many afflictions. During the troubles which ensued upon the invasion of
+Rome by Ladislas, king of Naples, and the great schism under pope John
+XXIII. at the time of opening the council of Constance, in 1413, her
+husband, with his brother-in-law Paulucci, was banished Rome, his estate
+confiscated, his house pulled down, and his eldest son, John Baptist,
+detained a hostage. Her soul remained calm amidst all those storms: she
+said with Job: "_God hath given, and God hath taken away._ I rejoice in
+these losses, because they are God's will. Whatever he sends I shall
+continually bless and praise his name for." The schism being
+extinguished by the council of Constance, and tranquillity restored at
+Rome, her husband recovered his dignity and estate. Some time after,
+moved by the great favors St. Frances received from heaven, and by her
+eminent virtue, he gave her full leave to live as she pleased; and he
+himself chose to serve God in a state of continency. He permitted her in
+his own life-time to found a monastery of nuns, called Oblates, for the
+reception of such of her own sex as were disposed to embrace a religious
+life. The foundation of this house was in 1425. She gave them the rule
+of St. Benedict, adding some particular constitutions of her own, and
+put them under the direction of the congregation of the Olivetans. The
+house being too small for the numbers that fled to this sanctuary from
+the corruption of the world, she would gladly have removed her community
+to a larger house; but not finding one suitable, she enlarged it, in
+1433, from which year the founding of the Order is dated. It was
+approved by pope Eugenius IV. in 1437. They are called Collatines,
+perhaps from the quarter of Rome in which they are situated; and
+Oblates, because they call their profession an oblation, and use in it
+the word offero, not profiteer. St. Frances could not yet join her new
+family; but as soon as she had settled her domestic affairs, after the
+death of her husband, she went barefoot, with a cord about her neck, to
+the monastery which she had founded, and there, prostrate on the ground,
+before the religious, her spiritual children, begged to be admitted. She
+accordingly took the habit on St. Benedict's day, in 1437. She always
+sought the meanest employments in the house, being fully persuaded she
+was of all the most contemptible before God; and she labored to appear
+as mean in the eyes of the world as she was in her own. She continued
+the same humiliations, and the same universal poverty, though soon after
+chosen superioress of her congregation. Almighty God bestowed on her
+humility, extraordinary graces, and supernatural favors, as frequent
+visions, raptures, and the gift of prophecy. She enjoyed the familiar
+conversation of her angel-guardian, as her life and the process of her
+canonization {552} attest. She was extremely affected by meditating on
+our Saviour's passion, which she had always present to her mind. At mass
+she was so absorbed in God as to seem immoveable, especially after holy
+communion: she often fell into ecstasies of love and devotion. She was
+particularly devout to St. John the Evangelist, and above all to our
+Lady, under whose singular protection she put her Order. Going out to
+see her son John Baptist, who was dangerously sick, she fell so ill
+herself that she could not return to her monastery at night. After
+having foretold her death, and received the sacraments, she expired on
+the 9th of March, in the year 1440, and of her age the fifty-sixth. God
+attested her sanctity by miracles: she was honored among the saints
+immediately after her death, and solemnly canonized by Paul V. in 1608.
+Her shrine in Rome is most magnificent and rich: and her festival is
+kept as a holyday in the city, with great solemnity. The Oblates make no
+solemn vows, only a promise of obedience to the mother-president, enjoy
+pensions, inherit estates, and go abroad with leave. Their abbey in Rome
+is filled with ladies of the first rank.
+
+In a religious life, in which a regular distribution of holy employments
+and duties takes up the whole day, and leaves no interstices of time for
+idleness, sloth, or the world, hours pass in these exercises with the
+rapidity of moments, and moments by fervor of the desires bear the value
+of years. There is not an instant in which a soul is not employed for
+God, and studies not with her whole heart to please him. Every step,
+every thought and desire, is a sacrifice of fidelity, obedience, and
+love offered to him. Even meals, recreation, and rest, are sanctified by
+this intention; and from the religious vows and habitual purpose of the
+soul of consecrating herself entirely to God in time and eternity, every
+action, as St. Thomas teaches, renews and contains the fervor and merit
+of this entire consecration, of which it is a part. In a secular life, a
+person by regularity in the employment of his time, and fervor in
+devoting himself to God in all his actions and designs, may in some
+degree enjoy the same happiness and advantage. This St. Frances
+perfectly practised, even before she renounced the world. She lived
+forty years with her husband without ever giving him the least occasion
+of offence; and by the fervor with which she conversed of heaven, she
+seemed already to have quitted the earth, and to have made paradise her
+ordinary dwelling.
+
+ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA, B.C.
+
+HE was younger brother to St. Basil the Great; was educated in polite
+and sacred studies, and married to a virtuous lady. He afterwards
+renounced the world, and was ordained lector; but was overcome by his
+violent passion for eloquence to teach rhetoric. St. Gregory Nazianzen
+wrote to him in the strongest terms, exhorting him to renounce that
+paltry or ignoble glory, as he elegantly calls it.[1] This letter
+produced its desired effect. St. Gregory returned to the sacred ministry
+in the lower functions of the altar: after some time he was called by
+his brother Basil to assist him in his pastoral duties, and in 372 was
+chosen bishop of Nyssa, a city of Cappadocia, near the Lesser Armenia.
+The Arians, who trembled at his name, prevailed with Demosthenes, vicar
+or deputy-governor of the province, to banish him. Upon the death of the
+Arian emperor, Valens, in 378, St. Gregory was restored to his see by
+the emperor Gratian. Our holy prelate was chosen by his colleagues to
+redress the abuses and dissensions which heresy had introduced {553} in
+Arabia and Palestine. He assisted at the council of Constantinople in
+381, and was always regarded as the centre of the Catholic communion in
+the East. Those prelates only who joined themselves to him, were looked
+upon as orthodox. He died about the year 400, probably on the 10th of
+January, on which the Greeks have always kept his festival: the Latins
+honor his memory on the 9th of March. The high reputation of his
+learning and virtue procured him the title of Father of the Fathers, as
+the seventh general council testifies. His sermons are the monuments of
+his piety; but his great penetration and learning appear more in his
+polemic works, especially in his twelve books against Eunomius. See his
+life collected from his works, St. Greg. Nazianzen, Socrates, and
+Theodoret, by Hermant, Tillemont, t. 9, p. 561; Ceillier, t. 8, p. 200.
+Dr. Cave imagines, that St. Gregory continued to cohabit with his wife
+after he was bishop. But St. Jerom testifies that the custom of the
+eastern churches did not suffer such a thing. She seems to have lived to
+see him bishop, and to have died about the year 384; but she professed a
+state of continency: hence St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his short eulogium
+of her, says, she rivalled her brothers-in-law who were in the
+priesthood, and calls her sacred, or one consecrated to God; probably
+she was a deaconess.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  [Greek: {apstzên eaostzian}], Naz. {}.
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+ON
+
+THE WRITINGS OF ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA.
+
+ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA wrote many learned works extant in three volumes in
+folio, published by the learned Jesuit, Fronto le Duc, at Paris, an.
+1615 and 1638. They are eternal monuments of this father's great zeal,
+piety, and eloquence. Photius commends his diction, as surpassing that
+of all other rhetoricians, in perspicuity, elegance, and a pleasing turn
+of expression, and says, that in the beauty and sweetness of his
+eloquence, and the copiousness of his arguments in his polemic works
+against Eunomius, he far outwent the rest who handled the same subjects.
+He wrote many commentaries on holy scripture. The first is his
+Hexæmeron, or book on the six days' work of the creation of the world.
+It is a supplement to his brother Basil's work on the same subject, who
+had omitted the obscurer questions, above the reach of the vulgar, to
+whom he preached. Gregory filled up that deficiency, at the request of
+many learned men, with an accuracy that became the brother of the great
+Basil. He shows in this work a great knowledge of philosophy. He
+finishes it by saying, The widow that offered her two mites did not
+hinder the magnificent presents of the rich, nor did they who offered
+skins, wood, and goats' hair towards the tabernacle, hinder those who
+could give gold, silver, and precious stones. "I shall be happy," says
+he, "if I can present hairs; and shall rejoice to see others add
+ornaments of purple, or gold tissue." His book, On the Workmanship of
+Man, may be looked upon as a continuation of the former, though it was
+written first. He shows it was suitable that man, being made to command
+in quality of king all this lower creation, should find his palace
+already adorned, and that other things should be created before he
+appeared who was to be the spectator of the miracles of the Omnipotent.
+His frame is so admirable, his nature so excellent, that the whole
+Blessed Trinity proceeds as it were by a council, to his formation. He
+is a king, by his superiority and command over all other creatures by
+his gift of reason; is part spiritual, by which he can unite himself to
+God; part material, by which he has it in his power to use and even
+enslave himself to creatures. Virtue is his purple garment, immortality
+his sceptre, and eternal glory his crown. His resemblance to his Creator
+consist in the soul only, that is, in its moral virtues and God's grace;
+which divine resemblance men most basely efface in themselves by sin. He
+speaks of the dignity and spiritual nature of the soul, and the future
+resurrection of the body, and concludes with an anatomical description
+of it, which shows him to have been well skilled in medicine, and in
+that branch of natural philosophy, for that age. The two homilies on the
+words, _Let us make man_, are falsely ascribed to him. When {554}
+desired by one Cæsarius to prescribe him rules of a perfect virtue, he
+did this by his Life of Moses, the pattern of virtue. He closes it with
+this lesson, that perfection consists not in avoiding sin for fear of
+torments, as slaves do, nor for the hope of recompense, as mercenaries
+do; but in "fearing, as the only thing to be dreaded, to lose the
+friendship of God; and in having only one desire, viz., of God's
+friendship, in which alone man's spiritual life consists. This is to be
+obtained by fixing the mind only on divine and heavenly things." We have
+next his two treatises, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, and An
+Exposition of the sixth Psalm, full of allegorical and moral
+instructions. In the first of these, extolling the divine sentiments and
+instructions of those holy prayers, he says, that all Christians learned
+them, and thought that time lost in which they had them not in their
+mouths: even little children and old men sung them; all in affliction
+found them their comfort sent by God those who travelled by land or sea,
+those who were employed in sedentary trades; and the faithful of all
+ages, sexes, and conditions, sick and well, made the Psalms their
+occupation. These divine canticles were sung by them in all times of
+joy, in marriages and festivals; by day, and in the night vigils, &c.
+His eight homilies, On the three first Chapters of Ecclesiastes, are an
+excellent moral instruction and literal explication of that book. He
+addressed his fifteen homilies, On the Book of Canticles, which he had
+preached to his flock, to Olympias, a lady of Constantinople, who, after
+twenty months' marriage, being left a widow, distributed a great estate
+to the church and poor, a great part by the hands of our saint, whom she
+had settled an acquaintance with in a journey he had made to the
+imperial city. St. Gregory extols the excellency of that divine book,
+not to be read but by pure hearts, disengaged from all love of
+creatures, and free from all corporeal images. He says the Holy Ghost
+instructs us by degrees; by the book of Proverbs to avoid sin; by
+Ecclesiastes to draw our affections from creatures; by this of Canticles
+he teaches perfection, which is pure charity. He explains it mystically.
+He has five orations On the Lord's Prayer. In the first, he elegantly
+shows the universal, indispensable necessity of prayer, which alone
+unites the heart to God, and preserves it from the approach of sin.
+Every breath we draw ought also to be accompanied with thanksgiving, as
+it brings us innumerable benefits from God, which we ought continually
+to acknowledge. But we must only pray for spiritual, not temporal
+things. In the second, he shows that none can justly call God Father,
+who remain in sin, without desires of repentance, and who consequently
+bear the ensigns of the devil. Resemblance with God is the mark of being
+his son; that title further obliges us to have our minds and hearts
+always in heaven. By the next we pray that God alone may reign in us,
+and his will be ever done by us; and that the devil or self-love never
+have any share in our hearts or actions. By the fourth we ask bread,
+_i.e._, absolute necessaries, not dainties, not riches, or any thing
+superfluous, or for the world, and even bread only for today, without
+solicitude for to-morrow, which perhaps will never come: all irregular
+desires and all occasions of them must be excluded. "The serpent is
+watching at your heel, but do you watch his head: give him no admittance
+into your mind: from the least entrance he will draw in after him the
+foldings of his whole body. If Eve's counsellor persuades you that any
+thing looks beautiful and tastes sweet, if you listen you are soon drawn
+into gluttony, and lust, and avarice, &c." The fifth petition he thus
+paraphrases, "I have forgiven my debtors, do not reject your suppliant.
+I dismissed my debtor cheerful and free. I am your debtor, send me not
+away sorrowful. May my dispositions, my sentence prevail with you. I
+have pardoned, pardon: I have showed compassion, imitate your servant's
+mercy. My offences are indeed far more grievous; but consider how much
+you excel in all good. It is just that you manifest to sinners a mercy
+suiting your infinite greatness. I have given proof of mercy in little
+things, according to the capacity of my nature; but your bounty is not
+to be confined by the narrowness of my power, &c." His eight sermons, On
+the Eight Beatitudes, are written in the same style. What he says in
+them on the motives of humility, which he thinks is meant by the first
+beatitude, of poverty of spirit, and on meekness, proves how much his
+heart was filled with those divine virtues.
+
+Besides what we have of St. Gregory on the holy scripture, time has
+preserved us many other works of piety of this father. His discourse
+entitled, On his Ordination, ought to be called, On the Dedication. It
+was spoken by him in the consecration of a magnificent church, built by
+Rufin, (præfect of the prætorium,) ann. 394, at the Borough of the Oak,
+near Chalcedon. His sermon, On loving the Poor, is a pathetic
+exhortation to alms, from the last sentence on the wicked for a neglect
+of that duty. "At which threat," he says, "I am most vehemently
+terrified, and disturbed in mind." He excites to compassion for the
+lepers in particular, who, under their miseries, are our brethren, and
+it is only God's favor that has preserved us sound rather than them; and
+who knows what we ourselves may become? His dialogue Against Fate was a
+disputation with a heathen philosopher, who maintained a destiny or
+overruling fate in all things. His canonical epistle to Letoius, bishop
+of Melitine, metropolis of Armenia, has a place among the canons of
+penance in the Greek church, published by Beveridge. He condemns
+apostacy to perpetual penance, deprived of the sacraments till the
+article of death: if only extorted by torments, for nine years; the same
+law for witchcraft; nine years for simple fornication; eighteen for
+adultery; twenty-seven for {555} murder, or for rapine. But he permits
+the terms to be abridged in cases of extraordinary fervor. Simple theft
+he orders to be expiated by the sinner giving all his substance to the
+poor; if he has none, to work to relieve them.
+
+His discourse against those who defer baptism, is an invitation to
+sinners to penance, and chiefly of catechumens to baptism, death being
+always uncertain. He is surprised to see an earthquake or pestilence
+drive all to penance and to the font: though an apoplexy or other sudden
+death may as easily surprise men any night of their lives. He relates
+this frightful example. When the Nomades Scythians plundered those
+parts, Archias, a young nobleman of Comanes, whom he knew very well, and
+who deferred his baptism, fell into their hands, and was shot to death
+by their arrows, crying out lamentably, "Mountains and woods, baptize
+me; trees and rocks, give me the grace of the sacrament." Which
+miserable death more afflicted the city than all the rest of the war.
+His sermons, Against Fornication, On Penance, On Alms, On Pentecost, are
+in the same style. In that against Usurers, he exerts a more than
+ordinary zeal, and tells them: "Love the poor. In his necessity he has
+recourse to you to assist his misery, but by lending him on usury you
+increase it; you sow new miseries on his sorrows, and add to his
+afflictions. In appearance you do him a pleasure, but in reality ruin
+him, like one who, overeome by a sick man's importunities, gives him
+wine, a present satisfaction, but a real poison. Usury gives no relief,
+but makes your neighbor's want greater than it was. The usurer is no way
+profitable to the republic, neither by tilling the ground, by trade,
+&c.; yet idle at home, would have all to produce to him; hates all he
+gains not by. But though you were to give alms of these unjust
+exactions, they would carry along with them the tears of others robbed
+by them. The beggar that receives, did he know it, would refuse to be
+fed with the flesh and blood of a brother; with bread extorted by
+rapine, from other poor. Give it back to him from whom you unjustly took
+it. But to hide their malice, they change the name usury into milder
+words, calling it interest or moderate profit, like the heathens, who
+called their furies by the soft name Eumenides." He relates that a rich
+usurer of Nyssa, so covetous as to deny himself and children
+necessaries, and not to use the bath to save three farthings, dying
+suddenly, left his money all hid and buried where his children could
+never find it, who by that means were all reduced to beggary. "The
+usurers answer me," says he, "then we will not lend; and what will the
+poor do? I bid them give, and exhort to lend, but without interest; for
+he that refuses to lend, and he that lends at usury, are equally
+criminal;" viz. if the necessity of another be extreme. His sermon On
+the Lent Fast displays the advantage of fasting for the health of both
+body and soul; he demands these forty days' strenuous labor to cure all
+their vices, and insists on total abstinence from wine at large, and
+that weakness of constitution and health is ordinarily a vain pretence.
+Saint Gregory's great Catechistical Discourse is commended by Theodoret,
+(dial. 2 & 3;) Leontius, (b. 3;) Enthymius, (Panopl. p. 215;) Germanus,
+patr. of Constantinople, (in Photius, cod. 233, &c.) The last lines are
+an addition. In the fortieth chapter he expounds to the catechumens the
+mysteries of the Unity and Trinity of God, and the Incarnation: also the
+two sacraments of baptism and the body of Christ, in which latter
+Christ's real body is mixed with our corruptible bodies, to bestow on us
+immortality and grace.
+
+In his book upon Virginity he extols its merit and dignity.
+
+St. Gregory was much scandalized in his journey to Jerusalem to see
+contentions reign in that holy place; yet he had the comfort to find
+there several persons of great virtue, especially three very devout
+ladies, to whom he afterwards wrote a letter, in which he says, (t. 3,
+pp. 655, 656:) "When I saw those holy places, I was filled with a joy
+and pleasure which no tongue can express." Soon after his return, he
+wrote a short treatise on those who go to Jerusalem, (t. 3. app. p. 72,)
+in which he condemns pilgrimages, when made an occasion of sloth,
+dissipation of mind, and other dangers; and observes that they are no
+part of the gospel precepts. Dr. Cave (p. 44) borrows the sophistry of
+Du Moulin to employ this piece against the practice of pilgrimages; but
+in part very unjustly, as Gretser (not. in Notas Molinei) demonstrates.
+Some set too great a value on pilgrimages, and made them an essential
+part of perfection: and by them even many monks and nuns exchanged their
+solitude into a vagabond life. These abuses St. Gregory justly reproves.
+What he says, that he himself received no good by visiting the holy
+places, must be understood to be a Miosis, or extenuation to check the
+monks' too ardent passion for pilgrimages, and only means, the presence
+of those holy places, barely of itself, contributes nothing to a man's
+sanctification: but he does not deny it to be profitable by many devout
+persons uniting together in prayer and mortification, and by exciting
+hearts more powerfully to devotion. "Movemur locis ipsis in quibus eorum
+quos admiramur aut diligimus adsunt vestigia," said Atticas in Cicero.
+"Me quidem illæ ipsæ nostræ Athenæ, non tam operibus magnificis
+exquisitisque antiquorum artibus delectant, quam recordatione summorum
+virorum, ubi quis habitare, ubi sedere, ubi disputare sit, solitus,
+studiuseque eorum sepulchra contemplor." Much more must the sight of the
+places of Christ's mysteries stir up our sentiments and love. Why else
+did St. Gregory go over Calvary, Golgotha, Olivet, Bethlehem? What was
+the unspeakable (spiritual, certainly, not corporal) pleasure he was
+filled with at their sight? a real spiritual {556} benefit, and that
+which is sought by true pilgrims. Does he not relate and approve the
+pilgrimages of his friend, the monk Olympius? Nor could he be ignorant
+of the doctrice and practice of the church. He must know in the third
+century that his countryman Alexander, a bishop in Cappadocia,
+admonished by divine oracle, went to Jerusalem to pray, and to visit the
+holy places, &c., as Eusebius relates; (Hist. lib. 6, cap. 11, p. 212,)
+and that this had been always the tradition and practice; "Longum est
+nuns ab ascensu Domini usque ad præsentem diem per singulas ætates
+currere, qui episcoporum, qui martyrum, qui eloquentium in doctrine
+ecclesiastica, virorum venerint Hierosolymam, putantes se minus
+religionis, minus habere scientiæ, nec summam ut dicitur manum accepisse
+virtutum, nisi in illis Christum adorassent locis de quibus primum
+Evangelium de patibulo coruscaverat." St. Jerom, in ep. Paulæ et
+Eustochii ad Marcellam, (T. 4, p. 550, ed. Ben) As for the abuses which
+St. Gregory censures, they are condemned in the canon law, by all
+divines and men of sound judgment. If with Benedict XIV. we grant this
+father reprehended the abuses of pilgrimages, so as to think the
+devotion itself not much to be recommended, this can only regard the
+circumstances of many who abuse them, which all condemn. He could not
+oppose the torrent of other fathers, and the practice of the whole
+church. And his devotion to holy places, relics, &c. is evident in his
+writings, and in the practice of St. Macrina and his whole family.
+
+His discourse On the Resurrection is the dialogue he had with his sister
+St. Macrina the day before her death. His treatise On the Name and
+Profession of a Christian, was written to show no one ought to bear that
+name, who does not practise the rules of this profession, and who has
+not its spirit, without which, a man may perform exterior duties, but
+will upon occasions betray himself, and forget his obligation. When a
+mountebank at Alexandria had taught an ape dressed in woman's clothes to
+dance most ingeniously, the people took it for a woman, till one threw
+some almonds on the stage; for then the beast could no longer contain,
+but tearing off its clothes, went about the stage picking up its dainty
+fruit, and showed itself to be an ape. Occasions of vain-glory,
+ambition, pleasure, &c., are the devil's baits and prove who are
+Christians, and who hypocrites and dissemblers under so great a name,
+whose lives are an injury and blasphemy against Christ and his holy
+religion. His book On Perfection teaches, that that life is most perfect
+which resembles nearest the life of Christ in humility and charity, and
+in dying to all passions and to the love of creatures that in which
+Christ most perfectly lives, and which is his best living image, which
+appears in a man's thoughts, words, and actions; for these show the
+image which is imprinted on the soul. But there is no perfection which
+is not occupied in continually advancing higher. His book On the
+Resolution of Perfection to the monks, shows perfection to consist in
+every action being referred to God, and done perfectly conformable to
+his will in the spirit of Christ. St. Gregory had excommunicated certain
+persons, who instead of repenting, fell to threats and violence. The
+saint made against them his sermon, entitled, Against those who do not
+receive chastisement submissively; in which, after exhorting them to
+submission, he offers himself to suffer torments and death, closing it
+thus: "How can we murmur to suffer, who are the ministers of a God
+crucified? yet under all you inflict, I receive your insolences and
+persecutions as a father and mother do from their dearest children, with
+tenderness." In the discourse On Children dying without Baptism, he
+shows that such can never enjoy God; yet feel not the severe torments of
+the rest of the damned. We have his sermons On Pentecost, Christ's
+Birth, Baptism, Ascension, and On his Resurrection, (but of these last
+only the first, third, and fourth are St. Gregory's) and two On St.
+Stephen, three On the forty Martyrs: the lives of St. Gregory
+Thaumaturgus, St. Theodorus, St. Ephrem, St. Meletius, and his sister,
+St. Macrina: his panegyric on his brother St. Basil the Great, the
+funeral oration of Pulcheria, daughter to the Emperor Theodosius, six
+years old, and that of his mother, the empress Flaccilla, who died soon
+after her at the waters in Thrace. St. Gregory was invited to make these
+two discourses, in 385, when he was at Constantinople. We have only five
+of St. Gregory's letters in his works. Zacagnius has published fourteen
+others out of the Vatican library. Caraccioli of Pisa, in 1731, has
+given us seven more with tedious notes.
+
+Saint Gregory surpasses himself in perspicuity and strength of
+reasoning, in his polemic works against all the chief heretics of his
+time. His twelve books against Eunomius, were ever most justly valued
+above the rest. St. Basil had refuted that heresiarch's apology; nor
+durst he publish any answer till after the death of that eloquent
+champion of the faith. Then the Apology of his Apology began to creep
+privately abroad. St. Gregory got at last a copy, and wrote his twelve
+excellent books, in which he vindicates St. Basil's memory, and gives
+many secret histories of the base Eunomius's life. He proves against him
+the Divinity and Consubstantiality of God the Son. Though he employs the
+scripture with extraordinary sagacity, he says, tradition, by succession
+from the apostles, is alone sufficient to condemn heretics. (Or. 3,
+contra Eunom. p. 123.) We have his treatise To Ablavius, that there are
+not three gods. A treatise On Faith also against the Arians. That On
+Common Notions is an explication of the terms used about the Blessed
+Trinity. We have his Ten Syllogisms against the Manichees, proving that
+evil cannot be a God. The heresy {557} of the Apollinarists beginning to
+be broached, St. Gregory wrote to Theophilus patriarch of Alexandria,
+against them, showing there is but one Person in Christ. But his great
+work against Apollinaris is his Antirretic, quoted by Leontius, the
+sixth general council, &c. Only a fragment was printed in the edition of
+this father's works; but it was published from MSS. by Zacagnius,
+prefect of the Vatican Library, in 1698. He shows in it that the
+Divinity could not suffer, and that there must be two natures in Christ,
+who was perfect God and perfect man. He proves also, against
+Apollinaris, that Christ had a human soul with a human understanding.
+His book of Testimonies against the Jews is another fruit of his zeal.
+
+St. Gregory so clearly establishes the Procession of the Holy Ghost from
+the Son, that some Greeks, obstinate in that heresy, erased out of his
+writings the words _out of_, as they confessed in a council at
+Constantinople, in 1280. He expressly condemned Nestorianism before it
+was broached, and says, "No one dare call the holy Virgin and mother of
+God, mother of man." (Ep. ad Eustath. p. 1093.) He asserts her virginity
+in and after the birth of Christ. (Or. contr. Ennom. p. 108, and Serm.
+in natale Christi, p. 776.) He is no less clear for transubstantiation
+in his great catechistical discourse (c. 37, pp. 534, 535,) for the
+sacrifice and the altar. Or in Bapt. Christi, p. 801. Private confession
+of sins is plain from his epistle to Letoius, (p. 954,) in which he
+writes thus: "Whoever secretly steals another man's goods, if he
+afterwards discovers his sins by declaration to the priest, his heart
+being changed, he will cure his wound, giving what he has to the poor."
+This for occult theft, for which no canonical penance was prescribed. He
+inculcates the authority of priests of binding and loosing before God,
+(Serm. do Castig. 746, 747,) and calls St. Peter "prince of the
+apostolic choir," (Serm. 2, de Sancto Stephano edito a Zacagnio, p.
+339,) and (ib. p. 343,) "the head of the apostles;" and adds, "In
+glorifying him all the members of the church are glorified, and that it
+is founded on him." He writes very expressly and at length on the
+invocation of saints, and says they enjoy the beatific vision
+immediately after death, in his sermons on St. Theodorus, on the Forty
+Martyrs, St. Ephrem, St. Meletius, &c.
+
+ST. PACIAN, BISHOP OF BARCELONA, C.
+
+WAS a great ornament of the church in the fourth century. He was
+illuustrious by birth, and had been engaged in marriage in the world.
+His son Dexter was raised to the first dignities in the empire, being
+high chamberlain to the emperor Theodosius, and præfectus-prætorio under
+Honorius. St. Pacian having renounced the world, was made bishop in 373.
+St. Jerom, who dedicated to him his Catalogue of illustrious men, extols
+his eloquence and learning, and more particularly the chastity and
+sanctity of his life. We have his Exhortation to Penance, and three
+letters to Sympronianus, a Novatian nobleman, on Penance, and on the
+name of Catholic; also a sermon on Baptism. See St. Jerom, Catal. Vir.
+Illust. c. 106, p. 195 t 4: Ceillier, t. 6; Tillem. t. 8.
+
+APPENDIX
+
+ON
+
+THE WRITINGS OF ST. PACIAN OF BARCELONA.
+
+WHEN he was made bishop of Barcelona, in 373, there lived in the
+neighborhood of that city one Sympronian, a man of distinction, whom the
+bishop calls brother and lord, who was a Donatist, and also engaged in
+the heresy of the Novatians, who, following the severity of the
+Montanists, denied penance and pardon for certain sins. He sent St.
+Pacian a letter by a servant, in which he censured the church for
+allowing repentance to all crimes, and for taking the title of Catholic.
+St. Pacian answers him in three learned letters.
+
+In the first he sums up the principal heresies from Simon Magus to the
+Novatians and asks Sympronian, which he will choose to stand by:
+entreats him to examine the true church with docility and candor, laying
+aside all obstinacy, the enemy to truth. He says {558} the name Catholic
+comes from God, and is necessary to distinguish the dove, the undivided
+virgin church, from all sects which are called from their particular
+founders. This name we learned from the holy doctors, confessors, and
+martyrs. "My name," says he, "is Christian, my surname Catholic: the one
+distinguishes me, the other points me out to others." "Christianus mihi
+nomen est; Catholicus veto cognomen: illud me nuncupat, istud ostendit;
+hoc probor, inde significor." He says that no name can be more proper to
+express the church, which is all obedient to Christ, and one and the
+same through the whole world. "As to penance," says he, "God grant it be
+necessary to none of the faithful; that none after baptism fall into the
+pit of death--but accuse not God's mercy, who has provided a remedy even
+for those that are sick. Does the infernal serpent continually carry
+poison, and has not Christ a remedy? Does the devil kill, and cannot
+Christ relieve? Fear sin, but not repentance. Be ashamed to be in
+danger, not to be delivered out of it. Who will snatch a plank from one
+lost by shipwreck? Who will envy the healing of wounds?" He mentions the
+parables of the lost drachma, the lost sheep, the prodigal son, the
+Samaritan, and God's threats, adding: "God would never threaten the
+impenitent, if he refused pardon. But you'll say, only God can do this.
+It is true; but what he does by his priests, is his power. What is that
+he says to his apostles? Whatsoever you shall bind, &c., Mat. xvi. Why
+this, if it was not given to men to bind and to loosen? Is this given
+only to the apostles? Then it is only given to them to baptize, to give
+the Holy Ghost, (in confirmation,) to cleanse the sins of infidels,
+because all this was commanded to no other than to the apostles. If
+therefore the power of baptism and of chrism, (confirmation,) which are
+far greater gifts, descended from the apostles to bishops; the power of
+binding and loosing also came to them." He concludes with these words:
+"I know, brother, this pardon of repentance is not promiscuously to be
+given to all, nor to be granted before the signs of the divine will, or
+perchance the last sickness; with great severity and strict scrutiny,
+after many groans, and shedding of tears; after the prayers of the whole
+church. But pardon is not denied to true repentance, that no one prevent
+or put by the judgment of Christ." St. Pacian answers his reply by a
+second letter, that remedies seem often bitter, and says, "How can you
+be offended at my catalogue of heresies, unless you was a heretic? I
+congratulate with you for agreeing upon our name Catholic, which if you
+denied, the thing itself would cry out against you." St. Pacian denies
+that St. Cyprian's people were ever called Apostatics or Capitoline, or
+by any name but that of Catholics, which the Novatians, with all their
+ambition for it, could never obtain, nor ever be known but by the name
+of Novatians. He says, the emperors persecuted the Novatians of their
+own authority, not at the instigation of the church. "You say I am
+angry," says he, "God forbid. I am like the bee which sometimes defends
+its honey with its sting." He vindicates the martyr St. Cyprian, and
+denies that Novatian ever suffered for the faith; adding, that "if he
+had, he could not have been crowned, because he was out of the church,
+out of which, no one can be a martyr. Etsi occisus, non tamen coronatus:
+quidni? Extra Ecclesiæ pacem, extra concordiam, extra eam matrem cujus
+portio debet esse, qui martyr est. Si charitatem non habeam, nihil sum.
+1 Cor. xiii." In his third letter he confutes the Novatian error: that
+the church could not forgive mortal sin after baptism. "Moses, St. Paul,
+Christ, express tender charity for sinners; who then broached this
+doctrine? Novatian. But when? Immediately from Christ? No; almost three
+hundred years after him: since Decius's reign. Had he any prophets to
+learn it from? any proof of his revelation? had he the gift of tongues?
+did he prophesy? could he raise the dead? for he ought to have some of
+these to introduce a new gospel. Nay, St. Paul (Gal. i.) forbids a
+novelty in faith to be received from an angel. You will say, Let us
+dispute our point. But I am secure; content with the succession and
+tradition of the church, with the communion of the ancient body. I have
+sought no arguments." He assents that the church is holy, and more than
+Sympronian had given it: but says it cannot perish by receiving sinners.
+The good have always lived amidst the wicked. It is the heretic who
+divides it, and tears it, which is Christ's garment, asunder. The church
+is diffused over the whole world, and cannot be reduced to one little
+portion, or as it were chained to a part, as the Novatians, whose
+history he touches upon. Sympronian objected, that Catholic bishops
+remitted sin. St. Pacian answers, "Not I, but only God, who both blots
+out sin in baptism, and does not reject the tears of penitents. What I
+do is not in my own name, but in the Lord's. Wherefore, whether we
+baptize, or draw to penance, or give pardon to penitents, we do it by
+Christ's authority. You must see whether Christ can do it, and did
+it--Baptism is the sacrament of our Lord's passion; the pardon of
+penitents is the merit of confession. All can obtain that, because it is
+the gratuitous gift of God, but this labor is but of a small number who
+rise after a fall, and recover by tears, and by destroying the flesh."
+The saint shows the Novatians encourage sin by throwing men into
+despair; whereas repentance heals and stops it. Christ does not die a
+second time indeed for the pardon of sinners, but he is a powerful
+Advocate interceding still to his Father for sinners. Can he forsake
+those he redeemed at so dear a rate? Can the devil enslave, and Christ
+not absolve his servants? He alleges St. Peter denying Christ after he
+had been baptized, St. {559} Thomas incredulous, even after the
+resurrection; yet pardoned by repentance. He answers his objections from
+scripture, and exhorts him to embrace the Catholic faith; for the true
+church cannot be confined to a few, nor be new. "If she began before
+you, if she believed before you, if she never left her foundation, and
+was never divorced from her body, she must be the spouse; it is the
+great and rich house of all. God did not purchase with his blood so
+small a portion, nor is Christ so poor. The church of God dilates its
+tabernacles from the rising to the setting of the sun."
+
+Next to these three letters we have his excellent Paraenesis, or
+exhortation to penance. In the first part he reduces the sins subjected
+to courses of severe public penance by the canons to three, idolatry,
+murder, and impurity; and shows the enormity of each. In the second he
+addresses himself to those sinners, who out of shame, or for fear of the
+penances to be enjoined, did not confess their crimes. He calls them
+shamefully timorous and bashful to do good, after having been bold and
+impudent to sin, and says, "And you do not tremble to touch the holy
+mysteries, and to thrust your defiled soul into the holy place, in the
+sight of the angels, and before God himself, as if you were innocent."
+He mentions Oza lain for touching the ark, (2 Kings vi.,) and the words
+of the apostle, (1 Cor. xi.,) adding, "Do not you tremble when you hear,
+he shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord? One guilty of the
+blood of a man would not rest, and can he escape who has profaned the
+body of the Lord? What do you do by deceiving the priest, or hiding part
+of your load? I beseech you no longer to cover your wounded conscience.
+Rogo vos etiam pro periculo men, per illum Dominum quem occulta non
+fallunt, desinite vulneratam tegere conscientiam. Men sick are not
+backward to show their sores to physicians, and shall the sinner be
+afraid or ashamed to purchase eternal life by a momentary confusion?
+Will he draw back his wounds from the Lord, who is offering his hand to
+heal them? Peccator timebit? peccator erubeseet perpetuam vitam præsenti
+pudore mercari? et offerenti manus Domino vulnera male tecta subducet?"
+In his third part he speaks to those who confessed their sins entirely,
+but feared the severity of the penance. He compares these to dying men
+who should not have the courage to take a dose which would restore their
+health, and says, "This is to cry out, behold I am sick, I am wounded;
+but I will not he cured." He deplores their delicacy, and proposes to
+them king David's austere penance. He describes thus the life of a
+penitent. "He is to weep in the sight of the church, to go meanly clad,
+to mourn, to fast, to prostrate himself, to renounce the bath, and such
+delights. If invited to a banquet, he is to say, such things are for
+those who have not had the misfortune to have sinned; I have offended
+the Lord, and am in danger of perishing forever: what have I to do with
+feasts? Ista felicibus: ego deliqui in Dominum, et periclitor in æternum
+perire: quo mihi epulas qui Dominum læsi? You must moreover sue for the
+prayers of the poor, of the widows, of the priest, prostrating yourself
+before them, and of the whole church; to do every thing rather than to
+perish. Omnia prius tentare ne pereas." He presses sinners to severe
+penance, for fear of hell, and paints a frightful image of it from the
+fires of Vesuvius and ætna. His treatise or Sermon On Baptism, is an
+instruction on original sin, and the effects of this sacrament, by which
+we are reborn, as by chrism or confirmation we receive the Holy Ghost by
+the hands of the bishop. He adds a moving exhortation that, being
+delivered from sin, and having renounced the devil, we no more return to
+sin; such a relapse after baptism being much worse. "Hold, therefore,
+strenuously," says he, "what you have received, preserve it faithfully;
+sin no more; keep yourselves pure and spotless for the day of out Lord."
+Besides these three books, he wrote one against the play of the stag,
+commended by St. Jerom, but now lost. The heathens had certain infamous
+diversions with a little stag at the beginning of every year, mentioned
+by St. Ambrose, (in Ps. 141,) and by Nilus, (ep. 81.) It seems from the
+sermons, 129, 130, in the appendix to St. Augustine's, (t. 5,) that it
+consisted of masquerades, dressed in the figures of wild beasts. Some
+Christians probably joined in them. St. Pacian's zeal dictated that book
+against it, but the effect it produced at that time, seemed chiefly to
+make many more curious and more eager to see that wicked play, as St.
+Pacian himself says in the beginning of his exhortation to penance. The
+beauty of this holy doctor's writings can only be dis covered by reading
+them. His diction is elegant, his reasoning just and close, and his
+thoughts beautiful: he is full of unction when he exhorts to virtue, and
+of strength when he attacks vice.
+
+ST. CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA, VIRGIN,
+
+ABBESS OF THE POOR CLARES IN THAT CITY.
+
+SHE was born of noble parentage at Bologna, in 1413. Early ardent
+sentiments of piety seemed to have prevented in her the use of reason.
+{560} At twelve years of age she was placed in quality of a young maid
+of honor in the family of the princess Margaret, daughter to Nicholas of
+Est, marquis of Ferrara. Two years after, upon the marriage of that
+princess, she found means to recover her liberty, and entered herself in
+a community of devout ladies of the Third Order of St. Francis, at
+Ferrara, who soon after formed themselves into a regular monastery, and
+adopted the austere rule of St. Clare. A new nunnery of Poor Clares
+being founded at Bologna, St. Catherine was chosen first prioress, and
+sent thither by Leonarda, abbess of the monastery of Corpus Christi, in
+which she had made her religions profession at Ferrara. Catherine's
+incredible zeal and solitude for the souls of sinners made her pour
+forth prayers and tears, almost without intermission, for their
+salvation. She always spoke to God, or of God, and bore the most severe
+interior trials with an heroic patience and cheerfulness. She looked
+upon it as the greatest honor to be in any thing the servant of the
+spouses of Christ, and desired to be despised by all, and to serve all
+in the meanest employments. She was favored with the gifts of miracles
+and prophecy: but said she had been sometimes deceived by the devil. She
+died on the 9th of March, 1453, in the fiftieth year of her age. Her
+body is still entire, and shown in the church of her convent through
+bars and glass, sitting richly covered, but the hands, face, and feet
+naked. It was seen and described by Henschenius, Lassels, and other
+travellers. Her name was inserted in the Roman Martyrology by Clement
+VIII., in 1592. The solemnity of her canonization was performed by
+Clement XI., though the bull was only published by Benedict XIII., in
+1724.[1] A book of her revelations was printed at Bologna, in 1511. She
+also left notes in her prayer-book of certain singular favors which she
+had received from God. These revelations were published and received
+their dress from another hand, which circumstance is often as great a
+disadvantage in such works as if an illiterate and bold transcriber were
+to copy, from a single defective manuscript, Lycophron, or some other
+obscure author, which he did not understand. St. Catherine wrote some
+treatises in Italian, others in Latin, in which language she was well
+skilled. The most famous of her works is the book entitled, On the Seven
+Spiritual Arms. See her life in Bollandus, written by F. Paleotti, fifty
+years after her death.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bullar. Roman. t. 13, p. 87.
+
+
+MARCH X.
+
+THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE.
+
+From St. Basil's Homily on their festival, Hom. 20, t. 1, p. 453, and
+three discourses of St. Gregory of Nyssa, t. 2, p. 203, t. 3, pp. 499,
+504, followed by St. Ephrem. ed. Vatic. Gr. and Let. t. 2, p. 341. St.
+Gaudeatis, St. Chrysostom, quoted by Photius. See Tillemont, t. 5, p.
+518. Ruinart, p. 523. Ceillier, t. 4, l. 62 Jos. Assemani in Cal. Univ.
+ad 11 Martii, t. 6, p. 172.
+
+A.D. 320.
+
+THESE holy martyrs suffered at Sebaste, in the Lesser Armenia, under the
+emperor Licinius, in 320. They were of different countries, but enrolled
+in the same troop; all in the flower of their age, comely, brave, and
+robust, and were become considerable for their services. St. Gregory of
+Nyssa and Procopius say, they were of the thundering legion, so famous
+{561} under Marcus Aurelius for the miraculous rain and victory obtained
+by their prayers. This was the twelfth legion, and then quartered in
+Armenia. Lysias was duke or general of the forces, and Agricola the
+governor of the province. The latter having signified to the army the
+orders of the emperor Licinius, for all to sacrifice, these forty went
+boldly up to him, and said they were Christians, and that no torments
+should make them ever abandon their holy religion. The judge first
+endeavored to gain them by mild usage; as by representing to them the
+dishonor that would attend their refusal to do what was required, and by
+making them large promises of preferment and high favor with the emperor
+in case of compliance. Finding these methods of gentleness ineffectual,
+he had recourse to threats, and these the most terrifying, if they
+continued disobedient to the emperor's order, but all in vain. To his
+promises they answered, that he could give them nothing equal to what he
+would deprive them of: and to his threats, that his power only extended
+over their bodies, which they had learned to despise when heir souls
+were at stake. The governor, finding them all resolute, caused them to
+be torn with whips, and their sides to be rent with iron hooks. After
+which they were loaded with chains, and committed to jail.
+
+After some days, Lysias, their governor, coming from Cæsarea to Sebaste,
+they were re-examined, and no less generously rejected the large
+promises made them than they despised the torments they were threatened
+with. The governor, highly offended at their courage, and that liberty
+of speech with which they accosted him, devised an extraordinary kind of
+death; which being slow and severe, he hoped would shake their
+constancy. The cold in Armenia is very sharp, especially in March, and
+towards the end of winter, when the wind is north, as it than was; it
+being also at that time a severe frost. Under the walls of the town
+stood a pond, which was frozen so hard that it would bear walking upon
+with safety. The judge ordered the saints to be exposed quite naked on
+the ice.[1] And in order to tempt them the more powerfully to renounce
+their faith, a warm bath was prepared at a small distance from the
+frozen pond, for any of this company to go to, who were disposed to
+purchase their temporal ease and safety on that condition. The martyrs,
+on hearing their sentence, ran joyfully to the place, and without
+waiting to be stripped, undressed themselves, encouraging one another in
+the same manner as is usual among soldiers in military expeditions
+attended with hardships and dangers; saying, that one bad night would
+purchase them a happy eternity.[2] They also made this their joint
+prayer: "Lord, we are forty who are engaged in this combat; grant that
+we may be forty crowned, and that not one be wanting to this sacred
+number." The guards in the mean time ceased not to persuade them to
+sacrifice, that by so doing they might be allowed to pass to the warm
+bath. But though it is not easy to form a just idea of the bitter pain
+they must have undergone, of the whole number only one had the
+misfortune to be overcome; who, losing courage, went off from the pond
+to seek the relief in readiness for such as were disposed to renounce
+their faith: but as the devil usually deceives his adorers, the apostate
+no sooner entered the warm water but he expired. This misfortune
+afflicted the martyrs; but they were quickly comforted by seeing his
+place and their number miraculously filled up. A sentinel was warming
+himself near the bath, having been posted there to observe if any of the
+martyrs were inclined to submit. While he was attending, he had a vision
+of blessed spirits descending from heaven on the martyrs, and
+distributing, {562} as from their king, rich presents, and precious
+garments, St. Ephrem adds crowns, to all these generous soldiers, one
+only excepted, who was their faint-hearted companion, already mentioned.
+The guard, being struck with the celestial vision and the apostate's
+desertion, was converted upon it; and by a particular motion of the Holy
+Ghost, threw off his clothes, and placed himself in his stead among the
+thirty-nine martyrs. Thus God heard their request, though in another
+manner than they imagined: "Which, ought to make us adore the
+impenetrable secrets of his mercy and justice," says St. Ephrem, "in
+this instance, no less than in the reprobation of Judas, and the
+election of St. Matthias."
+
+In the morning the judge ordered both those that were dead with the
+cold, and those that were still alive, to be laid on carriages, and cast
+into a fire. When the rest were thrown into a wagon to be carried to the
+pile, the youngest of them (whom the acts call Melito) was found alive;
+and the executioners, hoping he would change his resolution when he came
+to himself, left him behind. His mother, a woman of mean condition, and
+a widow, but rich in faith, and worthy to have a son a martyr, observing
+this false compassion, reproached the executioners; and when she came up
+to her son, whom she found quite frozen, not able to stir, and scarce
+breathing, he looked on her with languishing eyes, and made a little
+sign with his weak hand to comfort her. She exhorted him to persevere to
+the end, and, fortified by the Holy Ghost, took him up, and put him with
+her own hands into the wagon with the rest of the martyrs, not only
+without shedding a tear, but with a countenance full of joy, saying,
+courageously: "Go, go, son, proceed to the end of this happy journey
+with thy companions, that thou mayest not be the last of them that shall
+present themselves before God." Nothing can be more inflamed or more
+pathetic than the discourse which St. Ephrem puts into her mouth, by
+which he expresses her contempt of life and all earthly things, and her
+ardent love and desire of eternal life. This holy father earnestly
+entreats her to conjure this whole troop of martyrs to join in imploring
+the divine mercy in favor of his sinful soul.[3] Their bodies were
+burned, and their ashes thrown into the river; but the Christians
+secretly carried off, or purchased part of them with money. Some of
+these precious relies were kept at Cæsarea, and St. Basil says of them:
+"Like bulwarks, they are our protection against the inroads of
+enemies."[4] He adds, that every one implored their succor, and that
+they raised up those that had fallen, strengthened the weak, and
+invigorated the fervor of the saints. SS. Basil and Emmelia, the holy
+parents of St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Peter of
+Sebaste, and St. Macrina, procured a great share of these relics.[5] St.
+Emmelia put some of them in the church she built near Anneses, the
+village where they resided. The solemnity with which they were received
+was extraordinary, and they were honored by miracles, as St. Gregory
+relates. One of these was a miraculous cure wrought on a lame soldier,
+the truth of which he attests from his own knowledge, both of the fact
+and the person, who published it everywhere. He adds: "I buried the
+bodies of my parents by the relics of these holy martyrs, that in the
+resurrection they may rise with the encouragers of their faith; for I
+know they have great power with God, of which I have seen clear proofs
+and undoubted testimonies." St. Gaudentius, bishop of Brescia, writes in
+his sermon on these martyrs: "God gave me a share of these venerable
+relics and granted me to found this church in their honor."[6] He says,
+that the two nieces of St. Basil, both abbesses, gave them to him as
+{563} he passed by Cæsarea, in a journey to Jerusalem; which venerable
+treasure they had received from their uncle. Portions of their relics
+were also carried to Constantinople, and there honored with great
+veneration, as Sozomen[7] and Procopius[8] have recorded at large, with
+an account of several visions and miracles, which attended the
+veneration paid to them in that city.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Though we are not all called to the trial of martyrdom, we are all bound
+daily to fight and to conquer too. By multiplied victories which we gain
+over our passions and spiritual enemies, by the exercise of meekness,
+patience, humility, purity, and all other virtues, we shall render our
+triumph complete, and attain to the crown of bliss. But are we not
+confounded at our sloth in our spiritual warfare, when we look on the
+conflicts of the martyrs? "The eloquence of the greatest orators, and
+the wisdom of the philosophers were struck dumb: the very tyrants and
+judges stood amazed, and were not able to find words to express their
+admiration, when they beheld the faith, the cheerfulness and constancy
+of the holy martyrs in their sufferings. But what excuse shall we allege
+in the tremendous judgment, who, without meeting with such cruel
+persecution and torments, are so remiss and slothful in maintaining the
+spiritual life of our souls, and the charity of God! What shall we do in
+that terrible day, when the holy martyrs, placed near the throne of God,
+with great confidence shall display their glorious scars, the proofs of
+their fidelity? What shall we then show? shall we produce our love for
+God? true faith? a disengagement of our affections from earthly things?
+souls freed from the tyranny of the passions? retirement and peace of
+mind? meekness? alms-deeds and compassion? holy and pure prayer? sincere
+compunction? watching and tears? Happy shall he be whom these works
+shall attend. He shall then be the companion of the martyrs, and shall
+appear with the same confidence before Christ and his angels. We beseech
+you, O most holy martyrs, who cheerfully suffered torments and death for
+his love, and are now more familiarly united to him, that you intercede
+with God for us slothful and wretched sinners, that he bestow on us the
+grace of Christ, by which we may be enlightened and enabled to love
+him."[9]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The acts and the greater part of the writers of their lives, suppose
+    that they were to stand in the very water. But this is a
+    circumstance which Tillemont, Badlet, Ruinart, Ceillier and others,
+    correct from St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
+2.  St. Gregory of Nyssa says, that they endured three days and three
+    nights, this lingering death, which carried off their limbs one
+    after another.
+3.  S. Ephrem, Or. in 40 Mart. t. 2, Op. Gr. and Lat. p. 354, ed. Nov.
+    Vatic. an. 1743.
+4.  St. Basil, Or. 20, 459.
+5.  St. Greg. Nyss. Or. 3, de 40 Mart. t. 2, pp. 212, 213.
+6.  S. Gaud. Bris. Serm. 17, de 40 Mart.
+7.  L. 9, c. 1, 2.
+8.  L. 1, de ædific. Justinian, c. 7.
+9.  S. Ephrem in Homil. in SS. Martyres, Op Gr. and Lat. ed. Vat. an
+    174{} t. 2, p. 341.
+
+ST. DROCTOVÆUS, ABBOT.
+
+KING CHILDEBERT having built at Paris a famous abbey in honor of St.
+Vincent; this saint, who was a native of the diocese of Autun, had been
+educated under St. Germanus, abbot of St. Symphorian's at Autun, and was
+a person eminent for his learning and extraordinary spirit of
+mortification and prayer, was appointed the second, according to
+Duplessis, according to others, the first abbot of this house, since
+called St. Germain-des-Prez, in which he died about the year 580. His
+body is kept in that abbey, and he is honored by the church on the 10th
+of March. His original life being lost, Gislemar, a Benedictin monk of
+this house, in the ninth age, collected from tradition and scattered
+memoirs that which we have in Bollandus and more accurately in Mabillon.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Duplessis' Annales de Paris, pp. 60, 68.
+
+{564}
+
+ST. MACKESSOGE, OR KESSOGE, C.
+
+BISHOP IN THE PROVINCES OF LEVIN AND BOIN, IN SCOTLAND.
+
+BY his instructions and counsels the pious king Congal II. governed with
+extraordinary prudence, zeal, and sanctity. This saint was illustrious
+for miracles, and died in 560. A celebrated church in that country still
+bears the title of St. Kessoge-Kirk. The Scots, for their cry in battle,
+for some time used his name, but afterwards changed it for that of St.
+Andrew. They sometimes painted St. Kessoge in a soldier's habit, holding
+a bow bent with an arrow in it. See the Aberdeen Breviary, the chronicle
+of Pasley, (a great monastery of regular canons in the shire of
+Renfrew,) Florarium, and Buchanan, l. 5.
+
+
+MARCH XI.
+
+ST. EULOGIUS OF CORDOVA, P.M.
+
+From his authentic life by Alvarus, his intimate friend, and from his
+works, Bibl. Patr. t 9. See Acts Sanct. t. 7. Fleury, b. 48. p. 57.
+
+A.D. 859.
+
+ST. EULOGIUS was of a senatorian family of Cordova, at that time the
+capital of the Moors or Saracens, in Spain. Those infidels had till then
+tolerated the Christian religion among the Goths, exacting only a
+certain tribute every new moon. Our saint was educated among the clergy
+of the church of St. Zoilus, a martyr, who suffered at Cordova, with
+nineteen others, under Dioclesian, and is honored on the 27th of June.
+Here he distinguished himself by his virtue and learning; and being made
+priest, was placed at the head of the chief ecclesiastical school in
+Spain, which then flourished at Cordova. He joined assiduous watchings,
+fasting, and prayer, to his studies: and his humility, mildness, and
+charity, gained him the affection and respect of every one. He often
+visited the monasteries for his further instruction in virtue, and
+prescribed rules of piety for the use of many fervent souls that desired
+to serve God. Some of the Christians were so indiscreet as openly to
+inveigh against Mahomet, and expose the religion established by him.
+This occasioned a bloody persecution at Cordova, in the 29th year of
+Abderrama III., the eight hundred and fiftieth year of Christ.
+Reccafred, an apostate bishop, declared against the martyrs: and, at his
+solicitation, the bishop of Cordova, and some others, were imprisoned,
+and many priests, among whom was St. Eulogius, as one who encouraged the
+martyrs by his instructions. It was then that he wrote his Exhortation
+to Martyrdom,[1] addressed to the virgins Flora and Mary, who were
+beheaded the 24th of November, in 851. These virgins promised to pray as
+soon as they should be with God, that their fellow-prisoners might be
+restored to their liberty. Accordingly, St. Eulogius and the rest were
+enlarged six days after their death. In the year 852, several suffered
+the like martyrdom, {565} namely, Gumisund and Servus-Dei: Aurelius and
+Felix, with their wives: Christopher and Levigild: Rogel and Servio-Deo.
+A council at Cordova, in 852, forbade any one to offer himself to
+martyrdom. Mahomet succeeded his father upon his sudden death by an
+apoplectic fit; but continued the persecution, and put to death, in 853,
+Fandila, a monk, Anastasius, Felix, and three nuns, Digna, Columba, and
+Pomposa. St. Eulogius encouraged all these martyrs to their triumphs,
+and was the support of that distressed flock. His writings still breathe
+an inflamed zeal and spirit of martyrdom. The chief are his history of
+these martyrs, called the Memorial of the Saints, in three books; and
+his Apology for them against calumniators, showing them to be true
+martyrs, though without miracles.[2] His brother was deprived of his
+place, one of the first dignities of the kingdom. St. Eulogius himself
+was obliged by the persecutors to live always, after his releasement,
+with the treacherous bishop Reccafred, that wolf in sheep's clothing.
+Wherefore he refrained from saying mass, that he might not communicate
+with that domestic enemy.
+
+The archbishop of Toledo dying in 858, St. Eulogius was canonically
+elected to succeed him; but there was some obstacle that hindered him
+from being consecrated; though he did not outlive his election two
+months. A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a noble family among the Moors,
+had been instructed from her infancy in the Christian religion by one of
+her relations, and privately baptized. Her father and mother perceiving
+this, used her very ill, and scourged her day and night to compel her to
+renounce the faith. Having made her condition known to St. Eulogius and
+his sister Anulona, intimating that she desired to go where she might
+freely exercise her religion, they secretly procured her the means of
+getting away from her parents, and concealed her for some time among
+faithful friends. But the matter was at length discovered, and they were
+all brought before the cadi. Eulogius offered to show the judge the true
+road to heaven, and to demonstrate Mahomet to be an impostor. The cadi
+threatened to have him scourged to death. The martyr told him his
+torments would be to no purpose; for he would never change his religion.
+Whereupon the cadi gave orders that he should be carried to the palace,
+and presented before the king's council. One of the lords of the council
+took the saint aside, and said to him: "Though the ignorant unhappily
+run headlong to death, a man of your learning and virtue ought not to
+imitate their folly. Be ruled by me, I entreat you: say but one word,
+since necessity requires it: you may afterwards resume your own
+religion, and we will promise that no inquiry shall be made after you."
+Eulogius replied, smiling: "Ah! if you could but conceive the reward
+which waits for those who persevere in the faith to the end, you would
+renounce your temporal dignity in exchange for it." He then began boldly
+to propose the truths of the gospel to them. But to prevent their
+hearing him, the council condemned him immediately to lose his head. As
+they were leading him to execution, one of the eunuchs of the palace
+gave him a blow on the face for having spoken against Mahomet: he turned
+the other cheek, and patiently received a second. He received the stroke
+of death out of the city-gates, with great cheerfulness, on the 11th of
+March, 859. St. Leocritia was beheaded four days after him, and her body
+thrown into the river Boetis, or Guadalquivir, but taken out by the
+Christians. The Church honors both of them on the days of their
+martyrdom.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If we consider the conduct of Christ towards his Church, which he
+planted {566} at the price of his precious blood, and treats as his most
+beloved spouse, we shall admire a wonderful secret in the adorable
+councils of his tender providence. This Church, so dear to him, and so
+precious in his eyes, he formed and spread under a general, most severe,
+and dreadful persecution. He has exposed it in every age to frequent and
+violent storms, and seems to delight in always holding at least some
+part or other of it in the fiery crucible. But the days of its severest
+trials were those of its most glorious triumphs. Then it shone above all
+other periods of time with the brightest examples of sanctity, and
+exhibited both to heaven and to men on earth the most glorious
+spectacles and triumphs. Then were formed in its bosom innumerable most
+illustrious heroes of all perfect virtue, who eminently inherited, and
+propagated in the hearts of many others, the true spirit of our
+crucified Redeemer. The same conduct God in his tender mercy holds with
+regard to those chosen souls which he destines to raise, by special
+graces, highest in his favor. When the counsels of divine Providence
+shall be manifested to them in the next life, then they shall clearly
+see that their trials were the most happy moments, and the most precious
+graces of their whole lives. In sickness, humiliations, and other
+crosses, the poison of self-love was expelled from their hearts, their
+affections weaned from the world, opportunities were afforded them of
+practising the most heroic virtues, by the fervent exercise of which
+their souls were formed in the school of Christ, and his perfect spirit
+of humility, meekness, disengagement, and purity of the affections,
+ardent charity, and all other virtues, in which true Christian heroism
+consists. The forming of the heart of one saint is a great and sublime
+work, the masterpiece of divine grace, the end and the price of the
+death of the Son of God. It can only be finished by the cross on which
+we were engendered in Christ, and the mystery of our predestination is
+accomplished.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Documentum martyrii, t. 9. Bibl. Patr. p. 699.
+2.  Some objected to these martyrs, that they were not honored with
+    frequent miracles as those had been who suffered in the primitive
+    ages.
+
+ST. SOPHRONIUS, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, C.
+
+HE was a native of Damascus, and made such a progress in learning that
+he obtained the name of the Sophist. He lived twenty years near
+Jerusalem, under the direction of John Moschus, a holy hermit, without
+engaging himself in a religious state. These two great men visited
+together the monasteries of Egypt, and were detained by St. John the
+Almoner, at Alexandria, about the year 610, and employed by him two
+years in extirpating the Eutychians, and in reforming his diocese. John
+Moschus wrote there his Spiritual Meadow, which he dedicated to
+Sophronius. He made a collection in that book of the edifying examples
+of virtue which he had seen or heard of among the monks, and died
+shortly after at Rome. Athanasius, patriarch of the Jacobites or
+Eutychians, in Syria, acknowledged two distinct natures in Christ, the
+divine and the human; but allowed only one will. This Demi-Eutychianism
+was a glaring inconsistency; because the will is the property of the
+nature. Moreover, Christ sometimes speaks of his human will distinct
+from the divine, as in his prayer in his agony in the garden. This
+Monothelite heresy seemed an expedient whereby to compound with the
+Eutychians. The emperor Heraclius confirmed it by an edict called
+Ecthesis, or the Exposition, declaring that there is only one will in
+Christ, namely, that of the Divine Word: which was condemned by pope
+John IV. Cyrus, bishop of Phasis, a virulent Monothelite, was by
+Heraclius preferred to the patriarchate of Alexandria, in 629. St.
+Sophronius, falling at his feet, conjured him not to publish his
+erroneous articles--but in vain. He therefore {567} left Egypt, and came
+to Constantinople, where he found Sergius, the crafty patriarch, sowing
+the same error in conjunction with Theodorus of Pharan. Hereupon he
+travelled into Syria, where, in 634, he was, against his will, elected
+patriarch of Jerusalem.
+
+He was no sooner established in his see, than he assembled a council of
+all the bishops of his patriarchate, in 634, to condemn the Monothelite
+heresy, and composed a synodal letter to explain and prove the Catholic
+faith This excellent piece was confirmed in the sixth general council.
+St. Sophronius sent this learned epistle to pope Honorius and to
+Sergius. This latter had, by a crafty letter and captious expressions,
+persuaded pope Honorius to tolerate a silence as to one or two wills in
+Christ. It is evident from the most authentic monuments, that Honorius
+never assented to that error, but always adhered to the truth.[1]
+However, a silence was ill-timed, and though not so designed, might be
+deemed by some a kind of connivance; for a rising heresy seeks to carry
+on its work under ground without noise: it is a fire which spreads
+itself under cover. Sophronius, seeing the emperor and almost all the
+chief prelates of the East conspire against the truth, thought it his
+duty to defend it with the greater zeal. He took Stephen, bishop of
+Doria, the eldest of his suffragans, led him to Mount Calvary, and there
+adjured him by Him who was crucified on that place, and by the account
+which he should give him at the last day, "to go to the apostolic see,
+where are the foundations of the holy doctrine, and not to cease to pray
+till the holy persons there should examine and condemn the novelty."
+Stephen did so, and stayed at Rome ten years, till he saw it condemned
+by pope Martin I. in the council of Lateran, in 649. Sophronius was
+detained at home by the invasion of the Saracens. Mahomet had broached
+his impostures at Mecca, in 608, but being rejected there, fled to
+Medina, in 622. Aboubeker succeeded him in 634 under the title of
+Caliph, or vicar of the prophet. He died after a reign of two years.
+Omar, his successor, took Damascus in 636, and after a siege of two
+years, Jerusalem, in 638. He built a mosque in the place of Solomon's
+temple, and because it fell in the night, the Jews told him it would not
+stand unless the cross of Christ, which stood on Mount Calvary, was
+taken away: which the Caliph caused to be done.[2] Sophronius, in a
+sermon on the exaltation of the cross, mentions the custom of taking the
+cross out of its case at Mid-Lent to be venerated.[3] Photius takes
+notice that his works breathe an affecting piety, but that the Greek is
+not pure. They consist of his synodal letter, his letter to pope
+Honorius, and a small number of scattered sermons. He deplored the
+abomination of desolation set up by the Mahometans in the holy place.
+God called him out of those evils to his kingdom on the 11th of March,
+639, or, as Papebroke thinks,[4] in 644. See the council of Lateran, t.
+6, Conc. Fleury, b. 37, 38, and Le Quien, Oriens Christ. t. 3, p. 264.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Nat. Alexander, Sæc. 7. Wittasse and Tourneiy Tr. de Incarn.
+2.  Theophanes, p. 284.
+3.  In medio jejunii, adorationis gratiâ proponi solet vitale lignun
+    venerandæ crucis. Sophr. Serro. in Excalt. Crucis. Bibl. Patr. t. 12
+    p. 214, e. apud Gretser, t. 2 de Cruce, p. 88.
+4.  Papebr. Tr. prælim. ad t. 3 Maii n. 144, p. 32
+
+ST. ÆNGUS, B.C.
+
+THIS saint is distinguished by the surname of Kele-De, that is,
+Worshipper of God; which began in his time to be the denomination of
+monks to the Scottish language, commonly called Culdees. He was born in
+Ireland, in the eighth century, of the race of the Dalaradians, kings of
+Ulster. In his youth, renouncing all earthly pretensions, he chose
+Christ for his inheritance, {568} embracing a religious state in the
+famous monastery of Cluain-Edneach in East-Meath. Here he became so
+great a proficient both in learning and sanctity, that no one in his
+time could be found in Ireland that equalled him in reputation for every
+kind of virtue, and for sacred knowledge. To shun the esteem of the
+world, he disguised himself, and going to the monastery of Tamlâcht,
+three miles from Dublin, lived there seven years unknown, in the quality
+of a lay brother, performing all the drudgery of the house, appearing
+fit for nothing but the vilest employs, while his interior by perfect
+love and contemplation was absorbed in God. Being at length discovered,
+he some time after returned to Cluain-Edneach, where the continual
+austerity of his life, and his constant application to God in prayer,
+may be more easily admired than imitated. He was chosen abbot, and at
+length raised to the episcopal dignity: for it was usual then in Ireland
+for eminent abbots in the chief monasteries to be bishops. He was
+remarkable for his devotion to the saints, and he left both a longer and
+a shorter Irish Martyrology, and five other books concerning the saints
+of his country, contained in what the Irish call Saltair-na-Rann. He
+died about the year 824, not at Cluain-Edneach, but at Desert Ænguis,
+which became also a famous monastery, and took its name from him. See
+his acts in Colgan, p. 579.
+
+ST. CONSTANTINE, M.
+
+HE is said to have been a British king, who, after the death of his
+queen, resigned the crown to his son, and became a monk in the monastery
+of St. David. It is added that he afterwards went into North Britain,
+and joined St. Columba in preaching the gospel among the Picts, who then
+inhabited a great part of what is now called Scotland. He founded a
+monastery at Govane, near the river Cluyd, converted all the land of
+Cantire to the faith of Christ, and died a martyr by the hands of
+infidels, towards the end of the sixth century. He was buried in his
+monastery of Govane, and divers churches were erected in Scotland, under
+his invocation. But it seems most probable that the Scottish martyr is
+not the same person with the British king. Colgan supposes him to have
+been an Irish monk, who had lived in the community of St. Carthag, at
+Rathane.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See the MS. Lives of Scottish Saints, compiled by a Jesuit, who was
+    nephew of bishop Lesley, kept in the Scottish College at Paris.
+    Several Scottish historians give the title of saint to Constantine
+    III. king of the Scots, who, forsaking his crown and the world,
+    entered himself among the Culdees, to religious ma at St. Andrew's,
+    in 946.
+
+
+MARCH XII.
+
+ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE, C.
+
+From his works, Bede, and Paul, deacon of Monte Cassino, towards the end
+of the eighth century. His life in four books, by John deacon of Rome in
+the ninth age, is full of mistakes, as Baronius observes. See his
+history, compiled in French by Dom Dionysius of Sainte-Marthe,
+superior-general of the Maurist monks, printed at Rouen in 4to. 1697,
+and more accurately in Latin by the same author, in the 4to. tome of
+this father's works, in 1705. See also Fleury, b. 34, 35, 36. Mabillon,
+Annal. Bened. l. 6, t. 1. Ceillier, t. 17, p. 128. F. Wietrowski, S.J.
+Historia de rebus in Pontificatu, S. Gregorii M. gestis, in fol.
+Gradonici, S. Gregorius, M. Pontifex, a criminationibus Oudini
+vindicatus, and Hieron. Muzio in Coro Pontifcale.
+
+A.D. 604.
+
+ST. GREGORY, from his illustrious actions and extraordinary virtues,
+surnamed the Great, was born at Rome, about the year 540. Gordlanus, his
+{569} father, enjoyed the dignity of a senator, and was very wealthy;
+but after the birth of our saint, renounced the world, and died
+Regionarius, that is, one of the seven cardinal deacons who took care of
+the ecclesiastical districts of Rome. His mother, Sylvia, consecrated
+herself to God in a little oratory near St. Paul's. Our saint was called
+Gregory, which in Greek implies a watchman, as Vigilius and Vigilantius
+in Latin. In his youth he applied himself, with unabated diligence, to
+the studies of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy; and after these first
+accomplishments, to the civil law and the canons of the church, in which
+he was perfectly skilled. He was only thirty-four years old when, in
+574, he was made, by the emperor Justin the Younger, pretor, or governor
+and chief magistrate of Rome. By this dignity he was the chief judge of
+the city; his pomp and state differed little from that of a consul, and
+he was obliged to wear the Trabea, which was a rich robe of silk,
+magnificently embroidered, and sparkling with precious stones: a garment
+only allowed to the consuls and pretor. But he could say, with Esther,
+that his heart always detested the pride of the world. From his infancy
+he loved and esteemed only heavenly things, and it was his chief delight
+to converse with holy monks, or to be retired in his closet, or in the
+church at his devotions. After the death of his father, he built and
+endowed six monasteries in Sicily out of the estates which he had in
+that island, and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which was
+the famous monastery of St. Andrew, on the hill Scaurus,[1] now
+possessed by the Order of Camaldoli. The first abbot of this house was
+Hilarion, the second Valentinus, under whom St. Gregory himself took the
+monastic habit, in 575, he being thirty-five years old. In this
+retirement, Gregory applied himself with that vigor to fasting and the
+study of the sacred writings, that he thereby contracted a great
+weakness in his stomach, and used to fall into fits of swooning if he
+did not frequently eat. What gave him the greatest affliction was his
+not being able to fast on an Easter-Eve, a day on which, says John the
+deacon, every one, not even excepting little children, are used to fast.
+His great desire of conforming to the universal practice on that day
+occasioned his applying to a monk of eminent sanctity, named
+Eleutherius, with whom having prayed, and besought God to enable him to
+fast at least on that sacred day, he found himself on a sudden so well
+restored, that he not only fasted that day, but quite forgot his
+illness, as he himself relates.[2]
+
+It was before his advancement to the see of Rome, or even to the
+government of his monastery, that he first, as Paul the deacon
+testifies, projected the conversion of the English nation. This great
+blessing took its rise from the following occasion.[3] Gregory happened
+one day to walk through the market, and here taking notice that certain
+youths of fine features and complexion were exposed to sale, he inquired
+what countrymen they were, and was answered, that they came from
+Britain. He asked if the people of that country were Christians or
+heathens, and was told they were still heathens. Then Gregory, fetching
+a deep sigh, said: "It was a lamentable consideration that the prince of
+darkness should be master of so much beauty, and have so comely persons
+in his possession: and that so fine an outside should have nothing of
+God's grace to furnish it within."[4] This incident {570} made so great
+an impression upon him, that he applied himself soon after to pope
+Benedict I., and earnestly requested that some persons might be sent to
+preach Christianity in Britain. And not finding any one disposed to
+undertake that mission, he made an offer of himself for the service,
+with the pope's consent and approbation. Having obtained leave, he
+privately set forward on his journey, in company with several monks of
+his own monastery. But when his departure was known, the whole city was
+in an uproar, and the people ran in a body to the pope, whom they met
+going to St. Peter's church. They cried out to him in the utmost
+consternation: "Apostolical father, what have you done? In suffering
+Gregory to go away, you have destroyed Rome: you have undone us, and
+offended St. Peter." At these pressing instances the pope dispatched
+messengers to recall him and the saint being overtaken by them on the
+third day, was obliged, though with great reluctance, to return to Rome.
+Not long after, the same pope, according to John the deacon, and the
+Benedictins, or, as Paul the deacon and Baronius say, his successor
+Pelagius II., made him one of the seven deacons of the church at Rome,
+who assisted the pope. Pelagius II. sent him to Constantinople in
+quality of Apocrisiarius, or Nuncio of the holy see, to the religious
+emperor Tiberius, by whom the saint was received and treated with the
+highest distinction. This public employment did not make him lay aside
+the practices of a monastic life, in order to which he had taken with
+him certain monks of his house, with whom he might the better continue
+them, and by their example excite himself to recollection and prayer. At
+the request of St. Leander, bishop of Seville, whom he saw at
+Constantinople, he wrote in that city his thirty-five books of Morals
+upon Job, giving chiefly the moral and allegorical interpretations of
+that sacred book, in such a manner as to reduce into one body the most
+excellent principles of morality, and also of an interior life, of both
+which this admirable work hath been ever since regarded as the great
+storehouse and armory. Out of it St. Isidore, St. Thomas, and other
+masters of those holy sciences have chiefly drawn their sublime maxims.
+Mauritius having married the daughter of Tiberius, in 582, who had the
+empire for her dowry, St. Gregory was pitched upon to stand godfather to
+his eldest son. Eutychius was at that time patriarch of
+Constantinople.[5] This prelate, having suffered for the faith under
+Justinian, fell at length into an error, importing, that after the
+general resurrection the glorified bodies of the elect will be no longer
+palpable, but of a more subtile texture than air. This error he couched
+in a certain book which he wrote. St. Gregory was alarmed, and held
+several conferences with the patriarch upon that subject, both in
+private and before the emperor, and clearly demonstrated from the
+scriptures, that the glorified bodies of the saints will be the same
+which they had on earth, only delivered from the appendices of
+mortality; and that they will be palpable as {571} that of Christ was
+after his resurrection.[6] The good bishop being docile and humble,
+retracted his mistake and shortly after falling sick, in presence of the
+emperor, who had honored him with a visit, taking hold of his skin with
+his hand, said: "I profess the belief that we shall all rise in this
+very flesh."[7]
+
+Pope Pelagius recalled St. Gregory in 584. He brought with him to Rome
+an arm of St. Andrew, and the head of St. Luke, which the emperor had
+given him. He placed both these relics in his monastery of St. Andrew,
+where the former remains to this day; but the latter has been removed
+thence to St. Peter's, where it still continues. The saint with joy saw
+himself restored to the tranquillity of his cell, where he eagerly
+desired to bury himself with regard to the world, from which he had fled
+naked into this secure harbor; because, as he signified to St. Leander,
+he saw how difficult a thing it is to converse with the world without
+contracting inordinate attachments.[8] Pope Pelagius also made him his
+secretary. He still continued to govern his monastery, in which he
+showed a remarkable instance of severity. Justus, one of his monks, had
+acquired and kept privately three pieces of gold, which he confessed on
+his death-bed. St. Gregory forbade the community to attend and pray by
+his bedside, according to custom; but could not refuse him the
+assistance of a priest, which the council of Nice ordained that no one
+should be deprived of at the hour of death. Justus died in great
+sentiments of compunction; yet, in compliance with what the monastic
+discipline enjoins in such cases, in imitation of what St. Macarius had
+prescribed on the like occasion, he ordered his corpse to be buried
+under the dunghill, and the three pieces of money to be thrown into the
+grave with it. Nevertheless, as he died penitent, he ordered mass to be
+daily offered up for him during thirty days.[9] St. Gregory says,[10]
+that after the mass of the thirtieth day, Justus, appearing to his
+brother Copiosus, assured him that he had been in torments, but was then
+released. Pope Pelagius II. dying in the beginning of the great
+pestilence, in January, 590, the clergy, senate, and Roman people
+unanimously agreed to choose St. Gregory for their bishop, although he
+opposed his election with all his power. It was then the custom at the
+election of a pope to consult the emperor as the head of the senate and
+people. Our saint, trusting to his friendship with Mauritius, to whose
+son he stood godfather, wrote to him privately to conjure him not to
+approve of this choice. He wrote also with great earnestness to John,
+patriarch of Constantinople, and to other powerful friends in that city,
+begging them to employ their interest with the emperor for that purpose:
+but complains in several letters afterwards that they had all refused to
+serve him. The governor of Rome intercepted his letters to the emperor,
+and sent others to him, in the name of the senate and people, to the
+contrary effect. In the mean time, the plague continued to rage at Rome
+with great violence; and, while the people waited for the emperor's
+answer, St. Gregory took occasion from their calamities to exhort them
+to repentance. Having made them a pathetic sermon on that subject,[11]
+he appointed a solemn litany, or procession, in seven companies, with a
+{572} priest at the head of each, who were to march from different
+churches, and all to meet in that of St. Mary Major; singing Kyrie
+Eleison as they went along the streets. During this procession there
+died in one hour's time fourscore of those who assisted at it. But St.
+Gregory did not forbear to exhort the people, and to pray till such time
+as the distemper ceased.[12] During the public calamity, St. Gregory
+seemed to have forgot the danger he was in of being exalted to the
+pontifical throne; for he feared as much to lose the security of his
+poverty as the most avaricious can do to lose their treasures. He had
+been informed that his letters to Constantinople had been intercepted;
+wherefore, not being able to go out of the gates of Rome, where guards
+were placed, he prevailed with certain merchants to carry him off
+disguised, and shut up in a wicker basket. Three days he lay concealed
+in the woods and caverns, during which time the people of Rome observed
+fasts and prayers. Being miraculously discovered,[13] and no longer
+able, as he says himself,[14] to resist, after the manifestations of the
+divine will, he was taken, brought back to Rome with great acclamations,
+and consecrated on the 3d of September, in 590. In this ceremony he was
+conducted, according to custom, to the Confession of St. Peter, as his
+tomb is called; where he made a profession of his faith, which is still
+extant in his works. He sent also to the other patriarchs a synodal
+epistle, in which was contained the profession of his faith.[15] In it
+he declares, that he received the four general councils as the four
+gospels. He received congratulatory letters upon his exaltation; to all
+which he returned for answer rather tears than words, in the most
+feeling sentiments of profound humility. To Theoctista, the emperor's
+sister, he wrote thus:[16] "I have lost the comfort of my calm, and,
+appearing to be outwardly exalted, I am inwardly and really fallen.--My
+endeavors were to banish corporeal objects from my mind, that I might
+spiritually behold heavenly joys. Neither desiring not fearing any thing
+in the world, I seemed raised above the earth, but the storm had cast me
+on a sudden into alarms and fears: I am come into the depth of the sea,
+and the tempest hath drowned me." He adds: "The emperor hath made an ape
+to be called a lion; but cannot make him become one." In his letter to
+Narses, the patrician, he says:[17] "I am so overcome with grief, that I
+am scarce able to speak. My mind is encompassed with darkness. All that
+the world thinks agreeable, brings to me trouble and affliction." To St.
+Leander he writes: "I remember with tears that I have lost the calm
+harbor of my repose, and with many a sigh I look upon the firm land
+which I cannot reach. If you love me, assist me with your prayers." He
+often invites others to weep with him, and conjures them to pray for
+him. John, archbishop of Ravenna, modestly reprehended his cowardice in
+endeavoring, by flight, to decline the burden of the pastoral charge. In
+answer to his censure, and to instruct all pastors, soon after his
+exaltation, he wrote his incomparable book, On the Pastoral Care,
+setting forth the dangers, duties, and obligations of that charge, which
+he calls, from St. Gregory Nazianzen, the art of arts, and science of
+sciences. So great was the reputation of this performance, as soon as it
+appeared, that the emperor Mauritius sent to Rome for a copy; and
+Anastasius, the holy patriarch of Antioch, translated it into Greek.
+Many popes and councils have exhorted and commanded pastors of souls
+frequently to read it, and {573} in it, as in a looking glass, to behold
+themselves.[18] Our English saints made it always their rule, and king
+Alfred translated it into the Saxon tongue. In this book we read a
+transcript of the sentiments and conduct of our excellent pastor. His
+zeal for the glory of God, and the angelic function of paying him the
+constant tribute of praise in the church, moved him, in the beginning of
+his pontificate, to reform the church music.[19] Preaching he regarded
+as the principal and most indispensable function of every pastor of
+souls, as it is called by St. Thomas, and was most solicitous to feed
+his flock with the word of God. His forty homilies on the gospels, which
+are extant, show that he spoke in a plain and familiar style, and
+without any pomp of words, but with a surprising eloquence of the heart.
+The same may be said of his twenty-two homilies on Ezekiel, which he
+preached while Rome was besieged by the Lombards, in 592. In the
+nineteenth he, in profound humility, applies to himself, with tears,
+whatever the prophet spoke against slothful mercenary pastors. Paul the
+deacon relates, that after the saint's death, Peter the deacon, his most
+intimate friend, testified that he had seen in a vision, as an emblem of
+the Holy Ghost, a dove appear on his head, applying his bill to his ear
+while he was writing on the latter part of Ezekiel.
+
+This great pope always remembered, that, by his station, he was the
+common father of the poor. He relieved their necessities with so much
+sweetness and affability, as to spare them the confusion of receiving
+the alms; and the old men among them he, out of deference, called his
+fathers. He often entertained several of them at his own table. He kept
+by him an exact catalogue of the poor, called by the ancients matriculæ;
+and he liberally provided for the necessities of each. In the beginning
+of every month he {574} distributed to all the poor, corn, wine, pulse,
+cheese, fish, flesh, and oil: he appointed officers for every street to
+send every day necessaries to all the needy sick; before he ate he
+always sent off meats from his own table to some poor persons. One day a
+beggar being found dead in a corner of a by-street, he is said to have
+abstained some days from the celebration of the divine mysteries,
+condemning himself of a neglect in seeking the poor with sufficient
+care. He entertained great numbers of strangers both at Rome and in
+other countries, and had every day twelve at his own table whom his
+sacristan invited. He was most liberal in redeeming captives taken by
+the Lombards, for which he permitted the bishop of Fano to break and
+sell the sacred vessels,[20] and ordered the bishop of Messana to do the
+same.[21] He extended his charity to the heretics, whom he sought to
+gain by mildness. He wrote to the bishop of Naples to receive and
+reconcile readily those who desired it, taking upon his own soul the
+danger,[22] lest he should be charged with their perdition if they
+should perish by too great severity. Yet he was careful not to give them
+an occasion of triumphing by any unreasonable condescension; and much
+more not to relax the severity of the law of God in the least
+tittle.[23] He showed great moderation to the schismatics of Istria, and
+to the very Jews. When Peter, bishop of Terracina, had taken from the
+latter their synagogue, St. Gregory ordered it to be restored to them,
+saying, they are not to be compelled, but converted by meekness and
+charity.[24] He repeated the same orders for the Jews of Sardinia, and
+for those of Sicily.[25] In his letters to his vicar in Sicily, and to
+the stewards of the patrimony of the Roman church in Africa, Italy, and
+other places, he recommends mildness and liberality towards his vassals
+and farmers; orders money to be advanced to those that were in distress,
+which they might repay by little and little, and most rigorously forbids
+any to be oppressed. He carefully computed and piously distributed the
+income of his revenues at four terms in the year. In his epistles, we
+find him continually providing for the necessities of all churches,
+especially of those in Italy, which the wars of the Lombards and other
+calamities had made desolate. Notwithstanding his meekness and
+condescension, his courage was undaunted, and his confidence in the
+divine assistance unshaken amidst the greatest difficulties. "You know
+me," says he,[26] "and that I tolerate a long while; but when I have once
+determined to bear no longer, I go with joy against all dangers." Out of
+sincere humility he styled himself "the basest of men, devoured by sloth
+and laziness."[27] Writing to St. Leander, he says,[28] he always
+desired to be the contempt of men and the outcast of the people. He
+declares,[29] "I am ready to be corrected by all persons, and him only
+do I look upon as my friend by whose tongue I learn to wash away the
+stains of my mind." He subscribed himself in all his letters, Servant of
+the servants of God, which custom has been retained by his successors.
+Indeed, what is a pastor or superior but the servant of those for whom
+he is to give a rigorous account to God? The works of St. Gregory were
+everywhere received with the greatest applause. Marinianus, archbishop
+of Ravenna, read his comments on Job to the people in the church. The
+saint was afflicted and confounded that his writings should be thought
+to deserve a place among the approved works of the fathers; and wrote to
+that prelate that his book was not proper for the church, admonishing
+him rather to read St. Austin on the psalms.[30] He was no less dead to
+himself in his great actions, {575} and all other things. He saw nothing
+in himself but imperfections; and subjects of confusion and humiliation.
+ST. JOHN CALYBITE, RECLUSE.
+
+It is incredible how much he wrote, and, during the thirteen years that
+he governed the church, what great things he achieved for the glory of
+God, the good of the church, the reformation of manners, the edification
+of the faithful, the relief of the poor, the comfort of the afflicted,
+the establishment of ecclesiastical discipline, and the advancement of
+piety and religion. But our surprise redoubles upon us, when we remember
+his continual bad state of health and frequent sicknesses, and his
+assiduity in prayer and holy contemplation; though this exercise it was
+that gave always wings to his soul. In his own palace he would allow of
+no furniture but what was mean and simple, nor have any attendants near
+his person but clergymen or monks of approved virtue, learning, and
+prudence. His household was a model of Christian perfection; and by his
+care, arts, sciences, and the heroic practice of piety, flourished,
+especially in the city of Rome. The state of Christendom was at that
+time on every side miserably distracted, and stood in need of a pastor,
+whose extraordinary sanctity, abilities, and courage should render him
+equal to every great enterprise. And such a one was Gregory. The eastern
+churches were wretchedly divided and shattered by the Nestorians, and
+the numerous spawn of the Eutychians, all which he repressed. In the
+west, England was buried in idolatry, and Spain, under the Visigoths,
+was overrun with the Arian heresy. These two flourishing countries owe
+their conversion, in a great measure, to his zeal, especially the
+former. In Africa he extirpated the Donatists, converted many
+schismatics in Istria and the neighboring provinces; and reformed many
+grievous abuses in Gaul, whence he banished simony, which had almost
+universally infected that church. A great part of Italy was become a
+prey to the Lombards,[31] who were partly Arians, partly idolaters. St.
+Gregory often stopped the fury of their arms, and checked their
+oppressions of the people: by his zeal he also brought over many to the
+Catholic faith, and had the comfort to see Agilulph, their king,
+renounce the Arian heresy to embrace it. In 592, Romanus, exarch, or
+governor of Italy for the emperor, with a view to his own private
+interest, perfidiously broke the solemn treaty which he had made with
+the Lombards,[32] and took Perugia and several other towns. But the
+barbarians, who were much the stronger, revenged this insult with great
+cruelty, and besieged Rome itself. St. Gregory neglected nothing to
+protect the oppressed, and raised troops for the defence of several
+places. At length, by entreaties and great presents, he engaged the
+Lombards to retire into their own territories. He reproved the exarch
+for his breach of faith, but to no other effect than to draw upon
+himself the indignation of the governor and his master. Such were the
+extortions and injustices of this and other imperial officers, that the
+yoke of the barbarians was lighter than the specious shadow of liberty
+under the tyranny of the empire: and with such rigor were the heaviest
+taxes levied, that to pay them, many poor inhabitants of Corsica were
+forced to sell their own children to the barbarians. These oppressions
+cried to heaven for vengeance: and St. Gregory wrote boldly to the {576}
+empress Constantina,[33] entreating that the emperor, though he should
+be a loser by it, would not fill his exchequer by oppressing his people,
+nor suffer taxes to be levied by iniquitous methods, which would be an
+impediment to his eternal salvation. He sent to this empress a brandeum,
+or veil, which had touched the bodies of the apostles, and assured her
+that miracles had been wrought by such relics.[34] He promised to send
+her also some dust-filings of the chains of St. Paul; of which relics he
+makes frequent mention in his epistles. At Cagliari, a curtain rich Jew,
+having been converted to the faith, had seized the synagogue in order to
+convert it into a church, and had set up in it an image of the Virgin
+Mary and a cross. Upon the complaint of the other Jews, St. Gregory
+ordered[35] the synagogue to be restored to them, but that the image and
+cross should be first removed with due veneration and respect.[36]
+Writing to Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, he mentions,[37] that he
+sent her son, the young king, a little cross, in which was a particle of
+the wood of the true Cross, to carry about his neck. Secundinus, a holy
+hermit near Ravenna, godfather to this young king, begged of the pope
+some devout pictures. St. Gregory, in his answer, says: "We have sent
+you two cloths, containing the picture of God our Saviour, and of Mary
+the holy Mother of God, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and
+one cross: also for a benediction, a key which hath been applied to the
+most holy body of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, that you may
+remain defended from the enemy."[38] But when Serenus, bishop of
+Marseilles, had broken certain sacred images which some persons lately
+converted from idolatry honored with their former idolatrous
+superstitions, St. Gregory commended his zeal for suppressing this
+abuse, but reproved him for breaking the images.[39] When the archbishop
+of Ravenna used the pallium, not only at mass, but also in other
+functions, St. Gregory wrote him a severe reprimand, telling him that no
+ornament shines so bright on the shoulders of a bishop as
+humility.[40][41] He extended his pastoral zeal and solicitude over all
+churches; and he frequently takes notice that the care of the churches
+of the whole world was intrusted to St. Peter, and his successors in the
+see of Rome.[42] This authority he exerted in the oriental
+patriarchates. A certain monk having been accused of Manicheism, and
+beaten by the order of John the patriarch of Constantinople, appealed to
+pope Gregory, who sharply reprimanded the patriarch, exhorting him to
+eject a certain wicked young man by whom he suffered himself to be
+governed, and to do penance, and telling him: "If you do not keep the
+canons, I know not who you are."[43] He absolved the monk, with his
+colleague, a priest, re-established them in their monastery, and sent
+them back into the East, having received their profession of faith. He
+also absolved John, a priest of Chalcedon, who had been unjustly
+condemned by the delegates of the Matriarch. This patriarch, John,
+surnamed the Faster, usurped the arrogant title of [oe]cumenical, or
+universal patriarch. This epithet was only used of a general council
+which represents the whole church. In this sense an {577} ecumenical
+bishop should mean a bishop who represents the whole church, so that all
+other bishops are only his vicars. St. Gregory took the word in that
+sense: which would be blasphemy and heresy, and as such he condemned
+it.[44] John indeed only meant it in a limited sense for an archbishop
+over many, as we call him a general who commands many; but even so it
+savored of arrogance and novelty. In opposition to this, St. Gregory
+took no other titles than those of humility. Gregoria, a lady of the
+bedchamber to the empress, being troubled with scruples, wrote to St.
+Gregory, that she should never be at ease till he should obtain of God,
+by a revelation, an assurance that her sins were forgiven her. To calm
+her disturbed mind, he sent her the following answer.[45] "You ask what
+is both difficult and unprofitable. Difficult, because I am unworthy to
+receive any revelation: unprofitable, because an absolute assurance of
+your pardon does not suit your state till you can no longer weep for
+your sins. You ought always to fear and tremble for them, and wash them
+away by daily tears. Paul had been taken up to the third heaven, yet
+trembled lest he should become a reprobate.--Security is the mother of
+negligence."
+
+The emperor forbade any to be admitted in monasteries, who, having been
+in office, had not yet given up their accounts, or who were engaged in
+the military service. This order he sent to each of the patriarchs, to
+be by then notified to all the bishops of their respective districts.
+St. Gregory, who was at that time sick, complied with the imperial
+mandate, so far as to order the edict to be signified to the western
+bishops,[46] as appears from a letter which he wrote to the emperor as
+soon as his health was re-established. We learn from another letter,
+which he wrote some years after to the bishops of the empire, that, on
+this occasion, he exhorted the bishops to comply with the first part,
+and as to the second, not to suffer persons engaged in the army to be
+admitted among the clergy or to the monastic habit, unless their
+vocation had been thoroughly tried for the space of three years, that it
+might be evident they were converted from the world, and sought not to
+change one kind of secular life for another. He made to Mauritius the
+strongest remonstrances against this edict, saying, "It is not agreeable
+to God, seeing by it the way to heaven was shut to several; for many
+cannot be saved unless they forsake all things." He, therefore,
+entreated the emperor to mitigate this law, approving the first article
+as most just, unless the monastery made itself answerable for the debts
+of such a person received in it. As to the second, he allows that the
+motives and sincerity of the conversion of such soldiers are to be
+narrowly examined before they ought to be admitted to the monastic
+habit. Mauritius, who had before conceived certain prejudices against
+St. Gregory, was offended at his remonstrances, and showed his
+resentment against him for some years, but at length agreed to the
+mitigations of each article proposed by St. Gregory: which the holy
+pope, with great pleasure, notified by a letter addressed to the bishops
+of the empire.[47]
+
+The emperor Mauritius, having broken his league with the Avari, a
+Scythian {578} nation, then settled on the banks of the Danube,[48] was
+defeated, and obliged to purchase an ignominious peace. He also refused
+to ransom the prisoners they had taken, though they asked at first only
+a golden penny a head, and at last only a sixth part, or four farthings;
+which refusal so enraged the barbarians, that they put them all to the
+sword. Mauritius began then to be stung with remorse, gave large alms,
+and prayed that God would rather punish him in this life than in the
+next. His prayer was heard. His avarice and extortions had rendered him
+odious to all his subjects; and, in 602, he ordered the army to take
+winter quarters in the enemy's country, and to subsist on freebooting,
+without pay. The soldiers, exasperated at this treatment, chose one
+Phocas, a daring ambitious man, to be their leader, and marched to
+Constantinople, where he was crowned emperor. Mauritius had made his
+escape, but was taken with his family thirty miles out of the city, and
+brought back. His five sons were slain before his eyes at Chalcedon: he
+repeated all the while as a true penitent these words: "Thou art just, O
+Lord, and thy judgments are righteous."[49] When the nurse offered her
+own child instead of his youngest, he would not suffer it. Last of all
+he himself was massacred, after a reign of twenty years. His empress,
+Constantina, was confined with her three daughters, and murdered with
+them a few months after. The tyrant was slain by Heraclius, governor of
+Africa, after a tottering reign of eight years. When Phocas mounted the
+throne, his images were received and set up at Rome: nor could St.
+Gregory, for the sake of the public good, omit writing to him letters of
+congratulation.[50] In them he makes some compliments to Phocas, which
+are not so much praises as respectful exhortations to a tyrant in power,
+and wishes of the public liberty, peace, and happiness.[51] The saint
+nowhere approved his injustices or tyranny, though he regarded him, like
+Jehu, as the instrument of God to punish other sinners. He blamed
+Mauritius, but in things truly blameable; and drew from his punishment a
+seasonable occasion of wholesome advice which he gave to Phocas, whom
+the public safety of all Italy obliged him not to exasperate.
+
+This holy pope had labored many years under a great weakness of his
+breast and stomach, and was afflicted with slow fevers, and frequent
+fits of the gout, which once confined him to his bed two whole years. On
+the 25th of January, 604, he gave to the church of St. Paul several
+parcels of land to furnish it with lights: the act of donation remains
+to this day engraved on a marble stone in the same church. God called
+him to himself on the 12th of March, the same year, about the
+sixty-fourth of his age, after he had governed the church thirteen
+years, six months, and ten days. His pallium, the reliquary which he
+wore about his neck, and his girdle, were preserved long after his
+death, when John the deacon wrote, who describes his picture drawn from
+the life, then to be seen in the monastery of St. Andrew.[52] His holy
+remains rest in the Vatican church. Both the Greek and Latins honor his
+name. The council of Clif, or Cloveshove, under archbishop Cuthbert, in
+747, commanded his feast to be observed a holyday in all the monasteries
+in England; which the council of Oxford, in 1222, {579} extended to the
+whole kingdom. This law subsisted till the change of religion.[53]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every superior, who is endued with the sincere spirit of humility and
+charity, looks upon himself with this great hope, as the servant of all,
+bound to labor and watch night and day, to bear every kind of affront,
+to suffer all manner of pains, to do all in his power, to put on every
+shape, and sacrifice his own ease and life to procure the spiritual
+improvement of the least of those who are committed to his charge. He is
+incapable of imperious haughtiness, which alienates the minds of
+inferiors, and renders their obedience barely exterior and a forced
+hypocrisy. His commands are tender entreaties, and if he is obliged to
+extend his authority, this he does with secret repugnance, losing sight
+of himself, intent only on God's honor and his neighbor's salvation,
+placing himself in spirit beneath all his subjects, and all mankind, and
+esteeming himself the last of all creatures. St. Paul, though vested
+with the most sublime authority, makes use of terms so mild and so
+powerfully ravishing, that they must melt the hardest heart. Instead of
+commanding in the name of God, see how he usually expresses himself: "I
+entreat you, O Timothy, by the love which you bear me. I conjure you, by
+the bowels of Jesus Christ. I beseech you, by the meekness of Christ. If
+you love me, do this." And see how he directs us to reprove those who
+sin: "If any one should fall, do you who are spiritual remind him in
+that spirit of meekness, remembering that you may also fall," and into a
+more grievous crime. St. Peter, who had received the keys of the kingdom
+of heaven, shed more tears of tender charity than he speaks words. What
+heart can be so savage and unnatural, as to refuse to obey him who,
+having authority to lay injunctions, and thunder out anathemas, weeps
+instead of commanding. If SS. Peter and Paul pour out the water of tears
+and mildness, St. John casts darts of fire into the hearts of those whom
+he commands. "My little children," says he, "if you love Christ, do
+this. I conjure you, by Christ, our good Master, love affectionately,
+and this is enough. Love will teach you what to do. The unction of the
+Holy Ghost will instruct you." This is the true spirit of governing; a
+method sure to gain the hearts of others, and to inspire them with a
+love of the precept itself and of virtue. St. Macarius of Egypt was
+styled the god of the monks, so affectionately and readily was he obeyed
+by them, because he never spoke a word with anger or impatience. Moses
+was chosen by God to be the leader and legislator of his people, because
+he was the meekest of men: and with what astonishing patience did he
+bear the murmurs and rebellions of an ungrateful and stiff-necked
+people! David's meekness towards Saul and others purchased him the
+crown, and was one of the principal virtues by which he was rendered a
+king according to God's own heart. Those who command with imperious
+authority show they are puffed up with the empty wind of pride, which
+makes them feel an inordinate pleasure in the exercise of power, the
+seed of tyranny, and the bane of virtue in their souls. Anger and
+impatience, which are more dangerous, because usually canonized under
+the name of zeal, demonstrate persons to be very ill-qualified for
+governing others, who are not masters of themselves or their own
+passions. How few are so crucified to themselves, and so perfectly
+grounded in humility, {580} patience, meekness, and charity, that power
+and authority infect not their souls with the deadly poison of secret
+pride, or in whom no hurry, importunity, or perverseness can extinguish
+the spirit of meekness, in which, in all occurrences, they preserve the
+same evenness of mind, and the same angelical sweetness of countenance.
+Yet with this they are sons of thunder in resisting evil, and in
+watching against all the artifices of the most subtle and flattering
+passions of sinners, and are firm and inflexible in opposing every step
+towards any dangerous relaxation. St. Gregory, by his whole conduct,
+sets us an example of this perfect humility and meekness, which he
+requires as an essential qualification in every pastor, and in all who
+are placed over others.[54] He no less excelled in learning, with which,
+he says, that humility must be accompanied, lest the pastor should lead
+others astray. But above all other qualities for the pastoral charge, he
+requires an eminent gift of prayer and contemplation. Præ cæteris
+contemplatione suspensus. Pastor. Cura, part 2, c. 5.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Annot. at the end of his life, p. 580 {original footnote has
+    incorrect page reference} infra.
+2.  Dial. l. 3, c. 33.
+3.  Hist. b. 2, c. 1.
+4.  Bede adds, that he again asked, what was the name of that nation,
+    and was answered, that they were called Angli or Angles. "Right,"
+    said he, "for they have angelical faces, and it becomes such to be
+    companions with the angels in heaven. What is the name (proceeded
+    he) of the province from which they are brought?" It was replied,
+    that the natives of that were called Deiri. "Truly Deiri, because
+    withdrawn from wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ," said he,
+    alluding to the Latin, De irâ Dei eruti. He asked further, "How is
+    the king of that province called?" They him that his name was All{}
+    and he making an allusion to the word, said: "Alleluiah, the praise
+    of God the Creator, must be sung in those parts." Some censure this
+    conversation of St. Gregory as a piece of low punning. But the taste
+    of that age must be considered. St. Austin found it necessary to
+    play sometimes with words to please auditors whose ears had, by
+    custom, caught an itch to be sometimes tickled by quibbles to their
+    fancy. The ingenious author of the late life of the lord chancellor
+    Bacon, thought custom an apology for the most vicious style of that
+    great man, of whom he writes: "His style has been objected to as
+    full of affectation, full of false eloquence. But that was the vice,
+    not of the man, but of the times he lived in; and particularly of a
+    court that delighted in the tinsel of wit and learning, in the poor
+    ingenuity of punning and quibbling." St. Gregory was a man of a fine
+    genius and of true learning: yet in familiar converse might confirm
+    to the taste of the age. Far from censuring his wit, or the judgment
+    of his historian, we ought to admire his piety, which, from every
+    circumstance, even from words, drew allusions to nourish devotion,
+    and turn the heart to God. This we observe in other saints, and if
+    it be a fault, we might more justly censure on this account the
+    elegant epistles of St. Paulinus, or Sulpitius Severus, than this
+    dialogue of St. Gregory.
+5.  Eutychius had formerly defended the Catholic faith with at zeal
+    against the Eutychians and the errors of the emperor Justinian, who,
+    though he condemned those heretics, yet adopted one part of their
+    blasphemies, asserting that Christ assumed a body which was by its
+    own nature incorruptible, not formed of the Blessed Virgin, and
+    subject to pain, hunger, or alteration only by a miracle. This was
+    called the heresy of the Incorrupticolæ, of which Justinian declared
+    himself the abetter; and, after many great exploits to retrieve the
+    ancient glory of the empire, tarnished his reputation by persecuting
+    the Catholic Church and banishing Eutychius.
+6.  St. Greg. Moral. l. 14, c. 76, t. 1, p. 465.
+7.  He died in 582 and is ranked by the Greeks among the saints. See the
+    Bollandists in vitâ S. Eutychil ad 6 Apr.
+8.  Fleury thinks he was chosen abbot before his embassy to
+    Constantinople; but Ceillier and others prove, that this only
+    happened after his return.
+9.  It appears from the life of St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch, from St.
+    Ambrose's funeral oration on Valentinian, and other monuments, that
+    it was the custom, from the primitive ages, to keep the third,
+    seventh, and thirtieth, or sometimes fortieth day after the decease
+    of a Christian, with solemn prayers and sacrifices for the departed
+    soul. From this fact of St. Gregory, a trental of masses for a soul
+    departed are usually called the Gregorian masses, on which see
+    Gavant and others.
+10. Dial. l. 4, c. 55, p. 465, t. 2.
+11. It is inserted by St. Gregory of Tours in his history. Greg. Touron.
+    l. 10 c. 1.
+12. Some moderns say, an angel was seen sheathing his sword on the
+    stately pile of Adrian's sepulchre. But no such circumstance is
+    mentioned by St. Gregory of Tours, Bede, Paul, or John.
+13. Paul the deacon says, it was by a pillar of light appearing over the
+    place where he lay concealed.
+14. L. 1, ep. 21, l. 7, ep. 4.
+15. L. 1, ep. 25.
+16. L. 1, ep. 5, p. 491.
+17. L. 1, ep. 6, p. 498.
+18. Conc. 3, Touron. can. 3. See Dom Bulteau's Preface to his French
+    translation of S. Gregory's Pastoral, printed in 1629.
+19. He reformed the Sacramentary, or Missal and Ritual of the Roman
+    church. In the letters of SS. Innocent I., Celestine I., and St.
+    Leo, we find mention made of a written Roman Order of the mass: in
+    this the essential parts were always the same; but accidental
+    alterations in certain prayers have been made Pope Gelasius thus
+    augmented and revised the liturgy, in 490; his genuine Sacramentary
+    was published at Rome by Thomasi, in 1680. In it are mentioned the
+    public veneration of the cross on Good Friday, the solemn
+    benediction of the holy oils, the ceremonies of baptism, frequent
+    invocation of saints, veneration shown to their relics, the
+    benediction of holy water, votive masses for travellers, for the
+    sick and the dead, masses on festivals of saints, and the like. The
+    Sacramentary of St. Gregory, differs from that of Gelasius only in
+    some collects or prayers. The conformity between the present church
+    office and the ancient appears from this work, and the saint's
+    Antiphonarius and Responsorium. The like ceremonies and benedictions
+    are found in the apostolic constitutions, and all other ancient
+    liturgic writings; out of which Grabe, Hickes, Deacon, and others
+    have formed new liturgies very like the present Roman, and several
+    of them have restored the idea of a true sacrifice. Dom Menard has
+    enriched the Sacramentary of St. Gregory with most learned and
+    curious notes.
+
+    Besides his Comments or Morals on the book of Job, which he wrote at
+    Constantinople, about the year 582, in which we are not to look for
+    an exposition of the text, but an excellent compilation of the main
+    principles of morality, and an interior life, we have his exposition
+    of Ezekiel, in twenty-two homilies. These were taken in short hand
+    as he pronounced them, and were preached by him at Rome, in 592,
+    when Ag{}ulph the Lombard was laying waste the whole territory of
+    Rome. See l. 2, in Ezech. hom. 6, and Paul the deacon, l. 4, hist.
+    Longob. c. 8. The exposition of the text is allegorical, and only
+    intended for ushering in {} moral reflections, which are much
+    shorter than in the books on Job. His forty homilies on the gospels
+    he preached on several solemnities while he was pope. His
+    incomparable book, On the Pastoral Care, which is an excellent
+    instruction of pastors, and was drawn up by him when he saw himself
+    placed in the pontificate, consists of four parts. In the first he
+    treats of the dispositions requisite in one who is called to the
+    pastoral charge; in the second of duties of a pastor; in the third
+    on the instruction which he owes to his flock; and, in the fourth,
+    on his obligation of watching over his own heart, and of diligent
+    self-examination. In four books of dialogues, between himself and
+    his disciple Peter, he recounts the miracles of his own times, upon
+    the authority of vouchers, on whose veracity he thought he could
+    rely. He so closely adheres to their relations, that the style is
+    much lower than in his other writings. See the preface of the
+    Benedictin editor on this work. His letters are published in
+    fourteen books, and are a very interesting compilation. We have St.
+    Gregory's excellent exposition of the Book of Canticles, which
+    Ceillier proves to be genuine against Oudin, the apostate, and some
+    others. The six books on the first book of Kings are valuable work
+    but cannot be ascribed to St. Gregory the Great. The commentary on
+    the seven penitential psalms Ceillier thinks to be his work: but it
+    seems doubtful. Paterius, a notary, one of St. Gregory's auditors,
+    compiled, out of his writings and sermons, several comments on the
+    scriptures. Claudius, abbot of Classius, a disciple of our saint,
+    did the same. Alulphus, a monk at Tournay, in the eleventh and
+    twelfth centuries, made the like compilations from his writings. Dom
+    Dionysius of St. Marthe, a Maurist Benedictin monk, favored the world
+    with an accurate edition of the works of St. Gregory the Great,
+    published at Paris in four volumes folio, in 1705. This has been
+    reprinted at Verona and again at Ausburg, in 1758, with the addition
+    of the useful anonymous book, De formula Prælatorum.
+20. L. 6, Ep. 35.
+21. L. 7, Ep. 26.
+22. Animæ nostra pericula, l. 1, Ep. 14.
+23. L. 1, Ep. 35, &c.
+24. L. 1, Ep. 35.
+25. L. 7, Ep. 5, l. 12, Ep. 30.
+26. L. 4, Ep. 47.
+27. Præf. in Dial.
+28. L. 9, Ep. 22.
+29. L. 2, Ep. 121.
+30. L. 12, Ep. 24.
+31. The Lombards came originally from Scandinavia, and settled first in
+    Pomerania, and afterwards with the Hunns in Pannonia, who had
+    remained there when they returned out of Italy under Attila. Narses,
+    the patrician, after having governed Italy sixteen years with great
+    glory, was recalled by the emperor Justin the Younger. But resenting
+    this treatment, he invited the Lombards into that country. Those
+    barbarians leaving Pannonia to the Hunns, entered Italy, easily made
+    themselves masters of Milan, under their king Alboinus, in 568; and
+    extending their dominions, often threatened Rome itself. In the reign
+    of Charles the Fat, the Hunns were expelled Pannonia by the Hongres,
+    another swarm from the same northern hive, akin to the Hunns, who
+    gave to that kingdom the name of Hungary. That the Lombards were so
+    called, not from their long swords, as some have pretended, but from
+    their long beards, see demonstrated from the express testimony of
+    Paul the Deacon, himself a Lombard of Constantine Porphyrogenetta,
+    by Jos. Assemani. Hist. Ital. scriptor. t. 1, c. 3, p. 33.
+32. Paul Diac. de Gest Longobard. l. 4, c. 8. S. Greg. l. 2, Ep. 46.
+33. L. 5. Ep. 41.
+34. L. 4, Ep. 30.
+35. Sublatâ exinde, quâ par est veneratione, imagine et cruce. L. 9,
+Ep. 6, p. 930.
+36. L. 9, Ep. 6, p. 930.
+37. L. 14, Ep. 12, p. 1270.
+38. These words are quoted by Paul the deacon, in the council of Rome,
+Conc. t. 6, p. 1462, and pope Adrian I., in his letter to Charlemagne
+in defence of holy images.
+39. L. 11, Ep. 13.
+40. L. 3, Ep. 56; l. 3, Ep. 53; l. 9, Ep. 59; l. 6, Ep. 66; l. 7,
+Ep. 19; l. 5, Ep. 20.
+41. St. Gregory was always a zealous asserter of the celibacy of the
+    clergy, which law he extended also to subdeacons, who had before
+    been ranked among the clergy of the Minor orders, (l. 1, ep. 44, l.
+    4, Ep. 34.) The Centuriators, Heylin, and others, mention a forged
+    letter, under the name of Udalrirus, said to be written to pope
+    Nicholas, concerning the heads of children found by St. Gregory in a
+    pond. But a smore ridiculous fable was never invented, as is
+    demonstrated from many inconsistencies of that forged letter: and
+    St. Gregory in his epistles everywhere mentions the law of the
+    celibacy of the clergy as ancient and inviolable. Nor was any pope
+    Nicholas contemporary with St. Udalricus. See Baronius and Dom de
+    {Sainte} Marthe, in his life of St. Gregory.
+42. L. 3, Ep. 29; l. 5, Ep. 13.
+43. L. 6, Ep. 15, 16, 17.
+44. L. 11, Ep. 28; olim 58, p. 1180, &c.
+45. L. 7, Ep. 25.
+46. Some Protestants slander St. Gregory, as if by this publication of
+    the imperial edict he had concurred to what he condemned as contrary
+    to the divine law. Dr. Mercier, in his letter in favor of a law
+    commanding silence, with regard to the constitution Unigenitus in
+    France, in 1759, pretends that this holy pope thought obedience to
+    the emperor a duty even in things of a like nature. But Dr. Launay,
+    Réponse à la Lettre d'un Docteur de Sorbunne, partie 2, p. 51, and
+    Dr. N., Examen de la Lettre d'un Docteur de Sorboune sur la
+    nécessité de garder In silence sur la Constitution Unigenitus, p.
+    33, t. 1, demonstrate that St. Gregory regarded the matter, as it
+    really is, merely as a point of discipline, and nowhere says the
+    edict was contrary to the divine law, but only not agreeable to God,
+    and tending to prejudice the interest of his greater glory. In
+    matters of faith or essential obligation, he calls forth the zeal
+    and fortitude of prelates to stand upon their guard as opposing
+    unjust laws, even to martyrdom, as the same authors demonstrate.
+47. Ep. 55.
+48. Theophanes Chronogr.
+49. Ps. 118.
+50. L. 13, ep. 31, 38.
+51. We say the same of the compliments which he paid to the impious
+    French queen Brunehault, at which lord Bolingbroke takes offence;
+    but a respect is due to persons in power. St. Gregory nowhere
+    flatters their vices, but admonishes by compliments those who could
+    not be approached without them. Thus did St. Paul address Agrippa
+    and Festas, &c. In refusing the sacraments of the church to
+    impenitent wicked princes, and in checking their crimes by
+    seasonable remonstrances, St. Gregory was always ready to exert the
+    zeal of a Baptist: as he opposed the unjust projects of Mauritius,
+    so would he have done those of Phocas when in his power.
+52. The antiquarian will read with pleasure the curious notes of Angelus
+    Rocca, and the {}enedic{ons on} the pictures of St. Gregory and his
+    parents, and on this holy pope's pious donations.
+53. St. Gregory gave St. Austin a small library which was kept in his
+    monastery at Canterbury. Of it there still remain a book of the
+    gospels in the Bodleian library, and another in that of
+    Corpus-Christi in Cambridge. The other books were psalters, the
+    Pastorals, the Passionarium Sanctorium, and the like. See Mr.
+    Wauley, in his catalogue of S{} on manuscripts, at the end of Dr.
+    Hickes's Thesaurus, p. 172. Many rich vestments, vessels, relics,
+    and a pall given by St. Gregory to St. Austin, were kept in the same
+    monastery. Their original inventory, drawn up by Thomas of Elmham,
+    in the reign of Henry V., is preserved in the Harleian library, and
+    published by the learned lady, Mrs. E. Elstob, at the end of a Saxon
+    panegyric on St. Gregory.
+54. Gregor. M. in l. 1. Reg. c. 16, v. 3 and 9.
+
+ANNOTATION
+
+ON
+
+THE LIFE OF ST. GREGORY.
+
+BARONIUS thinks that his monastery of Saint Andrew's followed the rule
+of St. Equitius, because its first abbots were drawn out of his
+province, Valeria. On another side, Dom Ma-billon (t. 1. Actor. Sanct. &
+t. 2, Analect. and Annal. Bened. l, 6,) maintains that it followed the
+rule of St. Benedict, which St. Gregory often commends and prefers to all
+other rules. His colleagues, in their life of St. Gregory, Natalis
+Alexander, in his Church History, and others, have written to support
+the same opinion: who all, with Mabillon, borrow all their arguments
+from the learned English Benedictin, Clemens Reynerus, in his
+Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia. Others object that St. Gregory in
+his epistles ordains many things contrary to the rule of St. Benedict,
+and think he who has written so much concerning St. Benedict, would have
+mentioned by some epithet the circumstance of being his disciple, and
+would have called the rule of that patriarch his own. These antiquaries
+judge it most probable that the monastery of St. Andrew had its own rule
+prescribed by the first founders, and borrowed from different places:
+for this was the ordinary method of most monasteries in the west, till
+afterwards the rule of St. Benedict was universally received for better
+uniformity and discipline: to which the just commendations of St.
+Gregory doubtless contributed.
+
+F. Clement Reyner, in the above-mentioned book, printed at Doway, in
+folio, in 1626, displays much erudition in endeavoring to prove that St.
+Austin, and the other monks sent by Saint Gregory to convert the
+English, professed the order of St. Benedict. Mabillon borrows his
+arguments on this subject in his preface to the Acts of the Benedictins,
+against the celebrated Sir John Marsham, who, in his long preface to the
+Monasticon, sets himself to show that the first English monks followed
+rules instituted by their own abbots, often gleaned out of many. Dr.
+Hickes confirms this assertion against Mabillon with great erudition,
+(Diss. pp. 67, 68,) which is espoused by Dr. Tanner, bishop of St.
+Asaph's, in his preface to nis exact Notitia Monastica, by the author of
+Biographia Britannica, in the life of Bede, t. 1, p. 656, and by the
+judicious William Thomas, in his additions to the new edition of
+Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, (t. 1, p. 157.) These authors
+think that the rule of St. Benedict was not generally received by the
+English monks before the regulations of St. Dunstan; nor perfectly till
+after the Norman conquest. For pope Constantine, in 709, in the bull
+wherein he establishes the rule of St. Benedict to be followed in the
+abbey of Evesham, says of it: "Which does not prevail in those parts."
+"Quæ minus in illis partibus habetur." In 747, Cuthbert archbishop of
+Canterbury, in a synod held in presence of Ethelbaid, king of the
+Mercians, at Cloveshove, (which town some place in Kent, others more
+probably in Mercia, about Reading,) published Monastic Constitutions,
+which were {581} followed by the English monks till the time of St.
+Dunstan. In these we find no mention of the rule of Saint Benedict; nor
+in Bede. The charter of king Ethelbald which mentions the Black monks,
+is a manifest forgery. Even that name was not known before the
+institution of the Camaldulenses, in 1020, and the Carthusians, who
+distinguished themselves by white habits. Dom Mege, in his commentary on
+the rule of St. Benedict, shows that the first Benedictins wore white,
+not black. John of Glastenbury, and others, published by Hearne, who
+call the apostles of the English Black Monks, are too modern, unless
+they produce some ancient vouchers. The monastery of Evesham adopted the
+rule of Saint Benedict, in 709. St. Bennet Biscop and St. Wilfrid both
+improved the monastic order in the houses which they founded, from the
+rule of St. Benedict, at least borrowing some constitutions from it. The
+devastations of the Danes scarce left a convent of monks standing in
+England, except those of Glastenbury and Abingdon, which was their state
+in the days of king Alfred, as Leland observes. St. Dunstan, St. Oswald,
+and St. Ethelwold, restored the monasteries, and propagated exceedingly
+the monastic state. St. Oswald had professed the order of Saint Benedict
+in France, in the monastery of Fleury; and, together with the aforesaid
+two bishops, he established the same in a great measure in England. St.
+Dunstan published a uniform rule for the monasteries of this nation,
+entitled, Regularis Concordiæ Anglicæ Nationis, extant in Reyner, and
+Spelman, (in Spicilegio ad Eadmerum, p. 145,) in which he adopts, in a
+great measure, the rule of St. Benedict, joining with it many ancient
+monastic customs. Even after the Norman conquest, the synod of London,
+under Lanfranc, in 1075, says the regulations of monks were drawn from
+the rule of St. Bennet and the ancient custom of regular places, as
+Baronius takes notice, which seems to imply former distinct institutes.
+From that time down to the dissolution, all the cathedral priories,
+except that of Carlisle, and most of the rich abbeys in England, were
+held by monks of the Benedictin order. See Dr. Brown Willis, in his
+separate histories of Cathedral Priories, Mitred Abbeys, &c.
+
+ST. MAXIMILIAN, M.
+
+HE was the son of Victor, a Christian soldier in Numidia. According to
+the law which obliged the sons of soldiers to serve in the army at the
+age of twenty-one years, his measure was taken, that he might be
+enrolled in the troops, and he was found to be of due stature, being
+five Roman feet and ten inches high,[1] that is, about five feet and a
+half of our measure. But Maximilian refused to receive the mark, which
+was a print on the band, and a leaden collar about the neck, on which
+were engraved the name and motto of the emperor. His plea was, that in
+the Roman army superstitions, contrary to the Christian faith, were
+often practised, with which he could not defile his soul. Being
+condemned by the proconsul to lose his head, he met death with joy in
+the year 296. See his acts in Ruinart.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Tr. ur la Milice Romaine, t. 1.
+
+ST. PAUL, BISHOP OF LEON, C.
+
+HE was a noble Briton, a native of Cornwall, cousin of St. Samson, and
+his fellow-disciple under St. Iltutus. We need no other proof of his
+wonderful fervor and progress in virtue, and all the exercises of a
+monastic life, than the testimony of St. Iltutus, by whose advice St.
+Paul left the monastery to embrace more perfect eremetical life in a
+retired place in the same country. Some time after, our saint sailing
+from Cornwall, passed into Armorica, and continued the same austere
+eremitical life in a small island on the coast of the Osismians, a
+barbarous idolatrous people in Armorica, or Little Britain. Prayer and
+contemplation were his whole employment, and bread and water his only
+food, except on great festivals, on which he took {582} with his bread a
+few little fish. The saint, commiserating the blindness of the pagan
+inhabitants on the coast, passed over to the continent, and instructed
+them in the faith. Withur, count or governor of Bas, and all that coast,
+seconded by king Childebert, procured his ordination to the episcopal
+dignity, notwithstanding his tears to prevent it. Count Withur, who
+resided in the Isle of Bas, bestowed his own house on the saint to be
+converted into a monastery; and St. Paul placed in it certain fervent
+monks, who had accompanied him from Wales and Cornwall. He was himself
+entirely taken up in his pastoral functions, and his diligence in
+acquitting himself of every branch of his obligations was equal to his
+apprehension of their weight. When he had completed the conversion of
+that country, he resigned his bishopric to a disciple, and retired into
+the isle of Bas, where he died in holy solitude, on the 12th of March,
+about the year 573, near one hundred years old.[1] During the inroads of
+the Normans, his relics were removed to the abbey of Fleury, or St.
+Bennet's on the Loire, but were lost when the Calvinists plundered that
+church. Leon, the ancient city of the Osismians, in which he fixed his
+see, takes his name. His festival occurs in the ancient breviary of
+Leon, on the 10th of October, perhaps the day of the translation of his
+relics. For in the ancient breviary of Nantes, and most others, he is
+honored on the 12th of March. See Le Cointe's Annals, the Bollandists on
+this day, and Lobineau in the Lives of the Saints of Brittany, from his
+acts compiled by a monk of Fleury, about the close of the tenth century.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Paul was ordained priest before he left Great Britain, about the
+    year 530. The little island on the coast of Armorica, where he chose
+    his first abode in France, was called Medonia, and seems to the
+    present Molene, situated between the isle of Ushant and the coast.
+    The first oratory which he built on the continent, very near this
+    islands seems to be the church called from him Lan-Pol.
+
+
+MARCH XIII.
+
+ST. NICEPHORUS, C.
+
+PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
+
+From his life by Ignatius, deacon of Constantinople, afterwards bishop
+of Nice, a contemporary author; and from the relation of his banishment
+by Theophanes. See Fleury, l. 45, 46, 47. Ceillier, t. 18, p. 487.
+
+A.D. 828.
+
+THEODORUS, the father of our saint, was secretary to the emperor
+Constantine Copronymus: but when that tyrant declared himself a
+persecutor of the Catholic church, the faithful minister, remembering
+that we are bound to obey God rather than man, maintained the honor due
+to holy images with so much zeal, that he was stripped of his honors,
+scourged, tortured, and banished. The young Nicephorus was from his
+cradle animated to the practice of virtue by the domestic example of his
+father: and in his education, as his desires of improvement were great,
+and the instructions he had very good, the progress he made was as
+considerable; till, by the maturity of his age, and of his study, he
+made his appearance in the world. When Constantine and Irene were placed
+on the imperial throne, and restored the Catholic faith, our saint was
+quickly introduced to their notice, and by his merits attained a large
+share in their favor. He was by them advanced to his father's {583}
+dignity, and, by the lustre of his sanctity, was the ornament of the
+court, and the support of the state. He distinguished himself by his
+zeal against the Iconoclasts, and was secretary to the second council of
+Nice. After the death of St. Tarasius, 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 which he had written in
+defence of holy images, and after the ceremony 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 began to
+consider how a total reformation of manners might be wrought, and his
+precepts from the pulpit received a double force from the example he set
+to others in an humble comportment, and steady uniform practice of
+eminent piety.[1] He applied himself with unwearied diligence to all the
+duties of the ministry; and, by his zealous labors and invincible
+meekness and patience, kept virtue in countenance, and stemmed the tide
+of iniquity. But these glorious successes rendered him not so
+conspicuous as the constancy with which he despised the frowns of
+tyrants, and suffered persecution for the sake of justice.
+
+The government having changed hands, the patrician Leo the Armenian,
+governor of Natolia, became emperor in 813, and being himself an
+Iconoclast, endeavored both by artifices and open violence to establish
+that heresy. He studied in the first place, by crafty suggestions, to
+gain over the holy patriarch to favor his design. But St. 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 by an inconsistency usual in error,
+they condemned the like relative honor with regard to holy images. The
+saint showed, that far from derogating from the supreme honor of God, we
+honor him when for his sake we pay a subordinate respect to his angels,
+saints, prophets, and ministers: also when we give a relative inferior
+honor to inanimate things which belong to his service, as sacred
+vessels, churches, and images. But the tyrant was fixed in his errors,
+which he at first endeavored to propagate by stratagems. He therefore
+privately encouraged soldiers to treat contemptuously an image of Christ
+which was on a great cross at the brazen gate of the city; and thence
+took occasion to order the image to be taken off the cross, pretending
+he did it to prevent a second profanation. Saint Nicephorus saw the
+storm gathering, and spent most of his time in prayer with several holy
+bishops and abbots. Shortly after, the emperor, having assembled
+together certain Iconoclast bishops in his palace, sent for the
+patriarch and his fellow-bishops. They obeyed the summons, but entreated
+his majesty to leave the government of the church to its pastors.
+Emilian, 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 Sardes said: "For these
+eight hundred years past, since the coming of Christ, there have been
+always pictures of him, and he has been honored in them. Who shall now
+have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition?" St. Theodorus, the
+Studite, spoke after the bishops, and said to the emperor: "My Lord, do
+not disturb the order of the church. God hath placed in it apostles,
+prophets, pastors, and teachers.[2] You he hath intrusted with the care
+of the state; but leave the church to its pastors." The emperor, {584}
+in a rage, drove them from his presence. Sometime after, the Iconoclast
+bishops held a pretended council in the imperial palace, and cited the
+patriarch to appear before them. To their summons he returned this
+answer: "Who gave you this authority? was it the pope, or any of the
+patriarchs? In my diocese you have no jurisdiction." He then read the
+canon which declares those excommunicated who presume to exercise any
+act of jurisdiction in the diocese of another bishop. They, however,
+proceeded to pronounce against him a mock sentence of deposition; and
+the holy pastor, after several attempts made secretly to take away his
+life, was sent by the emperor into banishment. Michael the Stutterer,
+who in 820 succeeded Leo in the imperial throne, was engaged in the same
+heresy, and also a persecutor of our saint, who died in his exile, on
+the 2d of June, in the monastery of St. Theodorus, which he had built in
+the year 828, the fourteenth of his banishment, being about seventy
+years old. By the order of the empress Theodora, his body was brought to
+Constantinople with great pomp, in 848, on the 13th of March, on which
+day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology.[3]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is by a wonderful effect of his most gracious mercy and singular
+love, that God is pleased to visit all his faithful servants with severe
+trials, and to purify their virtue in the crucible, that by being
+exercised it may be made heroic and perfect. By suffering with patience,
+and in a Christian spirit, a soul makes higher and quicker advances in
+pure love, than by any other means or by any other good works. Let no
+one then repine, if by sickness, persecution, or disgraces, they are
+hindered from doing the good actions which they desire, or rendered
+incapable of discharging the duties of their station, or of laboring to
+convert others. God always knows what is best for us and others: we may
+safely commend to him his own cause, and all souls, which are dearer to
+him than they can be to us. By this earnest prayer and perfect sacrifice
+of ourselves to God, we shall more effectually draw upon ourselves the
+divine mercy than by any endeavors of our own. Let us leave to God the
+choice of his instruments and means in the salvation of others. As to
+ourselves, it is our duty to give him what he requires of us: nor can we
+glorify him by any sacrifice either greater or more honorable, and more
+agreeable to him, than that of a heart under the heaviest pressure, ever
+submissive to him, embracing with love and joy every order of his
+wisdom, and placing its entire happiness and comfort in the
+accomplishment of his adorable most holy will. The great care of a
+Christian in this state, in order to sanctify his sufferings, must be to
+be constantly {585} united to God, and to employ his affections in the
+most fervent interior exercises of entire sacrifice and resignation, of
+confidence, love, praise, adoration, penance, and compunction, which he
+excites by suitable aspirations.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The Confession of Faith which, upon his promotion, he sent to pope
+    Leo III., is published by Baronius ad an. 811 and in the seventh
+    tome of Labbe's councils, &c. In it the saint gives a clear
+    exposition of the principal mysteries of faith, of the invocation of
+    saints, and the veneration due to relics and holy images.
+2.  Eph. iv. 11.
+3.  St. Nicephorus has left us a chronicle from the beginning of the
+    world: of which the best editions are that of F. Goar, with the
+    chronicle of George Syncellus at Paris, in 1652, and that of Venice
+    among the Byzantine historians, in 1729. Also a short history from
+    the reign of Mauritius to that of Constantine and Irene, published
+    at Paris, in 1616, by F. Petau; and reprinted among the Byzantine
+    historians, at Paris, in 1649, and again at Venice, in 1729. The
+    style is justly commended by Photius. (col. 66.) The seventeen
+    canons of St. Nicephorus are extant in the collection of the
+    councils, t. 7, p. 1297, &c. In the second he declares it unlawful
+    to travel on Sundays without necessity. Cotelier has published four
+    others of this saint, with five of the foregoing, and his letter to
+    Hilarion and Eustrasius, containing learned resolutions of several
+    cases. (Monum. Græc. t. 3, p. 451.) St. Nicephorus wrote several
+    learned tracts against the Iconoclasts, as three Antirrhetics or
+    Confutations, &c. Some of these are printed in the Library of the
+    Fathers, and F. Combefis's Supplement or Auctuarium, t. 1, in
+    Canisius's Lectiones Antiquæ, republished by Basnage, part 2, &c.
+    But a great number are only found in MSS. in the libraries of
+    England, Paris, and Rome. The saint often urges that the Iconoclasts
+    condemned themselves by allowing veneration to the cross, for the
+    image of Christ upon the cross is more than the bare cross. In the
+    second Antirrhetic he most evidently establishes the real presence
+    of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist; which passage is quoted by
+    Leo Allatius. (l. 3, de Consens. Ecclesiæ Occident. et Orient. c.
+    15, p. 1223.) He does the same almost in the same words, l. de
+    Cherubinis a Moyse Factis, c. 7, apud Canis. t. 2, ed. Basm. part 2,
+    p. 19, & t. 9, Bibl. Patr. Three Antirrhetics are entitled, against
+    Mamonas (i. e. Constantine Copronytnus) and the Iconoclasts. A
+    fourth was written by him against Eusebius and Epiphanides to prove
+    that Eusebius of Cæsarea was an obstinate Arian, and Epiphanides a
+    favorer of Manicheism, and a very different person from St.
+    Epiphanius of Salamine. F. Anselm Bauduri, a Benedictin monk of
+    Ragusa, undertook at Paris a complete edition of the works of St.
+    Nicephorus, in two volumes in folio: but his death prevented the
+    publication. His learned Prospectus, dated in the monastery of St.
+    Germain-des-Prez, in 1785, is inserted by Fabricius in Biblioth. Gr.
+    t. 6, p. 640, and in part by Oudin, de Scrip. t. 2, p. 13.
+
+ST. EUPHRASIA, V.
+
+ANTIGONUS, the father of this saint, was a nobleman of the first rank
+and quality in the court of Theodosius the younger, nearly allied in
+blood to that emperor, and honored by him with several great employments
+in the state. He was married to Euphrasia, a ladv no less illustrious
+for her birth and virtue, by whom he had one only daughter and heiress,
+called also Euphrasia, the saint of whom we treat. After her birth, her
+pious parents, by mutual consent, engaged themselves by vow, to pass the
+remainder of their lives in perpetual continence, that they might more
+perfectly aspire to the invisible joys of the life to come; and from
+that time they lived together as brother and sister, in the exercises of
+devotion, alms-deeds, and penance. Antigonus died within a year, and the
+holy widow, to shun the importunate addresses of young suitors for
+marriage, and the distraction of friends, not long after withdrew
+privately, with her little daughter, into Egypt, where she was possessed
+of a very large estate. In that country she fixed her abode near a holy
+monastery of one hundred and thirty nuns, who never used any other food
+than herbs and pulse, which they took only after sunset, and some only
+once in two or three days; they wore and slept on sackcloth, wrought
+with their hands, and prayed almost without interruption. When sick,
+they bore their pains with patience, esteeming them an effect of the
+divine mercy, and thanking God for the same: nor did they seek relief
+from physicians, except in cases of absolute necessity, and then only
+allowed of ordinary general remedies, as the monks of La Trappe do at
+this day. Delicate and excessive attention to health nourishes self-love
+and immortification,[1] and often destroys that health which it studies
+anxiously to preserve. By the example of these holy virgins, the devout
+mother animated herself to fervor in the exercises of religion and
+charity, to which she totally dedicated herself. She frequently visited
+these servants of God, and earnestly entreated them to accept a
+considerable annual revenue, with an obligation that they should always
+be bound to pray for the soul of her deceased husband. But the abbess
+refused the estate, saying: "We have renounced all the conveniences of
+the world, in order to purchase heaven. We are poor, and such we desire
+to remain." She could only be prevailed upon to accept a small matter to
+supply the church-lamp with oil, and for incense to be burned on the
+altar.
+
+The young Euphrasia, at seven years of age, made it her earnest request
+to her mother, that she might be permitted to serve God in this
+monastery. The pious mother, on hearing this, wept for joy, and not long
+after presented her to the abbess, who, taking up an image of Christ,
+gave it into her hands. The tender virgin kissed it, saying: "By vow I
+consecrate myself to Christ." Then the mother led her before an image of
+our Redeemer, and lifting up her hands to heaven, said: "Lord Jesus
+Christ, receive this child under your special protection. You alone doth
+she love and seek: to you doth she recommend herself."[2] Then turning
+to her dear daughter, she said: "May God, who laid the foundations of
+the mountains, strengthen you always in his holy fear." And leaving her
+in the hands of {586} the abbess, she went out of the monastery weeping.
+Some time after this she fell sick, and being forewarned of her death,
+gave her last instructions to her daughter, in these words: "Fear God,
+honor your sisters, and serve them with humility. Never think of what
+you have been, nor say to yourself that you are of royal extraction. Be
+humble and poor on earth, that you may be rich in heaven." The good
+mother soon after slept in peace. Upon the news of her death, the
+emperor Theodosius sent for the noble virgin to court, having promised
+her in marriage to a favorite young senator. But the virgin wrote him,
+with her own hand, the following answer: "Invincible emperor, having
+consecrated myself to Christ in perpetual chastity, I cannot be false to
+my engagement, and marry a mortal man, who will shortly be the food of
+worms. For the sake of my parents, be pleased to distribute their
+estates among the poor, the orphans, and the church. Set all my slaves
+at liberty, and discharge my vassals and servants, giving them whatever
+is their due. Order my father's stewards to acquit my farmers of all
+they owe since his death, that I may serve God without let or
+hinderance, and may stand before him without the solicitude of temporal
+affairs. Pray for me, you and your empress, that I may be made worthy to
+serve Christ." The messengers returned with this letter to the emperor,
+who shed many tears in reading it. The senators who heard it burst also
+into tears, and said to his majesty: "She is the worthy daughter of
+Antigonus and Euphrasia, of your royal blood, and the holy offspring of
+a virtuous stock." The emperor punctually executed all she desired, a
+little before his death, in 395.
+
+St. Euphrasia was to her pious sisters a perfect pattern of humility,
+meekness, and charity. If she found herself assaulted by any temptation,
+she immediately discovered it to the abbess, to drive away the devil by
+that humiliation, and to seek a remedy. The discreet superioress often
+enjoined her, on such occasions, some humbling and painful penitential
+labor; as sometimes to carry great stones from one place to another;
+which employment she once, under an obstinate assault, continued thirty
+days together with wonderful simplicity, till the devil being vanquished
+by her humble obedience and chastisement of her body, he left her in
+peace. Her diet was only herbs or pulse, which she took after sunset, at
+first every day, but afterwards only once in two or three, or sometimes
+seven days. But her abstinence received its chief merit from her
+humility; without which it would have been a fast of devils. She cleaned
+out the chambers of the other nuns, carried water to the kitchen, and,
+out of obedience, cheerfully employed herself in the meanest drudgery;
+making painful labor a part of her penance. To mention one instance of
+her extraordinary meekness and humility: it is related, that one day a
+maid in the kitchen asked her why she fasted whole weeks, which no other
+attempted to do besides the abbess. Her answer was, that the abbess had
+enjoined her that penance. The other called her a hypocrite. Upon which
+Euphrasia fell at her feet, begging her to pardon and pray for her. In
+which action it is hard to say, whether we ought more to admire the
+patience with which she received so unjust a rebuke and slander, or the
+humility with which she sincerely condemned herself; as if, by her
+hypocrisy and imperfections, she had been a scandal to others. She was
+favored with miracles both before and after her death, which happened in
+the year 410, and the thirtieth of her age. Her name is recorded on this
+day in the Roman Martyrology. See her ancient authentic life in
+Rosweide, p. 351, D'Andilly, and most correct in the Acta Sanctorum, by
+the Bollandists.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  It is severely condemned by St. Bernard, ep. 345, ol. 321, p. 318,
+    and serm. 50, in Cant. St. Ambrose serm. 22, in Ps. 118, and by
+    Abbot Rance, the reformer of La Trappe.
+2.  This passage is quoted by St. John Damascene, Or. 3, de Imagin.
+
+{587}
+
+ST. THEOPHANES, ABBOT, C.
+
+HIS father, who was governor of the isles of the Archipelago, died when
+he was only three years old, and left him heir to a very great estate,
+under the guardianship of the Iconoclast emperor, Constantine
+Copronymus. Amidst the dangers of such an education, a faithful pious
+servant instilled into his tender mind the most generous sentiments of
+virtue and religion. Being arrived at man's estate, he was compelled by
+his friends to take a wife; but on the day of his marriage, he spoke in
+so moving a manner to his consort on the shortness and uncertainty of
+this life, that they made a mutual vow of perpetual chastity. She
+afterwards became a nun, and he for his part built two monasteries in
+Mysia; one of which, called Megal-Agre, near the Propontis, he governed
+himself. He lived, as it were, dead to the world and the flesh, in the
+greatest purity of life, and in the exercises of continual mortification
+and prayer. In 787, he assisted at the second council of Nice, where all
+admired to see one, whom they had formerly known in so much worldly
+grandeur, now so meanly clad, so modest, and so full of self-contempt as
+he appeared to be. He never laid aside his hair shirt; his bed was a
+mat, and his pillow a stone; his sustenance was hard coarse bread and
+water. At fifty years of age, he began to be grievously afflicted with
+the stone and nephritic colic; but bore with cheerfulness the most
+excruciating pains of his distemper. The emperor Leo, the Armenian, in
+814, renewed the persecution against the church, and abolished the use
+of holy images, which had been restored under Constantine and Irene.
+Knowing the great reputation and authority of Theophanes, he endeavored
+to gain him by civilities and crafty letters. The saint discovered the
+hook concealed under his alluring baits, which did not, however, hinder
+him from obeying the emperor's summons to Constantinople, though at that
+time under a violent fit of the stone; which distemper, for the
+remaining part of his life, allowed him very short intervals of ease.
+The emperor sent him this message: "From your mild and obliging
+disposition, I flatter myself you are come to confirm my sentiments on
+the point in question with your suffrage. It is your readiest way for
+obtaining my favor, and with that the greatest riches and honors for
+yourself, your monastery, and relations, which it is in the power of an
+emperor to bestow. But if you refuse to comply with my desires in this
+affair, you will incur my highest displeasure, and draw misery and
+disgrace on yourself and friends." The holy man returned for answer:
+"Being now far advanced in years, and much broken with pains and
+infirmities, I have neither relish nor inclination for any of these
+things which I despised fox Christ's sake in my youth, when I was in a
+condition to enjoy the world. As to my monastery and my friends, I
+recommend them to God. If you think to frighten me into a compliance by
+your threats, as a child is awed by the rod, you only lose your labor.
+For though unable to walk, and subject to many other corporeal
+infirmities, I trust in Christ that he will enable me to undergo, in
+defence of his cause, the sharpest tortures you can inflict on nay weak
+body." The emperor employed several persons to endeavor to overcome his
+resolution, but in vain: so seeing himself vanquished by his constancy,
+he confined him two years in a close stinking dungeon, where he suffered
+much from his distemper and want of necessaries. He was also cruelly
+scourged, having received three hundred stripes. In 818, he was, removed
+out of his dungeon, and banished into the isle of Samothracia, where he
+died in seventeen days after his arrival, on the 12th of March. His
+relics were honored by many miraculous cures. He has {588} left us his
+Chronographia, or short history from the year 824, the first of
+Dioclesian, where George Syncellus left off, to the year 813.[1] His
+imprisonment did not allow him leisure to polish the style. See his
+contemporary life, and the notes of Goar and Combefis, two learned
+Dominicans, on his works, printed at Paris, in 1655.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  George Syncellus, (i. e. secretary to the patriarch St. Tarasius,) a
+    holy monk, and zealous defender of holy images, was a close friend
+    of St. Theophanes, and died about the year 800. In his chronicle are
+    preserved excellent fragments of Manetho, the Egyptian, of Julius
+    Africanus, Eusebius, &c.
+
+SAINT KENNOCHA, VIRGIN IN SCOTLAND,
+
+IN THE REIGN OF KING MALCOLM II.
+
+FROM her infancy she was a model of humility, meekness, modesty, and
+devotion. Though an only daughter, and the heiress of a rich and noble
+family, fearing lest the poison which lurks in the enjoyment of
+perishable goods should secretly steal into her affections, or the noise
+of the world should be a hinderance to her attention to heavenly things
+and spiritual exercises, she rejected all solicitations of suitors and
+worldly friends, and, in the bloom of life, made an entire sacrifice of
+herself to God, by making her religious profession in a great nunnery,
+in the county of Fife. In this holy state, by an extraordinary love of
+poverty and mortification, a wonderful gift of prayer, and purity or
+singleness of heart, she attained to the perfection of all virtues.
+Several miracles which she wrought made her name famous among men, and
+she passed to God in a good old age, in the year 1007. Several churches
+in Scotland bore her name, particularly one near Glasgow, still called
+St. Kennoch's Kirk, and another called by an abbreviation of her name
+Kyle, in which her relics were formerly kept with singular veneration.
+In the Aberdeen Breviary she is honored with a particular prayer. She is
+mentioned by Adam King, in his calendar, and an account of her life is
+given us in the Chronicle of Scone.
+
+ST. GERALD, BISHOP.
+
+HE was an Englishman, who, passing into Ireland, became a monk in the
+abbey of Megeo, or Mayo, founded by Colman of Lindisfarne, for the
+English. Gerald was advanced successively to the dignity of abbot and
+bishop, and founded the abbey of Elytheria, or Tempul-Gerald in
+Connaught, that of Teagh-na-Saxon, and a nunnery which he put under the
+care of his sister Segretia. He departed to our Lord in 732, and was
+buried at Mayo, where a church dedicated to God under his patronage
+remains to this day. See Colgan.
+
+ST. MOCHOEMOC, IN LATIN, PULCHERIUS, ABBOT.
+
+HAVING been educated under St. Comgal, in the monastery of Benchor, he
+laid the foundation of the great monastery of Liath-Mochoemoc, around
+which a large town was raised, which still bears that name. His happy
+death is placed by the chronologists on the 13th of March, in 635. See
+Usher's Antiquities in Tab. Chron. and Colgan.
+
+{589}
+
+
+MARCH XIV.
+
+ST. MAUD, OR MATHILDIS, QUEEN OF GERMANY.
+
+From her life written forty years after her death, by the order of St.
+Henry; Acta Sanct. t. 7, p. 361.
+
+A.D. 968.
+
+THIS princess was daughter of Theodoric, a powerful Saxon count. Her
+parents, being sensible that piety is the only true greatness, placed
+her very young in the monastery of Erford, of which her grandmother
+Maud, who had renounced the world in her widowhood, was then abbess.
+Here our saint acquired an extraordinary relish for prayer and spiritual
+reading; and learned to work at her needle, and to employ all the
+precious moments of life in something serious and worthy the great end
+of her creation. She remained in that house an accomplished model of all
+virtues, till her parents married her to Henry, son of Otho, duke of
+Saxony, in 913. Her husband, surnamed the Fowler, from his fondness for
+the diversion of hawking, then much in vogue, became duke of Saxony by
+the death of his father, in 916; and in 919, upon the death of Conrad,
+was chosen king of Germany. He was a pious and victorious prince, and
+very tender of his subjects. His solicitude in easing their taxes, made
+them ready to serve their country in his wars at their own charges,
+though he generously recompensed their zeal after his expeditions, which
+were always attended with success. While he by his arms checked the
+insolence of the Hungarians and Danes, and enlarged his dominions by
+adding to them Bavaria, Maud gained domestic victories over her
+spiritual enemies, more worthy of a Christian, and far greater in the
+eyes of heaven. She nourished the precious seeds of devotion and
+humility in her heart by assiduous prayer and meditation; and, not
+content with the time which the day afforded for these exercises,
+employed part of the night the same way. The nearer the view was which
+she took of worldly vanities, the more clearly she discovered their
+emptiness and dangers, and sighed to see men pursue such bubbles to the
+loss of their souls; for, under a fair outside, they contain nothing but
+poison and bitterness.
+
+It was her delight to visit, comfort, and exhort the sick and the
+afflicted, to serve and instruct the poor, teaching them the advantages
+of their state from the benedictions and example of Christ; and to
+afford her charitable succors to prisoners, procuring them their liberty
+where motives of justice would permit it; or at least easing the weight
+of their chains by liberal alms; but her chief aim was to make them
+shake off their sins by sincere repentance. Her husband, edified by her
+example, concurred with her in every pious undertaking which she
+projected. After twenty-three years' marriage, God was pleased to call
+the king to himself by an apoplectic fit, in 936. Maud, during his
+sickness, went to the church to pour forth her soul in prayer for him at
+the foot of the altar. As soon as she understood, by the tears and cries
+of the people, that he had expired, she called for a priest that was
+fasting, to offer the holy sacrifice for his soul; and at the same time
+cut off the jewels which she wore, and gave them to the priest, as a
+pledge that she renounced from that moment the pomp of the world. She
+had three sons; Otho, afterwards emperor; Henry, duke of Bavaria, and
+St. Bruno, archbishop of Cologne. Otho was crowned king of Germany in
+937, {590} and emperor at Rome in 962, after his victories over the
+Bohemians and Lombards. Maud, in the contest between her two elder sons
+for the crown, which was elective, favored Henry, who was the younger, a
+fault she expiated by severe afflictions and penance. These two sons
+conspired to strip her of her dowry, on the unjust pretence that she had
+squandered away the revenues of the state on the poor. This persecution
+was long and cruel, coming from all that was most dear to her in this
+world. The unnatural princes at length repented of their injustice, were
+reconciled to her, and restored her all that had been taken from her.
+She then became more liberal in her alms than ever, and founded many
+churches, with five monasteries; of which the principal were that of
+Polden in the duchy of Brunswick, in which she maintained three thousand
+monks; and that of Quedlinbourg in the duchy of Saxony.[1] She buried
+her husband in this place, and when she had finished the buildings, made
+it her usual retreat. She applied herself totally to her devotions, and
+to works of mercy. It was her greatest pleasure to teach the poor and
+ignorant how to pray, as she had formerly taught her servants. In her
+last sickness she made her confession to her grandson William, the
+archbishop of Mentz, who yet died twelve days before her, on his road
+home. She again made a public confession before the priests and monks of
+the place, received a second time the last sacraments, and lying on a
+sackcloth with ashes on her head, died on the 14th of March, in 968. Her
+body remains at Quedlinbourg. Her name is recorded to the Roman
+Martyrology on this day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The beginning of true virtue is most ardently to desire it, and to ask
+it of God with the utmost assiduity and earnestness,[2] preferring it
+with all the saints to kingdoms and thrones, and considering riches as
+nothing in comparison of this our only and inestimable treasure. Fervent
+prayer, holy meditation, and reading pious books, are the principal
+means by which it is to be constantly improved, and the interior life of
+the soul to be strength ened. These are so much the more necessary in
+the world than in a religious state, as its poison and distractions
+threaten her continually with the greatest danger. Amidst the pomp,
+hurry, and amusements of a court, St. Maud gave herself up to holy
+contemplation with such earnestness, that though she was never wanting
+to any exterior or social duties, her soul was raised above all
+perishable goods, dwelt always in heaven, and sighed after that happy
+moment which was to break the bonds of her slavery, and unite her to God
+in eternal bliss and perfect love. Is it possible that so many
+Christians, capable of finding in God their sovereign felicity, should
+amuse themselves with pleasures which flatter the senses, with reading
+profane books, and seeking an empty satisfaction in idle visits, vain
+conversation, news, and sloth, in which they pass those precious hours
+which they might employ in exercises of devotion, and in the duties and
+serious employments of their station! What trifles do they suffer to
+fill their minds and hearts, and to rob them of the greatest of all
+treasures! Conversation and visits in the world must only be allowed as
+far as they are social duties, must be regulated by charity and
+necessity, sanctified by simplicity, prudence, and every virtue,
+animated by the spirit of God, and seasoned with a holy unction which
+divine grace gives to those whom it perfectly replenishes and possesses.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The abbess of this latter is the first princess of the empire.
+2.  Sap. vii. 6.
+
+{591}
+
+SS. ACEPSIMAS, BISHOP, JOSEPH, PRIEST; AND AITHILAHAS, DEACON, MM.
+
+ST. MARUTHAS closes, with the acts of these martyrs, his history of the
+persecution of king Sapor, which raged without intermission during forty
+years. The venerable author assures us, that, living in the
+neighborhood, he had carefully informed himself of the several
+circumstances of their combats from those who were eye-witnesses, and
+ushers in his account with the following address: "Be propitious to me,
+O Lord, through the prayers of these martyrs--Being assisted by the
+divine grace, and strengthened by your protection, O ye incomparable
+men, I presume to draw the outlines of your heroic virtue and incredible
+torments. But the remembrance of your bitter sufferings covers me with
+shame, confusion, and tears, for myself and my sins. O! you who hear
+this relation, count the days and the hours of three years and a half,
+which they spent in prison, and remember they passed no month without
+frequent tortures, no day free from pain, no hour without the threat of
+immediate death. The festivals and new moons were black to them by fresh
+racks, beatings, clubs, chains, hanging by their limbs, dislocations of
+their joints, &c." In the thirty-seventh year of this persecution, a
+fresh edict was published, commanding the governors and magistrates to
+punish all Christians with racks, scourges, stoning, and every sort of
+death, laying to their charge the following articles: "They abolish our
+doctrine; they teach men to worship one only God, and forbid them to
+adore the sun or fire; they use water for profane washing; they forbid
+persons to marry, to be soldiers in the king's armies, or to strike any
+one; they permit all sorts of animals to be killed, and they suffer the
+dead to be buried; they say that serpents and scorpions were made, not
+by the devil, but by God himself."
+
+Acepsimas, bishop of Honita in Assyria, a man above fourscore years old,
+but of a vigorous and strong constitution of body, was apprehended, and
+conducted in chains to Arbela, before the governor. This judge inquired
+how he could deny the divinity of the sun, which all the East adored.
+The martyr answered him, expressing his astonishment how men could
+prefer a creature to the Creator. By the orders of the governor he was
+laid on the ground with his feet bound, and in that posture barbarously
+scourged, till his whole body was covered with blood; after which he was
+thrown into prison.
+
+In the mean time one Joseph, a holy priest of Bethcatuba, and
+Aithilahas, a deacon of Beth-nudra, famed for eloquence, sanctity, and
+learning, were brought before the same governor. To his interrogatories,
+Joseph answered, that he was a Christian, and had always taught the sun
+to be an inanimate creature. The issue was, that he was stretched flat
+on the ground, and beaten with thick twigs stripped of the thorns, by
+ten executioners who succeeded one another, till his body seemed one
+continued wound. At the sight of himself in this condition the martyr
+with joy said: "I return you the greatest thanks I am able, Christ, the
+Son of God, who have granted me this mercy, and washed me with this
+second baptism of my blood, to wipe away my sins." His courage the
+persecutors deemed an insult, and redoubled their fury in tearing and
+bruising his blessed body. After he was loosened, loaded with heavy
+chains, and cast into the same dungeon with Acepsimas, Aithilahas was
+called upon. The governor said to him: "Adore {592} the sun, which is a
+divinity, eat blood, marry,[1] and obey the king, and you shall live."
+The martyr answered: "It is better to die, in order to live eternally."
+By the judge's command, his hands were tied under his knees, and his
+body fastened to a beam: in this posture it was squeezed and pulled many
+ways, and afterwards scourged. His bones were in many places broken or
+dislocated, and his flesh mangled. At length, not being able to stand,
+he was carried back to prison on men's shoulders. On the next day, they
+were all three again brought forth and stretched on the ground, bound
+fast with cords, and their legs, thighs, and ribs so squeezed and
+strained by stakes, that the noise of the bones breaking filled the
+place with horror. Yet to every solicitation of the judge or officers,
+their answer was: "We trust in one God, and we will not obey the king's
+edicts." Scarce a day passed in which some new torture or other was not
+invented and tried upon them.
+
+After they had for three years suffered the hardships of imprisonment
+and daily torments, the king coming into Media, the martyrs were brought
+before Adarsapor, the chief of all the governors of the East, several
+other Satrapes and governors sitting with him in the palace. They were
+carried thither, for they were not able to walk, and they scarce
+retained the figure of human bodies. The very sight of such spectacles
+moved all who saw them to compassion, and many to tears. They
+courageously professed themselves Christians, and declared that they
+would never abandon their faith. Adarsapor said, he saw by their wounds
+what they had already suffered, and used both threats and entreaties to
+work them into a compliance with the law. When they begged him to hasten
+the execution of his threats, he told them: "Death frees criminals from
+pain: but I will render life to you as grievous as a continued death,
+that others of your sect may tremble." Acepsimas said: "In vain do you
+threaten. God, in whom we trust, will give us courage and constancy." At
+this answer, fury flashed in the eyes of Adarsapor, and he swore by the
+fortune of king Sapor, that if they did not that instant obey the
+edicts, he would sprinkle their gray hairs with their blood, would
+destroy their bodies, and would cause their dead remains to be beaten to
+powder. Acepsimas said: "To you we resign our bodies, and commend to God
+our souls. Execute what you threaten. It is what we desire." The tyrant,
+with rage painted in every feature of his countenance, ordered the
+venerable old man to be stretched on the ground, and thirty men, fifteen
+on each side, to pull and haul him by cords tied to his arms, legs, and
+other limbs, so as to dislocate and almost tear them asunder; and two
+hangmen in the mean time to scourge his body with so much cruelty, as to
+mangle and tear off the flesh in many parts: under which torment the
+martyr expired. His body was watched by guards appointed for that
+purpose, till after three days it was stolen away by the Christians, and
+buried by the care of a daughter of the king of Armenia, who was at that
+time a hostage in Media.
+
+Joseph and Aithilahas underwent the same punishment, but came alive out
+of the hands of the executioners. The latter said to the judge under his
+torments: "Your tortures are too mild, increase them as you please."
+Adarsapor, struck with astonishment at their courage, said: "These men
+are greedy of torments as if they were banquets, and are fond of a
+kingdom that is invisible." He then caused them to be tormented afresh,
+so that every part of their bodies was mangled, and their shoulders and
+arms disjointed. Adarsapor gave an order that if they did not die of
+their torments, they should be carried back into their own country, to
+be there put to death. {593} The two martyrs, being not able to sit,
+were tied on the backs of beasts, and conveyed with great pain to
+Arbela, their guards treating them on the way with no more compassion
+than if they had been stones. Jazdundocta, an illustrious lady of the
+city Arbela, for a great sum of money, obtained leave of the governor,
+that they should be brought to her house, to take a short refreshment.
+She dressed their wounds, bathed their bodies with her tears, and was
+exceedingly encouraged by their faith and exhortations. The blessed
+martyrs were soon taken from her house to prison, where they languished
+six months longer. A new governor at length came into that province, the
+most savage of men, bringing an edict of the king, commanding that
+Christians who were condemned to death, should be stoned by those who
+professed the same religion. The news of his arrival drove the
+Christians into the woods and deserts, that they might not be compelled
+to imbrue their hands in the blood of martyrs. But soldiers there hunted
+them like wild beasts, and many were taken. The two confessors were
+presented before this new judge. Joseph was hung up by the toes, and
+scourged during two hours, in the presence of the judge, who, hearing
+him discourse on the resurrection, said: "In that resurrection how do
+you design to punish me?" The martyr replied: "We are taught meekness,
+to return good for evil, and to pray for enemies." "Well," said the
+judge, "then I shall meet with kindness from your hands for the evil
+which you here receive from me." To which the martyr answered: "There
+will be then no room for pardon or favor: nor will one be able to help
+another. I will pray that God may bring you to the knowledge of himself
+in this life." The judge said: "Consider these things in the next world,
+whither I am going to send you: at present obey the king." The old man
+answered: "Death is our desire." The emperor then began to interrogate
+Aithilahas, and caused him to be hung up by the heels a long time
+together. He was at length taken down, and to move him to a compliance,
+he was shown a certain Manichaean heretic who had renounced his religion
+for fear of torments, and was killing ants, which those heretics held
+unlawful, teaching that insects and beasts have rational souls. The
+saint, lying on the ground, was scourged till he fell into a swoon, and
+then was hauled aside like a dog. A certain Magian, out of pity, threw a
+coat over his wounds to cover his naked body; for which act of
+compassion he received two hundred lashes, till he fainted. Thamsapor
+arriving at his castle of Beth-Thabala, in that country, the governor
+caused the martyrs to be carried before him. They were ordered to eat
+the blood of beasts: which they refused to do. One told them, that if
+they would eat the juice of red grapes curdled, which the people might
+think to be blood, this would satisfy the judges. They answered: "God
+forbid we should dissemble our faith." We have elsewhere taken notice
+that the Christians then observed in many places the positive temporary
+law of the apostles.[2] Thamsapor and the governor, after a short
+consultation, condemned both to be stoned to death by the Christians.
+Joseph was executed at Arbela. He was put into the ground up to the
+neck. The guards had drawn together five hundred Christians to his
+execution. The noble lady Jazdundocta was brought thither, and earnestly
+pressed to throw but a feather at the martyr, that she might seem to
+obey the order of the king. But she resolutely resisted their entreaties
+and threats, desiring to die with the servant of God. Many, however,
+having the weakness to comply, a shower of stones fell upon the martyr,
+which put an end to his life. When he was dead, guards were set to watch
+his body; but the Christians found means to steal it away on the third
+night, during a {594} dark tempest. St. Aithilahas suffered in the
+province of Beth-Nubadra; the lord of that country, who had been a
+Christian, by a base apostasy, becoming one of his murderers. St.
+Maruthas adds, that angels were heard singing at the place of this
+martyrdom, and many miracles wrought. These martyrs suffered in the year
+380, the seventieth and last of the reign of Sapor, and the fortieth of
+his persecution. They are mentioned by Sozomen,[3] and are named in the
+Roman Martyrology on the 22d of April. See their genuine Chaldaic acts,
+by St. Maruthas in Assemani, t. 1, p. 171. Act. Martyr. Orient.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  From this, and many other passages, it is clear, that the obligation
+    of perpetual chastity was annexed to Holy Orders in the eastern
+    churches no less than in the western.
+2.  Acts xv. 29.
+3.  B. 2, ch. 13.
+
+ST. BONIFACE, BISHOP OF ROSS, IN SCOTLAND, C.
+
+AN ardent zeal for the salvation of souls brought this servant of God
+from Italy to North-Britain. Near the mouth of the Tees, where he
+landed, he built a church under the invocation of St. Peter, another at
+Tellein, three miles from Alect, and a third at Restennet. This last was
+served by a famous monastery of regular canons of the order of St.
+Austin, when religious houses were abolished in Scotland. St. Boniface,
+by preaching the word of God, reformed the manners of the people in the
+provinces of Angus, Marris, Buchan, Elgin, Murray, and Ross. Being made
+bishop in this last country, he filled it with oratories and churches,
+and by planting the true spirit of Christ in the hearts of many, settled
+that church in a most flourishing condition. He died about the year 630,
+and was buried at Rosmark, the capital of the county of Ross. The
+Breviary of Aberdeen mentions that he founded one hundred and fifty
+churches and oratories in Scotland, and ascribes many miracles to his
+intercession after his death. See that Breviary, and King on this day,
+bishop Lesley, l. 4. Hist. Scot. and Hector Boetius, l. 9. Hist.
+
+
+MARCH XV.
+
+ST. ABRAHAM, HERMIT,
+
+AND HIS NIECE ST. MARY, A PENITENT.
+
+From his life written by his friend, St. Ephrem, Op. t. 2, p. 1, Ed.
+nov. Vatic. See other acts of St. Abraham, given in Latin by Lipoman. 29
+Oct., and by Surius, 16 March, mentioned in Greek by Lambecius, Bibl.
+Vind. t. 8, pp. 255, 260, 266, and by Montfaucon, Bibl. Coislin. p. 211.
+Two other kinds of Greek Acts are found among the MSS. at the ahbey of
+St. Germain-des Prez, at Paris, Bibl. Coisl. ib. See also Jos. Assemani,
+Bibl. Orient. t. 1, pp. 38 and 396, from the Chronicle of Edessa:
+likewise Kohlius, Introductio in historiam et rem literariam Sclavorum,
+p. 316. Aitonaviæ, A.D. 1729.
+
+About the year 360.
+
+ST. ABRAHAM was born at Chidana, in Mesopotamia, near Edessa, of wealthy
+and noble parents, who, after giving him a most virtuous education, were
+desirous of engaging him in the married state. In compliance with their
+inclinations, Abraham took to wife a pious and noble virgin: but
+earnestly desiring to live and die in the state of holy virginity, as
+soon as the marriage ceremony and feast were over, having made known his
+resolution {595} to his new bride, be secretly withdrew to a cell two
+miles from the city Edessa; where his friends found him at prayer after
+a search of seventeen days. By earnest entreaties he obtained their
+consent, and after their departure walled up the door of his cell,
+leaving only a little window, through which he received what was
+necessary for his subsistence. He spent his whole time in adoring and
+praising God, and imploring his mercy. He every day wept abundantly. He
+was possessed of no other earthly goods but a cloak and a piece of
+sackcloth which he wore, and a little vessel out of which he both ate
+and drank. For fifty years he was never wearied with his austere penance
+and holy exercises, and seemed to draw from them every day fresh vigor.
+Ten years after he had left the world, by the demise of his parents, he
+inherited their great estates, but commissioned a virtuous friend to
+distribute the revenues in alms-deeds. Many resorted to him for
+spiritual advice, whom he exceedingly comforted and edified by his holy
+discourses.
+
+A large country town in the diocese of Edessa remained till that time
+addicted to idolatry, and its inhabitants had loaded with injuries and
+outrages, all the holy monks and others who had attempted to preach the
+gospel to them. The bishop at length cast his eye on Abraham, ordained
+him priest, though much against his will, and sent him to preach the
+faith to those obstinate infidels. He wept all the way as he went, and
+with great earnestness repeated this prayer: "Most merciful God, look
+down on my weakness: assist me with thy grace, that thy name may be
+glorified. Despise not the works of thine own hands." At the sight of
+the town, reeking with the impious rites of idolatry, he redoubled the
+torrents of his tears: but found the citizens resolutely determined not
+to hear him speak. Nevertheless, he continued to pray and weep among
+them without intermission, and though he was often beaten and
+ill-treated, and thrice banished by them, he always returned with the
+same zeal. After three years the infidels were overcome by his meekness
+and patience, and being touched by an extraordinary grace, all demanded
+baptism. He stayed one year longer with them to instruct them in the
+faith; and on their being supplied with priests and other ministers, he
+went back to his cell.
+
+His brother dying soon after his return thither, left an only daughter,
+called Mary, whom the saint undertook to train up in a religious life.
+For this purpose he placed her in a cell near his own, where, by the
+help of his instructions, she became eminent for her piety and penance.
+At the end of twenty years she was unhappily seduced by a wolf in
+sheep's clothing, a wicked monk, who resorted often to the place under
+color of receiving advice from her uncle. Hereupon falling into despair,
+she went to a distant town, where she gave herself up to the most
+criminal disorders. The saint ceased not for two years to weep and pray
+for her conversion. Being then informed where she dwelt, he dressed
+himself like a citizen of that town, and going to the inn where she
+lived in the pursuit of her evil courses, desired her company with him
+at supper. When he saw her alone, he took off his cap which disguised
+him, and with many tears said to her: "Daughter Mary, don't you know me?
+What is now become of your angelical habit, of your tears and watchings
+in the divine praises?" &c.
+
+Seeing her struck and filled with horror and confusion, he tenderly
+encouraged her and comforted her, saying that he would take her sins
+upon himself if she would faithfully follow his advice, and that his
+friend Ephrem also prayed and wept for her. She with many tears returned
+him her most hearty thanks, and promised to obey in all things his
+injunctions. He set her on his horse, and led the beast himself on foot.
+In this manner he conducted her back to his desert, and shut her up in a
+cell behind his own. {596} There she spent the remaining fifteen years
+of her life in continual tears and the most perfect practices of penance
+and other virtues. Almighty God was pleased, within three years after
+her conversion, to favor her with the gift of working miracles by her
+prayers. And as soon as she was dead, "her countenance appeared to us,"
+says St. Ephrem, "so shining, that we understood that choirs of angels
+had attended at her passage out of this life into a better." St. Abraham
+died five years before her: at the news of whose sickness almost the
+whole city and country flocked to receive his benediction. When he had
+expired, every one strove to procure for themselves some part of his
+clothes, and St. Ephrem, who was an eye-witness, relates, that many sick
+were cured by the touch of these relics. SS. Abraham and Mary were both
+dead when St. Ephrem wrote, who died himself in 378.[1] St. Abraham is
+named in the Latin, Greek, and Coptic calendars, and also St. Mary in
+those of the Greeks.
+
+St. Abraham converted his desert into a paradise, because he found in it
+his God, whose presence makes Heaven. He wanted not the company of men,
+who enjoyed that of God and his angels; nor could he ever be at a loss
+for employment, to whom both the days and nights were too short for
+heavenly contemplation. While his body was employed in penitential
+manual labor, his mind and heart were sweetly taken up in God, who was
+to him All in All, and the centre of all his desires and affections. His
+watchings were but an uninterrupted sacrifice of divine love, and by the
+ardor of his desire, and the disposition of his soul and its virtual
+tendency to God, his sleep itself was a continuation of his union with
+God, and exercise of loving him. He could truly say with the spouse, _I
+sleep, but my heart watcheth_. Thus the Christians, who are placed in
+distracting stations, may also do, if they accustom themselves to
+converse interiorly with God in purity of heart, and in all their
+actions and desires have only his will in view. Such a life is a kind of
+imitation of the Seraphims, to whom to live and to love are one and the
+same thing. "The angels," says St. Gregory the Great, "always carry
+their Heaven about with them wheresoever they are sent, because they
+never depart from God, or cease to behold him; ever dwelling in the
+bosom of his immensity, living and moving in him, and exercising their
+ministry in the sanctuary of his divinity." This is the happiness of
+every Christian who makes a desert, by interior solitude, in his own
+heart.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Bollandus, Papebroke, and Pagi, pretend that St. Abraham the hermit
+    lived near the Hellespont, and long after St. Ephrem: but are
+    clearly confuted by Jos. Assemani, Bibl. Orient. t, l, and Com. In
+    Calend. Univ. t. 5. p. 324, ad 29 Oct. The chronicle of Edessa
+    assures us that he was a native of Chidana, and was living in the
+    year of the Greeks, 667, of Christ, 356.
+
+ST. ZACHARY, POPE, C.
+
+HE succeeded Gregory III., in 741, and was a man of singular meekness
+and goodness; and so far from any thought of revenge, that he heaped
+benefits on those who had persecuted him before his promotion to the
+pontificate. He loved the clergy and people of Rome to that degree, that
+he hazarded his life for them on occasion of the troubles which Italy
+fell into by the rebellion of the dukes of Spoletto and Benevento
+against king Luitprand. Out of respect to his sanctity and dignity, that
+king restored to the church of Rome all the places which belonged to it:
+Ameria, Horta, Narni, Ossimo, Ancona, and the whole territory of Sabina,
+and sent back the captives without ransom. The Lombards were moved to
+tears at the devotion with which they heard him perform the divine
+service. By a journey to Pavia, {597} he obtained also of Luitprand,
+though with some difficulty, peace for the territory of Ravenna, and the
+restitution of the places which he had taken from the exarchate. The
+zeal and prudence of this holy pope appeared in many wholesome
+regulations, which he had made to reform or settle the discipline and
+peace of several churches. St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, wrote
+to him against a certain priest, named Virgilius; that he labored to sow
+the seeds of discord between him and Odilo, duke of Bavaria, and taught,
+besides other errors, that there were other men under the earth, another
+sun and moon, and another world.[1] Pope Zachary answered, that if he
+taught such an error he ought to be deposed. This cannot be understood
+as a condemnation of the doctrine of Antipodes, or the spherical figure
+of the earth, as some writers have imagined by mistake. The error here
+spoken of is that of certain heretics, who maintained that there was
+another race of men, who did not descend from Adam, and were not
+redeemed by Christ. Nor did Zachary pronounce any sentence in the case:
+for in the same letter he ordered that Virgilius should be sent to Rome,
+that this doctrine might be examined. It seems that he cleared himself:
+for we find this same Virgilius soon after made bishop of Saltzburgh.[2]
+Certain Venetian merchants having bought at Rome many slaves to sell to
+the Moors in Africa, St. Zachary forbade such an iniquitous traffic,
+and, paying the merchants their price, gave the slaves their liberty. He
+adorned Rome with sacred buildings, and with great foundations in favor
+of the poor and pilgrims, and gave every year a considerable sum to
+furnish oil for the lamps in St. Peter's church. He died in 752, in the
+month of March, and is honored in the Roman Martyrology on this day. See
+his letters and the Pontificals, t. 6, Conc., also Fleury, l. 42, t. 9,
+p. 349.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Quod alius mundus et alii homines sub terra sunt, seu alius sol et
+    luna. (Ep. 10, t 6, Conc. pp. 15, 21, et Bibl. Patr. Inter. Epist.
+    S. Bonif.) To imagine different worlds of men upon earth, some not
+    descending from Adam, nor redeemed by Christ, is contrary to the
+    holy scriptures, and therefore justly condemned as erroneous, as
+    Baronius observes, (add. ann. 784, n. 12.)
+2.  Many ancient philosophers thought the earth flat, not spherical, and
+    believed no Antipodes. Several fathers adopted this vulgar error in
+    philosophy, in which faith no way interferes, as St. Austin, (l. 16,
+    de Civ. Dei, c. 9,) Bede, (l. 4, de Principiis Philos.,) and Cosmas
+    the Egyptian, surnamed Indicopleustes. It is, however, a mistake to
+    imagine, with Montfaucon, in his preface to this last-mentioned
+    author, that this was the general opinion of Christian philosophers
+    down to the fifteenth century. For the learned Philophonus
+    demonstrated before the modern discoveries, (de Mundi Creat. l. 3,
+    c. 13,) that the greater part of the fathers teach the world to be a
+    sphere, as St. Basil, the two SS. Gregories, of Nazianzum and of
+    Nyssa, St. Athanasins, &c. And several among them mention Antipodes,
+    as St. Hilary, (in Ps. 2, n. 32,) Origen, (l. 2, de princip. c. 3,)
+    St. Clement, pope, &c.
+
+
+MARCH XVI.
+
+ST. JULIAN, OF CILICIA, M.
+
+From the panegyric of St. Chrysostom, t. 2, p. 671. Ed. Ben. Tillem. t.
+5, p. 573.
+
+THIS saint was a Cilician, of a senatorian family in Anazarbus, and a
+minister of the gospel. In the persecution of Dioclesian he fell into
+the hands of a judge, who, by his brutal behavior, resembled more a wild
+beast than a man. The president, seeing his constancy proof against the
+sharpest torments, hoped to overcome him by the long continuance of his
+martyrdom. He caused him to be brought before his tribunal everyday;
+sometimes he caressed him, at other times threatened him with a thousand
+tortures. For a whole year together he caused him to be dragged as a
+malefactor through all the towns of Cilicia, imagining that this shame
+and confusion might vanquish {598} him: but it served only to increase
+the martyr's glory, and gave him an opportunity of encouraging in the
+faith all the Christians of Cilicia by his example and exhortations. He
+suffered every kind of torture. The bloody executioners had torn his
+flesh, furrowed his sides, laid his bones bare, and exposed his very
+bowels to view. Scourges, fire, and the sword, were employed various
+ways to torment him with the utmost cruelty. The judge saw that to
+torment him longer was laboring to shake a rock, and was forced at
+length to own himself conquered by condemning him to death: in which,
+however, he studied to surpass his former cruelty. He was then at Ægea,
+a town on the sea-coast; and he caused the martyr to be sewed up in a
+sack with scorpions, serpents, and vipers, and so thrown into the sea.
+This was the Roman punishment for parricides, the worst of malefactors,
+yet seldom executed on them. Eusebius mentions, that St. Ulpian of Tyre
+suffered a like martyrdom, being thrown into the sea in a leather sack,
+together with a dog and an aspick. The sea gave back the body of our
+holy martyr, which the faithful conveyed to Alexandria of Cilicia, and
+afterwards to Antioch, where St. Chrysostom pronounced his panegyric
+before his shrine. He eloquently sets forth how much these sacred relics
+were honored; and affirms, that no devil could stand their presence, and
+that men by them found a remedy for their bodlily distempers, and the
+cure of the evils of the soul.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The martyrs lost with joy their worldly honors, dignity, estates,
+friends, liberty, and lives, rather than forfeit for one moment their
+fidelity to God. They courageously bade defiance to pleasures and
+torments, to prosperity and adversity, to life and death, saying, with
+the apostle: _Who shall separate us from the love of Jesus Christ?_
+Crowns, sceptres, worldly riches, and pleasures, you have no charms
+which shall ever tempt me to depart in the least tittle from the
+allegiance which I owe to God. Alarming fears of the most dreadful
+evils, prisons, racks, fire, and death, in every shape of cruelty, you
+shall never shake my constancy. Nothing shall ever separate me from the
+love of Christ. This must be the sincere disposition of every Christian.
+Lying protestations of fidelity to God cost us nothing: but he sounds
+the heart. Is our constancy such as to bear evidence to our sincerity,
+that rather than to fail in the least duty to God, we are ready to
+resist to blood? and that we are always upon our guard to keep our ears
+shut to the voices of those syrens which never cease to lay snares to
+our senses?
+
+ST. FINIAN, SURNAMED LOBHAR, OR THE LEPER,
+
+WAS son of Conail, descended from Kian, the son of Alild, king of
+Munster. He was a disciple of St. Brendan, and flourished about the
+middle of the sixth century. He imitated the patience of Job, under a
+loathsome and tedious distemper, from which his surname was given him.
+The famous abbey of Innis-fallen, which stood in an island of that name,
+in the great and beautiful lake of Lough-Lane in the county of Kerry,
+was found ed by our saint.[1] A second, called from him Ardfinnan, he
+built in Tipperary; and a third at Cluainmore Madoc, in Leinster, where
+he was buried. He died on the 2d of February; but, says Colgan, his
+festival is kept on the 16th of March at all the above-mentioned places.
+Sir James Ware {599} speaks of two MS. histories of his life. See also
+Usher, (Antiq. c. 17,) Colgan, 17 Martii. Mr. Smith, in his natural and
+civil history of the county of Kerry, in 1755, p. 127.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  In the monastery of Innis-fallen was formerly kept a chronicle
+    called the Annals of Innis-fallen. They contain a sketch of
+    universal history, from the creation to the year 430. From that time
+    the annalist amply enough prosecutes the affairs of Ireland down to
+    the year 1215, when he wrote. They were continued by another hand to
+    1320. They are often quoted by Bishop Usher and Sir James Ware. An
+    imperfect transcript is kept among the MSS. of the library of
+    Trinity college, Dublin. Bishop Nicholson, in his {}ian Historical
+    Library, informs us, that the late duke of Chandos had a complete
+    copy of them.
+
+
+MARCH XVII.
+
+SAINT PATRICK, B.C.
+
+APOSTLE OF IRELAND.
+
+The Irish have many lives of their great apostle, whereof the two
+principal are, that compiled by Jocelin, a Cistercian monk, in the
+twelfth century, who quotes four lives written by disciples of the
+saint; and that by Probus, who, according to Bollandus, lived in the
+seventh century. But in both are intermixed several injudicious popular
+reports. We, with Tillemont, chiefly confine ourselves to the saint's
+own writings, his Confession, and his letter to Corotic, which that
+judicious critic doubts not to be genuine. The style in both is the
+same; he is expressed in them to be the author; the Confession is quoted
+by all the authors of his life, and the letter was written before the
+conversion of the Franks under king Clovis, in 496. See Tillemont, t.
+16, p. 455, and Brininnia Sancta.
+
+A.D. 464.
+
+IF the virtue of children reflects an honor on their parents, much more
+justly is the name of St. Patrick rendered illustrious by the
+innumerable lights of sanctity with which the church of Ireland, planted
+by his labors in the most remote corner of the then known world, shone
+during many ages; and by the colonies of saints with which it peopled
+many foreign countries; for, under God, its inhabitants derived from
+their glorious apostle the streams of that eminent sanctity by which
+they were long conspicuous to the whole world. St. Patrick was born in
+the decline of the fourth century;[1] and, as he informs us in his
+Confession, in a village called Bonaven Taberniæ, which seems to be the
+town of Killpatrick, on the mouth of the river Cluyd, in Scotland,
+between Dunbriton and Glasgow. He calls himself both a Briton and a
+Roman, or of a mixed extraction, and says his father was of a good
+family, named Calphurnius, and a denizen of a neigh-boring city of the
+Romans, who, not long after, abandoned Britain, in 409. Some writers
+call his mother Conchessa, and say she was niece to St. Martin of Tours.
+At fifteen years of age he committed a fault, which appears not to have
+been a great crime, yet was to him a subject of tears during the
+remainder of his life. He says, that when he was sixteen, he lived still
+ignorant of God, meaning of the devout knowledge and fervent love of
+God, for he was always a Christian: he never ceased to bewail this
+neglect, and wept when he remembered that he had been one moment of his
+life insensible to the divine love. In his sixteenth year he was carried
+into captivity by certain barbarians, together with many of his father's
+vassals and slaves, taken upon his estate. They took him into Ireland,
+where he was obliged to keep cattle on the mountains and in the forests,
+in hunger and nakedness, amidst snows, rain, and ice. While he lived in
+this suffering condition, God had pity on his soul, and quickened him to
+a sense of his duty by the impulse of a strong interior grace. The young
+man had recourse to him with his whole heart in fervent prayer and
+fasting; and from that time, faith and the love of God acquired
+continually new strength in his {600} tender soul. He prayed often in
+the day, and also many times in the night, breaking off his sleep to
+return to the divine praises. His afflictions were to him a source of
+heavenly benedictions, because he carried his cross with Christ, that
+is, with patience, resignation, and holy joy. St. Patrick, after six
+months spent in slavery under the same master, was admonished by God in
+a dream to return to his own country, and informed that a ship was then
+ready to sail thither. He repaired immediately to the sea-coast, though
+at a great distance, and found the vessel; but could not obtain his
+passage, probably for want of money. Thus new trials ever await the
+servants of God. The saint returned towards his hut, praying as he went,
+but the sailors, though pagans, called him back, and took him on board.
+After three days' sail, they made land, probably in the north of
+Scotland: but wandered twenty-seven days through deserts, and were a
+long while distressed for want of provisions, finding nothing to eat.
+Patrick had often entertained the company on the infinite power of God:
+they therefore asked him, why he did not pray for relief. Animated by a
+strong faith, he assured them that if they would address themselves with
+their whole hearts to the true God, he would hear and succor them. They
+did so, and on the same day met with a herd of swine. From that time
+provisions never failed them till on the twenty-seventh day they came
+into a country that was cultivated and inhabited. During their distress,
+Patrick refused to touch meats which had been offered to idols. One day
+a great stone from a rock happened to fall upon him, and had like to
+have crushed him to death, while he was laid down to take a little rest.
+But he invoked Elias, and was delivered from the danger. Some years
+afterwards, he was again led captive; but recovered his liberty after
+two months. When he was at home with his parents, God manifested to him,
+by divers visions, that he destined him to the great work of the
+conversion of Ireland. He thought he saw all the children of that
+country from the wombs of their mothers, stretching out their hands, and
+piteously crying to him for relief.[2]
+
+Some think he had travelled into Gaul before be undertook his mission,
+and we find that, while he preached in Ireland, he had a great desire to
+visit his brethren in Gaul, and to see those whom he calls the saints of
+God, having been formerly acquainted with them. The authors of his life
+say, that after his second captivity, he travelled into Gaul and Italy,
+and had seen St. Martin, St. Germanus of Auxerre, and pope Celestine,
+and that he received his mission, and the apostolical benediction, from
+this pope, who died in 432. But it seems, from his Confession, that he
+was ordained deacon, priest, and bishop, for his mission in his own
+country. It is certain that he spent many years in preparing himself for
+those sacred functions. Great opposition was made against his episcopal
+consecration and mission, both by his own relations and by the clergy.
+These made him great offers in order to detain him among them, and
+endeavored to affright him by exaggerating the dangers to which he
+exposed himself amidst the enemies of the Romans and Britons, who did
+not know God. Some objected, with the same view, the fault which he had
+committed thirty years before as an obstacle to his ordination. All
+these temptations threw the saint into great perplexities, {601} and had
+like to have made him abandon the work of God. But the Lord, whose will
+he consulted by earnest prayer, supported him, and comforted him by a
+vision; so that he persevered in his resolution. He forsook his family,
+sold, as he says, his birthright and dignity, to serve strangers, and
+consecrated his soul to God, to carry his name to the end of the earth.
+He was determined to suffer all things for the accomplishment of his
+holy design, to receive in the same spirit both prosperity and
+adversity, and to return thanks to God equally for the one as for the
+other, desiring only that his name might be glorified, and his divine
+will accomplished to his own honor. In this disposition he passed into
+Ireland, to preach the gospel, where the worship of idols still
+generally reigned. He devoted himself entirely for the salvation of
+these barbarians, to be regarded as a stranger, to be contemned as the
+last of men, to suffer from the infidels imprisonment and all kinds of
+persecution, and to give his life with joy, if God should deem him
+worthy to shed his blood in his cause. He travelled over the whole
+island, penetrating into the remotest corners, without fearing any
+dangers, and often visited each province. Such was the fruit of his
+preachings and sufferings, that he consecrated to God, by baptism, an
+infinite number of people, and labored effectually that they might be
+perfected in his service by the practice of virtue. He ordained
+everywhere clergymen, induced women to live in holy widowhood and
+continence, consecrated virgins to Christ, and instituted monks. Great
+numbers embraced these states of perfection with extreme ardor. Many
+desired to confer earthly riches on him who had communicated to them the
+goods of heaven; but he made it a capital duty to decline all
+self-interest, and whatever might dishonor his ministry. He took nothing
+from the many thousands whom he baptized, and often gave back the little
+presents which some laid on the altar, choosing rather to mortify the
+fervent than to scandalize the weak or the infidels. On the contrary, he
+gave freely of his own, both to pagans and Christians, distributed large
+alms to the poor in the provinces where he passed, made presents to the
+kings--judging that necessary for the progress of the gospel--and
+maintained and educated many children, whom he trained up to serve at
+the altar. He always gave till he had no more to bestow, and rejoiced to
+see himself poor, with Jesus Christ, knowing poverty and afflictions to
+be more profitable to him than riches and pleasures. The happy success
+of his labors cost him many persecutions.
+
+A certain prince named Corotick, a Christian, though in name only,
+disturbed the peace of his flock. He seems to have reigned in some part
+of Wales, after the Britons had been abandoned by the Romans. This
+tyrant, as the saint calls him, having made a descent into Ireland,
+plundered the country where St. Patrick had been just conferring the
+holy chrism, that is, confirmation, on a great number of Neophytes, who
+were yet in their white garments after baptism. Corotick, without paying
+any regard to justice, or to the holy sacrament, massacred many, and
+carried away others, whom he sold to the infidel Picts or Scots. This
+probably happened at Easter or Whitsuntide. The next day the saint sent
+the barbarian a letter by a holy priest whom he had brought up from his
+infancy, entreating him to restore the Christian captives, and at least
+part of the booty he had taken, that the poor people might not perish
+for want; but was only answered by railleries, as if the Irish could not
+be the same Christians with the Britons: which arrogance and pride sunk
+those barbarous conquerors beneath the dignity of men, while by it they
+were puffed up above others in their own hearts.. The saint, therefore,
+to prevent the scandal which such a flagrant enormity gave to his new
+converts, wrote with his own hand a public circular letter. In it he
+styles himself a sinner and an ignorant man; for such is the sincere
+{602} humility of the saints, (most of all when they are obliged to
+exercise any acts of authority,) contrary to the pompous titles which
+the world affects. He declares, nevertheless, that he is established
+bishop of Ireland, and pronounces Corotick and the other parricides and
+accomplices separated from him and from Jesus Christ, whose place he
+holds, forbidding any to eat with them, or to receive their alms, till
+they should have satisfied God by the tears of sincere penance, and
+restored the servants of Jesus Christ to their liberty. This letter
+expresses his most tender love for his flock and his grief for those who
+had been slain, yet mingled with joy, because they reign with the
+prophets, apostles, and martyrs. Jocelin assures us, that Corotick was
+overtaken by the divine vengeance. St. Patrick wrote his Confession as a
+testimony of his mission, when he was old.[3] It is solid, full of good
+sense and piety, expresses an extraordinary humility and a great desire
+of martyrdom, and is written with spirit. The author was perfectly
+versed in the holy scriptures. He confesses everywhere his own faults
+with a sincere humility, and extols the great mercies of God towards him
+in this world, who had exalted him, though the most undeserving of men:
+yet, to preserve him in humility, afforded him the advantage of meeting
+with extreme contempt from others, that is, from the heathens. He
+confesses, for his humiliation, that, among other temptations, he felt a
+great desire to see again his own country, and to visit the saints of
+his acquaintance in Gaul; but durst not abandon his people; and says,
+that the Holy Ghost had declared to him that to do it would be criminal.
+He tells us, that a little before he wrote this, he himself and all his
+companions had been plundered and laid in irons for his having baptized
+the son of a certain king against the will of his father: but were
+released after fourteen days. He lived in the daily expectation of such
+accidents, and of martyrdom; but feared nothing, having his hope as a
+firm anchor fixed in heaven, and reposing himself with an entire
+confidence in the arms of the Almighty. He says, that he had lately
+baptized a very beautiful young lady of quality, who some days after
+came to tell him that she had been admonished by an angel to consecrate
+her virginity to Jesus Christ, that she might render herself the more
+acceptable to God. He gave God thanks, and she made her vows with
+extraordinary fervor six days before he wrote this letter.
+
+St. Patrick held several councils to settle the discipline of the church
+which he had planted. The first, the acts of which are extant under his
+name in the editions of the councils, is certainly genuine. Its canons
+regulate several points of discipline, especially relating to
+penance.[4] St. Bernard and the tradition of the country testify, that
+St. Patrick fixed his metropolitan see at Armagh. He established some
+other bishops, as appears by his Council and other monuments. He not
+only converted the whole country by his preaching and wonderful
+miracles, but also cultivated this vineyard with so fruitful a
+benediction and increase from heaven, as to render Ireland a most
+flourishing garden in the church of God, and a country of saints. And
+those nations, which had for many ages esteemed all others barbarians,
+did not blush to receive from the utmost extremity of {603} the
+uncivilized or barbarous world, their most renowned teachers and guides
+in the greatest of all sciences, that of the saints.
+
+Many particulars are related of the labors of St. Patrick, which we pass
+over. In the first year of his mission he attempted to preach Christ in
+the general assembly of the kings and states of all Ireland, held yearly
+at Taraghe, or Themoria, in East-Meath, the residence of the chief king,
+styled the monarch of the whole island, and the principal seat of the
+Druids or priests, and their paganish rites. The son of Neill, the chief
+monarch, declared himself against the preacher: however, he converted
+several, and, on his road to that place, the father of St. Benen, or
+Benignus, his immediate successor in the see of Armagh. He afterwards
+converted and baptized the kings of Dublin and Munster, and the seven
+sons of the king of Connaught, with the greatest part of their subjects,
+and before his death almost the whole island. He founded a monastery at
+Armagh; another called Domnach-Padraig, or Patrick's church; also a
+third, named Sabhal-Padraig, and filled the country with churches and
+schools of piety and learning; the reputation of which, for the three
+succeeding centuries, drew many foreigners into Ireland.[5] Nennius,
+abbot of Bangor, in 620, in his history of the Britons,[6] published by
+the learned Thomas Gale, says, that St. Patrick took that name only when
+he was ordained bishop, being before called Maun; that he continued his
+missions over all the provinces of Ireland, during forty years; that he
+restored sight to many blind, health to the sick, and raised nine dead
+persons to life.[7] He died and was buried at Down in Ulster. His body
+was found there in a church of his name in 1185, and translated to
+another part of the same church. His festival is marked on the 17th of
+March, in the Martyrology of Bede, &c.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The apostles of nations were all interior men, endowed with a sublime
+spirit of prayer. The salvation of souls being a supernatural end, the
+instruments ought to bear a proportion to it, and preaching proceed from
+a grace which is supernatural. To undertake this holy function, without
+a competent stock of sacred learning, and without the necessary
+precautions of human prudence and industry, would be to tempt God. But
+sanctity of life, and the union of the heart with God, are
+qualifications far more essential than science, eloquence, and human
+talents. Many almost kill themselves with studying to compose elegant
+sermons, which flatter the ear yet reap very little fruit. Their hearers
+applaud their parts, but very few are converted. Most preachers,
+now-a-days, have learning, but are not sufficiently grounded in true
+sanctity, and a spirit of devotion. Interior humility, purity of heart,
+recollection, and the spirit and the assiduous practice of holy prayer,
+are the principal preparation for the ministry of the word, and the true
+means of acquiring the science of the saints. A short devout meditation
+and fervent prayer, which kindle a fire in the affections, furnish {604}
+more thoughts proper to move the hearts of the hearers, and inspire them
+with sentiments of truer virtue, than many years employed barely in
+reading and study. St. Patrick, and other apostolic men, were dead to
+themselves and the world, and animated with the spirit of perfect
+charity and humility, by which they were prepared by God to be such
+powerful instruments of his grace, as, by the miraculous change of so
+many hearts, to plant in entire barbarous nations not only the faith,
+but also the spirit of Christ. Preachers, who have not attained to a
+disengagement and purity of heart, suffer the petty interests of
+self-love secretly to mingle themselves in their zeal and charity, and
+have reason to suspect that they inflict deeper wounds in their own
+souls than they are aware, and produce not in others the good which they
+imagine.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  According to Usher and Tillemont, in 372. The former places his
+    death in 493: but Tillemont, about the year 455. Nennius, published
+    by Mr. Gale, says he died fifty-seven years before the birth of St.
+    Columba, consequently in 464.
+2.  St. Prosper, in his chronicle, assures us that pope Celestine
+    ordained St. Palladius bishop of the Scots in 431, and by him
+    converted their country to the faith; this apostle seems to have
+    preached to this nation first in Ireland, and afterwards in
+    Scotland. Though Palladius be styled by St. Prosper and Bede their
+    first bishop, yet the light of the faith had diffused its rays from
+    Britain into Ireland before that time, as several monuments produced
+    by Usher demonstrate. But the general conversion of the inhabitants
+    of this Island was reserved for St. Patrick.
+
+    The Scot are distinguished from the native Irish in the works of St.
+    Patrick, and in other ancient monuments. As to their original, the
+    most probable conjecture seems to be, that they were a foreign
+    warlike nation, who made a settlement in Ireland before the arrival
+    of St. Patrick. We find them mentioned there in the fourth century.
+    Several colonies of them passed not long after into Scotland. But
+    the inhabitants of Ireland were promiscuously called Scots or Irish,
+    for many ages.
+3.  The style is not polished; but the Latin edition is perhaps only a
+    translation: or his captivities might have prevented his progress in
+    polite learning being equal to that which he made in the more
+    sublime and more necessary studies.
+4.  A second council, extant in the same collection, ought rather to be
+    ascribed to a nephew of this saint. Other Irish canons, published in
+    the ninth tome of D'Achery's Spicilege, and more by Martenne,
+    (Anecd. tome 4, part 2,) though they bear the name of St. Patrick,
+    are judged to have been framed by some of his successors. See
+    Wilkins, Conc. Britan. & Hibern. t. 1, p. 3.
+
+    The treatise, of the Twelve Abuses, published among the works of St.
+    Austin and St. Cyprian, is attributed to St. Patrick, in a
+    collection of ecclesiastical ordinances made in Ireland, in the
+    eighth age, by Arbedoc, and in other ancient monuments. The style is
+    elegant; but it may be a translation from an Irish original. Sir
+    James Ware published the works of St. Patrick at London, in 1658, in
+    octavo.
+5.  It seems demonstrated that the St. Patrick who flourished among the
+    hermits of Glastonbury, and was there buried, was distinct from our
+    saint, and somewhat older.
+6.  C. 55, 56, 57, 58, 61.
+7.  The popular tradition attributes the exemption of their country from
+    venomous creatures to the benediction of St. Patrick, given by his
+    staff, called the staff of Jesus, which was kept with great
+    veneration in Dublin, as is mentioned in the year 1360, by Ralph
+    Higden, in his Polychronicon, published by Mr. Gale and by others.
+    The isle of Malta is said to derive a like privilege from St. Paul,
+    who was there bit by a viper.
+
+    St. Patrick's purgatory is a cave in an island in the lake Dearg, in
+    the county of Donnegall, near the borders of Fermanagh. Bollandus
+    shows the falsehood of many things related concerning it. Upon
+    complaint of certain superstitious and false notions of the vulgar,
+    in 1497, it was stopped up by an order of the pope. See Bollandus,
+    Tillemont, p. 787, Alemand in his Monastic History of Ireland, and
+    Thiers, Hist. des Superst. t. 4. ed. Nov. It was soon after opened
+    again by the inhabitants; but only according to the original
+    institution, as Bollandus takes notice, as a penitential retirement
+    for those who voluntarily chose it, probably in imitation of St.
+    Patrick, or other saints, who had there dedicated themselves to a
+    penitential state. The penitents usually spend there several days,
+    living on bread and water, lying on rushes or furze, and praying
+    much, with daily stations which they perform barefoot.
+
+MANY MARTYRS AT ALEXANDRIA, IN 892.
+
+THEOPHILIIS, patriarch of Alexandria, obtained a rescript of the emperor
+Theodosius, to convert an old deserted temple of Bacchus into a
+Christian church. In clearing this place, in the subterraneous secret
+caverns, called by the Greeks Adyta, and held by the pagans as sacred,
+were found infamous and ridiculous figures, which Theophilus caused to
+be exposed in public, to show the extravagant superstitions of the
+idolaters. The heathens in tumults raised a sedition, killed many
+Christians in the streets, and then retired into the great temple of
+Serapis as their fortress. In sallies they seized many Christians, and
+upon their refusing to sacrifice to Serapis, put them to death by cruel
+torments, crucifying them, breaking their legs, and throwing them into
+the sinks and jakes of the temple with the blood of their victims. The
+principal ancient divinities of Egypt were Apis, called also Osiris,
+once a great king and benefactor of that country, who was worshipped
+under the figure of a bull, and the wife of Apis, named Isis, who is
+said to have taught or improved agriculture.[1]
+
+The temple of Serapis, in Alexandria, was most stately and rich, built
+on an eminence raised by art, in a beautiful spacious square, with an
+ascent of one hundred steps, surrounded with lofty edifices for the
+priests and officers. The temple was built of marble, supported with
+precious pillars, and the walls on the inside were covered with plates
+of brass, silver, and gold. The idol was of so enormous a size, that its
+arms being extended, they reached to the opposite walls of the temple:
+its figure was that of a venerable old man, with a beard and long hair;
+but with it was joined a monstrous figure of an animal, with three
+heads: the biggest, in the middle, was that of a lion; that of a dog
+fawning came out on the right side, and that of ravenous wolf on the
+left: a serpent was represented twining round these three animals, and
+laying its head on the right hand of Serapis: on the idol's head was
+placed a bushel, an emblem of the fertility of the earth. The statue was
+made of precious stones, wood, and all sorts of metal together; its
+color was at first blue, but the steams or moisture of the place had
+turned it black. A hole in the temple was contrived, to admit the sun's
+rays upon its mouth at the hour when the idol of the sun was brought in
+to visit it. Many other artifices were employed to deceive the people
+into an opinion of its miracles. No idol was so much respected in Egypt;
+and on its account Alexandria was looked upon as a holy city.
+
+The emperor, being informed of the sedition, called those happy who
+{605} had received by it the crown of martyrdom: and not to dishonor
+their triumph, he pardoned their murderers, but sent an order to
+demolish the temples in Egypt. When this letter was read at Alexandria,
+the pagans raised hideous cries; many left the city, and all withdrew
+from the temple of Serapis. The idol was cast down by pieces, and thrown
+into a fire. The heathens were persuaded, that if any one should touch
+it the heavens would fall, and the world return into the state of its
+primitive chaos. Seeing no such judgment threaten, they began themselves
+to deride a senseless trunk reduced to ashes. The standard of the Nile's
+increase was kept in this temple, but it was on this occasion removed
+into the cathedral. The idolaters expected the river would swell no
+more: but finding the succeeding years very fertile, they condemned the
+vanity of their superstitions, and embraced the faith. Two churches were
+built on the place where this temple stood, and its metal was converted
+to the use of churches. The busts of Serapis on the walls, doors, and
+windows of the houses, were broken and taken away. The temples all over
+Egypt were demolished, during the two following years. In pulling down
+those of Alexandria, the cruel mysteries of Mithra were discovered, and
+in the secret Adyta were found the heads of many infants cut off,
+cruelly mangled, and superstitiously painted. The artifices of the
+priests of the idols were likewise detected: there were hollow idols of
+wood and brass, placed against a wall, with subterraneous passages,
+through which the priests entered the hollow trunks of the idols, and
+gave answers as oracles, as is related by Theodoret,[2] and Rufinus.[3]
+Where the idols were cast down, figures of the cross were set up in
+their places. These martyrs suffered in the year 392. See Theodoret,
+Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, Fleury, b. 19. Tillemont in the history of
+Theodosius, art. 52-55.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Those mistake the truth, who confound Serapis with Osiris, or who
+    imagine him to have been the patriarch Joseph. Serapis was a modern
+    divinity, raised by the Ptolemies. See Celmet, Banier on Mythology,
+    &c.
+2.  B. 5, c. 22.
+3.  Ib. 2, c. 25.
+
+ST. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA.
+
+HE was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrim, but a faithful disciple of
+Jesus. It was no small proof of his great piety, that, though he had
+riches and honors to lose, he feared not the malice of men, but at a
+time when the apostles trembled, boldly declared himself a follower of
+Jesus who was crucified; and with the greatest devotion embalmed and
+buried his sacred body. This saint was the patron of Glastenbury, where
+a church and hermitage, very famous in the times of the ancient
+Britons,[1] were built by the first apostles of this island: among whom
+some moderns have placed St. Joseph himself, and Aristobulus.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See Matthew of Westminster, and John of Glastenbury in their
+    histories of that famous abbey published by Hearne; also Tanner's
+    Notitia Monastica.
+
+ST. GERTRUDE, VIRGIN,
+
+ABBESS OF NIVELLE.
+
+SHE was daughter of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace to the French
+kings of Austrasia, and younger sister to St. Begga. She was born in
+626. Her father's virtuous palace was the sanctuary of her innocence,
+and the school of her tender piety. Being pressed to marry, she declared
+in presence of king Dagobert: "I have chosen for my spouse him from
+{606} whose eternal beauty all creatures derive their glory, whose
+riches are immense, and whom the angels adore." The king admired her
+gravity and wisdom in so tender an age, and would not suffer her to be
+any more disturbed on that account. Her mother, the blessed Itta,
+employed St. Amand to direct the building of a great nunnery at Nivelle,
+in Brabant, for Gertrude. It is now a double chapter of canons and
+canonesses. The virgin was appointed abbess when only twenty years of
+age. Her mother, the blessed Itta, lived five years under her conduct,
+and died in the twelfth year of her widowhood, in 652. She is honored in
+the Belgic Martyrologies on the 8th of May. Gertrude governed her
+monastery with a prudence, zeal, and virtue, that astonished the most
+advanced in years and experience. She loved extreme holy poverty in her
+person and house; but enriched the poor. By assiduous prayer and holy
+meditation she obtained wonderful lights from heaven. At thirty years of
+age, she resigned her abbey to her niece Wilfe{t}rude, and spent the
+three years which she survived, in preparing her soul for her passage to
+eternity, which happened on the 17th of March, in 659. Her festival is a
+holyday at Louvain, and throughout the duchy of Brabant. It is mentioned
+in the true Martyrology of Bede, &c. See her life, written by one who
+was present at her funeral, and an eye-witness to the miracles, of which
+there is an account in Mabillon, and the Acts of the Saints. See also
+Rivet, Hist. Littér. t. 4, p. 39. An anonymous author much enlarged this
+life in the tenth century, but the additions are of small authority.
+This work was printed by Ryckel, abbot of St. Gertrude's, at Louvain, in
+1632. See Hist. Littér. t. 6, p. 292. Also La Vie de S. Gertrude,
+abbesse de Nivelle, par Gul. Descoeuvres, in 12mo. at Paris, Ann. 1612.
+Consult likewise Dom Bouquet, Recueil des Hist. de France, t. 2, p. 603,
+&c.
+
+
+MARCH XVIII.
+
+SAINT ALEXANDER, B.M.
+
+BISHOP OF JERUSALEM.
+
+From St. Jerom, Catal. c. G. Euseb. Hist. b. 6, c. 8, 10, 14, 20. See
+Tillemont, t. 3, p. 415, and Le Quien Oriens Christ. t. 3, p. 150.
+
+A.D. 251.
+
+ST. ALEXANDER studied with Origen in the great Christian school of
+Alexandria, under St. Pantenus and his successor, St. Clement. He was
+chosen bishop of a certain city in Cappadocia. In the persecution of
+Severus, in 204, he made a glorious confession of his faith, and though
+he did not then seal it with his blood, he suffered several years'
+imprisonment, till the beginning of the reign of Caracalla, in 211, when
+he wrote to congratulate the church of Antioch upon the election of St.
+Asclepias, a glorious confessor of Christ, to that patriarchate; the
+news of which, he says, had softened and made light the irons with which
+he was loaded. He sent that letter by the priest St. Clement of
+Alexandria, a man of great virtue, whom God had sent into Cappadocia to
+instruct and govern his people during his confinement.
+
+{607}
+
+St. Alexander being enlarged soon after, in 212, was commanded by a
+revelation from God to go to Jerusalem to visit the holy places.[1] The
+night before his arrival, St. Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, and some
+other saints of that church, had a revelation, in which they heard a
+distinct voice commanding them to go out of the city and take for bishop
+him whom God sent them. St. Narcissus was then very old and decrepit: he
+and his flock seized Alexander, and by the consent of all the bishops of
+Palestine, assembled in a council, made him his coadjutor and joint
+bishop of Jerusalem. SS. Narcissus and Alexander still governed this
+church together, when the latter wrote thus to the Antinoits: "I salute
+you in the name of Narcissus, who held here the place of bishop before
+me, and, being above one hundred and sixteen years old, is now united
+with me by prayer. He conjures you with me to live in inviolable peace
+and union." St. Alexander collected at Jerusalem a great library,
+consisting of the writings and letters of eminent men, which subsisted
+when Eusebius wrote. He excelled all other holy prelates and apostolic
+men in mildness and in the sweetness of his discourses, as Origen
+testifies. St. Alexander was seized by the persecutors under Decius,
+confessed Christ a second time, and died in chains at Cæsarea, about the
+end of the year 251, as Eusebius testifies. He is styled a martyr by St.
+Epiphanius, St. Jerom, and the Martyrologies, and honored in the Roman
+Martyrology on the 18th of March; by the Greeks on the 16th of May and
+the 22d of December.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A pastor must first acquire a solid degree of interior virtue, before he
+can safely undertake to labor in procuring the salvation of others, or
+employ himself in exterior functions of the ministry. He must have
+mortified the deeds of the flesh by compunction, and the habitual
+practice of self-denial; and the fruits of the spirit must daily more
+and more perfectly subdue his passions. These fruits of the spirit are
+charity and humility, which stifle all the motions of anger, envy, and
+pride: holy joy, which banishes carnal sadness, sloth, and all disrelish
+in spiritual exercises; peace, which crushes the seeds of discord, and
+the love and relish of heavenly things, which extinguish the love of
+earthly goods and sensual pleasures. One whose soul is slothful,
+sensual, and earthly, deserves not to bear the name of a Christian, much
+less of a minister of the gospel. There never was a saint who did not
+carry his cross, and walk in the steps of Christ crucified. St.
+Alexander would have thought a day lost in which he did not add
+something to the sacrifice of his penance in order to continue and
+complete it. By this he prepared himself to die a victim of fidelity and
+charity. This is the continued martyrdom by which every true Christian
+earnestly labors to render himself every day more and more pleasing to
+God, making his body a pure holocaust to him by mortification, and his
+soul, by the fervor of his charity and compunction.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Eus. b. 6, c. 14. S. Hieron. in Catal.
+
+SAINT CYRIL, CONFESSOR,
+
+ARCHBISHOP OF JERUSALEM.
+
+From the church historians, and his works collected by Dom Touttée in
+his excellent edition of them at Paris, in 1720.
+
+A.D. 386.
+
+CYRIL was born at or near the city of Jerusalem, about the year 315. So
+perfectly was he versed in the holy scriptures, that many of his
+discourses,{608} and some of these pronounced extempore, are only
+passages of the sacred writings connected and interwoven with each
+other. He had read diligently both the fathers and the pagan
+philosophers. Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, ordained him priest about
+the year 345, and soon after appointed him his preacher to the people,
+likewise his catechist to instruct and prepare the catechumens for
+baptism; thus committing to his care the two principal functions of his
+own pastoral charge. St. Cyril mentions his sermons to the faithful
+every Sunday.[1] Catechumens ordinarily remained two years in the course
+of instruction and prayer, and were not admitted to baptism till they
+had given proof of their morals and conduct, as well as of their
+constancy in the faith.[2] This office St. Cyril performed for several
+years; but we have only the course of his catechetical sermons for the
+year 348, or 347. Perhaps the others were never committed to writing. He
+succeeded Maximus in the see of Jerusalem about the end of the year 350.
+
+The beginning of his episcopacy was remarkable for a prodigy by which
+God was pleased to honor the instrument of our redemption. It is related
+by Socrates,[3] Philostorgius,[4] the chronicle of Alexandria, &c. St.
+Cyril, an eye-witness, wrote immediately to the emperor Constantius, an
+exact account of this miraculous phenomenon: and his letter is quoted as
+a voucher for it by Sozomen,[5] Theophanes,[6] Eutychius,[7] John of
+Nice,[8] Glycas, and others. Dr. Cave has inserted it at length in his
+life of St. Cyril.[9] The relation he there gives of the miracle is as
+follows: "On the nones (or 7th) of May, about the third hour, (or nine
+in the morning,) a vast luminous body, in the form of a cross, appeared
+in the heavens, just over the holy Golgotha, reaching as far as the holy
+mount of Olivet, (that is, almost two English miles in length,) seen not
+by one or two persons, but clearly and evidently by the whole city. This
+was not, as may be thought, a momentary transient phenomenon: for it
+continued several hours together visible to our eyes, and brighter than
+the sun; the light of which would have eclipsed it, had not this been
+stronger. The whole city, struck with a reverential fear, tempered with
+joy, ran immediately to the church, young and old, Christians and
+heathens, citizens and strangers, all with one voice giving praise to
+our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the worker of miracles;
+finding by experience the truth of the Christian doctrine, to which the
+heavens bear witness." He concludes his letter with wishes that the
+emperor may always glorify the holy and consubstantial Trinity.[10]
+Philostorgius and the Alexandrian chronicle affirm, that this cross of
+light was encircled with a large rainbow.[11] The Greek church
+commemorates this miracle on the 7th of May.
+
+{609}
+
+Some time after this memorable event, a difference happened between our
+saint and Acacius, archbishop of Cæsarea, first a warm Semi-Arian,
+afterwards a thorough Arian. It began on the subject of metropolitical
+jurisdiction, which Acacius unjustly claimed over the Church of
+Jerusalem; and what widened the breach between them was their difference
+of sentiments with regard to the consubstantiality of the Son, which St.
+Cyril had always most zealously asserted.[12] This was sufficient to
+render him odious in the eyes of Acacius, who in a council of Arian
+bishops convened by him, declared St. Cyril deposed for not appearing,
+after two years' warning, to answer to the crimes alleged against him.
+One of them was that he had lavished away the goods of the Church, and
+had applied its sacred ornaments to profane uses. The ground of the
+accusation was, that, in time of a great famine at Jerusalem, he had
+sold some of the Church plate, and precious stuffs, to relieve the wants
+of the poor. St. Cyril, not looking upon the members of the council as
+qualified judges, appealed to higher powers,[13] but yielding to
+violence withdrew to Antioch, and thence removed to Tarsus, were he was
+honorably entertained by the bishop Sylvaims, and had in great respect,
+notwithstanding the sentence of Acacius and his council against him.
+Here living in communion with Sylvanus, Eustathius of Sebaste, Basil of
+Ancyra. and others, who soon after appeared at the head of the
+Semi-Arian faction, this gave rise to the calumny that St. Cyril himself
+had espoused it. But nothing could be more falsely alleged against him,
+he having always maintained the Catholic faith. He had accordingly, in
+349, together with his predecessor Maximus, received the decrees of the
+council of Sardica, and consequently those of Nice. And we have already
+seen, in his letter to Constantius, that he made an undaunted profession
+of the Consubstantial Trinity. To which we may add, that in the council
+of Constantinople, in 381, he joined with the other bishops in
+condemning the Semi-Arians and Macedonians. And the orthodox bishops
+assembled in the same city, in 382, writing to pope Damasus and to the
+western bishops, gave a most ample testimony to his faith, declaring,
+"That the most reverend and beloved of God, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem,
+had been canonically elected by the bishops of the province, and had
+suffered many persecutions-for the faith."[14] Upon the death of
+Constantius, in 361, Julian the apostate, partly out of aversion to his
+uncle, and partly in hopes to see the Christian sects and the orthodox
+more at variance, suffered all the banished bishops to return to their
+churches. Thus did God make use of the malice of his enemy to restore
+St. Cyril to his see. He shortly after made him an eye-witness to the
+miraculous manifestation of his power, by which he covered his
+blaspheming enemies with confusion. The following most authentic history
+of that remarkable event is gathered from the original records, and
+vindicated against the exceptions of certain skeptics by Tillemont,[15]
+and by our most learned Mr. Warburton, in his Julian. In vain had the
+most furious tyrants exerted the utmost cruelty, and bent the whole
+power which the empire of the world put into their hands, to extirpate,
+if it had been possible, the Christian name. The faith increased under
+axes, and the blood of martyrs was a fruitful seed, which multiplied
+{610} the Church over all nations. The experience how weak and
+ineffectual a means brute force was to this purpose, moved the emperor
+Julian, the most implacable, the most crafty, and the most dangerous
+instrument which the devil ever employed in that design, to shift his
+ground, and change his artillery and manner of assault. He affected a
+show of great moderation, and in words disclaimed open persecution; but
+he sought by every foul and indirect means to undermine the faith, and
+sap the foundations of the Christian religion. For this purpose he had
+recourse to every base art of falsehood and dissimulation, in which he
+was the most complete master. He had played off the round of his
+machines to no purpose, and seemed reduced to his last expedient of the
+pacific kind, the discrediting the Christian religion by bringing the
+scandal of imposture upon its divine author. This he attempted to do by
+a project of rebuilding the Jewish temple--which, if he could have
+compassed, it would have sufficiently answered his wicked design; Christ
+and the prophet Daniel having in express terms foretold not only its
+destruction, which was effected by the Romans under Titus, but its final
+ruin and desolation.
+
+The Jewish religion was a temporary dispensation, intended by its divine
+author, God himself, to prefigure one more complete and perfect, and
+prepare men to embrace it. It not only essentially required bloody
+sacrifices, but it enjoined a fixed and certain place for them to be
+performed in; this was the temple at Jerusalem. Hence the final
+destruction of this temple was he abolition of the sacrifices, which
+annihilated the whole system of this religious institution. Whence St.
+Chrysostom[16] shows that the destruction of Jerusalem is to be
+ascribed, not to the power of the Romans, for God had often delivered it
+from no less dangers; but to a special providence, which was pleased to
+put it out of the power of human perversity to delay or respite the
+extinction of those ceremonial observances. "As a physician," says that
+father, "by breaking the cup, prevents his patient from indulging his
+appetite in a noxious draught; so God withheld the Jews from their
+sacrifices by destroying the whole city itself, and making the place
+inaccessible to all of them." St. Gregory Nazianzen, Socrates,
+Theodoret, and other Christian writers, are unanimous in what they say
+of Julian's motive, ascribing to him the intention already mentioned, of
+falsifying the scripture prophecies, those of Daniel and Christ, which
+his actions sufficiently evidence. His historian, indeed, says, that he
+undertook this work out of a desire of rendering the glory of his reign
+immortal by so great an achievement:[17] but this was only an
+after-thought or secondary motive; and Sozomen in particular assures us
+that not only Julian, but that the idolaters who assisted in it, pushed
+it forward upon that very motive, and for the sake thereof suspended
+their aversion to the Jewish nation. Julian himself wrote a letter to
+the body or community of the Jews, extant among his works,[18] mentioned
+by Sozomen,[19] and translated by Dr. Cave, in his life of St. Cyril. In
+it he declares them free from all exactions and taxes, and orders Julus
+or Illus, (probably Hillel,) their most reverend patriarch, to abolish
+the apostoli, or gatherers of the said taxes; begs their prayers, (such
+was his hypocrisy,) and promises, after his Persian expedition, when
+their temple should be rebuilt, to make Jerusalem his residence, and to
+offer up his joint prayers together with them.
+
+After this he assembled the chief among the Jews, and asked them why
+they offered no bloody sacrifices, since they were prescribed by their
+law. They replied, that they could not offer any but in the temple,
+which then lay in ruins. Whereupon he commanded them to repair to
+Jerusalem, rebuild {611} their temple, and re-establish their ancient
+worship, promising them his concurrence towards carrying on the work.
+The Jews received the warrant with inexpressible joy, and were so elated
+with it, that, flocking from all parts to Jerusalem, they began
+insolently to scorn and triumph over the Christians, threatening to make
+them feel as fatal effects of their severity, as they themselves had
+heretofore from the Roman powers.[20] The news was no sooner spread
+abroad than contributions came in from all hands. The Jewish women
+stripped themselves of their most costly ornaments to contribute towards
+the expense of the building. The emperor also, who was no less impatient
+to see it finished, in order to encourage them in the undertaking, told
+them he had found in their mysterious sacred books that this was the
+time in which they were to return to their country, and that their
+temple and legal observances were to be restored.[21] He gave orders to
+his treasurers to furnish money and every thing necessary for the
+building, which would require immense sums: he drew together the most
+able workmen from all quarters, and appointed for overseers persons of
+the highest rank, placing at their head his intimate friend Alypius, who
+had formerly been Pro-prefect of Britain; charging him to make them
+labor in this great work without ceasing, and to spare no expense. All
+things were in readiness, workmen were assembled from all quarters;
+stone, brick, timber, and other materials, in immense quantities, were
+laid in. The Jews of both sexes and of all degrees bore a share in the
+labor; the very women helping to dig the ground and carry out the
+rubbish in their aprons and skirts of their gowns. It is even said that
+the Jews appointed some pickaxes, spades, and baskets to be made of
+silver for the honor of the work. But the good bishop St. Cyril, lately
+returned from exile, beheld all these mighty preparations without any
+concern, relying on the infallible truth of the scripture prophecies:
+as, that the desolation of the Jewish temple should last till the
+end;[22] and that one stone should not be left on another;[23] and being
+full of the spirit of God, he foretold, with the greatest confidence,
+that the Jews, so far from being able to rebuild their ruined temple,
+would be the instruments whereby that prophecy of Christ would be still
+more fully accomplished than it had been hitherto, and that they would
+not be able to put one stone upon another,[24] and the event justified
+the prediction.
+
+Till then the foundations and some ruins of the walls of the temple
+subsisted, as appears from St. Cyril:[25] and Eusebius says,[26] the
+inhabitants still carried away the stones for their private buildings.
+These ruins the Jews first demolished with their own hands, thus
+concurring to the accomplishment of our Saviour's prediction. Then they
+began to dig the new foundation, in which work many thousands were
+employed. But what they had thrown up in the day was, by repeated
+earthquakes, the night following cast back again into the trench. "And
+when Alypius the next day earnestly pressed on the work, with the
+assistance of the governor of the province, there issued," says
+Ammianus, "such horrible balls of fire out of the earth near the
+foundations,[27] which rendered the place, from time to time,
+inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen. And the victorious
+element continuing in this manner obstinately and resolutely bent as it
+were to drive them to a distance, Alypius thought proper to give over
+the enterprise."[28] {612} This is also recorded by the Christian
+authors, who, besides the earthquake and fiery eruption, mention storms,
+tempests, and whirlwinds, lightning, crosses impressed on the bodies and
+garments of the assistants, and a flaming cross in the heavens,
+surrounded with a luminous circle. The order whereof seems to have been
+as follows. This judgment of the Almighty was ushered in by storms and
+whirlwinds, by which prodigious heaps of lime and sand and other loose
+materials were carried away.[29] After these followed lightning, the
+usual consequence of collision of clouds in tempests. Its effects were,
+first the destroying the more solid materials, and melting down the iron
+instruments;[30] and secondly, the impressing shining crosses on the
+bodies and garments of the assistants without distinction, in which
+there was something that in art and elegance exceeded all painting or
+embroidery; which when the infidels perceived, they endeavored, but in
+vain, to wash them out.[31] In the third place came the earthquake which
+cast out the stones of the old foundations, and shook the earth into the
+trench or cavity dug for the new; besides overthrowing the adjoining
+buildings and porticoes wherein were lodged great numbers of Jews
+designed for the work, who were all either crushed to death, or at least
+maimed or wounded. The number of the killed or hurt was increased by the
+fiery eruption in the fourth place, attended both with storms and
+tempests above, and with an earthquake below.[32] From this eruption,
+many fled to a neighboring church for shelter, but could not obtain
+entrance; whether on account of its being closed by a secret invisible
+hand, as the fathers state the case, or at least by a special
+providence, through the entrance into the oratory being choked up by a
+frighted crowd, all pressing to be foremost. "This, however," says St.
+Gregory Nazianzen,[33] "is invariably affirmed and believed by all, that
+as they strove to force their way in by violence, the _Fire_, which
+burst from the foundations of the temple, met and stopped them, and one
+part it burnt and destroyed, and another it desperately maimed, leaving
+them a living monument of God's commination and wrath against sinners."
+This eruption was frequently renewed till it overcame the rashness of
+the most obdurate, to use the words of Socrates; for it continued to be
+repeated as often as the projectors ventured to renew their attempt,
+till it had fairly tired them out. Lastly, on the same evening, there
+appeared over Jerusalem a lucid cross, shining very bright, as large as
+that in the reign of Constantine, encompassed with a circle of light.
+"And what could be so proper to close this tremendous scene, or to
+celebrate this decisive victory, as the Cross triumphant, encircled with
+the _Heroic_ symbol of conquest?"
+
+This miraculous event, with all its circumstances, is related by the
+writers of that age; by St. Gregory Nazianzen in the year immediately
+following it; by St. Chrysostom, in several parts of his works, who says
+that it happened not twenty years before, appeals to eye-witnesses still
+living and young, and to the present condition of those foundations, "of
+which," says he, "we are all witnesses;" by St. Ambrose in his fortieth
+epistle, written in 388; Rufinus, who had long lived upon the spot;
+Theodoret, who lived in the neighborhood in Syria; Philostorgius, the
+Arian; Sozomen, who says many were alive when he wrote who had it from
+eye-witnesses, and mentions the visible marks still subsisting;
+Socrates, &c. The testimony of the heathens corroborates this evidence;
+as that of Ammianus Marcellinus above quoted, a nobleman of the first
+rank, who then lived in the court of Julian at Antioch and in an office
+of distinction, and who probably wrote his {613} account from the letter
+of Alypius to his master at the time when the miracle happened.
+Libanius, another pagan friend and admirer of Julian, both in the
+history of his own life, and in his funeral oration on Julian's death,
+mentions these earthquakes in Palestine, but with a shyness which
+discovers the disgrace of his hero and superstition. Julian himself
+speaks of this event in the same covert manner. Socrates testifies, that
+at the sight of the miracles, the Jews at first cried out that Christ is
+God; yet returned home as hardened as ever. St. Gregory Nazianzen says,
+that many Gentiles were converted upon it, and went over to the Church.
+Theodoret and Sozomen say many were converted; but as to the Jews, they
+evidently mean a sudden flash of conviction, not a real and lasting
+conversion. The incredulous blinded themselves by various pretences: but
+the evidence of the miracle leaves no room for the least cavil or
+suspicion. The Christian writers of that age are unanimous in relating
+it with its complicated circumstances yet with a diversity which shows
+their agreement, though perfect, could not have been concerted. The same
+is confirmed by the testimony of the most obstinate adversaries. They
+who, when the temple at Daphne was consumed about the same time, by
+lightning, pretended that it was set on fire by Christians, were not
+able to suspect any possibility of contrivance in this case: nor could
+the event have been natural. Every such suspicion is removed by the
+conformity of the event with the prophecies: the importance of the
+occasion, the extreme eagerness of Jews and Gentiles in the enterprise,
+the attention of the whole empire fixed on it, and the circumstances of
+the fact. The eruption, contrary to its usual nature, was confined to
+one small spot; it obstinately broke out by fits, and ceased with the
+project, and this in such a manner, that Ammianus himself ascribes it to
+an intelligent cause. The phenomena of the cross in the air, and on the
+garments, were admirably fitted, as moral emblems, to proclaim the
+triumph of Christ over Julian, who had taken the cross out of the
+military ensigns, which Constantine had put there to be a lasting
+memorial of that cross which he had seen in the air that presaged his
+victories. The same was again erected in the heavens to confound the
+vanity of its impotent persecutor. The earthquake was undoubtedly
+miraculous; and though its effects were mostly such as might naturally
+follow, they were directed by a special supernatural providence, as the
+burning of Sodom by fire from heaven. Whence Mr. Warburton concludes his
+dissertation on this subject with the following corollary. "New light
+continually springing up from each circumstance as it passes in review,
+by such time as the whole event is considered, this illustrious miracle
+comes out in one full blaze of evidence."[34] Even Jewish Rabbins, who
+do not copy from Christian writers, relate this event in the same manner
+with the fathers from their own traditions and records.[35] This great
+event happened in the beginning of the year 363. St. Chrysostom admires
+the wonderful conduct of divine providence in this prodigy, and
+observes, that had not the Jews set about to rebuild their temple, they
+might have pretended they could have done it: therefore did God permit
+them thrice to attempt it; once under Adrian, when they brought a
+greater desolation upon themselves; a second time under Constantine the
+Great, who dispersed them, cut off their ears, and branded their bodies
+with the marks of rebellion. He then relates this third attempt, "in our
+own time," as he says, "not above twenty years ago, in which God himself
+visibly baffled their endeavors, to show that no human power could
+reverse his decree; and this at a time {614} when our religion was
+oppressed, lay under the axes, and had not the liberty even to speak;
+that impudence itself might not have the least shadow of pretence."
+
+St. Cyril adored the divine power in this miracle, of which he had
+ocular demonstration. Orosius says that Julian had destined him to
+slaughter after his Persian expedition, but the death of the tyrant
+prevented his martyrdom. He was again driven from his see by the Arian
+emperor, Valens, in 367, but recovered it in 378, when Gratian, mounting
+the throne, commanded the churches to be restored to those who were in
+communion with pope Damasus. He found his flock miserably divided by
+heresies and schisms under the late wolves to whom they had fallen a
+prey; but he continued his labors and tears among them. In 381 he
+assisted at the general council of Constantinople, in which he condemned
+the Semi-Arians and Macedonians, whose heresy he had always opposed,
+though he had sometimes joined their prelates against the Arians before
+their separation from the church, as we have seen above; and as St.
+Hilary, St. Meletius, and many others had done. He had governed his
+church eight years in peace from the death of Valens, when, in 386, he
+passed to a glorious immortality, in the seventieth year of his age. He
+is honored by the Greeks and Latins on this day, which was that of his
+death.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Cat. 5, 10, 14.
+2.  See Fleury, Moeurs des Chrétiens, p. 42.
+3.  B. 2, c. 28.
+4.  Ib. 3, c. 26.
+5.  Ib. 5, c. 5.
+6.  Ad an. 353.
+7.  Annal. p. 475.
+8.  Auetuar. Combefis, t. 2, p. 382.
+9.  T. 2, p. 344.
+10. [Greek: Tên homousion Triada]. This is an argument of his firm
+    adherence to the Nicene faith, and that by the praises which he
+    bestows on an Arlan emperor in this piece, he meant not to flatter
+    him in his heterodox sentiments; they being only compliments of
+    course in an address to an eastern emperor, and his own sovereign.
+11. Certain moderns imagine that the luminous crosses which appeared in
+    the air in the reigns of Constantine and Constantius were merely
+    natural solar halos; and that under Julian, which appeared in the
+    night, a lunar halo, or circle of colors, usually red, round those
+    celestial bodies. But in opposition to this hypothesis we must
+    observe that those natural phenomena do not ordinarily appear in the
+    figure of a cross, but of a ring or circle, as both experience and
+    the natural cause show. We ought also to take nonce, that this
+    prodigy appeared thrice in the same century, and always on
+    extraordinary occasions, in which many circumstances rendered a
+    miraculous manifestation of the divine power highly credible.
+    Moreover, how will these secretaries and confidents of the intrigues
+    of nature, as Mr. Warburton styles them, account for the
+    inscription, _In this conquer_, which was formed in bright letters
+    round the cross, which appeared in the air to Constantlne and his
+    whole army, as that emperor himself affirmed upon oath, and as
+    Eusebius assures us from his testimony, and that of other
+    eye-witnesses. (l. 1, de Vit. Constant., c. 28, olim 22.) Fabricius
+    very absurdly pretends that [Greek: graphên] may here signify an
+    emblem, not an inscription. Mr. Jor tin, after taking much pains on
+    this subject, is obliged to confess (vol. 3, p. 6) that, "After all,
+    it seems more natural to interpret [Greek: graphên legousan] of a
+    writing than of a picture. It is an ugly circumstance," says this
+    author, "and I wish we could fairly get rid of it." Those who can
+    explain the scripture account of the passage of the Israelites
+    through the Red Sea by a natural strong wind, and an extraordinary
+    ebbing of the waters, can find no knot too hard for them. To deny a
+    supernatural interposition they can swallow contradictions, and
+    build hypotheses far more wonderful than the greatest miracles.
+12. Sozomen indeed says, (b. 4, c. 24,) that Acacius fought for
+    Arianism, Cyril for Semi-Arianism: but this is altogether a mistake.
+    For Acacius himself was at that time a Semi-Arian, and in 341, in
+    the council of Antioch, affirmed Christ to be like, though not equal
+    to his Father. It was only in 358, that he closed in with Eudoxius,
+    and the other rigid Arians. And as to St. Cyril, it is also clear
+    from the facts above mentioned, and from his writings, that he
+    always professed the Catholic faith with regard to the article of
+    the Consubstantiality of the Son of God. This is demonstrated by Dom
+    Toutée, in his life of St. Cyril, and by his colleague Dom Mares, in
+    his dissertation on the Semi-Arians, printed at Paris, in 1721, to
+    vindicate this father against a certain author in the memoirs of
+    Trevoux, an 1721.
+13. Sozom. b. 4, c. 24.
+14. Apud Theod. Hist. b. 5, c. 9.
+15. Tillem. t. 7, p. 409.
+16. Hom. 6, adv. Judæ, t. 1, p. 646, ed. Ben.
+17. Amm. Marcell. l. 3, c. 1.
+18. Ep. 25, p. 153.
+19. Soz. l. 5, c. 22.
+20. It was about this time that the Jews demolished the great church of
+    Alexandria, two more at Damascus, and others elsewhere.
+21. Naz. Or. 4, adv. Julian.
+22. Dan. ix. 27.
+23. Matt. xxiv. 2.
+24. Rufin. Hist. l. 10, c. 37.
+25. Catech. 15, n. 15.
+26. Dem. Evang. l. 8, p. 406.
+27. Out of the very foundations themselves, according to St. Chrysostom,
+    Sozomen, and Theodoret.
+28. Hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente. Amm. Marcel. l. xxiii.
+    c. 1. A very emphatical expression in the mouth of a pagan. He seems
+    by it to ascribe sense to the element, by which he discovers the
+    finger of God visibly detesting the obstinacy of the undertaking,
+    and a renewal of the eruption so often, till it overcame the
+    rashness of the most obstinate.
+29. Theod. Hist. l. 3, c. 20.
+30. Soc. lib. 3, c. 20.
+31. St. Greg. Naz Or. 4 adv. Julian. Theodoret, indeed, says that these
+    crosses were shaded with s dark color: but this without any real
+    contradiction to St. Gregory's relation of the matter, because, like
+    the phosphorus, they were {} a darkish hue by day, and lucid by
+    night.
+32. St. Greg. Naz. Or. 9.
+33. Or. 4. adv. Julian.
+34. This learned author demonstrates, lib. 2, ch. 4, that the exceptions
+    of Mr. Basnage are founded on glaring mistakes and
+    misrepresentations of his authorities.
+35. See Warburton, p. 88.
+
+APPENDIX
+
+ON
+
+THE WRITINGS OF ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM
+
+ST. MAXIMUS, bishop of Jerusalem, having appointed St. Cyril both his
+preacher and his catechist, our saint diligently acquitted himself of
+both these functions, the most important of the episcopal charge. St.
+Cyril mentions his sermons which he made to the people every Sunday.
+(Cat. 5, 10, 14.) One of these is extant in the new edition of his
+works. It is a moral discourse against sin, as the source of all our
+miseries, drawn from the gospel upon the sick man healed at the Probatic
+pond. (John v.) He preached every year a course of catechetical sermons
+for the instruction of the catechumens, to prepare them for baptism and
+the holy communion. Only those which he preached in 347, or rather in
+348, seem to have been committed to writing. These consist of eighteen
+to the competentes, or Illuminati, that is, catechumens before baptism;
+and of five mystagogic catechetical discourses, so called either because
+they were addressed to the catechumens immediately after they were
+initiated in the holy mysteries of Baptism, Confirmation, and the
+Eucharist, or because these sacraments are fully explained in them,
+which were never expounded to those who were not initiated, out of
+respect, and for fear of giving occasion to their profanation by the
+blasphemies of infidels. In the first eighteen St. Cyril explains the
+doctrine of the church concerning the pardon of sin, prayer, and all the
+articles of the Apostles' Creed. The style is clear, suitable to an
+exposition of doctrine such as is here given, and the work is one of the
+most important of Christian antiquity. The Latin translation of
+Grodecius, canon of Warmia in Poland, printed first in 1563, though
+often corrected, was very inaccurate; and the Greek editions very
+incorrect and imperfect, before that given of Thomas Miller at Oxford,
+in 1703, which is very valuable, though the author in part of his notes,
+where he endeavors to maintain the principles of the Protestant church,
+is very inconsistent. Dom Tontée, a Maurist monk, who died in 1718,
+prepared an excellent and complete edition of the works of St. Cyril;
+which was published by Dom Maran, in 1720, in one volume in folio. The
+journalists of Trevoux, in their memoirs for December, in 1721,
+criticised some of the notes concerning the Semi-Arians, and the
+temporary neutrality of St. Cyril. Dom Maran answered them by a learned
+and curious dissertation, Sur le Semi-Ariens, printed by Vincent, in
+1722.
+
+Three French Calvinists, Aubertin, Rivet, (Critici Sacri, l. 3, c. 8, 9,
+10, and 11,) one the apostate Casimir Oudin, (De Ser. Eccl. t. {}, p.
+459,) deny these catecheses, at least the {615} mystagogics, to be the
+work of St. Cyril. Oudin, to his usual inaccuracy, adds many affected
+blunders, and shows a dread of his unanswerable authority in favor of
+many articles which he was unwilling to allow was his chief motive for
+raising such a contest about the author; though if this was not St.
+Cyril, these critics must confess, from six hundred passages in the
+discourses, that they were delivered at Jerusalem, about the middle of
+the fourth century. Other Protestants, especially the English, are more
+sincere, and prove them this father's most undoubted work, as Doctor
+Cave, in St. Cyril's life, Thomas Milles, in his preface and notes to
+his edition of St. Cyril, Whittaker, Vossius. Bull, &c. They were
+preached at Jerusalem, seventy years after Manes broached his heresy,
+whom some then alive had seen, (Cat. 6,) which agrees only to the year
+347. They are mentioned by St. Jerom, in the same age, (Catal. c. 112,)
+quoted by Theodoret, (Dial. Inconfusus, p. 106,) and innumerable other
+fathers in every age downwards. As for the five mystagogics, they are
+inseparable from the rest, and as undoubted. The author promises them in
+his eighteenth, and mentions his first eighteen in the first mystagogic.
+(n. 9.) They are quoted by Eustrasius, (under Justinian,) by Anastius
+the Sinaite, Nico the monk, and other ancients produced by Dom Touttée.
+(Disc. 2, p. cv.)
+
+In his first catechetic instructions, he commands the catechumens not to
+divulge any part of our mysteries to any infidel, as unworthy, and
+exhorts them to the dispositions and preparation for holy baptism,
+_viz._ to a pure intention, assiduity in prayer, and at church devoutly
+receiving the exorcisms, fasting, sincere repentance, confessing their
+sins, whatever they had committed. (Catceh. 1, n. 5.) In the fourth he
+gives a summary of the Christian faith, and reckons up the canonical
+books of scripture, in which he omits the Apocalypse, and some of the
+deutero-canonical books, though he quotes these in other places as God's
+word. In the following discourses he explains very distinctly and
+clearly every article of our creed: he teaches Christ's descent into the
+subterraneous dungeons ([Greek: eis ta katachthonia]) to deliver the
+ancient just. (Cat. 4, n. 11, p. 57.) The porters of hell stood
+astonished to behold their conqueror, and fled: the prophets and saints,
+with Moses, Abraham, David, &c., met him, now redeemed by him. (Cat. 14,
+n. 19, p. 214.) He extols exceedingly the state of virginity as equal to
+that of the angels. (Cat. 4, n. 24; Cat. 12, n. 33, 34.) He says it will
+in the day of judgment, in the list of good works, carry off the first
+crowns. (Cat. 15, n. 23.) He compares it to gold, and marriage, which is
+yet good and honorable, to silver; but prescribes times of continency to
+married persons for prayer. (Cat. 4, n. 26.) He calls Lent the greatest
+time of fasting and penance, but says, "Thou dost not abstain from wine
+and flesh as bad in themselves, as the Manichees, for so thou wilt have
+no reward; but thou retrenchest them, good indeed in themselves, for
+better spiritual recompenses which are promised." (Cat. 4, n. 27.) He
+mentions the fasts and watchings of superposition, _i.e._ of holy week
+before Easter, as most austere. (Cat. 18.) He expresses on all occasions
+the tenderest devotion to the holy cross of Christ, and a great
+confidence in it, with which he endeavors also to inspire others. "Let
+us not be ashamed of the cross of Christ," says he: "sign it openly on
+thy forehead, that the devils, seeing the royal standard, may fly far
+trembling; make this sign when thou eatest or drinkest, sittest, liest,
+risest, speakest, walkest, in a word, in every action [Greek: en
+pantipragmati]." (Cat. 4, p. 58.) And again, "when thou art going to
+dispute against an infidel, make with thy hand the sign of the cross,
+and thy adversary will be struck dumb; be not ashamed to confess the
+cross. The angels glory in it, saying, Whom do you seek? Jesus, the
+crucified, Mat. xxviii. 6. You could have said, O Angel, My Lord: but
+the cross is his crown." (Cat. 13, n. 22, p. 194.) St. Porphyry of Gaza,
+instructed by St. Cyril's successor, John, following this rule, by
+beginning a disputation with a famous Manichean woman, struck her
+miraculously dumb. St. Cyril, in his thirteenth catechesis, thus
+addresses his catechumen, (n. 36, p. 200:) "Be careful to form with your
+finger on your forehead boldly, the sign of the cross for a signet and
+standard, and that before every thing,--while we eat our bread, or drink
+our cups, in coming in and going out, before sleep, and in rising, in
+walking, and in standing still." He testifies, in his tenth catechesis,
+(n. 19,) that the holy wood of the cross kept at Jerusalem, had, in the
+few years since its invention by St. Helena, already filled the whole
+world, being carried everywhere by those who, full of devotion, cut of
+littie chips, (p. 146.) We learn from Rufin, (Hist. b. 1, c. 10,) that
+the holy cross was covered by St. Helena with a silver case; and from S.
+Paulinus, (Ep. 31, n. 6,) that it was kept in an inner treasury in the
+church, into which the passage lay through a portico or gallery, as
+appears from the Spiritual Meadow. (C. 105.) A lamp burned before the
+cross, by the oil whereof St. Sabas and St. Cyriacus wrought many
+miracles, as we read in their lives. A priest was appointed by the
+bishop to be the guardian of this sacred treasury, which honor was
+conferred on St. Porphyry of Gaza, soon after St. Cyril's death; and
+then the case of the cross was of gold. St. Paulmus rays, it was exposed
+to the public veneration of the people once a year, at Easter, which
+some think to have been on Good Friday. St. Sophronius of Jerusalem,
+(Or. 1,) besides other days, in his time, says it was on Easter Monday.
+At extraordinary times the bishop gave leave for it to be shown to
+pilgrims to be venerated, and for them to cut off small chips, by which,
+miraculously, the cross never diminished, as St. Paulinus wrote seventy
+{616} years after its invention. The devotion of St. Cyril to the holy
+cross, was doubtless more inflamed by the sacred place in which he made
+all his sermons, which was the church built by St. Helena and
+Constantine, sometimes called of the Holy Cross, which was kept in it;
+sometimes of the Resurrection, because it contained in it the sepulchre,
+out of which Christ arose from death. It is curiously described as it
+stood, before it was destroyed by the Saracens, in 1011, by Dom Touttée,
+in a particular dissertation in the end of St. Cyril's works, (p. 423.)
+It was since rebuilt, but not exactly in the same place.
+
+St. Cyril inculcates also an honor due to the relics of saints, which he
+proves (Cat. 17, n. 30, 31) from the Holy Ghost performing miracles by
+the handkerchiefs of St. Paul, how much more by the saints' bodies? This
+he shows (Cat. 18, n. 16, p. 293) by the man raised to life by touching
+the dead body of Eliseus. (4 Reg. xiii. 21.) He gives the Blessed Virgin
+the title of Mother of God, [Greek: theotokos]. (Cat. 10, n. 19, p.
+146.) He is very clear in explaining the eternity and consubstantiality
+of God the Son, (Cat. 4, 10, 11, 15,) which would alone justify him from
+all suspicion of semi-Arianism. He is no less explicit against the
+Macedonians, on the divinity of the Holy Ghost. On that article: _I
+believe in the Holy Ghost_, "Believe of him," says he, "the same as of
+the Father and of the Son," &c. (Cat. 4, n. 16, pp. 59, 60.) On the
+article of the holy Catholic Church, he observes that the very name of
+Catholic distinguishes it from all heresies, which labor in vain to
+usurp it; this always remains proper to the spouse of Christ, as we see,
+if a stranger ask in any city, Where is the Catholic Church? (Cat. 18,
+n. 26.) That it is catholic, or universal, because spread over the whole
+world, from one end to the other; and because universally and without
+failing or error, [Greek: katholikôs kai anelleipôs], it teaches all
+truths of things visible and invisible, (ib. n. 23, p. 296,) which he
+proves from Matt. xvi. 18. _The gates of hell shall never prevail
+against it._ 1 Tim. iii. 15. _It is the pillar and ground of truth._
+Malach. i. 11. _From the rising of the sun to the setting, my name is
+glorified._ He is very earnest in admonishing, that no book is to be
+received as divine, but by the authority of the Church, and by tradition
+from the apostles, end the ancient bishops, the rulers of the Church.
+(Cat. 4, n. 23, 35, 36.) By the same channel of the tradition of tire
+Church, he teaches the sign of the cross, the honoring of that holy wood
+of our Saviour's sepulchre, and of saints' relics, exorcisms, and their
+virtue, insufflations, oil sanctified by exorcisms, (Cat. 20,) holy
+chrism, (Cat. 21,) blessing the baptismal water, (Cat. 3,) prayers, and
+sacrifices for the dead, (Cat. 23,) the perpetual virginity of the
+Virgin Mary, (Cat. 12,) &c. He made these eighteen catecheses to the
+catechumens during Lent: the five following he spoke to them after they
+were baptized during Easter week, to instruct them perfectly in the
+mysteries of the three sacraments they had received together--baptism,
+confirmation, and the eucharist--which it was thought a profanation to
+explain fully to any before baptism. Hence these five are called
+mystagogic catecheses. As to baptism, St. Cyril teaches (Procat. n. 16,
+p. 12) that it imprints an indelible signet, or spiritual character in
+the soul, which, he says, (Cat. 1, n. 2) is the mark by which we belong
+to Christ's flock: he adds, this is conferred by the regeneration, by
+and in the lotion with water. (Cat. 4 & 12; Cat. 16, n. 24.) He calls
+the character given by confirmation the signet of the communication of
+the Holy Ghost, (Cat. 18, n. 33,) and says (Cat. 22, n. 7) it is
+imprinted on the soul, while the forehead is anointed with chrism, (Cat.
+22, n. 7,) and after by baptism. (ib. n. 33,) by which he clearly
+distinguishes the characters of these two different sacraments, though
+Mr. Milles (not. in Procat.) has taken great pains to confound them. St.
+Cyril teaches that baptism perfectly remits all sin; but penance, the
+remedy for sins after it, does not quite efface them, as wounds that are
+healed leave still scars. (Cat. 18, n. 20.) He attributes great virtue
+to the exorcisms for purifying the soul, (Procat. n. 9,) and says, as
+incantations give a diabolical virtue to defile the soul, so does the
+invocation of the Holy Ghost give a virtue to the water, and gives it
+the power to sanctify. (Cat. 3, n. 3.) He says the same of the blessed
+oil, (Cat. 20, n. 3, p. 3,) and establishes clearly confirmation to be a
+distinct sacrament from baptism: he calls it the chrism and the mystical
+ointment, (Cat. 21,) and says it is to arm and fortify us against the
+enemies of our salvation, (ib. p. 317, n. 4,) and that while the body is
+anointed with this visible ointment, the soul is sanctified by the holy
+and life-giving spirit. (ib. n. 3.) In his nineteenth catechesis, the
+first mystagogic, he explains the force of the baptismal renunciations
+of the devil and his pomps. In the twentieth, the other ceremonies of
+baptism, and what they mean; in the twenty-first, the sacrament of
+confirmation; in the twenty-second, that of the blessed eucharist; in
+the twenty-third, or last, the liturgy or sacrifice of the mass and
+communion. As to the blessed eucharist, he says, by it we are made
+_concorporeal_ and _consanguineal_ with Christ by his body and blood
+being distributed through our bodies. (Cat. 22, n. 1, 3.) This same
+strong expression, which wonderfully declares the strict union which is
+the effect of this sacrament, is used by St. Chrysostom, (Horm. 6, in
+Hebr. &c.,) St. Isidore of Pelusium, (l. 3, ep. 195,) St. Cyril of
+Alexandria, (l. 10, in Joan. p. 862, dial. de Trin. p. 407,) &c. Our
+holy doctor explains to his neophytes the doctrine of transubstantiation
+in so plain terms, that no one can doubt of its being the faith of the
+Church in the fourth age. The learned Lutheran Ffaffius, (Dis. de
+oblatione Euchar. c. 38, p. 327,) owns it cannot be denied that this is
+Cyril's opinion. Grebe affirms the same, (not. in 1. 5, Irenæ. c. 2, p.
+339.) {617} This twenty-second catechesis alone puts it out of dispute.
+"Do not look apor the bread and wine as bare and common elements, for
+they are the Body and Blood of Christ, as our Lord assures us. Although
+thy sense suggest this to thee, let faith make thee firm and sure. Judge
+not of the thing by the taste, but be certain from faith that thou hast
+been honored with the gift of Christ's Body and Blood. (Cat. 22, n. 6,
+p. 321.) When he has pronounced and said of the bread: 'This is my
+body,' who will, after this, dare to doubt? and when he has assured and
+said, 'This is my blood,' who can ever hesitate, saying it is not his
+blood? (n. 1, p. 32.) He changed water into wine, which is akin to
+blood, in Cana; and shall we not think him worthy our belief, when he
+has changed, [Greek: metaballôn], wine into blood? (n. 2,) &c. Wherefore
+let us receive them with an entire belief as Christ's Body and Blood,
+for under the figure of bread is given to thee his Body, and under the
+figure of wine his Blood, that when thou hast received Christ's Body and
+Blood, thou be made one body and blood with him: for so we carry him
+about in us, his Body and Blood being distributed through our bodies."
+(n. 3, p. 320.) We learn the manner of receiving the blessed sacrament
+from his Catech. 23. "Putting your left hand under your right," says he,
+"form a throne of your right hand to receive the king; hold it hollow,
+receiving on it the Body of Christ. Answer, Amen. Carefully sanctify
+your eyes, by touching them with the holy Body, being very watchful that
+no part of it fall. Approach to the cup of the Blood, bowed in a posture
+of adoration and reverence; saying, Amen, take of the Blood of Christ.
+While yet something of the moisture sticks on your lips, touch them with
+your hand, and by applying it then to your eyes, forehead, and other
+senses, sanctify them."
+
+In his twenty-third or last catechesis, he calls the mass an unbloody
+sacrifice, a victim of propitiation, a supreme worship, &c. (n. 8, p.
+327.) He explains the Preface, and the other principal parts of it,
+especially the Communion, and mentions the priest from the altar crying
+out to the faithful, before they approached to receive, [Greek: Ta hagia
+tois hagiois]. He expounds the Lord's Prayer, and mentions the
+commemorations for the living and the dead. Of the latter he writes
+thus: (n. 9, p. 328.) "We also pray for the deceased holy fathers,
+bishops, and all in general who are dead, believing that this will be a
+great succor to those souls for which prayer is offered, while the holy
+and most tremendous victim lies present." And, (n. 10, ib.,) "If a king,
+being offended at certain persons, had banished them, and their friends
+offer him a rich garland for them, will not he be moved to release their
+punishment? In like manner, we, offering prayers to God for the dead,
+though they be sinners, do not make a garland, but we offer Christ
+sacrificed for our sins, striving to appease and make our merciful God
+propitious both to them and ourselves." This very passage is quoted out
+of St. Cyril, in the sixth century, by Eustratius, a priest of
+Constantinople, author of the life of the patriarch Eutychius, in his
+book on praying for the dead, or on the state of the dead, published by
+Leo Allatius, l. De Consensu Eccl. Orient. et Occid. De Purgat., and in
+Bibl. Patr. t. 27. It is also cited by Nicon the monk, in his Pandect.
+
+St. Cyril's famous letter to Constantius, On the Apparition of the Cross
+in the Heavens, was written by him soon after he was raised to the
+episcopal dignity, either in the same year, 350, or in the following.
+
+A sermon, On the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, and
+the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, bears the name of St. Cyril of
+Jerusalem, in almost all the MSS.; but the custom of carrying blessed
+candles in procession that day, mentioned in this discourse, was only
+introduced at Jerusalem at the suggestion of a devout lady named Icelia,
+about the middle of the fifth century, about sixty years after the death
+of St. Cyril. Other passages in this discourse seem clearly levelled
+against the heresy of Nestorius. The style is also more pompous and
+adorned than that of St. Cyril, nor abounds with parenthesis like his.
+It is a beautiful, eloquent, and solid piece, and was probably composed
+by some priest of the church of Jerusalem, whose name was Cyril, about
+the sixth century, when either Sallust or Elias was patriarch. See Dom.
+Touttée, and Ceillier, t. 6, p. 544.
+
+ST. EDWARD, KING AND MARTYR.
+
+HE was monarch of all England, and succeeded his father, the glorious
+king Edgar, in 975, being thirteen years old. He followed in all things
+the counsels of St. Dunstan; and his ardor in the pursuit of all virtues
+is not to be expressed. His great love of purity of mind and body, and
+his fervent devotion, rendered him the miracle of princes, while by his
+modesty, clemency, prudence, charity, and compassion to the poor, he was
+the blessing and the delight of his subjects.' His stepmother, Elfrida,
+had attempted {618} to set him aside, that the crown might fall on her
+own son, Ethelred, then seven years old. Notwithstanding her treasonable
+practices, and the frequent proofs of her envy and jealousy, Edward
+always paid her the most dutiful respect and deference, and treated his
+brother with the most tender affection. But the fury of her ambition
+made her insensible to all motives of religion, nature, and gratitude.
+The young king had reigned three years and a half, when, being one day
+weary with hunting in a forest near Wareham, in Dorsetshire, he paid a
+visit to his stepmother at Corfesgeate, now Corfe-castle, in the isle of
+Purbeck, and desired to see his young brother at the door. The
+treacherous queen caused a servant to stab him in the belly while he was
+stooping, out of courtesy, after drinking. The king set spurs to his
+horse, but fell off dead, on the 18th of March, 979, his bowels being
+ripped open so as to fall out. His body was plunged deep into a marsh,
+but discovered by a pillar of light, and honored by many miraculous
+cures of sick persons. It was taken up and buried in the church of our
+Lady at Wareham; but found entire in three years after, and translated
+to the monastery at Shaftesbury. His lungs were kept at the village
+called Edwardstow, in 1001; but the chiefest part of his remains were
+deposited at Wareham, as the Saxon Chronicle and Florence of Worcester
+say: but part was afterwards removed to Shaftesbury, not Glastenbury, as
+Caxton mistakes. The long thin knife with which he was stabbed, was kept
+in the church at Faversham, before the suppression of the monasteries,
+as Hearne mentions. His name is placed in the Roman Martyrology. The
+impious Elfrida, being awaked by the stings of conscience, and by the
+voice of miracles, retired from the world, and built the monasteries of
+Wherwell and Ambresbury, in the first of which she lived and died in the
+practice of penance. The reign of her son Ethelred was weak and
+unfortunate, and the source of the greatest miseries to the kingdom,
+especially from the Danes. See Malmesbury, Brompton, abbot of Jorval, in
+Yorkshire, and Ranulf Higden, in his Polychronicon, published by Gale.
+Also an old MS. life of the saint, quoted by Hearne, on Langtoft's
+Chronicle, t. 2, p. 628, and from the MS. lives of saints, in the hands
+of Mr. Sheldon, of Weston.
+
+ST. ANSELM, BISHOP OF LUCCA, C.
+
+HE was a native of Mantua, and was educated there in grammer and
+dialectics. Having entered himself among the clergy, he spent some time
+in the study of theology and the canon law, and laid that foundation of
+learning, which, joined with his natural genius and eminent virtue,
+qualified him to rise to the highest degree of excellence. Anselm
+Badagius, a Milanese, bishop of Lucca, was chosen pope in 1061, and took
+the name of Alexander II. He nominated our saint his successor in the
+see of Lucca; and he took a journey into Germany to the emperor, Henry
+IV., but out of a scruple refused to receive the investiture of the
+bishopric from that prince, so that the pope was obliged to keep in his
+own hands the administration of the see of Lucca. St. Gregory VII., who
+succeeded Alexander II., in 1073, ordered Anselm to receive the
+investiture from Henry. This compliance gave our saint such remorse,
+that he left his see, and took the monastic habit at Cluni. The pope
+obliged him to return to his bishopric, which he did. His zeal soon
+raised him enemies: by virtue of a decree of pope Gregory IX. he
+attempted to reform the canons of his cathedral, and to oblige them to
+live in community: this they obstinately refused to do, though they were
+interdicted by the pope, and afterwards excommunicated in a council, in
+which Peter Igneus, the famous bishop of Albano, presided in the name of
+{619} his holiness. The holy countess, Maud, undertook to expel the
+refractory canons, but they raised a sedition, and, being supported by
+the emperor Henry, drove the bishop out of the city, in 1079. St. Anselm
+retired to the countess Maud, whose director he was; for he was
+eminently experienced in the paths of an interior life, and, in the
+greatest hurry of business, he always reserved several hours in the day,
+which he consecrated to prayer, and attended only to God and himself.
+While he studied or conversed with others, his heart was virtually
+united to God, and every object served as it were naturally to raise his
+affections afresh to his Creator. Pope Gregory suffered him not to bury
+himself in his retreat, but, during his exile, appointed him apostolic
+legate in Lombardy, charging him with the care of several dioceses in
+those parts, which, through the iniquity of the times, had continued
+long vacant. St. Anselm wrote an apology for Gregory VII., in which he
+shows that it belongs not to temporal princes to give pastors to the
+church of Christ, and to confute the pretensions of the antipope,
+Guibert.[1] In another work he proves, that temporal princes cannot
+dispose of the revenues of the church. St. Anselm died at Mantua on the
+18th of March, in 1086. His name occurs on this day in the Roman
+Martyrology, and he is honored at Mantua as patron of that city. Baldus,
+his penitentiary, has written his life, in which he ascribes to him
+several miracles. See it in Canisius's Lect. Antiq. t. 3, p. 372.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  This work is published by Canisius, Lect. Antiq. t. 3, p. 389, and
+    Bibl. Patr. Lugdun, t. 18, Colon. t. 1{2}.
+
+ST. FRIDIAN, ERIGDIAN, OR FRIGDIAN, C.
+
+BISHOP OF LUCCA.
+
+HE is said to have been son to a king of Ulster in Ireland, at least he
+is looked upon as of Irish extraction. Travelling into Italy, to improve
+himself in ecclesiastical learning and virtue, he made such progress
+that, upon the death of Geminian, bishop of Lucca, he was chosen bishop
+of that extensive diocese, the eleventh from St. Paulinus, founder of
+that church, said to have been a disciple of St. Peter. St. Gregory the
+Great assures us, that he miraculously checked an impetuous flood of the
+river Auser, now called the Serchio, when it threatened to drown great
+part of the city. St. Fridian died in 578, and was buried in a place
+where the church now stands, which bears his name. Pope Alexander II.
+sent for some regular canons from this church to establish that order in
+the churches of St. John Lateran, and of the cross of Jerusalem, at
+Rome, but, in 1507, the congregation of St. Frigdian was united to that
+of St. John Lateran.[1] See St. Gregory the Great, l. 3, Dial. c. 9,
+Bede, Notker, Raban, Usuard, and the Roman Martyrology, on the 18th of
+March. Also Innocent III. c. 34, de Testibus et Attestationibus. In
+Decreto Gregoriano. Rursus id c. 8, de Testibus cogendis. Ib. iterum, de
+Verborum Significatione. See also Dempster (of the family of the barons
+of Muresk, a Scotchman, public professor, first in several towns in
+Flanders, afterwards at Pisa, and lastly, at Bononia, where he died in
+1625) in his Etruria Regalis, t. 2, l. 5, c. 6, p. 299, which work was
+printed with many cuts, in two volume, folio, at Florence, in 1723, at
+the expense of Thomas Coke, late earl of Leicester, then on his travels.
+And principally, see the Ecclesiastical History of Lucca, printed in
+that city, in 1736, and again in 1741, in 12mo.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  See F. Hebb{oi}, t. 2, p. 50.
+
+{620}
+
+
+MARCH XIX.
+
+ST. JOSEPH.
+
+THE glorious St. Joseph was lineally descended from the greatest kings
+of the tribe of Juda, and from the most illustrious of the ancient
+patriarchs; but his true glory consisted in his humility and virtue. The
+history of his life hath not been written by men; but his principal
+actions are recorded by the Holy Ghost himself. God intrusted him with
+the education of his divine Son, manifested in the flesh. In this view
+he was espoused to the Virgin Mary. It is an evident mistake of some
+writers, that by a former wife he was the father of St. James the Less,
+and of the rest who are styled in the gospels the brothers of our Lord;
+for these were only cousin-germans to Christ, the sons of Mary, sister
+to the Blessed Virgin, wife of Alphæus, who was living at the time of
+our Redeemer's crucifixion. St. Jerom assures us,[1] that St. Joseph
+always preserved his virgin chastity; and it is of faith that nothing
+contrary thereto ever took place with regard to his chaste spouse, the
+blessed Virgin Mary. He was given her by heaven to be the protector of
+her chastity, to secure her from calumnies in the birth of the Son of
+God, and to assist her in his education, and in her journeys, fatigues,
+and persecutions. How great was the purity and sanctity of him who was
+chosen the guardian of the most spotless Virgin! This holy man seems,
+for a considerable time, to have been unacquainted that the great
+mystery of the Incarnation had been wrought in her by the Holy Ghost.
+Conscious therefore of his own chaste behavior towards her, it could not
+but raise a great concern in his breast, to find that, notwithstanding
+the sanctity of her deportment, yet he might be well assured that she
+was with child. But being _a just man_, as the scripture calls him, and
+consequently possessed of all virtues, especially of charity and
+mildness towards his neighbor, he was determined to leave her privately,
+without either condemning or accusing her, committing the whole cause to
+God. These his perfect dispositions were so acceptable to God, the lover
+of justice, charity, and peace, that before he put his design in
+execution, he sent an angel from heaven not to reprehend any thing in
+his holy conduct, but to dissipate all his doubts and fears, by
+revealing to him this adorable mystery. How happy should we be if we
+were as tender in all that regards the reputation of our neighbor; as
+free from entertaining any injurious thought or suspicion, whatever
+certainty our conjectures or our senses may seem to rely on; and as
+guarded in our tongue! We commit these faults only because in our hearts
+we are devoid of that true charity and simplicity, whereof St. Joseph
+sets us so eminent an example on this occasion.
+
+In the next place we may admire in secret contemplation, with what
+devotion, respect, and tenderness, he beheld and adored the first of all
+men, the new-born Saviour of the world, and with what fidelity he
+acquitted himself of his double charge, the education of Jesus, and the
+guardianship of his blessed mother. "He was truly the faithful and
+prudent servant," says St. Bernard,[2] "whom our Lord appointed the
+master of his household, the comfort and support of his mother, his
+fosterfather, and most faithful co-operator to the execution of his
+deepest counsels on earth." "What a happiness," {621} says the same
+father, "not only to see Jesus Christ, but also to hear him, to carry
+him in his arms, to lead him from place to place, to embrace and caress
+him, to feed him, and to be privy to all the great secrets which were
+concealed from the princes of this world!"
+
+"O astonishing elevation! O unparalleled dignity!" cries out the pious
+Gerson,[3] in a devout address to St. Joseph, "that the mother of God,
+queen of heaven, should call you her lord; that God himself, made man,
+should call you father, and obey your commands. O glorious Triad on
+earth, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, how dear a family to the glorious Trinity in
+heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Nothing is on earth so great, so
+good, so excellent." Amidst these his extraordinary graces, what more
+wonderful than his humility! He conceals his privileges, lives as the
+most obscure of men, publishes nothing of God's great mysteries, makes
+no further inquiries into them, leaving it to God to manifest them at
+his own time, seeks to fulfil the order of providence in his regard,
+without interfering with any thing but what concerns himself. Though
+descended from the royal family which had long been in possession of the
+throne of Judaea, he is content with his condition, that of a mechanic
+or handicraftsman,[4] and makes it his business, by laboring in it, to
+maintain himself, his spouse, and the divine Child.
+
+We should be ungrateful to this great saint, if we did not remember that
+it is to him, as the instrument under God, that we are indebted for the
+preservation of the infant Jesus from Herod's jealousy and malice,
+manifested in the slaughter of the Innocents. An angel appearing to him
+in his sleep, bade him arise, take the child Jesus, and fly with him
+into Egypt, and remain there till he should again have notice from him
+to return. This sudden and unexpected flight must have exposed Joseph to
+many inconveniences and sufferings in so long a journey, with a little
+babe and a tender virgin, the greater part of the way being through
+deserts, and among strangers; yet he alleges no excuses, nor inquires at
+what time they were to return. St. Chrysostom observes that God treats
+thus all his servants, sending them frequent trials, to clear their
+hearts from the rust of self-love, but intermixing seasons of
+consolation.[5] "Joseph," says he, "is anxious on seeing the Virgin with
+child; an angel removes that fear; he rejoices at the child's birth, but
+a great fear succeeds; the furious king seeks to destroy the child, and
+the whole city is in an uproar to take away his life. This is followed
+by another joy, the adoration of the Magi; a new sorrow then arises; he
+is ordered to fly into a foreign unknown country, without help or
+acquaintance." It is the opinion of the fathers, that upon their
+entering Egypt, at the presence of the child Jesus, all the oracles of
+that superstitions country were struck dumb, and the statues of their
+gods trembled, and in many places fell to the ground, according to that
+of Isaiah xix. _And the statues of the Egyptians shall be shaken in his
+presence._[6] The fathers also attribute to this holy visit the
+spiritual benediction poured on that country, which made it for many
+ages most fruitful in saints.[7]
+
+After the death of king Herod, which was notified to St. Joseph by a
+vision, God ordered him to return with the child and his mother into the
+land of Israel, which our saint readily obeyed. But when he arrived in
+Judæa, {622} hearing that Archelaus succeeded Herod in that part of the
+country, apprehensive he might be infected with his father's
+vices--cruelty and ambition--he feared on that account to settle there,
+as he would otherwise probably have done, for the more commodious
+education of the child. And, therefore, being directed by God in another
+vision, he retired into the dominions of his brother, Herod Antipas, in
+Galilee, to his former habitation in Nazareth, where the wonderful
+occurrences of our Lord's birth were less known. St. Joseph being a
+strict observer of the Mosaic law, in conformity to its direction,
+annually repaired to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover. Archelaus
+being banished by Augustus, and Judæa made a Roman province, he had now
+nothing more to fear at Jerusalem. Our Saviour being advanced to the
+twelfth year of his age, accompanied his parents thither; who having
+performed the usual ceremonies of the feast, were now returning with
+many of their neighbors and acquaintance towards Galilee, and never
+doubting but that Jesus had joined himself with some of the company,
+they travelled on for a whole day's journey without further inquiry
+after him, before they discovered that he was not with them. But when
+night came on, and they could hear no tidings of him among their kindred
+and acquaintance, they, in the deepest affliction, returned with the
+utmost speed to Jerusalem: where, after an anxious search of three days,
+they found him in the temple, sitting among the learned doctors of the
+law, hearing them discourse, and asking them such questions as raised
+the admiration of all that heard him, and made them astonished at the
+ripeness of his understanding: nor were his parents less surprised on
+this occasion. And when his mother told him with what grief and
+earnestness they had sought him, and to express her sorrow for that,
+though short, privation of his presence, said to him: "Son, why hast
+thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I sought thee in great
+affliction of mind;" she received for answer, that being the Messias and
+Son of God, sent by his Father into the world in order to redeem it, he
+must be about his Father's business, the same for which he had been sent
+into the world; and therefore that it was most likely for them to find
+him in his Father's house: intimating that his appearing in public on
+this occasion was to advance his Father's honor, and to prepare the
+princes of the Jews to receive him for their Messias; pointing out to
+them from the prophets the time of his coming. But though in thus
+staying in the temple, unknown to his parents, he did something without
+their leave, in obedience to his heavenly Father, yet in all other
+things he was obedient to them, returning with them to Nazareth, and
+there living in all dutiful subjection to them.
+
+Aelred, our countryman, abbot of Rieval, in his sermon on losing the
+child Jesus in the temple, observes that this his conduct to his parents
+is a true representation of that which he shows us, while he often
+withdraws himself for a short time from us to make us seek him the more
+earnestly. He thus describes the sentiments of his holy parents on this
+occasion.[8] "Let us consider what was the happiness of that blessed
+company, in the way to Jerusalem, to whom it was granted to behold his
+face, to hear his sweet words, to see in him the signs of divine wisdom
+and virtue; and in their mutual discourse to receive the influence of
+his saving truths and example. The old and young admire him. I believe
+boys of his age were struck with astonishment at the gravity of his
+manners and words. I believe such rays of grace darted from his blessed
+countenance as drew on him the eyes, ears, and hearts of every one. And
+what tears do they shed when he is not with them." He goes on
+considering what must be the grief of his parents when they had lost
+him; what their sentiments, and how earnest their {623} search: but what
+their joy when they found him again. "Discover to me," says he, "O my
+Lady, Mother of my God, what were your sentiments, what your
+astonishment and your joy when you saw him again, and sitting, not among
+boys, but amidst the doctors of the law: when you saw every one's eyes
+fixed on aim, every one's ears listening to him, great and small,
+learned and unlearned, intent only on his words and motions. You now
+say: I have found him whom I love. I will hold him, and will no more let
+him part from me. Hold him, sweet Lady, hold him fast; rush on his neck,
+dwell on his embraces, and compensate the three days' absence by
+multiplied delights in your present enjoyment of him. You tell him that
+you and his father sought him in grief. For what did you grieve? not for
+fear of hunger or want in him whom you knew to be God: but I believe you
+grieved to see yourself deprived of the delights of his presence even
+for a short time; for the Lord Jesus is so sweet to those who taste him,
+that his shortest absence is a subject of the greatest grief to them."
+This mystery is an emblem of the devout soul, and Jesus sometimes
+withdrawing himself, and leaving her to dryness, that she may be more
+earnest in seeking him. But, above all, how eagerly ought the soul which
+has lost God by sin, to seek him again, and how bitterly ought she to
+deplore her extreme misfortune!
+
+As no further mention is made of St. Joseph, he must have died before
+the marriage of Cana, and the beginning of our divine Saviour's
+ministry. We cannot doubt but he had the happiness of Jesus and Mary
+attending at his death, praying by him, assisting and comforting him in
+his last moments. Whence he is particularly invoked for the great grace
+of a happy death, and the spiritual presence of Jesus in that tremendous
+hour. The church reads the history of the patriarch Joseph on his
+festival, who was styled the saviour of Egypt, which he delivered from
+perishing by famine; and was appointed the faithful master of the
+household of Potiphar, and of that of Pharaoh and his kingdom. But our
+great saint was chosen by God the saviour of the life of him who was the
+true Saviour of the souls of men, rescuing him from the tyranny of
+Herod. He is now glorified in heaven, as the guardian and keeper of his
+Lord on earth. As Pharaoh said to the Egyptians in their distress: "Go
+to Joseph;" so may we confidently address ourselves to the mediation of
+him to whom God, made man, was subject and obedient on earth.
+
+The devout Gerson expressed the warmest devotion to St. Joseph, which he
+endeavored by letters and sermons to promote. He composed an office in
+his honor, and wrote his life in twelve poems, called Josephina. He
+enlarged on all the circumstances of his life by pious affection, and
+meditations. St. Teresa chose him the chief patron of her order. In the
+sixth chapter of her life she writes thus: "I chose the glorious St.
+Joseph for my patron, and I commend myself in all things singularly to
+his intercession. I do not remember ever to have asked of God any thing
+by him which I did not obtain. I never knew any one, who, by invoking
+him, did not advance exceedingly in virtue: for he assists in a
+wonderful manner all who address themselves to him." St. Francis of
+Sales, throughout his whole nineteenth entertainment, extremely
+recommends devotion to him, and extols his merits, principally his
+virginity, humility, constancy, and courage. The Syrians and other
+eastern churches celebrate his festival on the 20th of July; the western
+church, on the 19th of March. Pope Gregory XV., in 1621, and Urban
+VIII., in 1642, commanded it to be kept a holyday of obligation.
+
+The holy family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, presents to us the most
+perfect model of heavenly conversation on earth. How did those two
+seraphims, Mary and Joseph, live in their poor cottage! They always
+enjoyed {624} the presence of Jesus, always burning with the most ardent
+love for him: inviolably attached to his sacred person, always employed
+and living only for him. What were their transports in beholding him,
+their devotion it, listening to him, and their joy in possessing him!
+heavenly life! anticipation of the heavenly bliss! divine conversation!
+We may imitate them, and share some degree of this advantage, by
+conversing often with Jesus, and by the contemplation of his most
+amiable goodness, kindling the fire of his holy love in our breasts. The
+effects of this love, if it be sincere, will necessarily appear in our
+putting on his spirit, and imitating his example and virtues; and in our
+studying to walk continually in the divine presence, finding God
+everywhere, and esteeming all the time lost which we do not spend with
+God, or for his honor.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  L. adv. Helvid. c. 9.
+2.  Hom. 2. super missus est, n. 16, p. 742.
+3.  Serm. de Nativ.
+4.  This appears from Mat. xiii. 55. St. Justin, (Dial. n. 89, ed. Ben.
+    p. 186,) St. Ambrose, (in Luc. p. 3,) and Theodoret (b. 3, Hist. c.
+    18) say he worked in wood, as a carpenter. St. Hilary (in Mat. c.
+    14, p. 17) and St. Peter Chrysologus (Serm. 48) say he wrought in
+    iron as a smith; probably he wrought both in iron and in wood; which
+    opinion St. Justin favors, by saying: "He and Jesus made ploughs and
+    yokes for oxen."
+5.  Hom. 8, in Mat. t. 7, p. 123, ed. Ben.
+6.  This is affirmed by St. Athanasius, (l. de Incarn.) Eusebius,
+    (Demonstrat. Evang. l. 6, c. 20.) St. Cyril (Cat. 10,) St. Ambrose,
+    (in Ps. 118, Octon. 5,) St. Jerom, (in Isai. 19,) St. Chrysostom, St.
+    Cyril of Alexandria, (in Isai.) Sozomen, (l. 5. c. 20,) &c.
+7.  See the Lives of the Fathers of the desert.
+8.  Bibl. Patr. t. 13.
+
+ST. ALCMUND, M.
+
+HE was son of Eldred, and brother of Osred, kings of the Northumbrians.
+During his temporal prosperity, the greater he was in power, so much the
+more meek and humble was he in his heart, and so much the more affable
+to others. He was poor amidst riches, because he knew no greater
+pleasure than to strip himself for the relief of the distressed. Being
+driven from his kingdom, together with his father, by rebellious
+subjects, in league with Danish plunderers, he lived among the Picts
+above twenty years in banishment; learning more heartily to despise
+earthly vanities, and making it his whole study to serve the King of
+kings. His subjects, groaning under the yoke of an insupportable
+tyranny, took up arms against their oppressors, and induced the royal
+prince, upon motives of compassion for their distress and a holy zeal
+for religion, to put themselves at their head. Several battles were
+prosperousiy fought; but at length the pious prince was murdered by the
+contrivance of king Eardulf, the usurper, as Matthew of Westminster,
+Simeon of Durham, and Florence of Worcester, say. Dr. Brown Willis, in
+his Notitia of parliamentary boroughs, writes, with some ancients, that
+he was slain by the Danes, about the year 819. His body was interred at
+Lilleshult, in Shropshire; but afterwards translated to Derby, where he
+was honored with great devotion as patron of the town, on the 19th of
+March. An old manuscript sermon preached in his church at Derby, about
+the year 1140, extant in a manuscript collection of sermons of that age
+in my hands, folio 138, gives a particular history of this translation
+of his relies to Derby, where his church became famous for miracles, and
+for the resort of pilgrims. See on this saint the history of John of
+Glastonbury, Matthew of Westminster, the manuscript sermon above
+mentioned, and Henschenius t. 3, Mart. p. 47.
+
+{625}
+
+
+MARCH XX.
+
+ST. CUTHBERT, CONFESSOR.
+
+BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE.
+
+From his life written by Bede, and from that author's Church-History, b.
+4 c. 27 to c. 32. Simeon Dunelm, or rather Turgot, Hist. Dunelm,
+published by Bedford: the old Latin hymn On St. Cuthbert, MS. in Bibl.
+Cotton. n. 41, spud Wanley, p. 184, and four Latin prayers, in honor of
+St. Cuthbert, MS. n. 190 in the library of Durham church. Warmley,
+Catal. t. 2, p. 297. Harpsiald, sæc. 7, c. 34. Hearne on Langtoft, t. 2,
+p. 687. N.B. The history of Durham, which is here quoted, was compiled
+by Turgot, prior of Durham, down to the year 1104, and continued to the
+year 1161 by Simeon.
+
+A.D. 687.
+
+WHEN the Northumbrians, under the pious king Oswald, had, with great
+fervor, embraced the Christian faith, the holy bishop St. Aidan founded
+two monasteries, that of Mailros, on the bank of the Tweed, and another
+in the isle of Lindisfarne, afterwards called Holy Island, four miles
+distant from Berwick. In both he established the rule of St. Columba;
+and usually resided himself in the latter. St. Cuthbert[1] was born not
+very far from Mailros, and in his youth was much edified by the devout
+deportment of the holy inhabitants of that house, whose fervor in the
+service of God, and the discharge of the duties of a monastic life, he
+piously endeavored to imitate on the mountains where he kept his
+father's sheep. It happened one night, that, while he was watching in
+prayer, near his flock, according to his custom, he saw the soul of St.
+Aidan carried up to heaven by angels, at the very instant that holy man
+departed this life in the isle of Lindisfarne. Serious reflections on
+the happiness of such a death determined the pious young man to repair,
+without delay, to Mailros, where he put on the monastic habit, while
+Eata was abbot, and St. Boisil prior. He studied the holy scriptures
+under the latter, and in fervor surpassed all his brethren in every
+monastic exercise. Eata being called to govern the new monastery of
+Rippon, founded by king Alcfrid, he took with him St. Cuthbert, and
+committed to him the care of entertaining strangers; which charge is
+usually the most dangerous in a religious state. Cuthbert washed the
+feet of others and served them with wonderful humility and meekness,
+always remembering that Christ himself is served in his members. And he
+was most careful that the functions of Martha should never impair his
+spirit of recollection. When St. Wilfred was made abbot of Rippon, St.
+Cuthbert returned with Eata to Mailros; and St. Boisil dying of the
+great pestilence, in 664, he was chosen provost or prior in his place.
+
+In this station, not content by word and example to form his monks to
+perfect piety, be labored assiduously among the people to bring them off
+from several heathenish customs and superstitious practices which still
+obtained among them. For this purpose, says our venerable historian, he
+often went out, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on foot, to preach
+the way of life to such as were gone astray. Parochial churches being at
+this time very scarce in the country, it was the custom for the country
+people to flock about a priest or ecclesiastical person when he came
+into any village, for the sake of his instructions; hearkening willingly
+to his words, and more willingly practising the good lessons he taught
+them. St. Cuthbert {626} excelled all others by a most persuasive and
+moving eloquence; and such a brightness appeared in his angelical face
+in delivering the word of God to the people, that none of them durst
+conceal from him any part of their misbehavior, but all laid their
+conscience open before him, and endeavored by his injunctions and
+counsels to expiate the sins they had confessed, by worthy fruits of
+penance. He chiefly visited those villages and hamlets at a distance,
+which, being situate among high and craggy mountains, and inhabited by
+the most rustic, ignorant, and savage people, were the less frequented
+by other teachers. After St. Cuthbert had lived many years at Mailros,
+St. Eata, abbot also of Lindisfarne, removed him thither, and appointed
+him prior of that larger monastery. By the perfect habit of
+mortification and prayer the saint had attained to so eminent a spirit
+of contemplation, that he seemed rather an angel than a man. He often
+spent whole nights in prayer, and sometimes, to resist sleep, worked or
+walked about the island while he prayed. If he heard others complain
+that they had been disturbed in their sleep, he used to say, that he
+should think himself obliged to any one that awaked him out of his
+sleep, that he might sing the praises of his Creator, and labor for his
+honor. His very countenance excited those who saw him to a love of
+virtue. He was so much addicted to compunction, and inflamed with
+heavenly desires, that he could never say mass without tears. He often
+moved penitents, who confessed to him their sins, to abundant tears, by
+the torrents of his own, which he shed for them. His zeal in correcting
+sinners was always sweetened with tender charity and meekness. The saint
+had governed the monastery of Lindisfarne, under his abbot, several
+years, when earnestly aspiring to a closer union with God, he retired,
+with his abbot's consent, into the little isle of Farne, nine miles from
+Lindisfarne, there to lead an austere eremitical life. The place was
+then uninhabited, and afforded him neither water, tree, nor corn.
+Cuthbert built himself a hut with a wall and trench about it, and, by
+his prayers, obtained a well of freshwater in his own cell. Having
+brought with him instruments of husbandry, he sowed first wheat, which
+failed; then barley, which, though sowed out of season, yielded a
+plentiful crop. He built a house at the entry of the island from
+Lindisfarne, to lodge the brethren that came to see him, whom he there
+met and entertained with heavenly conferences. Afterwards he confined
+himself within his own wall and trench, and gave spiritual advice only
+through a window, without ever stirring out of his cell. He could not,
+however, refuse an interview with the holy abbess and royal virgin
+Elfleda, whom her father, king Oswi, had dedicated to God from her
+birth, and who, in 680, succeeded St. Hilda in the government of the
+abbey of Whitby. This was held in the isle of Cocket, then filled with
+holy anchorets. This close solitude was to our saint an uninterrupted
+exercise of divine love, praise, and compunction; in which he enjoyed a
+paradise of heavenly delights, unknown to the world.
+
+In a synod of bishops, held by St. Theodorus at Twiford, on the river
+Alne, in the kingdom of Northumberland, it was resolved that Cuthbert
+should be raised to the episcopal see of Lindisfarne. But as neither
+letters nor messengers were of force to obtain his consent to undertake
+the charge, king Egfrid, who had been present at the council, and the
+holy bishop Trumwin, with many others, sailed over to his island, and
+conjured him, on their knees, not to refuse his labors, which might be
+attended with so much advantage to souls. Their remonstrances were so
+pressing, that the saint could not refuse going with them, at least to
+the council, but weeping most bitterly. He received the episcopal
+consecration at York, the Easter following, from the hands of St.
+Theodorus, assisted by six other bishops. In {627} this new dignity the
+saint continued the practice of his former austerities; but remembering
+what he owed to his neighbor, he went about preaching and instructing
+with incredible fruit, and without any intermission. He made it
+everywhere his particular care to exhort, feed, and protect the poor. By
+divine revelation he saw and mentioned to others, at the very instant it
+happened, the overthrow and death of king Egfrid, by the Picts, in 685.
+He cured, by water which he had blessed, the wife of a noble Thane, who
+lay speechless and senseless at the point of death, and many others. For
+his miracles he was called the Thaumaturgus of Britain. But the most
+wonderful of his miracles was that which grace wrought in him by the
+perfect victory which it gave him over his passions. His zeal for
+justice was most ardent; but nothing seemed ever to disturb the peace
+and serenity of his mind. By the close union of his soul with God, whose
+will alone he sought and considered in all things, he overlooked all
+temporal events, and under all accidents his countenance was always
+cheerful, always the same; particularly in bearing all bodily pains, and
+every kind of adversity with joy, he was invincible. His attention to,
+and pure view of God in all events, and in all his actions, arose from
+the most tender and sweet love, which was in his soul a constant source
+of overflowing joy. Prayer was his centre. His brethren discovered
+sometimes that he spent three or four nights together in that heavenly
+exercise, allowing himself very little or no sleep. When St. Ebba, the
+royal virgin, sister to the kings St. Oswald and Oswi, abbess of the
+double monastery of Coldingham, invited him to edify that house by his
+exhortations, he complied, and stayed there some days. In the night,
+while others were asleep, he stole out to his devotions according to his
+custom in other places. One of the monks who watched and followed him
+one night, found that the saint, going down to the seashore, went into
+the water up to the armpits, and there sung praises to God. In this
+manner he passed the silent time of the night. Before the break of day
+he came out, and having prayed awhile on the sands, returned to the
+monastery, and was ready to join in morning lauds.
+
+St. Cuthbert, foreseeing his death to approach, resigned his bishopric,
+which he had held two years, and retired to his solitude in Farne
+Island, to prepare himself for his last passage. Two months after he
+fell sick, and permitted Herefrid, the abbot of Lindisfarne, who came to
+visit him, to leave two of his monks to attend him in his last moments.
+He received the viaticum of the body and blood of Christ from the hands
+of the abbot Herefrid, at the hour of midnight prayer, and immediately
+lifting up his eyes, and stretching out his hands, sweetly slept in
+Christ on the 20th day of March, 687. He died in the island of Farne:
+but, according to his desire, his body was buried in the monastery of
+St. Peter in Lindisfarne, on the right side of the high altar. Bede
+relates many miracles performed at his tomb; and adds, that eleven years
+after his death, the monks taking up his body, instead of dust which
+they expected, found it unputrefied, with the joints pliable, and the
+clothes fresh and entire.[2] They put it into a new coffin, placed above
+the pavement, over the former grave: and several miracles were there
+wrought, even by touching the clothes which covered the coffin. William
+of Malmesbury[3] writes, that the body was again found incorrupt four
+hundred and fifteen years afterwards at Durham, and publicly shown. In
+the Danish invasions, the monks carried it away from Lindisfarne; and,
+after several removals on the continent, settled with their treasure on
+a woody hill almost surrounded by the river Were, formed by nature for a
+place of, defence. They built there a church of stone, which {628}
+Aldhune, bishop of Lindisfarne, dedicated in 995, and placed in it the
+body of St. Cuthbert with great solemnity, transferring hither his
+episcopal see.[4] Many princes enriched exceedingly the new monastery
+and cathedral, in honor of St. Cuthbert. Succeeding kings, out of
+devotion to this saint, declared the bishop a count palatine, with an
+extensive civil jurisdiction.[5] The great king Alfred, who honored St.
+Cuthbert as his particular patron, and ascribed to his intercession some
+of his greatest victories, and other blessings which he received, was a
+special benefactor to this church.[6] The present cathedral was built in
+1080. When the shrine of the saint was plundered and demolished by the
+order of king Henry VIII., the body of St. Cuthbert, which was found
+still entire, as Harpsfield testifies, met with greater regard than many
+others; for it was not burnt, as were those of St. Edmund, king and
+martyr, St. Thomas, and others. After the king's officers had carried
+away the plunder of his shrine, it was privately buried under the place
+where the shrine before stood, though the spot is now unknown. His ring,
+in which a sapphire is enchased, was given by lord viscount Montaigne to
+the bishop of Chalcedon,[7] who had long been sheltered from the
+persecution in the house of that nobleman,[8] and was by him left in the
+monastery of English canonesses at Paris, which is also possessed of a
+tooth of St. Cuthbert. A copy of St. John's gospel, which, after the
+example of his master St. Poisil, he often read to nourish the fire of
+divine love in his soul, was put into his coffin when he was buried, and
+found in his tomb. It is now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Philips,
+canon of, Tongres, on whom the present earl of Litchfield bestowed it.
+The copy is judged undoubtedly genuine by our ablest Protestant
+antiquaries, who carefully examined it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The life of St. Cuthbert was almost a continual prayer. There was no
+business, no company, no place, how public soever, which did not afford
+him an opportunity, and even a fresh motive to pray. Not content to pass
+the day in this exercise, he continued it constantly for several hours
+of the night, which was to him a time of light and interior delights.
+Whatever he saw seemed to speak to him of God, and to invite him to his
+love. His conversation was on God or heavenly things, and he would have
+regretted a single moment, which had not been employed with God or for
+his honor, as utterly lost. The inestimable riches which he found in
+God, showed him how precious every moment is, in which he had it in his
+power to enjoy the divine converse. The immensity of God, who is present
+in us and in all creatures, and whom millions of worlds cannot confine
+or contain; his eternity, to which all time coexists, and which has
+neither beginning, end, nor succession; the unfathomed abyss of his
+judgments; the sweetness of his providence; his adorable sanctity; his
+justice, wisdom, goodness, mercy, and love, especially as displayed in
+the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation, and in the doctrine, actions,
+and sufferings of our Blessed Redeemer, in a word, all the
+incomprehensible attributes of the Divinity, and the mysteries of his
+grace and mercy, successively filled his mind and heart, and kindled in
+his soul the most sweet and ardent affections, in which his thirst {629}
+and his delight, which were always fresh and always insatiable, gave him
+a kind of anticipated taste of paradise. For holy contemplation
+discovers to a soul a new and most wonderful world, whose beauty,
+riches, and pure delights, astonish and transport her out of herself.
+St. Teresa, coming from prayer, said she came from a world greater and
+more beautiful beyond comparison, than a thousand worlds, like that
+which we behold with our corporal eyes, could be. St. Bernard was always
+torn from this holy exercise with regret, when obliged to converse with
+men in the world, in which he trembled, lest he should contract some
+attachment to creatures, which would separate him from the chaste
+embraces of his heavenly spouse. The venerable priest, John of Avila,
+when he came from the altar, always found commerce with men insipid and
+insupportable.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Cuthbert signifies Illustrious for skill: or G{}bbertus, Worthy of
+    God.
+2.  Bede, Hist. b. 4, c. 30.
+3.  L. 4, Pontif. Angl.
+4.  Dunelm, or Durham, signifies a hill upon waters, from the Saxon
+    words Dun, a bill, and Holme, a place situate in or among the
+    waters.
+5.  See Dugdale's history of the cathedral of Durham; and Dr. Brown
+    Willis on the same.
+6.  See Hickes, Thes. Ling. Septentr. Præf. p. 8.
+7.  Bp. Smith, Flores Hist. Eccles. p. 120.
+8.  Dr. Richard Smith, bishop of Chalcedon, relates in his life of
+    Margaret lady Montaigne, that queen Elizabeth, out of her singular
+    regard for this lady, from the time she had been lady of honor in
+    the court of queen Mary and king Philip, tacitly granted her house a
+    kind of privilege, by never, allowing it to be searched on account
+    of religious persecution; so that sometimes sixty priests at once
+    lay hid in it.
+
+ST. WULFRAN, ARCHBISHOP OF SENS.
+
+AND APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY IN FRISELAND.
+
+HIS father was an officer in the armies of king Dagobert, and the saint
+spent some years in the court of king Clotaire III., and of his mother
+St. Bathildes, but occupied his heart only on God, despising worldly
+greatness as empty and dangerous, and daily advancing in virtue in a
+place where virtue is often little known. His estate of Maurilly he
+bestowed on the abbey of Fontenelle, or St. Vandrille, in Normandy. He
+was chosen and consecrated archbishop of Sens, in 682, which diocese he
+governed during two years and a half with great zeal and sanctity. A
+tender compassion for the blindness of the idolaters of Friseland, and
+the example of the English zealous preachers in those parts, moved him
+to resign his bishopric with proper advice, and, after a retreat at
+Fontenelle, to enter Friseland in quality of a poor missionary priest.
+He baptized great multitudes, with a son of king Radbod, and drew the
+people from the barbarous custom of sacrificing men to idols. The lot
+herein decided, on great festivals, who should be the victim; and the
+person was instantly hanged, or cut in pieces. The lot having fallen on
+one Ovon, St. Wulfran earnestly begged his life of king Radbod: but the
+people ran tumultuously to the palace, and would not suffer what they
+called a sacrilege. After many words, they consented that if the God of
+Wulfran should save Ovon's life, he should ever serve him, and be
+Wulfran's slave. The saint betook himself to prayer, and the man, after
+hanging on the gibbet two hours, being left for dead, by the cord
+breaking, fell to the ground; and being found alive was given to the
+saint, and became a monk and priest at Fontenelle. Wulfran also
+miraculously rescued two children from being drowned in the sea, in
+honor of the idols. Radbod, who had been an eye-witness to this last
+miracle, promised to become a Christian, and was instructed among the
+catechumens. But his criminal delays rendered him unworthy such a mercy.
+As he was going to step into the baptismal font, he asked where the
+great number of his ancestors and nobles were in the next world. The
+saint replied, that hell is the portion of all who die guilty of
+idolatry. At which the prince drew back, and refused to be baptized,
+saying, he would go with the greater number. This tyrant sent afterwards
+to St. Willebrord, to treat with him about his conversion; but before
+the arrival of the saint, was found dead. St. Wulfran retired to
+Fontenelle, that he might prepare himself for death, and died there on
+the 20th of April, in 720. His relies were removed to Abbeville, where
+he is honored as patron. See his life, written by Jonas, monk of
+Foutenelle, eleven years after his death, purged from spurious additions
+by Mabillon, {630} sæc. 3, Ben. Fleury, b. 41, t. 9, p. 190. See also
+the history of the discovery of his relics at St. Vandrille's,
+accompanied with miracles, and their translation to Rouen in 1062, well
+written by an anonymous author who assisted at that ceremony, several
+parts of which work are published by D'Achery, Spicil. t. 3, p. 248, the
+Bollandists, and Mabillon. The Bollandists have added a relation of
+certain miracles, said to have been performed by the relics of this
+saint at Abbeville.
+
+
+MARCH XXI.
+
+ST. BENEDICT, ABBOT,
+
+PATRIARCH OF THE WESTERN MONKS.
+
+From St. Gregory, (Dial. l. 2, c. 1,) who assures us that he received
+his account of this saint from four abbots, the saint's disciples;
+namely, Constantine, his successor at Monte Cassino, Simplicius, third
+abbot of that house, Valentinian, the first abbot of the monastery of
+Lateran, and Honoratus, who succeeded St. Benedict at Subiaco. See the
+remarks of Mabillon, Annal. Ben. l. 1, p. 3, and l. 2, p. 38. and Act.
+Sanct. Bened. t. 1, p. 80. Also Dom. Mege, Vie de St. Benoit, avec one
+Histoíre Abrégée de son Ordre, in 4to. An. 1690. Hæften's Disquisitions,
+and abbot Steingelt's abridgment of the same, and Ziegelbauer and
+Legipont, Historia Literaria Ord. S. Benedicti, Ann. 1754, t. 1, p. 3,
+and principally t. 3, p. 2.
+
+A.D. 543.
+
+ST. BENEDICT, or KENNET, was a native of Norcia, formerly an episcopal
+see in Umbria, and was descended from a family of note, and born about
+the year 480. The name of his father was Eutropius, and that of his
+grandfather, Justinian. When he was fit for the higher studies, he was
+sent by his parents to Rome, and there placed in the public schools. He,
+who till that time knew not what vice was, and trembled at the shadow of
+sin, was not a little shocked at the licentiousness which he observed in
+the conduct of some of the Roman youth, with whom he was obliged to
+converse; and he was no sooner come into the world, but he resolved to
+bid an eternal farewell to it, not to be entangled in its snares. He
+therefore left the city privately, and made the best of his way towards
+the deserts. His nurse, Cyrilla, who loved him tenderly, followed him as
+far as Afilum, thirty miles from Rome, where he found means to get rid
+of her, and pursued his journey alone to the desert mountains of
+Sublacum,[1] near forty miles from Rome. It is a barren, hideous chain
+of rocks, with a river and lake in the valley. Near this place the saint
+met a monk of a neighboring monastery, called Romanus, who gave him the
+monastic habit, with suitable instructions, and conducted him to a deep
+narrow cave in the midst of these mountains, almost inaccessible to men.
+In this cavern, now called the Holy Grotto, the young hermit chose his
+abode: and Romanus, who kept his secret, brought him hither, from time
+to time, bread and the like slender provisions, which he retrenched from
+his own meals, and let them down to the holy recluse with a line,
+hanging a bell to the cord to give him notice. Bennet seems to have been
+about fourteen or fifteen years old when he came to Sublacum; St.
+Gregory says, he was yet a child. He lived three years in this manner,
+known only to Romanus. But God was pleased to manifest his servant to
+men, that he might shine forth as a light to many. In 497, a certain
+pious priest in that country, while he was preparing a dinner for {631}
+himself on Easter-Sunday, heard a voice which said: "You are preparing
+for yourself a banquet, while my servant Bennet, at Sublacum, is
+distressed with hunger." The priest immediately set out in quest of the
+hermit, and with much difficulty found him out. Bennet was surprised to
+see a man come to him; but before he would enter into conversation with
+him, he desired they might pray together. They then discoursed for some
+time on God and heavenly things. At length the priest invited the saint
+to eat, saying it was Easter-day, on which it is not reasonable to fast;
+though St. Bennet answered him, that he knew not that it was the day of
+so great a solemnity, nor is it to be wondered at, that one so young
+should not be acquainted with the day of a festival, which was not then
+observed by all on the same day, or that he should not understand the
+Lunar Cycle, which at that time was known by very few. After their
+repast the priest returned home. Soon after certain shepherds discovered
+the saint near his cave, but at first took him for a wild beast; for he
+was clad with the skins of beasts, and they imagined no human creature
+could live among those rocks. When they found him to be a servant of
+God, they respected him exceedingly, and many of them were moved by his
+heavenly discourses to embrace with fervor a course of perfection. From
+that time he began to be known, and many visited him, and brought him
+such sustenance as he would accept: in requital for which he nourished
+their souls with spiritual instructions. Though he lived sequestered
+from the world, he was not yet secure from the assaults of the tempter.
+Wherever we fly the devil still pursues us, and we carry a domestic
+enemy within our own breasts. St. Gregory relates, that while St. Bennet
+was employed in divine contemplation, the fiend endeavored to withdraw
+his mind from heavenly objects, by appearing in the shape of a little
+black-bird; but that, upon his making the sign of the cross, the phantom
+vanished. After this, by the artifices of this restless enemy, the
+remembrance of a woman whom the saint had formerly seen at Rome,
+occurred to his mind, and so strongly affected his imagination, that he
+was tempted to leave his desert. But blushing at so base a suggestion of
+the enemy, he threw himself upon some briers and nettles which grew in
+the place where he was, and rolled himself a long time in them, till his
+body was covered with blood. The wounds of his body stifled all
+inordinate inclinations, and their smart extinguished the flame of
+concupiscence. This complete victory seemed to have perfectly subdued
+that enemy; for he found himself no more molested with its stings.
+
+The fame of his sanctity being spread abroad, it occasioned several to
+forsake the world, and imitate his penitential manner of life. Some time
+after, the monks of Vicovara,[2] on the death of their abbot, pitched
+upon him to succeed him. He was very unwilling to take upon him that
+charge, which he declined in the spirit of sincere humility, the beloved
+virtue which he had practised from his infancy, and which was the
+pleasure of his heart, and is the delight of a God humbled even to the
+cross, for the love of us. The saint soon found by experience that their
+manners did not square with his just idea of a monastic state. Certain
+sons of Belial among them carried their aversion so far as to mingle
+poison with his wine: but when, according to his custom, before he drank
+of it he made the sign of the cross over the glass, it broke as if a
+stone had fallen upon it. "God forgive you, brethren," said the saint,
+with his usual meekness and tranquillity of soul, "you now see I was not
+mistaken when I told you that your manners and mine would not agree." He
+therefore returned to Sublacum; which desert he soon peopled with monks,
+for whom be built twelve monasteries, {632} placing in each twelve monks
+with a superior.[3] In one of these twelve monasteries there lived a
+monk, who, out of sloth, neglected and loathed the holy exercise of
+mental prayer, insomuch that after the psalmody or divine office was
+finished, he every day left the church to go to work, while his brethren
+were employed in that holy exercise; for by this private prayer in the
+church, after the divine office, St. Gregory means pious meditation, as
+Dom. Mege demonstrates. This slothful monk began to correct his fault
+upon the charitable admonition of Pompeian, his superior; but, after
+three days, relapsed into his former sloth. Pompeian acquainted St.
+Benedict, who said, "I will go and correct him myself." Such indeed was
+the danger and enormity of this fault, as to require the most effectual
+and speedy remedy. For it is only by assiduous prayer that the soul is
+enriched with the abundance of the heavenly water of divine graces,
+which produces in her the plentiful fruit of all virtues. If we consider
+the example of all the saints, we shall see that prayer was the
+principal means by which the Holy Ghost sanctified their souls, and that
+they advanced in perfection in proportion to their progress in the holy
+spirit of prayer. If this be neglected, the soul becomes spiritually
+barren, as a garden loses all its fruitfulness, and all its beauty, if
+the pump raises not up a continual supply of water, the principle of
+both. St. Benedict, deploring the misfortune and blindness of this monk,
+hastened to his monastery, and coming to him at the end of the divine
+office, saw a little black boy leading him by the sleeve out of the
+church. After two days' prayer, St. Maurus saw the same, but Pompeian
+could not see this vision, by which was represented that the devil
+studies to withdraw men from prayer, in order that, being disarmed and
+defenceless, they may easily be made a prey. On the third day, St.
+Benedict finding the monk still absent from church in the time of
+prayer, struck him with a wand, and by that correction the sinner was
+freed from the temptation. Dom. German Millet[4] tells us, from the
+tradition and archives of the monastery of St. Scholastica, that this
+happened in St. Jerom's. In the monastery of St. John, a fountain sprung
+up at the prayers of the saint; this, and two other monasteries, which
+were built on the summit of the mountain, being before much distressed
+for want of water. In that of St. Clement, situate on the bank of a
+lake, a Goth, who was a monk, let fall the head of a sickle into the
+water as he was cutting down thistles and weeds in order to make a
+garden; but St. Maur, who with St. Placidus lived in that house, holding
+the wooden handle in the water, the iron of its own accord swam, and
+joined it again, as St. Gregory relates. St. Benedict's reputation drew
+the most illustrious personages from Rome and other remote parts to see
+him. Many, who came clad in purple, sparkling with gold and precious
+stones, charmed with the admirable sanctity of the servant of God, {633}
+prostrated themselves at his feet to beg his blessing and prayers, and
+some imitating the sacrifice of Abraham, placed their sons under his
+conduct in their most tender age, that they might be formed to perfect
+virtue from their childhood. Among others, two rich and most illustrious
+senators, Eutychius, or rather Equitius, and Tertullus, committed to his
+care their two sons Maurus, then twelve years old, and Placidus, also a
+child, in 522.[5] The devil, envying so much good, stirred up his wicked
+instruments to disturb the tranquillity of the servant of God.
+Florentius, a priest in the neighboring country, though unworthy to bear
+that sacred character, moved by a secret jealousy, persecuted the saint,
+and aspersed his reputation with grievous slanders. Bennet, being a true
+disciple of Christ, knew no revenge but that of meekness and silence:
+and not to inflame the envy of his adversary, left Sublacum, and
+repaired to Mount Cassino. He had not got far on his journey, when he
+heard that Florentius was killed by the fall of a gallery in which he
+was. The saint was much afflicted at his sudden and unhappy death, and
+enjoined Maurus a penance for calling it a deliverance from persecution.
+
+Cassino is a small town, now in the kingdom of Naples, built on the brow
+of a very high mountain, on the top of which stood an old temple of
+Apollo, surrounded with a grove in which certain idolaters still
+continued to offer their abominable sacrifices. The man of God having,
+by his preaching and miracles, converted many of them to the faith,
+broke the idol to pieces, overthrew the altar, demolished the temple,
+and cut down the grove. Upon the ruins of which temple and altar he
+erected two oratories or chapels; one bore the name of St. John the
+Baptist, the other of St. Martin. This was the origin of the celebrated
+abbey of Mount Cassino, the foundation of which the saint laid in 529,
+the forty-eighth year of his age, the third of the emperor Justinian:
+Felix IV. being pope, and Athalaric king of the Goths in Italy. The
+patrician, Tertullus, came about that time to pay a visit to the saint,
+and to see his son Placidus; and made over to this monastery several
+lands which he possessed in that neighborhood, and also a considerable
+estate in Sicily. St. Bennet met on Mount Cassino one Martin, a
+venerable old hermit, who, to confine himself to a more austere
+solitude, had chained himself to the ground in his cell, with a long
+iron chain. The holy abbot, fearing this singularity might be a mark of
+affectation, said to him: "If you are a servant of Jesus Christ, let the
+chain of his love, not one of iron, hold you fixed in your resolution."
+Martin gave proof of his humility by his obedience, and immediately laid
+aside his chain. St. Bennet governed also a monastery of nuns, situate
+near Mount Cassino, as is mentioned by St. Gregory: he founded an abbey
+of men at Terracina, and sent St. Placidus into Sicily to establish
+another in that island. Though ignorant of secular learning, he was
+eminently replenished with the Spirit of God, and an experimental
+science of spiritual things: on which account he is said by St. Gregory
+the Great to have been "learnedly ignorant and wisely unlettered."[6]
+For the alphabet of this great man is infinitely more desirable than all
+the empty science of the world, as St. Arsenius said of St. Antony. From
+certain very ancient pictures of St. Benedict, and old inscriptions,
+{634} Mabillon proves this saint to have been in holy orders, and a
+deacon. Several moderns say he was a priest; but, as Muratori observes,
+without grounds.[7] By the account which St. Gregory has given us of his
+life, it appears that he preached sometimes in neighboring places, and
+that a boundless charity opening his hand, he distributed among the
+needy all that he had on earth, to lay up his whole treasure in heaven.
+St. Bennet, possessing perfectly the science of the saints, and being
+enabled by the Holy Ghost to be the guide of innumerable souls in the
+most sublime paths of Christian perfection, compiled a monastic rule,
+which, for wisdom and discretion, St. Gregory the Great preferred to all
+other rules; and which was afterwards adopted, for some time, by all the
+monks of the West. It is principally founded on silence, solitude,
+prayer, humility, and obedience.[8]
+
+St. Bennet calls his Order a school in which men learn how to serve God:
+and his life was to his disciples a perfect model for their imitation,
+and a transcript of his rule. Being chosen by God, like another Moses,
+to conduct faithful souls into the true promised land, the kingdom of
+heaven, he was enriched with eminent supernatural gifts, even those of
+miracles and prophecy. He seemed, like another Eliseus, endued by God
+with an extraordinary power, commanding all nature; and like the ancient
+prophets, foreseeing future events. He often raised the sinking courage
+of his monks, and baffled the various artifices of the devil with the
+sign of the cross, rendered the heaviest stone light in building his
+monastery by a short prayer, and, in presence of a multitude of people,
+raised to life a novice who had been crushed by the fall of a wall at
+Mount Cassino. He foretold, with {635} many tears, that this monastery
+should be profaned and destroyed; which happened forty years after, when
+the Lombards demolished it about the year 580. He added, that he had
+scarce been able to obtain of God that the inhabitants should be
+saved.[9] It was strictly forbid by the rule of St. Benedict, for any
+monk to eat out of his monastery, unless he was at such a distance {636}
+that he could not return home that day, and this rule, says Saint
+Gregory, was inviolably observed. Indeed, nothing more dangerously
+engages monks in the commerce of the world; nothing more enervates in
+them the discipline of abstinence and mortification, than for them to
+eat and drink with seculars abroad. St. Gregory tells us, that St.
+Bennet knew by revelation the fault of one of his monks who had accepted
+of an invitation to take some refreshment when he was abroad on
+business.[10] A messenger who brought the saint a present of two bottles
+of wine, and had hid one of them, was put in mind by him to beware of
+drinking of the other, in which he afterwards found a serpent. One of
+the monks, after preaching to the nuns, had accepted of some
+handkerchiefs from them, which he hid in his bosom; but the saint, upon
+his return, reproved him for his secret sin against the rule of holy
+poverty. A novice, standing before him, was tempted with thoughts of
+pride on account of his birth: the saint discovered what passed in his
+soul, and bid him make the sign of the cross on his breast.
+
+When Belisarius, the emperor's general, was recalled to Constantinople,
+Totila, the Arian king of the Goths, invaded and plundered Italy. Having
+heard wonders of the sanctity of St. Bennet, and of his predictions and
+miracles, he resolved to try whether he was really that wonderful man
+which he was reported to be. Therefore, as he marched through Campania,
+in 542, he sent the man of God word that he would pay him a visit. But
+instead of going in person, he dressed one of his courtiers, named
+Riggo, in his royal purple robes, and sent him to the monastery,
+attended by the three principal lords of his court, and a numerous train
+of pages. St. Bennet, who was then sitting, saw him coming to his cell,
+and cried out to him at some distance: "Put off, my son, those robes
+which you wear, and which belong not to you." The mock king, being
+struck with a panic for having attempted to impose upon the man of God,
+fell prostrate at his feet, together with all his attendants. The saint,
+coming up, raised him with his hand; and the officer returning to his
+master, related trembling what had befallen him. The king then went
+himself, but was no sooner come into the presence of the holy abbot, but
+he threw himself on the ground and continued prostrate till the saint,
+going to him, obliged him to rise. The holy man severely reproved him
+for the outrages he had committed, and said: "You do a great deal of
+mischief, and I foresee you will do more. You will take Rome: you will
+cross the sea, and will reign nine years longer: but death will overtake
+you in the tenth, when you shall be arraigned before a just God to give
+an account of your conduct." All which came to pass as St. Benedict had
+foretold him. Totila was seized with fear, and recommended himself to
+his prayers. From that day the tyrant became more humane; and when he
+took Naples, shortly after, treated the captives with greater lenity
+than could be expected from an enemy and a barbarian.[11] When the
+bishop of Canusa afterwards said to that saint, that Totila would leave
+Rome a heap of stones, and that it would be no longer inhabited, he
+answered "No: but it shall be beaten with storms and earthquakes, and
+shall be like a tree which withers by the decay of its root." Which
+prediction St. Gregory observes to have been accomplished.
+
+The death of this great saint seems to have happened soon after that of
+his sister St. Scholastica, and in the year after his interview with
+Totila. He foretold it his disciples, and caused his grave to be opened
+six days before. When this was done he fell ill of a fever, and on the
+sixth day would be carried into the chapel, where he received the body
+and blood of our {637} Lord,[12] and having given his last instructions
+to his sorrowful disciples, standing and leaning on one of them, with
+his hands lifted up, he calmly expired, in prayer, on Saturday, the 21st
+of March, probably in the year 543, and of his age the sixty-third;
+having spent fourteen years at Mount Cassino. The greatest part of his
+relics remains still in that abbey; though, some of his bones were
+brought into France, about the close of the seventh century, and
+deposited in the famous abbey of Fleury, which, on that account, has
+long borne the name of St. Bennet's on the Loire.[13] It was founded in
+the reign of Clovis II., about the year 640, and belongs at present to
+the congregation of St. Maur.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Gregory, in two words, expresses the characteristical virtue of this
+glorious patriarch of the monastic order, when he says, that, returning
+from Vicovara to Sublaco, he dwelt alone with himself;[14] which words
+comprise a great and rare perfection, in which consists the essence of
+holy retirement. A soul dwells not in true solitude, unless this be
+interior as well as exterior, and unless she cultivates no acquaintance
+but with God and herself, admitting no other company. Many dwell in
+monasteries, or alone, without possessing the secret of living with
+themselves. Though they are removed from the conversation of the world,
+their minds still rove abroad, wandering from the consideration of God
+and themselves, and dissipated amid a thousand exterior objects which
+their imagination presents to them, and which they suffer to captivate
+their hearts, and miserably entangle their will with vain attachments
+and foolish desires. Interior solitude requires the silence of the
+interior faculties of the soul, no less than of the tongue and exterior
+senses: without this, the enclosure of walls is a very weak fence. In
+this interior solitude, the soul collects all her faculties within
+herself, employs all her thoughts on herself and on God, and all her
+strength and affections in aspiring after him. Thus, St. Benedict dwelt
+with himself, being always busied in the presence of his Creator, in
+bewailing the spiritual miseries of {638} his soul and past sins, in
+examining into the disorders of his affections, in watching over his
+senses, and the motions of his heart, and in a constant attention to the
+perfection of his state, and the contemplation of divine things. This
+last occupied his soul in the sweet exercises of divine love and praise;
+but the first-mentioned exercises, or the consideration of himself, and
+of his own nothingness and miseries, laid the foundation by improving in
+him continually the most profound spirit of humility and compunction.
+The twelve degrees of humility, which he lays down in his Rule,[15] are
+commended by St. Thomas Aquinas.[16] The first is a deep compunction of
+heart, and holy fear of God and his judgments, with a constant attention
+to walk in the divine presence, sunk under the weight of this confusion
+and fear. 2. The perfect renunciation of our own will. 3. Ready
+obedience. 4. Patience under all sufferings and injuries. 5. The
+manifestation of our thoughts and designs to our superior or director.
+6. To be content, and to rejoice, in all humiliations; to be pleased
+with mean employments, poor clothes, &c., to love simplicity and
+poverty, (which he will have among monks, to be extended even to the
+ornaments of the altar,) and to judge ourselves unworthy, and bad
+servants in every thing that is enjoined us. 7. Sincerely to esteem
+ourselves baser and more unworthy than every one, even the greatest
+sinners.[17] 8. To avoid all love of singularity in words or actions. 9.
+To love and practise silence. 10. To avoid dissolute mirth and loud
+laughter. 11. Never to speak with a loud voice, and to be modest in our
+words. 12. To be humble in all our exterior actions, by keeping our eyes
+humbly cast down with the publican,[18] and the penitent Manasses.[19]
+St. Benedict adds, that divine love is the sublime recompense of sincere
+humility, and promises, upon the warrant of the divine word, that God
+will raise that soul to perfect charity, which, faithfully walking in
+these twelve degrees, shall have happily learned true humility.
+Elsewhere he calls obedience with delay the first degree of
+humility,[20] but means the first among the exterior degrees; for he
+places before it interior compunction of soul, and the renunciation of
+our own will.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Called by the Italians, who frequently soften _l_ into _i_, Subiaco.
+2.  Vicovara, anciently Varronis Vicus, a village between Subiaco and
+    Tivoli.
+3.  These twelve monasteries were situated in the same neighborhood, in
+    the province Valeria. Moderns disagree in their names and
+    description; according to the account of Dom. Mege, which appears
+    most accurate, the first was called Columbaria, now St. Clement's,
+    and stood within sixty paces from the saint's cave, called the Holy
+    Grotto; the second was named of SS. Cosmos and Damian, now St.
+    Scholastica's; the third, St. Michael's; the fourth, of St. Donatus,
+    bishop and martyr; the fifth, St. Mary's, now St. Laurence's; the
+    sixth, St. John Baptist's, situated on the highest part of the rock,
+    but from a fountain which St. Bennet produced there by his prayers,
+    and which still subsists, it is at present called St. John dell'
+    Acqua; the seventh, St. Jerom's; the eighth, Vita Æterna; the ninth,
+    St. Victorian or Victorin's, called from a martyr of that name, who
+    is patron of the province of Valeria; the tenth, at the neighboring
+    village Trebare; the eleventh, at St. Angelus's; the twelfth, at a
+    fountain near the ancient castle, called Roca de Bore. These
+    monasteries have been all united in that of St. Scholastica, which
+    remains in a very flourishing condition, and is regarded as the
+    mother-house of the whole Order, being certainly more ancient than
+    that of Mount Cassino. It is a member of the Congregation of St.
+    Justina, and though it is usually given in commendam, by a peculiar
+    distinction, it is governed by a regular abbot chosen by the General
+    Chapter. Of the rest of these twelve monasteries, only some cells or
+    ruins remain. Besides the hundred and forty-four monks which were
+    distributed in these twelve monasteries, St. Gregory tells us that
+    the holy patriarch retained a small number with himself, by which it
+    appears that he continued to live ordinarily in a distinct little
+    monastery or hermitage about his grotto, though he always
+    superintended and governed all these houses.
+4.  See Dom. Mege, p. 84.
+5.  It has been related in the life of St. Maurus, how he walked on the
+    water to save the life of Placidus, then a child, who, going to the
+    lake to fetch water, had fallen in; for to monasteries no
+    distinction was shown to noblemen or their children, nor were they
+    exempted from their share in manual labor, or other severities of
+    the Rule. Such exemptions and privileges granted to many on pretence
+    of health, first opened the door to a relaxation of monastic
+    discipline. Placidus said, that when he was drawn by Maurus out of
+    the water, he saw over his head the melotes of the abbot, and seemed
+    to be saved by it, whence the miracle was by the disciples ascribed
+    to St. Benedict. Dom Hæften thinks by the melotes is meant a cowl,
+    to which that name is given by Paul the deacon, and the Roman Order
+    or Ceremonial. But most understand a habit made of skins of goats,
+    such as the Eastern monks wore, in imitation of the ancient
+    prophets, as Cassian describes. (Instit. l. 1, c. 8.)
+6.  Scienter nesciens, et sapienter indoctus.
+7.  {Footnote not in text} Annal. Bened. t. 5, p. 122, ad an. 543. See
+    also Muratori, Script. Ital. t. 4, p. 217.
+8.  By it the abbot is charged with the entire government of the
+    monastery. Seven hours a day are allotted the monks for manual
+    labor, and two for pious reading, besides meditation from matins
+    till break or day. But manual labor has been exchanged in most
+    places for sacred studies and spiritual functions. The rule commands
+    perpetual abstinence from flesh-meat, not only of four-footed
+    animals, but also of fowls, which at that time were only served at
+    the tables of princes as most exquisite dainties, as Mabillon shows
+    from the testimony of St. Gregory of Tours. This law of abstinence
+    is restored in the reformed congregation of St. Maur, and others.
+    The hemina of wine allowed by St. Bennet per day, in countries where
+    wine and water are only drunk, has been the subject of many
+    dissertations, this measure having not been the same at all times,
+    nor in all countries. The Roman hemina, which was half a sextarius,
+    contained ten ounces, as Montfaucon demonstrates, (Antiqu. expl. t.
+    3, l. 4, c. 7, pp. 149, 152,) and as Mabillon allows. (Præf. in Sæc.
+    4.) Lancelot endeavors to show, in a dissertation on this subject,
+    that St. Bennet is to be understood of this Roman hemina. Menard
+    takes it to have been only seven ounces and a half. Mabillon (Pr. in
+    Sæc. 4, p. cxv.) and Martenne (in c. 40, Règ.) think the holy
+    founder speaks not of the ordinary of Roman hemina, and understand
+    him of the Grecian, which contained a pound and a half, or eighteen
+    ounces. Calmet looks upon Lancelot's opinion as most probable. He
+    shows from the clear tradition of Benedictin writers and monuments,
+    that St. Benedict's hemina contained three glasses or draughts. See
+    Calmet, (in c. 40, Règ. t. 2, p. 62.) But St. Benedict allows and
+    commends a total abstinence from wine. The portion of bread allowed
+    by this holy patriarch to each monk, was a pound and a half, or
+    eighteen ounces a day, as it is explained by the famous council held
+    at Aix-la-Chapelle in the reign of Charlemagne.
+
+    The holy rule of St. Benedict, which the great Cosmus of Medicis,
+    and other wise legislators read frequently, in order to learn the
+    maxims of perfect government, has been explained by a great number
+    of learned and pious commentators, of whom Calmet gives a list, (t.
+    1. p. 1.) The principal among the moderns are Hæften, prior of
+    Affligem, in twelve books of monastic disquisitions, &c. Steingelt,
+    abbot of Anhusen, gave a judicious abridgment of this work. Dom.
+    Menard has written upon this rule in his Comments on the Concord of
+    Rules of St. Benedict of Anian. Dom. Mege's Commentaires sur le Rège
+    de St. Benoít, in 4to. printed at Paris in 1687, have been much
+    blamed by his brethren for laxity. Dom. Martenne published with more
+    applause his Commentarius in Regulam S. Benedicti, in 4to., in 1690.
+    Son édition de la Règle est la plus exacte qu'on nous a donné; et
+    son Commentaire également judicieux et scavant. Il ne parle pas de
+    celui de Dom. Mege, qui avoit parut trois ans avant le sien;
+    parceque ses sentiments relâchés ses confreres, de sorte qu'en
+    plusiers monastères reformés de cet ordre on ne le met pas entre les
+    mains des jeunes religieux Voyez le Cerf, Bibl. des Ecr. de la
+    Congr. de St. Maur, p. 348. Hist. Literaria Ord. St. Bened. t. 3, p.
+    21. Dom. Calmet printed in 1734, in two volumes, in 4to.,
+    Commentaire Litéral Historique et Moral sur la Règle de St. Benoít,
+    a work which, both for edification and erudition, is far superior to
+    all the former, and is the masterpiece of this laborious writer,
+    though not entirely exempt from little slips of memory, as when St.
+    Cuthbert is called in it the founder of the monastery of
+    Lindisfarne, (p. 18, t. 1.) The chief modern ascetical treatise on
+    this subject is, La Règle de St. Benoít, traduite et expliquée par M.
+    de Rancé, abbé de la Trappe, 2 vols. 4to. 1690, an excellent work
+    for those who are, bound to study, and imbibe the spirit of this
+    holy rule. It is reduced into meditations; which, as Calmet was
+    informed by Mabillon, was done by a Benedictin nun. We have also
+    Meditations on the Rule of St. Benedict, compiled by Dom. Morelle,
+    author of many other works of piety and devotion. We have also very
+    devout reflections on the prayers used in the religious profession
+    of this order, under the following title: Sentiments de Piété sur la
+    Profession religieuse, par un religieux Bènédictin de la
+    Congrégation de St. Maur. Dom. Berthelet, of the congregation of St.
+    Vannes, proves abstinence from flesh to have been anciently an
+    essential duty of the monastic state, by an express book, entitled,
+    Traíté Historique et Moral de l'Abstinence de la Viande, 1731.
+9.  When the Lombards destroyed this famous abbey, in 580, St. Bennet,
+    the abbot, escaped with all his monks to Rome, carrying with him
+    only a copy of the Rule, written by St. Benedict himself, some of
+    the habits which he and his sister St. Scholastica had worn, and the
+    weight of the bread and measure of the wine which were the daily
+    allowance for every monk. Pope Pelagius II. lodged these fathers
+    near the Lateran church, where they built a monastery. In the
+    pontificate of Gregory II., about the year 720, they were conducted
+    back by abbot Petronax to Mount Cassino. This abbey was again ruined
+    by the Saracens in 884: also by the Normans in 1046, and by the
+    emperor Frederick II. in 1239. But was as often rebuilt. It is at
+    this day very stately, and the abbot exercises an eplscopal
+    jurisdiction over the town of San Germano, three little miles
+    distant, and over twenty-one other parishes. The regular abbot of
+    Saint Scholastica at Subiaco, is temporal and spiritual lord of
+    twenty-five villages. The Benedictins reckon in their order,
+    comprising all its branches and filiations, thirty-seven thousand
+    houses. As to the number of emperors, kings, queens, princes, and
+    princesses, who embraced this order, and that of saints, popes, and
+    writers of note, which it has given the church, see F. Helyot, Dom.
+    Mege, Calmet, and especially F. Ziegellaver, Hist. Liter. Ord. S.
+    Bened., 4 vol. folio, Aug. Vindel. An. 1754.
+
+    The monastic order settled by St. Athanasius at Milan and Triers,
+    during his banishment into the West; by St. Eusebius of Vercelli, in
+    his diocese, and by St. Hilary and St. Martin in Gaul, was founded
+    upon the plan of the Oriental monasteries: being brought by those
+    holy prelates from Egypt and Syria. The same is to be said of the
+    first monasteries founded in Great Britain and Ireland. After the
+    coming of St. Columban from Ireland into France, his Rule continued
+    long most in vogue, and was adopted by the greater part of the
+    monasteries that flourished in that kingdom. But it was customary in
+    those ages, for founders of great monasteries frequently to choose
+    out of different rules such religious practices and regulations, and
+    to add such others as they judged most expedient: and the Benedictin
+    Rule was sometimes blended with that of St. Columban, or others. In
+    the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Débonnaire. for the sake of
+    uniformity, it was enacted by the council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 802,
+    and several other decrees, that the Rule of St. Benedict should
+    alone be followed in all the monasteries in the dominions of those
+    princes. F. Reyner, a most learned English Benedictin, in his
+    Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia, has, with profound erudition,
+    produced all the monuments and authorities by which it can be made
+    to appear that St. Gregory the Great established the Rule of St.
+    Benedict in his monastery of St. Andrew at Rome, and was settled by
+    St. Austin and the other monks who were sent by St. Gregory to
+    convert the English in all the monasteries which they founded in
+    this island. These proofs were abridged by Mabillon, Natalia
+    Alexander, and others, who have judged that they amount to
+    demonstration. Some, however, still maintain that the monastic rule
+    brought hither by St. Austin, was a compilation from several
+    different rules: that St. Bennet Biscop, and soon after St. Wilfrid,
+    introduced several new regulations borrowed from the Rule of St.
+    Benedict; that St. Dunstan established it in England more perfectly,
+    still retaining several of the ancient constitutions of the English
+    monasteries, and that it was not entirely adopted in England before
+    Lanfranc's time. This opinion is warmly abetted by Dr. Lay, in his
+    additions to Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, and Tanner's
+    Pref. to Notitia Monastica, in folio.
+
+    The Order of St. Benedict has branched out, since the year 900, into
+    several independent congregations, and the Orders of Camaldoly,
+    Vallis Umrosa, Fontevrault, the Gilbertins, Silvestrins,
+    Cistercians, and some others, are no more than reformations of the
+    same, with certain particular additional constitutions.
+
+    Among the Reformations or distinct Congregations of Benedictins, the
+    first is that of Cluni, so called from the great monastery of that
+    name, in the diocese of Macon, founded by William the Pious, duke of
+    Aquitaine, about the year 910. St. Berno, the first abbot, his
+    successor St. Odo, afterwards St. Hugh, St. Odilo, St. Mayeul, Peter
+    the Venerable, and other excellent abbots, exceedingly raised the
+    reputation of this reform, and propagated the same. A second
+    Reformation was established in this Congregation in 1621, by the
+    Grand Prior de Veni, resembling those of St. Vanne and St. Maur.
+    Those monks who would not adopt it in their houses, are called
+    Ancient monks of Cluni. The Congregation of Cava was called from the
+    great monastery of that name in the province of Salerno, founded in
+    980, under the observance of Cluni: it was the head of a
+    Congregation of twenty-nine other abbeys, and ninety-one conventual
+    priories; but a bishopric being erected in the town of Cava, by
+    Boniface IX. in 1394, and the abbot's revenue and temporal
+    jurisdiction being united to it by Leo X. in 1514, the monastery of
+    the Blessed Trinity of Cava was much diminished, but is still
+    governed by a regular abbot. In 1485, it was united, with all its
+    dependencies, to the Congregation of St. Justina and Mount Cassino.
+    The church of St. Justina at Padua, was founded by the Consul
+    Opilius, in the fifth century, and the great monastery of Benedictin
+    monks was built there in the ninth. The Reformation which was
+    established in this house by Lewis Barbus, a patrician of Venice, in
+    1409, was soon adopted by a great number of monasteries in Italy:
+    but when in 1504 the abbey of Mount Cassino joined this
+    Congregation, it took the name of this mother-house. The
+    Congregation of Savigni, founded by St. Vitalis, a disciple of B.
+    Robert of Arbrissel, in the forest of Savigni, in Normandy in 1112,
+    was united to the Cistercians in 1153. The Congregation of Tiron,
+    founded by B. Bernard of Abbeville, another disciple of B. Robert of
+    Arbrissel, in 1109, in the forest of Tiron, in Le Perche. It parsed
+    into the Congregation of St. Maur, in 1629. These of Savigni and
+    Tiron had formerly several houses in England. The Congregation of
+    Bursfield in Germany, was established by a Reformation in 1461: that
+    of Molck, vulgarly Mock, in Austria, in the diocese of Passaw, in
+    1418: that of Hirsauge, in the diocese of Spire, was instituted by
+    St. William, abbot of S. Aurel, in 1080. The history of this abbey
+    was written by Trithemius. After the change of religion it was
+    secularized, and, by the treaty of Westphalia, ceded to the duke of
+    Wirtemberg. The independent great Benedictin abbeys in Flanders,
+    form a Congregation subject only to the Pope, but the abbots hold
+    assemblies to judge appeals, in which the abbot of St. Vaast of Arms
+    is president. The Congregation of Monte-Virgine, in Italy, was
+    instituted by St. William, in 1119. That of St. Benedict's of
+    Valladolid, in Spain, dates its establishment in 1390. In England,
+    archbishop Lanfranc united the Benedictin monasteries in one
+    Congregation, which began from that time to hold regular general
+    chapters, and for some time bore his name. This union was made
+    stricter by many new regulations in 1335, under the name of the
+    Black Monks. It is one of the most illustrious of all the orders, or
+    bodies of religious men, that have ever adorned the Church, and, in
+    spite of the most grievous persecutions, still subsists. The
+    congregation of Benedictin nuns of Mount Calvary owes it original to
+    a Reformation, according to the primitive austerity of this order,
+    introduced first in the nunnery at Poitiers, in 1614, by the abbess
+    Antoinette of Orleans, with the assistance of the famous F. Joseph,
+    the Capuchin. It has two houses at Paris, and eighteen others in
+    several parts of France. See Helyot, t. {} and 6. Calmet, Comment.
+    sur la Règle de St. Benoít, t. 2, p. 525. Hermant Schoonbeck, &c.
+10. St. Greg. Dial. l. 2, c. 12; Dom. Mege, p. 180.
+11. Procop. l. 3, de Bello Gothico. Baronius, &c.
+12. Exitum suum Dominici corporis et sanguinis perceptione communivit.
+    St. Greg. Dial. b. 2, c.37.
+13. Some have related that Aigulph, a monk of Fleury, and certain
+    citizens from Mans, going to Mount Cassino in 653, when that
+    monastery lay in ruins, brought thence the remains of St. Benedict
+    and St. Scholastics, and placed those of the former at Fleury, and
+    those of the latter at Mans. The author of this relation is either
+    Adrevald or rather Adalbert, a monk of Fleury, whom some imagined
+    contemporary with Aigulph, but he certainly lived at least two
+    hundred years later, as he himself declares, and his account is in
+    many capital circumstances inconsistent with those of the life of
+    Aigulph, and with the authentic and certain history of that age, as
+    is demonstrated by F. Stilting, the Bollandist, in the life of St.
+    Aigulph, (t. 1, Sept. p. 744,) and by others. It is printed in the
+    Bibliotheca Floriacensis, (or of Fleury,) t. 1, p. 1, and more
+    correctly in Mabillon's Acta Ben. t. 2, p. 337, and the Bollandists,
+    21 Martij, p. 300. Soon after this relation was compiled by
+    Adalbert, we find it quoted by Adrevald, a monk of the same house,
+    in his history of several miracles wrought by the relics of this
+    holy patriarch. (See Dom. Clemencez, Hist. Liter. t. 5, p. 516.)
+    This Adrevald wrote also the life of St. Aigulph, who, passing from
+    Fleury to Lerins, and being made abbot of that house, established
+    there an austere reformation of the order: but by the contrivance of
+    certain rebellious monks, joined in a conspiracy with the count of
+    Usez, and some other powerful men, was seized by violence, and
+    carried to the isle Caprasia, (now called Capraia,) situated between
+    Corsica and the coast of Tuscany, where he was murdered, with three
+    companions, about the year 679, on the 3rd day of September, on
+    which he is honored as a martyr at Lerins. The relics of these
+    martyrs were honorably conveyed thither soon after their death. F.
+    Vincent Barrali, in his History of Lerins, affirms that they still
+    remain there; but this can be only true of part, for the body of St.
+    Aigulph was translated to the Benedictin priory at Provins, in the
+    diocese of Sens, and is to this day honored there, as Mabillon (Sæc.
+    2 Ben. pp. 666 and 742) and Stilting (t. 1. Sept.) demonstrate, from
+    the constant tradition of that monastery, and the authority of Peter
+    Cellensis and several other irrefragable vouchers.
+
+    That the greatest part at least of the relics of St. Benedict and
+    St. Scholastica still remain at Mount Casino, is demonstrated by
+    Angelus de Nuce, in his dissertation on this subject, by F.
+    Stilting, in his comments on the life of St. Aigulph, t. 1. Sept.,
+    by pope Benedict XIV., De Servor. Dei Beatif. and Canoniz. l. 4,
+    part 2, c. 24, n. 53, t. 5, p. 245, and Macchiarelli, the monk of
+    Camaldoli. Soon after Mount Cassino was restored, pope Zachary
+    visited that monastery and devoutly venerated the relics of St.
+    Benedict and St. Scholastica in 746, as he testifies in his Bull.
+    When pope Alexander II. consecrated the new church of that abbey in
+    1071, these sacred bones were inspected and found all to remain
+    there, as we learn from his Bull, and by Leo of Ostia, and Peter the
+    deacon. The same is affirmed in the acts of two visitations made of
+    them in 1545 and 1650. Nevertheless, Angelus de Nuce (who relates in
+    his Chronicle of Mount Cassino, that, in 1650, he saw these relics,
+    with all the monks of that house, in the visitation then made) and
+    Stilting allow that some of the bones of this saint were conveyed
+    into France, not by St. Aigulph, but soon after his time, and this
+    is expressly affirmed by Paul the Deacon, in his History of the
+    Lombards, l. 6, c. 2.
+14. Habitavit secum.
+15. S. Bened. Reg. c. 7.
+16. S. Thos. 2. 2. qu. 161. a. 6.
+17. No one can, without presumption, pride, and sin, prefer himself
+    before the worst of sinners; first, because the judgments of God are
+    always secret and unknown to us. (See St. Aug. de Virginit. St. Thos
+    2.2. qu. 161. ad 1. Cassian, St. Bern., &c.) Secondly, the greatest
+    sinners, had they received the graces with which we have been
+    favored, would not have been so ungrateful; and if we had been in
+    their circumstances, into what precipices should not we have fallen?
+    Thirdly, instead of looking upon notorious sinners, we ought to turn
+    our eyes towards those who serve God with fervor, full of confusion
+    to see how far so many thousands are superior to us in every virtue.
+    Thus we must practise the lesson laid down by St. Paul, never to
+    measure ourselves with any one so as to prefer ourselves to another;
+    but to look upon all others as superior to us, and less ungrateful
+    and base than ourselves. Our own wretchedness and sinfulness we are
+    acquainted with; but charity inclines us to judge the best of
+    others.
+18. Luke xviii. 18.
+19. Orat. ejus inter Apocryph.
+20. St. Bened. Règ. p. 210.
+
+ST. SERAPION,
+
+CALLED the Sindonite, from a single garment of coarse linen which he
+always wore. He was a native of Egypt. Exceeding great was the austerity
+of his penitential life. Though he travelled into several countries, he
+always lived in the same poverty, mortification, and recollection. In a
+certain town, commiserating the spiritual blindness of an idolater, who
+was also a comedian, he sold himself to him for twenty pieces of money.
+His only sustenance in this servitude was bread and water. He acquitted
+himself at the same time of every duty belonging to his condition with
+the utmost diligence and fidelity, joining with his labor assiduous
+prayer and meditation. Having converted his master and the whole family
+to the faith, and induced him to quit the stage, he was made free by
+him, but could not be {639} prevailed upon to keep for his own use, or
+even to distribute to the poor, the twenty pieces of coin he had
+received as the price of his liberty. Soon after this he sold himself a
+second time, to relieve a distressed widow. Having spent some time with
+his new master, in recompense of signal spiritual services, besides his
+liberty, he also received a cloak, a tunic, or undergarment, and a book
+of the gospels. He was scarce gone out of doors, when, meeting a poor
+man, he bestowed on him his cloak; and shortly after, to another
+starving with cold, he gave his tunic; and was thus reduced again to his
+single linen garment. Being asked by a stranger who it was that had
+stripped him and left him in that naked condition, showing his book of
+the gospels, he said: "This it is that hath stripped me." Not long
+after, he sold the book itself for the relief of a person in extreme
+distress. Being met by an old acquaintance, and asked what was become of
+it, he said "Could you believe it? this gospel seemed continually to cry
+to me: Go, sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor. Wherefore I have
+also sold it, and given the price to the indigent members of Christ."
+Having nothing now left but his own person, he disposed of that again on
+several other occasions, where the corporal or spiritual necessities of
+his neighbor called for relief: once to a certain Manichee at Lacedæmon,
+whom he served for two years, and before they were expired, brought both
+him and his whole family over to the true faith. St. John the Almoner
+having read the particulars of this history, called for his steward, and
+said to him, weeping: "Can we flatter ourselves that we do any great
+matters because we give our estates to the poor? Here is a man who could
+find means to give himself to them, and so many times over." St.
+Serapion went from Lacedæmon to Rome, there to study the most perfect,
+models of virtue, and, returning afterwards into Egypt, died in the
+desert, being sixty years old, some time before Palladius visited Egypt
+in 388. Henschenius, in his Notes on the Life of St. Auxentius,[1] and
+Bollandus[2] take notice that in certain Menæa he is honored on the 21st
+of March; yet they have not given his acts on that day. Baronius
+confounds him with St. Serapion, the Sidonian martyr. See Pallad.
+Lausiac. ch. 83, and Leontius in the Life of St. John the Almoner.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Henschen. Not. in Vit. S. Auxentii, ad 24 Feb {} 3 Febr.
+2.  Bolland ad 23 Jan. p. 508, t. 2, Jan.
+
+ST. SERAPION,
+
+ABBOT of Arsinoe, in Upper Egypt. He governed ten thousand monks,
+dispersed in the deserts and monasteries near that town. These religious
+men hired themselves to the farmers of the country to till their lands
+and reap their corn; joining assiduous prayer and other exercises of
+their state with their labor. Each man received for his wages twelve
+artabes, or about forty Roman bushels or modii, says Palladius: all
+which they put into the hands of their holy abbot. He gave to every one
+a sufficient allowance for his subsistence during the ensuing year,
+according to their abstemious manner of living. The remainder was all
+distributed among the poor. By this economy, all the necessities of the
+indigent in that country were supplied, and several barges loaded with
+corn were sent yearly by the river to Alexandria, for the relief of the
+poor of that great city. St. Serapion was honored with the priesthood,
+and with admirable sanctity applied himself to the sacred functions of
+the ministry: yet found time to join his brethren in their penitential
+labor, not to lose his share in their charity. His name is inserted by
+Canisius in his Germanic Martyrology on this day, from certain copies of
+the Greek Menæa. See Palladius, c. 76, p. 760; Rufin. Vit. Patr. l. 2,
+c. 18; Sozomen, l. 6, c. 28.
+
+{640}
+
+ST. SERAPION, BISHOP OF THMUIS IN EGYPT, C.
+
+THE surname of the Scholastic, which was given him, is a proof of the
+reputation which he acquired, by his penetrating genius, and by his
+extensive learning, both sacred and profane. He presided for some time
+in the catechetical school of Alexandria, but, to apply himself more
+perfectly to the science of the saints, to which he had always
+consecrated himself, his studies, and his other actions, he retired into
+the desert, and became a bright light in the monastic state. St.
+Athanasius assures us, in his life of St. Antony, that in the visits
+which Serapion paid to that illustrious patriarch, St. Antony often told
+on his mountain things which passed in Egypt at a distance; and that at
+his death, he left him one of his tunics of hair. St. Serapion was drawn
+out of his retreat, to be placed in the episcopal see of Thmuis, a
+famous city of Lower Egypt, near Diospolis, to which Stephanus and
+Ptolemy give the title of a metropolis. The name in the Egyptian tongue
+signified a goat, which animal was anciently worshipped there, as St.
+Jerom informs us. St. Serapion was closely linked with St. Athanasius in
+the defence of the Catholic faith, for which he was banished by the
+emperor Constantius; whence St. Jerom styles him a confessor. Certain
+persons, who confessed God the Son consubstantial to the Father, denied
+the divinity of the Holy Ghost. This error was no sooner broached, but
+our saint strenuously opposed it, and informed St. Athanasius of this
+new inconsistent blasphemy; and that zealous defender of the adorable
+mystery of the Trinity, the fundamental article of the Christian faith,
+wrote against this rising monster. The four letters which St. Athanasius
+wrote to Serapion, in 359, out of the desert, in which at that time he
+lay concealed, were the first express confutation of the Macedonian
+heresy that was published. St. Serapion ceased not to employ his labors
+to great advantage, against both the Arians and Macedonians. He also
+compiled an excellent book against the Manichees, in which he shows that
+our bodies may be made the instruments of good, and that our souls may
+be perverted by sin; that there is no creature of which a good use may
+not be made; and that both just and wicked men are often changed, the
+former by falling into sin, the latter by becoming virtuous. It is,
+therefore, a self-contradiction to pretend with the Manichees that our
+souls are the work of God, but our bodies of the devil, or the evil
+principle.[1] St..Serapion wrote several learned letters, and a treatise
+on the Titles of the Psalms, quoted by St. Jerom, which are now lost. At
+his request, St. Athanasius composed several of his works against the
+Arians; and so great was his opinion of our saint, that he desired him
+to correct, or add to them what he thought wanting. Socrates relates[2]
+that St. Serapion gave an abstract of his own life, and an abridged rule
+of Christian perfection, in very few words, which he would often repeat,
+saying: "The mind is purified by spiritual knowledge, (or by holy
+meditation and prayer,) the spiritual passions of the soul by charity,
+and the irregular appetites by abstinence and penance." This saint died
+in his banishment in the fourth age, and is commemorated on this day in
+the Roman Martyrology. See his works, those of St. Athanasius in several
+places, St. Jerom, Catall. c. 99; Socrates {641}, l. 4, c. 23; Sozom. l.
+4, c. 9; Photius, Col. 85; Tillem. t. 8; Ceillier, t. 6, p. 36.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A Latin translation of St. Serapion's book against the Manichees,
+    given F. Turrianus the Jesuit, is published in the Bibliotheca
+    Patrum, printed at Lyons. and in F. Canisius's Lectiones Antiquæ, t.
+    5, part 1, p. 35. The learned James Basnage, who republished this
+    work of Canisius with curios additions and {notes}, has added the
+    Greek text, t. 1, p. 37.
+2.  Socrat. Hist. l. 4, c. 23.
+
+ST. ENNA, OR ENDEUS, ABBOT
+
+HIS father, Conall Deyre, was lord of Ergall, a large territory in
+Ulster, in which principality Enna succeeded him; but by the pious
+exhortations of his sister, St. Fanchea, abbess of Kill-Aine, at the
+foot of mount Bregh, in the confines of Meath, he left the world, and
+became a monk. Going abroad, by her advice, he lived some time in the
+abbey of Rosnal, or the vale of Ross, under the abbot Mansenus. At
+length returning home, he obtained of Ængus, king of Munster, a grant of
+the isle of Arra, or Arn, wherein he founded a great monastery, in which
+he trained up many disciples, illustrious for sanctity, insomuch that
+the island was called Arran of the Saints. His death must have happened
+in the beginning of the sixth century. The chief church of the island is
+dedicated to God in his name, and called Kill-Enda. His tomb is shown in
+the churchyard of another church, in the same island, named
+Teglach-Enda. See F. Colgan, March 21.
+
+
+MARCH XXII.
+
+ST. BASIL OF ANCYRA, PRIEST, M.
+
+From the authentic acts of his martyrdom in Ruinart, Henschenius, and
+Tillemont, t. 7, p. 375.
+
+A.D. 362.
+
+MARCELLUS, bishop of Ancyra, distinguished himself by his zeal against
+the Arians, on which account he was banished by Constantius in 336.[1]
+Basil, a ringleader of the Semi-Arians, was intruded into that see, but
+was himself deposed by the stanch Arians, in 360; and is mentioned by
+Socrates to have survived our saint, though he continued still in
+banishment under Jovian. The holy martyr of whom we speak was also
+called Basil. He was priest of Ancyra under the bishop Marcellus, and a
+man of a most holy life, and unblemished conversation, and had been
+trained up by saints in the practices of perfect piety. He preached the
+word of God with great assiduity, and when the Arian wolf, who bore his
+name, attempted to plant his heresy in that city, he never ceased to cry
+out to the people, with the zeal and intrepidity of a prophet, exhorting
+their to beware of the snares which {642} were laid for them, and to
+remain steadfast in the Catholic faith. He was forbidden by the Arian
+bishops, in 360, to hold ecclesiastical assemblies: but he despised the
+unjust order; and as boldly defended the Catholic faith before
+Constantius himself. When Julian the Apostate re-established idolatry,
+and left no means untried to pervert the faithful, Basil ran through the
+whole city, exhorting the Christians to continue steadfast, and not
+pollute themselves with the sacrifices and libations of the heathens,
+but fight manfully in the cause of God. The heathens laid violent hands
+on him; and dragged him before Saturninus the proconsul, accusing him of
+sedition, of having overturned altars, that he stirred up the people
+against the gods, and had spoken irreverently of the emperor and his
+religion. The proconsul asked him if the religion which the emperor had
+established was not the truth? The martyr answered: "Can you yourself
+believe it? Can any man endued with reason persuade himself that dumb
+statues are gods?" The proconsul commanded him to be tortured on the
+rack, and scoffing, said to him, under his torments: "Do not you believe
+the power of the emperor to be great, who can punish those who disobey
+him? Experience is an excellent master, and will inform you better. Obey
+the emperor, worship the gods, and offer sacrifice." The martyr, who
+prayed during his torments with great earnestness, replied: "It is what
+I never will do." The proconsul remanded him to prison, and informed his
+master Julian of what he had done. The emperor approved of his
+proceedings, and dispatched Elpidius and Pegasus, two apostate
+courtiers, in quality of commissaries, to assist the proconsul in the
+trial of the prisoner. They took with them from Nicomedia one Aslepius,
+a wicked priest of Esculapius, and arrived at Ancyra. Basil did not
+cease to praise and glorify God in his dungeon, and Pegasus repaired
+thither to him in hopes, by promises and entreaties, to work him into
+compliance: but came back to the proconsul highly offended at the
+liberty with which the martyr had reproached him with his apostacy. At
+the request of the commissaries, the proconsul ordered him to be again
+brought before them, and tormented on the rack with greater cruelty than
+before; and afterwards to be loaded with the heaviest irons, and lodged
+in the deepest dungeon.
+
+In the mean time Julian set out from Constantinople for Antioch, in
+order to prepare for his Persian expedition. From Chalcedon he turned
+out of his road to Pessinunte, a town in Galatia, there to offer
+sacrifice in a famous temple of Cibele. In that town he condemned a
+certain Christian to be beheaded for the faith, and the martyr went to
+execution with as much joy as if he had been called to a banquet. When
+Julian arrived at Ancyra, St. Basil was presented before him, and the
+crafty emperor, putting on an air of compassion, said to him: "I myself
+am well skilled in your mysteries; and I can inform you, that Christ, in
+whom you place your trust, died under Pilate, and remains among the
+dead." The martyr answered: "You are deceived; you have renounced Christ
+at a time when he conferred on you the empire. But he will deprive you
+of it, together with your life. As you have thrown down his altars, so
+will he overturn your throne: and as you have violated his holy law,
+which you had so often announced to the people, (when a reader in the
+church,) and have trodden it under your feet, your body shall be cast
+forth without the honor of a burial, and shall be trampled upon by men."
+Julian replied: "I designed to dismiss thee: but thy impudent manner of
+rejecting my advice, and uttering reproaches against me, force me to use
+thee ill. It is therefore my command, that every day thy skin be torn
+off thee in seven different places, till thou hast no more left." He
+then gave it in charge to count Frumentinus, the captain of his guards,
+to see this barbarous sentence executed. The saint, after having
+suffered with wonderful patience the first incisions, desired to speak
+to the emperor. {643} Frumentinus would be himself the bearer of this
+message to Julian, not doubting but Basil intended to comply and offer
+sacrifice. Julian instantly ordered that the confessor should meet him
+in the temple of Esculapius. He there pressed him to join him in making
+sacrifices. But the martyr replied, that he could never adore blind and
+deaf idols. And taking a piece of his flesh which had been cut out of
+his body that day, and still hung to it by a bit of skin, he threw it
+upon Julian. The emperor went out in great indignation: and count
+Frumentinus, fearing his displeasure, studied how to revenge an insult,
+for which he seemed responsible to his master. He therefore mounted his
+tribunal, and ordered the torments of the martyr to be redoubled; and so
+deep were the incisions made in his flesh, that his bowels were exposed
+to view, and the spectators wept for compassion. The martyr prayed aloud
+all the time, and at evening was carried back to prison. Next morning
+Julian set out for Antioch, and would not see Frumentinus. The count
+resolved to repair his disgrace, or at least to discharge his resentment
+by exerting his rage upon the servant of Christ. But to his thundering
+threats Basil answered: "You know how many pieces of flesh have been
+torn from my body: yet look on my shoulders and sides; see if any wounds
+appear? Know that Jesus Christ this night hath healed me. Send this news
+to your master Julian, that he may know the power of God whom he hath
+forsaken. He hath overturned his altars, who was himself concealed under
+them when he was sought by Constantius to be put to death. But God hath
+discovered to me that his tyranny shall be shortly extinguished with his
+life." Frumentinus seemed no longer able to contain his rage, and
+commanded the saint to be laid upon his belly, and his back to be
+pierced with red-hot iron spikes. The martyr expired under these
+torments on the 29th of June, in 362. But his name is honored both by
+the Latins and Greeks on the 22d of March.
+
+The love of God, which triumphed in the breasts of the martyrs, made
+them regard as nothing whatever labors, losses, or torments they
+suffered for its sake, according to that of the Canticles: _If a man
+shall have given all that he possesses, he will despise it as nothing._
+If the sacrifice of worldly honors, goods, friends, and life be required
+of such a one, he makes it with joy, saying with the royal prophet,
+_What have I desired in heaven, or on earth, besides thee, O God! Thou
+art my portion forever._ If he lives deprived of consolation and joy, in
+interior desolation and spiritual dryness, he is content to bear his
+cross, provided he be united to his God by love, and says, My God and my
+all, if I possess you, I have all things in you alone: whatever happens
+to me, with the treasure of your love I am rich and sovereignly happy.
+This he repeats in poverty, disgraces, afflictions, and persecutions. He
+rejoices in them, as by them he is more closely united to his God, gives
+the strongest proof of his fidelity to him, and perfect submission to
+his divine appointments, and adores the accomplishment of his will. If
+it be the property of true love to receive crosses with content and joy,
+to sustain great labors, and think them small, or rather not to think of
+them at all, as they bear no proportion to the prize, to what we owe to
+God, or to what his love deserves: to suffer much, and think all
+nothing, and the longest and severest trials short: is it not a mark of
+a want of this love, to complain of prayer, fasts, and every Christian
+duty? How far is this disposition from the fervor and resolution of all
+the saints, and from the heroin courage of the martyrs!
+
+Footnotes:
+1. Marcellus wrote a famous book against the Arians, which Eusebius of
+Cæsarea and all the Arians condemned, as reviving the exploded heresy
+of Sabellius. But Sabellianism was a general slander with which they
+aspersed all orthodox pastors. It is indeed true, that St. Hilary, St.
+Basil, St. Chrysostom, and Sulpicius Severus charge Marcellus with
+that error; but were deceived by the clamors of the Arians. For
+Marcellus appealing to pope Julius, and repairing to Rome, was
+acquitted, and his book declared orthodox by that pope in 341, and
+also by the council of Sardica in 347; as St. Hilary (fragm. 3,
+pp. 1308, 1311) and St. Athanasins (Apol. contra Arianos, p. 165)
+testify. It was a calumny of the Arians, though believed by
+St. Hilary, that St. Athanasius at length abandoned and condemned him.
+It is demonstrated by Dom Montfaucon from the works of St. Athanasius,
+that he ever defended the innocence of Marcellus, (t. 2 Collect Patr.)
+Moreover, Marcellus being informed that St. Basil had suggested to St.
+Athanasius certain suspicions of his faith, in 372, towards the end of
+his life, sent St. Athanasius his most orthodox confession of faith,
+in which he explicitly condemns Sabellianism; which authentic monument
+was published by Montfaucon, (t. 2, Collect Patr. p. 55.) If Patavius,
+Bull, and others, who censure Marcellus, had seen this confession,
+they would have cleared him of the imputation of Sabellianism, and
+expounded favorably certain ambiguous expressions which occurred in
+his book against the Arises, which is now lost, and was compiled
+against a work of Asterius the Sophist, surnamed the advocate of the
+Arians.
+
+{644}
+
+ST. PAUL, BISHOP OF NARBONNE, C.
+
+ST. GREGORY of Tours informs us,[1] that he was sent with other
+preachers from Rome to plant the faith in Gaul. St. Saturninus of
+Thoulouse, and St. Dionysius of Paris, were crowned with martyrdom:
+but St. Paul of Narbonne, St. Trophimus of Arles, St. Martial of
+Limoges, and St. Gatian of Tours, after having founded those churches,
+amidst many dangers, departed in peace. Prudentius says,[2] that the
+name of Paul had rendered the city of Narbonne illustrious.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Hist. Franc. l. 1, c. 30.
+2.  Hymn. 4.
+
+ST. LEA. WIDOW.
+
+SHE was a rich Roman lady; after the death of her husband she mortified
+her flesh by wearing rough sackcloth, passed whole nights in prayer, and
+by humility seemed every one's menial servant. She died in 384, and is
+honored on this day in the Roman Martyrology. St. Jerom makes an elegant
+comparison between her death and that of Prætextatus, a heathen, who was
+that year appointed consul, but snatched away by death at the same time.
+See St. Jerom, Ep. 20, (olim 24,) to Marcella, t. 4, p. 51, Ed. Ben.
+
+ST. DEOGRATIAS, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE, C.
+
+GENSERIC, the Arian king of the Vandals, took Carthage in 439, filled
+the city with cruelties, and caused Quodvultdeus, the bishop, and many
+others, to be put on board an old leaky vessel, who, notwithstanding,
+arrived safe at Naples. After a vacancy of fourteen years, in 454, St.
+Deogratias was consecrated archbishop. Two years after, Genseric
+plundered Rome, and brought innumerable captives from Italy, Sicily,
+Sardinia, and Corsica, into Africa, whom the Moors and Vandals shared
+among them on the shore, separating without any regard or compassion
+weeping wives from their husbands, and children from their parents.
+Deogratias sold every thing, even the gold and silver vessels of the
+church, to redeem as many as possible; he provided them with lodgings
+and beds, and furnished them with all succors, and though in a decrepit
+old age, visited those that were sick every day, and often in the night.
+Worn out by these fatigues, he died in 457, to the inexpressible grief
+of the prisoners, and of his own flock. The ancient calendar of
+Carthage, written in the fifth age, commemorates him on the 5th of
+January; but the Roman on the 22d of March. See St. Victor Vitensis, l.
+1, c. 3.
+
+ST. CATHARINE OF SWEDEN, VIRGIN.
+
+SHE was daughter of Ulpho, prince of Nericia, in Sweden, and of St.
+Bridget. The love of God seemed almost to prevent in her the use of her
+reason. At seven years of age she was placed in the nunnery of Risburgh,
+and educated in piety under the care of the holy abbess of that house.
+Being very beautiful, she was, by her father, contracted in marriage to
+Egard {645} a young nobleman of great virtue: but the virgin persuaded
+him to join with her in making a mutual vow of perpetual chastity. By
+her discourses he became desirous only of heavenly graces, and, to draw
+them down upon his soul more abundantly, he readily acquiesced in the
+proposal. The happy couple, having but one heart and one desire, by a
+holy emulation excited each other to prayer, mortification, and works of
+charity. After the death of her father, St. Catharine, out of devotion
+to the passion of Christ, and to the relies of the martyrs, accompanied
+her mother in her pilgrimages and practices of devotion and penance.
+After her death at Rome, in 1373, Catherine returned to Sweden, and died
+abbess of Vadzstena, or Vatzen,[1] on the 24th of March, in 1381.[2] For
+the last twenty-five years of her life she every day purified her soul
+by a sacramental confession of her sins. Her name stands in the Roman
+Martyrology on the 22d of March. See her life written by Ulpho, a
+Brigittine friar, thirty years after her death, with the remarks of
+Henschenius.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The great monastery of our Saviour at Wasten, or Vatzen, in the
+    diocese of Lincopen, was first founded by St. Bridget, in 1344; but
+    rebuilt in a more convenient situation in 1384, when the nuns and
+    friars were introduced with great solemnity by the bishop of
+    Lincopen. This is called its foundation in the exact chronicle of
+    Sweden, published by Benzelius, Monum. Suec. p. 94.
+2.  St. Catharine of Sweden compiled a pious book, entitled, Sielinna
+    Troëst, that is, Consolation to the Soul, which fills one hundred
+    and sixty-five leaves in folio, in a MS., on vellum, mentioned by
+    Starnman, Sur l'Etat des Sciences en Suède, dans les temps reculés.
+    The saint modestly says in her preface, that as a bee gathers honey
+    out of various flowers, and a physician makes choice of medicinal
+    roots for the composition of his remedies, and a virgin makes up a
+    garland out of a variety of flowers, so she has collected from the
+    holy scriptures and other good books, chosen rules and maxims of
+    virtue.
+
+
+MARCH XXIII.
+
+ST. ALPHONSUS TURIBIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA,
+
+CONFESSOR.
+
+From his life by F. Cyprian de Herrera, dedicated to pope Clement X.,
+and the acts of his canonization.
+
+A.D. 1606.
+
+ST. TORIBIO, or TIIRIBIUS ALPHONSUS MOGROBEJO, was second son to the
+lord of Mogrobejo, and born in the kingdom of Leon, on the 16th of
+November, in 1538. From his infancy he discovered a strong inclination
+to piety; and, in his childhood, it was his delight, at times of
+recreation, to erect and adorn altars, and to serve the poor. He
+trembled at the very shadow of sin. One day, seeing a poor pedler-woman
+angry because she had lost something out of her pack, he most movingly
+entreated and exhorted her, that she would not offend God by passion;
+and, in order to appease her, gave her the value of her loss, which he
+had begged of his mother for that purpose. He was very devout to the
+Blessed Virgin, said every day her Office and Rosary, and fasted every
+Saturday in her honor. While at school, he usually gave part of his
+slender dinner to the poor, and was so much addicted to fasting, that
+his superiors were obliged, by strict commands, to compel him to
+moderate his austerities. He began his higher studies at Valladolid, but
+completed them at Salamanca. He was introduced early to the notice of
+king Philip II., honored by him with several dignities, and made
+president or chief judge at Granada. This office he discharged during
+five years with so much integrity, prudence, and virtue, that the eyes
+of the whole kingdom were fixed on him, and his life in the world {646}
+was a holy noviceship to the pastoral charge. The pressing necessities
+of the infant church of Peru required a prelate who inherited, in a
+distinguished manner, the spirit of the apostles; and the archbishopric
+of Lima falling vacant, Turibius was unanimously judged the person of
+all others the best qualified to be an apostle of so large a country,
+and to remedy the scandals which obstructed the conversion of the
+infidels. The king readily nominated him to that dignity, and all
+parties concerned applauded the choice. Turibius was thunderstruck at
+this unexpected news, and had no sooner received the message, but he
+cast himself on the ground at the foot of his crucifix, praying with
+many tears that God would deliver him from so heavy a burden, which he
+thought absolutely above his strength. He wrote the most urgent letters
+to the king's council, in which he pleaded his incapacity, and other
+impediments, and laid great stress on the canons, which forbid laymen to
+be promoted to such dignities in the church. This humility it was that
+obtained the succor of heaven by which he performed wonders in the
+service of souls. Being compelled by obedience to acquiesce, he at
+length testified his submission by falling on his knees and kissing the
+ground.
+
+After a suitable preparation, he received the four minor orders on four
+successive Sundays, the better to dispose himself for the functions of
+each; and after passing through the other orders, he was consecrated
+bishop. Immediately after which he set out for Peru, and landed at Lima,
+in the year 1581, of his age the forty-third. That diocese is extended
+one hundred and thirty leagues along the coast, comprising three cities,
+and many towns and villages, with innumerable cottages scattered over
+two ridges of the mountains of the Andes, esteemed the highest and the
+most rugged in the whole world. Some of the European generals, who first
+invaded that country, were men who seemed to measure every thing by
+their insatiable avarice and ambition, and had so far lost all
+sentiments of humanity towards the poor savages, that they deserved the
+name rather of tyrants and plunderers than of conquerors. Civil wars and
+dissensions completed the misfortune of that country; and covetousness,
+cruelty, treachery, fraud, and debauchery, seemed triumphant. Nor were
+the repeated orders of the Spanish court able to redress these evils.
+The sight of these disorders moved the good pastor often to tears, but
+his prudence and zeal overcame all difficulties, extirpated public
+scandals, and made that kingdom a flourishing portion of the Christian
+church. Upon his arrival he immediately began a visitation of his vast
+diocese: an undertaking of incredible fatigue, and attended with many
+dangers. He often crept over the steepest and most rugged mountains,
+covered with ice or snow, to visit some poor hut of Indians, and give
+them suitable comfort and instruction. He travelled often on foot, and
+sometimes barefoot, and by fasting and prayer never ceased to implore
+the divine mercy for the salvation of the souls committed to his charge.
+He placed everywhere able and zealous pastors, and took care that no one
+in the most remote corners of the rocks should be left destitute of the
+means of instruction and of the benefit of the sacraments. To settle and
+maintain discipline, he appointed diocesan synods to be held every two
+years, and provincial synods every seven; and was vigilant and severe in
+chastising the least scandal, especially of avarice, in the clergy.
+Without respect of persons, he reproved injustice and vice, and made use
+of all the means which his authority put into his hands, to check the
+insolence of public sinners, and to protect the poor from oppression.
+Many of the first conquerors and governors of Peru, before the arrival
+of the most virtuous viceroy Francis of Toledo, were men who often
+sacrificed every thing to their passions, and for their private ends.
+From some of these saint suffered many persecutions, and was {647} often
+thwarted by them in the discharge of his duty. But by the arms of
+meekness and patience he overcame all affronts and injuries, and with an
+invincible constancy he maintained the rights of justice and truth. He
+showed that many sinners misconstrued the law of God to make it favor
+their passions; but that, as Tertullian observes, "Christ calls himself
+the truth, not custom," and will weigh our actions not in the false
+balance of the world, but in the true scales of the sanctuary. Thus he
+extirpated the most inveterate abuses,[1] and established with so great
+fervor the pure maxims of the gospel, as to revive in many the primitive
+spirit of Christianity. To extend and perpetuate the advantages of
+religion, which by his zeal he had procured, he filled this country with
+seminaries, churches, and many hospitals; but would never suffer his own
+name to be recorded in any of his munificent charities or foundations.
+When he was at Lima, he every day visited several hospitals, comforted
+and exhorted the sick, and administered the sacraments. When a
+pestilence, though that calamity is seldom known in Peru, raged in some
+parts of his diocese, Turibius distributed his own necessaries in
+relieving the afflicted: he preached penance, because sins are the cause
+of chastisements, and infinitely the worst of evils. He walked in the
+processions, bathed in tears, with his eyes always fixed on a crucifix,
+and offering himself to God for his flock; fasted, watched, and prayed
+for them, without intermission, till God was pleased to remove his
+scourge.
+
+Nothing gave the saint so much pleasure as the greatest labors and
+dangers, to procure the least spiritual advantage to one soul. Burning
+with the most vehement desire of laying down his life for his flock, and
+of suffering all things for him who died for us, he feared no dangers.
+When he heard that poor Indians wandered in the mountains and deserts,
+he sought them out; and to comfort, instruct, or gain one of them, he
+often suffered incredible fatigues, and dangers in the wildernesses, and
+boldly travelled through the haunts of lions and tigers. He spent seven
+years in performing his first visitation: his second employed him four
+years, but the third was shorter. He converted innumerable infidels, and
+left everywhere monuments of his charity. In travelling, he either
+prayed or discoursed on heavenly things. On his arrival at a place, it
+was his custom to repair first to the church to pray before the altar.
+To catechise the poor, he would sometimes stay two or three days in
+places where he had neither bed nor any kind of food. He visited every
+part of his vast diocese: and when others suggested to him the dangers
+that threatened him from rocks, precipices, marshes, rivers, robbers,
+{648} and savages, his answer was that Christ came from heaven to save
+man, we ought not therefore to fear dangers for the sake of immortal
+glory. He preached and catechised without intermission, having for this
+purpose learned, in his old age, all the various languages of the
+barbarous nations of that country. Even on his journeys he said mass
+every day with wonderful fervor and devotion. He always made a long
+meditation before and after it, and usually went to confession every
+morning; though they who best knew his interior, testified, that they
+were persuaded he had never in his whole life forfeited his baptismal
+innocence by any mortal sin. He seemed to have God and the divine honor
+alone before his eyes in all his words and actions, so as to give little
+or no attention to any thing else; by which means his prayer was
+perpetual. He retired in private to that exercise often in the day, and
+for a long time together. In it his countenance seemed often to shine
+with a divine light. The care with which he studied to disguise and
+conceal his great mortifications and works of piety, was the proof of
+his sincere humility. His munificence in relieving the poor of every
+class, especially those who were too bashful to make their necessities
+publicly known, always exhausted his revenues. The decrees of his
+provincial councils are monuments of his zeal, piety, learning, and
+discretion: they have been ever since esteemed, not only in the new
+world, but also in Europe, and at Rome itself, as oracles. The
+flourishing state of the church of Peru, the great number of saints and
+eminent pastors with which it abounded, and the establishment of
+innumerable seminaries of piety and learning, and hospitals for the
+poor, were the fruit of his zeal. If he did not originally plant the
+faith, he was at least the great propagator of it, and the chief
+instrument of God in removing scandals and advancing true piety in that
+vast country, which till then had been a land of abominations; while
+Francis of Toledo, the great viceroy, first settled the civil government
+in peace and tranquillity by salutary laws, which have procured him the
+title of the Legislator of Peru. St. Turibius, in the sixty-eighth year
+of his age, in 1606, during the visitation of his diocese, fell sick at
+Santa, a town one hundred and ten leagues distant from Lima. He foretold
+his death, and ordered him to be rewarded who should bring him the first
+account from his physician, that his recovery was despaired of. The
+ardor of his faith, his hope, his love of his Creator and Redeemer, his
+resignation and perfect sacrifice of himself, gathered strength in the
+fervent exercises and aspirations which he repeated almost without
+ceasing in his illness. By his last will he ordered what he had about
+him to be distributed among his servants, and whatever else he otherwise
+possessed to be given to the poor. He would be carried to the church,
+there to receive the holy viaticum: but received extreme unction in his
+sick bed. He often repeated those words of St. Paul: _I desire to be
+dissolved, and to be with Christ._ And in his last moments he ordered to
+be sung, by his bedside, those of the Psalmist: _I rejoiced in the ibwgs
+that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord._ He died
+on the 23d of March, repeating those other words of the same prophet:
+_Into thy hands I commend my spirit._ His body being translated the year
+after to Lima, was found incorrupt, the joints flexible, and the skin
+soft. His historian, and the acts of the canonization, mention many sick
+restored to their health, and a girl raised to life by him while he was
+living: also many miracles wrought through his intercession after his
+death. He was beatified by Innocent XI. in 1679,[2] and solemnly
+canonized by pope Benedict XIII. in 1726. On the miracles wrought by his
+intercession, see Benedict XIV.,[3] and especially the acts of his
+canonization.
+
+{649}
+
+A pastor of souls must be careful to animate all his exterior actions
+and labors in the service of his neighbor, with the interior spirit of
+compunction, humility, zeal, charity, and tender devotion. Without this
+he loses the fruit of all the pains he takes, and by them will often
+deserve only chastisements in the world to come; so much will his
+intention and the affections of his heart be infected with self-love,
+and depraved by various imperfections, and secret sinister desires even
+in the most holy functions. Therefore, a fervent novitiate, employed in
+the exercises of an interior life, ought to be a part of the preparation
+for this state; and in the discharge of his duties, a person ought
+always to unite contemplation with action, and reserve to himself
+sufficient time for conversing with God and his own soul, and taking a
+frequent review of his own interior. From his labors he must return
+frequently to prayer, and constantly nourish in his soul a spirit of
+fervent devotion, which will thus accompany all his exterior actions,
+and keep his thoughts and affections always united to God. Those who are
+not faithful in thus maintaining and improving in themselves an interior
+spirit of piety, and in watching with fear and compunction over the
+motions of their own hearts, will generally advance very little the
+kingdom of Christ in the souls of others, and are in great danger of
+losing their own. This is what St. Bernard feared in his disciple pope
+Eugeuius III., whom he conjured with tears never to give himself up
+entirely to the care of others, so as not to live also for himself; so
+to communicate a spirit of piety to others, as not to suffer it to be
+drained in his own heart; to be a basin to hold it, not a pipe for it to
+run through.[4] This lesson is applicable, with due proportion, to other
+states, especially that of teaching the sciences, in which the exercises
+of an interior life are so much the more necessary, as the employment is
+more distracting, more tumultuous, and more exposed to the waves of
+vanity, jealousy, and other secret petty passions.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  The Indians were infamous for their debaucheries, and became so fond
+    of the Spanish wines, after having once tasted them, that to
+    purchase a small quantity they would give all their gold, and were
+    never sober as long as they had wine to drink. But their crimes,
+    which justly provoked the anger of heaven, could not justify the
+    cruelty of their European enemies, in whom avarice seemed to have
+    extinguished the sentiments both of humanity and religion. The
+    missionary priests endeavored in vain to put a stop to the outrages
+    of their countrymen; and the Dominicans carried repeated complaints
+    against them to the kings of Spain. At their remonstrances,
+    Ferdinand, king of Castile, declared the Indians free, and forbade
+    the Spaniards to employ them in carrying burdens, or to use a stick
+    or whip in chastising them. The emperor, Charles V., was prevailed
+    upon to send into America severe orders and regulations in their
+    favor, but to very little effect. The officers, who assumed the
+    haughty titles of conquerors of Mexico and Peru, would not be
+    controlled. Bartholomew de las Casas, a Dominican, and bishop of
+    Chiapa, in New Spain, made four fruitless voyages into Castile to
+    plead the cause of the poor Indians; he obtained ample rescripts
+    from the king, and was constituted by him protector-general of the
+    Indians in America. But these expedients proved too weak against men
+    that were armed. He therefore resigned his bishopric into the hands
+    of the pope, in 1551, and returned into the convent of his order at
+    Valhutolid; where he wrote his books, On the Destruction of the
+    Indians by the Spaniards, and On the Tyranny of the Spaniards in the
+    Indies, both dedicated to king Philip II. The archbishop of Seville,
+    and the universities of Salamanca and Alcala, forbade the impression
+    of the answers which some wrote to defend the Spanish governors, on
+    principles repugnant to the law of nature and of nations. These
+    books of las Casas, being translated into French, were scattered
+    among the people in the Low Countries, who had taken up arms against
+    the Spaniards, and animated them exceedingly in their revolt. But
+    the crimes of some ought not to be imputed to a nation: and the same
+    country which gave birth to some monsters was most fruitful in
+    saints, and produced the most zealous apostles and defenders of the
+    Indians. The great principle which las Casas defended in the
+    emperor's council, and in his writings, was, that the conquered
+    Indians could not, without injustice, be made slaves to the
+    Spaniards, which the king's council and the divines agreed to with
+    regard to those who had not been taken armed in just wars. See the
+    history of the Isle of St. Domingo, by {} Charlevoix.
+2.  Bened. XIV. De Beatif. et Canoniz. {} 1. Append. p. 496.
+3.  De Servor. Dei Canoniz. Roma. 1728. {}4. Tr. de Miraculis, c. 16, p.
+    196.
+4.  Tuus esto ubique: concha esto non canalis. S. Bern. l. d. Consid.
+
+SS. VICTORIAN, PROCONSUL OF CARTHAGE,
+
+AND OTHERS, MARTYRS UNDER THE VANDALS.
+
+HUNERIC, the Arian king of the Vandals in Africa, succeeded his father
+Genseric in 477. He behaved himself at first with moderation towards the
+Catholics, so that they began to hold their assemblies in those places
+where they had been prohibited by Genseric: but in 480, he began a
+grievous persecution of the clergy and holy virgins, which, in 484,
+became general, and occasioned vast numbers of the Catholics to be put
+to death. Victorian, a citizen of Adrumetum, one of the principal lords
+of the kingdom, had been made by him governor of Carthage with the Roman
+title of proconsul. He was the wealthiest subject the king had, who
+placed great confidence in him, and he had ever behaved with an
+inviolable fidelity. The king, after he had published his cruel edicts,
+sent a message to the proconsul in the most obliging terms, promising,
+if he would conform to his religion, and execute his orders, to heap on
+him the greatest wealth and the highest honors which it was in the power
+of a prince to bestow. The proconsul, who amidst the glittering pomp of
+the world perfectly understood its emptiness, made on the spot this
+generous answer: "Tell the king that I trust in Christ. If his majesty
+pleases, he may condemn me to the flames, or to wild beasts, or to any
+torments: but I shall never consent to renounce the Catholic church in
+which I have been baptized. Even if, there were no other life after
+this, I would never be ungrateful and perfidious to God, who hath
+granted me the {650} happiness of knowing him, and who hath bestowed on
+me his most precious graces." The tyrant became furious at this answer:
+nor can the tortures be imagined which he caused the saint to endure.
+Victorian suffered them with joy, and amidst them finished his glorious
+martyrdom. The Roman Martyrology joins with him on this day four others
+who were crowned in the same persecution. Two brothers of the city of
+Aquæ-regiæ, in the province of Byzacena, were apprehended for the faith,
+and conducted to Tabaia in the same province. They had promised each
+other, if possible, to die together; and they begged it of God, as a
+favor, that they might both suffer the same torments. The persecutors
+hung them in the air with great weights at their feet. One of them,
+under the excess of pain, begged to be taken down for a little ease. His
+brother, fearing this desire of ease might by degrees move him to deny
+his faith, cried out from the rack on which he was hanging: "God forbid,
+dear brother, that you should ask such a thing. Is this what we promised
+to Jesus Christ? Should not I accuse you at his terrible tribunal? Have
+you forgotten what we have sworn upon his body and blood, to suffer
+death together for his holy name?" By these words the other was so
+wonderfully encouraged that he cried out: "No, no; I ask not to be
+released: on the contrary, add new weights, if you please, increase my
+tortures, exert all your cruelties till they are exhausted upon me."
+They were then burnt with red-hot plates of iron, and tormented so long,
+and by so many new engines of torture, that the executioners at last
+left them, saying: "Everybody follows their example, no one now embraces
+our religion." This they said, chiefly because, notwithstanding they had
+been so long and so grievously tormented, there were no scars or bruises
+to be seen upon them. Two merchants of Carthage, who both bore the name
+of Frumentius, suffered martyrdom about the same time, and are joined
+with St. Victorian in the martyrologies. Among many glorious confessors
+at that time, one Liberatus, an eminent physician, was sent into
+banishment with his wife. He only grieved to see his infant children
+torn from him. His wife checked his tears by these generous words:
+"Think no more of them, Jesus Christ himself will have care of them, and
+protect their souls." While in prison, she was told by the heretics that
+her husband had conformed: accordingly, when she met him at the bar
+before the judge she upbraided him in open court for having basely
+abandoned God: but discovered by his answer that a cheat had been put
+upon her, to deceive her into her ruin. Twelve young children, when
+dragged away by the persecutors, held their companions by the knees till
+they were torn away by violence. They were most cruelly beaten and
+scourged every day for a long time; yet by God's grace every one of them
+persevered to the end of the persecution firm in the faith. See St.
+Victor, De Persec. Vandal. l. 5, n. 4.
+
+ST. EDELWALD,[1] PRIEST, C.
+
+HE was, for his eminent sanctity, honored with the priesthood while he
+lived in the monastery of Rippon. Afterwards he led an eremitical life
+in the isle of Farne, where he died in 669, about eleven years after St.
+Cuthbert. His body was translated to Lindisfarne, afterwards to Durham.
+See Bede in vita S. Cuthberti, n. 68.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Edelwald, or Ethelwald. signifies _noble, potent_.
+
+{651}
+
+
+MARCH XXIV.
+
+ST. IRENÆUS, BISHOP OF SIRMIUM, M
+
+From the original authentic acts of his trial in Henschenius, Ruinart,
+p. 403. Tillemont. t. 4, p. 248. Ceillier, t. 3, p. 497.
+
+A.D. 304.
+
+ST. IRENÆUS, bishop of Sirmium, capital of part of Pannonia, (now
+Sirmisch, a village in Hungary, twenty-two leagues from Buda to the
+south,) in the persecution of Dioclesian was apprehended and conducted
+before Probus, the governor of Pannonia, who said to him: "The divine
+laws oblige all men to sacrifice to the gods." Irenæus answered: "Into
+hell fire shall be thrown, whoever shall sacrifice to the gods." PROBUS.
+"The edicts of the most clement emperors ordain that all sacrifice to
+the gods, or suffer according to law." IRENÆUS. "But the law of my God
+commands me rather to suffer all torments than to sacrifice to the
+gods." PROBU.. "Either sacrifice, or I will put you to the torture."
+IRENÆUS. "You cannot do me a greater pleasure; for by that means you
+will make the partake of the sufferings of my Saviour." The proconsul
+commanded him to be put on the rack; and while he was tortured, he said
+to him: "What do you say now, Irenæus? Will you sacrifice?" IRENÆUS. "I
+sacrifice to my God, by confessing his holy name, and so have I always
+sacrificed to him." All Irenæus's family was in the utmost concern for
+him. His mother, his wife, and his children surrounded him. His children
+embraced his feet, crying out: "Father, dear father, have pity on
+yourself and on us." His wife, dissolved in tears, cast herself about
+his neck, and, tenderly embracing him, conjured him to preserve himself
+for her, and his innocent children, the pledges of their mutual love.
+His mother, with a voice broken with sobs, sent forth lamentable cries
+and sighs, which were accompanied with those of their servants,
+neighbors, and friends; so that all round the rack on which the martyr
+was hanging, nothing was heard but sobs, groans, and lamentations.
+Irenæus resisted all these violent assaults, opposing those words of our
+Lord: _If any one renounce me before men, I will renounce him before my
+Father who is to Heaven_. He made no answer to their pressing
+solicitations, but raised his soul above all considerations of flesh and
+blood to him who was looking down on his conflict from above, waiting to
+crown his victory with immortal glory; and who seemed to cry out to him
+from his lofty throne in heaven: "Come, make haste to enjoy me." The
+governor said to him: "Will you be insensible to such marks of
+tenderness and affection? can you see so many tears shed for you without
+being moved? It is not beneath a great courage to be touched with
+compassion. Sacrifice, and do not destroy yourself in the flower of your
+age." Irenæus said: "It is that I may not destroy myself that I refuse
+to sacrifice." The governor sent him to prison, where he remained a long
+time, suffering divers torments. At the second time of examination, the
+governor, after having pressed him to sacrifice, asked him if he had a
+wife, parents, or children, alive. The saint answered all these
+questions in the negative. "Who then were those that wept for you at
+your first examination?" Irenæus made answer: "Our Lord Jesus Christ
+hath said: _He that loveth father or mother, wife or children, brothers
+or relations more than me, is not worthy of {652} me_. So, when I lift
+up my eyes to contemplate that God whom I adore, and the joys he hath
+promised to those who faithfully serve him, I forget that I am a father,
+a husband, a son, a master, a friend." Probus said: "But you do not
+therefore cease to be so. Sacrifice at least for their sakes." Irenmus
+replied: "My children will not lose much by my death; for I leave them
+for father that same God whom they adore with me; so let nothing hinder
+you from executing the orders of your emperor upon me." PROBUS. "Throw
+not yourself away. I cannot avoid condemning you." IRENÆUS. "You cannot
+do me a greater favor, or give me a more agreeable pleasure." Then
+Probus passed sentence after this manner: "I order that Irenæus, for
+disobeying the emperor's commands, be cast into the river."[1] Irenæus
+replied: "After so many threats, I expected something extraordinary, and
+you content yourself with drowning me. How comes this? You do me an
+injury; for you deprive me of the means of showing the world how much
+Christians, who have a lively faith, despise death, though attended with
+the most cruel torments." Probus, enraged at this, added to the sentence
+that he should be first beheaded. Irenæus returned thanks to God as for
+a second victory. When arrived on the bridge of Diana, from which he was
+to be thrown, stripping off his clothes, and lifting up his hands to
+heaven, he prayed thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, who condescendedst to suffer
+for the salvation of the world, command the heavens to open, that the
+angels may receive the soul of thy servant Irenæus, who suffers for thy
+name, and for thy people of the Catholic church of Sirmium." Then, his
+head being struck off, he was thrown into the river, on the 25th of
+March, on which day his name occurs in the Roman Martyrology. He
+suffered in the year 304. He was married before he was ordained bishop;
+but lived continent from that time, as the laws of the church required.
+
+The martyrs most perfectly accomplished the precept of renouncing all
+things for Christ; but all who desire truly to become his disciples, are
+bound to do it in spirit. Many aspire to perfection by austere practices
+of exterior mortification and long exercises of devotion; yet make
+little progress, and, after many years, remain always subject to many
+imperfections and errors in a spiritual life. The reason is, because
+they neglected to lay the foundation by renouncing themselves. This
+requires constant watchfulness, courageous self-denial, a perfect spirit
+of humility, meekness and obedience, and sincere compunction, in which a
+soul examines and detects her vices, bewails her past sins and those of
+the whole world, sighs at the consideration of its vanity and slavery,
+and of her distance from heaven, labors daily to cleanse her mind from
+all idle thoughts, and her heart from all sin, all irregular
+attachments, and superfluous desires, flies the vain joys of the world,
+and often entertains herself on the bloody passion of Christ. If the
+affections are thus purified, and this cleanness of heart daily more and
+more cultivated, the rest costs very little, and the soul makes quick
+progress in the paths of holy love, by the assiduous exercises of
+contemplation and prayer, a constant fidelity in all her actions, and
+the most fervent and pure attention to the divine will and presence.
+Voluntary imperfections and failings, especially if habitual, both blind
+and defile the soul, disquiet her, extremely weaken her, and damp the
+fervor of her good desires and resolutions. They must therefore be
+retrenched with the utmost resolution and vigilance, especially those
+which arise from any secret vanity, sensuality, or want of the most
+perfect sincerity, candor, and simplicity. An habitual attachment to any
+failing, how trifling soever it may appear, how subtle and secret {653}
+soever it may be, and under whatever pretences it may be disguised,
+exceedingly obstructs the operations of the Holy Ghost, and the effusion
+of divine grace in a soul.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Meaning the Boswethe, which runs through Sirmisch, and falls into
+    the sea five leagues lower.
+
+ST. SIMON, AN INFANT, MARTYR AT TRENT.
+
+IN the year 1472, when the Jews of Trent (famous for the last general
+council held there) met in their synagogue on Tuesday in Holy Week, to
+deliberate on the preparations for the approaching festival of the
+Passover, which fell that year on the Thursday following, they came to a
+resolution of sacrificing to their inveterate hatred of the Christian
+name, some Christian infant on the Friday following, or Good Friday. A
+Jewish physician undertook to procure such an infant for the horrid
+purpose. And while the Christians were at the office of Tenebræ on
+Wednesday evening, he found a child called Simon, about two years old,
+whom, by caresses, and by showing him a piece of money, he decoyed from
+the door of a house, the master and mistress whereof were gone to
+church, and carried him off. On Thursday evening the principal Jews shut
+themselves up in a chamber adjoining to their synagogue, and at midnight
+began their cruel butchery of this innocent victim. Having stopped his
+mouth with an apron, to prevent his crying out, they made several
+incisions in his body, gathering his blood in a basin. Some, all this
+while, held his arms stretched out in the form of a cross: others held
+his legs. The child being half dead, they raised him on his feet, and
+while two of them held him by the arms, the rest pierced his body on all
+sides with their awls and bodkins. When they saw the child had expired,
+they sung round it: "In the same manner did we treat Jesus, the God of
+the Christians: thus may our enemies be confounded forever." The
+magistrates and parents making strict search after the lost child, the
+Jews hid it first in a barn of hay, then in a cellar, and at last threw
+it into the river. But God confounded all their endeavors to prevent the
+discovery of the fact, which being fully proved upon them, with its
+several circumstances, they were put to death: the principal actors in
+the tragedy being broke upon the wheel and burnt. The synagogue was
+destroyed, and a chapel was erected on the spot where the child was
+martyred. God honored this innocent victim with many miracles. The
+relics lie in a stately tomb in St. Peter's church at Trent: and his
+name occurs in the Roman Martyrology. See the authentic account of
+Tiberinus, the physician who inspected the child's body; and the
+juridical acts in Surius and the Bollandists, with Henschenius's notes
+on this day: also Martenne, Ampl. Collectio Vet. t. 2, p. 1516, and
+Bened. XIV. de Canoniz. l. 1, c. 14, p. 105.
+
+ST. WILLIAM OF NORWICH, M.
+
+THIS martyr was another victim of the implacable rage of the Jews
+against our holy religion. He suffered in the twelfth year of his age.
+Having been not long bound an apprentice to a tanner in Norwich, a
+little before Easter, in 1137, the Jews of that city having enticed him
+into their houses, seized and gagged him: then they bound, mocked, and
+crucified him, in derision of Christ: they also pierced his left side.
+On Easter-day they put the body into a sack, and carried it into
+Thorp-wood, now a heath, near the gates of the city, there to bury it;
+but being discovered, left it hinging on a tree. The body was honored
+with miracles, and, in 1144, {654} removed into the churchyard of the
+cathedral of the Holy Trinity, by the monks of that abbey; and in 1150,
+into the choir. On the place in Thorpwood, where the body of the
+martyred child was found, a chapel was built, called St. William in the
+wood. Mr. Weever writes, that "the Jews in the principal cities of the
+kingdom, did use sometimes to steal away, circumcise, crown with thorns,
+whip, torture, and crucify some neighbor's male-child, in mockery and
+scorn of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. St. Richard of Pontoise, in
+France, was martyred by them in that manner. As also St. Hugh,
+(according to Matthew Paris and John Capgrave,) a child crucified at
+Lincoln, in 1255." Nevertheless, it is a notorious slander of some
+authors, who, from these singular and extraordinary instances, infer
+this to have been at any time the custom or maxim of that people. The
+English calendars commemorated St. William on the 24th of March. See the
+history of his martyrdom and miracles by Thomas of Monmouth, a
+contemporary monk; also the Saxon Chronicle of the same age, and
+Bloomfield's History of Norfolk.[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Pope Benedict XIV., l. 1, de Canon. c. 14, p. 103, shows that
+    children who die after baptism before the use of reason, though
+    saints, ought not to be canonized, because they never practised any
+    heroic degree of virtue; and because this was never authorized by
+    tradition in the church. Martyrs only, or infants, whether baptized
+    or not, which were slain out of hatred to the name of Christ, are to
+    be accepted, as is clear from the example of the Holy Innocents, who
+    are styled martyrs by St. Irenæus, Origen, and other fathers; and
+    the most ancient missals and homilies of fathers on their festival,
+    prove them to have been honored as such from the primitive ages.
+    Hence infants murdered by Jews, out of hatred to Christ, have been
+    ranked among the martyrs, as St. Simon of Trent, by the authority of
+    the bishop of that city, afterwards confirmed by the decrees of the
+    popes Sixtus V. and Gregory XIII.; also St. William of Norwich in
+    England, (though this child having attained to the use of reason, is
+    rather to be called an adult martyr.) And St. Richard of Pontoise,
+    also about twelve years old, murdered in 1182 by certain Jews in the
+    reign of Philip Augustus, who for this and other crimes banished the
+    Jews out of France, in April, that same year. The body of St.
+    Richard was translated to Paris, and enshrined in the parish church
+    of the Holy Innocents, where his feast is kept on the 30th of March,
+    but at Pontoise on the 25th. The celebrated F. Gaguin has written
+    the history of his martyrdom, with an account of several miracles
+    wrought at his shrine. His head is still shown in that church; the
+    rest of his relics are said to have been carried off by the English,
+    when they were masters of Paris.
+
+
+MARCH XXV.
+
+THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
+
+THIS great festival takes its name from the happy tidings brought by the
+angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary, concerning the incarnation of
+the Son of God. It commemorates the most important embassy that was ever
+known: an embassy sent by the King of kings, performed by one of the
+chief princes of his heavenly court; directed, not to the kings or
+emperors of the earth, but to a poor, unknown, retired virgin, who,
+being endowed with the most angelic purity of soul and body, being
+withal perfectly humble and devoted to God, was greater in his eyes than
+all the sceptres in the world could make a universal monarch. Indeed
+God, by the choice which he is pleased to make of a poor virgin, for the
+accomplishment of the greatest of all mysteries and graces, clearly
+demonstrates that earthly diadems, dignities, and treasures are of no
+consideration with him; and that perfect humility and sanctity alone
+constitute true greatness. God, who is almighty, can do all things by
+himself, without making use of the concurrence of creatures Nevertheless
+he vouchsafes, in his exterior works, {655} most frequently to use their
+co-operation. If he reveals his will and speaks to men, it is by the
+intervention of his prophets, and these he then enlightens by the
+ministry of angels. Many of the ancient patriarchs were honored by him
+with the most sublime commissions. By Moses he delivered his people from
+the Egyptian slavery, by him he gave them his law, and he appointed him
+mediator in his alliance with them. When the Son of God became man, he
+could have taken upon him our nature without the co-operation of any
+creature; but was pleased to be born of a woman. In the choice of her
+whom he raised to this most sublime of all dignities to which any pure
+creature could be exalted, he pitched upon her who, by the riches of his
+grace and virtues, was of all others the most holy and the most perfect.
+The design of this embassy of the archangel is as extraordinary as the
+persons concerned in it. It is to give a Saviour to the world, a victim
+of propitiation to the sinner, a model to the just, a son to this
+Virgin, remaining still a virgin, and a new nature to the Son of God,
+the nature of man, capable of suffering pain and anguish in order to the
+satisfaction of God's justice for our transgressions. And the Son of God
+being to take a human body formed of her substance, the Holy Ghost, who,
+by a power all-divine, was to her in place of a spouse, was not content
+to render her body capable of giving life to a Man-God, but likewise
+enriched her soul with a fulness of grace, that there might be a sort of
+proportion between the cause and the effect, and she the better
+qualified to co-operate towards this mystery of sanctity.
+
+The angel begins his address to her with _Hail! full of grace_.[1] This
+is not the first time that angels appeared to women. But we find not
+that they were ever treated with that respect which the angel Gabriel
+shows to Mary. Sarah and Agar were visited by these celestial spirits,
+but not with an honor like that wherewith the angel on this occasion
+addresses the Blessed Virgin, saying, _Hail! full of grace_. He
+considers her as the greatest object among creatures of God's favor,
+affection, and complacency. He admires in her those wonderful effects of
+the divine liberality, those magnificent gifts and graces, those exalted
+virtues, which have placed the very foundation of her spiritual edifice
+on the holy mountains,[2] in a degree of perfection surpassing that of
+all pure creatures. He admires that perfect gratitude with which she
+always received God's grace, and her perfect fidelity in corresponding
+with it, and advancing in sanctity by the help thereof, with a
+solicitude answerable to her love and gratitude for the preservation and
+increase of so inestimable a treasure. _Full of grace_. The first
+encomium which St. John gives us of the glory of the Word made flesh is,
+that he was _full of grace and truth_.[3] God forbid that we should say
+that Mary was full of grace in the same manner as her Son; for he is the
+very source and origin of it, _from whose fulness all_ the saints, Mary
+not excepted, _have received_[4] whatever degree they possess of grace
+and sanctity. St. Luke assures us also, that St. Stephen was full of
+grace and the Holy Ghost,[5] but it was a fulness in regard to a less
+capacity, and in relation to a lower function. Moreover, to St. Stephen
+and other saints, who have received large portions of heavenly grace, we
+may say, in those other words of the angel, _You have found favor with
+God_; but those very favors, though very great in themselves, were not
+to be compared with that which from all eternity was reserved for Mary.
+God made the saints the object of his gratuitous election, and he
+qualified them with his graces to be the messengers of his Son, the
+preachers and witnesses of his gospel; but Mary, was his choice, and was
+furnished with his graces to bear the most illustrious, {656} the most
+exalted title of honor that heaven could bestow on a pure creature to
+conceive of her proper substance the divine Word made man. If then the
+grace of God so raises a person in worth and merit, that there is not
+any prince on earth who deserves to be compared with a soul that is
+dignified with the lowest degree of sanctifying grace; what shall we say
+or think of Mary, in whom the fulness of grace was only a preparation to
+her maternity? What shall we think of ourselves, (but in an opposite
+light,) who wilfully expose this greatest of all treasures on so many
+occasions to be lost, whereas we ought wilfully to forego and renounce
+all the advantages and pleasures of this world, rather than hazard the
+loss of the least degree of it, and be most fervent in our supplications
+to God for the gaining, preserving, and increasing so great a treasure:
+forasmuch as it is a pledge of God's love, a participation of his
+Spirit, and a title to the possession of his heavenly kingdom.
+
+But who can be surprised at those inestimable treasures which God, on
+this occasion, with so liberal a hand, bestows on Mary, if he considers
+the purport of the following words of the angel to her: _The Lord is
+with thee_. He is with her in a manner more intimate, more perfect, and
+more divine, than he ever was or will be with any other creature. He is
+with her, not only by his essence, by his presence, by his power; for he
+is thus with all his creatures: He is with her, not only by his actual
+grace touching her heart and enlightening her understanding; he is thus
+many times with the sinner: He is with her, not only with his
+sanctifying grace, making her agreeable in his sight, and placing her in
+the number of his children; he is present in this manner with all the
+just: He is with her, not only by a special protection guiding her in
+his ways, and leading her securely to the term of salvation; this he
+does for the elect: but he is also with her by a substantial and
+corporeal presence, residing personally and really in her. In her, and
+of her substance, is this day formed his adorable body; in her he
+reposes for nine months, with his whole divinity and humanity. It is in
+this ineffable manner that he is with Mary, and with none but Mary. O
+glorious Virgin, thrice happy Mother, from this source and ocean of all
+grace what heavenly blessings in so long a space of time must have
+flowed upon you! and what honors must be due to one so nearly allied to
+our great Creator! What intercession so prevalent as that of the _Mother
+of divine grace!_
+
+The angel concludes his address with these words: _Blessed art thou
+among women_.[6] _Blessed_, as being chosen preferably to all of her
+sex, to be the glorious instrument, in the hand of God, for removing the
+maledictions laid on mankind in punishment of their sins, and in
+communicating to them the source of all good. And on this account it
+was, that _all_ succeeding _generations_, as she foretold of herself,
+_should call her Blessed_;[7] regarding her as the centre in which all
+the blessings of the Old and New Testament are drawn together.
+
+Though we are obliged to consider the eminent quality of Mother of God
+as the source of all other graces bestowed on the Blessed Virgin, it
+must yet be owned it is not the greatest, and that she was happier in
+loving Jesus Christ, than in having conceived him and brought him forth.
+She is blessed among women and above the rest of creatures, not
+precisely on account of her maternity, but because she received a
+fulness of grace proportioned to the dignity to which she was chosen. So
+that, according to the remark of the holy fathers, she was happier for
+her sanctity than for her dignity: for her virtues, than for her
+privileges. Among her virtues, that of purity seems particularly
+deserving of notice on this solemnity, as the epistle for this festival
+{657} records that memorable prophecy of Isaias, _That a Virgin should
+conceive and bring forth a son_;[8] the most remarkable of all the signs
+God had promised the world for making known the accomplishment of the
+mystery of man's redemption. And, indeed, right reason seemed to require
+that she, who was to be the mother of God, should be of an integrity
+above reproach, and incapable of yielding to any solicitation: it was
+highly fit her virginity should be perfectly pure, and removed as far as
+possible from the least suspicion of blemish. For this reason, the
+moment God had chosen her to be his mother, he exacted from her the most
+authentic proofs of an inviolable attachment to purity. Thus, it is not
+in a crowd, or in idle conversation, but in a retreat, that the angel
+finds her. It is not from the distraction of diversions and
+entertainments that he calls her aside to deliver his message: no; she
+is alone in her house, with the door shut; "and," as St. Ambrose says,
+"he must be an angel that gets entrance there."[9] Hence, according to
+the same holy father, it was not the angel's appearance that gave her
+trouble, for he will not have it to be doubted but heavenly visions and
+a commerce with the blessed spirits had been familiar to her. But what
+alarmed her, he says, was the angel's appearing in human form, in the
+shape of a young man. What might add to her fright on the occasion, was
+his addressing her in the strain of praise, which kind of words flattery
+often puts in the mouths of ill-designing men. And how few, alas! are
+able to withstand such dangers? But Mary, guarded by her modesty, is in
+confusion at expressions of this sort, and dreads the least appearance
+of deluding flattery. Such high commendations make her cautious how she
+answers, till in silence she has more fully considered of the matter:
+_She revolved in her mind_, says St. Luke, _what manner of salutation
+this should be_.[10] Ah! what numbers of innocent souls have been
+corrupted for want of using the like precautions! Mary is retired, but
+how seldom now-a-days are young virgins content to stay at home! Mary is
+silent when commended, and answered not a word till she had well
+considered what she ought to say: but now it is to be feared that young
+women never think so little as when they are entertained with flattery.
+Every soothing word is but too apt to slide from the ear to the heart;
+and who can tell what multitudes, by their unwary methods, suffer
+shipwreck of their modesty, and then of their purity. For how can this
+be long-lived after having lost all its guardians? No, it cannot be.
+Unless a virgin be assiduous in prayer and spiritual reading, modest in
+her dress, prudent and wary in her choice of company, and extremely
+careful in the government of her eyes and tongue when she happens to be
+in conversation with the other sex, there is but too much reason to
+apprehend that either her heart is already betrayed, or in danger of
+being vanquished by the next assault of her spiritual enemy. A dread of,
+and a speedy flight from all dangerous occasions is the only security of
+virtue and innocence. Presumption wants no other tempter. Even Mary,
+though confirmed in grace, was only secure by this fear and distrust in
+herself.
+
+A second cause why Mary was disturbed at the words of the angel was,
+because they contained her praises. Humble souls always tremble and sink
+with confusion in their own minds when they hear themselves commended;
+because they are deeply penetrated with a sense of their own weakness
+and insufficiency, and they consider contempt as their due. They know
+that the glory of all gifts belongs solely to God, and they justly fear
+lest the poison of praise should insinuate itself into their minds;
+being sensible how infinitely dangerous honors and flattery are to
+humility. Are {658} these our sentiments? Do we never speak of ourselves
+to our own advantage? Do we never artfully praise ourselves, or
+willingly lend an ear to what flatterers say to applaud us? Are we
+troubled when we hear ourselves praised? What gives trouble but to too
+many is, that men give them not what they take to be their right; and
+that their praises equal not the notion they have framed of their
+merits. The high eulogiums bestowed on Mary by the angel she answers no
+otherwise than by a profound silence, by a saintly trouble of mind,
+which, with a modest blush, appears in her countenance. The angel, to
+calm her disquiets, says to her: _Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found
+favor before God_. He then informs her that she is to conceive and bring
+forth a son whose name shall be Jesus, who shall be great, and the son
+of the Most High, and possessed of the throne of David, her illustrious
+ancestor. Mary, who, according to St. Austin,[11] had consecrated her
+virginity to God by vow, is not at all weakened by the prospect of such
+a dignity, in her resolution of living a virgin: but, on the contrary,
+out of a just concern to know how she may comply with the will of God
+without prejudice to her vow, neither moved by curiosity, nor doubting
+of the miracle or its possibility, she inquires, _How shall this be_?
+Nor does she give her consent till the heavenly messenger acquaints her
+that it is to be a work of the Holy Ghost, who, in making her fruitful,
+will not intrench in the least upon her virginal purity, but cause her
+to be a mother, still remaining, as she desires, a pure virgin.
+
+Moreover, had not Mary been deep-rooted in humility, what impression
+must not these great promises have made in her heart, at a time
+especially when the first transports are so apt to overflow the soul on
+the sudden news of an unexpected glory. The world knows, from too
+frequent experience, how strongly the promise and expectation of new
+dignities raise the spirits, and alter the words, the looks, and the
+whole carriage of proud men. But Mary is still the same, or rather much
+more lowly and meek in spirit upon the accession of this unparalleled
+dignity. She sees no cause to pride herself in her virtues, graces, and
+privileges, knowing that the glory of all these are due only to the
+divine Author and Bestower of them. In submission, therefore, to God's
+will, without any further inquiries, she expresses her assent in these
+humble but powerful words: _Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done
+to me according to thy word_. What faith and confidence does her answer
+express! What profound humility and perfect obedience! She was saluted
+mother of God, yet uses no word of dignity, but styles herself nothing
+more than his handmaid, to be commanded and employed by him as he shall
+think fittest. The world, as heaven had decreed, was not to have a
+Saviour till she had given her consent to the angel's proposal; she
+gives it, and behold the power and efficacy of her submissive Fiat. That
+moment, the mystery of love and mercy promised to mankind four thousand
+years before, foretold by so many prophets, desired by so many saints,
+is wrought on earth. That moment, the Word of God is forever united to
+humanity: the soul of Jesus Christ, produced from nothing, begins to
+enjoy God, and to know all things past, present, and to come: that
+moment, God begins to have an adorer, who is infinite, and the world a
+mediator, who is omnipotent; and, to the working of this great mystery,
+Mary alone is chosen to co-operate by her free assent. The prophets
+represent the earth as moved out of its place, and the mountains as
+melting away before the very countenance of God looking down upon the
+world. Now that he descends in person, who would not expect that the
+whole heavens should be moved? But another kind of appearance best
+suited his coming on this occasion, which was with {659} the view of
+curing our pride by his wonderful humiliations, and thereby repair the
+injury the Godhead had suffered from our unjust usurpation; and not to
+show forth his grandeur, and display his all-glorious majesty. How far
+are the ways of God above those of men! how greatly does divine wisdom
+differ from human folly! how does every circumstance in this mystery
+confound the pride, the pomp, and the vain titles of worldly grandeur,
+and recommend to us the love of silence and sincere humility! Shall the
+disciples of Christ have other sentiments?
+
+But what tongue can express the inward feelings and affections which
+then filled the glowing heart of the most pure Mother of God? What light
+shone in her understanding to penetrate the mysteries and the excess of
+the unfathomed goodness of God! what ardors of holy love inflamed her
+will! what jubilee filled her soul! Let men redeemed exult and praise,
+returning to God their best homages of adoration, thanksgiving, and
+love. It is for this duty that the church has appointed this present
+festival, which we ought chiefly to consecrate to the contemplation of
+this adorable mystery with hymns of love, praise, and thanksgiving. It
+was the hope and comfort of all the ancient saints, and the great object
+of all their earnest prayers, tears, and sighs. The prophets had a view
+to it in all their predictions, this being the principal point in all
+the wonderful revelations of God made to his church since the fall of
+Adam in Paradise, whom he immediately comforted with a promise and
+glimpse of this glorious mercy. Every ordinance in the law which he gave
+the Jews was typical, and had either an immediate, or at least an
+indirect relation to Christ, and our redemption by him. Among the
+numberless religious rites and sacrifices which were prescribed them,
+there was not one which did not in some manner represent or allude to
+this mystery. How high an idea ought this circumstance to give us of its
+incomprehensible greatness, which its nature and wonderful effects and
+fruits must enhance beyond the power of words! We are lost in
+astonishment when we contemplate this prodigy of omnipotence, and
+infinite wisdom and mercy, and adore it in raptures and silence.
+
+Gerson cries out on this mystery: "What ought every heart to say or
+think! every religious, every loving and faithful heart? It ought to
+rejoice exceedingly in this singular comfort, and to salute you with
+Gabriel: _O blessed among women_. On this day is accomplished the great
+desire of the holy ancient patriarchs and prophets, who often languished
+to hasten it, in their sighs, prayers, and writings, crying out aloud to
+_the desire of the eternal hills_. On this day is the Saviour of
+mankind, true God and man, conceived in the womb of Mary. This day our
+Lady received a name more sublime than can be understood, and the most
+noble of all names possible after that of her Son, by which she is
+called the Mother of God. On this day the greatest of miracles is
+wrought. Hear the wonders of love and mercy on this festival: God is
+made man; and man, in the divine person, God: he that is immortal is
+become mortal, and the Eternal is born in time. A virgin is a mother, a
+woman the mother of God; a creature has conceived her Creator!" St.
+Peter Chrysologus expresses the fruits of this mystery as follows: "One
+virgin so receives and contains God in the lodging of her breast as to
+procure peace for the earth, glory for heaven, salvation for the lost,
+life for the dead, an alliance of those on earth with the blessed in
+heaven, and the commerce of God with the flesh."[12]
+
+From the example of the Virgin Mary in this mystery, how ardent a love
+ought we to conceive of purity and humility! According to St. Gregory of
+Nyssa, and St. Jerom,[13] she would rather be the spouse of God in
+spirit, by {660} spotless virginity, than his mother in the flesh; and
+so acceptable was this her disposition to God, that she deserved
+immediately to hear, that she should bring forth the Son of the Most
+High, still remaining a most pure virgin: nor would God have otherwise
+raised her to this astonishing honor. The Holy Ghost is invited by
+purity to dwell in souls, but is chased away by the filth of the
+contrary vice. The dreadful havoc which it now-a-days makes among
+Christian souls, calls for torrents of tears, and is the source of the
+infidelity and universal desolation which spreads on every side.
+Humility is the foundation of a spiritual life. By it Mary was prepared
+for the extraordinary graces, and all virtues with which she was
+enriched, and for the eminent dignity of Mother of God.
+
+St. Austin says, that according to an ancient tradition, this mystery
+was completed on the 25th of March.[14] Both eastern and western
+churches celebrate it on this day, and have done so at least ever since
+the fifth century. This festival is mentioned by pope Gelasius I., in
+492. The council of Constantinople, in 692, orders the missa
+præsanctificatorum, as on Good-Friday, to be said on all days in Lent,
+except Saturdays, Sundays, and the feast of the Annunciation.[15] The
+tenth council of Toledo, in 656, calls this solemnity, The festival of
+the Mother of God,[16] by way of excellence. To praise the divine
+goodness for this incomprehensible mystery of the incarnation, Urban
+II., in the council of Clermont, in 1095, ordered the bell to be rung
+every day for the triple Angelical Salutation, called Angelus Domini, at
+morning, noon, and night. Which practice of devotion several popes have
+recommended by indulgences; as John XXII., Calixtus III., Paul III.,
+Alexander VII., and Clement X. The late Benedict XIII. has augmented
+them to those who at the aforesaid hours shall devoutly recite this
+prayer kneeling.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Luke i. 28.
+2.  Ps. lxxxvi.
+3.  John 1. 14.
+4.  Ibid. 16.
+5.  Acts iv. 8.
+6.  Luke i. 22.
+7.  Ibid. 48.
+8.  Isai. vii. 14.
+9.  O hospitium solis angelis pervium: S. Amb. in Luc.
+10. Luke i. 29.
+11. Quid profecto non diceret nisi se virginem ante vovisset. L. de
+    Virg. c. 4, t. 6, p. 343.
+12. Serm. 146.
+13. St. Greg. Nyss. Tr. de Nativ.
+14. L. 4. de Trin. c. 5.
+15. See Thomasin des Fêtes, p. 229.
+16. Festum Sanctæ Virginis Genitricis dies, festivitas matris--nam quod
+    festum est matris nisi incarnatio Verbi? Conc. Folêt X.
+
+ST. CAMMIN, ABBOT.
+
+AMONG the most celebrated saints of Ireland, published by Usher, is
+placed St. Cammin, who in his youth retired from the noise of the world
+into the island of Irish-Kealtair, in the lake of Derg-Derch, or Dergid,
+in the confines of Thomond and Galway. Here several disciples resorting
+to him, he built a monastery, which, out of veneration for his
+extraordinary sanctity, was long very famous among the Irish. The church
+of that place still retains, from him, the name of Tempul-Cammin. His
+happy death is placed in the Inis-Fallen annals, about the year 653. See
+Usher's Antiqu. p. 503.
+
+{661}
+
+
+MARCH XXVI.
+
+ST. LUDGER, BISHOP OF MUNSTER,
+
+APOSTLE OF SAXONY.
+
+From his life, written by Altfrid, one of his successors, and another
+compiled by a monk of Werden, about sixty years after the death of St.
+Ludger, of inferior authority to the former, both extant in Mabillon,
+Act. Bened. t. 4, p. 489: also a third life in Surius and the
+Bollandists, written by the monks of Werden perhaps twenty years after
+the latter. See Hist. Littér. Fr. t. 5, p. 660.
+
+A.D. 809.
+
+ST. LUDGER was born in Friseland, about the year 743. His father, who
+was a nobleman of the first rank in that country, at the child's own
+request, committed him very young to the care of St. Gregory, the
+disciple of St. Boniface, and his successor in the government of the see
+of Utrecht. Ludger had the happiness to have seen that holy martyr, and
+received from him strong impressions of virtue. Gregory educated him in
+his monastery, and admiring his progress in learning and piety, gave him
+the clerical tonsure. Ludger, desirous of further improvement, passed
+over into England, and spent four years and a half under Alcuin, who was
+rector of a famous school at York. He was careful to employ his whole
+time in the exercises of piety, and the study of the holy scriptures and
+fathers. In 773 he returned home, and St. Gregory dying in 776, his
+successor, Alberic, compelled our saint to receive the holy order of
+priesthood, and employed him for several years in preaching the word of
+God in Friseland, where he converted great numbers, both among the
+pagans and vicious Christians, founded several monasteries, and built
+many churches. This was the state of affairs, when the pagan Saxons,
+ravaging the country, obliged him to leave Friseland. Whereupon he
+travelled to Rome, to consult pope Adrian II. what course to take, and
+what he thought God required of him. He then retired for three years and
+a half to Mount Cassino, where he wore the habit of the Order, and
+conformed to the practice of the rule during his stay, but made no
+religious vows. In 787, Charlemagne overcame the Saxons and conquered
+Friseland, and the coast of the Germanic ocean as far as Denmark. Ludger
+hearing that by this revolution the mission was again opened, returned
+into east Friseland, where he converted the Saxons to the faith; as he
+also did the province of Sudergou, now called Westphalia. He founded the
+monastery of Werden,[1] in the county of La Mark, twenty-nine miles from
+Cologne. His old master Alcuin being come into France, made his merit
+known to the emperor Charlemagne. In 802, Hildebald, archbishop of
+Cologne, not regarding his strenuous resistance, ordained him bishop of
+Mimigardeford, (or ford of the river Mimigard,) a city which afterwards
+changed this name for that of Munster, from the great monastery of
+regular canons which St. Ludger built there, to serve for his cathedral.
+He joined to his diocese five cantons of Friseland, which he had
+converted, and also founded the monastery of Helmstad, afterwards called
+Lodger-Clooster, or Ludger's cloister, in the duchy of Brunswick.
+
+He was very learned in the holy scriptures, and read daily lectures
+thereon to his disciples. He fasted and watched much, and always wore a
+hair shirt, but secretly, se that no one knew of it till a little before
+his death. {662} He ate some flesh at certain times, chiefly to conform
+to others, but always observing a strict temperance. When invited to any
+entertainment, his discourse the whole time was on religious subjects,
+and he withdrew immediately after. To the poor he was affable and
+courteous, but firm and resolute to the proud rich. He exerted an
+episcopal vigor against impenitent sinners, and refused all manner of
+presents from an incestuous lady, and at length excommunicated her.
+Except what was absolutely necessary for his subsistence, he employed
+the revenues of his own estate, and those of his bishopric, in
+charities. He was accused to the emperor Charlemagne, among other
+things, of wasting his income, and neglecting the embellishment of
+churches within his jurisdiction. And this prince, who loved to see
+churches magnificent, giving ear to the information, ordered him to
+appear at court. The morning after his arrival, the emperor's
+chamberlain brought him word that his attendance was required. The
+saint, being then at his prayers, told the officer that he would follow
+him as soon as he had finished them. He was sent for three several times
+before he was ready, which the courtiers represented as a contempt of
+his majesty; and the emperor, with some emotion, asked him why he had
+made him wait so long, though he had sent for him so often. The bishop
+answered, that though he had the most profound respect for his majesty,
+yet God was infinitely above him; that while we are occupied with him,
+it is our duty to forget every thing else; and that in this he judged he
+had rather obeyed than neglected his majesty's orders, who, when he was
+chosen bishop, had recommended to him ever to prefer the service of God
+to that of men. This answer made such an impression on the emperor, in
+favor of the saint, that he looked upon it as a complete justification
+of his conduct as to every particular that had been laid to his charge:
+he accordingly dismissed him with honor, and disgraced his accusers. The
+saint took this liberty with a religious prince, that he might condemn
+the sloth of many who suffer distractions or earthly trifles to
+interrupt their commerce with God; but they who leave prayer for
+necessary works of charity or obedience, find God still in the exercises
+of those virtues. St. Ludger required so devout an attention at divine
+service, that being at prayers one night with his clergy, and one of
+them stooping down to mend the fire and hinder it from smoking, the
+saint after prayer severely rebuked him for it, and inflicted on him a
+penance for some days. St. Ludger was favored with the gift of miracles
+and prophecy. He foretold the invasions of the Normans from Denmark and
+Norway, and what ravages they would make in the French empire, and this
+at a time when there was not the least apprehension of any such thing.
+His great zeal inclined him to go and preach the faith to these northern
+nations, but the king would not allow of it. His last sickness, though
+violent did not hinder him from continuing his functions to the very
+last day of his life, which was Passion-Sunday, on which day he preached
+very early in the morning, said mass towards nine, and preached again
+before night, foretelling withal to those that were about him, that he
+should die the following night; and fixing upon a place in his monastery
+of Werden where he chose to be interred. He died accordingly on the 26th
+of March, at midnight. His relics are still kept at Werden. Joseph, an
+Englishman, a disciple of Alcuin, whom he attended into France, wrote,
+in sixteen verses, an eulogium of St. Ludger, published by Vossius[2]
+and Mabillon, as a specimen of good poetry for that age.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nothing so much scandalizes the very infidels, or shows the decay of
+piety, and loss of all sense of religion among Christians, as their
+disrespectful {663} behavior in the house of God and at the time of
+prayer. An awful, strict silence, the most profound exterior respect,
+and penetrating inward devotion of heart, must essentially accompany our
+homages when we present them before the throne of God, in whose presence
+the highest seraphims annihilate themselves. This silence we must
+observe not only with our tongues, but also with our bodies and all our
+limbs, both out of respect to the presence of God and his altar, and
+also not to give the least occasion of distraction to others. Prayer is
+an action so sublime and supernatural, that the church in her canonical
+hours teaches us to begin it by a fervent petition of grace to perform
+it well. What an insolence and mockery is it to join with this petition
+an open disrespect and a neglect of all necessary precautions against
+distractions! We ought never to appear before God, to tender him our
+homages or supplications, without trembling, and without being deaf to
+all creatures, and shutting all our senses to every object that can
+distract our minds from God. In the life of F. Simon Gourdan, a regular
+canon of St. Victor's at Paris, who died in the odor of sanctity, in the
+year 1729, the eighty-fifth of his age, it is related that king Louis
+XIV. came to see him, and to recommend himself to his prayers. The
+servant of God made him wait till he had finished his thanksgiving after
+mass, which edified that great prince, who said, "he does well; for he
+is employed in attending on a much greater king." Though St. Francis of
+Sales on the like occasions chose rather to forego or defer his own
+private devotions, than not to be ready immediately to wait on others,
+in order to give them all the spiritual advice they desired; yet at
+prayer at least he and all truly religious persons seemed in some degree
+to rival the heavenly spirits in their awe and reverence. Silence at
+that holy time, or place, has always been esteemed a thing so sacred,
+that when the temple of Solomon was building, God commanded that there
+should not be heard so much as the sound of a hamster, or any other
+instrument. Even when we come from conversing with God, we ought to
+appear all penetrated with the divine presence, and rather as angels
+than men. Sanctity, modesty, and the marks of a heavenly spirit, ought
+to shine in our exterior, and to inspire others by our very sight with
+religious awe and devotion.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Some have, by mistake, confounded this place with Ferden, or Werden,
+    beyond the Weser.
+2.  Voss. de histor. lat. l. 2, c. 3.
+
+ST. BRAULIO, BISHOP OF SARAGOSSA, C.
+
+HE was the great assistant of St. Isidore of Seville in settling the
+discipline of the church of Spain, and is one of those holy pastors to
+whose zeal, learning, and labors it has always professed itself much
+indebted. He died in 646, in the twentieth year of his episcopacy. He
+has left us two letters to St. Isidore, an eulogium of that saint, and a
+catalogue of his works; also a hymn in Iambic verse in honor of St.
+Emilian, and the life of that servant of God, who, after living long a
+hermit, was called to serve a parish in the diocese of Tarragon, where a
+famous monastery now bears his name.
+
+{664}
+
+
+MARCH XXVII.
+
+ST. JOHN OF EGYPT, HERMIT.
+
+From Rufinus, in the second book of the lives of the fathers; and from
+Pallaudius in his Lausiaca; the last had often seen him. Also St. Jerom,
+St. Austin, Cassian, &c. See Tillemont, t. 10, p. 9. See also the
+Wonders of God in the Wilderness, p. 160.
+
+A.D. 394.
+
+ST. JOHN was born about the year 305, was of a mean extraction, and
+brought up to the trade of a carpenter. At twenty-five years of age he
+forsook the world, and put himself under the guidance and direction of
+an ancient holy anchoret with such an extraordinary humility and
+simplicity as struck the venerable old man with admiration; who inured
+him to obedience by making him water a dry stick for a whole year as if
+it were a live plant, and perform several other things as seemingly
+ridiculous, all which he executed with the utmost fidelity. To the
+saint's humility and ready obedience, Cassian[1] attributes the
+extraordinary gifts he afterwards received from God. He seems to have
+lived about twelve years with this old man, till his death, and about
+four more in different neighboring monasteries.
+
+Being about forty years of age, he retired alone to the top of a rock of
+very difficult ascent, near Lycopolis.[2] His cell he walled up, leaving
+only a little window through which he received all necessaries, and
+spoke to those who visited him what might be for their spiritual comfort
+and edification. During five days in the week he conversed only with
+God: but on Saturdays and Sundays all but women had free access to him
+for his instructions and spiritual advice. He never ate till after
+sunset, and then very sparingly; but never any thing that had been
+dressed by fire, not so much as bread. In this manner did he live from
+the fortieth or forty-second to the ninetieth year of his age. For the
+reception of such as came to him from remote parts, he permitted a kind
+of hospital to be built near his cell or grotto, where some of his
+disciples took care of them. He was illustrious for miracles, and a
+wonderful spirit of prophecy, with the power of discovering to those
+that came to see him, their most secret thoughts and hidden sins. And
+such was the fame of his predictions, and the lustre of his miracles
+which he wrought on the sick, by sending them some oil which he had
+blessed, that they drew the admiration of the whole world upon him.
+
+Theodosius the Elder was then emperor, and was attacked by the tyrant
+Maximus, become formidable by the success of his arms, having slain the
+emperor Gratian in 383, and dethroned Valentinian in 387. The pious
+emperor, finding his army much inferior to that of his adversary, caused
+this servant of God to be consulted concerning the success of the war
+against Maximus. Our saint foretold him that he should be victorious
+almost without blood. The emperor, full of confidence in the prediction,
+marched into the West, defeated the more numerous armies of Maximus
+twice in Pannonia; crossed the Alps, took the tyrant in Aquileia, and
+suffered {665} his soldiers to cut off his head. He returned triumphant
+to Constantinople, and attributed his victories very much to the prayers
+of St. John, who also foretold him the events of his other wars, the
+incursions of barbarians, and all that was to befall his empire. Four
+years after, in 392, Eugenius, by the assistance of Arbogastes, who had
+murdered the emperor Valentinian the Younger, usurped the empire of the
+West. Theodosius sent Eutropius the Eunuch into Egypt, with instructions
+to bring St. John with him to Constantinople, if it was possible; but
+that if he could not prevail with him to undertake the journey, to
+consult whether it was God's will that he should march against Eugenius,
+or wait his arrival in the East. The man of God excused himself as to
+his journey to court, but assured Eutropius that his prince should be
+victorious, but not without loss and blood: as also that he would die in
+Italy, and leave the empire of the West to his son; all which happened
+accordingly. Theodosius marched against Eugenius, and in the first
+engagement lost ten thousand men, and was almost defeated: but renewing
+the battle on the next day, the 6th of September, in 394, he gained an
+entire victory by the miraculous interposition of heaven, as even
+Claudian, the heathen poet, acknowledges. Theodosius died in the West,
+on the 17th of January, in 395, leaving his two sons emperors, Arcadius
+in the East, and Honorius in the West.
+
+This saint restored sight to a senator's wife by some of the oil he had
+blessed for healing the sick. It being his inviolable custom never to
+admit any woman to speak to him, this gave occasion to a remarkable
+incident related by Evagrius, Palladius, and St. Austin in his treatise
+of Care for the Dead. A certain general officer in the emperor's service
+visiting the saint, conjured him to permit his wife to speak to him; for
+she was come to Lycopolis, and had gone through many dangers and
+difficulties to enjoy that happiness. The holy man answered, that during
+his stricter enclosure for the last forty years since he had shut
+himself up in that rock, he had imposed on himself an inviolable rule
+not to see or converse with women; so he desired to be excused the
+granting her request. The officer returned to Lycopolis very melancholy.
+His wife, who was a person of great virtue, was not to be satisfied. The
+husband went back to the blessed man, told him that she would die of
+grief if he refused her request. The saint said to him: "Go to your
+wife, and tell her that she shall see me tonight, without coming hither
+or stirring out of her house." This answer he carried to her, and both
+were very earnest to know in what manner the saint would perform his
+promise. When she was asleep in the night, the man of God appeared to
+her in her dream, and said: "Your great faith, woman, obliged me to come
+to visit you; but I must admonish you to curb the like desires of seeing
+God's servants on earth. Contemplate only their life, and imitate their
+actions. As for me, why did you desire to see me? Am I a saint, or a
+prophet like God's true servants? I am a sinful and weak man. It is
+therefore only in virtue of your faith that I have had recourse to our
+Lord, who grants you the cure of the corporal diseases with which you
+are afflicted. Live always in the fear of God, apd never forget his
+benefits." He added several proper instructions for her conduct, any
+disappeared. The woman awaking, described to her husband the person she
+had seen in her dream, with all his features, in such a manner as to
+leave no room to doubt but it was the blessed man that had appeared to
+her. Whereupon he returned the next day to give him thanks for the
+satisfaction he had vouchsafed his wife. But the saint on his arrival
+prevented him, saying: "I have fulfilled your desire, I have seen your
+wife, and satisfied her in all things she had asked: go in peace." The
+officer received his benediction, and continued his journey to Seyne.
+What the man of God foretold happened to him, as, {666} among other
+things, that he should receive particular honors from the emperor.
+Besides the authors of the saint's life, St. Austin relates this history
+which he received from a nobleman of great integrity and credit, who had
+it from the very persons to whom it happened. St. Austin adds, had he
+seen St. John, he would have inquired of him, whether he himself really
+appeared to this woman, or whether it was an angel in his shape, or
+whether the vision only passed in her imagination.[3]
+
+In the year 394, a little before the saint's death, he was visited by
+Palladius, afterwards bishop of Helenopolis, who is one of the authors
+of his life. Several anchorets of the deserts of Nitria, all strangers,
+the principal of whom were Evagrius, Albinus, Ammonius, had a great
+desire to see the saint. Palladius, one of this number, being young, set
+out first in July, when the flood of the Nile was high. Being arrived at
+this mountain, he found the door of his porch shut, and that it would
+not be open till the Saturday following. He waited that time in the
+lodgings of strangers. On Saturday, at eight o'clock, Palladius entered
+the porch, and saw the saint sitting before his window, and giving
+advice to those who applied to him for it. Having saluted Palladius by
+an interpreter, he asked him of what country he was, and what was his
+business, and if he was not of the company or monastery of Evagrius:
+Palladius owned he was. In the mean time arrived Alypius, governor of
+the province, in great haste. The saint, on the arrival of Alypius,
+broke off his discourse with Palladius, who withdrew to make room for
+the governor to discourse with the saint. Their conversation was very
+long, and Palladius being, weary, murmured within himself against the
+venerable old man, as guilty of exception of persons. He was even just
+going away, when the saint, knowing his secret thoughts, sent Theodorus,
+his interpreter, to him, saying: "Go, bid that brother not to be
+impatient: I am going to dismiss the governor, and then will speak to
+him." Palladius, astonished that his thoughts should be known to him,
+waited with patience. As soon as Alypius was gone, St. John called
+Palladius, and said to him: "Why was {sic} you angry, imputing to me in
+your mind what I was no way guilty of? To you I can speak at any other
+time, and you have many fathers and brethren to comfort and direct you
+in the paths of salvation. But this governor being involved in the hurry
+of temporal affairs, and being come to receive some wholesome advice
+during the short time his affairs will allow him time to breathe in, how
+could I give you the preference?" He then told Palladius what passed in
+his heart, and his secret temptations to quit his solitude; for which
+end the devil represented to him his father's regret for his absence,
+and that he might induce his brother and sister to embrace a solitary
+life. The holy man bade him despise such suggestions; for they had both
+already renounced the world, and his father would yet live seven years.
+He foretold him that he should meet with great persecutions and
+sufferings, and should be a bishop, but with many afflictions: all which
+came to pass, though at that time extremely improbable.
+
+The same year, St. Petronius, with six other monks, made a long journey
+to pay St. John a visit. He asked them if any among them was in holy
+orders. They said: No. One, however, the youngest in the company, was a
+deacon, though this was unknown to the rest. The saint, by divine
+instinct, knew this circumstance, and that the deacon had concealed his
+orders out of a false humility, not to seem superior to the others, but
+their inferior, as he was in age. Therefore, pointing to him, he said:
+"This man is a deacon." The other denied it, upon the false persuasion
+that to lie with a view to one's own humiliation was no sin. St. John
+took him by {667} the hand, and kissing it, said to him: "My son, take
+care never to deny the grace you have received from God, lest humility
+betray you into a lie. We must never lie, under any pretence of good
+whatever, because no untruth can be from God." The deacon received this
+rebuke with great respect. After their prayer together, one of the
+company begged of the saint to be cured of the tertian ague. He
+answered: "You desire to be freed from a sickness which is beneficial to
+you. As nitre cleanses the body, so distempers and other chastisements
+purify the soul." However, he blessed some oil and gave it to him: he
+vomited plentifully after it, and was from that moment perfectly cured.
+They returned to their lodgings, where, by his orders, they were treated
+with all proper civility, and cordial hospitality. When they went to him
+again, he received them with joyfulness in his countenance, which
+evidenced the interior spiritual joy of his soul; he bade them sit down,
+and asked them whence they came. They said, from Jerusalem. He then made
+them a long discourse, in which he first endeavored to show his own
+baseness; after which he explained the means by which pride and vanity
+are to be banished out of the heart, and all virtues to be acquired. He
+related to them the examples of many monks, who, by suffering their
+hearts to be secretly corrupted by vanity, at last fell also into
+scandalous irregularities; as of one, who, after a most holy and austere
+life, by this means fell into fornication, and then by despair into all
+manner of disorders: also of another, who, from vanity, fell into a
+desire of leaving his solitude; but by a sermon he preached to others,
+in a monastery on his road, was mercifully converted, and became an
+eminent penitent. The blessed John thus entertained Petronius and his
+company for three days, till the hour of None. When they were leaving
+him, he gave them his blessing, and said: "Go in peace, my children; and
+know that the news of the victory which the religious prince Theodosius
+has gained over the tyrant Eugenius, is this day come to Alexandria: but
+this excellent emperor will soon end his life by a natural death." Some
+days after their leaving him to return home, they were informed he had
+departed this life. Having been favored by a foresight of his death, he
+would see nobody for the last three days. At the end of this term he
+sweetly expired, being on his knees at prayer, towards the close of the
+year 394, of the beginning of 395. It might probably be on the 17th of
+October, on which day the Copths, or Egyptian Christians, keep his
+festival: the Roman and other Latin Martyrologies mark it on the 27th of
+March.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The solitude which the Holy Ghost recommends, and which the saints
+embraced, resembled that of Jesus Christ, being founded in the same
+motive or principle, and having the same exercises and employments, and
+the same end. Christ was conducted by the Holy Ghost into the desert,
+and he there spent his time in prayer and fasting. Woe to those whom
+humor or passion leads into solitude, or who consecrate it not to God by
+mortification, sighs of penance, and hymns of divine praise. To those
+who thus sanctify their desert, or cell, it will be an anticipated
+paradise, an abyss of spiritual advantages and comforts, known only to
+such as have enjoyed them. _The Lord will change the desert into a place
+of delights, and will make the solitude a paradise and a garden worthy
+of himself._[4] In it only joy and jubilee shall be seen, nothing shall
+be heard but thanksgiving and praise. It is the dwelling of a
+terrestrial seraph, whose sole employment is to labor to know, and
+correct, all secret disorders of his own soul, to forget the world, and
+all objects of vanity which could distract or entangle him; to subdue
+his senses, to purify the faculties of his soul, and entertain in his
+{668} heart a constant fire of devotion, by occupying it assiduously on
+God, Jesus Christ, and heavenly things, and banishing all superfluous
+desires and thoughts; lastly, to make daily progress in purity of
+conscience, humility, mortification, recollection, and prayer, and to
+find all his joy in the most fervent and assiduous adoration, love, and
+praise of his sovereign Creator and Redeemer.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Coll. b. 4, c. 21, p. 81.
+2.  A city in the north of Thebais, in Egypt.
+3.  S. Aug. l. pro curâ de mortuis, c. 17, p. 294.
+4.  Isa. lxiii.
+
+ST. RUPERT, OR ROBERT, C.
+
+BISHOP OF SALTZBOURG.
+
+HE was by birth a Frenchman, and of royal blood; but still more
+illustrious for his learning, and the extraordinary virtues he practised
+from his youth. He exercised himself is austere fasting, watching, and
+other mortifications; was a great lover of chastity and temperance; and
+so charitable as always to impoverish himself to enrich the poor. His
+reputation drew persons from remote provinces to receive his advice and
+instructions. He removed all their doubts and scruples, comforted the
+afflicted, cured the sick, and healed the disorders of souls. So
+distinguished a merit raised him to the episcopal see of Worms. But that
+people, being for the most part idolaters, could not bear the lustre of
+such a sanctity, which condemned their irregularities and superstitions.
+They beat him with rods, loaded him with all manner of outrages, and
+expelled him the city. But God prepared for him another harvest.
+Theodon, duke of Bavaria, hearing of his reputation and miracles, sent
+messengers to him, earnestly beseeching him to come and preach the
+gospel to the Baioarians, or Bavarians. This happened two years after
+his expulsion from Worms: during which interval he had made a journey to
+Rome. He was received at Ratisbon by Theodon and his court with all
+possible distinction, in 697, and found the hearts both of the nobles
+and people docile to the word of God. The Christian faith had been
+planted in that country two hundred years before, by St. Severinus, the
+apostle of Noricum. After his death, heresies and heathenish
+superstitions had entirely extinguished the light of the gospel.
+Bagintrude, sister of duke Theodon, being a Christian, disposed her
+brother and the whole country to receive the faith. Rupert, with the
+help of other zealous priests, whom he had brought with him, instructed,
+and, after a general fast, baptized, the duke Theodon and the lords and
+people of the whole country. God confirmed his preaching by many
+miracles. He converted also to Christianity the neighboring nations.
+After Ratisbon, the capital, the second chief seat of his labors was
+Laureacum, now called Lorch,[1] where he healed several diseases by
+prayer, and made many converts. However, it was not Lorch, nor the old
+Reginum, thence called Regensbourg, now Ratisbon, the capital of all
+those provinces, that was pitched upon to be the seat of the saint's
+bishopric, but old Juvavia, then almost in ruins, since rebuilt and
+called Saltzbourg. The duke Theodon adorned and enriched it with many
+magnificent donations, which enabled St. Rupert to found there several
+rich churches and monasteries. After the prince's death, his son
+Theodebert, or Diotper, inheriting his zeal and piety, augmented
+considerably the revenues of this church. St. Rupert took a journey into
+France to procure a new supply of able laborers, and brought back to
+Saltzbourg twelve holy missionaries, with his niece St. Erentrude, a
+virgin consecrated to God, for whom he built a great monastery, called
+Nunberg, of which {669} she was the first abbess.[2] St. Rupert labored
+several years in this see, and died happily on Easter-day, which fell
+that year on the 27th of March, after he had said mass and preached; on
+which day the Roman and other Martyrologies mention him. His principal
+festival is kept with the greatest solemnity in Austria and Bavaria on
+the 25th of September, the day of one of the translations of his relics,
+which are kept in the church under his name in Saltzbourg. Mabillon and
+Bulteau, upon no slight grounds, think this saint to have lived a whole
+century later than is commonly supposed, and that he founded the church
+of Saltzbourg about the year 700. See his life, published by Canisius,
+Henschenius, and Mabillon, with the notes of the last-mentioned editor.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  A village on the Danube in the midway between Ratisbon and Vienna,
+    the capital of eastern Bavaria, at present Austria.
+2.  The bishop of Saltzbourg was, under Charlemagne, made an archbishop
+    and metropolitan of Bavaria, Austria, and its hereditary
+    territories. He is one of the first ecclesiastical princes of the
+    empire, and is elected by the canons of the cathedral, who are all
+    of noble extraction.
+
+
+MARCH XXVIII.
+
+PRISCUS, MALCHUS, AND ALEXANDER, MARTYRS.
+
+From Eus. Hist. b. 7, c. 12, p. 262.
+
+A.D. 260.
+
+THESE eminent Christians, Priscus, Malchus, and Alexander, led a retired
+holy life in the country near Cæsarea, in Palestine. During the fury of
+the persecution under Valerian, they often called to mind the triumphs
+of the martyrs, and secretly reproached themselves with cowardice, as
+living like soldiers who passed their time in softness and ease, while
+their brethren and fellow-warriors bore all the heat of the battle. They
+could not long smother these warm sentiments in their breast; but
+expressed them to one another. "What," said they, "while the secure gate
+of heaven is open, shall we shut it against ourselves? Shall we be so
+faint-hearted as not to suffer for the name of Christ, who died for us?
+Our brethren invite us by their example: their blood is a loud voice,
+which presses us to tread in their steps. Shall we be deaf to a cry
+calling us to the combat, and to a glorious victory?" Full of this holy
+ardor, they all, with one mind, repaired to Cæsarea, and of their own
+accord, by a particular instinct of grace, presented themselves before
+the governor, declaring themselves Christians. While all others were
+struck with admiration at the sight of their generous courage, the
+barbarous judge appeared not able to contain his rage. After having
+tried on them all the tortures which he employed on other martyrs, he
+condemned them to be exposed to wild beasts. They are honored on this
+day in the Roman Martyrology.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In consecrating ourselves to the service of God, and to his pure love,
+the first and most essential condition is that we do it without reserve,
+with an earnest desire of attaining to the perfection of our state, and
+a firm resolution of sparing nothing, and being deterred by no
+difficulties from pursuing this end with our whole strength; and it must
+be our chief care constantly to maintain, and always increase this
+desire in our souls. Upon this condition {670} depends all out spiritual
+progress. This is more essential in a religious state than the vows
+themselves; and it is this which makes the difference betwixt the
+fervent and the lukewarm Christian. Many deceive themselves in this
+particular, and flatter themselves their resolution of aspiring after
+perfection, with all their strength, is sincere, whereas it is very
+imperfect. Of this we can best judge by their earnestness to advance in
+a spirit of prayer, and in becoming truly spiritual; in crucifying
+self-love, overcoming their failings, and cutting off all occasions of
+dissipation, and all impediments of their spiritual advancement.
+Mortification and prayer, which are the principal means, present usually
+the greatest difficulties: but these, as St. Terasa observes, are better
+than half vanquished and removed by a firm resolution of not being
+discouraged by any obstacles, but of gathering from them fresh vigor and
+strength. Patience and fortitude crown in the saints what this fervent
+resolution began.
+
+ST. SIXTUS III., POPE.
+
+HE was a priest among the Roman clergy in 418, when pope Zozimus
+condemned the Pelagian heretics. Sixtus was the first, after this
+sentence, who pronounced publicly anathema against them, to stop their
+slander in Africa that he favored their doctrine, as we are assured by
+St. Austin and St. Prosper in his chronicle. The former sent him two
+congratulatory letters the same year, in which he applauds this
+testimony of his zeal, and in the first of these letters professes a
+high esteem of a treatise written by him in defence of the grace of God
+against its enemies. It was that calumny of the Pelagian heretics that
+led Garnier into the mistake that our saint at first favored their
+errors. But a change of this kind would not have been buried in silence.
+After the death of St. Celestine, Sixtus was chosen pope in 432. He
+wrote to Nestorius to endeavor to reclaim him after his condemnation at
+Ephesus, in 431: but his heart was hardened, and he stopped his ears
+against all wholesome admonitions. The pope had the comfort to see a
+happy reconciliation made, by his endeavors, between the Orientals and
+St. Cyril: in which he much commended the humility and pacific
+dispositions of the latter. He says "that he was charged with the care
+and solicitude of all the churches in the world,[1] and that it is
+unlawful for any one to abandon the faith of the apostolic Roman church,
+in which St. Peter teaches in his successors what he received from
+Christ."[2] When Bassus, a nobleman of Rome, had been condemned by the
+emperor, and excommunicated by a synod of bishops for raising a grievous
+slander against the good pope, the meek servant of Christ visited and
+assisted him in person, administered him the viaticum in his last
+sickness; and buried him with his own hands. Julian of Eclanum or
+Eculanum, the famous Pelagian, earnestly desiring to recover his see,
+made great efforts to be admitted to the communion of the church,
+pretending that he was become a convert, and used several artifices to
+convince our saint that he really was so: but he was too well acquainted
+with them to be imposed on. This holy pope died soon after, on the 28th
+of March, in 440, having sat in the see near eight years. See his
+letters, Anastasius's Pontifical, with the notes of Bianchini, &c.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Ep. 1, ad Episc. Orient. p. 1236. Ep. decret. t. 1.
+2.  Ep. 6, and Joan. Antioch. contra Nestor.
+
+{671}
+
+ST. GONTRAN, KING AND CONFESSOR.
+
+HE was son of king Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I. and St.
+Clotildis. Being the second son, while his brothers Charibert reigned at
+Paris, and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned king
+of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Challons on the Saone his
+capital. When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers
+and the Lombards, he made no other use of his victories under the
+conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his
+dominions. He protected his nephews against the practices of the wicked
+dowager queens, Brunehault of Sigebert, and Fredegonde of Chilperic, the
+firebrands of France. The putting to death the physicians of the queen,
+at her request, on her death-bed, and the divorcing his wife Mercatrude,
+are crimes laid to his charge, in which the barbarous manners of his
+nation involved him: but these he effaced by tears of repentance. He
+governed his kingdom, studying rather to promote the temporal happiness
+of others than his own, a stranger to the passions of pride, jealousy,
+and ambition, and making piety the only rule of his policy. The
+prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemn those who think
+that human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the gospel,
+whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing. He always
+treated the pastors of the church with respect and veneration, regarding
+them as his fathers, and honoring and consulting them as his masters. He
+was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his
+subjects, whom he treated as his children. He poured out his treasures
+among them with a holy profusion; especially in the time of a pestilence
+and famine. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick. He
+fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day, as a
+victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of his justice, to avert his
+indignation, which he believed he himself had provoked, and drawn down
+upon his innocent people. He was a severe punisher of crimes in his
+officers and others, and, by many wholesome regulations, restrained the
+barbarous licentiousness of his troops, but no man was more ready to
+forgive offences against his own person. He contented himself with
+imprisoning a man who, through the instigation of queen Fredegonde, had
+attempted to stab him, and he spared another assassin sent by the same
+wicked woman, because he had taken shelter in a church. With royal
+magnificence he built and endowed many churches and monasteries. St.
+Gregory of Tours relates many miracles performed by him both before and
+after his death, to some of which he was an eye-witness. This good king,
+like another penitent David, having spent his life after his conversion,
+though on the throne, in the retirement and penance of a recluse, (as
+St. Hugh of Cluny says of him, exhorting king Philip I. to imitate his
+example,) died on the 28th of March, in 593, in the sixty-eighth year of
+his age, having reigned thirty-one and some months. He was buried in the
+church of St. Marcellus, which he had founded. The Huguenots scattered
+his ashes in the sixteenth century: only his skull escaped their fury,
+and is now kept there in a silver case. He is mentioned in the Roman
+Martyrology. See St. Gregory of Tours, Fredegarius, and Baillet.
+
+{672}
+
+
+MARCH XXIX.
+
+SS. JONAS, BARACHISIUS, AND THEIR COMPANIONS,
+
+MARTYRS.
+
+From their genuine acts compiled by Esalas, a noble Armenian knight in
+the troops of king Sapor, an eye witness; published in the original
+Chaldaic, by Stephen Assemani, Act. Mart. Orient. t. 1, p. 211. They
+were much adulterated by the Greeks in Metaphrastes. Ruinart and
+Tillemont think Sapor raised no persecution before his fortieth year:
+but Assemani proves from these acts, and several other monuments, a
+persecution in his eighteenth year. See Præf. Gen. and p. 214, app.
+
+A.D. 327.
+
+KING SAPOR, in the eighteenth year of his reign, raised a bloody
+persecution against the Christians, and demolished their churches and
+monasteries. Jonas and Barachisius, two brothers of the city Beth-Asa,
+hearing that several Christians lay under sentence of death at Hubaham,
+went thither to encourage and serve them. Nine of that number received
+the crown of martyrdom. After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius
+were apprehended for having exhorted them to die. The president mildly
+entreated the two brothers to obey the king of kings, meaning the king
+of Persia, and to worship the sun, moon, fire, and water. Their answer
+was, that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and
+earth than a mortal prince. The Magians were much offended to hear their
+king called mortal. By their advice the martyrs were separated, and
+Barachisius was cast into a very narrow close dungeon. Jonas they
+detained with them, endeavoring to persuade him to sacrifice to fire,
+the sun, and water. The prince of the Magians, seeing him inflexible,
+caused him to be laid fiat on his belly with a stake under his navel,
+and to be beaten both with knotty clubs and with rods. The martyr all
+the time continued in prayer, saying: "I thank you, O God of our father
+Abraham. Enable me, I beseech you, to offer to you acceptable
+holocausts. _One thing I have asked of the Lord: this will I seek
+after_.[1] The sun, moon, fire, and water I renounce: I believe and
+confess the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." The judge ordered him next to
+be set in a frozen pond, with a cord tied to his foot. After supper, and
+a short nap, he sent for Barachisius, and told him his brother had
+sacrificed. The martyr said it was impossible that he should have paid
+divine honors to fire, a vile creature, and spoke much on the immensity
+and power of God, and with such, eloquence and force that the Magians
+were astonished to hear him, and said one to another, that if he were
+permitted to speak in public, he would draw over many from their
+religion. Whereupon they concluded for the future to hold his
+interrogatories in the night. In the mean time they caused two red-hot
+iron plates, and two red-hot hammers, to be applied under each arm, and
+said to him: "If you shake off either of these, by the king's fortune,
+you deny Christ." He meekly replied: "I fear not your fire; nor shall I
+throw off your instruments of torture. I beg you to try without delay
+all your torments on me. He who is engaged in combat for God is full of
+courage." They ordered melted lead to be dropped into his nostrils and
+eyes; and that he should then be carried to prison, and there hung up by
+one foot. Jonas, after this, being brought out of his pool, the Magians
+said to him: "How do you find yourself this morning? We imagine you
+passed the {673} last night out very uncomfortably." "No," replied
+Jonas; "from the day I came into the world, I never remember a night
+more sweet and agreeable: for I was wonderfully refreshed by the
+remembrance of Christ's sufferings." The Magians said: "Your companion
+hath renounced." The martyr, interrupting them, answered: "I know that
+he hath long ago renounced the devil and his angels." The Magians urged:
+"Take care lest you perish, abandoned both by God and man." Jonas
+replied: "If you are really wise, as you boast, judge if it be not
+better to sow the corn than to keep it hoarded up. Our life is a seed
+sown to rise again in the world to come, when it will be renewed by
+Christ in immortal light." The Magians said: "Your books have drawn many
+aside." Jonas answered: "They have indeed drawn many from worldly
+pleasures. When a servant of Christ is in his sufferings inebriated with
+love from the passion of his Lord, he forgets the transitory state of
+this short life, its riches, estates, gold, and honors; regardless of
+kings and princes, lords and noblemen, where an eternity is at stake, he
+desires nothing but the sight of the only true King, whose empire is
+everlasting, and whose power reaches to all ages." The judges commanded
+all his fingers and toes to be cut off, joint by joint, and scattered
+about. Then they said to him: "Now wait the harvest to reap other hands
+from this seed." To whom he said: "Other hands I do not ask. God is
+present, who first framed me, and who will give me new strength." After
+this, the skin was torn off the martyr's head, his tongue was cut out,
+and he was thrown into a vessel of boiling pitch; but the pitch by a
+sudden ebullition running over, the servant of God was not hurt by it.
+The judges next ordered him to be squeezed in a wooden press till his
+veins, sinews, and fibres burst. Lastly, his body was sawn with an iron
+saw, and, by pieces, thrown into a dry cistern. Guards were appointed to
+watch the sacred relics, lest Christians should steal them away. The
+judges then called upon Barachisius to spare his own body. To whom he
+said: "This body I did not frame, neither will I destroy it. God its
+maker will again restore it and will judge you and your king."
+Hormisdatscirus, turning to Maharnarsces, said: "By our delays we
+affront the king. These men regard neither words nor torments." They
+therefore agreed that he should be beaten with sharp-pointed rushes;
+then that splinters of reeds should be applied to his body, and by cords
+strait drawn and pulled, should be pressed deep into his flesh, and that
+in this condition his body, pierced all over with sharp spikes, armed
+like a porcupine, should be rolled on the ground. After these tortures,
+he was put into the screw or press, and boiling pitch and brimstone were
+poured into his mouth. By this last torment he obtained a crown equal to
+that of his brother. Under their most exquisite tortures they thought
+they bought heaven too cheap. Upon the news of their death, Abtusciatus,
+an old friend, came and purchased their bodies for five hundred drachms
+and three silk garments, binding himself also by oath never to divulge
+the sale. The acts are closed by these words: "This book was written
+from the mouths of witnesses, and contains the acts of the saints,
+Jonas, Barachisius, and others, martyrs of Christ, who by his succor
+fought, triumphed, and were crowned, in whose prayers we beg place may
+be found, by Esaias, son of Adabus of Arzun, in Armenia, of the troop of
+royal horsemen, who was present at their interrogatories and tortures,
+and who wrote the history of their conflicts." They were crowned on the
+29th of the moon of December. This was the 24th of that month, in the
+year of Christ 327, of Sopar II. the 18th. The Roman Martyrology
+mentions them on the 29th of March.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Those powerful motives which supported the martyrs under the sharpest
+{674} torments, ought to inspire us with patience, resignation, and holy
+joy, under sickness and all crosses or trials. These are the times of
+the greatest spiritual harvest, by the exercise of the most perfect
+virtues. For nothing is more heroic in the practice of Christian virtue,
+nothing more precious in the sight of God, than the sacrifice of
+patience, submission, constant fidelity and charity in a state of
+suffering. Under sickness we are too apt eagerly to desire health, that
+we may be able to do something for God, and to discharge the obligations
+of our profession, as we persuade ourselves. This is a mere invention of
+self-love, which is impatient under the weight of humiliation. Nothing,
+indeed, is more severe to nature than such a state of death, and there
+is nothing which it is not desirous of doing, to recover that active
+life, which carries an air of importance by making an appearance in the
+tumultuous scene of the world. But how much does the soul generally lose
+by such an exchange! Ah! did we but truly know how great are the
+spiritual advantages and riches, and how great the glory of patience
+founded upon motives of true charity, and how precious the victories and
+triumphs are which it gains over self-love, we should rejoice too much
+in a state of suffering and humiliation ever to entertain any inordinate
+desires of changing it. We should only ask for health in sickness under
+this condition, if it be more expedient for God's honor and our
+spiritual advancement. With St. Paul, we should find a joy and delight
+in a state of privation and suffering, in which we enter into a true
+sense of our absolute weakness, feel that we are nothing, and have no
+reliance but on God alone.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Psa. xxvi 4.
+
+SS. ARMOGASTES, ARCHINIMUS, AND SATURUS,
+
+MARTYRS.
+
+GENSERIC, the Arian king of the Vandals, to Africa, having, on his
+return out of Italy, in 457, enacted new penal laws, and severer than
+any he had till then put in force against Catholics, count Armogastes
+was on that occasion deprived of his honors and dignities at court, and
+most cruelly tortured. But no sooner had the jailers bound him with
+cords, but they broke of themselves, as the martyr lifted up his eyes to
+heaven; and this happened several times. And though they afterwards hung
+him up by one foot with his head downwards for a considerable time, the
+saint was no more affected by this torment than if he had lain all the
+while at his ease on a feather-bed. Theodoric, the king's son, thereupon
+ordered his head to be struck off: but one of his Arian priests diverted
+him from it, advising him to take other measures with him to prevent his
+being looked upon as a martyr by those of his party, which would be of
+disservice to the opposite cause. He was therefore sent into Byzacena to
+work in the mines; and some time after, for his greater disgrace, he was
+removed thence into the neighborhood of Carthage, and employed in
+keeping cows. But he looked upon it as his glory to be dishonored before
+men in the cause of God. It was not long before he had a revelation that
+his end drew near. So having foretold the time of his death, and given
+orders to a devout Christian about the place where he desired to be
+interred, the holy confessor, a few days after, went to receive the
+rewards of those that suffer in the cause of truth.
+
+Archinimus, of the city Mascula, in Numidia, resisted all the artifices
+which the king could use to overcome his faith, and was condemned to be
+beheaded, but was reprieved while he stood under the axe. Satur, or
+Saturus, was master of the household to Huneric, by whom he was
+threatened to be deprived of his estate, goods, slaves, wife, and
+children for his faith. {675} His own wife omitted nothing in her power
+to prevail with him to purchase his pardon at the expense of his
+conscience. But he courageously answered her in the words of Job: "_You
+have spoken like one of the foolish women_.[1] If you loved me, you
+would give me different advice, and not push me on to a second death.
+Let them do their worst: I will always remember our Lord's words: _If
+any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, his wife and
+children, his brethren and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be
+my disciple_."[2] He suffered many torments, was stripped of all his
+substance, forbid ever to appear in public, and reduced to great
+distress. But God enriched him with his graces, and called him to
+himself. See St. Victor Vitensis, Hist. Persec. Vandal, l. 1, n. 14.
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Job ii. 9.
+2.  Luke xiv. 26.
+
+ST. EUSTASIUS, OR EUSTACHIUS,
+
+ABBOT OF LUXEU,
+
+SUCCEEDED his master St. Columban in that charge, in 611. He sanctified
+himself by humility, continual prayer, watching, and fasting; was the
+spiritual father of six hundred monks, and of many holy bishops and
+saints, and died in 625. He is named in the Martyrologies of Ado, and in
+the Roman. See his life by Jonas, his colleague, in the Bollandists, and
+in Mabillon.
+
+ST. GUNDLEUS, CONFESSOR.
+
+THIS saint, who was formerly honored with great devotion in Wales, was
+son to the king of the Dimetians in South-Wales. After the death of his
+father, though the eldest son, he divided the kingdom with his six
+brothers who nevertheless respected and obeyed him as if he had been
+their sovereign. He married Gladusa, daughter of Braghan, prince of that
+country, which is called from him Brecknockshire, and was father of St.
+Canoe and St. Keyna. St. Gundleus had by her the great St. Cadoc, who
+afterwards founded the famous monastery of Llancarvan, three miles from
+Cowbridge, in Glamorganshire. Gundleus lived so as to have always in
+view the heavenly kingdom for which we are created by God. To secure
+this, he retired wholly from the world long before his death, and passed
+his time in a solitary little dwelling near a church which he had built.
+His clothing was sackcloth, his food barley-bread, upon which he usually
+strewed ashes, and his drink was water. Prayer and contemplation were
+his constant occupation, to which he rose at midnight, and he subsisted
+by the labor of his hands: thus he lived many years. Some days before
+his death he sent for St. Dubritius and his son St. Cadoc, and by their
+assistance, and the holy rites of the church, prepared himself for his
+passage to eternity. He departed to our Lord towards the end of the
+fifth century, and was glorified by miracles. See his life in Capgrave
+and Henschenius, from the collection of John of Tinmouth. See also
+bishop Usher.
+
+ST. MARK, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
+
+SOME Greeks rank among the saints on this day, Mark, bishop of Arethusa,
+in Syria, in the fourth age. When Constantius put to death his uncle,
+{676} Julius Constantius, brother of Constantine the Great, with his
+eldest son; the two younger, Gallus and Julian, narrowly escaped the
+sword. In that danger Mark concealed Julian, and secretly supplied him
+with necessaries for his subsistence. When Julian became emperor, he
+commanded that the temples which had been demolished by Christians,
+during the two preceding reigns, should be rebuilt at their expense.
+Mark had, by the authority of Constantius, demolished a very magnificent
+temple which was held in great veneration by the idolaters: he had also
+built a church, and converted a great number of infidels. Authorized by
+the law of Julian, the heathens of Arethusa, when they saw themselves
+uppermost, fell on the Christians; and Mark, finding that they were
+ready to show their resentment against him in particular, which they had
+long concealed, he at first, pursuant to the gospel precept, betook
+himself to flight to escape their fury. But understanding that they had
+apprehended some of his flock instead of him, he returned and delivered
+himself up to the persecutors, to animate others in the same cause by
+his example and instructions. They seized him soon after his return,
+dragged him through the streets by the hair, or any part they could lay
+hold of, without the least compassion for his age, or regard for his
+virtue and learning. Having stripped him, and scourged him all over his
+body, joining ignominy and insults with cruelty, they threw him into the
+stinking public jakes. Having taken him from thence, they left him to
+the children, ordering them to prick and pierce him, without mercy, with
+their writing-styles, or steel pencils. They bound his legs with cords
+so tight as to cut and bruise his flesh to the very bone; they wrung off
+his ears with small strong threads; and in this maimed, bloody
+condition, they pushed him from one to another. After this they rubbed
+him over with honey and fat broth; and shutting him up in a kind of
+cage, hung him up in the air where the sun was most scorching, at
+noonday, in the midst of summer, in order to draw the wasps and gnats
+upon him, whose stings are exceeding sharp and piercing in those hot
+countries. He was so calm in the midst of his sufferings, that, though
+so sorely wounded and covered with flies and wasps, he bantered them as
+he hung in the air; telling them, that while they were grovelling on the
+earth, he was raised by them towards heaven. They frequently solicited
+him to rebuild their temple, but though they reduced their demands by
+degrees to a trifling sum, he constantly answered, that it would be an
+impiety to give them one farthing towards such a work. This indeed would
+be to concur to idolatrous worship; but his demolishing the temple would
+have been against the order of law and justice, had he done it without
+public authority. At length the fury of the people was turned into
+admiration of his patience, and they set him at liberty; and several of
+them afterwards begged of him to instruct them in the principles of a
+religion which was capable of inspiring such a resolution. Having spent
+the remainder of his life in the faithful discharge of the duties of his
+station, he died in peace under Jovian or Valens. He is not named in the
+Roman Martyrology, nor venerated by the church among the saints. He had
+been long engaged in the errors and intrigues of the Semi-Arians; but
+the encomiums given him by St. Gregory Nazianzen, Theodoret, and
+Sozomen, when they relate his sufferings, show that towards the end of
+the reign of Constantius, he joined in the orthodox communion.
+
+{677}
+
+
+MARCH XXX.
+
+ST. JOHN CLIMACUS, ABBOT.
+
+From his life written by Daniel, a monk of Raithu, soon after his death,
+and from his own works. See Bulteau, Hist Monast. d'Orient, and
+d'Andilly, or rather his nephew, Le Maître, in his life prefixed to the
+French translation of his works. See also Jos. Assemani, in Cal. Univ.
+ad 30 Martii, t. 6, p. 213.
+
+A.D. 605.
+
+ST. JOHN, generally distinguished by the appellation of Climacus, from
+his excellent book entitled Climax, or the Ladder to Perfection, was
+born about the year 525, probably in Palestine. By his extraordinary
+progress in the arts and sciences, he obtained very young the surname of
+the Scholastic. But at sixteen years of age he renounced all the
+advantages which the world promised him, to dedicate himself to God in a
+religious state, in 547. He retired to Mount Sinai, which, from the time
+of the disciples of St. Antony and St. Hilarion, had been always peopled
+by holy men, who, in imitation of Moses, when he received the law on
+that mountain, lived in the perpetual contemplation of heavenly things.
+Our novice, fearing the danger of dissipation and relaxation, to which
+numerous communities are generally more exposed than others, chose not
+to live in the great monastery on the summit, but in a hermitage on the
+descent of the mountain, under the discipline of Martyrius, a holy
+ancient anchoret. By silence, he curbed the insolent itch of talking
+about every thing, an ordinary vice in learned men, but usually a mark
+of pride and self-sufficiency. By perfect humility and obedience, he
+banished the dangerous desire of self-complacency in his actions. He
+never contradicted, never disputed with any one. So perfect was his
+submission, that he seemed to have no self-will. He undertook to sail
+through the deep sea of this mortal life securely, under the direction
+of a prudent guide, and shunned those rocks which he could not have
+escaped, had he presumed to steer alone, as he tells us.[1] From the
+visible mountain he raised his heart, without interruption, in all his
+actions, to God, who is invisible; and, attentive to all the motions of
+his grace, studied only to do his will. Four years he spent in the trial
+of his own strength, and in learning the obligations of his state,
+before he made his religious profession, which was in the twentieth year
+of his age. In his writings, he severely condemns engagements made by
+persons too young, or before a sufficient probation. By fervent prayer
+and fasting he prepared himself for the solemn consecration of himself
+to God, that the most intense fervor might make his holocaust the more
+perfect: and from that moment he seemed to be renewed in spirit; and his
+master admired the strides with which, like a mighty giant, the young
+disciple advanced, daily more and more, towards God by self-denial,
+obedience, humility, and the uninterrupted exercises of divine love and
+prayer.
+
+In the year 560, and the thirty-fifth of his age, he lost Martyrius by
+death, having then spent nineteen years in that place in penance and
+holy contemplation. By the advice of a prudent director, he then
+embraced an eremitical life in a plain called Thole, near the foot of
+Mount Sinai. His cell was five miles from the church, probably the same
+which had been built a little {678} before, by order of the emperor
+Justinian, for the use of the monks, at the bottom of this mountain, in
+honor of the Blessed Virgin, as Procopius mentions.[2] Thither he went
+every Saturday and Sunday to assist, with all the other anchorets and
+monks of that desert, at the holy office and at the celebration of the
+divine mysteries, when they all communicated. His diet was very sparing,
+though, to shun ostentation and the danger of vain-glory, he ate of
+every thing that was allowed among the monks of Egypt, who universally
+abstained from flesh, fish, &c. Prayer was his principal employment; and
+he practised what he earnestly recommends to all Christians, that in all
+their actions, thoughts, and words, they should keep themselves with
+great fervor in the presence of God, and direct all they do to his holy
+will.[3] By habitual contemplation he acquired an extraordinary purity
+of heart, and such a facility of lovingly beholding God in all his
+works, that this practice seemed in him a second nature. Thus he
+accompanied his studies with perpetual prayer. He assiduously read the
+holy scriptures, and fathers, and was one of the most learned doctors of
+the church. But, to preserve the treasure of humility, he concealed, as
+much as possible, both his natural and acquired talents, and the
+extraordinary graces with which the Holy Ghost enriched his soul. By
+this secrecy he fled from the danger of vain-glory, which, like a leech,
+sticks to our best actions, and sucking from them its nourishment, robs
+us of their fruit. As if this cell had not been sufficiently remote from
+the eyes of men, St. John frequently retired into a neighboring cavern,
+which he had made in the rock, where no one could come to disturb his
+devotions, or interrupt his tears. So ardent were his charity and
+compunction, that his eyes seemed two fountains, which scarce ever
+ceased to flow; and his continual sighs and groans to heaven, under the
+weight of the miseries inseparable from his moral pilgrimage, were not
+to be equalled by the vehemency of the cries of those who suffer from
+knives and fire. Overcome by importunities, he admitted a holy anchoret
+named Moyses to live with him as his disciple.
+
+God bestowed on St. John an extraordinary grace of healing the spiritual
+disorders of souls. Among others, a monk called Isaac, was brought
+almost to the brink of despair by most violent temptations of the flesh.
+He addressed himself to St. John; who perceived by his tears how much he
+underwent from that conflict and struggle which he felt within himself.
+The servant of God commended his faith, and said: "My son, let us have
+recourse to God by prayer." They accordingly prostrated themselves
+together on the ground in fervent supplication for a deliverance, and
+from that time the infernal serpent left Isaac to peace. Many others
+resorted to St. John for spiritual advice: but the devil excited some to
+jealousy, who censured him as one who, out of vanity, lost much time in
+unprofitable discourse. The saint took this accusation, which was a mere
+calumny, in good part, and as a charitable admonition; he therefore
+imposed on himself a rigorous silence for near a twelvemonth. This his
+humility and modesty so much astonished his calumniators, that they
+joined the rest of the monks in beseeching him to reassume his former
+function of giving charitable advice to all that resorted to him for it,
+and not to bury that talent of science which he had received for the
+benefit of many. He who knew not what it was to contradict others, with
+the same humility and deference again opened his mouth to instruct his
+neighbor in the rules of perfect virtue: in which office, such was the
+reputation of his wisdom and experience, that he was regarded as another
+Moses in that holy place.
+
+St. John was now seventy-five years old, and had spent forty of them in
+{679} his hermitage, when, in the year six hundred, he was unanimously
+chosen abbot of Mount Sinai, and superior-general of all the monks and
+hermits in that country. Soon after he was raised to this dignity, the
+people of Palestine and Arabia, in the time of a great drought and
+famine, made their application to him as to another Elias, begging him
+to intercede with God in their behalf. The saint failed not with great
+earnestness to recommend their distress to the Father of mercies, and
+his prayer was immediately recompensed with abundant rains. St. Gregory
+the Great., who then sat in St. Peter's chair, wrote to our holy
+abbot,[4] recommending himself to his prayers, and sent him beds, with
+other furniture and money, for his hospital, for the use of pilgrims
+near Mount Sinai. John, who had used his utmost endeavors to decline the
+pastoral charge, when he saw it laid upon him, neglected no means which
+might promote the sanctification of all those who were entrusted to his
+care. That posterity might receive some share in the benefit of his holy
+instructions, John, the learned and virtuous abbot of Raithu, a
+monastery-situate towards the Red Sea, entreated him by that obedience
+he had ever practised, even with regard to his inferiors, that he would
+draw up the most necessary rules by which fervent souls might arrive at
+Christian perfection. The saint answered him, that nothing but extreme
+humility could have moved him to write to so miserable a sinner,
+destitute of every sort of virtue; but that he received his commands
+with respect, though far above his strength, never considering his own
+insufficiency. Wherefore, apprehensive of falling into death by
+disobedience, he took up his pen in haste, with great eagerness mixed
+with fear, and set himself to draw some imperfect outlines as an
+unskilful painter, leaving them to receive from him, as a great master,
+the finishing strokes. This produced the excellent work which he called
+Climax, or the ladder of religious perfection. This book being written
+in sentences, almost in the manner of aphorisms, abounds more in sense
+than words. A certain majestic simplicity, an inexpressible unction and
+spirit of humility, joined with conciseness and perspicuity, very much
+enhance the value of this performance: but its chief merit consists in
+the sublime sentiments, and perfect description of all Christian
+virtues, which it contains. The author confirms his precepts by several
+edifying examples, as of obedience and penance.[5] In describing a
+monastery of three hundred and thirty monks, which he had visited near
+Alexandria in Egypt, he mentions one of the principal citizens of that
+city, named Isidore, who, petitioning to be admitted into the house,
+said to the abbot: "As iron is in the hands of the smith, so am I in
+your hands." The abbot ordered him to remain without the gate, and to
+prostrate himself at the feet of everyone that passed by, begging their
+prayers for his soul struck with a leprosy. Thus he passed seven years
+in profound humility and patience. He told St. John, that during the
+first year he always considered himself as a slave condemned for his
+sins, and sustained violent conflicts. The second year he passed in
+tranquillity and confidence; and the third with relish and pleasure in
+his humiliations. So great was his virtue, that the abbot determined to
+present him to the bishop in order to be promoted to the priesthood, but
+the humility of the holy penitent prevented the execution of that
+design; for having begged at least a respite, he died within ten days.
+St. John could not help admiring the cook of this numerous community,
+who seemed always recollected, and generally bathed in tears amidst his
+continual occupation, and asked him by what means he nourished so
+perfect a spirit of compunction, in the midst of such a dissipating
+laborious employment. He said, that serving the monks, he represented to
+himself that he was serving not men, but God in his servants {680} and
+that the fire he always had before his eyes, reminded him of that fire
+which will burn souls for all eternity. The moving description which our
+author gives of the monastery of penitents called the Prison, above a
+mile from the former, hath been already abridged in our language. John
+the Sabaite told our saint, as of a third person, that seeing himself
+respected in his monastery, he considered that this was not the way to
+satisfy for his sins. Wherefore, with the leave of his abbot, he
+repaired to a severe monastery in Pontus, and after three years saw in a
+dream a schedule of his debts, to the amount in appearance of one
+hundred pounds of gold, of which only ten were cancelled. He therefore
+repeated often to himself: "Poor Antiochus, thou hast still great debt
+to satisfy." After passing over thirteen years in contempt and the most
+fervent practices of penance, he deserved to see in a vision his whole
+debt blotted out. Another monk, in a grievous fit of illness, fell into
+a trance, in which he lay as if he had been dead for the space of an
+hour: but recovering, he shut himself up in his cell, and lived a
+recluse twelve years, almost continually weeping, in the perpetual
+meditation of death. When he was near death, his brethren could only
+extort from him these words of edification: "He who hath death always
+before his eyes, will never sin." John, abbot of Raithu, explained this
+book of our saint by judicious comments, which are also extant. We have
+likewise a letter of St. John Climacus to the same person, concerning
+the duties of a pastor, in which he exhorts him in correcting others to
+temper severity with mildness, and encourages him zealously to fulfil
+the obligations of his charge; for nothing is greater or more acceptable
+to God than to offer him the sacrifice of rational souls sanctified by
+penance and charity.
+
+St. John sighed continually under the weight of his dignity, during the
+four years that he governed the monks of Mount Sinai: and as he had
+taken upon him that burden with fear and reluctance, he with joy found
+means to resign the same a little before his death. Heavenly
+contemplation, and the continual exercise of divine love and praise,
+were his delight and comfort in his earthly pilgrimage: and in this
+imitation of the functions of the blessed spirits in heaven he placeth
+the essence of the monastic state.[6] In his excellent maxims concerning
+the gift of holy tears, the fruit of charity,[7] we seem to behold a
+lively portraiture of his most pure soul. He died in his hermitage on
+the 30th day of March, in 605, being fourscore years old. His spiritual
+son George, who had succeeded him in the abbacy, earnestly begged of God
+that he might not be separated from his dear master and guide, and
+followed him by a happy death within a few days. On several Greek
+commentaries on St. John Climacus's ladder, see Montfaucon, Biblioth.
+Coisliana, pp. 305, 306.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. John Climacus, speaking of the excellence and the effects of
+charity, does it with a feeling and energy worthy of such a subject. "A
+mother," says he,[8] "feels less pleasure when she folds within her arms
+the dear infant whom she nourishes with her own milk, than the true
+child of charity does, when united, as he incessantly is, to his God,
+and folded as if were in the arms of his heavenly Father.[9]--Charity
+operates in some persons so as to carry them almost entirely out of
+themselves. It illuminates others, and fills them with such sentiments
+of joy, that they cannot help crying out: _The Lord is my helper and my
+protector: in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped. And my
+flesh hath flourished again, and with my will I will give praise to
+him_.[10] This joy which they feel in their hearts, is reflected on
+their countenances; and when once God has united, or, as we may say,
+{681} incorporated them with his charity, he displays in their exterior,
+as in the reflection of a mirror, the brightness and serenity of their
+souls: even as Moses, being honored with a sight of God, was encompassed
+round by his glory." St. John Climacus composed the following prayer to
+obtain the gift of charity: "My God, I pretend to nothing upon this
+earth, except to be so firmly united to you by prayer, that to be
+separated from you may be impossible: let others desire riches and
+glory; for my part, I desire but one thing, and that is, to be
+inseparably united to you, and to place in you alone all my hopes of
+happiness and repose."
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  Gr. l.
+2.  Procop. l. 5 de ædif. Justin.
+3.  S. Jo. Clim. gr. 27, n. 67.
+4.  St. Greg. l. 11; Ep. 1, l. 12; Ep. 16, t. 2, p. 1091.
+5.  Gr. 4 and 5.
+6.  Gr. 1.
+7.  Gr. 7, 27, 30.
+8.  Grad. 30, n. 12.
+9.  Gr {} n. 14.
+10. Ps. xxvii.
+
+S. ZOZIMUS, BISHOP OF SYRACUSE,
+
+WAS successor to the holy bishop Peter; and faithfully discharged all
+the duties of a worthy pastor until his death, which happened in 660.
+His, name is mentioned in the Roman and Sicilian Martyrologies. See the
+Bollandists and Baillet.
+
+ST. REGULUS, OR RIEUL,
+
+WHO having converted the country of Senlis to the faith, about the same
+time that St. Dionysius preached in France, was made first bishop of
+Senlis, and died in peace in the midst of his flock. See the Bollandists
+and Tillem. t. 4, p. 719.
+
+
+MARCH XXXI.
+
+SAINT BENJAMIN, DEACON, M.
+
+From Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. l. 5, c. 39, &c.
+
+A.D. 429.
+
+ISDEGERDES, son of Sapor III., put a stop to the crael persecutions
+against the Christians in Persia, which had been begun by Sapor II., and
+the Church had enjoyed twelve years' peace in that kingdom, when, in
+420, it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of one Abdas, a Christian
+bishop, who burned down the Pyræum, or temple of fire, the great
+divinity of the Persians. King Isdegerdes threatened to demolish all the
+churches of the Christians, unless he would rebuild it. Abdas had done
+ill in destroying the temple, but did well in refusing to rebuild it;
+for nothing can make it lawful to contribute to any act of idolatry, or
+to the building a temple, as Theodoret observes. Isdegerdes therefore
+demolished all the Christian churches in Persia, put to death Abdas, and
+raised a general persecution against the Church, which continued forty
+years with great fury. Isdegerdes died the year following, in 421. But
+his son and successor, Varanes, carried on the persecution with greater
+inhumanity. The very description which Theodoret, a contemporary writer,
+and one that lived in the neighborhood gives of the cruelties he
+exercised on the Christians, strikes us with {682} horror: some were
+flayed alive in different parts of the body, and suffered all kinds of
+torture that could be invented: others, being stuck all over with sharp
+reeds, were hauled and rolled about in that condition; others were
+tormented divers other ways, such as nothing but the most hellish malice
+was capable of suggesting. Among these glorious champions of Christ was
+St. Benjamin, a deacon. The tyrant caused him to be beaten and
+imprisoned. He had lain a year in the dungeon, when an ambassador from
+the emperor obtained his enlargement, on condition he should never speak
+to any of the courtiers about religion. The ambassador passed his word
+in his behalf that he would not: but Benjamin, who was a minister of the
+gospel, declared that he could not detain the truth in captivity,
+conscious to himself of the condemnation of the slothful servant for
+having hid his talent. He therefore neglected no opportunity of
+announcing Christ. The king, being informed that he still preached the
+faith in his kingdom, ordered him to be apprehended; but the martyr made
+no other reply to his threats than by putting this question to the king:
+What opinion he would have of any of his subjects who should renounce
+his allegiance to him, and join in war against him. The enraged tyrant
+caused reeds to be run in between the nails and the flesh both of his
+hands and feet, and the same to be thrust into other most tender parts,
+and drawn out again, and this to be frequently repeated with violence.
+He lastly ordered a knotty stake to be thrust into his bowels to rend
+and tear them, in which torment he expired in the year 424. The Roman
+Martyrology places his name on the 31st of March.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+St. Ephrem, considering the heroic constancy of the martyrs, makes on
+them the following pious reflections: "The wisdom of philosophers, and
+the eloquence of the greatest orators, are dumb through amazement, when
+they contemplate the wonderful spectacle and glorious actions of the
+martyrs: the tyrants and judges were not able to express their
+astonishment when they beheld the faith, the constancy, and the
+cheerfulness of these holy champions. What excuse shall we have in the
+dreadful day of judgment, if we who have never been exposed to any cruel
+persecutions, or to the violence of such torments, shall have neglected
+the love of God and the care of a spiritual life? No temptations, no
+torments, were able to draw them from that love which they bore to God:
+but we, living in rest and delights, refuse to love our most merciful
+and gracious Lord. What shall we do in that day of terror, when the
+martyrs of Christ, standing with confidence near his throne, shall show
+the marks of their wounds? What shall we then show? Shall we present a
+lively faith? true charity towards God? a perfect disengagement of our
+affections from earthly things? souls freed from the tyranny of the
+passions? silence and recollection? meekness? alms-deeds? prayers poured
+forth with clean hearts? compunction, watchings, tears? Happy shall he
+be whom such good works shall attend. He will be the partner of the
+martyrs, and, supported by the treasure of these virtues, shall appear
+with equal confidence before Christ and his angels. We entreat you, O
+most holy martyrs, who cheerfully suffered most cruel torments for God
+our Saviour and his love, on which account you are now most intimately
+and familiarly united to him, that you pray to the Lord for us miserable
+sinners, covered with filth, that he infuse into us the grace of Christ,
+that it may enlighten our souls that we may love him, &c."[1]
+
+Footnotes:
+1.  St. Ephrem. Hom. In SS. Martyres. t. 3. Op. Gr. et Lat. p. 251. ed
+    Vatic. an. 1746.
+
+{683}
+
+ST. ACACIUS, OR ACHATES, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH IN ASIA MINOR, C.
+
+ST. ACACIUS was bishop of Antioch, probably the town of that name in
+Phrygia, where the Marcionites were numerous. He was surnamed
+Agathangel, or Good-angel, and extremely respected by the people for his
+sanctity. It was owing to his zeal that not one of his flock renounced
+Christ by sacrificing to idols during the persecution of Decius, a
+weakness which several of the Marcionite heretics had betrayed. Our
+saint himself made a glorious confession of his faith; of which the
+following relation, transcribed from the public register, is a voucher.
+
+Martian, a man of consular dignity, arriving at Antioch, a small town of
+his government, ordered the bishop to be brought before him. His name
+was Acacius, and he was styled the buckler and refuge of that country
+for his universal charity and episcopal zeal. Martian said to him: "As
+you have the happiness to live under the Roman laws, you are bound to
+love and honor our princes, who are our protectors." Acacius answered:
+"Of all the subjects of the empire, none love and honor the emperor more
+than the Christians. We pray without intermission for his person, and
+that it may please God to grant him long life, prosperity, success, and
+all benedictions; that he may be endowed by him with the spirit of
+justice and wisdom to govern his people; that his reign be auspicious,
+and prosperous, blessed with joy, peace, and plenty, throughout all the
+provinces that obey him." MARTIAN.-"All this I commend; but that the
+emperor may be the better convinced of your submission and fidelity,
+come now and offer him a sacrifice with me." ACACIUS.-"I have already
+told you that I pray to the great and true God for the emperor; but he
+ought not to require a sacrifice from us, nor is there any due to him or
+to any man whatsoever." MARTIAN.-"Tell us what God you adore, that we
+may also pay him our offerings and homages." ACACIUS.-"I wish from my
+heart you did but know him to your advantage." MARTIAN.-"Tell me his
+name." ACACIUS.-"He is called the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
+Jacob." MARTIAN.-"Are these the names of gods?" ACACIUS.-"By no means,
+but of men to whom the true God spoke; he is the only God, and he alone
+is to be adored, feared, and loved." MARTIAN.-"What is this God?"
+ACACIUS.-"He is the most high Adonia, who is seated above the cherubims
+and seraphims." MARTIAN.-"What is a seraph?" ACACIUS.-"A ministering
+spirit of the most high God, and one of the principal lords of the
+heavenly court." MARTIAN.-"What chimeras are these? Lay aside these
+whims of invisible beings, and adore such gods as you can see."
+ACACIUS.-"Tell me who are those gods to whom you would have me
+sacrifice?" MARTIAN.-"Apollo, the saviour of men, who preserves us from
+pestilence and famine, who enlightens, preserves, and governs the
+universe." ACACIUS.-"Do you mean that wretch that could not preserve his
+own life: who, being in love with a young woman, (Daphne,) ran about
+distracted in pursuit of her, not knowing that he was never to possess
+the object of his desires? It is therefore evident that he could not
+foresee things to come, since he was in the dark as to his own fate: and
+as clear that he could be no god, who was thus cheated by a creature.
+All know likewise that he had a base passion for Hyacinth, a beautiful
+boy, and was so awkward as to break the head of that minion, the fond
+object of his criminal passion, with a quoit. Is not he also that god
+who, with Neptune, turned mason, hired himself to a king, (Laomedon of
+Troy,) and built the walls of a city? Would you {684} oblige me to
+sacrifice to such a divinity, or to Esculapius, thunderstruck by
+Jupiter? or to Venus, whose life was infamous, and to a hundred such
+monsters, to whom you offer sacrifice? No, though my life itself
+depended on it, ought I to pay divine honors to those whom I should
+blush to imitate, and of whom I can entertain no other sentiments than
+those of contempt and execration? You adore gods, the imitators of whom
+you yourselves would punish." MARTIAN.-"It is usual for you Christians
+to raise several calumnies against our gods; for which reason I command
+you to come now with me to a banquet in honor of Jupiter and Juno, and
+acknowledge and perform what is due to their majesty." ACACIUS.-"How can
+I sacrifice to a man whose sepulchre is unquestionably in Crete? What!
+Is he risen again?" MARTIAN.-"You must either sacrifice or die."
+ACACIUS.-"This is the custom of the Dalmatian robbers; when they have
+taken a passenger in a narrow way, they leave him no other choice but to
+surrender his money or his life. But, for my part, I declare to you that
+I fear nothing that you call do to me. The laws punish adulterers,
+thieves, and murderers. Were I guilty of any of those things, I should
+be the first man to condemn myself. But if my whole crime be the adoring
+of the true God, and I am on this account to be put to death, it is no
+longer a law but an injustice." MARTIAN.-"I have no order to judge but
+to counsel you to obey. If you refuse, I know how to force you to a
+compliance." ACACIUS.-"I have a law which I will obey: this commands me
+not to renounce my God. If you think yourself bound to execute the
+orders of a man who in a little time hence must leave the world, and his
+body become the food of worms, much more strictly am I bound to obey the
+omnipotent God, who is infinite and eternal, and who hath declared,
+_Whoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father_."
+MARTIAN.-"You now mention the error of your sect which I have long
+desired to be informed of: you say then that God hath a son?"
+ACACIUS.-"Doubtless he hath one." MARTIAN.-"Who is this son of God?"
+ACACIUS.-"The Word of truth and grace." MARTIAN.-"Is that his name?"
+ACACIUS.-"You did not ask me his name, but what he is." MARTIAN.-"What
+then is his name?" ACACIUS.-"Jesus Christ." Martian having inquired of
+the saint by what woman God had this son, he replied, that the divine
+generation of the Word is of a different nature from human generation,
+and proved it from the language the royal prophet makes use of in the
+forty-fourth psalm. MARTIAN.-"Is God then corporeal?" ACACIUS.-"He is
+known only to himself. We cannot describe him; he is invisible to us in
+this mortal state, but we are sufficiently acquainted with his
+perfections to confess and adore him." MARTIAN.-"If God hath no body,
+how can he have a heart or mind?" ACACIUS.-"Wisdom hath no dependence or
+connection with an organized body. What hath body to do with
+understanding?" He then pressed him to sacrifice from the example of the
+Cataphrygians, or Montanists, and engage all under his care to do the
+same. Acacius replied: "It is not me these people obey, but God. Let
+them hear me when I advise them to what is right; but let them despise
+me, if I offer them the contrary and endeavor to pervert them."
+MARTIAN.-"Give me all their names." ACACIUS.-"They are written in
+heaven, in God's invisible registers." MARTIAN.-"Where are the
+magicians, your companions, and the teachers of this cunningly devised
+error?" by which he probably meant the priests. ACACIUS.-"No one in the
+world abhors magic more than we Christians." MARTIAN.-"Magic is the new
+religion which you introduce." ACACIUS.-"We destroy those gods whom you
+fear, though you made them yourselves. We, on the contrary, fear not him
+whom we have made with our hands, but him who created us, and who is the
+Lord and Master of all nature: who {685} loved us as our good father,
+and redeemed us from death and hell as the careful and affectionate
+shepherd of our souls." MARTIAN.-"Give the names I require, if you would
+avoid the torture." ACACIUS.-"I am before the tribunal, and do you ask
+me my name, and, not satisfied with that, you must also know those of
+the other ministers? Do you hope to conquer many; you, whom I alone am
+able thus to confound? If you desire to know our names, mine is Acacius.
+If you would know more, they call me Agathangelus, and my two companions
+are Piso, bishop of the Trojans, and Menander, a priest. Do now what you
+please." MARTIAN.-"You shall remain in prison till the emperor is
+acquainted with what has passed on this subject, and sends his orders
+concerning you."
+
+The emperor Decius having read the interrogatory, recompensed Martian by
+making him governor of Pamphilia, but admired so much the prudence and
+constancy of Acacius, that he ordered him to be discharged, and suffered
+him to profess the Christian religion.
+
+This his glorious confession is dated on the 29th of March, and happened
+under Decius in 250, or 251. How long St. Acacius survived does not
+appear. The Greeks, Egyptians, and other oriental churches, honor his
+name on the 31st of March; though his name occurs not in the Roman
+Martyrology. See his authentic acts in Ruinart, p. 152; Tillemont, t. 2,
+p. 357; Fleury, t. 2; Ceillier, t. 3, p. 560.
+
+ST. GUY, C.
+
+HE is called by the Germans Witen, and was forty years abbot of Pomposa,
+in the dutchy of Ferrara, in Italy, a man eminent in all virtues,
+especially patience, the love of solitude, and prayer. He died in 1046.
+The emperor, Henry III., caused his relics to be translated to Spire,
+which city honors him as its principal patron. See his life, by a
+disciple, in the Acta Sanctorium of Henschenius, and another, shorter,
+of the same age.
+
+END OF VOLUME ONE.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and
+Principal Saints, by Alban Butler
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