Chapter X: S. Xystus, Pope 489 (10)

During the persecution of the Christians under the Moorish occupation of Spain, there was a priest in the village of Cabra, about five-and-twenty miles from Cordova, named Ruderick, who had two brothers, whereof one had renounced Christianity and become a Moslem. One night this apostate brother and the other were quarrelling, and came to blows, when Ruderick rushed between them to separate them, but was so mauled by both, that he fell senseless on the ground. The Mussulman brother then placed him on a litter, and had him carried about the country, walking by his side, and showing him off as a renegade priest. Ruderick was too much bruised and strained to resist for a while, but he bore this with greater anguish than his bodily injuries, and as soon as ever he was sufficiently recovered, he effected his escape. The renegade meeting him some time after in the streets of Cordova, dragged him before the cadi, and denounced him as having professed the Mussulman religion, and then returned to Christianity. Ruderick indignantly denied that he had ever apostatized, but the cadi, believing the accusation, ordered him to be cast into the foulest den of the city prison, reserved for parricides. There he found a Christian, named Salomon, awaiting sentence on a similar charge of having conformed to the established religion for a while, and then returned to the worship of Christ. They were retained in prison for some time, the cadi hoping thus to weary them into apostasy. But the two confessors encouraged each other to stand fast. Being made acquainted with this, the cadi ordered them to be separated, but when this also failed, he sentenced them both to decapitation.

S. KENNOCHA, V.

(ABOUT A.D. 1007.)

[Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:--The same.]

On March 13th, the Ancient Scottish Church commemorated S. Kennocha, a virgin, who, desirous of consecrating herself wholly to Jesus Christ, met with long and vehement opposition from her parents and friends, and underwent from them great hardships and persecution, without shaking her constancy. She led a life as a solitary of great severity, and attained a good old age. She was buried in the church of Kyle.

March 14.

SS. FORTY-SEVEN MARTYRS, _under Nero, in Rome_, A.D. 67.
SS. PETER, APHRODISIUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Carthage_.
SS. TWO MONKS AND A DEACON, _MM. in the Abruzzi, 6th cent._
S. LUBIN, _B. of Chartres, circ._ A.D. 557.
S. EUTYCHIUS, OR EUSTASIUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Charræ, in
Mesopotamia_, A.D. 741.
S. MATHILDA, _Emp. of Germany_, A.D. 968.

SS. MARTYRS UNDER NERO.

(A.D. 67.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The ancient Acts of SS. Processus and Martinian.]

These forty-seven martyrs are believed to have been converted by S. Peter, at the time when he was confined along with S. Paul, in the Mamertine prison, in which they spent nine months. According to tradition S. Peter brought water out of the rock wherewith to baptize them. They suffered execution by the sword.

SS. PETER, APHRODISIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.

(DATE UNCERTAIN.)

[Roman Martyrology.]

The greatest confusion and uncertainty exists relative to these martyrs. In the Roman Martyrology they are said to have suffered in the Vandal persecution, in Africa. But there is some mistake, as the Bollandist fathers have pointed out. Aphrodisius there can be no doubt is wrong, and should be Euphrosius, who in ancient Martyrologies is mentioned with SS. Donatus, Frumentius, and others, but not with Peter; and that the martyrdom took place in the Vandal persecution is an error of Baronius, trusting to Galesinius, with whom it was pure conjecture. There is also no evidence that Peter ought to be coupled with Euphrosius and Donatus; but on the authority of ancient Martyrologies, with Alexander, Mamerius, Nabor, and others, of equally unknown date.

S. LUBIN, B. OF CHARTRES.

(A.D. 557.)

[Gallican Martyrology. His translation is commemorated in the Roman, on September 15th. Authority:--An ancient life of uncertain date and unknown authorship.]

S. Lubin, (Leobinus), was the son of poor parents near Poitiers, and was born in the reign of Clovis I. (the latter half of the 5th cent.) His boyhood was spent in ploughing the fields and feeding cattle. But he had a great desire to learn to read, and having made the acquaintance of a good monk, he persuaded him to ink the letters of the alphabet on his leather girdle, so that he might carry them about with him when he went after the cattle, and learn them by heart. His intelligence opening, he was sent to a monastery of that country, but whether it was Ligugé or Nouaille is not certain, and was made cellarer, and required to ring the hours. These duties gave him little leisure for pursuing his studies; he therefore curtailed his hours of sleep, and as his lamp troubled the sleep of the brethren, he hung a curtain over his window to screen the light from them. After having spent eight years in this monastery, the desire came upon him to visit S. Avitus, who lived as a hermit in Perche, (July 17th.) Having gone into this country, he met first with S. Calais, who had not then left S. Avitus, to settle in Maine, (July 1st); this great master of the spiritual life advised Lubin not to attach himself to the service of any church or chapel, as it would be the means of drawing him into the world, and interfere with the exercise of his religious rule, and not to seek a small monastery, for in such every one wants to be master. S. Avitus counselled Lubin to spend some time longer in a monastery before he retired into the desert. He therefore took the road to Lerins, but a monk of that abbey whom he met assuring him that it was unhealthy, he turned aside with the monk, and went to Javoux, where S. Hilary, the bishop of that place,[48] received them into his community. But he did not long remain there, thanks to his new acquaintance from Lerins, who seems to have been nowhere content, and they went together to Ile-Barbe, near Lyons. After a while the vagabond monk wanted to make another change, and draw Lubin away with him, but Lubin shook himself free of this restless spirit, and remained five years in Ile-Barbe.

[48] The seat was afterwards transferred to Mende.

During a war which broke out between the Franks and Burgundians, ending in the defeat of the latter by the sons of Clovis, in 525, the abbey of Ile-Barbe was invaded by the soldiers greedy of plunder. They found it deserted by all the monks, who had escaped, save S. Lubin and an old man. The old man, on being asked where the treasures of the church were concealed, meanly said that S. Lubin knew better than he; and the soldiers cruelly tormented the saint by winding whipcord tightly round his head, and then running a stick under it behind the head, and turning the stick so as to tighten the cord till it sank into the temples. This was a favourite torture with the barbarians, when they wanted to extract the secret of hidden treasures from prisoners. They also tied his feet, and let him, head down into the river, but were unable to extract from him the information they desired, and of which he may have been ignorant. Thinking him dead, the soldiers threw him on the bank and left him. He recovered, and made his way into Perche to S. Avitus, and served as cellarer in his monastery. On the death of S. Avitus, 430, he and two others retired into the wilderness of Charbonnièrs, on the extremities of the forest of Montmirail, which separates Beauce from Maine. There they built three little cells, and spent five years in solitude. But miracles proclaimed the sanctity of S. Lubin; by his intercession a fire which had broken out in the forest, and threatened to consume it, was arrested. Hearing this, Ætherius, bishop of Chartres, ordained him deacon, and made him abbot of the monastery of Brou, in Perche; he afterwards ordained him priest to give him more authority over his monks.

S. Aubin, bishop of Angers, being on his way to visit S. Cæsarius of Arles, persuaded S. Lubin to accompany him (536). When they came into Provence, Lubin yearned to retire into the peaceful retreat of Lerins, and escape the burden of the charge of his monastery, but S. Aubin sharply rebuked him, and made him see that he had no right to resign without sufficient cause a burden laid on him by God. In 544, Ætherius died, and Lubin was elected to the see of Chartres by the almost unanimous voice of the clergy and laity. The saint on his ordination introduced various reforms into the see. S. Lubin assisted in the fifth council of Orleans, in 549, and in the second of Paris, 551. He died in 587, and was buried in the church of S. Martin-du-Val, where his body was religiously preserved till the Calvinists sacked the church in the 16th century, when they burnt his bones, and cast the ashes to the winds. His skull was, however, preserved, but it also was lost at the Revolution.

S. MATHILDA, EMPRESS.

(A.D. 968.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Life drawn up by order of the emperor Henry, her grandson.]

The father of the empress Mathilda was Dietrich, count of Ringelheim, a descendant of the famous Witikind, prince of the Saxons, who had maintained so long and stubborn a resistance against Charlemagne. Her mother, Reinhild, was of royal Danish and Frisian blood. In her childhood Mathilda was entrusted to the tender care of her grandmother Hedwig, who had quitted the world, and had become abbess of Erfurt.

Henry the Fowler, son of duke Otho of Saxony, fell in love with Mathilda, and married her. The "Life of S. Mathilda," written by order of Henry the Pious, her grandson, says that Otho, hearing of the virtues of Mathilda, entered into negotiations with the count of Ringelheim to have her married to his son Henry. This is, no doubt, true, but it is only half the truth. The other part was suppressed by the pious historian. In fact, Henry was already married to Hathburg, daughter of Erwin of Altstadt, whom he had taken from the cloister, where she was being educated, and by whom he became father of Thankmar, who afterwards waged war with Otho the Great, son of Henry and Mathilda, claiming the duchy of Saxony as his own by right of seniority of birth. Henry saw and fell in love with Mathilda, and the young simple girl was probably hardly consulted in the matter, when Henry divorced his wife Hathburg, sent her back to her convent, and demanded the hand of Mathilda of her parents. The wrong done to Hathburg was bitterly atoned for in after years, for Mathilda was sorely tried by the ingratitude of her own sons, and saw Otho engaged in a bloody war with Thankmar, whom he had supplanted.

Henry was one to captivate hearts. He is described as lofty and majestic in stature, although slight and youthful in form, powerful and active in person, with a commanding and penetrating glance, his very appearance attracting popular favour, and securing the heart of his wife. "He excelled in prudence and wisdom, and his stature became his kingly dignity. Too much addicted to hunting, he was joyous in festivities, but without diminishing his regal dignity. In war he was alike loved and feared."[49]

[49] Witikind, lib. i., p. 641.

Henry had been elected emperor of Germany. In his new position, his life was one of warfare. He subjugated the Hevelli[50] and the Bohemians, and in 933, routed the Hungarians. The ambassadors of the Hungarians demanded of him the payment of an ancient tribute. According to the legendary account, Henry caused a mangy dog to be thrown before them, and declared a deadly war with their nation. The Hungarians instantly crossed the frontier in two enormous hordes, the lesser of which was routed by the arrière-ban of Saxony and Thuringia, near Sondershausen. The other body advanced along the Saal, in the vicinity of Merseburg, against the emperor. Henry entrenched himself on a mountain, since known as the Keuschberg, or Mountain of Chastity, owing to the circumstance of no woman being permitted to enter the camp of the Christians, who strengthened themselves for the coming conflict by devotional exercises. The news of the defeat of their countrymen at Sondershausen soon reached the Hungarians, who instantly kindled enormous fires along the banks of the river as signals of recall to all those of their number who were engaged in plundering the country, and the battle commenced with the coming morn. Henry addressed his troops. The picture of S. Michael was borne in the van, as the banner of the empire. A murderous struggle commenced, the Hungarians shouting, "Hui! hui!" and the Germans, "Kyrie-eleison!" Victory long wavered, but was at length decided by the discipline and enthusiastic valour of the Germans. An immense number of Christian slaves were restored to liberty. After the victory, Henry knelt, at the head of his troops, and returned thanks to Heaven. The terror of the Hungarians now equalled that with which they had formerly inspired the Germans. In the belief that the archangel Michael, whose gigantic picture they ever beheld borne in the van of the German army, was the god of victory, they made golden wings, similar to those with which he was represented, for their own idols. The hand of the emperor, and, underneath, a horse shoe, are still to be seen cut in the rock at Keuschberg, as a token of the victory. Germany remained undisturbed in this quarter during the rest of the reign of Henry the Fowler. Henry afterwards planned a visit to Rome, but died without accomplishing that project, in 936, when at the height of his splendour and renown. He was buried at Quedlinburg, his favourite residence.

[50] A Sorbian tribe on the Havel.

The union of Mathilda with her husband had been a very happy one. Both endeavoured to advance the kingdom of God by every means in their power, and together they concerted laws full of justice, to increase the prosperity of their dominions. Henry left behind him three sons by Mathilda, Otho, who was elected to the imperial throne on the decease of his father, Henry the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria, and Bruno, archbishop of Cologne. Mathilda spent her time in devotion, and gave abundant alms to the needy. She was very sober in her repasts, gentle in conversation, and ready to do with promptitude and cheerfulness whatever she deemed consistent with her position.

Otho had been unanimously elected emperor, and was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle with more than ordinary solemnity. He was invested with the gigantic crown of Charlemagne, the sceptre, the sword, the cross, the sacred lance of Longinus, and the golden mantle. And he looked an emperor. Witikind says of him in later years, "His demeanour was replete with majesty. His white hair waved over his shoulders. His eyes were bright and sparkling; his beard of an extraordinary length; his breast like that of a lion, and covered with hair."

Proud of his position and power, the young emperor was impatient of his mother's advice and authority. Listening to those who viewed her virtues with impatience, as a restraint on the licence of a court, they persuaded Otho that she had lavished the money of the empire in charities. He at once ordered his mother to retire from court to Engern, in Ravensberg. It was grief to Mathilda to be thus treated by her eldest son, but it was greater grief to her to find that her favourite son, Henry of Bavaria, had been the prime instigator of her banishment.

But it was not long before Henry fell dangerously ill, and Edith, the wife of Otho, deeming this a punishment for the wrong done to the saintly dowager empress, and dreading the same for her husband, persuaded Otho to recall his mother. He wrote to her, asking her pardon, and expressing his deep contrition for his past ingratitude. Mathilda was not one to bear resentment, and she returned to court. Mathilda now reaped with sorrow the harvest of her early involuntary fault in marrying a divorced man. Thankmar was in rebellion, for Otho had not been content with depriving him of the imperial throne, but had also seized his large maternal inheritance in Saxony, and had bestowed it on an adherent and friend. Thankmar took arms, and was upheld by the Saxons. The emperor marched against his half-brother, besieged him in Everburg, and Thankmar was slain at the foot of the altar, whither he had fled for safety. Thankmar had been joined by Eberhardt, duke of Franconia, who, now that all was lost, fell at the feet of Henry of Bavaria, and besought him to intercede in his behalf with the emperor. To his surprise, Henry replied, that he was willing to join with him in his designs against Otho, in order to deprive him of the crown, which he coveted for himself. For the present the two confederates dissembled their projects, and Eberhardt made his submission to Otho with expressions of the deepest contrition for his guilt. Henry gained confederates to his conspiracy, and suddenly attacked Otho as he was crossing the Rhine at Zante, but was defeated with great slaughter. Otho pardoned his brother, who remained afterwards true to his allegiance, finding that it was his best interest to cling to his powerful brother. He was a man of treacherous and cruel heart, and when his Bavarian subjects rose against him, and called the Hungarians to their assistance, having defeated them with the aid of Otho (955), he buried alive, or burnt in beds of quicklime, the leaders of the adverse party, put out the eyes of the bishop of Salzburg, and the patriarch Lupus of Aquileia met with a still more wretched fate at his hands.

In the midst of all these civil wars the dowager empress laboured to relieve the sorrows of the peasants upon whom the state of hostilities weighed most heavily. Her time was devoted to nursing the sick, releasing debtors from prison, and feeding the starving.

But at length, saddened beyond endurance by the conduct of her sons, and despairing of the world, she retired into the monastery of Nordhausen, which she had built, and gathering about her three thousand sisters, spent the rest of her days in tears and prayer. She lived to receive her grand-daughter, Mathilda, the child of the emperor Otho, into her house, and to commit into her hands the government of the community.

She died on March 14th, 968, and was buried in the church of S. Servetus, at Quedlinburg, by the side of her husband, Henry.

March 15.

S. ARISTOBULUS, _M., 1st cent._ S. LONGINUS, _M., 1st cent._
S. NICANDER, _M. in Egypt, circ._ A.D. 302.
S. MATRONA, _M. at Thessalonica_.
S. MATRONA, _V. in Portugal_.
S. MATRONA, _V.M. at Barcelona, in Spain_.
S. MAGORIAN, _C. at Trent, 5th cent._
S. TRANQUILLIUS, _Ab. at Dijon, 6th cent._
S. ZACHARIAS, _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 752.
S. LEOCRITIA, _V.M. at Cordova. (See p. 220.)_

S. ARISTOBULUS, M.

(1ST CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology, Greek Menologium and Menæa, on March 16th. in the Anglican Martyrology he is entitled bishop and martyr. Authority:--Notice in the Martyrologies and Menæa.]

Nothing is known for certain of S. Aristobulus, who was one of the seventy disciples of our Lord. He is said by the Greeks to have preached in Britain. He may be the Arystly who, according to the Welsh Triads, was one of the founders of Christianity in Britain. The Spaniards claim him as one of their apostles. The Greeks say that he was the brother of S. Barnabas, that he was ordained bishop, and died a martyr.

S. LONGINUS, M.

(1ST CENT.)

[Modern Roman Martyrology. The name of Longinus was not known to the Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus, in 715. It was introduced amongst the Westerns from the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is no reliable authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint.]

The name Longinus, given in the gospel of Nicodemus to the soldier who pierced the side of Christ, is probably due to a mistake. The name is probably Latinized from _Longche_, a spear. Some think that the soldier who pierced the side, and the centurion who exclaimed at the earthquake, confessing the Sonship of Christ, are the same, but there is the greatest uncertainty on every point connected with Longinus. The Greeks commemorate Longinus the Centurion on October 16th. The Latin Acts of S. Longinus confuse the centurion and the soldier together. The Greek Acts pretend to be by S. Hesychius (March 28th), but are an impudent forgery of late date. It is pretended that the body of S. Longinus was found at Mantua in 1304, together with the sponge stained with Christ's blood, wherewith he had assisted in cleansing our Lord's body when it was taken down from the cross. These relics have been distributed in various places. Part are in Prague, others in Carlstein, the body in the Vatican at Rome. But the Sardinians assert that they possess the body of S. Longinus, which was found in their island, where he had suffered under Nero. And the Greeks say he suffered in Gabala, in Cappadocia. The head is, however, also said to have been found in Jerusalem, and carried into Cappadocia.

S. NICANDER, M.

(ABOUT A.D. 302.)

[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa.]

S. Nicander flourished in the reign of Diocletian, in Egypt. He visited the Christian confessors in their dungeons, and ministered to their necessities; and when they suffered, he gathered their ashes and bones, and reverently buried them. This devotion could not long remain unobserved by the heathen, and he was denounced to the governor, who sentenced him to death.

S. MATRONA, V. M.

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Three saints of this name are commemorated on this day. At Barcelona one called Virgin and Martyr, another of Thessalonica, in the Roman Martyrology, called Martyr, but it is not said that she was a Virgin; another at Capua, in Campania, where she is said to be a Virgin and a native of Portugal. They were three distinct persons living at different dates, as their histories testify, but on account of the names of the Barcelonese and Capuan Saints being identical with that of S. Matrona in the Roman Martyrology, their festivals are kept on the same day. Matrona of Thessalonica is commemorated by the Greeks on March 27th.]

S. Matrona of Barcelona was early left an orphan and was adopted by her aunt, who went with her to Italy, and settled in the Campagna. The girl was given a crucifix, which she ever carried about with her. Having been denounced as a Christian, she was thrown into prison and starved to death.

S. Matrona of Thessalonica was the slave of a Jewess, who having discovered that her servant was a Christian, beat her to death with a stick.

S. ZACHARIAS, POPE.

(A.D. 752.)

[Roman Martyrology, and those of Ado, Maurolycus, and Notker, on March 14th, so also Molanus in his additions to Usuardus. Authority:--His life by Anastasius the Librarian.]

Zacharias, a Greek by birth, the son of Polychronius, was educated with care in every science. He went to Rome, where he was ordained priest, at a time when the eternal city was subject to constant alarms from the Lombards. Luitprand, king of the Lombards, ill satisfied because Gregory III. extended his favour to Thrasymund, duke of Spoleto, laid siege to Rome, and did not retire till his troops had pillaged the church of S. Peter, which the Goths had hitherto respected. At this moment, just as Gregory had asked help of Charles Martel against Luitprand, the see became vacant through his death.

Zacharias was elected to the throne of S. Peter. The innocence of his life, and the vigour of his understanding, were accompanied by a natural kindliness which fascinated all with whom he was brought in contact. He was consecrated on November 19th, 741, nine days after the death of his predecessor, and nine days before his interment. Resolved to expose himself to everything for the sake of his people, Zacharias sent a nuncio to king Luitprand with a letter overflowing with expressions of courtesy and respect, which so touched the barbarian, that he gave token of being disposed to negotiate with the new pontiff. Zacharias knew how to profit by the opportunity; he went, accompanied by many of his clergy, to Terni, in Umbria, and met king Luitprand, who received him with the utmost courtesy. He concluded a treaty with him, released his prisoners, recovered to the Holy See the towns that had been taken, and on the morrow assisted at the ordination of a bishop for Terni, which took place in the Church of S. Valentine. The ceremony produced a lively effect upon the Lombards, many of whom wept. After the ordination, the pope invited the barbarian prince to dinner, and gave him his blessing; Luitprand is reported to have observed that he had never enjoyed a dinner so much.

Zacharias was afterwards the means of procuring peace for many of the distressed states and cities of Northern Italy. Luitprand was succeeded by Hildebrand, who only reigned seven months; and the Lombard throne was then filled by Rachis, duke of Forli, who concluded a peace of twenty years with all Italy.

Zacharias now turned his attention to the discipline of the Church, which had become much relaxed by the troubles that had fallen on the land. He encouraged S. Boniface in his mission to Germany. In the East he laboured to soften the violence of the emperor Constantine Copronymus, who opposed sacred images and pictures in churches.

Pepin, mayor of the palace, who was master of France, under the shadow and name of Childeric III., sent Burchard, bishop of Wurtzburg, and Fulrad, abbot of S. Denys, to Zacharias to consult him on the accomplishment of his ambition, the assumption for himself of the crown of France from the heads of the "Faineant" race. Zacharias, who desired help and protection against the Lombards, not content with approving his design, wrote secretly to Pepin urging him not to refuse the crown which Providence extended to him; at the same time his more cautiously worded epistle to the Frank nobles on the subject did not a little serve towards determining them to place the sovereignty in the bold, firm hand of the mayor. For, without recommending the deposition of Childeric, or the election of Pepin, Zacharias urged that "he who had the power in fact ought to be the king." This was enough for Pepin. Every one considered this expression to be an approval of the design; the election of Pepin was regarded as approved by heaven; and he was crowned at Soissons the year following, by Boniface, archbishop of Mentz. This coronation took place on May 1st; Zacharias did not live to see it, for he died on the preceding March 3rd. The day of his burial in the Church of S. Peter, March 15th, is that on which the Church honours his memory.

March 16.

SS. HILARY, _B.M._, TATIAN, _D.M._, FELIX, LARGUS AND DIONYSIUS, _MM.
at Aquileja_, A.D. 285.
S. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, _M. in Cilicia_.
S. PAPAS, _M. in Lycaonia, circ._ A.D. 300.
S. AGAPITUS, _B. of Ravenna, circ._ A.D. 340.
S. COLUMBA, _V.M. in England_.
S. ANINAS, _H. on the banks of the Euphrates_.
S. HESYCHIUS, _B. of Vienne, in France, 5th cent._
SS. ABRAHAM, _H._, AND MARY, _P., his niece, in Syria, 6th cent._
S. FINAN THE LEPER, _Ab. of Inisfathlen, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 610.
S. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, _B. of Ross, in Scotland, 7th cent._
S. EUSEBIA, _Abss. of Hamage, circ._ A.D. 680.
S. GREGORY THE ARMENIAN, _B.H. at Pluviers, in France, 11th cent._
S. HERIBERT, _Archb. of Cologne_, A.D. 1021.

SS. HILARY, B. M., TATIAN, D. M., AND COMPANIONS, MM.

(A.D. 285.)

[Roman Martyrology and that of Usuardus. Notker mentions Hilary alone. Hilary and Tatian in that of Bede, and some copies of that of S. Jerome. Authority:--the Acts which are genuine.]

Saint Hilary, bishop of Aquileja, in Northern Italy, had a deacon named Tatian, whom he appointed to be his archdeacon. In the reign of Numerian, during which they flourished, there was at Aquileja a heathen priest, named Monofantus, who went before the governor Beronius, and obtained from him authority to hale the bishop before his tribunal. Then Monofantus went to the house of Hilary, and found him engaged in reading, together with his deacon Tatian. He said, "The Governor wants you." Hilary said, "What is that you say, friend?" "I have already said once, the governor wants you." S. Hilary answered, "We will go in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ." And when they had come to the place of judgment, and the governor saw Hilary enter with a smiling countenance, he asked, "What is thy name?" The bishop answered, "My name is Hilary, and I am bishop of the Christians here." "Well," said the governor, "the command has gone forth that all are to sacrifice to the immortal gods. Therefore be speedy, obey, and go thy way." S. Hilary replied, "From my childhood I have learnt to sacrifice to the living God, and to worship Jesus Christ with pure heart; I cannot worship demons." The governor said, "Christ, whom thou sayest that thou worshippest, was crucified by the Jews." Hilary replied, "If thou knewest the virtue of His cross, thou wouldest leave the error of idols, and adore Him who would heal the wounds of thy soul." "Come," exclaimed the governor, "do as I bid, or I will have thy tongue cut out." "Sir," answered the bishop, "do so, instead of threatening me." Then Beronius had him drawn into the temple of Hercules, and beaten with rods. And as Hilary constantly refused to adore the idols, the governor ordered his back to be burnt with red hot coals, then the raws to be rubbed with coarse hair-cloth, and vinegar and salt to be poured into the wounds. After which he was taken and cast into prison. Tatian, the deacon, was next brought up to be tried, he was sentenced to be beaten, and thrown into prison with his bishop. And during the night they prayed, and sang praises to God, the Lord of heaven and earth; and as they prayed there was an earthquake, and the temple of Hercules was shaken down.

Then, on the morrow, Hilary the bishop, and Tatian the deacon, and Felix, Largus and Dionysius, three Christians then in the prison, were slain by order of Beronius, some of them by having their heads smitten off, and some by having swords thrust through their breasts.

S. JULIAN OF ANAZARBUS, M.

(DATE UNCERTAIN.)

[Roman Martyrology. Greek Menology of Basil Porphyrogenitus, same day. Authority:--A sermon by S. John Chrysostom, Hom. xlvii., and the notices in the Menologium and Menæa.]

This saint was a native of Cilicia, the same province which had the honour of producing S. Paul. In one of the persecutions of the Church he was sentenced to be tied up in a sack with vipers and scorpions, and thrown into the sea.

S. PAPAS, M.

(ABOUT A.D. 300.)

[Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa. Authority:--The hymn in the Menæa.]

S. Papas suffered in Lycaonia during the persecution of Maximian. He was first beaten, and his cheeks bruised, and then the inhuman persecutors, to make sport, nailed horse-shoes to his feet, and made him run before chariots through the streets of Laranda, the drivers, armed with whips, lashing him till he sank, bleeding and exhausted, on the pavement. A compassionate woman, like another Veronica, hastened up to wipe away the blood and sweat, and he died in her arms.

S. COLUMBA, V. M.

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Anglican Martyrology. There are two other saints of this name, virgins and martyrs, one at Sens, the other at Cordova. The Columba of Sens is commemorated on Dec. 31st, and is very famous; she suffered under Aurelian. The Cordovan saint gained the palm in the Moorish persecution in 891, and is commemorated on Sept. 17th.]

The great glory of the virgin martyr, Columba of Sens, has eclipsed the fame of the other two saintly virgin martyrs of this name. Of the S. Columba venerated in Cornwall on this day, nothing is known, but she is believed to have formed one of the company of S. Ursula.

S. ANINAS, H.

(DATE UNKNOWN.)

[Greek Menæa. This saint is commemorated by the Greeks on different days.]

This hermit, called variously Aninas and Ananias, lived in the flat deserts of the Euphrates, in a cave, with two lions, out of the foot of one of which he had drawn a thorn which hurt it. The lions followed him whenever he went to the Euphrates, distant four or five miles, to draw water. This he was obliged to do daily, and the bishop of Cæsarea, hearing of this, sent him the present of an ass to carry the water jars for him; but Aninas would not keep the ass, but gave it to some poor folk who were destitute.

Now there was a hermit who lived on a pillar in the same country, and Aninas heard that he was sore troubled in mind; then, the story goes, he wrote a letter comforting him, and sent it to him by one of his lions. Aninas died on March 16th, at the age of one hundred and ten.

SS. ABRAHAM, H., AND MARY, P.

(6TH CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, after Molanus; but the Greeks venerate these saints on October 29th. Authority:--The Life of SS. Abraham and Mary, by Ephraem, the companion of Abraham, but not, as has been commonly stated, S. Ephraem Syrus.]

Abraham was the son of very wealthy parents at Chidama, in Mesopotamia, near the city of Edessa. His father sought a young and beautiful girl in marriage for his son, and Abraham was married to her with all the pomp befitting the splendour of the rank and wealth and the family. The young man had now tasted all that the world could give, riches, honour, and love, and his heart was still void and craving for something more. Then he felt, with a conviction it was impossible to resist, that God alone could fill that void, and that satisfaction could alone be found in serving Him most perfectly. So, secretly in the night, seven days after his marriage, he escaped, and hid himself in the desert.

His parents, who had refused him nothing for which he had expressed a wish, his wife, who had given him no occasion of offence, were in amazement. They searched for him everywhere, and at the end of seventeen days discovered him in the desert, resolved to live alone. It was in vain that parents and bride urged him to return; he was inexorable, and they were obliged to leave him in his solitude. He had found a small hut, and now he walled up the door, leaving only a window, through which bread and water could be passed in to him by a friend. He had spent ten or twelve years in this retreat when his parents died, and left their immense property to him. He entrusted it to the care of his most intimate friends, to be used for relieving the necessities of the poor.

Now there was, not far off, a village of idolaters, who had stubbornly resisted every missionary effort made to convert them. The bishop of Edessa bethought him of Abraham the hermit, visited him in person, and insisted on his coming forth and preaching to these heathen. In vain did the hermit implore to be permitted to remain in his dear solitude: the bishop put the matter on his obedience, brought him forth, ordained him priest, and sent him amongst the pagans. Abraham then built a church in their midst, and finding that they were deaf to his exhortations, he spent his nights and days in tearful intercession for them, and then, armed with zeal, he rushed upon their idols and overthrew them. A mob at once assembled, and he was beaten till he could not move; and whenever he appeared in the streets, he was assailed with sticks and stones. Undeterred by this opposition, Abraham continued instant in prayer; and, after three years, saw the tide of popular opinion turn, and the villagers who had treated him so ill, now venerated him as an apostle of the truth. Abraham tarried with them another year, to confirm them in the faith, then commended them to the supervision of the bishop, and returned to his cell. Now it happened that a little girl, named Mary, the niece of Abraham, had been left an orphan, and she was brought to the hermit, as her sole relative, to educate. She was aged seven. Abraham bade a cell be built for her near his own, and there the child grew up under his supervision till she was twenty, when a young man, having conceived a violent passion for her, led her away, and then abandoning her, the unfortunate girl fell deeper into degradation, and became a common harlot in the city of Assos, in the Troad. Her the uncle had bewailed her fall with the deepest grief, and had instituted inquiries as to her whereabouts. Hearing that she was at Assos, Abraham broke down the wall which closed his door, and came forth, cast off his habit and sackcloth, and disguising himself as a soldier, went to Assos. And when he came there, he hired a lodging next door to the house of ill-fame where dwelt his niece, and he sought opportunity to meet and speak with her, but could not. Then he went to the house, and ordered supper, and bade that Mary should eat with him. So she, knowing him not, lost to shame, came, tricked out with necklaces and rings, in gaudy wanton dress. Then Abraham reddened with grief, and could ill restrain his tears. But making an effort, he controlled his emotion. So they sat down, and ate, and drank, and she laughed noisily, and talked in a light and wanton way; and as she spake the shadow on Abraham's brow deepened, the corners of his mouth quivered with pain, and a film formed on his eyes. Then the girl kissed him, and looked at him, and suddenly saw in the grave, suffering face before her, something that recalled past days, and she moaned. The man of the house hearing this, said, "Mary, what is the matter with thee? These two years that thou hast been with me thou hast been ever gay." But she looked up again, and met the tearful eyes of Abraham; then she cried out, "Oh, God! would that I had died three years ago. This man recalls to me my dear old uncle in the desert, and days of innocence and pure joy." Then Abraham put the man forth, and locked the door, and turning, threw back his hood, and caught Mary by both hands, and looked at her and said, "Mary, my child!" Then she knew him, and became cold and motionless as a stone. And he said, "My dearest child, what has befallen thee? How hast thou sunk from heaven in the abyss! O why didst thou not disclose to me thy first temptation, and I and Ephraem would have besieged heaven with tears and prayers to save thee? Why didst thou desert me like this, and bring this intolerable anguish of soul upon me?" But she, frightened and trembling, answered not a word. And he, holding her hands fast in his own, said again, "My own Mary, wilt thou not speak to me?" Then his tears burst forth, and the whole man was shaken with sobs. "Upon me be thy sin, my child," he said; "I will answer for it at the Judgment day to God. I will do penance and suffer in expiation of thy crime; only return, my child!" Then she burst forth with, "I cannot look thee in the face, uncle, and how can I call on God, whom I have so outraged?" "I will bear the burden of the sin, let it weigh on me, Mary," said the hermit vehemently; "only return to the old place, and dear Ephraem and I will pray instantly to God for thee. Come child, follow me." Then she fell down, and laid her brow on his feet, and sobbed, and held them, and kissed them, and stammered, "I will follow thee, uncle. What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits He has done unto me?" But he caught her up, and would not suffer her thus to lie. And she fell again and kissed the ground he had trodden, bringing her hopes of pardon and salvation. And he urged her to fly at once. Then she said, "Uncle, I have here some valuable trinkets, and some dresses. What shall I do with them? Shall I not pack them up and carry them with me?" But he cried out, "Leave them, leave them, they scent of evil." And he took her on his back, as a shepherd carrying his strayed sheep, and unlocked the door, and ran out. And when he came to his hut, he set Mary in the inner cell, and went into the outer room himself. And she, bitterly repenting the past, served God instantly, night and day, with tears. Abraham lived ten years longer, and rejoiced to behold the sincerity of his niece's contrition, and died at the age of seventy, in the fiftieth year of his solitary life; and Mary lived five years after her uncle's death. God wrought miracles of healing by her hands, to comfort the penitent soul, and assure her that her tears had blotted out her transgression.

S. BONIFACE QUIRITINE, B. OF ROSS.

(7TH CENT.)

[Aberdeen Breviary. Authorities:--David Camerarius and Hector Boece, and the lections in the Aberdeen Breviary.]

Alban Quiritine, or Kiritine, surnamed Boniface, is fabulously said to have been of Israelite race, and a descendant of Radia, sister of the apostles Peter and Andrew. All that is known of him is that he was bishop of Ross, in Scotland, and that he laboured to suppress the Keltic ritual and to establish Roman uniformity, doing in Scotland the work accomplished by S. Wilfrid in Northumbria. He preached to and converted large numbers of Picts and Scots, during sixty years of evangelical labours. It is said that as many as thirty-six thousand received the faith through him, and that he built a hundred and fifty churches, amongst others, that of S. Peter, at Rosmarkyn, in which he was buried before the altar.

S. EUSEBIA, ABSS. OF HAMAGE.

(ABOUT A.D. 680.)

[Molanus, Wyon, Menardus, Miræus in his 'Belgian Saints,' and Saussaye in his Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--A life, probably by Hucbald of Elnone (907), derived from various earlier accounts and traditions.]

S. Eusebia was the eldest daughter of S. Adalbald, of Douai (Feb. 2nd) and S. Richtrudis. Probably on the occasion of the assassination of her father, she was sent to the convent of Hamage, which was governed by her grandmother, S. Gertrude. On the death of S. Gertrude, Eusebia, at the age of twelve, was elected abbess of Hamage, according to a custom of the time, which required abbesses, if possible, to be of noble birth, so as to secure for the convent protection from powerful families in times of difficulty or war. But S. Richtrudis, who had become abbess of Marchiennes, thinking that the girl was far too young to manage the community, and that under her light hand grave disorders might prevail, peremptorily ordered Eusebia to come with all her nuns to Marchiennes. Eusebia hesitated, but when the orders were repeated, she reluctantly obeyed, and with all the community, bearing the body of S. Gertrude, she came to Marchiennes, where they were received by a procession with lights and incense. Eusebia was not happy in her new home, and sighed for Hamage. During the night, when every one slept, she was wont to steal out, barefooted, and run to the deserted convent, to watch and pray over the home of her infancy, fragrant with memories of a beloved guide and spiritual mother. Richtrudis, hearing of these nocturnal excursions, and not approving of them, ordered the child-abbess a sound flogging, and asked her brother Maurontius to administer it. Eusebia writhed and danced about under the correction, to elude the blows, and in so doing ran against the point of the sword of Maurontius, which slightly wounded her side. According to a popular legend, which the historian records merely as such, one of the twigs of the birch with which Eusebia was corrected, rooted itself on the spot where it had fallen, and grew up into a stately tree.

Richtrudis, seeing that her child continued bent on returning to Hamage, consulted the bishop, who advised her to yield. Accordingly Eusebia and her community went back to the deserted convent, and she governed it with prudence, living in piety, till the day of her death. She was buried in the church of the Apostles, at Hamage; but the body was afterwards translated to Marchiennes.

In Belgium she is called S. Isoie, or Eusoye.

S. HERIBERT, ARCHB. OF COLOGNE.

(A.D. 1021.)

[German Martyrologies. At Cologne the festival of his translation is observed on August 30th. Authority:--A Life, by Lambert of Deutz, written twenty years after the death of Heribert.]

Heribert was born at Worms. His father was a gentleman of rank. His mother had been carried off into captivity by the Huns, and had been sold to an honest and good man, who restored her to her parents. She was grand-daughter of Reginbald, count of Swabia. Heribert was educated in the abbey of Gorze, in Lorraine, in the diocese of Metz. His father having recalled him to Worms, the archbishop Hildebald was so pleased with the young man, that he made him dean of his cathedral, and destined him to become his successor, but his death before Heribert had sufficiently established his reputation prevented the fulfilment of this design. Some years after, Otho III., who had not as yet received the imperial crown, having been informed of the merit of Heribert, made him his chancellor, and perceiving his great virtue, obtained his ordination. Shortly after, the archdiocese of Cologne became vacant, and this gave rise to party contests, productive of schism in that Church. The contest was brought to a conclusion by an almost unanimous election of the chancellor Heribert. He received notice of his having been chosen, with great regret, and on his induction, on Christmas-eve, walked barefoot to the cathedral. His reign was a true blessing to the diocese, through his wise regulations for the maintenance of discipline among the clergy, and for the systematic relief of the necessitious. He built and endowed the abbey of Deutz, on the opposite bank of the Rhine to Cologne; he rebuilt the church of the Apostles, at Cologne, and the chapel of S. Stephen. In a time of great drought, when the country was suffering great distress, and the cattle of the poor were perishing, he went in procession to the church of S. Severinus, and kneeling before the altar, bowed his head on his hands, and weeping for the misfortunes of his people, did not raise his head till a thunderstorm broke over the church.

March 17.

S. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA, _1st cent._
SS. ALEXANDER, _B.M._, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. at Rome_.
SS. MARTYRS _in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria_, A.D. 390.
S. AGRICOLA, _B. at Chalons-sur-Saone_, A.D. 580.
S. PATRICK, _B. Apostle of Ireland_, A.D. 465.
S. GERTRUDE, _V. Abss. of Nivelles, in Brabant_, A.D. 664.
S. WITHBURGA, _V. at Dereham and Ely_, A.D. 743.
S. PAUL, _M. in Cyprus, circ._ A.D. 700.

S. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA.

(1ST CENT.)

[Roman Martyrology, inserted by Baronius, because observed as a double by the Canons of the Vatican, who possess an arm of the saint. In Liege, where other relics are preserved, on Feb. 22nd; by the Greeks on July 31st.]

When Christ came into the world, one Joseph took Him into his arms and cherished Him in His infancy; another Joseph received Him when He was dead, and ministered to His inanimate body. Joseph, a native of Arimathæa, said by S. Matthew to have been rich, and called by S. Mark a counsellor, appears to have lived in Jerusalem, where he possessed a garden. According to S. John, he was a disciple in secret of the Son of God; that he was a just man, we are told by S. Luke. After the Crucifixion he cast aside the fears which had restrained him from professing openly his conviction, and going boldly to Pilate, he craved of him the body of Jesus. He then bought the winding sheet, and going to Calvary, detached from the Cross the dead body of Christ, assisted by S. John the Evangelist, S. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of Cleopas. Joseph and Nicodemus anointed the body with myrrh and aloes, and laid it in the sepulchre of Joseph.

Many strange traditions have attached themselves to Joseph of Arimathæa, as that he came to Britain, and planted his staff at Glastonbury; but as these legends are wholly worthless, they must be here passed over.

His body is said to have been buried by Fortunatus, patriarch of Grado, in the abbey of Moyen-Moutier; but no relics of it now remain there, though some are shown elsewhere.

SS. MARTYRS IN THE SERAPION.

(A.D. 390.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authorities:--Socrates, Hist. Eccl. lib. v. c. 16; Sozomen, lib. vii. c. 15.]

The temple of Bacchus at Alexandria having been given to the Christians to be converted into a church, the patriarch ordered its thorough purification. Whilst this was being performed, many abominations and much evidence of trickery were brought to light. This so exasperated the pagans that a sedition broke out, and rushing down from the Serapion, a magnificent temple situated on a hill and fortified, they carried off a number of Christians, and bringing them into the temple, endeavoured to force them to sacrifice to Serapis. As they refused, the pagans crucified some, broke the bones of others, and put others to death in various ways. When the emperor Theodosius heard of the tumult, he ordered those who had fallen victims to be enrolled in the number of the blessed, but forbade any reprisals upon their executioners, hoping that this exhibition of mercy would be efficacious in attracting them to the true faith. He, however, ordered the Serapion to be levelled with the dust.

S. AGRICOLA, B. OF CHALONS-SUR-SAONE.

(A.D. 580.)

[Roman and Gallican Martyrologies. Authority:--His contemporary, Gregory of Tours.]

S. Agricola was born of a senatorial family. In stature he was diminutive, but the greatness of his soul redeemed him from that disrespect which his short stature might have brought upon him. He was eloquent, of refined manners, prudent in judgment. In his youth he formed a warm attachment for S. Venantius Fortunatus, the Christian poet, and author of the magnificent hymn, _Vexilla regis_, "The royal banners forward go." In 532, he was appointed bishop of Châlons-sur-Saône. He died at the age of eighty-three, in the year 580, and was buried in the Church of S. Marcellus, near Châlons, where his relics are preserved over the high altar.

S. PATRICK, AP. OF IRELAND.

(ABOUT A.D. 465.)