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diff --git a/old/53841-0.txt b/old/53841-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 580276a..0000000 --- a/old/53841-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7360 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Virgin Saints and Martyrs, by S. Baring-Gould - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Virgin Saints and Martyrs - -Author: S. Baring-Gould - -Illustrator: F. Anger - -Release Date: December 30, 2016 [EBook #53841] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIRGIN SAINTS AND MARTYRS *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -[Illustration: title page] - - - - - VIRGIN SAINTS - AND MARTYRS - - - By S. BARING-GOULD - Author of “_The Lives of the Saints_” - - - - - WITH SIXTEEN FULL-PAGE - ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. ANGER - - - - - New York THOMAS Y. CROWELL & Co. - Publishers 1901 - - - - - CONTENTS - - PAGE - - I. BLANDINA THE SLAVE 1 - II. S. CÆCILIA 19 - III. S. AGNES 39 - IV. FEBRONIA OF SIBAPTE 53 - V. THE DAUGHTER OF CONSTANTINE 75 - VI. THE SISTER OF S. BASIL 93 - VII. GENEVIÈVE OF PARIS 111 - VIII. THE SISTER OF S. BENEDICT 129 - IX. S. BRIDGET 149 - X. THE DAUGHTERS OF BRIDGET 179 - XI. S. ITHA 197 - XII. S. HILDA 217 - XIII. S. ELFLEDA 231 - XIV. S. WERBURGA 253 - XV. A PROPHETESS 275 - XVI. S. CLARA 295 - XVII. S. THERESA 315 - XVIII. SISTER DORA 349 - - - - -[Illustration: BLANDINA THE SLAVE.] - - - - - I - - _BLANDINA THE SLAVE_ - - -In the second century Lyons was the Rome of Gaul as it is now the second -Paris of France. It was crowded with temples and public monuments. It -was moreover the Athens of the West, a resort of scholars. Seated at the -confluence of two great rivers, the Rhône and the Sâone, it was a centre -of trade. It is a stately city now. It was more so in the second century -when it did not bristle with the chimneys of factories pouring forth -their volumes of black smoke, which the atmosphere, moist from the -mountains, carries down so as to envelop everything in soot. - -In the great palace, now represented by the hospital, the imbecile -Claudius and the madman Caligula were born. To the east and south far -away stand Mont Blanc and the snowy range on the Dauphiné Alps. - -Lyons is a city that has at all times summed in it the finest as well as -the worst characteristic of the Gallic people. The rabble of Lyons were -ferocious in 177, and ferocious again in 1793; but at each epoch, during -the Pagan terror and the Democratic terror, it produced heroes of faith -and endurance. - -The Emperor Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher full of good intentions, -and a sentimental lover of virtue. But he fondly conceived that virtue -could only be found in philosophy, and that Christianity, which was a -doctrine and not a speculation, must be wrong; and as its chief -adherents belonged to the slave and needy classes, that therefore it was -beneath his dignity to inquire into it. He was a stickler for the -keeping up of old Roman institutions, and the maintenance of such rites -as were sanctioned by antiquity; and because the Christians refused to -give homage to the gods and to swear by the genius of the emperor, he -ordered that they should be persecuted to the death. - -He had been a pretty, curly-haired boy, and a good-looking young man. He -had kept himself respectable, and looked on himself with smug -self-satisfaction accordingly. Had he stooped to inquire what were the -tenets, and what the lives, of those whom he condemned to death, he -would have shrunk with horror from the guilt of proclaiming a general -persecution. - -In Lyons, as elsewhere, when his edict arrived the magistrates were -bound to seek out and sentence such as believed in Christ. - -A touching letter exists, addressed by the Church of Lyons to those of -Asia and Phrygia giving an account of what it suffered; and as the -historian Eusebius embodied it in his history, it happily has been -preserved from the fingering, and rewriting, and heightening with -impossible marvels which fell to the lot of so many of the Acts of the -Martyrs, when the public taste no longer relished the simple food of the -unadorned narratives that were extant. - -“The grace of God,” said the writers, “contended for us, rescuing the -weak, and strengthening the strong. These latter endured every species -of reproach and torture. First they sustained bravely all the insults -heaped on them by the rabble—blows and abuse, plundering of their goods, -stoning and imprisonment. Afterwards they were led into the forum and -were questioned by the tribune and by the town authorities before all -the people, and then sent to prison to await the coming of the governor. -Vetius Epagathus, one of the brethren, abounding in love to God and man, -offered to speak in their defence; whereupon those round the tribunal -shouted out at him, as he was a man of good position. The governor did -not pay attention to his request, but merely asked whether he, too, were -a Christian. When he confessed that he was, he also was transferred to -the number of the martyrs.” - -What the numbers were we are not told. The most prominent among them -were Pothinus, the bishop, a man in his ninetieth year, Sanctus, the -deacon of the Church of Vienne, Maturus, a recent convert, Attalus, a -native of Pergamus, Blandina, a slave girl, and her mistress, another -woman named Biblis, and Vetius, above referred to. - -Among those arrested were ten who when tortured gave way: one of these -was Biblis; but, although they yielded, yet they would not leave the -place of trial, and remained to witness the sufferings of such as stood -firm; and some—among these was Biblis—plucking up courage, presented -themselves before the judge and made amends for their apostasy by -shedding their blood for Christ. - -The slaves belonging to the Christians of rank had been seized and were -interrogated; and they, in their terror lest they should be put to -torture, confessed anything the governor desired—that the Christians ate -little children and “committed such crimes as are neither lawful for us -to speak of nor think about; and which we really believe no men ever did -commit.” - -The defection of the ten caused dismay among the faithful, for they -feared lest it should be the prelude to the surrender of others. - -The governor, the proconsul, arrived at the time of the annual fair, -when Lyons was crowded; and he deemed this a good opportunity for -striking terror into the hearts of the Christians. - -Those who stood firm were brought out of prison, and, as they would not -do sacrifice to the gods, were subjected to torture. - -Blandina was a peculiarly delicately framed young woman, and not strong. -Her mistress, who was one of the martyrs, was apprehensive for her; but -Blandina in the end witnessed the most splendid confession of all. She -was frightfully tortured with iron hooks and hot plates applied to her -flesh from morning till night, till the executioners hardly knew what -more to do; “her entire body being torn and pierced.” - -Brass plates, red hot, were also applied to the most tender parts of the -body of the deacon, Sanctus, but he continued unsubdued, firm in his -confession. At last he was thrown down on the sand, a mass of wounds, so -mangled and burnt that he seemed hardly to retain the human shape. He -and Blandina were conveyed back to prison. - -Next day “the tormentors tortured Sanctus again, supposing that whilst -his wounds were swollen and inflamed, if they continued to rend them -when so sensitive as not to bear the touch of the hand, they must break -his spirit”—but it was again in vain. - -Then it was that Biblis, the woman who had done sacrifice, came forward -“like one waking out of a deep sleep,” and upbraided the torturers; -whereupon she was dragged before the chief magistrate, confessed Christ, -and was numbered among the martyrs. - -The proconsul ordered all to be taken back to prison, and they were -thrust into a black and noisome hole, and fastened in the stocks, their -feet distended to the fifth hole—that is to say, stretched apart as far -as was possible without dislocation—and so, covered with sores, wounds -and blisters, unable to sleep in this attitude, they were left for the -night. The suffocation of the crowded den was too much for some, and in -the morning certain of those who had been crowded into it were drawn -forth dead. - -Next day the aged bishop Pothinus was led before the magistrate. He was -questioned, and asked who was the God of the Christians. - -“If thou art worthy,” answered he, “thou shalt know.” - -He was then stripped and scourged, and beaten about the head. The crowd -outside the barriers now took up whatever was at hand, stones, -brickbats, dirt, and flung them at him, howling curses and blasphemies. -The old man fell gasping, and in a state hardly conscious was dragged to -the prison. - -And now, on the great day of the fair, when the shows were to be given -to the people, the proconsul for their delectation threw open the -amphitheatre. This was a vast oval, capable of holding forty thousand -spectators. It was packed. On one side, above the arena, was the seat of -the chief magistrate, and near him those reserved for the city magnates. -At the one end, a series of arches, now closed with gates of stout bars -and cross-bars, hinged above and raised on these hinges by a chain, -opened from the dens in which the wild beasts were kept. The beasts had -not been fed for three days, that they might be ravenous. - -It was the beginning of June—doubtless a bright summer day, and an -awning kept off the sun from the proconsul. Those on one side of the -amphitheatre, the slaves on the highest row, could see, vaporous and -blue on the horizon, above the crowded tiers opposite, the chain of the -Alps, their crests white with eternal snows. - -“No sooner was the chief magistrate seated, to the blare of trumpets, -than the martyrs were introduced. Sanctus had to be supported; he could -hardly walk, he was such a mass of wounds. All were now stripped of -their garments and were scourged. Blandina was attached to a post in the -centre of the arena. She had been forced every day to attend and witness -the sufferings of the rest.” - -But even now they were not to be despatched at once. Maturus and Sanctus -were placed on iron chairs, and fires were lighted under them so that -the fumes of their roasted flesh rose up and were dissipated by the -light summer air over the arena, and the sickening savour was inhaled by -the thousands of cruel and savage spectators. - -Then they were cast off to be despatched with the sword. - -The dens were opened. Lions, tigers, leopards bounded forth on the sand -roaring. By a strange accident Blandina escaped. The hungry beasts paced -round the arena, but would not touch her. - -Then a Greek physician, called Alexander, who was looking on, unable to -restrain his enthusiasm, by signs gave encouragement to the martyrs. So -at least it would seem, for all at once we learn that the mob roared for -Alexander, as one who urged on the Christians to obstinacy. The governor -sent for him, asked who he was, and when he confessed that he was a -Christian, sent him to prison. - -Attalus was now led forth, with a tablet on his breast on which was -written in Latin, “This is Attalus, the Christian.” - -As he was about to be delivered to the tormentors, some one whispered to -the proconsul that the man was a Roman. He hesitated, and sent him back -to prison. - -Then a number of other Christians who had Roman citizenship were -produced, and had their heads struck off. Others who had not this -privilege were delivered over to the beasts. And now some of those who -had recanted came forward and offered themselves to death. - -Next day the proconsul was again in his place in the amphitheatre. He -had satisfied himself that Attalus could not substantiate his claim to -citizenship, so he ordered him to torture and death. He also was placed -in the iron chair; after which he and Alexander were given up to be -devoured by the beasts. - -This was the last day of the shows, and to crown all, Blandina was now -produced, together with a boy of fifteen, called Ponticus. He, like -Blandina, had been compelled daily to witness the torments to which the -rest had been subjected. - -And now the same hideous round of tortures began, and Blandina in the -midst of her agony continued to encourage the brave boy till he died. -Blandina had been roasted in the iron chair and scourged. - -As a variety she was placed in a net. Then the gate of one of the larger -dens was raised, and forth rushed a bull, pawed the sand, tossed his -head, looked round, and seeing the net, plunged forward with bowed head. -Next moment Blandina was thrown into the air, fell, was thrown again, -then gored—but was happily now unconscious. Thus she died, and “even the -Gentiles confessed that no woman among them had ever endured sufferings -as many and great.” But not even then was their madness and cruelty to -the saints satisfied, for “... those who were suffocating in prison were -drawn forth and cast to the dogs; and they watched night and day over -the remains left by beasts and fire, however mangled they might be, to -prevent us from burying them. The bodies, after exposure and abuse in -every possible way during six days, were finally cast into the Rhône. -These things they did as if they were able to resist God and prevent -their resurrection.” - -The dungeons in which S. Pothinus, S. Blandina, and the rest of the -martyrs were kept through so many days, are shown beneath the abbey -church of Ainay at Lyons. It is possible enough that Christian tradition -may have preserved the remembrance of the site. They are gloomy cells, -without light or air, below the level of the river. The apertures by -which they are entered are so low that the visitor is obliged to creep -into them on his hands and knees. Traces of Roman work remain. Adjoining -is a crypt that was used as a chapel till the Revolution, when it was -desecrated. It is, however, again restored, the floor has been inlaid -with mosaics, and the walls are covered with modern frescoes, -representing the passion of the martyrs. - -What makes it difficult to believe that these are the dungeons is that -the abbey above them is constructed on the site of the Athenæum founded -by Caligula, a great school of debate and composition, and it is most -improbable that the town prisons should have been under the university -buildings. In all likelihood in the early Middle Ages these vaults were -found and supposed to have been the prisons of the martyrs, and -supposition very rapidly became assurance that they were so. The prison -in which the martyrs were enclosed was the _lignum_ or _robur_, which -was certainly not below the level of the river. - -The question arises, when one reads stories of such inhuman cruelties -done, did the victims suffer as acutely as we suppose? I venture to -think not _at the time_. There can be no question, as it is a thing -repeatedly attested, that in a moment of great excitement the nerves are -not very sensitive. The pain of wounds received in battle is not felt -till after the battle is over. Moreover, it may be questioned whether -the human system can endure pain above a certain grade—whether, in fact, -beyond a limit, insensibility does not set in. - -I attended once a poor lady who was frightfully burnt. A paraffin lamp -set fire to a gauze or lace wrap she had about her neck. All her throat -and the lower portion of her face were frightfully burnt. I was -repeatedly with her, but she was unconscious or as in a sleep; there was -no expression of anguish in her face. She quietly sank through -exhaustion. I have questioned those who have met with shocking -accidents, and have always been assured that the pain began when nature -commenced its labour of repair. Pain, excruciating pain, can be endured, -and for a long period; but I think that when carried beyond a fixed -limit it ceases to be appreciable, as insensibility sets in. - -This is a matter for investigation, and it were well if those who read -these lines were to endeavour to collect evidence to substantiate or -overthrow what is, with me, only an opinion. - - - - -[Illustration: S. CÆCILIA.] - - - - - II - - _S. CÆCILIA_ - - -In 1876, when I was writing the November volume of my “Lives of the -Saints,” and had to deal with the Acts of S. Cæcilia, I saw at once that -they were eminently untrustworthy—they were, in fact, a religious -romance, very similar to others of the like nature; and my mistrust was -deepened when I found that the name of Cæcilia did not appear in either -the Roman Kalendar of the fourth century, nor in the Carthagenian of the -fifth. - -The Acts were in Greek, and it was not till the time of Pope Gelasius -(496) that her name appeared at all prominently; then he introduced it -into his Sacramentary. - -The Acts as we have them cannot be older than the fifth century, and -contain gross anachronisms. They make her suffer when Urban was Pope, -under an apocryphal prefect, Turcius Almachius; but the date of Pope -Urban was in the reign of Alexander Severus, who did not persecute the -Church at all—who, in fact, favoured the Christians. - -But although there is so much to make one suspicious as to the very -existence of S. Cæcilia, a good many facts have been brought to light -which are sufficient to show that it was the stupidity of the composer -of the apocryphal Acts which has thrown such doubt over the Virgin -Martyr. - -If we eliminate what is obviously due to the romantic imagination of the -author of the Acts in the fifth century, the story reduces itself to -this. - -Cæcilia was a maiden of noble family, and her parents were of senatorial -rank. From her earliest youth she was brought up as a Christian, but -that her father was one is doubtful, as he destined his daughter to -become the wife of an honourable young patrician named Valerian, who -was, however, a pagan. - -Cæcilia would not hear of the marriage on this account; and Valerian, -who loved her dearly, by her advice went to Urban the Pope, who was -living in concealment in the Catacomb in the Appian Way, to learn -something about the Faith. Valerian took with him his brother, -Tiburtius; they were both convinced, were baptised, and, as they -confessed Christ, suffered martyrdom; and the officer who arrested them, -named Maximus, also believed and underwent the same fate. All three were -laid in the Catacomb of Prætextatus. - -Cæcilia, in the meantime, had remained unmolested in her father’s house -in Rome. - -The Prefect resolved to have her put to death privately, as she belonged -to an illustrious family, perhaps also in consideration for her father, -still a heathen. - -He gave orders that the underground passages for heating the winter -apartments should be piled with wood, and an intense fire made, and that -the room in which Cæcilia was should be closed, so that she should die -of suffocation. This was done, but she survived the attempt. This is by -no means unlikely. The walls were heated by pipes through which the hot -air passed, and there was a thick pavement of concrete and mosaic -between the fires and the room. Everything depended on the chamber being -shut up, and there being no air admitted; but it is precisely this -latter requisite that could not be assured. In her own house, where the -slaves were warmly attached to her, nothing would be easier than to -withdraw the cover of the opening in the ceiling, by means of which -ventilation was secured. By some means or other air was admitted, and -although, doubtless, Cæcilia suffered discomfort from the great heat, -yet she was not suffocated. - -The chamber was the _Calidarium_, or hot-air bath attached to the -palace, and in the church of S. Cæcilia in Trastevere a portion of this -is still visible. - -As the attempt had failed, the Prefect sent an executioner to kill her -with the sword. - -Her beauty, youth, and grace, so affected the man that, although he -smote thrice at her throat, he did not kill her. It was against the law -to strike more than thrice, so he left her prostrate on the mosaic floor -bathed in her blood. - -No sooner was the executioner gone than from all sides poured in her -relatives, the slaves, and the faithful to see her, and to receive the -last sigh of the Martyr. They found her lying on the marble pavement, -half conscious only, and they dipped their kerchiefs in her blood, and -endeavoured to staunch the wounds in her throat. - -She lingered two days and nights in the same condition, and without -moving, hanging between life and death; and then—so say the Acts—Pope -Urban arrived, braving the risk, from his hiding-place, to say farewell -to his dear daughter in the Faith. Thereupon she turned to him, -commended to him the care of the poor, entreated her father to surrender -his house to the Church, and expired. In the Acts she addresses the Pope -as “Your Beatitude,” an expression used in the fifth century, and -certainly not in the third. - -She died, as she had lain, her face to the ground, her hands and arms -declining on the right, as she rested on that side. - -The same night her body was enclosed in a cypress chest, and was -conveyed to the cemetery of S. Callixtus, where Urban laid it in a -chamber “near that in which reposed his brother prelates and martyrs.” - -So far the legend. Now let us see whether it is possible to reconcile it -with history. - -In the first place, it is to be observed that the whole of the -difficulty lies with Urban being Pope. If we suppose that in the -original Acts the name was simply “Urban the Bishop,” and that the -remodeller of the Acts took the liberty of transforming him into Pope -Urban, the difficulty vanishes at once. He may have been some regionary -bishop in hiding. He may not have been a bishop at all, but a priest; -and the writer, ignorant of history, and knowing only of the Urbans as -Popes, may have given rise to all this difficulty by transforming him -into a Pope. - -Now, in the Acts, the Prefect does not speak of the Emperor, but of -“Domini nostri invictissimi principes” (our Lords the unconquered -Princes). The Emperor, therefore, cannot have been Alexander. Now, Ado -the martyrologist, in or about 850, must have referred to other Acts -than those we possess, for he enters S. Cæcilia as having suffered under -Marcus Aurelius and Commodus—that is to say, in 177. This explains the -Prefect referring to the orders of the Princes. - -If we take this as the date, and Urban as being a priest or bishop of -the time, the anachronisms are at an end. - -That the Acts should have been in Greek is no proof that they were not -drawn up in Rome, for Greek was the language of the Church there, and -indeed the majority of the most ancient inscriptions in the Catacombs -are in that language. - -So much for the main difficulties. Now let us see what positive -evidences we have to substantiate the story. - -The excavation of the Cemetery of S. Callixtus, which was begun in 1854, -and was carried on with great care by De Rossi, led to the clearing out -of a crypt in which the early Bishops of Rome had been laid. The bodies -had been removed when Paschal I. conveyed so many of those of the saints -and martyrs into Rome, on account of the ruin into which the Catacombs -had fallen, but their epitaphs remained, all of the third century, and -in Greek; among these, that of Urbanus, 230; and it was perhaps -precisely this fact which led the recomposer of the Acts to confound the -Urban of S. Cæcilia’s time with the Pope. The first Pope known to have -been laid there was Zephyrinus, in 218. Here also was found an -inscription set up by Damasus I., recording how that the bodies of -bishops and priests, virgins and confessors lay in that place. - -Now by a narrow, irregular opening in the rock, entrance is obtained to -a further chamber, about twenty feet square, lighted by a _luminare_ in -the top, or an opening to the upper air cut in the tufa. This, there can -be no manner of doubt, is the crypt in which reposed the body of S. -Cæcilia. - -In the Acts it was said to adjoin that in which were laid the Bishops of -Rome; though, as these bishops were of later date than Cæcilia, if we -take her death to have been in 177, their crypt must have been dug out -or employed for the purpose of receiving their bodies at a later period. - -Again, it is an interesting fact, that here a number of the tombstones -that have been discovered bear the Cæcilian name, showing that this -cemetery must have belonged to that _gens_ or clan. Not only so, but one -is inscribed with that of Septimus Prætextatus Cæcilianus, a servant of -God during thirty years. It will be remembered that Prætextatus was the -name of the brother of Valerian, who was betrothed to Cæcilia, and it -leads one to suspect that the families of Valerian and of Cæcilia were -akin. - -The chapel or crypt contains frescoes. In the _luminare_ is painted a -female figure with the hands raised in prayer. Beneath this a cross with -a lamb on each side. Below are three male figures with the names -Sebastianus, Curinus (Quirinus), and Polycamus. Sebastian is doubtless -the martyr of that name whose basilica is not far off. Quirinus, who has -the _corona_ of a priest, is the bishop and martyr of Siscia, whose body -was brought in 420 to Rome. Of Polycamus nothing is known, save that his -relics were translated in the ninth century to S. Prassede. - -Against the wall lower down is a seventh-century representation of S. -Cæcilia, richly clothed with necklace and bracelets; below a head of -Christ of Byzantine type, and a representation of S. Urban. But these -paintings, which are late, have been applied over earlier decoration; -behind the figure of S. Cæcilia is mosaic, and that of Christ is painted -on the old porphyry panelling. There are in this crypt recesses for the -reception of bodies, and near the entrance an arched place low enough to -receive a sarcophagus; and there are traces as though the face had at -one time been walled up. - -The walls are covered with _graffiti_, or scribbles made by pilgrims. An -inscription also remains, to state that this was the sepulchre of S. -Cæcilia the Martyr, but this inscription is not earlier than the ninth -or tenth century. - -In 817 Paschal I. was Pope, and in the following year he removed -enormous numbers of the remains of martyrs from the Catacombs into the -churches of Rome, because the condition into which these subterranean -cemeteries were falling was one of ruin. They had been exposed to the -depredations of the Lombards, and then to decay. Some had fallen in, and -were choked. - -Precisely this Catacomb had been plundered by the Lombard king, Astulf, -and it was not known whether he had carried off the body of S. Cæcilia -or not. All those of the former popes Paschal removed. - -In 844, however, Paschal pretended that he had seen S. Cæcilia in a -dream, who had informed him that she still lay in her crypt in the -Catacomb of S. Callixtus. No reliance can be placed on the word of a man -so unprincipled as Paschal. At this very time two men of the highest -rank, who were supporters of Louis the Pious, the Emperor, had been -seized, dragged to the Lateran Palace, their eyes plucked out, and then -beheaded. The Pope was openly accused of this barbarous act. The Emperor -sent envoys to examine into it, but Paschal threw all sorts of -difficulties in their way. He refused to produce the murderers; he -asserted that they were guilty of no crime in killing these unfortunate -men, and he secured the assassins by investing them with a half-sacred -character as servants of the Church of S. Peter. Himself he exculpated -from all participation in the deed by a solemn, expurgatorial oath. Such -was the man who pretended to visions of the saints. His dream was an -afterthought. In the clearing out of the crypt of S. Cæcilia, the wall -that had closed the grave was broken through, and the cypress chest was -disclosed. Whereupon Paschal promptly declared he had dreamt that so it -would be found. The body was found in the coffin, incorrupt, and at its -feet were napkins rolled together and stained with blood. - -This discovery, which seems wholly improbable, is yet not impossible. If -the _arcosolium_ had been hermetically sealed up, the body need not have -fallen to dust; and, as a fact, De Rossi did discover, along with -Marchi, in 1853, a body in the Via Appia, without the smallest trace of -alteration and decay in the bones.[1] - -Paschal himself relates that he lined the chest with fringed silk, and -covered the body with a silk veil. It was then enclosed in a sarcophagus -of white marble, and laid under the high altar of the Church of S. -Cæcilia in Trastevere. - -This church has been made out of the old house of S. Cæcilia, and to -this day, notwithstanding rebuildings, it bears traces of its origin. - -Nearly eight hundred years after this translation, Sfondrati, cardinal -of S. Cæcilia, being about to carry on material alterations in the -basilica, came on the sarcophagus lying in a vault under the altar. It -was not alone—another was with it. - -In the presence of witnesses one of these was opened. It contained a -coffin or chest of cypress wood. The Cardinal himself removed the cover. -First was seen the costly lining and the silken veil, with which nearly -eight centuries before Paschal had covered the body. It was faded, but -not decayed, and through the almost transparent texture could be seen -the glimmer of the gold of the garments in which the martyr was clad. -After a pause of a few minutes, the Cardinal lifted the veil, and -revealed the form of the maiden martyr lying in the same position in -which she had died on the floor of her father’s hall. Neither Urban nor -Paschal had ventured to alter that. She lay there, clothed in a garment -woven with gold thread, on which were the stains of blood; and at her -feet were the rolls of linen mentioned by Paschal, as found with the -body. She was lying on her right side, the arms sunk from the body, her -face turned to the ground; the knees slightly bent and drawn together. -The attitude was that of one in a deep sleep. On the throat were the -marks of the wounds dealt by the clumsy executioner. - -Thus she had lain, preserved from decay through thirteen centuries. - -When this discovery was made, Pope Clement VIII. was lying ill at -Frascati, but he empowered Cardinal Baronius and Bosio, the explorer of -the Catacombs, to examine into the matter; and both of these have left -an account of the condition in which the body was found. For five weeks -all Rome streamed to the church to see the body; and it was not until S. -Cæcilia’s Day that it was again sealed up in its coffin and marble -sarcophagus. - -Cardinal Sfondrati gave a commission to the sculptor Maderna to -reproduce the figure of the Virgin Martyr in marble in the attitude in -which found, and beneath this is the inscription:—“So I show to you in -marble the representation of the most holy Virgin Cæcilia, in the same -position in which I myself saw her incorrupt lying in her sepulchre.” - -A woodcut was published at the time of the discovery figuring it, but -this is now extremely scarce. - -In the second sarcophagus were found the bones of three men; two, of the -same age and size, had evidently died by decapitation. The third had its -skull broken, and the abundant hair was clotted with blood, as though -the martyr had been beaten to death and his skull fractured with the -_plumbatæ_ or leaded scourges. - -The Acts of S. Cæcilia expressly say that this was the manner of death -of Maximus. The other two bodies were doubtless those of Valerian and -Tiburtius. - -Of the statue by Maderna, Sir Charles Bell says: “The body lies on its -side, the limbs a little drawn up; the hands are delicate and fine—they -are not locked, but crossed at the wrists; the arms are stretched out. -The drapery is beautifully modelled, and modestly covers the limbs.... -It is the statue of a lady, perfect in form, and affecting from the -resemblance to reality in the drapery of the white marble, and the -unspotted appearance of the statue altogether. It lies as no living body -could lie, and yet correctly, as the dead when left to expire—I mean in -the gravitation of the limbs.” - -S. Cæcilia is associated with music: she is regarded as the patroness of -the organ. This is entirely due to the highly imaginative Acts of the -Fifth and Sixth Century. - - “Orpheus could lead the savage race; - And trees uprooted left their place, - Sequacious of the lyre: - But bright Cæcilia rais’d the wonder higher: - When to her organ vocal breath was given, - An angel heard, and straight appear’d, - Mistaking earth for heaven.” - -So sang Dryden. Chaucer has given the Legend of S. Cæcilia as the Second -Nun’s Tale in the Canterbury Pilgrimage. - -There is a marvellous collection of ancient statues in Rome, in the -Torlonia Gallery. It was made by the late Prince Torlonia. Unhappily, he -kept three sculptors in constant employ over these ancient statues, -touching them up, adding, mending, altering. It is a vast collection, -and now the Torlonia family desire to sell it; but no one will buy, for -no one can trust any single statue therein; no one knows what is ancient -and what is new. The finest old works are of no value, because of the -patching and correcting to which they have been subjected. - -It is the same with the Acts of the Martyrs: they have been tinkered at -and “improved” in the fifth and sixth centuries, and even later, no -doubt with the best intention, but with the result that they have—or -many of them have—lost credit altogether. - -What a buyer of statuary from the Torlonia Gallery would insist on -doing, would be to drag the statues out into the sunshine and go over -them with a microscope and see where a piece of marble had been added, -or where a new face had been put on old work. Then he would be able to -form a judgment as to the value of the statue or bust. And this is -precisely the treatment to which the legends of the martyrs have to be -subjected. But this treatment tells sometimes in their favour. -Narratives that at first sight seem conspicuously false or manufactured, -will under the critical microscope reveal the sutures, and show what is -old and genuine, and what is adventitious and worthless. - - - - -[Illustration: S. AGNES.] - - - - - III - - _S. AGNES_ - - -About a mile from the Porta Pia, beside the Nomentine road that leads -from Rome to the bridge over the Arno and to Montana, are the basilica -and catacomb of S. Agnese. We are there on high ground, and here the -parents of the saint had a villa and vineyard. - -They were Christians, and their garden had an entrance to a catacomb in -which the faithful were interred. We know this, because some of the -burials in the passages underground are of more ancient date than the -martyrdom of S. Agnes, which took place in 304. - -A little lane, very dirty, leads down hence into the Salarian road, and -there is a mean dribble of a stream in a hollow below. - -The rock is all of the volcanic tufa that is so easily cut, but which in -the roads resolves itself into mud of the dirtiest and most consistent -description. - -New Rome is creeping along the road, its gaunt and eminently vulgar -houses are destroying the beauty of this road, which commanded exquisite -views of the Sabine and Alban mountains, and the lovely Torlonia gardens -have already been destroyed. Nor is this all, for the foundations of -these useless and hideous buildings are being driven down into more than -one old catacomb, which as soon as revealed is destroyed. - -Where now stands the basilica of S. Agnese was the catacomb in which her -body was laid. The church is peculiar, in that it is half underground. -One has to descend into it by a staircase of forty-five ancient marble -steps, lined with inscriptions taken from the catacomb. The cause for -this peculiarity is not that the soil has risen about the basilica, but -that when it was proposed to build the church over the tomb of the saint -who was below in the catacomb, the whole of the crust of rock and earth -above was removed, so that the subterranean passages were exposed to -light; and then the foundations of the sacred edifice were laid on this -level, and were carried up above the surface of the ground. - -But this is not the only church that bears the name of S. Agnes: there -is another in Rome itself, opposite the Torre Mellina, on the site of -her martyrdom, in the Piazza Navona, which occupies the place of the old -circus of Domitian. It is a very ugly building of 1642, but contains a -tolerable representation, in relief, of the martyrdom of the saint. - -Unfortunately we have not got the Acts of the martyrdom of S. Agnes in -their original form. It was the custom of the Church to have scribes -present at the interrogation and death of a martyr, who took down in -shorthand the questions put and the answers made, and the sentence of -the judge. These records, which were of the highest value, were -preserved in the archives of the Roman Church. Unhappily, at a later -age, such very simple accounts, somewhat crude maybe in style, and -entirely deficient in the miraculous, did not suit the popular taste. -Meanwhile the stories of the martyrs had been passed from mouth to -mouth, and various additions had been made to give them a smack of -romance; the account of the deaths was embellished with marvels, and -made excruciating by the piling up of tortures; and then the popular -voice declared that the persecutors must have been punished at once; so -it was fabled that lightning fell and consumed them, or that the earth -opened and swallowed them. - -Now, when the Acts of Martyrs were found to contain nothing of all this, -then writers set to work—not with the intention of deceiving, but with -the idea that the genuine Acts were defective—to recompose the stories, -by grafting into the original narrative all the rubbish that had passed -current in popular legend. Thus it has come to pass that so few of the -Acts of the Martyrs, as we have them, are in their primitive form. They -have been more or less stuffed out with fabulous matter. - -The Acts of S. Agnes are in this condition, although not so grossly -meddled with as some others have been. That she was a real martyr, and -that the broad outlines of her story are true, there can be no doubt. - -The martyrdom took place during the reign of Diocletian. - -In 304 he was in Italy. He had come to Rome the preceding year to -celebrate the twentieth year of the reign of his colleague, Maximian, -and at the same time the triumph over the Persians. He left Rome in ill -humour at the independence of the citizens, after having been accustomed -to the servility of the Easterns; the day was December 20th, and he went -to Ravenna. The weather was cold and wet, and he was chilled, so that he -suffered all the rest of the winter, and became irritable as his health -failed. However, he went back to Rome; and at this time several -martyrdoms ensued, as that of S. Soteris, a virgin of the noble family -from which sprang S. Ambrose, also the boy Pancras, and S. Sebastian. -But the most notable was Agnes. - -She was aged only thirteen, and was the daughter of noble and wealthy -parents, who were, as already said, Christians. - -Her riches and beauty induced the son of a former prefect to seek her -hand in marriage. Agnes, however, refused. She had no desire to become a -wife; at all events, at so early an age; and, moreover, she would on no -account be united to a pagan. “I am already engaged to One,” she said: -“to Him I shall ever keep my troth.” - -Not understanding what she meant, he inquired further; and she is -reported to have replied in an allegorical strain: “He has already bound -me to Him by His betrothal ring, and has adorned me with precious -jewels. He has placed a sign upon my brow that I should love none as I -love Him. He has revealed unto me treasures incomparable, which He has -promised to give me if I persevere. Honey and milk has He bestowed on me -by His words. I have partaken of His body, and with His blood has He -adorned my cheeks.” - -It must not, however, be supposed that this was actually what she said. -There was then no scribe present to take the sentences down; they are -words put into her mouth at a later period by a romance writer. - -The young man was incensed, and complained to her father, who would in -no way force his daughter’s inclinations. The youth, unquestionably, did -not understand her, and supposed that she had already given her heart to -some earthly lover. - -Presently it all came out. Agnes was a Christian, and, as a Christian, -would not listen to his suit. - -Then, in a rage, the young man rushed off and denounced her to the -prefect, who sent immediately for her parents, and threatened them. They -were weak in the faith; and, returning home trembling, urged their -daughter to accept the youth. She, however, steadfastly refused. - -There was now nothing for it but for her to appear before the Prefect of -Rome. She stood before his tribunal with calmness and confidence. - -“Come,” said he, “be not headstrong: you are only a child, remember, -though forward for your age.” - -“I may be a child,” replied Agnes; “but faith does not depend on years, -but on the heart.” - -The prefect presently lost his temper, and declared roundly: “I will -tell you what shall be done with you; you shall be stripped and driven -naked forth to the jeers and insults of the rabble.” - -Then the clothes were taken off the slender body of the girl. Thereupon -she loosened the band that confined her abundant golden hair, and it -fell in waves over her body and covered her to the knees. - -“You may expose me to insult,” said she; “but I have the angel of God as -my defence. For the only-begotten Son of God, whom you know not, will be -to me an impenetrable wall and a guardian; never sleeping, and an -unflagging protector.” - -“Let her be bound,” ordered the judge, sullenly. - -Then the executioner turned over a quantity of manacles, and selected -the smallest pair he could find, and placed them round her wrists. - -Agnes, with a smile, shook her hands, and they fell clanking at her -feet. - -The prefect then ordered her to death by the sword. - -The Roman tradition is that she suffered where is now her church, by the -Piazza Navona; but executions were never carried out within the walls of -Rome. She was taken to the place where she was to die. Here she knelt, -and with her own hands drew forward her hair, so as to expose her neck -to the blow. A pause ensued; the executioner was trembling with emotion, -and could not brandish his sword. - -The interpolated Acts say that before this an angel had brought her a -white robe, which she put over her. What is probable is that the -magistrate, ashamed of what he had done, suffered one of those angels of -mercy, the deaconesses, to reclothe the girl. - -As the child knelt in her white robe, with her head inclined, her arms -crossed on her breast, and her golden hair hanging to the ground, she -must have looked like a beautiful lily, stooping under its weight of -blossom. - -“And thus, bathed in her rosy blood,” says the author of the Acts, -“Christ took to Himself His bride and martyr.” - -Her parents received the body, and carried it to the cemetery they had -in their vineyard on the Nomentian Way, and there laid it in a -_loculus_, a recess cut in the side of one of the passages underground. -It was probably just under one of the _luminaria_, or openings to the -upper air, which allowed light to enter the Catacombs; for here, two -days later, Emerentiana, a catechumen, the foster-sister of Agnes, was -found kneeling by her grave; and the pagan rabble, peering in and seeing -her, pelted her with stones, stunned, and then buried her under the -earth and sand they threw in. - -Constantine the Great built the church over the tomb, removing the upper -crust; but it was rebuilt by Honorius I., between 625 and 638. It was -altered in 1490 by Innocent VIII.; but retains more of the ancient -character than most of the Roman churches. - -The day on which Agnes suffered was January 21st. The memory of her has -never faded from the Church. It is said that her parents dreamed, seven -days after her death, that they saw her in light, surrounded by a Virgin -band, and with a white lamb at her side. In commemoration of this -dream—which not improbably did take place—the Roman Church observes in -her honour the 28th of January as well as the actual day of her death. - -So ancient is the cult of S. Agnes, that, next to the Evangelists and -Apostles, no saint’s effigy is older. It appears on the ancient glass -vessels used by the Christians in the early part of the century in which -she died, with her name inscribed, which leaves no doubt as to her -identity. - -Mrs. Jameson says of the Church of S. Agnese, in Rome: “Often have I -seen the steps of this church, and the church itself, so crowded with -kneeling worshippers at Matins and Vespers, that I could not make my way -among them; principally the women of the lower orders, with their -distaffs and market baskets, who had come thither to pray, through the -intercession of the patron saint, for the gifts of meekness and -chastity.” - -In the corrupted Acts, it is told that Agnes was set on a pyre to be -burned to death, but that the fire was miraculously extinguished. This -is purely apocryphal. It originates in a passage by S. Ambrose, in which -he speaks of her hands having been stretched over the fire on a pagan -altar, to force her to do sacrifice. This has been magnified into an -immense pyre. - -“At this age,” said he, “a young girl trembles at an angry look from her -mother; the prick of a needle draws tears. Yet, fearless under the -bloody hands of her executioners, Agnes is immovable under the heavy -chains which weigh her down; ignorant of death, but ready to die, she -presents her body to the edge of the sword. Dragged against her will to -the altar, she holds forth her arms to Christ through the fires of the -sacrifice; and her hand forms, even in those flames, the sign which is -the trophy of a victorious Saviour. She presents her neck and her two -hands to the fetters which they produce for her; but it is impossible to -find any small enough to encircle her delicate limbs.” - - - - -[Illustration: FEBRONIA OF SIBAPTE.] - - - - - IV - - _FEBRONIA OF SIBAPTE_ - - -The Church had endured a long period of peace after the persecution of -Decius, in 250; and in the half-century that had followed, although -there had been recrudescences of persecution, it had been spasmodic and -local. - -During those fifty years the Church had made great way. Conversions had -been numerous, persons in high station suffered not only their slaves, -but their wives and children, to profess themselves Christians. Places -about the court, even in the imperial household, were filled with -Christians; and even some were appointed to be governors of provinces, -with exemption from being obliged to assist at the usual sacrifices. The -Christians built churches of their own, and these not by any means small -and such as might escape observation. - -But, internally, there had been a great development of her own powers in -the Church, such as had not been possible when she was proscribed, and -could only exercise her vital functions in secret. - -And among one of the most remarkable and significant phenomena of this -vigorous expansion of life was the initiation of monastic life. In Syria -and in Egypt there had for long been something of the kind, but not -connected with Christianity. - -In Palestine were the Essenes. They numbered about four thousand; they -lived in convents, and led a strange life. Five writers of antiquity -speak of them—Josephus, Philo, Pliny the Elder, Epiphanius and -Hippolytus. They were a Jewish sect, a revolt against Pharisaism, and a -survival of the schools of the prophets. - -Of fervent and exalted piety, of ardent conviction impatient of the -puerilities and the bondage of Rabbinism, they sought to live to God in -meditation and prayer and study. - -They built for themselves great houses on the eastern shore of the Dead -Sea, which they occupied. They observed the law of Moses with great -literalness; they had all things in common; they fasted, prayed, and saw -visions. They did not marry, they abstained from wine, they tilled the -soil when not engaged in prayer. They were, in a word, monks, but Jewish -monks. - -When Christianity spread, it entered into and gave a new spirit to these -communities without their changing form. - -In Egypt, in like manner were the Theraputæ, not Jews, nor confined to -Egypt, but most numerous there. They were conspicuous for their habits -of great austerity and self-mortification. They left their homes, gave -up their substance, fled towns and lived in solitary places, in little -habitations or cells apart yet not distant from one another. Each had -his little oratory for prayer and praise. They neither ate nor drank -till the sun set. Some ate only once in three days, and then only bread, -flavoured with salt and hyssop. They prayed twice a day, and between the -times of prayer read, meditated or worked. Men and women belonged to the -order, but lived separately though sometimes praying in common. - -Here again we see the shell into which the new life entered, without -really changing or greatly modifying the external character. - -Doubtless the teaching of the Gospel reached these societies, was -accepted, and gradually gave to them a Christian complexion—that was -all. - -Whether this sort of life was in accordance with the Gospel, was not -doubted by them, having before them the example of Christ who retreated -into the wilderness for forty days, and His words exhorting to the -renunciation of everything that men hold dear, and the recommendation to -sell everything, give to the poor, and follow in His footsteps. - -It is significant that it was precisely in Palestine where the Essenes -had flourished, and in Egypt that the Therapeutæ had maintained such -numerous colonies that we find the most vigorous development of -monachism. It is not possible to doubt that the one slid into the other -imperceptibly. - -The persecution of Diocletian broke out in 304. At that time there was -at Sibapte, in Syria, a convent of fifty virgins. - -One of these, named Febronia, aged eighteen, was the niece of the -abbess, Bryene. She was wondrously fair of face and graceful of form, -and the old sisters seem to have regarded her with reverence as well as -love, because of her marvellous loveliness of body as well as innocence -of soul. Apparently when quite young she had lost her parents, and had -been taken by her aunt into the convent in earliest infancy, so that she -had grown up among the sisters, as a sweet flower, utterly ignorant of -the world. - -She had studied Scripture so deeply, and was so spiritual in mind, that -many ladies living in the cities of Syria came to visit and consult her. -Bryene drew a curtain between her niece and those who visited her, so as -not to distract her thoughts, as also not to expose her to the gaze of -vulgar curiosity. - -One day a young heathen woman came to the monastery in the first grief -at the loss of her husband, to whom she had been married but seven -months. She had found no comfort in the religion of her parents, who -could not assure her that the soul had any life after death; it was no -true consolation to her to set up a monument in honour of the deceased, -and so, hearing of Febronia, she came to Bryene, and falling at her -feet, entreated to be allowed to tell her trouble to the girl Febronia. - -The abbess hesitated, as the woman was a pagan; but at length, moved by -her tears and persistency, gave consent, admitted her into the cell of -the nun, and allowed her to tarry with her as long as she pleased. - -They passed the night together. Febronia opened the Gospel and read to -the broken-hearted woman the words of life. They fell on good ground. -The widow wept and listened, and wept again, and as the sun rose on -them, she begged to be properly instructed, so as to receive baptism. - -When she was gone, “Who,” asked Febronia, “was that strange woman who -came to me, and who cried as though her heart would break when I read -the Scriptures to her?” - -“It was Hiera,” answered the nun Thomais, who afterwards committed the -whole narrative to writing. “Hiera is the widow of a senator.” - -“Oh,” said Febronia, “why did you not inform me of her rank? I have been -talking to her just as if she had been my sister.” - -The noble widow did become the sister of the nun in the faith, and in -the family of Christ; and when, some time after, Febronia fell very ill, -Hiera insisted on being allowed to be with her and nurse her with her -own hands. - -Febronia was but convalescent, and looking white as a lily, when -Selenus, charged with the execution of the imperial decree against -Christians, arrived at Sibapte. He was accompanied by his nephews -Lysimachus and Primus, the former of whom was suspected by Diocletian of -having a leaning towards Christianity, as his mother had been of the -household of faith, and he was a youth of a singularly meditative and -temperate life. - -Selenus accordingly brought his nephews with him, to associate them with -himself in the deeds of cruelty that were meditated, and to awe them -into dread of transgressing the will and command of the emperor. - -Primus was a cousin on his mother’s side to Lysimachus, and he shared -with him disgust at the cruelty of their uncle, and they did what was in -their power—they sent timely warning to the Christians to escape from a -city that was about to be visited. - -As soon as the bishop and clergy of Sibapte heard that the governor -purposed coming to the place, they dispersed and secreted themselves. -The sisters of the convent in great agitation waited on the abbess, and -entreated her to allow them to escape for their lives. - -Bryene bade them entertain no alarm, as the danger only threatened, and -was not at their doors: such humble, insignificant folk as they might -expect to be overlooked. At the same time she was really distracted with -anxiety, as Febronia was not strong enough to be removed, and she could -not leave her. - -The sisters took counsel together, and electing one named Aetheria as -their spokeswoman, made a second remonstrance, and complained, “We know -what is your real reason for retaining us: it is that you are solicitous -about Febronia; but the bishop and clergy are in hiding. Do try to carry -Febronia away, and suffer us to leave.” - -Febronia, however, could not be moved, so Bryene dismissed the nuns, and -they decamped forthwith; two alone remained—Thomais, the writer of the -history, and Procla, who acted as nurse to the sick girl, and who could -not find the heart to tear herself away. - -Almost immediately after the sisters had fled, news reached those who -remained that the governor had arrived. Febronia heard her aunt sobbing. -She looked at Thomais, and asked, “I pray you, dear mother, what is the -great mistress” (for this was the title of the abbess) “crying so -bitterly about?” - -“My child,” answered the old nun, “she is sore at heart about you. We -are old and ugly, and all that can chance to us is death; but you are -young and fair, and there are things we fear for you of which you know -nothing. We need not say more to you, dearest child, than bid you be -very cautious how you accept any offers made to you by the governor, -however innocent they may appear. A danger lurks behind them of which -you have no conception.” - -The night passed in anxious conversation and in mutual encouragement. -Next morning Selenus sent soldiers to the convent, who broke open the -door, and would have cut down Bryene, had not Febronia started from her -pallet, and casting herself at their feet, implored them to kill her -rather than her old aunt. - -Primus arrived at this juncture, rebuked the soldiers for their -violence, and bade them go outside the house. Then, turning to Bryene, -he asked somewhat impatiently why she had not taken advantage of the -warning that had been sent, and escaped. - -“Even now,” said he, “I will make shift to help you. I will withdraw the -soldiers, and do you escape by the back of the house.” - -Primus then withdrew, and it is possible that the three nuns and -Febronia might have escaped, but that Selenus, suspicious of his nephew, -sent back the soldiers with peremptory orders to secure Febronia and -bring her before him. This was done, and she and the rest were thrown -for the night into the common prison. - -Next day Selenus ascended the tribunal, and was accompanied by his -nephews Primus and Lysimachus, whom he forced to attend. - -Bryene and Thomais appeared, each holding a hand of the sick girl and -sustaining her. They begged to be tried and condemned with her. - -“They are a pair of old hags,” said Selenus. “Dismiss them.” - -Then they were separated from their charge. - -“Mother,” said Febronia, clinging to and kissing Bryene, “I trust in God -that, as I have been ever obedient to thee in the monastery, so I may be -faithful to what thou hast exhorted me to do, faithful here openly -before all the people. Go then—do not stay here, but pray for me, but -before leaving give me thy benediction.” - -Then she slid to her knees, and Bryene, stretching her hands to heaven, -cried: “Lord Jesus Christ, who didst appear to Thy handmaid Thecla, in -her agony, to comfort her, stand by Thy lowly one in her great contest.” - -So saying, she fell on the neck of Febronia, and they kissed and wept -and clung to each other till parted by the soldiers. - -Then, unable to bear the sight of what she knew must follow, Bryene -retired to the deserted convent, and begged that word might be sent her -as to how all ended. - -In the meantime, Hiera had heard of the arrest of Febronia, and wild -with grief she rushed to the place of judgment. She found the court -crammed with people, mostly women, agitated, indignant, and murmuring. -There was a space clear before the tribunal, where stood the accused, -and at one side were various instruments of torture, and a stake driven -into the ground furnished with rings and ropes. On the judgment seat -were Selenus, with his nephews by him. - -Selenus turned to Lysimachus, and said, “Do you open the examination.” - -The young man, struggling with his emotion, began—“Tell me, young -maiden, what is thy condition?” - -“I am a servant,” answered Febronia. - -“Whose servant?” asked Lysimachus. - -“I am the servant of Christ.” - -“And tell me thy name, I pray thee.” - -“I am a humble Christian,” answered Febronia. - -“May I ask thy name, maiden?” - -“The good mother always calls me Febronia.” - -Then Selenus broke in: “We shall never have done if you push along in -this fashion. To the point at once. Febronia, I vow by the gods that I -have no desire to hurt thee. Here is a gallant young gentleman, my -nephew; take him as thy husband, and forget the silly stuff, thy -religion. I had other views for the boy, but that matters not; never -have I seen a sweeter face than thine, and I am content to accept thee -as my niece. I am a man of few words: accept my offer, and all is well; -or by the living gods I will make thee rue the refusal.” - -Febronia replied calmly, “I have a heavenly Bridegroom, eternal; with -celestial glory as His dower.” - -Selenus burst forth with, “Soldiers, strip the wench.” He was obeyed; -they allowed her to wear only a tattered cloak over her shoulders. - -Calm, without a sign of being discomposed, Febronia bore the outrage. - -“How now, you impudent hussy?” scoffed Selenus; “where is your maiden -modesty? I saw no struggles, no blushes.” - -“God Almighty knows, judge, that till this day I have never seen the -face of man, for I was only two years old when I was taken as a little -baby to my aunt, and the rest of my life I have spent there among the -good sisters. Do I seem lost to shame? Nay, I have been assured that -wrestlers strip in the games when they strive for victory. I fear thee -not.” - -“Stretch her, face downwards, over a slow fire. Bind her hands and feet -to four stakes, and so—scourge her.” - -He was obeyed, and the crimson blood trickled over her white skin at -every stroke of the lash, and hissed in the glowing charcoal. - -The multitude, looking on, could not bear the sight, and with one voice -entreated that she might be removed and dismissed. - -But the shouts only made Selenus more angry, and he ordered the -executioners to redouble the blows. Thomais, unable to endure the sight, -fainted at the feet of Hiera, who uttered a cry of “Oh, Febronia, my -sister! Thomais is dying.” - -The poor sufferer turned her head, and asked the executioner to throw -water over the face of the fainting woman, and begged to be allowed to -say a word to Hiera. - -But the judge interposed to forbid this indulgence, and ordered Febronia -to be untied and placed on the rack. - -This was sometimes called “the little horse.” It had four legs united by -planks. At each end was a crank. The sufferer was attached by the feet -and hands at ankles and wrists to cords that passed over rollers between -the planks. She thus hung below and between the two pieces of wood. At a -signal from the magistrate, the executioners turned the cranks, and -these drew the feet and hands tighter towards the rollers, and strained -them, so that if this were persisted in, the limbs were pulled out of -joint. - -“Well, girl,” asked Selenus, “how do you like your first taste of -torture?” - -“Learn from the manner in which I have borne it, that my resolution is -unalterable,” answered Febronia. - -On the rack her sides were torn with iron combs. She prayed incessantly: -“O Lord, make haste to help me. Leave me not, neither forsake me in my -hour of pain!” - -“Cut out her tongue,” ordered the judge. - -Febronia was detached from the rack and tied to the post in the centre -of the place. But when the multitude saw what the executioner was about -to do, the excitement and indignation became so menacing, that the judge -thought it prudent to countermand the order. Instead of which, however, -he bade the surgeon in attendance extract her teeth. When he had drawn -seventeen, Selenus bade him desist. - -“Cut off her breasts.” - -This atrocious order caused a renewed uproar. The physician hesitated. -But Selenus was fairly roused. “Coward, go on! Cut!” he shouted, and the -surgeon, with a sweep of the razor, sliced off her right breast. - -Febronia uttered a cry as she felt the steel gash her: “My Lord! my God! -see what I suffer, and receive my soul into Thy hands.” - -These were the last words she spoke. - -“Cut off the other breast, and put fire to the wound,” said Selenus. - -He was obeyed. The mob swayed and quivered with indignation; women wept -and fainted. Then with a roar broke forth the execration, “Cursed be -Diocletian and all his gods!” - -Thereupon Hiera sent a girl running to the convent to Bryene to tell her -all. And the old abbess flung herself on the ground sobbing, “Bra, bra, -bra! Febronia, my child!” Then raising her arms and straining her eyes -to heaven, she cried, “Lord, regard Thy humble handmaiden, Febronia, and -may my aged eyes see the battle fought out, and my dear child numbered -with the martyrs.” - -In the meantime Selenus had ordered the cords to be removed which bound -Febronia to the stake. Then she dropped in a heap on the sand, her long -hair flowing over and clothing her mangled body. - -Primus said under his breath to his cousin, “The poor girl is dead.” - -“She died to bring light and conviction to many hearts—perhaps to mine,” -answered Lysimachus aloud, that his uncle might hear. “Would that it had -been in my power to have saved her! Now let her finish her conflict and -enter into her rest.” - -Then Hiera, bursting into the arena, stood wild with indignation and -anguish before the judge, and shrieked, as she shook her hands at -him,—“O monster of cruelty! shame on thee, shame! Thou, born of a woman, -hast forgotten the obligation to honour womanhood, and hast insulted and -outraged thy mother in the person of this poor girl. God, the Judge -above judges, will make a swift work with thee, and cut it short, and -root thee out of the land of the living.” - -Selenus, stung with these words, exasperated at the resentment of the -mob, and finding that he had fairly roused his nephews into defiance of -his authority, shouted his orders to have the widow put on the rack. - -But at this point some of the town authorities interfered, and warned -the judge that he was proceeding to dangerous lengths. Hiera was well -connected, popular; and if she were tortured, a riot was certain to -ensue. “Half the town will rush here and insist on being tried and -tortured. They will all confess Christ.” - -Selenus reluctantly gave orders for the release of Hiera, and directed -the current of his rage on Febronia, now unconscious. He ordered first -her hands, then her feet, and finally her head to be struck off; and -when all was finished, rose from his seat, turned to Lysimachus, and saw -that his face was bathed in tears. He hastily withdrew to supper, angry -with himself, his nephews, and the mob. - -Lysimachus and Primus descended to the arena, and standing by the -mutilated body, vowed to renounce the gods of Diocletian and to worship -the God of Febronia. Then the young men gave orders for the removal of -the mangled remains to the house of Bryene. - -Almost the whole city crowded to see the body of the young girl who had -suffered so heroically. - -That night Lysimachus could not eat or speak at supper, and Selenus -forced himself to riotous mirth and drunk hard. - -We cannot quite trust what follows. It was too tempting to a copyist to -allow the governor to go away unchastised. Perhaps it is true that in a -drunken and angry fit Selenus, pacing the room storming, slipped on the -polished pavement, and in falling hit his head against a pillar—with the -result that he never spoke again, having congestion of the brain, and -died next day. It is quite possible that this may be true. If it were an -interpolation by a copyist, he would have killed him by fire falling -from heaven and consuming him—that was the approved way with the -re-writers of the Acts of Martyrs. - -When Constantine became Emperor both the young men were baptised, -retired into solitude and embraced the monastic life. - -The name of Febronia is in the Greek, Coptic and Abyssinian Kalendars. -The simple and apparently quite trustworthy account of her death was by -Thomais, the nun who saw her die, and had known her all her short life. - - - - -[Illustration: THE DAUGHTER OF CONSTANTINE.] - - - - - V - - _THE DAUGHTER OF CONSTANTINE_ - - -Constantia, whose name does not appear in the Roman Kalendar, but which -has found its way into several unauthorised lists of the Saints, is -chiefly known through the Acts of S. Agnes. Little or nothing reliable -is recorded concerning her, and her story would not have been included -in this collection, were it not for two circumstances—one, that two of -the most interesting monuments of Old Rome are associated with her name, -one directly, the other indirectly; and next, that a caution, very -desirable of being exercised, may be learned from a consideration of her -story—not to cast over as utterly fabulous and worthless the legends -that come down to us of the Saints of early times, because they are -stuffed with unhistorical and ridiculous incidents and marvels. Let us -now see very briefly what the _legend_ is concerning Constantia. - -She was the daughter of Constantine the Great, and was afflicted with a -distressing disease, supposed at the time to be leprosy, but which was -in all probability scrofula. - -The Roman general, Gallicanus, having been in favour with the Emperor, -and having lost his wife, was offered Constantia in marriage by his -master—not a particularly inviting proposal, and Gallicanus did not, -possibly, regret that he was called away by an inroad of the barbarians -into Thrace, to defend the Roman frontiers against them. Before engaging -in battle he made a vow, in the event of success, that he would believe -in Christ and be baptised. He succeeded in repulsing the enemy, and -returned to Rome to find that Constantia had been healed of her disorder -at the tomb of S. Agnes, and that she had persuaded his three daughters, -Augusta, Attica, and Artemia, to live with her, as consecrated virgins, -near the shrine of the Virgin Martyr, to whose intercession she -attributed her cure. - -Constantia had two chamberlains, John and Paul, to whom, at her death, -she bequeathed much of her possessions. - -When Julian the Apostate assumed the purple, in 361, he did not openly -persecute the Church, but he turned out of their situations such -officers of the court and army as refused to renounce Christ. John and -Paul he particularly disliked, partly because they were zealous -Christians, and had had much to do with the conversion of Gallicanus, -but also because they had obtained by bequest so much of Constantia’s -estate, which he desired to draw into the imperial treasury. He sent -word that they were to be deprived of their offices, and were to be -privately put to death in their own house. - -Accordingly, when they had retired to their residence on the Cœlian -Hill, the ministers of Julian pursued them, dismissed the servants, and -secretly conveyed them down into the cellar of their palace, and there -killed and buried them. - -Three persons, however, knew of what was going on—Crispinus, -Crispinianus, and Benedicta—and, to prevent the matter getting bruited -about, these the soldiers also put to death. - -Gallicanus was living at Ostia, and he was ordered into exile. He -withdrew to Alexandria, where the chief magistrate, Baucianus, summoned -him before his tribunal, required him to do sacrifice to idols, and, -because he refused, had him decapitated. He has found a place in the -Roman Martyrology on June 25th. - -Now the whole series of incidents is full of difficulties. The name of -Gallicanus was not uncommon. Vulcatius Gallicanus was prefect of Rome in -317, and Ovius Gallicanus was Consul in 330, but of either of them being -engaged against the barbarians in Thrace there is no historical -evidence. - -It is also incredible that the Gallicanus of the legend should have been -publicly tried as a Christian and condemned as such under Julian. - -The Emperor Constantine had a daughter, Constantia, we know from profane -history, who was married to Hannibalianus—a thoroughly unprincipled -woman, in fact, if we may trust the highly coloured picture drawn of her -by Ammianus Marcellinus. She was a demon in human form, a female fury -ever thirsting for blood. But though generally called Constantia, her -correct name was Flavia Julia Constantina. - -Of the Constantia of the legend there is no mention by the historical -writers of the time; but this is not remarkable if she were, as is -represented in the story, a woman who took no part in public life, but -lived in retirement, partly because of her disorder, and then because -she had embraced the religious life. - -A further difficulty arises in the account of the martyrdom of SS. John -and Paul, her chamberlains. The Acts represent them as subjected to -interrogation by Julian himself in Rome, whereas it is quite certain -that after he became Emperor he did not set foot in Italy. - -It will be seen, therefore, that there is here every reason for -repudiating the whole story as fabulous, and some would go so far as to -say that Constantia, the virgin daughter of Constantine, Gallicanus, -John and Paul were all of them mythical characters, creatures of the -imagination. But there are certain very good and weighty reasons on the -other side for inducing an arrest of judgment. - -In the first place, close to the basilica and catacomb of S. Agnese is a -very interesting and precious circular church, erected by Constantine -the Great, at the request of his daughter Constantia, as a thankoffering -for her recovery from the distressing disease which had disfigured her -and made life a burden to her. This church is, perhaps, the most -remarkable specimen we have existing of ecclesiastical architecture of -the age of Constantine. It is quite untouched, and is rich with frescoes -of the period. - -But a still more remarkable monument is one quite recently disinterred. -It is the house of the martyrs John and Paul, which has existed for -centuries buried under the foundations of the great church that bears -their names on the Cœlian Hill, a church erected by the one English -Pope, Nicolas Breakespeare, in 1158. The discovery of the house is -itself a romance. What is known of its early history is this: Julian the -Apostate died in 363. The death of John and Paul had taken place in 362. -Julian was followed by Jovian, who died in 364, and was succeeded by -Valentinian. - -Now, directly Julian was no more, Byzantius, a senator and a Christian, -interested himself in the matter. The recent martyrdom was in all -mouths, and it was known that the bodies lay in the cellar of the house. -Byzantius had the bodies lifted and placed in a white alabaster or -marble box, and converted the upper storey of the house into an oratory. - -The son of Byzantius was Pammachius, the friend and correspondent of S. -Jerome. He did something also. He erected a handsome church over the -tomb of the saints, and this was completed in 410, forty-eight years -after their martyrdom. - -There had, however, been no break in the tradition, for Byzantius had -made his oratory only two or three years later than their martyrdom. - -The basilica erected by Pammachius consisted of an oblong nave, with -side aisles and an apse to the west. To the east end was a quadrangle, -surrounded by a cloister, and with a water-tank in the middle. By means -of a flight of steps visitors were enabled to descend to the -“Confession,” or place whence they could look down on the alabaster box -containing the relics of the martyrs in the cellar; and in the angles of -the wall below, a triangular white marble table was placed, hollowed out -in the middle for oil, in which a wick burned to throw light on the -tomb. - -Hard by, in later years, was the family mansion of S. Gregory the Great, -who sent Augustine and his little band, in 597, to convert the -Anglo-Saxons of Kent. Now, Gregory knew well this church of SS. John and -Paul, and often prayed there. Somewhere about 603 he sent a present to -Queen Theodelinda, the Bavarian Princess, who had married Agilulph, the -Lombard, and among other things some of the oil from this very lamp. -This identical vial of oil is preserved among the treasures of Monza, -along with some little gold hens and chickens presented by Theodelinda. - -Now, a few years ago, Padre Germano, a Passionist father of the -monastery attached to the church, in studying the blank south wall of -the church that rises out of the little lane, the Clivus Scauri, by -which one mounts to reach the entrance of the church, observed that it -consisted of a whole series of blocked-up arches and windows above them. -In a word, it looked like a three-storey shop-front, or factory of -brick, with the openings filled in. What could be the meaning of this? -Such an arrangement was not suitable to the basilica of Pammachius, and -had certainly no significance for the Church of Adrian I. - -Then, all at once, it flashed on him what it really was: it was nothing -more nor less than the street-front of the palace of John and Paul, -which had been solidly built, and consequently had been utilised first -by Pammachius and then by Adrian I. Now the church is built at the top -of a steep slope, and the level of the floor of the church is far above -the arches. It next occurred to the Padre: Is it not possible that the -old house of the martyrs may be beneath the floor of this church? - -He obtained leave to search. He went round to persons interested in -Christian antiquities, and begged a little money, and so was enabled to -begin his excavations; and, lo! he discovered that when in 410 -Pammachius had built his basilica he had filled in the lower portion of -the house, all the most important rooms and the cellars, with earth and -rubbish, and had raised his church above it all, knocking away the -floors of the upper storeys and blocking up what had been the bedroom -windows. The writer of this account was in Rome during two winters when -the Padre was engaged on the excavations, and was frequently there, and -saw the results as they were reached. And these results were: first, -that a Christian mansion of the fourth century was disinterred, the only -one of the kind known to exist; and more, the tomb of the saints into -which Byzantius had put the bodies was found; also the very lamp-table -from which S. Gregory took the oil for sending to Theodelinda, and the -early altar set up by Byzantius in one of the halls of the house which -he had converted into an oratory. Nay, more,—paintings were found, -whether of the date of Byzantius or of his son Pammachius is -uncertain—one representing the soldiers killing Crispinus, Crispinianus, -and Benedicta, and another showing Constantia, with her two chamberlains -and other attendants. There were also figures which may be Byzantius and -his wife, or Pammachius and his, bringing gifts to the tomb of the -martyrs. The cellar was discovered with the old wine-bottles, some -marked with the sacred sign; and the frescoes in the reception-room were -Christian: a woman lifting up holy hands in prayer; Moses, with the roll -of the Law; the good sheep and the bad one, with the Milk of the Word, -and so on. - -Now, all this shows conclusively that there really were such martyrs as -John and Paul, and that although their story has been embroidered, there -is a substratum of truth in it. - -What is probably the basis of the whole story is this: that Constantia, -an infirm, scrofulous daughter of Constantine, residing in Rome, -believing herself to have received some alleviation in her condition by -praying at the tomb of S. Agnes, not only induced her father to build a -basilica above that tomb, but also the remarkable Church of St. -Constanza, which is hard by. That she had chamberlains named John and -Paul, devout Christians, is also more than probable, as also that she -bequeathed to them a large portion of her fortune. The fact of their -being zealous Christians, and exerting themselves vigorously to advance -the Faith, that among other converts they made was Ovius Gallicanus, who -had been Consul in 330, is also probable. That they were secretly put to -death in their own mansion on the Cœlian Hill, by the orders of Julian, -and buried in their cellar, is quite certain. The chain of evidence is -unbroken. - -That Constantia had as her friends and fellows in her retired devout -life three of the daughters of the ex-Consul, is not at all unlikely. -That he was banished to Alexandria by Julian may be admitted. But this -is the utmost. The recomposer of the Acts tried to spice the story to -suit the taste of his times, and in doing so fell into extravagances, -anachronisms, and absurdities. - -Constantia may have felt grateful for the disorder that kept her out of -the current of public life, and from the intrigues of the palace. - -Her father, with all his good qualities, was a violent man; and his -adoption of Christianity was due to political shrewdness rather than to -conviction. - -In 324 Crispus, her accomplished brother, whose virtues and glory had -made him a favourite with the people, was accused of conspiring against -his father by his stepmother Fausta, who desired to clear him out of the -way to make room for her own son Constantius. Another involved in the -same charge was Licinius, a son of the sister of Constantine, and who -was also a young man of good qualities. - -Constantine was at Rome at the time. He went into a fit of blind fury, -and had his son put to death, and ordered the execution of Licinius. -Then, coming to his senses, and finding that he had acted without having -any evidence of the truth of the charges, he turned round on his wife -Fausta, and ordered her to be suffocated in a vapour bath. - -Constantine died in 337. - -“One dark shadow from the great tragedy of his life reached to his last -end, and beyond it,” says Dean Stanley. “It is said that the Bishop of -Nicomedia, to whom the Emperor’s will had been confided, alarmed at its -contents, immediately placed it for security in the dead man’s hand, -wrapped in the vestments of death. There it lay till Constantius -arrived, and read his father’s dying bequest. It was believed to express -the Emperor’s conviction that he had been poisoned by his brothers and -their children, and to call on Constantius to avenge his death. That -bequest was obeyed by the massacre of six out of the surviving princes -of the imperial family. Two alone escaped. With such a mingling of light -and darkness did Constantine close his career.”[2] - -One of Constantia’s sisters, Constantina, has been already mentioned. -Her second husband was Gallus. “She was an incarnate fury,” says -Ammianus Marcellinus; “never weary of inflaming the savage temper of her -husband. The pair, in process of time, becoming skilful in inflicting -suffering, hired a gang of crafty talebearers, who loaded the innocent -with false charges, accusing them of aiming at the royal power or of -practising magic.” Those accused were all put to death and their goods -confiscated. She died of fever in 353. - -Another sister, Helena, was married to the Apostate Julian. Her brother, -Constantius, although a Christian, was as ensanguined with murders as -one of the old Cæsars. Her brothers Constans and Constantine II. fought -each other, and Constantine was slain. Violence, bloodshed, stained the -whole family, except perhaps Helena and certainly the blameless -Constantia. In the midst of such violence and crime, it was indeed -something to disappear from the pages of the profane historian and to be -remembered only as a builder of churches. - -The rotunda near S. Agnese, that bears Constantia’s name, was erected -during her life, to serve as her mausoleum, and in it she and her sister -Helena were laid. She was laid in the beautiful sarcophagus of red -porphyry that was in the church. This was carried off by Pope Paul II., -who intended to convert it to his own use, and it is now preserved in -the Vatican. - -The vaulting of the church is covered with mosaic arabesques of flowers -and birds referring to a vintage. - - - - -[Illustration: THE SISTER OF S. BASIL.] - - - - - VI. - - _THE SISTER OF S. BASIL_ - - -It is most rare to be able to obtain a glimpse into the home-life of the -ancients. In the first centuries of our era, in the Greek and Roman -world, life was so much in public, that there was hardly any domestic -life at all; and it was only with Christianity that the quiet, retired -and sweet home society constituted itself. - -In the midst of flaunting paganism, the first believers were driven -indoors, so to speak; they were precluded from much of the amusement -that went to fill up the time of the heathen. They could not sit on the -benches of the amphitheatre, nor attend at the representations of the -theatre. They were largely prevented from being present at banquets -given by friends, as these began and ended with libations to the gods, -and the benediction of the deities called down on the meats. They were -precluded from taking part in civil life, by the oaths and sacrifices -associated with every official act. - -Thinking, feeling, believing differently from their fellow-citizens, -they could not associate with them easily abroad, and were consequently -driven to find their society in their own homes. - -Perhaps it is only in the writings of S. Basil and his brother S. -Gregory of Nyssa that we get anything like a look into the interior of a -Christian household in the fourth century. It is therefore, although a -quiet picture of an uneventful and unexciting existence, full of -interest and charm. S. Basil belonged to a family both noble and -wealthy, in Cappadocia, in Asia Minor. His ancestors had occupied public -positions either as magistrates or at the imperial court. - -His grandmother, Macrina, a native of Neocæsarea, in Pontus, had been -brought up by S. Gregory the wonder-worker; and she and her husband, -whose name is not recorded, were confessors in the persecution of -Diocletian. They fled to the wooded mountain sides, leaving their houses -and possessions; and in their places of retreat subsisted mainly on the -wild deer, that were so tame that they allowed themselves to be easily -snared. They remained in concealment for seven years, and it was not -till an edict in favour of the Christians was promulgated, on April -30th, 311, that they ventured to return to Neocæsarea. - -Macrina died in Pontus about 340. Her son Basil inherited the piety of -his parents, and he took to wife Æmilia, a woman of great virtue, the -daughter of a man who had been put to death after having been deprived -of his goods by the Emperor Licinius. She had lost her mother in early -youth. - -Basil and Æmilia were very wealthy. They owned extensive estates in -Pontus, Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia; they had a large family, ten -children, of whom the eldest was Macrina, named after her grandmother; -S. Basil was the eldest son, then came Naucratius, Gregory, afterwards -of Nyssa, and Peter, the youngest, afterwards of Sebaste. We know no -more of the four younger girls than that they were well provided for in -marriage, and one of them had daughters who became superiors of a -monastery in Cæsarea under the direction of their uncle, S. Basil. - -Basil the elder, the father, died about 349, shortly after the birth of -Peter. Æmilia was now left a widow with a large family to look after, -but she was assisted in everything by her eldest daughter, Macrina, who -was her inseparable companion. - -When Macrina had been born she had been confided to a nurse, but it was -remarked that she was almost always in her mother’s arms. Æmilia took -pains to form the mind of the little girl, and give it a religious -direction. She taught her first of all sentences from the Book of -Wisdom, then made her commit sundry psalms to memory; so that, as her -brother Gregory wrote, the Psalter became to her a companion day and -night, and she was for ever singing psalms or reciting them in her -heart. - -Macrina was a good and patient needlewoman. Not only was the house -large, but the brothers and sisters needed attention, and their clothes -keeping in order, and Æmilia and her eldest daughter were constantly -engaged at their needles, to keep pace with the demands of the family; -and as they were always together, one mind was but the reflexion of the -other. - -What tended to make Macrina a still, stay-at-home girl, was an early -love affair. She had been engaged by her father’s consent to a -high-principled, well-born young man, and the marriage was only deferred -because of Macrina’s youth. But before this took place he fell ill of -fever and was carried off rapidly. After this Basil thought of uniting -his daughter to some other suitable person, but Macrina urgently -entreated to be allowed to remain with her mother. “My dear husband,” -she said, “is not dead,—he lives with God. He has gone on a far -journey—that is all, and I shall remain faithful to him whilst he is -away.” - -Her father did not press her—indeed, the devotion of Macrina to her -mother was so tender and so close that he thought neither could bear to -be parted. When he also died, then the union of hearts and interests -became closer. - -As the children grew up they dispersed, and received their several -inheritances; but they all carried away with them indelibly the stamp -impressed on their hearts by their mother and eldest sister; and in the -end three of them became bishops and saints. Peter, the youngest, had -been most in their hands, but the favourite brother was Naucratius. - -As soon as all the birds were out of the nest, then Æmilia felt that -there was nothing to retain her in the city, and she pined to be away -from its dusty streets and noisy market in the green, sweet country, and -in quiet with God. - -Accordingly she and Macrina retired to a villa they possessed on the -banks of the river Iris, at some little distance from the town of Ibora. -This they converted into a sort of monastery. The slaves and other -servants, if they chose to unite in the same life, were given freedom -and accepted on the footing of sisters, no distinction being made -between the members of the little community. - -S. Gregory of Nyssa says of this society: “They were all as one in what -they ate and drank, as to their furniture and cells, and there was no -token that they belonged originally to different ranks in the world. -There was no ruffle of temper among them, no petty jealousies, no -suspicions, no spite .... all their occupation was in prayer and the -singing of psalms, which went on night and day.” - -Peter, the youngest, who had been ordained, lived near at hand, and for -the care he had received as a child returned his ministerial offices. S. -Basil also for awhile lived in retirement not far off, and was a help -and comfort to them. - -Macrina suffered about this time from a painful abscess in her breast, -and Æmilia constantly urged her to let a doctor examine and lance it. -She was afraid lest, should it not be opened, it might break internally. -But Macrina was so modest and sensitive—perhaps absurdly so—that she -shrank from the ordeal of letting a man treat the place. At last the old -lady insisted; the abscess had become so hot and swollen that she was -alarmed. - -Macrina, struggling against shame, went into the little oratory, and -remained weeping and praying there all night, sometimes with her face -against the ground and her tears running over the dust. The heat and -pain in her breast and the tension were so insupportable, that she -gathered up some of the cool earth and pressed it to the swelling, when -it burst, and she was relieved; and so the need for calling in a surgeon -was overpassed. - -At length Æmilia died, at an advanced age. None of her children were -with her at the time except Macrina and Peter; however, as she was -dying, the old and saintly woman murmured blessings on the absent -darlings, and taking Peter by one hand and Macrina by the other, said, -“Lord, I offer to Thee my firstfruits and my tithe. Accept them, O Lord, -and pour the floods of Thy grace into both their hearts.” They were her -last words. She died in 373, and was laid beside her husband whom she -had loved so well. The grief of Macrina was not to be expressed. She had -been the inseparable companion of her mother since her earliest infancy, -and they had not had a thought or wish but what was in common. - -Before Macrina had recovered from this blow she was called on to endure -another. Her favourite brother, Naucratius, was found dead in the field -along with his servant Chrysapius, without it being known what had -caused their death. - -Six years later she was called to mourn the loss of her eldest brother, -S. Basil. It was she who, with his friend Gregory Nazianzen, had been -the means of turning his heart entirely to God. As a young man he had -been disposed to push his way as a statesman. In 355 Basil had been at -school with Julian, afterwards Emperor, and an apostate from the faith, -and with Gregory, who was the son of the Bishop of Nazianzus. Basil had -not formed a high opinion of the former, but with Gregory “it was one -soul in two bodies.” On returning to Cæsarea after his father’s death, -Basil turned towards a life in the world, and a prospect of advancement -in official life opened to him. It was then that Macrina had exerted all -her influence over him, and gave him that final direction which made of -him so glorious a saint and teacher of the Church. - -And now Macrina had lost him. - -In the month of September or October in the year following the death of -S. Basil, Gregory—now Bishop of Nyssa—was present at the Council held at -Antioch, and on leaving it he resolved on paying a visit to Macrina. He -had not seen her since the death of their brother Basil, and he wished -to talk with her about him. The journey was long, and the snows were -already powdering the lower ranges of the lofty mountains he had to -pass. - -On the night previous to his arrival on the banks of the Iris, after a -tedious and long day’s travel, he had a dream. It seemed to him that he -held relics in his hands that emitted a blaze of white light. - -When he awoke he wondered what this dream could signify, for he was not -above the superstition of his age which attributed importance to dreams; -but as he neared the monastery he met a servant who told him that -Macrina was dangerously ill, and Gregory at once concluded that his -dream was a portent of her approaching dissolution. - -Sick at heart, he pressed forward, and arrived at the villa. Those -within came forth to welcome him, except the sisters, who remained in -the church, sorrowful at the prospect of losing their best friend, yet -glad that she should see her brother before her death. - -Gregory at once entered the church and prayed, and gave his episcopal -benediction to all. Then he asked to be conducted to Macrina. - -We have an account of the last scene from his own pen, and this shall be -given with only a little condensation. - -“A woman who was there opened the door to me, and led me within. I found -my sister lying on the ground, on a plank covered with sackcloth (the -Cilician material made of goat’s hair, much in use for blankets) and -with a pillow of the same supporting her head. She was very ill, but -when she saw me, unable on account of her great weakness to rise and -meet me, she lifted herself on one elbow, placing the other hand on the -ground for her support. I ran to her, and insisted on laying her down -again as she had been. Then she lifted her hands to Heaven and said, ‘I -thank Thee, O Lord my God, in that Thou hast fulfilled the desire of my -heart.’ - -“She did her utmost to conceal from us what a difficulty she found in -breathing, so as not to increase our distress; and her face was bright -and smiling, and she spoke of such matters as she thought pleasing to -us. But when we came to mention Basil, then my face expressed the grief -I was in at his loss. But she, on the contrary, spoke of the matter with -serenity of soul and elevation of mind, so that I felt myself as though -carried up above all worldly considerations into heavenly regions with -her. - -“Presently she said, ‘Brother, you have had a tedious journey, and must -be very tired: I pray you take a little rest.’ And although it was a -delight to me to listen to her, yet I obeyed; and I went forth into the -garden, where was a pleasant shady walk. However, I was in such trouble -of mind that I could admire nothing, and I could think only of what must -shortly happen. - -“I suppose she must have divined my thoughts, for she sent word to me -not to fret, as she hoped speedily to be better; but she really meant -that she would escape from her present pains, and be with God, for whom -her soul ever thirsted. I got up when I heard this, and went to see her -again. Then, when we were together, she began to talk about old times, -since our childhood, and all as calmly and consequently as though she -were reading out of a book. She talked of the mercies shown by God to -our father, mother, and all the family. - -“I wanted to tell her about my troubles when the Emperor Valens banished -me for the Faith, and of other troubles in which I had been involved; -but she cut me short with ‘Never lose sight of the obligations you owe -to God. Think chiefly of the advantages you have received from Him.’ - -“As she was speaking we heard the song of the virgins calling to -vespers, and my sister bade me go to the church. Thus passed the night, -and when day dawned I could see clearly by her condition that it would -be her last, for the fever had exhausted her last powers. - -“My soul was agitated by double feelings: one was grief, for nature -would make me feel, and I knew that the words I heard were the last that -would be uttered by one very dear to me; the other was admiration at the -calm and trust with which she awaited death. - -“The sun was nigh setting without her having lost the force of her mind. -Then she ceased to speak to us, but folded her hands and fixed her eyes -on her heavenly Bridegroom. Her little bed was turned with the feet to -the east, and she spoke to Him in a low voice, which we could hardly -hear. We did, however, collect some of her words: ‘O Lord, Thou -deliverest us from the fear of death; Thou makest the close of life the -commencement of a new and truer life. Thou sufferest us to sleep awhile, -and then wilt call us with the trumpet at the end of time. To the earth -Thou entrustest the dust of which Thy hands have fashioned us, to -reclaim it and clothe it with immortality and glory. Lord, Thou who on -the Cross didst pardon the malefactor, remember me in Thy kingdom.’ - -“Then Macrina made the sign of the cross on her eyes, her mouth, and her -heart; and, the strength of the fever having parched her tongue, we -could no longer follow her, but saw that her lips continued to move. She -closed her eyes; but when a lamp was brought into the room she opened -them, and made a sign that she desired to recite vespers. But her tongue -failed her, only her spirit was active, and her lips and hands moved as -before, and we understood when she had finished, by her again signing -herself. - -“Finally she drew a long, deep sigh, and passed away in prayer. Seeing -what had taken place, and remembering a wish she had expressed to me, in -our last conversation, that I should render her the last offices, I put -out my shaking hand to her face to close the eyes and mouth. But I did -this only to fulfil my promise, for really there was no need, as eyes -and mouth were closed, so that she appeared rather to be sleeping than -dead. Her hands lay on her breast, and her body rested modestly, as that -of a virgin.” - -When Macrina was being prepared for burial, there was no other raiment -of hers found save her veil, her mantle, habit, and a pair of worn-out -shoes. Then Gregory gave one of his own tunics for clothing his sister’s -body, and over her was cast her mother’s black cloak; “and,” says -Gregory, “the blackness of this cloak made her face seem so much the -whiter, as though it shone with light.” - -As she was being clothed, a widow, who loved her and attended to these -last offices, untied a slender string that was round her neck, and -released a little cross and an iron ring. - -“Keep the cross,” said Gregory to the widow, “as a remembrance of her; -and I shall ever preserve the ring.” - -Who can tell? Perhaps that poor little iron ring was the reminiscence of -her engagement to the young man to whom she had long ago been betrothed, -and to whom she had remained ever faithful. - - - - -[Illustration: S. GENEVIÈVE.] - - - - - VII - - _GENEVIÈVE OF PARIS_ - - -S. Geneviève was born and lived in a time of frightful disaster, -unparalleled in the history of Europe. From the commencement of the -fifth century a veritable deluge of diverse nations, driven on one by -another, inundated the crumbling empire, and gave the signal for its -complete ruin. - -The Franks, under the long-haired Clodion, traversing the forest of the -Ardennes, and rolling to the banks of the Somme, had seized on Amiens, -Cambrai, Tournai, after having burnt Trèves, and sacked Cologne. The -citizens, of Trèves, which had been the residence of emperors since -Maximian, had been slaughtered in the circus to which they had fled. The -amphitheatre, which under Constantine has streamed with the blood of the -Barbarians, was now heaped with the bodies of Romans. Cologne had been -revelling in drunken orgy, when a slave ran to announce that the Franks -were on the walls. The citizens had not the manhood to rise from table -so as to die standing. Their blood mingled with the wine of their -overturned cups. God chastised Roman vices with disgrace as with iron. -In this fifth century three societies stood face to face—the Old Roman -polity, the Barbarian, and the Church. Rome went to pieces under the -blows of the Barbarians, but the Barbarian in turn was subjugated by -Christianity. - -S. Geneviève was born at Nanterre, about seven miles from Paris, in 422 -or 423. The old name of the place, Nemetdoor, is purely Celtic, as is -her name, which is the same as Gwenever or Gwenhwyvar in Welsh. Her -father was named Severus, and her mother Gerontia, the female form of -Geraint. There can be no doubt whatever that she was of Gallic origin, -but Latinised, and a Christian. - -One word, before proceeding, about the authority for her life. This is a -biography, written eighteen years after her death, by the priest Genes, -her spiritual director. He learned from the saint the general outline of -the incidents in her childhood, and these he dressed up in what he -believed to be literary style. - -Late in the Middle Ages it was said that S. Geneviève had kept sheep for -her father, and she is now generally represented as a shepherdess; but -there is no early authority for this, although the fact is very -probable. In the year 429 S. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, and S. Lupus, -Bishop of Troyes, at the entreaty of the British Church, commissioned -for the work by a Council of Gallican bishops, left their dioceses to -visit our island, there to withstand the Pelagian heresy, which was -making way. - -S. Germain was well qualified to go to Britain, as he was of Celtic -origin, and his sister was the wife of Aldor, brother of Constantine I., -King of Devon and Cornwall. - -On his way to the coast he passed through Nanterre. The people, hearing -of his approach, lined the road, and with them were the children in -goodly numbers. - -As Germain and Lupus advanced, the eye of the former rested on a fair -little girl of seven, whose devout look, and sweet, innocent face, -arrested him. He stood still, and called her to him, then stooped and -kissed her on the brow, and asked her name. He was told that she was -called Geneviève. The pleased parents now stepped up, and the venerable -bishop asked, “Is this your child?” - -They answered in the affirmative. - -“Then,” said Germain, “happy are ye in having a child so blessed. She -will be great before God; and, moved by her example, many will decline -from evil and incline to that which is good, and will obtain remission -of their sins, and the reward of life from Christ.” And then, after a -pause, he said to the young girl, “My daughter, Geneviève.” She -answered, “Thy little maiden listens.” - -Then he said, “Do not fear to tell me whether it be not your desire to -devote yourself body and soul to Christ.” - -She answered, “Blessed be thou, father, for thou hast spoken my desire. -I pray God earnestly that He will grant it me.” - -“Have confidence, my daughter,” said Germain; “be of good courage, and -what you believe in your heart and confess with your lips, that take -care to perform. God will add to your comeliness both virtue and -strength.” - -Then they went into the church and sang nones and vespers, and -throughout the office Bishop Germain rested his right hand on the fair -little head of the child. - -That evening, after supper had been eaten and they had sung a hymn, -Germain bade Severus retire with his daughter, but bring her to him -again early next morning. So when day broke, Severus returned with the -child, and the old bishop smiled, and said, “Welcome, little daughter -Geneviève. Do you recollect what was said yesterday?” - -She answered, “My father, I remember what I promised, and with God’s -help what I promised that I will perform.” - -Then S. Germain picked up a brass coin from the ground, which had the -sign of the cross on it, and which he had noticed lying there whilst he -was speaking; and he gave it to her, saying, “Bore a hole in this, and -wear it round thy neck in remembrance of me, and let no other ornament, -or gold or silver or pearls, adorn thy neck and thy fingers.” Then he -bade her farewell, commending her to the care of her father, and pursued -his journey. - -Now, we may ask, How much of this is true? Almost everything. Geneviève -was certain never to forget how the old bishop had stopped her, when a -little mite of seven, how he had asked her name, had made her promise to -love and fear God; how in church his hand had rested all through the -service on her head, and how he had given her the coin to wear. But as -to the prophecy relative to her future, and to his exacting of her a -promise to be a nun, all that may be the make-up of Genes, writing after -she had been a blessing to the people of Paris, and had embraced the -monastic life. - -At the age of fifteen she and two other girls somewhat older than -herself presented themselves before the bishop to be veiled as dedicated -virgins. It was remarked that, although Geneviève was the youngest, yet -the bishop consecrated her first. - -After their dedication they returned to their homes; for, at that time, -it was not a matter of course that consecrated virgins should live in -community. - -About this time her mother suffered from inflamed eyes, and for -twenty-one months, or nearly two years, could not see to do her -household work. Accordingly, Geneviève was of immense assistance to her. -She was wont repeatedly to bathe her mother’s eyes with water from the -well, and this in time reduced the inflammation, so that eventually -Gerontia recovered her sight. - -At last Geneviève lost both her parents, and now, having no home duties -to restrain her, she went to Paris into a religious community. - -In 447 S. Germain again visited Britain about the same trouble which had -occasioned his first journey; and when, on his way, he came to Paris, he -inquired for the little girl whom he had blessed at Nanterre eighteen -years before. - -Genes tells us that some spiteful people sought to disparage her; but -Germain would not hearken to them, and sent for and communed with her. - -What caused them to make light of her was probably this. She had adopted -a life of great asceticism, eating nothing but barley bread and beans, -and that only twice in the week; and remaining within her cell, -conversing with none from Epiphany till Easter. - -There were a number of people in Paris who did not like these -extravagances; and it was these, in all probability, who spoke against -her to S. Germain. But, as we shall see presently, by this means she did -acquire an enormous power over the people of Paris, which she used for -good. - -S. Germain had probably but just returned from Britain before a new and -terrible scourge broke upon Gaul. - -In 451, the Huns, headed by their king, Attila, burst in. In two columns -this vast horde had ascended the Danube. One of these drew several -German peoples along with it, eager for plunder, whilst the other fell -on and crushed the isolated Roman stations. This agglomeration of -invaders met at the sources of the Danube, crossed the Rhine at Basle, -where the proximity to the Black Forest favoured the construction of -rafts for passing over. - -The Franks, who occupied the right bank of the Rhine, extended their -hands to the Huns. The Burgundians, however, offered a vain resistance, -and were cut to pieces. The Huns, entering Gaul, completed the -destruction of what had been left standing by Vandals, Suevi, and Alans. -Attila, following the Rhine as he had the Danube, devastated Alsace. -Strasburg, Spires, Worms, ruined by preceding invasions, had not risen -from the dust. Mayence was sacked, Toul sank in flames, Metz had its -walls and towers overthrown after a few months’ resistance. The savage -conquerors massacred all, even to the children at the breast. They fired -the town, and long after its site could only be recognised by the Chapel -of S. Stephen, which had escaped the conflagration. - -Several cities opened their gates to Attila: they hoped to find safety -in submission; they did but expedite their destruction. Despair gave -courage to others, but no heroism availed against these devouring -hordes. Rheims and Arras were delivered over to the sack. The host broke -up into fractions, which ravaged the country, carrying everywhere fire -and sword. - -Attila advanced to the Loire. - -Then it was that a panic fell on the inhabitants of Paris. In madness of -fear, they prepared to desert it: the rich in their chariots and -waggons, the poor on foot. - -It was now that S. Geneviève stood forward and rebuked their cowardice. -Whither could they fly? The enemy penetrated everywhere. The Hun gained -audacity by the universal panic. Better man their walls, brace their -hearts, and resist heroically. - -The Parisian mob, headlong and cruel, as such a mob has ever been, -howled at her, and prepared to pelt her with stones and cast her into -the Seine, when, opportunely, appeared the Archdeacon of Auxerre, sent -expressly to Geneviève from the bishop, just returned from Britain, and -now dying, bearing Blessed Bread to her, that he had sent in token of -affectionate communion. This loaf, the _eulogia_, was that from which -the bread for the Communion had been taken, and which remained over. It -had been blessed, but not consecrated; and it was sent by bishops to -those whom they held in esteem. - -Such a token of regard paid to Geneviève by one so highly esteemed awed -the rabble, and they swung from one temper to another. They were now -amenable to her advice. They closed the gates, accumulated the munitions -of war, and made preparations to stand a siege; but Attila did not -approach. He foresaw that it would take him too long to reduce so strong -a place. On the 14th of June, 451, the Huns encountered their first -repulse. They were driven from the siege of Orleans. On the field of -Châlons-sur-Marne, the memorable battle was fought between Aetius, the -Roman general, and Attila. “It was a battle,” says the historian -Jornandes, “which for atrocity, multitude, horror, and stubbornness has -not had its like.” The field was heaped with the dead, but it resulted -in the expulsion of the Huns from Gaul. - -Feeling a great reverence for S. Denis, Geneviève desired greatly to -build a church on the scene of his martyrdom; and she urged some priests -to undertake the work. But they hesitated, saying that they had no means -of burning lime—it was a lost art. Then, so runs the tale, one of them -suddenly recollected having heard two swineherds in conversation on the -bridge over the Seine. One had said to the other: “Whilst I was -following one of my pigs the other day, I lit in the forest on an -ancient abandoned lime-kiln.” - -“That is no marvel,” answered the other, “for I found a sapling in the -forest uprooted by the wind, and under its roots was an old kiln.” - -The priests inquired where these kilns were and used them, and Geneviève -set the priest Genes, who was afterwards her biographer, to superintend -the work of building the church. - -It shows to what a condition of degradation the art of building had -fallen, when the Parisians were unable to burn lime without old Roman -kilns for the purpose. - -A little incident, very simple and natural, was afterwards worked up -into a marvel. She was going one night from her lodging to the church -for prayers, carrying a lantern, when the wind, which was violent, -extinguished it. She opened the lantern, when a puff of wind on the -thick red glowing wick rekindled the flame. This was thought quite -miraculous. It is a thing that has happened over and over again with -tallow candles when the snuff is long. - -In the year 486, Childeric, King of the Franks, laid siege to Paris, -which had remained under Roman governors. The siege lasted ten years, to -496. It cannot have been prosecuted with much persistence. - -The Frank army reduced the city to great straits, and famine set in. The -poor suffered the extremity of want, and were dying like flies. No one -seemed to know what to do. All energy and resourcefulness had deserted -those in authority. Geneviève alone showed what steps should be taken: -she got into a ship, and was rowed up the Seine, and then up the Aube to -Arçis, where she knew that she could obtain corn. In the Seine was a -fallen tree with a snag that had been the cause of the loss of several -vessels, but no one had thought of removing the obstruction. Geneviève -made her boatmen saw up the tree and break it, so that it floated down -stream and could effect no further mischief. Another instance of the -condition of helplessness into which the debased provincials of Gaul had -fallen: they neither could build lime-kilns nor keep their rivers open -for traffic. She got together what provisions she could at Arçis, then -went on upon the same quest to Troyes, and finally laded eleven barges -with corn, and returned with them to the famished city. As they neared -Paris a strong gale was blowing, and the barges being laden very heavily -ran some risk, especially as here also there were snags in the water. -But with patience and trouble they were manœuvred through these -impediments, and the convoy arrived in Paris, with the priests singing, -and all who were in the boats joining, “The Lord is our help and our -salvation. The Lord hath delivered us in the time of trouble.” - -The joy and gratitude of the Parisians knew no bounds. Afterwards, when -the city did fall, Childeric resolved on executing a great host of -captives; but Geneviève, in a paroxysm of compassion, rushed to him, -fell on her knees, and would not desist from intercession on their -behalf till he had consented to spare them. - -At length, worn out by age, she died in 512, and was buried in Paris, -where now stands the Panthéon. The church was desecrated at the -Revolution, and turned into a burial-place for Mirabeau, the regicide -Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau, the brutal Marat, Dampierre, Fabre, Bayle, -and other revolutionaries. The bodies of Voltaire and Rousseau were also -transferred to it. - -In 1806 it was again restored as a church, but was once more turned into -a temple after the July revolution of 1830. Once again consecrated in -1851, it was finally secularised in 1885 for the obsequies of Victor -Hugo. - - - - -[Illustration: THE SISTER OF S. BENEDICT.] - - - - - VIII - - _THE SISTER OF S. BENEDICT_ - - -It looked to the eyes of Christians of the Roman Empire crumbling to -pieces as though the end of all things were at hand. From every quarter -barbarism was extending over the confines of the Empire and was breaking -them down. The civilisation which had been built up through centuries, -the organism of political unity, the literature and learning of two -great and gifted races, the Greek and the Latin, achievements of art -never to be surpassed, and Christianity, all seemed destined to go down -and be trodden under foot never to reappear. - -Throughout the Church there rose the wail to God—“Thine adversaries roar -in the midst of Thy congregations: and set up their banners for tokens. -He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees was known to bring it -to an excellent work. But now they break down all the carved work -thereof with axes and hammers. They have set fire upon Thy holy places: -and have defiled the dwelling-place of Thy Name, even unto the ground. -Yea, they said in their hearts, Let us make havock of them altogether: -thus have they burnt up all the houses of God in the land. We see not -our tokens, there is not one prophet more: no, not one is there among -us, that understandeth any more. O God, how long shall the adversary do -this dishonour: how long shall the enemy blaspheme Thy Name, for ever?” - -Confusion, corruption, despair and death, were everywhere; social -dismemberment was complete. The empire that had embraced the known world -was crumbling to dust under the blows of the mysterious multitudes -passing out of the darkness beyond the pale. Odoacer, the chief of the -Heruli, had snatched the purple of the Cæsars from the shoulders of -their last representative in 476, but himself disdained to wear a mantle -that was stained with cowardice and dishonour. Authority, morals, laws, -science, the arts, religion itself, all seemed to be sinking into the -vortex of death. - -Germany was wholly pagan, a breeding-place of hordes that burst forth -periodically to devastate the land that had been cultivated, and to -extinguish the light wherever it burned. Gaul had been overwhelmed by -successive waves of barbarism. Spain was ravaged by Visigoths, Suevi, -Alani, and Vandals. These latter had swept over Northern Africa, and had -given it up to unpitying persecution. Britain had been invaded by the -Anglo-Saxons, who had driven the Britons and their Christianity to the -mountains of Strathclyde, Wales, and to the peninsula of Cornwall. Over -the frozen Danube, the Goths had passed on their cumbrous waggons, and -had spread from the woody shores of Dalmatia to the walls of -Constantinople. - -The condition of Italy, the heart and soul of the Empire that had been -dissolved, was deplorable to the last degree. For centuries agriculture -had decayed in it, as the farms were absorbed by the great senatorial -families and worked by their slaves. The people had come to expect their -grain from Egypt and Africa, and now these tributary harvests were -withdrawn. War, famine, pestilence stalked over its fair plains, and -mowed down such as remained of the population. Pope Gelasius affirmed, -with some exaggeration, that in Æmilia, Tuscany and the adjacent -provinces, the human species was almost extirpated. “The plebeians of -Rome,” says Gibbon, “who were fed by the hand of their master, perished -or disappeared, as soon as his liberality was suppressed; the decline of -the arts reduced the industrious mechanic to idleness and want; and the -senators, who might support with patience the ruin of their country, -bewailed their private loss of wealth and luxury. One-third of those -ample estates, to which the ruin of Italy is originally imputed, was -extorted for the use of the conquerors. Injuries were aggravated by -insults; the sense of actual sufferings was embittered by the fear of -more dreadful evils; and as new lands were allotted to new swarms of -barbarians, each senator was apprehensive lest the arbitrary surveyors -should approach his favourite villa, or his most profitable farm. The -least unfortunate were those who submitted without a murmur to the power -which it was impossible to resist.” - -The general despair produced in religious minds the conviction that the -fashion of the world was passing away, there was nothing further to be -hoped for in it, and that the only direction in which the eternal spring -of hope could flow was in the channels of religion that led to heaven. - -This was the condition of affairs in Italy, and this explains the origin -and the enormous expansion of the Benedictine Order. - -S. Benedict was born along with his sister Scholastica in the year 480. -They were twins, and loved each other with that tenderness which so -generally exists between twins; they were of one heart and one soul. - -They belonged to the noble Anician family, whose history is traceable to -the second century before Christ. - -Benedict and his twin sister were born at Nursia, a Sabine town, -situated high up in the mountains near the source of the Nar. It was -here that Vespasia Polla, mother of the Emperor Vespasian, was also -born. Virgil speaks of the coldness of its climate, as the chilly cradle -of the waters of Tiber and Febaris. To the east tower up the Apennines -to the peak of the Monte della Sibilla. Two centuries after the death of -Benedict, the vast ruins of his ancestral palace were still to be seen -outside the town gates. - -Doubtless it was to this Alpine retreat that the family had fled to hide -themselves from the Gothic invaders who were devouring the land. -Benedict and his twin sister, as their minds opened, became aware of the -universal hopelessness that possessed men’s minds. The doom of the great -nobles was as certainly sealed as at the French Revolution. No prospect -was open to them of any work, any career in political life. They could -not fly the fatherland to the colonies, for the colonies were in the -throes as well. - -These little children, wandering hand in hand through the empty halls of -the palace, became prematurely grave, and at an early age were convinced -that the only life open to them was that of religion. - -Scholastica was the first to speak out what she felt, and to resolve to -devote herself wholly to God. Who could think of marriage then, when -there was no prospect of being able to rear a family in sufficiency and -to any career? Benedict followed. Leaving his old nurse, to whom the -charge of the children had been committed, and who loved them as her own -soul, he plunged into the gorges of the mountains to seek for a retreat -where he might discipline his body and soul. The place he found was -Subiaco, twenty-six miles from Tivoli, up the valley of the Anio. Why he -chose this spot we do not know. He can hardly have stumbled on it in his -wanderings about Nursia, and it is probable that he went thence from -some other villa and estate of his parents. - -The first place where he lodged was Mentorella, and there his nurse, -Cyrilla, came up with him, and insisted on furnishing him with supplies -of food. But thence he soon went on to Subiaco, where he found a cave in -the face of the rocks above the falls of the Anio, and there he spent -three years. Every day, Romanus, a monk who dwelt amid a colony of -anchorites among the ruins of Nero’s palace, near at hand, let down to -him half a loaf from the top of the rock above, giving him notice of its -approach by the ringing of a bell suspended to the same rope with the -food. - -It was an astounding mode of life for a boy growing into manhood, and we -should now consider it a most unprofitable one. But it was not destined -to be unprofitable—very much the contrary; and we must remember that -there was absolutely no other field for the activities of a young noble -open before him. - -“How perfectly,” says Dean Milman, “the whole atmosphere was then -impregnated with an inexhaustible yearning for the supernatural, appears -from the ardour with which the monastic passions were indulged at the -earliest age. Children were nursed and trained to expect at every -instant more than human interferences; their young energies had ever -before them examples of asceticism, to which it was the glory, the true -felicity of life, to aspire. The thoughtful child had all his mind thus -preoccupied. He was early, it might almost seem intuitively, trained to -this course of life; wherever there was gentleness, modesty, the -timidity of young passion, repugnance to vice, an imaginative -temperament, a consciousness of unfitness to wrestle with the rough -realities of life, the way lay invitingly open—the difficult, it is -true, and painful, but direct and unerring way to heaven.” - -Such a life is not needed now-a-days. What is now required is one like -that of Angela, in Sir Walter Besant’s “All Sorts and Conditions of -Men,” who will plunge into the sordid wretchedness of the slums of our -great cities, and labour there to bring happiness to the dull lives of -the toilers—who will labour to ameliorate the condition of those that -are the slaves of our nineteenth-century civilisation. What we -require—what God requires—are social reformers, men and women, who in -place of living selfish lives of amusement and luxury, will devote -themselves to helping to raise those who are down, who will seek -happiness, not in pampering self, but in making others happy. - -After a while crowds of disciples flocked to Benedict, and then he left -Subiaco for Monte Cassino, which was thenceforth to be the capital of -monastic life. - -Strange it may appear, but it was true, that Benedict found the people -round Cassino still pagans, offering sacrifices in a temple to Apollo on -the height where he chose to plant his settlement. - - “In old days, - That mountain, at whose side Cassino rests, - Was, on its height, frequented by a race - Deceived and ill-disposed; and I it was, - Who thither carried first the name of Him, - Who brought the soul-subliming truth to man, - And such a speeding grace shone over me, - That from their impious worship I reclaim’d - The dwellers round about.”—Dante, _Par._ xxii. - -The visitor to Monte Cassino now leaves the station at San Germano, and -hires donkeys for the ascent. The steep and stony path winds above the -roofs of the houses of the town, and at every path opens fresh views of -entrancing beauty. The silver thread of the Garigliano lies below, with -towns studded on its banks; long ranges of mountains of the most -beautiful outline break the horizon, billow after billow of intensest -blue, crested as with a foam of snow. Little oratories by the wayside -commemorate incidents in the life of S. Benedict. First comes that of S. -Placidus, the favourite disciple of the patriarch; then that of -Scholastica his sister; then one where he is supposed to have wrought a -miracle; next a cross on a platform that indicates the place where -brother and sister met for the last time—of which more anon. Then a -grating and a cross where S. Benedict knelt to ask God’s blessing before -he laid the foundation stone of his monastery. Benedict had been -thirty-six years a monk before he came to Monte Cassino, and we know -nothing of his sister’s life through all these years, save that she had -maintained a still and holy converse with God. It is most probable that -she had never tarried very far from her brother. Now that he settled at -Monte Cassino, she came and planted herself with a little community of -pious women at the foot of the mountain. Scholastica was as white in -soul, as earnest, as devout as was Benedict. They were alike in -everything save in sex; and she became, as unawares as himself, a mighty -foundress—for if from him houses for men multiplied throughout the -Western world, so was she the mother spiritual of innumerable similar -refuges for holy women. - -At Monte Cassino, according to the expression of Pope Urban II., “the -monastic life flowed from the heart of Benedict as from the fountain of -Paradise,” and here it was that he composed his famous rule, that -commenced with the words, “Hearken, O my sons” (_Ausculta o fili_). - -When he drew it up, not a notion came into his head that he was doing a -work that would last, a work that was absolutely needed for the times, -and without which the barbarians would never have been tamed and -regenerated, and a new civilisation superior to the old rise out of the -ashes of that which expired. - -It is quite true that there were plenty of monks and nuns already -scattered about; but they were under no definite rule, under no strict -obedience. We see exactly how it was among the Celtic societies. An -abbot or abbess rambled over the West, now in Ireland, then in Scotland, -in Britain, in Armorica, dived into the Swiss gorges, strayed about in -the woods of Germany, founding houses and churches, then going farther. -And just as the abbots were ever on the move, so was it with those who -placed themselves under their teaching. No sooner did they think they -knew enough, or no sooner did the itch of change affect them, than away -they went, now to pay a brief visit to some other great master, then to -be off again and found monasteries of their own. There was no stability -about them, and above all no organisation. The idea of obedience never -seems to have entered their heads, and, as a matter of course, a great -number of vagabonds too idle to work, and loving change, assumed the -tonsure and habit, and roved over the country leading scandalous lives; -in fact, the Hooligans of the day postured as saints. Monachism, which -should have served a high missionary purpose, for lack of organisation -was becoming a discredit to Christianity. - -There is a striking French tale, “Mon oncle Celestin,” by Ferdinand -Faber, in which he describes the “ermites” of the Cevennes and the south -of France, a set of men who pretend to lead exalted lives, wear a -religious habit, are under no ecclesiastical discipline, and who—with -some notable exceptions—are a scandal and source of demoralisation. Now -the monks and ascetics before S. Benedict were very much like these -modern “ermites” of the Cevennes. - -The great work of S. Benedict was to coordinate all these ardent men in -one body, to subject them to discipline, to insist on obedience, and -then to employ their powers for the good of the Church and of humanity -in general. - -At that period, when nations had to be conquered, and those nations -barbarian, the ordinary methods of propagating the faith did not -suffice. Single priests were pretty sure to be butchered, or if not, -alone they could effect very little. Besides, the barbarians had to be -taught something more than Christianity; they had to be instructed in -the industrial arts and in agriculture. - -Now, the Benedictine monastery was not only a missionary establishment -containing a great many men, but it was a school, a hospital, a -poorhouse, a great workshop, and an agricultural institution. - -But we must leave this interesting topic to speak of S. Scholastica. - -As already said, she had established herself at the foot of the mountain -with a community of like-minded women who were under the direction of -her brother. They met only once a year; and then it was that Scholastica -left her cloister to seek Benedict. He, on his side, descended part way -to meet her; and the place where they clasped hands and looked into each -other’s eyes was on the mountain side, not very far from the gate of the -monastery. - -“There, at their last meeting, occurred that struggle of fraternal love -with the austerity of the rule, which is the only episode in the life of -Scholastica, and which has insured an imperishable remembrance to her -name. They had passed the entire day in pious conversation, mingled with -the praises of God. Towards evening they ate together. - -“While they were still at table, and the night approached, Scholastica -said to her brother, ‘I pray thee do not leave me to-night, but let us -speak of the joys of heaven till the morning.’ ‘What sayest thou, my -sister!’ answered Benedict; ‘on no account can I remain out of the -monastery.’ - -“Upon the refusal of her brother, Scholastica bent her head between her -clasped hands on the table, and prayed to God, shedding tears to such an -extent that they ran over the table. The weather was at the time serene: -there was not a cloud in the sky. But scarcely had she raised her head, -when thunder was heard muttering, and a storm began. The rain, -lightning, and thunder were such, that neither Benedict nor any of the -brethren who accompanied him could take a step beyond the roof that -sheltered them. - -“Then he said to Scholastica, ‘May God pardon thee, my sister, but what -hast thou done?’ ‘Ah yes!’ she answered him, ‘I prayed thee, and thou -wouldst not listen to me; then I prayed God, and He heard me. Go now, if -thou canst, and send me away, to return to my convent.’ - -“He resigned himself, against his will, to remain, and they passed the -rest of the night in spiritual conversation. S. Gregory, who has -preserved this tale to us, adds that it is not to be wondered at God -granting the desire of the sister rather than that of the brother, -because of the two it was the sister who loved most, and that those who -love most have the greatest power with God. - -“In the morning they parted, to see each other no more in this life. -Three days after, Benedict, being at the window of his cell, had a -vision, in which he saw his sister entering heaven under the form of a -dove. Overpowered with joy, his gratitude burst forth in songs and hymns -to the glory of God. He immediately sent for the body of the saint, -which was brought to Monte Cassino, and placed in the sepulchre he had -already prepared for himself, that death might not separate those whose -souls had always been united to God. - -“The death of his sister was the signal of departure for himself. He -survived her only forty days. A violent fever having seized him, he -caused himself to be carried into the chapel of S. John the Baptist. He -had before ordered to be opened the tomb in which his sister slept. -There, supported in the arms of his disciples, he received the viaticum: -then, placing himself at the side of the open grave, at the foot of the -altar, and with his arms extended towards heaven, he died standing, -murmuring a last prayer. - -“Died standing!—such a victorious death became well the great soldier of -God.”[3] - -He was buried beside his sister, on the very spot where had stood the -altar of Apollo which he had cast down. - - - - -[Illustration: S. BRIDGET OF KILDARE.] - - - - - IX - - _S. BRIDGET_ - - -One would have to look through many centuries, and over a wide tract of -the earth’s surface, to find a woman who possessed in her own generation -so large an influence, and who so deeply impressed her personality on -after generations, as S. Bridget. A woman she was, with no advantages of -birth; but who by the mere force of character and her marvellous -holiness, became a predominating power in the Church of Ireland after -the death of S. Patrick. - -It is said of the sick that the nurse is as important as the doctor; and -in the spread of the Gospel and the establishment of the Church, the -part of Bridget was only second to that of the great Apostle of Ireland. - -The lives of S. Bridget that we possess are, unhappily, late, and -intermixed, nay, overloaded with fable; the most grotesque and -preposterous miracles are attributed to her. Nevertheless, when sifted, -and the extravagances have been eliminated, sufficient of truth, of real -history and biography remains behind for us to distinguish the main -outline of her story, and to discern the real characteristics of the -Saint. - -It would seem to be a law of Divine providence, that at such periods of -transformation as arise periodically, suitable persons should rise to -prominence for giving direction to the disturbed minds of men in the -general dislocation of received ideas. - -To understand the exact position of S. Bridget, and the work she -wrought, it is necessary for us to look at the condition of Ireland -before it received the Gospel. - -The whole political organisation was tribal, and not territorial. The -chief of the clan was almost absolute, and about him, as a centre of -unity, the tribesmen clung, as bees about their queen. - -The chiefs had their Druids or Medicine-men, who blessed their -undertakings and cursed their enemies, and the most unbounded confidence -was placed in the efficacy of these blessings or curses. The Druids were -endowed with lands, and probably in Ireland, as in Britain, constituted -sacred tribes within the tribal confines of the secular chiefs. - -When S. Patrick arrived he at once strove to effect the conversion of -the chiefs, for without that his efforts with the bulk of the population -must fail, and the conversion of a chief entailed as a consequence that -of his clan. The Druids, when discredited, were disposed to accept -Christianity; where they were not, the chiefs did not disestablish them, -but gave to S. Patrick and his followers fresh sites on which to -constitute their own ecclesiastical federations, on precisely the same -system as that of the Druids. S. Patrick throughout acted in the most -conciliatory spirit; he overthrew nothing that was capable of being -adapted, and his wise forbearance conciliated even those at first most -opposed to him. - -There can be little doubt that in Ireland, as in Gaul, there had been -colleges of Druidesses, as there had been of Druids. We do not know this -by the testimony of texts, but it is more than probable. In Gaul these -women were prophetesses; they lived in solitary places, often on -islands. The nine Scenæ occupied an island in the Seine. The priestesses -of the Namnetes lived on another at the mouth of the Loire, in huts -about a temple. Once in the year they were bound, between one night and -another, to destroy and replace the roof of their temple; and woe to the -woman who dropped any of the sacred materials! Instantly she was set -upon by her sisters, and torn limb from limb. - -When S. Patrick and his missionaries entered on the prerogatives of the -Druids, there was occasion for Christian women to usurp the places, and -to some extent the functions, of the Druidesses. And this is precisely -the line adopted by S. Bridget. The year of her birth was between 451 -and 458, and she was the daughter of a slave woman, who had been sold to -a Druid. Her mother’s name was Brotseach. The father, Dubtach, was a -nominal Christian, but a thoroughly heartless and unprincipled man. - -The Druid and his wife were kindly people, and provided a white cow with -red ears, on whose milk the little child was reared, and they allowed -only one woman whom they could trust to milk the cow. As she grew up, -Bridget was set to keep sheep on the moors; and there, not only did she -tend them, but she also tamed the wild birds that flew about her. Soon -the wild ducks and brent-geese allowed her to stroke them. When she had -grown old enough to be useful, she asked leave to go and see her father, -who lived in Leinster, whereas her mother was a slave in Ulster. The -Druid at once gave her leave, and she left. Her father was not cordial -in his reception of her, and set her to keep swine, and also at times to -manage the kitchen. On one occasion, when visited by an acquaintance, he -bade her boil five pieces of bacon for the entertainment. Unfortunately -a hungry dog came in and carried off some of the bacon. This threw -Dubtach into a fury, and he sent her back to her mother. - -On her return, Bridget found Brotseach very ill and unable to attend to -her work. It was summer, and she had been sent with the cattle to a -mountain pasture, such as in Wales is called a _hafod_, whereas the -winter habitation is the _hendrê_. There were twelve cows to be milked, -and their butter to be made. Bridget undertook the supervision of the -dairy with energy, and some verses have been preserved which it is said -she sang as she churned: “Oh, my Prince, who canst do all things, and -God, bless, I pray Thee, my kitchen with Thy right hand—my kitchen, the -kitchen blessed by the white God, blessed by the Mighty King, a kitchen -stocked with butter. Son of Mercy, my Friend, come and look upon my -kitchen, and give me abundance.” - -It was reported to the Druid that Bridget gave the buttermilk to the -poor, and he and his wife started for the mountain dairy to see that she -was not wasting their substance; but they found that the butter she had -made was so good and so plentiful that they were satisfied. Indeed, the -kindly old man at once gave Brotseach and Bridget their liberty, to go -where they would. He and his wife had been won by their piety and -blameless life, and gladly consented to be baptised. - -Bridget and her mother left with thanks and tears, and went to Leinster -to Dubtach, who was well connected and rich, but avaricious. Bridget -particularly annoyed him by her readiness to give food to the poor. To -what extent she was justified in this may be questioned. But it must be -remembered that the period was one in which no provision whatever was -made for the poor, who starved unless assisted; and the girl’s tender -heart could not endure to see their sufferings and not to relieve them. - -At last Dubtach could stand it no longer, and he took her in his chariot -to sell her into slavery, to grind at the quern for Dunlaing, son of the -King of Leinster. On reaching the king’s _dun_, or castle, Dubtach went -within and left Bridget outside in the chariot. A squalid leper came up, -begging. Bridget, whether out of impulsive charity, or more probably in -a fit of mischievous cunning, knowing that her father was selling her -like a calf or a sheep, gave to the leper the sword which Dubtach had -left in the chariot. The poor man at once disappeared with the gift. -Next moment the prince and her father issued from the _dun_; the prince -desired to look at the girl before purchasing her. Instantly Dubtach -discovered that his sword was gone, and he asked after it. “I have given -it away for your soul’s good,” said Bridget, with a twinkle in her eye. -“On my word!” exclaimed the prince, “I cannot afford to buy such -extravagant slaves as this.” - -Dubtach drove home in a fury, and he made his house so intolerable that -she resolved to embrace the monastic life. She sought Bishop Maccaille, -taking seven companions with her, all desiring to unite in the service -of God and in ministering to the sick and needy. - -Bishop Maccaille placed white veils on their heads, and blessed and -consecrated them. Bridget was then aged eighteen. - -Each of the girls chose one of the Beatitudes as her special virtue, -which before all others she would seek to attain; and Bridget selected -as hers “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” - -An odd story was told in later times concerning this consecration. It -was said that Maccaille opened his book in the wrong place, and instead -of reading the office for the consecration of a virgin, read over her -that for the ordination of a bishop. - -This fable was invented for a purpose. As we shall see presently, -Bridget became head of an ecclesiastical tribe, and had under her -jurisdiction a bishop who was amenable to her orders. This was a -condition of affairs not at all uncommon among the British, Irish, and -Scots, but it was incomprehensible in mediæval times to those trained -under another system, when bishops were sources of jurisdiction. So this -story was made up to give some justification for the exercise, by the -Abbess Bridget, of authority over a bishop and priests. - -In the Life of S. Bridget we are assured that when she was twelve years -old she met S. Patrick, and that she wove the shroud in which he was -buried. According to the ordinary computation, S. Patrick came to -Ireland in 432, and died in 465; but Dr. Todd has shown good reason to -believe that this calculation rests on an error. Palladius, whose name -was also Patricius, was sent to Ireland in 432 by Pope Celestine; but he -failed in his mission, abandoned Ireland, and died at Fordun. Neither S. -Patrick himself, in his Confession, nor the earliest notices of him, say -a word of his having been sent by Celestine, and there is reason to -believe that he really came to Ireland in 460, and died in 493. If this -be the case, it is quite possible that there may be truth in the story -of the meeting of Bridget and the great apostle, and that it was his -influence which induced her to adopt the life she chose. Bridget was now -at the head of her little community of eight virgins, and they at once -devoted themselves to good works. - -Very soon great numbers of pious women came to her from every quarter, -entreating to be received into her community and placed under her -direction. - -We can see by the brutality of Dubtach selling the mother of his child -to a heathen Druid, though he himself professed to be a Christian, and -later, deliberately attempting to sell his daughter, that women at that -time were treated as chattels, and no respect was paid to them. It was -largely due to Bridget that an immense revulsion of feeling in this -particular took place. - -She travelled over Ireland, and, wherever she was able, planted those -who placed themselves in her hands near their own relatives and in their -own country. She entered into correspondence with the bishops. She was -warmly seconded by Erc of Slane, by Mel of Armagh, and Ailbe of Emly. - -She managed to dot her settlements through a large portion of the -island, and they became not only hospitals for the sick, but nurseries -of learning, for she made a point of having the young girls confided to -her for education taught their letters. - -King Conall visited her on his way to make a raid, and to ask her -benediction on his arms; “for,” said he, “it is a mighty great pleasure -cutting the throats of our enemies.” - -Bridget used all her endeavours to dissuade him from an unprovoked -attack against those who were at peace with him, but she could induce -him to go home only on one condition—that she would promise him her aid -in all legitimate wars. - -Somewhat later he was engaged in a military expedition, and it had been -successful. - -As he was returning, very tired, with his men, he reached a _dun_ or -castle, and resolved to rest there. His men dissuaded him, as the enemy -were in pursuit. “Bah!” said Conall, “Bridget has promised to look after -me,” and he threw himself down to sleep. A great fire was lighted, and -his men ranged the heads of the slain they had brought with them round -the fire, and they themselves sat up talking and singing. Meanwhile the -enemy came on, but they sent a spy, who crept unobserved up to the walls -and looked in. When he saw the dead faces with the flicker of the red -fire on them, and that Conall’s men were alert, his heart failed him, -and he went back and told his fellows that they must not risk a night -attack on the _dun_. - -Many touching stories are told of Bridget’s tenderness to the sick: of a -poor consumptive boy whom she nursed; of a man who carried his mother on -his back for many days, that he might lay her before Bridget in the -hopes that she might be healed of the lung complaint that afflicted her. - -One day—so says the legend—two lepers came to her, and she bade the one -wash the other. And he who was washed became whole. Then said she, “Go -and wash thy brother.” “Not I, forsooth!” replied the man. “I, a clean -man, with sound skin, shall I scrub that loathsome object?” “Then I will -do it,” said Bridget; and she took the poor leper and thoroughly -cleansed him. - -The truth of this story would seem to be that Bridget bade a servant -wash the leper, that he refused, and she herself performed the office. - -But she did more than attend to the sick. She saved the lives of men -condemned to death. On one occasion, a cupbearer to the King of Teffia -let fall a valuable goblet, and it was dented. The king, in a rage, -ordered the man to execution, though Bishop Mel interceded for him, but -in vain; then Bridget got the cup, and, as she had skilful smiths under -her, had the dents removed, so that it presented the same appearance as -before, and the king was then reluctantly induced to pardon the man. - -She was for a long time under the direction of Erc of Slane, in Munster. -Whilst there, a certain anchorite, who had made a vow never to look on -the face of a woman, started with his disciples to go to one of the -Western Isles, there to establish a community. His way led near where -Bridget was. Night fell, and his disciples, not relishing spending the -hours of darkness on the open waste, and supperless, begged him to ask -Bridget to give them food and lodging for the night. The old man -absolutely refused. Bridget heard of this, and when the whole company -was asleep she and one or two of her maids went on tiptoe to them and -carried off all their bundles of goods and garments. When the men woke -next morning everything was gone. Here was a pretty kettle of fish! Most -reluctantly the old anchorite was obliged to swallow his objections and -go humbly to Bridget and beg for the restitution of the packages. “Very -well,” said she, “when I have fed and housed you for a couple of days, -you shall have them,—and do not hold up your nose and despise women any -more.” So she entertained the whole party, and when they departed she -provided them with a couple of sumpter horses to carry their bundles for -them. When the anchorite arrived at the island to which he had taken a -fancy, to his dismay he found that a man lived on it with his wife and -sons and daughters, and claimed it as his property, and absolutely -refused to leave. The anchorite was forced to send for Bridget to -arrange terms, and she with difficulty bought off the proprietor. “After -all,” said she, “you can’t do without the help of women—for all your -foolish vow.” - -When with S. Erc, she must have been in that portion of King’s County -that then belonged to the kingdom of Meath. After that she removed to -Waterford, and remained for some time at Kilbride, near Tramore. - -She heard that the King of Munster had a captive in chains very harshly -treated. She went to his castle to beg for the man’s release, but the -king was not at home. However, the foster-father and -mother, and -foster-brothers were there. They could give her no assistance. “I will -await the king’s return,” said Bridget. Time began to pass heavily. She -looked round, and saw that harps hung in the hall. “Come,” said she, -“let us have some music.” The foster-parents of the king expressed -themselves unwilling and incapable. But Bridget would take no excuse. -Towards evening the king returned, and as he neared his hall, heard the -twang of harps and voices singing and laughing. He came in at the door, -and when he saw his foster-father with a cracked voice piping out an old -ballad he laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. Every one was in -good humour, and he could not refuse Bridget her request. - -Bridget next moved into Leinster, apparently to the district of Kinsale. -She had not seen her father for some time, so now she went to visit him. -He was not more amiable as he advanced in years. With difficulty she -withdrew from him a servant maid, whom he was thrashing unmercifully. -When she left, the maid said to her, “Oh! would to heaven you were -always here, to save us from the master’s violence!” - -She—who had been a slave-girl herself—was pitiful to these poor things. -Some runaway slave-girls took refuge with her, and she had hard work -sometimes to reconcile their mistresses to leaving them under her -protection. - -Before she left her father, the old fellow asked her to get the king to -let him keep as his own property a sword the prince had lent him. -Bridget went to the castle. No sooner had she arrived than one of the -king’s men entreated her to take him into her tribe. So she asked the -king to give her the man, and give her father the sword. - -“You ask a great deal,” said he. “I must have something in return.” - -“Shall I demand of God for you Life Eternal, and a continuation of -royalty in your house?” - -“As to Life Eternal,” said the king, “I know nothing about it; and as to -royalty after I am dead, the boys of my family must fight for their own -crowns. Give me victory over my enemies.” - -“I will obtain that for you,” she said. And on this being promised he -acceded to both her requests. - -This is a very characteristic story of an Irish saint. The kings and -princes firmly believed that the saints could give them a place in -heaven and victory over their foes, could continue their line in power, -or deprive their posterity of sovereign rights. - -This king was Illand, son of Dunlaing. Soon after this interview he went -into the plain of Breagh, west of Dublin, where he fought the Ulster men -and defeated them. After this he waged as many as thirty battles in -Ireland, and gained eight victories in Britain. He died in 506. On his -death the clan of Niall, taking courage, gathered their forces to attack -the men of Leinster, who actually dug up the body of the old king, set -it in a chariot, clothed in his regal garments, and marched against the -men of the north, headed by the corpse. - -Bridget now went into Connaught, and founded an establishment there. It -was whilst there that an incident characteristic of the times occurred. - -She had under her charge a poor decrepit woman who was failing rapidly. -“The old creature can’t live,” said one of Bridget’s women. “Let us -strip her at once. It is bitter weather and frosty, and it will be -awkward to get her garments off her back when she is stiff and stark.” - -“On no account,” said Bridget. And when the cripple died she with her -own hands divested the body of its clothing, then laid the garments -outside the door in the frost, and washed them finally herself. - -Bridget and some of her spiritual daughters paid a visit to S. Ibar of -Begery. He served them at supper with bacon. Bridget saw two of the -girls sitting with their platters before them and their noses turned up; -they would not touch the food. She was very angry, jumped up from her -seat, caught them by the shoulders, and turned them out of the hall, and -bade them stand there, one on each side of the door, till supper was -over. She had run short of seed-corn, and had gone to beg some of Ibar. -The season was probably Lent, and the scruple of the girls was on that -account. - -When S. Bridget first saw the great plain of Breagh stretched before -her, it was in early summer, and it was as though snowed over with the -white clover, and the air that breathed from it was sweet with scent and -musical with the hum of bees. She stood still, raised her hands in an -ecstasy of delight, and said: “Oh! if this plain were but mine, I would -give it all to God!” - -“Good woman!” said S. Columba, when he was told this of Bridget. “God -accepted the desire of her loving heart just as surely as if she really -had made to Him the donation of all that land.” - -Once a bishop and a party of clerks arrived, and began to inquire when -they were to have a meal and what they were to have to eat. - -“It is all very well for you to be so clamorous,” said Bridget, “for you -are hungry. But can you not understand that I and my spiritual daughters -are hungry also? We have no religious teacher here, and we long to hear -the Word of God. Will you not give us who are hungry the nourishment of -souls before you call on us to satisfy your stomachs?” - -The bishop was ashamed, and led the way to the church. - -It happened that there was a couple who led a cat-and-dog life, and at -last declared that they could not live together, and that they would -separate. Bridget went to them, and by her charm of manner and earnest -words so won them over that thenceforth they came to love each other -devotedly. So much so, that one day when the husband left home to cross -an estuary, without saying good-bye, the wife ran after him into the -water, and would have been drowned had he not returned to kiss her. - -There was a madman who wandered on the mountain—Slive Forait. Bridget -was crossing it, and her companions were in deadly fear of encountering -the maniac. “I fear him not,” said she; “I will go and find him.” - -Before long she encountered the poor wretch. She said to him, “My -friend, have you anything to say to me?” - -“Yes, nun,” answered he: “Love the Lord, and all will love thee. -Reverence the Lord, and all will reverence thee. I cannot avoid thee, O -nun, thou art so pitiful to all the miserable and poor.” - -The life she led with the sisters was full of simplicity. She took her -turn to tend the sheep, she helped to brew the Easter ale which she sent -about to the bishops as her offering. - -The following is a funny story. - -Certain friends came to visit Bridget, and they left their house shut -without a caretaker in it. When they were well away, some robbers came, -broke open the byre and stole the oxen, and drove them away to the -Liffey. They had to cross the river at a ford, but the water was deep, -so the men stripped themselves, and that their garments might be kept -dry, attached them to the horns of the cattle. But no sooner were the -oxen in the water than they refused to proceed, and, turning, galloped -home, carrying away the clothing of the robbers on their heads. - -Having such large numbers of women under her direction, Bridget was -obliged to draw up for them a set of rules. An odd legend attaches to -the rules. She sent, so it was told, seven men and a poor blind boy, who -was in her service, to Rome to obtain a rule. But as they were crossing -the English Channel, the anchor caught. They drew lots who was to go -down and release the anchor. The lot fell to the blind boy. He -descended, unhooked the anchor, and it was hauled up, but left him -behind. The seven went on, and returned at the end of the year, and were -without any rule. As they were crossing the Channel, again the anchor -caught, but it became disengaged, and up with it came the boy, and he -had a Rule of Life with him, acquired in the depths, and this he took to -Bridget, and it became her famous rule for all her communities. Perhaps -the story originated thus. It was said that she had sent to Rome for a -system of monastic discipline, but as none came to her, she fished up -one out of the depths of her own conscience and common-sense. - -Bridget certainly to the utmost strove to show forth the grace of Mercy, -which she had elected as that for which she would specially strive, when -she was veiled. Poor lepers were kept by her attached to her convent, -and fed and administered to by her. - -One day a woman brought her a hamper of apples. “Oh!” cried Bridget, -“how pleased my lepers will be with them!” The woman angrily said, “I -brought the apples for you, and not for a parcel of lepers.” - -On another occasion, when Bishop Conlaeth came to vest for the -Eucharist, he found that his chasuble was gone. In fact, Bridget had cut -it up and made of it a garment for a leper. Conlaeth was not -overpleased. “I cannot celebrate without a proper vestment,” said he. -“Wait a moment,” said Bridget, and ran away. Presently she returned with -one she had made and embroidered with her own hands, and gave it to him -in place of that she had disposed of to the leper. - -A poor fellow who had gone to prefer a petition to the King of Leinster, -saw a fox playing about in his _cashel_ (_i.e._ castle). Not knowing -that it was tame, and a pet of the king, he killed it. The king, Illand, -was furious, threw the fellow into chains and vowed he would have him -put to death. Bridget heard of it, and at once went to see him, and took -with her a fox that had just been trapped. She offered the fox to -Illand, on condition that he should let the man go. The king, supposing -it was tame, consented. No sooner was the fellow released than Bridget -let go her fox, when away dashed Reynard across the _dun_ and over the -walls, and was seen no more. “I have not got the best of this bargain,” -said the king. - -In or about the year 480 she founded her mother house at Kildare—“The -Cell of the Oak.” She was granted land and a sanctuary, with -jurisdiction over all who lived on her land. Thus she became a great -ecclesiastical chieftainess, ruling not over women only, but over men as -well. Indeed, it would seem that schools for youths were also under her. -To regulate sacred matters in her tribe, she chose a bishop named -Conlaeth, who was a good smith in the precious metals, and could -manufacture bells. - -In the great house of Kildare little children were taken charge of, -either because orphans, or because given to the sisters by their -parents. Tighernach, Bishop of Clones, was one of these. As a babe, -Bridget held him at the font, and his infant years were under her care. -He ever remained deeply attached to her. Perhaps it may be taken as a -token of his affection that when he founded a church in Cornwall, a -chapel dedicated to his foster-mother should have been planted in -proximity. - -One who deeply reverenced her was the famous S. Brendan, who sailed for -seven years on the Atlantic in quest of the Land of Promise. Once he was -in conversation with her, and he said to her, “Tell me, Bridget, about -your spiritual things. For my part I may say that, since I have learned -to love and fear God, I have not stepped across nine furrows without my -mind turning to Him.” - -Bridget thought for a moment and said, “I do not think, Brendan, that my -mind has ever strayed from Him.” - -As her age advanced, her influence extended throughout Ireland. Swarms -of her spiritual children must have crossed to Wales, to Devon and -Cornwall, to Brittany, for we find in all these districts dedications to -her; and these dedications signify churches placed under the rule of her -congregation. It may indeed be said that it was she who initiated a -great upheaval of woman from being a mere slave to become a revered -member of the social body. - -There was no woman in the British Church, either in Wales or Alba, which -we now call Scotland, who occupied the same position. In Saxon England -the only woman who at all approached her was S. Hilda, and she was not, -like Bridget, an originator. - -Conlaeth, Bridget’s bishop, died in 519. She was sought, consulted by -princes and by prelates. The sour Gildas, author of the “History of the -Britons,” if he did not pay her a visit, sent her as token of his esteem -the present of a small bell, cast by himself. - -Nothing particular is recorded of her last illness. She received the -Communion from the hands of S. Nennid, whom years before she had gently -reproved for his giddiness, and she died on February 1st, 525. According -to some accounts she was aged seventy, according to others seventy-four. - -There are two old Irish hymns in honour of her. One begins: - - “Bridget, ever good woman, - Flame-golden, sparkling.” - -This is variously attributed to S. Columba, S. Ultan, and S. Brendan. -The other hymn is by S. Broccan, who died in 650. - -Both may be found in the Irish “Liber Hymnorum,” recently issued by the -“Henry Bradshaw Society.” - - - - - X - - _THE DAUGHTERS OF BRIDGET_ - - -The story of the introduction of Christianity into Ireland is altogether -so interesting, that it may be well to add something further to what has -already been told of S. Bridget, and to the story of S. Itha. In the -evangelisation of the Emerald Isle, woman had her place beside man, and -S. Bridget and S. Itha played their part as effectually as did S. -Patrick and S. Benignus. - -Let us first see what the paganism of the Irish consisted in, and what -was their social condition before S. Patrick preached, so that we may be -able to realise to some degree what a revolution was effected by the -introduction of the Gospel. - -The heathen Irish certainly adored idols; one of the principal of these -was Cromm Cruaich, which is said to have been the chief idol of Ireland. -It is said to have been of gold, and to have been surrounded by twelve -lesser idols of stone. To this Cromm Cruaich the Irish were wont to -sacrifice their children. There still exists an old poem that mentions -this: - - “Milk and corn - They sought of him urgently, - For a third of their offspring, - Great was its horror and its wailing.” - -Then there were the _Side_ worshipped. We do not know what these were, -but it is thought that they were the spirits of ancestors. The sun also -received adoration, so did wells. S. Patrick went to the well of Slan, -and there he was told that the natives venerated it as a god; it was the -King of Waters, and they believed that an old dead _faith_ or prophet -lay in it under a great stone that covered the well. S. Patrick moved -the slab aside, and so destroyed the sanctity of the well. - -There can be no doubt that polygamy existed: Bridget’s father had a wife -in addition to Brotseach, her mother; and S. Patrick, like S. Paul, had -to insist that those whom he consecrated as bishops should be husbands -of one wife. - -Women were in low repute; they were required to go into battle and fight -along with the men, and it was only on the urgency of Adamnan in the -synod of Drumceatt, in 574, that they were exempted. A man could sell -his daughter—it was so with Dubtach and Bridget. In the life of S. -Illtyt, a Welsh Knight, it is told how one stormy morning, when he -wanted to have his strayed horses collected, he pushed his wife out of -her bed and sent her without any clothes on to drive the horses -together. There is no doubt but the Irish husbands were quite as brutal. - -There is a very curious story in the life of S. Patrick. He was desirous -of revisiting his old master Miliuc with whom he had been a slave as a -lad, and from whom he had run away. His hope was to convert Miliuc, and -to propitiate him with a double ransom. But the old heathen, frightened -at his approach, and unwilling to receive him and listen to his Gospel, -burned himself alive in his house with all his substance. This seems to -point to the Indian _Dharna_ having been customary in Ireland. - -When S. Patrick converted the Irish he dealt very gently with such of -their customs as were harmless. The wells they so reverenced he -converted into baptisteries, and the pillar-stones they venerated he -rendered less objectionable by cutting crosses on them. The Druids wore -white raiment, and had their heads tonsured; he made his clergy adopt -both the white habit and the tonsure. - -The oak was an object of reverence, and S. Bridget set up her cell under -an ancient oak. She did not cut it down, and when people came on -pilgrimage to it, taught them of Christ, from under its leafy boughs. - -There was another relic of paganism that was not ruthlessly rejected. -The ancient Irish venerated fire. Now, in Ireland, where the atmosphere -is so charged with moisture, it is not easy to procure fire by rubbing -sticks together, as it would be in Italy or Africa. Consequently it was -a matter of extreme importance that fires should not be allowed to be -extinguished. It was the custom among the early Latins that there should -be in every village a circular hut in which the fire was kept ever -burning, and the unmarried girls were expected and obliged to attend to -it; and if by the fault of any it became extinguished, then her life was -forfeit. - -As the Romans became more civilised, the central hut was called the -Temple of Vesta, or Hestia,—the Hearth-fire; and a certain number of -virgins was chosen, and invested with great privileges, whose duty it -was never to allow it to die out. - -Now, it was much the same in Ireland, and it was more important there to -keep fire always burning, than it was in the drier air of Italy. S. -Bridget undertook that she and her nuns should keep the sacred fire from -extinction, and Kildare became the centre from which fire could always -be procured. The fire was twice extinguished, once by the Normans and -again at the Reformation, finally. - -The monastery of Kildare had a _les_ about it—that is to say, it was -enclosed within a bank and moat; the buildings were, however, of wood -and wattle. This we know from a story in the Life of S. Bridget. When -she was about laying out her monastery, a hundred horses arrived laden -with “peeled rods,” for Ailill, son of that very prince Dunlaing who had -refused to buy her when he found she had given away her father’s sword. -Some of the girls ran to beg for the poles, but were refused. As, -however, some of the horses fell down under their burdens, which were -excessive, Ailill gave way and supplied them with stakes and wattles. He -very good-naturedly allowed his horses to bring to Bridget as many more -as were required, free of cost. “And,” says the writer, “therewith was -built S. Bridget’s great house in Kildare.” - -All the sisters wore white flannel habits, and on their heads white -veils. Each had her own cell, but all met for Divine worship and for -meals. During the latter, Bridget’s bishop Conlaeth read aloud to them. - -Bridget travelled about a great deal, visiting her several communities, -in a car or chariot; and her driver was at her desire ordained priest, -so that as she sat in her conveyance, he could turn his head over his -shoulder and preach to her and the sisters with her. One day Bridget -said: “This is inconvenient. Turn bodily about, that we may hear you the -better, and as for the reins, throw them down. The horses will jog -along.” - -So he cast the reins over the front of the chariot, and addressed his -discourse to them with his back to the horses. Unhappily, one of these -latter took advantage of the occasion, and slipped its neck from the -yoke, and ran free; and so engrossed were Bridget and her companion in -the sermon of the priestly coachman, that they discovered nothing till -they were nearly upset. - -On another occasion, she and one of her nuns were being driven over a -common near the Liffey, when they came to a long hedge, for a man had -enclosed a portion of the common. But Bridget’s driver had no relish for -such encroachments, and determined to assert his “right of way,” so he -prepared to drive over the hedge. Bridget told him to go round, but not -he—he would assert his right. Over went the chariot with such a bounce, -that away flew the coachman, Bridget, and her nun, like rockets; and -when they picked themselves up were all badly bruised, and Bridget’s -head was cut open. She had it bound up, and continued her journey. When -she got home she consulted her physician, who with shrewd sense said, -“Leave it alone. Nature is your best doctor.” - -In the “Book of Leinster,” compiled in the twelfth century, is a list of -saintly virgins who were trained under S. Bridget. It is, however, by no -means complete. A few words shall be devoted to some of them. One, very -young, had been committed to Bridget when quite a child. Her name was -Darlugdach. She slept with Bridget, her foster-mother. Now, as she grew -to be a big girl, she became restive, and impatient of the restraints of -the convent life at Kildare, and she had formed a plan with another to -run away. - -The night on which she had resolved on leaving the monastery she was, as -usual, sleeping in the same bed with Bridget; and she laid herself in -her bosom, her heart fluttering with excitement, and with her mind at -conflict between love of her foster-mother and desire to be out and free -as a bird. - -At last she rose, and in an agony of uncertainty cast herself on her -knees, and besought God to strengthen her to remain where she knew she -would be safe. Then, in the vehemence of her resolve, she thrust her -naked feet before the red coals that glowed on the hearth, and held them -there till she could bear it no longer, and limped back to bed, and -nestled again into the bosom of the holy mother. - -When morning broke, Bridget rose, and looked at the scorched soles of -Darlugdach, and touching them said gently, “I was not asleep, my darling -child. I was awake and aware of your struggle, but I allowed you to -fight it out bravely by yourself. Now that you have conquered, you need -not fear this temptation again.” - -Darlugdach, when S. Bridget was dying, clung to her, in floods of tears, -and entreated her spiritual mother to allow her to die with her. But S. -Bridget promised that she should follow speedily—but not yet. Now, on -the very anniversary of S. Bridget’s departure, next year, Darlugdach -fell ill of a fever and died. - -Another of Bridget’s nuns was named Dara, who was blind—indeed, had been -born without sight. - -One evening Bridget and Dara sat together and talked all night of the -joys of Paradise. And their hearts were so full that the hours of -darkness passed without their being aware how time sped; and lo! above -the Wicklow mountains rose the golden sun, and in the glorious light the -sky flashed, and the river glittered, and all creation awoke. Then -Bridget sighed, because she knew that Dara’s eyes were closed to all -this beauty. So—the legend tells—she bowed her head in prayer; and -presently God wrought a great miracle, for the eyes of the blind woman -opened, and she saw the golden ball in the east, and the purple -mountains, the trees, and the flowers glittering in the morning dew. She -cried out with delight. Now for the first time she— - - “Saw a bush of flowering elder, - And dog-daisies in its shade, - Tufted meadow-sweet entangled - In a blushing wild-rose braid. - - “Saw a distant sheet of water - Flashing like a fallen sun; - Saw the winking of the ripples - Where the mountain torrents run. - - “Saw the peaceful arch of heaven, - With a cloudlet on the blue, - Like a white bird winging homeward - With its feathers drenched in dew.” - -Then Dara tried to lift up her heart to God in thanksgiving; but her -attention was distracted,—now it was a bird, then a flower, then a -change in the light,—and she could not fix her mind on God. Then a -sadness came upon her, and she cried— - - “‘O my Saviour!’ - With a sudden grief oppressed,— - ‘Be Thy will, not mine, accomplished; - Give me what Thou deemest best.’ - - “Then once more the clouds descended, - And the eyes again waxed dark; - All the splendour of the sunlight - Faded to a dying spark. - - “But the closèd heart expanded - Like the flower that blooms at night - Whilst, as Philomel, the spirit - Chanted to the waning light.” - -Again, another of Bridget’s nuns was Brunseach; she, however, went, -probably on Bridget’s death, to a religious house that had been founded -by S. Kieran of Saighir, over which he had set his mother, Liadhain. - -She was young and beautiful, and Dioma, the chief of the country of the -Hy Fiachach, came by violence and carried her off to his _dun_ or -castle. - -Kieran was angry, and at once seizing his staff, went to the residence -of the prince, and demanded that she should be surrendered to him. The -chief shut his gates and refused to admit the saint. Kieran remained -outside, although it was winter, and declared he would not return -without her. - -During the night there was a heavy fall of snow, but the saint would not -leave. Then Dioma, taunting him, said, “Come, I will let her go on one -condition, that to-morrow I hear the stork, and that he awake me from -sleep.” - -And actually next morning there was a stork perched on the palisade of -the _dun_, and was uttering its peculiar cries. The tyrant arose in -alarm, threw himself before the saint, and dismissed the damsel. - -However, he had quailed only for a while, and presently renewed his -persecution. Brunseach, according to the legend, died of fright, but was -brought to life again by S. Kieran—that is to say, she fainted and was -revived. - -The story is late, and has become invested in fable; but so much of it -is true, that Brunseach was carried off by Dioma, and that Kieran -managed to get her restored. - -It was perhaps through the annoyance caused by the prince that he -resolved to leave Ireland. He settled in Cornwall. But he had taken with -him his old nurse and Brunseach, and he found for them suitable -habitations there. Kieran himself was there called Piran, and he founded -several churches. That of his nurse in the Cornish peninsula is Ladock, -and Brunseach is known there as S. Buriana. - -“Nothing has been recorded of her life and labours in Cornwall, except -the general tradition that she spent her days in good works and great -sanctity; but the place where she dwelt was regarded as holy ground for -centuries, and can still be pointed out. It lies about a mile south-east -of the parish church which bears her name, beside a rivulet on the farm -of Bosleven; and the spot is called the Sentry, or Sanctuary. The -crumbling ruins of an ancient structure still remain there, and traces -of extensive foundations have been found adjoining them. If not the -actual ruins, they probably occupy the site of the oratory in which -Athelstan, after vanquishing the Cornish king, knelt at the shrine of -the saint, and made his memorable vow that, if God would crown his -expedition to the Scilly Isles with success, he would on his return -build and endow there a church and college in token of his gratitude, -and in memory of his victories. - -“It was on that wild headland, about four miles from Land’s End, that S. -Buriana took up her abode; and a group of saints from Ireland, who were -probably her friends and companions, and who seem to have landed on our -shores at the same time, occupied contiguous parts of the same district. -There she watched and prayed with such devotion, that the fame of her -goodness found its way back to her native land; and thenceforth -Brunseach the Slender, by which designation she had been known there, -was enrolled in the catalogue of the Irish saints; but her Christian -zeal was spent in the Cornish parish that perpetuates her name.”[4] - -Bridget had two disciples of the name of Brig or Briga. This was by no -means an uncommon name. A sister of S. Brendan was so called. - -Another was Kiara, and this virgin we perhaps meet with again in -Cornwall as Piala, the sister of Fingar. Amongst the Welsh and Cornish -the hard sound K became P, thus _Ken_ (head), was pronounced _Pen_; so -S. Kieran became Piran. - -Fingar and his sister formed a part of a great colony of emigrants who -started for Cornwall. Fingar had settled in Brittany, but he returned to -Ireland and persuaded his sister to leave the country with him. This she -was the more inclined to do as she was being forced into marriage in -spite of her monastic vows. They left Ireland with the intention of -going back to Brittany, but were carried by adverse winds to Cornwall, -and landed at Hayle. - -King Tewdrig, who had a palace hard by, did not relish the arrival of a -host of Irish, and he set upon them and massacred most of them. Kiara, -however, was not molested, though her brother was killed. She settled -where is now the parish church of Phillack. The scene of her brother’s -martyrdom was Gwynear, hard by. She probably did not care to leave the -proximity to his grave; she had no one to go with to Armorica, and it -seems likely that a larger body of Irish came over shortly after, -occupied all the west part of Cornwall, and so made her condition more -tolerable. - - - - -[Illustration: S. ITHA.] - - - - - XI - - _S. ITHA_ - - -What Bridget was for Leinster, that was Itha or Ita for Munster; and -from the way in which her cult spread through Devon and Cornwall, we are -led to suspect that there were a good many religious houses and churches -in the ancient kingdom of Damnonia that were under her rule, and looked -to Killeedy in Limerick as their mother-house. - -S. Itha was a shoot of the royal family of the Nandesi, in the present -county of Waterford. Her father’s name was Kennfoelad, and her mother’s -was Nect. They were Christians, as appears from the fact of S. Itha -having been baptised in childhood. - -She was born about 480, and probably at an early date received the veil -“in the Church of God of the clan.” - -Unfortunately we have not the life of S. Itha in a very early form; it -comes to us sadly corrupted with late fables foisted in to magnify the -miraculous powers of the saint. - -She moved to the foot of Mount Luachra, in Hy Conaill, and founded the -monastery of Cluain Credhuil, now Killeedy, in a wild and solitary -region, backed by the mountains of Mullaghareirk, and on a stream that -is a confluent of the Deel, which falls into the Shannon at Askaton. - -The chief of the clan or sept of Hy Conaill offered her a considerable -tract of land for the support of her establishment, but she refused to -receive more than was sufficient for a modest garden. - -Let us try to get some idea of what one of these monasteries was like. - -In the first place a ditch and a bank were drawn round the space that -was to be occupied, and the summit of the bank was further protected by -a palisade of stakes with osier wattling. In such places as were stony, -and where no earthwork could well be made, in place of a bank, there was -a wall. - -Within the enclosure were a number of beehive-shaped cells, either of -wattle or of stone and turf. Certainly the favourite style of building -was with wood; but of course all such wooden structures have perished, -whereas some of those of stone have been preserved. There were churches, -apparently small, and a refectory, bakehouses, and a brewery and -storehouses. - -Outside the defensive wall of enclosure lived the retainers of the -abbey. Where an abbot or abbess was head of an ecclesiastical tribe, he -or she was bound to find land for each household: nine furrows of arable -land, nine of bog, nine of grass-land, and as much of forest. As the -population increased, a secular or an ecclesiastical chief was obliged -to obtain an extension of territory, or would be held to have forfeited -his claims as a chief. This led to incessant feud among the Celtic -princes; it forced the saints to be continually striving to obtain fresh -grants of land and make fresh settlements. When there was no more chance -of obtaining land in Ireland, they sent swarms to Britain and to -Brittany, to found colonies there, under the jurisdiction of the saint. -This explains the way in which the Celtic saints were incessantly moving -about. They were forced to do so to extend their lands so as to find -farms for their vassals. - -A very terrible story is told of the condition of affairs in Ireland in -657. The population of the island had increased to such an extent that -the chiefs could not find land enough for the people. Dermot and -Blaithmac, the kings, summoned an assembly of clergy and nobles to -discuss the situation and consider a remedy. They concluded that the -“elders” should put up prayer to the Almighty to send a pestilence, “to -reduce the number of the lower class, that the rest might live in -comfort.” S. Fechin of Fore, on being consulted, approved of this -extraordinary petition. And the prayer was answered from heaven, but the -vengeance of God fell mainly on the nobles and clergy, for the Yellow -Plague which ensued, which swept away at least a third of the -population, fell with special heaviness on the nobles and clergy, of -whom multitudes, including the two kings and S. Fechin of Fore, were -carried off. - -S. Itha does not seem to have coveted land, and she assumed a different -position from that taken by S. Bridget. She was not an independent -chieftainess over a sacred tribe, but acted as prophetess to the secular -tribe of the Hy Conaill. Just as among the Germans, the warriors had -their wise women who attended the tribe, blessed the arms of the -warriors, and uttered oracles, so was it among the Celts; and we are -assured that the entire sept, or clan, unanimously adopted S. Itha as -their religious directress and, in fact, wise woman. In such cases, when -a prophecy came true, when a military undertaking blessed by the Saint -proved successful, the usage was, that an award was made in perpetuity -to him or to her, a tax imposed that must be paid regularly by the -tribe. - -Thus there were two ways by which a Celtic saint might subsist—either as -an independent chieftain over a sacred tribe, or as the patroness or -prophetess of a tribe, not owning much land, but drawing a revenue from -the sept or clan. - -We have a very curious illustration of this in the life of S. Findcua, -who was the great seer and prophet of Munster. He blessed the arms of -the king seven times in as many battles, and was rewarded for each; he -received tribute in this wise: “The first calf, and the first lamb, and -the first pig,” from every farm for ever. “For every homestead a sack of -malt, with a corresponding supply of food yearly.” - -Now there is not a trace of S. Itha having allowed herself on any -occasion to degrade herself to blessing and cursing, blessing the arms -of the Leinster men and covering their foes with imprecations. She -succeeded in inspiring the whole of the people with such reverence, that -they were ready to receive what she declared as a message from God, and -she used this position for no other object than that of advancing God’s -kingdom, stirring up to good works, encouraging peace, and restraining -violence. She showed no eagerness for gifts. On one occasion a wealthy -man, to whom she had rendered a service, insisted on forcing money on -her. She at once withdrew her hand, absolutely refused it, and to show -him her determination, washed her hands that, she said, had been defiled -by contact with his filthy lucre. God’s gifts were not to be traded -with, and profit must not be made out of an office such as that filled -by her. - -Parents, desirous of having their children brought up to the -ecclesiastical state, committed them to her; and thus she became the -foster-mother of S. Pulcherius or Mochoemoc, of S. Cumine, and S. -Brendan. The latter was committed to her when one year old, and she kept -him with her till he was five. Throughout his life Brendan retained not -merely the tenderest love for Itha, but such a reverence that he -consulted her in all matters of importance. - -One day Brendan asked her what three works were, in her opinion, most -well-pleasing to God. She replied, “Faith out of a pure heart, sincerity -of life, and tender charity.” - -“And what,” further asked Brendan, “what are most displeasing to God?” - -“A spiteful tongue, a love of what smacks of evil, and avarice,” was her -ready reply. - -Brendan, as a little fellow, was the pet of the community, and all the -sisters loved to have him and dance him in their arms. In the life of S. -Brendan is inserted a snatch from an older Irish ballad concerning him: - - “Angels in shape of virgins white - This little babe did tend. - From hand to hand, fair forms of light, - Sweet faces o’er him bend.” - -S. Erc, Bishop of Slane, seems to have been Itha’s principal adviser and -friend; and when the five years of Brendan’s fostering were over, Erc -took the little boy away to teach him the Psalms and the Gospels. S. Erc -found it rather hard to keep the boy supplied with milk, but a hind with -her fawn, so says the legend, was caught, and gave her milk to Brendan. - -It may be asked, What was the mode of life of the community of S. Itha? - -Unhappily we do not know so much of that of the religious women as we do -of that of the monasteries of men, yet we cannot doubt that the rule of -the house for women much resembled that in the others. Here is an -account of the order as given in the life of S. Brioc, an Irishman by -race, though born in Cardigan. - -“At fixed hours they all assembled in the church to celebrate divine -worship. After the office of vespers (6 p.m.) they refreshed their -bodies by a common meal. Then, having said compline, they dispersed in -silence to their beds. At midnight they rose and assembled to sing -devoutly psalms and hymns to the glory of God. Then they returned to -their beds. But at cockcrow, at the sound of the bell, they sprang from -their couches to sing lauds. From the conclusion of this office to the -second hour (8 a.m.) they were engaged in spiritual exercises and -prayer. Then they cheerfully betook them to manual labour.” - -Happily one of the monastic offices of the early Irish Church has been -deciphered from a nearly obliterated leaf of the Irish MS. _Book of -Mulling_: it consisted of the Magnificat. What preceded this is -illegible: some verses of a hymn; the reading of the Beatitudes from the -Sermon on the Mount, a hymn of S. Secundinus, a commemoration of S. -Patrick, a portion of a hymn by S. Hilary of Poitiers, the Apostles’ -Creed, the Lord’s prayer, and a collect. - -The work of the day consisted in teaching the young girls their letters, -in needlework, tending the cattle—in which each, abbess included, took -turn—grinding corn in the handmill, and cultivating the garden. - -Numerous visitors arrived to consult S. Itha, and she most certainly had -fixed hours in which to receive them. - -One striking instance of the veneration in which she was held is that S. -Coemgen of Glendalough, when dying, sent to entreat her to come to him; -he would have no one else minister to him in his last sickness, and he -begged her, when he expired to place her hand over his mouth and close -it. - -One Beoan was a famous artificer; he was a native of Connaught. He went -to Itha and passed into her service; but was summoned by his military -chief to attend him in one of his raids. He departed most reluctantly. -Itha was greatly distressed at losing him. As he did not return after a -skirmish, she went to the scene of the encounter, and found him -grievously wounded, but still living. Under her fostering care he -recovered. According to late legend, his head had been cut off and -thrown away. She found his body but not his head, so she called “Beoan! -Beoan!” Whereupon the head came flying through the air to her, and she -set it on again. So a very simple transaction was magnified into a -ridiculous fable. - -After leaving her, S. Brendan went about with Bishop Erc in his waggon, -from which the bishop preached to the people. One day when Erc was -addressing a crowd, Brendan was in the back of the waggon, looking over -the side, clearly not attending to the sermon. Then a small, -fair-haired, rosy-faced girl came near, and seeing the little fellow -peeping over the side, she tried to scramble up the waggon-wheel to get -to Brendan and play with him. But he laid hold of the reins and lashed -her with them, so that she was forced to desist, and fell back crying. -Erc was much annoyed at Brendan’s conduct, and sent him into the -black-hole in punishment. - -Some years later, Itha required Brendan to come to her: she was in great -trouble, and needed his assistance. He went accordingly, and with many -tears she told him that one of her pupils had run away some time before, -and had fallen into very bad courses, which had led at last to her being -reduced to be a slave-girl in Connaught. Would he go in search of her -and bring her back, with assurance that everything would be forgiven and -forgotten? - -Brendan readily undertook the task, and succeeded in redeeming the girl -and restoring her to her spiritual mother. - -Now Brendan himself got into trouble. He had gone with a boat one day to -an island, taking with him two lads, one quite young. He left one boy in -charge of the boat, and advanced up the land with the other. Then this -latter said to him, “Master, the tide will rise before we get back, and -I am sure my little brother cannot manage the boat alone.” - -“Be silent,” retorted Brendan. “Do you suppose that I do not care for -him as much as you do yourself?” - -After a while the young man returned to the matter. “I am sure,” said -he, “it is not safe to leave the boy unassisted. The current runs very -strong.” - -“Bad luck to you!” said Brendan, flaming up,—he was a peppery man,—“Go -yourself, then;” and the youth took him at his word and found the boy -struggling with the boat, tide and wind were driving from shore, and he -was unable to control the coracle. The elder ran into the water to -assist his brother, and a great wave swept him off his feet and he was -drowned, but the little boy escaped. - -After this S. Brendan had no peace of mind. He thought himself -responsible for the loss of the youth. He had wished him “Bad luck,” and -bad luck indeed had fallen to him. - -He went at once to his foster-mother, and consulted her. - -It is quite possible that the relatives of the drowned youth had taken -the matter up, and pursued Brendan in blood-feud. So Itha, after mature -consideration, advised Brendan to leave Ireland for a while; and in -punishment for his hastiness, and for having caused the death of the -youth, she bade him abstain from blood in everything. - -So Brendan started. He went to Armorica, and determined to visit Gildas, -the historian, who was then at his abbey of Rhuys. Gildas was a sour, -ill-tempered man, very hard; and when Brendan arrived, it was just after -sundown and the gates of the monastery were closed. He announced who he -was—a traveller from Ireland—but Gildas replied that rules must be kept, -and it was against his rule to open after set of sun, so Brendan was -constrained to spend the night outside the gates. - -Thence he went to Dol, but after a while, and a visit to S. David in -Wales, he returned to Ireland, and now Itha told him a marvellous story. -There was a rumour that far away to the west beyond the horizon was a -wondrous land of beauty. He must not remain in Ireland: let him put to -sea, sail after the sun as it set, and discover the mysterious land -beyond the Atlantic. - -The imagination of Brendan was fired; he set to work to construct three -large vessels of wickerwork, and he covered them with skins; each vessel -contained thirty men—some were clergy, a good many laymen—and he took a -fool with him, because he begged hard to be admitted. Brendan was absent -three or five years, it is uncertain which—for apparently the time of -his absence in Brittany is included in one of the computations. - -Wonderful stories are told of what he saw and did, but no trust can be -put in the narrative. On his return he went to Itha to report himself. -She received him with great pleasure, but objected that he had not -literally obeyed her, for his sails had been made of the skins of -beasts, so had been the covering of his boats, and cattle had been -slaughtered for the purpose, so that he had not wholly abstained from -blood. - -But it is doubtful whether this is what she really said. It is probably -the legend writer’s explanation for what follows. “Why,” asked Itha, -“should you risk these lengthy voyages in such frail vessels as coracles -made of basket-work covered with hides? Next time build boats of wood.” - -This was a new idea. The Irish, like the Welsh, had hitherto used large -coracles, and the only wooden boats they had employed were trunks of -trees hollowed out, and these only on lakes. - -Brendan at once seized on the suggestion, and constructed ships of wood, -which were the first ever built in Ireland, and these were due to the -idea of S. Itha. - -Brendan made a second voyage to the land beyond the ocean, and it is -possible that he may have actually reached America; but, as already -said, nothing trustworthy has come to us of the result of his attempts. - -Itha had a brother, S. Finan, and she was related to S. Senan of -Achadh-coel. - -Itha in her old age was attacked by perhaps the most terrible and -painful disease to which poor suffering mortality is subject, and it is -one to which women fall victims more often than men. She was attacked in -her breast, but endured her pains night and day with the utmost patience -and trust in God’s mercy. Her nuns were affected to tears at her -sufferings, but she had always a smile and cheerful words on her lips to -banish their discouragement. - -She died at length on January 15th, in the year 569 or 570, and was laid -in her church of Cluain Credhuil, which has since borne the name of -Killeedy or the Church of Ida. - -She must have been known beyond the island of Ireland, for in the -Salisbury Martyrology she is entered in strange form as “In Ireland the -festival of S. Dorothea, also called Sith (S. Ith)” on January 15th. - -In Cornwall a lofty and bare hill, that commands the Atlantic and the -coast, is crowned by a great ruined camp. It had belonged to the -British, but was wrested from them and became a stronghold of the -Saxons, who held it so as to dominate the entire neighbourhood. This is -Hellborough, not far from Camelford. It continued to be a royal castle, -the property of the Crown, though it does not seem that any mediæval -castle was built upon it. Now, curiously enough, in the midst of this -great camp is a mound of stone or cairn, and on this cairn is a little -chapel, at present in ruins, dedicated to the saint whose life has just -been given. And on the river Camel, that flows into the Padstow estuary, -is a parish that bears the name, though corrupted into S. Issey. But -near Exeter is a parish church that has her as patroness with the name -unmutilated, as S. Ide. - -How came these dedications in Cornwall and Devon? Either because S. -Brendan on his way home from Brittany founded the churches in memory of -his dear foster-mother, or else because here were colonies of holy women -from the mother-house in Limerick. - -In or about 656 Cuimin of Connor wrote the “Characteristics of the Irish -Saints” in metre, and this is what he says of Itha:— - - “My (dear) Itha, much beloved of fosterage, - Firmly rooted in humility, but never base, - Laid not her cheek to the ground, - Ever, ever full of the love of God.” - - - - -[Illustration: S. HILDA.] - - - - - XII - - _S. HILDA_ - - -Hilda was born in 614. She was the daughter of Hereric, nephew of Edwin, -king of Northumbria. - -Her childhood was darkened by the civil wars that rent Northumbria, at -this time divided into two kingdoms, each engaged in fighting the other -for supremacy. - -In 627, when aged thirteen, she received baptism, along with her uncle -Edwin, at the hands of S. Paulinus. She lived thirty-three years in her -family, “very nobly,” says Bede, and then resolved to dedicate the rest -of her life to God. Her intention was to go to Chelles, in France, for -her training; and, for this purpose, she went into East Anglia to its -queen, her sister. - -She spent a year in preparation for her final exile; but her purpose was -frustrated by a summons from S. Aidan, the Apostle of Northumbria, to -return to her own country and settle there. She obeyed at once, and was -placed by Aidan as superior over a few sisters in a small monastic -settlement on the north bank of the Wear. But she was there for a year -only, when she was called to replace S. Heiu, the first Abbess of -Hartlepool. This was in 649. - -At Hartlepool, the Saint’s care was to introduce order and discipline, -which had, apparently, been relaxed under Heiu. Hither came her mother, -who passed the rest of her days under the rule and care of her daughter, -and there she died and was buried. - -In some excavations carried on at Hartlepool on the site of the old -abbey, between 1833 and 1843, among a number of Anglo-Saxon tombs that -were discovered, some bore the names of Berchtgitha, Hildigitha, and -other members of the sisterhood.[5] - -So great was Hilda’s reputation for spiritual wisdom, that when King -Oswy, in fulfilment of his vow, consecrated his daughter, Elfleda, to -Almighty God, as a thank-offering for his victory over Penda, King of -the Mercians, it was to S. Hilda’s care that he committed her. - -Whether now or later is uncertain, but she had a second convent at -Hackness, where some very remarkable relics of the ecclesiastical -foundations of Hilda still remain. - -In 658, the peace and security of Northumbria had been secured by the -final victory gained by Oswy over the Mercians, at Winwaed. Hilda at -once took advantage of the king’s vow to give a certain number of farms -to God, to secure Streaneshalch, now Whitby, for the establishment of a -new and larger monastery. - -M. de Montalembert, the historian of Western Monachism, says that: “Of -all sites chosen by monastic architects, after that of Monte Cassino, I -know none grander and more picturesque than that of Whitby. Nothing now -remains of the Saxon monastery, but more than half the Abbey-church, -restored by the Percies in the time of the Normans, still stands, and -enables the marvelling spectator to form for himself an idea of the -solemn grandeur of the great edifice.... The beautiful colour of the -stone, half-eaten away by the sea-winds, adds to the charm of these -ruins. A more picturesque effect could not be imagined than that of the -distant horizon of azure sea, viewed through the gaunt, hollow eyes of -the ruinous arches.” - -Here, for thirty years, the great Hilda ruled. She must have been a -woman of commanding character, and of no mean mental power, for she -exercised a really marvellous influence over bishops, kings and nobles. -They came to consult her, and received her advice with respect. “All who -knew her,” says Bede, “called her Mother, on account of her singular -piety and grace. She was not merely an example of good life to those who -lived in her monastery, but she afforded occasion of amendment and -salvation to many who lived at a distance, to whom was carried the fame -of her industry and virtue.” - -The story went that before her birth her mother had dreamt that she had -in her lap a jewel that sent forth streams of light; and it was proudly -thought that this meant that she would nurse Hilda, precious as a gem, -and diffusing the light of divine truth through dark Northumbria. - -Under Hilda’s charge at Whitby was the little Elfleda, daughter of Oswy, -who was to succeed her in the abbacy. - -The monastery was a curious institution. It was double. There was a -community of women and another of men. There was, however, but one -church in which they met for prayer. If we may judge by the Celtic -monasteries elsewhere, a wall separated the monks from the nuns, so that -they could hear but not see each other. - -The monastery for men under Hilda became a nursery for bishops. Thence -issued Bosa, who became Bishop of York,—Hedda, Bishop of Dorchester, but -afterwards translated to Winchester; Oftfor, Bishop of Worcester, and -John of Hexham,—all saints; also Wilfrid II., afterwards of York. - -How these double monasteries were managed one would have been glad to -learn, but very few details concerning them remain. - -At Whitby, where she had to govern both men and women, her powers of -organisation and control were conspicuous. But she had others under her -beside monks and nuns: she ruled a large number of serfs with their -families, attached to the soil and tilling it. - -Amongst these was an old cowherd, named Caedmon. He was, as a serf, very -ignorant and uneducated, but he had rare natural gifts, long -unsuspected. He attended the carouses so dear to the beer-drinking -Saxons and Angles, but he was unable to take his part, whenever the harp -was handed to him and it was his turn to sing a ballad. On such -occasions, mortified, he had been wont to rise from his place, and -retire to his own reed-thatched cottage, where he slept beside the cows -in their stall. - -But one evening, when he had done this, as he was lying among the straw, -and the oxen were beside him chewing the cud, and the air was sweet with -their breath, he fancied, half-asleep and half-awake, that he heard a -voice say: “Sing me something.” - -Then he replied: “How can I sing? I have left the feast because I am so -ignorant that I cannot.” - -“Sing, nevertheless,” he thought the vision said. - -“But—what can I sing about?” - -“Sing the story of the World’s Birth.” - -Then, somehow, an inspiration came on him, and in the night, among the -cows, out of the straw, he raised his voice, and began to throw into -rude verse the story of Creation. It was very rugged, but very fresh, -and it welled up from his heart; in the morning he thought over the -lines he had composed, and during the day talked of his newly-acquired -powers. - -The Abbess Hilda heard of it, and she sent for him, and he recited his -poem before her. - -Whether at the time he twanged the harp we do not know; probably he drew -his fingers across the strings as he finished each line, so as to give -time for him to form or remember the next. - -Now, in this poetry there was no rhyme, as we understand it. The musical -effect was produced by alliteration—that is to say, by the repetition of -some ringing consonant or broad diphthong, usually at the _beginning_ of -a word. If we understood Anglo-Saxon music, we should understand the -charm to the ear of this alliteration. - -Hilda at once recognised the genius of the old cow-herd; she took him -into her household, and bade him devote himself to the cultivation of -his talent. Thus it is due to her that Anglo-Saxon poetry took its -rise—or, at all events, was recognised as literature deserving of being -preserved. Caedmon’s poems are the earliest specimens we have. - -But Hilda, with real genius, saw at once in the faculty of the old -peasant a great means of conveying to the rude people the story of -Scripture and the lessons of the Gospel. They were quite incapable of -reading. Priests were few, and widely scattered. The people loved -ballads; they would hearken for hours, sitting over the fire, to a -singer who twanged the strings and then sang a stave or a line. They -loved a long story. It could not be too long for them, having no books, -nothing wherewith to relieve the tedium of the long winter evenings. - -Now, thought Hilda, if we can run the Bible stories into ballad form, -these will be sung in every cottage and farm wherever a gleeman can go -certain of welcome; they will be eagerly listened to. So she gave to -Caedmon clergy who translated the Scripture narrative from Latin into -homespun Saxon. He listened, took his harp, the fire came into his grey -eyes, and he sang it all in verse. Ninety-nine out of a hundred other -women would have said, “This is very interesting, but the man must be -snubbed; he is only a keeper of cows, and he must be taught not to -presume.” Hilda, however, was above such pettiness: seeing a divine gift -of song, though granted to quite a common poor man, she at once -endeavoured to ripen it, and to turn it to a practical, good end. How to -seize an occasion, an opportunity, and make use of it, is not given to -all. - -Another instance of Hilda’s clear mind and sound sense was in the -settlement of the vexed question of Easter. - -About that I shall have more to say when we come to the story of S. -Elfleda. - -The British-Irish Church did not observe Easter on the same day as the -Roman Church; and as the Mercians and Northumbrians had received their -Christianity from Iona, the metropolis of the Scottish Church, they kept -the festival at one time, when the men of Kent and Wessex kept it at -another. This produced discord at the very season when minds should be -awed and calm; and it was a constant source of bickering and religious -quarrels. The situation was intolerable, and, probably at the -instigation of Hilda, a parliament was convoked at Whitby in 664 to -settle the difficulty. This was the _Witenagemot_, composed of the -principal nobles and ecclesiastics of the country, and presided over by -the king. - -Hilda was now fifty years old, and one would have supposed at that age -would have adhered with the utmost tenacity to the rule in which she had -been brought up, and which had been observed by her Father-in-God, S. -Aidan, and by S. Cuthbert, whom she revered as a saint and a prophet -inspired by the Divine Spirit. But she was a woman too sensible and too -forbearing to force her own likings on the Church, against what her -judgment told her was right. Pope Honorius had written in 634 to the -Irish, exhorting them “not to think their small number, lodged at the -utmost fringe of the world, wiser than all the ancient and modern -Churches throughout the earth.” Even in Iona great searchings of heart -had begun. S. Cummian had written to the abbot there, explaining how the -error arose whereby the two Churches were separated, and he entreated -the Celtic clergy to give way. “What,” he asked, “can be worse thought -concerning the Church, our mother, than that we should say, Rome errs, -Jerusalem errs, Alexandria errs, Antioch errs, the whole world errs; the -Scots and Britons alone know what is right.” - -Hilda’s leanings were entirely to the Scottish side, but Oswy strongly -adopted the other, and the nobles and freemen, not caring much one way -or the other, held up their hands to express their willingness to -observe Easter at such time as pleased the king. - -Hilda seems at once to have submitted, and to have introduced the -observance of the Roman computation at Whitby, but the northern bishops -withdrew, unconvinced and discouraged. Hilda was almost certainly alive -when Caedmon died, but she was not long in following him. For the last -seven years of her life she suffered greatly; then, says Bede, “the -distemper turning inwards, she approached her last day, and about -cock-crow, having received the Holy Communion, to further her on her -journey, and having called together the servants of Christ that were in -the same monastery, she admonished them to preserve evangelical peace -among themselves and with all others; and as she was speaking she saw -Death approaching, and—passed from death to life.” She died in 680. - - - - -[Illustration: S. ELFLEDA.] - - - - - XIII - - _S. ELFLEDA_ - - -When the terrible Penda had advanced into Northumbria, against Oswy, -destroying homesteads and harvests with fire, and butchering all who -fell into his hands, then the Northumbrian king sent presents to him, -and asked for peace. The fierce Mercian refused the presents offered: -nothing would satisfy him but the absolute subjection of the Northern -Kingdom. Then, in despair, Oswy vowed to God that, as the old Pagan had -rejected his gifts, he would dedicate his little one-year-old daughter -to Him, together with twelve farms, if He would bless his arms in -battle. - -The odds were against Oswy. The host opposed to him was thrice as -numerous as his own. Ethelhere, King of the East Angles, had come to the -aid of Penda; and Odilwald, son of S. Oswald, who had been given an -underlordship of part of Deira, and who thought he ought to have -succeeded his father in kingship, went over to Penda. - -The battle was fought on the Winwaed, near Leeds; the Mercians and their -allies in their confidence had incautiously put the river at their back. -Heavy rains filled it to overflow; it became a deep and boiling torrent, -cutting off retreat. The Mercians were defeated. A panic fell on them, -and as they fled they were swept away by the swollen river. Of the -thirty eorldormen who marched with Penda, hardly one survived. The King -of the East Angles and the savage old Mercian were among those who were -slain. Odilwald did not enter the battle. He was well aware that when -Bernicia had been eaten, Penda’s next mouthful would be Deira. He bore a -bitter grudge against Oswy, but for all that did not care to put the -knife into the hand of the Mercian king wherewith to have his own throat -cut. - -A battle song was composed on the occasion, of which a snatch has been -preserved:— - - “In the river Winwaed is avenged the slaughter of Anna, - The slaughter of Sigbert and Ecgric as well, - The slaughter of Oswald and Edwin who fell.” - -The battle was fought in 655, consequently S. Elfleda was born in 654. - -Oswy faithfully kept his vow. He set apart twelve estates to be -thenceforth monastic property—six in the north and six in the south of -his double kingdom. He then surrendered the little Elfleda to be brought -up to the service of God. - -Her mother was Eanfleda, daughter of Edwin, the first Christian King of -Northumbria. It was, in fact, her birth, on Easter Day, 626, which was -the occasion of the subsequent conversion of her father, and of his -subjects; and Eanfleda was the firstfruits of her nation to receive -baptism on the Whit Sunday following. - -Oswy, the father of Elfleda, was a dissolute and murderous ruffian, who -in cold blood had murdered the gallant Oswin, King of Deira, the kinsman -of his own wife. - -Oswy gave his daughter to S. Hilda, at Hartlepool. - -In the furious and fratricidal wars which were waged in England by the -conquerors of the British, each kingdom was animated by a blind instinct -that the unity of the race should be effected somehow; but each -understood this only as by bringing the rest under subjection. - -Elfleda is described by Bede as a very pious princess. She had a sister, -older than herself, Alcfleda, who had been married to Peada, son of the -ravager Penda. But Alcfleda bore no love to her husband, and had him -assassinated whilst he was celebrating Easter. - -Two years after Elfleda had been placed at Hartlepool, S. Hilda obtained -a grant of land where now stands Whitby, but which was then called -Streaneshalch. She moved thither, and there constituted her famous -monastery. This was in 658. - -With Hilda remained Elfleda till the death of the great abbess in 680. -On the death of Oswy in 670, ten years before, her mother Eanfleda came -there; but when Hilda died, the young Elfleda, and not her mother, was -elected to be the second abbess. As she was scarcely twenty-five, she -was guided and assisted by Trumwin, who had been Bishop of Witherne, but -had been obliged to leave his diocese by the unruly Picts, and he had -withdrawn to the monastery of Hilda to remain under her rule. - -Like all the Anglo-Saxon princesses of the period who retired into the -cloister, Elfleda did not cease to take a passionate interest in the -affairs of her race and her country, and to exercise a very remarkable -influence over the princes and the people. When in 670 Oswy died he was -succeeded by his son Egfrid, as unprincipled a man as his father. In -674, at Easter, S. Cuthbert was drawn from his island and cell and was -ordained Bishop, with his seat at Lindisfarne, to rule the Northumbrian -Church, in the presence of the king, at York. It was then that Cuthbert, -knowing what was in the heart of the turbulent king, urged him to -refrain from attacking the Picts and Scots, who were not molesting the -Northumbrians. He would not, however, hearken. He had already despatched -an army under Beorf to wantonly ravage Ireland. This had, as Bede said, -“miserably wasted that harmless nation, which had always been friendly -to the English; insomuch that in their hostile rage they spared neither -churches nor monasteries.” The expedition against the Picts was -determined on against the advice of all his friends, and of the Bishop -of York, and of Cuthbert. - -Elfleda was in great anxiety about her headstrong brother, and she went -to see Cuthbert concerning him. He and the abbess met, having gone by -sea to the place appointed for the interview. She threw herself at his -feet and entreated him to tell her what the issue would be—would Egfrid -have a long reign? - -“I am surprised,” answered Cuthbert, “that a woman well versed, like -you, in the Scriptures, should speak to me of length of human life, -which lasts no longer than a spider’s web. How short, then, must life be -for a man who has but a year to live, and has death at his door!” - -At these words Elfleda’s tears began to flow. She felt that the wise old -hermit saw that the mad as well as wicked expedition of her brother must -end fatally. - -Presently, drying her tears, she continued with feminine boldness to -inquire who would be the king’s successor, since he had neither sons nor -brothers. - -“Say not so,” replied Cuthbert. “He shall have a successor whom you will -love, as you as a sister love Egfrid.” - -“Tell me,” pursued Elfleda, “where can this successor be?” - -Then he turned his eyes to the islands dotting this coast, and said: -“How many islands there be in this mighty ocean! Surely thence can God -bring a man to reign over the English.” - -Elfleda then perceived that he spoke of a young man, Alcfrid, supposed -to be the son of her father Oswy by an Irish mother, and who had been a -friend of Wilfrid, and was now in Iona, probably hiding from his -brother, whom he could not trust. - -The venerable Cuthbert was not out in his conjecture. On May 20th, 684, -Egfrid was drawn into a pass at Drumnechtan, in Forfar, was surrounded -by the Scots and Picts, slain, and the great bulk of his men cut to -pieces. - -“From that time,” says Bede, “the hopes of the English crown began to -waver and retrograde; for the Picts recovered their own lands, which had -been held by the English.” - -Alcfrid at once left Iona, and was chosen king. He was a good and just -prince, much under the influence of Wilfrid and inclined to adopt Roman -fashions. - -It becomes necessary now to speak of a controversy that rent the unity -of the Church in England. - -All Northumbria, Mercia and Essex had received the faith from Iona, the -monastic capital of the Scots, whereas Kent and Wessex had received it -from Rome. - -Iona had been founded in 563 by S. Columba, an Irishman; and it was from -Iona that S. Aidan, the Apostle of Northumbria, had been sent. -Lindisfarne, the seat of the Bishops of Northumbria, was a daughter of -Iona. - -Now, there were certain differences between this Celtic Church and that -of Rome and Gaul. - -In the first place, the Britons and Irish had been cut off from -communication with the rest of Europe by the troubles that afflicted the -Empire as it fell into ruin under the blows of the Barbarians. -Consequently they were unaware that a change had been agreed on in the -observance of Easter. It was discovered in 387 that the system of -calculating Easter was erroneous, and Pope Hilary employed one -Victorinus to frame a new cycle, which was thenceforth followed in the -Latin Church. But of this change the British and Irish Church knew -nothing; and when Augustine and his followers arrived in Kent they found -that the ancient Church of the Britons observed Easter on a different -day from themselves. - -That was not all. The Celtic monks had a different tonsure or mode of -cutting of the hair from the Latin monks. Instead of shaving the top of -the head, and leaving the hair as a crown, they shaved the front of the -head from ear to ear. Now, the reason of the use of the tonsure among -the Celts was this. The cutting of the hair signified adoption, and -there is some reason to believe that every tribe or clan clipped its -hair in its own peculiar fashion. The Ecclesiastical tribe adopted the -shaving of the front of the head; and every one so shaven belonged in -the ecclesiastical clan. - -When S. David settled in the valley where is now the Cathedral that -bears his name, there was an Irish Pict invader living in a camp hard -by. He had seized on that bit of Pembrokeshire. His name was Boia, and -he was a pagan. His wife was highly incensed at Christian monks settling -on their land and near at hand, and she tried to goad her husband to -murder them. But he was a good-natured man, and he absolutely refused to -do her will. Then she resolved to get her heathen gods to strike them -dead, and in order to gain the favour of the gods she must offer them a -sacrifice of one of her children. But she had none of her own; so she -called to her a little girl, a daughter of her husband by a former wife, -and told her she would cut her hair. She took the girl down into a sunny -place in a hazel grove on the slope of the hill, and there, with her -shears, cut her hair. Now, as cutting the hair was esteemed to be -adoption, by this act she had made the child her own; so she instantly -with the shears cut the girl’s throat as an offering to the gods. Now -the British clergy, by their form of cutting the hair, regarded -themselves as adopted into the family of God, or the Ecclesiastical -tribe. - -Augustine and the Latin clergy could not understand this. Instead of -arguing with the native Christians they denounced them. They called them -Judaisers because they observed Easter at the wrong time, which was -false; and they called the tonsure of the Celts that of Simon Magus, -which was nonsense. - -There were other peculiarities. The British Church used unleavened bread -at the Eucharist, and the Latin Church at that time only such bread as -was leavened. Also, another high misdemeanour was that, instead of -employing a single collect before the Epistle and Gospel, there were -more than one said. In these two last particulars the Latin Church has -altered now her practice; in the matter of the unleavened bread, the -change took place in the tenth century. - -Now, the matter of Easter was very vexing, for whilst those who followed -the Roman rule were singing Allelujah and were rejoicing, the Celtic and -Northumbrian and Mercian Christians were still keeping Lent. Precisely -the same thing occurs in Russia, where in English and Roman chaplaincies -Easter is kept whilst the Russians are still fasting. - -This became a burning question when the Northumbrian kings married -princesses from the South. These had their own chaplains and kept Easter -at their time, whilst their husbands and the court and the people were -in the midst of Passion solemnities. - -As to the matter of the tonsure, on which the Roman clergy made a great -noise, it was like asking a clan to change its tartan,—say the McDonalds -to be forced to adopt that of the Campbells. - -Oswy had found the condition of affairs intolerable, as his own queen -followed the Roman rule, whilst he observed that of the Celtic Church. - -Oswy had associated his son Alcfrid with him in the government of -Northumbria, and Alcfrid was much swayed by Wilfrid, a companion of his -age then living at the Court of Oswy, who had been to Rome, seen its -wonders and the splendours of the pontifical services in the old -basilica of S. Peter. He came back with his head full of what he had -seen, and utterly scorning everything British, even the Christianity of -his Northumbrian brethren. In his idea nothing would avail but the -conforming of the Church in Northumbria to Roman obedience and Roman -customs. - -Oswy was induced to summon a council at Whitby to decide matters of -controversy. On the Scottish side were S. Colman, the Northumbrian -bishop, with his clergy; S. Hilda, followed of course by Elfleda; S. -Cedd, bishop of the East Saxons. On the Roman side was Agilbert, bishop -of the West Saxons, the Queen’s chaplain, Wilfrid, then only a priest, -one other priest, and a deacon. The King favoured the Celtic use, -Alcfrid the Latin. - -Wilfrid was the chief speaker on the latter side, and he dexterously -appealed to Oswy’s fears. The Roman Church must be right, he said, -because S. Peter, its founder, held the keys of heaven. At once Oswy -quaked; he recollected his dastardly murder of Oswin. It would never do -for him not to make a friend of the doorkeeper of heaven. So he gave -way, and the Celtic bishops, deprived of his support, but unyielding and -unconvinced, withdrew. - -It was now hoped that the Church would have peace, and the points of -difference would gradually disappear. S. Hilda, at Whitby, accepted the -Roman computation. But it was not so easy to satisfy a clergy and people -brought up in another school. - -To make matters worse, Wilfrid was appointed Bishop of York, a man of a -violent, headstrong character, who, to begin with, refused to accept -consecration from bishops in the North with Celtic orders; but went -deliberately to Gaul to be ordained there, so as to cast a slur on the -Church of the people to rule over whom he had been called. - -Wilfrid had no idea of persuasion, had not a spark of Christian love in -his composition; he could insult, browbeat, but not persuade. In his -diocese he roused revolt and provoked brawls, and was expelled from it, -not once only, but whenever he returned. - -Now the new King Alcfrid had brought with him from Iona attachment to -the order of the Church of SS. Columba and Aidan. Elfleda inherited the -same reverence and love for these usages. But on the other side there -were strong political reasons which led men to think it would be well to -come to an arrangement with Canterbury and Rome. It was awkward to have -these differences, this cleavage, even in the royal palace. It was -unadvisable that the Angles of the North and of the Midlands should have -to apply to the Scots and Britons, their hereditary enemies, for their -bishops. If the Angles and Saxons could but agree in ecclesiastical -matters, they would be a more compact body to oppose Britons and Scots; -and, further still, it would be an element conducive to the much desired -unity of the English people. This ecclesiastical unity would be the -first step to the cessation of that internecine war between Northumbria, -Mercia, and Wessex, which tore the island in pieces and soaked its -fertile soil with blood. - -Hoping that Wilfrid, now an aged man, would be softened by adversity, he -was suffered to return. To the new king, as well as to his sister, S. -Elfleda, Abbess of Whitby, Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury wrote, to -exhort them to receive Wilfrid with unreserved kindness. They consented, -and in 687 he reappeared at York; but it was to excite new storms in his -diocese, and he was again exiled in 691. - -Alcfrid died in 705, and the Northumbrian crown passed to a prince named -Eadwulf. Wilfrid had taken advantage of the death of Alcfrid to return, -but was ordered to leave the country in six days. But Eadwulf was -dethroned, and Osred, a son of Alcfrid, aged eight, became King of -Bernicia. By some unexplained means Wilfrid was now, all at once, master -of the situation. Archbishop Berthwald of Canterbury had convoked a -synod that was to settle the disputes, and it met on the banks of the -Nidd. It was attended by the northern Bishops of York, Lindisfarne, and -Witherne, by Elfleda also, the Abbess of Whitby, and by Berchtfrid, the -regent of the kingdom during the minority of Osred. Archbishop Berthwald -read the letters of the pope on the points in dispute. But the bishops -were very unwilling to make way for so turbulent a person as Wilfrid. -Then it was that Elfleda stood forward, and in a voice which was -listened to as an utterance from heaven, she described the last illness -of her half-brother Alcfrid, and his death, and assured all that he had -then resolved to accept the papal decrees, which hitherto, when his mind -was clear, he had so vigorously rejected. “This,” said she, “was the -last will of Alcfrid the King. I attest the truth of it before Christ.” - -Nevertheless the three bishops would not yield; they retired from the -assembly to confer among themselves, and with the Archbishop, and, above -all, with the sagacious Elfleda. It was due to her that a compromise was -effected. The monasteries of Ripon and Hexham were restored to Wilfrid -and with that he was to be content. - -Shortly before his death, S. Cuthbert went to see Elfleda in the -neighbourhood of the great monastery of Whitby, to consecrate a church -she had built there. They dined together; and during the meal, seeing -the knife drop from the trembling hand of the old bishop, in the -abstraction of his far-away thoughts, she asked him what he thought -about, and he told her that he had had a glimpse of the future. She -urged him to eat more. - -“I cannot be eating all day long,” he replied. “You must allow me a -little rest.” - -On the death of Oswy, as already related, Elfleda’s mother had come to -Whitby and placed herself under the rule of her own daughter, and -Elfleda closed her eyes. She herself died in 716, at the age of -sixty-four. No account of her last illness has been transmitted to us. - -Elfleda certainly played an important conciliatory part when minds were -heated with controversy. She was right undoubtedly. It was a mistake for -the Church in North England to hold to a usage that was founded on a -blunder. It was a mistake to persist in keeping Wilfrid, canonically -bishop of York, for many years out of his see. It was a political -necessity that all Englishmen should be united, at all events, in their -religious observances. That paved the way to future political unity. - - - Pedigree of S. Hilda and S. Elfleda. - - Ella, === - king of | - Deira, | - 559-588. | - | - +---------------------------+ - | | - | Edwin, === S. Ethelburga Acca === Ethelred - king, 616-633. | of Kent. | the - | | king of - | | Bernicia, - | | 592-617. - +---+ +----+ - | | -An Irish | | - wife === Oswy, === S. Eanfleda Hereric === Bregeswitha. - | king of | d. 617. | - | Bernicla, | | - | 641-670. | | - | | | - | +---+ +-----------+------+ - | | | | - Alcfrid, | | | - king, 685-704. | | | - | | | - S. Elfleda, Hereswitha, S. Hilda - b. 654; === b. 614, - Abbess Whitby Ecgric, d. 680. - 680-716. king of East Angles. - - - - -[Illustration: S. WERBURGA.] - - - - - XIV - - _S. WERBURGA_ - - -The words of Montalembert deserve to be transcribed and re-read, so true -are they as well as graceful. - -“Nothing had more astonished the Romans than the austere chastity of the -German women; the religious respect of the men for the partners of their -labours and dangers, in peace as well as in war; and the almost divine -honours with which they surrounded the priestesses or prophetesses, who -sometimes presided at their religious rites, and sometimes led them to -combat against the violators of the national soil. When the Roman world, -undermined by corruption and imperial despotism, fell to pieces like the -arch of a _cloaca_, there is no better indication of the difference -between the debased subjects of the empire and their conquerors, than -that sanctity of conjugal and domestic ties, that energetic family -feeling, that worship of pure blood, which are founded upon the dignity -of woman, and respect for her modesty, no less than upon the proud -independence of man and the consciousness of personal dignity. It is by -this special quality that the barbarians showed themselves worthy of -instilling a new life into the West, and becoming the forerunners of the -new Christian nations to which we all owe our birth. - -“Who does not recall those Cimbri whom Marius had so much trouble in -conquering, and whose women rivalled the men in boldness and heroism? -Those women, who had followed their husbands to the war, gave the Romans -a lesson in modesty and greatness of soul of which the future tools of -the tyrants and the Cæsars were not worthy. They would surrender only on -the promise of the consul that their honour should be protected, and -that they should be given as slaves to the Vestals, thus putting -themselves under the protection of those whom they regarded as virgins -and priestesses. The great beginner of democratic dictatorship refused: -upon which they killed themselves and their children, generously -preferring death to shame. - -“The Anglo-Saxons came from the same districts, bathed by the waters of -the Northern Sea, which had been inhabited by the Cimbri, and showed -themselves worthy of descent from them, as much by the irresistible -onslaught of the warriors as by the indisputable power of their armies. -No trace of the old Roman spirit which put a wife _in manu_, in the hand -of her husband—that is to say, under his feet—is to be found among them. -Woman is a person, and not a thing. She lives, she speaks, she acts for -herself, guaranteed against the least outrage by severe penalties, and -protected by universal respect. She inherits, she disposes of her -possessions—sometimes even she deliberates, she fights, she governs, -like the most proud and powerful of men. The influence of women has been -nowhere more effectual, more fully recognised, or more enduring than -among the Anglo-Saxons, and nowhere was it more legitimate or more -happy.”[6] - -Britain had been invaded, and subdued. From the wall of Antonine that -connected the Firth of Forth with the Clyde, to what was now to be -called the English Channel, all the east coast and centre of the island -was occupied by the conquerors from Germany. The Britons had been rolled -back into the kingdoms of Strathclyde, Rheged, Wales, and Cornwall and -Devon. - -The conquerors had coalesced into three great kingdoms—Northumbria, -Mercia, and Wessex. - -From the island of Iona, missionaries of the Irish Church had effected -the conversion of the Northumbrians. Augustine with his handful from -Rome had introduced Christianity into the little subject Kingdom of -Kent. From Northumbria the disciples of Iona penetrated Essex and made -converts also there. But in Mercia Mid-England paganism was supreme, and -the terrible Penda made himself paramount from the Thames and Wash to -the Severn. The West Saxons were cowed. - -But S. Oswald, the Northumbrian king, restored the older domination of -Northumbria, only to fall again. For thirty years Penda flung himself -with fury against the Northern kingdom, and devastated it with fire and -sword. Towards the end of his long reign he entrusted the government of -the Mid-Angles to his son Peada, who married Alcfleda, daughter of the -Northumbrian king, and at the same time received baptism from the hands -of the Celtic bishop Finan. - -Thus Christianity began to infiltrate into Mid-England also from the -North and from the Celtic Church; and missionaries from Lindisfarne -followed him into his principality. - -The savage old pagan Penda acquiesced—perhaps he thought it inevitable -that England should become Christian. The Britons to a man believed. All -Northumbria had submitted to the Cross; the conversion of the East -Saxons and of Wessex was in full progress. Penda raised no opposition, -but poured forth the vials of his scorn upon such as had been baptised, -and who did not live up to their baptismal promises. “Those who -despise,” said he, “the laws of the God in whom they believe, are -despicable wretches.” - -But, notwithstanding the union by marriage between the families, the -rivalry between Mercia and Northumbria could not be allayed; it must be -decided on the battlefield. It was only when driven to desperation by -the encroachments and insults of Penda, that Oswy resolved to engage in -a final conflict with the man who had defeated and slain his two -predecessors, Edwin and Oswald. During the thirteen years that had -elapsed since the overthrow of Oswald, Penda had periodically subjected -Northumbria to frightful devastations. Oswy, knowing his weakness, when -the eighty-year-old pagan had got as far north as Bamborough, entreated -for peace, and sent him a present of all the jewels and treasures of -which he could dispose. Penda set them aside roughly, resolved, so it -was believed, to root out and destroy the whole Northumbrian people. -Then, in his despair, Oswy vowed—should God strengthen his hand and lead -him to victory—that he would give his infant daughter to God and endow -twelve monasteries. “Since the pagan will not take our gifts,” he said, -“let us offer them to One who will.” - -The battle of Winwaed resulted in the complete rout of the Mercians and -their wholesale destruction, and Penda himself fell. - -For the moment the ruin of Mercia seemed complete, and Oswy extended his -supremacy over the whole of it. For three years the Mercians endured -this foreign rule; but in 659 they surged up in revolt, drove the -Northumbrian thanes from the land, and raised Wulfhere, a younger son of -Penda, to the throne. - -Under the able arm of this new king Mercia rose once more into a power -even greater than that under Penda. Oswy died in 670, and thenceforth no -Northumbrian king made any attempt to obtain the dominion over the Mid -or Southern English. - -During the three years after the death of Penda, Oswy had poured -missionaries into Mercia. Peada had already brought the Irish monk Diuma -with him, and he became bishop in Mercia. He was followed by another -Irishman, Ceolach, a disciple of S. Columba. The third bishop was -Trumhere, a Northumbrian abbot, consecrated at Lindisfarne. His -successors, Jaruman and Ceadda, had also been ordained by the Scots. - -In 658 Wulfhere had married Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of -Kent, and of his wife S. Sexburga. This was just before the revolt which -raised him to the throne. He does not seem to have been a Christian like -his brother Peada, but to have felt much like old Penda, his father. - -By her he had four children—Werburga, Ceonred, Rufinus, and Wulfhad. - -Under a pious mother, Werburga grew up in the nurture and admonition of -the Lord; and from an early age her great desire was to embrace the -religious life, and spend her days in the peace of the cloister. It was -a lawless and godless time. Men were coarse and cruel, the palace was a -scene of drunkenness and riot, from which her gentle spirit shrank. She -is described as being very lovely and sweet in manner. She daily -assisted with her mother at Divine Service, and spent much of her time -in reading and in prayer. - -When she came of age to be married, her hand was sought by one Werebod, -a thane about the court, but she refused him. - -Now we come to a story about which some difficulties exist. In the -twelfth century one Robert of Swaffham wrote an account of the death of -Rufinus and Wulfhad, sons of Wulfhere and brothers of S. Werburga. The -authority is late, too late to be trusted, as we do not know whence the -writer drew his narrative. - -According to this story, when Rufinus and Wulfhad heard of Werebod’s -proposal, they scouted it, and told him to his face that he was not -worthy to have her. Werebod dissembled his mortification, and waited an -opportunity for revenge. The princes were then at Stone, in -Staffordshire, where Wulfhere had a palace. - -One day Wulfhad was out hunting, when the stag he was pursuing brought -him to the cell of S. Ceadda or Chad, who exhorted him to receive the -faith of Christ and be baptised. Wulfhad answered that he would do so if -the stag he had been pursuing would come of its own accord, with a rope -round its neck, and present itself before him. S. Chad prayed, and the -stag bounded through the bushes to the spot, with the rope as Wulfhad -desired. S. Chad baptised the prince, and next morning communicated him. -Rufinus was led by his brother to receive holy baptism, and when Werebod -learned this, he told the king of it, and Wulfhere, in a fit of fury, -pursued his sons to the cell of S. Chad, and killed them with his own -hands. - -The story as it stands is impossible. There is no early notice of it, so -that it reposes on a late tradition. Nevertheless, that there is a basis -of truth is most probable, if not certain. The Church of Kinver is -dedicated to SS. Rufinus and Wulfhad, and it stands under the Kefnvaur, -the great red sandstone ridge on which are earthworks where Wulfhere had -one of his strongholds. This is probably the site of the murder. That -the two princes in their youthful pride scouted the suit of Werebod and -insulted him is likely enough. That they had received lively impressions -of reverence for Christianity from their mother is also very probable. -That they had placed themselves under instruction by S. Chad, and had -been baptised by him, is also very likely. But that their father should -have killed them on that account is inadmissible. Werebod may have -poisoned his mind against his sons, and represented them as plotting -against him with the Northumbrian king and using Chad as an -intermediary, and he may have goaded Wulfhere into ordering their death -on that account; or there may have been a violent scene between them -which ended in the king killing them; or, more likely still, Werebod may -himself have waylaid and assassinated them whilst out hunting. It took -very little among the Anglo-Saxons to transform any one who died a -violent death into a martyr; and when two royal princes had been killed, -some excuse for regarding them as witnesses to the faith was sought and -invented. - -The bodies of the princes were conveyed to Stone, so called because of a -memorial set up over them by Wulfhere, an inscribed pillar-stone; but, -moved by compunction, he founded there a religious house for women. -Wulfhere himself was baptised, and gave his consent to his daughter -retiring from the world. He also founded the great monastery of -Medehamstead, afterwards Peterborough, as some expiation for his crime. - -Before this, Wulfhere had been constantly engaged in extending the power -of Mercia. He detached from Northumbria all the district south of the -Mersey, and with it got hold of Chester, of which place in later times -his daughter was to be regarded as patroness. He gained a hold on the -whole of the Severn valley and the Wye, our Herefordshire, over which he -set his brother Merewald as under-king. Then he fought the West Saxons -under Cenwalch in 661, and defeated them in a signal battle, and -extended his ravages into the heart of Wessex as far as Ashdown. Then he -turned his arms east along the Thames valley, and brought the East -Saxons and London under his sway. Still unsatisfied, he crossed the -river into Surrey, subdued it, and invaded Sussex and forced the King -Ethelwalch to submit, and to receive baptism. Werburga resolved to -retire to Ely where her great-aunt Etheldreda was abbess. Wulfhere and -his court conducted her thither, in great state. - -We cannot now see Ely in anything like its ancient condition. Then the -entire district from Cambridge to the Wash was one broken sheet of water -dotted with islets. In places there were shallows where reeds grew -dense, the islands were fringed with rushes and willows. The vast mere -was a haunt of innumerable wild birds, and the water teemed with fishes. -The vast plain of the fens—which is now in summer one sea of golden -corn, in winter a black dreary fallow cut up like a chess-board into -squares by dykes—was then a tangle of meres, rank growth of waterweeds -and copses of alders and grey poplars. The rivers Cam and Nen lost -themselves in the waste of waters. Trees torn up, fallen into the water, -floated about, formed natural rafts, lodged, and diverted what little -current there was in the streams. - -Here and there poles had been driven into the stiff clay that formed the -bottom of the swamp, cross-pieces had been tied to them, then platforms -erected six, ten feet above the surface of the water, and on these -platforms huts had been constructed of poles and rushes, in which lived -families, their only means of communication with each other and with the -firm land being by boat. On the water and by the water they lived, -tilling little bits of land left dry in summer but submerged in winter. - -The islets were outcrops of fertile land, natural parks, covered by the -richest grass and stateliest trees, swarming with deer and roe, goat and -boar, as the water around swarmed with otter and beaver, and with fowl -of every feather and fish of every scale. - -Of all these islets none could compare with Ely, not, as has been -supposed, named from the eels that were found about it, but from the -elves who were supposed to have chosen it for their own and to dance in -the moonlight on its greensward. - -Better, purer beings than elves, had taken possession of this enchanted -isle—S. Etheldreda and her nuns; and it was through them that the wild -fen-dwellers, those who lived on platforms above the water, received the -rudiments of the faith, and were ministered to in their agues and -rheumatic paralysis. - -Etheldreda did not found her monastery here till 673. As Wulfhere died -in 675, he can have accompanied his daughter there only very shortly -after Etheldreda’s settlement in the place. There is no stone anywhere -near, every block that has been employed on the glorious cathedral has -been brought from a distance, mostly from Barwell, in Northamptonshire. - -Etheldreda constructed her monastery and church entirely of wood. Great -trunks had been split and these split logs formed the sides of her -church, and it was thatched with reeds from the marshes. The king came -by boat; the oars flashed in the sun, and the water rippled as the -vessels were driven through it to the landing stage. Werburga, eager, -stood looking forward to the lovely island that seemed to float on the -water; if, as is probable, she was born some time before Wulfhere became -king, she would then be between twenty-eight and thirty. At the -landing-stage was her great-aunt with her nuns, in black habits with -white veils; and no sooner had Werburga descended from the boat than -they struck up the _Te Deum_, and advanced, leading the way, singing, to -their wooden church. - -Now followed the usual trials: Werburga was first stripped of her costly -apparel, her coronet was exchanged for a linen veil, purple and silks -were replaced by a coarse woollen habit, and she resigned herself into -the hands of her superior, her great-aunt, S. Etheldreda. - -We know the form of the ceremonial, and the prayers used on such an -occasion, but we do not know who the bishop was who consecrated -Werburga.[7] She was led to the foot of the altar, after the reading of -the Gospel, and was then asked for two public engagements which were -indispensable to the validity of the act: in the first place, the -consent of her parents, and in the next her own promise of obedience to -himself and his successors. When this had been done he laid his hands -upon her to bless her and consecrate her to God. After prayers he placed -the veil on her head, saying, “Maiden, receive this veil, and mayest -thou bear it stainless to the tribunal of Christ before whom bends every -knee in heaven and on earth.” - -By the rules of the Anglo-Saxon Church the taking of the irrevocable -vows was not suffered till the postulant had reached her twenty-sixth -year, but we cannot be sure that this rule prevailed so early. The -Celtic Church allowed it at the age of twelve. - -When Wulfhere died, then Werburga’s mother came also to Ely, and on the -death of S. Etheldreda, in 679, her grandmother Sexburga, widow of -Ercombert, king of Kent, became abbess, and ruled till 699, when she -died, whereupon Werburga’s mother succeeded. At one time three -generations of princesses of the blood of Hengest and Odin were seen -together in the peaceful isle of Ely, wearing the same monastic habit, -and bowing in prayer in the same wooden church. Werburga lived long and -happily as a simple nun under her grandmother’s and mother’s kindly rule -and direction, till, on her mother’s death, she was summoned to take the -place of abbess. - -It is very important for us to understand what was the moving principle -at this period which led to the foundation of so many religious -settlements. The Saxons and Angles had been a people living in war, -loving war, and regarding the cutting of throats and the destruction by -fire of every house and city as the highest vocation of a man. But when -they had occupied the greatest portion of Britain, and further, when -they had embraced Christianity, a change took place in their opinions. -They came to see that there was some charm in peace, and dignity in the -cultivation of the soil. But it was only after a struggle that they -could stoop to take hold of the plough and lay aside the spear. They -could be brought to this only by example, and it was this which the -monks and nuns issuing from their own princely, royal families showed -them. - -“In the monastic movement of this time,” says Mr. Green, “two strangely -contrasted impulses worked together to change the very aspect of the new -England and the new English society. The one was the passion for -solitude, the first outcome of the religious impulse given by the -conversion; a passion for communing apart with themselves and with God -which drove men into waste and woodland and desolate fen. The other was -the equally new passion for social life on the part of the nation at -large, the outcome of its settlement and well-doing on the conquered -soil, and yet more of the influence of the new religion, coming as it -did from the social civilisation of the older world, and insensibly -drawing men together by the very form of its worship and its belief. The -sanctity of the monastic settlements served in these early days of the -new religion to ensure for them peace and safety in the midst of -whatever war or social trouble might be disturbing the country about -them; and the longing for a life of quiet industry, which we see telling -from this moment upon the older English longing for war, drew men in -crowds to these so-called monasteries.”[8] - -Wulfhere was succeeded in 675 by his brother Ethelred, a quiet, -unambitious king, who devoted his energies to the foundation of -monasteries, dotting them about Mercia with the object of softening and -civilising a people that had the instincts of the beasts of prey. He -entrusted his niece Werburga with a sort of general supremacy over all -the nunneries in his kingdom. She visited them, regulated them, and -brought them into order, before her mother’s death and her own -appointment to the abbacy of Ely. Thus she resided for a while at the -head of the communities of Weedon, Trentham, and Hanbury. - -One incident of her story may be quoted. - -It happened that a shepherd at Weedon was being brutally maltreated by -the steward. The daughter of a king flew to the spot, threw herself -between the overseer and the poor wretch he was beating and kicking, and -arrested his arm and thrust him back, and held him from his victim, till -his passion subsided, and he retired shamefaced. - -Werburga died at a ripe age at Trentham, on February 3rd, 699. - -Two centuries later, in order to save her remains from the Danes, they -were conveyed to Chester, where there was a collegiate church that had -been founded by her father at her request. Her body was, however, laid -in what is now the Cathedral. - - - - - XV - - _A PROPHETESS_ - - -Among the most remarkable people of the twelfth century, one who stood -forth on the stage of history and exercised there a part of no little -importance, Hildegarde, is not to be passed over. Yet, when one comes to -study her, she is a person who strikes the student with perplexity. She -was, indeed, a woman possible at all times, but only possible as one of -significance in the century in which she lived. - -She was one of those marvellous women who, indeed, occupied a somewhat -analogous place among the ancient pagan Germans—a seeress, a prophetess, -even a priestess, like Velleda or Ganna. She took up the same position -in the Christian Middle Ages, directed, ruled, foretold, threatened, and -was listened to in all seriousness. Popes, prelates, kings consulted -her, and all quailed at her threats and denunciations. She saw visions -and dreamed dreams; she endeavoured to throw rays of light to illumine -the past as well as the future. She thought with her inspired eye to -unveil the mysteries of creation. Uneducated, she dictated in Latin; -uninstructed, she wrote on natural history; unordained, she preached -sermons even to popes. - -All kinds of people wrote to her on all kinds of subjects, and she -solved their difficulties, advised them in their perplexities, illumined -their ignorance. - -She has had imitators in all after ages—Antoinette Bourgignon, Joanna -Southcott, Krüdner, and Madame Blavatski—but none achieved such success, -exercised so wide an influence, was treated with so much submission. - -The Emperor, the princes, the nobility, the clergy, the people all -believed in her prophetic power, and accepted her commands without a -murmur. Her warnings and promises were received as divine revelations, -although she spared no one in her denunciations. - -The cause for this unbounded respect has been a matter of dispute, but -is still inexplicable. That she was a coarse deceiver, who imposed -herself on the people as inspired, by a long-continued course of -deception, cannot for a moment be allowed by such as without prejudice -examine her writings and her conduct. She was made a tool of, and a -willing tool, by S. Bernard, to further the crusade he had at heart. But -when, in spite of prophecy and promise, that crusade ended in hideous -disaster and in dishonour as well, her influence with the people was not -in the least shaken. - -At the court of Count Meginhard of Spanheim lived the knight Hildebert -of Böckelheim, his kinsman. Hildebert’s wife Mathilda bore him in 1098 a -daughter, who was named Hildegarde, on their estate a little above -Kreuznach on the Rhine. She was the tenth child, and her parents were no -little concerned how to provide for such a fry. The simple expedient in -those days was to send some of the family into monasteries and convents. -From an early date Hildegarde was destined to be a nun. She, together -with her kinswoman Chiltrude, the daughter of the count, were sent to be -reared by Jutta, the abbess of S. Disibod, a sister of Count Meginhard. -Jutta was an uneducated woman; learning was of no account in her -convent, and Hildegarde was brought up in ignorance of nearly everything -that a young woman of good family ought to have acquired even in the -twelfth century. - -That Hildegarde was hysterical cannot be doubted, but hysteria is -precisely the most mysterious of all ailments. The phenomena connected -with it are the perplexity of physicians even at this day. Many and -ponderous works have been written upon it in England, France especially, -and Germany, but it remains still an unsolved puzzle. - -From a very early age she saw visions, and when she spoke of them to her -playfellows, and they stared at her and did not appear to comprehend -what she said, she shrank into herself and refrained from communicating -to others the things that she saw and heard, or fancied she saw and -heard. Even at the age of five, this singular gift was noticed by her -parents, who could not understand it. Jutta made the girl learn the -Psalms in Latin, and she obtained some glimmer of an idea what the words -meant, but she did not even acquire a knowledge of the alphabet, nor -that of reading music. - -Hildegarde was constantly unwell, but her aches and pains were -apparently due to hysteria and nothing else, and the suppressed desire -to be doing something, making her personality felt, which was impossible -as she was situated. When, finally, she was bidden write down her -visions, at once all her maladies left her. - -“When, on one occasion, I was very much exhausted by my sickness,” says -she in her own biography of herself, “I asked the nurse who attended me -whether she saw things in any other way than with her eyes; she made me -no answer. Then I was frightened, and I dared say no more about it to -any one. But sometimes, inadvertently, when I was talking, I let slip -prophetic sentences. And when I was, so to say, full of this inner -vision, then I spoke much which was quite unintelligible to those about -me. And when the force of the ecstasy grew, and I spoke something about -it, more after the manner of a child than of a girl of my years, then I -blushed and cried, and wished heartily that I had held my tongue. But -out of dread of what would be said, I never dared to speak out openly as -to what I saw. However (Jutta) the noble lady with whom I was had -cognisance of this and consulted a monk of her acquaintance.” - -To one in this condition, plenty of exercise, wholesome food, and hard -work, and her head under the pump if she gave way to her fancies, would -have been proper treatment. But in the twelfth century no one had any -conception that hysteria was a physical disorder. - -Jutta died in 1136, and by unanimous vote of the sisters Hildegarde was -elected to be superior of the convent, when aged eight-and-thirty. She -had now full opportunity to give way to her desire to take that -prominent place to which she felt she was called. Two years, however, -elapsed before she had made up her mind to write her visions and -prophecies. There were difficulties in her way: she could not write, she -knew nothing of grammar, and she was perhaps dubious how the world would -accept revelations which were in shockingly bad grammar and spelling, -and displayed profound ignorance of the real meaning of Scripture. -However, she consulted one of the monks of the monastery of S. Disibod, -and he put the matter before the rest. - -Now, as she was evidently sincere, and there could be no suspicion that -Hildegarde was deceiving them, they had to decide whether these visions -were from heaven or from hell. That there was a third alternative never -for an instant occurred to them: it could not, in the nature of things, -in the then condition of medical science, or rather ignorance. -Manifestly there was nothing bad in these revelations, consequently the -poor amiable monks were compelled to decide that they came from God. - -The difficulty now arose how they were to be published. It was obviously -impossible to issue to the world the farrago of grammatic blunders, and -the confused nonsense of much that poured from her lips, and so she was -given secretaries to write down in decent Latin what they supposed she -meant to say. The Archbishop Henry of Mayence was called in before the -decisive step was taken. He was an amiable, peace-loving, but feeble -man, who was made archbishop in 1142. He gave his verdict in favour of -the revelations. - -Hildegarde says of herself: “In 1141, when I was forty-two years old and -seven months, there came on me a dazzling light from heaven, and flashed -through my brains and heart and bosom. It was like a flame that does not -burn, but warms, just like a sunbeam. From thenceforth I had the gift of -the interpretation of the Scriptures, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the -books of the Old and New Testament. I had, however, no understanding of -the several words of the text, as to their syllables and cases and -tenses. When I have my visions—and I have had them from childhood—I am -not asleep, nor feverish, nor am I necessarily in retirement, nor do I -see with my bodily eyes, but with those of my soul.” Later she wrote: “I -am always in a fear and tremble, as I have no certainty within me. But I -lift up my hands to heaven, and allow myself to be blown about just like -a feather in the wind.” - -Her first book was called by her _Scivias_; which was her contraction -for _Disce vias Domini_, “know the ways of the Lord.” Probably only the -first part of it was sent to the Archbishop of Mayence, who gravely -called his clergy into consultation over it. Then, when Pope Eugenius -III. came to Treves on his way to the Council of Rheims, he was shown it -by the archbishop; he gave it to the Bishop of Verdun and other -theologians to be examined. Afterwards, on their report, at the Council -in 1148, he read it himself to the bishops there assembled, and it was -received with applause. - -S. Bernard was present, and he at once saw how much assistance he could -get in promoting his darling object, a new crusade, if he could enlist -Hildegarde in the cause; and he urged the pope to sanction and bless the -prophetess. This Eugenius did in a letter, in which he accorded her his -full permission to publish whatever was revealed to her. He could hardly -do other. These writings were well intended, purported to do good, and -that these visions and prophecies were the mere hallucinations of a -diseased mind never could have been supposed at the time. - -Hildegarde now shifted her quarters. Troops of women had come to place -themselves under her direction, drawn by her fame. She settled on S. -Ruprechtsberg, near Bingen, where a suitable convent was erected for -her. - -But the good monks of S. Disibod asked a favour of her which she could -not refuse. They knew next to nothing about their founder, except that -he was one of the many Irish who had left their native isle in the fifth -century and had spread over Germany and Gaul. Would she through her -prophetic power, which looked backwards as well as forwards, write them -“by revelation” a life of their founder? - -This she accordingly did, and the life she wrote was, she insists, given -her “by revelation.” It is a long and tedious work, a gush of weak and -watery verbiage. When reduced to its elementary constituents, it is -found to consist of absolutely nothing more than what was already -known—that Disibod came from Ireland, settled on the mount that bore his -name afterwards, and died there. But this was distended into a tract of -6,250 words. - -Hildegarde’s “Natural History” is a very funny book. She did not pretend -to derive her knowledge of the property of things from inspiration, but -there can be little doubt that, at the time when it was issued, those -who regarded her prophecies as infallible, looked also on her -enunciation of the properties of natural objects as inspired. - -She begins the book by likening the world to a human body: the earth is -the flesh, the rocks are the bones, the moisture of the stones is the -marrow, the slate rocks are the toe and finger nails, the plants are the -hair, and the dew is the perspiration. All plants are either hot or -cold; so also are all animals. This is the radical division between -them. The recipes given are profoundly silly. For a boil, house-flies -are to be taken, their heads cut off, and they are to be arranged like -herrings in a barrel round the swelling. A poultice is to cover all—but -it is the flies that bring the gathering to a head. Here is one of the -shortest of her botanical accounts—that of the meadow convolvulus. “The -herb is cold, it has not great powers nor is it of much use. But if a -man’s nails get scaly and crack, then let him grind up the convolvulus, -mix with it a little quicksilver and lay it on his nails, tie a bit of -rag round, and his nails will be lovely.” - -Hildegarde wrote a commentary on the Rule of S. Benedict, another on the -Athanasian Creed. She propounded difficult questions in Scripture, and -solved them by her inner light, only making the difficulties greater, -and always missing the simple meaning of a passage. - -S. Hildegarde had her troubles. She did not get on very well with the -Archbishops of Mayence. At the instigation of S. Bernard she inflamed -the minds of the people with a fever of zeal against the Saracens, and -exhorted to a crusade. This resulted in a frightful massacre of Jews at -Mayence, instigated by a monk named Badulf. The Archbishop Henry, a -mild, amiable man, did what he could to protect the unfortunate -Israelites, and opened to them his palace. But a papal legate appeared -on the scene, and the Chapter induced him to depose the archbishop. He -appealed to Rome, but the cardinals were bribed to declare against him. -He had chosen his confidential friend, Arnold of Selnhofen, to take what -money he could scrape together to Rome and plead his cause. Arnold made -the most solemn assurances of fidelity, and betrayed his trust. He used -the money entrusted to him to purchase the deposition of his friend and -his own advancement. - -The people of Mayence were greatly incensed against Arnold, who was -thrust on them by the pope himself, without election by the Chapter, and -was invested by the pope the same day on which the friend was degraded -whom he had betrayed. On reaching Mayence Arnold did nothing to appease -the popular resentment; his court was magnificent, his servants were -splendidly liveried, and his table was noted for its luxury. Knowing -what a power Hildegarde was in the diocese, he wrote a hypocritical, -canting letter to her, beseeching her prayers. She replied with a sharp -admonition: “The living Light saith unto thee, Thou hast a form of zeal -only, which I hate. Cleanse restlessness from thy soul, and cease from -doing injustice to thy people. Rise up and turn to the Lord, for the -time cometh speedily.” - -Seeing the ferment of men’s minds increase, Arnold resolved on leaving -Bingen, where he then was, to go into his cathedral city and put down -all resistance with a high hand. He purposed lodging the first night in -the monastery of S. James, outside the walls. Hildegarde warned him of -his danger, but he would not listen. A friend, the abbot of Erbach, also -cautioned him. “Bah!” scoffed the archbishop, “these Mainzers are dogs; -they bark, but do not bite.” When Hildegarde heard this, she said, “The -dogs have had their chains broken, and they will tear you to pieces.” - -He scorned these warnings, and in June 1160 went to the monastery in -which he had purposed to lodge. But he had rushed, unwittingly, into the -jaws of the lion, for the abbot of S. James was his most deadly enemy. -The abbot at once sent tidings to the city that the archbishop was -there. A mob poured out of the city gates. The archbishop, hearing the -roar of their voices and the tramp of their feet, was paralysed with -fear; the rioters entered the abbey, rushed upon him, and a butcher -split his head with an axe. The dead body was dragged forth and cast -into a ditch, where the peasant women, coming to market, pelted it with -rotten eggs and bad cheese. - -In 1150 Christian was archbishop, but he was in Italy. He was a man of -arms, who loved fighting, and had no relish for the duties of his -position. During his absence Hildegarde got into difficulties with the -administrator of the see. A certain young man had been buried in the -cemetery attached to her monastery who had incurred excommunication. An -order was sent her to dig the body up and throw it out of consecrated -ground. This she refused to do. She insisted that the young fellow had -been absolved and had received the last sacraments, and she furnished a -vision in which she had been forbidden to exhume the body. But the -administrator did not repose such confidence in her visions as to -submit. An interdict was laid on her convent, so that the sisters were -forbidden to recite their offices and to have the sacraments -administered there. - -No priest in the diocese dared disobey, and the whole convent was struck -with paralysis. Hildegarde wrote, but could obtain no concession. Then -she appealed to the military bishop, who was in Italy. The administrator -sent his account of the affair, and the interdict was renewed. So time -passed. Hildegarde still obstinately, and rightly, refused to have the -body dug up and cast to the dogs. She wrote again to the archbishop, and -finally obtained a removal of the interdict. As she complained, there -had been no investigation into the facts—it had been a party move of -spite against herself. - -Although in 1170 Hildegarde was aged seventy-two, her literary energy -did not fail. She still composed treatises, and continued to write -letters in answer to those she received, or to thunder against those -persons whose conduct deserved reprobation. Her correspondence extended -from Bremen and the Netherlands, to Rome, and even to Jerusalem. Her -denunciations of abuses, corruptions in the Church, were outspoken, and -she even prophesied the fall of the empire and a reformation in -religion; but the condition of affairs both in the state and in -Christendom were so bad, that it required but little foresight to tell -that such could not possibly last without a convulsion. - -Her style is not without a certain amount of rude eloquence, but is -involved. Those who took down her words were clearly not always able to -make out the drift of what she said; but, indeed, she herself probably -could not wholly explain them. The words poured forth in a stream, -rolling her ideas about in confusion, and she was impatient of her -secretaries meddling over-much with her revelations and prophecies, lest -they should make sense indeed, but at the expense of their genuine -character. - -She had one of those eager, restless minds, which at the present day -would have made of her a platform oratress, a vehement writer in -magazines, and a reformer on school and hospital boards: always vehement -with purpose. Her activity, as already said, took several -directions—that of exhortation to repentance and good works, that of -deep theological research, and of Scriptural interpretation, that also -of the study of Natural History. But she did more than that: she wrote -hymns and composed melodies. She had never been taught musical science -as then understood. That was no loss to her. Her airs are as rambling -and incoherent as her prophecies. - -She also pretended to speak in an unknown tongue, and to be able to -interpret this language. The study of this pretended new language is -suggestive and amusing. It has been taken in hand by Grimm, Pitra and -Roth. It presents an amusing jumble of words German, Latin, and -misunderstood Hebrew. - -Hildegarde died at the age of eighty-two, in 1179. She has not been -formally canonised; she is, however, inserted as a saint in the Roman -kalendar on September 17th, the day of her death. - - - - -[Illustration: S. CLARA.] - - - - - XVI - - _S. CLARA_ - - -It has been often remarked how that a saint who initiates a reform, or -does some great work, has a faithful woman to assist, or carry on his -work, and complete it. What he designed for all alike, he was competent -only to apply to men, and she carried out his ideas among women. Thus S. -Bridget supplemented the achievements of S. Patrick, and S. Hilda those -of S. Aidan. Benedict’s twin sister Scholastica worked side by side with -her brother; and, as we shall now see, S. Clara was the spiritual sister -and helpmate of S. Francis. The moon, according to David, is an ever -faithful witness in heaven; and yet the moon wanes and for a time -disappears. The moon much resembles the Church. - - “The moon above, the Church below, - A wondrous race they run; - And all their radiance, all their glow, - Each borrows from its sun.” - -As the moon wanes, so there are periods when the Church proves dull, -dark, and without much token of spiritual life; but this is for a time -only, and precedes a restoration of illumination. The period when S. -Francis appeared was one of those of darkness in the Church. The -enthusiastic faith of the barbarian kings and nobles, bred of the -self-devotion and earnestness of the first missionaries among them, had -led to their endowing the Church largely. This was done to enable her to -carry on the great work of evangelisation without care for the material -concerns of life. But it led to an unfortunate result. As the bishoprics -were wealthy, and seats of power, ambitious and greedy men of the noble -class rushed into Holy Orders for the sake of these material advantages, -and in entire disregard of the religious responsibilities attached to -such offices. And as with the prelates, so with the clergy. They seemed -to think that the things of Jesus Christ were best served by making -themselves comfortable; they were ignorant, careless, and worldly. The -great ecclesiastics made a display of their wealth, and exercised their -power tyrannically. “The Church might still seem to preach to all,” says -Dean Milman; “but it preached in a tone of lofty condescension, it -dictated rather than persuaded; but, in general, actual preaching had -fallen into disuse; it was in theory the special privilege of the -bishops, and the bishops were but few who had either the gift, the -inclination, or the leisure from their secular, judicial, or warlike -occupations to preach even in their cathedral cities; in the rest of -their dioceses their presence was but occasional—a progress or -visitation of pomp and form, rather than of popular instruction. The -only general teaching of the people was the ritual. - -“But the splendid ritual, admirably as it was constituted to impress by -its words or symbolic forms the leading truths of Christianity upon the -more intelligent, or in a vague way upon the more rude and uneducated, -could be administered, and was administered, by a priesthood almost -entirely ignorant, but which had learned mechanically, not without -decency, perhaps not without devotion, to go through the stated -observances. Everywhere the bell summoned to the frequent service, the -service was performed, and the obedient flock gathered to the chapel or -the church, knelt, and either performed their orisons or heard the -customary chant and prayer. This, the only instruction which the mass of -the priesthood could convey, might for a time be sufficient to maintain -in the minds of the people a quiescent and submissive faith, -nevertheless, in itself, could not but awaken in some a desire of -knowledge, which it could not satisfy.... And just at this time the -popular mind throughout Christendom seemed to demand instruction. There -was a wide and vague awakening and yearning of the human intellect. Here -that which was heresy stepped in and seized upon the vacant mind. -Preaching in public and in private was the strength of all the -heresiarchs, of all the sects. Eloquence, popular eloquence, became a -new power which the Church had comparatively neglected or disdained, -since the time of the Crusades. The Patropassians, the Henricians, the -followers of Peter Waldo, and the wilder teachers at least, tinged with -the old Manichæan tenets of the East, met on this common ground. They -were poor and popular; they felt with the people, whether the lower -burghers of the cities, the lower vassals, or even the peasants and -serfs; they spoke the language of the people, they were of the people. -All these sects were bound together by their common aversion to the -clergy—not only the wealthy, worldly, immoral, tyrannical, but the -decent yet inert priesthood, who left the uninstructed souls of men to -perish.”[9] - -It was when, apparently, the bulk of the population was hesitating -whether to break away from the Church, and when certain ardent spirits -began to question whether the Church could be the Kingdom of God, -wherein appeared so much of evil, that almost simultaneously two men -stood forth to arrest the evil. The story was told afterwards that the -pope in a dream had seen the Church under the form of a building -tottering to its fall, but that two men rushed forward and sustained it. -These men were Dominic and Francis. The former founded an order of -preachers, by which Christendom in the West was overspread with a host -of zealous, active, and devoted men, whose function was popular -instruction. - -Francis, seeing the universal greed after lands and money, took the vow -of poverty, made that a capital point in his institution. The grasping -after possessions should never curse his society, and he donned, and -made his disciples don, the poor, coarse dress of the common labourer, -to show that they were to be ever of the people, and for the people, -even for the lowest. And he aimed first of all to encourage piety—the -striving of the soul after God—and to show that within the Church that -flame could burn brightest and give out most heat. But he taught as -well. It was due to his great desire to bring home to the people the -truth of the Incarnation, that he devised the _crèche_ of Christmas, and -composed the first Christmas carols. And he was a preacher—fervent, -inspired, convincing. His heart so overflowed with love, that even birds -and beasts were attracted to him, and his love extended to them—“his -sisters and brothers,” as he termed them. - -The story of the conversion of S. Francis, the wealthy merchant’s son, -is well known. He was a young man, just at the age when the deepest -feelings of man’s nature begin to make themselves articulate. One -evening he was revelling with his companions of the same age with -himself. When supper was over, the merry party dashed out of the hot, -lighted room into the open air. The dark indigo-blue vault of heaven -overhead was besprent with myriads of stars, and Francis suddenly -halted, looked up, and remained silent in contemplation of this wondrous -canopy. - -“What ails you, Francis?” asked one of the revellers. - -“He is star-gazing for a wife,” joked another. - -“Ah!” said Francis gravely, “for a wife past all that your imagination -can conceive.” - -His soul with inarticulate cravings strained after something higher than -a merchant’s life behind a counter, a nobler life than revelling and -drunkenness. Then probably he first conceived the idea of embracing -poverty, and of devoting his whole life to his poor brothers. - -The first great gathering of the Order he founded was in 1212, and that -same year saw the establishment of a sisterhood in connection with the -Society. It came about thus:— - -Favorino Scefi was a man of noble family in Assisi, given to the -profession of arms, and a good swordsman; his wife, Hortulana, had -presented him with three daughters, Clara, Agnes, and Beatrix, but no -son. - -One day—it was Palm Sunday—in the before-mentioned year, when Clara was -aged eighteen, she and her mother were present when Francis preached. -The effect of his sermon on her young heart was overwhelming and -ineradicable. From this moment she resolved to leave the world and its -splendours, and the prospect of marriage, and to devote her whole life -to God and to the advancement of His kingdom. - -What she was to do, what God’s designs were, all was dark before her; -only in her was the intense longing to place herself in His hands, that -He might use her as He saw fit. And it appeared to her that her desire -had been known and her self-offering accepted. As already said, it was -Palm Sunday, and the custom was for the bishop to bless the palms that -were presented him by the deacon, and to distribute them among those who -came up in single file to the altar steps. Clara, shy and retiring, hung -back. The bishop’s eye rested on her. All at once he stepped down into -the nave, the acolytes bearing their tapers before him, and carrying a -palm branch, he placed it in the hands of the shrinking maiden. - -To her it was as a consecration. - -In the evening she ran to the chapel of the Portiuncula, where Francis -and his disciples were installed; she fell on her knees and implored to -be received, and given work to do. In a paroxysm of devotion she plucked -off her little ornaments, and tore away her rich dress. - -Francis, unable as he was unwilling to refuse her offer of herself, cast -over her a coarse habit, and she was enrolled in the ranks of the -Champions of Poverty. - -But where was the young girl to be put? He had no other female -adherents. He accordingly took her to the Benedictine nunnery of S. -Paolo, where she was to remain till he had considered what to do with -her. - -The parents of Clara were indignant and annoyed when they learned what -she had done, and they endeavoured by every means to induce her to -return to them. They even employed violence. She escaped from them to -the altar, and laid hold of the cloth that covered it. They tried to -drag her away, but she clung with such tenacity as to tear the very -cloth to which she clung. - -Clara now removed to another convent of Benedictins, S. Angelo di Panso, -where she spent a fortnight in prayer and silence, considering the step -she had taken. - -At the end of that time her sister Agnes, two years younger than -herself, came and entreated to be allowed to remain with her. The father -was very angry, and called the members of the family together to consult -on the matter. Nothing, however, could be done; the two girls were -resolute. - -In the meantime S. Francis was busy preparing a dwelling for them near a -little church of S. Damian that he had restored. When this was complete -he removed them to it. Many girls and even women now joined the sisters, -and constituted a little community. Francis was appealed to for a rule -by which they might form their lives, but this he was unwilling to give. -Let them, said he, take Clara herself as their example. - -Presently, little Beatrix arrived. She could not bear to be alone in the -now desolate home, she yearned to be with her sisters. She also was -accepted. After the death of her husband Hortulana also joined them, so -that mother and daughters were united again. - -As the fundamental rule of Francis was absolute poverty, his brothers -were obliged to beg their bread. They went round the town and country -with sacks, asking for scraps of food; and as it would not be seemly for -the sisters of the house at S. Damian to do the same, the friars were -constrained to divide their crusts with them. - -Gregory IX. very sensibly objected to the friars going in and out of the -convent, and he forbade it. “Very well,” said Clara; “if holy brothers -may not minister to us the Bread of Life, they shall not provide us with -the bread that perishes,” and she refused the crusts and broken meat -they had collected on their rounds. What was to be done? The whole -convent would starve. In a few days the Poor Clares would be dead. An -express was sent to the Pope. Gregory could defy an emperor, and that -such an one as Frederick Barbarossa; but he was no match for an -obstinate woman. He gave way. - -The rule imposed on the sisterhood by S. Clara was one of dreary -penance. Their services in church were to be without music, even on the -high festivals. She would not allow those who were ignorant to learn to -read, so that to such these services were unintelligible. - -In fact, extravagance marked all she did. She did not suffer the sisters -ever to interchange a word with each other without permission, and they -were all shut up in their convent, which they might not leave. It is -true that S. Francis did slightly modify some of this severity. But his -own rule of absolute poverty was a mistake. He intended it as a protest -against the money and land grabbing which prevailed, not among laymen -only, but among ecclesiastics, and also among the monks; but he went too -far. He turned his friars into mere beggars. If he had insisted that -they should be poor and work for their livelihood, that would have been -well; but to employ them as tramps, begging from door to door, and -sponging on the honest, hard-working people, was a fatal mistake, and -led to very bad results. - -So also Clara, in the hope of keeping her sisters devoted only to the -service of God, dissuaded, nay, forbade, reading. In place of -cultivating the intellect—a splendid gift of God—she made those under -her direction bury their talents. - -Insensibly, the Manichæan heresy had penetrated all minds, and made men -and women think that the body was evil and must be tortured and bullied, -and all that was human trampled underfoot, that the soul alone should be -cared for. The result was the production of hysterical, ecstatic beings, -who were helpless to do anything for themselves, and were, so far as -their minds went, idiots. - -S. Clara’s work would have been worse than useless, positively -mischievous, had it not been for one thing. S. Francis, in order to -extend religion among the people, had instituted a third branch of his -institution, of which the second was that of the Poor Clares. This third -order comprised men and women living in the world—in fact, a great guild -of pious people, observing very simple rules, which bound all together -in the service of God, His Church, and the poor and sick. This spread -like wildfire: everywhere men and women, husbands and wives, young men -and girls, rich and poor, nobles and merchants, day-labourers and -needlewomen, joined this community, encouraged each other in good works, -and learned, by knowing each other, to lose class exclusiveness. - -Inevitably the charge of the female members of the third order devolved -on the Poor Clares. Then other duties sprang up. There were plenty of -little orphan girls adrift; these had to be cared for, and the Clares -took charge of them. The devout desired to have their daughters taught -by them, and they were constrained to open schools,—and thus to -cultivate their own minds, and abandon the rule of silence, or at least -to modify it. Consequently the order of Poor Clares did a great deal of -good, but not in the way in which S. Clara desired. - -The time was one of furious intestinal war in Italy between the factions -of Guelph and Ghibelline, and there were far more women than men, as the -latter had fallen. Children were left without fathers, wives lost their -husbands, girls were deprived of their natural protectors, and the -convent served as an asylum for these unfortunates, who otherwise would -have succumbed. - -In 1220 occurred a scene bearing some resemblance to that of the last -meeting of S. Benedict and his sister. S. Clara felt a great desire to -be with S. Francis and to eat with him; but he constantly refused. At -length his companions, seeing how this troubled her, said to him, -“Father, it seems to us that this sternness is not in accordance with -Christian charity. Pay attention to Clara, and consent to her request. -It is but a small thing that she desires of you—just to eat with her. -Remember how that, at your preaching, she forsook all that the world -offers.” - -S. Francis answered, “As it is so in your eyes, so let it be. Let the -feast be held at the Church of the Portiuncula, for it was in that that -she took the vows.” - -When the appointed day arrived, S. Clara went forth from her convent -with one companion, and came to the place appointed, and waited till -Francis should arrive. After awhile he appeared, and he caused their -common meal to be prepared on the grass. He seated himself beside Clara, -and one of his friars beside the nun who had attended S. Clara. Then all -the rest of the company gathered about them. - -During the first course S. Francis spoke of God so sweetly, so tenderly, -that all were rapt in ecstasy, and forgetting their food, remained -wondering and thinking only of God. - -When the repast was ended, Clara returned to San Damiani greatly -comforted. This was her only meeting, for other purposes than those of -ghostly counsel, with her friend and father. - -S. Francis died in 1226, six years after the meeting; but Clara lived on -for more than a quarter of a century after his decease. - -Concerning the austerities practised by S. Clara it is unnecessary to -write: a knowledge of them would provoke disgust; but they have probably -been vastly exaggerated, for had they been what is represented, she -could not have lived forty-two years of self-torture. As she died she -was heard murmuring that she saw our Lord surrounded with virgins -crowned with flowers, and that one, whose wreath was “like a windowed -censer,” bowed over her and kissed her. - -She died in 1257. - -We cannot say of S. Clara that she originated a great work of utility. -She supplemented the undertaking of S. Francis, and carried his -extravagances to a further extreme. But she was sincere, she held to her -purpose; and although her foundation was one void of common-sense and -right principles, yet, because well intended, it worked itself into one -of utility, and continues to the present day in the Latin Communion -doing good service. - - - - -[Illustration: S. THERESA.] - - - - - XVII - - _S. THERESA_ - - -The most beautiful and pathetic female figure that stands out in the age -of the great convulsion which rent Europe into two religious camps, is -that of Theresa of Avila: beautiful, because of her exquisitely pure and -sincere character and strength of purpose; pathetic, because all her -saintliness, all her energies, were directed in a false channel, and to -build up what crumbled to pieces almost as soon as the breath left her -body. - -S. Theresa was born at Avila, in Spain, in the province of the same name -and the kingdom of Castile, 1515. Her parents belonged to the class of -gentry, and were well connected, but not wealthy. - -“To know Avila,” says Miss G. C. Graham, in her book _Santa Teresa_, “to -wander through its streets, to watch the sun rise and set over the -sombre moorlands beyond the city walls—is greatly to know Teresa. In one -of its fortress-houses, where on the shield over the gateway the -bucklers of the Davilas were quartered with the rampant lion of the -Cepedas, she was born and passed her childhood. In the cathedral which -looms over the city walls, half church, half fortress, she worshipped -and gazed with ardent eyes, and with a thrill of wonder and terror, into -the dim mysteries of its roof. In the quiet cloisters of the Encarnacion -she passed the greater part of her life of peace and contemplation. -These time-stained stones, these silent cloisters—all that remains in -outward bodily form of that strangely complex age, which produced her -and the gentle San Juan de la Cruz, so different from her in character -and tendencies, together with Philip II., the gloomy and conscientious -bigot who championed both—shaped and moulded her existence, shut in and -controlled her life. Most meet background for her whose whole life was -to be one long battle, this city of warriors and knights—their very -memory all shadowy.” - -Her father was twice married, and Theresa was the eldest daughter by the -second wife, who bore him seven sons and two daughters. By his first -wife he had two sons and a daughter. She says of this family, “They were -all bound to one another by a tender love, and all resembled their -parents in virtue except myself.” - -The young men for the most part went to the “Indies” to carve out -fortunes for themselves, but always looked back wistfully and with love -to the old home and the dear sisters and parents there. There was much -that was grand and full of promise in ancient Spanish life—great -domestic attachment, simplicity, integrity, and self-respect, together -with a dauntless spirit and a love of adventure. But a fatal darkness -came over it. The liberal and democratic institutions of the country -were destroyed by the King’s ambition of obtaining absolute power; and, -worst of all, the Inquisition was suffered to scotch and kill all free -intellectual life. - -Theresa from an early age was full of vital, intellectual and spiritual -energies, but none of these was allowed an outlet. With her -extraordinary powers, and with her indomitable will, had her energies -been directed to expand in practical good works, she might have -transformed the position of her countrywomen. - -It was, perhaps, impossible for Theresa to revolutionise the position of -women in Spain; the thought of attempting such a thing did not occur to -her. So she did the only thing that seemed possible—immure them; that -they might not gossip, nor fritter their lives in visiting and -entertaining. - -To return to her biography. - -Her favourite brother, Rodrigo, four years older than herself, was her -companion in play. Along with him she pored over an old book of the -Lives of the Saints and Martyrs. “When I saw the martyrdom which they -had suffered for God,” she wrote in after years, “it seemed to me that -they had bought the enjoyment of God very cheaply, and I longed to die -like them. Together with my brother I discoursed how it would be -possible to accomplish this. We agreed to go to the land of the Moors, -begging our way for the love of God, there to be beheaded; and it seems -to me that the Lord gave us courage even at so tender an age, if we -could have discovered a means of accomplishing what we desired. But our -parents seemed to us the great obstacle.” It is said that the two -children actually started, carrying with them provisions for the -journey. She was then only six or seven. They got out of the town and on -to the bridge, where their uncle, who was jogging into Avila on -horseback, saw them, stopped and asked what they were about, and whither -going. He at once took them home again. - -After her mother’s death her father took her to the convent of the -Encarnacion. Her elder sister had been married in 1531, and there was no -one to look after her at home. In the peaceful retreat of the convent -she remained for a year and a half, till, falling ill, she was sent -home. A visit she paid during her convalescence to her sister Maria, the -wife of a Castilian gentleman who had a country house two days’ journey -from Avila, determined her vocation. Half-way lived her uncle, Pedro de -Cepeda, in an old manor-house. He was a grave, formal gentleman, without -wife and children, who attended to his estate, and read only religious -books. The young girl stayed the night in his house, and the old man -asked her to read aloud to him one of his favourite books of devotion. -Out of courtesy she concealed her distaste, and read to him in the -evening. She remained there more than one night, probably because not -strong enough to proceed upon her journey, and every evening continued -the reading. She says: “Although the days I stayed with him were few, -such was the effect the words of God I read and heard had on my heart, -and the good companionship, that I began to understand the truth—that -all was nothing, and that the world was vanity, and that everything -ended speedily.” She prosecuted her journey after this rest, but her -mind was working out the solution of her own destiny. She saw life under -a new aspect. - -She made up her mind to become a nun, though without any very sincere -vocation. Her father gave his consent, and she entered the convent of -the Encarnacion as a novice. - -The sisterhood was easy-going and numerous. So many men at this period -went to the New World, that women abounded, and having nowhere else to -go, settled into convents for their convenience, and not for the sake of -devotion. “The discipline,” says Miss Graham, “was not severe; in its -atmosphere of relaxation and secularism, worldly rank was as potent as -in this century: no strict, demure sisterhood that of the Encarnacion, -where nearly a hundred merry, noisy, squabbling, sometimes hungry and -chattering, women made the best of a life forced on them.” - -It was a convenient, harmless sort of pension for middle-aged ladies who -were single; but, of course, not quite suited to young girls without a -vocation. The sisters went about, paid visits, received friends, just as -in an hotel. All would have been well enough had they been given -definite work—the education of poor girls, Sunday-schools, nursing the -sick, the care of orphans—but they had nothing to occupy their time or -their minds except the choir offices in Latin, which they did not -understand. - -For a while Theresa fell in with this sort of life, frivolity and -religion mixed in equal proportions—frivolity bred of idleness. But it -did not satisfy her; it was not what she wanted. She was full of impulse -and had a soul desirous of better things. Not for a moment did the -thought dawn on her that these good women might be made useful in their -generation. A woman is hardly ever an innovator, and the notion of -innovation never entered the mind of Theresa. The only course that she -could take was to make the enclosure of the nuns strict, and to impose -silence on their flow of silly talk. Consequently she brooded on the -idea of a reform, and a reform in this direction. - -Theresa returned to the Encarnacion after a serious catalyptic attack, -on Palm Sunday, 1537. She was then about twenty-two; and twenty-five -years of her life were spent within its walls in spiritual and physical -troubles, all produced by the same cause—having nothing worthy of her -powers to occupy her. - -Through all these years this grand woman, full of practical commonsense, -with fervent devotion to God in her heart, fired with desire to do -something for Him, with a really wonderful tact and charm of manner that -was irresistible, had been chafing at her impotence. - -Talking with a friend one day, she heard that certain nuns of the -Carmelite Order, to which the Encarnacion belonged, had gone back to -observance of the primitive rule. What that primitive rule was she did -not know; but the friend, a widow lady, said: “How should you like to -join me, and become barefooted nuns, and help me to found a convent of -this sort?” The idea fired the brain of Theresa, and she went to the -Superior to ask permission to start a convent of the strict rule. The -Superior and Provincial gave their consent after great hesitation, and -arranged that the new house should contain thirteen nuns, and enjoy a -fixed revenue. But here S. Theresa interposed; she positively refused to -have a revenue. The house must be founded in absolute poverty. - -“As soon as our intention began to get wind in the town, there arose -such a storm of persecution as is quite indescribable. The scoffs, the -jeers, the laughter, the outcries that this was a ridiculous, fantastic -undertaking, were more than I can speak of.” - -The Provincial, thinking it would not do to run counter to popular -opinion, changed his mind, and refused to permit the foundation. - -“In the meantime I was in very bad odour in the house where I was, -because I wished to draw the enclosure more tight. The sisters said that -I insulted them, and that God was served well in their convent, and that -it would be far better for me to devote my energies to procuring money -for that house already existing than to found a new one. Some even -wanted to put me in prison, and there were but few who took my part.” - -After about six months she persuaded her sister with great secrecy to -buy her a house in Avila. Then, delighted to have a mystery to play -with, she set to work to prepare for turning this house into a convent -of barefooted Carmelites. Happily for her she obtained the favour of the -bishop, and also a papal brief; and then very secretly, on S. -Bartholomew’s Day, 1562, she and a few intimates moved into this house. -All went on smoothly till after dinner. Theresa had lain down for her -_siesta_, when the house was disturbed by the arrival of a messenger -from the convent of the Encarnacion with peremptory orders for her -return as well as that of two of the nuns she had persuaded to follow -her. The convent was in wild excitement. She was obliged to return, but -she was able to hold her own; she had the papal brief to display. - -What follows is comical. The town council and the cathedral chapter were -convulsed at the news. The mayor sent messages about to convoke a grand -assembly of the city council to decide what was to be done, and orders -to Theresa to leave the house. But she was resolute. Then, when the town -council was baffled, the mayor endeavoured to effect a compromise, being -much put out at a woman having defied all the city magnates. But she -flourished in his face the brief and an authorisation from the bishop, -and he returned defeated. The city magnates in high dudgeon appealed to -the sovereign, Philip II., and Theresa was obliged also to send a -delegate to court to plead her case. The opposition dragged on for a -year, but in the end Theresa carried her point. It was not worth the -storm in a teacup raised. - -This was the beginning. Even in Spain it was felt that a change in -monastic life was necessary. - -But reform assumed the direction of recurrence to severe asceticism, a -phase as out of date as could well be conceived, and which accordingly -flickered for a while, and then expired. - -Theresa was delighted to enlist some earnest friars in the cause, and -they reformed the Carmelite monasteries on the same lines as those she -had pursued with the convents. - -In her own account of how she founded her various establishments, she -says:— - -“I lived five years in the convent of S. Joseph at Avila, after I had -founded it; and I think that they were the most quiet years of my life. -I there enjoyed the tranquillity and calmness which my soul has often -since longed for.... The number in the house was thirteen, a number -which I was resolved not to exceed. I was much delighted at living among -such pure and holy souls, for all their care was to serve and praise our -Lord. His Divine Majesty sent us everything necessary without our -asking; and whenever we were in want—and that was seldom—their joy was -all the greater. I praised the Lord for giving them such heroic virtue, -and especially for endowing them with indifference to what concerned -their bodies. I, who was their Superior, never remember to have been -troubled with any thought in this matter, because I firmly believed that -our Lord would not be wanting to those who had no other wish than how to -please Him. With regard to the virtue of obedience, I could mention many -things which I here saw in them. One at present recurs to me. One day a -few cucumbers were given to us, and we were eating them at our meal. The -cucumber that fell to my share was rotten inside. I called one of the -sisters, and to prove her obedience, bade her plant it in the garden. -She asked if she should plant it upright or sideways; I said ‘sideways,’ -and she immediately did so, without the thought occurring to her that it -must decay. Her esteem for obedience was so superior to her natural -reason, that she acted as if believing that what I ordered was proper.” - -In course of time, the eager, active mind of Theresa formed a new -scheme. She had now a convent of discalced nuns; she was resolved to -have also a monastery of discalced friars. The General of her Order came -to Avila from Rome; she explained to him the reform she had effected, -and her desire to extend the reform to monasteries of men. He -acquiesced, and gave her permission to form such a society if she could. -“I was now,” says she, “much consoled at having his licence, but much -troubled at having no friars ready to begin the work, nor any secular -ready to start the house. Here was I, a poor barefooted nun, without the -support of any one but our Lord, furnished with plenty of letters and -good wishes, but without the possibility of putting my wishes into -execution.” - -However, she wrote to the General of the Jesuits at Medina, and he and -the rest of the fathers of that Society took the matter up very warmly, -and did not desist till they had obtained from the bishop and -magistrates licence for the foundation of such a monastery as S. Theresa -desired. - -“Now, though I had a licence, I had no house, nor a farthing wherewith -to buy one; and how could a poor stranger like me procure credit, had -not the Lord assisted us? He so ordered that a virtuous lady, for whom -there had been no room for admission into S. Joseph’s convent, hearing -that another house was about to be started, asked to be admitted into -it. She had some money, but not enough to buy the house with—only -sufficient for the hire of one, and to pay our travelling expenses. And -so we hired one; and without any other assistance we left Avila, two -nuns from S. Joseph’s and myself, with four from the relaxed convent of -the Incarnation, and our chaplain Julian d’Avila.” - -They reached Medina del Campo on the eve of the Assumption, 1567, at -midnight, and stole on foot with great secrecy to the hired house. “It -was a great mercy of God that at such an hour we met no one, though then -was the time when the bulls were about to be shut up which were to fight -next day. I have no recollection of anything, I was in such a scare and -anxiety. Having come to the house, we entered a court, the walls of -which were much decayed. The good father who had hired the house was -short-sighted, and had not noticed how unfit the place was to be made an -abode for the Blessed Sacrament. When I saw the hall I perceived that -much rubbish would have to be removed, and the walls to be plastered. -The night was far advanced, and we had brought only a few hangings -there, I think, which was nothing for the whole length of the hall. I -knew not what was to be done, for I saw that this was not a fit place -for an altar to be erected in it. However, our Lord was willing that -this should be done immediately, for the steward of the lady had in the -house several pieces of tapestry and a piece of blue damask, and we were -allowed the use of them. When I saw such good furniture, I praised our -Lord. But we knew not what to do for nails, and that was not the time -when they could be bought. We began to search for some on the walls, and -at length procured enough. Then some of the men put up the tapestry -whilst we swept the floor; and we made such haste, that when it was -daylight the altar was ready, a bell was put up, and immediately mass -was said. This was sufficient for taking possession, but we did not rest -till the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the tabernacle, and through the -chinks of the door opposite the altar we heard mass, having no other -place.” - -When daylight came S. Theresa was aghast to see how ruinous the house -was: the hall, which she had hastily converted into a chapel, was so -full of cracks that the Blessed Sacrament was exposed to the sight of -those who passed in the streets, and she saw that the repairs of the -dilapidated mansion would cost money and take time. She was much -dispirited, for she began to fear that she had undertaken what she had -not the power to carry out—her intention being to make this a convent of -nuns, and then to found, if possible, in the same town, a monastery for -reformed Carmelite friars. - -“In this trouble I passed a great part of the evening, till the Rector -of the Society (of Jesus) sent a father to visit me, and he consoled me -greatly. I did not tell him all my troubles, but only that which I felt -at seeing ourselves in the street. I spoke to him of the necessity of -having another house for us, cost what it might, wherein we might dwell -till this one was repaired. I recovered courage also at seeing so many -people come to us and none of them accuse me of folly, which was a mercy -of God, for they would have done quite right to take away from us the -Blessed Sacrament. In spite of all the efforts made to obtain another -house, none could be found to be let in the old town, and this gave me -great anxiety night and day; for though I had appointed men to watch and -guard the Blessed Sacrament, yet I was fearful lest they should fall -asleep, and so I got up in the night myself to guard it at a window, and -by the clear light of the moon I could see it very plainly. - -“About eight days after, a merchant, seeing our necessity, and living -himself in a very good house, told us we might have the upper part of -it, where we might live as in a private house of our own. He also had a -large hall with a gilt ceiling, and this he gave us for a church.” - -Others came forward and assisted, and the upper story of the merchant’s -house was fitted up for their reception. - -Shortly after she began to see her way towards obtaining friars for her -reformed Order. There was in Medina an excellent priest, named Antonio -de Heredia, who had assisted her greatly. He told her that he desired to -enter the Carthusian Order. This did not please Theresa; she entreated -him to delay a year the execution of his design, and she then confided -to him her plan. He was pleased with it, and to her great delight -offered to be the first friar of her reformed society. Shortly after, -she met S. John of the Cross, who was also at the time thinking of -joining the Carthusians. She intercepted him, and persuaded him to -become a discalced Carmelite. “He promised me he would do so if the -business did not prove too tedious. When I now saw I had two religious -to commence the work with, it seemed to me that the matter was -accomplished, although I was not entirely satisfied with the Prior; and -thus some delay was caused, as well as by our not having any place for -commencing our monastery.” - -In 1568, the Lady de la Cerda, sister of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, -wrote to S. Theresa, offering to found a house of discalced Carmelite -nuns in her own town, Malagon. This lady knew Theresa well; it was with -her when left a widow that the saint had spent six months. Theresa at -once went to Malagon with some of her nuns, and took possession of the -house provided for them. - -Four or five months after, whilst S. Theresa was talking to a young -gentleman of quality, he most unexpectedly offered her a house he -possessed in Valladolid, with a vineyard attached to it. She at once -accepted the offer. But when she arrived at Valladolid, she found that -the place was unhealthy, and altogether unsuitable. Indeed, all the nuns -fell ill in it, and they were obliged to move to another house given -them by the sister of the Bishop of Avila. - -Shortly after this, a young gentleman of Avila hearing that S. Theresa -wished to found a monastery of discalced friars, offered her a house he -possessed in the little village of Durvello. She accepted it, and then -started to see it, with a nun and her chaplain, Father Julian d’Avila. - -“Though we set off at daybreak, yet as the place was not much known, no -one could direct us; and thus we walked all that day in great trouble, -for the sun was very hot, and when we thought we were near the place, we -found that we had still a long way to go. I shall never forget the -fatigue and wanderings of that day. We arrived at the place just before -nightfall, and when we went into the house, we found it was in such a -state that we could not possibly spend the night in it, partly because -it was filthy, and partly because there were many people about. It had a -tolerable hall, two chambers with a garret, and a little kitchen: this -was the building we were to use as our friary. I thought that the hall -might be turned into a chapel, the garret into a choir for the friars, -and the two chambers into a dormitory. My companion could not endure the -thought of making a monastery of the place, and said, ‘Mother, no soul -can possibly endure such a place as this, however great the sanctity. -Speak no more about it.’ Father Julian did not oppose me when I -expressed my intentions, though he was of the same opinion as my -companion. We spent the night in the church, though, so great was our -fatigue, we stood more in need of sleep than of vigil. Having arrived at -Medina, I spoke with Father Antonio, and told him everything. He -answered: ‘I am ready to live not only in such a house as that which you -describe, but even in a pigsty.’ Father John of the Cross was of the -same mind.” - -The consent of the bishop and of the provincial of the Order having been -obtained, the two fathers went off to the wretched house, and took -possession of it on the first or second Sunday in Advent, in 1568. - -“The following Lent, as I was going to Toledo, I passed that way, and -came on Father Antonio sweeping the door of the church, with his usual -cheerful countenance. ‘What is this, father?’ said I; ‘what has become -of your dignity?’ ‘The time in which I received honour was time ill -spent,’ he answered. - -“When I went into the church along with two merchants, friends of mine, -who had come with me from Medina, I was astonished to see how the spirit -of the Lord reigned there. So many crosses and skulls were there that -the merchants could do nothing but weep. Never shall I forget one little -cross placed over the holy water stoup, on which was fixed a paper -crucifix, and which produced more devotion than one elaborately carved. -The garret formed the choir. It was high in the middle, so that they -could stand up there to say the Hours; but to enter it they were obliged -to stoop low. They had made two little hermitages on each side of the -church, so low that they could only sit or lie down in them, filled -inside with hay because it was cold. Their heads almost touched the -roof. Two little windows commanded the altar, and two stones served them -as pillows. Here was also a store of crosses and skulls. - -“They went about preaching among the ignorant people of the -neighbourhood, and soon gained such a reputation that I was greatly -consoled. They went to preach six or eight miles off, through snow and -frost, barefoot, for they wore no sandals then; afterwards they were -ordered to wear them. When they had done preaching and confessing they -returned late to their meal, but with such joy that all their sufferings -were not accounted by them. As for food, they had sufficient, for the -people of the neighbouring villages provided them with more than they -wanted.” - -We need not follow the Saint through the course of many years, -travelling from place to place, never quiet anywhere, always on the -move, with a scheme in her head, which she obstinately determined on -carrying out in spite of obstacle and opposition. - -When the boys were throwing stones at the frogs in a pond, according to -the fable, one old toad raised its head above the water and said to the -urchins, “What is fun to you is death to us.” The unfortunate women whom -S. Theresa immured, the unhappy men whom she persuaded to reduce -themselves to poverty and imbecility, might have addressed her in the -same words. She, herself, was always engaged on carrying her projects -into effect;—absolutely useless though they were, nay, worse than -useless, for they were positively mischievous. But those confined in her -convents were afforded no work to do, no reading to occupy their minds; -they were reduced to a condition of stupidity. The brain is given to man -and woman to be exercised, the will to be directed; neither to be -effaced. - -What was the reform to which Theresa devoted all her energies? To induce -certain men and women to kick off their shoes. She aimed at restoring -the Carmelite Order to the old severity of its rule at a time when -everywhere practical, energetic, active men and women were needed to do -good work for God and their fellow-men, instead of moping in cells, -looking at blank walls, and shivering with cold in compulsory idleness. -She deliberately engaged many hundreds of the Lord’s servants in the -work of burying their talents. - -We cannot but admire her enthusiasm and her singleness of purpose, -whilst we regret that neither were aright directed. The bishops and -magistrates had sense to see that her undertakings were foolish and -unprofitable, but she was able to override their opposition, by her -strength of purpose and appeal to higher authorities who thought fit to -humour her. She was engaged on making one of her many foundations at -Burgos in 1582; but was vigorously opposed by the archbishop, who -refused to give his licence. - -Sick and disgusted, she left Burgos at the end of July 1582, with Anne -of S. Bartholomew and Theresa of Jesus, her niece, and went to Palencia, -Medina del Campo, and Alba, which latter place she visited at the -request of Maria Henriquez, Duchess of Alba, who was anxious to meet -with her. There she died. The account of her death we have from the pen -of her companion at the time, the Venerable Anne of S. Bartholomew. - -“Having arrived on our way at a little village, she found herself, at -night, much exhausted, and she said to me, ‘My daughter, I feel very -weak; you would do me a pleasure if you could procure me something to -eat.’ I had only some dry figs with me; I gave four reals to a person -wherewith to buy eggs at any price, but none were to be procured. Seeing -her half dead, and being in this distress, I could not contain my tears. -She said to me, with angelic patience, ‘Do not afflict yourself, my -daughter; God wills it, and I am content. The fig you have given me -suffices.’ On the morrow we arrived at Alba; our holy mother was so ill -that the doctors despaired of her recovery. I was dreadfully troubled to -lose her, and especially at her dying at Alba. I was also grieved to -think that I must survive her, for I was very fond of her, and she was -very tender towards me; her presence was my great consolation.... I was -with her for five days at Alba, in the greatest affliction. Two days -before her death, when I was alone with her in her cell, she said to me, -‘At last, my daughter, the time of my death is come.’ These words -touched me to the quick; I did not leave her for a moment, but had -everything that was needed brought to me. - -“Father Antony of Jesus, one of the first Discalced Carmelites, seeing -how tired I was, said to me on the morning of her death, ‘Go and take a -little something or other.’ But when I left the room she seemed uneasy, -and looked from side to side. The father asked her if she wished me to -be recalled. She could not speak, but she made a sign of assent. I -therefore returned, and on my re-entering the room, she smiled, and -caressed me, drawing me towards her, and placed herself in my arms. I -held her thus for fourteen hours, all which time she was in the most -exalted meditation, and so full of love for her Saviour, that she seemed -as though she could not die soon enough, so greatly did she sigh for His -presence. As for me, I felt the most lively pain till I saw the good -Lord at the foot of the bed of the saint, in inexpressible majesty -accompanied by some saints, ready to conduct her happy soul to heaven. -This glorious vision lasted the space of a credo, and entirely resigned -me to the will of the Lord. I said, from the bottom of my heart, ‘O my -God, even though I should wish to retain her on earth, I would resign -her at once to Thee!’ I had scarcely said these words when she expired.” - -Ribera gives the following account of her death:—“At nine o’clock on the -same evening she received, with great reverence and devotion, the -sacrament of Extreme Unction, joining with the nuns in the penitential -psalms and litany. Father Antony asked her, a little after, if she -wished her body, after her death, to be taken to Avila, or to remain at -Alba. She seemed displeased at the question, and only answered, ‘Am I to -have a will in anything? Will they deny me here a little earth for my -body?’ All that night she suffered excessive pain. Next day, at seven in -the morning, she turned herself on one side, just in the posture in -which the blessed Magdalen is commonly drawn by painters. Thus she -remained for fourteen hours, holding a crucifix firmly in her hands, so -that the nuns could not remove it till after her death. She continued in -an ecstasy, with an inflamed countenance, and great composure, like one -wholly taken up with internal contemplation. When she was now drawing -near her end, one of the nuns, viewing her more attentively, thought she -observed in her certain signs that the Saviour was talking to her, and -showing her wonderful things. Thus she remained till nine in the -evening, when she surrendered her pure soul into the hands of her -Creator. She died in the arms of Sister Anne of S. Bartholomew, on -October 4th, 1582; but the next day, on account of the reformation of -the calendar, was the fifteenth of that month, the day now appointed for -the festival. The saint was sixty-seven years old, forty-seven of which -she had passed in religion—twenty-seven in the monastery of the -Incarnation, and twenty in that of S. Joseph.” - -Such was the end of this remarkable woman, whose life was so full of -energy directed to no better purpose than that of a squirrel in a -revolving cage. - -That was not her fault; it was due to the age in which she lived and to -the paralysing influence of the Inquisition in the land, which allowed -no independence of thought or of action. - -We have seen the utter helplessness of Spain exhibited in the War with -the United States of America. Not a token of ability, not a sign of -fresh vigour appeared—only feebleness, degeneracy, helplessness. It is -to this that the Inquisition has reduced Spain. It has destroyed the -recuperative, vital energy out of the character of the people. - -The Latin races seem doomed by God to go down, and His hand is -manifestly extended to bless and lead on the great Anglo-Saxon race. But -this can only be so long as that race fulfils its high mission, as the -civilising force in the world, and it maintains the eternal principles -of Freedom, Justice, and Integrity. - - - - -[Illustration: SISTER DORA.] - - - - - XVIII - - _SISTER DORA._ - - -In S. Hildegarde and S. Theresa we have had instances of two women of -wonderful energy and talent, yet who achieved nothing of moment, because -their powers were not directed into a channel where they might have been -of use. S. Hildegarde, indeed, by her letters, threatening, warning, -reproving, did a certain amount of good—not much; those misdoers who -received her epistles winced and went on in their old courses. -Nevertheless, she was a testimony to a worldly age of the higher life -set before it in the Gospel than that world cared to follow. - -S. Theresa, with a heart on fire with love to God, and inexhaustible -energy, spent herself in founding little nunneries, in which the sisters -were, as a reform, to wear sandals instead of shoes, and in which their -natural gifts were to be reduced to a general level of incapacity, by -giving them nothing practical to do, and by forbidding them the -cultivation of their intellects. - -Sister Dora, whose life I purpose sketching, strikes me as having been a -double of S. Theresa, in the same persistency, determined will, -fascination of manner, and cheerfulness. Neither could be happy until -afforded scope for the exercise of her powers—but how different were the -ends set before each! - -A very charming biography of Sister Dora has been written by Miss -Lonsdale, which, whilst admirably portraying her character, has given -some umbrage by painting the people among whom she laboured in darker -colours than they conceive is justified, and by a little heightening of -the dramatic situations. She fell, moreover, into certain inaccuracies -in matters of detail, and some of her statements have been contradicted -by persons who were qualified to know particulars. What mistakes were -made in that book have in part been corrected in later editions. But I -cannot find that there was any accusation made of the authoress unduly -idealising the character of Sister Dora. On the contrary, some think -that Miss Lonsdale, in her desire not to appear a panegyrist, has given -Sister Dora a tincture of unworthy qualities that were really absent -from her character.[10] - -In compiling this little notice I have taken pains to obtain information -from those who knew Sister Dora intimately, and have had Miss Lonsdale’s -book subjected to revision by such as live in Walsall or knew Walsall -when she was there; and I trust that it is free from inaccuracies and -exaggerations. - -In addition to Miss Lonsdale’s Memoir two others appeared, one in Miss -J. Chappell’s _Four Noble Women and their Work_, and another by Miss -Morton, which has been characterised in the _Walsall Observer_ as a -“caricature.” Neither of these afford any additional matter of value. - -In addition again, but of very different value, is a notice by Mr. S. -Welsh, Secretary to the Hospital at Walsall, in which she worked, and -who was introduced to her the day after she arrived there, and was on -terms of intimacy with her till her death. His notice is in the _General -Baptist Magazine_ for 1889. This is the more valuable as being the -testimony of one belonging to a different religious communion, and is, -therefore, sure to be impartial. Another corrective to mistakes is -contained in _Sister Dora: a Review_, published at Walsall in 1880. I -enter into all these particulars at some length because Miss Lonsdale’s -book was qualified by the Rev. Mark Pattison, Sister Dora’s brother, as -“a romance,” and because some people have considered it to be so, -misdoubting the main facts because of the inaccuracies in detail -fastened on at the time. Mr. Mark Pattison was unqualified spiritually -for entering into and appreciating his sister’s character; and of her -life in Walsall he personally knew absolutely nothing. A cold and soured -man, wrapped up in himself, he could not appreciate the overflowing -charity and devotion of his sister. - -Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison was born on the 15th January, 1832. She was the -youngest daughter, and the youngest child but one, of the Rev. Mark -Pattison, who was for many years Rector of Hauxwell, near Richmond, in -Yorkshire. She inherited from her father, who was of a Devonshire -family, that finely proportioned and graceful figure which she always -maintained; and from her mother, who was the daughter of a banker in -Richmond, those lovely features which drew forth the admiration of every -one who had the pleasure of knowing her. - -Her father was a good and sincere man of the Low Church School. He was -thoroughly upright and strict. It is not a little painful to see how Mr. -Mark Pattison, his son, late Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, in his -_Memoirs_ can hardly mention his father without some acrimonious remark. -But in that sour effusion there is little of generous recognition of any -one. Even his sister, the subject of this memoir, comes in for -ill-natured comment. - -Dora and her sisters, like a thousand other country parsons’ daughters, -were of the utmost use in their father’s Yorkshire parish. A French -gentleman who had lived a while in England and in the country, said to -me one day: “Your young ladies astound me. They are angels of mercy. -They wear no distinguishing habit; one does not see their wings, yet -they fly everywhere, and everywhere bring grace and love and peace,—in -my country such a thing would be impossible.” - -These Pattison girls were for ever saving their pocket-money to give it -away, and they made it a rule to mend and remake their old frocks, so as -not to have to buy new ones out of their allowance for clothes, so as to -have more to give. Even their dinners they would reserve for poor -people, and content themselves with bread and cheese. - -“Giving to others, instead of spending on themselves, seems to have been -the rule and delight of their lives,” says Miss Lonsdale. - -A pretty story is told of her at this time. A schoolboy in the village, -who was specially attached to her, fell ill of rheumatic fever. The -boy’s one longing was to see “Miss Dora” again, but she was abroad on -the Continent. As he grew worse and worse, he constantly prayed that he -might live long enough to see her. On the day on which she was expected, -he sat up on his pillows intently listening, and at last, long before -any one else could hear a sound of wheels, he exclaimed, “There she is!” -and sank back. She went to him at once, and nursed him till he died. - -Her beauty was very great: large brilliant brown eyes, full red lips, a -firm chin, and a finely cut profile. Her hair dark, and slightly -curling, waved all over her head; and the remarkable beauty and delicacy -of her colouring and complexion, added to the liveliness of her -expression, made her a fascinating creature to behold. Her father always -called her “Little Sunshine.” - -But the most remarkable feature about her was to be found in her inner -being. An indomitable will, which no earthly power could subdue, enabled -her to accomplish an almost superhuman work; yet at times it was to her -a faculty that brought her into difficulties. She was twenty-nine before -she was able to find real scope for her energies, and then she took a -bold step—answered an advertisement from a clergyman at Little Woolston, -in Buckinghamshire, for a lady to take the village school. Her mother -had died in 1861, and she considered herself free from duties that bound -her to her home. Her father did not relish the step she took, but -acquiesced. She went to Woolston, and remained there three years, during -which time she won the hearts, not of the children only, but of their -parents as well. She had to live alone in a cottage, and do everything -for herself; but the people never for a moment doubted she was a real -lady, and always treated her with great respect. Not thinking a little -village school sufficient field for her energies, she resolved to join a -nursing sisterhood at Redcar, in Yorkshire. It was a foundation made by -a clergyman of private means, the Rev. J. Postlethwaite, and there were -in it no vows made except one, limited in period, of obedience to the -Superior. The life was not quite suited to her with her strong will, but -it did her good. She learned there how to make beds and to cook. “At -first she literally sat down and cried when the beds that she had just -put in order were all pulled to pieces again by some superior authority, -who did not approve of the method in which they were made.” But it was a -useful lesson for her after-life in a hospital. She was there till the -early part of 1865, and then was sent to Walsall to help at a small -cottage hospital, which had already been established there for more than -a year.[11] - -Walsall, though not in the “Black Country,” is in a busy manufacturing -district, chiefly of iron. At the time when Sister Dora went there it -contained a population of 35,000 inhabitants. It is now connected with -Birmingham, by almost continuous houses and pits and furnaces, with -Wednesbury as a link. - -As fresh coal and iron pits were being opened in the district round -Walsall, accidents became more frequent, and it was found impracticable -to send those injured to Birmingham, which was seven miles distant; -accordingly, in 1863, the Town Council invited the Redcar Society to -start a hospital there. When the Sister who had begun the work fell ill, -Sister Dora was sent in her place, and almost directly caught small-pox -from the out-patients. She was very ill, and even in her delirium showed -the bent of her mind by ripping her sheets into strips to serve as -bandages. She was placed in one small room, with a window looking into -the street, of which the blinds were drawn. The most absurd rumours got -about that this was the Sisters’ oratory, where they had set up an image -of the Virgin Mary; and stones and mud were thrown at the panes of -glass, and the Sisters were shouted after in the streets. The committee -of the hospital were interrogated, and denied that any religious -services were conducted in an oratory. Indeed, no formal oratory would -have been allowed; but no doubt the committee were unable to prevent the -poor Sisters from saying their prayers together in a room if they agreed -to do so, and in community life common prayer is a requisite. - -A boy who had received an injury was taken to the hospital. One night, -when he was recovering, Sister Dora found him crying. She asked him what -was the matter. At last it came out: “Sister, I shouted after you in the -street, ‘Sister of _Misery_!’” - -“I knew you when you came in,” she said; “I remembered your face.” - -This is the true version of a story Miss Lonsdale gives. - -Mr. Welsh says: “When the cottage hospital—which was the second of its -kind in England—was opened, the system of voluntary nursing was unknown; -the only voluntary nurses heard of then being those who had gone out to -the Crimea with Miss Florence Nightingale; consequently the dress of the -Sisters was uncommon, and the name of Sister strange. Therefore, a good -deal of misunderstanding was the result; but in course of time people -began to judge the institution by its results. Still, when Sister Dora -came to the hospital, there lingered doubts and suspicions that the -nurses were Romanists in disguise, come to entrap and ruin souls rather -than cure bodies. But Sister Dora, by her frank, open manner, disarmed -suspicion, while the sublime eloquence of noble deeds silenced -slanderous tongues, put all opposition to shame, and won for the -hospital the confidence of the public, and for herself the admiration -and affection of the people.” - -In 1866 she had a serious illness, brought on by exposure to wet and -cold. She would come home from dressing wounds in the cottages, wet -through and hot with hurrying along the streets, to find a crowd of -out-patients awaiting her return at the hospital, and she would attend -to them in total disregard of herself, and allow her wet clothes to dry -on her. - -This neglect occurred once too often; a chill settled on her, and for -three weeks she was dangerously ill. Then it was that the people of -Walsall began to realise what she was, and the door of the hospital was -besieged by poor people come to inquire how their “Sister Dora” was. - -At some time previous to her going to Walsall, her faith had been -somewhat disturbed by one who ought not to have endeavoured to subvert -her trust in Christianity. This gave her inexpressible uneasiness and -unhappiness. There seems to have been always in her a keen sense of -God’s presence, and confidence in the efficacy of prayer. She now went -through this terrible inner trial. An unbelieving artisan who was once -nursed by her, and had observed her critically and suspiciously, said, -when he left, “She is a noble woman; but she would have been that -without her Christianity.” There he was mistaken. It was precisely her -fast hold, which she regained, of Christianity that made her what she -was. - -Happily she had one now of great assistance to her as a guide—a very -remarkable man, the Rev. Richard Twigg, of St. James’s, Wednesbury. -Every Sunday morning, when able, she walked over to St. James’s to Early -Communion. She found in Mr. Twigg a man of deep spiritual insight, and -with a heart overflowing with the love of God, and consumed with a -desire to win souls to Christ. He was a man with the spirit, and some of -the power, of an Apostle—a man who left his stamp on Wednesbury, that -will not soon be obliterated. - -The struggle through which she had passed, the sense of _need_ in her -own soul for all that the Christian Church supplies in teaching and in -Sacraments had a great strengthening and confirming effect that never -left her; and the love of Jesus Christ became an absorbing personal -devotion that nothing could shake. It was this—the love of God—that made -her what she was, and endure what she did. - -Some time after this she became deeply attached to a gentleman who was -connected with the hospital, and he was devotedly fond of her, and -proposed to her. But he was an unbeliever. Again she had to pass through -an agonising struggle. She felt, as Mr. Twigg pointed out, that to unite -her destinies with him was to jeopardise her recovered faith, and she -was convinced that to be true to her profession, above all true to her -Master, she must refuse the offer. She did so, and probably felt in the -end that peace of mind which must ensue whenever a great sacrifice has -been made for duty. - -Miss Lonsdale represented Sister Dora as somewhat domineering over the -managing committee of the hospital. But this is incorrect. A -Nonconformist minister says: “The noble object (_i.e._ the hospital) had -moved men of every shade of politics, and every form of religious -belief, to the work, and there have been passages in its history not -pleasant to remember, but not one of these in the remotest degree -involved Sister Dora. On the contrary, her presence and counsel always -brought light and peace, and lifted every question into a higher sphere. -‘Ask Sister Dora,’ it used to be said. ‘Had we not better send for -Sister Dora?’ some member would exclaim out of the fog of contention. -Thereupon she would appear; and many well remember how calmly -self-possessed, and clear-sighted, she would stand—never sit down. -Indeed, there were those who worked with her fifteen years who never saw -her seated; she would stand, usually with her hand on the back of the -chair which had been placed for her, every eye directed to her; nor was -it ever many moments before she had grasped the whole question, and -given her opinion just as clearly and simply and straight to the purpose -as any opinion given to the sufferers in the wards. Nor was she ever -wrong; nor did she ever fail of her purpose with the committee. No -committee-men ever questioned or differed from Sister Dora, yet in her -was the charm of unconsciousness of power or superiority, and the -impression left was, of there being no feeling of pleasure in her, other -than the triumph of the right.”[12] - -In 1867 the cottage hospital had to be abandoned, as erysipelas broke -out and would not be expelled. The wards were evidently impregnated with -malignant germs, to such an extent that the committee resolved to build -a new hospital in a better situation. - -“Sister Dora’s work became more engrossing when this larger field was -opened for it; the men’s beds were constantly full, and even the women’s -ward was hardly ever entirely empty.” - -Just at this period an epidemic of small-pox broke out in Walsall, and -all the energies of Sister Dora were called into play. She visited the -cottages where the patients lay, and nursed them or saw to their being -supplied with what they needed; whilst at the same time carrying on her -usual work at the hospital. - -“One night she was sent for by a poor man who was dying of what she -called ‘black-pox,’ a violent form of small-pox. She went at once, and -found him in the last extremity. All his relations had fled, and a -neighbour alone was with him. When Sister Dora found that only one small -piece of candle was left in the house, she gave the woman some money, -begging her to go and buy some means of light whilst she stayed with the -man. She sat on by his bed, but the woman, who had probably spent the -money at the public-house, never returned; and after some little while -the dying man raised himself up in bed with a last effort, saying, -‘Sister, kiss me before I die.’ She took him, all covered as he was with -the loathsome disease, into her arms and kissed him, the candle going -out almost as she did so, leaving them in total darkness. He implored -her not to leave him while he lived, although he might have known she -would never do that.” So she sat through the night, till the early dawn -breaking in revealed that the man was dead. - -When the bell at the head of her bed rang at night she rose at once, -saying to herself, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee!” Indeed, -she loved to think that she was ministering to her Blessed Lord in the -person of His poor and sick. Miss Lonsdale prints a letter from a former -patient in the hospital, from which only a short extract can be made: “I -had not been there above a week when Sister Dora found me a little bell, -as there was not one to my bed, and she said, ‘Enoch, you must ring this -bell when you want Sister.’ This little bell did not have much rest, for -whenever I heard her step or the tinkle of her keys in the hall I used -to ring my bell, and she would call out, ‘I’m coming, Enoch,’ which she -did, and would say, ‘What do you want?’ I often used to say, ‘I don’t -know, Sister,’ not really knowing what I did want. She’d say, ‘Do you -want your pillows shaking up, or do you want moving a little?’ which -she’d do, whatever it was, and say, ‘Do you feel quite cosy now?’ ‘Yes, -Sister.’ Then she would start to go into the other ward, but very often -before she could get through the door I’d call her back and say my -pillow wasn’t quite right, or that my leg wanted moving a little. She -would come and do it, whatever it was, and say, ‘Will that do?’ ‘Yes, -Sister.’ Then she’d go about her work, but at the very next sound of her -step my bell would ring, and as often as my bell rang Sister would come; -and some of the other patients would often remark that I should wear -that little bell out or Sister, and she’d say, ‘Never mind, for I like -to hear it, and it’s never too often.’ And it rang so often that I’ve -heard Sister say that she often dreamt she heard my little bell and -started up in a hurry to find it was a dream.” - -Sister Dora said once to a friend, who was engaging a servant for the -hospital, “Tell her this is not an ordinary house, or even a hospital. I -want her to understand that all who serve here, in whatever capacity, -ought to have one rule, _love for God_, and then, I need not say, love -for their work.” - -She spoke often, and with intense earnestness, on the duty, the -necessity, of prayer. It was literally true that she never touched a -wound without raising her heart to God and entreating Him to bless the -means employed. As years glided away, she became able almost to fulfil -the Apostle’s command: “Pray without ceasing.” And her prayers were -animated by the most intense faith—an absolutely unshaken conviction of -their efficacy. It may truly be said that those who pray become -increasingly more sure of the value of prayer. They find that, whatever -men may say about the reign of law and the order of Nature, earnest -prayer does bring an answer, often in a marvellous manner. The praying -man or woman is never shaken in his or her trust in the efficacy of -prayer. “She firmly held to the supernatural power, put into the hands -of men by means of the weapon of prayer; and the practical faithlessness -in this respect of the world at large was an ever-increasing source of -surprise and distress to her.” - -Since her death, in commemoration of her labours at Walsall, a very -beautiful statue has been there erected to her, and on the pedestal are -bas-reliefs representing incidents in her life there. One of these -illustrates a terrible explosion that took place in the Birchett’s Iron -Works, on Friday, October 15th, 1875, whereby eleven men were so -severely burnt that only two survived. All the others died after their -admission into the hospital. It came about thus. The men were at work -when water escaped from the “twyer” and fell upon the molten iron in the -furnace and was at once resolved into steam that blew out the front of -the furnace, and also the molten iron, which fell upon the men. Some -suffered frightful agonies, but the shock to the nervous system of -others had stupefied them. The sight and the smell were terrible. Ladies -who volunteered their help could not endure it, and were forced to -withdraw, some not getting beyond the door of the ward. But Sister Dora -was with the patients incessantly till they died, giving them water, -bandaging their wounds, or cutting away the sodden clothes that adhered -to the burnt flesh. Some lingered on for ten days, but in all this time -she never deserted the fetid atmosphere of the ward, never went to bed. - -She had so much to do with burns that she became specially skilful in -treating them. Children terribly burnt or scalded were constantly -brought to the hospital; often men came scalded from a boiler, or by -molten metal. She dressed their wounds herself, but, if possible, always -sent the patients to be tended at home, where she would visit them and -regularly dress their wounds, rather than have the wards tainted by the -effluvium from the burns. Her treatment of burnt children merits -quotation. - -“If a large surface of the body was burnt, or if the child seemed beside -itself with terror, she did not touch the wounds themselves, but only -carefully excluded the air from them by means of cotton wool and -blankets wrapped round the body. She put hot bottles and flannel to the -feet, and, if necessary, ice to the head. Then she gave her attention to -soothing and consoling the shocked nerves—a state which she considered -to be often a more immediate source of danger to the life of the child -than the actual injuries. She fed it with milk and brandy, unless it -violently refused food, when she would let it alone until it came round, -saying that force, or anything which involved even a slight further -shock to the system, was worse than useless. Sometimes, of course, the -fatal sleep of exhaustion, from which there was no awakening, would -follow; but more often than not food was successfully administered, and -after a few hours, Sister Dora, having gained the child’s confidence, -could dress the wounds without fear of exciting the frantic terror which -would have been the result of touching them at first.” - -Children Sister Dora dearly loved; her heart went out to them with -infinite tenderness, and she was even known to sleep with a burnt baby -on each arm. What that means only those know who have had experience of -the sickening smell arising from burns. - -Once a little girl of nine was brought into the hospital so badly burnt -that it was obvious she had not many hours to live. Sister Dora sat by -her bed talking to her of Jesus Christ and His love for little children, -and of the blessed home into which He would receive them. The child died -peacefully, and her last words were: “Sister, when you come to heaven, -I’ll meet you at the gates with a bunch of flowers.” - -One of the most heroic of her many heroic acts was taking charge of the -small-pox hospital when a second epidemic broke out. - -Mr. S. Welsh says:—“In the spring of 1875 there was a second visitation -of the disease, and fears were entertained that the results would be as -bad as during the former visitation. One morning Sister Dora came to me -and said, ‘Do you know, I have an idea that if some one could be got to -go to the epidemic hospital in whom the people have confidence, they -would send their friends to be nursed, the patients would be isolated, -and the disease stamped out?’” This was because a prejudice was -entertained against the new small-pox hospital, and those who had sick -concealed the fact rather than send them to it. “I said,” continues Mr. -Welsh, “‘I have long been of the opinion you have just expressed; but -where are we to get a lady, in whom the people would have confidence, to -undertake the duty?’ Her prompt reply was, ‘I will go.’ I confess the -sudden announcement of her determination rather took me by surprise, for -I had no expectation of it, and not the most remote idea that she -intended to go. ‘But,’ I said, ‘who will take charge of the hospital if -you go there?’ ‘Oh,’ she replied, ‘I can get plenty of ladies to come -there, but none will go to the epidemic. And,’ she added, by way of -reconciling me to her view, ‘it will only be for a short time.’ ‘But -what if you were to take the disease and die?’ I inquired. ‘Then,’ she -added, in her cheery way, ‘I shall have died in the path of duty, and, -you know, I could not die better.’ I knew it was no use pointing out at -length the risk she ran, for where it was a case of saving others, -_self_ with her was no consideration. I tried to dissuade her on other -grounds.... A few days later, I was in company with the doctor of our -hospital, who was also medical officer of health, and who, as such, had -charge of the epidemic hospital, near to which we were at the time. He -said, ‘Do you know where Sister Dora is?’ ‘At the hospital, I suppose,’ -was my reply. ‘No,’ he rejoined, ‘she is over there!’—pointing to the -epidemic hospital.... The people, as soon as they knew Sister Dora was -in charge, had no misgiving about sending their relatives to be nursed, -and the result was as she had predicted; the cases were brought in as -soon as it was discovered that patients had the disease, and the -epidemic was speedily stamped out.” - -She had, however, a hard time of it there, as she lacked assistants. Two -women were sent from the workhouse, but they proved of little use. The -porter, an old soldier, was attentive and kind in his way, but he always -went out “on a spree” on Saturday nights, and did not return till late -on Sunday evening. When the workhouse women failed her, she was -sometimes alone with her patients, and these occasionally in the -delirium of small-pox. - -It was not till the middle of August, 1875, that the last small-pox -patient departed from the hospital, and she was able to return to her -original work. - -One of the bas-reliefs on her monument represents Sister Dora consoling -the afflicted and the scene depicted refers to a dreadful colliery -accident that occurred on March 14th, 1872, at Pelsall, a village rather -over three miles from Walsall, by which twenty-two men were entombed, -and all perished. For several days hopes were entertained that some of -the men would be got out alive; and blankets in which to wrap them, and -restoratives, were provided, and Sister Dora was sent for to attend the -men when brought to “bank.” The following extract, from an article by a -special correspondent in a newspaper, dated December 10th, 1872, will -give some idea of Sister Dora’s connection with the event:— - -“Out of doors the scene is weird and awful, and impresses the mind with -a peculiar gloom; for the intensity of the darkness is heightened by the -shades created by the artificial lights. Every object, the most minute, -stands out in bold relief against the inky darkness which surrounds the -landscape. On the crest of the mound or pit-bank, the policemen, like -sentinels, are walking their rounds. The wind is howling and whistling -through the trees which form a background to the pit-bank, and the rain -is coming hissing down in sheets. In a hovel close to the pit-shaft sit -the bereaved and disconsolate mourners, hoping against hope, and -watching for those who will never return. There, too, are the swarthy -sons of toil who have just returned from their fruitless search in the -mine for the dear missing ones, and are resting while their saturated -clothes are drying. But another form glides softly from that hovel; and -amid the pelting rain, and over the rough pit-bank, and through miry -clay—now ankle deep—takes her course to the dwellings of the mourners, -for some, spent with watching, have been induced to return to their -homes. As she plods her way amid pieces of timber, upturned waggons, and -fragments of broken machinery, which are scattered about in great -confusion, a ‘wee, wee bairn’ creeps gently to her side, and grasping -her hand, and looking wistfully into her face, which is radiant with -kindness and affection, says, ‘Oh, Sister, do see to my father when they -bring him up the pit.’ Poor child! Never again would he know a father’s -love, or share a father’s care. She smiled, and that smile seemed to -lighten the child’s load of grief, and her promise to see to his father -appeared to impart consolation to his heavy, despairing heart. - -“On she glides, with a kind word or a sympathetic expression to all. One -woman, after listening to her comforting words, burst into tears—the -fountains of sorrow so long pent up seemed to have found vent. ‘Let her -weep,’ said a relative of the unfortunate woman; ‘it is the first tear -she has shed since the accident has occurred, and it will do her good to -cry.’ But who is the good Samaritan? She is the sister who for seven -years has had the management of the nursing department in the cottage -hospital at Walsall.” - -This is written in too much of the “special correspondent” style to be -pleasant; nevertheless it describes what actually took place. - -Mr. Samuel Welsh says: “I remember one evening I was in the hospital -when a poor man who had been dreadfully crushed in a pit was brought in. -One of his legs was so fearfully injured that it was thought it would be -necessary to amputate it. After examining the patient, the doctor came -to me in the committee-room—one door of which opened into the passage -leading to the wards, and another into the hall in the domestic portion -of the building. After telling me about the patient who had just been -brought in, he said, ‘Do you know Sister Dora is very ill? So ill,’ he -continued, ‘that I question if she will pull through this time.’ I -naturally inquired what she was suffering from, and in reply the doctor -said, ‘She will not take care of herself, and is suffering from -blood-poison.’ He left me, and I was just trying to solve the problem—— -‘What shall be done? or how shall her place be supplied if she be taken -from us by death?’ when I saw a spectral-like figure gliding gently and -almost noiselessly through the room from the domestic entrance to the -door leading to the wards. The figure was rather indistinct, for it was -nearly dark; and as I gazed at the receding form, I said, ‘Sister, is it -you?’ ‘Whist!’ she said, and glided through the doorway into the wards. -In a short time she returned, and I said to her, ‘Sister, the doctor has -just been telling me how ill you are—how is it you are here?’ ‘Ah!’ -replied she, ‘it is true I am very ill; but I heard the surgeons talking -about amputating that poor fellow’s limb, and I wanted to see whether or -no there was a possibility of saving it, and I believe there is; and, -knowing that, I shall rest better.’ So saying, she glided as noiselessly -out of the room as when she entered. - -“On her recovery—which was retarded by her neglecting herself to attend -to others—she called me to the hall-door of the hospital, and asked me -if I thought it was going to rain. I told her I did not think it would -rain for some hours. She then told me to go and order a cab to be ready -at the hospital in half an hour. I tried to persuade her not to venture -out so soon; but it was no use—she went; and many a time I wondered -where she went to. - -“About six months afterwards I happened to be at a railway station, and -saw a pointsman who had been in our hospital with an injured foot, but -who, as his friends wished to have him at home, had left before his foot -was cured. I inquired how his foot was. He replied that had it not been -for Sister Dora he would have lost his foot, if not his life. I said, -‘How did she save your foot when you were not in the hospital, and she -was ill at the time you left the hospital?’ ‘Well,’ he replied, ‘you -know my foot was far from well when I left the hospital; there was no -one at our house who could see to it properly, and it took bad ways, and -one evening I was in awful pain. Oh, how I did wish for Sister Dora to -come and dress it! I felt sure she could give me relief, but I had been -told she was very ill, so I had no hope that my earnest desire would be -realised; but while I was thinking and wishing, the bedroom door was -gently opened, and a figure just like Sister Dora glided so softly into -the room that I could not hear her, but oh! she was so pale that I began -to think it must be her spirit; but when she folded the bedclothes from -off my foot, I knew it was she. She dressed my foot, and from that hour -it began to improve.’ - -“A few days after this interview with the pointsman I was talking to -Sister Dora and said, ‘By the bye, Sister, I have found out where you -went with the cab that day.’ She replied with a merry twinkle in her -eye, ‘What a long time you have been finding it out!’” - -Her old patients ever remembered her with gratitude. A man called Chell, -an engine-stoker, was twice in the hospital under her care, first with a -dislocated ankle, severely cut; the second time, with a leg crushed to -pieces in a railway accident. It was amputated. According to his own -account he remembered nothing of the operation, except that Sister Dora -was there, and that, “When I come to after the chloroform, she was on -her knees by my side with her arm supporting my head, and she was -repeating:— - - “‘They climbed the steep ascent of heaven, - Through peril, toil, and pain: - O God, to us may grace be given - To follow in their train.’ - -And all through the pain and trouble that I had afterwards, I never -forgot Sister’s voice saying those words.” When she was in the small-pox -hospital, avoided by most, this man never failed to stump away to it to -see her and inquire how she was getting on. - -There were, as she herself recognised, faults in the character of Sister -Dora; and yet, without these faults, problematical as it may seem, it is -doubtful whether she could have achieved all she did. - -One who knew her long and intimately writes to me: “A majestic -character, brimming over with sympathy, but, for lack of -self-discipline, this sympathy was impulsive and gushing. Her character -would have been best formed in marrying a man—either statesman, -philanthropist or author—whose character would have dominated hers, and -she would have shone subdued. Her glorious nature, physical and mental, -was marred by undisciplined impulse. Her nature found its congenial -outlet in devoted works of mercy and love to her fellow-creatures. How -far she would have done the same under authority, I fear is a little -doubtful.” - -I doubt it wholly. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest -the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it -goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John iii 8). The -truth and depth of these words are not sufficiently appreciated. They -teach that in those governed by the Spirit of God there is an apparent -capriciousness and impulsiveness which does not commend itself to -worldly wisdom or vulgar common-sense. Unquestionably, in community -life, this masterfulness in the character of Sister Dora might have been -subdued, but—would she have then done the same magnificent work? It -seems to me—but I may be mistaken—that we should suffer these strong -characters to take their course, and not endeavour to crush them into an -ordinary mould. It is precisely those who soar above the routine-bound -souls that, among men, make history—as Cæsar, Napoleon, Bismarck—and let -me add Lord Kitchener. And in the Church it is the same. - -Miss Twigg, who knew her well, writes me: “She was a lovable woman, so -bright and winsome. She used to come into our rather dull and sad home -(our mother died when we were quite children) after evening service. She -would nurse one of us, big as we were then, and the others would gather -round her, while she would tell us stories of her hospital life.... She -was a _real_ woman, though with a woman’s failings.” - -There is one point in Sister Dora’s life to which sufficient attention -has not been paid by her biographers. It is one which the busy workers -of the present day think of too little—namely, the writing of bright, -helpful letters to any friend who is sick, or in trouble. Somehow or -other she always found time for that, wrote one who knew her well,[13] -and who contributes the following, written to a young girl who was at -the time in a spinal hospital, and who was almost a stranger to her:— - - -“MY DEAR MISS J.,—I was so glad to hear from you, though I fear it must -be a trouble for you to write. I _do_ hope that you will really have -benefited by the treatment and rest. I am so glad that the doctor is -good to his ‘children.’ Such little attentions when you are sick help to -alleviate wonderfully. I wish I could come and take a peep at you. Did -Mrs. N. tell you that she had sent us _£5_ for our seaside expedition? -Was it not good of her? Oh! we shall have such a jolly time. To see all -those poor creatures drink in the sea-breezes! We have had a very busy -week of accidents and operations. It has been a regular storm.[14] My -dear, it is in such times as you are now having that the voice of Jesus -Christ can be best heard, ‘Come into a desert place awhile.’ Know you -surely that it is God’s visitation. Take home that thought, realise -it:—God _visiting you_. Elizabeth was astonished that the Mother of her -Lord should visit her. We can have our Emmanuel. I can look back on my -sicknesses as the best times of my life. Don’t fret about the future. He -carrieth our sicknesses and healeth our infirmities. You know infirmity -means weakness after sickness. Think of the cheering lines of our hymn: -‘His touch has still its ancient power.’ When I arose up from my -sick-bed they told me I should never be able to enter a hospital or do -work again. I was fretting over this when a good friend came to me, and -told me only to take a day’s burden and not look forward, and it was -such a help. I got up every day feeling sure I should have strength and -grace for the day’s trial. May it be said of you, dear, ‘They took -knowledge of her that she had been with Jesus.’ May He reveal Himself in -all His beauty is the prayer of - - “Your sincere friend, - “SISTER DORA.” - - -It does not truly represent Sister Dora to dwell on her outer life, and -not look as well into that which is within, as it was the very -mainspring of all her actions, as it, in fact, made her what she was. - -The same writer to the _Guardian_ gives some sentences from other -letters:— - -“Take your cross day by day, dearie, and with Jesus Christ bearing the -other end it will not be _too_ heavy.” “If we would find Jesus, it must -be on the mountain, not in the plains or smooth places. ‘He went up into -a mountain and taught them, saying,’ etc. It is only on a mountain-side -that we shall see the Cross. It was only after Zacchæus had _climbed_ -the tree he could see Jesus. I have been thinking much of this lately. -It is not in the smooth places we shall see Jesus, it is in the rough, -in the storm, or by the sick-couch.” “A Christian is one whose object is -Christ.” “I am rejoiced that you are enjoying Faber’s hymns; they always -_warm_ me up. Oh! my dear, is it not sad that we prefer to live in the -shade when we might have the glorious sunshine?” - -It was during the winter of 1876-7 that Sister Dora felt the first -approach of the terrible disease that was to cause her death, and then -it was rather by diminution of strength than by actual pain. She -consulted a doctor in Birmingham, in whom she placed confidence, and he -told her the plain truth, that her days in this world were numbered. She -exacted from him a pledge of secrecy, and then went on with her work as -hitherto. - -“She was suddenly brought,” says Miss Lonsdale, “as it were, face to -face with death—distant, perhaps, but inevitable: she, who was full of -such exuberant life and spirits, that the very word ‘death’ seemed a -contradiction when applied to her. Even her doctor, as he looked at her -blooming appearance, and measured with his eye her finely made form, was -almost inclined to believe the evidence of his outward senses against -his sober judgment.... She could not endure pity. She, to whom everybody -had learnt instinctively to turn for help and consolation, on whom -others leant for support, must she now come down to ask of them sympathy -and comfort? The pride of life was still surging up in her, that pride -which had made her glory in her physical strength for its own sake, as -well as for its manifold uses in the service of her Master. True, she -had been long living two lives inseparably blended: the outward life, -one of hard, unceasing toil; the inner, a constant communion with the -unseen world, the existence of which she realised to an extent which not -even those who saw the most of her could appreciate. To all the poor -ignorant beings whose souls she tried to reach by means of their maimed -bodies, she was, indeed, the personification of all that they could -conceive as lovable, holy and merciful in the Saviour. At the same time -she judged her own self with strict impartiality. She knew her own -faults, her unbending will—her pride and glory in her work seemed to her -even a fault; and, in place of looking on herself as perfect, she was -bowed down with a sense of her own shortcomings. At the same time—with -death before her, she hungered for more work for her Master. His words -were continually on her lips: ‘I must work the works of Him that sent Me -while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.’” - -At last, in the month of August, 1878, typhoid fever having broken out -in the temporary hospital, it was found necessary to close it, and -hasten on the work of the construction of another. This gave her an -opportunity for a holiday and a complete change. She went to the Isle of -Man, to London, and to Paris. - -But the disorder was making rapid strides, and was causing her intense -suffering, and she craved to be back at Walsall. She got as far as -Birmingham, and was then in such a critical state, that it was feared -she would die. But her earnest entreaty was to be taken to Walsall: “Let -me die,” she pleaded, “among my own people.” - -Mr. Welsh says:—“On calling at the Queen’s Hotel, Birmingham [where she -was lying ill], I was told the doctor of the hospital (Dr. Maclachlan) -was with her, and thinking they were probably arranging matters -connected with the hospital, I did not go to her room, but proceeded to -the train. I had scarcely got seated when the doctor called me out, and -we entered a compartment where we were alone. He asked me when it was -intended to open the hospital. I replied, ‘On the 4th November.’ ‘Then,’ -he said, ‘that will just be about the time Sister Dora will die.’ - -“The announcement was to me a shock of no ordinary kind, for I had not -heard of her being ill, and no one could have imagined, from the -cheerful tone of a letter I had received from her a week or so before, -that there was anything the matter with her. Not being able to fully -realise the true state of affairs, I asked him if he were jesting. He -replied he was not, and that he thought it best to let me know at once, -so that arrangements might be made for getting some one to take her -place when the hospital was opened. I said, ‘I suppose she is going to -Yorkshire?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘and that is another thing I wish to speak -to you about. She wishes to die in Walsall, and she must be removed -immediately.’ - -“On Sunday [the day following] I saw the chairman and vice-chairman of -the hospital. On Sunday evening I returned with Dr. Maclachlan to the -Queen’s Hotel, where he found his patient very weak. On Monday morning, -a house was taken, and the furniture she had in her rooms at the -hospital removed to it. Her old servant, who had gone to The Potteries, -was telegraphed for, and arrived in a few hours, and by midday the house -was ready for her reception. My daughter, knowing Sister Dora’s fondness -for flowers, had procured and placed on the table in the parlour a very -choice bouquet; and when all was ready, Dr. Maclachlan drove over to -Birmingham, and brought her to Walsall in his private carriage. - -“The disease was now making steady progress, and it was evident that -every day she was becoming weaker; but she never lost her cheerfulness, -and any one to have seen her might have thought she was only suffering -from some slight ailment, instead of an incurable and painful disease.” - -“A few hours before her death,” writes Mr. S. Welsh, “she called me to -her bedside and said, ‘I want you to promise that you will not, when I -am gone, write anything about me; _quietly I came among you, and quietly -I wish to go away._’” And this desire of hers would have been faithfully -complied with had not misrepresentations fired the gentleman to whom the -request was made to take up his pen, not in defence of her, but in the -correction of statements that affected certain persons who were alive. I -must refer the reader for the detailed account of her last hours to Miss -Lonsdale’s book. One remarkable fact must not be omitted. - -Among the members of the Basilian Order in the Eastern Church, it is the -rule, as soon as one of the brothers or sisters is dying, that all -should leave the room. The last office performed is to screw an ikon or -representation of the Saviour to the foot of the bed, that the dying may -in the supreme moment not think of any earthly tie, any earthly comfort, -but look only to the Rock of his Salvation. Of this, Sister Dora knew -nothing. In her last sickness she had a large crucifix hung where she -could constantly gaze at it, and when she found her end approaching, she -insisted on every one leaving the room,—it was her wish to die alone. -And as she persisted, so was it, only one nurse standing by the door -held ajar, and watching till she knew by the change of attitude, and a -certain fixed look in the countenance, that Sister Dora had entered into -her rest.[15] - -Mr. Welsh says: “It was Christmas Eve when she passed away, and a dense -fog, like a funeral pall, hung over the town and obscured every object a -few feet from the ground. Under this strange canopy the market was being -held, and people were busy buying and selling, and making preparations -for the great Christmas Festival on the following day; but when the deep -boom of the passing bell announced the melancholy intelligence that -Sister Dora had entered into her rest, a thrill of horror ran through -the people, who, with blanched cheeks and bated breath, whispered, ‘Can -it be true?’ Although for eleven weeks the process of dissolution had -been going on before their eyes, they could not realise the fact that -she whom they loved and revered was no more.” - -The funeral took place on Saturday, the 28th of December. “The day was -dark and dismal, the streets, covered with slush and sludge caused by -the melted snow, were thronged with spectators.... There was general -mourning in the town; and although it was market day nearly every shop -was closed during the time of the funeral, and all the blinds along the -route of the procession were drawn.... On reaching the cemetery it was -found that four other funerals had arrived from the workhouse; and as -these coffins had been taken into the chapel there was no room for -Sister Dora’s, which had consequently to be placed in the porch. This -was as Sister Dora would have wished had she had the ordering of the -arrangements; for she always gave preference to the poor, to whom she -was attached in life, and from whom she would not have desired to be -separated in death.” - -True to her thought of others, in the midst of her last sufferings she -had made arrangements for a Christmas dinner to be given to a number of -her old patients, in accordance with a custom of hers in previous years; -but on this occasion the festive proceedings were shorn of their -gladness. All thought of her who in her pain and on her deathbed had -thought of them. Every one tried, but ineffectually, to cheer and -comfort the other, but the task was hopeless. One young lady, after the -meal, and while the Christmas tree was being lighted, commenced singing -that pretty little piece, “Far Away,”—but when she came to the words, - - “Some are gone from us for ever, - Longer here they could not stay,” - -she burst into tears; and the women present sobbed, and tears were seen -stealing down the cheeks of bearded men. - -The Walsall writer of _A Review_ concludes his paper thus:— - -“She is no idol to us, but we worship her memory as the most saintly -thing that was ever given to us. Her name is immortalized, both by her -own surpassing goodness, and by the love of a whole people for her—a -love that will survive through generations, and give a magic and a music -to those simple words, ‘Sister Dora,’ long after we shall have passed -away. There was little we could ever do—there was nothing she would let -us do—to relieve the self-imposed rigours of her life; but we love her -in all sincerity, and now in our helplessness we find a serene joy in -the knowledge that to her, as surely as to any human soul, will be -spoken the Divine words: ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of -these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’” - -In Sister Dora, surely we have the highest type of the Christian life, -the inner and hidden life of the soul, the life that is hid with Christ -in God, combined with that outer life devoted to the doing of good to -suffering and needy humanity. In the cloistered nun we see only the -first, and that tends to become self-centred and morbid; it is redeemed -from this vice by an active life of self-sacrifice. - -I cannot do better than, in conclusion, quote from the last letter ever -penned by Sister Dora:— - -“It is 2.30 a.m., and I cannot sleep, so I am going to write to you. I -was anything but ‘forbearing,’ dear; I was overbearing, and I am truly -sorry for it now. I look back on my life, and see ‘nothing but leaves.’ -Oh, my darling, let me speak to you from my deathbed, and say, Watch in -all you do that you have a single aim—_God’s_ honour and glory. ‘I came -not to work My own work, but the works of Him that sent Me.’ Look upon -working as a privilege. Do not look upon nursing in the way they do so -much now-a-days, as an art or science, but as work done for Christ. As -you touch each patient, think it is Christ Himself, and then virtue will -come out of the touch to yourself. I have felt that myself, when I have -had a particularly loathsome patient. Be full of the Glad Tidings, and -you will tell others. You cannot give what you have not got.” - - - ------- - - _Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ - - - - - FOOTNOTES - - -Footnote 1: - - Rom. Sott. ii. 125. - -Footnote 2: - - “Lectures on the Eastern Church,” 1869, p. 218. - -Footnote 3: - - Montalembert: _Monks of the West_, Book iv. c. 1. - -Footnote 4: - - Adams, “Chronicles of Cornish Saints,” in the _Journal of the Royal - Institution of Cornwall_, 1873. - -Footnote 5: - - _Notes on the History of S. Bega and S. Hild._ (Hartlepool, 1844.) By - D. H. Haigh. - -Footnote 6: - - _Monks of the West_, 1868, vol. v., pp. 219-21. - -Footnote 7: - - Probably Seaxwulf, the Mercian bishop. - -Footnote 8: - - Green, _The Making of England_; _ed._ 1897, ii. p. 111. - -Footnote 9: - - _Latin Christianity_, 1867, vol. vi., pp. 1 seq. - -Footnote 10: - - The Rev. E. M. Fitzgerald, who was Vicar of Walsall at the time when - Sister Dora was there, writes: “No Walsall friend of Sister Dora ever - thought that the book exaggerated her virtues or her achievements. We - found fault because it did her injustice in attributing to her some - mean faults of which she was incapable.” - -Footnote 11: - - Miss Lonsdale says that when her father was dangerously ill Sister - Dora asked leave to go to him, and was refused and sent down into - Devonshire. This has been denied, and I think there has been a - misapprehension somewhere. Mr. Welsh says: “The story about Sister - Dora not being allowed to visit her father on his death-bed is very - sensational, but—is fiction.” - -Footnote 12: - - _Sister Dora: a Review_, p. 14 (Walsall, 1880). - -Footnote 13: - - H. M. J., in a letter to the Guardian, May 12th, 1880. - -Footnote 14: - - A Yorkshire expression for heavy work. - -Footnote 15: - - This has been denied. Her old and devoted servant said: “Do you think - I would let my darling die alone?” But it appears to me that Sister - Dora’s desire was one to be expected in such a spiritual nature; and - in the statement above given it is not said that she was actually left - in solitude. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - -Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the back of the main text. - -Punctuation has been normalized. Variations in hyphenation have been -retained as they were in the original publication. The following changes -have been made: - - and made peparations —> preparations {page 123} - he could insult, browbreat, —> browbeat {page 247} - to to the Bishop of Verdun —> to the Bishop of Verdun {page 285} - two religous to commence the work —> religious {page 336} - a choir for the frairs —> friars {page 337} - distin-tinguishing habit —> distinguishing {page 356} - the commitee were unable —> committee {page 360} - againt the inky darkness —> against {page 377} - -Italicized phrases are presented by surrounding the text with -_underscores_. - -Bold phrases are presented by surrounding the text with =equal signs=. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Virgin Saints and Martyrs, by S. 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