Chapter X: S. Xystus, Pope 489 (6)

Several bulls followed the deputies to Paris. The prudence and kindness of S. Louis helped greatly to restore peace between the University and the friars. The University seal was set to the summons addressed to SS. Thomas and Bonaventura to take their doctor's degrees, which had been delayed two years by the troubles. S. Thomas thought many other Dominicans more deserving of the honour than himself. Whilst sadly meditating on this, he thought an old man appeared to him, asking the cause of his sadness. He replied, "It is not right that they should force me to take rank among the doctors, a thing of which I am not capable." The old man said, "The order thou hast received is assurance enough; it destroys thy own will, and points to God's will in that of thy superiors. Take as the text of thy thesis: '_He watereth the hills from above: the earth is filled with the fruit of Thy works._ Ps. ciii. 13.'" On the morrow, after a struggle between S. Bonaventura and himself for the last place, Thomas, as being the younger, gained it. He preached from the text given him, and it has been regarded as a prophecy of the influence which the new doctor was to exercise over Christendom. The day on which he took his degree was the 23rd October, 1257.

The epoch on which we have now entered is the most glorious period of our saint's life. The star of his genius mounted, without a cloud to obscure it, in the firmament of the Church. In spite of all the eulogies of his contemporaries, it is difficult for us to comprehend now-a-days the extent of the power which Aquinas exercised over the men and the ideas of his time.

S. Thomas now drew up his famous "Summa contra Gentiles." He begins this treatise by stating that he will discuss all questions on the ground of human reason, seeking therein a common ground on which to combat his adversaries, or rather seeking in their natural intelligence a point on which to rest that bridge which might lead them from human reason to the truth of God; then he establishes the necessity of faith; he shows next that reason affords ground for expecting a supernatural revelation; lastly, he cements together reason and faith. Then he makes his general division: he considers God in Himself, in relation to men, and men in relation to God. To these three parts he joins a fourth, viz., revelation properly so-called; therein he expounds the Trinity, the Incarnation, with all the dogmas which attach themselves to it, the whole destiny of man in the plan of Christianity. This we may call the theological evolution of his great work. In that which may be called its philosophical introduction he resolves all such difficult questions; as the falsehood of pantheism, evil and its origin, its nature, and its effects, which he turns into a proof of God's existence in opposition to those unquiet spirits, who saw in it a reason for doubting His existence.

This work was followed immediately by one upon all the Epistles of S. Paul.

The question of the Eucharistic accidents was then much mooted in the schools, especially in those of Paris. The question was, whether those accidents had anything real, or were only an appearance, in other words, whether the form under which Jesus hides Himself in the Eucharist exists in the Sacrament itself, or in a false relation of the senses? Wearied with a struggle to which they could foresee no end, all the doctors determined to refer the question to the decision of S. Thomas, and to accept that decision as conformable to the light of reason and faith. The saint braced himself to the contemplation of this subject, and having prayed, he wrote as the Spirit inspired him. He was loth to take into the presence of the doctors and of the schools, the fruit of his science and his prayer, before he had consulted Him of Whom he was speaking, Whose aid he had implored.

He came to the altar, and placing before the tabernacle as before the Master of masters, that which he had written on the subject of the controversy, he raised his hands towards the image of Jesus crucified, and prayed in this fashion: "O Lord Jesu, Who dost verily dwell in this wonderful Sacrament, Whose works are incomprehensible marvels, I humbly beseech Thee, if what I have written about Thee is agreeable to the truth, grant that I may teach it, and persuade my brethren of it on Thy behalf; but if, on the contrary, there be anything in this writing which errs from the Catholic faith, make it impossible for me to bring it before their eyes."

Now the doctor had been followed by his habitual companion and by several other religious of our order, and they saw Jesus Christ standing on the leaves which had been written by the hand of Thomas, and saying to him, "Thou hast written worthily, my son, of the Sacrament of My Body." And the doctor's prayer still continuing, he was seen to raise himself nearly to the height of a cubit in the air.

The author who gives this account says he received it from a religious who was at S. James's with S. Thomas. The members of the University submitted to the decision, though given by a young man of only thirty-two years of age.

Louis IX. had forced our saint to enter his council chamber. Whenever an important affair was coming on for deliberation in the royal council, the king caused brother Thomas to be instructed about it over night, that he might reflect thereon in solitude, and might remember it at the Sacrifice. He was consulted by the king not so much as the man of genius, but as the man of God.

The saint, in spite of his earnest entreaties to be excused, was sometimes compelled, both by loyalty and courtesy, to appear at the royal table. For a while he would join in the general conversation, soon to be withdrawn by his inward thoughts. Once, at dinner, after a long silence, he smote the table smartly, exclaiming, "That is an overwhelming argument against the Manichæans." His superior bade him remember that he was in the king's presence. Thomas apologised for his absence of mind. But the king, smiling, requested him to dictate to one of his secretaries the argument which had engrossed his attention, that it might lose none of the force which marks the thoughts of genius at their first conception.

The Dominican Chapter, held at Valenciennes, in 1259, appointed Thomas, Albertus Magnus, and Pierre de Tarentaise as a commission to establish order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans.

Alexander IV. died at Viterbo, on May 25th, 1261. Jacques Pantalèon, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, who was at Viterbo imploring protection for the Christians of the East, was, to his surprise, raised to the pontifical throne, under the title of Urban IV. Wishing to unite into one the divided portions of east and west Christianity, he summoned S. Thomas to Rome to help him in realising his project. It was in the same year that S. Thomas came to Rome in answer to this appeal. His general gave him at once a chair of theology in the Dominican college at Rome, where he obtained the like success that had gained at Cologne and Paris. Here he wrote his literal commentary on Job, and the Catena Aurea. The chain of comments from the fathers is so perfect, the links of gold in it are so well rivetted to one another, that a biographer says that, "He speaks with all, and all speak and explain themselves by him." It was dedicated to the Pope, at whose solicitation it had been undertaken.

In the midst of the toil these works must have cost him, he did not forget the purpose for which he was summoned. All the time he was thinking out and penning his treatise, "Contra errores Græcorum." In his hands, and by the force of his irresistible logic, he showed that the ancient Greek fathers unanimously agreed with those of the Latin Church.[33]

[33] It is necessary to point out here that S. Thomas was misled by forgeries in this treatise. A Latin theologian, who had resided among the Greeks, composed a catena of spurious passages of Greek Councils and Fathers, and in 1261 it was laid before Urban IV., who, entirely deceived thereby, sent it to S. Thomas, who also accepted it without the least suspicion of its not being genuine.

This work was sent by the pope at once to Michael, emperor of Constantinople, as a message of peace. He had just returned to his capital, which Latin princes had held for more than half a century. The object of all his efforts was to reconstitute the power of the empire. To this task he brought an energy, a perseverance, and talents hitherto unknown among the sovereigns of that nation. He turned his eyes for help towards the pope; but it was the politician, rather than the Christian, that solicited the re-establishment of Catholic unity.

S. Thomas, at the request of an Eastern prince, wrote a treatise in refutation of the errors that were rife in that part of the world. Nothing could be more modest than the way in which he stated his purpose, nothing more grand than the way in which he worked it out.

Urban wished to reward his distinguished services. The great wealth he offered, the saint directed should be given to the poor. He declined the offer of the patriarchate of Jerusalem, and, shortly after, the honour of a cardinal's hat, for Thomas had thoroughly realized both the mysterious treasures of voluntary poverty and the hidden force of evangelical humility.

The pope, finding he could not attach our saint to his court by the ties of honours or riches, bade him lecture at the various places where he took up his abode, Viterbo, Orvieto, Perugia, Fondi. Everywhere a prodigious number of pupils pressed around his chair. The churches were too small to receive the numbers who flocked to hear him. Historians only record one course of Lent sermons preached by him in Rome.

One Christmas-eve he held a disputation with two Jewish Rabbis at the villa of a cardinal. After asking them to return in the morning, he passed the whole night in meditation and prayer. The Rabbis returned in the morning, but it was to ask for baptism.

In 1263, Thomas was sent to the Dominican general chapter, held in London, as "definitor," in the name of the Roman province.

Soon after his return to Italy, S. Thomas proposed to Urban the institution of a special festival throughout the Catholic Church in honour of the Holy Sacrament. When Urban was archdeacon of Liége, in the convent of Mont Cornillon, near one of the gates of the city, a poor religious named Juliana (April 3rd), as she prayed had a vision of the moon shining in all its splendour, but disfigured by one little breach. She desired to know its meaning, and an inner voice told her it was the Church, and that the breach represented the defect of a festival in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. After a time, an office in honour of the Blessed Sacrament was drawn up by a young religious. Robert de Torote, bishop of Liége, in 1246, appointed Thursday, in the octave of Trinity, for this feast.

Henry of Gueldres succeeded him as bishop, and treated the revelations of Juliana as folly. She died on 5th April, 1258, and left as a legacy to her friend Eve the duty of reviving this festival. Eve was a recluse built up in a niche of a wall near the church of S. Martin, at Liége, and through the hole by which she received light, air, and alms, besought the canons as they passed to seek out the bishop and entreat him to write to the pope on the subject of the proposed festival. The bishop did not disdain this humble prayer, but transmitted her message to the pope, who received at the same time the petition of the first doctor in the Church to the same effect. He wrote a letter to the poor recluse of S. Martin, in 1264, telling her of the issuing of a bull in answer to her prayer, and transmitting a copy of the office which the Angelical doctor had drawn up.

Clement IV. succeeded Urban on the 22nd of February, 1265. Shortly after his elevation he issued a bull appointing S. Thomas archbishop of Naples, and conferring on him the revenues of the convent of S. Peter ad Aram. But the pope was induced to recall it by the prayers and tears of our saint.

In this year we must place the first commencement of the "Summa Theologiæ." This was the greatest monument produced by that age.

Disgusted, as S. Thomas says in his preface, at the exuberance, the disorder, the obscurity of the scholastic treatises then extant, he had conceived the plan of a methodical and luminous summary, which should contain the whole of Christianity from the existence of God to the least precept of morality, all the speculative and practical points of revealed truth following in natural and logical order.

The saying current at the time, that "some proposition was true according to the master, Aristotle, but false according to the Gospel," clearly shows the antagonistic attitude occupied by the two powers in the opinion of the schools.

The "Summa Theologiæ" is divided into three great but unequal parts; for the second, much larger than the other two, is divided into two distinct sections.

The first part is a complete treatise on all existences, and especially on all intellectual existences, from that intelligence which is infinite in its nature as in its operations, to the intelligence which is bounded and severed by matter. It treats of God, of the Holy Angels, their qualities, and their abode, and of the Creation.

The first section of the second part contains a theory of man. It treats of happiness, as man's final object, of the passions, and of human acts, of the virtues in general, of sins, in their origin, nature, and effects.

The second section is closely allied to the first. It treats of the conditions of happiness and the moral laws, the three great virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. The impulse given to the soul by these three theological virtues communicates itself to the moral virtues as well; in treating of them afresh S. Thomas forms a universal theory of human duty.

The third part expounds the whole plan of Redemption. After having studied the work of Redemption in itself, S. Thomas studies it in its application to each individual. Thus he arrives at the theory of the Sacraments. But death did not give him time to finish this part of the work. It is interrupted where he treats on the fourth Sacrament, that of penance. An attempt has been made to complete it by various extracts from his other works, but one misses in this compilation the living hand of genius.

Before quitting this great subject, one word must be added on S. Thomas's method. It may be defined as geometry applied to theology. S. Thomas states, first of all, the theorem he is about to develop, or the problem which he proposes to solve. Then he considers the difficulties and solves them. He follows this up with a train of sustentations drawn from holy writ, tradition, and theological reason, and he ends by a categorical answer to all the objections which were made at the beginning. This order is invariably observed in every part of the work.

At the Council of Trent, on a table set in the midst of the council chamber, was placed the "Summa," alongside of the Holy Scriptures and the decrees of the popes. Well might Dante declare that the doctor inhabits a sphere above the reach of praise, or, with Lacordaire, exclaim, that "God alone can praise this great man in the eternal council of the Saints."

The "Summa Theologiæ" occupied the last nine years of our saint's life. The world was ignorant of the monument which was being raised in silence. Thomas preached, lectured, wrote as before.

About this time William of S. Amour republished his attack upon the religious orders, under the fresh title of "Collectiones S. Scripturæ;" our saint replied to it by issuing a fresh edition of his defence of the religious orders, and this silenced his foe.

During these nine years, Thomas visited several towns and convents of Italy. At Milan he wrote an epitaph on S. Peter Martyr. At Bologna he lectured with his usual success on theology.

In 1267, he published at Bologna a work on the duties of kings, but his task was interrupted in the same year by the death of his royal pupil, Hugo II., king of Cyprus.

Jean de Verceil had just sent to Thomas a famous tract in which the efficaciousness of the sacrament of penance was denied. He refuted it in a treatise called "De forma Absolutionis," with so much force and clearness that the Council of Trent adopted his very words in framing their canon.

About this time he was one day walking in the cloister of the convent at Bologna, plunged in deep meditation, when a lay brother, who did not know him, came up to him and said that he was obliged to go out on some matters of business, and that the superior had given him leave to take with him the first religious he met. S. Thomas, without excusing himself on the score of lameness from which he was then suffering, or of more serious engagements, went cheerfully with the lay brother; but the latter walked so fast, that Thomas was often left behind. But he was soon recognised, and the escort of citizens who respectfully followed the saint, opened the eyes of the lay brother. When they returned to the convent, the lay brother threw himself at the feet of Thomas and begged his pardon. Thomas raised him from the ground, saying, "It is not your duty, but mine to make an apology; for I ought to have remembered that my sore leg would not let me walk as fast as you wanted."

In 1269, Thomas was summoned to Paris, as "definitor" of the Roman province, to attend the general chapter of his order. S. Thomas prolonged his last sojourn in Paris for a year after the departure of S. Louis on his ill-fated crusade, in 1270, and during the whole time he continued to lecture, and to write his Summa.

S. Thomas was recalled to Bologna by his superiors early in 1271. Shortly after his return thither, he brought the second part of his Summa to a conclusion.

At the beginning of the year 1272, the chapter general of the order received requests from nearly all the universities of Europe that S. Thomas might lecture in them. The decision was in favour of Naples, for which he started at once. He visited Rome on his way, and there he began the last part of the Summa, and wrote his commentaries on several books of Boetius. Whilst he was explaining that book which treats of the Trinity, the candle which he held to light him, burnt down between his fingers, and scorched them severely, before his attention was aroused from his work.

After leaving Rome, Thomas and his inseparable friend Rainald were entertained at the villa of Cardinal Richard, where the two Rabbis were converted. Here Thomas fell ill, but the attack was slight, and quickly passed away.

In spite of all the precautions of Christian humility, his entry into Naples was a triumph. All classes, the lettered and the unlettered, the great and the small, hurried to welcome him. An excited yet respectful crowd accompanied him as far as the gates of that Dominican convent, where he had embraced religion. What would Theodora have said if she had seen her son entering in triumph that same house which she had regarded as the tomb of his glory?

The king, Charles I., assigned him a monthly pension, rather as a token of his royal favour, than as a reward for his services. The pilgrim who visits the Dominican convent at Naples, sees at the entrance of the great hall a representation of S. Thomas, and beneath it an inscription, "Before thou enterest, venerate this image and this chair, from which Thomas Aquinas uttered his oracles to a large number of disciples for the glory and felicity of his age."

The cardinal-legate of the holy see, wished to have an interview with our saint, and invited the archbishop of Capua, an old pupil of S. Thomas, to accompany him. The saint on being told of their arrival, went down into the cloister, but happening to be absorbed in thought, he forgot the object for which he had been summoned, and gravely continued his walk without taking any notice of them. The cardinal was offended, but the archbishop explained the cause of the saint's apparent rudeness. When Thomas woke from his reverie, he apologised, laying the blame on his feebleness of mind, which had not allowed him to find the solution of a theological difficulty without trouble and delay. The cardinal-legate withdrew, not knowing which to admire most, the learning, or the humility, of the doctor.

During the short space of a year and a half S. Thomas composed the 549 articles, which are all that we have of the last part of his Summa. Some commentaries on divers passages of Holy Writ came from his pen at the same time. The fleeting elements of this world faded gradually from his thoughts; his eye was fixed on other horizons.

The transports which he had always experienced in prayer, became daily more frequent.

Yielding to the entreaties of his friends, to the vow of obedience which he had taken, contrary to the inclination to which his natural humility led him, he revealed some of the supernatural favours which Heaven had vouchsafed to him.

Whilst praying in the church at Naples one day, we are told that Romanus, whom he had left in Paris as master of theology, stood before him. S. Thomas approached his friend and said, "Welcome here, when didst thou come?" "I have passed from this life," replied the figure, "and am permitted to appear on thine account." The Angelical exclaimed, "I adjure thee then to answer me these questions. How do I stand? Are my works pleasing to God?" "Thou art in a good state, and thy works do please God," was the reply. "Then what about thyself?" enquired the Angelical. "I am now in Eternal Bliss, but I have been in Purgatory." "Tell me," continued Thomas, "whether the habits which are acquired in this life remain to us in heaven?" "Brother Thomas," was the reply, "I see God, and do not ask for more." "How dost thou see God," rejoined the saint, "dost thou see Him immediately, or by means of some similitude?" The other answered, "Like as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts," Ps. xlvii. 9, (xlviii. 8,) and then instantly vanished.

While Thomas was writing his articles on the fourth Sacrament, he was praying one day in a chapel dedicated to S. Nicolas, when, as the story goes, the figure on the crucifix turned towards him and said, "Thomas, Thou hast written well of Me; what reward desirest thou?" "Nought, save Thyself, Lord," was the saint's spontaneous reply.

At length he became so absorbed in Divine things, that even the "Summa" itself failed to interest him. He ceased to write, after a marvellous rapture which seized him whilst celebrating mass in the chapel of S. Nicolas. After this mass, he did not sit down to his desk, nor would he consent to dictate anything. When Rainald urged him to finish the "Summa," he replied, "I cannot, for everything that I have written appears to me worthless compared with what I have seen, and what has been revealed to me."

Gregory X. wishing to carry out the union of the Greek and Latin churches, summoned S. Thomas, by special bull, to the Second Council of Lyons, and requested him to bring his famous treatise with him.

Our saint set out with Rainald for Lyons, towards the end of January, 1274. His health was feeble, and his mind was still fixed on the visions of another world. They travelled by way of the Campagna, and called at the castle of Maienza, in the diocese of Terracina, where Frances, wife of Hannibal Ceccano, niece of the Angelic Doctor, resided. Here the saint became much weaker, and did not rally. He wholly lost his appetite. After a while he felt himself a little stronger. The rumour of his proximity reached the Benedictine Abbey of Fossa Nuova, six miles from the castle. The monks came to invite him thither, and he gladly accepted the invitation, saying, "If the Lord means to take me away, it were better that I should die in a religious house, than in the midst of seculars."

He rode in their midst to the abbey; the monks helped him to dismount, and sustained him to the Church, where he knelt in silent adoration. Then rising, the abbot conducted him through the church into the cloister. Then the whole past seemed to break in upon him like a burst of overpowering sunlight; the calm abbey, the meditative corridor, the gentle Benedictine monks, recalled to him Monte Cassino, as in his boyish days. Completely overcome by the memories of the past, he turned to the monks accompanying him, and exclaimed, "_This_ is the place where I shall find repose;" and to Rainald he said, "This shall be my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein." (Ps. cxxxi. 14, A.V., cxxxii. 15.)

His fever increasing, he was conducted to the abbot's cell, which out of respect had been prepared for him. Here, during the whole of his illness, which lasted about a month, the community watched over him with the tenderness and reverence of sons towards a father. They excluded all servants from waiting on him; even the wood to make his fire was cut down in the forest by the hands of the brethren, and borne on their willing shoulders to his hearth. They were overjoyed to receive him into their home, and to minister to him of their choicest and best. He, patient as a child, knew that he was amongst his own, and yearned continually for his release, repeating continually the words of S. Augustine: "So long as in me there is ought which is not wholly Thine, O God, suffering and sorrow will be my lot. But when I shall be Thine alone, then shall I be filled with Thee, and wholly set at liberty."

Knowing how illumined this man of God was, concerning the union of the soul with its Beloved, the monks, notwithstanding his feeble condition, could not refrain from asking him to expound to them the Canticle of canticles. Ever since his great vision, the saint had put aside his pen. Still the monks implored him, reminding how blessed Bernard had done the like. The Angelical Doctor looked at them with unutterable gentleness, and said, "Get me Bernard's spirit, and I will do your bidding." Finally he yielded to them, and surrounding the bed on which he lay, they heard from the lips of the dying theologian, his last lecture and sermon.

Growing still weaker, S. Thomas foresaw that his hour was drawing nigh. He sent for Rainald, and with deep contrition and many sighs made a general confession. Having done this, he begged the brethren to bring him the Body of our Lord--that Lord, who from his infancy, had been the mainstay of his life, and the one desire of his heart. The abbot, accompanied by his community, came solemnly bearing the Blessed Sacrament. Immediately the great Angelical perceived his Master's presence, with the help of the brethren, he rose from the pallet, and kneeling upon the floor, adored his King and Saviour; and amidst the sobs of the monks, he made his act of faith in the Real Presence of his Lord. When he had made an end, and the abbot was on the point of administering the Saving Host to him, he exclaimed, in the hearing of all the monks: "I receive Thee, the price of my soul's redemption, for love of Whom I have studied, watched, and laboured. Thee have I preached, Thee have I taught, against Thee never have I breathed a word, neither am I wedded to my own opinion. If I have held ought which is untrue regarding this blessed Sacrament, I subject it to the judgment of the Holy Roman Church, in whose obedience I now pass out of life." Then, as the abbot lifted up the spotless Host to administer to him, with a torrent of tears he uttered his favourite ejaculation: "Thou, O Christ, art the King of Glory: Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father!" and received upon his tongue the Bread of Heaven. As the end was approaching, the abbot with the brethren watched about his bed; and those senses, which had served their Master with such generous loyalty, were one by one anointed with sacred unction by loving Benedictine hands at his request, whilst he, quite conscious of what was going on, answered "Amen" to the prayers of the minister of God.

The brethren, with untold tenderness and reverence, followed his countenance with their eyes, and watched life gradually ebbing away.

He was taken from exile in the early morning of the 7th of March, 1274, in the prime of manhood, being scarcely forty-eight years of age.

The religious of Fossa Nuova committed all that was mortal of S. Thomas to its resting place with the honour due to the remains of such a saint, and such a genius. The whole country side followed him mourning. The superior of the convent, a blind old man, was led to the side of the corpse to pay it a last tribute of respect. Seized with a sudden impulse of faith, he placed his sightless eyes to those of our saint, and the blind eyes of the dead restored the vision of the living monk. Rainald with tears, and choked with emotion, pronounced a funeral elegy over his master and friend, before he was laid at rest in the convent church. Many other miracles were wrought by his body.

On Sunday, Jan. 28th, 1369, his relics were deposited with great pomp at Toulouse, where they still repose in the Church of S. Sernan. The king, Charles V., wished his arm to be brought to Paris, and he received it on his knees in the chapel royal, which he had built for it at S. James's convent. This relic was at the French Revolution taken to Italy.

March 8.

S. PONTIUS, _D. at Carthage, circ._ A.D. 262.
SS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, _MM. at Antinoe, in Egypt_, A.D. 305.
SS. CYRIL, _B.M._, ROGATUS, FELIX, AND OTHERS, _MM. in Africa_.
S. QUINTILLUS, _B.M. at Nicomedia_.
S. SENAN, _of Iniscatthy, B. Ab. in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 546.
S. FELIX, _B. among the East Saxons_, A.D. 654.
S. JULIAN, _B. of Toledo_, A.D. 690.
S. THEOPHYLACT, _B.C. at Nicomedia_, A.D. 845.
S. HUMPHREY, _B. of Therouane_, A.D. 871.
S. DUTHAC, _B. of Ross_, A.D. 1250.
S. JOHN OF GOD, _C. at Granada_, A.D. 1550.

SS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, MM.

(A.D. 305.)

[By the Greeks on December 14th. By the Latins on March 8th. Arian and Theotychus, who are included in the Roman Martyrology, are not mentioned in any ancient Martyrologies except that of Usuardus. Authority:--The Acts, which as they now exist, are very corrupt. The original Acts have apparently been made a foundation to which a later Greek writer has added a superstructure of fable. The conversion and the martyrdom of the governor Arian has all the appearance of being an addition by a later hand, to complete the story, for the fabulous Greek Acts generally wind up with the conversion or destruction of the judge. This seems to have been regarded as the proper conclusion of every martyrdom.]

Arianus the judge, who had condemned S. Asclas (Jan. 23rd) to a cruel death, at Antinoë in Upper Egypt, did not leave the place till many other Christians had suffered by his orders. Now there was at Antinoë a deacon named Apollonius, who feared torture, being by nature of a highly sensitive and timorous constitution, and when the governor had given orders that every inhabitant should appear before him and sacrifice, he went to Philemon, a stage piper and dancer, and offered him money if he would go and sacrifice in his name, and bring him a ticket to the effect that Apollonius had sacrificed. Christians who thus acted were called libellatics; and on the return of tranquillity were put to penance, but were not regarded in the same light as apostates. Philemon asked Apollonius for one of his hooded cloaks, which would conceal his face, and then went before the judge.

Then Arian said, "Well, fellow, what art thou? A Christian perhaps, muffled thus, as if thou fearedst to be seen."

Philemon, filled with the grace of God, answered gravely, "Yes, my lord, I am a Christian."

"Thou knowest the choice that is set before thee, torture or sacrifice," said the magistrate.

"I will not sacrifice," answered the piper, "I saw how, by the power of God, Asclas held thee stationary in the midst of the river."

Then Arian, leaning back in his seat, said to his officers, "Send for Philemon the piper; perchance his sweet melodies will drive away the fancies of this fool, and allure him to the worship of our gods." But Philemon was not to be found; then his brother Theonas was brought in, and Arian asked him where was the piper Philemon. Theonas, looking intently at the prisoner, said, "That is he." Then the hood was plucked off the face of Philemon, and the cloak drawn from his shoulders, and it was the merry piper shod with his gay buskins, and with the tuneful reeds in his hands. Arian laughed heartily, and exclaimed that this was a rare joke. "We make no account of all this, man!" said he, "for to this thou wast born, and to this bred, that thou shouldst shake our sides with laughter. Now sacrifice, and end the farce."

But Philemon steadfastly refused, and Arian saw that no jest was meant, but that this was sober earnest. So putting on an angry look, he said, "It is foolery for thee to pass thyself off as a Christian, piper! for thou art not baptized." Then the poor man was filled with tribulation, and in his doubt and grief he cried to the Lord Jesus Christ to accept and baptize him. And as he prayed, there came down a soft sparkling spring shower, and the piper, stretching his hands to heaven, cried joyously, "He has heard me, and has baptized me in the cloud!"[34] And he took his pipes and broke them up, and cast them away. Now the officer had taken the deacon Apollonius, and they brought him before Arian, who reproached him for his cowardice; the deacon in shame admitted that he had done wrong. "But now," said he, in a firm voice, "know that I will not sacrifice." Then the judge ordered him and Philemon to be executed with the sword.

[34] There are several versions of this event. According to one, the judge and assistants were blinded whilst Philemon was carried to the river and baptized by a priest. But his prayer afterwards, "Thou hast baptized me in the cloud," proves this to have been an interpolation.

So far the Acts seem to be trustworthy, but what follows is fabulous; some of these incidents shall however be given. Philemon before his execution, bade the officers bring a brass pot, and put a baby in it, cover it, and take aim at it with their arrows. The pot was soon transfixed; but when it was opened, the child within was found unhurt. Then Philemon said, "Like that vessel is a Christian's body, riddled with wounds, but the soul within, like that infant, is unharmed." And when the governor ordered a flight of arrows to be discharged at him, he raised his hand, and the arrows remained stationary in the air, but one returning put out the eye of Arian. Then Philemon said, "When I am dead, go to my grave, and make clay of the dust there, and anoint thine eye, and it will be restored whole."

This Arian does and is healed, and in consequence converted. Then Dioclesian, hearing of his conversion, sends four officers to judge him, and these in turn are converted, and finally Arian and the four officers are sewn up in sacks and flung into the sea. All this may safely be rejected as fabulous.

S. SENAN OF INISCATTHY, AB. B.

(ABOUT A.D. 546.)

[Irish Martyrologies. He died on March 1st, but was buried on the 8th, on which day his festival is kept. His name occurs in the Festology of S. Ængus. Authorities:--A life written by S. Colman, versified by a later hand, and full of fables, also an Irish life written in the 12th cent.]

Senan was a native of Corco-baskin, a district in the western part of Thomond.[35] His parents were Christians and noble. Ercan, his father, is said to have been of the royal blood of Conary I., king of Ireland. Coemgalla, his mother, was likewise of an illustrious Munster family. An odd legend of his childhood is told. His parents were moving house, and Senan remained immersed in prayer, lending no hand to the work. Then his mother, provoked, threw some water over him to wake him up, and scolded him soundly. Senan resumed his devotions, and instantly the pots and pans of the domestic establishment came flying through the air from the kitchen of the old house into the kitchen of the new one.

[35] In the county Clare.

When arrived at a certain age, he was forced by the prince of Corco-baskin to join in an expedition undertaken against the territory of Corcomroe, for the purpose of carrying off plunder. This did not suit the disposition of young Senan, and accordingly he contrived to avoid taking any share in the devastation of the country. He was rewarded for this, for, when the party to which he belonged was routed with great loss, and he had fallen into the hands of their opponents, he was allowed to depart without injury, and go whithersoever he pleased. He therefore placed himself under the abbot Cassidan, and having received from him the monastic habit, became a proficient in piety and learning. Next he repaired to the monastery of S. Natalis, or Naal, with whom he spent some years. Several legends are connected with this period. He had to keep cows, and one day seeing the calves sucking them, and dreading lest there should be a deficiency of milk for the brethren, he put his stick between them, and neither could approach the other. Another story is to the effect that he read at night using the fingers of his left hand as candles,--a story told also of S. Columba, S. Kentigern, and other Irish and Scottish saints. A monk observed him; then Senan said, "For peeping and prying, a stork shall peck out your eye." And as the monk left the place, a stork rushed at him, and had one of his eye balls out in a trice. But when S. Natalis heard of this, he ordered Senan to replace the eye, and cure it instantly, and this he did. After Senan had left the monastery of S. Naal, he is said to have gone into foreign parts, to have visited Rome and Tours, and on his return to have tarried with S. David of Menevia, with whom he continued very intimate until his death. Senan's first establishment was at Inis-Carra, near the river Lee, about five miles from Cork, in the barony of Barrets. While he was in that place, a vessel arrived in Cork harbour, bringing fifty religious persons, passengers from the continent, who came to Ireland for the purpose of improving themselves in monastic studies. Senan retained ten of them with himself, the others were distributed in various establishments. He was not long at Inis-Carra, before Lugadh, prince of that country, insisted on his submitting to certain exactions, which Senan refused to comply with. The dispute was soon settled through the interference of two young noblemen, who were then at the court of Lugadh. Not long after, Senan, having left eight of his disciples at Inis-Carra, went to Inis-luinge, an island in the Shannon, where, having erected a church, he gave the veil to the daughter of Brendan, the prince of that country. Thence, setting out by water to Inis-mor, he was driven by adverse winds to an island called Inis-tuaiscert. Thinking that it was a special providence which had brought him there, he erected a church, and left it to the care of some of his disciples. He then made his way to Inis-mor,[36] and there founded a monastery, which he governed for some time. We afterwards find him settled in the island of Inis-cathaig, now Iniscatthy, at the mouth of the Shannon, where he erected a monastery in spite of the opposition of Mactael, the prince of the country. One of his rules was that no females should be admitted into the island. This regulation was observed even with regard to the most saintly virgins. S. Kannera, a nun of Bantry, wished to receive the Holy Viaticum from the hands of Senan, and to be buried at Iniscatthy. Accordingly she set out for the island, but, just as she drew near, Senan met her,[37] and obstinately refused to allow her to land, and requested her to go to the house of his mother, who lived not far distant, and was related to Kannera. The conversation given in the metrical life between the abbot and the dying nun, is very quaint. The abbot said, "What have monks in common with women? We will not let you step on to our island." She said, "But if Christ will receive my spirit, why should you reject my body?" "That," answered the venerable Senan, "is true; but for all that I will not suffer you to come here, go back, and do not be a plague to us. You may be pure enough in soul, but you are a woman, nevertheless." "I will die, before I go back!" said S. Kannera. Like many another woman, she gained her point, and, dying on the shore, was there buried.

[36] Inchmore, or Deer Island, in the river Fergus, where this river joins the Shannon.

[37] According to the legend, an angel brought her to Iniscatthy, and S. Senan ran out over the water, stick in hand, to arrest her.

Senan was a bishop when he founded his monastery of Iniscatthy, but when, or by whom he was consecrated, we are not informed. It is related that, perceiving the time of his departure draw nigh, he determined to go to the monastery of S. Cassidus, and to the nunnery of S. Scotia, his paternal aunt, that he might apply himself more fervently to prayer in these retreats, and prepare himself for his wished-for departure. On his way thither he turned off a little towards the church of Kill-eochaille, for the purpose of visiting certain holy virgins, the daughters of one Naereus, who had received the veil from him. Having performed his devotions in the church of S. Cassidus, he was returning to Iniscatthy, when, in a field near the church of Kill-eochaille, he heard a voice announcing to him that he was to be removed to heaven without delay. Accordingly, he died on that very day, and his body remained at Kill-eochaille until the next, when several of the principal members of his monastery arrived, and had it brought to Iniscatthy. Notice of his death was then sent to the prelates, clergy, and principal persons of the neighbouring churches, and his obsequies were celebrated on the octave. A foolish story, incorporated in some of the martyrologies, relates that on the day of his burial, as he was being carried to the grave, he sat up and informed the assistants that his anniversary was to be celebrated on the 8th March, instead of the 1st. The year of his death is unknown; but there can be no doubt that it was later than 544, the date assigned to it by some writers. The reputation of S. Senan has not been confined to Ireland, and his Acts have been published among those of the saints of Brittany, by Albert le Grand, as one of the chief patrons of the diocese of S. Pol de Léon; but the S. Sané there venerated seems not to be the same, but some local saint of whom nothing is known.

S. FELIX, B.

(A.D. 654.)

[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Salisbury Breviary, and more modern Anglican Martyrologies. Also Molanus and Greven, in their addition to Usuardus. Authorities:--Bede and Malmesbury.]

S. Felix was a native of Burgundy, where he made the acquaintance of Sigebert, prince of the East Angles, who had been banished by Redwald. This prince was instructed in the Christian faith, and was baptized by Felix, at that time a priest. Some time after this, upon the death of his half-brother, king Espenwald, the son of Redwald, who had been killed at the instigation of the cruel Penda, king of Mercia, Sigebert was called to England to succeed to the kingdom, and he made it his care to introduce Christianity among the East Angles, who occupied Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. For this purpose he invited S. Felix to his court, and he, without demur, quitted country, friends, and home, to preach the faith to an uncivilized pagan people. But first he visited Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, and from him he received his mission to the East Angles, and, as some say, his episcopal consecration. King Sigebert appointed Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast, as the head-quarters of his mission. Felix went about, preaching, founding churches and schools, and, through his exertions, the Christian faith took deep root in the land. Some attribute to him the foundation of the first school at Cambridge.

S. Felix lived till after the year 650, and having discharged the duty of a most zealous pastor of souls for the space of seventeen years, he departed to the Lord, and was buried in his church of Dunwich, from which place his body was afterwards translated to Soham, near Ely, and thence to the abbey of Ramsey.

S. DUTHAC, B. OF ROSS.

(ABOUT A.D. 1250.)

[Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities:--Leslie, Dempster, and the lections in the Aberdeen Breviary.]

S. Duthac was a member of an illustrious Scottish family. Several legends are told of his life in the Aberdeen Breviary, and little else is known of his acts. For instance, when a child, he was sent by his mother to bring fire from a forge, as all the fires in the house were extinguished. The blacksmith, in brutal jest, put some red-hot charcoal in the lap of the child, and Duthac brought the glowing embers thus to his mother. He was afterwards in Ireland, where he studied, and on his return was appointed to the bishopric of Ross. One day he was dining with a noble, and a guest becoming very drunk, gave his gold ring and a slice of meat to one of Duthac's disciples, ordering him to take them to his home. The disciple was on his way, when passing through a churchyard, he laid down the meat and the ring, whilst he said a prayer for the repose of the souls of those who lay there. At that moment a kite swooped down and carried off ring and meat. The young man ran to S. Duthac in dismay, and the bishop summoned the kite, which obeyed, and bringing the meat and the ring, deposited them at his feet. Duthac took the ring and gave it to the young man, but allowed the kite to consume the meat. On the feast of S. Finbar, a canon at Dornock slew a fat ox, roasted it, and distributed slices amongst the poor. "Surely some one will take Duthac his share of the beef," said the canon. Then a man offered himself, and lo! as he travelled by night with the meat for the bishop, a light like that of a lamp shone on his way, guiding him; and thus the bishop received his share before it had lost its freshness.

S. JOHN OF GOD, C.

(A.D. 1550.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--His Life, written twenty-five years after his death.]

S. John, surnamed of God, was born in Portugal, in 1495. His parents were of the lowest rank, but good and pious people. John spent a considerable part of his youth in service, under the chief shepherd of the count of Oropeusa, in Castile, and in great innocence and virtue. In 1522, he enlisted himself in a company of foot soldiers, raised by the count, and served in the wars between the French and Spaniards; and afterwards in Hungary, against the Turks, whilst the emperor Charles V. was king of Spain. By the licentiousness of his companions, he by degrees lost his fear of offending God, grew careless, and fell into many grievous sins. The troop to which he belonged having been disbanded, he went into Andalusia in 1536, where he entered the service of a rich lady near Seville, as a shepherd. He was now about forty years of age, and being stung with remorse for his past misconduct, he resolved to amend his life and do penance for his sins. He accordingly employed the greatest part of his time, both by day and night, in the exercises of prayer and mortification; bewailing his ingratitude towards God, and deliberating how he could best dedicate himself to His service. His compassion for the distressed moved him to pass into Africa, that he might there comfort and succour the slaves, not without hopes of meeting with the crown of martyrdom. At Gibraltar he met a Portuguese gentleman condemned to banishment, whose estate had been confiscated by king John III. He was then in the hands of the king's officers, together with his wife and children, and was on his way to Ceuta in Barbary, the place of his exile. John, out of compassion, served him without wages. At Ceuta the gentleman fell sick, and was reduced to dispose of the small remains of his shattered fortune for the support of his wife and children, who were with him in exile. John, not content to sell what little stock he had to relieve them, hired himself as a day labourer at the public works to earn all he could for their subsistence. The apostasy of one of his companions alarmed him, and his confessor telling him that his going in quest of martyrdom was an illusion, he determined to return to Spain. Coming back to Gibraltar, his piety suggested to him to turn pedler, and sell little sacred pictures and books of devotion, which might furnish him with opportunities of exhorting his customers to virtue. His stock increasing considerably, he settled in Granada, where he opened a shop in 1538, being then forty-three years of age.