Chapter X: S. Xystus, Pope 489 (16)

Nicolas was himself unanimously elected governor and judge of Obwalden. The high dignity of Landaman was decreed him by the general assembly several times; but he feared the great responsibility; and, without doubt, he felt also that God had reserved him for some other and greater thing.

Nicolas had thus lived fifty years for the good of his country and family, and esteemed by all, when, in the year 1467, he felt himself drawn to a closer walk with God, in a life of entire separation from the world. His eldest son, John von der Flue, thus speaks of him: "My father always retired to rest at the same time as his children and servants; but every night I saw him rise again, and heard him praying in his chamber until morning. Many times, also, he would repair in the silence of the night to the old church of S. Nicholas, or to other holy places." These hours of solitude were to him the happiest moments of his life; and the interior impulse became even more powerful to consecrate the remainder of his life to the devout contemplation of eternal truths. God also favoured him frequently with miraculous intimations of His divine will. On one occasion, when he went to visit his flock at a place called Bergmatt, according to his wont, he knelt upon the grass, and began to pray, when God vouchsafed him a consoling vision. He beheld a fragrant lily, white as snow, come out of his mouth, and rise towards heaven. Whilst he regaled himself with the perfume and beauty of the flower, his flock came gambolling towards him, and amongst them a noble horse. As he turned to look, the lily inclined itself towards the horse, which advanced and drew it from his mouth; by which Nicolas was made to understand that the treasure to which he should aspire was in heaven: and if his heart was not wholly detached from the things of earth, he would forfeit the possession of the celestial joys reserved for him.

Another time, while engaged in the ordinary business of his house, he saw three men approach him, of venerable aspect, one of whom addressed him thus:--

"Tell us, Nicolas, wilt thou put body and soul into our power?"

"I give myself to none," replied he, "but the Almighty God, whom I have long desired to serve with my soul and body."

At these words the strangers turned with a smile one towards the other, and the first answered: "Because thou hast given thyself wholly to God, and art bound to Him for ever, I promise that in the 70th year of thine age thou shalt be delivered from all the troubles of this world. Remain constant in thy resolution. Thou shalt bear in heaven a glorious banner amidst the armies of God, if thou hast borne with patience the cross that we lay upon thee."

Upon this the three men disappeared. These visions confirmed him in his resolution of separating from the world. He disclosed to his wife the desire of his soul, and entreated her, for the love of God, to give him permission to fulfil this vocation. She consented with calm resignation, and Nicolas began at once to arrange the affairs of his house, assigning to each of his children his part of the inheritance. He then assembled all his household,--his old father, 70 years of age, his wife, his children, and his friends; he appeared before them barefoot and bareheaded, clothed in the long robe of a pilgrim, with a staff and chaplet in his hand; he thanked them for all the kindness they had shown him, exhorted them for the last time to fear God before all things; then he gave them his blessing, and departed. That this separation was a trial to him, was evidenced by his frequent expressions of thankfulness to God that He had strengthened him to overcome for His service the love he bore to his wife and children.

Nicolas set out with a tranquil heart for the place which God had chosen for him. Crossing valleys and mountains, he arrived at the limits of the Confederation. When not far from Aarau, at a spot whence he could see beyond the frontiers the little town of Liechstall, he had a remarkable vision. The town, with its houses and towers, appeared to him enveloped in flames. Terrified with this spectacle, he entered into conversation with a peasant whom he found in a neighbouring farmhouse, and made known to him his purpose, begging him to point out a solitary spot where he might be able to carry it into effect. This man counselled him to remain in his own country; because, as the Confederates were not always well received in other parts, he might be unfavourably regarded, and his retreat be disturbed. Brother Nicolas thanked his host for this good counsel, and turned his face again towards home. He rested not till he reached Melchthal, his native place; where he repaired to one of his pastures called the Kluster. There he made a little hut of branches and leaves under a larch tree, in the midst of thorny bushes, and remained without discovery till the eighth day, neither eating nor drinking, but absorbed in prayer. Some hunters in pursuit of game first became aware of his retreat, and spoke of him to his brother, Peter von der Flue, who visited him, and besought him not to suffer himself to die of hunger in so wild a solitude. Brother Nicolas assured him that he need be without uneasiness on his account, as he had experienced no evil result up to that time. Nevertheless, that he might not seem to tempt God, he sent secretly for the curé of Kerns, named Oswald Isner, and acquainted him with the whole case. This good man gave the following testimony after the hermit's death, as may be read in the parish record of the year 1488:--

"When Bro. Nicolas had passed eleven days without food, he sent for me, and asked me whether he should take some nourishment or continue his trial, as he had always desired to be able to live without eating, in order that he might be more effectually separated from created things. When I saw that this could come only from the source of divine love, I counselled Bro. Nicolas to persevere as long as he was able; and from this time to the day of his death, a period of more than twenty years, he continued to dispense with bodily food. As the pious brother was more familiar with me than with any other person, I sought earnestly to learn from him how his strength was sustained; and one day he told me, in great secrecy, that when he assisted at Mass, and the priest communicated, he received a strength which enabled him to refrain from all other nourishment."

When the fame of this miraculous life spread abroad, people flocked from all parts to see a man whom God had so distinguished, and to convince themselves of its reality by personal observation. His quiet life was, in consequence, so much disturbed, that he determined to seek a more isolated spot. After traversing several of the wildest valleys with this intention, he beheld above a gloomy gorge, down which the Melch precipitates itself with deafening roar, a brilliant light descending from heaven. Obedient to this indication of the will of God, he built there a little hut. But the same year, his neighbours, the inhabitants of Obwalden, edified by his holy life, built him a chapel with a small cell attached, and presented it to him as a mark of their affection. Brother Nicolas entered this new dwelling, and continued there to serve God in the same supernatural life. Meanwhile, the renown of his extraordinary mode of existence extended far and wide: many were unwilling to believe that a man could thus live miraculously by the sole grace of the Almighty, whilst others glorified God on his behalf.

The magistrates of the canton, desiring to verify the fact of the monastic life of Blessed Nicolas, sent officers, who, for the space of a month, occupied day and night all the avenues of his retreat, in order that no person might bring provisions. Thomas, suffragan bishop of Constance, subjected the brother to a similar test when he consecrated the chapel; and after him bishop Otho visited the hermit. The archduke Sigismund of Austria sent, for the same purpose, his physician, the learned and skilful Binhard de Horneck, in order that he might attentively observe Nicolas during several days and nights. Frederick III., the emperor, also appointed delegates to examine him; but all these expedients served only to confirm the truth. Those who visited him were so struck with the piety and humility of the servant of God, that all their doubts vanished, and they left him penetrated with the most profound respect. When asked how he could exist without food, his simple reply was, "God knows."

It was only on Sundays and festival days that he left his cell, and assisted with the rest of his parishioners at divine service in the church of Sachseln. Once a year he repaired to Lucerne for the great procession, and to visit the celebrated places of pilgrimage. When the journey became too fatiguing on account of his advanced age, and the gifts of pious persons enabled him to procure the services of a priest, he heard Mass daily in his own chapel, and confessed and received the Holy Communion frequently. He consecrated to the service of God all the hours from midnight to midday, at which time he prayed and meditated, especially on the passion of Jesus Christ our Saviour, who, as he said, communicated to him in the exercise a miraculous strength, a supernatural food.

During the remainder of the day, from midday to the evening, he received those who visited him; or, when the weather was fine, he would traverse the mountains praying, or visit his friend, Brother Ulrich, and converse with him on divine things. Ulrich was a German gentleman, originally from Bavaria, who, after many remarkable adventures, had quitted the world to establish himself near Nicolas, in this solitude. Lodged in the hollow of a rock, he led a life similar to his, save only that he could not dispense with food, which the pious country-people provided for him. In the evening Brother Nicolas resumed his prayers; then he went to take a short repose upon his couch, which consisted only of two planks, with a piece of wood or a stone for a pillow.

At this period the cities and states of the Swiss Confederation were at the height of their prosperity; the fruit of three memorable victories over the forces of the Duke of Burgundy.

Six years had not elapsed since the first of these--that of Granson. In this famous engagement, the Confederates had humbled the haughty arrogance of Charles the Bold: his fine army, three times stronger than their own, had been cut in pieces; and this hitherto unconquered hero, the master of the richest provinces on this side the Alps--the two Burgundies, Gueldres, and almost all Belgium,--this warrior, before whom France trembled, and whom Lorraine had been unable to resist, fled from the field of battle with only six companions. Four hundred pieces of artillery, six hundred banners, his ducal hat, his sword of state, the three large diamonds, celebrated throughout Europe, which were destined at a subsequent period to adorn the crowns of mighty potentates;--in a word, a camp which was unequalled in richness and magnificence throughout Christendom, and could only be compared to the camps of the Turks, fell into the hands of poor mountaineers, who, with the help of God, had defended their liberty against the cupidity and pride of a foreign foe.

The second battle took place on the plains of Morat. Charles of Burgundy was again routed with enormous loss, and obliged to fly a second time, having with him only thirty men. The Confederates, after the battle, fell on their knees in thanksgiving for the success of their arms; the trumpets poured forth a joyous blast; messengers, decorated with green branches, ran in all haste through the towns and villages, and the bells rang out exulting peals.

The third of these great battles was fought by the Swiss near Nancy. The Burgundian, in his despair, had collected all that remained of his forces, and having on this occasion to contend with troops superior to his own, he displayed a valour worthy of his name and ancestors. But all his efforts were in vain; and Charles, the last of his house on the throne of Burgundy, was once more totally defeated.

The reputation of the Swiss became so great in consequence of these successes, that the most powerful princes of Europe sent ambassadors to their assemblies, and sought their alliance. At the negotiations held at Zurich, in 1478, for concluding peace with Burgundy, were to be seen envoys from the emperor of Germany, the king of France, the Archduke of Austria, and counts and lords from far and near. The Swiss had no longer a single enemy to fear.

The immense booty taken from the Burgundians, and the payments made on various accounts by France, had occasioned large sums of money to circulate among the people; and the Swiss had lost something of their pure and disinterested love for their country.

At the close of the year, 1481, on S. Thomas's Eve, the deputies of the Cantons met at Stanz, in Unterwalden, for deliberation on matters of the highest importance connected with the welfare of the Confederacy. The minds of the delegates had been already so warped by jealousy and selfishness, that the members of the assembly of Stanz could come to no mutual understanding, and were unceasingly embittered against each other. There were two parties in the assembly at variance with each other; that of the towns, and that of the country. The peasants of Uri, of Schwytz, and Unterwalden desired peace, and distrusted the ambition of the citizens, who would draw them needlessly into war. They sought to maintain the Swiss Confederation within its ancient limits, and were not disposed to strengthen the opposite party by the admission of new towns. On the contrary, the towns of Lucerne, of Berne, and of Zurich exerted themselves to obtain admittance into the Confederation for Soleure and Friebourg; because they themselves lay exposed to the attacks of the enemy, Switzerland not having as yet any natural frontier; and these towns had fought faithfully for Switzerland in the wars against Charles, and the Confederates in the hour of danger had promised to admit them into the league.

To this source of discord was added the envy excited by the division of the Burgundian booty. It was in vain that the cantons of Glarus and Zug sought to interpose their mediation, and that meetings were held in various places to reconcile differences. And now the Confederates were assembled for consultation for the last time at Stanz. The animosity of party, however, was so great, that after three sessions of angry debates, the members rose with agitated countenances, and separated without taking leave of one another, to meet again, perhaps, only in the conflict of civil war. That which neither the power of Austria, nor the fury of Charles of Burgundy had ever been able to accomplish, the Swiss were themselves in danger of bringing about by their own internal dissensions; and the liberty and happiness of their country stood in jeopardy.

These considerations filled all good citizens with sorrow and alarm, and, amongst others, a curé of Stanz, named Henry Im Grand, a man full of zeal for the good of his country. As he reflected on the danger which threatened her, his thoughts turned to Brother Nicolas. "This man," said he to himself, "is, perhaps, the only one whose voice will command attention now," and, taking his staff, he went in quest of him. Brother Nicolas replied to his entreaty to come to Stanz with his usual gravity: "Return," said he, "tell the envoys of the Confederation that Brother Klaus has something to propose to them."

The priest, full of hope, resumed his journey with all possible speed; he hastened to the inns where the deputies were preparing for departure, and conjured them to be again reconciled, and to listen for the last time to the counsels and proposition of the pious hermit. They consented; and some hours after, the brother appeared in the midst of the assembly.

Notwithstanding his great age, Nicolas had performed this long and difficult journey without resting; his fine majestic figure--which time had scarcely bent, was seen advancing across the market-place of Stanz to the town-hall. He wore, according to custom, his simple, dark-coloured dress, which descended to his feet; he carried his chaplet in one hand, and grasped his staff with the other; he was, as usual, barefoot and bareheaded; and his long hair, a little touched by the snows of age, fell upon his shoulders. When the holy man entered the hall before all the Confederates, they rose with one accord to greet him. After a few moments, silence was broken by the sonorous voice of the hermit, who addressed them with earnest words, and God gave such grace to his words that in one hour all difficulties were smoothed away, and base passions were silent through shame before the severe counsel of a man who appeared before this assembly with hands raised towards heaven, as a prophet sent from God.

The Confederates, in accordance with Nicolas's advice, received into their league the towns of Freibourg and Soleure; the ancient treaties of alliance were confirmed, and further consolidated by being established on the basis of new laws unanimously enacted. The pacification of all the Swiss cantons, the maintenance of public order, and of the authority of the magistrates against disturbers of the peace, the division of booty according to the rule given by Nicolas,--such were the points upon which the Confederates, who had so long contended with so much animosity, came this same day to an entire agreement.

The brother returned the same evening to his peaceful hermitage. At Stanz the bells were rung, and sounds of rejoicing floated across the lakes and through the valleys to all the villages and towns of Switzerland, from the snowy heights of S. Gothard to the smiling plains of Thurgau. There was as much joy and gladness everywhere as after the victories of Granson and Morat, and with as just cause; for there the Confederates had delivered their country from foreign enemies; here they saved it from their own passions. Their true deliverer, who had obtained from them this victory over themselves, was the poor Brother Nicolas, and as such he was everywhere recognised and extolled.

The towns and countries of the Confederation, and above all, Soleure and Freibourg, satisfied with the happy termination of their dissensions, testified their gratitude to the brother by sending him letters of thanks and precious gifts. He accepted the latter only when they were destined to adorn his chapel. Berne sent a courier with a letter of thanksgiving and a handsome present. The answer which the brother returned, through the medium of his son John, exists to this day in the archives of Soleure, to which city it was presented by Berne. From this time the general veneration for Brother Klaus increased continually.

Nicolas lived six years longer in his peaceful retreat, rich in benedictions. At length the time arrived when God would call His faithful servant from the miseries of the world to eternal joy.

Before his death, God sent him a sharp sickness, in which he suffered indescribable pain. In this condition of suffering he turned from side to side, writhing upon his couch like a worm trodden under foot. These frightful pains lasted eight days. He bore them with perfect resignation, and continued to exhort those who surrounded his bed of death so to conduct themselves in this life as to leave it with a peaceful conscience. "Death," said he, "is terrible; but it is still more terrible to fall into the hands of the living God." When his pains were a little relieved, and the moment of death drew near, Nicolas desired with all the ardour of devotion to receive the sacred Body of the Saviour, and to be strengthened by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. Near the dying man stood his faithful companion, Brother Ulrich, his old friend Henry Im Grand, and the pious anchorite, Cecil, who after his death led for seventy years the same solitary life in a neighbouring cell; his faithful wife and children also gathered round him. In their presence he received the holy Sacraments with tokens of deep humility; then he thanked God anew for all the benefits He had dispensed to him, prostrated himself, and died the death of the just.

This event took place on the first day of the spring of the year 1487, the feast of S. Benedict, the same on which seventy years previous he was born.

The lily had been the favourite symbol of this pure calm soul; the lily in flower, resplendent with a divine glory, was Brother Klaus himself, the humble servant of God, whose name, it is said, even S. Charles Borromeo never pronounced but with uncovered head.

The skeleton of Brother Klaus reposes in a shrine above the high altar of the Church at Sachseln, where also are preserved the habit, staff, and rosary of the saint. A contemporary portrait exists in the town-hall of Sarnen. He is represented as deadly pale, with deep sunk eyes, which are red with constant weeping. His chapel and hermitage are still shown in Melchthal.

March 23.

S. PROCULUS, _B. of Verona, 4th cent._
SS. FINGAR, PIALA, _V._, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Cornwall, circ._
A.D. 450.
S. VICTORIAN, _Proconsul of Carthage_, AND COMPANIONS, _MM., circ._
A.D. 484.
SS. LIBERATUS, PHYSICIAN, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa, circ._
A.D. 484.
S. BENEDICT, _Monk in Campania, 6th cent._
S. ETHELWOLD, _P.H. in the Isle of Farne, circ._ A.D. 723.
S. ALPHONSO TORIBIO, _B. of Lima, in Peru_, A.D. 1606.
B. JOSEPH ORIOL, _P. at Barcelona_, A.D. 1702.

S. PROCULUS, B. OF VERONA.

(4TH CENT.)

[Modern Roman Martyrology. Maurolycus, Greven and Canisius give Dec. 9th; Galesinus gives both days. The Roman Martyrology says that S. Proculus confessed Christ in the persecution of Dioclesian; all the other Martyrologies, that of Verona included, and all the versions of the Acts extant make a mistake, and say he confessed under Maximin, the emperor, when he was at Milan, before Anulinus the consul. But Maximin never was at Milan; and Annius Cornelius Anulinus was consul in the year 295, when Dioclesian and Maximian were emperors; and Maximian was at Milan more than once. Anulinus was proconsul of Africa in 303, and we meet with him in the Acts of some of the African martyrs. The Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus are not precisely in their original form, or this error would not have crept in, of making Maximian into Maximin; otherwise they seem to be trustworthy.]

Saint Proculus was the fourth bishop of Verona. During the persecution waged by Dioclesian and Maximian against the Church, Anulinus the consul came to Milan breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the faithful. And when he had laid his hands on SS. Firmus and Rusticus, the holy bishop Proculus went to them into their prison to encourage them to strive manfully for Christ. And he kissed them and said, "Be strong in the Lord Jesus, and receive me, my brethren, as your fellow in death; for I desire greatly to be your companion, that we may have but one will and one struggle for the Lord, so that we may merit to enter into His glory and sing His praises eternally?" And they answered, "So be it." Now Anulinus had sent to have the martyrs brought before him; and the officers came to the door, and saw the old man sitting with Firmus and Rusticus, and they laughed, and said, "What does that old man want with these condemned criminals?" Then the blessed Proculus answered, "They are not condemned criminals, but crowned victors of the Lord; and would that I might share their glory!" So saying he held out his hands to the officers that they might be bound; so they bound him.

Anulinus sat on his judgment seat, and they brought before him Firmus and Rusticus, and after them the venerable Proculus. "Who is this old man?" asked the magistrate; and when they told him, Anulinus said, "He drivels, send him off." So they unbound him and beat him about the face, and drove him out of the city.

So far from the Acts of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, other accounts of S. Proculus are less authentic. According to these latter, he went to Jerusalem together with some companions, when the persecution was at an end, and was taken captive and sold as a slave; but was released, on account of his advanced age. On his way home he passed through Pannonia, and an odd story is related of the journey. The old man felt the want of a razor, and was ill-content at remaining unshaven so long. At length, passing through a country where there was no water, and unable to endure the growth on his chin and place of tonsure any longer, he summoned water out of the rock, and giving an old blunt knife to his attendant bade him shave boldly. Then wondrous to relate the bristles on the old man came off lightly, as though mown by the keenest razor.

The relics of the saint were discovered on the rebuilding of the confession or church of S. Proculus, in 1492.

SS. FINGAR, M., AND PIALA, V. M.

(ABOUT A.D. 450.)

[Anglican Martyrology of J. Wilson. In Brittany at Lok-Eguignar, where the church is dedicated to him; the saint is commemorated on December 14th. Colgan by mistake, February 23rd. The Life and Martyrdom of S. Fingar, written by one Anselm, but not S. Anselm of Canterbury, is fabulous.]

There was a prince named Corotic[86] of Cornwall or South Wales, who was a pirate and a persecutor at once. In, or about, A.D. 450, but certainly just before S. Patrick left Munster, in 452, Corotic landed with a party of his armed followers, many of whom were Christians, at a season of solemn baptism, and set about plundering a district in which S. Patrick had just baptized and confirmed a great many converts, and on the very day after the holy chrism was seen shining on the brows of the white-robed neophytes. Having murdered several persons, these marauders carried off a considerable number of people, whom they sold as slaves to the Scots and Picts. S. Patrick wrote a letter, now extant, which he sent to these pirates, requesting them to restore the baptized captives, and some part of the booty. The letter was received with scorn, and S. Patrick was under the necessity of issuing a circular epistle against them and their chief Corotic, in which he proclaimed that he excommunicated and cut off from Christ those same robbers and murderers, and forbade Christian people receiving them and giving them meat or drink. He requested the faithful to read the epistle everywhere, and before Corotic himself, and to communicate it to his soldiers, in the hope that they and their master might return to God.

[86] The Caradenc of the Britons, Caraduc of the Welsh, the Latinized Caractacus.

It is probable that S. Fingar was one of the sufferers in this expedition. He and his sister Piala were _probably_ carried to Cornwall, and there put to death. But all this is very uncertain. The life by Anselm tells the story thus: Fingar or Guigner, the son of the Irish king Clito, and a convert to Christianity through the preaching of S. Patrick, fled his country to avoid the consequences of his father's wrath, together with several young nobles to Brittany, where he was kindly received by the chief of the province, and having got ample possessions from him, erected an oratory. Afterwards he returned to Ireland, and there collected nearly eight hundred faithful, among whom were seven bishops and his sister Piala. Leaving Ireland they arrived at the port of Hayle, in Cornwall, anciently called Pen-dinas, but now called Hayle, after S. Hija, an Irish virgin, who had set out after them, on a leaf of a tree which had been blown into the sea, and on which she was wafted to the Cornish coast. S. Hija received them hospitably, and forwarded them on their way. At night they reached the hut of a pious woman who invited them all in, and as there were not beds enough for the whole company, pulled the thatch off her roof, and strewed it on the floor. Then she killed her only cow, and served its meat to the holy comrades, who satisfied themselves thereon, and then S. Fingar took the skin, put the bones inside it, and having prayed, the cow rose up whole, and began to low. Theodoric--this is Anselm's version of the name Corotic--the earl of Cornwall, hearing of the passage through his lands of this large party of saints, waylaid and massacred them. S. Fingar planted his staff at his side, and stretched forth his neck, and his head was smitten off at one blow. Then a spring bubbled up from the ground moistened by his blood, and his staff grew and put forth leaves beside the holy well.

It is almost needless to point out the utter worthlessness of this fable. That there was a S. Fingar, and that he suffered under Corotic is likely enough. The violence and murders committed by this piratical prince are established historical facts. But if S. Fingar had been a king's son, he would certainly have been mentioned in some of the lives of S. Patrick, which he is not. Anselm says that his father, Clito, was the most noble and powerful of the seven Irish kings who received S. Patrick. Now there is nothing better authenticated than that the head king at that time was Leogaire. The chief difficulty according to Colgan, consists in the name Theodoric; but the name was not unknown among the Britons. A Teudric, or Theodoric, was king of Glamorgan, about the latter end of the sixth century, (Usher, p. 562.) But Albertus Magnus maintains (De Sanctis Britan. Armor), that the Cornubia spoken of in Fingar's Acts was Cornouaille, in Brittany, and informs us that Fingar's festival is celebrated at Vannes, on December 13th. Lobineau, in his History of Brittany, mentions a Theodoric son of Budic, and count of Cornouaille, but he lived late in the sixth century. But probably Theodoric is a mistake for Corotic, made by some copyist.

S. VICTORIAN AND OTHERS, MM.

(ABOUT A.D. 484.)

[Usuardus, Ado, Notker, ancient and modern Roman Martyrologies. Authority:--Victor of Utica's History of the Vandal Persecution.]

Victorian, proconsul of Carthage, a native of Adrumetum, was one of the wealthiest men in North Africa, and had discharged several important offices under Hunneric, the Vandal king, son of Genseric. But Hunneric being resolved to trample out the faith in the Godhead of Christ, and establish the Arian heresy throughout his dominions, offered Victorian the highest honours, and his own special favour, if he would regard Christ as a creature. Victorian replied, "Nothing can separate me from the faith and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the confidence that I have in so mighty a master, I am ready to suffer all kinds of torments rather than to consent to Arian impiety. You may burn me or expose me to wild beasts, or kill me by other tortures; but never will you prevail on me to desert the Catholic Church in which I was baptized." This reply so exasperated the tyrant that he made the saint undergo the worst and most protracted torments his ingenuity could devise. Victorian endured them all with a good courage, and gained the martyr's crown.

In the city of Tambala also many suffered for the right faith, and in that of Aquæ regiæ two brothers exhibited great constancy. They were hung up by their wrists, with heavy weights attached to their feet. After having thus hung all day, the endurance of one brother gave way, and he cried out to be released. Then the other exclaimed, "Do not so, brother! or I will accuse thee at the judgment seat of Christ; for have we not sworn over His Body and Blood to suffer together for Him?" Then the weaker brother was strengthened to endure, and the Vandals incensed at their obstinacy, applied red-hot plates of iron to their flesh, and tore them with iron rakes, and so, they entered into the joy of their Lord.

Two merchants of Carthage, both named Frumentius, also sold all that they had, even to their lives, to gain the most precious pearl of eternal life.

The Church honours also on the same day S. Liberatus, his wife, and sons, who suffered in the same persecution. Liberatus, a physician of Carthage, was exiled, along with his wife, on account of his faith. He felt keenly the being separated from his children, but his wife consoled him, saying, "Think no more of thy children, Jesus Christ will be their guardian." The husband and wife were incarcerated in separate prisons, so as not to see one another. "Thy husband has submitted to the orders of the king," said the Arians to the wife: "therefore do thou yield also." But she answered, "Let me see him and speak with him." Then she was conducted to where he was, and she reproached him for his apostasy. But he exclaimed, "They have deceived thee, O my wife, never have I renounced my faith." Then she gave praise to God. It is not known how these saints suffered, but they are honoured by the Church as martyrs.

S. ETHELWOLD, H.

(ABOUT A.D. 723.)

[Menardus on Jan. 6th. Edward Mayhew in his Trophæa Cong. Anglic. O.S.B. on March 23rd. So Heronymus Porter in his Flores Vitarum Sanct. Angliæ, Scotiæ, and Hiberniæ. The revised Anglican Martyrology of 1640, on same day. Authority:--Bede in his life of S. Cuthbert.]

S. Ethetwold, or Ethelwold, was for some time a monk at Ripon, "where having received the priestly office," says Bede, "he sanctified it by a life worthy of that degree. After the death of that man of God, Cuthbert, this venerable priest succeeded him in the exercise of a solitary life, in the cell which the saint had inhabited in the islet of Farne, before he was made bishop." He found the oratory of Cuthbert so rudely put together, that the sea-wind shrieked in through the joints of the planks, and though patched up with clay and stubble, the chapel was so full of draughts that Ethelwold asked for and obtained a calf's skin, and this he nailed against the wall where he was wont to pray, to keep the wind from blowing into his ear. Bede says, "I will relate one miracle of Ethelwold, which was told me by one of the brothers who was concerned, and for whose sake it was wrought, Guthfried, the venerable servant and priest of Christ, who afterwards presided in quality of abbot over the church of Lindisfarne, in which he was educated. I came, said he, to the islet of Farne, with two other brothers, desiring to speak with the most reverent father Ethelwold; and when we had been comforted by his discourses, and having asked his blessing, were returning home, when on a sudden, as we were in the sea, the fair weather that was wafting us over changed, and so great and furious a storm fell on us, that neither sail nor oars availed, and we despaired of life.

"Having a good while struggled in vain with the wind and waves, we looked back at last to see if by any means we might return to the island, but found that we were equally beset with the tempest on all sides; but we could perceive Ethelwold at the mouth of his cavern, contemplating our danger. For, hearing the howl of the wind, and the roar of the sea, he came forth to see how we fared. And when he saw our desperate condition, he bent his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to pray for our life and safety. As he finished his prayer, the swelling sea immediately abated its violence, and the rage of the winds ceased, and a fair gale springing up bore us over the smooth waters to the shore. But no sooner had we arrived, and drawn our boat out of the water, than the same storm began to rage again, and ceased not all that day; to the end that it might plainly appear, that this small intermission had been granted from heaven at the prayer of the man of God, that we might escape."

S. Ethelwold spent twelve years at Farne, and died there; but he was buried in Lindisfarne, in the Church of S. Peter, near the bodies of SS. Cuthbert and Eadbert. His bones were afterwards taken up in the time of the Danish ravages, 875, and were translated to Durham in 995, and more honourably enshrined in 1160.

S. Dimas, Penitent. With Angel bearing his happy Soul to Paradise.

The Impenitent. With Dæmon dragging forth his unwilling Soul.]

March 24.

S. LATINUS, _B. of Brescia, 2nd cent._
SS. MARK AND TIMOTHY, _MM. at Rome, 2nd cent._
SS. TIMOLAUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, _MM. at Cæsarea_, A.D. 303.
S. PIGMENIUS, _P.M. at Rome_, A.D. 373.
S. DOMANGART, _of Slieve Donarth, B. in Ireland_.
S. HILDELITHA, _V. Abss. of Barking, in Essex, circ._ A.D. 720.
S. BERNULF, _B.M. of Aste, 9th cent._
S. SIMON, _Child M. at Trent_, A.D. 1475.

SS. TIMOLAUS, DIONYSIUS, AND OTHERS, MM.

(A.D. 303.)

[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on March 15th. Authority:--Eusebius on the Martyrs of Palestine.]

Eusebius writes of the persecution under Dioclesian, at Cæsarea,--"Who could fail to be struck with admiration at the sight or recital of the things that then took place? For, as the heathen in every place were on the point of celebrating their accustomed games and festivals, it was much noised abroad that besides the other exhibitions, those who had been condemned to wild beasts were to be made to fight. This report having gained ground, there were six young men, who, first binding their hands, hastened to Urbanus (the governor of the province), to prove their readiness to endure martyrdom, as he was on his way to the amphitheatre. Their names were Timolaus, a native of Pontus, Dionysius of Tripolis in Phœnice, Romulus, a subdeacon of the church at Diospolis Paesis, and Alexander, both Egyptians; and another Alexander from Gaza. They were immediately committed to prison. Not many days after, two others were added to the number, of whom one had already witnessed a good confession several times, under various dreadful tortures. His name was Agapius, but the other, who supplied them with the necessaries of life, was named Dionysius. All these, being eight in number, were beheaded in one day at Cæsarea, on the twenty-third day of the month Dystrus, that is, the ninth of the Kalends of April."

S. DOMANGART OF SLIEVE DONART, B.

(UNCERTAIN.)

[Irish Martyrologies. He is not to be confounded with S. Domangart, the brother of S. Domnoch, or Modomnoc (Feb. 13th.) Giraldus Cambrensis calls him Dominick. Usher, thinking this S. Dominick was the same as Dominick of Ossory mentioned elsewhere by Giraldus, and not acquainted with the history of S. Domangart, fell into the mistake of making the mountain Slieve Slainge, called afterwards Slieve Donart, to be Grenore point, in Wexford. Ware followed Usher. Archdall calls the saint S. Domangard of Ossory, whereas the saint of Ossory was Domnoc, or Modomnoc, and not Domangart at all, and makes the promontory Carnsore.]

S. Domangart is said to have been the son of Euchodius, king of Ulster, in the latter part of the 5th century, and during a part of the 6th. In the Tripartite Life of S. Patrick he is represented as a bigoted heathen and a persecutor. His two daughters having embraced Christianity made a vow of perpetual virginity, and their father, highly incensed, ordered them to be cast into the sea. Therefore S. Patrick cursed him and his seed for ever, excepting, however, his unborn son, at the petition of the queen, who was with child. The son born to him after this was Domangart, and his birth is placed a short time before the foundation of Armagh, and it is added that he afterwards became a disciple of the apostle. But, as Dr. Lanigan has proved in his "Irish Ecclesiastical History," S. Patrick did not survive the foundation of Armagh more than about ten years. How then could Domangart have been his disciple? Then we are given to understand, that Domangart was not born till after his father's death, which the Four Masters assign to A.D. 503 (504.) This sets aside the whole story; for S. Patrick was dead many years before this date. Jocelin, who follows the Tripartite as to Euchodius, Domangart, &c., omits what is said of the latter having been a disciple of S. Patrick. There is a fable concerning S. Domangart having been raised from the dead at Rome by S. Patrick, according to which he would have lived in the 5th cent. Such contradictory stories show what little reliance can be placed in the accounts of the saint. All that we can be certain of is that he founded a monastery on the promontory of Slieve Slainge, where in Colgan's time stood two churches dedicated to him.

S. HILDELITHA, V. ABSS. OF BARKING.

(ABOUT A.D. 720.)

[Ancient Anglican Martyrologies, and Gallican Martyrology. Authority:--Bede, Ecc. Hist. l. iv. c. 10.]

Hildelitha was one of the first virgins of the English nation who consecrated herself a spouse to Christ, going abroad to a French monastery, there being, at that time, none in England. When S. Erkonwald had founded the monastery of Chertsey for himself, and the convent of Barking, in Essex, for his sister Ethelburga, he sent to France for S. Hildelitha, and committed his sister to her care, to be by her instructed in monastic discipline. Thus S. Ethelburga herself, who was the first abbess of Barking, was a disciple of S. Hildelitha, though she died before her, and was succeeded by her in the government of the community. Bede highly commends the piety of this saint, and that she was highly esteemed by others we may gather from S. Aldhelm having addressed to her his poetical treatise on virginity, and from mention of her in one of the epistles of S. Boniface, where he relates what great things he had learned of her.

S. Hildelitha departed to our Lord in a good old age, but the date of her death is undetermined.

S. SIMON, BOY M.

(A.D. 1475.)

[Roman Martyrology. Authority:--The Acts of Canonization by Benedict XIV., and the Acts published in the Italian immediately after the event took place.]

Through the Middle Ages, in Europe the Jews were harshly treated, suffering from sudden risings of the people, or from the exactions of princes and nobles. This nourished in them a bitter hatred of Christians and Christianity, and in some instances led to cruel reprisals. Such was, perhaps, the case in Trent, where on Tuesday in Holy Week, 1475, the Jews met to prepare for the approaching Passover, in the house of one of their number named Samuel, and it was agreed between three of them, Samuel, Tobias, and Angelus, that a child should be crucified, as an act of revenge against their tyrants, and of hatred against Christianity. The difficulty, however, was how to get one. Samuel sounded his servant Lazarus, and attempted to bribe him into procuring one, but the suggestion so scared the fellow, that he packed up all his traps and ran away. On the Thursday, Tobias undertook to get the boy, and going out in the evening, whilst the people were in church during the singing of Tenebræ, he prowled about till he found a child sitting on the threshold of his father's door in the Fossati Street, aged twenty-nine months, and named Simon. The Jew began to coax the little fellow to follow him, and the boy did so, and he conducted him to the house of Samuel, where he was put to bed, and given raisins and apples to amuse him.

In the mean time the parents, Andrew and Mary, missing their child, began to seek him everywhere, but not finding him, and night falling darkly upon them, they returned, troubled and alarmed to their home.

During the night, when all was still, a Jew named Moses took the child from its bed, and carried it into the vestibule of the synagogue, which formed a part of the house of Samuel, and sitting down on a bench began to strip the infant; a handkerchief being twisted round its throat to prevent it from crying. Then stretching out his limbs in the shape of a cross they began the butchery of the child, cutting the body in several places, and gathering his blood in a basin. The child being half dead, they raised him on his feet, and whilst two of them held him by the arms, the rest pierced his body on all sides with their awls.

When the child was dead, they hid the body in a cellar behind the barrels of wine.

All Friday the parents sought their son, but found him not, and the Jews, alarmed at the proceedings of the magistrates, who had taken the matter up, and were making investigations in all quarters, consulted what had better be done. They could not carry the body away, as every gate was watched, and the perplexity was great. At length they determined to dress the body again and throw it into the stream which ran under Samuel's window, but which was there blocked by an iron cage in which the refuse was caught. Tobias was to go to the bishop and chief magistrates and tell them that there was a child's body entangled in the grate, and he hoped that by thus drawing attention to it all suspicion of having been implicated in the murder would be diverted from him and his co-religionists.

This was done, and when John de Salis, the bishop, and James de Sporo, the governor, heard the report of the Jew, they at once went, and the body was removed before their eyes, and conveyed to the cathedral, followed by a crowd. As, according to a popular mediæval superstition, blood is supposed to flow from the wound when the murderer approaches, the officers of justice examined the body as the crowds passed it; and they noticed that blood exuded as Tobias approached. On the strength of this the house of Samuel and the synagogue were examined, and blood and other traces of the butchery were found in the cellar, and in the place where the deed had been done, and the bowl of blood was discovered in a cupboard. The most eminent physicians were called to investigate the condition of the corpse, and they unanimously decided that the child could not have been drowned, as the body was not swollen, and as there were marks on the throat of strangulation. The wounds they decided were made by sharp instruments like awls and knives, and could not be attributed to the gnawing of water-rats. The popular voice now accusing the Jews, the magistrates seized on the Jews and threw them into prison, and on the accusation of a renegade Jew named John, who had been converted to Christianity seven years before, and who declared that the Jews had often sought to catch and kill a child, and had actually done this elsewhere, more than five of the Jews were sentenced to be broken on the wheel, and then burnt.

The blood found in the basin is preserved in the cathedral of Trent, and the body of the child is also enshrined there in a magnificent mausoleum.

March 25.

_The Annunciation of S. Mary_.

MEMORIAL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
THE PENITENT THIEF, A.D. 33.
S. QUIRINUS, _M. at Rome_, A.D. 269.
S. IRENÆUS, _B.M. at Sirmium_, A.D. 304.
S. PELAGIUS, _B. of Laodicæa, end of 4th cent._
S. DULA, _V.M. at Nicomedia_.
S. CAMIN, _Ab. of Iniskeltra, in Ireland, circ._ A.D. 653.
S. HUMBERT, _P.C. at Marolles, in Hainault, circ._ A.D. 680.
SS. BARONTUS AND DESIDERIUS, _HH. at Pistoria, circ._ A.D. 725.
S. HERMELAND, _Ab. of Hindre, in France, 8th cent._
S. ALFWOLF, _B. of Sherborne_, A.D. 1075.
S. WILLIAM, _Child M. at Norwich_, A.D. 1144.
S. RICHARD, _Child M. at Paris_, A.D. 1179.
S. IDA, _Abss. of Argensolles, in the diocese of Soissons,
circ._ A.D. 1250.

THE ANNUNCIATION OF S. MARY.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women."[87]

[87] S. Luke, i. 26-28.

The angel, to manifest his reverence and love, saluted the holy virgin with an "Ave," or Hail, and he named not her proper name, Mary, but gave her the title "Full of Grace." This he did that we might understand, that as Almighty God gave to the Messiah the names of "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,"[88] so also He gave to the Virgin a new and most glorious name, which, for excellency, is to be attributed to her in the Church; so that as we call Solomon "the Wise," and S. Paul "the Apostle of the Gentiles," so we should call the Blessed Virgin the "Full of Grace," and the "Blessed among women."

[88] Isaiah ix. 6.

"The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary." March 25.]

The festival of the Annunciation is at least as ancient as the Council in Trullo (A.D. 680), and is supposed, on the authority of a sermon attributed to S. Cyril, to have been kept in the 5th century. It has always been very highly observed in England. The Synod of Worcester, A.D. 1240, by one of its canons, forbade all servile work upon it, and this was afterwards confirmed by various provincial and diocesan councils in all respects except agricultural labour.

The tenth council of Toledo, in 656, ordered that this festival should be solemnized on December 18th, eight days before Christmas, because of its proper day arriving in Lent, and sometimes in Holy Week. Nevertheless, it has been observed on its proper day, but is transferred in the Western Church to after Easter, whenever it occurs in Holy Week or on Easter-day.

It is said that in the church of Notre Dame du Puy en Valey has the privilege of making it over-ride Good Friday, when it occurs on that day; and that on that day there are great indulgences as a jubilee in that church. The Council of Constantinople, in "Trullo," already mentioned, ordered that the mass of the pre-sanctified should be said on all days in Lent except the Sabbath, the Lord's day, and the Feast of the Annunciation. Pope Urban II., in a council held at Clermont, in 1095, ordered that every day the church bell should be rung, morning, noon, and evening, and that each time it was rung the faithful should recite the Angelic Salutation. This is called the Angelus. The object of the Holy Father was to stir up the faithful to thank God for the benefit of the Incarnation. Popes John XXII., Calixtus III., Paul III., Alexander VII., and Clement X., have recommended this practice and attached indulgences to it. These were confirmed by Benedict XIII.