Chapter X: S. Xystus, Pope 489 (8)

And now her little Agnes was taken from her, and was laid beside her brother Evangelista.

Four long years had elapsed, during which Rome had been given up to war, famine, and pestilence. The exertions of Francesca told at last on her enfeebled frame, and she fell dangerously ill. Vannozza never left her bedside, and nursed her with such love and care that she restored her to health. It was during this illness that Francesca had a vision of Hell. And now, in 1414, Ladislas died, and peace was restored to the States of the Church. The Ponziani were recalled from banishment, and their property was restored. Lorenzo and his son Baptista returned to their home, and to the wife and mother they had so longed to behold again. But the cup of joy was mixed with sorrow. Lorenzo, who a few years back was strong and active, was now broken by long sufferings, aged more through exile and grief than through years. We are told that when he entered his palace and looked upon his wife, deep sobs shook his breast, and he burst into tears. The two beautiful children whom he had left by her side were gone, and Francesca herself, pale with recent sickness, spent with ceaseless labour, was changed in form, and bloom, and brightness, by what she also had endured.

The household life was now to some extent restored. Francesca devoted all her leisure moments to prayer, but never allowed her spiritual exercises to interfere with her duty as a wife and mistress of a household. Her attention to Lorenzo's slightest wants and wishes was unceasing. She never complained of any amount of interruption or of trouble which his claims, or those of the house, or of her position in society, occasioned. One day that she was reciting in her room the office of the Blessed Virgin, her husband sent for her. Instantly rising from her knees, she obeyed his summons. When she had performed the trifling service he required, she returned to her prayers. Four successive times, for the most insignificant of purposes, was she sent for; each time with unwearied good humour she complied, and resumed her devotions without a shadow of discontent or annoyance. On resuming her book the last time that this occurred, great was her astonishment in finding the antiphon which she had begun four times, and had four times left unfinished, written in letters of gold. Vannozza, who was present, witnessed the miracle, and the gilded letters remained in the book to the day of her death.

Her son, Baptista, had now arrived at the age of eighteen, and at his father's advice he married a maiden, named Mobilia, of noble birth and singular beauty. Immediately upon her marriage, the bride came to reside under the same roof as her father and mother-in-law. She was received as a beloved daughter by Francesca and Vannozza, but she neither returned their affection nor appeared sensible to their kindness. Her head was completely turned at finding herself her own mistress, adored by her husband, and furnished with the most ample means of gratifying all her fancies. She gave no thought to anything but her beauty, her dress, and all the amusements within her reach. Wholly inexperienced, she declined to ask or to receive advice, and chose in every respect to be guided by her inclinations alone. Imperious with her equals, haughty with her superiors, she treated her mother-in-law with the most supreme contempt. In the gay societies which she frequented, it was her favourite amusement to turn Francesca into ridicule, and mimic her manners and style of conversation. "How can one feel respect," said she, "for an old woman who thinks of nothing but the poor, dresses plainly, and goes about the streets carrying bread and old clothes?"

It was in vain that Baptista, seriously annoyed at the insults offered to his dearly-loved mother, remonstrated with his wife. Mobilia persisted for long, till struck with sudden illness in the midst of a sharp and bitter speech addressed to her mother-in-law, she became alarmed lest God should punish her with greater severity, and she resolved to behave towards her with respect and love. And this grew till the young wife became passionately fond of Francesca, and venerated her for her virtues, which she strove hard to imitate. Francesca, with the most watchful love, nursed Mobilia in her confinements, and bestowed on her grandchildren the same cares that she had lavished on her own children. It was a great relief to her that Mobilia was able to assume the management of the house, and thus enable her to devote herself more unreservedly to the service of the poor and of the hospitals. A new epoch was now at hand in her career. God had placed in her heart many years ago a hope, which she had nursed in secret, and watered with tears, and fostered by prayer. Never impatient, never beforehand with God's providence, she waited. Lorenzo's admiration and affection for his wife had gone on increasing with advancing years; the perfection of her life, and the miracles he had so often seen her perform, inspired him with unbounded reverence. Taking her aside one day, he offered to release her from all the obligations imposed by the state of marriage, to allow her the fullest liberty of action, and the most absolute control over her person, her time, and her conduct, on one condition, that she would promise never to cease to inhabit his house. She accepted his proposal joyfully and gratefully, but she continued to devote herself to her excellent husband, and with the most attentive solicitude to render him every service in her power. He was now in very declining health, and she rendered him by day and by night all the cares of the tenderest nurse.

Seeing the necessity of a religious society for women living in the world, Francesca now formed a congregation of pious women, which was affiliated to the Olivetian monastery of S. Maria Nuova, and which comprised about ten noble Roman ladies, devoted like herself and Vannozza, to the service of God and the poor. She now lost her beloved sister Vannozza, and her director, Antonio Savelli, who had instructed her childhood, and guided her ever since with wisdom and faithfulness. She chose as her director and that of her congregation, Giovanni Mattiotti, curate of S. Maria in Trastevere, to whom she had already sometimes been to confession. He was a man of distinguished piety, but of an irresolute and vacillating disposition, easily disheartened. Her society, which was called the Congregation of Oblates of Mary, had lasted seven years, when Francesca decided that it would be advisable that it should have a convent in which to dwell. She took a house adapted to the requirements of a religious community, on the spot where an old tower, named "Tor di Specchi," used to stand. Various obstacles arose to the purchase of this house, which disheartened Mattiotti; but they were finally overcome, and the acquisition was completed towards the end of the year 1432. This house, which was at first considered only as a temporary residence, was subsequently added to, and has remained to this day the central house of the order. It was, doubtless, a trial to Francesca that whilst she was providing a home for her disciples, she was unable to avail herself of it, but she never hesitated as to her line of duty. Lorenzo had released her from all obligations but one, that of residing in his house, and watching over his old age. His infirmities were increasing, and her attentions were indispensable to his comfort. The rule adopted by the Oblates of Tor di Specchi remains the same to this day. They are not, strictly speaking, nuns: they take no vows, and are bound by no obligations under pain of sin; they are not cloistered, and their dress is that which was worn at the period of their establishment by the widows of the Roman nobles.

It was on the Feast of the Annunciation, 1433, that the Oblates, ten in number, met in the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, heard Mass, and communicated, then went in procession to the house they were thenceforth to inhabit. That house, which now-a-days is thrown open during the Octave of the Feast of S. Frances, is no gloomy abode. The beautiful chapel; the garden, with its magnificent orange trees; the open galleries, with their little oratories, where a holy picture or figure takes you by surprise, and meets you at every turn; the light, airy rooms, where religious prints and ornaments, with flowers, birds, and ingenious toys, testify that innocent enjoyments are encouraged among the children educated therein by the Oblates of S. Mary.

But on the day when Francesca's companions first entered these walls, there was nothing very fair or beautiful to greet them, though they carried thither, in their hearts, from the altar they had just left, the source of all light and love. With delight they exchanged their ordinary dress for that which the rule prescribed. Francesca alone stood among them no nun in her outward garb, but the truest nun of all, through the inward consecration of her whole being to God.

Francesca had been forty years married to Lorenzo Ponziano, and blessed had that union been by the tender affection which had reigned between the husband and the wife, and sanctified by the exercise of no common virtues, by the pursuit of no transitory object. Francesca had led the way, in meekness, in humility, in subjection, but with a single aim and an unwavering purpose. Lorenzo's health had been breaking up for some years past, and now it utterly failed, and his disease assumed an alarming character. Few men would have shown themselves as worthy as he did of such a wife as Francesca. From the moment of his marriage he had appreciated her virtues, rejoiced in her piety, encouraged her good works, and to a great extent shared in them. He had his reward. Francesca tended him to the last with indefatigable love. He had been a just man, and his death was the death of the righteous. Francesca was now free to follow the bent of her desire. She took leave of Mobilia and her son, and went straight to Tor di Specchi. It was on the 21st of March, the feast of S. Benedict, that she entered its walls, not as the foundress, but as a humble suppliant for admission. At the foot of the stairs, having taken off her black gown, her veil, and her shoes, she knelt down, and made her general confession in the presence of the community, and then asked permission to dwell amongst the Oblates. The spiritual daughters of S. Frances hastened to raise and to embrace her, and clothing her with their habit, they led the way to the chapel, where they all returned thanks to God.

At the same moment, her angel guardian was changed; another, brighter and more beautiful, stood beside her, weaving a golden woof out of threads, which he drew from a palm branch. And this angel, ever busy on this mystic work, remained beside her till her death, in place of the other.

Agnes de Lellis, the superior, then resigned her office, and the sisters with one accord insisted on Francesca assuming the direction of the house. She positively refused to do so, but her objections were overruled by the director, and unable to resist his orders, she assumed the office on March 25th.

We have not space to give an account of the life of the blessed Francesca as a superior, or to detail the miracles she was enabled to work; for these we refer the English reader to the life of this saint by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. On March 3rd, 1440, when Francesca was fifty-six years old, she was sent for to see her son Baptista, who was laid up with a sharp attack of fever. She instantly obeyed the summons, and spent the day at the Ponziano palace; but towards evening she grew so ill that she could scarcely stand. However, she persisted in returning to her convent. On her way she stopped at the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, and found there her confessor, Giovanni Mattiotti, who, noticing her altered looks, ordered her at once to return to her son's house. The order was a trial to her, for she felt that she would never again enter the hallowed walls of Tor di Specchi; but, faithful to the spirit of perfect obedience, she went back to the palace. In the course of the night a virulent fever came on, and she became so seriously ill that all hopes of her recovery were abandoned. And now the angel had nearly done his mystic task, the golden web was complete, and he folded up the glistening tissue about the palm. The day of March 9th was far advanced. "What are you saying?" asked her confessor, seeing her lips move. "The vespers of the Blessed Virgin," she answered, in a scarcely audible voice. As an infant she had begun the practice; and on the eve of her death she had not omitted it.

S. Francesca was canonized May 29th, 1608.

Relics in S. Maria Nuova, at Rome.

In art she appears with an angel by her side, sometimes contemplating Hell open.

March 10.

SS. CAIUS AND ALEXANDER, _MM. at Apamea, in Phrygia, after_ A.D. 171.
SS. CODRATUS, DIONYSIUS, CYPRIAN, ANECTUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at
Corinth, circ._ A.D. 258.
SS. FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE, _circ._ A.D. 320.
S. MACARIUS, _B. of Jerusalem, circ._ A.D. 335.
S. KESSOG, _B. in Scotland, 6th cent._
S. ANASTASIUS THE PATRICIAN, _C. in Egypt_, A.D. 567.
S. DROCTOVEUS, _Ab. at S. Germain, in Paris, circ._ A.D. 576.
S. ATTALUS, _Ab. of Bobbio, in Italy_, A.D. 626.
S. HYMELIN, _P. at Visenaeken, in Belgium, 8th cent._
B. JOHN SARCANDER, _P.M. at Holleschan, in Upper Silesia_,
A.D. 1620.[40]

[40] Roman Martyrology. He was born at Skotsoehan, in 1576, then became priest of Holleschan, where he was put to death with the utmost barbarity by Protestants, on March 10th, 1624, partly out of hatred to his religion, partly because he would not disclose the secrets of the confessional.

SS. CAIUS AND ALEXANDER, MM.

(AFTER A.D. 171.)

[Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Notker, &c. Authority:--Eusebius, lib. v. c. 16.]

Nothing more of these martyrs is known than the brief mention in Eusebius, quoting from Apollinaris of Hierapolis, that they were natives of Eumenia, and that they suffered at Apamea.

SS. CODRATUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.

(ABOUT A.D. 258.)

[Inserted in the Menologium of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogeneta, also in the Roman Martyrology. Authority:--A Greek life published by Bollandus, of uncertain date, and very questionable authority.]

In the persecution of Decius many Christians fled to the mountains and deserts until the tyranny was overpast. Amongst these was a woman who was expecting her confinement; she hid in a wild place amongst the rocks, and there brought forth a child whom she named Codratus. He was brought up in the desert during his infancy, and growing to maturity, was joined by other young men desirous of a retired life. They were taken before the governor Jason, at Corinth, and were executed.

THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE.

(ABOUT A.D. 320.)

[Roman Martyrology. Amongst the Greeks on March 9th; the ancient Martyrology attributed to S. Jerome on March 9th, as also that of Bede, and most ancient Martyrologies. In the Roman, it has been transferred to the 10th, because the feast of S. Frances is a double. Authorities:--The Ancient Latin and Greek Acts, the former a recension of more ancient Acts, made in 900; the latter of less antiquity, also the Armenian Acts. These saints are spoken of by S. Ephraem Syrus, (d. 378), and by S. Gregory Nyssen, (d. 396), and S. Basil has a sermon on them. There is also a homily upon them extant by S. Gaudentius, B. of Brescia, (375.) The invention of their relics is mentioned by Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. lib. ix. c. 2.]

When the Emperor Licinius had broken with his brother-in-law Constantine, he threw off the mask of toleration he had worn, and openly persecuted the Christians. When in Cappadocia, he published an edict commanding every Christian, on pain of death, to abandon his religion. Agricola, governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, resided at Sebaste, where S. Blaise, bishop of that city, was one of the first victims. In the army which was quartered there was the Thundering Legion. Its commanding officer was Lysias. Forty soldiers of that legion, natives of different countries, but all young, brave, and distinguished for their services, refused to sacrifice to the idols. When Agricola announced the imperial order to the army, these forty brave men advanced to his tribunal, and announced themselves to be Christians. They were at once cast into prison, where they raised the 90th (91st) psalm, in solemn chant, as the darkness closed upon them; "Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High; shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Our blessed Lord appeared to them, and bade them play the man, and win the crown of victory. Then Cyrio, one of the confessors, said to his brethren, "It has pleased God to unite us forty brethren in one communion of faith and warfare, let us not part in life or in death. Let us ask of God to send us forty to our crown together."

Six or seven days after they were brought again before the governor, and were sentenced to be exposed naked through the bitter winter night on the ice of a pond; but he ordered that a fire and warm bath should be prepared in a small building opening on the pond, and that any of the confessors who should take advantage of this should be regarded as having apostatized.

Night closed in over the city. The shops were shut; the streets were still. Men went not willingly forth into the bitter cold. No friendly cloud hung in the sky--it was a clear, starry night;--the constellations glowed in the intense frost. The citizens heaped up their fires, and gathered closer around them. The soldiers canvassed the constancy of the sufferers. There, on the frozen pool, stood the martyrs of Jesus Christ. From the open door of the hut, a bright cheerful gleam of fire-light shone; reflecting itself on the clear dark ice. Some presently fell, and slept that sleep which ends only in death; some walked hurriedly up and down, as if to keep in the heat of life; some stood with their arms folded, almost lost in prayer; some consoled themselves and their brethren in the conflict. They prayed earnestly that He, who had in a special manner consecrated the number forty to Himself; who had bade Moses tarry in the mount forty days, who had fed Elijah with that food, in the strength whereof he went forty days and forty nights; who had given Nineveh forty days for repentance; they called on Him who had Himself fasted forty days, and had lain forty hours in death, not to fail them then. "Forty wrestlers," they said, "O Lord, we have entered the arena; let forty victors receive the prize!"

One of the soldiers guarding the pond was waiting by the fire, and slept. And in his sleep he beheld this vision. He stood by the side of the pool, and saw the martyrs in their conflict. As he gazed on them, an angel came down from the sky with a golden crown in his hands. Its brightness was not of this world; it was most bright, most beautiful. He brought another, and another, and another, till the dreamer perceived that he was charged with the everlasting diadems of the victorious martyrs. Nine-and-thirty crowns he brought, but he came not with the fortieth.

"What may this mean?" he asked, as he awoke. As he was wondering, there was a stir without, and the soldiers brought in one of the confessors. He could endure it no more, he had come to the fire and the warm bath. He who had dreamed went forth. Still the cloudless night; still the intense piercing blast from the range of the Caucasus. Most of the sufferers, on the frozen pool, had fallen where they stood. To them the bitterness of death was past; for they were in the last fatal sleep; and their diadem, though not yet attained, were certain. Others were praying, "Forty wrestlers we have entered the arena; let forty victors receive the prize."

O wonderful power of prayer in all! but most wonderful virtue of intercession in Christ's martyrs! At that moment a thought rushed into the mind of the soldier; a thought so sweet, so cheering, that the bitter Armenian night seemed to him as pleasant as the breath of a May morning. "One has fallen from his crown; I may attain to it."

In half-an-hour he had roused the governor from his sleep, and had professed himself a Christian. In half-an-hour more he stood himself on the frozen pool, a confessor among the other confessors. And there was yet life in some of the sufferers to hail this new brother in arms in the spiritual warfare. He, too, contending to the end, received the prize; the virtue of Baptism, as the Church has ever taught, being supplied to him in this case by the grace of that martyrdom whereof he was accounted worthy.

Morning broke at last, and a few still lived, amongst others Melithon, the youngest of the soldiers. Agricola ordered the legs and arms of those who survived to be broken, and as the order was carried into execution, they sang faintly with their frozen lips, "Our soul hath escaped out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we are delivered." The mother of Melithon was present. She raised him in her arms, and laid him with the other bodies in the wagon which was to convey them to a fire in which they were all to be consumed. Melithon still lived, and smiled faintly upon her. "Oh, son of my bosom, how glad am I to see thee offer to Christ the last remains of thy life. Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that thou hast sucked!" And she followed the tumbril to the fire into which her yet breathing son was cast, together with the frozen bodies of his comrades.

A few fragments still remain of the church, which in after years was raised on the scene of the martyrdom. The names of these martyrs were Quirio or Cyrio, Candidus, Domnus, Melitho, Domitian, Eunoicus, Sisinius, Heraclius, Alexander, John, Claudius, Athanasius, Valens, Helianus, Ecditius, Acacius, Vivianus, Helias, Theodulus, Cyrillus, Flavius, Severian, Valerius, Chudio, Sacerdo Priscus, Eutychius, Smaragdus, Philoctimo, Aetius, Nicolas, Lysimachus, Theophilus, Xantheas, Augias, Leontius, Hesychius, Caius and Gorgo.

S. MACARIUS, B. OF JERUSALEM.

(ABOUT A.D. 335.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Eusebius, Theodoret Socrates.]

S. Macarius was created bishop of Jerusalem in the year 314. He was present at the great council of Nicæa, against Arius, whom he always opposed from the beginning of his heretical teaching. The historian Socrates has preserved for us a letter written to him by the Emperor Constantine. There was another Macarius, bishop of the same see, in the reign of the Emperor Justinian, who was driven from his see for defending the heresy of the Origenists; but having recanted, was restored.

S. KESSOG, B. C.

(6TH CENT.)

[Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--David Camerarius, Thomas Dempster, and the Lections in the Breviary.]

Kessog or Makkessog, as he is otherwise called, an Irish prince by birth, and an itinerary bishop in the province of Boyne, laboured for the spread of the Gospel in Scotland. He is said to have settled in Lennox; and Thomas Dempster says he was represented in art dressed as a soldier with a bow in his hand and a quiver at his back.

S. DROCTOVEUS, AB.

(ABOUT A.D. 576.)

[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Usuardus, and Maurolycus. Authority:--An ancient life written after the destruction of the original life by the Danes when they burnt the monastery of S. Germain.]

S. Droctoveus, vulgarly called in France S. Drotté, was born in the diocese of Autun, in Burgundy. In his youth he was placed with S. Germain, in the abbey of S. Symphorian, at Autun, of which he was abbot. He was formed there upon the most perfect model of virtue. S. Germain having been elevated to the bishopric of Paris, wished to continue to live as a monk. Wherefore he withdrew his disciple Droctoveus from the abbey of S. Symphorian, and brought him to Paris. King Childebert having built a church in which to place the stole of S. Vincent, which he had carried back with him from Saragossa in the year 542, on his return from his Spanish expedition, and chosen this church as his place of sepulture, he was buried there in 558, and S. Germain dedicated the church on the same day as his burial, under the title SS. Cross and Vincent. He established a monastery adjoining it, over which he set S. Droctoveus, with whose virtues he was well acquainted. Droctoveus governed the monastery for twenty years, and established its fame. The monks afterwards embraced the rule of S. Benedict, and the house and church took the name of S. Germain after the body of that prelate had been transferred to it.

S. HYMELIN, P.

(8TH CENT.)

[Belgian Martyrology of Molanus, Aberdeen Breviary, and Anglican Martyrology. Authority:--A life founded on notices in the Martyrologies and popular tradition, by John Gilleman, about 1480.]

The Blessed Hymelin, priest and confessor, was a near relative of S. Rumbold, and an Irishman. Of his early life nothing is known. He undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, and on his return was attacked by a virulent fever at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, in Brabant. He sank exhausted on a bank, and a girl noticed his haggard looks and evident sickness as she was returning from the well with her pitcher. Hymelin extended his hands to her, and implored her to give him a draught of water, but she had received strict orders from her master, the curate of the place, not to let any one touch the pitcher, as the plague was then raging, and he feared infection. She therefore reluctantly refused the draught.

"I am very sick, and perhaps dying," said the Irish pilgrim; "I pray you deny me not this little gift."

"My good friend," answered the maid, "I would gladly refresh you, were it not that I am under orders. But come home to my master, and he will give you food and drink of the very best." "I cannot stir from this place, I am far too ill," said Hymelin; "I pray you let me taste the cool water. I am consumed with thirst." She looked at the man's ghastly countenance with fiery spots on the cheek, and was unable to refuse any longer, so she held her pitcher to his lips; he drank, thanked her, and she went to her master with the vessel. The curate took the pitcher, set it to his lips, and drawing it suddenly away, exclaimed, "Thou hast brought me wine, not water!" And it was so. The water had been converted into wine. Then she told him all that she had done; and he ran and brought the wayfarer to his house, and laid him on his bed, and nursed him till he died. And as the soul of Hymelin fled, the chimes of the church began to play sweetly in the air, though no man touched the bells. Hymelin was buried in the parish church of Vissenaeken, where his body still remains, and every year, on March 10th, attracts a large concourse of pilgrims.

March 11.

S. GORGO, _M. at Tours_.
S. ALBERTA, _V.M. at Agen_, A.D. 286.
SS. TROPHIMUS AND THALUS, _MM. at Laodicea, circ._ A.D. 300.
S. VINCENT, _Ab., M. at Leon, in Spain, circ._ A.D. 555.
S. CONSTANTINE, _K., Monk and M., in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 576.
S. SOPHRONIUS, _Patr. of Jerusalem_, A.D. 638.
S. VIGILIUS, _B.M. of Auxerre_, A.D. 689.
S. VINDICIAN, _B. of Cambrai and Arras, circ._ A.D. 712.
S. EUTHYMIUS,_ B.M. at Sardis, circ._ A.D. 827.
S. ANGUS OF KELD, _B. and Ab. in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 824.
S. EULOGIUS,_ P.M. at Cordova_, A.D. 859.
S. PETER THE SPANIARD, _H. at Babuco, in the Campagna of Rome_.
S. AURIA, _V. in Spain, circ._ A.D. 1100.

S. GORGO, M.

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--An account of the Translation of his relics by an eye-witness in 847, published by Bollandus.]

At Tours, on this day is celebrated the festival of S. Gorgo the martyr, whose body, found at Rome, on the Appian way, near that of S. Cecilia, was transported to the great monastery of Tours in 847, and on the way worked many miracles of healing. The Roman Martyrology names on the same day another Gorgo, martyr at Antioch, of whom nothing further is known.

S. ALBERTA, V. M.

(A.D. 286.)

[Venerated at Agen. Authority:--The Agen Breviary.]

Alberta, the sister of S. Faith in blood and religion, and one of the first martyrs of the Agenois, earned the double crown of virginity and martyrdom. Her relics, long preserved at Périgueux with those of S. Phebadas, were translated to the church of Benerque, on the Ariége, where they are preserved to this day.

S. VINCENT, AB. M.

(ABOUT A.D. 555.)

[Benedictine Martyrology, and that of Leon, and other Spanish churches. Tamayus Salazar complains, "The Acts of S. Vincent are shut up in the Spanish Benedictine Libraries, and are never shown by the most reverend fathers, possibly lest they should become too common, content rather that they should lie in bags and boxes, buried in dust and cobwebs, rather than exposed for the public benefit." We have, accordingly, in Bollandus, only a compendium of the Acts by the historian, Antonio Yepes, gathered from MSS., at Leon, and the lections of the monastic breviary of Coimbra.]

When the Vandals overran Spain, in company with the Suevi and the Alani, the Suevi settled down in Gallicia and part of Portugal, whilst the Vandals crossed into North Africa. They were Arians, and their king, Hermanrik, and his son, Richild, harassed the Catholics in every way possible, destroying or seizing on their churches. The Arians drew Vincent, abbot of S. Claudius, before the prince, charging him with contempt of the laws made against the Catholics. He boldly proclaimed the divinity of Jesus Christ before the king, and was ordered to be beaten and thrown into prison. Next day he was again brought before the king, and was condemned to death. The executioner struck at him with his sword, and clave his skull. His martyrdom was followed by that of the prior, Ramirus, and twelve of the monks of his house.

Relics: the body of S. Vincent in the cathedral of Oviedo. The body of S. Ramirus was translated, April, 26th, 1596, to the monastery of S. Claudius, at Leon.

S. CONSTANTINE, K. MONK AND M.

(ABOUT A.D. 576.)

[Aberdeen Breviary, Cologne and German Martyrologies. Not to be confused with Constantine, the successor of king Arthur, nor with Constantine, the Scottish king, who resigned his throne to live as a monk at S. Andrews, in 943. Authority:--The Aberdeen Breviary, John Fordun, John of Tynemouth, and mention in the Life of S. David.]

Constantine, son of Padarn, king of Cornwall, was married to the daughter of the king of Brittany, but had the misfortune to lose his wife by death shortly after. He was so deeply attached to her, that he could find no rest in his loneliness. Therefore, resigning his crown, and bidding farewell to his subjects, he crossed over into Ireland, and entered a monastery, without declaring who he was, and whence he came. He was ordered to grind the corn for the brothers; and for seven years he filled this situation. But one day as he sat in the granary, working the rude stone quern with his hands, and thinking himself alone, he laughed, and said, "Is this then, king Constantine of Cornwall, who wore helm and bore shield, who drudges thus at a hand-mill? It is the same, and it is not the same."

Now it happened that one of the brethren was in the granary and heard this, therefore he stole off unperceived to the abbot, and told him who his miller was. Then the abbot called the others, and all the brethren hasted to the mill, and drew Constantine therefrom, and made him one of themselves, instructed him in letters; and finally, by the grace of God, he was ordained priest. And after that, he bade them all farewell, and crossed over into Scotland, and was with S. Columba and S. Kentigern, who sent him to preach the Word in Galloway. And afterwards he was made abbot, but of what monastery is not specified, though there can be little doubt it was Glasgow. Now, when he was very old, he went a mission into Kintyre, where he was assailed by the heathen, who knocked him down and cut off his right arm. Having called his brethren about him, and blessed them, he gently bled to death. He is regarded as the first martyr of Scotland.

S. SOPHRONIUS, PATR. OF JERUSALEM.

(A.D. 638.)

[Greek Menologium and Menæa on this day, also the Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--His Life collected from various sources, by Bollandus, and an epitome of his life in the Greek Menæa.]

Sophronius, surnamed the Sophist, was the son of pious parents at Damascus. His learning and virtue caused his election to the patriarchal throne of Jerusalem. On the invasion and capture of Jerusalem, by Chosroes, king of Persia, Sophronius fled to his friend, S. John the Almsgiver, (Jan. 23rd,) patriarch of Alexandria, who supported him till he was able to return to his see. He held a synod at Jerusalem, against the Monothelites, and drew up a synodal letter on that occasion, which was sent to pope John IV.

S. VINDICIAN, B. OF ARRAS.

(ABOUT A.D. 712.)

[Arras Martyrology. Authority:--A Life by Balderic, bishop of Noyon.]

This saint was a disciple of S. Eligius. He was born at Bulcourt, in Bapaume, about the year 620. He spent many years in seclusion on Mont S. Eloi, where S. Eligius lived with ten others, in the practice of great austerities. He was nominated by S. Aubert, bishop of Arras, his vicargeneral. In 675, on the death of S. Aubert, he was elected bishop of Cambrai and Arras. He completed, in 691, the abbey of S. Waast, begun by his predecessor, dedicated the church of the monastery of Elnone, and that of the abbey of Hasnon. S. Leger, bishop of Autun, having been killed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace, and as the king, Thierry III., was suspected of having connived at the deed, several bishops deemed it expedient to remonstrate with the king, through some one of authority and renown for his sanctity. Vindician was chosen for this dangerous task, and he executed the commission with such prudence and firmness, that he attracted the admiration of the court, and succeeded in bringing the king to repentance. On his return to his diocese, he built the monastery of Honcourt; and at last, wearied with the cares of his diocese, he laid them aside, and retired, to be alone with God, and prepare for his passage, into a hermitage on Mont S. Eloi, and died at the age of ninety-two. His relics are preserved in the cathedral of Arras.

S. EUTHYMIUS, M. B. OF SARDIS.

(ABOUT A.D. 827.)

[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on Dec. 11th. Authorities:--The Greek Menæa, and the Acts of the second council of Nicæa, also the Chronography of Leo the Grammarian, Cedrenus, Zonaras, &c.]

S. Euthymius, bishop of Sardis, was one of the most zealous defenders of images against the Iconoclastic emperors. He flourished under the empress Irene, and her son, Constantine VI., as abbot, but was then created bishop, and took a prominent part in the second council of Nicæa. Under the emperor Nicephorus he was sent into exile, together with other bishops, to Patalarea, for having admitted a virgin to the religious life. For the next nine-and-twenty years he did not see his diocese. When Leo the Armenian assumed the purple, he recalled Euthymius, but before restoring him to his see, he demanded of him whether he venerated images. The saint boldly replied, "O emperor, it belongs not to thee to meddle with the affairs of the Church. To thee is given the care of the State and the government of the army. Attend to them, and suffer the Church to remain faithful." This answer so angered Leo, that he ordered him to be banished to Assos. On the death of Leo by assassination, his successor, Michael the Stammerer, recalled Euthymius, and again demanded whether he reverenced sacred images. And when Euthymius protested that he reverenced whatever represented or recalled Christ, the tyrant banished him to Acrita, where he was cast into a noisome dungeon, and afterwards, by the emperor's orders, was brought out and stretched on the ground, with his hands and feet attached to posts, at the utmost distention possible, and then was cut and lashed with cow-hide scourges, till he died.

S. ANGUS OF KELD, B. AB.

(ABOUT A.D. 824.)

[Irish Martyrology. Authority:--Colgan.]

Angus, surnamed Kel-Dhu, a man of great love and fervour in the service of God, was born in Ireland in the eighth century, of the race of the Dalrhidians, kings of Ulster. In his youth, renouncing the pomp and vanities of the world and all earthly pretensions, he chose Christ for his inheritance, and entered religion in the famous monastery of Cluain-Edneach, in East Meath, under the holy abbot Malathgen. There he became such a proficient in virtue and learning that he was thought to excel all others in Ireland. He is said to have sung a hundred and fifty psalms every day, fifty of which he recited standing up to his neck in water, in winter and summer; and three hundred times a day he adored God on his bended knees. Finding that his sanctity attracted attention, he privately withdrew from his monastery, and disguising himself, took refuge in that of Tamlacht, three miles from Dublin, where he was received as an outside novice by the abbot Moelruan, and for seven years was given the meanest drudgery of the monastery. At length his great merit was discovered, and his name having been found out, the abbot apologised to him for having set him such degrading tasks, and brought him into the brotherhood. S. Angus became afterwards abbot of Desert-Aenguis and Cluain-Edneach, where he was raised to the office of bishop, the abbots in the ancient Irish Church being very generally bishops as well, but without territorial jurisdiction.

S. Angus is regarded as one of the most famous writers of Ireland. He composed a metrical martyrology, and five books of lives of the saints of Ireland, together with other treatises.

S. EULOGIUS, P. M.

(A.D. 859.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--An account of his life and martyrdom by his friend Alvar.]

Eulogius belonged to one of the principal families of Cordova, then in the hands of the Moors, who had constituted it their capital. These Mohammedans, who had ruined the Gothic kingdom in Spain, had not succeeded in trampling out Christianity. They did, indeed, suffer Christians to exercise their religion, and for this indulgence they obliged them to pay a heavy tax, but Christians were strictly forbidden, on pain of death, to make converts. Eulogius had a fellow scholar at Chute-Clar, a monastery on the north-west of Cordova, named Alvar, to whom he was warmly attached, and who became afterwards his biographer. On reaching his maturity, Eulogius taught letters in Cordova, and was ordained priest. In the year 850, the Moors began to persecute the Christians, and the metropolitan bishop of Andalusia, Reccafred, instead of defending his flock against the wolves, basely taking the part of the king, Abderahman, arrested all the clergy of Cordova, together with their bishop, and threw them into prison. S. Eulogius, from his dungeon, wrote an exhortation to two virgins, named Flora and Mary, exhorting them to stand fast in the faith. "They threaten to sell you as slaves, and dishonour you, my daughters, but know that whatever infamy they may heap upon you, they cannot defile the virginal purity of your souls." But these holy maidens were spared this terrible humiliation, being executed with the sword.[41] S. Eulogius and the other prisoners heard with joy of their triumph, and celebrated a mass of thanksgiving to God in their dungeon.

[41] It is not known what the occasion of the persecution was, and why the metropolitan sided against the bishop of Cordova and his clergy, but there is every probability that it was because they had attempted the conversion of some of the Moors; and Reccafred, as a moderate man, preferred quiet and toleration to missionary efforts and persecution.

Six days after, S. Eulogius and the other priests were released; and he at once composed a metrical account of the passion of the virgins Flora and Mary.

Under Mohammed, the successor of Abderahman, the persecution became still more cruel, and S. Eulogius was constantly employed in encouraging timorous Christians, who, to escape death, or the irksome disabilities and petty tyranny to which they were subjected, were prepared to desert Christ.

The number of martyrs at this time was very great, and Eulogius collected all the acts of their passion into a history, in three books, entitled "The Memorial," which still exists. He then composed an "Apology" against those who disputed their title, as martyrs, because, firstly, they wrought no miracles like the ancient martyrs; secondly, they had offered themselves to death; thirdly, they had died by a stroke of the sword instead of through lingering torture; fourthly, they had not been killed by idolators, but by Mohammedans, who worshipped the One true God.

After the death of the archbishop of Toledo, the clergy and people of that city cast their eyes on Eulogius, as his successor. But God was about to crown him with martyrdom. There was in Cordova a girl named Leocritia, who had been converted from Mohammedanism to Christianity. For a Moslem to profess the religion of Christ was death. To save her, Eulogius hid her in the house of his sister, Annulona, and when the officers of justice were in pursuit of her, he conveyed her from one Christian house to another. But this could not last long. The place of her concealment was discovered, and Leocritia was taken, and Eulogius, for having secreted her, was also confined. He was ordered to execution, and was decapitated on Saturday, March 11th, 859, and Leocritia suffered the following Wednesday, and was buried in the church of S. Genes, at Cordova. Because March 11th usually falls in Lent, the Church of Cordova transfers the feast of S. Eulogius to June 1st, the day of the first translation of his body, and observes it with an Octave. The body was afterwards carried to Oviedo, together with that of S. Leocritia, on Jan. 19th, 883, and a third translation took place to Camarasanta, in 1300. For Flora and Mary, see November 24.

S. PETER THE SPANIARD, H.

(DATE UNCERTAIN.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--A Life from MS. of Babuco, published by Bollandus.]

S. Peter was the son of noble parents in Spain, and was brought up in the profession of arms. In the army he distinguished himself as much by his zeal for souls and purity of life, as by his courage. His parents having insisted on his marriage, he yielded with great repugnance, for his heart was drawn elsewhere, and he desired to live a virgin life to his dear master Jesus. The marriage ceremony took place, and when the banquet was over, he retired to the bridal chamber, where he saw the fair young girl who had given him her hand lying asleep on the bed. She looked so pure and innocent in her slumber, that he gazed on her with reverence, and kneeling at her feet, prayed long and earnestly; and then stealing away, left the house, and fled the country. Taking his passage on a boat for Italy, he reached the eternal city, and going forth into the Campagna, found a place suitable for a cell, and there buried himself from the world.

March 12.

SS. PETER, GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, MAXIMA, AND OTHERS, _MM. at
Nicomedia_, A.D. 302.
S. PAUL OF LEON, _B.C. in Brittany_, A.D. 573.
S. GREGORY THE GREAT, _Pope, D._, A.D. 604.
S. PETER, _Deacon of S. Gregory, at Rome_, A.D. 605.
S. MURAN, _Ab. of Fathinis, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 650.
S. THEOPHANES, _Ab. C., at Constantinople_, A.D. 820.
S. ALPHEGE THE BALD, _B. of Winchester_, A.D. 951. _See September 1._
S. BERNARD, _B.C. at Capua_, A.D. 1109.
S. FINA, _V. in Tuscany_, A.D. 1253.

SS. PETER, GORGONIUS, DOROTHEUS, MAXIMA, AND OTHERS, MM.

(A.D. 302.)

[Usuardus, those of SS. Jerome, Bede, &c., the Irish Martyrology of Tamlach, and the Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Eusebius, lib. viii. c. 6, and the notices in the Martyrologies.]

The Emperor Diocletian having discovered that Peter, one of his officers of the bed-chamber, was a Christian, ordered him to be tortured. Then Gorgonius and Dorotheus, two other officers, filled with indignation, exclaimed, "Why, Sire, dost thou thus torment Peter for what we all profess in our hearts?" The emperor at once ordered them to execution, together with Migdo, a priest, and many other Christians of Nicomedia. Eusebius says that Peter was scourged till his bones were laid bare, and that then vinegar and salt was poured over the wounds; and as he bore this without showing anguish, Diocletian ordered him to be broiled on a gridiron slowly, and his flesh, as it roasted, to be taken off slowly, so as to protract his torments. Gorgonius and Dorotheus, after having been tortured, were hung.

S. PAUL OF LEON, B. C.

(A.D. 573.)

[Venerated in Brittany, in the Churches of Léon, Nantes, &c., and introduced into later Martyrologies. Authority:--A life written by Worwonock, monk of Landevenec, in the 9th cent., but rewritten, or added to, in the following century by an anonymous monk of the abbey of Feury.]

Paul, son of a Welsh prince, was a disciple of S. Iltut, along with S. Samson and Gildas. At the age of sixteen he left his master, and retired across the sea into a solitary place among his Brittany moors, where he erected an oratory and a cell. In course of time, other young men, seeking like himself a better country than earth, congregated about him, and he became their superior. He received priest's orders along with twelve of his companions. Near his congregation lived a prince named Mark, who invited him to come into his territory, and instruct his people in the Word of God. He accordingly went with his twelve priests to Vannes, and was well received by the king. After he had spent some time in that country, he felt a desire to go into solitude once more. Therefore he went before the king and asked him to let him depart, and to give him a bell; "For at that time," says the chronicler, "it was customary for kings to have seven bells rung before they sat down to meat." Mark, however, refused to give him the bell, being vexed that Paul should leave him. So the holy man went his way without it. And before he took boat to depart, he visited his sister, who lived in solitude with some other holy women on a little island in the Morbihan. And when all was ready for his departure, and the boat was on the shore, he said, "Sister, I must depart." Then she wept, and entreated him to tarry four days. And as he saw her tears, he consented to remain three days. Then, when he was about to depart, she said, "I know, my brother, that thou art powerful with God. Therefore I pray thee grant me my request." And he said, "Say on." Then she said, "This island is small and incommodious for landing, being violently beaten by the angry surge. Pray to the Lord that he extend it a little, with a gentle shore, into the sea."

"Ah, my sister!" exclaimed the holy man, "thou hast asked what is beyond my strength. But let us together beseech the Lord to be gracious, and grant thee thy desire." So they both kneeled down and prayed. Then the sea began to retreat, and leave smooth yellow sands, where all had been blue water before. So the nuns hasted and ran and told the brother and sister, and they rose, and went down to the sea, and stepped on the newly recovered land. And now follows a part of the legend which has evidently sprung up among the peasants of the Morbihan to explain the existence of the Druidical circles and avenues in the islet. The story goes on to tell that the sister gathered pebbles and laid them round the land laid bare, and strewed them down the road she and her brother had taken. And lo! these pebbles grew into tall pillars of rude rock, and the avenue is to this day called the road of S. Paul.

Then Paul stepped into his boat, followed by his disciples, and they rowed to the island of Ouessant, and the port where they disembarked was called Portus-boum, and at the present day is Paimbœuf. Then Paul tarried there many years till God called him to work again. And he took boat and went ashore and travelled through Brittany, till he came to Count Withur, a good man and lord of the country under king Childebert. And Paul settled in the island of Batz, which was off the coast, near the small town encompassed with mud walls, which has since gone by his name. And there he found wild bees in a hollow tree, and they were swarming, so he gathered the swarm and set them in a hive, and taught the people how to get honey. He also found a wild sow with its litter, and patted her gently, and she became tame. Her descendants remained at Léon for many generations, and were regarded as royal beasts. Probably this legend points to S. Paul having taught the people to keep pigs.

One day Paul was with the count Withur, when a fisherman brought the count a bell he had picked up on the shore; Withur gave it to S. Paul, who smiled and said that though king Mark had refused him a bell, yet now God had sent him one, after many years of waiting and wishing for it.

"That bell," says the historian, "has received from the people a special name, on account of its colour and shape, for it is green and oblong." S. Paul erected a church at Léon, and was appointed its first bishop. Withur could only obtain his consecration by having recourse to an artifice, for he knew that Paul could not be persuaded to accept the dignity. He gave him a letter to king Childebert, and entreated him to take it in person to the king, as it contained matter of urgent importance. Paul, full of simplicity, and eager to oblige his friend, hasted to court. And when the king broke the seal and opened the letter, he read that Withur had sent Paul to be ordained bishop, and invested with the see of Léon. Then Childebert caught a staff from a prelate who stood by him, and said, "Receive the pastoral dignity, to discharge thy office for the good of many souls," and he called three bishops to him to ordain Paul. Then the holy man wept, and implored the king to desist, but Childebert turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and had him consecrated, and then sent him back to Léon, where he was received with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. He built a monastery on the isle of Batz, and filled it with monks, and thither he retired whenever he could escape from the business of his see. He lived to a very advanced age, and laying aside his episcopal government, ordained three of his disciples in succession to it, and survived two of them. His body reposed in his cathedral church, but his relics were dispersed by the Huguenots in the religious wars of the 16th century.

In art he is represented either (1) with a bell, or (2) with a cruse of water and a loaf of bread, as he lived on nothing else, or (3) driving a dragon into the sea, to signify that he expelled the Druidical superstition out of Brittany.

S. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE, D.

(A.D. 604.)

[Roman and all other Western Martyrologies; by the Greeks on March 11th. Authorities:--A life by Paulus Diaconus, another by Joannes Diaconus, 9th cent., the writings of S. Gregory, &c. The following is in part condensed from the elegant life of S. Gregory by the Count de Montalembert, in his Monks of the West.]