Chapter X: S. Xystus, Pope 489 (9)

S. Gregory the Great will be an everlasting honour to the Benedictine Order and to the Papacy. By his genius, but especially by the charm and ascendancy of his virtue, he was destined to organise the temporal power of the popes, to develop and regulate their spiritual sovereignty, to found their paternal supremacy over the new-born crowns and races which were to become the great nations of the future, and to be called France, Spain, and England. It was he indeed, who inaugurated the middle ages, modern society, and Christian civilisation.

Issued from one of the most illustrious races of ancient Rome, the son of a rich senator, and descendant of Pope Felix III., of the Anician family, Gregory was early called to fill a dignified place, which, in the midst of the Rome of that day, the vassal of Byzantium, and subject to the ceaseless insults of the Barbarians, retained some shadow of ancient Roman grandeur. He was prætor of Rome during the first invasion of the Lombards. In the exercise of this office he gained the hearts of the Romans, while habituating himself to the management of public business, and while acquiring a taste for luxury and display of earthly grandeur, in which he still believed he might serve God without reproach. But God required him elsewhere. Gregory hesitated long, inspired by the divine breath to seek religion, but was retained, led back and fascinated to the world, by the attractions and habits of secular life. At last he yielded to the influence of his intimate and close relations with the disciples of S. Benedict in Monte Cassino, and obeying the grace that enlightened him, he abruptly broke every tie, devoted his wealth to the endowment of six new monasteries in Sicily, and established in his own palace in Rome, upon the Cœlian hill, a seventh, dedicated to S. Andrew, into which he introduced the Benedictine rule, and where he himself became a monk. He sold all that remained of his patrimony, to distribute it to the poor; and Rome, which had seen the young and wealthy patrician traverse its streets in robes of silk covered with jewels, saw him now, in 575, with admiration, clothed like a beggar, serving, in his own person the beggars lodged in the hospital which he had built at the gate of his paternal house, now changed into a monastery.

Once a monk, he would be nothing less than a model of monks, and practised with the utmost rigour all the austerities sanctioned by the rule, applying himself specially at the same time to the study of the Holy Scriptures. He ate only pulse, which his mother, who had become a nun since her widowhood, sent him, already soaked, in a silver porringer. This porringer was the only remnant of his ancient splendour, and did not long remain in his hands, for one day a shipwrecked sailor came several times to beg from him while he was writing in his cell, and finding no money in his purse, the Saint gave him that relic of his former wealth.

Continually engaged in prayer, reading, writing, or dictation, he persisted in pushing the severity of his fasts to such an extent, that his health succumbed. He fell so often into fainting fits, that more than once he would have sunk under them had not his brethren supported him with more substantial food. In consequence of having attempted to do more than others, he was soon obliged to relinquish the most ordinary fasts, which everybody observed. He was in despair at not being able to fast even on Easter eve, a day on which even the little children abstain, says his biographer. He remained weak and sickly all his life, and when he left his monastery, it was with health irreparably ruined.

Pope Benedict I. drew him first from the cloister in 577, to raise him to the dignity of one of the seven cardinal deacons, who presided over the seven principal divisions of Rome. Pelagius II., successor to Benedict I., chose S. Gregory to head an embassy to Constantinople to congratulate the Emperor Tiberius on his accession in A.D. 578. During his stay at the imperial court, S. Gregory refused to have any intercourse with the patriarch Eutychius, who had published an heretical treatise on the nature of the resurrection body. On his death-bed, however, Eutychius acknowledged his former errors. After six years of this honourable and laborious exile, he returned to Rome, and regained the shelter of his monastery of S. Andrea, the monks of which elected him abbot soon after his return. He enjoyed there for some time longer the delights of the life he had chosen. Tenderly cherished by his brethren, he took a paternal share in their trials and spiritual crosses, provided for their temporary and spiritual necessities, and specially rejoiced in the holy deaths of several among them. He has related the details of these in his "Dialogues," and seems to breathe in them the perfume of heaven.

The tender solicitude he bore to souls was on the point of separating him from his dear monastery and from Rome. Seeing one day exhibited in the market some poor pagan children, of extraordinary beauty and fairness, who were said to be of the country of the Angles, "Not Angles," said he, "but Angels." Then hastening to the pope, he begged him to send missionaries into that great island of Britain, where the pagans sold such slaves; failing others, he offered himself for this work, surprised the pontiff into consent, and prepared instantly for his departure. But when the Romans understood his intention, the love with which they had formerly regarded him was re-awakened. They surrounded the pope as he went to S. Peter's, and intreated him to recall Gregory. The astonished pope yielded to the popular voice. He sent messengers after Gregory, who overtook him at three days' journey from Rome; and led him back forcibly to his monastery. It was not as a missionary, but as a pope, that he was to win England to the Church.

In 590, Pelagius II. died of the plague, which then depopulated Rome. Gregory was immediately elected pope by the unanimous voice of the senate, the people, and the clergy. It was in vain that he refused, and appealed to the emperor Maurice not to confirm his election. The Romans intercepted his letter; the imperial confirmation arrived. Then he disguised himself, and fleeing from Rome to seek some unknown retreat, wandered three days in the woods. He was followed, discovered, and a second time led back to Rome, but this time to reign there. He bowed his head, weeping, under the yoke imposed upon him by the Divine will and the unanimity of his fellow-citizens.

It was during the interval between his election and the imperial confirmation that, filled with a paternal anxiety for the safety of the people, he organized a great procession, with solemn litanies, to seek to avert the wrath of Almighty God. It proceeded from seven stations in the city, in as many divisions, to the Church of S. Maria-Maggiore. The first company consisted of the secular clergy, the second of the abbots and their monks, the third of the abbesses and their nuns, the fourth of children, the fifth of laymen, the sixth of widows, and the seventh of matrons: each band was led by the priests of the quarter of the city from which it came. While the procession lasted, eighty persons in it died of the plague; yet S. Gregory persevered, and the prayers of the city were heard. This was the origin of the "Greater Litanies," which were afterwards held on S. Mark's Day, and which acquired the popular name of "_The Black Crosses_," from the penitential hue of the vestments and banners used therein. While the procession defiled before Gregory, he saw an angel appear upon the summit of the Mole of Hadrian, putting back his sword into its sheath, the image of which, standing upon the colossal mausoleum, has given its name to the castle of S. Angelo, and perpetuated to our day the recollection of S. Gregory's vision.

The supreme pontificate, perhaps, never fell upon a soul more disturbed and afflicted than that of this monk, who saw himself thus condemned to exchange the peace of the cloister for the cares of the government of the Church, and the special defence of the interests of Italy. Not only then, but during all his life, he did not cease to lament his fate. "I have lost," he wrote to the sister of the emperor, "the profound joys of repose. I seem to have been elevated in external things, but in spiritual I have fallen." To the patrician Narses: "I am so overcome with melancholy, that I can scarcely speak. I cannot cease considering the height of tranquillity from which I have fallen, and the height of embarrassment I have ascended." To his friend Leander: "I am so beaten by the waves of this world, that I despair of being able to guide to port this rotten old vessel with which God has charged me. I weep when I recall the peaceful shore which I have left, and sigh in perceiving afar what I now cannot attain."

The poor monk who showed so much despair when he was thrown into the political whirlpool by the unanimous voice of the Romans, could yet perceive with a bold and clear glance the dangers of the situation, and adopt a line of conduct most suitable to the emergency of the times. First of all he concerned himself with the Lombards. After nine years' exertion, in overcoming Byzantine repugnance to acknowledge any right whatever on the side of the Lombards, he concluded a peace between the two powers, which made Italy, exhausted by thirty years of war and brigandage, thrill with joy. It was of short duration; but when hostilities recommenced, he entered into direct negociations with king Agilulf, and obtained from that prince a special truce for Rome and its surrounding territory. He had besides found a powerful advocate with the Lombard king in the person of the illustrious queen Theodelinda. This princess, a Bavarian and Catholic by birth, had gained the hearts of the Lombards. The queen was always the faithful friend of the pope; she served as a medium of communication between him and her husband. Gregory, from the very beginning of his pontificate, had exhorted the Italian bishops to make special exertions for the conversion of these formidable heretics.

His constancy and courage were called forth in contest with the Greeks, with that Eastern Empire which was represented by functionaries whose odious exactions had quite as great a share in the despair of the people as the ravages of the Barbarians, and whose malice was more dreadful than the swords of the Lombards. His entire life was a struggle with the patriarch of Constantinople, who aimed at supplanting the Roman pontiff, as well as with the emperor, who would have dominated Italy without defending her, and ruled the Church as if she were a department of the State. Among so many conflicts, we shall dwell only on that one which arose between him and John the Faster, patriarch of Constantinople. Relying on the support of most of the Eastern bishops, this patriarch took to himself the title of Universal Bishop. Gregory stood up with vigour against this pretension. He did not draw back before the emperor, who openly sided with the patriarch of his capital, nor before the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria, who sided with the Byzantine patriarch. "What!" wrote Gregory to the emperor, "S. Peter, who received the keys of heaven and earth, the power of binding and loosing, the charge and primacy of the whole Church, was never called the Universal Apostle; and yet my pious brother John would name himself Universal Bishop!" For himself he says, "I desire to increase in virtue and not in words. I do not consider myself honoured in that which dishonours my brethren. It is the honour of the universal Church that is my honour. Away with these words which inflate vanity and wound charity. The holy council of Chalcedon and other fathers have offered this title to my predecessors, but none of them have ever used it, that they might guard their own honour in the sight of God, by seeking here below the honour of all the priesthood." This weighty difference, the prohibition addressed by the emperor to soldiers against their becoming monks, and the contest which arose between the pope and the emperor touching the irregular election to the metropolitan see of Salona, contributed to render almost permanent the misunderstanding between them. These perpetual contests with the Byzantine court may explain, without excusing, the conduct of Gregory at the death of the Emperor Maurice. This prince, infected, like all his predecessors, with a mania for interfering in ecclesiastical affairs, was very superior to most of them. Gregory himself has more than once done justice to his faith and piety, to his zeal for the Church, and respect for her canons. After twenty years of an undistinguished reign, a military revolt broke out, which placed Phocas upon the throne. This wretch not only murdered the emperor Maurice, gouty, and incapable of defending himself, but also his six sons, whom he caused to be put to death under the eyes of their father, without even sparing the youngest, who was still at the breast, and whom his nurse would have saved by putting her own child in his place; but Maurice, who was too noble to allow of such a sacrifice, disclosed the pious deception to the murderers. He died like a Christian hero, repeating the words of the psalm, "Thou, O Lord, art just, and all Thy judgments are right." This massacre did not satisfy Phocas, who sacrificed the empress and her three daughters, the brother of Maurice, and a multitude of others in his train. The monster then sent his own image and that of his wife to Rome, where the senate and people received them with rejoicings. Gregory unfortunately joined in these mean acclamations. He carried these images of his new masters, bathed in innocent blood, into the oratory of the Lateran palace. Afterwards, he addressed extraordinary congratulations to Phocas, not in the surprise of the first moment, but seven months after the crime. This is the only stain upon the life of Gregory. We do not attempt either to conceal or to excuse it. It can scarcely be explained by recalling all the vexations he had suffered from Maurice, annoyances of which he always complained energetically, though he did not fail to do justice to the undeniable piety of the old emperor. Perhaps Gregory adopted this means to secure the help of Phocas against the new incursions of the Lombards, or to mollify beforehand the already threatening intentions of the tyrant. It must also be remembered that these flatteries were in some sort the official language of these times; they resulted from the general debasement of public manners, and from the tone of the language invariably used then at each change of reign. His motives were undoubtedly pure. Notwithstanding, a stain remains upon his memory, and a shadow upon the history of the Church, which is so consoling and full of light in this age of storm and darkness. But among the greatest and holiest of mortals, virtue, like human wisdom, always falls short in some respect.

Long crushed between the Lombards and Byzantines, between the unsoftened ferocity of the barbarians and the vexatious decrepitude of despotism, Gregory, with that instinctive perception of future events which God sometimes grants to pure souls, sought elsewhere a support for the Roman Church. His eyes were directed to the new races, who were scarcely less ferocious than the Lombards, but who did not, like them, weigh upon Italy and Rome, and who already exhibited elements of strength and continuance. It is impossible to do more here than touch on these noble enterprises. He entered into correspondence with Childebert, the Gallo-Frank king, and with the French bishops, to obtain the rectification of abuses and the purification of the Gallican church from simony, and the nomination of laymen to the episcopal office, two vices which consumed the vitals of Christianity in France. Spain had become Arian under the Visigoths, but the Catholic faith had triumphed with the accession of Recared, in 587. S. Leander, bishop of Seville, was the principal author of the conversion of the Visigoths. Gregory wrote to him and to other bishops of Spain. They consulted him, and he gave them his advice. He wrote, and gave councils full of wisdom to the king Recared, himself. He brought back to the unity of the Church the schismatical bishops of Istria, and wholly suppressed the Donatist schism in Africa. But one of the most striking points in the life of S. Gregory is his zeal for the conversion of England.

Amid the labours of his exalted position, S. Gregory never remitted his anxiety for the evangelization of that distant isle. In July, A.D. 596, he dispatched S. Augustine (May 26th), with forty companions, on that mission to which we owe so much, that, with every feeling of love and veneration for the remnant of Celtic Christianity which had then escaped the sword of Pagan Saxondom, we may yet say, with the Venerable Bede, "If Gregory be not to others an apostle, he is one to us, for the seal of his apostleship are we in the Lord."

The services which he rendered to the Liturgy are well known. Completing and putting in order the work of his predecessors, he gave its definite form to the holy sacrifice of the Mass, in that celebrated Sacramentary which remains the most august monument of Liturgical science. It may be said also that he created, and, by anticipation, saved, Christian art, by fixing, long before the persecution of the Iconoclasts, the true doctrine respecting the veneration of images, in that fine letter to the bishop of Marseilles, in which he reproves him for having, in the excess of his zeal against idolatry, broken the statues of the saints, and reminds him that through all antiquity the history of the saints has been pictorically represented, and that painting is to the ignorant what letters are to those who can read.

But his name is specially associated, in the history of Catholic worship, with that branch of religious art which is identified with worship itself, and which is of the utmost moment to the piety as to the innocent joy of the Christian people. The name of _Gregorian Chant_ reminds us of his solicitude for collecting the ancient melodies of the Church, in order to subject them to rules of harmony, and to arrange them according to the requirements of divine worship. He had the glory of giving to Ecclesiastical music that sweet and solemn character which has descended through ages, and to which we must always return after the most prolonged aberrations of frivolity and innovation. He made out himself, in his Antiphonary, the collection of ancient and new chants; he composed the text and melodies of several hymns, which are still used in the Church; he established at Rome the celebrated school of sacred music, to which Gaul, Germany, and England came in turns, trying with more or less success to assimilate their voices to the purity of Italian modulations. And when Gregory was too ill to leave his little chamber and his couch, he gathered about him the boys of the choir, and continued their instructions.

The gout made the last years of his life a kind of martyrdom. The cry of pain rings in many of his letters. "For nearly two years," he wrote to the patriarch of Alexandria, "I have been imprisoned to my bed by such pangs of gout, that I can scarcely rise for two or three hours on great holidays to celebrate solemn mass. And the intensity of the pain compels me immediately to lie down again, that I may be able to endure my torture, by giving free course to my groans. My illness will neither leave me nor kill me. I entreat your holiness to pray for me, that I may be soon delivered, and receive that freedom which you know, and which is the glory of the children of God."

Up to his last moments he continued with unwearied activity to dictate his correspondence, and to concern himself with the interests of the Church. He died on the 12th March, 604, aged nearly fifty-five, in the thirteenth year of his pontificate. He was buried in S. Peter's; and in the epitaph engraved on his tomb, it is said that, "after having conformed all his actions to his doctrine, the consul of God went to enjoy eternal triumph."

S. Hildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo, in the seventh century, writes thus of him--"He surpassed Antony in holiness, Cyprian in eloquence, and Augustine in wisdom." Yet so great was his humility, that he subscribed himself, "Servant of the servants of God"--a style which his successors in the chair of S. Peter have retained till this day. He was buried in the basilica of S. Peter. His pallium, reliquary, and girdle were preserved as precious memorials.

He had, like so many other great hearts, to struggle with ingratitude, not only during his life, but after his death. Rome was afflicted with a great famine under his successor, Sabinian, who put an end to the charities which Gregory had granted to the poor, on the plea that there was nothing remaining in the treasury of the Church. The enemies of the deceased pope then excited the people against him, calling him prodigal and a waster of the Roman patrimony; and that ungrateful people, whom he had loved and helped so much, began to burn his writings, as if to annihilate or dishonour his memory. But one of the monks, who had followed him from the monastery to the palace, his friend the deacon Peter, interposed. He represented to the incendiaries that these writings were already spread through the entire world, and that it was, besides, sacrilege to burn the work of a holy doctor, upon whom he swore he had himself seen the heavenly dove fluttering. And as if to confirm his oath, after having ended his address, he breathed forth his last sigh, a valiant witness of truth and friendship, and is commemorated by the Church on the same day with S. Gregory.

In the year 826, the body of this holy pontiff was brought into France, and placed in the celebrated monastery of S. Medard, in Soissons. The head was given to archbishop Agesil, and deposited in the abbey of S. Pierre-le-Vif, at Sens, and a bone was given to Rome at the request of pope Urban VIII., in 1628.

In art, S. Gregory is represented as a pope, with a dove hovering over him, or at his ear, and with music in his hand: a frequent subject with Mediæval sculptors and painters was his Mass. According to the legend, as he was about to communicate a woman, and said, "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy body and soul unto Eternal Life," he saw her smile, wherefore he refused to give her the host, and questioning her, found that she doubted how what her senses told her was bread could be the flesh of Christ. Then S. Gregory prayed that her eyes might be opened, and instantly the Host was visibly changed into Christ enduring His passion.

S. MURAN, AB.

(7TH CENT.)

[Irish Martyrologies. Authority:--Colgan.]

S. Muran was the son of Feradach, of the noble race of the O'Neills, and was abbot of Fathinis, in the peninsula of Inis-coguin, five miles from Derry, in the north of Ulster. He was famous for his sanctity; and was greatly honoured of old in that part of Ireland, where the church of Fathinis was dedicated in his name; but the particulars of his life have not been handed down.

S. FINA, V.

(A.D. 1253.)

[Venerated in Tuscany, especially at S. Geminiani. Authority:--A Life written by the famous preacher, John de S. Geminiani (1310).]

S. Fina was the daughter of very poor parents at S. Geminiani, in Tuscany. Her name was probably Seraphina, but it is only known by its diminutive of endearment, Fina. The young girl was singularly beautiful, and at the same time exceedingly bashful, ever walking abroad with her soft dark eyes modestly lowered. Whilst yet young she was suddenly paralysed through her whole body, with the exception of her head. For six years she lay on one side upon a hard board, and would not suffer her mother or the neighbours to make her a soft bed, desiring rather to be like our Blessed Lord, stretched on His Cross. The father seems to have been dead, and the poor mother begged for subsistence for herself and daughter. The girl's skin broke, and formed terrible sores, but she bore all her sufferings with sweetness. When left alone, the mice and rats, which infested the miserable hut, would often come and attack her, and horribly mangle her sores, and the poor child being paralysed in all her members was unable to protect herself from them. Yet not a murmur escaped her lips, nor did a cloud darken the serenity of her temper. She was always gentle, loving, and considerate of others.

A new misfortune now befel her. Her mother died suddenly whilst crossing the threshold, on her return from begging, and Fina was left wholly unprovided for. She was thus left perfectly helpless, to the mercy of poor neighbours. But their desultory attention was not like that of a mother, and it soon became evident that she would die through partial neglect. In the midst of her sufferings she had been comforted by being told of S. Gregory the Great and his cruel pains, and the young girl had formed a strong attachment and devotion to him. One night, as she lay alone, uncared for in her hut, the great pontiff and doctor of the Church shone out of the darkness by the side of the pauper cripple, and bade her be of good cheer. "Dear child, on my festival Christ will give thee rest." And it was so. On the feast of S. Gregory she died. When the neighbours lifted the poor little body from the board on which it had lain, lo! that board was covered with white violets exhaling a delicious perfume, and to this day, at S. Geminiani, the peasants call these flowers which bloom about the day of her death, S. Fina's flowers.

March 13.

S. EUPHRASIA, _V. in Egypt, after_ A.D. 410.
S. MOCHOEMOG, _Ab. of Liathmor, in Ireland, middle of 7th cent._
S. GERALD, _Ab. and B. of Mayo, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 700.
S. NICEPHORUS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, A.D. 828.
S. ANSEWIN, _B. of Camerino, in Italy, circ._ A.D. 840.
SS. RUDERICK, _P.M._, AND SALOMON, _M. at Cordova_, A.D. 857.
S. ELDRAD, _Ab. of Novalese, in Italy_, A.D. 875.
S. KENNOCHA, _V. in Scotland, circ._ A.D. 1007.
B. ERIC OR HENRICK, _C. at Perugia_, A.D. 1415.

S. EUPHRASIA, V.

(AFTER A.D. 410.)

[Roman Martyrology, on the authority of Usuardus. By the Greeks on July 25th. Authority:--An ancient Greek life, published by Bollandus, quoted by S. John Damascene (730). There are other, more modern, versions of the ancient life.]

In the reign of Theodosius the First, Antigonus, governor of Lycia, and his wife, Euphrasia, were blessed by God with a little daughter, who was named after her mother. Antigonus and his wife feared God, and served Him with all their hearts, and with one consent resolved to bring up their little child as a bride of Christ. Shortly after Antigonus had formed this resolution he was called out of the world. When the child was five years old, the emperor, who had taken the little girl under his protection, proposed to the mother that she should be given in marriage to the son of a wealthy senator, in accordance with the custom of the times, to betroth maidens of high rank from infancy. The mother consented, and received the betrothal presents from the parents of the boy, and the marriage was arranged to take place as soon as the maiden was of a sufficient age. But in the meantime, some changes in the imperial household having thrown Euphrasia, the mother, out of favour, she retired into Egypt with her daughter, under pretext of visiting her relatives, and whilst there she travelled into Upper Egypt, and saw with admiration and respect the holy lives of the solitaries who inhabited the deserts of the Thebaid.

In the Thebaid was a convent of a hundred holy women, and the widow found great delight and exceeding profit in visiting it frequently,[42] taking with her each time her little child, who was then aged seven. The mother superior was warmly attached to the beautiful girl, and one day drawing the child towards her, before her mother, asked Euphrasia if she loved her. "That do I," answered the child, looking up into her face. "Well, will you come and live with us, then?" enquired the superior, playfully. "I would," replied Euphrasia, "if I did not think it would trouble my mother." "And now, my pet," said the superior, "which do you love best, your little husband or us sisters." "I have never seen my little husband, nor has my little husband ever seen me, so we cannot love each other much," answered the child; "but I do love you sisters very much, because I know you. Which do you love best, my little husband or me?" "Oh," said the nun, "I love you much the best; but I love Jesus Christ above all." "So do I," said the child, "I love you very much, but I love Jesus Christ best."

[42] She gave the sisters, we are told, candles and incense for their altar, and oil for their oratory lamp, but gold they would not receive.

The mother, Euphrasia, looked on smiling, and with tears in her eyes, as this simple conversation, which has been blown down to us through more than fifteen centuries, passed between the old nun and the child. Then she took her child's hand to lead her away. But the young Euphrasia implored her mother to let her remain, and she, supposing this was a mere infantine caprice, consented, thinking that she would soon weary of the cloister life. But it was not so. The child clung to the sisters, in spite of every hardship and trial inflicted on her to persuade her to go. She was told she must fast, and learn the Psalter by heart, if she remained, and sleep on the hard ground. She was ready for all, rather than depart. Then the superior said to the mother, "Leave the little girl with us, for the grace of God is working in her heart. Your piety and that of Antigonus have opened to her the most perfect way." Then Euphrasia, the mother, took her child in her arms, and going before an image of our Blessed Lord, she held up the little girl, and said, weeping, "My Lord Jesus Christ, receive this child into Thy protection, since she desires Thee only, and devotes herself to Thy service alone." And she blessed her daughter, saying, "May the Lord, who made the mountains so strong that they cannot be moved, confirm thee in His holy fear." But when the parting came, she burst into a flood of tears, and the whole community wept with her. A few days after, the superior brought the young Euphrasia into the chapel, and vested her in the religious habit, and kneeling down by the tiny novice, she prayed, "O King of ages, finish in this child the work of sanctification that Thou hast begun. Give her grace to follow in all things Thy holy will, and to place in Thee her hope and confidence."

When her mother saw her in her austere habit, she asked her if she were content. "Oh, mother!" cried the child, "It is my marriage garment, given me on my espousals to Jesus." "May He, sweet child, make thee worthy of His love," said the mother.

Years passed away, and the little flower grew up and bloomed in the cool shade of the cloister, and her mother had rejoined Antigonus in bliss, when the emperor wrote to Euphrasia to order her instantly to return to Constantinople and marry the young man to whom he had betrothed her. She was of imperial blood, and Theodosius considered that, on the death of her mother, the charge of Euphrasia, who was now an heiress and very wealthy, devolved on him. She replied, imploring him to allow her to follow her vocation, and requested him to dispose of all her property for the benefit of the poor. Euphrasia was then aged twelve. Theodosius, satisfied that she was in earnest, obeyed her request, and troubled her no more about the marriage. But now arrived a critical time of life, when youthful spirits and passions were in effervesence, and she was cruelly tormented with vain imaginations and temptations to go forth into that wondrous world of which she knew so little, but which, clothed in the rainbow tints of infantine remembrance, allured her fancy. To divert her attention, and at the same time to prove her obedience, the superior one day pointed to a great heap of stones, and bade her carry them to the top of a little sand hill, some distance off. Euphrasia obeyed cheerfully, toiling at removing the stones under the hot sun, one by one, to the place indicated. Then she came joyously to the superior, and signified to her that the task was accomplished. "Bring them all back again," said the mother superior. And the young nun hasted to obey. Next day she presented herself before the superior once more. "I have changed my mind," said the mother; "take the stones back again to the top of the mound." And thirty times did she make Euphrasia carry them back; and each time was she obeyed with cheerfulness.

She was then sent into the kitchen, and made to chop up the wood for the fire, bake the bread, and cook the food. The sister who undertook this arduous task was usually exempt from attending the midnight offices, but Euphrasia never missed being present in choir with the others, and when she was twenty, she was taller and plumper than any of the other sisters, her face had lost none of its beauty and freshness, but beamed with amiability. She had her trials, being for some time vexed with the contradiction of one of the sisters, who took a spite against her, being filled with jealousy of her virtues, and she once seriously injured her foot with the axe when chopping up wood. But God favoured her, and gave her the power of working miracles, and she cast evil spirits out of many that were possessed, and healed many that were sick. And when she was about to die, Julia, a favourite sister, who inhabited the same cell, implored Euphrasia to obtain for her the grace to be her companion in heaven, as she had been her associate on earth. Then, when Euphrasia was dead, sister Julia cast herself on her tomb, and wept and prayed, and the third day she was called away to be with her friend in the heavenly kingdom. Now, when the aged superior saw this, she longed greatly to enter also into her rest; it was she who had admitted Euphrasia, and it grieved her sore to be left in the desert when her spiritual daughter had entered the Promised Land. So she prayed also, and when the nuns looked into her cell in the morning, she had joined Euphrasia and Julia.

S. MOCHOEMOG, AB. OF LIATHMOR.

(MIDDLE OF 7TH CENT.)

[Irish Martyrologies, also the German Martyrology of Canisius. Authority:--A life purporting to be written by a disciple, but this is certainly false. It can not have been written before the 12th century. I give the story, and the reader may believe as much as he likes of the wonderful details.]

The abbot Mochoemog was born in Connaught. His father, on account of a feud, came into Munster and settled on the lands of O'Connell-Ghabhra. The father, Beoan by name, loved a certain beautiful damsel, called Nessa, of the race of the Nan-desi,[43] the sister of S. Ytha, and having wedded her, he went with his wife to S. Ytha, and built her a beautiful convent, for Beoan was a skilful architect. Then S. Ytha said to him, "What recompense shall I give thee?" Then he said, "Thou knowest that I have no heir; beseech the Lord that He may grant me one." And Ytha answered, "A son shalt thou have, elect before God and men."

[43] Decies, county Waterford.

Now there was a certain king, named Crunmhoel, who made war on the O'Connells, and a great battle was fought, and Beoan was in the battle, and he fell. Then his wife went over the field seeking him, and she found his head, and knew it again, and she took it and carried it to S. Ytha, and said, "Where is thy promise, sister, that he should have an heir?" Then the holy abbess said, "Weep not, my sister, but put his head on to his body again." "How can I know his body in the midst of so many headless corpses?" asked Nessa. "Be not discouraged," answered the holy abbess, "Go into the field, and call Beoan thrice in the name of the Holy Trinity, and he will come after his head, then put it on again." So Nessa did so. And when she had called the third time, a dead man got up out of his place, and he had lost his head, but he seemed to be looking about for it with his stump. So he came to Nessa, and she put his head on, and then he opened his mouth, and said, "Oh, woman! why didst thou call me?" And he was sound again. Therefore he and his wife came to S. Ytha, who asked him, "Friend, desirest thou to tarry longer here below, or to go direct to heaven?" Beoan answered, "I esteem this world as nothing compared to eternal glory." "That is well," answered Ytha; "However, my promise must be kept. Thou must go home with thy wife." Then she washed his head and neck, and not even a scar remained. And after that Nessa became pregnant. Now there was in the east of Ireland, at Momyfechta, a blind abbot, named Fechean,[44] and he prayed that he might recover his sight. Then an angel appeared to him, and bade him go and wash his eyes in the milk from the breast of the wife of Beoan. But S. Fechean knew not where Beoan lived, and had never heard his name before. Then he went to S. Ytha, to ask her to direct him, and she told him whither he was to go. And Fechean hasted, guided by his disciples, and they came to a mill, and there he found Beoan and his wife. Then Fechean related in order his vision, and the journey he had undertaken, and when he had made his petition, Nessa gave him some of her milk, and therewith he washed his eyes, and straightway he saw plain, and returned with great joy to his monastery.

[44] Not to be mistaken for S. Fechin of Fore. Colgan mistakes in so thinking.

Now when Nessa was near the term of her pregnancy, she went in a chariot to her sister. And Ytha heard the driving of the car, and she sent one of her maidens forth, saying, "I hear a chariot sounding as though a king rode therein. Who cometh to me?" Then the maiden answered, "It is thy sister Nessa." "It is well," said Ytha; "She bears in her womb a child who will sit enthroned in heaven, therefore did the chariot sound royally."

Now as soon as Nessa bore a son, it was told to Ytha, and she gave him a name, Mochoemog (Mo-choem-og), meaning "My-gentle-youth," and in Latin he is called Pulcherius. Then his parents gave him to S. Ytha, that she might rear him in the service of God, and he grew up in her house till he was twenty years old. And after that he went into Ulster, to S. Comgall, and was ordained priest by him, and he resided many years in Banchor under his guidance. But at length S. Comgall bade him depart and found a new monastery, and become father of a new generation of monks. So he went into Leinster, to Enacht, in Mount Blaine, and there he built a cell. But being driven forth, he went into Ossory, and the chief of that part offered him his castle, but Mochoemog would not accept it, but went into a desert place seeking a home; and the chief said to him, "I have a great and dense forest near the bog Lurgan which I will give thee." Then Mochoemog was pleased, and he went into the forest, and he carried in his hand a bell. Now Ytha had given him this bell when he was a child, and it sounded not. "But," said she, "when thou comest to the place of thy resurrection, then the bell will tinkle." So Mochoemog walked on till he reached a wide spreading oak, under which lay an old gray boar; and instantly the bell began to sound. So Mochoemog knew that he had reached the place of his resurrection, and he settled there, and because of the great grey boar, he called the place Liathmor (Liath, _grey_; mor, _great_.)[45]

[45] In King's County.

Here he dwelt for many years, training saints. He was greatly troubled by princes, for on the death of his protector, the chief who had given him Liathmor, his son endeavoured to drive the aged abbot and his community away, but was miraculously prevented from doing so. Once the horses of the king of Munster were driven to pasture on the lands of the abbey, because the grass there was very rich. Mochoemog drove them all off, and hearing that the king was exceedingly incensed against him, and had ordered that he and his monks should be forcibly ejected from the country, the old man hasted to Cashel, where was the king. The prince seeing him, exclaimed, "What! little old bald head, thou here! I shall have thee driven from the place." "I may be bald," answered the abbot, "but thou shalt be blind of an eye." Then suddenly there came an inflammation in the eye of the king, and he lost the sight of it. The king, humbled, implored relief from the pain. "He shall be freed from his pain," answered Mochoemog, "but he shall remain blind of an eye." Then he blessed a vessel of water, and therewith the king's eye was washed, and the inflammation ceased.

The wonders wrought by Mochoemog are too many to be further related here. We have given a few specimens, and must refer the reader to the original life for the rest.

Mochoemog died at Liathmor, and was there buried.

S. NICEPHORUS, PATR. OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

(A.D. 828.)

[This is the festival of the Translation of S. Nicephorus in the Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa. June 2nd is the day of his death also observed in his honour by the Greeks. Authorities:--His life by Ignatius deacon of Constantinople, and afterwards bishop of Nicæa, a contemporary, and an account of his banishment by Theophanes, a fellow sufferer in the persecution.]

The father of this saint, named Theodore, was secretary to the emperor Constantine Copronymus, but when that tyrant declared himself a persecutor of the Catholic church, the faithful minister preferring to serve God rather than man, maintained the honour due to holy images with so much zeal, that he was stripped of his honours, scourged, tortured, and banished. The young Nicephorus grew up with his father's example before his eyes to stimulate him to confession of the truth at any sacrifice; his education was not neglected, and he made rapid progress in all the accomplishments of the age. When Constantine and Irene were placed on the imperial throne, and restored the use of sacred pictures and images in churches, Nicephorus was introduced to their notice, and by his sterling merit obtained their favour. He was by them advanced to his father's dignity, and, by the lustre of his sanctity, he became at once the ornament of the court, and the support of the state. He distinguished himself greatly by his zeal against the Iconoclasts, and acted as secretary to the second council of Nicæa. After the death of S. Tarasius, (Feb. 25th), patriarch of Constantinople, in 806, no one was found more worthy to succeed him than Nicephorus. To give an authentic testimony of his faith, during the time of his consecration he held in his hand a treatise he had written in defence of holy images, and after the ceremony was concluded, he laid it up behind the altar, as a pledge that he would always maintain the tradition of the Church. As soon as he was seated in the patriarchal chair, he set about endeavouring to effect a reformation of manners of the clergy and people, and his precepts from the pulpit received double force from his example. He applied himself with unwearied diligence to all the duties of the ministry; and, by his zeal and invincible meekness and patience, was able to effect much which a less earnest or harsher character would have found it impossible to achieve.

Constantine was blinded, Irene banished, Nicephorus I., her successor, had fallen before the Bulgarians. Michael I. was driven from the throne, and Leo the Armenian became emperor in 813. He was an Iconoclast, and endeavoured both by artifices and open violence to establish that heresy. His first endeavour, however, was, by crafty suggestions, to gain over the holy patriarch to favour his design of destroying the sacred pictures and images which had resumed their places in the churches and streets, after the second council of Nicæa had sanctioned their use. But S. Nicephorus answered him, "We cannot change the ancient traditions: we respect holy images as we do the cross and the book of the gospels." For it must be observed that the ancient Iconoclasts venerated the book of the gospels, and the figure of the cross, though with singular inconsistency, they forbade the rendering of the like honour to holy images. The saint showed, that far from derogating from the supreme honour of God, we honour Him when we for His sake respect His angels, saints, prophets, and ministers; and also when we show reverence towards all such things as belong to His service, like sacred vessels, churches, and images. But the tyrant persisted in his error, and the first steps he took against images were marked by caution. He privately encouraged some soldiers to maltreat an image of Christ on a great cross at the brazen gate of the city; and then he ordered the image to be taken off the cross, pretending he did it to prevent a second profanation. S. Nicephorus saw the storm gathering, and spent most of his time in prayer, in company with several holy bishops and abbots. Shortly after, the emperor, having assembled certain Iconoclastic bishops in his palace, sent for the patriarch and his fellow-bishops.[46] They obeyed the summons, but entreated the emperor to leave the government of the Church to her pastors. Æmilian, bishop of Cyzicus, one of their body, said, "If this is an ecclesiastical affair, let it be discussed in the Church, according to custom, not in the palace." Euthymius, bishop of Sardis, said, "For these eight hundred years past, since the coming of Christ, there have been pictures of Him, and He has been honoured in them. Who shall now have the boldness to abolish so ancient a tradition?" S. Theodore of the Studium spoke after the bishops, and addressed the emperor, "My lord, do not disturb the order of the Church. God hath placed in it apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers.[47] You he hath entrusted with the care of the State; the Church hath he entrusted to the care of her Bishops." The emperor, in a rage, drove them from his presence. Some time after, the Iconoclast bishops held an assembly in the imperial palace, and cited the patriarch to appear before them. To their summons he returned this answer, "Who gave you this authority? If it was he who pilots the vessel of old Rome, I am ready. If it was the Alexandrine successor of the Evangelist Mark, I am ready. If it was the patriarch of Antioch, or he of Jerusalem, I make no opposition. But who are ye? In my diocese you have no jurisdiction." He then read the canon which declares those excommunicate who presume to exercise any act of jurisdiction in the diocese of another bishop. They, however, proceeded to pronounce against him a sentence of deposition; and the holy pastor, after several attempts had been made secretly to take away his life, was sent by the emperor into banishment. Michael the Stammerer, who succeeded Leo the Armenian, in 120, also favoured the Iconoclastic faction, and continued to harass S. Nicephorus, who died in exile, on June 2nd, 828, in the monastery of S. Theodore, which he had erected, at the age of seventy. By order of the empress Theodora, his body was brought to Constantinople with great pomp, in 846, on the 13th of March.

[46] For a further account of this assembly and the ensuing persecution, see the life of S. Nicetas, April 3rd.

[47] Eph. iv. 11.

S. ANSEWIN, B. OF CAMERINO.

(CIRC. A.D. 840.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--A life written by Eginus the monk, about the year 960, not, apparently entire, and the Lections of the Breviary of Camerino.]

S. Ansewin, or Hanse-win, was a native of Camerino, in Tuscany. He retired in early life into the solitude of Castel-Raymond, near Torcello, after his ordination as priest. He was appointed chaplain and confessor to the emperor Louis, and in 822, he was nominated to the bishopric of his native city. A strange legend of his expedition to Rome to receive consecration has been recorded by his biographer. On arriving at Narni, with a cavalcade of nobles and friends who accompanied him from Camerino, they put up at a tavern for refreshment, and asked for wine. The publican, an ill-conditioned fellow, served them with what they desired, but Ansewin, looking at it, detected that it was watered, and sharply rebuked the taverner. The man surlily replied that they must drink what was set before them, and that it was no odds to him whether they liked his wine or not.

"Now, friend," said the bishop-elect, "we have no drinking vessels with us, so bring us forth horns or goblets."

"Not I," answered the publican, "I provide wine, but customers usually bring their own cups."

"But, friend, we have none with us." "That is your affair, not mine," answered the fellow rudely. "Then we must do what we can," said Ansewin, drawing off his cape, and holding out the hood. "Come, host! pour the wine in here." The man stared, and then burst into a roar of laughter. But Ansewin persisted. "Then, fool, I will do so, and waste the liquor, but mind, you pay for it," said he. "Pour boldly," said the bishop-elect, holding the hood distended; and the inn-keeper obeyed. Then two marvels occurred, the hood retained the liquor, and served as a drinking horn to all the company, and the water which had diluted the wine separated from it, and flowed away over the edge.

He ruled his diocese with great prudence, and in time of famine, by his wise regulations and abundant alms, greatly relieved the sufferings of the poor. He was absent from his dear city where he had been born, and which he had ministered to with so much love, when he was stricken with mortal sickness. He was greatly distressed at the prospect of dying out of his diocese, and ordered a horse to be brought that he might ride home. His companions, seeing death in his face, remonstrated; but he persisted in his command, and when his horse was brought to the door, he descended, supported by his friends to it. Then the horse knelt down, and suffered the dying man to mount him without effort. As soon as he was in Camerino, he ordered all his flock to assemble to receive his final blessing, and then gently expired.

Relics at Camerino, in the cathedral, and a portion of the shoulder in the Vatican.

In art he is represented with his hood full of wine.

SS. RUDERICK, P. M., AND SALOMON, M.

(A.D. 857.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--S. Eulogius, (March 11th), himself a martyr in the same persecution, 859, wrote the Acts of all those who suffered at that time, either from his own knowledge, or from the testimony of eye witnesses.]