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3Utoes of tt>e faints
REV. S. BARING-GOULD
SIXTEEN VOLUMES
VOLUME THE TENTH
►«-
First Edition published iSjs
Second Edition .... ,, iSqj
New and Revised Edition, 16 vols. ,, 1914
^
ALTAR-PIECE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Se] t. . Frontispiece.]
H
THE
3Lttit0 of tjje faints
BY THE
REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
With Introduction and Additional Lives of English
Martyrs, Cornish, Scottish, and Welsh Saints,
and a full Index to the Entire Work
New and Revised Edition
ILLUSTRATED BY 473 ENGRAVINGS
VOLUME THE TENTH
EDINBURGH: JOHN GRANT
31 GEORGE IV BRIDGE
1914
4* *
*
X lie- 3
Printed )>y Bai.lantym., Hanson & Co. at the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
* *
►.*-
-►<
CONTENTS
ss.
s.
ss.
ss. s
ss
s
5)
ss
PAGE
Abundius, Abundan
tius, and comp. . 261 Adamnan . . . 358
Adrian, Natalia, and
comp 113
Agapetus I., Pope . 321 Agathoclia . . Aichard . . . Aigulf and comp. Ailbe .... Alexander . . . Alkmund and Gil
bert .... Amatus of Lorraine 192 Amatus, B. of Sens 194 Anastasius . . . 100 Andochius, Thyrsus,
and Felix . . .361 Antoninus ....11
272 249
41 l8o
325 IO9
SS. Asclepiodotus, Max- imus, and Theo- dotus .... 247 „ Augustinus and
comp 89
S. Autonomus . . .178
B
S. Barypsabas „ Basilissa . SS. Beata . . S. Bega or Bee „ Bertellin . ,, Bertin . .
SS. Boris and Gleb
147 35 89 92
139 7i 75
S. Cagnoald ... 90 SS. Callistratus and comp 385
-n
VI
Contents
PACK
S. Catharine of Genoa 252 SS. Censurinus, Quiri-
acus, and comp. . 67 S. Ceolfrid .... 378 ,, Cleophas .... 374 „ Clodoald . . . .104 „ Columba .... 279 SS. Concordius, Zeno,
and others ... 12
S. Corbinian . . . .120
„ Cornelius, Pope . . 196
SS. CosmasandDamian 397
,, Crescentianus and
comp 228
S. Crescentius . . . 229 Cross, The Exaltation of
the 233
S. Cuthbert, Transla- tion of .... 50 „ Cyprian .... 203 SS. Cyprian and Justina 386
D
SS. David and Romanus
„ Digna and Emerita
„ Donatian and comp.
„ Dorotheus and Gor-
gonius ....
75
328
89
131
E
S. Edith of Polesworth 267 „ Edith of Wilton . . 269 „ Elzcar 402
SS. Emilias and Jere-
mias 251
„ Emerita and Digna 328 S. Emmeram, . . . 33S
SS. Eudoxius, Zeno, and
comp 68
S. Eulogius . . . .189 „ Euphemia . . . . 257 S. Eupsychius ... 96
SS. Eusebius, Nestabo,
and comp. . . .118 ,, Eustathius and
comp 319
S. Eustochium . . .411 ,, Eustorgius . . . 292 Exaltation of the Cross,
The 233
S. Exuperius .... 410
S. Faustus, B. of Riez 413 SS. Felix, Andochius,
and Thyrsus . . 361 „ Felix, Nemesianus,
and comp. „ Felix and Regula S. Ferreolus . . . „ Finbar .... „ Firminus . . „ Firminus, Martyr
144 169 289 377 4 375
G
SS. Gaiane, Rhipsime,
and others . . . 437 „ Geminianus and
Lucia .... 259 S. Genebald of Laon . 70 „ Geremar .... 362
„ Gerulf 326
SS. Gilbert and Alk-
mund .... 109
S. Giles 8
SS. Gordian, Macrobius,
and comp. . . .185 „ Gorgonius and Do- rotheus . . . .131
S. Grata 48
„ Gregory the Illumi- nator .... 442 „ Guido 181
*
-*
*
Contents
vn
H
S. Hermione . . „ Hilarus, Pope „ Hildegard . . „ Honorius, Abp. Canterbury
of
PASE
43 157 279
464
SS. Hyacinth and Protus 166
S. Ida . . B. Irmgard
5° 51
J
SS. Januariusandcomp. 301 „ Jeremias and Emi- lias . . . „ .251 S. Jerome 450
SS. John, Abundius, and
comp 261
S. John of" Nicomedia 97 „ John Mark . . . 395 „ Joseph of Cupertino 292 „ Julian 185
SS. Justina and Cyprian 386
K
S. Kieran of Clonmac-
nois 132
L
SS. Lastus, Donatian,
and others ... 89 „ Lsetus and Vincent 4 S. Lambert .... 274 „ Laurence Justiniani 76 „ Liberius, Pope . -351 „ Linus, Pope . . . 349 „ Lioba 417
» Lo 337
„ Lolan 340
SS. Lucia and Gemini- anus 259
PAGE
S. Ludmilla .... 265 „ Lupus, Abp. of Sens 5
SS.
S. SS.
S.
SS.
B.
S.
11 SS.
s.
SS.
s.
SS.
M
Macedonius, Theo- dulus, and Tatian
Macniss ....
Macrobius, dordian, and comp.
Madelberta
Magnoald .
Mansuetus
Marcellus .
Marcian, Abundius, and comp.
179 36
185
109
94
35
44
261
329 186
247
Margaret of Louvain 17 Marinus, Deac. . . 46 Maternus, B. of
Treves . . . .230 Matthew, Ap.Evang. 323 Maurice and comp. Maurilius . . . Maximus, Theodo
tus, and Asclepio
dotus . . . Memorius and comp. 103 Menodora, Metro-
dora, and Nym-
phodora . . . 145 Methodius . . . 291 Michael and All
Angels .... 428 Modoc ..... 108 Monessa .... 47
N
SS. Natalia, Adrian, and
comp 113
Nativity of the B. Virgin no SS. Nemesianus, Felix,
and comp. . . . 144 „ Nestabo, Eusebius,
and comp. . . .118
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VI 11
Contents
PAGE
SS. Nestor, Eusebius,
and comp. . . .118 S. NicetasofNicomedia 176 ,, Nicetas the Goth . 248 „ Nicolas Tolentini . 160
„ Nilus 389
„ Nicomede .... 246
„ Ninian 262
„ Nivard, Abp. of
Rheims .... 8
„ Nonnosus .... 13
„ Nothburga . • • 240
SS. Nymphodora, Me-
nodora, and Met-
rodora . . • .145
O
S. Omer SS. Onesiphorus Porphyry
and
135 87
P
S. Paphnutius . . . 169 SS. Paphnutius and
comp 362
S. Phocas the Gardener 327
„ Phcebe 34
„ Philip 184
SS. Porphyry and On- esiphorus ... 87 S. Principius, Bp. of
Soissons . . . 376
„ Priscus 1
SS. Protusand Hyacinth 166 S. Pulcheria, Empss. . 148
SS. Quiriacus, Censuri-
nus, and comp. . . 67
R
PAGE
S. Regina i°i
„ Regula 169
„ Remade . . • • 3° S. Rhais ... -7°
SS. Rhipsime, Gaiane,
and others . . -437 S. Robert of Knares-
borough . . • 364
SS. Romanus and David 75 S. Romulus .... 67 „ Rosa .... 57
,, Rosalia 53
S.
>) SS.
SS.
s
H
H
II
Salaberga . ... 339 Salvius . . . . 158
Sanctianus, Augus-
tinus, and Beata. 89 Satyrius .... 273 Seraphina . . .127
Sergius I., Pope . 137 Sergius, Ab. . . 381 Serverian . . . .132 Socrates and Stephen 272
Sozon 98
Sperandea. . . .174 Stephen, K. . . . 19 Susanna ... 320
SS. Tatian,Macedonius,
and Theodulus . 179
S. Thecla 350
„ Theodard . . . .159 „ Theodora of Alex- andria . . . .172 „ Theodore, Abp. of
Canterbury . . 303 SS. Theodotus, Maxi- mus, and Ascle- piodotus . . . 247
V
►fr
Contents
IX
PAGE
SS. Theodulus, Mace-
donius,andTatian 179 S. Theophanes . . .130 „ Thomas of Villanova 341 SS. Thyrsus, Andochius,
and Felix . . . 361 Translation of S. Cuth-
bert 50
SS. Twelve Brethren . 2
U SS. Ursus and Victor . 441
V
S. Verena 2
SS. Victor and Ursus . 441 S. Victorinus .... 66
PAGE
SS. Vincent and Laetus. 4 B. Virgin, Nativity of
the 1 10
W
S. Wenceslas . . .421 ,, Wilfreda . . . .140 „ William, B. of Ros-
kilde. .... 13
Z
S. Zenas 397
SS. Zeno, Eusebius, and
comp 118
„ Zeno, Concordius,
and others ... 12 „ Zeno, Eudoxius, and
comp 68
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS |
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Altar-piece of the Sixteenth Century |
Frontispiece |
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S. Verena |
to face p. 2 |
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S. Giles . |
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After Cahier. |
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S. Agricola of Avignon |
to face p. 12 |
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After Cahier. |
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n 24 |
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After Cahier. |
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Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, as it |
|
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was in the Twelfth and Thirteenth |
|
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Centuries. View of the principal |
|
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FACADE BEFORE THE RESTORATION BY |
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MM. Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc |
• on p. 33 |
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S. Rosalia |
to face p. 54 |
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After Cahier. |
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» 72 |
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After Cahier. |
|
|
xi |
* *
Ml
L ist of Illustrations
I'.. Virgin and Child
From the I Henna Missal.
Nativity of the Virgin ....
After the Fresco by Domenico del Ghirlandajc in the Choir of Sta. Maria Novella at Florence.
Marriage of the Virgin .
After the Fresco by Domenico del Ghirlandajo in the Choir of Sta. Maria Novella at Florence.
S. Paul, Ap. . . .
Chair of S. Kieran {seep. 132) . S. Nicolas Tolentini ....
After Cahier.
Tailpiece
Tailpiece „
S. Cornelius ......
After Cahier.
S. Bartholomew, Ap. {see Aug. 24///) .
Tailpiece
S. Edith of Wilton .
to face p. 1 10
112
114
. on p. 129
» *43
to face p. 100
. on p. 175
• n 195
to face p. 200
. on p. 245
„ 256
to face p< 268
Tailpiece . Tailpiece .
0 • , on p. 271
3, 30O
>■*
*-
List of Illustrations
xin
S. Matthew
The Calling of S. Matthew
After the Painting by Over beck.
S. James the Less (see May is/) .
S. Peter, Ap. (see Feb. 22nd) ....
cosmas and damian, patrons of the Guild of Bareer Surgeons
|
9 face p. |
323 |
|
. on p. |
324 |
|
>■> |
384 |
|
t> |
394 |
The Saintly Brothers, Cosmas and Damian, visiting and relieving the Sick to face p.
After a Picture by FRANCESCO PESELLI in the Gallery of the Louvre.
Holy Angels „
After the Painting by Schraudolf.
Work of the Angels „
El Gran Padre Sn. Geronimo ... „
S. Jerome in the Desert .... „
After a Picture of the School of Andrea del Sarto in the Gallery of the Louvre.
S. Jerome explaining the Scriptures to
S. Paula, and to Eustochium, her
Daughter „ 460
From a Bible -written for Charles the Bald, in the Abbey of S. Martin, at Tours.
The Last Communion of S. Jerome. . „ 462
After the Picture by DOMENICHINO in the Vatican.
396
400
430
432 450 456
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►:-•-
*
Lives of the Saints
September 1.
Joshua, Leader of the Israelites, in Palestine; circ. 1450 B.C.
Gideon, Judge 0/ Israel, in Palestine; circ. 1210 B.C.
S. Anna, Prophetess at Jerusalem; beginning of 1st cent.
S. Priscus, M. at Capua ; \st cent.
SS. Terentianus, B.M., and Flaccus, M. at Todi in Umbria; circ
a.d. 118. SS. Sixtus and Sinicius, BB. at Rlieims; circ. a.d. 300. SS. XII. Brothers, MM. at Benevento ; circ. a.d. 303. S. Verena, V. at Zurzach in Switzerland. S. Firminus, B. of Amiens; circ. a.d. 390. SS. Vincent, B.M., and L^tos, P.M. at Tarbes. S. Victorius, B. of Sens; circ. a.d. 490. S. Lupus, Abp. of Sens; a.d. 623. S. Nivard, Abp. of Rheims; circ. a.d. 673. S. Giles, Ab. in Prot/enct; circ. a.d. 712.
S. PRISCUS, M.
(1ST CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology.]
AINT PRISCUS is said by popular legend to have been the man in whose house Christ ate the last Passover, and instituted the Blessed Sacrament. He followed S. Peter to Rome, and suffered martyrdom at Capua.
vol. x.
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Lives of the Saints. [Sept. ,.
SS. TWELVE BROTHERS, MM.
(CIRC. A.D. 303.)
[Roman Martyrology. In no ancient copies of Usuardus or other early martyrologies. The Brothers on different days in different Italian cities which possess their relics. Authority: — The Acts, written before the nth cent., but not very ancient or trustworthy.]
There were twelve brothers, fearing God, and worshipping Christ at Carthage, by name Donatus, Felix, Arontius, Hono- ratus, Fortunatus, Sabinian, Septimius, Januarius, another Felix, Vitalis, Sator, and Repositus.1 They were captured at Adrumetium, where they had taken refuge until the tyranny of persecution had overpassed, and were brought to Carthage, where they were tortured ; and, because they would not re- nounce Christ, they were sent to Italy chained together by the neck. Arontius, Honoratus, Fortunatus, and Sabinian were decapitated at Potentia on the 27th of August. Next day, August 28th, Januarius and Felix were executed at Venusia. On the following day, Vitalis, Sator, and Repositus suffered at Velinianum. Donatus and Felix were martyred on the 1st of September at Sentianum. The relics of all were afterwards translated to Beneventum, where they now repose.
S. VERENA, V. (date uncertain.)
[Roman Martyrology. Some copies of Usuardus, Notker, and Wandel- bert. The Acts are not trustworthy.]
S. Verena, according to legend, was an Egyptian damsel, daughter of Chogremon, who came to Milan, when hearing of the martyrdom of the blessed Maurice and his com-
1 It is improbable that there were two brothers of the same name, Felix. Probably these martyrs were brothers in the Faith and not in blood.
*_ __ ^
•/.
<
a
>
'Si
*-
sept, i.] & Verena.
panions at Agaunum, she crossed the Alps to visit the spot watered by their blood, and to collect relics.
She wandered north into Solothurn, and settled in a grotto in the face of a rock. The cave became afterwards the favourite resort of hermits, a chapel was built there in 1426, and renovated in 1555 and 1575. The spot is not one of the least impressive in Switzerland. It lies at the end of a pretty valley, hemmed in by rocks of gneiss embowered in trees, about two miles north-east of Solothurn. It is reached by paths, originally formed by the French emigres, who, at the outbreak of the French Revolution, sought an asylum here. The valley abounds in caves and grottoes, partly natural, partly artificial, and at its further extremity, within a natural shelf of over-arching cliff, stands the little chapel of S. Verena. Behind the altar a small cave has been cut in the rock, and now contains a representation of the Holy Sepulchre. In this cave the pious maiden lived, spending her time in prayer and in ministering to the clean- liness of soul and body of the peasantry of the neighbour- hood. Being possessed of a comb, she visited their cottages, and paid a not unnecessary attention to their heads. In commemoration of this a Latin inscription was cut on the
rock : —
" Pectore dum Christo, dum pectine servit egenis, Hoc latuit quondam Sancta Verena cavo."
The devil, enraged at the transformation wrought by her solicitude in the heads and hearts of the peasants, tried to drag her away from the cave and dash her over the rocks ; but she saved herself by clinging fast to the stone, and the holes made by her finger-nails are shown to this day.
After awhile Verena resumed her pilgrim's staff and journeyed to Coblenz, and from thence to Zurzach in Canton Aargau, where she died. The body lies in an ancient crypt under the collegiate church of Zurzach. Ove*
■?— *
-*
4 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ,,
it is erected a monument representing the saint lying with her comb in one hand and a porringer in the other ; and a wreath of roses round her head.
It is probable that S. Verena lived much later than the date generally attributed to her, and that her visit to Agaunum has led to her having been supposed a contemporary of S. Maurice.
S. FIRMINUS, B. OF AMIENS. (about a.d. 390.)
[Gallican Martyrology. The Acts are late and full of anachronisms.]
S. Firminus was the third bishop of Amiens. His father, Faustinian, prefect of Gaul, had been baptized by the martyr Firminus (September 25th), and in honour of his spiritual father gave this name to his son. Eulogius, second Bishop of Amiens, died about a.d. 350, and Firminus was elected in his room. He administered the diocese with prudence during the forty years that he directed it. He was buried in the church now called S. Acheuil, which he is said to have built. But his body was translated to the cathedral in the seventh century by S. Salvius.
SS. VINCENT AND L^ETUS, MM. (date uncertain.)
[Roman Martyrology ; also the Spanish Martyrologies. The only autho- rity for the Acts of these saints is popular tradition.]
Vincent, a priest, and Lsetus his companion, are regarded at Tarbes as the apostles of that part of France, and martyrs for the faith. But they are also venerated in Spain, at Libisosa, where they are said to have suffered.
* ^
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1 |
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|
Sept. i.] |
S. Lupus. |
5 |
|||
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S. LUPUS, ABP. OF |
SENS. |
||||
|
(a.d. 623.) |
|||||
|
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Ado |
Usuardus |
Notker, |
and |
||
|
Wandelbert, |
Peter de Natalibus, Molanus, Can |
isius, &c. |
The ' |
'Life |
" is |
|
very ancient, |
probably of the 7th cent., and is trustworthy.] |
S. Lupus, in French Leu, was born in a.d. 573, near Orleans, and was the son of a prince named Betto, and Austregild, who was of royal blood. The brothers of Austregild were Austrenius, Bishop of Orleans, and Aunarius, Bishop of Auxerre. Contrary to the custom of the time, Austregild nourished her child at her own breast, instead of confiding him to a foster-mother. When the child grew to the age when he could discern good from evil, she com- mitted him to the care of his uncles. It is said that his boyish voice was so sweet and soft, that when he sang in the churches men doubted if an angel were not chanting. Having manifested from childhood a desire to serve God at the altar, no opposition was offered to his inclination, and he retired to learn perfection into the holy isle of Lerins, the nursery of saints. On the death of S. Arthemius, Bishop of Sens, in a.d. 609, with the consent of the king, Lupus was elected to the vacant seat.
The piety, gentleness, and zeal of the bishop became renowned ; but among the coarse-minded courtiers of King Theoderic II. and Brunehaut, many a scandalous jest or slanderous tale circulated relative to the great churchmen of the day, and Lupus was not spared. Verosa, the daughter of the late bishop, was always about with Lupus, and the bishop seemed very fond of her. Folkar, a noble, godson of Betto, the bishop's father, full of indignation, hastened to Sens, and told Lupus what was said of him.
The bishop smiled, and summoned the young girl into
i>
► «-
-*
Lives of the Saints. [Sept. %.
his presence before Folkar j then, laying his hands on her shoulders, he stooped and kissed her pure brow.
" The ugly words of men matter nothing, when the conscience is white," said Lupus; "I love the maiden dearly, but purely, in Jesus Christ my King."
On the death of Theoderic, Clothair II., son of Chilperic, and King of Neustria, invaded Austrasia and Burgundy. His officer, Blidebod, laid siege to Sens, and took it by storm ; the troops bursting in began to cut down and spear every one they met, when Lupus, flying to the church, caught the bell-rope and pulled it. The clang of the bell arrested the soldiers, panic fell on them, and they retired.
Burgundy having fallen under the power of Clothair, the king exiled Lupus to Neustria, which was still in part Pagan : and the saintly prelate spent his time, whilst in banishment, preaching to and baptizing the idolaters.
The chief accuser of Lupus had been Medegisl, Abbot of S. Remi, who hoped to obtain the archbishopric when Lupus was removed ; but the people, infuriated at his conduct, burst into the church of S. Remi, and tore the abbot to pieces. At this time S. Winebald was abbot at Troyes, a man of great sanctity and generally esteemed. At the request of the Archdeacon of Sens, he sought Clothair, and entreated him to restore Lupus to his afflicted flock. The abbot wrung consent from the king, and then hast- ened into Neustria to find the bishop and bring him back to Sens.
The return of Lupus to his diocese was a triumph, miracles and enthusiastic crowds attested his sanctity and popularity.
One day, we are told, Lupus was saying mass, when a jewel suddenly dropped into the chalice. This was regarded as miraculous, though it had probably become detached
from his mitre or other vestments ; and it was preserved in the treasury as a relic.
Clothair sent for the bell of S. Stephen's, which had wrought such a panic among his soldiers, and had arrested the massacre of the Senonese, and it was taken to Paris, but as it did not seem to him very remarkable, he sent it back again, and it was received with pomp of banners and procession by the people.
Lupus died in a.d. 623, in the village of Brinon, and was buried under the eaves of the church of S. Columba at Sens, according to his dying wish. The story is told of him, that when exiled from Sens, he cast his ring into the moat. Shortly before his return, a fisherman caught a barbel at Melun, in whose belly he found the ring, which was taken back to the cathedral, where it is still preserved.
The story is told also of S. Kentigern, S. Atilal of Zamora, S. Arnald, Bishop of Metz ; S. Mauritius, S. Benno, and S. Egwin, Bishop of Worcester, who are said in like manner to have thrown away the keys of their churches, and to have found them again in fishes.
But the story is a very common and ancient one ; it is told of Solomon, who lost his ring and with it his power ; he then became captive, and not till it was found in a fish's stomach and returned to his finger, did he recover his throne and power.1 The story is found also in the " Arabian Nights " (Night 495), and is the same as the Indian legend of Sakontala. It is found among Aleutian tales, but in this case it is a golden bowl which is swallowed.'
1 Tendlau, Judischer Legende, Nr. 39.
3 Radloff, Volkslitteratur d. Tiirkischen Stamme Siid Sibiriens, Petersb. I. p. 115, 868—902. Compare also Pauli, Schimpf u. Ernst, No. 635, Jubinal, Nouveau Recueil. i. p. 1, Heidelberger Jahrbucher, Nr. 1867. p. 78.
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8 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. t
S. NIVARD, ABP. OF RHEIMS. (about a.d. 673.)
[Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Authority: — A Life by Almann, monk of Altvillars, in the 9th cent.]
S. Nivard or Nivon belonged to the family of the Kings of Austrasia. The name of his four brothers were Bavo, Theoderam, S. Gundebert, and Baldwin ; his brother-in- law, Childeric, had a daughter, who married S. Regulus (Reuil), afterwards Archbishop of Rheims.
S. Nivard was elected about the year 649 to the arch- bishopric of Rheims. No particulars of any interest have been related concerning him.
S. GILES, AB. (about a.d. 712.)
[Roman Martyrology ; some of the additions to Bede's Martyrology. Not Usuardus. Gallican Martyrologies. York, Sarum, and modern Anglican Kalendars. The Lives of S. Giles are all later than the 8th cent.; full of anachronisms and marvels. They make Giles son of a Greek king, who came to S. Caesarius, B. of Aries, and met Flavius, King of the Goths ; then, by orders of Charles Martel, King of the Franks, he went to Orleans. S. Csesarius died A.D. 542, Charles Martel in a.d. 741. Mabillon "unum illud pro certo enuntiat, Acta S. ^Egidii nullius pene esse momenti ; adeoque idonea non esse ad factum aliquod historicum stabiliendum. Huic censurae," says the Bollandist father, " libenter subscribo cum eruditis omnibus."]
All the earlier part of the legend of S. Giles is purely fabulous. It relates that he was a Greek of Athens, son of Theodore and Pelagia, who sailed to Marseilles and became acquainted with S. Caesarius of Aries. This must be cast aside as utterly legendary, and we come to what appears to be history.
-*
Sept., p. 8.1
S. GILES. After Cahier.
[Sept. i.
sept, i.] S. Giles. 9
One day Childebert, King of the Franks, according to some; according to others, Wamba, King of the Goths,1 was following the chase in the forests on the side of the Rhone where it flows into the Mediterranean, when a doe was started, and pursued by the hunters, fled for refuge to a cave, and penetrated into it ; an arrow was shot after it. The hunters entered the grotto, and found a white- haired hermit sheltering the doe, with the arrow in his shoulder. For the old man had lived long in this solitary place, nourished by the milk of the doe.
The king, touched, as these wild but simple natures almost always were, by the sight of this grand old man, almost naked, caused the wound to be dressed, returned often to see him, and at last made him consent to the erection of a monastery upon the site of his grotto, of which he became abbot
The fame of the venerable Giles reached the ears of Charles Martel, and he sent for him to Orleans. The abbot made the journey, saw and conversed with the iron hero. On his return to Provence, he was greeted with the news that two cedar doors had been washed up on the strand. They were at once, by his orders, removed and fitted to entrances of the church of his abbey. Such was the origin of that celebrated and powerful abbey of S. Giles, which became one of the great pilgrim shrines of the Middle Ages, and gave birth to a town, the capital of a district whose name was borne with pride by one of the most powerful feudal races, and which retains still a venerable church, classed amongst the most remarkable monuments of sculp- ture and architecture.
S. Giles is represented in art in monastic habit with his
' The Lives say King Flavian ; no such name is known among the Visigothic kings. Wamba reigned from 672 to 680.
-M
IO
Lives of the Saints.
[Sept i.
hind at his side, his hand resting on its head and pierced with an arrow.
The relics of S. Giles are preserved at S. Sernin in Tou- louse. S. Giles is reckoned in Germany as one of the Vierzehn Noth-helfer. On his day at Valencia, it is the custom to bless a sprig of fenneL
► <
>■*-
*
Sept. 2.]
6*. Antoninus.
1 1
September 2.
S. Antoninus, M. at Apamaa in Syria.
SS. Zeno, Concordius, and Others, MM. at Nicomedia ; a.d. 36a.
S. Justus, B. of Lyons; circ. a.d. 390.
S. Elpidius, Ab. in the Marches of Ancona ; 5th cent.
S. Nonnosus, Ab. on Mount Soracte in Italy ; 6th cent.
S. Agricola, B. of Avignon; circ. a.d. 700.
S. William, B. of Roskilde, in Denmark ; a.d. 1076.
S. Stephen, A", of Hungary, at S tuhhveissenburg ; a.d. 1038.
B. Margaret, V.M. at Louvain; a.d. 1220.
S. ANTONINUS, M. (date uncertain.)
[Roman Martyrology. Ado, Usuardus, &c. His veneration in Syria can be traced to the 6th cent., as may be seen from a passage in a book quoted at the Council of Constantinople in 536; see Labbaeus, v. 243. The Greek Menology in Nov. 9. Authorities : — Mentioned in the Menaea and Menology.]
AINT ANTONINUS was a stone-cutter in Syria, who, entering an idol temple, rebuked the people for worshipping images of stone. Then he went away, and for two years lived with a hermit named Theotimus, among the rocks. At the end of this time he returned to the city and temple, and, in a fit of zeal, struck and felled the image of the god in it. He was hustled out, and threatened, but was not injured. It is therefore probable that the period was late, not earlier than the reign of Constantine, or Constantius. He went to Apamaea, where the bishop employed him to build a church to the Holy Trinity. He was killed by the people in a riot, for they were incensed at the erection of a church, and pro- pably at the compulsory closing of the temples.
By a curious mistake, the people of Pamiers in the south
12 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 2.
of France, have thought that Apamsea meant their city, and have, therefore, constituted S. Antoninus their patron. They have composed for him a harrowing martyrdom, and have succeeded in discovering his bones at Pamiers. The body is now at Palencia, translated thither from Pamiers.
SS. ZENO, CONCORDIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.
(a.d. 362.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities :— The purely fabulous Acts.]
Zeno and his two sons, Concordius and Theodore, Pater- nus, a tribune, and his wife Theodota, sixty-eight soldiers, a mother and her two little children, Serapion and seventy- two soldiers, Cusconus, Menalippus and Joseph, are said by the apocryphal acts to have suffered at Nicomedia, under the apostate Julian. As Julian did not persecute the Church, such martyrdoms could not have taken place under him. The Greeks know nothing of the story. A certain Zeno is said by them to have been killed in boiling lead, but there is no reason for supposing him to have been the same as the Zeno who, it is fabled, suffered under Julian. A Melanippus is also commemorated, but where he suffered is not stated. In the acts Zeno is executed with the sword.
v-
Sept., p. 12.]
S. AGRICOLA OF AVIGNON. After Cahier.
[Sept.
*-
Sept. a.)
S. Nonnosus. 13
S. NONNOSUS, AB. (6th cent.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius. Authority : — Men- tioned in the Dialogues of S. Gregory the Great, Lib. i. c. 7.]
S. Nonnosus was abbot of a monastery which had been founded on Mount Soracte by Carloman. He is said by S. Gregory the Great to have prayed that a huge stone which encumbered the garden of the monastery might be removed, and the rock at once rolled from the spot down the mountain-side.
The body of S. Nonnosus is now at Friesingen, in Bavaria.
S. WILLIAM, B. OF ROSKILDE. (a.d. 1076.)
[Danish Kalendars. Authorities : — Saxo Grammaticus Hist. Den. lib. xi.]
S. William of Roskilde was an English priest, chaplain to King Canute. In a voyage to Denmark which he made with the king, William was so moved with compassion at the sight of the barbarism and superstition of the Danes, that he resolved to tarry in Denmark, and preach there the Gospel. He was elevated to the episcopal throne of Roskilde in 1044 on the death of Aage, the second bishop, by King Swend Estrithson. At this time he was at the court of that magnificent prelate Adalbert of Bremen, who aspired to the patriarchate of the North of Europe. He was brought from Bremen to the isle of Seeland, and there consecrated Bishop of Roskilde. At this time another English bishop, Eilbert, occupied the see of Funen.
Swend was warmly attached to William, and the bishop
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14 Lives of the Saints. [Sept a
reciprocated his affection with no less ardour. Yet William was not disposed to let his attachment interfere with what he believed to be his duty.
On the death of his wife, Gunhild, Swend married his step-daughter, Guda, daughter of Gunhild by her first husband, King Anund of Sweden. Such a marriage offended public decency as well as church law. William and Egino, Bishop of Dalbye, rebuked the king, and when he would not listen to their remonstrances, they appealed to Adalbert of Bremen. The archbishop wrote to Swend, threatening him with excommunication. " Let the haughty prelate beware," said the king, "or I will tear down his church, and translate the archbishopric from Bremen to Ham- burg."
Adalbert appealed to Rome. Pope Victor II. and the Emperor Henry IV. both wrote to Swend, and this, together with the repeated injunctions of S. William, induced the king to separate from Guda in 1055. After this he remained unmarried.
The conduct of Adalbert irritated Swend so greatly, that he expressed his wish to have an archbishopric erected in his own domains. He had S. William undoubtedly in view, and had he succeeded, Roskilde would have been consti- tuted the metropolitan see of the North. But the powerful opposition of Adalbert presented the execution of his design, and half a century later, Lund instead of Roskilde was elevated to this dignity.
One New Year's Eve there was much drunkenness at the royal board ; and during the feast some of those at table whispered words concerning the king which were not compli- mentary. Their words were repeated. The revellers staggered in the early morning, before dawn, to the church of the Holy Trinity, to hear matins ; and the furious Swend detached some of his body-guard to kill the jesters in the
Sept 2.]
•5*. William. 15
church. Swend himself proceeded in state to the house of God somewhat later to hear mass ; but S. William came forth in his pontificals, and barred the way against the king with his pastoral staff. " Stand back, executioner !" The body-guard drew their swords, still stained with blood shed on the holy floor, and threatened the bishop. His coun- tenance was unmoved, and he did not swerve from his post
Swend turned round, and walked gloomily back to his palace. The fumes of wine wore off ; conscience spoke ; and, feeling how guilty he had been, in an access of remorse, he stripped off his royal robes, and barefoot he sought the church, flung himself before the door, and kissed the earth.
In the meantime the bishop had begun mass. But when he heard that the king was at the door, he arrested the chanting, went to the gates, absolved Swend, embraced him, and bade him re-apparel himself in his royal robes. Two days Swend remained shut up in his palace ; on the third he went to the church in state, ascended to the high altar, and before all the people, confessed his crime, praised the mercy of the bishop, who had given him absolution so readily, and endowed the church of Roskilde, in expiation, with large estates in Seeland. The year in which this took place is not stated, but Suhm thinks it was in 107 1, shortly before Swend's abortive attempt on England.
The king's affection for S. William was not shaken by these acts ; he manifested the warmest love both for the bishop and his church.
After a reign of thirty years, King Swend Estrithson died in Jutland at the end of April, 1076, so beloved by his people that he was allowed in the last parliament of his bonders that he held to nominate his successor; a right which no King of Denmark possessed without their consent, as the crown was elective. He made his bonders promise
that he should be buried in Roskilde cathedral, which Bishop William had erected, and which he had endowed.
His body was afterwards brought to Seeland, and placed at Ringsted, till the cathedral was completed, and ready to receive it. When the church was ready, S. William ordered two graves to be made side by side, assuring the clergy that he had often prayed God not to part him from his monarch and best friend, and that he knew he would be laid beside him.
Then he rode to meet the funeral convoy ; and when he came to a forest which lies between Roskilde and Ringsted, he bade his attendants hew down branches, and fashion a bier, which was to be borne after him.
And now in the distance was seen, winding through the fern, under the beech leaves, browning with the first autumnal tints, the black procession, and the wailing chant of the priests reached the bishop's ear.
He descended from his horse, drew off his coat, and laid himself on the sward, lifting his hands and eyes to the sky that twinkled through the shifting network of leaves, and prayed God to join him to his dear king. So, thus lying on the bilberries and sweet grass, whilst nearer and louder waxed the advancing " De profundis," his spirit sweetly sped. " They were lovely and pleasant in tneir lives, and in death they were not divided."
When the convoy bearing the dead king came to the spot, the servants of the bishop had laid their dead master on his leafy bier, and the two parties united in one sad wail of sorrow for both the holy dead.
In process of time the church was enlarged by a succeed- ing bishop ; and when the new building was well-nigh finished, the tomb of Bishop William was removed to make room for the columns of the choir. That night, so runs the legend, the saintly prelate appeared to the sacristan,
► *-
-T.
Sept. ».) B. Margaret of Louvain. iy
who slept within the building. " Why," said he, " have I been parted from my friend ?" then he struck the walls with his crozier, and down they fell about the ears of the alarmed sacristan, who, however, escaped scathless from among the ruins.
In the sixteenth century Bishop Urn caused his bones to be disinterred and placed in a pewter coffin in a hole of a pillar of the choir, over which his portrait was painted in fresco ; and there they remain to this day undisturbed.
B. MARGARET OF LOUVAIN, V.M. (a.d. i 220.)
[Roman and Belgian Martyrologies. The cultus of Margaret began im- mediately upon her death, as we learn from Csesarius of Heisterbach, a contemporary, in his Dialogue, vi. 34, who has given there her history. Caesarius at the time was Prior of Villars, only a few miles distant. His Dialogus Miraculorum was written in 1222. In addition to the account of Ceesarius, there is a larger account by an anonymous writer of the same date.]
At the beginning of the thirteenth century there lived in Louvain a citizen and his wife, worthy people, keeping a tavern, who had a kinswoman, named Margaret, a pious, modest girl, as their servant It was the intention of the good folks to go to Villars, on the 2nd of September, 1220, and there to renounce the world and enter the Cistercian Order. They had disposed of their goods, and had all their money in the house, intending to take it with them. On the eve of the expedition, after it was dark, some ruffians, knowing the intention of Amandus and his wife, entered the house, under the pretence that they had come to bid them good-bye. The worthy man at once sent forth Margaret to buy some wine that he might regale his visitors. No sooner was she gone, than the ruffians fell on him and his wife, murdered them, and seized on their money. vol. x. 2
*■■*-
Margaret unhappily returned before they left, and they ordered her to follow them.
They hasted from the house, and took their way out of the town, the gates of which were not yet closed, and did not tarry till they had reached a little tavern. There they halted, and called for wine ; Margaret they roughly ordered to sit down, they had threatened her before with instant death should she open her mouth. The poor girl remained silent; but with streaming eyes. Her evident distress excited the sympathy of the hostess, and when the men left the house, she followed at a distance.
The robbers were now uncertain what should be done with Margaret. It was impossible to take her further, her feet lagged with fear. One of them offered to make her his wife, but the rest refused to permit it ; she had been a witness to their crime, and her voice must be silenced. Thereupon one with his dagger slit her throat, then stabbed her in the side, and flung her into the sluggish Dyle.
Next morning the murder of Amandus and his wife set all Louvain in excitement. Search was made for Margaret, and the hostess of the tavern told what she had seen and overheard. But in the meantime the body of the girl had been found by two fishermen, who, fearing lest suspicion should attach to them if they produced the corpse, hastily buried it in the bank. That night lights shone and danced over the spot. Attention was drawn to it. The corpse was extricated and transported nearer to Louvain, and a chapel built over it by the side of the river.
Popular tradition has somewhat improved on the story, and tells that the body swam against the stream to the gates of Louvain, accompanied by a choir of angels, whereas the body was in reality dug out of the bank where the fisher- men had laid it and transported by road, accompanied by the choir of the collegiate church of S. Peter.
-►«
Sept. b.]
kS*. Stephen.
19
On the finding of the body, a woman who had been at work in the fields ran up with her pot of porridge in her hand, and when she heard people exclaim that the body was that of a saint, she said, " It is no more that of a saint than my porridge is boiling !" whereon suddenly the oatmeal began to bubble and steam.
The murderers were afterwards caught and executed.
S. STEPHEN, K.C. (a.d. 1038.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities : — The Vita S. Stephani (major), written not long after the king's death ; the Vita minor, written after 1083, also by an anonymous writer. Another Life by Hartwig the Bishop (13th cent.), a compilation from the above. Chronicon Posoniense (a.d. 997 — 1203), the Chronicon Hungarorum mixtum (A.D. 1220), and other early Hungarian writers.]
During the last decade of the ninth century the Magyars, a Tartar race from the shores of the Caspian, invaded and conquered Hungary. They marched under a chief, Arpad, who planted his banner on Mount Pannonius, the birth- place of S. Martin, and claimed for himself a district, of which Alba Regia, or Stuhlweissenburg, was the centre, and extended his domains as far as the Neusiedler Lake. Six other clans with their chiefs had invaded Hungary at the same time, and settled on other portions of the vast plain. They owed a rough capricious allegiance to Arpad. In 907 Arpad died, and was succeeded by his son Zoltan, who led the Magyars through the Alps against the Venetians.
The progress of the Magyars westward was finally checked in the great battle of Augsburg, where they were defeated by the Emperor Otho the Great, as related in the life of S. Ulric (July 4th).
Geza, who became chief of the Magyars in 972, sur-
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20 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. a
rendered the province of Austria to Leopold, Duke of Suabia, and made peace with the emperor.
Geza was a shrewd ruler. He saw that the Magyars contrasted unfavourably with the civilized nations that sur- rounded them. They were a wandering race, impatient of settled habits, and therefore impossible to civilize till brought to a different frame of mind. Geza was aware that the only influence that could alter the character of this nomad people was Christianity, and he invited Christian monks and priests to labour in Hungary for the conversion of his people. At the same time he encouraged the settlement of German colonies in his territories, hoping that the dili- gence and thrift of these foreigners would teach a lesson to the haughty, reckless Magyars.
Geza himself never, probably, was baptized ; religion was with him a matter of politics more than of conscience. " I am rich enough to serve any and all gods," he said, con- temptuously. But he caused his son to be brought up a Christian. Geza had married Sarolta, daughter of Gyula, Prince of Transylvania, a Christian. She is said to have had a dream, in which she saw the first martyr Stephen, who informed her that her son would convert his people to the faith of Christ, and should be called after him, Stephen. In due course of time a son was born, named by his father, Vaik, and his education was entrusted to two Benedictine monks ; but his baptism did not take place till he was sixteen years old, when he received the name of Istvan (Stephen). His father, fearing that the heathen Magyars would rebel against the changes which he foresaw his son would introduce, took the precaution to obtain from them oaths of allegiance to Stephen during his own life- time.
Geza died in a.d. 997, and Stephen was only twenty years old when he became chief of the restless horde of
* 4<
-*
sept. a.] ■5'- Stephen.
21
Hungarians, which it was his mission to scourge into sub- mission and Christianity.
A general suspicion prevailed among the Magyars that the prince meant to use the foreigners whom his father had introduced and planted throughout the country, as means for gaining absolute mastery over his Magyar subjects. The Germans had built villages and walled towns, and occupied places of vantage within reach of one another, throwing a chain over the whole country; the Hungarian rambled freely over the wild plains, driving his cattle before him, or spending his time in hunting. The Germans, whom the politic Geza had introduced, looked to the prince as their support, for their prosperity depended on the main- tenance of peace, and peace was abhorrent to the Magyars. Consequently the king could always fall back on the Germans when menaced by the turbulence of his own people. Stephen continued the good policy of his father. Where the sus- picions of the people must be disarmed, and yet a strong- hold be established to overawe them, he endowed a mo- nastery, and walled it round like a fortress. Thence, in tranquil times the monks could disseminate lessons of peace and submission to authority and diligence, and there- into in times of danger he could throw an armed force.
The discontent and mistrust ripened daily, and finally broke out in open revolt. Kupa, Prince of Somagy, a grand- son of Arpad, put himself at the head of a formidable body of insurgents, and Stephen was forced to take up arms in self-defence. Kupa proclaimed himself a champion of the ancient faith, but his religious zeal covered designs of private ambition. He saw no reason why he should not supplant Stephen, and become chief of the Magyars. To advance his scheme, he had asked in marriage Adelheid, Geza's widow, but had been rejected. Religious zeal, ambition, and mortification urged him on; and round his banner
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22 Lives of the Saints. tsept.
rallied large swarms of discontented Hungarians. Stephen, on the other hand, was supported by the Magyars of his own clan or tribe, and by all the German colonists scattered throughout the country, shut in behind their walls, or issuing to harass and cut off the flying companies of the Magyars. Stephen pitched his camp on a plain near the river Gran, and sent messengers to Kupa, offering terms of peace. Meanwhile, to inspire his men with enthusiasm, he held a solemn festival, in the course of which he was invested, after the German fashion, with the baldric and sword of a knight. Thus armed, Stephen made a vow, in the presence of all the magnates, to devote a third of the spoils of the enemy to the abbey of S. Martin on Mount Pannonius. Two consecrated banners blazing with the forms of S. Martin and S. George were borne before the armys that now broke up its camp and advanced to the relief of Veszprem, which was invested by the insurgents.
There a decisive battle was fought ; Kupa flung himself at the head of a body of Magyar horsemen against the centre of the Christian host, but was unable to break the iron wall of mailed Germans. Kupa's horse fell under him ; before the prince could rise, his head was hacked off, and held aloft on the point of a spear. The bravest of the Magyars, now fighting with desperation, died in heaps on the spot under the battle-axes of the Germans, the rest threw down their arms and surrendered.
The victory was stained by no acts of cruelty. A third of the spoil went to endow the splendid monastery of S. Mar- tin, called thenceforth the Abbey of the Holy Hill, which was subjected immediately to the apostolic throne.
The body of Kupa was quartered and nailed to the gates of the four capitals, Raab, Veszprem, Gran, and Weissenburg in Transylvania. Then Stephen gave orders for the com- plete, unsparing extirpation of the ancient religion of his
Sept a.]
6". Stephen. 23
people. The altars were overthrown, and the priceless old heroic and mythologic poems, the heirlooms of the nation from remote ages, were ruthlessly destroyed. Stephen would not only Christianize but Germanize Hungary by force. Every Magyar found worshipping under the sacred oaks, by fountains, or before lichened rocks, was ordered to be put to death by drowning. These barbarous laws were inflicted on the whole trembling land, and the Magyar groaned under the iron despotism of a prince of his own race, who scourged him with the arm of an alien whom he abhorred.
But it was not enough to forcibly extinguish paganism, the blank must be filled, and Stephen invited hosts of clergy to enter his realm and give a faith to the hearts he forbade to believe in their old religion. And to make it worth the while of clergy to come to this arduous field, he proceeded to richly endow the Church in Hungary. He founded an arch- bishopric at Kalocsa, and divided the land into ten dioceses.
Stephen was resolved to give himself and his dynasty a firmer position than that of elected Vaivod of Hungary, he determined to constitute himself king in name as well as in fact, when he broke the power of his unruly nation. He therefore sent Anastasius, Abbot of Pecsvarad, whom he had nominated to the archbishopric of Kalocsa, on a mission to the Pope, to obtain from him a consecrated crown and sceptre.
Meanwhile, the same idea seems to have struck Duke Boleslas I. of Poland, who sent an embassy to Rome on the same mission. The Poles reached Rome before the Hun- garians, and the Pope at once ordered the manufacture by a skilful goldsmith of a hemispherical crown, crossed by two arches, and surmounted by ball and cross. In front of the crown, over the brow, was an enamel figure of the Saviour set in pearls, and the border was adorned with precious stones and figures of the apostles.
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24 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. «.
Otho III. of Germany was then in Rome ; it accorded with his wishes that Stephen, rather than Boleslas, should enjoy the title of king. He urged the prior claims of the Hungarian, about to be married to Gisela, sister of Henry of Bavaria ; and Pope Sylvester, pretending that an angel had appeared to him in sleep, and forbidden him to give the crown to Boleslas, conferred it on Stephen.
The enthusiastic eloquence of Anastasius, head of the Hungarian embassy, no doubt conduced largely to this favour- able change of design. When he spoke to the Pope of the virtues of Stephen, and how he had converted his unbelieving people, stubborn against renouncing the religion of their ancestors for a new one of which they knew nothing but the name, of how he laboured with voice and arm in the mission field, persuading some, and compelling those who were deaf to persuasion, Sylvester exclaimed — " I am called apostolic, but your prince is truly an apostle." The title of Apostolic has ever since been borne by the Kings of Hungary.
Sylvester confirmed all the ecclesiastical arrangements made by Stephen, and granted to him and his successors the right of regulating the affairs of the Hungarian Church. Then, further to insure its independence of other countries, he consecrated three bishops, Anastasius, Dominicus, a monk who accompanied the embassy from Hungary, and also the legate whom he intended to send to the Hungarian king. These, then, on their arrival, proceeded to the con- secration of the other bishops appointed by Stephen to the ten dioceses into which he had divided the kingdom. The Pope gave the king a patriarchal cross of two cross-pieces, to be borne before him in battle. S. Stephen went to meet his ambassadors, on their return, listened standing to the Pope's letter of greeting, and bent his knee whenever the name of Sylvester was pronounced as though it were the name of Jesus.
*
Sept., p. 24. j
S. STEPHEN. After Cahier.
[Sept. 2.
*
Sept. a.)
■S". Stephen.
25
-*
The coronation of Stephen took place at Pressburg, in a.d. iooo. The ancient ceremony is observed to this day whenever an Emperor of Austria receives the crown of Hungary. The Archbishop of Kalocsa placed the gold crown given by the Pope on Stephen's head, after which the king mounted his white horse, and rode to the summit of the mound in the market place of Pressburg, and there, after swearing to uphold the constitution, and respect the rights of the people, he waved his huge sword north, south, east, and west, to signify his determination to defend his country from all enemies, from whichever quarter they might arise. After the coronation the crown, sceptre, ball, shoes, and mantle were taken, first to Stuhlweissenburg, then to Veszprem, and lastly to the royal Castle of Pressburg, where they were guarded with the greatest care and reverence.
Shortly after his coronation, Stephen celebrated his marriage to Gisela, sister of the Emperor, Henry the Second, to whom he had been betrothed for six years.
We do not hear much of her, except that she was a good, quiet, colourless lady, with a special devotion to needlework. One monument of her industry still remains, in the blue satin mantle embroidered with figures of the Blessed Virgin Saints, which has been worn for centuries by every Hun- garian king at his coronation.
But Stephen's new title did not bring him rest or peace ; he was the pioneer of civilization, and that a compulsory one. The Magyars had no wish for change in their habits, government, or religion. The use of Latin in the religious services of the Church proved a great obstacle to their acceptance of Christianity ; for the Magyars were passion- ately attached to their native tongue, and regarded every attempt to supersede it as an attack on that nationality which every Magyar upheld as tenaciously and proudly then as he does at the present day.
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26 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 3.
One of the places to which Kupa's quartered body had been sent was Weissenburg, capital of Transylvania. It arrived just as they were burying Gyula, Prince ot Transyl- vania, the father of Stephen's mother. Gyula himself had been baptized and had embraced the faith of the Greek Church, but his son Gyula was an avowed Pagan. Kupa's mutilated body announced that Transylvania was to submit to Christianity and the sovereign supremacy of the new king ; and rather than do this Transylvania rose in arms, under the leadership of Gyula the younger. Stephen led his army in person, and his battle-cry was "God and the Blessed Virgin !" The battle ended in the complete rout of Gyula, who was taken along with his wife and children. Stephen flung the Prince into chains, and ordered that he should be kept imprisoned till he should consent to be baptized. The saintly king had a high opinion of the virtue of compulsion in making Christians. But Gyula grew grey and died in prison rather than accept a religion in which he could not believe.
With the spoils of the Transylvanian chiefs Stephen built a splendid church at Stuhlweissenburg, which he intended for the royal city. But there was no blessing on the treasure of Gyula, as the chronicle says, for the building was after- wards destroyed by fire. Stephen himself laid the founda- tion stone of the church, whose costly marble walls, alabaster altars, and gold and silver ornaments, made it one of the most magnificent edifices of the time.
Stephen now turned his attention especially to the political reorganization of his people. He did away with the old divisions into tribes, and divided Hungary into counties, each governed by its count, assisted by his palatine, and the orders of the Burg-graf, and the Hof-graf, were executed by a host of subordinate magistrates, stewards, and judges. The knights and nobles were made vassals of the crown ; the people
>r 4*
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*
Sept a.]
■S*. Stephen.
27
were not subjected to feudal bondage to the nobles, but were required to render them certain services ; and through- out the country there were serfs who belonged to the crown. This system, which was found eminently serviceable for the civilization of Hungary, was thought by the Magyars in after times to have been directly inspired by heaven.
In the year 1004 Otto, Doge of Venice, who had heard of the fame of Stephen, came in person to Hungary, to ask the hand of his sister Gisela. In the same year also, to the joy of the king and people, a son was born to Stephen, and named Imer or Emeric. The care of his education was entrusted to monks, who imbued him with religious prin- ciples, but fitted him rather for the cloister than for the duties of his station.
Meantime, Stephen was again obliged to engage in war to suppress a new revolt which broke out under Achtum, margrave of a district lying on the borders of Transylvania, between the Maro, Theiss, and the Danube. Achtum was a member of the Greek Church, and was disposed to acknow- ledge the Byzantine Emperor as his feudal lord, in place of Stephen, hoping thereby to obtain more independence.
Stephen's army assembled at Kalocsa, and the king was on the point of crossing the Theiss when Sunnad, the chief officer of Achtum, came to him, having deserted the rebel chief. From this man Stephen obtained all the information he required relative to the extent of the revolt and the force of the enemy. Sunnad was rewarded by being elevated to the position of Count of Maros.
About the same time an attack of the Petschenegen Tartars was successfully repulsed. Shortly afterwards sixty of the richest families of the tribe came to Hungary with all their treasure, wishing to settle there ; but on the boundary they were attacked and plundered by the Magyars. Stephen's displeasure was great when the news
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28
Lives of the Saints.
[Sept a.
reached his ears. The robbers were, by his order, hanged in couples on the frontier, as a warning to the Magyars not to maltreat foreigners and would-be settlers amongst them.
S. Stephen is said by a public act to have placed all his dominions under the special patronage of the Virgin Mary. Finding that the morals of his subjects were not quite what they should be, he peremptorily ordered every man in his kingdom to be married, excepting only infants and ecclesiastics, and idolators, to the latter of whom marriage was strictly forbidden, lest they should propagate their obstmctive and unbelieving prejudices by becoming fathers of families. Stephen was easy of access to people of all ranks, and listened to every one's complaints without distinction. He was specially considerate to widows and orphans, and throughout the kingdom made provision for their support out of the royal funds.
He was accustomed daily to distribute large alms to swarms of beggars, who lived round the palace in penury, idleness, and dirt. One day that he was scattering his charities amongst this ragged crew, the swarm, in their jealousy of one another and eagerness to get close to the king, came to blows, and in the confusion S. Stephen was thrown down, and in their rage with one another, and in the general scuffle for the money, they belaboured him with their crutches and staves, pulled his hair and beard, tore his clothes, and one sturdy beggar made off with his purse- The stately Magyar magnates looked on, twirling their moustaches, with scorn and ridicule, till the pile of wriggling, screeching, fighting mendicants had dissolved, and exposed the battered person of the king beneath ; then they lifted him up with ironical politeness. But the king esteemed himself happy in thus suffering, if we may believe his biographers, and raising his hands to heaven, he thus
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Sept. a.)
6*. Stephen. 29
addressed the Blessed Virgin : " See, O Queen of Heaven ! in what manner I am requited by these members of thy Son ! But, as they are His friends, I receive their ill-treat- ment with joy of heart."
But the expression on the faces of his nobles who had viewed this indecent scene, convinced him that if he wished to retain their respect he must not again expose himself to such treatment ; and after this he gave his charities through the hands of an almoner. He was particularly anxious to wash the dirty feet of poor men and cripples in public, but found the attempt dangerous. The haughty nobles were unable to appreciate the virtue of such an act, and before their sneers and suppressed laughter he was obliged to retreat, and perform the operation in private.
He lost no time in vain amusements; but divided his day between the duties of religion and those which belonged to his station. To the former he regularly allotted many hours every day ; and the latter he sanctified by doing all to the glory of God and the advancement of true religion.
Among the many benefactions of S. Stephen may be mentioned the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul built by him at Buda, a church of S. Stephen, a monastery for twelve canons erected by him at Rome on the Coelian hill, a hostel for Hungarian pilgrims on the Vatican hill, a hostel at Constantinople, and another, with church and convent dedicated to S. George, at Jerusalem, for the entertain- ment, at the king's cost, of Hungarian pilgrims to the Holy Land.
While thus occupied in his own country, Stephen heard of the death of his brother-in-law, Henry II., Emperor of Germany, and of the election of Conrad II. to the impe- rial throne. The late Emperor had founded the bishopric of Bamberg, and endowed it with the greater part of his
3o Lives of the Saints. fSepL %
hereditary possessions. This was viewed with no favour- able eye by his brothers, Bruno, Bishop of Augsburg, and Conrad II., who resolved on dividing and appropriating the estates Henry had given to the see ; and Bruno proposed, as he was without heir, to constitute Emeric, the son of S. Stephen, his successor in the share of the estate which fell to his lot ; but S. Stephen refused to be a party to this scheme, and begged the bishop to persuade the Emperor to spare the bishopric. Shortly after, the Emperor Conrad sent the Bishop of Strasburg on a mission to the court of Constantinople ; but S. Stephen refused to allow the prelate to pass through his domains, fearing lest the pomp of the German bishop should fill his newly-converted Hungarians with disgust.
The Emperor was aggrieved. Various other causes led to a rupture. The Bavarians and Hungarians had bickered over their borders. Complaining of incursions by the Bavarians, the Hungarians, at the command of S. Stephen, rose in arms to chastise them. This was an attack on the Empire, and Conrad at once marched to repel it (a.d. 1031). His army reached the Raab ; but Henry, son of the Emperor Conrad, succeeded in negotiating terms of agree- ment, and Conrad withdrew the German army without striking a blow, but built the castle of Steyer to watch the frontier of the Hungarians, and left Count Ottocar in the fortress of Enns to protect the lands of the Empire against incursions.
Having thus secured peace, Stephen resolved to lay aside the principal cares of government, and entrust them to his son, then in his twenty-fourth year. The young prince Emeric was dearly loved by his father, and had obtained the respect, if not the affection, of the people by his virtues, whilst the clergy, who expected great things from his piety and gratitude, regarded him with the liveliest
Sept a.)
61 Stephen. 31
hopes. Great preparations were made for his coronation, which was to take place at Stuhhveissenburg, in the stately church erected by his father, when the messengers who had been sent to conduct him to the ceremony returned with news of his death. He died just six days before that appointed for his coronation, leaving behind him the reputa- tion of a pure and blameless life.
" God loved him, and therefore took him away early," exclaimed the poor, heart-broken father when the news reached him. He never thoroughly recovered the shock, which ruined the ambition of his life. He was obliged to look beyond his family for a successor, and was very doubt- ful whether he should find one who would carry out his policy.
Of the elder line of Arpad there lived Basil ; of the younger, Andrew, and Bela Levente. But besides these, Stephen had a nephew of his own, named Peter, the son of his sister Gisela and the Doge of Venice. The Doge having been driven into exile, had died at Constantinople, and his wife and son had taken refuge with Stephen. Gisela was an intriguing woman ; and fearing lest Stephen's choice might fall upon one of his cousins, plotted against them.
One night the king was roused from sleep by the fall of a dagger from the hand of an assassin, who had concealed himself in his room, and was approaching the bed to murder him.
" If God be for me, who shall be against me ?" calmly said the king. The murderer fell on his knees, and declared that he had been bribed to attempt the life of Stephen by the king's cousins, Andrew and Bela the wrestler. But there can be little doubt that the princes were innocent, and that the attempt at assassination was schemed by Gisela in order to prejudice the king against his cousins. The princes were
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32 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 3
arrested; but Stephen was so well satisfied of their inno- cence that he released them. The man who had entered his room, and dropped the dagger with sufficient noise to awaken him, Stephen good-humouredly forgave, seeing through the plot. But Gisela had succeeded already in taking the representative of the elder line, Duke Basil, and had blinded him, and poured molten lead into his ears. When Stephen heard the news, he burst into tears, and calling the other dukes to him, feebly advised them to fly Hungary, lest his ferocious sister should succeed in making away with them also. The latter part of Stephen's reign exhibits as remarkable weakness as the earlier part was distinguished by vigour. He fell under the sway of Gisela, adopted Peter, her son, as his heir, and an- nounced his intention of leaving to him the crown of Hungary.
But the crown of Hungary is elective, not hereditary, and the magnates refused to recognise this right claimed by Stephen, and though Peter ascended the throne after the death of his uncle, he was speedily chased from it, and Samuel Aba, a Magyar noble who had married a sister of S. Stephen, was elected in his room.
While Stephen was engaged in building a cathedral at Buda, he was attacked by a fever, and felt that his end drew nigh. He assembled his magnates, gave them his last in- structions, commended his kingdom to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, and after having received the last sacraments expired on the Feast of the Assumption, the anniversary of his coronation, August 15th, 1038, at the age of sixty, after a reign of forty-one years.
Forty-five years after his death his body was exhumed and placed in a rich chapel in the great church at Buda. He was canonized by Benedict IX. Pope Innocent XI. in 1686 appointed his festival to be observed on the 2nd of Sep-
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S. Stephen.
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tember, with an office for the whole Church, the Emperor Leopold having on that day recovered Buda out of the hands of the Turks. In Hungary, his chief festival is ob- served on the 20th of August, the day of the translation of his relics.
View of the principal facade of the Cathedral cf Notre Dame, Paris, as it was in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
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VOL. X.
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34 Lives of the Saints. [Sept> 3
September 3.
S. Phcebe, Deaconess at Cenchrea ; is( cent.
S. Serapia, V.M. at Rome ; a.d. 121.
S. Basilissa, V.M. at Nicomedia; circ. A.D. 309.
S ARISTEON, B.M. at Alexandria in Cilicia.
SS. Zeno and Charito, MM.
S. Mansuetus, B. of Tulle; circ. a.d. 375.
S. Theoctistus, Ab. at Jerusalem; a.d. 467.
The Ordination o/S. Gregory the Great, at Home; a.d. 590.
S. Macniss, B. of Connor ; a.d. 510.
S. Remacle, B. of Maastricht ; circ. a.d. 668.
SS. Aigulf, Ab. and Companions, MM. at Lerins ; a.d. 680.
S. PHCEBE, DEACONESS.
(1ST CENT.) [Roman Martyrology. Ado and Usuardus. Authority : — Rom. xvi. 1, 2.]
HOEBE is the first, and one of the most important, of the Christian persons, probably converts of S. Paul, of whom detailed mention is made in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. She was a deaconess of the Church of Cenchrea, and when she went to Rome on private business, was commended to the Roman Christians by the great apostle of the Gentiles, as having "been a succourer of many, and of myself also." S. Paul calls her " a sister," and some have thought that she was his wife, but this is most improbable. From other passages in his Epistles it is clear that S. Paul was not married.1 On the other hand, S. Ignatius (d. 108), in his Epistle to the Philadelphians, speaks of both S. Peter and S. Paul as having been married.
1 1 Cor. vii. 7, 8.
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Sept. 3.]
S. Basilissa.
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S. BASILISSA, V.M. (about a.d. 309.)
[Roman Martyrology, adopted from the Greek Menasa and Menology, by Baronius. Authority : — Mention in the Menaea.]
S. Basilissa was a little Christian child at Nicomedia, of nine years old, who was beaten, and then thrown to lions in the amphitheatre ; as the beasts would not touch the child, she was* taken away, the executioners carried her out of the city, and when she implored to be allowed to rest awhile, they placed her on a stone ; she struggled to her feet, spread out her little arms in prayer, and her innocent spirit fled.
The judge who had sentenced her, Alexander by name, is said to have been so shaken by the resolution and faith of the child, that he became a Christian and suffered martyr- dom. But this is probably a late addition to the story, it is only found in the later and amplified narratives.
S. MANSUETUS, B.
(ABOUT A.D. 375.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. In Dempster's Scottish Menology on March 19 and Sept. 3. Authorities : — Two Lives, both long posterior, the second an amplification of the first, full of legendary matter, by Adso, Abbot of Moutier-en-Der, in the 10th cent.]
Mansuetus of Toul was the first bishop of that see. It is pretended by his biographer, trusting to popular tradition, that he was consecrated and sent into Gaul by S. Peter. But what seems more probable is that he was long posterior. He is said to have been an Irishman (Scotus), and Dempster supposing that Scotus meant Scotchman, introduced him into his Scottish menology. If he were one of the many
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36 Lives of the Saints. (Sept.*
Irish missionaries who carried the light of the Gospel into Gaul and Germany and Switzerland, his date is later. The fables related of Mansuetus are many. The son of the prince of Toul fell into the river and was drowned : Man- suetus prayed, the boy came to the surface of the Moselle and revived, after having been under water a night and
a day.
Nor were his miracles of restoring to life confined to boys. A native of Ireland (Scotus) lost his pig, which thieves had carried off, killed and eaten. He invoked S. Mansuetus, and made a pilgrimage to Toul to deplore the loss of his pig over the tomb of the saint. Great was his delight to find a pig on his way back, which he could appropriate and drive home to Ireland, under the assurance that it was his own pig.
In 1790 the relics of S. Mansuetus were divided among the canons of the church of Toul, that they might be pre- served from the fury of the revolutionists. Many of the fragments have been restored, and the cathedral of Toul now possesses a shoulder, the church of S. Gengolf the head, that of S. Nicholas-de-Port a rib.
The old crypt in which was the tomb ot S. Mansuetus (in French Mansuy) is now private property. On the tomb he is represented trampling on paganism, with the resuscitated prince at his side.
S. MACNISS, B. OF CONNOR. (a.d. 510.)
[Irish Martyrologies. Authority :— A late Life, full of fable.]
^ngus Macniss, or son of Nissa, is said to have been baptized by S. Patrick, and educated by S. Olcan (Feb. 5). One day when a boy he was set to watch cattle and went
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Sept. 3.]
S. Macniss. 37
to sleep. For his neglect the mother of S. Olcan took him up and slapped him as children are wont to be slapped. But the prospective virtue of Macniss resented the indignity, and the lady's arm became rigid.
When grown a man he went a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and brought away with him, as relics, some of the hair of the Blessed Virgin and the dresses of the apostles, and one of the chalices " from the great altar at Jerusalem."
A man who had murdered his own father was condemned by his kinsmen to lose his son. Macniss interfered, and implored that the child might not be despatched till he had reached a cairn at the top of a hill some short way off. Macniss ran, and on ascending the cairn threw apart his arms in prayer. At the same moment the Irishmen, in execution of their rough justice, flung the child into the air, to receive him on the points of their spears, but a current of wind wafted him into the open arms of Macniss, who adopted the child, called him Colman, and he grew up to be bishop of Kill-ruaidh.
^ngus Macniss is said to have held the Scriptures in such high reverence, that when he was on his way from one monastery to another, he would not strap the volume to his back, but laid it between his shoulders and walked on all fours, balancing it in its place with scrupulous care.
The Annals of Innisfallen say that Macniss died in 506 (i.e. 507), but the Annals of the Four Masters say 513 (i.e. 514).
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38 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 3>
& REMACLE, B. (about a.d. 668.)
[Roman Martyrology. Ado, Wandelbert, Hrabanus, and Notker, addi- tions to Usuardus, Belgian, Gallican, and Benedictine Martyrologies. Authority : — A Life by a monk of Stavelot, later as appears from the passage, "Quod ad nostrum usque tempus inconvulsum durare videtur." If the writer wrote also the first book of miracles of S. Remade, as is probable, he lived in the 9th cent. He wrote from tradition handed on in the monastery. This, " Libellum de vita Remacli," was afterwards enlarged by Notker of Liege (d. 1008).]
The father of Remade was Albutius, a man of noble birth. The child was given to S. Eligius to be educated by him, and when he reached a suitable age was consecrated regionary bishop ; and afterwards, in 650, on the death of S. Amandus, Bishop of Maestricht
Trudo, or Trond, a boy, the son of a noble of the country, felt that craving for knowledge which characterized so many in that age, and led them into the religious life. The boy, unable to find rest in his father's halls, among the fighting men and those whose only thoughts and pleasures were the sports of the forest and field, ran away, and through bush and brake pushed his road to Maestricht, where he made himself known to the saintly bishop, and implored him to give him refuge, and put him in the way of acquiring know- ledge. S. Remade kissed the eager boy, and committed him to his servants, ordering them to treat Trond with respect,
" Dirty little brat !" said the domestics, when their master's back was turned, " what does the bishop mean by bidding us minister to such a ragged urchin ?"
S. Remade put his head back into the room, and ordered prompt obedience. " Judge not by the countenance," said he, " nor by the coat, but by the heart and mind, which God regards."
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Sept. 3.]
S. Remade.
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The bishop, in traversing his vast diocese, found that the Ardennes was Christianized only in name ; he therefore sought King Sigebert of Burgundy, and entreated him to found two monasteries in that wild, forest-covered region of hills and vales. The king at once acceded to his request, and bade him seek suitable sites. Remade chose Malmedy and Stavelot, the latter a glade in the midst of dense forests haunted by wolves and boars, where the peasants stabled their cattle. The sunny spot, set in the midst of dark woods, fascinated at once the mind of Remade, and he fixed on it as the site of a monastery. Its foundation was laid in a.d. 651.
When old age broke Remade, and he was no longer fit to carry on the work of his diocese, he resigned the pastoral work into the hands of Theodard, and retired to sunny Stavelot, to end his days in that solitude where the only sounds were the cooing of wood-pigeons, and the hoot of owls, with, in winter, the dreary howl of the wolf. There he passed to the Lord in, or about, the year 668.
Stavelot is now a town of 4000 inhabitants. In its church is preserved the very interesting shrine of S. Remade. It is 6ft. long, of copper plates, gilt and enamelled ; the sides flanked by fourteen canopied niches, containing silver-gilt statuettes of the twelve Apostles of S. Remade and S. Lam- bert. At the ends, under the gables, are seated figures of Our Lord, the Virgin and Child. The sloping roof is divided into panels of reliefs in repoussee work, containing subjects from the life of Our Lord, the sides, cornices, gables, &c, are encrusted with precious stones, beryl, opal, turquoise, &c. During the French Revolution the shrine, still con- taining the saint's bones, was placed in a large cask and sunk under water. It is probably a work of the 14th century.
The only remains of the abbey church is part of a Romanesque tower.
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept 3-
The remembrance of S. Remade cleaves to many places in his ancient diocese.
Before he was made Bishop of Maestricht he lived at Cugnon, in a cave. Whilst there he had a cow. It was the custom for each person who sent cattle to pasture in turn to pay a small contribution to the cowherd. When Remacle's turn came, he tied the " mareinde " to the horn of his cow, and the wise animal took it direct to the herds- man. The cave is an object of pilgrimage. The "devil's walls " at Pepinster have also their connexion with the saint. He had preached in the valley of Pepinster, and converted the people. The devil was so wroth, that he built a huge wall as a dam across the river, intending to arrest the water, and submerge a part of the Marquisate of Franchimont. The people had recourse to S. Hermes in prayer, and the saint by a word knocked a hole in the wall, which released the imprisoned waters. The footprint of S. Remade is shown not only near Spa, but also on the banks of the Ambleve near Targon. That of Spa is famous. The legend goes that S. Remade stood on the rock praying and fell asleep, when, to punish him, the rock became soft, and his foot sank in, as though he had been standing on dough. When he awoke, he prayed that the footprint might bring relief to barren women. Since then it is a notable place of pilgrimage for women who are sterile, who put one foot in the print, and drink a glass of water from the fountain of Groesbeck.
S. Remade is represented in art with a wolf at his side, probably to show that he was the apostle of the wolf-haunted region of the Ardennes.
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Sept. 3<] & Alglllf. 41
SS. AIGULF, AB. AND COMR, MM. (about a.d. 680.)
[Not in early Martyrologies ; but venerated anciently in Provence. Modern Roman and Galilean Martyrologies. Authorities : — A Life by an anonymous writer, very ancient ; another by Adrevald of Fleury, in 850.]
S. Aigulf (in French Ayou), born of noble parents at the court of Dagobert, was brought up at Fleury, and elected Abbot of Lerins. He found the discipline somewhat re- laxed after that of Fleury, then in all the ardour of its new zeal, and he endeavoured to restore to Lerins its pristine severity of rule. A party of the monks, headed by Arcadius and Columbus, two of the brethren, resisted the innovations. A violent altercation took place, but was appeased by the gentleness of the abbot. Arcadius, however, appealed to the Bishop of Uzes, near Nice, who sent armed men to support the refractory monks. Arcadius and Columbus then rose with all their adherents and delivered the abbot, and those monks who clave to his reform, into the hands of the bishop's soldiers, and they transported them by ship to the island of Capraja, between Corsica and the Italian coast. There they were shut up in the castle, and at length put to death. One of the monks managed to escape and blaze abroad the crime that had been committed. Then Prigonius, Abbot of Lerins, sent a boat for the relics, and they were translated with great pains to Lerins.
It will be seen that the story hangs awkwardly together. Why did the soldiers of Bishop Mummolus of Uzes take the abbot and his companions such a long voyage in order to kill them ? And how was it that the succeeding abbot, who, as the party of Arcadius triumphed, would belong to those hostile to Aigulf, and guilty of his death, regarded him as a martyr? Probably Bishop Mummolus had the
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. >
troublesomely austere monks carried off to Capraja to get them well out of the way, and left them there. It is not likely that he would stain his hands with their blood. But about this time, during the period that Mummolus was Bishop of Uzes, there was an incursion of Moors into Provence, and it is probable that some of their ships visited Capraja, and then, perhaps, the abbot and his companions suffered, as we know another abbot of Lerins, S. Porcharius, suffered martyrdom at their hands on a subsequent invasion. A later abbot recovered their bones, and the confused recol- lection of the story shaped itself into the martyrdom of the abbot by the soldiers of the bishop.
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September 4.
S. Moses, Prophet and Lawgiver, on Mount Nebo ; b.c. 1451.
S. Hermione, daughter of S. Philip, at Ephesus ; circ. a.d. 117.
S. Marcellus, M. at Chalons-sur-Sadne ; circ. a.d. 178.
S. Marinus, D.C. at San Marino in Tuscany; end of 4th cent. (?).
S. Monessa, V. in Ireland; circ. a.d. 456.
S. Grata, V. at Bergamo ; circ. gth cent.
S. Frodoald, B.M. at Mendes ; circ. a.d. 830.
S. Ida, W. at Herzfeldt in Westphalia; circ. a.d. S13.
Translation oj "S. Cuthbert, to Durham ; a.d. 99s.1
B. Irmgard, V. Countess of Zutp/ien ; at Cologne; end of nth cent.
S. Rosalia, V. on Monte Pelegrino above Palermo ; end of 11th cent.
S. Rosa, V. at Viterbo ; circ. a.d. 1252.
S. HERMIONE.
(ABOUT A.D. 117.)
[Greek Menaea and Menologies. Authorities :— Mention in the Meno- logies and the Greek Acts, which however contain much fable.]
A INT HERMIONE was one of the daughters of S. Philip, but whether of the apostle or of the deacon is not clear. The Menology published by Sirletus says of her, " She was one of the four daughters of Philip who baptized the eunuch of Can- dace the Queen. This S. Hermione after having witnessed a good confession with courageous mind under Trajan the emperor, enduring torments, having wrought many miracles, migrated to the Lord." But the menology of the Emperor Basil does not altogether agree with this. It says, " On this day (September 4) the conflict of the holy martyr Hermione, daughter of S. Philip the Apostle. She flourished in the time of Trajan. She had a sister named Eutyches, and with her she went to Ephesus to venerate John the Divine ; but
1 York, Saruni, Hereford, and Durham Kalendars.
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44 Lives of the Saints. [Sept.*
they found him not, he had been translated. And Trajan came to Ephesus on his Persian expedition, and heard the name of Hermoine celebrated, as that of a prophetess. She was therefore seized to be forced to renounce Christ, and was smitten on the face. Then the Lord appeared to her and encouraged her to bear her torments bravely. But because she prophesied that Trajan should conquer the Persians, he released her. Hadrian, the successor of Trajan, had her again taken, and when she would not sacrifice to idols, ordered her to be decapitated. The executioners' arms became rigid, and they believed and were also put to death."
It is clear that the Emperor Basil confounded S. Philip the Apostle with S. Philip the deacon. Little or no reliance can be placed on his account.
Whether Hermione was a virgin and a martyr is doubtful. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us in his Stromata that " Philip married his daughters to husbands."
According to the longer Mensea, as Hermione was being led to execution she prayed God to release her, then she knelt down and gave up her soul with a sigh.
S. MARCELLUS, M. (about a.d. 178.)
[Gallican and Roman Martyrologies, that of Worms of 1576, Wandel- bert, Hrabanus, Ado, and Notker. Authority :— The ancient Acts, appa- rently trustworthy, though not contemporary. Another and later e Jition of the Acts exists, written apparently in the 6th cent., it is much amplified.]
In the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, when per- secution was raging at Lyons, two Christians of that city, Marcellus and Valerian, having been taken, succeeded in
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S. Marcellus. 45
effecting their escape from prison, and fled the town. Va- lerian took the road to Autun, and Marcellus that of Chalons- sur-Saone. The latter was kindly lodged by a Latin gentleman resident in the district. The zeal of Marcellus was aroused by seeing his host offer incense to some bronze statues of Mars on horseback, Mercury and Minerva, which stood in his vestibule, and he spoke to him against idolatry. The gentleman listened, and Marcellus succeeded in con- vincing him of his error, and leading him to the true faith.
After awhile Marcellus, no longer deeming it safe for himself or for his host that he should remain there, started on foot for Strasburg. He had not gone far before he met Priscus the governor of the district, with a party of servants and soldiers, on their way to the country villa of the governor. After the courteous, hospitable man- ner of the times, Priscus invited the wayfarer to rest at his villa and partake of his food. He was about to offer a solemn sacrifice.
Then Marcellus, weary of concealment, and shrinking from giving an evasive or false excuse, declined on the ground that he was a Christian, and could not partake of the table of devils.
This led to an outcry among the attendants of the gover- nor. " Let the fellow be tied by hands and feet to the tops of two young poplars bent down, and then relax them, and he will be rent asunder."
Priscus declined to execute judgment in this peremptory and illegal fashion. He would hear Marcellus in his court, properly constituted.
Marcellus was led off bound, and on the first opportunity was brought before the governor and ordered to adore the images of the Sun and of Saturn, on the banks of the Saone. The martyr refused with such indignation that Priscus, in a
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4.6 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
fit of wrath, ordered him to be buried up to his waist, and allowed to die of starvation.
The relics of S. Marcellus were saved at the French Re- volution, and are now preserved in a shrine in the church of S. Marcel-les-Chalons, near Chalons-sur-Saone, and on this day are visited by crowds of the faithful.
S. MARINUS, DEAC. C. (uncertain.)
[Roman Martyrology. Wytford in his Anglican Martyrology. The Acts are apocryphal.]
According to the " Vita Fabulosa," as the Bollandists designate the record of the acts of S. Marinus, he was a stonemason of Dalmatia, who was engaged with a fellow Christian, Leo, on the rebuilding of the walls of Rimini. They went for stones to the top of Monte Titano, and finding a good quarry, spent three years working blocks for the walls. At the end of that time Leo departed to Monte Feretri, and there built himself a cell. But Marinus re- turned to the city, and undertook the construction of an aqueduct. His diligence astonished those who laboured with him, he was at work first in the morning, and last at night. He spent twelve years at Rimini, setting a good example of an upright pious workman. How much longer he would have remained there cannot be told, but an unto- ward event happened which routed him out of the place. A Dalmatian peasantess came to Rimini, and declared she was the wife of Marinus, and that she had been hunting for him high and low, and had now found him. Whether she was his wife or not, matters little ; at the sight of her Marinus
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sept. 4.] S- Monessa. 47
ran clean away, and took refuge among the rocks about the quarry on Monte Titano, where he had worked twelve years before.
But the good woman went after him • she had not crossed the sea in search of her husband and found him, only to let him slip through her fingers again ; and she pursued him up the rocks and lighted on him in a cave he had hewed out of the stone. No sooner did Marinus see her face peering in at the entrance, than he slammed the door, and rolled stones against it. Marinus remained in a state of siege for six days, and then ventured forth. His wife, devoid of provisions, had retired. He seized the opportunity to desert his cave, and fly further up the mountains, and ensconce himself on the face of a cliff where no woman could reach him. There he amused himself with taming a bear to carry loads for him.
He is said to have been ordained deacon by the Bishop of Rimini.
The body of S. Marinus was discovered in 1586.
S. Marinus gives his name to a small republic near Rimini.
The Bollandist gives as his date the latter part of the 4th century, but it is very doubtful when he lived.
S. MONESSA, V.
(ABOUT A.D. 456).
[Irish Martyrologies. Authority : — Mention by Probus in his Life of S. Patrick.]
S. Monessa, the beautiful daughter of an Irish chief, though not a Christian, refused all the offers made for her
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48 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 4#
hand. When she heard S. Patrick preach the Faith of the Virgin-born, she believed with all her heart and was bap- tized, and straightway as she came out of the regenerating wave, for joy of heart, her spirit broke its bonds, and en- tered into celestial joy.
S. GRATA, V.
(ABOUT 9TH CENTURY.)
[Not in any ancient Martyrologies. Venerated at Bergamo from the beginning of the nth cent. Authority :— Her Life by F. Pinamonte, O.P., prior of the Dominican convent at Bergamo in 1266, from the months of the people, as her acts were lost. Consequently they are purely legendary, and of no historical value. An office was granted to the Bergamese in 1706 in her honour, and nine lections appointed to be read from this life by Pinamonte, and the 4th Sept. was appointed by the Sacred Congregation of Rites to be her festival.]
In the days of S. Marcellus, pope and martyr (a.d. 308- 310) says the biographer of our saint, there lived in Ber- gamo a man of royal race named Lupus, who was consti- tuted Duke of Bergamo. He was married to a noble wife, Aleydis or Adelheid by name, and they had a daughter whom they called Grata.
Now there was in Germany a mighty king, and he, hearing of the beauty and virtue of Grata, sent to Bergamo for the damsel to be married to his son. Her married life was brief, the prince died early, and Grata, having learnt the vanity of earthly pleasures, returned to her native place. At this time there were few Christians at Bergamo, and Alexander, standard-bearer of the Theban legion, was there martyred at this time,1 in the place called Plotacius, where
1 See S. Alexander, Aug. 36.
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Crotacius, grandfather of Grata, had erected a villa and was buried.
Grata buried the body of the martyr, and built over it a church ; and then ordered her steward to kill a pig and roast the flesh, and regale those who had laboured at bury- ing the martyr. The steward accordingly slaughtered the pig, and the mourning Christians consoled themselves on a banquet of pork ; but what was the amazement of the ste- ward when he returned to the stye, to find the pig, or one uncommonly like him, grunting there as usual, and clamorous for his barley meal.
Duke Lupus and the Duchess Aleydis now erected in Bergamo the church of the Saviour, and on the death of the duke he was buried in it, and becoming famous for miracles wrought at his tomb, is regarded as one of the local saints. His widow Aleydis built two more churches, those of S. Mary and S. Michael, and died in the odour of sanctity. S. Grata erected a hospital, and died beloved and admired by all.
Such is the story. It is impossible to admit that S. Grata was, as is said, a contemporary with S. Marcellus. Crota- cius, said to be her grandfather, lived in a.d. 270. But Aleydis or Adelheid is a Teutonic name, and Lupus is probably the Latin form of Wolf. Both were apparently Lombards, perhaps Wolf was the first Duke of Bergamo ; there certainly were no dukes with local titles in the 4th century in Italy. The fact of Lupus, Aleydis, and Grata being regarded as founders of several of the churches in Bergamo, point to their having lived long subsequent to the date attributed to them by Pinamonte, probably after the Lombard invasion in a.d. 568-570.
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This saint came of a family as illustrious in the annals of profane history as in those of the Church. She was the granddaughter of Count Bernard, son of Charles Martel, and Gundlindis, daughter of Adelbert, Duke of the Ale- manni, whose sister was S. Odilia. Her parents were Theo- doric, Duke of the Ripuarii, and Theodrada, afterwards Abbess of Soissons. Charles Martel her great-grandfather was son of Pepin, son of S. Bega and nephew of S. Gertrude, and grandson of the Blessed Pepin of Landen and of S. Itta or Iduberga, his wife.1
S. Ida was married to Ecbert, Duke of the Saxons who inhabited the region between the Rhine and the Weser. After his death, she spent her widowhood in works of charity and daily devotion. She had a stone coffin made for herself, and filled it daily to the brim with food for the poor. She was buried at Herzfeld.
THE TRANSLATION OF S. CUTHBERT.
(A.D. 995.)
[Sarum, York, and Durham Kalendars. Authorities :— Simeon of Dur- ham, and the Hist, of the Miracles and Translations of S. Cuthbert in Mabillon.]
Bede relates, in the life of S. Cuthbert, that the saint charged his disciples before his death, that rather than ever
» Charles Martel \ Count Bernard-Theodrada-S. Ida
<• King Pepin— Charlemagne — Louis the Pious.
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B. Irmgard. 51
fall under the yoke of schismatics or infidels, they should, when threatened with such a calamity, take with them his mortal remains, and choose some other dwelling. In the year 875 the province of Northumberland was so cruelly infested by Danish pirates, and Lindisfarne was so much exposed to their continual ravages, that Eardulf the bishop, Eadred the abbot, and the community of the monks, left that place, and carrying with them that sacred treasure, wandered to and fro for seven years. In 882 they rested with it at Concester (Chester-le-Street), a few miles from the Roman wall, where the bishop's see continued one hundred and thirteen years, as Camden remarks. Both King Alfred and the Danish leader granted peace for a month to all persons that fled to the saint's shrine, and Alfred gave to this church all the land that lies between the Tyne and the Tees. In 995, in the fresh inroads of the Danes, Bishop Aldune retired with the saint's body to Ripon, and four months after to Durham, a place strong by its natural situation, but not habitable, till the people of the country, on this occa- sion, cut down the wood, and raised a small church, and cells for the monks.
B. IRMGARD, V.
(END Of IITH CENT.)
[German Martyrologies. Venerated at Cologne on Sept. 4, and Nov. 10. Greven, Molanus, Canisius, and the Acta Sanctorum. Authority : — A Life in German, by an anonymous writer of the 14th cent.]
The Blessed Irmgard, daughter of the Count of Zutphen in Guelders, leaving her father's castle, spent her time in a lonely spot at Suchtelen. Thence she visited Cologne, where she collected some of the earth in which the eleven
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52 Lives of the Saints. isepi.4,
thousand virgins had been laid, and with it made a pilgrim- age to Rome. And as she entered the city, all the bells in all the towers rang out joyously as for a festival. Then all men knew that a great saint bearing a holy burden had come to Rome,and she was escorted to the Pope. And she produced the earth and offered it into his hands, and lo ! the earth melted into blood, and ran red over his fingers.
In gratitude for this miraculous gift, the Pope presented S. Ida with half the head of one of his predecessors, S. Sylvester, and this she brought back with her to Cologne.
Thrice did Ida make a pilgrimage to Rome, and on the third time, she went one day into the basilica of S. Paolo, and there she found a crucifix of the same length, material, and form as that which is erected before the sacristy of S. Peter's at Cologne. Scarce had she kneeled down, and begun to pray, before these words issued from the mouth of the image : " My chosen daughter, Irmgard, I beg you, when you go back to Cologne, and enter the metropolitan Church of St. Peter, and see the image like me placed on the altar before the Sacristy, that you will give it my greet- ing." S. Irmgard was much astonished at these words, but she replied that she would do so willingly, since she was found worthy to bear the message. And when she had said this, she saw the image loose its hand from the cross, and bless her with it. Then she hasted back to Cologne, and on reaching the cathedral church, she flew to the crucifix before the sacristy, and cried to it, " O blessed, most holy cross ! Your image in the basilica of S. Paul at Rome ordered me to bear you its kind greeting." Then the Cologne image bowed its head, and said, " Thank you, my daughter."
And when what Irmgard had heard was noised abroad, the clergy of the church bored a hole in the head that had nodded, put into the hole a sacred Host, and closed it up
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Sept. 4.] & Rosalia. 53
again ; and thenceforth the image was regarded as miracu- lous, and attracted crowds of the faithful.
Irmgard made her will, and left to the churches of S. Peter and S. Pantaleon at Cologne all her lands, the Castle of Aspel, and the estate of Suchtelen. She built a hospital at Hachtforch, and entering into it died on one of its pallets prepared for the poor.
Herman, her brother, was Abbot of S. Pantaleon, and died in 11 20. Irmgard probably died earlier, at the end of the nth cent, or the beginning of the 12th.
S. ROSALIA, V.
(END OF I2TH CENT.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology :— Venerated greatly at Palermo, especially since 1624, when the Invention of her relics took place. No ancient mar- tyrologies mention her, and there are no accounts of her earlier than Valerius Rossi, who wrote about a.d. 1590. Churches dedicated to her date, however, from 1237. Her history is founded on popular legend. "Gesta Sanctas haurienda fuerunt ex traditione, inscriptionibus et pictis tabulis, quae sola supersunt monumenta," says J. Stilling the Bollandist.]
Rosalia of Palermo was the daughter of Sinibald, a knight of noble blood, attached to the court of Roger, King of Sicily.
At the age of fourteen, the pious maiden resolved to leave the temptations and distractions of courtly life, and take refuge in solitude among the rocks. She ascended Monte Quisquina, a rugged mountain, and finding a cavern hid herself in it. There she spent some time ; how long cannot be told, for tradition in three centuries cannot be relied on. On the rock, she amused herself with engraving the words, " Ego Rosalia Sinibaldi Quisquine et Rosarum domini filia amore Domini mei Jesu Christi in hoc antro habitare
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54 Lives of the Saints. [Sept, «.
decrevi."1 Lower down is 12, apparently the Arabic numerals to indicate her age at the time, or perhaps the beginning of another line of inscription which she never terminated. This inscription, of undoubted genuineness, is a very touching monument of the solitary life of the young girl. Thus, perhaps, she occupied her cold fingers when the snows lay on Monte Quisquina, before the purple soldanella and the white crocus thrust through the turf with the returning sun of spring.
A wooden crucifix with another inscription cut on it in bad Greek is preserved in the Monastery of S. Salvatore at Palermo. It is to this effect : " I, sister Rosalia (daughter) of Sinibald place this wood of my Lord which I have ever followed, in this monastery." The genuineness of this in- scription has been questioned. It has been thought to have been suggested by that on the rock, and forged, in order to attract pilgrims to the monastery where it is shown. But it is by no means improbable that the fingers which cut on the stone carved also on the wood. It mast be remembered that a base Greek lingered on in Sicily as a patois till much more recently. If the inscription be a forgery, it is curious that it should not have been better done, and that the name should not have been given correctly, Rosalia instead of PocroXta. But if this was the vulgar pronunciation of her name in the Greek patois then spoken, the discrepancy is easily explained.
S. Rosalia is said in legend to have been led to her cave by two angel guides.
After awhile, disturbed in her retreat, she took her staff,
1 Exactly thus-
EGO ROSALIA SINIBALrfl QVISQVI NE ETROSARVM DOMINI FILIA AMORE dm MEIIESV
cRISTI
INI hoc
ANTROHAMTA RI aTICREVI.
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S. ROSALIA. After Cahier.
[Sept. 4.
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S. Rosalia.
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and went up Monte Pellegrino, again led by angels. Not far from the summit she found a grotto, to which entrance was only obtained by a narrow opening. Within, long stalactites hung white as alabaster from the roof, and mounds of stalagmite were heaped on the damp floor. Rosalia sought a dry corner of this cavern, and there formed her bed of fern and heather. It was a ghastly spot. From without a feeble light entered, and made the white draped stalactites into ghostly figures, standing in the midst of gloom. And all night long the drip of the falling water sounded monotonously.
In this grotto Rosalia passed the remainder of her life, and died about a.d. 1160. But the greatest uncertainty exists relative to her life. Some say that she was for awhile a member of a religious order, and is claimed by the Benedictines and the Basilians. She is often represented as a Basilian nun with a Greek cross of two arms in her hand.
Whilst in her cave she is said to have woven garlands of wild roses and mountain flowers, offered them to God, and hung them round her crucifix. Angels are represented in pictures of the saint as bearing baskets ot flowers and pre- senting them to her, and Our Lord as a little child is shown placing a crown of roses about her head.
She died in her cave unknown to men, and the water dripping over her cased her in a film of lime. Year after year passed, and the stalagmitic envelope thickened.
In 1 624 the plague was raging in Palermo, when S. Rosalia appeared to one stricken with the disease, and bade him make a pilgrimage to the top ot Monte Pellegrino. He returned cured. Then it was thought that the body of the saint might be found there, and search was made for it. The opening of the cavern was found, and it was entered. A block of stalagmite was broken and it was found to enve-
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56 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
lop human remains. These, it was concluded, were the bones of the saint.
The relics were translated to Palermo, and on Jan. 22, a.d. 1625, were solemnly exposed. The plague which had been raging since 1624 ceased. A church was then erected near the cave.
" Monte Pellegrino, near Palermo, is a rugged mountain. Not quite at the top, but yet at a great height, is the church of S. Rosalia. The place where the saint usually slept is shown, and where by a miracle her body was found at a later period. The rough damp grotto, in combination with the magnificence of the church, has a peculiarly romantic appearance. Until the great plague in Palermo, nothing certain was known about S. Rosalia; but during that time of terror, a soldier had a vision urging him to search for the body of the saint in a grotto on the mountain, and then to carry it in procession through the city for the removal of the plague. To confirm the truth of the order, the Virgin told the soldier that he would die within three days ; die he did, and the body of the saint was found at the spot indicated, and was carried through Palermo with great pomp, after which the plague ceased. Since then the festival of the Saint is annually held in the city with solemn processions. Previous to this " festa," the Saint, as the Palermitans call her, regu- larly washes the streets with a beneficial rain, the truth of which is confirmed by many visitors. The pious belief of the people is every year confirmed to their great pleasure."1
We are told that the clergy did not accept the authenti- city of the bones found in the cave without the most satis- factory proof.
With the body were discovered some beads. The rosary was not instituted when S. Rosalia lived, but the use of
1 Emperor Maximilian : Recollections of my Life, ii. p. 28.
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beads is more ancient than S. Dominic, who only regulated their arrangement. Those of S. Rosalia are thirteen in number — twelve small ones and a large bead, dividing the chain into groups of six. With the body was also a terra cotta crucifix, the head separate and very beautiful ; also a little silver cross of equal arms, much injured.
In 1663 Francis Castaglia, of the Society of Jesus, lay dying in the Jesuit College at Palermo, when he saw S. Rosalia appear to him. And she said, " Francis, I have prayed for thee, and thou shalt live." He was healed on the spot. He afterwards had the face of the angelic maiden painted as she appeared to him. The Bollandists give an engraving of the picture, it is that of a girl of perhaps eighteen, with long flowing hair, and a dress sown with wild pinks, such as grow on the rocks of her loved mountains. The face is singularly sweet and somewhat sad.
S. ROSA, V. (about a.d. 1252.)
[Roman and Franciscan Martyrologies. Venerated chiefly at Viterbo. S. Rosa died on March 6, and Sept. 4 is the Feast of her Translation, but it is that which is specially observed in her honour. The ancient and authentic acts of this saint have perished, those which exist have been formed out of them, as the writer states.]
This little saint was born in the midst of the grievous troubles which afflicted Italy, when Frederick II. and Gregory XI. were in fiercest conflict; and Guelfs andGhibel- lines were at each other's throats. The crown of Rome, which had been laid on the brows of Charlemagne by Leo III., had become a reality. The empire held the Papacy in constant alarm ; there was never-ceasing fear lest the
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58 Lives of the Saints. [Sept# ^
authority of the Emperor should interfere with the supre- macy of the Pope. There were two parties in Italy, the Guelfs, who made Italian freedom their watchword, and who looked to the independence of every republic in the peninsula as their ideal of political perfection, and the Ghibellines, who thought the prosperity of Italy would be better consulted if all these petty States were crushed into submission to one sovereign. The Popes, as hostile to German interference, supported the Guelfs. For ages the Popes found their advantage in standing at the head of Italian nationality. Ever since the time of Hildebrand, they were the great obstacles to the establishment of the German sway in Italy. In the 13th century they waged inveterate warfare against the empire with arms spiritual and carnal. Two hundred years later, to quote a phrase of Pope Paul IV., Rome acted as one of the four strings which kept the Italian harp in tune. In the 16th century, when France, Germany, and Spain made Italy their battle- ground, the Popes headed many conspiracies to scare all foreign robbers from the fair prize. Julius II., Clement VII., and Paul IV. took the lead in this generous policy. The Ghibellines, on the other hand, looked up to a foreigner as their head. Many good patriots were to be found in the ranks of this party ; these, weary with the endless civil wars waged by family against family, and city against city, thought that the only hope of peace lay in submitting to the rule of a despot. If ever any man loved his country, that man was Dante, who may be taken as the mouthpiece of the Ghibelline spirit. He looks upon the person of the Emperor with mysterious reverence. Popes and priests may be doomed to grotesque sufferings in the nether world, but a Caesar must always be treated with respect. The murder of Julius is the greatest crime, save one, that earth has ever seen. Brutus and Cassius are placed by the side
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of Iscariot. Some of the old German Caesars undergo purgatorial punishment on account of their resistance to the Popes. One alone is doomed to Hell, but that is for his supposed infidel opinions. His fate is recorded in one shoit line of the Inferno, for the sufferings of an Emperor are not meet for the ears of the vulgar. To return to earth ; Dante's remedy for the woes of his country would seem a strange one to an Italian patriot of our own day. It was simply this, that the Emperor, a German elected by Germans, should make Rome his resi- dence, and should thence rule Italy at his will. And who was the despot, whose invoked presence was to be the source of countless blessings ? It was Albert of Hapsburg, known to us chiefly as the despoiler of the rights of his nephew, and as the patron of the infamous Gessler.
In the year 1239 the two parties were fairly brought face to face. The Guelfs shouted for the Pope and freedom ; the Ghibellines for the Emperor and order. The former cursed the heretical tyrant, the worst of his wicked race, who was bringing Germans from the north, and Arabs from the south, to sweep away the hard-won rights of the Italian cities. The Ghibellines pointed to the bloody wars be- tween neighbouring towns, wars that had never ceased to rage within the memory of man. What prospect of happi- ness or peace could there be, unless the Emperor should appear in Italy and put down all the civil broils with his strong hand? In the 13th century Italy was divided into two camps. Genoa, Milan, Venice, Bologna, and Perugia were the chief Guelf States. Pisa, Cremona, Padua, Modena, and Siena were at the head of the Ghibelline interest. In a word, those cities nearest the Alps yearned most for emancipation from the imperial rule, and those closest to Rome were most eager for the supremacy of the Empire. We can have but a slight idea of the fierce spirit
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evoked by the two great party names. If one State took the Guelf side, that was reason enough why its neighbour should embrace the Ghibelline party. Revolutions of politics were frequent ; exiles abounded, ever on the watch to wreak their vengeance on those who had driven them out.
The most horrible phase of the civil war was when it sundered families, or rendered all government impossible. What a picture of factious rage is drawn by an admiring eye-witness ! There was a club at Parma called that of the Crusaders, who combined together for the honour of God and Holy Church ; they had a king's name — that of the ferocious Charles of Anjou — inscribed at the head of their rolls in golden characters by his special desire. They stuck to each other like bees ; if a fellow-citizen who did not belong to the club chanced to wrong one of its mem- bers, they would all run and pull down the offender's house, until not a stone was left. The result of this terrorism was that the citizens either joined the club, or took care to live in peace with its members.1 This was the state of affairs in a city devoted to the Church, but doubtless the Ghibellines, wherever they could, exercised a tyranny every whit as un- christian. The Guelfs had one great advantage over the rival faction, since not only earthly but ghostly arms were wielded in their favour. To them the Pope's name was a tower of strength. Every Genoese crossbowman who plied his national weapon, every Milanese monk who donned chain-mail at the bidding of Montelongo, every Venetian sailor who embarked on the Apulian venture, knew that he was one of Heaven's chosen champions. Paradise was his reward, if he fell fighting against an Em- peror worse than any Paynim. When in the field, the patriotic Crusader was paid from the coffers of the Church ;
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these had been filled with money drawn from distant lands for the benefit of Christ's soldiers in Italy. But the Ghibellines had to put their trust in the arm of flesh, and in that alone. The thunders of the Lateran must have struck terror into many a pious partizan of the Empire, who strove hard to reconcile his duty to Caesar with his duty to God. Still, several of the most esteemed prelates would not desert the Emperor, even after his excommunica- tion. The type of this class is Nicolas, Bishop of Reggio, whose courteous manner, unaffected piety, and lavish ex- penditure, endeared him alike to the Imperial and the Papal courts. This instance proves that all the Imperial partizans were not abandoned men ; although it is certain that the sense of their being excommunicate, outcasts from the Church, debarred from sacraments, cut off from grace, for taking a political side, did render many of the Ghibelline chieftains reckless in their wickedness. The upshot of the Crusade waged in the cause of religion was, that practical piety came in time to be altogether banished from the thoughts of the combatants.
In the month of February, 1239, Frederick for the first time carried the war into the Romagna. This province, the daring spirit of which he knew by experience, became the principal theatre of the struggle for three successive years. He took Bologna, but the Papal legate in Lom- bardy, Gregory of Montelongo, a man of loose morals, but great zeal, called on all the citizens of Milan to assume the Cross, and ordered all the clergy and friars to take up arms in the cause of the Pope. Frederick was obliged to leave the Romagna, and check the rising in the north of Italy.
Next year he returned, and reached Viterbo about the middle of February, 1240, which threw open her gates enthusiastically to receive him.
Whilst Frederick was in Viterbo, to use the grandiloquent
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 4.
words of a modern biographer, " a child was born at the foot of his palace, a maiden destined by providence to be the stone on which the haughty emperor should be broken."1 The little child from infancy seemed set apart for something remarkable. When she ate and crumbled bread, birds sur- rounded her, and pecked the particles out of her hand. She was led by her mother, as her little mind began to dawn, to the church of the Franciscans, and their teaching sowed the seeds in her which ripened so rapidly.
Let us place ourselves for a moment in some Italian city of the thirteenth century. The population is gathered together, either in the nave of the great church, or round an extemporized pulpit in the market-place. A little apart stands the parish priest, who looks on with undisguised discontent, viewing a Dominican or a Franciscan orator haranguing the people. The Benedictines of the neigh- bouring abbey share in the discontent of the parish priest. The old Orders have no relish for the ignorant friars who preach in the broadest vernacular, dividing their sermons into no heads and minor heads, and have no acquaintance, even second-hand, with the works of the Fathers. The area, as far as a man's voice can reach, is full. The con- gregation is made up of every class. High-born ladies, brave knights, wealthy burghers, humble artizans, and uncouth peasants from the neighbourhood, are all thronging round the pulpit. It is ascended by a man who bears evidence in his countenance of long watchings and fastings, an ecclesiastic of a very different stamp from the jovial parish priest. The friar begins his sermon ; he extols the merits of the founder of his Order, then tells the latest tidings from abroad, for in those days the pulpit was to the
1 A. Vaillant, in Guerin and Giry's " Vies des Saints." The Process of Canoniza- tion of S. Rose under Calixtus III. strangely blunders concerning the Emperor, and calls him Frederick Barbarossa, and the Pope, Alexander IV., and the date, which it sets down as a.d. 1200.
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people what the press is to us, giving both the tone to then- opinions and supplying them with news. There is much doing in these bustling times. Perhaps a great victory has been won over the Moslems by one of the gallant Spanish kings. Perhaps the Tartars (so named, says the friar, be- cause they have been spawned out of Tartarus) are laying waste Poland and Hungary with unheard-of cruelty. The preacher then dwells on the state of the Western kingdoms. And now he comes to the great topic of his discourse, the Emperor Frederick. Scripture is ransacked to supply parallels for the cruelty and unbelief of this miscreant. Pharaoh, Ahab, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Herod, Pilate, and Nero, are all pressed into the service. He is the Abomi- nation of desolation, the Man of Sin, the Antichrist that should come, the Beast whom S. John foretold, and whose mark too many in Italy have received.
The effect of the sermon upon the hearers is most power- ful. We can have but a slight idea of the influence of the friars, and the effect produced by such appeals as these. The throne of our Charles I. was shaken by the Puritan preachers. Keeping this in mind, we shall have some notion of the amazing power wielded by the begging friars, and see the wisdom of the great Innocent in raising two such armies for the future defence of the Church as those furnished to him by S. Dominic and S. Francis. To them it was mainly owing that Rome came forth conqueror from those awful struggles of the thirteenth century, in which she had to contend, first with a widespread revolt among her own flock, and then with one of the greatest emperors who ever sat in the seat of Charlemagne.
Whilst a child of six or seven, the little Rosa of Viterbo was fired by these exhortations, and the whole bent and enthusiasm of her mind was turned against Frederick II. and the Ghibellines. She joined the third Order of S. Francis, and
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[Sept. 4.
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in season and out of season, her childish voice, with all the vehemence of a single mind, declaimed against the political party which was most popular in her native city. The little woman would seek every occasion of publicly preach- ing such scraps of the sermons of the Franciscans as she retained in her memory; and the Ghibellines, vexed with her pertinacity, turned her parents and her out of the city.
It was winter, and the snow lay over the ground. The unfortunate exiles had to trudge through the drifts in no amiable mood towards their daughter ; but she, filled with enthusiasm, and deeming that now they were confessors for their cause, with her childish prattle, encouraged them not to be cast down.
At last they reached Soriano, where they obtained shelter for the night. The excitement of the day had worked on the child's brain, and she dreamt that she saw an ange!, who announced to her that good news was in store for the Guelfs. In the morning she proclaimed this prophecy throughout the town, and when it was rumoured some days later that the Emperor Frederick was dead, the merits of Rosa as a prophetess were acknowledged.
From Soriano the exiles pushed on to Vitorchiano, where she preached to the people on the one unfailing topic, the only one then of sovereign interest, the one on which all religion hinged.
There was a woman of Vitorchiano who was as loud on the Ghibelline side as this child was on that of the Guelfs. Rosa — she was then ten years old — went boldly before the woman and said, " I defy you to a contest. I will fast twenty days, and be as stout as I am now at the end of that time. Do the same if you can."
" Bah !" said the woman, " wolves and cranes are fasters by nature, and a wolf (Guelf ) and a chattering crane such as you, have it in your blood."
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"Then," said Rosa, "I defy you to the ordeal of fire." And she scampered off to the priests, and ordered them to ring all the bells of their churches, and call the citizens together, to see her walk unharmed through a bonfire.
A pyre was raised and lighted ; she jumped into the midst of the flames, ran about in them, and came forth unharmed.
After awhile the parents and S. Rosa returned to Viterbo, and the child asked to be admitted into the Convent of the Poor Clares, but the nuns refused her admission.
" I know well enough your reason," said Rosa, " you do not care to have me in your house; you despise me. However I will tell you this ; although you reject me living, you will be eager enough to get me dead."
She died at the age of fifteen, or thereabouts, and was buried in the church of S. Maria in Podio. But having appeared in vision to Pope Alexander IV., and urged her removal to the chapel of the Poor Clares, he gave orders that what she wished should be granted her. The story goes, that when she was dug up, manna was found in her sepulchre.
The process of her canonization took place at the request of the people of Viterbo, in 1457 ; and she was admitted into the Roman martyrology. The body of the saintly child is shown incorrupt, in the church of Viterbo at the pre- sent day.1
1 For this biography use has been largely made of Kingston's "History of Frederick II.," 1862.
VOL. X. *
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66
Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 5.
September 5.
S. Victorinus, P.M. at Contigliano in Italy; beginning of znd cent. S. Romulus, AT. in Greece; circ. a.d. 119.
SS. Censurinus, Quikiacus, and Others, MM. at Ostia ; a.d. 252. SS. Eudoxius, Zeno, Macarius, MM. at Melitenein Armenia; circ.
A.D. 311.
S. Rhais, V.M. at Alexandria ; circ. a.d. 303.
S. Abdas, M~. in Persia; circ. a.d. 320.
S. Genebald, B. at Laon ; circ. a.d. 555.
S. Ansaric, B. of Soissons ; middle ofjth cent.
S. Bertinus, Ab. at S. Omer; circ. a.d. 709.
SS. Romanus and David, MM. at Wissegorod; a.d. 1015.
S. Laurence Justiniani, Fair, of Venice; a.d. 1455.
S. VICTORINUS, P.M.
(2ND CENTURY.)
[Roman Martyrology. Ado, Usuardus, Notker on Jan. 8, give S. Severinus brother of S. Victorinus, confounding together two saints of the name of Severinus. So also on Sept. 5, they confound together two of the name of Victorinus. The Severing confused together are the Norican apostle who died a.d. 481, and a bishop of San Severino, who died about A.D. 560. The brother of this latter, Victorinus, was a hermit who fell into the sin of incontinence, but repented, and is commemorated on June 8. The other Victorinus is inserted on this day in the Roman and other Martyrologies as Bishop and Martyr. His acts are from those of SS. Nereus and Achilles, and are of no value historically.]
ICTORINUS is said to have been a priest who was elected to the bishopric of Amiternum ; but this is a confusion. There was perhaps a bishop of the same name at Amiternum much later, with whom this martyr has been confounded. This saint is said to have suffered martyrdom by being hung, head down- wards, over the sulphurous exhalations of the waters of the Lago di Contigliano, near Rieti.
The relics are numerous, but to which of the saints of the same name they belong, it is impossible to say.
Sept. s.]
S. Romtdus. 67
S. ROMULUS, M. (about a.d. 119.)
[Roman Martyrology, introduced by Baronius. Greek Menology on Sept. 6. Also by the Armenians and Russians. Authority : — The Greek Acts of S. Romulus, by Metaphrastes, of very slender authority ; better authority is the mention in the Menasa and Menology.]
Romulus was chamberlain (propositus aulee) to Trajan the Emperor, who, on the Emperor banishing soldiers who were Christians, ventured to remonstrate. Trajan ordered him to be stretched on the ground and beaten with rods. As the blood flowed from him, Romulus looking at Trajan said, " This red stream atones for the dainty ointments and gay clothing which have adorned my body whilst in thy service."
Trajan ordered his head to be forthwith struck off.
SS. CENSURINUS, QUIRIACUS, & OTHERS, MM.
(a.d. 252.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on Jan. 30. Authority : — The Acts, not very ancient, nor very trustworthy.]
In the persecution of Gallus, Censurinus, a man of pre- fectorial rank, was accused to the Emperor as being a Chris- tian. He was ordered to be imprisoned at Ostia. There he was visited by Maximus, a priest, his deacon, Archelaus, and by Aurea, a virgin. They succeeded in converting his keepers, seventeen in number, Felix, Maximus, Taurinus, Herculanus, Venerius, Staurocinus, Mennas, Commodus, Hermes, Maurus, Eusebius, Rusticus, Monachius, Aman- dinus, Olympius, Cyprius, and the tribune Theodore. The
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68 Lives of the Saints. [Sept> ,.
names differ somewhat in different Menaeas and editions of the Acts.
All were baptized by the priest Maximus, Aurea standing sponsor to all seventeen, and they were then confirmed by Bishop Quiriacus, and given the Holy Eucharist.
When Gallus heard of what had taken place, he sent orders and had them martyred.
SS. EUDOXIUS, ZENO, AND OTHERS, MM. (about a.d. 311.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology ; Greek Menasa on Sept. 6. Also the Russian and Armenian Kalendars. Authorities : — Mention in the Menology, and the Greek Acts modernized by Metaphrastes.]
Eudoxius was the name of a pious Christian, living in Armenia. He had another name, Marinus. On account of his Faith, his office of primicerius was taken from him. The prefect of Melitene sent officers to take him, and they meeting him near his door, dressed in a poor tunic, and not recognising him, asked where Eudoxius lived. He at once conducted them to his house, where his table was spread, and requested them to refresh themselves ; he would deliver the man they sought into their hands immediately. When they had regaled themselves, and were thanking him for his hospitality, " I," said he, " am the man you seek."
The officers were distressed. They looked at one another, and said, " You have been so courteous to us, that we can- not find it in our hearts to betray you. We have been hunting all the day for Eudoxius, and have been unable to find him ; this is our excuse for accepting your hospitality ; and now we cannot betray you."
But Eudoxius called in his wife, Basilissa or Mandana,
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Sept. 5]
S. Eudoxius.
69
for she also had two names, disposed of his family affairs, and then gave himself up to the officers. It was plainly their duty to take him. He had been hiding as long as hiding availed, now he might as well be conducted to the prefect by his guests as by less courteous soldiers.
He was led before the prefect, and loosening his belt, threw it down before the judge, saying, " With this I re- nounce my allegiance to an earthly tyrant." Several Chris- tian soldiers present at once followed his example.1
They were ordered to execution. On their way Eudoxius saw a friend named Zeno lamenting his fate. The martyr turned to him, and said, " Friend ! thou art weeping at our separation. But I know that thou wilt rejoin me through the same Red Sea of blood."
And so it was, Zeno afterwards believed and suffered for the same faith as his friend Eudoxius.
Now when Basilissa heard that her husband was con- demned to death, she flew to the court of the prefect with dishevelled hair, and crying out that she abhorred idols, and adored the same God as Eudoxius, implored that she might die with him. She was driven from the court with contumely. Seven days after the martyrdom of Eudoxius, he appeared in dream to his wife, and bade her go to his friend Macarius, and tell him to be of good courage, and show himself before the governor, and come and join him. So she rehearsed her dream to Macarius, and he at once went to the magistrate, delivered himself up, and his head was struck off.
1 Metaphrastes says that 1104 did so; this is an exaggeration. Baronius arbi- trarily cut off one hundred and reduced the number to 1004, in the Roman Man tyrology. It would have been better if he had cut off the thousand as well.
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jo Lives of the Saints. [Sept*
S. RHAIS, V.M.
(about a.d. 303.)
[Greek Menology. Authority :— Mention in the Menology.]
Rhais was a girl of twelve, the daughter of a Christian priest named Peter. She was born at Tabne. And when she saw gangs of martyrs, men and women, being led to death under the Governor Culcianus, she ran to the officers, and said, " I too, am a Christian." She was led before Culcianus at Alexandria, and as she persisted in her confession was executed with the sword along with the rest of the women.
S. GENEBALD, B. OF LAON.
(ABOUT A.D. 555.)
[Gallican Martyrologies. Saussaye, Greven, and Parisian Martyrologies. At Soissons and Laon since 1852, on Sept. 4. Flodoard in the 10th cent, speaks of S. Genebald as being numbered among the Saints. Authority :— A Life written by Hincmar of Rheims, d. about a.d. 886 ; trustworthy perhaps as to the outline of facts, but not as to the colour given them. J
S. Genebald, Bishop of Laon, was married to the niece of S. Remigius, and had by her two children after he was bishop, a boy named Latro, who succeeded him in the see of Laon, and a daughter, Vulpecula.
But at the instigation of S. Remigius he left his wife and went into a cell, and lived an austere and penitential life, and for seven years bewailed that he had not parted from his wife earlier. At the end of that time an angel appeared to him, and told him that his sins were forgiven, and that he was to resume his pastoral ministrations, which he had neglected during the seven years he had been in the cell.
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Sept. 5-]
S. Berlin.
7i
Then he reascended the episcopal throne, and lived holy to the day of his death. How far this story has been coloured up by Hincmar, who wrote more than three hundred years later, is matter of conjecture.
S. BERT IN, AB. (about a.d. 709.)
[Roman, Benedictine, and Gallican Martyrologies. Sarum, York, and Hereford Kalendars. Usuardus, Ado, Florus. Authorities :— A Life written by the author of the lives of S. Omer and S. Winnoc, towards the close of the 8th or beginning of the 9th cent., apparently quite trustworthy. Another Life, by another anonymous writer, somewhat later. A third Life, in metre, of much the same date ; a fourth by Folcard, the monk, in the nth cent. ; a fifth by the abbot Simon, A.D. 1136 ; a sixth written in the 13th cent. It is unnecessary to mention later ones. The first three Lives are the only ones to be relied upon as good authorities.]
S. Bertin was born on the shores of the blue lake of Constance, between a.d. 608 and a.d. 610. At an early age he went, in company with two friends, Mummolin and Ebertram, to Luxeuil, where they were received by S. Eustasius.
After twenty years spent under the stern rule of S. Colum- banus, Bertin, Mummolin, and Ebertram were apparently summoned by S. Omer, the kinsman of S. Bertin, to assist him in evangelizing the land of the Morini. S. Omer had already built an oratory on a hillock where now stands the village of S. Mummolin. This hill, with its little wooden chapel, he made the head-quarters of the three missionaries. They set to work cutting down trees, and building with the rude trunks and willow wattles a mean range of buildings to serve as shelter for their heads ; and this little edifice was afterwards known as the Old Monastery.
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72 Lives of the Saints. [SePt.s.
According to one account, S. Omer wished Bertin to be head of the establishment, though he was the youngest of the three, but Bertin, with equal modesty and good taste, declined the precedence over Mummolin, who was the eldest of the friends, and so Mummolin became their first abbot.
By degrees others joined the little community, and it became necessary to found another house. Among the con- verts was a chief named Ardwald, who had given to S. Omer one of his estates, called Sithieu, about four miles from the Old Monastery, that a hospital might be erected upon it. S. Omer advised with Ardwald to convert it into a religious house. Orders then came to S. Mummolin to send out a swarm to the new spot chosen for a hive. Ebertram had already departed to become abbot of S. Quentin : it was necessary therefore to confide the new colony to the care of S. Bertin. Let us imagine the region in which these Apostles were called to work at that period. From Calais to S. Omer all was a vast marsh or lake. The high tides, kept out by no artificial dykes, rolled back the little streams that sluggishly crept along the almost level land, and formed vast sheets of water broken here and there by tofts crowned with willows and alder, girded by broad rings of bulrushes which swayed incessantly in the wind that soughed over the desolate region. The only communication between the hillocks was by boat, the inhabitants, incessantly a prey to ague and rheumatism, were a wretched, rude race, living a hard life and little amenable to civilizing influences, though in- tensely prone to superstition. When long trains of shrieking wild fowl flew in the night sky overhead, they fell flat on their faces trembling. It was Haecklbarend the wild huntsman, going forth, preceded by a white owl with flaming eyes, and fire-breathing dogs, to hunt and carry off the gentle elves who tripped in the moonlight on the dewy turf.
Sept., p. 72.]
S. BERT IN. After Carrier.
[Sept. 5.
Sept. 5.]
6". Berlin. 73
Now that this region has been drained by the Canal de S. Omer, which falls into the sea at Calais, and the tide kept out by embankments, it is like a bit of Holland, low and wet, intersected by scummy ditches, and traversed by rows of pollard willows and osiers, useful for making the Picardy baskets. The villages are composed of mud cottages, and the peasants, men and women, stalk about on high pattens to avoid the everywhere prevailing dirt. How different a land from that when Bertin laboured there ! Here and there a vast sheet of water, but this brackish and marshy, unlike the limpid blue of the Boden See, reflected no distant ranges of Alpine peaks blushing at morn and evenfall. One spring day, Bertin and some companions mounted a little skiff, and spread their sail, to depart for Sithieu. The sun shone, the sky was blue, and the sparkling water beneath reflected heaven, as it broke against the bows of the boat ; a light breeze filled the sail, and bore the little colony lightly over the water to the islet which was now to be their home. It was a knoll rising above the waves, which fretted against a little shingly beach, on which their keel grated.
The monks stepped out, and began at once to build. They dug up the clay, made bricks, burnt them, and by winter had erected a house to shelter them. The frosts came on. The great marshes were a sheet of dazzling ice ; the willows covered with rime, twinkled in the winter sun. No lack of wood there. In the wide chimney huge logs roared, and the monks crouched round them. They had good eels from the marshes, and potherbs sown in the spring.
Death had landed with them, marsh-ague and rheumatic fever began to tell on the little band, and the soil was unfit for burial. When they dug, the graves filled with water. They sent to S. Omer, and he gave them an adjoining hill on which was a church dedicated to Our Lady, united to
74
Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 5.
the islet of Sithieu by a ridge of sand. This hill became their burial ground, and the site of the future city of S. Omer.
Bertin lived to an advanced age ; he outreached the span of a hundred years, and fell asleep in the Lord on the 9th of September, a.d. 709, after having spent fifty-nine at Sithieu.
This monastery afterwards took the name of its founder, and its magnificence in time made it the glory of French Flanders, of which it was the noblest Gothic monument. It is now but a fragment. At the outbreak of the great Revo- lution the monastery was suppressed ; but the Convention spared the stately building. Under the Directory it was sold for the materials, unroofed, and stripped of its wood- work and metal, yet its walls remained comparatively unin- jured until the magistrates of S. Omer, in 1830, barbarously pulled it down to afford employment to some labourers out of work ! The fragment which remains consists of a stately tower built in the 15 th century, and a small portion of the nave. The tower, threatening to fall, has been propped up by an ugly, ill-contrived buttress of masonry ; there is some talk of converting it into a museum.
In 1050 or 1052 the body of S. Bertin was exhumed from the crypt of S. Martin, and in 1237 was placed in a magni- ficent shrine by the Bishop of Cambrai. The shrine was bought at the Revolution by a pious lady of S. Omer, with all its contents, and in 1806 she restored them to the Bishop of Arras, and they were placed in the church of S. Denis at S. Omer, where they still exist.
S. Bertin is represented in art in monastic habit, holding a boat in his hands.
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Sept. s.]
SS. Romanus and David.
75
SS. ROMANUS AND DAVID, MM.
(a.d. 1015.)
[Russian, Polish, and Lithuanian Kalendars, on July 24. Their Trans- lation on May 2. Romanus or Boris died July 24, David or Gleb on Sept. 5. On which day the Bollandists give their acts. Authorities : — Nestor (a.d. 1115), Chronicon. The Acts in the Bollandists are not correct.]
On the death of S. Vladimir (July 15), his eldest son, Sviatopolk, seized on the reins of government. Boris, the second son, was at the time at the head of some troops opposed to the Pechenegians. Sviatopolk (determined to appropriate to himself the duchy of Rostoff, which was the appanage of Boris) hastened secretly to Wissegorod, through which Boris would return, with intention to murder him.
One night, after having disbanded his troops, the young prince was alone in his tent with a little Hungarian page named George, whom he had bought for a gold torque, when the assassins broke in and thrust at Boris. The boy at once flung himself between the spears and his master, and fell transfixed. Boris rushed out of the tent, but it was sur- rounded, and he was cut down. This took place on July 24, 1015. The murderers put the body on a cart; but apparently he was not quite dead, for when the waggon got into the forest near Wissegorod, he was seen to move and raise his head. Sviatopolk at once ordered a spear to be run through his brother's heart.
The deed was done with such expedition and secresy that Sviatopolk hoped to obtain possession of his brother Gleb, or David, as he is also called, before his suspicions were aroused. Sviatopolk sent him an invitation to a banquet at Kieff. Gleb was thrown from his horse whilst on his way thither, and injured his foot. He therefore took a boat at Smadin, after having left Smolensk. But in the meantime the rumour of the murder had reached Jaroslaff, prince of
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J 6 Lives of the Saints. rSept. ,.
Novogorod, another brother, and he hastened to arrest Gleb on his way, and warn him that treachery was meditated. Whilst Gleb hesitated, not knowing whither to go, and in- capacitated from flying on horseback, by the injury done to his foot, assassins arrived; the cook of Boris, who was in the pa)' of Sviatopolk, stabbed him with a knife ; and the body was then secreted in a lonely place between two trunks of trees. But a pillar of light and angelic psalmody called attention to the spot.
Jaroslaff escaped, took up arms, and defeated Sviatopolk in two pitched battles. Sviatopolk fled, but was seized with rheumatic fever, and died in agonies of alarm, thinking he was pursued by avenging hands. The body of Gleb was translated by order of Jaroslaff to Wissegorod, and laid beside that of his brother Boris. Both were uncorrupt.
S. LAURENCE JUSTINIANI, PATR. (a.d. 1455.)
[Roman Martyrology. Beatified by Clement VII. in 1524, canonized by Alexander VIII. in 1690. He died Jan. 8, but bis festival is fixed for Sept. 5, the day of his consecration as bishop. Authorities: — His life by Bernard Giustiniani, who died a.d. 1489.]
The family of Giustiniani was one of the noblest ii Venice, claiming descent from the Emperor Justinian. Bernardo Giustiniani married a lady of the Querini family, one scarce less noble, and died, leaving her a young widow with a number of little children. Like a good mother she devoted herself entirely to their welfare, formed their cha- racters herself, and attended to their education.
The little Laurence, one of her sons, from an early age manifested tokens of a deeply pious disposition.
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S. Laurence Justiniani. 77
One night, when he was nineteen years old, he had a dream, in which he saw the Eternal Wisdom manifest in human form as a maiden in dazzling raiment, and heard her say, "Why seekest thou rest outside of thyself? Enter within, and seek peace in thine own soul. Seek it in me, who am the Wisdom of God. Take me for thy spouse, thy por- tion, and the lot of thine inheritance."
The dream produced a lasting effect on his mind, and he made the resolve to devote himself to God alone.
A religious state appeared to him that in which he might best attain the great end which he proposed to himself. But before making a final determination, he sought to know the will of God by humble prayer, and addressed himself for advice to a holy and learned priest called Marino Querini, who was his uncle by the mother's side, and a re- gular canon in the austere Congregation of S. George in Alga, established in a little isle which bears that name, situate a mile from the city of Venice, towards the continent. The prudent director, understanding that he was inclined to embrace a religious state, advised him first to make trial of his strength, by inuring himself to the habitual practice of austerities. Laurence readily obeyed, and in the night, leaving his soft bed, lay on knotty sticks on the floor. During this secret novitiate, he one day represented to himself on one side honours, riches, and worldly pleasures, and on the other, the hardships of poverty, fasting, watching, and self-denial, then said to himself : " Hast thou courage, my soul, to despise these delights, and to undertake a life of uninterrupted penance and mortification ?" After stand- ing some time in a pause, he cast his eyes on a crucifix, and said : " Thou, O Lord, art my hope. In this tree are found comfort and strength." The ardour of his resolution to walk in the narrow path of the cross, showed itself in the extreme severity with which he treated his body, and the continual
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78 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ^
application of his mind to the exercises of religion. His mother and other friends, fearing lest his excessive mortifi- cations should prove prejudicial to his health, endeavoured to divert him from this course, and they contrived for him a marriage with a distinguished and beautiful maiden. The saint perceiving in this a conspiracy to turn him from the object of his desires, fled secretly to the monastery of S. George in Alga, and was admitted to wear the religious habit.
By this change he was not called upon to practise any new austerities which he had not before practised ; his superiors even judged it necessary to mitigate the rigours which he exercised upon himself. He was only nineteen years of age, but surpassed, in his watchings and fasts, all his religious brethren. To gain a perfect mastery over his senses, he took no useless recreation, subdued his body by severe discipline, and never came near a fire in the sharpest weather, though his hands were often benumbed with cold ; he allowed himself to eat only what the utmost necessity required, and never drank out of meals ; when asked to do it under excessive heat and weariness, he used to say : "If we cannot bear this thirst, how shall we endure the fire of purgatory ?" From the same heroic disposition proceeded his invincible patience in every kind of sickness. During his novitiate he was afflicted with swellings in the glands of his neck, brought on in part by a relaxed condition of body, through insufficient nourishment.
The surgeons prescribed cupping, lancing, and searing with fire. Laurence bore the painful operations with the utmost composure, without an exclamation of suffering.
In his old age, seeing a surgeon tremble before inflicting an incision in his neck, he said, "Cut boldly; your razor cannot exceed the burning irons that tortured the martyrs."
He loved to go about Venice in a tattered garb, with
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sept. 5.] ■S* Laurence yushniani. 79
wallet over his shoulder, asking alms. " Let us go boldly in quest of scorn," said he, when reprimanded by some of the brethren. " It is nothing to have renounced the world in words, if we have not done so with our hearts in reality. Come to conquest over the world this day, with our old leather sacks !"
The saint often came to beg at his mother's door. When- ever she heard his voice in the street, calling " An alms, for the love of God !" she would burst into tears of shame and annoyance. However, she never failed to stuff his wallet with bread.
One day the storehouse, in which were laid up the pro- visions of the community, was burnt down, and the canons were loud in their lamentations. " We have embraced poverty in word," said the saint, " and now we must feel what we have proposed."
When he first renounced the world, he often felt it difficult to repress the desire to justify himself when wrong- fully accused, and to do so would bite his tongue. One day when he was superior, he was rashly accused in chapter of having done something against the rule. The saint could have easily given a satisfactory account of his con- duct; but he rose instantly from his seat, and walking gently, with his eyes cast down, into the middle of the chapter-room, fell on his knees, and begged penance and pardon of the fathers. The sight of his humility covered the accuser with such confusion, that he threw himself at the saint's feet, and asked pardon for having brought a charge against him.
S. Laurence so much dreaded lest his natural love for his family, his dear mother, who had nursed him, his brothers and sisters, who had been his playfellows, should disturb his contentment with his self- chosen lot, that from the day on which he first entered the monastery, to that of his
death, he never set foot in his old home, except when called to their death-beds, when he assisted with composed face and tearless eyes, as indifferent to them as to the rest of the world. Some months after his retreat from the world, a certain nobleman who had been his intimate friend, and then filled one of the first offices in the com- monwealth, returning from the East, and hearing of the state he had embraced, determined to use all his endeavours to change his purpose. With this design he went to S. George's with a band of musicians, as if a resolute mind like that of Laurence, which had long counted the cost, could be moved by a party of fiddlers and pipers ! The issue of the interview proved quite contrary to the noble- man's expectation. At the first sight of the new soldier of Christ he was struck by the modesty of his countenance, and the gravity of his person, and stood for some time silent and astonished. At length he spoke out his mind, and both by the endearments of friendship, and by the sharpest reproaches, strove to shake the resolution of the young novice. Laurence suffered him to vent his passion : then with a mild countenance he discoursed to him so earnestly on death and the vanity of the world, that the nobleman was disarmed, and so moved with com- punction, that he resolved upon the spot to embrace the holy rule which he came to violate ; and the fervour with which he went through the novitiate, and persevered to his death in this penitential institute, was a subject of admiration and edification to the whole city.
S. Laurence was promoted to the priesthood, and the fruit of the excellent spirit of prayer and compunction with which he was endowed, was a discernment in spiritual matters, and prudence in the direction of souls. The tears which he abundantly shed at his devotions, especially whilst he offered the sacrifice of the mass, strongly affected all the
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Sept. 5]
.5". Lattrence J ustiniani. 8 1
assistants, and awakened their faith j and the raptures with which he was favoured in prayer were wonderful. Much against his inclination he was chosen General of his Order. He governed it with singular prudence, and great reputation for sanctity. He reformed its discipline in such a manner as to be afterwards regarded as its founder. Even in private conversation he used to give pathetic lessons of virtue, couched in the simplest words and the shortest sentences; and such was the unction with which he spoke, that he softened the hearts of those who heard him. Knowing by sad experience how many mistook their vocations, or how much harm was done by forcing men into the religious life when they had no call to embrace it, he would receive very few into his Order, and these he thoroughly tried, saying, that a state of such perfection was for few, and zeal rarely survived the first enthusiasm. It is not therefore to be wondered at that he was very attentive and rigorous in examining and trying the vocation of postulants. The most sincere humility was the first thing in which he laboured to ground his religious disciples, teaching them that it not only purges the soul of lurking pride, but also that this alone inspires true courage, by teaching the soul to place her confidence in God alone, the only source of strength. He compared this virtue to a river which is low in summer, but full and high in winter. So, said he, humility is silent in prosperity, never elated by it ; but it is high, and full of joy and invincible courage under adversity. He used to say, that there is nothing in which men more frequently deceive themselves than humility, and that there is nothing more difficult to acquire. As for that humility which consists in acts of humiliation, it is often deceptive, and at best is only a blind and imperfect sort of humility, preparatory perhaps to the other, but nothing more.
The saint never ceased to preach to the magistrates and
VOL. X. 6
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82 Lives of the Saints. [Sept.5.
senators in times of war and all public calamities, that, to obtain the divine mercy, they should in the first place become sensible of their own nothingness ; for without this disposition of heart they could never hope for the divine assistance. His confidence in God's infinite goodness kept pace with his humility and distrust of himself; and assiduous prayer was his constant support. From the time he was made priest he never failed saying mass every day, unless he was hindered by sickness ; and he used to say, that it is a sign of little love if a person does not earnestly endeavour to be joined to his Blessed Lord in the sacrament of love as often as is possible. It was a maxim which he frequently re- peated, that for a person to pretend to live chaste amid softness, ease, and continual gratifications of sense, was like trying to quench fire by throwing fuel upon it.
Pope Eugenius IV. being acquainted with the virtue of our saint, obliged him to quit his cloister, and nominated him to the episcopal see of Venice in 1433. The holy man employed all manner of entreaties and artifices to prevent his elevation, and engaged his Order to write in the same strain to his Holiness, but to no effect. When he could no longer oppose the repeated orders of the Pope, he ac- quiesced with many tears ; but such was his aversion to pomp and show, that he took possession of his church so privately that his own friends knew nothing of the matter till the ceremony was over. The saint passed that whole night in the church at the foot of the altar, pouring forth his soul before God with many tears : and he spent in the same manner the night which preceded his consecration. As a bishop he remitted none of the austerities which he had practised in the cloister. Light for guidance he sought in prayer, pleasure he found in alleviating the wants of the poor. He governed a great diocese in the most difficult times, and in the midst of most intricate affairs, with as
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Sept 5 j iS*. Latirence Justiniani. 83
much ease as if it had been a single well regulated con- vent.
Though he was bishop of so distinguished a see, in the ordering of his household he consulted only humility ; and when others told him that he owed some degree of state to his illustrious birth, to the dignity of his church, and to the commonwealth, his answer was, that virtue ought to be the only ornament of the episcopal character, and that all the poor of the diocese composed the bishop's family. His household consisted of five persons; he had no plate, making use only of earthenware; he lay on a straw bed covered with a coarse rag, and wore no clothes but his ordinary purple cassock. His example, his severity to him- self, and the affability and mildness with which he treated all others, won every heart, so that he was able to effect with ease certain salutary yet difficult reformations among the laity and clergy. The flock loved too much so holy and tender a pastor not to receive his ordinances with docility. When private persons opposed his designs, he overcame their repugnance by patience. A certain power- ful man who was exasperated at a mandate the bishop had published against stage entertainments, called him a scrupu- lous old monk, and endeavoured to stir up the populace against him. Another time, an abandoned wretch re- proached him in the public streets as a hypocrite. The saint heard him without changing countenance, or altering his pace. He was no less unmoved amidst commendations and applause. No sadness clouded his serene soul, and all his actions showed that he possessed that perfect peace which passes knowledge. He founded fifteen religious houses, and a great number of churches, and reformed those of all his diocese, especially with regard to the manner of performing the divine office, and the administration of the sacraments. Such was the order and devotion that he
M
n
84 Lives of the Saints. rsepts.
established in his cathedral, that it was a model to all Christendom. The number of canons that served it being too small, S. Laurence founded several new canonries in it ; and he increased the number of parishes in the city of Venice from twenty to thirty.
Crowds every day resorted to the bishop's palace for ad- vice, comfort, or alms ; his gate, pantry, and coffers were always open to the poor. He gave alms with wise discre- tion, chiefly in bread and clothes, not in money, which might be ill spent. If he gave money it was always in small sums. He employed pious matrons to find out and relieve the poor who were ashamed to ask for alms, or persons of family in decayed circumstances. When a poor man came to him, recommended by his brother Leonard, he said to him, "Go to him who sent you, and tell him, from me, that he is perfectly able to relieve you himself." No man ever had a greater contempt for money than our saint. He committed the care of his temporals to a faithful steward, and used to say that it is an unworthy thing for a pastor of souls to spend much of his precious time in casting up farthings.
The Popes held S. Laurence in great veneration. Euge- nius IV. having ordered the good bishop to meet him at Bologna, he saluted him thus : " Welcome, ornament of bishops !" His successor, Nicholas V., sought an oppor- tunity of giving him some token of his particular esteem ; and when Dominic Michelli, Patriarch of Grado, died in 145 1, his Holiness transferred the patriarchal dignity to the see of Venice. The senate, jealous of its preroga- tives, raised objections, fearing lest the patriarchal dignity or authority should overshadow their own. Whilst this was being debated in the senate-house, S. Laurence repaired thither, and declared his earnest desire to resign a charge for which he was most unfit, and which he had borne against
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sept, s.] & Laurence yustiniani. 85
his will eighteen years, rather than feel his burden increased by this additional dignity. His humility so affected the whole senate, that the doge himself was not able to refrain from tears, and cried out to the saint, conjuring him not to entertain such a thought, or to raise any obstacle to the Pope's decree, which was expedient to the Church, and most honourable to their country. In this he was seconded by the whole house, and the ceremony of the installation of the new patriarch was celebrated with great joy by the whole city.
S. Laurence, after this new exaltation, considered himself as bound by a new tie to exert his utmost strength in labouring to advance the glory of God, and the santifica- tion of the souls committed to his care. Rarely before was it shown how much a man could do for himself and for others who knew how to economize his time. S. Laurence never on his own account made any one wait who wanted to speak to hirn but immediately interrupted his writing, studies, or prayers to give admittance to others, whether rich or poor ; and received all persons that addressed them- selves to him with sweetness and charity. His advice was always healing to the diseases of soul of those who applied to him as to a wise spiritual physician ; and such was the universal opinion of his virtue, penetration, and judgment, that causes decided by him were never admitted to a second hearing at Rome ; but in all appeals his sentence was con- firmed.
S. Laurence was seventy-four years old when he wrote his last work, " The Degrees of Perfection :" he had just finished it when he was seized with a sharp fever. In his illness his servants prepared a bed for him ; but the servant of Christ was troubled, and said : " Are you laying a feather- bed for me ? No : that shall not be. My Lord was stretched on a hard and painful tree. Do not you remem-
d
86 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 5.
ber that S. Martin said, in his agony, that a Christian ought to die on ashes ?" Nor could he be contented till he was laid on his straw. He forbade his friends to weep for him, and often cried out, in raptures of joy, " Behold the Bride- groom cometh, let us go forth to meet him." He added, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, " Good Jesus, behold I come." At other times, weighing the divine judgments, he expressed sentiments of holy fear. Some one remarked to him that he might go joyfully to his crown ; he was much disturbed thereat, and said, " The crown is for valiant soldiers ; not for cowards like me." So great was his poverty that he had no temporal goods to dispose of, and he made his testament only to exhort in it all men to virtue, and to order that his body should be buried without pomp, in his convent of S. George. This clause was however set aside by the senate after his death. During the two days that he survived, after receiving extreme unction, the whole population of Venice came in turns, according to their rank, to receive his last blessing. The saint would have even the beggars admitted, and gave to each class a short pathetic instruction. Seeing one Marcello, a pious young nobleman, his favourite disciple, weep bitterly, he comforted him, giving him the following assurance : " I go before, but you will shortly follow me. Next Easter we shall meet in mucual embraces.' Marcello fell sick in the beginning of Lent, and was buried in Easter week. S. Laurence, closing his eyes, calmly ex- pired on the 8th of January, in the year 1455, at the age of seventy-four years, having been honoured with the episcopal dignity twenty-two years, and four with that of patriarch.
sept. 6.) SS. Onesiphorus and Porphyry. 87
September 6.
S. Zachariah, Prophet in Judcra; circ. B.C. 480.
SS. Onesiphorus and Porphyry, MM. at Paiosin the Hellespont; 1st
cent. SS. Faustus, P.M. and Others, MM. at Alexandria ; circ. a.d. 250. SS. Sanctianus, Augustinus, and Beata, MM. at Sens; a.d. 273. SS. Quotidius and Comp., MM. in Cnppadocia. S. Petronius, B. of Verona ; $th cent. SS. Donatianus and Others, BB. CC, and L^etus, B.M. in Africa,
after a.d. 483. S. Eleutherius, Ab. at Rome ; circ. a.d. 585. S. Cagnoald, B. ofLaon; circ. a.d. 635. S. Bega or Bee, A bss. in Cumberland ; endofqtk cent. S. Magnoald, Ab. of Fitssen in Bavaria; cite. a.d. 655.
SS. ONESIPHORUS AND PORPHYRY, MM.
(1ST CENT.)
[The Martyrology of Jerome, Bede, Usuardus, Hrabanus, Wandelbert. The "Martyrologium parvum," S. Onesiphorus alone, as disciple of S. Paul, not as martyr. By Molanus, Onesiphorus alone on Sept. 6, and One- siphorus and Porphyry as Martyrs on Nov. 9. In the Greek Menologies Onesiphorus and Porphyry on July 15, or July 16. Also the Coptic Mar- tyrologies, and again on Nov. 8 and 9. Onesiphorus as one of the lxx. dis- ciples of Christ on April 29, along with Euodias. Again on Dec. 7, along with six others, disciples of S. Paul, as one of the lxx. and Bishop of Cheronasa. In the Menology of Basil on Dec. 8, and in some editions of the Menaea on Dec, 8, as Bishop of Caesarea. Again on Sept. 7, along with Euodias, as Bishop of Cephalonia. It is evident, therefore, that several of the same name have been confounded together. The modern Roman Martyrology adopts the version in the Menaea of his martyrdom with Porphyry.]
NESIPHORUS is named twice in the second
epistle of S. Paul to S. Timothy (i. 16-18, iv. 19).
In the former passage S. Paul mentions him in
terms of grateful love, as having a noble courage
and generosity in his behalf, amid his trials as a prisoner at
Rome when others from whom he had expected better things
>b
& a
88 Lives of the Saints. [Sept.e.
had deserted him ; in the latter passage he singles out " the household of Onesiphorus " as worthy of a special greeting. It has been thought from this and from the manner in which Onesiphorus is spoken of in the first passage with the prayer that " the Lord may remember him in that day," that Onesiphorus was then dead, and that S. Paul wrote mention- ing the good deeds of his departed friend in a letter which contained a message to his household. And this seems most probable. If so, the Onesiphorus commemorated by the Greeks on April 29 is the disciple of S. Paul, and the others of the same name are various bishops and martyrs of various dates.
According to the " Martyrology of Florus" he was sent by S. Paul to Samaria, where he preached and died in peace, a.d. 74 ; a bit of pure guess. Peter de Natalibus says that after the martyrdom of S. Paul he remained in Rome, and there died in peace. Another guess stated as a fact. The Greek Mengea says that Onesiphorus was a native of Iconium, and dwelt there. The Onesiphorus mentioned by S. Paul cer- tainly dwelt with his household at Ephesus. He went to Paros, in the Hellespont, and there was captured, along with his servant Porphyry, and both were put to death, Onesiphorus by being tied to the tails of wild horses. One Onesiphorus commemorated by the Greeks was Bishop of Chsronea, another Bishop of Cephalonia. These were evidently distinct from Onesiphorus the disciple of S. Paul, and from the martyr of Paros.
-M
Sept. 6.] •■S^- Sanctianus, Angus tinus, and Beata. 89
SS. SANCTIANUS, AUGUSTINUS, AND BEATA, MM.
(about a.d. 273.)
[Gallican Martyrologies. S. Beata by Usuardus on July 29. Authority : — The Acts, written in the 9th cent., and therefore not trustworthy.]
SS. Sanctianus and Augustine, two brothers, with their sister Beata, Spaniards by birth, came to Soissons. They were all very young and had been baptized.
Aurelian the prefect, having compassion on their youth, did all that lay in his power to persuade them to abandon the faith of Christ. But as they turned a deaf ear to his words, he ordered their execution with the sword.
SS. DONATIAN AND OTHERS, BB. CC, AND L^TUS, B.M.
(after a.d. 483.)
[The " Martyrologium parvum" commemorates these bishops as con- fessors ; one of them was, however, a martyr — Laetus, and is so noted by Ado, Usuardus, and the Roman Martyrology. Authority : — Victor of Utica, a confessor in the same persecution.]
The story of these bishops has been given in the life of S. Eugenius (July 13), to which the reader is referred. One of these bishops, Lsetus, whom the Arian king, Huneric, especially hated for his zeal and eloquence, he burnt alive, the rest, after barbarous treatment, he banished to Corsica. Their names were Donatianus, Prsesidius, Mansuetus, Ger- manus, and Fusculus. They were all bishops of the pro- vince of Byzacene, in North Africa.
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,>fr
90 Lives of the Saints. [SePt.6.
& CAGNOALD, B. OF LAON.
(about a.d. 635.)
[Gallican Martyrologies. None of the ancient classic martyrologies. The old Benedictine Kalendar on Jan. 31. Bucelinus in his Benedictine Menology twice, on Aug. 23 and Sept. 6. The Paris Martyrology of 1727, and Saussaye. No consecutive Life of S. Cagnoald exists. It has to be picked out from notices in the Lives of S. Eustasius of Luxeuil, S. Burgun- tiofara, S. Faro, and S. Columbanus.]
S. Cagnoald, or Cagnou as he is called in French, was the son of Agneric, Count of Meaux, a noble at the court of Theodebert II. of Austrasia. When S. Columbanus came to France he lodged in the house of Agneric. The holy Irish patriarch took his children in his arms and blessed them ; that blessing rested on them, and Faro, Cagnoald, and their sister Burgundofara are numbered with the saints.
S. Columbanus took charge of Cagnoald, whom his father and his own inclination devoted to God, and brought him up at Luxeuil, where he grew to be his favourite disciple.
When Queen Brunehaut exiled the holy abbot, Cagnoald accompanied him.
At the time that Theodebert and his brother Thierry were engaged in fighting each other on the field of Tolbiac, where their great-grandfather Clovis had founded by victory the Christian kingdom of the Franks, Columbanus was wandering in a wood near his retreat with Cagnoald. As he was reading, seated upon the fallen trunk of an old oak, he slept, and saw in a dream the two brothers coming to blows. At his waking he told his companion of this vision, sighing over all that bloodshed. The son of Theodebert's minister answered him, " But, dear father, help Theodebert with your prayers, that he may overcome Thierry, our com- mon enemy." Columbanus answered him, " Thou givest
M-
me a foolish counsel ; not such was the will of the Lord, who commanded us to pray for our enemies."
Cagnoald followed S. Columbanus in all his wanderings, hiding with him among the rocks, in the wildest solitudes.
In 613, Columbanus laid the foundation of the abbey of Bobbio near Genoa. Cagnoald accompanied him thither, and remained with him there till the death of the patriarch (Dec. 20, a.d. 615). Then he returned to Luxeuil, which was governed at the time by S. Eustasius. Not long after his return, he obtained leave of the abbot to visit his father and mother. He returned to Meaux and found his sister Bur- gundofara sick. After awhile S. Eustasius, having occasion to visit King Clothair, went to Meaux, and restored Burgun- dofara to health. On her recovery the maiden received the veil from the hands of her brother, S. Faro, Bishop of Meaux ; and she founded a monastery of which she became first abbess, at Fare-Moutiers.
In a.d. 623, died Richebert, Bishop of Laon, and Cagnoald was elected his successor. He assisted at the council of Rheims, assembled in 630 by Sonnatius, Archbishop of Rheims. In 631, he signed the charter of foundation of the abbey of Solignac, and died of apoplexy on Aug. 23, about a.d. 635.
All the relics of S. Cagnoald were lost at the Revolution.
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92
Lives of the Saints. isept. e.
S. BEGA, OR BEE, ABSS.
(END OF 7TH CENT.)
[Aberdeen Breviary, on October 31. The Anglican Martyrology of Wilson (a.d. 1608) , and Dempster in his Scottish Menology. Authority :— A Life, late, from a MS. in the British Museum, pub. by Tomlinson, Car- lisle, 1842. The following is from Montalembert's Monks of the West.]
In Cumberland, upon a promontory bathed by the waves of the Irish sea, and from which in clear weather the southern shore of Scotland and the distant peaks of the Isle of Man may be seen, a religious edifice still bears the name and preserves the recollection of S. Bega. She was, according to the legend, the daughter of an Irish king, the most beauti- ful woman in the country, and already asked in marriage by the son of the King of Norway. But she had vowed her- self, from her tenderest infancy, to the spouse of virgins, and had received from an angel, as a seal of her celestial betrothal, a bracelet marked with the sign of the cross. On the night before her wedding-day, while the guards of the king her father, instead of keeping watch, as usual, with sabres at their sides and axes on their shoulders, were, like their guests, deep in the revel, she escaped alone, with nothing but the bracelet which the angel had given her, threw herself upon a green sod, and was wafted to the oppo- site shore, in Northumberland, where she lived long in a cell in the wood, uniting with her prayers the care of the sick poor around. Fear of the pirates who infested these coasts led her, after awhile, farther inland. What then became of her? Here the confusion, which is so general in the de- bateable ground between legend and history, becomes nearly inextricable. Was it she who, under the name of Heiu, is pointed out to us by Beda as the woman to whom Bishop A'idan, the apostle of Northumbria, gave the veil, and whom he placed at the head of the first nunnery which had been seen in the north of England ? Or was it she who, under * *
Sept. 6.]
S. Bega, or Bee. 93
the name of Bega, after having abdicated the dignity of abbess, lived for thirty years a humble and simple nun in one of the monasteries under the rule of the great Abbess of Whitby, Hilda, whose intimate friend she became, as well as her daughter in religion ?
These are questions which have been long disputed by the learned, and which it seems impossible to bring to any satisfactory conclusion. What is certain, however, is that a virgin of the name of Bega figures among the most well- known and long venerated saints of the north-west of England. She was celebrated during her lifetime for her austerity, her fervour, and an anxiety for the poor, which led her, during the building of her monastery, to prepare with her own hands the food of the masons, and to wait upon them in their workshops, hastening from place to place like a bee laden with honey. She remained down to the Middle Ages the patroness of the laborious and often oppressed population of the district, in which tradition presents her to us as arriving alone and fearless on a foreign shore, flying from her royal bridegroom. In the twelfth century the famous bracelet which the angel had given her was regarded with tender veneration ; the pious confidence of the faithful turned it into a relic upon which usurpers, prevaricators, and oppressors against whom there existed no other defence, were made to swear, with the certainty that a perjury com- mitted on so dear and sacred a pledge would not pass un- punished. It was also to Bega and her bracelet that the cultivators of the soil had recourse against the new and un- just taxes with which their lords burdened them. In vain the Scottish rievers or the prefotenis of the country, treading down under their horses' feet the harvest of the Cumbrians, made light of the complaints and threats of the votaries of S. Bega. " What is the good old woman to me, and what harm can she do me ?" said one. " Let your Bega come !" said another — " let her come and do whatever she likes ! Y
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94
Lives of the Saints.
[Sept 6.
she cannot make one of our horses cast his shoes." Sooner or later divine vengeance struck these culprits; and the fame of the chastisements sent upon them confirmed the faith of the people in the powerful intercession of her who, six hundred years after her death, still gave a protec- tion effectual and energetic against feudal rudeness, to the captive and to the oppressed, to the chastity of women, and the rights of the lowly, upon the western shore of Northumbria.
S. MAGNOALD, AB.
(ABOUT A.D. 655.)
[Notker, and many German Martyrologies. Tamayus Salazar in his Spanish Martyrolcgy converts him into an abbot and bishop in Spain. " Risu dignus est Tamayus," says the Bollandist. In Suabia also March 21, the Translation of S. Magnoald. The only authority for this Saint's life is unfortunately utterly untrustworthy. It is a Life which it is pretended was written by his companion and disciple Theodore, who laid it under the abbot's head when he buried him. The body was dug up in the 9th century, and on the stone coffin being opened, the book was taken out, and delivered to Ermenric of Elwangen, (d. A.D. 866), tore-edit, much of it being decayed by age. Thus the Life is pretended to be a composition of a contemporary in the 7th cent., re-edited in the 9th. It is really a forgery of the 10th or 12th cent. "Nee Theodori nee Ermenrici illud est opus- culum, sed cujusdam impostoris." — Basnage. The Life is made up of long extracts from Jonas of Bobbio, who wrote the Life of S. Columbanus, and of Walafrid Strabo (d. a.d. 849), and from the Life of S. Gall. Events nar- rated of others are transferred to Magnoald.1 For instance, the incident told of S. Cagnoald, related a few pages back (p. 90), is told verbatim of Magnoald, the forger having only to change one letter— C. into M. Where the composer of this Life had genuine Lives to manipulate and convert to a memoir of S. Magnoald his book is interesting, but directly he brings Magnoald to the ground where he founded his abbey, and on which the Lives of S. Columbanus and S. Gall furnished no data, he lapses into foolish legend.]
From the circumstances mentioned in the head-note, it is impossible to place any reliance on the history of S. Mag- noald, Mangold, or Magnus, as he is variously called.
1 See Kritische Pruning d. Lebensgesch. tier Heil. Magnus, in Benkert's Athanasia, xi. p. 414. Wiirzburg. 1832.
►*<
Sept. 6.]
»S. Magnoald. 95
He was a disciple of S. Columbanus, and was probably a native of Suabia. After the departure of S. Columbanus to Italy he remained with S. Gall till his death, and then departed eastwards. He stayed a short while at Kemp- ten, where he freed the neighbourhood of serpents, and then went on to Fiissen, where he founded an abbey. One day when he was in the mountains, he met a bear, who began gnawing at the roots of a tree.
"My good friend," said Magnoald, "I have no spade or mattock with me."
Tnen the bear set to work, and tore at the tree roots, dis- lodged the soil, and exposed a vein of iron ore. After this, the beast made signs as if it wished to show more farther up the mountain. Magnoald rewarded bruin with a cake, and said, " Return with me to the abbey, and I will send my servant with a pickaxe after thee, and see that thou do him no harm." So the bear followed him like a dog, and Mag- noald furnished his man with tools, and the beast led him into the mountains, and showed him several iron veins. And thus were discovered the iron mines worked long after- wards. In the church of Fiissen is preserved the staff of S. Magnoald, which is carried about the country to chase ver- min from the fields. The abbey is sequestrated, and is the property, at present, of the Freiherr von Poniskau.
S. Magnus or Magnoald is represented with a dragon transfixed by his pastoral staff, as he is said to have expelled such a monster from the neighbourhood of Fiissen, or with a bear at his side.
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96
Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 7.
September 7.
S. Eupsychius, M. at Casarea in Cappadocia ; 2nd cenf.
S. John, M. at Nicomedia ; a.d. 303.
S. Sozon, M. at Pompeiopolis in Cilicia ; circ. A.D. 304.
S. Anastasius, M. at Salona in Dalmatia ; circ. A.D. 304.
S. Regina, V.M. at S. Reine in Burgundy.
S. Evurtius, B. of Orleans : circ. A.D. 391.
S. Viventius, B. ofRheims ; end of $th cent.
SS. Memorius and Comp., MM. at Breuille in Champagne ; circ. A.D. 451.
S. Grimonia, V.M. at Chapelles,in Ficardy.
S. Clodoald, P. at S. Cloud near Paris ; end of 6th cent.
S. Modoc, B. of Ferns ; circ. a.d. 632.
S. Madelberta, V. Abss. of Maubeuge in Hainaulf, circ. A.D. 705.
SS. Alkmund and Gilbert, BB. of Hexham in Northumberland;
A.D. 780 and fig. S. Eunan, B. of Raphoe in Ireland.^ S. John of Lodesano, B. of Gubbio in Italy ; a.d. 1106. S. Stephen, B. of Die in France; a.d. 1208.
S. EUPSYCHIUS, M.
(2ND CENT.)
[Greek Menaea and Menologies, Modern Roman Martyrology. Another Eapsychius on April 9. Authorities : — Mention in the Menaea and Wenology.]
[T is difficult to tell whether there were two martyrs of the same name at Csesarea, or only one, and that another Eupsychius who suffered at a dif- ferent date has been confounded with him. One Eupsychius has been mentioned on April 3 (p. 130). That Eupsychius died under Julian, for pulling down the Temple of Fortune. This Eupsychius suffered much earlier, under Hadrian, Nor is it clear which martyr is the one mentioned by S. Gregory Nazianzen and S. Basil the Great.
1 Thought to be the same as S. Adamnan, Abbot of Hy.
Eupsychius who suffered under Hadrian is said to have been discharged after his arrest, when he sold all his posses- sions, and gave part of the proceeds to the poor, and part to those who had delated him to the magistrate. He was again arrested ; his sides were torn with iron hooks, and he was then transfixed with a sword, by order of the judge Sapricius.
S. JOHN, M. (a.d. 303.)
[The " Martyrologium parvum," Ado, Usuardus, Notker, &c. Roman Martyrology. Authorities : — Eusebius, viii. 3 ; Lactantius, De Mortib. Persec. c. 12.]
The saint called John in the Martyrologies is not named either by Eusebius or Lactantius, and he is thought to be the same as S. George. Lactantius gives Feb. 24th as the day of his death.
When the decree of Diocletian against the Christians was set up in Nicomedia, a " man of secular dignity" tore the edict down ; he was at once sentenced to death.
That this John of Nicomedia, as he is called by the Martyrologium parvum and Usuardus, is the same as S. George can hardly be maintained, as the date of S. George's martyrdom at Lydda in Palestine, is given in the Chronicon Paschale as 285, whereas that of the Nicomedian martyr was the year of the promulgation of the edict against the Christians, a.d. 303.
vol. x. 7
*— *
I
98 Lives of the Saints. rsept. 7.
S. S O Z O N, M.
(about a.d. 304.)
[The Greek Menneaand Menologies. Inserted by Baronius in the Roman Martyrology. Authorities :- -The Greek Acts, later, but containing, appa- rently in them the genuine notarial Acts.]
When Maximian was governor of Cilicia there was a shepherd boy, named originally Tarasius, who took in bap- tism the name of Sozon. This boy loved God with all his heart, and sought to advance His kingdom and glory by every means that lay in his feeble power.
Now one day, when his heart was full of what he heard, how that Christian men and women were being haled before judgment seats, and delivered over to be tormented, and how they warred a good warfare, and finished their course, and bound about their brows the wreaths of unfading flowers, he lay clown under a great oak beside a murmuring spring that bubbled out of a rock, and fell asleep. Then he dreamt that the Lord Jesus stood before him, and said, " Sozon, lay aside thy bow and the three arrows that are in thy quiver, and come and follow me to death." Then the lad jumped up and hid his weapons under the rock, and with only his shepherd's crook in his hand he went straight into the city of Pompeiopolis, and entering a temple, he struck a golden idol there with his crook and broke off the right hand. Then he further broke the hand, and divided the bits among the poor. Now when the sacrilege was dis covered there was great commotion, and many innocent persons were arrested on suspicion. When Sozon saw this he went boldly into the court, and without a pallor on his fresh cheek, or his limbs trembling, he stood forward before the governor, Maximian, and said, " Let these go free, I knocked the hand off the image ; and I have given the gold fingers of that infamous idol to the poor."
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Then Maximian said, " What is thy name ?" Sozon. ': If thou desirest my name by which I am most commonly known, I am called Tarasius, as named by my parents ; but I was called Sozon when made a Chris
tian."
Maximian. " Whence come you ?"
Sozon. " From the village of Midarze."
Maximian. " What brought you hither?"
Sozon. " I am a shepherd boy, I wander from place to place with my flock."
Maximian. " And what induced you to commit this act of audacity ?"
Sozon. " I wished to show that I was a Christian, and that I thought you impious. That is why I struck off the hand of the idol."
Maximian. " Come now, adore the gods, and we will look over this first audacity."
Sozon. " What god, that one-handed fellow ? I should be ashamed to venerate such a god as that, who cannot help himself against my crook."
Maximian, turning to the executioners, said, " Rack his limbs."
Then Sozon said, " Lord Jesus ! help thy servant."
Maximian. "There is yet time. Do what I bid you, and you shall be spared torture."
Sozon. " Fool ! do you not see that I did this deed to prove myself a Christian? I fear not your torments, and I despise that filthy idol."
Maximian ordered nails to be driven into his shoes, and that the boy should be made to walk round the arena. Sozon did so, and the blood spirted from his torn feet, so that his skin was reddened above his ankles. As he passed the tri- bunal of Maximian, he pointed to his feet and said, " By my hope ! you are not as gaily booted as I am in crimson."
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ioo Lives of the Saints. [Sept 7#
" Why, fellow," said Maximian, " you bear it bravely."
" I feel nothing," answered the shepherd lad.
" Then tune your pipe," said the magistrate, " and by the gods I will spare you."
" Of old I have piped many a pretty song to my sheep," said the boy, " now I will not pipe to you, but sing to God."
" Burn him to death," said Maximian, " and silence his accursed tongue."
Then the martyr walked gladly to the pile of wood smeared with tar, a fire was set to it, and the flame rushed up around him, and consumed him. Now as evening came on, a heavy thunderstorm arose, and roared over the city, and the hail and rain drove the keepers from the court under cover, and taking advantage of the storm and darkness the Christians came by night and carried off the scorched bones of the martyr.
S. ANASTASIUS, M. (about a.d. 304.)
[The Modern Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius.in these words: " At Aquileia S. Anastasius the Martyr." Baronius followed Molanus, who had fallen into a mistake. Anastasius of Aquileia suffered on Aug. 26 at Salona, in Dalmatia, and not at Aquileia. In most copies of the Martyr- ology of S. Jerome on Aug. 26, in none on Sept. 7. The mistake arose from a curious slip of Molanus, who rendered VII. Kalendas Septembris the 7U1 of September, instead of Aug. 26. By the Greeks on Dec. 5 and Oct. 25. Authority :— The Acts, not nearly contemporary, but apparently trustworthy.]
Anastasius, a fuller of Aquileia, went to live at Salona in Dalmatia, and having made up his mind to suffer martyr- dom, he painted a cross on his house, and took occasion ostentatiously to sign himself with the cross. He was arrested and sentenced to be flung into the sea with a stone attached to his neck. A Christian lady of Salona, named Asclepia, promised liberty and a reward to any of her ser-
sept. 7.] S> Regina. 101
vants who could recover the body They therefore traced the shore for many miles, and came upon some negro slaves who had dragged the corpse out of the water. The ser- vants of Asclepia rushed on them, and threatened to de- nounce them as having murdered the man, if they did not deliver up the corpse at once, and so scared them off their prey. But, says the writer of the Acts, the Africans are crafty folk, and they managed to keep the stone that had been attached to the neck of the martyr. In all probability they rolled it back into the sea, not deeming it of the slightest value. But the slaves of Asclepia brought the body to their mistress, and she buried it, and in time of peace a noble church was reared over it at Salona.
3. REGINA, V.M. (date uncertain.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. There are various legendary lives of this Saint, but they are all fabulcus, late, and founded on popular legend.]
The story of S. Regina, Reine, as she is called in France, is not without its beauty, but it is purely legendary. The fact of the prevalence of devotion to her from a very early period shows that such a saint did exist, but nothing worthy of trust has descended to us regarding her history.
The legend is briefly as follows :
Regina was the daughter of Clemens, a citizen of Alix, in Burgundy. Her mother died in giving her birth, and she was brought up by a Christian nurse, who baptized her. When Clemens learned that his daughter had become a Christian, he refused to receive her back into his house, and she lived with her nurse, and occupied herself in keeping sheep.
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102 Lives of the Saints. tsept.7.
One day Olybrius the Prefect was driving along the road, when he met the pretty young shepherdess, then aged fifteen, and fell in love with her. He ordered his servants to bring her to him at Alix, where he was staying with Clemens. When she arrived, and he discovered who she was, he de- sired to make the beautiful and well-born girl his wife, and her father would gladly have had it so.
But Regina would not listen to persuasions or threats. Olybrius left, and Clemens, to break her resolution, chained her up to a wall in a dungeon of his castle at Grignon.1
On the return of Olybrius, the girl was still unshaken, and his love being turned to hatred, he ordered her to be tor- tured to death. She was racked and scored with iron combs, and then flung into a dark prison. There she under- went an agony like that of the Saviour in the Garden, after which a vision appeared to her and healed her of her wounds. In the vision she saw a cross with a snowy dove above it, and heard these words : " Hail, wise virgin, queen in reality rather than in name. You shall receive the crown of immortality from your Lord."
On the morrow Olybrius sentenced Regina to be stretched on a cross and again tortured with red-hot irons, then to be tied hands and feet, and plunged in a vat of cold water. But suddenly the heavenly dove appeared above her and bade her come and rest from her labours. Eight hundred persons were converted at the sight of the dove. Then Olybrius ordered the head of Regina to be struck oft".
The chains by which S. Regina was bound, her skull, heart, and jawbone are preserved at Alix-Sainte, and arc carried annually in procession.
S. Regina, or Reine, is represented with dove and sword, and as a shepherdess with crook and sheep.
1 The duncetm called the Prison de Sainte Reine is shown under the ruins of the Benedictine Ahhey Church of Flavigny.
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Scpt 7-] SS. Memorius and Covip. 1 03
SS. MEMORIUS AND COMP., MM. (about a.d. 451.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority :— The fabulous Acts. S. Memorius and companions are said to have been the clergy of S. Lupus, but there is no mention whatever of their martyrdom in the life of S. Lupus.]
The fabulour. story of these martyrs is to this effect. When Attila at the head of his Huns invaded Burgundy, an angel came to S. Lupus, Bishop of Troyes (July 29), and bade him choose out twelve innocents (seven according to another account), baptize them, and bid them march with the priest Memorius, the deacons Felix and Sensatus, and the subdeacon Maximian, bearing a cross and chanting, to meet the invader. And at the rising of the sun the boys were baptized, and S. Lupus led them forth outside of the city of Troyes, and lifted up his hands and blessed them* saying : "The Angel of the Lord accompany you, and the Spirit of God be in you !"
Then the procession went forward, the boys and the priest and deacons chanting, till they came to Breuille. And when Attila saw them coming he fell off his horse with fright, and gasped out to his officers who succeeded in re- taining their seats :
" Who are these ?"
Then Memorius coming up, said :
" We are messengers of Lupus the bishop."
And the chief captain of Attila said, " This is enchant- ment ; they are trying witchcraft on thee. Let them be slain."
" Be it so !" said Attila. " Draw your swords and fall on them. But spare that old man, and bid him bear back to the city the news that we are coming." So they cut off the heads of the boys, of the deacons, and of the subdeacon.
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept 7.
Then said Attila, " That magical sign they bore aloft, burn it."
So a fire was made, and the processional cross was thrown into it. But a spark shot out and blinded the eye of Attila's little foot-page, who poured out wine for him.
Thereupon Memorius stepped forward and healed the eye.
" Old man, what is your name ?" asked Attila.
" What is yours, and that of your chief captain ? Mine is Memorius."
" My name," said the king, "is Attila ; and my captain is called Selens."
" Beware," said that officer; "he wants our names to be- witch us by means of them."
" Ah !" said Attila, " that is possible, so cut off his head." Then the head of Memorius was struck off.
" Throw the head into the river !" said Attila ; so the head was cast into the Seine. But after twenty days a fisherman drew it to land in his net, and gave it to S. Lupus, who buried it with the body with pomp.
S. CLODOALD, P.C. (about a.d. 560.)
[ Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Almost all the Martyrologies ; not however the English or Scottish ones. Authorities : — A Life written in the 10th cent., or later ; better authority is the mention by Gregory of Tours, who was almost a contemporary.]
In 524, scarcely thirteen years after the death of Clovis, and the partition of his dominions amongst his four sons; the second of them, Clodomir, King of Orleans, was killed in a war against the Burgundians, leaving three sons direct
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Sept j 61. Clodoald. 105
heirs of his kingdom, subject to equal partition between them. Their grandmother, S. Clothild, kept them with her at Paris ; and their uncle Childebert (King of Paris), see- ing that his mother bestowed all her affections upon the sons of Clodomir, grew jealous ; so, fearing that by her favour they would get a share in the kingdom, he sent secretly to his brother Clothair (King of Soissons), saying, '' Our mother keepeth by her the sons of our brother, and willeth to give them the kingdom of their father. Thou must needs, therefore, come speedily to Paris, and we must take counsel together as to what shall be done with them ; whether they shall be shorn and reduced to the condition oi commoners, or slain and leave their kingdom to be shared equally between us." Clothair, overcome with joy at these words, came to Paris. Childebert had already spread abroad among the people that the two kings were to join in raising the young children to the throne. The two kings then sent a message to the queen, who at that time dwelt in the same city, saying, "Send thou the children to us, that we may place them on the throne." Clothild, full of joy and un- witting of their craft, set meat and drink before the children, and then sent them away, saying, " I shall seem not to have lost my son if I see ye succeed him in his kingdom." The young princes were immediately seized and parted from their servants and governors ; and the servants and the children were kept in separate places. Then Childebert and Clothair sent to the queen their confidant, Arcadius, with a pair of shears and a naked sword. When he came to Clothild, he showed her what he bore with him, and said to her, " Most glorious queen, thy sons, our masters, desire to know thy will touching these children. Wilt thou that they live with shorn hair, or that they be put to death ?" Clothild, astonished at the address, and overcome with indignation answered at hazard amidst the grief that overwhelmed her,
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106 Lives of the Saints* [SePt.7.
and not knowing what she should say, " If they be not set upon the throne, I would rather know that they were dead than shorn." But Arcadius, caring little for her despair, and for what she might decide after more reflection, returned in haste to the two kings, and said, " Finish ye your work, for the queen, favouring your plan, willeth that ye accom- plish it." Forthwith Clothair took the eldest by the arm, dashed him upon the ground, and slew him without mercy, with the thrust of a hunting-knife under the arm-pit. At the cries raised by the child his brother cast himself at the feet of Childebert, and clinging to his knees, said amidst his sobs, " Aid me, good father, that I die not like my brother." Childebert, his visage bathed in tears, said to Clothair, " Dear brother, I crave thy mercy for his life. I will give thee whatsoever thou wilt as the price of his soul ; I pray thee, slay him not." Then Clothair, with menacing and furious mien, cried out aloud, " Thrust him away, or thou diestin his stead. Thou, the instigator of all this work, art thou, then, so quick to draw back ?" At these words Childebert thrust away the child towards Clothair, who seized him, plunged a hunting-knife into his side, as he had into his brother's, and slew him. They then put to death the slaves and governors of the children. After these mur- ders Clothair mounted his horse and departed, taking little heed of his nephews' death. And Childebert withdrew to the outskirts of the city. Queen Clothild had the corpses of the two children placed in a coffin, and followed them with a great parade of chanting and immense mourning, to the ba- silica of S. Peter (now S. Genevieve), where they were buried together. One was ten years old and the other seven. The third, named Clodoald, could not be caught, and was saved by some gallant men. He, disdaining a terrestrial kingdom, dedicated himself to the Lord, was shorn by his own hand, and became a churchman. He devoted himself to good
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Sept. 7-1
■5\ Clodoald. 107
works, and died a priest. And the two kings divided equally between them the kingdom of Clodomir.1
Clodoald, or S. Cloud, as he is called in France, escaped into Provence, where he lived in a little cell as a hermit on the fruits of the earth. The horrors of his infancy had sad- dened his young spirit, and had completely alienated him from the world. He cast aside every thought of ambition, which would have led him along a pathway of blood, and sought in place of an earthly crown, one eternal, peaceful, in the heavens.
A pretty legend is related by his 10th century biographer. A beggar came to his cell asking alms. S. Cloud had nothing to give him save his hood, and he snatched this off, and cast it over the beggar's shoulders. And when evening came on, and the poor man in the dusk walked through the forest, the hood began to shine like a lamp ; and when he came forth, all men wondered at the luminous hood, and thus they learned how great a saint was living in the woods of their neighbourhood.
After awhile he returned to the neighbourhood of Paris. His two uncles no longer dreaded him. Shorn as a monk, and living as a hermit, his life was no menace to them. They suffered him to build a monastery, where now stands the palace of S. Cloud. They even endowed it. Eusebius, Bishop of Paris, ordained him priest, and there the saintly prince spent the few years that remained of his life. He died about 560, aged not much more than thirty-five.
Some relics of S. Clodoald still remain in the parish church of S. Cloud.
In art he is often represented with nails, as he is patron of the nail-makers, through an absurd pun on his name.
1 Greg. Turon., Hist. Franc, iii. 18.
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 7.
S. MODOC, B. (about a.d. 632.)
[Dempster's Scottish Menology. Authority : — A Life in Capgrave ; also see S. Aidan of Ferns, Jan. 31. »]
S. Modoc, commemorated as a Bishop and Culdee this day in Scotland, is unquestionably the same as S. Aedan of Ferns, celebrated in the hagiology of Ireland and Wales, on Jan. 31. The simple form of his name is Aedh (Aeda, Aidus, ^Edeus, Edus, Hugh) ; with the diminutive it is Aedhan (Aedan, Aidamus, Edanus) ; with the honorific pre- fix it is Mo-Edoc (Modocus, Maidocus, Madock, Madoes, Mogue). He was born in a.d. 588 at Inis-breaghmuigh (East Breffny). His father's name was Sedna, eighth in descent from Colla Nais, King of Ireland in 336. His mother was Eithne of Tirawley. As a child he was a hostage to Ainmire, King of Ireland in 568 ; after that he studied along with S. Lasrian or Mallaissi of Devenish, in Lough Earne. After a sojourn in Leinster he betook him- self to S. David's Monastery, Killmuine, in Wales. Here he remained some time, renowned for sanctity. He returned to Ui-Ceinnselaigh, in Ireland, was mixed up in the dissen- sions of his native country, and on the success of his half- brother, King Brandubh, he had Ferns assigned him as an episcopal see. He returned to Wales on a visit to S. David before he died ; then, returning to Ireland, he survived till the beginning of the 7th century. In Scotland he is com- memorated at Kilmadock. For legends concerning him see the life of S. Aidan, Jan. 31.
1 See an exhaustive account of him in Dr. Reeves' Paper 'On some Ecclesiastical Bells,' in the " Transactions of the R. Irish Academy," vol. viii. p. 446. Also Bishop Forbes' " Scottish Kalendars," p. 403.
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Se 1 7j ȣ Madelberta. 109
S. MADELBERTA, V. ABSS. (about a.d. 705.)
[Belgian and Gallican Martyrologies. The Acts of S. Madelberta con- sist of a series of pious sentiments, with no facts, and might do very well for any other saintly Abbess. For facts we must go to the lives of S. Vincent Madelgar and S. Aldetrudis.]
Madelberta of Maubeuge belonged to a family of saints. She was daughter of S. Vincent Madelgar, and of S. Walde- trude, sister of S. Aldegund. Her brothers were S. Landric and S. Dentelin, and her sister S. Aldetrude.
S. Madelberta was quite a little child when taken to the monastery of S. Aldegund, her aunt, to be trained for the Lord. She died Abbess of Maubeuge. Nothing more is known of her.
SS. ALKMUND AND GILBERT, BB.
(A.D. 780 AND 789.)
[Menardus and Bucelinus in their Benedictine Martyrologies.]
S. Alkmund was consecrated Bishop of Hexham in 767, and died on the 7th September, 780. He was succeeded in the see by Tilbert or Gilbert, who died in 789. Nothing is known of their acts. The translation of their relics took place in the 12th century, and an account of the miracles then wrought by their intercession was written by a canon of Hexham. This account still exists. The bishops are mentioned by Simeon of Durham and Roger Hoveden.
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1 10 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 8
September 8.
The Nativity of the B. Virgin Mary.
SS. Adrian and Comp., MM. at Nicotnedia; circ. a.d. 304.
S. Natalia, IV. at Byzantium ; circ. a.d. 304.
SS. Eusebius, Nestabo, Zeno and Nestor, MM. at Gaza ; circ
a.d. 362. S. Coheinian, B. of Freising in Bavaria ; circ. a.d. 730. S. Uco, B. of I'olterra, in Tuscany; a.d. 11S4. B. Serahiina, IV. Abbs, at Pistofa ; a.d. 1478.
THE NATIVITY OF THE B. VIRGIN.
[Roman Martyrology. York, Sarum, Hereford, &c, Anglican Reformed Kalendar. By the Greeks on the same day, the Arabic Kalendar on Sept. 7.]
HIS festival was first introduced in the Eastern
Church, probably shortly after the Council of
Ephesus. Among the sermons of Proclus of
Constantinople (440) is one on the Nativity of
the Virgin ; in it there is, indeed, no mention of the day as
being one of solemn festival, but such discourses were
generally pronounced as panegyrics on festivals.
In the 7th century the feast was generally observed in the East, and S. Andrew of Crete has left us a hymn and a sermon on it. The idiomelon of Andrew mentions the festival, not as a newly instituted one, but as one of long standing, and as one of the greatest in the East.
In the sacramentaries of Gelasius and S. Gregory the fes- tival occurs. Pope Sergius, a.d. 695, issued a decree, ordered a procession in Rome on this day to go from the church of S. Adrian to that of S. Maria Maggiore.
The festival is not mentioned in the penitential of S. Boniface, nor is it ordered in the canon on festivals of the Council of Mainz (a.d. 813), nor in the constitution of
NATIVITY OF THE B.V. MARY. From the Vienna Missal.
Sept., p. no.
[Sept. 8.
Sept. 8.]
The Nativity of the B. Virgin. 1 1 1
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Hatto of Basle (a.d. S20;, nor in those of Herard of Tours (a.d. 858), nor that of Radulf of Bourges (a.d. 847) ; but nevertheless it appears in the statutes of Sonnatius of Rheims (a.d. 625), and in the 9th cent. \n those of Walter of Orleans. In the 10th cent, it was intro- duced into England, if we may trust Ingulf, who says it was ordered by a Synod of London in 948.
In 1 241, when the Papacy fell vacant, and the conflict of parties interfered with an immediate election, the Cardinals vowed, when they could agree, that the Nativity of S. Mary should have an octave, and on the election of Innocent IV., a.d. 1243, the octave to the festival was decreed. Never- theless it is without octave in the Cologne Kalendars of the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 14th cent, it is noticed in the German missals. The octave is marked in the York, Sarum, and Hereford Kalendars.
Nicephorus Callistus gives the following portrait of S. Mary — " Mary was in everything modest and earnest ; she spake little, and then only about necessaries ; she was very courteous, and rendered to all honour and respect. She was of middle stature, though some assert her to have been somewhat taller. She spoke to all with engaging frankness, without laughing, without embarrassment, and especially without rancour. She had a pale tint, light hair, piercing eyes with yellowish olive-coloured pupils. Her brows were arched, and moderately black, her nose moderately long, her lips fresh and full of amiability when speaking ; her face was round or pointed, but longish ; hands and fingers fairly long. Finally, she was without pride, simple, without guile ; she had no insipidity about her, but was un- assuming. In her dress she was fond of the national colour, which is still visible in her sacred headgear-— in short, there was in all her ways divine grace."1
1 Niceph. "Eccles. Hist." Lib. ii. c. i\
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1 1 2 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 8
Cedrenus describes her as of moderate height, with yellowish brown hair and hazel eyes, long fingers, and dress of no vivid colour.
The Blessed Virgin is generally represented in a red tunic and a blue mantle, these colours signifying celestial love and truth ; more rarely she wears red and green, the colours of love and hope. Blue and white are also colours appro- priated to the B. V. M. She should always wear a white veil ; on the right shoulder of her mantle, or in front of her veil is embroidered a star, in allusion to her title. " Stella Maris," the Latin interpretation of her Jewish name Miriam. Her blue tunic is often richly embroidered with gold and gems, and lined with ermine or stuff of various colours, in accordance with the words of the Psalmist, "The King's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework." In the devotional effigies which represent the B. V. M. as the Queen of Angels, she wears a splendid crown. After the Crucifixion, our Lady usually appears in violet or grey. She frequently appears with the sun over her head and the moon under her feet, in allusion to Canticles vi. 10, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun ;" and Revelation xii. i, "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."
Her principal emblems are the Lily (in its several varieties of the fleur-de-lys, the lilium candidum, and the lily of the valley), the Rose (" I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys," Cant. ii. i), the Garden En- closed, the Sealed Fountain, the Closed Gate, the Sealed Book, and the Bush which burned and was not consumed, in allusion to her perpetual virginity.
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^.S. Adrian, Natalia, and others. 1 1 3
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SS. ADRIAN, NATALIA, AND OTHERS, MM. (about a.d. 304.)
[Some copies of the Martyro'ogy of Jerome on March 4, the Martyrology of Bede on Sept. 8, the Martyrologium parvum, Ado, Hrabanus, Notker, Usuardus. Modern Roman Martyrology on March 4 and Sept. 8. By the Greeks on Aug. 26. Veneration for S. Adrian grew up in the West after the translation of his body to Rome in the 6th or 7th cent. Au- thority : — The Greek Acts. There are various editions of these, more or less diffuse. They are amplifications of ancient Acts. The Acts are too late to be perfectly trustworthy, but for the main particulars may be relied on. The tedious discourses put into the mouths of all the sufferers are late additions.]
When Maximian was persecuting the Church, he bade his officers collect all the Christians in Nicomedia, and force them to do sacrifice to the false gods. One day as he was driving out he passed a troop of twenty-three, heavily chained, being led to prison. He leaped down from his chariot, and ordered them to be brought at once into court that he might try them.
They exhibited such constancy under torment, that a young officer present, named Adrian, aged only twenty- three, sprang into the middle of the court, and cried with a loud voice, " Write me down a Christian also, secretary, that I may be numbered with these warriors of Christ."
Maximian, extremely exasperated, ordered him to be chained and consigned to prison.
Adrian had been married for thirteen months to a young and beautiful Christian girl, named Natalia, ;md her piety and sweetness had first drawn his heart to Christ, but he was unbaptized.
Now one of the servants ran to the house of Adrian, and entering, breathless, told his mistress what had taken place. Then Natalia was full of joy, and she went with speed to the prison, and entered, and flung herself at the feet of her husband, and kissed his chains, and implored the
vol. x. 8
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1 14 Lives of the Saints. rsept.8.
other confessors to encourage Adrian, and teach him fully the way of truth.
" Now depart, dear wife," said the martyr, "and I will send thee word, when I know how matters are likely to go with me."
After a few days, knowing that his trial would take place immediately, he asked the gaoler to allow him to go home on parole, to greet his wife for the last time. Leave was given him, and he returned to his house. But when Natalia saw him, her heart failed within her, as she thought that, to have obtained release, he must have renounced his purpose and new-born faith. But he reassured her, and she ac- companied him back to the prison.
And when she came there, she washed the wounds of the twenty-three confessors, and sent her servant for fine linen, and tore it up, and made bandages for them. And for seven days she ministered daily to their necessities.
And after that, Adrian was led forth, and the twenty-three were seated on beasts, and brought to the court, for they were so wounded and disjointed that they could not walk.
Natalia followed them. Adrian alone was introduced into court. He was ordered to be beaten by four men. He was thrown on the ground, and lashed till his body was a mass of wounds. Then Maximian ordered all to be reconducted to prison. Adrian could not walk, and was dragged back, Natalia holding his head up on her arm, against her breast, and wiping the sweat of agony from his loved brow with her veil.
And when he was brought back to prison, the confessors crowded round him, those who had been disjointed on the rack crawling along on their hands or elbows, to congratulate him on his heroism. And Natalia blessed him with her lips, and wiped his blood away, and anointed all his body witli her gentle hands.
The deaconesses also hasted to attend to the other suf- ferers. But orders came that the women were not to be
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Sept. 8.] SS- Adrian, Natalia, and others. 1 1 5
admitted to the prison. Then Natalia cut off her long locks, and dressed herselflikeaman, and came to the prison, and asked and paid for admittance, as a man ; and the gaoler, pocketing her gold, let her through the gates. Other women followed her example.
But orders came for the speedy execution of the martyrs in their dungeons ; and so it fell out that Natalia was pre- sent when her husband died. The sentence of Maximian was, that their legs should be broken by blows of a hammer on an anvil.
So the lictors came, and rolled an anvil into the dungeon, and Natalia rushed before them, and throwing herself on her knees implored, "In pity, deal first with Adrian!" And this she said, for she feared that the sight of the sufferings of his comrades might overcome her young husband's fortitude, and perhaps her own.
And when the executioner would have taken the feet of Adrian, to lay them on the anvil, " No," said Natalia, " I will do that." And she raised the dear feet, whose sound on the pavement had been to her so pleasant, as he returned to his home, through the few months of their married life, and reverently, and tenderly, she laid them on the iron block.
Then the executioner smote, and crushed the bones, and next, with an axe, hewed off the feet.
Natalia, who had stationed herself at the head of him she loved best in all the world, said, with her eyes on his face, " Servant of Christ ! if you live, put out your hand to mine !"
And the dying man feebly stretched out his hand, as though groping for hers, and she caught it, and held it, and laid it on the anvil ; then the executioner brought his axe down, and hewed it off, as she clasped it. And she folded it in her mantle to her heart, and watched the colour die out of the cheeks of Adrian and his eyes grow dim. She closed them with her loving hand.
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1 1 6 Lives of the Saints. rSept 8_
And all the rest of the three-and-twenty had their legs broken by repeated blows, but we are not told if their hands and feet were cut off.
According to the orders of Maximian, the bodies of the martyrs were placed on a pile of wood to be burnt, but they were so many that the burning was not perfectly carried out, and a heavy rain during the night having extinguished the smouldering pyre, the Christians were able to recover the remains of the martyrs before they were completely reduced to ashes.
But Natalia preserved her husband's hand and wrapped it in spices and ointments to preserve it, and folded purple silk round it, and placed it at the head of her bed.
Not long after the death of Adrian, as Natalia was young, pretty, and wealthy, she was sought in marriage by a tribune high in office in the Imperial Court. Full of dismay, she implored three months' delay, to make up her mind; then flinging herself on her knees by her bed-side, she prayed, " Be merciful, Lord ! be merciful, and spare me this humi- liation ! For thy Name's sake, for the sake of the broken legs of thy martyrs, for the sake of their chains and bleeding arms ! spare me, spare me ! for the sake of Adrian, whose wife I was !"
Then she hastily prepared for flight, and carrying with her only what was necessary, took ship for Byzantium. Now the bodies of the martyrs had been conveyed by some of the faithful to the same city, and thither therefore, as to the tomb of her husband, Natalia's heart drew her.
The late author of the Acts here introduces a fictitious in- cident, to heighten the interest of his story.
As the boat was on its way, storm and darkness came on, and out of the gloom shot a phantom ship filled with dark forms of demons. The steersman of Natalia's vessel shouted to the captain of the phantom vessel for sailing directions.
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Sept. 8.] "S^- Adrian, Natalia, and others. 117
not knowing in the darkness and mist that the ship was not real, and freighted with living men. Then a tall black form at the poop shouted through the flying spon-drift, " To the left, to the left, lean over to the left !" and so the steersman turned the prow. At that instant a luminous figure stood out of the night, at the head of the vessel, with a halo about him such as we see encircle a lantern in a fog. It was Adrian in glory. And he waved his arm, and cried, " You are sailing aright ! Go straight forwards."
And Natalia uttered a cry and sprang forward, crying, " It is my husband — it is Adrian come to save us !"
Then the light vanished, and all was dark ; the storm blew down on them, laden with the shrieks of the discomfited demons, as the black fiend-ship backed into the gloom.
When morning dawned the boat was off Argyropolis, and they put into port and went up into Byzantium, and sought the Christians ; and Natalia was led to where the bones of her husband were laid. Then she laid by them the hand she had cherished. She was worn with fatigue and the miseries of her rough sea voyage. The kind brethren and sisters at Byzantium noted her haggard looks, and besought her to rest. But she first knelt long by her husband's grave, and then lay gently down, and laid her weary head on it, and her spirit fled painlessly from her body.
The relics of S. Adrian and S. Natalia are thought to have been brought to Rome in the 6th or 7th century. Spanish writers assert that they were translated to the abbey of S. Pedro de Estonca, in the 9th century, in the reign of Alfonso the Great, and the time of Pope John VIII These relics have undergone partition. An arm of S. Adrian and one of S. Natalia are at Leon in the monastic church of S. Claudius. Another portion of their relics in an abbey of their dedication called Tuhon, near Oviedo ; another at Balneare, near Leon ; other relics at Chellas, near Lisbon.
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The entire bodies, it is pretended, were translated by rela- tives of S. Adrian to Belgium, and are now shown at Gerard- mont in Hainault. But the entire body of S. Adrian is also at Rome under the high altar of the church of his name. A jaw and half an arm at Cologne, another part of an arm at Prague ; the entire body, with the exception of one arm, at Raulcourt — so that there are two bodies in Belgium alone ; an arm at Lobbes, part of an arm at Floreffe, two teeth at S. Crepin in Hainault, a tooth at Ninove in Flanders ; some bones in Agincourt, others at Douai, at Bruges in the cathe- dral, and in the Jesuit church at Mecheln ; a whole body at Ghent, the third in Belgium ; a head at Bologna. Henry II., Emperor of Germany, claimed to use the sword of S. Adrian.
SS. EUSEBIUS, NESTABO, ZENO, AND NESTOR,
MM.
(about a.d. 362.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority :-— Sozomen, 46, v. c. 9.]
" The inhabitants of Gaza," says Sozomen, the ecclesias- tical historian (a.d. 440), " being inflamed with rage against Eusebius, Nestabo, and Zeno, three brethren, dragged them from their house, in which they had concealed themselves, and cast them into prison, after having beaten them with unusual cruelty. Then they assembled in the theatre, and shouted against them, declaring that they had profaned their temple, and had used the power with which they were for- merly invested to the injury and destruction of paganism. By these declamations the general excitement was increased to such a pitch that the mob ran to the prison, and with unpa- ralleled fury drew forth their victims, and dashed them on
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the ground ; and in this position, sometimes with the face, and sometimes with the back, upon the ground, the victims were dragged through the streets of the city, and were after wards stoned and beaten. I have been told that even women quitted their work to aid in torturing them ; that the very cooks left their employment to pour scalding water on them, and to wound them with their culinary utensils. When the martyrs were literally torn to pieces, and their brains scattered on the ground, their bodies were dragged out of the city and flung on the spot generally reserved as a receptacle for the bodies of beasts ; then a large fire was lighted, and their bones mixed with those of asses and camels, so that it might be difficult to distinguish them. But they were not long concealed, for a Christian woman, an inhabitant of Gaza, collected the bones at night, by the inspiration of God, and conveyed them in a vessel to Zeno, their cousin, as God had commanded her in a dream ; for she was previously unacquainted with Zeno, and he had narrowly escaped arrest, but he had effected his escape while the people were occu- pied with the butchery of his cousins, and had fled to Anthe- dona, a maritime city about twenty stadia from Gaza, wholly addicted to superstition and idolatry. When the inhabitants «f this city discovered that he was a Christian, they beat him violently, and drove him away. He then returned to Gaza, and concealed himself; and here the woman found him, and gave him the remains. He kept them carefully in the house till the reign of Theodosius, when he was ordained bishop. And he erected a church beyond the walls of the city, and deposited the bones under the altar, near those of Nestor the Confessor. Nestor had been on terms of intimacy with his cousins, and was seized with them by the people of Gaza, scourged and imprisoned. But those who dragged him through the city were so affected with his per- sonal beauty, and struck with compassion, that they cast
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him, before he was quite dead, out of the city. Some per- sons found him and carried him to the house of Zeno, where he expired whilst his wounds were being dressed.
" When the inhabitants of Gaza began to reflect on the enormity of their crime, they trembled lest the Emperor should punish them. But Julian, far from evincing as much anger against them as he had manifested against the Alexan drians on the murder of George (the Arian bishop), did not even write to rebuke their conduct. ' For what right had he,' asked the Emperor, ' to arrest the citizens merely for retalia- ting on a few Galileans the injuries that had been inflicted by them and by their gods.' And so the affair was passed over."
It is clear that these martyrs had assisted in the destruc- tion of the magnificent Marnion,the temple which was the glory of Gaza, and that this had exasperated the people against them.
S. CORBINIAN, B.
(a.d. 730.)
[Roman and German Martyrologies. Authority : — A Life by Aribo, Bishop of Freising, from 764 to 784 ; therefore a contemporary of part of the life of S. Corbinian. j
S. Corbinian was born at Chatres, near Melun, in France, in the reign of Clothair III. His father, whose name was Waldegis, died before his birth. He received from his mother at the font the name of Waldegis, but she afterwards changed her mind, and called him Corbinian, after her own name, Corbiniana, when the first fervour of grief for the departed Waldegis had blown over. From early childhood the boy manifested a love of holy things, and when young built a cell beside the church of S. Germain near his castle, and dwelt in it.
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Sept 8 ] 6*. Corbinian. 1 2 1
In this cell he lived on the alms of the people. Under his cell was a cellar, in which he kept a barrel or two of wine. One vintage, when his cellar had been lately stocked by the charity of the neighbourhood, in the dead of the night, at the most ghostly hour, when all is hushed, one of the barrels blew out its bung with a tremendous report. Corbinian flung himself on his knees, and remained in prayer till dawn, when he rang a bell for his servants, who came in, and then, with a solemn voice, Corbinian informed them that the dreadful noise which had so scared them in the night, pro- ceeded, not from demons, but from the new wine having driven out the bung. Then Anseric, his cellarer, took the key, and went down into the vault ; he put his foot upon the bung at the first step, and, reassured, went up to the barrel to find, to his admiration, that not a drop of wine was wasted. This is the first miracle recorded of Corbinian at the opening of his ascetic career in his miserable anchorite's cell adjoining the church of S. Germain.
One day his mule ran away ; so that apparently the re- cluse was not wholly immured, but allowed himself an occa- sional airing. The servants of the hermit scattered them- selves over the country in quest of it, but all in vain. In the evening they returned from their ineffectual search to lament the loss to Corbinian. He betook himself to prayer, and in the night an angel appeared to him, and informed him the mule should be returned in the morning, and the fellow who had stolen it severely punished.
Next day Corbinian was giving an instruction to his disci- ples, when, through the open door, in walked the mule with the thief on his back, sticking to the saddle as tight as if he had been attached to it by the strongest fish-glue, and fast asleep. Corbinian ordered the mule to shake the man off, and the obedient animal released the fellow, who fell like a log on the ground, when the thief woke up with a start, and
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. &
asked where he was. Corbinian had him fast, and delivered himself of an impressive and lengthy lecture, but after that let him go, thankful that he escaped so easily.
The fame of Corbinian spread, and Pepin of Herstall sent to commend himself to the hermit's prayers. After fourteen years in his cell Corbinian went to Rome and visited Pope Gregory II., whom he asked to appoint him some place of solitude where he might live alone and in abstinence. But Gregory ordained him first priest, then bishop, without any fixed see, and sent him back into France, and he returned to his former cell at Chatres.
After a while he made another pilgrimage to Rome, going a roundabout way, for he took Ratisbon on his road, and made acquaintance with Theodo II., Duke of Bavaria, who tried hard to retain him in his territories. He also met Grimoald, Duke of Freising, who showed him the greatest honour, and endeavoured to persuade him to become bishop of his duchy ; and when he refused, accompanied him to the confines of Tyrol, and sent strict orders to the people along the way, and throughout the valley of the Vintschgau, should the holy man return, not to suffer him to go anywhere save into Bavaria.
Corbinian and his cellarer, Anseric, and some servants, set their faces to the Brenner pass, driving a packhorse before them. As they rested one night in a forest a bear ate the sumpter-horse of the saint, and in the morning the servants of Corbinian found the bear lying on the dead horse, gnawing it at its ease. They ran to tell Anseric, and Anseric told his master.
" Take this whip," said Corbinian, " and lash the brute well with it."
" I am afraid," said Anseric.
" Do as you are bid," answered Corbinian, " and after
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sept. 8.] S. Corbinian. 123
that put the pack and saddle on the back of the bear, and send him on with the horses."
So the bear was made to carry a pack all the way to the gates of Rome.
Did the glories of that wondrous road fill the soul of Cor- binian with awe ? The still tarn near the Brenner head, the dazzling peaks that close the valley of Ridnaun, the mighty dolomite horn of the Schlern, and the wall of needles of the Rosengarten, the mystic region of Laurin the Dwarf King? We cannot tell, the biographer is silent on this. We only hear that when Corbinian came to Trent, Count Husing, who ruled there, coveted the Saint's horse, which was a remarkably fine one, and bid a large sum for it, but as the bishop refused to sell it, he stole it.
At Pavia Corbinian was honourably received by Luit- prand, King of the Lombards, and was given by him rich gifts ; and orders were sent on, all along the road to Rome, that the bishop should be allowed to want for nothing.
He had not gone very far before a gentleman, sent by the king to accompany him, made off with one of his best horses. He, like the Count of Trent, had offered to buy it, but was refused, and so took French leave with it. It is clear that Corbinian had an eye for horseflesh.
Meat and poultry were in plenty, but on Friday there was a deficiency of fish ; and the ascetic bishop refused to eat anything else. What was to be done ? His cook — for he took his cook about with him as well as his butler — was dis- tracted, when suddenly an eagle appeared overhead with a fish in his mouth, and dropped it at the feet of the cook, who put it at once into the frying-pan for the bishop's dinner. What the servants dined on we are not told.
Next Friday they were ambling along the sea-shore, when they spied a big fish asleep on the surface of the water. Corbinian bade one of his servants go in after it. The
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124 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 8.
man stripped, and taking a spear swam behind the fish and stabbed it. The fish was eleven feet long. Feeling itself wounded it swam out to sea, and the man, holding on to his harpoon, swam after it, striving to turn the fish to land. The bishop and all the rest of the servants looked on applaud- ing, from the land ; but at length, anxious as to the result, for the man was becoming exhausted. Most opportunely some fishermen were near at hand, and they rowed to the spot and secured the fish. The swimmer then tried to scramble into the boat, but the fishermen having a fancy to keep the captured fish for themselves, tried to push him off. The servant got one leg into the boat, caught an oar and dealt the boatmen a blow on their heads with it. A shout of applause greeted him from his master and comrades on shore. The boatmen then sullenly allowed him to push the skiff to land and present the fish to the bishop.
Tents were spread, a fire kindled, and all feasted. The boatmen he liberally fee'd with twopence (duo trem'sses) ana a lecture on their bad conduct in trying to steal the fish.
On reaching Rome S. Corbinian was cordially received by the Pope, who refused to give ear to his entreaties to be allowed to live a solitary and severe life. He perhaps saw that Corbinian had no very real vocation for a mortified life, or he would have dispensed long ago with cooks and butlers, and handsome horses, and meat every day except Friday. He therefore peremptorily ordered him back to Bavaria.
Corbinian therefore retraced his journey, and was not a little gratified to learn, on his reaching Pavia, that the man who had stolen his horse was dead. The widow flung her- self at the bishop's knees, and bitterly deplored the covctous- ness of her late husband ; even King Luitprand " jumped off his throne and prostrated himself before the bishop," en- treating pardon for him who had stolen the horse ; a hand- some sum of money being also offered the bishop, he con-
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Sept. 8.]
S. Corbinian. 125
sented to absolve the soul of the departed gentleman of his sin of horse-stealing ; and then he went on his way to Trent. The news of the death of the horse-stealer had spread to the roots of the Alps, and the Count of Trent was in an agony of alarm for his personal safety, for, as it will be remembered, he also had appropriated one of the bishop's stud.
He also had suffered somewhat, for he had lost forty- two of his horses, which had died of elephantiasis (elefantino morbo perierunt). He paid Corbinian two hundred gold pieces and two good horses for his theft, which was a pretty considerable sum for the use of a horse, and Corbinian received the money with a smile of satisfaction.
The humbled count conducted the bishop to the confines of Bavaria, which then stretched to Botzen, and Corbinian was detained at Meran, in the Vintschgau, till Grimoald was made aware of his return.
'Whilst waiting at Meran, Corbinian took mountain excur- sions, and was fascinated with the spot. One point espe- cially delighted him, a knoll at Khaims, between two torrents, where the vines were rich, the trees umbrageous, and the view of snowy summits was beautiful. The bishop made inquiries about the tenure of land thereabouts, and to whom each farm belonged, having an eye to the future.
At length orders came for the bishop to go north, and with a heavy heart he left delightful Meran. No sooner was Corbinian at Freising, than he found that his protector Grimoald was married to his deceased brother's wife Pil- trudis. He sent word that he would not see the face of Grimoald till the incestuous union was broken off. For forty days he kept apart from the duke, and then at last Grimoald consented to break off the connexion. He came to Bishop Corbinian to promise obedience, confess his sin, and ask penance.
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126 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 8
" For penance you must give me the estate of Khaims, near Meran."
" It does not belong to me," said the duke.
" No, but you must buy it for me from its owner. I want all the land between the two streams Timon and Finale, with the pastures, fields, and vineyards, and part of the Alps that overhang the said estate."
Grimoald sent orders to have the land purchased, and so this was the first estate that passed to the see of Freising. Corbinian bought other estates out of his well-lined purse at Cortsch, near Meran.
One day the bishop was riding through the streets of Freising, when he saw an old woman, attended by some men, carrying meat, and leading a live animal. He had been forewarned that this old woman dealt in witchcraft, so he stopped his horse and asked what was her business. She replied that a young man was ill, and she was going to try her skill in curing him. This so exasperated the bishop that he jumped off his horse, caught the old woman by the neck, and laid into her back lustily with his horsewhip, then ordered the meat to be taken outside the walls of the town, and given to the poor. He was a passionate man, says Aribo, his candid biographer.
Piltrudis resented the interference of the bishop, and the rupture of her union with Grimoald ; and she concerted a plan with her secretary Ninus to have him waylaid and mur- dered, when on his way to a villa he had lately erected. Erembert, a brother of Corbinian, heard of the conspiracy, and told him. The bishop, horror-struck, fled precipitately to his dear Meran, and the charming estates he had there acquired, and sent word to Grimoald to deal with the Jezebel as she would have dealt with him. The duke declined to imbrue his hands in the blood of his sister-in-law and divorced wife, but sent to Corbinian urging his return to his duties at
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Freising, and assuring him that he would provide for his personal safety. Corbinian resolutely refused to leave Meran as long as Piltrudis was within reach, and it was only when Grimoald was defeated and killed by Charles Martel, and Piltrudis was removed to a safe distance, that he ventured back to his see.
He did not live long after his return. His heart was at Meran among the beautiful snowy peaks and Alpine flowers. When he felt that he was dying, he sent his brother Erem- bert to the King of the Lombards, and another messenger to Hugbert Duke of Bavaria, to obtain from both a promise that his bones should lie at Meran.
As he had desired, his body was conveyed to Meran. But it was not long allowed to remain there, but was brought back to Bavaria, and now part is at Freising, and part at Munich, in the cathedral.
In art S. Corbinian is represented with the bear at his side laden with a pack.
B. SERAPHINA, W. ABSS. (a.d. 1478.)
[Franciscan Martyrology. Authorities : — Wadding, in his Annals of the Minorites, from MS. material in his possession, and a Life by Galluci in
ifi37-]
Guido Antonio, Count of Monteferetri and Urbino, and Lord of Gubbio, was father of the lady who is commemo- rated under the name of Seraphina this day in the Franciscan Martyrology. She was his daughter by his second wife, Catarina Colonna, niece of Pope Martin V. She was born at Urbino, about a.d. 1434, and received at the font the name of Suevia. She was married by proxy at the age of fourteen to Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pistoja, High Con- Si 13
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128 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 8
stable of Sicily. Alessandro had already been married to Constantia Varana, by whom he had two sons, Constans and Galeati, and two daughters.
The first years of their married life were happy. Suevia proved a good mother to her step-children, and managed the house with prudence.
In 1460 Alexander returned to Pistoja from the wars, in which he had been constantly engaged, and was struck with the charms of a lady named Pacifica, wife of a physician at Pistoja. This led to great family misery, and Suevia had reason to believe that her husband made several attempts to get rid of her by poison. They quarrelled violently, and on one occasion he so far forgot himself as to maltreat her before the servants. Then he drove her out of his palace, and bade her go to the convent of the Poor Clares. This was in 1460. The unhappy wife at once went to the convent, and asked to be admitted. But the powerful relatives of Suevia interfered, and Alessandro, to justify his conduct, asserted that she had been unfaithful to him during his absence, and had indeed confessed her fault. The kinsmen, together with her husband and a notary, went to the convent and asked to see Suevia. She appeared at the grating, and was asked if this was true which her husband asserted. She made no answer, but dropped the curtain and withdrew. Her relatives were filled with shame, and the notary entered in his book the statement that she had not denied the charge. But on their way through the streets, the ass on which the notary was seated flung the man of law, and then bit him in the rear as he lay sprawling in the dust ; a mani- fest token that he had done wrong in attributing the silence of Suevia to a consciousness of guilt.
Suevia took the veil, and was elected abbess. After a few years Alessandro repented his treatment of his wife, and got tired of Pacifica. He turned the latter lady out of his
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B. Seraphina.
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house with as great indignity as he had shown to his legiti- mate wife, and wanted to bring Suevia back again. But this was now impossible. She had taken the irrevocable vow, had changed her name to Seraphina, and was enclosed behind bars he was powerless to break through.
She died in the odour of sanctity on Sept. 8th, 1478. The body is preserved, and exposed to the veneration of the faithful at Pistoja.
3. Paul, Ap.
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September 9.
S. Thf.ophanes, H.C. in the East; circ. a.d. 300.
SS. Dorotheus and Gorgonius, MM. at Nicomedia ; a. p. 303.
S. Severian, M. at Sebaste ; circ. a.d. 320.
S. Kieran, Ab. of Clonmacnois, in Ireland; A.D. 548.
S. Omer, B. in Artois ; </?•<:. a.d. 670.
S. Sergius I., Pope of Rome ; a.d. 701.
S. Bertellin, H \ at Stafford ; Hl/i nut.
S. Onnen, C. in Brittany.
S. Wii.freda, Abss. of Wilton ; end of "10th cent.
S. Peter of Chavanon, MA: at Piberac in Auvergne; a.d 1080.
B. Peter Claver, S.J. at Poitiers; a.d. 1654.
S. THEOPHANES, H.C. (about a.d. 300.)
[Greek Menrea and Menology. Authority : — The notice in the Me- nology.]
jHEOPHANESwas a boy born of heathen parents,
who had learned, unknown to his father and
mother, the truths of the faith, instilled into him
probably by a nurse.
One winter's day the little boy saw a poor child nearly
naked, shivering with cold. Thereupon he stripped off his
own warm clothing, and gave it to the poor boy.
When his father saw him he said, " What have you done with your clothes ?" He answered, " I have given them to Christ."
He ran away from home to a hermit on Mount Diabenum, and lived with him in a cave till his death. He was brought before the Emperors Cams, Carinus, and Numerian, and
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beaten, and then allowed to return to his cave. Whenever he sallied forth from his cave he is said to have ridden on the back of a lion. He died about a.d. 300, after having spent seventy-five years in his cave.
SS. DOROTHEUS AND GORGONIUS, MM. (a.d. 303.)
[Roman Martyrology. Ado, Usuardus. Many copies of the Martyrology of S. Jerome on March 12. Authority : — A brief notice by Eusebius, viii. 6, and Rufinus' additions to it. The Acts are later, not earlier than the 8th cent., and are purely fabulous.]
Dorotheus and Gorgonius, as Eusebius tells us, were freedmen in the palace of Diocletian at Nicomedia, who after many tortures were strangled, and so bore away the prize of a heavenly victory. Rufinus adds that Dorotheus and Gorgonius were chamberlains to the emperor, and that when they saw Peter, another servant of the palace, tortured, they remonstrated with Diocletian, and were on that account strangled.
The Acts say that their skin was torn off, and that vinegar and salt were rubbed into their wounds ; that they were then placed on iron beds over a slow fire and roasted. But the charcoal went out, and they suffered no ill-effects from the fire. Then, at last, after they had given the kiss of peace to the Christians present, they were strangled with a cord.
The relics of these martyrs were translated first to Rome, then to Gorze on the Moselle, in the diocese of Metz, in 765, and thence parts to Minden.
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S. SEYERIAN, M. (about a.d. 320.)
[Roman Martyrology, introduced by Baronius from the Greek Menaea. Russian Kalendar. Authority : — The Greek Acts, apparently trustworthy, but not in their original condition ; they have been re-written and amplified.]
This martyr suffered under Licinius, when he was Emperor of the East, and, contrary to agreement with Constantine, persecuted the Church. Licinius was the more able to do this in the case of believing soldiers, as he could proceed against them for infraction of military discipline ; and when he had broken with Constantine he threw off the mask of tolerance.
Severian was a soldier and a Christian. He had witnessed the martyrdom of the forty soldiers at Sebaste, in Armenia Minor, exposed to a bitter winter night on a frozen pool (March 10) ; and this glorious martyrdom, far from daunting him, stimulated him to greater zeal. He made no secret of his faith, but openly, even defiantly, proclaimed his Chris- tianity, and his abhorrence of the gods of Olympus. His words were reported to Lysias, the governor, and he was ordered before him. He maintained his intrepidity through trial and torture. A heavy stone was attached to his feet, and he was torn with iron rakes till he died.
S. KIERAN, AB. OF CLONMACNOIS. (a.d. 548.)
[Roman, Irish, and Aberdeen Martyrologies. Authority : — Mention in Jocelin's Life of S. Patrick, in that of S. Comgall, and those of other con- temporary Saints.]
Kieran — called in the Roman Martyrology Queranus — was named also Macantsaor, or the carpenter's son ; his
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Sept. 9.]
•S*. Kiev an. 133
father's name was Beoaidh, and that of his mother was Darerca ; she was descended from the bard Glas. His father was a carpenter in Meath. Crushed by the taxation of the King of Ainmire, he left his native land for Con- naught, when, in the field Ay, Kieran first saw the light, and was baptized by S. Justus. Hearing of the fame of S. Finnian of Cluain-iraird (Clonard), he betook himself to his school, and did not leave it till he was well grounded in ecclesiastical learning. Thence, having received a certificate from S. Finnian, together with his blessing, he repaired to the monastery ofS. Nennid, in one of the islands of Lough Erne. This saint had been also a disciple of S. Finnian, and while in his school had made acquaintance with Kieran. As he had lately founded a monastery in the island, and had become bishop of the surrounding district, it is not im- probable that Kieran went to him on invitation to assist him in the management of his institution. Kieran was received by him with great joy, and remained some time with him.
Wishing, however, to improve himself further in the knowledge and observance of monastic discipline, Kieran went to the great monastery of the Isle of Arran. S. Enda, who still governed it, received him very kindly, and em- ployed him for seven years in thrashing corn for the use of the community. During that period he was considered as a pattern of piety and sanctity, and Enda is said to have had some visions relative to the great merit of Kieran, and the number of religious houses which in course of time would belong to his institution.
At the expiration of these seven years our saint removed, according to one account, to Inniscathig, where he was charged by S. Senan with the care of providing for strangers. But his liberality to the poor was so profuse that he incurred the displeasure of some of the monks, and accordingly thought it advisable to quit the monastery.
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134 Lives of the Saints. rsePt,9,
He then proceeded to an island of Lough Rie, called Aingin, where, having erected a monastery, he was soon surrounded by a vast number of excellent monks. This was his first establishment, and he remained abbot of it for seven years, till 548, when, leaving the care of it to Adamnan, a monastic man, he removed to the west bank of the Shannon, and, on a site granted him by King Dermit, founded the great monastery of Clonmacnoise. King Dermit had a high opinion of S. Kieran, who, it is said, had foretold to him his accession to the sovereignty. At the request of the saint, the prince laid with his own hands the first stone of the foundation.
S. Kieran did not long survive the foundation of Clon- macnoise, as he fell sick of a pestilence which raged in the year 549, and which carried him off, some say at the early age of thirty-three ; and from the fact of his being a car- penter's son, and of having died at the same age as Christ, it was thought that the resemblance between the saint and his Lord was peculiarly remarkable. His institution, for which he had drawn up a particular rule, was extended after his death to a great number of religious houses.
Kieran is said to have composed a lay asking God for a
long life in which to serve Him j but his prayer was not
answered, "he was made perfect in a short time." S.
Columba wrote a hymn in praise of Kieran, beginning with
these lines : —
"Quantum Christe, O, apostolum Mundo misisti hominem ? Lucerna hujus insula?."
He is said also to have carried away some clay from his grave. On getting into the eddy of Corryvrechan, Columba threw it into the sea, and was saved from wreck. Kieran is not to be confounded with S. Kieran of Saigir (March 5).
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& O M E R, B.C.
(ABOUT A.D. 670.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authorities : — A Life probably by Folcard, monk of S. Bertin, who died circ. A.D. 1050 ; a second Life con- taining no fresh material ; and a third containing additional matter, but for the composition of which the first Life was also used.]
S. Omer (in Latin Audomarus), was a native of Golden- thai near Constance, and was the son of Friulf and Domitta. On the death of Domitta, whom he tenderly loved, the single- hearted German noble, Friulf, went with his little son to Luxeuil, that they might assume the cowl together, under S. Eustace, the successor of the great Columbanus. Omer grew up in that stern cloister to be a monk in heart and soul. He did not leave it till he was summoned to be bishop of Therouanne by S. Acharius, Bishop of Noyon, and Da- gobert, King of the Franks.
He found the people of that low watery land but half Christianized, and he laboured diligently among them to sow the seeds of life. In his journey round his diocese he came to Boulogne, and entering into the church preached to the people and said mass. He was very tired, and when his duties were accomplished he flung himself on his bed for a nap. Then a servant lad said to him, " Whilst you are asleep, let me go down to the sea-shore to play ?"
" No," said the bishop, " you shall not go. Tarry here till I wake up." And presently he was fast asleep.
But the boy was very eager to see the tumbling waves, a novelty to him, and stealing on tiptoe out of Lthe room, he ran down to the beach and began to play about on it. Presently he came to the mouth of the little stream called the Lianne, and finding a skiff attached to the bank, thought he would paddle out to sea in it. But he had not reckoned on tides and a
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136 Lives of the Saints. [sept9.
wind off shore, and the poor little fellow found himself being swept out to sea without being able to manage the boat, the waves also danced his cockleshell about, and frightened him nearly out of his senses. He drifted out till turn of tide, when, having invoked his master, whom he had deserted, tide and wind turned, and he was driven ashore near Bou- logne. He rushed to the bishop and told him the story. S. Omer rebuked him mildly for his disobedience, and bade him be silent on the matter till after his death.
Finding that he could make little way without assistance, S. Omer sent to Luxueil for S. Bertin and S. Mummolin, as has been already related.1 He settled them first at Vieux Moutiers, and afterwards at Sithieu.
In his old age S. Omer lost his sight. He was invited by S. Authbert, of Cambrai, to assist at the translation of the body of S. Vedast to a church he had built. The blind old bishop accordingly went to him, and it is said for a few moments recovered his sight ; but the clouds again rolled over his eyes and left him in darkness as before. But of this momentary illumination neither of the earlier bio- graphers say a word, nor do they state that he assisted at the translation of S. Vedast, the date of which event cannot be fixed with certainty.
He died at Waorans, not far from the present city of Saint-Omer, in the year 670, and was buried by S. Bertin in the church dedicated to Our Lady, which afterwards became the Cathedral of S. Omer. Part of the skull is all that is pre- served of his relics in this church.
1 Page 7«.
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S. Sergius I. 137
S. SERGIUS I., POPE. (a.d. 701.)
iRoman Martyrology. In some copies of Ado, in Notker. Authorities : — Anastasius Bibliothecarius.]
Sergius, a native of Palermo, son of Tiberius, said to have been a merchant of Antioch, settled there, arrived at Rome in the reign of Pope Adeodatus, and was ordained priest between the years 682 and 684.
On the death of Pope Conon in 687, three candidates were proposed for the Apostolic chair, by their conflicting partisans. The Archdeacon Paschal, the Archpriest Theo- dore, were supported by two rival factions ; a third proposed Sergius, and carried him in triumph to the Lateran palace. Each of the other candidates occupied a strong position in the city. To quell the disturbance and arrest bloodshed, the Exarch of Ravenna came to Rome, disbanded the armed partisans of the rival popes, and pronounced in favour of Sergius. Paschal had sent a large bribe to Ravenna to in- fluence the choice of the Exarch. When the Exarch gave his preference to Sergius, he demanded of him the sum which Paschal had offered, and the churches had to be despoiled to satisfy his rapacity, and secure his ratification of the elec- tion of Sergius.
A Council had been summoned by Justinian II. which met in a chamber of the Imperial Palace, and from the shape of the room has acquired the title of the Council " in Trullo." This Council is the great authority for the dis- cipline of the Oriental Church. Rigid in its enactments against marriage after entering into holy orders, and severe against those who had married two wives, or wives under any taint, as of widowhood, actresses, or any unlawful occupa- tion, it rejected the Roman canon which forced priests
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138 Lives of the Saints. [SePt.9.
to repudiate their wives ; it asserted the permission of Scripture and of the Apostolic Constitutions in favour of a married clergy — married, that is, to virgins and reputable wives, previous to taking orders.
Justinian signed the canons in vermilion ink, a gap was then left for the signature of the Pope, though his legates signed them f then the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople attached their signatures. Spaces were left for the subscription of the Bishops of Thessalonica, Sar- dinia, Ravenna, and Corinth, who were not present. The acts of the Council were sent to Sergius, that he might put his name in the blank space reserved for it. But Sergius refused, and protested that he would die rather than attach his name to these canons.
The Emperor sent an officer of the Imperial Guard to Rome to force him to sign. But Sergius appealed to the Exarch, and troops were sent to Rome to protect the Pope ; and the Lateran was surrounded by guards. The officer of Justinian, frightened at the weapons and ferocious looks of the barbarians, hid himself in the Pope's bed, and would not leave it till Sergius had pacified his Arian defenders, and dismissed them with a largess.
Ere the Emperor could revenge his insulted dignity, he was deposed, and his nose cut off. Before his restoration, Sergius had been dead several years.
1 Hefele says that these were the pontifical apocrisiarii, and not legates a lattrc, and therefore not properly qualified so to sign.
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S. BERTELLIN, H.
(uncertain.)
[Wyon and Menardus in their Benedictine Martyrologies. Wilson in bis Anglican Martyrology of 1608, on Aug. 12 ; in that of 1640 on Sept. 29. But S. Bertellin died on Sept. 9. On that day also Molanus and the Bol- landists. Authority : — A Life by Capgrave, and another copy published in the Acta Sanctorum. This Life was written after A. D. 1386. It is a collec- tion of curious popular legends, nothing more.]
The legend relates that the Prince of Stafford had a son named Bertellin, young and beautiful, who, desirous of seeing the world, went to Ireland. There he fell in love with the daughter of the king, and eloped with her to England. Where they landed we are not told, but they strayed in a forest. The princess at last, expecting her confinement, sank under a tree ; and Bertellin ran off in quest of a woman to act as nurse.
Whilst he was absent, the wolves fell on the poor girl, and tore her, as well as the new-born child ; so that when Bertellin returned, it was to drive the savage pack with dripping jaws from their hideous meal.
This horrible scene gave such a shock to his mind that he resolved to quit the world and live as an anchorite.
Soon the devil came to tempt him, and bade him change stones into bread. " No," answered Bertellin, " I will not do that, but I will transform these loaves into stone !" and suddenly Bertellin's loaves became rocks, monuments to all time of his miraculous powers. These transformed loaves, says the historian, are to be seen at Bertelmsley. Then he settled at Bethney, now called Stafford, till his father's death, when another prince invaded the land, intending to subjugate it to his sceptre. Bertellin at once issued from his retreat, headed an army of his relatives and retainers, and marched against the enemy. On the morning of the
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140 Lives of the Saints. tsePt.9.
battle a blooming youth like a shepherd appeared to him and said, " See, I am come to assist thee !" He was an archangel. Then a gigantic negro, gnashing his teeth, rushed out of the hostile army, and challenged Bertellin or any of his men, to single combat. And Bertellin, succoured by the angel, overthrew him. Then all the invading host fell at his feet and asked pardon. He bade the invaders retire, and then, notwithstanding the prayers of his relatives, he retired into the forest again, and lived a hermit's life till his death.
The writer of his life in Capgrave has confounded Ber- tellin with Beccelin, the disciple of S. Guthlac.
S. WILFREDA, ABSS.
(end of ioth cent.)
[Anglican Martyrology of Wilson on May 31 and Sept. 9, as S. Wulf- liilda ; and again as S. Wilfreda on July 22. Menardus on Sept. 13, Bucelinus also ; but in copies of Usuardus amplified in England, on Sept. 9. Solerius instances one he saw at Winchester with that entry. It is also stated in her life, that she died on Sept. 9. Authorities :— Mention by William of Malmesbury in his Gesta Reg. Ang., in the Life of S. Edith, in Malmes- bury's Gesta Pontif. Ang., by John of Brompton. There is a Life in Cap- grave, but it is legendary and fabulous.]
S. Wilfreda was born of noble parents in England, but Osbert, the writer of the life of S. Dunstan, does not tell us their names. According to later legend, Wulfred, king of the West Saxons, was out hunting one day, when he heard the wailing of an infant at the top of one of the oaks of the forest in which he was riding. He sent one of his attendants up the tree, and he found an eagle's nest, and a lovely little babe lying in it, wrapped in royal purple, with jewels on its
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sept.9j £ Wilfreda. 141
arms. The child was brought to the king, and he called it Nesting, and it grew up in his court. Nesting, when grown a man, married, and became father of Withburding, who was father of Wulfhelm, the father of Wulf Hilda, the subject of this memoir, who, as soon as she was weaned, was given to the nuns of Wilton to be educated.
There the young girl grew up as a lily, lovely beyond any other maiden in England. Now it fell out one day that King Edgar saw her, and he fell in love with her so madly that he had no rest in his spirit, and he longed to make her his wife. But when he found that she was resolved to dedi- cate herself to the cloister, he communicated his distress to Wenfleda, her kinswoman, and she, with woman's tact, re- solved to compass what the king desired. She sent word to Wilton that she was ill and dying, and desired to see her kinswoman before her death, as she purposed making her her heiress. Wulfhilda hastened to Wenfleda, and found the king seated feasting in her hall. The moment she entered, Wenfleda held her, put royal apparel upon her, and made her sit by the side of the king, between her and Edgar. And the king sent out messengers to invite all men to his wedding feast. But Wulfhilda wept, and withdrew to the chamber prepared for her, and guards watched at the door.
Then she let herself down from the window, and fled away to Werwell, spent the night there, and next morning pursued her road to Wilton. But Edgar, hearing of her flight, mounted his horse and pursued. He overtook her at the church door of Wilton, and, flinging himself from his horsef caught her hand, and dropping on one knee implored her to share his throne. But she left her hand in his, and fled into the church without it.
Now, when Edgar saw this marvel, he was so overcome,
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i42 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 9.
that he desisted from his attempt to obtain her heart — her hand he possessed — and endowed the Abbey of Wilton with large possessions.
Such is the legend, a very pretty one, but unfortunately not quite true in all particulars.
As a fact, Edgar did obtain her hand in a less miraculous manner, and by her became the father of S. Edith of Wilton (Sept. 18); and it was after this that Wulfhilda retired to Wilton, if we may trust the biographer of S. Edith. William of Malmesbury also says that Edgar carried her off from her convent and became by her the father of S. Edith. He calls her Wilfrida, the biographer of S. Edith calls her Wulf. trade, and the legend in Capgrave calls her Wulfhilda. The Martyrologists give her variously the names of Wulfhilda, Wilfreda, Wulfruda, and Walftrudis. It was on account of the violation of a consecrated maiden that Edgar was for bidden by S. Dunstan to wear his crown for seven years.1 But the chronicler tells us that Wilfreda was not really a nun, only she had assumed the habit for the sake of conceal- ment from the king. The king was at the time married to Elfrida the White, daughter of Earl Ordgar, according to Malmesbury, but the biographer of S. Edith hints that she was dead, and that the king wished to unite Wilfreda to him in legitimate marriage and royal dignity.
Anyhow, Wilfreda returned to Wilton, where she led a most holy and mortified life, and received the veil from the hands of S. Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in, or about a.d. 963. S. Edith was born a.d. 962. She was elected abbess, and was present, along with her daughter Edith, in 979 at the translation of the body of S. Edward the Martyr. S. Edith died in 984, and her mother survived her at least thirteen years, for she was apparently alive at the elevation
1 It is not possible to reconcile dates, if the woman violated by Edgar be supposed to be Wilfreda.
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Sept. 9.]
S. Wilfreda.
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of the body of her daughter in Q87, and sent 2000 sous to pay the expenses. She cannot have long survived it.
Edgar was forbidden by S. Dunstan, as has been already said, to wear his crown for seven years for having violated a nun. It has been supposed that this nun was Wilfreda. But the date when he resumed his crown was 973, so that the crime must have been committed about 966. Edith died in 984 at the age of twenty-two, and was therefore born in 962. Moreover, as has been remarked, Wilfreda was not a nun when carried off by the king.
lift ^
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r:-~- -
--Zlz-.-r
-
' of S. Kierar.. See p 13ft
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144
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 10.
September 10.
SS. Nemesianus, Felix, and Others, BB. MM. in Africa;
circ. a.d. 257. SS. Menodora, Metrodora, and Nvmphodora, W. MM in
Bithynia; circ. a.d. 305. S. Barypsabas, H.M.in the East. S. Agabius, B. of Novara ; $th cent. S. Pulcheria, Empress, at Constantinople; a.d. 453. S. Veran, B. at Vence in Provence ; $th cent. S. Hilarus, Pope of Rome ; a.d. a68. S. Salvius, B. ofAIbi; a.d. 504. S. Theodard, B.M. of Maestricht : ttVr.A.D. 668. S. Odger, D. at Ruremunct, in the Netherlands ; 8th cent. S. John of Salerno, C. at Florence ; 13M cent. S, Nicolas Tolentino, C. in the Marches of Ancona; a.d. 1305.
SS. NEMESIANUS, FELIX, AND OTHERS, BB. MM.
(circ. a.d. 257.)
[Roman Martyrolosjy. The Martyrologium parvum, Ado, Usuardus, Notker, &c. Authority : — A letter of S. Cyprian to the martyrs, and their reply to him.")
[EMESIANUS, Felix, Lucius, another Felix, Litteus, Polianus, Victor, Iaderus, and Dativus* were bishops in Northern Africa, who were beaten for the Faith, in the persecution of
Valerian, and sent to work in the marble quarries. S.
Cyprian who was banished, wrote to them to comfort them
in their afflictions. Some of the bishops died under their
sufferings.
gt ■ %<
sept, xa] $£' Menodora, and others. 145
SS. MENODORA, METRODORA, AND NYMPHODORA, VV. MM.
(about a.d. 305.)
[Greek Mensea and Menology, also the Russian Kalendar. Inserted by Baronius in the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority :--The Acts by Mctaphrastes founded on earlier acts.]
MENODORA,Metrodora,andNymphodora were three virgin sisters, Christians, living in Bithynia, equally beautiful and good. Shunning the society of men, they lived together in tender love and earnest piety, near the Pythian baths, hot springs in Bithynia, the situation of which cannot now be fixed.
The news of their virtues and religious profession reached Fronto, Governor of Bithynia under Galerius, and he sum- moned them to his presence. When they were introduced, Fronto was struck with their modest appearance, their down-cast eyes, and the blush that mantled their fair cheeks. He addressed them gently, and asked their names and country.
" We are three sisters, called at our baptism, Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora ; as for our country, we are natives of Bithynia. We had but one mother and one father, and we were dearly and equally loved by both ; and we walk in their pious steps."
" Dear maidens," said the Prsefect, " do not turn to no advantage your noble opportunities and gifts of nature. Let me be a father to you, care for you, and provide for your welfare. I will protect you, and my gods shall watch over you."
" We thank thee," said the maidens ; " but what thou offerest is impossible for us to accept. All we ask of thee is that as we have lived together on earth, we may be suf-
vol. x. 10 >J<
146 Lives of the Saints. {Sept Ia
fered to die together, and be laid together in one bed of cold earth."
The Praefect having vainly used all his blandishments to induce the three damsels to conform to the established religion, said sullenly, " Let the law, then, take its course. Remove the two younger, and let Menodora be beaten."
Her back was bared, and she was strung up to a post. Rods were used, and her fair thin skin reddened and purpled under the blows. But she kept her eyes on heaven, and a light rose tinted her cheeks. The magistrate once more addressed her, but she answered him with so firm a heart, that he lost patience, and ordered her to be beaten over the mouth. A blow of a cudgel broke her jaws. Then she sighed to Christ to take her ; her body sank, dragging at the wrists, like a broken lily bound to a stake ; and she was dead.
Four days after, the two surviving sisters were brought into court, and there saw the body of Menodora lying on the sand, stripped, purple and black, and with the wounds gaping. It was a loathsome sight, and the magistrate hoped that the horror of it would shake the resolutions of the younger maidens. But it had a contrary effect. " If you will but sacrifice," said Fronto, " I will write concerning you to the Emperor, and obtain for you noble and wealthy husbands."
" Sir," said one of the damsels, " we are three branches sprung from one good root. We cannot shame the noble root that bare us by accepting what you offer, or listening to your commands."
Then Fronto ordered Metrodora to be hung up. and her tender skin burnt with torches. For two hours the torture continued, and all that time her voice rose in supplication to her Lord. At last it sank to silence ; she was dead.
Nymphodora, the youngest and the sweetest of face, was
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sept.*] S. Barypsabas. 147
plied with the same offers which had been made to her sisters. But she shook them off with indignation, and pre- pared herself to join her elder sisters.
She was hung up by the wrists, and her sides torn with iron hooks. But she uttered not a word. Her large soft eyes were fixed steadily on the blue sky, and never swerved from the intensity of their gaze. Not a sound escaped her lips, only they moved slightly with inward prayer.
At last Fronto, disgusted and angry, shouted, " Finish the scene; put an end to her with clubs." So she laid her gentle soul, like a dove for sacrifice, in the hands of her Lord and Saviour.
a BARYPSABAS, H.M. (date uncertain.)
[The Greek Menaea and Menologies. Authority : — The fabulous Gruek Acts, earlier than Metaphrastes.]
When our Lord died on the Cross, James, a pious man, collected of the blood and water that flowed from his side, in a bowl, and hid himself and it for fear of the Jews. And when he died, the sacred treasure came to two religious men, who knew not what it was, for James had poured oil into the vessel, and it floated on the top, and concealed the blood and water underneath. But an angel came to them and revealed to them what a priceless treasure they pos- sessed.
And the fame of it spread throughout all the world, many came to visit the relic, and it healed many that were infirm.
One day there came a pious hermit named Barypsabas, and as one of the hermits had lately died, the other suffered him to dwell there in his room, but he did not reveal to him where was hidden the sacred bowl, till he himself lay on the
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148 Lives of the Saints. [Sept, I0
bed of death. Then, when he was dead, Barypsabas went, bearing the bowl to Catarra (Cattaro in Dalmatia ?), to a place called Saucreon, and there he lived all his days, and there died. The Menology and Synaxarium say that he was beaten to death by the people of the place, who heard that he meditated leaving Catarra to return to Rome, and they feared that thereby they would lose the precious bowl and its contents.
S. PULCHERIA, EMPSS, (a.d. 4S3-)
[By the Greeks on Aug. 7. Inserted by Baronius in the Roman Martyro- logy on Sept. 10. By the Greeks, also Pulcheria and Marcian, her husband, on Feb. 17. Authorities :— Sozomen, Philostorgius, Nicephorus, Zonaras, &c.]
After the death of Arcadius, Emperor of the East (a.d. 408), the imperial throne fell to the lot of his son Theo- dosius II., a child of seven years old. The wise Anthemius held the reins of government for the infant Emperor for six years, till a.d. 414, and then resigned his office to Pulcheria, the sister of the Emperor, aged sixteen ; a girl, however, of no ordinary merit and force of character.
Of all her family, Pulcheria alone inherited the spirit and administrative power of the great Theodosius. Beautiful in face and person, and with remarkable intelligence, she was one of the few women of that age on whom the eye can rest with satisfaction and admiration.
It was clear to her that the welfare of the State demanded a sacrifice on her part, and that of her sisters ; there must be no competitors for the regency. She enforced her view of the situation on her sisters Arcadia and Marina, and the three maidens generously together took the vow of celibacy
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sept.«aj ■£ Pulcheria. 149
for the sake of the welfare of the State. The three sisters lived together in the exercise of works of charity, of prayer, and of domestic duties. Their labours to relieve distress, to raise the poor, alleviate sickness, and console the bereaved, were unflagging. Constantinople was speedily filled with churches and religious houses, endowed from the private purse of Pulcheria.
But her especial duty lay in the education of her brother, in the development of a character naturally feeble, and in protecting him from the influence of intriguing and corrupt courtiers. She taught him herself, laid a foundation of re- ligious instruction, and surrounded him with blameless playfellows. Active bodily exercises she prescribed, to enable the future sovereign to become a bold and vigorous com- mander of his soldiers ; and to train him for the responsi- bilities of supreme authority, she made the boy attend at the meetings of councillors, and subscribe decrees. The fruits which she had hoped to develop showed themselves but very imperfectly. Theodosius grew up superstitious, if not pious, and superficially accomplished, if not well edu- cated. From childhood his feeble mind showed impatience of the cares and thought involved in government, and he gladly resigned the responsibility to the hands of his sister, that he might indulge himself in pleasure. The elegant and familiar use which Pulcheria had acquired both of Greek and Latin was readily applied to the various occasions of speaking or writing on public business ; her deliberations were maturely weighed ; her actions were prompt and decisive ; and, while she moved without noise or ostenta- tion the wheel of government, she attributed with modesty to the genius of the Emperor the long tranquillity of his reign.
Theodosius the Younger found no active pursuit more congenial to his taste than hunting. And when he returned to his palace, his favourite occupation was transcribing
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150 Lives of the Saints. ^^ IO-
books in a neat, perhaps feminine hand, thus acquiring for himself the epithet of Calligrapher, the fair writer.
Ambition has been attributed to Pulcheria because of her having thus for forty years held the reins of government, and it has been asserted that she purposely enfeebled the mind of her brother, lest he should divest her of her conduct of affairs. But such a charge is as cruel as it is false. She could not give to Theodosius what, it is abundantly clear, he did not naturally possess. If she had not acted as regent, the feeble prince would have fallen, as he afterwards did, into designing hands ready to work both his ruin and that of the empire. Had Theodosius possessed the smallest grain of manliness or independence of character, he would have speedily shaken himself free from petticoat govern- ment.
Pulcheria did her utmost to spur her brother on to manly energy, and it is said that she once laid before him a sentence of death against herself, and when he heedlessly signed it, without examining its purport, made it an oc- casion for reading him a salutary lesson.
A number of wise laws and useful improvements marked the rule of the " Augusta."
The news of the death of Ataulf in a.d. 414, were speedily followed by those of the ill treatment ot his wife Placidia, the sister of Arcadius and Honorius, aunt of the young Emperor Theodosius. Placidia, the widow of the West- Gothic king, married the consul Constantius, in Rome. He was a man of low birth, an Illyrian, but a bold general. Placidia was very reluctant to contract this marriage, but was forced into it by her brother Honorius ; and eventually Honorius nominated Constantius emperor beside him, with- out, however, the consent of Theodosius. Shortly after, in 421, Constantius died at Ravenna, leaving the ambitious and avaricious Placidia again a widow, in charge of their
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sept, .o.] S. Pulcheria. 151
infant son Valentinian. Placidia, turning naturally for support to her brother Honorius, was by him rejected, and driven from court. She fled with her two children to Theodosius II. Not long after (a.d. 423) the Emperor of the West died, at the age of thirty-eight. Now that her brother was twenty years old, Pulcheria looked about for a maiden suitable for him as a wife, one with force of character and virtue, to guide the feeble puppet Em- peror.
One day a young Greek flung herself at her feet for pro- tection. Her name was Athenais, the orphan daughter of Leontius, an Athenian sophist. Her brothers, on the death of their father, had divided the inheritance between them, and excluded her from her share therein. She went to Con- stantinople to appeal to Pulcheria against their injustice. The latter, charmed with the vivacity and intelligence of the young heathen, with penetrating eye saw that there was talent in her character, much vigour and discretion, and having learned that she was eminently modest and virtuous, Pulcheria resolved to elevate Athenais to share the imperial throne with Theodosius.
She easily excited the curiosity of her brother by an interesting picture of the charms of the suppliant, large eyes, a straight nose, a fair complexion, golden locks, a slender person, a graceful demeanour, an understanding improved by study, and a virtue tried by distress. Theo- dosius, concealed behind a curtain in the apartment of his sister, was permitted to behold the Athenian virgin ; the modest youth immediately declared his honourable love; and the royal nuptials were celebrated amidst the accla- mations of the capital and the provinces. Athenais, who was easily persuaded to renounce the errors of Paganism, received at her baptism the Christian name of Eudoxia (II.). The new Empress generously forgave her brothers the
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152 Lives of the Saints. [Sept I0
wrong they had done her, and obtained for them honourable consular and prefectorian appointments.
In course of time the Empress gave birth to a daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, and then Pulcheria gracefully resigned to the young wife of Theodosius her title and authority as " Augusta."
On the death of Honorius, Placidia had returned to Rome, and ruled the West in the name of her infant son Valentinian. She was a very different woman from Eudoxia or Pulcheria • ambitious, married in succession to two men of great ability and military skill, she learned neither from her ambition nor from her experience how to govern ; and in her long reign of twenty-five years the West sank to its lowest level of helpless degradation.
Theodosius II. was troubled with domestic evils. Earth- quakes, conflagrations, bad harvests, and incursions of bar- barians had reduced many portions of the Eastern Empire to distress, and had occasioned discontent. There were some partial risings of the people, which were, however, easily quelled. Added to these troubles was the rise of the Nestorian heresy, and the strife and bitterness of conflict- ing religious factions. The Council of Ephesus (a.d. 431) denounced Nestorianism ; but no sooner was Nestorius con- demned, than orthodoxy was threatened from an opposite quarter by Eutyches, and the rise of the Monophysite heresy.
The pseudo-Council of Ephesus (a.d. 447) gave Eutyches a brief triumph, and caused troubles which for long after afflicted the Church.
The family happiness of Theodosius was likewise dis- turbed. The unexpected appearance of Honoria, daughter of Placidia, and sister of the young Valentinian, Emperor of the West, was the first to disconcert the tranquillity of the Byzantine court. Honoria, aged sixteen, inherited her
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mother's ambition and lack of prudence. She was vivacious, and bent on making for herself a magnificent marriage. Her lively imagination saw in Attila, King of the Huns, a hero and a conquering monarch. She sent him privately her love, and a ring, and a promise to be his. But Attila was not an impatient bridegroom, and long ere he arrived before the walls of Rome, she had formed a less honourable tie, and had been driven with disgrace from Rome by her mother. She made her way to Constantinople, and the virtuous women there, though incensed at her conduct, did their best to hush up and cover over her disgrace.
In fulfilment of a vow, the Empress Eudoxia made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (a.d. 439). The journey was one of uninterrupted triumph; she was greeted in every city with rejoicings and adulation, and lavished on all sides alms and benefactions. At Antioch, from a golden throne, she pro- nounced a Greek speech, which was loudly applauded by an obsequious audience. She declared her royal intentions of enlarging the walls of the city, bestowed a donation of two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths, and accepted the statues which were decreed by the grati- tude of the senate. In the Holy Land her alms and pious foundations exceeded the munificence of the great Helena; and though the public treasury might be impoverished by this excessive liberality, she enjoyed the exquisite satis- faction of returning to Constantinople laden with the chains of S. Peter, the right arm of S. Stephen, and an undoubted portrait of the Virgin, painted by S. Luke. But this pil- grimage was the fatal term of the glories of Eudoxia.
It is not possible to unravel the web of court intrigue which involves the fall of Eudoxia. Some historians assert that, puffed up with pride by the results of her pilgrimage, she endeavoured to make herself mistress of the reins of government, unmindful of her obligations to Pulcheria ; that
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154 Lives of the Saints. sept. »o.
the palace was distracted by female discord, and that the superior power of Pulcheria wrought the ruin of her rival by instilling into her brother's mind suspicions of the fidelity of his wife.
But it is unnecessary to adopt such a theory. The facts are simply these — the motives of the actors lie under an impenetrable veil : —
Theodosius loved Eudoxia passionately, and saw, first with suspicion, and then with savage jealousy, the favour accorded by Eudoxia to Paulinus, the friend of the Emperor from childhood, a youth who had been his bosom com- panion. A mean, petty mind, such as that of Theodosius, is always open to jealousy, prone to suspicion. Paulinus suddenly disappeared from the palace, and none could tell the Empress what had become of him.
Eudoxia, irritated at the injustice to a faithful friend, and at the aspersion on her own honour, rebuked her husband with bitterness ; and when discord became furious, she asked permission to make another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the leave she asked was at once granted ; but the jealousy of Theodosius pursued her in her last retreat ; and Saturninus, count of the domestics, was directed to punish with death two ecclesiastics of her most favoured servants. Eudoxia instantly revenged them by the assassination of the count. The remainder of her life, about sixteen years, was spent in exile and devotion, if we may trust some historians ; others assert that she returned for a while to Constantinople, and only went finally to live at Jerusalem in a.d. 450, after the death of her husband. The death of Theodosius, the misfortunes of her only daughter, who was led a captive from Rome to Carthage, and the approach of age, insensibly confirmed the religious temper of her mind.
After a full experience of the vicissitudes of fortune, the daughter of Leontius expired (a.d. 460) at Jerusalem, in
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the sixty-seventh year of her age, amidst the tears of the poor whom she had relieved, and the lamentations of the clergy whom she had benefited by her largesses. With her dying breath she solemnly protested that the stories which had been raised to blacken her character, and turn away from her the love of her husband, were without foundation — malignant calumnies.
The influence of Pulcheria is scarcely perceptible during the last years of .the reign of Theodosius, and the fact that already, when Eudoxia was banished, he had fallen under the influence of the eunuch Chrysalphus, makes it probable that she was innocent of having separated her brother from his wife by base insinuations or open charges against her honour.
Chrysalphus by degrees made himself complete master of the mind of the feeble Emperor. Another of his friends, Cyrus, who was an honourable man, especially beloved by the people, was by the machinations of the crafty eunuch banished from court. Cyrus became priest, then bishop, but was even then pursued by the malice of Chrysalphus or the suspicions of Theodosius. False accusations were raised against him, and he was driven into complete retire- ment.
Pulcheria's name is no more mentioned ; she remained in voluntary or compulsory obscurity, and some state that she was banished from court. Her two sisters had died, and a brazen tablet in the church of S. Sophia announced to posterity that the granddaughters of the great Theodosius had remained faithful to their vow of celibacy.
Forty-two years had elapsed since Theodosius II. had ascended the throne. Anthemius and Pulcheria had sup- ported his throne, Eudoxia had adorned it; disastrous influences, unworthy confidants, tended to drag it into the mire. One day in July, 450, the Emperor fell from his
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156 Lives of the Saints. [Sept I0#
horse into a little stream, whilst hunting, broke his spine, and died a few days after. Unregretted, he was laid in the grave between his parents, Arcadius and Eudoxia I.
On the death of Theodosius, Pulcheria resumed the reins of government. But she was now a woman of fifty-one years. The Western Empire was falling to pieces, a prey to internal dissension and external aggression. Northern Africa was lost ; it had been devastated by the Vandals, who settled there, and there established their kingdom.
Pulcheria was unable alone, at her advanced age, to make head against all the difficulties that beset the empire. She was constrained by stress of circumstances to call a man to her side. She chose Marcian, a gallant soldier of sixty years, and made him her husband in name, whilst she associated him with her in the government of the empire.
The first duty which Marcian undertook was the re- establishment of peace in the Church. As Constantine the Great, Theodosius the Great, and Pulcheria had summoned councils to condemn the heresies which grew up and threatened the faith once delivered to the saints, so Marcian now convened a council at Chalcedon, a.d. 451, to rectify the mischief wrought by the heretical canons of the Robber Synod of Ephesus, a.d. 449. Marcian himself attended this, the fourth oecumenical council, which met against Eutychian- ism. But other cares drew him speedily from the settlement of ecclesiastical disputes.
After the field of Chalons, in which Aetius had defeated Attila and his Huns with tremendous loss, the King of the Huns had returned to his native land, burning with revenge, to collect fresh hosts, wherewith to pour down on and over- whelm the trembling Empire. He burst through the Alps, and threatened Rome. But in the meantime, the troops of Marcian had defeated the Huns on the Lower Danube. Attila made peace with Valentinian (a.d. 452), amidst the
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murmurings of his barbarians, who growled out that two wild beasts had bewitched him, the Wolf and the Lion — i.e., Bishop Lupus (Wolf) of Troyes, and Pope Leo (Lion) of Rome. Attila turned back, to protect Hungary against Marcian; but his days were numbered. He died of a broken blood-vessel, whilst celebrating his wedding feast, in Illyria.
In 453 died Pulcheria, a princess who had been a pillar to the Church, the mother of the poor, an ornament to her sex.
S. HILARUS, POPE.
(a.d. 468.)
[Ancient Roman Martyrologies, Usuardus, Ado, &c. Modern Roman Martyrology. In Kalendars, S. Hilarus appears on different days, Feb. 20, Feb. 2i, and Sept. 10. Authorities : — Anastasius Bibliothecarius, and the letters of S. Hilarus.]
Hilarus, Deacon of the Church of Rome, and repre- sentative of S. Leo at the Council of Ephesus, whose firmness during the stormy debates had resolutely upheld the orthodoxy of the Apostolic See, was called to succeed S. Leo on the throne of S. Peter, on the death of that great pontiff.
Hilarus was a Sardinian by birth ; his father's name was Crispin. Nothing is known of him till he appears as legate of the Pope with two others in the Council of Ephesus. When that council condemned S. Flavian, Hilarus fled, uttering his protest against its decisions, and writing an indignant letter to S. Pulcheria, who, however, was power- less to help the truth, save with her prayers, as the eunuch Chrysalphus ruled the weak Theodosius, and threw his influence into the scale in favour of Eutychianism.
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On his return to Italy, he was created an archdeacon, and on the death of S. Leo, in 461, was elected Pope. When seated on the apostolic throne, he issued a letter, addressed to the Eastern faithful, condemning Eutyches, Nestorius, and Dioscorus, and upholding the famous Tome of S. Leo. In the West he maintained, to the utmost extent, the authority which had been claimed over the churches of Gaul and Spain.
Rusticus, Bishop of Narbonne, on his death-bed, nomi- nated Hermes as successor to his see.
This precedent of a bishop making his see, as it were, a subject of testamentary bequest, seemed dangerous, though in this case the lawful assent had been obtained from the clergy and the people. Hilarus, at the head of a synod at Rome, condemned the practice, but for the sentence of degradation, substituted the lesser punishment, the deprivation of the right to confer ordination.
S. SALVIUS, B. OF ALBI. (a.d. 584.)
[Gallican Martyrologies. Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority : — Mention by Gregory of Tours, his contemporary and acquaintance, in his History of the Franks.]
S. Salvius, called in French Sauve, was born of a noble Gallic family. He became a monk, then abbot, and finally enclosed himself in his cell, after a solemn leave-taking of his brethren. After a while he fell ill, and sank into a cataleptic fit, which the brethren supposed was death, and they laid him out for burial. But suddenly a flush returned to his cheek, and his eyes opened. He rose from his pallet, and began to work with his hands as usual, and for three
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days ate nothing. In the meantime the curiosity of the brethren had mounted to the highest pitch ; his mother came to see him, and at her persuasion he convoked the monks, and told them what had befallen him. His soul had gone to heaven, and he had seen an ineffable light ; but a voice had cried, " Let this man return to earth ; he is necessary to the Church." And then Salvius found that he was again in the body.
After Salvius had related this vision his tongue became covered with pimples, and swelled so as to fill his mouth j he thought it was a punishment for having told what had befallen him.
Gregory of Tours assures us that he heard this strange story from the mouth of Salvius himself.
Towards the end of a.d. 574, Salvius was elected Bishop of Albi; and in time of plague, he ministered with the utmost devotion to his people. He also released slaves whenever he had the opportunity, and sent them back to their homes.
S. THEODARD, B.M. (a.d. 668.)
[Venerated chiefly at Liege and Maestricht. In the additions to Usuar- dus, Molanus. Modern Roman Martyrology. Authorities: — An ancient Life written not long after the death of S. Theodard, and perfectly trust- worthy.1 An Elogium by Anselm of Li^ge, A.D. 1056, and a Life by Sige- bert of Gemblours (end of nth cent.) are not reliable.]
S. Theodard, the disciple of S. Remade, Bishop of Maestricht, succeeded his master and friend in that see, when S. Remacle resigned his pastoral staff, that he might retire in his old age to Stavelot (Sept. 3). Theodard proved a worthy successor, he built and restored churches,
1 This life begins with a wonderful preface which describes the creation of the world, and leads rapidly up from that period to S. Theodard.
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and supervised religion in his diocese with great conscien- tiousness. He is described to us as a man of a joyous spirit, always bright and cheerful, yet ready with great tenderness to mingle his tears with those who suffered.
His activity extended to the temporal concerns of his diocese. Some powerful men had, he ascertained, taken possession of lands which rightly belonged to the Church. For some time he hesitated whether to compel restitution, or to take no notice of the circumstance. But considering that the goods were not his own, and that he was a steward responsible for them to his successors, he resolved to visit the king, Sigebert of Burgundy, and reclaim the lands wrested from the see.
On his way, his convoy was attacked by a gang of free- booters in the dense forest of Bienwald near Hoenau, on the left bank of the Rhine opposite Karlsruhe. The pedantic biographer puts a long oration into the mouth of the bishop, in which he addressed the bandits. They replied, according to the same authority, with a quotation from Horace, to the effect that death is common to all, that it shakes down the palaces of the wealthy and the cabins of the poor alike, and a blow of a hatchet brought the quota- tion home. The body was translated by S. Lambert to Liege.
S. NICOLAS TOLENTINI, C.
(a.d. 1305.)
[Canonized by Eugenius IV. in 1446. Roman Martyrology, and that of the Augustinian Eremites. Authorities :— Jordan of Saxony (a.d. 1380), Peter of Monte Rubiano (a.d. 1326), wrote the Life of the saint. Another Life by an anonymous writer.]
S. Nicolas was the child of prayer and vow. His father, named Compagnone, and his mother Amata, were
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S. NICOLAS TOLENTINI. After Cahier.
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inhabitants of S. Angelo, near Fermo, in the Marches of Ancona, and were people of a poor condition. Having been many years without children, Amata made a vow to proceed on pilgrimage to the tomb of S. Nicolas of Myra, and ask there for a son.
After a long and exhausting journey, the worthy couple reached the church of S. Nicolas, and in the midst of their devotions fell asleep. Then in vision they saw the Bishop of Myra appear to them, and announce that their prayer was heard.
The parents of Nicolas, the child granted them, spared no pains in educating him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and from early childhood he exhibited a manifest attraction towards the sanctuary.
At a very early age he was given a canonry in the church of S. Salvatore. One day he heard an Austin Friar preach on the text, *' The world passeth away, and the lust there- of," and was so moved by the sermon, that he resolved to embrace the religious life. He entered a house of the Austin Friars, at Tolentino, and made his profession, at the age of eleven, before the Friar whose words had so moved him.
His fasting was extraordinary. From the age of fifteen, he wore sackcloth and a girdle of iron round his waist. Four days of the week he ate nothing, and wholly deprived himself of milk, fish, and eggs.
A relative, superior of a monastery of another Order, remonstrated with him. He was killing himself, worn already to a skeleton. Such severity to the body was not necessary to secure salvation, God delighteth not in self- torture like a god of the heathens : and he offered him a place in his monastery. Nicolas hesitated. He went to the church, and falling into a trance, saw angels like little children in white robes ascending and descending the altar
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steps, and chanting, " At Tolentino be thy stay." This vision consoled and determined him. He was sent shortly after to other convents of the Order, lo Recanati, Macerata, Cingola, and Valmanan.
At Cingola he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Osimo.
Devout persons strove to attend every day at his mass, as at the sacrifice offered by a saint. At the altar he was filled with the greatest fervour, his face shone with rapture, and tears streamed from his eyes.
So great was the purity of his mind, that those who knew him best thought that no evil wish or thought had ever passed through it to stain it ; and his exquisite purity is symbolized in art by his being represented holding in his hand the flower of a white and innocent life.
The last thirty years of his life were spent at Tolentino, and his zeal for the salvation of souls produced wonderful fruit there. He preached almost every day, with the same unction and burning love, and. his sermons rarely fell to the ground without producing fruit.
His continued self-mortification, and the great exhaustion due to want of sufficient food, and incessant labour, left him a prey to extraordinary fancies. The cats racing over the tiles of the roof above his head at night, and squalling in their combats, he thought were a legion of devils come to frighten him ; the rats behind the walls, gnawing and rolling about bits of mortar, were fiends breaking in to disturb his rest or prayers. Through his open window one night there dashed in a large black bat or night-bird and upset and extinguished his candle. He blew upon the long red glowing >vick, and it rekindled into flame, and it was thought that this was miraculous. A great stone in the convent of Tolentino, with an inscription, marks the spot where he rekindled his extinguished candle.
sept. io.] ■S"' Nicolas Tolentim. 163
The devil, it is pretended, beat him with a club till day- break, and then went off at cockcrow forgetting to take his stick with him. The club is preserved in the convent to this day. Nicolas fell ill through exhaustion, and the superior wisely ordered him to take some meat. A partridge was plucked, trussed, roasted, and brought up on a plate swim- ming in odorous gravy. But the thought of enjoying a bit of partridge filled Nicolas with as much horror as if he were about to commit a mortal sin; with folded hands and stream- ing eyes he implored his superior to excuse him, and when he had obtained his consent, Nicolas made the sign of the cross over the roast partridge. All at once the bird snapped the threads which had served to truss it, the gravy returned to its body, and began to flow through its veins as blood, feathers sprouted from its frizzled skin, and with the whirr so well known to sportsmen, it flew away out of the window.
Shortly after, S. Nicolas fell into a trance, and saw the B. Virgin appear between S. Augustine and S. Monica, and bid him send to an old lady in an adjoining street for some new bread she had just baked. Having given this command she and S. Augustine and S. Monica vanished.
Nicolas opened his eyes, and sent to the woman indi- cated, who at once gave a fresh loaf just out of her oven, and smelling deliciously. Nicolas ate it with zest, got out of bed, and was well. In memory of this wonderful event, on the feast of S. Nicolas of Tolentino, in monasteries of Austin Friars, little loaves are baked and blessed, with a ceremonial approved by Pope Eugenius IV., and are given away to the sick, who often believe themselves to be bene- fited thereby.
The charity of the Saint for the poor was so great that he used to carry off some of the food belonging to the brethren of the house, and needed for their meals, to give it to the
164 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. ,<*
poor. One day the Superior arrested him, and asked what
filled his lap.
" Flowers," said the saint promptly. The Superior drew open his garment, not altogether relying on his word, and out poured roses and lilies. It was in the month of December. The same story is told of at least a dozen other saints ; and probably has as much truth in it as that of the partridge.
A year before his death, a star shone over the village of S. Angelo, where he was born, and rested above the altar where he was wont to say mass. After that, wherever he went, the star went before him.
He died on December 10th, 13 10, at the age of seventy. The star, it is pretended, was wont to reappear every anni- versary of the saint's death.
Forty years after the death of S. Nicolas, a German friar acting as cook in the convent of Tolentino, thinking to endow his native land with some of the relics of the saint, and tired of his sojourn at Tolentino, got a large knife and saw, and opening the shrine of the saint, pro- ceeded to hack and saw off both the arms. Then he wrapped the two arms in linen, and ran away with them. But he walked all night, and in the morning was in the same place.
After this, the body was concealed, and the two arms were enshrined. They are said to bleed whenever any mis- fortune threatens the Church. They had bloodied the linen in which the friar had wrapped them when he ran off with them.
The Bollandists give a list of occasions on which these arms have distilled blood, to the edification of the Tolen- tinese.
On July 17, 1676, the blood spouted from the left arm, and was examined by the vicar of the Bishop with great
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interest and delight; then by the Bishop, and finally by the magistrates of the town. This time the exuding of the blood portended the death of Clement X. Another eruption of blood on August 19. Others in 1679, and 1698; the great eruption of blood in 1699 was ordered to be celebrated with an octave by Innocent XII., with plenary indulgence to all who visited and adored the bleeding arms. Other effusions took place in 1699. Whether there has been any later pouring out of blood, the author does not know.
A finger of the saint is preserved at Trepano, in Sicily. A portion of another, which was shown for long at S. Nicolas- de-Port, in Lorraine, and which performed many miracles, appears not to have belonged to a human being. Another finger at Siena. At S. Angelo in the Marches of Ancona is a vial of the blood of the saint which is exposed annually to the veneration of the people on September 10. More of his blood at Ancona, more at Vitalliano, at Valencia, Venice, Nioza in Cyprus, Naples, Pistoja, Ferrara, a rag stained with his blood at Solmona. More of his blood at Ghent on a rag, given by Clement XI. ; more at Antwerp, obtained in 1707.
Statues of the saint are miraculous. A plaster image of the saint at Cordova bowed down and kissed the feet of a crucifix, and remained with lips adhering to the feet whilst the Apostles' Creed was being sung. Another image, of marble, blazed.
S. Nicolas is represented with Purgatory open at his side, or with an angel leading him, generally, also, holding a lily, and with a star above his head.
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September 11.
SS. Protue and Hyacinth, MM. at Rome; a.d. 262.
SS. Felix, 71/., and Regula, V.M. at Zurich; end of 3rd cent.
S. Paphnutius, B.C. in Egypt ; middle of t,th cent.
S. Theodora of Alexandria, Pen. in Egypt ; 5M cent.
S. Patiens, B. of Lyons ; circ. a.d. 480.
S. Adelphius, Ab. of Remiretnont in Burgundy; circ. a.d. 670.
S. Elias the Spel^eot, Ab. in Calabria; circ. a.d. 960.
B. Marbod, P.M. at Albersckwenden, near Constance; circ. a.d. 1120
S. Sperandea, V. Abss. at Cingoli in Italy ; a.d. 1276.
SS. PROTUS AND HYACINTH, MM. (a.d. 262.)
[Roman Martyrology. A Kalendar of the 8th cent, published by Fronto ; the Classical Latin Martyrologies. The York, Sarum, and Hereford Kalendars. The festival of these saints has been observed at Rome since the 4th cent. There is a mass for them in the Sacramentary of S. Gregory. The Acts of these saints are contained in those of S. Eugenia (Dec. 25), these acts are, however, somewhat apocryphal. The father of S. Eugenia is said to have been Philip, Bishop of Alexandria, but there was no such bishop of that important city. Papebroeck, the Bollandist, says that instead of these Acts proving to be gold, they are mere dross, and Tillemont says they are fable and fiction.]
"HE following story belongs to the domains of legend, not to history. Once upon a time when Commodus was Emperor of Rome, there was a noble gentleman named Philip who was for the seventh time made consul, and given the prsefectship of Egypt. And he sailed for Alexandria with his wife Claudia, his daughter Eugenia, and his eunuchs Protus and Hyacinth. And when he had assumed his office, he expelled all the Christians out of Alexandria. But Eugenia believed in Christ with all her heart. And when her parents had found for her a suitable match, she fled from home to a villa of her father's, with the two eunuchs, who believed in the Lord
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as well as she ; but none of them were as yet baptized. Now Eugenia had disguised herself as a boy, and on their way they fell in with Helenus, Bishop of Heliopolis, and ten thousand Christians singing praises to God as they wended on their way to exile. And she and her eunuchs were instructed and bap- tized by Helenus, and he sent her to live among the monks of the desert.
In the meantime, Philip was in despair, he sought high and low, but could not find his daughter. Then he erected to her honour a golden statue, and ordered all nations and languages to fall down and worship the golden image he had set up.
And after three years, on the death of the abbot of the monastery where Eugenia was, she was elected in his roon\
Now it fell out that a certain woman of Alexandria named Melanthia, troubled with a quartan ague, came to the mon- astery, and was miraculously healed by Eugenia. Then she fell desperately in love with the handsome, smooth-faced abbot ; and when all her ogling and languishing speeches were met with disdain, her love was turned to hate, and she went to Philip the prefect, and denounced Eugenia as having made an attempt on her honour.
Eugenia is summoned to Alexandria, the court assembles, she declares her sex, Claudia cries out that she recognises her daughter, and casts herself on her neck ; lightning falls from heaven, and consumes Melanthia on the spot ; there is a general rejoicing, and Philip and Claudia are converted and baptized. Philip at once combines the pastoral staff of Bishop of Alexandria with the sword of prefectorial rule.
Many of course are converted. Amongst others Basilissa, a damsel of royal race at Rome, by the assiduous instruc- tions of Protus and Hyacinth, whom Eugenia has given to Basilissa, and she is baptized by Pope S. Cornelius, according
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1 68 Lives of the Saints. [Sept „
to another account, by Pope Soter, — one is as likely to be true as the other.
Then there arises great commotion in Rome, when Ba- silissa is discovered to be a Christian ; Basilissa is executed, and with her Protus and Hyacinth. Eugenia undergoes ex- cruciating martyrdom, and Claudia flies to heaven. Like the play of " Hamlet," the romance of Eugenia ends in a general slaughter of the actors.
It is scarcely worth entering into the consideration of the ridiculous anachronisms and impossibilities contained in this story, which is evidently nothing more, and at first was intended to be nothing more, than a religious romance, with which Christians were supplied in place of the stories of Apuleius, Petronius Arbiter, and Achilles Tatius. Even Chris- tian bishops did not disdain to exercise their pens on these romances, to undo in some measure the harm done by erotic novels in those heathen days. Heliodorus, the author of Theagenes and Chariclrea, became Bishop of Tricca. If we may trust Nicephorus Callistus, he was given the choice between suppressing his novel and renouncing his bishopric, and chose to stand by his romance. Achilles Tatius, the author of " The Loves of Leucippus and of Clitophron," became also a bishop.
It is a mistake to treat as fact what was never intended to be other than a pleasing and harmless tale with a dash of romance in it.
The relics of SS. Protus and Hyacinth were translated in the 9th century to Seligenstadt, of their translation Eginhardt has left us an account. Seligenstadt lies between Frankfort-on-the-Main and Aschaffenburg. Apparently the bodies were entire, it was not merely a few of their bones which were thus brought to Germany.
The monastery was invaded by the Swedes in the Thirty Years' War, and the bones of the Saints torn from their shrines ; but some of them were recovered.
*
sept. ii. SS. Felix and Regula. 169
Two other bodies of SS. Protus and Hyacinth were, however, found on the Salarian way in the catacomb in the 10th century, and were translated to Metz.
Two other bodies, entire, in San Felice at Pavia ; two others again, also entire, in the abbey of S. Maria de Casti- lione, in the diocese of Parma. Two more at Mantua ; two entire bodies of the same saints were translated with Papal authority, at Florence in 1428. These lie in a brazen sar- cophagus. Two more bodies were translated by Pope Clement VIII. from the church of S. Salvatore to that of S. John of Florence, at Rome, in 1592. Two more bodies at Como, translated first in 724, then in 1096, then in 131 7, then in 161 8.
SS. FELIX M. AND REGULA, V.M.
(END OF 3RD CENT.)
[Notker, and various German and Swiss copies of Usuardus. Authority : — A Passion, late and apocryphal.]
S. Felix and S. Regula, a brother and sister, are said to have been advised by S. Maurice to fly to Zurich when persecution broke out. They were overtaken at the head of the Zurich lake, and decapitated.
S. PAPHNUTIUS, B.C.
(4TH CENT.)
[Inserted by Baronius in the Modern Roman Martyrology. The Coptic Kalendar on Feb. 9. Authorities : — Mention by Eusebius, Socrates, Sozo- men, Theodoret. and Rufinus.]
S. Paphnutius, according to Socrates, was a monk from his boyhood. He witnessed a good confession, probably
v
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i 70 Lives of the Saints. [Sept „
under Firmilian in Egypt, in a.d. 308, having his eye plucked out, and his leg hamstrung, and he was sent thus mutilated to work in the mines, by Maximus, probably in a.d. 311. When released from this work, he retired to the rocky desert to S. Antony, and learned from him the training of a perfect anchorite. He was created bishop, but when is uncertain. As bishop he attended the Council of Nicaea, and there performed many miracles, healing the sick by prayer, and restoring sight to the blind, and vigour to the paralytic.
Constantine regarded the venerable confessor with the utmost reverence, and often spoke with him.
Among the canons passed at that famous council was one to guard against the scandals which might arise from the companionship of the clergy with religious ladies. " No bishop, no priest, no deacon, no one holding any clerical office, is to have with him a woman of this sort, unless it be his mother, sister, or aunt, or such persons as are certainly above suspicion." But connected with this decree was an abortive attempt, which discloses to us one of the most interesting scenes of the council. A proposition was made, enjoining all married clergy to separate from their wives. It was in substance the same measure that was afterwards carried in the Spanish synod of Illiberis, and it is therefore probable that, on this occasion, it was proposed by the great Hosius. It was also, we are told, supported by Eustathius of Antioch. But opposition came from a most unexpected quar- ter. From amongst the Egyptian bishops stepped out into their midst, looking out of his remaining eye, and halting on his paralysed leg, the old hermit confessor Paphnutius. With a roar of indignation rather than with a speech,1 he broke into the debate : — " Lay not this heavy yoke on the clergy. Mar- riage is honourable in all, said the apostle. By exaggerated
1 Socr. i. II. ifloa narpa.
Sept. ii.j S. Paphnutius. 171
strictness you will do the Church more harm than good. All cannot bear such an ascetic rule. The wives themselves will suffer from it. Marriage itself is continence. It is enough for a man to be kept from marriage after he has been ordained, according to the ancient custom ; but do not separate him from the wife whom once for all he married when he was still a layman."1 His speech produced a pro- found sensation. His own austere life of unblemished celibacy gave force to every word he uttered ; he showed that rare excellence of appreciating difficulties which he himself did not feel, and of honouring a state of life which was not his own.
Paphnutius was lodged in the palace. The Emperor had often sent for him to hear his stories of the persecution ; something in the simple sincerity, the guilelessness of the desert-bred, grand old man touched Constantine to the core, and when about to leave the council, the Emperor threw his arms round Paphnutius, and put his lips to his eyeless socket, and pressed his royal purple to his paralysed limb.
In a.d. 335 was held the famous synod of Tyre, in which a caucus of Arians and Meletians sought to crush S. Atha- nasius with calumnies. Paphnutius was present, and de- fended Athanasius, and with the other Egyptian bishops, wrote an account of the intrigues of the Eusebians to the Count Flavius Dionysius, who had been sent from Con- stantinople to preside in the room of the Emperor at the council.
Rufinus tells us that when Paphnutius saw Maximus of Jerusalem, also a one-eyed confessor, hamstrung like himself, sitting amidst the enemies of Athanasius, he went before him, dragging his paralysed limb after him, and said : — "What ! Maximus, who fought with me in the same fight, and witnessed with me the same confession ! I can-
1 S. James of Nisibis took the same view, Serm. xviii. 9.
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172 Lives of the Saints. [Sept I1#
not bear to see thee sitting in the council of the ungodly, and standing in the way of sinners." And taking him by the hand, he drew the guileless simple old man from their midst, and led him over to the side where sat the adherents ot Athanasius, and to him he clung steadfastly ever after.
It is probable that Paphnutius was also present at the council of Sardica in a.d. 347. A Paphnutius was expelled his see in Egypt by the Arians in, or about, a.d. 356, but if it was this Paphnutius, he must have reached an extreme old age. It is more probable that this was another prelate of the same name.
S. THEODORA OF ALEXANDRIA, PEN.
(5TH CENT.)
[Greek Mensea, Menology, Russian, Coptic, and Abyssinian Kalendars. Inserted by Baronius in the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority : — Two Lives of this saint exist, but both are merely historical romances, founded perhaps on some few facts. That such a person as Theodora did exist is however established by the retention of some of her sayings in the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert. The fabulous lives have been given by Lipomani and Surius, but not by the Bollandists.]
Theodora was the wife of a prefect of Egypt, named Gregorius, and having fallen into sin and dishonour, she was ashamed to show her face before her husband. She dressed herself in some of his clothes, and ran away, and entered a monastery in the Thebaid, as a monk. After many years she was sent with some camels to Alexandria to the prefect, and suddenly, with the utmost emotion, Gregorius recognised in the poor camel-driver his lost wife.
She returned again to the desert, and only sent again to her husband when she felt herself dying. He arrived when she was dead, to assist at her obsequies.
Such are probably the facts of her history, out of which a
-*
Sept. ii.)
S. Theodora of Alexandria. 173
Greek romancer has woven a long story pieced with inci- dents from other lives, one that of S. Marina (July 17).
Some of her apophthegms have been preserved by more veracious historians than the romance writer who composed her history.
She met a Valentinian one day full of scorn for the Law, and exalting the freedom of the Gospel which emancipated man from all vexatious restraints. "A law for the body gives the body to the Creator," said Theodora.
" It is not fasting, watching, nor solitude that makes a monk, but humility. There was once an anchorite who drove out devils. And as they were fleeing away he asked them, 'What has expelled you — fasting?' 'We neither eat nor drink,' they answered, ' meat and drink are no concern to us.' 'What then has expelled you — vigils?' We never sleep,' they answered, ' vigils interfere not with us.' ' What then has expelled you — solitude ?' ' We haunt solitudes.' ' Then tell me what has driven you out ?' They answered, ' We cannot endure humility, from that we flee away.'"
" Once a brother was feverish and sick, and he said to himself, ' I am too ill to pray.' Then after a while he thought, ' I can but die once,' and he got out of bed and said his office. And when he had done his office his fever left him."
" Once a hermit said, ' I am so surrounded with tempta- tions that I must leave this place and go elsewhere.' So he went out of his door, and put on his sandals, and he saw near him his double putting on his sandals, and preparing to journey. ' I am Self,' said the double, ' wherever you go, I go too.' M
*< M
174 Lives of the Saints, Sept H
S. SPERANDEA, V. ABSS. (a.d. 1276.)
[Ferrarius, Arturius in his Gynaeceo Sacro, Castellani. The Life of S Sperandea exists only in a fragmentary condition, and is eminently untrust- worthy.]
Sperandea, said to be the sister of S. Ubaldus, was born at Gubbio, in Italy, about a.d. 12 16, but dates do not agree, and it is therefore probable that she was only a member of the same family which produced Ubaldus of Gubbio. She became abbess of the convent of the Order of S. Benedict at Cingoli.
Among other stories told of her is one that Christ Himself appeared to her with a pig's-skin in His hand and clothed her with it, the bristles inside. Round this she wore an iron girdle, and absolutely refused to put on any other clothes.
This incident is related in the sequence at Mass for her festival at Cingoli.
" Dedit trbi vestimentum Pellis suis indumentum, ZonS. strin.xit ferreiL
Another of her visions was less fantastic and objection- able. She saw in dream a narrow road strewn with thorns and razors, and a voice called her to walk in it. When she did so, and her feet were cut and bleeding, the Lord shone before her, encouraging her to advance, and looking at Him, she forgot the pain in her feet, and advanced hastily, and found herself in a meadow of roses and violets.1
On another occasion she saw in vision a red cross, where-
1 " Item dum manebat in contemplatione, vidit tres juvenes, aetate fere viginti quinque annorum, et quilibet in fronte crucem habebat, et statira in unum redacti tuut ; ac Trinitatem esse, sibi dictum fuit."
*■■*
*-
Sept. ii.]
*S". Sperandea.
175
upon on waking she made one like it, and marched bearing it, apparelled only in the miraculous pig's-skin, through the town, singing at the top of her voice. No wonder that the biographer adds, "A swarm of boys followed her." These were some of her less objectionable visions and exploits, the Bollandist father declines to print the rest.1
Various miracles are said to have been wrought by her. Some images of the Saint at Gubbio and Caorle have been indulgenced ; and devotion to her was sanctioned by a decree of the Congregation of Sacred Rites in 1633.
1 " Ex recitatis," he says, " nou mirabitur eruditus lector, alias a nie pr 3 rr- lajttL
176 Lives of the Saints. [Sept lt
September 12.
S. Srrapion, B.M. at Catania in Sicily; circ. A.D. 304.
S. Nicetas, M. at Nicomedia; circ. a.d. 304
S. Autonomus, B.M. in Paphlagonia ; $th cent.
SS. Macedonius, TheodSlus, and Tatian, MM. at Merus in
Phrygia; A.D. 362. S. Revekentius, P.C. at Bayeux in Normandy ; 4//1 or $th cent. S. Ailbe B. of Emly in Ireland : a.d. 527. S. Guido, C. at Anderlecht in Brabant; a.d. ioi
S. NICETAS, M. (circ. a.d. 304.)
[Venerated at Venice. The Acts of this saint are purely fabulous, and are not printed by the Bollandists ;l they are to be found in Equilinus, and contracted in Peter de Natalibus.]
]HE romance of S. Nicetas, an early Christian novel, relates that Nicetas was the son of the Emperor Maximian, and that he was converted by seeing in his dream Christ hanging at his Cross. He asked a certain Juliana what this meant, and she, being a Christian, explained the vision to him. The boy then determined to profess his faith before his father, and was encouraged to do so by a vision of S. Raphael the Archangel. He was rebuked by his father with much anger, when the Emperor heard his confession. The boy then asked to be given some idols of gold and silver, and when they were presented to him he smashed them. He was then exposed to the blandishments of a beautiful girl, but biting off his tongue, he spat it in her face.2 Five thousand soldiers were
1 " Omittenda potius quam edenda," says the Bollandist. • The same story is told by S. Jerome of a certain youth in his Lite of S. Paul lh» hermit. The incident is adopted thence by the romancist.
*
Sept. ii.]
S. N 'ice fas. 177
sent against him to tear him into five thousand pieces. But he converted and baptized them all ; and they went back to the Emperor without the fragments of flesh which were expected of them. For as a matter of fact they had minced the martyr into five thousand pieces, but the bits had run together again like globules of mercury, and S. Nicetas sat up again unhurt. The shock and surprise of seeing the hashed martyr open his eyes and talk, completely convinced the five thousand and led to their baptism.
Maximinus then poked a red hot skewer in at one ear of his son and out at the other, without in the smallest degree affecting the hearing of the indomitable youth. Then the unnatural parent hung him up by the feet, tarred him, and set fire to him, but still could not hurt him. In despair, he flung him down a well, but S. Michael pulled him out again, and announced to all people and nations that whoever should invoke S. Nicetas would certainly obtain all he desired.
Maximinus then promised his son to believe in Christ if he would raise from the dead some corpses buried under a pillar. Nicetas at once raised a host of dead men, and as they were all heathens whom he had resuscitated, he baptized them. The Emperor then ordered his son to be beaten ; thereat the Empress, who had borne patiently the hashing and skewering, remonstrated, and an insurrection having broken out, the enraged mob rushed on Maximinus and massacred him. Nicetas baptized the mob, and then tranquilly expired.
The body of S. Nicetas is shown in the church of S. Raphael at Venice. An office, with lesson from these Acts, was approved by Clement VIII.
VOL. X. 12
*
178 Lives of the Saints. [Sept „
S. AUTONOMUS, M
(4TH CENT.)
[Greek Men^a and Menology ; inserted by Baronius in the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority : — The Greek Acts written late, at what time, however, cannot be said. In the preface is said, " We have resolved not to cover with silence the holy life of Autonomus, which has come to us, but to hand it on to pious ears. For the acts of the martyr have come down to us, partly written by some one before us, who had a good intent, but not much skill, so that through ignorance he confused many things, and partly from men who were chosen to serve in the church of the martyr, who inquired into and collected the truth of these matters diligently."]
Autonomus, a bishop, ordained in Italy, on the breaking out of persecution in the Peninsula, was lilled with a sudden enthusiasm for preaching the Gospel in Asia Minor. He took ship, reached Bithynia, and made his way to Sora,1 and hid himself with a man called Claudius, whom he ordained deacon, and went round Lycaonia and Isauria, comforting and encouraging the faithful, and powerfully convincing the unbelievers. But when he heard that the Emperor Diocletian had come to Nicomedia, his missionary ardour at once impelled him to take ship to Claudiopolis in Pontus, and put as wide a space as possible between himself and the persecutor.
After a while he returned to Sora, saw that all was well there, and then went off to Limne, at the most extreme corner of Asia Minor, on the Euxine, where there was least chance of Christians being molested, or, to put it in another light, a greater missionary work might be accomplished.
One day, when Autonomus had come to Sora, the inha- bitants burst into his chapel, wrecked it and killed him whilst standing at the altar.
1 The Acts say Sorei : 1 presume it was Sora on the Panheneu% in Paphlagonia.
Sept. u.] ^•S'- Macedonius and Others. 1 79
SS. MACEDONIUS, THEODULUS, AND TATIAN, MM.
(a.d. 362.)
[Greek Menaea and Menologies. Inserted in the Modern Roman Mar- tyrology by Baronius. Authority : — Mention by Socrates, lib. iii. 15, Sozo- men, v. 11, and Suidas, sub voc. Amachius. All these accounts agree, except that Suidas makes Amachius prefect of " a little city of Phrygia," and the other two call him " prefect of the province."
When Amachius, governor of Phrygia, heard that Con- stantius was dead, and that Julian was Emperor, and had renounced Christianity, and professed his resolve to re- establish paganism, with devotion to the rising star, he ordered the temple at Merus, a city of Phrygia, to be opened, and cleared of the filth that had accumulated in it, and that the statues of the gods should be repolished. This order so exasperated three Christians, Macedonius, Theodulus, and Tatian, that they rushed into the temple, and broke the images to pieces.
The governor, infuriated at what had been done, would have executed some of the principal inhabitants of the city, had not the three men who had done the deed delivered them- selves up. They were offered pardon if they would sacrifice ; but on their refusal they were racked with a variety of tor- ments, and lastly laid on gridirons, and slowly roasted over a charcoal fire. They are said by Socrates to have addressed the governor with the same taunt as that used by S. Law- rence,— " If you wish to eat broiled flesh, Amachius, turn us on the other side also, lest we should appear but half- cooked to your taste."
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180 Lives of the Saints. tSept> IIt
S. AILBE, B. OF EMLY. (a.d. 527.)
[Irish Martyrologies. The Acts are fabulous and late, and quite un- worthy of confidence. Unfortunately the Bollandists do not print them. They represent Ailbe as in Ireland before S. Patrick, a statement con- tradicted by Tirechan and the Tripartite Life of S. Patrick and Joscelin.]
Ailbe was the child of a slave girl of one of the petty Irish princes, by a man named Olenais. When he was born he was exposed to be devoured by wild beasts, by order of the prince. But, says the legend, a she-wolf took compas- sion on him, and carried him to her lair, and suckled him along with her cubs.
One day a huntsman lighted on the cave where the young wolves were, and was amazed to find among them a beau- tiful child. He took it in his arms and carried it home, followed by the she-wolf, howling and snapping at his cloak.
And long, long afterwards, when Ailbe was bishop, there was a great wolf-hunting party in Emly, and an old grey she-wolf, pursued by the huntsmen, tied to the bishop, and laid its head on his breast.
" I will protect thee, old mother !" said the bishop, drawing his mantle round the aged beast. "When I was little and young and feeble thou didst nourish and cherish and protect me, and now that thou art old and grey and weak, shall I not render the same love and care to thee ? None shall injure thee. Come every day with thy little ones to my table, and thou and thine shall share my crusts."
And so it was. None ventured to lift a spear against the aged foster-mother of the bishop ; and every day she and her little ones came to his hall, and sat, and ate what he gave them.
Ailbe, according to Tirechan, was ordained priest by S. Patrick. When yet a heathen, his soul yearned for better
* 4*
* *
sept.,,.] S. Guido. 181
things, and as, when keeping sheep, a Christian priest heard him praying with eyes uplifted to heaven for light and grace, he took the boy and taught and baptized him. Joscelin reckons Ailbe among the disciples of S. Patrick.
The legendary life, which unfortunately the Bollandists have not printed, and which is published in Acta SS. Hib., Edinb., 1888, contains many wonders. S. Ailbe wished once to give to the king of Munster a hundred horses ; so he went to the top of a mountain, and prayed, and a cloud arose out of the sea, and came to the mountain top, and then burst, and from its womb issued a hundred noble steeds.
The accurate annals both of Ulster and of Innisfallen place the death of Ailbe in the year a.d. 527.
S. GUIDO, C. (a.d. 1012.)
[Belgian Martyrologies. Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority : — A Life late, and therefore not thoroughly trustworthy.]
S. Guy or Guido was born about a.d. 950, at Berchem- Saint-Agathe, according to some; according to the general opinion, at Anderlecht near Brussels, in a poor house situated near the convent of the Minims, called " Sinte-Wyen gelege," which has since been decorated with his statue.
The poverty of the family to which he belonged obliged Guido to serve as labourer. One day, having left his work to go to his prayers, an angel guided his plough for him. The same story is told of S. Isidore the ploughman of Madrid. The farmer saw other miracles wrought by his servant. He took up earth in his hands, and it changed into bread. He stuck his staff into the ground, and it put forth leaves, and became an oak called the Sinte-Wyden-Eik, cut down in 1633,
1 82 Lives of the Saints. (Sept I2
because it was dying of old age, and was replaced by another tree which exists still on the side of the road from Anderlecht to Itterbeck.
On reaching man's estate, Guido resolved to renounce the world. He wandered about unable to find a solitary place that suited his fancy. At last he reached the hamlet of Laeken, and remained there serving the priest as sacristan. He devoted himself wholly to his sacred office. The altar was kept neat and clean, was decorated with fresh flowers, and the whole church was a model of tidiness.
After a while an acquaintance, a Brussels merchant, per- suaded him to join in some small commercial speculations, and Guido satisfied his conscience when beginning business as a chapman that he would make his fortune speedily, and thus would be able to give liberally to the poor.
But one day the boat containing the goods of the two associates sank in the Senne, and Guido returned to Laeken thoroughly disgusted with mercantile ventures, and resolved to have nothing more to do with them.
Shortly after he departed for the Holy Land. At Rome he met Wondulf, dean of Anderlecht, who knew him by reputation, but did not recognise him travel-soiled, and with a long beard. When Guido declared his name, the dean greeted him in broad Flemish with rapture, and the two went on together on their way to Jerusalem, solacing one another's ears with the sound of their mother-tongue.
On their way back the dean died. Already, before his departure, he had attained miraculous powers ; one day, according to tradition, his servants when they went to sow his field, found it already full of wheat in full ear with blue corncockles and scarlet poppies growing amidst the corn. The spot, situated in the plain of Scheut, near the road called " des mendiants," has preserved the name of " den akker van mirakel," or the miraculous field. According to
Sept. I».]
iS*. Guido. 183
some, it was in this field that the angel ploughed for S. Guido j and on this account it is also called " Sinte Wy den-bunder."
Guido reached Brabant exhausted with his labours and hardships, after an absence of seven years. On arriving at Anderlecht he was received by a poor peasant, to whom he related the particulars of his journey, and the last days of Wondulf. The clerks of Anderlecht came to visit him, and he surrendered into their hands the ring of the dean. They found Guido sick to death. He had broken a blood-vessel, and was sinking fast. He was transported to the hospital, and died there in the midst of a blaze of supernatural light, on the 1 2th of September, a.d. 1012.
After Guido had been buried, his virtues were well nigh forgotten, but a horse having struck his tomb with his hoof, fell dead, and this was supposed to indicate the merits of the saint. Onulf, Lord of Anderlecht, at once surrounded the tomb with a hedge. Two serfs having laughed at the idea that Guido was a saint, fell back dead. Thereupon ensued great excitement and devotion. In 1054 an oratory was erected over the tomb. The body was afterwards translated to a new church, and the bones washed in a spring, which has ever since been regarded as miraculous. It is at the north side of Anderlecht, and is called " den Welden-berch." On a blue stone above it may be read the words "Sanctus Guido, O (ra) P (ro) N (obis). 1786."
The Blessed Guido (in Flemish, Wydeu), is represented in pilgrim's habit, with horse and ox at his feet, a harrow at his side, and in one hand two palms.
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184 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
September 18.
S. Philip, M. at Alexandria ; 3rd cent.
S. Julian, P.M ' . at Ancyra in Galatia ; circ. 323.
SS. Macrobius, Gordian, and Others, MM. at To>ni tn
Pontus, and Ancyra in Galatia ; circ. 323. S. Maurii.ius, B. 0/ Angers; circ. a.d. 431. S. Nectarius, B. of Autun ; 6th cent. S. Eulogius, B. at Alexandria; circ. 605. S. Amatus, Ab. of Ranircmont, in Lorraine ; circ. A.D. 625. S. Venerius, P. H. in the Isle of Tino in the Gulf ef Spezia;
■jth cent. S. Amatus, B. of Sens; a.d. 69a
S. PHILIP, M.
(3RD CENT.)
[Usuardus, Notker, Roman Marty rology, &c. By the Greeks on Dec. 24. Authority : — The wholly fabulous Acts of S. Eugenia, see Sept. n, SS. I'rotus and Hyacinth.]
HE romance of S. Eugenia, the damsel who ran away from her father, prefect of Egypt, has been already briefly given. It is fable from beginning to end, and it is more than questionable that such a person ever existed. Philip, her father, who from being prefect became also Bishop of Alexandria, and suffered, or is pretended to have suffered, under Galienus, is com- memorated in the Latin martyrologies on this day. The Emperor sent Perennius or Terentius to succeed him in the office of prefect, with orders to execute Philip, but when Perennius found that Philip was protected by the people of Alexandria in a body, he hired assassins who feigned them- selves Christians and felled him in church.
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Sept. 13]
S. Macrobius and Others. 185
S. JULIAN, P.M.
(about a.d. 323.)
[By the Greeks on Sept. 12 and 13 ; inserted by Baronius along with Macrobius, Gordian, and others in the Modern Roman Martyrology.]
S. Julian was a priest in Galatia, who, when Licinius threw off the mask of tolerance, hid himself with forty Christians in a cave. He was taken and brought before the prefect of the tyrant, who stretched him on an iron bed over a fire, and roasted him to death.
SS. MACROBIUS, GORDIAN, AND OTHERS, MM.
(about a.d. 323.)
[By the Greeks on this day. The Martyrology of Jerome and Hrabanus on Sept. 15 ; the Modern Roman Martyrology on this day. Authority : — mention in the Menologies.]
There is some confusion about the names of these martyrs, which have undergone changes in the different editions of the Greek menologies, and even the place where they suffered is not clearly fixed. But it seems that some of them were Christians, soldiers probably, banished by Licinius to Tomi in Pontus, where they met with other Christians, Zoticus, Lucian and Heli, and suffered execution by the sword with them. Gordian, however, was cast into a fire, and one named Valerian, whilst weeping and praying over their bodies, died in the attitude of devotion.
-M
1 86 Lives of tlic Saints. [Sept ,3<
S. MAURILIUS, B. OF ANGERS. (about a.d. 431.)
[The Martyrologies of Jerome, Hrabanus, Reichenau, Fulda, Ado, Usuardus. Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. York, not Sarum or Hereford Kalendars. Authorities : — A Life attributed to Fortunatus of Poitiers (d. circ. a.d. 600), or to Gregory of Tours (d. a.d. 594) ; by others thought to be later, by Raimon, B. of Angers in the 10th cent.1 A second Life by Magnobod, B.of Angers (d. circ. a.d. 630). A third Life, of no value, because late, by Marbod of Rennes (d. A.D. 1133).]
The tolerably authentic life of S. Maurilius by Magnobod of Angers, written in the 6th century, about two hundred years after the death of the saint, and the purely apo- cryphal story which was forged in the ioth century and attributed to Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours, are very different. The authentic biography is sober and remark- able only for its dulness ; the apocryphal tale is a charming romance.
We will give the facts first and the fictions afterwards.
Maurilius, a native of Milan, on the death of his father came to Tours, where he was ordained sub-deacon and deacon by S. Martin. Marbod says he also received his consecration as Bishop of Angers from S. Martin, but this is not probable; S. Martin died about a.d. 396. Maurilius we are told was Bishop of Angers thirty years, so that he must have been ordained after the death of S. Martin. It is however possible, if we admit that Bishop Prosper of Angers died in a.d. 390, and that the death of Maurilius took place in 420 instead of 431. The date, moreover, of the death of Maurilius cannot be fixed with anything approaching to certainty.
1 This the Bollandists do not even deign to print. Its authenticity was attacked and demolished by Delaunoy, Dissert, de auctore vitse Maurilii, Paris, 1650. It is published by Surius, and in the works of Venantius Fortunatus, Romae, 1786. It is a mediaeval forgery. The Life by Marbod is published in the works of Hildebert of Sens, Paris, 1708, and not by the Bollandists.
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sept. i3.] S. Mauritius. 187
When only a priest at Angers, Maurilius heard that there was a temple of idols at Calonne on the Loire, and it had been struck by lightning. He at once seized his opportunity, consecrated the spot, and built a church on it. He de- stroyed another temple at Prisciacus, and built there also a church. Soon after, the Bishop of Angers dying, Maurilius was elected in his room, by the advice, say the biographers, of S. Martin.
There was a rock covered with trees in his diocese which was dedicated to Mars, around which the natives assembled once a year for a grand dance and merry-making ; the bishop went there with a swarm of monks before the festival, and spent the night in prayer, and when the peasants came to the rock next morning the place stank so abominably, that they were obliged to abandon their dance in the immediate proximity. After having performed many other notable miracles he died at the age of ninety, having been forty years working at Angers, thirty of which were as bishop.
Next for the legend.
Maurilius was the son of noble parents at Milan. From infancy he was educated there by S. Martin, who after he had quitted Hungary, had built an abbey at Milan. S. Ambrose ordained him lector in his church. The Arians drove S. Martin from Milan, after having beaten him through the streets.
Maurilius, on the death of his father, followed his beloved master into Gaul, and found him seated on the Episcopal throne of Tours. He spent many years with him, and then, having received sacred orders from his hands, he went to Angers, there to preach the Gospel. He built a mo- nastery at Calonne on the ruins of the temple consumed by lightning. One day a convoy of slaves was being carried down the Loire, when a youth escaped and took refuge in the monastery. The slave-driver demanded his property.
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1 88 Lives of the Saints. [Sept IV
Maurilius offered what little money he had as his ransom. It was refused. When the holy abbot found that he had no human resource, he knelt in prayer. The slave-driver fell down in a fit, and was so frightened that he left the young slave in the hands of Maurilius, and gave him many other gifts.
On the death of the Bishop of Angers, Maurilius was elected in his room. One day he was saying mass, when a poor woman came weeping to the church to say that her son was dying and was unconfirmed. Maurilius went on with the sacrifice, and then, when it was completed, attended to the prayer of the poor woman. But it was too late, the boy was dead.
Full of humiliation and despair, Maurilius determined to leave the diocese ; he fled away in disguise, and on reaching the sea on the coast of Brittany, he wrote with his fingers on a rock, " I, Maurilius of Angers, passed this way," with the date. Then he took a boat, and as he was crossing the channel, the keys of his cathedral fell overboard. Then he vowed he would not consider himself reinstated in his episcopal dignity, till they were restored to him. And when he came to Britain he went into service to a noble, as his gardener, and nursed for him his pot-herbs and flowers.
Now after a while the good people of Angers began to find it exceedingly inconvenient to be without a bishop, and with the impossibility of canonically electing another. So they sent out a deputation in quest of their lost bishop. And after they had traversed all lands and had not found him, one day they were sadly walking on the beach in Brittany, when they saw a rock with the inscription, " I, Maurilius of Angers, passed this way." Then they took ship for Britain ; and as they were sailing, a fish leaped on board, and when they opened it, lo ! it had in its belly the key of the cathedral church of Angers. Then they went on, and
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came to a castle, and met a gardener, carrying a bunch of roses, and they recognised Maurilius, and fell at his feet, and saluted him. But he said, " I cannot return to Angers without the keys of my church." Thereupon they presented him with the keys found in the belly of the fish. And he went with them, and reascended his episcopal throne, and was received with shouts of joy. Now he remembered the boy who had died without confirmation, so he went to his grave, and called with a loud voice, and the boy arose, and he confirmed him "Renatus," because he was born again. And Renatus afterwards became Bishop of Sorrento.
The story of the fish and the key is another version of the Rabbinic tale of Solomon and his ring; or that by Herodo- tus of Polycrates. It is told also of S. Ethelwold and S. Lupus of Troyes, and many other Saints, with slight varia- tion. Also in the Indian tale of Sakuntala, and in the mediaeval romance of Pierre de Provence and the beautiful Maguellone.
The name of Renatus given to a child " born again" at the baptismal font originated the fable of the resurrection of the child after having been many years dead and buried.
S. Maurilius is represented with the keys and fish as his symbol.
S. EU LOG I US, B.C.
(about a.d. 605.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on Feb. 13. Authority : — Notices in the letters of S. Gregory theGreat to Eulogius ; an account by Photius in his Bibliotheca, and mention in the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus.]
But little detailed Information of the life of S. Eulogius of Alexandria has come down to us. That he was first a monk
190 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. I3.
and then a priest at Antioch, and head of a monastery and church dedicated to the B. Virgin at Antioch, is about all we know of his early history. He was elected Patriarch of Alexandria after the death of S. John IV. in a.d. 579.
Eulogius was obliged to make a journey to Constanti- nople concerning affairs connected with the patriarchate, and there met S. Gregory the Great, and contracted with him a warm friendship.
S. Eulogius wrote against the Acephali, and several dis- courses of which Photius has preserved some fragments. He also composed six books against the Novatians, and one against the Agnoetge, a sect of Eutychians, which ascribed to Our Lord, as man, ignorance of many things which are open to the eye of God.
John Moschus says that one night Eulogius rose to say his office in his private oratory, when he saw his archdeacon kneeling behind him. His archdeacon's name was Julian. And he was offended, because none had right of admission without leave asked and given. And when he had finished reciting his psalm, he prostrated himself, and the archdeacon prostrated himself also. Then Eulogius rose, but Julian remained lying on his face, with outspread hands. And the Patriarch said to him, " Arise." " I cannot," answered the archdeacon, " without thy assistance." Then he stretched forth his hand to him, blessed him, and raised him, and Julian straightway disappeared.
Now when morning was come, the patriarch rebuked his chamberlain, Mennas, for admitting the archdeacon without leave. Mennas replied that he had not done so. And shortly after Julian entered and denied he had been in the oratory that night.
Then Eulogius guessed that Julian the Martyr had appeared under the form of Julian the archdeacon, to hint to him the advisability of raising a church in his honour.
Sept. 13.J
S. Eulogitis. 191
Moschus was told this story by Mennas himself.
In the days of Eulogius, the Sarmatians were torn with factions, one party declaring that the words of Moses, " A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me," referred to Joshua the son of Nun, the other party that it applied to Dositheus the master of Simon Magus. Eulogius convoked a council to determine this knotty point, and decreed that the prophecy applied to neither one nor the other, but to the Messiah.
Several letters were addressed by S. Gregory, after he was pope, to S. Eulogius, among them is one in which he joyfully announces the success of S. Augustine in Britain, " among the race of Angles settled in an angle of the world," and asking his prayers and those of the Alexandrian Church for the mission.
In a letter to S. Gregory, Eulogius had addressed him as " Universal Pope," S. Gregory rejected the title in the same letter, in noble words, " I desire to increase in virtue and not in words. I do not consider myself honoured in that which dishonours my brethren. It is the honour of the Universal Church which honours me. It is the strength of my brethren which does me honour. I feel myself honoured only when I see that no man refuses to another the honour due to him. Away with those words which innate vanity and wound charity ! . . . . The holy council of Chalcedon and other Fathers have offered this title to my predecessors, but none of them has ever used it, that they might guard their own honour in the sight of God, by seeking here below the honour of all the priesthood."
Eulogius did not long survive his friend S. Gregory, who died in a.d. 604. Eulogius followed him to a better land in the following year, or, at latest, in 606.
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192 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 13
S. AMATUS, AB.
i
(about a.d. 625.)
[Ado, Usuardus, Notker, Modern Roman Martyrology, Gallican Mar- tyrologies. Authority : — The Life of S. Amatus by a contemporary, and he lives of S. Eustasius and of S. Romaric]
Amatus, the son of a nobleman of Roman family resident at Grenoble, was sent by his father when a child to the monastery of Agaunum built under a precipitous wall of rock in the Valais beside the Rhone, where lay the bones of S. Maurice and his faithful companions. He lived thirty years either in the abbey, or in an isolated cell in the face of the cliff which overhangs the monastery, and where now stands a little chapel, clinging to the surface of the precipice, like the clay nest of a swallow to the eaves of a house. A little ledge of rock served Amatus for garden. There he grew a scanty crop of barley, and a tiny trickling spring which issued from the living rock served him for drink. There this noble Gallo-Roman lived, always barefooted and clad in a sheep-skin, with the glorious panorama of the Alps before him. The fountain, miraculously formed with his staff, says the biographer, was received in a little basin which he had hollowed out and covered with lead. The barley that he grew on his rocky ledge he ground by turning a millstone with his arms, like the slaves of antiquity. This fatiguing labour was to him a preservative against sleep and the temptations of the flesh. S. Eustace, the Abbot of Luxeuil, returning from Lombardy after a visit to S. Colum- banus, stopped at Agaunum, and decided Amatus upon following him to Luxeuil. The gentleness of the anchorite, his eloquence, and even the noble and serene beauty of his features won all hearts.
Amatus was nominated by the monks of Luxeuil, on account of his eloquence, to bear the word of God into tne
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.S. Amatus. 193
Australian cities. Romaric, a wealthy lord, who occupied a castle on a rock whose base is bathed by the clear waters of the Moselle near its source, some leagues from Luxeuil, received him at his table, and, during the repast, inquired of him the best way of working out his salvation. "Thou seesl this silver dish," said the monk ; " how many masters, or rather slaves, has it already had, and how many more shall it have still ? And thou, whether thou wilt or not, thou art its serf; for thou possessest it only to preserve it. But an account will be demanded of thee ; for it is written 'your silver and gold shall rust, and that rust shall be a witness against you.' I am astonished that a man of great birth, very rich, and intelligent like thyself, should not remember the answer of our Saviour to him who asked him how he should attain eternal life : ' If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and follow me ; and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven.' "
From that moment Romaric was vanquished by the love of God, and the desire of Heaven. He distributed all his lands to the poor, with the exception of his Castle of Habend, freed a multitude of serfs of both sexes, and went to Luxeuil, taking with him all that remained of his wealth, to become a monk. After some years' residence there, during which time his friendship for Amatus became in- timate and affectionate, the two friends left Luxeuil, where, for some unknown reason, they had incurred the displeasure of the Abbot Eustace. With his consent, however, they went together to the estate which Romaric had reserved to himself.
The Castle of Habend had once been a Roman fortress; the remains of a temple, statues, and some tombs were still visible, as at Luxeuil, upon the height of a steep hill, situate between two valleys, the base of which was watered by two tributaries of the Moselle. They built a church there,
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194 Lives of the Saints, tsept. i3.
placed as many as seven chapels upon the sides of the hill, and afterwards founded there the greatest female monastery which had been seen in Gaul. Amatus took the government of it, but soon devolved it upon Romaric, and the house was called, after the latter, Remiremont
Amatus formed a cell for himself below among the rocks, and received his food let down to him by a rope, every day ; but on Sundays and festivals he issued from his retreat to minister in divine things to the nuns. He also apparently busied himself with all sorts of little matters connected with their well-being, making the hives for the bees, and the like, and when a pert nun thought she knew belter than he which hive was most suitable for a new swarm, the bees refused to enter it, because it was not the one selected for them by the man of God.
He died in the midst of his monks and nuns, chanting alternately in psalmody around him.
S. Amatus is called in French S. Ante, or S. Amet.
S. AMATUS, B. OF SENS. (a.d. 690.
[Roman, Gallican, and Belgian Martyrologies. Authority : — A Life b)
an anonymous writer, when written is uncertain ; it contains several • I
logical errors, and is therefore probaMy late.]
S. Amatus, vulgarly called .5. Aimk% belonged to a rich and pious family. He was elected Archbishop ofSens, and governed his diocese with great prudence till he was banished on a false accusation by Thierry III. to Peronne, the monastery of S. Fursy. He was received with open arms by the abbot Ultan, and Amatus remained with him till the death of Ultan, when King Thierry sent him to S. Mauron-
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Sept. 13.I
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tius, son of S. Rictrudis, with orders that he should be placed in a monastery at Flanders. One day, says the legend, Amatus took oft' his habit in church, and flung it across a sunbeam, and there it hung suspended.
The same story is told of S. Goar, and many other saints.
Maurontius had erected a monastery at Breuil, and he committed it to the charge of S. Amatus. After his death, in a.d. 690, it was found that the exiled bishop had wound an iron chain round his body, causing himself great distress and inconvenience.
King Thierry, hearing of the miracles wrought at his tomb came there humbly, and offered gifts in atonement for his ill-treatment of the saint
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196 Lives of the Saints. fSept. M.
September 14.
S. Cornelius, Pofir, M. at CMta-Vecchia ; A.n 25a.
S. CvrRiAN, D.M. at Carthage; a.d 258.
SS. Crescentianus, Victor, Rosula, and Generalis, Af/lf.
in Africa ; a.d. 258. S. Crescentius, M. at Rome; beginning of the 4th cent. S Maternus, D. 0/ Treves; t,th cent. S John Chrysostom, B.D. of Constantinople; a.d 407 (see
Jan, 27). The Exaltation of the Hoi.v Cross ; ad. 335 and 629. S NoTHBURGA, V. at Eben in Tyrol; a.d. 1313. Catharine, W. at Genoa; a.d. 1510.
S. CORNELIUS, POPE, M. (a.d. 252.)
[Roman Martyrology, and nil Latin Martyrologies, sometimes singly, sometimes along with other martyrs, Cerealis, Salustia, and others; the anc of the festival in the Modern Roman Martyrology is translated to the 16th, so as not to interfere with the observance of the Exaltation of the Cross. York, Hereford, and Sarum Kalendars on the 14th. Authorities : —The letters of S. Cyprian, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, Eusebius, &c. The /\cts are late, by Hilduin, of S. Denys, in the 9th cent., and utterly unde- serving of confidence.]
oRNELIUS was elected Pope in the month ot I une, a.d. 251, after that the Holy See had been vacant sixteen months. He was a man of virginal purity, of singular modesty, yet withal endowed with lofty courage. He had passed through all the degrees of ecclesiastical offices; had not been seeking to advance his claims, and when offered the bishopric shrank from the burden, perhaps the dangers, it entailed. For the Edict ot Decius was in force against bishops and priests. He was elected by sixteen bishops, then at Rome — amongst them were two from Africa — and many of the clergy testified to
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his merit. The bishops wrote to all the churches to an- nounce his election.
There was at this time at Rome a man called Novatian. He had been a Stoic philosopher. His hard nature, in the agony of wrestling after truth, before he had found peace in Christianity, broke down both body and mind. His enemies afterwards declared that he had been possessed, and the demons only partially expelled by exorcism. Whilst yet a catechumen he had fallen dangerously ill, and had received clinical baptism — that is, baptism in his bed — but had never been confirmed. On his recovery he was ordained priest. The sayings of his exasperated enemies, statements which bear throughout the marks of passionate exaggeration, are entitled to little credit. If we endeavour to separate the real facts from the distorted and spiteful representations of Novatian's opponents, the following pre- sents itself as the probable state of the case : — Violent internal conflicts had affected to some extent the mind of Novatian, and he was attacked with brain fever. The prayer of an exorcist, happily timed with the turn of the malady, restored his mind to clearness ; but the exhaustion of fever was so great that it was thought he could not live, and lie received baptism on his sick-bed. He found in Christianity peace, rest, and healing.
As he now distinguished himself by steadfastness in the faith, by clearness of Christian knowledge, by a happy facility in teaching, and by a zeal for holiness, Pope S. Fabian ordained him priest, disregarding the fact that he had received clinical baptism only, without confirmation. The Roman clergy were from the first dissatisfied with this procedure ; because they maintained the letter of the law,1 that no individual who had been baptized on a sick-bed should receive ordination ; but the wiser Fabian interpreted
J The 12th Canon of the Council of Neo Ciesarea, a.d. 314.
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198 Lives of the Saints. tsept. 14.
the law according to the spirit rather than the letter, for its object was simply to keep out of the spiritual order those who had, without conviction or true repentance, received baptism in the momentary alarm caused by fear of death. In Novatian's case every suspicion of the kind was refuted by his subsequent life. For a while Novatian remained in severe ascetic seclusion. Cornelius, in a letter to Fabius of Antioch, preserved by Eusebius, says that it was out of fear of persecution that Novatian shut himself up in his house,1 and that, when his deacons asked him to emerge from his retreat and perform the duties of his office, he answered that " he was the friend of another philosophy." The in- sinuations of Cornelius are as ungenerous as they are unjust. The stern puritan had no fear of death — no shrinking from what he believed to be his duty ; but he had adopted an ascetic rule of life, like that of the anchorites of the Egyptian and Syrian deserts, and he would school himself in penance and devote his mind to ascetic philosophy rather than to active work.
Novatian is also charged by Cornelius with having "secretly" sighed after the dignity of Bishop of Rome, and to have been, therefore, his rival for that office. But whence had Cornelius the eye to search into the secrets of liis oppo- nent's heart? It is the usual way in theological polemics to trace schisms and heresies to some unhallowed motive, even in the absence of all proof. When the Roman bishopric was vacated by the death of Fabian, Novatian had on one occasion solemnly declared that he would not be a candi- date, and had no longing for the episcopal dignity, to which, on account of the high respect with which a portion of the community regarded him, he might perhaps have easily attained. We have no reason, with Cornelius, to accuse Novatian in this case of perjury. He could say with perfect
1 " Through cowardice and love of life." % *
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S. Cornelius.
199
sincerity that he, the ascetic, the philosopher, the con- templative, abhorred the thought of being withdrawn from his beloved studies to be plunged in the stormy tide of active ecclesiastical life, full of restless controversy and engrossing obligations.
The origin of the quarrel was probably not a personal matter, but one of principle. Novatian's ascetic zeal ltd him to object to the decay of discipline in the Church — the ease with which those who had fallen were readmitted to full Christian privileges. Settled in his own convictions, ardent in their defence, he was, against his own will, made the head of a party by those who viewed with unfavourable eye the prevalent laxity of discipline, and he was by them compelled to assume the episcopal dignity. In this regard he could, in his letter to Dionysius of Alexandria, appeal with truth to the fact " that he had been hurried on against his will."
The man who was really the active soul of this party, and to whose influence, doubtless, it was owing that they broke entirely with Cornelius, and elected Novatian as Anti- Pope, was Novatus of Carthage, a restless man, the energetic, passionate mover of schism, who, having quarrelled with S. Cyprian, and stirred up a faction against him in Africa, was now at Rome, actively engaged in creating schism there also. The priests of Rome, imprisoned for the Faith, with one exception, sided with Novatian. It was said that Cornelius was a libellatic, had bought exemptions from confession and martyrdom ; that he had communicated with those who had done sacrifice. Three bishops from a remote corner of Italy, moved by the representations of the strict party in Rome, hastened to the capital, and consecrated Novatian Bishop of the imperial city. It is maliciously asserted by Cornelius that Novatian " shut up the three bishops with men of the same stamp with himself, at the
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200 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 14.
tenth hour, when heated with wine and surfeiting," and forced them, when thus stupefied with food and drink, to ordain him.
Little reliance can be placed on the violent expressions of Cornelius against the schismatic, whom he designates as " an artful and malicious beast," " a fool," " perjured, false," "full of devices and wickedness;" who, he says, was flung into the Church of Rome a full-Hedged bishop, as though "projected out of a catapult."
Charges are made against Novalian by Cornelius, on hearsay, too ridiculous to receive credence.
Immediately after his ordination, Novatian sent deputies to the different churches with letters announcing his election and consecration, and exhorting the bishops to maintain the integrity of the discipline of the Church, and not to be so indulgent to sinners as to relax their dread of dis obedience to the law of God, or to those who had throng]) weakness shrunk from witnessing a confession of their faith in persecution.
These letters were accompanied by others, by confessions of the faith, and his deputies met in some places a favour- able reception. One bishop, Fabius of Antioch, was even on the point of deciding in his favour. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria — a man of a mild, moderate, and liberal mind — was from the beginning opposed to the Novatian principles ; but he tried, first of all, by friendly arguments, to induce Novatian to resign and submit; and when this failed, he declared decidedly against him.
S. Cyprian at once rejected the appeal for recognition with scorn and indignation. He knew who was the main- spring of the schism — the mischievous Novatus, who had been a thorn in his side in Africa, and was now spurring on the puritans in Rome.
The controversy with Novatian turned upon two general
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S. CORNELIUS. After Cahier.
[Sept. 14.
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sept. i4.] S- Cornelius. 201
points : — the principles of penitence, and the essence of a true Church. Novatian by no means asserted that a Chris- tian must be a perfect saint, nor that God did not forgive all sins, but he maintained that the Church had no right to grant absolution to a person who had committed wilfully a mortal sin. Such a person had forfeited his position in the Church and a claim to its privileges ; he must be left to the mercies of God outside of the sacraments — the channels of grace flowing for those who kept themselves free from deliberate deadly sin. Absolution in the Church was valid for sins of infirmity, and for them only.
S. Cyprian wrote against this doctrine with noble wrath and lofty eloquence. " O the mockery of the deluded brethren to exhort men to repentance, whereby they are to satisfy God, and yet deprive them of the salvation to which through this satisfaction they are to attain ! To say to your brother, Mourn, and shed tears, and sigh day and night, abound in good works, so thou mayest wash away thy sins ; but, after all, thou shalt die out of the pale of the Church ! Thou must do all that pertains to peace; but the peace thou seekest thou shalt not obtain ! Who would not give up at once ? Who would not sink in very despair ? Think you the husbandman could labour, were it said to him, Bestow all diligence on the culture of your fields, but you shall reap no harvest ?"
S. Cyprian assembled a council in Africa, and condemned Novatian. On the receipt of the decrees of the council and the letters of S. Cyprian, S. Cornelius convoked a council at Rome; and, in spite of the persecution then raging, it was attended by sixty bishops. This council condemned the schism and errors of Novatian, and S. Cornelius sent its decisions and a letter by the hand of the Confessor Augendus to S. Cyprian. At the same time Novatus, with a Novatian bishop named Evaristus.
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202 Lives of tliv Saints. [Scpt
went to Africa to make another attempt in favour of No- vatian.
The departure of the mischief-making Novatus from Rome made itself felt at once. The priests, confessors under persecution, who had attached themselves to Nova- tian, reconciled themselves with Cornelius. They made the declaration of their adhesion to him before the Church in these words : — " We recognise that Cornelius is a bishop of the very-holy Catholic Church, by the choice of Almighty God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord. We have been imposed upon by captious speeches ; and, though outwardly we were in communion with a schismatic and heretic, our hearts clave ever sincerely to the Church. For we are not ignorant that there is one God, one Lord, Jesus Christ, whom we have confessed, one Holy Ghost, and one bishop."
Decius died in 251, and was succeeded by Gallus. Persecution did not cease with the death of Decius. Cornelius was banished to Centumcellse, the modern Civita Vecchia, and died in exile. His intrepidity, his glorious confession, was admitted by all. A detailed account of his martyrdom was written in the yth century, but it is fabulous. The words of S. Cyprian hardly assert that he died a violent death, though it is not improbable that he ended his brief reign by the sword. When the Church returned from banishment, it was under a new bishop — Lucius.
The body ol S. Cornelius was translated to the catacomb of S. Callixtus, and a church built over it by Pope Adrian I. in the 8th century. It was thence translated to France by Charles the Bald, in a.d. 877, and placed at Compiegne ; some fragments of the body are at Cornelis-Munster, near Aixda-Chapelle ; others at R onsen, in Brabant ; others at Ninove, in Flanders ; at Hem and Engloz ; at Treves, and Spoleto, and Padua.
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sept. .4-) S- Cyprian. 203
S. CYPRIAN, B.M. (a.d. 258.)
The Ancient Roman Martyrology published by Bucherius. The Sacra- mentaries of Leo I., Gelasius II., and Gregory I. The Roman and most Latin Martyrologies. York, Sarum, and Hereford. But though com- memorated this day, the observance of the festival is transferred in the Modern Roman Martyrology to Sept. 16. In the Anglican Reformed Kalendar it is transferred to Sept. 26 ; in both because Sept. 14 is the Exal- tation of the Cross. Authorities : — His own Letters, a biography by his deacon, Pontus ; the Proconsular Acts, published by Ruinart, Eusebius, S. Jerome in his Eccl. Writers.1]
Thascius Cyprian was of Punic race, born probably at Carthage. The greater part of his life he spent as a heathen, teaching rhetoric in Carthage, remarkable for his eloquence and learning, his integrity, and his morality.
He was already advanced in life when he made acquain- tance with Csecilian, a venerable Christian priest, and from him learned the great verities of the Faith. A new light broke in on his soul, and filled him with uneasiness.
" I lay," says he, in his book addressed to Donatus, " in darkness ; I floated on the stormy sea, a stranger to the light and uncertain where to plant my feet. I then thought that what I was told of the new life was hard and imprac- ticable— that a man should be born again, and, casting oft his former self, while his bodily nature remained the same, become in soul and disposition another man. How, said I, can such a change be possible ? Entangled in the many errors of my earlier life, from which I could see no de- liverance, I abandoned myself to my besetting sins, and, despairing of amendment, nurtured the evil within me as if it belonged to my nature. But when, after the stains of my former life had been washed away in the laver of regenera-
1 There is an oration by S. Gregory Nazianzen on S. Cyprian ; but it makes a sad jumble of the Cyprian of Carthage, and another Cyprian, a necromancer of fable, lor whose legend see Sept. 26.
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204 Lives of the Saints.
ISept. 14.
tion, light from on high was shed abroad on a heart now freed from guilt, made clear and pure ; when I breathed the breath of heaven, and was changed into a new man by second birth, then did that which before appeared so doubt- ful become most evident. That lay open which before was shut, that was light which before was darkness, that became easy which before was impracticable, so that I could under- stand how it was that, being born in the flesh, I had lived subject to sin, leading a worldly life ; whereas the life I now 1 >egan to live was the commencement of a life proceeding from God, and quickened by the Holy Spirit."
The priest who had been the means of bringing Cyprian to the knowledge of the truth died, and in dying com- mended to the care of his disciple his wife and children. Cyprian, at the font, took on him, in addition to his former names of Thascius and Cyprian, the name of his guide, Caxilius.
Interpreting literally the words of our Lord, " If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor," he sold the two landed estates that he possessed in order to fulfil this requisition, and distributed the proceeds among the poor.1
The devout zeal which so brightly shone forth in him even whilst a neophyte gained for him, in a great measure, the love and esteem of the community. He became almost at once a noted man in the African Church. He devoted himself to the study of Tertullian. When he called for the volumes, he was wont to say, " Reach hither my master !" He wrote a treatise to Donatus on the Contempt of the World, and another on the Vanity of Idols.
Soon after his baptism he was, in a.d. 247, contrary to the letter of the law, raised by the votes of the Christian
1 His garden was probably soon restored to him by the affection of his (lock, as »e may gather from some woids of Pontius.
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community to the dignity of the priesthood, and as early as the next year placed at the head of the Church as bishop. The people surrounded his house in order to compel him to accept the episcopal dignity, and to guard all the avenues lest he should attempt to escape.
But this very circumstance, that he had been raised to this high station by the enthusiastic love of the Church, contributed from the first to the formation of a party against him, at the head of which were five priests. Of these, some, perhaps, had themselves claims to the episcopal office, and consequently regarded with jealous eyes the neophyte who had been promoted over the heads of those who had grown grey in the service of the Church. They might also he influenced by other motives now unknown. Cyprian was well aware of the difficulties of the position he was about to assume. When he shrank from accepting the chief pastoral office, its whole weight and responsibility stood clearly before him — however attractive, on the other hand, it must have appeared to a man of his peculiar bent and talent for government to be placed at the head of the Church. We here discover the first ground and germ of the ensuing controversies. The five priests, with their followers, proceeded to contest the episcopal authority of Cyprian. They seem to have been priests at the head of separate churches in Carthage or its neighbourhood ; and they ventured, in defiance of the bishop, whom they hated, to take several independent proceedings in the management of their daughter and subordinate churches ; or, at any rate, such measures as Cyprian, from the principles which he maintained of the rights of a bishop, might well consider as infringements of the bishop's rights. One of them, the restless firebrand Novatus, without authority from the bishop, whom he would not recognise, ordained as deacon of his own church one of his followers, Felicissimus. This
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206 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
was a gross act of schism, an encroachment on the epis- copal powers, which could not be passed over. He had arrogated to himself a power to confer orders never given to him. Yet Cyprian proceeded with the utmost patience and forbearance. To his conduct in this matter Pontius probably refers, when he exclaims, " With what lightness, with what patience, with what kindness, did he deal ! How generously did he forgive, counting those who opposed him afterwards amongst his dearest and closest friends, to the wonder of all !"
The outbreak of the Decian persecution, instead nl quenching the smouldering fire of discord, fanned it into a blaze. One of the first to suffer was the Roman Pontiff, Fabian. Several of the bishops withdrew from theii churches till the first tempest of persecution should be over. This course might seem an act of weakness, if they had been impelled to it by a fear of death ; but they were probably actuated by loftier motives.
The hatred of the Emperor directed itself especially against the bishops, and as the presence of these prelates served only to exasperate the heathen, they, perhaps, looked on it as a duty to contribute, by their temporary absence, to the peace of their flocks. Cyprian was one of these ; his conduct did not escape censure. His Liter conduct shows that he was not deficient in courage; and the frank- ness and serenity with which lie explains his conduct, in a letter to the Roman Church, are sufficient to exonerate him from all blame.
"At the first beginning of the troubles," he writes, " when, with furious outcries, the people had repeatedly demanded my death, I withdrew for a time, not so much out of regard for my own safety as for the public peace of the brethren, that the tumult might not be increased by my presence, which was so offensive to the heathen."
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This conduct was in accordance with the principles on which, in similar cases, he recommended others to act. " On this account," says he, " our Lord commanded us, in times of persecution, to give way and fly ; He prescribed this rule, and followed it Himself. For as the martyr's crown comes from the grace of God, and cannot be gained if the appointed hour has not arrived, he who withdraws foi a season, while he still remains true to Christ, denies not the faith, but abides his time."
There was, unquestionably, a difference between the case of Christians generally and of one who had the pastoral care of souls. But Cyprian neglected none of these obliga tions. He could truly say that, although absent in the body, yet in spirit he was constantly present with his flock, and by counsel and act endeavoured to guide them accord- ing to the precepts of his Lord.1
From his retirement he maintained a constant corre- spondence with his people by means of certain ecclesiastics. The letters which he thus sent show how truly he could say this of himself ; how vigilantly he laboured to maintain the discipline and order of his church, and in every way to provide both for the wants of the poor, who were hindered by persecution from pursuing their ordinary employments, and for the relief of such as were confessing Christ in prison. The same principles of Christian prudence which moved him to avoid a momentary danger were also main- tained in his exhortations to his flock, in which, while he exhorted them to Christian courage and constancy, he warned them against all fanatical extravagance. "I beg of you," he writes to his clergy,* "to be slack neither in pru- dence nor care for the preservation of quiet ; and if, through love, our brethren are anxious to visit those worthy con- fessors whom divine grace has already honoured by a
1 Ep. xiv. s Ep. iv.
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glorious beginning, let it at all events be done circum- spectly, and not in crowds, lest the suspicion of the heathen should be excited, and so all access to them should be prohibited, and, in our eagerness for too much, we should lose the whole. Be careful, then, for the greater safety, to manage this matter with due moderation. In administering the Holy Eucharist to the prisoners in their dungeon, let the priests, as well as the deacons who assist, do so in rotation ; for, by such a change of persons and of visitors, we shall best avoid exciting the suspicions of our oppressors. Indeed, we must in all things, as becomes the servants of God, meekly and humbly accommodate ourselves to the times, and labour to preserve peace and the welfare of the people." He advised his church to regard the persecution as a call to prayer. " Let each of us," he says,1 " pray to God, not for himself only, but for all the brethren, according to the form which our Lord has given us, where we are taught to pray, not as individuals for ourselves alone, but, as a common brotherhood, for all. When the Lord shall see us humble and peaceable, united among ourselves, and made better by our present sufferings, He will deliver us from the persecutions of our enemies."
The withdrawal of Cyprian to a place of safety on the breaking out of persecution, wise and in accordance with the Lord's command, as it was, served as a handle for the faction jealous of his authority in Carthage. It was a step which admitted of being differently interpreted, and his enemies were not slow to place it in the worst light, and to accuse him of deserting his pastoral duties under the in- fluence of a degrading cowardice.
The party opposed to Cyprian had many opportunities, arising out of the persecution, of increasing in numbers and influence. During the persecution, many who, either
1 F.p. vii. * *
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sept. 14.] ■$"• Cyprian. 209
from fear or violence, had been driven to violate the duties of confessors of the faith, had been excluded from the com- munion of the Church. Most of these, however, were afterwards seized with compunctions of remorse, and longed to be restored to the fellowship of the brethren, and to the privilege of sacramental communion with the Lord. The question now arose, Ought their wishes to be forthwith complied with? — or, Should their petition be absolutely rejected?
Before the Decian persecution had begun to rage, Cyprian, looking at the question in the abstract, had been inclined to the stern view that such as had denied Christ should for ever remain outside of the pale of the visible Church.1 But when he was brought face to face with the question as a practical one, and saw the agony ot con- trition— the broken and contrite hearts bewailing their transient weakness — he could not but feel that the blood of Jesus Christ must reach and heal these, and that to them the privileges of the Church should be only so far refused as was necessary for the maintenance of a high moral and chivalrous tone of feeling towards the profession of a Christian. If the cords of discipline were too far relaxed, all fear of the consequences of apostasy would be removed ; if too far tightened, the lapsed would fall into despair. It was necessary to maintain a wise prudence in dealing with this sort of cases.
The paternal heart of S. Cyprian revolted at the thought of the perpetual exclusion of the fallen, but he dared not act independently of other bishops. In this state of in- decision, he gave it as his opinion that the lapsed were not to be shunned, but to be exhorted to repentance ; and that the final decision on each separate case must be reserved
1 " To him who has sinned against God, no forgiveness can he granted in the Church," De testimoniis, iii. 28.
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to the time when, with the restoration of tranquillity, the bishops and clergy would be able to investigate the cases. There was a great variety in the offences of the fallen brethren. Some, merely to avoid the sacrifice of their worldly possessions, had without a struggle even hastened to the altats of the gods; while others had fallen through ignorance or under force of torture. The disorders of the time made it impossible to examine carefully into the several offences and the difference of moral character in individuals. Moreover, those that had fallen must, in the mean time, by giving practical proof of their penitence, render themselves worthy of readmission to the com- munion of the Church.
But here was an opportunity for the faction opposed to Cyprian. They espoused the cause of the lapsed, and instead of exhorting them to peace and submission, in obedience to the wishes of the bishop, they encouraged them in their importunate demands, and availed themselves of the occasion for fomenting the division in the Cartha- ginian Church.
The question of the lapsed was further complicated by the action of the martyrs. It was customary at first for the faithful to beseech the prayers of those who were hastening io their crown, when they stood in the presence of their Lord. The lapsed also crowded round them, on their way to martyrdom, and besought their intercession, not only with the Lord in Heaven, but also with the earthly bishop, to obtain for them speedy reconciliation with the Church, and restoration to communion. Such intercession rarely failed to be listened to with respect, and to gain a ready consent. Many fallen Christians, at the prayer of the martyrs, were restored to their full Christian privileges. But the custom grew into an abuse. The martyrs began to urge their demands, not as a privilege, but as a right ; not to ask for
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absolution for penitents, but to exercise it ; not to request their readmission to the communion of the Church, but to pronounce it authoritatively.
The poet Commodian thought it necessary to remind the martyrs that even their sufferings could not expiate sin. The bishops were often placed in no slight embarrassment by the peremptory declarations of the martyrs, " Let such an one, together with his, be received back again to the communion of the Church" — an expression admitting of interpretations and applications without limit. Thousands of these " letters of peace" were daily given by the confes- sors, without any examination as to whether the recipients deserved them, as Cyprian informs us.1 Many of the clergy, who, as Cyprian exhorted them, ought to have set the martyrs and confessors right on this matter, encouraged them in their delusion, using them as tools in their machi- nations against the bishop. Those who applied these in definite declarations to themselves, now boasted that the confessors or martyrs had granted them absolution, and would hear of no delay in their reception to communion, would submit to no trial of their conduct, would listen to no exhortations to penitence. Tertullian, at the close of the 2nd century, had seen the mischief to morals wrought by this practice, and he intimated that many were made to feel secure in their sins by these "letters of peace," so inconsiderately showered on them by the confessors.2
S. Cyprian, by his opposition to this growing abuse, rendered himself obnoxious to both confessors and the lapsed. When a certain confessor, Lucian, " in the name of Paul, a martyr " — in obedience to whose last injunctions he professed to be acting — bestowed restorations to commu- nion on the fallen brethren, Cyprian refused to acknowledge ' his certificates of church-membership. He wrote, " Although
1 Ep. xL * De pudicitia, c. 22.
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212 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
our Lord has commanded that all nations should be bap- tized, and receive remission of their sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, yet this man, in igno- rance of the divine law, proclaims peace and forgiveness of sins in the name of Paul ; he forgets that the Gospel makes the martyrs, and not the martyrs the Gospel."1 To the same purpose did he express himself in a discourse uttered by him on his return to Cartilage \ " Let no man deceive himself, the Lord alone can show mercy. He alone can pardon the sins which are committed against Himself, who bore our sins ; who suffered for us ; and whom God delivered up for our offences. The servant may not forgive the sins that have been committed against his Master, lest the offender contract additional guilt by being unmindful of what is written — ' Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man' (Jer. xvii. 5). We must pray to the Lord, who has said that He will deny those that deny Him, who alone has received all judgment from the Father. Do the martyrs wish anything? What they wish must be written in the law of the Lord ; we must know, first of all, that they have obtained from God what they wish, and then only can we do what they require ; for it by no means follows, as a matter of course, that the Divine Majesty will grant what a man has promised. Either then the martyrs are nothing, if the Gospel can be made void ; or if the Gospel cannot be made void, then they have no authority to act against the Gospel, who by its means become martyrs. That man whose faith and hope and power and glory are in Christ only, can neither say nor do anything against Christ." But Cyprian, with that wonderful patience and moderation which characterized all his conduct, took no exaggerated line in this matter. He was the last to deny to the martyrs their just meed of honour, and was ready to grant their
' Ep. xxii. * Sermo de Lapsis.
SePt.x4j S- Cyprian. 213
petitions when they did not conduce to disorganiza- tion of moral discipline. When the summer heat of an African climate produced many cases of sickness, he granted absolution to those of the lapsed who in sickness and the fear of death desired communion, and who supported their demand by certificates given them by confessors to the Faith.1
In his report to the Roman Church, he assigns, as his reason for so doing, his wish, by a compliance in this particular, to assuage, in some measure, the violence of his opponents, and to relieve himself from the obloquy of refusing to the martyrs due honour and respect. And, also, it was his desire to follow the practice of the Roman Church, with which he had no wish to be at variance.*
So, by Christian prudence in his conduct, by contriving to unite mildness with energy ; by his paternal, friendly representations, whereby he won over the better disposed among the confessors ; by the firmness wherewith he with- stood the obstinate opposition of the insubordinate priests, by the love and esteem in which he was held by the majority of the Church, Cyprian seemed to have succeeded in restor- ing tranquillity to Carthage ; and he was rejoicing in the hope that, as the fury of the Decian persecution began to abate, he might be able to return to his church and celebrate amidst his flock the Easter festival of a.d. 251. But ere his hopes could be realized, discord broke out again more fiercely, and his opponents assumed an attitude more im- practicable than heretofore. The occasion for this out- break was found in an order given by Cyprian for the distribution of the alms of the Church.
Before his return to Carthage he sent two bishops and two priests as his deputies, with full power to hold a visita- tion. To such of the poor as from age or sickness could
1 Ep. xii., xiii., xiv. 8 Ep. xiv. " Standum putavi et cum vestra sententia, rie actus noster, qui aduna- tua esbe et cousentire circa omnia debet, in aliquo discreparet."
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do nothing for their own support, they were to assign so much out of the Church-<shest as might be necessary for the supply of their bodily wants. To those who, having a trade, were unable to gain from it enough for their subsistence, or who wanted money to purchase the tools and stock necessary, or who, having been ruined in their business by the persecu- tion, now wished to commence it again, they were to make grants as might appear advisable in the several cases.
Finally, they were to draw up a list of all the poor who were to be supported out of the Church funds, distinguishing their ages and their behaviour during the persecution, in order that the bishop might promote the worthy, especially thuse of a meek and humble spirit, to such offices in the Church as they might be qualified to fill.
The party opposed to S. Cyprian took occasion at the visitation to excite a general and determined spirit of oppo- sition. At the head of this opposition stood Felicissimus, the Deacon of Novatus. The deacons were the dispensers of the Church funds. He announced to the poor of the church in which Novatus ministered as priest, that he would contrive without fail to provide them money for their wants, and stirred them up to resist the inquisition made into their conduct and necessities by the visitors commissioned by the bishop. If they dared to appear before the commissioners, they were to be cut off from all benefits, temporal and spiritual, which could accrue to them by maintaining their connexion with the church of Novatus. This church became also the general resort of all the lapsed who wished to re-enter the communion of the Church without irksome delay and in- convenient investigation into their conduct. There, without any previous preparation, they were at once admitted to the Holy Communion, and all the wise precautions and rules against hasty reception of the fallen laid down by Cyprian were openly and defiantly flouted.
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It was these troubles which induced S. Cyprian to defer his return to Carthage until after the Easter of a.d. 251. He chose this particular moment because he could reckon on the other bishops of North Africa being at that time as- sembled there for the annual synod. He had been absent from February a.d. 250, to April or May, a.d. 251. The council was composed of a great number of African bishops, and some priests and deacons. It excommunicated Felicis- simus and the five priests, after having given them a patient hearing. At the same time, it formulated a series of decrees on the treatment of the lapsed, which were collected into a book, and formed the first Penitentiary that appeared in the Church. Unfortunately it is lost, but S. Cyprian has informed us of its principal dispositions in his 32nd letter. In the first place, the different circumstances of the offences of the fallen brethren were to be carefully investigated, and in cases of sickness and the approach of death, they were all to be communicated, even those who had sacrificed not being excluded from the mercy and forgiveness of the Church. Should such persons recover, they were not to be deprived of the privilege they had obtained by the grace of God, but were to remain in the fellowship of the Church. Afterwards, when the persecution was renewed with in- creased violence, a further indulgence, prompted by Christian charity, was conceded. The communion of Christ's Body and Blood was granted to all who had given evidence by their conduct of true, heartfelt repentance.
They, on the other hand, who had not given the least evidence of sincerity in their repentance, and never ex- pressed a desire till they lay on their deathbeds to receive the blessed Sacrament, were not then to receive it, since it was evidently not sorrow for sin, but the fear of death which prompted the feeling.
The synod, after having made these wise and merciful
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provisions, passed sentence of condemnation on the party of Felicissimus; and thus, by the support of the bishops of North Africa, S. Cyprian succeeded in putting an end to the schism.
Novatus, finding his position uncomfortable at Carthage, went to Rome,1 where, with the facility of an unprincipled and restless stirrer up of strife, he threw himself into a faction directly opposed to that which he had formerly headed, and setting up Novatian as bishop, urged on into open schism those who thought that the Church had accorded pardon to the lapsed on too easy terms.
The story of that schism has been already told, in the life of S. Cornelius, and nothing further need be said on the subject here.
The attention of Decius had been withdrawn from perse- cuting Christians by events of greater political importance — the insurrection in Macedonia, and the Gothic war. And it was in the latter war, towards the close of the year, that he lost his life. The calm in consequence of this event whicli the Christians enjoyed, continued during only a part of the year 252, under the reign of Gallus and Volusianus. A de- structive pestilence spread over the face of the empire, pro- ducing everywhere panic, whilst drought and famine, afflict- ing several provinces, added to the miseries produced by the ravages of the plague, and excited an outburst of popular fury against the Christians.
An imperial edict was put forth enjoining all the subjects of the empire to sacrifice to the gods, in order to obtain deliverance from so grievous a national calamity. Public attention was again arrested by the numbers who withdrew from these solemnities because they were Christians. Hence arose new persecutions, in the hope of increasing the number of sacrifices, and of sustaining the old religion, which was everywhere declining.
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1 He is said by Parian to have fled, fearing lest the council should investigate the harges brought against him of deserting his father and his wife.
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At the same time a fresh schism threatened to vex the Carthaginian Church, or perhaps we may say that the old schism assumed a new front.
In a.d. 240 Privatus, an African bishop, had been deposed by a council of ninety bishops at Carthage, on what ground does not transpire. Privatus presented himself before the council that met at Carthage on the matter of the lapsed, in May, 251, and asked to have his case reheard. This was refused, and Privatus revenged himself by setting up Fortunatus as another rival Bishop of Carthage. For- tunatus was one of the five priests who had from the first shown such determined opposition to Cyprian. In this as- sumption of the episcopal title he was only supported by a very small and extreme party of adherents • but Felicissimus sailed at once for Rome, and reported that twenty-five bishops had assisted in the consecration of Fortunatus. The Pope and the clergy of Rome, however, refused to have any communication with him ; but at the same time Corne- lius wrote to Cyprian, rather complaining that the latter had sent no official information of the election of Fortunatus. There seems no reason why Cyprian should have done so ; but if he had been inclined, he was, perhaps, prevented by attempts which were now making at Carthage to renew the persecution. In the answer which he wrote to Cornelius, he speaks of the populace again demanding that he should be thrown to the lions ; but with respect to the election of Fortunatus, he gently rebukes Cornelius for having paid any attention to idle rumours.
Cornelius lived to receive only one more letter from Cyprian, and then obtained the crown of martyrdom. His successor was Lucius, who was forced to leave Rome almost as soon as he was elected ; but he returned before the end of the year, and received a letter of congratulation from Cyprian.
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The Bishop of Carthage did not, on this occasion, leave his city, but contrived to remain there and preserve his life, though almost every day brought news of some of his clergy being arrested or martyred. His attention to the spiritual and temporal wants of his flock was unceasing. Wherever Christians were suffering, there was his hand ready to com- fort and console. An incursion of barbarians had carried off a great number of prisoners in Numidia, and Cyprian laboured to raise for their ransom a subscription which amounted to about 3000?.1
Gallus was assassinated in a.d. 253, and with his death and the accession to the purple of Valerian peace was restored to the Christians throughout the empire. S. Cyprian had now a splendid opportunity of Christian revenge upon the city that had thirsted for his blood. The plague that had been devastating other portions of the empire broke out at Carthage with singular virulence.
It spread from house to house, especially those of the lower orders, with awful regularity. The streets were strewn with the bodies of the dead and the dying, who vainly ap- pealed to the laws of nature and humanity for that assistance to which those who passed them by might soon stand in need. General distrust spread through society. Men avoided or exposed their nearest relatives ; as if, by exclud- ing the dying, they could exclude death. No one, says the Deacon Pontius, writing of the population of Carthage in general, did as he would be done by. Cyprian addressed the Christians in the most earnest and effective language. He exhorted them to show the sincerity of their faith in the doctrine of their Master, not by confining their acts of kindliness to their own brotherhood, but by extending them indiscriminately to their enemies. The city was divided into districts ; offices were assigned to all the Christians ;
* " Sestertia centum millU." * *
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the rich lavished their wealth, the poor their personal exertion ; and men, perhaps just emerged from the mine or the prison, with the scars or mutilations of their recent tortures upon their bodies, were seen exposing their lives, if possible, to a more honourable martyrdom ; as before the voluntary Victims of Christian faith, so now of Christian charity.
The Emperor Valerian, in the first year of his reign, treated the Christians with unusual clemency ; but the increase in their numbers and influence filled him, after awhile, with alarm, and in A.D. 257, after the Church had enjoyed four years of tranquillity, he suffered himself to be persuaded into a change of measures towards them. But at first he sought to avoid the effusion of blood ; he gave orders merely that the bishops and clergy should be exiled, and the assembly of congregations be prohibited.
S. Cyprian was at once (August 30) summoned before the tribunal of the proconsul, Aspasius Paternus, and was thus addressed : —
"The most sacred Emperors, Valerian and Gallienus, have done me the honour to command me by their letter, that I oblige all who follow not the Roman worship imme- diately to conform to it. What is your name and quality?" Cyprian said : " I am a Christian and a bishop. I know no other gods besides the one true God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that is therein. This God we Christians serve; his mercies we implore both day and night for ourselves, for all men, and for the safety of these very Emperors." When the proconsul further asked him if he persevered in that resolution, he replied that, " A purpose so well founded, and a will which hath once devoted itself to God, can never be altered." The proconsul said : " Go then into banishment to the city Curubis." The martyr answered : " I will go." The proconsul said : " The Emperors have done me the honour to write to me to find
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out not only bishops but also priests, I would therefore knuw what priests live in this city." Cyprian answered : " The Roman laws wisely forbid us to become informers ; and I cannot discover them. But they may be found at home." The proconsul said : " I will find them." He added : "I have orders also to forbid the holding of your assemblies in any place, or entering into the cemeteries. Whoever observes not this wholesome ordinance, shall be put to death." To which Cyprian made answered: "Then obey your orders."
The proconsul having commanded that he should be banished to Curubis, the saint arrived there on the 13th or 1 4th of September. Curubis was a small town fifty miles from Carthage, situated on a peninsula upon the coast of the Libyan sea, not far from Pentapolis.
He remained some time in this pleasant retreat rather than place of exile, in a villa shaded by verdant groves, and with a clear and healthful stream of water rippling past his door. It was provided with every comfort, and even luxury, in which the austere nature of Cyprian would permit itself to indulge.
A question now arose which somewhat interrupted that unanimity between S. Cyprian and the Roman pontiff, which had been so conspicuous in the Novatian controversy. In a council held at Carthage, about a.d. 215, and another held at Iconium about a.d. 231, it had been decided against the validity of baptism administered by heretics. From some cause or other which is not explained, S. Stephen, Bishop of Rome, had rather an angry controversy with some of the Asiatic bishops upon this point. S. Firmilian, Bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia, and Helenus, Bishop of Tarsus, sent some bishops to Rome to consult Stephen on the subject, and bring about unity of practice. But Stephen maintained the validity of heretical baptism, and would not
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even admit the bishops to an interview, nor offer them common hospitality. He also threatened to cut off com- munion with the Churches of Asia. This called forth an indignant reproof from S. Firmilian. This disagreement probably happened in the year 254, and Stephen was soon brought in contact with opponents nearer home. Eighteen bishops in Numidia consulted S. Cyprian on the propriety of rebaptizing persons who had been baptized by heretics or schismatics. A council of thirty-one bishops was then sitting at Carthage, and Cyprian wrote in their name, asserting the necessity of baptism being administered in such cases. A Mauritanian bishop, named Quintus, gave him an oppor- tunity of writing a second letter, in which he justified the practice, not only from ancient custom, but from the nature of the sacrament itself; and there are expressions in his letter which seem to allude to the Bishop of Rome maintain ing a contrary opinion.
Not long after, perhaps at the beginning of the year 256, another council was held at Carthage, which was attended by seventy bishops from Africa and Numidia. Among other matters, the validity of baptisms administered by heretics was again considered ; and again the council decided that they were not valid.
S. Cyprian then wrote to S. Stephen, communicating to him the decision of the African Church. His letter was mild and conciliatory. He did not pretend to be ignorant that Stephen's mind was made up, and that he would be un- willing to relinquish impressions which he had once imbibed : but he observed that this need not cause a dissolution of concord and amity. He disclaimed any wish to dictate to Stephen the conduct which the Pope should adopt, but, at the same time, he asserted that it was the right of each bishop to make rules for his own Church, for which he was immediately responsible to God. That S. Cyprian was
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222 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
sincere in these professions of moderation may be judged from what he says in a letter written shortly after to Jubaianus, an African bishop, in which he defends at some length his own opinions, but gives to every bishop the right of acting for himself.
It is to be regretted that Stephen did not meet these advances in a spirit of charity. He spoke strongly on the other side, for he felt strongly. In his Church it had never been the custom to rebaptize persons who came over from heresy. The Church of Rome, on this point, differed from the African and the Eastern Churches ; which is, perhaps, to be accounted for, because heresy had been much less frequent at Rome than elsewhere. Even at the end of the 4th century, we find it stated that no heresy had taken its rise in Rome ;l and therefore the cases which led to the present controversy were less likely to have occurred there than in the East. Nothing, however, could justify Stephen for defending his opinion with such intemperate warmth. He repulsed the messengers of the African council, and others who came upon the same subject from some Churches in Asia Minor. He even threatened to exclude them from communion with the Church of Rome. The letter, which he wrote at that time, and which has not some down to us, appears to have been very intemperate. He called those who maintained an opposite opinion — that is, all the bishops of Asia and Africa — perverters of the truth and traitors to ecclesiastical unity.
S. Cyprian made no reply personally to Stephen, but he speaks strongly of his letter in some epistles which he wrote at this time to persons who consulted him on this question. The threat of excommunication drew from him the severe remark, that the person who uttered it was a friend of heretics and an enemy to Christians.2
1 Ruffinu , in Symbol. 3. ' Ep. Lxjtiw.
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Sept. 14.)
S. Cyprian. 223
Cyprian, however, never lost sight of his love of unity. He sent one of his deacons into Cappadocia, who was to deliver copies of his letters to S. Firmilian ; and, although two councils had already assembled at Carthage, and the question had been unanimously decided, he convened another, and still larger, council in the autumn of 256, which was attended by eighty-seven bishops from Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania, besides other clergy, and a large body of laity. The proceedings were opened by Cyprian calling upon each of the bishops to deliver his opinion singly, while as a body they judged no one who differed from them, nor thought of excluding them from communion. " For," said he, " none of us makes himself a bishop of bishops, or tries tyrannically to frighten his colleagues into the necessity of obeying, since every bishop, in virtue of his own -liberty and power, is master of his own will, and is as incapable of being judged by another, as he is of judging him himself; but let us wait for the universal judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has the power of putting us over the government of His Church, and of judging us for our actions." The council was unanimous in confirming the former decisions. We do not know whether any further communication was held with Stephen upon this subject ; but before the end of the year, the deacon, who had been sent into Cappadocia, returned with a letter from S. Firmilian, in which he professed his entire agreement with S. Cyprian and the African Church, and commented in no measured terms on the letter of Stephen.
Considerations of personal danger were likely now to put an end to religious controversy. Cyprian, as has been already related, was sent into exile, and in the month of August, a.d. 257, Stephen fell a victim to the persecution which broke out.
The banishment of Cyprian was followed by the trial of
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224 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 14.
numbers of his flock. Not only bishops and priests, but multitudes of the common people, even young women and children, were brought before the tribunal of the pro- consul for their religion. The Emperor had not yet given orders for capital punishment to be inflicted ; but these innocent persons were beaten, imprisoned, and sent to the mines in distant parts of Africa. Many of Cyprian's col- leagues, bishops and clergy, were forced to work at this arduous and unwholesome labour ; but Cyprian, probably on account of his rank and abilities, which were generally recognised, was treated with less indignity. His deacon Pontius attended him, his friends were not prohibited from visiting him; and he was able to send, not only letters, but money, to the Christians who were working in the mines. His banishment at Curubis lasted for more than a twelve- month, during which time he had opportunities of preaching to large congregations attracted to his place of retreat. In a.o. 258 appeared a more bloody edict than the former, by Valerian. It ordered that bishops, priests, and deacons should be punished immediately with death ; but that senators and men of rank, and knights, should be degraded and lose their property, and if they persisted in being Christians, they were to suffer capitally; women were to lose their property and be sent into banishment. A letter of S. Cyprian's is extant, which he wrote upon receiving news of this imperial decree. He was now in daily ex- pectation of his end. Galerius Maximus had succeeded Paternus as proconsul, and S. Cyprian was removed from Curubis to a place near Carthage, which was once his own property. It was whilst there that he heard that he was to be conveyed to Utica, there to receive the sentence of the proconsul, who happened to be temporarily residing at that place. It was his wish, however, like a faithful shepherd, to give his last testimony, by word and by suffer-
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sept. 14.] ^ Cyprian. 225
ing, in the presence of his flock ; he therefore yielded to the entreaties of his friends, and withdrew awhile, until the proconsul should reLirn. From the place of his conceal- ment he addressed his last letter to his flock.1
" I allowed myself," he says, " to be persuaded to retire for a time, because it is fitting that a bishop should confess the Lord in the place where he is set over the Church of the Lord, so that the whole Church may be honoured by the confession of their bishop. For whatsoever the con- fessing bishop utters in the moment of confession, by the guidance of the Divine Spirit, is the utterance of all. Let me, then, in this secret retirement, await the return of the pro- consul to Carthage, that I may learn from him the decree of the Emperor with regard to both the laity and the bishops among the Christians, and may speak in that hour as the Lord may give me utterance. But do you, my dearest brethren, agreeably to the precepts which I have taught you, study to preserve quiet. Let no one lead the brethren on to tumultuous proceedings, or give himself up volun- tarily to the heathen. The only time for any one to speak is when he has been apprehended ; in that hour, the Lord, who dwelleth in us, speaks by our lips."
At length the proconsul returned to Carthage, and then Cyprian showed himself walking amidst the flowers of his garden, and was at once arrested. The officers sent to take him put him in a chariot betwixt them, and carried him to a country seat where the proconsul, who was very ill, was staying. Galerius Maximus was not able to see him that day, on account of his health, and the bishop was con- ducted to the house of the chief officer who had appre- hended him, in the street of Saturn at Carthage.
When the news of the arrest of Cyprian spread, the city poured its inhabitants into the streets; even the pagans
1 Ep. lxxxiii. VOL. X. 15
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226 Lives of the Saints. fS
gathered and swelled the crowd that came to do honour to the heroic bishop who had so undauntedly braved the pestilence to minister to their sick and dying, whose virtues, patience, whose noble bearing and beautiful expression of countenance, to which Pontius bears witness, had impressed them with reverence and love.
All night long the dense crowd blocked the street of Saturn and the adjoining streets of Venus and Salus ; their murmurs, and the occasional burst of hymn, were heard in the room where Cyprian and his friends supped. The officers treated him with the utmost courtesy, and denied admittance to no one whom he wished to see, nor put more restraint on his freedom than was consistent with their duty to prevent escape.
Next morning the bishop was conducted by a strong guard to the court of the proconsul. Galerius, whose ill- ness was increasing, was not as yet arrived. Leave was therefore given to S. Cyprian to go out of the crowd into a private apartment, and a seat was offered him, accidentally covered with a linen cloth, as it were a symbol of his episcopal dignity, says the deacon Pontius. One of the guards, who had been a Christian, seeing he was hot and tired by the walk and crowd, courteously offered him a change of dry linen for his body ; but Cyprian gently declined the courtesy : " There is no need for me tem- porarily to relieve an inconvenience from which this day I shall be wholly freed."
By this time the proconsul had taken his seat, and Cyprian was brought before him. Galerius was worn with pain, and spoke with difficulty. The court was a sea of heads. The examination was very brief: — "Art thou Thascius Cyprian, the bishop of so many impious men? The most sacred Emperor commands thee to sacrifice."
Cyprian answered, " I will not sacrifice."
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Sept. 14.]
6". Cyprian. 227
" Consider well," rejoined the proconsul.
"Execute your orders," answered Cyprian; "the case admits of no consideration."
Galerius consulted with his council, and then, speaking with difficulty,1 delivered his sentence. " Thascius Cyprian, thou hast lived long in thy impiety, and assembled about thee many men involved in the same wicked conspiracy. Thou hast shown thyself an enemy alike to the gods and the laws of the empire ; the pious and sacred Plmperors have in vain endeavoured to recall thee to the worship of thy ancestors. Since, then, thou hast been the chief author and leader of these guilty practices, thou shalt be an example to those whom thou hast deluded to thy unlawful assemblies. Thou must expiate thy crime with thy blood."
Cyprian said, " God be thanked !"
The whole court, crowded with Christians, resounded with the roar, " Let us die with him !"
When the martyr went out of the court a great number of soldiers attended him, marching on either side, to keep off the people. They led him into the open country to a plain, studded with trees, up which men swarmed in their eagerness to see the last of their bishop. It was September the 14th, a clear day, the autumn sun burning in a cloud- less sky over head, the deep dark blue of the Mediter- ranean lining the northern horizon.
S. Cyprian, on reaching the appointed spot, took off his mantle, fell on his knees, and prayed. Then he divested himself of his dalmatic, and remained kneeling in a long white linen garment, awaiting the stroke of the executioner. He bound the napkin round his own eyes, and extended his hands to a priest and deacon to tie. The Christians spread before him napkins to receive his body when he
1 " Vix segre," no doubt on account of his bad health ; it may, however, mean " reluctantly." But Galerius died of his sickness a few days after.
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228 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ^
fell, that they might be sprinkled with the blood of so great a martyr. The sword flashed, his white head fell, and the body bowed forward, and was prostrate on the cloths. The faithful took up the corpse, and in the night buried it with great solemnity on the Mappalian way.
Two churches were afterwards erected to his memory, one on the place of his burial, called the Mappalia, the other on the place of his martyrdom, called Mensa Cypriana, the table of Cyprian, because there, as in sacrifice, he had offered his life to God.
In the Liberian Kalendar, and in the early Roman one, the festival of S. Cyprian was celebrated on the 14th September, the day of his death ; but from the fifth century it has been generally observed along with that of S. Cor- nelius on the 1 6th September.
Some ambassadors of Charlemagne, passing through Car- thage, opened the tomb of the Saint and carried off his relics to France, and they were deposited at Aries, in a.d. 806. Charles the Bald removed them to Compiegne, and placed them beside those of S. Cornelius.
SS. CRESCENTIANUS AND OTHERS, MM. (a.d. 258.)
[Ado, Notker, and Modern Roman Martyrology.]
Crescentianus, Victor, Rosula, and Generalis were four African Christians who suffered the same day, perhaps at Carthage, in the persecution of Valerian. S. Cyprian suf- fered on this day, and his greater glory has eclipsed these lesser lights ; nevertheless, though their acts have not been preserved, their names are remembered in the Church as witnesses to Christ.
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Sept I4j •S- Crescentius. 229
S. CRESCENTIUS, M.
(BEGINNING OF 4TH CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority : — The untrustworthy Acts in the Lessons of the Church of Perugia for this day.]
Euthymius, a Roman citizen, with his wife and only- son, Crescentius, having been baptized secretly at Rome, (led the capital on the breaking out of persecution under Diocletian, and took refuge at Perugia. There Euthymius died. Shortly after, Crescentius and his mother were arrested and brought before the proconsul Turpius ; and Turpius said to the widow : "So you, and your son, and husband, who is dead, have followed Christ !"
She answered : "It is true, we have all three been baptized."
Turpius said : " Apollo is a god, confess that." " No," said Crescentius ; "he is no god, he is a demon." Then the proconsul ordered both to be beaten with rods, and he said, "Blaspheme not;" and ordered them to be kept in separate prisons.
And next morning Crescentius was sent chained to Rome, and was brought before Diocletian and sentenced to lose his head. The boy was then executed, and buried in the catacomb on the Salarian way. The body was given by Pope Stephen IX. to the Bishop of Siena in 1058. Another body of the same martyr was extracted from the same cemetery by Pope Urban VIII., in 1606, and given to the Jesuit Church at Tortosa in Spain.
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230 Lives of the Saints. [Sept M
S. MATERNUS, B. OF TREVES.
(4TH CENT.)
[Ado, Usuardus, Roman, Gallican, and German Martyrologies. The Acts of S. Maternus are wholly apocryphal.]
According to the Lessons for the Office of S. Maternus at Treves, he was the disciple of S. Peter, commissioned by the prince of the apostles to carry the Gospel into Gaul, along with S. Eucharius and S. Valerius. On their way Maternus died. Eucharius and Valerius thereupon returned to Rome, and S. Peter gave them his staff to lay on the body of Maternus. When they came to 111, three miles from Schelestadt, in Alsace, where they had left the body, they reopened the grave, and placed on the corpse the staff of S. Peter ; thereupon Maternus arose, and continued his journey, none the worse for it, to Treves. The grave is shown to the present day, and is the resort of numerous pilgrims, who visit it on the third Saturday after Easter. There are numerous indulgences granted by Popes to those visiting the spot. According to an equally veracious account, Maternus was the son of the widow of Nain. The Bollandist fathers discredit the story of the resurrec- tion of Maternus through the imposition of the staff of S. Peter, because very similar fables are told of other saints, pretended disciples of S. Peter. S. Memmius of Catalonia is said to have been sent by S. Peter into Gaul with S. Dio- nysius, S. Sixtus, S. Sabinian, S. Eucharius, and S. Sinicius. After the party had proceeded on their way some distance, Domitian, subdeacon of Memmius, died. Memmius buried him, and then returned to Rome ; but S. Peter gave him his mantle, and bade him lay it on the body of Domitian. He did so ; the subdeacon arose, and went on into Gaul with the bishop.
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sept. , 4.] S. Mater nus. 231
S. Fronto, Bishop of Perigueux, is likewise said to have been sent into Gaul by the prince of the apostles. After three days' journey, his friend George died ; thereupon he returned to Rome, got the staff of S. Peter, and laid it on George, who straightway rose out of his grave. S. Martial, Bishop of Limoges, also was commissioned by S. Peter to preach in Gaul. On his way his deacon, Austriclinian, died ; Martial went back to Rome in tears ; S. Peter gave him his staff; he laid it on the deacon, and he arose alive and well.1
Sigebeit of Gemblours tells us that in a.d. 953 the staff of S. Peter which revived S. Maternus was solemnly trans- lated to Cologne.
" With what zeal, with what fervour, with what rejoicings, it was brought to Cologne every one knows," says Folcniar in his Life of S. Bruno. Archbishop Warin (a.d. 9S0) sawed the staff in two, and gave half to the church of Treves, where the portion was received also with inexpressi- ble zeal, fervour, and joy.
Thence it was carried in time of troubles to Metz, and what finally became of that portion nobody knows. The ferule of the stick, three inches long, is venerated at Prag, in the church of S. Veit, given in 1354 ; a much longer piece receives religious veneration at Weingarten in Swabia.
There is little reason to doubt that S. Maternus was Bishop of Cologne and Treves in the fourth century, and that it is only the ambition of the churches of Cologne and Treves to claim an apostolic foundation which has elevated Maternus into a disciple of S. Peter, commissioned to build the church there. Maternus was Bishop of Cologne in 313; he is named by Optatus of Milevis in his book on the Donatist schism. The Donatists appealed to Constan-
1 See June 30, p. 466. * "
232 Lives of the Saints. [Se^
tine to let some of the Gallican bishops consult on their case. Constantine, in an epistle which Eusebius has pre- served, bade Reticius of Autun, Maternus of Cologne, and Marinus of Aries proceed to Rome, and take counsel with Pope Miltiades relative to the case of Csecilian of Car- thage.1 The assembly took place in 313 ; nineteen bishops attended ; it met in the Lateran palace, in the apartment of the Empress Faustina, on October 2nd, and lasted three days. Judgment was given in favour of Csecilian ; but the Donatists would not rest satisfied, and complained that the case against him had not been sufficiently gone into at Rome. Constantine therefore ordered the assembly of a council at Aries to investigate the matter thoroughly, and for ever, as he fondly hoped, set a miserable strife at rest.
The council met in a.d. 314. Marinus, as bishop, presided. There were present also Agricius of Treves, Theodore of Aquileja, C»cilian of Carthage, Reticius of Autun, Maternus of Cologne, Restitutus of London, Adelf of Caerleon, and many others.
It is probable that Maternus moved afterwards to Treves, or perhaps ruled both sees for a time together, for he is regarded as bishop of both places, and finds a place in the lists of the bishops of Treves as the third, and of Cologne as the first.
The relics of S. Maternus are shown in the church of S. Paulinus at Treves ; others in the abbey church of S. Matthias ; others at Luxembourg, Cologne, Tongern, Liege, and Maestricht ; others again at Prag ; and a rib in the Escurial.
1 Optat. Milev. De Schis. Donat. lib. i., Euseb., Hist. Eccl. lib. x., c. 5.
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sept. i4.] The Exaltation of the Cross. 233
THE EXALTATION OF THE CROSS. (a.d. 335 and 629.)
[Roman Martyrology, Greek Menaea ; York, Sarum, Hereford, and Anglican Reformed Kalendars.]
The festival of the Exaltation of the Cross is one of especial honour in the Eastern Church, but in the Western is held in inferior regard to that of the Invention of the Cross.
Various origins have been attributed to it. By some it is said to have originated in the Eastern Church in honour of the miraculous apparition of the Cross in the sky to Con- stantine when he was on his way to fight Maxentius ; others think that it was instituted to commemorate the recovery of the cross by Heraclius in a.d. 629. There is, however, evidence that a festival of the Elevation of the Cross was celebrated before the reign of Heraclius. In the Acts of S. Mary of Egypt allusion is made to it.1
Mary of Egypt is generally thought to have lived in the fourth century, but, as has been shown in her life (April 2), it is more probable that she lived in the sixth. According to the Acts of the Patriarch Eutychius (d. a.d. 582), the festival was observed in Constantinople in his time. It is most probable that the festival dates from the dedication ot the church on Calvary in the reign of Constantine.
In the Alexandrine Paschal Chronicle we read : " When Dalmatius and Anicius Paulinus were consuls, the encaenia of the church of the Holy Cross were made by Constantine under Macarius the bishop, on September 17 (a scribe's error for 14), and thence originated the feast of the mani- festation of the Holy Cross" (a.d. 335). The dedication
1 " Hierosolymam omnes contendunt, propter exaltationem S. Crucis, quso intra paucos dies de more celebrabitur."
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234 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 14.
of this church is mentioned by Eusebius.1 Even Sophro- nius, who was patriarch of Jerusalem at the time of Heraclius, speaks of this festival as an ancient one, cele- brated throughout the world, which would acquire fresh splendour through the recovery of the holy relic by the Emperor.8
It has been thought that the festival may be traced in the Western Church to a date earlier than that of Heraclius. It is found in the Sacramentaries of Gelasius and S. Gregory, but we cannot be sure how far these sacramentaries have been left intact. The recovery of the Cross by Heraclius certainly tended to give a wider expansion to the festival, to serve, so to speak, as its reinstitution.
In 614 the Persians, under their king Chosroes, crossed the Jordan, and made themselves masters of Palestine. They treated the Christians with great barbarity, killing men, women, and children, and burning the churches. They carried away the sacred vessels from Jerusalem, and the Cross, which was kept in a richly-jewelled case, and which received such adoring worship from the Christians, that the Persians supposed it was their God. Two of the sacred relics were preserved, the sponge and sacred lance, by Nicetas, a patrician, and were sent to Constantinople, where they were publicly venerated. Another sacred lance was found miraculously at Antioch during the Crusades, when besieged by the infidels, and led to the rout of the Saracens (a.d. 1098).
Heraclius, the Roman Emperor, in vain endeavoured by proposals of peace to recover the inestimable relic, and relieve the sufferings of the Christians. Having married his niece, to the scandal of the clergy, it was necessary for him to divert attention from his moral conduct by splendid
1 Vit. Const, iv. 25. » Orat. in Exalt. S. Crucis. Bibl. Vet. Patr. Colon, t. vil. p. 15a.
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Sept. 14.] The Exaltation of the Cross. 235
achievements in the cause of the Church. Thrice did he with dauntless valour attack the Persians.
In 623 Heraclius began to gain a decided advantage over Chosroes; and finally, in 627, he defeated him in a great battle, and pursued him into Persia. Chosroes, flying before the Emperor — old, racked with sickness, and feeling his inability to cope with the advancing legions — meditated placing the crown on the head of his favourite son, Merdaza. But Shoes, his first-born, at once rose in revolt. Twenty- two satraps were tempted by his promises to join his standard ; to the soldiers he offered an increase of pay ; to the Christians, the free exercise of their religion ; to the captives, liberty and rewards ; and to the nation, instant peace and the reduction of taxes. The revolt became general. Chosroes was seized and imprisoned by Shoes, and the Greek writers of the period exultingly gloat over the insults, famishing, and torture to which the aged lion was subjected by his unnatural son. He expired in his dungeon on the fifth day.
The son of Chosroes, after having as he hoped se- cured his throne by the murder of his father and eighteen brothers, entered into negotiation with the Roman Emperor, and offered terms of peace. The conditions of the treaty were easily defined and faithfully executed. The subjects of Heraclius were redeemed from persecution, slavery, and exile, and the holy Cross was restored to the importunate demands of the successor of Constantine.
The return of Heraclius from Tauris to Constantinople was a triumph; he entered the capital in a chariot drawn by four elephants, amidst a crowd waving olive branches, and burning lamps.
Next year he restored the Cross to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, making the pilgrimage himself, accom- panied by the Empress Mariana.
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236 Lives of the Samts. [Sept I4>
The patriarch of Jerusalem, Zacharias, made the Emperor lay aside his imperial garments, and enter Jerusalem bare- foot and meanly clad, holding the Cross in his arms. The seals of the case had not been broken. They were now cut through and the case opened, and the sacred wood exposed to the people.
The glories of the Persian war were obscured by the weakness of the Emperor in his declining years. Between 637-651 Persia was invaded and conquered by the Sara- cens. In 632 they had entered Syria; Damascus fell in 634. Heraclius wailed over his losses in the cathedral at Antioch, and then, taking with him the holy Cross, he fled precipi- tately to Constantinople, leaving the Holy Land to its fate, a.d. 635. Jerusalem fell in 637.
However, we read in William of Malmesbury that in 1089, when the Holy City had been retaken by the Crusaders, they marched out of it, to meet the Sultan of Egypt with a " portion of the Cross, which a certain Syrian, a citizen of Jerusalem, had concealed in his house, and which had been handed down from father to son, and by a happy and loyal device had been kept secret from the Turks during the whole time."1
It had probably been forgotten by the "certain Syrian" who produced the fragment, and by the Crusaders who unhesitatingly accepted it as genuine, that Heraclius had removed the Cross for protection to Constantinople.
The Church has always shown reverence to the sign of the Cross as the symbol of salvation ; and the Cross has been to many saints the source of pure devotion in life and comfort in death. When S. Louis lay on the bed of death, he caused a crucifix to be placed near his couch, and as he grew worse he would often gaze on it, and turn towards it with clasped hands ; and every morning it was
1 Dc gest. Reg. Ang. iv. # *
Sept 14.] The Exaltation of the Cross. 237
brought to him before he tasted food, and he kissed it with great reverence and devotion. In the stern ritual of the Eastern Church for the agony of dying Basilian monks and nuns, when the last offices are closed, a representation of Christ on his Cross is attached to the foot of the bed, so that the eyes of the dying person may rest upon it, and then all go out, and leave the soul to make its departure in complete solitude, in the presence of none save the symbol of the Redeemer.
When Mary, Queen of Scots, nerved her soul for her execution, " the Earl of Kent, observing her intensely regarding the crucifix, bade her renounce such antiquated superstitions. ' Madam,' said he, ' that image of Christ serves to little purpose if you have Him not engraved upon your heart.' 'Ah!' said Mary, 'there is nothing more becoming a dying Christian than to carry in his hands this remembrance of his redemption. How impossible is it to have such an object in our hand, and keep the heart unmoved ! ' Ml
The Latin Church invites the faithful, on Good Friday, to venerate the Cross on bended knee. For a few moments the mournful tone of her offices on that day of grief is interrupted by the anthems of triumph, " Pange lingua gloriosi," and " Vexilla Regis prodeunt." This ceremony was anciently called " Creeping to the Cross." King Henry VIII. ordered its abolition in spite of the remonstrances of Cranmer, who said, " If the honouring of the Cross, as creeping and kneeling thereto, be taken away, it shall seem to many that be ignorant that the honour of Christ is taken away, unless some good teaching be set forth withal, to instruct them therein."2
The sign of the Cross, made in token of recognition of its power, is common to all Christian antiquity ; that sym-
1 Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, viii. p. 403. 2 Collier, Eccl. Hist. pt. ii. b. iii. 204.
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bolic gesture has from the earliest times preceded, attended, and closed the actions and thoughts of Christians. The Cross " in which the philosopher S. Paul gloried," says S. Chrysostom, " every faithful Christian wears suspended round his neck." S. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his instructions to Catechumens, desires them to trace the Cross upon their foreheads, to alarm and drive away Satan ; and he further adds, — " Make that sign whenever you eat or drink, when you seat yourselves, when you lie down or rise up ; in a word, let it accompany every action of your life." S. Augustine also says, — " If we shall ask a Catechumen, 'Believest thou in Christ?' he answers, 'I believe/ and signs himself with the Cross." The same father adds elsewhere, — "As the hidden rite of Circumcision was the appointed sign of the old covenant, so the Cross on the uncovered brow is the token of the new."
In our own time, Bishop Jolly, of Moray, has said, — " Much good use, with great edification, may be made by this truly primitive practice, when performed with right understanding and devout affection. The sign of the Cross is so short and easy, yet so strong and expressive a symbol of our Christian faith and profession as Christ's enlisted soldiers, that it serves as a remembrancer and recognition, or renewed acknowledgment, of the whole grace and whole obligation of our baptism, when first, as the servants of God, we were so marked on our foreheads. We were bap- tized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and when, in the beginning of our prayers, we say, in faith, and adoration, and worship, ' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' (making at the same time the sign of the Cross), we declare and strengthen our faith in the undivided Trinity, and Incarnation of God the Son, who took our nature upon Him, and died upon the Cross to redeem us."
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The Exaltation of the Cross.
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Hail the sign, the sign of Jesus,
Bright and royal Tree ! Standard of the Monarch, planted
First on Calvary !
Hail the sigr. all signs excelling, Hail the sign all ills dispelling,
Hail the sign hell's power quelling, Cross of Christ, all hail !
Hail the sign, the King preceding,
Key to hell's domain ! Lo, the brazen gates it shatters.
Bars it snaps in twain I
Hail the sign, on Easter morning
Breaking from the tomb ; In the hand of Christ dispelling
Sorrow, death, and gloom.
Sign to martyrs strength and refuge.
Sign to saints so dear ! Sign of evil men abhorred,
Sign which devils fear.
Sign which, on the day of vengeance,
Meteor-like shall flare ; Shuddering flesh shall then behold it
Steeped in blood-red glare.
Men shall shriek for very anguish,
Evil hearts shall quail ; But the saints in fullest rapture
Shall that vision hail.
Lo, the Cross of Christ my Mister
On my brow I trace ; May it keep my mind unsullied.
Doubt and fear displace.
Lo, upon my lips I mark it,
Sign of Jesus slain ; Christian lips should never utter
Words impure or vain.
Lo, I sign the Cross of Jesus
Meekly on my breast ; May it guard my heart when living.
Dying, be its rest.
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S. NOTHBURGA, V. (a.d. 1313.)
[Venerated in Tyrol. Authority : — A Life by Hippo'.ytus Guarinoniusin 1646. The first to give an account of her is Rader in his Bavaria Sancta ; Rader was a native of Inichen in Tyrol, and therefore took pains to collect such information as was accessible relating to the saints venerated in Tyrol. Rader's book was published in 1627 ; he drew his information from the collections of Francis Gezner. Gezner wrote about a.d. 1510, perhaps somewhat earlier. Guarinonius used his writings ; he was born a.d. 1607. The account of Gezner has not been preserved intact, so that how much is original, and how much the accretion of late tradition, cannot be de cided.]
S. Nothburga was born at Rottenburg, in the Inn valley, near Schwatz, in Tyrol, in 1265, and at the age of eighteen entered the service of Henry Count of Rottenburg, Grand Chamberlain of Meinhardt Count of Tyrol and Duke of Carinthia, and became the cook of Rottenburg Castle.
With the consent of her master and mistress, Nothburga gave the remains of every day's dinner to the poor, who assembled in hungry swarms to receive the scraps.
Henry of Rottenburg was succeeded by his son Henry, whose countess, Odilia, was a woman of a thrifty nature, and looked with an evil eye on the ways of Nothburga. She forbade the cook giving the scraps to the poor, and ordered them to go into the pig-pails to fatten the porkers for Christmas bacon.
Nothburga stinted herself to give to the needy, and on Fridays would eat only bread and drink water, that the food and wine apportioned to her might go to those who needed it more than herself.
If we may trust her biographer, she manifested a sublime indifference to the commands of her mistress, and continued distributing the contents of the castle larder and cellar among the beggars. But we will hope that Nothburga's
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conscience was more sensitive to the first principles of right and wrong than that of her biographer.
He relates that one day Nothburga was surreptitiously carrying away food and wine to give to the poor, when she was met by the Count, who angrily asked what she had in her apron. When she exposed what she carried, the bread and meat were transformed into chips of wood, and the wine into vinegar. Fortunately we need not believe this story, which is a poor unpoetical version of a tale common enough in the legends of saints.1
In spite of the miracle, the Count was highly incensed, and Nothburga was requested to relieve the kitchen of her presence.
That Nothburga was unable to accommodate herself to the more careful manners of a new mistress is, perhaps, the reason why she was obliged to leave. Servants do not always like a change from an old mistress, who let them have their own way, and did not look too closely after the larder, to a new, active, and thrifty one, who wants to know where all the broken meat and half-emptied wine bottles have gone to.
Nothburga was not dishonest, but she was profusely generous with her master's food, and the circumstances of the Rottenburgers were becoming somewhat straitened.
Not long after this Odilia died. The poor people who had suffered from the cutting off of the supply that had once flowed so copiously from the castle larder into their wallets, and who had had much to say about Odilia's order that the " scraps were to go to the pigs," speedily got up a tale, which circulated far and wide, that the ghost of the
1 The true version is that the bread becomes flowers. The story is told of S Eliza- beth of Portugal, S. Germaine Cousin, S. Zita, S. Castilda, S. Rosaline, S. Rosa of Viterbo, S. Mathia, S. Louis of Toulouse, P.. Theresa de Ourem, &c. &c. It is originally a mythological legend of Nature bearing in her lap the seed through winter, till the lap is opened and looked into by the Sun, when it fills with flowers.
VOL. X. l6
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242 Lives of the Saints. tSept
dead Countess was to be seen nightly by those who cared to look into the pigsty, standing in the midst of the squealing porkers, who crouched panic-struck against the walls, bewailing her ill-fated order about the scraps.
It was also popularly said and believed that a Benedictine monk of S. Georgien had been sent for to lay the ghost in the pigsty.
In the meantime, Nothburga had entered the service of a farmer at Eben, a little village above Jenbach, at the mouth of the elevated trough or lateral valley, opening into the great Inn-thai, in which lies the large and beautiful Aachen-see.
A spur of hill runs out from the Heiler Stelkopf, and bears on its back and shoulders rich meadows, whence the name of the village. There Nothburga lived some while, with the green sheet of the Aachen-see to the north, and the glorious panorama of the Zillerthal Alps to the south, beyond the populous Inn valley, studded with villages> spires, and castles.
One Saturday afternoon, when reaping — so runs the story — the church bell tinkled for sunset and the beginning of the Sunday. Nothburga laid down her sickle. The farmer urged her to continue her work, but she refused, and, catching up her sickle, she flung it up into the air ; and there it hung suspended, shining like silver, in the darkening evening sky, opposite the setting sun. And when the Tyrolese child looks up at dusk, and sees the silver sickle of the new moon shining over the mountain tops, he thinks it is Nothburga's sickle, just as he thinks the spots in the full moon are the Sabbath-breaker and his faggot.
It is curious that both legends concerning the moon should have to do with Sabbath-breaking.
Whilst Nothburga was at Eben, war was raging in the Inn valley between the Count of Tyrol and Otto Duke of
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Bavaria and the Archbishop of Salzburg. Henry of Rottenburg and his brother Sigfried embraced opposite sides, and this led to fratricidal strife and great misery throughout the valley. The daughter of Meinhardt, Count of Tyrol and Duke of Carinthia, was married to Albert of Austria. The quarrel had originally broken out between Albert and the Archbishop, who had formed a league with Andrew, King of Hungary, and Otto of Bavaria against the Duke of Austria. Wenceslaus of Bohemia joined the confederacy, and Albert saw himself threatened on all sides. Otto of Bavaria and the Archbishop burst into Styria, and were joined by the natives, who revolted against the Austrian sceptre. Albert made a hasty peace with Wenceslaus, betrothed his daughter Agnes to King Andrew, and then, though it was in the depth of winter, at the head of his army, he cut his way through the snow of the mountain passes, and rushed unexpectedly down on the confederates at Briick, on the Mura, and compelled them to desert their camp and baggage, and retreat in confusion and dismay.
The successes of Albert of Austria were the signal for the revival of the fortunes of Henry of Rottenburg, whose estates had been seized or devastated by his brother, Sig- fried, fighting for the Archbishop. All his troubles and losses, all the disasters of the war, were due, the wise biographer of S. Nothburga would have us believe, to the fact that the departed Odilia had ordered the scraps from dinner to be given to the pigs instead of the poor. The German historians seem to have been unaware of this, for they attribute the war to the several ambitions of the King of Hungary, to recover some cities that had been wrested from him by the House of Austria; of the Archbishop, who hoped to acquire Upper Austria as a possession for the Church ; and of Otto of Bavaria, who thought to annex part of Tyrol.
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244 Lives of the Saints. [Sept I4
Count Henry of Rottenburg was about to marry Margaret of Hoheneck, sister or niece of the late Archbishop of Salzburg, and it was very necessary that the cuisine of Rottenburg should be improved. Henry's experience of cooks after losing Nothburga had not been satisfactory, and so he thought that he would condone the profusion of Nothburga, especially now that his affairs were flourishing, for the sake of her skill in cookery.
Henry had a son of the same name by Odilia, and he was a great favourite with the cook, who not only gave him nice things out of the oven, but also good advice; and when the new wife had a little son, the second boy grew up with the same attachment to the cook — an attachment not unfrequent in families, for cooks know very well the way to the hearts of children.
At last Nothburga died, aged forty-eight, at Rottenburg, in the house of her master. Before her death she implored the Count to allow her body to rest at Eben, on that glorious slope, strewn with heart's-ease in spring, over- looking the snows of the Zillerthal.
The coffin was placed on a cart, to which two oxen were yoked, followed on horseback by the Count and his sons, and the rest of the household, in true patriarchal fashion, united in the mourning procession, accompanying with honour to her grave their dear, good cook.
The story goes, that when they came to the Inn the water parted, and let the oxen and coffin pass through on dry land. The convoy halted for refreshments at Jenbach. A little chapel marks the spot. Then came the long steep scramble by the old road across the Kasebach, and up the hill to the church of S. Rupert at Eben ; and there at last the worthy cook was laid.
The body was dug up again in 1 718, a new church was erected with an elaborate rococo altar. Immediately over
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S. Nothburga.
245
the tabernacle of the high altar is a large glass case, occu- pying the centre of the marble reredos. In this stands the skeleton, dressed up sumptuously in red velvet, and spangles, and blue satin bows. The skull is crowned with a wreath of artificial flowers ; the right skeleton hand upholds a silver sickle.
The field in which Nothburga worked, and where it is pretended she flung her sickle up into the sky, is that to the south of the parsonage.
S. Nothburga is represented in a Tyrolese peasantess' costume, with a bunch of keys at her girdle and her sickle in her hand. Representations of her are common in Tyrol.
S Bartholtm w, Ap. See Au^. 24.
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 15.
September 15.
S. Nicomede, P.M. at Rome.
S. Valerian, M. at Toumous in Burgundy; circ. A.D. 178. S. Melitina, M. at Marcianopolis in Meesia ; ind or yd cent. SS. Maximus, Theodotus, and Asclepiodotus, MM. in
Thrace ; circ. a.d. 311. S. Nicetas the Goth, M. among the Goths; circ. a.d. 37S. S. Albinus, B. of Lyons; 4th or $th cent. S. Mamilian, B. of Palermo; about 5th cent. S. Aper, B. of Tulle ; beginning of 6th cent. S. Aichard, Ab. of Jumieges ; circ. a.d. 687. SS. Emilias and Jeremias, MM. at Cordova; a.d. 852. S. Leuthardt, Count, C. of Cleves; end of gtn cent. S. Catharine Flisca, IV. at Genoa; a.d. 1510.
S. NICOMEDE, P.M.
(date doubtful.)
[Roman Martyrology. That attributed to S. Jerome, those of Bede, Notker, Ado, Wandelbert, &c. York, Sarum, Hereford, Reformed Angli- can Kalendars. Authorities : — Mention in the Martyrologies taken from the apocryphal Acts of SS. Nereus and Achilles. Other acts are given by Mombritius which throws the date of his martyrdom much later.]
[HE fame of S. Nicomede is better established than the facts of his martyrdom. A catacomb at Rome was called after him, a church dedicated to him which gave a title to one of the parishes of Rome, and his name is found in the most ancient kalendars. But no reliance whatever can be placed on either of the narratives of his martyrdom. According to the first,
1 Martyred in the age of Antoninus, under a Governor Antiochus. Her sufferings converted the Governors wife. Under Antoninus, Iallius Bassus was Governor of M.xsia. a.d. 161 he was appointed Imperial legate. He married Clementina, of the Flavian family. In the cemetery of S. Lucina there has been recently found an in- scription in memory of Iallius Bassus and Ccetia Clementina, his wife, and of Julia Clementina, their daughter, " in pace." If Iallius, called Antiochus in the Martyro- logies, was the Governor under whom S. Melitina suffered, her death converted not only the v/ife but the Governor as well.
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Sept. i5.] S. Maximus, and Others. 247
he was a priest of Rome, who was arrested whilst burying the body of S. Felicula (June 13), foster-sister of S. Petronilla (May 31). S. Felicula suffered a.d. 81. He was beaten with leaded whips till he died, and his body was flung into the Tiber, but was rescued by his deacon, and buried in the catacomb that has since borne his name.
There is nothing in this narrative which could arouse suspicion that it was not trustworthy, except only the fact of it being found in the acts of SS Nereus and Achilles, which are worthless invention.
The second copy of the acts given by Mombritius is equally untrustworthy. It makes S. Nicomede suffer under Maximian, about a.d. 285. He is drawn over iron spikes, flung into a burning furnace, comes forth unhurt, and is then beaten to death with leaded whips. The body of S. Nicomede was translated from his catacomb by Pope Paschal I., in 817, and placed in the church of S. Praxedes, where it still remains.
Another body is shown at Milan as that of S. Nicomede, and a bull of Pope Innocent IV., confirming its authenticity, is produced. A part of a third body reposes in the cathe- dral of Parma, an arm at Lucca, a head at Mainz, an arm at Buchorst in Westphalia, S. Nicomede is represented in art with a club.
SS. MAXIMUS, THEODOTUS, AND ASCLEPIO- DOTUS, MM.
(CIRC. AD. 311.)
[Greek Mensea, Menology of Basil ; Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority : — The Greek Acts.]
Maximus, Theodotus, and Asclepiodotus, natives of Marcianopolis, were taken in the persecution of Maximian,
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248 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 15
by Teres, Governor of Thrace. He had them beaten with rods till their bones were exposed ; then their hands, feet, and ears were cut off, and finally their heads.
S. NICETAS THE GOTH, M. (about a.d. 378.)
[Greek Menaea, Russian Kalendar ; Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority :— The Greek Acts.]
SS. Sabas and Nicetas are the two most renowned martyrs among the Goths. The former is honoured on the 1 2th of April, the latter, whom the Greeks place in the class of the great martyrs, is commemorated on this day. Nicetas was a Goth, born near the banks of the Danube, and converted to the faith in his youth by Ulphilas the Arian,1 Bishop of the Scythians and Goths in the reign of Constantine the Great. When Valens ascended the imperial throne in the East, in the year 364, the Gothic nation broke into two kingdoms. Athanaric, King of the Eastern Goths, who bordered upon Thrace, in 370 raised a furious persecu- tion against the Church in his dominions. By his order, an idol was carried in a chariot through all the towns and villages where it was suspected that any Christians lived, and all who refused to adore it were put to death. The usual method of the persecutors was to burn the Christians with their children in their houses, or in the churches where they were assembled together ; sometimes Christians were stabbed at the foot of the altar. In the numerous army of
' The Acts say of him, "He being a prudent learned man, found out letters suitable to the sounds of the Gothic tongue, and when he had translated the sacred and divinely inspired Scriptures out of Greek into the Gothic tongue, he laboured diligently to teach it to his nation." The Greek writer of the Acts did not know he was an Arian. Alban Butler, to obscure the fact that Nicetas was the disciple of the Arian Ulphilas, boldly alters the name of the bishop to Theophilus, whose heresy is not so certain.
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sept, i*] £ Aichard. 249
martyrs which glorified God amongst that barbarous people, on this occasion, S. Nicetas is one of the few whose name has been preserved. He had, probably, been ordained by Ulphilas, for he preached the faith, or, perhaps, the mutilated faith held by the Arians, with great zeal. The soldiers of Athanaric fell on him when he was preaching, beat him, and then threw him into the fire. He sang hymns in the midst of the flames till his tongue was silenced by death. The relics were carried to Mopsuestia.
The Bollandists, to save the orthodoxy of S. Nicetas, have supposed that the persecution broke out before Ulphilas finally adhered to Arianism, a.d. 376. But from the account of the persecution given by Sozomen (let. vi. c. 37), it is clear that it broke out subsequently to the Gothic war of A-D- 377- The persecution was waged by Athanaric in revenge for the declaration of war against the Goths by Valens. Before that they had sued for his protection against the Huns ; and the persecution was specially directed against Arians, as Valens persecuted Catholics, and professed Arianism.
If S. Nicetas was an Arian, as seems probable, he was so through ignorance, because he knew not the full truth.
S. AICHARD, AB. (about a.d. 687.)
[Roman Martyrology, Saussaye's Gallican Martyrology, the Belgian Martyrology of Molanus, &c. Authority : — A Life, by Fulbert, but what Fulbert does not transpire. Mabillon attributed it to Fulbert of Rouen who wrote the life of S. Ouen, and lived in 1080, but it is far more probable that the author was Fulbertus Peccator, monk of Jumieges in noo. A Life written after 930, by a monk of Jumieges was used by Fulbert in his composition, or is a contraction from that of Fulbert.]
S. Aichard was born about the year 624 in Poitiers, of noble parents named Anskar and Ermena ; and he was
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250 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. .5.
educated by Ansfried, monk of S. Hillary at Poitiers. On his introduction to Ansfried, the master asked what he was to teach the boy. Aichard abruptly broke in, " Of God and agriculture." He was then ten years old. After two years he asked leave to revisit his parents ; and having obtained permission, he returned home, and took the oppor- tunity of making a pilgrimage to the tomb of S. Jovinus in the Abbey of Ansion, now S. Jouin, near Le Tou<$, where he performed his sacred duties " very curiously," says his anonymous biographer. Then he requested the abbot to shave his head and give him the monastic habit. The abbot accorded him what he desired, and he took up his residence in the monastery. By the time he had reached the age of fourteen, sixteen, or twenty — the biographers or their copyists are not agreed as to the age — he surpassed even the old men in sanctity. Then he heard one day a voice say, " They shall go from strength to strength," and he thought it was a call to him to make some decided advance in his monastic life. He resolved, therefore, to build a monastery on his father's estates, and as his parents gave their consent, he erected one at Quincy, and affiliated it to the abbey of Jumieges. On the death of S. Philibert, Abbot of Jumieges, in 684, S. Aichard was elected in his room.
It is hardly necessary to say that he was the model of an abbot, full of sanctity. He was humble, zealous for the observance of the rule, and full of devotion. Several stories are recorded of him. One Sabbath day (Saturday) when the monks have their hair cut and heads shaved, the hour of nones had past when the abbot found that his head also wanted cropping, so he called a monk to him to bring his scissors and clip his locks. Now, according to the rule, all barber's work must be done beiore nones. Scarce had the monk begun clipping the hair of S. Aichard, when the devil entered into the barber, and proceeded to fling him down,
sept. tS.] SS. Emilias and J eremias. 251
and howl and foam at the mouth. S. Aichard promptly got the devil into a corner, and asked him why he had dared to possess a monk. The Evil One replied, " Because the monk had transgressed the rule." " It was my fault, I told him to do so," said the abbot. " And now, in punishment for my sin, I will wear my hair cropped on one side and long on the other. As for you, depart to hell." The devil com- plied with the order — or, at all events, ceased to possess the monk. Then, S. Aichard, rushing to the church, flung him- self on the floor before all the brethren, and, with broken heart, and a profusion of tears, implored God not to destroy him body and soul in eternal flames, because he had let his hair be cut after three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.1 After he had bitterly bewailed his miserable fall, a sign of pardon was granted him, the hair on the cropped side of his head grew the same length as the hair on the other side. S. Aichard died about the year 867, at the age of fifty-three.
SS. EMILIAS AND JEREMIAS, MM.
(a.d. 852.)
[Roman and Spanish Martyrologies. Authority : — An account of their martyrdom by S. Eulogius of Cordova, a martyr in the same persecution, an eye-witness of their death.]
Emilias and Jeremias, natives of Cordova, of noble families, in their early youth were instructed in Arabic, and learned Christian doctrine in the Basilica of S. Cyprian. Emilias was ordained deacon, but Jeremias remained a layman. As they used their facility in speaking Arabic to preach against Mohammed, and denounce the superstition
1 " Totum se cum luctuosa facie in pavimento prosternens ecclesiae, cum multis lacrymis et contrito corde deprecans omnipotentem Dominum ut pro hoc commisso piaculo ne periclitaretur ejus anima in tetro vallosoque tartareo."
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252 Lives of the Saints. [Sept# IS#
of the Mussulman religion, they were arrested and executed with the sword. A violent thunderstorm burst over Cordova on the occasion of their martyrdom.
S. CATHARINE OF CENOA, W.
(a.d. 15 10.)
[Roman Martyrology ; canonized by Benedict XIV. Authorities : — Her Life attributed to Marabotti, her confessor, Hector Vernaccia, his coad- jutor, and a third whose name is unknown.]
S. Catharine Fieschi (in Latin, Flisca) belonged to an ancient family of renown at Genoa, which had given two popes to the Church, Innocent IV. and Adrian V.
The brother of Innocent IV. was Robert Fieschi, who had acted as Viceroy of Naples for King Rene of Anjou. From Robert Fieschi, Giacomo Fieschi, the father of our saint, derived his pedigree. His wife was Francisca de' Negri, member of another ancient Genoese family. Catha- rine was born to them in 1447. From earliest infancy her mind took a serious turn ; above her little crib hung a picture of our Lord, taken down from the cross and laid in His mother's arms. It made a profound impression on her young fancy, as she begged her parents to let her take the religious habit in the house of the Canonesses of S. Mary of Grace at Genoa, with a sister of which Society she had contracted a childish friendship. Her father and mother refused to grant her request, as she was not of an age to be capable of forming a mature judgment. Her father died before she was sixteen, and then she married Julian Adorno, at the desire of her mother and brothers, who were anxious by this means to establish a reconcilia- tion with the Adorno family, with which there had been a long feud.
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The marriage was not a happy one. Julian was a man of rough temper, fond of pomp and pleasure ; he liked to keep open house, and cut a splendid figure in Genoese society. His wife detested pomp, shrank from society, and instead of spending her time in attending to his guests, devoted it to prayer in her oratory. This led to a quarrel, and Catharine became hysterical ; she refused to associate with any one, and for five years moped in her private apart- ment, growing thin and wan, and pretending that she could not eat. Instead of awakening sympathy in the breast of her husband as she had hoped, her conduct only confirmed his disgust. Sturdy men have no patience with hysterical women. But her relations at length interfered, took up her cause warmly, the old family quarrel bade fair to break out again over Catharine, who found herself now the object of demonstrative sympathy on one side, and of cold contempt on the other. She was allowed to follow her own devices, a separation between herself and her husband was effected, and so she was freed from the society of a man and a family which could not appreciate her, and she became the centre of sympathy and admiration to the rival faction. At the same time she discovered a confessor who could under- stand her case, the chaplain of S. Maria degli Grazia. She fell at his feet in hysterics, unable to speak. He waited patiently for some time, but found her still silent, so he went off about some business, and, when he returned, found her still gasping on the floor. He asked her to begin her confession, when she said, " Father, I must put it off till later." Then she went home, and at the moment she reached her room fell into a trance, and saw Christ crucified, and the blood spouting from His wounds so that all the walls of the house were splashed with it. She re- turned to consciousness shrieking, " O Love ! I will sin no more, no more !" She now felt courage and strength to
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254 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
make her confession, and she returned to S. Maria degli Grazia, where she confessed with such compunction that the priest was greatly edified. She now adopted a peni- tential life. She never raised her eyes from the pavement nor spoke an unnecessary word. If, by hazard, she uttered something which she was not absolutely obliged to say, she threw herself on the ground and drew her tongue along the soil to punish it. Into her food she put pounded aloes and wormwood, and laid thistles and brambles in her bed.
She drew out for herself three rules, which she resolved to follow strictly. 1. " Never say I will and I wont." 2. " Never call anything mine, but ours." 3. " Never find excuses when blamed."
She next took it into her head to fast for forty days, beginning at the Feast of the Annunciation, and only inter- mitting her fast for Easter Day and the Monday and Tuesday following. During all that time she gave out that she ate nothing except the B. Sacrament which she received daily. She was at once surrounded by solicitous relatives who brought her all kinds of dainty bits to tempt her appetite. She consumed what they put into her mouth, and then vomited it forth before their very eyes. Their concern in- creased. The confessor was called in, and amidst a crowd of relatives and servanis she was required to eat, the director laying a solemn injunction on her to obey. Amidst breathless excitement she ate, and all eyes looked for the consequence. She fell back into a fit of prostration, and every one supposed she would die. Thereupon the con- fessor advised that no more attempts should be made to force Catharine to eat when she wished it to be believed that she was fasting rigorously. After this, for twenty- three years, she maintained, or was supposed to maintain, annually an absolute fast from S. Martin's Day to the vigil
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S. Catharine of Genoa. 255
of the Nativity, and from Monday after Quinquagesima to Easter eve.
If Catharine had confined herself to similar exhibitions, she would have been but one out of scores of hysterical women who faint and starve themselves to attract sympathy, but such was not the case. She did what hysterical women very rarely do, she devoted herself to the performance of good works. Not a day passed in which she was not to be seen in the hospitals, and in the cottages of the poor, ministering to the sick, and doing for them offices which would revolt even trained nurses. Hysterical women are universally the most self-absorbed of beings. Catharine was indifferent to self, and she is no doubt held up to weak and foolish women, who prey on their morbid feelings, as an example of what a hysterical woman ought to be, of how she should devote her attention to the sufferings of others, instead of tormenting others by appeals for sympathy with her imaginary maladies. There are saints ot every order, class, and physical and mental calibre. Catharine is a saint of a type of woman not uncommon, which is a general nuisance. She exhibited a character such as or- dinarily deserves contempt; but ennobled by grace and made useful in its generation. In her visits to the sick her delicate hands washed and dressed the most loathsome sores. She rubbed ointmcnc mio the wounds of the lepers, cleaned abscesses, removed the filthy linen, washed it, and made the beds for the sick. The tatters, swarming with vermin, of some poor beggars, she took and purified ; and at the same time was so careful of her own person, and so scrupulously cleanly, that she was never troubled with the insects from which she freed the dirty garments of the poor.1
1 " Ad vincendam nauseam .... frequenter ori imponebat, quin imo diglutieliat ulcerum putredinem, nonnullasque e sordidis istis bestiolis mandebat eo temporis puncto, quo stomachum vehementius naturae vi commoveri sentiebat."
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept 15.
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Among the lepers in the hospital of S. Lazarus, many had their tempers embittered by their misery, and they would abuse her with gross ingratitude if she attended to others and did not devote all her charities to themselves. She bore their ill-temper with the sweetest forbearance, and never made the slightest difference in her treatment of the most abusive and the grateful. The more readily to attend to the wants of the sick, she took a house and garden close to the hospital, and, removing into it, lived there till her death. She died of a painful disease on the 14th of September, a.d. 15 10, but her festival is observed on the 15th. She left behind her two works, a dialogue between God and the soul, and one on Purgatory.
Her body is preserved in the church of the hospital at Genoa in a marble monument.
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S. Euphemia. 257
September 16.
S. Euphemia, V.M. at Chalcedon in Bitkynia; a.d. 303.
SS. Lucia and Gbminianus, MM. at Rome ; circ. a.d. 304.
SS. Abundius, Abundantius, Marcian, and John, MM. at
Rome ; circ. a.d. 304. SS. Einbetta, Vorbetta, Willbetta, VV. at Strasburg} S. Ninian, B. 0/ the Eastern Picts, in Scotland; $th cent. SS. Rogellius and Servio-Deo, MM. at Cordova; a.d. 852. S. Ludmilla, IV. M. at Tetin in Bohemia; 10th cent. S. Edith, Abss. at Polesworth ; circ. a.d. 964. S. Edith, V. at Wilton near Salisbury ; a.d. 984.
S. EUPHEMIA, V.M. (a.d. 303.)
[Greek Menaea and Menologies, Russian Kalendar, Carthaginian Kalendar, Usuardus, Notker, Wandelbert, Roman Martyrologies ; all on this day, some copies of the Martyrology of Jerome on the 17th. York, Sarum, Hereford, and Durham Kalendars. Another festival of S. Euphemia among the Greeks on July 11, in commemoration of a miracle wrought by the body of the saint during the session of the council of Chalcedon. Authority : — The Greek Acts, which existed before the 8th cent., when they are alluded to by S. Eunodius of Tunis. They are, however, so full of fabulous matter, that it is difficult to say how much of them is fact and how much fiction.]
HOUGH the Acts of S. Euphemia are undeserving of credit, the fact of such a martyr having existed and suffered at Chalcedon can hardly be doubted as her body was preserved by the faithful, and a church built over it directly the persecution ceased through the accession of Constantine.
Euphemia was a maiden of Chalcedon, who was arrested by Priscus, Governor of Bithynia, because she had not attended one of the pagan festivals, instituted in honour of Ares, patron of the city. According to the legend, all
1 Some of the company of S. Ursula, left behind at Strasburg. VOL. X. 17
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258 Lives of the Saints. [Sept l6
kinds of tortures were tried upon her by the governor in vain.
" I am but a girl," she said, " but the hand of my Saviour sustains me."
He placed her on a wheel set with knives, but it did not hurt her. He threw her into a furnace of blazing pitch, but she remained in the midst of the fire unhurt. He cast her into a pond full of fish, in hopes that they would eat her ; but instead of that they carried her on their backs ashore.1 The governor dug a deep ditch, and filled it with water, and made her walk over it. She traversed the water without sinking ; others following her, tumbled into the ditch, and were drowned.
All this nonsense is the addition of the composer of the romance of her martyrdom, who found the facts of her passion too simple for his taste. She was finally cast to wild beasts, and hugged to death by a bear. Her body was buried by her parents.
During the council of Chalcedon a profession of faith of the Orthodox, and another of the Eutychians, were placed in the dead hands of S. Euphemia, and the shrine was closed and sealed by both parties. After three days the seals were broken, and the Eutychian creed was found at the feet of the saint, that of the Catholics being still in her hand.
The church of S. Euphemia certainly existed before a.d. 399, for Arcadius met the Goth Gainas in it in that year, as Socrates, Sozomen, and Zosimus testify. The council of Chalcedon met in it in 451. Zonaras relates the story of the imposition of the two creeds in the hands of S. Euphemia, but earlier historians say nothing about it.
1 Euphemia standing on the back of a fish is taken from representations of Derceto.
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Sept. i6.j SS. Lucia and Gemini anus. 259
Relics of S. Euphemia are shown in various places in the West. Pope Gelasius dedicated a church to S. Euphemia at Rome about a.d. 490. Another church under her invo- cation was erected on the Appian Way, in a.d. 677, by Pope Domnus. The head is shown in Sa. Maria di Campi- tello ; another head in the Lateran ; other relics in S. Bar- tolomeo, S. Maria Maggiore, S. Giovanne Baptista, S. Croce in Gerusalemme, S. Eustachio, S. Martha, S. Csecilia ; all in Rome. At Milan the entire body ; another entire body at Piacenza, where its invention took place in 1091, on April 13; other relics at Brescia; a fifth skull and third entire body at Valetta, in the island of Malta ; an arm and hand with skin and flesh on it at Bologna ; a sixth head at S. Euphemia in Calabria ; some other relics at S. Maclou in Britanny ; at Antequera near Granada ; a fourth body in the Jesuit church at Madrid ; an arm at Leon ; a bone at Einsiedeln ; another arm at Prag ; a hand covered with skin in the Franciscan church at Vienna ; and numerous other relics elsewhere.
SS. LUCIA AND GEMINIANUS, MM.
(about a.d. 304.)
[Roman and many other later Martyrologies, Sarum and York Kalendars By the Greeks on Sept. 17. Authority : — The fabulous Acts.]
The apocryphal Acts of these saints relate that Lucia was a widow at Rome who was accused as a Christian before Diocletian by her own son, Euprepius. She was thrown into prison, when an earthquake shook the temple of Jupiter, and swallowed it up, so that not a stone remained visible.
Diocletian ordered a pot of pitch to be boiled, and Lucia to be plunged in it. She was boiled in the pitch for three
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260 Lives of Ike Saints. [Sept l6
days, during all which time she sang hymns, and was quite unhurt. When Diocletian sent to make inquiries about her ashes, great was his amazement to hear that she was not dead.
He then ordered her out of the pot, and to be led through the streets laden with chains. As she passed a house inhabited by a pagan named Geminianus, who had three thousand two hundred idols in his house which he adored, they all fell down and broke their necks, and Geminianus saw a dove descend from heaven and make the sign of the cross on his brow. Then he hasted to S. Lucia, and declared himself ready to believe in her religion ; so he was com- mitted to prison with her ; and in the night S. Protasius, warned by an angel, came to the prison, and baptized him. And a river burst out of the prison-cell in which was Lucia, and swept away part of the city, and with it the palace of Diocletian.
And when the martyrs were brought before Gebal, the Imperial assessor, and Pyropogon, Governor of Rome, a man who was ordered to strike Lucia was turned to stone, with the exception of one arm, which remained flesh. Fire also fell from heaven, and consumed the Emperor to a cinder ; but Lucia prayed over the cinder, and the Emperor got up, and recovered his rude health and activity, as if nothing had happened. But after he had ordered the martyrs to execution, as he was riding over a bridge, followed by an army, his horse jumped into the water, and he was drowned, as well as one thousand three hundred and forty-six soldiers, who jumped in after him to pick him out.
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sept. i6.] SS. Abundius, and Others. 261
SS. ABUNDIUS, ABUNDANTIUS, MARCIAN, AND
JOHN, MM.
(about a.d. 304.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority : — The Acts, not trustworthy.]
Abundius was priest at Rome, and Abundantius was his deacon. They were brought before Diocletian, and ordered to adore Hercules. When they refused, they were sent chained to the Mamertine prison. But thirty other Chris- tians, taken at the same time, were executed with the sword. After thirty days Abundius and Abundantius were brought again before Diocletian, and tortured ; they remained inflexible in their faith, and were ordered to execution. On their way to martyrdom, they passed a man named Marcian, who was lamenting the death of his son John. Abundius and Abundantius bade the body be brought before them, and the father ran and fetched his dead boy, and laid him at the feet of the martyrs ; and Abundius knelt down and prayed, and the eyes of the dead boy opened, and he revived. Then Marcian brought water, and Abundius baptized him and die boy. These were therefore arrested and executed the same day as Abundius and Abundan- tius.
Relics at Arignano in Italy. The head of S. Abundius in the Ara Cceli church at Rome ; other relics at SS. Cosmas and Damian ; some at Siena.
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262 Lives of the Saints. Sept. l6i]
S. N I N I A N, B.
(5TH CENT.)
[Roman, Scottish, and Irish Martyrologies. Authorities : — A Life by S. ^Ehed of Rievaulx ; Bede, Hist. Eccl. iii. 4 ; an Irish Life and a metrical Life by Barbour, in the University Library of Cambridge.]
Bede says : — " The Southern Picts, who dwelt on this side of these mountains, had long before, as it is reported, forsaken the errors of idolatry, and embraced the truth by the preaching of Nynias, a most reverend bishop and holy man of the British nation, who had been regularly instructed at Rome in the faith and mysteries of the truth ; whose episcopal see, named after S. Martin the bishop, and famous for a stately church, wherein he and many other saints rest as to their bodies, is still existent among the English nation. The place belongs to the Bernicians, and is generally called Candida Casa, because he there built a church of stone, which was not usual among the Britons."
The Irish Martyrologies supply the next authentic records of S. Ninian, whom they call Monenn {i.e., Nenn, with an honorary prefix) of Cluain Conaire, in the county of Kil- dare. y£ngus the Culdee gives : —
" Moinend nuall cech genai." Moinend the shout of every mouth.
He is spoken of as Abbot of Rosnat, and S. Tigernach of Clones is said to have been his disciple. Rosnat is probably Candida Casa or Whithern, for in the life of S. Tigernach that saint is said to have studied under S. Ninian at Rosnat, otherwise called Alba, or white.
The next authority for the life of S. Ninian is S. ^Elred, who became a Cistercian monk in a.d. 1166.
This saint was educated in Scotland along with Henry,
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Sept. 16.]
S. Ninian. 263
son of King David. A life, written seven hundred years after the death of its subject, in those uncritical times, and at the instance of the canons who profited by his fame, would be worthless, were it not that just as the Cistercian Joscelin, in his life of S. Kentigern, used " Codiculum stilo Scotico dictatum," so the Cistercian yElred had the assistance of " liber barbario (sic) scriptus." In the super- scription of the Bodleian copy, the life is said to have been translated from English into Latin.
S. Ninian, according to this authority, was the son of a Christian prince, and was born at Whithern, in Galloway. Baptized in his infancy, he spent a holy boyhood and youth, and grew up, says his Irish biographer, a head and shoulders taller than any other man in his father's realm ; wherefore his father wished to make him a man of war ; but Ninian was filled with other hopes. He left Scotland, and went on a pilgrimage to Rome, crossing the British Sea, and, entering Italy by the Cottian Alps, he arrived, after a prosperous journey, at the capital of Christendom. He was taken notice of by the Pope, and devoted himself to study, " intelligens nimirum ab imperitis doctoribus multa sanaa doctrinae adversa sibi et compatriotis suis fuisse persuasa."
After remaining many years in Rome, increasing in knowledge and grace, he was consecrated bishop, and sent to the western parts of Britain, to men who had not received the faith of our Saviour. On his way home he visited the great S. Martin of Tours, from whom he borrowed masons, that he might construct a church after the Roman model. He was well received in his diocese, and he selected the place called Whithern j " which place, situated on the shore, while it runs far into the sea on the east, west, and south, is closed in thereby. From the north side alone it is approached from the land. There he built the first stone church in Britain, and, having heard of the death of
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2^4 Lives of the Saints. [S i6
S. Martin whilst building it, he dedicated it to him." S. Martin died in a.d. 397, which gives us the date of the foundation of this church. The place here described may be the Isle of Whithern, where there is still a chapel in ruins, but not a moulding remains to give any indication of its date. It is, however, more likely that the town of Whithern, where are to be seen the beautiful remains of the cathedral of Gal- loway some miles inland, is the actual site of the venerable Rosnat, or Candida Casa. The statement that this was the first stone church in Britain must be taken with some reservation.
S. Ninian now restored to sight a neighbouring king, on whom, in punishment for his pride and opposition to the saint, God had laid the burden of blindness. Being healed, he became a great supporter of S. Ninian. His name is by ^lred called Tudwall, which seems to be the old Celtic Teutal— in Irish, Tuathal.
After vindicating the innocence of a priest falsely accused of incontinency, he undertook the conversion of the Picts. The southern Picts were idolaters. Ninian preached the Gospel among them, and was heard eagerly. Multitudes Hocked to baptism, and he is said to have ordained priests, consecrated bishops, and divided the whole land into parishes. Having done all this, he returned to his own - church, where he passed the rest of his holy life in great tranquillity.
The rest of S. Shed's biography is taken up with miracles, such as the sudden growth of leeks : the raising to life of a robber who had been gored by a bull at a place now termed Farreslast, or the bull's foot-mark ; the shower that fell on the saint and his book as his mind wandered ; and lastly, the protection afforded by his staff to a disciple, who, in memory of that event, planted the staff, and it became a tree, with a fountain gushing from its roots.
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Sept. 16.]
S. Ludmilla. 265
His life mentions that he educated many young men, both of noble and of humble conditions, and that on the occasion of his death he was buried in the church which he had built.
S. Ninian is traditionally said to have occasionally in- habited a cave, which is still shown on the sea-shore of Glasserton, adjacent to the house of Physgill.1
S. LUDMILLA, W.M.
(iOTH CENT.)
[Florarius and Ferrarius on Sept. 16. Greven on Sept. 15. So also the German Martyrology of Canisius. At Prag on Sept. 16. Another festival on Nov. 10. Authority : — A Life by Christian de Scala, monk, great nephew of the saint, which is not, however, as trustworthy as one would have desired. See Dobrowsky, Versuche d. alteste bohmische Geschichte von spateren Erdichtungen zu reinigen, Prag, 1809.
S. Ludmilla, the daughter of Slavobor, a Sclavonic prince, was born at Wielnik, at the junction of the Elb and the Moldau. She was married to Borzivoi, Duke of Bohemia. This prince having visited the court of Swato- pluk, King of Moravia, he was invited by him to a banquet, but was not suffered to sit with the Christians, but apart on the rushes of the floor. S. Methodius, the apostle of the Moravians, then spoke to him, and promised him, if he would embrace Christianity, that all his enemies should be made his footstool, and that his descendants should become mighty as a river swollen by many torrents. Inflamed with ambition, Borzivoi at once and eagerly demanded baptism. He was first instructed in the Christian faith, made to fast,
1 Bishop Forbes : " Kalendars of Scottish Saints," Edin. 1872. It is much to be regretted that the Bollandists have not printed one even of the lives of the Saint. The immeasurable inferiority of the later volumes of this great series, produced during this century, to those earlier in the series, in scholarship, critical sagacity, and in choice of documents, is to be regretted
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266 Lives of the Saints. tSept l6
and then given the sacrament of regeneration. He was provided with a priest, and returned to his castle of Hradecz (Konigingratz), where he built a church, and dedicated it to S. Clement. His attempts to enforce Christianity on his people led to an insurrection, and he was obliged to fly to the court of Swatopluk. But the Bohemians soon tired of Stragmir, the chief they had set up in his room. He was assassinated, and Borzivoi re- turned. Ludmilla was not long after her husband in receiving baptism. Borzivoi died early, at the age of thirty-five, leaving two sons — Spitigew and Wratislaus. Spitigew succeeded his father, and died at the age of forty, when he was succeeded by Wratislaus, who married Draho- mira of Saas, a woman of great pride and ungovernable temper. Wratislaus had by her two sons — S. Wenceslas and Boleslas — and he committed his children to the care of his mother, that they might be brought up by her in the fear of God. Drahomira bitterly resented the slight, and on the death of her husband resolved on revenge. Ludmilla was a woman of exemplary piety, who had made herself univer- sally beloved by her gentleness and charities, and Drahomira saw that she would be her rival in the attempt to secure the regency of the kingdom during the minority of the young king.
She had her seized at Tetin, a castle near Podjbrad, whither Ludmilla had fled for safety, and strangled with a cord. The holy woman was buried by her servants, but her body was translated to Prag by S. Wenceslas, the son of her murderess, with great pomp and devotion.
The date of the murder cannot be fixed with certainty, but it was between 920 and 929.
The relics of S. Ludmilla are preserved in S. George's church at Prag. The head separate in a silver shrine, an arm in the cathedral.
Sept. 16.]
■S. Edith of Polesworth. 267
S. EDITH OF POLESWORTH, ABSS. (about a.d. 964.)
[Confounded by Martyrologists with S. Edith of Wilton. Properly the feast of S. Edith of Polesworth is on July 15th, the day on which, according to Matthew of Westminster, she died. She has, however, been placed here that the two Ediths so often mistaken for one another may be clearly distinguished. Edith of Polesworth does not appear in the Martyrologies apart from Edith of Wilton. Authorities :— Mention by Matthew of West- minster, and in the Lives of S. Ositha and S. Modwenna.1]
How many S. Ediths of Polesworth were there ? Three or only one ? Probably only one, though biographers and chroniclers have made three.
The first of these three, the daughter of Ethelwulf, and sister of King Alfred, is the creation of the brains of Concubran and Capgrave, as has been shown elsewhere (July 6, p. 152, sq.) She never existed. The second is said by Matthew of Westminster to have been the sister of Alhelstan, and daughter of Edward the Elder. He says : — " Athelstan, king of England, married his sister, Eadgitha, in honourable matrimony, to Sithric, king of Northumber- land, a prince descended from the Danish nation. And Sithric, forsaking paganism out of love for the virgin, embraced the faith of Christ ; but not long afterwards he repudiated that blessed virgin, and rejected Christianity, and restored the worship of idols ; and a short time after his apostasy he ended his life in a miserable manner. Then that holy damsel, who had always preserved her virginity, continued her time at Pollesbury in fastings, and vigils, and prayers, and the giving of alms, and persevered to the end of her life, being mighty in good works. And after the course of this praiseworthy life she passed from this world, on the 15th day of July, and to this very day divine miracles
1 By misprint in the Life of S. Modwenna, July, p. 152, the date of the death of S. Edith is placed as 054 instead of 964.
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[Sept. 16.
are constantly celebrated at her tomb." Matthew of West- minsier gives this under the date a.d. 925, when she married Sithric. William of Malmesbury's account is somewhat different :— " By Egwina, an illustrious lady, he (Edward the Elder) had Athelstan, his first-born, and a daughter, whose name I cannot particularize, but her brother gave her in marriage to Sithric, king of the Northumbrians " (lib. ii. c. 5). And further on, " One Sithric presided over North- umbria, a barbarian both by race and disposition, who, though he ridiculed the power of preceding kings, humbly solicited affinity with Athelstan, sending messengers ex- pressly for the purpose ; and himself, following speedily, con- firmed the proposals of the ambassadors. In consequence, honoured by an union with his sister, and by various presents, he laid the basis of a perpetual treaty. But dying at the end of a year, he afforded Athelstan an opportunity for uniting Northumbria, which belonged to him both by ancient right and recent affinity to his sovereignty " (c. 6). Florence of Worcester says much the same.
It is certainly singular that neither Florence, nor William of Malmesbury, should have given the name of the sister of Athelstan. It is possible that after the death of her husband she may have come to Polesworth in Warwickshire, and be- come abbess of that convent, and, indeed, the life of S. Edith of Wilton, written by Gotschlin, mentions her as being one of the most famous abbesses of the time when Edith of Wilton was with her mother. The latter Edith was born in 962. If Edith, sister of Athelstan, was fifteen when married to Sithric, she would have been fifty-two when Edith of Wilton was born. To what age she lived is not known.
There is a S. Edith's Well at Church-Eaton in Stafford- shire, anciently visited by the infirm for its healing properties.
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S. EDITH OF WILTON.
Sept., p. 268.]
[Sept, 16.
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Sept. 16.]
*S". Edith of Wilton. 269
S. EDITH OF WILTON, V. (a.d. 984.)
[Roman Martyrology. Sarum Kalendar, and proper office and lessons in the Breviary. Not in the York, Hereford, or Durham Kalendars. The Lubeck-Cologne Martyrology, Greven, Wyon ; Wilson in his Anglican Martyrology of 1608, on Sept. 16, in his later edition of 1640, on Sept. 15 ; why changed does not transpire, as S. Edith died on Sept. 16, as stated in her life. Also on Nov. 3, the feast of the elevation of her body. Au- thority : — The Life of S. Edith attributed to Gotschlin, the French monk, brought to England by Edward the Confessor. He died in 1098.]
S. Edith of Wilton, far more famous than S. Edith of Polesworth, with whom she is sometimes confounded, was the daughter of Edgar, son of Edmund, and brother of Edwy.
Edgar reigned over Mercia during his brother's life, but on the death of Edwy he obtained the sovereignty over the whole people of the English, and reigned between 959-975. He carried off the young Wilfreda from Wilton Abbey, where she was being educated. The story of this unfor- tunate damsel has been already given (Sept. 9). Wilfreda, flying from her ravisher, took refuge in Wilton Abbey, where she assumed the veil, and there brought up her daughter Edith, who was thus trained from her mother's breast in a convent, and may be said never to have known the world. She received the veil from the hands of S. Ethel- wald, or Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester (963-984). Edith wore gay clothing — nuns in those days in England seem not to have had an uniform — and was reproved for it by the bishop, Ethelwald. " My father," said the maiden, " the mind may be as modest and God-fearing under fine clothes as under a serge habit. The God I love looks to the heart and not to the dress."
270 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 16.
As soon as she was fifteen, her father thought she was quite old enough to be an abbess, so he gave her authority over Winchester, Barking, and another religious house. But the little girl could not bear to be torn from her mother, who was now abbess of Wilton, and she remained under her somewhat longer.
On the death of Edgar, Edward, his son, succeeded him. Thereupon S. Edith dreamt that one of her eyes fell out. On waking she told the nuns that her dream foretold the death of Edward, who was murdered at Corfe Castle in 978. Edith erected a church under the dedication of S. Dionysius. S. Dunstan was at the consecration, and when he noticed how continuously S. Edith crossed herself, lie caught hold of her right thumb and said, " Never shall this thumb decay."
S. Edith died at Wilton on the 16th of September, about the year 984, in the twenty-third year of her age. At the moment when she was dying a nun went to the door of the church, when, looking in, she saw angels standing in ranks and singing sweetly. Then one with a shining face came up to her and said, " Go back ; the angels await the good maiden."
There was a noble lady at Winchester who had earnestly besought S. Edith to stand as godmother to her child, should she have one, and Edith had promised to do so. Three years after the death of the saintly virgin a little girl was born to the lady. The child was brought to the cathedral to be baptized, and S. Alphege, then Bishop of Winchester, performed the ceremony. As he took the taper and said, " Maiden, receive the lamp, with which thou shalt enter into the marriage of the Lord," he looked up and saw before him Edith, in all the bloom of Paradise, holding the infant on her arm, and extending her delicate hand to re- ceive the candle. He placed the light in her hand, and
Sept. 16.]
S. Edith of Wilton.
271
she remained visible till after the baptism, when she vanished clean away.
Her body was laid in the church of S. Dionysius, at Wilton, but was taken up by S. Dunstan on November 3, a.d. 987, and the thumb was found incorrupt. It was enshrined separately, and long exposed to the veneration of pilgrims.
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272 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 17
September 17.
SS. Heraclides and Myro, BB. MM. in Cyprus; and cent.
S. Justin, P.M. at Rome; circ. a.d. 259.
SS. Socrates and Stephen, MM. in Britain; circ. A.D. 304.
S. Floscellus, Boy M. at Beaune in Burgundy.
S. Agathoclia, M. in the East.
S. Satvrius, C. at Milan; a.d. 392.
S. Roding, Ad. of Beaulieu in Champagne ; end o/Tih cent.
S. Lambert, BM of Maestricht ; circ. a.d. 709.
S. Columba, V.M. at Cordova; a.d. 853.
S. Hildegard, V. near Bingen; a.d. 1171 .
S. Peter Arbuez, Inquisitor, M. at Saragassa ; a.d. 1485.'
SS. SOCRATES AND STEPHEN, MM. (about a.d. 304.)
[Bede's Martyrology, Notker, Hrabanus, Ado, Usuardus, and Modern Roman Martyrology.]
HESE martyrs are said by the martyrologists to have suffered in Britain — in Monmouth — but no particulars are given of their life and passion.
S. AGATHOCLIA, M. (date uncertain.)
[Greek Mensea and Menologies, and Modern Roman Martyrology]
Agathoclia, a servant-girl under Nicolas, a Christian, and his wife Paulina, a heathen, suffered cruelly from the hatred of her mistress, who beat her unmercifully because of her religion, and forced her in cold weather to walk on
1 Beatified in 1664, by Alexander VII. Canonized by Pius IX. in 1867.
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Sept. 17.]
S. Satyr his. 27^
ice without her shoes. She fin-illy denounced her to the magistrate. The tongue of Agathoclia was cut out, and she was burned to death.
S. SATYRIUS, C.
(a.d. 392.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology, and the Milanese Martyrology. Autho- rity : — An oration by S. Ambrose, his brother, on the death and burial of
Satyrius.]
We have S. Bernard's touching sermon on the death of his brother Gerard ; we have also the oration delivered by the great Ambrose of Milan under similar circumstances, when Satyrius, his brother, was consigned to the tomb. Satyrius was born between 330 and 340 ; he was older than Ambrose, and younger than his sister Marcellina. He was a lawyer — one of the rare instances of a lawyer who has got into the martyrologv— afterwards prefect, of what province we are not told, but probably of Liguria, for S. Ambrose speaks of him as if they had been together all the while he was bishop of Milan. Satyrius does not seem to have been baptized till after he was nearly shipwrecked on his way to Africa, and then he received the sacrament of regeneration when he saw how near he had been to death without having become a Christian. Business seems to have called him several times to Africa. He died in 392, or at the beginning of 393. S. Ambrose speaks highly of the purity of soul of Satyrius, of his moderation, his tender- ness towards others.
VOL. x.
18
S. LAMBERT, B.M. (about a.d. 709.)
[Bede, Ado, Hrabanus, Usuardus, Wandelbert, Modern Roman Martyro- logy. York, Sarum, Hereford Kalendais, Reformed Anglican Kalendar, &c. Authorities : — (1) A Life by Gotteschalk, canon of Lidge, d. cca. 770, trustworthy. (2) A Life by Nicolas of SS. Maria and Lambert, d. cca. 1120. (3) A Life by Sigebert of Gemblours, d. 11 12. (4) Another by Stephen, Bishop of Liege, d. 920, a rewriting of the Life by Godeschalk.]
S. Lambert was born at Maestricht of noble parents, belonging to a powerful family. Sigebert says his father's name was Eber, and his mother's Herisblind. He first saw the light between 636 and 638. His name is variously written, Landebert and Lantbert ; in later times it was softened into Lambert.1
Lambert was given to S. Landoald to be instructed, and many legends are related of his youth, how he elicited a spring with his master's staff, and brought him red-hot coals in his lap.2 When he grew older he was entrusted to Theodard, Bishop of Maestricht, and on the death of that prelate, in 670, he succeeded him.
He is described by Gotteschalk as "a wise youth, of amiable aspect, affable speech, and right conversation ; of stately form, strong and swift, agile and stout in war, clear headed, handsome, loving, pure and humble, and fond of reading," so that he had quite won the heart of the old bishop Theodard. His integrity and intelligence made him a great favourite with King Childeric II. ; but when
1 The following legend is related of his childhood :— " Dicitur quod eadem (sancti) nutrix vocabatur Lina nomine, et quod nata fuisset caeca . . . quae monita fuit visione angelica ut ad domum comitis Apri accederet, quia de sua uxore Herys- plende filium eodem tempore esset habiturus, quern cum suscepisset, et suas mam- millas virgineas suxisset, ex ipso lacte virgineo defluenti suos oculos perungeret, et lumen suorum oculorum reciperet. Qua cum virgo Lina pervenisset, et ut edocta erat, implisset, statim lumen suorum oculorum recepit, et deinceps infantem Lam- bertum suo lacte virgineo nutrire meruit."
2 Not by Gotteschalk, but by long .subsequent biographers.
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S. Lambert. 275
that prince was assassinated, S. Lambert was driven from his see by Ebroin, mayor of the palace, who placed an intrusive prelate, Faramuud, a canon of Cologne, in his room. S. Lambert retired to Stavelot, a.d. 674, with two servants ; the abbey was then ruled by Sigolin. He spent seven years there in strict observance of the rules of the monastery. One instance of his obedience deserves quo- tation : —
As he was rising one night in winter to his private devotions, he happened to let fall his wooden sandal, so that it made a noise. This the abbot heard, and looking upon it as a breach of the silence then to be observed in the community, he ordered him who had made that noise to go and pray before the cross. This was a great cross which stood in the open air before the church door. Lambert, without making any answer, or discovering who he was, laid down the upper garment he was going to put on. and went out as he was, barefoot, and covered only with his hair shirt ; and in this condition he prayed, kneel- ing before the cross, three or four hours. Whilst the monks were warming themselves after matins, the abbot inquired if all were there. Answer was made that he had sent one to the cross, who was not yet come in. The abbot ordered that he should be called ; and was surprised to find that the person was the holy bishop, who made his appearance quite covered with snow, and almost frozen with cold. At the sight of him the abbot and the monks fell on the ground, and asked his pardon. " God forgive you," said he, " for thinking you stand in need of pardon for this action. As for myself, is it not in cold and nakedness that, accord- ing to S. Paul, I am to tame my flesh, and to serve God?"
The murder of Ebroin led to a new revolution of the wheel of fortune. Pepin of Herstal became mayor of the palace, Faramund was expelled Maestricht, and Lambert
276 Lives of the Saints. [Sept> 17<
reinstated (a.d. 681). On his return Lambert at once set himself to work to preach the Gospel amongst the people of the Campine. It was a dreary district ot marshes, sandy holts, and willow tofts, inhabited by a barbarous people, who were fanatical idolaters. Lambert, by his gentleness, zeal, and perseverance, won their hearts, destroyed their temples, and brought them in crowds to baptism. He did not rest till he had planted churches throughout the marshy region, and placed clergy in them. A hillock covered with trees, near the Meuse, was long pointed out as a spot the holy bishop loved, on which he sat and taught the people that profession of faith without a Christian life was worth- less. "Faith," said he, "without works is dead." His apostolic labours in the Campine brought him to the con- fines of Friesland, where he met, and had sweet converse with, S. Willibrord, who was not yet a bishop. S. Lambert is said to have extended his excursions as far as Mecheln, and to have founded in that town the church of Our Lady.
S. Lambert's relatives took it upon themselves to resent every invasion of the lands belonging to the see. Some wrong was done to the possessions of S. Lambert by two members of a powerful family, Gall and Reihold. The nephews of the bishop and others of his family fell on them, and no doubt without the knowledge, and against the wishes of S. Lambert, killed them. A relative of the murdered men was Dodo, an attendant on Pepin of Herstal. He and the rest of his clan resolved on revenge, and hearing that Lambert was at Liege, then a small place, they marched to it. About midnight Lambert rose and went alone to the church, where he prayed and sang psalms till the dawn whitened ; and then he rapped with his staff at the doors of his servants, saying, " Get up, wake up, it is time for matins." They rose, came down, the candles
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»S. Lambert. 277
were lighted, the bell rung, and matins were sung. Then all returned to bed, and with them Lambert. But just as the golden sun began to peep over the hills, a boy named Baldwy, who had been set as guard at the bishop's door, went outside the house, and saw a black swarm of armed men coming down the hill with Dodo armed cap-a-pie at their head. The boy turned back, burst open the bishop's door, rushed in, and warned him that the enemy was at hand. Lambert rose, and grasping his sword, his martial fire suddenly blazing up in him, he stood torth without even slipping on his shoes. But almost immediately he re- membered himselt, laid aside his sword, and prepared for the worst. His nephews, Peter and Audolec, armed them- selves with clubs, and gallantly defended the door. Shouts rose from without of " Try fire, burn the house over their heads !" Audolec turned his head, and said, " Do you hear what they are shouting, uncle ?" He replied, " Remember you are guilty of the murder of Gall and Reihold, and God will judge sinners. What you did unjustly, now injustice you must expiate."
" Open your psalter," said Audolec, breathless with deal- ing blows, "and see what the Lord's will is." Then Lambert caught up an office book, opened it, and the words that first arrested his eye were, " Quoniam requirct Dominus sanguinem servorum suorum."1 Then the bishop said sadly, " There, you hear the decision of God, who re- maineth immovable." Thereupon he retired into his chamber, and having put all forth, he cast himself on the ground, with his arms extended, and wept abundantly. Directly after, armed men burst in, killing every one in the house. Lambert's door was fastened from within, wherefore one man mounted the roof, and ran him through with a spear which he flung at him from above.
1 Matt, xxiii. 3s.
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278 Lives of the Saints. tsept.17.
Peter and Audolec receive local veneration as martyrs, but without office.
The two earliest biographers of the saint give plainly the reason of the murder of the bishop, as stated above. But later, it was thought that the saint's fame might be enhanced if a different motive were alleged, and it was felt that, accord- ing to Gotteschalk and Stephen, writers of the 8th and 10th centuries, the aggravation to the murder came from the side of S. Lambert, though he himself was doubtless guiltless of compassing the murder of Gall and Reihold. The biographers of the 12th century, therefore, pretended that Lambert had denounced the intercourse of Pepin of Herstal with Alpheid, the sister of his wife Plectrudis ; and that in revenge for this, Alpheid set the murderers to kill the bishop. But there is not a shadow of evidence that this was the case. According to the same authorities, S. Hubert was at that time in Rome. Pope Sergius I. in dream saw an angel, who announced to him that Lambert was dead, and his successor was in the eternal city, and that his name was Hubert. At the same moment the angel placed Lambert's pastoral staff in the Pope's hand. Next morning the Pope woke, and found the staff there. He went to S. Peter's, when a pilgrim approached him, and said that he came from Maestricht. " What is your name ?" " Hubert." The Pope instantly placed the crosier in his hand and con- secrated him bishop. Unfortunately for the story, Sergius died in 701, eight years before the murder of S. Lambert.
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S. Columba. 279
S. COLUMBA, V.M. (a.d. 853.)
[Modern Roman and Spanish Martyrologies. Authority : — A Life and Passion by S. Eulogius, martyr in the same persecution.]
Columba, a native of Cordova, sister of the Abbot Martin of Cordova, was urged by her mother to many, but refused to do so, as, encouraged by her sister Elizabeth, she had determined to embrace a religious life. She entered the convent of Tabanna, and in it devoted herself to assiduous prayer, residing in a little cell like a recluse. When the persecution of Abdul-rahman broke out, she was brought into Cordova, along with the rest of the sisters, to be more secure. But Columba escaped when unobserved from the convent, and going into the court before the Cadi, cursed Mahomet and his law. She was ordered to be executed with the sword.
S. HILDEGARD, V. ABSS. (a.d. 1 179.)
[Roman and German Martyrologies. Authorities : — A Life by Theodoric the monk, not the abbot of S. Tron, who flourished in iik> ; but a contem- porary and friend of S. Hildegard, and by her constant attendant and secretary, Godefried. But much more may be learned from her own writings, and something from the chroniclers of the time.]
This extraordinary woman, who stands out amidst the miseries and ruin of temporal and spiritual affairs in the 1 2th century, like the figure of Huldah the prophetess when the kingdom of Judah was tottering to its fall, or like Cassandra in ancient Troy, properly deserves to be studied in connexion with the political and ecclesiastical history of her times, with which she was intimately mixed up, and
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280 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 17.
which she influenced by her prophecies, her warnings, and exhortations. But space forbids us giving her as full an article as she deserves.
She was born in 1098; her father was a knight in at- tendance on Meginhard, Count of Spanheim ; his name was Hildebert, and the place of her birth Bockelheim. At the age of eight she was placed under the charge of Jutta, Abbess of S. Disibod, a sister of the Count of Spanheim. From her sixth year the child was subject to visions, which appeared to her, as she describes, not externally, but within her soul. They continued till she was fifteen, without her venturing to publish them. On the death of Jutta in 1136, Hildegard, then aged thirty-eight, succeeded her. Her visions had attracted so much attention that numerous women came to place themselves under her direction, and finding the buildings too small, she erected a new convent on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, in 1147, and moved into it with eighteen sisters.
S. Hildegard was known throughout Europe by her writings ; not that she could write in Latin herself, but she dotted down her visions and communications to various people of the town, in a jumble of German and Latin, and her secretary Gottfried put them for her into shape. She denounced the vices of society, of kings, nobles, of bishops and priests in unmeasured terms. If a prelate, even a Pope, wrote to her, however humbly, she sent him a stinging lecture in reply. She told home truths without varnishing them, so plainly as to make every one wince. She was courted by emperors and bishops, but she never yielded to their fascinations. No one approached her without receiving a rap over the knuckles, and, what was more, it was felt to be well deserved. In 1148 Pope Eugenius III. was at Treves, when he heard every one talking of the prophecies of the famous abbess of S. Rupert. He sent Adelbert,
Sept I7) S. Hildegard. 281
Bishop of Verdun, to examine her, and he studied her writings himself whilst at Treves. He even wrote her a letter, and received in return a lecture. About this time she completed the first part of her work called " Scivias," a fantastic name corrupted from " nosce vias," — know the ways (of the Lord), — which gives us the measure of her knowledge of Latin. The entire work was not completed till 1151. S. Hildegard thus describes her gift of visions : " I raise my hands to God, and then I am wafted by Him, like a feather without weight, before the wind, as far as it lists. . . . Even from my childhood, when my limbs were not full-grown, to now in my seventieth year, my soul has seen visions. My spirit is, as God chooses, borne into the highest firmament, or among all sorts of peoples, and into the furthest lands, far away from my body. And when my inner eye by this means sees the truth, the sights which appear to me vary according to the nature of the vapours and creatures pre- sented to me. These things I see not with my bodily eyes, nor through my understanding or thoughts, but through my spirit, yet with open eyes, and so that they never stir in me an emotion, but I see these sights waking by day or by night alike."
S. Bernard, who had the greatest respect for her, and valued her influence, urged her repeatedly to exert herself to stir up enthusiasm for the Crusade which he preached. She caught the flame, prophesied and exhorted, and con- tributed not a little towards sending to humiliation and death the thousands of Germans who started on that most unfortunate and disgraceful of all the Crusades. Whilst Bernard preached on the Rhine, she ascended the Feldberg, the highest peak of the Rhenish hills, and prayed on its summit, with outstretched arms, for the success of the undertaking. She held her arms so long extended that at last she fainted with exhaustion.
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282 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ,7i
The condition of the Church in Germany was deplorable to the last degree. Charlemagne and the Frank Emperors had made the bishops into electoral princes, with vast territories ; they were, therefore, at the same time temporal and spiritual sovereigns. This caused the position of bishop to be sought by men of rank utterly unqualified for filling a spiritual office. The bishops were constantly at war with their neighbours, or rising in armed revolt against the Emperors. They kept splendid retinues, rode in armour at the head of their troops, and had the turbulence and ambition of temporal princes.
An instance must suffice. Henry I. had been a gentle but feeble ruler of the archiepiscopal see of Mainz, in which was situated the convent of S. Hildegard. A party in the chapter, moved by ambition and disgusted at his unwarlike character, raised some paltry accusations against him, which they carried to Rome. Archbishop Henry had a friend and confidant, the provost of S. Peter's, named Arnold von Selnhoven, who owed his advancement to the favour of the archbishop. Henry gave Arnold a large sum of money, and sent him to Rome to plead his cause. Arnold secretly visited the Emperor Frederick I., secured his sanction to his treachery, and then, hastening to Rome, used the gold Archbishop Henry had given him to bribe those around the Pope to persuade his Holiness to depose Henry, and elevate him (Arnold) to the archiepiscopal throne in his room. Two cardinals were sent to Mainz to investigate the case. Henry saw that they had prejudged it, having been bribed by Arnold. He said to them, " I might appeal from your judgment to the Pope in person ; but I appeal to a higher Judge — to Jesus Christ Himself— and I summon you both before His throne to answer for this injustice." They answered scoffingly, " You lead the way, and we will follow." Both cardinals died suddenly
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Sept. 17.] <!>
Hildegard. 283
before the close of the year. Arnold now returned in triumph to assume the office of his friend and benefactor, whom he had so treacherously supplanted. His arrogance knew no bounds. The people of Mainz writhed under his harsh rule, and the insolence with which he treated the nobles in his diocese embittered them against him. He waged incessant war with all the neighbouring princes, especially with the Palatine Herman II., of the Rhine. The Emperor interfered, and the Archbishop and the Palatine were ordered, as disturbers of the public peace, to carry a dog through the camp. The Archbishop escaped as being an ecclesiastic, but the Prince Palatine was obliged to submit to the ignominious and ridiculous sentence. This stirred up against the Archbishop numerous and implacable enemies. The people of Mainz, unable to endure his tyranny, plotted revolt. S. Hildegard wrote him a letter of warning : — " The Living Light saith to thee, Why art thou not strong in fear ? Thou hast a sort of zeal, trampling down all that opposes thee. But I warn thee, cleanse the iniquity from the eye of thy soul. Cut off the injustice
wherewith thou affiictest thy people Turn to the
Lord, for thy time is at hand." A friend also of the Archbishop, the Abbot of Erbach, cautioned him against incensing his subjects beyond endurance. "The Mainzers," said Arnold, "are dogs that bark, but bite not." When S. Hildegard heard this, she sent word to him, " The dogs are slipped, and will tear thee to pieces." This prophecy came true. In 1160 the Archbishop was besieged in the Abbey of S. James, outside Mainz, by a party of the citizens. The monastery was broken into, and a butcher cut the Archbishop down with his axe. The body was flung into a ditch, and the market women as they passed pelted it with eggs.
It was in sight of all this violence that Hildegard uttered
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284 Lives of the Saints. [Sept I7
her denunciations of the pride and lawlessness of the German prelates. " He who was, and is, and will be, speaks to the shepherds of His Church. He who was sought to form His creatures after His own likeness, that man might obey His will. He that is has brought all creatures into being, in token that all proceeds from His will. He that will be will search out all that is hidden, and will renew all things. O my sons, saith the Lord, ye who pasture my sheep, why blush ye not at the warning voice of your Master ? The ignorant creatures fulfil their Master's commands, but ye do not. I have called you, as the sun, to illumine men, but ye are dark as black night. Woe to you ! Ye should resemble Mount Zion, on which God dwells ; but, instead, ye are lostrels who do not that which is right, but that which pleases your fancies, and ye follow but your own lusts. Instead of being like apostles, ye are so sunk in worldly indolence that your time is spent in waging wars, or with buffoons and singers, or in chasing flies. Ye ought to be pillars of the Church, learned in Scripture, filled with the Spirit ; but, instead, ye ruin the Church by grinding down your subjects to satisfy your avarice and ambition. Therefore will the people rise, and will turn from you to the lay-princes, and will cry to them, We can no more endure these men, who befoul the land with every crime. They are drunkards and lovers of plea- sure, who are sapping the foundations of the Church. Now, when the cries of the people have entered into the ears of the great Judge, then will He execute His wrath on these despisers of His laws, and give them over to the will of their enemies, who cry, How long shall we endure these ravening wolves ? They should be the physicians of our souls, but they heal us not. They are given the power to bind and loose, but they bind us down as if we were wild beasts. Their sins rise up and make the Church to stink.
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They teach not, but rend the sheep. Although they are drunkards, adulterers, and fornicators, they judge us harshly. How does it become these shaven heads, with stole and chasuble, to call out better harnessed and larger armies than we ? The priest should not be a soldier, nor the soldier a priest. Therefore will we take from them what they hold against right and decency, and only leave them what is necessary for the welfare of souls.
"At that time the honour, power, and authority of the German Emperor, whereby the empire is protected, will be lessened by their fault, because they rule so basely and neglectfully, and do not live as heretofore. They will con- tinue to exact from their subjects obedience, but not peace- ableness and uprightness. Wherefore many kings, and princes, and peoples, who were before subject to the Roman empire, will separate from it, and submit no longer. Every land, every nation, will choose its own prince, and obey him, saying, The Empire is a burden and not an honour to us. And when the Roman empire is thus broken up, so will also the power of the papal throne be shattered ; for when princes and other men find no more religion in Rome, they will despise the papal dignity, and will choose their priests and bishops, giving them other names, so that only a small part of Germany will remain subject to the Popes — namely, that nearest to his seat and diocese. And this will come to pass partly through war, partly through the energy of those who exhort the princes to rule their people themselves, and the bishops to hold their subjects in better order."
The clear intelligence of S. Hildegard no doubt foresaw that some events such as the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War must ensue, if matters were not mended. The falling away of the greater part of Germany from the Church three centuries later was caused by the political situation
286 Lives of the Saints. [Sept< 17
rather than by desire of religious change. German exas- peration, which had brooded long, burst into a flame, not against the Catholic religion so much as against the mis- government of the episcopal electors and princely abbots. The Catholic religion was rejected only because it was entangled with the cause of these bishops. Of the frightful misgovernment and subordination of ecclesiastical cha- racter to that of temporal sovereignty there can be no doubt. Caesarius of Heisterbach, who lived in the same age as S. Hildegard, quotes with approval the saying of a monk, " I can believe in any miracle and marvel except one — I cannot believe in the possibility of the salvation of a German bishop."
S. Hildegard wrote to Conrad I., Bishop of Worms, " Thou sittest in the throne of Christ, but thou holdest a rod of iron for the controlling of the sheep." To the Bishop of Spires, " Rise, O man, wallowing in blackness, rise, and build up the ruins, lay up store in heaven, that the black and filthy may blush at thy elevation when thou risest out of thy filth ; for thy soul scarce lives on account of thy evil deeds." To the Archbishop of Treves, " Watch, and re- strain thyself with an iron rod ; and anoint thy wounds that thou mayest live." She wrote to Popes Eugenius II., Anastasius IV., and Adrian IV., advising them of the dire state in which spiritual affairs stood in Germany. She wrote to the Emperors Frederick I. and Conrad III. There is scarcely a person of note throughout the empire to whom she did not address letters. She studied theology and medicine ; she was consulted on questions of divinity and on cases of conscience. Her writings on medical science have attracted the attention of recent writers.1
1 Jessen ; fiber Ausgaben und Handschriften d. medicinische-historiscben Werke der h. Hildegardis, in Sitzungsberichte der Matbemat. u. Naturwiss. Classe d. k. Acade- mie der Wiss. zu Wien. 1862. And an article by F. A. Reuss in Annalen des Vereins fiir nassauische Alterthumskunde, Wiesbaden, 1859, p. 50-106.
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Sept. 17.)
kS*. Hildegard. 287
S. Hildegard was engaged in a singular controversy with the choir-bishop of Mainz, who acted in spiritual affairs for the archbishop. During the quarrel between the Emperor Conrad III. and Pope Alexander III. there were rival archbishops claiming the see — Cuno, supported by the Pope, and Christian, nominated by the Emperor. In 11 79 peace was made between Conrad and Alexander, and the Pope then confirmed Christian in the see. Before the Lateran Council of 1179, which saw the close of the schism, a certain youth died who had been excommunicated by one of the archbishops, probably Christian. He was buried in the cemetery attached to S. Rupert's convent. The choir- bishop and chapter of Mainz at once wrote to S. Hildegard, ordering her to dig up the body and eject it from conse- crated ground. She refused, alleging that she had seen a vision in which Our Lord Himself had forbidden her. Moreover, as she said, the young man had confessed, been anointed, and had communicated before his death. And lest force should be used to disturb and throw out the body, she went to the cemetery, and removed all external traces of where the grave was. An interdict was launched against the convent. She abstained therefore from singing the offices in the chapel, and was debarred from receiving the Holy Communion. This went on for more than a month, and she began to be impatient. She wrote to the eccle- siastical directors of the see a glowing account of the ad- vantage of choral hymnody and psalmody, which put devils to flight, and not obscurely hinted that she would not submit much longer to an unjust sentence, for she had heard a voice from heaven enjoining song. She went to Mainz herself, and appeared before the chapter, but could obtain no redress. Then she turned to the Archbishop of Cologne, and by his intervention the interdict was removed. However, Archbishop Christian, then in Italy, heard of the
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288 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 17
affair, and not pleased at the intermeddling of a neighbour- ing archbishop, and perhaps moved by rancour against Hildegard, who had supported Cuno against him before his recognition by the Pope, he renewed the interdict.
S. Hildegard then wrote him a long letter, arguing the case of the young man, who, as she asserted, certainly had been absolved and communicated by the parish priest of Bingen, when he lay on his deathbed, and pointing out the piteousness of her case, deprived of the sacraments and of the recitation of the daily offices. The archbishop ac- cepted her act of submission, thought that she had been punished sufficiently, and removed the interdict. Christian was not a man of a religious spirit ; he had invaded the see at the head of a body of armed retainers in 1165, and ex- pelled Cuno the rightful archbishop. When he was acknow- ledged by the Pope, he took up his residence in Italy; Hildegard in vain wrote to him, entreating him to return to his see and ride it as its bishop ; he never revisited it, but remained fighting in Italy, was taken prisoner, and died in captivity in 1183.
S. Hildegard travelled about a great deal. She visited the Emperor Frederic I. at Ingelheim, and traversed a por- tion of Germany preaching and prophesying to the people. She is known to have been at Treves, Metz, in Swabia, Franconia, at Paris and Tours. S. Hildegard died in 1179, and was buried in her convent church ; but this convent was destroyed by the Swedes in 1632, when her relics wer<? removed to Eibingen.
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sept. .8] •$• Ferr coins. 289
September 18.
S. Ferreolus, M. at Vienna in Gaul ; circ. a.d. 304.
S. Methodius, B.M. at Chalets in Greece ; circ, a.d. 304.
S Eustorgius I., B. 0/ Milan ; /^th cent.
S. Ferreolus, B. of Limoges ; circ. a.d. 595.
SS. Desiderius, B.M. and Reginfried, M. in Alsace; ytk or
8th cent. S. Richardis, Empss., V. at Andlech in Alsace ; lot/i cent. S. Thomas of Villanova, Archb. 0/ Valencia in Spain; a.d. 1555.
(See Sept. 22.) S. Joseph of Cupertino, C. at Osima in Italy; a.d. 1663.
S. FERREOLUS, M. (arout a.d. 304.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. In copies of the martyrdom of Jerome on Sept. 19. Ado, Usuardus, &c. on the iSth. Authorities : — Mention by Sidonius Apollinaris, lib. vi. ep. 1, by S. Venantius Fortunatus, lib. viii. casus. 4 ; S. Gregory of Tours ; and the Acts, trustworthy, though with the speeches amplified by later hands.]
AINT FERREOLUS, a young man in Vienne, was brought before Crispinus the governor, and ordered to adore the gods by whom the Em- perors swore, or he would be divested of his military rank.
Ferreolus replied, " I am a Christian, and I will not sacrifice. I have obeyed the Emperors conscientiously, but in this matter I cannot obey."
He was therefore beaten, and thrown into a filthy cellar, probably the Barathrum. The inner prison in the Roman world was called the Robur or Lignum, from the beams of wood to which prisoners were chained, or from the character of its floor. It had often no window or outlet, except the door, which, when closed, absolutely shut out light and air.
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290 Lives of the Saints. fSept t8
It was into this apartment that SS. Paul and Silas were cast at Philippi, before it was known that they were Romans. The jailor, we are told, put them in the inner prison, and fastened them in the stocks, which was one of the pieces of furniture of the Robur or Lignum.
In the Acts of the Scilitane martyrs we read of the Pro- consul giving sentence, " Let them be thrown into prison ; let them be put into the Lignum till to-morrow." The utter darkness, the heat, and the stench of this miserable place, in which the inmates were confined day and night, are often dwelt upon by the martyrs and their biographers. "After a few days," says S. Perpetua, " we were taken to the prison, and I was frightened, for I never had known such darkness. O bitter day ! the heat was excessive by reason of the crowd there." In the Acts of S. Pionius and others of Smyrna, we read that the jailors, " shut them up in the inner part of the prison, so that, bereaved of all comfort and light, they were forced to sustain extreme torment, from the dark- ness and stencil of die prison." And, in like manner, martyrs of Africa about the time of S. Cyprian's death say, " they were not frightened at the foul darkness of that place . . . but the torments of it no statement can equal."
Yet there was a place of confinement even worse than this. In the floor of the inner prison was a sort of trap-door, or hole,opening into the Barathrum, or pit. Sometimes prisoners were confined here ; sometimes despatched by being cast headlong into it through the opening. It was into this pit at Rome that S. Chrysanthus was cast ; and there, and elsewhere, it was nothing short of the prison cesspool.
It may be noticed that the Prophet Jeremiah seems to have had personal acquaintance with the outer prison, the Lignum and the Barathrum. We read in one place of his being shut up in the vestibule of the prison ; at another time he is in the inner prison ; and lastly, his enemies let
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him down by ropes into the pit, in which " there was no water, but mud."
Into the Barathrum the young soldier Ferreolus was let down, to spend the night in the filth, unable to sleep, stifled by the loathsome odours of the place, and aching from the wounds he had received from the scourge. But after he had been left there the whole of the following day, he determined to make his escape, and having succeeded in removing the shackles from his feet, he stole away, probably by means of a sewer, for it conducted him into the Rhone, which he crossed by swimming. Having reached the other side, lie made the best of his way to the village now called le Gene. But his appearance aroused suspicion, he was arrested, lead back to Vienne, and put to death.
S. METHODIUS, B.M. (about a.d. 304.)
[The Martyrologium Parvum, Ado, Notker, Usuardus, &c. Modern Roman Martyrology. Authorities : — S. Jerome in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers.]
S. Methodius, Bishop of Olympus in Lycia, afterwards of Tyre, wrote a treatise on the Resurrection against Origen, another against Porphyry, and some other works. He suffered at Chalcis in Greece.
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292 Lives of t lie Saints* rSept l8
S. EUSTORGIUS, B. OF MILAN.
(4TH CENT.) [Roman and Milanese Martyrologies.]
In the list which S. Athanasius gives of the great Catholic prelates of his age who stood fast in the faith, who quitted themselves like men, and would not yield to Arianism, though supported by the Emperor, occurs the name of Eustorgius of Milan, and S. Ambrose speaks of him as a confessor.
He was the tenth Bishop of Milan.
S. JOSEPH OF CUFERTINO, C. (a.d. 1663.)
[Roman and Franciscan Martyrologies. Beatified by Benedict XIV. in 1753, and canonized l>y (lenient XIII. in 1767. His office inserted in the Breviary by Clement XIV. Authorities : — A Life by Angelo Pastrovicchio from the process of Beatification. Also an Italian Life by Bernini.]
Joseph Desa was the son of Felix Desa, a carpenter, and his wife Franceses, poor people living at Cupertino, in the kingdom of Naples. He was born on June 17th, 1^03, in a stable, whither his mother had retired when officers came to arrest her husband for debt.
He was troubled as a child with abscesses ; and when they were healed, he was left with feet turned inward, so as to walk ungracefully. His appearance was altogether uncouth ; and the boys of the village called him " Gaping Mouth." His ways also were not those of healthy ordinary children. He would go for a day or two without his meals, and when his attention was called to it, he would say, " I forgot them I"
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His mother treated him with some severity, punishing him for the least fault, and often for his stupidity.
At seventeen, the boy went to a neighbouring Franciscan convent, in which was his uncle, Fra Franceschi Desa, and begged to be admitted as novice ; but he was refused admission. In no way deterred, he went to the provincial of the Capuchins, Fra Antonio Francavilla, and obtained his consent that he should enter a convent of the Order. He was accordingly drafted into one at Martino, near Tarento, a.d. 1620. But the friars soon had enough of him ; if he was given pots or plates to carry, he let them fall ; if he had to put sticks on the fire, he upset the caul- dron simmering over it,1 and was altogether so clumsy, that at the end of eight months he was dismissed ; the monastic habit was taken off him, and his old tattered clothes were restored to him. Ashamed to return to his native place, he wandered on, with puzzled head and sad heart, to Vetrara, attacked by shepherd dogs on the road, and only liberated by their masters after he had been nearly frightened out of his few wits. At Vetrara he found his uncle, who was delivering a course of Lent sermons. He Hung himself at his feet, sobbing, " The Capuchins have turned me out, as I am good for nothing." His uncle pitied his forlorn con- dition, kept him with him till Easter, and then brought him back to his mother at Cupertino, whom he found in dire straits to meet the demands of her husband's creditors, he being now dead ; and her temper not being sweetened by distress, she beat Joseph soundly for being such a stupid fool as to come back on her hands.
The unfortunate lad's scrofulous ulcers had opened on his knees, and he had cut them with a knife, in hopes of removing the swellings, and had thereby incapacitated him-
1 " Evenit ut vasaque et testas, e manibus lapsas frequenter rumperet, duoique ligna super focum reponebat, lebetes everteret," &c.
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self for work. Francesca was quite unable to maintain him, and as soon as he was better, with tears in her eyes, she implored the Minorites of Grotlella, near Cupertino, to take him in. He was made a third order brother, and set to look after the stable. His obedience, humility, and love of mortification, so gained on the brethren that in a provincial chapter held at Altamura in 1625, it was resolved that he should be elevated to the upper order, so that he might qualify himself for holy orders.
Joseph begged to be allowed to go through a second novitiate, after which he spent his time by himself, not associating with the others, but devoting his hours to prayer. He received minor orders in 1627, and was ordained priest on March 28th, 1628, "without examination," the bishop having previously heard him discourse on the text, " Blessed is the womb that bore thee."
He now kept himself more aloof than before from the rest of the friars, haunting the top of the dome of the church, or a little cell in the rocks at a distance. His habits were so eccentric, he was so absent, and gave way to buch extravagant freaks, that for thirty-five years he was not allowed by his superiors to assist with the rest of the friars in choir at the recitation of the offices, or in the processions, not even might he be their companion at meals. He at the same time took off all his underclothing, and sent it to his mother ; then, when covered only with the habit, he rejoiced that he was stripped of everything in the world except what was absolutely necessary. This habit he wore for two years, and then it became so torn that he could not possibly go about the country in it. He therefore flung himself on his bed in a condition of deepest despondency, with door and windows shut, and waited. A new habit was sent him by a religious, whom he did not know, and when he put it on all his despondency vanished.
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For five years he did not eat bread, and for ten abstained from wine. He lived only on herbs and dry fruits, and on Fridays ate such roots and herbs as no other stomach could have digested. His fast in Lent was so rigorous that for seven years he took nourishment only on Sundays and Thursdays. He now began to go throughout the province of Bari, followed by trains of people, listening to his words, wondering at his ecstasies, and the extraordinary bounds into the air in which he indulged, and saluting him as "the Apostle of the Kingdom." Thereupon he was denounced by a certain priest to the Inquisition at Naples as "a man aged thirty-three who ran through those provinces, and as a new Messiah drew crowds after him by the prodigies wrought on some few of the ignorant populace, who are ready to believe anything." He was ordered to Naples, and examined before the Inquisition, but as no positive grounds for his condemnation appeared, he was released, but ordered to go to Rome to the General of his Order, who was privately notified to place him under restraint. Joseph obeyed with the utmost joy ; a piece of money given him for his necessary expenses he placed on the top of a stone outside the gates of Naples, and made his way to the Eternal City without money. At Rome he was received very roughly by the general, who, knowing that he had been suspected of heresy, and that the Holy Office required hirr to confine the saint in a solitary cell, was ill pleased to sec him. He therefore sent him to Assisi, where he was treated with great harshness, the superior regarding him either as a maniac or as an impostor. Under this treatment, Joseph fell into the deepest melancholy, and was tormented with hideous dreams and distressing thoughts. The General of the Order, hearing of the deplorable mental and spiritual condition into which he had sunk, and fearing permanent derangement, ordered him back to Rome for Lent. There
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the change of scene and treatment restored him to serenity, and when he went back to Assisi it was in an altogether calmer and more cheerful condition of mind.
S. Joseph of Cupertino was extremely sensitive to music ; when hymns were being sung he cried out aloud, or fell into trances.
One Christmas eve, as he was in the church, the pifferaii began to play their charming carols to the new-born Jesus. Joseph, carried away by excitement, began to dance in the midst of the choir, and then with a howl,1 taking a (lying leap, jumped upon the high altar, on which a crowd of candles were blazing, and hugged the tabernacle for a quarter of an hour. The leap was one of many feet, and yet he did not shake down one of the candles nor set anything on fire. Joseph was vested at the time in cope for Bene- diction. The carolers were amazed, not less so the friars. And their amazement was increased when they saw him, still in his cope/ jump from the high altar on to the pulpit, fifteen feet above the floor, and there fall into an ecstasy.
He did something similar one Good Friday evening, when a sepulchre had been erected on the high altar with illumined clouds and lamps about it. He again bounded on to the altar, and clasped the tabernacle, without setting fire to any- thing, am* clung to it till recalled by the Superior, when he leaped back to the place where he had stood before.
There was a large Calvary cross at Grottella which had previously excited similar exhibitions. The saint would jump to the arms, stand on them, and sometimes balance himself on the top of the cross above the title. It will be understood, therefore, that the friars of his convent acted with prudence in not allowing him to assist at the offices in their church, or in any public ceremony.
1 " Cum magno ejulalu, velut avis per sera, volavit a medio ecclesias usque supra altare majus, plus quam quinque perticis inde dissitum."
* " Pluviali mdutuin."
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One day he was out walking with a friar, who said to him, " Brother Joseph, how lovely heaven is !" The words struck a chord in his breast, he jumped, and, at a bound, reached a bough of an olive tree, and knelt on it.1
.One day he went into the convent choir of the Sisters of S. Clara at Cupertino. When the nuns began to sing " Veni sponsa Christi," Joseph, unable to restrain himself, ran across the choir, caught the confessor of the convent in the arms, danced with him into the middle of the church, and spun him round and round in the air. One day, in the presence of the legate to Spain, uttering a shrill cry, he jumped over the heads of those kneeling before the altar, twelve paces, to the feet of an image of the Blessed Virgin which stood on the high altar, and jumped back over their heads " with the same noise." On another occasion he bounded backwards over the heads of some persons gathered to venerate the habit of S. Francis, and fell in worship before it. Once he asked the sacristan of one of the chapels at Assisi to say with him " Beautiful Mary !" He did so. Instantly Joseph caught him by the waist, and jumped with him into the air, repeating at every bound " Beautiful Mary ! "
1 At Protestant Dissenting Revivals similar extraordinary leaps and dances are not infrequent. The Jumpers and Shakers take their name from these nervous hysterical capers. In the American Revival of 1801 , the ' ' Jerks " became epidemical. Such phenomena are common not merely in the Christian Church to ecstatics, but also in all religions in which the imagination is greatly excited. Some of the pagan philosophers of the Neoplutonic school were similarly raised ; so also were heretical enthusiasts. Among saints who were lifted up, according to their biographers, may be mentioned S. Peter of Alcantara, S. Philip Neri, S. Paul of the Cross, and the ecstatics Marie d'Agreda, and Dominic of Jesus-Mary. So also the Blessed Philipin who rose above the tops of oaks. Anne-Catherine Emmerich was able to skip about like a grasshopper, according to her own account, in a miraculous manner. Mar- garet of the S. Sacrament had similar powers. Christine the Wonderful leaped to the cross rafters of the church, jumped into a font, and rolled about the floor like a ball. In all seriousness the bull of canonization of S. Thomas of Villanova related that he remained suspended for twelve hours in mid-air. S. Agnes of Bohemia went up like a shuttlecock out of sight, and did not drop till an hour had elapsed. Marie d'Agreda was made a public exhibition, suspended in the air, in her convent at Burgos. I have seen the thing done at a show at a fair. It is an optical delusion, contrived by means of looking-glasses. Margaret Agullona was carried up and floated in rapture in a church at Vanencia, and was blown about by the draught from the door like a feather. All this sort of stuff is discussed in a silly book, " La Stigmatisation," by Dr. A. Imbert-Gourbeyre, Clermont, 1895 ; also by M. J. Ribct, "La Mistique Divine," Paris, 1895.
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A maniac was brought to Joseph, and was made to kneel before the saint. Joseph ordered his chains to be knocked off ; then clutching his hair, and bursting into his wonted shout of " Hah !" he jumped high into the air, dragging the lunatic after him. The madman never gave way to his peculiar fancies again.
John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick, in 1649, came to Assisi to see the saint, whose fame was widely spread. The duke was the son of George, Duke of Brunswick and Hanover, and Wilhelmina Amelia, daughter of the Emperor Joseph. He had with him, when he came to Assisi, two counts, one a Catholic, the other a Protestant. He himself was a Lutheran, but inclined towards Catholicism. When he arrived, S. Joseph Cupertino was saying mass. The saint found the Host so hard that he could not break it, though he used great force. Then, replacing it on the paten, he uttered a loud cry, and bounded back, with folded knees, five paces, and after another loud cry returned in the same manner to the altar, and succeeded in the fracture of the Host. When asked why he uttered such loud cries, he replied, " Because those who entered the church at that moment are hard of heart, and believe not the truth."
After dinner, the Duke of Brunswick asked to see the saint, who exhorted him to abandon heresy, and entreated him to attend mass when he celebrated on the following morning. The duke did so, when Joseph was lifted into the air, so that his feet were a hand's breadth above the top of the altar table, and thus he remained for the space of six or seven minutes. The duke was so convinced that this was a miracle, that he exclaimed, " Here I am torn with scruples ; at home I was at ease of mind." Joseph took his girdle, bound it about the duke, and said, "So I bind you for Paradise." The duke returned to Brunswick, but next year saw him again at Assisi ; unable to shake off the impression
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sept. i8.j S. Joseph of Cupertino. 299
produced on his mind by this remarkable man, he had come to make his abjuration of heresy before him, and to be received into the Catholic Church. S. Joseph is said to have possessed a supernatural insight into minds. He once pounced on a woman at Cupertino, and told her she had been preparing poison ; she trembled and turned pale. He ordered her to produce the mixture, and when she obeyed he flung it into the fire. " Go, go," he said to a nobleman approaching him \ "wash your face!" meaning that he should cleanse himself from a sin which had stained his soul.
He used to say to people with nice scruples of conscience who came to consult him, " I like not scruples or melan- choly ; let your intention be right, and fear not."
His prudence, which was remarkable in the conduct of souls, drew to him a great concourse of people, and even cardinals and princes. He foretold to John Casimir, son of Sigismund III., King of Poland, that he would one day reign for the good of the people, and advised him not to enter any religious Order. But this prince afterwards joined the Jesuits, took the vows of ihe scholars of the society, and was made Cardinal by Pope Innocent X. in 1646. Joseph dissuaded him from the resolution he had taken of receiving holy Orders. What the saint foretold came to pass ; for Vladislas, eldest son of Sigismund, dying in 1648, John Casimir was elected King of Poland ; and being given a dispensation from the Pope, married his brother's widow. After some time he resigned his crown, and retired into France, where he died in 1672. This prince himself after- wards disclosed the circumstances here related.
The miracles wrought by S. Joseph were not less remark- able than the other extraordinary favours he received from God. Many sick owed their recovery to his prayers. The saint fell sick of a fever at Osima, the 10th of August, 1663, and foretold that his last hour was near at hand. The day
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 18.
before his death he received the last sacraments. He was heard often to utter the aspirations of a heart inflamed with the love of God : "Oh! that my soul were freed from the shackles of my body, to be united to Jesus Christ ! Praise and thanksgiving be to God ! The will of God be done. Jesus Crucified, receive my heart, and kindle in it the fire of Thy holy love." He died the iSth of September, 1663, at the age of sixty years and three months. His body was exposed in the church, and the whole town came to visit it with respect ; he was afterwards buried in the chapel of the Conception of Our Lady.
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September 19.
SS. Trophimus, Sabbatuis, and Dorymedon, MM. at Antioch in Pisidia, and Synnadis in Phrygia; circ. ad. 278.
SS. Januarius, BM . and Companions, MM. at Pozzuoli, near Naples; circ. a.d. 305.
SS. Peleusand Nilus, BB. MM. in Egypt ; a.d. 310.
S. Miletus, B. of Treves; circ. a.d. 470.
S. John, B M. at Spolcto in Uiubria ; 6th cent.
S. Sequanus, Ab. at Langres ; 6th cent.
S Goeric, or Abbo, B. of Metz ; a.d. 642.
S. Theodore, Abp. ofCa?iterbury; a.d. 690.
S. Pomposa, V.M. at Cordova; a.d. 853.
S. Arnulwi, B. of Gap ; circ. a.d. 1074.
SS. JANUARIUS, B.M., AND OTHERS, MM. (about a.d. 305.)
[Roman Martyrology. Carthaginian Kalrndar, probably on the same day, but the day is effaced. A martyrology of the 10th cent, of Treves, published by Martene. Also a {Calendar on marble of the same date found at Naples in 1742 ; all Mediaeval Martyrologists. S. Sosius sometimes alone, sometimes with others on Sept. 23. S. Januarius at Benevento on Sept. 7, with SS. Festus and Desiderius. On Oct. 18, some of the com- pany at Pozzuoli. Among the Greeks S. Januarius and Companions on Sept. 19, and April 21. On the latter day the Russian {Calendar. The Translation of S. Januarius to Naples on May 2. At Naples also the first Sunday in May ; also Dec. 16. Authorities : — The Acts written by John the Deacon in the roth cent, from pre-existing material. There are various copies of the Acts of S. Januarius and S. Sosius which do not fit together at all. The Greek Acts are wholly apocryphal.]
j|AINT JANUARIUS is said to have been Bishop of Benevento, but a native of Naples. He often visited Miseno, where was a deacon of rare merit, named Sosius, of the age of thirty years, with whom he contracted a warm friendship. Sosius was arrested by Dracontius, Governor of Campania, and was thrown into prison, where he found Proculus, deacon of the
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302 Lives of the Saints. rSept
church of Pozzuoli, Eutyches, and Acutius, citizens of the same town and earnest Christians. Dracontius was recalled before he had tried and executed the saints, and a certain Timotheus was appointed in his room. The new governor at once arrested S. Januarius, who was then at Nola.
Various fables have attached themselves to the Acts. A furnace is said to have been heated red-hot for three days, and S. Januarius then thrown into it, but to have been unhurt. This is ornament added to the original story by a late biographer, loving romance rather than fact. Festus, deacon, and Desiderius, lector of the church of Benevento, having heard of the capture of their chief pastor, hastened to visit him at Nola, but were at once seized and thrown into chains. A few days after the governor went to Tozzuoli to order the execution of Sosius and his companions, and the bishop and his deacon and lector were driven in chains before him.
The day after the arrival of S. Januarius and his two associates, all the champions of Christ were exposed to be devoured by beasts in the amphitheatre, but none of the savage animals could be provoked to touch them. The people were amazed, but imputed their preservation to magic, and the martyrs were condemned to be beheaded. This sentence was executed outside the walls of Pozzuoli. After the persecution had ceased their bodies were removed. Those of SS. Proculus, Eutyches, and Acutius were placed in a church built in their honour; those of SS. Festus and Desiderius were translated to Benevento ; that of Sosius to Miseno, and that of S. Januarius to Naples. The Acts are so overlaid with fable that it is difficult to extricate from the midst of mere legendary matter the threads of historical truth.
" The standing miracle, as it is called by Baronius, of the blood of S. Januarius liquefying and boiling up at the
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approach of the martyr's head is very famous. In a rich chapel, called the Treasury, in the great church at Naples, are preserved the blood, in two very old glass vials, and the head of S. Januarius. The blood is congealed, and of a dark colour ; but when brought in sight of the head, though at a considerable distance, it melts, bubbles up, and upon the least motion flows on any side. The fact is attested by Baronius, Ribadeneira, and innumerable other eye-witnesses of all nations and religions." '
S. THEODORE, ABP. OF CANTERBURY. (a.d. 690.)
[Roman Martyrology. Not in Salisbury, York, or Hereford Kalendars. Anglican Martyrology of Witford. Not in any copies of Bede's Martyro- logy. Authority : — Bede, and mention in the Life of S. Wilfred by Eddi, his companion.]
On the death of Archbishop Deusdedit of Canterbury, in a.d. 664, it became necessary to find a successor. For this purpose, Oswy, the King of Northumberland, and Egbert, King of Kent, acting in consultation with the chiefs of the Anglo-Saxon clergy, appointed a monk of Canterbury, named Wighard, universally esteemed for his virtues, a Saxon by birth, and trained in the school of the first
1 Alban Butler :— " Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, Sue." An English nobleman who was present in 1871 at the festival, and was within the altar rails close to the priest who held the glass vessel which contains the congealed blood, informs me that before liquefaction the appearance is that of a piece of flesh with dark veins in it. There are two handles to the vessel. The priest, a burly man, who held the vessel with both hands, kept turning it like an hour-glass, and from side to side, holding it for about twenty minutes before a crowded church, in which the heat was intense. After a while the veins, or what looked like veins, began to dissolve, and the liquor to flow from side to side of the glass vessel. The priest held it close to the eyes of my informant, so that he saw most distinctly that the substance, whatever it was, in the vessel had become fluid.
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304 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ig
missionaries, sent from Rome by S. Gregory. Then the two kings sent the Archbishop-elect to Rome to be con- secrated by the Pope.
Wighard had but just arrived at Rome, when he died there with nearly all his attendants. The two kings then resolved to leave to the Pope the choice of the new metro- politan of England. Vitalian, then occupying the chair of S. Peter, replied that he had not been as yet successful in finding a person suitable for so distant a mission, but that he would use his best endeavours to satisfy the king, and provide for the interests of religion in England.
After a new and long search, the Pope fixed on Adrian, an African by birth, and abbot of a monastery near Naples, well versed in ecclesiastical and monastic discipline, and knowing the Greek and Latin tongues. Adrian declined the honour, out of humility, but expressed his readiness to go to England, and pointed out to the Pope a monk whom he deemed suited for the office and responsibilities of the metropolitanate of all England ; but the bodily infirmities of the monk disqualified him. Then Adrian, again urged by the Pope, proposed to him another of his friends — a Greek monk named Theodore, born, like S. Paul, at Tarsus, in Cilicia, but living at Rome, of good life and profound learning, and surnamed, from his acquirements, The Philo- sopher. Theodore was already of an advanced age, being sixty-six years old.
This proposition was accepted by the Pope, but with the condition that the abbot (Adrian) should accompany the new archbishop to Canterbury, and watch over his pro- ceedings, that nothing contrary to the orthodox faith might be introduced into the Church. This precaution was taken because the Celtic Church of Northumbria and the British Church of Wales were independent, and clung tenaciously to their ancient rites. S. Wilfrid had laboured in Nor-
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thumbria to extirpate these peculiarities, and had treated with ignominy the bishops and clergy who did not conform to Roman customs. He had stirred up such irritation throughout the North, that King Oswy had been obliged to expel him from his dominions, and S. Ceadda had been enthroned at Ripon in his room.
S. Wilfrid must at all hazards be supported, the inde- pendence of the Northumbrian Church must be overcome. The new archbishop was apparently given strict injunctions to reinstate S. Wilfrid, for we find him doing so imme- diately on his arrival in his metropolitan see. But Theodore was not consecrated at once. An obstacle, fortunately not insuperable, stood in the way. His head was completely shaven after the Greek custom. This was one of the points on which the Celtic Church differed from the Church of Rome. It was partly because of the British bishops not wearing a ring of hair round their heads that Augustine had refused association with them in the work of evangeliz- ing the heathen Anglo-Saxons. To send Theodore to Canterbury with wholly shaven head would have been to countenance one of the deadly errors of the British and Northumbrian Churches. Theodore had to tarry four months in Rome till his hair had grown, that he might receive the tonsure in the Roman fashion. As soon as his head had been shaved in a Latin manner, he was con- secrated by the Pope, March 26, 668, and started with the Abbot Adrian for England. But to the Asiatic and the African, so strangely chosen to rule the Anglo-Saxon Church, the Pope wisely determined to add a third, whose help, especially at the commencement of their mission, would be indispensable to them. This was the young Northumbrian noble, Benedict Biscop, filled with ardour for Roman customs, which he had acquired during a visit of some length at the metropolis of Western Christendom, and ready
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in heart and soul to co-operate with S. Wilfrid in forcing them on the stubborn Northumbrians. Seventy years after the mission of S. Augustine, the three envoys started for England, to take possession of it, as it were a second time, in the name of the Church of Rome.
But their journey was not without hindrance ; it took them more than a year to go from Rome to Canterbury. Instead of finding in France, as Augustine had done, the generous assistance of a queen like Brunehaut, the new missionaries became the prey of the tyrant Ebroin, mayor of the palace. The presence of these three personages, a Greek, an African, and an Anglo-Saxon, all bearing recom- mendations from the Pope, appeared suspicious to the all- powerful minister. The Byzantine Emperor, Constantine II., at that time still sovereign of Rome, which he had lately visited and pillaged, had excited the anxiety of Ebroin, who imagined that the Papal messengers might be charged with the management of some plot between the Emperor and the Anglo-Saxon kings against the Frankish kingdom of Neustria and Burgundy, of which he regarded himself as chief. Abbot Adrian appeared to him the most dangerous, and he therefore detained him a prisoner for two years after the release of the two others. Meanwhile, thanks to the direct intervention of King Egbert, Archbishop Theodore was enabled to reach England, and solemnly take pos- session of his see, May 2?, 669. His first act was to confide to his pious companion, Benedict Biscop, the government of the great abbey of Canterbury, since known as S. Augustine's. Benedict remained there as Superior until the arrival of Adrian, to whom it was transferred by the new Archbishop, according to the Pope's commands, that the African abbot and his monks who accompanied him should be established in his diocese.
There must have been a stern courage and a holy ambi-
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tion in the grand old Eastern, Theodore to induce him, at sixty-seven years of age, to undertake so laborious a task as that of the spiritual government of England. The history of the Church presents few spectacles more imposing and more comforting than that of this Greek of Asia Minor, a countryman of S. Paul, a mitred philosopher and almost septuagenarian monk, journeying from the shores of the East to train a young nation of the West, disciplining, calm- ing, and guiding all those discordant elements, the different races, rival dynasties, and new-born forces, whose union was destined to constitute one of the greatest nations of the earth.1
Thanks to the assistance of the powerful King of North- umbria, the new Archbishop of Canterbury found himself invested, for the first time, with authority recognised by all the Anglo-Saxons. This supreme authority over all the Churches of Great Britain, whatever their antiquity or origin, had been given by Gregory the Great to Augustine, but it had existed only as a title ; in Theodore it now became, for the first time, an incontestable reality. The first use he made of this supremacy was to restore Wilfrid to his see of York. Oswy yielded to apostolic authority when he was shown the express decrees of the Pope. The humble and saintly Ceadda resigned his see, saying meekly, " If you be certain that my episcopate is not legitimate, I will abdicate it voluntarily ; I have never thought myself worthy of it, and only accepted it in obedience."
The bishopric of Mercia having become vacant, Wulfhere, the Mercian prince, summoned Ceadda thither, and gave up to him Lichfield for his residence ; but, probably at Wilfrid's dictation, Theodore required the holy man to submit to reconsecration, he having received episcopal orders from British bishops defiled with the heresy of shaving
1 Montalembert : " Monks of the West."— S. Wilfrid.
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their whole heads, and observing Easter on the wrong day, acts which were regarded as invalidating the orders they conferred.1 But Theodore was perhaps ashamed after- wards of the humiliation offered to so modest and lowly a prelate, when he had time to measure him beside his adversary, and compare Ceadda's meekness with the unbending haughtiness of Wilfrid. Theodore is said by Bede to have himself held ihe stirrup to the humble bishop, when Ceadda mounted a horse which the archbishop had in- sisted upon his riding.
Having thus regulated or rearranged the government of souls in Uie two largest kingdoms of the Saxon confedera- tion, Northumbria and Mercia, the venerable archbishop pursued, with an activity in no way relaxed by age, the task which the Holy See had assigned him. He successively traversed all the provinces of the island already occupied by Anglo-Saxons. With the aid of the former bishops, and of those whom he ordained wherever they were wanting, he applied himself, in all the kingdoms, to pacify the sanguinary feuds of princes and nobles, to re-establish canonical order and ecclesiastical discipline, to correct abuses, to spread good morals, and to regulate, according to Roman custom, the celebration of Easter. He is believed to have originated on this occasion that ecclesiastical law which commanded all fathers of families to repeat daily, and to teach to their children, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed in the vulgar tongue. Abbot Adrian accompanied him everywhere, and seconded him in all things. These two aged monks, one Asian and the other African, were received, listened to, and obeyed by the Anglo-Saxons with that affectionate deference which in Christian hearts triumphs so easily over the prejudices and opposition of a narrow
1 Such was a canon afterwards passed, " Qui ordinati sunt Scnttorum vel Briton- rnim Episcopi, qui in Pasclia vel tonsura Catholica; non sunt ordinati ecclesiae, iterum a Cat holico Episcopo mantts impositione confirmentur." ap. Thorpe, p. 307.
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nationality. They repaid the popular attachment by their unwearied zeal for the souls and hearts of the people, preaching to them evangelical truths, with that intelligent and practical solicitude which makes true apostles.
The authentic monuments of their zeal are all preserved in the imposing collection of moral and penal institutes known as the "Liber Pcenitentialis" of Archbishop Theodore, which reveals to us the moral disorders of our forefathers, and the efforts made by the Church to heal them. In this code, set forth by a Greek prelate sent from Rome, there appears no trace of Roman or Byzantine law. On the contrary, it embodies the entire penal system of the Germanic laws, founded on the principle which required a punish- ment for every offence, or a compensation for every punish- ment.
The " Penitential" of Theodore was not, however, in- tended as a code of ecclesiastical law. According to the preface, it is a collection of answers given by him to persons questioning him on the subject of penance ; to which in Book II. are added answers on the whole range of ecclesi- astical laws and discipline ; most of them received by a priest named Eoda, " of blessed memory," from Theodore himself, and edited by a person who gives himself the title of " Discipulus Umbrensium," meaning thereby, probably, that he had studied in one of the Northern schools. It is evident that Eoda was dead when the work was drawn up ; but there is nothing to make it improbable that it was drawn up with the sanction of Theodore himself, or under his eye : rather it may be said that the verses found at the end of the treatise, in which Theodore commends himself to the prayers of Bishop Hseddi, make it certain that this was the case.1
As it is always pleasant to find a lovely and tender heart
' The best edition is in Stubbs and Haddan, "Councils and Eccl. Doc." ii p. 173 seq.
1
310 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ig>
among the masters and teachers of the people, it is delightful to read, at the end of one of the most ancient manuscripts of this venerable work, a few lines, in which the archbishop thus commends his work and his soul to a prelate, one of his friends : " I beseech thee, noble and pious bishop, to pour out at the feet of God the abundance of thy prayers for Theodore, the poor stranger whom thou lovest."
In the course of his apostolic journey, Theodore naturally visited Lindisfarne. The metropolis of Celtic resistance was obliged to acknowledge the authority of the Roman metropolitan, who imprinted on it the seal of subordination and union by dedicating, under the significant title of S. Peter, the monastic cathedral of the Celtic bishops, which S. Aidan had begun to erect, in the Scottish fashion, and of wood, many years before.
Archbishop Theodore took pains also to introduce church music throughout England. Till then church song had only been used at Canterbury. lie urged its introduction into every church, and sent teachers to instruct singers. In 669 he held a synod in Wessex, to sanction the union of that kingdom under one bishop, Leuther. King Cenwalch in 660 had attempted the division of Wessex into two sees, Dor- chester and Winchester, but his attempt had been defeated by the withdrawal of the elder bishop, Agilbert, leaving the whole kingdom under the newly-introduced Wini. On the expulsion of Wini by Cenwalch, a.d. 666, the bishopric was vacant till Leuther (Hlodhere), nephew of Agilbert, was sen' to be bishop in a.d. 670.
It was, however, by no means Theodore's intention to diminish the number of sees in England.
He had in mind S. Gregory's scheme of two metropolitan sees with twelve suffragans under each, and this he desired greatly to carry into effect, or, at least, as much of it as was possible at the time. Hitherto, except in Kent, each king-
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dom of the Heptarchy had foimed a diocese, each king choosing to have one bishop of his own, and only one. Northumbria, long divided into two kingdoms, had never formed more than one diocese, of which the seat was some- times in the ancient Roman metropolis of York, sometimes in the sacred isle of Lindisfarne ; and this diocese, even after a partial division, remained so vast, that the venerable Bede mentions a large number of districts which had never yet been visited by their bishop.
The extreme inequality of extent and population in the different Saxon kingdoms, which a single glance at the map will make apparent, had then led to a similar difference between the dioceses ; those of the north and centre being far too large for ihe administration of one man. But Theodore here met with the resistance which is almost always produced in similar cases. He convoked a Council at Hertford in the fourth year of his pontificate, the first ever held in the Anglo-Saxon Church ; but was obliged to adjourn his pro- position. At the same time he reserved to himself the means of returning to the charge, by decreeing that the National Council should meet once a year at a place called Cloveshoe, according to Saxon fashion, in the open air.
He was happier, however, in the two canons regarding monasteries which he proposed, and which were unanimously adopted by the bishops and abbots attached to Roman cus- toms who composed this Council.
One was the canon which forbade bishops to disturb monasteries in any way, or to despoil them of their goods ; the second forbade monks to pass from one monastery to another without permission from their abbot. At the head of all the canons passed in this Council, however, stood one insisting on Easter being celebrated on the same day throughout the English Church.
That which Theodore had all along desired, but which he
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12 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. lg>
6
had been obliged to postpone as premature in the council of Hertford, he was able to effect in part in 679, when, with the consent of a Mercian Witenagemot, and at the request of Kings Ethelred and Oshere, he divided Mercia into five dioceses, Worcester, Lichfield, Leicester, Lindsay, and Dorchester. Our authority for this is Florence of Worcester, but his evidence is too late to be accepted as conclusive. He is probably wrong in some of his particulars. The division was either six, Hereford being added, or it was five, and Hereford must be put in place of Dorchester. But it is possible that Hereford may not have been included by him in the division, because already existing as a see.1
It has been often asserted, on the authority of Thomas of Elmham (d. 1422), that S. Theodore first organized the parochial system in England, but there are no good grounds for holding this to have been so. Elmham speaks of Theodore dividing the " paroichia," but the word meant originally an episcopal diocese, and not a priest's cure.
In the meantime Wilfrid of York had been stiring up antagonism against himself throughout his diocese, now enormously extended by the conquests of Oswy; his violence and haughty treatment of all who would not submit at once to abandon their ancient prejudices, his contempt for the me- mory of the great apostles of Northumbria, because of their Celtic peculiarities, had stirred up against him such dislike, that King Egfrid could no longer endure his presence. He appealed to Archbishop Theodore, who, having visited Northumbria, and having been brought into personal con- tact with Wilfrid, knew his intolerable arrogance. Wilfrid had proudly displayed his wealth and power before the king, his services of gold and silver, his innumerable army of dependents and vassals, better armed and better clothed perhaps than those of the king.
1 For a criticism of the statement of Florence, see Stubbs and Haddan, vol. iii. ia8 et seq,
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sept. ,9.i S. Theodore. 313
Theodore, loving peace, deemed it for the advantage of true religion that Wilfrid should be deposed. It is probable also that Theodore wished to divide the vast unwieldy diocese of Northumbria, as he had divided Mercia, and that he met with resistance from Wilfrid. Certain it is, that after he had deposed Wilfrid, he broke up his diocese into four (a.d. 678), York, Hexham, Lindsay, and Lindisfarne. Wilfrid angrily, indignantly, appealed to Rome. It was the first time that an appeal to Rome had been heard of in England. It is significant that all the saints and chief abbots of his county with one heart and mouth approved the change effected by S. Theodore. S. Hilda was ever implacably hostile to Wilfrid ; S. Cuthbert had not a word to say in his favour ; even S. Benedict Biscop, who was heart and soul in the same cause of advancing Roman ritual and Roman supremacy, did not come to his succour. Except his own personal followers, receiving pay from his well-lined purse, all Northumbria was bitterly hostile or coldly indifferent. The action of Theodore accorded with the dictates of the national conscience.
Wilfrid carried his appeal to Rome personally. Arch- bishop Theodore sent a string of accusations against Wilfrid to the Pope by the hands of an exemplary monk named Coenwald. S. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, sent special mes- sengers to Rome charged with a similar commission.
The cause of Wilfrid was heard in a council assembled by Pope Agatho ; it was decreed that Wilfrid should be restored to his see ; that those who had replaced him should be expelled ; and it was ordered that the archbishop should ordain bishops with the title of coadjutors, who should be chosen by Wilfrid himself.
Wilfrid returned to England in 680, and his first step, before proceeding to his diocese, was to give to King Ethelred the rescript he had obtained from Pope Agatho in favour of the Abbey of Medeshamstead. This charter was * ■ —
314 Lives of the Saints. (Sept
sanctioned and signed by the king, the queen, Archbishop Theodore, and Abbot Adrian. Finally Wilfrid signed it himself in these terms, " I, Wilfrid, on my way to reclaim, by apostolical favour, my sec of York, being witness and bearer of this decree, I agree to it." The charter is given in the Saxon Chronicle. Wilfrid then returned to Nor- thumbria, and showed to King Egfrid, who had expelled him, the decree of the Holy See for his re-instalment in the sole bishopric of all N01 thumbria. The king convoked the assembly of nobles and clergy, and caused the pontifical letters to be read in their presence. Upon this there arose an ardent opposition. The authority of the Pope or the Council was not disputed, but there were cries on all sides that the judgment had been bought; and by the advice of the whole Council, and with the express consent of the in- truded bishops, the king condemned Wilfrid to an ignomi- nious imprisonment of nine months. There can be no doubt that Archbishop Theodore connived at this treatment of Wilfrid. He deemed, no doubt, that the Pope and Council had not been sufficiently informed of the facts of the case, of Wilfrid's obstructiveness to the scheme of dividing his diocese into several sees of reasonable propor- tions, and of his intolerable insolence to the northern clergy and bishops. The Pope and Council had judged, hearing only Wilfrid's side of the question. Theodore afterwards, perhaps, regretted that he had allowed his judgment to make him act in contravention to the authority of the Pope.
S. Theodore at once (a.d. 681) took the opportunity of still further dividing the huge northern diocese of Bernicia. He appointed Tumbert to Lindisfarne, and Trumwin to Abercorn ; and Eadhaed he preferred to Ripon, which he then made for the first time the see of a bishop. It was blotted out again in 686, on Wilfrid's restoration. In a.d. 684 S. Cuthbert became Bishop of Lindisfarne.
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sept. I9.j S- Theodore. 315
Wilfrid, set free at the request of Egfrid's wife and mother, fled to Mercia, was driven thence by King Ethelred, and fled to Kentwin in Wessex; driven again from Wessex he took refuge in Sussex with King Ethelwalch. In a.d. 684 or 685 he appears to have appealed again to the Pope, Benedict II., and, according to his biographer's statement, to have obtained a sentence in his favour, which King Egfrid and Archbishop Theodore again disregarded.
In a.d. 686 S. Theodore, then at a very advanced age, was reconciled to Wilfrid. If we may trust a partial historian he admitted that he had acted wrongly towards him, and especially towards Rome, in having disregarded all rescripts in favour of the banished prelate. We have only Eddi's authority for this ; he puts a very humble confes- sion into the mouth of S. Theodore, which is, no doubt, a composition by Eddi himself, and little trace of such self- accusation appears in the authentic letter of S. Theodore to King Ethelred of Mercia, on Wilfrid's behalf. What seems to have been really effected was that Theodore and Wilfrid compromised matters. Perhaps Wilfrid, in exile and weighed down under the general abhorrence in which he was held by the saints of the English Church, felt that his con- duct had been harsh and irritating, and that he had con- sulted his own pride rather than the welfare of Christ's Church, in opposing the dismemberment of his unwieldy diocese.
At an interview which took place at London, between Theodore and Wilfrid, in the presence of Erkonwald, Bishop of London, it was agreed that Wilfrid should be restored to the see of York, but not to his old diocese, only to that fraction of it which had been left under York, when Theodore had broken it up by his divisions of a.d. 678 and 681; these divisions remaining intact. Lindsay had been cut off as the result of its recovery by Mercia, as well as by
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316 Lives of the Saints. [Sept I9
the division of a.d. 678, Abercorn, in the same way, by its reconquest by the Picts, as well as by the act of a.d. 681. Lindisfarne remained in S. Cuthbert's hands, and was merely administered for a year by Wilfrid, on Cuthbert's death, until a successor was consecrated ; and Hexham, to which Eata had been transferred from Lindisfarne in a.d. 685, was, upon Eata's death in a.d. 686, held by Wilfrid for a year only, until John of Beverley was conse- crated to it in a.d. 687.
The beautiful letter of Theodore to Ethelred on Wilfrid's behalf is extant, given by Eddi. He speaks of his decrepit age. He hopes, with a gentle touch of sarcasm, that in future Wilfrid will be found " in patience to possess his soul, and that, forgetful of former injuries, he will bend a mild and humble head, mindful of the example of his Lord and Saviour." He begs the king to come and visit him, that his old eyes may behold once more his pleasant face, and that his soul may bless him, before he dies.
Accordingly King Ethelred restored to Wilfrid rule over such portions of his lands as were included in his newly circumscribed diocese, and his example was followed by King Ealdfrith. Eadhed was dismissed from Ripon, and the monastery given up to Wilfrid, and Bosa was expelled from York, a.d. 686.
In the meantime Theodore the Greek, and Adrian the African, had laboured at the intellectual and literary develop- ment of the monks of Canterbury. Both were profoundly attached to, and imbued with, not only ecclesiastical know- ledge, but secular learning — that double intellectual current of which the Middle Ages never ceased to afford examples. Theodore had brought with him a copy of Homer, which he read perpetually, and which was long preserved and admired by his ecclesiastical descendants. They gathered round them, in the monasteries where they lived or which
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sept i,,] & Theodore. 317
they visited, a crowd of young and ardent disciples, whom they daily led to the fountain of knowledge.
While explaining Holy Scripture to them with particular care, they taught their scholars also astronomy and arith- metic, and afterwards the art of composing Latin verses. But it was chiefly the study of the two classic tongues which flourished under their care. These became so general that, sixty years after, there were still monks trained in the school of Adrian and Theodore who spoke Greek and Latin as readily as Anglo-Saxon. Monasteries thus transformed into schools and homes of scientific study could not but spread a taste and respect for intellectual life, not only among the clergy, but also among their lay-protectors, the friends and neighbours of each community. Under the powerful impulse given to it by the two Roman monks, England became almost as important a literary centre as Ireland or Italy. While recalling this peaceful and luminous period, of which Theodore and Adrian were the stars, the enthusiasm of Bede breaks out in the words, " Never since the Anglo-Saxons landed in Britain had more happy days been known. We had Christian kings at whose bravery the barbarous nations trembled. All hearts were inflamed by the hope of those celestial joys which had just been preached to them ; and whosoever wished to be instructed in sacred learning found the masters that he needed close at hand."
We may add, to characterize with more precision this pontificate of Theodore, that he was the last foreign mis- sionary called to occupy the metropolitan dignity in England, and that the great monk succeeded in trans- forming into an indigenous and national establishment — into a public and social institution — that which had hitherto been only a missionary Church. This transformation could only have been made by that special and supreme authority with which, at the demand of the Anglo-Saxons themselves,
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3 1 8 Lives of the Saints. (Sept
the oriental Archbishop had been invested by the Holy See, and the result was to give to the Popes a whole nation as a lever for their future action upon nations already Christian, and upon those which still remained to be converted.
S. Theodore died at the age of eighty-eight, after a pontificate of twenty-two years, on September 19th, a.d. 690. No bishop before him had laboured so much for the intel- lectual development of the native clergy, or for the union of the different Anglo-Saxon dynasties. The Greek monk, therefore, may well be reckoned among the founders of the English Church and nationality; and when he was buried, wrapped in his monastic habit in place of a shroud, it was just that he should be laid on the right hand of S. Augustine, the Italian monk, who, a century earlier, had cast the first seeds of faith and Christian civilization into the soul of the Anglo-Saxon race.1
I The following lines were written by a poet of the time on the seven first arch bishops of Canterbury, who lay side by side : —
" Septem primates sunt Anglis et proto-patres, Septem rectores, septeini]ue per aethra triones ; Septem sunt stellar, nitet his haec area cellae ; Septem cisternal vita?, scptemque luceruae."
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Sept. 20] SS- Eustathius and Others. 3 1 9
September 20.
SS. Eustathius, Theopista, Agapius, and Theopistus, MM.
at Rome ; circ. a.d. 118. SS. Theodore, Philippa, and Others, MM. at Perga in Pam-
pliylia; circ. a.d. 220. SS. Fausta and Others, MM. at Cyzicum ; circ. a.d. 305. S. Susanna, V.M. at Eleutheropolis in Palestine; circ. a.d. 363. S. Agapetus I., Pope 0/ Rome ; a.d. 536.
SS. EUSTATHIUS AND OTHERS, MM. (about a.d. 118.)
[Roman Martyrology. Almost all Latin Martyrologies, but not always on the same day. In the ancient Roman Kalendar, published by Fronto, on Sept. 11 ; by the Copts on Sept. 15, but by Greeks, Russians, and Abyssinians on Sept. 20. Authority : — The Greek Acts, which are, however, fabulous.]
USTATHIUS, or Eustace, was a Roman general under Trajan, if any trust whatever maybe placed in his Acts. Before his baptism he was called Placidus, and his wife, called formerly Tatiana, at her baptism received the name of Theopista. They had two sons, Agapius and Theopistus. Eustace was out hunting one day, when still a heathen — so runs the fanciful tale — when he saw a stag coming towards him with a crucifix between its horns ; and the stag cried to him, " Placidus, Placidus, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus Christ." Thereupon he believed and was baptized, with all his house. The Emperor was so exasperated at his conversion that he had him, his wife, and children placed inside a brazen bull, and a fire lighted under it, so that they were burned to death when the brass became hot.
Not satisfied with these wonders, legend-makers have
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320 Lives of the Saints. fS 20
constructed the pedigree of S. Eustace, which is this : — Faustinus Octavius was the father of S. Clement I., and from him descended Agapitus Octavius, who was the father of Eustace. The place of the miraculous vision of S. Eustace is Guadagnolo, between Tibur and Praeneste. The body of S. Eustace was given, in the 12th cent., to the Abbey of S. Denys, near Paris. It was burnt and scattered about in 1567 by the Huguenots, but fragments are shown as belonging originally to it in the church of S. Eustache in Paris. Other relics at Douai, Prag, Epternacli, Cologne, Madrid, &c.
S. Eustace was a favourite subject with mediaeval painters. He is represented as a huntsman kneeling before the miracu- lous stag. The famous engraving of S. Eustace by Albert Diirer is well known.
S. Eustace, as well as S. Hubert, is the patron of hunts- men.
S. SUSANNA, V.M. (a.d. 363.)
[(Jroek Mennea and Menologies. Authority: — The Greek Acts, which are late and untrustworthy.]
S. Susanna, daughter of an idol-priest at Eleutheropolis, in Palestine, on his death, was instructed in the faith and baptized by a Christian priest named Sylvanus; then, dressing herself as a boy, she entered a monastery of men, and passed there as a monk, but was discovered and turned out.1 She was then made superior of a convent of women. In the reign of Julian, in a popular tumult, she was taken
1 The same story is told of her as of S. Apolhnaris Syncletica, and of S. Marina.
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Scpt.2o.] S. Agapetus. 321
by the rabble and her breasts cut off. She returned, bleed- ing, to her convent, and there died praying, in excruciating agonies.
S. AGAPETUS I., POPE.
(a.d. 536.)
[Roman IVfartyrology and Greek Menaea. Authorities : — Anastasius Bibliothecarius, the Libellus de Reb. Gestis ab Agap. ad Constant., &c]
S. Agapetus was a native of Rome, and belonged to the church of SS. John and Paul. His great sanctity recom- mended him to the electors, when the papal throne was vacated in 535 by the death of Pope John II. The Emperor Justinian sent him a profession of his faith, which the Pope pronounced orthodox, and in compliance with the request of Justinian, he condemned the Sleepless Ones, a religious community at Constantinople, as tainted with Nestorianism. Theodotus, King of the Goths in Italy, hearing that Justinian was meditating the invasion of Italy, in the agony of his fear, had recourse to the same measure that had been pursued by the great Theodoric. He persuaded or compelled the aged Pope to proceed on an embassy to Constantinople, to ward off the impending danger, to use his influence and authority lest a Roman and orthodox Emperor should persist in his attempt to wrest Italy and Rome from a barbarous Arian ; and Theodotus commanded the pontiff to be the bearer of menaces to be proclaimed should pacific negotiations fail. He was to threaten, if Justinian pursued his intention of transferring the victorious army under Belisarius from Africa to Italy, that the senate should be put to the sword, and the imperial city of Rome be razed to the ground. The embassy arrived in Constantinople on February 2, vol. x. 21
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322 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 20.
a.d. 536, and Agapetus was received with the highest honours. Justinian had already suspended, for a short time, his warlike preparations ; but Agapetus found affairs more within his province, which enabled him to display in- dependent and bold conduct before the despot of the East. The see of Constantinople had fallen vacant, and the actress Theodora, whom Justinian had elevated to share his throne, resolved to fill it with a favourite prelate, Anthimus of Trebizonde, suspected of Eutychian leanings. Agapetus refused to acknowledge and communicate with a prelate who had been translated, in violation of the canons, from one diocese to another, and who, moreover, was thought not to hold unblemished orthodox views. Counter-charges of Nestorianism were raised by the partisans of Anthimus and Theodora against the blameless pontiff. Justinian, under the influence of his wife, ordered the Pope to recognise the new Metropolitan ; but he had yet to learn that a Pope of Rome would not be ordered by an imperial despot. " I came hither in my old age," said the undaunted prelate, " to see, as I supposed, a religious and a Christian Emperor. I find a new Diocletian. I fear not your menaces, I will die rather than yield up the truth."
Justinian was overawed, and at once veered round and rejected Anthimus. Mennas, nominated in his room, was consecrated by the Pope, who died shortly after. The funeral rites of Agapetus were celebrated with great magni- ficence, and his body was sent to Rome, that it might rest with his predecessors on the throne of S. Peter.
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S. MATTHEW
s',;,t-. p. 323-]
[Sept.
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sept.,,] S.Matthew. 323
September 21.
S. Jonah, Prophet in Palestine ; circ. B.C. 850.
S. Matthew, Ap. Evang., M. in Ethiopia ; 1st cent.
S. Alexander, B.M. on the Claudian Way, in Italy; ind cent.
S. Castor, B. of Apt in Gaul; circ. a.d. 420,
S. Gerulf, M. at Dronghen in Flanders ; middle oj 8th cent.
S. Maura, V. at Troyes in France ; qth cent.
S. MATTHEW, AP. EVANG. M.
(1ST. CENT.)
[The Mnrfyrology of Jerome, the Martyrologium Parwim, Bede, Floras, Hrabanus, Wandelbert, Ado, Notker, Roman Martyrology, and all Latin Kalendars. Mass of S. Matthew with vigil on preceding day in the Sacra- mentary of S. Gregory. In the Martyrology of Jerome also on May 1, May 6, and Oct. 9, in some copies on May 21, but probably by mistake for Matthias. The Translation to Salerno on April 28. By the Greeks S. Matthew on Nov. 16, and S. Matthew with the rest of the Apostles on June 30. The Armenians on Nov. 16, so also the Copts and Abyssinians.]
AINT MATTHEW, the Apostle and Evangelist,
is the same as Levi the Publican,1 the son of a
certain Alphseus.8 His call to be an Apostle is
related by all three Evangelists in the same
words, except that S. Matthew3 gives the former, and S.
Mark and S. Luke the latter name.
The publicans, properly so called, were persons who farmed the Roman taxes, and they were usually, in later times, Roman knights, and persons of wealth and credit. They employed under them inferior officers, natives of the province where the taxes were collected, called properly poriitores, to which class Matthew belonged.
Eusebius says that after our Lord's ascension, S. Matthew preached in Judaea, some add for fifteen years, and then
1 Luke v. 27 — 29. • Mark ii. 14. 8 Matt. ix. 9. I — '
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. at.
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went to foreign nations. Socrates says that it fell to the lot of S. Matthew to go into Ethiopia. But S. Ambrose says that God opened to him the country of the Persians ;x Isidore of Seville says that he went among the Macedonians, the acts by the pseudo-Abdias say Ethiopia. Heracleon, disciple of Valentine, living in the 2nd century, and the earliest and most trustworthy authority, says that S. Matthew died a natural death,2 and S. Clement, Origen, and Tertullian say the same. The story of his martyrdom originated much later.
S. Matthew's original Gospel in Aramaic consisted of the sayings of the Lord. The Acts of His life were added later.
It is pretended that Breton merchants brought the body of S. Matthew from Ethiopia to Brittany in the reign of King Solomon of Armorica, i.e., at the beginning of the 5th century, and placed it in the city of S. Pol de Leon. But Solomon, having been killed by the rebellious Bretons, Valentinian deprived them as a punishment of the body 01 S. Matthew, and translated it to Basilicata in Naples. There it remained till the year 954, when it was translated to Salerno. The story deserves no respect.
An arm bone at Monte Cassino ; an arm in the church of S. Matthew at Rome, indulgenced by Pope Paschal II.; another arm in S. Maria Maggiore ; another in S. Marcellus ; a rib in S. Nicolas in Casiers ; other relics in the Vatican ; another arm at Bologna ; a foot covered with skin at Subiaco ; another entire foot covered with skin ; also an arm in the same perfect condition, a rib and tooth and shoulder- blade at Prag. At Carlstein both arms entire, covered with dried flesh and skin. A large part of the body at Andechs
1 In Psalm 45. Also S. Paulinus of Nola in poem 19, and the Martyrology of
Jerome.
2 Ap. Clement. Alex. Stromat. lib. iv.
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in Bavaria. In the Court chapel at Brussels the entire head of S. Matthew. Two bones at Tournai, others at S. Sauveur, Bruges ; a large part of one arm at Foppens ; a thumb covered with skin at Liessgin, Hainault. A head at S. Pol de Leon, another at Beauvais, another at Chartres, another at Rengisval in the diocese of Tulle.
When S. Matthew is represented as an Apostle, he usually appears as an old man with a long beard, and has his gospel in his hand. He is also represented with a purse or money- box, in allusion to his worldly calling ; sometimes with a spear or axe.
His symbol as an evangelist is an angel.
S. ALEXANDER, B.M.
(2ND CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. The Martyrologium Parvum and Ado on Nov. 26, on which day Pope Damasus appointed his festival to be observed. Ado also on Oct. 21. Authority : — The Acts, pretending to be by an eye- witness, are a forgery, and undeserving of the smallest respect.]
The acts of this Saint being an impudent forgery, are unworthy of trust. But the final scene is perhaps true. It stands out in marked contrast with the rest of the narrative, and has an air of truth about it unlike the trash which sur- rounds it. Alexander the bishop was ordered by the em- peror Marcus Aurelius to be executed on the Claudian Way outside Rome. When he came to the spot where he was to suffer, he found that he was without a handkerchief, he therefore borrowed one of an old woman ; and then, having taken off his tunic, standing in his linen dress, " in linea stans," he tied the handkerchief over his eyes, knelt down, and received the stroke of the executioner's sword without a word.
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326 Lives of the Saints. [Sept> 2Ii
S. GERULF, M. (about a.d. 748.)
[Belgian Martyrologies. Authority:— A Life written by a monk in the ioth cent.]
At Dronghen, or Tronchiennes, in Belgium, on this day is celebrated the festival of S. Gerulf, patron of the parish. This saint, who is invoked against fever, was born at Merendre, a village not far from Ghent, of which his father, Luitgild, was the lord. From earliest infancy the piety of Gerulf was remarkable. One day he went to Ghent with great joy, in a white robe, to receive the sacrament of Con- firmation in the abbey church of S. Pierre, from the hands of Eleiseus, Bishop of Noyon and Tournai. On his way back, in company with an uncle, they stopped to dine at Tronchi- ennes. Then they remounted their horses and rode forward, but on the way his uncle stabbed him with his sword, probably hoping by the death of Gerulf to secure to himself succession to the estates of Count Luitgild. The young martyr lived to pardon his murderer, and to implore his father to bury him in the abbey of Tronchiennes, and to give to it the lands which, had he lived, he would have inherited.
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September 22.
S. Phocas the Gardener, M. at Sinope in Pontus; a.d. 303.
S. Drosis, V.M. at Antioch in Syria.
SS. Digna and Emerita, VV. MM. at Rome; yd cent.
SS. Maurice and Comp., MM. at S. Maurice in Valais ; circ.
a.d. 286. S. Florentius, P.C. at S. Florent le Vieux in Poiton ; 4th cent. S. Lo, B. of Coutances in Normandy ; circ. a.d. 568. S. Emmeram, B.M. at Helffendorfin Bavarta ; A.D. 652. S. Salabekga, Abss. at Laons ; circ. a.d. 654. S. Gunthild, V. at Piberach, near Aichstadt, in Bavaria. S. Lolan, B.C. in Scotland; $th cent. S. Thomas of Villanova, Abp. of Valencia; a.d. 1555.
S. PHOCAS THE GARDENER, M. (a.d. 303.)
[Not in the Roman Martyrology. The Bollandists on this day. Alban Butler on July 3. Authority : — A panegyric by S. Asterius, Bishop of Amasca in a.d. 400.]
JAINT PHOCAS, a gardener, dwelt near the gate of Sinope, a city of Pontus ; he was a humble, god-fearing man, given to hospitality, and chari- table out of his poor means. In a persecution, probably that of Diocletian, he was impeached as a Christian ; and executioners were sent to despatch him.
These men before entering Sinope stopped to rest at his house. He courteously entertained them, and then when they had supped told them that he knew the man they were sent to kill, and that he would deliver him into their hands on the morrow. After they had retired to bed, he dug a grave, prepared everything for his burial, and spent the night in disposing his soul for his last hour. When it was day he
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328 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 22-
went to his guests, and told them Phocas was found, and in their power as soon as they were ready to apprehend him. Glad at this news, they inquired where he was. " He is here present/'' said the martyr ; " I myself am the man." Struck at his undaunted resolution, and at the composure of his mind, they stood a considerable time as if they had been motionless, nor could they at first think of imbruing their hands in the blood of a person in whom they discovered such heroic virtue, and by whom they had been so courteously entertained. He indirectly encouraged them by saying, that as for himself, he looked upon such a death as the greatest of favours, and his highest advantage. At length recovering themselves from their surprise, they struck off his head. The Christian? of that city, after peace was restored to the Church, bui't a church over his relics.
SS. DIGNA AND EMERITA, VV. MM.
(3RD CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities : — The brief Acts, moderately trust- worthy. There are other Acts which are apocryphal.]
Digna and Merita or Emerita, two virgin sisters, were brought before the judge Gaius, probably in the persecution of Valerian. They were stretched between four stakes, driven into the ground and cruelly beaten ; then hung on the little horse by their long hair, and torches applied to their sides. They died under this torment.
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Sept. 22.] SS. Maurice and Comp. 329
SS. MAURICE AND COMP., MM. (about a.d. 286.)
[Martyrology of Jerome. Martyrologium Parvum. Roman, German, and Gallican Martyrologies. All classic martyrologies, Sarum, York, Hereford, and Durham Kalendars. The authorities are mentioned in the text.]
In order to save the declining Roman Empire from ruin, Diocletian divided it into four parts, and associated three regents along with himself. Diocletian retained the East for his share ; Italy and Africa were entrusted to Maximianus Herculeus ; beyond the Alps, over Gaul and Britain, ruled Constantius Chlorus ; and Galerius Maximianus had sway over Illyria and Thrace.
The immediate result of this partition of the Empire was the increase of the army to thrice its former size, for each of the four associates deemed it necessary to raise the number of the troops under his command. But not only was the host of soldiers enormously increased ; along with it grew up a host of officials to collect the taxes, which were made intolerably heavy, to support the army.
In order to obtain soldiers, able-bodied men were hunted down like wild beasts, and taken from the forests and ravines in which they had concealed themselves. To extort the taxes from the people, an iron net of officials was flung over the land, which held the unfortunate subjects of the Empire from escape, and crushed energy and independence out of them. Everything was taxed, not fields only, but trees and vines, every head of cattle, every slave, and member of a family. Where suspicion was raised that there was concealment of property, the torture was freely applied. Children were forced to give evidence against their parents, wives against their husbands, slaves against their masters.
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330 Lives of the Saints. [Sept_ 22
" So enormous had the imposts become," says Lactantius, a contemporary, " that the tiller's strength was exhausted ; fields became deserts, and farms were changed into forests. The fiscal agents measured the land by the clod ; trees, vine-stalks, were all counted ; the cattle were marked ; the people registered. Old age or sickness was no excuse ; the sick and the infirm were brought up ; every one's age was put down ; a few years were added on to the children's and taken off from the old men's ages, to make them amenable to taxation. Meanwhile the cattle decreased, the people died, and there was no deduction made for the dead."
Gaul especially groaned under this intolerable burden. The peasants and farmers and shepherds could endure it no longer. They broke out into revolt in their despair ; the farmers turned their ploughs into swords, the shepherds killed their flocks, they wasted the fields, organized an army, threatened the cities, and spread terror in all direc- tions. Amandus and ^Elianus headed this insurrection of peasants, slaves, or half-slaves, which, under the name of Bagaudians, threatened the stability of the Roman rule in Gaul. It is said that to excite the confidence and zeal of their bands, the two chiefs of the Bagaudians had medals struck, and that one exhibited the head of Amandus, " Emperor, Caesar, Augustus, pious and prosperous," with the word " Hope" on the other side.
Some have assumed that these Bagaudians were Chris- tians, but without foundation. The revolt was not religious. The Emperors would have been too glad to have regarded it as a rising of Christians instead of a rebellion against misgovernment, had there been an excuse for so regard- ing it.
Maximianus Herculeus was ordered by Diocletian to reduce this revolt. Gallic soldiers could not be trusted for this task. The Treveri, in whose country the Bagaudians
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swarmed, had by their repeated revolts aroused doubt in their fidelity when compulsorily enrolled in the army, and their legions were transported to distant provinces. In the army of Maximianus Herculeus was the Theban legion, raised in Upper Egypt, where Christianity had long been established. This legion was probably at the time dis- persed over the north ; cohorts, manipuli, and alse were quartered on the Rhine, at Treves, and in Gaul.1
The power of the peasant rebels soon expired before the trained valour of the legions. The strength of union and discipline obtained an easy victory over a divided multitude. A severe retaliation was inflicted on the Bagaudians who were found in arms, and the affrighted remnant returned to their farms, or hid among the forests and mountains till the storm had overpassed. Their unsuccessful effort for freedom served only to confirm their slavery. Their sub- jugation took place in a.d. 287.
S. Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons (435-450), is the first to give us any details relative to the decimation of the Theban legion by Maximianus Herculeus prior to the suppression of the Bagaudian insurrection.
S. Eucherius wrote a narrative of the event to Salvius, Bishop of Octodurum (432-448). He says that he received an account of it from trustworthy authors, who had it from S. Isaac, Bishop of Geneva (he died before 441), who received it from Theodore, Bishop of Octodurum (Mar- tigny), a.d. 390. The narrative by S. Eucherius was
1 At Cologne has been found a skull, the temples transfixed by a large nail, accompanied by Roman pottery. The skull has been unhesitatingly decided by an eminent craniologist to be that of an Ethiopian. Braun. zur Geschichte d. Theb. Legion, Bonn, 1855. At Bedburg near Cleves has been dug up the epitaph of the Prefect of the 2nd Cohort, a native of Mauritania. " Dis Manibus (A) eli, prsfccti cohortis secundse. Dura genuit terra Mauretania, p(eregrina) obruit terra." Lersch, Central-Museum Rheinlandischer Inschriften, ii. 35. Monuments also of a Co/tors Mauretanorum have been found at Xanten on the Rhine. Fiedler, Denkmiler von Castra Vetera, et Colonia Trajana. Xanten, 1839.
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2,Z2 Lives of the Saints. rsePt. «,
probably written after the death of S. Isaac, and before the death of Salvius ; therefore between 441 and 448 .'
In addition to this account by S. Eucherius, we have the Passion of S. Maurice and his Companions, compiled apparently in the seventh century. The two accounts differ remarkably in one particular. S. Eucherius says nothing about the Bagaudians, but asserts that the Theban legion were ordered to proceed to the extermination of the Chris- tians ; on the other hand, the Acts say that the legion was ordered to sacrifice to the gods for the success of the undertaking, and that Maurice and his companions refused to do so. The Acts in this particular are much more likely to be right than the narrative of the Bishop of Lyons. S. Eucherius perhaps did not know who or what the Bagau- dians were, and he supposed they were Christians. On the other hand, nothing is more probable than that Maximian should institute a sacrifice for the success of the under- taking, and that the Christian soldiers should refuse to take part in it.
There is, however, another explanation of the difficulty. Maximian may have resolved on a wholesale massacre of the unfortunate peasants of the Valais, as having taken up arms in revolt ; and the Christian soldiers may have refused to imbue their hands in the blood of the trembling shep- herds and farmers. They would fight, but not become executioners. Hearing of these murmurs, Maximian may have ordered the sacrifice, and thus have discovered who were the disaffected. S. Eucherius and the Acts agree as to the facts of the decimation, though both probably exaggerate greatly the number of those massacred.
1 Kettberg and Gieseler attribute the letter to a later Eucherius of Lyons : but there was no second Eucherius, the supposition that there was arises from a mistake, and the date of Salvius of Octodurum can be fixed. Salvius translated his see to Agaunum ; probably the letter of Eucherius has reference to this translation. Bishop Leontius in 463 went back to Octodurum.
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Sept. 22.]
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Maximian had crossed the Simplon, and was resting at Octodurum, the modern Martigny. The Theban legion, or part of it, was at Agaunum, now S. Maurice, where the Rhone valley narrows, and the river forces its way over a barrier of rock.
Maximianus Herculeus gave orders for a solemn sacrifice. Maurice, " primicerius " of the Theban soldiers camped at Agaunum, together with Exuperius, " campiductor," and Candidus, " senator militum," refused to join in the cere- mony, in their own names and in behalf of the Christian soldiers of the legion.
Maximian ordered the legion to be decimated ; that is, every tenth man to be taken and executed with the sword. The cruel order was taken to Agaunum, the soldiers were drawn up in their ranks, and the lot was cast for the man from whom the counting was to be made. Some of the soldiers expressed their readiness to sacrifice. They were either heathens or timorous Christians. They stepped forth from the ranks. The rest stood firm. Every tenth man was brought forth and executed.
As the remainder were unshaken, Maximian ordered a second decimation. Still he could not break their inflexible valour, and in a frenzy he ordered all to be surrounded and massacred. S. Eucherius says that the number that fell was 6600. After the slaughter, there arrived one of the soldiers, named Victor, who had been from the camp on leave. He gave himself up, and was decapitated. Another Victor and Ursus, also members of the Theban Legion, suffered at Solothurn, Gereon and several more at Cologne ; others at Bonn, and Treves, and Turin. It is clear that there has been gross exaggeration.
The Theban Legion was dispersed over Gaul and the Rhine, cohorts being quartered in the camps along the Gallic frontiers to hold in check the Germans beyond the
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334 Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 22.
Rhine, the restless Treviri, and the Helvetii. It was no uncommon occurrence for an emperor to try his troops with a sacrifice and purify it of Christians before entering on a war. Eusebius says that from the time of Decius and Valerian this was usual, and he speaks of this as having been especially the case in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian. " Many instances might be related of those who exhibited noble alacrity in the cause of that religion which acknowledges only the one supreme God, and that not only from the time that the general persecution was raised, but also long before, when all was yet in a state of peace. Already, then, when he who had received such power was first roused, he plotted secretly, after the times of Decius and Valerian, how to assault the Churches ; but he did not all at once wage an open war against us, but as yet only made trial of those that were in the armies. There were to be seen great numbers of soldiers cheerfully em- bracing a private life, so as not to be forced to renounce their reverence for the supreme God. For when the general, whoever he was, first undertook the persecution against the soldiers, 'he began by a review and lustration of those enrolled in the army, and gave them their choice either to enjoy the honour conferred on them if they obeyed, or if they disobeyed, to be deprived. Very many soldiers of Christ, without hesitating, preferred confession of His name to apparent glory and comfort, and of those a few here and there exchanged these honours not only for degradation, but even for death, for their perseverance in religion. These last, however, were not many as yet, for the great instigator of these violent measures had, as yet, only ventured to shed the blood of some. The great numbers of the believers probably deterred him, and caused him to shrink from a general attack ; but when he began to arm more openly, it is impossible to tell how many and how eminent were those
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that presented themselves in every place and city and country, as martyrs of Christ."1 In his chronicle Eusebius says that Diocletian ordered this trial of the faith of the soldiers to be carried out throughout the whole army, and Neander thinks that the celebration of the third lustrum for the elevation of Maximianus Herculeus to the dignity of Csesar and Augustus was that chosen as a fit occasion for the issuing of such an order to the army, because such festivals were usually celebrated with sacrifices and sacri- ficial banquets, in which all the soldiers were required to participate.
It is scarcely possible to believe that a whole legion of 6600 soldiers was massacred at Agaunum. The fact of tradition claiming martyrs of the same legion at Cologne, Bonn, Solothurn and elsewhere, shows that the whole legion was not massed at Agaunum. One cohort may have been there, not more.
A legion consisted of from 4200 to 6500 men. In the battle of Zama, Scipio had 6200 men in each legion ; under Augustus a legion contained 6100 foot-soldiers, and 726 horsemen ; under Hadrian it numbered 6200 men. The Theban legion probably did number 6600 in the reign of Diocletian, but there is evidence to show that it was not con- centrated at Agaunum. Eucherius gave the full number of soldiers composing the legion, and rashly assumed first, that all were at Agaunum, and then that all were Christians. Neither was the case. This exaggeration has discredited the story, and it has been pointed out that neither Lactantius nor Sulpicius Severus, contemporary Christian writers, say a word about the massacre. Eusebius is said also not to have mentioned it, but unjustly. The passage already quoted shows that the Father of Ecclesiastical History knew of martyrdoms in the army at the time ; and another passage
1 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. viii, 4. £, — *
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336 Lives of the Saints. lbept 2a
in his Chronicle is more explicit. In it he says that a general, whose name he did not know, had summoned his soldiers and had given the Christians in his troops the choice to sacrifice or to leave the army. And he says that most remained faithful to their belief, and that some of them were thereupon put to death. This general, whom he does not name, was under Diocletian, as was Maximianus Her- culeus. Had the event happened in the East, Eusebius would not have been ignorant of the details, and of the name of the general. Moreover, an account of martyrdoms was not Eusebius' object in writing his Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History. He did write a work on the Martyrs, which has unfortunately been lost. The silence of Sulpicius Severus is no evidence against the story ; for he says of the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian " Written accounts of the glorious sufferings of the Martyrs of that period exist ; but I have not adopted them into my books, so as not to exceed the limits which I have imposed on myself." x
Orosius dismisses the persecution of Diocletian in a few words. " Diocletian in the East, Maximianus Herculeus in the West, gave command to destroy the churches, and to persecute and kill the Christians. This persecution was of long continuance, and was more cruel than any that went before ; for ten years the churches were burned, inno- cent persons were banished, and martyrs were put to death." This is all he says about the persecution of Dio- cletian. No reason exists why he should particularize the martyrdom of the Theban legion above other glorious passions. Lactantius moreover did not write a history of persecution, but on the death of the persecutors, so that his silence is not fatal.
The arguments alleged against the truth of the story of
1 Sulp. Sev. Sacra Hist. ii. p. 386, edit. Horriii. Lugd. Batav., 1647.
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the death of S. Maurice and his company may affect the exaggerations of that story, but not its foundation. The site of the martyrdom pointed out by tradition is Veriolez, east of S. Maurice ; a long flat slab of stone is shown on which S. Maurice is said to have knelt to receive the fatal blow. Numerous relics, such as the ring and the blood of S. Maurice, are preserved at the abbey church, together with his bones and the heads of S. Candidus and S. Victor. The body of S. Victor is at Brieg. In 1489 two hundred bodies were dug up at Schoz, near Lucerne, and rashly con- cluded to have belonged to another batch of the Theban legion, martyred there ; but the Bollandists repudiate these as spurious. Relics of S. Maurice and his companions at Turin, also at Einsiedeln, S. Gall, and indeed throughout Switzerland.
S. Maurice is represented in full armour, with sword and shield.
S. LO, B. OF COUTANCES.
(about a.d. 568.)
[Roman Martyrology. Various additions to Usuardus. But the Parisian Martyrology and the Sarum Kalendar, the Lubeck-Cologne Martyrology, Greven, and Molanus on Sept. 21 ; other martyrologies on Sept. 23. Authority :— A Life of no value, being purely legendary, and therefore not inserted by the Bollandists.]
S. Lo, in Latin Laudo or Laudus, is said to have been consecrated Bishop of Coutances about the year 529, though under the canonical age, by dispensation given by Gildard, Archbishop of Rheims. He assisted at the second, third, fourth, and fifth councils of Orleans. In 556 he visited S. Marculf, then about to die in the monastery of Nanteuil,
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338 Lives of the Saints. [Sept- 2a,
attended him in death, and buried him. He rendered the same office to S. Paternus, Bishop of Avranches, who died at Sessiac. S. Lo died on September 2isL
S. EMMERAM, B.M. (a.d. 652.)
[Roman and German Martyrologies. Wandelbert and Hrabanus. Au- thority : — A Life by Aribo, Bishop of Freising (764-784) ; another Life, an amplification of the former, by Meginfrid, provost of Magdeburg.]
Emmeram, patron of Ratisbon, was a native of Poictiers, and perhaps a bishop. Fired with zeal for the conversion of the Avars, he left his home and entered Bavaria, where he was warmly received by the Duke Theotto, who repre- sented to him the impossibility of penetrating into Hungary, at least from that side, as constant war was going on upon the borders between the Avars and the Bavarians. Emmeram accordingly consented to stay at Ratisbon, and he laboured to instil true religion into the natives. After three years he asked leave to go to Rome, there to finish his studies. Before he left, the daughter of the duke, named Oda, re- vealed to him a miserable secret. Moved by unlawful passion, she was about to become a mother, by a young man named Sigibald, and she dreaded that discovery would lead to the execution of her paramour. If we may trust Aribo, the bishop bade her tell her father a lie, that he, Emmeram, was her betrayer. He would be safe in Italy.
Then he took his way to Rome. But Lantebert, brother of Oda, discovered her condition, and when she told him that Emmeram was the partner in her guilt, he was filled with fury, pursued the bishop, and caught him up at Hflffendorf, before he had crossed the frontier, dragged
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him out of the cottage where he was lodging, bound him to a ladder, and cut off his hands, feet, ears, dug out his eyes, and tore out his tongue.
Thus he died, and for the murder Lantebert was driven into exile. The body of S. Emmeram was translated to Ratisbon.
S. SALABERGA, W. ABSS.
(a.D. 654.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority :— A Life by an anony- mous writer little posterior, if not contemporary.]
S. Salaberga was born at Orney, near Langres, of noble and virtuous parents. S. Eustasius, on his return from Bavaria, received hospitality from her parents. The vener- able abbot took the children in his arms to bless them. Salaberga was blind; he anointed her eyes with blessed oil, and healed her. In gratitude the young girl promised the saint to dedicate her virginity to God. But her parents had other views for her, and they married her to a noble named Rickeran. Two months after their marriage she lost her husband ; but her father, supported by the authority of King Dagobert, married her to Earl Baso, and by him she became the mother of five children. She founded a monastery at Laon, by the advice of Waldbert, Abbot of Luxeuil. It was a magnificent abbey containing seven churches, and was a double community of monks and nuns, the latter, to the number of three hundred, were divided into choirs, so as to sing night and day incessantly the praise of God ; this perpetual office was called Laus perennis. S. Odilia and her husband, Leutvin Bodo, renounced the world, and placed themselves under the direction of S.
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Salaberga, who, with her husband's consent, had retired to the monastery and constituted herself abbess.
Through the last two years of her life Salaberga suffered excruciating pains, which she bore with great fortitude. She died in 654, and left her daughter Anstrude, aged twenty, to rule the abbey in her place.
S. LOLAN, B.C.
(5TH CENT.)
[Scottish Martyrologies. Authority : — The legend in the Aberdeen Breviary.]
The legend of this saint is a very strange one. Lolan, a nephew of S. Serf, born in Galilee at Cana, came to Rome, and was appointed doorkeeper of the Roman Church. His uncle having, by divine intimation, left Rome to preach to the Scots, Lolan remained seven years exercising his ministry at Rome. At length, longing to behold him again face to face, he one night locked the church of S. Peter as usual, left the key in a conspicuous place, and departed on foot for Scotland. Aftei a weary journey he came to a place which by the common people was called Planum.
In the morning the chiefs of the Roman Church came to pray at S. Peter's, but were unable to open the door with the key. Terrined at what this might portend, they betook themselves to prayer; and it was revealed to them that the door could only be opened by the hand that had closed it, and that Lolan, by divine providence, had gone west- ward to extend the Roman faith. A deacon and a sub- deacon were sent after Lolan, who one day, as he came out of the church at Planum, saw them approach, and ran to
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them, and greeted them joyously. When they told him that the door could only be opened by the hand which had shut it, he straightway took a sword and cut off his right hand on a stone, and gave it to the Roman legates, who were thus enabled on their return to open the door of S. Peter's. In return for this he asked for four loads of the dust of the cemetery of S. Peter, wherein his own body might be buried. The Romans therefore sent from Rome four ass-loads of earth, in consideration of which the blessed man prayed that whosoever should in sickness vow to be buried in that earth, he should receive the same indul- gences as if actually buried in the cemetery of S. Peter's, and finally attain the kingdom of heaven.
According to David Camerarius, Lolan lived much later, in a.d. 1039, and was a councillor of King Duncan, whom he aided by his advice against the Danes, and who by following his recommendations succeeded in defeating them at King- horn and at Culross.
Duncan was killed at Bothgowanon, near Elgin, by Macbeth.
It is probable, therefore, that there were two Lolars living at very different periods, who have been confounded together.
S. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA, ABP.
(a.d. 1555.)
[Roman Martyrology on Sept. 22, Augustinian on Sept. 18. Beatified by Paul V. in 1618, and canonized in 1658 by Alexander VII. Authorities : — A Life by John Magnatones, Bishop of Segorbe, his friend, d. 1571 ; another Life by Michael Salonio, a contemporary ; the Acts of Canonization ; Quivedo of Villegas, Epitome a la historia d. Tomas de Villanueva, Madrid, 1620.]
S. Thomas was born at Fuentana in Castile, in 1488; but received his surname from Villanueva de los Infantes, a
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342 Lives of the Saints. [Sept tt
town where he had his education, situated about two miles from the place of his birth. His parents, Alphonso Tomas Garcias and Lucia Martinez, were also originally of Villanova. Their fortune was not one of affluence, but it was com- fortable ; and with their prudent frugality they were enabled liberally to assist the poor. Instead of selling that corn which was not necessary for the subsistence of their family, they made bread of it, which they bestowed on the neces- sitous. This charitable disposition was the most valuable part of their son's inheritance, and proved one of the most distinguished virtues in his character during the whole course of his life. When but seven years old he studied every day by various little contrivances to obtain something which he might give to the poor, often depriving himself of part ot his meals for this purpose, and gathering together what scraps he could find at home, or whatever else his parents would allow him to give away : nor were they backward in approving his conduct on such occasions.
An instance is recorded which shows how full of charity was the good mother of our saint. A beggar came one day to the door. She told the servants to give him some flour out of the bin. They told her it was empty.
"Then," said she, "go into the store-room, and bring some thence."
" We cleared every particle thence this morning," said they.
" Go, and look."
They came back, crying : " See, see ! the bins are full !"
And so it was. So the beggar wras given abundance.
The little Thomas grew up modest and gentle, with a singular abhorrence of falsehood of every sort, and a great love of prayer.
At the age of fifteen he was sent to the University of Alcala, which had been founded lately by Cardinal Ximenes ;
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and the cardinal, out of regard to his merit, gave him a place in the college of S. Ildefonso. After eleven years spent at Alcala, he was made professor of philosophy, and taught in the university, being then aged only twenty-six. This office he held for two years, and then moved to the University of Salamanca, to lecture there on philosophy. He taught for two more years, and then joined the order of the Augustinian hermits, 1518, in a house of the Society at Salamanca.
His behaviour in his novitiate was such as showed he had been long inured to austerities, to the renouncing his own will, and the exercises of holy contemplation. The sim- plicity of his behaviour charmed his fellow religious, and made them admire the manner in which he laid completely aside his own will and self-consciousness. Soon after the term of his novitiate was expired, he was promoted to priestly orders in 1520, and employed in preaching the word of God, and in administering the sacrament of penance. He acquitted himself in these functions with such dignity and success, that he was called the Apostle of Spain. He did not interrupt these employments, nor allow himself any relaxation in his monastic austerities whilst he taught divinity in the public school of the Augustinians at Sala- manca. He was afterwards successively prior at Salamanca, Burgos, and Valladolid, was twice provincial of Andalusia, and once of Castile ; and behaved himself in all these stations with a sweetness and zeal which gained the hearts of his religious brethren, so that he governed them rather by the example of his life than by the authority of his office. His charity made him accessible to all who wanted his assistance or advice, and the spiritual discernment with which he applied remedies to the maladies of souls was always remarkable. Heavenly succour the saint found in the close union of his soul with God. He fell into raptures
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344 Lives of the Saz7its. [Scpt. st.
at his prayers, especially at mass ; and though he endeavoured to hide such favours, he was not able to do so ; his face, after the holy sacrifice, shining like that of Moses, sometimes, it is asserted, with poetic exaggeration, dazzling the eyes of those that beheld him.
The Emperor Charles V. is said to have been very fond of hearing the saint preach, and when the archbishopric of Granada fell vacant (1544) he ordered S. Thomas to come to him at Toledo, and offered him the vacant dignity. S. Thomas refused it, and the see was given to Ferdinand de Guevara. At the same time the archbishopric of Valencia was vacated by Don George of Austria, uncle of the Em- peror, who resigned the see that he might become Bishop of Liege. Charles, who was then in Flanders, thought it was in vain to offer it to S. Thomas of Villanova, so he determined that it should be given to some one else. But the secretary who made out the letter of recommendation to the chapter to elect, did not catch what the Emperor said in the haste of transacting business, and thought he had mentioned Thomas of Villanova, so he inserted his name in the letter, giving conge d'elire.
When Charles V. came to sign it, he saw the mistake, and remarked on it.
" I will correct it directly," said the secretary.
" By no means," answered the Emperor ; " I see in this the hand of God." So he signed the " placet," and it was sent into Spain.
S. Thomas, on hearing of his nomination, hasted to Philip, the Emperor's son, afterwards Philip II., and en- treated him not to lay the burden on his shoulders. But all his entreaties were in vain, and he was commanded forthwith by his superiors in the Augustinian Order to obey.
Pope Paul III. sent the bull for his consecration, and
~ Z
Sept. 27.) S- Thomas of Villanova. 345
that ceremony was performed at Valladolid by Cardinal John of Tavera, Archbishop of Toledo. The saint set out very early next morning for Valencia. His mother, who had converted his house into a hospital for the use of the poor and sick, and resolved to spend the rest of her days in their service, entreated him to take Villanova in his way, that she might have the satisfaction of seeing him before she died. But the bishop refused. He would not diverge to the right hand nor to the left from the road to his diocese, being persuaded that his present vocation obliged him to postpone all other considerations to that of hastening to the flock committed to his care. He travelled on foot, in his monastic habit, which was very old, with no other hat than one he had worn ever since his profession, accompanied by one religious man of his Order and two servants. Upon his arrival at Valencia, he retired to a convent of his Order, where he spent several days in penance and prayer, that he might be enabled worthily to acquit himself of his charge. He took possession of his cathedral on the first day of the ensuing year, 1545 ; which he was prevailed upon to do with the usual ceremonies, amidst the acclamations of the people, but when he was led to the throne prepared for him in the church, he cast away the cushions and silk tapestry, fell upon his knees on the bare floor, and embraced the foot of the cross, pouring forth a flood of tears. The chapter, in consideration of his poverty, made him a present of four thousand ducats towards furnishing his house, which he accepted humbly and with thanks ; but he immediately sent the money to the great hospital, with orders that it should be expended in repairing the house. The first thing he did after the public ceremonies were over, was to visit the prisons of his bishopric, and judging them too dark and inconvenient, he ordered them to be made more decent and commodious.
1% . *
346 Lives of the Saints. tSept. „.
It is often said, that " honours change manners ;" but our saint kept not only the same perfect humility of heart, but as much as possible the same exterior marks of contempt for worldly vanities. He went almost as meanly apparelled as before ; and even wore for some years the habit which he had brought with him from his monastery ; this he some- times mended himself, as he had been wont to do in his convent. A canon surprising him one day in the fact, expressed his surprise that he should so meanly employ his time, when a tailor would do the work in half the time, and for a trifle. The servant of God said : " I am still a mem- ber of my religious Order, which enjoins poverty. The trifle you speak of will serve for a poor beggar."
The old ragged clothes which the Archbishop wore were a subject of irritation to the canons, who thought it unbecoming his dignity to be dressed like a pauper. In vain did they remonstrate. " I am vowed to poverty," was his invariable answer. The only concession they could wring out of him was that he should wear a silk instead of a dirty old woollen cap. He took his new bit of head gear, and showing it about, said, " Behold my episcopal dignity, in order that I may be esteemed an archbishop, my worthy canons have forced me to wear this."
S. Thomas was most bountiful towards his servants. His bishopric was worth eighteen thousand ducats per annum two thousand of which were paid to Don George of Austria, as a pension reserved to him upon his resignation : twelve thousand the saint gave to the poor, not reserving one penny for the following year, and he allowed himself only four thousand to defray all the expenses of his family, repairs of his palace, &c. There came to his door every day about five hundred poor people, and each of them received bread and pottage, with a cup of wine and a piece of money. He took poor orphans under his care ; and for the space of
*
S. Thomas of Villanova. 347
Sept. 29.]
eleven years that he was archbishop, not a poor maid was married who was not helped by his charity. He brought up all the foundling infants in his diocese with the tenderness of a mother ; often visited them, and gave rewards to those nurses who were especially tender and diligent. To his porters, to make them more diligent in finding children exposed by their parents, he gave a crown for every found- ling they brought him. When, in 1550, a pirate had plundered a town in his diocese, near the sea-coast, the archbishop sent four thousand ducats, and cloth worth as much more, to furnish the inhabitants with necessaries, and to ransom the captives.
Nor was he only the support of the poor himself, but he engaged the great lords, and all that were rich, to show their greatness and wealth, not in gorgeous dresses and festivities, but by becoming the fathers of their vassals, and by liberality to the necessitous. He exhorted them to be richer in mercy and charity than they were in earthly possessions. " Answer me, O sinner," he would say, " what can you purchase with your money better, or more necessary, than the redemption of your sins ?" At other times he would say, " If you desire that God should hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you desire that God should forestall your wants, forestall those of the indigent, without waiting for them to importune you ; especially anticipate the necessities of those who are ashamed to beg. To make such as these ask an alms, is to make them buy it."
The blessed man having been forewarned by a vision that he should die on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, was taken ill of quinsy, attended with fever, on the 29th of August. He began his immediate preparation for his passage by a general confession of his faults, made with many tears. Then he received the last Sacraments of the Church with a devotion and resignation which moved those
*-
fl, _ *
348 Lives of the Saints. [Sept „.
present to tears. And having commanded all the money then in his possession (which amounted to four thousand ducats) to be distributed among the poor in all the parishes of the city, he ordered all his goods to be given to the rector of his college, except the bed on which he lay. Being desirous to go naked out of the world, he gave this bed also to the jailer, for the use of prisoners, but borrowed it of him till such time as he should expire. Understanding that some money had been brought in for him, he caused it to be immediately sent to the poor, though it was then midnight. On the 8th of September in the morning, perceiving his strength fail, he caused the passion of our Lord according to S. John to be read to him, whilst he listened with his eyes fixed on a crucifix. Then he ordered mass to be said in his presence, and after the consecration, recited the psalm, In te, Domine, speravi, &c., tears falling from his eyes ; after the priest's communion he said, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit ;" and at the words he rendered his soul into the hands of God, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, 1555, after having been archbishop ten years.
% . ■ %
-#
Sept. 23.]
S. Linus. 349
September 23.
S. Linus, Pope, M. at Rome ; circ. a.d. 67.
S. Thecla, V.M. at Scleucia in Isauria ; 1st or ind cent.
SS. Paxentius and Albina, MM. at Paris.
S. Liberius, Pope of Rome ; a.d. 366.
S. Constantius, C. at Ancona in Italy ; tth cent.
S. Adamnan, Abb. o/Iona; a.d. 704.
S. LINUS, POPE, M. (about a.d. 67.)
[Roman Martyrology. The Martyrologium Parvum on Nov. 26, also Usuardus and Wandelbert, Bede, and many ancient Kalendars on Sept. 23. But some also on Oct. 7. By the Greek, Linus with Hermes, Caius, Philo- logus, and Patrobas on Nov. 5.]
INUS, a Christian at Rome, known to S. Paul and to S. Timothy,1 is asserted, unequivocally, by Irenseus to have been the first Bishop of Rome. Eusebius and Theodoret corroborate this state- ment, and all ancient writers agree that the first Bishop of Rome after the Apostles was named Linus. The date of his appointment, the duration of his episcopate, and the limits to which his episcopal authority extended are points which cannot be regarded as absolutely settled, though they have been discussed at great length. Eusebius and Theodoret state that he became Bishop of Rome after the death of S. Peter. On the other hand, the words of Irenreus — " [Peter and Paul] when they founded and built up the Church [of Rome], committed the office of its episcopate to Linus" — certainly admit, or rather imply, the meaning, that he held that office before the death of S. Peter. The
1 a Tim. iv. 21.
*"
* *
350 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 23.
duration of his episcopate is given by Eusebius as a.d. 68 — 80 j but there are difficulties in the way of accepting these dates, and it is more probable that Linus terminated his tenure of the see and his life in 67 or 68. The state- ment of Ruffinus that Linus and Cletus were bishops in Rome whilst S. Peter was alive has been revived in support of a theory, by no means improbable, that Linus was bishop in Rome, appointed by S. Paul, to Christians of Gentile origin ; whilst S. Clement, or Cletus, exercised authority over the Jewish Christians there, and owed his appoint- ment to S. Peter.
S. THECLA, V.M.
(1ST OR 2ND CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology and all later martyrologies, Sarum, York, Here- ford, &c. By the Greeks on Sept. 24. In some later martyrologies also on Feb. 22 as martyr at Nicomedia. All the Acts of S. Thecla are fabulous. They exist in Greek, Syriac, and Latin. According to Tertullian they were composed by an Asiatic priest to do honour to S. Paul.1 S.Jerome held them as apocryphal.2]
Unfortunately, as they stand, the Acts of S. Thecla cannot be trusted. They were composed by a priest in Asia to do honour to S. Paul. They may be condensed into a few words. Thecla, daughter of pagan parents in Iconium, heard S. Paul preach as she sat at her chamber window, and refused after that to listen to the advances of her betrothed, Thamyris.
She ran away from home after S. Paul to Seleucia. A
1 De baptismo, c. 17. "Quod si, qui Pauli perperam scripta legant, exemplum Theclae ad licentiam mulierum docendi tingendique defendunt, sciant in Asia pres- byterum qui earn scripturam construxit quasi titulo Pauli de suo cumulans, convic- tura atque confessum id se amore Pauli fecisse, loco decessisse."
2 Catal. Script. Eccles. " Periodicum Pauli et Theclae et totain baptizati Leonis fabulam inter apocryphas scripturas computanus."
>j
b — — 1
s^t. ,3.] S.Liberius. 351
native of that place tried to kiss her in the street, and she tore the clothes off his back in return for his salute. The man accused her before the governor, and she was exposed to wild beasts, which, however, would not touch her. She then jumped into a pond full of seals and porpoises, and baptized herself. All the sea-monsters in the pond died when she jumped in. After that she escaped, and followed S. Paul everywhere, dressed in boy's clothes. She was then aged eighteen. When S. Paul left for Rome, she was led by a shining cloud to a cave, where she spent seventy years. The recomposed Acts of Thecla certainly embody early and genuine Acts that date back to subapostolic times. See Ramsay, "The Church in the Roman Empire," 1895.
S. LIBERIUS, POPE. (a.d. 366.)
[Roman Martyrology. Wandelbert, some copies of the Martyrology of Jerome. Authorities : — The letters of Liberius, the writings of Athanasius, Theodoret, Sozomen, Socrates.]
Liberius, a Roman, son of one named Augustus, was elected in the room of Julius I., and ascended the throne
9
of S. Peter on May 22nd, a.d. 352. It was a stormy period, demanding a firmer hand at the helm than that of Liberius, for Constantius the Arian was now sole master of the Roman world. From the councils of Aries and of Milan he had extorted the condemnation of the great S. Athanasius, by bribes, by threats, and by force. Liberius began his pontificate by an act of judicial authority. The Emperor sent a string of charges against Athanasius. Liberius sum- moned a council and examined the accusations. He and his council were satisfied with the statements of Egyptian
^
352 Lives of the Saints. [Sept>
bishops on behalf of Athanasius, and wrote to the Orientals accordingly.1 But the latter had Constantius in their hands ; and, in the autumn of 353, the death of Magnentius by his own hand left Constantius master of the West, and at leisure to crush the man whom he had been forced to recall. A new attempt to Arianize the West was now resolved upon. Liberius had sent Vincent of Capua and other deputies to Constantius, asking for a council to be held at Aquileia, but Constantius summoned it to assemble at Aries, where the bishop, Saturninus, was an Arian. Vincent of Capua, legate for the Pope, weakly subscribed the excommunica- tion of Athanasius, which was forced on the council ; but Liberius, when he heard of it, promptly disclaimed the conduct of his legate.
Early in 355 a new council met at Milan, and was forced, by the personal presence and violence of the Emperor, into cowardly submission to his will. The few prelates who held out were banished.2 Dionysius of Milan was sent to Cappadocia, Lucifer of Cagliari was confined in a dungeon at Germanicia, Eusebius of Vercellse at Scythopolis, Paulinus of Treves was banished to Thrace.
It is difficult to realize the misery of that time. Liberius, who sympathized heartily with the confessors, was now to take his turn.
At first it was attempted to lure him over ; Eusebius the Chamberlain was sent to him with gifts. "Comply with the Emperor," said he, "and accept these." Liberius replied that this might not be. He could not contravene the decrees of Rome and of Sardica. If the Emperor really desired peace, let him allow a free council to meet, not in his presence, surrounded by his guards. Eusebius, " forget- ting that he stood in a bishop's presence," insulted the Pope
1 There is a forged letter of Liberius stating that he had excommunicated
Athanasius.
3 See S. Paulinus of Treves, Aug. 31.
*"
*
Sept. 23. J
6*. Liberitis. 353
with menaces, and then presented the gifts of Constantius at S. Peter's ; whereupon Liberius rebuked the keeper of the church for not casting out the unholy offering. Liberius proceeded to utter a solemn anathema against all Arian heretics. He disfranchised all, even the Emperor himself, from the privileges of the Christian polity. Constantius, in his wrath, ordered the seizure of his rebellious subject ; but the Bishop of Rome was no longer at the head of a feeble community ; he was respected and beloved by the whole city. All Rome was in commotion in defence of the Christian pontiff. The city had to be surrounded by troops, and then it was thought more prudent to apprehend Liberius by night, and to convey him secretly out of the city. He was sent to the Emperor at Milan. He appeared before Constantius, who declared to him that Athanasius had been condemned by a council of the Church, and that Athanasius was a traitor in that he had corresponded with enemies of the Emperor. Liberius was unshaken : " If he were the only friend of Athanasius, he would adhere to the righteous cause." He bade Constantius forbear fighting against Christ. He knew, he said, that he should be exiled, and when he was offered three days to bethink himself, he answered confidently, "Three days, or three months, will not change me ; I have taken my leave of Rome !" He was banished to Bercea in Thrace, having spurned presents of money not only from Constantius, but from Eusebius, whom he scorn- fully bade to " go and become a Christian, before he presumed to bring alms as to a convict." Of the Emperor's offers he said, " Let him keep them to pay his soldiers."
Two years of exile in that barbarous region, the cold inhospitable Thrace, the dread of worse than exile, perhaps disastrous news from Rome, at length broke the spirit of Liberius ; and he consented to sign the semi-Arian creed of Sirmium, and to renounce the communion of Athanasius.
vol. x. 23
* >j4
*
354 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. a3.
For the Emperor had attempted to strike a still heavier blow against the rebellious exile. A rival bishop, as though the see were vacant, had usurped the throne.
Felix was elected, it was said, by three eunuchs, who presumed to represent the people of Rome, and consecrated by three courtly prelates, " spies," S. Athanasius designates them. But the clergy of Rome, and the people with still more determinate resolution, kept aloof from the empty churches, where Bishop Felix, if not himself an Arian, did not scruple to communicate with Arians. The estrange- ment continued through the two years of the exile of Liberius ; the pastor was without a flock. At the close of this period, a.d. 357, the Emperor Constantius visited Rome. The women, who all along had adhered strenuously to the banished prelate, and had flouted the claims of Felix, endeavoured to persuade their husbands and fathers to represent their case to the Emperor. The timid nobles devolved the dangerous office on their wives. The female deputation, in their richest attire, swept along the admiring streets, and stood before the imperial presence ; by their fearless pertinacity they obtained a promise of the release of Liberius. Even then Constantius was but imperfectly informed concerning the strength of the factions which, having himself exasperated to the utmost, he now vainly attempted to reconcile. His edict declared that the two bishops should rule with conjoint authority, each over his respective community. It was read in the circus. " What !" cried the indignant Romans, "because we have factions in the race-course, shall we have factions also in the Church ?" The whole audience burst into a thundering shout of, " One God ! one Christ ! one bishop !"
In the meantime, as has been already stated, Liberius had fallen. After two years of banishment, his intense longing for Rome threw him into a deep melancholy. His deacon,
*
Sept. 23.]
.£ Liber ius. 355
Urbicus, was taken away from him, a privation which he felt bitterly. Demophilus, Bishop of Bercea, where he was detained, and Fortunatian of Aquileia, who himself had yielded at Milan, urged him not to sacrifice himself for a single man, so often condemned by Synods ; and thus he was led to renounce Athanasius, and to acquiesce in an uncatholic formula. He wrote to the Orientals, " I do not defend Athanasius — I have been convinced that he was justly condemned f and added that he put Athanasius out of his communion, and accepted the faith of the Orientals as put forth by many bishops at Sirmium. "This I have received; this I follow; this I hold."
S. Hilary, who transcribes this letter, breaks into wrathful exclamations, " This is the perfidious Arian faith. I say anathema to thee, Liberius, and thy fellows : again, and a third time, anathema to thee, thou prevaricator Liberius !"
Liberius wrote an abject letter to Valens and his associates, asking their good^ offices with the court for his immediate restoration ; and to Vincent of Capua, whose fall he had once deplored, he sent an intimation that he had given up " that contest about the name of Athanasius," begging that the Campanian bishops might be informed, and that suppli cation might be made to the Emperor for his deliverance from his " great affliction." The letter concludes, " If you have wished me to die in exile, God will judge between me and you."
The submission of Liberius had not been rumoured in Rome when he returned, or his entrance would have been less of an cvation. Felix, the rival bishop, fled ; but he would not altogether abandon the co-equal dignity assigned him by the decree of Constantius, and confirmed by the council of Sirmium. He returned ; and, at the head of a body of ecclesiastics, celebrated divine worship in the basilica of Julius, beyond the Tiber. He was expelled
*
356 Lives of the Saints. [Sept< 93<
patricians and populace uniting against him. There was fighting, a proscription, and a massacre of the partisans of Felix. The streets, the baths, the churches ran with blood ; the streets, where the armed followers of the rival bishops encountered in arms • the baths, where Arian and Catholic could not wash together without mutual contamination ; the churches where they could not join in common worship to the same Redeemer.
Felix himself escaped, and lived some years in peace on an estate near the road to Portus. Theodoret and Sozomen assert that he clave to the creed of Nicsea, but Socrates condemns him as infected by the Arian heresy.
Little or nothing further is known of the life of Liberius. He sinks into obscurity. He was absent from the fatal council of Rimini, which deluded the world into unsus- pected Arianism. When the Ariminian creed was brought before him, he refused to admit it, and this firmness went far to efface the stain of his former lapse. In a.d. 362 he wrote to Athanasius, making full profession of his orthodoxy as to the Trinity and the Incarnation ; and, writing to the Catholic prelates of Italy, urged that "repentance must efface the fault of inexperience," that Greece and Egypt were both of this mind, and that entire submission to the Nicene Creed ought to be a passport to the Church's favour. This was on the return of S. Athanasius to Alex- andria, and the decree of the council held there, for the reconciliation of the bishops who repented of having ac- cepted the creed of Ariminium.
The last act of Liberius that is recorded was one of recon- ciliation. The semi-Arians in the East were distressed and imperilled by the thorough-going Arianism of the Emperor Valens. In their danger they turned to the West, and sent to Liberius three deputies with instructions to enter into his communion and profess the Nicene Creed. We need
*
-M
Sept. 23.]
.S. Liberius. 357
not attempt to analyse their motives, nor inquire how far their comfortless position as subjects of Valens assisted them in seeing their untenable position between the pure Arians and the orthodox. Liberius at first looked coldly on the delegates. He made them commit their faith to writing. They complied. Their paper, in the form of a letter to their "lord, brother, and fellow-minister Liberius," pro- fessed that they held, did hold, and would hold to the end, the creed of Nicaea. They anathematized all heresies op- posed to that creed, and especially the Ariminian creed. Liberius, on receiving this paper, wrote to sixty-four Eastern bishops, by name, expressing his satisfaction at the Catholic statement of their representatives, and recognised them as in union with the orthodox church. Thus, when the event- ful life of Liberius was closing, in September, 366, he had the comfort of thinking that, after his melancholy lapse in former days, he had been instrumental in receiving the sub- mission of a great body of Easterns to the creed which he had once cast away. He had succeeded, not only to the chair of S. Peter, but to the blessing which followed on his repentance ; he had been converted, and had strengthened his brethren.
*
358 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 23
S. ADAMNAN, AB. (a.d. 704.)
[Roman Martyrology, Irish Martyrology, Scottish Menology and Kalendars. Not to be confused with Adamnan of Coldingham, Jan. 31, nor with another Adamnan, a bishop at Melrose, commemorated by Dempster on Sept. 22. Adamnan, given by Camerarius on the authority of Boethius, on Jan. 23, as councillor of Eugenius IV. in his treaty with Brudeus, King of the Picts, is probably the same as Adamnan, Abbot of Iona. Fordun, describing Inchkeith, which is probably the Urbs Giudi of Bede, says that an Abbot Adamnan presided in it, who honourably received S. Serf with his companions in the island at his first arrival in Scotland. Authorities : — Bede in his Eccl. Hist., and Irish Lives.]
According to Irish authorities, S. Adamnan was of the noble race of Ciual, the son of Ronan and Ronnat. The Ulster annals give a.d. 624 (623) as the date of his birth. In his youth he had relations with Finnachta the Festive, King of Ireland, and eventually became his " soul's friend," or confessor. He became Abbot of Raphoe, after having received his monastic education at Iona, or in some other monastery of the Columbian institutions. Raphoe was pro- bably founded by him, and he is commemorated there under the name of Eunan, on the same day, Sept. 23, but is incor- rectly called first bishop of Raphoe, instead of first abbot. The first bishop of Raphoe was Malduin MacKinfalaid, who died about a.d. 930.
The only event recorded of his monastic life is a voyage to obtain timber for the monastery of Hy or Iona. In 679 he was chosen abbot of the island-metropolis of monks, at the age of fifty-five or six.
He was sent by his countrymen on an embassy to King Aldfrid of Northumbria in 688, to negotiate the exchange of some Irish captives. He was probably chosen for this mission because he had previously enjoyed the king's friend- ship, who had spent his youth in study among the Irish
Hfc<
*
Sept. 23.]
•S. Adamnan.
359
when forced to fly his native country on the accession of Egfrid in a.d. 670. Adamnan remained some time in Northumbria with the king, and was converted to the Roman doctrine concerning the time of celebrating Easter, and the tonsure, by Ceolfrid, Abbot of Wearmouth, with whom Adamnan for a while lodged. On his return to Iona, the abbot attempted to convert his monks, but finding them unwilling to desert the customs of their forefathers, and disgusted with their obstinacy, he left the monastery and passed over to Ireland. There his endeavours were more successful, and his zeal for the Roman cut of the hair and time of celebrating the Paschal festival converted many of the Irish, the only Churches which remained obstinately opposed to the innovations being those immediately under the control of the monastery of Iona.
Adamnan remained in Ireland until the Easter of 704, which he celebrated at the time prescribed by the Roman cycle. Encouraged by this success, Adamnan again re- turned to his own monks, who, however, continued deaf to his exhortations ; and the abbot, worn out with mortifica- tion and regret, died before the arrival of the Easter of the following year, and, as Bede observes, was thus saved from the collision which must have been the result of his giving orders, as their superior, which his monks in their con- sciences would feel obliged to disobey. Both Bede and Ceolfrid, Abbot of Wearmouth, bear testimony to the good- ness and humility of Adamnan's character, and to his inti- mate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures. As a writer he holds the remarkable position of being probably the first native of our islands who incited Anglo-Saxons to that long pilgrimage which had afterwards such an important in- fluence on the civilization of the world, by publishing a description of the Holy Land. In the latter part of the seventh century a Frankish bishop, named Arculf, had visited
*-
360 Lives of the Saints. [Sept a3-
Jerusalem, and from thence had wandered to Alexandria and to Constantinople. On his way home he witnessed a volcanic eruption in the isle of Vulcan, off the coast of Sicily. The vessel in which he was embarked was after- wards carried out to sea by a violent tempest, which threw it on the western coast of Britain. Thus shipwrecked, Arculf, after many wanderings, arrived at Iona, where he was hospitably received by Adamnan, who listened with pleasure to the recital of his adventures. The Abbot of Iona committed this narrative to writing in a book which is still preserved, and which was once very popular. When he had completed this book, he carried it as an offering to King Aldfrid, who allowed copies to be made for the use of his subjects, and sent the author home loaded with presents. It seems certain that this visit preceded his mission to the Irish. Adamnan is also known as the writer of the life of S. Columba, which he says he wrote at the solicitation of the brethren of his monastery, and therefore before the time of his visit to England, and his difference with the monks on the subject of Easter. The Irish life of Adamnan, from which the biography in the Aberdeen Breviary is taken, says, that one day Adamnan did not appear at the divine office, and when the brethren sought him, they found him in his cell lost in an ecstasy before the apparition of the child Jesus, surrounded by dazzling light. This vision is related also in the Martyrology of Donegal ; which adds, more- over, that the glory of heaven and the pains of hell were re- vealed to him, and that these revelations compose a book called the Vision of Adamnan.
*
Sept. 24.]
^^ Andochius and Others.
361
September 24.
SS Andochius, P., Thyrsus, D., and Felix, MM. at Autun;
circ. a.d. 169. SS. Paphnutius and Comp., MM. in the Thebaid ; circ. a.d.
3°3- S. Rusticus, B. of Auvergne ; middle of ' $th cent. S. Geremar, Ab. of Flay in France ; circ. A.D. 658. S. Gerard, B.M. in Hungary ; a.d. 1046. S. Ysarn, Ab. at Marseilles ; a.d. 1048. S. Robert, H. at Knaresborough ; a.d. 1218.
SS. ANDOCHIUS, THYRSUS, AND FELIX, MM. (about a.d. 169.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority : — The Acts, not by any means contemporary, and probably based on tradition.]
ITTLE or no reliance can be placed on the acts of these martyrs. They relate that Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, sent these saints, Andochius, a priest, Thyrsus, a deacon, and Felix, a layman, to Gaul, to preach the Gospel. S. Polycarp was moved thereto by seeing S. Irenseus in vision appear to him and exhort him to do so, he, Irenseus, being then dead. Unfortunately for the story, S. Polycarp was martyred in a.d. 167, and S. Irenseus died in a.d. 202 or 207. With these saints travelled S. Benignus. They landed at Marseilles. At Saulieu they were arrested and, with the exception of Benignus, were beaten, and hung up to trees by the wrists, their arms being twisted behind their backs. Fire was placed under them, and when nearly dead with pain and heat, they were taken down and their heads struck off.
It is probable that they suffered much later than the Acts would lead us to suppose. Some few relics are preserved at Saulieu near Autun.
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362 Lives of the Saints. [Sept ^
SS. PAPHNUTIUS AND COMP., MM.
(about a.d. 303.)
[Roman Mai tyrology. By the Greeks on Sept. 25. The Acfs in Greek are fabulous.]
S. Paphnutius, a hermit in the Thebaid, had learned that numerous Christians were languishing in irons, in the persecution of Diocletian, and that under the stress of their sufferings many renounced Christ ; filled with zeal, he delivered himself up to the Prefect, that he might be im- prisoned with them, and encourage them to play the man for Christ. He was so successful in the dungeon that several who were wavering were confirmed in their faith, and gave up their souls to God by cruel deaths along with their guide Paphnutius, who after the rack suffered death by the sword.
S. GERE MAR, AB.
(about a.d. 658.)
[Roman, Gallican, and Benedictine Martyrologies. Authority: — An ancient Life, which is trustworthy.]
Geremar, son of Rigobert and Haga, of noble Frankish race, was born near Beauvais in the reign of Clothair II. He was called in youth to the court of Dagobert I. He married a maiden named Domana, and by her had two daughters and a son. He contracted a warm friendship for S. Ouen of Rouen, and by his advice surrendered his estates to his son on his coming of age, built a monastery at Vardes, and retired to the abbey of Pentale at the confluence of the Seine and Risele, where he was speedily constituted abbot. His strictness displeased some of the monks, and they
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Sept. a4.J
5". Geremar. 363
resolved to make away with him. At cockcrow every morn- ing it was the custom of the community to rise and go to church and sing prime, and return to their beds only at daybreak. One morning whilst Geremar was in church some of the malcontents fastened a sharp knife in his bed with the haft attached to the laths, and the blade erect, so that when Geremar returned in the dusk to the dormitory, and flung himself on his bed, the knife would pierce him. But on this morning, contrary to his usual custom, he felt his bed before flinging himself on it, and thus discovered the knife. Disgusted at this attempt on his life, he determined to leave the abbey, but without publishing abroad the reason, lest it should cause scandal. He then found a cave and retired into it. Shortly after, news reached him that his son Amalbert, who had been in attendance on the king in Gascony, on his way home had been attacked by a mortal illness which had cut short his days in the flower of youth. Geremar, on receiving the news cried out, "O my God ! Thou hast been merciful towards me, in deigning to receive my son into Thy glory." He went to meet the funeral train, which was accompanied by the king and his nobles, and brought his son's body to the monastery of ITsle.
Having become master of his entire fortune by the death of Amalbert, he resolved to consecrate it to God. By the advice of S. Ouen he built and endowed a stately monastery at Flay in the forests of Bray, on the Epte, now called S. Germer. He became abbot of this monastery, and died in it, in the odour of sanctity.
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364 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
S. ROBERT OF KNARESBOROUGH, H. (a.d. 1218.)
[Not in any Martyrologies. But of considerable local veneration in Yorkshire. Authority: — An account by M.Walbranin his Memorials of Fountains Abbey, published for the Surtees Society, 1863, from MS. un- published sources.]
S. Robert was the son of John Thome of York, and Siminima, his wife, persons of such social position in the city in the latter half of the twelfth century, that, as we have learned from Leland, the father " had been 2 tymes maire." His peculiar character seems to have developed itself in early life, but no other incidents of that period are recorded than that he proceeded no further in holy orders than the office of sub-deacon, and, that after he had been an inmate of Newminster Abbey in Northumberland for eighteen weeks, he retired to the place which has ever been associated with his fame. Leland, however, had been told that he for- sook " the lands and goodes of his father, to whom he was heire as eldest sonne."
When Robert arrived at Knaresborough he found a certain knight ensconced in a solitary place, which though but a cave in a rock by the side of the Nidd, was dignified by the name of S. Giles' Chapel. But it was a brief associa- tion ; for the recreant recluse, " instigante diabolo," by-and- by left Robert in sole possession, and " returned like a dog to his vomit " — namely, his wife and family.
A benevolent lady residing in the neighbourhood — a Plumpton, perhaps, or a Percy — now bestowed upon him a chapel dedicated to S. Hilda, and as much adjacent land as he could dig. Here he enjoyed nearly a year in the mortifi- cation of the flesh ; but one evening, while he was wrapt in meditation, five "latrunculi" having stolen "hys bred, his
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sept. 24.] S. Robert of Knaresborongh. 365
chese, hys sustenance," the trial so far overcame his patience that he left the place — his biographer justifying the step by the command — " When they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another."
Robert, therefore, fled to Spofforth, a village hard by ; but oppressed by the crowds that followed him, he yielded to the invitation of the monks of Hedley, a cell of the Cluniac Priory of the Holy Trinity at York, in the adjacent parish of Bramham. Being dissatisfied, however, with their conversation, he returned to his former retreat at S. Hilda's, where his patroness built him a barn with a suitable place of abode. He had now also four servants. Two were employed in agriculture, another in general purposes, while another accompanied him in collecting alms in the county for distribution among his needy clients ; for,
" To begge and lorynge pore men of baile This was hys purpose principale."
One day while he was sleeping in a flowery mead, his mother, who had been sometime dead, appeared to him, wan and deformed, to tell him that
" For mettes and meseres maid unlele,"
she was doomed to great torment, unless eased by his prayers. For a whole year, Robert interceded incessantly, and then saw her again with a joyful countenance, and the assurance that she was relieved — blessing him for his pious pains.
Robert continued here, until one day William de Stuteville, Lord of Knaresborough, coming by saw the buildings, and asked to whom they belonged. The servants replied that one Robert, a hermit and most devoted servant of God, lived there. " Rather," cried the Baron, "an abettor and receiver of thieves ;" and swearing by God's eyes that he should be
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366 Lives of the Saints. rsePt.a4.
expelled the forest, ordered his men to raze the place, and, if necessary, to eject the inmates by fire. The men hesi- tated. A few days after, he came again, like an infuriated lion, and swore by his usual oaths that he would put out their eyes if his mandate was not obeyed.
" Yan yai durst na langer byde, Both vnto Roberd housynge hyed, And dang them dovvne, bath lesse and mare ; Nathyng left yai standand yair."
It is, however, by no means unlikely that the foundations of an ancient fabric, which were removed within memory from the chapel-field at S. Hiles Nook, in the township of Rofarlington, to be used in building the Roman Catholic chapel at Knaresborough, were a memorial of that day's proceedings.
Our hermit now returned to the chapel of S. Giles — a mere hut, formed by winding the branches of trees over stakes, in front of a little cavern —
" Highe and lawe unto hym hyed In faith for to be edified ;"
and he had a garth given to him between the rock and the river. But, one day, his old enemy Stuteville passing by, "wyth hond and hauke upon his hand," saw smoke ascend- ing from the hut ; and having been told who dwelt there, swore, in a drunken rage, he would not close his eyes in sleep till the tenant was ejected. He postponed his pur- pose, however —
" And rushed and bouned hym to hys bed."
Appeared to him then three men, " blacker than ynd," of grim and horrible aspect, two of them with an iron " trayle," blazing with fire and beset with burning spikes, with which they harrowed his sides as he dreamt, while the other — a
Sept. «4.]
S. Robert of Knar esborough. 367
giant in stature — rushed to his bedside, brandishing two iron clubs, and addressed him thus : " Cruel prince, and instru- ment of the devil ! rise forthwith. Take one of these clubs and defend thy neck, for the wrongs with which thou spitest the man of God ; because I am sent here to fight thee on his part." The baron threw up his arms in wild alarm, exclaiming, " Pity me, O man ! and spare my life ; let me atone for all the ills I ever brought him, and I will do so no more." The terrible vision then vanished ; but not so the contrition. The wolf was turned into a lamb. When the morn at last came, he hastened to the cell, and with bended knees and suppliant hands, sought pardon of the holy man, who raised him, saying, "Approach, William, and receive the kiss of peace." William then gave him all the land between the rock and Grimbald Kyrkestane ; and, lest it should remain untilled, bestowed also two oxen and two horses, with as many cows. Thenceforth, too, every year, from Christmas to the morrow of the Epiphany, Robert had from the castle meals for thirteen poor men, and always alms for the needy.
Among others who came to visit him was his brother Walter, then Mayor of York, who, being displeased with the meanness of his cell, wished him to join some religious society. Perceiving from Robert's reply — " Here shall be my rest for ever ; here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein" — that his counsel was unavailing, he sent artificers from the city, of divers kinds, who built a little chapel, in honour of the Holy Cross, of hewn stone, and prepared a house, where he might receive pilgrims and the poor.
He now associated himself with a kindred spirit — meek and mild — called Ivo ; but this worthy, yielding one day to Satanic temptation, ran away, and, in passing through a wood, broke his leg, and fell into a ditch. Robert, aware of the mischance, hastened to the spot, and smiling at Ivo's
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368 Lives of the Saints. lSept a4>
plight, was reminded of his profession " to laugh with those who laughed, and to weep with those who wept." His friend told him he laughed because this accident had been sent for his good ; that " No one putting his hand to the plough, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God ;" and then restored the backslider to his former condition. They never parted more, till Robert died, and were worthy brothers in asceticism ; for it was remembered of Ivo that when he went, barefoot, to York, to gather alms for the poor, in the winter his blood-stained footsteps might be traced on the frozen road.
While collecting alms, Robert once asked a person of station for a cow. He granted the request ; but in the sort of one ranging in the forest, so wild and vicious, that none of the donor's servants durst approach her. Robert put his arm round her neck, and brought her home like a lamb. One of the servants, envying the facility of the capture, proposed to reclaim her by subtilty ; but being forbidden, he disguised himself as a mendicant, and with limping gait, contorted eyes, and contracted hands, piteously implored her of the holy man. " God gave, and God shall have ; but it shall be to thee as thou hast presumed to feign," was the reply. So when the " counterfeit cripple" would have driven off his prize, he found his pretence was reality; until, confessing his fault, he was relieved, and delighted to escape alone. This was once so popular a story, that a picture of the scene, in stained glass, was set up in one of the windows of Knaresborough church, so late as the year
M73-
But Robert performed a more wonderful feat than this.
He suffered greatly from the intrusion of stags from Knares- borough forest among his corn, and went to the lord to pray that they might be restrained. "I give thee full permis- sion, Robert," said he, " to shut them up in thy barn until
Sept. 24,i S. Robert of Knaresborough. 369
thou hast received full restitution for thy losses." Robert, taking a switch, drove them like lambs into his barn, and told the lord what he had done. Finding that he had promised more than he had intended, he offered the hermit three of the stags, to be used instead of oxen, in his plough. Robert yoked them, and their submission and conduct in tilling the land was the admiration of all who passed by.
Envious of his merits, the devil appeared to him one night as he watched in his cell, and had "thoughte to teyne hym wyth a type ;" but meeting with discomfiture —
" Aboutte hys house yis harlott hyede Hys devociouns he defyed ; All the vessells yat he fand He tyfled and touched yaim with hys hand His pott, hys panne, his sause, his foule, Wyth hys fyngers fatt and foule. "
With his usual perseverance, however, after some time, he came again, with his appearance-proper modified to that of a begrimed rustic, with grinning teeth. But Robert, seizing the sprinkler, soused him with holy water, and was relieved from further annoyance, except the stench with which " Sir Gerrard" had filled his cell. The next device was to tor- ment the good man in his orisons, under the guise of a child ; but his laughter and gambols were unheeded, till the saint, seeing the straw on the chapel floor on fire, and the house in danger, turned the plot into smoke, through the holy sign. " Sathanas" at last, with a sad want of sagacity, assumed the form of a lad of sixteen, intending to frighten Robert by gaping and " gryning" at him ; but this was so contemptible a delusion that Robert condescended only to belabour him with his staff.
The hermit's fame at length became so great that even King John, at the request of Sir Brian L'Isle, was induced
vol. x. 24
37° Lives of the Saints. j^ 24.
to visit his cell, accompanied by his court. At the time of their arrival, Robert was prostrate in prayer before the altar of his chapel, and did not desist, though he was aware of the quality of his visitors. Seeing that he did not rise, and exhibit proper reverence to the king, Sir Brian said, " Brother Robert, rise quickly ; behold, our lord, King John, is here."
Then asked Robert, rising forthwith, " Show me which of these is my king ?"
Brian answered, " This is my king, John, the most illus- trious of kings."
The holy man, taking in his hand an ear of corn, held it towards the tyrant, saying, "Thou art not able, O lord my king, by thy power, to create such a thing out of nothing."
Certain of the bystanders thereupon said, " This man is mad, as his acts show."
It was answered by others that lie was wiser than they, since he was the servant of God, in whom is all wisdom.
The king said to him, " Robert, ask of rne whatever is necessary for thee, and it shall be given."
The holy man told him that he needed nothing earthly.
When the king was gone, Ivo having found that alms for the poor had not been asked of him, prevailed on his fellow to follow him ; and he was granted as much of the adjacent wood as he could till with one plough. The Rector of Knaresborough afterwards demanded its tithe, but all he received was Robert's malediction for seeking to lessen the patrimony of the poor.
The last incidents that are recorded of the hermit's life are of a prophetical character. When Sir Brian L'Isle was summoned to do service in the south of England, he sought Robert's blessing before he departed. When he gave it,
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Sept. 24.]
S. Robert of Knar esborough. 371
he said he should go and prosper, but he would return no more ; and it was so.
At length, when his end was nigh, the monks of Foun- tains hastened to his cell, bringing their habit in which to invest his body for burial. But he said, " My own garment is sufficient for me, nor do I covet another." Soon after, having bestowed his blessing on Ivo and others, who stood by, he expired. He had previously foretold that, after his death, the monks of Fountains would endeavour to take possession of his body, and expressed a wish that they should be resisted, for he would be buried where he died. They came as he had predicted, saying it was but decent and convenient that the body of so excellent a person should rather be buried in a solemn than in a sterile and desolate place. They were met by the expression of his own wishes ; and, as soldiers had come from Knaresborough to enforce them, the men of Fountains returned sorrowing. Doubtless they had intended to have enshrined him in the new choir which they were then erecting. When he was to be committed to the tomb, a great company of persons, both rich and poor, flocked to the chapel, passionately kissing the coffin ; lamenting for one who had so often afforded them consolation in their troubles, yet rejoicing that he had ascended where he might still aid them by his prayers. According to his own desire, he was buried in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which his brother Walter had built, in a tomb before the altar, in which never man before had lain. But his influence long survived, and many bodily afflictions, said to have been cured by a visit to his tomb, were the subjects of inscriptions and pictures which, two centuries after his death, were to be seen there. The precise period of that event is not mentioned in the MS. whence the preceding particulars are derived, but in the Chronicles of Lanercost it is said that he died on the 24th
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37 '2 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 94#
of September, 1218. Although he was styled a saint within twenty years after his decease, I believe that he was never canonized.
Tumba tamen protestatur, Ubi vir hie veneratur, Hasc non falsa ut affatur, Preciosa pagina.
Licet non canonicatur, Adhuc autem operatur, Per hunc pater, cum precatur, Plura beneficia.
The place in which this pious and benevolent man passed the greater portion of his existence has been pointed out by tradition as a cave hewn in the rocky bank ot the river Nidd, about a mile eastward of Knaresborough. It has, however, obtained a far more extensive celebrity through the eloquent fictions of Lord Lytton, from having been the spot where Daniel Clarke was murdered, on the night of the 7th of February, 1744 — 5, either by the hand or with the privity of Eugene Aram, and where the body was con- cealed fourteen years.
The attraction of a new class of pilgrims to the place led, about thirty years ago, to the removal of the sand which had accumulated in the cave, and of the rubbish in front, when its identity with the hermitage of S. Robert was proved by the discovery of the foundations of a little chapel ; and a fact came to light of which knowledge by the murderer might have led to the concealment of his guilt. The build- ing, which doubtless was the Chapel of the Holy Cross, had measured sixteen feet eight inches in length, and nine feet three inches in width ; the eastern end of the floor being raised for the platform of the altar, of which a portion still remains. In the midst of the western half is a coffin hewn in the rock, and corresponding, therefore, in character with that tomb in which, according to the scriptural allusion of
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sept.J4] S. Robert of Knaresborough. 373
his biographer, the remains of the holy man were laid. At the time of its discovery it was untenanted and uncovered ; but, from the presence of a groove by which the lid had been secured, it evidently had been protected by the marble slab which now covers the grave of the great Royalist, Sir Henry Slingsby, in Knaresborough church, and is in- scribed : " Sandi Roberti hue saxum adventum est, sub eodemque nunc jacet hie Henricus Slingesby," &c. — that stone having been probably brought from the Priory. Matthew Paris says, under the year 1238, " Eodem anno claruit fama Sancti Roberti heremitae apud Knaresburg, cujus tumba oleum medicinale fertur abundanter emisisse ;" but a glimpse of the absorbent orifice which remains at the bottom of the coffin might, perhaps, have dispelled the illusion, and referred the miraculous oil to the solution of the resinous substance with which the cover may have been fixed. An idea of the architectural character of the chapel has been lost by the removal of its ruins ; and at the time of the excavation, the western end and some other con- tiguous foundations having been disturbed, we are unable to decide whether a cell was annexed to that extremity. It was, no doubt, maintained and served by the brethren of the Priory of Knaresborough until the period of the Refor- mation, when it would be abandoned. At all events, a silver coin, with the legend " Posui Deum," &c, which was found in the silt when the cave was cleared out, may show that, this barrier being removed, the river had access there as early as the time of Queen Elizabeth.
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374 Lives of the Saints . tSept. a5
September 25.
S. Cleoph as, Dist iple of Christ at Ewmaus ; 1st cent.
S. Anatalo, B. of Milan ; circ. a.d. 6i.
S. Herculanus, M. on the Via Claudia near Rome ; 2nd cen .
S. Firminus, BJI. at Amicus ; circ. a.d. 290.
S. Principius, B. ofSoissotts; end of $th cent.
S. Solemnis, B. of Chartrcs ; circ. A.D. 508.
S. Lurus, B. of Lyons ; 6th cent.
S. Aunaku's, B. of Auxcrre ; jthcent.
S. Ermenfred, Al>. of Ciisanccs in Burgundy; middle of ytk
cent. S. Finbak, /;. of Cork; a.d. 623. S. CeOLFRID, Ab. of W'carmouth ; A.D. 716. S. Sekgius, Ab. H. in Russia; a.d. 1392.
S. CLEOPHAS.
(iST CENT.)
[Roman Martyrology. The Marty rologium Parvum, Ado, Usuardus, Notker, Hrabanus, &e. By the Greeks on Oct. 30.J
LEOPHAS, the disciple, going to Emmaus, on the day of the Resurrection, when Jesus joined him- self to him, explained to him the Scriptures, and was made known to him in the breaking of bread,1 was possibly the same as Cleophas, more accurately Clopas, or Alphseus, who is named in S. John's Gospel.2 Clopas was the father of the Apostle S. James the Less,8 a husband of that Mary (called in S. Mark xv. 40, mother of James the Less and of Joses) who was standing by the cross of Jesus with the Blessed Virgin and others. In Mark ii. 14, Levi or Matthew is also said to have been the son of Alphseus.
Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius, says that Cleophas and S. Joseph, the husband of Our Lady, were brothers, and
1 Luke xxiv. 18. 2 John xix. 25.
* Matt. x. 3 ; Mark iii. 18 ; Luke vi. 15 ; Acts i. 13.
£, ^
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Sept. 25.]
6*. Fir minus.
375
S. Epiphanius says the same. Hegesippus, being the earliest ecclesiastical historian of whom fragments remain, is the best authority we have for this statement. He says that he was the father of Simon. Alphaeus, the father of Levi, cannot have been the same man, nor probably was Cleopas, the disciple of Emmaus. Mary, the wife of Cleopas, is believed to have been the sister of Mary the Virgin. Their children were James and Joses, Jude and Simeon, cousins of the Lord.
S. Cleopas was regarded as patron of the Teutonic Order.
The Cleopas commemorated in the Roman Martyrology is he who lived at Emmaus, and the Martyrology adopts the legend that he was massacred by the Jews in the very house where the Lord had been made known to him by the breaking of bread. There is no historical evidence that this was the case.
S. FIRMINUS, B.M. (about a.d. 290.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Sarum, York, and Hereford Kalendars ; Hrabanus, Wandelbert, Floras, &c. Authorities :— The Acts, of these there are several versions, varying somewhat from one another ; none trustworthy.]
In Navarre, at Pampeluna, on this day is venerated S. Firminus, apostle of that country and martyr in the year 1 o 1 : at Amiens in the north of France on this day is kept the feast of S. Firminus, apostle of Picardy and martyr. Baronius thinks that he suffered under Rictiovarus, at the beginning of the 4th century.
An attempt has been made to reconcile the legend of the patron of Pampeluna with that of the saint of Amiens, but it is impossible to do so. There were, in all probability
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376 Lives of the Saints. tsept. 25.
two saintly bishops and martyrs of the same name. S. Firminus of Amiens was the disciple of S. Saturninus of Toulouse (November 29). S. Gregory of Tours alleges that Saturninus was a contemporary of the apostles and one of the disciples of our Lord. But Gregory of Tours also relates the passion of Saturninus as occurring under the consulship of Decius and Gratus, a.d. 250 ; consequently S. Firminus must have suffered either at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. No reliance what- ever can be placed on the narratives of his martyrdom.
The relics ofS. Firminus are in the church of S. Germain, at Amiens. Other relics at Arras, at Saint-Firmin near Chantilly, and at Sommesnil near Rouen.
S. PRINCIPIUS, B. OF SOISSONS.
(5TH CENT.)
[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority : — Two letters of Sidonius Apollinaris to S. Principius, and mention in the Life of S. Re- migius.]
S. Principius was the son of Emilius, Count of Laon, and of S. Cselinia, belonging to a senatorial family in that city. He was born in the first year of their married life, in their old age they became parents of S. Remigius, afterwards Archbishop of Rheims. Principius was married and had a son named Lupus. On the death of S. Edibius, Bishop of Soissons, he was elected in his room. Although not personally acquainted with S. Sidonius Apollinaris, that eminent and accomplished author wrote to him, as " Papa Principius." Of the nine letters of Sidonius that survive, two are addressed to S. Principius. He speaks of the eloquent letters of Principius, and says, " I entreat thee, instantly, thee and
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S. Finbar.
377
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thy brother, but especially thee, to quench the thirst I have for your admirable letters. If the difficulty of the roads and the distance oppose the accomplishment of my desires, at least pray sometimes for those who ask your prayers."
S. FINBAR, B. OF CORK.
(about a.d. 623.)
[Irish Martyrologies. Dempster, the Aberdeen Breviary, and other Scottish Kalendars. Authority : — A Life of the saint full of fables of the most preposterous description. The continuators of the Bollandists do not give it ; they have sadly marred the historic value of the later volumes by their eclecticism. Documents, though fabulous, have yet an antiquarian value, and ought not to be arbitrarily rejected.]
S. Barr, or Finbar, was a native of Connaught, and his real name was Lochan, but on account of the colour of his beautiful fair hair he received the name of Finn-barr (the white-haired), often contracted into Barr, a name which clave to him. He is said to have been taught in Leinster by one Mac-corb, who is pretended to have been at Rome, and to have there heard the instructions of Pope Gregory the Great, but this is almost certainly a fable. Finnbar is said to have gone in company with S. Maidoc to Britain, and even to Rome, accompanied by S. David. This last expedition also is questionable, but it is probable that he spent some time with S. David, who lived late in the 6th century, and that about the beginning of the next he founded his monastery near Loch-eire, on ground granted him by a nobleman of the name of Edo, and lying at the south side of the river Lee. It is related that so many disciples flocked to him that his monastery became very extensive, and a city grew up around it. Finnbar was consecrated bishop, and was the first founder of the see of Cork. His life, which is
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378 Lives of the Saints. tSept. 25
a tissue of absurd stories, relates that when he was at Rome, Pope Gregory wished to consecrate him, but was deterred by a vision of Christ, who announced that He, and He alone, would consecrate the first bishop of Cork.
Accordingly, on the return of Finnbar to Ireland, our Lord appeared to him, called up a miraculous fountain of oil out of the ground, and therewith anointed him bishop. On another occasion Christ appeared to him, took him by the hand, and raised him into the air. Ever after, that hand blazed with such dazzling light, that Finnbar was obliged to keep it covered with a glove.
He died in the monastery of Cloyne, on the 25th of September, and was buried at Cork. On the occasion of his funeral, even the sun kept the wake. For fifteen days it did not set ! The year of the death of Finnbar is not known, but it was perhaps about a.d. 623.
It is said, in the life of S. Lasrean, that he was one spring day sitting under a hazel-bush talking with S. Finnbar, and when they were about to part, Lasrean asked of his friend a sign that God was with him. Finnbar prayed, and sud- denly the catkins on the hazel fell off, nuts formed, and leaves appeared, and Finnbar plucked his lapful of ripe nuts, and poured them into the bosom of Lasrean.
S. CEOLFRID, AB. OF WEARMOUTH.
(a.d. 716.)
[Gallican Martyrology ; venerated on this day in the diocese of Langres Dempster's Scottish Menology. Authority : — Bede's Eccl. Hist.]
S. Ceolfrid, or Ceolfrith, the friend and coadjutor of Benedict Biscop (January 12), was born about the year 647, and was probably a native of the kingdom of Northumbria.
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Sept. 25.]
6*. Ceolfrid.
379
He is first mentioned in 674 as aiding Benedict in the foundation of the abbey of Wearmouth, and about the year 678 he accompanied him to Rome. A little later — about the year 681 — Ceolfrid was an active, learned, and zealous man, and worthy to be the successor of Benedict Biscop. He increased the library which had been formed by his predecessor, and enriched the monastery, by obtaining from King Aldfrid a grant of lands on the river "Fresca," which were afterwards exchanged for an estate nearer the monas- tery, at a place then called " Sambuce." By some monks whom he sent to Rome, Ceolfrid obtained from Pope Sergius a new charter of privileges for the monastery, or rather a renewal of those which had been given to Benedict by Pope Agatho. Ceolfrid continued to preside over the two monasteries of Wearmouth and Yarrow during twenty-six years, and he appears to have occupied himself exclusively with his monks in study and teaching. The celebrity of his school, in which Bede imbibed his great learning, was very extensive; and in 701 the Pope sent a messenger to invite one of his monks to advise with him in deciding certain ecclesiastical questions of great difficulty. A few years afterwards (about 710) Ceolfrid's advice was sought by Naitan, King of the Picts, who had become a convert to the Roman practice concerning Easter and the tonsure ; and, at the earnest solicitation of that prince, he sent him a letter setting forth the arguments on which this was founded, and along with it architects to build a stone church after the Roman style. This letter has been preserved by Bede. When age and sickness announced to Ceolfrid the near approach of death, he was suddenly seized with the desire of ending his days in the apostolical city. Bede, who was probably one of the actors in it, describes the scene of parting with pathetic minuteness. The monks urged him to stay, for they saw that he wanted strength for so long a
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380 Lives of the Saints.
fSept. 25.
journey, and they feared that he would die on the way ; but their efforts were in vain ; and on Thursday, the 4th day of June (716), immediately after the first religious service of the day had been performed, Ceolfrid prepared for his departure, amid the lamentations of those with whom he had passed so many tranquil years. The monks, about six hundred in number, were assembled in the church at Wearmouth, and Ceolfrid, after having prayed, stood by the altar, holding in his hand the censer with burning incense, and gave them his peace. Then they left the church and moved towards the shore, their chants being frequently interrupted by loud sobs. When they came to the dormitory Ceolfrid entered the oratory of S. Laurence, which stood there, and delivered his last admonition, urging the monks to persevere in brotherly love, to keep strict dis- cipline, and to be constant in their duties to God, and he ended by requesting their prayers for himself. On the bank of the river Tyne he gave them severally the kiss of peace, and they then fell on their knees and received his blessing. He was accompanied across the river by the deacons of the church, bearing lighted tapers and the cross of gold. When he reached the opposite shore he reverenced the cross, and then mounted the horse which was to carry him to the place of embarkation. On their return to Wearmouth, the first care of the monks was the election of a successor, and their new abbot, named Hwetbert, was immediately de- spatched, with a few of the brethren, to see Ceolfrid for the last time. They found him on the coast waiting for a ship ; and when Hwetbert acquainted him with what had passed since his departure from amongst them, he approved their choice and confirmed their election, and then received from the new abbot a commendatory letter to Pope Gregory.
The apprehensions of the monks were soon verified ; for after journeying slowly through France, as he was approach-
Hh 4<
Sept. as.)
*9. Sergius.
38i
ing the city of Langres (Lingonas), in the diocese of Lyons, on the 25th of September of the same year, Ceolfrid became suddenly so feeble that his attendants were obliged to halt in the midst of the fields, where he died almost immediately. His body was deposited in the monastery of the Twin Martyrs, in the southern suburb of that city, and his com- panions returned to England to bear the tidings to his friends. Bede, who gives the date of Ceolfrid's death, tells us that he was then seventy-four years of age, and that he had been forty-seven years a presbyter and thirty-five years an abbot, including, of course, the period during which he presided only over the monastery of Yarrow. His bones were afterwards removed from Langres, and carried to Wearmouth ; and at a subsequent period, on the approach of the Danes, who reduced that monastery to ruins, they were again taken up by the monks, and, with those of the Abbess Hilda, finally deposited at Glastonbury.
Ceolfrid would merit a place among the Anglo-Saxon writers if he had written nothing but the letter, or tract, on the observance of Easter, addressed to the King of the Picts. It is distinguished by clearness of style, and remarkable vigour and perspicuity, if we consider that the writer was then in his sixty-eighth year, relatively a much greater age then than now.
S. SERGIUS, AB. (a.d. 1392.)
[Russian Kalendar. Authorities :— Mouravieff's Hist, of the Russian Church.]
The name of Sergius is as dear to every Russian's heart as is that of William Tell to a Swiss, or that of Joan of Arc to a Frenchman. He was born at Rostoff in the early part
;82 Lives of the Saints.
^^ ^k/so uj i,,,,*, kjm,i,h. [Sept 25
of the 14th century, and when quite young left the house of his parents, and, together with his brother Stephen, settled himself in the dense forests of Radonege with bears for his companions, suffering from fierce cold in winter, often from famine. The fame of his virtues drew disciples around him. They compelled him to go to Peryaslavla- Zalessky, to receive priestly orders from Athanasius, Bishop of Volhynia, who lived there. Sergius built by his own labour in the midst of the forest a rude church of timber, by the name of The Source of Life, the Ever Blessed Trinity, which has since grown into the greatest, most renowned and wealthy monastery in all Russia, — the Troitzka Abbey, whose destiny has become inseparable from the destinies of the capital.
Princes and prelates applied to Sergius not only for advice, but also for teachers trained in his school, who might become in their realms and dioceses the heads of similar institutions, centres whence light and wisdom might shine. Tartar invasion had quenched the religious fervour of the Russians, a new era of zeal opened with the founda- tions of the Troitzka monastery and the labours of Sergius. At the request of Vladimir, Athanasius, a disciple of Sergius, founded the Visotsky monastery at SerpouchofT; and another of his pupils, Sabbas, laid the foundation of the convent of Svenigorod, whilst his nephew Theodore laid that of Simonoff in Moscow.
In the terrible struggle against the Tartars, the heart of the Grand-Prince Demetrius failed him ; how could he break the power of this inexhaustible horde which, like the locusts of the prophet (Joel ii.), had the garden of Eden before them, and left behind them a desolate wilderness. It was the remonstrance, the blessing, the prayers of Sergius, that encouraged the Prince to engage in battle with the horde on the fields of the Don. No historical picture or sculpture
Sept. 95,]
S. Sergzus.
38.3
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in Russia is more frequent than that which represents the youthful warrior receiving the benediction of the aged hermit. Two of his monks, Peresvet and Osliab, accom- panied the Prince to the field, and fought in coats of mail drawn over their monastic habit ; and the battle was begun by the single combat of Peresvet with a gigantic Tartar, champion of the Horde.
The two chief convents in the suburbs of Moscow still preserve the recollection of that day. One is the vast fortress of the Donskoi monastery, under the Sparrow Hills. The other is the Simonofif monastery already mentioned, founded on the banks 01 tne Mosqua, on a beautiful spot chosen by the saint himself, and its earliest site was con- secrated by the tomb which covers the bodies of his two warlike monks. From that day forth he stood out in the national recollection as the champion of Russia. It was from his convent that the noblest patriotic inspirations were drawn, and, as he had led the way in giving the first great repulse to the Tartar power, so the final blow in like manner came from a successor in his place. When Ivan III. wavered, as Demetrius had wavered before him, it was by the remonstrance of Archbishop Bassian, formerly prior of the Troitzka monastery, that Ivan too was driven, almost against his will, to the field. " Dost thou fear death P" so he was addressed by the aged prelate. " Thou too must die as well as others ; death is the lot of all, man, beast, and bird alike ; none avoid it. Give these warriors into my hands, and, old as I am, I will not spare myself, nor turn my back upon the Tartars." The Metropolitan, we are told, added his exhortations to those of Bassian. Ivan returned to the camp, the Khan of the Golden Horde fled without a blow, and Russia was set free for ever.
The Metropolitan, Alexis, being eighty-four years old, perceived that his end was approaching, and he wished to
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. *%.
give Sergius his blessing and appoint him as his successor. But the humble monk, in great alarm, declared that he could not accept and wear the sacred picture of the B. Virgin suspended by gold chains, which the primate had sent him from his own breast on which it had hung. " From my youth up," said he, " I have never possessed or worn gold, and how now can I adorn myself in my old age ?"
S. Sergius died at an extremely advanced age in 139a, amidst the lamentations of his contemporaries. He was canonized in 1428, when his body was found uncorrupt.
S= James the Leaa. See May L
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Sept. 26.]
■S'-S'. Callistratus and Comp.
385
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September 26.
SS. Callistratus and Comp., MM. at Byzantium; circ. a.d.
3°4- SS. Cyprian and Justina, MM. at Nicomedia; a.d. 304. S. Eusebius, Pope of Rome ; a.d. 310. S. Vigilius, B. of Brescia; 6th cent. S. Nilus, Ad. of Frascati ; a.d. 1005. S. John de Meda, P. at Milan ; a.d. 1159.
SS. CALLISTRATUS AND COMP., MM. (about a.d. 304.)
[Roman Martyrology ; by the Greeks on Sept. 27, as also the Russians. These saints were introduced into the Roman Martyrology by Baronius from the Greek Menaea. Before this they were unknown in the West. But Baronius made a mistake, as the Bollandists have pointed out. In the Roman Martyrology it is said that Callistratus and his companions suffered at Rome. But the Greek- Acts by Rome mean Constantinople — New Rome. A similar mistake has been made with regard to S. Alexis (July 17). The Greek Acts are by Metaplirastes, and therefore late and of not much value. I
ALLISTRATUS, a native of Chalcedon, was a soldier in the cohort called Calandon, quartered at Byzantium on the opposite side of the Bos- phorus. He was charged before his officer with being a Christian by some of his fellow soldiers. He boldly confessed his faith, and was therefore beaten, then sewn up in a sack and flung into the Bosphorus. According to the fabulous Acts, the sack burst when it touched the water, and when Callistratus got out two dolphins bore him on their backs to the shore. This miracle converted forty-nine soldiers, and they resolved to die with him. Other miracles converted a hundred and thirty-five more, and then all were put to death in prison. vol. x. 25
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3 86 Lives of the Saints. rSept ^
SS. CYPRIAN AND JUSTIN A, MM.
(a.d. 304.)
[Roman Martyrology. The Martyrologium Parvum, some copies of that of Jerome, so called, Hrabanus, Usuardus, Ado, York, Sarum, Hereford Kalen- dars, Anglican Reformed Kalendar. By the Greeks and Russians on Oct. 2. Theoctistus, who suffered with them, by the Greeks on Oct. 3. Authority : — The Acts, utterly fabulous, a religious romance, only possibly founded on fact. S. Gregory Nazianzen identifies him with the great S. Cyprian of Carthage. It is probable that the story is, in fact, a romance founded on the great S. Cyprian's conversion, and worked up with materials from various sources into a wonderful story for the amusement of Greeks, who felt the need of more moral romances than those of Petronius, Heliodorus, Achilles Tatius, and Xenophon of Ephestis. Several of these erotic novel writers became Christian bishops, and probably exercised their pens after their conversion in writing romantic tales of a moral tendency. The first part of the romance of Cyprian and Justina is taken from that of Thecla, the name of Paulus is changed into Prauhis. The next portion is from the history of Joseph the Count (July 22) ; the martyrdom is of the usual style of these fabulous com- positions. The fact that S. Cyprian of Carthage was a philosopher, and converted when advanced in age, served as the basis for the story. S. Gregory Nazianzen having identified the Cyprian of the romance with the great Cyprian, shows that in his time — the 4th cent.— the idea that Cyprian the magician and Cyprian the archbishop were different had not arisen. Justina — if there ever was such a person— was probably a martyr in the same place and at the same date.]
The story of Cyprian and Justina is an early Christian romance, and does not merit to be treated as serious history. The story is as follows : —
There was once upon a time a beautiful young girl called Justina, who lived with her father, Edusius, a heathen jiriest, and her mother Cledonia,1 near the grove of Daphne at Antioch.2 One day, as she sat in her window, she heard the deacon Praulus preaching in an adjoining house,8 and she was filled with faith, and believed, and said to her
1 In the story of S. Thecla, the mother is Theoclea. 2 Antioch in Syria. Thecla resided at Antioch in Pisidia. 3 Acts of Thecla : — "And whilst Paulus was speaking of the great things of God in the house of Onesiphorus, one Thecla, a virgin . . . came and sat at a window, which was close to the roof, and listened to the words of Paulus."
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SS. Cyprian and Justina.
387
mother, "The gods we adore are of gold and silver and lead ; a Galilean if he were but to touch them with his finger would break them to pieces." But the mother said, "Silence, let not your father hear you talk thus." Never- theless Cledonia told her husband all the words of Justina And that night, in sleep, Edusius and his wife saw in a dream angels of God, and Christ, who said, " Come to me, and I will give you the kingdom of heaven."
Now the bishop1 when he heard this, made Edusius cut off his beard, in token that he was no longer a priest of idols, and then Edusius, his wife, and daughter were baptized together. But there was a young man named Aglaides,3 who loved Justina ; and now that she was a Christian, she would not listen to his honeyed words, and repelled his advances. Then his anger was raised, and he sought to waylay her and carry her off when on her way to church, but the Christians and the servants of her father caught up arms to defend her, and Aglaides was forced to retire.3 Aglaides, finding that he could not carry her off by force, had recourse to the magician Cyprian, who promised him to send a demon to force Justina to love him. But Cyprian himself became enamoured of the maiden, and resolved to win her for himself. He conjured up a devil and sent him to the house of Justina in the middle of the night. When the Christian virgin saw the hideous demon, she made the sign of the cross and blew in his face. Thereupon he fled howling to Cyprian. " Where is the maiden ?" asked the magician. "I saw a sign she made, and it overcame me." Cyprian bade him be off; and next night he called up a second devil. In the middle of the night Justina had risen
1 Anthimius— no such bishop known at either Antioch. 2 In the Acts of S. Thecla, his name is Thamyris. s There is something similar in the Acts of S. Thecla, only there the virgin does battle herself with her hands, and tears the clothes off the back of the man who would insult her in the street.
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388 Lives of the Saints. [gept 26
to pray, when she saw before her another devil, worse than the first. She blew in his face, made the sign of the cross, and he also fled howling.1
On the third evening Cyprian conjured up the devil him- self, " the father of the others," and sent him to the chamber of Justina. Satan entered, and sat down on her bed, and began to argue with her against celibacy ; but she again blew in his face, made the sign of the cross, and he vanished, " like wax melting in the fire."
Cyprian received the discomfited devil with a torrent of abuse. The devil apologized, and explained that before the sign of the cross he was powerless.2
" What !" exclaimed the magician, " is the Crucified greater than you ! Then I will have done with your im- postures." The devil with a yell of rage fell upon him, and a furious wrestle began. The magician was flung down, and Satan was upon him and would have strangled him, had not Cyprian disengaged his hand and made the sacred sign with it. Instantly the devil fled, roaring and smoking with dis- comfited rage.
Cyprian went to the Bishop of Antioch, confessed the sins of his life, and was baptized, then speedily ordained bishop of Antioch in the room of Anthimius who died.3 On the breaking out of the persecution of Diocletian, Eutolmius, Count of the East, ordered the arrest of Cyprian and Justina, and that they should be brought to Nicomedia. A great fire was lighted, a cauldron of pitch and tallow was made to boil on it, and Cyprian and the damsel were
1 All this seems to be taken from some Oriental tale of Jins. Compare with it the story of S. Joseph the Count, July 22, p. 512.
2 We see in the story of Cyprian pursuing Justina the first traces of the popular romance of Faust and Margaret. Every magician in household legend had a beautiful woman at his side ; Simon Magus had Helena, Virgilius had the Sultan's daughter.
:l It is needless to say that no such bishop of either Antioch is mentioned by any historian.
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5". Nilus.
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plunged in it. Although the pitch boiled furiously, they sang together a hymn, without feeling the least discomfort. But when a heathen magician named Athanasius approached, a flame shot out and consumed him to ashes. The martyrs then got out of the cauldron, and were sentenced to have their heads cut off. They were led out near the river, and executed. A certain Theoctistus, converted by the miracles wrought by them, suffered with them.
The bodies of these saints are at Rome in the Vatican, two more bodies with that of Theoctistus at Piacenza ; a proper office in honour of these granted to the church of Piacenza by the Congregation of Sacred Rites in 1608. The bodies in the Vatican were discovered and placed there by Pope Anastasius IV. A head of S. Justina at Villeureux in Luxembourg. A fourth head at Lucca ; the bodies of SS. Cyprian and Justina formerly also at Utrecht.
S. NILUS, AB.
(a.d. 1005.)
[Roman and Benedictine Martyrologies. Authority : — A Greek Life written by a contemporary monk.]
This saint, of Greek origin, was born at Rossana in Calabria, in 910. At his baptism he received the name of Nicolas, but he took that of Nilus when he made his religious profession. He married, and was a good and loving husband. But though engaged in the affairs of the world, he did not suffer the world to occupy his whole horizon. Every day he spent some hours in prayer or religious reading. By degrees, however, his former zeal cooled, he became less devoted to religious exercises, and he even fell into grave faults. But he was recalled to his
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390 Lives of the Saints. [Sept.6.
senses by the death of his wife, whom he passionately loved. In the agony of his solitude, feeling the vanity of worldly pleasures, he resolved to retire into a monastery and end his days in prayer and contemplation. He was thirty years old when he entered the monastery of S. John the Baptist at Rossana. He passed thence to that of S. Mercury, and thence to that of S. Nazarius, where his devotion and fervour of speech made him to be regarded as a second S. Paul.
After some years he obtained permission to retreat with two companions into a forest, and settle in a hermitage near the chapel of S. Michael.
The reputation of the extraordinary sanctity of S. Nilus spread ; people came from all parts to consult him. In 976 Theophylact, metropolitan of Calabria, accompanied by Leo, Duke of that region, came to visit the saint, not for the pur- pose of edification, but to test his knowledge. Nilus per- ceived this. When one of the company asked him whether Solomon were saved or not, he turned sharply on him and replied, " Whether Solomon be saved or not matters little to you, but what does concern you is how you may escape damnation. Seek to be assured that you are in the way of Salvation, and do not trouble yourself about the state of Solomon."
When the Emperor Otho III. came to Rome and restored Gregory V. to his throne. S. Nilus hastened to meet him. On the death of John XV. in 996, the clergy, senate, and people of Rome had sent to Otho III., then at Ravenna, to ask him to name a successor to the chair of S. Peter. Otho the German Emperor, at once proclaimed his determination to place his kinsman and chaplain, Bruno, son of the Duke of Carinthia, on the vacant throne. Bruno was a youth of unblemished piety, and of austere morals, though of a some- what fiery and unforgiving temper. The new Pope appeared
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S. Nilus.
39i
in Rome, and was received and consecrated with seeming joy. The more pious monks did not disguise their delight. " The news that a scion of the imperial house, a man of holiness, of wisdom, and virtue, is placed upon the chair of S. Peter, is news more precious than gold and precious stones," wrote the holy Abbo of Fleury to his friend. Rome, overawed, had submitted to receive the nominee of the German Sovereign, who quickly followed the Pope, and received the imperial crown at his hands. Bruno assumed the name of Gregory V. But the Consul Crescentius and a party of Romans were impatient of a German pontiff, and when the Emperor and his troops withdrew beyond the Alps, they drove Gregory from the city, and elected as Pope Philagathus, a Calabrian Greek, Bishop of Piacenza. He had been employed in important affairs ; had been ambas- sador more than once to Constantinople, where he had per- haps fostered the ambition, never extinct, in the Byzantine Emperor of resuming his supremacy in Italy. Philagathus had obtained, it was asserted by violent means, the bishopric of Piacenza, he had amassed great wealth by the plunder of that church, and was prepared with his wealth to be the anti-pope of the Roman republic. He assumed the name of John XVI. It might have been expected that Nilus would have supported by his voice and influence a pontiff of the same race and country, speaking the same language as himself; that he would have been proud to see a Calabrian Greek on the throne of S. Peter. He might have argued that the German Gregory was imposed on the Roman Church by a foreign emperor, and that John XVI. was the free choice of at least a considerable portion of the Roman people and clergy. But Nilus, rising above local prejudices, wrote to the Bishop of Piacenza, urging him not to run the risk of climbing to such a giddy elevation, and to shun the temptations of ambition.
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392 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. *.
The Emperor Otho speedily descended upon Italy at the head of an overwhelming force. Italy was prostrate before him. He reached Rome at the beginning of a.d. 998, and entered the city without the least resistance. Pope John made his escape, but was taken and brought back. S. Nilus heard of this, and hastened to Rome to intercede for his compatriot. With tears he implored the Pope and Emperor to have mercy on the prelate, now very aged, who by unworthy ambition, no doubt, but also at the instigation of unscrupulous men, had dared to usurp the throne of S. Peter^ and to implore that they would suffer the old man to hide his head in a cell of a monastery with him. The Emperor consented, and promised to give to S. Nilus the monastery of S. Anastasius, near Rome, in which he might rule as abbot, and shelter the deposed anti-pope. But Gregory V. was of less generous disposition.1 He could not forgive Philagathus for having attempted to pluck the keys from his grasp. He lore off the robes of his rival, already blinded by red-hot irons, and with his nose and tongue cut out, and cruelly forced him, in this mutilated and bleeding con- dition, to parade the streets of Rome on an ass, with his face to the tail, and with a wine-bladder on his head in mockery of the pontifical tiara he had audaciously assumed.
When S. Nilus heard this he burst into tears of indig- nation and shame. An archbishop was sent to excuse the matter to him ; but the old man rose up, full of wrath, and said : " Go to the Emperor and the Pope, and say, Thus declares an old man, maddened by your unrighteous acts — you gave me this blinded man, not through fear of me, not because I had power to wrest him from your hands, but for the love of God when I pleaded it. And now, know this, that all those injuries you have done to this man have been done to God himself ; and He will recompense them
' "'O aypios irunas." % -|j,
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6". Nilus.
393
at the hands of those who have done this deed, and will not spare you, as you did not spare him whom your heavenly Father placed in your power."
The archbishop began an elaborate defence of the Pope. S. Nilus flung himself on a bench, laid his head between his hands, and pretended to be asleep. At night he mounted his horse, and fled away to his retreat among the forests of Calabria, out of the ambitions, crimes, and revenges of the world. The cruel Gregory did not enjoy his recovered dignity many months. He died, cut off in the flower of his age, as it was commonly believed, by poison.1 The biographer of S. Nilus, a contemporary, says that as he had plucked out the eyes of his opponent, so were his own plucked out, and he was buried with them hanging by the tendons on his cheeks.
The Emperor Otho afterwards made a visit to Monte Gargano and the church of the Archangel Michael. On his way back he visited the monastery of S. Nilus. The old abbot came forth to meet him with incense burning. The Emperor took his hand, and said : " Our Lord bade His disciples go forth without silver, or purse, or staff, and with but one coat. But as He drew near His passion, He said, ' Let him take his scrip and purse.' You, my father, went forth in youth and manhood, poor and destitute ; but now that old age and death come on, take purse and scrip, which I now offer you." It was gracefully put, but S. Nilus refused the present ; and, laying his trembling hand on the Emperor's breast, he said : " I ask of you but one thing, sire! Think of your responsibilities as a king of men. For their welfare you will have to give account to God. Re- member that ; I wish no more." He was offered the bishopric of Rossana, his native town. He refused it.
The incursions of the Saracens made it impossible for
1 " Veneno peremptus est"- Vita S. Meinwerci, c. 10.
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. a6.
him to maintain himself in Calabria, and he took refuge on Monte Cassino with the monks of S. Benedict ; but there was too much of life there to please the old man, who desired to die in perfect seclusion, and he retired to Serpen, on the sea-shore, and spent there ten years ; then he went with his disciples to Tusculum, and settled in the hermitage of S. Agatha. There he did not long live, for he died in the year 1005, at the advanced age of ninety-five.
■ ;
S. Peter, Ap. See Feb. 22.
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Sept aj.)
S. John Mark.
395
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September 27.
S. John Mark, Disc. o/SS. Paul and Barnabas ; is t cent.
S. Zenas, Discifile of 3. Paul ; isl cent.
S. CaiUS, B. of Milan ; circ. a.d. 85.
S. Aderitus, B. 0/ Ravenna ; and cent.
SS Cosmas and Damian, MM. at /Sgis in Cilicia ; circ. a.d. 297.
SS. Florentinus and Hilarius, MM. at Autun ; $t/i cent.
S. HiLTRUDts, V. at Liessics in Hainault ; end o/Stli cent.
SS. Adulf and John, MM. at Cordozia; circ. A.D. 825.
S. Elzear, Count, C. at Paris ; a.d. 1323.
S. JOHN MARK.
(1ST CENT.)
[Modern Roman Martyrology and Greek Menaea and Menologies.]
fjN the Roman Martyrology the entry is, "At Byblos, in Phoenicia, S. Mark, the bishop, also called John by the blessed Luke." The Menology says, " S. Mark, who is also called John, mentioned by the Apostle Luke" — as it happens, Luke was not an apostle — " ordained bishop for the preaching of the Gospel, was so approved of God that his very shadow dispelled diseases." In the Mensea he is said to have been Bishop of Byblos, and brother or comrade of S. Barnabas ; but also in the Synaxarium he is called Bishop of Apollonis. On April 27 he is commemo- rated again, along with Aristarchus and Zeno, as Bishop of Bibliopolis.
In Acts xii. 12, S. Peter, on his liberation from prison, is said to have come to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where many were assembled, praying. John was the Jewish name, and Mark, a name of frequent use among the Romans, was adopted afterwards.
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Lives of the Saints.
[Sept. 37.
From the fact of Mary, his mother, having a house at Jerusalem, it is probable that he was born in that city. He was the cousin of Barnabas.1 Anxious to work for Christ, he went with S. Paul and S. Barnabas as their " minister" or attendant on their first journey, but at Perga he turned back.2 On the second journey S. Paul would not accept him again as a companion, but his kinsman, Barnabas, was more indulgent; and thus he became the cause of "sharp contention" between them.3 Whatever was the cause of Mark's vacillation, it did not separate him for ever from S. Paul, for we find him by the side of that Apostle in his first imprisonment at Rome.4 Somewhat later, he seems to have been with Timothy at Ephesus, where S. Paul wrote to him during his second imprisonment.6
That John Mark and Mark the Evangelist are one person has been maintained by some, but great difficulties stand in the way of accepting this theory. Mark the Evangelist was not the companion of S. Paul, but of S. Peter.6 This is the universal testimony of ancient writers ; and the two Marks are not confounded in the Menaeas and Martyrolo- gies of the Church. S. Jerome only offers it as a conjecture that the Mark mentioned by S. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews was the Evangelist.7
1 Col. iv. 10. 2 Acts xii. 25, xiii. 1 j, s Acti jv. 36-40.
4 Col. iv. 10; Philem. J4 * 2 Tim. iv. n. 6 1 Pet. v. 13.
7 " Ceterum cooptores F.vangelii . . . Marcum ponit, quern puto Evangelii coa- ditorem." — In Ep. ad Philem.
Uosmae and Daniian, rations of tiie Guild of Bai&er 8uifc,eoiu».
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•S*. Zenas.
397
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S. ZENAS.
(1ST CENT.)
[Greek Menaea as Zeno along with Mark and Aristarchus. Also on April 27 again the same three.]
Zenas, a lawyer, is mentioned in the Epistle of S. Paul to Titus (iii. 13), in connexion with Apollos. The Menjea and pseudo-Dorotheus say he became bishop of Diospolis or Lydda.
SS. COSMAS AND DAMIAN, MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 297.)
[Nearly all Latin Martyrologies on this day. By the Greeks on July 1 ; again on Oct. 17 with their brothers Leontius, Anthimhis, and Euprepius ; again on Nov. i, Cosmas and Daniian alone. So also the Russians. In the Arabic Kalendar published by Simoni, on July 1 and Nov. i, and in the Arabic Martyrology again on Oct 17. In many Greek Menaeas, also a fourth commemoration, on Oct. 28. Many versions of the Acts in Greek and Latin exist, but all are fabulous. The original proconsular Acts possibly subsist under a gradually growing accretion of fable.]
The earliest and briefest Acts of these saints, in Greek, state that they were brought before Lysias, the governor at ^Egis, in Cilicia, in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian.
The governor said, " Bring in the men accused of the false religion of the Christians."
The officer answered, " They stand before thy tribunal, lord."
The governor said, " Of what religion are you? What is your fortune, and what are your names and nations?"
Cosmas and Damian replied, " We are of Arabia."
The governor said, "What are your names?"
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398 Lives of the Saints. pept 2j
Cosmas said, " I am called Cosmas, and my brother's name is Damian. We are of good race, and by profession physicians. We have other brothers, and if you desire, will name them."
Lycias said, " Speak boldly."
Cosmas said, "Their names are Anthimius, Leontius, and Euprepius." '
The governor said, " Of what religion are you ?"
Cosmas said, " We are Christians."
The governor said, " Come, and denying your God, sacrifice to the deities who made the world."
Then Cosmas, Damian, Anthimius, Leontius, and Eupre- pius, with one voice, exclaimed, " Thy gods are but vain, and we will not adore idols, for they are not men, but demons."
The governor said, " Bind them hand and foot, and tor- ture them till they sacrifice."
But they said, " Lysias, we pray you torment us further, for we suffer not."
The governor said, " I would that, by these slight tor- tures, I could persuade you to sacrifice ; but now you insult both the Emperors and myself."
Here what is trustworthy in the Acts breaks off. They have been interpolated. The judge orders the martyrs to be cast into the sea, and when they touch the water, their chains break, and they come safe to land. Then he vows by the "name of his God, Adrian (!)" that he will follow their faith, whereupon two devils appear, and box his ears.
After this absurd interpolation, the genuine interrogatory is resumed. Cosmas and Damian are still on the rack.
1 From these Acts it is clear that Anthimius, Leontius, and Euprepius had been arrested along with Cosmas and Damian. The later amplified legends make their arrest a subsequent matter.
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^SVS*. Cosmas and Damian.
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Cosmas said, " Judge ! thy idols are stocks and stones, and can neither see nor hear ; but they are the habitation of devils. How can stones be wroth ? Our God is im- mortal, and a just judge."
The governor said, " I will no longer endure your blas- phemies against the gods.1 Come and worship the gods, and you shall be let go in peace."
The martyrs answered, " Shall we honour your foolish Em- perors, devoid of reason, and your stocks and stones ?"
Then the governor, in a rage, ordered the brothers to be decapitated.4
These Acts are very instructive. As given above, they are probably in their original form, as extracted from the proconsular registers. But they have already undergone gross interpolation. Grotesque fables have been squeezed in between the joints of the narrative wherever it was pos- sible. But even this did not suffice. The story grew and grew. The numerous editions of the Acts that are extant show the legend in all its stages of growth. When full blown it is as follows.
A holy woman of the city of yEgse, named Theodota, had five sons, Cosmas, Damian, Anthimius, Leontius, and Eupre- pius. The two elder were physicians, who — marvellous to relate — took no fees. One day Damian healed a lady named Palladia, and when she urged him to take pay, reluctantly accepted of her three eggs. When Cosmas heard this, he was so angry that he begged when they died that he and Damian might not be laid in the same grave. But in the night he was warned in a vision that his wrath was unreasonable and inopportune. The brothers were
1 Here follows another interpolation. The text, perhaps, suggested the oppor- tunity of interjecting here another torment. Cosmas and Damian are placed on a blazing pile of wood, then the earth opens and swallows up the martyrs, but dashes the burning wood among the bystanders and kills many. When the fire is extinguished, the earth throws up Cosmas and Damian again.
- Not without a third preposterous interpolation.
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400 Lives of the Saints. [Sept a7<
arrested shortly after ; the interrogatory is retained with few alterations, but in all the interpolations above noted, great liberties are taken ; lengthy prayers are put in the mouths of the martyrs. After having been flung into the sea and into the fire, Lysias orders them to be crucified, and stoned whilst on the cross. They are accordingly hung on crosses, and crowds come to pelt them, but all the stones recoil on those that throw them, and they retire, black and blue, and groaning. Then Lysias orders up four cohorts of archers to shoot the martyrs. A cohort is a mere matter of 500 men. But the arrows, instead of hitting the martyrs, jturn round in the air, and transfix the bowmen. So Lysias orders the martyrs to have their heads struck off, and this is executed without the smallest difficulty. It is a singular fact that in all amplified and fabulous martyrdoms, when every other sort of torture and death has been tried and has failed, as a last resort the judges try cold steel, and cold steel invariably answers. This may be assumed as an in- fallible proof that all the previously recorded tortures are fictitious insertions of later writers.
When the heads of the martyrs had been struck off, the Christians took up their bodies, and were about to bury Cosmas and Damian apart, as Cosmas had said that he would not be laid by his brother ; but a camel ran after the funeral convoy, with tears in its eyes, and in an imploring voice exclaimed, " You Christian men, who have seen the marvels of healing wrought by these martyrs, not only on your bodies, but on us cattle also, listen to me. I have come in the name of the cattle to thank the martyrs, and also to announce to you that it is quite a mistake to think of separating the bodies of the saints. Bury them together." The Christians were convinced, and followed the advice of the eloquent camel.
In the sixth century, according to Procopius, the relics of
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Sept. 27] SS- Cosmas and Da7?iian. 401
SS. Cosmas and Damian were in Cyrus in Syria, where a church was built over them. Pope Felix IV. built a church in their honour at Rome in a.d. 530. The bodies of the saints, it is said, were translated to Rome, but when is not known. The bodies of all five brothers were laid under the high altar. Other bodies of S. Cosmas and S. Damian at Venice, in the church of S. George ; relics of these two saints also at Verona and Bologna ; a head of S. Cosmas at Imola ; the greater part of the bodies of SS. Cosmas and Damian at Amain ; the backbone of S. Cosmas at Malta ; other relics at Tagliacozzo in the Abruzzi. In the fifth century, a hundred years before, they are known to have been entire at Cyrus, in Syria ; S. Germanus of Auxerre conveyed relics of these saints from Rome into Gaul ; the entire bodies were afterwards translated by John de Beau- mont from Cyrus to Paris in the days of Alexander III. (1159-1181). These relics were laid at Luzarches, in a collegiate church dedicated in their honour. The church of Luzarches possesses none now ; the relics were dispersed in 1793. But the church of Longpont, near Paris, claims the possession of a portion. The bodies of SS. Cosmas and Damian were also brought from Rome to Bremen by Bishop Adaldag in a.d. 964. After the change of religion they were carried from Bremen to Munich, a.d. 1649, and placed in the Jesuit church. These bodies have their heads. Portions of skulls also at Prag ; two large bones at Cologne ; the sword with which they were executed, still red with their blood, at Essen in Westphalia. A finger of S. Damian at Douai ; two bones at Touniai ; others at Cambrai.
SS. Cosmas and Damian are the patrons of surgeons and barbers ; they obtained great fame as patrons of the illustrious family of the Medici, when that family was at the height of its splendour. vol. x. 26
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402 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. ty.
S. ELZEAR, COUNT, C (a.d. 1323.)
[Roman, Gallican, and Franciscan Martyrologies. By the Capuchins on Oct. 20 ; his translation on June 18. Canonized in 1369 by Gregory XI. Authority : — A Life by an anonymous writer, written apparently shortly after his canonization.]
S. Elzear was descended from the ancient family of Sabran in Provence. His father, Hermengild de Sabran, was created Count of Ariano in the kingdom of Naples. Elzear was born at Ansois, a castle belonging to the family near Apt, in the year 1295. His mother, a very pious woman, took the infant in her arms and offering him to God, said, "My Lord God, I give thee thanks for this little boy, given to me of thy clemency, and I humbly entreat thee, receive him as thy servant, and pour out thy benediction upon him. But, O Lord ! if thou foreseest that he would be a rebel to thy will, then, I pray thee, after he has been baptized, take him out of this world. For better were it that as a little innocent he should rest with Thee than that he should live to offend thy Majesty."
Elzear had two aunts, Burgola and Alizette, and an uncle, William de Sabran, Abbot of S. Victor at Marseilles. The little boy seemed formed for piety from his cradle. His heart was full of tenderness for the poor, and his nurses were obliged to fill their pockets with bread and small coins that he might satisfy the need of any he met, who seemed bowed down with poverty. He was educated by his uncle, who wisely reproached the child's eagerness for self-mortifi- cation, and when he found him wearing a knotted cord round his waist, which galled his skin and drew blood, he took it away and called the boy to task for injuring the health God had given him.
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sept. ,7.i •£ Elzear. 403
At the age of ten he was affianced to Delphine de Glandeves, daughter and heiress of the Count of Puy- Michel, aged twelve. Three years after, in 1308, the marriage was solemnized at the castle of Puy-Michel, and these simple children grew up together tenderly attached to one another, but regarding one another rather as brother and sister than as husband and wife. They were both of them devoted to the love of God. They kept Lent and Advent with extraordinary rigour, like saints in primitive days; and were diligent in seeking out the poor around their castle of Ansois and relieving their necessities. It was a beautiful life of peaceful happiness. This young couple, always together, loving no society like that of each other, having the same interests, and actuated by the same goodness of heart, were to be seen day after day around their castle, under the forest trees, in the flowery lanes, carrying food to the sick, or met by peasant children, to whom they talked with kindly interest in their little wants, and whom they never left without a bit of good advice.
The two young people communicated almost daily in the castle chapel. One day Elzear said to his wife, " Delphine ! I think there is no happiness equal to that of receiving the Blessed Sacrament." And his beautiful face, full of sim- plicity, and lighted with earnestness, showed that he felt what he said. After seven years Delphine's father died, and they moved to Puy-Michel. Before they were married, when marriage had been spoken of to the girl, with childish petulance she had exclaimed, "I wish fire would burn down all my castles, and all my retainers would run away, so that no one would care to have me." But now she was happy with her husband, and found that together they could do infinite good to their vassals. When Elzear and Delphine began to keep house at Puy-Michel, he made the following
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404 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 27.
regulations for his family, and insisted on their being strictly observed : —
" i. Every one in my house shall daily hear mass, what- ever his business may be.
" 2. Swearing, cursing, blasphemy, are forbidden under pain of chastisement for the first offence, and dismissal for the second.
" 3. Purity in speech and act shall be enforced.
" 4. Every member of the household shall confess weekly, and communicate at least at Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, and the feasts of Our Lady.
"5. No idleness is permitted. The men shall pray to God first in the morning, and then go about their work. The women shall pray and read in the mornings, but shall spend the afternoons in some work.
" 6. Dice and all games of hazard are forbidden, not merriment or innocent games.
" 7. Slander, tale-telling, backbiting, are forbidden. Let peace be maintained.
"8. Should any quarrel arise, let the apostolic rule be observed for appeasing it.
" 9. Every evening there shall be a pious conference for the whole house.
" 10. Oppression, injustice to the poor is forbidden. No alms done by the master of the house can compensate for injustice done to the poor by his underlings."
The observance of these rules conduced to the happiness of all in the castle. Delphine was loved by her servants, and she loved them ; and Elzear was admired and respected by all his retainers.
After the death of his father Elzear was obliged to go to Naples, and take possession of his estates at Ariano. But the people, who hated the cruel rule of the Angevin house, refused to acknowledge him. Elzear saw and shuddered at
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Sept. a7.J ȣ ^W. 405
the frightful atrocities perpetrated by the French usurpers, and he refused to allow these barbarities to be committed in his territory. His cousin, the Prince of Tarentum, one day told him that his mildness injured the French cause. " Let me take these scoundrels to task for you," said he, " I will hang up half a thousand, and make the rest as pliant as a glove. Take your ease, say your prayers for me, and let me be your executioner." Elzear indignantly re- fused. " What !" said he, " shall I show myself their count and father by butchering my subjects and children ? God forbid !" At length the people of Ariano saw that it would be wiser for them to submit to so gentle a count than look to the uncertain support of the King of Aragon.
When Elzear looked over his father's collection of letters, he found among them some from an officer in his service, persuading his father to disinherit Elzear, as one fitter to wear a cowl than bear arms. Delphine was highly incensed at these letters, but Elzear would take no notice of them. In like manner, on other occasions, he burnt or suppressed informations that were given of injuries which others had done him, that he might spare the parties the confusion of knowing that he had received intelligence of them. In his county of Ariano he settled a rigorous administration of justice, and punished the least oppression of the people by any of his officers. He visited malefactors condemned to die, and many who had proved deaf to priests were moved by his tender exhortations to compunction. When their goods were confiscated to him, he secretly restored them to their wives and children. Writing out of Italy to Delphine, he said : " You desire to hear often of me. Go, visit our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament. Enter in spirit his sacred heart. You know that to be my con- stant dwelling. You will always find me there."
Elzear having settled his affairs in Italy, obtained leave
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406 Lives of the Saints. lSepL a7.
of King Robert, son and successor of Charles II. and brother of S. Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, to return into Provence for two years. He was received at Ansois with incredible joy.
King Robert of Sicily chose him on his return to be tutor or guardian to his son Charles, Duke of Calabria. The young prince was volatile, vain, and intractable. Count Elzear could with difficulty manage him, and after a troublesome outbreak in defiance of his authority, he called the young prince to him and administered a serious rebuke. Charles, gushing with repentance and affection, threw his arms round his neck, and said, " Forgive me this once. It is not too late for me to begin to amend. What must I do?"
The count gave him admirable advice on the duty of self-government, and on his responsibilities as called to rule human beings redeemed by the blood of Christ. The example and advice of Elzear proved of great benefit to Charles, who, however, did not succeed to the throne of Naples, as he died before his father.
King Robert of Naples, having to go into Provence, left his son Charles regent in his room, under the care of Elzear, who was chief of the council. Elzear entreated the Duke of Calabria to appoint him advocate of the poor, and the prince laughingly said, " You have asked an office no one else covets. I grant your request, and commend to you all the poor of the kingdom." Elzear bowed low and thanked him heartily.
In discharge of this office, he had a large purple velvet satchel made which he slung at his waist, and when he went through the streets he received the complaints and suits of the poor, and having listened to all the grievances, put into his bag the schedules of their cases, and doled out of it alms to the most needy. He pleaded their causes in court with
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sept. 27j & Elzear. 407
great zeal and eloquence, and obtained for them justice and relief.
Whilst he was high in authority, he was offered presents of money by persons who wished him to further their suits, but these he refused, as partaking of the nature of bribes. " If one begins to finger presents, one will shortly come to pocket bribes," he said. " It is safer to refuse all offerings of like nature. When once one begins to take gifts, an appetite for receiving presents grows on one and becomes insatiable."
In 13 10 Henry of Luxemburg, Emperor of the West, entered Italy to be crowned at Rome. Hitherto the Popes had been implacable enemies to the German Emperors, and they had supported the French domination of Naples to preserve themselves from being fixed between the jaws of the German power, which, under Frederick II., had united the sovereignties of Germany and of Naples. But now Clement V. became alarmed at the preponderance of French power. Philip the Fair, bold, crafty, and ambitious, sat on th« French throne, and he was manifestly working to obtain a commanding influence in the West. Never was Europe in greater danger of falling, if not under one sovereignty, under the dominion, and that the most tyrannical dominion, of one house. Princes of the house oi France sat on the thrones of Naples and Hungary. The feeble Edward II. of England was Philip's son-in-law. He determined to obtain the empire for Charles of Valois, and thus secure supreme rule in Germany and mastery in Italy. Clement saw that the Papal territory would be held at his mercy. But the election of Henry of Luxemburg had redeemed Christendom from the danger. This election had been managed with unrivalled skill by Peter Ashpaller, Archbishop of Mainz, a creature of Pope Clement. When Henry descended into Italy, Clement threw his authority
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408 Lives of the Saints. [SePt.27.
into his side, against the French. In March, 1312, the Emperor advanced to Rome to be there crowned by the Pope in the basilica of S. Peter. King Robert of Sicily immediately sent his brother John of Naples to occupy the city, and a body of men under Count Elzear to assist him by harassing the march of the Emperor. When Henry appeared before Rome, Prince John was forced to retire across the Tiber. The Emperor, with the cardinals com- missioned by the Pope to crown him, entered Rome, but could not dislodge the enemy from the other side of the river. S. Peter's was in the power of the Neapolitans ; the magnificent ceremonial, which Pope Clement had drawn out at great length for the coronation of Henry, could not take place. He was forced to submit to receive the crown with humbler pomp in the church of S. John Lateran.
In the autumn of 1323, Elzear was sent ambassador to Paris, to demand of Charles IV. Mary, the daughter of the Count of Valois, in marriage for the Duke of Calabria, who had lost his wife Catharine of Austria in 1323. The negotia- tion was successfully concluded, and the marriage took place on January 1 1, A.D. 1324. During the proceedings Elzear fell sick at Paris. Three years before he had enrolled himself in the third Order of S. Francis. In his sickness, feeling his end approach, he sent foi the Provincial of the Franciscans, and made a general confession of his sins to him. The Passion of Christ was read to the dying count, and as he listened to that story, never old, the tears glittered in his eyes, and rolled slowly down his cheeks. The holy Viaticum was brought him, and he received the last unction, and after a painful sickness, fell asleep in the Lord whom he had loved and honoured and worked for, on September 27, in the year 1323, in the twenty-eighth year of his age. His body was translated to Apt, and there interred, according to his request, in the church of the Franciscan Friars. His bones,
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•S. Elzear.
409
together with those of his gentle wife Delphine, repose now in the church, formerly the cathedral of Apt.
S. Delphine died at Apt at the age of seventy-six, on November 26, on which day she is commemorated in the Franciscan Martyrology.
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4io Lives of the Saints. (Sept ^
September 28.
S. Privatus, M. at Rome ; a.d. 222.
SS. Marcus, Alphius, and Others, MM. in Asia; circ. A o
3°4- S. Charito, Ab. in Pah stine ; circ. a.d. 340. S. Exuperius, B. 0/ Toulouse ; circ. a.d. 415. S. Eustochium, V. at Bethlehem ; a.d. 419. S. Faustus, B. o/Rics in Caul ; circ. a.d. 490 S. Lioba, Abss. of Bischoffsheim in Germany; tire a.d. 779. S. Wenceslas, M.K. in Boliemia; a.d. 936.
S. EXUPERIUS, B. OF TOULOUSE (about a.d. 415.)
[Usuardus, Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. The translation of S. Exuperius on June 14. Authority :— The Letters of S. Jerome.]
SAINT EXUPERIUS is believed to have been born at Bordeaux. He was raised to the see of Toulouse on the death of S. Sylvius, in a.d. 405. S. Jerome, who wrote to him, speaks in the highest terms of his virtue and charity.
"To relieve their hunger," says he, "he suffers it himself, and condemns himself to the severest self-denial, that he may be enabled to administer to their wants. The paleness of his face declares the rigour of his fasts. But his poverty makes him truly rich ; so poor is he, as to be forced to carry the body of the Lord in an osier basket, and His blood in a glass vessel. His charity knew no bounds. It sought for objects in the most distant parts, and the solitaries of Egypt felt its beneficial effects."
One of the first acts of S. Exuperius at Toulouse was the completion of the church of S. Saturninus, and the translation to it of the body of that saint, the apostle of Toulouse.
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ScpLa8J S. Eustochium. 411
Towards the close of a.d. 404, S. Exuperius proposed several questions to Pope Innocent I., and these the great Pope answered in a letter still extant. One of the questions proposed was what books were to be regarded as canonical, and S. Innocent in his answer gave a list, the same as is now that in the Roman Church, but in order different.1
The invasion of his country by the Goths and Vandals took place during his time, but he was not witness to the taking of Toulouse, having died before Walla, King of the Goths, made it the capital of his kingdom.
S. Paulinus reckoned Exuperius as one of the greatest •bishops among the Gauls. S. Jerome dedicated to him his commentary on Zechariah.
Relics at Arreau, in the Pyrenees ; his glass chalice at Toulouse.
S. EUSTOCHIUM, V. (a.d. 419.)
[Peter de Natalibus on Nov. 2. Greven, Canisius and Ferrarius on Feb. 20, the Carmelite Kalendar on March 2. But Greven again on Sipt. 28, also Molanus, and Modern Roman Martyrology. Authority : — The Letters of S. Jerome.]
The life of the illustrious Paula, mother of Eustochium, has been already given (January 26). Paula, still young, and at- tached to Italy by the most legitimate and tender ties, left Rome for the East in a.d. 391, accompanied by her daughter Eustochium. With her daughter S. Paula visited all the places in the Holy Land consecrated by the Gospel story, then de- scended into Egypt, and, penetrating into the desert of Nitria —
1 The four books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, the four books of Kings, the Prophets, five books of Solomon, the Psalms, Tobit, Job, Esther, Judith, two books of the Maccabees, Esdras, Chronicles (two books), the four Gospels, fourteen Epistles of S. Paul, S. John, S. Peter, S. James, S. Jude, the Acts, the Apocalypse.
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412 Lives of the Saints. (Sept. 28.
into the cells of the holy hermits — she presented herself at their feet, consulted them, admired them, and withdrew with reluctance from these blessed regions to return into Pales- tine. She established herself in Bethlehem, and founded there two monasteries — one for men, which was placed under the direction of S. Jerome ; and the other for women, where she secluded herself with her daughter, and a mul- titude of virgins of various degrees and countries. S. Paula and her daughter Eustochium held there the office of sweeper and cook and the care of the lamps, which did not hinder them from taking up with perseverance the study of Greek and Hebrew. The Vulgate was undertaken by S. Jerome, to satisfy the ardour of these two women, to enlighten their doubts, and guide their researches. It was to them that he dedicated his work, and he took them for judges of the exactness of his labours. In this convent study was imposed on the nuns, and each had to learn every day a portion of the Holy Scriptures. But more than study, more even than penitence, charity governed all the thoughts and actions of these generous ladies. Paula lavished her patrimony on the poor. Jerome himself felt obliged to reprove her for her prodigality, and preach to her a certain prudence. " I have but one desire," she answered him; "it is to die a beggar, it is to leave not a mite to my daughter, and to be buried in a shroud which does not belong to me." Accordingly, when she died, she left to her daughter not an obolus, says Jerome, but, on the contrary, a mass of debts ; and, what was worse, an immense crowd of monks and nuns dependent on her fortune whom she had not the means to feed, and whom she had not the courage to send away.
The heart of Eustochium was nearly broken by the loss of her mother, whom she passionately loved. " The venerable maiden," says S. Jerome, " was like a child just
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sept. ,8.) S. Faustus. 413
weaned. She could not quit her dear mother : she kissed her eyes, hung over her face, embraced her body, and longed to be buried with her."
After the death of S. Paula, Eustochium had the direction of the great community, under the disadvantage of being encumbered with the debts entailed by her mother's un- measured profusion in charity. S. Jerome assisted her with his advice. " Fear not, Eustochium," he said ; " you have inherited a rich possession, and the Lord will be your portion."
In the troubles excited by S. Jerome, through his violent polemics against John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Pelagians and Origenists, the monasteries at Bethlehem were attacked and pillaged. S. Eustochium escaped, but some of her servants were killed. S. Jerome and S. Eus- tochium both wrote their complaints to Innocent I., Pope of Rome, who in reply sent a letter to John of Jerusalem, reproaching him for having suffered such disorders to break out.
S. Eustochium did not long survive this trouble. She died in the year a.d. 419, after having spent about thirty years at Bethlehem, and was succeeded in the government of her convent by her niece, Paula the Younger.
S. FAUSTUS, B. OF RIEZ. (about a.d. 490.)
[At Riez on this day. In some Martyrologies on Jan. 16. Maurolycus, Ferrarius, Greven, &c. on Jan. 16. So also Saussaye. In some copies of the Martyrology of Jerome on May 20. Baronius did not, however, insert S. Faustus in the Roman Martyrology. Authorities : — Mention by S. Avitus of Vienne, S. Sidonius Apollinaris, S. Eucherius of Lyons, &c.
S. Faustus was a native of Britain or of Armorica. S. Avitus says he was "a Briton by birth," but it is not
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414 Lives of the Saints. tSept ^
improbable that he may have meant that he was a native of Brittany. Facundus of Hermiane speaks of him as " by nation a Gaul, bishop of Riez •" but Facundus was bishop of a diocese in Africa, and had no opportunities of learning with accuracy the birthplace of a Gallican bishop. Sidonius Apollinaris, in his 16th Carmen, written when Faustus was old, says that at that time his mother, then at an extremely advanced age, was resident with her son at Riez. Faustus had a brother, a priest, named Memorius, men- tioned also by Sidonius.
In his youth Faustus was devoted to the study of elocution, and of Christian philosophy.
In 420, or thereabouts, Faustus entered the monastery of Lerins, and was elected abbot in the room of S. Maximus, in 433 or 434. There he lived an austere life, devoted to prayer and study, imitating, as Sidonius tells us, the lives of the Fathers of the Egyptian deserts, in the barren isle off the shores of the Province. Gennadius tells us that about this time he wrote a letter to a deacon named Gratus, who was infected with Nestorian errors. S. Honoratus, Bishop of Aries, who had been Abbot of Lerins whilst Faustus was monk in it, respected him greatly, as is mentioned in the life of S. Hilary by a contemporary writer. The brother of S. Sidonius was under nis charge at Lerins; and, as S. Augustine tells us, Faustus harboured Julian the Pelagian on his isle when expelled from Italy for his heresy. It is this fact which, perhaps, made Baronius hesitate to insert the saint in the Roman Martyrology. There can be no question that Faustus, in common with S. Hilary and other Gallic saints, viewed with alarm the iron dogma of predes- tinarianism to which S. Augustine was attempting to commit the Church. Faustus saw that this revolting doctrine, if acted upon, cuts at the roots of Christian morality and good works, and therefore opposed it vehemently. Julian sought
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sept. ,8.1 S.Faustus. 415
a refuge in Gaul, and Faustus offered him one in Lerins till a council could be held at Aries to decide on the questions of Grace and Free-will.
Faustus was elected to the bishopric of Riez in or about a.d. 452. In a homily by him on his predecessor, S. Maximus, he speaks of himself with the utmost humility. Lerins, said he, has furnished the Church with two successive bishops. It is proud of the first; it blushes for the second.
Both S. Sidonius and Ruric of Limoges praise highly the eloquence and unction of S. Faustus when preaching to the people the Word of God.
Benedictus Paulinus consulted S. Faustus on questions o repentance. The answer of the Bishop of Riez is extant " I am asked, in the second place, says he, whether th< knowledge of the Trinity in Unity suffices for salvation In divine things, I answer, the reason of belief is not alone demanded, but also the reason of pleasing God. Naked faith without merits is empty and vain."
In 473 the doctrines of predestination were propounded in their most flagrant and offensive baldness by a certain Lucidus, a priest. He held that some men were predestined by God to sin, and so they sinned inevitably ; others were predestined to do good, and they lived holy lives by inevitable necessity ; there was no merit ; grace blew men where it listed ; this into damnation, that into justification. S. Faustus met Lucidus, and endeavoured to reason him out of his heresy, but in vain. Then he wrote him a letter, in concert with the Bishops of Aries and Lyons, which is a glorious summary of Catholic doctrine on grace and free- will.1 This letter was written on the occasion of an assembly of thirty bishops at Aries in 475. The arch- bishop and metropolitan Leontius wished to condemn the
1 Some copies are signed by Faustus alone, others by Faustus and ten other bishops
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41 6 Lives of the Saints. fSept 28
error of the predestinarians in this synod. But before the council took any decisive action, Faustus wrote to Lucidus, telling him that the bishops were about to suspend him from his office unless he renounced his errors. And as an abridgment of the points which he was to admit, Faustus laid down the following propositions : —
" i. Those who deny, like Pelagius, original sin, and the necessity for grace, are anathema.
" 2. Anathema to those who maintain that the baptized Christian falling into mortal sin does so through the in- herence of original sin (i.e., fatally, and not through the action of his free will).
" 3. Anathema to those who hold that man is fatally doomed to spiritual death by virtue of the predeterminate counsel of God.
" 4. And to those who teach that such as are lost did not receive from God means of salvation.
" 5. And to those who declare that a vessel of dishonour may not rise to become a vessel of honour.
" 6. Anathema to those who affirm that Christ sought the salvation of some, not of all men."
If Lucidus would come and meet Faustus, the letter goes on to state, the Bishop of Riez and others of the assembled prelates would give him the reasons for their conclusions. And Faustus added : —
" As for us, we think that he who loses his salvation by his fault, might have been saved by the assistance of grace, if he had co-operated with it ; and, on the other hand, that he who, by co-operating with grace, attains to salvation, might, by negligence or his own fault, have been lost. We exclude all self-esteem, for we regard as a gift, not as a debt, what we have received from the hand of the Lord."
Lucidus, seeing that his position was endangered, sub- scribed the letter.
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S. Lioba.
417
Leontius of Aries and the synod assembled at Aries em- powered Faustus of Riez to draw up a work on grace and predestination. In fulfilment of this mission, he composed his two grand books " De gratia Dei et humanse mentis libero arbitrio," which he dedicated to Leontius. But unfortunately Faustus attacked S. Augustine by name, and pointed to him as the source of this mischievous heresy. There can be little question that Augustine did start these fatal doctrines ; but the Church has pardoned him this evil, and overlooked his blameworthiness in the matter, for the sake of his inestimable merits and labours in behalf of true doctrine on other points. His predestinarianism was the rust of his old Manichaeism working its way out of his soul. The fact that Faustus had thus openly attacked Augustine has occasioned suspicion to cling to his memory, and has lost him a place in the modern Roman Martyrology, though his doctrine is the same as that of Molinus, which may be said to represent the accepted teaching on grace and predes- tination in the Western Church.
S. LIOBA, ABSS. (about a.d. 779.)
[Hrabanus, Maurus, and later Martyrologies. The Roman, German, and Benedictine Martyrologies. Authority : — A Life by Rudolf, monk of Fulda, d. 865, from the testimony of four of her disciples. The Life was written about sixty years after the death of the saint.]
This blessed virgin was born among the West Saxons, probably in Devonshire,1 of a father named Tinne and a mother named Ebba. She was called at her baptism Truth- geba, but received the title of Leofe, the dear, or beloved
1 S. Boniface, her kinsman, was a native of Crediton in Devon. VOL. X. 27
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418 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 28
one, which clung to her through the rest of her life, and even after death, for in Germany Leofe was transformed into Lioba, from Liebe, and as the Beloved, the Dear One, she has found her way into the Martyrology. She was brought up at Wimbourn, founded by S. Cuthburga and S. Cyneburga, sisters of Ina of Wessex, in 718.
The news of the work which S. Boniface was doing in Germany reached the convent of Wimbourn, and Lioba wrote him a letter : —
"To the most reverend Boniface, invested with the in- signia of the highest dignity, most dear in Christ, and related to me by blood, Leobgytha, the lowliest handmaiden among those that bear the light yoke of Christ — health and eternal salvation.
" I pray your clemency to remember the former friend- ship which you had for my father, called Tinne in the Western regions. He died eight years ago, and so, I pray you, do not refuse me your prayers to God for his soul. I also commend to your memory my mother, Ebba, related to you by the ties of blood — she is still painfully living, oppressed for long with great infirmity. I am the only daughter of my two parents ; and I would, though I be unworthy, that I might regard you as my brother, for there is no man in whom I can place my trust more than in you. I have ventured to send this little missive, not that it is worthy of your kind consideration, but that you may retain some recollection of little me, nor let it slip clean away through distraction of scenes and duties : for indeed the ties of true love should be knotted to all eternity. My dear brother, I beg this of you especially, that you will by your prayers screen me against the poisoned darts of the lurking foe.
" There is one thing more that I ask, and that is, that you will correct the rustic simplicity of this letter, and not
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6". Lioba. 419
refuse to send me some words aj tokens of your affability. I pant eagerly for them. I have appended to my letter some verses which I have composed according to poetic rule, not through pertness, but because I want your help, and I desire to wake into use the rudiments of a graceful fancy. I learned this art from Eadburga, who was indefatigable in turning the Divine law into rhyme. Farewell! Livelong and happily and pray for me.
" Almighty Father, alone who all things created, Who in thy kingdom, brightly, eternally shinest, Where also equally reigneth the glory of Jesus, Keep thee, protect thee uninjured, my brother."
This exquisite little letter mirrors for us in its simple sentences the guiltless, pure soul of the " Dear One." S. Boniface bore his little cousin in mind. After some years he began to found monasteries in Germany, and then he wrote to Tetta, Abbess of Wimbourn, to send him Lioba to assist him in his labours. This was in or about 748. Can we not picture to ourselves the flutter of delight into which this sweet innocent soul was cast when the summons came for her to go forth and join the great Archbishop and Apostle in his mighty work ? The Abbess Tetta was most reluctant to part with her, but smothered her wishes, under a sense of duty. S. Boniface had sent his disciple Sturmi to Monte Cassino, some years before to learn there the true discipline of monastic life, and Sturmi was now appointed head and abbot of the monks Boniface called together in Germany, and Lioba was by him made abbess of the nuns he had collected at Bischoffsheim near Mainz, between the Main and the Rhine.
Her biographer gives a beautiful picture of the abbess. " She was a woman of great virtue, and so rigorous in the prosecution of her duty, that she thought no more of her fatherland and kindred, but devoted herself wholly to fulfil
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420 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 28
what she had undertaken, to show herself blameless in the sight of God, and be an example to those set under her, in word and conversation. She was careful never to require others to do that which she did not do herself. There was no pride, no arrogance, in her manners. She showed her- self affable and benevolent to all without acceptation ol persons.
" She was like an angel in face, and had a pleasant speech, a bright understanding, and sound sense. In faith she was most catholic, in hope most patient, in charity most large- hearted. And though she had always a smiling countenance, yet she never gave way to boisterous laughter. She, being most humane about diet, ate and drank with the rest. The cup out of which she was wont to drink on account of its little size was called by the sisters ' Darling's mug.' " '
She was a diligent student of Holy Scripture, and took care to commit large portions of it to memory. She was careful not to allow sleep to be injudiciously curtailed, know- ing well, as her biographer says, that unless she slept soundly and sufficiently, her mind was not clear enough to under- stand and profit by what she read. " Take away sleep and you take away sense," was one of her pithy sayings. Never- theless, she insisted on the young girls in rotation sitting by her bed whilst she slept, whether at night, or noon, and read- ing aloud from the sacred Scriptures. If the reader stumbled in her pronunciation, Lioba would open her eyes, correct her, and go to sleep again.
When S. Boniface went on his fatal mission to Frisia, he earnestly commended the abbess to his successor, Lulli. Hildegard,2 queen of Charlemagne, was warmly attached to S. Lioba, and came to see her shortly before her death.
l" Caliculus ejus unde bibere solebat, pro quantitate sui, Dilectje parvus a sororibus vocabatur."
2 Married Charlemagne in 771, died 783.
sept. 28.] S- Wenceslas. 421
Lioba met her at Schonersheim ; she was then an old woman, and ill. Hildegard, moved by her appearance, threw her arms round her neck and kissed her lips, her eyes, and her brow. She felt it was the last time she should see her, and she clung to her sobbing, " May Christ our Creator and Redeemer make us to meet again without confusion of face in the day of judgment."
A few days after Lioba felt that death was approaching. She received the B. Sacrament from the hands of Torabert, an English priest, and died gently. Her body was translated to Fulda, and laid beside that of her friend and kinsman, S. Boniface. Her tomb was examined in 1613, but little of the body remained.
S. WENCESLAS, K.M. (a.d. 936.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authorities : — A Life written by Christian de Skala, nephew of S. Wenceslas, and son of his murderer Boleslas I. Another Life by Gumbold, B. of Mantua (967-985), written by order of Otto I. Pompous phrases veil the poverty of detail. There are other later Lives, of less value. One by Laurence of Monte Cassino, written in the nth cent. " Liber conflatus et erroribus scatens," says Pertz. Another Life, written by Charles IV., Emperor, and King of Bohemia. See also, Miklosich, Die altslovenischen Legenden, vom h. Wenzel, in Miklosich, Slavische Biblioth. Wien, 1857, ii. pp. 270-281 ; Schuldes, der h. Wenzel dargestellt im Geiste der Wahrheit. Wien, 1848. Palacky, Geschichte von Bdhmen. Prag. 1836, i. pp. 195-210, &c]
After the death of Borzivoj of Bohemia, who had in- troduced the Christian faith into the country, the throne was ascended by his sons Spitihnew I. and Wratislas I. in quick succession. Both were pious princes, who laboured to advance the true religion among their subjects. Spitih- new built the church of S. Mary at Prag, adjoining his
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422 Lives of the Saints. tSept 2i
residence at the Teyn ; and the church of S. Peter on the hill of Budecz. Wratislas erected and endowed the colle- giate church of S. George near the castle. This is nearly all that history relates of these two princes. Even the dates of their accession and death cannot be fixed with certainty; but apparently Spitihnew died in 912, and Wra- tislas in 926. Their mother, the saintly Ludmila, survived both her sons.
Wratislas I. had married Drahomira, daughter of the heathen prince of the Luticians ; and by her became the father of two sons, Wenceslas (in old Bohemian Waceslaw, in German Wenzel), and Boleslas, and of four daughters. Duke Wenceslas, who succeeded his father in or about 926, was then nearly eighteen years old ; he had been brought up by his gentle, holy grandmother, Ludmila. His mother, Drahomira, a wicked, ambitious woman, at once seized on the regency, and, to clear out of her way the woman whom Bohemia loved and honoured, and who might have disputed with her the right to act as regent, she sent assassins to Teton, whither Ludmila had fled to escape her, and had her strangled with her own veil. The story has been already told (September 16). To expiate this crime, Drahomira converted the house where the murder was committed into a church under the invocation of S. Michael.
The rule of Drahomira was by no means beneficial to the country, for she stirred up against it an enemy whose power she had not measured. Henry the Fowler, King of Germany and Emperor of the West, had waged bloody wars against the Sclaves on the Lower Elbe — the Obodrites, Lutices, Dalemin- cians, Redarians, and others ; he had subdued them by de- grees, and forced them into submission to his imperial sceptre. Whether Drahomira had sent assistance to the Lutices, her countrymen, against the Emperor, cannot be ascertained with certainty ; but it is certain that during her reign, the
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sept. 28.] & Wenceslas. 423
ambassadors of Thankmar, son of Henry L, were maltreated in Bohemia, and this afforded the Emperor an excuse, for which he had been waiting, to invade Bohemia at the head of a powerful army, and reduce it, as he had the country of other Sclavonic tribes. In a.d. 928 he appeared before Prag.
In the meantime, Wenceslas, though only twenty years old, had assumed the government independently of his mother, and was then in Prag. He speedily came to terms with the Emperor without bloodshed, engaged to pay him an annual tribute of 500 marks of silver and 120 head of oxen, and took the oath of allegiance to the imperial crown. It was natural that Wenceslas, whose leading desire was to establish Christianity firmly in the land, should conclude this treaty with Henry I. The Bohemians were not thoroughly converted : a large party viewed the change of religion with antipathy, and they were an ever-threatening element of revolt in the realm. By his union with the German Emperor, Wenceslas obtained the support of the empire to advance his scheme, and to cow the malcontents. Nor was the political advantage to Bohemia less conspicuous than the religious one. Bohemia had been long threatened and troubled by the Magyars. By uniting Bohemia to the empire, the Magyars were made the enemies, not of that principality only, but of the whole Germanic empire. Wenceslas saw these advantages so clearly, that he remained true to Henry I. throughout his reign, and never allowed his kinsmen or nobles to shake his fidelity.
His brother, Boleslas, an ambitious, headstrong youth, was an element of discord and danger in the principality. Boleslas had received the district of Bunzlau as his portion; and although he recognised Wenceslas as his sovereign, yet he exercised within this district all the rights which belong to an independent prince. Boleslas was the very opposite to
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424 Lives of the Saints. [S t- 28#
his brother, who even, where severity was necessary, sought to temper it with mercy. Boleslas, on the other hand, treated his own subjects with harshness and rapacity. Drahomiraand Boleslas were discontented with their positions of inferiority. They placed themselves on the side of those who viewed the German alliance with dislike, and even plotted against Wenceslas, so that the duke was forced to banish his mother from Bohemia. After a while, convinced, or pretending to be convinced, of her innocence, he received her back into the country with great honour ; but he never could heartily forgive her the murder of the guide of his youth, the blessed Ludmila.
Religion with Wenceslas was not, as it had been with Borzivoj, a matter of politics, but it was a passion. He built churches in every city in his realm, adorned and endowed them, and invited priests from all quarters to come to Bohemia. He laid the foundation of the church of S. Vitus in the castle at Prag. " Here, as among other nations," says the Sclavonic legend, " the divine service was celebrated daily, and God sent many graces down on the duke, so that he understood Latin books as if he were a bishop, and he also read Sclavonic with ease. And not only was he skilled in reading, but he also fulfilled the works of mercy, in that he fed and clad the poor, he protected the widows and children, and purchased the freedom of hapless prisoners, especially priests, and set them at liberty ; he showed hospitality to strangers, and was full of tenderness for all, great and humble, and cared for the welfare of all." Gallows which had been erected all over the country, from which malefactors hung in chains, he destroyed as objects which tended to brutalize minds instead of deterring from crime ; and he also put an end to the torture as a means of enforcing confession.
The nobles of his Court and land were little pleased to
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.S. Weiiceslas. 425
see their prince spend his time in ministering to the necessities of the sick, in lightening the burdens which bruised the shoulders of the poor, in providing for the relief of those whom they had been accustomed to crush by exactions to satisfy their greed. The holy duke was wont to conceal his good deeds as much as possible, by perform- ing them at night. Accompanied by one servant, he would go into the fields and vineyards and cut wheat and grapes, therewith to make the wafers and wine for the Holy Sacrifice, or he would go thus to carry relief to the sick and needy. The story is well known of his having carried thus one winter night a faggot of sticks to a poor old man who was suffering from cold. The page complained of the bitterness of the east wind and the depth of the snow.
" Sire, the night is darker now, And the wind blows stronger ; Fails my heart, I know not how, I can go no longer."
" Mark my footsteps, good my page; Tread thou in them boldly ; Thou shalt find the winter's rage Freeze thy blood less coldly."
In his master's steps he trod,
Where the snow lay dinted ; Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.
The discontent of the pagan party, and those opposed to the German alliance, gradually spread, and Boleslas, ascertaining that it was extensive, resolved to take ad- vantage of it to seize the helm with his own hands.
Duke Wenceslas was wont to visit yearly the principal cities of his realm at the dedication festivals of their churches. On the feast of SS. Cosmas and Damian (Sept. 27), a.d. 936, he came to Altbunzlau, the castle of his brother Boleslas,
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426 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 28,
to be present at the celebration of the feast of SS. Cosmas and Damian, to whom the church there was dedicated. His purpose was to return to Prag immediately after the high mass, but Boleslas so earnestly entreated him to remain for the banquet he had prepared in honour of his presence and of the festival, that Wenceslas consented to do so. In the afternoon a tournament was held in the lists of the castle court, in which the prince took part. During the crash of conflict a private warning that treason was meditated was conveyed to him, but Wenceslas could not, or would not, mistrust his own brother.
On the following morning, Sept. 28th, a.d. 936, Wenceslas betook himself, as usual, to church, when the bells began to chime in the early grey of dawn. Boleslas was at the door. Wenceslas greeted him affectionately, and thanked him for his good hospitality. Boleslas suddenly drew his sword and smote him on the head, saying, " To-day I give you a warmer hospitality." Wenceslas, being the stronger, instantly wrested his sword from him, threw himself upon the would-be fratricide, and cast him on the ground, saying, " God forgive thee, brother !" But at the cry of Boleslas, three of his servants, who were in the plot, ran up, fell on the duke, who, wounded by the blow of the sword, had staggered back against the church door, and one, named Gnewsa, ran him through the body. The servants of the prince were either murdered or fled. The priests were plundered and maltreated, whilst Boleslas hastened to Frag to seize on the reins of government.
The body of S. Wenceslas lay before the church dooi till a priest ventured from his concealment to clothe it. Drahomira came up weeping at the murder of her son, flung herself on his body, and then ordered its removal to the presbytery. Hearing, however, that Boleslas sought her life, she took to flight, and sought refuge in Croatia.
Sept. 28.]
S. Wenceslas.
427
Boleslas berued the murder, though he profited by it • he had the corpse of his brother buried, and after three years translated to the church of S. Vitus at Prag, and offered to the church his son Strachkwas, born at the same time that Wenceslas was murdered, as some atonement lor the deed.
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428 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
September 29.
SS. Michael and All Angels.
SS. Rhipsime, Gaiane, and Others, K/7. AW. a/ Erzroutn in
Armenia ; circ. a.d. 268. SS. Dadas, Gobdelaas, and Casdoas, MM. in Persia; t,th cent. S. Cyriac, Ah. in Palestine; a.d. 556. S. Leutwin, Abp. of Treves; a.d. 713.
SS. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS.
[Some copies of the amplified Martyrology of Jerome. The Martyro- logies of Bede, Wandelbert, Hrabanus, Notker, Usuardus, as the Dedica- tion of the church of S. Michael on Monte Gargano. In the Martyro- logium Parvum both the dedication of this church and also of one at Rome to the Archangel. In an ancient Roman Kalendar published by Martene on Sept. 24, in that by Fronto on Sept. 29. The apparition of S. Michael on Monte Gargano, which led to the dedication of his church there on May 8, in a Corbey Kalendar, published by Acher, on May 3, the "invention of S. Michael the Archangel on Monte Gargano." Another apparition to S. Authbert, B. of Avranches, which led to the erection of the church on Mont S. Michel, is commemorated on Oct. 16. Among the Greeks the chief festival of S. Michael and All Angels is on Nov. 8 ; another in memory of an apparition of S. Michael at Colosse, by Greeks and Copts on Sept. 6 ; another, the dedication of a church to S. Michael in a suburb of Constan- tinople, by Constantine, on June 8. By the Copts and Abyssinians, also June 8, on account of a miracle wrought at Alexandria. The Copts observe a festival "to the Prince of the Angels," on June 6; on the 7th "the second feast of S. Michael;" on the 8th " the third feast of S. Michael." The Abyssinians, on the 7th June, " S. Gabriel the Archangel." By the Abys- sinians also the 12th day of every month is observed in honour of S. Michael. Also 6th Sept. , as the Greeks and Copts. By the Abyssinians on the 9th Nov. "Seraphim and Cherubim," and on Nov. 20, Seraphim. On which day among the Copts "the four-and-twenty Angelic Elders." By the Abys- sinians again, Seraphim and Cherubim on June 27. On Nov. 8, "the Cherubic horses." On July 15. " Uriel the Archangel." Guardian Angels are commemorated in some ancient Latin Martyrologies on Sept. 28. At Toledo the Angel Guardian of the Church and Province of Toledo on March 1. Other Spanish churches also commemorate their Guardian Angel on that day, as Compostella, Leon, Oviedo, Salamanca, Cordova, Segovia, Pampeluna, Zamora, Cadiz, Granada, &c. But the churches of
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vSVS". Michael and All Angels. 429
Seville, Placentina, Avila, Carthagena, Jaen and Malaga on Oct. i. Valencia and Saragossa on the ist Sunday after the Octave of SS. Peter and Paul. Tarraja on the ist Sunday in May ; Tortona on Aug. i ; Segorbia on the 2nd Sunday in October ; Tarragona on July 15 ; Lerida on Sept. 6 ; Urgel on the 3rd Sunday in July ; Burgo de Osma on July 8 ; Radajoz on Oct. 2. All Angel Guardians at Cordova on March 10, the same at Tarragona on July 15 ; but the feast of the Guardian Angels was fixed for the whole Latin Church for Oct. 2, by Pope Clement X. in 1670. SS. Michael and All Angels on Sept. 19 by the Roman Martyrology and Anglican Reformed Kalendar, Sarum, York, Hereford Kalendars, &c.]
HE angels are pure spirits created by God to love and serve him. According to Dionysius the Areopagite, they are arranged in the following hierarchy : —
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1. Seraphim (2epo^).
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4. Dominations (Kvptorrjres). 5- Virtues (Auvajueis). 6. Powers fEfouo-iat).
' 7. Principalities {'ApxaCj.
8. Archangels ('ApxayyfAoi).
9. Angels ('AyyeAoi).
It is not my purpose in this work to enter into a detailed account of the offices of the holy angels, nor into the con- troversy as to the time and purpose of their creation. But a few remarks may be of value as illustrating the table given by Dionysius.
The festival of S. Michael and All Angels opens to us a vision of Heaven inhabited by a vast multitude.
All is order ; all is harmony. Yet in this very order there is variety, and harmony implies diversity.
No existences, as they leave the hand of God, are iden-
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430 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 29
tical. If God be the God of concord, He is the God of variety as well.
The Angelic host follows this rule. Each angel differs from his fellow, as each man differs from his fellow, as each beast or each flower is various. But, though different, they are arranged in distinctive groups or families, or orders.
Of these orders there are three, and in each of these three orders there are three choirs.
The first order contains Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, and is engaged in God's immediate presence, in the act of constant adoration.
The second order contains Dominions, Principalities, and Powers, and is engaged in the struggle which is constantly going on with evil.
The third order contains Virtues, Angels, and Archangels, and is engaged in the care of creation.
Now each of these choirs has its appointed office, into the details of which, as gathered out of Holy Writ, there is not space to enter here ; but a few words will show how they all unite in ministering to man, for every Angel is a minis- tering spirit — every one without exception. Thus a Seraph was sent to Isaiah, a Cherub to guard Paradise ; Michael, the Prince of the order of Principalities, was despatched by God to Daniel ; Gabriel the Archangel to Mary ; Raphael, the Chief of Virtues, to Tobit.
All, in their ministry to God, minister to us men. Angels are our guardians ; Archangels instruct us in the Divine law and in celestial mysteries ; Virtues attend to our health, spiritual and corporal ; Powers drive far from us the deadly foe ; Principalities govern our life aright ; Dominations give us strength to keep dominion over our inordinate passions ; Thrones establish us in good we have begun ; Cherubim illumine the mind with celestial wisdom ; Seraphim inflame the heart with the ardour of heavenly love.
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Sept., p. 430.]
[Sept. 29.
sept. 29.j $•$• Michael and All Angels. 43 1
Yet these orders of angels do not act independently of God, but God acts mediately through them in the work of our preservation and restoration.
In the Seraphim it is God who burns with love ;
In the Cherubim it is God who enlightens with wisdom ;
In the Thrones it is God who sits in equity ;
In Dominations it is God who has dominion in Majesty;
In Principalities it is He who reigns as Prince ;
In Powers it is He who excels in strength ;
In Virtues it is He who operates in healing the nations ;
In Archangels it is he who beams as Light of light ;
In Angels it is He who sends.
Little do we know, as we look upon the course of nature, how intimately the angelic powers are connected with its permanency; and yet creation is in their hands. The elements are controlled by their power ; the orbs of heaven glide in their courses under the guardianship of those blessed spirits.
In Revelation we are told of an angel having power over the fire (Rev. xiv. 18); of another angel, over the waters (Rev. xvi. 5) ; of four holding the winds.
2. Angels have also power and guardianship over nations. Thus we hear in Scripture of the Angel or Prince of Persia, that of Grecia, and of Michael, the Prince of the Jewish nation. (Dan. x.)
3. Angels fight for us against Satan and his evil angels, as Michael fought with the dragon.
4. Angels guard us in peril. Thus the Angel of God stopped the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their den. Thus Jacob speaks of the Angel who redeemed him from all evil. Thus, too, Raphael saved Tobias from being devoured by the fish ; and thus S. Peter was delivered from the cruelty of Herod.
5. Angels provide for the necessities of man. Thus an
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43 2 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 90#
Angel showed Hagar and Ishmael a fountain where they might drink. Thus an Angel provided bread and water for Elijah when he slept under a juniper-tree. Thus an Angel brought food to Daniel in the den of lions, by the hand of the Prophet Habakkuk.
6. Angels offer up our prayers to God. Thus we hear, in the book of Revelation, that an Angel had in his hand a censer, with which he offered before God the prayers of the saints. Thus when Manoah, the father of Samson, offered sacrifice, the Angel ascended in the flame of the altar, bearing up the petition of Manoah to the throne of God. Thus, too, Raphael says to Tobias : — " When thou didst pray, and Sara, thy daughter-in-law, I did bring the remembrance of your prayers before the Holy One. I am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One " (Tob. xii. 12-15).
Another office of Angels is the guardianship of the Holy Catholic Church.
Angels were constant in their guardianship of the Jewish Church till that Church brought Christ's Blood in con- demnation upon it, when they passed over to the defence of the Catholic Church. These are the watchmen of whom Isaiah speaks as being set upon the walls of Jerusalem, never to hold their peace day and night. These are they who, like as the mountains stand about Jerusalem, stand in the power of the Lord round about His people. These are they whom the servant of Elisha beheld when his eyes were opened, and saw the mountain covered with chariots and horses of fire.
Michael is the chief of these guardians. He was prince of the armies which stood round about the Jewish people. Now he is prince of the host guarding the Church of God.
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Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that before the destruction of Jerusalem, loud voices were heard in the Temple, exclaiming, "Let us depart hence." The doors were flung open, and there was the sound as of a departing army. What the Jews heard then was the departure of the angelic host from the guardianship of that people which had shed the blood of Christ, and had sinned as well the unpar- donable sin of rejecting the Holy Ghost after the Pente- costal descent. Every branch of the Catholic Church, as every individual member of the same, has now an angel keeper.
So we hear of S. John writing to the seven angels of the seven Churches of Asia.
And that every individual has his own special guardian we learn from the words of S. Paul —
"Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation" — made heirs at holy baptism.
The Fathers of the Church hold that angels were created on the first day, and that the devils fell when God divided the light from the darkness. The Book of Revelation gives us to understand that a third part of the heavenly host were involved in the apostacy of Satan.
Man was created, it is supposed, to fill the void caused by the fall of the evil angels, and hence the animosity borne towards him by the devils.
The number of the elect is the number of the empty thrones, and principalities, and powers, and dominions, in Heaven. The evil spirits know that man will occupy the seats they have lost, and intense is their envy and jealousy accordingly. Put the good angels rejoice in the making up of that number, when all the heavenly courts will lie filled again, and there will be no gaps in the ranks of the beatified.
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434 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 2g>
To every baptized man the place and the crown of a fallen spirit is offered, but all will not accept the offer — as in the parable of the great supper, one by one makes excuse ; and the sceptre, the crown, and the throne are no more held out to him ; they are offered to some poor penitent, or some poor heathen man, who through the darkness of his ignorance seeks God, if haply he might feel after Him and find Him.
The apparition of S. Michael on Monte Gargano is thought to have taken place about a.d. 492. The story has been related on May 8. No early account exists. What we have is obscured by fable, and even grotesque.
In Art S. Michael is usually represented as a youth with wings and golden hair girt with a circlet, from which a cross rises above his brow. He is generally fully armed, and bears a lance and a shield charged with a cross. He is also represented with a pair of scales, weighing souls. S. Gabriel is commonly figured in albe and crossed stole, and some- times with cope ; he holds a lily in his hand. S. Raphael bears a pilgrim's staff, and a box or bandage, to represent him as an angel of healing. S. Uriel bears a roll, as inter- preter of prophecies.
Frequent allusion is made in Holy Scripture to the seven holy angels who stand in the presence of God.1 Four of these only are given names by the Church— i.e., the four archangels. The others are, however, thus distinguished by the Jews : —
Chamuel, who wrestled with Jacob ; Jophiel, who ex- pelled Adam and Eve from Paradise ; and Zadkiel, who stayed the hand of Abraham from slaying his son. The seven angels, without being distinguished by name, are occasionally introduced into Christian Art, as in pictures of the Last Judgment, and at the Crucifixion, where they bear the several instruments of the Passion.
1 Kiv. viii. 2, xv. i, xvi. i ; Tobit xii. 15. *
sept. a9.i SS. Michael and All Angels. 435
The method of representation of the seven orders is usually as follows : —
" I. Councillors of the Most High, who consist of —
': 1. Seraphim, usually represented merely as heads with two wings ; their colour being fiery red or bright blue.
" 2. Cherubim come next in order to the seraphim, and are usually represented as angels with six wings — two mounting towards their head, two covering their body and pointing to their feet, and two extended for flight. They usually hold a scroll inscribed with the words, ' Holy ! Holy ! Holy !' In Greek Art they bear in each hand the fan formed like a cherub used in the liturgy of the Eastern Church, and inscribed as above. These two orders ever stand adoring and praising in the presence of God. In paintings the Celestial Hierarchy is represented in circles, one within the other ; the Seraphim nearest to the Almighty, next to them the Cherubim, and so on.
" 3. Thrones, who support the Throne of the Almighty ; and who, when represented by themselves, generally carry a throne or tower.
"II. Governors, who rule the stars and regulate the Universe : —
" 4. Dominations, crowned, and bearing a sword and sceptre, or an orb and cross.
"5. Virtues, in complete armour, carrying a crown and thurible, or pennon and battle-axe.
" 6. Powers, chaining or scourging devils, or holding a baton. In Greek Art these three last suborders of angels are represented in albes reaching to the feet, with golden girdles and green stoles : they hold golden wands, and " the seal of God," which is represented as a S. Andrew's cross with a line drawn over it, the whole within a circle.
" III. Messengers of God's Will.
436 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 2g
" 7. Princedoms or Principalities, holding a lily, or in com- plete armour, with pennons.
" 8. Archangels — viz., SS. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, already mentioned.
"9. Angels. Generally bear wands, or musical instru- ments, but are variously represented, according to the particular message or duty upon which they are supposed to be.
" The first division keep around the Throne, and derive their light and glory from the Most High, from whence they reflect it to the second ; these reflect it to the third, who are the appointed Messengers of God, and Guardians of Man and the Universe, and therefore reflect it thither.
" The Greeks have many modes of representing the Holy Angels unknown to Western Art. Thus they depict in a single picture the Four Archangels — S. Michael armed as a warrior, S. Raphael in the vestments of a priest, and S. Gabriel in civil costume, all supporting a great aureole, in the centre of which is the Infant Jesus winged like an Angel, as being the Messenger or Angel Who came on earth to do the will of the Father, and giving His benediction j a crowd of angelic beings appear in the background. This composition is called the Assembly of the Archangels, and is intended to show the Ecclesiastical, Military, and Civil power of the Celestial Hierarchy.
" Another favourite subject in Greek Iconography is that which is called ' The Divine Liturgy.'
" Christ, in the character of ' the Great High Priest,' celebrates the Holy Eucharist at the altar, while the angels assist at the sacrifice, and bear the cruets, tapers, thurible, incense-boat, and other utensils required therein."
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Sept. 29.] SS. Rhipsime and Others. 43 7
SS. RHIPSIME, GAIANE, AND OTHERS, VV. MM.
(about a.d. 268.)
[Roman Martyrology on Sept. 29. By the Greeks on Sept. 30. The Bollandists on Sept. 30. Authority : — The legend of S. Gregory the Illumi- nator, by Agathangelos, also by Metaphrastes, and the Armenian Lives of the Saints. Moses of Chorene alludes only by name to Rhipsime, but says nothing of the martyrdom. The legend is supremely ridiculous and pre- posterous. It is possible that there were such persons as Rhipsime and Gaiane martyred virgins at Valarshabad, but no reliance whatever can be placed on their legends.]
In the days of the wicked Emperor Diocletian, there lived in the outskirts of Rome a virgin called Rhipsime. She was born of Christian parents, who, after enlightening her by baptism, had devoted her to God from her birth, and had placed her in a religious house of consecrated virgins under the fostering care of S. Gaiane, who was the head of the establishment.
About this time — risum tmeatis amid? — " Diocletian thought of taking to himself a wife. He therefore gave an order to painters to go round Rome, and draw the like- . ness of the richest, handsomest, and best-grown maidens found therein, and to bring him these portraits, that he might take to wife the one he liked best. Now he who had the management of the business having heard of the maidens who were in the convent under the care of Gaiane, hastened to send thither painters, who, having examined them, should make the best-looking of the nuns sit to them for their portraits.
So the portraits were done, and there was a grand exhibition of them in the palace of Diocletian ; but when he came to that of Rhipsime, he was at once enamoured of her, and sent to her an invitation, with the good news that prepara-
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438 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 2g#
tions were made for her espousals to him, the Emperor. No sooner did the news reach the convent than consternation fell on all therein. Gaiane at once shipped the whole sister- hood on board a vessel bound for Alexandria, and on land- ing there they made the best of their way on foot into Armenia. Agathangelos does not condescend to explain how they got from Egypt to Armenia ; Metaphrastes says simply that they " flitted like sparrows to the barbarous Armenian land." On reaching Valarshabad, they built a convent, ever after famous, and maintained themselves by making glass beads and weaving blankets.
Diocletian sent a wonderful autograph letter to Tiridates, informing him that the girl he adored was hiding in Ar- menia. "And now, brother," the letter concluded, "con- demn to death her foster-mother and those that are with her ; but send her, the handsome girl, back to me. But if thou admirest her beauty very much, why then keep her for thyself, for the like of her is not to be found in our land. May the gods grant thee health. With profound respect, — Diocletian."
After this generous and disinterested offer, Tiridates could do nothing less than hunt out the beautiful girl, that he might send the Roman Emperor the latest information con- cerning her. News of her whereabouts soon reached him, for Rhipsime was already creating a commotion in the province of Ararat. " Whenever she appeared," says the biographer, " all men flocked around her, rich and poor alike, even the nobles of the realm, all came in crowds to gaze at her beauty."
Now when Tiridates heard of this, next day he gave orders that Rhipsime should be brought to the palace. Golden-decked palanquins, suits of gorgeous dresses, costly ornaments, were sent by some of the first men in the land, that Rhipsime might be brought to the king in state, for he pur-
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sept. 29.] •S'S- Rhipsime and Others. 439
posed to make her his wife. Now when Rhipsime saw herself surrounded by the nobles, with the palanquins, and dresses, and jewels, she prayed to heaven; and suddenly there was an explosion of thunder over head, which tumbled the officers of the king on the ground. " Many of the horsemen, rushing one against another, unable as they were to master their horses that were prancing and neighing, were trodden under foot and killed. Footmen also, in the general panic and confusion, staggered against one another, screamed and died. Then one of the courtiers ran and told the king that the maid would not put on the robes he had sent, nor come. " For there were among them scribes learned in the Latin tongue, who wrote down all that Rhipsime had said," and who had survived the thunder. Then the king ordered Rhipsime to be brought before him. And the officers went and seized her, and dragged her along, into the king's presence. Now when Tiridates saw the beauty of the maiden, he was beside himself with admiration, and he ran up to her and put his arms round her neck, to kiss her. But Rhipsime was as stout as she was beautiful : she caught the king up off his feet, spun him round, and Hung him "on the floor, with his purple robes torn and crumpled, and his crown off his head." She was shut up in a room for the night, but she managed to escape, and returned to S. Gaiane and her companions.
Next morning the furious Tiridates sent officers to put her to death. They found her at the convent of the "Wine- presses," and having stuck four posts in the ground they tied her hands and feet to them, placed lamps under her, and roasted her body with the flame. Then they dug out her eyes and cut her limb from limb. After that they had finished with Rhipsime, the executioners set on her com- panions, and put them to death, to the number of thirty- three virgins. One of the nuns was at the time lying sick
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44° Lives of the Saints. [Sept- 29
at home. Her name was Mariamne. The soldiers went to where she lay and massacred her also.
A church has been reared to her memory under the name of Shoghagath (difficulties of light), close to that of S. Gaianc and that of S. Rhipsime.
S. Rhipsime died on October 5th, and S. Gaiane and her companions on the 6th October.
" Tiridates continued six days in the deepest grief after the death of Rhipsime, on account of her exquisite beauty ; after which he gave himself up to hunting for a time. Every- thing was now ready for the sport : the nets were spread, the snares were set, and other toils prepared for the king's chase in the royal domains called Shemagan. But as he got into his chariot to leave the city .... suddenly he was changed into a wild boar ; the snout, the mouth, the tusks, the ears, the feel, and the mane were all those of a wild boar. He went, therefore, and mixed with other boars of his own species; and once with them in their covert of reeds, began to eat grass like them, and roam about among the mountains and plains. They tried to keep him in confine- ment within the city, but could not, by reason of his savage disposition and ferocity, rendered far worse by evil spirits that had taken up their abude within him, and wrought in him."
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sept. 30.] SS- Victor and Ursus. 44 1
September 30.
SS. Vu tor and Ursus, MM. at Soleure ; cue. a.d. 286.
S. Gregory the Illuminator, B. Apostle oj Armenia; an..
A.D. 331.
S. Jerome, P.D. at Bethlehem; circ. a.d. 4 1 9.
S. Laurus, Al>. o/S. Man dc Gails in Brittany ; -]th cent.
S. Honorius, Abp. of Canterbury ; a.d. 653.
S. Simon, Count, Mk. at Rome; a.d. 1080.
SS. VICTOR AND URSUS, MM. (about a.d. 286.)
f Ado, Usuardus, Notker, Roman Martyrology. Authority : — The brief notice by S. Eucherius in his account of the Martyrs of the Theban Legion at Agaunum. The Acts are late and unworthy of trust.]
AINTS VICTOR and Ursus were, according to S. Eucherius of Lyons, two Christian soldiers belonging to the Theban legion, cohorts or maniples of which were scattered along the German frontier. They were called on to sacrifice, and when they refused they were beheaded at Soleure, of which city they are now regarded as the patrons. As they were dying a sudden dazzling sunbeam is said to have fallen on and glorified the martyrs.
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44 2 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 30.
S. GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR, B. (a.d. 331.)
[Roman Martyrology. In the Armenian Kalcndar on Sept. 9, the casting of S.Gregory into the pit ; the taking of S.Gregory out of the pit, on Nov. 18. On Sept. 30 the invention of the body of S. Gregory. By the Greeks in their Menjea and Menologies on Sept. 30. Authorities : — A panegyric by S. Chrysostom ; mention by Moses of Chorene (5th cent.). He quotes for information concerning the early life of the saint a letter by Artitheus, an Armenian bishop, written at the solicitation of Mark, a hermit. He quotes also the Life of S. Gregory by Agathangelos, the secretary of Tiridates. A Life exists purporting to be by Agathangelos, but no reliance can be placed on it ; it is a tissue of fabulous matter, whether embroidered on an original genuine document, cannot be said. Certain it is that Moses of Chorene says not one word of much that is now found in the book of Agathangelos, he does not even allude to his tortures under Tiridates. The MS. copies of Agathangelos vary greatly. There is also a Life by Meta- phrastes founded on Agathangelos, and a Life in the Armenian Collection of Lives of the National Saints. A modern life in Armenian by the Vartabad Matthew, an Uniat Armenian, has been translated by the Rev. S. C. Malan. London, 1868. It contains the whole legend, but is entirely uncritical.]
According to Armenian tradition the light of the Gospel penetrated very early into Armenia. The apocryphal letters from Abgar — one of the Armenian Arsacidre, who reigned in Edessa from B.C. 5 to a.d. 32 — to our Saviour, and the answer of our Lord to Abgar testify at least to the preva- lence of the belief that Armenia was one of the first lands into which a knowledge of Christ penetrated. The Apostles Thaddeus, Bartholomew, and Jude are said to have sown the seed of the Word in Armenia, and to have watered it with their blood. But the prevailing religion, which was a mixture of Persian fire-worship and Greek idolatry, was so ingrained in the people, that a long time elapsed before the good seed thus sown could take root, grow, and yield abundant fruit. But the finishing of the work begun by the Apostles was reserved for S. Gregory, who has immortalized himself in the history of the Christian Church under the
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name of "the Illuminator," in Armenian " Lusavoritch." He was of the reigning family of the Arsacidse, and lived and wrought towards the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries — a time of trouble for Armenia. The country was then under Ardashir, the father of the Sassanidse ; who, after putting down the Arsacidse of Parthia, caused the death of Chosroes I., the Arsacide then reign- ing in Armenia, by the hand of Anak, another man of the same family, a.d. 232. Chosroes whilst dying from the treacherous stab of Anak, ordered the whole family of Anak, man and woman, old and young, to be put to the sword. Now it fell out that at this time there was at Valarshabad, where was the house of Anak, a merchant named Burdar with his wife Sophia ; they were on their road to Cresarea, where lived Euthalius, a Christian noble, the brother of Sophia.
When the order of Chosroes reached Valarshabad, the wife of Anak had been recently delivered of a male child, and the nurse carried it to the merchant for safety, and Burdar and Sophia went on to Csesarea, carrying the babe with them, as though it were their own. Thus it came to pass that the future illuminator of his native land was saved from death, and was brought up in the Christian faith. When he came of age to marry, by the care of his foster- mother, he was given to wife Mary, daughter of a noble of Csesarea, named David, and by her he had two sons, Vithanes and Arisdaghes.
Three years after the birth of the youngest, by mutual consent Gregory and his wife separated, to serve God by a closer union, leaving the bulk of their substance to the two children. Mary took her infant son with her into a convent and spent the rest of her life as a nun. This child after- wards joined himself to an anchorite, called Nicomachus, who lived near Csesarea, and took holy orders.
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444 Lives of the Saints. [Sept 30
Gregory, however, returned to Armenia. Dertad or Tiridates, the son of Chosroes, by the support of the Romans had, in the meantime, been raised to the throne (a.d. 259). Gregory entered the service of Tiridates, but prudently did not inform him that he was the son of Anak, the murderer of the father of Tiridates. He served him well for some years, but an event occurred which altered their relations.
One day Tiridates gave wreaths of flowers into the hands of Gregory, and bade him lay them before an image of Anahid, a female deity whom he honoured. Gregory refused, saying, " God forbid that I should obey such an order as this. I came to wait on thee, and with devotedness to obey thy commands, but not to adore or honour thy idols." The king was vexed. " Thou," said he, " a man from another country, who didst come to join thyself to us, how darest thou worship a God we do not worship?" Tiridates did not punish him at once. The nobles and courtiers came to Gregory and remonstrated with him for not obeying the king, but found that on this point he was not to be moved. On the next day the king again spoke to him on the subject, but Gregory showed such firmness that Tiridates became exasperated, and determined to break him by insult and suffering. He therefore ordered his hands to be tied behind his back, a bit to be placed in his mouth, and that a heavy lump of rock salt should be laid on his shoulders, and that, thus burdened, he should be made to walk. As he still refused to deposit wreaths before the goddess Anahid, Tiridates ordered him to be hung up by one foot, and that various foul things should be burnt under him, so that the noxious smoke might enter his nostrils. Next two wooden clubs, the size of a shin-bone, were brought, and fitted like the bars of a wine-press ; the legs of Gregory were placed between them, and cords were bound round them, and they
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S. Gregory. 445
were tightened, till the blood spurted from his swollen veins on the fingers of the men who tortured him. Not satisfied with this, the barbarous king had hot vinegar, nitre, and salt poured into his nostrils, and then a bag of soot emptied over his face. He was then taken back to prison. When he had recovered these horrible tortures, he was recon- ducted before Tiridates, who urged him to offer incense to his gods. To this the blessed Gregory replied, " I offer incense and sacrifice only to the true and living God, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom I love."
The king thereupon had iron caps placed on his knees, which were tightened with wedges, so as to cause the knee joints to swell in great lumps, but as Gregory bore this torment without yielding, he sent him to Ardashat, and ordered him to be cast into a subterranean prison in the castle there. This pit was a hole full of stinking mud, the sewage of the prison. It swarmed with venomous reptiles.1 Agathangelos pretends that Gregory was cast into this pit, and spent in it thirteen, fourteen, or even fifteen years. What is far more probable is that the governor of the fort kept him in durance all that while, but certainly not in the Barathrum. The king Tiridates knew when he tortured him who Gregory was, and the jailer would probably treat with courtesy and indulgence a prince of royal blood.
Very little, if any, reliance can be placed on the story of the sufferings of Gregory through the rage of Tiridates ; it is significant that Moses of Chorene says nothing about them. That he was imprisoned, as soon as the king dis- covered that he was the son of his father's murderer, is highly probable, and that he may have been treated with some barbarity is not improbable.
How, or by what means, Tiridates became convinced of the truth of Christianity does not appear, for we must put
1 The Barathrum, see pp. 289, 290.
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446 Lives of the Saints. [Sept
aside the ridiculous story of Agathangelos. He says that the king was transformed into a boar, and came to the feet of S. Gregory, who restored him to his original form. This is an allegory treated as history. Tiridates was baptized by S. Gregory, and so became a new creature, and laid aside his former brutal ferocity. Gregory was released from prison and became the adviser of the king. At his exhortation Tiridates raised a convent over the relics of SS. Rhipsime, Gaiane, and their companions, who had been martyred by his orders, at Etchmiadzin, at the roots of Ararat. S. Gregory was sent to Caesarea, by the king and his nobles, to be consecrated bishop by Leontius the Archbishop j he was received by Leontius with great joy, and by him was ordained patriarch over the whole of Armenia, a.d. 302. He returned to his native land laden with relics, and baptized Tiridates, his queen, Ashkhen, and his sister, Chosrovitukht — a remarkable v. oman, who "did not, like other females, let loose her tongue, even when she was not a Christian." The baptism of the king was followed by that of the majority of his subjects. He then set about consecrating bishops, organizing dioceses, and establishing schools. " Taking a number of rough country boys, he cast them into the crucible of instruction for a spiritual life ; he taught them in the Holy Scriptures, and rubbed off their minds the rust of vice and evil habits. And from that time such was the eagerness of some to with- draw from the habits of their fathers, in order to devote themselves to God's service, that they might say, ' I have forgotten my people and my father's house.' " They were instructed in Greek and Syriac, and made to read the writings of the fathers, and the canons of the Church. " It was marvellous to see how those who a short while before were empty, worldly, and rough, soon became spiritual, attentive to the word of God, instructed in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles, and inheritors of the Gospel ; and how, by
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the grace of Christ, they became skilled in all the command- ments and precepts of God." He also founded many monasteries and nunneries, and filled them with religious men and women.
"The first object of the holy patriarch after his return to the royal city, Valarshabad, from the great solemnity of baptizing the people in the Euphrates, was to build there a magnificent temple to the name of the Only Begotten Son of God ; the site of which he had consecrated with holy oil and surrounded with a wall, and marked by a cross, at the time he built the church in honour of S. Rhipsime and her companions. And he called this temple Etchmiadzin (i.e., "the descent of the Only Begotten"), in consequence of a divine vision he had, in which the Only Begotten Son, descending from heaven to earth, marked the spot by smiting it with his hammer of gold, which resounded aloud into the
very depths of hell Likewise also in the city of
Ardashat, and in other cities of every province, did he command churches to be built, and appointed to them priests and ministers."
" At all seasons, and in all weathers, in summer and winter, by night and by day, untiringly and earnestly in the ways of an evangelist, on this side of the country and on that, rushing with invincible force against adversaries, before kings and princes, and before all the heathen, did our illuminator carry the saving name of Jesus ; and enlighten- ing every soul with the knowledge of God, by the new birth of baptism made them children of God. Many prisoners also and captives, and others who were being tormented by tyrants, did he rescue with great display of the glory of Christ ; many unjust bonds for debt did he also tear up and destroy ; many also who were afflicted, and lived in constant fear, did he comfort by his teaching ; and by placing before them tne hope of the glory of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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well established in their souls, did he bring them round to unfeigned joy." * After having established the Church firmly in the land, S. Gregory retired into Mount Sebuh, to prepare for his passage into another world ; yet issuing from his soli- tude whenever the calls of the Church needed his presence.
Tiridates sent to Cresarea for Arisdagh, the younger son of S. Gregory, and had him brought into Armenia, and consecrated patriarch of all Armenia by his father and a synod of bishops.
Agathangelos, or the author of the stuff that passes as his memoir of S. Gregory, asserts that the Illuminator and Tiridates the king made a journey to Rome to visit Pope S. Sylvester and the Emperor Constantine. The visit of Gregory never took place. Neither Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, nor Theodoret even mention the saint, much less his visit to Constantine and Sylvester ; though Sozomen speaks of the conversion of Tiridates,2 and Theodoret of Pope Sylvester;3 neither does Simeon Metaphrastes, who gives at length the history, or rather legend, of S. Gregory, say anything of this journey to Rome, though he speaks of the friendship which existed between Tiridates and Con- stantine. Nor yet does Cedrenus, who mentions both Pope Sylvester and S. Gregory, and who relates the release of the Illuminator from the pit, say anything about the interview ; nor does Moses of Chorene, who speaks of the journey made by Tiridates to Rome.4
The first to state it was Nicephorus Callistus, in the 14th centuiy. It has since been made the subject of apocryphal letters from Constantine and Sylvester. When Constantine convened the great council of Nicrea, a.d. 325, S. Gregory was too far advanced in age to be able to undertake the
1 Life of S. Gregory the Illuminator by the Vartabad Matthew, translated by Rev. S. C. Mai. in. London, 1868.
2 H. E. lib. ii. c. 8. s H. F. lib. i. c. 3. « Lib. ii. cc. 80. ?.i.
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journey, but he sent his son, Arisdagh, as Patriarch of Armenia, and his name is found in some copies of the lists of the bishops present, as signing the creed then drawn up. When the decrees of that great council were brought to Valarshabad, and laid before S. Gregory, the aged saint took them up and read them ; and said, " Now let us praise Him who was before the worlds, worshipping the most Holy Trinity and the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever, world without end, Amen f words ever after remembered in the Armenian Church, and recited by it in conclusion when it chants that great symbol of the Faith.
Now, as age advanced on this great apostle of the Faith, he went further from the busy throng of men, into the province of Taran, and dwelt in Mount Manyea, in the hollow of a fragrant juniper tree ; and there, unknown to men, unattended by any, he died. Some time after the body was found by shepherds, who covered it with a heap of stones, and there it lay for some years, hidden from the sight of men, lest, as Moses of Chorene thinks, his new converts should worship it in the place of God. But when, after many years, the faith of the people was stronger, then the body of the saint was found by a hermit called Kamig, and laid by him to rest in the village of Thorkan in Mount Sebuh. S. Gregory had been ordained patriarch in a.d. 302 ; and he lived thirty years after. About a.d. 474, the relics of S. Gregory were moved to Greece by the Emperor Zeno ; and thence, before the fall of Constantinople, to Italy.
The head of S. Gregory is shown at Naples, together with the chains he wore when in the dungeon, and one of his arms is in the cathedral of Nardo in Calabria.
VOL. X 2Q
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S. JEROME, P.D. (about a.d. 419.)
[All Latin Martyrologies. Anglican Reformed Kalendar. In the Modern Roman, also May 9, the Translation of S. Jerome from Jerusalem to Rome. By the Greeks and Russians on June 15. Authorities : — His own writings, and those of contemporaries, S. Augustine, S. Innocent I., Sulpicius Severus, S. Prosper, Rufinus, &c]
Hieronymus, or Jerome, as we call him in English, was born at Stridon, on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, a town destroyed by the Goths in the lifetime of the saint.1 The place was rebuilt, and Sdregna, in the heart of stony, barren Istria, on the road between Capo d'Istria and Montena, claims to be the place. The name of Jerome's father was Eusebius, and his tomb, or what pre- tends to be his tomb, is shown to this day at Sdregna. But unfortunately for the honour of Istria, S. Jerome plainly states that Stridon was on the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia, so that we are forbidden to look for it in Istria It has been thought to be a little place called Stridova, Strigova, or Strigna, between the Mar and Drave, near the point of contact of Croatia, Styria, and Hungary. It is a village consisting at present of some thirty cottages, with a chapel dedicated to S. Jerome, and the house in which he was born is there pointed out, perched on a hill. A miraculous spring issues from the base of the hillock, called the fountain of S. Jerome. Over the door of the house is placed an inscription, " Hie natus est S. Hieronymus, Ecclesige doctor."
S. Jerome was born about the year 33 1.8
His parents were Catholics, of honourable family, and
1 Hieron. De viris illust. c. 135, 1 Prosper in Chron. "Sub consulibus Basso et Albavio ;" but in 420, he says, S. Jerome died "Anno aetatis sua; nonagesimo-primo," wliich would put his birth at 319.
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Sept., p. 450.]
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6". yerome. 451
wealthy. He had a brother named Paulinian, and a sister, whose name we do not know. Of his childhood not much is known.
"Which of us does not remember his infancy?" he writes. " I certainly do, enough to make a grave man like you laugh. ... I remember how I used to run in and out of the servants' chambers, when a little fellow, spending my days in games, till I was dragged away captive from my aunt's lap to that grim Orbilius."1
This old aunt was Castorina, to whom one of his epistles was addressed in after years, which still exists. Orbilius was not the name of his master ; he calls his tutor thus after the celebrated Beneventine grammarian, whom Horace calls " Plagosus."
The young Jerome was instructed in elocution and law, to prepare him for the legal profession. " Now that I am an old white-haired man," he writes, "with bald pate, I often dream that I am declaiming in my new toga some petty cause before the rhetorician ; and when I wake up, I congratulate myself that I am free from the agonies of speech- making." 2
He continued his studies at Rome, under a certain Donatus. There he attended the courts, to study oratory, and, he says, it amused him much to observe how the lawyers on either side, becoming heated with their argu- ments, lost temper, and took to abusing each other roundly.8 It was perhaps there that he caught the trick of so dealing with his opponents in theological controversies, which disfigures his writings. At the same time he was wont to visit the catacombs, and prowl along the dark avenues, studying the walls honeycombed with cells in which lay the bodies of martyrs and confessors.1
1 Contra Rufin. lib. i. 80. » Hid. s In Epist. ad Galat. lib. i. c. «.
4 In Ezech. lib. xii. c. 40.
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Besides having Donatus as his master in grammar, Jerome took lessons in oratory from the rhetorician C. Marius Victorinus, a Christian, who wrote a commentary on the Epistles of S. Paul, and who, for his merits, was given a statue in the forum of Trajan.
Jerome had not left Rome in 363, when Julian the Apostate was killed. He was not idle during his stay there, for, in addition to studying oratory and grammar, he busily collected a library. His moral conduct does not, however, seem to have been exemplary. He repeatedly laments the fact that in his youth he fell into sins of the flesh. At that time he was not baptized. He had lost, he says in one place, the innocence given to him at his nativity ; a new innocence had been given him at his second birth, which he had hoped not to be despoiled of. Yet even his baptismal garment he had stained, and in one of his letters to Damasus the Pope, he sadly says that having been baptized by the Spirit, and having denied his robe of innocence, he must look forward to the baptism of fire, in which its stains might be burnt out.1
From Rome S. Jerome went to Treves and to the Rhine, dropping down the Moselle. At Treves he copied out two books of S. Hilary, and this seems to have marked the turn of his mind to sacred studies. There also he made acquaintance with Rufinus, a friendship which was not, however, destined to last through life. There also he saw some Atticoti, or Scots, " a British nation who eat human flesh."
From Treves he returned south, and remained som-j time at Aquileia with his friend Rufinus, from about 370 to 372. There he contracted friendship with Chromatius, afterwards Bishop of Aquileia, the archdeacon Jovinus, the
1 " Habeo omnia immunda : et quia semel spiritu baptizatus, rursum tunicam pollui, secundi baptismatis purgatione, id est, ignis indigeo." Ep. 18.
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deacon Eusebius, and Innocent. It was in company with Innocent that Jerome left Aquileia for the East in 372. They reached Antioch together, and there Innocent died, and Jerome was cast on the bed of sickness. In 373, at Antioch, Jerome made the acquaintance of Evagrius the ecclesiastical historian. He had sent a letter, at the request of Innocent, to Evagrius some time before, on the case of an unfortunate woman who had been tortured by order of the consul at Aquileia,1 on false accusation. One execu- tioner detailed to cut off her head had struck at her four times ; another executioner three times, and had left her for dead, but marvellous to relate, the poor creature had revived. In his letter he had poured out his indignation and abhorrence of the consul, and this had probably obliged him to leave Aquileia.
Whilst Jerome lay sick at Antioch, his friend Heliodorus came to see him from Jerusalem, and informed him that Rufinus was then in Egypt.' Heliodorus was bent on retiring into the desert, and embracing an eremitical life, and on taking Jerome with him ; but to this Jerome would not consent. He perhaps felt himself too ill to endure the austerities of a hermit's life.3 In 374 he was still at Antioch, and suffering from bad health, and an attack of fever, which reduced him to a condition of great emacia- tion and exhaustion.
The season was Lent, and, although he was ill, he did not consider himself exempt from observing the fast. Thus he was reduced to a condition subject to strange hallucina- tions. He amused himself on his bed with reading Plautus, but chiefly Cicero, who was his favourite author. Whilst so doing one day, he fell into a fit of unconsciousness, and
1 He does not say that the judge was consul of Aquileia, but it is probable that this was so, and that it was the irritation caused among the magistrates of that city by the publication of the letter, which obliged him to fly Aquileia.
2 Ep. 3 ad Rufin. ' Ep. 6, ad Julianum. Ep. 14.
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thought he saw himself standing before the throne of God. The Judge asked, "Who art thou?" "A Christian," an- swered Jerome in his trance. " Thou liest," answered the Almighty ; " thou art a Ciceronian." Jerome thought he staggered back in dismay, and sank on his face, covered with confusion.
When he recovered consciousness he promised to cast aside all his heathen books, and resolved to devote his whole attention to the study of divinity.1 In the ardour of his zeal he wrote to Theodosius, an abbot in Cilicia, to announce his desire to embrace the monastic life ; and to Rufinus, in Egypt, a letter in which this desire was more vaguely or guardedly expressed.
Shortly after the resolve became more urgent, and he actually retired into the desert, a.d. 374, carrying his library with him, and writing to his friends for more books to assist him in passing the time, which in his solitude dragged somewhat heavily. In his desert cell he wrote the life of Paul, the first hermit, and sent it to Paul of Concordia, a friend, near Aquileia.
The place of his retreat was near Maronia, in Chalcis, a spot which he describes as "burnt up with the heat of the sun." There, according to his own account, his skin was scorched brown, he slept on the soil, his bones protruded, he grew ragged and miserable of aspect. The only men he saw were natives, whose tongue he hardly understood, except at long intervals, when he was visited by Evagrius.
Being sorely troubled by sensual thoughts, he wisely devoted his mind to the hard task of learning Hebrew, so
1 Ep. 22 ad Eustochium. In spite of his dream and promise he, however, con- tinued his study of classical writers, and afterwards made his monks copy the dia- logues of Cicero. He explained Virgil to them at Bethlehem, and answered the accusations of Rufinus that, after all this was only a question of a dream. " He who upbraids me with a dream, I refer to the prophets who teach that dreams are vain and undeserving of faith." Cont. Rufin. i. 30.
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that it might be kept fully occupied, and not have time for rambling to unlawful subjects. " What labours did I under- take in learning that alphabet, and acquiring those harsh and aspirated words ! What difficulties I had to undergo ! How often I despaired ! How often I gave it up, and yet again buckled to my task, let my conscience bear witness which suffered, and that of those who led me along this road. Yet, thanks be to God ! now I pluck sweet fruit of letters off that bitter road."1
It was whilst Jerome was in his desert that the Meletian schism broke out. In 362 this miserable contest was em- bittered and prevented from dying out by the rash conduct of Lucifer of Cagliari, who ordained Paulinus. An account of this schism has been already given, and that sad page in the history of the Church need not be repeated here.8 Antioch had at the same time two bishops, both orthodox, and the Catholics were broken into two parties adhering to the rival prelates. The Eastern bishops recognised Meletius, the Roman Church Paulmus. There was also Vitalis, ordained Bishop of Antioch by Apollinaris ; but there was, moreover, a fourth claimant — Euzoius, an Arian. The East at this time was distracted with questions as to the term hypostasis; whether it was applicable to the Three Persons of the Trinity. Syrian monks invaded Jerome's solitude, and importuned him to confess the Three Hypostases. He answered that he fully believed in the Three Persons, but could not take Hypostasis to mean anything but Essence. They insisted that he should accept the phrase as well as the doctrine. In his perplexity he applied to Pope Damasus of Rome. It was natural that he should do so. Rome was associated with many solemn moments of his undisciplined youth, and with his subsequent baptism ; and her bishops had been conspicuously true to the faith, except in the one
1 Ep. 125. ' See S- Melet'us< Feb. 12. * "
456 Lives of the Saints. [Sept. 30.
sad instance for which Liberius had lived to atone. Their primacy had been adorned by faithfulness. " While foxes were in the vineyard," wrote S. Jerome, " and the seamless robe was rent, he felt moved to seek food for his soul where the heritage had been kept from corruptions." The kind- ness of Damasus invited him, though his grandeur was over-awing. Following " Christ only as Chief," Jerome professed to be in communion with the see of Peter. " On this rock, I know, the Church is built; whoso eats the Lamb outside that house is profane. I know not Vitalis, I disown Meletius, I know not Paulinus. Whoso gathers not with thee, scatters ; that is, whoso is not of Christ is of Antichrist." He begs Damasus, " by the crucified Salvation of the world," to signify whether the belief in Three Persons may be expressed by " Three Hypostases ;" intimating, at the same time, his own opinion that no explanations can clear the phrase from the " poison of Tri theism."1
This appeal was made about the beginning of 377, and in the following year arrived the answer to it by Damasus, addressed to Paulinus.
About 377 S. Jerome left his retreat and came to Antioch, where he was ordained priest by Paulinus. Whilst there he wrote a dialogue against the Luciferians, headed by one Hilary — an impracticable party of narrow bigots, who re- produced, in great measure, the hard austerity of the Novatians and the Donatists.
Probably in 380 S. Jerome went to Constantinople, where he had the gratification of hearing S. Gregory Nazianzen aive sermons and instructions. He remained two or three years at Constantinople, arrested by the eloquence of S. Gregory, and occupied in translating into Latin, and con tinuing the chronicle of Eusebius, and in translating the homilies of Origen on Jeremiah and EzekieL
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Thence, in 382, he went to Rome ; or perhaps he may have returned to Antioch in 381, and sailed thence to Rome in 382. In that year a council was held in the Eternal City about the matter of the Antiochian schism and the heresy of Apollinaris. In this council Jerome probably took part Damasus formed a high opinion of his learning and merits, and constituted him his secretary. He consulted him on scriptural points, which his Hebrew scholarship enabled him to pronounce an opinion upon with authority. He also, at the request of the Pope, corrected the Latin version of the New Testament, then in common use, and then went on to revise the Psalter by the Hebrew. He wrote against Helvidius, who denied the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he also addressed a letter or treatise on virginity to Eustochium, daughter of S. Paula.1
S. Jerome had at first been greatly esteemed by the Roman Christians. But the roughness and bitterness of his nature, his open scorn for the fopperies and meannesses of some of the clergy,2 and his success in drawing Roman ladies like Marcella, and Paula to the monastic life, had involved him in such odium, that even his outward aspect, his " walk and smile," furnished occasion for gross calumny. Disgusted by obloquy which doubtless broke forth unre- strained after the death of his patron Damasus, Jerome quitted Rome (a.d. 385) in a mood which had little of self- mistrust or meekness, calling himself " a fool for wishing to sing the Lord's song in a strange land," and telling his female friends that " at Christ's tribunal the character of every man's life would appear."8 He set sail for Antioch, where he saw Paulinus, and thence started during the cold of winter for Jerusalem, where he visited the sacred places.
1 See September 2?, p. 411. 2 See the sarcastic description in Ep. 22, c. 28, of clergy dressed in the extreme of fashion, dainty and elegant as bridegrooms, and wheedling ladies out of articles that suited their tastes. * Ep. 45.
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Almost directly after he left Rome, Paula, the wealthy widow whom he had converted to monastic principles, finding Rome no longer endurable, started with the intention of overtaking him. This she probably succeeded in doing at Cyprus, and she was able under his directions to visit with him all the spots consecrated by the Gospel narrative in the Holy Land. Thence they went together to Egypt to study the manner of life of the hermits and obtain hints for the establishment of similar religious societies in Palestine. Having acquired the information they required, Jerome and Paula returned to the Holy Land, and settled at Bethlehem, not to leave it, and there Jerome built for himself a little monastery, and Paula a convent. In a poor and narrow cell of his monastic house, this glorious cenobite accom- plished the translation and commentary of the Scriptures. He produced thus that Vulgate which has made him " the master of Christian prose for all following ages."1
S. Jerome was essentially the preacher of Monachism, and he preached it at a time when the Roman world was ready to lend him its ear. Society was breaking up under its vices, ruin was falling on the empire, blow on blow. Rome, the capital of the world, had become the prey of barbarians. During his sojourn in Rome, Jerome had spread the love for monastic life with as much zeal as success. At Bethlehem he continued this work, and led from the bosom of Italy numerous recruits, who, seeing the vanity of worldly hopes in a world falling to pieces, enrolled themselves in the monastic legions. He had no patience with those good Christians who would not leave all and come into the desert to him.
But his admiration for monastic life did not blind him to the vices and abuses which already appeared among the cenobites. No one has denounced, no one has branded, more
1 Ozanam, Civilisation au Cinquieme Siecle, ii. p. ioo. & ►
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energetically than he the false monks, the false penitents, the false widows and virgins.
This legitimate severity inspired him with the more lively admiration for the first great founders of monastic life, whose traditions he collected, and whose atmosphere he had breathed in Egypt. He undertook to write the lives of some of the most illustrious — of Paul, of Hilarion, of the solitary Malchus, whom he had known and heard in Syria; he added to these the biographies of the illustrious Roman women who, a century later, had renewed even in the bosom of Rome marvels worthy of the Thebaid.
S. Jerome, though he had retired to a solitude, had not retreated from the arena of polemical disputes. Wherever any dissentient from the doctrine or practice of the Church ventured to express his opinions, Jerome hurled the thunders of his interdict from his cell at Bethlehem. No one was more perpetually involved in controversy, or opposed with gi eater rancour of personal hostility, than this earnest advocate of unworldly seclusion. He was engaged in a venement and lengthy dispute with S. Augustine, on the question whether S. Peter's weakness and S. Paul's rebuke at Antioch were simulated or real. But his repose was most embittered by his acrimonious and obstinate contest with Rufinus, the friend of his youth, which was rather a per- sonal that a polemic strife, and which, one would have thought, two such men must have seen at once was a grievous breach of Christian charity.
In one controversy, Christendom acknowledged and hailed him as her champion. Jovinian and Vigilantius dis- turbed the prevalent belief in the sanctity of relics, and the superior merit of celibacy. Their effect upon the dominant sentiment of the times may be estimated by the language of wrath, bitterness, contempt, and abhorrence with which Jerome assails these men. Jovinian, a monk, asserted,
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1. That all sins were equal in heinousness. 2. That it was not possible for man to sin after baptism. 3. That fasting was unprofitable. 4. That a state of marriage was as accep- table with God as a state of voluntary celibacy ; though for his own part, Jovinian had no intention of marrying.1
To these doctrines Vigilantius added, if possible, more hated tenets. He condemned the respect paid to martyrs and their relics ; he questioned the miracles performed at their tombs ; he condemned the lighting of lamps before them as a pagan superstition ; he rejected the invocation of saints ; he blamed the custom of Christians selling their property to disperse the proceeds promiscuously in charity ; he protested against the whole monastic life, as interfering with the duty of a Christian to his neighbour. These doctrines were not without their followers ; the resentment of Jerome was embittered by their effect on some of the noble ladies of Rome, who began to fall off to marriage. Even some bishops embraced the doctrines of Vigilantius, and, asserting that enforced celibacy led the way to secret debauchery, refused to ordain unmarried deacons.
The tone of Jerome's indignant writings against these new heretics is that of a man suddenly arrested in his triumphant career by some utterly unexpected opposition ; his resentment is mingled with a kind of wonder that men should exist who could entertain such strange and daring tenets. The length to which he draws out this answer to Jovinian seems rather the outpouring of his wrath and his learning than a serious argument. But this treatise was not favourably received at Rome, even the friends of Jerome, nay, the zealous Pammachius himself, were offended by the fierceness and coarseness of his first invective against Jovinian, and his contemptuous disparagement of marriage. The injustice of his personal charges is shown, and the
1 S. August. De Haeres. c. 82 ; S. Hieron. Hares, i. >
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charges refuted by the more temperate statements of Augustine, and by his own admissions. He was obliged, in his apology, to mitigate his vehemence, and fall re- luctantly into a milder strain. Yet when he heard of the death of the heretic, he could not refrain himself from the indecent burst of joy — " He has not breathed, he has belched forth his soul over his waterfowl and pork."1
But his language to Jovinian is sober, dispassionate, and argumentative, in comparison with that to Vigilantius, — not vigilant indeed but sleepy3 — he calls him.
S. Jerome was mixed up in a miserable strife with John, Bishop of Jerusalem, about the writings of Origen. S. Jerome was an admirer of the great Alexandrian writer, and had some years before told S. Paula that those who called Origen a heretic were a pack of " mad dogs." His friend Rufinus was now a priest at Jerusalem, and was an enthusiastic admirer of Origen. John of Jerusalem also leaned towards Origenism, that is, he admired his writings, though he did not adopt his errors. S. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, an implacable foe to Origenism, was in Jerusalem in 394, and he insultingly and defiantly disregarded the authority and position of John, its bishop. He went so far as to ordain Jerome's brother Paulinian priest, without permission of the diocesan, and without even informing him of his high- handed intrusion. When called to task for this, he excused himself by denouncing John as an Origenist heretic ; and Jerome, who had perhaps some grudge against his bishop, or who was persuaded to dislike him by S. Epiphanius, joined sides with the Bishop of Salamis. This naturally led to an estrangement between himself and his friend Rufinus. Vigilantius openly attacked the orthodoxy of Jerome, and caused suspicion to prevail in the West that he was tainted with Origenist errors. This tended to confirm Jerome in
1 Adv. Vigilant. a " Vigilantius, seu verius Dormanlius."
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his adhesion to the opposite side. He Latinized the letter of Epiphanius and dispersed it over the West, and wrote a fierce letter to Vigilantius denying all sympathy with Origen. John of Jerusalem then ordered S. Jerome to leave Bethlehem, and when he refused, John denied his monks permission to enter the church at Jerusalem or the holy manger. Thereupon S. Epiphanius recommended the monks to break off communion with their bishop till he had purged himself of Origenism. Jerome and his monks did so. This miserable and wicked strife continued for more than three years. Various attempts were made to patch up the quarrel, but in vain. Archelaus, Count of Egypt, ashamed that the scandal should continue, interfered, but his good offices were rejected. John appealed to Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who sent the priest Isidore to Jerusalem to effect a reconciliation, but without result. S. Jerome wrote a long apology to Theophilus, and at the same time John of Jerusalem sent him a letter containing a profession of faith, and a charge of schismatical conduct and of insub- ordination against Jerome and his monks. One angry tract called forth another, till at last Jerome himself became sensible of the wretchedness of such a quarrel, and Augus- tine entreated him to close a scene which chilled and saddened every true friendship.
His last controversial writings were directed against the Pelagians. Shortly before his death he wrote to Alypius and Augustine, warmly congratulating them on their successful labours against that heresy. This is the last of his extant writings. He died on September 30, 419,1 doubtless in full Christian peace, although the account of his last moments, which suggested the picture of " S. Jerome's last com- munion," is found in a work which deserves no credit.2
1 S. Prosper in his Chronicle says 420, but the balance of probabilities is in favour of his having died in 419.
2 De morte Hieronymi, by the pseudo-Eusebius.
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THE LAST COMMUNION OF S. JEROME. Sept., p. 462.] After the Picture by Domenichino in the Vatican. pt. 30.
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The one conspicuous blot on Jerome's character, a con- troversial fierceness which his religion could not soothe, and which seldom allowed him to be just or charitable, has led many, in modern times, to forget his better qualities, and the great services which he rendered to the Church by his unwearied labours in the field of Scripture interpretation.
S. Jerome was buried at Bethlehem in his cave, and his body remained there till the 13th century, when it is said to have been translated to the church of S. Maria Maggiore at Rome, but no authentic record of the translation exists. A head at Nepi, part of the chin in the altar of the Blessed Virgin in the Vatican, part of his thigh in the church of S. Cecilia, his girdle in that of S. Mark, in the Jesuit church his arm. Also in S. Maria Maggiore " his chasuble, stole and maniple, with which he was wont to celebrate in the chapel of the holy manger at Bethlehem," though, as a matter of fact, S. Jerome, through mistaken humility, never would celebrate, as we know from his own writings. A jaw and entire arm at Florence, the jaw has two teeth and part of the chin attached to it. At Bologna part of shank, one finger, and a thumb. Part of skull anciently at Clugny, a finger at Paris in the church of the Trinitarians, an arm al Malines, two bones at Tournai, at Beaupres near Douai a bone, a finger at Prag, a portion of the spine in the church of S. Panthaleon at Cologne, in the Carthusian church there a rib. Other relics at Andechs in Bavaria and the abbey of S. Georgen in Tyrol. The head entire in the Escurial, the tongue incorrupt in the Isle of Samos, &c.
S. Jerome is represented in art with a cardinal's hat, though he never was a cardinal priest at Rome ; but perhaps because he acted as secretary to Pope Damasus. Also with a lion, from whose foot he is said to have plucked a thorn, but the story has been transferred to him from the life of S. Gerasimus. Often he is represented in a cave half
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464 Lives of the Saints. fSept
naked, with long beard and hair, and with books and pen, sometimes with spectacles on the table to signify that he was advanced in age.
S. HONORIUS, ABP. OF CANTERBURY. (a.d. 653.)
[Roman and Benedictine Martyrologies. Whitford's Anglican Martyr- ology, 1526 ; Wilson's Martyrology of 1640. Authorities : — Bede, Hist. Eccl.]
Honorius was a disciple of S. Gregory the Great, and was sent by him to Britain along with S. Augustine. He succeeded S. Justus in the see of Canterbury. He is said by some to have been ordained by S. Paulinus of York, at Lincoln, and Honorius I. the Pope, sent him the pall in A.D. 634. When King Edwin fell in the battle of Hatfield (nth October, 633), and Northumbria was ravaged by the ferocious Cadwallon, who sought, as Bede says, to extirpate from the soil of Britain the English race, S. Paulinus fled by sea, taking with him the gentle Ethelburga, the widow of King Edwin, with the daughter and the two youngest sons whom she had borne to Edwin. He placed them in safety with her brother, the King of Kent, and then was invested with the bishopric of Rochester by the King and Archbishop Honorius.
END OF VOL. X.
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